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A lady, whose beauty was on the decline,
Rather tawny from age, like an over-kept wine
Bought lilies and roses, teeth, plumpers, and hair,
And emerged a new person from Vanity Fair!

Another, so plain that she really resigned
Pretensions to beauty-save that of the mind;
Picked up a half-mad, intellectual air,

And came back quite a genius from Vanity Fair!

A soldier came next, and he flourished a flag;
By sword, gun, or bayonet torn to a rag!
He had faced the grim mouth of a cannon, to share
Renown's twig of laurel in Vanity Fair!

A mathematician there made up his mind
To sneer at all things of a frivolous kind;
A circle he vowed was by no means a square,
And he thought he enlightened all Vanity Fair!

Another, despising refinement and grace,
Growled at all who were near, with a frown on his
face;

He prided himself on being rude as a bear,
So he shone the eccentric of Vanity Fair!

A grand politician, unshaken, withstood
Individual ill for the national good;

To mount a new step on promotion's high stair,
He toiled for precedence in Vanity Fair!

A ci-devant beau, with one foot in the grave,
Still followed the ladies, their shadowy slave;
Concealing his limp with a strut debonair,
He smoothed down his wrinkles in Vanity Fair!

The next was an orator, longing to teach,
And to cut a great figure by figures of speech;
At dinner he sat in the President's chair,
In attitudes purchased at Vanity Fair!

One sailed to the Red Sea-and one to the Black;
One danced on the tight rope-and one on the slack;
And all were agog for the popular stare,-
All mad to be Lions in Vanity Fair!

One raised on new doctrines his personal pride,-
His pen put the wisdom of ages aside;
The apple of Eve after all was a pear

So said the Reformer of Vanity Fair!

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A poet came last, with a fine rolling eye,
His shirt collar open-bis neckcloth thrown by ;-
Such matters evince inspiration, he'll swear,
So he sticks up his portrait in Vanity Fair !

THE CONCLUDING LINES OF "DAYS DEPARTED," OR " BANWELL-HILL."

By the Rev. Wm. Lisle Bowles.

AND THOU,Oh LORD and SAVIOUR, on whose rock
That CHURCH is founded, tho' the storm without
May howl around its battlements, preserve
Its spirit, and still pour into the hearts
Of all, who there confess thy holy name,
PEACE-that, through evil or through good report,
They may hold on their blameless way,
For me,

Though disappointment, like a morning cloud,
Hung on my early hopes,-that cloud is pass'd-
Is pass'd, but not forgotten,-and the light
Is calm, not cold, which rests upon the scene,
Soon to be ended. I may wake no more
The melody of song on earth; but THEE,
FATHER OF HEAV'N and SAVIOUR-at this hour-
FATHER and LORD, 1 thank thee, that no song
Of mine, from youth to age, has left a stain
I would blot out; and grateful for the good
Thy Providence, through many years, has lent,
Humbly I wait the close, till thy high will
Dismiss me, bless'd if, when that hour shall come,
My life may plead far better than my song.

THE ELEGY OF LIFE.

(The following Lines are from a Poem, not yet published, entitled The Elegy of Life.)

Now silence reigns majestic o'er the gloom,
And pious orgies consecrate the tomb,
Forth with unbending steps the mourners come,
And watchful guard the sleeping pilgrim's home.
No sighs intrude, no sorrows boist'rous there,
Disturb the unknown eloquence of pray'r:
No voice is heard, save one, whose accents rise
In plaintive supplication to the skies.

And see, low bending o'er the new-form'd deep
A mother claims her privilege to weep-
O! who may tell the anguish of that hour,
When death, triumphant, celebrates his pow'r!
What skill divine the language of a groan,
Wrung from a heart, by terrors all its own!
The love which lingers near fond, cherished woes-
Then leaves its object to a long repose!

