the tail of the sacred cow when the oath was administered, was heard, while the intelligent and pious Quaker, who, in the simplicity of his heart, was so heretical as to believe that the command "Swear not at all" meant what its obvious language imports, was excluded, because he believed the divinity of the command he was anxious to obey. He was thus left without protection to person or to property, unless he should be able to find a witness without the pale of his sect, by whom his legal rights could be established.

By that patchwork legislation, so eminently distinguishing all law reform, an act was passed, and the law so amended that a Quaker, when property was endangered, was admitted to testify, but in cases of property alone, his testimony not being admissible in criminal cases. In this country, however, the legislature have removed the disqualification entirely; the absurdity is, that it should ever have existed.

These limited reforms do not afford a complete remedy for the evil. The incorrectness of religious belief is not the ground of exclusion-for if so, one would think Hindooism sufficiently erroneous for that purpose. The theological jurist views with more complacency the worst forms of Paganism, than a questionable variety of Christianity. The only required qualification in his view, is belief in a future punishment, of which, in every aspect, he must be unutterably ignorant. If, believing the general doctrines of Christianity, he is so unfortunate as to believe that the cares, and sorrows, and misfortunes of this life are a sufficient punishment for transgressions here committed, and that God, in His infinite goodness and mercy, will hereafter receive all into a state of happiness, the common law excludes his testimony. The judicial dabbler in theology in this country, has generally followed the lead of transatlantic jurisprudence.

But whether the Universalist be a witness or not, all authorities agree, that he who disbelieves in the existence of God, who, in the darkness of his beclouded reason, sees not God in the earth, teeming with its various and innumerable forms of animal or vegetable life, sees him not in the starry firmament, nor yet in the existence of man, the most wonderful of his works, is excluded. Atheism is always rare, yet we have, three times in one county, known the attempt made to exclude for that cause. The general bad character of the witness for truth and veracity, affords no ground for exclusion, however much it may for disbelief in testimony;

but even if it had, it would not have been established in those cases. Erroneous belief was the only reason urged. The error of such belief, or want of belief, may not merely be conceded but the entertaining of such sentiments may be deemed the misfortune of his life. But because one of the securities for truth may be wanting, it is difficult to perceive why, all others remaining in full force and vigor, the witness should not be heard and then after, not as the common law does before such hearing, some judgment formed by those who are to decide upon the matter in dispute, of the truth or falsehood of his statements. He is excluded only because he is believed. If he is to be believed, when the truth uttered would expose him to reproach and ignominy, why not hear him under more favorable circumstances, when the rights of others may be involved, and then judge? Exclude him, and any outrage may be committed upon him-his property may be robbed his wife may be violated his child may be murdered before his eyes, and the guilty go unpunished, if he be the only witness; not because he cannot or will not tell the truth, but because the law will not hear him. Practically the law is, that provided a man's belief be erroneous, any body, whose belief is better, and it matters little what it be, Hindooism or Fetichism, may inflict any and all conceivable injuries on his person and property, and the law will permit such a criminal to go unpunished, unless there happens to be present some witness whose belief should square with the judicial idea of competency.

Nor is this all. It leaves it in the power of any man to be a witness or not. A believer, interested for one party and knowing facts adverse to his interest, he has only falsely to profess the erroneous belief, and he is excluded. Wishing to be a witness, and being an infidel, he has only falsely to express a change of sentiments, and he will be admitted to testify. He alone determines whether he will be heard or not. If an atheist and a man of integrity, he is peremptorily shut out; if an atheist, and he will lie and deny his atheism, he is unhesitatingly received. So that the law does not even protect itself, excluding all honest, and admitting all dishonest unbelievers, provided, only, that they are willing to render themselves competent by falsehood.

