least an hour more of their time; making it eight o'clock before they can get to their huts, or set about preparing their supper;-all this too being exclusive of the night-work of crop-time. There are, besides, in his detailed statements certain little unintentional inaccuracies which serve to produce a false impression, such as," their breakfast has been prepared and brought to the field by cooks;" whereas it is first brought to the field by the Negroes themselves, and there prepared by cooks. -Again; "from choice they defer their principal repast till the evening." Not from choice but necessity; the interval allowed at noon being wholly insufficient to go home, light a fire, prepare a comfortable meal and eat it, before they must be again in the field. He labours also to prove that Negroes prefer bad houses to good ones. (p. 26.) He bears a remarkable testimony, however, to the voluntary industry of the Negroes, which dissipates at once all the calumnies on that score of which they have been made the victims. He represents them, after having been toiling in the field, under a tropical sun, from five in the morning until half past twelve, seven hours and a half, as devoting the interval of rest to the cultivation of their provision grounds, which, in his case (a very rare one), happen to be near their houses; while their children are employed by them in collecting food for their pigs, although they also form a gang (from six to nine years of age) which is at work, like their parents, during the day. (p. 7.)

"It is generally agreed," says Mr. De la Beche," that punishment is by no means so common as it used to be;" and that "the general improvement in the treatment of the people is considerable." (p. 34.) This is possible; and yet it is remarkable, that such has been the uniform language of planters from

the year 1787 to the present day. All admitted the badness of the treatment at some preceding period, and maintained the existence in their own day of great improvement. And yet the Slaves still decrease; they are still chattels, they are still without marriage, they are still driven at their work, they are still cart-whipped, and they are still subject to the arbitrary power of overseers not more than one half of whom, M. De la Beche allows, are fit to be trusted with the care of them. These are not very pregnant proofs of improvement. But he would infer from the familiarity with which they are often treated by their masters and mistresses, and the gaiety they exhibit in their dances and on their festivals, that the statements given of the unhappiness of Slavery are exaggerated, and that it is not that depressing institution which many suppose. There cannot, however, be a more unwarranted inference, and it is precisely what has deceived many who have had only a passing glimpse of West-Indian Slavery. But when we contemplate even Mr. De la Beche's own admissions with respect to their state, in what light can we view their joyousness on certain occasions, but as marking the obtuseness of feeling which Slavery never fails to engender? It resembles the revels of London during the plague, or the Saturnalia of the Romans, and is so far from proving that the Slaves are not a depressed race, that, under all the circumstances of the case, it is one of the indications of their extreme depression.

It is due to Mr. De la Beche to state, that he cordially approves of almost all the reforms proposed by Government, and that he condemns the Jamaica Assembly for having refused to adopt them. On the whole, the public are greatly indebted to him for his seasonable publication.

GREAT BRITAIN.

PREPARING for publication:-A Commentary on the Psalms; by Mrs. Thompson;-Miscellaneous Writings of Evelyn; by Mr. Upcott;-Documentary Supplement to "Who wrote Icon Basilike?"; by the Rev. Dr. Wordsworth.

In the press-A full Answer to the Rev. T. Baddeley's "Sure Way to find out the true Religion;" by the Rev. J. Richardson;-Annotations on the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles; by the Rev. W. Wass, M. A., F. S. A.

Oxford.-Convocation has accepted a proposal from the Rev. Dr. Ellerton to found an annual Prize of Twenty Guineas for the best English Essay on some doctrine or duty of the Christian Religion, or on some subject of theology which shall be deemed meet and useful.

The prizes for the year 1825 have been awarded to the following gentlemen :Latin Verse: "Incendium Londinense anno 1666." E. P. Blunt, of Corpus. Latin Essay: "De Tribunicia, apud Romanos potestate." F. Oakley, B. A. Christ Church-English Essay: Language, in its copiousness and structure, considered as a test of national civilization." J. W. Mylne, B. A. Balliol.-Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize. English Verse: "The Temple of Vesta at Tivoli." R. C. Sewell, of Magdalen.

A volume has been published by the Rev. W. Innes, entitled "The Christian Ministry," consisting of extracts from the works of Baxter, Watts, Alleine, Witherspoon, Dr. Erskine, Henry Martyn, Brainerd, Cecil, and Robert Hall. Most of our clerical readers are doubtless acquainted with the valuable collection of treatises on the pastoral charge collected by the late Bishop Randolph, and printed at the Clarendon press, in a volume entitled "the Clergyman's Instructor," containing Herbert's "Priest to the Temple," Jeremy Taylor's "Rules and Advices," Burnet's "Pastoral Care," with treatises on the same subjects by Bishops Sprat, Bull, Gibson, and Hort. Mr. Innes's extracts form a highly valuable companion to this work; and they enter, as might be expected from the names of the respective writers, with great earnestness, into the most intimate" sacra privata" of the subject, as respects the state of mind of

the minister himself, and his spiritual preparation for the right discharge of his arduous office.

