were intended to give vast processions of worshippers opportunity of seeing the elevation of the host, and the splendid ceremonies of the mass. The "fretted vaults" resounded with the music of the majestic organ, and the mingled anthems of a thousand voices. The "gairish light of day" was excluded by the rich stained glass of the windows, and replaced by a dim, religious twilight, which aided the solemn effect of the scene. Every thing was calculated to stimulate emotion and repress thought. But when we attempt to reproduce such a building for the Congregational form of worship, the effect is always inconvenient, often ridiculous. The preacher can hardly be seen at the end of one of the long aisles, and had he the voice of Stentor, he could hardly hope to penetrate the forest of columns and projections which intercept sight and sound. The stained glass of the windows usually makes it so dark, that it is with much ado that we can see to read our hymn-books; and if the sun is very bright, it colors the congregation red, blue, and yellow, like a company of disabled prize-fighters, astonishing the beholders with green spots on the roseate bonnets of the ladies, and purple patches on the "frosty pows" of the elders.

Perhaps a time will come, as some predict, when our form of worship will be modified, and we shall have less of "this immoderate desire for preaching," which is so strong now. Until then, however, we had better beware of cathedrals. Mr. Upjohn was much derided for refusing to build a cathedral for a Unitarian society; his motives may have been worthy of derision, but in the main we think he was right. The Congregational form of worship is eminently social, and the buildings, to be in character, should be light, airy, and cheerful. Instead of imitating minsters, and attempting to breathe life into the dry bones of a bygone age, our architects should strive to make their buildings subservient to the uses and wants of to-day, to let them boldly express their purpose on their fronts; and whatever of ornament the artist can add, let it be in keeping. If our architects will dare to do this, perhaps they may be able to produce a new style, which shall be modern and American.

T. C. C.

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On the Causes of the Success of the English Revolution of 1640– 1688. A Discourse. Designed as an Introduction to the History of the Reign of Charles the First. By M. Guizot. London: John Murray. 1850. 8vo. pp. 138.

THE object which M. Guizot proposes to himself in this very able tractate is worthy of his distinguished abilities as a statesman and historian. It is, "to show what are the causes which have crowned constitutional monarchy in England, and republican government in the United States, with that solid and lasting success which France and the rest of Europe are still vainly pursuing." And certainly there has never been a time when it was more important that that problem should be rightly solved, or when practical statesmen could study the lessons of the past to greater advantage, than now. Amidst the thousand conflicting theories of the present, it is well to go back to the history of other ages, and calmly survey the causes which produced, the principles which controlled, and the results which flowed from, their revolutions. This M. Guizot has attempted to do; and though we are reluctantly compelled to dissent from some of the judg ments which he pronounces, we cannot but regard his essay as a valuable contribution to the philosophy of history.

After a few judicious remarks on the elementary characteristics of the Protestant Reformation, and on the impulse given to the popular mind throughout Europe by that great outbreak against despotic power, M. Guizot proceeds at once to speak of the different causes which united in bringing about the English Revolution, and impressed upon it its peculiar character. He next traces somewhat in detail the principal events which marked its history down to the final settlement of the government by the Convention Parliament of 1688. Then, after glancing at the various ineffectual attempts of the Stuarts to regain their ancestral throne, and summing up his own view of the whole period, he devotes a few pages to our American Revolution, concluding with a comparative estimate of Cromwell, William the Third, and Washington, in the main well considered and eloquently expressed. From this survey of his subject he draws one important lesson, as the result of his investigations, in which lies the gist of the whole discussion, that "the policy which preserves a state from violent revolutions is also the only policy which can bring a revolution to a successful close." Few persons will be bold enough to question the truth of this postulate, though it may

well admit of doubt whether it is sufficiently broad to cover all the ground opened by M. Guizot's inquiry.

It should seem that much of the success attending the English and American Revolutions arose from the circumstance, that in both instances the people were prepared by a previous discipline for the enjoyment of a larger measure of freedom than they had before possessed. The revolutionary struggles on the Continent of Europe, in South America, and in Mexico, have failed of that large and permanent success which awaited similar struggles in England and the United States, because the people had not become fitted for self-government. A full-grown man can be intrusted with a much greater liberty of self-command than a child. In other words, the previous character of a people will, in a great degree, determine whether failure or success shall follow their attempts to reform the abuses of their political system. And since no plan of government can be so generalized as to apply to every nation, it appears far more important that revolu tionists should correctly understand the character of their own people, than that they should aim to free their resistance to arbitrary power from every thing like violence. Where the abuses are many and great, more violence must be used in removing those abuses than is needful where the abuses are few and insignificant. Yet the same success will attend either revolution, if the people are equally capable of tasting the blessings of a purer government. In England, the Revolution of 1688 and the Reform Bill of 1832 both effected the purposes which they were designed to accomplish; but neither of them would have been suited to the state of affairs which called for the other.

