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still must afford our applause to the design of this new annual, to the great merit of Prout's drawings, and to the superior manner in which they have been engraved by Le Keux, Willmore, Roberts, Wallis, Kernot, Carter, Fisher, Floyd, and Barber.

The Literary Souvenir.-To the editor of The Literary Souvenir,' we have also to return our thanks for the proofs of the illustrations which he has collected for his forthcoming volume. To his taste in the choice of his subjects and of his artists, we have frequently paid the just tribute of our praise, and he has seldom put forth better titles to that fair reward of his exertions than on the present occasion. In reviewing his new volume, we shall advert more particularly to these engravings, which tend to sustain the long established character of The Literary Souvenir.' We have been told, but upon this point we reserve our opinion, that its melange of poetry and prose is also of a high order.

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Political Unions.-These societies are likely to become very numerous in England before the opening of the next session of parliament. They have been already organized in most of the great towns, and measures are in active progress for forming them in all the principal parishes of London. It is proposed also to have a general Metropolitan Union, and we believe it is intended that a certain number of the members of each society should furnish themselves with arms, in order to be prepared to assist the army and the civil magistrates, in case the Tories and high Churchmen should succeed in exciting any commotions.

Ugo Foscolo.-The new edition of the Rev. Mr. Stebbing's " Lives of the Italian Poets," is to comprise several additional lives, including

that of Ugo Foscolo, with extracts from his private letters, and interesting particulars relating to his last hours.

The New Volcanic Island.-The eruption has now ceased, and the crater is filled with boiling water, from which a sulphurous smoke continues to issue. The isle is chiefly formed of a spungy lava and puzzolane. The brink of the crater is thirty feet in height at the lowest part, in other places eighty feet, and in the centre two hundred feet. It is easy to land on the south-west side. Smoke issues from several points of the sea around.

The

Spontaneous Combustion. Philadelphia Chronicle mentions the following instance of spontaneous combustion. A large piece of coarse muslin, thoroughly oiled for the purpose of making covers for boxes, was left over night, folded up loosely, in a shed. It was found, when the store was opened next morning, burnt entirely through, and appa rently about to blaze. The fire appeared to have begun in the middle; and could not have been applied from without.

Emigration to Canada.-Comparative statement of the arrival of settlers at Quebec, to the 15th of August of the past and present year: 1830, Settlers 22,839; 1831, ditto, 38,955.

The Weavil.Salt is said to be an effectual preventive against the destruction of wheat by the weavil. Mix a pint of salt with a barrel of wheat, or put up the grain in old salt-barrels, and the weavil will not attack it. In stacking wheat, four or five quarts of salt to every hundred sheaves, sprinked among them, will entirely secure them from the depredations of this insect, and render the straw more valuable as food for cattle.

Madame Catalani.-At a public

entertainment at Weimar, Catalani, a few years since, was placed next to the venerable Goethe. The peculiar attention paid to her neighbour, added to his imposing appearance, attracted the curiosity of the fair syren, and she inquired his name. "The celebrated Goethe, Madame." "Ah! celebrated-pray on what instrument does he play?" was the rejoinder.

Approaching Calamities in China. -A sort of revelation from the Gods is now published by writing, and by word of mouth, in every direction, declaring that this year, in the 6th, 9th, and 10th months, a great pestilence will prevail, and cause the deaths of persons innumerable. The first intimation of the approaching judgments was made by the deified astronomer Chang-Teen-Sze to Tung-Ta-laonyay, of Hoo-pih province, on his way from Pekin, when in Kwangyuen district. There will be an abundant harvest this year, but human beings will suffer greatly. The virtuous shall be spared, but the wicked will find it impossible to escape. Those who will not believe shall see. The ground will be

covered with dead bodies. At the third watch, when cocks crow, and the dogs bark, a malignant God will go forth to slay by the pestilence. Those who hear their names called must be careful not to answer.

