We think this conclusion sanctioned, 1. By the restraining statutes of Eliz.: for if they do not expressly include the case from the liberal construction they have received, it may be said any diminution of the inheritance is within the mischief they contemplate, and therefore forbidden by their provisions. 2. By the common law: for we observe that eleemosynary corporations, with respect to their nature and objects, closely resemble those which are ecclesiastical, and such, it is admitted, are bound by the rule we have enunciated; and further, there are many observations by Sir Edward Coke, which tend to the same result. Magna est veritas et prævalebit ! Yet we fear the conclusion, to which facts and reasoning have led us, will be startling to many, though we hope too hastily rejected by none. If our rule be correct, Masters and Fellows of Colleges have greatly and for a long time erred, though in ignorance: should they urge the rule, communis error facit jus, as an answer to our argument, we say, the "consent" may have arisen rather ex consuetudine clericorum, than "of any sage advice of men learned in the law;" and we oppose the maxim acknowledged alike by lawyer and divine, multitudo errantium non parit errori patrocinium. W. C. W. MONTHLY REGISTER. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. It is with much satisfaction we announce that this Committee, established at Inverness in 1826, is in full and most beneficial activity. The neighbouring nobility and gentry appear to second the exertions of Bishop Low and his Clergy with a most commendable alacrity; and thus the benefits of the Parent Society are brought home to the very door of the Episcopalian Highlander. We give the following interesting extracts from the Report. It may be satisfactory here to produce the statement of books that have been ordered from the Inverness depository since last autumn; for although the demand has not been very extensive, it furnishes sufficient ground of hope, that the most beneficial results may yet arise to the cause of true religion, from this department of the Committee's labours. Bibles and New Testaments ...... 46 Religious Tracts, bound or stitched 175 The Bibles and Prayer Books chiefly in use among the lower classes in the Highlands, being in the Gaelic language, the sale of the English copies has, of course, been much more limited than it would otherwise have been. And the fact must not be here omitted, that to the liberality of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the Episcopalians in the Highlands are indebted for the new and improved edition of the Gaelic Liturgy, now VOL. X. NO. II. in use among them. Through the same bounty, and by the charitable donations of some pious individuals who have felt an interest in the religious improvement of the Episcopalian Highlanders, several of the most useful Tracts on the Society's list have likewise been translated into the Gaelic language, and are now in circulation among the members of some of the most remote congregations within the limits of the Highland district. And brief and limited as the labours of the committee have hitherto been, it is satisfactory to know, that its salutary influence has been already felt in some degree amongst the inhabitants of those sequestered glens, where the Highland Cottager, enjoying all the benefits of a mild and happy government, united with the light and comforts of true religion, is found possessing perhaps more than an ordinary share of those mental qualities, and devout habits, which are generally and justly associated with the truly Christian character. The Committee are anxiously labouring, and have succeeded in two instances, to establish "a few humble schools" for the instruction of the • Two thousand copies of the Book of Common Prayer, in Gaelic, were printed at Inverness, in 1819, solely at the Society's expense, for the purpose of being sold at reduced prices, or distributed gratuitously to the poor.-Copies of this edition may now be had from the Inverness depository. R children of the Highland Episcopal Congregations. The object of the Society appears to us well stated in the concluding sentence of the Report. It will never be found an impediment to the true interests of religion, that while it is made the primary object to disperse and familiarize the Word of God among all classes, it is also laid down as a radical and characteristic rule of the Society, to disseminate it, in connexion with those sound, orthodox, and authorised human aids, of which the necessity is sufficiently apparent, from the annals of ecclesiastical history, and from the experience of modern times. Provided with the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and a few of those valuable Tracts, SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. THE quarto and octavo editions of this Report are now, we believe, pretty generally circulated among the Încorporated and Associated Members of the Society, having made their appearance six months later than they ought to do, and three months later than they did in the preceding year. For this delay we are not aware that any sufficient excuse can be alleged; especially, as no attempt has been made to prepare any further report, than the address which was read at the public meeting in May. But there is an appendix of twelve letters, full of interesting matter: one from the late Bishop Heber, four from Bishop Inglis, two from Bishop Stewart; the remainder from Archdeacon Mountain, Professors Mill and Craven, Messrs. Ingles and Ardall. Speaking generally, however, we are compelled to say, and we say it with deep regret, that the Report is wholly unworthy of the Society. We cannot but remark the following unaccountable omissions. There is no observation on the exertions which have been made in several dioceses in aid of the Society, or on District Committees, or any invitation to form them:-No statement of the success or failure of the various missionaries in their respective stations :— No list of the Missionaries in Southern India; nor any mention of two additional missionaries, whom we learn from the Report of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,published two months before, the Society has engaged for Southern India.