in the West of England, a man of excellent educa- | and philosophical societies. In this manner most of tion, and a certain generosity of mind, very rare and the Yorkshire towns which were active in promoting very precious. Educated in Christ Church, he re- museums of Natural History and Geology were tained much of the undefinable air of a gentleman of repeatedly visited: York, Scarborough, Hull, Leeds, Old Oxford, but mixed with this there was a singular and Sheffield, became centres of most valuable friendattachment to rural life and farming operations. ships; and the great county, in which thirty thoughtLooking back through the vista of half a century, ful years were afterwards passed, became known to among the ranks of my many kind and accomplished me as probably to no others. The generous Yorkfriends, I find no such man; and to my daily and shire people gave no stinted remuneration for my hourly intercourse with him, to his talk on plants, efforts to be useful, and I employed freely all the shells, and fossils, to his curiously rich old library, funds which came to my hands, in acquiring new and sympathy with all good knowledge, I may justly and strengthening old knowledge, so as to be able to attribute whatever may be thought to have been offer instructions in almost any department of Nature, my own success in following pursuits which he opened but especially in Zoology and Geology. to my mind. "From the Rectory at Farleigh, where science and literature were seen under colours most attractive to youth, I was transferred, by the good old Bath coach, to my uncle Smith's large house, which looked out on the Thames from the eastern end of Buckingham Street. Here a kind of life awaited me which, remembered at this long distance of time, excites sometimes my wonder, at other times my amusement, not seldom regret, but always my thankfulness. Here was a man in the exercise of a lucrative and honourable profession, who had for many years given every spare moment and every spare shilling to the execution of that vast work, the Map of the Strata of England and Wales.' After that was published, in 1815, he continued his labours in more detail, and issued twenty-one English County Maps, coloured geologically, after personal examination in each district. His home was full of maps, sections, models, and collections of fossils; and his hourly talk was of the laws of stratification, the succession of organic life, the practical value of geology, its importance in agriculture, engineering, and commerce, its connection with physical geography, the occupations of different people, and the distribution of different races. In this happy dream of the future expansion of geology, his actual professional work was often forgotten, until at length he had thrown into the Gulf of the Strata all his little patrimony and all his little gains; and he gave up his London residence and wandered, at his own sweet will, among those rocks which had been so fatal to his prosperity, though so favourable to his renown. In all this contest for knowledge, under difficulties of no ordinary kind, I had my share. From the hour I entered his house in London, and for many years after he quitted it, we were never separated in act or thought. In every drawing or calculation which his profession required, in every survey for canal or drainage, or colliery or mine, I had my share of work; for every book, map, and tour, my pencil was at his command. And thus my mind was moulded on his. And it seemed to be my destiny to mix, as he had done, the activity of a professional life with the interminable studies of geology. "Thus passed the time till the spring of 1824, when, by the invitation of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, then lately established, my uncle went to York to deliver a course of lectures on Geology, and I was his companion. This was the crisis of my life. From that hour the acquisitions I had made in Natural History and Fossilogy,' as we then termed the magnificent branch of study now known as Paleontology, brought me perpetual engagements in Yorkshire to arrange museums, and give lectures on their contents to members of literary "By degrees Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, Newcastle, and other places, offered me advantages of the same kind as those which always welcomed me at home; and when, in 1831, the British Association was formed, my circle of operations had reached the University College, London, then under the wardenship of Mr. Leonard Horner. At this time I had been resident in York for five years, having the care of the Yorkshire Museum and the office of Secretary of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. In this capacity it was my good fortune to be associated with Mr. W. V. Harcourt, the first President of that Society, and to assist in the establishment of the great Association which he had so large a share in organising, with Brewster, J. Forbes, Johnston, Murchison, and Daubeny. After this the whole book of my life has been open for the public to read. Educated in no college, I have professed Geology in three Universities, and in each have found this branch of science firmly supported by scholars, philosophers, and divines.' The late Professor, like Faraday, seldom introduced references to religion in matters of science. But he nevertheless did good service to the cause of revelation. Nowhere in his numerous writings do we find scorn for the doctrine of final causes, the exposition of God's attributes in creation, or for the proofs of a personal Creator afforded by design; but, on the contrary, reverent acknowledgment of the wisdom and goodness of God. In his little work on the Origin and Succession of Life, he says: "We have found all nature, organic and