The Press.
London, England, 1853-10-08 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

came forth the volume which stands the first
on our list. It was well received ; the
Ai/sew/sum backed up its pet contributor ; the
Examiner welcomed- it in its best style; other
papers praised it ; and the mania for at text
founded on Mr. Collier's discovery raged at
fever point. Large sums were offered for the
book—larger for the sole use of the book.
Copyright was talked about, anal Mr. Collier,
it was said, was about to enjoy a monopoly of
Shakespeare's works. It was even hinted that
be had dipped his !meads into lime anal mortar
on the strength of it. This, of course, was
not to be endured. Mr. Knight cried aloud,
anal condemned the new annotator. 111 r. Knight
is an editor of Shakespeare. Mr. Halliwell
cried louder still, and condemned the new
annotator. Mr. Halliwell haul announced an
expensive edition of Shakespeare. Mr. Singer
roared and called naughty names. Mr.
Singer was about to appear a second time as
an editor of Shakespeare. Mr. Dye° hooted
and pooh-poohed the new annotator. Mr.
Dvee was in treaty for his thrice-thwarted
edition of Shakespeare. The copyright cry of
Mfr. Collier induced all this disbelief in
the MS. annotator. Haul the corrections been
announced as public property Mr. Perkins
would have appeared at much more able anno-
tator in the eyes of Messrs. Knight,
Singer, anal Ilyee, than he has been made to
swear, by tucauts of the bugbear cry of a
copyright in the notes.
It is our belief that too much importance
was attached at first to the actual value of Mr.
discovely, and that (as is frequently
the ease in like mutters ) too little attention
is about to be paid to it. We have seen the
folio in which the corrections are made. There
can be no doubt about the age of the hand-
writing—it is the handwriting of a period
ringing from I6:)11 16911—but on what au-
thority the corrections are made we have ma
means of information other than that derived
from internal evidence of tolly or good sense
in the alterations themselves. Stone are
poetic—some aro prosaic enough ; many are
addressed to common sense. and command
immediate acquiescence : others show that the
annotator was a prompter or player. or some
one working tar a playhouse; while the general
inference is that the annotator—whoever he
was—was a person who had access to at least.
one prompt or plavhouse book. Mr. Halliwell,
Mr. Singer, and Mr. Knight are simply savage
in condemning Mr. Collier and Mr. Perkins.
Mr. Singer, indeed, treats Mr. Collier ver
sonally as a sort of convicted felon, anal writes
in the style throughout unhappily intro-
duced into tslitoehal 1;#
..4'111.1111' by the late Mr.
Hittaard; while his additions to our stock of
information acre of the most infinitesimal quart
tity. Mr. Dyee is tairer. Ilis book. in point
of tone and even information, is a remarkable
improvement on his vindictive volume of at
few years ago. llis endeavour has been to
show that sundry of the recently-published
emeodations are "altogether erroneous ;" that
others " cannot stand the test of critieism:"
that many alterations are "ignorant, tasteless,
,and wanton:" hat (he is, at least, generous)
that the volume " presents corrections which
" require no authority to reeommend them,
" Issquise common sense declares them to be
" right." Mr. Hunter is not less gracious.
He has his doubts. like others ; but, in more
than ore instance, he is hoppy to express his
thanks " to Mr. Collier anal the unknown cor
" rector for having relieved him from all alitli
" culty, by bringing a line to conform itself to
" what. soar appears evidently to be the scope of
" the passage." Neither Mr. Hunter nor Mr.
lbyeewill lose in public estimation by being at
least fair: while Messrs Knight. Ilalliwell, anal
Singer will do well to remember the rule which
the most aerial of the Shakespeare commentators
laid down for his own observance. though he
dial not always obey it. •"fhe diameters of
" living or dead commentators," says ungentle
Ceorge Steevens, in his address to the publie
about a new edition of Shakespeare. " shall
" not. in the edition proposed, be wantlmly
" tradured; and no greater freedom of language
" be made use of than is necessary tu, convince.
" Au error in at quotatiaan, or aceidentad misre-
" presentation of at fact. shall not be treated
" with the severity due to at t 1111 l crime." To
Mr. Singer may be applied the couplet which

