Thus, also, in civil life, good and wholesome effects were brought to pass more by example than by instruction, more by paternal influence and pious awe than by law and punishment. As long as this spirit reigned in Greece, and never was it wholly extinguished, until the interference of a hostile power broke down the forces of domestic order,-the youth was moral and temperate; and even the greater part of the older, despite all the inflammability of the Hellenic character, continued both in domestic and public life, sober, moral, and loyal to civil order. Now, if much seems to be wanting to the life of modern nations which the moral culture of the Greeks promoted, so that, with the wholly altered formation of the States and their political institutions, we are hardly to expect, that a whole people can ever again be elevated to an equal rank,-yet the individual ought not therefore to despair of attaining for himself the exalted station which he admires in the ilustrious models of Grecian virtue. The example of the ancient world,-like every example of greatness and of moral excellence, wheresoever it may be found,-will not discourage but excite, provided we look into our own bosoms; and every one may exhibit in himself, according to his abilities, what delights him in others. The great and the noble are not limited by divine Providence to one region of the earth, or to one period of time; there is no soil, sterile as it may be in other respects, which will not bear them; and wherever men live, and civil order exists, the swelling seed of morality only waits the fostering sunshine to unfold its germ. What flourished in antiquity, can even now be realized in individual cases; and what in Greece proceeded from the commonwealth, and affected the individual, may in the States of modern Europe pass from the individual, and act upon the commonwealth. Even now, example has not lost its stirring power; and as the lightning's flash every where seeks out and strikes its kindred matter, so, too, the power of the good and great goes from heart to heart, strengthens as it extends, and, like a flame, shines by diffusion, with the greater splendor. I cannot conclude this discourse, without expressing my sense of the happiness I have, in becoming a citizen of this land, and enjoying the favor of its enlightened monarch. This is the first occasion, on which I have had the honor to speak before this distinguished society, formed for the cultivation of all liberal and elegant studies; and I cannot refrain from giving utterance to the delight I experience, when I behold the noble efforts that are here making, to set a glorious example to the other nations of Germany. The promotion of intellectual refinement; the administration of justice, tempered with mercy; the exhibition of the patriotic virtues, by those who occupy the most exalted station;-these are claims to the admiration of the world, which can neither be denied nor forgotten; these are harbingers of a bright and happy future for science, letters, and art, and for all the highest interests of moral and educated man. NOTES. Page 33. ESAIAS TEGNER.-This article is taken from Mohnike's German translation of Tegnér's "Schulreden." The author is favorably known in this country, through some fine translations from his poems, by Mr. Longfellow, particularly an idyl in hexameter verse, entitled, "The Children of the Lord's Supper." Frithiof's Saga, one of his principal poems, has been twice translated into German, and four times into English. An analysis of it, accompanied with translations of a number of passages, may be found in the N. A. Review, No. 96. "The modern Scald," says Mr. Longfellow, "has written his name in immortal runes, not on the bark of trees alone, but on the mountains of his fatherland, and the cliffs that overhang the sea, and on the tombs of ancient heroes, whose histories are epic poems. Indeed, we consider the Legend of Frithiof,' as one of the most remarkable productions of the age. It is an epic poem, composed of a series of ballads, each describing some event in the hero's life, and each written in a different measure, according with the action described in the ballad. The loss of epic dignity in the poem is more than made up by the greater spirit of the narrative." Tegnér was born in the parish of By, in the province of Wärmland, Sweden, in the year 1782. In 1799, he joined the university of Lund. In 1812, he became professor of Greek in that institution. In 1824, he was appointed bishop of Wexiö, in the Lutheran church. He is a member of the Swedish Academy, and of various other learned societies. He |