to themselves of the office of prophets. Pollok only rehearses what has been told by prophets, whose inspiration was of a higher order than that of the mere poet: and we think that no serious Christian can read him on the sublime destinies that await our world, without being captivated and charmed. Here, indeed, he is indebted to Cowper, but he sweeps, if possible, a more comprehensive circle. He repairs the disfigured moral map of our world, colouring it anew, and putting on it a delightful gloss, and a bright enamelling.' We are far from being certain that as much reverence is not due to the memory of this extraordinary youth, as to that of Milton. There is some incongruity between the tumultuousness in which Milton lived-the noisy party disputes in which he engaged, and the high reverence which men have agreed to bestow on his memory. And if he was really the author of a lately discovered work, that work, even as a specimen of intellect, has inflicted upon him a serious injury. Jeffrey and Channing, doubtless, believe the book to be authentick. The former, it never quesappears, tioned the Arianism of Milton, even in reading his Paradise Lost. So, after Columbus found a new world, it was easy for other men to find it, and it was easy for Jeffrey to discover the Arianism of Milton, when Milton himself had told the secret. If the book be authentick, then Milton is chargeable with the guilt of apostacy from truths he once held sacred: And, if he prove an apos tate, after being so long taken for a saint, it is well that, almost simultaneously with the discovery, Providence reared up a truly sainted youth, to finish the task which Milton commenced, and to take a share in his immortal renown. We cannot close these summary, and, at the same time, cursory, remarks, without pausing a moment on the early fall of this distinguished child of song. How many licentious poets live to old age, like Anacreon; from whom we never look for the buds or fruits of piety, any more than we look For mellow grapes, beneath the icy pole? whilst others are early called away, who might have continued to delight by their hallowed numbers. Truly this is mysterious, and the dispensation is from Him who makes darkness his pavilion. But, who can tell, had Pollok lived, but that the murmur of human applause might have sunk too deeply into his ear? He is now beyond our praise, or our censure. But his poetick laurels remain among the evergreens of our world. Thousands shall look at them with admiration, as they rest on the staff of their pilgrimage; and the feet of many children of piety and fancy shall be sandaled with the verdure which adorns his grave. Flowers of all dyes shall be plucked from the glades and paths which lead to it, and uncounted leaves be detached from the willow, which shades and weeps over the sacred dust which it contains. B. SHORT NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. THE REMEMBER ME. Published by F. Littell. This is a little work of great merit,decidedly the best of its class which has fallen under our notice. Unlike too many of the Souvenirs of the present day, its contents are not light and frivolous, but of a serious cast; and calculated, while they entertain the imagination, to quicken the moral sense, and urge to virtuous action." The Lost Child" and "Contemplation" are, we think, the two best pieces of the volume. The tale of "Emily Morton" is well told, but would please us rather better, if the transitions from serious to gay were less sudden. The poetry possesses various degrees of merit-none of it is despicable, and some is truly excellent. The engravings are in a superior style of execution. The "Mother's Grave" is exquisitely beautiful. We have thus given our opinion of this little volume; and on the whole think the pub. lisher deserves the thanks of the Christian community, for furnishing the lovers of Christmas and New-Years' gifts with a gift that may prove lastingly valuable. We heartily wish him a patronage that shall not leave him a loser, by providing gifts for others. A SERMON ON THE SIN OF DUELLING, preached at Washington, Pa., April, 1827. By Rev. Andrew Wylie, D.D. President of Washington College. Pittsburgh: printed by D. & M. Maclean. It appears that this discourse, the text of which is the sixth command of the Decalogue, was preached at the request of the managers of the Sunday school, in the town of Washington, Pennsylvania. The author informs us in the introduction, that at first he wished and endeavoured to decline a compliance with the request; but that ultimately he yielded, from a conscientious conviction that ministerial duty demanded this service at his hands. We are clearly of the mind that he formed a just conclusion, and as clearly of the opinion that he discharged his duty on the occasion, in that honest, fearless, plain, and impartial manner, which becomes a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Literary and Philosophical Intelligence, etc. Montgolfier.