Taxes on Literature.-A few facts are better than a hundred arguments. The following curious calculation was placed before a meeting very recently held at the London Literary and Scientific Institution. The number of newspapers annually issued in America is 10,000,000: the number issued in Great Britain, about one-tenth of that amount. The number of advertisements which appeared in eight newspapers printed in New York, in one year, was

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1,555,416-the number which peared in 400 British papers in the same period was only 1,105,000.— Advertisements which in England cost 17 dollars, cost in America little more than one.

Garrick Club. A new club,which bids fair to be a very numerous and well supported Society, has been just formed. The Duke of Sussex is the patron, the Earl of Mulgrave the president, and Sir G. Warrender the vice-president.

Travelling in India.—Intelligence has arrived that the luxury of coaches has at length been adopted in India. Between Panwell and Poona, several vehicles have been established, consisting of a sociable, shigrampo, buggies, and a carriage of a peculiar construction, capable of accommodating three passengers with comfort. On the completion of the new road on the Bhore Ghaut, two mail coaches are to be started to run regularly.

Fires in Chimnies.-By a late ordinance, the Prefect of Police at Paris requires that at the different stations of the fire-men there shall be kept in readiness an adequate quantity of common sulphur. It has been found that sulphur ignited at the hearth of a chimney gives out elements which effectually prevent the burning of the soot. This process, however, is only applicable to fires in chimnies.

New Knights. In conferring the honour of knighthood on several recent occasions, his Majesty has obviously been led to distinguish men of literary and scientific merit. We thus find Mr. South, Mr. Rennie, Mr. Charles Bell, Mr. Herschell, and Mr. Harris Nicolas, in the list of persons so marked by the royal favour; and we have heard that a similar honour is intended for Mr. Babbage, and several other gentlemen eminent in literature and science.

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Peculiarities of the present year. -The new Volcano off Sicely; the great number of the Aurora Boreales which have been seen throughout Europe; the unusual quantity of insects of small kinds that have appeared, and other remarkable phenomena, show a very uncommon disturbance of the atmosphere during the present year.

Lee Sugg, one of the first ventriloquists who exhibited that curious talent in England, died last week at Southampton, aged 85.

Birth-place of Lord Brougham. -Sir John Sinclair has just published an analysis of his "Statistical Account of Scotland," and in the preface are inserted two short letters from Lord Brougham, one of which sets at rest the question, whether his lordship was born on this or the other side of the Tweed: "You ask (says Lord Brougham) after my place of birth, and relationship to Dr. Robertson. I was born in St. Andrew's-square, Edinburgh; and Dr. Robertson was my mother's uncle.' The house in St. Andrew's-square referred to by Lord Brougham, is now occupied by Mr. J. F. Williams, the artist. The family afterwards removed to the house in George-street, now occupied by the Wine Company of Scotland.

The Clergy.-Charles the Second used to observe, that of all the persons he had ever met, the clergy of England were the most tenacious of their rights, and the most negligent of their duties. The clergy of the present generation have in no way degenerated from the virtues of their ancestors.

Tanning Leather.-Mr. Wm. Drake, of the firm of Drake and

Sons, of Bristol, has recently taken out a patent for an improved process of tanning leather, by which, the thickest hides may be tanned in one-tenth of the usual time, with a great saving of expense.

Education in France.-According to the last report of the board of public instruction in France, the number of communes supplied with schools is only 3728 out of a total of 38,135. Out of a population of 32,000,000, only 1,372,206 scholars are instructed in winter, and no more than 681,005 in summer. Out of 282,985 young men of from twenty to twenty-one years of age, who sought instruction in the last year, only 150,000 could read or write.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have

We have received another pile of announcements of works in the press, and in preparation, by a whole army of authors. frequently stated that to such paragraphs we cannot devote our space, and that they should be sent to the publisher as advertisements.

We confess that we cannot understand the paper, entitled "Color Images in the Brain."

The question put by Mr. E. Smith, of Liverpool, should be addressed to the publisher; and the Numbers which he wants should be specified. We shall take an early opportunity of noticing the little work to which he alludes.

The pamphlet to which Mr. Barrett alludes, has been received, and shall be noticed.

Article III. in the present Number of this journal, entitled "What will the People do?" is intended to be forthwith re-printed in a separate form as a pamphlet, which may be had at RIDGWAY'S, or at HENDERSON'S, or at any other Bookseller's.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW.

