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doctrine, we nevertheless feel no hesitation in strongly recommending his pamphlet to the attention of the public, as a most clear and able exposure of the errors of the church of England.

ART. XI.-Manuscript Memorials. 8vo. pp. 208. London: Wilson. 1831.

THERE is a good deal of mind in these memorials, although it must be confessed that they are altogether a most heterogeneous mixture of verse and prose, of sound sense well expressed, and flighty nonsense let off in a madcap style, which has made us sometimes doubt whether the good and the bad be from the same pen.

manner.

One of his most amusing chapters is an exposé of the errors and anachronisms of poets, painters, and others, which, though many of them have been noticed separately before, have not been hitherto brought together under one view, at least not in so entertaining a Thus he notices a painting observed by Burgoyne in Spain, in which Abraham is seen preparing to shoot Isaac with a pistol! While writing this sentence, we happened to see an engraving from Teniers of St. Peter denying Christ, in the front ground of which is a group of persons playing at cards made with paste-board! At Windsor there is a painting of Antonio Verrio, of Christ healing the sick, in the presence of the artist himself, Sir Godfrey Kneller and Bap May, surveyor of the works, in long periwigs! At Vein nice may be seen in the church of Jé St. Zacharia, a picture of a virgin

W

tions, which are of a much more sober nature, and these again are set off by wild Irish tales, ghost stories, and portraits, and sketches in verse, which combine to make up an agreeable medley.

ART. XII.-Address of Earl Stanhope, President of the MedicoBotanical Society, for the Anniversary Meeting, Jan. 16, 1831. 8vo. pp. 28. London: 1831. We are always pleased when the time arrives for the periodical delivery of Earl Stanhope's printed address to the Medico-Botanical Society, for the fact itself reminds us of the excellent example of honourable ambition and patient industry, which a nobleman, bred up in the lap of luxury, has set, not merely to his peers, but to every other individual in the country; and further, the contents of those orations generally consist of matter of a very interesting and valuable nature. The noble Earl commences by exhorting the members to be diligent in inquiring into the nature and medical virtues of plants, and he lays before them many happy illustrations which prove the value of earnestly adopting his advice. His lordship then proceeds to notice the most remarkable papers which have been presented during the year. Amongst these are the communications of Dr. Hancock, on the Juribali or Febrifuge Bark Tree, and one of a very important nature from that "distinguished" physician, as the Earl calls him, Dr. Ryan, of Hatton Garden, The paper of that gentleman con

ments, tending to show that the Ergot of Rye does not induce the labour of parturient women, but only accelerates it when begun. The noble speaker has some valuable ob

servations on the guaco plant, which has been proposed for the cure of hydrophobia. This discourse, taken altogether, is well worthy the attention of the public; it is free from all declamation, particularly from that elaborate verbosity beneath which is almost always disguised a woful paucity of ideas. It is plain It is plain and practical, full of curious facts and pertinent observations, and the whole is set off by a combination of ardour and sincerity in the pursuit, which qualities certainly cannot be more usefully employed than in urging so opulent and influential a nobleman to the study of science. We may mention that the question for the gold medal for the ensuing year (for which all persons are competent to be candidates,) is, "What is the vegetable substance which could be employed with success in the cure of hydrophobia?"

ART. XIII.—The Fossil Flora of Great Britain, or Figures and Descriptions of the Vegetable Remains found in a Fossil State in this Country. 8vo, Part I. By John Lindley, F. R. S. and G. S. and William Hutton, F. G. S. London: Ridgway. 1831.

WE hail this specimen of the Fossil Flora of Great Britain as another proof of the progress of that spirit of improvement, which has now happily insinuated itself into every department of education. If this be, as we conclude it is, a fair sample of the future work, we have no hesitation in saying that we think it will make many converts to the study of geology, and that in itself is a triumph to be envied. The curse of this, as indeed of all seiences, is that it first presents itself to the mind in a fantastic jargon, which at once strikes the student

with despair. Geology in particular is prejudiced by this affectation, and it is because this work offers, not difficult and grotesque names in the first instance, but very beautiful and striking resemblances of the natural object itself, that we are disposed to give it our most cordial support. This is effected by means of lithographic plates, which illustrated each specimen ; and from the care and neatness of the execution, they are calculated, quite as well as the originals themselves, to answer every possible end which the student or the curious in geological matters may have in view. The number of plates is ten in the present Part, but several of those plates have more than one figure. The management of the able and scientific editors is a sufficient guarantee for the value and accuracy of the work; and we are certain, when completed, that it will do more than most of the geological publications which have yet seen the light, to popularize that most interesting and truly important branch of knowledge.

