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least have been safe from interference. But no; the Poor Law Commissioners have continually urged the Guardians to appoint a chaplain, which the Board have refused to do. Since the decision of the Braintree case, this direction has been repeated more authoritatively, with an intimation that legal proceedings will be had recourse to, to compel compliance. Is this to be endured by Englishmen? What is this new irresponsible authority which would thus ride rough-shod over the people? Who are these Commissioners, that they should assume, by an abuse of administrative power unexampled since the days of ecclesiastical high-commissions, not only to tax the people without their consent for the support of a body of stipendiary clergy, but also to dictate what religious instruction shall or shall not be given? In the case before us, the Commissioners have taken objection, that the attendance of the children on the dissenting ministers' preaching is not, like that of the adults, optional! The answer returned, that if the attendance of children on religious instruction is not directed, it will not be given at all. But the object of the Commissioners is evidently, to throw the education and religious instruction of the children absolutely into the hands of the ecclesiastical hireling, to the exclusion of all dissenting teaching!

The feeling of indignant dissatisfaction which the conduct of these functionaries has excited in all parts of the country, is the more poignant, inasmuch as the grievance is not a relic of the intolerance of past times, or an evil of long standing, but one that has arisen out of the abuse of the powers created by a liberal Government. No circumstance, not even the unaccountable policy of suffering the church-rate question to lie in abeyance, has produced so much distrust and alienation from the present Ministry, on the part of the staunch friends to religious freedom, as the working of this part of the new poor law system, and the apparent sanction given by Government to so new and wanton an infringement of the rights of conscience. We regret that this dissatisfaction has hitherto not assumed the tone of firm remonstrance that it ought to have done. Ministers have not been made aware of the extent to which this feeling prevails. No voice has been raised in Parliament in deprecation of the poor law chaplaincies. It has been left to a liberal Roman Catholic member, the Hon. Charles Langdale, to bring forward amendments which, as far as they go, protect the inmates of workhouses from the vexatious regulations of the Commissioners; and to these, Lord John Russell has intimated his willingness to accede. How is it that the Protestant Dissenters of this country are unrepresented in Parliament? Can they wonder that, so long as this is the case, they should find their claims. postponed or their interests neglected by the Government?

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Brief Notices.

Miscellaneous Writings, chiefly Historical, of the late T. M'Crie, D.D. Edited by his Son. 8vo. pp. 676. Edinburgh: Johnstone.

This volume comprises nearly all the miscellaneous historical pieces which were published by Dr. M'Crie at different periods of his life: some of them appeared in the periodicals of the day, and others in separate pamphlets, and were welcomed by a large class of readers who were capable of appreciating the extensive information and sound judg ment of the author. As collected in the present volume, they will be welcomed by a large class, and may contribute to rectify some popular misconceptions which obtained currency under the sanction of great names. The volume contains a Life of Alexander Henderson, extending through seventy-six pages; elaborate Reviews of the Tales of My Landlord;' and of the late Mr. Orme's Life of Dr. Owen, together with several other papers now collected for the first time in an authentic form. We cannot, of course, assent to all the views which are broached, yet we cheerfully commend the volume, as one of sterling and permanent value, to all our readers. It should immediately take its place in all historical libraries beside the Lives of Knox and Melville.

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The Poetical Works of James Montgomery, Collected by Himself. In four volumes. Vol. I. London: Longman and Co. 1841.

