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Perhaps it might be stated as a general, though certainly not a universal rule, that the effort of mind habitually made by a preacher in his own pulpit, to produce impression on his hearers, is in an inverse proportion to the influence of his personal character (Eccl. xii, 11.) If this be at all true, it will follow, that the discourses of the most eminent and efficient ministers of the Gospel, if printed nearly as they were delivered, will often suffer from a comparison with those of preachers very inferior to them in positive usefulness at home, and in the most important personal and ministerial qualifications. It remains then to be suggested to those who enjoy the happy and incalculable advantage of speaking among the people of their charge, a language which possesses the high significance imparted to it by the eminence of their character, and the sincere solemnity of their manner, that, when they address the public which knows them not, or knows them but imperfectly, they are then using a language of a really lower import, the effect of which must be estimated only from the average degradation of Christian profession.

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Our readers will perceive from their titles, that these Sermons compose a connected series of topics, the first volume passing over the prominent doctrines of the Gospel, the second, relating more to matters of Christian experience and conduct. discourses in the first volume, are on The Divine Authority of the Scriptures The Duty of searching the Scriptures -The State of Man by Nature Salvation wholly by Grace-Christ our Righteousness-Christ our PassoverChrist our Intercessor On Regeneration - Sanctification Adoption-Christian Fellowship-Communion with God-The Christian's last Victory-The Happiness of the Saints in a separate State-The general Resurrection. Those of the second volume, are on The Deceitfulness of Sin-Jesus Christ the great Deliverer-The Danger of neglecting the great Salvation--The aggravated Evil and awful Consequences of Unbelief -Conversion Forgiveness of Sins-The Teaching of the Holy Spirit-Warning against the Love of the World-Watch-fulness against the great Enemy-The Necessity of HolinessA good Conscience- A good Hope - Christian FortitudeChristian Freedom-The Perseverance of the Saints.

The following quotation is taken from the Sermon on the Intercession of Christ.

'The intercession of Christ at the right hand of God ought to make us decided, undaunted, and zealous in the profession of his gospel. Too many bear his name, who neither wear his image, nor keep his commands. Dreading the ridicule of the scorner, and the persecution of the ungodly, they do not go forth without the camp to follow the Captain of salvation, bearing his reproach. A timid time-serving spirit

casts dishonour upon Christ. What! did he engage to redeem us, and forget his solemn promise? Did he leave the arduous work unfinished ? Has he forfeited his claim to our gratitude and obedience? Did he descend into the grave to moulder there and see corruption? Christians, you know both where he is, and what he is doing. The cyes of your understanding enlightened by the anointing of the Spirit, you see him clothed with light and glory, continually carrying on his gracious mediation, to advance your best interests. And while he acknowledges you before God, will you not openly confess him before men? While he successfully pleads your cause in heaven, will you not boldly plead his cause on earth? Let it be made manifest whose you are, and whom you

serve.'

Mr. Thornton's Sermons, beside being read in the family and the closet, will, we doubt not, extensively aid the important labours of those laymen who read sermons in the villages of their neighbourhood.

Art. VII.

1. Observations, Moral, Literary, and Antiquarian, made during a Tour through the Pyrenees, South of France, Switzerland, the whole of Italy, and the Netherlands, in the Years 1814 and 1815. By John Milford, Jun. In 2 Vols. 8vo. 11. 1s. 1818.

2. A picturesque Tour through France, Switzerland, on the Banks of the Rhine, and through Part of the Netherlands: in the Year 1816. 8vo. 1817.

