work we have met with great encouragement, at least 16 have been induced to attend York Road Chapel, who seldom went to any place of worship, and we have every reason to hope they will become regular attendants, having expressed deep interest in the ministry of our Pastor. We have met with very little opposition, and that only where Roman Catholics have resided. A poor woman, who is a lodger in one of the houses, asked for one of the little books to be left for her, as she had two in the house and thought them very interesting; we are happy to say that we frequently meet with such requests. We feel it exceedingly desirable that as many of our number as possible should be present at our monthly morning prayer meeting, as those who cannot assist in the work of tract distribution, may greatly help us by uniting their prayers with ours. The few who have met for this object have found the moments "sweet and rich in blessing," which they have spent together at the throne of grace, and God in his mercy has permitted us to see that our hearts' desires have not been expressed in vain. The following has been collected during the year:— as above stated 8 15 9 Balance brought forward last year 1 11 3 Making the total Receipts £5 7 0 Expenditude 4 1 2 Leaving a Balance in hand of £1 5 10 A donation of 10s., included in the above, was kindly procured for us by our esteemed pastor, and we feel it a duty and privilege to express our gratitude for his kindness in this instance, and for the earnest and loving appeals made by him on occasions like the present,and we trust that we may have for many years to come, the sympathy and co-operation of one whose ministry is so highly appreciated, and whose name will be ever dear to us all. The members of the Class cannot close this brief Report without expressing their grateful sense of the continued diligence and kindness of their beloved teacher, Miss Sherratt, and earnest prayers that her valuable life may be long spared for increased usefulness. Passing Ebents. THE event which has absorbed the marriage of the heir apparent of these interest of the whole country during realms, inasmuch as it is possible, and the past month, has been the MARRIAGE even probable, that he will at some of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales with the Princess Alexandra, daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark. We spare our readers a repetition of the many titles of the Royal Bridegroom, or the almost equally numerous names of his Bride. While the country takes a lively interest in all that concerns the family of our beloved widowed Queen, there is a special importance attached to the future period occupy the throne, and that it is of vital concern to the nation that the throne should be shared by one who will maintain the high moral tone by which the British Court has for many years been distinguished. In the Queen of William IV., as well as in Queen Victoria, an example has been set, the influence of which cannot be estimated. The present marriage constrains us to look backward to the last marriage of a Prince of Wales, and when we re- to the Prince's income, and have also member the disgraceful circumstances settled £10,000. a year on the Princess, under which that marriage was con- so as to enable them suitably to support tracted-the unfavourable omens which their high station. attended it--and its lamentable results, The seclusion in which her Majesty we cannot but feel devoutly thankful has remained ever since her great loss, that we can look upon the present union and which she still feels herself unable with feelings of unmingled satisfaction. to leave, has cast much gloom over the We are assured that it is what every the country, and especially over the marriage should be-an union of affec- metropolis-the tradesmen of which feel tion; and all that has been made public severely the absence of that stimulus relative to the Princess Alexandra, en- which the presence of the Court occourages the hope that that affection casions. All parties, therefore, seemed will be an enduring one. In answer to desirous to take the opportunity of an enquiry made in the House of rendering the arrival of the Princess an Commons as to whether the Princess occasion for allowing the people a season was a Protestant, our lively Premier not of relaxation and enjoyment, and most only gave a satisfactory answer to that thoroughly did they enjoy it. The question, but amused the House with suffering ribbon weavers of Coventry a little more information. Lord Palmer- were set to work to manufacture wedston said:ding favours to be generally worn; and "When the question arose as to the the carpenters and decorators of London selection of a Princess to be the wife of were engaged in preparing the means the Prince of Wales, the following con- for enabling its inhabitants to display ditions were held to be requisite. First, their loyalty and affection. It would be that she should be young. Secondly, in vain for us to attempt any detail of that she should be handsome. Thirdly, the pageant which extended from Marthat she should be agreeable. Fourthly, gate to Windsor; and, thanks to the that she should be amiable. Fifthly Penny Press, probably all our readers that she should have been well brought up; and lastly, that she should be a Protestant. All these conditions, I am happy to say, are united in the Princess Alexandra." have