markable for the success of his pulpit ministrations. Ere two years had passed they were brought to an untimely end by his death, which excited general regret from the throne to the cottage.

Mrs. Kingsley has executed her task with admirable taste and feeling. Not a word can be found in these two volumes to give pain to any one, nothing unsuitable for the public eye, even if, as some may think, portions of sermons and addresses, together with some of the letters, might as well have been omitted. If this be the case-as to which there will be two opinionsit is surely a very pardonable fault. Every one must sympathise with Mrs. Kingsley's touching and beautiful words at the close :

"Over the real romance of his life, and over the tenderest, loveliest passages in his private letters, a veil must he thrown; but it will not be lifting it too far to say, that if in the highest, closest of earthly relationships, a love that never failedpure, patient, passionate for sixand-thirty-years-a love which never stooped from its own lofty level to a hasty word, an impatient gesture, or a selfish act, in sickness or in health, in sunshine or in storm, by day or by night, could prove that the age of chivalry has not passed away for ever, then Charles Kingsley fulfilled the ideal of a most true and perfect knight, to the one woman blest with that love in time and to eternity."

There are just one or two remarks we feel constrained to make before concluding. We cannot refrain from expressing our surprise and regret that no mention is made in these volumes of Kingsley's brother Henry, who gained some distinction as a novelist. We find letters from Kingsley to his father and mother. Why not any to his brother? He must surely have written some worthy to be com

bined with these published memorials of him. The Greek and Latin quotations require correction here and there, as also one or two proper names. In several instances the numbers of the pages referred to in the index are incorrect, which

causes inconvenience.

Current Coin. By Rev. H. R. Haweis, M.A. H. S. King & Co. -Mr. Haweis's "Thoughts for the Times" having gone through eleven editions, and his "Speech in Season" through five, he is natutally encouraged to issue a third volume, the object of which he states to be "to explain to the many what is known to the few." We were a little startled to be told soon after this ambitious announcement that the book "in fact consists of pulpit discourses and platform speeches delivered in the course of the last year or two," and still more surprised to find two-thirds of the volume occupied with sermons on crime, pauperism, and drunkenness, and two speeches on recreation and emotion, delivered at South Place Institute, Finsbury.

We cannot compliment Mr. Haweis on the aptness of his title, still less of the coins of Tiberius, Constantine, and others on the cover, with the allegorical little sermon, or "parable," upon them containing, among other things, the sage observation, that it is possible some of the grains in the coin shown to Jesus Christ may have entered into the composition of one stamped with the head of Victoria; followed by the far-fetched moral, that so, while religious truth remains the same in all ages, it "bas to be re-stated and re-stamped, and changed over and over again in outward form as the ages roll on." This, then, is what Mr. Haweis here proposes to do in a book not

more than one-third of which has any connection with religion. Even supposing all his statements to be truths, the greater proportion of them cannot with propriety be called religious truths, and the "parable" is consequently not appropriate, however ingenious it may

seem.

Mr. Haweis with great frankness disclaims all pretension to originality, and mentions the sources from which his materials are derived. He is an expounder, not an originator. As such he is certainly successful. He has a very clear and forcible way of putting things, which renders it impossible not to understand them. His style is also lively and engaging, pointed and effective. The only question is, whether in his laudable anxiety to rivet the attention and influence the minds of his hearers, he does not sometimes overshoot the mark, like Mr. Spurgeon, whom he commends. It appears to us that his tone is not always so reverent as might be expected from a reverend gentleman. The contrast between his "free handling" of sacred beliefs and that of the Essays and Reviews, shows the change-progress some would call it-which has been made in these matters during the last fifteen years.

The first discourse on materialism opens with almost a playful description of the various religious controversies between Protestantism and Romanism, Church and Dissent, Evangelicanism and Rationalism, while the very foundations of all religion are in great danger. The question to be decided is not now, he says, whether the Romish or Protestant Church is the true one, but whether there is any Church at all; not whether the Trinitarian or the Unitarian belief is correct, but whether there is a personal Deity, and whether man has a Boul which will live after the death

His notion is, like that of the Bishop of Exeter-that the mere utterance of doubt tends to dissipate doubt, and re-establish faith. How this can be, is not very easy to understand. If doubts are resolved, and difficulties removed, the advantage of open discussion is obvious enough; but supposing it leads simply to the exposure of weak points, and ineffectual attempts to answer objections, it is far more likely to aggravate than dissipate doubt.

