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tion. The volunteer minister of the gospel, detached from settlement, with a heart to work, can almost anywhere find enough to do, and that without quit ting country or kindred. Pitch his tent where he may, "high-ways and hedges are sure to be at hand. The sword of the Spirit need not, for want of use, rust in its scabbard. My own experience has been, in one respect peculiar. I commenced the now completed semi-centennial circle of years, as a herald and spiritual watchman to those among whom were not a few of the cultivated and refined, the rich, elevated and honorable in society. It is now my mission in providence to preach the gospel, for the most part, to the poor."

A Treatise on Prayer; designed to assist in the devout discharge of that duty. With a few forms of Prayer. By the Rev. EDWARD BICKERSTEH, Rector of Watton, Herts. New York: American Tract Society. New Haven: F. T. Jarman.

We need not commend a work so well known. Those who are not acquainted with Bickersteth on Prayer, will get a good idea of the plan from the title page. The Tract Society's edition, we believe, omits nothing material to the usefulness of the work.

The Brief Remarker on the Ways of Man; or, Compendious Dissertations respecting social and domestic relations and concerns, and the various economy of life. By EZRA SAMPSON. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

A new edition of Sampson's Brief Remarker, is a credit to American literature. In purity of English, and in lucid simplicity and beauty of style, there is no better model for young writers. In sound sense, in shrewdness of observation on mankind, and in suggestions of practical prudence, the essays of Franklin are not superior; while in moral tone and influence, and in the gentle and genial warmth of a truly religious spirit, the Brief Remarker rises above the level of Addison or any English essayist.

We cannot but regret that the filial piety to which, if we are rightly informed, the public are indebted for this new and neat edition of an American classic, did not prefix to the Brief Remarker some biographical account of the author, whose name is hardly known to the present generation, save as it stands on this one title page.

Memoir of Reginald Heber, D. D., Bishop of Calcutta. By his Widow. Abridged by a Clergyman. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co.

This is an interesting abstract of the extended biography which appeared some years since, and contains whatever was valuable to the general reader in the original production. The compiler has had the good taste to introduce several of the sacred hymns by which the subject of the memoir has obtained his wide fame in the Christian Church, and no one can read without pleasure the testimony that these were the natural blossoms of deeply rooted piety. We commend the book to the attention of Sabbath Schools, as a valuable publication for the use of Bible classes.

Life of Schamyl; and Narrative of the Circassian War of Independence against Russia. By J. MILTON MACKIE, Author of Cosas De Espana. Boston: John P. Jennett & Co. 1856.

This volume contains the graphic sketch of a hero; and as it has been compiled from reliable authorities, and is composed with skill, it may be

profitably placed in the hands of youth. A manly struggle for freedom. challenges the sympathy of the noble hearted of every race.

66

Vassal Morton. A Novel. By FRANCIS PARKMAN, Author of "The History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac," and Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life." Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co.

There is far more talent and literary skill in this book than is ordinarily employed in the composition of a novel. Mr. Parkman is not a mere imitator. He writes from his own observation of nature, of society, and of the varieties of human character.

Chapel and Church Architecture, with Designs for Parsonages. By Rev. GEORGE BOWLER, Roxbury, Mass. Boston: Published by John P. Jewett & Company. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. 1856.

The design of this work is to give to building committees, and others, a series of plans in different styles, adapted to different localities, embodying all the modern improvements, and accompanied by such suggestions as may be necessary in order to a right carrying out of the projects which may be formed for the convenient accommodation of the people. The work contains seventeen designs, with forty plates, got up in elegant style, and will be found to be a valuable addition to former works on this subject. Our readers will find an able article on Church Architecture in the May number of the New Englander, 1854, by the Rev. Dr. Daggett, to which we would direct the attention of all who are engaged in Church Architecture.

Forest and Shore, or Legends of the Pine-tree State. By CHARLES P. ILSLEY. Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co. New Haven: F. T. Jarman.

The "Legends of the Pine-tree State," videlicet the State of Maine, are a collection of novelettes originally written for magazine or newspaper circulation. Our copy purports to be one of the "fourth thousand." The stories are well written-better every way than the average of such publications.

The Select Remains of the Rev. John Mason. Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co. New Haven F. T. Jarman.

The John Mason whose "Select Remains" are here reprinted, was contemporary with Baxter and the two thousand Non-Conformists who were excluded by the Act of Uniformity. He was eminent as a godly man; and though his conscience did not forbid him to accept the forms and subscriptions imposed upon the clergy of the Established Church of England, his sanctity and devotion were honored by those who had suffered many afflictions for the sake of a more scrupulous conscience. This little book was long ago a valued and well-worn book with religious readers. In the present edition it is reproduced in an antique form, as books were printed a hundred years ago.