SATURDAY,

Johnson would have used in his reply to
Warl)urton
" I I ..re blinded first, and then beguiled,
Looks dark as lguorimee, as Freury wild.'
For antiquated failings may best be visited by
old-fashioned entire._ _

It must ever be a source of public regret,
and also a source of infinite idle conjecture,
that those glories of our nation. the plays of
Shakespeare and the " Paradise Lost" of
Milton, should have wanted when in print the
benefit of a revision by their authors. What
Shakespeare would not do, Milton could not
see to do. How many volumes of idle learn-
ing and misapplied ingenuity might have been
saved to us if Shakespeare had done what his
great friend and rival, lien Jenson, did—put
his plays into a folio volume ; anti what va-
garies of punctuation might we not have been
saved from (to say nothing of Bentley's mad-
nesses) if Milton's eyesight had been spared
to him ! It was cleverly imagined—we forget
by whom—that Shakespeare and his commen-
tators would meet in the other world, and that
it would be evident, from the looks of both,
that Shakespeare did not know his commenta-
tors, and that the commentators did not know
Shakespeare. How much would Shakespeare
have to reject from his so-called works had he
HOW the power of revision! How many obscu-
rities would not his pen clear up (we will not
talk of additional beauties thrown in as he
went on) ; how many players' impertinences
would he not remove ; what looks of surprise
would he not give, and genial laughs sufkr
to be heard, anti sometimes vainly seek to
suppress, while, over his best editor, by a
letter or a word, he would restore meaning
and beauty to a whole passage!
There is a very interesting inquiry in the
life of Shakespeare. Did Shakespeare over
print a play, or sanction the printing of a play,
or of any publication, beyond his " Venus and
Adonis," and his " Rape of Luerece" ? It is
our belief (we use a weak word) that he did
not. Let us inquire into this.
Of Shakespeare's thirty-six plays, seventeen
were printed in his lifetime, and of these
seventeen several more than once. To no one
play of the seventeen is there a dedication,
the usual prefix to almost every authorised
play or poem of Shakespeare's time, such
prefixes being attached to the "Venus and
Adonis," and the " Rape of Luerece," the two
pieces which Shakespeare did print, anti with
great typographical accuracy. Then these
seventeen plays, printed in the poet's life-
time, abound in the grossest errors of sense,
to say nothing of the wildest printer's blue•
tiers which the least approach to a revision
had readily removed. It is true that some
editions of these plays are fuller in matter than
others (the first Ilesmkt, for example), but
the same stupid printer's errors are still to be
found in these additions. Would an author,
let us ask, who superintended the printing of
a play permit the constant recurrence of
errors not common to the state of typography
in his time ? Ben .lonson's folio is singularly
free front misprints; so, as we have already oh-
served, are the two poems which Skakespearo
did see through the MSS.
It will be asked, by those who have not
looked into the question With the attention it
deserves, why did not Shakespeare print his
plays? Our answer is—first. it was not the
custom of his time ; and, secondly, it was
against his interest.

To illustrate our two positions, with vita-
l' s trout the complaints of contemporary
writers, would require greater room than wu
van give at present even to questions of such
literary interest. But our ease may be sup-
ported generally. In' Beaumont and Fletcher's
fifty-two plays, one alone Won't' appear to Itavo
been printed by them. That one play was 77/e
F,ritlfill Shepherdem, which, when it was con-
demned on the stage. was printed by its author,
Fleteher, "to shame the fools." If it had been
suecessful it would not have been printed, and
posterity would have suffered. Ben .11onson
was laughed at 1 his eohtemponuies for call-
ing his plays "works," and for giving them
other than a Stage publieity : and that it was
against. Shakespeare's interest to have his
plays printed is dear, from the profit he
would derive in those unsettled times of
copyright law—from their restricted perfor-

