no trifling addition to the stock of provisions. Thus, in little more than one year from the date of their landing on the island, had these people made themselves independant of any supply that did not arise from their own labour.

The commencement of improvement to be seen in some of these habitations, is, I believe, the result, not so much of a personal wish for better accommodation, as of the pride of landed property; a feeling natural to the human breast, and particularly consonant to the antient habits of the Highlanders; a feeling which, among the tenantry, has been repressed by recent circumstances, but not extinguished; and which is ready to resume its spring whenever their situation will permit. These sentiments are not confined to the superior classes of the settlers. One of very moderate property, who had held a small possession in the Isle of Sky, traces his lineage to a family which had once possessed an estate in Ross-shire, but had lost it in the turbulence of the feudal times. He has given to his new property the name of the antient seat of his family; has selected a situation with more taste than might have been expected from a mere peasant; and, to render the house of Auchtertyre worthy of its name, is doing more than would otherwise have been thought of by a man of his station. pp. 206-209, 210.

To conclude; the noble author has here displayed a mind cultivated by true philosophy, a heart warmed with generous patriotism, and a temper capable of persevering exertion; he has at the same time furnished a successful example, in the highest degree important and useful to his country, and afforded the publie a volume of agreeable and improving information. We trust he will not be deprived of his due reward, in securing to himself the honour and satisfaction of turning the tide of Highland emigration into a channel, where it will flow to the advantage of the parent state. It only remains for us to hope, that the Earl of Selkirk, in the prosecution of his philanthrophic and patriotic plans, will not neglect to call in the aids which Religion affords, without which, we are convinced, that all endeavours to amend the character, and increase the happiness of mankind, will prove ineffectual.

Art. VI. The Christian Mirror-exhibiting some of the Excellencies and Defects of the Religious World: containing various Essays in Prose and Verse. 12mo. pp. 288. Price 5s. Williams and Co. Cundee, Conder, 1805.

THAT

HAT the mind of man, as well as his body, exhibits marks of depravity, is evident to every serious and impartial observer. Divine revelation as evidently tends to the cure of moral evil; and Christianity, especially, is completely adapted to that important purpose. It is, however, undeniable, that a vast proportion of people called Christians, are slaves to vice; and that, among the comparatively few who, in the main, evince

the

the sincerity of their belief in the Gospel, no small share of inconsistency is to be found. Enemies of religion often avail themselves of the defects of its professors, to question its reality, or to depreciate its authority. It therefore behoves the friends of genuine Christianity, to expose the fallacy of such inferences, by demonstrating the excellencies, and at the same time censuring the defects, of persons who are distinguished by a religious profession.

For these and other reasons, a book under the title of that now before us, lay's claim to our attention; and so far as it corresponds with its title, merits no slight recommendation. We observe, so far as it does this; because, although the present work proposes to exhibit only some excellencies and some defects, yet as they are stated to be those, not of any one party of religious people, but of the religious world, and the resemblance is said to be presented by the Christian Mirror, we acknowledge the difficulty of fulfilling the expectations raised by such a promise.

How extensive must be the observation, how comprehensive the knowledge, how superior to prejudice the judgement, that can appreciate these qualities which belong, in common to the Christian world, the appearances and manners of which are not only wonderfully diversified, but in many instances strongly contrasted!

It is not on this large scale, that the volume under review delineates the religious world. It is, apparently, the joint performance of some pious dissenters; and the manners which it describes, are peculiarly those of their own denomination. They discover, however, more of candour, than of general infor mation: and while little, if any thing, appears, which can reasonably disgust readers of a different party, there is much, which, by the analogy of human nature, and of national customs, may interest and admonish them.

