things were done during that reign for the benefit of Ireland, the thing most needful was neglected. It is rational to presume, that if the scriptures had been published and expounded in Ireland as in other countries, the subsequent history of the Irish people would have been as much more honourable to them than it has been, as the history of any nation that received the reformed doctrines has really been, compared with the history of the same nation during three centuries of barbarism and superstition preceding. Wherever the word of God had 'free course' in Europe, it was glorified in the overthrow of popery: and, humanly speaking, its victory among the wild Irish would have been as certain and as signal, as it was among the fierce and bigoted Scots! Now when, instead of a day, we have an age of Pentecost,when, if we may use so bold a form of speech, the gift of tongues is communicated to the Bible itself, and it is successively taught to speak every language under heaven, whither the servants of God are commissioned to carry it, surely, in this age, to the poor in Ireland also will the gospel be preached. Indeed an edition of the new testament, of Bishop Bedel's translation, is now circulating among them, printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The labour of circulating the scriptures can never be labour in vain; its success, therefore, in Ireland is sure, to an extent which man must neither presume to define nor limit. What saith the Lord? 66 My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." Isa. c. 55. v. 11. The sower never went forth to sow, but, though much seed might fall by the way side, on the rock, or among thorns, some fell on good ground, sprang up and bore fruit abundantly. He is gone forth to sow in the unbroken soil of Ireland, and in due season the Lord of the harvest will gather a rich return of wheat into his garner.

We have expatiated so much here, that we may pass slightly over the remaining contents of this volume, which merit the attention of our readers, rather in the work itself than in any imperfect sketch which we might give of them, if we had room.

The chapter respecting English Laws and Government in Ireland contains very little that is creditable to the wisdom or the justice of this country. To the penal code, Mr. Dewar principally attributes the impediments to the progress of knowledge among the people, and consequently infers the necessity of Catholic emancipation. On this popular theme he argues long, and well, and unanswerably. In summing up the subject he rises above his common tone of sober reasoning.

In the present case, not merely the propriety but the necessity of speedily attending to the obligation, urges itself on the attention. The distracted state of Ireland demands it, the prostrate nations of Europe demand it, the power and unprincipled ambition of the Tyrant demands it, and Britain, amid the general wreck with which she is surrounded-Britain, still raising her head amid the storm, and daring to be free, demands it.-What infatuation! while contending for our lives, our liberties, and for the consecrated land, dearer than all, which contains the ashes of our fathers, in which are the sepulchres of those patriots, and heroes, and legislators, who on the field or on the scaffold poured their blood, an oblation to that Freedom which their sons enjoy-while the storm seems still gathering, and scarcely leaves in the destructive course through which it moves, one solitary land in which the remains of all that makes man like Him who made him, may obtain a secure asylum, shall we hesitate whether to allow our brethren, our kinsmen, with the same privileges which we enjoy, to share with us the danger and the glory of saving our country, or perishing amid her ruins?' p. 62.

One consequence, as well as a perpetuating cause, of the misery of Ireland, is the swarming population of degraded beings, cheaply supported on potatoes content, from ignorance of better fare and nobler habits, to live on the coarsest food, and indulge without foresight or restraint that passion, which, in such a state of society, while it multiplies the species, increases the sum of national wretchedness. On this subject we must refer to Mr. Dewar's arguments and illustrations, in the eleventh chapter of this volume.

The measures, which our author recommends for the improvement of Ireland, are, necessarily, education and religious instruction, both in their own language. English schools have been established in many parishes, but it is not wonderful that the Roman Catholics, who hate the English language, as the language of Protestantism, should be prejudiced against institutions for teaching it, and prevent their children, as they have done in some instances, from attending them. Mr. Dewar, however, is confident that they would willingly hearken to instruction, communicated in their beloved language. He says,

I might perhaps be confounded, and even hesitate as to the truth. of the opinion which I hold on this subject, from the confident assertions of some Anglo-Hibernians, were it not that I have actually been in the west of Ireland, and have it in my power, from re peated and continued observation, to form my judgement. Wherever it was announced that the scriptures would be read in the Irish lan guage, crowds of catholics came to hear, who never till then heard a protestant read the bible; and I shall ever recollect the manifest pleasure with which they seemed to receive instruction, the seriousness and devotion with which they listened. Those gentlemen who were

accustomed to oppose every effort to enlighten the people otherwise than in the English tongue, who witnessed this singular scene, were not only satisfied from that period of the fallacy of their notions, but of the indispensible obligation and necessity of pursuing that mode of instruction for which I always have contended. One of these gentlemen was once strongly opposed to this mode, from the idea that it would take much time and labour to teach them Irish; and that though the people could not understand English, yet it was useless to publish the Scriptures in Irish, since there were few who could read it. From the time to which I refer, however, he was of a very different opinion.' p. 121.

Be

We highly approve of Mr. Dewar's proposition, to instruct the Irish in ordinary learning and religious duties, by means of Highland preachers and schoolmasters. the bigotry and prejudice of the priests what they may, and their tyranny over the consciences of their flocks as great as it has been represented, let the Scriptures, in their own tongues, be cast, like bread upon the waters, among the Irish people, and teach them to understand the voice that speaks to the eye,-teach them to read,-and the same effects will be found after many days, which, in every age, and in every place, where the pure word of God has been received, have accompanied its progress. The State, as well as the Church, is interested in this great and glorious work. The converted Irish will not only cease to be Catholics, but they will cease to be rebels also. A native Irishman, when he read, for the first time in his life, a New Testament, which a benevolent gentleman put into his hands, exclaimed, "If I believe thus, it is impossible for me to remain a rebel." p. 139.