OCTOBER 8, 1853.

mantles in the two theatres iu which he was both
an actor and a sharer. Nothing is more true
than Pope's line, that Shakespeare winged his
noble flight "for gain, not glory ;'' nor is it less
true that he obtained both.
Seeing. then. that Shakespeare did not print
a Oily, on what foundation, it will be asked,
rest the received texts of his plays? The an-
swer is easy. On the folio of ite.rt, published
seven years after his death, by two of his fel-
low-actors, rei,vulated by a collation with the
quartos, and the admission of such emenda-
tions as have received the general tacit consent
of the commentators and the public. There
is no such thing its a settled text of Shake-
speare. and it is a wild idea to suppose that
there ever will be one. Will Mr. Collier agree
with Mr. Pyce, or Mr. Singer with Mr.
well, or Mr. Knight with any one? But nearer
and nearer approaches may be made to at more
correct version than any that is now in exist
enee. But in what way? It is too late, we
fear, to expect the discovery of a ph.y. tar even
part ota play, in Shakespeare's own handwriting,
and equally late to look fir a copy of the first
folio corrected by Ben °liison, or lay some
person who hail access to the poet's MSS., or
the MS. books from which the folio was
printed. The materials for anyt.slitor (smelt as
they are) are ready at hand. But we now come
to the requirements demanded of an editor.
To edit. Shakespeare properly—that is, to en
deavour to restorehis text to at state in which it
n Llverwats,all but correct--so many quail field inint
art' necessary, that it is hardly just to look for
them in any one person. Hr must have a
poet's nature, and his ear as well—the learning
of at most accomplished literary antiquary—
a first-rate verbal critic—and one who is so
well versed in the manners and customs of
Shakespeare's period, that he has all but Men
tified himself with Shakespeare's age. In ap-
his task he must constantly bear in
mind that every seeming obscurity is not ne-
cessarily any obscurity at all. Nor is he to
forget thaNhakespeare invariably wrote !aortic
common sense, while, in criticising hini, he
must remember that much was foisted in by
the players—of the truth of which, were other
evidence wanting, the testimony of Cowley is
amply convincing.
The happiest emendation in the text of
Shakespeare is that by Theobald of " a
babbled of green fields," in the description of
.Virixtqf's death. for " at table of green fields."
'floe reading of the first t'lio is so daring am
alteration, that nothing can justify its intro-
duction into the text but the utter nonsense
of the passage it so poetically supplants. But
it would be unwise in any editor to Het on the
improring principle. It would not be dittieult—
for a man of poetic sensibilities—now and then
to better the meaning of his author. We are,
however, not in wont of an editor of this de-
scription. What we require is Shakespeare's
own text ; and, where real obscurities exist.
brief explanatory notes from the editor. To
discover the corruption in all 11101101**S text, and
by a happy sagacity restore it to sense, is no
east- task ; and such Warburton found it to be,
its fie writes to Hurd. The labours of a sue
eehSt.tll etmunentabir should not in' despised.
Theobald was too much decried. We are not
sure that Shakespeare wrote " babbled of
green tields,"—we are certain, however, that
he would have admitted the propriety anal
poetry of the emendation.
Whoever undertakes the publication of a
new edition of Shakespeare must necessarily
have recourse to Mr. Collier's Notes, and to
the env-volume edition of the plays based on
his corrected folio. His volume of Notes is a
nimble contribution to our critical literature ;
and if Nlr. Collier had done 110 1114 We service to
Shakespeare and the public than obtaining fair
ns an edition of the poet's plays. revised by
Mr. Pyce, we should indeed be grateful to him
for this his last labour of love. For the one-
volume edition we are not so grateful. Some
of the so-ealleal emendations HIV SI) bad that
to place them in the text is a kind of insult to
common sense. Anil this. in some degree
Mr. (*lather himself appeal's to have telt. "It
" is not to be understasl," he says, in his

1 advoiisement. " that the editor approves
" all the changes in the text of this e►diti►►n ;
•• but. while he is; doubtful regarding some
" and opposed to others, it is his deliberate

