under the loss of friends by death.-The deaths of Socrates and Addison compared.

“But the benevolence of the Deity towards the human race shines forth most gloriously in the happiness and durability of heaven, and the new powers with which man will there be invested."

We know not how we can better gratify our readers, or do more essential service to, the author, than by quoting a few of, what we conceive to be the most poetical and animated passages. The apostrophe to England, in reference to the bigotry and persecution which prevailed in the reign of Queen Mary, well merits transcription.

"O England! I lament thy trophied page,
Resplendent with each noble, generous deed,
Should thus be sullied with atrocious acts
Unknown to Bramin, or to savage rites;
Shew me within the holy Christian code
One line to justify the barbarous rage
Which Mary's impious reign records in blood,
That moment I abjure the christian faith,
Subvert its altars, lay its priesthood low,
And only look through Nature to my God,
I love Religion, love her holy laws,

Her solemu rites, the music of her choir;
But much I blush, that man, mistaken man,
Hath stain'd her altars, and profaned her cause
With bigot wrath, and mad anathema.
Not to the narrow bounds of sect confined,
Religion, like the high meridian sun,

Sheds its bless'd influence and consoling power
Through every region, and o'er every clime;
But shines with most serene and cheering ray
Where Christ is known, and the one God adored.
When I review the holy Christian faith,
Pure as its author gave the boon to men,
I feel my bosom beat with sacred love :
He bids no more the blazing altars burn,
Or bleeding victim fall beneath the stroke,
He but demands the service of the heart,-
Whether it flow in full, and swelling tones,
From congregated man, or silent rise
In fruitful valley, or in desert waste,

From the lone bosom of the worshipper.

In a strain equally flowing, sweet and affecting, the author describes the affection manifested towards man in the Redemption:

Redemption, highest note of mortal song,
Who shall dare raise the lofty theme unblamed?

Man placed in Paradise, was there enthroned
In innocence; no conscience then had roar'd
Its mighty thunders to the troubled soul,
Within the chambers of the spotless mind
No impure thought, no unrestrain'd desire,
Had entrance found, till dire ambition sprung,
And Eden ceased to smile:Then he became
Outcast from bliss, and pleasures unalloy'd;
But ere he left the garden of his God,
Its balmy odours, its refreshing streams,
Its cheerful haunts, the home of his delight,
Mercy, the brightest attribute of heaven,
Temper'd his banishment; and angels brought
The gracious message to the fallen race,

The woman's seed shall break the serpent's head,'
Primeval promise, kindly, freely given,
Was but the dawning of a glorious day
Of restoration. Patriarchs and Seers,
Enraptured at the theme, have lived, and died:
Time, as he swiftly flew on eagle wing,
Saw the inspired page more richly fraught.
In Abraham, and his seed, the tribes of earth
Shall hail the blessing.-From Judah's throne
The sceptre shall not pass till Shiloh come,
Gathering his willing tribes.-In distant time
Ezekiel saw the mountain cedar yield
Shadows to all beneath.-Holy Isaiah,
With pious lips touch'd by a spark divine,
From heaven's high altar led the promised morn
With gladsome tidings.-Sion, behold thy King!
Lift up thy voice, Jerusalem! O earth,
Break into songs, for your deliverer comes!
Ye mountains! echo back the lofty tones

Till earth's remotest verge shall catch the sound
And hail with glad response. In those bless'd days
The leafless desart with the rose shall bloom,
The lion with the lamb shall sportive play,
And nations learn war's horrid art no more.
Thus the rapt prophets sang through many an age,
Reviving oft the spirits of their race

With the bless'd presage, and the glorious hope.
Hail, Son of God! thou great Immanuel, hail!
Enthroned in happiness, diffusing bliss,
Archangels sounding all their harps to praise,
And every seraph wing'd at thy command,

What could induce thee from the heights of heaven
To bear the scourge, and bleed upon the cross?
'Twas human weal which urged thy downward flight,
Delighted with the sons of earth to dwell.

Well might the shepherds sing the illustrious song,
"Glory to God on high, good will to men;"
Midnight forgot her glooms, and all was light:
The kneeling virgin, and the dazzled sage,
Welcomed alike the heavenly harbinger,
And distant lands, which yet in darkness sleep,

Shall wake to rapture, and partake the joy.
Angels! and ye seraphic hierarchies

Who, ever prompt to execute his will,

Oft through creation dart your boundless way,
Charged with some high commission from his throne;
E'en ye astonish'd gaze with raptured eye,
On this deep mystery of transcendent love:
Eager to search, and happy to proclaim,
The lofty miracle; with guardian wings
Hovering around the chosen heirs of heaven,
Their happiness your most peculiar care.

Blest habitant of earth, the Saviour came
Fraught with benevolence, and rich in love;
Mark what affection through his actions ran,
How pure his precepts, his commands how kind :
Go, heal the sick-Go, comfort the distress'd-
Bid the bright day burst on the darken'd sight,
And death's stern monarch yield his captives back-
Were the blest mandates of eternal love
When earth received her heavenly visitant:
Well skill'd in every entrance to the heart,
And touch'd with man's infirmities, his life
With genuine sympathy and feeling shone.
If festive gladness bless'd the happy board,
His generous spirit shared the social mirth,
And wrought a miracle, to add to joy.
But was the sinking heart with guilt oppress'd,
How the rich stream of consolation flow'd.

