and the whole work, though a series of conversations, and certainly not a tale, contains much useful information. The title is evidently taken from "Geraldine, a tale of Conscience;" and though Gerald be not written with half the talent that characterised that work, it has what is wanting in Geraldine-" truth."

Essay on the Utility, Origin, and Progress of Writing, by F. Bolingbroke Ribbans, C.C. C. Camb. F.S.A. London: Longman. 1840. WE rise from the perusal of this tract quite overpowered by its erudition. The learned author proves three points we think very clearly. I. That the art of writing is very useful, and that its object is to communicate our ideas. II. That some persons prefer steel pens and others swan quills; and III. That if any one wishes his MSS. to be easily read, he should write it clearly. Besides these, there are very many interesting discoveries here made concerning hieroglyphics and other recondite branches of learning; in fine, the tract may justly, be said to contain matter which he who reads will see, and which he who hears it read will know.

Ecclesiastical Intelligence.

The Rev. E. Addenbroke has been presented to the rectory of Spernal, Warwickshire. The Lichfield Diocesan Church Building Society have made a grant of 7007. in aid of the erection of contemplated new Churches in Wolverhampton. it is the intention of the Devisees in trust under the will of the Rev. Charles Simeon, and who are Patrons of the Rectory of Bath, acting with the consent of the present Incumbent, to divide the present Rectory of Bath into five district parishes: The Society for the Promotion of Church Accommodation within the Archdeaconry of Coventry have voted the sum of 5007. towards the enlargement of St. Bartholomew's Chapel, at Birmingham; and 2507. in aid of erecting a new Church at Rugby.

THE WILL OF THE LATE BISHOP OF LICHFIELD AND COVENTRY.-The will and codicil of the Right Rev. Samuel Butler, Lord Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, has just passed the seal of the Perogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Doctors' Commons to the Rev. Thomas Butler, his son and sole executor. The personal property has been sworn under 30,000l. The will is dated in June, 1835, when the deceased was head-master of the grammar school in Shrewsbury, and the codicil in August, 1838. The whole of the property is divisible amongst his children.

WORCESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF EDUCATION. The following grants have recently been made by this Board:-10l. towards fitting up a school at Northfield, and 60% a year guranteed for two years as a salary to the master; 50l. towards fitting up the school room in St. Martin's parish, Worcester, as a National School for boys: 60l. towards fitting up new schools for children of both sexes at Pershore; and 107. a year for two years, in aid of the payment of a master aud mistress; 107. towards fitting up a school at Emley Castle, and supplying it with books; 30l. towards school rooms, for the parishes of Kenwasten, Great Alne, and Haselor; 107. towards fitting up a school at Wilmcote, and 101. a year for two years in aid of the payment of a mistress; 20l. towards fitting up a school at Crowle, and 30l. guaranteed for two years to a master. We extract the following very important letter from the pages of a contemporary publication:

PAPISTS CAN EVADE THE STATUTE AND GRADUATE AT CAMBRIDGE.

Sir-Permit me, through the medium of your valuable journal, to call the attention of the Protestant public of this country, and especially that of the members of our Protestant University of Cambridge, to the startling fact, viz., that any Roman Catholic can obtain the degree of B. A., and subsequently of M. A.,

N

in that ancient seat of learning, by the following evasion of the statute existing to forbid it for a man has nothing to do but to pass his examination for the above degree at Cambridge, then go to Dublin College, where the fact of his having passed the examination at the English University will secure him the degree, and then he can return and take his degree (ad eundem) of the latter learned body. I believe that this has actually been done lately. Surely some law should be at once passed by the Senate to prevent such things in future. By the insertion of the above, you will, I think, be doing good, by informing many who are ignorant, and by rousing some that are lethargic about the subject. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

London, March 19, 1840. A MEMBER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, Cambridge. PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION AT WARRINGTON.-The King of Prussia has given the following answer to the address of the Protestant Association of Warrington: "I have received, through my Minister for Foreign Affairs, the address forwarded to me by the Protestant Association of Warrington, expressing their thanks for my protection of the evangelical faith against the arrogance of those who, disregarding the laws and constitution, endeavour to disturb established peace and Christian unity. The praiseworthy sentiments and wishes expressed in that address cannot but be in the highest degree acceptable to me, as they can be suggested only by a sense of justice, and have their origin in genuine Christian feeling. To the Protestant Association I hereby present my thanks and best wishes. It is to be hoped that the minds of all will soon be restored to that peaceful state which, notwithstanding a difference of opinion on certain subjects amongst the professors of different modes of faith, may be looked for in all those who follow the precepts of the gospel as the fruit of Christian love. "Berlin, March 12. "WILLIAM FREDERICK.

