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a powerful antidote in the present Village Dialogue, the production of a Clergyman, who by this and similar effusions in aid of his professional exertions, has ably defended his parish from the inroads of the enemy. How far the narrative may be founded in fact, we are not competent to say; but we have no difficulty in asserting, that it has the utmost force of verisimilitude.

The speakers, New-church and Nochurch, are introduced railing against the Church and its Ministers, and boasting of their own experiences, when accident brings old True-church to the spot, a venerable old man, who had never left the communion into which he had been baptized. They attack him, as usual, about formal prayers, and the heap of old stones in which he went to worship.

True-church answers:

"If you call a heap of old stones that venerable place where your own father, and all who went before him (now mingled with the church-yard dust) worshiped, I shall not reply; but I think a heap of old stones dedicated time out of mind to one holy purpose is, at any rate, as good as a heap of new bricks, whether nick-named Ebenezer or Zion; which might be thought, like some whom I have seen, all shew and profession on the outside."

His antagonists proceeding to use hard words against him, as is but too much their practice; old True-church says,

"I shall not return railing for railing; though perhaps, to a severe and unjust accusation, I may be pardoned (and peradventure sin not) if I return an answer mixed with some asperity; but, unconverted as I may be, in your opinion, I know that St. Paul classes railers and revilers with drunkards and adulterers.-Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. vi. 10.

The old man continues to fight them with Scriptural weapons, but with great mildness and simplicity, and powerfully defends the Liturgy and the Parish Minister. He quits them at length with Christian wishes; and they turn away to talk again of their experiences, and to rail at his

obstinacy. Though it is well said in another part, that, while they both appealed to the infallible witness of their own experiences, as the Lord had revealed them to each," yet nothing could be more different than their belief.

The circulation of this cheap Tract is calculated to do good service in the cause of the injured Clergy; and we know indeed that much has actually been effected by it.

4.

Instructions for the use of Candidates for Holy Orders, and of the Parochial Clergy, as to Ordination, Licences, Institutions, Collations, Induction, Dispensations: with Acts of Parliament relating to the Residence of the Clergy and Maintenance of Curates; and to Mortgages in cases of Buildings and Repairs; and also to Exchanges of Parsonage Houses and Glebe Lands: with the Forms to be used. By Christopher Hodgson, Secretary to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. Rivingtons.

has long been an Ecclesiastical desiSUCH a compilation as the present deratum. Drawn up as it is with the greatest care and attention, we have therefore much pleasure in strongly recommending it to the Clergy. We have good reason for believing that to several of our Prelates this formulary composition has given great satisfaction.

The Preface of the accurate Compiler incontrovertibly bespeaks the propriety of his undertaking; and is that part only of the volume which here it may be requisite to cite.

"The Compiler has in his official situation witnessed the inconvenience to which Candidates for Holy Orders, and Clergymen about to be licensed to cures or lectureships, and to be instituted or collated to benefices, and to solicit dispensations for plurality, are continually liable, in consequence of the want of a book of plain Practical Instructions on such subjects; and also the trouble which is experienced by Bishops and their Officers

in consequence of the papers and docuabove occasions being prepared in an ments necessary to be presented on the informal manner.

undertaking to supply the want of such "It appeared to him not an useless a work; and he has therefore, in the following pages, with such ability as the *The Rev. W. L. Bowles, of Brem- experience of several years devoted to his hill, Wilts. official duties has afforded, and from the

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authority of the Acts of Parliament and Canons relating to the subject, in a plain and, he trusts, in an intelligible manner, given such Instructions, and proposed such Forms, as will for the future remedy much of the inconvenience and trouble which have hitherto been felt.

"With a view to render the work of more general and extensive utility, the Act of Parliament, passed in the 57th year of the reign of His present Majesty, chap. 99. intituled An Act to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to Spiritual Persons holding of Farms, and for enforcing the Residence of Spiritual

Persons on their Benefices, and for the Support and Maintenance of Stipendiary Curates in England,' is set forth, to which an Index of Reference to the contents of the Act is added.

