Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

the solar rays from the innumerable threads of the above insect, which literally covered every portion of the close in which the writer was walking, and appeared to be the work of myriads of spiders.

In connection with the above, a beautiful phenomenon may be observed. In a clear autumnal morning, when the sun shines

I gaz'd on the tempest-tost vessel of state,
Close reef'd, but scarce able to scud;
While William the master, and Grey the chief-mate,
By the helm, in the hurricane stood.

But still she most dreadfully pitched and roll'd,
And I thought every plank would be stove,
Till Gallilee's Pilot came up from the hold,
And carried her into Safe cove.

I saw in my reveries times of distress,
For Britain, Europa, the Globe;
And treason and tumult, in every dress,

with power, and the webs are wet with dew, Requiring the patience of Job.
the reflected rays appear tinged with the
prismatic colours.

Hoar frost was first noticed on the morning of the 10th.

On the afternoon of the 16th, a considerable quantity of snow fell in the metropolis. This is considerably earlier than the first appearance of snow in 1830; but much later than the first fall of snow in the year 1829, when it was noticed on the 7th of October. In 1830, it was first seen on the 12th of December.

Ice was first observed on the morning of the 17th, and fog prevalent during the day. On the morning of the 18th, icy efflorescences were first seen on the windows. POETRY.

[blocks in formation]

THE spring-time of roses, the season of fruit,
And Autumn has bid us farewell;

The trees are disrobed, the warblers all mute,
And snow-drift lies deep in the dell.

For Winter is come with a sceptre of frost,
To reign in a region of snow;

The light of the earth, half his lustre hath lost,
And, nipping, the angry winds blow.

A chapter of accidents, dark to the close,
The Annual before us may spread;

Like the prophets, of mourning, lamenting, & woes,
Sach Britain but seldom has read.

Already the preface is written in black,
Yet Love may the volume illume;
The record of justice is only a tract

Of mercy, a folio tome.

With musings like these on our history's page,
I enter'd my chamber alone,

To picture and weep on the woes of the age,
And kneel at a merciful throne.

My fancy with sorrowful images teem'd,
Till sleep its sweet opiate shed;

Yet then of my waking reflections I dream'd,
Dark visions surrounded my bed.

I saw in my slumbers a hurricane blow,

I never beheld such a storm;

The skies were all black and the ocean like snow,

With breakers of every form.

And a ship I descry'd in that foamy wild wave;

A noble Three Decker* was she,

And every plunge in the billows she gave,

Deep buried her prow in the sea.

Great Britain.

A vision rush'd past me more fleet than a roe,
Too rapid for fluxions to state;

His forelock was white as the new-driven snow,
But bald was the rest of his pate.

The clock in the steeple with ominous sound,
Struck twelve, and I heavily sigh'd;

The watchman patrolling the streets in his round,
"All's well," in an instant replied!

All's well, why (I mutter'd) the fellow's in jest,
To tell such a palpable lie;

While faction and cholera lift up their crest,
And crimes are insulting the sky.

I glanc'd on the future, I though on the past;
The late and the new-begun year;
And ere its nativity fairly was cast,
1 sprinkled its birth with a tear.

I saw in my vision its earliest bud,
But who can futurity scan?

For whether it ripen in blessing or blood,
At present is hidden from man.

While thus I was musing, a terrible cloud
Hung over the breadth of the land,

And voices of thunder" Be humble, ye proud!"

In slippery places ye stand!"

A voice for the monarch, the prelate, and peer,
A voice for the clergy and lay;

A voice for the senate, a voice for the seer;
A voice for the wanton and gay.

And quick to decipher the mystical sound,
My mind's cogitations were bent;

The thunder I may not, I dare not expound,
The echo resounded-" Repent!"

I saw the Almighty come out of his place,
The palace of mercy sublime ;

To punish the sins of an obstinate race,
For nations are punish'd in time.

