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ARRIVAL AT WINDSOR.

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The country, before we had arrived at Woodstock, began to resume its beauty and luxuriance. In the vicinity of Oxford, though tame in its general features, it is lovely indeed; and the city, as seen embosomed within it, is at once most venerable and magnificent. The view of its domes, and spires, and towers, especially in the approach in the direction of London, is strikingly impressive and beautiful.

As it was not possible, in connection with other arrangements, to pass even an hour here, we determined to postpone all observation of it, beyond the passing view, and to make a place so highly attractive to the stranger and foreigner, and so worthy his special notice, the subject of an after visit from the metropolis.

At Henley, the environs of which are peculiarly beautiful, we first met the Thames, and observed the chalky soil which gave to Albion a name; the faces of many hills along the banks of the river, in the vicinity, being almost perfectly white from it. Our approach to Windsor, for many miles before reaching it, was by cross-roads in the forest. Just as twilight was gathering rapidly around us, we caught a first distant view of the Castle, rising in a heavy mass of darkness on the horizon; and, soon after, till our arrival, had in it a kind of guide to our course, in the ranges of light gleaming from its long lines of windows, the Court being at present here.

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Meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1826-Eloquence of the Hon. Charles Grant-Speech of Gen. OrdeBaron Pelit de Logiere-Anniversary of the Charity Schools of London-Manner and circumstances of entering the Metropolis-Epsom Races-Dissipation attending them-London from Waterloo Bridge-Arrival in Westminster.

DEAR VIRGINIA,

Piazza Coffee-House, London,
June 8th, 1832.

HAD our visit to England been a matter of long anticipation, my arrangements, in reference to it, would have been such as to have insured, with the favour of Providence, an arrival in the metropolis a month earlier than the present date, that I might have attended the anniversaries of the principal national societies of philanthropy and piety, celebrated here in May.

The regret 1 feel, in having just missed this gratification, is less, however, than it otherwise would have been, had 1 not, in the year 1826, on my arrival in London from the Sandwich Islands, had the happiness of being present at many of the most interesting and most important of the public meetings, by which they are distinguished. After having been separated, for three years and more, far from the borders of Zion, in a spiritual wilderness, in the very "ends of the earth," the period was to me "a feast

BRITISH BIBLE SOCIETY.

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of fat things," refreshing to the heart, almost beyond the conception of one who has never been a dweller in "the tents of Kedar," in a heathen land.

It now seems to me but as yesterday, that I then attended the anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was the first meeting at which 1 was present, and the impression made upon my mind and feelings by the appearance of the platform as 1 entered the hall, crowded with much of the talent and piety of the nation most distinguished in church and state; by the thronged audience below, from every eye in which "peace on earth and good will towards men," seemed to beam; and afterwards by the eloquence and evangelical spirit that breathed from the lips of the Hon. Charles Grant, M. P. a member of the Cabinet, of Cunningham, Vicar of Harrow, of the Bishops of Salisbury, and of Litchfield and Coventry, of the Rev. Dr. Philip of the Cape of Good Hope-followed in their statements and supported in their zeal, by such spirits as that of the Lords Gambier and Calthorpe, of the Earl of Harrowby, of Col. Phipps and Gen. Orde of the Royal army, was such as 1 can never forget. More than a dozen times during the day, my heart was made to thrill with affections of interest and delight, almost painful from their intensity; and had my bosom been as cold as an icicle to the subject matter when I entered, it would, from sympathy alone, if from no higher influence, soon have been made to burn with the desire, that the Word of Truth might speedily be scattered through all nations, and the Light of Life be made to fill the world.

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BARON PELET DE LOGIERE.

I do not remember ever before to have been so perfectly charmed by the power of eloquence blended with the breathings of Christianity, as by the speech of Mr. Grant; and before the simple and unaffected statements of Gen. Orde were closed, the whole audience were in tears, and the speaker near being obliged to sit down, overcome himself by a sympathy with feelings elicited by his remarks, and the manner in which they had been presented.

One of the most interesting persons taking part in the exhibitions of the day, was the Baron Pelet de Logiere, a representative on the occasion, accompanied by the Rev. Mark Wilks, from the Protestant Bible Society of Paris. Anable and appropriate speech from him was received with great enthusiasm by the auditory; and partly gave fire to the glowing eloquence of Mr. Grant, with which I was so greatly delighted. I had previously made his acquaintance in private society, and for the month following, we almost daily met at various public places-the anniversaries of the London and Church Missionary Societies, of the Tract Society and Sunday School Union, of the British and Foreign School Society, and of the Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty.

Both foreigners, for a first time in the kingdom, the opportunities thus enjoyed of becoming informed of the operations and influence of these noble institutions of benevolence and piety, were most desirable and most gratifying. And, stamped upon the memory and the heart, as the reports from them were, by the oratory and animated zeal of many of the most distinguished subjects of the empire, and

ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHARITY SCHOOLS.

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by evidences of the lively interest and cheerful patronage of thousands and tens of thousands of their fellows throughout the kingdom, they produced, 1 doubt not, on the minds of both, the same conviction. A conviction that these associations of philanthropy, however overlooked, and however lightly estimated by the worldly politician and the worldly statesman, have a tendency in their spirit and their influence not less to the safety of the empire at home, than to its glory abroad; and in the dispensations of that Providence which controls alike the destiny of nations and of men, will prove more surely than her navies and her armies, the bulwarks of her power and the defences of the land.

The last anniversary which 1 attended was that of the Charity Schools of London, held in the Cathedral of St. Paul's. The assemblage consisted of nearly eight thousand children, boys and girls, in the antique and monkish uniform of their respective foundations, ranged in an amphitheatre of twentyfive seats, rising one above another, beneath the great dome of the church-with many thousand spectators in the centre, and at every point commanding a view of the scene-presenting in connection with the pealing organ, the chaunting and chorusses of a full choir, in which the children joined, one of the most imposing spectacles I ever witnessed.

The same anniversary has been celebrated to-day. We met several of the schools returning in procession to their respective parishes, as we entered the city, and thus 1 find that I have reached the metropolis just in time to take up my observations, at the

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