without ornament, but frequently of the most homely kind. It is said that, like John the Baptist, he sometimes had a leathern girdle about his loins; but this, it is likely, was worn only or chiefly during his missionary excursions. In some men, habits like these might justly be supposed to proceed from an affectation of homeliness; for there is a pride of plainness, as well as a pride of finery. But Mr. Eliot was too guileless a man to be suspected of such folly. His negligence of external appearance, and his contempt for the pleasures of the table, were the result of an unaffected love of simplicity, strengthened by a studious life and by intense engagement in absorbing duties.

"Mr. Eliot had a few whims, to which he was pertinaciously attached. One of these was an unsparing hostility to the practice of wearing long hair and wigs. He could not endure it; he regarded it as an iniquity not to be tolerated. The man, and especially the minister of the Gospel, who wore a wig, he considered as committing an offence, not only against decency, but against religion. His zeal about 'prolix locks' was warm, but unavailing. He lived to see the practice prevail in spite of his remonstrances, and at last gave over his warfare against it with the despairing remark, The lust has become insuperable!' The readers of New England history will remember, that in 1649 an association was formed, and a solemn protest published, against wearing long hair, by Governor Endicot and the other magistrates.

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"In this punctiliousness we see the influence of sympathy with the English Roundheads carried even into trifles. In England, periwigs were permitted quietly to cover the head soon after the restoration of Charles. But for more than thirty years after that time, they were deemed by many a sore grievance in New England. Gradually during that period they were coming into use; but they needed all the authority derived from the practice of such divines as Owen, Bates, and Mede, to find protection at last. The intol erance they experienced from Mr. Eliot was not, therefore, a singularity in the good man; he only persevered in his stern hostility against them longer than many others.

"To the use of tobacco, the introduction of which had caused no little disturbance in New England, he had likewise a strong aversion, and denounced it in the severest terms. But his opposi

tion in this case was as ineffectual, as in that of the wigs.In contempt of all his admonitions,' says Allen, the head would be adorned with curls of foreign growth, and the pipe would send up volumes of smoke.'" pp. 320-323.

"This aged servant of Christ sat waiting, as it were, in the antechamber of death, quiet and full of hope. He used sometimes pleasantly to say, that he was afraid some of his old Christian

friends, who had departed before him, especially John Cotton of Boston and Richard Mather of Dorchester, would suspect him to have gone the wrong way, because he remained so long behind them. His full share of work seemed to have been done; but even now he could not consent to be idle. He looked around for some labor of benevolence and piety, such as the remnant of his powers might allow him to perform. The care of the ignorant and the neglected was still the ruling passion of his heart. He saw with grief the great want of concern for the moral welfare of the blacks. He proposed to many of the families within two or three miles of his house, that they should send their negro servants to him once a week, to be instructed in religion. In this humble, but truly benevolent work, he rejoiced to occupy some of his last hours; but death intervened before much could be accomplished." -pp. 332, 333.

We have already trespassed largely upon the pages of our author, and will pass on to the closing scene of our apostle's life.

"While death was fast approaching, his mental powers, though dimmed and broken, were still retained. He rejoiced in the thought, that he should soon carry to his friends in heaven good news of the prosperity of the New England churches. When some one inquired how he was, he replied, 'Alas! I have lost every thing; my understanding leaves me; my memory fails me; my utterance fails me; but, I thank God, my charity holds out still; I find that rather grows than fails.' One of his last remembrances lingered sadly among those, to whom he had given so much of his strength and life. There is a cloud,' he said, ‘ a dark cloud upon the work of the Gospel among the poor Indians. The Lord revive and prosper that work, and grant it may live when I am dead. It is a work, which I have been doing much and long about. But what was the word I spoke last? I recall that expression my doings. Alas, they have been poor and small doings, and I'll be the man that shall throw the first stone at them all.' When, a short time before his death, Mr. Walter came into his room, he said, 'Brother, you are welcome to my very soul; but retire to your study, and pray that I may have leave to be gone.' Mr. Eliot died on the 20th of May, 1690, aged eighty-six years. The last words on his lips were WELCOME JOY!'

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"Such was the life and such the end of John Eliot. New England bewailed his death, as a great and general calamity. The churches, whose growth and prosperity had always been among the things which lay nearest to his heart, felt that they had lost a spiritual father, whose venerable presence had been to them a defence and glory. So deep was the sentiment of reverence for his character, that Mather observes, 'We had a tradition among

us, that the country could never perish as long as Eliot was alive.' One, who for a long series of years had filled so large a space with eminent usefulness, on whom the confidence of the best men in church and state had reposed without wavering, and over whose name, age and great services had shed a saintly consecration, could not depart from those, with and for whom he had acted, without leaving a community in mourning. The Indian church at Natick wept the loss of their venerated instructer, as rough men in simplicity of heart would weep for one, who had loved them, who had prayed for them, and guided them to the things of their everlasting peace." pp. 334 - 336.

