1850.] The Death of his Daughter. 289 naturally stern and unyielding, was made gentle and submissive by the power of religious principle. He delighted in the exercises of devotion; and, in the tumultuous press of secular cares, always found time and heart for the duties of the conference-room, the Sunday school, and the choir. Those who met him at seasons of social prayer and mutual exhortation felt that they were with a man whose conversation was in heaven, and whose chosen work on earth was the advancement of the reign of Christ in his own soul and in the world around him. For some time before his last illness, his friends had marked even an added solemnity and fervor of manner, as if Divine grace had put the last mellowing touch to a spirit long ripening for the purer communion of the sanctuary on high; and his exhortation at the last social religious meeting that he ever attended was such as must have left an indelible impression on the hearts of all present. His illness was painful and protracted; but was sustained with the most cheerful submission, and made beautifully radiant by the consolations and hopes of the Gospel that had been the constant guide of his life. We have room for no extended extracts from his biography, but cannot forbear quoting a single passage, which illustrates at once his firmness, his faith, and his devotedness to the cause of his Master. A favorite daughter had gone as a missionary to China. "Hardly two years elapsed before this lovely and devoted woman the first missionary who gained access to the women of China was called to lay down her life in the cause she so much loved. Having just acquired the language, and an influence over the Chinese of her own sex which promised much good, she was summoned away by death on the 18th of October, 1846. She sleeps at Whampoa, in the vicinity of Canton. Mr. Hale received the unexpected intelligence of her decease with great calmness, and reiterated the sentiments he had expressed on bidding her adieu. The news reached New York on the day of the weekly prayer-meeting of the Tabernacle Church. At that meeting Mr. Hale was in his place, the object of regard and sympathy to all present. No formal mention of his bereavement was needed; the intelligence had gone from mouth to mouth, and with it grief had spread from heart to heart. After the opening exercises, that exquisite hymn by Dr. L. Bacon, 'Hail, tranquil hour of closing day!' VOL. XLVIII, 4TH'S. VOL. XIII. NO. II. 25 a hymn penned while watching the slow decline of the partner of his life, having been sung, was commented on by the pas tor as appropriate to the occasion. The following stanza was particularly dwelt upon : 'How sweet to look, in thoughtful hope, And hear Him call his children up To His fair home on high.' "It was remarked that God knows where all His children are, and is calling them home, now from one land, now from another, till all shall be gathered in His presence and glory. "Scarcely were these remarks finished when Mr. Hale rose and said, I suppose you hardly expect me to speak to-night, and yet I know not why I should not speak to-night if ever. I cannot mourn for my daughter (and here his utterance choked), I bless God that He gave me such a daughter, and that He inclined her to go and serve Him among the heathen; and now that He has taken her to Himself, shall I mourn? How different are my feelings from those of a parent whose son has fallen on a Mexican battle-field! I might have reason to mourn if a child of mine had died in such a war as that in which we are engaged against a weak, half-civilized, sister nation. But now I have no tears to shed. Much as I love my children, I cannot expect always to have them around me, to dandle them always upon my knee; nor do I desire to; I have something else to do, and I trust they have also. I have consecrated them to God, and have endeavoured to train them for usefulness, and now if Christ honors one of them with a call to serve Him anywhere in His kingdom, shall I object and complain? No; I will rejoice at it. We ought not to talk of such things as a sacrifice, and make an ado about parting with our children for Christ. I say to these young converts (it was a season of revival), if any of you shall go to serve Him among the heathen, I'll help you with my pray ers, I'll help you with my money, but I won't shed a tear; I'll rejoice over it.'” pp. 109-111. The biography before us, by the pastor of his choice, is, as it should be, a tribute of appreciating and admiring friendship, but at the same time candid and discriminating. It is singularly chary of the language of vague eulogy, but enters into the detail of all the important events of Mr. Hale's life, and leaves his works to praise him, his conduct to define his character. It is intensely interesting. We took it up, with expectations not highly raised from our knowledge of the subject, but because we had ample reason to respect and love the au 1850.] His Character as a Writer. 291 thor. We have now to thank him for having rendered so rich an example of Christian excellence the property of the whole public, and should pity the reader whom its perusal could not make wiser and better. We wish that our young men could learn from it the strength and beauty of a consecrated life, that our busy men could see in its light how entirely compatible is the most carecumbered walk of secular duty with a straight-onward path to heaven, -that professing Christians might be taught by it the vast difference between worldliness under a Christian name and heavenly-mindedness in a worldly calling. We have reviewed it in the hope that it will be sought and read, and with the earnest desire that one denomination of Christians may not appropriate a lesson too good to be lost by any. The miscellaneous writings, which make up more than two thirds of the volume before us, consist chiefly of Mr. Hale's contributions to his own