• Où sont ces villes qui valoient des provinces, ces cités qui se croyoient eternelles, ces villes superbes, capitales des plus florissants empires; cette Troye, cette Thebes à cent portes, cette Ninive la grande, cette Baby• lone avec ses murs, cette Jerusalem la sainte? Elles ont passé, ou ne sont plus ce qu'elles etoient; on cherche leurs masures sous la poudre, sous l'herbe. Où sont les Mausolées, les Pyramides, tant de Palais, tant d'ouvrages de marbre and de bronze que l'art avoit taché de rendre inmortels? Que sont de venues tant de republiques & de monarchies qui ont passé, quelques-unes jusqu'à laisser pas seulement leur nom après elles, & tant d'autres qui ne subsistent que dans l'histoire ? On a vu & l'on voit encore les empires se pousser les uns les autres, & les derniers s'elever sur les ruines des precedens. Comme les vagues de la mer, qui après s'etre entrechoquées, viennent toutes se briser sur le bord, les etats, & les empires se brisent à la fin contre le tems.'

If handed up to a master as a schoolboy's theme, this might deservedly obtain a detur dignissimo, but as the eloquence of maturer years, and especially as delivered from the pulpit, it is below criticism. Let it, however, to put the error of Mr. Reynolds' estimate beyond all doubt, be compared with an extract from Massillon's incomparable sermon on the Divinity of Jesus Christ; or in fact, for there is nothing hazarded by the challenge, from any of his published sermons whatever. We recollect a passage in Fenelon of a similar kind, and in order to shew the immense interval between the frigid and the glowing, the common-place and the original in eloquence, we shall venture to quote it. He is describing the desolation of

the churches of the East.

'D'où la Foi s'est levée sur nos têtes comme le Soleil. Que sont devenues ces fameuses Eglises-mères d'Alexandrie, d'Antioche, de Jerusalem, de Constantinople, qui en avoient d'innomerables sous elles? C'est là que les Conciles ont prononcé ces oracles qui vivront eternellement. Cette terre etoit arrosée du sang des martyrs; le desert meme y florissoit par ses Solitaires. Mais tout est ravagé sur ces montagnes autrefois decoulantes de lait et de miel, & qui sont maintenant les cavernes inaccessibles des serpents et des basilics. Que reste-t-il sur les côtes d'Afrique, ou les assemblées d'Eveques etoient aussi nombreuses que les Conciles universels, & où la Loi de Dieu attendoit son explication de la bouche d'Augustin? Je n'y vois plus qu'une terre encore fumante de la poudre que Dieu y a lancée.'

We are, however, happy to quit the language of censure, into which we have been reluctantly forced by the editor's overcharged eulogium of his author, and to express our admiration of what is really admirable in Superville. He is frequently close and energetic, and though we do not quite go the length of asserting with Dr. Doddridge, that he has some of the most pathetic expostulations" we "ever saw," yet we are disposed to allow him very great excellence in this respect. The following extract is a fair average specimen.

you

But, Christians, I hope better things of you, and things which accompany your salvation. You will consider better, perhaps at this time, who is this Jesus, and what you are. You will be afraid to weary his patience, and to draw upon you his judgments. His goodness is yet greater this day than ever, since it adds this new grace, to all the others shall receive. You will say, I am a condemned creature, should I refuse my Saviour? 1 am hungry, and he is the hidden manna, and the bread of life; I am thirsty, and he is the source of that water which springeth up unto everlasting life; I am naked, and he cometh with his righteousness to cover me; I am poor, and he is the heir of all things; I am sick, and he cometh with his grace to cure me; I am in trouble,' and he cometh to console me. I shall take care not to put him off to another time. No, Lord! thou comest not before the time, to destroy my passions. Thou comest not too soon. My soul thirsteth for thee, my heart languisheth after the. "O God, I have waited for thy salvation. Come, O my Bridegroom, into thy garden, that thy spices may flow. Come, Lord Jesus, yes, Lord Jesus, Come." He only seeks to enter; it will not be needful to use violence, to constrain him to do it, and if it were needful, let us force him by the sweet violence of our desires of our prayers-of our tears, Let us not permit him to go, except he bless us, and except he remain with us, as with the disciples at Emmaus, in order to take his repast. Let us open to him by the consciousness of our misery, by hungering and thirsting after righteousness, the confession of our crimes, the resolution to submit ourselves to all his will. Let us open truly and sincerely all the doors of our souls; and if the doors are not sufficient, let us beat down the walls in order to make him a passage worthy of a triumphant King. Let us throw down unbelief impenitence the love of the world these three dreadful and high bulwarks, which have blocked up the avenues of our soul, and let us open to him every passage by repentance, faith, and love.' p. 177, 178.