We hail the appearance of this edition of the collected poetical works of the sweet Bard of Sheffield with unfeigned pleasure. While the writings of Byron, Scott, Crabbe, Moore, Shelley, Southey, and Wordsworth, are sufficiently prized and sufficiently read by the public to render it worth while to publish new and complete editions with all the recommendations of beautiful type and beautiful illustrations, it would have been a scandal to the lovers of poetry, and still more to the lovers of religion, had not James Montgomery been deemed worthy of a similar honor. We are also glad that Mr. Montgomery, like some of his poetical contemporaries, has thought proper to take charge of his own posthumous fame. We like well this plan of an author's collecting his works during his own life time, giving them the benefit of his last revision, and accompanying them with such explanations touching their origin and history as are generally left to be supplied from the gossip of friends and relations (sometimes ignorant, and always partial) after the writer's death. It is true, indeed, that an author must have filled a certain space in the public eye to render such self-editing other than ludicrous. But no one will deny that Mr. Montgomery has attained a position and achieved a fame which will exempt him from the charge of being solicitous to collect, revise, and put forth in a beautiful form, that of which the world is quite careless whether it is remembered or forgotten.

In addition to great originality, sensibility, and sweetness, his muse has the far higher praise of having consecrated her powers to the loftiest and the holiest themes. Mr. Montgomery will have the delicious consolation in a dying hour of reflecting that he leaves no verse behind him for which he has occasion to blush, or which can awaken a blush in others; nothing but what is friendly to virtue, to truth, and to religion :-a consolation, alas! of how few of our more voluminous poets! May he, like Cowper, command, as we predict he will, a continually extending circle of readers-the object of love as well as of admiration, and inspiring goodness while imparting delight.

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Of his merits as a poet we shall have something more to say when this edition of his collected works is completed. We shall now merely add that the present volume contains, in a very beautiful form, his earliest productions-The Wanderer of Switzerland,' The West Indies,' a large number of Miscellaneous Poems,' and the Prison Amusements.' The volume is introduced by a highly interesting 'General Preface' of some length, in which Mr. Montgomery favors us with some pleasing particulars respecting his early history.

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Italy and the Italian Islands from the Earliest Ages to the present Time. By William Spalding, Esq., Professor of Rhetoric in the University of Edinburgh. With Engravings on Wood by Jackson, and Illustra tive Maps and Plans on Steel. In 3 vols. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.

The Edinburgh Cabinet Library, to which the present volumes belong, has furnished the reading public with several valuable works, distinguished by sound erudition and extensive research; some of these we have introduced to our readers from time to time, and have never done so with more entire satisfaction than on the present occasion. No work has hitherto existed in our language which presented any such popular survey of Italy as Mr. Spalding has here attempted. Distinct branches of the subject have been successfully treated by others, but a combined and proportional view of the whole was yet wanted to complete our knowledge of the country. Few readers have either leisure or opportunity to follow out this most instructive branch of historical inquiry into its various ramifications, and to such the work now before us will prove of incalculable service. The History of the Revolutions, Political, Social, and Intellectual, through which the Italians have passed, in Ancient and Modern Times, is combined with a description of the antiquities, the scenery, and the physical peculiarities of the interesting region which they inhabit.' Such an undertaking, it will be obvious, required, in order to its successful execution, more than ordinary industry, soundness of judgment, and exemption from the prejudices which pertain to particular periods and countries; nor is it too much to say that in all these respects Mr. Spalding prefers more than ordinary claims to confidence. He has evidently spared neither labor nor time in the preparation of his work, and has arranged his materials with a correct perception of what was due to the proportionate importance of the several periods and topics embraced.

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Conversion, considered in its Relation to the Condition of Man and the Ways of God. With Practical Addresses to a Sinner on the Principles Maintained. By John Howard Hinton, M.A. Third edition revised. London: Houlston and Stoneman.

A third edition of a work on doctrinal theology is somewhat of a rarity in the present day, and we have therefore to congratulate Mr. Hinton on the distinction he has attained. Sensible of what is due to the public by whom his labors have been so highly appreciated, he has subjected his work to a thorough revision, by which its diction has been improved and its course of reasoning rendered more consistent and complete. We heartily recommend the volume to the attention and impartial examination of our readers.

Individual Effort, and the Active Christian. By John Howard Hinton, M.A. London: Houlston and Stoneman.

