And now his end approaches: what his feelings were in reviewing life, and in looking forward to the endless future, may be gathered from the following extract, which, without comment, we submit to our readers' reflections :

"I have now advanced nearly four years beyond the prescribed period of human life. I am therefore forewarned by the purpose of God, and the natural course of things, that I must shortly be called to leave time for eternity. How solemn is the prospect of retiring from a world which I have so long inhabited, and in which I have seen so much to excite my admiration of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator! How often have I been led to admire his bounty in the almost infinite variety of the productions of this world, some of them more substantial and necessary, others more delicate, designed, apparently, to gratify our taste! In the contemplation of this variety, often have I been led to exclaim with the Psalmist, O Lord, how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all.'

"But in retiring from this world, where there is so much to awaken our admiration, the eye of faith can look forward to scenes still brighter and more glorious, to new heavens and a new earth; and if in this world there is so much to fill us with adoring thoughts of God, how magnificent beyond conception must heaven be, where he dwells in light, where Jesus sits effulgent in the midst of the throne; but how little do we know of the mode of our future existence; in what province of the divine dominions the New Jerusalem is established; what are the exercises and joys of the redeemed; in what manner are they admitted to fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; what is implied in seeing God face to face, and knowing even as we are known; in what way shall spirit commune with kindred spirit during the space which intervenes until the resurrection of the body; what are we to understand by bodies, powerful, spiritual, incorruptible, glorious, which shall hunger no more nor thirst any more, capable of serving God night and day!

"Little as is now known of these things, in the ordinary course of nature they must soon, very soon be realized by me; and in taking a retrospective view of my journey through life, who of the human family is more indebted than myself to a forbearing, forgiving, beneficent God? Truly goodness and mercy have followed me so far in every step through the wilderness. I have been favored with an exemption from torturing pain and loathsome disease, with a competency of temporal blessings, and an unusual measure of health to enjoy them. I have also been favored with the affections of a large circle of friends, and with the confidence of a church to which I ministered for more than forty years; and by offices of a more general nature I have had opportunities of extending my acquaintance with many thousands in various parts of our country, and of every Christian name, with whom I hope to be associated for ever in the kingdom of our common Father; and although far advanced in years, I am scarcely sensible of the infirmities common to persons of my age. I enjoy the various senses of the body unimpaired, the exercise of memory, and of other powers of the mind..

"Amid favors thus multiplied, I have only to complain of myself, of my ingratitude for mercies innumerable; of opportunities lost, which might have been improved in doing good or receiving good; of indolence and insincerity in the service of my Master and of my generation; of the inconsiderable advancement in spiritual wisdom, in faith, love, and all the other graces of the divine life. For all these transgressions, for my omissions of duty required, for my commission of sins forbidden, I humble myself this moment before a holy God."-Memoir, pp. 304-307.

If a man who thus preached and wrote, thus lived and died, whose memory is enshrined in the hearts alike of his family and his flock, and to whose successful efforts in their behalf various benevolent societies have paid a just tribute, were not a true minister of Christ -though Prelacy might not have recognized him-where shall we find one?

If the gospel of Christ, whose doctrines he believed, and on whose promises he relied; whose discoveries of love and mercy opened his eye to behold God in his works, and moved his heart to retrace the image of God in his fallen creatures; whose spirit shed a hallowed influence over the intercourse of his daily life, and poured a flood of glory around his dying pillow,-if this gospel be not true, worthy our warmest appreciation and self-renouncing efforts to extend and perpetuate its blessings, what can be true; or, amid all earth-born interests, worthy a moment's thought?

ART. III.-A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, adapted to North America; with a View to the Improvement of Country Residences: comprising Historical Notices and General Principles of the Art, Directions for laying out Grounds and arranging Plantations, the Description and Cultivation of Hardy Trees, Decorative Accompaniments to the House and Grounds, the Formation of Pieces of Artificial Water, Flower Gardens, &c. With Remarks on Rural Architecture. Second edition, enlarged, revised, and newly illustrated. By A. J. DOWNING, Author of Designs for Cottage Residences, &c. Pp. 497, 8vo. New-York: Wiley & Putnam. 1844.

THE natural course of things is from the physical to the intellectual. Man first appears as a physical organization; his first wants are corporeal, and his first impressions and ideas are received from external objects. But in due time appears also the intellectual. VOL. VI.-24

Impressions from external objects are not passively received merely, as they are by the brute. On the contrary, they give rise to certain mental phenomena, and receive various accessions and modifications from the inherent power and spontaneous activity of the soul. With the awakening of the internal faculties, man becomes conscious of a new class of wants and aptitudes. The mind has its necessities and demands, which are not less imperative in their way than those of the body. It requires knowledge to satisfy its curiosity, and appropriate objects to gratify its sensibilities.

Among the various susceptibilities of our nature, and not the least interesting and important of them, is taste, or a power to perceive and delight in the beautiful. The manifestation of this impulse is very early in the history of the mental development, and so universal, that every one must be conscious of its operation within himself. The child shows it in preferring certain colors, sounds, and forms, before others. It is seen in the rudest state of uncivilized life. The savage must not only be warmly clad; his clothing must be attractive to the eye. It is not sufficient that his war-club and paddle should be strong and serviceable; they must also be ornamented. In civilized life, buildings of the simplest form satisfy the first demands; but as the means of comfort multiply, they are constructed with some regard to beauty, until at length architectural embellishment becomes a regular and systematic branch of study. Hence, we perceive that æsthetics, or the science of beauty, embracing all the principles applicable to the fine arts, as well as those pertaining to the works of nature, and to the departments of mind and morals, has its foundation in man's primitive constitution.

