was a bigoted Romanist, and Stephen Battory, who followed him on the throne, was a deserter from Protestantism. Then came the Swedish line, who were mostly strenuous Romanists, and under whose influence the Protestant cause declined with melancholy rapidity. One fine exception appears in the character of Ladislaus IV.

"His experience of the evils drawn down on his kingdom by the bigotry of his father, rendered the counsellors who had directed his father so distasteful to him, that he would not admit any Jesuit to his court. His naturally benevolent disposition and upright character made him loathe persecution, and every deviation from conduct strictly honourable. We must not omit mentioning the noble answer which he gave to prince Radziwill, chancellor of Lithuania, who advised him not to attach any real importance to the promises given to the anti-Romanist confessions: What I promise with my lips I shall fulfil by my actions!'"' Vol. ii. p. 219.

This passage is the more valuable as Ladislaus does not appear to have had justice done him hitherto, for Fletcher, in his History of Poland (p. 81,) calls him both a tyrant and a bigot. The same writer also erroneously says (p. 65) that, after the death of Sigismund Augustus, the Kings were bound to be of the Roman Catholic profession, but, in fact, no such law was enacted, till the diet of 1669, after the abdication of John Casimir. Thus does the author, as he proceeds, clear up mistaken notions of Polish history.

We regret that the extracts we have made, will convey but a limited idea of the contents of these volumes. Not only is the general history of the Protestants fully detailed, but also their several divergences, into Lutheran, Bohemian, and Helvetic, of which the last confession was the widest extended. The Greek church has an ample space allotted to its transactions, and an account is given of the Polish Socinians, which does honour to the religious discernment of the orthodox author as well as to his histórical industry. The following passage may serve as a summary of the entire subject.

It is very remarkable that every public misfortune which befel Poland seemed to fall with particular weight on the Pro

testants of that country, whose prosperity was linked with the most brilliant era of id Polish annals, the palmy days of Sigis-ant mund Augustus and Stephen Battory. Thus the calamity to which Poland was subject, during the reign of John Casimir, had the most deplorable effect on the affairs of the Protestants; the treaty of 1717, which struck the first blow at the national independence, imposed also the first legal restriction on the religious liberty of the Protestants. The long reign of the Saxon dynasty, which, by enervating the national energy, prepared the fall of Poland, was also destructive of the remaining liberties of the anti-Romanists, and the first dismemberment of Poland was accompanied by a diminution of their rights. Yet nowhere did this coincidence appear in so striking a manner as on the closing scene of Poland, the most fatal day of its annals, the 5th November 1794. Amongst the small number of troops destined to defend the extensive fortifications of the suburb of Praga against the numerous forces of Suwaroff, were included a part of the guards of Lithuania, almost exclusively officered by Protestant nobles of that province, and the fifth regiment of infantry, which contained many of them.... not a single man escaped, not a single man surrendered. This fatal day threw into mourning almost all the noble Protestant families in Li thuania, each of them having the death of a near or distant relative to lament." P. 538.

It would be wrong to omit the statement in a note at p. 546, that the Protestant peasantry in Samogitia, "according to the unanimous evidence of Roman Catholics, present a most advantageous contrast in point of information, morality, and material welfare with the surrounding Roman Catholic peasantry. And it is most remarkable that Poland, after the dissolution of the order of Jesuits in 1775, in her short period of tranquillity till 1791, "made far greater progress in learning, and produced more works of merit than during the whole period of the Jesuit domination over public education, a period which lasted nearly a century and a half." (p. 535). It is positively stated (p. 561,) that Pope Gregory XVI. condemned by an breve the insurrection of 1832! This he is said to have done in return forta guarantee of that part of his own dominions called the Legations, from Russia; and it is also certain that the missionary monks refused absolution to

the Polish soldiers, because they were fighting against the Czar!

May we hope that, as we want a good history of Poland in English, this author will supply that defect? But whether he adopts our suggestion or

Home Discipline, or Thoughts on the origin and exercise of Domestic Authority; by a Mother and Mistress of a Family. 12mo. pp. 160.-It is a favourable sign of the Times, that amidst the thoughtless and heartless dissipation which still desecrates too many of the "Homes of England," attention is being, we trust increasingly, drawn to the sober claims and duties of the domestic circle. To the setting forth of these claims and duties this little volume is devoted, and we think, on the whole, in a striking and effective manner. Its object is to fix these primary obligat ons upon their proper foundation, viz. Christian Principle; and the Law of kindness written in the heart. On one neglected part of domestic duty it is particularly full, and very judicious, viz. the attention due from those in an elevated station to their servants and other dependants. The beautiful illustration of this point from the fatherly conduct of a philanthropic German nobleman towards the peasantry of his estates in Moravia, after the disastrous battle of Austerlitz, is introduced with a depth of pathos which gives probability to a hint we have received, that it is a family anecdote. Be that as it may, the writer, though somewhat wanting in smaller clerkship, combines the practical tone of a woman of feeling and imagination, chastened by experience, with an air of good breeding and refinement indicative of a gentlewoman. The appendix is judiciously calculated to illustrate the chief positions of the work. The article from the life of St. Francis de Sales on the treatment of servants particularly deserves attention.

