six years, and cost him nearly £5,000 before bringing any return, is one that must be familiar to our readers as a remarkable specimen of that branch of art. At one time Mr. Walker was churchwarden of All Saints' Church, Margaret Street, for two years. He was probably the oldest member of the congregation, as he attended old Margaret Chapel in the time of Mr. Dodsworth, Mr. Oakley, and lastly, Mr. Upton Richards. His heart and soul has always been for the welfare of that church." "Our obituary records the death of Mr. William Walker, so celebrated for his rendering in stipple of the portraits of Raeburn. He was born in the county of Edinburgh in 1792, and first became known to fame as an engraver after his removal to London in 1830. His first work bears the date of 1818, and the one by which he first brought himself into notice here was a capital engraving of the portrait of Henry Cockburn, by Raeburn. From this time he gave himself up to portrait engraving. His Burns by Nasmyth, and Scott by Raeburn, are the best existing. Brougham, Jeffrey, Wellington, the late Duke of Sussex, the late Earl of Haddington, the late Lord Dunfermline, and the late Duke of Sutherland, were also done by him. Of his portrait engravings in groups the most celebrated are, Luther at the Diet of Spires,' 'the Johnson Literary Party,' the passing of the Reform Bill in the House of Lords,' 'the Aberdeen Cabinet deciding on the expedition to the Crimea,' and his last work-which he thought his greatest, and which occupied him body and soul for six years, The distinguished men of science of Great Britain living in the years 1807-8.' A man of the most persevering industry, simple, unobtrusive habits, and gentle Christian deportment, and yet of intense convictions withal, he was hardly known beyond the circle of his family, and not at all beyond a circle the most limited in the sphere of art. He was a Scotchman to the bone, and to the end unaffected by ideas and influences out of keeping with what he inherited from his fatherland." REVIEWS AND NOTICES. David the King of Israel: a Portrait, drawn from Bible History and the Book of Psalms. By FREDERICK WILLIAM KRUMMACHER, D.D., Author of "Elijah the Tishbite," &c. Translated under the express sanction of the Author, by the Rev. M. G. EASTON, M.A. Edinburgh: Clark. 1867. READERS old enough to recollect the furor caused in certain Protestant circles, nearly a quarter of a century ago, by the translation of 66 Elijah the Tishbite," will be prepared for the milk-and-water, nambypamby sentimentalism of the present translation from the same author. Two things greatly surprise us in the work; first, that it was ever possible to fill so large a volume with wordy nothings, and nothing else; and next, that Dr. Cumming should be so completely beaten in his own shallow and insipid style. The translation itself is rendered well enough, in easy flowing English; we only wonder that the translator considered it worth while to spend so much time, not to mention print and paper, on so very tedious a monologue, when so much more readable a biography might have been condensed out of it, at the cost of one-tenth part of the number of pages. One extract will suffice to show the author's characteristic manner of improving the history of his hero. He is commenting on the combat with Goliath: 66 History has presented many and divers examples in the sphere of the spiritual life, similar to this heroic march of the youthful David. I now call to your remembrance only a Luther, who in opposition to the opinions of timid, learned men, threw aside the heavy armour of scholastic wisdom, and, stepping forward in freedom vanquished the giant of Rome, with the five Heads of his Catechism. And might we not here also make mention of such witnesses and combatants in the region of the Church, as with holy courage have broken through the restraints of homiletic or liturgic forms, and in the free effusions and creations of their divinely-anointed spirits, have given the tone to a new and animating style of preaching, and thereby have opened the way to a new quickening and elevating of the life of the Church into greater fruitfulness?" The passage is worth recollecting by treatise-writers on rhetoric and declamation, as an admirable specimen of bathos! Simple Lessons, or Words easy to be understood. A Manual of Teaching. Edited by the Rev. T. T. CARTER. Second Edition. Mozley, 1867. WE are glad to see that this most useful and valuable little book has reached a second edition. It is a thoroughly successful attempt to put the great truths of the Christian religion as they are summed up in the Apostles' Creed into language so plain and simple that even the most unlearned can hardly fail to understand it, while at the same time there is no explaining away of mysteries, but depth of meaning is combined with simplicity of expression. The writer's advice to those who use this manual is we think thoroughly good; it is not to be put into the hands of the pupils as a reading book, nor is it meant to be merely read through to them by the teacher. The method suggested is rather that the teacher should use it as a help in oral teaching, should in fact get it up well beforehand, and then talk it out to those who are to be taught, with occasional questions to see that they understand what is said. Used in this way, this little book cannot fail to be a most valuable assistant. Thoughts in Verse on Private Prayer and Public Worship. By JAMES FORD, A.M., Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral. Masters, 1867. WE confess we are of opinion that Mr. Prebendary Ford does not excel so well in his poetical as in his prose religious musings. The little volume before us too often reminds us of Mrs. Barbauld and Isaac Watts, though it sometimes rises more nearly to the level of Ken and Herbert. The following are perhaps above the average of the verses: they are entitled "Thoughts on Retiring to Rest at Night." "Thou, who from morn till eventide Now with me through the dark abide. "Grant me sweet sleep, good LORD, this night; And, when I rise at morning light, Be it Thy mercies to requite. "Be it to 'go and sin no more,' "That Name, by all the Church confest, "Angels to Thee attune the string; "O Thou, Who in the Union Trine "Sleep is a death; the bed a tomb; "For night to Thee is clear, as day; "Pardoning the guilt of years gone by, "So to Thy glory, thanks and praise, At morn, at night, through all my days." The verses which come next in order, on the same subject, are cer tainly below the average. "Not to the Saints, however high, Ascends my prayer, now night is nigh, How can I tell, if they be near? How can I tell, if they can hear? Or if, when hearing, they can grant The mercies which I daily