Manchester.-We have great pleasure in presenting to our friends an engraving of the new school rooms opened recently, behind the Independent Chapel, Piccadilly, Manchester. They are designated the Roby Rooms,' in honour of the excellent man who for so many years officiated in the chapel, and are erected over the burial ground of the chapel, (not interfering with the graves) in the centre of which stands the tomb of Mr. Roby. We regard them as the most complete rooms for educational purposes we ever saw. On the first floor, approached by two staircases, one for each sex, are a fine library, school room, and two class rooms; above them are two more class rooms, with one large lofty room, ninety feet long by thirty-six wide, all being perfectly ventilated, and opening into that part of the chapel which is appropriated to the accomodation of the scholars. The cost has been £2,700, the greatest part of which has been paid. They will afford scope for the instruction of 1400 children, who will have the benefit of both Sabbath and week-day tuition. The library has seats, fires, &c., to induce young persons to spend their leisure time in improving their minds. The building was formally opened on Tuesday, January 28th, by a teaparty. About six hundred persons sat down to tea, the Rev. R. Fletcher presiding, surrounded by Samuel Fletcher, Esq., Alderman Burd, Mr. Lewis Williams, James Carlton, and the Revds. Drs. Halley, Clunie, Massie, Nolan: also J. Gwyther, D. E. Ford, W. M'Kerrow, J. L. Poore. and Mr. C. P. Mason, Professor of General Literature in the Lancashire Independent College. An admirable historical memoir on education was read by the beloved chairman, which we hope to give entire in our next number. All the gentlemen named took part in the proceedings of the evening, and a delightful season it was. A second tea-party was given to the parents and friends of the scholars, amounting to near a thousand persons, and another was given to the scholars, when about thirteen hundred attended.

Printed by JOSEPH GILLETT, Brown Street, Manchester.

See Exodus xv. 20. Judges xi. 34. 1 Samuel xviii. 6. Psalm cxlix. 3; cl. 4.

See Genesis 1. 26. Coffins were used only for great and good men. See page 25, of Sunday School Magazine for 1844, where the process of embalming is explained.

F

(GIVING WATER FROM THE WRIST.)

See Genesis xxiv. 15-20. 1 Kings xvii. 10. John iv. 9. In Arabia at the present day, all women, without distinction of rank, perform the laborious task of fetching water.

(EGYPTIAN BASKET BEARER.)

See Genesis xl. 17. At the grand Persian entertainments it is still customary for the servants to bring dishes of pastry or baked meats on their heads, and to stoop down, so that the company may easily help themselves.

See Exodus xvii. 3. The Amalekites were a warlike tribe with Bedouin habits, and were hoping to plunder from the Israelites, the weapons they had got on the shores of the Red Sea after the destruction of the Egyptians.

[For this group of Eastern Illustrations we are indebted to The Domestic Bible,' a I work which Mr. Arnold of London, one of the greatest friends in the world to Sunday Schools, is now publishing. It is to be adorned by some hundreds of Engravings, and by various Maps. It has marginal references, explanatory notes, and practical reflections. It will issue one part each fortnight, at the small charge of threepence.] TEACHERS! will you not purchase it? you have now an opportunity of blessing yourselves and your family circles with a Bible, unparalleled for beauty, cheapness, and utility.

SCHOLARS! will you not purchase it? Ye young men and maidens, we affectionately advise you to save your pence, and thus have a book which will be a source of instruction and interest while life shall last. Let all remember that a penny a week will, in one short year, secure "The Portable Commentary,' while three-halfpence a week will secure, in a few months,

The Domestic Bible,' a work of which our admiration is

almost passionate.

The Voice of the Months.

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

No. 5, MAY.

This epistle is sure of being read with pleasure. What child, what young person will not attend to May? I write on the most beautiful page of nature: the meadows and the hills, the fields and the woods spread their charms, varied with the mild sunbeam and the silvery water, and the whole is gaily embossed with flowers. The lambs frisk, the cattle move as they graze or draw the team, and the birds of song whirl in the air: all around seems to be contributing to the interest of my letter, which is thus, like the table of the camera obscura, covered with bright and living objects.

My birth-day was formerly celebrated with mirth and cheerfulness. The May-pole, around which the lads and the lasses sung and danced, was dressed with ribbons and garlands. Such simple pleasure would be harmless if young people were innocent as the fabled shepherds and shepherdesses: but, alas! May-flowers are corruptible, and hearts youthful as yours, are depraved, and they soon abuse such mixed and exciting festivities. No wonder then, that May-day, like fairs and wakes, and public dances, became a season of dissipation and vice, and I am glad the Maypole is disused, and customs so pernicious have been discontinued. I do not approve of those who wish to corrupt your principles with popish doctrine, and your morals by restoring the evils of May-day revels and Sunday field sports.

I am happy, that in London, as well as in the country, I receive especial honour. May is the season in which some of the best people in the world, meet for benevolent and religious purposes. Charity in all her flight through all the year, does not witness such interesting, such holy assemblies as she now beholds in Exeter Hall, and other public rooms in the Metropolis. The Romans called me Majus, in honour of the Majores or Senators; and I am happy that those who love both God and man, hold, as it were, their parliament of philanthropy, their great biblical and missionary councils, in my time.

When of age-for I reckon a day for a year-I am known to astronomers, by the sign of THE TWINS. This is a mark of my fruitfulness and abundance. This sign, in Latin termed Gemini, is connected with the mythological stories of Castor and Pollux. I pass over the fables of their birth