TIIE PRESS.

opinion that. thu great majority of them
" assert a well-founded claim to a place in
•' every future edition of Shakespeare's dra-
Mille works." We will nut Say. with Mr.
Collier. the taAjority, hut, fearlessly, we think
that ninny may l►e adopted safely and with
advantage.
We are unwilling to conclude an article on
Shakespeare without at word of advice to three
editors at present engaged upon rival editions.
MI three will render good serviee to letters:
but Mr. l►vee must not continue to indict too►
many parallel passages, so frequently unlike,
as if Shakespeare required at lay hgure for every
thought ; nor must Mr. Singer disfigure his
edition with airy palliatives, or idle refutations
of matter not worth refuting ; while Mr. Hal-
liwell would improve his work were he to spend
a little money in teaching Mr. Fairholt, who
illustratA.s his edition, to engrave
well.

Foriase. A Romance of Life. Ity l). T.
EST lAIIIIIOII durst lill4l
1111/111iSe of his titlepage is fulfilled by the
author even to profuseness. " Fortune" i.. itt
once the prime agent of his anima and the at-
tributts of its principal thartteters— the test of
their virtues aril the reward of their welltloing.
And thus, not lliloll till' ordinary moderate-
t.onipeteney scale, for which even the fortiu
nate are expected to be thankful in this
working-day world, but in proportions of colos-
sal magnitude, pretit'llting, indeed, something
Oriental in the extent and rapidity of its vicis-
situdes. We move throughout the book in an
atmosphere of wealth, amid a population of
millionaires. Thus the titular hero. at it crisis or
his destiny, is made to pass through the ago
'Using ordeal of examining his bankers' book to
find illellll4'4Oillt 11%1'11111MM lint he hills spout
:10,1100/. in less than three months. Itonntiatie
lovers commit rash wedlock. and 1111` tiaccd by
remorseless parents to sta rte for a season--
upon I MOO/. per annum. A gity, high-sonled
spendthrift gets into diflieult les and a
swinging house. llis arrest is upon a judg-
ment for five thousand odd hundred pounds ;
111141 his debts altogether are of such magnifi-
cent amplitude that a few spore thousands, we
are told, would mako no more impression Oil
theul than water on a sieve. The evil spirit
of the book goes mad by way of retribution for
his misdeeds. lle loses his senses front the
shoek of disappointment at losing it lawsuit
for an estate worth seven thousand a year.
Still.) l .ever. he possesses property sufficient
to justify the Conti of Chancery in making oil
allowance of twenty-five thousand per annum
for comfortably tnaiutaiuing the lunatic.
There are two young ladies suffering poverty
—in the real and bitter sense of that hard
word—actually so as to want bread. Rut then
it. is because they are unjustly kept out of the
paternal estate of seven thousand a year as
aforesaid, by the afioresitid evil genius. Even
in that pmfession tvliere personal experience
might be supposed to warn ottr author how
to preserve the "Modesty of nature" Wl' find
Iris ideas equally magnificent. One Mr..lolin
Smith-441 be sure his authorship is not pro•
fessional—thus recounts his morning s work
with a bibliopole :
Fur toy roan wigwam*, I have been amitatometl to make
notes of Inv agricultural egwrieneew. louring r week of
sultry welsher, when it Wits Attu*, U111%194,41111 to get out,
I threw the nob* ti•getlier, awl. Mopping Rt MiLltiltotrit
in
Aihrinarle-streel, close to Siturrwys. I called in there and
left hint nitunisciirt. Ile maw delighted with it. %rote
one It elietwe for it I IR111.0411(1 1141411441$ on the alma Om the
111 tool has I 1114 to Write awl, Ibr three Arti-
cles for the quarterly lit a linialrell guinea,' rail'.
The play of " Fortune " nnlllll the posses
sors of Kuehl giwgeolis wealth is appropriately
narrated in it story whose lasliiint resembles
the grotesque imaginings of an Oriental ro-
mancer nttlier than the sober rectangular pat
terns wherein 'Western novelists generally
weave their webs of fiction. There is a hero,
handsome, seeomplished, and poor—gifted
with far more delicacy to appreciate the plea
sure of riches than with energy to win, or
mond thinness to list'. 014'1 II properly. Ile
walks inisalily among as where the chil-
dren of wealth are disporting themselves,
watching afar oft' with bitter envy the delights
he cannot hope to share, and audibly sighing
forth his wish to become one of that brilliant

