the Church, and our Socinians will be enabled to join regularly in the established worship, and be saved the expense of supporting teachers of their own. Let a Baptist have the privilege of walking into a Vestry, and saying, "Baptize my child, passing over all the ceremony except the entry in your register," and he will obtain the benefit of a more secure and public record of the birth and legitimacy of his offspring. In the same spirit you may go through every page of the Ritual; and alter or add, omit or modify, according to the infinite caprices of mankind; till Jews, Turks, Heretics and Infidels, feel an equal delight in the dogmas, and take an equal share in the worship, of your truly Catholic communion. If Parliament consents to alter the Prayer Book for one scruple, it ought to alter it for every scruple-and this Bill, which aspires to the character of a liberal measure, is an act of maimed and imperfect justice, unworthy of the support of its friends, unworthy of the equity and impartiality of the House of Commons, upsetting ancient landmarks, irritating ancient and holy feelings, mixing profane and sacred in one

undistinguishable mass, all for the pur

pose of giving a very little relief to a very little scruple of a very little portion of his Majesty's subjects.

If the Unitarian Dissenters are desirous not of trampling upon the Church, but of marrying after their own fashion, and the House should be disposed to indulge them in this fancy, I have no objection to consider any plan which they may suggest. They have, I admit, one strong plea; viz. that similar indulgence has been already shewn to the Quaker and the Jew. Parliament was satisfied when it passed the Marriage-Act, that clandestine marriages would not be encouraged by excepting these small and very peculiar bodies of people from the general operation of the law; and the boon which they earnestly sought was granted. Let the Dissenters come forward en masse, and petition for a similar exemption; and if they can shew that such a measure will not lead to the very inconvenience which the Marriage-Act was designed to remove, they will have a fair claim to our attention. Do not deal with the question, as if it were to be determined by the pertinacity of its advocates; do not shew the greatest favour to those who evidently deserve the least; do not pretend to in terfere with the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church. But call upon the Dissenters to accommodate their wishes to the spirit of your marriage laws; and then inquire whether those wishes are reasonable and can be complied with.

That I may not be accused of recommending impossibilities, I will shew how

the important objects just alluded to may be reconciled. Let the Banns of marriage between Dissenters be published in their parish-church, let a certificate of such publication be given by the minister, let the parties be married, on the strength of such certificate, by their own teacher, and let them bring a certificate of their marriage to the parish-register. This would provide against clandestine marriages, and would give sufficient facility of recording and proving them. Dissenters would not complain of being deprived of the privilege of marrying by licence; since licences proceed from Episcopal authority, which they do not admit or respect. I am not aware of any material objection to this plan of its infinite superiority to that which is now before the House, I cannot think that one individual will doubt. I throw it out for the consideration of those whom it more particularly concerns; confident that we should not be justified in granting more, and that the petitioners themselves cannot expect us to require less.

But at the same time, it is better that things should remain as they are. I need not recapitulate my arguments in order to shew the merits of this opinion; but the principle upon which it rests is incontrovertible. The present outcry against the Marriage-Act arises from a groundless scruple. If that scruple is not attended to, it will gradually be forgotten, and the voice that issues from it will be heard no more. Experience is in favour of this view of the question. The very Rite now complained of by Unitarians, was once the bitter grievance of Presbyterian and Puritan. While some persons were intent upon beheading the king, and establishing the covenant, and some dealt in a smaller way-revolted against the surplice, protested against black puddings, and rejected the Sign of the Cross, and clothes made of linseywolsey

"Others were for abolishing

That tool of matrimony, a ring, With which the unsanctifyed bridegroom

Is marry'd only to a thumb." These follies have had their day; the legislature stood firm; common sense came to its assistance; and the descendants of those very men who are described by our great satirist, retain their peculiar views of the Christian dispensation, while their consciences are too seared to flinch at "Cross or king, or wedding ring." The substantial and important differences between Churchman and Dissenter, remain. But there was nothing on which the latter was once so scrupulous as forms; and he has

now adopted, of his own accord, the very identical usages which he forsook the Church for imposing. It will be the same with a newer and not less dangerous sect. The next generation will perceive that conscience cannot call upon them to quarrel with the words of the Bible-and when they hear from those who are learned in the Journals of Parliament, that a Bill was introduced into the House of Commons, in 1822, for the purpose of compelling a Clergyman to curtail the rites of his Church, they will say that the Unitarians of such early times had inore zeal than discretion, and strained at a guat while they swallowed a camel.

