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'Pictures of the Heavens,' (Mozley,)` is the title of a manual of practical astronomy, which for simplicity, cheapness, and an unaffected attractiveness of style, we consider to be very suitable for school purposes. From the nature of the case, it has much of the character of an index: but it is full as well as compendious, and brings down the catalogue of planets and planetoids to the latest announcements in the Times from Mr. Hind.

From the same publishers we have received a careful and unpretending 'Concordance on the Psalms,'-in the Prayer-book version, of course. And it is in all respects a cheering sign to find the Psalms assuming so generally among ourselves that character which they have ever maintained in the Church of Christ, and entering into all manuals of our private and, of course, of family devotion. Mr. Ernest Hawkins, in his Book of Psalms, with Notes,' (Bell & Daldy,) has contributed to this good result: and we are thankful to find one to whom the Church owes so much, and has paid so little, employing what is not his leisure in this simple and affectionate work of ministering in so practical a manner to schools and the poor, for whom this unpretending manual is designed.

Warnings and Consolations,' by Mr. Skinner, of S. Barnabas, (Mozley,) is a selection of passages from sermons, of an awakening and warm character. The direct object of this publication is, perhaps, as a memorial of one whose ministrations were singularly happy and useful: but it has a further value, and will be found an excellent example of what in parish work is much needed-something to deepen and feed religious impression. It is just the sort of book to place in the hands of a sick person, who cannot be persuaded to think systematically of the past.

The Last Judgment: a Poem, in Twelve Books.' (Longman.) Any body who attempts an epic in length, and especially in the good old English rhyming heroic, deserves some amount of sympathy. Nothing but earnestness and, in its way, a conscientious sense of duty, could have prompted any writer to a task like this; for pleasure in such a composition we cannot attribute even to the author. But good intentions, an undoubted piety, and the capacity of counting ten syllables, do not make a poet. These twelve books are as long, and as dull and monotonous, as the old Bath road: without a spark of genius, but throughout displaying a most provoking mediocrity. The writer's forte is synonym, and when he gets hold of a thought he certainly exhausts it. For instance, he has to say that the world is destroyed, and immediately he ransacks and exhausts the whole Gazetteer, and describes in detail what countries the world consists of: the subject brings him to say that the end of all things has arrived, and straightway he goes through his Universal History, and observes, No more shall Cæsar die, &c. No more shall Napoleon conquer, &c.' But here is a specimen: the nations of the earth are summoned to the day of doom :—

'All nations now come forth the tribes of Shem, &c.

All they who bore the great Assyrian name,
Romans renown'd, and Greeks of ancient fame,

Chaldeans, Syrians, Saracens, and Jews;
Chinese, Egyptians, Tartars, and Hindoos;
Numidians, Phrygians, Parthians, Persians, Medes;
Libyans, Phoenicians, Saxons, Normans, Swedes;
Sclavonians, Thracians, Vandals, Goths, and Huns;
Hispania's, Gaul's, and Lusitania's sons;
Italians, Austrians, Cossacks, Turks, and Moors,
And all who peopled Afric's torrid shores;
Hibernians, Caledonians, Britons brave,
And they who sleep in Australasia's grave :
Columbia's sons, of every shade and hue,
From Patagonia, Chili, and Peru.'

'Stories for Young Servants,' (Masters,) answers well its object; which is to form part of the kitchen library. If we used the fine language of most of our religious story-books, we should, perhaps, say the Servants' Hall:' but in our opinion the servants in large establishments are much less open to impressions of good than in smaller households. For these last the present four stories are designed: and they exhibit in their characters and little hints of domestic economy and scenery considerable and perhaps practised powers.

'A Few Hints to Mothers,' (Rivingtons,) is a translation from the German. We can speak of it in terms of unhesitating approval: and were it constantly in a parent's hands, that is, in her practice, it would perhaps anticipate half the school work. The practical wisdom and minute knowledge of infant character which it displays are as rare as valuable.

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'Considerations on Divorce, a vinculo matrimonii, in connexion with Holy Scripture.' By a Barrister. (C. J. Stewart.) The mention of this tractit is a very good one, and deals with great ability with the Scriptural argument, as well as with that particular application of it which is unfortunately sheltered by Bishop Cosin's name reminds us to notice with great regret, the general apathy which the Church has exhibited on a matter which far more than any Jew bill affects not only the Christianity of the country, but the relations of the Church and State, in a very direct manner. Unhappily, the amendments successively proposed in the House of Lords, to relieve the Clergy from the snare in which they will be placed, have been rejected. There is nothing for it but to await the issue. A direct conflict must arise. Adulterers will of course in some cases demand the Church's office of marriage, which the Clergy, if they pay any deference to the Church's law, must refuse to administer. A single case or two of this sort will, it is not too much to believe, break away many of those links, small enough at present, which we would fain see preserved. Meanwhile, one of that most mischievous of all mischief-makers, an ignorant 'friend of the Church,' Lord Robert Grosvenor, has given notice of a motion for an address for a Royal Commission to alter our Prayer-book. Lord Robert Grosvenor is the tool of deeper heads than his own; and although with an indolent Government, whose largest ambition is to keep things quiet, it is not likely that this motion will receive encouragement from Downing Street, yet it is just the sort of thing which, being to a certain extent iden

tified with what is thought or represented to be popular, may be left to its own chances; and those chances, in the present state of the House of Commons, are not matters of calculation. Anyhow, this sort of motion is likely enough to be repeated. Strictly speaking, it is the especial function of what is called the High Church party' to resist a move of this sort; but from this phase of opinion we have of late years merely received negations, and protests, and reclamations against their friends. A move of this sort may possibly remind some of them that they have positive duties; and in the extant separations and suspicions among ourselves, it may be a matter of congratulation that anything occurs tending to reunite Churchmen on the basis of the Prayer-book. Meantime, here is an opportunity such as Mr. William Palmer is understood to think as practicable and desirable now, as it was in the crisis of the last mania for Church Reform, to engage in a General Church Defence Association; or, at any rate, we may observe that addresses and petitions against the appointment of Lord R. Grosvenor's Commission are most suitable to an occasion which, if neglected, may become one of serious gravity.

'Public Offices and Metropolitan Improvements,' (Ridgway,) is the title of a pamphlet by Mr. Beresford Hope. This gentleman's pains-taking and conscientious study of the question gives great weight to everything that he says on the subject of the future of London; and though at first some of the suggestions made by Mr. Hope may seem to savour of the imperial taste, and something besides taste, which belongs rather to an Augustus or a Napoleon than to the Committee of Supply, yet we are certain that at least one of the suggestions in this able pamphlet is the truest economy. Sooner or later the parks must be brought down to the river, and must inclose in their enceinte the Palace and Abbey of Westminster. Here we are certainly at one with the present writer. His second suggestion, that the site of the new National Galleries should be the inner circle of the Regent's Park, loses much of its importance by the recent report, with which we cordially agree, in favour of retaining them at Charing Cross. But apart from the originality and boldness of the thought, its feasibleness grows upon us; and without adopting the recommendation, we may say distinctly that the plan of radiating galleries alone fulfils the scientific purposes of such a gallery. We must add that this publication displays great neatness and force of style.

Mr. Nugee has printed-we are not aware that it has been published-a sensible and well considered 'Letter to the Bishop of London, on the subject of a London Church Mission.' There is nothing in the plan which has not been recommended before, and it has been recommended before because it combines both common sense and Church principles, which, perhaps, is the reason that it has not been adopted. We trust that as soon as the present chief overseer of the great diocese of London has had time to test both the men and schemes which are offered to him by other than their own estimate of themselves, he will learn that something like Mr. Nugee's substantial scheme is alone fitted to cope with the spiritual necessities of such a place as the metropolis. We respect earnestness wherever it exists; but it is a strange sign of the age that six sane persons can believe that the Exeter Hall sermons, standing alone-that is, not connected with any ma

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chinery for following up the impression, if any, which is made on the hearers -are of any other use than to satisfy the Puritanizing tendencies of those who, while they have a zeal for souls, have a zeal for their own dissenting principles at least as sincere and certainly more active.

A brief but complete synopsis of the evidence which confutes 'the putid fable' of the Nag's Head consecration, has been brought together by Mr. Fisher, of Hillmarton, under the title, 'The Validity of English Orders.' (Rivingtons.)

