that a few exquisite remains of Athenian art have been saved and brought to this country, that we have gained some of the removable memorials of the ancient Egyptians, that some of the Roman Terracottas have been preserved for us so long in a dry well near the Porta Latina, that repositories have been filled from the houses of Herculaneum, that so many interesting monuments of the ancient Britons have been discovered on Salisbury Plain, and that the intelligent researches of future years will doubtless bring to light many more precious relics, in those countries especially where, at present, a barbarous government and state of society preclude, in great measure, the researches of artists and antiquaries. We are glad also that these treasures should be extensively made known to the public by means of accurate and elegant engravings, provided that it is not done in so very sumptuous and exorbitant a style, as to preclude all but the decidedly wealthy part of the community from participating in the gratification and the knowledge.

This fault is less chargeable on the present volume than on many contemporary or recent works. The Terracottas are engraved without any fanciful additions of superfluous decoration. Fewer leaves, however, would have answered the purpose, without any diminution of elegance or effect, as several of those which have but one engraving, might with the utmost ease and propriety have admitted two, and several of those that have two very small ones might have had four. The engravings bear the names of most of the principal artists of the day, present an agreeable variety of styles, and are executed with very great beauty. The subjects are chiefly mythological, with a few that may be called romantic, such as those representing conflicts with griffins. Fauns, satyrs, victories, Cupids, and priestesses with offerings, make a conspicuous figure. There are several statues of Muses.

Some of the Terracottas, to judge by these representations, indicate both a fine imagination and fine workmanship; but a considerable proportion of them shew but a very subordinate proficiency in art. There is, particularly, a sort of dwarfish pettiness and insignificance of figure in many of the human and mythological personages; and the brute figures (horses chiefly) have no merit of accurate delineation. There are however a few fine figures, and spirited attitudes of action, among the mythological agents. The exhibition is on the whole vastly inferior to what we may expect to see, when we shall have the Athenian bas reliefs represented in engravings. After our account of the subjects of these performances, it will be fair to confess, that our preceding moral speculations

will rather slightly apply to such antique memorials. It is not, assuredly, from such subjects that we can expect to derive pensive sublimity to our musings. The only way in which they can much interest our imagination, is as the actual remains of the decorations of the destroyed mansions, temples and tombs of a great people, whose splendour has been extinct for so many ages.

The letter-press part of this elegant publication affords a brief description of each of the Terracottas, with generally an explanation of the subject, accompanied by references to the classic poets. The measure, in inches, is always mentioned. The editor says, The bas-reliefs have been undoubtedly cast in moulds; they were afterwards baked, and perhaps occasionally retouched by the graver. Of the designs, some are of Roman invention, but the greater part of them appear to have been copied from the Greek artists.'- All the statues here engraved, one only excepted, were found about the year 1765, in a well which was completely dry, near the Porta Latina at Rome. A labourer, in digging red gravel, broke into the well, and discovered a heap of fragments of Terracotta. These fragments were purchased by Mr. Nollekens, who carefully joined the pieces together, and restored the figures nearly to their original state.'

Art. III. An Inquiry into the Consequences of neglecting to give the Prayer Book with the Bible, interspersed with Remarks on some late Speeches at Cambridge, and other important Matter relative to the British and Foreign Bible Society. By Herbert Marsh, D.D. F.R.S. Margaret Professor of Divinity. Fourth edition. 8vo. pp. 51. Rivingtons. 1812. Art. IV. An Examination of Dr, Marsh's " Inquiry relative to the British and Foreign Bible Society," In a Series of Letters to the Reverend Dr. E. D. Clarke, Professor of Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge. By the Rev. William Dealtry, A.M. F.R.S. Fellow of Trinity College, and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Bristol. Second edition, corrected. 8vo. pp. 124. Hatchard. 1812.

Art. V. Three Letters on the Subject of the British and Foreign Bible Society; addressed to the Rev. Dr. Marsh, and John Coker, Esq. By the Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart. Second edition. 8vo. pp. 59, Hatchard. 1812.

Art. VI. The Excellency of the Liturgy, in four Discourses, preached before the University of Cambridge, in November, 1811. To which is prefixed, an Answer to Dr. Marsh's Inquiry respecting "the neglecting to give the Prayer Book with the Bible." By the Rev. Charles Simeon, A. M. Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. 8vo. pp. 170. Hatchard.

1812.

Art. VII. A Letter to the Right Hon. N. Vansittart, M. P. being an Answer to his Second Letter on the British and Foreign Bible Society, and at the same Time, an Answer to whatever is argumentative in other

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Pamphlets which have been lately written to the same Purpose. By Herbert Marsh, D.D. F.R.S. Margaret Professor of Divinity. 8vo. pp. 54. Rivingtons. 1812.

Art. VIII. Thoughts on the Utility and Expediency of the Plans proposed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. By Edward Maltby, D.D. Prebendary of Leighton Buzzard, in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, &c. 8vo. pp. 64. Cadell and Davies. 1812.

Art. IX. Observations, designed as a Reply to the "Thoughts" of Dr. Maltby, on the Dangers of circulating the whole of the Scriptures among the lower Orders. By J. W. Cunningham, A. M. Vicar of Harrow on the Hill, and late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, 8vo. pp. 67. Hatchard. 1812.

