This labor varies somewhat from year to year, with the size of the classes, each student being expected to present for criticism on an average from four to six sermons, during the senior year."

The perusal of this work revived in our minds so deep an interest in a variety of topics connected with the business of preaching, that we took up our pen to discuss several of them at large. We wished especially to urge the vast importance of this department, and the necessity of more attention to it in the course of preparation for the ministry; to suggest some of the reasons why preachers of the gospel in general rise to so moderate a degree of excellence; to trace some of the causes, favorable and unfavorable, which have affected the character of the American pulpit, to mention the means indispensable for elevating the standard of preaching among us, and to glance at the prospects of this divine art in that era of glory to God, and blessedness to all mankind, which is now beginning to dawn on the world.

All these topics however we are reluctantly compelled to omit; but we cannot take leave of our author without letting him speak to our readers on a few points in which we feel a special interest. From what we have heard reported of British preachers, and what we have read of their sermons from Tillotson to the present day, we feel constrained to regard the remarks of Dr. Porter on the comparative excellence of the English and American pulpit as essentially just.

"A single remark I will take the liberty of making, in this connection, though by it I would not minister to that vanity, which has been said, (with too much truth doubtless,) to characterize our national literature. The remark is, that English sermons, have in general, less originality and strength of thoughtless weight of matter, and of sound, evangelical instruction, than American sermons; and I will even add, less merit in point of diction. If this is true, while the intellectual rank of English preachers is presumed to be at least equal to those of our own country; and their skill in other departments of writing, is doubtless superior, the fact just stated must be ascribed to causes of latent but powerful influence. Probably not the least of these causes is, a somewhat prevalent custom, in the established church, according to which the preacher delivers as his own, what he extracted from books, or procured to be written for him by another man."

The following appeal may fall powerless on those who have grown gray in the ministry; but we hope it will reach the bosom of all candidates for the sacred office, and rouse some of them to such a course of efforts as will prepare them ere long to exert with their pen, an influence that shall continue through future ages, to multiply their usefulness in a geometrical ratio.

"It was always a truth of importance, but is more eminently so now, than in any past period since the world began, that skill in wielding the pen is moral power. If used aright, it invariably confers respect on its possessor. When we see a perfect clock, we know that the maker acquired his skill, by studying the theoretic principles of his art, and by much practice; and that the same man who made this, can make another. So when we see a finished composition, we know at once that it was produced by some gifted mind, accustomed to writing, and able to write again. So spontaneously do men judge in this manner, that a very short piece, like Gray's Elegy, sometimes confers a literary reputation on its author, for ages.

sense,

"But the respect which attaches to the capacity of writing well, (and the same is true of speaking, understood in the large for the communication of thought,) is of a higher sort than that which belongs to any other effort of mind. In the imitative arts, as painting for example, a man may attain a good degree of celebrity, with little more than the capacity of copying well. Writing demands native resources. It depends on talent and discipline. A happy accident led to the discovery of the mariner's compass, and of the telescope; but no accident contributed to produce the Paradise Lost, which was, in the strictest sense, the result of inventive genius.

"Hence the character of a nation depends essentially on her literary men; because the very existence of these implies maturity and distinction, in other respects; because the fame of her other great men, her warriors, for example, must be perpetuated chiefly through her writers; and because her books are a truer standard of intellectual greatness, than her looms, or commerce, or military achievements. Sooner would Britain part with the fame even of her Marlborough or Nelson, than with that of her Newton, or Bacon, or Milton.

"The application of these general remarks is easy. Christian ministers, now coming on the stage, should not only acquire the power of writing well, but should use this power, for the glory of God, and the good of men. The combined influence of the pen and the press, is the most astonishing moral machinery that ever was set at work in this world. It is opening a new aspect on all the affairs of men. The question is settled too, that this

machinery will be kept in active operation, for good or for evil, in every civilized community. Greece and Rome in their glory had no press; and while this fact certainly contributed to the perfection of their public speaking, we cannot but wonder how they accomplished what they did, without the art of printing.

"But the intercommunication of thought is no longer restricted to impressions to be made on popular assemblies, nor to oral addresses in any form. The influence of the press can reach every man at his fireside, and at every hour of the day; it can carry hope to the peasant's cottage, or thunder the note of alarm to the ear of princes. As by the power of enchantment, it transfers the thoughts of one mind to millions of other minds, by a process silent and rapid, as the winds that sweep over a continent; or like the light of day, which traverses the nations by a succession almost instantaneous. The book that was printed last month in London, is reprinted perhaps this month, beyond the Alleghany mountains.

