It is our opinion, that a cultivated intellectual society cannot find much gratification in reciprocating nonsense, and practising gourmanderie; and that where such occupations form the constituents of pleasure, the society, in which they are found, has little just pretension to intellectual distinction. We admit, that assembling in society is for amusement, and we not only concede, but maintain, that amusement is, in itself, as necessary to human virtue, as sleep is to human life; but amusement may be creditable or discreditable, elevated or low, intellectual or vulgar. Now, if it must be had, let it be had according to the taste and inclination of those who are to enjoy it; and do not let him, who finds and can find no pleasure in elegant conversation, seek to get amusement by trying to talk; if he finds all his sensibilities attracted to the supper-table, let him feast at it in moderation, and content himself with the refinements of oysters and champaign; but if this is the great cause of his entertainment, do not let him make any pretension to superiority of intellectual cultivation. A better tone of society would change all this; and what now strikes us as a laborious and hard task, that of maintaining an easy, playful, elegant, and instructive conversation, an interchange of thoughts worthy to be remembered, and a developement of sentiment and opinion that might be remembered with satisfaction, would then become easy and popular. Instead of the costly display of materials for eating and drinking, disgusting by their quantity, and dangerous to the habits and character of the young and aged, whom they tempt beyond moderation, a lighter refection would soon become quite as satisfactory, and be vastly less prejudicial to health and to the mind. Let the dance go on, let music increase its fascinations, let youth enjoy its halcyon days, with all that can render life gay, cheerful, and happy; but take care, that in the excess of your kindness, you do not ruin the animated and lovely beings, whom you draw to a bright and shining light, that may destroy them. Put no obstacle in the way of the enjoyment of every thing that wealth and liberality can contribute to divert the spirits, and gratify the imagination, and elevate the heart; but let it be remembered, that over all these preparations, the spirit of intelligence and discretion should preside; and that there can be no permanent happiness where there is a departure from pro priety. He is not the kindest friend, who pours forth the most liberally of his abundance, but he who so manages his contributions, that, while he promotes the innocent hilarity, he does not jeopardize the moral habits of the companions collected around him. There is yet another circumstance in our state of society, which we have hardly left ourselves space to notice, and yet it cannot be passed over without at least a cursory remark. We mean the matter-of-fact calculation on which it is arranged. We are getting to be more dull, and grave, and phlegmatic, than is wise or prudent. The plan of our association is too strictly utilitarian. We prune off, and pare down, until the fruit, as well as foliage, is in danger of destruction. We are very little of an imaginative people. There is not much that seems to us expedient, unless its exact value is first mathematically ascertained. The may-pole and the liberty-pole are cut down; the sports and gambols of merry England, the jocund hilarity of beautiful France, the song, the dance, the improvisatore of romantic Italy, are out of season and out of climate; and our public days are too often days of disgraceful intemperance, because there are no national games, no lawful pleasurable pastimes, which may honestly be substituted for the daily labor of life. If a chaplet of flowers should be suspended over the grave of a departed friend, there would be no sympathy in the public mind to preserve them as the tribute of mourning affection; the first passer-by would wonder if it was thought the inanimate dust could be sensible of their perfume; they would be more likely to be stolen than to wither. Monuments of the dead can scarcely escape being mutilated in the mere wantonness of the folly or the ignorance of the gazers. We have heard wonder expressed why our Chief Executive Magistrate marched in public procession with a military guard, when there was no danger of an enemy! In all the forms and ceremonies of civil and religious duty, a simplicity, almost on the Quaker plan, is encroaching on the rites and pageantry of former times. A young couple went, not long since, into the study of a late Judge of our Supreme Court, who, by virtue of a commission as Justice of the Peace, was authorized to solemnize marriages, and desired him to marry them. Very well,' said his honor, whom they found writing, 'pass me your cer VOL. XI.-N. S. VOL. VI. NO. I. 11 6 6 tificate, and you may go.' The man handed a certificate that the banns were published, but remained. The Judge continued his employment, until the impatient bridegroom again announced the intention of his visit. Very well,' said the Judge, and again pursued his task. After some further delay, the neglected applicants once more reminded his honor of their desire to be married. Why, go home,' said the magistrate; you have been married this half hour.' And it was true. The law only requires an acknowledgment of present intention before a Justice of the Peace, and a recognition of that intention by the Justice in his official capacity. There is no form of words necessary to the purpose, nor any ceremony, other than a simple declaration, which the Judge did not permit, for a moment, to disturb his meditation. 