The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-17 00:00:00

THE PAST. BY MRS. ACTON TINDAL. Passatr a possato, e per sempre I—AzELTo. Tisa Past is past! with many a hopeful morrow; Its errors and its good works live with God; The agony is o'er of joy or sorrow; The flowers lie dead along the path we trod. She Past is past ! in solemn silence taking Alike the sunny and the rainy day, On the live altar of the fond heart breaking Full many an idol built on feet of clay. The Past is past! in certain still rotation, Deadening and loosening, as it traveled by, Mich hope that bounds in glad anticipation, Each vived passion acid each tender tie ! The Past is past ! and our young selves departed Upon the flashing whirl of those fleet years; Its lessons leave us sadder, stronger hearted, More slow to 19ve, less prodigal of tears. The Past is past, and knowledge taught suspicion To dim the spirit with its foul, cold sunshine; Tor many a base and dark thing finds admission Amid the wisdom learn; from life and time. The Past is past ! and in that twilight valley Dwell slow repentance and the vain regret; Fears for the future from those shadows sally, And hang around the path before us yet. The Past is past ! and ah ! how few deplore it, Or would re-live their time had they the power; Though Nature, sometimes, rseakly wEepeth o'er it At memory of some wrong, or happier hour. The Past is past! There's bitter joy in knowing 'Tis gone for ever; dead, and buried deep, It lies behind, and on life's stream is flowing, Where the dark waters of the Dead Sea sleep. The Past is past! in faith and pltience taking Its lessons, let us lay them on our hearts; The chain's attenuated links are breaking; Be earnest I—use the present ere it parts. REVIEWS OF BOOKS. Ile History of the Decline and Fall of the _Boman .kmpire. By Edward Gibbon. Lon don : Henry G. Bohn. A re-publication of the great historical work of Gibbon at this time of day, and in the peculiar temper of the times, may, to many, appear an un called-for, and to not a few a hazardous enterprise. In opposition to the views of both the classes referred to, Mr. Bohn has entered upon the under taking, and experience of his unflinching perse• rerance, added to the native sagacity which has guided his career, fully warrants the conviction that he will conduct it spiritedly to a successful termination. No one knows better than he does that, to attain success, it must be deserved, and, in obedience to this dictum, he has set earnestly about the work of obtaining success for his edition of Gibbon by deserving it. To the author's text he adds an extensive collection of variorum notes, including, among others, those of Guizot, Wenck, Schreiter, and Hugo ; while the whole is brought out under the superintendent editorship of "An English Churchman." The edition, with all its notes, will be comprised in six handsome and handy volumes, which will be published at a very cheap rate. The first volume, which is now before us, is prefaced by a lengthened preliminary essay from the pen of M. Guizot, himself no mean authority on historical subjects, while the acknow ledged soundness of his Protestant Christianity affords sufficient guarantee for every care being taken that the interests of the Christian faith and Church are efficiently guarded from the latitudi narianism of Gibbon. Besides the prefatory essay referred to, M. Guizot likewise contributes to the volume a brief memoir of the life of Gibbon. In his prefatory essay the learned French statesman and historian says of the " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," CHARACTER OP GIBBON'S HISTORY. "The merits of the work are incontestably proved by its success in an age which had produced Montesquieu ; and which, at the time of the publication, still possessed flume, Robertson, and Voltaire : they are confirmed by the subsequently undisturbed permanence of that success. In the most enlightened countries of Europe, in England, France, and Germany, Gibbon is always quoted as an authority. Even those who have detected his inaccuracies, or do not assent to some of his opinions, never point out his mistakes nor contest his views, but with the respect dae to superior merit." That M. Guizot is a great admirer of the acute judgment and subtle analytical powers of Gibbon is manifested in many ways, but that admiration is never permitted to carry him beyond reach of a position on which he can readily supplement opinion by reference to fact, and offer commen dation in strict conformity with justice. In the memoir of Gibbon, this cautious, though admiring biographer, sets out by reducing to the severity of definition the attributes of which an historian should be possessed, and by the application of which his merits should be judged. PRILSONA_L QUALIFICATIONS OE AN HISTORIAN. " It is among probabilities , that the historian must find and restore truth from the disfigurements of time. His is the duty to judge the worth of his materials, and ours the right to estimate his decision, according to the opinion we form of the judge. In our idea of the requisites to form all impartial historian, we place foremost a passion less temperament, habits of moderation, and that middle station in life where ambition is dormant and the pressure of want unknown. In this point of view, none could be better fitted for the office than Gibbon." After briefly discussing the probably disposing causes which led to Gibbon's antagonistic attitude to Christian doctrines and faith, which M. Guizot attributes to the prejudices by which his mind was biased in favour of ancient institutions, (which view, by the way, is somewhat modified by the editor in a foot note,) M. Guizot proceeds thus to apologize for Gibbon. How far the apology is a satisfactory one, or, indeed, to what extent at all, it is to be admitted, must, in a great degree, be judged by the reader for himself. The good faith and liberality of the apologist will hardly, we think, admit of question. UYECTS AND AGGRAVATIONS OP GIBBON'S PREJUDICES. Where prejudice prevails, honesty cannot be perfectly sound. There may be no fixed design to mislead others ; but there is self-deceit. In this frame of mind, a writer, to uphold what he considers to be truth, has recourse to little liberties, which he either avows not to himself, or professes to regard as unworthy of notice, and his passions overcome his scruples by exaggerating the importance of their victory. Thus it was, no doubt, that Gibbon found nothing in the history of Christianity but what favoured the opinions which he had formed before he had strictly examined the facts. The alteration of some passages, which he quoted, whether curtailed designedly, or neg ligently read, furnished arms to his adversaries, by giving them reason to suspect him of dishonesty. The whole sacredotal order was leagued against him. His most active opponents were rewarded by dignities and favours ; i ro nically he congratulated himself on having given " a royal pension to Mr. Davies, and collated Dr. Apthorp to an archiepiscopal living." The pleasure of thus bantering adversaries who had, in almost every instance, attacked him with more vehemence than discretion, compensated the first vexation of their attacks, and, perhaps, caused him to overlook the real wrongs, for which he had to re proach himself. in the last few words we may read the sincere declaration of one who knows the bitterness of party opposition and misrepresentation. It is perfectly true that a friend by remonstrance, and a gentle demonstration of error, might have been ineffectual in eradicating the prejudices, and correcting the misrepresentations of Gibbon ; but every one in the slightest degree conversant with the business of life must be familiar with the baneful effect pro duced by dictation, and the obstinacy engendered by attempted coercion. Gentleness will lead a strong man as a child ; indiscreet vehemence and abuse, by offending his self-love, will convert an error which a man regarded with indifference into a cherished dogma, surrounded by all the entrench ments which can be reared by wounded vanity and offended pride. But to conclude our remarks on the s ubject more legitimately before us; the present edition of Gibbon, by the introduction of explana tory foot-notes, is well guarded from the chance of propasatmg error, while the noble historical struc ture is ret a ined in all the grandeur and beauty of its proportions and details. Memoirs of Thomas Chalmer s, D.D., LL.D. By the Rev. William Hanna, LL.D. Edinburgh : Thomas Constable and Co. This, the second q uarterl y part, of the cheap or people's edition of these interesting memoirs, main tains in every resp ect the character for bea uty a nd comprehens i veness which had been suggested 13.3 the first. In typogr a phy it is clear and legible ; the by is unabridged ; and the work is cheap even in these days of miraculous cheapness in the literary market. Of the memoirs themselves it will by most people t e deemed sufficient commenda tion to sa y that they _literally and in truth an almos t unadorned nar rative of the life of that great ma n and eminent Christian u pastor n4 concerning whom they are written. In des ig be g them an unadorned narrati v e , we must not suspicion of careles sness or crudity in their compo sition ; on the cont rary, they are written with a clearness and unostet ati s ousness of diction, yet f ner vous de li neation of and fulness of incident, which show at once that I:i r artist, has acquired the high ea l l anna ' as a literary excellence in his Mition• The subject of th e memoir,, Dr. Chal mere himself, was a singular instance of childlike simplicity united to the highest intellectual gifts. The comprehensiveness of his mind grasped with facility the most abstruse mathematical subtleties, or felicitously unravelled the mazes of metaphysical inquiry. Born in a humble station of life, he, not without difficulty, attained the usual resting-place for the ambition of a Scottish clergyman, the incumbency of a country pastorate. Such