By preaching at St. Andrew's when he was threatened with being assassinated if he took that step, and when desired by his own party to desist, he made the act of establishing the reformed worship his own. Nothing can be more wise and dispassionate than the opinion which he delivered on the measure of divesting the Queen-mother of the regency; nor were his singular powers ever more eminently displayed than by his preaching at Stirling, after the mortifying flight of the troops of the Congregation to that place. Although the struggle now carrying on was of the utmost importance, and threatened to be violent, yet the imbecility and treachery of the Queen-mother, the aid of Elizabeth, the zeal, energy, and power of the Protestants, and the low state of public opinion into which the antient religion had fallen,-insured to the reformed doctrines an easy triumph; or, as the author better expresses it, terminated the civil war which attended the Scottish Reformation, after it had continued for twelve months, with less rancour and bloodshed than have distinguished any other contest of a similar kind.'

From this period, a protestant worship, under some form, has been established in Scotland, though the dangers to which it was exposed were by no means past. To a committee of ministers, which was animated and directed by Knox, was intrusted the charge of framing the polity of the new church, and that of settling its forms of worship. On these matters, men will, according to their different biases, form different opinions but the provisions here made for the general education of all classes of the community will receive universal applause, honourably distinguish the Scotish Reformation from all others, and intitle Knox (who was the chief mover in it) to the highest praise. They direct that a school should be erected in each parish for the instruction of youth in religion, grammar, and the Latin tongue." This order has been carried into execution, and the benefit which has resulted from it is well known. They also proposed "that a college should be erected in every notable town, in which logic and rhetoric - should be taught, together with the learned languages;" while, says the author, their regulations for the three national universities discover an enlightened regard to the interests of literature, and inay suggest hints which deserve attention in the present age. If they were not reduced to practice, the blame cannot be imputed to the reformed ministers, but to those persons who, through avarice, defeated the execution of their plans.'

When the reformed religion had been established in consequence of the peace of which we have spoken, Knox sate down. as the minister of Edinburgh, a situation to which he had previously been elected. Not long after this great change, the

young

young Queen, the beautiful and attractive Mary, lost her husband, made her appearance in Scotland, and exercised the royal functions in person. She being as much devoted to the old religion and as much under the influence of the Guises as her mother had been, the Reformation was again placed in imminent danger, and seemed to have as much to dread from her address and fascinations as from the open force over which it had recently triumphed. While the complaisance of the nobles exhibited an humiliating scene, desertion appeared on every side, and the virtue which withstood adversity was not proof against prosperity, nothing could shake Knox, or induce him to relax in his vigilance over that reformed worship which lay so near his heart, and to which he had so entirely devoted himself. If all that he said of his unfortunate sovereign, and to her, admits not of justification, yet in his first conference with her he appears to us as much to deserve admiration as in any the most difficult situation of his life. True to his cause, nothing that is prejudicial to it obtains his sanction, he most happily eludes the snares laid for him, and yet not a single unbecoming expression escapes him.

If it be with pain that we behold the intrepid supporter of truth, who secured its triumph by honourable means, become the advocate of intolerance and a preacher of persecution, and claiming to himself dangerous powers in the character of a minister of religion; still we cannot for a moment question his sincerity, nor refuse to grant to his biographer that the security and success of the Reformation principally roused his zeal, and animated his exertions. His last scenes exhibit a piety which he had cultivated through life, and an attachment to his religious principles which was not to be moved.

In the summary of Knox's character, as throughout this work, the biographer is not contented with a bare statement of facts, but is an apologist; although it must be admitted that a more fair and impartial advocate is not easily to be found. Having, however, in our notice of Dr. Cook's work, given his portrait of the Reformer, we may be excused from comparing it with that which is drawn by Dr. M'Crie.

We see no reason essentially to resist the impression of this celebrated man, which these volumes convey. The diamond was probably more rough than it is here described; though Knox's liberal education, his frequent foreign travels, and his long residence in England and abroad at different times, may induce us to doubt even this point: but, however this may be, we think that it cannot be disputed that the stone was of the first water. Among the few who have been born to change the face of society, and to render lasting services to their species, Knox undoubtedly stands in the foremost rank;

and

and when due allowances are made for an ardent nature fitted for bold enterprizes, when his circumstances and the times in which he lived are considered, all candid persons will find less in his conduct that requires to be pardoned than they could have expected. Among the least of his services, is that of being the framer of a church-polity which answers the purposes of an established church better than any other in Christendom, and which can be reproached with nothing but its too great economy. To the veneration of our part of the island, he is intitled by labours of many years of his life in disseminating the doctrines of the Reformation; while he has placed religious liberty under no ordinary obligation by the check which he gave to clerical domination, in having been the occasion of wedding the north of the island to a different churchsytem from that which has been established in the south.

