The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-12-06 00:00:00

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The New Statistical Account of Scotland. No. 12.
Containing smart of the County of liosv and Cro-
marty, with Haps, and part of tho County of Forfar-
shire, Nov. 1836. Edinburgh : Blackwood, Bvo. pp.
3q2
If this valuable national work does not command a
very extensive sale among, our Scotch friends in Liver-
pool, we must he constrained to confess that they do not
possess as much of the amor patria as we are disposed to
give them credit for. A more ample and exact descrip
tion of every portion of their native country cannot be
obtained. The accuracy of the details with which this
work abounds, is sufficiently vouched for by the circum-
stance, that the information which it furnishes is not de-
rived from any previous compilations, but from the un-
doubted authority of the ministers of the respective
parishes, Or from some eminent literary character, well
acquainted with the localities of the particular division
about which he treats. As the work may he unknown to
many of our readers, we will take the liberty of briefly
recapitulating the principal objects included in the gene-
ral plan laid down. The profits resulting from its pub-
lication are to he applied, we believe, to the use of the
" Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of
the Clergy ;" and the whole work is placed under the
superintendance of a committee of the same society.
The parochial division is adopted throughout, subordi-
nately to a general division into counties. Each Num-
ber is accompanied by a Map, beautifully executed by
Lizary, The information collected is ranged under the
several heads of Topography, Natural History, Civil
History, Population, Industry, and Parochial Economy.
In its statistical details—which are very copious—the
tabular form is preserved, wherever it is found practi-
cable. This, while it exhibits every particular in the
clearest and most intelligible manner, , gives the work a
scientific appearance. We need scarcely add that we
are glad to find the character of the publication so ably
sustained in its progress towards completion, and that we
sincerely hope the support which it receives is common..
surate with its intrinsic merits, and with the benevolent
design for which it is undertaken.

Examination of, and Observations upon, ?fr. Black-
burn's Defence of the Conduct of the New Town
Council of Liverpool, in connexion with their recent
efforts to deprive the children of the poor of Instruc-
tion from the unmutilated Bible. By Alexander
Watson, Esq. Liverpool : Ingrain. 1836. pp.

Our enlightened, liberal, and dispassionate Mayor
took occasion, the other day, to denounce most gratui-
tously the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, cha-
racterising them as the abodes of superannuated bigotry
and consummate stupidity. For this very violent and
Quixotic attack upon these venerable seats of learning,
we were at a loss how to account for some time ; but
when we recollected the lacerating chastiseinent which
Mr. Watson, a distinguished ornament of one of these
decried institutions, has inflicted upon the motley group
of reformers over whom our said Mayor has to preside,
we discovered a reason for the extreme sensitiveness
manifested by his worship. The pamphlet before us
may well cause such mon to hate our universities. The
subject is handled by Mr. Watson in an able, a gentle-
manly, and a scholarlike manner. We give the follow-
ing extract as a further illustration of the point dis-
cussed in the last letter of the Rev. H. M‘Neile

" I now proceed to notice the particular selections known tin-
der the name of "Scripture lessons, adapted to the use of
schools, recommended by the commissioners for the educa-
tion of the pour of Ireland." These are the lessons ad.,pled by
the town council of Liverpool for the use of the schools under
their patronage. The first thing which occurs to me is the na-
ture and extent of the information contained in these volumes.
These substitutes for the bible consist of an account of the crea-
tion of the world, a partial history of the life of our blessed Sa-
viour, and of the lives and doings of his immediate followers and
apostles. Now, these facts are matters of history rather than of
religion. True, these historical documents are very interesting
—are taken from toe bible, awl therefore may be called scrip-
tural educatiou ; but do they not relate to times and circum-
stances of which mention is made no where else ? They con-
tain information about religion, but they do not contain reli-
gious information. They contain few statements of doctrine,
and are destitute of a judicious summary of christian practice.
If they are conspicuous for one thing rather than another, it is
the facilities they afford for conveying to the youthful mind cm-
settled notions on religious matters, in all cases Where-the pri-
vate judgment is not over-ruled by the haughty and uncompro-
mising authority and influence of those who So impiously lord it.
over God's het itage, in the garb of Romish priests. These new
lesson books are emineotly calculated to nurture and cradle all
in scepticism and indifference, who are not victimised by the
popish priesthood. How different are they from the scripture
extracts, which, in days now no more, the teachers were wout
to hold in one hand, while the bible was in the other. The se-
lections formerly in use in the corporation schools record the
miracles, display the parables, and unfold the christian practice
:of the divine preacher on the Mount of Olives. They were, in
truth, the gradual steps by which the young christian was en-
abled to mount with ease, and take up his abode in the temple
of truth. They were hut so many foretastes of the rich aod
heavenly fruit which blossoms in such luxuriance in the spi-
-ritual Eden of revelation. They contained no bewildering
parade of learning. They did nut set before the young and de-
licate child the unripe fruit of the tree of kni;wledge. -But
.knowing that strong meat was fit only for those of large growth,
,they were composed of carefully chosen and easy selections
g
from the simplest and most interesting traits in the Nspel history. In fact, they were the sacred truths of the bible, in books
not too large or too cumbersome for the infant's hand, and the
highest guerdon offered to recompense his ambition was the ar-
rival of that day when he, like the more whanced scholars,
should have the -privilege of reading the same truths nut of the
bible itself. How different is this from the conduct pursued by
The commissioners and their copyists, the town councillors of
Liverpool. They omit the simplest portions of gospel truth,
and encircle what they do admit with a cumbersome machinery
of ahstiuse annotations. Were these hooks intended for em-
bryo critics, the ease would be rather different; but compiled,
as they professedly are, for the use of the Irish peasantry, the
"'nit is preposterous and absurd—not to use a harsher term."

Illackwood's 111 ne. December.
There is always delicious freshness about Blackwood
which reminds tit7au9s.th of the loveliest flowers, cul-
led at early dawn, and
„nt_ bunch 1
, pan2liotz with dew•drops,
1,..7h1eh the
7tlower."
Impearls on every
Yes, Maga, in her heattt'vand e 7"..
" looks as clear •
As morning roses washed with de,.
1
But here the comparison ceases. 11;" r .p. Which are
so thickly strewed over Blacktvaocts intelle
Dever fade—they are ever-blooming, pet . °.ri'l z"(leh
eautal sweet,: