his seat at the right hand of his heavenly Father: but the might and honour was his from everlasting."-Vol. iii. p. 9, &c.

Any one may supply himself with instances of more direct applications of the typical events of David's life to the antitypes in which the church is concerned, by simply consulting the headings prefixed to the different Psalms by H. Handschuh. We wish rather here to give an instance of a less direct application-such as that furnished by the xxxix. Psalm, which some consider only a prophecy of Christ; others to be this, but not without allusion to events in David's life. The liturgical application it is capable of arises, first from the contemplation of our Lord's Passion, and then from another and fresh application of this to a further object. Both these our author expresses concisely at the close of his commentary on that Psalm in the following words:

"The Church uses this Psalm on Holy Friday, and that as well in heartfelt contemplation of the bitter Passion and Death, as also with a reference to the approaching Resurrection of our Saviour. The Church also uses this Psalm in the Office for the Dead, and on this occasion applies what is said in the first part of this Psalm about the mournful condition of the sinner, to the soul in the fire of purgatory, not yet freed from the bands of guilt; and offers up the sufferings of Christ, contained in the second part of this Psalm, to the Father, in its behalf, and as Christ begged for help and comfort, so in his name she prays for this same thing for the poor souls." Vol. ii. p. 144, compare p. 158.

But it is time to say a few words about the applicableness of the Psalms to private devotions. It is plain that what suits public devotion suits private also; as public devotion could not be suitable unless it came home to the hearts of the individuals present. For instance: the Psalm, "Quam dilecta tabernacula tua," must, one should suppose, touch everybody's heart when it is sung in the Presence of our Lord at Benediction; some it may touch in one way, some in another. One might see in the very word tabernacula a reference to the tabernacle: another might go farther, and insist on the plural number, and swell with love at the thought that this Psalm could not suit the Jews with whom God had but one tabernacle, whereas with us christians he is present in many places, so that we have the happiness of feeling that distant friends are enjoying his love at the same time with ourselves.

And so throughout, the whole Psalm is suitable to public worship, because it comes home to individuals, and for the same reason it would be suitable to private adoration of our Saviour in his tabernacle. By the way, our author's commentary on this Psalm, beautiful as we felt it to be, almost entirely passes over this use of the Psalm at Benediction-a use, we suppose, to be found in Germany as well as in England. We might be disposed to quarrel with him for this, did he not make it up by the many instances in which he comments most effectively, as we think, upon those Psalms which are more exclusively of a private character, such as the Penitential Psalms and others, which, though admitting a public application, seem to be still adapted most for the private purposes which originally suggested them. Out of the many passages which have struck us in this light, we shall single the following from vol. iv. p. 90: commenting on those words of Psalm ci. 5. "Percussus sum ut fœnum et ariuit cor meum, quia oblitus sum comedere panem meum," he has the following remarks:

"Here the Psalmist pictures yet more clearly the state of the sinner at last come to himself. He is become like grass which men mow down, dried up like hay is his heart. But it is by the plagues of the Lord by which when man is beset, that he falls from that condition of external luxury into that helplessness of perplexity, that misery which is the consequence of long forgetfulness of God, and of a life of sin itself. Then there shows itself that want of faith and such comfort as might have raised up to hope again, him who had met with misfortune. Then is shown how his heart, clinging only to what is earthly, finding joy in sin only, is bared of all the nobler feelings that elevate a man even in calamity; that it is withered up itself and leaves the man in despair now that he cannot have his bread of sensuality any more. Still, however, from the sinner, while among this trouble, when he looks to God whom he has forgotten, the Lord does not turn away, but has looked upon him, and since he has conceived confidence and called upon the Lord, has listened to him; if so be that with a ray of faith, hope also has returned into his downcast soul, and with prayer and tears he has come to know himself again, in all his need, but with himself Him also who is yet able to deliver him. Then will he continually forget to eat his bread which hitherto had nourished him in his body, since his soul only finds again in prayer and penance, nourishment and strength for a higher life. Then will his body continually dry up over fasting and weeping, that his heart may but grow strong again in faith and in the love of God. For man lives not only upon bread, but upon every word that

cometh out of the mouth of God. It is not only earthly nourishment and earthly prosperity on which man's life and power depends; his soul requires much other spiritual nourishing and strengthening which faith and devotion create, if he is to endure in the trials and unceasing troubles of life."

