every art, though least attractive at first, is most deserving of regard. For this quality does not strike and surprise, dazzle and amuse, [the very characteristics of the Purcell school] but it elevates and expands the 'mind, filling it with awe and wonder, not always suddenly, but in proportion to the length and quantity of study bestowed upon it. The more it is known, the more it will be understood, approved, admired, venerated, I might almost say, adored.'

Mr. Jebb speaks of Handel in a passage which we wish we had space to transcribe, as it furnishes a characteristic specimen of the whole book. We will only remark, first, that we admit fully the great merit of Handel, and the religious effect of much of his Oratorio Music, while we, at the same time, protest against his works being considered as models for the use of the Church. They are fine sacred compositions;--far, indeed, above the common run, but yet intended as Oratorios, not as Anthems or Services, and therefore decidedly better confined to their original purpose. And, in the next place, that Mr.Jebb's remark, (in proof of the great religiousness of Handel's music,) 'that he lived under the influence of the Church of England, ⚫ that he was not unblessed by her services,' &c., does not go for much, considering the general tone of the times in which he lived. Although we may admit with Mr. Knox, (as quoted by Mr. Jebb,) that Handel's Oratorios 'have been one means of sustaining among us that spirit of devotion which infidel philosophy abroad, and laxity and indolence at home, had well nigh extinguished among us,' yet this, certainly, would not of itself argue much in favour of their unworldly character. They were religious, by comparison, at a time when the standard of religion was, to say the best of it, very low. We may, therefore, be thankful for what they were, but we need not wonder that they did not come up to the standard of the sublime models of the sixteenth century, nor need we be anxious to secure a place for them to which it is antecedently probable they can have no claim.

The Instrumenta Ecclesiastica,' (Van Voorst), edited by the Cambridge Camden Society, has advanced to the Tenth Part, with undiminished value and interest. Indeed, the last number, which is devoted to church plate, appears to us the most important and the most successful of all. It is pretty generally known that the Society has originated and superintended, chiefly by the aid of Mr. Butterfield, the manufacture of nearly all church ornaments upon ancient models. Until now, their patterns have been kept quite private, for reasons which we can best give in their own words in the last Number, Hitherto no designs have been published, because it was 'known that goldsmiths could not execute them. It has now been proved, ' in more than one case, that the trade cannot manufacture anything like 'the Society's plate; and, what is more to the purpose for hindering any 'other fruitless attempts, ordinary workmen, who have the whole matter 'to learn, cannot produce their unsuccessful imitations at nearly so reason'able a cost. There are other reasons also why the Society should wish to 'maintain a control of the manufacture. Anything like correctness of taste 'is lost, when every person has his own suggestion to make as to design

' and ornament. It has been found absolutely essential to maintain a strict • rule with respect to applications. The Society could not, of course, make ⚫ itself responsible for an incorrect work. The present designs are pub'lished, because it is hoped that no one, after the foregoing remarks, will ' attempt to have them worked by his own silversmith, particularly when, by application to the Society, he can ensure excellent skill and a very 'moderate price.' Nothing can more plainly show the wisdom of this advice than the fact, that in the case of the flowered quarries manufactured at the instance of this Society at Whitefriars, where no such stringent rule was imposed, the patentees have run into all kinds of extravagances. We ourselves were shown, at their glass works, several patterns of quarries and fanciful borders, which we are sure had no ancient authority. The flowered quarries themselves are the simplest and soberest things in the world, and it is an absurd mistake to attempt to produce a showy effect by combining them with brightly-coloured devices, or symbols, or borders. Artists in any department now-a-days, to be successful, must be firm in resisting the tasteless and ignorant whims of their patrons: otherwise they become mere tradesmen. There is a right and a wrong in such things; and people, if they will not be led right, ought not to be helped to go wrong. However, to do the Society justice, it spoke strongly enough about its own quarries in the letter-press to Part VII. of this series, Plate XLI. We hope its church-plate will be more successfully protected: and that it may continue to exert itself in this practically useful way.

Six-we think-new numbers, or parts, of the 'Fireside Library' (Burns), have arrived this quarter: one only of a serious character-Lives of celebrated Greeks,' adapted from Plutarch-very carefully and creditably executed. The rest, with a view, we suppose, to the story-telling season, are all tales-a very good set from Hauff, the 'Sheik of Alexandria'-'Household Tales and Traditions,' most of which we hail as old friends-'The White Lady,' by Woltmann, which some persons, not we, consider equal or comparable to 'Undine'-'Twelve Nights' Entertainments;' and a volume by the Baroness Fouqué. This last we think somewhat stiff and parched in style, while there is not much invention in the stories, and the poetry is as unintelligible, at least in the translation, as it is in the Baron's novels; and that is saying not a little. We are almost afraid that we have had enough of German tales. Cannot so good a caterer as Mr. Burns, in the line of fiction, find something from the sunny South? Italia story, like Italian art, treads with a more elastic foot, and glows more than its Northern sister. We are glad that Marco Visconti' has been added to the present series.

