community so inexhaustible a source of salutary reading.

"Your Committee would anxiously impress on every Christian, that he is but a steward of the oracles of God; and that it is his Christian duty to impart of his fulness to those who have need, and not to bury his talent. This is charity this is the love which approximates most nearly to the infinite love of Him, whose life was an uninterrupted series of labours devoted to bringing mankind within the means of salvation.

"As this Society has its origin in the very bosom of the Church;-as it has its progress under the auspices of the most distinguished Members of the Church-as the good produced by its exertions has been made in strict conformity with the discipline of the Church; let those who value the Protestant faith cling to our venerable Church, and her pious and rational formularies.

"In conclusion, your Committee earnestly recommend to the Members of this Society zeal in the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures-active investigation into the want of them among the poor in their own immediate neighbourhood; and unanimity in their designs and proceedings. Animated by these principles, a humble hope may be entertained that the divine blessing will prosper their labours."

HONDURAS SOCIETY.

We have also received a report from this Society. The exertions which have been there made on behalf of religion are highly creditable to the English residents, and are worthy of a place which can boast that it possesses the first British Episcopalian Church founded on the shores of Spanish America. This church cost £20,000 currency. If our brethren abroad generally manifested so excellent a spirit, the heathen world would be more readily converted.

SAWLEY ANNIVERSARY.

SIR, AS from the nature and objects of your Miscellany, I am persuaded you will be glad to hear of

any prosperous attempt made in the country, to advance the interests of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and of the education of the poor in connexion therewith; I cannot deny myself the pleasure of communicating to you the account of a meeting I have lately witnessed at the anniversary of a District Committee, at Sawley, in Derbyshire; and I do so the more willingly, because the Committee itself is entitled to no small share of praise, from the circumstance of its being established for a very small district, called the Soke of Sawley, a peculiar under the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield, consisting of only two parishes, with their three chapelries, where, but for an effort of laudable zeal, little could have been expected on account of the smallness of the sphere of action.

In this limited district, however, it appears by their second Report, that 80 Bibles, 70 Testaments, 211 Common Prayer-Books, and 553 Tracts, have been distributed during the last year; district subscriptions have been obtained to the amount of £40 and upwards; and above 600 children have received daily and Sunday religious instruction from the publications of the Society. On Tuesday last, the 20th of June, they held their second Anniversary. A very large and respectable congregation assembled at church; the most interesting portion of which consisted of 500 children collected from Sawley and the other parishes in the Soke,-the remaining 100 being prevented from attendance by their distance being too great for their age. An excellent and very impressive sermon, from St. Luke iv. 18, was preached, by the Rev. James Lowther Senhouse, Minister of Sawley, to whose exertions the success of the whole of this measure may very mainly be attributed. After church, the Committee, and other members and friends of the Parent Society and of the Committee, met, and the Report was read: books were distributed to the most distinguished children; after which, a dinner was given in front of the Minister's house (through the bounty of three individuals chiefly,) to the 500 children so assembled ; the younger ones having their dinners

sent them. A company assembled at the Inn at dinner, of between thirty and forty members of the Committee: the children returned to their respective parishes in the order in which they came; and a universal feeling of satisfaction appeared to prevail as to the successful and spirited manner in which the designs of the Committee were carried into effect.

Such, Sir, is a brief account of the proceedings. I was a stranger, and permitted to be a witness of this scene; and I cannot but persuade myself, that the knowledge of it, through your useful publication, would be gratifying to your readers, and might be interesting to other districts, as well as to the important Diocese (of Lichfield and Coventry) within the limits of which this Committee is locally situate. I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,
A LEICESTERSHIRE CLERGYMAN.

of these 69 are Boarders.

The master has reported that the general conduct of the children is good. The Annual Examination was held on Tuesday, March 21st, at which 171 children were present. The President, his lady, and family, honoured the meeting by their presence: there was also a respectable attendance of other ladies and gentlemen. The Venerable the Archdeacon consented to examine each class in turn; and, at the conclusion, was pleased to express a favourable opinion of the state of the School. The order of the scholarstheir knowledge of arithmetic, and

correct answers to the questions proposed out of the Catechism and from the Scriptures, gave very general satisfaction; and the whole scene was calculated to awaken lively anticipations of benefit to the country at large from this Institution.