I heard the wild wailings, I saw the wide woe,
Like flames the diy stubble consume;
But soon to my vision a covenant bow,
Arose on the terrible gloom.

The rebels of order, of altar, and throne,
Shrunk paralyz'd down at the sign;

The bloodhounds of anarchy gave a deep groan,
All crush'd in sedition's dread mine.

Aud hope, like a star on the forehead of night,

A night the most dismal and dark,

Across the deep gloom shed a silvery light,
A dove to the desolate ark.

Faith saw the fair cross on an altar of gold;

The law near the mercy-seat stood;

And near it the covenant newly unroll'd

All sprinkled with Jesus's blood.

And channels of mercy, and chambers of prayer,
Were open'd to all who repent:

Mild love was the lictor; the rods that he bare,
To purge, not to punish, were sent.

I woke, and the reverie vanish'd from view,

And with it my hope and my fear;

But whether my vision be fiction or true,

I wish thee a happy new year!

Keighley, Nov. 30, 1931.

J. MARSDEN,

LINES ON THE CHOLERA MORBUS.

"When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabit-
ants of the world will learn righteousness."
Isa. xxvi. 9.

VENGEFUL is the Lord's right arm,
Jealous is the God of heaven,
Filling kingdoms with alarm,
When to judgment he is driven.
What being can His wrath withstand?
What power can resist His might!
The isles are atoms in His hand,
The Earth's a dew-drop in His sight.
Europe now has felt the scourge,
Long to Asia confined,
Spreading like a rapid surge,
Driven by the tempest wind.
Walks the pestilence at night,
Wastes the ruin at noon-day,
Swiftly flies the pois'nous blight,
Scattering death and wild dismay.
Russia of her children fails,
Deep in agony and woe;
Slaughter'd Hungary bewails
Myriads of her sons laid low;
Poland by the mightier wasted,
Writhes beneath the sickening foe;
Austria the cup has tasted,
Germany and Holland too.

O ye nations, take the warning,
Deep in ignorance entomb'd,
Lest these lesser judgments scorning,
Ye be totally consum'd.

The prophet of the East must fall,
And Babylon her sorceries cease,
Ere gospel light is seen by all,
Ere Jesu's sceptre's sway'd in peace.
Britons see th' avenging sword,
Waving o'er your guilty land,
Waiting but Jehovah's word,
To fulfil His high command;
Let a solemn fast be made,
Let a mighty cry be heard,
And, as Nineveh was sav'd,
So may England be preserv'd.
May some pleading Abraham,
For the land be found to sue,
Asking that the great I Am

Would spare it for the righteous few.
Haste then Christians to his throne,j
Pour your supplications there,
God will your entreaties own,
God still lives, to answer prayer.
Margate, Nov. 10, 1831.

J. P. C.

[blocks in formation]

of discourses, which might afterwards be expanded, and rendered suitable for publication. It is not improbable that both of these objects might have been kept in view, and, if Mr. Hall's life had been prolonged, and his health would have allowed, that those who heard them from the pulpit, would have had an opportunity of seeing them issue from the press. In their present state they resemble the headlands, promontories, and bold projections of an intended map, having their latitude, longitude, and elevation determined with accuracy, without tracing out the bays, and creeks, and rivers, which occupy the intermediate parts.

That the subjects are superlatively grand, may be easily inferred from a few of their titles, namely, on the being and name of Jehovah; the spirituality of the divine nature; outline of the argument of twelve lectures on the Socinian controversy; on Christ's divinity and condescension; on angels; on the personality of Satan; on the end of man's existence, &c. These, and topics like these, in the hands of Robert Hall, may well excite considerable expectation; and it is pleasing to add, that the cherished anticipation will not be disappointed.

The letters, though miscellaneous in their appropriation, all sustain one general character. They have a religious bearing, distinguished by the local adaptations which called them into existence, and display a mind capable of accommodating itself to the diversified claims that were made on its powers.

