to others an example of truth, which is unchangeable, in all that we do; when our motives are as questionless, as are the principles of action of perfect rectitude; when we move among men in an atmosphere which the best influences of nature, the truths of religion, and the highest human excellence, have purified, and which becomes a living and pure principle to all who are within its reach. It is thus when we have the least in view, that we frequently accomplish most. The influence is secret, and those who may be benefitted by it, are so by a progress so gentle that they are hardly sensible of the change. We minister, in short, to the moral growth of others, and this, like the increase of living nature around us, is so imperceptible as to be known only by its effects; and the agency of him who produces it, is as silent as are the operations of nature itself.

To give, then, to man a power over others, like that of nature over himself, is to call forth his highest attributes. It is in the chain of creation his mind now acts, and it becomes the nearest link to this great cause. This view teaches us something of the nature of mind, and at the same time shows its resemblance to the governing principle of the universe. This is the highest alliance we can seek for it. It will increase with the growth of moral purity, and with the progress of the whole mind. It makes us happier by its own growth, for it multiplies the means of happiness, and adds to their power.

The love of nature is an exercise of the affections, and its operation is to strengthen and to refine them. It comes in this way in aid of the religious principle and sentiment. Give the affections to nature; love it in the degree, and after the manner it should be loved, and their other exercises, the love of man, and his noblest works, and above all the love of God, come at length to be natural movements of the mind and heart. Can that man regard the happiness of another mind as a trifling concern, who has found his own in these exercises? Can he be cruel in his influences, and injurious in his acts to any human being, who has felt and acknowledged the unabated goodness which has been exercised through all nature toward himself? Can he contemn the human intellect, who feels that it is to this he owes his own dignity, and all of good he hopes for or enjoys?

I may be now asked, what is this nature, about which so much is said, and which so few truly feel? To define is not always to instruct; still it will not be difficult to show what is meant by this A difficulty of comprehending it has been created by the manner of considering it. The term has been very much con

term.

1

tracted in its import; so that by some it means little more than a few of the more remarkable objects of the external world. Some have given it a local habitation, as well as misapplied the name; and men have been gravely sent for it into the country, as if nature were only or principally there. This is a great misuse of the term. Wherever man is, there truly and emphatically is nature. It is within and around him every where. His endless capacity of all greatness and of all goodness; his perception and his enjoyment of all that is external to him, and of all the creations of his own soul; every thing with which it is worthy of his noble nature to sympathize, and all of good he can feel and communicate; all this is nature, a part of that glorious creation in the very midst of which he is placed. He does not require to be transported to new regions and other scenes, to be in the midst of, and to enjoy nature. His own mind is the highest work of that power which created every thing, and by its own mysterious endowments brings him nearer to that which it is his highest interest to comprehend and adore. Nature to him is an expression of power. It is, in its grand and its little, a simple manifestation of power, but a manifestation for him, and always present to him. Can he be far from nature, who has within himself that for which all this is made, and which, of all created beings, he is alone capable of feeling and loving? These remarks are made to remove an objection not unfrequently brought against human condition as we actually find it, that this condition is unfriendly to the whole enjoyment of nature, in other words, the reaching to the highest happiness and intellectual growth, which is attainable on earth. The harmony of our condition (infinitely varied as it may be) with all about us and with our whole nature, is as complete as it is beautiful. Nothing in it of itself, and necessarily, can make man unhappy, vile, or wretched; for he is in the full possession of a power originally designed for, and capable of a supreme control. It can make him happy where his condition seems most calamitous. It creates for him a new heaven and a new earth, for it is itself the dwelling-place of principles and emotions, which are in natural correspondence with all of good, grand, and beautiful, around him. Give him the blessed light of the sun alone, and is he placed beyond the power of nature? Make him blind, but is he in darkness? The light of his own soul is around and within him. This is a brighter ray than the sun's, and it will glow and beam more brightly, when that glorious orb has forgotten its splendor. Is the painter at his easel, or the poet in his garret, shut out from nature? Whence, then, that dazzling light, that impenetrable

depth of shade, that sky, and that ocean,-and whence that verse of inspiration and prophecy, but from nature, nature most deeply felt, and most truly enjoyed? It would be trite to say, that there are situations more favorable than others for the apprehension and love of nature. But it is exceedingly important that it should be said, and felt, that this influence does not belong exclusively to place, and that a mind fitted for the happiness, can never be wholly deprived of the means of obtaining it.

ITALIAN LYRICAL POETRY.

ALAMANNI.

Luigi AlamannI is chiefly admired at the present time for his didactic poem in blank verse, on agriculture, entitled La Coltivazione. His poetical writings, however, were very numerous, and of many different kinds. He wrote a comedy in blank verse; an heroic poem in the style of Ariosto, called Girone il Cortese; a travesty of the Iliad; together with a number of lyrical pieces, including elegies, eclogues, satires, sonnets, hymns, and other poems of the same class.