545

throng. if but for it year. and itt thr s;itliiire ui
all that hie and Iliptb CAUL otter him afterwards
Itehide him stands a being whom pleasure ha,
hated and memory makes nil:wraith.; entl,.%%ca
with inexhansti4ile wealth. with wonderful

knowledge. and memateleed
.nte..ectetal ponce.
—fond tit' making experiments in whirl%
1111111 1111tUre is the object experimented upon ;
and. above tille longing once more to taste at
any price the pleasures of a sensation. Ili
BROM or Delhi such a being would Is' called
the Caliph Alraschid or Emperor Am-en/elle:
in a London novel he appears as plain Mr.
l'aventlimli. But in all he does pretty much
the saute' thing. lie closes with the bargain
of which he has been the unsuspected auditor.
otters to the discontented pauper the gratifies-
tion of his wish Olt his oen t 1.1111%, and, alter
some mysterious talk at a mysterious trinity.-
sends him tee sleep with the Melees of
haseltimli—when the penniless usher %%likes
to thud himself lord of et sumptuous palace% seed
launched upon IlAntelon society as 1111 1111
doubtull millionaire for one year. and no more,
certain. The incidents and adventures, the
loves and frientlAtips. which FlesliAll .1.114111411 e
is his 1111111C--eneotinterm in that
twelvemonth furnish berth the story eel thee
hunk.

Mr. (minim. nhi our readers will have disco-
vered, ix a bold man. Itut Fortune favours
such. He hits flared to step outside tar track
xo hartllwatett by the well dls ildinrd corps of
modern heti (((( ints. He has ventured to sacri-
fice probability and hazard much incongruity
in the search tOr novelty amid untroiltleit

paths. 111141 in 1114` Wish lA/ to Os soltle
Heald`►+ frellt Ills` "11111111 We of lik " moles. new
Rtill44'th and eonll►inations. 111 carrying out
this lotipose the author has Searl'ely exl►il,ited
the eXeelltite power necessary ti. realise his
own ideal. it the result is hilftirielltly It
tamed to render Li,+ book. if incomplete as a
work of art, one of the most striking and at-
tractive tiovelm of• the season.

