It is said of the Atheist :

"He was the devil's pioneer, who cut

The fences down of virtue, sapped her walls, And opened a smooth and easy way to death."

:

What can be more graphical and impressive than the description of Luxury -On his weary couch,

Fat luxury, sick of the night's debauch,
Lay groaning, fretful at the obtrusive beam,
That through his lattice peeped derisively."

Pollok's poem is studded with beautiful sentiments. The veneration of the writer for the word of God was profound and unmingled. He gives us some choice sketches of the christian character,-some fine deve. lopments of holy principle. His represen. tations of the character of God-of the glory of Christ-of the consummate excellence of the scriptures-of the infinite evil of sin-of the awfulness of death-of the terrors of the judgment-of the splendour and bliss of heaven-of the indescribable horror of hell are most glowing, energetic, masterly, and, not unfrequently, sublime.

I cull a few lines, couplets, and short passages, to illustrate and substantiate my observations:

THE MISERY OF HELL.

""Tis this, this virtue, hovering evermore
Before the vision of the damned, and in,
Upon their monstrous, moral nakedness
Casting unwelcome light, that makes their wo,
That makes the essence of the endless flame!"
A DEATH BED.

"Hast never seen a death-bed, never heard
A dying groan? Men saw it often. 'Twas sad,
To all most sorrowful and sad; to guilt,
'Twas anguish, terror, darkness without bow.
But, O! it had a most convincing tongue,
A potent oratory, that secured

Most mute attention."

THE WORLD.

Earth's cup

Is poisoned her renown, most infamous;
Her gold, seem as it may, is really dust;
Her titles, slanderous names; her praise, reproach;
Her strength, an idiot's boast; her wisdom, blind;
Her gain, eternal loss; her hope, a dream;
Her love, her friendship, enmity with God;
Her promises, a lie; her smile, a harlot's;
Her beauty, paint, and rotten within; her pleasures
Deadly assassins masked; her laughter grief!"
HAPPINESS.

"True happiness had no localities,
No tones provincial, no peculiar garb.
Where duty went, she went, with justice went,
And went with meekness, charity, and love.
Where'er a tear was dried, a wounded heart
Bound up, a bruised spirit with the dew
Of sympathy anointed, or a pang
Of honest suffering soothed, or injury
Repeated oft, as oft by love forgiven;
Where'er an evil passion was subdued,
Or virtue's feeble embers fanned; where'er
A sin was heartily abjured, and left;
There was a high and holy place, a spot
Of sacred light, a most religious fane,
Where happiness descending, sat and smiled."

LOVE.

"Hail love! first love, thou word that sums all bliss!
The sparkling cream of all time's blessedness,
The silken down of happiness complete!
Discerner of the ripest grapes of joy;

"Much beautiful, and excellent, and fair,
Was seen beneath the sun; but nought was seen
More beautiful, or excellent, or fair,
Than face of faithful friend; fairest when seen
In darkest day; and many sounds were sweet,
Most ravishing, and pleasant to the ear,
But sweeter none than voice of faithful friend;
Sweet, always; sweetest, heard in loudest storm."

With how much beauty are the following sentiments embodied :

"The solitude of vast extent, untouched
By hand of art, where nature sowed herself,
And reaped her crops."

It is said of the genuine Bard :-
"He entered into nature's holy place,
Her inner chamber, and beheld her face
Unveiled; and heard unutterable things,
And incommunicable visions saw."
"And I have seen a man, a worthy man,
In happy mood, conversing with a fly,
And as he thro' his glass, made by himself,
Beheld its wondrous eye, and plumage fine,
From leaping scarce he kept, for perfect joy."
Scotia's northern battlement of hills,
Which first I from my father's house beheld,
At dawn of life; beloved in memory still,
And standard still of rural imagery.
What most resembles them the fairest seems,
And stirs the eldest sentiments of bliss;
And pictured on the tablet of my heart,
Their distant shapes eternally remain,
And in my dreams their cloudy tops arise."