ART. XIV. A Discourse occasioned by the removal into Eternity of the Rev. John Clowes, M. A., &c. By the Rev. S. Noble. 8vo, p. 43. London, 1831.

THIS discourse gives us a very interesting account of a very interesting person, whose history, for many reasons, will frequently deserve a solemn reference by his contemporaries and posterity. The Rev. Mr. Clowes was a regular and learned clergyman of the church of England, who, at an advanced period of his life, and whilst in the full discharge of his duties as a rector at Manchester, was induced to read the writings of Swedenborg.

The effect, particularly after he had perused the Vera Christiana Religio, was sudden but permanent, and the reverend gentleman became an unreserved apostle of the Swedenborgian doctrine. Mr. Noble tells us, that before Mr. Clowes had been brought over to the new religion, it could not be said, to number amongst its professors, more than above twelve persons throughout the world -but that after that reverend gentleman had revised the creed of Swedenborg, and translated and dispersed the writings of his new master-and further, after having made considerable personal exertions to propagate the novel faith himself, the effect was very striking. In most parts of the kingdom there are now societies of Swedenborgians established-they are found in France, Germany, Sweden, and of course in the United States of America, which must be admitted to bear the palm in respect of the ardour of its hospitality towards new doctrines in general.

Now for our own parts, we feel that it would be just as proper for us to quarrel with Mr. Clowes for choosing smoky Manchester for his residence, as it would be to blame him for giving a preference to the religion of Swedenborg. But what we cannot very easily digest, is this very sterling fact, that after having avowed and taught the peculiar tenets of Swedenborg, he still retained his rectorship as a priest of the church of England, and that too, we believe, until the day of his death. Mr. Noble, with great suavity as well as ingenuity, attempts to palliate this glaring inconsistency, and tells us that the emoluments of the rectorship were consumed, or nearly so, by the expenses of the curacy. What has that fact to do with the principle of the question? If Mr. Clowes was a real Swedenborgian,

what business had he to pretend that he was a minister of the church? He must have deceived those who were ignorant of his real faith: and to those who were aware of his double character, he has left this precious sentiment as a legacy, that а man may, with impunity, be a disbeliever in the doctrines of the church, and hold at the same time a corfidential office in the ministry of that church. We sincerely hope that such an example will never be imitated, and indeed we cannot see how it can, by any person having honestly and conscientiously changed from one set of religious opinions to another.

ART. XV.-An Equitable Property Tax: a financial Speculation : and a fair rate of wages to the Labouring Poor. By a Loyal Briton. 8vo. pp. 24. London. THE 'Loyal Briton' in this case is, we believe, the Rev. Richard Warner, a gentleman who has been long distinguished for the benevolent and useful attention which he has paid to the interests of the labouring poor. The object of his present tract is to show, which he does by a comparative calculation of receipt and necessary expenditure, that the wages of the labouring poor are altogether inadequate to their maintenance. Considering that the ancient advantages which they possessed in the commons, forests and wastes, and that their cottages in many places have been altogether taken away from them, he insists that it would only be equitable for the landlords to divide all their large farms into two or more smaller ones, none exceeding the annual rent of 300l. a year, and not letting more than one farm to the same individual, a practice

which, if universally adopted, would, he thinks, increase the demand for human labour to an indefinite amount. He suggests that, in addition to this, they should grant long leases on a moderate rent, and bind the farmer, in consideration thereof, to employ a certain number of labourers at fixed wages; that they should allot to the peasantry on their estates, on just conditions, small portions of land for their own use, build comfortable cottages for them, and manifest at least the same solicitude for them which they feel for the preservation of game'-the effect of all of which favours, if they were conceded by the landlords to the fullest extent of Mr. Warner's wishes, would be just like an experiment to appease the angry ocean by pouring a phial of oil upon its surface! Unless a very extensive system of emigration be adopted and acted upon in the course of a very few years, or unless war, or the cholera morbus, or some such plague, "thin the land," wages must of necessity bear no proporto the constantly increasing expenses of the necessaries of life.

With respect to the reverend gentleman's proposition of a property tax, that is a much more practicable affair. He would take off all those imposts which press severely upon industry, and supply the amount of them by a tax fairly levied upon property. The proposition is very far from being new; but it is not, therefore, the less worthy of consideration.