inorganic, to be harmoniously combined in mutual dependence; the worlds of matter and of life linked together by peculiar associations, which endure through long time amid varying phenomena, all suggestive of appointed succession and definite purpose. Nowhere in the Professor's works do we find any countenance given to a theory which removes the Creator to an indefinite distance, as it were, from his works in time, practically ignoring his presence; but, on the contrary, the recognition of a personal omnipresent God. Summarising in review the whole phenomena of life, he says of man: "When he surveys this vast and co-ordinate system, and inquires into its history and origin, can he be at a loss to decide whether it be a work of Divine thought and wisdom, or the fortunate offspring of a few atoms of matter, warmed by the anima mundi, a spark of electricity, or an accidental ray of sunshine" (p. 217). Nowhere do we find any attempt to set aside Scripture; but, on the contrary, Revelation is assumed to be a true basis of knowledge. Nowhere amid his well-balanced sentences do we find any judgment in favour of uniformitarianism, as against miracle; but, on the contrary, he commences his discussion with the proposition that the phenomena of life had a definite origin in time, and therefore a supernatural origin, according to the Scriptures. His studies did not lead him into the department of direct theology, but he held in reverence both the science itself and its disciples, as dealing with matters higher than his own beloved geology. He says: "Life appears in all the habitable spaces of the land, sea, and air, filling each with beings capable of enjoying their own existence, and of ministering to the bodily wants and intellectual longings of the one observing and reflecting being to whom God has committed the wonderful gift of thoughts which reach back beyond the origin of his race, and stretch forward to a brighter futurity" (p. 8). In later days he showed a growing tenderness of spirit, and appeared to be increasingly attracted by considerations of eternity. He evidently thought himself to be within, as it were, the penumbra of the vast shadow projected by the future into the present. The volume of nature gives no light on the subjects most affecting man's eternal welfare. It is in the volume of Revelation that life and immortality are brought to light, and John Phillips was a sincere and humble believer in the Gospel of Christ. We add the letter of Professor Pritchard::"You ask me for a few particulars regarding my friend Professor Phillips? In connection with such a man, I shrink from using the word 'late.' I am not sure that it is wholly consistent with Christian faith, but I am sure that the thought of the man, the image of the man's mind, is as present to me at this moment as it ever was when we so often took our pleasant walk together from the house of God in company. "It was palpable to any one who knew Phillips well, that he was a man who had been built up by a long and careful self-discipline. He must have made up his mind, at an early period, as to what sort of a man he intended to be. Hence there was a remarkable evenness, not to say an unconscious cautiousness, in his demeanour which I never saw forsake him. Always cheerful, playful, thoughtful, brimful of kindliness of heart, he rarely failed to engage at once the goodwill, and eventually the confidence, of all who came into his society. In his seventy-fourth year he retained the mental elasticity of youth. He said that ferior for the instruction which he had given him. "There was a pleasant tale told me the other day by an eminent professor in another university, which, as being characteristic in more ways than one, may be interesting for you to know. A few years ago, Phillips accompanied a party of intelligent men, including the gentleman alluded to, and one of the most eminent of the Oxford professors, their object being a pleasant geological excursion for a day or two in the neighbourhood of Malvern. On the Sunday the whole party attended divine service in the Abbey church. After the service Phillips requested his Malvern friends to wait half an hour, when he would rejoin them in their walk. Our friend and his brother professors had stayed for the Communion. "Such is some little glimpse of the eminent and good Professor, whose bodily presence Oxford has lost. What the man himself was, and what he did, cannot be lost; they survive and in various forms must reappear for years and years to come; happily, the conservation of moral force is an ordinance for man." THE MANDARIN'S DAUGHTER. CHAPTER XIII-INTERVIEW WITH THE MANDARIN. 'ΠΕ THE knowledge that A-Lee and her father were Christian converts caused me to inquire of the interpreters at the embassy where and what missions were in Peking. They said that there were no Protestant missions established in the city, but steps were being taken to do so, according to an article in the treaty. There were, however, four Roman Catholic establishments, distributed in the north, south, east, and west quarters of the Tartar city. These missions were conducted by two abbés, eight foreign, and nine Chinese priests, under the supervision of a French bishop. They said that there were no less than five thousand hereditary Christians in Peking, who could trace back their conversion to the time when the Jesuits held high office under Government, more than one hundred and fifty years before. Few proselytes had of late been made, but since the treaty indications of greater success were becoming more apparent. No women were allowed to attend the churches, the missionaries being compelled thus far to yield to national custom and prejudice. Six mest ing-houses, however, had been established in diffe rent parts of