O wake her not-she dreams of Life as one Who hardly bears the mortal vesture onO wake her not-the clay-cold sepulchre Hath unknown charms and blandishments for her! Farewell, fond, cherish'd excellence! thy woes Have fled for ever from thy last repose: Thy speechless grief, thy sad, heart-rending pain, Shall never break thy mother's rest again : But O! while mem'ry keeps a record here, Great God! forgive the consecrated tear!

And oft when thoughts, unconscious of their flight, Recall thy image, beautiful and brightThe smile, whose lustre none like her could trace, Who read its meaning in thy dimpled faceThe thousand promises that revel'd there, Obedient to a mother's fondest pray'rThe soft endearments of thy sunny hours,The dawn of Mind, and Reason's nobler pow'rsAnd that last parting token of my love, That smile in death-that pledge of joys above!— O then-when Nature turns away her head, Forgive the tear that mourns her comforts dead!

Then let thy sleeping dust unconscious rest

In the cold chamber of its parent's breast,
Secluded there-the storms that wake the earth,
(Like War's wild planets rushing to the birth,)
Shall lightly pass the prison of thy clay,
And winds beguile their energies away!

181

Review.-Memoir of the Rev. William Barber.

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A closely printed octavo, containing five hundred and twenty-six pages, is a formidable volume for the biography of a young man who died at the age of thirty, and whose life was not diversified with any remarkable occurrences. For family partiality and fraternal affection we can readily make a considerable allowance, but we must not forget that the time and patience of the public will not submit to an immoderate taxation.

In levying this impost, it does not however appear, that any design has been formed to attack the pocket of the reader. The price, only eight shillings, is as disproportionately small, as the volume is unreasonably large, and unless the sale shall prove extensive, the author will have pecuniary reasons for remembering the day when he passed the Rubicon. If a work of this magnitude be necessary to delineate the life and character of so young a man, about a dozen folios, each as formidable as that with which poor Job was strangled by Caryl, would be required to do justice to the great founder of Methodism.

Mr. William Barber was born in Bristol of pious parents, in April, 1799, and received a religious education. Advancing to maturity, he became a local preacher among the Wesleyan Methodists, and after passing through some preparatory gradations, devoted himself exclusively to the ministry in their extensive connexion. In this capacity he removed to Gibraltar in 1825, and was taken by death from his labour to his reward, in October, 1828, leaving behind him a name which will be long cherished with affection and gratitude, by all who witnessed his piety and zeal, and enjoyed the benefit of his pastoral

care.

But although the essentials of Mr. Barber's life may be thus confined within a narrow compass, many collateral circumstances which are full of interest, require a more ample development, and this the memoir before us fully and luminously supplies. In his early life we perceive the powerful influence of religious principles operating with the gradual dawn of intellect, and giving a decided bias to the judgment on the most momentous of all concerns. The struggles between grace

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and fallen nature are depicted in his letters with a masterly hand, and the many exquisite touches of discrimination which appear, prove that he was a due observer of

the emotions which contended for the ascendency in his heart. They also bear the most unequivocal testimony, that he was not an inattentive spectator of the scenes which were passing around him, nor of the remarks and conversations which occurred in his presence. Of many of these he kept an interesting record, and from this source, and his numerous letters to his friends, a considerable portion of the materials which form the present volume, have been derived.

Following the dates of these letters, and noticing the entries made in his journal, we find his mind expanding through each succeeding year, and his descriptive powers acquiring additional vigour and diversity, from the acquisition of new ideas. The letters which relate to his interviews with Spaniards, and other foreigners, his journeys from one town to another, and his observations on the prevailing superstitions which he both saw and heard, are particularly interesting. Some of them are rather long, but they more than compensate by their delineations, for the room which they occupy in the volume.

