in 1831, it was not one-sixth part of its value. But if the Stretton commutation had been effected according to the provisions of the Act, the entire value of the tithes would now have been 197. 16s. 8d.; whereas, the vicar having set the commutation aside, receives by a fair and moderate composition, 1261. 7s. we cannot demand a stronger proof of the spoliation, that is masked under the name of commutation. From this case it is seen, that although the Act may give the tenant a remedy against his landlord from the rent-charge, which he pays to the clergyman, this provision is rendered nugatory when a farm is let for a certain sum, the tenant paying all rates and deductions whatsoever; and though the original commutation may be with proprietors, it is probable that all future payments and subsequent adjustments of the rent-charge will be with the occupiers of the land.

To avoid the third of the preceding results, Mr. Powell proposes, that all land shall be subject to tithe in kind, unless the landowner can show his title to pay rent-charge instead, for the seventy-second section of the Act is insufficient for redress: and he objects to the Act, that its principle of valuation does not give the true value of the tithe, and that its principle of adjustment does not show the increase and decrease of tithe. His question, "What would landlords say, supposing a law were passed to enable all tenants to purchase their respective tenancies at twenty-five years' purchase on their rental, without reference to the real value of the estate?" is just and pithy.

The fluctuating value of tithe, and the fluctuating quantity of produce, show, that there must be unfairness in a fixed adjustment of rent-charge, which would be most sensibly felt in vicarages. And though, in the first instance, there might be no loss, it would gradually arise under successive incumbencies, and that loss would eventually fall on the public; for if the property be so reduced, as to be no longer capable of supporting a national clergy, some other source must be provided for their support. When tithe shall have been commuted into a rent-charge, the farmer will lose the profit, which he always extracts from tithe; and should the farmer fall into difficulties, the clergyman's payment will be most precarious.

Mr. Powell's pamphlet has placed the question in its proper light; and we trust, that those who, in our houses of parliament, are not disaffected to the interests of the Church, and the welfare of the nation, will labour to obtain a legal correction of the errors of the present Act, and remove the difficulties which must ensue when it shall come into operation.

Six Months of a Newfoundland Missionary's Journal, from February to August, 1835. Second Edition. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

1836.

THIS itinerary is from the pen of Archdeacon Wix, who has been a missionary in British North America, under the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, now more than ten years. It describes parts of the country which have been but little visited, and therefore becomes a book of interest. The description of the silver thaw is particularly curious; but in a missionary diary there must be so much sameness, the natural consequence of the circumstances in which the writer is placed, that a regular sketch would approach too nearly to tautology for our purposes. The Archdeacon is evidently a single-hearted and laborious man, continually enduring immense privations and great fatigues, for the sake of performing the duties of his vocation, of which the object of this publication,-which is to incite us at home to relieve the wants of the islanders, and to supply them more effectually with an episcopal ministry, and churches in which it may be exercised,-is a most ample proof. But the primary object of the Archdeacon's appeal is to obtain contributions towards the erection of the new episcopal church at St. John's, which he has commenced on his own responsibility, and for which 2,000l. are immediately required. We trust that his appeal will not be in vain, and that subscriptions for that purpose will be forwarded to Messrs. Rivington, in St. Paul's Church-yard, Messrs. Hatchard, Piccadilly, and the other persons appointed to receive them.

To show the hardships to which the Archdeacon was exposed in his tour, we quote the following passage:

"We got benighted however: the moon became obscured, and as a drift came on, with a drizzling snow and rain, we made a night fire. For feeding this, we felled in the course of the night a sufficient quantity of spruce and birch to have made a most shady retreat in a space equal to Lincoln's-inn Fields, and there we waited for the dawn. This is a more accurate account of such a night than it would be to record that we had slept in the woods; for the traveller, lying on a few fir branches upon the snow, freezes on one side while the blazing flame scorches him on the other. I did not at this early period of my cruize understand so well as I afterwards did, the plan of making a fire in the woods; and in my hurry to greet the welcome sight of a cheerful fire, by which I might break the fast which I had kept since seven in the morning, I had neglected the necessary preliminary of digging out a hole in the eight feet of snow which were on the ground. The immense fire which we kindled, for want of this precaution, continued to melt down the snow lower and lower by degrees, till before the dawn of morning I was left to the action of the piercing winds on the top of a bank of snow, the fire being in a hole much below my level, and only benefiting me by its smoke, which threatened to blind, as it were to stifle me."

The whole tour is a description of difficulties, of perils by land and water, the encountering of which discloses an intensity of zcal.

The observations on the Indians are interesting: they are represented as very courteous and simple in their manners. The mode of making a domicile for the night is singular. A rude shovel is first made out of some standing tree, which is split with a wedge for the purpose, and the snow is turned out to a space equal to the convenience of the company. The wood is then laid on the ground for a fire, about a foot of loose snow being left in the cavern round it. On this the spruce fir branches are laid all one way, featherwise, with the lower part of the bough upwards. These form the bed. Some boughs are stuck upright against the wall of snow by the side of the cavern, a door or opening being left in the wall, that the fire may be supplied during the night. The yellow fungus, which grows on the wich-hazel, supplies the Indian with tinder, who is never without his flint and steel. The squaws receive much of the Archdeacon's praise, and both sexes appeared to be rigid observers of Lent.

