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exist, more or less, all over the kingdom, which, together with village preaching, missionary labours and conferences, have succeeded so far in exciting attention and inquiry, and have diffused so much religious knowledge, that we can scarcely go where there are not some Unitarians, and to but few considerable towns throughout the country, where there are not one or more places of Unitarian worship, erected to the sole worship of the one God and Father all. Before the Fund existed, Unitarians were, it is well known, a standing topic of contemptuous animadversion to their zealous orthodox brethren, both in the Church and out of it: no language was thought too pointed or severe on their coldness, deadness and indifference: ridicule and sarcasm were called in to reprobate their cold legal notions, moral essays, &c., &c. But now so great has been the change, that they are crying out and sounding the alarm at the great and increasing zeal and numbers of the Unitarians. Cold or hot, we cannot please them. But surely this evidence, this expression of fear and alarm, and from such a quarter, is decisive, and allows the effect.

Nor can any impediment thrown in our way, or any opposition made to us, operate otherwise than to increase our strength and to accelerate our progress. All discussion must do us service; for our zeal is not exerted for mere forms and ceremonies, modes of church government, or for mysterious and bigoted creeds of man's invention. It is not fed by superstitious fears or enthusiastic extravagances. It flows from a deep and firm conviction of the great and unspeakable value of divine truth, of the pure and benign principles of the gospel, and of the moral character and government of God to promote the happiness and to elevate the character of mankind. We have no master in religion but Christ, and no creed but the Bible; and are known to be as hostile to all injustice, slavery and oppression, as we are the determined advocates of the equal rights, the liberties, civil and religious, of the whole family of man. Principles like these must ever increase in power and influence in proportion as men make progress in wisdom and

goodness. If these views are sound, pure and rational, then this Society, which is founded upon them, can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, and it must prevail.

2dly. We are aware that, as a Society, we have proceeded on views very different from those entertained by some distinguished individuals among us, who believe and have contended that the Unitarian doctrine was best adapted to the learned and the rich; that, such was the nature of early bias and of preconceived notions, it could never prevail, but as it was embraced by the higher and more cultivated ranks of society, and from them must descend to the lower orders. This to us appears just to reverse the order of things; and those who hold this opinion may see reason, from what has passed, to suspect its correctness; as it is not only opposed to facts and experience, but to the practice of Christ and his apostles. And although our circumstances are different, the principles are the same. To the poor the gospel was first preached. This would not have been done, had it not been adapted to their capacities and condition; they understood it and embraced it, and the poor became its first and ablest ministers, and were martyrs in its cause. And why not? In all things appertaining to life and godliness, it is confessedly plain and simple. There is nothing in it to confound the understanding, or to perplex the path of duty. Now, as at first, it is able to make wise unto salvation, and notwithstanding early prejudices and errors, thousands of our countrymen, in the humbler walks of life, have received it in the love of it, adorn it by their conduct, and are able to render a reason for their faith, and of the hope that is in them. It may well appear to many, that the middle and lower orders of society, both from their habits and stations, are as favourable to piety and morals as those can be in the higher and more dignified ranks; whose temptations are much stronger, and whose dissipation is as ruinous to themselves as it is pernicious to others, and whose scepticism and irreligion are at once proverbial and disgusting. There can be no doubt, however, that good men and sincere Christians may

be found in every rank of society, even in Cæsar's household.

3rdly. This Society by its influence has done great good to ourselves as a body; it has animated us into life and action; it has united, strengthened and edified us; it has given scope to our zeal, talents and knowledge. For these it has opened a wide field of honourable exertion. Besides bringing more forward on the canvas individual characters of great and acknowledged power and excellence, it has called forth much latent talent and virtue, which would otherwise have remained in obscurity and been unknown. Its wide and active benevolence is such, that the smile of friendship, the voice of encouragement, and timely aid, are now every where seen and heard and met with. And now, the enlightened and pious Christian, who is willing and capable of doing good in his master's service, will not want encouragement and support. Whether in the east or in the west, in the north or in the south; whatever be his clime or complexion or condition, he need no longer repine unnoticed and unaided in hopeless obscurity; he is invited to become a fellow-citizen with the saints, and, to join the household of God.-In conclusion, I feel perfectly satisfied with the part which I have taken in the rise and progress of the Unitarian Fund. I am thankful to Divine Providence for its great success. May its care and blessing constantly attend its future course; may it long continue to advocate the cause of truth and charity, of liberality, candour and benevolence, until the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the world, and the will of God be done on earth, as it is in heaven!

