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I. The New Houses of Parliament. The Commissioners selected for the proper application of the Arts to the adornment of her Majesty's Palace at Westminster, have just issued another folio, which, like the Six Reports that have preceded it, contains more of suggestive arrangements for the future, than statements of work done. Still we learn from it of Statues of Hampden, Clarendon, and Falkland, progressing satisfactorily; and of Models commissioned, at a cost of 27001., of the Magna Charta Barons and Prelates, to fill the vacant niches in the House of Lords. Nine sculptors have been selected for this portion of the decorations, some of them as yet hardly known to fame. The Commissioners have taken advantage, we presume, of the somewhat secondary nature of these sculptural adjuncts to the already gorgeous House of Lords, to give to some of our less known and provincial artists an opportunity of showing what they are capable of.

The portion of this Report, however, which possesses the most general interest, is the return of a Sub-Committee, which has since been approved and adopted by the Commissioners. It may therefore be regarded as a complete embodyment of the general scheme to be committed to British Artists, for speedy execution within the legislative palace of the nation.

We have not room for a detailed examination of its largely varied contents, including allegorical figures and subjects ; patron saints ; traditions and legendary fables, as well as historical subjects, from nearly every period of authentic history. The following list of subjects intended for the Peers and Commons' Corridors,

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will interest most of our readers as the proposed illustrations of the two Great Revolutions :— Charles I. erecting his Standard at Nottingham.'— Basing House defended by the Cavaliers against the Parliamentary Ariny.'— The Expulsion of the Fellows of a College at Oxford for refusing to sign the Covenant.' — The Burial of Charles I. —Speaker Lenthal asserting the Privileges of the Commons against Charles I., when the attempt was made to seize the Five Members.'— The Setting-out of the Train Bands froin London to raise the Siege of Gloucester.'— The Embarkation of a Puritan Family for New England.'—The Parting of Lord and Lady Russell. The Commons Corridor will have : Charles II. assisted in his escape by Jane Lane.'—The Executioner tying Wishart's Book round the Neck of Montrose.'— Monk declaring for a Free Parliament.'—* The Landing of Charles II.'— Alice Lisle concealing the Fugitives after the Battle of Sedgemoor.'-The Sleep of Argyll.? — The Acquittal of the Seven Bishops.'—“The Lords and Commons presenting the Crown to William and Mary in the Banqueting House.' Some of the subjects are admirable. Others, such as that of The Landing of Charles II.,' lack all striking incident, and are capable of nothing more than a gaudy display of costume. We imagine that, however admissible early traditions and mythic fables may be, as poetic allegories containing a hidden meaning, the utmost care should be taken to represent only strict historic truth in all records of authentic history. Yet here we have Argyll's Sleep,'

, a matter at least very questionable in the sense in which it is understood, the sleep having been, according to contemporaries, the result of a habit engendered by disease. What shall we say of Canute reproving his Courtiers ?' to us it has always appeared best fitted for the nursery! A correspondent of the Times calls attention to more egregious blundering, in the proposed • Raleigh landing in Virginia;' poor Raleigh having never been permitted to set foot on any part of the North American shores! Queen Eleancr sucking the poison from Edward I.'s Wound,' is another of the very questionable fucts of history. Then again, we have · Marlborough at Blenheim! Would not the signing of the Peace of Utrecht be equally glorious and honourable to the nation ? the unpaid score for Blenheim will hardly rub out by such mcans. As to · Monk declaring for a Free Parliament,' we presume it is intended to adopt the good old fashion of putting a label from his mouth with the Declaration!

One class of the subjects seems to result from an anxiety on the part of the Commissioners to select from the history of each section of the United Kingdom. In this, however, their good will is more apparent than their knowledge. Wales and Ireland sadly puzzle them for subjects that shall not reflect on England; and Scotland, whose history is rich in picturesque incident, is very superficially treated. For the Painted Chamber we have • James VI. receiving the news of the Death of Queen Elizabeth ;-or, setting out for England as James I.' A choice of subjects, which are both poor. Why not rather take "The Marriage of James IV. to the Princess Margaret of England ?'—A far nobler prince, the subject of one of the finest poems in the language, Dunbar's * Thrissil and Rois,'-a theme, too, made popular by Scott's · Marmion,'—and the source of that peaceful accession to the English throne, by which the union of the rival kingdoms was effected. The more generally this Report is discussed the better; if it is easy to find fault, there is the more need it should be done, we may hope thereby to arrive at a result as faultless as a well devised scheme may be. We are happy to see that one of the subjects is · The Embarkation of a Puritan Family for New England.' But why the Embarkation of a Puritan Family? Why not the embarkation in the May Flower ? Why draw thus tamely on the imagination, when real history presents so rich a subject?

