Watts and Cowper more particularly, though capable of the highest flights, furnish many specimens of such an admirable plainness, point and winning gravity:-a little child may understand and feel the full force of their representations. The correctness of the doctrines contained in a collection of psalms or hymns, is a matter of the greatest importance, since they are designed by operating on the feelings, in an attractive manner, to edify the · mind, and teach it truth. And here, amidst the productions of so many different persons, varying as each one is apt to do, in some particulars, it is possible that the most careful hand, in making the compilation, might admit an occasional departure from a strictly consistent and orthodox creed. In regard to Mr. N.'s. book, our examination has not been sufficiently extensive to pronounce with certainty, that there are no objectionable statements in any of the hymns. We can however say, that we have met with none as yet, that deserve remark from us. On the contrary, we have perceived alterations in some of the pieces, that have been evidently for the better, on so vital a point-thus preserving the analogy of faith. We place no little confidence in Mr. N. whose name and labours in the church are so well known, that he would be scrupulously exact, in bringing forward none but sound, serious, evangelical productions. One improvement is very visible, and that is, he has retrenched superfluities-he has aimed at unity and definiteness of view-he has divested many hymns of their episodical character, and carried forward the sentiment. We have no time to refer to particulars, since they are so numerous. Retrenchment is indeed highly characteristic of this selection.

It is in consequence of a liberty of this kind which Mr. N. has used with the materials before him, that the public are furnished with a larg

er number and variety of sacred songs, within the same compass, than they have heretofore possessed. The brevity of the pieces is an essential recommendation. All that pertains to their spirit and instruction is preserved, while by this means they become perfectly fitted for congregational psalmody. The advantages of a large variety are obvious especially in affording the opportunity of adapting the hymns sung to the sentiment which has been exhibited in preaching or exhortation. Moreover, occasions exist in the present state of the church, and of the world, for a greater variety of sacred songs relating to the extension of Christ's kingdom, and to missionary exertions, than has heretofore appeared in any hymn-book in common use among us. For a goodly number of these, room has been afforded in the present volume through the means just mentioned.

The arrangement of the parts in Mr N.'s book, is very convenient for reference, and though not perfect in itself, nor such as " entirely to satisfy" the author's "own mind," is yet much to be commended. It is perhaps impossible in such a work, to adopt a division of subjects which shall be perfectly distinct and exclusive. În themselves many hymns come with equal facility under varying heads, and such is the fact in this selection. All that convenience or utility requires, we think has been effected. The reader may observe the rich collection under the heads, "Inviting," "Graces of the Spirit," and The Convert," as illustrative of the propriety of the author's peculiar arrangement.

We will add a word on the selection of tunes adapted to the hymns in this publication. The convenience of worshipping assemblies is much consulted by it; and whenever this particular music is adopted, it will prevent, we believe, what we have often noticed in public worship, an unsuitableness in the

tunes, to the sentiment which they are intended to impress on the heart, and which the singers and those that join with them profess to feel. If the sound of poetry merely as read, is sometimes an echo to the sense-much more should this be the case when it is sung, since in singing, a coincidence of this nature is entirely practicable, and calculated to produce corresponding affections in the soul. Where the adaptation of the music is judicious, it greatly contributes to the interest and utility of this delightful part of worship.

We will take occasion here to I notice a small collection of music recently published by Messrs. N. and S. S. Jocelyn of this city, as a companion to the volume which is the subject of this review. It is handsomely engraved in a 32mo. form, and if the judgment with which the selection is made, is equal to the neatness of its execution, it is well worthy of patronage. Of this we are not prepared to give an opinion, but will quote that of the compiler of the Hymns, who in a note to the publishers says it "exactly meets his own, and the wishes expressed by many of the friends of Zion."

Reminiscences of CHARLES BUTLer,

Esq. of Lincoln's-Inn, Fourth edition, 1824, London, pp. 404, 8vo.

The author of this work, from which we propose to make a few extracts is a Roman Catholic lawyer, well known to his profession in this country, by his notes on the commentary of Lord Coke. Although devoted to a very arduous employment, he has found time to pass beyond its threshold, and has not only kept up the attachment of his younger days to literature, but has also exhibited it by various publications. In the subject of Catholic emancipation he has taken a deep interest, and by many works, especially by the lives of eminent men in his Church, has endeavoured to promote their cause,

and to free them from the charges of bigotry and political ambition. His Horae Biblicae is well known to the theological student, as affording a lucid and interesting introduction to the criticism of the New Testament, and as defending at some length the long disputed passage, 1 John, v. 7. His other works are chiefly devoted to the antiquities of the law, or to general history. At the close of a long and active life, he has sent forth this, probably his last publication, in which, with an account of his several works, and a defence of his conduct on the Catholic question, he connects several particulars relating to his early life, to his profession, and to the eminent men with whom he has been intimate and contemporary. He appears throughout, without bigotry, yet firmly attached to his sect, and may be taken as a good specimen of its most refined and intelligent members in the present age. The volume has been just reprinted in this country.

