works which have now unhappily perished. Take which of those solutions you please (for both, SIMULTANEOUSLY, you cannot take); and add to them Mr. Newman's Plan of Development,' and Dr. Moehler's Proof of Romish Infallibility,' from the asserted strict and literal identity of Christ and his Church: still, the very attempt to account for the IMPOSSIBILITY OF PRODUCING EARLY EVIDENCE, is a palpable acknowledgment that no such evidence exists" (Preface xvii).

This work may be considered as a valuable addition or supplement to the "Provincial Letters," published by Painter in 1843, and which exposed in detail most of the errors found in the "Tracts for the Times," and of which this treatise on "Development" may be regarded as the natural consequence. In this his last publication, Mr. Faber very properly and satisfactory expresses his adherence to all those principles and views which have been brought forward by him in the precceding volumes; and more especially those which have been most controverted, relating to the exposition of prophecy.

"On the same honest principle of action, if, from the perusal of several works of contemporary living authors, I now believed myself to be wrong, I would with equal fearlessness openly avow my conviction to that effect......... At my time of life, to open afresh the prophetic controversy is not to be thought of....... Hence I must be content with saying, that were the authors alluded to severally differ from me and occasionally censure me, I have not seen, even where the greatest pretensions are made, the slightest reason to abandon my exposition and to adopt that of another in preference. While I thus express my full conviction in regard to our several labours, I may notice a circumstance not a little remarkable. With the exception of the two curiously jarring classes of Preterists and Futurists, there is a general expositorial convergence, so far as the anticipation of some fearful crisis is concerned, to times not very distant from the present. Nay, what is still more remarkable, the same anticipation seems extensively to prevail on purely secular and political grounds. The proverb tells us, that coming events cast their shadows before them. May this hitherto favoured nation not madly call down the storm upon its own head by apostasy repeated and continuous!" (272).

Margaret Russell: an Autobiography. London: Longman. 1846. In these teeming days of the press, when every third man, woman, and, we may add, child is an author, and when consequently we are inundated with trash of every description, much which is merely dull, and not a little which is pernicious, it is something to light upon a volume, which, like the present, stands out in agreeable relief from the crowd of competitors for public favour. There is in the book before us much that challenges the grave attention of the reader-much that indicates a mind

VOL. XX,-K K

above the level of ordinary writers-much to amuse, and not a little to instruct. It is not altogether free from affectation in its style, which is occasionally stilted and laboured. Nevertheless it has the redeeming merit of purity of thought, keenness of perception, and careful study of that darkest of all problemsthe human heart. That to which we are disposed to urge the gravest objection is a morbid taste for the horrible, which, be the book a genuine autobiography or not, and we have our doubts on this point, might have been forborne without prejudice to the moral it designs to inculcate. There is, on the other hand, much of graceful thought, poetic feeling, and occasionally a power of diction not often found in works of this order. We will justify our estimate of the author's power of depicting human character by quoting a sketch of what the author styles a formalist-one of those ascetics who stand grim sentinels at the gate they should throw open, and who repel when they should invite. It is such gloomy fanaticism that has chilled the zeal of many a young heart on the threshold of religion, and driven it to seek, in the gaieties of dissipation, that cheerfulness which properly belongs to, and is ever the offspring of, true piety. But let the author speak for herself:

"On the death of my mother, to whom I owed all the good that entered into my composition, I was at once transferred to the care of the oldest of my maternal aunts. Although a person who, in her own opinion, exercised an important influence, both by precept and example, in her own immediate neighbourhood, yet so perverse were the principles upon which she acted, and so constantly were her efforts to inculcate lessons of piety counteracted by the method she took to impart them, that it would have been difficult to say what real good she did, or what specific purpose she fulfilled in the scale of being. She was one of those who are content to act religion instead of doing it.' Her love, if indeed she could ever condescend to love what she termed 'corrupt humanity,' was not heart-warm; there was no pulse of life in it. Her charity was the mere charity which ministers to the wants of the body, while it leaves those of the mind uncared-for; and in this her means would not allow her to indulge. That a generous sympathy for the distress of the afflicted, generally, and a forbearance even towards those who are sufferers from the consequence of their own evil passions, were necessary portions of the creed she professed, seemed never to have occured to her. If she visited the sick she left the cottage of the labourer more desolate than she found it; for she gave only that of which the heart of the sufferer was full-prayer; while she took away that of which it was most barren-hope; the twofold hope of the sinned against and sinning-the hope of sympathy on earth and of mercy in heaven. If she entered the Sunday-school, it is true that the children were awed by her presence; that they put on a graver aspect, and lifted up their little voices in the Sabbath song of praise with a more

solemn intonation; but the image of the Deity in their minds was in a moment transformed from a God of love to a God of fear by the sudden apparition of this-to them-severe herald of his displeasure.

"In her own household the same cold, harsh measures were pursued. For the house itself, a gloom seemed to rest on everything, animate and inanimate, within its walls. And as for the servants-God help them!-I pitied them from my heart. Like the inhabitants of Chorasm, they were driven to worship with a scourge. Not only their actions, but their words, their looks, their dress-nay, if possible, their very thoughts were ruled over with a strictness of supervision that would have done honour to the inquisitor."

With this quotation we dismiss a volume in which we assure our readers they will find much to instruct as well as to amuse.