a position, however tempting, by its undisturbed security and seductive ease, was not the goal at which the genius of Thomas Chalmers sought its wreath of victory ; a wider field, and a more thorny path, invited him to active usefulness, and he courted the strife of a city incumbency, where his energies might have full sway, in conflict with the vices and misery incident to poverty and physical degradation. The Tron Church, parish of Glasgow, was accorded to him, and here he had his hands full of work in his endeavours to sustain the backsliding, to reclaim the wandering, and to confirm the virtuous among the dense and not undegraded population of a large manufacturing and commercial city. While attend ing to his pastoral duties, in this arduous sphere of ministerial labour, he laid - the foundation of that critical and personal knowledge of social indigence which found utterance in his admirable treatises connected with poverty and the poor laws. Here also, notwithstanding the most unflinching attend ance upon the duties of his spiritual calling', he found leisure to compose, digest, and publish his celebrated " Astronomical Discourses," a work whose popularity was so great at the time of its publication, that for a whole year it ran a neck and-neck race, in competition for public favour, with one of the most popular novels written by the world-renowned "Author of Waverley." EXTRAORDINARY POPULARITY OF TICE ASTRONOMICAL DISCOURSES. It (the volume of Astronomical Discourses) was pub lished on the 28th of January, 1817. In ten weeks 8,000 copies had been disposed of, the demand showing no symptom of decline. Nine editions were called for within a year, and nearly 20,000 copies were in circulation. Never previously, nor ever since, has any volume of sermons met with such immediate and general acceptance. The " Tales of my Landlord" (Sir Walter Scott's novel above referred to) had a month's start in the date of publication, and even with such a competitor it ran an almost equal race. Not a few curious observers were struck with the novel competition, and watched with lively curiosity how the great Scottish preacher and the great Scottish novelist kept for a whole year so nearly abreast of one another. It was, besides, the first volume of sermons which fairly broke the lines which had separated too long the literary from the religious public. Its secondary merits won audience for it in quarters where evangelical Christianity was nauseated and despised. It disarmed even the keen hostility of Hazlit, and kept him for a whole forenoon spell-bound beneath its power. Greater feats, however, than merely bewildering the sceptical wits of the Cockney critic lay in the path of Dr. Chalmers, and were speedily achieved. From being a distinguished luminary in the humble Scottish Kirk, the great divine was soon raised to the eminence of a " bright particular star" in the circles of science, opulence, and grandeur ; courted by men of letters, caressed by the hereditary nobility, and countenanced by royalty itself ; yet all without detriment to the simple humility of mind and earnest Christian benevolence of the modest and unassuming, though eloquent and powerful preaeher. A narrative of the life of such a man, written with perspicuity and truth, must furnish many a lesson of Christian virtue ; such a narrative is that now before us. Need we, can we say more in its commendation P Miss Corner's Scriptural History Simplified. London : Thomas Dean and Son. The object of this volume is to bring the leading facts and events of Scripture history prominently, yet simply, before the mind of youth. It is arranged in answers to a series of questions which embrace the history of man from the period of the deluge to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus. -The book has evidently been compiled with much care, and will be found an admirable companion to the nursery or school room ; and will bear a fair comparison with the other school-books produced by Miss Corner. This one, we perceive, has been submitted to the revi sion of Dr. Kitto. The Dublin University Magazine. Dublin : James M`Glashan. The January number of this favourite periodical is of the accustomed excellence which has distin guished its career and maintained its popularity. The number opens with a scene in " Our Winter Garden," which is gaily bedizzened with poetic fruit of rare excellence, and no inconsiderable variety. To this succeeds the first portion of what promises to be an interesting series of papers under the title of " A Voyage to Van Diemen 's Land." The present part of it is written with much spirit, and indicates great shrewdness and a vigilantly observant eye on the part of its author, who, as yet, in his descriptive voyage, has got no farther than the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe, the diffi culties to be encountered and vanquished in ascendinc , which he describes with great spirit. This is followed by a capital paper on our " Present System of Cavalry Tactics," in which the defects of the system are clearly pointed out, and sugges tions are modestly made for the removal of those defects. "Memories of the Count de Lally" is the commencement of another biography of " Eminent Irishmen," with which the readers of this magazine have been so frequently charmed. Besides the papers named, there is a collection of excellent articles on various subjects in prose and verse, and the number is appropriately closed by a smart analysis of " The early Continental Campaigns of the British Army." As a whole, the January number forms a promising inauguration to the year's magazine, and fully maintains its reputation. Index to Familiar Quotations. Liverpool: Walmsley. The frequency with which quotations are used, both in speaking and writing, gives them a more than ordinary interest, for few will deny the ad vantage of being able to express an idea in the words of one who has used the most appropriate language. But, amidst the multitude of these gems of thought, there is a strong desire to dis cover the authority made use of, not only for the purposes of curiosity, but also to ensure the cor rectness of the quotation. Few, however, have the means or the opportunity for the research, and they have here a help and a guide in the labours of Mr. Grocott, of this town. His relaxationfrom the dry study of the law he has made not only pleasant to himself, but profitable to others, by the produc tion of a book of which every one of the reading public will gladly avail himself. He has wandered through the ample stores of literature, collected their gems, and arranged them with such me thodical precision, that the reader has but to select a subject and find a quotation ready fitted for it. His field of research has been ample, comprising the Holy Scriptures, the matchless Shakspere, and authors in prose and poetry, foreign as well as British, and the materials he has arranged in alphabetical form, giving parallel passages from various writers, so that the reader may compare them, and select according as his judgment or caprice may dictate. It is no slight advantage of this mode of arrangement that claims to priority of particular forms of expression are thus brought prominently forward ; and it is curious to notice that several passages for which comparatively modern writers have hitherto enjoyed the credit were borrowed from earlier authors, and issued to the world with merely a thin disguise. Mr. Gro cott's has been a labour of love, but it is one for which many will heartily thank him, and we anti cipate for his little work a very extended patronage. " More and More." A word to my _Flock, at the beginning of 1854. By the Rev. W. M. Falloon, A.B. Liverpool :A. Newling. The beginning of a new year has been appropri ately seized on by the incumbent of St. Bride's, to offer an address to the members of his congregation. The address is opened with following suitable EXORDIUM. Another year has opened upon us all through divine mercy ; it dawned with the sacred light of the Lord's day, so that its earlier hours were hallowed ; if allowed to travel through its appointed course of months, with the same blessed day it is to close ; between these two holy days, the first and the last of our New-year, what changes may occur ! Changes national, political, spi ritual, ecclesiastical, congregational, pastoral, personal, relative, and domestic ! Even before the buds of the coming spring burst forth into beauty; or before the summer's sun ripens the fruit upon the trees ; or before autumn's blast strips nature of its verdure, and introduces hoary winter, what hopes may be blighted ! what expectations shattered ! what eyes darkened ! what tongues silenced ! what hearts rent and torn ! what families dismembered ! what souls lost ! what sinners saved! what conflicts endured ! what battles fought ! what victories achieved ! We cannot with intelligence look our New-year in the face, without perceiving on its disc some faint outlines which seem like the shadows of coming events ; and though they do not as yet fully declare their intent, or say to which of us they come, still the very uncertainty wakes up within us varied anxieties ; these produce fears, and these can alone be allayed by being at once committed to the care of Him "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning :" and so, dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, and abiding beneath the shadow of the Almighty, you may turn your eyes from the clus tering ehadowe of the future, to the bright lines written on the blessed pages of inspiration, and gather to your souls a gracious confidence as you read: " He shall deliver thee in six troubles ; yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine He shall redeem thee from death ; and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue ; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh ; neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field ; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace ; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shall