On Thursday, October 8th, the Rev. George Rowley, D.D. and Master of University College, having been re-nominated Vice-Chancellor by his Grace the Duke of Wellington, and the nomination being approved by Convocation, took the oaths of office, and entered upon the duties of the Vice-Chancellorship for his fourth year, with the accustomed solemnities. The following Heads of Houses were afterwards nominated by the new Vice-Chancellor, to act as Pro-Vice-Chancellors during his absence from the University :— Dr. Jenkyns, Master of Balliol Coll. Dr. Gilbert, Principal of Brasennose Coll. PRIZES. THE NEW THEOLOGICAL PRIZES.The late Mrs. Eliz. Dennis Denyer, by her last will bequeathed a sum of money to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of the University of Oxford, in order to found two Prizes of Thirty Pounds each, for the two best discourses in English on certain theological subjects, which bequest could not be accepted by the University, the regulations of the testatrix being inconsistent with the statutes. By a decree of the High Court of Chancery, the sum so bequeathed by Mrs. Denyer escheated to His Majesty, who has since been graciously pleased to grant the same to the University by his royal warrant, directing that "the dividends thereof shall be every year supplied in equal moieties to two members of the University, for two several prize dissertations in English, to be composed on some of the subjects named in the will of the late Mrs. E. D. Denyer, such two subjects to be se lected yearly, and the Prizes in respect of such dissertations to be adjudged by the Vice-Chancellor, the two Divinity Professors, and the two Proctors for the time being." And His Majesty further directed that the persons who shall be entitled to write for the said Prizes shall be "in Deacon's orders at least, and shall on the last day appointed for the delivery of the compositions to the Registrar of the University, have entered on the eighth, and not exceeded the tenth, year from their matriculation; and also that the compositions to which the Prizes shall be from time to time adjudged, shall be read in the Divinity School on some day in full term, to be fixed by the Vice-Chancellor." The declaration of trust was approved by Convocation, and the University seal affixed to the same, on the 2d day of April, 1835. The subjects for the year 1836 areOn the Doctrine of Faith in the Holy Trinity. On the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for the Salvation of Man. The Compositions are to be sent under a sealed cover to the Registrar of the University, on or before Tuesday, the 1st day of March, 1836. None will be received after that day. The author is required to conceal his name, and to distinguish his composition by what motto he pleases; sending at the same time his name, and the date of his matriculation, sealed up under another cover, with the motto inscribed upon it. Mr. John George Sheppard, and Mr. Henry King, have been admitted Scholars of Wadham College, The Rev. Dr. Bandinel, as Principal Librarian of the Bodleian, has appointed Mr. John Norris Janitor of the Public Library, with the custody of the Picture Gallery and Arundel Marbles. DEGREES CONFERRED. In a Convocation holden in the Theatre on the 19th ult., the Honorary Degree of D.C.L. was conferred on the undermentioned distinguished personages:His Serene Highness Prince Ernest of Hesse Philipsthal Barchfeld. The Earl Howe, Chamberlain to the The Earl of Denbigh, Master of the Horse The Hon. William Ashby, Vice-Chamber- BACHELOR IN CIVIL LAW BY COMMU- Rev. Thomas Griffiths, M.A. Jesus Coll. BACHELOR IN CIVIL LAW. ELECTIONS. MASTERS OF ARTS. Rev. William Macleod, University Coll. BACHELORS OF ARTS. Rev. W. Sinclair, St. Mary Hall. Francis Secker Gawthern, Exeter Coll. CAMBRIDGE. The following gentlemen have been elected University Officers for the year ensuing. PROCTORS. Rev. G. F. Nicholas, M.A. King's Coll. MODERATORS. Rev. S. Earnshaw, M.A. St. John's Coll SCRUTATORS. Rev. W. Mandell, B.D. Queen's Coll. TAXORS. Rev. W. Potter, M.A. St. Peter's Coll. At the same congregation the degree of The following gentlemen have been admitted the Caput for the ensuing year :— The Vice-Chancellor. W.Webb, D.D. Mast. of Clare Hall-Divin. F. Thackeray, M.D. Emmanuel Coll.- T. Dickes, M.A. Jesus Coll.-Sen. Non R. Birkett, M.A. Emmanuel Coll.