While on the subject of his early life, he gives, with some partiality, the following account of the way in which the sons of English Roman Catholics are educated.

From Hammersmith, the Reminiscent was removed to an English catholic college in the university of Douay, under the care of secular priests. This was one of the seminaries which, as education at home was denied them, the piety of roman catholics formed on the continent. The principal of these were that at Douay, and one at St. Omer's under the direction of the Society of Jesus ;-stirps ad promovendas bonas literas feliciter nata,-as Lipsius said of the Medici. The design of all these institutious was to educate, for the ecclesiastical state, a succession of youths, who might afterwards be sent on the English mission. The catholic gentry availed themselves of them for the education of their children. They were excellently instructed in their religion; the classics were well taught, but the main object of them being to form members for the church, they were not calculated to qualify the scholars for business, the learned professions, or the higher scenes of life. Writing, arithmetic and geography were little regarded in them; modern history was scarcely mentioned, and little attention paid to manners.

But every care was taken to form the infant mind to religion and virtue: the boys were secluded from the world; every thing that could inflame their imagination or passions was kept at a distance; piety, somewhat of the ascetic nature, was inculcated; and the hopes and fears, which christianity presents, were incessantly held in their view. No classic author was put into their hands, from which every passage, describing scenes of love or gallantry, or tending, even in the remotest degree, to inspire them, had not been obliterated. How this was done may be seen by any person, who will inspect father Juvenci's excellent editions of Horace or Juvenal. Few works of English writers were permitted to be read; none, which had not been similarly expargated. The consequence was, that a foreign college was the abode of innocence, learning and piety." pp. 4-6.

On two accounts,-cheapness and universal equality of treatment,-the foreign education, of which we are speaking, was entitled to the highest praise. The instruction, the dress, the board, the pocketmoney,the ornamental accomplishments of music, dancing, and fencing, every thing, except physic, was defrayed by the moderate yearly sum of 301. There was no distinction of rank-when the late duke of Norfolk was at Douay college, he rose at the same hour, studied and said his lesson in the same classes, ate at the same table, and wore the same uniform as the other boys; the son of the duke de St. Carlos did the same at Stonyhurst; the grand Condé had done the same at the Loyolan Collége de Clermont.

But, whatever objection might be made to the retired and devotional habits of a foreign college, in respect to persons destined to the world, none could be made to them in respect to persons destined to the church. The fruits of their pious education always appeared in the conduct of the catholic priests serving on the English mission.

In describing the general body of the clergy of Amiens, the biographer of the celebrated bishop of that city, says, that

they were all decent, and "many exemplary." Higher praise belongs to the English catholic clergy. Who of them is not punctual in his attendance at the altar? or assiduous in his confessional? Who, not ready at the call of every poor man, to afford him spiritual succour? or to instruct his poor child? Where is the hospital, the workhouse, or the prison, into which, if it have a catholic inmate, the catholic priest does not cheerfully carry the comforts of religion?

With few exceptions, these servants of God, and benefactors of man,-for these honourable appellations they certainly VOL. VII. No. 1.

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deserve,-subsist by privations. Still— scanty as is their revenue, the poor generally have some share of it. Wherever he is, the English catholic priest is the poor man's friend.

It should be mentioned, that, notwithstanding their exile and persecutions, the hearts of the English scholars educated in these foreign colleges remained truly English. This was frequently observed by those,among whom they were domiciliated. During the war, which was closed by the peace of Paris in 1763, every victory which the English gained over the French, was a triumph to the English boys: their superiors were more than once admonished by the magistrates and their friends not to make their joy on these occasions too noisy. The salutary and incontrovertible truth, that one Englishman can, any day, beat two Frenchmen, was as firmly believed, and as ably demonstrated at Douay and St. Omer's, as it could be at Eton or Winchester." pp. 8,9.

The part of the work, most interesting to a general reader, is that in which the forensic and senatorial characters of Lord Mansfield, the two Pitts, Fox, Burke, and other great men of the time, is discussed. From this part we shall make several extracts.