not sm." After a brief review of the past year's experi ences, and an earnest exhortation to perseverance in Christian well-doing, he proceeds to express his anxious desire to promote the well-being of his flock, and states his apprehension that on this point he may be misunderstood, and even misrepre sented, as expecting too much. He then advances in the following eloquent terms his admonition for THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND dENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER. MORE AND MORE . OBEDIENCE. Also, "more and more" obedience : " to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams." 1 Samuel, xv., 22. Why so ? Because it is more pleasing to God, and more profitable to others and to ourselves ; it is a sorer trial to the flesh, and a surer test of principle. A man may offer a costly gift, without much sterling principle ; but no man can or will persevere in a course of quiet, unnoticed, self-denying obedience, without being inwardly sustained by the grace of God : a man may give large sums of money in the sight, and amidst the applause of his fellows, who may be grossly disobedient in the sight of his Judge, every day, in small matters, both at home and at his business : his sacrifice will not cover his sin ! Better for him far to seek to master and control his temper; to be patient and kind to those around him; to consider and consult for the feelings of others; to be just and true in all his dealings ; to hate " the false balances," and to love " the just weight," and so "to please God," rather than, omitting these " weightier matters," to please himself, and to please his fellows by his handsome dona tion to some society or charity; perhaps, I might better say, this ought he to have done, but not to leave the other undone : worth is better than words ; serving is better than sighing ; working is better than weeping ; it is far more easy to shed tears on hearing or reading some tale of woe, than quietly and cheerfully to go to the cellar and relieve the case of wretchedness; to sit in the cushioned stall of a concert-room, and fancy ourselves religious whilst enjoying the thrilling sensations produced by an oratorio, is one thing ; to leave the comforts of our homes, and to seek out " the fatherless and widows in their affliction," amidst narrow streets and uninviting courts and lanes, is quite another thing : the one satisfies the fiesh ; the other pleases God. All this demands effort, and the effort must be made, if we are to walk so as to please God ; the spirit of self-indulgence, of ease, and of slumber, must be broken in upon ; Christian prin ciple requires it ; the exigencies of the age demand it ; the awful condition of perishing thousands in our own town clamour for it ; swarming hourly, as they are, on the brink of the " bottomless pit," and constantly falling over and dropping in, before our very eyes," as it were, and no hand of love stretched eagerly forth to save them! Where is our obedience to God ? if the souls of professing Christians were really in tone, if their hearts lived under the mighty impulse of those words, "if ye love Me, keep my commandments ;" and again, " if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them ;" and again, "occupy till I come ;" and again, " go, and do thou likewise ;" do you think that our jaols and penitentaries would be so crowded? do you think that our ragged schools would be drooping for want of teachers ? or our institutions languishing for want of funds ? do you think our poor would be left unas sisted ? do you think we would be compelled constantly to press and squeeze for paltry money, in order to main tain Christian objects, or to resort to the unfortunate bye-path of "bazaars," and thereby deaden and destroy the principle of Christian benevolence by getting some thing for what we give 1(1)—Oh ! my dear brethren, awake, awake ! let practical obedience be your enjoyment and privilege ; this is the only world in which you can work for God ; be busy, for " time is short ;" let us do our part as a congregation ; and in all these things, " abound more and more." Having exhorted to more love, and more study of God's word, he concludes by a pointed recom mendation of more prayer, which he does as follows : MORE AND MORE PRAYER. Also, " more and more" prayer : this is really our strength ; want of this, is our real weakness ; the Lord hath said it, "ye have not, because ye ask not." (James iv. 2.) Wherever there is little personal communion with God at the throne of grace, there is very little genuine personal piety ; there cannot be much : wherever there is little or no family prayer, there is little or no family religion; the one is bound up with the other; wherever there is little congregational prayer, there is little con- gregational religion :• this I have always found true, as regards individuals, families, and congregations. What would the sanctuary, the family, and the closet say of eac _ hof you, my deal: brethren, in this matter ? The very best gauge of the spirituality and growth of a person is, the habit and desire, or otherwise, of being alone with God : wherever any one has been distinguished in their Christian course, it has been ever found, that they were distinguished for prayer ; God gave much to them, because God heard often from them : want of prayer is want of power; the prayerless path is the direct one to a fall: if we venture forth into place or duty without asking the presence of God, can we wonder that the duty becomes a temptation, or the place the scene of our backsliding Can you not trace your last step to this, that you had restrained prayer before God ? Why does your lamp burn so dimly ? because the oil is not sought. Why does your leaf wither ? because the dew is not asked for in prayer. Why is your testimony of Christ so very feeble ? because you feel alone and forsaken, and justly so, because you have forsaken God. Why was that last trial and bereave ment so great a crush to you ? was it not because you had grown cold upon your knees ? and God in mercy applied the rod, to awaken and restore you. Scripture promises invite to prayer; scripture examples encourage to prayer ; the door of mercy opens to prayer ; the ear of God waits for prayer ; (Isaiah xxx. 19 ;) the merits of Christ give effect to prayer ; the Holy Spirit prompts prayer ; the wants of souls demand prayer ; the state of our nation, of our church, of our world, of our own town, or district, or parish, and of our own kindred, too (many of them, as yet, far from God), all these imploringly say to us, pray, pray, pray ! Oh! my dear people, let the kingdom of heaven suffer violence from us ; all that I have already urged, can only be successfully accomplished through prayer. Pray for your pastors, that we may love your souls too well to tamper with them ; and fear God too much, to be influenced at all in our ministrations by " the fear of man :" (Ephes. vi. 18, 19, 20.) (Heb. xxiii. 17, 18.) And whenever you are kind enough to invite us to your social circle, be good enough always to ask us to conduct family worship for you, before we say—good night ; for assuredly, if such a thing be considered uncalled for or " out of place," then the minister must be out of his place in being there, where his Master is not an honoured guest. Prayer pleases God; therefore, as you have re ceived of us how you ought to walk and please God, so, in this, " abound more and more." Annexed is a brief vidimus of the eongrega: tional progress for the year, which, as a portion of the statistics of St. Bride's Church, must be pos sessed of no inconsiderable amount of interest. CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS. If I allude to our " gatherings" for the Lord's cause, it is in no boasting spirit, and with no desire to promote amongst you self-gratulation, or pride ; nay, rather do I wish to " provoke you to love and to good works ;" " and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." The result is as follows :--Widows in Isle of Man, £4l lls sd. ; British and Foreign Bible Society, £5O Os. 9d.; St. Bride's Church Schools, £7O 45.; Colonial Church Society, £43 17s. ld. ; Church Educational Society for Ireland, £43 78. 7d. ; Grey-street Licensing School-room, £2O ; Irish Church Missions, £32 7s. ; Church Pastoral-Aid Society, £ll3 4s. 2d. ; St. Bride's School Clothing Fund, . £26 7s. ; towards enlargement of St. Bride's Schools, £300; Church Missionary Society, £123 Bs. 10s. ; Jews' Society, £lO6 19s. 2d. ; St. Bride's Schools, subscriptions and donations, £lOO ; local charities, £9l ss. 4d. ; sacramental and other alms, £135 11s. Id. Total, £1,298 3s. Scl. What shall I write underneath this ? I would put on record at once the words of David, and say, "Now, there fore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able so offer so willingly after this sort ? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee. For we are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers : our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. 