In entering upon the field of literature belonging to the domain of taste, it would be agreeable to our own feelings to make some remarks on the connection between taste and morals, and on the relation between æsthetics and Christianity. But this, our limits do not permit. We may, however, lay down a few principles very briefly, as an appropriate introduction to what may follow.

We have already seen that the mind has its demands, its impulses, or whatever else you please to call them, as well as the body. Nor do we see any reason why its intimations are not as clear, and, at least, quite as authoritative, as those of the other. If the inclination for food intimates a law of the physical constitution, certainly our inclination for the beautiful as clearly intimates a law of our mental constitution. And if our preference for one kind of food before another is a reason, if there be no stronger to the contrary, why we should eat it, so our preference for certain

sights or sounds is, to the same extent, a reason why we should enjoy them. If we pay something more for agreeable objects of the physical taste, I do not see why we should not do so for agreeable objects of intellectual taste. Certainly the latter is not less dignified than the former; nor is it more healthful or more virtuous to pay for the gratification of the bodily senses, than to pay for the gratification of the mental aptitudes.

But if we regard the human constitution as the product of divine wisdom and goodness, and then see how God has made the world without correspond to the world within us; if we see how each internal impulse points to some fitting external object, it cannot be doubted that taste is intended by the all-wise Creator for some beneficent and useful end. He that denies the lawfulness of indulging in the pleasures of taste, presents the divine Being in the light of a capricious tyrant. He tells us, in effect, that man, though endowed with such a capacity, and placed in the midst of such scenes of beauty as this world affords, is still under the ban of the Almighty if he throw open his senses to catch the harmony which everywhere breathes and floats around him. This, indeed, were a libel on the Creator!

There is this further analogy between the mental taste and the corporeal; they are both, when inordinately indulged, the frequent occasion of vice. Indulged beyond due bounds, they corrupt the heart, consume an undue portion of wealth, cripple our charities, enervate the mind, and produce luxury, idleness, and dissipation. This, to be sure, is a hard catalogue. But it is as strong against eating, as against seeing and hearing, what pleases us. But it all teaches us, that it is not the use, but the abuse, of our faculties, that does the mischief. It is not in the indulgence, but in the inordinate or incorrect indulgence, that the crime consists. Let, therefore, the sound moralist strive, by ascertaining the laws of our constitution and the relation our faculties sustain to each other, to restrict each to its own appropriate sphere, and to define the limits within which each may be properly indulged. In this way he will render most service to mankind and to sound morality, while he will, likewise, honor his Creator by showing the benevolence and harmony of his workmanship in the department of morals, as well as in that of external nature.

The most common objections to the indulgence of taste are two, viz., that it tends to sensualize the mind, and consume an unreasonable portion of wealth. We grant that there is weight in the argument; and yet taste will be indulged. To prevent it is impossible; and I cannot but add that it were foolish to prevent it, if

it were possible. We might as well think to blot all beauty out of creation, and erase a large portion of the human sensibilities. But since we cannot and ought not to prevent the gratification of taste, it becomes very desirable to direct the faculty to the most suitable objects, and show how it may be indulged most virtuously and beneficially. And I cannot but think that he who can help to bring into requisition the least objectionable and most improving objects of æsthetic gratification; he that shall serve to bring into contempt the most frivolous, extravagant, and demoralizing tastes, and substitute such as answer the purposes obviously intended by the Creator in this part of our constitution, deserves, at least, to rank with him "who makes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before."

Now of all the modes of gratifying the taste, there is no one less objectionable on the score of moral influence, or from politicoeconomic considerations, than the one we propose to consider in this essay. Gardening is a department of the fine arts, so pure, so innocent, so simple, and so natural, that it affords very little opportunity for any corruption of the heart. Then its influence is so soothing, the scenes it presents so chastening to the mind, it is such a source of natural, gentle, elevating, and improving thoughts; the emotions it excites are so genial and tranquilizing, and possess so little of ardent or strong excitement, that little apprehension of evil from it need be entertained. And, withal, a moderate attention to its cultivation requires no great outlay of capital. A little ground, a little skill and taste, some time and healthful labor, or rather genial recreation, are all that are requisite to secure a large amount of gratification. Far different is it in these respects with the sister arts. Poetry and music, though not necessarily vicious, may much more readily be made productive of vicious thoughts and emotions. Painting, sculpture, and architecture, are very expensive, and not likely soon to attain to any high degree of excellence in a country where property is not entailed, and where there are but few overgrown estates. Besides, all the other fine arts we have named, except architecture, are more selfish in their character. They are shut out from the public eye, and serve to gratify the proprietor only, and a few chosen friends. But gardening is more diffusive in its influence. The public can enjoy it. The humblest and poorest man, if he have a virtuous and contented heart, can delight in the beautiful scenery which taste may throw around a rich man's dwelling. And it is among the great recommendations of this art, that, more than any other, it enables men of taste and moderate possessions, by multiplying and diffusing agreeable emotions through