his novel and accurate researches into the properties of the different gaseous substances. Mr. Miller, the present curator of the institution, was exceedingly attentive, and we soon became very sociable, as our pursuits in natural history had been the same. In one of the rooms, I noticed a fine marble statue of Eve at a fountain, by a Bristol artist. The cabinet of minerals is very good, and the fossil remains are the most extensive I have seen. I here examined, as I also did at the British Museum, a number of the bones from Professor Buckland's cave in Kirkdale. Mr. Miller was so kind as to say he would accept with pleasure any letter from me, introducing any of my acquaintances. Mr. M. is the author of several valuable works on natural history; he is a German, though he speaks English very fluently and very well. I spent the evening at the Commercial Rooms, where I saw,. in the Philosophical Magazine for July, my account of the experiments performed on board the Algonquin, by sinking bottles in the sea.. My friend Mr. Gray had it published for me.

Friday, July 11th. This morn ing early, I went on board the steam packet at Clifton, to visit Chepstow castle, Piercefield walks, and especially Tintern Abbey, which is supposed to be the finest ruin in England. The day was rather threatening, but it was now or never with me. The passage to Chepstow was down the Avon, and then to the mouth of the Wye. The Avon is a narrow muddy stream, with muddy banks; and it looks more like a bad canal than a river; and the Wye, as far as I saw it, was but little better. Chepstow, or Chep, as they say here for shortnessjust as we call Ticonderoga Ti Chep is built at the entrance of the river Wye into the sea; there are some good buildings in it, but, on the whole, I thought it a poor looking place. The attention of the

stranger is principally directed to the ruins of the old castle, which, from its vicinity to the sea, was once a fortress of great strength and importance-It has four courts. A number of large towers are still in tolerable preservation, in one of which Henry Martin, one of the opponents of Charles I., was held a prisoner for twenty years. The great hall of the castle is now used as a green-house, and many of the apartments, which are still tenantable, are rented to the poor. I had. neither leisure nor inclination to examine much of the interior. From a neat and durable iron bridge, thrown over the Wye at Chepstow, the exterior of the castle is peculiarly striking; the ruins seem to form but one mass with the rock upon which they repose, both being covered with the bright green leaves of the ivy. A multitude of carriages are always in waiting here for the steamboat; to carry visiters to Piercefield, the Wynd-Cliff, and Tintern Abbey, all of which are in the same direction. As my little car drove up to the gates at Piercefield Park, I was joined by a gentleman and his family, whom I had seen on board of the steamer, and at his polite request, we commenced our researches together. Piercefield is a superb villa, with a very extensive park, the most interesting part of which extends for about three miles along the banks of the Wye, and through the whole of which we all travelled on foot, with two or three guides in attendance. The interior of the house itself is not shown. It is on a beautiful rising lawn, to which there is an entrance in front, by a grand gate, with two large lions on its pillars. It is the walk along the banks of the river, which are here high and abrupt, that forms the principal attraction. At almost every opening in the trees and thick bushes, you are presented with some striking scenery; and with the most beautiful views are

to be seen, benches, alcoves, and other conveniences and ornaments. Much of the scenery would have appeared vastly better, if the Wye had not been unusually shallow. The old castle at Chepstow, with its ruined towers, adds greatly to the prospect; and so do the Bangor rocks, towering up like a wall, on the opposite side of the river. We left the park by a small gate, three or four miles from the place where we entered, and we found our carriages waiting close by, to drive us to Tintern Abbey. Tintern is a little old village, for the most part built of the ruins or fragments of the Abbey. I noticed that the front of an ancient chapel had been transformed into a cottage, and what might have been a cloister, into a pig stye. The principal ruins of this celebrated Abbey which yet remain, consist of a vast roofless gothick church, a large refectory in tolerable preservation, and some other monastick buildings. When the guide first opens the entrance door to the church, the scene presented is peculiarly striking. On the right, three huge columns are yet standing, and directly before you is the cross aisle, and the shorter end of the cross: and their arches, and pillars, and windows, are all covered with a shining mantle of ivy, through which the ornaments of the windows look like needle work. The ground is covered with rich and even grass, as with a carpet, kept perfectly clean, on which lie fragments of capitals and other ornaments, carefully heaped together-none of these can be obtained for love or money. Though most of them are utterly defaced, there is the torso of a knight, placing his hand on a shield in tolerable preservation. Through a narrow secret passage in the walls, we ascended by a long stone stair-case, to the highest parts of the ruins. Nothing can exceed the picturesque beauty of this still and secluded spot. The Wye glides

