belongs only to each. The book contains a large number of plates, illustrative of the parts which treat of machinery. XXXIII. The Pulpit and the People; or, an Inquiry into the Cause of the present failure of Christian Agency. By Peter RYLANDS.

8vo, pp. 118. Ward and Co. 1847. A new instance of the old mistake. The existing ministry in the Church has not done all the good which Mr. Rylands thinks should have been accomplished by it, and to our author it is quite clear that the thing to be done now is not to attempt any reform or improvement of this instrumentality, but to get rid of it altogether. "So Christianity has not done all the good in the world which the Deist thinks should have been effected by it, as a supposed revelation from God, and to him it is quite clear that the thing to be done, in this case, is not to attempt any reform or improvement of this system, but to get rid of it altogether. Indeed, if strong apparent failure is to be taken as a sufficient ground for rejection, we see not how Mr. Rylands can stop even at Deismif consistent he must go one step farther. Oh! this curse of confused and parrow thinking! Next to blank ignorance, it is the foe from which Christianity has suffered most, and from which evangelical non-conformity is now suffering its great mischief—a mischief from which it will be hard to secure to it even a tolerable rescue. XXXIV. The Syrian Churches : their early Liturgies and Literature. With

a Literal Translation of the Four Gospels, from the Peschito, or Canon of Holy Scripture in Use among the Oriental Christians from the Earliest

Times. By J. W. ETHERIDGE. 12mo, pp. 638. This is a volume of curious erudition, containing material that will be of value to the ecclesiastical historian, and the learned divine. XXXV. Prevention Better than Cure; or, the Moral Wants of the World

we Live in. By Mrs. Ellis. 8vo, pp. 336. Fisher and Co., London.

1847. Mrs. Ellis has formed a just estimate in respect to not a few of the wants of the world we live in ;' and she has done much to direct public attention to the source of evils which are generally felt and deplored. The maxim of this treatise has been, in effect, that of all her writings--viz., that it is the part of folly to expect, that adult life will ever be other, in the main, than the early life has been; and that nothing short of better customs in respect to general education, can give existence to a better condition of general society. This book consists of judicious counsel on this subject, expressed in language which if wanting in the force and point so generally demanded by the public taste in our day, will be acceptable to not a few on account of its easy propriety and elegance. Had a book of this sort been published by Mrs. Hannah More, some thirty years since, it would have passed through half a dozen editions in a twe.vemonth. XXXVI. Political Economy, and the Philosophy of Government; a Series

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humanity, to which that cold egotist was wholly a stranger. He was one of that rare class of writers who can spend the greater part of life in studying barbarous chronicles, and dry legal authorities, and come forth with their own taste unimpaired, and their own fire unabated. He wrote history, too, as we have said, not that he-M. De Sismondi, might attain to the fame of having done a clever thing, but that he might be read, and that men in reading him might become wiser and better. This volume gives an account of his life and works, and consists of a series of papers which may be said to present the scientific results of his historical studies.

XXXVII. First Impressions of England and its People. By Hugh

MILLER, author of the Old Red Sandstone,' &c. 8vo, pp. 407. John

stone, Edinburgh. 1847. Mr. Hugh Miller is a man of genius, and whatever country he may visit, you may be sure his 'impressions will have equal reference to the land and the people, to the geology of the region and the humanity of it. Many of our glimpses' and 'recollections' are sad twaddle, but Mr. Miller is no Twaddler. He does not stop with the surface of humanity, any more than with the surface of the earth; and his studies of the changes in society, and of the changes in strata, are alike productive of fruit worth realizing. He has, indeed, produced a very readable and instructive book on things geological, things social, things literary, and things religious, as affecting this realm of England. Good reader, buy the book and read it, and we have no fear of your blaming us for our word of commendation.

