gicides who fled thither at the Restora

tion.

A benevolent individual has offered to pay the tuition, at Yale College, of one hundred indigent pious students for the Christian ministry.

Last winter, one of the Fire Companies passed a resolution, prohibiting the use of spirituous liquor as a refreshment in cases of fire. It was doubted by some of its members whether the measure could be carried into effect, in consequence of the erroneous impression which prevailed, that men could not work at an engine any length of time unless assisted by a supply of spirituous liquor. The company determined to substitute warm coffee instead; and with such success, that the men state they are more refreshed than by the use of spirituous liquors. The members of several other companies are endeavouring to get similar resolutions passed.

An American physician, in an address lately delivered on the dreadful effects of spirit-drinking, says:

"What is the secret of this witcherywhich strong drink exerts over the whole man? I will tryto tell you. After being received into the stomach, it is sucked up by absorbent vessels, is carried into the blood, and circulates through the alimentary organs, through the lungs, muscles, and brain, doubtless through every organ of the body. Not a blood-vessel, however minute, not a thread or nerve in the whole animal machine, escapes its influence. It disturbs the functions of life; it increases for a time the action of living organs, but lessens the power of that action; hence the deep depression and collapse which follow preternatural excitement. By habitual use, it renders the living fibre less and less susceptible to the healthy operation of unstimulating food and drink; its exciting influences soon become incorporated with all the living actions of the body; and the diurnal sensations of hunger, thirst, and exhaustion, are strongly associated with the recollection of its exhilarating effects, and thus bring along with them the resistless desire for its repetition. Even the brain, that most delicate and wonderful organ, which forms the mysterious link between the other forms of matter and mind, the

healthy functions of which are essential to vigorous intellectual operation, is capable of imbibing alcohol, and having all its actions suddenly arrested. In the case of a man who was picked up dead soon after having drunk a quart of gin for a wager, in the vessels of the brain was found a considerable quantity of limpid fluid, distinctly impregnated with gin, both to the sense of smell and taste, and even to the test of inflammability."

We earnestly wish that some benevolent individuals would unite to circulate information on the evils of spirit-drinking among our own population. The practice has of late become fearfully prevalent.

(see

SOUTH AMERICA.

A recent traveller in South America "Guatimala, or the Republic of Central America, in 1827-8,") writes: -"Walking through the streets of Guatimala one day, I was painfully surprised to observe a large statue of the Saviour borne on a platform by four men, and accompanied by ten or twelve wretches grotesquely dressed, and as absurdly masked, who were dancing before it in order to excite the mirth of the populace. Such is the temporising and worldly spirit of this Babylon of the nations, that the only reply I could get from one of her worthiest ministers to an indignant remonstrance was, ' We do not approve it, but it is necessary to give life to the festivity!' Perhaps there is no country in the world where religious processions are so numerous, or the great mass of the people so fanatical, as in Guatimala. In Buenos Ayres, Colombia, and Peru, and even in Mexico, the revolution has in this respect effected an important change; but here every thing remains the same as before, not a priest has been ejected, or a friar displaced." It is however added, that in secret infidelityis greatlyupon the increase.

VAN DIEMAN'S LAND.

Government has established a Savings Bank for convicts, in which to deposit their surplus earnings. The money which they may possess at the time of their arrival in the colony is to be taken from them and deposited in the Savings Bank for their ultimate use, with accumulated interest.

THEOLOGY.

5s.

Farewell Discourses. By the Rev. J. H. Stewart. Illustrations of Prophecy. 2 vols. Il. 1s.

Two Sermons on the Errors and Pretensions of the Roman Church. By the Rev. E. Rice.

Confirmation by the laying on of Hands,

MISCELLANEOUS.

Herodotus, translated from the Greek. By the Rev. J. Taylor. 16s.

An Analysis of the Second Decade of Livy, on two charts. By the Rev. F. Russell. 5s 6d.

An Exposure of the Jesuits; from the Foreign Review. 6d.

Analogy between the Natural and Spiritual Worlds. 8s.

India's Cries to British Humanity. By the Rev. J. Peggs.

Letters to the Young. By M. J. Jewsbury. 6s.

Lays of Leisure Hours. By M.J. Jewsbury. 5s.

A Geographical and Historical Account of the Great World.

KILDARE-PLACE EDUCATION

SOCIETY.

THE last annual Report states, that 8,7521. was received by the society in the last year in voluntary contributions; that 192 schools were opened without the aid of the society; that 1,500 schools are now in connexion with them; and that there were 124 applications for aid in erecting new schools. The children in five of the society's schools have been withdrawn by the interference of Roman-Catholic clergymen ; 1,600 children are now receiving instruction in the model school; and 11,392 children have been instructed in the model school from the commencement. There have been distributed in the year, 59,092 cheap books, making a total of 1,291,794 sold by the society since the commencement of its labours.

NEWFOUNDLAND SCHOOL

SOCIETY.

