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MONTHLY LIST OF PUBLICATIONS.

DIVINITY.

The Fourth Volume of the Village Preacher. By a Clergyman of the Church of England. 12mo.

58.

Five Sermons, on several Occasions, preached before the University of Oxford. By R. Whateley, M.A. Fellow of Oriel College. 48.

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Sermons, by the late Rev. T. N. Tollor, Conversations on the Bible. By a Lady. thor, by the Rev. R. Hall, A.M, of Leiof Kettering; with a Memoir of the Au

12mo. 7s.

The Articles of Religion practically considered; in a Sermon preached at Crambe, Yorkshire, October 5, 1823, on taking Possession of the Living. By the Rev. J. Richardson, M.A. of Queen's College, Oxford. 1s. 6d.

A Prophetical Connection between the Old Testament and the New. Js.

An Explanation of Dr. Watts's Hymns for Children, in Questions and Answers By a Lady. 8d.

cester. 8vo. 10s.

A Monitor to Families; or Discourses on some of the Duties and Scenes of Do

mestic Life. By the Rev. H. Belfrage,

Minister in Falkirk. 12mo. 78. 6d.

The Doctrines of General Redemption, as held by the Church of England and by the early Dutch Arminians, exhibited in their Scriptural Evidence, and in their Connection with the Civil and Religious Liberties of Mankind. By James Nichols. 8vo. 16s.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

The Parables of our Blessed Saviour, practically explained; selected from the larger Commentary of Dean Stanhope. By the Rev. C. M. Mount, M.A. Minister of Christ Church, Bath. In a duodecimo volume.

A Commentary on the Vision of the Prophet Zechariah, with a corrected Trans lation, and critical Notes. By the Rev.

Dr. Stonard, Rector of Aldingham." In one volume. 8vo.

A Volume of Sermons, in 8vo. By the Rev. John Coates, A.M. late Vicar of Huddersfield, and formerly Fellow of Catherine Hall, Cambridge.

An improved Edition of Millburn's Ori ental Commerce; or the East India Trader's Complete Guide: abridged and brought down to the present time. By Thomas Thornton. In one large volume. 8vo.

Memoir of the late Francis Hyde Wollaston, B. D. Archdeacon of Essex, &c. &c.

THE subject of this Memoir was educated on the foundation of the Charter-House, from whence he removed to Sidney College, Cambridge, and obtained the high honour of Senior Wrangler in the tripos of 1783. Soon after he was appointed lecturer in that college; and subsequently he became fellow and tutor of Trinity Hall. He held the office of Moderator in the Senate House Examinations in 1788 and 1789. In 1792 he was appointed Jacksonian Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy; which place he held till the year 1813; having delivered no less than twenty-one courses of lectures. His ecclesiastical preferments were the rectory of S. Weald and the vicarage of Cold Norton, in Essex, the rectory of West Denham, in Norfolk (the presentation to which benefice is vested in his family); together with the Archdeaconry of Essex, to which he was collated by the present bishop of London, in 1814. He died in London, October 12, 1823, at the house of his brother, Dr. Wollaston, having gone to bed at a very late hour in perfect health, and being found in the morning a corpse. His death was the effect of apoplexy.

In this short Memoir, it is not our purpose to dwell minutely upon the long and arduous services perform ed in the University of Cambridge by this distinguished person, in the various offices of Moderator, Fellow and Tutor of Trinity Hall, and Jacksonian Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. The latter office he held for the long space of twenty-one years, and in the discharge of the duties attached to it, he distinguished himself not less by his diligent and unceasing

assiduity, thau by his clear and comprehensive views of all subjects connected with the science which it was his duty to illustrate and to teach.

The Archdeacon was not, however, a mere theoretical philosopher; mathematical and chemical knowledge. recommended themselves to him, not only as an exercise of the mental faculties, but as contributing to the comfort of mankind, whilst they raise our views to the great Artificer of the Universe, to the order and beauty of his creation. His invention of the Barometrical Thermometer, will be a lasting monument of his skill in applying to practice previously existing theorems, and in combining known principles for the more distinct elucidation of one particular point. This tribute of applause to the Archdeacon's merits, as a mathematician and a philosopher, we could not in justice withhold; it enhances our estimation of his character, when we perceive, that the pursuits of science, and a long intercourse with the society of an University, were so far from rendering him unfit for the discharge of the more active duties of public life, that they seem to have contributed, in no small degree, to increase those natural powers of speedy decision and sound judg ment, which he displayed in the discharge of the public duties of his Archdeaconry. In filling that high and important office, he considered himself, in a literal sense, the servant of the Church. He watched with the greatest vigilance over every part of his charge; there was no place, however remote or obscure, which did not experience the advantage of his personal inspection; he spared no labour of body, or toil of mind, to preserve the Clergy within his charge, in active attention to their duties, whilst he applied an extensive knowledge of the civil and ecclesiastical law, to

