KENNEDY'S LIFE OF WIRT.

Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, Attorney General of the United States. By John P. Kennedy. In two volumes. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard.

We have read this work with more pleasure than we can easily express. We shall not of course attempt to utter it all at once. Still less shall we undertake (after the manner of critics,) to analyze our satisfaction, and resolve it into all the various elements that may have united to compose it. We will only divide it, rather roughly, into two partsone for the author and the other for his subject;-though we shall have to assign much the largest half to the latter. Mr. Kennedy, however, we are sure, will not object to this partition, especially as it is somewhat proportioned to their respective shares of the letter-press.

For his part of the performance, we think that Mr. K. has discharged his difficult task with great skill and taste. His exhibitions, indeed, of the conduct and character of Mr. Wirt, are finely and beautifully done, and such as raise both at once in our esteem. His sketches, too, of other persons, incidentally introduced, are worthy of almost equal praise. At the same time, the notices which he has given us of passing events connected with the life of Mr. W., are very acceptable, and serve to refresh our recollections of them, in the most agreeable manner. We may add, that the language is always pure and elegant, and the expression of his own candid and liberal spirit, every where breathing in it, adds a last and finishing grace to his style.

After all, however, the highest charm of the work will be found in Mr. Wirt's letters. These are truly excellent,fresh, racy, salient, and always gushing, as it were, from the very fountain of the heart. We have enjoyed them of course highly, and feel that we can hardly praise them too much, so vividly do they recall their most amiable writer to our remembrance. We are disposed, indeed, to think them by far the best of all his writings, and fairly worth all his British Spies and Old Bachelors together. truth, we think they deserve to rank with the very best compositions of the kind in our language-with those of Cow

In

per, Gray, Walpole, and Byron for instance, and we should even prefer them ourselves to those of any of these gifted men, as they are written with at least as great freedom and ease, and reveal a far more genial and good-humored character and disposition than any one of these celebrated writers had to display.

With this appreciation of the merits of this work, we are sorry to find any fault with it; but we regret to remark, that from some cause or other, Mr. K. has not, we think, exhibited the religious character of Mr. Wirtmore particularly as it was in his old age-in quite all its proper relief. There is one letter at least that we happen to know of, written by the deceased to his friend Dr. Rice, and published in the memoir of this eminent divine, which is more distinct and satisfactory on this point than any that Mr. K. has given us, and which ought not to have been omitted. The very interesting account, too, which was given of Mr. W., by his pastor, Dr. Nevins,-published in his "Practical Thoughts"-ought by all means to have been inserted. These deficiencies, however, can be easily supplied in another edition. We shall recur to this work again.

DABNEY'S ADDRESS.

Address "On the Value of Writing," Delivered before the Society of Alumni of the University of Virginia, at their Annual Meeting, June 29th, 1849. By George E. Dabney. Charlottesville; O. S. Allen & Co.

This is a sensible and interesting essay upon an important subject; and will be read, as we understand it was heard, with happy effect. We agree of course entirely with Professor D., that the art of writing is a highly useful and ornamental one, and ought to be far more cultivated amongst us than it has ever been. We cannot quite so readily agree with him, however, in his efforts to magnify its merits, as he appears disposed to do, above those of speech itself. In our opinion-and we have the highest authority for it-the tongue is "the glory" of our frame; and we cannot consent to transfer any part of its proper

praise to the pen. But both are no doubt instruments of great power, and there is no need whatever to disparage either of them in order to extol the other. They are not rival powers, but friendly and conspiring ones. Conjurant amice. They have the same office, and the same objectthough they pursue their ends by somewhat different means. And they may mutually assist each other. The pen may aid the tongue to improve, its speech, so far at least as to make its language more accurate and refined; (though this may not always increase its power with the people,) and to diffuse its impressions abroad, by the help of the press. And on the other hand, the tongue may return the compliment, and assist the pen to enliven its polished periods with colloquial ease.

Let our youth, then, we would say, cultivate both arts together, and labor to unite them both, as they have been united in fact, by a Cicero, a Bolingbroke, and a Burke; and, more recently, by the able speaker, and elegant writer, the accomplished and fascinating Macaulay.

