visiting them, they have received several pounds, which have been placed for them in the savings bank; and it is not improbable, should they ever return to their native land, that they will be ranked among the most wealthy inhabitants of Lapland. Foreign Religious Intelligence. Ir appears by letters, lately received from Demerary, that two Methodist Missionaries, namely, Mr. Ames, of Mahaica; and Mr. Bellamy, of George-Town, have fallen victims to the yellow fever. These two Missionaries lived about 28 or 30 miles distant from each other, and were taken ill nearly about the same time, in which state they languished about a week, without having any knowledge of each other's situation. Mr. Ames died at Mahaica, on the 31st of October, 1821, and immediately on his death, a messenger was dispatched to George-Town, to make Mr. Bellamy acquainted with the melancholy event. On his arrival, Mr. B. was so exceedingly ill, as to be unfit to receive the disastrous intelligence; and the messenger, after waiting a short time, was compelled to return with the distressing information that Mr. Bellamy was no more. From the report of the doctors that attended them during their illness, it appears, that they caught this deadly disorder by attending a person when languishing under the same complaint. Mr. Ames has left a widow and two infant children, and Mr. Bellamy, a widow and one infant child. It is painful to reflect that, amidst the various benevolent institutions, and extensive charities, which have been established in this kingdom, no permanent provision is made for the widows and orphans of the instruments who sacrifice their lives in promoting the welfare of those to whom the general bounty is directed. Missionaries who leave their native land, their friends, and connections in life, and go into foreign regions to encounter dangers and difficulties, which can only be known in their fullest extent by actual experience, are entitled at least to the partial protection of those with whose charitable views they act in concert. Yet such we believe is the fact, that among all the religious denominations by whom Missionaries have been sent into foreign countries, no permanent provision has been made for their families, in case of their decease. This is an object which charity ought to embrace. We apprehend that Mrs. Ames and her children are entirly destitute: with Mrs. Bellamy's circumstances we are not acquainted. In the populous region of Demerary religion on the whole is in as prosperous a state as in most other districts of a similar description. Iniquity, however, abounds in a high degree; and many among the negroes, who would gladly receive religious instruction, are prevented by their task-masters. Such as can find opportunities to attend public worship, manifest by their conduct that they feel themselves interested in what they hear. At an annual collection, made in November last, the blacks alone contributed £27. 10s. to support the cause of God. One poor negro, who was suspected by his master of being tainted with Methodism, was transported to another plantation, about 25 miles distant, to prevent the contagion from spreading. He carried with him into this exile a Bible, and Dr. Watts' second Catechism, and on his arrival began to teach his fellow slaves. His word was made a blessing to several, and after an absence of three years, when some holidays occurred, he brought the fruit of his labour to the Missionary to be baptized. Provincial Religious Intelligence. THE Rev. Messrs. Watson and Taylor, two of the General Secretaries of the Methodist Missionary Society, together with the Rev. Messrs. Reece and Buckley, have, during the last month, paid a visit to Cornwall, to further the interests of the above institution. Meetings for this purpose have been held at St. Austle, Truro, Penryn, Falmouth, Camborne, Helston, and Penzance, where the vast crowds who attended, and the unusually large sums contributed, afforded substantial evidence of the strong interest excited on these important occasions. Edgecombe, Esq.; Jos. Carne, Esq. F. R. S.; Colonel Sandys; and Sir Rose Price, Bart. presided at the several meetings. Impressive and J. eloquent sermons have also been preached in the principal chapels in the country; and the best feelings of the heart have been engaged in this best of causes, which it is hoped will continue to receive unfailing accessions of strength from these fresh streams, now opened for its supply. REVIEW-Spiritual Recreations in the Chamber of Affliction, written through a protracted Illness of thirteen years, by Eliza. 