stupid, to sick and well, to learned and unlearned, to lively and drowsy, of which various classes the said circles are apt, not very conveniently, to be made up.-The drawings are beautifully executed by Lieut. Biddulph, who also has materially added to the information of the volume.

We shall give, as a sample of the work, a short description of a particular scene; and the national song or anthem, which is full of spirit, and not unworthy to keep company with "God save the Queen," which our Author heard, with throbbing heart, echoing amidst the mountains of Norway:

"After about two miles from our first point of view, the picture which I have endeavoured to sketch was completed, by the insertion of the central object, the Fall itself; in front of which the course of the road then brought us. Among its most striking features were two masses of perpendicular rock, each at least five hundred feet high, which, springing from opposite sides, stood out in bold relief; the outworks of the escarped cliff, through a chasm in which the cataract pours. These massive columns formed the entrance; the gigantic portals of a vast chamber which receives the flood of waters. Their sharp angular outline contrasted strongly with the slopes and swells of the surrounding heights, and the clouds of vapour that curled around their summits. But who shall penetrate the depths of that dim cavern, and tell all the wonders of one of nature's most mysterious shrines ! What pen or pencil can adequately depict the ever-varying play of those clouds of spray which filled the chamber,-eddying, whirling, drifted to and fro by the slightest breeze; and which floated light as air over the boiling cauldron that foamed beneath!

'Equally impossible is it, to convey more than a faint idea of the body of the cataract, as it was precipitated in one vast column into the depths below. Talk of body; it was water spiritualized. Its nature seemed to have been changed in its passage down the rapids and along the tortuous channel, the course of which was marked by jets of steam, and in which it chafed above the Fall. Thus elaborated and charged with air, it broke over the precipice, not so much in a continuous sheet as in successive wreaths of white vapour, which seemed to drop from the summit, fold after fold, so light and buoyant that the element appeared to have lost its specific gravity; and, rebounding from the dark caverns beneath, rolled up again in those fantastic shapes I have just mentioned. The discharge of each successive wave of the mighty torrent was accompanied by a hissing sound, from which the Fall derives its name of Rjukau, the steaming or reeking foss; the hoarse breathings of the mysterious spirit which, with unwearied energy, has worked since time was in that marvellous laboratory, and, with ceaseless throbs, will yet discharge those mingled volumes of steam and water, until that final catastrophe, when some yet mightier power of nature shall dissolve even the solid frame work of those granite cliffs."

They hallow the name of the land of our birth :

Each heart beats its loudest, each cheek glows its proudest,

For Norway the ancient, the throne of the earth !

Spirit look back on her far-flashing glory,

The far-flashing meteor that bursts on thy glance;
On chieftain and hero, immortal in story,

They press to the battle like maids to the dance.

The blood flows before them;

The wave dashes o'er them;

They reap with the sword, what they plough with the keel :
Enough that they leave to the country that bore them,-
Bosoms to bleed for her freedom and weal.

The shrine of the Northman, the temple of freedom,-
Stands like a rock, where the stormy wind breaks!

The tempests howl round it, but little he'll heed them;
Freely he thinks, and as freely he speaks.
The bird in its motion,

The wave in its ocean,

Scantly can rival his liberty's voice;
Yet he obeys, with a willing devotion,
Laws of his making, and kings of his choice.

Land of the forest, the fall, and the fountain!
Blest with the wealth of the field and the flood!
Steady and trustful, the sons of thy mountain
Pay the glad price of thy rights with their blood.
Ocean hath bound thee!

Freedom hath found thee!

Then flourish Old Norway! thy flag be unfurl'd!
As free as the breezes and breakers around thee,
The pride of thy children, the front of the world !”

The fifteenth chapter contains a pleasing picture of a village church-a mustering congregation-a rustic pastor-whom the Author describes as "grave, earnest, and impressive," in his manner. In the same chapter he touches on the resemblances and discrepancies between the Norwegian worship, which is Lutheran, and that of Rome; and on its closer resemblance to that of the English Church. Of course, they hold the doctrine of "Consubstantiation," which the Author does not very carefully distinguish from that of his own church. The chief defect of the people is that which is too common amongst the Northern nations,—a strong addiction, to ardent spirits. The Author also laments, in common with Mr. Lang, a valuable writer on Norway, from whom he quotes an imtant passage-the Lutheran laxity as to the observance of the Sabbath-day; and hails with joy those new and prosperous Postal arrangements amongst ourselves, which Sir Charles Wood has since contrived to scatter to the winds. He mentions the singular facts, that there are no religious sects (how will our Dissenters think that such a country can survive)-that education is universal-that, in a country where almost every man is poor, the clergy are well provided for. " Appropriations," "impropriations," commutations," are unknown. No Henry VIII. has arisen to empty the contents of the clergymen's pockets into his own; and to nourish to repletion the Dukes of Bedford, while many of the incumbents, on what Mr. Burke calls that "fat level," are left to feed on hips and haws.

