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"A verse may find him, who a sermon flies,
And turn delight into a sacrifice."

Religion certainly shines by her own intrinsic brightness, and in her own native beauty; but still we must confess we love to worship in the venerable Gothic pile; we love the pealing organ, and the swelling anthem, and the white-robed choir; these things add a charm even to religion, and, as it were, enlist the senses on the side of salvation.

There is one point of view in which we delight to hail the Annuals; they are evidences of the high degree of refinement at which our social system has arrived. The enormous sums of money which the publishers must expend in the first instance on these works-works which almost solely appeal to the taste of the public-show how widely that refinement of taste and feeling must be spread to make such an outlay of capital a safe speculation. We think, too, we see in this fact an answer to an objection often in the mouths of Romanists-Protestantism has generally been thought unfavourable to the Fine Arts: its banishment of painting and sculpture from the service of the church was once, perhaps, so; and especially at its first dawn. But we may point now proudly to the Annuals, and ask, whether all Papal Europe spends any thing like an equal share of money in the Fine Arts with that which Protestant England annually devotes to those purposes in the patronage of these works. Two or three great painters and sculptors in a generation, attest the extent of Papal encouragement (and it is chiefly in the departments of painting and sculpture that Romanists proudly point to their own superiority over us); but what is this encouragement compared with the sums now levied in behalf of the Fine Arts in this country? Consider the sum spent in sending travellers and artists into the most distant regions for subjects; the employment of painters and engravers; the liberal reward of poets and the other labourers in the literary departments; and we shall by no means feel ourselves ashamed of a comparison even with Romanism itself, in respect of the encouragement bestowed upon the Arts and the Belles Lettres. Painting and sculpture might, perhaps, languish for a time, when first driven from the sacred abodes of the sanctuary in which they had so long delighted to dwell; but at length, finding their return impossible, they have wisely begun to seek a new abode, and endeavoured to chalk out a new path; and thus the Fine Arts (instead of furnishing one or two churches in an extensive diocese with chefd'œuvres of the highest perfection, but which, from their very rarity could have little effect on the great mass of mankind, who never see them) now send their creations of beauty into every town and hamlet through the length and breadth of the land; nay, almost into every circle of private society. Moreover, we must bear in mind, that the existence of these master-pieces of art in a few great churches of the

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continent is more than counterbalanced by the enormous mass of trumpery which exists everywhere, as if in mockery of all taste and common sense. For if one church has a masterpiece of perfection, every other church has its grotesque trumpery of dolls, images, shrines, vases, tabernacles, candelebras, altars, and paintings, as if to prove that the corruption of religion was ever accompanied by a depravation of taste, and of the natural sense of beauty; just as the gods of most heathen people have been, for the most part, monsters of ugliness, from the hawk-headed and dog-faced deities of Egypt, to the African Mumbo-jumbo, and the distorted forms of the idols of the South Sea Islands. Talk, indeed, of the exquisite taste of foreign nations, and the wider diffusion of a love for the beautiful creations of the Fine Arts among the people at large! Why, if it were so, the dirty dolls and grotesque trumpery with which their churches abound could not be endured for an hour. But enough of this; we must submit to our readers a brief account of the works which gave rise to these observations.

The first which we introduce to their notice does not, perhaps, come under the designation of an Annual; still, as it belongs to the same class of literature, we will not separate it from the rest.

Syria, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, &c. illustrated in a series of Views drawn from Nature by W. H. BARTLETT, WILLIAM PURSER, &c. ; with Descriptions of the Plates, by JOHN CARNE, Esq., Author of •Letters from the East.' Fisher, Son and Co., London, Paris, and America.

It was with feelings of delight that we beheld in the beautiful engravings of this work the scenes of many of the great and wonderful events of sacred history. Every reader of the Bible who can afford it ought to purchase this volume. The engravings are executed in a masterly way; and the literary part will be found to contain information of the most interesting and valuable description,

The Christian Keepsake and Missionary Annual. Edited by the Rev. Mr. ELLIS. Fisher, Son and Co., London, Paris, and America. Truly beautiful is this volume. The publishers have spared no pains to make it fit for a New Year's Gift. The engravers have done their part to admiration, and the plates will (as become a "Keepsake ") bear to be looked at again and again, and we doubt not with increased gratification. There is great merit in many of the verses; and in the prose part also will be found several pieces of much interest. The portraits are generally very faithful; we do not, however, think that of the late Bishop Ryder a good one. It was, perhaps, taken in earlier life, before the cares and anxieties, and declining health of that truly

excellent man had done their work of injury on his frame and coun

tenance.