Abolish, then, the oath, without which technical perjury cannot exist, and the great argument for the wholesale exclusion of testimony by the law is done away with. No intelligent

judge or juryman ever relied upon its security. Judge of the witness by his appearance, manner, answers, the probability of his statements, comparing them with the lights derivable from every source. Punish falsehood injuriously affecting the rights of others, in proportion to the wrong done, not with one uniform. measure of punishment, as if the offence in all cases were the same. Tolerate not two kinds of truth, the greater and lesser, else both are lost. Elevate the standard of veracity, by requiring it on all occasions, and in this way public morality is increased, and the real securities upon which the social fabric rests are strengthened.

ART. II.-SPECIMENS OF GERMAN LYRICS. Die Lyrik der Teutschen in ihren vollendesten Schöpfungen von Göthe bis auf die Gegenwart. In fünf Büchern herausgegeben von HEINRICH FRIEDERICH WILHELMI, Hofrath und Professor. Frankfurt a. M. 1848. 1 vol. 4to. THIS volume contains lyrical pieces from two hundred and nine poets of Germany, who have lived within a hundred years; of course, the pieces are of very unequal merit. All the va rious form of German lyric poetry are represented here — from the antique ode to the most didactic piece that is capable of being sung. Properly speaking, the modern lyric poetry of Germany begins with Goethe, and it bears the peculiar mark of that great artist, though none has yet equalled the master in lyric composition.

The work is divided into three main parts, namely:

1. Pure Lyric, or the Lyric of Sentiment;

2. Didactic Lyric, or the Lyric of Thought;

3. Epic Lyric, or the Lyric of Events.

We give below a translation of a celebrated piece from Schiller.

EXPECTATION.

Did I not hear the gate open?
Did I not hear the latch click?

No, it was the wind's low breathing,
Whirring through these poplars thick.

O deck thyself, thou roof of foliage green,
Thou shalt receive the bringer of my light!
Ye branches build a shady bower, to screen
And circle her with the still blessed night!
And all ye flattering breezes breathe unseen,
And play around her cheek, so pure and bright,
When her light footsteps, softly moving, come
And bear their gentle burden to her home.
Hush what steals through the hedges?
What was the rustling I heard?

No, 't was but the moving bushes,
Shaken by the startled bird.

Proud Day, put out thy torch! and thou appear
O Spiritual Night, with silence sweet!

Thy purple blossoms spread around us here,
And let the secret branches o'er us meet!
The joy of love shunneth the listener's ear,
Shunneth the prying ray of noonday's heat:
Let only Hesperus, the Silent, dare
To look on us, and in our transports share.

Did I not hear in the distance
Whispering voices awake?

No, it was the swan in circles
Moving on the silver lake.

Around me flow all sweetest harmonies,
The spring is falling with a pleasant noise,
The flowers are bending to the west wind's kiss,

And all things living in exchange of joys:

The grape the red peach, slumbering in its bliss,
Behind the leaves its ripe repose enjoys:

The breeze, all balmy from the spicy flood,
Drinks from my fevered cheek the glowing blood.

Do I not hear light footsteps

Rustling along through the walk?

No, it is the ripe fruit falling

With its own fullness from the stalk.

The flaming Eye of day has sunk in night-
A gentle death- and all the colors gay;
The flower cups, in the dear and dusky light,
All ope their eyes, that shunned the glare of day;
The moon lifts up her face, so mildly bright,
And melts the world in masses huge away.
From every charm, the girdle is unbound,
And all things beautiful are veilless found.

Something all white glimmers yonder;
Is 't not the folds of her dress?

No, it is the column gleaming

Through the yew wood's gloominess.

O longing heart, seek not this pleasing pain,
To play with lifeless images so sweet:
They will not in my empty arms remain;
No shadowy joy can cool this bosom's heat.
O guide my dear love to my heart again,
And let her tender hand with mine once meet;
Let but the border of her mantle gleam!
Then into Life stepped forth the empty dream.

And light, as from heavenly dwellings,
Appeareth the hour of bliss;

Unseen, unheard, she was near me,

And wakened her friend with a kiss.