fore, excite surprise that so little of any virtue but the hatred of the Turks was displayed in the late revolution, for their detestable tyrants had scarcely left them any other. Nor ought it to create despair in the new government, that so much remains to be done to establish order, to extend education, to promote union, and to restore a better system of morals-the fruits of an improved civil administration. One of the first and chief objects which, with this view, will demand the attention of the new government, is the state of religion and of public instruction in the country; or, in other words, the church and the schools of general and elementary education. It has been sufficiently established by M. Rizo, and is readily acknowledged by all those who have attended to the subject, that the Greek church has been one great cause of the preservation of the Greeks as a separate people,-that it has, in fact, been the ark in which their national character and distinctive existence have rode out the deluge of barbarism and Mahometan conquest, and which has preserved them, till the olive-branch announced that the waters had subsided. The Sultan rather protected than opposed it, because it embroiled the Greeks with the churches or heresies of the West, more hateful to them than the fraternity of the green turban or the descendants of the Prophet, and because, by having the Patriarch in his power at Constantinople as the representative of the nation, he could, to a certain point, flatter himself with the idea that, in case of revolt, he possessed what the Roman tyrant desired, the heads of all his mutinous Greek vassals on one pair of shoulders. But the church, though not attempted to be extinguished by the Turks, partook of the ignorance and degradation of the people, in addition to its own inherent vices. The clergy, who are divided into two bodies-the regular and secular-have a different mode of provision, a different set of privileges and qualifications. Out of the former, collected into convents or hermitages, all the bishops and prelates are selected. They require a noviciate, some learning, and are maintained by lands, or the ecclesiastical bank at Constantinople. The latter are made without any previous preparations, and are scarcely distinguishable either by knowledge or sanctity from the great body of the people. Scarcely able to read the service, they lead a life of poverty, and often of vice, dependant for their support on the charity of their flocks, and ready to abet their irregularities. In the province of Maina they sometimes blessed and attended piratical expeditions, intended for murder and rapine; and some of our travellers found loquacious priests, who did not know what was meant by the Old Testament.* In the hands of Sir W. Gell's Narrative of a Journey in the Morea. such persons religion is nothing but a mass of ridiculous superstitions. "Their worship," says a traveller, " is irremediably overcharged with ceremonies, feasts, fasts, midnight assemblies, dingy lamps, and black pictures, to the utter exclusion of precept or example." "The places of worship, which these priests supply, were, even before the late revolution, in a state of ruin and dilapidation, many of them without roofs, and many with broken walls. In the late troubles this devastation has been carried further, and still greater disorders have been introduced among the clergy. The new sovereign will probably find it necessary to convoke a kind of synod to remedy these abuses-to establish a progressive reform-to settle the connection between the patriarch and synod at Constantinople, in the power of the Sultan, and the church in independent Greece-to fix the manner of appointing bishops, and procuring them from the great seminary of Mount Athos. Some additional provision will likewise be necessary for the church; and the Turkish mosques, with lands which were connected with them, will furnish in many cases places of worship and funds. Whether the conscience of the prince can so far yield to expediency or policy, as to allow him to pay an homage to the faith of his new subjects by conforming to their worship, we cannot say; but we place sufficient reliance on his moderation and good sense to be assured that he will not offend their conscientious prejudices. Henry IV. thought" the crown of France worth a mass," where the choice lay between a mass and a crown. Prince Leopold, without being obliged to a similar alternative, may acquire some respect for the " Panagia and St. Spiridion." But whatever be his determination on this point, there is one thing connected with religion to which he cannot pay too early an attention--the education of the people. Some of our Philhellenes saw nothing but a necessity for schools and newspapers, at a time when the Turk still held possession of the land, or threatened invasion, and when arms ought to have been the only care of the people. Since his arrival in Greece, Count Capo d'Istrias has tried to do something for the promotion of education; but his time and his means have been very limited. The object ought now to be pursued with a zeal proportioned to its overwhelming importance. The peasantry of Greece are a fine body of people, who have lost their value by the ignorance or oppression which threw them into the bands of the primates or capitani. The only "virtue extant" is among them; let education give them power to act upward by their opinions on the corrupt slaves of the higher ranks-let a school for elementary instruction be established in every district, and let society be regenerated by stirring the soil about its deepest roots. A college, university, or national institution may then be formed, and Athens once more see the wisdom of her ancient philosophers mixed with the discoveries of aftertimes, adorning the Lyceum or the Academy. But the first care of the government is to attend to the physical wants of the nation, and the repair of the calamities of the late revolution, and the adjustment of affairs which have grown out of a change of masters and system. The plusquam civilia bella of Greece for several years have left vestiges which could only be imprinted by barbarians. The towns are ruins-the fields are waste-trade has been destroyed-capital has never been created, or at least does not exist -agriculture is deserted-the people of whole districts, having fled from their homes, are huddled together in places of asylum far from their houses and property--the army is without pay-the finances without order-the courts without judges, and the laws without authority. Nothing but the