And O, what love, what undissembled love,
Fill'd his pain'd bosom, when fatigued, o'erpower'd,
His faithful followers sunk in deepest sleep:
Could ye not watch with me one passing hour?
Was all the slighted master's mild rebuke;

And, lest such soft reproof might sound too harsh,
His honied accents pour'd the healing balm :
Full well I know your willing minds would bid
A prompt obedience to my every wish,
But human frailty weighs your spirits down.
"Sweet too the drop that fell from Jesus' eye
When o'er the grave of Lazarus he wept :
Oh, 'twas a lesson from the school of heaven,
To teach affection to the sons of men.
And as the soft refreshing dew of eve
Revives the plant scorch'd by meridian sun,
The sacred influence of a Saviour's tear
Bid the flown spirit to its earthly clay
Return, and animate its form again.

Through life unchang'd, unwearied, undismay'd,
The suffering Saviour, true to human weal,
Bore stedfast on-the ignominious cross
Witness'd his conquest, and his dying love:
Ah! well might Mary droop beneath her woe!
In many a page the gracious promise shone,
That she should bear a son of high import;

And from the cradle, to maturer age,
His life had every bright assurance given
Of all fulfilment: but when most she thought
To see the child of every cherish'd hope,
Pre-eminent in glory and renown,

Sorrowing, she saw him stretch'd upon the cross,
And weeping, to his lifeless corpse perform'd
The mournful offices that nature claims.

But boast not, Grave, thy momentary reign;
The third, the appointed day, had scarcely dawn'd,
Ere rising from the tomb he burst thy bands,
Regain'd his empire, and resum'd his throne."

These specimens will probably satis fy the reader that Mr. Smithers is a poet of no ordinary merit. His prose is no less animated, just, and instructive: as will be evident from the following excellent comment on part of the passage above extracted:

"Viewing Christianity, divided as it is into numerous sects, and observing, with a sorrowful feeling, the dreadful persecutions with which its professors have stained it, the philosophic mind, on the first view, is disposed to enquire, How can this be? But on a narrow inspection, it may appear probable, that the Almighty author thereof, knowing how prone mankind are to sacrifice all future prospect to present pleasures, may have sanctioned these differences in opinion and in belief, to keep the minds of men alive to the subjects of religion, and prevent its loss to the world. But notwithstanding, differences of opinion might be maintained with moderation and temper.

"I would it were in my power by any arguments I could adduce, any authorities I could quote, or any examples I could bring forward, to counteract that unhappy spirit of bigotry and persecution which so extensively prevails among the various denominations of Christians. It was a favourite sentiment of Dr. Jebb, that "no effort is lost;" perhaps the following observations and facts may have some good effect to promote Christian charity.

"From men of enlightened understanding and sound judgement, who in their researches after truth, have swept away from their hearts the dust of malice, and opposition, it is not concealed that the contrarieties of religion and diversities of belief, which are causes of envy, and of enmity to the ignorant, are, in fact, a manifest demonstration of the power, wisdom, and goodness, of the Supreme Being."-PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE TO GENTOO LAWS.

"The common people among the Chinese, conscious of the numerous ills to which they are liable, are disposed to seek for safeguards on every side. Their minds being once open to credulity, are ready to accept any supernatural assistance offered to them by a new religion, against the violence of power, or the calamities of nature. Their own has nothing exclusive in it; and they would have embraced Christianity in greater numbers, if it could have been associated with other tenets. The Jesuits, who were desirous of permitting with it the ceremonies performed by the Chinese in the halls of their

ancestors, would have been much more successful than their opponents who condemned them; to whom the principal subject of reproach from a pagan at present is, that " they neglect their forefathers. "-MACARTNEY, vol. ii.

"Soon after Frederick the Great ascended the throne, he conceived the sublime idea of building a vast pantheon, in which every description of devotion might at an allotted time find its altar. Policy if not genuine charity, induced that sagacious prince to think that tolerance was necessary to the interests as well as the dignity of a nation, and he was desirous of not only seeing his subjects and foreigners worship their God in their own way, but that, like brothers, they should prostrate themselves before him in the same temple. On account of the state of the treasury, Frederick was successfully advised to drop his benign plan, and it was never afterwards resumed." -CARR'S NORTHERN SUMMER, p. 460.

"Cowper wrote occasionally to clerical friends of the established church, and to others among the dissenters. His heart made no lifference between them, for it felt towards both the fraternal sensations of true Christianity.

"The biographer of Howard relates that he was less solicitous about modes and opinions, than the internal spirit of piety and devotion; and in his estimate of different religious societies, the circumstances to which he principally attended, were their zeal and sincerity."-AIKIN'S LIFE, p. 19.

"I cannot better conclude these observations than by the following extract from Gilbert Wakefield, which breathes the true spirit of Christianity.

"Those are the only disciples of the benevolent Nazarene, of him who lived and died for the salvation of his brethren; those alone, I say, are the genuine followers of the Son of God, who have felt the influence, and exemplify the effects of this glorious maxim of their teacher, "The love of our neighbour is the fulfilling of the law." Such men disjoined in opinion, but united in heart, amidst all the varieties of sentiment and profession, may be compared to travellers on their way to the same city, separated for a time by roads which divaricate indeed, but are never very distant from each other, and meet with a quick convergency in the same point at last."

The smaller poems on subjects of course less lofty and capacious, bear the same character of ease and elegance. The notes extend to some considerable length; but they will be read with great satisfaction, as they contain several facts illustrative of the most engaging circumstances in animated nature."

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There are several vignettes engraved with remarkable delicacy, by Freeman and Schiavonetti, from the designs of Masquerier.