"Young men! destined to act for God and the church, in this wonderful day, think on this subject. Recollect that religious magazines, and quarterly journals, and tracts of various form, will control the public sentiment of the millions who shall be your contemporaries, and your successors on this stage of action for eternity. To whose management shall this vast moral machinery be intrusted, if the educated sons of the church, the rising ministry of the age, will shrink from the labor and responsibility of the mighty enterprise? Learn to use your pen, and love to use it. And in the great contest that is to usher in the triumph of the church,-let it not be said that you were too timid or indolent to bear your part."

ARTICLE IX.

ADULTERATION OF WINES.

A History and Description of Modern Wines. By Cyrus Redding. London: Whitaker, Treacher, and Arnot. 1833. pp. 407.

THE first three chapters of this interesting volume are taken up in describing the vine, and the methods of making wine. Noah is supposed to have been the discoverer of the

vine, prior to the time of Dionysius of the Greeks, or the Bala Rama of the Hindoos. Alexander the Great found the wild vine on the banks of the Hydaspes. The mountains of Ferdistan, in Persia, it is very probable supplied the vines, which were first ameliorated by man. In America, no less than seventy kinds of wild vine are known, though not more than one half bear fruit. Vines were cultivated in France before the time of the Cæsars, first, it is believed at Marseilles. The first vineyards in Germany were in a cleared portion of the Black Forest. The general qualities of the plant are the same in all countries; they only vary in degree, as the action of the sun in a genial climate matures more or less those virtues upon which the excellence of the juice depends. The vine is a hardy plant, and it will grow so far north that it can do no more than blossom. The southern boundary of the wine country is in Asia, at Shiraz, in latitude 33 degrees. No good wine is made south of that city. Between Coblentz, or 51 degrees north, and Cyprus, 34 degrees 30 minutes, is comprised the vine district of Europe, an extent of sixteen degrees of surface. The principal countries in order of production as to character are France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Hungary, Styria, Carinthia, and Transylvania. In 1831, 9,600,000 bottles of a red wine were made in Russian Crimea. Wine

is cultivated for the table in almost every part of the United States. The American species of grape is not yet clearly understood. The fox grape is found as far north as Quebec. Whether plains or hills are the best situations for the vine has been much debated. The majority of rich wines are certainly produced on the sides of hills, either abruptly or gently inclined. In the northern countries, the southern aspect is preferred for vines; in the southern regions, the eastern. The age to which the vine bears well is from sixty to seventy years, or more; but in the common course of things it is six or seven years before it is in full bearing.

Grapes were anciently trodden out after being exposed on a level floor, to the action of the solar rays for ten days; they were then placed in the shade for five days more, in order to mature the saccharine matter. This practice is still followed in some of the islands of the Greek Archipelago. In some parts of France, two wooden cylinders, turning in opposite directions, are employed to crush the fruit. There is a still more complete invention by M. Acher, of Chartres, which does not permit a single grape to escape its action.

Chapters 4-13 of Mr. Redding's book inclusive, are taken up in describing the wines of different countries.

France is the vineyard of the earth. Her fertile soil, gentle acclivities, clear sunny skies, and fine summer temperature, place her in the foremost rank in the art of making wine. In eighty out of eighty-six departments wine is made, though of varying quality. The number of hectares, (about two and a half English acres,) in cultivation in the year 1823, was 1,736,056, or about 4,000,000 of acres. The annual mean product was valued at 540,389,298 francs, or £22,516,220 15s. sterling. A portion of the produce of the vines is distilled into brandy. The total values of wines and brandies exported from France into foreign countries in 1823, was 76,639,026 francs, or £3,193,293 15s. sterling. Brandy is also distilled from corn, potatoes, beer, perry, and cider. Some of the French wines will keep good for a very long time. Rousillon has been drank a century old, and still in high perfection. Many other kinds are found to be good at fifty and sixty years. The wines in France are subjected to heavy duties, exceeding twenty per cent. Together they amount to £4,800,000, and are very unequally levied. The commerce of France in wine by sea is largest from Bourdeaux. The next ports in importance are Marseilles, Montpellier, and Toulon. The wine consumed by retail in France was on a rough calculation, 14,500,000 hectolitres. (A hectolitre is a little more than 26 gallons English.) The wine sold wholesale for the most part to French families was calculated in 1826, to be 3,973,486 hectolitres.

The wines of Spain are raised on a soil most congenial to the culture of the vine. The sun ripens the grape without the hazard from chill and humidity to which, in a more northern climate, the vintage is constantly exposed. Hence the crop rarely fails. The Malaga, usually so called, is always mingled with a proportion of wine burned a little in the boiling, to impart its peculiar taste. The vineyards around Malaga, are estimated to produce annually between 30 and 40,000 butts of wine, of which 27,000 are exported, mostly to America. The islands of Majorca and Minorca are well situated for the culture of the vine. The Canaries produce annually about 25,000 pipes of white wine for exportation, while 15,000 are consumed in the islands, or subinitted to distillation. The brandy thus distilled used to be sent to the Spanish colonies.