A work highly useful to Biblical Students has just been published, in three closely printed volumes, price 31., entitled "Scientia Biblica," containing the New Testament in Mill's edition of the Greek text, and the authorised English version, with a copious and original collection of parallel passages, printed at length. The parallel passages which have been collected with great care and application, are particularly adapted to the use of the clergy, for quotation, comparison, or selection, in the composition of sermons; without the labour and distraction of mind of turning to scores and hundreds of passages from the usual marginal references.

The act for regulating weights and measures which was to have come into operation on the 1st of May, is deferred to the 1st of January 1826.

At a late meeting of the Asiatic Society of London, several Burmese articles were presented. Among others, a Burmese sabre, of a very rude and awkward shape; and a copy of a curious Burmese book, the letters of which are in mother-o'-pearl. It is of an oblong shape, and composed either of wood or pasteboard, lackered.

The Prayer-book of Charles I., used by him at his execution, was lately sold by auction for one hundred guineas. The work is folio, partly black letter, bound in Russia, originally purple, but now much faded, with arms and cover in gold. On the leaf of the preface is written, "King Charles the First's own Prayer-book," and "Ex Libris Biblioth. Presby. Dumf. Ex dono Joan. Hutton, M. D. 1714." On the title-page of the Psalter is "Carolus R." supposed to be the autograph of the unfortunate monarch. This book is reported to have been given by the king, at his execution, to Dr. Hutton, and presented by him as a relic to the Presbytery of Dumfries. It is stated that it afterwards became the property of a gentleman named Maitland, and at his death was put up for sale; but the Presbytery of Dumfries declared that it had been surreptitiously removed from their library, and threatened proceedings at law to recover it, and were only deterred from instituting them by their inability to shew how they lost the possession, the law of Scot

land requiring that as the first step towards regaining possession of any moveable property.

Captain Clifford has brought to England a most valuable manuscript upon Papyrus, of a portion of Homer's Iliad, belonging to Mr. Bankes, the Member for Cambridge University. The MS. was discovered in the island of Elephantina, in Upper Egypt, by a French gentleman travelling for Mr. Bankes. It is written in Uncial letters, and is ascribed to the age of the Ptolemies. It is alleged to be, by many centuries, the oldest classical writing in existence.

A curious antiquarian discovery was lately made within the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, by a party of gentlemen engaged in searching after the hitherto unexplored antiquities of that consecrated monastery. On sinking a pit four yards square, to the depth of 5 or 6 feet, they found the crown of a nearly semicircular, or Anglo-Norman arch, of beautiful and elaborate masonry, similar in pattern to the lozenge-like ornaments of the windows of St. Joseph's chapel. They also found a flight of winding steps leading to this subterraneous arched recess; and a small well, overhung and protected by the costly arch that rose above it. This secret chamber and sacred well seem to have been used for the purposes of miraculous cure; for, tradition speaks of the holy water, as well as the holy thorn, of Joseph of Arimathea; but no visible evidence of its existence was known to remain, till the development of the crypt in question. Mr. Reeves, the recent purchaser of the Abbey domain, has directed the subterraneous chamber, with its staircase, arch, well, and pavement, to be cleansed, and restored, as nearly as possible, to its primitive condition.

Silicum, the supposed metal of flint, has been obtained in a separate state, and proves to be of a dark nut-brown colour, without the least metallic lustre.

The first chain of that stupendous work, the Menai Bridge, near Bangor, has been thrown over the straits. The extreme length of the chain, from the fastenings in the rocks, is about 1600 feet. The road on the bridge is to consist of two carriage-ways, of 12 feet each, with a footpath, of four feet, in the centre.

The face of a church clock may be easily rendered as legible in the night as in the day. This has for some years been exemplified at the Tron Church, in Glasgow. A gas-lantern is supported at several feet distant from the upper part of the clock

face, on which side only it is glazed. A gas-pipe supplies the lantern, and another is used for lighting it. It effects this by means of a row of small holes along its whole length from the ground. The lamplighter, by means of cocks within his reach in the street, turns the gas into both these pipes, and, after waiting a proper time for it to ascend to the lantern, he applies his flambeau to the jet of gas issuing from the lowest of the holes in the subsidiary or flash pipe, the flame from which instantly communicates to the 'jet next above it, and so on, until in a few moments this chain of flame enters the lantern, and lights the burner of the main pipe; which being perceived by the illumination on the clock-face, the flash-cock is then turned off, and no further attendance is needed.

