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REVIEW. cc Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame." — Pope.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Art . I . — -History of ' the United States , from their First Settlement as Colonies , to the Close of the War with Great Britain , in 1815 . 8 yo . pp . 472 . John Miller . 1826 . 12 * . A BRIDGED histories , fit to put XjL into the Lands of youth , and adapted to the mass of readers whose
want of time requires knowledge to be set before them in a short compass , are the most useful of all publications , but , if we may judge from the actual state of popular literature , the most difficult of execution . What epitome of the History of England . can be
named , with which an intelligent father of a / amily or instructor of the young , is fully satisfied ? Here is a blank in our literature , to be filled up , perhaps , by some genius yet unborn , who shall be a patriot and at
the same time not a partizan , and a Christian without the feelings of a sectary . The Poet Laureate could perform the desired work , if he would forget his own controversial life , and lay aside his partialities , and rebaptize himself in good humour .
We have a near approach to our conception of what is wanted for a popular history of a country , in the volume before us , which is , we believe , a reprint from a work in circulation
in America . The story is neatly told ; the style is simple and perspicuous ; there is no very predominant prejudice ; names are not set above thing's 3 the love of liberty is tempered by a regard to law and social order ;
patriotism is a filial sentiment towards the writer ' s own country , but not hostile towards any other country ; and his reverence of virtue is seen in every page . The web of the history would not
however have been less substantial , hut much more attractive , if there had been woven into it some few threads of ornament . And the impression upon the reader ' s understanding and
memory would have been stronger , had the historian more frequently paused to sum up matters , and trusted himself , which he might safely , with that generalization which is the philo-8 ° phy of history .
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As Englishmen , we cannot halp feefing pleased and even delighted witf * the kind feeling towards England which is manifested by this and other respectable American authors . The people of the United States are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone .
They have derived from us the seeds of all that is good in their laws and institutions . They and we have language and principles and sentiments in common . They are the children
of our forefathers , and if this branch of the family have risen above us in some things , they are willing to confess their inferiority in others , and there is enough in which we are equal and the same to make us feel on both sides
of the broad waters the affection of brotherhood . Mixed as is the blood of the United States with that of every civilized people in Europe , the main stream which .
animates the heart of the people is English . The best portion of the English people , in their best era , were the progenitors of the inhabitants of the oldest and most populous states 5 and the foundations of their Union were
laid deep by the hands of the Puritans in the love of liberty and the fear of God . Had vve been capable of forming a just opinion at the time , we should certainly have vindicated the American Revolution . But opinions are of little
consequence—the great measure is justified by the event . The United States have grown into greatness since their emancipation with an unexampled rapidity , and have become worth more to the parent country as a friendly independent power , than they ever could have been as colonies .
Time works wonders . Some of our readers remember the period when Washington and Franklin were spoken of , and with more contempt than abhorrence , as rebels . Had the
Revolution failed , of which they and Adams and Jefferson , with other likeminded men , were the promoters , and their heads been in consequence stuck on Temple Bar , it would have required a century and a half to have effaced
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Review. Cc Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Blame." — Pope.
REVIEW . cc Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid to blame . " — Pope .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 103, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/39/
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