-917 Ravens in the Hebrides. following: Adam, or the creation; Noah, or the deluge; the calling of Abraham, or the commencement of the covenant between God and his people; Moses, or the writen law; the siege of Troy; Solomon, or the foundation of the temple; Romulus, or the building of Rome; Cyrus, or the deliverance of the people of God from Babylonian captivity; Scipio, or the destruction of Carthage; the birth of JESUS CHRIST; Constantine, or the peace of the church; Charlemagne, or the establishment of a new empire. I have given you the establishment of the new empire under Charlemagne, as the conclusion of ancient history, because it is here that you will find the complete termination of the ancient Roman empire. I have, therefore, thought it advisable to arrest your attention at this important point of universal history. The order which I propose to observe in the second part of this work, will lead you to the very age that is rendered illustrious by the immortal actions of the king, your father; and which will, we hope, derive new lustre from your endeavours to follow the great example which is set before you. After having explained to you the general design of this work, I have three principal points to recommend to your notice, into which I hope to condense all that belongs to our subject. It is necessary, in the first place, that I conduct you regularly through the different epochs, and that you take down, in few words, the principal events which distinguish each of these, that your mind may be accustomed to give them their proper place, without reference to any other occurrence. But as my chief intention is, to draw your observation, as you pass along the stream of time, to the progress of religion, and the changes of kingdoms, after I have brought together, in a regular series, the prominent facts relating to these two things, I shall return, and connect with my subject necessary reflections on the unchangeableness of religion, and the vicissitudes which have taken place in empires. After this, whatever part of history you take up, you will turn all to profit. Never pass by any remarkable fact until you have discovered the consequences that resulted from it. Let your admiration be turned towards the wise counsels of God, in the affairs of religion. Lastly, direct your attention to the intimate connexion which subsists between human affairs, and you will then perceive that reflection and foresight are able, in some measure, to direct and govern them. RAVENS IN THE HEBRIDES. 918 A HERD of grampuses (delphinus orca,) having made their appearance off the island of Pabbay, in the Sound of Harris, in the summer of 1818, the natives surrounded them in boats, and drove them ashore. Some of the animals were about thirty feet in length, others not more than twelve. Forthwith all hands were out, busily em ployed in stripping off the blubber, an operation which lasted but a few In the mean time, two or three ravens were seen on the neighbouring rocks, croaking dolefully. The people then brought out all the pots they could muster, for the purpose of boiling the blubber. The island sent forth an odour which extended for miles around. Ravens came daily, în pairs, and at length in small flocks. The grampuses, now abandoned by their murderers, were attacked by the ravens, which, after gorging themselves most gloriously from dawn to twilight, retired in the evening to a rock in the vicinity, where they dozed away the short hours of the summer night, seeing in the visions of sleep the noble carcases of whales moored upon island beaches of the stormy Hebrides. 1. the There were about seventy grampuses in all, and for each grampus there might be for the first week five ravens, the next week ten, then twenty, and at length fifty; so that the ominous army at length amounted to upwards of three thousand beaked war. riors, headed by an enormous white fieldmarshal, under whom were various speckled generals. Spotted ravens, in fact, are sometimes seen in the Hebrides on ordinary occasions, but one totally white had never before presented itself to the astonished natives. The carcases were wasting but slowly, and so long as the ravens had plenty of food, no person thought much about them. At length the flesh and entrails disappeared, and nothing remained but the bare bones. The skeletons lay on the shores, like the hulks of the Spanish armada, keel and timbers, the planks torn off by the natives. Every body thought the ravens would now withdraw, but no diminution appeared in their number. Week after week, the old marshal' and his subalterns led the corbies to the bloody beach. A council of war was held; but no person could suggest a remedy. Some shots were indeed fired, and a few ravens hung in irons on the heights; but the rest merely croaked as they saw their companions swinging in the gale. At length, a man named Finlay Morrison hatched a plot which produced a goodly` gosling. Finlay had often been in St. Kilda, where he saw the gannets slain in the night in the following manner :-The birdcatcher slips down a long rope, fastened above by a peg, until he gets upon a shelf where the gannets have roosted. He approaches cautiously, seizes the first between his knees, to prevent it from flapping its wings, and thereby frightening the rest, dislocates its neck by a sudden jerk, and leaves it there stark dead. In this manner he kills several scores per noctem. Finlay crawled cautiously up the rock, to which the ravens retired at night; he laid hold of an old one, and burked him; then another and another, until at length he had slaughtered more than a score. This was repeated several nights in succession. Still no diminution was perceptible in the army, and the islanders were apprehensive of a famine, for the ravens had attacked their barley. Finlay scratched his head one night as he sat by the fire, right over the organ of invention, which being thereby electrified, out came a spark, which, pass ing through the other organs, produced