the author of Ecclesiastes, and as a cypress tree upon the mountain of Hermon. I was exalted like a palm tree in Engeddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho; as a fair olive in a pleasant field, and 'a grew up as a plane tree by the water; as a turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace; as a vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruits of honour and victory.'-In the Psalms, in a fine vein of allegory, the vine tree is made to represent the people of Israel: Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cut out the heathen, and planted it. Thou didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with its shadow, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. Why hast thou broken down her hedges, so that all do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of Hosts; look down from Heaven, and behold and visit this vine, and the vineyard thy right hand hath planted.❜

"In Ossian, how beautiful is the following passage of Malvina's lamentation for Osear: I was a lovely tree in thy presence, Oscar, with all my branches round me; but thy death came like a blast from the desert, and laid my green head low; the spring returned with its showers, but no green leaf of mine arose.' Again, where old and weary, blind and almost destitute of friends, he compares himself to a tree, that is withered and decayed. But Ossian is a tree that is withered; its branches are blasted and bare; no green leaf covers its boughs: - from its trunk no young shoot is seen to spring; the breeze whistles in its grey moss; the blast shakes its head of age; the storm will soon overturn it, and strew all its dry branches with thee, Oh Dermid, and with all the rest of the mighty dead, in the green winding vale of Cona.'

"That traveller esteemed himself happy, who first carried into Palestine the rose of Jericho from the plains of Arabia; and many of the Roman nobi

lity were gratified, in a high degree, with having transplanted exotic plants and trees into the orchards of Italy. Pompey introduced the ebony, on the day of his triumph over Mithridates; Vespasian transplanted the balm of Syria, and Lucullus the Pontian cherry. Auger de Busbeck brought the lilac from Constantinople; Hercules introduced the orange into Spain; Verton the mulberry into England:-and so great is the love of nations for particular trees,

that a traveller never fails to celebrate those, by which his native province is distinguished. Thus, the native of Hampshire prides himself upon his oaks; the Burgundian boasts of his vines, and the Herefordshire farmer of his apples. Normandy is proud of her pears; Provençe of her olives; and Dauphiné of her mulberries; while the Maltese are in love with their own orange trees. Norway and Sweden celebrate their pines→ Syria her palms; and since they have few other trees, of which they can boast, Lincoln celebrates her alders, and Cambridge her willows! The Paphians were proud of their myrtles, the Lesbians of their vines: Rhodes loudly proclaimed the superior charms of her rose-trees; Idumea of her balsams; Media of her citrons, and India of her ebony.-The Druses boast of their mulberries; Gaza of her dates and pomegranates; Switzerland of her lime trees; Bairout of her figs and bananas; Damascus of her plums; Inchonnaugan of its birch, and Inchuolaig of its yews. The inhabitants of Jamaica never cease to praise the beauty of their manchenillas; while those of Tobasco are as vain of their cocoas.-The natives of Madeira, whose spring and autumn reign together, take pride in their cedars and citrons; those of Antigua of their tamarinds, while they esteem their mammee sappota to be equal to any oak in Europe, and their mangos to be superior to any tree in America. Equally partial are the inhabitants of the Plains of Tahta to their peculiar species of fan palm; and those of Kous to their cdoriferous orchards. The Hispaniolans, with the highest degree of pride, challenge any one of the trees of Europe or Asia to equal the height of their cabbage trees-towering to an altitude of two hundred and seventy feet: -Even the people of the Bay of Honduras have imagination sufficient to conceive their logwood to be superior to any trees in the world; while the Huron savages inquire of Europeans, whether they have any thing to compare with their immense cedar trees."

The next Section, on "Mountains," gives occasion for several entertarning anecdotes.

"A country destitute of mountains, may be rich, well cultivated, elegant and beautiful, but it can in no instance be grand, sublime, or transporting; and to what a degree boldness of scenery has the power of elevating the fancy may be, in some measure, conceived from an anecdote recorded of an epic and descriptive poet. When Thomson

heard

The army feasted,-returned tumultuous thanks to the Monks,-and passed on.-A few days after this event, the battle of Marengo decided the fate of Italy."

just and pleasing; but we must now be brief in our extract:

