'the boats the horses kept for hire'- the public fountains'and the several bazars for merchandise.' Of the Turks he says but little; his stay in Constantinople was short, and they and the Persians have no liking for each other. He allows them, however, many amiable qualities; and what is singular, does not consider the power of their Sultan as absolute.

The relation of his journey by Amasia, Diarbekir, Mousul, and Bagdad is very brief, and not particularly interesting:-he was now among nations whose manners and faith were familiar to his countrymen; and the only things which he appears to consider as worth their notice, or his own, are the shrines and tombs of saints on the road. Perhaps he was a little anxious to efface, at the scpulchre of Ali, the guilt of his compliances with infidel customs, on the banks of the Thames and the Liffey. He curses the Turks heartily for heretics and soonys; and notices a minaret which shakes and trembles at the name of Ali, while it remains immoveable by all possible mention of Omar. There are, however, many particulars in this part of his work, worth the attention of future travellers, who may take this little frequented route; and we have not yet seen a more satisfactory account th..n is here given of the Vahabies. The founder of this powerful sect, Abdul Vechab, it is well known, forbad all worship of Mohammed, and all reverence to tombs and shrines as idolatrous, and giving partners to God. He was, like the original impostor of Arabia, a warlike fanatic; and though his son Mohammed, to whom he transmitted his authority, is blind, he is ably supported by an adopted brother of his father's, named Abd al Aziz, an extraordinary man of gigantic stature, and, though eighty years old, possessing all the vigour of youth, which he predicts he shall retain, till the Vahaby religion is perfectly established over Arabia.

'Although the Vahabies have collected immense wealth, they still retain the greatest simplicity of manners, and moderation in their desires; they sit down on the ground without ceremony, content themselves with a few dates for their food, and a coarse large cloak serves them for clothing and bed, for two or three years. Their horses are of the genuine Nijid breed, of well-known pedigrees; none of which will they permit to be taken out of their country.' Vol. ii. pp. 332, 333.

The successes and sacrilege of this wicked tribe' grievously offend Abu Taleb, and he calls on the Sultan and the Shah to unite in repressing them. Both Sultan and Shah, however, have need, as it should seem, themselves to tremble before them; and the least of the Servants of God' (so this Eastern Pontiff styles himself) has written to both these monarchs, denouncing, in the name of God the compassionate and merciful,' fire and sword, and destruction on them and their impenitent subjects.

What part they may yet be destined to perform, is only known to that wisdom, which seems to have set apart the portion of the world were they are placed, as the theatre of the most important scenes and the most singular revolutions. At Busserah, Abu Taleb quarrelled with the English resident, and took a singular method of revenge, by writing a satirical poem on him,' and repeating some of the lines in his hearing. On the other hand, the Englishman, retorted perhaps with reason, that Abu Taleb was spoilt 'by the luxury and attentions of London, and that it was how impossible to please him.' These bickerings, after being carried on between jest and earnest some time, were terminated by his departure for Bombay. After a pleasant residence of some months in that island, and an agreeable voyage in one of the Company's vessels, on the evening of the 15th Rubby Assany 1218, corresponding with the 4th of August, 1803, he landed safely in Calcutta, and returned thanks to God for his preservation and safe return to his native shores.

We have been hitherto so much engrossed with Abu Taleb himself, as to have no opportunity of mentioning Mr. Stewart, to whom we are obliged for these Travels in their English dress. He assures us, in the Preface, that they are as literally translated as the nature of the two languages will allow, and that he has only omitted some part of the poetry, and two discussions, one on anatomy, and the other on the construction of a hot-house, which, though full of information to Abu Taleb's Oriental readers, he rightly judged would be tedious to those who peruse him in Europe. To this merit of fidelity, which, from Mr. Stewart's character, we are fully disposed to take for granted, may be added the praise of an easy natural English style, which makes on the whole the Travels of Abu Taleb Khan not only a curious, but a very agreeable present to the Western world, for which we owe no trifling obligation to his ingenious translator. To the work itself, indeed, we cannot help attaching a stronger interest, than the apparent abilities of Abu Taleb claim; it is the first description of European manners and character, which has, as far as we know, appeared in an Oriental language; and if sufficient circulation be once given to this production of a Persian, and a descendant of Mohammed, (Vol. ii. p. 245.) it is impossible, from the novelty, and peculiar interest of the subject, that it should not become a common and fashionable study among the polite and learned of those climates. We have already hinted, that to England this must be advantageous; but we do not stop here. When we consider the other circumstances of the East, it is probable that the improvements and knowledge thus revealed in part, -no longer coming under the suspicious garb of the report of an enemy and a conqueror,-will excite a spirit of imitation among those who before considered the Europeans as a race of warlike

savages. One effect will perhaps speedily follow,-that other orientals will pursue the example of Abu Taleb in visiting countries, where, though there are Giants,' there are no man-eaters; where, though the sheep are without broad tails,' the mutton is confessedly tolerable; and though the men are sellers of wine,' the women are stately as the trees of Paradise. From such intercourse, good-will must follow, and where an European is now considered as accursed, he will not, in future, want protectors or imitators. There is a possibility of even greater advantages. When we witness, as in the present tour, the reverence with which a Mussulman has learnt to regard the founder of our religion; and when we consider that internal divisions are, at this moment, weakening his attachment to his own peculiar tenets; there is a chance, which (if not spoiled by indiscreet zeal on the one hand, or selfish indifference on the other,) will grow stronger every day, that the cause of religion, as well as that of civilization, may profit by our connexions with Asia.