0 Lord our God, all this store cometh of Thine hand, and all is Thine own." (1 Chron. xilx. 13 to 16.) Oh, yes 1 to God be all the glory ! it is only honest to pay to God what is due to Him, as "His own." No heart amongst us, lam sure, would say with Judas, " why was• this waste made ?" and I trust none of us would say, "it is enough :" on the contrary, encouraged by the past, let me not here forget my motto, but say, as concerns this matter of giving unto God, as I have said concerning other matters, see that ye " abound more and more." Finally, brethren, let me thank you for all your kind ness to me during the past year ; ybur sympathy during a season of illness was a cordial and a blessing to me ; may the good Lord allow such kindly feelings to continue ; and commending you and yours to God, and praying that the Lord may pour out upon you, this year, a double portion of His spirit, and make all grace abound towards you. AMONG. TUE APPLICANTS at one of the London police courts during the week, was an Irishman, who wanted to make a declaration that he had lost the duplicate of an article he had pawned. The pledge was a purse contain ing four half sovereigns; and as some remark was made as to the singular nature of the transaction, the applicant thus explained it :—" On Saturday night, or I should say on Crismas eve, I found meself with four half-soverins in me purse, and I ses to meself, Tim, me boy, if ye keep this money, yeel get drunk on Crismas day, and spind it, and ye had better put it in the pawn-shop and save it; so fair, after a good struggle with meself, I did go to the pawn-shop and got 10s. on the four half-soverins and the purse. On Crismas day, sure enough, I got drunk, and lost the tacket ; but fust thing on Monday mornin I wint to the pawn-shop and stopped me money, and yesterday I got that paper, and now want to take me money out TIIE ORIGIN or ALE. — The ancient Britons had many vines, but they esteemed them only as ornaments to their gardens : and they preferred, says Caesar, the wine of grain to that of grapes. It is historically demonstrated that the English, at a very early epoch, applied themselves to the making of beer. It is mentioned by the laws of Ina, chief, or king of Wessex ; and this liquor held a distinguished rank among those that appeared at a royal feast in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Under the Normans ale acquired a reputation it has ever since main tained. Two gallons cost only one penny in the cities ;in the country four gallons might be obtained at the same price. Happy age ! happy ale drinkers ! At that period —the golden age for the apostles of the Britannic Bacchus —the brewers rendered no account of the preparation of this beloved beverage. The English nation did not yet purchase the right of intoxicating themselves ; it was not till the year 1643 that this authorisation was to be bought.—Somer's Pan(ropbon. ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. Szn,—l was much interested by the discussion on Mon day, by the Literary and Philosophical Society, on the able paper by Dr. Hume, on English dialects. The Chair man on that occasion offered some sensible remarks on the new words which are being constantly imported into our language, but none of the speakers alluded to some of the most palpable deficiencies,—deficiencies so great, that the only wonder is that no one has endeavoured to supply them. It is a singular fact that there are two races of animals in this country, and yet we have no word in the language to express either of them. We speak of a horse, meaning one of that race whether male or female, old or young ; the same by a sheep, leaving the distinctions of sex or age to be particularised by those more immediately interested in the breeding or rearing them, but by what name can we express one of that race of which we call the male a bull or bullock, and the female a cow. It is true that these names are intelligible, but they pre-suppose a knowledge of the sex, and they are also applied to the buffalo, the bison, and even the whale. Again with do-. mestic poultry, we speak of a turkey, a goose, or a duck, without reference to sex, but for the most numerous race we are obliged to content ourselves with the indefinite ex pressions of a cock or a hen, terms which equally apply to any kind of bird, and even the word fowl, applies, as it is used in Scripture, to all kinds of birds. I have simply pointed out these two instances of glaring deficiencies in the English language, notwithstanding its general com prehensiveness, and I am sure there. are many of your in telligent readers, who could point to several other wants of words which the ingenuity of modern writers might help to supply. NE3IO. Liverpool, Jan. 14, 1854. DECIMAL CURRENCY. TO THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL STA.IfDA.IID. Sts,—l was very pleased to notice the able and inde pendent manner in which yon exposed the many diffi culties connected with the adoption of a system of decimal currency, and denounce what I cannot but characterise as a delusion. There are one or two other points, however, to which I beg permission to call attention through your columns. It has already been shown that fixing the pre sent pound sterling as the standard of unity would involve many difficulties with the present penny, which enters so largely into the every-day transactions of life ; and, per haps, not less with the shilling, which constitutes the price of admission to so many entertainments. Part of this difficulty is proposed to be surmounted by making ten of our present pence into one coin, and ten of those into another. This will secure the penny in its position, but multiply the other evils almost indefinitely. By making a hundred pence into our new pound, the national debt would be nominally raised into about eighteen hun dred millions ; taxes and duties would be more than no minally doubled ; and in order to render comparisons of increase and decrease at all intelligible, new calculations would require to be made of all previous monetary records, involving an amount of arithmetical labour far surpassing all that can be saved by adopting the new method. If you retain the pound, you ruin the usefulness of the penny either to the payer or the payee : and if you retain the penny, you spoil the pound, and multiply the evil. I quite agree with your remarks as to the impractica bility of a system of decimal currency in combination with our present scales of weights and measures ; and this al teration would involve even greater difficulties than those connected with the currency, because divisions are not so easily made ; and they would interfere with the well accustomed modes of those who would not readily learn any new system. The only answer to all this is a refer ence to France and the United States of America ; but neither of them is a case in point. In neither case had the promulgators to deal with the settled habits and usages of the people of an old country. In the one case every thing old had been destroyed by the demon of revo lution ; in the other it was a new people, with every thing before them, much to learn, and little or nothing to forget. It would be, indeed, a retrograde step for the intelligence of Britain to take a lesson from such sources ; and while I have confidence that our legislature will display more wisdom than seems to have emanated from the provincial demonstrations of the new lights, I quite coincide in your view that an act of parliament for this purpose would be as inoperative as that which unsuccessfully attempted to enforce an uniformity of weights and measures. In the dearth of political agitation, it is, perhaps, an innocent subject for discussion, but before any step is seriously taken, it is to be hoped that our rulers will be guided a little more by COMMON SENSE. Liverpool, January 13th, 1851, WARNING TO PROTESTANT PARENTS. TO THE EDITOR OP THB LIVERPOOL STNADARD. Sri—You will oblige by inserting in your truly Protes tant paper the following statement of facts : A person who I supposed to be a Priest, but who, as it proves, disclaims all title to such a high calling, and styles himself a Monk, on Monday last accosted a little Protes tant boy, a member of St. Paul's Sunday School, as he was attending to his business in a certain place, which I need not now mention. He asked him, in the course of the conversation if he could prove the Bible to be the Word of God, wishing, of course, to prove the necessity of the authority of the Church. For this the lad very cleverly at once replied, that the dispersion and present state of the Jews proved it, and referred him to Lev. xxvi. chap. 33 v. The Monk, who desired to pervert him to the faith of the apostate Church of Rome, was thrown a little aback, and covered his confusion by applauding him. At the close of this interesting conversation, he requested the boy to call on him at his residence, and to bring a friend with him, when he would talk more freely with him, stat ing, at the same time, that he would not be long in Liver pool. The Monk and his fellow missionary seem to me some of the alumni of that college, Maynooth, which has produced hitherto such promising sons. A friend, who felt interested in the boy, accompanied him on Tuesday evening to the Monk's lodgings, and said that he came, as he understood from the boy he was told to bring some friend with him. The Monk seemed a little confounded, poked the fire very hard, and soon found that he had caught a tartar. The result will, I trust, keep him quiet, and make him less free in his invitations. I mention the matter as a warning to Protestant parents to guard their children. How serious might the matter be, if a number of youths were bribed,,or induced, by some means, to attend on Priests at their houses or lodgings to receive instruction • and when we remember the teaching of the Church of Rome, that children may disobey their parents —take religious vows upon them, when they deem it their duty, and there are so many nunneries and Popish prisons in the land,—can we, Protestants, be too careful in watch ing our children that they fall not into the paths of the destroyer—that they be not seduced from " the faith once delivered to the saints."