ertion, merely because they were enacted by the absolute monarchs and misguided prelates of other days,-can it be that such a principle should find an advocate in the nineteenth century in Bishop Blomfield? Is this the boasted discipline of the Church? Then, blessed be God, that this fundamental principle of our ecclesiastical polity'-a yoke which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear,-is not that to which we are compelled to bow. Still, this is ecclesiastical discipline; and, in speaking thus of the system, we impute no blame to the Bishop of Chester. Some of the practices against which he points his censure, are clearly abuses which ought to be discountenanced. After proceeding to reprehend the practice of administering private baptism without necessity, and of even using the service for public baptism in private houses, as well as that of churching women in private houses, his Lordship thus distinguishes between a conformity to the Rubrics and an observance of the Canons. Our obligation to observe the Canons is of a different nature, and admits of more than one kind of dispensation which is not applicable to the Rubrics. These, it must be remembered, are made binding by statute as well as canon law; and except where a power of dispensation is expressly reserved to the Ordinary, are as obligatory upon him as upon the officiating clergyman.' This distinction between statute and canon law is a very important one, and we are glad to see it insisted upon by so high an authority. But here a nice question suggests itself,-What is the kind of obligation under which the clergy are laid in reference to that which is not binding by statute law? What is the nature or degree of that observance which the Canons demand? His Lordship is aware that to enforce an entire conformity to the Canons would be impracticable. But on what ground does the dispensing power rest, and in whom is it vested? If all the canons are not to be observed, if some of them have become a dead letter, how can any others be obligatory? Canonical obedience would seem to be, in this view, a very indeterminate and uncertain duty; and the existence of ecclesiastical laws thus obsolete and powerless, the unrepealed edicts of the Church, yet forming no part of the statutes of the realm, is an anomaly which might as well be removed. Happily and unhappily, however, the legislative power of the Church as a body corporate is defunct, and its rulers are committed to the maintenance of a monkish code which it has not been deemed fit or safe to incorporate with the laws of England. But even with regard to the Rubrics,-considering that they were drawn up by fallible men, why should they be allowed to form an exception to the general principle of British legislation, which secures the watchful superintendence and occasional revision of the laws by the guardians of our liberty, the representatives of the people? Civil liberty, it has admirably been said, requires no more than this; that the laws should rule, and the people be a party to those laws. It is needless to remark, that this is not the principle of ecclesiastical legislation. Ecclesiastical liberty within the Church, there is none. The elective or representative principle is jealously excluded from every part of the system. The government of the church is a pure despotism; not, indeed, in its administration, for it is tempered by the mild spirit of the times, and by the personal character of the prelates in whose hands it is vested; but still, this is its character. And the moment it is put in effective operation, under the name of discipline, it is felt to be so. Passive, unintelligent conformity, in fact military obedience, is the condition which it exacts from all its officers, with regard to thought, word, and deed. 'No-not a word,' is the stern language of its interdict restraining from the most conscientious or needful departure from the prescribed ritual. In the mean time, to inquire whether the formula be unexceptionable, the rubric perfectly wise, the uniformity required indispensable, would be regarded as rebellion against the powers that be. The clergy have nominally the power, in common with all other' subjects, to petition the Parliament for the repeal of any laws by which they may deem themselves aggrieved; but with regard to the rules and regulations by which they are tonguetied, fettered, and manacled in the discharge of their ecclesiastical duties, no provision is made for any legislative revision to which they, by their representatives, can be parties. The curse of unchangeableness is on the system, which is venerable, indeed, for it is older than civil liberty, though much younger than Christianity. The remaining topics of the Charge are, the residence of the clergy; the due care and repair of the churches and glebehouses; the requirement, in future, of a three months' notice on the part of the candidate for ordination; the caution to be observed in signing testimonials; the irregularity of giving sham titles,-which his Lordship announces his determination to put a stop to; the propriety of establishing a general fund for the whole body of the clergy, after the manner of a mutual benefit society; and the duty of supporting, above all other societies for religious purposes, that for