maintain the rights and privileges of the Established Church. As a magistrate he was diligent and impartial, and never deviating from the path which his conscience directed him to pursue. Being blessed with health and strength, which enabled him to undergo very considerable bodily exertion, he shewed that he was ready" to spend and to be spent" in the service of the Church. His days were so passed in public cares, the duties of his Archdeaconry and of his Parishes, and in assisting at the councils of various religious Societies, that he was obliged to sacrifice great por. tions of the night, in order to find time for necessary study and religious meditation.

The societies in the Metropolis, at which he was a constant attendant, and more especially those associations for the promotion of true religion and charity, which existed in his Archdeaconry have experienced in his death the loss of a most judicious counsellor, and most indefatigable patron. Rapid and unerring in judgment, he generally outstripped in speed those with whom he was associated; yet those who knew him most intimately can testify, that few men possessed of equal power of understanding, ever displayed a greater readiness to admit the reasonings of his opponents, and even to yield to opinions from which he had at first dissented. His manner to many appeared severe; it arose in great measure from habits of abstraction and that straight-forward view of a subject, which often leads a man to think less of the persons whom he is addressing, than of the objects on which his mind is employed-but his heart was kind, and affectionate, and friendly. He made no professions; his delight was to do kind acts; and, in most cases, the exercise of his benevolence was unknown even to the parties whose interests he had espoused, and for

whose advancement he had warmly pleaded before those who had that power to reward, which he did not possess. How deeply his decease was lamented must be known to most of our readers. One of the religious societies of this Metropolis was assembled in deliberation on the day when the melancholy intelligence of his death became public: a general melancholy prevailed amongst the members present; they who knew him little, were sad, for they knew that the Church had lost one of her firmest supports; they who knew him well, could not refrain from shedding the tear of respect and affection over one, whose judgment they revered, and with whom they had lived in the enjoyment of religious friendship, and had been associated in one common cause, that of promoting the welfare of the Established Church.

Concerning his more private life we shall say but little; a public work like the present is not the place for publishing his secret meditations, or for eulogizing those virtues of the husband and the parent which were so affectingly displayed by the subject of this Memoir in the bosom of his own family. The character of the Archdeacon requires not embellishment from these secret sources. His death was indeed sudden, but it was an event for which he was prepared, and from the calm and truly Christian manner in which he sometimes spoke of the probability of his dying a sudden death, it was evident that his faith in his Saviour had enabled him to regard death, not as an event to be dreaded, but as a removal to a more perfect state.

The late Archdeacon was, as has been mentioned, educated on the foundation of the Charter-House. On the last Founder's day, the Orator, in recounting the events of the past year, found in the merits and death of the Archdeacon a most interesting topic; thus eloquently be

wailing his loss, and pathetically describing the circumstances of his death:- "Alterum eorum, quos deflemus, desiderant Carthusiani; desiderat sapientium cœtus; desiderat Ecclesia Anglicana; desiderat patria. Illi neque literæ quas excoluerat, neque scientia quam assecutus fuerat rerum variarum, neque pietas sua, neque dignitas, neque beneficia in patriam collata, subitæ atque immaturæ mortis ictum poterant avertere. At Fratri quantus fuit iste

mæror! nox ista quam tristis ! Quem dormiturum salutabat vivum vigentemque, nullo languentem morbo, neque curarum pondere confectum, eundem ut manè conspiceret lecto in quo dormiverat prostratum, rigidum, atque exanimum cadaver! Illud scilicet est homines nos esse: dum vivimus, dum valemus, mors, quasi in. insidiis, excubias agit, atque inopinantes prædatura speculatur."

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POLITICAL RETROSPECT.

