the succeeding pages, some interesting sketches in natural history, to stimulate the curiosity of young readers, and induce them to a further pursuit of this delightful study. And, lastly, there has been given a selection of poetical extracts, of a character likely to interest the feelings and elevate the mind.' The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems Examined and Compared, as to their Moral Tendency. By the Rev. Andrew Fuller. (Ward's Library.) The Backslider. By Andrew Fuller. With Preface by the Rev. John Angell James. London: Hamilton and Co. It is needless to say one word in commendation of the writings of Andrew Fuller. Their praise is in all the churches. Of the two works now before us, the former, which is included in Ward's Library of Standard Divinity and is published at the cheap price of two shillings, is one of the ablest controversial pieces in our language; the latter, which also appears in a very neat form, is eminently distinguished by sound sense, practical wisdom, and scriptural fidelity. The extension of the circulation of such works cannot fail to be highly beneficial. A Summary of the of Felix Bodin. Rickerby. History of England, Translated from the French A Summary of the History of France, Translated from the French of Felix Bodin. By Jonathan Duncan, Esq., B.A. London: Rickerby. These little volumes contain a valuable summary of English and French history, which may be advantageously consulted by all classes, and will prove an agreeable and useful companion to the young. The following extract from the translator's brief preface to the former work sufficiently describes the nature of both. I am very far from thinking it will supersede any other work on the subject; quite the contrary. I regard it as an auxiliary to all other histories; from the voluminous writings of Hume and Smollet and their contemporaries, down to the popular abridgment of Goldsmith.' Bodin takes up new ground; he confines himself to the gradual growth and expansion of constitutional and representative governments; this he presents in a compendious form, yet nothing is omitted; and were a person to have read no other work than his, he would still have gained a most extensive knowledge of history." Consolation for Christian Mourners: Discourses occasioned by the Death of Friends and other Afflictive Dispensations. By Adam Thompson, D.D. London: Snow. 1840. This work has the recommendation of being the production of one Long tried and chastened by affliction. Thirty-four years of the author's ministry have now elapsed; and during that long period he has been visited with many bereavements and with trials of various kinds. The wounded heart can best appreciate and most skilfully administer the balm of consolation. The work is replete with evangelical sentiment, and abounds with feelings of tenderness and sympathy. We most cordially recommend it as a companion for the house of mourning, and as a solace to the spirit of heaviness. An Apology for Christianity, or Modern Infidelity Examined in a Series of Letters to Robert Owen. By Brewin Grant. London : Simpkin and Marshal. 1840. A spirited exposure of the fallacies of Owenism. The writer exhibits a deep acquaintance with the system, and skilfully makes the prophet of Socialism pronounce his own dogmas a 'mass of absurdity and nonsense.' Decapolis: or the Individual Obligation of Christians to save Souls from Death. An Essay. By D. E. Ford. London: Simpkin and Marshal. 1840. This little cheap volume is all it pretends to be. It is a heartstirring appeal to selfish and lethargic professors on behalf of the unenlightened and perishing, and it deserves to be read by every Christian. Memoirs of the Life and Character of Mr. Robert Spence, late Bookseller with Notices of the early Introduction of Methodism into York. By R. Burdekin. London: Longman and Co. 1840. : A valuable biography of a tradesman, eminent for his piety and his disinterested exertions to be useful. Most important facts relating to the rise and progress of Methodism in the city of York are faithfully recorded. The historian will derive instruction and Christian improvement from these pages. The Young Folks of the Factory; or Friendly Hints on their Duties and Dangers. London: Religious Tract Society. 1840. A good book for the young, and when known will have a place in every Sabbath School and Loan Library. Lectures on the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Chapters of St. John's Gospel. By the late Rev. B. Patterson, A.M., Minister of Falkirk. Glasgow: A. Fullerton and Co. 1840. The author has furnished us with a beautiful specimen of the system of lecturing so prevalent in the pulpits of the north. He exhibits the fundamental truths of the gospel, and most lucidly explains some difficult passages. Sketches and Skeletons of Sermons: with Dialogues on Pulpit Preparation; between a Senior and a Junior Minister. By the Rev. George Cubitt. London: Mason. 1840. We much question the utility of Sketches and Skeletons. In some few cases they may assist in arousing and directing dormant thoughts, but in many more we fear their tendency is to enervate the mind and check the originality of its working. The Dialogues contain important counsel from which every student may derive benefit. Gatherings; a Collection of Short Pieces, written at various Periods. By the Author of The Listener.' London: Seeley and Burnside. 