11.-A Journey from Naples to Jerusalem by way of Athens, Egypt, and the peninsula of Sinai, including a trip to the Valley of Fayoum, &c. By DAWSON BORRER, Esq. London:

Madden and Co.

THE author of the volume before us is conscious that he cannot boast of extensive erudition, or of any very remarkable grace of style, but he is of opinion that the high interest of the scenes through which he has roamed will afford a sufficient justification of the publication of his notes. In this we think that few will be disposed to differ from him; and on the whole, though there is perhaps little of novel information or of research in his pages, they are not deficient in amusement and interest. The author (if we understand him rightly) appears in a vignette at the close of the Preface, indulging in a siesta "after a bath ;" and certainly looks so comfortable, and in such perfect good humour with himself, that the reader's sympathies can scarcely help being enlisted. Mr. Borrer is a sportsman, and we extract the following passage in illustration of his descriptive powers:

Apart from my companions, after a sharp campaign against the wild fowl, I sat down on the borders of the lake, and munching a piece of dirty Arab bread by way of lunch, struck the spur into the wild steed Imagination,' giving her full rein. . . . suddenly I pulled her up with asic transit gloria mundi' kind of check, and leaping on my feet fired both barrels of my trusty fowling-piece into a flock of whistling avosets far overhead, and of this most elegant and curious bird I brought down two, one of which is now in a cabinet in England, and the other we had next morning fried. Such birds are not at all unpleasant food, though in my own country they would be thrown aside as unorthodox. I have at times eaten hawks; and many an owl may be seen hanging in an Italian market, which, perhaps, are not so dainty morsels as some other birds; but nearly all of the winged and feathered tribe, of what nature or kind soever, are very acceptable to a traveller who has an unstored larder."-pp. 218, 219.

This volume will enable those who do not require much excitement to pass a few hours pleasantly enough.

III.-Discourses on Public Education. By CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D.D., Canon of St. Peter's, Westminster, &c. London: Rivingtons.

THE discourses comprised in this volume were delivered at Harrow School, over which the learned author presided for several

years; and they are consequently especially addressed to scholars. This circumstance, of course, gives to the sermons a peculiar character. They abound in classical and historical allusions, and they deal with several questions of Christian morals in a mode which would be quite impracticable elsewhere. But to those who are more immediately connected with public schools, whether as instructors or scholars, we are sure that the discourses now before us will be of very great interest and value, replete as they are with sound principle, and high views of Christian duty, and carrying with them all the evidences of a mind deeply stored with classical and theological learning. The sermons are on such subjects as the following:-" On the duty of schools in the present times. The uses of human simplicity to religion.-The uses of human learning to religion.-How is the true Church to be discerned. The practical uses of instruction concerning the Church. -The relations of school discipline to Church discipline.-Selfsacrifice for Divine worship.-The history and use of catechising in Christian schools.-The young communicant," &c. We have been particularly pleased with the discourses on catechising, and on prizes in education. In the latter it is observed, that these distinctions are to be esteemed as means not ends.

"But in this lower world, while we are compassed with human infirmity, we require the assistance of external and tangible means. . . . Hence you understand the nature of the visible and immediate rewards which are proposed, my younger brethren, to your own intellectual exertions. They are, as it were, condescensions and accommodations, made in a spirit of tender love to your human nature by the parental spirit of the institution to which you belong. The false notions which confounds these means with ends, lead to many other fallacies, and to one especially, which is very common and very pernicious, namely, that prizes are instituted for the sake only of those who gain them. This is a fundamental and very unhappy error. If prizes were ends, this opinion would indeed be just; but since they are means alone, nothing is farther from the truth than that supposition. It would be more correct, on the contrary, to say that prizes are instituted rather for the sake of those who do not gain them, and who have no prospect of gaining them, rather than for those who do."-pp. 185, 186.

The discourse on the study of Horace and Aristophanes discusses with much thought and ability the question, as to the advantages and disadvantages of reading those heathen works in which vice is so offensively referred to.

IV. How shall we conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England? By JAMES CRAIGIE ROBERTSON, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, Curate of Boxley. (Second Edition, corrected and enlarged.) London: Pickering.

MR. ROBERTSON's work on the rubrics of the English Ritual is so .well-known to the Church, that it cannot be necessary for us to enter on a particular examination of its contents. It demonstrates that in practice the ritual directions of the Church have not, as a general rule, been strictly adhered to in all points. We think that it is desirable to have this understood and admitted, because it certainly goes far to remove any such sense of degeneracy, arising from a comparison of existing practices with the requirements of the Church, as might tend to diminish our attachment to the Church. In truth, this defectiveness is not peculiar to the present age; nor to the ages since the Reformation; nor to the Anglo-Catholic communion. It would be easy to point out the same sort of irregularities in other Churches, and in times which are held up to our admiration as the purest of all. Mr. Robertson, if we understand him rightly, is very far from wishing that the rubrics should not be observed, and abuses of all kinds corrected; but he is anxious to show that the Church allows her ministers to proceed cautiously and gradually in the work of reformation. His conclusion is as follows:

"That the Book of Common Prayer expresses what is for the present the true ideal of the Anglican system, rather than any thing which has been generally realized; that while a conscientious clergyman will strive after the realizing of it, he is not bound to put every thing in practice at once, if there be difficulties in the way from the circumstances of the time, from prevailing notions and tempers, but is at liberty to go to work gradually and certainly," &c. p. 9.

