ful sanctuaries, because, unlike the followers of a military chief, they were there enabled to prosecute their commercial schemes without interruption. Artizans were attracted by the vast edifices necessary to be constructed for the accommodation of those who, under the impulse of a new zeal, sought to advance the interests of their common faith by congregating under the same roof. The cultivation of the monastic lands gave employment to the agricultural labourer; for although, speaking in general terms, the monks tilled their own territory, and tended their own flocks, their clerical and literary functions absorbed enough of their time to render indispensable other aid. The fisherman, with his boat and net, formed a necessary adjunct to a sea-port. And, although the British marine was then in too infantile a state to have obtained a name in history, vessels plied along the coast and across the German Ocean, in sufficient number to create a sea-faring population of no inconsiderable extent. But, beside these ordinary attractions, numerous settlers had been brought from Italy and France to assist in the erection and embellishment of the monastery and its church, and especially in the manufacture of the glass required for the windows and utensils. And, to the influential and skilled adventurers thus collected together from various motives, lands were given in free tenure, and every practicable encouragement offered to attach them to the soil. In these grants of land, Bassano, as chief architect, had largely participated, and upon an elevated site, commanding an extensive sea-view, and embracing within its range of objects the ecclesiastical edifice now in course of erection, Bassano had built a substantial stone dwelling to which to conduct his bride."-(P. 101.]

The survey of conventual life is extensive, and embraces many instructive details. A pure invigorating air, as that which the Abbots of Wearmouth breathed, gives a sense of health and bracing freshness to the reader, and leaves a pleasant memory of the book upon his mind. Nor are stirring incidents absent. The shipwreck on the ironbound coast, the horrors of the pestilence, the capture by pirates, and other events, are described in simple nervous language, and the characters of Constance, Benedict, Sigfrid, his sister Bertha, and the girls Agnes and Agatha, are such as lend attraction to the various scenes in which they move. We see Coldingham Priory, Lindisfarne, and Wearmouth, as they were of old, and if there is much of modern thought interwoven with the speculations of the Saxon times, few will need to complain, whilst perusing so spirit-searching a tale as this, of the Wearmouth Abbots.

MODERN GEOGRAPHY.

Manual of Modern Geography, Mathematical, Physical, and Political, on a new plan, embracing a complete development of the river systems of the globe. By the Rev. ALEXANDER MACKAY, A.M., F.R.G.S.. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood & Sons. 1861.

THIS valuable manual of Dr Mackay, is chiefly intended as a companion and expositor of the school atlas of Mr Keith Johnston. But it

does more than fulfil this end. It is one of the most comprehensive yet select repositories of geographical knowledge which we have had the good fortune to peruse, and that too at a price which must bring it within the reach of the humblest student. Considering the improved methods now generally adopted in teaching geography, such a work was imperatively called for, and we must say, the reverend author has executed his task with singular fidelity.

The manual begins with a compendious account of the relations of the earth to the solar system, and of the latter to the other worlds which people space. The form and materials of the globe, its climate, mineralogy, geology, botany, zoology, and enthnography, are next discussed, and so constitute a foundation for subsequent details in physical and political geography.

The precise order in which the different sections should stand to each other, has cost the author much careful reflection. The physical and political elements, for example, are intentionally combined, so as to shed a mutual light on each other. The position and boundaries of countries, are defined with an eye to their relative latitudes. Comparisons are instituted of different areas and population. But it is the articles entitled political divisions in which the author has made the greatest innovation.-Instead of adhering to the prevailing custom of giving under each province or county, a dry list of cities and towns wholly unconnected by any system of arrangement, the writer had no hesitation in availing himself of a principle equally simple and beautiful, with which nature supplied him.

He refers to the important physical law that all the cities and towns on the earth's surface, whether ancient or modern, stand on the banks of rivers or on the sea coast. The exceptions to this law are few and easily explained, while the causes that have led to so striking a result are sufficiently obvious. Till very recently, when the canal and the railroad have to some extent supplied their place, rivers have in all ages formed the great highways of commerce. In every land the banks of rivers present the most fertile portions of the country, as the valleys of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Nile, and the Jordan; and also formed the earliest seats of civilization, as, for example, Nineveh, Babylon, Thebes, and Damascus, the origin of which dates back to the dawn of history.

This method of grouping, according to the river basins, although at first sight difficult to the young student, is yet so philosophical in its results, that we cannot too strongly recommend it. Upon the whole, this Manual of Dr Mackay's is a valuable and meritorious contribution to geographical science.

Fiars Prices of Grain.—Griesbach's Text of the New Testament. 127

FIARS PRICES OF GRAIN.

Table showing the fluctuation in the Fiars Prices of Grain for the County of Edinburgh since the introduction of the Corn Laws in 1815 to this time. By THOMAS B. SCOTT. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood & Sons. 1862.