promoting the Enlargement of Churches and Chapels. His Lordship does not spe cifically charge his clergy not to support the Bible Society, relying probably on the efficacy of his example as a sufficient dissuasive; but he significantly remarks: It is our obvious duty, in displaying our zeal for the interests of religion in general, never to endanger nor overlook those of the particular Church to which we belong. If our professions, as her ministers, be sincere, we must believe, that, in proportion as we advance her cause and credit, we promote the growth of true religion; and that whatever impairs her influence or strengthens the hands of her adversaries, is ultimately injurious to Christianity itself." May we presume, however, to remark on the other hand, that it is a duty not less obvious, though sometimes overlooked by learned prelates themselves, in displaying our zeal for the interests of the particular church to which we belong, not to overlook those of religion in general? Moreover, if the professions of the clergy be sincere, must they not believe, that, in proportion as they promote the growth of true religion, they advance the real cause and credit, and strengthen the legitimate influence of their own Church? It strikes us, that this reasoning would be as fair, as conclusive, and as worthy of a Christian minister, as that on which the Bishop grounds his recommendation of a brick and mortar society, a limited and sectarian, though in its way very useful measure, in preference to every more noble and catholic institution. It seems to us, that the sincerity of that churchman's professions who supports the Bible Society is, after all, not quite so questionable as the validity of that Christian's professions,-or, in other words, the Scriptural character of that man's religion, who even tacitly opposes it. Art. IX. Sonnets and other Poems. By D. L. Richardson. Small 8vo. pp. 152. London. 1825. IN N noticing a modest volume of pleasing and gentlemanly verse, we find it sometimes a delicate task to do strict justice at once to the Author and to our readers,-to steer between condemning with faint praise, an insult which no Author forgives, and committing ourselves by excess of courtesy, which our readers would deem a sin still more inexpiable. We have taken up this volume once or twice, as it lay on our table, with the intention of saying a few words upon its merits, but without being able to decide to our own satisfaction, what those words should be. The Sonnets appear to us not inferior to those of Mrs. Charlotte Smith, but we are not admirers of that Lady's sonnets. Of the Songs, it may justly be said, that far inferior verse has employed the skill of the composer, and the tuneful voice of the fair;-for example : The moon is high, but she doth seem In Sorrow's robe enshrouded; The winds are hushed, and not a breath The dews that by my feet are brush'd It is an hour that mocks at joy, And fills the heart with sadness: The absence of rhyme in the alternate lines is, however, a scarcely pardonable defect in such a bagatelle. The following stanzas are not in a very high strain of poetry, but they appear to be dictated by what always excites interest,-genuine feeling. Fair Spirit! though Time's unflagging wing Oh! I have thought of thee, fair Saint! Yes I have cherished doubts and fears That Hope have crushed, and Faith o'erthrown ; A Saviour's heart will not disown. And I, who in my wanderings knew The maddened throb the fevered sigh, The spot where thy dear relics lie, And wait in this lone world the hour Several of the poems were written in India, which accounts for a certain languor that pervades them. Art. X. Six Months in the West Indies, in 1825. Small 8vo. pp. 332. Price 9s. 6d. London, 1826. THIS "HIS is a book which bids fair to have what is called a run. The subject of the West Indies is not a very new one : vide Bryan Edwards and Dr. Coke. But a picturesque, sentimental tour through the Islands is a novelty, and the Author of the present volume has done his best to render it an amusing one. He is very lively, sometimes flippant, very facetious, not always gracefully so, it is a rare attainment to be at once merry and wise; but, though we could have dispensed with a considerable proportion of the Author's jokes, and have been reconciled to somewhat less gas-light brilliancy of style, still, we have been too well pleased with him on the whole, to deal very severely by his offences against the decorum of taste. The reason assigned for undertaking the voyage is an original one. The Writer declares that he went simply and sheerly on his own account,-to get rid of the rheumatism, at the risk of exchanging it for the Yellow Fever. Why did he leave Madeira? 'I should think the situation of Madeira,' he says, 'the most enviable on the whole earth. It ensures almost every European comfort, together with almost every tropical luxury. Any degree of temperature may be enjoyed between Funchal and the Ice House. The seasons are the youth, maturity, and old age of a never ending, still beginning Spring. Here I found what I used to suppose peculiar to the Garden of Eden and the bowers of Acrasie and Ar mida: • Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue The myrtle, the geranium, the rose, and the violet, grow on the |