In the style and manner apparent in these embryo discourses and letters, it may not be unworthy of remark, that no laborious effort is visible. They set before us the emanations of an elegant and vigorous mind, just as they issued from their intellectual footsteps of a giant, impressed upon nearly source. Throughout the whole, we trace the six hundred pages.

REVIEW. The Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller, with a Memoir of his Life. By Andrew Gunton Fuller. In five vols. 8vo. Holdsworth and Ball, London. 1831.

THREE volumes of Mr. Fuller's works are now before us, and, as they have but just reached our hands, it is presumed that the other two are not yet published. Each of those now under inspection contains upwards of six hundred closely-printed pages; and as it is fairly to be calculated, that those which have not yet appeared, will correspond in magnitude and intrinsic value, the whole may be considered as an important

acquisition to the great library of Christianity, and to the creditable diligence of our modern divines.

Mr. Fuller appears to have been a man not disposed to take any thing on trust, even though sanctioned by the highest human authority. The sources whence his predecessors and contemporaries derived their information being equally open to his own researches, he preferred drawing from the fountain-head, and tracing from acknowledged premises the process of reasoning leading to the conclusions which, without due examination, he hesitated to adopt. Throughout the whole, the energies of his mind, and his ardent love of truth, are alike so conspicuous, that we are at a loss which most to admire, the profundity of the divine, the piety of the Christian, or the intellectual acuteness of the man.

In the first volume, one hundred and sixty-six pages are devoted to a memoir of Mr. Fuller's life. The materials of this biographical sketch are chiefly drawn from his own diary, in which he has entered the labourings of his mind when perplexed with difficulties, the influence of evidence upon his views of numerous truths, and his readiness to admit conviction, and avow it, as light dawned upon his understanding. all these inquiries and investigations, his mind invariably retained its independence, and never voluntarily submitted to any authority beyond that which he found in the book of God.

In

In prosecuting his inquiries on the great doctrine of Justification, the passages which follow may be considered as a fair specimen of his manner:

"It occurred to me, that whatever disputes had arisen on this subject, all parties that I had read agreed in considering justification as the opposite of condemnation. What is condemnation? Is it, said I. the decree of God finally to condemn a sinner? No; for every unbeliever, elect or non elect, is under condemnation; the wrath of God abideth on him. Believers were by nature children of wrath, even as others; Saul, therefore, while a persecutor was a child of wrath, or was under condemnation; yet God had not appointed him to wrath, but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ. Hence, I concluded, if condemnation be not the decree of God finally to condemn, justification is not the decree of God finally to acquit.

Further: does condemnation, said I, consist in any sense or persuasion which a sinner possesses that he shall be condemned? No; for many who are under condemnation, according to the scriptures, have no such persuasion, but the reverse, as was the case with the Jews, who were persuaded that God was their father, while, in fact, they were of their father the devil; and others, who are not under condemnation, according to the scriptures, are yet at times under apprehension that they are so. But if condemnation, continued 1, consists not in a sense or persuasion, that we are or shall be condemned, justification consists not in a sense or persuasion that we are or shall be justified.

On the whole, it seemed evident, that the sentence of justification was neither a purpose in the divine mind, nor a sense or persuasion in the human mind. The question then returned, What is it? Still keeping hold of my clue, I proceeded to inquire, Is not condemnation that state or condition of a sinner in which, according to the revealed will of God in his holy law, all the threatenings and curses stand against him? Is

it not the same thing as being under the curse which all are who are of the works of the law, whether they be elect or non-elect? And if so, is not justification that state or condition of a sinner believing in Jesus, in which, according to the revealed will of God in the gospel, all the promises and blessings of the new covenaut belong to him? Is it not the same thing as being under grace, and which is true only of believers? The sentence of justification is not a revelation or manifestation of something to the mind which was true before, but unknown to the party; but consists in the voice of God, in the gospel, declaring that whosoever believeth shall be saved. In this court, believers in Jesus stand acquitted from all things from which they could not have been acquitted by the law of Moses."-p. xxxiii.