Several of these little narratives, incidents, and anecdotes, are written with much sprightliness and vivacity. The descriptions are animated, and perspicuity pervades every part. The picture which they furnish of Spanish manners, knowledge, civilization, and refinement, is truly deplorable. It is darkened with shadows in all its parts, and exhibits the national character in a condition which no community would be disposed to envy, and no enlightened foreigner be induced, from choice, either to suffer or enjoy. In the country parts, the forests are infested with banditti; and in the town, superstition reigns with unmolested triumph. Robberies and assassination are of such frequent occurrence, that they excite little or no solicitude; and the arm of the law appears too feeble to arrest the progress of rapine and injustice. Scarcely any crime can be perpetrated which may not be commuted with a bribe; and he who perseveres in pursuing a delinquent, is in great danger of falling by the assassin's knife. In this state of semibarbarism, vast multitudes suffer wrongs of which they hardly dare to complain; and although they know the individuals by whom they have been injured, and are furnished with the most unequivocal evidence, prudence

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Review. Memoirs of John Frederic Oberlin.

and personal safety recommend silence, and a patient endurance of the evils for which they are afraid to seek redress. Many instances illustrative of this state of things, Mr. Barber has given in his letters, some founded on his own observations, and others drawn from authorities which leave no room for doubt.

In reference to religion, the aspect of affairs in Spain partakes of the common gloom. A stagnant mass of unmeaning ceremonies spreads a net-work of iron over the human mind, encircling its energies on every side, and prohibiting all possibility of escape. It is a region in which mental and spiritual ignorance soon acquires a maturity of growth, and where, "Black melancholy sits, and round her throws A death-like silence, and a dread repose." These topics Mr. Barber has placed in a commanding light, and the perspicuity of his delineations gives an additional zest to the general interest which his letters and journal excite. In these departments no one will think that he has been too prolix; and few perhaps would have regretted, if the room occupied by expository remarks, and theological discussions, had given place to a still more diversified and extended detail.

An Appendix, containing seventy-two pages, preserves a memorial of Mrs. W. Barber, who died in August, 1822, aged twenty-one. This biographical sketch, written by her husband, who was appointed so soon to follow her into an eternal world, embodies a pleasing delineation of genuine christian experience, the particulars of which, we can have no doubt that the life of the deceased lady supplied. Though not immediately connected with the memoir of her transiently-surviving husband, it is a suitable companion, and seems half necessary, to hang with sable the portrait of his mournful history. It is written with much simplicity, sympathy, and pious feeling, and is very creditable to the christian character of Mrs. Barber, and to the head and heart of her biographer.

Viewed in its various groupings, this volume presents a decisive proof, that "the ways of heaven are dark and intricate." We sometimes perceive in the present state, causes without their effects, and effects detached from their causes; and this creates such apparent incongruities in the dispensations of Providence here below. Hereafter they will be seen together, and then the darkness which now obscures them, will be for ever done away.

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The writer of this memoir has every where shewn the affection of a brother, but we are not aware that in any one instance he has sacrificed truth at the shrine of partiality. We have read it with attention and feeling; and though we cannot but think some portions might have been omitted, its intrinsic excellences make an ample atonement for every cause of complaint.

REVIEW.-Memoirs of John Frederic Oberlin, Pastor of Waldbach, in the Ban de la Roche. 8vo. pp. 372. Holdsworth. London. 1829.

If any memoir is worthy of being transmitted to posterity, it must be that of an individual whose whole life has been devoted to pious and disinterested exertions, for the temporal and spiritual good of mankind. Such an individual was John Frederic Oberlin, and such is the memoir before us. A plain and unvarnished preface touches on his works and labours of love, and promises to devote the profits which the sale of this volume may afford, to the plans of instruction which the pious pastor established and cherished during his life, and bequeathed at his death to the protection of benevolence, and the care of Providence.

The Ban de la Roche is a mountainous canton in the north-east of France, and derives its name from a castle called La Roche, round which the ban, or district, extends. Its situation is between Alsace and Lorraine, and includes two parishes, three churches, and five villages. During the reigns of Louis XIV. and XV. this territory was in a state of desolation, and the few solitary inhabitants who peopled its deserts, exhibited a picture of misery and degradation which language wants energy to describe. After a lapse of nearly one hundred years, it was incorporated with France, and enjoyed some religious immunities, which the persecuted Protestants of Languedoc resorted hither to enjoy. In the year 1750, M. Stouber took up his abode among them, and began to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, and for many years his labours were crowned with much success. At the commencement of his residence, the following characteristic anecdote will shew the condition of the people.