One more quotation, and we must bring our article to a close.

We seek the Lord by the use of those means which he has instituted in the work of religion, which are in particular, hearing the word, frequenting religious assemblies, the participation of the sacraments, and above all, prayer. Men fall into two very opposite errors upon the subject of the means which God has established for them to find him. Some, and they are the most numerous among us, make all their piety to consist in the exterior practice of those means. To come to the Temple-to hear sermons-to receive the Lord's Supper-to pray to God night and morning is the whole of the religion of the greater part. Besides this, they have little or no faith-charity-good works-or true holiness. This is only a very defective piety, and a phantom of religion, which places all in externals, and which separates that which ought to be joined together. But there are others who count the means as nothing, or almost nothing. Wiser than the Prophets-than the Apostles-than God himself-they have found out the art of making religion very easy: they no longer need either sacraments or ministry; and if we were to believe them, prayer is quite unnecessary, it is sufficient to give thanks. A new sort of impiety this, which insinuates itself under the pretext of a refined spirituality; "true

libertinism, which hides itself under the false pretence of giving more glory to the merit of Christ; false and dangerous consequences which they pretend to draw from the doctrines of justification and complete satis faction, consequences contrary to scripture, and to the design of religion, which overturn the plan of the gospel. No, no, in order to find God, we must seek him in the lawful use of the means which he hath ordained, and to which he has thought proper to attach particular blessings. Let us make use of these means; let us be seen at the foot of the altar, constant in our places of worship, attentive to the word, ardent and watchful in prayer.' p. 120, 121.

The volume contains eleven sermons, on the following subjects:-The Triumph of the Gospel-the Birth and Dignity of the Son of God-the duty of Young Men-the proper time for Repentance-Jesus suing for Entrance at the Door of our Hearts the Advantages of the Gospel over the Law-the True Love of Christ-the Vanity of the World-the Desire to be with Christ-the Duties of the Ministry-the Examination of Religion the true way to rest.

Mr. Reynolds has, on the whole, made a very judicious selection; the subjects are interesting, and the treatment, with the deductions we have been compelled to make, able, eloquent and edifying. The second volume promised by Mr. R. will, we have no doubt, be generally called for; and in that event, we would take the freedom of reminding him, that the spirit of a writer is sometimes best preserved in a translation, by an occasional departure from the strict letter of his

text.

Art. X. Funeral Orations, in the praise of military men, translated from the Greek of Thucydides, Plato, and Lysias, with explanatory notes, and some account of the authors, By the Rev. Thomas Broadhurst, 8vo. pp. xxx. 269. Longman & Co.

THE scribendi cacoëthes, a distemper well known to the

readers of Juvenal, appears in our times to be of two kinds, the one proceeding from a want of bread, the other from a lust of fame. The symptoms of the first are more violent: it generally breaks out in a political pamphlet, or a simpering tale, or an interesting account' of some celebrated individual lately deceased. The second is of a milder nature, and its effects are various, according to the mental constitution of the patient. Very frequently it appears in a volume of poems; sometimes in a charming novel replete with delicate distresses; anon in an easy method of studying English, French, or one of the learned tongues; then again in a picturesque account of a summer's tour, or, it may be, in extracts in prose and verse, adapted to young minds. At all events, it is so charming to have made a book, a whole book, and to see one's name labeled in gilt letters on the back.

