attempted there might have been now as much of the appearance of uniform belief, as there was in Christendom during the darkest of the dark ages. But what is any mere creed worth, as a test of moral and religious character, which is merely hereditary, and remains undisturbed, not in consequence of conviction subsequent to examination, but simply from ignorant and indolent, or perhaps compulsory acquiescence? That Christianity should have survived all controversies, is an incomparably greater test of its essential truth, than the dead calm of a whole millenium, such as causes of the kind just mentioned might produce. We confess that we are not among the number of those who anticipate any ultimate evil consequences from an increased attention to speculative philosophy among us, or from new attempts to apply its conclusions to the revision of our views of Christian belief. To attempt to repress such inquiries, we hold to be as idle as to forbid the wind to blow, or the tide to ebb and flow; but we do not apprehend the same results to our holy religion, which have, by a variety of conjunctures, attended free inquiry in matters of faith on the continent of Europe, more especially in Germany. We consider the English mind to be far less in danger, generally, of being carried away by talented speculation,, than either the French or the German. The French intellect

is characterised by great rapidity of conception. It begins to theorize almost before the facts of the case are laid before it. It has a singular power of analysis. Hence the temptation is to philosophize unduly by deduction. True to their great countryman, Descartes, whom they think more of a philosopher than our Bacon, they better like the business of drawing effects from causes, than ascertaining causes from effects. Even in their mathematics, we may see the illustration of their characteristic tendency to development. They will, for instance, give endless deductions by way of applying an equation, while they neglect any other proof. In their speculative reasonings, they are especially apt to be misled by the predominant analytical tendency of their minds, because it causes them, often, to pursue one idea to excess, without sufficiently considering its bearing on and harmony with other ideas of equal importance. Hence they will sometimes pursue their favourite theory by a sort of steeple-chase road, not much concerning themselves at the impediments that may lie in their path. M. Cousin is a splendid type of this sort of mind; and he has achieved a brilliant reputation among his countrymen on this account. But, great as are his merits as an analyst of ideas, the very facility and smoothness with which he glides through all difficulties, is enough to make an Englishman pause; for one striking idea is not enough to satisfy his calm and cautious love of truth. He is always stopping you in your easy

and its formerly powerful race: how the slightest misunderstanding gave birth to quarrels, how quarrels grew into hatred, and hatred to burning and bloodshed-and all this from the monotonous pressure of time, and the recurrence of the same bitter billow-stroke against the heart. We see it in the Faroe Isles-in those quiet, insane figures which wander about among the rocks and the mist. For if misfortune and adversity come, and the human being has no place to flee to where he can disperse their impressions-no place to go to from these mists and these dark cliffs his understanding must at length become clouded.'-P. 15.

Our Adam and Eve, on this lonely coast, do not escape the effect of these influences. They are presented to us in afterlife, when the want of objects to divert, and to give a living stimulus to their spirits, had made them discontented, and even doubtful of each other's affections. From this wretched condition they are, however, awakened to a kind of new spring of life; and the manner in which this is brought about is in Miss Bremer's happiest vein, leaving the reader once more in love with the place and the people.

But, as we have said, we regard the second portion of the volume, entitled, 'Life in the North,' but, literally, life in Denmark, as of higher interest, especially at the present time. The part which Denmark has lately been called on to play, in defence of its territory of Schleswig-Holstein against Germany, and the spirit and bravery with which it has done this, give just now a peculiar interest to any account of the condition of that small but vigorous kingdom-social, moral, and political-which comes from a safe source. We are, therefore, glad to have it in our power to present such a statement from a pen so well known and so impartial as that of Fredrika Bremer. She sets out by remarking on the great spirit of change which is manifest throughout the civilized world; and assures us that, though less rapid in its operations, this spirit is not the less alive in Denmark. Her general impression of the country and people is highly flattering.

The social changes are first introduced. We have here a beautiful picture :

'On Christmas Eve, 1848, a chill and cloudy winter's evening, I found myself in Copenhagen, in a large hall, where more than a hundred children, boys and girls, sang, danced, and made a joyous clamour, around a lofty Christmas-tree, glittering with lights, flowers, fruits, cakes, and sweetmeats, up to the very ceiling.

"But brighter than the lights in the tree shone the gladness in the eyes of the children, and the bloom on their fresh countenances. A handsome, portly, middle-aged lady in black went round amongst the children, with a motherly grace, examining their work in sewing and

Hegel, that God is simply identical with the process of thought and reason in human consciousness, and has no other existence than in its perpetual development!

While we freely admit that speculation has run wild among our neighbours, we are far from joining the hue-and-cry against Germany and everything German, in which some have of late indulged, from sheer unacquaintance with the object of their alarm. They seem to have reasoned thus:-Some things from Germany are bad; therefore all are bad. To forswear, as many well-meaning persons are inclined to do, everything German, without discrimination, is about as reasonable as to forswear all history.' We doubt not that the increased study of German literature in this country, and of English literature in Germany, will be mutually beneficial to the philosophy and the denominational theology of both countries; for it will bring to the test of a foreign tribunal, national or sectional systems and modes of thinking, which, at home, are like objects that are too near to the eye to be most advantageously examined.

