furrowed cheeks; he raised his swollen hands, and by signs told her all his sufferings; but she heard her uncle's voice, she kissed her grandfather's cheek, and bid him a hasty farewell. She saw him no more ! A few weeks put a period to his sorrows, and gave his dear Jemmy full possession of his property. Let us see how it prospered

in his hands.

He made a grand funeral (for people of his class are apt to be fond of show, but this did not prevent the murmurings of the neighbours, whose disapprobation was expressed loud enough to be heard by the chief mourner, as he rode slowly along, behind the feathered hearse, They said, among other things. that such expense would have been far better bestowed upon his father while living, than when dead! But these reproaches could have little effect upon a heart like his.

And now he had reached the summit of his wishes, and expected all to go well. No such thing: for though he enlarged his shop, and increased his stock, and procured more assistance, his stock did not sell, for his custom failed: by his assistants he was cheated and plundered: persons broke in his debt and at length he became a bankrupt himself, for he was "cursed in hi basket and in hi, store." His children, however, proved the chief instruments of divine displeasure His only daughter, after very irregular conduct, became the wife of a poor (and what is worse), of a wicked man. One son enlisted for a soldier, another went to sea, and those who remained were neither able nor willing to afford their distressed parents any assistance; nor did they leave any room for questioning their inclina tion, to place them in an out-house, had the opportunity offered.

James Marshall died, unregretted by his family. No feathered hearse carried him to the grave; but while he was hurried along on the shoulders of four poor neighbours, his shabby family, paced after him with unconcerned and vacant countenances; for his death was unaccompanied by either gain or loss to give them any expression.

His wife, who had been a dressy lady in her time, was seen wandering, and muttering, about the streets, in an old red cloak, and leaning on a crook stick. Glad would she have been to have sheltered her head in the out-house, and to have eaten of the cold scraps, which she once thought too good for her husband's father.' PP. 145-149.

The account of Jane Batson, the girl at the King's Arms, whose good-natured smile induced a rich London merchant' to fall in love with her, and marry her, though probably very true, might we think have been suppressed without disad vantage to the work: Mrs. Taylor attempts to guard the story, so as to prevent its making any false impression; but we still think that the beneficial effects of good temper and agreeable manners, might have been illustrated by some anecdote less Hable to misconstruction, and more useful as an example.

The Contents of the volume relate to-Keeping in Place; Teachableness; Good Temper; Speaking the Truth; Honesty and Sobriety; Gossiping and Holiday-making; Frugality; Industry; Management; Cleanliness; Observation and Memo-.

ry; The Nursemaid; Sickness; Dress; and Behaviour to Parents. It abounds with striking remarks on each of these topics, fraught with experimental wisdom. It is a volume which may with great advantage be placed in the hands of young girls on leaving Charity or Sunday schools; and we shall be very glad to see a cheaper edition of the work for this express purpose, as there is no doubt of its obtaining a very extensive circulation.

The Rev. Mr. Watkins is generally known to be the benevolent originater of the London Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Female Servants.' His Second Report we have thought it highly worth while to bring forward to the notice of our readers.

We must refer to the Report itself for an account of the plan and successful operations of this well-intended Society, which reflects the highest credit on the benevolence of the truly excellent and laborious clergyman who has so much exerted himself in the cause of this neglected class. But we copy from the Report the remark that,

While charitable institutions to recover the wicked from the error of their ways are numerous and laudable, few public en deavours comparatively have been made expressly to prevent vice, or to encourage a virtuous behaviour among the inferior ranks of Society.'

The Committee conclude their Report, by stating that

• Committing the cause they have taken in hand to the super intendence of Divine Providence, they are fully assured that it is necessary to call the attention of Christians to this home department of religious service. They are aware, that from various causes, a very large majority of the domestic servants in England are as destitute of Christian hope, and living as much without God in the world, as any native of the Asiatic or African continent, whose souls are never theless equally precious in the sight of God, and whose good services are more necessary to our comfort. Let our charity be as diffusive as our means; but let us not forget the servants of our own familiesFor, "He that provideth not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

The "Friendly Hints to Servants" were drawn up expressly for the above Society, and bear all the marks of the Author's peculiar talent for conveying with impressive simplicity, moral and religious truth to the minds of the young and uninstructed. The singular excellence of most of the Author's Sunday School Tracts," among which these Friendly Hints' first appeared under the title of The Servants' Remembrancer,' has been duly appreciated by the religious public. Nearly fourteen thousand of the several editions of this Tract, have already been circulated.

It remains for us only to notice the "Hints and Observations "to Heads of Families," respecting which the Author shall be allowed the privilege of being heard in his own words.

The writer is aware, that, on this literally home subject, the details of which are so multifarious, very different opinions will be formed, by different readers; very mch according to each one's temper and views, and ability, or previous domestic practice. Without doubt many of the following Hints will be wholly irrelative as to some; and not within the ability of others to reduce to practice. His only fear is, that the book will be despised by those who have, in their domestic management, been the least guided by such considerations and reasonings, as are contained in the Holy Scriptures. He is free to confess, that his whole argument rests upon christian principlesupon the imitable example, and the declared will of Jesus Christ.

As these pages were written only for the use of "those whom they may concern;" if but one of the following Hints shall have a useful practical result in one case, and another in another-If these observations occasion one vigilant or benevolent feeling, which did not before exist, or confirm one already in operation-If they direct a conscientious master and mistress to some object, practicable in their especial case, to which they had not before adverted-or, if the subject itself, shall excite others better qualified, to present it in a superior form-in any of these cases, the design of the writer will be answered. Whatever reception the following pages may meet with, they are certainly scriptural; and they have been written with no other view, than as a mite to be thrown into the common treasury of christian philanthropy, with a hope that it may somewhat increase the aggregate of human happiness, socially and individually, here and hereafter for what is human happiness but an accumulation of minute endeavors to do good? In instituting the present endeavor toward so laudable an end; whether a mistake has, or has not been made, in the choice, or the management of the means, is a question which it would ill become the writer to determine.' pp. vii, viii.