-No copy of the Resolutions passed at the public meeting in May last; nor any allusion to that meeting, the good or ill effects of it. With regard to the outward appearance of the book, we have little to say; it is printed in smaller type, and so far there is an improvement. The needless introduction of Lists of Committees, which do not exist, is done away with; but there is a dividing of Committees into Deaneries, which is by no means necessary; and there is still a repetition of Subscribers, if not of subscriptions, which swells out the volume to a needless size. The Lists of Subscribers now occupy above 200 pages, and might be compressed into 70. Of the propriety, too, of the quarto copies we are not yet convinced. It is grievous to be compelled to write thus; but it would be still more painful to be silent. It is grievous that the manifold and zealous exertions of the Society, in a most glorious field, should be reported so carelessly. And on behalf of our brethren in the provinces, of those whose spirit has been excited to the good work, we deplore that information which is issued out so coldly should have been so long delayed. Is it asked, what improvement is requisite? How can the Report be more suitably drawn up? How can these deficiencies be remedied? We turn with pride and gratification to the Report of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in which the materials of real interest are far more scanty; and we say to the acting Committee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, "Go, and do thou likewise." TABLE of MONEY remitted by DISTRICT COMMITTEES in 1824, 1825, & 1826. Total remitted in 1824-5-6, by Committees in England and Ireland. . £8177 18 2 그이 52 18 6 96 2 0 96 2 52 18 96 0 The Money remitted from the country, but not by Committees, is as follows: Total remitted by Committees, &c. in 1824, 1825, & 1826 .... £8426 18 8 We were furnished with the above table by a correspondent, by which it may be seen, at one view, how the Society is supported in the different Dioceses of the kingdom. The following are some remarks, with which he has accompanied it. "There is no District Committee in the Dioceses of Carlisle and St. David's; or in the cities of Chester, Chichester, Hereford, Coventry, and Lincoln; and it is only very lately that Committees have been formed in York, Peterborough, and the Diocese of St. Asaph. There are several inconsistencies between the apparent and the real state of things. Thus, according to the Report, (pp, *24-5), the Winchester Committee consists of thirty-two mem bers, incorporated and associated, and furnishes less that four guineas per annum! The Gloucester and Worcester Committees contain respectively twenty-two and eighteen members, incorporated or associated, and contrive to remit, the former six guineas yearly, the latter ten guineas in three years! The praise of Halifax and Birmingham will be in all the churches; as from the latter village, nearly twenty guineas were received in two years, while the former hamlet remitted nineteen guineas in three years! The number of Committees now formed is upwards of 100; and the number of contributors by their means not quite 4000. Of these, more than 3000 are incorporated or associated members. ST. DAVID'S COLLEGE. THE number of students at present in the College is sixty; the number it will contain is sixty-four. Six converted Roman Catholic Priests are expected to arrive at Lampeter shortly, to reside there, and receive instruction at the College. The present Bishop of St. David's has prescribed a course of education at the Grammar Schools to suit that at the College, and the Principal and Vice-Principal are to visit them annually, and examine the pupils. The following remarks of Bishop Burgess on the object of the College were circulated in 1822, when the first stone was laid. "The utility of an appropriate course of studies to young men intended for holy orders, and the want of an institution, which should unite, in some considerable degree, the advantages of an university education, by combining a progressive method of theology, literature, and science, with the regularity of moral discipline, first induced the Bishop of St. David's, in the year 1804, to propose the establishment of a clerical seminary for the education of future candidates for holy orders in the Diocese of St. David's, who could not afford the expense of an university education. The great extent of the diocese, the poverty of the benefices, and the inability of the generality of the candi dates for the ministry in it, to pursue their studies at an University, render such an Institution peculiarly necessary for that diocese. But though intended chiefly for one diocese, the College may eventually be useful to the other three; and, in proportion as the Welsh clergy are employed in their ministerial duties in England, it may be beneficial to the whole church. It may also relieve the Universities, by retaining at home many young men, who might otherwise venture beyond their means to resort to them. The proof which the Universities have given of their approbation of the undertaking, by their very liberal contributions, affords a most encouraging testimony of its utility." FRANCE. AMIENS. In many parts of France, the remnants of the Protestant Churches, scattered at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, are again appearing, while new places of worship, erected principally by the contributions of the congregations, are every where building. One has been solemnly dedicated at Mens, in the department of Isere in Dauphiné, the Protestant inhabitants of which place are probably descended from the Waldenses, who from the revocation of the edict of Nantes, up to |