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I merely cull the subjoined vivid and
sublime picture of the resurrection :--
"Wherever slept one grain of human dust,
Essential organ of a human soul:
Wherever tossed, obedient to the call
Of God's omnipotence, it hurried on
To meet its fellow particle, revived,
Rebuilt, in union indestructible.

No atom of his spoils remained to death.
From his strong arm, by stronger arm released,
Immortal now in soul and body both,
Beyond his reach, stood all the sons of men,
And saw, behind, his valley lie unfeared."

Did our limits permit, I might furnish some of those vivid sketches of the progress of the Gospel-of the glory of the Redeemer's empire, and of the dignity and blessedness of his subjects, in which the poem of Pollok abounds; but for this

there is no necessity. "The Course of Time" is possessed by nearly every man of taste, and by all who admire genuine poetry: embodying vigorous description-eloquent delineation of character-elevated thought -beautiful pictures-copious and masculine expression, and especially scriptural and hallowed sentiment, the poem will be highly prized. How soon was the accomplished and powerful writer removed from us by death!

"The finger of mortality has hushed his lyre."

The fire of his eye was early extinguished. The vigour of his fine powers was quickly paralyzed; but his production must live. His genius must be appreciated, and highly admired; and, while the beauty of language is enjoyed, while the loveliness of song can fascinate, and while the harp of Zion can operate as a spell, "The Course of Time" will be perused with delight, and the memory of the gifted and devout

author will be held sacred. Petworth.

T. W.

PRESENT STATE OF INDIA. THE affairs of India have never assumed a more interesting aspect than at present, When the period for which their charter was granted to the East India Company is nearly expired, and our government, whatever may be their views respecting the expediency of renewing that charter, are resolved that, if renewed, it shall be with such modifications as evince that they do not any longer consider the native popu`lation as a vast mass of unthinking matter, to keep which in its most productive state has been too much the tendency of all former laws relating to the British possessions on the continent of India.

But, while government are thus proceeding on a liberal and enlightened principle, it is possible that the same doubts may occur to some individuals, which, whether actually entertained, or raised by party spirit, were unsparingly preached through our own island on a late occasion, when it was considered that certain abuses had gradually crept into the constitution of one branch of our legislature; namely, that the people of England were not yet in a condition to receive the benefits proposed to be conferred upon them, or duly to appreciate the changes which were in contemplation. The same fears, we say, may have occurred respecting the Hindoos; and under these circumstances it may not be unacceptable to our readers, that we should give a short account of the progress which has been

made by a portion, and that not inconsiderable, of the more influential natives, towards what, for want of a better word, we may term civilization: by which we would imply, an overcoming of prejudices induced by a system of degrading idolatry, and strengthened and made venerable by the sanction of many thousand years, and which is thus expressed by a Hindoo more powerfully than we can express it. "The long night of bigotry and prejudice which hung over India is beginning to yield to ciples. Her children are banishing superthe dawn of knowledge and of liberal prinstition from their minds, and sowing in its

stead the seeds of intellectual and moral

worth. They are directing themselves in the paths of truth, and forsaking the torabove quotation would seem to include the tuous windings of folly." Though the inhabitants of India generally, it is scarcely necessary to remind our readers that it is

applicable only to a few. Of those few we propose to give a short account. With respect to the great body of the people, they are, unhappily, in as degraded a condition as a people can be-who for many ages have known no law of moral right or wrong, but the dicta of a venal priesthood; who have been taught to consider that they themselves were of all created things the most vile; who believe, that it is by the favour of the brahmins, and for the purpose of serving them, that they are permitted, not only to live, but even to have been born, and that consequently all they have, all their property, whether descended to them from their ancestors, or the proceeds of their own labour, is to be laid out, not in benefiting their families, or providing for their own comfort and sustenance, when old age or sickness shall overtake them; but, on the contrary, in administering to the luxuries of their spiritual advisers; and who, in fine, scarcely have any idea of a Supreme Being, certainly none of a supreme beneficent Being, but as manifested by his perpetual incarnation in the persons of brahmins. Such is the condition of the great mass of the inhabitants of India; or, if they have in any measure risen out of this state of mental prostration, their progress has been slow, and scarcely deserving of notice. Of these, however, we do not propose to speak, but would refer to others, the inheritors of rank and wealth, and whom we shall find to have extricated themselves from the fetters of superstition by an effort almost supernatural. surely never in the history of mankind has there been known an instance, of a body of men who had, on the one hand, so many

