thinking. In a work so laborious as this, the first, as it may be justly called, of its kind, where the subjects treated upon are so numerous, the learning and information required so multifarious, and the compression exacted so intense, it is impossible but that there must be some deficiencies; but we are ourselves so unfeignedly grateful for the work, that we should not feel the disposition, had we the power, to find fault with a single particular in the whole. We regard the possession of the work as a privilege and we think that no well-educated family, and certainly no person imbued with the slightest particle of classic taste, should be without it. It gives information to an extent, and with an accuracy and an interest, which all the ordinary books, such as Potter, and Adams, and Kennet, fail to supply. To the profoundest scholar the work will be of use; to the ordinary scholar and to the teacher, it is indispensable. The intelligent traveller in Greece and Italy will find in this one volume the essence of a trunk-full of books. In the name of our small portion of that larger Public who will be grateful for their labours, we tender the Editor and Contributors our heartiest thanks.

II. Hints for the Revival of Scriptural Principles in the Anglican Church. By the Rev. George Bird, Rector of Cumberworth.

This is an extraordinary book for a clergyman to publish in the present day. Mr. Bird loves Christianity better than his Church-or if he love his Church, he thinks truth-telling the best thing that can be done for its ultimate support and good. He is a strict disciplinarian, and would have a stringent ecclesiastical government, but he would have the terms of communion as liberal and open as possible, regulations enforced without fear or favour upon all, and the expenses of the ecclesiastical corporation defrayed exclusively by its members. He therefore is an enemy to the connection of Church and State, as it at present exists. He says, "amicable relations between Church and State are quite consistent with a complete separation, with the most independent discharge of their respective duties." But, he adds,

"Connection between Church and State implies something more than this. It implies a settled compact between the two bodies-a compromise of principles; it implies an agreement, expressed or understood, that the one body will do, or refrain from doing, something which it

would otherwise have done, in accommodation to the views and principles of the other body; it implies either a submission of the one system to the other, or a mutual compromise, an engagement to reciprocal concessions. When applied to the Church of England, the latter idea is usually attached to the expression, namely, that of reciprocal concessions. It is implied, that rights, or at least pretensions, of the Church are conceded to the State, and that in return, the State has conceded some rights, privileges, or advantages, which properly belong to itself."-p. 131.

With regard to one of the present obnoxious consequences of this connection with the State, we mean church-rates, Mr. Bird has a very simple plan, which he propounds with his usual fearless and straightforward naiveté.

"With respect to Church-rates, the simple ecclesiastical method is as follows:-The proper officers of the Church should call a meeting of members in full communion with the Church. They should determine what sum is requisite for current expenses and repairs, and appoint some one to levy the rate agreed upon proportionally to the incomes of each Churchman. Whoever therefore refused to contribute, should be excommunicated, as guilty of scandalous covetousness."

-p. 270.

Of the thorough reforming spirit which characterises this book, these extracts are perhaps sufficient indication; but some of our readers will be still more pleased to find that our author does not confine the operations of his pruning-knife to the mere outside branches. He penetrates inwards. He goes through all the articles and creeds of his Church. He criticises with a most unsparing hand-condemns the whole principle of subscription to specific lists of doctrine. He would deem a "simple profession of faith in Jesus Christ," sufficient—or, he says, "all members of the Church might be required to express their belief in Jesus Christ, a general assent to the Bible, and perhaps also to what is termed the Apostles' Creed."p. 182.

The extreme and generous liberality of these concessions might induce one to suppose that Mr. Bird had a fellow-feeling with those who demurred to the reception of the usual articles of orthodox faith. But it is still more creditable to him, and still more indicative of the Catholic spirit which animates him, that he can make these liberal allowances, when his own belief seems to accord with that usually entertained, and he is at least not un-orthodox on the Deity of Christ and the Atonement. This he does not however regard as in any way committing him to all the details of the articles, on which he comments with great boldness, or to the nonsense and bigotry

of the Athanasian creed, on which he thus openly speaks his mind :

"On the whole, if the preceding remarks are correct, this creed consists chiefly of doctrines without proof, and verbiage without sense." "If it be found to contain Scripture doctrine, and nothing but Scripture doctrine, then it should be translated into Scripture language. Perhaps, when we come to reflect that Scripture doctrine, scripturally expressed, is already to be found in the New Testament, it might be thrown aside as useless. If, however, any thing shall be found contrary or additional to the Scriptures, the creed itself should be expunged from our Liturgy, and assent to it from the number of our ecclesiastical rules."

