by the Editor. Many of the Notes are selected from original manuscripts, and are pleasingly characteristic. We shall close this article by subjoining a specimen.

In a letter, dated December 20th, 1687, addressed to H. Ashhurst, Esq., Mr. Henry thus wrote:

There are six things, the firm belief whereof will exceedingly promote our comfort in dying.

1. That at what time soever, and in what way soever, death comes, it comes by the will and appointment of our heavenly Father. He cuts no corn of his down till it is fully ripe. Job v, 26. Rev. xi, 7.

2. That death hath no sting in it to them that are in Christ Jesus. How doth Paul exult over death and the grave! 1 Cor. xv, 56. 3, That to them that fear the Lord, immediately beyond death is heaven. Luke xvi, 25. Phil. i, 23.

4. That the body will certainly rise again a glorious body. 1 Cor. xv, 43.

5. That God will certainly take care of poor disconsolate relations left behind. Psalm xxvii, 10. Jer. xlix, 11. This helped to make Jacob's death comfortable to him, Genesis xlviii, 21; and Joseph's, Genesis 1, 24.

6. That God will certainly accomplish and fulfil, in due time, all the great things that he hath prepared and promised concerning his 'church and people in the latter days.?

Art. VII. Memorandums of a Residence in France in the Winter of 1815-16. Including Remarks on French Manners and Society, with a Description of the Catacombs, and Notices of some other Objects of Curiosity, and Works of Art, not hitherto described. 8vo. pp. 404. Price 12s. Longman and Co. London. 1816.

VONDER has been defined by Dr. Johnson, to be the ef

'fect of novelty upon ignorance;' accordingly, we find him who has been styled the wisest of men, not only insensible to the influence of novelty, but maintaining, that "there is nothing "new under the sun." So long, however, as we are destined to remain under the sun ourselves, the total destruction of the pleasing sensation of wonder by the premature discovery of this truth, may not be deemed by all persons matter of congratulation. The Author of these Memorandums' is not troubled with any of that repletion of knowledge which engenders satiety; he sets out on his travels with an agreeable susceptibility of novel impressions, and an unblunted appetite for the knowledge of men and things. From certain hints which he drops, it appears that professional avocations had long confined him to the metropolis; and one is led almost to envy the new and vivid sensations of one, who

long in populous city pent,

Where houses thick, and sewers annoy the air,

Forth issuing on a summer's morn, to breathe

.

Among the pleasant villages, and farms

Adjoin'd, from each thing met conceives delight.'

The sea contemplated for the first time by a man accustomed only to the sight of the Thames, bestrode by its numerous bridges, might fairly be allowed to suggest some exclamations of wonder and delight; but our Author's reflections at Dover are so solemnly pathetic, and at the same time consist of such common-place sentiment, that all sympathy in the emotions he attempts to describe is destroyed by a certain humorous effect, which he seems conscious that his representation is liable to produce. It is the almost invariable custom of modern tourists, to devote to sentimental feelings the half hour which elapses ere the carriage or boat is announced which is to set them fairly upon their travels. They make a point of then seeming to recollect that they have taken leave in good earnest of their friends and family connexions; and considering that many strange things may happen during their absence, they affect almost to wish to return to give one look more at all they have left behind. By an heroic exertion of fortitude, however, they resolve on proceeding; and it is to such an exercise of self-command that we are indebted for these Memorandums.' The Author, according to his own account, was well nigh tempted to take that retrograde motion which would have deprived the world of them altogether.

'I was leaving a wife and family in a land of peace and tranquillity, and going to venture myself in another which was reported to be a scene of confusion and bloodshed, a country overrun with foreign troops, and where two hostile parties were contending for the mastery. The remote and contingent advantage which I expected from my journey, hardly seemed a valid reason for rendering my safety precarious, when the well-being of objects so dear to me was at stake; for a short time I was almost determined to retrace my steps to London; but the reflection that I had gone too far to recede, that I had already encountered the evils of departure and the pain of separation, soon effaced such ideas from my mind. The sun broke out in joyous beauty, and cast a smile over the face of nature; my sombre anticipations vanished in a moment, and the same buoyant curiosity, the same ardent wish for professional advantage, which first instigated me to leave home, rushed again into my mind with redoubled force. I was impatient for the storm to subside and the wind to change, that I might throw myself into a new scene, and fulfil the hopes which had animated me for years.' pp. 8, 9.

Our Author's remarks on his first landing in France, on his route to Paris, and during his residence there, are all, we are constrained to say, of the humblest degree of importance or interest. The assertion in his Preface, that he has been anxious to select only those objects which had either escaped other