SOUTH AFRICA.

The "South-African Advertiser" contains the following extract from a letter from Graaf Reinet." This morning several of the inhabitants were attracted by a cloud, which had made its appearance about a mile eastward of the town; and it was soon ascertained that this phenomenon was occasioned by a vast swarm of migratory locusts, the first which have made their appearance in this neighbourhood since 1808. They are still young; and, though their numbers, in comparison with the immense swarms with which some of us have had formerly to contend, may be termed few, they are sufficiently numerous to astonish those who have lately come among us; and they cause no small degree of anxiety to the farmer, who knows, by experience, what they may become in a season or two, if Providence be not pleased to arrest so dreadful a visitation."

INDIA.

Private letters and the public journals from India continue to teem with such accounts as the following. When will the arm of authority interpose, as so easily and effectually it might, its benign efforts to abolish this inhuman custom ?

"Sulkea, Dec. 31, 1824.-Yesterday a suttee took place near the godowns of the late Mr. Jones. A gentleman hearing of the circumstance proceeded to the spot in hopes of preventing it, but was unfortunately too late. On inquiry he was given to understand that the victim was a fine young woman about sixteen. No intoxicating drugs were administered to her at the pile, but they had been given at the house of the deceased. She was obliged to walk round the bier of the deceased; and as soon as she fell down exhausted the

vile Brahmins secured her with bamboos, and prevented the possibility of escape. There was a man present enjoying the sight, with a spear in his hand, who called himself a chowkeydar: by him the gentleman who inquired for the order of the magistrate was referred to the darogah, who was represented to be near at a subordinate police station. Thither the gentleman went, and found the darogah enjoying a chillum; who, on being asked for a sight of the perwanah, said that he had received one authorizing the sacrifice, but that he had left it at Sulkea! All the Brahmins but one skulked away on hearing the gentleman making inquiries; and it is worthy of remark, that the man only died in the morning: nevertheless a report must have been made to the magistrate, permission granted, and intimation thereof sent across the river within the space of about four hours. Credat Judæus !"

A subscription is in progress amongst the Unitarians, in India and in England, towards enabling Ram-Mohun Roy and Mr. Adam, a Unitarian missionary, to build a chapel at Calcutta. This coalition seems to speak as little in favour of the Christian complexion of modern Unitari

anism as did the celebrated letter and epistle dedicatory to the Mohammedan ambassador from Morocco to the Unitarianism of the age of Charles the Second.

A Roman-Catholic priest of the name of Stabellini, has been consecrated Portuguese Bishop of Dorilea, and Apostolical Vicar-General, in the dominions of the Great Mogul, Idulshaw, Golconda, and in the island of Bombay, at the mother church of De Esperanca, at Bombay. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of Antiphila, and two ViceBishops.

NORTH AMERICA.

The temperature of newly-killed animals was, on sixteen different occasions, noticed by Captain Lyon, during the severity of the Arctic winter of 1821-2. The greatest heat observed, that of a fox, was 1063 deg. of Fahrenheit, when the surrounding air was 14 deg. below zero. The mean of fourteen Arctic foxes, a white hare, and a wolf, gave 102 deg. of animal heat, at extreme depressions of the thermometer, in the surrounding air. How wonderful this provision of an all-wise and merciful Creator!

THEOLOGY.

A History of the Christian Church, from its Erection at Jerusalem to the present Time; by the Rev. John Fry, B. A. 8vo. 12s.

The Fifth Volume of the Village Preacher; by a Clergyman of the Church of England. 12mo. 5s.

5s.

Davison's PrimitiveSacrifice. 8vo. 7s. 6d. Groser's Lectures on Popery.

12mo.

Evidence against Catholicism; by the Rev. Blanco White. 8vo. 9s. 6d. Death-Bed Scenes; by the Author of the Evangelical Rambler.' 7s.

Letters to Mr. Butler, on his Book of the Roman-Catholic Church; by the Rev. H. Philpotts, D. D.

·

Defence of Religious Liberty; by the Author of Letters on Prejudice.' 8vo. 3s. 6d.

St. Paul's Visitation at Miletus; a Visitation Sermon preached at Ipswich; by the Rev. J. Wilcox, M.A.

A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of London; by Archdeacon Pott. Ís. 6d.

An Essay on the Absolving Power of the Church; by the Rev. T. H. Lowe, M.A.

