second on the favoured ground, it will claim a distinguished place. Too ponderous to be wafted along by the gale of popular applause, it will float uninjured down the stream of time, long after its more successful rivals shall have sunk into oblivion, never to rise again.

Our observations have been hitherto confined to the French copy of this extraordinary poem, and to the errors and beauties which are chargeable upon Lucien alone. We should be guilty, however, of the most culpable neglect, where we to pass over in silence the admirable version, which has been presented to the world by two of our countrymen, whose names stand so deservedly high in the records of scholarship and literature. To the labours of these two gentlemen we shall direct the attention of our readers in a subsequent Number, giving a brief abstract of the poem as it appears in its English dress, and considering it no longer as the work of Lucien Bonaparte, but of Dr. Butler and Mr. Hodgson.

ART. III. Additional Notes and Illustrations to the Practicut Exposition, &c. By the Rev. H. H. Norris. 8vo. 72 pp. Rivingtons. 1814.

WE rejoice to find that the valuable publication of Mr. Norris has reached a second edition; the call for it is a proof that the public mind is open to conviction, and that the editor has succeeded in awakening an attention to his labours, in some degree commensurate with their importance. It is not our intention to make any further remarks upon the work itself, which cannot be considered as any longer amenable to our criticism; but our readers will probably be gratified by a brief analysis of the Appendix, which contains some very interesting documents and observations, in confirmation of the statements made in the original work.

The new matter is given in the form of additional notes and illustrations; partly intended to answer the objections which have been made against some detached portions of the work itself, and partly to furnish still farther proofs of the delusive machinations, and dangerous tendency of the Society.

It appears from the advertisement, that,

"Of the mass of evidence which the volume contains, three. items comprise the whole, against the fidelity of which any excep tions have been taken. The advocates of the Bible Society have publicly attempted to impeach, or rather to soften down by expla nation, the statement of the proceedings at Hertford; and Mr. Cunningham, and the President of the Clapton Bible Association,

have

have privately protested against the expressions imputed to them." P. 7.

In note p. p. 97, an account had been given of the proceedings at the Hertford Auxiliary Meeting. This account, or rather the original Letter which supplied the information of which it gives the substance, has been publicly accused, by a document circulated in the name of the Hertford Committees of extreme incorrectness: but the manner in which this heavy charge is supported, will not we think impress the readers of the "Practical Exposition" with any very unfavourable opinion of the Editor's Informant. For instance; in the printed Report of the Hertford Committee,

a

"Mr. Fordham is represented to express himself as thinking favourably of the Bible Society, only on account of the hope he entertained that it would destroy the Established Church: whilst in the Letter the limitation only' is omitted, and the terms 'patronised' and 'overthrow' are substituted for thinking fa vourably of' and 'destroy,' and no notice is taken of a previous declaration which Mr. F. made, that on all other accounts he is " decided enemy' to the Institution. In the Letter, moreover, the feeling which this avowal excited in the Meeting is said to be < some disapprobation;' but in the printed Report, the terms universal disgust' are employed." P. 16. "The Letter also represented Mr. Clayton to have said, that he had travelled forty miles to be present at the meeting, while it appears from the Report that his journey was only twenty-five miles. And instead of speaking of the demolition of the Church as a secondary object, according to the representation of the Letter, the comparison, as stated in the printed Report, is drawn the other way; and Mr. Clayton is alledged to say, not that the demolition of the Church is of inferior consideration to the circulation of the Bible, but that the circulation of the Bible is an object of a much higher and nobler character' than the demolition of the Church.” P. 17.

In p. 276 of the volume, a note is introduced, which states, upou the authority of the same Letter, that

"A learned Doctor concluded a long speech with these very words; I earnestly recommend the Society to the Ladies, for if they are active in its cause, God will be their Lover." "

It appears from the report of the Committee, that Dr. Olinthus Gregory, the orator in question, did use the disgusting language attributed to him; but that he introduced it as a quotation from Tertullian. Instead then of having himself been the author of an expression from which every delicate and pious mind must be supposed to revolt with horror, the Dr. it seems is only chargeable

7

chargeable with having adopted the profane sentiments of ano

ther.

"Such," says the Editor, "are the attempts to impeach the fidelity of the Letter from which the Editor derived the important facts relative to the Hertford Auxiliary Meeting; and, even admitting all the corrections and qualifications adduced, he has full confidence that it will be considered generally as having compleatly failed, as far as respects every thing material in the allegation; but he is by no means prepared to yield the accuracy of the Letter to the framer of the printed Report in any one instance, except the solitary one of the term patronise,' for the specific use of which the gentleman, (from whose mouth the particulars stated in the Letter were taken, and who being present at the meeting gave his account immediately subsequent to it) cannot sufficiently charge his memory to make himself responsible." P. 17.

Our readers will probably agree with us, that, had the Hertford Committee wished to fix the seal of authenticity to the Editor's statements, they could not have done it more effectually than by this attempt to set them aside. It is not to be expected that reports, made from recollection of the speeches spoken in these crowded assemblies, will be entirely free from verbal inaccuracies; but it is a most striking proof of the general correctness of the work, that in only one instance has its account of the public proceedings of the Society been even impeached; and in this, the labour of four months could not produce a solitary instance of mistatement, affecting any of the sentiments imputed to the speakers, or the general spirit of their harangues. It is however satisfactory that this attempt has been made; for it has induced the Editor to confirm his original statements by several new documents, among which we particularly recommend to the attention of our readers the speeches of Messrs. Wickstead and Eyton at Shrewsbury, as given at length from the Shrewsbury Chronicle, at page 58, and the account of the Dissenter's speech at Stafford, p. 20.