want? "Sure, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John,' "Tis 'a fond thing' to call upon, They writ, 'tis true, th' Evangile-book, Yet ne'er in it they bid us look To them for help; but all proclaim None other than great JESU's Name." There is a fair translation of the Dies Ira. But what possible good can come of reducing the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, and especially the General Confession and Thanksgiving, to the restraints of rhyme and rhythm, we are altogether at a loss to imagine. Ma nual of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used throughout the Year; with Questions for examination: Part I, from Advent to Trinity; by S. W., (J. and C. Mozley, 1867,) is one of the most complete handy-books that we have seen of the kind. Originally prepared to assist candidates in the examination for the Bishop of Exeter's Prayer-Book prizes, it is well suited for Church schools generally, whether on week-day or Sunday. It is especially instructive as to the collects, and comprises information which modern treatises, such as Mr. Bright's, have supplied upon the subject. A Hymn Book for the Services of the Church; fourth edition, revised and enlarged, (Parker, 1867); being the fourth edition, we presume, must obtain in certain congregations. But it appears to us peculiarly meagre, compared with others which have gained a fair position; and the versions given are often marred by alterations. As is the case in almost every other published hymn book, some of the best verses from Bishop Ken's evening hymn are omitted. Discourses on "the Lord's Prayer," by CALEB WEBB, (Houlston and Wright,) are the most undevotional and inflated commentary on this divine form that we ever remember to have met with. “ However fortuitous the production of our being, so far as our earthly progenitors were concerned, it was foreseen and predetermined by the knowledge and will of GOD. Our earthly bodies are the prominent matter of our persons.' We quote from the first page we open; and this wretched stuff runs throughout the volume. Lectures on Early Scripture; Patriarchal Epoch, by T. T. CROSSE, D.C.L.; second edition, (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1867,) are pretty much open to the same objection. They are one of the many wellmeant attempts to reconcile science (so called) and revelation. By the author's confession, they were "originally produced in the form of sermons," but we believe that not one in ten thousand among members of ordinary congregations would be able to follow so as to gather a glimpse of meaning from either the language or matter of the lectures ; and that if one did, he would gain nothing whatever in the way of spiritual instruction. Sermons preached in Liverpool, by ANDREW WILSON, B.A., Curate of S. Catherine's, (Rivingtons, 1867,) are sermons which we should desire almost as earnestly to be preserved from the infliction of "sitting under," as either of the two series above. They are of the old-fashioned essay kind, full of quotations from Shakespeare, Lord Bacon, the poet Spenser, and more modern lights, such as Archbishop Whately. We regret to infer from the publication that such sermons are ever now preached. Mr. JOHN DU BOULAY, who wrote a letter to the Most Noble the Marquis of Westminster, on "Our Communion Tables," in the interest of the Anti-Ritualists, has written another pamphlet, about as profound and learned, in the same direction, entitled The Fathers of the Early Christian Church and their Communion Tables, (Hamilton, Adams, and Co., 1867.) He calls upon laymen of the Church and Dissenters to combine in defence of their common Protestantism. We wonder whether they will. We have received no less than three copies, at intervals, of Mr. JAMES BIDEN's ultra-Protestant sermon, The River of Life, (Legg, Gosport, 1867.) If ours is a common instance of the way in which it is got rid of, it must have a singularly large circulation. Two good tracts, The distinctive Principles of the Church; and Scripture and Antiquity; A Letter to the Lord Bishop of Cashel, &c., (Dublin: Ponsonby, 1867,) have been published by the Rev. WILLIAM MATURIN, D.D., Perpetual Curate of Grangegorman. We recommend them to the Dean of Cork, as setting forth in a clear way what, at the Oxford Conference, he seemed to find a difficulty in apprehending, how, not Scripture only, but Scripture interpreted by antiquity, tradition, or the Church, is the Anglican regula fidei. The Union Review, (Hayes,) for September, has a capital paper, among others, entitled "Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Ultramontanes," in exposure of the principles of the latter school as advocated in The Month. The Month itself, (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.,) for September is an interesting number. It continues Lady Fullerton's story of a "Stormy Life," and also "English Premiers,"-Liverpool and Canning being those brought under notice. There are several other papers and reviews of general interest, including one on "the latest Arctic Discoveries." The Churchman's Companion, September, (Masters,) is equally distinguished for the variety and excellence of its matter, and contains almost as much in quantity at half the price. It seems to go on improving the older it grows. The September British Churchman carries on its story of "The New Vicar," and is otherwise up to its ordinary level. Mr. ERSKINE CLARKE'S Parish Magazine, (Bell and Daldy,) has reached us with some useful hints for localizing the same, hints which it seems have been accepted by some hundred parishes that have adopted the Magazine as a local organ. This fact affords at least a proof of its popularity and success. Church Work; The Monthly Paper of the Guild of S. Alban, (Hayes,) seems to go on prosperously, as the Guild which it represents. It has useful papers on the Apocrypha, Mission Work, and the Laity, American Synods, &c., and interesting correspondence. One Hundred Reasons against Auricular Confession and Priestly Absolution, (Masters,) are really reasons the other way, by which objectors are answered mostly out of their own mouth. Deficient Supply of well-qualified Clergymen for the Church of England at the present time, (Birkenhead: Osborne,) is a paper read before the Liverpool Clerical Society. It considers the several points of cost of education, clerical subscription, civil service competition, restrictions on clerical liberty, abuse of patronage and preferment, religious parties, persecution, as among the chief alleged causes of deficiency. A Baptism Remembrance Card for Parents and Sponsors, is published by Messrs. Mozley. The Lily of the Valley, (Masters,) is a prettily told story of the conversion of a young man from infidel opinions, by the Christian death of a younger sister. |