8vo. pp. 225. London: Westley, Stationers-Court; Hatchard, Piccadilly; and Hamilton, Paternoster-Row. 1821. THIS is one of those works, which, from the calamitous situation of the authoress, the modesty of its pretensions, and the awful subjects of which it treats, disarms criticism of its power, and imposes silence where it cannot command applause. The parents of the writer, we learn from a plain but interesting preface, being in circumstances equally removed from affluence and indigence, were enabled to give their daughter a suitable education; but through the claims of a family of twelve children, and heavy losses in business, they were reduced to poverty. Eliza, on returning from school, devoted her time and talents to the instruction of female children, in her native village; but the confinement making inroads on her health, she was compelled to relinquish her charge in the spring of 1806; and in the November following, being about nineteen, she was constrained to retire from the world, through severe affliction, under which she has continued to languish, with but little intermission, from that time to the present. Her pious mother, now a widow, appears to be her chief earthly companion; and, in calm submission to the will of God, they mingle their tears together, enjoy in common each other's devotional feelings, and unite their prayers and praises to Him whose judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. The poems, which are eighty-three in number, make no pretensions to what those, who go on pilgrimage to Parnassus, would call exalted genius, or astonishing flights of fancy; but they contain excellencies which will No, 39-VOL. IV. be had in veneration, when the place where Parnassus stood shall be forgotten. Throughout the whole, they seem to be imbued with a spirit from on high; and, in a greater or less degree, a tincture of experimental religion may be discovered in almost every line. By the consolation which this has afforded, her soul has been kept in peace, under the gloomy dispensation she has been called to witness; and it is this which justifies the title she has given to her book. But although these poems lay no claim to any peculiar poetical merit, we should do the writer an act of injustice to insinuate that they are deficient, either in harmony or variety of versification. To prove the contrary, many specimens might be given; but to do this we are forbidden by our limits. One poem only can be introduced, which was written in February, 1820, in renewed remembrance of the affectionate services of a youthful female servant deceased. WHAT IS LIFE? a transient vapour, What is HEALTH? a glimm'ring taper, She, a healthy, smiling maid; Susan's wrapp'd in death's cold shade! Let our rebel-hearts be still. To dispute Thy sov'reign sway. Views the Lamb which once was slain; Yet, to think how once I knew her, Tears of sorrow dimm'd her eye; P. 142. Farewell! let me cease repining, Bow and kiss a Father's rod; Since above, dear girl, thou'rt shining, "In the City of our GOD!" This poem, we conceive, when taken in connection with the writer's condition and circumstances, is better calculated to make a favourable impression on the reader's mind, than to awaken any repulsive feelings. In all these compositions, the pious and the humane will find something congenial with their views; and we can assure them, that a further acquaintance with the volume will increase their attachment. REVIEW.-Cain; a Mystery, by the Author of Don Juan. 12mo. p. 93. London: Benbow, Castle-Street, Leicester-Square. 1822. THIS is an infamous publication, in which the characters of Lucifer and Cain are introduced, to give the author an opportunity of prostituting his splendid talents in the cause of infidelity. It is a dramatic composition. The speakers are Adam, Cain, Abel, an Angel of the Lord, Lucifer, Eve, Adah, and Zillah. The dialogue is conducted upon such principles as might naturally be expected from the author of Don Juan. Lucifer and Cain are the predominant characters; and the inevitable tendency of the drama is, to cast reflections on the moral government of God, and to bring Revelation into contempt. REVIEW.-Select Sermons, preached on the Death of his most sacred Majesty George the Third, and his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent. 1 Vol. 8vo. pp. 230. London. Sotheran, Little Tower-street, &c. 1821. ALTHOUGH the compiler's name does not appear, we are informed in the preface, that it was his intention to have collected and published in a more voluminous work, the most popular discourses delivered on the interesting occasions expressed in the title-page, without confining himself to either sect or denomination. Indisposition however, and other circumstances, compelled him to relinquish his primary design, and to send one volume only into the world. These discourses, which are six in number, were delivered by the Rev. James Rudge, Rev. W. B. Williams, Rev. Andrew Reed, Rev. T. Morell, Rev. S. Sleigh, and the Rev. James Buckley. not view every thing which relates to To an impartial observer, who does Royalty through political optics, these funeral orations will be found to contain a fair developement of character; while at the same time they furnish pleasing specimens of pulpiteloquence. Independently of these incidental circumstances, they contain a rich fund of valuable