most laborious communication can take place between one district and another. There is not a carriage road, and scarcely a bridge in the whole country. The lands which the Turks have left, and the value of which remains to be adjusted by a commission, must be distributed. The peasantry must be located on their new grounds, freed from the influence of the chieftains, and placed under the dominion of law. If Prince Leopold accomplishes the half of the task here set before him, he will lay the foundation of the best kind of fame among his contemporary sovereigns. Though he has not been able by arms to contribute to the independence of his adopted country, he will become the honoured instrument of giving that independence its chief value, and thus earn that higher praise which Cicero bestows on the framer of wise institutions above the author of even patriotic victories, in the following comparison between the ancient legislators and the military chiefs of the two celebrated states which are now merged in the dominions, or placed under the sway, of King Leopold. "Sed cum plerique arbitrentur res bellicas majores esse quam urbanas : minuenda est hæc opinio. Verè autem si volumus judicare, multæ res exstiterunt urbanæ majores, clarioresque quam bellicæ. Quamvis enim Themistocles jure laudetur, et sit ejus nomen quam Solonis illustrius, citeturque Salamis clarissimæ testis victoriæ, quæ anteponatur consilio Solonis, ei, quo primum constituit Areopagitas; non minus præclarum hoc, quam illud, judicandum. Illud enim semel profuit; hoc semper proderit civitati: hoc consilio leges Atheniensium, hoc majorum instituta servantur. Est enim bellum gestum consilio senatûs ejus, qui a Solone constitutus erat. Licet eadem de Pausaniâ Lysandroque dicere, quorum rebus gestis quamquam imperium Lacedemoniis putatur, tamen ne minima quidem ex parte Lycurgi legibus et disciplinæ conferendi sunt !”—De Officis, lib. i. CRITICAL SKETCHES. ART. XIII.-Present State of Literature in Poland. In His AMONG the literary institutions of Poland which have most contributed to awake and to revive the literary spirit of that too-much-forgotten land, the Philomathic Society of Warsaw takes a prominent place. It was delightful to witness the interest taken in its proceedings at the public session of April last, by a large auditory of both sexes. the chair was the Nestor of the Polish poets-the veteran Niemcewicz -the friend and companion of Washington; a man whose services to the literature of his country are obvious in every part of the field. He reported to the assembly the proceedings of the society during the preceding half year, under the two grand divisions of Literature and Science; and we heard with pleasure of various liberal presents of books, manuscripts, and curious antiquities. The speech of the president was followed by a dissertation of the Abbé Szweykowski, the Rector of the University, on the orthography of the Polish language, with a view to fix the exact value of the vowels i, j and y, the use of which has been always somewhat capricious; while, according to the Abbé's views, the complete removal of dipthongs and tripthongs might be effected, and thus the spelling simplified, the pronunciation made obvious and easy, and the words be traced to their parent source. plan would establish a general rule of orthography, whose system should give to letters all the precision of musical notes; and there is really no reason why every language should not have such an alphabet. If prejudices in favour of what is and was were not stronger than the love of what ought to be, half the difficulties of foreign idioms would speedily be swept away. After the Abbé had finished, M. Kwiatkowski read a dissertation on Polish medals; and then M. Kozmian repeated two episodes from his Polish Georgics, the first on bees, the second on the burning of a forest-a scene not uncommon in Poland in the dry seasons-a scene of the most tremendous magnificence, and offering to the mind of the poet materials of terrible and exalted sublimity. The names of the newly-elected members were then read, among whom we noticed, of our countrymen, Sir Humphrey Davy, Dr. Wollaston, and Mr. Dalton; the two former of whom are, alas! beyond the reach of those plaudits which break not the silence of the dead. One of the new members then delivers an academical discourse, which on this occasion came from M. Lach Szyrma, whose Letters on Poland were published in Great Britain some years ago, and breathe, as did his oration, the most generous and patriotic spirit. The Society proposed the following subjects for prizes:-1. For the best historical, manufacturing, and commercial report on the towns of Poland: 2. For the best description of the ancient popular traditions, customs, usages, dresses, &c. of the Poles: and 3. The best account of the state of Podolia under the government of the Turks, during the 27 years which elapsed between the treaty of Buczacz in 1672, and that of Karłowicz concluded by Augustus the Second, in 1699. Warsaw must be considered as the central point of Polish literature, the most important works being published there; but in the following complete list of periodical publications are included those which appear in Russian, Austrian, and Prussian Poland. They are as follow: Pamietnik umieietnosci czystych i sto- Dzieunik Warszawski. Pamiętnik Warszawski lekarski wy- Kolumb, pamiętnik podrozy. Sandomierzanin, pismo historyczne. Tygodnik dla dzieci., Motyl Pisma tygodniowe. In 1828 was published in German, soon abandoned for want of demand. Gazeta Warszawska. Korrespondenta z rozmaitósciami. Przewodnik Polski. Dziennik powszechny krajowy. Journal of theoretical and practical Polish Themis, journal of jurispru Silvanus, Journal of Forests, (do.) Slowianin, a weekly journal of arts, discoveries, agriculture, trade, &c. by Prof. Kitajewski. Columbus, a fortnightly journal of travels. Sandomierzanin, a journal for the publication of historical documents, (quarterly,) Children's Weekly Journal. The Butterfly both weekly papers. Piast, a technological journal, (time Magazin für Heilkunde, but it was Correspondent, with literary varieties. Polish Guide (has disappeared). In Cracow are published, the Gazeta Krakowska (Cracow Gazette), the Goniec Krakowski pismo polityczne, historyczne i literackie (the Cracovian Courier of politics, history, and literature), Dziennik ogrodniczy wydawany, przez H. Wodzickiego (an horticultural journal, by Count Wodzicki), and the Miscellanea Cracoviensia, published in Latin, by the University of Cracow. In Wilna are published, the |