The committee of this most excellent society have sent us a statement, from which we learn that the increasing acceptance which their schools meet with in Newfoundland compels them to send out more teachers this spring, notwithstanding their treasury is exhausted. Their only resource, therefore, for the necessary supplies, in dependence on the Divine blessing, is the charity of the friends of religious education; to which they earnestly appeal. We have not space to insert the particulars of their statement

in our present Number, but the object most justly claims the immediate liberality of the public. We should be much pleased to learn that the society were encouraged to extend their aid to the whole of our North-American colonies, where their assistance is greatly needed.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. A committee has been formed for revising the tracts upon the society's list, with a view to amend such as need correction, to omit others which it is not desirable to retain, to add new ones where wanted, and in general to make the whole series more popularly interesting, as well as complete. We trust that much benefit will result from the appointment of this committee.

AMERICAN MISSION TO GREECE.

The American Board of Missions have determined to send a special agency to Greece and other places in or around the Mediterranean. Some of the principal objects of this agency are, to ascertain what can be done in Greece, both upon the continent and in the islands, to prepare the way for the full and regular performance of missionary labours; and how far the education of children and youth may be made subservient to this great end; and how far the government will sanction attempts to impart the benefits of education and religious knowledge to the people.

THE HON. SIR GEORGE GREY.

For the Christian Observer. TRUE religion, under every modification, is attractive and profitable. Whether it ennoble the character in the lower stations of life, or bestow on it that brightest of all ornaments, humility, in the highest; whether it appear in youth or in age, tempering the gaiety of the one and soothing the sorrows of the other; whether it soften the asperities of a morose spirit, or call forth and sanctify the emotions of a heart frank, affectionate, and generous; it never fails to be the subject of deep interest to all who take their estimate of good and evil from that Book, the mysteries disclosed in which angels desire to look into, and by which mankind will be judged. We have been led to these reflections by an event productive of deep regret far beyond the confines of an attached family and an extensive sphere, sensibly and immediately affected by it,-the death of the late Commissioner of his Majesty's Dockyard at Portsmouth, the Hon. Sir George Grey, brother to the present Earl Grey.

Sir George Grey spent the early part of his life in the duties of a profession which contains many persons of exalted rank, and has been adorned by no small number of individuals who have graced the annals of their country. To trace his course minutely through this period, is not our intention suffice it to say, that he fought in the year 1782 as Lieutenant of the Resolution, in the victory of Lord Rodney; and that he commanded the Victory, bearing Sir John Jervis's flag, in the memorable action off Cape St. Vincent. In the intermediate time, he served under Sir J. Jervis during the whole campaign in the West Indies, obtaining there his rank of Captain in the Admiral's ship, the Boyne. The confidence and friendship of that distinguished chief he long enjoyed : from whence it is easy to infer how great must have been his merit, not in personal courage merely, but in all those qualities which are required in a British seaman and officer.

In the year 1806, Sir George Grey was appointed to the superintendance of the Dock-yard at Portsmouth; a station which, if it were somewhat less brilliant than others he had filled, and might have aspired to, yielded to none as a sphere of substantial usefulness. He had previously occupied a similar post at Sheerness from the year 1804. In that responsible and important department, Sir George evinced the same wisdom, energy, and assiduity which he had before displayed in less quiet scenes, and which had raised him so

greatly in the estimation of Lord St. Vincent. Thus employed for twenty-two years, he proved himself a faithful and efficient servant of the public. But what is the approbation of man, compared with that of God, who first, and above all, is to be served? Yet to serve Him without loving him, or to love him without trusting in his Son and being influenced by his Holy Spirit, is impossible: and this trust is surely a pretence, where there is not a humbling consciousness of sinfulness, ignorance, and weakness. Thoughts of this kind, through the grace of God, began now to occupy the mind and to affect the heart of the subject of this narrative. We seek not to ascertain the exact time, which is very generally undiscernable, when this change took place. In him it was slow and gradual; but the effects began to be perceptible in the renunciation of worldly vanities, in the strict observance of the Sabbath, and in the Christian regulation of his household, not on that holy day only, but throughout the week. In his family, the voice of prayer was heard and the word of God read, as duly and as often as the morning and evening returned. A visitor could scarcely pass the threshold, without discovering that the fear of God was in his house. To the faithful ministers of God's word his doors were ever open their commission was recognised; their labours claimed. Christian friends and brethren also, especially on days of public meetings for the advancement of the glory of God, were there most hospitably and heartily received. The hand that holds this pen must be cold in death before the mind that guides it can forget the many happy sacred hours which have been spent under that roof, on those and on other occasions. Nor was this zeal for the glory of God, with this excellent man-or with her who delighted to share his pious labours, but has in the inscrutable providence of God been called to mourn, though not as without hope, over his beloved tomb--a mere occasional fervour, a periodical excitement. Together with concerns of a civil and official kind, acts of mercy and love, in which his valued partner abundantly shared, were ever in progress Whilst there was no slothfulness in worldly business, there was fervency of spirit in the more peculiar service of God. How many ships have been supplied by them with that precious treasure, the word of God, how many strangers have been succoured, how many children have been instructed, how many of the sick and destitute and dying have, through their instrumentality, been visited in their affliction, will be known