We cannot make room for further extracts, and, indeed, they would be superfluous as attestations of the value of this little work, which we cordially recommend to the serious perusal of all who are concerned for the happiness and moral character of their servants and dependents.

Art. X. On the late Persecution of the Protestants in the South of France. By Helen Maria Williams. 8vo. pp. 62. Price 3s. 6d. T. and G. Underwood. 1816.

OUR

UR countrywoman in Paris, has availed herself of an advertisement in the English Journals, containing the words-"H. M. Williams's Confession," to introduce to the British public a Letter on the late Persecutions of the Reformed in France. Whether anxiety to perfect her exculpation, zeal for the Protestant interest, or any other feeling of a more ordinary

and business-like nature, dictated the correspondence, we presume not to determine; but this letter forms a bulky pamphlet, of 62 pages, of very large bold type; and besides a great deal more of extraneous matter, one whole quarter, that is from p. 16 to p. 32, consists of the tale of other times, and anecdotes of the sufferings of Protestants in the good days of Louis 15th, &c. &c.

The Letter is however highly important, from the circumstance of its being written by a distinguished Protestant in Paris, who must have had access to the best informed persons in the Protestant Communion, and also to many respectable fugitives from the various scenes of desolation. And it is still more important, as it is written by a devoted admirer and a voluntary panegyrist of the Bourhon family, under whose reign these unhappy events have taken place. The Times, the Courier, and even the Christian Observer, may surely venture to quote this Pamphlet, as pure and high authority.Does Miss Williams, then, with the last publication, style the tragedies of the South," PRETENDED persecutions ?" or, with the others, describe them as the mere factious struggles of Jacobins and Bonapartists?

The following extracts will furnish our readers with the means of forming a just decision on this point.

• The persecutors of the Nineteenth Century have not entered into the niceties of religious belief; they have not, in the indulgent spirit of their predecessors under Lewis XIV. proposed the alternative of La messe ou la mort ;"" repent, or perish; become Catholics, or we kill you;" they have proceeded at once to execution; their victims were marked, and they have plundered and murdered as their fury directed, whereever they found Protestant property, or persons professing the Protestant faith."

From whatever cause this violence has proceeded, the ProSestants alone have been the victims. Were it a focal insurrection against property or lives, such as sometimes has desolated parts of France during the Revolution, the assailants would not have been so discriminate in their choice. It is on Protestants only that their rage has fallen: and the selection of the professors of this faith appears to them an unequivocal proof, that it was an organised religious persecution. We were for a long time incredulous; and, what added to our incredulity on this subject, was, that this persecution should have taken place while the country was in pos session of the Protestant powers of Europe, by either of which it might instantly have been crushed.

The silence and inaction of these Protestant powers, led to the disbelief of such violence arising from such a cause; but diplomacy observant of etiquette, and interference with the internal govern ment might have been deemed an Humiliation of royal authority. The foreign troops were also too much occupied in skirmishes,

and sieges, and in re-forming the Museum, to heed disturbances in the departments: no French army existed.

What then were the crimes which have drawn down on the heads of those respectable Calvinists the persecution of which they have been of late the victims? Crimes! their foulest enemies bring none to their charge. One leading cause of this persecution dates from far it is a renovation of that old spirit of fanaticism, which once infected even the court; and which, driven from the powerful and the great, now sought for refuge in the lowest of the multitude.'

In comparing the former and the present state of the Protestants, with that from which they have lately been reduced, Miss Williams does homage to the Revolution, the abuses of which she will not be supposed to advocate.

•Amidst all the various phases, (she remarks) of the French Revolution, the star of religious liberty had moved calmly in its majestic orbit, and cheered despairing humanity with a ray of celestial radiance. Amidst the violations of every other principle, the domain of conscience appeared to be consecrated ground, where tyranny feared to tread.'

The revolution took place, fraught with all happy omens for the Protestants. They cast their eyes back on the iron bondage of the past, on the edicts of the last hundred years against their fathers, and blessed the dawn of religious liberty. Yet, during the Constituent Assembly, how many hesitations, exceptions, and discussions took place on the subject of the Protestants! It was with some difficulty, notwithstanding the proud promulgation of equal rights, and equal laws, that they obtained the privilege of being tolerated. Rabaut St. Ethienne fought against the Abbé Maury, under the shield of Mirabeau, who exclaimed, "that he knew nothing more intolerable than toleration."

The Protestants were now tolerated in the public exercise of their worship, and enjoyed their civic rights, but they received no portion of what was allotted to the ministers of religion by the government; to whom, un the contrary, they paid an annual tribute for the hire of the churches in which they officiated. Their state was that of temporary tranquillity-but it was not confirmed repose.' p. 38.

And, finally, alluding to the reign of Bonaparte, she makes this full and candid declaration.

Whatever might have been the advantages to the Pope, the Church, or Buonaparte from this compact, the Protestants completely gained their cause. It was no longer the persecuted, or the tolerated sect. They were at once enthroned in rights equal to those of the Catholic Church, and became alike the objects of imperial favour.' p. 37.

But no sooner doe sour Letter-writer come down to the period of the Restoration, than she adopts the language of apology, and is even compelled to acknowledge, that a sad reverse has been experienced.

VOL. V. N.S.

Hh