The Primer, or Book of Private Prayer, authorised by Edward VI.; edited by the Rev. H. Walter.

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 282.

History and Antiquities of the Tower of London; by J. Bayley, F. R. S. Part 2, 4to. 31. 3s,

Dr. Young's and M. Champollion's Phonetic System of Hieroglyphics; by Henry Salt, F. R. S. 8vo. 9s.

Maps to Herodotus. 10s. 6d.

Maps and Plans to Thucydides. 10s. 6d. Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales; by Barron Field, Esq., F.L.S.

The History of Wales; by J. Jones, LL.D. 8vo. 20s.

The Sydney Papers. Edited with Notes, &c.; by R. W. Blencowe. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

A Table of the Mineral and Vegetable Poisons: with the Symptoms, Treatment, and Re-agents, from the French of De Salle; by W. Bennett, M.D. 4s. 6d. Thompson's First Principles of Chemistry. 2 vols. 8vo. 17. 10s. Mineralogy by F. Mohs, of Freiberg. Translated by William Haidinger. 3 vols. post 8vo. l. 16s.

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Elements of Chemistry; by W. Weldon. 8vo. 12s.

Recollections of Foreign Travels; by Sir E. Brydges, Bart. 2 vols. 18s.

The Vision of Hades. To which is added the Vision of Noos. Foolscap 8vo. 6s.

The Lost Spirit, a Poem; by J. Lawson. 1 vol. 18mo.

The Life of J. Chamberlain, by Mr. Yates, and re-published and edited by the Rev. F. Cox, A. M. 1 vol. 8vo.

Juvenile Prize Essays, with a Preface by the Rev. H. F. Burder. 2s.

Affectionate Advice to Apprentices and other Young Persons; by the Rev. H. G. Watkins. 6d.

Isabella, a Moral Story; by the Daughter of a Clergyman. 2s. 6d.

Inaugural Discourse of Henry Brougham, Esq., M.P., on being installed Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. 2s. 6d. Excursions in Maderia and Porto Santo; by the late T. E. Bowdich, Esq. 4to. 21. 2s.

Brazil; by Maria Graham. 4to. 21. 2s. Journey across the Cordillera of the Andes; by R. Proctor. 8vo. 12s.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. THE last published Report commences with stating, that the progress of the Society's affairs during the year is such as to afford general satisfaction. The number of subscribing members amounts to about 15,000, of whom 621 have been elected since October, 1823. A considerable increase is found in the receipts and expenditure; and the circulation of religious books has been greater than in any former year. The whole number of books and tracts delivered from the Society's stores, between the audit in 1823 and the audit in 1224, amounted to 1,454,818, exceeding the issue of last year by 54,107. The increase in the single article of Bibles was 5031; and in Common Prayer-books no less a number than 22,605.

The demand for the family Bible continues to increase. Three editions, comprising together 26,000 copies, have been printed.

The rules and orders of the Society have been revised during the past year. The form of recommending new members has been shortened; and, whether the parties reside in London or in the country, the signature of a single member only is required. Ladies are again admitted as annual subscribers, upon payment of the usual benefaction and subscription, without ballot, as was the ancient custom of the Society. The annual Report is, in future, to be laid before the General Meeting of the Society in the month of June. The house in Bartlett's Buildings not affording sufficient accommodation for the general meetings, or for the Society's increasing business, a house in

Lincoln's-Inn Fields has been purchased, and is now occupied by the Society.

The Report next adverts to the appointment of two bishops for the West-Indies. "While the duty," say the Board, "of communicating religious instruction to the slaves was felt more irresistibly from day to day, the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge was convinced that no exertions could prove extensively successful, until the Government led the way, by the formation of an enlarged and sufficient church establishment. An increasing sense of what is due to the temporal and spiritual welfare of the Negroes led to the adoption of the long-desired measures." The Report adds further on this subject," The bishops will be accompanied by the archdeacons, and by a large number of highly respectable clergymen, whose duty it will be to administer to the spiritual wants of the Negroes. In addition to the clergy appointed by his Majesty's Government, the Incorporated Society for the Conversion of the Negroes have recently made a considerable increase in the number of their missionaries to the West Indies. Under such favourable circumstances, while the efficiency of the existing parochial clergy in the islands cannot fail to be incalculably increased by the blessings of Episcopal superintendance, their duties will be shared among an additional number of labourers. The Board would have deemed it incumbent upon them to make especial exertions in this great cause, had not the work been already auspiciously commenced by the Incorporated Society for the Conversion of Negroes, an institution which is conducted upon principles in no respect dissimilar from their own,"