In sketching individual characters and de-
tached scenes of 'mein! life Mr. Cottlton is
frequently happy. From tliem me must select
a poiirait drawn to the lifi., and yet a general
rather than a particular likeness. it is a pie.
tare whose fidelity everybody m ill recognise,
though none may Modify the original ; for
tie nice is numerous and indigenous to all
latitudes. Few, indeed, are the eirele:4 11f
wiety, of any diameter, which are not haunted
by a F reeborn :
The lion. F realawiek Fred. aili MNs one of noose julep n.•
alinte links in the IN winl clostiti hiash 1111111.4.1 ills. 4.011.111i./i
sassiety together. I tvlsoe said Iw' was not unknown
aimingthelsmilwr•tnsatwm. now inomicenl of the taste of
rifler. Hp soling test himw that his learnt for th a 1141
111111 into V41%111101114 Nl 111111. s ; 10114 011.11 is. %%W6 a pH-
V 111141.11 IN.IIOIII, 111111 out a 111114 1111• lush tisse Ni the
1111/11' if Isis i meT . alai Hers mitt of liar runts-
xlll storiTs las• hail In tail esslislasm the
nOll air al 1111. 14111441 A. Ta al.. him
.1 no ia•T,
ha a at. ant Ism l'llll%hint Ilom t ivia 1114, 01111 war. I.'nd tat
go NA isonitonny anal {.;. ad lig • I him oh...squat is ail. Ito
1111. 441111 /1111.1' 111. living Hits• ilst•
nnUurd oviiiiiirr aorta. 114. •14. an) thing
ills' any booty ; lout, as his view e 11% ale s how , lie aal/Ulli
014,1111. eon VIA. 1111111 111 111111.011 thr 11114.iiey wills
is MTh kr was cuttlintral tam InCrille• ala •
fris•n4l, No now, inowci vs., thought nit). Ming of
slr.:111 inistakem. Et my one knew Fo Trim orn could not help
tin m ; anal then lor wen sineTirly sorry if he put 'Oil 1411111.
01101161 d 110.111111.1111.114•1% and Waal 1011.11 a drianions manner
of oamil Mg )oft out of )our 1'1101;11W 11101. 111011.1 IT your
Iwo. might In., )on noon snored with lisa iTs4t • d the works
that it wit* fully to lor magi, wills1:1 erlsorn. snnwt •
With a astand t nth rm. «rnnglilhnr«N *boa % more 141•
hia' in suffering hisn'ulrlinnielaw to Ire I.IN•w11 Ilona in
making any attempt to eaatieval at. %%110110104 any son. of
Fre4.llilrll.l4 Ira 1014111111111111111.1* lrsugdailN d 111/11 111• 6411 laven
trapped lay Isis friend, )0.4,1011. 11111) 11101011.11 at hi« hitiliol.•
itilligmitia all, and, eotoodering it a email al jug.' that F'1.•0•
horn ado odd aha arty one, virmsseal the a 41111111 T 1111111`, and rill,.
14.11141 a 111$1.111T 11111111 m of his 'lei a• 'flies
thing 04 this feeling iu other state* of life. Ilia. political
part), Isar instance, %Inch talirs up a it la A 10010110 s, area*
Aar a leader gets no noire ea oninstaterat ion when duped Otos
• niall 11114.% who suffers moon elsoisaing A wite eau Irf t
llr
(Magdalen. Always cureless. alum, to.oil•
trinperell, alwapt mad, --a% he imstai•A•ril lillwm.lll, the
rogue 4 and the con fetotiota took tin *ling oat al 111. a Ala, a' )
--to live on his friends-- 'oat i cry INUIII.IIaI %hilt -a1111.1.1
hi. 11.111 'mail for I hem, pr. a% Mill he svea iv. al raptly /1.-
lent . 1411911 the Olt', if uVI a 1.1.11,M10
"AI 11111 l 1141 lay 10.11114.111 1111.11111111. anal -told Wall
Nom% at I 10.4 ; filllnAllm .t, 11114 Plus, tall
ittlitAlg the lighter eir1.14.1% sal AN a pea "ma mu-, to
logirs• Ow is .t of' eq. 1y Isally in whirls ha• t5....k pail. Th..
14 Mt lirViral ails OW 1011.4., „.
1110111111Mlee wails horn.. with tole Asir rhereit low., a* they
gutturally managed to obtain paynolet of their lotto. lay the

