Nos. IV. and X.-LIVES of BRITISH PAINTERS. Nearly Ready, a Third Edition of Nos. I. and II.-The LIFE of BONAPARTE, 2 vols. Also, COURT and CAMP of BONAPARTE, 1 vol., KNOWLEDGE. In announcing the speedy publication of the LIBRARY OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE, its Projectors beg distinctly to state, that they embark in their undertaking, without any design whatever of trenching upon the ground already occupied by others. As little is it their desire to decry the exertions of those who labour in the same vineyard, and seek the same end with themselves. For these, on the contrary, they entertain the highest respect; but the field seems sufficiently wide for all parties, and therefore they enter it. They are willing to persuade themselves, moreover, that the circumstances under which they approach their task, are not unfavourable to its success. Almost all our knowledge arises from experience; and hence, by imitating, as far as can be, the excellencies of their predecessors, no less than by avoiding their errors, should such chance to have been committed, they hope to produce a series of Works, which shall at once satisfy the judgment, and suit the tastes, of those who relish amusement the most when it comes united with instruction. The Projectors of the Library of General Knowledge offer no These may dazzle for a moment, but they display of great names. seldom effect more. As little are they disposed to make professions, And No. VII.-The NATURAL HISTORY of which are in all cases more easily made than realized. Their work INSECTS. JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street, London. Edited by A. J. VALPY, M. A. PROSPECTUS. Cicero remarks, that not to know what has been transacted in former times, is to continue always a child. 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To those, therefore, who are desirous of obtaining a knowledge of the most esteemed Authors of Greece and Rome, but possess not the means or leisure for pursuing a regular course of study, the present undertaking must prove a valuable acquisition; for, so diversified are the objects to which general education is at present directed, that sufficient time cannot generally be allowed for laying the foundation of an adequate acquaintance with the most popular Authors in the Greek and Latin languages; and even in those instances where the object has been attained-where the taste has been formed, and the habit of occasional recurrence to the Classics has been preservedthe facility of reference to a Series of correct and elegant Translations must afford pleasure, and occasional assistance, even to the scholar. The Selection is intended to contain those Authors whose works may with propriety be read by youth of both sexes; and the whole will be presented in a cheap, elegant, and uniform size. 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Agents for Scotland-Messrs BELL and BRADFUTE, 6, Bank Street, Edinburgh. For Ireland-MI JOHN CUMMING, Dubilu. must speak for itself. If it prove such as they confidently anticipate, it will receive, because it will deserve, the approbation of the public. The Library of General Knowledge will be conducted by the Rev. G. R. GLEIG, M.A., &c., assisted by a large proportion of the soundest and ablest writers of the day. HENRY COLBURN and RICHARD BENTLEY, London; and BELL and BRADFUTE, No. 6, Bank Street. Edinburgh. LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. Just published, In 2 volumes 18mo, with two beautiful Vignettes, THE LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM WALLACE of ELDERSLIE, including Biographical Notices of Contemporary English and Scottish Warriors. By JOHN D. CARRICK. THOMAS CAMPBELL. THIS WORK FORMS THE FIFTY-THIRD AND FIFTY- CONSTABLE'S MISCELLANY. 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"Full of lofty imaginings and poetic thought, we will venture SPONDENCE and DIARY of PHILIP DODDRIDGE, D.D. Edinburgh: Published for the Proprietors, every Saturday Morning, by CONSTABLE & CO. 19, WATERLOO PLACE; Sold also by ROBERTSON & ATKINSON, Glasgow; W. CURRY, jun. & Co., Dublin; HURST, CHANCE, & Co., London; and by all Newsmen, Postmasters, and Clerks of the Road, throughout the United Kingdom. Price 6d. ; or Stamped and sent free by post, 10d. Printed by BALLANTYNE & Co. Paul's Work, Canongate... The consequences of this want of a practical business education are evident to every one who has had his attenTo tion called to the proceedings in our church courts. The Practice in the several Judicatories of the Church of ignorance or neglect of the forms necessary for carrying THIS is a practical and useful work, and one which the inexcusable ignorance of forms, or inattention to them, among our Scottish clergy, imperiously called for. There are two duties equally incumbent upon a clergyman in the discharge of his important office-that of teaching, and that of enforcing discipline-that of rightly expounding the doctrines of religion, and that of maintaining the constitution of the church. In regard to the performance of the former, we may challenge the world for a body of clergymen equally competent and zealous with our own ;-in what regards the latter, they manage matters after a more slovenly fashion. The root of this evil lies deep in the church; it is to be sought in the earliest of her records; its consequences have been most pernicious; and the exposition of both is a matter of sufficient importance to justify our devoting a brief space to the attempt. on judicial business in a regular manner we are to attribute the melancholy fact, that of several clerical delinquents brought before the General Assembly, not one has been ousted from his parish. In the case of the parish of Dalton, and others of so recent a date as to render it expedient not to name them, ministers of the most debased and immoral character have been enabled to retain the emoluments of a living, and to deprive their parishioners of the power