have been very slow to do. How wretchedly low and unworthy the ideas of the Greeks and Romans, and indeed of all nations not blessed with the light of Christianity, even at the present day, when compared with the doctrine of Jesus! There are hardly two ideas held in common between them, upon this subject. Theirs were material and unreal; his were spiritual and real. He reveals a blessedness of soul, with which the outward or material has little or nothing to do. It springs from the deep fountains within, and is as enduring as the soul itself.

D. F.

ART. XVIII.

Another Chapter from Carlyle the Younger.

Eritis sicut Dii.-DIE SCHLange.

VERY great is Bubblery; whether primary, in Hydrosoapy form, or secondary, in Land-speculations, Merchandise-puffing, Stock-chicaneries, or tertiary, in Theosophicomystical projections. Note-worthiest, meseems, of all things that are going ahead, in this Age-of-progress, is great Bubblery! Hast thou heard, O Reader, that our own Epocha, even this in which we are now living, is the long-talked-of Divine Aion, come at length, rather unexpected? or, perchance, hast thou not taken the papers, of late? Get them quick, and read; that thou mayest learn what Time-o'-day it is on the great World-clock; also, that thou mayest know, if not thyself, at least thy Neighbor, in his new Divine metamorphosis, not without astonishment at Him!

Thou thinkest, it may be, that Man is yet, as formerly, a Worm-of-the-dust, beholden as heretofore to some little speck of solid Ground for foothold, quite Finite in his Ablenesses, groping his way painfully through the Immense-obscure with uncertain skill and dim vision, and needing Blessed Guides from above to lead him into Heaven's light. Dearest Reader,-I cannot but smile at thy simplicity!-all this was done away, some half-dozen years ago, if I read aright. Look narrowly; thou shalt see, now

1

in process, the queerest Transformation under the sun: Humanity (I think they call it,) passing from its old Grubstate into a tiny Fire-fly, with a pair of nascent wings; for flight rather sublime. Wonderfullest to behold! sundry of the Species already out, soaring Moon-ward, buoyed up on empty Æther, disporting themselves in the Azure Void with rapid circumgyrations, summersaults, and convolutions, hither-to, thither-to, innumerable, untraceable; while others, down yonder, have got as far as the Chrysalis, and but few are left in the Vermiform condition,- memorials of what was. Miraculousest Palingenesia, going on before our eyes, and yet we mark it not! for want of suitable microscopes, which, it is hoped, we shall be furnished with, in due time. To see Men, not "as trees walking," but as little-gods, or godicules, aerializing!

Mean time, the old Evangels, Christianities, and Faiths, which served the need in our undeveloped state, are getting decomposed and vaporised, to serve our new needs; as is fitting. See, how they are bursting out, frothing with intensest inward ferment, all their Concrete Solidnesses quite dissolved; their once-substantial Frame-work turning into shadowy Myths, or, more unreal still, into mere idle tales! Your Historical, Documentary, Matter-of-fact Christianities we will no more of them; it shall be the spirit-Oils, and Alcohols, and Volatile essences thereof, distilled after each man's fashion. On these will we live, and grow clear-headed; the gross residuous Grains and other Dregs, the original Substances, we cast out, to be trodden, under foot, and eaten of dull Worms. All in violentest fermentation, we say, these old Evangels and Beliefs! now steaming up in thinnest Vapor, many-colored, changeable-hued, rarer and rarer, evanescent; or, now bolting forth sky-ward in hugest Divine Bubbles; which unhappily have a tendency to dilate, in middle air, betokening certain results, should the law-of-Expansion hold true, which it is hoped it will not. Bubble after Bubble! around which fantastically weave the new-swarmed Fire-flies their aerial courses, in cycle and epicycle; not without infinite hum of "Eureeka! we have found!" as often as the thin Transparencies soar away towards the Inane. "These be our rarified Christianities and Faiths! these be, for us, the permanent Foundations and firm Footings! whereon, rising, we shall

soon over-look the Universe, and see through the Great Secret." So stands it written in the Evangel of Bubblery. Good-luck to ye, light-headed Aeronauts; may ye find plenteousness of Wind to support ye, whither ye go.