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as the supply thus obtained has been, I think it cannot have escaped the observation of many of your readers that very great benefit has resulted from their exertions in. this way. Many most beautiful and interesting tracts and sermons have been reprinted and circulated among us, and I can bear strong testimony to the general interest and pleasure derived from this acquaintance with the writings and modes of thinking among our American brethren. But with regard to the religious periodicals, it is so difficult to obtain from booksellers, attention to our orders, that the matter is almost given up in despair. It would seem that Liverpool is the station at which they could be most readily received, and from which they could be forwarded to different parts of the kingdom. But unless publicity were given to any transactions of this sort, it could not be worth a bookseller's while to import the books in question. It has ever appeared to me that to do this effectually should be the act of a society, not of an individual. Could a small sum from our Unitarian funds be better employed than in aiding to disseminate these useful and valuable books? It might surely be worth our while to appoint some agent either in London or Liverpool, whose office might be distinctly known, and to defray the expenses of printing catalogues of such publications as he may import.

If any of your readers can suggest a plan by which the object of obtaining these American books readily may be facilitated, they would confer a real benefit upon the community.

SIR,

E.

HEAR that church-divines, especigelical," are trying to retrieve the credit of this miserable forgery, and I see advertised an Essay upon it designed for its vindication. Now it occurs to me that the Unitarians should publish some cheap works on the subject, and for a beginning let me recommend the "Notes on the Creed of Athanasius," in the 1st vol. of the old or 4to. Unitarian Tracts.

Q.

REVIEW.

"Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame."-POPE.

ART. I.-The Works of Annu Lætitia
Barbauld. With a Memoir, by
Lucy Aikin. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 424
and 476. Longman and Co. 1825.

RS. BARBAULD's is an unsullied and honoured name in English literature. She took a high rank amongst our writers the moment she appeared before the public, and from this she never descended. It was her rare felicity to excel equally in verse and prose. The republic of letters justly appreciated her talents and taste, and she maintained a due respect for the world and for herself, and sent forth no hasty composition, nor lent her name to any publication unworthy of her high reputation. Her friends and admirers were wont to regret that her exhibitions as an author were like angel-visits, "few and far between ;" but they may now derive pleasure from the reflection that she did enough to establish a lasting fame, and that nearly all her productions are classical.

"The small bulk of the writings of Mrs. Barbauld, compared with the long course of years during which she exercised the pen, is a sufficient proof that she offered to the public none but the hap piest inspirations of her muse, and not even these till they had received all the polish of which she judged them susceptible. To a friend who had expressed his surprise at not finding inserted in her volume a poem which he had admired in manuscript, she well and characteristically replied, I had rather it should be asked of twenty pieces why they are not here, than of one why it is."-Mem. pp.

lix. lx.

In the best sense of the word, Mrs. Barbauld is a popular writer. She is not known to all readers, but she is unknown to none that have any pretensions to taste and refinement. Her beautiful and unequalled "Hymns in prose for Children" are in use in almost every establishment for early education that is conducted upon true moral and religious principles; some of her minor poems are to be found in most collections for youth; and

Perhaps, one exception may be made to this statement.

several of her devotional pieces are inserted in all the Selections of Psalms and Hymns which are used by the congregations of liberal Dissenters.

With a sound and vigorous understanding, Mrs. Barbauld united an exquisite perception of the right and true in character and conduct, a richly cultivated mind, and a playful but chaste imagination. She had formed herself as a writer upon a pure English model. She was not ashamed to admire Addison, Pope and Dryden; she equalled the two first in their terseness and elegance, and she sometimes reminds us of the fervid genius of the last.