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II. The Bottle. By GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.

The Bottle is a series of Temperance Prints, after the manner of Hogarth, executed by the clever caricaturist in the recently invented art of glyphography. The prints are large, and the aim of the artist is evidently to take his part among the moral teachers of his day. We must confess we have little faith in the regeneration likely to result from such overdrawn picturing of the great moral pestilence of our age. The story is of an English labourer and his wife. The scene opens with a comfortable domestic hearth, and the bottle introduced for the first time. Through the series of eight plates, we have drunkenness and destitution, -an execution for rent, stripping the once happy home bare,beggary, the paupers' coffin for their infant, killed by cold and want,murder, prostitution, and lunacy. Such is the dreadful picture drawn by an able artist, but, we must say, with far less than usual talent and invention. We remember one of his Etchings-in his Omnibus, we think-The Car of the Modern Juggernaut,' which was worth the whole lot of these, both in genius and moral teaching. Plate I., 'The Peaceful Hearth,' and Plate VI., "The Brutal Drunken Quarrel,' are universally applicable, and should be issued alone. That drunkenness may lead to the gallows, and has often done so, is unquestionable; but, after all, these are the rare exceptions. The grand lever of the moralist, which none can evade the application of, is the 'Look on this picture, and then on this,' of the two we have selected. Alas! we fear leviathan is not to be so easily tamed.

III. Windsor Castle. Painted by D. O. HILL; engraved by WILLIAM RICHARDSON.

We are glad once more to see a good line engraving issue from this publishers' hands, and to find an engraver bold enough to undertake the laborious task. The painting by Mr. Hill, the Secretary of the Scottish Royal Academy, is a very happy representation of the magnificent old castellated Palace of Windsor, under the effect which Turner so much delights in-viz., a sunset effect with the rising moon. The engraver, Mr. Richardson, is already well known for his successful rendering of Professor Cockerell's 'Tribute to the Memory of Sir Christopher Wren.' We say enough when we remark that this beautiful plate will greatly add to his reputation. There can be no doubt of its becoming a popular print.

BOOKS.

IV. Home Influence; a Tale for Mothers and Daughters. By GRACE AGUILAR. 2 vols. 12mo. Groombridge, London. 1847.

We were pleased with the title of these volumes, and have been so much pleased with their contents that we shall allow the author to state her object in her own terms:

"The following story will, the author trusts, sufficiently illustrate its title to require but few words in the way of preface. She is only anxions to impress two facts on the minds of her readers. The one-that having been brought before the public principally as the author of Jewish works, and as an explainer of the Hebrew faith, some Christian mothers might fear that the present work has the same tendency, and hesitate to place it in the hands of their children. She, therefore, begs to assure them, that as a simple domestic story, the characters in which are all

Christians, believing in and practising that religion, all doctrinal points have been most carefully avoided, the author seeking only to illustrate the spirit of true piety, and the virtues always designated as the Christian virtues thence proceeding. Her sole aim, with regard to religion, has been to incite a train of serious and loving thoughts towards God and man, especially towards those with whom He has linked us in the precious ties of parent and child, brother and sister, master and pupil.

The second point she is desirous to bring forward, is her belief, that in childhood and youth the spoken sentiment is one of the safest guides to individual character; and that if, therefore, she has written more conversation than may appear absolutely necessary for the elucidation of "Home Influence," or the interest of the narrative, it is from no wish to be diffuse, but merely to illustrate her own belief. Sentiment is the vehicle of thought, and thought the origin of action. Children and youth have very seldom the power to evince character by action, and scarcely if ever understand the mystery of thought; and therefore their unrestrained conversation may often greatly aid parents and teachers in acquiring a correct idea of their natural disposition, and in giving hints for the mode of education each may demand. 'Leaving the beaten track of works written for the young, the author's aim has been to assist in the education of the heart, believing that of infinitely greater importance than the mere instruction of the mind, for the bright awakening of the latter depends far more on the happy influence of the former than is generally supposed.

The moral of the following story the author acknowledges is addressed to mothers only, for on them so much of the responsibility of Home Influence devolves. On them, more than on any other, depend the well-doing and happiness, or the error and grief, not of childhood alone, but of the far more dangerous period of youth. A preface is not the place to enter on their mission. The author's only wish is, to aid by the thoughts, which in some young mothers, anxious and eager to perform their office, her story may excite. To daughters, also, she hopes it may not be found entirely useless, for on them rests so much of the happiness of home, in the simple thought of, and attention to, those little things which so bless and invigorate domestic life. Opportunities to evince the more striking virtues women may never have; but for the cultivation and performance of the lesser, they are called upon each day.'-Preface.