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"Desiring some one to point out to him the principal school-house, he was conducted into a miserable cottage, where a number of children were crowded together without any occupation, and in so wild and noisy a state that it was with some difficulty he conld gain any reply to his inquiries

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Review.-Interpretations of Prophecy.

for the master. There he is,' said one of them, as soon as silence could be obtained, pointing to a withered old man, who lay on a little bed in one corner of the apartment. Are you the schoolmaster, my good friend ?' inquired Stouber. Yes, sir.' And what do you teach the children?' 'Nothing. Nothing, how is that ? Because I know nothing myself." Why then were you instituted schoolmaster?' Why, sir, I had been taking care of the Waldbach pigs for a great number of years, and when I got too old and infirm for that employment, they sent me here to take care of the children."-p. 9.

:

On the removal of Mr. Stouber, Mr. Oberlin, in 1767, succeeded to his charge,

and entered on a life of usefulness both to the souls and bodies of those committed to his care, which, with his scanty means, can find but few parallels in history. During the long period of fifty years he continued the spring of action to all around him, and future generations will reap the benefits of his unremitting and virtuous toils. In the district of La Roche he will be remembered as the Alfred of his country, and as an apostle of our Lord; and in each character his works praise him in the gate.

To bring this genuine philanthropist and

eminent servant of Christ before the religious public is the design of the present volume, and no one friendly to the human race can peruse its pages without reverence and veneration for his character. This

the writer has placed in a most auspicious light, but the facts and incidents with which the picture is accompanied clearly demonstrate that the rays are not too luminous. In the eyes of those to whom most of the features are inapplicable, it may appear somewhat flattered; but the scene of his labours, both temporal and spiritual, will attest to all, that his numerous excellencies have not been fully told. To all ministers of the gospel of every denomination this volume indirectly says, "If you wish to approve yourselves in the sight of God and man, both by precept and example, go and imitate the conduct of John

Frederic Oberlin."

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data of which are involved in obscurity. Unfulfilled prophecy is an abyss into which numerous authors delight to throw their lines and plummets, and each fancies that he can find soundings in depths which others have abandoned in despair. Enjoying his triumphs for a season, a new adventurer steps forth to supplant his predecessor, and having lived his day, he also submits to the destiny which he adminis tered, and in a few years his dissertations remain unread, disregarded, and almost

unknown.

No one can doubt that unfulfilled probut no permanent resting place being phecy presents an ample field for inquiry: afforded to dispassionate judgment, imagination usurps her station, and personates her character. Hence, the excursions of ingenuity arrest our attention, and gain our admiration, unaided hy legitimate argument, and without producing that conviction which every writer professes to command, and every reader is solicitous to attain. It is rather unfortunate, that scarcely any two authors on these mysterious subjects concur in opinion. building erected by one is demolished by another, and the conspicuous individual

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or remarkable event in which the former perceives the assemblage of prophetic characteristics, is dismissed by the latter to give place to something that is deemed more suitable and appropriate.

How applicable soever the preceding remarks may be to writers on prophecy in general, the work before us claims in them no more than a common share.

Indeed the author appears to have been much less under the influence of visionary fancy, than many whom we could easily mention, and in most cases the plausibility of his reasonings entitles his observations to respect.

We learn from the preface, that the largest portion of these volumes was written and circulated about thirty years ago by the Rev. J. L. Towers, but that political reasons prevented the regular publication. A change of measures and of views having removed the embargo, the present editor, Mr. William Vint, being proselyted to the theory which these volumes contain, has, with some trifling alterations, ventured to send them into the world. To the original

compiler and author, the work must have

been a laborious undertaking. The authorities to whom he refers are both numerous and highly respectable, and the quotations which he has selected are ingeniously woven into a web which accommodates itself to big own theory.