—l am, Sir, yours, &c. A TEACHER AT ST. PAUL'S SUNDAY SCHOOL. Liverpool, 14th Jan., 1851. EDUCATION FOR THE BRITISH COLONIES. TO THE EDITOR OP TUE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. " Ducit amor patrin, et amor hamani generic." Sin,—At the present time, with the prospect of war before us, and innumerable dangers looming in the future; with men busy reading the signs of the times," and foretelling the downfall of the Crescent and its followers ; when the great king of the North is to give it its death blow, and to work mischief to ourselves ; when he has already stirred up the weak and effeminate representative of a once grand empire to menace our Eastern possessions ; and prognosticators, who can look out as dearly upon 1880 as they can upon the present day, already tell us that when that day arrives we will no longer behold the red cross banner of our country waving from the ramparts of the cities of Central Asia, for our power will no longer be felt there ;—when all these things combined have excited the public mind, and kept it on the stretch, for a con siderable time, I deem it but right, sir, to call your at tention, and that of your readers, to the way in which I think we might bind our colonies to England more strongly than they ever have been. The plan. I can scarcely call a new one, for I have en tertained it for a considerable time now ; and communi cated with the Secretary of State for the colonies, and the leading members of the Cabinet, and found them favour able to it. Indeed, it is one that all classes in the com munity are deeply interested in; inasmuch as they mostly have some friends who have emigrated to our possessions, or are connected with them in trade. Thus the relations of affinity, and the powerful one of commercial interest, bind most of us to the colonies. Persons of intelligence, acquainted with the intellectual progress of the nation, and how intelligence has been diffused among the people, know that immense strides have been made since we had national functionaries appointed to watch over and pro mote the instruction of the people. The same result has followed in the sister country, Ireland. Commodious schools have arisen over the length and breadth of the land, and the course of instruction greatly raised too. That the colonies should be put upon the same footing as the parent islands, in this respect, is now evident. It only needs to be put before the mind to produce convic tion. A Board of Education is wanted for the Colonies. England has the Committee of Privy Council on Educa tion, and Ireland has the National Board ; while Scot land has the Assembly's Committee : yet we have no such body for the colonies. But at this era of the world we ought to have. With the examples before us of how the Committee of Council has benefited England, and the National Board Ireland, let us not shut our eyes to the way such a body would benefit the colonies. Benevolent persons exist in all our colonies, who would gladly give their assistance to the spreading of knowledge around them, if they had a guiding power to direct them, such as I have pointed out. Without such a directing power they may waste their goodness of soul on the great desert of heathendom. The stationary character of the people in our Eastern possessions, when left to themselves, is well known. The Brahmin priesthood have enclosed their minds in net-work of dark superstition, which can only be broke through—humanly speaking—by education. A know ledge of the physical sciences is necessary to acquaint them with the objects around them; and a correct know ledge of them would go far to destroy their Feticism and idolatry. We- know that the lotus, cow, flanges, are objects of idolatry and veneration among them. Their stone idols are innumerable ; their name is Legion, and they have paid the most abject veneration to them for ages. A little light is breaking upon them, thank God, but it is only like the crimson streaks that precede the dawn, or the starlight that illumes the night. No Englishman, with the least patriotism, can range his eye over a map of the world, and then turn inward and realise in conception the varied and brilliant scenes which the dependencies of our country present, without feeling a glow of warmth in his breast at the prospect. Cold and sorrow-blighted must his heart be indeed, and dead his spirit to moral and religious things, if he feels not an awe at the duties and responsibilities which our colonial empire lays upon England. No other country at the present time can at all compare with Britain for colonies. The colonial empire of France in 1792 was a respectable rival, but the revolution lost it for her. In the west she lost St. Domingo ; in the east herself and allies lost the Cape, the Isle of Bourbon, the Isle of France, Java, and the Malaccas I while on the continent of liindoetan she had her force on the Jumna subdued by Lord Lake, and her influence over the whole continent passed away. When she lost her North American colonies, she sunk as a naval power, for she.lost her best nursery for hardy seamen in the great waters belonging to those colonies. Spain, too, had a magnificent colonial empire—regions that the imagination still sees surrounded by a glittering halo of golden glory—famed alike in poesy and historic tale. But where are they now ? They are no longer linked to the crown of Spain. The connexion between her and them has been dissolved, and she has in conse quence sunk to a second or third rate power in the councils of nations. But in the day when she had her South American colonies, and her viceroys reigned over Mexico and Peru, this was not the case. She then held up her head among the nations of Europe,—second to none for power and importance. Thoughtful men who ponder these things will desire our own great dependencies more securely bound to us than they are at present. They will desire to see them bound to us by some of those potent mental ties which are stronger than merely commercial ones. If we pour into the minds of our colonists the charms of learning in early youth, when the mind is un occupied, and young brilliant hope sheds its lights upon the path of life lying untrodden before them, we will bind them to us more strongly than by any other ties. Material ties become loose—'tis their nature to shift and change ; and a great colony bound only by them, and no other, may snap the chain at any time they choose. History affords us many lessons of this kind, and we ought to profit by them, for it was written for our instruction and reproof, to make us wise in worldly matters, as truly as the Word of Truth was to make us wise unto salvation, and we ought to profit by them. Colonies are easily lost to a country, and it must sink in importance in consequence. The great powers will afterwards look down upon it and degrade it in their councils. Robbed of our colonies, what would England be to the rest of the world ? Not what she is at present—the arbiter of the nations of the earth. Our colonies are so widely scattered throughout the world that it has been truly said " that the sun never sets upon them, but shines, continuAlly throwing down floods of light upon them." Far as the breeze extends and ocean rolls they may be surveyed, and they contain within them all the different races of mankind into which philosophers have divided the human race. In every quarter of the world, whether in the eastern or western hemispheres, large tracts of country, peopled by immense multitudes, whose weal or woe, in a great measure, must depend on how England behaves towards them, are colonists of this country. Our duties towards them are many, our respon sibilities very great. These considerations make the question of, how can we extend education to our colonies, one of vital and thrilling interest to us. By retaining our dependencies we can only fulfil our mission to the nations for good ; if lost to us it would be impossible for us to do so. The East now gazes anxiously towards us for both light and liberty, while the West offers abundant homes for our race. Africa, alas is friendless in the world if we turn our faces away from her; the Philistine nations of the earth would then make her their prey. Interests dearer and more precious than those of profits and property—treasures nobler far than those of rubies and gold —are mixed up with this question ; the wealth of the mind, the treasures of the heart, and the riches of the soul belong to it, and these interests, if rightly promoted, will gain for thousands an eternal inheritance in the mansions of heaven, where the weary will have rest, and sorrow and sighing cannot come. By promoting them we will be making His ways known who bath ever dealt friendly and mercifully with this country and its people. He who hath been our shield and buckler when all other nations were overthrown. Who bath, adopting the language of the Psalmist, looked upon this country and its people as fairer than the rest of the nations of the earth; and seemed to have said to us, " Good luck have ye with your honour, ride on accord ing to your worship and renown; for in the day of your trial your right hand shall teach you terrible things, as they did your enemies in the day of battle, when they struck them down at Waterloo and Trafalgar." We may yet have to gird our swords upon our thighs, and go forth to chastise the Philistine nations of the earth. If we perform all our duties we may go forth, like a righteous man who hath no sting on his conscience, and meet any enemy without fear, remembering that—" Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just." Our colonial policy, hitherto, has never tended to run them into the parent's islands—to dovetail them, so to speak, into one another. Material interests have been the only connection that our legislatures have bound them to us by. Some right minded persons have exerted themselves to promote other interests, and good has followed their labours ; but nationally, imperially, we have fallen far, very far, short of our duty. To value our possessions on account of the high and lasting ties of the mind and soul has not been our aim ; a gross materialism has taken hold upon the spirit of the age; but, we may depend upon it, that by valueing our colonies on account of the interests of the mind we would be binding them more strongly to us than in any other way ; and we would strike those strings of human nature which vibrate so deeply through the soul, and have in all ages, when struck, produced such great results, and made the history of the world so crowded with events. Our foreign dependencies are the most brilliant gems in the great coronet of our national glory ; other nations sigh for what we already possess, and Russia seems bent upon doing wrong, simply to acquire more