-Sen. The Rev. George Thackeray, M.A. of King's College, and the Rev. James Saunders, M.A. of Sidney Sussex College, have been appointed Pro-Proctors. At the same Congregation the following Degrees were conferred : DOCTOR IN PHYSIC. Fennell, of Queen's College, William May- J. F. Bernard, Corpus Christi Coll. The Rev. Thomas Myers, M.A. of Edward Herbert Bunbury, Richard Stevenson, William Forsyth, John William Donaldson, and Henry Goulburn, Bachelors of Arts, of Trinity College, have been elected Fellows of that Society. MASTERS OF ARTS. Henry Eley, St. Peter's Coll. The Norrisian Professor of Divinity has begun the first part of his Course, which will consist of Twenty-four Lectures. The Lectures will be continued every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, to the end of Term. MARRIAGES. At Fornham, Suffolk, the Rev. Mr. Edgell, of Hawstead, and of St. John's College, Cambridge, to Jane Esther, fifth daughter of the late M. T. Cocksedge, Esq. of Bury. At Whittlesea, the Rev. T. Bedford, to Hannah, daughter of Mr. John Russell, architect, both of that place. At Peopleton, Worcestershire, the Rev. Robert Sarjeant, M.A. of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and of Red Hill, near Worcester, to Sarah, relict of R. Bateman, Esq. Surgeon, late of Bengeworth. At St. Mary's, Islington, the Rev. John Hodges Sharwood, B.A. of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, and of Lambourn, Essex, to Maria, fifth daughter of Launcelot Haslope, Esq. of Highbury Lodge, Middlesex. At Hadley, Middlesex, the Rev. George Skinner, M.A. Fellow and Tutor of Jesus College, Cambridge, to Lucy, youngest daughter of Alexander Drury, Esq. of Hadley. The Rev. P. Hansell, M.A. Fellow of University College, Oxford, to Elizabeth Anne, eldest surviving daughter of the Rev. T. F. Corrance, Vicar of Great Glenn, Leicestershire. At St. Mary's, Bridgenorth, the Rev. John Purton, M.A. of Trinity College, Rector of Oldbury, Salop, to Sophia, daughter of the late Lionel Lampet, Esq. of Bridgenorth. Rev. David Morton, M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, Rector of Harleston, Northamptonshire, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the Rev. T. Morgan, D.D. Chaplain of His Majesty's Dock-yard, Portsmouth, and Rector of Llanvaches, Monmouthshire. Rev. J. S. Wilkins, B.A. of Queen's College, Cambridge, to Rebecca, youngest daughter of the late R. Hart, Esq. of Bishop's Hall, Hull. Rev. T. Wall, M.A. of Caius College, Cambridge, eldest son of R. Wall, Esq. to Louisa Elizabeth, youngest daughter of the Rev. J. Forster, Vicar of Tunstead, Norfolk. Rev. Robert Pulleine, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and of Spennithorne, Yorkshire, to Susan, eldest daughter of the late Hieronymus Burmister, Esq. of Burntwood Lodge, Surrey. Rev. E. B. Elliott, M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, Rector of Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, to Harriett, daughter of Sir R. Steele, Bart. The Rev. Lawrence Ottley, B.A. eldest son of Sir Richard Ottley (late Chief Justice of Ceylon), to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the Rev. John Bickersteth, Vicar of Acton, Suffolk. At Bisley, Gloucestershire, the Rev. John Keble, M.A. Professor of Poetry, and Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, to Charlotte, youngest daughter of the late Rev. George Clarke, Rector of Hampton Mersey, Gloucestershire, and formerly a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. At St. Helen's, Lancashire, the Rev. Stuart Majendie, B.A. of Christ Church, Oxford, Vicar of Longdon, Staffordshire, and third son of the late Lord Bishop of Bangor, to Mary Angelina, second daughter of the late Michael Hughes, Esq. of Sherdley House, near St. Helen's. Rev. George Maynard, M.A. of Caius College, Cambridge, third son of Captain Maynard, of Donyland Hall, Essex, to Emma, youngest daughter of the late Edward Shaw, Esq. of Russell-place, Fitzroy-square, London. Rev. George Allan, of Brompton, to Rebecca, youngest daughter of Robert Briant, Esq. of Stockwell, Surrey. Rev. H. G. Johnson, son of the late Sir J. A. Johnson Walsh, Queen's County, to Margaret, eldest daughter of the Rev. S. Jocelyn Otway. At Bromley, Kent, Herbert Jenner, Esq. eldest son of the Right Hon. Sir Herbert Jenner, and Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, to Maria Eleonora, third daughter of the late George Norman, Esq. of Bromley Common. The Rev. Dr. Greenwood, Head Master of Christ's Hospital, to Lucy, third surviving daughter of the Rev. J. H. Browne, of Hingham, Norfolk. The Rev. William Rigden, B.A. of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and of Fonthill, Wilts, to Sarah, youngest daughter of the late Jesse Gregson, Esq. of Wigsell, Sussex. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. We shall be happy to insert any similar communication from "J. D. W. L." Our thanks are especially due to "J. B." for the melody with which he has favoured us. In reply to the numerous inquiries for our forthcoming volume of Psalms and Hymns, we beg to say that we hope to have it ready by the 1st of December. If this can be accomplished, due notice shall be given by advertisements. THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. DECEMBER, 1835. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ART. I. On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation of Animals, and in their History, Habits, and Instincts. By the Rev. WILLIAM KIRBY, M.A. F.R.S., &c. Rector of Barham. Two Vols. 8vo. London: Pickering. 1835. Pp. cv. 406, and 542. WE borrow an exordium to our review of these excellent volumes, (the seventh in the series of the Bridgewater Treatises,) from the entertaining "Fragments of Voyages and Travels," by Captain Basil Hall, who writes thus:-"A stranger when he first goes on board a well-regulated ship, is apt to fancy the captain of little or no use, in proportion as affairs are well ordered; so it is not improbable he may, for a time, be confirmed in his error. Every thing appears to go on so regularly, so much like clock-work, that the officers and men, it might be thought, have only to follow an established routine, as the hands of a watch obey the revolutions of the wheels, and all will go right. Yet, in both cases, there must exist within, not only some powerful main-spring, to give the original impulse, but sundry nice 'balances' and 'escapements' to keep the movement uniform."* Indeed, atheistic reasoners, "similes sunt iis, qui Gubernatorem in navigando agere nihil dicant, cum alii malos scandant, alii per foros cursent, alii sentinam exhauriant; ille autem clavum tenens sedeat in puppi quietus."+ To silence those who refuse to acknowledge the providence of God, or fail to see in his "marvellous works" the manifestation of his character as a Creator infinitely powerful, and wise, and benevolent, the Pilot who safely steers the vessel which himself had made, and now continues to govern,-is the pious aim of our ingenious, learned, and laborious historian. Shall we venture to express a wish that the Rector of Barham were less ingenious, less learned, less laborious? Painful though it be to make this confession, the voice of truth extorts it from our lips. VOL. XVII. Fragments of Voyages, &c. Vol. II. p. 1. + Cic. De Senectute, § 5. NO. XII. 4 Y And yet, however his numerous readers, in their fond partiality towards an author from whose lucubrations they have gathered such an abundant harvest of instruction and amusement, may resent this statement as a contumelious aspersion of his fame, we feel assured that our pious author himself will readily pardon our temerity, and forgive the wish which we have uttered, in the full persuasion that we are actuated with no feeling of unkindness towards a writer upon whose diligence, and talents, and piety, it is impossible to set too high a value. Nay, we are convinced that our author will be amongst the first to praise our probity, as he would have been amongst the last to swallow a fulsome draught of unmixed flattery from the hands of undistinguishing friendship; and that he will adopt the wisdom of old Owen, who thus boldly addressed his readers, neither deprecating their criticisms, nor despairing of their favour; "Qui legis ista, tuam reprehendo, si mea laudas We could well have spared, then, we must acknowledge, the ingenious matter touching "the physical cherubim" in Mr. Kirby's elaborate Introduction to the volumes on our table. His strictures upon the atheistic hypotheses of La Place and Lamarck are excellent, but his disquisition on the interpretation of mysteries is too fanciful for our sober judgment; and, notwithstanding his attempt to demonstrate the contrary, we must pronounce it misplaced in this Bridgewater Treatise. Mr. Kirby contends, with much ingenuity, that the heavens and the cherubim, physically considered, indicate the powers that rule under God, either in his physical universe, or which, with regard to our planet, have power in his church, or over his people; and also those spiritual essences that approach nearest to him in the purity of their natures, and are the antitype of the cherubic forms. The cherubim are here esteemed to be the intermediate agents of the Deity, if we rightly construe our author, and to be types, moreover, of God's physical ministers, "the wind, the clouds, the fire, and the light," or the heavens in a state of action; for It seems probable, (writes our author) that one of the principal reasons why the cherubic symbols were placed in the adytum of the Jewish tabernacle and temple was not only to represent those powers that govern under God in nature, but likewise to indicate his supreme and only Godhead, and that his people were to beware of worshipping these powers or their symbols, because they derived so much benefit from their ministerial agency, but to worship Him alone who created them, employed them, and operated in and by them.-Introduction, p. xcvi. What connexion has this with the proper theme of the treatise under review? We must acknowledge our inability to see any. If the connexion be either none at all, or so little as to escape ordinary powers of * Joannis Audoeni Epigrammatum Liber Primus. Epigr. 2. Edit. 1682, p. 3. |