The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-30 00:00:00

OBSERVATIONS ON CLERICAL DUTIES,

A brief sketch of the early labours of a young clergy-
man in a country parish may, perhaps, present few at.
tractions to the general reader. Pastoral visits among
farmers and the agricultural poor, the tedious monotony
of the village school, and plain sermons for plain and
homely people, are subjects containing little of that excite-
ment which more striking incidents furnish, and which is
the main charm of most modern publications. Neverthe-
less, these subjects possess an intrinsic importance, and
their value will not fail to be appreciated by all those who
watch with anxiety the present aspect of the world, and
estimate as they deserve those deep principles of religion
and morality which are the only sure basis of a people's
happiness. Not religious men only, but philanthropists
and politicians look with well-grounded hope to the efforts
of the parochial clergy to correct the ignorance and de-
pravity which abound in our towns and villages ; and the
present revival of a spirit of zealous self-devotion in the
pastoral work has been hailed by the Church generally as
a providential antagonist to that concentrated evil which
is the natural result of our neglected population. The
subject of our present memoir was eminently endowed
with this ministerial zeal, and with an almost chivalrous
admiration for the doctrines and discipline of the Church
of England. He moreover possessed, in a remarkable de-
gree, the rarer grace of personal piety, and a spirit of
prayer which was kept alive by habits of systematic devo-
tion. Of the order and frequency of his prayers, vows,
and intercessions, his manuscript books of private devo-
tion bear a striking evidence. It is these valuable relics
which throw a halo round a character which might other-
wise have been taken' for commonplace, and give a saintly
importance to every thing he has left behind. We in-
voluntarily reverence the memory of the man whose
chamber was a well-ordered sanctuary, whose life was
spent in the Divine Presence, and whose last actions were
the result of the highest and most disinterested motives.

The work is faithfully carried out in the spirit
indicated in the above extract. The gentleness of
spirit, yet firmness of purpose which appear to
have constituted leadinc, features in the character
of the Rev. Edward Hughes, are insisted on and
illustrated with a fervour of earnestness which
shows plainly that the editor has entered heartily
into his task, and executed it con amore. The
book will be found charming in its artlessness as
it is unpretending and valuable in the fidelity of
its delineative narrative.

History of the Dominion of the Arabs in Spain.
By J. A. Cond6 ; Translated by Mrs. Jonathan

Foster. London : Henry G. Bohn.
The volume now before us is the first of Dr.
Conde's learned and celebrated work, in which is
given, if not the only certainly the best account of
the Arabic dominion in Spain which is to be met
with in any European tongue. In an introductory
essay, by which the history is opened, the learned
Spaniard commences by remarking on the small
reliance generally to be accorded to the annals of
a people, and the history of events, which are de-
tailed by:historians inimical in feeling and adverse
in interest to the parties whose histories they nar-
rate ; glancing incidentally at the faithlessness of
the narratives of Carthagenian civilisation and
achievements as they are given by Roman authors,
and analogically inferring the suspicion attachinc,
to the Spanish accounts of Arabian rule in the
Peninsula. With a view to doing more justice to
the subject, the author avows his resolution to be
guided by the aid of such Arabian documents rela-
tive to their sway in western Europe as he has
been able to fall in with ; using, in many instances,
the phraseology as well as adopting the views of
the Arabian writers. In doing this it is obvious
that, unless due discriminaticp be observed in avoid-
ing the Scylla of Spanish prejudice, he will be apt
to run into the Charybdes of Asiatic misrepresen-
tation. Our author seems fully aware of this
difficulty, and declares his resolution to act with
impartiality. He labours with much assiduity,
and no small amount of success, to make out a case
in favour of the Oriental invaders, and shows from
incontestible evidence that Spain owed much to
the learning, the civilisation, and the political rule
of the Arabs. In speaking of that rule, and en-
larging on the learning which the conquerors dis-
seminated among the conquered, he is eloquent
upon the benefits conferred ; and, in an equally
effective strain, he condemns the partial and dis-
torted representations of the early European
writers. To many of our readers the following
observations will be new respecting

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