We might go on to review the temper | we shall be more employed in explaining and spirit of the world in its indulgences, them away than in obeying them. But its amusements, and its pleasures, and trace take the advice of the Saviour: try the exits inconsistency throughout with the Chris- periment: see if a compliance-a sincere, an tian's disposition when similarly engaged. honest compliance with the duty in the text, The same leprosy too affects the religion as now stated, will unfit you for the necesof worldly men: with the same profes- sary offices of life; and apply yourselves to sion perhaps, or with a profession but the duty, believing the testimony of one who little varying from the Christian's, the differ- has much experience, that there is a state ence in spirit is as great as life and death: when "the commandments of God are not they are generally satisfied with whatever grievous." If you decline the attempt, and present progress they happen to have made: go on still in that indifference, or at least they are ready to conclude that they are in lukewarmness, which is the character of the the right, if they are not positively and pal-world as it is, your case, remember, is already pably in the wrong. Their inclination is determined: "If any man love the world, always to enquire whether such and such a the love of the Father is not in him:" and course of conduct may not be allowed them; again, in stronger terms still: "Whosoever whether their circumstances do not warrant will be the friend of the world is the enemy this or that indulgence; in a word, their real of God." My brethren, consider this alternaaim and study is, how much they can please tive; and O that God may enable you to themselves and follow the world, without choose the good; and "the work of righteousforfeiting the bare terms of the divine favour. ness you shall then find to be peace, and the How nearly does this state of mind come to effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance the alarming rebuke: "Get thee behind me, for ever.' Satan; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men!" Upon the whole then, when the apostle urged his disciples not to be "conformed to the world," you may suppose him to meanDo not fashion yourselves to the character of its society adopt not its maxims and principles; and avoid, in your employments, your amusements, and your ideas of religion, a conformity to its spirit and temper. II. Our business, my brethren, in the application of it to ourselves, is to guard against self deceit. We know the human heart too well to doubt that it will be ready to suggest that all this may be well enough in certain circumstances, but that it is unsuitable to present times, and unfit for general practice. My brethren, this is the plea which the great enemy of souls has been instilling into the human heart from the beginning, from the very days of our first parents; and by which thousands and tens of thousands have been fatally deceived. There is no plea which the heart so readily admits, or which it clings to with more perseverance. It is so easy to be persuaded by it, that all the reasoning and all the evidence in the world will be unable absolutely to resist it. But before you satisfy your conscience with that plea, remember for a moment the test of our Lord: "Whosoever will do his will, shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." While our moral sight is obscured by our natural feelings and desires, and we are brought into a false security, and hear, or fancy we hear, there is peace, every extraordinary effort will, I am quite sensible, be thought needless: the commands of God will appear out of keeping, out of date, and TARSIA. ENTERING the town of Bergamo, after taking a hasty glance at the cathedral, we drove to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, the ceiling of which is covered with gold, studded with bassi and alti-relievi; it is, however, more rich than beautiful. A chapel adjoins this building, which himself and his family: he lies buried beneath a was built by general Colleone, as a mausoleum for splendid marble monument, which is surmounted by a gilt equestrian statue of the warrior. He bequeathed money to have four masses said in this chapel daily, beside matins and vespers. This church contains some curious mosaic in wood, or tarsia di legno. Of this art I had scarcely heard before my visit to Italy: we have lately seen many interesting specimens, and I will endeavour to give you a brief sketch of its history. Tarsia, or lavoro alla Damaschina, had been early brought to great perfection in the east, and was cultivated particularly at Damascus in metal; gold, silver, bronze, copper, and steel were inlaid with curious and beautiful devices. It had existed amongst the ancients, and many steel rings are preserved inlaid with figures and arabesque patterns. In Italy the art of working in mosaic had been known from the earliest times of Christianity; the pavements and ceilings of the oldest Christian churches contain specimens of it, which, although rude enough in execution, are valuable as proofs of the existence of the art. Marble and stone were originally employed by the workers in mosaic, who afterwards used wood also, which, as a softer material, was worked with greater ease and rapidity. Vasari says that wood-mosaic, or tarsia di legno, was From "Letters from Italy to a younger Sister;" by Catharine Taylor. Vol. ii. London: John Murray, Albemarle-street. 1841. CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE. introduced into Italy about the time of Filippo | Brunellesco, the celebrated Florentine architect; it flourished most during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Count Cicognara remarks, "that Brunellesco, who was the first artist to understand and practise the rules of perspective, attracted the admiration and envy of all by the exceeding beauty of his landscapes; and the workers in tarsia are said to have learned from him, not the very ancient art of joining together bits of wood, but its application to a better purpose." Tarsia di legno is composed of pieces of wood, either of the natural colours or artificially tinted; these, after having been cut and fitted closely to each other, were fixed in a ground, generally of walnut. In the infancy of the art, black and white were only used; and in the works of Benedetto and Giuliano Majano, artists contemporary with Brunellesco, we find no attempt to employ colours; but Fra Giovanni da Verona, by steeping the wood in various dyes, was enabled to produce effects previously unknown. Works in tarsia now assumed more the appearance of paintings, and many executed by Fra Giovanni himself are unrivalled in beauty. This artist was justly celebrated he visited Rome, where he was employed by Julius the second, and his works are found scattered throughout Italy, although many of them have been lost and destroyed: those which remain in the choir and sacristy of Santa Maria in Organis in Verona, are spoken of as exquisite and wonderful productions of art. Fra Giovanni himself, by Morone, hangs in this The portrait of sacristy. As the title Fra implies, Giovanni was a monk of the Olivetani order: monasteries were in that age sanctuaries of literature and the arts; their tranquil seclusion was favourable to the cultivation of pursuits which required patient and accurate labour; thus we find, while the time of many orders of monks, particularly the Benedictines, was devoted to the copying and illumination of manuscripts, others applied themselves in the quiet of their cells to the manufacture of woodmosaic, and to them this art was indebted for its greatest progress. Among the names of the most celebrated intarsiatori, we find, besides Fra Giovanni da Verona, Fra Sebastiano da Rovigo, Fra Raffaello, and Fra Damiano da Bergamo. Of the last mentioned Cicognara speaks as one of the most celebrated artists in tarsia, and perhaps the first of whom we have undoubted traces of wellearned fame. The choir of San' Domenico in Bologna, and that of the Dominicans in his own city, gained him singular renown. of his says, that "Fra Damiano, in perA contemporary spective, landscapes, interiors, distances, and, what is more, in figures, does with wood all that Apelles did with colours and canvass." The Bergamese were peculiarly famous for their works in tarsia; whole families, as those of Capo di Ferro and the Belli, devoted themselves to it. Milan too produced her tarsian artists, and the triumphal arch erected for the entry of Charles the fifth into that city, formed entirely of wood, and adorned with carvings and devices, was the admiration of the artists of that period. The intarsiatura of Lorenzo Canozio, an artist who died in 1477, is highly commended: Vasari says that, although the church which contained his best works was destroyed by fire, yet his epitaph re mains, in which it is said that "per quell' opera è tolto al cielo*." wood-mosaics of the cathedral at Pisa; these, In a former letter I think I mentioned the with the specimens found in the following cities, in Italy :-Florence cathedral; St. Mark's and St. are amongst the most beautiful remains of the art Francesco della Vigna, in Venice: St. Michele in Bosco, in Bologna; and those I have before mentioned in Bergamo and Verona. The choir of the cathedral at Malta contains some singularly fine tion from the exquisite mechanical workmanship works in tarsia ; not only do they deserve admiradisplayed in their execution, but from the the figures and beauty of the designs. Some drawings from these, made by a Maltese artist, and now in the possession of Mrs. Austin, have given me a juster sense of the perfection which the art of tarsia had attained, than any specimens I have seen in Italy. grace of tural and arabesque designs taken as the subjects Lanzi observes that, not only were architecintroduced, and that artists imitated the different for these wood-mosaics, but adds, that figures were styles of the Italian schools of