The Northern Neck of Virginia [pp. 279-295]

THE NORTHERN NECK OF VIRGINIA.
sonous instead of salutary,to republican institutions, in our great
cities. If the boys whom it has taught to read novels, had
been put to trades, they could not have been driven away from
the polls after they had grown to be men. There has been
virtually no election in New-Orleans, and in many of our large
cities, for the last five or six years; whether from fear or indifference it proves that the system of education is defective.
America wants a university to raise the standard of morals,
manners, and learning, so high, that every individual -, ill be as
secure from personal violence at the sacred ballot-box, as at
the church altar. America wants schools to raise the standard
of moral virtue so high, that every American citizen, naturalized or native, may confidently rely upon government putting
forth its whole power to protect him in all the rights and privileges of an American citizen, both at home and abroad.
ART. I[.-THE lNO0THERN N/EICK OF VIRGINIA.
THE difficilty of writing an essay on the subject we have
chosen consists not in the want of matter but in its excess.
We are embarrassed as to the selection of the topics on which
we shall treat. This Northern Neck of Virginia, being one of
the earliest settlements in the Union, has a long and eventful
political history, but that history is not to be found in books.
Besides, for a mere political history, a Review is not the proper
medium of publication. This REVIEW, we are pleased to find,"\
is fast becoming a cyclopedia of the South. Able writers are
contributing to it articles descriptive of the geography, geol-
ogy, mineralogy, natural history, botanical history, agriculture, arts, manufactures, laws, police, social relations, schools, I
colleges, roads, canals, diseases, medical practice, religion,
churches, statistics, history, &c., &c., of various localities. J
Besides the present interest, which such essays possess, they
make the REVIEW an invaluable magazine of facts for the
future historian. We observe that it is taken by many public
institutions and public libraries, both North and South, and
will thus preserve through all times an authentic, comprehensive, and concise cyclopedia of the South. A more useful publication, one more deserving, nay demanding, the patronage
and encouragement of the patriotic and enlightened, we know
not. Its style is inferior to that of the English Reviews. In,
reading them, we often overlook the subject matter in our
admiration of the artistic execution.
"Mlateriern superabat opus." Style, with them, is every-.
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