Our acquaintance with Seatonian Prize Poems is not very extensive; and we were not aware that tesselated Byron-metre was an allowable vehicle for these compositions. Surely a more dignified form would be more suitable both to the University and to the occasion. Mr. Neale's 'Loosing of the Euphratean Angels' (Deightons), is quite a lyrical pattern-card; with fancy and ease, however, which show that he is much below himself as well as his subject.

College Life,' a series of Letters by the lamented Mr. Whytehead, (Walters, and Burns,) is a very touching volume, and forms a beautiful memorial of one whose self-devotion and zeal recall the better days of the Church.

Three Tracts, somewhat sisterly in aspect, have reached us: 'Biddy Kavanagh,' 'Dorcas Green,' 'Olive Lester.' (Burns.) The scene of the first is laid in Ireland; that of the principal tale in the second collection, by the sea-side. Possibly they were composed for such localities. All are good, and suited for school prizes; but our favourite is Olive Lester,' in which there is a firm and vigorous touch in character-drawing. The Irish collection we fancied rather sentimental. As we have spoken strongly of the external defects of other tracts, we must complain of an illustration of 'Confirmation,' (p. 51, Olive Lester,) which, apart from its being a poor copy of one which appeared in 'The Illustrated London News,' (!) is open to serious objections. In the recent rubrical dispute, Mr. Harrison and others laid great stress upon the authority of the popular pictures of the time, as decisive of vestments, &c. Whether‘Olive Lester' is doomed to the immortality of quotation a century hence is doubtful, but we should be loth for any woodcuts in good tracts to testify what this illustration does of the ceremonial practice of our own days; viz. that confirmation is now administered to boys and girls together, and that the Bishop lays his hands on two catechumens at a time, and that the chaplain at the altar is dressed in a black gown. This may seem minute criticism, but others in station have set the example of this appeal to pictorial authority for the facts of Church observances at different periods of our history. The present is an apt instance of the fallacy of such mode of argument.

Our opinion upon the propriety of reprinting the Marprelate,' and other coarse Puritan tracts of Queen Elizabeth's time, has been already expressed: that it is an undertaking much to be regretted, and cannot be unaccompanied by ill results. But we must qualify this in the case of the republication of the very important account of the Troubles at Frankfort.' (Petheram.) This enters strictly into the class of historical books, and gives us (we have little reason to suppose otherwise) a faithful account of the facts which then occurred. Mr. Petheram, editor as well as publisher, seems, from a comparison which we have made, to have executed his task of editorship well, so far as regards an accurate reprinting of the original : and we cannot but recommend every inquirer into the Elizabethan history, who does not already possess it in The Phoenix, to secure a copy of this reprint. He will be amply repaid by the insight which he will obtain into the objects sought, and opinions held by men, whose names as reformers have been held too long high in common estimation. We observe that Mr. Petheram, in his preface-as others have before him-attributes the authorship of the history to Whittingham, Dean of Durham. We do not agree with him; for although it is evident that it was written by one of that party, the extreme section, yet the tone and moderation of language throughout, except when repeating Whittingham's own statements, in letters and speeches, &c., prove that it could not possibly have proceeded from

the pen of that ill-tempered and violent man. Besides, were Whittingham the author, he would have contrived to picture himself as less offensive than this narrative, very faithfully, represents him. We must remember that, in these questions, internal evidence such as this is the only kind on which we can rely. We have spoken of Whittingham as Dean of Durham. He held that dignity—for his conscience was a large one-but he was not in orders; and hated and denied, as he did other Catholic doctrine, the necessity of Episcopal ordination.

