yet which admitted Christian missionaries, and where, under some form or other, probably a very degraded one, Christianity exists. But the works on China are very costly or very repulsive from their length. The present, the various parts of which are done by gentlemen of eminence in the several departments, promises to be neither so short as to be superficial, nor so long as to be tedious. From the first volume one gets a better idea of the face and nature of the country than from any preceding one. There is a very good sketch of the history of China, and a very clear account of the introduction of the missionaries into China; and their history is brought down to 1736. In the succeeding volumes it is to be hoped that it will be continued, and perhaps some more exact account given of their mode of teaching, and the degree of purity in which they delivered the doctrines of the Gospel.

Index Librorum Prohibitorum a Sixto V. Papa, confectus et publicatus: at verò a Successoribus ejus in Sede Romana suppressus. Edente Josepho Mendham, A.M. Londini: apud Jac. Duncan. 1835.

4to.

EVERY suppressed work is an article of curiosity: but the one here reprinted and republished is likewise an article of value and importance. It is no common production: it proceeds from the pen of a supposed head of Christendom, and he none of the least strongly marked in the succession of papal sovereigns. It is, in one word, an index of prohibited books, by Sixtus V., and partaking of all the vigour and eccentricity which characterize the author. But the great peculiarity of it is, its suppression, which has been so nearly complete, that the very knowledge that such a book ever existed is but faintly and imperfectly discoverable, even in the works of such writers as have made similar productions the object of their peculiar search and consideration. The contents of the work sufficiently divulge the cause. The criticisms, particularly the rules, are so bold and independent, and the prescription or censure of some of the works of Romish authors themselves, and especially of Robert Bellarmine, were at the time so offensive to individuals in authority, that little wonder need be excited by the desire and determination to suppress it, or by the execution of the design, as far as it was executed, when the acceptable decease of the author afforded the opportunity. He had suffered this kind of literary execution before, in the well-known suppression of his immaculate vulgate, and in the less certain suppression of his Italian Bible. His Index came in the third place to share the same fate. But these, and many other circumstances relative to the interesting document now preserved from destruction, must be sought in the proper place in Mr. Mendham's Literary Policy of the Church of Rome, where an account, more extended than is anywhere else extant, of the Papal Indexes is to be found; and likewise in the preface to the present republication. The work, as nearly as could be effected by modern type, is a fac simile of the original, even to the typographical errors, and the execution is highly creditable to the

printer. The artifice employed by the next pontifical editor of an index, Clement VIII., to impress upon the reader the persuasion, that Sixtus had completed no index, is made as clear as day, both by the title and the prefatory matter of his own; and the whole case furnishes a consolatory proof to protestants, that accusations of variations against them do not come with the best grace, even from the heads of the Roman church. It should likewise be borne in mind, that indexes from the highest authority in that church are a criterion, and a kind of manifesto, of the doctrine, held as well as repudiated, by the rulers of Italian catholicity at the time. That doctrinal changes in that community are not impossible, these very indexes proclaim. One is glad to observe, that a curiosity is active and in progress respecting such documents as the present; for if we are to defend ourselves effectually against assailants, it must be chiefly by documentary evidence.

A Conspectus of the Hampden Case. By the Rev. John Miller, M.A., late Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. London: Rivingtons. 1836.

THIS pamphlet is one of no common importance. Mr. Miller's judgment on any matter, and more especially on a matter of such vital interest as this, will be looked to, by every one who knows his name, with great anxiety, as the judgment of one of whose powers of judging, whose integrity, whose calmness, and whose wisdom it is not easy to speak in the terms which they deserve. He tells us that it is his deliberate opinion that what has been done by the residents at Oxford has been rightly done-that it ought to have been done-that the occasion is one which has not been equalled, in importance to the church, by anything since the days of James II.; and that in cases like this the church, in this eventful crisis, must speak. This plain and bold line of conduct, from one who cannot be accused of passion or of prejudice, will surprise some and irritate others—the conciliators and conceders; but it will encourage many who want encouragement to come forward and do their duty. Thanks for doing his duty Mr. Miller does not require, but thanks are eminently due to him for thus coming forth from his quiet retirement, and exposing himself to obloquy, and they can be offered most effectually by carefully weighing and diligently spreading the sentiments conveyed in his pamphlet.