Boston: Philips,

The Earnest Man; A Sketch of the Character and Labors of Adoniram Judson,
First Missionary to Burmah. By Mrs H. C. CONANT.
Sampson, & Co. New Haven: Durrie & Peck.

Mrs.

Dr. Wayland's memoir of Judson has had a wide circulation. Conant's volume, deriving its materials chiefly from Dr W.'s large work,

is more than a "sketch," though she describes it by that modest title. It is a complete biography of the remarkable man whom it portrays, and is well adapted to a large class of readers who might be repelled from the two thick volumes of the larger work. Mrs. Conant is well known as a graceful writer.

The Right Way; or, The Gospel applied to the Intercourse of Individuals and Nations. By the Rev. JOSEPH A. COLLIER, Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church, Geneva, N. Y. American Tract Society. Sold by F. T. Jarman, New Haven.

The late Dr. Merrill of Middlebury, Vt., offered a premium which was awarded by a judicious committee to the author of this work. Mr. Collier, following in the steps of others who have written in the same cause, proposes arbitration in all cases of difficulty between governments, as a substitute for war. He does not go to the extent of denying the right of government to use force in the defence of its subjects, and in the administration of justice.

The New Age of Gold; or, the Life and Adventures of ROBERT DEXTER ROMAINE. Written by himself. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co.

This is a new modification and application of the old idea of Robinson Crusoe. It might be called Robinson Crusoe without his man Friday, but with a wife and children instead. If it has less poetry in it than Wilson's Isle of Palms (being written in prose,) it has much more of philosophy. Its air of verisimilitude is almost equal to that which gives such a charm to its great original, and which so confounds the credulous reader of Gulliver's Travels.

The Roman Exile. By GUGLIELMO GAJANI, Professor of Civil and Canon Law, and Representative of the People in the Roman Constituent Assembly in the year 1849. Boston: J. P. Jewett & Co.

The free and Protestant people of these States ought to be better acquainted than they are with the people of Italy. From the reports of travelers, English and American, we learn all about St. Peter's, the churches, holy week, the monasteries, the Vatican, the pictures, the ruins, the campagna, the malaria, the beggars and the fleas-in a word, whatever belongs to the outside view of things; but there is an aspect of Italy which no ordinary traveler can see. Whoever becomes acquainted with the Italian exiles among us-the intelligent and selfsacrificing men who have hazarded and lost everything for their country begins to know that there is more in Italy than what travelers can report, much more than what ordinary travelers think of looking for.

Our excellent and accomplished friend, Prof. Gajani, is himself" the Roman exile" of this book. Telling the story of his own life with characteristic simplicity and frankness, he shows his readers the better and more hopeful aspect of Italian affairs. There is a future for that glorious land. Rome has not "lost the breed of noble bloods." We congratulate our readers on the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the author of this book, and with many of his noblest compatriots.

We give one passage, which throws light upon an important event in the history of the late Italian struggle. Pellegrino Rossi was an

Italian by birth. He had been a professor in the University of Bologna, but had been exiled by Pius VII. in 1818, chiefly because of his religious opinions. He resided for several years in Geneva. After the revolution of 1830 he removed to France, and attached himself to the party of Guizot, the Protestant statesman, whose daughter he had married. In 1845 he was sent, by Louis Philippe, as his ambassador to negotiate with the Pope (Gregory XVI) for the removal of the Jesuits from France. He succeeded in that difficult mission, and, as the representative of a powerful government, acquired great influence at the court of Rome.

One morning, in the latter part of September, 1848, our author, entering the editor's office of a journal with which he was connected, was informed that Count Fabbri, the prime minister of Pius IX had resigned the last evening. In a few moments Monsignor Gazzola, a prelate holding just then a high office in the papal court, came in.

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'Monsignor Gazzola brought us an important piece of information, given to him by Cardinal Antonelli, and we had the privilege of publishing it before all our contemporaries, which were inclined to disbelieve our statement till it appeared in the official paper. The news was that the Pope had given to Pellegrino Rossi the office of premier vacated by Fabbri. Agostini himself could not believe it at first. But Monsignor Gazzola said, 'I am quite positive that such is the case; nay, Cardinal Antonelli added that he himself prevailed upon the Pope to request the services of that extraordinary man.'"

After rehearsing the antecedents of Rossi's history, the narrative proceeds :

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"But now Rossi was a simple Italian citizen and a pardoned exile, because Louis Philippe went down, and Rossi refused to serve the French republic, which offered to confirm him in his office. Now my native country,' said he, 'wants the aid of all her children.' Consequently, Rossi presented himself as a candidate for the elective constitutional council of Rome, and was one of the elected for the city of Bologna. It was not a new virtue with him: there is no record of an Italian statesman or general who preferred to serve foreigners when he could do something for his native country.

