cations. I need not repeat them:-the genealogies which contradicted each other, the genealogies of a human father, which the double legend of Matthew and Luke-(we still use their names, not as having certain ground for believing they were the real authors of the Gospels, but for distinctness)-taught us to be useless, since the Divine child had no human father at all;—and the contradictions in the other parts of the narrative of Christ's childhood. We then advanced to the story of the Baptism, with its legendary accounts of the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and of the voice from heaven. We passed on to the strange history of the Temptation, with its irrational romance of the Devil; and lastly we came to the Miracles, and found them-even at the outset of our enquiry, without historic testimony: we could not call the witnesses: we knew not who they were, or who to call upon. As to the narratives themselves, whether we could compare them together in two, three, or all the four, Evangelists-we found them to be full of divergencies: in other words, they were legends by the very mode of their writing. But we knew nothing that ought to lead us to conclude that legend is to be believed rather than Science: Science, which assures us that Nature proceeds by fixed laws: Science, which is our great teacher. We did not question the real human existence of Jesus: we beheld the worshipful excellence of his personal character, and of his transcendent moral teachingsthough we did not set him forth as a proficient in physical knowledge. Thus far we have proceeded, guided, I repeat, by candour and fairness, as well as a determination to scrutinise fearlessly what so many take implicitly into their credence; and we now advance to some other striking points in the wonderful legendary history-still resolving to be guided by the same fair but fearless spirit of investigation.

The Transfiguration of Jesus relates to a miracle which is stated to have taken place in Jesus, not one performed by him. It may thus be classed with his Baptism which we have already considered, and with his Resurrection which we have yet to consider. Herder, the great German writer, terms these three events-"the three luminous points in the life of Jesus which attest his heavenly mission." The Transfiguration has no mention whatever in the Fourth Gospel; but is related by Matthew, (xvii. ch. 1 v.) Mark, (ix. ch. 2 v.) and Luke (ix. ch. 28 v.). The substance of their threefold statement depictures Jesus, six or eight days after the first announcement of his approaching Passion, as going up into a mountain with three favourite disciples, who witness-how, all at once, his countenance, and even his clothes are illuminated with supernatural splendour; how Moses and Elias, from the realm of spirits, appear, and talk with him; and how a heavenly voice out of a bright cloud describes him to be the Son of God.

Let us, for the sake of distinctness, consider the three principal miraculous features in this narrative; 1. The Light; 2. The Apparition of the Dead; 3. The Heavenly Voice.

(To be continued in next number.)

SIMILAR VIRTUES AND VICES.-People will despise their own virtues, and censure their own vices, in others. Nobody laughs at the folly of another so much as a fool; no man believes another so little as a liar; no people censure the talkative so much as great talkers. Misers daily condemn covetousness; and squanderers rail at extravagance in others. If one lady calls the chastity of another in question, she gives suspicion of herself.-The Reflector,

Keview.

Life and Death in Ireland, as witnessed in 1849. By SPENCER T. HALL, Author of "Mesmeric Experiences," &c., &c. (SIMPKIN and MARSHALL.) A brief extract, already given, contained an appalling description of misery the following passage is written with equal power, and the sad picture it reveals pertains to a country so beautiful as Ireland-be it remembered—and only removed from us by a few hours' voyage:

My next call was at a dirty cabin containing a family of two or three starving and spiritless middle-aged people, one of whom had work occasionally at a lime-kiln, but seeming now almost too deficient of strength to do much at it. His brother, equally wretched, remained behind, looking on the fields that composed their holding, without energy to dig or seed to put in, and seeing little before him but the fate of another of the family, who had recently been kept many days uncoffined and putrid for want of the means to inter him after he had died. I endeavoured to arouse some little effort in this survivor, and gave him a trifle to buy seed with, but was afterwards told that he would be much more likely to lay it out in something to satisfy the immediate cravings of hunger, especially as there would be odds against his remaining to reap the crop.

