another, with unaffected pleasantry, to the extravagance and quantity of the encomiums which met his eyes in the newspapers. His biographer is not partial in extolling his modesty and humility during the most brilliant era of his renown. Churchgoers, and particularly the female part of them, are prone to worship a popular preacher or gifted clergyman;-the idol is exposed to caresses, adulation, and deference, which it requires the very best of human clay to withstand. Summerfield liked to preach in a church with a vestry, by which he could escape after service; he shunned personal homage, and patiently submitted to rebuke. He was fond of exhorting children, to whom he could adapt himself admirably; who hung upon his accents with the more wonder and earnestness, as he so nearly resembled themselves in aspect:-"It was a delightful scene," says the biographer, "to witness his appearance among them-himself like a boy among his juniors, leaning gracefully over the pulpit, in a manner best comporting with the familiar and affectionate style of his address, his juvenile auditory occupying the body of the church, and listening with the most steady attention to their ingenuous teacher."

He made no other particular preparation for the pulpit than to draw a rough outline of a sermon, on a sheet or half-sheet of paper, which, if after preaching it he deemed worthy, he transcribed into his book of sermons. This book was found to contain a collection of one hundred and seventy-six of those outlines, in seventy-four post octavo pages. He never used notes on the desk; the duration of his sermons was between fifty minutes and an hour. He wrote only one or two of them for the press. The extracts which are furnished in this memoir, do not vindicate his fame; but we know from the testimony of competent judges among his auditors, that he displayed uncommon powers of elocution; amplified his topics elegantly and persuasively; fascinated alike the old and the young, the learned and unlearned, and persons of different faith and ritual. He had conned the text of Scripture, but possessed no erudition, profane or sacred. His correspondence breathes devotional fire, filial and fraternal tenderness, grateful friendship, and is tersely worded; but it does not indicate superior talents, or taste and proficiency in literature. We may repeat here what Southey remarks of Whitefield-"It would have been fortunate for his reputation, if he had left nothing written; his talents would then have been estimated by the effect which they are known to have produced; for, on this point, there is the evidence of witnesses whose credibility cannot be disputed. His writings do not afford the measure of his genius as a preacher." Summerfield exhausted himself by fervour in the pulpit, but he kept his voice and gesture under restraint. Well would it be for not a

few of his brethren whom we have heard, and, indeed, for other teachers of the law, and for public debaters, if they would remember the quaint advice which Wesley gave-"Scream no more, at the peril of your soul;-speak as earnestly as you can, but do not scream. I often speak loud; often vehemently; but I never scream-I never strain myself." Wesley was a scholar, a learned man, no less than a voluble and overwhelming declaimer: he reproved his preachers for neglecting to read, and therefore remaining without variety of matter or compass of thought.

Mr. Holland's report of Summerfield's social qualities and colloquial merits is not exaggerated. In private company, he was amiable, unassuming, lively, and sometimes facetious; he introduced pleasant anecdotes, and grave remarks, with the happiest effect. In noticing the pleasure and the sunshine which he appeared to find in society and the pulpit, we cannot refrain from adverting again to the piteous depression of spirits, wildness of misery, and frequent convulsions of despair, which his diary discloses. These evils are hardly reconcileable with the doctrines of new birth, perfection, and grace, or with the intimate, direct communion which he boasted of holding with the Godhead. If they were connected at all with the religious faith and discipline to which he was attached, they must beget repulsive and alarming reflections that we need not express. Summerfield, who is depicted and styled by Mr. Holland "a saint of the Most High," wrestled, according to his diary, with horrible temptations; underwent the most dismal eclipses of the soul; believed himself often to be in utter spiritual darkness and reprobation-despaired of heaven, almost invoked hell:witness this language, indited in the very season of his ostensible sanctification: Oh! that I knew where I might find God; "I view myself as the most abandoned of all sinners;-I am "tempted to wish that I was openly profane-as being in a more "likely way to obtain the salvation of God than in my present "state. I have no light-my hell increases," &c. There are excesses, eccentricities, mysteries, and terrors of the human mind, which we would not undertake to explain, and which it has not been our good or ill fortune to experience; as there are many moral miracles, illapses of the Holy Ghost, immediate interpositions of Omnipotence, recorded by Summerfield and Mr. Holland, which we should never feel bold or rash enough to suppose could happen to our humble selves. The biographer solves all Gordian knots, and credits all supernatural visitations.

AMERICAN QUARTERLY REVIEW.

No. XIV.

JUNE, 1830.

ART. I.-ASTRONOMY OF LAPLACE.

1.-Mécanique Celeste, by the MARQUIS DE LAPLACE, Peer of France, &c. &c. Translated, with a Commentary, by NATHANIEL BOWDITCH, LL. D. Fellow of the Royal Societies of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, &c. &c. Vol. I. Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1829. 4to. pp. 746. 2.-Eloge Historique de M. le Marquis de Laplace. Par M. LE BARON FOURIER, Secretaire perpetuel de l'Academie des Sciences.

3.-Traité de Mécanique Celeste. Par M. LE MARQUIS DE LAPLACE. Livs. XIII, XIV, XV, XVI. Paris: chez Bachelier.

