And when old age, reverencing thy looks With eyes, feet, voice, and arms, and happy shoulders, Liberty at length descends; and the four spirits of the nations,' the Prussian, Austrian, Russian, and English genii, successively enter, and are welcomed by her in appropriate speeches. Peace is then invoked by some of the spirits of Liberty, who introduces, with a profusion of sweet songs and gorgeous imagery, Music, Painting, and Poetry. Then enter, with appropriate pageantry and attendants, Experience and Education. After this, Peace invokes Ceres in the following simple and beautiful song. And Exercise, The ruddy and wise, His bathed fore locks parting. And Dancing too, that's lither To thread the place With a finishing grace, And carry our smooth eyes with her.' pp. 63, 64, We cannot but add the trio and chorus in which Ceres is welcomed. TRIO AND CHORUS.' All joy to the giver of wine and of corn, And the shady wheat crown, And the ripe golden locks that come smelling of morn. We'll sling on our Laskets, and forth with the sun, With our arm at a sweep, And oh! for the dancing when all is done; Exercise. Yes, yes, we'll be up when the singing bird starts; Stout Heart. And shake off fatigue with our bounding hearts, CHORUS OF A FEW VOICES MALE AND FEMALE.' And see, to set us moving, here is Dancing here, Nay, trip it first a while To thine own sweet smile, And we'll follow, follow, follow to thee, Dancing dear.' p. 67. The pageants are here on a sudden interrupted by the hasty entrance of a sable genius with fetter-rings at his wrists, a few of the links broken off.' He has been disturbed by dreams of still impending evils, but is sent away re-assured by the promises of Liberty. The poem closes with the goddess's wisest con'trast,' the pageants of true and false glory. Such of our readers as measure merit by length, breadth, and thickness, will think that we have dwelt too long on this unpretending volume; but we feel it necessary to apologize to our more imaginative readers, for so soon letting it out of our hands. It has given us infinitely more pleasure than many a handsome quarto from more fashionable pens. Indeed we know not that a thing of such continued and innocent lancy, so finely mixed up with touches of human manners and affections, -a poem, in short, so fitted for a holyday hour on a bright spring morning, has ever come under our critical cognizance. Art. XIII. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of London, at the Primary Visitation of that Diocese in the year 1814. By William, Lord Bishop of London. 4to. pp. 24. Price 2s. 6d. Payne and Foss. 1814. IT was not with the feeling of mere curiosity that we sat down to the perusal of this primary Charge. The time is, indeed, past, when we should have attached any great political importance to productions of this nature, or when we should have contemplated as a subject of very deep anxiety, the appointment of a new dignitary to fill the metropolitan See. But some favourable prepossessions which we believe had generally obtained, in reference to the character of the successor of Bishop Randolph, operated on our minds so as to induce the anticipation of something more than ordinarily interesting in the contents of this Episcopal Manifesto. This anticipation, however, was somewhat lowered, and our feelings were mingled with disappointment, on meeting in the first page with so bold and highly wrought a panegyric upon the late Bishop. We were disposed to concede much to the probable influence of private friendship, political decorum, or Episcopal consistency; but still, from the only opportunities with which the public were favoured of estimating the character of his predecessor, we were certainly not prepared to hear that From the extent and accuracy of his knowledge, and the vigour of his intellect, matured by experience, yet not impaired by the decays of age, his elevation was naturally regarded as pregnant with the happiest results to the interests of his peculiar province, and of the church at large:' and that his character was such as to justify the most sanguine expectations.' But we are left at no loss to conjecture in what manner this excellence of character developed itself, which rendered his elevation to the Episcopal dignity so desirable and salutary a measure. Dr. Howley proceeds. From the period of his first entrance on the higher departments of the Church, he opposed a determined resistance to the spurious liberality, which, in the vain desire of conciliation, increases division and multiplies heresy, by palliating the guilt of schism, or by diminishing the number and undervaluing the importance of doctrines essential to Christianity. The principal aim of all his labours was the maintenance of sound doctrine and the security of the Established Church, which he justly considered as the bulwark of pure religion, the pillar of divine truth.' To this conviction deeply rooted in his mind, must we attribute his jealousy of innovation however specious, his vigilance in exposing the tendency and checking the growth of opinions or practices, which even by remote consequence might unsettle the faith of the inexperienced, or introduce confusion and disorder into the Church. His endeavour to replace Ecclesiastical discipline on its ancient footing, to recover the rights and assert the legitimate authority of the Spiritual Governor, originated in the same views. For he had been taught