conformity, and they will be at no loss to understand why, if driven from strict communion, Mr. Kinghorn should feel himself unable to justify his dissent. If not allowed to adhere to his notion of the New Testament plan, he finds nothing left in Dissent worth contending for. Open the doors of strict Baptist churches to the pious churchman or pædobaptist, and the cause is lost. He might continue to advocate what he deems the only Scriptural mode, both from the pulpit and from the press, and to administer the ordinance as before. But no; if he may not impose that mode of Baptism as a term of communion, strange to say, he would find himself without defence against the traditions of the Church of Rome itself. If com munion with persons unbaptized be admitted,' horrible to relate, our churches are left without wall or dike against all the abominations of Popery. I have dispensed with an institution of Christ, exclaims the conscience-stricken Dissenter,- I have eaten with an unbaptized brother: what plea can I now offer for not taking my babe to the font, for not bowing down at the altar, for not subscribing to all that the Church of England imposes, for not surrendering all that she requires ? I may as well go to the Establishment. (To be concluded in the next.) Art. IV. The Christian Father's Present to his Children. By J. A. James. Small 8vo. pp. 383. Second Edition. Price 7s. London, 1825. WITHOUT any other than internal evidence, we should at once have recognised Mr. James as the writer of this attractive little work. It is an eloquent and effective production, distinguished throughout by a most impressive identification of the Author's own peculiar feelings, both with his subject, and with the interesting class of society to which it is addressed. We must add too, that, accustomed as we have been to differ, and frankly to express that difference, from Mr. J. on matters of taste, we do not recollect a single passage on which we should feel inclined to exercise a critical cavil. His chastised style is admirable, and the volume before us may be put into the hands of intelligent youth, with a view not only to their moral, but their intellectual improvement. The contents are too various to admit of analytical examination. It may be sufficient to state, that the Author urges most forcibly the main considerations connected with the formation of character, and that the following extract exhibits a fair pours sample of what may be termed the illustrative portions of the work. • What an interruption does it now form to the enjoyment of domestic intercourse, ihat the different branches of the family cannot always live beneath the same roof, or in the vicinity of their parents. . One member after another goes from the paternal abode, and settles at a distance, till counties and perhaps kingdoms separate them from each other. Rarely does it happen, where the children are numerous, and grown to maturity, that they can all meet together. Occasionally this does happen, perhaps on a parent's birth-day, or at the festive season of the year, and then home puts forth all its charms, and out in copious streams its pure and precious joys: such a circle is the resort of peace and love, where friends and near relations mingle into bliss. The parents look with ineffable delight upon their children, and their children's children, and see their smiles of love reflected from the faces of the happy groupe. Piety gives the finishing touch to the picture, when, ere they part, they assemble round the domestic altar, and after reading in that Book which speaks of the many mansions in our Father's house above, where the families of the righteous meet to part no more ; and after blending their voices in a sacred song of praise to Him, who bath united them, both by ties of nature and of grace; they receive the benedictions, and join in the prayers of their saintly and patriarchal father, who over the scene that surrounds him feels a divided heart, one moment thinking he has lived long enough in that he has been permitted to witness it, but the next breathing an aspiration to heaven for permission to witness it a few years Icnger. • This scene, and it is not an uncommon one, is one of the purest to be found on earth. It is, as nearly as it can be, paradise restored ! or if it be, as it certainly is, still without the gates of Eden, it is near enough to the sacred enclosure, to receive some of the fruits which drop over the wall. What is wanting here? I answer, Continuance. It is bliss only for a season. It is a day that will be followed with a night. And the heart is often checked in the full tide of enjoyment, in the very meridian of its delights, by looking at the clock, and counting how rapidly the hours of felicity are rolling away, and how soon the signal of parting will be struck. But the meeting in heaven shall be eternal. The family shall go no more out for ever from the mansion of their Father above. Their interview shall not be mea. sured nor limited by time. They shall meet for one day, but then that day will be everlasting, for there is no night there.” They shall spend eternal ages together. Neither the fear nor the thought of parting, shall ever pass like a cloud over the orb of their felicity, nor let fall a passing shadow to disturb the sunshine of their breast. “ We are met," shall they say one to another," and we shall part no more. Around us is glory, within us is rapture, before us is eternity." ' pp. 373–375. The chapter on Theatrical Amusements' contains a powerful denunciation of the abuses of the stage, but leaves nearly a untouched the decisive argument against its lawfulness in a Christian land. What are the distinct character and object of the drama ? It is, in the exquisite language of its brightest ornament,-' to hold the mirror up to nature, to shew vice her own image, scorn its own feature, and the very age and body • of the time, its form and pressure.' In other words, it is the World—the world in its very quintessence-veluti in specu-: lum. Now what, on the other hand, are the character and object of Christianity ? An entire and unswerving variance from the principles and practice of the world-Be ye not conformed-Have no fellowship-Come out from among them. On Christian grounds, the appeal is unanswerable, nor is it weaker in a moral view. The following passage, taken from the introductory address to Christian parents, is fraught with meaning of vital importance to the happiness of families. • Bad companions out of the house, counteract all the influence of religious instruction delivered at home. * A christian parent should ever be on the alert to watch the associations which his children are inclined to form. On this subject I have said much to the young themselves in the following work; but it is a subject which equally concerns the parent. One ill chosen friend of your undo all the good you are the means of doing at home. It is impossible for you to be sufficiently vigilant on this point. From