and fearlessly assert, that according to the rule of morals, and for the real benefit of society, there ought to be between master and servant a mutual and equal contract virtually of the following sort :-that there should be no overbearing on the one hand, no departure from the nature of the understood agreement, nothing, in short, that would imply a relinquishment of self-respect on the part of the servant-while, on the other hand, the servant should cheerfully perform certain kinds of labour, for certain stipulated and understood compensations. But the obligations on the master are by no means exhausted even when he has performed his part of the equal contract according to the rules of justice. He has numerous and pressing duties to perform-of an exemplary, a moral, and a religious character. When shall the right views be taken by either party? We answer, not until a great social and moral improvement occur in the whole community; an improvement, however, which we do not expect will in any considerable degree be forwarded by Mr. Knight's Guides to Service.

ART. XXVIII.-The Elements of Practical Geology. By FREDERICK BURR. London: Whittaker. 1831,

A GREATLY enlarged and indeed, in various respects, a re-cast edition of an excellent introduction to the study of Geology, as well as a clear and full directory to the economic application of principles to practical purposes, as in the case of mining, or other engineering operations.

ART. XXIX.-Life's Lessons. A Tale. London: Tilt. 1838. THIS Tale is by the Author of " Tales that might be True;" and like what might be expected from the titles of both works, the writer has studiously and successfully avoided extravagant romance, and all high wrought narrative in regard to character and incident. "Life's Lessons," however, while a production that inculcates forcibly and truly excellent moral principles and feelings, is a very able and affecting performance.

ART. XXX.-A New Method of Learning to Read, Write, and Speak a Language in Six Months, adapted to the German. By H. G. ÖLLENDORFF. London: Whittaker. 1838.

CAPTAIN BASIL HALL was a Pupil of the Author of this ingenious work; and that gallant gentleman's strong recommendation of the system will go much further than anything we can say of it after a hasty glance. The Captain, indeed, has applied the method to several lauguages and proved its efficacy. This method is to employ a vast number of questions embracing all leading ideas, or such as are most ordinarily introduced, as well as the names and relations of almost every familiar object, and to frame an answer couched in the same words of the question as nearly as possible. Thus, "Have you a horse?" "I have a horse." The principles and rules of grammar are also made the subject of exercise, the exercises being written and read aloud, before the teacher.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW.

FEBRUARY, 1839.

ART. I.-Incidents of Travel in the Russian and Turkish Empires. By J. L. STEPHENS, Esq., Author of "Incidents of Travel in the Holy Land." 2 vols. 12mo. London: Bentley. 1839.

NOT very long ago we had before us "Incidents of Travel" by the same author, through Egypt, Edom, and the Holy Land; a work which not only pleased us, but which has been favourably received in America, the father-land of the author, and in this country. Mr. Stephens, it now appears, has been bred to the profession of the-law; but with the true spirit of his nation was restless and enterprising enough to undertake a journey through various regions of Asia, Africa, and Europe, before, we presume, anything like weighty business bound him, and without any other apparent purpose than the satisfaction of a rational curiosity.

The travels which formed the subject of the former work were but part of the result of one and the same long journey; and, indeed, the latter part,-Mr. Stephens most probably presuming that his first venture in the way of publishing his Incidents would be most wisely confined to the fruits of his most mature experience. In the hands, however, of a person so active and lively, capable of throwing off graphic and characteristic sketches at a glance of his subjects, and, at the same time, inclined and able to deal in shrewd inferences where the premises are exceedingly slender and the facts meagre,-inferences, which, strongly cast in the mint of sound sense, have a sufficiency of Yankee feeling and manner about them to render the whole work fragrant as well as instructive to Europeans, -it is now perfectly manifest that it would have been of very little importance as concerns the popularity of the several volumes which of them were first or last in the market.

After having indicated what are some of the leading features in both publications, it is proper to remark, as, we believe, was done in our review of our author's Egypt, Edom, and Holy Land, that there appear, in as far as scholarship goes, no traces in his manner or matter to prove him possessed of more than the education generally bestowed upon persons in a genteel sphere of life confers. His knowledge again in the fine arts, of antiquities, or of any particular science, seems to be but of a general kind, such as popularly exists. Nor is his enthusiasm so lofty and sentimental as to make po

VOL. I. (1839.) NO. 11.

M

visions and aspirations supply the place of real information of an entirely new or abundant order. But what is better to the majority of readers, his remarks are his own; they are always fresh and natural; while his sentiments are never mawkish and false, nor his enthusiasm blown.

We have intimated that it would have signified little which of the two separate publications made from the one and the same journey first appeared as regards their popularity or the agreeable characteristics of the author. Such must have been the case, particularly in America, where the works were first published, and for which sphere they were, no doubt, mainly intended. In this country, however, in as far as matter is concerned, something like an exception must be taken to the first of the volumes now before us, in which Greece and Turkey are the scenes of travel and description. In regard to these fields the English have bared the soil. But if we refer to the manner of our author, no where does he appear to better or more peculiar advantage-the very random and hasty journeyings, apparently, having excited at first the writer's best spirit, temper and talents, as well as tried his physical qualities. We never met with a traveller whose self-possession, amounting in not a few instances to American impertinence, and to the full indulgence of Yankee inquisitiveness, is so freely avowed. Mr. S., it appears, had few or no introductions but what his own confidence produced. He very seldom understood the language of those who chiefly interested him, and never did we suppose of the countries he traversed. We are led to suspect that his pockets were not always well furnished with the magic key to all favour and universal acceptance. He, times without number, threw himself slap-dash amongst other strangers, and though sometimes indiscreetly and perilously, yet he always went or got a head" with marvellous success. Near the beginning of his travels, and when along with two companions he is driven into Missilonghi, a scene so closely identified with Byron's latter days, we find him stating that all of what he was then worth was on his back, having lost at one of the Ionian Islands his carpet-bag. Immediately follows in a passage we shall quote entire some particulars and reflections that are quite characteristic of the author. He says, "Every condition, however, has its advantages: mine put me above porters and custom-house officers; and while my companions were busy with these plagues of travellers, I paced with great satisfaction the shore of Greece, though I am obliged to confess that this satisfaction was for reasons utterly disconnected with any recollections of her ancient glories. Business before pleasure: one of our first inquiries was for a breakfast. Perhaps, if we had seen a monument, or solitary column, or ruin of any kind, it would have inspired us to better things; but there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that could recall an image of the past. Besides, we did not expect to land at Missilonghi, and were not bound to be inspired at a place