"Leaving this scene, we came to a hamlet that had been rather inviting in the distance from some of its buildings being large and whitewashed-which has always a pleasant effect when the landscape around is green. Standing somewhat apart from the rest was the Roman Catholic chapel, at that time undergoing an alteration. Among the cabins and houses near, was one cottage having a rather genteel appearance; and the police barrack was here, as everywhere in the country, a neat, clean, and commodious erection. There were one or two houses that had evidently degenerated from comparatively respectable to most deplorable habitations; and the picture was finished by a number of impoverished huts, beyond all description stinking and filthy, and peopled by beings in a state far more wretched than that of the most dejected beggars I had hitherto seen in the world. Crawling about, and in some instances altogether unable to crawl, were objects more like death than anything I had heretofore seen out of a coffin, and which I should certainly have believed to be dead already but for their feeble efforts to solicit charity as I approached them. In one cabin were several children, one parent of whom had recently died; the other was gone for their weekly relief; and it is no exaggeration to say that were I keeper of pigs I should be ashamed to see them in so dirty and deplorable a state as those orphans. Most of the cabins about had their dungheaps close to the door, but this, held like them under a titled landlord, furnished an exception to the rule-in having it inside! Time and decay had, however, shown a negative sort of mercy to the poor inmates by making three or four great holes in the roof for ventilation. It was about this period and on the same estate that a man died of hunger, and lay for the greater part of a week in a cow-cabin, without any one making the slightest preparation for burying him!

"Climbing from this place up the shoulder of the mountain to its summit, it would be impossible to forget the prospect suddenly bursting upon me there, the plain below, here squared into fields, yonder gleaming with lakes and rivers; in some parts dotted with cabins or commanded by old castles and fair mansions, and everywhere exceedingly beautiful; with the little town of Six Mile Bridge nigh at hand to give it life, had anything like life or spirit been remaining. But though in the middle of seed time and with weather so favourable for work, the fields were nearly all deserted or neglected, and as still as if it had been the sabbath, and this generally because the holdings had recently fallen into the landlord's own hands, from tenants having emigrated or died off, or become idle for want of seed! The few Idid find at work and talked with on descending, were all holding at enormous nominal rents which they declared it quite impossible they could pay, and wishing for means to get away either to England or America, or anywhere in the world, so that they might escape the starvation that seemed so inevitable at home. One little occurrence was very characteristic. Seeing a ragged and lean man ploughing in the field by his cabin, with as lean a horse ;—or to como nearer to the truth, seeing them both standing at the headland as if quite jaded and unable to take another turn, and the housewife and child being also near, I went to them for the purpose of a little conversation. It was now mid-day, the weather very serene, and ere long we were joined by two armed policemen in pursuit of some one who had stolen a goat, the owner of which was with them, and, from his miserable and impoverished appearance, an object of the deepest commiseration: indeed, the entire scene was enough to make

the stoutest hearted weep. The two police had put down their guns and were leaning back to rest against the side of the dyke. The poor half-naked and dejected skeleton of a being bereaved of his goat-perhaps the only property he had in the world-had laid himself down on the ground near their feet. The tattered peasant and his wife, with the ill-clad child, stood by the side of their famished horse and their apology for a plough-all silent, gazing one upon another and on the country around; while a dog came crawling from the cabin with its ears down, its tail between its legs, and the ribs plainly to be counted through its hide, when one of the policemen, on its drawing near to lick his hand, said in a tender tone, and with evident though partially suppressed emotion, as he turned towards his comrade, Faix, and the dog's beat too!' To which the comrade replied, with a shake of his head and a sigh that proved they were on that subject at least both of one opinion. What must have been the scenes which, during that day's search among the cabins, had thus touched and scftened the feelings of those sturdy policemen, whose occupation is said to have such a hardening effect on the heart!"

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IF Workingmen needed to be convinced, the recent doings in Parliament ought to be sufficient to convince them that there is no speedy relief for their social condition to be expected in that direction. Questions regarding the hours of labour, the rate of wages, and the unhealthy condition of the places in which labour is performed,―meet with such endless objection and opposition among legislators, so called, that it is sickening to read their debates. Workingmen ought clearly and fully to look the truth in the face, that if they do not set about helping themselves they can only expect to toil on and die. If a few men of humane hearts plead the cause of the oppressed and neglected, in the House of Commons, there is a host ready to start up and throw all kind of objections in the way, while the majority listlessly sit and say not a word, nor care how deeply the millions

suffer.