painting: thus he mentions the heads of the apostles in the Certosa at Pavia, by Fra Damiano, as formed "sul gusto della scuola del Vinci." The subjects of these works were often chosen with reference to utility rather than ornament; at a period when printed books were rare and geographical maps unknown, pictures of countries and plans of cities were often served, how valuable would they have been in the formed in this mosaic; had any of these been prepresent day-how many curious facts relative to antiquity would have been transmitted to us, of which no vestige now remains! The art of intarsiatura has been completely lost, and while we lament its extinction, we must yet confess that it was better adapted to the age in which it times; the peaceful seclusion of the cloister being was so successfully cultivated, than to the present eminently adapted for a pursuit which required the utmost patience and accuracy. The Cabinet. 1 21 HEAVEN.-Heaven is not a theatre, that shifts the humour of the spectators. It has, indeed, its fulness scene to suit itself to every foolish fancy and every silly of joy and its pleasures for evermore; but the question is, have we the power and the relish to enjoy them? We will suppose, for a moment, that our hope of going to heaven is, some way or other, fulfilled, and count that we shall have to render of sins committed, that (God knows how) we have passed the fearful acof duties neglected, of blessings abused, of time squandered away; we will suppose that we have found hopes; what have we to promise ourselves? We know our way into that heaven that is the object of our at least what we shall not find there; we know that "naked as we came into this world, naked shall we go out of it;" that the body, which held us and the earth together, is laid in the dust from which it was taken, and the bond lower world is snapped, and the chaunel through that united us which we communicated with it withdrawn; and this to this "For this work he is removed to heaven." A most unchristian epitaph indeed.-ED. busy stage, upon which our affections have been running to and fro, seeking rest and finding none, is at once concealed from our view, and becomes to us a dead blank. Alas, alas! what objects shall we fasten upon to fill up the dreary vacancy which was once occupied by our busy pursuits and our dear pleasures upon earth? For the gold and the silver are gone, and the pipe and the viol and the tabret have died away in silence. What shall we seize upon to employ our minds, or to interest our hearts, or to excite our desires, or to fill up our conversation? Alas! where is the buying and selling, the bustle of business, or the enthusiasm of enterprise, that supplied us at once with our cares and our hopes? Where is the flowing goblet and the wild and wanton merriment, that used to set the table in a roar? Alas, alas! what shall we do for the delightful trifles by which we contrived, while we were upon the earth, to get rid of time, and forget that it was rolling over our heads? What shall we do for those wild pursuits by which we made ourselves mad for a time, and haunted eternity out of our minds? What shall we do for conversation?-upon what subject shall we converse? And then to go on in this way for ever, and for ever, and for ever. We cannot sit thus dreaming through eternity. If this be heaven, would to God he had left us still upon our beloved earth! Wherefore have ye brought us out of Egypt, where we ate and drank and were merry, and have left us here to perish in the wilderness? Better would it have been for us to have still our interchanges of hope and fear, of pleasure and pain, of repose and fatigue, of joy and sorrow, than to endure this dismal serenity-than to say in the morning," would God it were evening;" and in the evening, "would God it were morning."-Rev. C. Wolfe. Poetry. LAYS OF PALESTINE. No. XV. BY T. G. NICHOLAS. (For the Church of England Magazine.) "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. "Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried." RUTH i. 16, 17. ENTREAT me not; I may not heed Nor can I view thy form recede, In happier days their tone of gladness, Each cord which bound me to the home Of infancy is reft and broken; Nor, ere in other lands I roam, Is there some wish or word unspokenWhich, when from dearest friends we part, Bids us delay the sad farewell, Or brings a pang to each lone heart, Which only they who feel may tell. Cease then, my mother; urge me not, Though thro' some lone and cheerless wild If but with thee I urg'd my way. With thee I'll bear the sultry sky Of burning noon; or, when the dove Far in some deep sequester'd grove, To tremble at the name divine; ENGLISH CHURCHES: How beautiful they stand, Those ancient altars of our native land: By rivers broad that rush into the sea; By little brooks that with a lisping sound, Like playful children, run by copse and lea! Each in its little plot of holy ground, How beautiful they stand, Those old gray churches of our native land! Our lives are all turmoil; Our souls are in a weary strife and toil, We have grown worldly-have made gold our godHave turned our hearts away from lowly things; We seek not now the wild flower on the sod; We see not now the snowy folded angel's wings Amid the summer skies; For visions come not to polluted eyes! Yet, blessed quiet fanes! Still piety, still poetry remains, From founts which in the human heart lie deep : To set within our hearts sweet thoughts and holy! And 'tis for this they stand, The old gray churches of our native land. They stand; and chantry, dome, and organ sound, EGYPT. Miscellaneous. M. HOWITT. THE NILE.