least is known to us, and so far as her personal narrative goes, is doubtless veracious, being addressed in the form of letters to a Scotch cousin; we do not vouch, however, for her anecdotes, some of which we know and many we think to be incorrect. The moral sense, however, of the work, is as it should be, for what is right and good, and her religious sentiments well intended at least, though by no means always judicious or well weighed. Miss Sinclair's former works, especially "Modern Accomplishments," have already established her reputation for the will to do good—as to the power to carry out that will, the present work but confirms, we must say, the doubt the former excited. There are but two forms of the talent, we think, by which such moral influence is to be exercised by a writer, and of neither of these do we find strong traces in our author. The first is the "energy" which conquers and rules by means of forcible conceptions, and clear vigorous expression. This, it is true, is not to be demanded of a female writer-it belongs not as a general rule to the sex-though some female pens have exhibited it, as Madame de Stael for instance, Miss Talbot, and others—still we have no right to quarrel, above all with a female tourist, because she does not exhibit it. The other, the attractive talent of "sweetness," the combined result of gentleness, warm heartedness, and above all, that in which our author's pen is most deficient, "simplicity :" this is a power which we have a right to look for in an authoress, for it constitutes the grace and power of the female mind. It is by the affections that they rule domestic life, and it is by the affections that they must rule the public. We recommend to Miss Sinclair, therefore, in her lucubrations, henceforth to trust less to her memory, and more to her spontaneous thoughts and feelings, and to believe that the deepest and most interesting volume she can draw from, is that which ever lies open before her-the pages of the human heart.

After such critique, it is right that our readers should be permitted to judge somewhat for themselves. Our first extract is in her best style: "Here we saw a melancholy melo-dramatic-looking portrait, representing the Marquis of Argyle, who placed the crown on Charles the Second's head, at Scone, and afterwards having sided with the Presbyterians, suffered death on the same guillotine which also beheaded his son, the earl, four and twenty years afterward . . . . . . The christian calmness of the marquis in the hour of death was truly exemplary. He remarked, I had the honor to place the crown upon the king's head, and now he hastens me to a better crown than his own.' And his admonition to the clergy may be useful to those of any generation: We must either sin or suffer; for myself, I prefer temporal to eternal death.'"-p. 73.

As a sample of a larger proportion of her anecdotes, less creditable to her taste and judgment, take the following:- “On one occasion, George the Second becoming irritated at his (Argyle's) vehement defence of Scotch prerogatives, snatched off his grace's

wig and threw it into the fire. The duke instantly retorted by throwing the king's in also; and some attendants behind the door, hearing a scuffle, rushed in to ascertain the cause, when his majesty, having recovered his presence of mind and good humor, called out, 'It was only the Duke, for a frolic, who threw his wig into the fire, and I, to keep him in countenance, threw mine after it.' When George the Third was angry, he used to kick his wig all round the room."-p. 71.

To what end such gossipping scandal is lugged in by the authoress, we cannot conceive, other than that of perfecting her fellow subjects in their modern accomplishments, wherein they have already made notable progress that of dishonoring kings, speaking evil of dignities, and the powers that be (as St. Paul argues) ordained of God. A lady and a christian may leave, we think, such tinder of revolutions to be thrown among the combustibles with which England is now filled, by hands better fitted to the taskthe chartists and the socialists of her native land. That this is far from the author's intention, and as far removed from her true spirit, we readily believe, and indeed see ample proofs of it in the book itself; but the error arises from the pre-determination of making her work lively and amusing the very worst of all possible receipts, we would assure her, for attaining the end. The reverse of Mrs. Glasse's celebrated rule here comes in- we must not "catch the hare before we cook it." But even in the more serious sentiments of Miss Sinclair, we have to complain of a vagueness next to actual falseness, and therefore little favorable to sound christian instruction. What, for instance, can we make of such loose talk as the following:-"I sometimes think how curious it would be, if our happiness in another world were proportional to the happiness we occasion around us in this. Though a wiser and better dispensation be revealed, yet it would be useful occasionally to think, were such the case, what I have of enjoyment we should ourselves be entitled to expect."-p. 113. In the name of the christian faith, we ask, what is meant by a wiser and better dispensation? Is not this rejected rule of Miss S. in truth the very christian rule - "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of them" - "He that loveth his brother hath fulfilled the law." And with still more precision," With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." That any denial of the paramount law of christian charity is here intended, we are very far from thinking; we only complain of that which on such subjects should not exist — room for false interpretation. Miss Sinclair is, we presume, from occasional notices, of the Presbyterian Kirk of Scotland; and from the light she throws incidentally on its condition under the rising de mocracy of the country, we see fresh reason to rejoice in the strength that belongs to our own apostolic episcopacy. It is the source of that marked difference which now appears in their hour of trial between the sister establishments of Scotland and England. As state

