.

It is but proper to add, that Mr. Buckland
gives his "speculation" with great diffidence,
sheltering himself under the aegis of "higher
authority"-" a learned divine." Had it
not been so, we should scarcely have ani-
madverted on his equivocal interpretation,-
which in his volume is quite out of place,-
an unseemly excrescence.
But a "learned
divine" does not cross our path every day.
His imprimatur is calculated to give cur-
rency to the latitudinarian reading, and it
seemed proper to devote some sentences of
exposition to his dubious" paraphrase."

This seems somewhat bold, and beyond even |eries of natural science with the historical the lordly limits of paraphrastic license. We teaching of holy writ. It might be well, for need scarcely notice how the emphatic allusion the sake of science, that they kept to their to the crucifixion of the Divine sufferer is own province, that they observed correctly, thus eliminated from the text. In truth, the and recorded faithfully, and allowed the paraphrase eviscerates the original of all sacred volume to take care of itself. It has meaning of any kind, and is sheer nonsense. passed through many storms of reproach Thy original form is to remain unchanged, and suspicion unscathed. The time was undegraded, uncursed; but henceforth it is when Egyptian hieroglyphics were to impair to be a mark of thy condemnation (how could its integrity, when geographical and topoit be so?) as it will facilitate the predicated graphical discovery was to disprove its accu evil (in what manner is not hinted), Thou racy. We know the result, and the biblical shalt bruise his head, and he thy heel. The student can afford to wait with patience and heel of the serpent! This is certainly a without fear, until, at least, our men of science rare specimen of our modern physico-theo- harmonise their own theories, which at preslogy. That a figurative meaning may, in ent seems the most urgent duty incumbent subordination to his primary purpose, have on them. He must remember, however, that been intended by the sacred writer, it would the Bible deals primarily with the moral hisbe rash to deny. Much of the language tory of man, and nowhere professes to ineasily and naturally indicates a figurative ap- struct us scientifically regarding the existing plication. The children of the serpent are or extinct Flora or Fauna of our planet. of the earth, earthy; they, indeed, eat dust, and turn away from the bread of life. But be this as it may, the primary meaning is historical, and is to be received as such. This is scarcely the time to go into the inquiry; but we may respectfully remind Mr. Buckland, that the Lord of truth Himself has given His sanction to the sacred narration contained in the early chapters of Genesis; that He treats it as a consecutive record of historical facts; and that, on the literal expression of the Mosaic history, He builds argument and expostulation. (As an example, see St. Matt. xix, 4-6; and Alford's notes in loc., Greek Test., 3d edit). It is, indeed, memorable, not only in reference to the Mosaic account of the creation and fall, but in reference to some other Old Testament histories; those, for instance, regarding Lot and Jonah, on which modern scepticism rejoices especially to lay its unhallowed hands, that the divine Interpreter has recognised and sanctioned their historical verity. This is not "a subject upon which speculations may be harmlessly entertained," if these speculations subvert the plain historical meaning of the Mosaic history, or if, depriving it of any rational meaning at all, they turn the sacred text into childish triviality. And yet in this current some of our late writers on Zoology, and Geology, seem to be drifting. Professor Powel has coolly told us, that the first chapter of Genesis" is not intended for an historical narration." And some late lucubrations-witness the Prochronic theory of Gosse -are sufficiently visionary. The aspects of Zoology and Geology to Theology are of late very far from being improved. It is not that our divines are becoming more bigoted and jealous, but that our savans are men given to wild and unscientific theories-to bewildering schemes for harmonising the discov

Mr. Buckland's next paper is entitled "Fish and Fishing." A lover of "the gentle art," a genuine disciple of quaint Old Izaak's will be quite disappointed with Mr. Buckland's piscatorial essay. He is evidently no angler, and has never experienced the influence of the passion. He gives a rare description of a gudgeon-fishing expedition on the Thames, in which he and two friends indulged. They embarked in a punt, in which punt three chairs were placed, and three fishing-rods, and an iron rake. The owner and pilot of the punt baited the hooks, altered the floats when necessary, and took off the captured fish; while the three anglers sat with great dignity on the three chairs wielding the three rods. The picture was complete. The master of the craft raised up the mud with the big iron rake. This was the great feat of dexterity on which the anglers' success seemed to depend. The Thames, muddy enough at any time, became thickened into gruel around the punt. The stolid gudgeon became animated by the perturbation-rushed into the cloudy element, got mystified, and swallowed the bait. When a fit of shyness came over them, Charon, the cloud-compeller, "scratched their backs," as he expressed it, by raising up the mud anew. The cuttle-fish discharges

