Dominion over the Unseen World, with an Introductory Essay; by the Rev. Robert Balmer;-Lord Clarendon's Papers, illustrative of the History of Ireland during the Years 1675 to 1700, and Debates in the House of Commons during the Interregmum, from the original manuscripts in the possession of W. Upcott, with Notes; History of Europe during the last Twenty five Years;-A Treatise on Education, by Madame Campan ;-The Conway Papers, from the collection of the Marquis of Hertford;-Constitutional History of England; by H. Hallam;-Papers of Sir R. Wilmot, Bart;-Recent Discoveries in Africa; by Major Dixon Denham;-Voyages of Discovery, to survey New Holland, between the Years 1817 and 1822; by P. P. King. OXFORD.-The following is the subject for the Theological Prize: "The opera tion of human causes only will not sufficiently account for the propagation of Christianity." This subject for an English essay, is proposed on the following conditions:The candidate must have passed his examination for the degree of B.A. or B.C.L. He must not have exceeded his twentyeighth term, on the first of this present December. He must have commenced his sixteenth term on or before the first of February next. The essays are to be sent under a sealed cover to the Registrar, by Wednesday in Easter week. 66 To the will be gratuitously admitted. Since the discovery of the Milton manuscript in the State-Paper Office, Mr. Lemon, jun. has found an entire translation of "Boetius de Consolatione Philosophia" by Queen Elizabeth. Walpole mentions that the queen had translated this work; but no vestige of it was known to exist. Nearly the whole is in her majesty's own hand-writing; but there are parts written by her private secretary, and by the secretary of state. It is stated, that there are letters discovered which identify this translation to have been made by the queen. The public is to be gratified with the publication of this literary curiosity. A novel class of publications has recently started into life, with a suddenness almost as great as that of the birth of twopenny works;—namely, annual works of expensive embellishments, and some of them of literary merit, designed as NewYear's presents. Two or three of them are of a religious cast. The At a recent meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, a paper was read on the remains of the sub-church of Edward the Confessor, in the cellars under Westminster Abbey. The most important remain is the vault where the pix was deposited, The following are the Chancellor's Prizes and which, it is thought, was formerly the for the ensuing year, viz:-Latin Verses- treasury of the kings of England. Montes Pyrenæi." English Essay-"Is altar-table and piscina remain. On the a rude, or a refined age, more favourable to upper slab of the altar is a concavity, used the production of works of fiction?" La- perhaps to contain the oil for anointing tin Essay-"Quibus præcipue de causis in the kings. This sub-church is more than artium liberalium studiis Romani Græcis vix four feet below the present level of the pares, nedum superiores evaserint." Sir Abbey Church, which is 2 feet 4 inches Roger Newdigate's Prize-Trajan's Pillar. above the level of the cloisters. It appears CAMBRIDGE.-The Seatonian Prize was that in the course of ages, the level of the adjudged to the Rev. John Overton, of city of Westminster has been raised from Trinity College, for his poem on "The four to six feet. At every entrance to the Building and Dedication of the Second abbey from the street is a descent. Temple. The subject of the Norrisian Prize Essay for the ensuing year is-" The Mosaic Dispensation not intended to be perpetual.' A course of lectures in the Chinese language, has commenced at the house of the Language Institution, 27, Bartlett's Buildings, Holborn, which will be continued every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at eleven o'clock, during the months of January and February next. A similar course of lectures, in the Bengalee Language, has also commenced. Missionaries, missionary students, clergymen and other ministers, and students for the ministry, FRANCE. Baron Charles Dupin's lectures on mathematics (in their application to the arts), delivered last winter to the artizans of Paris, are in a course of publication; and the minister of marine has ordered the royal professors, at forty-four sea-ports, to repeat them to the youth training up for the public service. A memoir was lately read before the Asiatic Society of Paris, by M. Schulz, respecting a very remarkable and hitherto unnoticed Oriental MS. in the library of the king of France; namely, a Persian translation of the Sanscrit poem Russia United States. safety have decided that the thickness of the chains should be so calculated, that the weight should not exceed eight tons per square inch of the sectional surface, and that, before use, they should be subjected to a proof-weight of double that power without sensible elongation. The best iron it was found supported, without breaking, twenty-six tons per square inch; but began to elongate with about sixteen: bad iron gave way under fourteen tons to the square inch, and did not elongate materially before it burst. Mahabharata, performed by command, of the Emperor Akbar. It consists of 781 leaves, in large folio. The first twelve pages contain eulogies upon Shah Akbar, preceded by ascriptions of praise to God. The followers of Mahomet and the worshippers of Brahma, although subject to the same government, were in the reign of Akbar, in a state of religious animosity; and the emperor, it appears, wished to