cifically charge his clergy not to support the Bible Society, re. lying probably on the efficacy of his example as a sufficient dissuasive; but he significantly remarks : • It is our obvious duty, in displaying our zeal for the interests of religion in general, never to endanger nor overlook those of the particular Church to which we belong. If our professions, as her ministers, be sincere, we must believe, that, in proportion as we advance her cause and credit, we promote the growth of true religion ; and that whatever impairs her influence or strengthens the hands of her adversaries, is ultimately injurious to Christianity itself.' May we presume, however, to remark on the other hand, that it is a duty not less obvious, though sometimes overlooked by learned prelates themselves, in displaying our zeal for the interests of the particular church to which we belong, not to overlook those of religion in general? Moreover, if the professions of the clergy be sincere, must they not believe, that, in proportion as they promote the growth of true religion, they advance the real cause and credit, and strengthen the legitimate influence of their own Church? It strikes us, that this reasoning would be as fair, as conclusive, and as worthy of a Christian minister, as that on which the Bishop grounds his recommendation of a brick and mortar society, a limited and a sectarian, though in its way very useful measure, in preference to every more noble and catholic institution. It seems to us, that the sincerity of that churchman's professions who supports the Bible Society is, after all, not quite so questionable as the validity of that Christian's professions,-or, in other words, the Scriptural character of that man's religion, who even tacitly opposes it. a Art. IX. Sonnets and other Poems. By D. L. Richardson. Small 8vo. pp. 152. London. 1825. IN N noticing a modest volume of pleasing and gentlemanly verse, we find it sometimes a delicate task to do strict justice at once to the Author and to our readers,—to steer between condemning with faint praise, an insult which no Author forgives, and committing ourselves by excess of courtesy, which our readers would deem a sin still more inexpiable. We have taken up this volume once or twice, as it lay on our table, with the intention of saying a few words upon its merits, but without being able to decide to our own satisfaction, what those words should be. The Sonnets appear to us not inferior to those of Mrs. Charlotte Smith, but we are not admirers of that Lady's sonnets. Of the Songs, it may , justly be said, that far inferior verse has employed the skill of the composer, and the tuneful voice of the fair;-for example : 'The moon is high, but she doth seem In Sorrow's robe enshrouded; The winds are hushed, and not a breath The dews that by my feet are brush'd It is an hour that mocks at joy, And fills the heart with sadness: The absence of rhyme in the alternate lines is, however, a scarcely pardonable defect in such a bagatelle. The following stanzas are not in a very high strain of poetry, but they appear to be dictated by what always excites interest,-genuine feeling. Fair Spirit! though Time's unflagging wing E'er wrung, Oh! I have thought of thee, fair Saint! Is hurled to-day through storms and sorrow, VOL. XXV. N.S. 2 B Yes-I have cherished doubts and fears That Hope have crushed, and Faith o'erthrown; A Saviour's heart will not disown. And I, who in my wanderings knew The spot where thy dear relics lie, And wait in this lone world the hour Several of the poems were written in India, which accounts for a certain languor that pervades them. Art. X. Six Months in the West Indies, in 1825. Small 8vo. pp. 332. Price 9s. 6d. London, 1826. ΤΗ HIS is a book which bids fair to have what is called a run. The subject of the West Indies is not a very new one : vide Bryan Edwards and Dr. Coke. But a picturesque, sentimental tour through the Islands is a novelty, and the Author of the present volume has done his best to render it an amusing one. He is very lively, sometimes flippant, very facetious, not always gracefully so,-it is a rare attainment to be at once merry and wise; but, though we could have dispensed with a considerable proportion of the Author's jokes, and have been reconciled to somewhat less gas-light brilliancy of style, still, we have been too well pleased with him on the whole, to deal very severely by his offences against the decorum of taste. The reason assigned for undertaking the voyage is an original one. The Writer declares that he went simply and sheerly on his own account,-to get rid of the rheumatism, at the risk of exchanging it for the Yellow Fever. Why did he leave Madeira? 'I should think the situation of Madeira,' he says, the most enviable on the whole earth. It ensures almost every European com fort, together with almost every tropical luxury. Any degree of temperature may be enjoyed between Funchal and the Ice House. The seasons are the youth, maturity, and old age of a never ending, still beginning Spring. Here I found what I used to suppose peculiar to the Garden of Eden and the bowers of Acrasie and Ar mida: Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue The myrtle, the geranium, the rose, and the violet, grow on the right hand and on the left in the boon prodigality of primitive nature. The geranium, in particular, is so common. that the honey of the bees becomes something like a jelly of that flower. I differ from most people in not liking it so well as the English honey, though it is far purer and more transparent. That of