Mr. Haweis must be a sanguine man if he supposes he has completely and for ever exorcised the spirit of unbelief by his réchauffé of Dr. Martineau's address at Manchester New College, and articles in the Contemporary Review. It requires more power and deeper thought than he shows to accomplish that feat. He is certainly happy, though scarcely serious

enough, in his treatment of the various hypotheses of materialist philosophers. It is when he comes to state his own views that he becomes less satisfactory, dealing too often in unsupported assertion, or contenting himself with a mere possible conjecture. Thus he says:

-"Mind really underlies even those phenomena of the universe which at first seem most mechanical." Not to insist upon the circumstance, that he has nowhere explained precisely what he means by mind, it is sufficient to observe, that what he here asserts, is the very point in dispute, which he must not expect his adversary to admit without some sort of proof. As he himself elsewhere says, simply to state is not to explain, but to dogmatize. Equally inconclusive is the following argument:-"Admitted that mind in the universe is homogeneous, of the same kind is mind in the man, and what hinders the establishment of affectional relations between the Divine and the human, between God and man? His act towards me is not merely negative, because I can feel Him, and He can feel me.

"He seeks in me the reflection of Himself. He loves in me the evolution of the perfect out of the imperfect. He pours out upon me (now but a rudiment of what I may become) the life that is in Himself, that I may rise into higher life, and win freer relations through my successive stages of heavenly trial and discipline."

This is all well enough in a sermon addressed to a popular audience already persuaded of the truth of the conclusion at which the preacher is aiming. But is it likely to satisfy those eager, unsettled minds that worship the new lights in philosophy, mentioned by Mr. Haweis? Would it bear to be taken to pieces -we do not say by so consummate a logician as Dr. Newman-but by

any one conversant with the first principles of logical method ? Would it survive even such sharp treatment as Mr. Haweis himself applies to materialistic theories ? The fact is, preaching is one thing, proving another; and in attempting to demonstrate by argument the existence and attributes of God, Mr. Haweis has undertaken a task which Kant and thoughtful men in general who have considered the subject, pronounce to be impossible. Elsewhere he takes the safer ground, that "religion and the perception of spiritual things is not a matter for the head, but for the inmost heart." This principle is intelligible; if it be frankly adopted and consistently maintained as the foundation on which to build religious truth, no objection can be made, except that, fully carried out, it leads to mere mysticism. But to depend professedly on reason, aud really fall back in every emergency on spiritual perception, is not consistent or satisfactory, nor can we think it likely "to dissipate doubt itself, and re-establish faith in religion."

Mr. Haweis talks about "the slowness and timidity of religious teachers" in not discussing these burning questions before popular hearers and readers, and he hastens to supply their lack of useful service in defence of religion with more boldness than discretion, more promising pretension than successful performance, more confidence in himself than he is likely to inspire in others. It must amuse some to learn from him that science and philosophy have failed, and must now make way for "one mightier than they-theology."

Mr. Haweis chuckles over the prevalent "profound distrust of the current theology," apparently unconscious that many will feel equal distrust of his "Current Coin."

This remark applies with special

force to his second sermon on the Devil, which is neither very clear in its statements, nor well-established in its conclusions. Mr Haweis seems anxious to disprove the existence of an arch-fiend, while he maintains that there is no reason for disbelieving that people now living may, after their death, "find border-land conditions," through which they may exert an evil influence over those whom they have left behind, thus becoming, in fact, devils. It is hard to see the advantage of speculating in this way as to what may be, or of Mr. Haweis's profound observation, that if the pretensions of spiritists "to produce intelligence of some kind, acting upon matter, and yet unconnected with a brain and a nervous system, could be proved, the materialist argument would at once fall." Truisms of this kind, which seem inseparable from sermons, are found in other parts of the book. Thus we are gravely told," All perceived error should be avoided, and the best expression of Christ's religion upheld."

The so-called Obiter Dicta at the end of the volume, which are described by the author as "germs of thought, capable of future expansion," are bits and scraps of sermons on various religious topics, requiring much more extensive treatment. They are, in fact, the small change in Mr. Haweis's " Current Coin."

