literature, we need not say. Who among us is ignorant of the largeness and the value of his contributions in this particular?

The patrons of the Quarterly know with what persistence and self-sacrificing toil, he has sought to establish the work upon a permanent basis. It was ever a source of pain to him that its income did not enable him to give the work a higher degree of merit. He never even desired that it should prove to him a source of income; and had the pecuniary returns been double what they were, he would have expended all upon the work-he would, we are certain, have devoted none to a personal use. The Quarterly, indeed, was his pet publication. He had a denominational, let us add, also, a personal pride in its success. It was one of his dying requests, alike to those who were to be his successors as publishers, and to ourselves, that its publication should be continued until necessity should compel its suspension.

We have said, and to his honor we repeat, that Mr. Tompkins had a denominational pride. As a publisher, he was anxious to deserve and also to secure the respect of those of a contrary faith. In this, as in everything, he was controlled by a fastidious taste. He had a praiseworthy regard for external appearances. He wanted things to look well. The unfavorable comments of those of other denominations sorely troubled him, provided such comments were deserved. He was anxious that in what our people do, they shall compel the respect of others. Would that this feeling were more universal among us. He was a sincere, devoted Universalist, and it was among the strongest desires of his heart that Universalism should become, in a higher and more palpable degree, a power for good in the land.

We need not attempt here, what in our weekly periodicals has been so faithfully done by others, a description of the personal worth and characteristics of our late Publisher. His generosity, his readiness to help those in need, to sympathise with those who needed sympathy, to perform his full share of labor in every work in which he was assigned a part; his love of friends and desire to be loved by friends these two the distinctive and characterizing qualities of his whole being,-each would be to us a prolific topic, and

furnish us a pleasant task; but we forbear. We had for many years personal knowledge of the worth and constancy of his friendship; we know what others have lost by his early departure from our midst, for we know, but too well, what that loss is to ourselves. In the prime of life-at an age which, with his usual health, would have promised many years of useful labor-he was suddenly called away. He obeyed the mandate with cheerful resignation. Without repining, and with a full and blessed faith in the wisdom. and love of his Heavenly Father, he yielded his soul to the heavenly call. The prospect of death had no terror to him; he knew in what he placed his trust. He made every possible arrangement of his business; expressed deep gratitude that he was permitted to pass away in the midst of his family, and of so many of his dearest friends; gave directions as to his funeral obsequies; bade each and all, as he had opportunity, a final adieu; and quietly passed to his rest. Deeply, widely, painfully, is his presence missed. But while we mourn, we must not repine. The providence that called him away knew best when the earthly toil should cease, that the higher and immortal toil should begin. Trusting in the goodness and wisdom of Him who has a right to take the life He gives, may those who survive prove equally as faithful to duty-equally as resigned, when the work of duty here is to be closed.

G. H. E.

ART. XXIV.

Literary Notices.

1. The Sunday School Companion, designed for Bible Classes and the Older Pupils in the Sunday School. By Rev. John G. BartholoBoston: Tompkins and Company. 1862. pp. 130.

mew.

This Manual contains twenty-seven Lessons, on as many dif ferent Bible subjects-goes over the whole ground of biblical theology; stating a formula upon each point, and in each case giving a quotation from Scripture in explanation and proof. The

author's purpose is not to make a complete statement of any one point of belief or interpretation, but to suggest enough in each case to set teacher and pupil to the work of thinking. Considering the importance of such a treatise, its potency for good or evil,-acting, as it will, on young and susceptible minds,-we have felt it a duty to give the book a thorough examination. To say that we have, in no instance, found a definition that seemed to us defective or incomplete, or a Scripture quotation that seemed to us misapplied, would be an acknowledgment of infal libility on the part of the author, such as we have never yet at tributed to man. Yet we confess much surprise, in view of the general care and precision evinced by the author in stating his definitions, and in making his Scripture quotations. We shall be glad to learn that the book finds its way into all our Sunday Schools and Bible Classes. Teachers, we will particularly add, need it to fit them for their responsible task; for we hold that something in addition to moral and religious character-though this surely is the prime requisite is essential among the qualifica tions for teaching youth the doctrines of the Bible. We cannot praise the mechanical execution too highly-the paper, type, and form altogether make a very handsome book.

2. Historical Lectures on the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ; being the Halsean Lectures for the year 1859. With Notes, Critical, Histor ical, and Explanatory. By C. J. Ellicott, B.D. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1862. pp. 382.

