MARRIAGES. The Rev. George Reece, Vicar of Mathon, Worcestershire, to Anna Maria, eldest daughter of the late William Leacroft Freer, Esq. of Stourbridge. The Rev. John East, of Bath, to Mary Anne, daughter of Henry Brooks, Esq. of Wells. At the residence of the British Minister, Naples, Francis Jervoise Ellis, Esq. M.A. of Merton College, and of the Inner Temple, to Mary Frances, youngest daughter of the late Sir Wm. Knighton, Bart. At Norton Fitzwarren, the Rev. Thomas Orgil Leman, Rector of Brampton, Suffolk, and late of Worcester College, to Emily Antonia, second daughter of the Rev. J. Guerin, Rector of Norton Fitzwarren, Somersetshire. The Rev. C. A. Palmer, B. A. Student of Christ Church, younger son of the late Sir C. T. Palmer, Bart. of Wanlip Hall, Leicestershire, to Elizabeth Julia, youngest daughter of the late J. Finch Simpson, Esq. of Launde Abbey, in the same county. At Clifton, the Rev. Charles James Shaw, M.A., rector of Seaborough, Somerset, and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, to Christian Rose, second daughter of Captain Forster Maynard, of the Lower crescent. By special license, at D'Etroit, in the island of Guernsey (by the Rev. Thomas Brock, surrogate to the Bishop of Winchester,) William Maule Barnes, Esq. M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, to Rosa, eldest surviving daughter of John Savery Brock, Esq., and niece of the late MajorGeneral Sir Isaac Brock, K. B. At Christchurch, Marylebone, C. B. Rodwell, Esq., of Christ's College, Cambridge, to Ernestine Elizabeth, youngest daughter of the late Frederick Klingender, Esq., of Hackney. At Ballynakill church, Ireland, William Popham, Esq. B.A. of Oriel College, to Maria, only daughter of the Rev. Henry Fleury, Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of Lismore, and Rector of Crooke, in the diocese of Waterford, and granddaughter of the late Ven. Archdeacon Fleury. At North Hill, the Rev. Edward Fursdon, M.A. of Oriel College, Vicar of Antony, Cornwall, to Harriet Grace, eldest daughter of the Rev. Edw. Rodd, D.D. of Exeter College, and of Tubartha Hall, Cornwall. BIRTHS. At the Vicarage, Hinxton, the lady of the Rev. John Graham, of a son. At Walmer, the lady of the Rev. R. D. Backhouse, of a daughter. The lady of the Rev. Dr. Hawkins, Provost of Oriel College, of a daughter. At Bourton-on-the-Water, the lady of the Rev. H. Polson, of a daughter. At Torquay, the lady of the Rev. James Jerram, of a son. At the Vicarage, Allensmore, Herefordshire, the lady of the Rev. F. Merewether, of a son. At Shoreham, the lady of the Rev. W. Singleton, of a son. At Walton Rectory, Leicestershire, the Hon. Mrs. Hobart, of a daughter. At Brighton, the lady of the Rev. C. Goring, of Twineham, Sussex, of a daughter. At the Vicarage, Cockeram, the lady of the Rev. John Dodson, of a daughter. At Colonel Gooch's, Carleton, near Pontefract, the lady of the Rev. Miles Astley, of a son. The lady of the Rev. C. Childers, of Cutlery Parsonage, of a son. At Marine-place, Dover, the lady of the Rev. F. De Chair, M.A. of Oriel College, Rector of East Langdon, of a son. At the Grammar School, Tunbridge, the lady of the Rev. T. Brown, of a son. At Falmouth, the widow of the Rev. S. Mathias (who died recently), of a son. At Lahard, the lady of the Rev. J. C. Martin, of a son. At the Parsonage, Shepton Mallet, the lady of the Rev. F. T. New, B.A. of St. John's College, of a son. At the Vicarage, Somerton, Somersetshire, the lady of the Rev. W. R. Newbolt, of a son. At Dover, the lady of the Rev. W. S. Cole, M.A. of Worcester College, of a son. At Warmington Rectory, Warwickshire, the lady of the Rev. W. Harrison, of a daughter. At Stourton Caundle, Dorset, the lady of the Rev. R. D. Lagden, of a son. At Wilton, the lady of the Rev. John Phelps, of a son. The lady of the Rev. H. T. Powell, of a son. At the Vicarage, Rattery, Devon, the lady of the Rev. Joshua Reynold Johnson, of a daughter. At Prittlewell, Essex, the lady of the Rev. R. Eden, of a son. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. "X." with many other communications have been received, and shall appear in due time. THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. MAY, 1838. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ART. I.-Discourses by the late Rev. JOHN B. PATTERSON, A.M. Minister of Falkirk; to which is prefixed a Memoir of his Life, and select literary and religious Remains. With a Portrait of the Author. Edinburgh Oliver and Boyd. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co. 1837. 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. vii. 464; viii. 438. : We do not think, except under very particular circumstances, that the modern fashion of publishing the life and remains of every second-rate actor on the stage of life, is either judicious on the part of surviving friends, or beneficial to the public interest. We are, indeed, quite sure that the departed, if endowed with that humility which is thus ostentatiously paraded, and that dignified but retiring character thus held up to public approbation, would shrink from being made a stalkinghorse, under whose shadow particular opinions may be hazarded; would deprecate the affectionate but indiscreet zeal, which makes their efficient, but certainly by no means uncommon, discharge of religious obligations a theme of inflated eulogy, or sickening flattery. It