obvious and striking, and some not the less attracting, because they are among the finer chords which elude the perception of the careless observer.

Man, in whatever climate he dwells, and under whatever modifications of habit, progress, and institution he is met, still identifies himself with his race, and claims to have sprung from the same Creator's hand. Born in what zone soever, he has a mind which will do some thinking work, and will have its conjectures about the future prospects of the immortal part that he feels stir within him. His object of fear or worship may be some monster of terror, or some pleasant myth. It matters not which, for either indicates the presence of a spiritual part, which seeks a spirit to have sprung from, to trust in, to return to, when the struggle of life shall be ended.

When man is enriched by Divine revelation, and gives himself to its guidance, he has found a compass to steer by; he falls into the track that leads him safely and uniformly, and in it he meets with fellow-travellers. Introduce the light of revelation, and his vain fancies fall out of view; philosophical and painful conjecture folds its weary wing, and he reposes on that which commends itself to his mind as common sense, and to his heart as simple truth. Christianity is the electric chain which unites communities, whatever be their external diversities, and, however their mere temporal advantages may be opposed, it combines their highest interest. It pro

duces uniformity of motive, of sentiment, and action. It is the parent of peace.

This is the bond which to the British Christian renders America a second native land. Whatever he has found of holy aim and zealous effort to attach him to his home, he will find there, in a form slightly varied, but imbued with the same spirit—and thus he combines safety and improvement with travel, he finds sympathy with strangers, and enjoys confiding trust in the midst of all the gratifications arising from novelty.

Diversity of clime, complexion, manners, and even of tongue, cannot separate, if the great pulses of the heart beat in unison. A Welsh missionary from Ohio, on the platform at the Tabernacle in New York, mentioned a Welsh woman who walked often six miles to worship, though she did not understand English. The reason she gave for this was, that the name of Jesus Christ often occurred in the service, and the sound of it warmed her heart. So, people from all lands, who know Him, are united in heart, under that name which is above every name.

It would be a dull world, and not much worth exploring, were there no national and peculiar characteristics; and he is a dull traveller who only admires and approves in proportion as things resemble his home. The organ of comparison is useful when in enlarged and generous exercise, but is poor and contemptible when it leads us only to depreciate and censure. And patriotism, that generous instinct

productive of a happy preference for, and contentment in, our own land, dwindles into narrow-minded selfishness if it lead us to regard the success and prosperity of other countries with a jealous eye, or to desire to depreciate the excellencies which they possess. We may each hold our preference for our own country with a grain of allowance, and be willing that each should think

"The land of his birth

The loveliest land on the face of the earth,"

if he only willingly discerns the loveliness of other lands. The worn-out coloured man, crying,

"But now I'm old, and feeble too,

I cannot work any more,

O carry me back to old Virginia, to old Virginia's shore,"

though singing of a place of bondage, yet loves the home of his childhood, and is exercising the same sentiment which swelled the heart of Sir Walter Scott, when, in decrepitude and infirmity, he almost flung himself out of the carriage on coming within sight of Abbotsford. And again, the same sentiment, multiplied a thousand-fold, burst from the hearts and lips of the German army, returning weary and worn from Bonaparte's wars, when, on reaching the mountain-top, they rent the air with one long shout, “Am Rhein! am Rhein ! Let us love our countries, but let us also love our friends; let us be faithful patriots, but also enlarged citizens of the world. Let us honour worth wherever it exists, and delight to recognise true sympathies

wherever we can find them. Those petty criticisms of manners and of "notions," which are no more dignified than the squabbles for precedence of rival Misses at a ball-how unworthy are they of two great nations who know that each, after their own model, are free-how lowering to men who have a higher than human tribunal to stand before, and a loftier object than man-pleasing to aim at!

Much has been said and written of the United States by English men and women, and, unhappily, there has been more displeasure excited, and temper shewn on both sides, than the occasion warranted. Diedrich Knickerbocker has quizzed, and Cooper has censured and criticised, and Mrs Kirkland has described; each saying, according to their fancy, things more keen than most of what has been said by English tourists-and their countrymen have borne it well, and confessed, when called upon, the truth of their censures. But let a remark much less pungent drop from an English pen, and one would think that the ghost of the Stamp Act, the tax on tea, and all the long horrors of a war amongst brethren, were risen up to revive ambition, wrath, jealousy, and every evil thing which wisdom, brotherly love, and Christian charity would wish to plunge deep into the caves of the ocean, which divides and yet unites us. It has been said of flattery, that it is so pleasant, that if it be but administered warily, the wisest man living could bear it laid on in shovels-full; and such is self-complacency

or love of approbation in many, that probably there is truth in the saying. But in the abstract, each person of common sense and common observation will admit that, as no individual, so also no nation is faultless. And it does not become a great nation, like the United States, possessing much to rejoice in, and much to be thankful for, to condescend to covet flattery, or to yield to irritation at the statements of passing observers ;-part of them haply mistakes, while some of them are undoubtedly true. Moreover, in such a wide country, society is made up of numerous circles, which as little resemble each other as do the people of different countries. Therefore, a description of one circle may appear over-coloured or absolutely false to another, but be quite true nevertheless. What points of assimilation would be found between the accomplished judge on the bench or the divine in his study, and the man of suddenly-found fortune working off his exuberant spirits by trotting fifteen miles an hour up the Third Avenue, and calling to his peers (though mayhap not his acquaintances) as he scours past them, “Go ahead, boys! go ahead!" The judge or the divine might suppose this an exaggeration, as their pursuits keep them apart from such lively youths and yet they are their townsmen.

If a "lady," whose associates have been strolling players, or backwoods people in a very raw settlement, tells all the vulgarities she met with in such society, why should it ruffle the plumes of the dove