reform in three different states, opposition the most determined, misrepresentation, personal abuse, and slander; and some of the statements of facts in the last Annual Report have called forth similar obloquy from another quarter. Besides this, there is a vis inertia in the public mind, which it generally requires no small effort to overcome; and the subject of prison discipline forms no exception to this remark. Important as it is in all its bearings, public attention has been by no means adequately called to it as yet. Much remains to be done on this point; and it is not by one nor by a few insulated efforts, that this object can be attained. Dr. Tuckerman's Letter to the Mayor of Boston last year, to which we have referred, contained appalling statements with regard to the condition and discipline of those confined in the House of Correction and jail; yet the public was little excited by them, and the letter itself has not been extensively read. Almost every grand jury, also, whose duty it is to inspect the county jails, has become acquainted with facts which might have excited attention, had they been properly stated, and sufficiently repeated.*

*To show the imperious necessity of immediate and active attention to this subject of prison discipline, we add the following extract from a late New York paper, which confirms in the strongest manner some of the remarks we have made.

'New York, Jan. 8. We have no institutions more flourishing than our prisons. It is but a few years since the State Prison at Auburn was erected, with five hundred cells, and it is now full to overflowing; the number of inmates being six hundred and sixteen. The number of prisoners at Sing Sing is eight hundred and six. Total 1422; showing an increase during the past year of one hundred ninety-four; and this, notwithstanding seventy-six have been pardoned by the Executive. Provision has been made for the erection of two hundred additional cells in the prison at Sing Sing, and even these, if we reason from the past, will scarcely suffice for another year. "It is evident," says Governor Throop in his late Message, "that our prisons must be enlarged without delay." Of the prisoners at Sing Sing who have "entered" during the past year, one hundred and fourteen are from the City of New York. And yet the number of villains among us is not perceptibly diminished!

The fact is, that this city has become a sort of catch-all for rogues and vagabonds from every part of the country, and indeed from many foreign countries; and although our law-mills are kept constantly in operation, the consumption is not greater than the supply. Far be it from us to libel the general character of our population; which is probably not surpassed in moral excellence by any city of equal magnitude on the globe. But at the same time, the facts above stated are

There is a great work well begun. Enough has been accomplished to prove its practicability and value; but those who are engaged in it require all the encouragement and support which they can find in the favorable regard of the better part of the community. It is no trifling matter,' as has been in substance well observed in another place, it is no trifling matter to be exposed, as reformers often are, to the sneering charge of a visionary, enthusiastic character. Still less is it a trifle to be publicly misrepresented, injuriously accused, slandered, calumniated. No man can be envied for this, and more than this, to which the attempt at great improvements often exposes him; and when we see any one willing to step forward to sweep away old abuses, to encounter the storm of obloquy and persecution raised by those who are interested. to perpetuate them, we cannot but say from our hearts, God speed him, and God bless him.' We trust that great success

is to be the ultimate and not distant result of the labors of this Society, and its unwearied, judicious, devoted agent. When we look back upon what has been done in this immense field, by the wise and assiduous efforts of a single individual, in the course of a few years, we are greatly encouraged with regard to the future prospect, and we hope his hands and his heart will be strengthened in the great work he has undertaken. We shall not offer any counsel as to the best modes of correcting evils, or introducing improvements. Those who are engaged in the pursuit understand these things far better than we can pretend to do; but we will express our hope that they will be deterred by no difficulty, misrepreundeniable and appalling. They admonish us to make use of every possible means as well for the prevention as the punishment of crime. Much is to be expected from the influence of Sabbath Schools; which, though of comparatively modern date, have already done much to preserve the real population of the city in a healthy state. Scarcely an instance is on record, of an individual who has enjoyed the benefit of Sunday School instruction, being convicted of a heinous offence against the laws. The promotion of temperance, so far as it extends, is another important item in the means of preventing crime; since it is a truth, to which all our magistrates can bear witness, that much the greater part of the cases that come under their cognizance, are either directly or indirectly the consequence of intemperance. It is therefore the interest of our citizens, as they regard their own safety and that of their families and property, to encourage these laudable undertakings, and every other instrumentality which has for its object the promotion of good morals and the eradication of vicious propensities.'-Journal of Commerce.

sentation, or obloquy from continuing the course upon which they have entered. Let them pursue it, as they have begun, with an energy and perseverance worthy of the cause, till every prison shall be converted into a house of reform, and punishment shall be regarded more in relation to the security of society and its future effect upon the character, than to its bearing upon past delinquencies.

