lic atmosphere is diffused a
preternatural medium of _clairvoyance_, which at every touch of its
ritual vibrates into activity, and opens to adoring view mysteries hid
from minds without.[16]

"Now, with the spiritual aspects of this theory we are not here
concerned. Reason has no jurisdiction over the inspiration that
transcends it. But there is a humbler task to which the common intellect
is not incompetent. We may plant this system in a political community,
set it down beside the state, imagine it surrounded by families, and
schools, and municipalities, and parliaments, by the prison and the
court of justice; within the shadow of law and in the presence of
sovereignty; and we may ask how it will work amid these august symbols
of a nation's life, and how adjust itself in relation to them? Will it
leave them to their free development? Can it tranquilly coexist with
them, and be content to see them occupy the scope which English
traditions and English usage have secured for them? We are convinced it
cannot; that every step it may make is an encroachment upon wholesome
liberty; that it is innocent only where it is insignificant, and where
it is ascendant will neither part with power, nor use it well; and that
it must needs raise to the highest pitch the common vice of tyrannies
and of democracies--the relentless crushing of minorities."

The above are only two paragraphs out of a dozen we had marked, but they
will suffice to show the value of this very able and impartial essay.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] Adequate authority for these statements will be found in Dr.
Mochler's Symbolism, part i. chap. v., and in Newman's Lectures, iii. p.
66, and Lecture ix. passim.

KILLING OF SIR ALEXANDER BOSWELL.

Among the new books in England is one entitled "Modern State Trials" by
William C. Townsend, in two octavos. In the _Times_ of the second of
January we find a reviewal of it, characteristically pungent. "Why Mr.
Townsend conceived it necessary to dignify his collection with the above
solemn title," says the critic, "we are at a loss to conjecture. Madame
Tussaud does not invite a curiosity-seeking public to her museum of
horrors by disguising the naked hideousness of her groups, or by lending
them a factitious grace which it is hardly their interest to borrow. The
publication is essentially popular, was meant for general perusal, is
made up of any thing but technical details, and gives nothing to, as it
receives nothing