A new edition of two works by the same author, which were formerly published separately, but are now wisely comprised in one volume. They both relate to individual effort for the conversion of sinners.' 'In the former this is enforced by a consideration of the emotions adapted to awaken it, in the latter it is directed by practical suggestions and specific counsels.'

Letters to Young Ladies. By Mrs. L. H. Sigourney. A new edition, with two additional Letters never before published. London: Jackson and Walford.

A neat reprint, with the addition of some original matter, of a work which has passed through several editions in America. The subjects of the letters, which amount in number to eighteen, are eminently appropriate to the class addressed, and are treated in a mode adapted at once to interest and to benefit. The style partakes of the defects common to female authorship, but the good sense and correct feeling which pervade the volume render it an instructive and most desirable companion.

1. The Edipus Tyrannus of Sophocles. From the Text of Brunck, with the Greek Scholia, the Notes of Brunck and Schaefer, and an English Prose Version. By the Rev. J. Pendergrast, B.D. London: Fellows. 2. Sophoclis Tragœdiæ. Vol. I. Sect. 2. Cont. Edipum Regem. Recensuit et Explanavit Eduardus Wunderus. London: Black and Armstrong.

The former of these books has the notes in Latin, the title, preface, and translation in English. The Latin is Brunck and Schaefer's; the English is the present editor's. The latter of the books under remark is the best edition of the Edipus Tyrannus we have seen. The notes are exceedingly useful, and (a great merit, scarcely attainable

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except in Latin notes) are kept within judicious limits. Wunder's Sophocles is decidedly one of the best works in the series in which it is appearing-the Bibliotheca Græca, edited by Jacobs and Rost.

1. The Eton Latin Grammar Translated into English, with Notes and an Appendix. By the Rev. John Green. Fourth edition. York. 2. The New Eton Greek Grammar, or the Eton Greek Grammar in English. By Clement Moody. London: Longmans. 1840.

We have our own opinion about the fashionable clamor against Latin notes and grammars. Although, however, we are alive to the fallacies contained in the popular outcry, we can make no apology for any Latin Grammar, whether written in Latin or in English, which takes no notice whatever of those real improvements in the treatment of the classical languages which have been made within the last thirty years. The great features of the structural system of the Latin and Greek tongues must not be studiously or carelessly kept out of sight, if we would lay a sound foundation for a superstructure of true scholarship. Comparatively speaking, it is enough to say that the above works are no worse than the others in common use. The Eton Grammars, with all their faults, have certain merits, which have perhaps escaped the notice of some who condemn in toto their general system.

Scriptural Studies. The Creation. The Christian Scheme. The Inner Sense. By the Rev. William Hill Tucker, A.M., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Smith, Elder, and Co.

Mr. Tucker has had hard measure dealt out to him by his clerical brethren, who are supposed to give the tone to certain high Church periodicals. We were not surprised that Dr. Pye Smith should alarm and provoke them by his bold and fearless geological investigations. He is a Dissenter, and therefore a very fit object for their orthodox anathemas. But we did not expect that a clergyman of their own Church, who professes the greatest reverence for her institutions, would have encountered their unmeasured severity merely because he has exercised the right of thinking for himself on a subject of science, the facts of which he strenuously maintains are in perfect consistency with the Mosaic account of the creation. It is well for Mr. Tucker that his censors have not the Inquisition at their command, or he might even in the nineteenth century experience the fate of Galileo. We do not profess ourselves converts to Mr. Tucker's speculations in geology, but to impugn his motives, to question his faith, or to imagine that his elucidations of the Scriptures, fanciful and untenable as some of them appear to us, have not a direct and manifest tendency to induce the profoundest veneration for the sacred volume, would be the grossest injustice. We have seldom read a work with deeper interest.

The student of the Bible who regards it in the light in which Mr. Tucker has exhibited it, cannot do better than take him for a companion, though he may not choose always to follow him as a guide.

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