Observations in Natural History: with an Introduction on Habits of Observing as connected with the Study of that Science. Also a Calendar of Periodic Phenomena in Natural History; with Remarks on the Importance of such Registers. By the REV. L. JENYNS, M.A. London: Van Voorst. 1846.

FALSTAFF was not only witty himself, but the cause of wit in other men. This is not only an instructive book, but it will produce instruction, by teaching its readers how they may collect new facts, and add to the stock of knowledge which we already possess; and enlarge, and methodize, and perfect the details of that interesting science of which it treats-a science co-extensive with the earth's circumference, varied as are its mountains and woods and plains, diversified by every change of region or temperature or climate, and equally perfect, equally attesting the hand that made us is Divine," in the most minute as in the most stupendous of the objects of its research. Such a science as natural history does, above all other pursuits, require for its attaining to perfection the co-operation of numbers, in all parts of the earth, and at all seasons of the year, following as far as possible the same method of observation, and the same order of classification, that the novelty and importance of each correct observation may be at once apparent, and it may take its true place in an universal system, and advance general science.

'

"The author of the present work, when engaged a few years back, in preparing notes for a new edition of White's Natural History of Selborne' soon formed a larger stock of matter collected upon his hands than it was thought desirable to use on that occasion. This led to the idea of embodying a considerable proportion of this matter in a separate work, such as is now offered to the public."

But the present volume is not at all of the desultory imme

thodical character of White's "Letters" which were suggested merely by accidentally meeting with this or that specimen at the time of writing: nor is the present work intended to supersede or clash with that of White, but rather to be its companion-supplying that method and classification which White did not attempt, and which could not be forced into such a work as his. And it is also designed to increase the number of observers, and to teach them to observe to as good purpose as he did, that many Whites may arise to instruct posterity as agreeably as we have been instructed by him, and every hamlet which has been equally favoured by nature may become as known to fame as Selborne.

"It is doubtless in a great measure owing to the influence which White's Natural History of Selborne' has exercised on the present generation that the science has had so many followers in this country, of late years. It is not that his work carries us any great way in unravelling the mysteries of Nature; but it is the spirit which it breathes that so strongly recommends it to our notice. He has induced others to follow up the same sort of life which had such charms for himself; and to him we are indebted for many volumes besides his own, of which the authors, by their own acknowledgment, were first excited and trained to habits of observing by the perusal of his work........They have learnt to attach a value to little points, which formerly would have been passed over as unimportant, or per haps not observed at all" (10, 11).

On these "little points" it is that the advance of sciencenow depends: yet, it must also be remembered that the minutiae of a trifler are not the "points," alluded to; but they are the lynx-eyed, close, characteristic observations of one whose mind has been trained to accuracy in the school of science; and who does not note every accidental occurrence, like a mere idler, but only such facts as will prove luciferous or fructiferous, though he himself may not be able to perceive all the light that is in them, and may not reap all their fruits.

The introduction, of forty six pages, treats on the habits of observing, and is full of practical good sense, the result of a life actively employed in that branch of science concerning which it treats: emunerating the various points which are likely to occur in various situations, and specifying those to which the attention should be particularly directed. Some useful remarks are also made on the best manner of searching for facts in natural history, insisting on the necessity for great patience on the part of every observer, and recommending repeated observations of the same phenomena under the same circumstances, and also the practice of visiting the same spots repeatedly, especially at different periods of the year.

St. Pierre used to say that he never allowed a single day to pass without acquiring some further information, and in proof of the opportunities which may be found everywhere he says"One day in summer, while I was busied in the arrangement of some observations which I had made, I perceived on a strawberry plant, which had been accidentally placed in my window, some small winged insects so very beautiful that I took a fancy to describe them. Next day a different sort appeared, which I proceeded likewise to describe. In the course of three weeks, no less than thirty-seven species, totally distinct, had visited my strawberry plant: at length they come in such crowds and presented such variety that I was constrained to relinquish this study, though highly amusing, for want of leisure" (45).

The volume itself consists of observations on nearly all the English quadrupeds, each under a distinct head; observations on birds in general, as to their song, migration, nests, and other habits; and notes on particular species, under about seventy heads-Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, Worms, and Mullusks follow in order; and the whole is summed up in a tabular form as a "Calendar of Periodic Phenomena, in Natural History," with an "Alphabetical Arrangement of the Phenomena in the foregoing Calendar," and a "General Index."

It would be superfluous to add anything in praise of a work on natural history, by one, who is so well known as the "Editor of White of Selborne." But we have thought it our duty to make our readers acquainted with the contents of the volume, and what it professes to be; so that all those that are in want of such a guide themselves, or who wish to put a good book of the kind into the hands of their children, may know where to find one which will not disappoint their expectations.

The Catholic Doctrine of the Second Advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. By the Rev. F. CLOSE, A.M. London: Hatchard and Son.

1846.

THIS little volume consists of four sermons preached in the parish church of Cheltenham by the revered incumbent. The view adopted by the author on this subject may be gathered from his declaration :

"We reject as unscriptural and simply fictitious all ideas of a renovated earth and a finite temporal reign upon it: we assert the Catholic doctrine of the destruction of this great globe by fire, and the eternal happiness of God's saints in the presence of Christ in a new and better world when time shall be no more."

Mr. Close expounds his views in a clear, simple, and forcible