a scheme, and a curious one too, as will presently be seen. 920 "Anecdotes of Animals," brought to my remembrance a curious circumstance which I witnessed a short time since. Having noticed for upwards of a dozen years, in a flower-garden, a bed of large black ants, which had placed their nests beside an old wall, I found that a gravel walk lately made, just by the side of their haunts, greatly disturbed their daily labours, as it was stretched across the track over which they regularly traversed backwards and forwards from morning till night. On observing how active they were in running round the little stones which obstructed their passage, after some time I removed all the impediments, leaving a smooth path in a circle, which they soon found to be the easiest way of travelling, and in which they went, in as regular a manner as a regiment of soldiers, leaving room for each other to pass. Recollecting to have read in the life of John Bunale, esq. the case of John Orton, a hermit, who, dying alone in the Stonemore Islands, was found, some time after his death, lying on a couch without any covering, the ants having eaten his flesh, and left the bones as white as if they had come from the hands of the anatomist; I was resolved to try an experiment-I accordingly procured a bird, plucked off its feathers, and placed it in a box, just by their nests, leaving holes for them to enter and retreat, and covering it slightly with mould. In less than a week they reduced it to a complete skeleton. We little know the extent of our obligations to these useful creatures in destroying putrid masses, which would otherwise prove injurious to human life. Their whole economy demonstrates the wisdom and goodness of Divine ProM. GUIVER. He rose up, dark as it was, and took with him two of his companions. They walked to the rock, clambered up as usual to the raven roosts, laid hold of half a dozen birds, plucked them completely, leaving only the wing and tail feathers, and let them loose. By this time it was dawn. The plucked ravens screamed violently; the whole flock screamed, and fled. Nothing was to be heard on the island but one desperate and incessant scream. The natives, terrified, got out of bed and came abroad. The denuded ravens naturally sought their companions; but the latter had no com-vidence. passion upon them. They fled from them Cambridge, July, 1829. in all directions, terrified at the unnatural and never-before-seen spectacle. One night only did the ravens remain in the island. Some herdsman saw them at sunrise wing their flight in a body northward over the Atlantic, leaving behind them their luckless POETRY. A WELCOME TO ENGLAND; companions, which, naked and persecuted, Or, Lines written on the Introduction of GEORGE soon perished. By this means was the island of Pabbay rid of a pest, which might have reduced to severe distress, by destroying their scanty crop, an already wretched population, the greater part of which has since taken refuge in the wilds of Canada. -Edinburgh Literary Gazette. BENNET, Esq. on his Return to England, into O WELCOME, welcome home once more! From climes that turn our night to day, -921 Spreading along the path of time, That bloom and smile beneath the Goat, Thy scheme was not in every mart To fetch the pearl from ocean's deep, The plants and shrubs beyond the line; To find a southern continent. A purer ray thy footsteps led, Thrice welcome home to greet our eyes, Rock, reef, and from the leeward shore! Hence, when in our antipodes, For God was thine, and he was there. THE SUN-FLOWER. In triumph he does ride; While every tear is dried. When o'er the glowing west, In skies both blue and fair; Still in his presence blest, We find thee gazing there. Thy languid head to weep. Till Phoebus does return. Flower of the sun! oh, why And court the sunny ray? They are-but whence the cause? I seek no cause, indeed! For, oh each passing hour; A lesson we may read, In every plant and flower. Tho' I to earth am bound, A GLORIOUS SUN is given; O, may he still be found, And draw my thoughts to heaven. THE GOD OF THUNDERS. "TWAS silence all ;-now from the op'ning skies, A fire descends, and through the ether flies; Tremendous noise succeeds the vivid flame, God treads above, and thunders speak his name. He lifts his hand, the sun forgets his glare, Rolls in dense clouds, and stalks the heavens in fear: He speaks, and, lo, through every op'ning gate Speed fire and noise that round his glory wait. This God is ours; He 'tis the suppliant hears, "Tis He the Christian loves, the Atheist fears, To Him the spirits damn'd disdain to pray, Lightnings surround his path, and thunders mark his way. Q. E. D. 923 A PARAPHRASE On part of the Sixth Chapter of Matthew. WHEN will thine unbelief, Its torturing power restrain? Is faith's inspired prayer At length of no avail, Do his resources fail? Then why, O tell me, why, or whence, Behold the feather'd throng, Their sweet and constant meal, Their sylvan home conceal. He bids them weave their mossy bed, The lilies of the field, How carelessly they bloom, And without labour yield Through every varied tribe, His hand their vital juice supplies, And tints them with their richest dyes. His care extends to all The vegetable race, He sends his show'r to fall, E'en on the lowly grass. On the rude thistle too, That near the pathway grows, As on the sweetest rose. Thus nature's ample fields survey, Poetry. AN ADDRESS TO ENGLAND ON BEHALF OF HOME MISSIONS. "England, with all thy faults, I love thee still." COWPER. HARK! on the odorif'rous gales, That last sad mournful song. From British heathen, English swains, The soul-arresting sounds arise, How long shall ardent prayer arise Shall Afric's sons be freed from chains, Shall Budhu's priests, from sin made free, And England's sons be slaves? Oft from the senate and the throne, Again the loud, th' imperious call, 924 Haste to the standard of your King, Jesus commands! your treasures bring; The foe our poor beguiles. O for a patriotic