said by him in his judgment, but to his having nodded assent to the proposition at the time it was stated. I am very sorry that my argument should have been mistaken and therefore misstated; but it is a misfortune I would rather submit to than have this or my former letter published. Such a publication might lead to a controversy which would be to me a very odious one, if I had to maintain a doctrine which it would give me very sincere pleasure to see refuted.

“I remain, dear Sir, with great respect and esteem, yours, &c.,

S. ROMILLY."

The perusal of Mr. Aspland's "Inquiry into the Nature of the Sin of Blasphemy, and into the Propriety of regarding it as a Civil Offence," shortly after modified the opinions of Sir Samuel Romilly, who addressed the author in a letter which it is feared is now lost. The most distinct reference to it occurs in the following letter.

mer.

Rev. Robert Aspland to his Brother Isaac.

"Hackney Road (Monday), October 7, 1817. "Dear Brother,-Mrs. Aspland and I had a very pleasant journey this sumShe went no further than the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury: I went forward to Chester and Liverpool, and from thence struck into North Wales, which I traversed as far as the Isle of Anglesea. From Carnarvon, I came through Merionethshire, by Bala, to Wrexham. I was exceedingly pleased with the grandeur of the scenery, far surpassing any thing which I had before witnessed. I ascended one mountain (Cader Idris), of which the ascent was five miles, and one half of that in the clouds.

"At Shrewsbury I preached many times, and one sermon by desire of all the denominations of Dissenters who support the Lancasterian schools. This they have united in requesting me to print, which I must do, to make some return for so much liberality.

"I think I sent you my sermons on Blasphemy. These have brought me a very handsome letter from Sir Samuel Romilly, who says I have satisfied him that blasphemy is not cognizable by human tribunals.

"My health is, I hope, better established, but I feel the necessity of taking great care of myself: so you will think when you learn that I am trying the effect of the disuse of the pipe, and have not actually tasted tobacco since Friday! Whatever be the result with regard to me, the revenue will deeply suffer; but this is a loss in which you and I shall not very deeply sympathize. "Dear brother, yours affectionately,

ROBERT ASPLAND." One or two other letters written during this year claim a place. That which follows relates to a series of doctrinal lectures preached at Parliament Court.†

Rev. Thomas Belsham to Rev. Robert Aspland.

"Essex Street, Feb. 20, 1817. "My dear Sir,-I am so much out of the habit of such kind of services as those proposed to be performed at Parliament Court, that, much as I approve

It was published under the title, "The Virtuous Use of Talents enforced in reference to the Education of Poor Children." It had a considerable local circulation in Shrewsbury, and was afterwards reprinted by the author in the first volume of his Sermons, pp. 131-154, as a record of his sentiments on the important subject of popular education.

In labours of this kind Mr. Aspland was at this period abundant, beyond what a prudent regard to health dictated. In addition to the weekly conferences at Hackney, he assisted, during this winter, in a weekly lecture at Worship Street, and in a course of Sunday-evening lectures at St. Thomas's, Southwark.

of them, I find myself quite unequal to undertaking any active part in them: otherwise I should not need the stimulus which you have had the goodness to apply to rouse me to exertion. My day of service is nearly over, and I must now plead the privilege of being a miles emeritus. I have no fear that the cause will suffer by the loss of my humble efforts. I have seen it advance and prosper when much better and abler instruments were withdrawn. And so will you. Mr. Fox's settlement in London is a most promising sign. And I have no doubt that the interests of truth and goodness will greatly prosper under your combined efforts. I could wish that I were young enough to cooperate with you. But all is ordered well: and I am satisfied that I have had it in my heart to diffuse the light and spirit of the gospel, and have been honoured with some success. May you and your fellow-labourers be blest with far greater success; and may you long be spared to labour in the vineyard, and to train up others for the same honourable office! I am, dear Sir, very sincerely yours,

T. BELSHAM."

The next letter was written during a short absence from home in search of health.

Rev. Robert Aspland to Mrs. Aspland.

"Newport, Isle of Wight, June 9, 1817. "My dear Sara,-I received your welcome letter yesterday, and rejoice that its contents are upon the whole so pleasing. The sight of your handwriting in this place serves to realize the thoughts of you which are suggested to me perpetually by so many scenes and so many persons. I often wish you were with me in the island, dear to you as well as to me by so many tender recollections. I have a tolerable report to give of myself. The weather makes me prudent. I was driven into Newport on Friday by the wind and fog that have made the back of the island no longer endurable; and here, amongst friends, I have recruited my health and spirits. I preached twice yesterday, but I preached only, and I find no inconvenience from this small exertion. For my return I must reserve the history of my visits and the account of our friends. Poor Goodier! his appearance excites fears more than hopes; though perhaps there is no great alteration in him since last summer. He is, I think, more reduced. I have not yet been able to learn Mr. Bloxam's opinion.

