nature of the play, for that I failed to do, but to watch the countenances of those engaged in it. A motley group presented itself, closely packed; and never shall I forget the scene. There was the old dowager, bedizened out in her finery, with her eager eye intent upon the wheel. There, too, I saw the young officer, scarcely eighteen, pursue his sanguine course till he came to his last franc, and went off in despair. There, too, stood a nobleman of high birth, staking more largely than all the rest, and apparently with a commensurate success; yet it seemed to me that the officials of the place, or what we should call the regular blacklegs, were the chief winners. Would that I were not able to add that I saw some young ladies as busy with their stakes as the rest! Altogether it was a truly melancholy scene.

It was some relief to hear, that the English visitors at Baden had latterly fallen off considerably, and chiefly because of the dangers of this gambling system. I do not see how any parent of common prudence would wish to take a family there. Everything tends to drive visitors to those fatal tables. From the customs in the hotels, all the guests seem driven to the conversation rooms in the evening; for there is no sitting after dinner, and all must either do this or retire to their bed-rooms. Now the gaming tables are placed in these very rooms to which all the company resort, so that it is almost a matter of impossibility to keep entirely aloof from them. Then the want of occupation enhances the danger. It is said that the grand duke intends to abolish the mischief when the lease expires, which will be in two or three years.

We were thankful to hear sound, faithful sermons from the English chaplain; but I own I never could get reconciled to the performance of our Protestant service in a Popish place of worship. It was to me excessively annoying, while listening to the preacher, to see a small altar on one side of the pulpit, and the high altar on the other, decked out with figures of the virgin and child, and the most gaudy trumpery ornaments JUNE-1847.

and crosses. Then the Communion Service was read from the high altar; and how ever I could minister there at the Lord's Supper, or kneel before it in taking the elements, I cannot conceive. With so many resident English, and so large a portion of the enormous numbers of visitors during the season, (above 30,000 before we left,) the greater part of whom are no doubt English, it is strange that there should be no English chapel. I felt the attendance at the Popish church to be so revolting to my feelings, and I was so impressed with the danger of the young, especially in our English families, being thus habituated to identify Protestant with Popish worship, that I resolved to make an effort to get a church erected. I found, however, that the matter was hopeless without the hearty concurrence of the chaplain; and as his stay there is very uncertain, he shewed no disposition to embark in such an enterprize. Surely, in this first of foreign watering places, some benevolent individuals will ere long supply the lack. There are beautiful situations near the pump-room, for which, I doubt not, the grand duke would give every facility. It is true that the Lutherans are about to build a church, which will readily be granted for our Church services, the town having given a site; but it is by no means a central position; and I think it really a painful reproof upon our own country that we cannot, in such a place, contrive to have our own place of worship.

It is rather remarkable, I think, that the Roman Catholics should grant their church for the use of heretics; but religious indifference seems to be universally prevalent there as well as throughout Germany. I grieve to say that the little opportunity I had of forming a judgment, was in favour of Roman Catholics. I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Pinkerton, who had come from Frankfort on purpose to supply the hotels with New Testaments. had been unable to obtain any cooperation whatever in this good work from the Lutheran clergy; but the innkeepers, though all Roman Catholics, had readily permitted him to

S

He

place a French and German New Testament in every bed-room of their hotels, to the number of 500!

Alas, that such a contrast should have to be made! And who can tell the blessed and extensive consequences of such deposits! "You

are welcome to do what you wish," said the master of one of the largest hotels, "but see here-what is the use this is a Testament brought some time ago by a traveller from the Three Kings at Basle." "Well," replied Dr. P., " and what have you been doing with it?" Why," said the man, 66 I had a good deal of idle time till the season commenced, and I was very busy reading it."

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A Russian princess, the morning Dr. P. called upon me, was so delighted with the treasure she had found placed in her bed-room at her hotel, that she could not rest till she had sent for Dr. P., and purchased a copy to take home with her.

Who can tell the extent of blessing which may be the result!

I had a painful instance of the impositions to which one is sometimes exposed rather hazardously. I was very ill on my return to Baden, and obliged to call in medical aid. The chaplain recommended one physician, and the good folks of the hotel another. I thought it safer to take the chaplain's recommendation, and despatched the commissionaire for Dr. B. After some delay, he returned to say that Dr. B. could nowhere be found, but that Dr. would be at home in two or three hours. Happily the kind chaplain came to see me when the message was delivering. He stared and said he thought there must be some mistake, as he had seen Dr. B. that morning. Off he ran, and in a few minutes brought Dr. B. to my bed-side. The fact is, professional rivalry runs inconveniently high, and I was assured that the inns are bribed to patronize their physician. I was surprised with the very reasonable expectations of the German practitioners, and I must say I had no reason to complain of want of skill or attention.