"The Compiler has also added Instructions for preparing Petitions for Licences of Non-residence; and Directions as to the Notifications to be made annually to the Bishop, by certain Spiritual Persons, according to the 23d Section of the before-mentioned Act.

"And as recourse is every day had to the powers of the Acts of Parliament enabling the beneficed Clergy to borrow money, for the purpose of building, rebuilding, or repairing their Parsonage Houses, and Buildings and Offices belonging thereto, and to the Acts of Parliament authorizing, in certain cases, the Exchange of Parsonage Houses and Glebe Lands for other Houses and Lands, it has been considered that, as the necessary steps to be taken, and documents to be procured by Clergymen, who may be desirous to build, re-build, or repair their Glebe Houses, and to make such Exchanges as authorized by the said Acts, are attended with no small trouble, the insertion of those Acts, with the addition of Practical Directions, with Forms to be used, will be very serviceable, and will tend to remove the difficulties which often occur on a perusal of those Acts, unassisted by any Instructions.

"The information herein contained may perhaps appear confined, when it is considered how wide a field the Law respecting Spiritual Persons presents. In answer to such an objection, it may be observed, that the present is intended merely as a book of Practical Use; and the Compiler believes that its contents will be found to embrace almost all the subjects of daily occurrence, where resort must be had by the Candidate for Orders, the Curate, or the Incumbent, to the Diocesan.

"The present appears a fit season for the Publication, as the Laws respecting the Residence of the Clergy, and the

Maintenance of Curates, which for a considerable time past had been in an unsettled state, have been fixed and determined by the Act of Parliament before referred to; and as that Act happily promises to be permanent, so the Forms which are here set forth, drawn up according to that Act, will, it is hoped, not be liable to alteration."

We will add a list of the forms and documents given; to which the directions that Mr. Hodgson has at any time subjoined are always perspicuous..

"Instructions as to Deacons' Orders; Priests' Orders; Licences to Stipendiary Curates; Licences to Lecturers; Licences to Perpetual Curates; Institutions and Collations to Benefices; Forms to be observed after Institutions and Collations; Dispensations for Plurality; Act of Parliament as to the Residence of the Clergy and Maintenance of Curates; Index to the said Act; Instructions as to Petitions for Licences of Non-residence; General Instructions as to Petitions for Licences of Non-residence; Instructions as to Notifications of Exemptions; The Acts of Parliament called Gilbert's Acts; Instructions as to Mortgages under Gilbert's Acts; Acts of Parliament authorizing the Exchanges of Parsonage Houses and Glebe Lands; Instructions as to Exchanges under the said Acts; General Directions as to Exchanges under the before-mentioned Acts."

5.

Cranbourn

Anecdotes respecting Chase, with a very concise Account of it; together with the Rural Amusements afforded our Ancestors in the days of yore. By William Chafin, Clerk, Written in September 1816. 8vo. pp. 56. Nichols, Son, and Bentley.

THIS little Work abounds in curious and authentic information, not only to the Antiquary and the TopoReader, and more particularly to all grapher, but also to the general admirers of the Sports of the Field; and the Author assures us, "that he has introduced nothing in his narrative but what he hath vouchers in his, possession for the truth of."

"The earliest account of Cranborne Chase, that can be taken in these days, seems to be from the æra when King John, or some other Royal Personage, had a hunting-seat at Tollard Royal, in the county of Wilts. Hence the name of Royal to that parish was certainly derived. And there are vestiges in and about the old Palace, which, to an ac

curate

curate observer, clearly evince that it was once a royal habitation. And even at this time it bears the name of King John's House.' The large cypress trees growing before the house, the relics of grand terraces, which may be easily traced, the park to which some of them lead, and the gate at the end of the park at the entrance of the Royal Chase, now called Alarm Gate, being the place where most probably the horn was blown to call the keepers to their duty in attending their Lord in his sports, seem to confirm this.-There is a venerable

old wych-elm tree near the gate called Alarm Gate, on the Chase side of it, under which Lord Arundel, the present possessor of Tollard Royal, holds a Court annually, on the first Monday in the month of September. There are many things about this once royal mansion (but now reduced to a small farm-house*) worthy the researches of an Antiquary.