their very infancy, encourage them to look up to you as the selectors of their companions; impress them with the necessity of this, and form in them a habit of consulting you at all times. Never encourage an association which is not likely to bave à decidedly friendly influence on their religious character. This caution was never more necessary than in the present age. Young people are brought very much together by the religious institutions which are now formed ; and although there is a great probability that in such a circle suitable companions will be found, yet, it is too much even for charity to believe that all the active young friends of Sunday Schools, Juvenile Missionary Societies, &c. &c. are fit companions for our sons and our daughters.' pp. xxxi, xxxii, The chapter on · Books,' is somewhat deficient in discrimination. We should not, for instance, recommend either the • habitual or the entire perusal of Spenser.' It is not merely that his gorgeous and redundant imagination renders him unsafe as a guide of taste, but our objection would take higher ground ; and we must remind Mr. James, that there is in the Faerie Queene, that which is too grossly indecent to be read with impunity by the young. Art. V. The Characters of Theophrastus; translated from the Greek, and illustrated by Physiognomical Sketches. To which are subjoined, the Greek Text, with Notes, and Hints on the Indi. vidual Varieties of Human Nature. By Francis Howell. Large 8vo. pp. 281. Price ll. ls. London, 1824. THIS is a singularly able and ingenious book, and the way in which it is got up,' adds much to the interest and piquancy of the work. A good and complete translation of - The Characters,' was in itself a desirable thing, which might have been satisfactorily executed by a fair scholar and competent writer; but the present publication, besides giving a spirited transcript of the old Grecian's limnings, contains a considerable addition of original, and, if we mistake not, exceedingly valuable matter, in the shape of notes or, rather, of collateral dissertations. Theophrastus, although the favoured disciple and successor • of Aristotle, was of a very different and, we will add, of a very inferior cast of mind. The Stagyrite was a man of powerful and controlling intellect, inventive and abstract; his follower was shrewd, observant, and satirical. The genius of the first was philosophical; that of the latter, dramatic. The opinion of his present Translator, as to the peculiar character and design of the work before us, is singular and, as it appears to us, exceedingly problematical. He states it as his conviction, that Theophrastus, in his descriptions of character, intended nothing less than satire ; that they are, in truth, grave, matter-of-fact delineations of certain classes or species in the great intellectual family, and that they are to be taken as collections or contributions towards a comprehensive and scientific Natural History of Man. We have looked with some attention for the indications of this systematic scheme, but we have been quite unsuccessful in the search. The Characters' are, so far as we can see, nothing more than a series of hu a morous and semi-dramatic sketches, remarkable chiefly for the prevalence of that rare felicity of tact which, while it brings out the subject in full and highly comic display, stops short of the smallest approach to coarse exaggeration. Theophrastus seldom even approaches caricature ; and there is not a feature in any of his various portraits, for which he might not readily have found a sitter. That his draughts are satirical and not scientific, may be inferred from the circumstance that they are all shade; the artist has admitted no lights. In describing individual character, he has admitted no mitigating traits; he has given no place to the antagonist virtues ; he has made no s allowance for that mixture of countervailing qualities which, VOL. XXIII. N.S. 2 P from its constant recurrence, must be taken as an invariable law of human nature. Let any one read the following charac ter, and then give judgement whether it be science or sarcasm. • THE ADULATOR. • Adulation is the base converse of an inferior with one from whom he seeks some sordid advantage. The Adulator, walking with his Patron, says, Mark you not how the eyes of all are turned towards you?-There is not another man in the city, who attracts so much attention.-It was but yesterday that the estimation in which you are held was publicly acknowledged in the Portico :-there were more than thirty persons sitting together; and in the course of conversation it was inquired,-who merited to be called the most worthy citizen of the State?-when one and all agreed that you were the man. While he proceeds with discourse of this sort, he employs himself in picking some particle of down from the great man's cloak; or if a gust of wind has lodged an atom of dust in his curls, he carefully removes it; and smiling, adds,- See now,-because these two days I have not been with you, your beard is filled with grey hairs; and yet to say truth, no man of your years has a head of hair so black.' When his Patron is about to speak, the Parasite imposes silence all present; and he himself while he listens, gives signals of ap plause; and at every pause, exclaims, well said !-well said! If the speaker is pleased to be facetious, he forces a grin; or puts his cloak to his mouth, as if striving to suppress a burst of laughter. He commands those whom they may meet in a narrow way to give place, while his Friend passes on. He provides himself with apples and pears, which he presents to the children of the family in the presence of the Father; and kissing them, exclaims, Worthy offspring of a noble stock. The foot,'-says the humble companion, when the great man would fit himself with a pair of shoes, the foot is of a handsomer make than the pair you are trying.' He runs before his Patron when he visits his friends, to give notice of his approach, say ing, HE comes to thee:'-then he returns with some such formality as, I have announced you.' · When occasion offers, he is ready to give his help in the smallest matters; he will run to the market, in a twinkling, for a bunch of kitchen herbs. At table, he is the first to praise the wine: leaning upon the flattered man, he says,-you eat but delicately: and, taking a morsel from the table, exclaims, How exquisite is this! Then he inquires, Are you cold?-Do you wish for your cloak?'-and forthwith he throws it about him. Stooping forward, he whispers in his ear, or while speaking to others, he rolls his eyes upon his Patron. At the Theatre,-taking the cushions from the servant whose business it is to adjust them for his master, he performs this office himself. In a word, he is always ready to declare,-that the house is well built, the grounds well planted, or that the portrait is an exact likeness. And truly you will find such a fellow willing to say or do any thing by which he may hope to curry favour.' |