-With respect to the causes of the inundation of this noble river, which scatters so many blessings along its track, different opinions have been entertained: one is, that it may arise from the high wind which stops the current, and forces the water from its banks; and another, that there is a subterraneous passage between the ocean and the river, and the sea when violently agitated swells it. I apprehend, however, the true cause has been concealed from the human understanding for the wisest of purposes, and, in the language of inspiration, "such knowledge is too wonderful for us; it is high, we cannot attain unto it." Like the hand-writing on the wall, it can only be known to that Almighty Being, excellent in power, who created this world-hath done whatsoever he pleased in infinite wisdom, and to whom all secret and "great" things respecting it exclusively belong, and "which we cannot comprehend" (Job xxxvii. 5). Perhaps God never had, in his infinite wisdom, conferred a greater act of his bounty, than causing such a wonderful flow of this mighty stream at a stated period, winding through a range of 2,000 miles, and continuing two months either without increasing or subsiding. In the early ages its fertility was celebrated, and during one of those periods of famine which occasionally occurred, we find that Abraham retired here; and at a subsequent time, the children of Jacob purchased corn for their families (Gen. xli. 57). As a contrast to watering the land of Egypt by artificial streams, that of Canaan was described to the children of Israel, in terms the most glowing (Ezek. xxxvi. 8; xxvii. 7). The reed "calamus," used for writing in the east, is abundant and in the contiguous villages, where are many manufactures, the most beautiful linen (Exod. xxvi. 1; xxxvi. 8; Ezek. xxvii. 7) and napkins are made. -Rae Wilson on Egypt and the Holy Land. BUILDING CASTLES IN THE AIR.-The habit of what in common parlance is termed "building castles in the air" has a most pernicious influence upon the health of the mind. There is a legitimate exercise of the imaginative faculty which is advantageous to the understanding, and to this no reasonable objection can be urged; but when the fancy is allowed "to body forth the forms of things unknown," without being under proper discipline, much evil will result. Individuals endowed with an unhealthy expansion of the imagination, create a world within themselves, in which the mind revels until all consciousness of the reality which surrounds them is lost. The disposition to reverie is very pernicious to intellectual health. Many habituate themselves to dream with their eyes open, without the senses being literally shut; they appear to be insensible to the impressions of objects external to themselves. This condition of mind borders closely upon the confines of insanity. If the imagination be thus permitted to obtain so predominant an influence over the other faculties of the mind, some particular notion will fix itself upon the fancy; all other intellectual gratifications will be rejected; the mind, in weariness or leisure, recurs constantly to the favourite conceptions, and feasts on the luscious falsehood whenever she is offended by the bitterness of the truth. By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed: she grows first imperious, and in time despotic; then fictions begin to operate as realities, false opinions fasten upon the mind, and life passes in dreams of rapture or anguish.-F. Winslow's Health of Body and Mind. AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.The dragon-fly is an inhabitant of the air, and could not exist in water; yet in this last element, which is alone adapted for her young, she ever carefully drops her eggs. The larvæ of the gad-fly are destined to live in the stomach of the horse. How shall the parent, a two-winged fly, convey them thither? By a mode truly extraordinary. Flying round the animal, glues a single egg to one of the hairs of his skin, and she curiously poises her body for an instant, while she repeats this process until she has fixed in a similar way many hundred eggs. These, after a few days, on the application of the slightest moisture attended by warmth, hatch into little grubs. Whenever therewhich they are attached, the moisture of the tongue fore the horse chances to lick any part of his body to discloses one or more