I knew thou wert worn, and thy couch have made
Of violet wreaths, 'neath the musk-rose shade,
Where the citron's scent, and the sound of the spring,
Are borne on the faint wind's fitful wing.
And O, far other delights than these :--

Heaven's music to lull thee to rest,
When thy form shall be lapp'd on a maiden's knees,
And thy head on her warm white breast;
Bright glances to meet, soft kisses to close
Thine eyes, when a moment they break their repose;
With none to disturb, and nought to alloy,
This home shall be thine, thou fair-hair'd boy!

LAMENT OF THE INDIAN WOMAN.

AND art thou changed to clay?

Gone to the spirits' land, pale warrior-boy? We mourn the fatal day

That saw thee rushing swiftly, and with joy, To the dark forest where the ambush lay

That smote and left thee on the blood-stain'd way.

Thou wast our hope; we thought

To trust thy prowess when the foe should come; And lo! thou'rt hither brought,

Borne in deep silence to thine earth-damp home,

With lips and locks that glow with beauty still,
And soft-closed eyes, and brow as marble chill.

Sleep, sleep, pale warrior-boy!

Thou in thy life didst love the moaning river, And with strange, silent joy,

Didst watch the leaflets in the cool wind quiver : Now shall that stream moan softly by thy bed, And the light leaflet flourish o'er thy head.

Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons; illustrating the Perfections of God in the Phenomena of the Year. Winter. By the REV. HENRY DUNCAN, D.D., Ruthwell. W. Oliphant and Son, Edinburgh. 1836.

THIS is a solemn as well as a sounding title; and he who essayed to follow it out "in spirit and in truth," would have required to "gird up his loins like a man;" for the demand of the Almighty was upon him as strongly as it was upon the patriarch Job, when God called to him from the whirlwind, "I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." We fear we must add, that the reproof would fall still more forcibly upon the Rev. Pastor of Ruthwell than it did upon the man of Uz.

That Dr. Duncan has collected, from various sources, a number of interesting facts, we do not mean to deny; but still the title of his book is a misnomer, for we have searched it in vain for a single grain of philosophy. It more resembles the emptying of a sort of literary savings' bank, in which the laborious author had conserved scraps of all sorts, and poured the mélange upon the pages of a book, not only without plan and philosophical purpose, but actually without knowing the intrinsic value of the individual parts. Besides the total want of connexion and concentration upon any one general subject, which alone would render the book a mere lounging-book for the idle, there are some heavier charges for which Dr. Duncan is answerable. We will not of course go into the details of about ninety detached scraps of which the 394 pages are made up. We cannot, however, omit remarking in general, that the same objection applies to all that we have read, which applies to Paley, and every other writer professedly on Natural Theology, with the single exception, perhaps, of John Ray. The objection is in brief this:-There is neither nature nor theology in the matter, the scope of the whole being to show that in every kind of art the Almighty is a better artizan than human beings. Now what ought to be shown is, that the God of Revelation and the God of Nature are one and the same Being; and that the law of Nature and the law

He fell, but hath not ceased to be,-
His voice came on the blast,
And fearfully it spake to me
In thunder, as it past.

Son of the valiant dead, arise!

I hear the death-word spoken; And I have sworn by him whose eyes Behold when vows are broken.

Warriors! our fathers point the path,
Their spirits haunt the field;
His soul awakes their wildest wrath
Who stoops to shrink or yield.

of the Gospel are portions of one and the same general law, pure and perfect as the Lawgiver.

