BRIEF NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Pictures of the Heavens. London: J. and C. Mozley. 1857. ONE of the newest of all studies, strange to say, is that of the nature of things immediately around us; but in that study we have made, within the last half-century, the most astonishing progress. The oldest of all studies is that of the heavens-probably that very learning of the Egyptians," in which Moses is said to have been so apt a scholar; and yet hundreds of thousands who walk abroad on a starry night are acquainted with scarcely a single constellation, except, perhaps, "King Charles's Wain," to which, possibly, may be added a pretty good guess as to the Polar Star-few, however, knowing that the Polar Star has not been the same in all ages. Now here is a little book, so full of clear and accurate knowledge, and, above all, so illustrated with diagrams, that every one who will give twelve hours to it may henceforth be as familiar with the face of the heavens as he is, or ought to be, with the map of England. And we commend the study especially to our young readers, not merely because it is a real disgrace to have so bright a page as that of the stars of heaven opened to them night after night, without being able to read it; but because, by scarcely any contemplation, as it appears to us, is the heart more easily and rapidly raised to the Great Architect of this "bright overhanging canopy." The mind may be harassed by objections to Revelations, which some cruel disturber of human happiness may labour to inject into it. Let him look abroad on the firmament of heaven, having learned something of the distance, the magnitude, the swiftness of motion of those stupendous lights; let him regard the precision with which they "know their place" and run their journey; and, if a man in his senses, he must be constrained to sing, with almost the only man who has touched the Psalms without injuring them, "The hand that made them was Divine." And then let him graft on the obvious wonders of this living orrery the conviction, out of which Dr. Whewell has laboured in vain to cheat us, that all these are inhabited worlds-that they are harmonious and obedient subjects and children of the Common Father, and we ourselves, it may be hoped, the only prodigals and wanderers of the family-and how can he fail to fall down and acknowledge his own utter insignificance and worthlessness, and the infinite majesty of the mighty Creator? We see, in the inhabitants of those innumerable bodies, not the "tadpoles" and "jelly fish" of the Cambridge philosopher, but armies of living and holy men, conspiring to lift an universal Hallelujah to the glory of God. A doubt may be raised as to the necessity of pub

lishing a new book on the Heavens.' But we believe that in no other work of the kind is there to be found so much instruction on this subject, so abundantly illustrated by diagrams, and at so low a price. And it must be remembered that almost every week is adding largely to the amount of astronomical knowledge; that Lord Ross's glass has introduced us into new worlds and systems; that we have a new comet almost every morning for breakfast, and that it would be well to be prepared for it before it dashes into our own orbit, and, if it be possible, to get out of its way. The Author gives us large instruction on all these points; and we shall be glad to find his little book in every schoolroom in England.

VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

FROM Spain, the intelligence amounts to nothing, except that she has wisely accepted the mediation of England and France to adjust the quarrel with Mexico; and that she is regarded by the "Univers" newspaper, in France, and by no one else, we should think, in the world, as likely to constitute one of the three Catholic Powers who shall, when England sinks, as she is sure to do, in the scale of nations, by her loss of India, administer the affairs of the world, and give to Popery its legitimate dominion over all the nations of the earth. With what extraordinary glasses Bigotry supplies its victims! The rest of the world can see little in Spain but vice, conflict, wretchedness and degradation. The Priests, who dictate the "Univers," discover all the indications of a rising and triumphant people.

From Italy we hear nothing except that the Pope has returned to Rome, and has bestowed marks of high consideration on some bakers, who had been the first to lower the price of bread. We must say that, with no wish, generally speaking, to multiply the stars and garters of society-and for this among other reasons, that they would lose all their value by being too largely distributed -such ornaments would not be bestowed less deservedly than on some occasions now, if the red riband blushed on the flannel jacket of a cheap baker, and the riband were applied to fasten up his stockings.

The Emperor of Austria has been chiefly employed in reviewing his armies; and whilst armies are kept rather for show than for work, and carry guns without percussion caps, it is not for others to quarrel with the military crowds which the Continental nations delight to discipline, clothe, and feed. In our own country human life is of too much value to allow of such an exhaustion of it on 'unproductive labour.

The King of Prussia appears to have lent himself very earnestly to the meeting of the "Evangelical Society" at Berlin. He and Chevalier Bunsen were present at sittings in which Dr. Nitch, of Berlin, addressed the assembly on the subject of the "Universal Priesthood" of Believers. If this means that every man has certain priestly duties to discharge, we suppose that all would concur with him; but if it means that every man is equally a Priest as to all points, we think that he would make few converts.-It has been too much the fashion to scoff at these meetings. It is perfectly true, that it is difficult to turn them to practical account; though we see that one of the resolutions, on the present occasion, was to apply to the Emperor of Russia, who happened to be at Berlin at the time of the Conference, for liberty to circulate the Holy Scriptures in his dominions. We can see, also, that in the benevolent and sympathizing feeling awakened at the moment of meeting in men of various minds, they may be tempted to make concessions and compromises of too broad a character. We cannot, also, but conceive that long addresses, in a language utterly unintelligible to many of the hearers, must be infinitely tedious and exhausting; and accordingly we find that, after some unusually long sitting, large numbers were stretched upon their sick-beds. But, notwithstanding these difficulties, we cannot doubt that the advantages of the meeting far outweighed the disadvantage, by the strong desire created to widen, instead of narrowing, the basis of Christian union, and multiplying the bonds of Christian brotherhood.