reconcile them, by making each party better known to the other, an example of tolerance extraordinary on the part of a Musulman prince, represented as holding the koran in one hand and the sword in the other. Grounds however exist for distrusting the Musulman orthodoxy of the great Akbar; for example, his placing "in the same rank" the faithful along with heretics. It is observable, besides, that in nearly all his letters he has omitted the customary formula of benedictions of Mahomet. But the most irrefragable evidence of his heresy is furnished in a letter addressed to the king of Portugal, found in two MSS. in the royal library of France; in which he avows that "he has followed the plan of frequenting the company of wise men of all classes, profiting by the precious words and sublime ideas of each of them;" and with a view of deriving more information respecting the Christian religion, he requests a Persian and Arabic translation of the Evangelists, the Psalms, and the Pentateuch. There is in the royal library a translation of the Four Evangelists, made, as the catalogue states, by command of Akbar. M. C. De Percival, in an Arabic grammar lately published at Paris, gives a characteristic illustration of the mock sublime in language, and the mixture of secular business and religion, for which the Orientals are distinguished, in an Arabic "certificate of the noble birth of a race horse." "Peace be to him that reads these characters, and who possesses good sentiments! We, humble servants of the most high God, certify and declare, by our good fortune, by our fate, and by our girdles, that the sorrel colt, aged three years"-Here follows the description and pedigree at large, tracing up the animal's descent to "those horses which God created by the breath of the winds, and presented to the prophet (may the Lord shed upon him his benedictions!), and which the prophet distributed to his companions. It is in their praise that the prophet hath said," &c. &c. Chain bridges having begun to be adopted in France, a committee of public ITALY. The Academy of Sciences, at Leghorn, has proposed a prize for the solution of the following problem: To determine the influence, useful or hurtful, of different states of memory on the understanding, and its utilities with regard to the other faculties, &c.; and to shew by what educational means it may be developed, strengthened, or recovered. RUSSIA. The expedition to Siberia for the purpose of determining geographically the coasts of the Frozen Sea, and the north-eastern part of Siberia has returned to St. Petersburgh. The results have not yet been given to the public. UNITED STATES. An elaborate work has lately been published at Vermont, by the Rev. W. Chapin, entitled "The Missionary Gazetteer," comprising an account of the places where Protestant Missionaries have laboured; alphabetically arranged, and so constructed as to give a particular and general history of Missions throughout the world; with an Appendix, containing an alphabetical list of missionaries, their stations, and other particulars. The American Sunday-school Magazine states, that a strong effort was lately made to have the reading rooms of the Athenæum in Philadelphia kept open durVaing certain hours on the Sunday. rious addresses were delivered on the occasion; but one from a distinguished civilian, Mr. Duponceau, produced the greatest effect. He urged, among other considerations, apart from religion, "that the strict observance of Sunday is peculiar to the United States; and that the sacred manner in which this day is kept, so very different from its observance in any country in Europe as to make it a striking feature in the character of the nation, should, as such, independent of all other considerations, be most carefully cherished as a national trait. The American traveller in other lands would re 780 Persia-India-New Publications--Bible Society. member his country with affection, while he said to himself They do not keep Sunday so at home:' and he would love his country for the very peculiarity." Only thirty-five voters could be found to resolve on a public violation of the Sabbath: the number on the other side, amounted to between eighty and a hundred. PERSIA. At Cochom there are preserved, some leaves belonging to a koran, of the most magnificent dimensions perhaps in the world. These leaves are formed of thick paper; and when opened out, measure from ten to twelve feet long, by seven or eight broad: the letters are beautifully formed, as if made by a single stroke of a gigantic pen. Few of the leaves are perfect, as they have been mutilated for the sake of the ornaments, or the blank paper of the immense margin. INDIA. [DEC Malabars as given in a native work: "Spend The following are moral maxims of the Have nothing to do with witchcraft; Go no day without offering prayers to God; not where you have no invitation; Ridicule not the absent; Shew not your back to the enemy; Contend not with the Criticize not the faults of others; Satirize poor; Abuse not any without a cause; not a virtuous woman; Contemn not the divinely inspired sages; Treat not the learned contemptuously; Carry no tales another; Have no intercourse with gamof detraction; Become not security for blers; Reside not where there is no temple; Utter not a lie, though death be near you; Never regard your enemy as a friend; Associate not with mountebanks; Second not a new custom; Travel not by a solitary route." LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. THEOLOGY. A Review of the Conduct of the Directors of the Bible Society, relative to the Apocrypha, with an Answer to the Rev. C. Simeon; by R. Haldane, Esq. A Plea for the Protestant Canon of Sabbath Meditations, in Prose and A Companion for Pilgrims on their A Treatise on the Necessity of being born again; by the Rev. H. Gipps. 