Upon this general point we ought to deal gently with Dr. Duncan, and not blame him for failing where far greater men have failed; but there is a minor point upon which we feel it our duty to admonish him, because, though he himself is possibly not aware of it, in our humble opinion it strikes directly at the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and, by an injudicious attempt to raise other animals to the rank of man, tends to sink man to the level of the brutes. The passage to which we particularly allude begins on page 134, and has the very suspicious title of "Reason in the Lower Animals." We cannot afford to quote the whole; but the following passage, in the Doctor's remarks upon the quotations which it embodies, will show how dangerous it is to tamper with this subject:

"In some of the insect tribes, there seems to be an extraordinary faculty, which, if it can be called instinct, surely approaches to the highest faculty possessed by man,-I mean the power of communicating information by some natural language. Huber affirms that, nature has given to ants a language of communication by the contact of their antennæ; and that, with these organs, they are enabled to render mutual assistance in their labours and in their dangers, discover again their route when they have lost it, and make each other acquainted with their necessities.' This power seems to be confirmed by what occurred to Dr. Franklin. Upon discovering a number of ants regaling themselves with treacle in one of his cupboards, he put them to the rout, and then suspended the pot of treacle by a string from the ceiling. He imagined that he had put the whole army to flight, but was surprised to see a single ant quit the pot, climb up the string, cross the ceiling, and regain its nest. less than half an hour several of its companions sallied forth, traversed the ceiling, and reached the repository, which they constantly revisited till the treacle was consumed. The same power of communication belongs also to bees and wasps, as may be proved by any one who carefully attends to their habits.

In

"This is their language, not of articulate sounds indeed, but of signs a language which, as Jesse observes, we have no doubt is perfectly suited to them; adding, we know not how much, to their happiness and enjoyments, and furnishing another proof that there is a God all mighty, all wise, and all good, who has ornamented the universe' with so many objects of delightful contemplation, that we may see Him in all his works, and learn not only to fear him for his power, but to love Him for the care which He takes of us, and of all his created beings.

"Whether this power of communication be rational or instructive, it is obviously only suited to be useful to a being possessed, at least to a certain extent, of intellectual faculties, of the power of forming designs,-of combining, with others, to execute

them, of accommodating itself to circumstances, and, therefore, of remembering, of comparing, of judging, and of resolving. These are assuredly acts of reasoning; at least I know not under what other category to arrange them.

"The instance which Dr. Darwin gives of a wasp, noticed by himself, is in point. As he was walking one day in his garden, he perceived a wasp upon the gravel-walk with a large fly, nearly as big as itself, which it had caught. Kneeling down, he distinctly saw it cut off the head and abdomen; and then, taking up with its feet the trunk or middle portion of the body, to which the wings remained attached, fly away; but a breeze of wind, acting on the wings of the fly, turned round the wasp with its burden, and impeded its progress. Upon this, it alighted again in the gravel-walk, deliberately sawed off first one wing and then another, and, having thus removed the cause of its embarrassment, flew off with its booty.

"Here we have contrivance and recontrivance-a resolution accommodated to the case, judiciously formed and executed; and, on the discovery of a new impediment, a new plan adopted, by which final success was obtained. There is undoubtedly something more than instinct in this. And yet we call the wasp a despicable and hateful insect."-pp. 137, 138.

We must of course excuse what the Doctor quotes from Huber, Franklin, Jesse, and Darwin, though we

think the majority of these parties are very questionable authority on a profound question of a psychological nature, such as that which is here involved. To Darwin we should especially object, for we cannot forget having dipped into his "Zoonomia," which is not a beautiful poem, as some Edinburghan of late alleged it to be, but a piece of most unphilosophic prose. The grand objection, however, is to Dr. Duncan's own remarks, in the short paragraph which concludes the quotation. If what he alleges there be true, what can man possess more than is possessed by the wasp, unless it be a mere difference of material structure? Let the Doctor look at that paragraph again, and then let him consider how the scope of it is calculated to shake the better hopes of man; and then let him think what responsibility lies upon a preacher of that Gospel by which "life and immortality were brought to light," if he heedlessly tampers with such subjects.

