better judgment wars with the system which their party upholds. Landlordism is at a discount, especially just now in the manufacturing boroughs, where free trade principles are tacitly admitted, if not advocated by men of all parties. The three great essentials for success in a public movement are lacking, for the landlords,-men, money, and enthusiasm. Thus the League may challenge their monopolist antagonists- Increase the number of county voters if you dare, the better chance will there be for some of them to escape from your ranks at the poll.' They can go farther and defy them to compete in the registration courts. An extensive land agent has furnished strong testimony on this head-he says:

I could name landed estates with which I am connected, the rent of which amounts to 16,000l. a year, worth at thirty years' purchase 480,000l., and which make 68 votes. Now, 30001, invested in cottage property, in any manufacturing town in Lancashire or Cheshire, would pay 67. per cent. interest at least, and qualify 70 votes, or more than are registered from half a million of property in land.' The same writer adds:--- You possess the power of increasing the number of county voters which the landlords dare not exercise; but what is more, and I speak with a full knowledge of the class, they have not the spare money.'

On the authority of the same writer, it is computed that 50l. expended for the purchase of cottage property in town, will confer as much electoral power for the counties, as would 5,000l. invested in land beyond the bounds of a borough; and though land remains unenlarged, houses are continually multiplying in towns, and whilst it requires 40 or 50 acres to confer a vote upon a tenant-at-will, every twelve yards square of freehold land in a town, if only covered with a cobler's stall, or butcher's shambles, will give the owner a county vote. Let the League then proceed in the plan marked out, and sustained by the popular co-operation they must speedily prevail.

Sometimes sayings are dropped casually, which are so apt and apothegmatic as to become proverbs in a language and household in their appropriation. They are axioms in speech, and are far more expressive than any periphrasis. So has it been with a phrase used by the 'Times.' Equally true in its philosophy as in its historical aptitude, was the description given of the League as a GREAT FACT,' in one of those eloquent papers which now and again appear in the London Times.' The League is the phenomenon of the age, not merely attracting the attention of all classes in every country throughout the civilized world; but holding out warnings to rulers in every clime, and exhibiting a model of action and a stimulus for exertion, to the benefactors of mankind in their various schemes of usefulness. We do not say the Council of the League con.

templated from the beginning either the emergencies which should arise, or the measures which would be requisite in each successive stage of their procedure. This would be to ascribe to them more than human intelligence; but we affirm, that while almost ceaseless prudence and energy have distinguished their conduct, they have served to develop not only the soundest philosophical principles, but the wisest course for the ultimate and permanent triumph of their cause, and the liberty and dignity of man in all lands. We can say it without offence, the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. They have not sought success, nor have they been deterred from action by the apprehension that they should fail of success in any momentary struggle. They have courted and grappled with difficulties, rather than postponed till another day the entire removal of the impediment. They have not shunned diversity and contrariety of opinion, but have invited inquiry and sought discussion. They have diffused knowledge, that they might form the people for the era, prepare them not only to embrace the sentiment, but also to be able to inculcate the doctrine among the youth of a new generation. It has been their aim to train up and indoctrinate the childhood of to-day, that it might become in truth a 'young England' for commerce and liberty; and their appeal has been to first principles, to equal rights, to free thought, to universal knowledge, and to the suffrage of mankind.

The League has formed public opinion, and extorted from statesmen and rulers admissions to principle and avowals of facts, which are a sure prelude to final triumph. The Peel tariff, and the colonial policy of our government; the exhortations and premonitions of landlord and protection societies; the concessions about game and the discussions about long leases; the negotiations with foreign countries, especially the Brazils, and the election of Mr. Polk as American president, are all signs of the times, and elements of the 'great fact' which is to be the phenomenon of the first half of the ninetenth century. Dissenters, Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty, mark and ponder the instructive lesson-but before you expect to reap the fruit, remember the seed must be sown; before you propose to imitate or equal their measures and success in the Registration Courts-look to cultivate, and direct public opinion. The League has been at work seven years-you may benefit by their experience and example, but you have also an apprenticeship to serve.

124

Brief Notices.

A New Hebrew English Lexicon, containing all the Hebrew and Chaldee words in the Old Testament Scriptures, with their meanings in English. London Samuel Bagster and Sons, Paternoster Row.

We

This is the most beautiful, and at the same time the most correct and perfect manual Hebrew Lexicon we have ever used. Having purchased Leopold's when it appeared, and from its convenience to the pocket, had frequent, we might say habitual, occasion to consult it, or use it in imparting instruction, we are able to affirm that Mr. Bagster's Lexicon amply fulfils the promise made in the preface, of giving all that is valuable in Leopold, with some important improvements of its own. highly approve of the discarding of the fictitious roots, that is, those which are really fictitious: for we can hardly apply that epithet to all the verbal forms which, happening not to occur in the Old Testament, have, in the Lexicons, been placed at the head of the various derivatives. Where, for instance, there is enough of any family of words in both languages to prove the close relationship of several derivations to each other, we should not hesitate to supply a deficient Hebrew root from the Arabic. But we do not consider this a fiction: it is merely calling up a surviving brother to testify to the former existence of one who is dead and buried. On this point, therefore, we entirely agree with the editor; and consider that his method is a great recommendation of the work. Those for whose use the Lexicon is chiefly designed will also be glad that the proper names are not omitted. It is also very desirable that the Hebrew student should habitually use a lexicon which renders the significations in English, for even if the English do not come closer to the Hebrew than the Latin, which we sometimes fancy it does, the impression produced by the meaning is certainly more natural and lively. On this account we do not hesitate to recommend even those students who are accustomed to use the larger works of Gesenius and Winer, to procure this, and substitute the use of it, ordinarily, for the use of theirs, When it is desirable to see all the principal occurrences of any given word, or when any other point requires fuller information than the present manual gives, let them be referred to for it, but even then it will aid a natural and a lively impression of the general meaning of a word to look it out first here, and afterwards refer to those larger lexicons for the stricter study of it. We regret to have delayed our notice of this unpretending volume for some weeks, having intended to introduce some cognate matter; but our readers who may purchase it on our recommendation will, we are persuaded, never regret that they have taken our advice.