-Montgolfier besides being the inventor of ærostatic balloons, was the first who manufactured vellum paper in France. The accident which led him to the formation of balloons was curious enough. One day, in his paper manufactory, he was boiling some wafers in a coffee-pot, which happened to be covered with a piece of paper in the form of a sphere, and this paper becoming full of steam, swelled and detached itself from the pot.-Montgolfier was surprised, and repeating the experiment, the paper again ascended; this led him to calculate the effect of a rarified air which should be lighter than the atmospheric air-and hence the invention of ærostation. On the 4th February, a phenomenon as extraordinary as magnificent, was witVOL. VI.-Ch. Ad. nessed at Kiachata, in Siberia. The cold was very severe. At sunrise, rays called in Siberia "ears of the sun" were seen on both sides of it. At ten in the morning these rays changed to brilliant parhelia. An immense whitish column resembling the tale of a comet seemed attached to the sun, which had already reached a great elevation, and was proceeding towards the west.-This column formed in the whole extent of the sky a circle, in the circumference of which seven suns were visible, pale, and rayless, and situated at equal distances from each other and the true sun. The last, moreover, reflected in the atmosphere four great white circles so disposed as to form a pyramid; two of them being circumscribed by the first-mentioned circle, whilst the two others were in 4 B that part of the horizon opposite to the sun. It was observed that there must have been four circles in the greatest, but that one was effaced by the light of the sun, and only half of the other was visible, which glittered with all the colours of the rainbow. It is to be regretted that this phenomenon, which lasted nearly till midday, was not witnessed by Savans. Nashua Village, Dunstable, N. H. Nov. 1. The curiosity of the inhabitants of this village has been much excited within the last two or three weeks, by an unusual trembling of the doors and windows in almost every house. Some bave conjectured that it was owing to the water falling over the dam, which has been erected here. Others have doubted whether it was owing to this, because the jarring of the windows was not uniformly the same, when the water in the river is about the same height. The noise is very percep tible during some whole days and nights, on other days it is heard only at intervals. We have heard of a number who have been alarmed at this jarring of the windows, who live five miles distant from the village. A gentleman who lives about forty rods from the dam has observed considerable motion of the hay in his barns. Some persons have seriously thought of removing from the village, lest they should be swallowed up by an earthquake. This motion of the buildings is probably occasioned by the agitation of the air, which is caused by the water falling over the dam, and by the percussion of the air. Roman Ruins near the Hague.-An English gentleman, who is travelling in Holland, in one of his recent letters says, "We have this morning been to visit the remains of an immense Roman building or buildings, which have been recently dis. covered near Voorburg. Innumerable vases of the most beautiful descriptions, Roman rings with inscriptions, ornaments and coins, some of which date before the birth of Christ, have been excavated; all which leads to the supposition, that some calamity, either occasioned by fire, inundation, or otherwise, bas thrown down and destroyed the whole buildings. In one of the cellars a perfect skeleton has been found, which further strengthens the opinion; it is the most remarkable object that has yet been discovered. The right arm is placed on the heart, and the whole figure exhibits an attitude of the most perfect agony, as if death had been produced by the heavy pressure of a great weight of stones. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the excavation be a Roman village or one extensive building, destroyed by some accident. The grounds have been purchased by go. vernment, and upwards of one hundred men are constantly at work.” Painting Houses.-A writer in the New England Farmer, says it has been proved by repeated experiments "that a house painted late in autumn or in winter, will hold the paint more than twice as long as one painted in warm weather." And he gives as a reason, that in cold weather the oil and other ingredients form a hard cement, whereas in warm weather the oil penetrates into the wood, and leaves the other parts dry so that they crumble off. This is a subject worthy the attention, as the expense of keeping them well painted has hitherto been serious inroad upon the purse. In the transactions of a late sitting of the French Academy of Sciences there is an account of a shower of a singular nature, with which a part of Persia has been visited. The ground was covered, to a considerable extent, six inches deep, with a substance that was eagerly eaten both by men and cattle. It turned out to be a species of lichen, already described by botanists, carried away and precipitated in this manner by some peculiar action of the winds. tree in the garden at Versailles, which is The Orange Tree.-There is an orange well ascertained to be above 400 years old, having been sown in 1421. Curious and Interesting Facts.