From the author's account of the snow-blindness, under which he suffered, we should judge that its incipient symptoms resembled those of the ophthalmia. He imagines the aborigines of the island, the Boothic, or Red Indians,* to be extinct, those with whom he associated being the Micmac. The Banokok have also wigwams in places. There are some exceedingly beautiful passages and anecdotes in this simple narrative. The sagacity of the Newfoundland dog is well known; perhaps not so much as this anecdote will illustrate it.

"An old dog is now living at Jersey-Harbour, near Harbour-Briton, in Fortune-Bay, which has exhibited, in many instances, a degree of sagacity which will hardly be credited. He has been known to assist in carrying on shore some light spars, which the captain of a vessel in the harbour desired him to carry to the land-wash, that a boat's crew might be spared the trouble of carrying them. Another dog, belonging to the same wharf, has, as a volunteer, or upon invitation, assisted him in this work for a time; but he left his work in the middle of his second turn, swimming to shore without his spar: when the first dog has quietly swam to shore with his own turn, and then sought the runaway dog, and given him a sound thrashing, and used to him other arguments of a character so significant and convincing, that the runaway has returned to his work, and quietly persevered in it, till the spars which had been thrown overboard were rafted to the shore by the sagacious animals."

Besides these remarks, the Archdeacon occasionally descends to other particulars in the natural history of the country he

*This is not absolutely correct; as we know that one was seen not many years ago at Harbour-Grace.

states, that at a certain time of the year, the appearance of the black fox is precursive of that of the otter, and that they then divide their food; that the crowing of the cock at night, and noise of the woodpecker on the bark of trees, are sure indications of approaching rain; that there is a flower vulgarly called the salmon-flower, which begins to blossom about the arrival of the salmon; and that an excellent substitute for tea is made from a decoction of the spruce-branches. We, however, in these days of migration, think one of his assertions strange, viz. that a damaged watch must be sent to England to be repaired. We are also surprised that he has not noticed the almanac of the Labrador fishermen, which simply consists in noticing the variations of weather in twelve days after Christmas day; for taking each day in succession for each successive month, they feel assured, that the weather of the day will be that of its corresponding month, and often direct their operations accordingly. We say nothing of the philosophy of the procedure. We trust that this work will succeed to the utmost of the Archdeacon's desire, for his object is beneficent and disinterested, and his labours have been such as men of less zeal would fear to undertake. His narrative is modest, and totally dissimilar to some which we had previously seen; it comprises much in a small compass, and while it conveys religious information, is at the same time adapted to general use.

A Practical Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. By the Rev. ROBERT ANDERSON, Perpetual Curate of Trinity Chapel, Brighton. London: Hatchard & Son. 1837.

THIS Exposition contains the materials of a series of lectures, which were delivered by the writer. There is no one part of the New Testament which requires the application of greater learning, and deeper thought, than the Epistle which Mr. Anderson has selected for his explanation. He has availed himself of the labours of many, and we are glad that he has not neglected to consult those of Professor Stuart; still we think that the Epistle contains so many passages positively demanding profound critical research, that it is impossible in a course of practical lectures to investigate it with proper justice. Epistle to the Romans confessedly abounds with Hebraisms and Jewish allusions: every chapter opens a wide field to the Biblical scholar, and the pulpit is not fully suited to the ramified and exegetical discussions to which, if properly treated, it must give rise.

The

Mr. Anderson has, however, given a clear sense to the passages which he has illustrated; he has produced an useful work,

which may correct many harsh notions, which have been indulged by Calvin and others, on some of the apostle's arguments; and in proportion as his book may obtain circulation will he have done good. Had he furnished it with critical notes, he would have made it a complete exposition of the Epistle. Should it reach a second edition, we hope that he will realize our hint. To accomplish satisfactorily this desideratum, an investigation, not only of the tenets but of the peculiar phrases of the Pharisees, will be primarily requisite (for the apostle used these in his controversial writings), which, joined to a condensation of Professor Stuart's remarks, and those of other sound critics, would effectually clear away the darkness, which semi-learned divines have contrived to spread over this very argumentative Epistle, and would prove that, if it be correctly interpreted, it will be discovered to contain, in its essential parts, a most complete overthrow of Calvinism and Antinominianism.

The Book of Psalms; a New Translation, with Notes explanatory and critical. By WILLIAM WALFORD, late Classical and Hebrew Tutor in the Academy of Homerton. London: Jackson and Walford. 1837.

FEW books of the Old Testament afford a more ample scope to curious inquiry, than that of the Psalms; and none, perhaps, with the exception of the Book of Job, have given occasion to so great a variety of translations. Scarcely a year passes in which some press, at home or abroad, is not productive of a new version, new commentaries, or newly proposed readings. Scarcely one foreign theological magazine makes its appearance without discussions on some part or other of this sacred collection, occupying a considerable proportion of its contents.

That the translation in the English Bible is faulty, and often very obscure, few will be inclined to deny: but the many attempts which have been made, prove that no new one, however able, will obtain general approbation. In a language circumstanced as the Hebrew, scholars will continue to differ on the force of words: they will view the allusions of the Psalmist in different lights, and naturally offer different interpretations. One will adhere to the school of Buxtorff, another will adopt or modify that of Albert Schultens; whilst the deeper and more experienced Hebraist will not accept the signification given by any lexicographer to a disputed word, until he has weighed it both according to its occurrence in other passages, and the senses which the cognate tongues afford to the root. From these different modes of procedure, various interpretations will necessarily arise, and those proposed by the one party will probably be disapproved by the others; so that Mr. Walford's suggestions