grubs, which, adhering to it by means of the saliva, are conveyed into the mouth, and thence find their way into the stomach. But here a question occurs to you. It is but a small portion of the horse's body which he can reach with his tongue what, you ask, becomes of the eggs deposited on other parts? I will tell you how the gad-fly avoids this dilemma; and I will then ask you if she does not discover a prominent forethought, a depth of instinct, which almost casts into the shade the boasted reason of man? She places her eggs only on those parts of the skin which the horse is able to reach with his tongue; nay, she confines them almost exclusively to could the most refined reason, the most precise adaptathe knee or shoulder, which he is sure to lick. What tion of means to an end, do more ?-Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology. London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square: EDWARDS and HUGHES, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY JOSEPH ROGERSON, 24 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON. SHORT READINGS FOR FAMILY PRAYERS. ending soul measures out and outweighs the No. III. BY THE REV. H. WOODWARD, M.A., Rector of Fethard, Tipperary. BARTIMEUS. "As he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, sat by the highway side, begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace; but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort: rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way."-MARK x. 46-52. THIS poor man is a lively emblem of every child of Adam in his natural state. He was blind; and so is every one that is born of woman-blind to spiritual things, till the light of gospel day dawn and arise in his heart. Nor do the children of this world resemble Bartimeus in his blindness more than in his occupation: he "sat by the highway side, begging.' That powerful instinct, which the body feels for food, can but faintly represent the intense desires and appetites of the soul. No created thing can fill this craving void, or answer this universal call of spiritual nature; and, consequently, the soul which has not found out God, is poor indeed. Separated from its Author and its end, cast upon this barren world, it finds a mighty famine in the land. It has wandered from the true fold, the true pasture, and the true Shepherd. It wishes to be happy; but it is blind, and has lost the way to happiness. It is hungry and thirsty; but it asks only of those who give it for bread a stone, or lead it to those broken cisterns which hold no water. The truth is, that without religion the person who has the least feeling is the best off. But the man of sensibility, who wants this living water, and this celestial food, feels a poverty far deeper than that of Bartimeus-a destitution which exceeds all temporal want as much as the never VOL. XIV. earthly clod which it inhabits. But the son of Timeus was not always left to seek a pittance from ordinary passengers. Relief was now near at hand. The good Samaritan journeyed where he was. "And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me." Can any of you call to your recollection moments when, sitting in solitary places, you have felt with more than usual impression the utter emptiness of the world-have felt yourselves deceived by its promises, wounded by its neglect, sick of its disappointments, dissatisfied and weighed down by the burden of life? And have you, at such moments, ever seemed to yourselves, as it such as this world cannot afford? were, to catch a transient glimpse of happiness, Has even a fleeting vision of those deep consolations, that peaceful calm which the believing soul enjoys, seemed to illumine the darkness of your mind? Such thoughts, believe me, do not come by chance: they descend from God. It is the Spirit of Christ which visits you at these bright moments. It is Jesus of Nazareth that "passeth by." You resemble Bartimeus in the opportunity. Seize it with the promptitude that he did: imitate and adopt his prayer, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me." Now, if you offer up this prayer, not as a mere lip service, but in spirit and in truth; if in real sincerity and full penitence of heart, feeling that you are lost and guilty sinners, and that there is none other name under heaven whereby you can be saved, but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; if in this frame of mind you pray, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me" these prayers will pierce the heavens. But depend upon it that, in some shape or another, if you are thus really in earnest, and resolved without compromise to lay hold upon salvation, that in some shape or other you will meet with opposition. Many will charge you, as they did Bartimeus, "that you should hold your peace." Your own hearts will raise up clouds of unbelief. They will whisper that these anxieties are quite unnecessary; these notions never can be realized. The maxims of the worldly-wise and prudent will muster in A A |