Christianities and Faiths? my simple brother! Thou shalt not believe in Actualities and Facts; they are unmanageable, and enslave thy soul; but in the extracted Essences of them, which are manageable at will; in these then, unless thou wouldst be still a servile Worm-of-thedust, after the obsolete fashion. No longer shalt thou. believe in Book, or Bible; or, if thou must, then not in one Book, but in all books, or rather in such impalpable Gas, we say, as rises from them, after due process of sublimation, called by the Unscientific, Laughing-Gas.' Inspiration? why so great Ado about it? thou thyself art Inspired only be Inflated, and canst make thine own Bibles, with the best of them: Bibles at least, in which thou mayest for the piety's sake, believe till thou-get time to make other. Nor shalt thou believe in the One Christ; but, grander! in the universe of Christs, of which thou art one; or, best of all, in thyself, who bearest a Christ, of the newest-improved patent, in thine own bosom, as the Fire-fly carries his torch in his belly. In this mayest thou trust, quite piously, unbeholden to any Authority of God or Devil, save thine own; and therefore free. Doth the Fire-fly look to Sun, or Moon, or Stars, for light? He manufac tures his light in his own belly; and so shalt thou do, or be no Fire-fly, but doomed everlastingly to thy Grub-state. Take the Evangel of Bubblery, O my gropeling of a Brother! and "your eyes shall be opened," so it is written of old; opened, to see that man hath all Knowledge and Guidance in himself, would he but turn from other sources, and look right intently where the Brahmins look. Very wonderful, very solemn to think of! that we are become Omniscients, though somewhat microscopic as yet; of the genus Omniscientcula, in Leuwenhoeck's nomenclature; Divine Fire-flies, as we say, just begining to realize that ancient Promise of the Father-of-flies, "Ye shall be as gods." It is expected, I understand, that we shall work the Miracles over again, if indeed there were Miracles, when once we get our god-gear a little better adjusted; which, I think, might be useful in verifying our

much-talked-of Missions,' Laughing-Gas Inspirations,' and claims to Divinity hood.

And now, my poor undeveloped Brother! wouldst thou put forth thy latent Omniscience, and play the god fittingly, as others? then, heed the Proprieties of the part, as Critics say. First, put from thee all those Matter-of-fact Books thou hast been delving in,—at least, study them not; it doth not beseem a god to study. Only imagine a school-class of gods, sitting up there on a spray of Vapor, studying Horn-book! to the merriment of all Olympus, I think. Thou shalt Know, without study, or be no god, neither godicule. Also, go not about, seeking diligently, like a blear-eyed Worm, and, by slow painful process, inquiring carefully of Fact after Fact, to find out Truth; know it at once, like a god, and have done with it. Canst thou not project all Truth forth from that Inspiration of thine, as other Bubbles are projected from water-and-softsoap Effervescence? Or, if unequal to such feat, take at second-hand the Bubbles that others have projected, and make them thine own, by Divine art of Parrotry; whereof we have had discourse, upon a time. Are not the Absolute, the Infinite, Unconditioned, Eloihim, the Me, and the not-Me, utterable by thee? Utter them, then, and be Divine. It is questionable whether gods be allowed to speak Human sense-it is not so written in any new Evangel; but theirs it is to give forth, from time to time, the hugest inflated Leviathan-of-a-thought, floundering in an ocean of foam. Whoso would know how huge, let him first catch it; if he can.

C. S. N.

ART. XIX.

Literary Notices.

1. History of France, from the earliest period to the present time; by M. Michelet, Professeur suppléant ál a Faculté des Lettres, Professeur á L'Ecole normale, Chef de la Section Historiques aux Archives du Royaume. Translated by G. H. Smith, F. G. S. New York: Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway. To be completed in twenty numbers.

HISTORY Seems to be the engrossing study of the day. Every week, some new historical work is announced, frequently from the pens of some of the most distinguished men in Europe. What science in modern times can boast greater names than Niebuhr, Neander, Ranke, Arnold, Hallam, Thirlwall, Bancroft, Prescott, Guizot, Thiers, and Michelet. We are glad that such men have taken the field. No pursuit demands higher powers, severer labors, deeper penetration. The treasures of every intellectual field are laid under contribution for History; philosophy, philology, geography and science. History has ceased to be amusing merely; it is found to have a meaning and to be instructive. The life of Abbot Sampson has some significance when treated by a master. Even yet we have comparatively very few good histories, probably for the reason that there have been very few minds fitted to write them. We are glad, however, that one great want has lately been supplied. There never has been, till recently, a good history of France. We have only seen the first number of Michelet in the reprint of the Messrs. Appletons, but from a perusal of this number, we have no doubt that literature has gained by the delay. It is always preferable that the history of a nation should be written by one of its citizens. This requisite is admirably filled in the author of the History of France. He is a true Frenchman. If his merits as a historian are individual, his faults may be fairly charged to the French spirit. By education, also, and position, he is excellently fitted for his task. His mind has been formed in the eclectic school of philosophy, the peculiarities of which may be distinctly traced in his work. M. Michelet commences with the earliest periods of the history of France, and devotes some chapters to the ancient Celts and Gauls; and it is here, perhaps, as much as anywhere that he displays the characteristics of his style and of his mind. The sketch must necessarily be slight from the poverty of materials and the vast extent of the field before him; and yet from the allusions of the ancient writers, a very vivid picture is presented of these barbari