ans, drawn with admirable skill and presented with wonderful felicity of expression. The primitive features and elements of society among the Germans, Celts, Gauls, their restless temper and indiscreet, headlong valor, their incursions into Asia, Italy, Greece, the Cimbric campaign of Marius, the Gallic campaigns of Cæsar, and the gradual emergence of Gaul from barbarism into civilization, and from a province to independence, are portrayed within the compass of a few pages, yet seemingly with considerble fulness and detail. The author interests us in the affairs of these barbarians, because he shows that he is himself interested in their character and fortunes. They are his ancestors, and he scarcely takes pains to conceal a little national vanity, sometimes exhibited at the expense of historical consistency. Thus the early Gauls are "the most sympathetic and perfectible of the races of man." Although in war their "fruitless audacity" could effect nothing against the impenetrable masses of the "Roman legions and "the terrible pilum," although they had been twice driven from Italy, still "Hannibal wins his great battles with Gallic blood;" and "when cut off from them in the south of Italy, cannot stir a step." "A Gaul formed the eloquence of the two great orators of the day, Cæsar and Cicero," and "a Gallic hand impressed on art that impulse towards the gigantic, and ambition of the infinite, which, at a later day, launched forth the vaulted roofs of our cathedrals." However, these failings, if they are so, are very pardonable, and are amply redeemed by the many and various excellences of the author, and the general soundness of his views. It would be difficult, we think, to name a work in modern times, which combines to such a degree, philosophical depth, extensive and minute research, and poetic fancy. In proof of the former, we may refer to the pages on the fall of the Empire, of the later to those on the Celtic character, and the fate of the Celtic races; we leave the reader to be convinced on the other point, by a perusal of the work itself. One word as to the style. It is different from any thing we remember to have read. Though very simple it is graphic, and poetic with scarcely any imagery. It resembles lively and animated conversation rather than historical composition. It is as easy and brilliant as Cousin's, without being so inflated; as pointed and finished as Bancroft's, though not so labored. His genius and spirit cannot be weighed down by his erudition. He is always master of his materials, and writes like one fresh from the scenes he portrays. One of the most striking peculiarities of M. Michelet, however, is the manner in which he blends the narrative and the philosophy of history. There are no reflections after the facts are collected, nor any process of reasoning to get at the reason of the facts. The facts and the reason go together. He seizes both at a glance. Every thing is spontaneous, nothing labored nor reflective. It is this which gives so much brilliancy to his pages, and which affords such continual stimulus to the mental activity of the reader. We await with some impatience the appearance of the second number, and feel that we are conferring a favor upon such of our readers as have not heard of the work, by calling their attention to it, and advising them to procure a copy, in the beautiful reprint of Messrs. Appletons. 2. Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. Second edition. London, &c. 1844. 12 mo. pp. 394. -- This may be called a remarkable book. It is an attempt to combine the latest discoveries in the different branches of science into a theory of creation of the agents and processes by which the present system of the material universe has been evolved. This is done in no spirit of presumption we should judge, and yet by a mind that shrinks not from the most startling opinions, and from the boldest conclusions. The author is evidently under /no fear of excommunication, and no restraint of creed. And yet he is evidently a Theist, and a reverent one. The work is distinguished by candid and patient argument, and an interesting, and to many, perhaps, novel array of facts. If we should designate any part of it which appears to us now as rather weak and inconclusive, it is the chapter upon "the Macleay system." Of course, we are not qualified to criticise the work upon scientific premises, but admitting these to be fairly laid down, we must say, that the author has made out an ingenious and a strong argument. If his positions are true, we do not see that they will destroy any thing vital in our faith, as Theists or as Christians— certainly they cannot shake any thing that is true. If on the other hand, his conclusions are lame, his theory crude or false, his arguments specious, then time and truth will make the exposure. We deem this the best method of meeting all novel and startling propositions. It is true that error in a plausible dress may do some harm before it is discovered. But this is one of the evils inseparable from free inquiry, and cannot be avoided without the sacrifice of that fundamental principle, with all its blessings. On the other hand, however startling it may be, we are deliberately convinced that "there is no such thing as a dangerous truth.” In this spirit we would salute the volume before us. Upon its truth or its falsity, we are not prepared to decide. We like the tone in which it is written, and deem it well worthy the attention of every student of nature for even if its theory is false, its facts will be found interesting and instructive. ART. XX. Philosophy and Theology. DURING the last few years, our community has manifested a lively interest in philosophical pursuits. We can trace very plainly the effects of that taste which the importation of French and German literature, a few years ago, has served to awaken. Besides her historians, her poets, and her artists, New England has now, at least, one philosopher. Journals, devoted to philosophy and kindred pursuits, are conducted by men of different schools, and find a fair support among us. American translations and reprints of the works of distinguished philosophical writers in Europe, meet