Barbadoes is finer than either. Perhaps, after having been within ten degrees of the Equator, a second visit to Madeira would not charm me so deeply as the first. I have seen ocean and sky of a still brighter hue, and trees, and flowers, and mountains of still more beautiful and awful shapes. But I left England in December, shivering and melancholy, under a rain of two months' continuance; foul winds, eternal tacking, a tremendous gale, and the Bay of Biscay destroyed my spirits and increased my rheumatism; so that I longed after Madeira as for a land of promise; and the first sight of Porto Santo, with its scattered islets, its broken rocks, and verdant dells, filled my heart with that joy which no one can feel who has not made a voyage on the ocean.' The Writer was present when the first Protestant Bishop arrived at Barbadoes, and he gives the following strange account of the strange scene. The ships of war were dressed, and their yards manned, and salutes fired; this was pretty and common; but such a sight as the Carenage presented, very few have ever witnessed. On the quay, on the mole, on boats, on posts, on house-tops, through doors and windows, wherever a human foot could stand, was one appalling mass of black faces. As the barge passed slowly along, the emotions of the mul titude were absolutely tremendous; they threw up their arms and waved their handkerchiefs, they danced, and jumped, and rolled on the ground, they sung, and screamed, and shouted, and roared, till the whole surface of the place seemed to be one huge grin of delight. Then they broke out into a thousand wild exclamations of joy and passionate congratulations, uttered with such vehemence that, new as it then was to me, it made me tremble; till I was somewhat restored by a chorus of negro girls,-"De Bissop is come! De Bissop is come! He is coming to marry us, coming to marry us, coming to marry us all.", Barbadoes boasts of being the most ancient colony in the British empire, and it has never changed hands. It was the asylum for the royalists during the interregnum, as Jamaica afterwards became for the republicans. Many of the present families are said to be lineal descendants of the original planters. The island is somewhat less than the Isle of Wight. The soil is for the most part a thin layer of earth upon a mass of coral rock, which protrudes through it wherever there is an angle or a fissure, and it is considered as exhausted, manure being as necessary as in England. Yet, this island exports annually upwards of 314,000 cwts. of sugar; and it is notori ous, the Writer says, that the negroes live here much better than in any other colony, and increase in numbers every year. On the character of the Barbadians, the Writer touches very lightly, but we meet with the following very significant remark. I am convinced that one of the most effectual mea⚫sures for bettering the condition of the slaves, would be a • thorough and humanizing education of the masters themselves.' We rejoice to hear that the indefatigable Bishop,' upon whom, by the way, the volume is a running panegyric, has opened several schools for both whites and children of colour. There áre eleven churches in Barbadoes, and three chapels; it is not stated how these are attended; but in the sea-side parts of St. Philip's parish, for want of either church or chapel, the garrison, with an establishment of 2000 persons, are forced to live without any observance of any religious worship whatever. The reading of a few prayers in the open parade ground, by the chaplain, is really a complete farce, and so understood to be.' From Barbadoes, the Writer proceeded to Trinidad in company with the new Bishop, on a visitation tour through the diocese. In this island, Europe, Africa, and America shake hands. It is an Hispani-Anglican island, peopled with English, Spanish, French, Africans, and Indians. The latter seem to be the identical race of people whose forefathers Columbus discovered, and the Spaniards worked to death in Hispaniola. They are short in stature, (none that I saw exceeding five feet six inches,) yellow in complexion, their eyes dark, their hair long, lank and glossy as a raven's wing; they have a remarkable space between the nostrils and the upper lip, and a breadth and massiveness between the shoulders that would do credit to the Farnese Hercules. Their hands and feet are small-boned and delicately shaped. Nothing seems to affect them like other men; neither joy nor sorrow, anger nor curiosity, take any hold of them. Both mind and body are drenched in the deepest apathy: the children lie quietly on their mother's bosoms; silence is in their dwellings, and idleness in all their ways. • The amazing contrast between these Indians and the negroes powerfully arrested my attention. Their complexions do not differ so much as their minds and dispositions. In the former, life stagnates in the latter, it is tremulous with irritability. The negroes cannot be silent: they talk in spite of themselves. Every passion acts upon them with strange intensity; their anger is sudden and furious, their mirth clamorous and excessive, their curiosity audacious, and their love the sheer demand for gratification. Yet, by their nature they are good-humoured in the highest degree, and I know nothing more delightful than to be met by a groupe of negro girls, and be saluted with their kind "How d'ye, massa?" their sparkling eyes and bunches of white teeth. It is said, that even the slaves despise the Indians, and I think it very probable: they are decidedly inferior as intelligent beings.' |