matter, which the mutations of novelty never ought to reach; but such is the general character of the human mind, that few will detach permanent truth from local application, if it should unfortunately stand in such a connection. When the novelty of any subject has subsided, the emanations of talent to which it had given birth, seem doomed to perish in the common grave. The clouds of oblivion embrace and envelop all. The illustrious names of George the Third, and of the Duke of Kent, will indeed be long remembered with veneration and respect; but even these, like every thing earthly, are destined to be forgotten, and while they remain they only ap pear "Like the flag floating when the bark's ingulf'd.' These discourses have many excellencies to recommend them to public attention, and their principal fault appears to be that of coming late into the market. REVIEW.-The Orphan Sisters, a Tale, founded on Facts. By the Author of Memoir of Mary Ann. pp. 36. Westley, Stationer's Court. 18mo. price 4d. Ir may appear to many, that to review a book of so small a price as the one before us, is an unworthy and useless task. To such we have only to say, that we are never governed by the culiarly fitted to the narrow capacities of children. Simplicity of style, which is Nature's undeviating rule, pervades the whole composition. The genuine piety, and holy zeal, which shine conspicuously through its pages, give it powerful claims upon the notice and regard of every person connected with the education of the poorer part of mankind. expense, but by the contents, of those the class of persons for which it is books which come before us for analy-designed. It requires only to be read sis. to be admired. The language, which Sunday-school tuition is an interest- is far from grovelling or vulgar, is peing as well as a momentous occupation to those who are more immediately devoted to its interests, while it is rendered still more important to those poor destitute children who reap its advantages. Education is a moral mean of training the young to virtue and to piety; and it is at the same time a powerful incentive to the counteraction of vice and immorality. We should be doing injustice to our own feelings, and violence to the precepts of the Gospel, which we profess to espouse, if we did not subscribe most heartily to the inculcation of such Christian sentiments. We cannot press too frequently upon the attention of the children in Sunday Schools, the indispensable necessity of duly observing the Sabbath-the avoidance of bad company, -rectitude of moral principle-gratitude to their teachers and benefactors, and a variety of other important truths and duties with which this little work abounds. For the accomplishment of these desirable objects, we recommend it strenuously and earnestly to the candid perusal of every person favourable to Sabbath-school instruction. We must not close our Review with The tale of the "Orphan Sisters" is simply this: Sarah and Eliza Marshal were the orphans of an affectionate and widowed mother, who, with an eye of maternal tenderness, anxious not only for their temporal but eternal interests, procured their admittance into a neighbouring Sunday School. Eliza received the lessons with attention and profit, while her sister Sarah despised the generous boon, and as-out stating, that there are one or two sociated only with the most vicious grammatical inaccuracies,(principally and depraved. Eliza, feeling acutely in the substitution of adjectives for the dreadful course which her sister adverbs) which are evidently not the was pursuing, (which would not only effect of want of knowledge on this produce disappointment and misery in point, from the general correctness this world, but ensure eternal ruin in with which the whole is written, but the next.) urged her by the command- from the habit of imperceptibly imments of God,-by the gratitude she bibing those false modes of expression owed to her teachers,-by the love of used by the uneducated, and which her own present happiness, and future unfortunately too frequently appear glory,-to turn aside from the path of in the writings of those who so beneiniquity unto the ways of righteous- volently devote their time and talents ness, "for her ways are ways of plea- to the improvement of the young. It santness, and all her paths are peace." would be an insult to our author's Sarah, gay and thoughtless, heeded judgment specifically to point them not her sister's salutary advice, say-out: at the same time, we are sure ing, that while she was young she the hint will be taken as it is intendought to enjoy pleasure, and when she ed; professing to keep in view nogrew older she would then attend to thing but the general good. the observance of the Sabbath, and religious duties. She thus continued REVIEW.