DECEMBER, 1831.

ART.1.-1. A Warning of the expected Manifestation of the Three Persons of the Trinity, for the Regeneration of the whole of Mankind, and the Sanctification of a part. Now published in consideration of the portending times we live in. 8vo. pp. 322. London: Sherwood and Co.

1831.

2. Six Sermons on the Study of the Holy Scriptures, preached before the University of Cambridge in the years 1827 and 1828; to which are annexed two Dissertations; the first on the reasonableness of the Orthodox Views of Christianity, opposed to the rationalism of Germany; the second on Prophecy, with an original exposition of the Book of Revelations, shewing that the whole of that remarkable Prophecy has long ago been fulfilled. By the Rev. S. Lee, B. D., &c. Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge.

THE degree of internal conviction as to the truth of their national mythologies, which was required by the ancient governments in Europe and Asia, has never been clearly ascertained. We speak not of the outward profession of their creeds, or of the external ⚫ observance of their religious rites and ceremonies: an open infraction of these was considered a legal offence, and as such it was punished. We allude to the mental belief of the truth of the established doctrines; and we think that it has not yet been shown whether the want of this was held to be a religious crime, by which the offender subjected himself to the displeasure of the gods, and to penalties which might be inflicted by them in a future life. It was widely different in the Jewish and Christian systems of government. Under the former, nonconformity was treated as an offence against the state. Jehovah was their legislator, and their immediate Territorial Lord. To call in question the propriety of his doctrine, was an act not only of irreligion, but of treason. Christian governments this rule was not carried so far. At first the creed of the party and the practice of its precepts was left to his own conscience. Afterwards the non-observance of them was VOL. III. (1831.) no. iv.

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made an offence against the state, and an alliance took place between the magistracy and the hierarchy, by which each obliged itself to support, by its own particular powers, the ordinances of the other. In this condition things were found by the reformers, when they commenced their operations; they thought the system a very convenient one, and fully adopted it with the view of succeeding to the power of those whom they had dethroned. They accordingly promulgated creeds and forms of discipline, and enforced them by the same penalties as the authorities, in whose places they had established themselves.

The first of the religious sects who rejected this compulsory mode of extending their own creed, were the Arminian divines of Holland. They considered morality to be of greater consequence than religious theory, and therefore their formulæ of belief were exceedingly scanty. They were viewed for a season with great jealousy, both by Catholics and Protestants; their tenets were condemned by the Calvinistic synod of Dort, and those who professed them were banished from Holland. Public opinion, however, was favourable to them; they were latently permitted to return, and by degrees they obtained influence, and the protection of the law. In the meantime a tacit relaxation of the system of the Protestants became general, which considerably modified their creeds, even in the lifetime of Arminius, who foresaw that such would be the consequence of his doctrine, to a much greater extent than he was willing to acknowledge. It is to his example that we owe the ultra-opinions of the Socinians, which have since prevailed so widely, even in the very bosom of the Church. Something of this laxity of opinion may be traced in the writings of Erasmus: but it was not until towards the close of the seventeenth century that it became generally discoverable. In England it first appeared in the writings of the "ever-memorable" John Hales of Eton, and the " immortal" Chillingworth-we give them the epithets which they received from their contemporaries. Hales was originally a Calvinist; as chaplain of the English ambassador at the Hague, he attended the synod of Dort, where he was converted to Arminianism; and he made no scruple of avowing his new opinions after his return to England. Chillingworth was educated in the Protestant religion; in early life he abandoned it for the Catholic form of worship, to which he at first adhered with the most edifying zeal. He soon, however, returned to his former belief, and propounded his allegiance to it by a maxim, which now contains the whole practical creed of the Anglican Church :-" That the Bible, and the Bible only, as interpreted by individuals, is the religion of Protestants." He denounced and set at defiance all other creeds, confessions of faith, symbolic books and formularies, and thus reduced the whole of the doctrine of Protestants to two articles, that their creed is to be found in the Bible alone, and that each man's conscience is his own interpreter of the sacred volume. Chillingworth and his fol

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