The Essays which compose this work assume the form and style of periodical papers. We doubt whether they derive advantage from it on the whole: because the introduction of occasional correspondents can only appear plausible, when the papers are actually published in succession; and because we apprehend that works of this kind require a greater variety of subjects, a greater compass of literature, and a more general knowledge of mankind, than are here displayed. The authors have likewise attempted a task in which even the ablest periodical writers have partially failed; that of describing and sustaining the various characters of supposed stated contributors to the performance. The failure is also rendered the more conspicuous by the triteness of the names assigned to this literary junto. Sir Roger de Coverley, Will Honeycomb, or Isaac Bickerstaff, might trespass without immediate detection: but

if Peter Fervid, Henry Active, and Samuel Easy, do not answer to their names, woe unto them! The characters occasionally drawn in these papers, appear to incomparably greater advantage than those of the supposed writers: and we apprehend that the whole derives detriment from an unseasonable and servile imitation of Sir Richard Steele.

The materials, however, are such, for the greater part, as may compensate for some defects in the form. The subjects are usually well chosen, and usefully discussed; the sentiments are generally solid and scriptural; and the obvious design, and prevailing dispositions, of the respective writers, cannot fail to recommend them to the approbation of the serious and candid reader. We suppose them, considered at least as authors, to be young: and we hope that a due attention to the cultivation of their talents, and the enlargement of their information, will render them valuable acquisitions to the band of moral and religious writers.

The poetical pieces are more numerous than is customary in similar collections. They are ascribed to Mr. Fervid; and although, if the reader expects a "Muse of Fire," he will be disappointed, yet he may be gratified with the sentiment and the simplicity which characterize them. Of the other papers we could distinguish many that well deserve attention; but instead of multiplying our remarks, we wish to insert, as a specimen, the following extract of a letter from a father to his

son.

"You have been repeatedly told, that I had long pursued the world as my chief good, before I was acquainted with the way of salvation. As soon as I became serious in my inquiries after eternal life, I was peculiarly intimate with three young men, with whom, though I was older than any of them, as their views were similar to my own, I was accustomed to take sweet counsel, and we all went to the house of God in company. Our passions were strong, and our knowledge of human nature was but small. We flattered ourselves that the friendship we had thus formed, would last all our lives; but these fond expectations were disappointed, and the subsequent circumstances which occurred, soon broke asunder these ties which we expected to have been so durable. I am sorry to add, that as our friendship decayed, our regard to divine things appeared to diminish; and, as we forgot each other, we forgot that God whom we had so often united in seeking.

"I must ascribe praise, to the free grace of God, which has in some measure preserved me, while my companions have fallen into snares, from which each of them appeared, at one time, more likely to escape than myself.

"The first of these companions was Mr. Gay. His turn of mind was sprightly, his person peculiarly agreeable, and his manners engaging. He made a favourable impression on almost every company in which he entered; many of his pious friends thought that in him religion shone

with peculiar lustre, and some were imprudent enough to let him know their opinion. At the death of his father he became the possessor of large fortune, and soon after greatly increased it by forming a matrimonial connection with a wealthy heiress, who had nothing, it was thought to recommend her to the attention of Mr. Gay, but her fortune and her beauty. We were at that time intimate, and he informed me of his attachment to this lady; I ventured to point out to him the impropriety and danger of entering into so close an union with one who had no mark of real piety in her character. But he, as I well remember, treated my objections with levity, and spoke with confidence of his security, and the good he might do by forming such a connexion; for he did not doubt that he should soon influence her to adopt his views of religion, and was not without hopes that, by acting with caution and prudence he should succeed in winning over her relations and friends.

"In a short time after they were married, I took an opportunity to ask Mr. Gay if he had introduced family prayer? His answer was " I fully intend it; but at present these are early days, and I mean gradually to bring on a religious course.' But, my son, in all things delays are dangerous, but most of all in religion. This plan succeeded no better than I had expected: family devotion was never practised. Mr. Gay, instead of bringing his lady to adopt his principles, gradually declined into hers, and at length became as careless about religion, as if he had never professed to feel its importance. He ran into the extremes of gaiety and dissipation. His fortune, large as it was, was unequal to his expenditure, and amidst the difficulties into which he had plunged himself, he began to reap the bitter fruits of his former misconduct. He sought, in social intemperance, to drown those cares which his folly had created, and to allay the smart which he felt occasionally from the stings of conscience. The stupor of intoxication was his miserable substitute for that peace of mind which he had once appeared to enjoy in the ways of religion and truth; and thus a life, which once promised to be useful, was brought to a speedy and gloomy close.