1s. 6d. Christian Characteristies; by the Rev. T. Lewis. 5s. Fifteen Select Sermons; printed by the Religious Tract Society. 2s. 6d. The Lollards, or some Account of the Witnesses for the Truth in Great Britain, for 1400 to 1546. MISCELLANEous. Stranger's Elements of Hindu Law. ing the Reformation, under the Tudor English Stories, third series, illustratPrinces; by Maria Hack. 7s. A System of Punctuation on fixed Principles; by C. J. Addison. 4s. Dead; by the Author of Jane and her The Causes and Evils of War; by An Encyclopædia of Agriculture; by Remembrancer for 1826. 18mo. 12s. pursued at the Infant School, Meadow- braica, with introductory Lessons; by T. Historical Sketch of the Origin and 2 vols. royal 8vo. 11. 15s. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE We have not hitherto noticed the inquiry controversy which we could not hope to de announce, that this important question has cide. We are happy, however, at length to been determined in the manner explained in the following circular and resolution. We will not revive the discussion; and shall therefore only say, that our opinion is, that the Committee have come to a most wise and judicious conclusion; and we trust, that, by the blessing of God, the discussions which have taken place on this subject, and which might have led to serious differences of opinion in the Society, will be found to have terminated only in renewing the ardour of all its friends in its The following is a circular from the Secretaries, dated November 28. cause. "The earnest attention of the Committee having been solicited, by certain members of the Society, and also by many of the Committees of its Auxiliaries, to the propriety of affording aid, from the funds of this institution, to the circulation of foreign editions of the Scriptures, which contain the Apocrypha, the subject was referred to a Special Committee, appointed for that purpose; from which, as well as from the General Committee, it has received the most mature consideration. The result we are instructed to transmit to you in the subjoined Resolution. "It is our fervent prayer, that the harmony which has hitherto subsisted among the members and friends of this institution, both at home and abroad, may be preserved to the latest age; and that the Society may long continue to prove a blessing to the Christian Church, and also to the World at large. ANDREW BRANDRAM, C. F. A. STEINKOPFF, Secretaries. "November 21, 1825. "The Committee, in accordance with the spirit of the recommendation in the Report of the Special Committee, adopted the following Resolution ;-viz. 666 That the Funds of the Society be ap. plied to the printing and circulation of the Canonical Books of Scripture, to the exclusion of those books, and parts of books, which are usually termed Apocryphal; and, that all copies printed, either entirely or in part, at the expense of the Society, and whether such copies consist of the whole, or of any one or more of such books, be invariably issued bound; no other books whatever being bound with them; and, further, that all money grants to societies or individuals be made only in conformity with the principle of this regulation.'”. At a subsequent Meeting of the Committee, this resolution was read and confirmed. We have prepared an abstract of the Society's last Report, which we purpose to lay before our readers in the Appendix. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 288, FUND FOR THE RELIEF OF THE WALDENSES. We have frequently had occasion, in former volumes, to bring before our readers, the past and present condition of the Vaudois or Waldenses, and their clains on the sympathy and charity of their fellowChristians, and fellow-Protestants in this country. We are most happy to learn that the circumstances of these interesting people are beginning to awaken a very general interest in their behalf,and that a highly respectable Committee has been formed for receiving donations and subscriptions for their relief. We have intended to lay before our readers some interesting recent particulars respecting them, and the plans in progress for their benefit, in reviewing the Rev. S. Gilly's "Excursion in the Mountains of Piemont," but have delayed our notice of that work, till we could combine with it two others on the eve of publication; the one, a Description of the Valleys and their Inhabitants, by the Rev. T. Sims; the other, a posthumous work from the pen of the late Moderator of the Waldensian Church, J.R. Peyrani, which, we understand, will supply many new and interesting details respecting the history of his venerable church and countrymen*. M. Peyrani (or Peyran) is described as a man distinguished for profound erudition, acute powers of reasoning, accurate judgment, and a clear and vigorous style. It is stated in a note to Mr. Gilly's work, that his MSS. have been entrusted to the Rev. Thomas Sims, to be published for the benefit of his family. These MSS. consist of dissertations and letters on a variety of theological, philological, philosophical, and historical subjects. For the present, it is intended to publish a single volume in the original (French), containing pieces of an argumentative naRome. The author undertakes to prove ture against the errors of the Church of from the testimony of even Roman-Catholic writers, That the Waldenses and Albigenses were not two distinct bodies, but one body under different names; that their faith was similar to that of Protestants; that though stigmatized as Arians and Manichees, they opposed the than the Church of Rome did; that, to errors of those heretics more successfully ascertain their origin, we must recur to the first ages of the Christian church; that the Waldenses have both adhered to true doctrines and opposed the novelties of Rome; and that, with the exception of the primitive church, no Christian people have been more distinguished for their virtues and morals, or have shewn more zeal for the propagation of the Gospel, or greater fortitude and constancy under affliction. 