GLEANINGS; OR, SELECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS MADE IN A COURSE OF GENERAL READING.

No. CCCLXXXVII. Progressive Improvement of Mankind.

To such of my readers (says Condorcet) as may be slow in admitting the possibility of this progressive improvement in the human race, allow me to state, as an example, the history of that science in which the advances of discovery are the most certain, and in which they may be measured with the greatest precision. Those elementary truths of geometry and of astronomy, which in India and Egypt formed an occult science, upon which an ambitious priesthood founded its influence, were become, in the times of Archimedes and Hipparchus, the subjects of common education in the public schools of Greece. In the last century, a few years of study were sufficient for comprehending all that Archimedes and Hipparchus knew; and, at present, two years employed under an able teacher, carry the student beyond those conclusions which limited the inquiries of Leibnitz and of Newton. Let any person reflect on these facts: let him follow the immense chain which connects the inquiries of Euler with those of a priest of Memphis; let him observe at each epoch how genius outstrips the present age, and how it is overtaken by mediocrity in the next; he will perceive that nature has furnished us with the means of abridging and facilitating our intellectual labour, and that there is no reason for apprehending that such simplifications can ever have an end.

He will perceive that at the moment when a multitude of particular solutions, and of insulated facts, begin to distract the attention and to overcharge the memory, the former gradually lose themselves in one general method, and the latter unite in one general law; and that these generalizations, continually succeeding one to another, like the successive multiplications of a number by itself, have no other limit than that infinity which the human faculties are unable to comprehend.

No. CCCLXXXVIII. Osorius on the Persecution of the Jews in Portugal.

Jerome Osorius, Bishop of Sylves, in his History of Emanuel, King of Portugal, speaks of that King's cruel persecution of the Jews in the following generous and exalted language, particularly remarkable from a Portuguese Bishop: "Fuit quidem hoc nec ex lege nec ex religione factum. Quid enim? Tu rebelles animos nulla que ad id suscepta religione constrictos, adigas ad credendum ea, quæ summa contentione aspernantur et respuunt? Idque tibi assumas, ut libertatem voluntatis impedias, et vincula mentibus effrænatis injicias? At id neque fieri potest, neque Christi sanctissimum numen approbat. Voluntarium enim sacrificium, non vi et malo coactum ab hominibus expetit, neque vim mentibus inferri sed voluntates ad studium veræ religionis allici et invitari jubet. Postremo quis non videt ita religionem per religionis simulationem indignissime violari?""This was neither lawful nor religious. Dost thou compel men hostile to Christianity to believe those things which they most vehemently reject? Do you assume to yourself the right of hindering the freedom of the will, and casting chains upon minds which are free from bonds? But that is not possible, nor does the most holy divinity of Christ approve it. He seeks a voluntary sacrifice, not one forced from men by violence, nor does he command us to do violence to the minds of others, but to attract and invite their will to the study and love of true religion. Who does not see that by persecution, religion, through the pretence of religion, suffers the most unworthy viofence?"

ART. I.-Ecclesiastical Sketches. By William Wordsworth. Longman. pp. 123. 1822.

ART. II.-Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820. By William Wordsworth. Longman. pp. 103. 1822.