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Review.-Sympathy; or the Mourner advised, &c.

"Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave, Is emulation in the learn'd and brave.

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Of the "New Illustrations of Prophecy | ductions of the Metropolis, may be more in five Dissertations on the Infidel Power, apparent than its spirit of successful enterthe Abyss, or bottomless Pit, the symbolic prise; but a lesson may be learnt from this Dragon, a Millennium, and the Coming of emporium of the Atlantic, that Christ," the language of Mr. Vint is not very sanguine. He considers that he has to encounter sentiments and expectations which have been cherished by the professors of Christianity through a long succession of ages, and also modern opinions, which are maintained not only by the fraternity of a new school of prophets, popular within a limited sphere, but by writers of first-rate ability.

Independently of the support, which the numerous passages quoted, yield to the respective views and hypotheses of Mr. Towers and Mr. Vint, they will be found both amusing and instructive as branches of history, developing manners and cus. toms, now grown obsolete, and detecting habits of thinking and reflection, which, under given circumstances, associate themselves with the human character.

Against the general expectation, that, at the Millennium Christ shall make his personal appearance, and reign on earth a thousand years, the authors of these volumes enter their protest; and respecting the nature of this eventful era, their views are less visionary than those of several, which, on former occasions, we have been called to notice. Throughout the whole of these volumes, we discover but little of that inflammatory fever, under the influence of which, many works on prophecy have started into existence. Thus far we are invited to a calm and dispassionate investigation. Nor are we disappointed, although to us the conclusions are sometimes less obvious than to their respective authors. With them in some degree the sanguine temperament takes another turn, though we cannot but regret, that any portion of political feeling and opinion should be suffered to mingle with "Illustrations of Prophecy."

REVIEW.-Sympathy; or the Mourner advised and consoled. By the Rev. John Bruce, Liverpool. 12mo. pp. 310. Westley, London, 1829.

WE cannot but admire the neatness, the delicacy, and even elegance, with which this volume is put out of hand. The paper is of a very superior quality, the typography is excellent, and the frontispiece is really beautiful, whether we view the design by Pennie, or its execution by Robertson. To a fastidious cockney, the presumption of Liverpool in attempting to rival the pro

If, however, this work had nothing to recommend it to notice, besides dress and appearance, we should have deemed them too trifling to merit the least attention. Happily its contents coincide with its decorations, and present an unequivocal title to the respect which it otherwise claims. It is divided into eight chapters, which respectively treat of the Mourner's Sorrows, Duties, Exercises, Resources, Advantages, Motives to Submission, Consolations, and Anticipations. In each and all of these, human nature is surveyed by the light of revelation, in connexion with the evils of life. The latter furnish endless causes for lamentation, but the former administers the balm of consolation to enliven hope, and rescue the spirit from despondency. In moments of bodily privations and mental anguish, the sympathies of common friendship tend in no small degree to soften the rigours of distress, but the power of these is limited, both in energy and extent. True genuine relief must be sought in a higher source, and this can be found only in God.

Nor is it to the sufferings which are merely personal, that the author confines his observations. The heart bleeds under family bereavements, and wants some fond breast on which to rely, for a mitigation of its woes. Partial and uncertain is the consolation that man can communicate. His greatest power lies in his access to the throne of grace, and nothing short of an application to this, can ease the throbbings of a wounded heart.

The numerous and appropriate appeals which Mr. Bruce has made to the book of God, place the compassions and sympathies of Deity towards suffering humanity, in an amiable and affecting light. The distance which omnipotence and infinity Present, is overcome by the greatness of divine condescension. This shines in the economy of nature, is developed in the dispensations of providence, but appears with brightest lustre in the system of gospel redemption, established for the salvation of the human soul.

From some observations made in an advertisement prefixed to the chapters, it would appear, that the author is not dealing

"In the false commerce of a truth unfelt." "The volume," he says, " now presented to the Mourner, has some claim on his attention and re

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