gently, at a little distance, through the rich plain on which the Abbey stands, and the whole seems completely embosomed by hills, clothed with verdure to the very tops. All the Abbey, with its broken arches and ruined walls, is kept in a complete state of repair, by the Duke of Beaufort, who owns it and all the surrounding country. As a memorial, I gathered some sprigs of the ivy, which creeps and twines itself most luxuriantly, round every part of the ruin.

Antiquaries object to Tintern Abbey, that it is kept in such neat and trim order, as to give it the air of an artificial ruin; and also that the whole is comprehended in one or two views. It certainly wants the gloomy solemnity so essential to religious ruins. No awful arches make the noonday night-there is but little left for the tourist to explore-no gloomy vaults and dreary recesses recal to his mind the tales of the nursery. The poet's description, which I realized among several of the ruins at York, and at other places, is altogether inapplicable here

Half buried there, lie many a broken bust, And obelisk, and urn o'erthrown by time, From the rent roof and portico sublime. And many a cherub, there descends in dust, Where reverend shrines in gothick gran

deur stood,

The nettle or the noxious nightshade spreads;

And ashlings wafted from the neighbouring wood, Through the worn turrets wave their trembling heads.

After a little pic nic party, to which I was kindly invited by my newly made friends, I set off on my return. There is a grand view from a high mountain between Chepstow and Tintern, called the Wyndcliff, the place I have before hinted at. I stopped at the Moss Cottage at the foot of the mountain, but it began to rain so fast, that there was no hope of seeing any thing, even if I had taken the trouble to ascend the long flight of steps which led to the top; so I passed on

to Chepstow in my little jaunting car, to be ready for the steam packet to take me back to Bristol.

Before leaving Chepstow, however, I must say a word or two more respecting the Wye, and some impressions which its scenery produced in my mind on leaving it. This river presents an assemblage of natural beauties more variegated and picturesque, than perhaps any other in the world; besides which, the gothick ruins which decorate its banks, throw a charm and witchery over the whole landscape, which produce the same peculiar and powerful influence on the imagination, that is occasioned by a well wrought tale of "wizard time" and ancient romance. The turbid and shallow waters of the river at this time, destroyed much of the beauty and keeping of the picture, but I endeavoured to restore this, by filling up the channel with a fancied fresh translucent wave. The Wye is said to be our Hudson river in miniature. Like it, the Hudson winds itself into labyrinths, and in a very narrow channel presents rocks and hills of equal ruggedness, although of dimensions much less colossal. But there is that about the Wye-the mouldering and ivied walls of Tintern Abbey, and the half ruined towers of Chepstow castle, with the legends and stories connected with them--which gives to it an indescribable and peculiar charm. In America, the local interest which history and tradition give, is but rarely felt the picturesque and sublime views of nature are almost the only objects which attract the attention of the traveller. We have no groves for nymphs-no. streams for Naiads, and no caves for demons-no cells for hermits, no cloisters for nuns, and no shrines for saints-nó mouldering ruin recals the age of chivalry, and no tottering castle leads the thoughts back to the days of enchantment. Whatever intellectual

interest of this kind exists, is principally derived from Indian traditions, which are, for the most part, so absurd and whimsical, that they rather create merriment than sober. musing.. We have, it is true, some historical recollections, connected with a number of beautiful spots, particularly those on the Hudson.. But we stand too near the scenes which have rendered them memorable-we can see the tinsel of the actors, and discover many blemishes which the distance of time will altogether obscure. It must be left to posterity to view them, with the same enthusiastick admiration which the ruins of Tintern and Chepstow now excite.

