ἀνήκοντος ἀκρωτηρίου φασὶ θεωρεῖσθαι την Ἰνδικὴν ἀέριον, διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τοὺ διαστήματος, which is thus translated, p. 99:-' From a promontory of this island towards the East, it is said the Indian haze can be just observed through the distance.' This has nothing to do with Indian, or any other, haze; it merely means, 'India can be seen, lifted up, as it were, in the air, by reason of its distance.' We cannot class the present as other than a mere theory, to read the amazing riddle of Stonehenge. A grove, for example, was necessary to the Panchæan worship. Can any one believe that Salisbury Plain was ever a forest? To support his theory, Mr. Grover has again mistranslated Diodorus: either he sees everything with a trilithic eye, or his Greek is wofully deficient: ὁ δὲ vaòs, says Diodorus, (c. 44,) speaking of the great Panchæan, or Cingalese, temple, ὑπῆρχειν ἀξίολογος ἐκ λίθου λευκοῦ, τὸ μῆχος ἔχων δυοῖν πλέθρων, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ἀνάλογον τῷ μῆκει· κίοσι δὲ μεγάλοις καὶ παχέσιν ὑπήρειστο. 'The temple itself claims particular admiration for its white stone, of which the length is two plethra, or 200 feet, and the breadth in proportion: this stone is supported by large massive pillars,' &c. p. 106. A prodigious block indeed! Well may the astounded interlocutor, for the book is written dialogue-wise, express some doubts about ' a single stone of such enormous proportions!' Mr. Grover lives very near Eton; we beg to suggest that the next time he wants his Greek translated, he had better send for a boy from the lower fifth, who would tell him that the above passage should run: 'The temple, built of white stone, is very remarkable, being (i. e. the temple, not a white stone,) two plethra long, and of a proportionate width; it (the temple) is supported by large massive columns.' With all his singularity of view, no candid mind will deny Mr. Sewell the credit of a sincere and earnest devotion to the Church, and a readiness to sacrifice in her service, time, money, and energy. The stamp of his handiwork, though it may sometimes provoke a smile, ought never to raise a prejudice of condemnation. And works of such magnitude as S. Columba's, and S. Peter's at Radley, undertaken at so much cost, and in so free and generous a temper, may well expect more than a hasty consideration. If we are debarred from stating some of the practical difficulties which are likely to interfere with such institutions, when the vivida vis of the founder is withdrawn, we may frankly own that their general object-the establishment of a school on a true Church model-cannot be too highly commended. The energy of Mr. Sewell, the noble self-sacrifice of some of his assistants in the work, demand our love and admiration. If it is difficult to hope, it is impossible not to wish, for complete success. The characteristic Journal of a Residence at S. Columba,' by the Rev. W. Sewell, (J. H. Parker,) will produce interest in every reader-a smile, perhaps, from not a few. However, the grotesque is on the surface; the real and religious is pervading and penetrating. Mr. Keble's affecting Prayer for Unity'-so well known to the readers of the valued preface to his recent volume of Sermons-has been printed for use in a detached form, (J. H. Parker.) 'Claudia and Pudens,' (Rees) by Archdeacon Williams, is an attempt to show that Claudia (2 Tim. iv. 21) was a British princess. From America we have received the important' Journal of the General Convention, 1847.' New York: (Dana.) It is quite plain that in the way of consolidating and enlarging Church principles, this synodical meeting exceeds its predecessors. The case of Bishop Onderdonk remains in painful perplexity. Were we disposed to be critical, we should regret in our daughter-Church an over anxiety to be legislating. De minimis non curat lex, is a good maxim. Perpetual revisions cannot meet every possible case; and we suspect that what the United States want, is rather a recognition of the principles of the settled ecclesiastical law of our universal Christendom, than an over anxious solicitude to meet, or to anticipate, difficulties in their isolated shape.