A sketch is here given of the fluctuations which the Reformer's fame has undergone. It has been fixed among us to his disadvantage, and the author shews how this has happened. By the Reformers in the reign of Edward VI. he was treated as a brother; and no detraction of his fame is to be attributed to the divines of the reign of Elizabeth. The depreciation began with James I. and his flatterers; while the disrepute of his memory grew with the progress of the semi-papal notionswhich afterward became fashionable. All this is to be traced to ecclesiastical jealousy, and cannot affect the judgment of impartial posterity. If Knox be not regarded as a great and pure character, and be not classed among the first on the list of Scotish worthies, as the founder of its religious and civil liberties, it will not have been the fault of his present biographer; who has furnished the reader with ample materials for forming a right judgment. It is seldom that we are called to examine so rich a store, so well selected, and so ably combined. Some accusations made by the enemies of the Reformer we should have been less anxious to repel than this author seems to have been, since at most they only shew that he was not free from some ordinary weaknesses of man; and, perhaps, the biography before us is more calculated to satisfy the inquisitive than to captivate the general reader. It was judicious, we think, to give at length the conferences with the Queen, which are entertaining, while they illustrate history: but the disputation with the Abbot of Crossraguell is tiresome, and had better have been rejected. The work admitted, indeed, of a higher finish, and the subject was well worthy of it: but, if complaint be made of an abundance of extraneous matter, we ought to recollect that it was difficult to do justice to the character of the Reformer without entering fully into the history MONTHLY

of his time.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

FOR MARCH, 1815.

POETRY.

Art. 10. The Rival Chiefs; or the Battle of the Boyne; a Poem; in Six Books. Crown 8vo. 8s. Boards. Underwood. 1813.

• Ye, who have listened to my strain,

Say, are hope's flattering whispers vain?
Will ye condemn my lays?

Yet should this humble verse impart
A lesson to one guilty heart,

And teach how penitence may save;
Bright laurels o'er my

head should wave

And fadeless deck my lowly grave.'

The tone of good taste and feeling, manifested in this little extract, pervades the volume before us; and, if it be not distinguished by any great vigour or variety of poetical power, it neither contributes to corrupt our language nor tends to deteriorate our moral dignity. To those, indeed, who are very fond of reading verse, we can recommend it throughout as an innocent amusement, and in parts as very pleasing. Whether we should be justified in encouraging the author to continue to cultivate the fair but frequently unproductive land of poetry, our readers will judge as well as ourselves from the subjoined specimen; which, although perhaps as good as any part of the book, ha many parallels possessing an equal degree of merit ;

• Lives there a mortal, whose unfeeling heart
Was never warmed by love's celestial glow ?
To whom his smiles no pleasure can impart,
His frowns could never teach one fear to know?
If there are beings thus exempt from woe,
I envy not a calm which nought can feel;
No! rather let my tears for ever flow,
Than thus my breast against affection steel!
Never may chilling apathy those drops congeal.
The mother, who beside her infant weeps,
Seeing the bloom of health begin to fade,
And marks his feverish snatches as he sleeps,
By dark forebodings feels her heart dismayed;
Yet how are all her anxious hours o'erpaid,
Should he survive, recovered by her care!
True to the feeling nature ne'er betrayed,
She blesses him who gave her breast to share
The raptures of delight, the anguish of despair.

• The duteous daughter doomed in youth to mourn,
When pious sorrow all her soul subdues,

From parents dear, by death relentless torn,

Vain consolations will at first refuse:

REV. MARCH, 1815.

Y

And

1

And cherishing whate'er her grief renews,
Will dwell on scenes of former tenderness;
Such soothing sorrow would she rather choose,
Than the false pleasures men call happiness,
For sense of duty done has still the power to bless.
The sailor sent 'midst trackless seas to roam,'
Regrets each object heeded not before,
Sadly he muses on his absent home,

And feels each friend he loves endeared the more

But when he views again his native shore,

;

What transport flows through all his swelling veins !
While he recounts his toils and dangers o'er,

And on his knee his wondering boy sustains,"

He envies not their bliss, who never felt his pains.’

The notes, which are brief and explanatory, are chiefly extracted from the histories of Goldsmith and Smollett: but one passage is taken from the "Civil Wars" of Lord Clarendon, to which, with the author, we cannot help calling the attention of our readers:

"Away with the anti-christian spirit of defending what has been done amiss, only because it hath been done; and discrediting the Catholic religion, as if it would not suffer its children to be dutiful and loyal subjects to Protestant kings and princes.-Away with that uncharitable and undermining spirit of jealousy against the Roman Catholic religion and the professors of it, by owning and professing an incapacity of living charitably and peaceably with those who are not of the same faith, and those whose profession is established, and cherished by the laws of the land, the indulgence whereof others desire and expect.""

We would add, following Bishop Lowth,

"O dulce jucundumque ! tribulium
Catu in frequenti mutua caritas !

O corda qui fraterna nodo

Jungit amor metuente solvi!”

Art. 11. The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. Translated by the Rev. H. F. Cary, A.M. 3 Vols. 16mo. About 220. pp. in each. 12s. Boards. Printed

for the Author. 1814.

Some years ago, Mr. Cary published his version of Dante's Inferno, accompanied by the Italian text: but, as two editions of the whole Divine Comedy' have since been printed in England, the present volumes exhibit only a translation and notes.

To those (Mr. C. observes) who shall be at the trouble of examining into the degree of accuracy with which the task has been executed, I may be allowed to suggest, that their judgment should not be formed on a comparison with any single text of my author; since, in more instances than I have noticed, I have had to make my choice out of a variety of readings and interpretations, presented by different editions and commentators.

In one or two of those editions is to be found the title of "The Vision," which I have adopted, as more conformable to the genius of

Our