ABSTRACT
Mr. Ripley proposes to bring out, from time to time, under the general title of Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature. Mr. Ripley's undertaking is a noble one, and one in which our whole country is deeply interested. The importance of reproducing in own language the standard literature of other nations cannot easily be overrated. We are also much in want of the works Mr. Ripley proposes to reproduce. We have much to learn in the departments of Philosophy, Theology, and History, from the literatures of France and Germany. The literature of one nation has therefore always something peculiar to itself; something of value, which can be found in the literature of no other. The study of the literatures of different nations will necessarily tend, therefore, to liberalize our minds, to enlarge our ideas, and augment our sum of truth.