the city, where the female Christians assembled, and had service read to them by priests "We have often and often in our walks discussed the ways and the works of the famous scientific men of our generation, but I never on any one occasion heard him express himself otherwise than with singular charity. We all know the versatility of his mind; that, perhaps, is the usual characteristic of really great men. As for himself, if he had not been an eminent geologist, he would have become an equally eminent astronomer. As it was, he was among the first to photograph the moon with success, and he mapped out a considerable portion of the configuration of the planet Mars; he was great also at sun-spots. He was one of the very first, among the very few, who mastered the practical principles of terrestrial magnetism. But notwithstanding all his accurate and extended knowledge of nature in all her moods, he preserved an unaffected modesty, and never obtruded his knowledge upon others unsought. Perhaps I ought not to have used this word notwith-detailed for the purpose. standing, and I ought to have said that, because Phillips was truly learned, therefore he was unaffectedly modest. I have more than once heard him thank a person who was intellectually his in On my next visit to the mandarin I inquired to what church he belonged, and found that he was a member of the Greek Church, established by the Russians in Pekin two hundred years ago. He said, "During all that time the Archimandrites and other members of the mission have always been upon amicable terms with the authorities, who have tolerated our form of religion, while there has always been a bad feeling existing towards the Roman Catholic bishops and priests; and it is even now with the greatest reluctance that the Government have consented to restore the grounds formerly belonging to the Jesuits." "Can you account for this difference in tolerating one sect and not the other of the same religion?" "That I can. Simply because the Roman Catholic missionaries have interfered with the rights of the state, while the ecclesiastics of the Greek Church have confined their operations entirely to the propagation of the Christian faith. The former have always endeavoured to screen their converts from justice when they have broken Chinese laws, for the purpose of making proselytes, no matter if they be criminals or political offenders; whereas the latter have never done so, but freely delivered up any delinquent converts who thought they were shielded from punishment while under the protection of the missionaries. You will see then, honourable sir, that the Jesuits have themselves to blame for the persecutions they have undergone." I was surprised to find Meng-kee well acquainted with the differences between the Christian sects whose missionaries were endeavouring to propagate the gospel in China; and equally surprised to learn that the Government were so tolerant towards the Russian missionaries. Moreover, I had been under the impression that no mandarin could hold office while professing any foreign religion, and I consequently questioned Meng-kee on that point. "You are so far correct," he said, "as to professors of the Roman Catholic faith being found among the official class, for I know of none. In Peking almost all the converts of that mission are tradespeople, especially watchmakers and their families, whose ancestors were taught the business by the Jesuits. On the other hand, those among the mandarins who are Christians belong to the Greek Church. Hence I, and most of my kindred you met the other night, who are officials and members of the Greek Church, are never brought to task by our superiors; excepting they suspect"-here the mandarin spoke in a whisper-"that any of us sympathise with the Taipings." On saying this his features assumed the anxious expression which I had observed before when he made inquiries as to their movements in the south. "You seem to have a feeling of uneasiness in mentioning these rebels," I said to him. "Well, I did not think you would observe it, but since you have said so, I will candidly tell you in confidence, honourable sir, that I am suspected, and consequently have fallen under the displeasure of my superiors. The fact is, I who, from my long services, am entitled to one of the highest posts on the Board of Rites, have been for years kept in a subordinate position, while younger men, less experienced, have been promoted over my head, because they are pure Confucianists, upholding no other doctrines than those promulgated by the great sage." Here was a fresh piece of secret information divulged, giving me a further insight into the mandarin's character and position. It was evident that he was a disappointed man in his expectations of promotion, and it was such persons who joined the insurrectionary cause against the corrupt Tartar government. Evidently he was a man of strong convictions, and felt keenly the slight put upon him because he was a Christian. While these thoughts flashed through my mind, A-Lee came in, having just returned from a visit to some of her friends. "Welcome again, my noble defender," she said, clasping my hand; "I have lost the pleasure of your visit by being absent, but I had to go and see the presents a young friend of mine has received on the eve of her marriage." "Is she to be married after the Chinese manner?" I asked; "if so, I should like to witness it." "Yes," replied Loo A-Lee; "and you may come with my father to witness the ceremony." "That you may do," said Meng-kee; "and though we do not follow them in the nuptial rites of our Christian communion, yet I am not so prejudiced as to refuse attending the marriage of any of my friends whose parents differ from me on these points. "I shall be glad