provinces. Napoleon Bonaparte, in a hour of his greatest triumph, when his proud heart swelled within him, said to his Marshals and those around him, as thousands of Austrian captives piled their arms at his feet,—" Gentlemen, this is all well ; but I must have greater things than these. I want ' ships, colonies, and commerce. The possession of colonies was his great aim ; and with them he would ivavn FtPenrPa of neef , saa;ty., bath al,epo and oornirrnovoo. What he wanted, when Europe might be said to lay at his feet, we now possess, and God grant that we may do right by them, and thus fulfil our mission to the next of mankind. I have deemed it but right to preface the subject of Colonial Education with the foregoing remarks. I will (D.V.) discuss the question more at length in your next publication; and for the present, subscribe myself Your obedient servant, - Liverpool, Jan. 13th, 1854. JAMES LISTER. THE NEW YEAR. 0, happy may the New Year be—to each bring joy and bliss; Throughout that year may all our friends know nought but happiness; And still, as comes to each the thought of what - was done last year, The Coats must needs recur to mind which those good friends bought here. And now, when on the wintry breeze come cold and frost and storm, When, chilling from the icy blast, shrinks back the shivering form, 'Tis now the Tailor's matchless skill becomes a thing of note ; Those friends in quick succession come to buy an Overcoat. And many, too, o'er frozen ponds in freedom schoolboys play, And plass in clothes' destructive games their Christmas holi day. To JOSEPH HARP'S their parents come those garments to renew : Whose style can better be than his—whose cut can be more true 7 And far away to distant climes the Emigrants will speed t Well may the Emigrants, their ships, their captains, too, succeed ! But, ere they leave old Liverpool, to .1. EARP'S Mart they hie : What Mart, to suit their many wants, can better goods supply? A blithe New Year for one and all I Whatever fate they see, If J. EARP'S wishes are fulfilled, their lot will happy be; And oft he trusts his many friends in future years to meet, And sell them many another coat, at No. 3, CHURCH-STREET. EFFECTS OP FRIGHT.--A few days since a person at Bordeaux, finding one of his chimneys out of order, sent for a sweep to remedy the evil. A boy went up and swept it, but it still smoked, and his master then determined to ascend himself, as he had formerly done. Unfortunately he had forgot that since he had become a master sweep he had acquired a degree of corpulency which rendered him rather unfit for such a work, and the result was, that on arriving at an elbow in the chimney he became jammed in, and could neither advance nor recede. After making ineffectual struggles for some time, he became much alarmed, and cried loudly for assistance. The people of the house hearing him, ascended the roof, and, letting down a rope, succeeded, after some difficulty, in releasing him from his unpleasant position. As may be supposed, he was black from head to foot from the soot, but his hair, which before had been rather dark, was turned quite white from the extreme fright he had undergone. AN OLD SOLDIER'S TALL—A curious statistic of the mass of fire brought by the enemy on our troops, during the siege of eleven days, from 48 pieces of ordnance, is given in Jones's " Sieges in Spain." He states that 21,000 rounds of shell and shot were launched against our approaches. Confined as these were in space, and narrow in dimensions, it was astonishing, from the concentrated direction of the missiles, that our casualties were not greater. Now, supposing all these to have occurred from the cannonade only, which was very far from being the case, and transferring the cause of loss of those who fell on this occasion from musketry, the bayonet, and mines, to the enemy's artillery alone, we should then have some five men killed or wounded for about every hundred rounds of cannon shot or shell fired. From the above circum stance I may be allowed to state to the uninitiated, how much more numerically destructive is the fire of musketry to that of round shot and shell. In confirmation of this I will here recite the following remarks made on the subject by other authorities. At Cambrai, in 1817, at a dinner at the Duke of Wellington's, I heard Sir George Wood (then chief of artillery to the army of occupation in Prance) state, that in Lord Howe's great action on the Ist of June, two barrels and a half of gunpowder were fired for every man killed or wounded. Ay," said the duke, taking up the conversation, "and at Trafalgar, where about 25,000 British sailors were engaged, under 1,300 were killed and wounded, while at Talavera de la Reyna, out of an army of 19,000 men I lost 5,000 principally by musketry." The duke, whose economy in action of the life of his troops was well known to us, merely meant to state a simple fact in illustration of the effects of the different species of fire. He hated a " butcher's bill," and never made one if he could possibly avoid it. To quote his own words, in writing to the relative of one of his personal staff who fell at Waterloo, speaking of the victory gained, he says, " the glory resulting from such actions, so dearly bought, is no consolation to me." Among other random recollections, I noted the above conversation at the time ; it is more forcibly brought to my mind, as I well remember a feat of endurance of fatigue which I performed at the same period. I had reached Cambrai at a quarter past two p.m. that day, with despatches for the duke from our ambassador, Lord Stuart de Rothsay, at Paris. After ' a ball, I quitted the embassy at half-past three the same morning ; was in my saddle by four, and rode the distance of 22 French posts (or 110 English miles) franc drier in ten hours and a quarter; delivered my despatches ; dined at head quarters, by the duke's invitation ; attended that night another ball at the Hotel de Ville ; had an early field day the following morning, played a cricket match against the garrison of Valenciennes, succeeded in getting 60 runs ; attended a lively dinner under a tent, which, somehow or other, lasted till sunrise the following day, and was, after all, fresh and fit for duty, as if I had done nothing. From the example of energy of mind and acti vity of body set before us by our great chief, we were all, from spirit, training, and emulation, ready for, and up to, anything by night or day, in " camp, or court, or grove." —Recollections of Campaig n under the Puke qf Wel. iington, in Bentley's Miscellany, ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE. DIOCESE OF CHESTER. PREPERILENTS.—The Rev. Charles Andley Assheton Craven has been licensed to the Stipendiary Curacy of the Parish of Liverpool, on the nomination of the Venerable Archdeacon Brooks, the Rector. The Rev, Henry James Wilkinson has been licensed to the Stipendiary Curacy of Windermere, on the nomination of the Rev. Sir Richard Fleming, Baronet, the Rector. The Rev. Henry Cooke has been licensed to the Stipendiary .Curacy of St. Matthew's Church, Liverpool, on the nomination of the Rev. H. B. W. Hillcoat, the Incumbent. ItICENSED ROO3l FOR DIVINE SERVICE,—The Bishop has licensed a Room at No. 38, Regent-road, Liverpool, for, the performance of Divine Services, for the accommo dation of the inhabitants residing in that part of the Parish. NE W CHURCII—On Thursday, January 5, a new church was consecrated at Northwood, in the parish of Rinslip, a hamlet distant three miles from the parish church, and on the borders of the parishes of Rickmansworth and Wat ford, and the district assigned to the new consolidated chapelry is composed of portions of the three parishes. The edifice, which is a little more than a mile distant from Moor-park, has been built by subscription. Lord R. Grosvenor, in whom the patronage is vested, has given the ground and endowed it. Although the district is in the two dioceses of London and Rochester, the ceremony of consecration was performed by the Bishop of London, on account of the building being situate within the county of Middlesex. The Bishop was entertained by Lord R. Grosvenor, at Moor-park, on the previous day, but was obliged to return home after the termination of the ser vice. An evening service was performed, when the ser mon was preached by the Rev. Henry Loring, rector of Cobham ; and on the following day, being the Epiphany, lectures were delivered after both morning and evening service by the Rev. Joseph Baylee, D.D., principal of the college at Birkenhead. The church, which is intended to accommodate 30() persons in nave and chancel, is in the early decorated style. THREATENED REMOVAL Or LONDON CHITROUES.— Pull down ! level the churches !is the cry. Why Be cause the population of London has become so small that they are useless, and may be transferred to the suburbs. Stop a moment. By " special command from the Right Honourable the Lords of his Majesty's Privy Council," the population of the several wards appears to have been taken in August, 1631 (7 Charles I.), and the number, including the liberty of Southwark (18,650), was 130,268. This may, therefore, be taken as a fair statement of what the population of London was at the time of the fire. Now it was 128,269 in 1801, and 127,869 in 1851. Long previous to the fire of London, there were, according to the London topographer Fitzstephen, in London and the suburbs, thirteen churches belonging to convents, besides 126 parish churches. These latter, no doubt, continued until the fire, which destroyed upwards of eighty at once : before this fire, London must have appeared a forest of steeples. Only thirteen of the present structures escaped its ravages, and thirty-four of the old churches were never rebuilt. Surely it cannot be intended to remove any of the thirteen which are now existing. Will not every citi zen of London respond to an appeal for his churches ? Shall it be said in the nineteenth century, and shall it go forth to the world, that in London, the first city in the universe, thirty Protestant churches are to be destroyed at once !