We never saw the inconsistency of requiring subscription from the Clergy and University Youth, and not requiring it from the general body of the laity, better put than in the following passage :

"The ecclesiastical arrangements which have just been recommended apply to the whole body of the Church; it is to be remarked, however, that the Articles of the Church of England are required to be subscribed by the clergy alone and not by the laity. Now upon what principle does this practice rest? What is the reason for adopting such a line of ecclesiastical policy? If, indeed, in the Anglican, as in the Romanist Church, the layman professed to adopt implicitly the faith of his priest, the proceeding would be intelligible; if the layman is bound to believe by proxy, it is proper and consistent that he should also subscribe by proxy. -"The Church conceives certain doctrines to be necessary to salvation: are then those doctrines and those alone contained in the articles? If so, are the souls of the clergy more precious than those of the laity? Are they in fact the only souls worth saving? or will it be said, that there are more truths contained in the articles than are necessary to salvation; but the clergy are the instructors of the people, and ought to believe more on that account? What! is the Church justified in demanding that her clergy should believe more than is necessary for salvation? Are then the clergy to teach more than is necessary ? But if not, how are they to employ this unnecessary faith?" "The fact is, that a compilation of articles, supposed to be necessary to salvation, but which are binding only on the clergy, constitute an unendurable anomaly in our ecclesiastical constitution."- -p. 183-4.

We could multiply extracts of the same bold and liberal character, but the whole volume, of only portions of which have we given any idea, is worthy of the perusal of all the curious in such matters. That Mr. Bird's own position in a Church, so great a part of whose discipline, doctrine, and constitution he so strongly disapproves, and so sturdily condemns, is in itself

an anomaly, cannot we think be questioned. By the publication of this book he has placed himself in this predicamentthat the Church of which he is a member must reform itself in accordance with his views, or he must cease to be a member of a Church which refuses to do this, and from whose constitution, in innumerable points, he conscientiously dissents. Mr. Bird is a bold man, or he would not have given expression to the views which he has developed in this work-he is a conscientious man, or he would have acted as many others act, concealed the differences which he could not help feeling. And we therefore expect from him in the future, what we see in him now, the consistent conduct of a man who values truth above every worldly possession, who would pine amidst wealth and honour, if the heart and conscience within him were ill at ease.* Let us add, before we leave his clever and interesting volume, that it is not a work for the learned, but is designed (being addressed to the laity of the Church) for all Churchmen who can appreciate sound sense, clear thought, honesty of purpose, and boldness of expression. We trace in it the signs of more reflection than reading, and the slender list of his historical references (being almost exclusively to the worthy but somewhat one-sided and superseded Mosheim) will prevent alarm on the part of any layman who wishes to take a tour through his Church, under the guidance of this shrewd and unpedantic fellow-traveller. But let him be prepared" to see what he shall see."

C. W.

III. Poems. By Robert Nicoll. Second Edition. With numerous additions, and a Memoir of the Author. Edinburgh: William Tait.

"I have written my heart in my Poems," said Nicoll, "and rude, unfinished, hasty as they are, it can be read there." We should think it strange if a man had written his heart, especially if it were such a heart as Nicoll had to write from, and did not find readers. But we question whether, in the instance before us, many readers have as yet been found. An edition of some four or five hundred copies was printed when the author was about twenty, and brought up chiefly by the pea

* We observe, by an advertisement of a meeting of his attached Parishioners, that some efforts are already being made to oust Mr. Bird from a post which-let him forgive us-he is too free and un-servile a man to fill.

santry of his own neighbourhood. Since that time it has been impossible to obtain a copy of these Poems, until Mr. Tait published the pretty little edition, which we shall be happy to introduce, if it be not already known, to the kindly notice of our readers. But who was Robert Nicoll? For the benefit of those who know not any satisfactory answer to this hypothetical query, we give his brief history thus: He was the second son of Robert Nicoll, a farmer at Little Pulliebeltane, in the parish of Auchtergaven, Perthshire, half way between Perth and Dunkeld. He came of "decent, honest, God-fearing folk." The father became security for a relative to the amount of five hundred or six hundred pounds. The relative failed and absconded, and Nicoll became a day-labourer on the fields he had lately rented. At six years old, young Robert was sent to the parish-school; at seven, "to the herding, and continued herding all summer and attending school all winter, with his 'fee. He soon became a voracious reader, and scarcely ever went by any other name among his playmates than "the Minister." Availing himself of every opportunity of self-improvement which came in his way, by eleven or twelve he was able to save from his herding fees enough to pay one shilling and sixpence a-month, for a month or two, to a bookseller at Perth, for reading. "When about thirteen, he began to scribble his thoughts, and to make rhymes, and his brother relates, that he was so far honoured as, at this age, to become the correspondent of a provincial newspaper, the manager of which, in requital of small scraps of parish news, sent him an occasional copy of the journal." At seventeen he binds himself apprentice to a grocer and spirit-merchant in Perth !— reading the while Milton, Locke, and a few treasured works of Bentham. From this place he sends his first contribution-a tale to Johnstone's Magazine. His health began to give way before the term of his apprenticeship was expired, and after looking about for some more healthy or suitable employment, he at length opens a circulating library at Dundee. This was a poor business, and he could not gain even the slenderest livelihood by it. But listen how the heroic lad writes from the midst of his privations, to a young friend :—

What a

"I have lately been reading the Recollections of Coleridge. mighty intellect was lost in that man for want of a little energy-a little determination! He was ruined, as thousands have been, by the accursed aristocracy. I almost cried when I found him saying, that instead of completing, or rather beginning, his projected great work, he was obliged to write twaddle for mons, to support his station in society! VOL. IV. No. 18.—New Series.

and compose MS. serGood God, that a man, with 2 H