already been made familiar with This afforded the Cor In making the pecuniary arrangements necessary in connection with this marriage, fresh proofs have been afforded how much the Queen and her children, as well as the whole nation, have been indebted to the late lamented Prince Consort for his industry and prudence. It appears that the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, which belong to the Prince of Wales, have been so carefully managed during his minority, that they now amount to £60,000. per annum. There has also been an accumulation of about £550,000. which has been princi-veyed the Royal party to the South pally expended in the purchase of the Sandringham.estate in Norfolk. The legislature have added £40,000. a year Eastern Station in the Kent Road. to receive them. The Corporation of the Metropolitan City, left nothing undone to do honour to the occasion. In addition to presenting the Princess with a necklace and pair of ear-rings valued at £10,000., they determined that no effort should be wanting on their part to make the procession one of great interest. In this they had much difficulty to encounter from the Government, who feared that the labour thus imposed on the Princess might be too great for her. It was a trying time for a young lady of nineteen, to be thus made the object of special observation and criticism, by hundreds of thousands during a slow progress of seven miles; but yet it was so glorious a sight to witness the enthusiasm of the whole body of the people, from the highest to the lowest, that we are glad she was not hurried through the city, and have no doubt the Princess herself fully concurs in this, now that the trying ordeal has been passed. We considered it our duty on the Saturday morning to pass through the triumphal arch in Southwark, to inspect the arrangements which had been made to do honour to the occasion, in the decoration of London Bridge, the splendid arch forming the entrance to the City, the gay apparel which the ordinarily dingy Mansion House had put on, and the splendid ranges of seats provided by the Corporation in St. Paul's Churchyard for the accommodation of 10,000 of their friends, and then quietly took up a convenient station in Ludgate Street, provided by the kindness of a friend, and quietly awaited the arrival of the mingled procession of constables, soldiers, banners, footmen, and carriages, which occupied about an hour and ten minutes in passing. We did not of course see the Lady Mayoress descend from her balcony and present the bouquet; nor did we witness the departure of the civic procession at old Temple Bar, which had been cased with scarcely appropriate drawing room decorations, but we had a most satisfactory view of the Royal Pair, and joined heartily in the plaudits which greeted their advance. It must have been intensely gratifying to the parents of the Princess, who were seated in the carriage with her, to witness such a spontaneous effusion of affectionate greeting, and her younger sisters, who were in the preceding carriage, appeared highly amused at the scene. We can only mention that the Royal party passed through the lines of 17,000 volunteers in Hyde Park, reached the Great Western Railway Station at Paddington, at five minutes past five, and alighted at the Slough Station at thirteen minutes after six; where they were met by several members of the Royal Family, and entering their carriages proceeded through Eton to Windsor. of evening were now gathering, and somewhat heavy rain had set in; but neither of these were sufficient to prevent the hearty welcome of those assembled to greet them, including the boys belonging to the Eton School. The shades We have left ourselves no space to speak of the actual marriage, which took place on Tuesday, March 10th, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and at which the Queen was present, but privately. It would be in vain to say more about it, unless we were to copy out the programme, which would not be very edifying. The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated, and our readers will join with us in earnest prayer that the union thus auspiciously formed may be a long and happy one. The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society have prepared a magnificently bound copy of the Holy Bible to be presented by their President. the Earl of Shaftesbury, to the Prince of Wales on his marriage. A similar present will be made by the Sunday scholars of Manchester, the subscription from each being limited to one penny. Many meetings of scholars were held in various parts of the country on the wedding-day to celebrate the event. At Devonport the following adaptation of the National Anthem was sung:— "God save our gracious Queen, Send her victorious, God save the Queen." God bless her Royal Son, God of his childhood's days, Smile on the young Princess, Long may the Royal Pair Thy choicest gifts in store, Long may she reign; To sing, with heart and voice, On the Sunday morning we listened to an excellent sermon from Eph. v. 32, in which the event which had so much interested the public on the preceding day was made the means of spiritual instruction. Doubtless this was the case in many other places. On Monday afternoon, March 9th, special prayer-meetings were held in Willis's Rooms, King Street, St. James's, and in Exeter Hall, to supplicate the Divine blessing on the union to be formed on the