66

into which we were thrown by accident: and, more than all, a drizzling rain was penetrating to our very bones: we were wet and cold, and what can men do in the way of sentiment when their teeth are chattering?" This is a fair sample of the writer's downright and plain but agreeable and forcible style; nor need we now do more than follow him, taking wide strides to the end of his journey as recorded in these volumes.

Before leaving Missilonghi, however, let us inform our readers that, according to Mr. S., the manner in which the Greeks at that place spoke of Lord Byron was most disrespectful. He had attached himself to one of the great parties that then distracted the patriots, and therefore political opponents, though he had given the country all that man could give,-in his dying words, "his time his means, his health, and lastly his life," and the people, where he breathed his last, treated his memory with malignity and affirmed that he was no friend to Greece.

But Marco Bozzaris is a theme, which, as suggested by a visit to Missilonghi, obtains far more gratifying notice by our author,-this patriot as a hero appearing in his estimation equal to Miltiades or Leonidas. A highly interesting account is also given of the widow and daughters of the Suliote chief, with whom Mr. S. had an interview; but the passage is too long to be inserted in our pages at such an early part. We must mention that the burial-place of the chief is not otherwise externally distinguished than by a "few round stones piled over his head."

In the course of his rapid race over Greece, Mr. S., of course, visited Athens, but lets the reader easily off, as regards antiquities and the trite themes of classic or pseudo-classic tourists. On one theme connected with the celebrated city, we like his tone just as we rejoice in his information. American missionaries have established themselves at Athens, by whom their countryman was naturally most warmly received. We here must quote some particulars :

"The first thing we did in Athens was to visit the American missionary school. Among the extraordinary changes of an ever-changing world, it is not the least that the young America is at this moment paying back the debt which the world owes to the mother of science, and the citizen of a country which the wisest of the Greeks never dreamed of, is teaching the descendants of Plato and Aristotle the elements of their own tongue. I did not expect among the ruins of Athens to find anything that would particularly touch my national feelings, but it was a subject of deep and interesting reflection that, in the city which surpassed all the world in learning, where Socrates, and Plato, and Aristotle thought, and Cicero went to study, the only door of instruction was that opened by the hands of American citizens, and an American missionary was the only schoolmaster.In 1830 the Rev. Messrs. Hill and Robinson, with their families, sailed from this city (New York) as the agents of the Episcopal missionary society, to found schools in Greece."

Mrs. Hill had set up a school for the instruction of girls, which, in two mouths after its opening, attracted one hundred and sixtyseven scholars. "Of the first ninety-six, not more than six could read at all, and that imperfectly; and not more than ten or twelve knew a letter." By the time of our author's visit the school numbered nearly five hundred. It must, as he declares, have been a gratifying scene for him when he and his companions entered the seminary as acknowledged Americans, to behold all the scholars rise to greet them. A few more notices and reflections will be relished by our readers while on this subject :

"At the close of the Greek revolution, female education was a thing entirely unknown in Greece, and the women of all classes were in a most deplorable state of ignorance. When the strong feeling that ran through our country in favour of this struggling people had subsided, and Greece was freed from the yoke of the Mussulman, an association of ladies in the little town of Troy, formed the project of establishing at Athens a school exclusively for the education of females; and, humble and unpretending as was its commencement, it is becoming a more powerful instrument in the civilization and moral and religious improvement of Greece, than all the European diplomacy has ever done for her. * * Mr. and Mrs. Hill accompanied us through the whole establishment, and, being Americans, we were everywhere looked upon and received by the girls as patrons and fathers of the school, both which characters I waived in favour of my friend; the one because he was really entitled to it, and the other because some of the girls were so well grown that I did not care to be regarded as standing in that venerable relationship. The didaskalissas, or teachers, were of this description, and they spoke English.-Before we went away the whole school rose at once, and gave us a glorious finale with a Greek hymn. In a short time these girls will grow up into women and return to their several families; others will succeed them, and again go out, and every year hundreds will distribute themselves in the cities and among the fastnesses of the mountains, to exercise over their fathers and brothers, and lovers, the influence of the education acquired here; instructed in all the arts of woman in civilized domestic life, firmly grounded in the principles of morality, and of religion purified from the follies, absurdities, and abominations of the Greek faith."

We have an anecdote of a Greek who accosted Mr. Hill one day, and in language declared by that gentleman to be poetry itself, styling himself a "Stagyrite," saying he was from the land of Aristotle, &c. His business was to ask for one of the books which Mr. Hill was in the habit of distributing, to take home with him. The instance is stated to have been of common occurrence; and while it evinces the spirit of inquiry and thirst for knowledge among the modern, cannot but suggest affecting comparisons with the condition of the ancient, Greeks, when America was undreamed of among civilized men. Before leaving Athens we must have a glance of King Otho :