its inky fluid, and veiling itself in a propitious cloud of its own making, ingeniously escapes the impending peril. The silly gudgeon swims into the muddy element, and loses its way and its life. Mr. Buckland's two friends were salmon-fishers, and one of them, not unconscious of the indignity cast upon his noble art, tried to cover the degradation of his position, by heroically exclaiming that there were but two kinds of fishing "salmon-fishing and gudgeon-fishing." To be catching stupid gudgeon, out of a stupid punt, in the stupid Thames, was no doubt sufficiently humiliating to any one who had been wont to lure the silvery monarch from his haunts, to hang over the bright flowing Tweed, or the regal Tay, rolling through the fair valley, or bounding from the parent lake, a giant strong and vehement at the very moment of birth.

Mr. Buckland contemplates Fish and Fishing, however, with the eye of a Zoologist, rather than that of an angler, and his paper is rather ichthyological than piscatory.

Mr. Buckland winds up his volume with some account of the character and adventures of his "Monkey Jacko." He writes of the creature with a fond enthusiasm. He is a "pretty little fellow;" "his eyes sparkle like two diamonds; ""his teeth are of the most pearly whiteness." Could our author write in a more rapturous strain of Fair Rosamond? Nevertheless, apes are nasty brutes, and no eloquence can ever reconcile us to these chattering images of poor humanity.

cipher the hieroglypics written on the flinty parchments of our globe by the iron stylus of Old Time. But without this he can generalise, and theorise, and range the testimony of nature in antagonism with the testimony of Revelation, or construct out of the two testimonies a wild harmony in which all is harsh dissonance. An accurate and scientific notation of the inmates of a horsepond, is infinitely more valuable than these sublime geological speculations which are being conducted in the mean time without the necessary data.

How to account for the utter ignorance of natural objects among the educated, we know not. Our universities must be at fault. In all our Scotch colleges natural science is meagrely taught, and in one or two of them, we believe, not at all. It is really distressing to see so many, otherwise well informed, utterly incapable of observing nature. The animal and vegetable kingdoms lie wide open before them; nature woos their notice in her own winning way; asks to be searched and studied by them; but they are deaf to her call and blind to her marvels. We know many gentlemen who live in the country all the year round, who could not discriminate a lark from a sparrow unless they saw the one on the house-top, and the other poised high in mid-air. People who live in cixies, who are doomed to walk on the pavement, to look all the year at stone and lime, and bricks, and stupid chimneys, and long senseless rows of staring windows, are merely to be pitied. Mr. Buckland's volume seems extremely They have enough natural history, perhaps, well calculated to create a taste for natural if they know that the eggs which they eat at science and a love of observation. This is breakfast are not furnished by frogs; that what is wanted. It is marvellous how great the natural color of the foliage of trees is is the prevailing ignorance of natural science green, although the leaves of the stunted among the educated classes. In so wide a trees in their parterres are of a brown and field of study, the professional and active sooty hue. But for gentlemen who live in duties of life will in many cases prevent the the country, and to whom nature reveals herpossibility of accurate or extensive knowledge self in all her varied and benignant aspects, in all the departments of physical science. to remain so ignorant, is a scandal and a But seldom even in any one department is shame. These parties little know the pleaknowledge possessed. The ancients specu-sures of which they deprive themselves. lated profoundly on mental science, but ap- They are, indeed, unworthy of the high privpeared never to have given any thought to ilege of living in the country. the study of the outward world; and what seems strange, the visible and external objects to which they did devote their attention were those most remote from them, namely, the stars. Geology seems at present the popular science; and chiefly so, we believe, because it is one of those themes which can be talked about, without the necessity of the talker being previously subjected to much study. And yet Geology presupposes an accurate knowledge and a skilful application of the sciences of mineralogy, botany, and zoology. Without this, the geologist cannot read his subterranean literature-cannot de

Natural science, we believe, forms no part of the theological curriculum, and is inadequately represented in the medical. And yet every country clergyman and every country surgeon ought to be an out-door naturalist. Had they generally been so, how much more accurate and complete would have been our knowledge of the zoology and botany of our island, while each, in his own locality, would have cherishe: a love of nature, and educated multitudes into a wise and intelligent observation of her phenomena. It is the mere refuge of indolence to say that the study would interfere with professional duty.