to go with you,' ," I answered, "and have the forms of the ceremony explained. In the meantime, tell me what are the preliminary arrangements, and how the young couple are betrothed." "The preliminaries of betrothal and marriage, replied Meng-kee, "are more complicated than those practised in your country, or by us Chinese Christians. Instead of the young people meeting each other and proposing, the business is conducted by the parents and by professional matchmakers. When the father or elder brother has resolved upon a young man of the family being married, they send for a mei-jin, or go-between. This person is instructed to proceed to the house where the lady resides to whom they wish this relative to be married. He states his errand, and if her father is willing that the match should take place, he inquires the maiden name of the young lady, and the day and hour of her birth, which are all duly registered. These are submitted to a diviner, who compares the eight characters which compose the name and date of birth with those of the young man, and thus ascertains whether the marriage will be a happy one or not. When these things are settled favourably, the other preliminaries of the marriage are proceeded with. The second step consists of the go-between being sent back to the house of the lady to announce that the alliance will be a felicitous one, and request a promise of marriage. This form is called 'delivering the happy tidings.' The third step is the procuring of a written promise of marriage from the young woman's parents. This being obtained, the bridegroom sends pieces of silk, gold, silver, wine, or fruit, according to his circumstances, to the friends of his espoused wife. The fifth step is a message to request that her parents will fix a day for the marriage; and finally, when the time has arrived, the bridegroom goes in person to fetch his bride home to his father's house, where the marriage ceremony is performed.” "And does he not see his intended wife before the wedding-day?" "No," replied Meng-kee; "or it is considered he has not." "Ah, but, father," said A-Lee, "they manage somehow to do so, by bribing the go-betweens." Well," said I, "I should not like to take my chance in that way. I should like to see and converse with my future wife before the bonds of matrimony were tied " Varieties. PORCHES FOR THE PEOPLE.-Are we not still behind the old Grecks, and the Romans of the Empire likewise, in the amount of amusement and instruction, and even of shelter, which we provide for the people? Recollect the to me--disgraceful fact, that there is not, as far as I am aware, throughout the whole of London, a single portico or other covered place, in which the people can take refuge during a shower; and this in the climate of England! Where they do take refuge on a wet day the publican knows but too well; as he knows also where thousands of the lower classes, simply for want of any other place to be in, save their own sordid dwellings, spend as much as they are permitted of the Sabbath day.-Canon Kingsley. HIGHLAND EMIGRATION." In these days of poverty every man was content to live like his neighbours, and never wandering from home, saw no life preferable to his own; except at the house of the laird, or the laird's nearest relations, whom he considered as a superior order of beings, to whose luxuries or honours he had no pretensions. But the end of this reverence and submission seems now approaching. The Highlanders have learned that there are countries less bleak and barren than their own, where instead of working for the laird, every man may till his own ground, and eat the produce of his own labour. Great numbers have been induced by this discovery to go, every year for some time past, to America."-Dr. Johnson, 1773. Luther's Defects.--Was Luther, then, a perfect character? No, a very imperfect one. He was a sincere Christian, but not a mature one. He was given to see some truths and to attain to some virtues, in such degree as few others have been; but the completeness of the Christian character-its symmetry -certainly was not his. A good many fruits of the Spirit were wanting in him. Meekness, long-suffering, gentleness, these were not his; and without these a man cannot be a model man. Luther was an instrument fitted for his work, but not a pattern for all time. He had, too, considerable mental weaknesses, as I think. His writings are not altogether possessions for posterity; they are truly straightforward and emphatically practical; but they, for the most part, aspire to only immediate usefulness, and they attain to little more than they aspire to. They are not consistent one with another, and they are not safe guides for this age, though they were the best for his own. Luther was not a patient man, and none but a patient man can be a good theologian. Wherever Luther goes beyond the plain letter of Scripture, it appears to me that he goes astray; wherever he theorises, he had better be silent; when he is betrayed in Philistine ground-that is, into philosophical-he loses his strength, and becomes much as other men. scientific intellect and philosophic temper did not shine out in him at all. He was an admirable advocate, but the judicial (which is the highest) was not his. His views of great ques tions have all that compactness and manageableness which is the consequence and the convenience of narrowness; but the significance of the Gospel as a whole was not clear to him. The mysteries of the universe pressed but lightly upon him. He cut every knot. A rough, strong, practical grasp of things contented him. He had few scruples and no fears. He would dogmatise more than he had need to do, and thus was obliged to accept consequences which he might have avoided. He saw some things far off vividly, and others close by, through eagerness, not at all. The shortest practicable way to a point he had in view, that he saw, and with his gigantic mode of striding it little mattered what kind of ground lay between it and him; firm or boggy, turnpike or trespass, over it he would go, and went. Such an one I will not blame; but I dare not follow.