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MR. R. Milford complains of considerable difficulty in the selection of a title page to his work,' and we cannot forbear saying that the infelicity of his choice abundantly illustrates the sincerity of his complaint. He has written an entertaining book, and has mingled with a large portion of matter which is merely amusing, something both of observation and description, which is of more permanent value. But the praise which he claims is of a much loftier kind; he invites us in his title to a rich and intellectual feast, and we certainly cannot say that in this particular he has been very hospitable in his entertainment. If by moral 'observations,' he simply means reference to manners, we admit that he has fairly enough redeemed his pledge, though he has used the word in an equivocal sense; but in its larger application and more important usage, we find very little that is not excessively common-placę. Neither can we compliment him on the literary and antiquarian' skill exhibited in the volumes before us; the literature is very slight, and the antiquarianism not quite on a level with that of the local tours' and guides.' Leaving, however, Mr. M.'s unfortunate title-page, and adverting to his volumes on the ground of their own merits, we are fully disposed to give them their due praise of communicating some information and much amusement. Mr. Milford's route was admirably chosen; leaving out the every-day objects

of the well-worn track of common tourists, he struck at once into the heart of the most interesting scenes; followed Lord Wellington's army from the Adour to Toulouse, visited Bourdeaux, sojourned in the Pyrennees, crossed the south of France to Toulon, made his observations in the neighbourhood of Geneva, and entered Italy by the road over Mount Cenis. His Italian tour was equally well arranged; through Piedmont he travelled to Genoa, and thence by sea to Leghorn, and the island of Elba, at that time the residence of Napoleon; his route then led him through Pisa to Rome, and its vicinity, and ultimately to Naples. On his return, he passed through Florence to Bologna, where he found Murat and his staff, preparing for hos tilities against the Austrians, and was in consequence compelled to turn back to Ancona, whence he sailed to Venice. Through Padua and Brescia, he reached Milan, and after visiting the fine lake scenery in the vicinity of Como, crossed by the Simplon road into Switzerland, returning home by the Rhine, through Holland and the Netherlands. This interesting journey was not performed hastily, nor carelessly. Mr. Milford travelled in a leisurely manner, and made pauses of considerable length at the more important stations. He seems to have employed his time actively and judiciously, and he communicates the result of his observations in a style which, though neither very classical, nor remarkably correct, is perfectly free from the two extremes of vulgarity and affectation: he describes distinctly, though without pedantry, he narrates with great vivacity, and if he does not keep the intellectual faculty intensely on the stretch, yet he never suffers the attention to tire and sleep. We may add to this, that though his facetiousness is generally a little deficient in richness, his good humour and alertness of mind very sufficiently supply the absence of more racy qualities: no man will read his book without wishing to have been his fellow traveller.

In February, 1814, Mr. Milford had the gratification of first witnessing active measures for human destruction upon an extensive scale, in the operations which terminated in driving the French across the Adour.

After having passed half an hour, riding on a hill situated immediately above a battery, which was firing at a French frigate in the Adour, we were discovered by the enemy; who, wishing to dislodge us, began firing from their gun-boats a shower of grape-shot, which I found falling, and digging up the earth in every direction around us. This new scene,

I confess, neither suited my notions of reconnoitring, nor the sensations of my white charger, which had been my companion ever since I left Portugal: he began prancing about, with evident marks of being uncomfortable: the result was, we both had enough of it, and I galloped away from the party until I arrived at the bottom of the hill, secure from all casualty. I understand this sudden manœuvre afforded a good laugh to

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my military companions, but I must beg them to recollect, that " n'etoit pas mon metier;" and if in the character of an amateur a mistaken shot had reached me, I should neither have had Honour or Glory engraven on my tomb-stone. This gallop constituted the whole of my "active services" during the campaign.' pp. 5, 6.

At Pau, Mr. Milford was much amused by the ingenious schene of a mutilated Frenchman, who obtained a livelihood by the docility of his dog. The animal had been taught to join his master in the chorus of a song-sung, of course, not by the canine, but the biped performer-of which each stanza terminated in Bow-wow-wow. This leads to the narration of the following instance of animal sagacity.