ART. XVI.-Selections from the Poems of William Wordsworth, Esq., chiefly for the use of Schools, and Young Persons. 8vo, pp. 365. London: Moxon. 1331. THIS school book has long ben a desideratum, and it gives us olea

sure to find that it has been at length supplied. Although we do not deem ourselves worthy to be enumerated amongst those persons who are so enthusiastic in their admiration of Mr. Wordsworth's poetry, that they prefer it to every other in the English language, and speak of it and of its author with a kind of reverence approaching to idolatry,. yet we hope that we can feel the beauties of his natural imagery, and the simplicity of his diction, and the fervent glow of his thoughts, as fully as the most devoted of his worshippers. We will not, indeed, swear that "Peter Bell" is the most charming poem that ever was written; yet even in Peter Bell we can recognise some of Wordsworth's most peculiar merits. The selections here extracted from his works are for the most part judiciously made, and the volume is in every respect so well adapted to the purpose for which it is intended, that we hope it may find its way very generally into the hands of youth.

ART. XVII.-A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Bath and Wells, at the Visitation of the Diocese, in May and June, 1831. 4to. pp. 23. Wells Backhouse. London: Rodwell and Rivington. 1831.

THE air of Christian charity, of sincerity and truth that breathes throughout this address, mnst recommend it most powerfully to the attention of the community at large. Dr. Law opens his charge with a formidable picture of the state of the country, in which, however, we do not recognise a single trait of exaggeration: he paints crime of every kind-crime marked too in characters of a deep and unwonted dye, as on the increase; vice stalking abroad in higher life, at noon-day,

unabashed and unconscious of shame; whilst among the lower orders there prevails a spirit of insubordination that brooks no restraint, appearing in frequent instances of cruelty, and midnight depredations, hitherto foreign to the character of our people.' And,' adds the Right Rev. Prelate, what is of all circumstances the most appalling, the truths and precepts of our holy religion itself, are by many lightly regarded, if not entirely set at nought and despised.' The Bishop, after stating these alarming facts, tells his clergy that the most effectual mode of endeavouring to arrest this general career of sin, is to inculcate a clear knowledge of the uncorruped doctrines of religion, natural and revealed, upon both of which subjects he expatiates at considerable length with his wonted eloquence. Let not then,' he recommends, the Sunday pass by, so frequently, as of late it hath done, without your displaying to your hearers the goodness of the Almighty, in th: formation and providential care of his creatures. Convince them that the line which the Deity has marked out for them by his eternal laws, is the path of virtue. Every act of obedience to the will of our Creator, hath its appropriate inducement and recompence. Kindness is, for the most part, repaid by kindness. Temperance is its own reward. Industry hath in its right hand, length of days; and in its left hand, competence and content.' If the virtuous be sometimes overwhelmed with misfortunes, this is but a proof that there is a better world, in which they shall meet with their reward; nor is this, he contends, the only evidence which natural religion affords of a resurrection from the dead. The Bishop's ideas upon this point have often been inculcated before, but NO. II. (1831.) VOL. IV.

we have never seen them clothed in more persuasive language.

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"The mind of man shrinks from, and dreads the idea of annihilation. It looks with fond and anxious hope to future and brighter scenes; a reunion with those we have loved upon earth made Saints in Heaven. Surely then we are justified in believing that a God of all power, and of all justice, would not have implanted in our Souls this aspiration after, this longing for immortality, if it were a state we are never destined to attain. This feeling then, which gives life a charm ; which is the parent of noble thought and action; this, cannot be the groundless vision of the fancy: an expectation which never is to be realized-a desire which never can be granted. Far more consistent is it even with the deductions of our reason alone to believe, that the hope of bursting the bands of death and triumphing over the King of Terrors, is an instinct which will lead to its own fruition; that it is a link which unites earth to heaven, an anticipation which may render us more fit partakers of those joys that are to be revealed.'

It is no part of our object, at present, to enter into those doctrines advanced by the prelate, which many members of his own church, not to speak of the dissenters, strongly contravert. We may observe, however, that his explanation of the intimate connection between faith and good works is as concise as it is exact and eloquent in language. Among the causes of those evils which, he says, the church has to deplore, he particularly notices' those wild and enthusiastic notions of religion, which are at present so frequently inculcated in conventicles, and sometimes even in our public ways and fields! The tendency of such

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