'Letters on the Rev. D. T. K. Drummond's Remarks on the Archbishop of Canterbury's Letter,' (Edinburgh, Grant,) contain a very solid, able, and argumentative exposure of Mr. Drummond's untenable position in Scotland as an Episcopalian without a Bishop, and a Churchman out of the Church. The writer has the history of the Scotch Church since the Revolution thoroughly at his command; and his accurate survey of the legislative enactments, with respect to her since that event, supplies a continual demonstration of Mr. Drummond's fallacy of the 'legality' of his position -a legality which has nothing to do with Church law, and is as completely irrelevant to the ecclesiastical question, as Mr. Drummond's rights of citizenship could be. Mr. Drummond occupies his chapel, and Mr. Drummond occupies his house and garden, legally: the law gives its venerable sanction to both Mr. Drummond's occupancies. If Mr. Drummond's conscience is satisfied with this sanction to his conduct, he may be a good subject, but he is certainly nothing more. The State is his Church, and the law his Bishop.

Translated

'The Words of a Believer. By the Abbé De La Mennais. from the French by E. S. Price, A.B.' (Aylott and Jones.) What good there is in translating such incoherent nonsense as we have here, we do not see e.g. 'I see a throne, two thrones broken, and the people scatter the fragments over the earth. I see a nation fight, as the Archangel Michael 'fought with Satan. Its blows are terrible; but it is naked, and its enemy ' is covered with thick armour. O God! the nation falls; he is struck to the 'death. No, he is only wounded. Mary, the Mother of God, covers him ' with her mantle, smiles on him, and bears him for a while out of the 'fight.' The book, once very popular, came out while La Mennais was in the Roman Church; yet the author's only notion of our Lord seems to be that of a great republican, who came to rescue the human race from tyrannical monarchs and oppressive laws.

Esther: a Sacred Drama. By the Rev. John Sansom, B.A.' (Hatchard.) Scripture dramas have not been a successful department of sacred literature. Scripture will not be dramatized; its distinct tone is merged in the change; we do not recognise the sacred narrative in its new dress. Esther, Ahasuerus, and Mordecai talking blank verse, and not very good blank verse either, do not appear to advantage.

'Parish Tracts.'-1. 'Wandering Willie.' 'The Sponsor.'-2. Dermot the Unbaptized.'-3. 'The Baptismal Service.'-4. Private Baptism.'5. Old Robert Gray.' (Burns.) These tracts are on the subject of bap

tism, and they are designed for the poor. They also appeal especially to godfathers, and tell them their duty. They impress upon the poor what baptism is, make them realize it, and create a general feeling of awe and mystery in connexion with it. The author makes his subject, in a certain sense, poetical. Baptism takes us into a new world, and into a connexion with angelic beings. We are not conscious of this change, but the change is made; we are in a new spiritual sphere, which is hidden from our eyes. Baptism is thus essentially poetical. These tracts put it in this light, and refer to it as a deep, secret, inward treasure, of which we are in possession. This is the vein which runs through them. An under-current of allusion is always throughout taking us thither; and the baptismal mystery is made to affect our whole life here. The stories in these tracts, which have a good deal of conversation in them, have feeling and spirit, and carry us along; and the style is thoroughly simple, natural, and adapted for the poor. The author shows an evident acquaintance with the language and thoughts of the class for which he writes; and we cannot help thinking that his tracts will take with the poor. There is a statement, at page 15, \rmot,) which we think requires more consideration than it has received: the author is picturing the soul of the unbaptized; he tells us, that Dermot unbaptized is ignorant 'what bad and good meant' (p. 12); and again, that in him 'there was no struggle at all against evil' (p. 15); and though, in a note, he refers to Rom. i. 12, for the fact, that 'the unbaptized have a conscience,' we think the former position too broadly stated. The case of Cornelius is surely in point. It does not seem that the two consciences differ as to their genus, but in the kind of their illumination.

We have before us two monthly numbers of Sharpe's London Magazine,' a new both weekly and monthly periodical. They show great skill and taste in their selections, and have a decidedly superior and educated tone running through them. The miscellany seems exactly calculated for family tables. The original contributions too display considerable spirit. We heartily wish it success; especially as it fills up what has long been a blank in magazine literature: it covers ground which has been hitherto insufficiently, not to say unworthily, occupied.

Mr. Formby, of Ruardean, has published A Plea of Conscience for retiring from Pastoral Duty,' in the form of a letter to his diocesan. His motive for the step, is the compulsory division of his parish by the authority of the Church Commissioners. We have already called attention to a sermon on the same subject, which Mr. Formby published some time back, when the difference of opinion originated. We are sorry that it has had this result.

'Lives of the Virgin Saints,' (Walters,) contains considerable beauties of style and description, on a subject of the most interesting character. We think that the later biographies might have been omitted, if for no other reason, because some-such as that of Jane Frances de Chantal-do not fall within the expectations suggested by the title.

The Oxford Architectural Society we are glad to find setting to work earnestly in the restoration of Dorchester Church. The members could