-A correspondent of the N. Y. Statesman, has communicated the following miscella neous statements: Europe now contains 227 millions of inhabitants, and there appears in that quarter of the world, 2142 journals of every description; that is, one journal for 106,000 inhabitants. America has 39 millions of inhabitants, with 978 newspapers and periodical journals; that is, one for every 40,000 inhabitants. Asia, with 390 millions of inhabitants, has but one journal for every 14 millions. Africa, with 60 millions of inhabitants, has but one journal for every 5 millions. Late East India accounts had reached London-Under the head of Boorhanpore it is stated that "in the village of Rakhun, near Boorhanpore, an immense concourse of people assembled, consisting of pedlars, Dadoo-Punthees, Sunyases, and others, supposed to be at least one hundred and fifty thousand. At the time the crowd was the thickest, suddenly a most pestilential and deadly wind began to blow, and the people, abandoning their property, fled they knew not whither. Great numbers perished on the spot. The news writer says, that the whole of the merchandise collected there was given to the wind. It was wonderful, he adds, what could have become of so vast a multitude in so short a time. The virulence of the poisonous blast however, at length abated, and the Dadoo-Punthees, and Sunyases, and others that remained, fell into desperate strife, in which many were killed and wounded. The loss of property was beyond calculation. Lancaster, Mass. Nov. 4. Natural Curiosity.—The Skull and Jaw. Bone of a monstrous sea animal, recently exhibited in this town, was unquestionably the greatest natural curiosity which has ever been presented to the age.-It is said to have been taken from a serpent, that was found floating dead upon the water, on the 18th of May last, near Cape Cod. The tail of the animal was broken off, and hanging by the skin, which is supposed to have been the occasion of its death. The monster, as the advertisement described it, was 75 feet long, and shaped like a serpent, with no fins, and a tail like that of a fish; the back was black and hard like an alligator's, and the belly yellow and ribbed like the belly of a whale. The Skull and Jaw-Bone were all that the finder, Capt. Abraham Small, was able to bring ashore, on account of the putrid and offensive state of the creature, which had probably been dead some time when it was discovered. The bone exhibited was fifteen feet long and seven wide, and weighed twelve hundred pounds! When the flesh was upon it, it might have borne some resemblance to a horse's head. We are strongly inclined to the belief that this may have been the great Gloucester Sea Serpent himself, or at least one of the family. Weather Prognostics-When the clouds are red in the west, with a tint of purple, it portends fine weather, because the air when dry refracts more red, or heat-making rays; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again reflected in the horizon. A coppery or yellow sun set generally foretels rain: but, as an indication of wet weather approaching, nothing is more certain than a halo round the moon, which is produced by the precipitated water, and the larger the circle, the nearer the clouds, and, consequently, the more ready to fall.-As to the rainbow, the old proverb is correct "A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning, "A rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight." It may be thus explained. A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing or depositing the rain are opposite to the sun-and in the evening the rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy rains in this cli. mate are usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road, by the wind to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is passing from us. When swallows fly high, fine weather is to be expected or continued; but when they fly low, and close to the ground, rain is almost surely approaching, because swallows follow the flies and gnats, and flies and gnats usually delight in warm strata of air; and as warm air, is lighter, and usually moister than cold air, when the warm strata of air are high, there is less chance of moisture being thrown down from them by the mixture with cold air; but when the warm and moist air is close to the surface, it is almost certain that as the cold air flows down into it, a deposition of water will take place. The augury of the ancients was a good deal founded upon the observation of the instinct of birds, and there are many superstitions of the vulgar owing to the same source. For anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favourable omen; and the reason is, that in cold and stormy weather, one magpipe alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs, or the young ones; but when two go out together, it is only when the weather is warm and mild, and favourable for fishing.