An Introduction to the Evidences of the Divine Origin of the Christian Religion. In question and answer, for the use of schools. A plain and useful work, very well executed, from the best authorities, and clearly and well arranged.

The Voice of the Church, or Selections from the Writings of the Divines and other Members of the Church in all ages, &c. vol. ii. We do not recollect seeing the former volume of this work, but we highly approve the present both in the plan and execution. Its great object is to show the true doctrine, and support the high authority of the antient Catholic

not, we must give it as our decided opinion, that his present work is the best publication on the subject in our language, for we have learned more from it than from any other.

Church, in opposition to the corruptions of popery, and the innovations of ultra protestantism. For this purpose extracts are made from the works of the most learned and orthodox divines in all ages, from the earliest to the present times. In the present volume we find the venerable names of the author of the inestimable life of Ridley, the Faith and Practice of the Church, by Dean Stanley,-a Discourse on Tradition, by S. Patrick-a valuable Essay on the Church, by Jones of Nayland,Characters from the Holy State, by T. Fuller, besides others. The shorter extracts include a great variety of eminent names. The poetry is chiefly from Bishops Ken and Jer. Taylor. The notes of the editor are extremely judicious, and often very important, and we have no hesitation in expressing our concurrence in the theological opinions and sentiments which he advocates, which we believe and trust rightly expound the orthodox faith of the Church of Christ.*

A Speech at the Meeting of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, on May 5, 1840, on moving resolutions against the assumption and exercise of Episcopal functions by the Society.-A speech that will well repay the perusal ; for we think the opinions delivered will meet with general approbation, and the subject is one of great importance to the constitution and government of the Church.

The Parlour Table Book, written and selected by the author of the Lives of the English Sacred Poets. Mr. Wilmot, the editor of this work, is a man of genius, and possesses a very fine vein of poetical feeling, which he can express in rich and select language. The work is dedicated to Mr. James Montgomery in a judicious and elegant address. The passages sélected are remarkable either for the wisdom of their sentiment, or the beauty of the expression, and show that the editor possesses a very extensive knowledge of our literature in its best and most palmy days; but as his own poems are to us of

*At p. 3, the editor speaks of a statue placed on the Tiber erected to Simoni the holy God, but the true reading is SEMONI and not SIMONI.

the most interest, we shall extract some of them, and all we can say is, that we should be very happy to be able to clothe such poetical thoughts with such refined expression.

PARADISE REMEMBERED BY MILTON -THE NEW WORLD BY COLUMBUS.

(P. 122.)

Thy silent room was always dark, O mightiest minstrel of our isle, But ever carol'd there the lark,

There April shone with tearful smile. The scythe that glimmer'd in the grass, The bird that rustled through the sheaves, [glass, The rose that peep'd through cottageThe mellow Autumn's kindly leaves : All glimmer'd, rustled, kindled round, By memory's magic pencil drawn ; The green leaves play'd upon the ground, The dew-drop sparkled on the lawn. And many an Eastern landscape glow'd, The palm tree and the long array, Of pilgrims toiling up the road,

Of Arabs thundering on their prey. How blackly o'er thine inward eye,

The solemn cedar branches clos'd, And crimson clouds roll'd through the sky, And angels in the shade repos'd. And though for thee the azure day

In vain with golden splendour burn'd, In vain thine own voluptuous May,

With all her pomp of bloom return'd. To wood and fount and sunset blindYet felt thy quickening blood along, And through each swelling vein of mind, The Summer woke thee into song. The shade that weaker souls opprest, Thy voice of music seem'd to nurse, To fold its branches o'er thy breast, Thou nightingale of verse. What gardens from the distant deep, Columbus, through thy dangers bloom'd; What mighty forests, still as sleep, The dying form of day entomb'd. In the lone watches of the night, By thee the dripping oar was heard, And rivers flashed upon thy sight,

By keel of gilded galleys stirr'd.
Not Beauty in her zone of charms,
Her flowers with Paphian dew im-
pearl'd,

Not poet's dream of heavenly arms
Shines like the waking of a world."

TO SUMMER.

How sweet is evening to the heart
Of shepherd when the bell has toll'd
The hour of rest, and Titan's dart
Slumbers upon the bow of gold.