For

prejudices to overcome; and who, on the other, have risen superior to those prejudices in so short a time. Of the improvement to which we have alluded, there was scarcely any appearance twenty years ago. If the parents made a vow to devote any of their offspring to the Ganges, the children were thrown in, and it was held for an act of holiness; no filial affection prevented a son from burning his mother on the funeral pile of her husband; no regard for the helpless condition of his widow and his orphans restrained a Hindoo from throwing himself under the wheels of Juggernaut's car. If such acts were reprobated, it was by the English; but from them the reproof failed in its effect, and failed because it came attended with the knowledge that those who thus blamed, were men professing another religion; and with the suspicion that the chief design of this blame was to make the Hindoos renegades from the faith of their ancestors. It was evident, therefore, to all thinking men, that the most effectual remedy for such evil was, if possible, to rouse the Hindoos out of the lethargy in which they were sunk, and to create a spirit of inquiry and free discussion on all points relative to their religion, manners, and customs. This could only be done by the establishment of Bengalee newspapers, which, from the first, the good sense of government induced them to patronize,as the surest way of showing to the natives, that, under the guardianship of England, they were more free and happy than under any yoke to which their fathers had bowed; and the expectations of those who first established these papers, though for a long time disappointed, are now fully realized, in the weekly publication of more than ten Hindoo journals, wherein the principles of their religion, and the expediency of many of their customs, are canvassed by natives themselves as freely as any points are discussed in our own country.

In order to give our readers some idea of the effect of these papers; and before making any remarks on what progress the Hindoos have made and are making in literature, we will say a few words respecting the state of the parties which have been the result of this freedom of discussion. The same wish to assimilate themselves in every respect to their more polished rulers, has induced the Hindoos to adopt even the names of Whig and Tory; names, however, which do not imply any difference in politics, but in religion merely. The Tory party are averse from all change. Their great principle is the preservation of their religious rites and ceremonies. They con

sider every European custom adopted by them, as tending more or less directly to bring their religion into disrepute. They were much dissatisfied with the conduct of the Governor-General, in abolishing the practice of suttee: and, as our readers are aware, sent a petition to the king in council, for the re-establishment of the rite. Their causes of complaint against their native brethren are numerous. That the Whigs, for instance, would call in question the right of Cooleens (the highest class of Brahmins) to marry as many wives as they thought proper; that they permit their children, and especially their female children, to acquire a knowledge of English; that their sons are allowed to attend lectures on anatomy, and other subjects forbidden in the Shasters; that they are lax in their observance of sacred ceremonies, (their bathing in the Ganges, their sacrifices, their veneration for devotees ;) and, last and chiefest, that they also have sent a petition to England, praying that the order of government for the abolition of suttees should remain in effect. From all this it will appear, that the party who thus call themselves Tories, are not, by any means, the encouragers of any improvement in science or literature; in fact, though men of considerable talent, they are not only bigoted, but most of them ignorant of aught but their own Shasters, and consider the adoption of English customs, and the study of English literature, not only useless but sinful. The Whigs, on the other hand, hail with the utmost enthusiasm the introduction of every thing which may raise their countrymen out of their present state, and believing that knowledge can never be prejudicial to the interests of mankind, are most anxious for an acquaintance with the languages, arts, and sciences of Europe. In their religion they ought, perhaps, to be called Theists, and yet they claim to themselves the honour of practising Hindooism in its pure and original form; for they deny that the Shasters any where contain commandments respecting the burning of widows, or enjoining the worship of Juggernaut, Vishnu, or any incarnation of the Supreme Being, who only ought to be adored. Thus much for the state of religious party spirit, which now runs higher than ever. With regard to the progress which this people have made in science and literature, it will not be surprising that, under the influence of the feeling which has been described as existing among the more enlightened party, they should do all in their power, not only towards the foundation of schools and colleges, but