patronage is gradually withdrawn, that of Scotland is growing daily weaker that of England stronger- not through want in the kirk of equal sincerity and christian zeal, but of those primitive elements of the church membership, without which, any professing body of christians, however numerous, learned, or pious, are yet held together but by a rope of sand- and whenever the external support or hostile pressure, to which they owed their form and substance, is removed, they then fall apart, fly into divisions, or melt into feebleness. Miss Sinclair seems fully, indeed, aware of this advancing result, and mourns over it, with a mind sensitively alive to the great evil that must follow, but less clear in its perceptions of either the cause or the remedy. The following dubious sentence, however, sounds like a recognition of the ground root of the matter -distinguishing between the christian character and the christian commission of the clergy: -" Our Saviour sometimes found reason to check the keenness of his own apostles, when they zealously contended for what they deemed essential to his glory, but what it was not his purpose to assume; and I cannot but think that now there are men almost equally ardent and almost equally singlehearted in their devotion to the cause of all, but who are equally exceeding their commission."-p. 100.

As a Scotchwoman, and a presbyterian, Miss Sinclair holds the church of Rome evidently in high abhorrence - a feeling sometimes not very courteously exhibited. Thus, in giving the gossipping story of the Duke of Hamilton's remonstrating against being excused kissing the pope's toe, on presentation, exclaiming, "That was the only thing I wanted to see the old woman for,”—and again palming off the old joke, of an ignorant monk saying of St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, that it would be long enough before he addressed such an one to the protestants. This is gravely quoted by Miss S., and seriously charged as "a curious instance that occurred lately, showing the impositions unhesitatingly practised by the popish priests on their congregations."-p. 81. And again, in a worse than ignorant spirit, "We were told," says she, "that the Roman catholic priests, who use pater-nosters, ave-marias, crossings, sprinklings, and genuflexions, to supply the place of truth, holiness, and sincerity, openly rejoiced at the removal (death) of a protestant so exemplary and influential."-p. 248. Now such sentiments, so uncharitable in the christian, so unbecoming to the female pen, we esteem it our duty to reprobate, come from what quarter they may; and it is one of our reasons for giving to the present work a more extended notice than its weight or merit would warrant. It is by charity, not slander, that the world is to be made better; and it is only by candid and learned pens that the inquiry is to be advanced, as to what constitutes the Church of Christ. We recommend, therefore, to Miss Sinclair henceforth to abstain from deep questions, for which she has not either by nature or education the needful qualifications; and in treating of lighter topics to trust more to her

heart than her reading, and to give forth in simplicity and truth, right and gentle thoughts, which we doubt not find their home within her bosom, and which we assure her, when thus expressed, will come home to those of her readers.

6. Narrative of a Tour through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia,'and Mesopotamia; with an Introduction, and Occasional Observations on the condition of Mohammedanism and Christianity in those countries By the Rev. HORATIO SOUTHGATE. New York: 1840. D. Ap pleton and Co. Two vols. 12mo.