546

emotion of solltr return in the way of armlet. or souo,e•

kt time 4, wh..a his e'-vstssle were MOM. than commonly '
oi ttevt bona I sle, 111441 41311;t0•1' 11'0111 IS cabal of
losing los 1a5t,..i11..11, 01111 bee se; with' s wood societ).
hat Ise Wel so so lisle ru.t.ly all and
Ili.' est.! he Colatlitt..l to 11.1111Ple ant lii., sulvetwaries, and 11.1
tills t howls swains' t hot a. Ile Issel a talent for satiriessl
%.•rse,.. I a...obi vireo lot eiu s Isis way emrivat sires whieh
had at iss".l hurls ad' sticking to the hawks on
hush slsry w ere ems. laments!. Wheel his passions were
stoat...all —for he hail passiens sally to 111481111 A by a
s' hvek for a handsome miss omit—lsis muse olive to the
eels st.s. essilivi item's* of ; the knobs ledge ash' his
ros ..e. its I Isis seessitsl loins nisponisy for WI pi closely
Is olerissu sass MIli1110141114•4%. .%06 h« 111104 SS ready to sell
Isis aatmay its hi frieselsh qt. (lonic who alionsussl Ilia ac•
quaint:tote were Isis so pas douse. Isis neutrality. Thus
vtressisl stet fa•.ssa 1 slersossl and used —phi, all with owl
alt-likeil—he 1,11 the merry voteless life of It els.% :slier aaf
with iii, a.m.,. sal 1.•.1 houses ever open to
him. awl pre ilk.' 0411.'1' thes of the woril, swiss the
w kvst , mass ev s ss.,l • MIA Illo+t, Willed palls of
Stria sitts.ntion 11l till' illtitteS, the I'llitOtS-
telletett of time and place, is not to be exacted
front the novelist. as I lie ituthor lists so
sitilei Ily ulnxell nllllolll'lll date to his I'ollllllWe,
ate 1•1111110 t soverls is oh Oils. flagrant anachronism
Which he has allowed himself to commit. The
year ill whin hhis drama tratepires is perpetu-
ally iudieats.ll as being a t.ery revolt one—anil
yet, \h Poulton makes his "gentlemen" bilk
l oritee in 41 raWl lig-roos ti a. to sllottiti have
l'ellictit lie red that lloltits.e is no longer quoted
in it tlrawing-rnoin, or anywhere else out of it
university, since Peel used hint up ito eiree•
tually in the House of Commons.

The Bible and the Workiny Claws. fly Alex.
Wallace. Fifth Edition. Edinburgh : Oli-
phant.
Tuts work was issued under riremustances so
peculiar that we may be excused bestowing
some notice MI CIVIL IL filth Cditioll Or it.
In Bradford, Its in other large towns, there
are numbers of the working population who
never think of entering a temple of piddle
worship. What is to be done with such per-
sons? How are they to be reclaimed? You
eatinot compel theta LAI COMO to church, Alla
street ►reating lass tulles hlLOsuch disrepute
since the tinter of Wesley and 'Whitfield, that
it is no longer to be enmity(' on as a means Of
influence. What Alt.. Wanner did was to
deliver a course of lectures on the llible, in
the theatre of the I tradfinil Aleehanies'
Institute, Sunday being the day selected.
Thu experiment was hazardous. but it was
suecessful : he obtained large and attentive
audiences, and, am we are assured, awoke a
religious sentiment in minds which haul pre-
viously been strangers to it. The lectures,
fifteen in number, are contained in this volume.
As may he supposed, they are not wholly
unobjectionable, but the positively good very
greatly predominates over the doubtful and
the bad.

The consideration which originated these
lectures is undoubtedly it SCHOU% one,
Whitt IS to be dome with those thousands Of
om eiIIiZVIIS Who systematically frolll
religious worship ? Stith as they are, it is pro
liable will their children be. Alan we make
no effort to rouse them to II sense of their
duties? Is it impossible to devise some kind
of machinery whirls will make them acquainted
with truths it most concerns them to know ?
We do not want to coerce theill, Or ill interfere
with their private freedom, but we do desire
that, in some way or other, they should Is,
induced to give the claims of the Bible a fair
hearing.

The thne is favourable tOr such experiments
us .IV. Wallace suecessfully made. Infidelity
is no longer lung-tongued and ; it finds
refuge in the cloudy mysteries of a it-Inv:ren.
dental philosophy. Lately. when the Infidel
owl Christian hare fairly met on any popular
platform. the vietoiy of the latter has been
shown not by argument only but by the suf-
frages of the auditory. We have 110 W to eon•
tend with the imlitterenee of masses of our
working population, not with their hostility ;
and one of the great questions of our thm. is.
how that indifference may be orereome, and
howsueh people are to be educated to a per-
eeption of those great truths which alone can
elevate their character, and make them under-