But brighter, dearer, sweeter still, Unto the student's heavy eyes; Thy feet, upon the misty hill

First glisten, with a fond surprise. Through the long gloom of winter drear, In parlour-twilight sadly sitting, He pin'd to see thee shining here, Thy colours o'er his garden flitting. And if perchance in antique page,

Sweet thyme, or olive branch he found, Or cull'd a flower of elder age,

That blossom'd on Arcadian ground. Or if at midnight-hour he heard From moonlight boughs the silver-tune Of green Colonos' dearest bird

He thought of England's leafy June. No shadow of inspir'd sage

Upon these daisied fields may rest,
But health builds here a hermitage;
This turf a fairy's feet have press'd.
No messenger from snowy crown

Of old Olympus, in array
Of purple plumage, have come down
At reddening close of day.

Oh! could we have thee ever by,
With eye so bright and song so clear,
And not a cloud upon thy sky,

And not a sorrow in thine ear,
Nay ask it not! the verdurous wall

That round our joyous dwelling grew, Beneath the tempter's feet might fall, While home each guardian angel flew. Thy glorious wings may fade away,

Thy birds, O Summer, may depart, So peace and hope, by night and day, For ever warble in our heart.

TO DYER (THE POET).
Thy lay of softest tune we love,
Thy rustic melody of peace,
Thy mossy bridge, thy sylvan dove,
Sweet poet of the Fleece!

No fiery strains thy lips rehearse,

No stormy scenes thy pencil suit ;
Mild as the breath of May, thy verse, co
Thy heart alone inspires thy lute.
We know thy musing eye could trace
The clear brook, twinkling through the
glen;

Or paint each hue on nature's face,
Thou Gainsborough of the pen !
Whether on throne of pearl, the day
Glisten upon the shaded rill,
Or twilight wave her banner gray
On Grongar's purple hill.

The whiten'd cottage-leaf embower'd,

The smiling garden plat before, anot eat The porch round which the red rose

flower'd,

With childhood singing at the door. opel

The linnet's nest, the ivied cell,
The village steeple in the sun;
The groves where quiet loves to dwell,
The rivers flashing as they run.
The shadowy path of trees in June,

The white sheep shining like a shield, The full orb'd silver harvest-moon,

Lighting the farmer late a' field. Such gentle images as these,

Before the enamour'd reader pass, And all that cheer'd thine eye he sees, Of water, flower, bird, or grass.*

Letters to the Right Hon. C. W. Wynn, on the encroachments of the Courts of Law. By Sir J. C. Haughton.-An able pamphlet, the purport of which is to establish the real position in which Parliament and the Courts of Law stand to each other.

Religion and Crime, or the destruction of the People, and their remedies. By S. M. Morgan.-We recommend this pamphlet to the earnest notice of all who are interested (and who is not) in the state in which the masses of population in our country are existing, and who are looking forward in anxiety and doubt as to what must be the result. Not only the spirit of Christianity, but the common feelings of humanity, nay, even the desire of self preservation, and the love of the country in which they live, and regard for its venerable institutions, and its government, all these are stimulants to excite the mind to the consideration of the most important subject connected with our temporal interests, that can be submitted to it. How far Mr. Morgan's remedies may be practicable or sufficient, we cannot say, but they arise from enlightened views and benevolent feelings.

The Poems of Vincent Bourne, Latin and English, with his Life. By Rev. J. Mitford. This edition of a very elegant composer of Latin verses, is printed with the publisher's usual taste, and is in all respects by far the best that has been published. The editor has collated all

* All men, and poets in particular, have their weaknesses. Mr. Wilmot's is seen, in frequenting pastry-cooks' shops, for the purpose of swallowing (not digesting) buns, and other such butyraceous aliment; as Mr. T. Hook's is said by the Quarterly Reviewer, to be inhaling potions of water flavour'd with juniper berries, in Bow Street Coffee House; well, it is an innocent recreation. ̓Απόλαυε τον ζωμου, ράφει. See Antiphanis Fragm. ap. Athen. iv.

the editions, and given their various readings; he has also mentioned where the separate poems first appeared, and he has traced many of the additional ones that were printed as Bourne's in the quarto of 1770 to other authors. He has also given for the first time a life of the author, which contains some account of him; for the previous ones consisted of scarcely more than a few dates. It is much to be lamented that the contemporaries and scholars of this ingenious poet and most amiable man permitted his memory to pass away, without the preservation of any circumstances of his life, or records of his mind. He possessed a vein of poetry quite his own; delicate humour, and a most admirable power of transforming the genius of one language into another, which may form an excellent study for translators. We only further add, that the editor has given all Cowper's translations from Bourne, and one of Mr. C. Lamb's as a specimen.