-Abridged from a work called Salmonia, attributed to Sir Humphrey Davy. LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. A Discussion on Baptism, by Rev. A. M'Calla. Sermon delivered in the Chapel of Yale College, by Dr. Taylor. Address before the Cliosophic and Whig Societies of Nassau Hall, by J. R. Ingersoll. View of Christianity over the World, by Frederick Shoberl. View of the United States, by W. Darby. Guido, a Tale, and other Sketches, by Ianthe. Dr. Granville's Travels through Europe. A. S. S. Union. Address in favour of Sunday schools, by Rev. Dr. Grant. Lights and Shades of English Life. Pelham, or the Adventures of a Gentleman. Crockford, or an Exhibit of the London Gambling Houses. Keligious Intelligence. MISSIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Communications of the Corresponding Se cretary and General Agent. (Continued from page 317.) FOURTH COMMUNICATION. Brethren,-As your General Agent, I preached in the Second Presbyterian Church in this city on Lord's day morning, the 6th inst.; and after the blessing was pronounced, those individuals who felt willing to contribute annually fifty cents, or any other sum, to our missionary operations, came forward, and gave their names to the Session. The Elders of the church in their sessional character, have undertaken to complete the business of obtaining subscriptions, which was thus happily begun, we trust, in the spirit of the Lord, on the Lord's day. In this congregation, and in all which I have hitherto visited, the subscribers of the congregation answer to a Society, and the Elders to Managers; without any formality of organization; and without any apprehension that the union between these Managers and their subscribers will soon cease. This kind of society has this advantage, that it is a divinely appointed government in the church, and will answer for all the various benevolent operations in which our Pres by erian congregations may wish to engage. It is expected that the session of each congregation will appoint such active and zealous persons to assist them in obtaining subscriptions and in making collections at the proper time, as they may think proper; and all of these persons, whether male or female, we hope may feel it an honour to be permitted to serve the church of God. I wish particularly to note, that of the Second Presbyterian Church, Mrs. Flora Scudder, a coloured woman, living in the family of the Rev. Dr. Green, has not only sent me her subscription, but the pay ment of fifty cents in advance. Can any communicant in the Presbyterian church say, were I disposed, I could not follow her example." 66 We ask not great sacrifices from any one; but the hearty co-operation of more than 146,000 communicants in this important concern of the Assembly's Missions. On the 13th inst. I had the pleasure of addressing the First Presbyterian Church in this city, the ecclesiastical nucleus, around which have formed all the 1968 congregations now in our connexion. The elders of this ancient church have determined to take the business in hand, and will speedily wait on the members of their congregation, for their subscriptions to the Board. In this, or some similar way, we most earnestly desire that all our sessions would proceed, and report all their subscriptions, together with the names of the persons who belong to the eldership, to the General Agent of this Board. In the minutes of the Assembly the names of the ministers of our section of the church have been frequently printed; but we long to see a thick and closely printed octavo report of the Board of Missions, which shall give each pastor with his elders, and a long catalogue of contributors appended to the list. This would prove a church register of more than common usefulness and interest. In the afternoon of yesterday, I preached on the subject of my mission in the 6th Presbyterian church; and after the blessing was pronounced, the Rev. Dr. Green, President of our Board of Missions, as a communicant in that church, came forward and gave in his name for fifty cents. He was followed by the eldership; and they in turn received the names of all who offered their subscriptions willingly to the cause. The day having proved unfavourable for attendance, the session intend to prosecute immediately the business of completing their roll. There is no doubt but that each of the three churches above named I will subscribe for annual payment on or before the 25th of December, more dollars than they contain communicants. Hitherto I have met with encouraging success in my agency; and having made such an auspicious beginning in our own city, it is my design to employ the remainder of the summer in other places. Some time ago, I received from Dr. Wm. A. Tatem of Denton, in Caroline county, in Maryland, a pressing applica tion for a missionary to be sent to that place: and lately a letter from Dr. Wm. Whiteley, of Whiteleysburg, Kent county, Maryland, represents, that after repeated applications for some one to break to them the bread of life, three of their churches have been closed for eight or ten months. We have agreed to send Mr. Annan to that region of country; and I recommend that a commission be given to John B. M'Creary, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, to spend three months in missionary labours in Denton and its vicinity. He and Mr. Annan will |