Rev. Thomas Belsham to Rev. Robert Aspland.

R. A."

"Essex Street, Dec. 14, 1817. "Dear Sir,-You are at liberty to make what use you please of my sermon for poor B.: but I would just suggest whether it might not be worth while to defer it till the following month, and, in the mean time, to obtain leave from Mr. Broadbent to prefix to the biographical account the engraving which is now preparing to be prefixed to our young friend's two sermons.

"I see in the Repository an angry query about Dr. Priestley's preaching other persons' sermons. The fact is, he made no more of a secret that he occasionally preached Dr. Enfield's and Mr. Lindsey's sermons, especially after his own had been destroyed at the riots, than Dr. Parr does of preaching Zollikofer's. He found it difficult to compose on trite, commonplace subjects, and, in general, he thought he could employ his time better. He would have laughed at the idea of branding such a report as a calumny. "I am, dear Sir, very sincerely yours,

T. BELSHAM."

Towards the close of the year 1817, Mr. Aspland had an opportunity of publicly acting on the principle which he had deliberately adopted respecting the impropriety of treating Blasphemy as a civil offence.

He had for some time been acquainted with Mr. William Hone, first as a bookseller, whose conversation shewed him to be far better acquainted with the contents of books than is common with men of his order, and afterwards as the publisher of a cheap weekly political journal which advocated Reform principles and exposed with much. boldness the corruption of the Government of the day. In the crusade against the press commenced in that year by Sir William Garrow, the Attorney-General, and continued by his successor, Sir Samuel Shepherd, Mr. Hone was marked out for punishment, and three indictments, founded on ex-officio informations, were preferred against him for publishing certain "scandalous, irreligious, profane, impious and seditious libels." The publications thus characterized by the AttorneyGeneral were in fact political squibs, in the shape of Parodies on the Church Catechism, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Litany, and the Creed of St. Athanasius. Mr. Hone, immediately on discovering that these publications were offensive to the taste and feelings of religious readers, discontinued their publication, and, notwithstanding a pressing demand for them (the usual consequence of a Government prosecution), refused to sell another copy. But the Attorney-General had another object besides suppressing impiety, and the prosecution proceeded. In preparing for his defence, Mr. Hone, all but destitute and friendless, sought Mr. Aspland's help. It was given most freely. He felt it to be a sacred duty to carry out his own principles respecting charges of blasphemy, and also to protect a political victim endangered by a stimulated zeal for religion on the part of his persecutors. By means of his numerous friends, the composition of the jurypanel was investigated. Mr. Hone was supplied with suggestions, illustrations and books necessary for his defence. No one can read the three arguments of William Hone without perceiving that he must have been largely helped by some one well versed in the curiosities of English theological literature. Mr. Aspland attended the Court of King's Bench at Guildhall, Dec. 18, the day of the first trial, and, taking his seat by his side, encouraged and aided Mr. Hone during the difficulties and anxieties of that eventful day. The line of defence adopted was, after detailing the circumstances attending the prosecution, to argue that parodies were no novelty; that they were as old as the invention of printing; that there had been numerous parodies on religious writings, none of which had been prosecuted; that a parody need not be regarded as designed to ridicule the thing parodied, but might be intended simply to convey ludicrous ideas relating to some other subject. He recited parodies by Martin Luther, Bishop Latimer, Dr. Boys, Dean of Canterbury, Dr. Burnet, Master of the Charter-house, and other distinguished divines, statesmen and scholars. He adduced with admirable effect parodies on sacred things recently published and received with applause by Government writers, and dwelt with energy on the fact, that one member of the Government, Mr. Canning, had made great use of Parody in holding up to ridicule and execration his political opponents. Again and again was this defence interrupted by the Attorney-General and by Mr. Justice Abbott: it was asserted that the production of other parodies, however objectionable, was no defence for him. For a time, every new portion of the defence was objected to, from either the bar or the bench; but in

vain: the courage of the defendant was dauntless: each interruption increased his energy and resolution; he indignantly asked whether the Judge had "a right to demand the nature of his defence?" One parody adduced was especially pertinent, being on the Ten Commandments, and published by the friends of the Government to ridicule revolutionary politics. The Judge stopped its being read, denouncing it as "a wicked publication." The defendant's rejoinder was, "It was on the right side