"Juvenal represents Lucan reposing in a garden *.-Tasso pictures Rinaldo sitting beneath the shade in a fragrant meadow Virgil describes Anchises, seated beneath sweet-scented bay-trees; and Eneas, as reclining, remote from all society, in a deep and winding valley +. -Gassendi, who ingrafted the doctrine of Galileo on the theory of Epicurus, took not greater pleasure in feasting his youthful imagination by gazing on the moon, than Cyrus, in the cultivation of flowers. I have measured, dug and planted, the large garden, which I have at the Gate of Babylon,' said that Prince; and never, when my health permit, do I dine until I have laboured two hours in my garden:-If there is nothing to be done, I labour in my orchard.". Cyrus is also said to have planted all the Lesser Asia.-Ahasuerus was accustomed to quit the charms of the banquet to indulge the luxury of his bower; and the conqueror of Mithridates enjoyed the society of his friends, and the wine of Falernium, in the splendid gardens, which were an honour to his name. Dion gave a pleasure-garden to Speueippus as a mark of peculiar regard §. -Linnæus studied in a bower; Buffon in his summer-house; and when Demetrius Poliorcetes took the Island of Rhodes, he found Protogenes at his palette, painting in his arbour. Petrarch was never happier, than when indulging the innocent pleasures of his garden.- I have made myself two,' says he, in one of his Epistles; 'I do not imagine they are to be equalled in all the world: I should feel myself inclined to be angry with fortune, if there were any so beautiful out of Italy.

"Many of the wisest and the best of men have signalized their love of gardens and shrubberies, by causing themselves to be buried in them; a custom once in frequent practice among the ancient Jews -Plato was buried in the groves of Academus; and Sir William terred in Westminster Abbey, gave orders for his heart to be enclosed in a silver casket, and placed under a sundial, in that part of his garden, immediately opposite the window of his library, from which he was accustomed to contemplate the beauties and wonders of the creation, in the society of a beloved sister."

The specimens, we doubt not, will induce the Reader to peruse the excellent volumes from which they are extracted.

The Amusements in Retirement" shall be resumed in our next.

53. The Duties and Dangers of the Christian Ministry, considered in a Sermon, preached in Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh, on Monday, June 24, 1816, at an Ordination held by the Right Reverend Daniel Sandford, D. D. and now published at the request of the Bishop and the Clergy present. By the Rev. R. Morehead, A. M. of Balliol College, Oxford; Junior Minister of the Episcopal Chapel, Cowgate, Edinburgh, and Domestic Chaplain to her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte. 8vo. pp. 41. Longman and Co. "To the Right Reverend Daniel Sandford, D. D. Oxon. &c. &c. &c. this Sermon is humbly inscribed, in token of the deep and grateful sense entertained by the Author, in common with the rest of his brethren, of that mild, couciliating, and truly Christian spirit, with which their Bishop has exercised his sacred office, at first accepted under circumstances of peculiar difficulty and delicacy."

From Romans i. 1. "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an

+

"Plutarch in Vit. Dion."

Apostle,

Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God," the Preacher thus reminds his Hearers of the character of that office which the Apostle designates:

"In its simplest view, it is the office of one who is appointed to be a moral and religious Instructor of mankind,who, among the wandering and disorderly propensities of human nature, is ever to point to those unvarying laws which alone are right; and while all the common occupations of life end merely in temporal good, is to direct the eye of man to that path of righteousness which will finally conduct him into some higher and nobler condition of existence."

After illustrating "the dignity of the office of the Christian Priesthood," Mr. Morehead explains "the duties which attach to it," which 66 seem naturally to flow from the description of the office itself;" and then very ably describes," the nature of those dangers which lie in the way of the faithful discharge of

the clerical office."

On the immediate subject of the Discourse, he adds,

"Our new Brother is entering into a Church of a very peculiar and interesting character; and although I feel that I have already claimed your attention much too long, I cannot conclude without stating, as shortly as I may, the circumstances to which I allude.The Episcopal Church in Scotland, of which we have the happiness to be members, was, as you too well know, from its supposed political attachments, for many years an object of suspicion and jealousy in this country; and I believe it is now generally acknowledged, that it was forced to undergo many severities from the dark character of the times, which it required all its firmness and principle to bear with Christian magnanimity and patience. It is, I believe, now as generally acknowledged, that this noble part it performed, that throughout every trial and severity, its Pastors stood firm to the religious principles which they maintained,-and exhibited, amid persecution and poverty and neglect, somewhat of the faith and fortitude of the primitive martyrs. These disastrous days are passed; the temporary