following day. We did not attend either of them, but in the evening joined with much pleasure in one of a similar description. May the prayers thus offered bring down abundant blessings on those on whose behalf they were especially presented! Mr. TENNYSON, the Poet Laureate, has written a welcome to the Princess, which we have pleasure in preserving in our pages: Sea-kings' daughter from over the sea, Saxon and Normar and Dane are we, Welcome her, thunders of fort and of fleet! Break, happy land, into earlier flowers! Make music, O bird, in the new-budded bowers! Welcome her, welcome her, all that is ours! Warble, O bugle, and trumpet, blare! Flags, flutter out upon turrets and towers! Sea-kings' daughter as happy as fair, For Saxon or Dane or Norman we, We are each all Dane in our welcome of thee, Teuton or Celt, or whatever we be, Alexandra! A pleasing coincidence was noticed in a meeting of Christian friends, where the arrival of the Princess in England formed the subject of conversation. The captain of the vessel in which William Carey, the Founder of the Baptist Mission, had engaged his passage to India, alarmed at the risk he ran, compelled him and his companions to leave the vessel. He returned to London disconsolate, and went to the Jerusalem Coffee house, to seek some captain to take them, but in vain. He was, however, referred to the agents of a Danish ship, and in the "Cron Princessa Maria," Carey and his colleagues proceeded on their Godlike enterprise. When the East India Company sought to drivethem from India, the Danish Governor of Serampore had provided themselves with carriages, gave them shelter, and refused to yield all descriptions of which were called into to the repeated applications of the Com-requisition on the occasion, speedily pany for their expulsion. Many years found their hopes disappointed. The have since passed, and now a Danish vehicles which issued from every direcPrincess comes to take up her abode tion to the line of road leading from amongst us, and the first man who greets London Bridge to Hyde Park Corner, her on her arrival, is the deacon of a soon rendered it impossible either to adBaptist Church, who, in his official sta-vance or retreat, and very few of their tion, as Mayor of Margate, has the hon-occupants accomplished their object, of our of presenting to her an address from witnessing the brilliant splendour which the Corporation of that town, and of lit up that thoroughfare. receiving from her a hearty shake of the hand. The Birmingham Sunday School Union published a very pretty little Memorial of the Marriage for the perusal of scholars, under the title of "To-day, and a Thousand Years Ago," referring to the conflicts of Alfred with the Danes. We quote the following from it:— "The joy and gratitude of Sunday Scholars are very seemly on this occasion. The happy couple were not allowed much uninterrupted enjoyment of each other's society, as an evening party was announced at St. James's for the 20th March, for the purpose of the Princess of Wales's introduction. Probably so early a day was fixed, to accommodate her royal relatives, who would naturally deThey have much reason to thank sire to be present on so interesting an God for the difference there is between the occasion. Even on their wedding-day, circumstances of England to-day and of the Prince and Princess, while speeding a thousand years ago. They have great their way to Osborne, the place selected interest in the future piety and prosperity for their temporary sojourn, had to en- of the Prince and Princess of Wales. dure the infliction of Addresses at Read- The children of to-day must think of the ing and Southampton; no doubt, greatly Prince and Princess as their future King to their annoyance, but such is the and Queen, whom they will have to penalty which attends exalted rank. At obey and revere and love in the years length, however, they reached their re- that are to come. The happiness of the tirement in safety, while London pre-nation much depends upon the character pared to light up in their honour. The of those who rule in it, therefore the great increase in the population of the Bible teaches us to pray for Kings and metropolis, and the facilities afforded by for all that are in authority, that we may the railways for bringing into it an lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all enormous accession of visitors from the godliness and honesty. In these prayers country, combined to fill all the principal for the future, as well as in thanksgivthoroughfares with an innumerable mul- ings for the past, the voices of children titude. must blend." Those who had the resolution to view the splendid illuminations on foot generally succeeded, after much conflict and the endurance of considerable bodily pressure, in accomplishing their object; but it is lamentable to have to record that, at the cross-ways at Farringdonstreet and the Mansion House, nine persons lost their lives, and about 100 serious cases of injury also occurred. But those who with greater prudence time is £3,063. 14s. 11d. AMONGST the contributions during the last month to the SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION COTTON DISTRICTS' RELIEF FUND, we notice fifty-six pounds from the Calcutta Sunday School Union, shewing the interest taken in the subject by the scholars and teachers in our Indian metropolis. The amount received to the present |