Life of Archbishop Laud. By Rev. C. W. Le Bas. (Theological Library, Vol. XIII.) Rivingtons. 1836. 12mo.

THESE are times when a Life of Archbishop Laud must possess the very deepest interest, and when very many will be truly grateful to Mr. Le Bas for having set before them the prominent events of that great prelate's life, and the leading features of his character, with so much clearness and within so short a compass. They who dislike Laud will not, at all events, be able to complain of Mr. Le Bas's having

overlooked his faults. He has stated them most fully, freely, and impartially. This course is probably the best, though the reviewer, as an honest admirer of Laud, would be inclined to defend him on several points. His was a situation of tremendous difficulty, and he had an unrelenting and most savage enemy to contend with,-unscrupulous, active, thirsty for power, thirsty for blood, and never satisfied till it had drunk deep at both fountains. This, indeed, Mr. Le Bas has stated, and his book is written with a power and in a spirit which must do good, even in these days.

The Works of W. Cowper, Esq.; with a Life, by R. Southey, Esq. (Vol. III.) London: Baldwin and Cradock. 1836. 12mo. THIS very valuable and interesting life is now brought to a close. It is a life which one never reads without deep interest and deep pain; and it is almost superfluous to say that it has never been told with so much feeling as by Mr. Southey. He has incorporated the extraordinary letters to Mr. Teedon, published by Messrs. Gauntlett, and noticed in this Magazine, as a more fearful expression of cureless misery than can elsewhere be found.

It is to use a common phrase, but it is the simple truth, that warm thanks are due to Mr. Southey, for the service which he has thus rendered to English literature.

An Introduction to writing Hebrew, containing Exercises for Translation; with an Hebrew-English Lexicon, from the German; with References to Stuart's and Lee's Grammars. Oxford: Talboys. 1836. 8vo.

Ir is very satisfactory to see so many working books for studying Hebrew. It is superfluous to point out the use of translation into the language we are learning, or the great convenience of being provided with exercises regularly arranged to practise the learners in all parts of grammar, which is the case with the present publication. By containing a short English-Hebrew Lexicon, it enables the learner to go to work with no other book besides a grammar.

Select Prose Works of Milton. Vols. I. and II. With a Preliminary Discourse, and Notes, by J. A. St. John. London: Hatchards.

1836.

THIS is a very nicely printed and judicious selection of the prose works of Milton, as one of a regular series of the prose works of all our great writers no small undertaking. It is, however, one from which the public will profit in many ways. A cheap selection from the prose works of our early writers certainly cannot be read without great improvement. The book, however, would be far more valuable without Mr. St. John's discourses. They are written in a sort of would-be poetic style; and are violent to the last degree. Milton was quite perfect, it seems! His treatise on divorce is entirely right,

-and its doctrine just! The puritans were the most perfect Christians we can ever expect to see on earth! All this, with sundry declamations about freedom and oppression, only let the reader into the profound secret that Milton was a great man, and that Mr. St. John admires him, and agrees in his principles, right or wrong. What does one want with this? What does one learn from it? A just and discriminating criticism of a great author, from one qualified to give it, is a delightful companion to his works. But this fashion of letting no great man's works appear without a preface and criticism, of whatever kind, is really a very idle one. The whole value of the criticism depends on its quality.

By R. Or

The Scriptural Catechism, for the Use of Sunday Schools. ford, Esq. London: Simpkin and Marshall. MR. ORFORD is evidently a very serious, zealous, and active Christian, deeply interested in improving the young people in his neighbourhood. In this book he has brought together, from many valuable writers, a great deal of good and useful instruction, and elder children might profit by much of it. For younger ones it would perhaps be too long. Here and there, too, a little clearness is required, as, for instance, on baptism.