of obtaining church privileges at any other hands than such as it would be a mockery to seek them from, solely on account of some irregularities in the commencement of their proceedings. We allude to these examples-happily of rare occurrence-because they are calculated to place in the strongest point of view the dangerous result of formal irregularities. It is in matters where presbyteries are called upon to act in a civil capacity, and where an appeal lies, not to the superior church judicatories, but to the Court of Session, that the evil consequences of a lax observance of forms have been most severely felt. The civil court is not accustomed to make allowance for the quiet, easy manner in which its ecclesiastical subordinates are in the habit of going to work. In such cases, the negligence of the presbytery has not only been found to bear hard upon the pecuniary interests of the individuals concerned, but it has, to our knowledge, been on several occasions wrested to the purpose of grossly calumniating the ministers of the church,—of representing them as oppressors, when they had, in fact, acted most leniently, although in forgetfulness of the important principle, that in a country blessed with regular judicial establishments, mere forms necessarily grow to be of the very essence of justice." How these imperfections are to be corrected, is a question of considerable difficulty. There is a just suspicion entertained on the part of the clerical members of our ecclesiastical courts when any lay member of a legal profession speaks to a point of form. They say, truly, that their forms differ from those of the civil courts. Our The excessive zeal of our earliest reformers was more intent upon rooting out what was evil in the church, than upon preserving what was indispensable to the maintenance of her integrity. They seem almost to have acted upon the principle, that their only duty was to tear away what was rotten, and that Providence would interfere to prevent the purer materials from falling asunder under their energetic tugs. The line of conduct necessarily emanating from such views was actively seconded by the interested spirit of the barons. An impression came in a short time to prevail, that to inculcate the doctrines of Christianity was the whole duty of the minister, and that the regular conduct of the church courts, according to custom and statute, was a matter of very subordinate importance. The spirit infused into the adherents of the Presbyterian church by the successive attempts of the government to introduce Episcopacy, added to the inveteracy of this feeling. A deep, practical conviction of religion was all that was looked for either in the clergy-only grief is, that they do not habitually maintain their man or in the layman-either in the ruler in Israel, or in his disciples. It is to this circumstance that we owe the omission of even the most superficial instruction in the constitutional theory and law of the church, in a sys tem of education so extensive as that prescribed for the clergymen of the Scottish persuasion; and we may hence account for the slovenly manner in which the business of our ecclesiastical judicatories is almost uniformly carried on. In the General Assembly, we commonly find one or two who (like Dr Inglis, or the late Sir Henry Moncrieff) are masters of the forms of business; but in presbyteries we seldom meet with more than one who has even a smattering of this indispensable knowledge, and that one is uniformly found discharging the duties of presbytery clerk-an officer who, unavowedly and without responsibility, arbitrarily controls and directs the proceedings of the whole court. own forms in opposition to those of civilians, but exhibit rather an entire laxity and remissness. In order to bring about a better state of things, it ought to be deeply impressed on the minds of candidates for the clerical officeas it always was impressed upon them by one of the brightest ornaments of the church, who has, not long ago, gone down to his grave, full of years and full of honour, Sir Henry Moncrieff-that they are not only called upon to perform the duties of preaching and visitation, but the more arduous, and not less important, ones, of acting in presbyteries, synods, and in the General Assembly, as judges and legislators. Instead of wasting so much time in the Church History class, it would be of the highest importance that every divinity student should go through a course of ecclesiastical law. This is required in the Catholic church from every one who aspires to become a ruling priest (and with us every ordained minister is such); and it is also required from every candidate for honours in the Lutheran church. To the applicant for a license to preach the Gospel there ought to be added to the trials which he has at present to undergo, a series of questions in ecclesiastical law and discipline. More than one-half of the questions put to the candidate after the Presbytery have decided that his gifts and acquirements fit him for the office of a preacher, bear upon his acquiescence in, and attachment to, the Presbyterian form of church government ;-might it not be as well to ascertain, beforehand, whether he have any very precise or definite ideas of the nature of that form of church government? The only other measure that occurs to us as likely to be of advantage in this point of view, is a strict exclusion of all unfledged barristers from the office of elder in the General Assembly. Care is taken that parochial elders shall be men of staid habits and experience; why is not the same care taken in the case of ruling elders, whose duties are so much more arduous? It is neither for profit nor for edification to see the benches of so venerable a senate filled with raw inexperienced boys, who, unable to get their mouths opened elsewhere, scramble in for the mere purpose of making a speech. An advocate cannot be appointed a sheriff until he has been five years practising (or