Of the children who have, at different times, left the School, the Committee cannot, in all cases, obtain a satisfactory account. Some are known to be conducting themselves to the entire satisfaction of their employers; but the settlement of others cannot be traced. As it will always be desirable to follow the persons educated at the Central School to their respective branches of business, and ascertain the progressively improving influences of early and right culture on the mind and character, the Vestry of the parish of Saint Michael have resolved, in future, to apprentice out, by articles of indenture, on their leaving School, whatever children shall have been educated out of the parochial funds. Being thus indentured to their several employers, they will at any future period be easily traced, and an opportunity will thereby be afforded of discovering what their behaviour and success in life may have been. Should the example of the Saint Michael's Vestry be followed with respect to the other children, as the Act incorporating the Society expressly authorizes to be done, the Committee will hereafter be enabled to bear certain testimony concerning the conduct of all the children who shall have left the School.

One of the most important advantages which were expected and intended to result from the establishment of the Central School, was the training of persons to take charge of Parochial Schools on the national system of education. This system is now in complete operation in the parish of Saint Lucy, in that of Saint Andrew, and in a School for coloured children in Speight's Town, under masters who were prepared at the Central School for undertaking their charge; and will soon be introduced into a large School, established in the parish of Saint James, for the advantage of that parish, and the adjoining one of Saint Thomas, under a master who is now attending the classes at the Central

School. The Committee indulge the pleasing anticipation, that in course of time the same system will be adopted in all the parishes; and thereby all the children of the poor throughout the Island be educated, on this system, in the principles of the Established Church, and qualified, under the blessing of God, to be religious and useful members of the community.

The amount of the funds at the disposal of the Society, as appears from the Treasurer's Account, is £901 11s.

The Committee feel assured that the great expenditure occasioned by the additional establishment, will meet the approbation of the Governors, and of the Society in general. To the Divine blessing on the wonted liberality of their countrymen and countrywomen, they commend, with all humility, their well-meant endeavours.

The Committee cannot conclude this statement without desiring to express their sense of the Divine mercy in the many useful and charitable Institutions which have arisen in the Island during the last few years; and they humbly trust, that the solicitude excited in the public mind to promote Christian knowledge and practice among all classes of the community, will continue to operate, and to abound more and more to the glory of God and the good of their fellow-creatures.

EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF THE GRENADA DISTRICT COMMITTEE.

IN making their first Annual Report, the Grenada District Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, have a pleasure in stating that a letter has been received from the Secretary of the Parent Society in London, conveying their "cordial and unqualified approval" of the Resolutions adopted at the first formation of this District Committee. Having thus commenced their proceedings "in strict conformity with the wishes of the general Board," the Committee will endeavour, in compliance with the original intention and design of the Institution, to promote by every means in their power the diffusion of Christian knowledge among all orders; but

especially among the poorer classes of society. For this purpose they unite the labours of the Clergy and the Laity, and are anxious to derive assistance from every quarter. Placed immediately in communication with the Bishop of the Diocese, the District Committee, comprising as it does a large proportion of those who possess property and influence in the Island, will ever be ready to second his Lordship's efforts for the advancement of true religion, and for communicating to all persons of every colour, under their controul, those consolatory truths which are alike important to the richest and the poorest. In bestowing the benefits of religious instruction upon the lower classes of society, the District Committee wish to mark their opinion, that one of the most important steps which can be taken, is the establishment of day schools for the children of the poor white, free coloured, and free black population. They feel a satisfaction in observing, that more than eighteen months ago, a school, with this especial object in view, was established in the town of St. George: in this school, 95 boys and 43 girls, making a total of 138 poor children, are instructed under a master and mistress; the former of whom has been trained in the system pursued by the National Society. To extend this plan of education to the smaller towns of this colony for the same portion of our population, would be an object most beneficial and desirable, and for the effecting of which, the District Committee hope for the assistance of the mother country.

With respect to the slave population, peculiar obstacles appear to present themselves to any rapid diffusion of scriptural truths among them in this Island. They very generally retain the religion and the language of their former masters--the French; and while on the one hand the pomp and forms, the festivals and indulgences of the Roman-catholic religion are especially adapted to their feelings and uncultivated intellect,- on the other hand, it is scarcely possible, without an interpreter, to communicate, in their broken and corrupted French, the plain, wholesome, and practical truths of Christianity. Here again it appears