-Memoirs of a Life, chiefly on the downward course, and the day passed in Pennsylvania, within the last of reformation never came; while Sixty Years. Cadell, London, 1822. Eliza, on the contrary, cultivated all the virtues and the graces of practical BIOGRAPHY is a science, which, of late piety with which Providence had en-years, has become very important; if dowed her; till, ripe for immortality, we regard it either as a mean of pecuHeaven marked her for its own. niary profit to the bookseller, or of instruction to those who aim to avail themselves of the experience of their predecessors. By it we are enabled Such is a summary of this engaging little history, which cannot fail in being productive of much good among nerally admitted, with certain exceptions. And when an author enters upon his task with a determination to do justice to the public, and executes his work with fidelity, then we must ever prefer auto-biography for the model of our study; because he has it in his power to inform us of what no other author can communicate-the motive that induced the action. In this light, our anonymous author arrests our notice. The principal ob to shun those allurements and temptations, and to emulate those honourable traits of character and virtuous example, which we see delineated in others: we bring before us different situations of vice, as it were into actual being. We grasp in one view, the beginning, the progress, and the end, of all that is lovely and of good report; and trace the varied links which form the concatenated chain of human existence, in all its diversified, ennobling, or debasing forms. In short, biogra-ject that he has had in view, is to offer phy is the ne plus ultra of book-making; to the public the most interesting debecause by this we learn how to live tails cognisant to his own view, of the -how to die. He who does not make war in which the Americans were enthis the principal object of his reading, gaged, when endeavouring to procure fails in that which is of the last conse- from Great Britain a recognition of quence both as to his well-being in their independence: and a more intethe present world, and his everlasting resting account of the causes which welfare in that which is not fleeting gave rise to the American war, and of and evanescent. its progress, when it had commenced, has seldom issued from the press. It was originally printed in America, about eleven years since; but it has lately been reprinted in London. "He builds too low who builds beneath the skies." Memoirs have poured in upon us from all quarters; but in the greater portion we cannot recognize those in- Our author, after some very excellent hate motives, those hidden springs of observations, by way of introduction, action, which it is the highest interest on the different motives which actuate of mankind to detect. We have bio- self-biographers in obtruding themgraphies of all kinds and descriptions selves upon public attention, states, of the statesman, the orator, the that he was born on the 10th of April, theologian, the warrior, the patriot; 1752, in the village of Bristol, Pennsyland from each we are enabled to cull vania. His grandfather and grandsome flower to bedeck our brows- mother shine conspicuously for their some truths to enlighten our minds tolerance, and it would be well if the -some picture to please our fancy-picture were more strikingly delisome portrait to warm and animate neated and exemplified. our minds-some action to admire or deplore some talent to astonishsome light to guide our benighted step. -But they are all, nearly without exception, too frigid and cold; they have all too much of the improbable, too little of the profitable, too much chaff, and too little wheat, to render them so pleasing, useful, and instructive, as they might have been. Many things are stated without a due regard to minute particulars; and much without the semblance of truth, and for no other purpose than what in too many instances appears to be the primary intent of the author, that of making a book. For no sooner does the pulse of a man of any note or estimation cease to beat, than the whole host of writers continually hanging about the suburbs of Paternoster-Row, are put in requisition. "The proper study of mankind is man," is a sentiment that cannot be too ge "While the tongue of my grandfather faithfully retained the character of its original dialect, that of his spouse, though in a less degree, bore testimony also to the country of her extraction; and while he, a determined Episcopalian, had his pew in Christ Church, she, a strict Presbyterian, was a constant attendant at Buttonwood meeting-house. No feuds, however, were engendered by this want of religious conformity; and if my grandfather sometimes consented to hear a sermon at the meeting-house, it might be considered as a concession on his part, for a sermon of Archbishop Tillotson, which was regularly read aloud by one of the family on Sunday evening." (p. 9.) There being no traces in our author's memory of any incidents worthy of remark during the period of his infancy, he passes on to the era of his removal to Philadelphia, for the sake of |