THE Fiars Prices of grain is a highly important subject to our ecclesiastical readers. But a collection and comparison of fiars prices is possessed of a universal interest. Whether the mode followed by the Sheriff of ascertaining these prices be correct, we will not at present enquire. The landowners, the farmers, and the clergy have each, we believe, their peculiar theory on the subject. But assuming that the fiars prices do, upon the whole, fairly represent the average prices of grain, then the table before us constitutes a most valuable record of their fiuctuations during an important period of our history.

Since Mr Took's celebrated history of prices was published, the opinion has silently been gaining ground that the variations in the price of corn do not depend upon any species of fiscal or of legislative restriction, and but very slightly even upon the contingencies of war. Mr Scott's table would seem to support this view. For example:—

The harvest of 1815 was abundant. The price of wheat per quarter was 50s. 04d., barley, 24s. 8d., and of oats, 19s. 6d. The harvests of 1816 and 1817 were very unproductive the weather during the summer and autumn being most ungenial; and, as a consequence, the grain crops were much damaged. The price of grain advanced, reaching what was regarded at the time famine prices. The fiars prices at Mid-Lothian for 1816 were per quarter-wheat 79s. 1d.; for 1817 80s. 03d., being an advance of about 30s per quarter over the prices in 1815. Barley also advanced in price. In 1815 the quarter was 24s. 8d.; in 1816 it was 43s. 34d, in 1817 it rose to 45s. 34d; and in 1818 to the extreme price of 54s. 14d. per quarter. Oats also fluctuated in price; in 1815 the fiars price per quarter was 19s. 63d.; in 1816 it was 35s. 8d., and fell in 1817 to 31s. 7d.; and again advanced in 1818 to 32s. 114d. per quarter.

These variations in value are obviously due more to the influences of seasons and other natural causes, than to the imposition of restrictive duties to the state of our currency. And it does not appear that the tendency of the trade has been to lower prices; but rather to enhance them. To political writers and economists who study those subjects, this elaborate table will prove of very great benefit.

GRIESBACH'S TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. The New Testament, Translated from Griesbach's Text. By SAMUEL SHARPE, Author of the History of Egypt, &c. The Fifth Edition. London: J. Russell Smith, 36 Soho Square. 1862.

THE value of this book is great, and its popular acceptance proved by

the fact of this being the fifth edition. Many improvements on its predecessors will be found, the translator having availed himself of numerous friendly criticisms, and further study, to correct faults which had before escaped him. The result is an elegant and convenient volume, serviceable to Biblical students and the general public. The sole objection that need be recognised is, that Griesbach's text of the Leipsic edition, 1805, does not afford the very latest aids that are attainable, in approximating to a correct translation of the original Greek. Towards this, much has been done in recent years, and is continuing to be done, by Biblical critics of sound learning.

We are glad to note that the present translator has avoided, and as far as was compatible with correctness, changing the words employed in the Authorised Version, knowing "how much every new word grates upon the ear that is accustomed to the beautiful simplicity of the Authorised Version. His aim has been to give the meaning and idiom of the corrected Greek text as far as possible in the well-known words; and to lay before the English reader those fruits of the labours of our biblical critics, which are already well known to the learned."

ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Presentation. The Queen has presented the Rev. William Fergusson Wight to the united parishes of Auchtergaven and Logiebride, vacant by the transference of the Rev. Dr Langdale to the church and parish of Applegarth.

Presentation. The Rev. William Shaw of Ayr has been presented by the Crown to the church and parish of Alloa, vacant by the death of the Rev. P. Brotherston.

Died, at the Manse of Channelkirk, Berwickshire, on the 2d ultimo, the Rev. James Rutherford, minister of the parish.

MACPHAIL'S

EDINBURGH ECCLESIASTICAL JOURNAL.

No. CCI.

OCTOBER 1862.

THE CARDROSS CASE AND THE FREE CHURCH COMMISSION, WEDNESDAY 13TH AUGUST, 1862.

THE character of an age or of a body of men can always be pretty well ascertained from the moral and intellectual qualities of those who are its chosen leaders. I should trust we have not fallen upon an age of little men; yet I must confess, when I read over the two most telling speeches, delivered the other day in the Commission of the Free Church, on the Cardross Case, I could not but feel that either its men, in all really noble and impressible qualities, had been much over-rated, or if they at all come up to the average standard, it has been our bad fortune to fall upon evil days.

Dr Candlish is certainly a very remarkable man; but he always suggests the image of a grist-mill of small size, driven by steam, making a tremendous whirr, and going at tremendous speed, with dust and bran flying about;-but when you set yourself to take account of work done after so much noise and vehemence, you are astonished at the little you can gather up. This I used humbly to ascribe to my own infirmity, the want of understanding, or something of the sort, and might have continued to think so still, had it not been for those writings, such is his work on the Atonement, in which he has with his usual impetuosity rushed to the solution of questions which perplex some of the profoundest thinkers of the present time, and with all his self-confidence, the unsatisfactoriness of his attempt has become manifest to most men. Besides, if in a minister of the Gospel, we are to look for something higher than mere intellectual gladiatorship, he is certainly not the man really to impress minds possessed of deep insight and sentiment. He is nothing higher than a mere lawyer endowed with any amount of subtlety and skill

VOL. XXXIV.

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