We cannot tell whether all readers will look with favourable eyes upon such a passage as this: yet it may be supposed that all have seasons when, however wellemployed by an industry which recalcitrates against needless relaxation,-however unbroken by any whole day of positive forgetfulness of God, however elastic in attempts to serve him in spite of past disobedience, their life has been, yet all the past will seem like a vanity to be repented of. In seasons such as these the Psalms will supply private devotions with language so general that it admits of being moulded to individual wants, and so comprehensive as always to include them. Being inspired language, they are able to inspire the penitent with confidence when they present him with promises and encouragements. In them, to use our author's words:

"The Psalmist, filled with living faith, and with him the righteous, expresses his trust in the Lord. For the greater the danger and the less the help in men's power, the higher does the confidence of him advance, who has given himself up entirely to the Lord, and expects every thing in return from Him only. But it is the privilege of those hearts only who are full of love and faith, to find words also to express, when possible, their feelings towards their highest Good: for cold and sluggish hearts, in truth, know not how to speak thus with their God: they want the feelings and words of another, in order by this ladder to lift themselves after a sort to him, for nothing is more eloquent than true faith and true devotion, of which even the Lord has said, that there is nothing which it cannot obtain."-Vol. iii. p. 5.

ART. III.-Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, including a Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries, with an Account of the Agriculture and Horticulture of the Chinese, New Plants, &c. By ROBERT FORTUNE, Botanical Collector to the Horticultural Society of London. With Illustrations. Murray : London, 1847.

INCE the war of 1842 the Celestial Empire is no longer

and

that to a great extent it hitherto was. The European public is no longer left to the coloured and exaggerated representations of the few travellers who enjoyed the rare privilege of being admitted within its strictly-guarded frontier, and whose imagination often supplied the fanciful details of a narrative which they knew it would be difficult to correct. New and more trustworthy sources of information have been obtained. The breach made by English cannon in its hitherto impregnable walls has opened a way for curiosity as well as commerce; and the sword of the victorious warrior has been scarcely returned to its sheath when the peaceful emissaries of knowledge have hastened to explore the unknown wonders of the territory it has won. Hence it is that, within the last five or six years, we have had so many works on the condition of this interesting country. Some of these are indeed of much value, and have thrown great light on the manners and customs of the people; but from the very circumstances in which their authors were generally placed, the works in question have been, in great measure, filled with a large proportion of military details. The land is, as it were, presented to us in the light of some vast conflagration, and we are even made to feel that the hand that penned the page we read has, but an hour before, been wielding with determined valour the musket or the sword. Being men of peace, and shuddering instinctively at the very sounds of war, we have waited with patience for the accounts of those who think and feel as we do ourselves. And it is well to know that we have not waited in vain; and that the time is come at last when tourists of a calmer spirit and kindred mood can tell us what they saw.

Mr. Fortune, the author of the volume before us, is in an especial manner a man of peace. It is no thirst of conquest-no lust of gain that led him to the countries of the

far east; nor has he been stimulated to laborious exertion, or sustained amid the fatigue of his "Wanderings" by any of the stronger impulses that have led others far away from their native home. These would be unsuited to the character of one, the sole object of whose mission was the collection of flowers, and who was to roam over a land of rich luxuriance and fertility, culling its choicest sweets and gathering its fairest flowers for the gardens of his own. We doubt not that the English Flora will derive many valuable accessions from the new species and varieties which his botanical researches have discovered, and that the gardens of England will be arrayed in a yet more varied loveliness, from the products of those "eighteen glazed cases" that have been consigned to the fostering care of the Horticultural Gardens of Chiswick. But, while we wait anxiously for the future development of his botanical acquisitions, we shall console ourselves with the delights which he has provided for us in his present volume. There is a hearty earnestness of feeling and an unpretending simplicity of style about it which is worthy of one whose life has been spent amid nature's loveliest works, and whose ruling passion has been the love of nature in her fairest and most beautiful forms.'

The detail of his researches in his own department would be perhaps uninteresting in a printed page, as it would prove unintelligible to many, but his wanderings brought him into contact with many of the natives, and exposed him occasionally to much of varied incident; and with the conviction that many of his personal adventures will prove of interest, we shall endeavour without further preface to cull a few of his literary flowers wherewith to twine a garland and weave a bouquet for our readers. The following is an adventure that befel the author in an excursion which he made into the country near Amoy :

"I was one day travelling amongst the hills in the interior of the island, in places where I suppose no Englishman had ever been before. The day was fine, and the whole of the agricultural labourers were at work in the fields. When they first saw me they seemed much excited, and from their gestures and language I was almost inclined to think them hostile. From every hill and valley they cried, Wiloe-Fokei,' or Wiloe-san-pan-Fokei,' that is, 'Be off to your boat, friend;' but on former occasions I had always found that the best plan was to put a bold face on the matter, and walk in amongst them, and then try to get them into good humour.