- The Ends and Objects of Burlington College,' (Morris) is an animating lecture, by Bishop Doane, which esteemed name reminds us of the important mission of Dr. Ogilby on the subject to this country. The Bishop of New Jersey is just the character to whom belongs of right the honour of building up the whole cycle of Christian education on Church-principles; it is due to his warmth of spirit. We believe that the American Church is ripe-at least in its more favoured aspects-for a fuller development than it has yet ventured on. As such, we hail the collegiate scheme, already known widely, and, as we trust, to be generously supported.-From Dr. Ogilby himself, we have received an introductory 'Address to the Students,' (Dana) delivered at the annual matriculation of the General Theological Seminary, the institution of which Dr. Ogilby, as Professor of Ecclesiastical history, is a distinguished ornament. - Two Church Almanacks, one published by the Tract Society, and one by Stanford and Swords, have also reached us. Dr. Peile, of Repton, is publishing 'Annotations on the Apostolical Epistles.' (Rivingtons.) Parts I. and II. on the Romans and I. Corinthians have appeared. The Gospel Narrative of Our Lord's Ministry,' (Rivingtons), is another volume of the delightful series, now six in number, of Mr. Isaac Williams' deep and most religious commentary. It is too well known and valued to demand more than an announcement. The excellent series of 'Decorated Windows,' (Van Voorst,) undertaken by Mr. Edmund Sharpe, only wants the ninth and concluding part, too long delayed, of its completion. If mouldings constitute the scholarship of ecclesiastical architecture, in window tracery consist its rhythm and cadences. There is something as satisfying to the eye, as absolutely refreshing and physically delightful, in following the graceful curves of decorated tracery, almost playfully reproducing themselves in an endless, yet always graceful variety, as in listening to the swell and pause, the rise and fall of Virgil's metre. The mechanical skill showed in the engravings, is only equalled by the taste which the selection of examples evinces. 'A Vindication of the Church of Scotland, in reply to Mr. Drummond,' (Ollivier,) and 'A Critical Analysis,' &c. (Ollivier,) both by Mr. James Christie, of Turriff, are highly satisfactory pamphlets. If anything, which we doubt, could convince those for whom they are written, these publications would do it. On the Scotch Church question, we also recall a sensible and valuable pamphlet, by Mr. Robert Montgomery, 'The Scottish Church, and the English Schismatics. O si sic omnia! A third edition, 'The Gospel in advance of the Age,' (Edinburgh, F. Clark,) by the same writer, professes 'to have adopted a more subdued tone of controversy, and to have removed certain acrimonious expressions.' If this be a diluted edition, the reader must draw a formidable inference as to the strength of the undiluted one. Mr. Webb's long-promised work, Continental Ecclesiology,' (Masters,) has appeared in a sumptuous form. The two concluding parts of Mr. Blackburn's handsome work on 'Decorative Painting,' (Williams,) equal their predecessors in beauty of illustration-perhaps exceed them in the quality of the descriptive letter-press. Great pains and research are shown throughout the series; though we still have to regret some unscholarly words, such as 'tempo,' 'nomal,' &c. A second volume we find promised: and the work, new of its kind, deserves encouragement. 'Noctes Dominicæ, or Sunday-Night Reading,' compiled by the Hon. Sir Edward Cust, (Rivingtons,) we have only just received. Enough, however, we have seen entirely to sympathize with the author, though ' a man of the court and camp,' in his wish to produce a work of selections suited for family use on Sunday evenings. There is a simplicity and earnestness in the writer's, or rather selector's, address which commends itself. The title is not over well chosen: reminding, as Sir Edward admits, of certain Noctes Ambrosianæ.' Soldier-like, however, he is not to be frightened at such an association: but, in a straightforward manly way, he announces himself to be neither Sabbatarian nor Puritan, but 'an Anglican to the bottom of his heart,' with cheerful views of the Sunday: Patrick, Wogan, Louth, Horne, and Jones of Nayland, whose marginal names we observe, ar a guarantee for the doctrine. The Choral Responses and Litanies of the Church of England,' &c. (Bell), by Mr. Jebb, being authentic recensions of various Litany Chants hitherto preserved traditionally, or in inaccessible MSS., admit no question as to their value even in an antiquarian light. That the present publication has a higher use