5 H In the summer of 1823, the Rev. T. Sims and Mr. Plenderleath paid a second visit to the valleys of Piedmont, accompanied by Mr. Durbin Brice, for the purpose of inquiring minutely into the temporal and spiritual wants of the Waldenses. and more especially with respect to the state of education amongst them. Having explored their villages and hamlets, they were fully persuaded that one of the greatest benefits that can be conferred is the establishment of schools for girls, under the care of schoolmistresses, who shall instruct the children in needlework, knitting, &c as well as in reading the holy Scriptures. This plan received the cordial approbation of the ministers of the Waldensian Churches, as females competent to undertake the instruction of the girls are to be found in the valleys. The population of the valleys amounts to between eighteen and twenty thousand souls, who inhabit fifteen villages, (in which thirteen ministers officiate), and one hundred and three contiguous hamlets. Fifteen schools are wanted for the villages, for the greater part of the year, at an expense of ten pounds each; and one hundred and three small schools are wanted, during five winter months, in the hamlets, at an expense of three pounds each. The necessity for establishing so many small schools, it is stated, arises from the nature of the country. To each parish, five, six, or more hamlets, situate on the declivities of the mountains, are attached. In the winter, the season when these smaller schools are kept, the hamlets are surrounded by deep snow, that covers such tremendous precipices and ravines, that the lives of the children would be in imminent danger, if they were to go from one hamlet to another. A school is therefore wanted if there are only twelve or fifteen children in the hamlet; but frequently we find twenty, thirty, and more. In the smaller hamlets, a schoolmistress may give instruction to little boys as well as girls. We would suggest the utility of forming circulating schools where fixed ones cannot be supported. Amongst other inducements for extending relief to the Vaudois, there are three particularly mentioned, in an address which has been printed on their behalf; namely, their poverty-the danger of apostasy to which they are exposed-and the magnitude of the benefits to be conferred by The price of the volume is not intended to exceed 10s. The profits will be placed in the hands of a committee, for the benefit of M. Peyran's family. Subscribers transmit their names to our publishers. may means of a comparatively small sum of money. The inducements are detailed as follows: "Their poverty and privations are extreme. The hardships they endure in procuring the necessary food for their families, are such as we rarely witness. Compelled to raise walls even to prevent the scanty portions of soil on the sides of the mountains from being washed down by torrents; obliged to break up that soil by manual labour, since no cattle can be used to plough it; forced, (women as well as men,) on account of the steepness of the ground, to carry hay, corn, &c. on their backs to a great distance, and thus undertake the drudgery assigned to horses in England; and, after this excessive labour, obtaining, in the generality of instances, only coarse buck-wheat, chesnuts, and potatoes for their subsistence;-none can feel surprised that they are not able to pay for the education of their children, however desirous and they are ardently so—that they may be instructed. "The Waldenses still maintain, as their forefathers did, a strong attachment to those great truths of the Gospel which prevailed among the primitive Christians, and were revived at the Reformation; but education is particularly requisite, because their temptations to apostatize are very great. Snares are, in fact, continually laid; bribes are perpetually offered to seduce them to conform to the Church of Rome; especially when obliged to seek employment as servants in Roman-Catholic families, and removed from home. This circumstance alone may well induce those who really love the Protestant religion, to assist in promoting education; that, being well instructed in the truths of the Gospel, the females may be still preserved from fatal errors, and enabled, under every temptation, to persevere in an unshaken attachment to the truths bequeathed to them by their ancestors. "The magnitude of the benefits conferred, by means of a comparatively small sum, is likewise a strong additional reason for aiding them; and it is proposed, as a desirable way of proceeding, that one individual should kindly undertake to collect from a few friends, small annual contributions of five shillings from each person, to make up either the sum of ten pounds. for a village, or three pounds for a hamlet school." A Committee has been formed in London, for their relief; and sums of money remitted, either for the school-fund, the hospital, their ministers, or churches, the |