On every occasion, lord Mansfield was equally attentive to the bar and the suitors of the court. In all he said or did, there was a happy mixture of good-nature, good-humour, elegance, ease and dignity. His countenance was indescribably beautiful; none could behold it without reverence and regard. An engraving by Bartolozzi of a portrait of his lordship by sir Joshua Reynolds, presents a strong resemblance of him in a very advanced age. Nature had given him an eye of fire; its last lingering gleam is exquisitely exhibited in the engraving. His voice, till it was affected by the years which passed over him, was perhaps unrivalled in its sweetness and the mellifluous variety of its tones. There was a similitude between his action and Mr. Garrick's; and, in the latter part of his life, his voice discovered something of that gutturalness, by which Mr. Garrick's was distinguished. He spoke slowly, sounding distinctly every letter of every word. In some instances he had a great peculiarity of pronunciation-" authority" and "attachment," two words of frequent use in the law, he always pronounced awlawrity and attaichment. His expressions were sometimes low; he did not always observe the rules of grammar; there was great confusion in his periods, very often beginning without ending them, and involving his sentences in endless pa

rentheses: yet, such was the charm of his voice and action, and such the general beauty, propriety and force of his expressions, that, while he spoke, all these defects passed unnoticed. No one ever re. marked them, who did not obstinately confine his attention and observation to them.

Among his contemporaries, he had some superiors in force, some equals in persuasion; but in insinuation, he was without a rival or a second. This was particularly distinguishable in his speeches from the bench. He excelled in the statement of a case; Mr. Burke said of it, "that it was, of itself, worth the argument of any other man." He divested it of all unnecessary circumstances; brought together all that were of importance; placed them in so striking a point of view, and connected them by observations so powerful, but which appeared to arise so naturally from the facts themselves, that frequently the hearer was convinced before his lordship began to argue. When his lordship argued, he showed equal ability, but it was a mode of argumentation almost peculiar to himself. His statement of the case carried the hearers to the very train of thought into which he wished them to fall, when they should attend to his reasonings. Through these he accom. panied them, leading them insensibly to every observation favourable to the conclusion, which he wished them to draw, and diverting every objection to it; but, all the time, keeping himself concealed; so that the hearers thought they formed their conclusions in consequence of the powers and workings of their own minds, when, in fact, they were the effect of the most subtle argumentation and the most refined dialectic." pp. 123,124.

"Of those, by whom lord North was preceded, none, probably, except lord Chatham, will be remembered by posterity; but the nature of the eloquence of this extraordinary man, it is extremely difficult to describe.

No person in his external appearance was ever more bountifully gifted by nature for an orator. In his look and his gesture, grace and dignity were combined, but dignity presided; the "terrors of his beak, the lightnings of his eye," were insufferable. His voice was both full and clear his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, his middle tones were sweet, rich, and beautifully varied; when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch, the house was completely filled with the volume of the sound. The effect was awful, except when he wished to cheer or animate; he then had spirit-stirring notes, which were perfectly irresistible. He frequently rose, on a sudden, from a very low to a very high

key, but it seemed to be without effort. His diction was remarkably simple, but words were never chosen with greater care; he mentioned to a friend of the Reminiscent, that he had read twice, from beginning to end, Bailey's Dictionary; and that he had perused some of Dr. Bar row's Sermons so often, as to know them by heart.

His sentiments, too, were apparently simple; but sentiments were never adopted or uttered with greater skill: he was often familiar and even playful, but it was the familiarity and playfulness of condescension-the lion that dandled with the kid. The terrible, however, was his peculiar power. Then the whole house sunk before him.-Still he was dignified; and wonderful as was his eloquence, it was attended with this most important effect, that it impressed every hearer with a conviction that there was something in him even finer than his words; that the man was infinitely greater than the orator; no impression of this kind was made by the eloquence of his son, or his son's antagonist.

Still, with the great man,-for great he certainly was,-manner did much. One of the fairest specimens which we possess of his lordship's oratory, is his speech, in 1766, for the repeal of the stamp act.

“Annuit, et nulu totum tremefecit Olym pum."-VIRGIL.

Most, perhaps, who read the report of this speech, in Almon's Register, will wonder at the effect, which it is known to report is tolerably exact, and exhibits, have produced on the hearers; yet the although faintly, its leading features. But they should have seen the look of ineffable contempt with which he surveyed the late Mr. Grenville, who sat within one of him, and should have heard him say with that look," As to the late ministry,-every capital measure they have taken, has been entirely wrong." They should also have beheld him, when, addressing himself to Mr. Grenville's successors, he said,

"As to the present gentlemen,-those, at least, whom I have in my eye,"-(looking at the bench on which Mr. Conway sate,)-"I have no objection: I have nev er been made a sacrifice by any of them. -Some of them have done me the honour to ask my poor opinion, before they would engage to repeal the act;-they will do me the justice to own, I did advise them to engage to do it,-but notwithstanding-(for I love to be explicit,)

I cannot give them my confidence. Pardon me, gentlemen,"-(bowing to them,)-" confidence is a plant of slow growth." Those, who remember the air of condescending protection, with which the bow was made, and the look given