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The travels of the Author have led him to one conclusion-that the higher orders of our own country will do well, even for their own interest, to lessen as far as possible the vast interval of wealth and comforts between the different orders of the community; and to remember what the wisest of men, under a higher influence than that of philosophy, has taught us, that "the rich and the poor meet together" in this world of difficulty, but that "God is the maker of them all."

VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

BUT for the Electorate or petty kingdom of Hesse Cassel, we should have had to present almost a blank as to Continental intelligence.In that country, as a new Constitution had been

granted within the last few years, which had greatly enlarged the popular rights, no movement took place in the general continental emeute of 1848. But, as in all other cases where popular rights are conceded before the State is prepared to give, or the people to use them with moderation and discretion, the peace arising out of these new arrangements has not proved to be of an enduring character. And accordingly, as soon as the Elector, and his minister Hassenflus, found that the people meant not only to talk of their rights but to insist upon them, they "changed their pens for truncheons," and began to shew that they had been only playing at "Representative government," and meant, in fact, to govern as absolutely as ever. Accordingly, when the Chambers refused to vote all the supplies which the government wanted, the Elector proceeded to lay on taxes by his own independent authority. The old process of "ship money" was attempted, and with about the same success. The Elector and the Prime Minister have been obliged to decamp, and have halted, for a time, in another city of the Electorate-but we shall soon probably have to welcome them among the band of political exiles who have come hither to learn that a pure faith and a really free constitution are the only securities for peace, wealth, strength, and compassion for the unhappy.

The French President has continued his visits to the provinces, and has, in general, received a cordial welcome; the cries of the popular voice having oscillated between "Vive la Republique" and "Vive Napoleon," the latter, on the whole, predominating-an indication that there is no indisposition to extend his term of Presidency; and possibly, should the feeling of the Legislative Assembly lean the same way, to give him a perpetual Dictatorship. The review of a part of the French fleet at Cherbourg was a splendid affair, giving our countrymen who were present, a high conception of the formidable character of the French navy, and teaching us to look carefully to the state of our own ships and ports. We have, no doubt, (thanks to Messrs. Hume, Cobden, &c.,) subjected ourselves to the charge of being "penny wise and pound foolish" in our naval expenditure. Next to the Divine protection, we shall find our best security against war in being well prepared for it, should the belligerent spirit of other nations force so tremendous an evil upon us.

The French papers record the death of an English aeronaut, Lieut. Gale, who appears to have ascended with a horse attached to the balloon ;-to have descended in safety;-to have been entangled in the ropes ;-carried up again, and finally dashed to the earth from a considerable height. It would be very satisfactory to the public mind, if some means were adopted to secure irrational animals from the follies of those who refuse to use the reason which God has given them. Such adventurers must, we suppose, be left to do what they will with their own bodies, as it is most difficult to lay down laws against either excessive timidity or excessive rashness; nor perhaps is it desirable to do so, where the fate of a man does not involve the fate of his fellow-creatures. But humanity seems to require that, as the unreasonable animal can have no choice in the matter, whether he shall continue on his native soil or be made to soar into

regions with which he has nothing to do, he should have the protection of the law. Phaeton was allowed, in ancient days, to ascend where he pleased, in the chariot of the sun, but his horses were furnished with wings. And the legislature, we think, is bound to supply our modern steeds with some such assistance now, or to keep them on their mother earth.

In America, the new Government promises well. But much cannot be hoped for the progress of virtue and of real moral strength in that country, while the tremendous incubus of Negro slavery is lying so heavily upon it. Fresh proofs of the horrors of the slave system in that land of boasted freedom, are every day presenting themselves. Some of the late measures of the Legislative Assemblies are cruel and unjust, almost beyond all precedent; and, in a country where the Legislature is so entirely subjected to the control of the electors, such measures too surely indicate the bent of the public mind. When will some Wilberforce or Buxton arise in that country, to assert the rights of human nature in opposition to cotton and sugar planters, and to fight this great battle, even to the death? It is an unspeakable blessing to live in a land where slavery cannot breathe; and where the slave no sooner touches the soil than he is free as the winds which roar around him.

The American papers transmit to us the account of the long delayed execution of Dr. Webster, for one of the foulest murders which is recorded in the history of human guilt. A letter, published subsequent to his execution, confesses the crime. But as he made no such confession, whilst it might have involved the smallest risk or exposure to himself when living, such a confession rather aggravates than extenuates his crime, inasmuch as it shews that he died with a lie in his right hand.

Our Home news is almost concentrated in one subject, the progress of the "movement," or of, what may be called, the insurrectionary party, in the Church of England.