--The Builder. PREFERMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS. Rev. J. T. Bennett, Sub-dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, and Vicar of Barling, Essex. to the Rectory of St. Mary Aldermary and St. Thomas the Apostle. Rev. G. M. Braune, MA., Vicar of Wiston, Yorkshire, to the Ministry of Long-acre Chapel. Rev. H. A. Barrett, M.A., to the Rectory of Chedgrave, near Beccles, Norfolk. Rev. H. F. Bacon, M.A., to the Vicarage of Castleton, Derbyshire. Rev. E. Bagley, M.A., to the Vicarage of Woburn, Bed fordshire. Rev. F. Bennett, M.A., to the Vicarage of Shrewton, near Devizes. Rev. F. Broome, M.A., to the Rectory of Adderley, near Market Drayton, Shropshire. Rev. G. Burd, M.A., to the Rectory of Sheinton, Shropshire. Rev. H. Caddell, W.A., to the Rectory of Atwick, near Hull. Rev. B. W. Coghian, M.A., to the Curacy of Charbury, near Montgomery. Rev. A. P. Cust, 8.A., to the Rectory of Cheddington, near Aylesbury. Rev. H. Dale, M.A., to the Rectory of Wilby, near North ampton. Rev.. T. Z. Davies, M.A., to the Curacy of Sallattyn, Shropshire. Hon. and Rev. A. Douglas, to the-Rectory of Curry Mallet, Somerset. Rev. W. A. Frith, to the Curacy of St. Nicholas, Warwick. Rev. Dr. R. B. East, to the Curacy of Madeley, near Hereford. Rev. M. S. Edgell, M.A., to the Curacy of Camberwell, Surrey. Rev. E. Ferrier, M.A., to the Curacy of Northam. South ampton. Rev. H. M. Fletcher, M.A., to the Rectory of North Stoke, Somerset. Rev. S. H. Garsford, 8.A.; to the Curacy of Kirk Deighton, near Wetherby Rev. W. Gell, M.A., to the Vicarage of Polloxhill, Bed fordshire. Rev. F. Et Gourrier, 8.C.L., to the Incumbency of Christ Church, Clapham. Rev. J. Griffiths, to the Incumbency of Trinity Church, Brighton. Rev. J. Gratrix, M.A., to the Vicarage of Kensworth, Hertfordshire. Rev. G. Harrison, M.A., to the Rectory of Sutcombe, near Holsworthy, Devonshire. Rev. J. Hart, M.A., to the Rectory of Sonaerby, near Drigg., Lincolnshire. • nee. ts. naves, hI.A., tO the Incumbency of Tunstall, Staffordshire. Rev. W. Hooper, M.A., to the Incumbency of Mariansleigh, near Southampton. Rev. M. Jefferys, M.A., to the Rectory of South Thoresby, near Alford. Rev. W. Jephson,' M.A., to the Rectory of Hinton, Wal dron, Berkshire. Rev. J. W. T. Lee, M.A., to an Asssistant Curacy at Honi ton. Rev. T. G. M. Lucock, MA., to the Incumbency of Little Berwick, Shrewsbury. Rev. J. D. Massingham, M.A., to. the Incumbency of St. Paul's, Derby. Rev. S. B. Maughan, 8.A., to the Vicarage of Widdrington, near Morpeth. Rev. W. L. Morgan, MA., to the Incumbency of Bradshaw, Yorkshire. Rev. H. Munn, M.A., to the Perpetual Curacy of Christ Church, Nailsea, Somerset. Rev. S. Newall, M.A., to the Rectory of Clifton-upon- Dunsmore, Warwickshire. Rev. C. Nutt, M.A., to the Vicarage of East Harptree, Somerset. Rev. B. S. Pattrick, M.A., to the Rectory of Weston Be gard, near Hereford. Rev. J. L. Prior, M.A., Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Rosse, to the Rectory of Papplewick, near Nottingham. Rev. G. Rainer, M.A., to the Vicarage of Ninfield, near Battle, Sussex. Rev. Dr. Rowley, to the Rectory of Willey, near Broseley, Salop. Rev. H. C. Seller, 8.A., to the Perpetual Curacy of Trull, Somerset. Rev. S. G. Selwyn, M.A., to the Vicarage of Milton Cleve don, Somerset. Rev. M. Shaw, M.A., to the Curacysf Bulmer. Essex. Rev-. W. Smith, to the Incumbency of Cowick, near Snaith, Yorkshire. Rev. H. F. Strangways, M.A., to the Rectory of Kilming. ton, Somerset. Rev. J. H. R. Sumner, MA., to the Rectory of Brasted, near Sevenoaks. Rev. E. Synge, M.A., to the Incumbency of Trinity Church, Matlock. Rev. R. J. S. Valentine,B.A., to the Incumbency of Trinity Church, Portsea. Rev. F. J. Walker, M.A., to the Rectory of Finmere, Ox fordshire. Rev. C. J. Westropp, M.A., to the Incumbency of Hon ningbam, Warwickshire. Rev. J. Woolley, 8.D., to the Incumbency of St. George's, Portsea. LICENSES TO CtrnAcins.—By the Bishop of London The Revs. J. W. Hammond, M.A., to St. Martin's-in-the- Fields ; Simon G. Fraser, 8.A., to Grosvenor Chapel ; M. Church, BA., to Curzon Chapel, May-fair; R. W. Bush, M.A., to St. Marylebone ; T. Macintyre, BA., to St. Dunstan's-in-the-West; W. H. Foy, 8.A., to St. Simon Zelotes, Bethnal-green; A. C. Smith, 8.A., to St. Andrew's, Holborn ; J. K. Stuart, M.A., to St. Bride's, Fleet-street ; H. A. Rawes, M.A., to St. Bartholomew's, Moorfields ; T. Woolley, 8.A., Bedford Episcopal Chapel, Bloomsbury ; R. Bingham, M.A., to St. Mary's, Maryle bone ; J. Hillnaer,M.A., to Regent-square Chapel. TUB CONVOCA.TION oa Yonit will meet in the Chapter house at York, immediately after Divine Service, in the Minster, on Wednesday morning, Feb. 1. The Canon in residence (Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt) will preside as Commissioner for the Archbishop. TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1854. HORTICULTURE. STOVE, CONSERVATORY ARD GREENUOllSE.—Tempera ture of stove 55' to 60' by day, and 50° to 55' at night. On days when the heat of the sun is felt, a cautious ad mission of air is desirable at noon only. In watering the plants the syringe must be dispensed with, and the water applied only to the soil in the pots. If specimen plants are under cultivation, and any free-growing sorts are be coming pot-bound, thereby rendering a repotting neces sary, take care that the soil used is the same temperature as that of the house. The Orchid stove should have about 5° to 10° higher temperature than the general plant stove. In the conservatory and greenhouse little more can be done than attending to cleanliness and arrangement, two matters of the highest importance. All the plants in flower should be shifted from time to time, so as to pro duce variety by their change of position ; they are also benefited by being moved about. It has to a slight extent the same effect as ventilation, and it affords an oppor tunity of admitting the light to all sides of the plant. The out-of-door department is still under the influence of frost, which precludes any operations. LAW OF MARINE INSURANCE.—AII important decision by the Supreme Judicial Court, on the question of implied warranty in the law of Marine Insurance, is published at large in the Boston papers. The point decided is, that in " time policies," for a term certain, there is no implied warranty by the assured that the vessel is seaworthy, at inspection or during the continuance of the risk ; so that if a vessel, thus insured, is unseaworthy, in the ordinary sense of that term, and while so insured is destroyed by any peril insured against, as by fire, but not occasioned by her unseaworthiness, still the policy attaches, is not ren dered void, and the underwriters are liable. But though there be no implied warranty in such case, a breach of which, if it existed, would render the policy void, yet it is the duty of the assured to keep the vessel in a seaworthy condition ; and if he fail to do so, and the vessel be lost in consequence of such unseaworthiness, such a disregard of obligation on the part of the assured will discharge the underwriters. We are not aware that this question of implied warranty in time policies had previously been de cided by any of the courts in this country. The same point, quite recently, has been before the courts in Eng land, and there was some diversity of opinion among the judges, though the law was finally settled as above-stated to be in this commonwealth. If we are correctly informed, the Court of Queen's Bench held that there was an im plied warranty in such policies ; but the judges in the Exchequer Chamber, seven to two, reversed that decision, and that reversal was sustained by the House of Lords, where the ease was tam ou final appefil.—BOsten papork CHESHIRE AND WALES. CI:UNTIE AND HOLTIIBILD RAILWAY.--Traffie for tbs. week ended January 8, 1854 :—Railway : Passengers; parcels, &c., £1,784 4s. Bd. ; goods, £1,139 17s. 91 Steamboats : £330 10s. 11d. Total,' £3,254 13s. 4d. In crease as compared with the corresponding week last year, £335 9s. 6d. A DREADFUL ACCIDENT, by which three men have lost their lives, has just occurred at the Tron colliery, North Wales. The men were descending the pit when, by a sudden jerk, the chain broke, precipitating them to the bottom. One of them, in falling, struck with such violence against a scaffolding, used in sinking to the main bed of coal, that his body was literally cut in two parts. The other two were dashed to pieces, and the remains have not yet been recovered, there being a large depth of water in the pit. All of them have left wives and large families. OBTAINING CHRISTMAS Boxes UNDER FALSE Pun. TENCES. — Richard Ambrose and James Davies, men lately in the employ of Mr. H. K. Aspinall, brewer, Birken head, were charged before the Birkenhead magistrates, on Tuesday, with obtaining Christmas boxes from Mr. Aspinall's customers. At the request of Mr. Aspinall, who declined to press the charge, the men were discharged after a severe reprimand. AN AVALANCHE. — The down mail-coach from Hereford to Aberystwith, and its passengers, had, on the evening of the snow-storm, a narrow escape from total disti-uction. When near the Forest Inn; on Radnor Forest, it came to a dead stand, owing to the 'depth of the snow. The coachman, guard, and passengers alighted, and the horses had just been unharnessed, when an avalanche of snot' from the hill came down and buried the coach under S mass twelve or fourteen feet deep ! Thus, owing to the circumstance of their having dismounted, the lives of all who had been on the coach were saved. They succeeded in making their way through the snow to the Forest Inn, but the coach is still buried. In Radnorshire, upwards of 600 sheep from one flock are missing, having been buried beneath the snow ; and there are Many other similar losses. BIRKENHEAD AND W.A.Lrasirr BUILDING. SOCIETY The annual dinner of this society was celebrated on Wed nesday, at the Seacombe Hotel, where a numerous party sat down to a really sumptuous repast, which was served in excellent style by Mr. Stokes. One of the chief features of the entertainment was a magnificent American turkey, which had been sent over specially for this occasion, from the United States by the steam-ship Asia, which arrived on Monday. Mr. Blake, the late president of the society, was in the chair, supported on his right by Mr. RA, of Wallasey, the newly-elected president, and Mr. Hornby very ably officiated as vice-chairman. In the course of the evening it was stated that since the removal of the society to Seacombe, it had increased considerably in numbers, and bid fair to prove a valuable auxiliary in promoting the improvement of a neighbourhood for which an increase of buildings is rendered imperatively neces sary by the great increase of population. The evening was spent with great cordiality and good feeling. IS A DRAKE A DOMESTIC ANIMAL.