MR. SOUTHGATE went out from this country under the direction of the Foreign Committee of the Missions of the Episcopal church in the United States. The field of exploration particularly assigned to him was Persia; but he was left at liberty to extend his inquiries to Turkey, Syria, and Egypt. The objects of inquiry prescribed to him were the moral and religious condition of the regions he might visit, and the spots where missionary establishments might be most advantageously formed. He arrived at Constantinople on the last of July, 1836, and remained there nearly a year employed in acquiring a familiar use of the Turkish language. He then set forward on his tour through the countries mentioned in the title of his work, passing through the northern part of Armenia and Kurdistan to Teheran in Persia; from thence to Bagdat, and from thence back to Constantinople through southern Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, and Asiatic Turkey, having performed a journey of more than twentyfive hundred miles, and spent some time at the principal cities and towns on his route.

The result of his observations are contained in these volumes, which are creditable to Mr. Southgate as a sensible man and a sound practical observer. His work is perhaps a little too much of the nature of an itinerary; his geographical and local description of important places through which he passed are sometimes too minute for general interest. Nevertheless, these volumes contain a great deal of valuable information, and throw much light upon the present political, social, and moral condition of the countries through which Mr. Southgate passed. On two points in particular, if we had time and space, we could gather matter for an extended and highly interesting article. We refer to the present state of Mohammedanism, and of the Christian Churches of the East. Southgate has furnished a great amount of various and striking evidence of the declining and crumbling condition of the Mohammedan religion, which, taken in connexion with the influence of the civil reforms going on in Turkey, and the expectation of the reappearance of the lost Iman in Persia, and joined to the considera

Mr.

tion of the many points of relation in which Christianity stands to Mohammedanism-the former having always been recognised as a divine dispensation-seem to indicate a peculiarly favorable moment for attempting the conversion of the followers of the false prophet.

But Mr. Southgate has had the good sense to perceive (and the record of his observations abundantly confirms this judgment) that it is idle to attempt the conversion of the Mohammedans unless first the corrupted and decayed Christianity which is everywhere in the midst of them, be purified and revivified. And in regard to efforts which may be made by Western Christians for the revival of pure religion among the old Churches of the East, we rejoice exceedingly to find that Mr. Southgate has not only the good sense, but the sound principle, to perceive that the only lawful mode, as well as the only one likely to result in permanent good, is to act under and in harmony with the proper authorities of those churches-exciting in them the desire, and aiding them in the work of reformation. For with all the ignorance, corruption, and decay of spiritual life in those Eastern Churches, they are still branches of the One True Church Catholic; they have a valid Episcopacy and Ministry; they have the Sacraments; they have the Apostolic and Nicene Creeds, and a Liturgy which is for the most part Primitive and Catholic. No missionaries from the West should go among them, who in their zeal for the revival of spiritual religion, would think lightly of the sin and guilt of producing schism-of acting without or in opposition to the proper authorities of those Churches. We are delighted to see that Mr. Southgate thinks and feels rightly and strongly on this important point. We are glad, too, to know that Mr. Southgate's sound and catholic views will have a decisive influence upon the character of the missionary establishment to be formed at Mardin in Mesopotamia. This place is the central point for communicating with nearly a hundred thousand Jacobite, Syrian, and other Christians, living at no very great distance around; and we understand that the measures proposed meet the concurrence of the ecclesiastical authority of that region.

7. Sermons on different subjects, delivered in England and America. By REV. EDWARD NORRIS KIRK, A. M. New York: John F. Trow, and Gould, Newman, and Saxton. 12mo. pp. 316.

Ir must ever be difficult justly to criticise a popular preacher. It is easy enough to condemn, or to extol that which pleases or does not please us; but to do so with discrimination; to discern what is exaggeration in those who unduly praise or unduly censure; to judge how far a sermon whose eloquence and beauty delight us, is