The second objection made against the accuracy of the Editor is produced by the Rev. Mr. Cunningham, who, while he complains of being judged rather from the unauthorized report of a newspaper, than from the authorized publication since issued by the Henley Committee, admits that this latter composition does not give the whole of his extemporaneous oration-but "contains the parts only of his wholly unprepared speech, which he could persuade himself to print at the desire of the Meeting." The sin gular modesty with which this gentleman demands to be judged by his own confessedly garbled statements, rather than by a Report published at the time by the Editor of the Reading Mercury, and never since retracted by him, will not, it is presumed, pass without due observation.

The third objection is thus commented on by the Editor.

"The President of the Clapton Meeting has disclaimed the sen timents imputed to him (p. 320, note h.) and has called upon the Editor to retract it. In justice therefore to the President, the Editor is bound to record his denial, but in justice to the friend who favoured him with the summary of the speeches delivered on that occasion, he is also bound to state, that the reporter is positive that the above passage is in substance correctly reported. It is left, therefore, to the reader to decide which is most likely to be mistaken, a gentleman placing himself in the new and nervous situation of an extempore declaimer, or one of his audience taking minutes of his speech as he delivers it. For it is positively reaffirmed that minutes were taken, though the President questions the fact. The utmost the Editor can therefore allow the President to do is to disclaim the sentiment, but he cannot take upon himself to alter the expression." P. 51.

The authenticity of this important work being thus, as we conceive, completely established by the very weakness of the efforts made to overthrow it, we proceed to give a short summary of the new matter brought forward in the additional notes and illustrations.

The Editor has produced several striking facts, in proof of the disingenuous artifices, by which new names are added to the Lists of the Bible Society; thus not only substantiating his former statements, but shewing that the indefatigable agents of the In stitution still persevere in the same system; that defeat and exposure in one quarter do not prevent them from making similar attempts in another. We have new evidence of their proceedings in Northamptonshire, in Cumberland, and in Hampshire; in all cases developing the same determination to insult where they cannot deceive; to array the subordinate clergy against their superiors, whenever the principals themselves cannot be inveigled; and where the support of high authority is resolutely withheld, to calumniate the very station and dignity, which, when arrayed in their support, they profess so deeply to venerate.

In confirmation of these charges, already plainly made in the volume itself, and never disproved; we have now upon record the proceedings of the Society at Brackley, in Northamptonshire, where the sanction of the Rector to the formation of a Bible Society, in connection with the Auxiliary Institution for the County, was announced by public advertisement, not only without his consent, which could not have been obtained, as it appears that he would have disapproved entirely of the measure, but even without his knowing that such a plan was in agitation. We have also reference to the preliminary manoeuvres of the Basingstoke Auxiliary Society, among which we find an attempt to sow dissension between a Curate and his Vicar. We are next pre

sented

.4

sented with a summary of the conduct pursued by the agents of the Society in Cumberland, where the Lord Lieutenant was threatened with being represented to the poor, as adverse to the distribution of the Bible among them; and the Bishop was "broadly charged to his face with obstructing the circulation of the Bible." The spirit with which this insult was repelled; and the dignified renunciation of the Society, which an unauthorized and unwarrantable use of his name in a public address by the › Hampshire auxiliarists called forth from the Bishop of London, do infinite honour to those excellent prelates. If this example be steadily followed by the venerable bench, this arrogant association will soon sink into that contempt and insignificance. among all sound and zealous Churchmen, which its tone and proceedings justly merit.

Among the many evils resulting from the present prevailing fondness for new societies, there is one of very formidable magnitude, which has not we believe been hitherto publicly adverted ́to, though it has been grievously felt in many places. Many cha→ rities of long continuance, of tried and acknowledged benefit, are now languishing for want of the necessary funds to maintain them; because the purses of the benevolent, from whom they formerly derived their support, have been literally drained by these new fangled institutions.

In some districts, the extraordinary and stimulating appeals made to the feelings of the charitable in favour of foreign objects, have wholly deadened the minds of the more wealthy part of the population to claims of a domestic nature; and the spiri tual interests of the poor at home have been neglected, while the whole stream of charity has been violently perverted from its natural course, to be wasted in abortive attempts to promote the conversion of Jews and Heathens.

"The circumstances of Leicester," says the Editor," with re ference to the different charities to which it affords support, will furnish a case in point. In the reports of the Bible, the Church Missionary, and the Jew converting Societies, it holds a distinguished place; Auxiliary Societies for each of these Institutions, and a Lady's as well as a Gentleman's for the last, being incorpo rated in it, with all the &cs. of Patron, President, Vice Do. and Committee. These are charities carrying the thoughts and affec tions in a great measure to distant objects. There is one remaining of a domestic nature, viz. the education of the children of its own numerous poor; of the state of which a report was published last year, in which it is set forth, that out of a population of probably two thousand five hundred children between the ages of seven and fourteen not five hundred enjoyed the advantage of daily instruc tion; that two of its parishes were without any day school, and that a National Central School having been established to remedy this evil, though half the money annually contributed in the town Qq2 towards