with a ready sale, and in our universities the study of speculative philosophy has been entrusted to the direction of our soundest thinkers. The habits of thought, formed by a study of some philosophical system, may be detected in every department of the literature of the country; the elements of Kantianism in history, transcendentalism in poetry, eclecticism in religious literature and reviews. It is not difficult even to interest "a popular audience" in the discussion of tenets belonging to speculative philosophy. Some of our readers perhaps may remember the crowded assemblies that listened to the lectures of a celebrated professor, a few winters since, before a literary institution of this city. This tendency is not surprising. We have arrived at a point, in our intellectual culture, which must come to every nation. Philosophy is a natural want of the human mind. Without it, the cycle of its development is not complete. It has sprung from the intellectual soil of every people. There is implanted in human nature a tendency which cannot be satisfied without speculative coherence in its views of the universe. The mysteries, which the contemplation of nature perpetually presents to us, possess a charm that has always allured the keenest intellects, and brought into action the noblest powers of the soul. If we would seek the commencement of the history of philosophy, we must go back to the early twilight of civilization. The priests of Egypt had their esoteric doctrines; the Persians, their solution of the origin of evil; while in India the judgment of immobility, which seems to have arrested the development of all the active powers of the soul, could not hold back the tendency to speculation. Almost all the phases of modern philosophy were represented there, under Indian forms, and from an Indian point of view. The restless activity of the Grecian mind was not more strongly manifested, in its various governments, and its thirst for conquest, than in its wealth of philosophical theories, and in the rapid development of schools which exhausted the capacity of progress, in that line, for a thousand years. The national life was equally incarnated in Plato and Pericles, in Aristotle and Alexander. Even in the Middle Ages, under the jealous eye of the church, heresies springing from opposition to the dominant philosophy, continually needed to be checked. With regard to the present rank of philosophy in the republic of letters, we need hardly speak. It is placed at the summit of mental cultivation. The importance which, since the Reformation, it has attained, among the cultivated nations of Europe, seems to justify the remark of a German writer, that" in the new hierarchy of the understanding, the philosophical is the apostolic chair, and philosophers are the cardinals." It becomes an interesting and important question, then, What is the effect of this tendency to philosophy upon religious truth? or, in other words, What is the connection between philosophy and religion? We cannot expect, within the limits of one article, to do any thing more than to point out the general features of this relation, without stopping to examine the question in all its details. In the first place, then, we may remark that, whatever increases the general cultivation of the mind, improves our sensibility to religious impressions, and enlarges our capacity for religious ideas. None of our readers, probably, will dispute this proposition with us, and it hardly needs illustration. The progress of science has always added strength to the religious convictions of the devout spirit, and developed, in a clearer light, the characteristics which reason and revelation ascribe to the Deity. We have, for instance, an idea of the infinite. It is a necessary judgment of the intellect, is implied in our reasonings, and is indispensable to our conception of God. It is not, however, an idea which we can completely comprehend. It exists as a mere sign, a barren affirmation, until it is brought out clearly into consciousness, and strengthened by the aid of some positive conceptions of the finite, with which it may be contrasted. How powerfully has astronomy done this! It is when the magnificent conception of the immensity. and grandeur of the material universe is awakened in us; when we become acquainted with the vast scale upon which this system of nature is constructed; when thought endeavors to seize the boundaries of that expanse in which the solar system is but a speck, which no figures can express, and beyond which no instruments can reach; it is then, and by contrast with this finite which science has explored, and at the grandeur of whose discoveries the imaginaton is overpowered, that the intellect feels oppressed, and bows with religious awe before the idea of the infinite. So, also, with our conception of the omnipotence of God. Every one feels conscious of such an idea. It is from a necessity of our intellectual nature that we ascribe it to the Deity. Without it, he would not be God. Yet who comprehends the significance of the term, till he has formed some conception of the stupendous force that has disposed worlds into systems, and that moves, and guides, and governs all the complicated machinery of the universe! Again; how has our idea of the wisdom of the Deity been extended and enlarged, by an acquaintance with the simplicity of arrangement exhibited by the geometry of the heavens, and the nice adjustment between the forces that sustain the universe, or by the innumerable instances of skill and adaptation, furnished by physiology and natural history. Whatever has increased our knowledge of the works of the Creator, has deepened and added strength to our conceptions of his nature and his attributes. Such is the intimate and beneficial relation which science sustains to religion. But the same reasons that we have urged to prove this position, may, we think, with equal force be urged in behalf of the claims of philosophy. First, however, to guard against misapprehension, let us define what we mean by speculative philosophy. Many, we are persuaded, look upon it as merely a dry system of metaphysics, a mass of baseless speculations, concerned |