Rich flowers have perished on the silent earth! A fragrance to the wind, have found a grave Pale, faded year! thy dying hour hath come! I. M. CRITICAL NOTICES. The Four Ages of Life; a Gift for Every Age. Translated from the French of the Count de Segur, Member of the French Academy, &c. New York. G. & C. Carvill. 1826. 12mo. pp. 214. THE appearance of a purely ethical treatise has come to be a rare thing in modern literature; nor do works of this kind make any considerable part of the reading of the present day. Scholars, it is true, look into Plato and Seneca, and the works of Addison and Johnson are on our shelves, and sometimes in our hands. But the demand for books which teach the practice of virtue and the regulation of the passions, without reference to peculiarities of religious belief, must be very small indeed, since the good old fashion of making and publishing them has so completely passed away. The author of a tale or a novel, it is true, occasionally throws out a moral precept, and the poet sometimes embellishes his visions with a moral reflection; but the laity have almost altogether ceased to give any direct and connected instructions of this kind. The divines have taken possession of the subject, and have interwoven it by turns with all the various systems of theology, of which they are the defenders. We have been, therefore, somewhat surprised at meeting with a modern specimen of the old fashioned, but wholesome literature, which occupied our fathers before men became political economists; before the physical sciences had attracted that general attention which they now enjoy; before every reader had his review or magazine, and every day produced its novel. The Count de Segur, it seems, has occupied his declining age with the reading of Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch among the ancients; and of Erasmus, Montaigne, La Bruyère, Madame de Lambert, and other moral writers among the moderns. The work before us appears to be a collection of maxims from their writings, connected and illustrated by a kind of running commentary of the author's own reflections. It is a mixture of common truisms, with pointed axioms, and sensible views of things, such as are taken by rational men in all countries. It has been translated into respectable English by a foreigner residing in New York, who certainly deserves credit for writing our language so well. We must except from this commendation, the poetical quotations, which are shockingly rendered, and of which only a prose translation should have been given. The work is divided into four sections; that entitled "Youth," we like the least; and that entitled "Old Age," pleases us the most. It is written with a suppressed feeling of pensiveness, such as a philosopher might be pardoned for indulging, when he sees himself sinking gradually into the shadows which are soon to extinguish the light of exisThe following passage is from this part of the work. tence. "Some resemblances observed between the commencement and the termination of life, between childhood and old age, have given to the latter the name of second childhood; but alas! how different from the first! it has its feebleness, but where are its charms! The one is the dawn of morning; its mist which gives to all objects a vague and confused appearance, becomes clearer, disperses, and the sky every moment becomes lighter and brighter. The other, on the contrary, is the twilight of evening; every minute the dark shades are perceived to spread over all nature; covering it with gloom and appearing to destroy it. The former is the harbinger of light, the latter the herald of darkness: the one opens the gates of life, the other flings wide those of death. "Let us suppose both these states of childhood equally protected and alike surrounded by affection and care, the one sees by his side hope, the other fear. The relatives and friends who sustain the feeble child, are like architects occupied in building an elegant and noble edifice; those who attend upon the aged man, are as laborers, who endeavour to prop up an old building which is on the eve of tumbling down. "The child looks for you, calls to you, and otherwise attracts your notice, while his tenderness and growing affection draw every heart towards him. The unimpassioned old man, on the contrary, retires and keeps aloof, exclusively occupied with the pains attendant upon his existence; he hardly perceives or hears those from whom he is to be separated; and every passing moment diminishes his judgment, and lessens the circle of his ideas. "In our infancy the hearts of all persons are in our power; in our youth we devote ourselves to others; and in old age we concentrate all our feelings within ourselves. "It is the frivolous and vicious old man who most resembles an infant; but he is a disagreeable child; he stammers in his prattle, his pleasantry is dotage, his smile resembles a grin; and, unable to have a renewal of the levities of his youth, he ruminates upon, and tediously recounts his juvenile adventures." pp. 180-183. This is somewhat melancholy, to be sure, but there is a better side to the picture. "A good old age, far from inspiring terror or exciting disgust, so completely attracts our love and commands our respect, that men, under the influence of a religious imagination, have taken it as a model for representing the Eternal Father." p. 204. The volume is handsomely and correctly printed, and we are glad to welcome such a symptom of improvement in the New York press. A Treatise on the Right of Property in Tide Waters, and in the Soil and Shores thereof. By JOSEPH K. ANGELL. To which is added, an Appendix, containing the principal Adjudged Cases. Boston. 1826. 