This is substantially the view so admirably set forth by Mr. Macaulay in his History of England. At the time of the English Revolution, as he very happily remarks, the monarchy and Parliament both existed as they had been constituted during the Middle Ages; and as standing armies had not yet come into fashion, the power of the sovereign was checked by his depend ence upon that body for the military service which formed a striking feature in the feudal system, and which alone enabled him to maintain the royal power and dignity. Accordingly, when he sought to free himself from this dependence, the popular resistance assumed the character of a preserving, rather than a destroying, revolution, and was marked by a devotion to ancient forms and precedents. Pym, in 1640, and Somers, in 1688, alike appealed to them. On the other hand, the Continental revolutions did not take place until all traces of the limited monarchy of the Middle Ages had vanished, and parliaments had fallen into desuetude. A different set of institutions had taken their place, standing armies had been organized, and power had become concentrated in the hands of the monarch. A destroying revolution was therefore needed to restore the popular free

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dom and the popular rights; and the people having, in the mean time, lost their capability of self-government, their revolutions have been nothing better than so many trials of irrational and impracticable theories. Moreover, these revolutions have taken place in regions where infidelity and the idolatrous superstitions of the Romish Church have exerted their blighting and withering influence upon the intellectual energies of the people. The English Revolution itself wellnigh made shipwreck on the High Church doctrine of passive obedience and the divine right of kings; and we should just as soon expect a popular revolution to succeed in New Holland or New Zealand as in France, Spain, Italy, or Germany, so long as skepticism or Romanism prevails there. Free institutions cannot flourish upon the soil which infidelity has made its own. They cannot live by the side of the Romish Church.

Our principal objection to M. Guizot's view is, that he does not seem to attach sufficient importance to these considerations. In general, however, he exhibits the same calmness, moderation, and impartiality which characterized his former work on the English Revolution. But the deplorable events of the year 1848 appear to have rendered him too distrustful of all revolutions, and to have led him to form too unfavorable an opinion of the Long Parliament, and particularly of those members of it who entertained republican principles. Yet it should constantly be borne in mind that the very men- Hyde, Falkland, and Colepepper-who, in the commencement of the struggle, supported the most violent, unconstitutional, and revolutionary measures, were afterwards among the most zealous supporters of Charles the First. Strafford's plan of Thorough was more unconstitutional than any measure proposed by the popular party previous to the death of Pym, with, perhaps, the single exception of the vote that Parliament should not be dissolved without its own consent. The execution of Charles, too, must be regarded rather as a great and fatal blunder than as a crime. With these and a very few similar objections, we have said all that a rigorous criticism can urge against M. Guizot's essay. For breadth of grasp, clearness of statement, and general soundness of view, it will compare favorably with any similar work on the subject which has fallen under our notice; and whatever differences of opinion may arise in regard to particular points, all will agree that it is a work of singular ability.

In Memoriam. Boston Ticknor, Reed, & Fields. 1850. 16mo. pp. 216.

THE author's name does not appear in connection with this

elegant tribute of enduring friendship, and we have only the initials of the cherished companion to whose memory it is dedicated. But it is well understood that we are indebted for it to one of the most deservedly popular poets of the day, and that it commemorates the death of a son of the historian Hallam. No one, indeed, who is acquainted with Mr. Tennyson's works, could fail to recognize his tender sensibility, his teeming fancy, and the exquisite melody of his verse, in every part of the volume. Under its quaint title he has comprised a series of elegiac poems marked by all the higher qualities of his genius, which will not only be received with pleasure by the lovers of his poetry every. where, but which will carry consolation to many a mourner, and take a permanent place in the literature of the affections. In them we trace the natural flow of the poet's grief, from the hour when he first hears of his friend's death in a foreign land, along through years of sadness and sorrow, until with a sober and chastened joy he invokes a blessing on his sister's marriage with another, only less noble and less loved than the buried friend who seems to him a silent guest, even at the wedding feast. We see his faith struggling with his sense of loss, gradually subduing his doubts, and at length coming off victorious from the protracted conflict. "In Memoriam," in short, is a perfect transcript of the poet's spiritual life under a bereavement which colors all his thoughts and meditations, and which is present to his mind in all the events of many successive years.

We have little disposition to criticize a volume which speaks so directly from the individual consciousness of the writer to the best feelings and purest sentiments of his readers; and, in truth, the very nature of its subject at once takes it out of the ordinary province of criticism. It is a book to be read in entire sympathy with its author, and not a volume to be subjected to the stern judgment of those who practise the "ungenial craft." The hard, cold world has nothing to do with such sacred outpourings of sorrow as we here find. They belong to the inner experience of the mourner, an experience almost too holy for any but

one's bosom friends to witness.

Introductory Lessons on Christian Evidences. By ARCHBISHOP WHATELY. Boston: Wm. Crosby and H. P. Nichols. 16mo. pp. 130.

ONE of the most encouraging signs of the times is an increas ing and healthy interest in the religious education of the young, with the consequent multiplication of proper religious manuals. The children of our connection have long suffered from the well