The above, the biographer adds, may be regarded as an elementary sketch of the writer's sentiments on this great subject, which the reader will find more amplified and exhibited in its several relations, in various parts of his works.

In those portions of the diary which relate more immediately to his own personal experience, he discovers an intimate acquaintance with the workings of the human heart, and a readiness to expose the deceit. fulness of his own. The following picture presents a mirror in which we may too easily discover our own likeness exhibited with melancholy accuracy.

"O what a horrid depth of pride and hypocrisy do I find in my heart.. Surely I am unfit for any company. If I am with a superior, how will my heart court his praise, by speaking diminutively of myself, not forgetting to urge the disadvantages under which I have laboured, to excuse my inferiority; and here ista large vacancy left, in hope he will fill it up with something like this: Well, you must have made good improvement of what advantages you have enjoyed! On the other hand, when in company with an inferior, how full of self am I! While I seem to be instructing him, by communicating my own observations, how prone to lose sight of his edification, and every thing but my own self-importance-aiming more to discover my own knowledge than to increase his! While I make these observations, I feel the truth of them. A thought has been suggested to write them, not as having been the workings of my heart to-day, but only as discovered to day. Oh, horribly deceitful and desperately wicked heart! Surely I have little else in my religious exercises but these workings; I am afraid of being deceived at last. If I am saved, what must the Son of God have endured?"p. xxxvii.

The subsequent parts of Mr. Fuller's life we find chequered with heavy clouds, and gleams of sunshine. The care of his church, perplexing controversies, and occasional pecuniary embarrassments, furnished his mind with daily exercises of a trying nature. But these were trifling when compared with the more agonizing sufferings which arose from domestic sources. Yet, in the midst of all his troubles, the Lord was with him; and even from the fiery furnace wrought a way for his deliverance:

'My

"His final hour brought glory to his God. mind,' he observed, is calm; no raptures, no despondency. My hope is such, that I am not afraid to plunge into eternity." "-p. cl.

Having devoted so much room to this biographical sketch, which is rendered peculiarly interesting by the dialogues, incidents, conversations, and occurrences with which it abounds, but a small portion remains to be appropriated to Mr. Fuller's works. This will be less necessary, as they

have been long before the public, by whose favourable opinion they have been fully appreciated.

It will be readily allowed by all who have read Mr. Fuller's works, or may hereafter read them, that in every part he evinces a more than common degree of shrewdness. With the various subjects on which he writes, he displays an intimate acquaintance; but on most controvertible topics, he only repeats, though in different words, the arguments and reasonings which have been long before the world. These may confirm such persons as had previously embraced the tenets they are intended to support; but they are not much calculated to make new proselytes.

REVIEW.-The History and Topography of the United States of America, by John Howard Hinton, A. M. parts 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. Simpkin, London. 1831.

Or this elegant work, we noticed most of the former parts as they issued from the press; and, respecting those now before us, we have little more to say than, that they confirm the favourable opinion we have already expressed.

The plates, which are numerous, continue to preserve their character, whether they delineate works of art, or furnish representations of natural scenery. Of the former, America cannot boast magnificence enshrouded in the hoary grandeur of antiquity; but in modern specimens of architecture, she need not blush on seeing them compared with those of the old world. In lakes, rivers, landscapes, mountains, elevations, and "variety, situate both in hill and dale," the United States are fertile in almost inexhaustible resources. Of these the artists have availed themselves, and, in the result, exhibited both taste and elegance combined.