(To be continued.)

The following communication has been in our hands for, more than a year past-It was made in consequence of several essays contained in our 5th volume. The measures advocated in the essays have not as yet been moved in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and we have not till now felt the importance of putting on our pages the remarks of our highly respected correspondent; contained in the subjoined paper.. As the whole subject, however, both as referred to in the essays and in this paper, may come before the next General Assembly, we think it right that the views and arguments of our correspondent, D. should them, as we did the essays, without now go to the publick. We submit any expression of our own opinion on the subjects discussed.

FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

ON PREVENTING APPEALS, IN CASES OF DISCIPLINE, FROM COMING BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Mr. Editor, I wish to call the attention of your readers to a se

ries of papers, published some time ago, in your useful miscellany, entitled, "Observations on the Gene ral Assembly," They contain much that is important, relative to this supreme judicatory of the Presby terian Church. The necessity on which the writer insists, for diminishing the number of delegates that compose this court; and the method by which he proposes to effect the diminution: viz., by committing it to the Synods, instead of the Presbyteries, to send the delegation at a reduced ratio, has entirely my approbation. But there is one particular in which I totally differ from him: viz., his opposition to lessen the business of the Assembly by an exclusion of all appeals and complaints, in cases of discipline. With much deference for the judgment of your correspondent, whose correctness in this instance is controverted, I beg to offer a few remarks on this subject.

That the business of the Assembly calls for diminution, as well as the number of delegates, I believe is agreed on all hands: and in looking over the roll of business, ordinarily requiring the attention of this body, there certainly appears at first view, nothing of which it is so desirable to get rid, as appeals and complaints; nothing that is so difficult and troublesome to decide upon; and which is so fruitful a source of dissatisfaction towards the Assembly itself. Their exclusion, your correspondent vehemently opposes, on the principle of its being an invasion of the radical principles of Presbyterian government. This is the burden of his objection, to which he recurs again and again, with a warmth and emphasis of reiteration, which I apprehend has made a deep impression on the Presbyterian community. If I know myself, I am a Presbyterian-thoroughgoing. Almost, I believe, in the divine right of Presbytery-certainly in its radical principles.

Let us inquire, what radical principles would be contravened, by terminating appeals and complaints, in cases of discipline, in the inferior courts. For the radical principles of Presbyterian church government and discipline, your correspondent quotes from a note, in the form of government; chap." 12,. p. 397; which the reader may examine for himself. The closing sentence, which appears to bear on the case, is in these words; "and consequently, that appeals may be carried from lower to higher judicatories, till they be finally terminated by the collected wisdom and united voice of the whole church." Now, admitting that this note, (which can hardly be regarded as of paramount authority in the case,) gives a correct exhibition of radical principles, let it be remarked that it is very guardedly expressed, as if intended to be understood in a limited sense. It does not say, that all appeals shall; nor does it require to be understood as meaning that every member of the church shall have the right, to carry up an appeal, in his particular case: but it says simply, appeals may be carried, &c. That cases of doctrine, or general principles of duty, which are called into dispute, may and ought to be carried up, by appeal, or complaint, or reference, is freely conceded. Such a case exactly, was the question-an appeal in fact, though not in form-relative to the binding obligation of the ceremonial law, carried up from Antioch, for decision before the Assembly at Jerusalem. This case forms a precedent for all disputes concerning doctrine or duty, affecting the church generally. The decision of such questions falls in exactly with the nature and design of a General Assembly; which is, to have a general oversight of the whole church; and to be to her, a head of counsel and direction, on all questions of doctrines and rules of duty. If any member of the church finds himself