Dirk Rafael Kamphuyzen, born 1586, died 1626, is one of the most celebrated religious poets of Holland. He wrote a" Paraphrase of the Psalms," of which the Translators have given the following specimen. PSALM CXXXIII. Is there be one whose thoughts delight to wander Let him survey the joy-conferring union Oh! blest abode, where love is ever vernal, 'E'en as the ointment whose sweet odours blended Which hung awhile in fragrance there, And falling thence, with rich perfume ran o'er So doth the unity that lives with brothers E'en as the dew, that at the break of morning And flows from Hermon calm and still, So are fraternal peace and concord ever The life, the soul of unmolested rest: Ah! happy they whom genial concord blesses: Who practise good are in themselves rewarded, By virtue, is with its own blisses crown'd, What use, what power from concord flows. Long life, and ease, beneath its shadowing wings, Beyond all distance, change, and time.' The poet, however, who, above all others in this volume, appears to us to deserve the name, is Joost Van den Vondel, born 1587. His tragedies are said to be the grandest compositions in Dutch literature. Besides these, he wrote satires, epigrams, and an epic poem entitled Lucifer. He was the associate of Vossius, Hooft, and Grotius, but embraced Catholicism, and became the zealous advocate of the papal supremacy. The following is a chorus from one of his tragedies. What sweeter brighter bliss In love, joy, woe! The heart-encircling bond, Upon the bosom whence he drinks his food- It binds the blood. But there's a firmer band, Tread the long paths of years secure, As nature pure. 'Tis then that love's control Commingles soul with soul, the Spirit to spirit gathers A love that's stronger even than fate,— 'Tis like an effluence from the eternal Father's, It cannot be subdued, It is the noblest good That nature's hand has given : That boldly rears its front to heaven, If thou hast seen the love 'So Aemstel's fair-She stood To tears; her race was scatter'd, Her subjects and her city razed, And all in blood and darkness shatter'd, O God; disperse the gloom, For hope and peace stretch out their hands, And bid her look in joy and gladness Where Aemstel stands." There is a display of much tender and virtuous feeling in poems of Jeremias de Decker. But we can make room for only one more extract, and must give the preference to the following elegant little poem of Gerard Brandt's. TO SUSANNAH VAN BAERLE, ON HER BIRTH-DAY. Think not, I shall deck thy hands And thy breath of fragrance,-ne'er Even far better garlands owns: Virtues are the noblest crowns.' A volume containing specimens and notices of Dutch poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, will complete the work. We suspend all further critical remark till we see the sequel. Art. X. An Address on the State of Slavery in the West India Islands. From the Committee of the Leicester Auxiliary AntiSlavery Society. 8vo. pp. 28. London. 1824. WE E are glad to find that auxiliary societies of this description are being formed in different parts of the kingdom. 'When wicked men conspire, good men must combine." Let not our readers imagine that any thing short of a determined ⚫ and persevering, but judicious and temperate enforcement' of effectual and decisive measures'-we use the language of the Commons' Resolutions,-will accomplish the melioration of the colonial system. There has been an unaccountable supineness in the religious public on this subject; for what can be more truly a religious object, than one which relates to the moral and spiritual welfare of eight hundred thousand of our fellow-subjects! The apathy with which British Christians could year after year remain spectators of a system like that which prevails in our West India islands, will hereafter appear so strangely at variance with the benevolent exertions made in every other direction, as to be scarcely credible. It is, however, an old subject--a stale subject, as the Abbè Dubois says of the Hindoo suttees; and on this account, every one is apt to think that he understands the question, and is consequently indisposed to read works relating to it, or to lend his attention to the discussion. Whereas we have been led to think, that even the first principles of the question have become involved in some obscurity. It has been one consequence of carrying on the controversy with men accessible only to considerations of expediency or policy, that the primary obligations of justice and morality have been in some measure kept out of sight; that lower ground has been taken, and a more subdued tone has been maintained, than comported with the feelings which every good man ought to cherish with regard to a system of such complicated injustice, cruelty, and profligacy. It is not in addressing West India planters or proprietors, that we can be allowed to speak in adequate language, of this gigantic evil, abhorrent alike to the laws of God and man. This clear, forcible, and eloquent Address will recal the public to the elements of the question. That slavery is the most deplorable condition to which human nature can be reduced, is too evident to require the labour of proof. By subjecting one human creature to the absolute control of another, it annihilates the most essential prerogative of a reasonable being, which consists in the power of determining his own actions, in every instance in which they are not injurious to others. The right improvement of this prerogative is the source of all the virtue and happiness of which the human race is susceptible. Slavery introduces the most horrible confusion, since it degrades human beings from the denomination of persons to that of things; and by merging the interests of the slave in those of the master, he becomes a mere appendage to the existence of another, instead of preserving the dignity which belongs to a reasonable and accountable nature. Knowledge and virtue are foreign to his state; ignorance the most gross, and dispositions the most depraved, are requisite to reduce him to a level with his condition. But degrading as slavery is, in its mildest form, that species of it which prevails in our West India colonies is of the very worst [description, far less tolerable than that which subsisted in Greece and Rome during the reign of paganism. It would be difficult to find a parallel to it in any age or nation, with the exception of those unhappy persons who are carried captive by the piratical states of Barbary. Scourged, branded, and sold at the discretion of their masters, the slaves in our West India Islands are doomed to a life of incessant toil, for the benefit of those from whom they receive no recompense whatever: they are indebted for their principal subsistence to the cultivation of small portions of land allotted them under the name of provision grounds: and the only time ordinarily allowed for that purpose, is the day which the laws of all Christian states have devoted to rest. On that day, instead of being assembled to listen to the oracles of God, and to imbibe the consolations of piety, they are necessitated to work for their living, and to dispose of the produce of their labour at the public market; the natural consequence is, that the far greater part of them are as ignorant of the first principles of Christianity, as though they had remained in the land of their forefathers.' 1 If this be slavery, can it be imagined that the moral improvement of the slave, that which will unfit him for being such, that which will tend to raise him from the condition of a brute to that of a thinking being, to change him from a thing into a man, however gradual that improvement may be, will ever be favoured or cordially acquiesced in by the slave-holder? Between the present condition of the negro slave, and the lowest measure of knowledge and virtue, there is an utter incompatibility. Our opponents are aware of this. Make them men, they argue, and what becomes of our property? We are in possession of a religion the communication of which |