"There can be no doubt but that at a time in ancient days, when the Chase was in the hands of Royalty, it was an immense tract of woodlands, without any roads or passages through them; and that they were afterwards, by Royal commandment, cut into commodious Ridings through the whole of the Chase, and those Ridings planted on both sides with various evergreens, as browse for the support of the deer in the winter, which Vert, as it is properly named, hath ever been cut down by the keepers as occasion may require, and is indubitably the sole property of the owner of the Chase. After these great improvements were made, the whole of the Chase was portioned out into eight dis

tinct Walks."

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most solemnly declare that he has asserted nothing but what he believes to be true."

On the subject of Buck-hunting, some origina letters written in or about the year 1681 are given; from which, says Mr. Chafin,

"There is good reason to infer that the Summers in those days, were much hotter than they have been in the greater part of the last century. Their time of meeting in those days seems invariably to have been at four o'clock in the even

ing; and the custom of the sportsmen seems to have been that of taking a slight repast at two o'clock, and to have their dinners at the most fashionable hours of the present day. The bunting in an evening was certainly a welljudged measure, and advantageous to the sport every way. The deer were at this time upon their legs, and more easily found; they were empty, and more able to run, and to shew sport; and as the evening advanced, and the dew fell,, the scent gradually improved, and the cool air enabled the horses and

the hounds to recover their wind, and to go through their work without injury. But just the reverse of this would be the hunting late in the morning, which must be obvious to every sportsman. But what has been mentioned is pecu. liar to Buck-hunting only. Stag-hunting is in some measure a Summer amusement also; but that chase is generally much too long to be ventured on in an evening. It would carry the sportsman too far distant from their own hospitable homes. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, in pursuing the stag, to have the whole day before them. It was customary, in the last century, for those sportsmen who were addicted to the sport of Buck-hunting, and who regularly followed it, to meet every season Restoration, with oak boughs in their on the 29th day of May, King Charles's hats or caps, to shew their loyalty (velvet caps were chiefly worn in those days, even by the ladies); and to hunt young male deer, in order to enter the young hounds, and to stoop them to their right game, and to get the older ones in wind and exercise, preparatory to the commencement of the buck-killing season. This practice was termed blooding the hounds; and the young deer killed were called blooding-deer, and their venison was deemed fit for an epicure; for it was reported, and I believe with truth, that an bind-quarter of this sort of venison which had been thoroughly hunted, was once placed on the table before the celebrated Mr. Quin, at Bath, who de

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10. Remarks, Moral, Practical, and Facetious, on various interesting Subjects. Selected from the Writings of the late W. Hutton, Esq. F.A.S. S. of Birmingham. 12mo, pp. 93. Nichols & Co. THIS useful and entertaining little volume is thus introduced by the judicious Compiler:

"The life of Mr. Hutton affords a remarkable instance of an individual surmounting, by the vigorous exertion of bis own faculties, the united evils of poverty and ignorance. Endowed with great natural acuteness, by industry and frugality he became a thriving tradesman, and raised himself to affluence; and though at an early age he had an aversion to letters, yet cultivating his understanding, as he advanced in life, by reading and reflection, he acquired such a fund of general knowledge as falls to the lot of few who enter on their career under much more favourable circumstances. His published works prove this fact they also exhibit some curious researches, and an extensive acquaintance with the history and topography of his native country; and they abound with traits of good sense, and with pertinent and useful remarks. He possessed much originality of humour, and had the talent of enlivening a barren topick with characteristic reflections and allusions, which can hardly fail to give entertainment, although the reader may not be particularly interested with the subject on which they are engrafted. It occurred to the Compiler of this little volume that a concise selection of such reflections and remarks as would bear

removal from the context, might be ac ceptable to the publick; and he indulges the hope that while it affords amusement, it may also occasionally impart a valuable maxim or a useful hint."