F

course of the mighty current of human improvement might suggest a mass of delightful imagery, in which to clad the great events whose too imperfect records have been left by time and memory-too imperfect, we say, for time and memory, which have consecrated all the crimes and the fol

Wordsworth is most attached to the composition of Sonnets, and though our admiration of his writings is of the warmest and most enthusiastic character, we think he has had little success in that particular form of poetry which he has so frequently chosen. The Sonnet should be the develop ment of a single thought-it may be adorned with other associations, but they should all bear upon the one emotion which it is designed to convey or to illustrate. That thought should be conducted onwards gently and eloquently, till it bursts in all its splendour at the close. "The Sonnet," says the Spanish proverb, "should be opened with a key of silver and be shut with a key of gold." Wordsworth-who, touched by an habitual sense of beauty and melody, seldom fails to communicate their influence to the expression of his thoughts and feelings too eager and enthusiastic to follow the gradual workings of the mind, usually breaks forth in the strength and impetuosity of his genius, and becomes exhausted in the first fervour of his song.

The character of Wordsworth's genius is such as to give a charm to whatever he touches; to "the vast and the minute"-"the meanest flower that lives," as well as the mightiest orb that rolls. He is the true alchemist, the discoverer of that genuine stone of philosophy which turns all things into gold-extracts good out of evil-wisdom out of ignorance strength out of weakness. Every soil becomes fertile under his husbandry. His spirit can wake the rose in the wilderness, and call forth the fresh waters from the barren rock.

To a mind less poetic than Wordsworth's, the contemplation of the

to spare and no words to spend upon the interests of the lowly. History, prostituted to the service of those alone who could purchase its servility, has been but too often the blazoner and the burnisher of triumphant_attrocity; her pages have been lent to kings and courtiers, to conquerors and tyrants, while she has generally crushed with her anathema the uprising of heroic poverty against oppression, or passed over with silent scorn the great mass of suffering man. Not in what she has recorded, but in what she has neglected to record, must we look for virtue. She is not to be trusted when she praises, and still less when she condemns. The peoplethe many-have as yet found no advocate in the chronicles of departed days. When shall some virtuous, some generous philosopher arise, strong in eloquence and bold in patriotism, to rescue from the ruins of servile and despotic ages, the heroes and the martyrs of truth and freedom, buried till now amidst the darkness and the desolation of tyranny? O yes! the friends of liberty have an ancestry of which they too may be proud-in every struggle, though unsuccessful— in every resistance, though untriumphing-in every word and deed of selfsacrifice is the spirit of their forefathers.

But whither are we tending? We meant only to say, that the events connected with religious changes are amongst the most interesting monuments of other times. The wild, awful, but all-poetic associations connected with Druidical rites; the splendour of the Pantheon of Roman conquerors; the Teutonic mythology; the strange introduction of his Chris tianity, and its tortuous march, as if

leagued itself with corruption and tyranny; the fall of the Papal power; the uprooting of monastic superstitions; the regular, yet obvious development of the spirit of reform ;what a variety of thoughts to dwell upon! What virtues, whether gentle or heroic; what vices, whether timid or daring, are not to be found among the actors in the great moral combat spread over so many generations-a combat between the usurping strength of the few, and the suffering patience, or the indignant restlessness, of the many-between improvement and the sinister interests which are opposed to all improvement? That combat still rages; and we may say, in perfect security, that Wordsworth's sympathies are not now where they would have been, had the events passing around us at this moment been the events of centuries gone by.

In truth, since Wordsworth changed his politics, his writings have lost much of their charm. When he goes far back into other days, and moves out of the influence of present prejudices, he can be led by all the glowing inspiration of his genius; but when he approaches modern times, he dares not-he dares not give vent to the thoughts that must intrude on him. He would hurl no denunciations like these at the clergy of his day, however richly deserved, or obviously invited :

"Woe to you, Prelates! rioting in ease And cumbrous wealth-the shame of

your estate;

You on whose progress dazzling trains await

Of pompous horses; whom vain titles please,

Who will be served by others on their knees,

Yet will yourselves to God no service pay;

Pastors who neither take nor point the

way

To heaven; for either lost in vanities Ye have no skill to teach, or if ye know And speak the word-."

and the will." In justice we must notice here, that the Bishops of the Catholic Church (especially in the Peninsula) form a singular contrast to the Episcopal bench at home; they are unaffected, enlightened, accessible; they leave no vast wealth accumulated "in the church's service" to their heirs; and be it remembered, their authority is of a much higher character than any that is claimed by the mitred prelates of the Anglican Church.