cannot, at the same time, fail to strike the thinking portion of the public most forcibly, that these peculiarly brilliant meteors of the religious system revolve exclusively in the orbit of dissent. There alone are played "Such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep." It must not be supposed, from these remarks, that the volumes before us have no merit. On the contrary, we are quite willing to concede to Mr. Patterson, all he ever arrogated to himself; but certainly think his own estimate of his abilities, both as a scholar and divine, more accurate than that of his biographer; for instance, He used to allege, that a degree of heaviness and labour was visible in all his compositions, and that, even in his most rapidly composed popular addresses, he never could shake off the appearance of something operose about his style. And indeed we have sometimes thought that had he retouched and elaborated less, he would, as far as the pulpit was concerned, have gained more in force than he would have lost by the absence of that polished balance of sentences which fills the ear almost to satiety. We should also have liked a little more familiar and idiomatic English. Here and there too we may detect a Latinism, or some phrase or form of speech classical in itself, but startling to the mere English reader; sometimes also there is a richness rather than sweetness, a brilliancy protracted till it becomes fatiguing,-in his diction.-Vol. i. p. 232. And previously, it was said; We have indeed heard him charged with an elaborate and artificial style of preaching,—a manner too rhetorical and declamatory; but the objection never appeared to us well founded. It seemed the criticism of superficial observers, who mistook the majestic march of his language, and the natural magnificence of his thoughts, for the mere love of glitter and pomp, and an ear for flowing phrases and balanced periods. Such objectors seemed to us to confound the impulses of a powerful and capacious mind dealing with the stupendous revelations of the Gospel, and a loftiness of language flowing from the very subjectmatter of his thoughts, for an empty and frivolous parade of words, and a straining after effect. Nor did they sufficiently advert to the fact that his rich and gorgeous imagination drew much of its conceptions and imagery from the beautiful and the sublime of Scripture. In a word, they perceived not that he a popular philosopher, and a philosophical declaimer." His discourses were neither abstract nor scholastic; he did not deal in metaphysical subtleties and recondite speculations, but addressed himself to the common sympathies and understanding of his hearers. His sermons were characterised by clearness as well as depth of thought; by precision and vigour of expression, not less than by rich diction and flowing eloquence; by lucid arrangement, and by the grace and finish of the whole.—Vol. i. pp. 229, 230. was 66 Such is the panegyric of his biographer; and sorry are we to say, that, after a careful perusal of the volume, we are compelled to pronounce it, as far as the style of the sermons goes, totally unmerited: the fact is, heaviness and labour are the striking characteristics of his pulpit discourses, and every page betrays the appearance of something operose, of which, by the first extract, the author himself was perfectly conscious. Nor are we singular in our opinions; for, at page 252, we are more than once told, that "his popularity was not equal to his real merits :" which implies merely, that his too partial friend was dissatisfied with the verdict pronounced by the public at large, on the talents and acquirements of Mr. Patterson. Of the juvenile correspondence, and school exercises, little advantageous can be said; we have seen many far better, which judicious friends never thought of obtruding beyond the privacy of the domestic circle. Good, certainly, of their respective kind, and gratifying to the eyes of kindred love; but of no more interest to the public than an old catalogue, or a broken toy. We heartily wish we could speak with equal indulgence of some portion of the correspondence written at a maturer age, and when, if the biographer's estimate of his abilities and good sense were just, sounder opinions and more enlightened views would have prevailed. In the year 1828, it appears he proceeded to Oxford as tutor to Lord Cranstoun, and acknowledges that his reception was far more gratifying and liberal than he expected; that the head of the college called upon him, and invited him to his house; and that, although totally unconnected, in an academical point of view, with the University, all the treasures of the Bodleian and other great libraries and museums were freely open to his inspection. And how is this requited by the Edinburgh graduate ? Read his own account:--- - " He talked with great candour and liberality of the London University. The King's College he styles happily enough a mean plagiarism of another man's idea. I find, in general, that the King's College is much more unpopular in Oxford than the London University, though the Oxonians,-as the title of "King's" rendered necessary I suppose,-subscribed for the former and not for the latter. I called on the Dean of Christ Church at his own desire, and was very politely treated. Mr. C— tells me, that when he first proposed my residing here, bis