The work is characterized throughout by the sound thinking and feeling which our readers will recognise in these paragraphs. The world of misery to which many families have been subjected, might have been wholly warded off by attention to such lessons as are here presented, and in a form so easy and natural as to be fit to become attractive alike to 'mothers and daughters."

V. An Earnest Ministry the Want of the Times. By JOHN ANGELL JAMES. 24mo, pp. 341. London, 1847.

We wish we knew how to speak of this book in terms sufficiently appropriate to secure for it the attention it deserves. It points truly to 'the want of the times,' and we are happy to find that many liberal and enlightened persons have made generous efforts to bring it as widely as possible under the notice of the class of persons whom it chiefly concerns. The pulpit at present is not by any means that powerful agency in relation to the public mind it was a quarter of a century since we fear that its power is less absolutely, and we feel assured that it is fearfully less comparatively-as compared, we mean, with the new and hostile agencies through the press that are brought to bear upon the general character of our people. As dissenters, we not only have not the men we need in this respect, but there is no prospect at present of our becoming possessed of them. If the men at present in our ministry do not give themselves with a new earnestness to the augmentation of the truly religious spirit in our congregations, so as to replenish our ministry much more efficiently than

at present, our farther decline, rather than our advance, is inevitable. While the growth of our population and the character of the times demand a much larger consecration of talent to the service of the sanctuary than formerly, that consecration has been diminishing—the change in respect to the supply being in the inverse of the change in respect to the demand. We hope to call the attention of our readers more at length to this subject shortly, when we shall endeavour to do more justice to Mr. James's book; in the meanwhile, we say that we hardly know a better service that any man may render to the Christian pastor than by presenting him with a copy of it. To the lukewarm in the good work it will be truly a word in season, and the most earnest will be sure to be among the most grateful for such a present.

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VI. The Sunday School, an Essuy, in Three Parts, By Louisa Davids.

12mo, pp. 382. London, 1847. This is an Essay to which the prize of 100l. was awarded by the Sunday School Union some time since. The fact that it has passed successfully through such an ordeal is a better guarantee of its substantial worth than any commendation of ours could be, and we shall perhaps best serve the object intended by the publication by bringing before our readers the contents' of the volume.

Part I. A general view of Sunday schools as an agency of the church, adapted for the improvement of the young. Introduction. Chapter I. On the present condition of Sunday Schools, in relation to the Progress of Society, and the Requirements of the Age.-11. The Object of Sunday Schools.—III. On the Duties of Ministers of the Gospel to Sunday Schools.-IV. On the Duty of the Church to the Sunday Schools.—V. On the Duties of Parents to Sunday Schools.-VI. On the Collateral Advantages of Sunday Schools.

• Part II. On the Formation and Management of Sunday Schools. Introduction. Chapter I. On the General Organization and Officers of the School.-II. The Superintendent, his Qualifications and Duties.-III. The Secretary and Librarian, their Duties.-IV. On the Classification of Scholars.—V. On Books and Systems of Instruction.-VI. Rewards and Punishments.–VII. On the Exercises of a Sunday School.–VIII. On Teachers' Meetings.

• Part III. On the Conduct of Classes, and Directions to Junior Teachers. Iotroduction. Chapter I. On Junior Teachers, their Qualifications.—II. On the Duties of Teachers in School.—III. On the Duties of Teachers out of School.-IV. On the Conduct of Infant Classes.-V. On the Conduct of Elementary or Letter-box Classes.-VI. On the Conduct of Scripture Classes.-VII. On the Conduct of Senior Classes.-Conclusion.'

VII. Peace (permanent and universal) the Law of Christ. 12mo, pp. 118.

Peace Society. London, 1847. We once tried hard to embrace what is called the peace principle,' but found it impossible to do so in the absolute sense demanded by our peace societies. Of war as it has generally arisen, and been generally conducted, we have an utter loathing; but we can conceive of cases, we have actually known cases, where the completely passive spirit required by the peace principle would have been the most cruel form of inhumanity.

This Essay obtained the prize of twenty guineas in 1840, and it is now published by the committee of the Peace Society, as substantially presenting an able argument in confirmation of peace principles, and adapted to be extensively useful.' With much contained in the volume every humane man will heartily concur.

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