We stumble at the very threshold. Here is a poet that tells us, in these our "evil days," that "Liberty has found its natural resting-place in victory" (p. 3). What! when Europe is filled with one indignant cry,-though smothered, not less indignant-that a horde of despots have dared, and, alas, too successfully dared, to stem the progress of "the noble stream" of freedom; when hundreds of thousands of hired and brutal soldiery are leagued against the progress of human right and human happiness; when Finland and Poland and Italy and Holland and Greece-not to speak of France and Germany-are writhing under an accursed yoke; and every colour of the map marks some region enslaved or enslaving-in such a moment are we taunted with the triumphs of liherty? But what cares Wordsworth for liberty? Yes! while its influence was employed against that illegitimate robber who betrayed again and again the cause of which he ought to have been the foremost champion, Wordsworth had sympathy and poetry with which to hallow it; but where is his anger, where are his execrations now, when tyranny is no longer grounded on the horrible and execrable plea of on the tangible principle of force, but divine and legitimate right? He visits Holland-her glories are in the dust, her people are in sackcloth and ashes, -has he breathed a thought of indignation? He crosses Germany-her citizens have been cozened and betrayed by their tyrants,―has he one anathema in store? He passes the Alps and sings the Jung-frau. He sees Switzerland crowded with the persecuted heroes of freedom,-has he one tone of pity? He treads the land of Alfieri and Fillacaja, - he knows it is crushed and trampled on by the savages of Hungary, by Croates and the barbarians of the Danube,

hears he either of " the two voices"? Not he!

But we have no commissionerships of stamps and taxes to give.

Have we aught to console us? Yes! even of those who have deserted us we have had the best services. The harps of recreants are "vain and voiceless" when they touch the wonted chords. The young enthusiasm of early and hallowed devotion is passed away. They sell their laurels, but they have been plucked from the tree on which they grew-they have lost their brightness and their beauty; the stem of the flower is broken: it may be held up once, but it fades swiftly, and for ever.

We will not dwell on thoughts like these. In speaking of Wordsworth we wish they could be exiled, we almost wish he could exile them-we would fain meet him in a sphere where they need not intrude. We will forget them. The storm of our indigna

tion hath ceased:

The storm hath ceased, the birds regain

Their cheerfulness, and busily retrim Their nests, or chaunt a gratulating hyin

To the blue ether and bespangled plain."

P. 9.

Many of the events of the early Church history are wrought up with touching beauty. We cannot do justice to the whole by any series of quotations. The sympathies of the poet, always eloquent, are not, however, dependent on facts or on convictions, but on prejudices and passions.

Wordsworth's " Apology" may be quoted, for the Sonnet is an admirable

one:

"Nor scorn the aid which Fancy oft doth lend

The soul's eternal interests to promote : Death, darkness, danger, are our natural lot;

And evil spirits may our walk attend For aught the wisest know or comprehend;

Then let the good be free to breathe a

note

Of elevation-let their odours float Around these converts, and their glories

blend,

Outshining nightly tapers, or the blaze Of the noon-day. Nor doubt that golden

cords

Of good works, mingling with the visions, raise

Ease from this noble Miser of his time
No moment steals; pain narrows not
his cares.
P. 28.

There is little indignation expressed on the arrival of the Normans: though they broke up all popular institutions, and destroyed every vestige of liberty, aristocracy, founded on force and though they introduced an hereditary fraud, which sacrificed every thing to its unrestrained usurpations, we have the tame assurance that this thraldrom 66 brings to Religion no injurious change."-P. 33.

The Sonnet to Wickliffe is rich in poetry and beauty:

"Once more the Church is seized with sudden fear,

And at her call is Wicliffe disinhumed:

Yea,

And

his dry bones to ashes are con

sumed,

flung into the brook that travels