reverence was afraid that the ruin of the University might be the consequence of such an innovation; and his right-hand man the censor of the college, touched upon the dangers of an "imperium in imperio." On Mr. C's giving his pledge, however, for my peaceable behaviour, they dismissed their terrors, and have both been very polite to me. I have dined twice at the public table of the college, or, according to the elegant academic phrase, “ eaten my commons in hall.' I was somewhat surprised and pleased to find so much more liberality of sentiment in the common-room of Christ Church than I had expected. The last petition from Oxford on the Catholic question, showed the growth of right feeling even within these monkish precincts; and, from what I see, those who still professedly adhere to the old system, are less willing than of old to proclaim their opinions and act the challengers in the fray.-Vol. i. pp. 186, 187. And again, "To say the truth, the Oxonian system, viewed merely as a process of instruction, abstractedly from its endowments and means of learned leisure, is, -as the world is beginning to find out-most wofully deficient; and that both in respect of the matter and of the manner of education. In regard to the former point, there are absolutely not the means in Oxford of a complete and liberal education, even for those who are inclined to make use of them: the only branch of study for which there are at all adequate appliances provided being the classical department. And even in this department the celebrity of Oxford does not seem to me to depend on the mode of instruction taken by itself, but on the inducements held out, in the way of honours and rewards, to proficiency in the first instance; and then to the establishments it possesses for the support of a great number of individuals whose profession is literature, and among whom it were strange if one or two should not be found who be came enthusiasts in their profession, and, having nothing else in the world to attend to, really profound and erudite scholars. This seems to me the true secret of Oxonian erudition; not that as a body the men brought up at Oxford are more learned, far less better informed, than the men educated at Edinburgh, but that Oxford does not, like Edinburgh, let her scholars go just at the moment when they have got over the preliminaries, when they have got the command of their tools, and might, if they were not called away to active service in life, begin to explore the arcana, and become initiated into the greater mysteries. Put up a hundred or two rich sinecures in Edinburgh for learned men, as such, and out of the hundred you will certainly find one or two in a generation who will turn these sinecures to their intended use, -the undisturbed cultivation of the pursuits of erudition. Whether the gain be worthy of the price is another question; but that is the way, if you wish it, to turn Edinburgh into an Oxford."-Vol. i. pp. 210, 211. We do not make these extracts with the view of defending Oxford against such utter trash as Mr. Patterson thought proper to write, and his congenial friend has deemed it wise to publish; but we wish to show the gratitude by which both were actuated; and the kindly and liberal feelings entertained by the philosophers of modern Athens towards the Christians of Oxford. For it must be borne in mind, that the author and publisher of the above passages was not looked upon as a novus homo, but as "highly gifted"-as "fitted to instruct and improve, as well as adorn society "-as possessing "talents likely to be exerted with the greatest utility to society, and, humanly speaking, with the greatest advantage to the Church of Christ "--and his death is called the " passing away of a glory from the earth." We have now, we believe, said quite enough to justify the opening sentences of this brief review: if, however, the subject were worth pursuing, we could extract numberless passages breathing any thing but that "Soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit," so loudly trumpeted forth by the publisher. He was, however, a general Reformer, and did not at all wish to confine the pruning-knife to Oxford. Writing to a friend, he says,— "I wish to devote my ecclesiastical life to the reformation of the Church; and especially to oppose and do what I may to subvert the grand corruption of the Establishment-the pretended necessity of the Church's giving effect to every legal presentation, irrespective of the probabilities of edification in each particular case. The church-courts have already begun to break down the moderate system, in this respect, by their decision in the ever-memorable case of Little Dunkeld; and I hope to see the day when the principle of the system and its practice shall be uprooted together."... "I don't know any thing that would probably be more useful to the Church than a good stiff breeze of peril, which would oblige it to set the vessel all to rights, to get rid of useless encumbrances, and make all the crew feel that the Church of Scotland expects every man to do his duty."-Vol. i. pp. 254, 255. Ohe! jam satis. We shall leave our readers to draw their own conclusions with respect to Mr. Patterson and his biographer from the extracts given above; previously deprecating the interpretation of 1 Tim. iii. 1—7, in which he would substitute Elder for Bishop, because |