Notice of Sketches of Naval Life. 321 



fore the revolution, that our authors could be found onlv 

 here and there, 



Ravi nantes in gurgite vasto. 



The country is so eminently free, that its more active and 

 intelHgent spirits turn themselves every way, in pursuit of 

 wealth or honor; wealth has hitherto had the ascendant, 

 but honor sounds her trumpet loud, and the number of those 

 who enhst under her banner, is constantly increasing. They 

 do not all take the pohtical field ; the ma7iy will continue to 

 throng there, but literature and science have now many 

 votaries ; and if their honors are not so easily obtained, they 

 are more enviable and durable. The man who has written 

 a good book, will be remembered and revered, when the 

 vulgar great, of courts and cabinets have passed into oblivion. 

 The mental character of this country will take its hue, in a de- 

 gree, from our institutions: the people, supreme in our laws 

 and policy, will cause their sway to be felt, at least as far as is 

 proper, in our intellectual productions. Attractive, rearfa6Ze, 

 and above ail, practical books, whose useful tendency is im- 

 mediately perceived, will continue to acquire the public favor. 



Antiquities we have few ; libraries, extensive on the Euro- 

 pean scale, we have fewer still ; and neither our materials 

 nor the public taste will permit the appearance of many of 

 those ponderous tomes of erudition, demanding a life for a 

 single work, which were so numerous, in the former ages of 

 literature.* Butj the materials which we have, we are turn- 

 ing to good account ; and in no form perhaps more interest- 

 ing than in that of travels. 



We are a nation of travellers. Our people are not only 

 intelligent but inquisitive ; fond of looking into the concerns 

 of other countries; pleased with useful matter, done up in 

 an attractive form, and as we are a young people, making 

 the experiment of a new kind of government, and therefore 

 capable of profiting by the errors of others, we have in our 

 hands the means of establishing or destroying our own insti- 

 tutions. The writings of intelhgent travellers, exhibiting to 

 us, other systems in operation : other customs ornamenting 

 or depressing the species ; other principles, in the full tide of 

 experiment, or already well tried, are of real importance to 



* Webster's Dictionary is a late exception, equally honorable to the author 

 and his country. 



Vol. XVI.— No. 2. 14 