IN resuming, after an interval of nearly two years, the subject of these pamphlets, it is natural to congratulate our readers on the triumphant progress of the noble institution to which they relate on the increasing conviction, in the public mind, of its excellence and utility, on the temperate zeal and Christian charity which have been displayed in its defence, and on the manifest confusion, and almost acknowledged discomfiture of its most determined adversaries. The Bible Society indeed is still assailed with objections; but those that were formerly urged against it with so much impertinent dulness and illiberal absurdity, are entirely abandoned: they have been so thoroughly exposed, that their fondest abettors are at last heartily ashamed of them. From a contest which it never courted, the Society has reaped nothing but advantage. Its purity, wisdom and importance have been set in broad daylight: it has spread itself into every corner of the empire, and has been hailed with rapture by all classes of the community. That it should have been again attacked, is not so much a matter of regret as of wonder; and if we once more draw the attention of our readers to the dispute, they will not, we trust, impute to us the absurdity of entertaining any anxiety about the fate of the Bible Society. When popular objections have received a satisfactory refutation, little is to be apprehended from those that are so subtle, and lie so concealed from the public view,' that it is diffi cult to explain' them. As a matter of curiosity, however, it may not be uninteresting to know the utmost that learning, diligence, and ingenuity have been able to effect, in op position to the plain conclusions of common sense. We

propose, therefore, after narrating, briefly, the progress and proceedings of the Bible Society since we last touched on the subject, to give a concise history of the present controversy, and to conclude with the examination of whateyer is new or important in the objections now inade to that most magnificent charity.

Nothing, in modern times, has occurred of so extraordinary nature, as the wide and rapid spread of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Within the two last years it has increased, beyond all example, in its resources, its influence and its respectability; and has been augmented by upwards of seventy new Auxiliary Societies in the United Kingdom, at once the glory and support of the parent stock, each inheriting its characteristic features, each animated with the same spirit, each having in view the same grand object, and pursuing it with the same inflexible fidelity. Several new societies have been formed in the American States; and an Auxiliary Society has been established, with the concurrence of the supreme government, at Calcutta-from which, in conjunction with the Corresponding Committee, the greatest advantages are likely to result, in facilitating the translation of the bible into the Oriental languages, and its extensive distribution over regions which have hitherto been the gloomy abodes of wretchedness and superstition.

The number of the societies formed in aid of the original institation, affords, however, but an imperfect idea of its triumphs. Among the presidents and vice presidents of the new societies, will be found names of exalted rank, and distinguished for talents and virtue. From the Auxiliary Societies, again, numerous Branches have arisen, in the respective divisions of their districts, and these have been further extended by Bible Associations, which have for their object, to bring into action the lower orders of the community, and circulate the scriptures among the poor, chiefly by their own agency. The Bible Society has seized the admiration, and triumphs over the hearts of men. All ranks and classes have become zealous and efficient in this best of causes, and co-ope rate in it with cordiality and affection; and, the system, as one of its most eloquent advocates has remarked, presents a perfect whole, correspondent in plan, and united in harmony; a noble fabric, in which all the parts are combined for beauty and for strength; whose foundations are laid deep in the ground, and whose turrets sparkle in the skies.'

In proportion as this institution has multiplied its auxiliaries, and kindled the zeal of the nation in its favour, it has likewise enlarged its pecuniary resources. The net receipts of the Society, for the two years, ending March 31, 1812, amounted to no less a sum than 68,000l. With this prodigious accession to its funds, the Society has not been backward in extending its operations. Dr. Marsh, indeed, who has been at so much pains to warn the nation of the dangers to be apprehended from its activity at home, has been at still greater pains to lessen the merit of its foreign exertions,VOL. VIII.

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which he yet allows, are productive of great and unmixed good.' (Inquiry, p. 19.) He has not, however, been able to show, that the Society itself pretends to have done more than it has actually accomplished. And if some of its friends have not been very guarded in expressing their admiration of its benevolent efforts, there is no more justice in turning such inaccuracy into matter of censure, than there would be in reprehending Dr. Marsh for all the absurdity and extravagance of the Society's enemies, with whom he makes common cause. The merit of translating the scriptures is certainly great but he doubtless is entitled to no vulgar commenda tion who makes the Word of God common, where it was pre viously barely accessible. If the infancy of the Bible Society render it impossible to lay much claim to the former kind of merit, it deserves extraordinary praise on account of the latter. Here it appears in its proper sphere, diffusing its influence for the healing of the nations. Besides upwards of 200,000 English Bibles issued during the two years ending the 21st of February last, the Society has, in the same period, distributed more than 50,000 Bibles and Testaments, in English, Welch, Gaelic, Manks, Irish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Danish, and German These copies of the scriptures have been sent to all quarters of the world, and to the distressed of every description, to prisoners of war, to slaves in the West Indies, to the poor in workhouses and infirmaries, to criminals in gaols, and to the indigent in various parts of the old and new continents; and have been received with the liveliest expressions of gratitude, and often with tears of joy.

In the same period, the society has materially contributed to promote re-impressions of the scriptures on the continent of Europe, in Swedish, Finnish, Laponese, Lithuanian, Livonian and Esthonian, Hungarian, and Sclavonic. The emperor of Russia, in approbation of the Society's grant of 5001. for the printing of the Finnish scriptures, added to it the sum of 5000 rubles from his own privy purse.

To Asia, which opens such a wide field for the Society's exertions, it has been particularly attentive. The translation of the bible into the various oriental languages proceeds rapidly to accelerate the printing of it, the Society has granted large sums; and its friends have been extremely active in distributing such versions as are already printed. On the whole, nothing can afford to a philanthropic mind a more pleasing spectacle, or inspire more agreeable reflections, than a contemplation of the past success and present condition of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Scarcely a vessel leaves our shores which is not the messenger of its spiritual bounty;