"To the Protestant Association of Warrington, in the county of Lancaster, England."

LOSS TO LITERATURE.-A fire has lately occurred in the library of the Roman College. Upwards of 370 manuscripts have been destroyed, including 27 Arabic, 43 Persian, and 9 Armenian, besides a collection of Hindoo and Chinese dramas, all of which are unpublished, and supposed to have had no duplicates in Europe. The number of printed books consumed has not yet been ascertained; but 1500 volumes, belonging to the earliest days of printing, are unhappily included in this portion of the loss, as well as the valuable collection of Greek and Latin classics bequeathed to the Roman College by the celebrated French philologist, Muretus, illustrated by the autograph marginal notes of that illustrious scholar.

DISHONESTY OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH.-The following statement has been extensively circulated among the Whig and Radical papers. "CHURCH EXTENSION.-State of ecclesiastical discipline in the small diocese of Ely, in 1813, compared with the year 1728:

In 1728.

On 140 livings, 70 resident incumbents.

Thirty-four who reside near and perform the duty.

Thirty-one curates who reside in the parish or near it.

The population was 56,944 souls. The duty was performed 201 times every Sunday.

In 1813.

On the same 140 livings, 45 resident incumbents.

Seventeen who reside near and perform the duty.

Thirty-five curates, some of whom reside eight, ten, or twelve miles off.

The population is 82,176 souls. The service is performed about 185 times every Sunday.

Their income is now 71,4717. per ann.

And their income 12,7197. per annum. This is singular-duty neglected in proportion as it became more important and better paid."-. - Examiner.

Now would it be believed that a statement which was untrue twenty-seven years ago, when it was first made, could now be circulated, as having any reference to the acknowledged and universal improvement in Church discipline?

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The editor of a New York paper, after giving various statistical details respecting the comparative mortality of London and New York, observes-" It is not a little singular, that whilst the population of London is more than five times as great as New York, the total number of deaths should not be twice as many, and the number of murders and violent deaths should be much less.

The

MONKERY.-Amid the irremediable evils and the wretchedness that could not be averted, it was almost a social benefit to raise some part of mankind to a state of serene indifference, to render some at least superior to the general calamities. Monachism, indeed, directly secured many, in their isolation from all domestic ties from that worst suffering inflicted by barbarous warfare, the sight of beloved females outraged, and innocent children butchered. In those times, the man was happiest who had the least to lose, and who exposed the fewest vulnerable points of feeling and sympathy; the natural affections, in which, in ordinary times, consist the best happiness of man, were in those days such perilous indulgencies, that he who was entirely detached from them embraced, perhaps, considering temporal views alone, the most prudent course. solitary could but suffer in his own person; and though by no means secure in his sanctity from insult, or even death, his self-inflicted privations hardened him against the former, his highly-wrought enthusiasm enabled him to meet the latter with calm resignation; he had none to leave whom he had to lament none to lament him after his departure. The spoiler who found his way to his secret cell was baffled by his poverty; and the sword which cut short his days, but shortened his painful pilgrimage on earth, and removed him at once to an anticipated heaven. With what different feelings would he behold, in his poor and naked and solitary cell, the approach of the blood-thirsty barbarians, from the father of a family in his splendid palace, or his more modest and comfortable dwelling, with a wife in his arms, whose death he would desire to see, rather than the worse than death to which she might first be doomed in his presence; with helpless children clinging around his knees; the blessings which he had enjoyed, the wealth or comfort of his house, the beauty of his wife, of his daughters, or even of his sons, being the strongest attraction to the spoiler, and irritating more violently his merciless and unsparing passions. If to some the monastic state offered a refuge for the sad remainder of their bereaved life, others may have taken warning in time, and with deliberate fore-thought refused to implicate themselves in tender connections, which were threatened with such a deplorable end. Those who secluded themselves from domestic relations from other motives, at all events were secured from such miseries, and might be envied by those who had played the game of life with a higher stake, and ventured on its purest pleasures, with the danger of incurring all its bitterest reverses. Milman.