by the records of antiquity, no less than the deductions of reason, that the prosperity of our institutions depends on the attention to the spirit of the laws, and that the vigour of discipline is relaxed, and its benefit lost, by weakening the hands, and fettering the discretion of the ruling power. In pursuance of this wise policy, he manifested an inflexibility of resolution, a firmness of spirit, which could neither be daunted by clamour nor discouraged by resistance; a perseverance in labour which was never relaxed or interrupted by disgust or lassitude. In proof of the judgement which directed his views, and the zeal which animated his exertions in matters of general utility, we have only to cite his effective co-operation with other distinguished prelates, in establishing the National system of education, and his paternal attention to the numerous cions of this institution, which sprang beneath his fostering care in every part of the diocese.' pp. 1, 2. As a delineation of the character of Dr. Randolph, simply, we should not have thought it worth while to occupy our pages with this extract, but our readers will perceive that it contains by implication something more than this. The sentiments of his biographer are pretty distinctly conveyed to us: the language he has employed seems to designate the standard by which he would regulate his own conduct, and the praise which he would himself emulate. In this point of view, the portrait of a Bishop of the Established Church of England, in the nineteenth century, drawn by his Episcopal successor, may form a document of some interest; and the New Testament scholar will not fail to perceive its accordance with the distinguishing excellencies, tempers, and qualifications of a primitive overseer of the flock of Christ. The Charge itself, we are sorry to say, is in perfect consistency with this specimen, and, except for its grammatical correctness and elegance of diction, is such as might have emanated from his model, and predecessor. The contents divide themselves into two parts: the first respects' considerations of do'mestic prudence,' the recent statutes relating to the residence of the Clergy, to Stipendiary Curates, &c. On this subject the Bishop, in vindicating the character of some of the non-resident clergy, who had been among the objects of attack,' takes occasion to observe, that Whilst they stood acquitted of criminality, they have been deficient, it must be allowed, in that reasonable care of their own interest, which, in the complicated relations of civil life, becomes a duty to society, of stronger obligation, perhaps, on the Ministers of the Gospel, than on any other class of men.' p. 6. The second part of the Charge treats of 'concerns of uni'versal importance to the interests of the Christian world,'--the Bishop should have added, so far as it is comprised within his Majesty's dominions; for the general burden of his remarks, is— the Church (of England) is in danger, a cry which cannot be supposed to excite much alarm, or sympathy beyond the reach of the Archiepiscopal crosiers of England. Unitarianism and infidelity are represented as among the sources of the apprehended danger; and indeed in this part of the Charge there are some judicious observations, wearing, also, an appearance of candour, which we should have been happy to have seen extending through the whole of his remarks. It is not his intention, the Bishop observes To wound the feelings of the conscientious Unitarian, who, while he rejects its peculiar dogmas, admits the general truth of Christianity. But I do not hesitate to aver my conviction, that the profession of Unitarian tenets affords a convenient shelter to many, who would be more properly termed Deists, and who, by the boldness of their interpolations, omissions, and perversions, by the indecency of their insinuations against the veracity of the inspired writers, by their familiar levit on the awful mysteries of religion, and their disrespectful reflections on the person and actions of their Saviour, are distinguished from real Unitarians, and betray the true secret of the flimsy disguise which they have assumed as a cover from the odium of avowed infidelity "" p. 15. From this subject his Lordship proceeds to consider the 'dangers which threaten the peace of the Church from an op 'posite quarter,' and we thank his Lordship for thus characterizing the dangers arising from Dissent. That the subversion of the Establishment, however, is the ultimate object,'-he does not say,' of rational and sober Dissenters of any denomination ;' Put of that promiscuous multitude of confederated sectaries who have imbibed the spirit of malignant dissent, which in the prosecution of hostility against the established faith forgets its attachment to a particular creed; there is the strongest reason to believe.' p. 18. The purport of the remainder of this Episcopal Address, may be conjectured from these extracts The first thing which will strike the intelligent reader, on the perusal of the contents of this charge, is, that it is of a character altogether political The subjects of his Lordship's fears and anxieties, his deprecation or desire,-the motives by which he orces his exhortations on his clergy, are all, in themary reteiences, of a secular nature. If he inculcates on them activity, earnestness, and zeal,' it is to 'meet the exigencies of the occasion,' to disconcert the projects |