Fisher's Drawing-room Scrap Book, 1837.

With poetical Illustrations,

by L. E. L. Fisher, Son and Co., London, Paris, and America.

The publishers of this work have well catered for public gratification. Many of the portraits are those of the leading persons in the political world. The Princess Victoria, the Duke of Wellington, Sir R. Peel, and Lord Melbourne, are among the portraits with which the volume is embellished. We were extremely struck with the beautiful execution of the portrait of Blake, general and admiral of the Parliament forces, and are only sorry that so gallant looking a man belonged to such a cause. In addition to the engravings, each fresh subject commences with a large letter, which is in the midst of some small and appropriate vignette, in the style of the ancient illuminated manuscripts. We trust such efforts to gratify the taste of the public will meet with the success they so richly deserve.

Fisher's Juvenile Scrap Book. By AGNES STRICKLAND and BERNARD BARTON, 1837. Fisher, Son and Co., London, Paris, and America. How gratifying it is to think that our young friends are not forgotten, and that instead of the old trash of " Mother Hubbard and her Dog," and "Jack the Giant Killer," which, with similar works, accompanied by large and gorgeously-coloured pictures (and such pictures!) were all that was done in our younger days for "the young idea;" now we can present a work to them which combines the greatest elegance and beauty of engraving with pleasing literature. If any one has young friends whom he would wish to profit and delight (and who is there that has not?) he cannot do better than present them with a copy of "Fisher's Juvenile Scrap Book."

LITERARY REPORT.

An Earnest Address to the Working Classes of Old England, on the Aims and Objects of the Religious and Political Parties of the Day. By a POOR MAN. London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. 1836. Pp. 285. HOWEVER true the statements may be in this little book, we think it our solemn duty to raise our voice against the principle of appealing, in this way, to the feelings of the working classes. It is under a Conservative mask, nothing but rampant Radicalism. What in the world has the working class to

do with questions of state policy and political economy? And what can be answered, by bringing the nobility into disrepute with the lower orders, by writing about Whig factions, and the conduct of "honourable gentlemen in the Honourable House of Commons." The only real value in our eyes of the book before us, is the use its two last pages may be of pages worth ten times the whole of the preceding 283.

Shun, (says the author,) all the radical and agitating rabble; they will do

you no good, but a great deal of harm. I wish you all well, and therefore take my advice, which I am sure you will say is good. Go to your parish church, &c. regularly and constantly; read your Bible attentively; and study and use devotionally your Common Prayer Book; pay that respect to your Clergyman which the word of God commands you, and you will find him always your friend; keep out of all public-houses and from all drunkenness ; shun all bad company of every kind; have nothing to do with radical and dissenting agitating strollers; be diligent and attentive in your calling; spend your money carefully and economically; make your houses your homes, and your wives your friends, and bring up your children in a decent and proper manner, teaching them both by precept and example that which is good; in short, "fear God and honour the king," and keep God's commandments, and you will not only find yourselves respected by all whose respect is worth the having, but you will enjoy comfort and happiness upon earth, and with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, have a wellgrounded hope of everlasting life in the world to come. I give you that advice which I have acted upon myself, and the benefits of which I daily experience; and I will now conclude with the words of the wise man" My Son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change."

Surely such sentiments as these are but little in accordance with the violence and out-of-place character of such specimens as these:

The Whig Lord Morpeth, who is a very nice, lisping, spruce body, and a very nice writer of scraps of poetry and love songs, for love-sick ladies and foolish lords, had the generosity to propose that the Clergy should have for some parishes as much as FIVE POUNDS A YEAR SALARY. Kind Whigs!! Liberal souls!! What care they about the souls of the poor, or their bodies either, if they themselves can but only keep their offices, and riot and revel in the fat of the land, at the public expense !! What good can we expect from the inhuman wretches, who passed the brutal Poor-Law Bill? We may bless our stars if we find the Whigs doing any good for us. Power and place they will keep at any rate, even at the expense of their own characters. Their characters indeed are but of trifling value. For a decent set they are, taking them altogether, and as the tools of O'Connell quite in keeping with the old proverb, “birds of

a feather flock together." Instead of being men of sound, sterling sense and ability, of deep study, extensive information, and consistency of character, alas! what are they but a parcel of puling, foolish novelwriters, play-writers, and stringers together of love ditties! Good Heavens, what a set of creatures to govern the destinies and promote the interests of this mighty empire! And how long are we to be ridden by them, and cursed with their weakness and misgovernment!