attempting to practise) at the bar; and is he, who is unfit to act as a subordinate civil judge, fit to act as a supreme ecclesiastical judge? This is rather a disproportionately long introduction to a short notice of a small volume, but the topic interests us, and we felt particularly anxious to bring it be fore our clerical readers at this season. With regard to Dr Hill's book, it is brief, clear, and satisfactory. As an institutional work, it would not be easy to improve it. The perusal of it clearly shows, that the laxity in the observance of forms, of which we have complained, has not been occasioned by any defect in the structure of our church. A more practical and judicious constitutional theory we cannot imagine. Nothing is necessary for its perfection, but a little more activity and intelligence on the point of their public duties in its component members. Dr Hill has shown himself, in this excellent little manual, a worthy son of a worthy father. We hope ere long to receive from him a detailed and comprehensive system of our "ecclesiastical polity." His style is concise and elegant; and his sentiments in matters of discipline (taking the word in its most limited sense) duly tempered with gentleness. The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 11 vols. 18mo. New Edition. Edinburgh. Cadell and Co. 1830. (Unpublished.) In addition to the extracts we gave last week from the forthcoming new edition of Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Works, we now present our readers with the dramatic sketch entitled "MacDuff's Cross," which, though it was published in 1823, in a volume of Miscellanies edited by Mrs Joanna Baillie, is still almost as good as manuscript, especially in Scotland, where only a very few copies of the volume in question were circulated. "Mac Duff's Cross" is founded upon the history of the Cross and Law of Clan Mac Duff, which is given at considerable length in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border." The Cross was a place of refuge to any person related to the Thane of Fife within the ninth degree, who, having committed homicide, sought shelter at this sanctuary. The Cross itself was destroyed at the Reformation; but the block of stone which served for its pedestal is still in existence, near the town of Newburgh. The Dramatic Sketch, without being entitled to any high praise, contains several interesting passages, and, on the whole, is creditable even to its author: MACDUFF'S CRoss. PRELUDE. Nay, smile not, Lady, when I speak of witchcraft, Shall render back their terrors with their woes, Yet since thou wilt an idle tale of mine, SCENE I. The summit of a Rocky Pass near to Newburgh, about two miles from the ancient Abbey of Lindores, in Fife. In the centre is MacDuff's Cross, an antique Monument ; and, at a small distance, on one side, a Chapel, with a Lamp burning. Enter, as having ascended the Pass, NINIAN and WaldHAVE, Monks of Lindores. NINIAN crosses himself, and seems to recite his devotions-WALDHAVE stands gazing on the prospect, as if in deep contemplation. Ninian. Here stands the Cross, good brother, consecrated By the bold thane unto his patron saint Magridius, once a brother of our house. Canst thou not spare an ave or a creed? Or hath the steep ascent exhausted you? You trode it stoutly, though 'twas rough and toilsome. Waldhave. I have trod a rougher. Nin. On the Highland hillsScarcely within our sea-girt province here, Unless upon the Lomonds or Bennarty. Wald. I spoke not of the literal path, good father, But of the road of life which I have travell'd, Ere I assumed this habit; it was bounded, Hedged in, and limited by earthly prospects, As ours beneath was closed by dell and thicket. Here we see wide and far, and the broad sky, With wide horizon, opens full around, While earthly objects dwindle. Brother Ninian, Fain would I hope that mental elevation Could raise me equally o'er worldly thoughts, And place me nearer heaven. Nin. 'Tis good morality.-But yet forget not, From the bright heaven they aim at, even because Wald. What rights are these? Nin. Most true! you are but newly come from Rome, And do not know our ancient usages. Know then, when fell Macbeth beneath the arm Wald. And here a brother of your order watches, Nin. Even so ;-such is our convent's holy right, Wald. The Lindesay, then, was loved among his friends? Wald. How now, Sir Priest! (fiercely)-Forgive me Nin. Lindesay's name, my brother, Wald. Is this my charge? Nin. Even so;-and I am near, should chance require me. At midnight I relieve you on your watch, When we may taste together some refreshment: I have cared for it; and for a flask of wine- Until the midnight hour, when lauds have toll'd. Wald. It is not with me, and alas! alas! Its humble pleasures and its paltry troubles, How now! what brings him back? Re-enter NINIAN. Nin. Look to your watch, my brother;-horsemen come: I heard their tread when kneeling in the chapel. Wald. (looking to a distance.) My thoughts have rapt me more than thy devotion, Else had I heard the tread of distant horses Farther than thou couldst hear the sacring-bell; Nin. See how they gallop down the opposing hill! I am ashamed to look on them. Nin. Yet look again,-they quit their horses now, Keeps the advantage still.-They strain towards us. up To the base coward, who shunn'd an equal combat.-. How's this?-that look-that mien-mine eyes grow dizzy! Nin. He comes: thou art a novice on this watch :Brother, I'll take the word and speak to him. Pluck down thy cowl;-know, that we spiritual champions Have honour to maintain, and must not seem To quail before the laity. [WALDHAVE lets down his cowl, and steps back. Enter MAURICE BERKELEY. Nin. Who art thou, stranger? speak thy name and pur pose. Berk. I claim the privilege of Clan MacDuff. Nin. Peace, in the name of Saint Magridius! To sheathe thy sword, and stir no contest here. To lure the craven from the enchanted circle And change three blows,-even for so short a space |