The New-England Magazine Volume 5 (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 'REFLECTIONS ON MAN, HIS RELATIONS AND INTERESTS. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF FREDERIC ANnLLON. [Frederic Ancillon is a native of Berlin, was born in 1766, and is still living. He is a diplomatist, and is well-known on the continent of Europe for his political writings. The work, from which we have made a few extracts and translated them, was published in Berlin, in two volumes, in 1829. He writes both in German and French; but the character of his mind appears rather German than French.] Reputation may be factitious, for it is the opinion of contemporaries; but Fame is never, for it is the judgement of posterity. Nothing is more noble than a woman of talents and high character who, from principle, devotes herself to petty household cares. The generality of women go through with such duties from instinct or from habit; they are not obliged to descend to find themselves on a level with their occupations. They neither sec, nor desire, nor suspect any thing beyond. Principles are fixed, primitive and directing ideas, which have the more influence in proportion as they are more simple and less numerous. A want of ideas is often a reason for want of principles; but often, on the other hand, a number of ideas distracts our attention, and diminishes our power, and prevents any one of them from becoming the ruling one. There are Jesuits in politics as well as in religion. The principles of both are the same; both maintaining that the end sanctifies the means, and that every thing is permitted, or at least allowable, which contributes to the acquisition of power or the spread of particular doctrines. The whole art of war consists in the comparative calculation of the space and the time which alone give the means of directing large masses with safety and despatch...