THE MOUNTAIN PASS.

Since the ark rested on the mountain brow,
And saved to earth the human family,

How many a time have, even until now,

The mountains been salvation for the free,

When the clouds came, and winds beat vehemently,
And all the tyrant storms were raging forth?
Thank God for these strong towers upon the earth!
Whereto forever the oppressed may flee.

Look round on rocky pass and mountain dell;
The hand that formed them, formed them with an aim,
To serve for freedom's keep impregnable;
And humble though they be-unknown to Fame-
Yet they are hers, and one day-who can tell?—
She may baptize them with a world-wide name.
[Fraser's Magazine.

Various Intelligence.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Adverting to our brief notice of the Annual Meeting of the Society, on the 10th inst., in a former part of this number, we add here some further particulars of the proceedings, for the information of the members, and all concerned.

After the reading of the Report, the Librarian submitted a list of books, and other things, which had been presented to the Society, by various persons, during the year, as follows:

List of Books, &c., presented to the Society during the past year.

American Mnemotechny, or Art of Memory, 1 vol., 12mo. Statistical Register, 1 vol., 12mo. By the Author, Pliny Miles, of New York.

Smith's History of New York, 1 vol., 8vo. Some files of the National Gazette, &c. By S. Mordecai, of Richmond.

Exiles in Virginia, 1 vol., large 8vo. By Alfred Cope, of Philadelphia.

The Tryal of Dr. Henry Sachevrell, 1 vol., folio. Dugdaleon Imbanking and Draining, &c., 1 vol., folio. The Koran, or Alcoran of Mohammed, by George Sale, 1 vol., 4to. Limnæus's "Observationes in Auream Bullam," 1 vol., small 4to. 1662. Ioannis Zangeri, I. C. Tractatus Duo, 1 vol., small 4to. Wittenbergæ, 1694. Natalis Comitis Mythologiæ, 1 vol., small 8vo. Franckfurti, 1596. Manuscript Reports of Edward Barradall's Arguments and Sir John Randolph's Reports of Cases adjudged in the General Court of Virginia, by Edmund Pendleton. By John Taylor, Jr., of Caroline.

New Experiments and Observations touching Cold, by the Hon. Robert Boyle, Fellow of the Royal Society, 1 vol., small 8vo. thick; London, 1665. By Thomas Gatewood, of Norfolk.

An old English Bible, 1 vol., 4to.; London, 1606. By H. C. Doswell, of Hanover.

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1 vol., 4to. By the Smithsonian Institution.

Monroe's View. of the Conduct of the Executive, 1 vol., 8vo. The Life and Memoirs of Major General Lee, 1 vol., 12mo. By Henry Carrington, of Charlotte.

Capt. Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, 1 vol., small folio; London, 1625-from the Library of John Randolph, of Roanoke. By Wm. H. Clark, of Halifax.

The Universal Magazine, for 1776, 1 vol., 8vo. By Charles James Meriwether, of Albemarle.

Marshall's History of the American Colonies, 1 vol., 8 vo. Pitkin's Statistical View of the United States, 1 vol., 8vo. Lee's (Henry) Campaign of 1781 in the Carolinas, 1 vol., 8vo. Walsh's Appeal, 1 vol. 8vo. Priestley's Lectures, 1 vol., 8vo. Von Raumer's America and the American People, 1 vol., 8vo.Priestley's Lectures on History, 1 vol., 8vo., and A Defence of the Christian Religion on two Important Points; Printed by voluntary Subscription in order to be dispersed in his Majesty's Colonies and Islands in America; London, 1748. By John H. Cocke, of Fluvanna.

Bacon's Historical Discourses, 1 vol., 8vo. By Rev. Jos. D. Tyler, of Staunton.

Entick's History of the Late War (of 1756,) 5 vols., 8vo. Ferris's History of the Original Settlements on the Delaware, 1 vol., 8vo. By Thomas H. Ellis, of Richmond.

Macaulay's History of England, 2 vols., 8vo.; London. By Philip St. George Cocke, of Powhatan.

Kennedy's Life of Wirt, 2 vols., 8vo. By Judge Brooke.