'travellers, or had been passed over too slightly to convey a 'distinct impression,' is certainly warranted in some measure, but this originality arises from their being for the most part subjects little worthy of any mention whatsoever. For instance, he informs us that the frequenters of coffee-houses put into their pockets the lumps of sugar which they choose to save from their dish of coffee; which piece of information is followed by suitable reflections on the shabbiness of such a custom, which he could by no means bring himself to practise. Again, that the waiters fill the liqueur glasses so full, that the liquor runs over into the little stand, by which means the fingers of those who drink it become dirty and sticky. Further, that he, the said Author, was very fond of omelette soufflée, until he found out (so unsubstantial is the foundation on which human enjoyments rest) that its light and captivating appearance was produced by inflation from the cook's lungs, through the medium of a pipe inserted into a spoonful of batter, while in the frying-pan. Yet our Author's communications upon subjects of this insignificant kind, are more tolerable to us than his reflections upon graver ones, when he thinks it necessary to assume an air of philosophic solemnity. His political remarks might certainly as well have been made by his own fire-side, with a newspaper in his hand, as during a residence in France; and his criticisms on the productions of the fine arts are such as we should expect from a person who forms his taste at the windows of printshops. He sits down in Bonaparte's chair of state, at St. Cloud, and moralizes on the mutability of human affairs: the chair itself might moralize too, had it the gift of intelligence, on the fine speeches that have been uttered in it, and upon it, since the abdication of its late possessor, whose downfall, by the way, our Author takes credit to himself for always having foreseen. Being left alone for half an hour in the gardens of the Petit Trianon, he falls into a sentimental reverie, forgetting that he was in a foreign country, and surrounded by soldiers of all the nations of Europe.' He is reminded, however, of this circumstance, by the crash of numberless trumpets,' and he abandons in haste the scene and the day-dream which it had inspired. He suffers himself, however, to be conducted through the catacombs, without affecting any emotions partaking of the sublime, except indeed as terror is allied to sublimity; for he confesses, that altogether, the prospect of returning to the fire-side appeared much more agreeable to him than that of wandering through those solemn receptacles of the dead. To atone for any deficiency of descriptive talent, he has presented to us copies of a vast number of the inscriptions which are to be found on the walls and altars.

We are not surprised that our Author should appear more pleased with the Depot des Petits Augustins, than with the catacombs. To the bulk of every-day travellers who wish to see all they can in as short a time as possible, the loss of interest which the monuments there collected from the different religious edifices in the kingdom must inevitably sustain, by being separated from the ashes they were intended to protect, the scenery with which they were modelled to correspond, is abundantly compensated, by the convenience of seeing them all socially arranged under one roof, and of having an opportunity of criticising their execution, undisturbed by any associations of awe or feelings of sympathy with which we are apt to recall the memory of the illustrious dead on the spot dignified by their actions, or consecrated by their remains.

As a specimen of our Author's taste and knowledge in the fine arts, as well as of his general style of expression, we shall give his critique on Rubens, of whom he says—

'The fault of his day, (that of mixing allegory with reality,) he carries to the most absurd extreme, and to me there seems nothing in the execution of his pictures to make amends for the wretched incongruities in the composition. Mary de Medicis in one of them is represented in her chamber, immediately after her accouchement, with the pain she has undergone the moment before, still expressed in her countenance; while various gawky women, under the names of Fortitude, Justice, Valour, &c. &c. are washing and dressing the child: In another picture, the Queen is walking along dressed in an embroidered satin gown, her hair frizzed and powdered, high cap and lappets, hoop and fardingale, followed by a nasty looking, naked woman, with the monstrous peculiarity of four pair of breasts from her neck down to her hips. This is meant for Dame Nature!!! I could particularize many still more and more preposterous, but have said enough to shew the strange obliquity of judgment and ste in a man who has been so highly praised; for after all, there is a coarseness and an unfinished appearance in his works, which induce his admirers to rest his reputation principally on the skill of the "Composition." pp. 245, 6.

We will not take leave of our Author without doing him the justice to remark, that his observations, though we are not charmed with their novelty, or edified by their profundity, are uniformly characterized by a tone of correct moral feeling; and he is entitled to our commendation, for the silence he observes respecting the sources of vice with which Paris, unhappily for those of our countrymen who are exposed to its dangers, abounds.

'I have been told,' says our Author, speaking of the Palais Royal ' of many detestable exhibitions which this place contains: but having no wish to ascertain facts so disgusting and so humiliating to human nature, I cannot speak from my own knowledge, nor can I

admire the inverted sense of delicacy in those who seek out proof, on purpose to display pious indignation, at that of which they ought ever to be ignorant.' p. 184.

It would be well for the morals and happiness of travellers in general, if they would imitate our Author's conduct in this respect; remembering, that anxiety to search into the mysteries of vice, is the first step towards sharing in the practice of it.

Art. VIII. Lectures to the Young; on interesting Subjects. By Robert May, Missionary at Chinsurah, East Indies. pp. 230. Price 3s. Calcutta printed, London re-printed. Nisbet. 1816.

To adapt religious instruction to the capacities of children,

is among the most difficult tasks that a writer can prescribe to himself; very few have been successful in accommodating their topics and their language to the comprehension of the youthful mind. To think as a child, and to speak as a child, are qualifications which instructors of children should possess ; but they are not commonly the endowments of persons of mature years, and of respectable attainments. For the office in which Mr. May here presents bimself, he appears to possess no ordinary talent; and we cannot, after the perusal of his work, hesitate to describe it as a real acquisition to the religious public.

The Lectures included in this humble volume, were originally composed and delivered by the Author in Philadelphia, during his residence in North America, on his way to the East Indies, where he is now employed as a Missionary, at Chinsurah. On his arrival at this station, he directed his principal attention to the instruction of children; and having revised his former discourses, printed them at Calcutta, in the neighbourhood of which city, we are informed in the Preface, he now superintends about twenty schools. The present edition of the Lectures is published by the Author's friends: the Advertisement bears the signature of the Rev. George Burder.

The discourses comprised in this volume are twelve in number; the subjects are the following. Improvement of Time, Ps. xc. 12. David's Charge to Solomon, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. Danger of Bad Company, Prov. i. 10. Obedience to Parents, Col. iii. 20. The Good Child's Petition, Luke xi. 1. The Way to be wise, John v. 39. The Duties of the School, Prov. xx. 11. Christ among the Doctors, Luke ii. 46. The Children's best Friend, Prov. xviii. 24. The young Idolaters, 1 John v. 21. The Advantages of early Religion, I John ii. 28. A Word in Season, Rev. xx. 12.

In these addresses, the Teacher has adopted a familiarity of manner, and a simplicity of style, which are well adapted to the