6 But we doubt whether this simplicity may not be carried too far. There is an avenue to the mind through the heart. The imagination excites the affections. Ceremonies, and parade, and decorations, and a pageantry which it would be difficult to justify by any syllogistic argument, have ever been found necessary to influence the conduct of mankind. No doubt these are supplements to weakness. Men are stronger and firmer who can do without them; but they are not wiser, who affect to do without them, and fail for want of their assistance. No doubt they may be excessive. The mummeries that have been practised on the credulity of mankind in other countries, have brought the whole system into contempt; and here, too, many a man has passed for a wise man, rather from the size of his wig than the capacity of his brain. But we are not intellectual enough to dispense with all the machinery that moves the mind. The passions, the affections, the imagination, are to be consulted as well as the reason. They are all parts of that complicated contrivance, by which the human will is to be influenced; they are the gifts of a Providence that has bestowed nothing in vain; they are not to be eradicated as noxious, or neglected as useless, but directed, and controlled, and employed, as necessary instruments in the formation of character and the promotion of happiness. A little more attention to the matter we are considering, might, we think, be advantageously given by our temperance societies; for, we much mistake, if more than one half the excesses, which so lamentably degrade us, do not begin rather from the want of lawful and innocent objects of amusement, than from any disposition for, or delight in, the intoxication itself. We might have called our readers' notice to more amiable traits in our social intercourse, to finer and more accordant tones in the constant music of society, to the high sentiment of moral purity, which pervades it; to the reprehension and disgrace, which attend even the suspicion of departure from the chastity and honor of the sex; to its hospitality, its liberality, its noble and almost inexhaustible spirit of benevolence and charity. We might have exhibited splendid exceptions to the cases we have noticed, and portrayed, from living originals, bright pictures of its elegance, refinement, intellectual culture, and tender sensibility. But it is well, sometimes, to see the shades on the canvass. It is expedient, occasionally, to look at home with the severity with which strangers scrutinize us. We do not feel the less kindness for endeavouring to point out the means of being worthier of regard. With the philosophic poet we say, then, "Thee I account still happy, and the chief Among the nations, seeing thou art free, My native nook of earth! Thy clime is rude, YET BEING FREE, I LOVE THEE.' [For the Christian Examiner.] The following Address, by Professor PALFREY, of Cambridge, though composed for a particular occasion, appeared to the Editors of this work to contain so much that was of general and permanent importance and interest, that they requested a copy for publication; which request was kindly complied with by the author. The form in which it was delivered has been retained, as it was believed that much of its spirit might be lost in giving it another shape. - THE EDITORS. ART. V. An Address delivered before the Society for Promoting Theological Education, June 5, 1831. By JOHN G. PALFREY, Professor of Biblical Literature in Harvard University. You have assembled, my friends, at the invitation of the Society for promoting Theological Education, to attend to some exposition of its supposed claims to the favor and patronage of the community. These, without text or preface, I proceed to attempt to lay before you, not intending, as I go on, to avoid any details which may help to put you in better possession of the subject, and altogether passing over some topics forcibly presenting themselves, which might have more of general or of popular interest, than what I shall discuss, since I am mainly solicitous to make suggestions to meet the present object. From the early part of the last century, Harvard College had possessed a professorship in theology; and, in the beginning of the present, by the bounty of a distinguished individual,* a lectureship in the same department had been established. The College also held funds for relieving the expenses of students preparing for the ministry. But the means of obtaining a suitable education for the sacred office being manifestly quite inadequate, the government of that institution, in a circular letter, addressed, in the year 1815, to some of its leading friends in different parts of the Commonwealth and elsewhere, called the attention of the community to the subject. Subscriptions were in consequence obtained to the amount of nearly thirty thousand dollars, and the contributors *The Honorable Samuel Dexter. |