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fulness to God; his affability, to incessant and devout prayers and speech with his Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; his laborious studies, to his restless groans, sighs, cries, and tears; his hands labouring; his eyes lifted up; and his heart beating and panting to see the living God, even to the last of his breath. And Him, no doubt, he sees face to face, his works preceding and following him, and he now following the Lamb, crowned with that immortality, which is reserved for every one who lives such a life as he lived.—Pp. 57, 58.

The author of this pleasing memoir seems to have been regarded as a writer of considerable merit, at the period in which he lived. Fuller speaks of him as his "judicious, industrious, and worthy friend, Master Isaacson ;" and the laudatory verses, addressed to him on the publication of a work on Chronology, speak highly of his learning and attainments. In addition to the Life of Andrewes, the publication now before us contains a reprint of a small Tract, comprising a View of the Settlement and Progress of Christianity in Britain, and a record of the times and places of the first foundation of the Archbishoprics and Bishoprics in England and Wales; together with an Essay on the Uses of History and Chronology, originally prefixed to the work above referred to. Both are fine specimens of the literary character of the times.

Independently of the intrinsic merit of the volume before us, there is something agreeable in its re-appearance in the world two centuries after its publication, under the auspices of a descendant of the author. Mr. Isaacson has prefixed to it a brief memoir of his progenitor, collected from the scattered mention of him in the works of Wood and others. He has also introduced the life of the excellent Bishop by preliminary remarks on the encroaching spirit of the Romish Church, containing some excellent observations on the awful state of affairs at the present crisis. We greet Mr. I. as a worthy comrade in the Protestant cause; and sincerely wish that the voice of the dead, who yet speak in their writings and their examples, may not be sent forth altogether in vain.

ART. III.-Winter Evenings at College: a Familiar Description of the Manners, Customs, Sports, and Religious Observances of the Ancient Greeks with a Short Account of the State of Modern Greece; and Reflections on the Revolutions of Empires. BY A CLERGYMAN. In 2 vols. 12mo. London: 1829. Harris. Pp. xvi. 527.

THIS is an excellent little work, well adapted to convey useful instruction to the young in a very pleasing and enticing manner. Nor do we confine our measure of applause to the character of this book,

manual for the young; there are many, perhaps, amongst the

readers of our grave and solemn lucubrations, who might turn away from the bewildering haunts of the theologian and critic, to snatch an interlusory revival of early associations from these modest pages, without fearing that they should incur the censure of condescension. It is some time since our attention was directed to the subjects so judiciously treated of in these volumes, and we have found in their perusal not only a fund of relaxation from a graver theme, but a source of instruction also, which, authoritative as we may wish to be considered, we have not disdained.

The plan of the work is not novel: but it has been well conducted; and the author is, we doubt not, able to free himself from the trammels of example, and the drudgery of compilation: his style is remarkably pure, his language classical, and his arrangements distinct. Still his book does not read like a series of treatises on the different arguments which he has introduced; but as one continued history of consecutive affairs.

The idea of conveying information in the conversational form is perhaps the one most worthy of recommendation to such writers as have in view the imparting of instruction on a subject which has already received the stamp of authority, but which admits of consideration. We all know how beautifully the dialogues of Cicero are managed; not in the dry catechetical form of a cross-examination, but in the expanded method of a colloquial inquiry. And it is not exceeding the limits of a correct opinion to say, that the refined sentiments of that splendid moralist came to us with an additional charm, from the air of domestic friendship which the mode of their expression carries with it. So again, we may refer to Plato's Phædo. Who is there that has not felt his nature softened by the tenderness which is spread over the affecting narative of the death of Socrates? There is no need to multiply instances from modern times. Our object is to draw the attention of our friends, especially our younger ones, to this example. Doubtless there are many of both sexes to whom a work like the present would be acceptable: and if, in pointing out its excellencies, we assist in putting into the hands of these young people an entertaining book of knowledge, we do not think we shall do amiss. As Editors of a "Literary Miscellany," as well as Christian Remembrancers," there will be nothing unorthodox in our undertaking; and we shall endeavour to show by our extracts, that a "churchman" may find matter for edification on minor points of practical morality, where the enthusiasm of a professed "Biblical and Ecclesiastical" critic would find nothing but heathenish irrelevancies.