How long will workmen dream of help from government, and delay to exercise their own power of help? A Parliament elected by Manhood Suffrage is not to be looked for, at present; and any Parliament élected by a limited suffrage will never probe the Labour question, in such a mode as to give relief to millions who are enduring wrong. Association-Association-is the remedy, the remedy which can be instantly applied; and it is the remedy which workingmen have in their own hands.

Let no one object that it is doubtful whether this be a remedy. The 'Association of Working Tailors,' the formation of which I announced several weeks ago, is now flourishing most cheeringly. The hands at work are twenty-seven in number; their affairs prosperous; and their union harmonious. In the present week their first quarter-which was to be a quarter of probation-ends, and the selection will be made, of the number of workmen who are to form the company, in future. Work has poured in from all quarters: peers, clergy, and gentry, have been among their customers; and groups of workingmen have gone to the premises at 34, Castle Street, Oxford Street, in the evenings, some giving an order for a coat or vest, and others for a pair of trowsers, gladdening their brother workingmen by this proof of sympathy. The average amount of work done on the

establishment, lately, has been £80 per week. A good rate of wages has been paid, and there will be something to share.

It may be replied, 'But you told us, some weeks ago, that a capital had been furnished to these workingmen, by some benevolent persons who had the power and the will to furnish it.' True: and does any workingman suppose that, though there is so much selfishness in the world, like benevolence will not show itself in other quarters, when the oppressed display the spirit to help themselves? Never doubt it. And if it cannot be found, surely, when workingmen begin earnestly to hold their Committees of Ways and Means'-some mode of starting can be devised. In some instances a little capital can be furnished or borrowed by each workingman : thus a Tailors' Joint Stock Company' has been started at 314, Oxford Street, near Hanover Square: each member of the Company is a £5 shareholder-wages are paid and profits will be shared-and the shareholders are all working tailors. Here is a fragment from their handbill:

"The wretchedness of the condition to which the Journeymen Tailors of London have been reduced, has lately become well known. That condition must go on from bad to worse, unless some energetic means be taken to stem its course.

"The above Company consists solely of Journeymen Tailors. They have well considered the position of themselves, and of their class, as well as of the Artizan in general. They deeply feel that the work of improvement must depend—and can only truly and permanently depend upon their own efforts; and that any reliance upon the aid of Parliament can only be delusive, while to be content to crave such aid is unworthy of Men who have the capital of their own skill and labour at their command.

"They have therefore resolved to combine that skill and labour for their own benefit; and, with that capital, to ask no external or artificial aid, but to place themselves before the public, in the spirit of an equal and honourable competition."

Now, perhaps, that fatal word 'competition' is the worst they could have chosen, and shows that there is but little comprehension among them of the real source of the evils under which Workingmen labour-but what then? Let every mode, any mode, of Association be tried-let the grand experiment be made-let the doctrine be tested in every way-until it be proved whether Society can, or can not, be rescued from its existing evils, or whether we are to surrender ourselves up to the conviction that misery is the inevitable and never-ending lot of the majority of our race.

It is not among the Tailors only, that the principle of Association is being attended to. A Needlewomen's Association is established in a large and airy house, at 31, Red Lion Square, and has been two or three weeks at work under the management of a committee of ladies,--chiefly the wives and acquaintances of the benevolent promoters of the Tailors' Association at 34, Castle Street. These humane yearners over the miseries of the working classes have also assisted with a little capital, an Association of Working Shoemakers to start at 151, High Holborn, and another at 114, Tottenham Court Road and I have private information that an Association of Working Bakers will soon be started.

:

Among no poor victims of competition is there more need of some step being taken for their own deliverance than among the bakers. A correspondent informs me that they "toil from sixteeen to eighteen hours per day, and the sleep they obtain is twice broken every night, and the onehalf of it is under the heated atmosphere of the bakehouse. And that," he continues, "is not the worst: there are hundreds of us who begin work on Thursday evening, and are never out of the bakehouse till Saturday night, except on business; and the like on Sunday forenoon, when the priests are crying out against twenty-five men working in the Post-office. I suppose they are not aware of the fact that from six to eight hundred men are em