zeal, To fire our souls, and while we feel, Our energy t' increase; Not to spread death and ruin round, God of our highly favour'd isle, Touch every heart that bears thy name, On every agent rest. Burslem. J. YOUNG. CAPTIVE NEGRO'S SONG. THERE is a land of liberty, Whose sons are brave and fair, Where black and white alike are free As birds that skim the air. We sleep and dream, before our eyes, Nor think of former tears. They were not form'd of finer clay, O noble, high, exalted land, O Britain, now be truly brave, APOLOGUE. THIS morn I met a little boy, W. T-g. (As near yon blossom'd grove I tarried,) With cheeks flush'd o'er with rapturous joy, And in his hand a prise he carried. A prize which he would not forego, Where hast thou got these birds, this morn ? I've found this nest in youder thorn, Ah me, my boy! poor reckless child! And oh in riper years withal, Thou'lt catch at many a worthless bubble! While keener thorns thy breast will gall, And turn thy joys to tears of trouble. THOS. CROSSLEY. 925 Review.-The Preacher's Manual. REVIEW.-The Preacher's Manual; a Course of Lectures on Preaching, in which Claude's Principles, &c. are illustrated by numerous Examples. By S. T. Sturtevant. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 480 -693. Baynes. London. 1829. THESE volumes are of a very peculiar character, intended chiefly for the use of young preachers, who, by studying the excellent rules which they contain, may soon become workmen who need not be ashamed. The first volume having been some time in our possession, was nearly forgotten; but the recent arrival of the second, recalling it to recollection, led to an immediate examination of both; the result of which we embody in this review. The Preface, which occupies about twenty pages, gives a general, but rather indistinct outline of what the lectures contain, acknowledges the obligations the author is under to Mr. Simeon and others, without whose assistance his rules would have been deficient in example to illustrate their nature, variety, and comprehensiveness, and furnishes many useful but delicate hints to auxiliary preachers; but in other respects it exhibits nothing remarkable either in language or sentiment. The introduction approximates more nearly to the subjects of the lectures, assigns to the ministerial character its vast importance, and enforces with much energy the necessity of suitable qualifications in all by whom it is assumed. With this view, the author strongly recommends mental as well as spiritual improvement, in which he includes method and order in the choice of subjects, and the manner of elucidating them, in thought and reflection, in reading and arrangement, and in laying before an audience, both in matter and terms, the various topics which the study had supplied. He admits that at first the difficulties may appear formidable, from the number and diversity of the necessary acquirements; but encourages his readers with an assurance, that they are not insurmountable, and that they are more forbidding in appearance than they will be found when resolution brings them to the test of experiment. The lectures in these volumes are SO immediately connected together, that they may all be considered as so many parts of one common whole, which, as a system, may be said to embody the science of preaching, and as making a circuit round that ample field, in which the preacher is to take his stand. The number of these lectures is sixty-two, of which twenty-five 926 are included in the first volume, and the remainder in the second. 66 On glancing over the titles of these lectures, we were ready to exclaim with Rasselas, when attending a dissertation on poetry, Enough; I am convinced no man can be a poet." Much, however, may be done by young ministers to prepare themselves for their arduous undertaking, towards which they will find these volumes of considerable service, although they may never reach the acmè of perfection which the author recommends. The task, indeed, appears Herculean; but diligence and perseverance will accomplish wonders; and although, should a knowledge and observance of all these rules be made the criterion of preaching qualifications, "This pulpit to be let" might be written on many a rostrum; the youthful mind may easily acquire principles, which, though diversified in themselves, and somewhat obscure in their nicer discriminations, will become familiar by intimacy, and neither overwhelm it with their multiplicity, nor perplex it with their intricacies. Young ministers, like all other students, must not forget, that it is "by toil and art the steep ascent we gain;" and he who is about to dedicate his life to the duties of the sanctuary, should deem nothing superfluous, which can store his mind with variety, confer dignity on his station, or render him respectable in the estimation of those among whom he may be called to minister in holy things. One danger to be apprehended from a too rigorous adherence to these rules, when a knowledge of them has been acquired, is, that it may lead their possessors "to pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and omit the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." Should this unhappily, in any instance, be the case, the remedy will be attended with more fatal consequences than the evil it was designed to remove. This rock, which is always on the lee-shore, did not escape the notice of Mr. Sturtevant, and he cautions his readers against the disasters which it threatens. We hope in all cases that his warning voice will be heard; but if his admonitions had been more pointed, energetic, and decisive, more frequently presented to the eye, and raised to a greater prominence in his work, it would have derived an additional value from the acquisition. A second danger, still more to be dreaded than the preceding, is, that the time and attention necessary to the full acquirement of these rules, may so engross the mind, as to paralyze its inclination to obtain an inti |