There are passages about the Poor Laws, in much worse taste than this; but the above will suffice to show, that this little book, speaking some truth, may do a great deal of mischief, by overturning that quiet respect for the "powers that be," and those legal and constituted authorities in the land, which no true Conservative would root out by popular feeling and party means: knowing, assuredly, that by adopting their enemies' policy, they virtually renounce their own characters.

La Raison du Christianisme; ou Preuves de la Veritè de la Religion, Tirées des plus grands Ecrivains de la France, de l'Allemagne, de l'Angleterre, &c. Ouvrage publié par M. DE GENONDE. 3 vols. 8vo. Paris. 1836.

WHEN Scepticism would confine the belief of the Gospel to men of weak mind and narrow intellect, it is matter of just surprise that the expansive genius of its professors should be allied to such weak memories, or such limited research, as to be ignorant of the names of Bacon, Newton, Clarke, Descartes, Leibnitz, Pascal, Bossuet, Fenelon, and others, who have certainly been regarded as "wise in their generation," and have nevertheless bequeathed their testimony to the "truth as it is in Jesus." "La Raisou du Christianisme" contains the "reason of the hope that was in them," as set forth by no less than a hundred and seventy-six of the masterminds of various countries; and the work is a valuable repository of Christian evidence in all its different shades and bearings. The necessity of mysteries in religion, from the very fact of its being the revelation of an immutable God;

Literary Report.

the perfect accordance of the Christian mysteries, however incomprehensible by man's limited understanding, with his spiritual wants and fallen condition; the truth of Christianity, as confirmed by the records of history and the monuments of antiquity, by prophecy and by miracle, by the death and passion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, by the descent of the Holy Ghost, by the acts of the Apostles, and the witness of martyrs, by the fall of idolatry and the dispersion of the Jews, aud by the present existence and progressive advancement of Christianity in the world, such are the subjects which are discussed in these volumes, with all the energy of conviction, all the eloquence of language, and all the force of understanding, which the best and the greatest men of Christendom at large have contributed to the defence of their common faith. M. de Genonde is, we believe, a rigid Catholic; but his compilation is of that nature which is not likely to interfere with the creed of any denomination of Christians, and his preuves are collected indiscriminately from writers of different countries, and of different sects.

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IT is with additional pleasure that we have perused the above three numbers. Those who are fond of much information within a small compass, and who would have their information upon the history of British quadrupeds communicated in an easy and elegant style, cannot do better than possess themselves of Mr. Bell's labours.

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woven with its every part, whether historical, poetical, prophetic, or didactic; but the ordinary reader, who skims the surface merely, does not always stop to draw the inferences which its various contents suggest. Under each of the ten commandments, the author of the work before us has arranged all the passages of Holy Writ which explain, develop, or confirm them. The plan is good; and the work, re-arranged and sifted by a Protestant editor, would be welcome in an English dress. M. Didon is a young priest of considerable attainments, and holds an important post in the diocese of the Archbishop of Paris.

The Gem of Christian Peace, and other Poems. By ISABELLA SPICER. London: Baily and Co. 1836.

WE have much pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to this unThose who pretending little volume.

think with us, that the “gift of praise' is refined and hallowed by devoting it to the illustration of sacred subjects, will find themselves amply repaid by the perusal of the work before us; and in the true feminine delicacy of sentiment and expression, the good taste, and the strong devotional feeling which pervade its every page, they will have little difficulty in excusing the absence of that poetic fervour which marks the less hallowed flight of some of our modern Sapphos. The profits arising from its sale are, we understand, to be applied to the purposes of private charity by its fair authoress, which affords us an additional argument for recommending it as a most appropriate present for youth at the approaching festival of Christmas.

Mois de Marie, Grec-Latin; ou Marie honorée dans des classes. Par M. CONGNET, Superieur de Séminaire. 18mo. Paris. 1836.

A PRETTY specimen of a French class book. For each day of the month a passage is selected from the Greek Fathers, which may chance to contain a reference to the Blessed Virgin.

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