also to provide their countrymen with such works as they might deem most attractive, and best adapted for their amusement and instruction. Among other books, they have translated into Bengalee, Johnson's Rasselas, and Lord Brougham's Essay on the Pleasures and Advantages of Science; and a Cabinet Library, on the plan of Dr. Lardner's, has been commenced among them; and the progress which the Hindoo youths have made, and their willingness to learn, has amply rewarded the care bestowed upon them by the few elder natives, who have thus done all in their power towards the reformation of India. One young man, lately a student in the college at Calcutta, has produced a volume of original English poetry, containing some pieces of great talent, although, upon the whole, the work may be regarded more as a curiosity, being the first effort of an Indian poet, in a language which bids fair to become, within a few years, the court language among them. In mathematics, the students of one institution, at a late examination, had advanced as far as the Differential Calculus, and, at the same time, the students of another academy were reading Conic Sections. A few words may not be inapplicable in relation to the seminaries at which these sciences are taught, since they bear little or no resemblance to those of which we have all heard from various missionary accounts. Few persons in the present day will venture to call in question the honesty of intention, or rectitude of purpose, of the Missionaries, whatever may be their sect or denomination; though many have entertained considerable doubts, and those not ill founded, as to the wisdom of their measures. Had they carried the gospel to a people only a few degrees removed from a state of nature, it had been well to preach Christ crucified, and that only, but, by a strangely literal construction of several passages in the sacred scriptures, they appear to have determined that not only the most effectual method, but the most speedy, of turning India from the worship of dumb idols, is, to teach the inhabitants to read only, and then to put into their hands the word of life; not recollecting that, in the case of the Hindoos, they had first an immense load of prejudice to remove, and, secondly, that they had to contend against a religion, the credit of which was intimately involved with almost every fact in natural philosophy. It was impossible to open to a native any one page of the great book of science, impossible to state to him a single fact either in medicine, mathematics, or chemistry, which would not, if

fully proved, strike at the root of some sacred text, and thus show him, to a demonstration, that his religion, as revealed in the Shasters, is directly contrary to the evidence of his own reason. Had the missionaries, as a body, acted on these principles, it is probable that their success would have been much greater than it now is; and this probability is reduced to a certainty by the fact, that within the last few years, when some of the missionaries, and many other Europeans in India, have founded or otherwise encouraged schools and colleges for the promotion of science, the Hindoo religion has received a greater and more deadly blow than was given to it by all the exertions of past years. It may be advanced, in support of the old system, that the teaching now adopted, while it would induce the natives to reject their own religion, would not tend to make them embrace the doctrines of the sacred scriptures; and that all learning, as such, is mere worldly wisdom, and therefore useless. These would be arguments fully competent for an enthusiast, and might meet with an answer from those who deemed them worthy, though such answer is without the scope of the present essay, which has already been drawn out to too great a length. In conclusion, we may remark, that although it must necessarily be long before the effect of the changes which have lately taken place can be felt throughout the country, yet the fact that these changes have commenced with however small beginnings, is sufficient to convince every man not prejudiced beyond the reach of reason, that the time is fully come when we must no longer regard the Hindoos as untutored savages, or consider that the only design of Providence, in committing to England the welfare of a population of eighty-nine millions, was to aggrandize a corporation, or to give power to a company of directors.

POPULATION OF CHINA,

THE cautious and suspicious policy which excludes Europeans from almost every part of China, has occasioned many doubts, and much diversity of opinion, as to the amount of its population. The following statement of it has been recently communicated by Dr. Morrison, to a friend in this country, from whom we have received it. The census was taken in the 18th year of the reign of Kea-king, A.D. 1813, and under the authority of his Imperial Majesty :-