Of Mrs. Barbauld, more than of almost any other writer, it may be said in praise, that her fine character appears in all her works. She is not only a moral writer-all her writings have a direct moral tendency. Her muse was consecrated to piety, and very many are there who have been ed with her verses. What Lord Lytbettered while they have been delighttleton said, with truth upon the whole, of Thomson, may be said, mutatis mutandis, with perfect truth of her, that her works contained

No line which, dying, she could wish to blot.

The "Memoir" of her aunt by Miss Aikin is a well-drawn description of her life, which ran in an even tenour. It is interesting, not so much from a succession and variety of incidents as from the impression of her own character and genius which Mrs. Barbauld stamped upon every scene and every circle with which she was connected. The biographer with judgment and taste abstains from eulogistic epithets, though she cannot wholly check (who could have wished her to check?) the flowings of natural affection and friendship.

We were favoured in our number for March, (pp. 185, 186,) with a sketch of Mrs. Barbauld's life, we believe from the same pen which has traced the "Memoir" before us, and to that obituary account there is little that is historical to be added. She

enjoyed in early life singular advantages, her improvement of which gave a promise of her future eminence.

"That quickness of apprehension by which she was eminently distinguished, manifested itself from her earliest infancy. Her mother thus writes respecting her in a letter which is still preserved: I once, indeed, knew a little girl who was as eager to learn as her instructors could be to teach her, and who, at two years old, could read sentences and little stories in her wise book, roundly, without spelling, and in half a year more could read as well as most women, but I never knew such another, and I believe never shall.'

"Her education was expressly domestic, and principally conducted by her excellent mother, a lady whose manners were polished by the early introduction to good company, which her family connexions had procured her; whilst her mind had been cultivated, and her principles formed, partly by the instructions of religious and enlightened parents, partly by the society of the celebrated Dr. Doddridge, who was for some years domesticated under her parental roof.

"In the middle of the last century a strong prejudice still existed against imparting to females any tincture of classical learning; and the father of Miss Aikin, proud as he justly was of her uncommon capacity, long refused to gratify her earnest desire of being initiated in this kind of knowledge. At length, how ever, she in some degree overcame his scruples, and with his assistance she ena bled herself to read the Latin authors

with pleasure and advantage; nor did she rest satisfied without gaining some acquaintance with the Greek."-Mem. pp. v-vii,

Miss Aikin thus describes Mrs. Barbauld at the age of 15, when she removed with her father to Warring

ton:

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was then prevalent-were induced to propose to her to establish under their auspices what might almost have been (Mem. p. xvi.) Flattering as was the called a college for young ladies.". proposal, Mrs. Barbauld had the modesty and good sense to perceive at once the numerous objections to it, some personal to herself, and these she expressed in a paper of remarks here preserved (Mem. pp. xvii-xxiv.), which is well worth the attention of all such as are interested in plans of female education.

A very pleasing account is given by the biographer of the highly useful part which Mrs. Barbauld took in the school established by her husband at Palgrave, and we cannot deny ourselves the satisfaction of extracting two or three passages from this part of the Memoir:

"It fortunately happened that two of the eight pupils with which Palgrave School commenced, were endowed with abilities worthy of the culture which such an instructress could alone bestow. One of these, William Taylor, Esq., of Norwich, known by his English Synonyms, his exquisite Iphigenia in Tauris from the German, his Leonora from Bürger, and many other fruits of genius and extensive learning, has constantly acknowledged her with pride and affection for the "mother of his mind;" and in a biographical notice prefixed to the collective Works of Frank Sayers, M. D., of the same city, author of the Dramatic Sketches of Northern Mythology, he has thus recorded the congenial sentiments of his friend: 'Among the instructions bestowed at Palgrave, Dr. Sayers has repeatedly observed to me, that he most valued the lessons of English composition superintended by Mrs. Barthe boys were called in separate classes bauld. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, to her apartment; she read a fable, a short story, or a moral essay, to them aloud, and then sent them back into the school-room to write it out on the slates in their own words. Each exercise was separately overlooked by her; the faults of grammar were obliterated, the vulgarisms were chastised, the idle epithets were cancelled, and a distinct reason was always assigned for every correction; so that the arts of enditing and of criticising were in some degree learnt together. Many a lad from the great schools who excels in Latin and Greek, cannot write properly a vernacular letter, for want of some such discipline."—Mem. pp. xxv. xxvi.