-Myer's Lectures on Great Men. The EUCHARIS AMAZONICA CULTURE.-This is one of the best flowering plants we can grow for all first-class purposes, either for the decoration of the dinner-table, the bouquet, or for ladies' hair. The treatment I give is as follows:-By the middle of February my plants will be out of bloom, then any that require it will be repotted; the soil composed of turfy loam and good leaf mould in equal parts, and one part rotten cow dung, with a little silver sand, and it will be better if a little charcoal be added. Mix these well together. Place a little of the coarsest of the soil on the crocks, then fill about half full. Select five good sound bulbs, placing four at equal distances round the edge of the pot and one in the centre, fill up with soil, potting rather firmly. Give a gentle watering through a fine rose with tepid water, and place the pots in a light, airy position in the stove. If the pots can be stood on bottom heat all the better. Let them remain there till May-day, then take them to a warm greenhouse, keeping them rather dry, and let them have the benefit of a good scorching sun. This is a very important point. June 1st, take them back again to the stove, gradually giving more water, and it will be very strange indeed if you do not soon see the bloom spikes coming up from amongst the bulbs. Once they are seen, this is the time to give liquid manure, but not before. After blooming this time let the plants remain in the stove till the middle of August, then take them again to their country seat for about six weeks, giving them the benefit of all the sun they can have; after which they must be again taken to the stove and treated as before, and about Christmas you will have a good stock of blooms to cut from. This is all I can promise. I hear of some gardeners blooming them three times a year, but I think it only occurs accidentally now and then-it may be a retarded bloom; but to bloom the same bulb three times a year is more than I can promise, and I think is not practicable. The important points are-1st, To mix the soil well together. 2ndly, Not to give too much pot-room, but to choose pots according to the size of the bulbs. Like all other plants, they bloom best when the pot becomes full of roots. 3rdly, Place a little moss over the crocks before putting in the potting be sparing of water until growth has commenced, or you soil, thereby keeping the drainage good. 4thly, After fresh may rot your bulbs. 5thly, Give them the full benefit of the sun as directed. 6thly, Do not give liquid manure until the flowering.-Journal of Horticulture. bloom spikes appear, and do not put the plants in a corner after SERFDOM IN SCOTLAND.-Robert Chambers, in his "Domestic Annals," relates the following story told by the late Robert Bald, a mining engineer. He had gone on a visit to the owner of the Clyde Ironworks, and heard a conversation between him and a miner named Mess Nook. "Mess Nook," said his employer, "you don't appear from your style of speaking to be of this part of the country; where do you originally come from?" "Oh, sir," answered Mess Nook, "do you not know that your father brought me here long ago from M'Nair's, of the Green ? Your father used to have merry meetings with Mr. M'Nair, and one day he saw me and took a liking to me. At the same time Mr. M'Nair had taken a fancy to a very nice pony belonging to your father; so they agreed on the subject, and I was niffered away for the pony. That's the way I came here." The man had, in short, been a slave, and was exchanged for a pony. The Scottish colliers, coal-bearers, and salters were not fully emancipated till 1799, when an Act was passed for the purpose. DESPONDENCY. -The gloomy reflections made on your birthday are a proof that the best men never please themselves, and the bad men please any but themselves. I knew your horror of presumption, and your idea that the fearing Christian is most in the favour of Heaven; but recollect than Honest and Hopeful got over the river better than Christian and Much-afraid in the Pilgrim's Progress;" and our children say they do not per ceive that the others were better received when they had crossed the river. Mrs. Thrale to Dr. Johnson. NEWSPAPER STATISTICS.-"There are now published in the United Kingdom 1,585 newspapers, distributed as follows:England, London, 314; Provinces, 915-total England, 1,229: Wales, 58; Scotland, 149; Ireland, 131; British Isles, 18. Of these, there are 95 daily papers published in England, 2 in Wales, 14 in Scotland, 17 in Ireland, and 2 in British Isles. On reference to the edition of this useful Directory for 1854, we find the following interesting facts-viz., that in that year there were published in the United Kingdom 624 journals; of these 20 were issued daily-viz., 16 in England, 1 in Scotland, and 3 in Ireland; but in 1874 there are now established and circulated 1,585 papers, of which no less than 130 are issued daily, show. ing that the Press of the country has very greatly extended during the last twenty years, and more especially so in daily papers, the daily issues standing 130 against 20 in 1854. The magazines now in course of publication, including the Quarterly Reviews, number 639, of which 242 are of a decidedly religious character, representing the Church of England, Wesleyans, Methodists, Baptists, Independents, and other Christian communities."-Newspaper Press Directory for 1874. |