Mr. Blakey is evidently a hearty believer in the truths of our holy religion; and his concern for the interests of morality and Christianity always deserves our respect. In a prime matter of philosophy, however, we cannot speak of him as holding doctrine quite to our mind. His heterodoxy here is, truly, on a most vital point-no other than the entire nature and character of Logic. From the time of Aristotle, at least, logic has been presupposed in all the branches of science (vide Met. iv. 3); it has been considered as lying tacitly at their basis, if not formally and openly. The first great master of reasoning laid down, more than two thousand years ago, the principle that we either learn the general from the individual and particular, or the individual and particular from the general. The first mode of procedure is inductive reasoning; the latter deductive, as found in the ordinary syllogism. It is true, no doubt, that Aristotle's was not a mere formal logic, like that of Kant, and many since his time. It did not content itself with merely analyzing the forms and functions of thought; it extended itself to the real, and sought the exemplification of the forms of thought in the investigation of the varied modes of being to which these forms correspond. But in so doing, Aristotle departed from the true scope of logic, and diverged into another branch of philosophy, namely, metaphysics. The more modern views of logic have tended, with propriety, to limit it to the formal science; but both Aristotle and his remotest followers have agreed in regarding it as embracing within its range all the subjects on which we can reason, or, in other words, as applicable to them all; it has always been the science of proof in general. Not so our author. He asserts that logic is con

heart, and, with other similarly disposed and philanthropic men, found a plan to extirpate this growing evil by a thorough and searching remedy. When he had matured his scheme, he called on his fellowcitizens for assistance. He did not call in vain. Liberal subscriptions flowed in from all sides; and by their means the young criminals were speedily removed from the capital to the remote provinces, where they were placed in good and orderly familes, chiefly those of farmers. Transplanted into a rich soil, the young shoots of vice almost wholly changed their nature, and became good and serviceable members of society; while ever since this period the amount of crime in the capital has signally decreased. Very rarely, now, is the eye or the mind shocked in the streets of Copenhagen by the sight of mendicant children.'-P, 106.

Turning from the social improvements, Miss Bremer presents us with a picture of the bustle in the streets of Copenhagen, especially in the street called the Oestergade, to which, curiously enough, not even the throng of the Strand, or of Cheapside, seemed to her to be compared. But a still more agreeable contemplation than the external activity of the Danish capital, is that of its religious and intellectual life. Our authoress represents the new life of the North as pervading every department of mind and society. She had heard that she would find the theatres full and the churches empty, and that but little edification was to be found in the places of worship. She assures us that it was quite otherwise. The churches were filled with people, and she heard in them discourses excellent as well on account of their living doctrine as of their admirable delivery. But formerly, and not long since either, the case was different. The religious life of Denmark seemed an extinguished flame, and its theology lay bound in narrow forms; the teachers lacking spirit and the hearers devotion. Much of this auspicious change she attributes to the zeal and talent of Bishop Mynster, and to the pastor Grundtvig. In the commencement of the present century, these popular preachers infused a new spirit into their hearers. They proclaimed, with fervour of conviction and the freshness of genius, the old, eternally new doctrines of the religion of love. Mynster was scientific, harmonious, explicit; Grundtvig, a volcanic nature, with all the spirit and power of the old prophets. Mynster's spiritual discourses soon spread from Denmark to Sweden and Norway. Grundtvig wrote hymns, like those of Ingeman and Boje, giving new life to the church-music of Denmark. To these succeeded many remarkable Christian thinkers and pastors; yet far before them all stood these twoMynster with the fire of youth beneath his snow-white hair, and Grundtvig casting fiery glances over the depths of immortal life. Bishops Mynster, Martensen, and Pauli, Miss Bremer regards as

Christian teachers, whom no one can hear without admiration and delight, and in Vartou, the church in which Sev. Grundtvig preaches with power, every Sunday may be heard singing, often to the old popular melodies, which proves that the people are in heart a congregation.'

In

The same breath of a new life which has thus regenerated the social and the religious system, has been breathed over the world of intellect and of taste with equally creative energy. every department of art, science, and literature, Denmark has beheld in the present century, a race of such men spring up as she never possessed before. This part of Miss Bremer's volume will be perused with peculiar interest, for it introduces us to a number of celebrated persons of whom little is known to us in England, and who yet ought to be known to all well-informed minds. We can avail ourselves only of Miss Bremer's graphic review of these things and characters, so far as to name a few of the most prominent artists, literati, and philosophers.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century appeared Evald, the religious poet-Wessel and Baggesen, the humorous ones. But it was not till the nineteenth century that the selfconsciousness of the people, as well as art itself, had their full development. Then came Henry Steffens, full of genius and eloquence; and then Adam Oehlenschläger, their great tragic poet, who died only during the present year, having not long ago published his heroic poem, 'Regner Lodbrok.' Still more popular even than Oehlenschläger, is Ingeman, the author of 'Holger the Dane;' for his historical romances have been seized on with avidity by the people, and have inspired a charmed patriotism into the very peasantry. Herz, known in this country by his 'King Réné's Daughter;' Hauch, a natural philosopher and poet; Paludan Möller, author of the epic poem, Adam Homo; Christian Winter, who sings the idyllian country-life of Denmark; Heiberg, the critic and novelist; and Hans Christian Andersen, so well known in England; are all held in great esteem in their native land.

In sculpture, besides Thorwaldsen, the Danes reckon amongst their greatest artists Jericho and Bissen, both men of strong and original powers. The former is celebrated for his Christ,' his "Angel of the Resurrection,' and his group of Adam and Eve;' the latter, for his gods and heroes of the Northern mythology.

In painting, Denmark has a young and promising school of artists, who seek to express the truth of nature, and especially as it presents itself in their native land. We can only name the chief of them, without distinguishing their peculiar walks. They are Marstrand, Simonsen, Sonne, Schleisner, Monnier, Melby, Sörensen, Skovgaard, Kierskow, Rump, Jensen, Ottensen,