ertion shall be self and mutual
perfection. It does not seem to be rash to anticipate such a state of
human affairs as this, when an aspiration like the following has been
received with sympathy by thousands of republicans united under a
constitution of ideas. "Talent and worth are the only eternal grounds of
distinction. To these the Almighty has affixed his everlasting patent of
nobility; and these it is which make the bright, 'the immortal names,'
to which our children may aspire, as well as others. It will be our own
fault if, in our land, society as well as government is not organized on
a new foundation."--"Knowledge and goodness,--these make degrees in
heaven, and they must be the graduating scale of a true democracy."[F]

Meantime, it is the traveller's business to learn what is the species of
Moral Sentiment which lies deepest in the hearts of the majority of the
people.

* * * * *

He will find no better place of study than the Cemetery,--no more
instructive teaching than Monumental Inscriptions. The brief language of
the dead will teach him more than the longest discourses of the living.

He will learn what are the prevalent views of death; and when he knows
what is the common view of death, he knows also what is the aspect of
life to no small number;--that is, he will have penetrated into the
interior of their morals.--If it should ever be fully determined that
the pyramids of Egypt were designed solely as places of sepulture, they
will cease to be the mute witness they have been for ages. They will
tell at least that death was not regarded as the great leveller,--that
kings and peasants were not to sleep side by side in death, any more
than in life. How they contrast with the Moravian burial-grounds, where
all are laid in rows as they happen to be brought to the grave, and
where memorial is forbidden!--The dead of Constantinople are cast out
from among the living in waste, stillness, and solitude. The cemeteries
lie beyond the walls, where no hum from the city is heard, and where the
dark cypresses overhanging the white marble tombs give an air of
mourning and desolation to the scene. In contrast with these are the
church-yards of English cities, whose dead thus lie in full view of the
living; the school-boy trundles his hoop among them, and the news of the
day is discussed above their place of rest. This fact of where the dead
are laid is an important one. If out of sight,