—OG Thursday seven parties were summoned before the magistrates at Birkenhead, on the information of Sir Geo. Stephen, for cruelty to animals, in firing at a drake which was tethered in the field. After a discussion, in which Sir Geo. Stephen mistook abuse for argument, as to whether or not a drake was a "domestic animal," the magistrates decided in the affirmative, and fined the defendants is. each and costs. COMBERMERE ABBEY.—Lord and Lady Combermere, with their habitual benevolence, have been alleviating the distress of the surrounding neighbourhood, four of his lordship's celebrated fat oxen having been slaughtered, and, under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Bellyse, his lordship's agent, Mr. Clark, the farm steward, and Mr. Thursfield, distributed amongst the poor of the vicinity. Her ladyship has distributed bedding and wear ing apparel of every description to upwards of 300 poor persons, who, in numerous instances, received pecuniarl assistance according to their wants.—Chester Courant. BIRKENHEAD MODEL YACHT CLUB BA_LL.—The an nual ball in connection with this club took place on Thursday, at the Monks' Ferry Hotel, the lady patroness being Mrs. F. Pembroke Jones, of High - field. The com pany comprised not only a large number of the members of the club, but several of the leading families in Birken head and its neighbourhood. Amongst those p res ent were F. Pembroke Jones, Esq., John Holme, Esq., John M. Hannay, Esq., William Scott, Esq., T. W. Tetley, Esq., John Watkins, sq., Henry Wood, Esq., Bre. Gribbin's brass band was in attendance, and entertained the corn' pany by playing some of the choicest airs of the day. The supper was of a sumptuous description, anti dancing was kept up until a late hour. JUVENILE PLUNDERING.—At the Birkenhead Police' court, on Thursday, two urchins, named John Lynch and John Taylor, were charged with stealing a quantity of iron, a mercury bottle, and other prope r ty, b e l ong i ng 0 Mr:Shaw, of Seacombe, and to other parties. Police' officer Gunning, it appeared, had watched the prisoners and another youth go into a marine-store kept by a per son named Lynch, and on being followed, the dealer denied that he had made a purchase. Upon being threatened , however, that his place would be searched, the fella; produced the plunder. The lads were then taken into custody, but whilst the officer was searching the store , one of them slipped the handcuffs, and made his escape' The marine-store dealer is also at large. The prisonerS were remanded, MUSIC AND THE DRAMA. .A.moUla TzsizzA Tux Rointr. on Saturday thorn wni o st morning performance, at which the juvenile portiot our population had an opportunity of witnessing the call: bination of mirth and beauty, in the Pantomime, nor fitting their years and requirements than is to be met frit h in the evening displays. The house, we were happY,n observe, was filled with a crowd of youth whose elaw' countenanses beamed hilarity and joy. At all the three houses we believe the pantomimes con' tinue a source of great and profitable attraction- CorrcEux.—Mr. Miranda will give his farewell concert on Monday next, at the Concert-hall, LordNeison-street; The list of attractions includes the popular names 01 Mdlle. D'Anterny, Mrs. Scarisbrick, and Miss Jessie Hammond, besides several others which will be found in our first page. A Russ.—One morning, Haines, the comic actor, WO seized by a couple of bailiffs in an action for a debt of £2O , as the Bishop of Ely was passing by in his coach. Quoth Joe to the bailiffs, " Gentlemen, here's my cousin, the Bishop of Ely, going into his house ; let me but speak to him, and he will pay the debt and the charges." Th e bailiffs thought they might venture that, as they Were within three or four yards of him. So up goes Joe t o the coach, pulling off his hat, and got close to it. The bishog ordered the coach to stop, whilst Joe, close to his ear, sal' softly, "My lord, here are two poor men who have suer, great scruples that I fear they'll hang themselves " Very well," said the bishop. So calling - to the two bailiff he said, " You two men, come to me to-morrow mornings and I will satisfy you." The men bowed and went away' Joe, hugging himself with his fallacious device, also wen his way. In the morning the bailiffs, expecting the Mau and charges, repaired to the bishop's, when, being inter duced, " Well," said the bishop, what are your scruplo of conscience ?" " Scruples !" said the bailiffs, " have no scruples. We are bailiffs, my lord, who yesterdsl arrested your cousin, Joe Haines, for £2O. Your lord' ship promised to satisfy us to-day, and we hope your lord' ship will be as good as your word." The worthy bishop reflecting that his honour and name would be exposed, ,P, he complied not, paid the debt and charges.—Dubfr University Magazine. Tun RELIGION OF TILE Russuals.—Public attention being very particularly directed towards the Russia'' nation at the present time, a few remarks regardl some peculiarities in their manner of worship, &c., whi probably are not generally known, may be interesting' I have been for some time past endeavouring to deterinie, the exact nature of the homage the Russians pay to t!' , "gods," whether they should be called images or 11,1 tures ? and whether the Russians should be consider idolaters or not ? Whenever a Russian passes a church' his custom is to cross himself, some do so three tits l accompanying it with bowing. In every room in the., houses an image, or picture, is placed in the east corne r ; before which they uncover their heads and cross thei ll ; selves on entering. Their churches are filled with the se ' their representatives of the Deity, and it is very curic'..; to observe a devout R uss i an ki ss i ng th e t oe o f one, cros sing himself before another, while to another h e will in a cl ":; tion prostrate himself, even w ith hi s head tothe group"; this latter is also very frequently done at intervals durill_!, the celebration of their services : but their ch urc h es ate always open, so that if any one wants to pay devotion t° a particular image (or picture) while no service is going on, he can do so. I understand that they consider I" worship the Deity through these representations. the present day the gods are called obraaz, of whichfor literal translation is image. The old Scl avon ic WO."' A 4 them is eekona, which was formerly in general use. C,l, translated far as I can make out, neither of the se words C,l, translated picture. The Russians also believe in in their efficacy in healing diseases, working other nuts des, &c. Notwithstanding this, a very short time W t ;, a new relic was found in the south of Russia, and _A courier immediately despatched with it to the Empe at St. Petersburg. On his arrival, his Imperial' Majes t i l; expecting . some important news regarding his operatic:l in the neighbourhood of Turkey, when told hi s errand exclaimed, " Away with the relic ! it is high time to P l6 O , an end to such nonsense." Would that thi s were to carried out ! But their superstitions seem too deep' rooted to be done away with in a short time.—Notes a Queries. A COMPLIMENT TO AN INTELLIGENT JIIMY.—It formerly the practice, and it has sometimes occurred 4, more recent times, to scold the jury very sou n dly f o r W the Court thought b a d ver di c t s . Th e prac ti ce i s obj l e i fi tionable, because it does no good—not because an abs_ j , jury, that flies in the face of all evidence or common sens, - , deserves to get free. The jury have, however, their P: 1 51 vince as well as the Court ; and, in point of principle, ,dt jury might as well demur to the opinion of the Court,; law, law, as the Court to the opinion of the jury on fact. ... i ll/ sides, it generally happens that juries are scolded f o r 204_74 tale—rarely, if ever, for convictions. This encolirooir the feeling—injurious to the due weight and influence. t , the bench—that the Court is always desirous of conc, l v ing. The elder Meadowbank was of this opinion, Yet t , had at times as much difficulty as his brethren in prey Wit, ing himself from having a fling at a foolish jury, In '" - i' he was even more cutting than some of them by his grammatic manner of saying a good thing. A case h t,4 tried before him at Stirling, which was as clear as 11 c , and in which it was the plain duty of the jury to conT;,,,e. the law so directed, and no one doubted but that the tion would be followed. To the amazement of all, t jury did not only not convict, but they returned icT*, very unusual indeed with Scottish juries when g , ull' suspected, though not established—they brought T e r verdict of " not guilty." Meadowbank received the re i diet with evident discomposure; however he n 2 ss te e I himself, and turning round to the foreman, he said, f l / slowly and distinctly—" Gentlemen, th e manner in wl you have expressed your verdict shows the Court that, s ' o oi , have attentively considered the case. You have sa guilty ;' after the evidence that was led, it would been impossible for you, with the slightest regal' your solemn oaths, to hare said `not prOT4111:". )4;1 5 4 r., - 14er at I , N t he 11.°S