DR. BOWDITCH has rendered a most important service to the scientific circles of the United States and England. The original work of Laplace, clear, beautiful, and perspicuous though it be, to those prepared to pursue its sublime investigations, presents, nevertheless, to the greater number, even of those who have been accustomed to cultivate mathematics, obstacles of no trifling moment. Not only does he pass, by almost intuitive sagacity, through vast extents of calculus, which the reader, inferior to him in natural gifts, or acquired science, is compelled painfully to overcome, by slow and fatiguing steps; but his concise and expressive formulæ embarrass by their very richness and variety of application. In the work we have placed at the head of the list of those prefixed to this article, the learned translator has supplied the steps that are wanting, has illustrated the results of the investigations, and has besides clothed the felicitous diction of the original in an English dress, not inferior to the text in elegance and perspicuity.

The volume before us comprises no more than the two first out of the sixteen books of the Mécanique Celeste. The inten

tions and views of the translator may be best exhibited in his own language.

"The object of the author, in composing this work, as stated by him in his preface, was to reduce all the known phenomena of the system of the world to the law of gravity, by strict mathematical principles; and to complete the investigations of the motions of the planets, satellites, and comets, begun by Newton in his Principia. This he has accomplished, in a manner deserving the highest praise for its symmetry and completeness; but from the abridged manner in which the analytic investigations have been made, it has been found difficult to be understood, by many persons, who have a strong and decided taste for mathematical studies, on account of the time and labour required to insert the intermediate steps of the demonstrations necessary to enable them easily to follow the author in his reasoning. To remedy, in some measure, this defect, has been the chief object of the translator, in the notes. It is hoped that the facility, arising from having the work in our own language, with the aid of these explanatory notes, will render it more accessible to persons who have been unable to prepare themselves for this study, by a previous course of reading, in those modern publications, which contain the many important discoveries made in analysis since the time of Newton."

"The notes are adapted in some respects to the state of the elementary publications on scientific subjects in this country, and a greater number have been given, than would have been necessary, if the elementary principles of some of the methods, used by the author, had been in common use in our schools and colleges. They might in some cases have been abridged, by small alterations in the original work, but it was thought best to adhere strictly to the method of the author."

The translator finally announces, in his preface, that the second volume is in the press, and will be published in the course of the present year (1830). The rest of the work, which will occupy three or four volumes more, will be printed, if it be found expedient; and he estimates, that the preparation of the translation, and the labour of revising and publishing, will prevent him from completing the whole in less than five or six years.

The style of the typographical execution is splendid; take it for all in all, we consider it as the first specimen of typography that has ever issued from the American press. It does not suffer by comparison with Captain Sabine's Experiments with the Pendulum, printed at the cost of the British government.

Leaving the translator for the present, we shall proceed to speak of the author himself, making use of the Eulogium of Fourier as our text.

The life of Laplace was devoted to the pursuit of one of the most important objects that can occupy the human mind. The wonders of the heavens, the most sublime questions of physical science, the ingenious and profound combinations of mathematical analysis, the laws that govern the universe, had for sixty years held possession of his mind, and his devotion was rewarded by immortal discoveries.

It is however remarkable, that the genius of Laplace was first manifested in a branch of learning, usually considered widely

distant from the mathematics. Endowed with a prodigious memory, he acquired with ease and rapidity an extensive knowledge of the ancient languages, and successfully cultivated several branches of literature. His first honours were gained in theological studies, and his talent and sagacity were first called out in polemical controversies.

In what manner his attention was diverted from these pursuits, in which he promised to become eminent, does not appear to be known; at least, Fourier has not been able to discover. Determined, however, to make mathematical science the object of his life, he proceeded to Paris, and sought the countenance of D'Alembert. To aid in procuring the favourable notice of this illustrious geometer, he had provided himself with strong letters of recommendation. They did not, however, avail, even to procure him an interview. D'Alembert had probably been frequently urged with equal importunity, in favour of those "eighth wonders of the world," which provincial schools, and petty towns, are so fertile in, but which sink into insignificance, wherever enlightened men are collected in numerous bodies. But whatever might be the cause, he took no notice of the letters. Laplace, then, confident in his own powers, addressed him a letter, upon the general principles of mechanics, as an evidence of his claims upon his notice. D'Alembert was struck with the depth of knowledge exhibited in the letter, and, on the very day he received it, sent to the author, whom he thus addressed: "You see I pay but little respect to letters of recommendation; you, however, have no need of them. You have made yourself known to me in a more appropriate manner; and my support is your due." Within a few days he obtained for Laplace the situation of professor of mathematics in the Military School of Paris.

"From this moment, wholly given up to the science of which he had made choice, he gave to all his labours one constant direction, from which he never deviated; for the imperturbable constancy of his views, was always the most remarkable character of his genius. He had already attained the known limits of mathematical analysis, possessing all that the science then had of ingenuity and power; and no one was more capable than he of extending its domain. He had already resolved one important question in theoretic astronomy. He formed the determination of consecrating his efforts to this sublime science; he had faculties capable of embracing its whole extent, and was destined to bring it to perfection. He meditated deeply on his glorious design; he passed his whole life in accomplishing it, with a perseverance of which the history of the sciences perhaps offers no other example. The immensity of the subject flattered the just pride of his genius. He undertook the composition of the Almagest of his age: the monument he has left us, under the title of the Mécanique Celeste; and his immortal work is as superior to that of Ptolemy, as the analytic science of the moderns exceeds the theorems of Euclid. Time, which alone dispenses with justice the glories of literature, abandons to oblivion cotemporary mediocrity, but perpetuates the recollection of great works. Thus the name of Laplace will live throughout all ages."

Laplace had received from nature all the powers necessary for