8vo. pp. 179 and 246. courses. MR. ANGELL is already known to the public, as the author of of a respectable treatise on the common law in relation to WaterWhile occupied in preparing that work, his attention was drawn incidentally, as he states, to the subject of the volume before us; and he has now presented to the profession and to the public, a very valuable book, containing, in a small compass, and in very intelligible order, most of the law, that before lay scattered over a surface too wide for ready and convenient approach and examination. Lord Hale's treatise, "De Jure Maris et Brachiorum ejusdem," published by Mr. Hargrave in 1787, is the only work, of which we have any knowledge, that contains a systematical view of the right of property in tide waters and shores. So far as the English law is the subject of inquiry, there is, perhaps, little need of recourse to any other author. But so many alterations and modifications of the common law, on this subject, have been made by statute and by usage in this country, and the law is so variant in different States of the Union, that a treatise, of the kind which Mr. Angell has produced, has for many years been regarded as a desirable acquisition. The Solicitor General of Massachusetts once proposed to publish an edition of Lord Hale's treatise, with annotations illustrative of the American law; and it was to the great regret of the profession, that the project was abandoned. Heartily as we should have welcomed the publication of any professional work by so able and discriminating a lawyer as Mr. Davis, we still may be allowed to say, that Mr. Angell's book has greatly reconciled us to a privation, which we should otherwise have endured much less submissively. Mr. Angell has divided his work into nine chapters. 1. The Roman and English laws, in relation to the right of property in the sea and the arms of the sea. 2. Of the introduction and application of the doctrine of the common law concerning the right of property in the sea, &c. in this country. 3. The public right of fishery in the several States, how affected by the royal charters. 4. What is meant by an arm of the sea, and by the shore; and the rule for determining high-water mark considered. 5. Of marine increases, and the right to sea-weed. 6. Rights acquirable in salt and tide waters, and in the soil and shores thereof, by prescription and custom, and by grant. 7. Of the alterations and modifications of the common-law doctrine, as it respects the right to the sea, &c. which have been effected by statute and by usage in this country. 8. The right of those who own the land adjoining the shore to make embankments, such as wharves, &c. 9. Of wrecked property thrown on the shore. In the Appendix, are contained most of the adjudged cases in the English and American reports, and an examination of the title of the United States to the land, called The Batture, by Edward Livingston, Esq. In the third chapter, Mr. Angell arranges the charters granted to the different colonies, as follows. First. The charters which contained a reservation of the right of fishery to all the king's subjects, without exception. Secondly. The charters which contained a reservation of this right, in favor only of particular subjects. Thirdly. The charters which contained no reservation. According to these differences, he shows the different state of the laws, as it at present exists, in different parts of the United States. This is an instructive chapter, and we suspect will not be without its novelty to many well instructed professional men. It is said by Mr. Angell, in the fifth chapter, that no writer has discussed the question, whether sea-weed thrown upon the shore, belongs, by the common law, to the owner of the land. And a passage is cited from Lord Hale, which indicates his opinion, that the public is, primâ facie, entitled to it. But Mr. Angell gives very satisfactory reasons for a contrary doctrine, and cites also a decision of the Supreme Court of New York (Emans v. Turnbull & al., 2 Johns. 313) where it was held, that the property of sea-weed vests in the owner of the adjoining land. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts made a similar decision, in 1821, in a case (which, most unfortunately, is not reported) between The Proprietors of the flat grounds in Cohasset Little Harbour and Tower. That was a very strong case in favor of the right of the owner of the land, inasmuch as the legislature had undertaken to confer upon the plaintiffs the right of taking all the sea-manure from the defendant's beach.* The most elaborate part of the work before us, is the eighth chapter, in which the author undertakes (successfully, we think) to maintain, by reason and authority, the right of those who own land adjoining the shore, to make embankments, wharves, &c. on the ground below high-water mark, which belongs to the public, provided the public are not thereby injured. We believe he has cited all the authorities which bear strongly on this point, except the famous cases of The Attorney General v. The Mayor &c. of Plymouth & al. and The Attorney General to the Prince of Wales v. Sir John St. Aubyn & al. in Wightwick's Reports. The case of Respublica v. Caldwell, 1 Dallas, 150, is treated by Mr. Angell as wholly at variance with all other decisions on the subject. We cannot analyze this work, in so succinct a notice as we are obliged to take of it, and therefore conclude by recommending it to the attention of professional readers, and of all who are interested in property on tide waters. The subject is an important one, and it is here well discussed. The materials have been collected with great industry, from various sources, and are arranged, if not in the most logical order, in a manner which leaves no confusion in the mind. The compiler has rendered a valuable service to his profession and to the country, and we hope he will not be found among those, of whom it was inquired, in the days of Cicero, "Quid tam exiguum quàm munus eorum ? * See Statutes of Massachusetts, 1819, chap. lix. sect. 3. وو |