They can be conducted contemporaneously, | phænerograms and cryptogams. If the an and the one will prove ancillary to the other.swers are not satisfactory, let the aspirant be The divine Teacher has taught us not to soused in the pond, and remitted to his admire merely, but to "consider the lilies studies. how they grow." In His hands, the lilies of the field look up into our face in innocent wonder, and with mute eloquence rebuke our sinful mistrust of Heaven. From the young ravens rocked in their eyries He gathers great moral lessons, and invests them with the high functions of spiritual monitors.

Competitive examinations are, now-a-days, to elevate the educational standard. We shall see. In the mean time, we should propose that ere a clergyman be inducted into a country parish, or a surgeon be permitted to prescribe to rustics, he should be asked to parse a horse-pond-to say what he knows about tadpoles-to identify the flora in it, and on its margin-to classify and name its

But our limits are exhausted, and we must bid Mr. Buckland good-by, and thank him once more for his pleasant volume. Should he visit Scotland, and ever drop his fly on the pellucid waters of the Tweed or Tay, he will never more be seen chaired in a punt and groping for gudgeon in the turbid Thames. In these northern parts," black beetles are not to be procured at all seasons,” but black cattle are. Nay, the true Rana esculenta is to be found, although not so abundantly as in the south, and with due premonition, we could have a few edible frogs ready for Mr. Buckland, with a view of gratifying his gastronomic predilections.

SIR BENJAMIN Rudyard in DEFENCE OF | best know how to abound. Burning and shining THE CLERGY.-" Sir Benjamin Rudyard, 21 June, 1641.

"WE are now upon a very great business, so great indeed that it requires our soundest, our saddest consideration; our best judgment for the present, our utmost foresight for the future. "But, sir, one thing doth exceedingly trouble me, it turns me round about, it makes my whole reason vertiginous; which is, that so many do believe, against the wisdom of all ages, that now there can be no reformation without destruction, as if every sick body must be presently knocked on the head as past hope of cure.

"If we pull down Bishopricks, and pull

down Cathedral Churches, in a short time we must be forced to pull Colleges too; for Scholars will live and die there as in cells, if there be not considerable preferment to invite them abroad. And the example we are making now, will be an easy temptation to the less pressing necessi

lights do well deserve to be set in good candlesticks."-Nalson, vol. 2, pp. 298, 300.

1779.

THE last Calcutta mail announces the death of Mrs. Ellerton, widow of the late John Ellerbeen well known to all Indians for the last halfton, Esq., of Maldah, a lady whose name has century. She was by far the oldest European resident in Bengal, having gone to Calcutta in Mahratta confederacy for the expulsion of the Hyder Ali was then organizing the British, and the French were yet contesting our supremacy in the East. The battle of Assaye was not fought by Wellesley for nearly a quarwitnessed all the great events of Indian history, Mrs. Ellerton ter of a century afterwards. from the times of Tippoo Sahib, Scindiah, and Holkar; and deeply interesting were her narratives of these old historical times. She saw Sir Philip Francis, the renowned "Junius," quin, on the morning that he fought the duel brought back wounded to Calcutta in his palan with Warren Hastings. Fifty years ago she devoted herself to the cause of European orphans in the Presidency, and in this and all "A Clergyman ought to have a far greater she has ever taken an active interest. other labors of benevolence and philanthropy With the proportion to live upon, than any other man of late venerable Bishop Wilson she was on terms an equal condition. He is not bred to multiply of affectionate intimacy, and resided in the three-pences; it becomes him not to live mepalace, where she died on the 20th of January, chanically and sordidly; he must be given to not divided long in death from the friend with hospitality. I do know myself a Clergyman, whom she had been associated in Christian felno dignitary, whose books have cost him a thousand pounds, which when he dies, may be lowship and usefulness. She was in her 86th worth to his wife and children about two hun-year, having been in India for 79 years. Her

ties of future times.

This is the next way to bring in barbarism; to make the Clergy an unlearned contemptible vocation, not to be desired but by the basest of the people. And then where shall we find men able to convince an adversary?

dred.

faculties she retained till the last, and we have seen letters written by her very recently, marked for which she was distinguished. In her death, by the kindness, good sense, and information one of the last links is broken which connected far remote epochs of Anglo-Indian history.