paper and to other secular and religious journals. Many of them are brief, some long articles, and some continuous series of papers, most of them on subjects of permanent interest and importance. Those on the Theatre, on Romanism, on Congregationalism, and on the Mexican War, occupy the largest space, will be the most read, and are the most worthy of the enduring form in which they are now given to the public. Mr. Hale's style is direct, strong, and earnest, generally accurate, seldom deficient in polish, though at times roughened under the impulse of deep emotion. He always displays a thorough knowledge of his subject, a freedom from conventional modes of thought, a sacred reverence for truth, and what is more, a manly confidence in the capacity of truth to vindicate itself, and to make its unobstructed way to the hearts and consciences of those who prize and love it. We value these papers, not only as the memorials of a good, we might even say of a great man, but as an important contribution to the graver literature of our country and generation. In our critical capacity, we are seldom betrayed into language of so unqualified praise as in our notice of this volume. We trust that we shall have induced many of our readers to judge for themselves whether it has been misplaced or excessive. A. P. P. ART. VIII.-GROTE'S HISTORY OF GREECE.* THE history of Greece, as the parent source of European art and literature, can never cease to command the attention of the cultivated world. Wherever poetry and history and eloquence are honored, wherever the refinements with which taste and genius have embellished the life of man are cherished, wherever free scope is given to the political activity of the race, there will the name of Hellas stand in eternal renown. To Englishmen and Americans, the history of the ancient Hellenic communities, considered simply in a political point of view, must be of peculiar interest. Up to the present moment, the English writers, next to those of Greece herself, have written the best political histories; in fact, the only works of their class which admit of comparison with the great models of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. In the illustration of ancient literature and art, the æsthetic and speculative turn of the German mind has led the scholars of that country into fields of investigation, which they have cultivated with unexampled success. Their tendency to vague and airdrawn subtilties, however, unchecked as it has hitherto been by practical dealings with the affairs of the world, forces us to withhold that implicit trust in their historical conclusions, which we might be tempted to yield to their boundless erudition. The political history of Greece has received much attention from the English writers, while the subjects of archæology, the interior of Hellenic life, and the ever youthful art of Hellas, have been left to the learned researches of the Teutonic scholars. The political experience of the English nation, the knowledge of affairs, and the sound common-sense which distinguishes the English mind, have justly given a weight to the authority of their writers on all political subjects, which the historians of other modern European nations can rarely claim. They have excelled, also, in point of style. With very few exceptions, their language is manly, nervous, and A History of Greece. By GEORGE GROTE. Vols. I. VI. London: John Murray. [Boston: Little & Brown.] 8vo. pp. 654, 628, 562, 566, 542, 676. 1850.] Gaps in Grecian History. 293 pure, and in this respect they stand at a wonderful elevation above their ponderous German and vivacious Gallic neighbours. How different, for example, is the luminous style of Dr. Arnold from the knotty, endless, and unintelligible sentences of Niebuhr, both having written on the same subject, and with the same general views! And such, probably, will always be the characteristic of British historians, unless the execrable dialect, made up of coarse slang and second-hand Germanisms, which Carlyle has attempted to introduce, and servile American scribblers, catching the contagious folly at the third remove, have tried to imitate, should gain more favor than the good taste of either country has hitherto bestowed upon it. Until recently, however, the works of English writers on Greek history have not been founded on the solid basis of minute and comprehensive learning. Though the subject is brilliant and inspiring, the treatment of it is attended with critical and peculiar difficulties, partly owing to the imperfect state in which many of the authorities have come down to our times, and partly to the complex variety of forms under which the political genius of Greece was unfolded. The dawn of Grecian history stands like a fair picture, under the glorious light of the poetry of Homer; but a dark interval of centuries follows, filled with changes of vast moment, with here and there only a faint glimmer of historical illumination. The Persian and Peloponnesian wars are clearly delineated in the imperishable records of Herodotus and Thucydides; but the legislation of Lycurgus and Solon, by which the great Dorian and Ionian types of the Hellenic character were moulded through the historical ages, exists only in scattered and uncertain fragments, dispersed over the whole field of Grecian literature; and the great work of Aristotle, in which he described and compared one hundred and fifty political constitutions, is among the lost treasures of ancient wisdom. To fill up these lamentable chasms, so as to shape out a tolerably complete representation of the Hellenic world, requires the patient toil, minute research, careful comparisons, and comprehensive learning of the German philologist; to interpret the political phenomena, when they have once been exposed to the light by these exhaustive explorers, is a task for the deep experience and practised shrewdness of the Ameri |