ANOTHER year has rolled over our heads, and we cannot fitly pass on to that which is to follow, busy ourselves in its concerns, and plunge into the great stream of its events, without pausing for a moment, as it were, upon its brink, and considering seriously and gratefully that which is gone for ever. It is naturally a favourite theory with the contemplative philosopher, that all things are in progress through gradual stages of improvement to perfection; one can hardly conceive any thing more delightful than to imagine the whole human race gradually raising its head from the degradation of the Fall, learning first to be conscious of the misery of ignorance and sin, then purifying the mind by religious education; then adding knowledge, dismissing prejudices, dropping hatreds, and at last, by steps accelerated every moment, arriving at that point when charity in its most extensive sense shall be the great ruling principle, and the divided sons of Adam become in more than name really one great family of brethen.

This is a delightful imagination, which sober inquiry forbids us to dwell upon as of speedy accomplishment. If we look merely over

Europe, (surely the most advanced portion of the globe,) what a large mass of the human race shall we see, who have not yet even made the first step in the race, who are not even conscious of the misery of ignorance and sin-how much larger a mass, to whom religious education is denied wholly, or administered uselessly only, in form and shadow, without effect or substance; and how few remain, how pitiably few in human judgment, who add knowledge to their zeal, and shake off prejudices and hatreds, national, political, or sectarian. If passing from Europe we were to take into the account the large continents of Asia and Africa, and even the greater proportion of gigantic America, the balance would be still more fearfully against our hopes, and we might almost be disposed to drop our hands, and exclaim that "this is impossible."

With man it undoubtedly is impossible; yet like the dejected prophet of old, who thought that he alone remained, and knew not that he was one of seven thousand faithful Israelites, the good man must not despair of the ultimate happiness of his race. The progress may be very slow, but there is progress—

the beginnings may appear contemptible, but like the smallest seed they may produce the greatest plant. Shall we be accused of over-weening national pride if we say that we think the beginnings are in this country, and the progress making here we may deceive ourselves, but if we do not, our feelings are not those of pride but of the humblest gratitude, and our opinions, founded not on the foolish speculations of the day, but on sound historical bases. For many, many years, we have been under the action of the purest religion, and the wisest frame of government, that have yet been bestowed on any nation. Is this mere idle declamation? can any unprejudiced person doubt the truth -let a Socrates, a Plato, a Cicero, rise from the dead, and, with the Bible before them, let them judge between Christianity and their own, and all other religions-can any one doubt of their decision-or let them decide between sects of Christians will they not, these great masters of reasoning, lean to the Church, which encourages the exercise of the rea son, and challenges inquiry, yet disciplines that reason, and teaches that inquiry to be conducted with reverence; which is simple and vet impressive in its forms; which looks to one undisputed source, and one only for its doctrines, but shrinks not from avowing, and is constrained to believe all it finds in that source; which is full of toleration, and yet will sacrifice no part of the sacred trust committed to its care. Let again Aristotle or Tacitus, or the deep-thinking Thucydides decide upon constitutions; do we not know to a certainty, that they would regard the polity of England with something of incredulous admiration and say, that if such a mixed government be possible, if that dream can be realized, to that must be attributed the palm of the consummation of human wisdom.

If this be so, and if a pure Church

and a good Constitution mean any thing, they must, in the course of so many years, produce some permanent and visible effects. Fortes creantur fortibus, there is a national blood, as well as a family blood; races improve or degenerate not merely in person, but in mind and heart; and therefore if, for a long series of years, these blessings have been acting upon our forefathers, we their sons ought to receive not merely the same but greater benefits from the same causes. We are born as it were with a stock in hand; things seem familiar and intuitive with us, which our forefathers had to learn laboriously, and which other nations yet know not. This is not fancy let us put, what frequently happens, twelve Englishmen into a jury box who have never sate there before it is a sight of wonder even to those whose profession makes them familiar to it, to see the ease and readiness with which they address themselves to their difficult task; how patiently they fol low a long statement, how shrewdly they judge of characters; how easily they adopt even technical distinctions; and how they prove by their finding that they understood the whole case, and the directions of the presiding judge. This could be seen no where else, except where derived from England; it has grown with the growth, and strengthened with the strength of America.

Again we might imagine an entire House of Commons, composed of members who sate in it for the first time; but they would still bring there actual knowledge, and as it were national experience, which would fit them almost at once for their work. There would be none of the freshness, the dilatoriness, the difficulties, the theatrical declamation, which we have been in the habit of observing in the newly es tablished legislative assemblies of other nations.

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