"Man giveth up the ghost." "WHERE IS HE?'-Where, indeed! Look around you on the day when his death is announced, in the place where his life was passed-where is he? Seek him in the countenances of the neighbours: they are without a cloud-he is not there;, the faces on which he has closed his eyes for ever, continue as cheerful as they were before. His decease is reported in the social circle; the audience receives it with indifference, and forgets it in haste; the seriousness with which it is told, or the sigh with which it is heard, springs rather from human pity than from moral reflection and social distress; and in a moment the current of convivial mirth recovers the liveliness of its glow; the business and the pleasures of the place proceed with their usual spirit; and perhaps in the house which stands next to that in which he lies an unconscious lump of clay, in the cheerless chamber of silence and insensibility, the voice of music and dancing is heard, and the roof resounds with jubilee and joy. Wait but a few days after his interment; seek him now in the faces of his kinsmen,-they have resumed their cheerfulness, now he is not there. When a few years have circled over his sepulchre, go search for the fugitive in his dark retreat from human notice; his very relics are vanished,-he is not now even there. Stay a little longer, and thou shalt seek in vain for a stone to tell thee in what part of the land of oblivion he was laid; even that frail memorial of him, of whatever materials it was made, has mouldered away: where, then, is he? The inspired penman assures us that he has given up the ghost: a singular expression, pointing out to us the sole prerogative of our nature. The death of other creatures is not announced in such terms as these. They literally cease to be; when they die, they become extinct; the animal life evaporates,

and the lump of matter of which they were formed insensibly crumbles into common dust. But man giveth up the ghost; he is at once subject and superior to death; he yields and vanquishes at the same moment; HE alone, among all the beings which inhabit this lower world, must view with apprehensive terror, or joyous hope, the sithe of time and the dart of death; it is man's high privilege or dismal curse not to die; he departs, but whither-where is he? This is a question we ought seriously to ponder. It may be answered on the principles of the Christian revelation,-character is destiny, conduct is fate." We may probably resume the subject, and employ our best efforts to enable our readers to decide for themselves whether, as heirs of eternity, they are to be inhabitants of heaven or of hell. We have introduced the text of Scripture because it is seasonable, and may awaken solemn reflec tion and inquiry, and that we might more widely cir culate an elegant passage from the sermons of the once-celebrated Joseph Fawcett.

CONTROVERSY is not in itself to be deprecated; it is only opposed to the highest interests of those who engage in it on the awful subject of religion, when it is conducted in a litigious spirit, for the purpose of serving a party, to gratify the pride of victory, or to obtain personal aggrandizement. Yet even when it has been most abused, it has ended in the clearer manifestation and ultimate triumph of right principles. Nothing is so apt to rouse attention, and to strike out knowledge, as disputes. In the beautiful language of Bishop Horne, "all objections, when considered and answered, turn out to the advantage of the Gospel, which resembles a fine country in the spring season, when the very hedges are in bloom, and every thorn produces a flower."-Book of the Denominations.

"Manners may alter, circumstances change,

But I am strange Lee still, you still Le Strange. WAR.-Anthony Benezet, in a conference with the General Chevalier de Chastellux, said, "I know that thou art a man of letters, and a member of the French Academy. Men of letters have, for some time past, written many good things; they have attacked errors,

not at last try to disgust mankind with war, and make men live amongst each other like friends and brothers?"

LANDLORDS AND TENANTS.

Says his landlord to Thomas, "Your rent I must raise,

I'm so plaguily pinched for the pelf.” "Raise my rent!" replies Thomas," your honour's main good,

For I never can raise it myself."

The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught."
MILTON.

TEMPERANCE is a bridle of gold; and he who never allows it to fall from his hand, ego non summis viris comparo, sed simillimum Deo judico," is more like a god than a man;" for, having made the human-beast a man again, it contributes to heighten humanity into divinity.

In imagination I lately visited an Association of persons who, beginning to awake to the evils of intemperance, and resolved to forsake it, had assembled to devise expedients for aiding and confirming themselves in their good intentions. So true is it that we no sooner form a sincere resolution of amendment, than the beneficent God comes more than half way to our aid, that the company, on coming together, found the place of their meeting pre-occupied, and almost filled with preternatural incentives and encouragements to persevere.

These consisted, principally, of venerable personages of all ranks and times, who received them with looks of cheering complacency; and who, on uttering a sentence of caution or encouragement, slowly and successively withdrew. Many of the sentences so uttered I distinctly remembered to have read; and am convinced, from various circumstances which then transpired, that those who uttered them were their original and veritable authors, who, being dead, were thus allowed to speak.

face.