The descriptions given of the natural productions are both animated and perspicuous, and in no case lengthened out into tedious detail. Of fossil remains, both vegetable and animal, the accounts given far transcend those to which we have been accustomed. Speaking of fossil bones, the author observes as follows:

In a

"This wonderful spot (a morass known by the characteristic name Bigbonelick, in Kentucky) is a small valley situated twenty miles south-west of Cincinnati, and two from the Ohio river. number of places, the ground is so soft for several rods, that a pole may with ease be thrust down many feet. In these soft places, saline and sulphureous mineral waters rise: the earth round thein is dry and solid. Here are found the bones of the mastodon, elephant, buffalo, elk, and other unknown animals. They are in immense quantities; it is a

complete charnel-house. The bones are generally

[blocks in formation]

The following abridged particulars respecting the discovery of human fossil remains in the state of Ohio, and given on the authority of Mr. Atwater, will be read with lively interest.

"I am credibly informed, that, in digging a well at Cincinnati, an arrow-head was found, more than ninety feet below the surface. At Pickaway plains, while some persons were digging a well, several years since, a human skeleton was found seventeen feet six inches below the surface. The skeleton was seen by several persons, and, among others, by Dr. Daniel Turney, an eminent surgeon. They all concurred in the belief, that it belonged to a human being. I have examined the spot where the skeleton was found, and am persuaded that it was not deposited there by the hand of man. On the north side of a small stream called Hargus creek, in digging through a hill at least nine feet below the surface, several human skeletons were discovered, perfect in every limb. These skeletons were promiscuously scattered about, and parts of skeletons were sometimes found at different depths from the surface. Other skulls have been taken out of the same hill, by persons who, in order to make a road through it, were engaged in taking it away. These bones are very similar to those found in our mounds, and probably belonged to the same race of men; a people short and thick, not exceeding, generally, five feet in height. The skeletons, when first exposed to the atmosphere, are quite perfect, but afterwards moulder and fall into pieces. Whether they were overwhelmed by the deluge of Noah, or by some other, I know not; but one thing appears certain, namely, that water has deposited them here, together with the hill in which, for so many ages, they have reposed. Indeed, this whole country appears to have been once, and for a considerable

period, covered with water, which has made it one

vast cemetery of the beings of former ages."-p. 82.

Of some fragments of antique pottery found in the Hionis salt-works, at the depth of eighty feet beneath the surface, a brief account is also given; but this becomes eclipsed by a description of the fossil remains of the mastodon, an enormous animal, of which, like that of the mammoth, the race at present appears to be extinct. Of the living animal, some conjecture may be formed, when we are assured, that, "at the posterior part, the head is thirtytwo inches across, the lower jaw two feet ten inches long, and the tusks ten feet seven inches long; and nearly eight inches in diameter at the base." The other bones, so far as they have been discovered, bear a due proportion to the above, and create astonishment in the mind which contemplates the gigantic magnitude of this stupednous creature.

But we must now take our leave of these interesting parts of this work, strongly recommending them to the attention of every lover of natural history, as forming an inte resting portion of the history and topography of the United States of North America.

[blocks in formation]

A SHORT but pathetic preface informs us, that this narrative was originally written in Africa; that the author suffered shipwreck on its shores, by which means many documents were irrecoverably lost, the contents of which he has been obliged to supply from other sources; and that he is the only surviving officer who witnessed most of the events which he describes.

Every one knows, that the inhospitable regions in which this colony is situated, have furnished little more than a general sepulchre to multitudes of our valuable countrymen. The insalubrity of the climate is of itself too powerful for European constitutions to withstand; but when to this is added the hostility of the hordes of savages with which the colony of Sierra Leone is surrounded, the dangers multiply, as the means of preservation and defence diminish.

Among those who have fallen victims to the barbarians of Africa, the late Sir Charles Mac Carthy has a peculiar claim on our sympathy. When the intelligence of his death, and the defeat of the forces under his command, reached England, it created a very general and very mortifying sensa. tion. That savages should gain a victory over well-appointed and disciplined troops, was an event so remarkable and unexpected, that the fact was received with unpleasant surmisings, and circulated with dishonourable insinuations.