"The solicitations of parents anxious

to obtain for their sons what they regarded as the best tuition, now induced her to receive as her own peculiar pupils several little boys, to whom she condescended to teach the first rudiments of literature. Thomas Denman, Esq., now a distinguished member of the legal profession and of the House of Commons, was committed to her care before he had accomplished his fourth year. Sir William Gell, the zealous explorer of the plain of Troy, was another of her almost infant scholars; and it was for the benefit of this younger class that her Hymns in Prose for Children were written."-Pp. xxix. xxx. "Meantime Palgrave School was progressively increasing in numbers and reputation; and several sons of noble families were sent to share in its advan tages; of whom may be named the late amiable and lamented Basil Lord Daer, (a favourite pupil,) and three of his bro thers, including the last Earl of Selkirk; two sons of Lord Templetown, Lord More, Lord Aghrim, and the Honourable Augustus Phipps: these, who were parlour boarders, enjoyed most of the benefit of the conversation and occasional in

structions of Mrs. Barbauld; and all, it is believed, quitted the school with sentiments towards her of high respect and attachment."-Mem. p. xxxi.

It is generally known that Mrs, Barbauld was a contributor to Dr. Aikin's justly popular book for chil. dren, "Evenings at Home;" but her biographer remarks that her share in this work has generally been supposed much greater than it was. Of the ninety and nine pieces of which it consists, fourteen only are hers, viz. The Young Mouse; The Wasp and Bee; Alfred, a Drama; Animals and Countries; Canute's Reproof; The Masque of Nature; Things by their Right Names; The Goose and Horse ; On Manufactures; The Flying-fish; A Lesson in the Art of Distinguishing; The Phoenix and Dove; The Manufacture of Paper; The Four Sisters. In a new edition, Miss Aikin says, will be added, Live Dolls. (Mem. pp. xxxvi, xxxvii.)

The biographer thus describes Mrs. Barbauld's closing days: we extract the passage, amongst other reasons, for the valuable tribute of respect which it contains to the memory of Mrs. John Taylor, of Norwich:

"No incident worthy of mention henceforth occurred to break the uniformity of her existence. She gave up all distant journeys; and, confined at home to a

narrow circle of connexions and acquaintance, she suffered life to slide away, as it were, at its own pace,

Nor shook the outhasting sands, nor bid them stay.

"An asthmatic complaint, which was slowly undermining her excellent constitution, more and more indisposed her for any considerable exertions either of mind or body; but the arrival of a visitor had always the power to rouse her from a state of languor. Her powers of conversation suffered little declension to the last, although her memory of recent circumstances became somewhat impaired. Her disposition-of which sensibility was not in early life the leading feature-now mellowed into softness, pleasingly exhi bited

Those tender tints that only time can give.

"Her manners, never tainted by pridewhich with the baser but congenial affection of envy was a total stranger to her bosom-were now remarkable for their extreme humility: she spoke of every one not merely with the candour and forbearance which she had long practised, indulgence which sometimes appeared but but with interest, with kindness, with an too comprehensive; she seemed reluctant to allow, or believe, that any of her fellow-creatures had a failing, while she gave them credit gratuitously for many her native acuteness of discernment, it virtues. This state of mind, which, with struggles to attain, had at least the admust apparently have cost her some vantage of causing her easily to adinit of such substitutes as occurred for those contemporary and truly congenial friendships which, in the course of nature, were now fast failing her. She lost her early and affectionate friend, Mrs. Kenrick, in 1819. In December 1822, her brother sunk under a long decline, which had served as a painful preparation to the lost, in the excellent Mrs. John Taylor, final parting. A few months later, she of Norwich, perhaps the most intimate and most highly valued of all her distant friends; to whose exalted and endearing character she bore the following wellmerited testimony in a letter addressed to one of her daughters:

"Receive the assurance of my most affectionate sympathy in those feelings with which you must now be contemplating the loss of that dear woman, so long the object of your respect and affection; nor indeed yours only, but of all who knew her. A prominent part of those feelings, however, must be that the dear object of them is released from suffering, has finished her task and entered

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