The Bishop of Exeter's 'Pastoral Letter' has been published. (Murray.) It is a document full of accurate learning, and is dedicated to a melancholy subject, exposing something which, by an euphemism, we must call the respected Bishop Kaye's unhappy solution of the Gorham case.

Mr. W. E. Heygate has added to his many services to the Church, a full manual of hints to the Clergy, a real and practical guide to the ministry, in his Ember Hours.' (Masters.) That such books are among us and of us is a sign of good; but that such principles are at work, and that they must be influential, is more than a sign. They cannot be for nothing; and if we are right in forecasting days which will try men's theories and principles, we may be sure of this, that the signs of evil, and they were never more and more menacing in the Church, are only earnests of a final triumph.

At the last moment before going to press, we have received, and both from the same publisher, Mr. J. H. Parker, what certainly are the two most important books of the quarter,-1. Dr. Pusey's Real Presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord the Doctrine of the English Church; with a Vindication of the Reception by the Wicked, and of the Adoration of our Lord, truly present;' and, 2. the second volume of Mr. Philip Freeman's 'Principles of Divine Service.' The value of Dr. Pusey's volume, in common with its predecessor, it is impossible to overrate.

Of Charges, we have to acknowledge,-1. One by the Archdeacon of Taunton, (Masters,) advocating, but not very clearly, the necessity of utilising the Archidiaconal Visitation. 2. One by Archdeacon Dodgson, (Rivingtons,) which, we trust, will have at least one advantage, that of teaching the Bishop of Ripon that he is called upon to rule over those from whose knowledge in theology and soundness in the faith Dr. Bickersteth, judging from his own publications, has something to learn.

And of Sermons,-1. David's Grief for Absalom,' the Anniversary Sermon, and a deep and pathetic one, preached before the Church Penitentiary Association, by the Bishop of Salisbury. 2. The Progress of the Church,' (Masters,) by Mr. F. G. Lee. 3. 'Christian Zeal and Holy Places,* (Masters,) by Mr. Bennett, of Frome. 4. Primitive Church Polity,' (Mozley,) by Mr. Trevor, of York. 5. The Home at Nazareth,' (Mozley,) by Mr. Menzies. 6. The Offertory and the Church Rates,' (Masters,) by Mr. H. Newland. 7. Working Life,' (Rivingtons,) by Mr. Fearon, of Loughborough. 8. An Assize Sermon,' (Rivingtons,) by Mr. J. Wayland Joyce. 9. Our Saviour's Love,' (Masters,) an Easter Sermon, by Mr. T. P. Nunn. 10. Eternal Life,' (Masters,) also an Easter Sermon, by Mr. Heath, of Enfield; and Unity among Church Members,' (Hereford: Head,) a Visitation Sermon, by Mr. H. W. Phillott.

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THE

CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER.

OCTOBER, 1857.

ART. I.—1. De l'Art Chrétien. Par A.F. Rio. Tome Deuxième. Paris: Ambroise Bray. 1855.

2. The Life of Michael Angelo Buonarroti, with Translations of many of his Poems and Letters. Also, Memoirs of Savonarola, Raphael, and Vittoria Colonna. By JOHN S. HARFORD, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S., Member of the Academy of Painting of S. Luke at Rome, and of the Roman Archæological Society. In Two Volumes. London: Longman & Co. 1857. 3. The Early Flemish Painters: Notices of their Lives and Works. By J. A. CROWE and G. B. CAVALCASELLE. London: John Murray. 1857.

4. Sir Joshua Reynolds and his Works: Gleanings from his Diary, unpublished Manuscripts, and from other Sources. By WILLIAM COTTON, M.A., of the University of Oxford. Edited by JOHN BURNET, F.R.S. London: Longinans. 1856. 5. Pre-Raffaellitism; or a Popular Enquiry into some newly asserted Principles connected with the Philosophy, Poetry, Religion, and Revolution of Art. By the Rev. EDWARD YOUNG, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: Longman & Co. 1857.

6. The Elements of Drawing; in Three Letters to Beginners. By JOHN RUSKIN, M.A., with Illustrations drawn by the Author. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1857.

EVEN superficial observers of the literature of the age must be struck with the number and importance of the works issuing almost daily from the press, which bear upon the philosophy, history, or practical study of art. So abundant a supply is a convincing proof of the existence of a steady demand in this department of letters; and we welcome it as one sign among

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