understood; he neither over-runs our attention, nor fails to keep it occupied; in this illustrating the well-expressed conceit of Ben Jonson: If you pour a glut of water upon a bottle, it receives little of it; but with a funnel, and by degrees, you shall fill many of them, and spill little of your own; to their capacity they will receive and be full.'

He is well conversant with history, ancient and modern; and, to judge from the conduct of his argument, a good mathematician. Mr Irving also possesses a full imagination, and a full flow of language, any thing but commonplace. Having all these requisites, he comes near to Cicero's definition of a complete orator; but that which chiefly distinguishes him from other preachers, is the freedom of his censures, the liberality of his eulogies, and the wide range which he allows himself to take while speaking on a religious subject. In this latter particular, he reminds us of Jeremy Taylor. We cannot, however, compliment Mr Irving quite so highly on his style -it is more metaphorical than Milton's, and reminds us again of Jeremy Taylor; but the latter was more discreet than Mr Irving in the management of his luxuriance—he exhib

its better taste-his pages do not glitter with a profusion of figurative terms, but they are 'embossed, if with unnecessary, yet with graceful ornaments,' which always show distinct and appropriate. We admire him for his manly utterance of truth without respect to persons-for his enlarged conception of the privileges of the christian character-for his connexion of piety with literature and philosophy-for his patriotism and philanthropy; and lastly, for that eloquence of the heart, not of the head, without which all oratory is unpersuasive as the sound of a cymbal.

He throws a glancing pleasing light over the gloomy ground of Calvinism. There is something humane in his appeals, striking in his apostrophes, graceful in his actions, and soothing in the tones of his voice. He is not affected and theatrical;-neither is he deeply impassioned or overpowering from the simple majesty of his subject. He is above commonplace both in fancy and argument; yet he can hardly rank as a poet or philosopher: he is a modernized covenanter. His pulpit style has a resemblance to the florid gothic. In the discourses he has lately delivered, he has laboured to describe the Sensual man, the In

tellectual Man, the Moral Man, and the Spiritual Man; and he sacrificed the three first at the shrine of the last. He gave certainly a terrific picture of the death-bed of the Sensual Man-a scene where few shine-but it is a good subject for oratory, and he made the most of it. He described the Poet well, walking by the mountain side, in the eye of nature -yet oppressed, rather than satisfied, panting with beauty and sublimity. He then fell foul of the Moralist and Sentimentalist-weighed him in the balance and found him wanting. But religion comes at last to the aid of the Spiritual man, couches the blind sight, and traces the paralytic limb: the Lord of Hosts is in the field, and the battle is won; his countenance pours light into our souls, and his stretched out hand imparts strength to us, by which we tower to our native skies! In treating of this subject, Mr Irving introduced several powerful images and reflections, to show how feeble moral and intellectual motives are to contend with the allurements of sense and the example of the world.

We deem Mr Irving an able and attractive, expounder of holy writ; and more, we believe him to be an honest man. His strokes aimed

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at iniquity in high life are bold, unsparing and repeated.

In person, Mr Irving is very much above the common size. He has a manly countenance, and abundance of long black hair: if he was to allow his beard to grow, the painters would ask no better model for the head of an Apostle.

HENRY BROUGHAM.

'In Conrad's form seems little to admire,
Though his dark eyebrow shades a glance of fire.
Yet, on the whole, who paused to look again
Saw more than marks the crowds of vulgar men ;
And oft perforce his rising lip reveals

The haughtier thought it curls, but scarce conceals:
There breathe but few whose aspect might defy
The full encounter of his searching eye.'

BYRON.

THE gentleman whose name stands at the head of this article is well known in the literary world. His writings are sought after with avidity, and his speeches at the bar and in the House of Commons, are listened to with the most intense silence and respect.

England is indebted to him for his zeal in advocating the glorious cause of Universal Education, which he has painted in all the glowing colors of truth, showing the incalculable advantage which would arise, from having every member of its community educated; thus rendering them valuable subjects, and

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