On the whole, we may recommend Mr. Dewar's book to our countrymen, as the work of one who has taken pains to inform himself, before he presumed to instruct others, on the subject of it. It is written in a middle style, seldom affecting rhetorical pomp, and seldom falling into meanness of expression. If the language has little elegance it has considerable strength, and if its charms be few, its ordinary features are not repulsive. We have found, in two instances, a singular verb following a plural noun, which we take for granted are press-errors: p. 9. "the following observations, by professor Stewart, in one sentence expresses," &c.—p. 79. its effects on the national morals has been formerly noticed."

The sentiments throughout the volume are worthy of a man of enlightened mind, as well as of a Christian, zealous to promote the present and eternal welfare of his fellow creatures. We have only met with one passage, against which we are inclined strongly to protest. Speaking of Superstition,

(p. 11.) interfering with the prerogative of the magistrate, dictating to the sovereign and the senate, proscribing as heretics, and burning as infidels, all who do not adhere to its dogmas, Mr. Dewar, in the warmth of his indignation, is betrayed into the following inconsiderate" expression: It is difficult to say, what greater curse heaven in its wrath can inflict on mortals Heaven cannot inflict the curse of Superstition upon mortals. Lucretius may be excused, for deriving Superstition from above; those who are better instructed, know that it springs from beneath, and that the Author of pure and undefiled Religion can never be the Author of a Vampire, assuming the form of godliness, but earthly, sensual and devilish in its nature.

Art. II. A Description of the Collection of Ancient Terracottas in the British Museum; with Engravings. pp. 46. with Engravings. pp. 46. 40 Plates. 4to. Price 11. 11s. 6d. royal 4to. 21. 12s. 6d. Sold at the British Museum, and by G. and W. Nicol. 1810.

IT

T is a remarkable circumstance, that the further we are removing from ancient times, the better acquainted we are becoming, in various points, with their condition and operations. For instance, in consequence of the labours of a multitude of critical scholars, some of them indefatigable, some of them acute, some of them ingenious, and a proportion of them combining all these qualifications, we are now, it is presumed, much less remote from something like a certainty of what were really the words written by the authors of classical antiquity, than any of their former readers have been, since the times immediately subsequent to their appearance. From a comprehensive investigation and comparison of all the known remains of ancient history, and the exercise of a philosophical speculation on the collective testimony, we have unquestionably attained both a clearer knowledge of the transactions, and a juster estimate of the characters, of ancient nations than were possessed by our forefathers. Our pic turesque view, also, if we may be allowed the expression, of the people of remote ages, has distincter lines and more vivid colours; in consequence of liberal antiquarian research, and of fortunate discoveries, which have made us better acquainted with the structure of their abodes, their fortresses and their temples, with their weapons, their domestic utensils, their dresses, their ornaments. An immense number and variety of faithful memorials of their living economy have been drawn from masses of ruins, have been dug from the ground, and have been discovered in grand assemblages in subterranean cities. And the long rest of the dead has been disturbed, in almost every quarter of the world, by the curiosity of

Europeans to know all the circumstances of ancient inbumation, The venerable Tumuli on our own plains and hills have been opened; and there is one most indefatigable investigator, who has done more than any other man of the age, to finish the funereal part, but indeed not exclusively that part, of the picture, of the ancient inhabitants of this island, the view of whose rude memorials excites an interest hardly less solemn, because mingled with much more of the sense of darkness and mystery, than that inspired by the contemplation of the magnificent monumental ruins of Greece and Rome.

We might even add, that the physical state of the world in ancient times is, by a slow progress of discovery and speculation, becoming more known to us than it was to our ancestors, in consequence of the multiplied perforations of the strata nearest its surface, and the prodigious accumulation of fossil specimens of organic existence brought under the eager inspection of science.

There is cause to be pleased at this augmentation of the knowledge of the past world. The greater certainty of history, and the greater weight and precision which will be given to whatever lessons are ordinarily reputed to be taught by history, will not be all the advantage. What would strike us as a higher benefit is, the peculiar and elevated solemnity which a well-disposed mind is made to feel, in beholding the vision of the past world, while the shade that in a great measure veils it, is here and there removing, or becoming more attenuated, to disclose, though still in a gloomy and mystical light, some of its awful features. It may be hoped, perhaps, that such subjects of contemplation will somewhat aid the formation of a serious habit in the mind. They should naturally tend to prevent the thoughts from resting in dull and vulgar tranquillity on the little ordinary matters of life, and excite them to a certain earnest expansiveness toward remoteness and sublimity. And we wish it might not be too sanguine to hope, that the solemnity and enlargement of mind, thus favoured by contemplations of the past world, would render it more susceptible of the influences from that other side,-futurity, where views of still greater amplitude, solemnity, and sublimity, are presented to contemplation, also through a medium partially mysterious and obscure.

On moral accounts, therefore, as well as in consideration of the improvement or gratification of taste, we are much pleased with the efforts that are making for the recovery of the relics and almost lost vestiges of antiquity. We are glad

*Sir Richard C. Hoare.