11. Letters respecting the Union of the Regular Clergy with Dissenters, in the Distribution of the Bible. By the Rev. John Ward, M. A. Vicar of Mickleover, Derbyshire. 8vo. pp. 138. Rivingtons.

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THE subject treated of in these Letters has given rise to much able and spirited controversial writing on both sides of the question. The assailants have been powerful, and so have the defendants, and the victory may still be said to be suspended. Mr. Ward, in order to forward the good work of disseminating the Scripfures, would make common with the Dissenters in the honourable and Christian-like struggle to benefit their fellow-men in a matter which supersedes all the petty interests of this world. In doing this, however, he is far from forgetting the respect due to our excellent Book of Common Prayer; and urges, with a zeal most creditably and laudably energetic, that, in the performance of the Church-service, the first importance should ever be attached to the proper formula which it contains, and not, as and earnest delivery of the beautiful is sometimes the case, exclusively to an ambitious display of oratory in a fine sermon. We heartily commend this feeling; and are the more gratified by hearing the precept from a Clergyman, as in him we can look for example also.

We confess our wish to avoid involving ourselves in the dispute about the properest mode of distributing the Bible; and therefore prefer giving our salutary effects of our Forms of Prayer readers the following extract on the

in divine service:

"Under this deep impression of Christian knowledge, and of brotherly kindness, did our wise and venerable Reformers compose, or rather prepare the way for the reception of, our own excel lent Book of Common Prayer. To those wise men of old, so honourably protesting against every corruption of which superstition was the chief promoter, we owe every grateful obligation for laying the foundation of our own most reasonable service. Abounding in every

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'Monsieur, il y a un livre sublime, un livre qui, suivant moi, contient le bonheur des peuples et des rois c'est le Dictionnaire de Chalmers.'"

Allowing for national prejudice, we can almost forgive the lively sarcasms in which our Author sometimes indulges with respect to the dull monotony of English manners; nevertheless we must hope that the prediction with which he concludes the Work may be long averted from our Country.

It is but justice to M. Stendhal to admit that, for the most part, his comparisons and national discriminations are not only entertaining, but just. Of the description of places we subjoin the following specimen:

"Je n'oublierai pas plus la rue de Tolède que la vue qu'on a de tous les quartiers de Naples: c'est, sans comparaison, à mes yeux, la plus belle ville de l'univers. Il faut ne pas avoir le moindre sentiment des beautés de la nature, pour oser lui comparer Gênes. Naples, malgré ses trois cent quarante mille âmes, est comme une maison de campagne placée au milieu d'un beau paysage. A Paris, l'on ne se doute pas qu'il y ait au monde des bois ou des montagnes; à Naples, à chaque détour de rue, vous êtes surpris par un aspect singulier du mont Saint-Elme, de Pausilippe, ou du Vésuve. Aux extrémités de toutes les rues de l'ancienne ville, on aperçoit, au midi, le mont Vésuve, et au nord le mont Saint-Elme."

Favoured by situation and by cli mate, the Italians are represented as the bappiest people in the world, although we are told that "La musique est le seul art qui vive encore en Italie."

7. Lines suggested by the Death of the Princess Charlotte. By Thomas Gent, Author of a Monody on Sheridan, &c. &c. 4to, pp. 12. Taylor and Hessey. MR. GENT'S "Poetic Sketches" were reviewed in vol. LXXVIII. p. 428; and his "Monody" in vol. LXXXVI. ii. p. 442. Nor are the present "Lines" less worthy of public notice; but we have room only for a single Stanza.

"Genius of England! wherefore to the [tre cast?

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9. A Poem on the Death of Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales and Saxe-Cobourg. By the Rev. R. Kennedy, A. M. late of St. John's College, Cambridge, and now Minister of St. Paul's Chapel, in Birmingham. 8vo, pp. 38. Hatchard. THIS Poem may be considered as a record, in verse, of the sentiments character of her Royal Highness the universally entertained respecting the Princess Charlotte of Wales, and of the profound grief expressed at her death, by the whole British Nation.

Its conclusion refers to the solemn

acts

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