24 JULY 1852, Page 17

REMINISCENCES OF THOUGHT AND FEELING. * THIS volume consists of a

series of essays on topics connected with self-government and our duties towards ourselves, followed by an autobiography of the writer; who, it turns out, is a female, not- withstanding her dramatic assumption of the male character in her previous work of Visiting my Relations, and what is more, her masculine tone of thought and writing. , The essays, are grave, thoughtful, and possess the weighty but sustained style which dis- tinguished the work we have mentioned. More of the religions element, however, is introduced into them ;. and, whether from that cause or the nature of their topics, they are more discursive and sermonlike in their treatment and style. The autobiography is a narrative of much interest. In its earlier stages it is remarkable for- a truthful portraiture of a rather singular do- mestic life, and the state of society at a university town, evidently Cambridge. For those who wish something extrinsic and re- quire a " lion" to stimulate attention, there is a literary feature in the life ; for the writer was a novelist of some celebrity thirty years ago, the authoress of " The Favourite of Nature," " Os- mond,' &c. The principal feature, and the psychological curiosity of the book, is the " spiritual wrestlings" of the heroine. The stories of Romish mystics or the experiences of Nonconformist en- thusiasts have nothing more singular or more striking. The Re- miniscences, moreover, have these advantages: the writer possesses a more cultivated mind and more rational habits of thought than many of the zealots we have alluded to : she is narrating her past experiences from the vantage-ground of the present, and with the benefit of having outlived much of her wild fanaticism. Speaking, in one of her essays, of the necessity of forming a cha- ritable judgment upon others, the writer gives as one reason, "be- cause we know not in the first place, the circumstances of their physical organization:1. This physical organization, if we could know it, would, we believe, explain a great deal that is puzzling in morals and psychology. It is in some degree requisite to ac- count for the tale that is told. At the time of her earliest religious movements, the writer's parents were both dead ; she was possessed of a competence ; she was making money by her novels; she was a literary celebrity of Cambridge, passing her mornings in study and her evenings -in a round of musical and other parties. She had apparently nothing to disturb her beyond what most of us feel towards the dead—a sense of having neglected her parents during their lives, especially her father, between whom and herself was waged a sort of covert war. Yet a mere accident—an acquaint- ance with Mrs. 5—, a disciple of Simeon, and a zealous but rather vulgar Evangelical, an improved sketch of whom figures as Mrs. Lane in Visiting my Relations—shook her ideas in a single even- ing, and was finally the means of sending her through a most strange series of exercises and experiences. She began to look upon her visitings as a sin; she "sat under" Simeon, having at first gone to his church rather " upon the sly" to avoid the ridicule of her " worldly " friends. In search of spiritual drams sufficiently potent, she afterwards took up with the Unknown Tongues ; and, shaken by some trouble, she seems to have verged upon a state approaching mania, in which her physical health was damaged almost beyond recovery. At last, she went the length of giving up her choice collection of music " to the ser- vants to light the fires with," and contemplated burning her piano- forte as a proper sacrifice to duty ; and was "only arrested by the remembrance that it must be dobe in the open air, and that some one or another, concluding it an act of madness, would rush to prevent its accomplishment." Many of her worldly friends had dropped her ; some she herself had dropped ; her last and oldest she dismissed by letter. Yet in all this fanaticism there were traits of a strong independent will, and of a power of critical reasoning. She never could yield herself absolutely to any of the Christian leaders ; and, presuming to doubt some particular dogma, she lost of course the favour of the dogmatist. At length she was totally alone. Quiet, probably, restored her health ; and with better

• Reminiscences of Thought and Feeling. By the Author of " Visiting my Re- lations." Published by Pickering.

health and change of scene she got sounder views of religion. To what she has finally settled down, it is not easy to discover. For the fanaticism of others she has little mercy ; it is not so clear but that she has still a latent fanaticism of her own. She seems to have taken up with some modification of German Rationalism. Her real dogma would appear to be, that external helps are little or no- thing in religion. The mind is sufficient to itself with the assist- ance of an inner light—conscience or inspiration, which will always come when sought for and waited for.

A narrative such as this owes its effect to its continuity and completeness. A sample may give an idea of the substance. The- -Unknown Tongues fantasy was introduced into the neighbourhood,' of Cambridge by &couple from Scotland. They were recommended by Mr. Irving to the patronage of Lady —, who wanted a mar- ried pair to superintend her school, visit the poor, and otherwise' act as her deputies in charity and religion, while the husband was also to officiate as domestic chaplain, though they resided in the- school. This exhibition took place on the writer's second visit. "I wished a great many times that I had not accepted this invitation ; but as that was useless, there was nothing left but to make the best of it.- Both Mr. and Mrs. C— welcomed me on their return home, with great cor- diality ; and I was pleased to observe a cheerfulness of manner ,on the part of Mrs. C— which was far more agreeable than the reserve which marked it at our first meeting. They gave me the idea of people who had just es- caped from a situation of constraint ; and, as it happened, something of the sort was actually the case, the circumstances attending their breakfast at the Hall that morning having been of an unpleasant kind, in consequence of the presence of some divine from London, who took the liberty to question the reality of the gift of tongues, and that in a way so shocking to the feelings of Mrs. C—,that she had been compelled to rush out of the room, and go to prayer in an adjoining apartment. "She was seated by me on the sofa during the narration of this matter ; which having been amply discussed, some remark of mine occasioned her to take my hand, as if in token of sympathy with what I said. She retained it so long, that I began to feel a degree of embarrassment, which was aug-. mented into dread when I perceived her to cover her eyea with her disen- gaged hand, and sink into a long and profound silence. Mr. C— also ceased to converse. It was really an awful contiguity in which I found myself ;' but, being in a measure prepared for a demonstration at any moment, I was not so wholly taken aback as I otherwise should have been, when. she at length broke out with a loud and sudden burst of the unknown tongue. Wholly. unknown, indeed, was it to mei but it sounded some-, thing like the Greek which I had occasionally heard recited in the Senate House. It lasted but a very little time, and was succeeded' by short and frequently repeated sentences in good intelligible English, and all of the most cheerful and encouraging nature. Ye are his witnesses—ye are his witnesses,' I remember was one of them. After declaiming in this way some time with her eyes closed, she went off into singing a hymn, in a voice of triumphantjay that was inexpressibly delightful. " It strangely but profitably affected me. Mr. G— had long been kneeling in prayer before she ended ; and irresistible was the impulse that inclined me to unite with him. I shall never say nor think otherwise than that it was a glorious, beautiful outbreak that had come upon us ; and iinposeible was it for me then,. and equally impossible is it for me now' to believe but, that whatever spirit might, be the original prompter of the act, the mighty power of clod overcame all evil in it, and rendered it one full fraught with blessinf to the souls of his poor, ignorant, helpless crea- tures. Never—no, never had my parched spirit so satisfactorily drank of living water, and been refreshed. Tears, but not of bitterness, tears that soothed and benefited me, almost rained from my eyes ; and when she ceased, it was an act of instinct for me to go up and kiss and bless her, for the season of good she had been the means of bringing to my withered heart."