The snare into which Mr. Gay fell, was not likely to entangle Simon Worldly, another of my friends, who loved the riches of the world, more than its pleasures; and whose industry and talents soon procured him a situation in which he acquired no small portion of them. The outward form of godliness was kept up by Worldly much longer than by Gay-but his heart seemed to be wholly engaged in the world. His mind was continually kept on the stretch by some bold 'speculation; for in speculations he was generally engaged, and surprisingly fortunate, In the bustle of worldly care there was no time to attend to the soul. Simon was in his counting-house early and late: family devotion, though established when he first settled in the world, was always dispatched as soon as possible, frequently omitted, and at length entirely dropped. Business rendered it impossible for this gentleman to attend on any public means of grace, unless on the Lord's day; and even then, though he went up to the house of God, his thoughts, as he sometimes would acknowledge, were engaged in his worldly concerns, except when he was asleep (as was often the case) through weariness, occasioned by the exertions of the preceding week. And I fear it is too common with others, as well as Mr. Worldly, to break the sabbath, by protracting their labours on a Saturday to a late hour, and yet to account themselves keepers

of the fourth commandment. By degrees Simon sunk into such sordid avarice, that he brought religion into contempt; very frequently he was suspected, and not without cause, of over-reaching in trade, and of oppressing the poor; and all who knew him believed it would be better for religion if he would entirely relinquish its forms, as it was too evident he was a stranger to its power.

"Austin Speculative, my other companion, had no great attachment either for the pleasures or the riches of the world; the lust of the eye, and the pride of life had little, or no charm for him. A thirst for knowledge was one of the leading dispositions of his mind; but this was united to self-conceit, which led him to look with disdain on every one whom he fancied to have talents inferior to his own, and to pursue his inquiries in a temper of mind very ill calculated to conduct to the knowledge of the truth. Do not imagine, my dear Charles, that I condemn the pursuit of knowledge; what I would caution you against is the pursuit of it in an improper way. True knowledge is a pearl of great price, and worthy of our most laborious diligence; but it must be sought after with modesty and piety, without which our inquiries, especially in religion, will only end in error and deception. This was the rock upon which Mr. Speculative split. He did not neglect to read the Bible, he searched the scriptures diligently, he compared spiritual things with spiritual; but he did it without humility, and without prayer, and treated the divine oracles as Horace did the precepts of Aristippus :

Mihi res, non me rebus, submittere conor.

Speculative first formed his system, and then looked into the Bible to find pillars for its support. Being thus without a guide by which to direct his principles and practices, every step he took led him farther from truth, till at length he was bewildered in the dark labyrinths of scepticism, and closed his fruitless inquiries, and life, with this sentiment-That there is nothing certain, but that virtue is better than vice." And I always found, when pressed upon the subject, he was at a loss clearly to define what he meant by virtue.

Thus it has been my lot to have survived all the intimate companions of my early days. I observed their first inquiries after religion, and their apostacy from it-an apostacy, from which, alas, there was no hope that any were ever recovered, excepting Mr. Gay, who, on his death-bed, appeared to manifest a degree of repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; but, though we had hopes concerning him, our hopes were mingled with many fears." pp. 254-260.

A letter in the third paper, signed Academicus, and mentioning Dr. Doddridge, &c., will, we hope, be omitted in any other impression of these essays; as the retailing of ludicrous applications of texts, tends to increase, more than to discountenance the evil. With this exception, we cordially recommend the book to our readers; not doubting that they will derive both amusement and benefit from the perusal.

Art.