After remaining ten days at Baden, we bent our steps homewards, going by railway to Manheim, and by steamer down the Rhine to Mayence, where

we slept, and next day to Cologne, and from thence, in the evening, by railway, to Aix-la-Chapelle for the night. We were fully in love with the Rhine as we renewed our acquaintance, notwithstanding all the wonders that we had seen, and made ample amends for our former disparagement, by our ready and ecstatic confessions of its magnificent beauty; and this in the face of an adventure which looked like resentment on the part of that noble river, and which might have soured our feelings towards her. But when we got to Östend we found we were minus a circular note for £20, which, no doubt, had been abstracted from my paper case, which I had open in the cabin of the steamer, where I was writing. I remembered that I suddenly left it open, when called upon deck at the commencement of the fine scenery. I am assured, however, that having the letter of indication in my possession, I shall eventually recover my money.

It was my full intention to have given a day from Cologne for Dusselthal, near Dusseldorf, to see the good Count Von Der Recke, and his orphan institution; but I was so poorly at Baden, that I felt afraid of diverging even for a day on my return. I know of no institution of greater interest, or more deserving of sympathy, and it was a real disappointment to me not to see a man and a work with which I have been so long acquainted, and for which I have felt it a privilege, for several years, to raise supplies. At this moment the faith of the good Count is severely tried. From the scarcity and dearness of provisions, his difficulties are most pressing. I cannot conceive a more deserving or satisfactory quarter to which to send relief.

At Aix-la-Chapelle, the next morning, we went to the cathedral. Here I saw, for the first time, the process of confession, and once to have seen was enough to determine its hazardous character. Some friends of ours were at Aix-la-Chapelle, a few weeks before us, and witnessed the processions to view the relics, when,

*Since writing the above, Messrs. Coutts have refunded the £20, though the circular note had been cashed at Cologne.

amongst others, a portion of the shift of the Virgin is exhibited! The following is my friend's account :

"At eight o'clock in the morning the procession extended more than half-a-mile. Some of us, through the kindness of a military officer, joined it, and passed through the cathedral. It is impossible to conceive, unless they are judicially blinded, that any body of men of common sense, and common understanding, could promote, and approve of such mummery. The scene was painfully sickening. It was supposed that not less than from 15 to 20,000 passed through the first day. The farce was kept up for three weeks, and it is stated in a German paper, that not less than 300,000 visited the impudent imposition. Even when we were on the Drachenfels, we saw processions wending their way thither. And it is for this that men of education, trained in our universities, ministers of our Zion, leave the light and glory of our Gospel church to embrace with madness this worse than heathenism.

"We were at Antwerp, too, at the feast of the Assumption. From two to three hundred priests joined in the procession on the Sabbath, following the image of the Virgin, and worshipping it with the highest honour. Oh! gross idolatry! Much as I had heard and read and felt of the abominations of Popery, it was nothing to the sight. I never thanked God so heartily for our own blessed and privileged Church as on these occasions."

We had a weary journey to Ostend by the railway, which we did not reach till near eleven o'clock. The arrangements on the railway are certainly anything but good. We had no opportunity whatever given us for refreshment during the fifteen hours we were travelling, and literally had nothing but some gingerbread and a basket of fruit that was brought to the carriage window. Then it was very windy, and rainy, and cold, and not only had we to change carriages at Verviers, but also at Malines. In pouring rain we were turned out, without cover, into mud and dirt ankle deep, and had no sooner gone a considerable distance to the waiting room than we were hastily sum

moned back to our fresh carriages. To ladies really the misery and danger are not slight.

And now, having finished our work, our impatience to get into good Old England increased as we advanced to her shores. It was blowing a hurricane, and had done so for two or three days, causing great irregularity amongst the packets. Still we remembered the Equinox, and feared that delay might only enhance our difficulties. Being assured, therefore, that the Dover steamer would sail at eleven next morning, we were on the quay nearly half-an-hour before the time, when we found that she had sailed just a few minutes before! The disappointment was great at the time, as Ostend has no attractions, and our eagerness to get home was great; but there was mercy in our disappointment, as we afterwards discovered. Whether it was occasioned by the wish of the hotel keeper to detain us, or by the rivalry between the Ramsgate and Dover steamers, or by a misunderstanding between the clerks of the steamer offices and our commissionaire, we could not make out; but terribly bad as our passage of above seven hours was next morning, it would have been infinitely worse the day before. We found on our arrival at Dover that a worse or longer passage had scarcely ever occurred.

We had been recommended by Col. G., at Baden, to go to the Hotel de Londres, at Dover, and we certainly found it all that he had stated. It is conveniently situated near the pier and the railway, and though small, has all the comfort of a private house; clean, quiet, in all respects comfortable, with very reasonable charges. Never shall I forget with what delight I beheld the luxury of an English fire, or with what satisfaction I once more found myself in an English bed. My son started in a couple of hours by the express for Cambridge, which he reached that evening, I being compelled to remain in my comfortable quarters till the next day, in order to recover, in some degree, the effects of the horrors of the sea.

It was on the 1st of September that we left England, and on the 23rd

of October we were brought back to it in safety.

And thus ended a little tour of singular success and enjoyment. My son laid our plans, and was eminently happy in his selections. When I look at the map, I am quite surprised to see what a large portion of Switzerland we contrived to see, embracing

its most prominent features. And certainly, where mind and body, sympathetically worn out with care and labour, fail to be restored by usual remedies, a run into a distant country, where there is everything to please and interest, and where no work, scarcely a letter, can possibly follow, is a recipe worth trying.