This history of the Life of Christ follows substantially, though not in the statement of all the details, the order of events as they appear in the Evangelists. First, the author discourses upon the Infancy of Christ; then upon what he "roughly," yet conveniently terms his Judæan Ministry; then upon his Gali lean Ministry; then upon his last three Journeys to Jerusalem; then upon the Last Passover; the work concluding with a dis course upon the Last Forty Days. The individuality of each Evangelist, as it is impressed upon his narrative-stating matters which the other omitted, and varying the style in which the same events are recorded-is specially explained; and the explanation makes one of the more original and edifying features of the book. Seeming discrepancies between the several writers are thus accounted for without prejudice to the reliability of any; while the fact of seeming inconsistencies establishes the veracity of all. The relations of contemporary historians to the facts of the Gospel narrative, give the author abundant scope for his ample and varied learning, and his critical judgment. As an instance in proof of his fitness to deal with standard objec tions, we have room but to refer to his explanation of the silence

of Josephus in regard to Herod's murder of the Innocents. The stereotyped exclamation is, "Could such an act of atrocity have escaped the notice of a contemporary historian?" But what was such an act in the history of a monster whose hands reeked with the blood of whole families, and of his nearest and dearest relations? What was the murder of a few children at Bethlehem in the dark history of one who had, perchance, but a few days before, burnt alive at Jerusalem above forty hapless zealots who had torn down his golden eagle?" The atrocities of the monster were too numerous for the historian to make special mention of all. The author gives, as far as possible, the personal history of each character named in the Gospels; he explains local allusions, the relations of events in the narrative to other events in profane history, the opinions, beliefs, and customs of the times and country; in a word, he gives, so far as learning enables one to do, a complete history of Christ. His theology is strongly Calvanistic-he finds doctrines in the Gospels that we look for in vain-gives explanations and expositions from which we emphatically dissent. But his reverence for the Narrative is deep, his piety is warm, and his book is too full of fresh thought and instruction to be overlooked by any biblical student.

3. The Golden Hour. By Moncure D. Conway. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862.

Another plea for emancipation, by the author of "The Rejected Stone." The author believes that now is the appointed time, the providential opportunity, to crush the rebellion by destroying its cause-slavery. He attempts to show that the restoration of the Union, and the continued existence of slavery, are two impossibilities-that the battle for life or death is being fought that slavery will destroy the Union if the Union does not destroy slavery. He writes with a force, a cogency, and a glow that evince prophetic foresight. The most stolid conservative must feel the spell of his impassioned rhetoric.

4. Beauties; Selected from the Writings of Thomas DeQuincey. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862. pp. 432.

A sufficient reason for the compilation of this work is given in the preface. "The writings of Thomas DeQuincey occupy more than a score of volumes. Comparatively few persons have the leisure for the perusal of so many miscellaneous works by the same author-yet all who pretend to have a knowledge of English literature should be familiar with the chefs-d'œuvre of DeQuincey-one of the greatest masters of the English language." DeQuincey's use of the language is precise. If he has occasion to express a certain degree of dislike, he knows whether to

select the word "abhor" or the word "detest." He never confounds such words as "want" and "need." He would never have done what one of our Generals recently did, confound the terms, "vocation" and "avocation." In every case, he knows what is the authoritative significance of terms; and he is always exact in his selection of the same. More than most other writers, DeQuincey will train his readers into a precise use of our language. The Selections in the volume under notice, are made by one who appreciates his author, for they comprise specimens in all his styles, moods and eccentricities. The biographical department is executed with judgment. It will astonish and amuse the reader with events and descriptions seldom found in the lives of great men. It contains the most graphic part of the author's history as an opium-eater. Few readers will ever wear off the impression which this strange chapter always produces. Those who have the entire series of DeQuincey's works will find the Selections convenient for reference and occasional reading.

5. The Pearl of Orr's Island. A Story of the Coast of Maine. By Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862. pp. 437.

6. Agnes of Sorrento. An Italian Romance. By Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862. pp. 412.

In that chief excellence of fictitious writing-the hold upon the sympathies of the reader - Mrs. Stowe is unquestionably without rival or second among American writers. This feature alone will, despite of palpable defects, secure readers and admirers among all classes of the community. It is the sign of genius. The elaborate working of talent and culture always fails to touch the emotions. The gift that stirs feeling is spontaneous, is never superinduced. It is easy to understand why Mrs. Stowe succeeds best in the portrayal of rough, uncultivated personages and character-why in passing to the cultivated and the refined, her narrative too often sinks to description, and her dialogue becomes sometimes dull and heavy. The Pearl of Orr's Island will have, if not a larger number of readers than Agnes of Sorrento, yet a more constant hold upon them. Genius deals best with the rough material of human character-it does not see so clearly when it handles the artificial product of society. The book first named, gives greater scope to genius; the other developes more of culture and refinement. The first portrays to the life, events that are identified as real, as occurring every day within the circle of our own experience; the second is a resuscitation of Italian life, religious and social, superstitious and despotic, of the fifteenth century. As in the former stories by the same writer, the sombre features of the narrative are contin