"The choice, however, of such a man to be the premier of the Pope was a great mystery. Besides his religious opinions and his open aversion to the Jesuits, Rossi was known to be of those politicians who advocated the separation of the temporal from the spiritual power in the person of the Pope. I have no doubt that he, as well as Silvani, Mammiani, Galeotti, and other statesmen professing this theory, knew perfectly well that the consequence of its practical application would be the final destruction of papacy, for it is a complicated system, which admits no alteration; and the temporal power, nay, the kingdom of Rome, were declared by Pius the Ninth, and several of his predecessors, necessary for the support of papacy. Rossi knew this, and, besides, he well understood that papacy was a falling and ruined edifice; but perhaps he preferred to let it fall, and by its own weight, fearing probably that a violent pull might produce deplorable accidents.

"I confess, however, that his temporizing policy did not please my friends and himself. We urged him through the newspapers; but respect for the personal qualities of that great man, and, above all, the general condition of Italy at that moment, made us refrain from every demonstration which could cause his dismission. In the meantime Rossi devoted himself with earnestness and firmness to doing away with the most enormous abuses of the papal adminis tration. He stopped the habitual dilapidations of the public treasury, and prevailed upon the Pope to lay an extraordinary tax of four millions of dollars upon the clergy, in order to restore a little his ruined finances.

"Besides this, the new minister disregarded, in many instances, the privi leges of the cardinals and prelates; nay, little by little he deprived them of all the political offices which they exclusively held, and filled their places with young men of talent, belonging to the national party. My friend Agostini was given the governorship of Fuligno, his native city, though he never applied for employment; and even to me was tendered the office of a collegiate judge. I declined it, because I was too fond of my independent profession of a lawyer; and then I had just attained the professorship of ancient Roman laws at the college of Fano, which did not interfere with my profession, and was a step to a higher place. Even the office of general director of police, formerly given only to a prelate already designed for cardinalship, was conferred by Rossi upon a young lawyer, a friend of mine. I need not say that Rossi accumulated on his head a new store of Jesuitical hatred.

"On the 15th of November (1848) there was to be in Rome the solemn opening of the second session of the deliberative bodies of the State, and this event was looked for with great anxiety by the people, because all the measures adopted by them during the first session had been frustrated by the veto of the Pope; and now the minister was to read the so-called speech of the crown, and exhibit his own programme. A little before one o'clock in the afternoon, I closed my office and went towards the Palace Della Cancelleria,' where the ceremony was to be performed. The large square before that palace was crowded with people. I saw a brilliant equipage crossing the square and entering the large door of the palace. It was the minister Rossi. I was at the opposite end of the square, but, standing upon a piece of a broken column placed beside a door, I could easily discover the large entrance where the carriage stopped.

"The minister came out of the carriage with two friends, and there were three servants in gala-livery to wait on him. An unknown man among the crowd touched the left arm of Rossi, who turned his head with a quick movement; at this, another tall, fierce-looking man plunged a knife into his neck, and then calmly withdrew among the crowd pressing forward to see what had hap pened. No one knew the assassin, and nothing has since been heard of him Horror and surprise allowed no one to think of securing him, and all turned to the wounded man, who died in a few minutes. His friend Mammiani, who was made minister in his place, soon after ordered a trial in order to discover the assassin. All that could be collected was, that the assassin was a middle-aged man, and of dreadful look, who had boasted the previous night that he could earn a thousand dollars the next day. He spoke a bad Sicilian dialect.

"There is little doubt that the murder was committed by a hired assassin, long inured to crime. But who hired the assassin? This is still a mystery, and I will not dare positively to accuse any one. But I take it for granted that only great hatred and great interest could have induced a person or a party to put a price on the life of that great man. The Liberal party, to which I belonged, abhorred such bloody deeds, and the whole of our conduct during the following revolution proved it; and then the Liberal party had no reason for hatred against Rossi,-nay, his conduct was useful to them. No one of the governors of the provinces appointed by him was afterwards changed by the revolutionists. No restrictive measures were adopted by Rossi during his short ministry; nay, the censorship of newspapers having illustrations and caricatures was first abolished by him. Under such circumstances, a difference of opinions could not produce a mortal hatred.

"What kind of interest could urge the Liberal party to the crime of taking the life of Rossi? Perhaps to deprive him of the ministry; but there was nothing more easy for them than to force him to resign by a simple demonstration, because neither he nor any other would have thought of resisting the popular will when there were no soldiers, and the national guard numbered twelve thousand well-armed young men In fact, the next day, when the Pope attempted a resistance, he had not a man with him excepting some two hundred Swiss guards. Will, then, any impartial man suppose that the Liberal party, cooly, and without hatred or interest, committed that crime?"

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