than to the mere student, we maintain: for, of all services, a Litany is least suited to the ordinary and offensive reading which is so common in our parish churches. Nature dictates a specific tone for the more earnest supplication. In the preface, as in all Mr. Jebb's publications, may be detected peculiarities, a discussion of which on this occasion we decline; preferring to recommend, even without drawback, this handsome and erudite volume. In our last quarter's enumeration of the publications originating in the tedious affaire Chirol, we omitted to notice, because we had not seen, by far the cleverest publication of the collection, an 'Answer to Dr. Wiseman's Letter, &c. by a Bachelor of Divinity.' (Rivingtons.) 'Loss and Gain,' (Burns,) is a religious, or rather a controversial story. The loss, is that of friends and associates; the gain, that of communion with the Church of Rome. We have so often objected to this form of polemical writing, when adopted on our own side, that we shall run no hazard of being charged with a bias, if we continue our objection in the present instance. If Loss and Gain' exceeds the less ambitious specimens of its class in point of clearness, it stands on the ordinary level in its one-sidedness and assumptions. In some particulars we are pained to discover something apparently akin to irreverence. Some minds are so constituted that they can abstract the broad palpable impression from a statement, and view it under some subtle contingent medium. Thus, that under any circumstances, our Lord's words to Judas, 'That thou doest, do quickly,' should be cited in defence of the rapid recitation of the words of consecration, can hardly be excused on the refined ground of their ultimate connexion with that act of sacrifice. The keen enthusiastic relish, the sharp intellectual smacking of the lips, with which, in drawing the favourite dilemma between Rome and infidelity, the infidel arguments are dwelt upon and expanded, is another not agreeable feature in the book. It must, of course, have occurred to a writer of such acuteness, that, where the tongue of the balance oscillated with such delicate vibrations, though, in his case, it at last settled on one side, in another case it might swing on the other. We observe this the rather that, after all, he converts his hero by something which is left doubtful, whether it is not an express revelation; and brings in a kind of hazy miraculous interposition to aid the argument :-a mode of proceeding which, however natural in an ordinary romance, is strangely out of place in a controversial novel. Of The Little Red Book of the History of the Irish Church,' by Mr. R. King, (M'Glashan,) is a compact and sound manual. For the fanciful title and red paper cover, which occasions it, we can see no sufficient reason. the fact that the ancient Irish Church did not admit the Papal supremacy, we make no question: but is there authority for stating that the 'ancient Irish respected Jerusalem as the Mother Church of the whole world?' p. 41; i. e. in any other sense than even an ultramontane would do so. Because, if there is any documentary evidence for the Church of Ireland acknowledging the supremacy of the oldest patriarchate, it would be very important. Mr. King, we think, would do well to consult one of Ireland's chief Bishops-we mean Usher-before he pronounces, (p. 43,) prayers for the dead' especially in their 'very early' form-to be among the more serious errors.' This book is written for the use of national schoolmasters : the Anglo-Hibernian dialect, therefore, is not altogether out of place. But such a phrase as this is odd to English ears, Henry VIII. was a bad man, .... but when the Pope treated himself unjustly, and tyrannized over him, he resolved,' &c. p. 75. The Bishop of Fredericton's Primary Charge,' has been published, (Simpson). Of Sermons we have seen, Volumes, 'Village Sermons,' by Mr. R. D. Rawnsley, (Hatchard); 'The Christian Life,' by Mr. R. Cresswell, (Martin). In the publication of single Sermons, we are glad to report a favourable lull. AMERICAN POETRY [Griswold, Bryant, Willis, B. Blunt's Undesigned Coincidences, &c. 410-432. Borneo [Brooke's Journal, &c.], 20-55. Insu- Bunsen, Chevalier [The Church of the Future, NO. LX. N. S. Conington [The Agamemnon, translated by], G. Glass Painting, Hints on [by Mr. Winston], H. Hampden, Dr. and the See of Hereford [various Appendix of Documents, 244-253. Protest NN |