O come, let us worship and fall down: and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hands."

(5.) From Dr. Johnson's prayers, page 49.-"Almighty and most merciful Father, in whose hands are Life and Death; as thou hast suffered me to see the beginning of another year, grant, I beseech thee, that another year may not be lost in idleness, or squandered in unprofitable employment. Let not

sin prevail in the remaining part of life, and take not from me thy Holy Spirit; but, as every day brings me nearer to my end, let every day contribute to make my end holy and happy. Enable me, O Lord, to use all enjoyments with due temperance. Preserve me from unseasonable and immoderate sleep; and enable me to run with diligence the race that is set before me, that, after the troubles of this life, I may obtain everlasting happiness, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen."

(6.) "OUR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and Amen."

ever.

*It was the intention of the Editor to have given a part of the speech delivered in the House of Commons, on the unfortunate Demerara Transaction, as delivered by Mr. Brougham or Mr. Canning, which he took down in the gallery of that Honorable House; but the additional plate is now occupied by Blair's system, which it is hoped will prove of some use to the public eventually. Many young persons may naturally feel an eager desire to try their ability in reporting the parliamentary speeches; but they are informed that the door-keepers will not allow any but the regular newspaper reporters to take notes in the gallery.

THE ADVANTAGES OF SHORT HAND.

(Extracted from Gawtress's excellent Introduction to Byrom.)

SHORT HAND is capable of imparting so many advantages to persons in almost every situation in life, and is of such extensive utility to society, that it is justly a matter of surprise that it has not attracted a greater share of attention, and been more generally practised. With a view to excite a livelier interest in its progress, and to induce those who have leisure to engage with ardour in the study of it, we shall point out a few of the benefits resulting from it.

In England, at least, this art may be considered a NATIONAL BLESSING, and thousands who look with the utmost indifferance upon it, are daily reaping the fruits of its cultivation. It is scarcely necessary to mention how indispensable it is in taking minutes of public proceedings. If all the feelings of a patriot glow in our bosoms on a perusal of those eloquent speeches which are delivered in the senate, or in those public assemblies where the people are frequently convened to exercise the birth-right of Britons-we owe it to Short Hand. If new fervour be added to our devotion, and an additional stimulus be imparted to our exertions as Christians, by the eloquent appeals and encouraging statements made at the Anniversaries of our various religious Societies-we owe it to Short Hand. If we have an opportunity, in interesting judicial cases, of examining the evidence, and learning the proceedings, with as much certainty, and nearly as much minuteness, as if we had been present on the occasion-we owe it to Short Hand. In short, all those brilliant and spirit-stirring effusions which the circumstances of the present times combine to draw forth, and which the press transmits to us with such astonishing celerity, warm from the lips and instinct with the soul of the speaker, would have been entirely lost to prosterity, and comparatively

little known to ourselves, had it not been for the facilities afforded to their preservation by Short Hand. Were the operations of those who are professionally engaged in exercising this art to be suspended but for a single week, a blank would be left in the political and judicial history of our country, an impulse would be wanting to the public mind, and the nation would be taught to feel and acknowledge the important purposes it answers in the great business of life.

In addition to these inestimable advantages, Science and Religion are indebted to this noble art for the preservation of many valuable Lectures and Sermons, which would otherwise have been irrecoverably lost. Among the latter may be instanced those of Whitfield, whose astonishing powers could move even infidelity itself, and extort admiration from a Chesterfield and a Hume; but whose name alone would have floated down the stream of time, had not Short Hand rescued a portion of his labours from oblivion. With so many vouchers for the truth of the remark, we can have no hesitation in stating it as our opinion, that since the invention of printing, no cause has contributed more to the effusion of knowledge and the pro gress of refinement, we might almost add, to the triumphs of liberty and the interests of religion, than the revival and improvement of this long-neglected and invaluable art.