A Tour round Ireland in 1835. By John Barrow, jun., Esq. London: Murray. 1836. 8vo.

MR. BARROW's former tours to Ireland and to the north of Europe were so agreeably written, and so full of pleasant and sensible observation, that they will secure a ready and anxious perusal for this volume, which contains a great deal of lively description and amusing anecdote, with some of the most truly graphic sketches which any book has for a long time exhibited. The account of Achill, with the long letter in the appendix, is full of interest.

Random Recollections of the House of Lords, from 1830 to 1836. Small 8vo. Smith, Elder, and Co.

THIS most impertinent and, in design, mischievous volume would not fall properly within the scope of notice in this Magazine, did it not affect to include "personal sketches of the leading members" of the illustrious assembly to which it does such gross injustice, and, among them, to several of the members of the episcopal bench. The following samples will pretty sufficiently prove the title of these "Recollections” to the epithet of random :

1. The Archbishop of Dublin's "hair is dark, and he generally has a profusion of it.' [It was flaxen, and rather remarkably scanty.] "He has entered his sixty-second year, but most persons would conclude, from his general appearance, that he was at least seven or eight years younger;" (p. 382;) and they would conclude rightly. The Archbishop is of the same academical standing with Sir Robert Peel, VOL. IX.-May, 1836.

3

who was born February 5th, 1788. His Grace is probably fortyeight.

2. The Bishop of Exeter (per contra) " is in the meridian of life, being only about his forty-fifth year." (p. 383.) Dr. Philpotts took his M.A. degree April 18th, 1798.

3. Of the Archbishop of Canterbury, this writer is pleased to say (p. 378,) that "his undiminished zeal in favour of the hierarchy insures his regular attendance in the house, (on all questions relating to the church,) although the weight of eighty-one years presses upon him." The Archbishop took his M.A. degree July 11th, 1791. The general age of taking such degree is twenty-four or twenty-five.

It is true, these absurdities are, in themselves, of small consequence; but nothing can be worse than the whole tone of this flippant and worthless volume. Instead of un-taxing newspapers, it would be far better to have all such " knowledge" well taxed.

The Life of John Jebb, D. D. Bishop of Limerick, with a Selection of his Letters. By the Rev. Charles Forster, B.D. In 2 vols. London: Duncan and Cochrane. 1836.

BISHOP JEBB'S character is too deeply venerated, and Mr. Forster too highly esteemed, for any recommendation of this book to be needed. It sets before us the private history of one whose public character for piety, learning, and ability, has long been known; and, in doing so, presents a picture of the life of a Christian scholar and student, the calm peace of which is in delightful contrast with the present busy and distracting condition of things. As a relation and a friend, Bishop Jebb here shines as brightly as he does as a scholar; and what is yet more valuable, they who had not the privilege of seeing Bishop Jebb after his illness, will learn from Mr. Forster's accurate and most interesting account, how a Christian could suffer, and turn his suffering into a blessing to himself and others. The whole of the biography is written in a spirit of good feeling and good taste, which do the highest honour to Mr. Forster; of whom no one can justly make any other complaint, than that he is too kind to those whom he favours with his esteem. The second volume contains a selection of Bishop Jebb's letters, not only exhibiting his character in the most delightful view, but giving his opinions on many subjects of great importance. This volume is indeed one of real value; as everything which Bishop Jebb said on a subject, of either religion or literature, was said only on reflexion and study; and the deliberate opinions of such a man deserve to be well weighed by others. He would have been the first to wish that they should be subjected to the fullest examination and investigation. His letter on Mr. Miller's Bampton Lectures is, in this view, one of very deep interest. The reviewer's impression, at the moment, is, that Mr. Miller's view can be successfully maintained against the bishop's objections; which, nevertheless, deserve full consideration. The letter in which they are contained is one of the most striking proofs of the power of mind of the writer, considering the brief space in which it