The addresses, &c., at the Conferences are, we understand, to be printed the German, we hope, with translations; and we have every reason to expect that much may be gathered from them for our common benefit. We trust that the travellers will not be tempted to suspect the stayers-at-home of any indifference to the great cause of Christian union. There are considerations which have prevented ourselves from becoming members of the Society; but we nevertheless have the profoundest respect both for the object and the agents.

In France, the Emperor has been much in his great camp, where he has received the Duke of Cambridge, and watched, we cannot doubt, with great interest, the manoeuvres of the finest army in Europe, and the main champions of his own authority. He is preparing for an interview, at the quiet town of Stutgardt, with the Emperor of Russia; thus going on to strengthen his personal intimacy with the crowned heads of Europe, and proving that a long pedigree is not essential to greatness. We think that the hour must before long arrive when he will feel it imperative to lay his Imperial prohibition on some of those outrageous Journals, such as the "Univers," the "Gazette de France," and the "Union," which, in the intensity of their animosity to England-rather theological, perhaps, than political-do not hesitate to call upon France and Russia to "lay aside all foolish scruples of honour and chi

valry, and not to play the fool, by letting so splendid an opportunity slip through their fingers." Such counsels, coming from the oracles of the double-distilled Papists in France, will not be thought to reflect much credit on their system. We are much concerned to see that the late debate in Parliament, issuing in a refusal on the part of the Government to give assistance towards the maintenance of a Protestant chapel in Paris, has led to the exclusion of large numbers of Englishmen from any place of worship in that metropolis. If ever the antidote which pure Scriptural religion provides against dissipation, folly, and Sunday abuses was necessary, it is to the English residents in Paris. But after all, we cannot condemn the decision of Government. Why should not the English residents in Paris provide a place of worship and a minister for themselves? The voluntary system must be even more rotten than we conceived it to be, if a large community, mostly of the higher classes, and with, in fact, scarcely any poor, cannot secure for themselves the means of Sunday instruction. We must express the hope that, supposing anything to be done, great pains will be taken to keep the appointment of ministers in proper hands. It was our own misfortune to hear from one of the ministers of the chapel now closed, one of the very worst sermons which, we should think, ever was preached.

In America, the commercial extravagances and other crimes and follies of men making haste to be rich," has led to a great monetary pressure. But the resources of the country are almost infinite, and their present noble harvest, with other like causes, will soon bring things round.

From Australia, the most interesting communication of the month has been that of the Bishop of Melbourne on the subject of Church Synods. We are as yet unconvinced that any synod which does not give large scope to the Lay element among its members will fail of its object. But the tempers of men may turn out to be better at the Antipodes than at home; and the judgment and candour of ecclesiastics may deserve unmingled confidence. We certainly read in the New Testament of one assembly of ecclesiastics who did good service. Since that period many such assemblies "have erred," and erred grievously; but eighteen centuries of experience may have taught us wisdom.

And now we come to the one absorbing theme of this month, as of every month since May, and we fear of many months to come-the state of our Indian Empire. Alas! alas! what a tragedy has been acted on that darkened stage! In the history of the world, considering the rank, character, circumstances of the sufferers, it is altogether without a parallel. This is not the case of one barbarous tribe rushing in upon another, and inflicting those horrors which the opposite party would have rejoiced to inflict upon themselves; but of an army pampered with indulgences, exhausting all the resources of falsehood, perjury, and blood

thirstiness, to inflict unheard-of abominations on men, women, and children. We ourselves should scarcely have ventured to complain if the Hindoos, robbed of their soil, had openly raised their standard, and said, "We will fight for the land you have taken from us;" but the stealthy assassination of officers, the ripping up of women, and chopping to pieces children in the presence of their parents--and this with the smile of friendship and allegiance within an hour on their lips-is a crime which calls for the heaviest penalties; and heavy, indeed, will be the bolt which will almost certainly fall upon them. We feel it would be an insult to recapitulate in these pages facts which are already stamped on the heart of every thinking man in the nation; and, even in the moment when we are writing, the rapid wheel of events may be hastening on fresh catastrophes, which might give the lie to all conjecture, and open up to us a still deeper pit of horrors. May God help the weak!-for there must be thousands in that blood-stained country who cannot help themselves; and anything short of an Atheist must feel God, and not man, is to determine when and how that strife shall close. We recur to a topic already referred to in former Numbers, and more formally discussed in the opening Paper of this month--viz., that we should not forget our own Christianity in punishing even the enemies of Christ. We are aware that those have been charged as wanting in patriotism, who lift up a hand to check the weapon of "Vengeance" as it sweeps over the plains of Bengal. But he is the highest of all patriots who strives to raise the moral character of his nation. And such is the intense desire of our own souls in the present awful crisis. We protest against cruelty, passion, indiscriminate slaughter. We implore Christian generals not to emulate the crimes of Nena Sahib. We invite them to draw the sword of justice, but to sheathe the hatchet of revenge.

Almost every man is busy in preparing his catalogue of fears and hopes as to India. Here is our own. The chief grounds of fear are, of course, the possible unfaithfulness of the Bombay and Madras armies; the deadly pest of cholera among troops exhausted by forced marches and intense anxieties; the universally admitted incompetence of the head of the Board of Control at home, and the second-rate powers of Lord Canning abroad. The grounds of hope, on the contrary, are the almost immeasurable superiority of the Saxon to the Eastern races; the valour, energy, devotion of both our officers and men; the certainty that disorganization in armies made up of such antagonistic elements as Mohammedans and Hindoos; the fact that Lord Elgin has gone, no doubt, by appointment, to the help of Lord Canning; the strong conviction that India is given to Christians for the purpose of her ultimate conversion; the prayers of devout men at home and abroad; and above all, the assurance that God is on the side of those who hope