ART. III.A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Christian Worship. Boston. Carter & Hendee. 1830. 18mo.

THE greatest perfection to which religious poetry has yet been carried is in the Psalms of David.' The history of David gives more than its usual truth to the maxim, that the first successful efforts in any kind of composition have commonly an absolute excellence, and all succeeding works have an inferior comparative merit. The Bible was translated into English at a time, however unfavorable for the pure transmission of its doctrine, the most favorable in the history of the language, for its poetry. Without entering on the question of inspiration, or being too curious as to the causes of their power, we probably give the opinion of most Christians in giving our own, that these strains, through the medium of the plain English translation, do make a deeper impression on the heart, than any other religious poetry, ancient or modern. They are older than criticism, and have all the merits of that age. The images with which they abound are taken directly from nature and not borrowed from older poets, and are the proper garment of the thoughts. It is the poetry of a lover of nature in the morning of civilization. Civilization operates to draw men within doors, and to fix their eyes so much on works of art, as to hide the mountain and the desert and the sea. Then the love of nature is increased, and a higher interest given to the Psalm by the love of God. The most remarkable merit of this poetry certainly is, the lively and affectionate conception of God, which seems to imply of necessity the truth of the Jewish history, and, with whatever injurious errors it is coupled, is far the most distinct and affecting description of the Deity that is to be found, out of the New Testament and writings indebted to it.

This body of poetry has always commended itself to the Christian church as the best vehicle of devotional feeling down to a recent age. In the time of Henry the Eighth, Sternhold and Hopkins turned them into English verse; and it is a singular instance of the force of association, that the love of David could reconcile Milton to the wretchedness of the English version, and imprison even his genius in the same mean stanza. His paraphrases of some of the Psalms are still retained in the editions of his Minor Poems. It may be remarked also, that Lord Bacon had written some of the same doggrel, and so had Dr. Henry More, another of the great writers of the age of Elizabeth.

The maxim of ancient philosophy, that 'the same can only be known by the same,' may be well applied to these attempts to present the Psalms in an English metre. They require a mind of kindred character to the Psalmist. Dr. Watts has excelled all his tuneful brethren in this work, because to great power of numbers he added a very fervent piety. But it was found that the best rendering of the Psalter, however useful as a book of devotion, could very imperfectly express the wants and feelings of a modern assembly. An unwarrantable perversion of the national and local imagery of David had become necessary to give it any kind of accommodation to the present state of the Christian church. It was far better to let it sing its own songs. For this reason Hymns began to be written. We shall always regret that this class of compositions, now so important by the considerable place it fills in our public worship, did not fall into better hands. It is not fit that men of common powers should write our hymns. If every hymn to be sung in our churches could have come from the powerful and hallowed minds that have thought for the human race, and instead of being regarded as an occasional and inferior exercise, had been the vent of their best and deepest contemplations upon God and nature, these minds would have enjoyed an influence which will never be granted to their epics and books of philosophy or criticism. It is the well known saying of a distinguished statesman, 'Let who will make the laws of a people; give me the making of their songs.' So it is not the Bodies of Divinity, nor the ablest religious works, whether in prose or verse, that can ever hope to enter into the heart and faith of a nation, like the familiar religious song that is in their mouth

every Sunday, aided in its effect by the reverence of the Bible, the power of music, the associations of the place, and the sympathy of a congregation. Milton should have written hymns for those who speak the English tongue; and whatsoever sublime bard has sung to any people, could best have instructed them by doing this office.

But whilst we say what might have been done, and what we hope will yet be done, we do not undervalue the simple and pious strains which are now used in the church, bequeathed to us by so many excellent men. Many of our hymns possess great merit, and the Collection which has called our attention to this subject, has shown us that this department of sacred literature is richer than we supposed. Every lover' of religious poetry probably thinks he can make a better hymn-book than any one he has seen; but our own confidence in this proposition has been somewhat shaken by the examination of Mr. Greenwood's work. It contains five hundred and sixty hymns, selected with taste and judgment from various and some of them rather unfrequented sources. It is both older and newer than other works of the same kind, inasmuch as it contains more of the ancient hymns than former compilations, whilst it is enriched by many selections from Bishop Heber, and from Montgomery and other living poets. It is an excellence of this book, that it contains a large number of hymns composed in a strain of fervent piety and peculiarly adapted to Christian worship. Of this character are the hymns selected from the Moravian and the Methodist Collections. We quote the following verses, which are taken from Wesley's Collection.