XXXVIII. The Ancient World; or, Picturesque Sketches of Creation. By

D. T. ANSTED, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S.; Professor of Geology in King's

College, London, &c., &c. 8vo, pp. 403. Van Voorst, London. 1847. • The object of this work,' says Professor Ansted, 'is to communicate, in a simple form, to the general reader, the chief results of Geological Investigation. No detailed account of particular districts,—no minute statements with regard to peculiarities of structure exhibited in various forinations, or in their fossil contents—must, therefore, be expected; and, on the other hand, the reader will be spared, as far as possible, the mere technicalities of the science, while being informed of the views deduced from the study of them' (Preface). To do this thing well required a thorough knowledge of the subject, and something more than common scientific and literary skill in dealing with it. But the author has shown himself fully equal to his undertaking, and the result is one of the most interesting scientific volumes in our language. The History of the Earth is divided into three parts,—the First, or Ancient Period; the Second, or Middle Period; and the Third, or Modern Period. Under each of these divisions there are five chapters. The following are the titles of the chapters belonging to the Tertiary Period. 1. The Introduction of Land Animals and the commencement of the Tertiary Period in Western Europe. 2. The condition of Europe after the older tertiary beds had been deposited, but previous to the Historic Period. 3. The condition of India, Australia, and New Zealand during the Tertiary Period. 4. The condition of South America during the Tertiary Period. 5. General considerations concerning

. the results of Geological Investigation. We need only add that the engravings are sufficiently numerous to illustrate the main points of the subject, and that the general appearance of the volume bespeaks the good taste of the publisher.

XXXIX. The Psalms in Hebrew; with a Critical, Exegetical, and Philo

logical Commentary. By the Rev. GEORGE PHILLIPS, B.D., Fellow and Tutor of Queens' College, Cambridge, and Rector of Sandon, Essex.

Two vols. 8vo. Parker, London. 1846. This Commentary on the Psalms is a much more satisfactory publication of its kind than anything of which we were previously possessed on the same subject. Mr. Phillips had before given proof of his competency to the philological department of his labours by the publication of his Syriac Grammar :' and in his general principles of interpretation he has, for the most part, shown a sound judgment, keeping equally clear of neological scepticism on the one hand, and of the extremes of spiritual interpretation on the other. The Hebrew text is given entire, and its interpretation, especially in the earlier Psalms, is very full. To the biblical student, the work will furnish an admirable exercise in the peculiarities of the Hebrew language, and will be in other respects of great value. XL. The Foundation Statutes of Merton College, Oxford. A.D. 1270 ; with

the subsequent Ordinances of Archbishops Peckham, Chichely, and Laud, from the Latin. Edited by EDWARD FRANCE PERCEVAL, M.A., of

Brazenose College, Oxford. 8vo, pp. 141. Pickering, London. 1847. For this

volume the public are mainly indebted to James Heywood, Esq., of the Inner Temple, the zealous advocate of university reform : and, as university history is of great importance in relation to all projects for university improvement, this collection of documents relating to the history of Merton from 1270 to 1847, may be expected to have its uses. Merton was the first permanently endowed foundation for the maintenance and education of scholars unconnected with the monastic orders in the University. XLI. A Body of Divinity, wherein the Doctrines of the Christian Religion

are explained and defended. By Thomas RIDGELEY, D.D. A new edition, revised, corrected, and illustrated with Notes by the Rev. JOHN M. Wilson. Two vols. royal 8vo, pp. 647, 666. Fullarton and Co.

1846. Ridgeley, like Watts and Doddridge, occupies a middle place between the Puritans and the Moderns in divinity. He has much of the substance of the former school, but is wanting, partly in the discrimination, and in a much greater degree in the literary skill of the latter. His divisions and subdivisions are confounding rather than explanatory, and his style is not only without elegance, but often so wanting in perspicuity as to compel you to guess at his meaning. In the present edition, Mr. Wilson has taken some wise liberties with his author in these respects. He has effaced many of the divisions, and has so far amended the structure of many sentences as to leave the reader in no doubt as to the meaning of the writer. Mr. Wilson's notes, also, are of considerable extent, and so far as we have examined them, are judicious and valuable. Altogether, this edition of Ridgeley is much more valuable than any of its predecessors. Hitherto no English writer has produced a better book on the same comprehensive subject. XLII. A Compendium of Hebrew Grammar, designed to facilitate the Study

of the Language, and simplify the system of the Vowel-points. By the Rev. W. BURGH, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin. Royal 8vo, pp. 68.