The work before us draws aside the veil in which the melancholy mystery was for a long season enveloped, and triumphantly vindicates the character of all who suffered in that disastrous campaign. On this occasion, it will be sufficient for us to state, in the language of Major Ricketts, the causes which involved the colonists in war with the Ashantees, and the calamitous issues which subsequently followed.

"The natives of Cape Coast were never conquered by the Ashantees: they have enjoyed freedom under the protection of the British flag for nearly two centuries, although in some instances they have been permitted or advised to make free gifts to the king of Ashantee, who demanded, in 1820, sixteen hundred ounces of gold dust from the Castle, and as much from the inhabitants. To the first, a refusal was given; but on a second demand on the people, whose inability to pay such a fine being fully known to the Governor and Council, they lent them two hundred ounces, well knowing the inconvenience that would result to them from a dispute with the king of Ashantee, with whose power they were unable to contend; and although they would have found protection within the range of the castle guns, yet, in the event of a war, they must have withdrawn from the interior, abandoned their village and plantations, and become dependent on exterior supplies for the necessaries of life."-p. 22. 2D. SERIES, No. 13.-VOL. II.

This, and other acts of liberality on the part of the colonists towards the king of Ashantee, was construed by the latter into an acknowledgment of weakness and tributary dependence, which led, on his part, to many deeds of savage despotism. Among other manifestations of treachery, the chief of the Ashantees, after receiving from the messengers of Sir Charles Mac Carthy the customary presents, employed his agents to kidnap a mulatto man, a sergeant in the Royal African Corps, whom they carried as a prisoner about fifteen miles from the fort, and detained in irons. Shortly afterwards, it was ascertained that a son of the late king had been sent with an executioner to put the unhappy sergeant to death, and to send the jaw-bone, skull, and one of the arms of the victim, to Osai, who issued the command.

The colonists, and such tribes as they had engaged to protect, being thus constantly annoyed and insulted by these savage disturbers of their peace, Sir Charles Mac Carthy resolved on chastising their insolence, and avenging the death of the murdered sergeant. This determination was soon known to the king of Ashantee, who, relying upon his own resources, prepared to meet his antagonists, and threatened to drive them into the sea. Affairs now assumed a very serious aspect, and an awful crisis was fast approaching, which our author thus describes:

"About two o'clock, the enemy, who were said to be considerably more than ten thousand men, instead of being divided, as was reported, were collected together, armed with muskets, and having a large de

scription of knives stuck in their girdles, they were

heard advancing through the woods with horns blowing and drums beating, and when they came within half a mile of our party, they halted, when Sir Charles ordered the band of the royal African corps, which had accompanied him, to play God save the King,' and the bugles to sound, he having heard, through some channel in which he placed confidence, that the greater part of the Ashartees only wanted an opportunity to come over to him. The Ashantees played in return, which was alternately repeated several times, and then a dead silence ensued, interrupted only by the fire of our men at the enemy, who had by this time lined the opposite bank of the river, which was here about sixty feet wide; having marched up in different divisions of Indian file through the woods, with their horns sounding the names or calls of their different chiefs. A black man, who had been at Coomassie, was able to name every Ashantee chief with the army, by the sound of their respective horns.

"The action now commenced on both sides with determined vigour, and lasted till nearly dark. It was reported, about four o'clock, that our troops had expended all their ammunition, consisting of twenty rounds of ball cartridges, besides leaden slugs which were contained in small bags suspended by a sling round the men's necks, and loose powder contained in small kegs, carried also by the men themselves, Application was made to Mr. Brandon, who arrived in the middle of the action, for a fresh supply of ammunition, he having received his Excellency's orders to have forty rounds of ball cartridges packed in kegs for each man, ready to be issued. This was done to lighten the men, who had to carry respectively, their own provisions for many days, as well as to preserve the ammunition from being damaged by the swamps and rain but Mr. Brandon said that it had not yet arrived, and that he had only a barrel of powder and one of ball with him, which were immediately issued, He had left Assamacow with about forty natives car

[blocks in formation]
« ForrigeFortsæt »