Such are the blessings which Short Hand, like a generous benefactor, bestows indiscriminately on the world at large. But it has additional and peculiar favours in store for these who are so far convinced of its utility as personally to engage in its pursuit. The advantages resulting from the exercise of this Science, are not, as is the case with many others, confined to a particular class of society: for though it may seem more immediately calculated for those whose business it is to record the eloquence of public men, and the proceeding of popular assemblies; yet it offers its assistance to persons of every rank and station in life-to the man of business as well as to the man of science-for the purpose of private convenience as well as of general information.

The advantages of Short Hand in cases where Secresy is required are sufficiently obvious. It is truc, that when a system is made public this effect is partially destroyed. Yet it seldom happens that stenographic memorandums fall into the hands of those who can read them; and when the writer has any reason to anticipate such an occurrence, it will be easy, after learning a good system, so to transpose a few letters of the alphabet,

and to vary its prepositions and terminations, as to render the writing illegible to all but himself.

The facility it affords to the acquisition of learning ought to render it an indispensable branch in the education of youth. To be enabled to treasure up for future study the substance of lectures, sermons, &c. is an accomplishment attended with so many evident advantages, that it stands in no need of recommendation. Nor is it a matter of small importance that by this art the youthful student is furnished with an easy means of making a number of valuable extracts in the moments of leisure, and of thus laying up a stock of knowledge for his future occasions. The pursuit of this art also materially contributes to improve the student in the principles of grammar and composition. While studying the rules of abbreviation and connection; while tracing the various forms of expression by which the same sentiment can be conveyed; and while endeavouring to represent, by modes of contraction, the dependance of one word on another, he is insensibly initiated in the science of universal language, and particularly in the knowledge of his native tongue.

The rapidity with which it enables a person to commit his own thoughts to the safety of manuscript also renders it an object peculiarly worthy of regard. By this means a thousand ideas which daily strike us, and which are lost before we can record them in the usual way, may be snatched from destruction, and preserved till mature deliberation can ripen and perfect them.

A practical acquaintance with this art is highly favourable to the improvement of the mind, invigorating all its faculties and drawing forth all its resources. The close attention requisite in following the voice of a speaker induces habits of patience, perseverance, and watchfulness, which will gradually extend themselves to other pursuits and avocations, and at length inure the writer to exercise them on every occasion in life. When writing in public, it will also be absolutely necessary to distinguish and adhere to the train of thought which runs through the discourse, and to observe the modes of its connexion. This will naturally have a tendency to endue the mind with quickness of apprehension, and will impart an habitual readiness and distinctness of perception, as well as a methodical simplicity of arrangement, which cannot fail to conduce greatly to mental superiority. The judgment will be strengthened and the taste refined; and the practitioner will

by degrees become habituated to seize the original and leading parts of a discourse or harangue, and to reject whatever is common place, trivial, or uninteresting.

The memory is also improved by the practice of Stenography. The obligation the writer is under to retain in his mind the last sentence of the speaker, at the same time that he is carefully attending to the following one, must be highly beneficial to that faculty, which more than any other owes its improvement to exercise. And so much are the powers of retention strengthened and expanded by this exertion, that a practical Stenographer will frequently recollect more without writing, than a person unacquainted with the art could copy in the time, by the use of common small hand.

In short, as Mr. Lewis justly observes, "this science draws out all the powers of the mind;-it excites invention, improves the ingenuity, matures the judgment, and endows the retentive faculty with those superior advantages of precision, vigilance and perseverance."

Mr. Blair observes that the affinity of s and ≈ is perceived in seal, zeal; of c, and g, in call, gall; of t, and d, in tame, dame; of p, and b, in pile, bile; of f, and v, in fan, van: ch,j, g, t, in chain, jury, gender; sh, z, s, c, t, in shall, sure, azure, leisure, precious, patience; x, ks, gs, in fix, necks, eggs, &c.

S. BENNETT, PRINTER, MARKET-PLACE, NOTTINGHAM.