Among the events to be noticed, is the wide, we may almost say the universal, circulation among the Clergy, of an Address from Archdeacons Wilberforce, Manning, and Professor Mill, on the subject of the royal supremacy. Dr. M'Neile and others, have published strong and able letters, which are before the public, on the subject; on the one hand, denouncing the presumption of three Presbyters, in forcing their strange and perverted interpretations of the law, upon the great body of their clerical brethren; and, on the other, labouring to convince these very slippery casuists that the disavowal of a law does not absolve them from their obligation to obey it. Pilate, indeed, "washed his hands" and pronounced his own

innocence of the sacred blood which he assisted to shed. But these Divines, we suppose, would not acquiesce in this acquittal of himself by Pilate; neither can an honest mind allow them to wash their hands and pronounce their own acquittal, simply because they refuse to see what no simple mind can fail to discover. Instead, however, of examining the Archdiaconal and Professorial "Address" seriatim, we prefer to extract the following letter, which has been forwarded to us, and which was sent to these gentlemen by the Rev. C. H. Davies of Nailsworth, as it appears to us to supply such statements on the subject as may be of use to many of our readers :

"REV. GENTLEMEN,-Having received from you a circular respecting the nature and extent of the Royal Supremacy as recognised in and by the United Church of England and Ireland, wherein you state that it now becomes an absolute duty for those who are bound by oath and subscription to the existing state of the law, to examine and to declare in what sense they understand the supremacy to which, under such solemn obligations, they are committed,' I venture to hope that you will all give a candid perusal to a brief declaration' of the result of my examination' into the said subject, which the nature of your circular seems to render it a duty' to lay before you.

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"1. It plainly appears that the judgment of all the courts of common law,' in the recent case of appeal, has given no other interpretation to the question of the Royal Supremacy, as defined and established by statute-law,' than that which has hitherto prevailed. And it appears that the 2nd Canon of this Church, has already declared the Royal Supremacy to be the same as that which by the laws of this realm' is established,' pronouncing sentence of ipso facto excommunication upon all who venture to 'impeach' the same! Moreover, we have in the well-known case of the Arian, Whiston, in 1711, a practical illustration of the operation of these laws. The doubt then entertained by the houses of Convocation was this,-Whether the consideration of cases of alleged heresy did not belong exclusively to the Crown? In the Rev. T. Lathbury's History of Convocation,' (published by J. W. Parker, in 1842,) the whole case may be seen. (c. xiii. pp. 338-343.) The matter having, at the request of the Primate, been referred by the Queen to the twelve Judges, it was the declared opinion of four of them, that the Convocation had no jurisdiction in cases of heresy, but that the ecclesiastical courts, from which appeals would lie to the Crown, were the proper places in which such matters should be decided,' (Lathbury, p. 341); but the other eight ' agreed that there was, by common right, an appeal to Her Majesty from all ecclesiastical courts, by virtue of her supremacy, that a prosecution in Convocation, not excluding an appeal to Her Majesty, was not inconsistent with the Act of 1st of Queen Elizabeth.' (p. 340.) If then, as you state, you did not understand the Royal Supremacy in the sense now ascribed to it by the courts of law, nor have until this time so understood it, neither have believed that such authority was claimed on behalf of our sovereigns,' you must in all candour admit that the blame can justly rest (not on the Church, nor on the State, but) upon yourselves alone, and that a somewhat better acquaintance with the history and with the constitution of that Church, whose honours and whose emoluments you enjoy, would have saved you from your present unenviable position. For since you have constrained to admit that you are' already bound by oath and subscription to the existing state of the law,' and that 'under such solemn obligations' you are' already committed' to it, you will at once perceive that you are raising the voice of an erroneous opinion formed by the exercise of your own (mistaken) private judgment, against the voice of the Church' and of the powers that be,' (Rom. xiii. 1,) and that you are morally precluded by your own subscriptions from persevering in your present course. For you will remember that at the Hampton Court Conference in 1603—4, it was requested of the King by Dr. Bancroft, Bishop of London, that the 'remonstrance' of all the Puritan party who had subscribed,' should be 'set aside, pursuant to an ancient council, in which it is decreed that no man shall be allowed to plead against his own act and subscription.' (Collier, vol. vii. p. 278, Barham's Edition.)

"2. The meaning of the oath and the subscription being thus plain, it must necessarily follow that no declaration' of any contrary interpretation of their meaning, however numerously signed, can possess the least authority or value, inasmuch as it is an established rule (as laid down by the late learned Dr. Waterland, in his Remarks upon Subscription,'-Works, vol. ii. pp. 284290,) that oaths and subscriptions are always to be taken in the sense of the imposers,' and not in the 'private senses' of the jurors and subscribers; and the learned Dr. gently reminds us that the contrary course of proceeding is manifestly a breach of covenant, and prevaricating with God and man'-' is