SLAVERY IN AMERICA. Slaves are not allowed to learn to read. In Georgia, a slave state, any justice of the peace may, at his discretion, break up any religious assembly of slaves, and may order each slave present, without trial, to be flogged. In Virginia, all evening meetings of slaves, or of free persons of colour, for any religious purpose, are forbidden. Similar laws exist in other slave states. The law affords no protection to the marriage of slaves. The connexion may at any time be legally broken up, to gratify the avarice or licentiousness of the master. In Georgia, if a white teach a free coloured person or slave to read or write, he is fined 1007. and imprisoned at the discretion of the court. If a free coloured man teach, he is to be fined or whipped; of course a father may be flogged for teaching his own child. In North Carolina, it is unlawful to teach a slave to read or write, or to sell, or give him any book or pamphlet, even the Bible. In Georgia if a free colored man or negro preaches, he may be seized without warrant, and flogged to the extent of thirty-nine lashes; and the same number of lashes may be applied to each of his hearers. In Louisiana, the penalty for instructing a free coloured person in a Sabbath

School, is, for the first offence, 500 dollars; and for the second offence-death In South Carolina, if a free coloured person assists a run-away slave, he is fined 107.; and if unable to pay the fine, he is to be sold into slavery. In 1837, a free woman and her three children were thus sold, for harbouring two slave children. The slavery interest is so great as to have induced the free state of Connecticut to pass a law prohibiting schools for free persons of colour who should come from any other state. In June, 1833, Miss Crandell was imprisoned at Brooklyn, for having opened a school and taught free persons of colour who came from other free states, and her school was broken up.-Martyr Age of the United States of America.

WANTED A GOVERNMENT.-It appears from a statement of the Marquis of Londonderry to the House of Lords, that Viscount Melbourne's Administration has been in 106 minorities since their return to office in 1835—

Another table read by the Marquis showed the number of abortive attempts at legislation during the same period-the bills the Ministers brought in but could not carry

Session 1836.

Session 1837.

Session 1838........

Session 1839..

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21

34

23

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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Our best thanks are due to Captain Harris, whose promised contributions we shall be most happy to insert. Also to our friends at Clapham.

"Divines of the Romish Church, No. I. Bossuet," will appear in our next.

"The Historical Sketch of the German Reformation," will be very acceptable to our readers.

"The Remarks on Burnett," concerning which many enquiries have been made, will be continued. No. III." Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester," in our next. paper on "Bouterwek," shall be inserted.

The

"C. G." "Q. R. S." "W." "A Clergyman," "Amicus," "A Constant Reader," and " W. Jones," are respectfully declined: their papers may be had on application at our publisher's.

"P. W." brings forward a very grave charge against a distinguished individual; but he should remember first that an anonymous and unsubstantiated statement will not suit our pages, nor do we mean to allow them to be made the vehicle for personalities.

"A Reader of the Oxford Tracts." We agree with our correspondent in the main, but we are desirous of letting the controversy die away-above all we would avoid violence.

Mr. Fearn's" Tale," will appear in the June Number; as also the first paper on Popular Superstitions.

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Papers intended for insertion in the coming Number should be sent not later than the 15th inst. addressed to the Editor, at the office, 342, Strand.

Printed by W. E. Painter, 342, Strand, London.

BY THE REV. A. W. H. ROSE, M.A., ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. And Curate of St. John's, Waterloo-road.

"CAN any good thing come out of Nazareth?" So said Nathaniel, until he complied with the invitation "Come and see." And it is on the necessity of compliance with this invitation, that we would now insist on a few amongst the many instances of those who allow their prejudice to blind them to a knowledge of the things which belong to their peace. We observe, that Philip's reply to the prejudice of Nathaniel is not merely recorded as the only one with which he was capable of meeting that prejudice, but that it contains in it, moreover, a specimen of the manner in which all prejudice must be met, in order to its being effectually overcome and subdued. What is prejudice? just the prejudging of a matter—a passing a judgment upon it beforehandthe coming to a decision upon a point before we have given it a fair and candid examination. Then what more natural reply, where a prejudice is urged against any thing which we deliver as truth, than the simple reply, "Come and see!" Prejudice is the offspring of ignorance. Dispel, then, the ignorance, and the prejudice must either retire altogether, or wilfully maintain its ground in defiance of conviction-in consequence of a determined wish not to believe.

We may consider Nathaniel's question, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" as fairly enough representing any prejudice against the truth whatsoever, and we wish now to show, under one or two examples of prejudice, asking this question, in what manner we would put the reply" Come and see.

blished Church.

And the first case which we take is that of dissent from the EstaThe prejudices of Nathaniel, indeed, lay in an opposite direction: though they did not immediately spring from it,