Sketches of Christianity in North India. By Rev. M. Wilkinson, missionary. London: Seeleys.

Protestant Missions in Bengal Illustrated: being the substance of a Course of Lectures delivered on Indian Missions. By J. J. Weitbrecht, Church missionary. Second Edition. London: John F. Snow.

THE first of these volumes contains a chronological account of Pro

testantism in India, from the arrival of the Danish missionaries at Tranquebar in 706 to the present time; respecting, however, chiefly, and in the latter part almost exclusively, the labours of the Church (of England) Missionary Society. The second is more comprehensive. It treats of the sacred writings, mythology, and customs of the Hindoos, of the peculiar character of teaching rendered necessary by these, and has a final chapter on the success which has hitherto attended endeavours to propagate the Gospel, and on the prospects for the future. Mr. Weitbrecht's illustrations have not only the usual interest of such narratives, but are written in a most catholic spirit. Other missions than that with which the author is connected are mentioned-mentioned heartily-their success is rejoiced in, and their labourers are spoken of as brethren beloved. Recollecting some of the recommendations of episcopal authority while yet young in India, we must rejoice at this; not, of course, that we set any value upon recognitions or fraternisations of the sort, as conferring or confirming the title of the evangelists of unendowed sects to teach the heathen, but because we know well how hard it is for the members of a secularised communion to act in the recollection that the acknowledgment of one Master makes all his disciples brethren.

The Domestic Prayer Book; or a Course of Morning and Evening Prayers for one Month, with occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings. By George Smith, Minister of Trinity Chapel, Poplar, London. London: Ward and Co. 1844.

THIS beautifully printed volume will be a welcome accession to a class of publications which has increased of late years among protestant nonconformists. In following the steps of some of our most honoured fathers, the writer will have the satisfaction of contributing to the supply of a want which is felt in many families. Even where the book may not be needed as a form, it may still answer a most useful purpose in suggesting petitions and modes of expression. We have derived advantage from it in exciting those religious and domestic affections which, amid the distractions of commercial or professional activity, are too much in danger of subsiding. The tone of humble, earnest, and charitable devotion which breathes through every prayer, can scarcely fail to make the frequent reading of the volume an occasion of spiritual refreshment. In many other ways we can conceive of its being useful. Might it not, for example, be profitably studied by persons who engage in social prayer? For the purpose at which it aims, it is well adapted. As the practice of family prayer rests, as the author observes in his preface, rather on general principles than on any express precept in the sacred scriptures,' so it would seem the manner must be guided by the comprehensive canon which requires us to do everything of this kind 'for edification.' There may be a form where no book is used. There may be the absence of a form, without the power of that calm and devout spirit, which is the life of prayer. And a book like this it has been our happiness to observe, has been often used by humble minded heads of families, so as gradually to acquire ability and confidence for offering their family prayer without

such aid. We cheerfully commend this little manual to those who would be glad-and we know there are many-to have an additional domestic form, assuring them that these prayers are evangelical, simple, brief, and free from any peculiarities that could justly offend the cultivated taste or the religious predilections of any class of christian worshippers.

St. Lucia: Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive. By Henry H. Breen, Esq. (Thirteen Years a resident in the Island). London : Longmans, 1844.

ST. LUCIA, one of the West Indian Islands, is chiefly important to Great Britain as a military post of observation on the French colony of Martinique. It has secure anchorages and fine scenery; in other respects, bearing the family likeness of the group. The author is too fond of alliteration, but his descriptions of the face of the country, and of the manners of the coloured population are not without interest. In all relating to the island, the book must stand alone as an authority. Great pains have been taken with the statistical tables, yet it would be unsafe to draw general conclusions without corresponding information respecting the neighbouring colonies. The main lesson respects, we think, the advantages resulting from a compulsory registration of mortgages and titles to land, instituted by Mr. Jeremie, when President of the Court of Appeal. St. Lucia, including its mountainous tracts, contains only about 160,000 acres; yet, according to this registration, there were debts upon the soil to no less an amount than £1,189,965. A law of sale and distribution was the sole remedy for such a system of confused and unlimited credit-and under it almost every estate in the island has been judicially sold, with little real hardship to the nominal owners, and great general benefit to the colony, since in place of impoverished planters at the crisis of emancipation, its proprietors were men of independent means. The same experiment is surely worth trying in others of our West Indian possessions.

The Congregational Calendar and Family Almanac, for 1845. Compiled pursuant to a Vote of the Annual Assembly of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. London: Jackson and Walford.

The Complete Suffrage Almanac and Reformer's Manual, for 1845. London: Davis and Hasler.

The former of these Almanacs, as the title-page shews, is compiled pursuant to a vote of the Congregational Union, and is designed, in addition to the usual information given in such Manuals, to contain lists of the associations, seminaries, and public societies belonging to the Congregational body. Considerable labour has evidently been expended on its preparation, and the work richly merits the patronage of the body for which it is designed.

The latter Almanac, as the title denotes, is political in its complexion, and will be found a valuable companion, rather than a rival to the preceding. It consists of 64 pages, is prepared with much skill, and