The first, an eminently venerable man, placing his finger on a page of a book which he carried, read a passage which I recognised as Genesis ix. 20, &c.; and as he read, tears of penitence and looks of compunction, marked his patriarchal On the head of the next was the "likeness of a kingly crown;" and as he departed he pronounced, emphatically, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." A train of ruddy and athletic men next walked forth, the personifications of health, followed by a majestic person wearing the prophetic vestments, who said to them, with an air of divine authority," Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Because ye have obeyed the command of your father, not to drink any strong drink, therefore shall he never want a man to stand before me for ever." Two others then departed in company; and as they went one of them said, in a tone of benignant entreaty, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.' And the other instantly added, “For the drunkard shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Next went an aged man with his son, and pointing at him with delight, exclaimed, "This my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found; [No. 3. JAN. 18, 1837.-2d.]

VOL. I.

rejoice with me." And the son knelt to receive his blessing.

Of those that followed most of them, instead of speaking, deposited a paper on the table, which was immediately opened and read by one or other of the company. The first was, Ebrii gignunt ebrios, and signed "Plutarch;" this the reader interpreted as, one drunkard begets another." The next bore the subscription of "Tully," and was as follows, Melior conditio senis viventis ex præscripto artis medica, quam adolescentis luxuriosi, "better be a temperate old man than a free-living youth." The philosophers were followed by a train of kings and nobles, represented by a patrician of Venice, who laid on the table a book on the art of prolonging life, by Lewis Cornaro. These were succeeded by the poets, in whose name Shakspeare exclaimed,

"Ask God for temperance, that's the appliance only
Which your disease requires."

To which Milton added, with the sonorous voice of an organ,

"Observe

The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st; seeking from thence Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight." Statesmen, moralists, and preachers next disappeared, each depositing on the table, as he passed,

some memento or sentence to the same effect as those which had preceded them. One of these was evidently by Camden, and stated that "the English, which, of all the northern nations, had been least drinkers, and most commended for their sobriety, learned, by the Netherland wars, to drown themselves with immoderate drinking; and, by drinking to others' healths, to impair their own" leaving it to be inferred that, as the poisonous habit is not indigenous, but exotic, it may yet be eradicated.* Another was subscribed by the venerable name of "Hale," and ran thus,'If ever you expect to have a sound body, as well as a sound mind, carefully avoid intemper

ance.

The most temperate and sober persons are subject to sickness and diseases, but the inA temperate can never be long without them." third bore the name of "Cecil, Lord Burghley," and contained the following: "Banish swinish drunkenness out of thine house, which is a vice

There is no doubt whatever that excessive drinking was imported during the wars of the League, by our military men; that it was reduced to a science, regulated by laws, and attended by an appropriate dialect. Incredibile dictu.” as a Dutch writer of the time complains of his own countrymen, "quantum hujusce liquoris immodesta gens capiat,” §e; "it is incredible how much they will drink; how they love a man that will be drunk, crown him, and reward him for it."-Bohemus in Saxoniá.

D

them, of accommodating itself to circumstances, and, therefore, of remembering, of comparing, of judging, and of resolving. These are assuredly acts of reasoning; at least I know not under what other category to arrange them.

The instance which Dr. Darwin gives of a wasp, noticed by himself, is in point. As he was walking one day in his garden, he perceived a wasp upon the gravel-walk with a large fly, nearly as big as itself, which it had caught. Kneeling down, he distinctly saw it cut off the head and abdomen; and then, taking up with its feet the trunk or middle portion of the body, to which the wings remained attached, fly away; but a breeze of wind, acting on the wings of the fly, turned round the wasp with its burden, and impeded its progress. Upon this, it alighted again in the gravel-walk, deliberately sawed off first one wing and then another, and, having thus removed the cause of its embarrassment, flew off with its booty.