Alamanni was born at Florence, in 1495. His family were originally partizans of the Medici; but, in consequence of their tyrannical conduct, Alamanni, on his arrival at manhood, separated from his old party, and, in concert with Macchiavelli, in 1522, joined in a conspiracy against the Medici. The conspiracy was discovered, but Alamanni fortunately escaped from his country. He wandered about in different parts of France and Lombardy, until 1527, when, during the temporary triumph of the republican party, he was recalled to Florence, and invested with some of the highest offices of the state. The return of the Medici to power, in 1530, again compelled him to seek refuge in France. He was favorably received by Francis L., and employed by him and by his son, Henry II., in many important embassies, and continued attached to the court until his death, which happened in 1556, at Amboise. The fidelity and uncommon ability displayed by Alamanni, were well rewarded by his royal patrons; and in addition to this, Alamanni had, long before his death, reaped all the advantages of extensive literary reputation.

The minor poems of Alamanni were distinguished for their elegance, grace, and felicity of diction. Indeed, he is said to have possessed the talent of improvising with great facility. His

narrative poems, in the opinion of Sismondi, although not deficient in harmony of versificationn or variety of incidents, are yet dull, and incapable of awakening that vivid interest, which is the charm of his model, the Orlando Furioso. They are, therefore, comparatively forgotten even in Italy. But the poem on Cultivation still retains a place among the classical poetry of the language, by reason of the purity and elegance of its style, and the method and wisdom of its precepts.

In illustration of the manner of this poet, I have selected a couple of his most admired sonnets.

TO ITALY.

Thanks be to God, my feet are now addressed,

Proud Italy, at least to visit thee,

After six weary years,- -since destiny

Forbids me in thy dear-loved lap to rest.
With weeping eyes, with look and heart depressed,
Upon my natal soil I bend the knee,

While hope and joy my troubled spirit flee,
And anguish, rage, and terror fill my breast.

I turn me, then, the snowy Alps to tread,

And seek the Gaul, more kindly prompt to greet
The child of other lands, than thou art thine:
Here, in these shady vales, mine old retreat,
I lay, in solitude, mine aching head,

Since Heaven decrees, and thou dost so incline.

PETRARCA'S RETREAT.

Vaucluse, ye hills and glades and shady vale,
So long the noble Tuscan bard's retreat,
When warm his heart for cruel Laura beat,
As lone he wandered in thy beauteous dale;
Ye flowers, which heard him oft his pains bewail
In tones of love and sorrow, sad but sweet;
Ye dells and rocks, whose hollow sides repeat
Even yet, his ancient passion's moving tale;
Fountain, which pourest out thy waters green
In ever-flowing streams the Sorgue to fill,
Whose charms the lovely Arno's emulate:
How deeply I revere your holy scene,

Which breathes throughout the immortal poet still,
Whom I, perchance all vainly, imitate.

CAPPELLO.

BERNARDO CAPPELLO was born at Venice, of an illustrious patrician family, about the beginning of the sixteenth century.

He was happy in possessing the friendship of Bembo at an early period, whilst the latter resided at Padua; and formed his taste according to the principles and instructions of his distinguished friend. A maxim advanced by him in the senate, which was esteemed dangerous to the public tranquillity, caused him to be condemned, in 1540, to perpetual banishment from Venice. After living two years on the island of Arba, his place of exile, he was cited to render an account of his conduct, and thought it safest to seek refuge from his enemies in the States of the Church. He was cordially received by cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and honored with the government of Orvieto and Tivoli. He lived first at Urbino, where the rarest geniuses of Italy were then assembled, and afterwards at Rome, where he died, in 1565, without having ever succeeded in making his peace with the republic.

His poetry is considered by his countrymen as claiming to rank with the best compositions of his age. The feeling of his persecution is strongly expressed in the following

SONNET.

Thoughts of desponding and despairing grief,-
An impious host,-besiege my sinking heart,
That strives, but strives, alas! with fruitless art,
To seek, in holier feelings, for relief.
Few are the fleeting moments, few and brief,
When the dark crowd of broken hopes depart,—
When conscious virtues balmy peace impart,
And lay unto my soul the healing leaf.
For still pursued by dreaded sounds of woe,
That wake the memory of afflictions past,
Soon fleet the joys, which life and hope bestow :
Till vaunting foes, their hatred soothed at last,
Urge me, by scornful word or secret blow,
With impious hand my dying hour to haste,

C.

MY DEAR C

LETTER FROM AN AMERICAN IN EUROPE.

Göttingen.

By way of concluding my sketch of Göttingen, I propose to throw together, in the present letter, some detached memoranda, whose want of connexion I trust you will pardon, if they are in any wise illustrative of the peculiar manners that are here prevalent. To begin, I will take you with me to a dinner-party at the celebrated Professor E's, to which my friend and myself