WE cannot but entertain a growing conviction, that this portion of our fellow-countrymen have been grievously overlooked in our efforts for the moral and religious welfare of others. They certainly demand no common share of our sympathy and interest, when we consider the trials and anxieties to which they are exposed in the severance of beloved ties and connexions, and the uncertain prospects that lie before them in an unknown and far-off country; while surely every feeling of national interest and policy should suggest the importance of diffusing a healthful leaven of right principle, amongst the thousands who leave our shores to people the distant colonies of Great Britain. For, if our colonies are to be continued in a state of secure dependence and connexion, we may rest assured that it can only be effected by moral influence. Yet we verily have been guilty concerning our brother. We stay not to point out in what manner, and to what extent, we have been so in our colonies; it is more to our present purpose, to endeavour to awaken the public mind to the duty owing to emigrants as they leave their native country. We long to see the adoption of some systematic and efficient arrangement for promoting their best interests on embarking.

It would be well if a friendly eye could be directed to them immediately on their arrival at the port from which they sail, in order to shelter them from imposition, and to prevent any needless expenditure of their scanty means. As they go on board, how much might be effected in the way of kind and judicious counsel. As far as time allowed, the number who cannot read might be ascertained, and the most likely person of the company selected to act as schoolmaster, and books, &c. given, and the school commenced, and put in shape for prosecution on the voyage. Then, of course, it should be an object to supply every emigrant with the Holy Scriptures, while Prayer-Books and tracts should be liberally given to those who will accept them. Would that there could be a Dr. Browning on board every emigrant vessel! It may seem visionary to some to express such a wish, but let any one read "The Convict Ship, and England's Exiles," to see what that blessed man has been the instrument of effecting amidst the most hopeless materials, and then let him say whether a much larger amount of benefit might not reasonably be expected from such a field of labour as an emigrant ship presents, and whether any expense that might be in

curred in such an arrangement, would not return with an abundant interest to the mother country from her distant colonies? There ought to be on board every emigrant vessel that sails from our ports, a zealous, devoted missionary, or Scripture reader, who would have his eye on the best interests of his charge, from the moment of their assembling in the sea-port town, till the moment of their dispersion in the country in which they land.

In some efforts that are making to supply emigrants with tracts, &c., at our sea-ports, it is gratifying, amidst much prevailing neglect, to have discovered the zealous exertions which are making at Devonport on the part of the Rev. T. C. Child, the minister of St. Mary's ::

"Alas! alas!" he says, "how little are these poor people cared for (with regard to their souls.) During the present year (since January,) between 1,000 and 2,000 have sailed from this port, all of whom I have visited and supplied."

:

In another letter Mr. Child says:"When we have on an average about 4,000 emigrants per annum leaving this port-all of whom are generally very poor-driven by adverse circumstances to seek a change of fortune-my wants for them are very urgent and great.

"It is urged by some, cannot you get them to purchase? This is difficult, if not absolutely impossible. How is it to be expected that such persons, who have scraped together just sufficient money to get themselves on board ship, many of whom have been assisted by the parish, or friends, to raise a certain sum and no more, should be in a position to purchase books? Besides, I think it is a kindness which ought to be shown to them by the Christians of this country, and may, under God, be the means of impressing the spirit of Christianity indelibly on their hearts and consciences.

"It is but a small boon after all, and it is the last, perhaps, which we shall ever give them. Now, by this means, many a heart that has been embittered against its native land, and is leaving England with a feeling of

disgust and disappointment, may be opened to receive better feelings and impressions.

"Let the loss of America teach us to treat emigrants better than they hitherto have been; if our colonies are to be preserved, it is by a feeling of attachment to the mother country; and what will tend to do this more than by thus showing a spirit of Christian liberality and kindness to those who are about to quit her for ever, and to settle in some of her dependencies?”

The following details of Mr. Child's judicious and efficient mode of proceeding, cannot fail to be interesting to our readers :

"I find it impossible to do anything until they are all on board, and divided up in their different messes. Mr. C then furnishes me with a copy of the mess list, and I begin my work.

"First of all, I go into No. 1 mess, call them together-speak to them— furnish the head of the mess with a Bible, Prayer-book, Family Prayers extracted from the Liturgy, Select Homilies, Tracts, Collect Books, Hymns, Church Almanack, recommending them to meet together in their mess every day, to pray with each other, read the Psalms and Lessons for the day, and other books occasionally throughout the day, shewing them the various advantages of so doing that the time will be spent pleasantly and profitably through the voyage, and peace and love will be preserved. I then ascertain whether each one of them can read-asking them one by one. Those who cannot, I point out to them the advantage of endeavouring to learn-you have four months before you nothing to do. I thus induce each to consent. My next point is to get a teacher; and this I almost always procure from the same mess. I give Bibles, Prayerbooks, &c., to those who have none, and so go through all the ship.

"Afterwards I procure a schoolmaster, direct him how to manage the children, provide him with books for conducting the school, and request him to write, when he arrives, and state his progress. I also give a copy of Sermons to the surgeon of the