I will here mention a sagacious dog which I frequently saw at the Piazza de Spagna at Rome, where he took his station, and perceiving any one stand still, used to look him full in the face and begin to bark. In this formidable manner he accosted me one day as I was conversing with an old priest, who had long been resident at Rome, and was well acquainted with the dog's sagacity, and informed me that the only way to get rid of him was to give him a piece of money called a biocco, equal to an English penny. This I did by throwing it on the ground, as the most prudent method, the animal's countenance rather denoting fierceness than good nature. Ile immediately took it in his mouth, and turning the corner of an adjacent street, entered a baker's shop, where he stood on his hinder legs, depositing the money on the counter, and received a small loaf in return, with which he walked off, to my great amusement and admiration. This dog was in excellent case; and on inquiry I found he came on a similar expedition almost every day in the week to this baker's shop.' pp. 37, 38.

His excursions among the Pyrennees are simply but agreeably described. On one occasion he appears to have been in considerable danger, his horse having fallen with him on the brink of a fearful precipice.

On my relating this adventure, one day, after dinner, to two military friends at Toulouse, they, with grave irony, offered their condolence on "the perilous adventures and hair-breadth escapes I had passed!" It is true, that one of these officers had, within the last four years, been shipwrecked twice, under some peculiar circumstances of distress; and the other had become so familiar with disaster, having been repeatedly shot through different parts of the body, that his intimate friends gave him the name of Major Cullender. p. 56.

At Toulouse, Mr. Milford, much to his satisfaction, regaled himself on a dish of frogs: at Montpelier, he pronounces a merited eulogium on the roads of Languedoc. At Toulon, meeting with a rebuff from an officer to whom he applied for permission to visit the dock-yard, he rather saucily replied that having seen the arsenals of Plymouth,' he had travelled to Toulon on purpose to form a comparison.' At Lyous, he

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witnessed the entrance of the Count d'Artois, after his visit to the south, and was surprised at the apparent coldness of the reception he met with. We do not feel it necessary to make any extract from his reflections on quitting France; they are, in truth somewhat musty;' but we perfectly accord with him, in referring the scepticism too prevalent in that country, to the impossibility of crediting the enormous impostures of the Romish system. At Genoa, he finds what must certainly be considered as a prodigious curiosity- a most valuable Greek remain of the highest antiquity, a head of Vitellius in granite!' His stay at Elba procured him nothing more than the sight of Napoleon. At Pisa, he heard a wonderful organ, which, among other extraordinary sounds, imitated the cackling of ducks and geese.' At Rome, where Mr. Milford made a considerable stay, he seems to have made the best possible use of his time, but as his statements refer to objects familiar to general readers, we shall not refer to them, nor to the descriptions of ceremonies which are equally well known. In the midst of one of the most solemn celebrations, in St. Peter's church, Mr. M.'s gravity was nearly overcome.

His holiness happened to blow his nose; this was an affair of great moment; for one of his attendants, after bowing nearly to the ground, took the handkerchief from his hand, and placed it on a chair with all due reverence.'

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On one occasion, Mr. Milford was happy enough to obtain the sight of a miraculous Bambino, at the trifling expense of a pocket-handkerchief, dextrously extracted from his pocket. With Bernini's statue of St. Bruno, he is perfectly enchanted; and proposes to any man whose temper is subject to be ruffled by passion,' that he should try to get this master-piece of sculpture,' for the purpose of contemplating the mildness and tranquillity of its countenance, and of thus rendering unnecessary all future corrections of the irritabilities of temper!' Much, however, as Mr. Milford found to awaken his admiration, he also met with many objects which excited his disgust; surrounded by the signs of more auspicious days, he was saddened by the contrast which they presented to present times. The splendid palaces degraded by the want of interior cleanliness and comfort; the grass growing in the deserted streets; the mal aria extending its baneful effects within the very walls of Rome; the wasted and corrupted population of the Eternal City-all these he noted, and has expressed himself respecting them with much right feeling. The sight of the Pontine marshes, once rich with cultivation, but now reeking with vapours, dangerous even to the passing traveller, calls forth his regrets. In the approach to Naples, he was struck by VOL. XI. N.S. 2 I

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