As to the remaining chapters, which form the greater part of the book, we have only to observe that, beyond the statistical information which the author has taken the pains to collect from trustworthy sources, they contain nothing which is known only to the few, and he is quite right in not wishing to claim any credit for the original matter in them, which though no doubt acceptable enough to hear,

was scarcely worth publishing as a recoinage of religious truth.

We cannot conclude without calling attention to one or two errors. Cornucopea" is probably a printer's blunder; so is perhaps the spelling of Mr. G. H. Lewes's name 66 as Lewis," repeatedly in the body of the work, though it is correctly spelt in the preface. But we fear that the author is answerable for the following fault: "Even to state the difficulties that we may not be able to answer often relieves the overburdened mind, and helps us to see more clear." A more serious practical inconvenience is the incorrect paging of the index.

The Huguenots, their Settlements, Churches, and Industries in England and Ireland. By S. Smiles. London: John Murray.-The purport of this work is not exactly such as its title indicates. Mr. Smiles states its object to be, "to give an account of the causes which led to the great migrations of Flemish and French Protestants from Flanders and France into England, and to describe their effects upon English industry as well as English history." The title is of a more limited character. It gives no hint as to any discussion of the causes which led to the migrations, and leads one to expect an account, not of the Flemish, but the French Protestants, who were driven to this country by the revoIcation of the Edict of Nantes. Whatever may be the derivation of the word Huguenots-which is a matter of uncertainty-it is unquestionably a French word, and applied to French Protestants. We are not aware of any authority for using it to designate Protestants of Flanders, or any other country than France.

Taking Mr. Smiles's book as an

account of both the Flemish Protestant migration, at the close of the sixteenth century, and the French one, a century later, it must he considered rather, as he says, "a contribution to the study of the subject," than an exhaustive work. A full and masterly handling of such a topic requires deeper research and a more philosophical turn of mind than Mr. Smiles has shown, His forte is biography. It was his "Life of George Stephenson" that first made him known as a writer; and all his subsequent works-including "Self, Self Help," his greatest success-are chiefly composed of biographical anecdotes. But the subject he has here taken in hand belongs to history rather than to biography, and history is something more than a collection of biographies.

Mr. Smiles is more successful in dealing with individuals than classes. His account of the Huguenots as a body is meagre and insufficient. The first chapter, on the "Rise of the Huguenots," contains only a single short paragraph about them, and that merely informs us that the origin of the name is uncertain. All the rest of the chapter is taken up with sketchy accounts of the invention of printing, Luther's first sight of a printed bible, the persecution of printers, the sale of indulgences, and other matters not very closely connected with the subject in hand. Mr. Smiles's fondness for biographical detail often leads him too far away. It is hard to see the relevancy of many of the topics on which he dilates, as e.g., the Spanish Armada, the death of Mary Queen of Scots, the settlements of the Huguenots in Brandenburgh, Holland, Switzerland, the Cape of Good Hope, and the United States, and the whole of the last chapter on the French Revolution. Even supposing Mr. Smiles correct in regarding this great event

as caused by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the consequent flight of Protestants from France

which is more than most people will be disposed to grant-we cannot see what it has to do with the Huguenots in England and Ireland.

Mr. Smiles furnishes valuable information with regard to the Protestant migration from Flanders, the towns and districts in England, Scotland, and Ireland, where the emigrants settled, the branches of industry they introduced, and the beneficial influence they exerted wherever they went. He also gives interesting particulars with regard to the persecution of the Huguenots under Louis XIV., and their narrow escapes. Among these we may instance the account of the adventures of Dumont de Bostaquet, a Protestant gentleman, possessed of large landed property in Normandy, who with great difficulty and through many dangers escaped, severely wounded, to Holland. The story, which is derived from his own statement, has all the thrilling interest of a novel. The escape of Jacques Pincton, pastor of a Protestant village near Avignon, and his wife, who fled in a different direction, is also romantic. Equally, if not more, worthy of attention, is the account of James Fontaine, who belonged to the noble family of De la Fontaine. On hearing of the Edict of Revocation, he determined to effect his escape from France, with three ladies :—

At Marennes, the captain of an English ship was found, willing to give the party a passage to England. It was at first intended that they should rendezvous on the sands near Tremb

lade, and then proceed privily on shipboard. But the coast was strictly guarded, especially between Royan and La Rochelle, where the Protestants of the interior were constantly seeking outlets for escape; and this part of the plan was given up. The search of vessels leaving the ports had become so