1840. Our fair author has happily succeeded in combining the utile et dulce. She has presented important truths in a style at once perspicuous and fascinating. The Millennium a Spiritual State not a Personal Reign. By John Jefferson. London: Snow. 1840. A sermon, remarkable for its sound criticism, candid reasoning, and useful tendency. Domestic Discipline: the Duties and Responsibilities of the Domestic Relations. By Henry Foster Burder, D.D. London: Ward. 1840. The esteemed author has described, with his usual precision, the reciprocal obligations of the domestic circle, and judiciously urged them by scriptural motives. This cheap publication deserves to be attentively read by the members of every family. Literary Entelligence. Just Published. The Natural History of Society in the Barbarous and Civilized State: an Essay towards discovering the Origin and Course of Human Improvement. By W. Cooke Taylor, Esq., LL.D., M.R.A.S. 2 vols. Memoirs and Remains of the Rev. John Griffin, of Portsea. By his Sons. 8vo. Ecclesiastical Chronology; or Annals of the Christian Church. From its Foundation to the Present Time: containing a View of General Church History, and the Course of Secular Events, &c., &c. 8vo. By the Rev. J. E. Riddle, M.A. Christ's Discourse at Capernaum fatal to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation; on the very Principle of Exposition adopted by the Divines of the Roman Church, &c. 8vo. By George Stanley Faber, B.D. Outlines of the History of the Catholic Church in Ireland. By the Very Rev. Richard Murray, D.D. THE ECLECTIC REVIEW FOR DECEMBER, 1840. Art. I. Eminent British Statesmen: OLIVER CROMWELL. By JOHN FORSTER, Esq. Cabinet Cyclopædia. Vols. VI. and VII. London: Longman and Co. WELL did our mighty magician of the drama represent before the terrified Macbeth an armed head that would not be 'commanded,' as rising out of the troubled cauldron, when his witches were exercising their sorceries, amidst thunder, solitude, and darkness! Civil wars and political revolutions will generally give up a somewhat similar apparition, to chastise and alarm that guilty nation, which, in passing under the judgments of God, has forgotten or failed to humble itself before Him. Napoleon thus terminated the tragedy of the first French Reign of Terror; he being little else than the re-production, on a larger scale, of the great British Protector in the seventeenth century, who after witnessing the execution of his sovereign, succeeded in appropriating to himself the prerogatives and glory of Power. In some respects, Oliver Cromwell was greater,-in others, he was less than his successor, in our own times, though in another country yet Buonaparte, as all readers and observers know, always numbered him amongst the most remarkable of mankind. He has indeed secured a pedestal in the temple of fame, which will pass away only with time itself. His character has perplexed those who desire to understand it, almost as much as his actions have excited their wonder or execration. He blazed before his contemporaries like a comet rather than a star. His present biographer, however, has put into our hands a telescope which will enable us to examine him thoroughly. In no previous work VOL. VIII. 2 T has Mr. Forster exhibited more ability or impartiality. The hero grows up into life before us, so that we seem to see him from his boyhood to his deathbed. Our object must of course be to compress, as well as to delineate and we shall therefore endeavor forthwith to portray his personal history, his military career,— and his civil administration. Oliver Cromwell was born at Huntingdon, on the 25th of April, 1599, in an old gothic house attached to the brewery of his worthy parents. These persons were of respectable, and, on the maternal side, of illustrious origin; the father having descended from a Glamorganshire squire, and the mother being daughter to William Steward, of the city of Ely. She was a widow, with a jointure of £60 per annum, when she married Robert Cromwell; and could boast of a lineal and undoubted descent from the royal family of the Stuarts. A portrait of her still remains at Hinchinbrook, displaying a small and sweet mouth, expressive of firmness no less than gentleness, with large melancholy eyes, light pretty hair, and a meek, quiet affectionateness diffused over her face, which modestly peeps forth from a white satin hood, over a velvet cardinal of simple beauty, clasped by one small but rich jewel. Oliver was her second son, and the only one of three who lived to manhood. Her husband, having small means, although very good connexions, permitted her to carry on the brewery adjoining their premises, taking little or no part in it himself; though very glad, beyond a doubt, to have his humbler estate and situation, as younger brother to the neighbouring Sir Oliver Cromwell, of Hinchinbrook, thus comfortably supported through the exertions of an invaluable helpmate. His sister had married John Hampden, of Buckinghamshire, the father of the immortal patriot, who speedily discerned, beneath a rough exterior, the matchless talents of his cousin, long ere the fortune of war and politics had stamped him, before the world, as a future Protector to the three kingdoms. Yet it would seem that omens, prodigies, and fantasies, had already gathered around him their thickest clouds of mystery and interest. The cradle of conquerors and rulers can never be left to the unalloyed loveliness and simplicity of maternal affection producing,-moulding,-and watching over the epitome of a maturity to come. An honest nonjuror, who afterwards purchased and inhabited the house of Robert Cromwell at Huntingdon, used to show, behind the door of the room in which Oliver was born, a curious figure of the devil worked into the hangings. When as an infant, he was sent for one day over to the seat of his grandfather, Sir Henry Cromwell, a monkey snatched him from his crib, and running with him up to the leads, alarmed the entire household with this almost typical anticipation of his subsequent destiny: yet Pug brought him down safely in his paws, whilst the servants vainly busied themselves in fetching |