The Early History of Free Masonry in England; by J. O. Halliwell, Esq.Mr. Halliwell has given a very curious poem, which he says is not later than the latter part of the fourteenth century, preserved in the British Musenm (Bib. Reg. 17 A. 1. ff. 32), and which he says is the earliest document yet brought to light, connected with the progress of freemasonry in Great Britain. It was worthy of revival, both for its age, and the singularity of its subject.

The London Almanack, Official Register, and County Calendar, for England and Wales, for the year 1841.-We beg gratefully to welcome this very useful addition to our books of reference, the amount of the contents of which is really surprising. Besides all the usual tables of an Almanack, it comprises in one volume a brief Peerage and Baronetage, the various contents of a Court Calendar, the Army and Navy Lists, the whole Beneficed Clergy of the country, and all the Magistrates of every county; with various valuable statistical tables. We have long been sensible of many defects in the ordinary Red Book, such as the deficiency of dates in the army list, and in the flagofficers of the navy, and the dates of the appointments of Colonels to regiments, besides the omission of many lists which the progress of the times requires. On this account "Oliver and Boyd's New Edinburgh Almanac" has of late years been particularly acceptable, and we now rejoice to have a book for England on a similarly comprehensive plan.

PROPOSAL FOR A BRITISH ASSOCIA

TION FOR THE FINE ARTS.

Experience shows the advantages which 34% have resulted from the establishment of As the "British Association for the Promodtion of Science," not chiefly to science per se, although these have been great and manifold, but to the people generally; attention has been awakened in the minds of thousands to subjects before unthought alsof; a spirit of inquiry has been induced : to and whole towns inoculated with an ad

miration of knowledge, and a determinadition to pursue it, to the exclusion of deadu moralizing sources of excitement, until then indulged in. A suggestion has been od published, made by George Godwin, jun. esq. F.R.S. of Pelham Crescent, Bromp ton, to form a similar Association for the encouragement of Art, which, like this, should meet annually at a different town in England, Ireland, or Scotland, and at which meeting Painting, Poetry, Sculpksture, Architecture, &c. &c. in all their varieties, and with all their ramifications, should form the subjects for the consider. Iation of the different sections. A large and important exhibition of works of art might be collected, and an Art-Union arranged so as to secure the sale of a certain number of them, and thus to ensure the assistance of the most eminent artists, by rendering the society, directly as well as indirectly, advantageous to them. A A small subscription (say of one pound) Bass would constitute a member of the associa $90tion for the year, the aggregate of which, after deducting the expenses necessarily incurred, would probably enable the committee (which should be partly local, partly general) to offer prizes for competition in the higher branches of the various arts, and vote sums for the encouragement of any desirable object in connexion therewith; such, for example, as for the prosecution of experiments in the preparation of colours, the manufacture of stained-glass, Cor for the purchase of particular pictures tbworthy of national regard.

TO

During the meeting the various local collections would be thrown open to inspection; conversazioni would be held; and other means adopted to bring men into contact with each other on one common ground. One of the first points to be achieved by the united sections would be, to obtain an able and correct report of the progress of Art in England, Ireland, Band Scotland for the last fifty years-a task to be fulfilled satisfactorily only by the joint co-operation of men in all parts of the country. This report would afterGENT. MAG. VOL. XV.

wards be continued from year to year, under its various heads, and could not fail to prove a work of the highest interest and value.

PANORAMA OF ACRE.

Mr. Burford has replaced Macao by St. Jean d'Acre. This Panorama exhibits that historical city and fortress under bombardment by the British fleet; and at that eventful moment, when the gigantic explosion within the citadel seconded the perpetual discharges of the floating batteries without. The old town would, in itself, be picturesque, and the array of "winged assailants" majestic, did not the excitement of the conflict give life and motion to the scene. Parts of the picture are admirably painted; especially the veil of smoke which hangs about the shattered towers and bulwarks, and the clouds bursting from the men-of-war. There is much spirit in the figures; but we fear the party of Egyptians in the foreground are not sufficiently numerous to make much progress with the dismounted

cannon.

ROYAL IRISH ART-UNION.

By the Report of this Society just published, it appears, that during the past year (the first of its existence) 12351. were collected from above one thousand subscribers. An admirable exhibition was afforded to the public; thirty works of art of merit were purchased, at prices varying from ninety guineas to two pounds, amounting in the entire to 4401. These were distributed by lot among the members at a public meeting, held in the Theatre of the Royal Dublin Society, on the 8th of July 1840, and an equivalent sum was reserved for the purpose of engraving the beautiful and national picture of the Blind Girl at the Holy Well, a scene in the West of Ireland, by W. F. Burton, esq. R.H.A. then first produced. This engraving is in active progress in the hands of H. T. Ryall, esq. and will shortly be ready for distribution. The Subscription is one pound per share; and persons desirous to become subscribers, are to address the Honorary Secretary, Stewart Blacher, esq. 20, Gardeners'-place, Dublin.