McGlashan. 1847. ' A gramınar,' says Mr. Burgh, 'is one of the few things which are best in extremes. Like a dictionary, it should be either very large or very small.' We

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are somewhat of this judgment-it should be a book doing all that needs to be done, and thus be a book for the shelf and for reference, or it should be a manual, treating of the elements of the language. Books of the former class have been supplied by Gesenius, Stewart, Hurwitz, and Lee; and Mr. Burgh has here made a valuable addition to books of the latter description. The author's claim to the attention of the public rests on the care which he has taken to simplify the reading of the points, the use of the prefixes and suffixes, and the paradigms of the regular and irregular verbs. Mr. Burgh hopes that his book

may be of use to those adult persons who, in the study of this language, have been deterred by the difficulties they had to encounter, and the length of time hitherto required to be devoted to it:' and to this class, as well as to students who intend becoming thoroughly masters of the language, the book may be safely recommended.

XLIII. The Religions of the World, und their relation to Christianity, con

sidered in Eight Lectures, founded by the Right Hon. Robert Boyle. By FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, M.A., Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn, and Professor of Divinity in King's College, London. 8vo, pp. 257. Parker,

London. 1847. These are admirable discourses. It may be true, as intimated in the preface, that Mr. Maurice has not read all that might have been read on the extended subject embraced within his eight Lectures : but he has read enough, and has suficiently digested what he has read, to have presented a clear and masterly view, within a small space, of the several large topics discussed. The Lectures are divided into two parts—the first embracing four lectures, on Mahometanism, Hindooism, Buddhism, and the defunct Religions ; the second part exhibiting the relations of those different systems to Christianity. The book is precisely one of the sort contemplated by Boyle when founding the lecture so honourably associated with his name. '

XLIV. The Footsteps of Messiah; a Review of Passages in the History of

Jesus Christ. By the Rev. W. LEASK. 8vo, pp. 352. Snow, London.

Translations of many of his pieces have appeared in our periodicals, but the volume of Mr. Anderson will do more than has hitherto been done to assist the English reader in forming some estimate of the genius of Béranger. The following stanzas are from those written in the garret six-stories high, in which the poet spent a portion of his youth :

'It was nought but a garret,-ay, read it who will,
My bed, low and hard, in that nook I recal;
There my table of fir, and above it see still,
The verses in charcoal inscribed on the wall!

Oh! appear once again, dear enjoyments; scarce fledged,
Ere stolen by fell Time from my comrades and me;
For you, I my watch have a score times pledged:
In a garret at twenty, how blest one can be!

'One day-rare event-a few ducats were mine;

I had friends round my table-we shouted and sung;
When cries from the street made us spring from our wine-
'Hurra! vive Napoleon, Marengo is won!'

Forth pealed the hoarse cannon-our voices replied,

As the hero's proud feats we applauded with glee;

'Who shall now dare invade our fair country,' we cried:

In a garret, at twenty, how blest one can be!',

XLVI. A Letter from Rome, showing an exact Conformity between Popery and Paganism. By CONYERS MIDDLETON, D.D. Grant and Griffith,

London. 1847.

A cheap reprint of a Letter which has become memorable, and which should be in the hands of every Protestant. The reader desirous of pursuing the subject further should read Blunt's Vestiges of Ancient Manners in Italy.

XLVII. Bishop Jeremy Taylor, his Predecessors, Contemporaries, and Successors. A Biography. By the Rev. ROBERT ARIS WILLMOTT, Incumbent of Bear Wood, Berks. 12mo, pp. 307. Parker, London.

1847.

This is a comprehensive title, and affords Mr. Willmott ample sea-room. His aim has been, not so much to present a portrait, as a group, with Taylor as the principal figure. The design is good, and in realising it the author has given proof of extensive reading, cultivated taste, and devout feeling. Mr. Willmott's style is calm and simple; but there is a quiet vein of poetry running through his prose, which gives it no small charm.

XLVIII. Additional Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M'Cheyne. 8vo, pp. 532. Johnstone, Edinburgh. 1847.

There is a kind of popularity sometimes obtained in the religious world, which we cannot rate very highly; and from the praise we have heard bestowed on the late Mr. M'Cheyne, we have been suspicious that in his case the admiration was more ardent than discriminating. But we must confess that these 'Additional Remains' are the only portion of his works we have read; and having read them, we are ready to confess farther, that we find in this volume evidence enough of the author's fervent piety and pulpit efficiency to account for his reputation, especially as we bear in mind. the premature close of a life so full of promise. Mr. M'Cheyne's taste was to the last somewhat juvenile, but his spirituality, his general intelligence, and the skill and directness of his manner of teaching, were such as to give him a place much above the level of ordinary men.