So probably thought the anthor of the work before us, and why not he as well as another? Semper ego auditor tantum?" But on what subject should he write? He had read, in early days, the 'funebres orationes,' published by Mr. Bentham, for the accommodation of lazy schoolboys and schoolmasters, with a Latin versification and English notes. And why not an English version? This bright thought was probably the origin of this volume. But the Greek of these orations, even in the large type of Bentham, was comprised in eighty pages, and what was that towards a volume? Write a note upon every subject, any how connected with any topic in the speeches. That is something, but still not enough. A preface was an obvious resource, so was an index. A few pages of additional observations' too, were easily supplied. Still copy was wanting. The lives of the authors! three lives-at twelve pages eachsix and thirty pages. Thucydides too has put his oration into the mouth of Pericles:-a life of Pericles,-six pages more. The thing is done. Three hundred pages grown out of the three orations. Here, however, we must blame Mr. B. Plato has given the oration as if spoken by Socrates: Why not a life of Socrates? Socrates professes to have had it from Aspasia : Why not a life of Aspasia? We hope these hints will be taken.

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Let not the reader, however, think that no further ingenuity was required. There was but little matter; and it was to be carefully husbanded by author and printer. The type must be large; the margins ample; the lines far asunder. Then, let a whole leaf be applied to the announcing of each oration, and never begin a new portion of the work on the left hand page. These rules are useful; you may thus throw twelve or fourteen blank pages into your book. Still, however, the printer had not got beyond three hundred pages, and Broadhurst was a long name to be inserted in capitals on the back. In this dilemma, thick paper was thought of, and accordingly paper was supplied, or rather card, that thunders under your fingers, as you turn over the pages. Let book-makers hear and be wise!

We will be quite fair with Mr. B., and begin at the beginning.

Not a few of those, who have already spoken in this place, have been in the habit of praising the person who annexed this harangue to what the law requires, as being honourable to those, who are buried from off the field of battle, to have it pronounced over them. p. 27.

This sentence is not the most intelligible, or even grammatical; but Mr. B. has brought a hundred witnesses to prove that Thucydides is the very genius of obscurity.

To me, however, it seems sufficient, when men have displayed actual bravery, that some actual demonstration of honour, similar to the

public exhibition around this sepulchre, should be made to them." p. 27, 28.

The reader may miss the point of this sentence, which is concealed in the word actual: 'Sufficient,' says the Greek, 'that of men, whose valour was displayed in deeds, the honours should be paid by deeds.'

And not that the confidence inspired by the valorous deeds of many, should be exposed to hazard by the skilful or unskilful eloquence of a single individual.' p. 23.

What may this mean?

'To observe a medium in speaking upon a subject, in confirmation of the truth of which it is scarcely possible to say too much, is not easy.'

Rather, it is painful to preserve a mean in speaking, since by so doing you answer the expectations of no one.' And then there is some connection with the next sentence.

For the hearer who is well acquainted with them, and ever so kindly disposed, may imagine that some favourite point, well known to himself, has been imperfectly handled; while he, who is not conversant with the subject, may think, from a spirit of jealousy, should he hear any thing advanced beyond his own powers that it must be exaggerated. p. 28, 29.

Ever so well disposed',-to the speaker, we suppose Mr. B. means by this interpretation, Pericles meant to the dead. Enough of this.

The oration is rendered apparently without any attempt at the nervous conciseness of Pericles, or any desire after the bold and poetical cast of his diction. We had noted down some sentiments for observation; but the reader has had enough.

The oration of Pericles had been employed in explaining by what sort of discipline the Greeks arrived at their power;

And under what form of government; and by what means it was established on so extensive a scale.' p. 32.

Plato assumes a different subject, and takes a summary view of the history of Greece, beginning at the first Persian invasion. The opening of the Greek is notoriously beautiful: Mr. B.'s is as follows:

The obsequies, due to these men, have now been strictly performed; and having received them, they go the way appointed for them by the Fates; being publicly accompanied by the city, and privately by their friends. p. 87-89.

Accompanied! Does the translator mean that the whole city died with these men? The Greek word signifies being brought a little on their way,' and expresses, in a most elegant continuation of the former metaphor, the being carried out to burial in a funeral procession. Again, what is meant by being publicly accompanied, and privately accompanied?" "being