ART. VI. Ecclesiastical Biography, or Lives of eminent Men connected with the History of Religion in England from the Commencement of the Reformation to the Revolution. Selected and illustrated with Notes, by Christopher Wordsworth, A. M. (now D. D.) Dean and Rector of Bocking, and Domestic Chaplain to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 6 volumes.

AFTER a repose of two reigns, something resembling the ancient activity and intellectual exertions of Lambeth has revived under the auspices of the present liberal and spirited metropolitan. The great learning and industry of all the prelates who filled that high station from Cranmer to Tillotson, and their intimate acquaintance with every transaction relating to the history of the church during the times in which they respectively flourished, are well known to have been the means of accumulating treasures of valuable matter on the subject, which have been reposited from time to time in the domestic library of the See. But a decent respect for the retirement of the metropolitan, and a certain solemnity, which, in defiance of the great change lately wrought in public opinion, still continues, in some degree, to surround his mansion, have probably contributed, among other causes, to render these stores of information less generally accessible than those which are contained in libraries professedly adapted to public use, and even than those belonging to private colleges in the universities.

To scholars of one description the Lambeth library has always been accessible; and in the selection of chaplains the archbishops of Canterbury have usually considered erudition as a necessary accomplishment. Few, it may be presumed, have been received into that respectable service who were not qualified to avail themselves of the ample sources of information which the archiepiscopal library affords; and many, no doubt, who entered already learned within those venerable walls, have gone out into the world with much larger and more curious stores of literature than they could in any other situation have attained. In this capacity Joscelyn, under Archbishop Parker, and Henry Wharton, under Archbishop Sancroft, are deservedly remembered. The name of Dr. Wordsworth will hereafter assume an honourable station in the same catalogue.

The principles upon which the present compilation has been made, may best be explained in his own words. Preface, p. xiii.

'It appeared to the present writer that there were extant among the literary productions of our country many scattered narratives of the lives of men eminent for piety, sufferings, learning, and such other virtues or such vices as render their possessors interesting and profitable subjects for history, many of which were very difficult to be procured, and some of them little known; and that therefore the benefit which might be expected from their influence was in a great degree lost. These I thought it might be a labour well bestowed to restore to a capacity of more extensive usefulness, and to republish them in one collection, not merely to afford to many readers an opportunity of what they could not otherwise enjoy, but also from the hopes that the serviceable effect of each might be increased by their union and juxtaposition, and that, through the help of a chronological arrangement, a species of ecclesiastical history might result, which, though undoubtedly very imperfect, might yet answer, even in that view, several valuable purposes, while it would possess some peculiar charms and recommendations. A scheme of this nature, it is easy to conceive, could not well be undertaken without many limitations. Besides those obvious ones of restricting the history to that of our own country, and to the lives of our fellow countrymen, there appeared to me many reasons why the work should begin with the preparations towards a reformation made by the labours of Wicliffe and his followers, and not a few why it might well stop at the revolution. Within these limits are comprehended, if we except the first establishment of Christiunity among us, the rise, progress, and issue of the principal agitations and revolutions of the public mind of this country in regard to matters of religion namely the Reformation from Popery, and the glories and honours attending that hard-fought struggle; the subsequent exorbitances of the anti-popish spirit as exemplified by the Puritans; the victory of that spirit in ill-suited alliance with the principles of civil liberty, over loyalty and the Established Church in the times of Charles the First : the wretched systems and practices of the Sectaries during the Commonwealth, and the contests for establishments between the Presbyte

rians and Independents at the same period; the hasty return of the nation, weary and sick of the long reign of confusion, to the ancient constitution of things at the Restoration; the Revolution of 1688, together with the ascertainment of the distinct nature and rights of an Established Church, a religious toleration, and the principles of the Nonjurors.'

Highly as we approve of Dr. Wordsworth's plan in general, we cannot forbear to mention a few particular objections. And first, if by Ecclesiastical Biography be intended the biography of ecclesiastics, the title of the work is not strictly correct, for Sir Thomas More, Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Rochester, and one of the Ferrars, were laymen. We were on the point of making the same objection to the name of Sir Henry Wotton, when it occurred to us, that this learned and amiable man qualified himself late in life for the office of Provost of Eton, by taking Deacon's orders.

In making a selection like this, when, in the midst of materials so various and ample, it must have been more difficult to chuse than to reject, we are aware of the difficulties which lay in the editor's way. Prejudices and prepossessions were to be consulted. The Catholic on the one side, and the Non-conformist on the other, had to urge their respective claims on the English dignitary. They have not been unheard. The editor has felt and acted upon the propriety of chusing specimens of intellectual and religious excellence from among these opposite denominations, and we rejoice to find, in a compilation made under the auspices of the first eccelsiastic in the kingdom, the life of a conscientious Catholic in one volume, and of a learned and modest Non-conformist in another.

One class, however, of conscientious and unfortunate churchmen (for be the cause what it may, suffering for conscience' sake is always respectable) Dr. Wordsworth, notwithstanding a hint in his preface, has wholly omitted in his work-we mean the Nonjurors, an order of men who in other instances have been delivered over to unmerited oblivion. This omission, which we had been taught not to expect, there is reason to regret, for there are few intelligent readers, who would not have been gratified by some memorials of Dr. Hickes and Jeremy Collier, which might with greater propriety have occupied the space allotted by Dr. Wordsworth to the Lives written by Isaac Walton: for to speak plainly, the admission of these specimens of biography, however interesting and excellent in themselves, after having been so well and so lately edited by Dr. Zouch, will, by the malicious, be suspected as a trick of book-making, an intention which we are very far from imputing to so respectable a man as Dr. Wordsworth.

On the usefulness of a new collection of English ecclesiastical biography, we cordially agree with the editor. The ponderous oakbound volumes of John Fox, his enormous page, black type, and