We lay down this book assured that every thing has now been done for the memory of John Eliot that lies within the legitimate province of biography. History has now done her utmost for him; and those who love to know as much as may be known of such a man, and his work, will be fully satisfied. But without disparagement to the interest and thoroughness of this work, and others like it, we think that there is still a great popular want unsupplied with respect to the early times and first heroes and saints of New England. We have heard the idea set forth, and we sympathize with it, that those times and men have become fit themes for the historical novel. While such men as our author lead the way, and with learned accuracy and philosophical investigation set up the landmarks of truth concerning them, we would gladly see some genius follow and clothe them in a fitting garb of romance. We would propose to such an one no light or insignificant task, no vapid story of Indian murder, or Puritan rigor, or wild love, to relieve the ennui of a frivolous and jaded sentimentality; but, catching and bodying forth the spirit of the time, to take hold of the strong heart of the people, and kindle it with a hallowed and healthful enthusiasm for the old heroic age of the country.

G. P.

NOTICES AND INTELLIGENCE.

The Outcast, and Other Poems. By S. G. GOODRICH. Boston: Russell, Shattuck, & Williams. In the Preface to the volume before us, the author leads us to infer that he has not served a regular apprenticeship to the muses, and that he lays claim to no higher title than that of an amateur in verse. Had he indulged

in more pretence, we should not have been disposed to find fault with him for so doing. His work is more than respectable; and, though there are some evident tokens of haste, and a few passages which betray a want of finish, yet we cannot but hail the collection as a handsome accession to this department of American literature. The leading poem in the volume, "The Outcast," is in flowing but irregular verse, chiefly octosyllabics, and is intended to portray the workings of remorse in the mind of an individual of a noble and sensitive nature, who, actuated by notions of false honor, has in a moment of reckless excitement made himself in the eye of God and his own conscience, though not of the world, a murderer, having shot his friend in a duel. The interest of the story is well sustained, and the poem abounds in passages of genuine power, and in bursts of impassioned eloquence. The language is in one or two instances exaggerated, but never feeble. It is always rich, expressive, and harmonious. "The Spirit Court " is the title of a poem, half satirical and half didactic, in which the author has happily hit off some of the prominent follies of the day. The "Dream of Youth," the "Fortune-Hunter," and the lines to Lake Superior, are worthy of more than one reading. Had we room to analyze, and to find fault, we doubtless might do so; but the beauties of these poems so far counterbalance the defects, that we are inclined to be extremely lenient towards the latter, in consideration of the pleasure which the former have afforded We regret that we have but room for the following extract, which we select rather for its brevity than as an adequate specimen of the varied powers of the author. It also displays his turn for making nature a mirror, to reflect into the heart the beautiful images of religion.

us.

66 SONGS OF NATURE.

"I hear the ocean bursting on the shore,
What melancholy music in that roar!

What wailing voices swell upon the breeze,
What phantoms come and whisper of the seas!
Wild tales they tell of misty ages flown,

Of depths unfathomed, and of shores unknown;
Of ever toiling tides, where tempests frown,
Of trackless deeps, where God alone looks down.
And these, the legends of the speeding wave,
Come to the heart like music from the grave.
Sad is their tone, and answering deep to deep,
The soul gives back an echo to its sweep.

The forest tosses in the autumn gale,

The leaves are scattered, and they shroud the vale.
Voices are on the breeze, and in its breath
Spirits are singing, but they sing of death.

And who hath tuned these harps of nature? Who
Makes the deep bosom feel their music true?
Oh, God! we hear the anthem of the sea

And land, — and listen, for they speak of Thee!
They speak of Thee, and man's predestined doom,
Yet lift the shroud that shadows o'er the tomb:
They sadden, but they soothe the troubled soul,

And strike hope's anchor strong, though billows roll."

1. The Rev. Mr. Loraine's Faith Examined and Changed. By the Author of "The Sunday School Teacher's Funeral." Boston James Munroe & Co. 1836. 16mo. pp. 59.-2. Forms of Morning and Evening Prayer, composed for the Use of Families. By JONATHAN FARR. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1836. 16mo. pp. 168.—These, like all the publications of Mr. Farr, are intended for use, and not for show. The first little work traces the successive changes of opinion, through which an Orthodox minister, settled over an Orthodox church, is gradually led by a devout study of the Scriptures, in becoming a consistent Unitarian, and indicates the effect which these changes have on the tone of his preaching, on his pastoral fidelity, and ultimately on the spiritual condition of his flock. It is, in some respects, an unfinished sketch; but parts of it are so ingeniously done, and so feelingly withal, as to create in us a strong desire to hear the rest of Mr. Loraine's history, and to know a little more about "poor Mr. Hawbry's papers." The "Forms of Morning and Evening Prayer," are among the best that have come under our notice, once calm and fervent, scriptural and rational; for which reason we doubt not that they will find general favor among those, who are accustomed to avail themselves of such helps to private or domestic devotion. The volume is very neatly printed and done up, and contains prayers for every day in a fortnight, and eight morning and evening prayers for any day in the week, and a great variety of occasional prayers for families, and for individuals.

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Report on the Magnetical Experiments made by the Commission of the Royal Academy of Medicine, of Paris, read in the Meetings of June 21st and 28th, 1831. By M. HussoN, the Reporter. Translated from the French, and preceded with an Introduction, by CHARLES POYEN ST. SAUVEUR. Boston D. K. Hitchcock. 1836. 16mo. pp. 172. pp. 172. As Animal Magnetism is beginning once more, under a modified form, to make some noise in the world, we are glad that such among us as are curious in these matters, will now have an opportunity to become acquainted with the facts and experiments on which the pretended science is founded. Nobody need apprehend any harm from this second translation into English of the famous Report of the French savans ;