"wrath of men" has ended in "the praise of God;-and while we of this Church look back with gratitude to those humble but intrepid men who have secured to us the unbroken order of a spiritual descent, we look back with veneration upon those examples of pa

tience, of perseverance, and of piety, which they have so fully afforded us, and by which alone we feel, that the Church they have preserved and adorned, can be in our hands either adorned or preserved. To be a member of such a Church carries with it, indeed, a more than common obligation to become " separated unto the Gospel of God," without any private or less holy view!In the days which it has been our blessing to see, the faith and the purity so admirably displayed by this Church, dur ing the times of her persecution, have as bountifully been rewarded. The po-. litical calamities in which she was involved have happily passed, away, and the Government of our country has wisely and generously felt, that the opposition which principle alone occasioned, would be converted into as strenuous support, when principle also demanded it. In the same auspicious hour, the Church of England stretched out the right hand of fellowship, upon the first notice of the wishes of her

holy, though humble, Sister, and, with the true feeling of Apostolical times, acknowledged the equality of her spiritual claims, although unsupported by the outward dignity of temporal distinction. The sons of that great and wise Establishment now join in communion, and in every reciprocal interchange of love and duty with their Episcopal brethren in this part of the Island. Something of support, as well as honour, has thus been conferred upon this Northern Church, while she, in return, holds examples, nurtured in her bosom, of a well-tempered zeal, of modest worth, and of professional learning, which well deserve to be studied and copied by the noblest and most prosperous establishments. Thus, happy in her connection from without, she is now no iess happy in her situation at home. The jealousy of former times, let us thank God, is gone the liberal and enlightened Establishment from which she dissents looks upon her almost with a kindred eye; and I am sure I may say, that, of all who dissent from it, she would be the last to touch its privileges with a rude and sacrilegious hand. While she is sincere in believing that her own constitution approaches nearer to the purity of primitive times, she yet acknowledges, with gratitude and veneration, that the Established Church of Scotland has well performed its duty--that it has reared and fostered a thinking, a sober, and a religious people—that its roots are interwoven, and deservedly interwoven, with their habits and with their hearts and she is well aware,

that

that nothing short of its own internal corruption (happily, as little likely to ensue, as it would be deeply to be deplored,) ever can or ought to shake the stability of a Church, the labours and fidelity of whose ministers Providence has long so conspicuously blessed.—In every path of light and of religion, their distinguished names, indeed, may well awaken her emulation,-but this is all the rivalry which she can ever feel. It is, in truth, her singular and characteristic glory that she is not established; and they, I am convinced, know little of the peculiar honours to which she has it in her power to aspire, who, for a moment, would wish her to be so. It is her lofty destiny, (shall I say?) amidst the recollection of her former faith and sufferings,-amidst her present friendly ties and friendly dissension, with the respect and protection of rulers, on whom, at the same time, she has no political dependence, fostered in a country conspicuous for the light of genius, of science, and of philosophy; —it is more within her reach than perhaps has ever fallen to the lot of any other Christian body, to hold up to the eye of a civilized and inquisitive age, the truth, the simplicity, and the independent dignity of the Gospel; to unite the primitive model of apostolic faith and purity, with every thing enlightened, excellent, and wise, which has been evolved in the course of ages; and while her sons are "separated unto the Gospel of God," free from political and worldly avocations, at the same time to exhibit them free from the narrowness of any partial sect, and wedded only to the boundless charity of their Master!"

54. The History of the Origin, and first Ten Years of the British and Foreign Bible Society. By the Rev. Jorn Owen, A. M. late Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Rector of Paglesham, Essex, and one of the Secretaries to the British and Foreign

Bible Society. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 527. and 638. Hatchard, Seeley, and Arch. WHATEVER shades of difference may be entertained as to the mode of diffusing the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures in the remotest corners of

the Globe; that they should, if possible, be so distributed is universally allowed; and Mr. Owen, in detailing the History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, has conferred an obligation, not only on the particular Patrons of it, but on Literature in general. We shall introduce him to our Readers in his own words:

Nearly two years have elapsed since the Author, influenced by the earnest and re-iterated solicitations of many respectable individuals, engaged to prepare a History of the origin, progress, and actual state of the British and Foreign Bible Society.' It having been recommended that the work should be printed by subscription, proposals to that effect were drawn up and issued accordingly.The plan was no sooner made known, than it met with the warmest encouragement. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Bishop of Durham, honoured it with their prompt and munificent patronage, and the example which they set was very generously and extensively followed. Of the illustrious individuals whose names have been mentioned, as well as of the subscribers at large, the Author has to request, that they will accept this public expression of his gratitude. To Sir Digby Mackworth, and Mr. Phillips (and more especially to the latter) the author feels an obligation for their liberal and persevering co-operation, which he is as little able to describe as to repay. To these acknowledgments (which might easily be multiplied) the Author desires to add his thanks to Messrs. Hatchard, Seeley, and Arch, for their disinterested services in promoting subscriptions; and to his colleague and friend Mr. Hughes, for his obliging assistance in the correction of the press.-Having disposed of what seemed first to require his attention, the Author will now proceed to

such observations as relate more im

mediately to the performance of his task. The design which he proposed to himself, in writing the History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, having been, to exhibit a faithful and perspicuous account of its origin, and its principal transactions, the Author considered it his duty to adopt such a method, as, whatever recommendations it