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There has been a great outcry, of late, against the close pursuit of classical inquiries in our schools and colleges; and not a few are

there who have even ventured to recommend the prohibition of them altogether. Much as we respect the intention of these worthies, we cannot carry our complaisance so far as to praise their "discretion," which, as the poet says, is oftentimes "the better part of valour." Let it be assumed that the tendency of classical studies as now pursued is to divert the mind of the student from the more solemn investigations of divine truth; and our reply to such an argument would be, that the object of any undertaking may be overlooked and its spirit perverted; and that, consequently, whereinsoever an improper bias is given to the mind by a course of studies, or too great a latitude is allowed for extraneous speculations, the fault lies more in the authorised directors of a place of learning, than in the foundation laid by the experience of ages for the cultivation of a correct taste, the exercise of the faculties, and the improvement of the mental powers. To say nothing of the knowledge of the languages in which the Scriptures were first written and preached, as actually necessary to instruct him who is to instruct others; of the knowledge of the customs and history of the ages in which this took place, as useful to throw light upon the allusions of the sacred penman, or of the intellectual pleasure which accrues from the consideration of the many beauties which are spread along the flowery paths of ancient literature; who, that professes to have the cause of the Gospel at heart, and would wish to present the holy precepts and sublime morality of the Redeemer in their clearest aspect, can venture to part with that brightest of all the evidences of the Christian faith, the result of a comparison of that which human philosophy, through a series of years, and by the thorough subjection of the noblest of human faculties to the most splendid of human theories, had been able to effect, with the simple and modest, yet convincing and perfect scheme of moral duties which was established by the power and in the person of the Son of God? How, we would ask, if the study of the literature of Greece and Rome be laid aside, how are we to overcome the arguments of the objectors to the Gospel, on the score of its unnecessary introduction, as a rule of life? It is by comparison alone with what the wisest of merely human lawgivers and human moralists have decreed or written, that we can obtain a just conception of the unparalleled grace and adaptation to our wants and weakness of the concise and unpretending code of Jesus Christ: it is only by such a method that we can 66 convince gainsayers," and show them, that the "wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." Assertions, therefore, such as those which we allude to, are of little weight, and less avail : nor should we have condescended to advert to them, had not the subject of the work before us afforded us an opportunity of stating

what we think upon this point. So far, however, as these studies are perverted, or are misapplied, we join with the anti-classics in condemnation of the neglect or culpable connivance of the great Gamaliels of the day for it is to be remembered, that the study of ancient learning is only the preparation of the mind to enter on the more important study of sacred literature; and if, instead of using these pursuits as adjuncts, we employ them for themselves alone, to serve the ambition or the pride of human acquirements, we are guilty, in the eyes of God, of a gross perversion of his gifts, and of a scandalous profanity of his more imperative concerns. We fear it may be too true, that in some of our public seats of instruction, the children of Christian parents, baptized into the service of a Divine Master, and to be placed in situations of importance and responsibility in the Christian world, are educated in the mysteries, obscurities, and wickedness of Pagan times, to the exclusion of those rules of life and those doctrines of faith which might be strengthened, but which are weakened as to their influence on the young and ardent mind. We fear that, at the last great settling day, of mental as well as bodily offences, the humble uninstructed peasant, whose study lay simply in the word of God, will have more reason to rejoice that he was ignorant, than the accomplished scholar that he was made a possessor of the benefits to be derived from the application which is given to the requirements of the age. But allowing this, and it is a concession which might have been made without a compromise even by Porson himself, we are so far from wishing the pursuits called 'classical' to be abolished, that we would gladly hail their more extended application; so that, in all cases, the legitimate object be but observed. Half the errors which have been palmed upon the unlearned, or uninquiring, by the charlatan interpreters of the time, have arisen in the grossest ignorance of those very studies which these very men condemn: nor should we have witnessed such sorrowful perversions in judgment, or such sad offences against common sense as we have often witnessed, had the language, customs, and history of the Greeks and Romans been better understood. Knowing, then, the use as well as the dangers of this study, we are glad to see so much valuable instruction offered to the young as the publication, whose title heads the present observations, is calculated to afford and earlier would we have exhibited its merits, by quotation, had we not thought it proper to stand up in the defence of a subject, which might have been charged against us in this instance had we said nothing with respect to it.