that made all the difference." With remarkable presence of mind he thus converted every interruption into the means of strengthening his case. His speech in defence lasted nearly six hours, and was listened to with attention and surprise by a crowded bar, as well as by the people who thronged every avenue of the Court. During the whole of this time Mr. Aspland was busily engaged in finding the several passages that were needed, in noting down hints of arguments or illustrative facts, and to his ready and exact memory, the fruits of which on this occasion were very rapidly pencilled down in a bold and legible manuscript, Mr. Hone afterwards acknowledged that he was greatly indebted.* Mr. Justice Abbott in his charge to the jury stated "that the parody for which the defendant was prosecuted was scandalous, irreligious and libellous;" but the jury, after an absence of less than a quarter of an hour, brought in a verdict of acquittal. Scarcely had the eager applause with which the verdict was received by the crowd died away, before it was announced that Mr. Hone would the next morning at nine o'clock be put on his trial on a second indictment for a parody on the Litany. Mr. Aspland regarded this as the idle. threat of a baffled and angry official. Not imagining for a moment that the Government would run the risk of another defeat, he did not attend the second and third trials. But the persecuted man did not lack friends on these occasions; and although Lord Ellenborough, perhaps the most resolute and strong-willed Judge who had sate upon the bench during the last half-century, left a sick room to conduct the remaining trials, Mr. Hone pursued with increasing energy the same line of defence, successfully beating down every obstacle that was thrown in his way, and after speeches, on the second day of nearly seven hours, and on the third of upwards of eight hours, received from his juries verdicts of NOT GUILTY. Universally and loudly did the public opinion of England condemn these prosecutions. Had their result been different, the coarse party press then at the command of the Government would not have failed to raise odium against a minister of religion who had dared to appear in public as the friend of a man charged with blasphemy. In that case, doubtless, Mr. Aspland would have calmly endured the consequences of the faithful performance of duty.

The Rev. W. Stevens, of Maidstone, then a student at the Academy, was present on the occasion, and to his recollections the narrative above owes some of its facts. His letter on the subject concludes in these words: "The generous and manly conduct of your father produced in me the most thrilling delight. His support, I believe, was exceedingly welcome to Mr. Hone on that occasion. In speaking of it afterwards at your father's table, he said, that when on his first entrance into court that morning, and casting his eyes hastily around, he saw not an individual whom he could reckon as his friend, he was almost overpowered by his sense of loneliness and peril, till Mr. Aspland's voice reached his ear. But seeing him, he was comforted, and his courage instantly returned.'"

WESTERN UNITARIAN CHRISTIAN UNION.

Ir is again our grateful task to thank Mr. Wicksteed for some valuable thoughts on subjects of the highest moment, not only to the Christian denomination with which he is connected, but to the Christian church at large.

We might better express it, perhaps, by saying the church of Christ; at least more consonantly with the views which Mr. Wicksteed has adduced with great propriety, and expounded with happy power, in the introductory pages of the discourse of which we avail ourselves for the purpose of some further remarks on the subjects which it suggests. Abstract views of religion find little congeniality in the mind of Mr. Wicksteed; and in choosing his terms, he must needs speak of that which has life, rather than that which, however correctly in outline or in colour, is but its reflex or its shadow. He loves to speak of Christ, rather than of Christianity. We incline to believe that in this tendency of the religious thoughts there is a principle well deserving of the Christian's care. We believe that Mr. Wicksteed has seized an important truth, when he affirms it as a peculiar characteristic of our religion, that "it is wrapped up in the personality of Jesus, and is not so much the instruction as the manifestation of its author." And we are sure it is a truth not enough regarded among learners and inquirers, that "the coldness of many men's views of religion is to be attributed to nothing more than to the habit of regarding their faith as an abstract system; subjecting it to philosophical tests; making it the topic of verbal criticism and of logical disquisition; and not regarding it as a simple emanation of the heart, and exhibition of the life, of Christ." (P. 4.)

This "emanation of heart and exhibition of life," with their analogies to the parallel incidents of human experience, under the guiding lights and influences of Christian culture, our author has traced with great beauty and tenderness through several pages. Yet there are two circumstances which it may be useful to bear in mind in connection with reflections of this nature.

In the first place, they require extreme delicacy of treatment. In the hands of a master,-in the hands of a faithful and a feeling man, under the control of a sound judgment and a pure taste,-they may, indeed, be turned to noblest use. But even then, as a topic for the pulpit, we should be far from desiring any very frequent recurrence.

Sweetest things are so apt to pall! And, with the best intentions and the best power, the sympathy is so irregular between the refined teacher and the far larger proportion of hearers. Besides, there is such danger of over-refinement. We are not sure that the accomplished author of the discourse whose title we have placed below, has quite escaped it: and in comparing the reflections of "that MaryMother of the Gospels" with "those more limited yet proud and happy expectations of the lone mother of our common human life" (pp. 4, 5),

* The Life of Man in the Life of Christ. A Sermon, preached on occasion of the Sixth Half-yearly Meeting of the Western Unitarian Christian Union, at George's Meeting, Exeter, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1848. By the Rev. Charles Wicksteed, B. A., Minister of Mill-hill Chapel, Leeds. Chapman, London; Evans and Abbot, Bristol.