In principles thus laid down it is impossible not to concur; but at the same time, it is of course very possible that difficulties may be overrated by individuals; and their existence is not to prevent the attempt being made to overcome them-and made too with zeal and perseverance. Mr. Robertson's book is one which ought to be in every theological library.

v.-The History of British India from 1805 to 1835. By HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, M.A., F.R.S., &c. Vol. I. London: Madden and Co.

THE Volume before us is the first of a work which is designed as a continuation of Mill's History of British India. It was under

taken under an impression, that the writer's familiarity with the general course of events from the period at which Mill's history terminates, derived from a residence in Bengal during those years, would render the task comparatively easy. But the importance of the work before him rendered it incumbent on the writer to examine not only the voluminous manuscript records of the India House, but considerable portions of those records printed by authority of Parliament and of the Court of Directors, as well as the numerous published accounts of persons engaged or interested in the events of which they narrated. These laborious researches have delayed the publication of the first volume of Professor Wilson's history to the present time. We feel sure, however, that the public will readily excuse a delay which has issued in the publication of the authentic and ably written volume which has recently made its appearance, and which includes the history of India and the adjoining states, so far as they are connected with British India, from 1803 to 1813. The historical incidents of this period are not perhaps of the same striking character as those of former and later times; but the manner in which they are treated by Professor Wilson is most clear and able; and we are indebted to him for a masterly survey of the internal system of India under the administration of Lord Minto, which will not be deemed the least valuable part of his work. On the whole, it appears to us that the volume now before us is quite worthy of the reputation of its distinguished author.

VI.-Pictorial History of the Old Testament, for the use of the Young, &c. Edited by the Rev. G. E. BIBER, LL.D. London: Rivingtons.

THE design of this work is such as must commend itself to every parent's attention and interest. It is the opinion of the editor, that the foundation of a knowledge of the great truths and leading facts of Revelation may, and ought to be laid in a child's mind long before a judicious parent would subject it to the drudgery of reading and spelling; and with this view, "the History of the Old Testament" before us, was drawn up by the editor, for the instruction of his own child, in the words of Scripture, introducing occasionally passages from the New Testament, which serve to explain or to complete the statements of the Old Testament. We must say, that as far as we have been able to examine the work, it appears to be very admirably executed; and we have no hesitation in recommending it to our readers' particular attention. It is enriched with wood-cuts, some of which are very good.

VII.-Parochialia; or, Church, School, and Parish. The Church System, and Services, practically considered. By JOHN SANDFORD, M.A., Vicar of Dunchurch, Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Worcester. London: Longmans.

THE author of this volume observes in his preface, that never since the Reformation have the concerns and probable fortunes of the Church taken such hold on men's minds. With reference to the present state of opinions in the Church, he remarks, that

"Some regard it simply with alarm. The restoration of her fabrics; the increased energy of her clergy; the desire for order and uniformity in her ritual, and for the revival of her discipline; the greater frequency of her services; even the higher and more devout appreciation of her sacraments, are viewed by them with jealousy and apprehension. Nor can it be denied that grounds have been furnished for suspicion, and that the recent movement amongst us has been characterized by not a little indiscretion and extravagance; nay, even in some instances, by a grievous departure from sound doctrine and a lack of common principle. We have not only witnessed defections from our communion; but have heard doctrines expressly disallowed by our confessions advocated from our pulpits; have had our institutions disparaged, our reformers vilified, and our articles of faith both covertly and openly impugned, by men who still retain the orders of our Church and eat her bread. There are, however, many, -and these of the most approved attachment to our Church,-who are full of hope about her future destinies. They are neither disheartened at what is now transpiring within her pale, nor at a loss for a solution. They view it as the natural result of a powerful re-action, as the troubled surface of waters which have been deeply stirred, as presages of an improved spirit and of enlarged usefulness. And much as they deplore individual cases of extravagance, and admit the need of that wisdom which alone can direct the Church at this important period of her history, they cannot regret that an age of energy and inquiry has succeeded a long night of secularity and torpor."-pp. 5, 6.

Mr. Sandford is of opinion that the evangelical school rendered several important services to the Church, but that their system was imperfect and erroneous; and that it remained for the succeeding generation to exhibit Church principle in connexion with its results, and without party associations. He is of opinion that the path of safety and usefulness lies between Latitudinarianism and Tractarianism;" and is desirous of promoting mutual charity and the effectual discharge of ministerial duty without "an undue exaltation of forms."

The work is arranged under the following principal heads:-"Church Restoration-Pews-the Church, and School-buildingVOL. III.-NO. v.-MARCH, 1845.

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