We cannot do better than suffer the author to develop his plan in his own language; and, for that purpose, shall transprint some portions of the introductory chapter, the commencement of which will, we are convinced, recall, in the minds of many of our readers, the

VOL. XI. NO. V.

recollections of "auld lang syne,”-words which few persons better appreciate than the quondam associates of the Hall and Lecture

room.

The turrets of King's College were faintly gilded by the rays of the declining sun, when Frederick Mortimer approached, for the first time, the precincts of an University. Having been educated amongst the classic scenes of Eton, and accustomed to view, with mingled veneration and pride, the majestic towers of Windsor, he had drawn in his mind's eye the Colleges and bowers of Cambridge with the pencil of an antiquary and a poet. As he had passed over open hills and plains without a shade, he had longed the more intensely to behold a spot sacred to Science and the Muses, where he had resolved to dedicate his earliest youth to those honourable studies, which are calculated equally to enlarge the understanding, and to improve the heart. His father, by whom he was accompanied, strove to diminish the sanguine expectations, without damping the ardour, of his son; and as they drove through the little village of Trumpington, diverted his attention for a few moments by a just and sober description of the celebrated place which they were about to enter. Yet, it is not in the nature of that early age, at which the trammels of a school are first broken, to listen to unvarnished fact with patience, when novelty is courting its attention; and Frederick Mortimer, whose spirits were ever buoyant and lively, was not now disposed to undervalue any of the beauties which nature or art might present to his view. Happily, the thin and scattered foliage was mellowed with the last tints of Autumn; and the decreasing twilight gave to the buildings of the town of Cambridge that dim and uncertain appearance, which was best calculated to keep alive the preconceived opinions of the youthful enthusiast.

When the travellers arrived, it was too late to visit the public Tutor of Trinity College, of which young Mortimer had become a member in the preceding year; and they contented themselves with making arrangements for the morrow. During the evening, a thousand questions were proposed by the freshman, which, in a few hours he might have solved himself; and the affectionate parent was gratified by an opportunity of satisfying the curiosity of a beloved and only

son.

On the morrow, they called upon the College Tutor, and, having passed through all the requisite formalities, were introduced by him to the gentleman, who had undertaken to direct the studies of the young Collegian. His name was Warner. He had taken the degree of Master of Arts at the previous Commencement, was a Fellow of Trinity, and had obtained several prizes by an unusual proficiency in mathematical and classical pursuits. His reputation had already obtained him several pupils; the father of one of whom, a resident in Dorsetshire, had recommended him strongly to his neighbour and friend, Mr. Mortimer.

The morning was spent in surveying whatever the University contained of architectural beauty, and Frederick was gratified to the extent of his hopes with the ample courts and noble library of Trinity, as well as with the imposing grandeur of that unrivalled edifice which the Royal Henry raised to the worship of the Deity. He could not, however, avoid confessing that he was disappointed in the smaller Colleges, and in the general appearance of the town; but Mr. Warner assured him, that as he advanced in the pursuit of learning, he would become every day more attached to the spot which was ennobled by so many classical recollections, and would associate even the narrow and ill-constructed streets of Cambridge with his ideas of the veneration due to an University, where a Bacon, a Milton, and a Newton, had laid the foundation of their fame.

On the following day, Mr. Mortimer took leave of his son with that affectionate anxiety, which cannot but be felt by a parent when he quits his only child, at his first entrance upon the world. Never before had Frederick seen him so serious, or so deeply touched; and he was upon the point of breaking the silence with a cheerful remark, when his father took him by the hand, and

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