"Here we have contrivance and recontrivance-a resolution accommodated to the case, judiciously formed and executed; and, on the discovery of a new impediment, a new plan adopted, by which final success was obtained. There is undoubtedly something more than instinct in this. And yet we call the wasp a despicable and hateful insect."-pp. 137, 138.

We must of course excuse what the Doctor quotes from Huber, Franklin, Jesse, and Darwin, though we

think the majority of these parties are very questionable authority on a profound question of a psychological nature, such as that which is here involved. To Darwin we should especially object, for we cannot forget having dipped into his "Zoonomia," which is not a beautiful poem, as some Edinburghan of late alleged it to be, but a piece of most unphilosophic prose. The grand objection, however, is to Dr. Duncan's own remarks, in the short paragraph which concludes the quotation. If what he alleges there be true, what can man possess more than is possessed by the wasp, unless it be a mere difference of material structure? Let the Doctor look at that paragraph again, and then let him consider how the scope of it is calculated to shake the better hopes of man; and then let him think what responsibility lies upon a preacher of that Gospel by which "life and immortality were brought to light," if he heedlessly tampers with such subjects.

"Man giveth up the ghost." "WHERE IS HE?'-Where, indeed! Look around you on the day when his death is announced, in the place where his life was passed-where is he? Seek him in the countenances of the neighbours: they are without a cloud-he is not there;, the faces on which he has closed his eyes for ever, continue as cheerful as they were before. His decease is reported in the social circle; the audience receives it with indifference, and forgets it in haste; the seriousness with which it is told, or the sigh with which it is heard, springs rather from human pity than from moral reflection and social distress; and in a moment the current of convivial mirth recovers the liveliness of its glow; the business and the pleasures of the place proceed with their usual spirit; and perhaps in the house which stands next to that in which he lies an unconscious lump of clay, in the cheerless chamber of silence and insensibility, the voice of music and dancing is heard, and the roof resounds with jubilee and joy. Wait but a few days after his interment; seek him now in the faces of his kinsmen,-they have resumed their cheerfulness, now he is not there. When a few years have circled over his sepulchre, go search for the fugitive in his dark retreat from human notice; his very relics are vanished,-he is not now even there. Stay a little longer, and thou shalt seek in vain for a stone to tell thee in what part of the land of oblivion he was laid; even that frail memorial of him, of whatever materials it was made, has mouldered away: where, then, is he? The inspired penman assures us that he has given up the ghost: a singular expression, pointing out to us the sole prerogative of our nature. The death of other creatures is not announced in such terms as these. They literally cease to be; when they die, they become extinct; the animal life evaporates,

and the lump of matter of which they were formed insensibly crumbles into common dust. But man giveth up the ghost; he is at once subject and superior to death; he yields and vanquishes at the same moment ; HE alone, among all the beings which inhabit this lower world, must view with apprehensive terror, or joyous hope, the sithe of time and the dart of death; it is man's high privilege or dismal curse not to die; he departs, but whither-where is he? This is a question we ought seriously to ponder. It may be answered on the principles of the Christian revelation,-character is destiny, conduct is fate." We may probably resume the subject, and employ our best efforts to enable our readers to decide for themselves whether, as heirs of eternity, they are to be inhabitants of heaven or of hell. We have introduced the text of Scripture because it is seasonable, and may awaken solemn reflec tion and inquiry, and that we might more widely cir culate an elegant passage from the sermons of the once-celebrated Joseph Fawcett.

CONTROVERSY is not in itself to be deprecated; it is only opposed to the highest interests of those who engage in it on the awful subject of religion, when it is conducted in a litigious spirit, for the purpose of serving a party, to gratify the pride of victory, or to obtain personal aggrandizement. Yet even when it has been most abused, it has ended in the clearer manifestation and ultimate triumph of right principles. Nothing is so apt to rouse attention, and to strike out knowledge, as disputes. In the beautiful language of Bishop Horne, "all objections, when considered and answered, turn out to the advantage of the Gospel, which resembles a fine country in the spring season, when the very hedges are in bloom, and every thorn produces a flower.”—Book of the Denominations.