vigorous attempt to recover a place of such importance, and Sir William Brereton besieged it for seventeen weeks, during which time it was gallantly defended by Captain Valet. On the approach of Prince Rupert, the enemy abandoned the siege, March 18th, 1644.* In the following month it was again besieged; a mound was raised, moated round, and fortifications erected upon it; but on the approach of the King from Shropshire, the works were abandoned. After the battle of Rowton, the Parliamentary troops again presented themselves before the Castle, and after undergoing a siege of eighteen weeks it was surrendered on the 16th of November. Burghall says, "Nov. 16th. Beeston Castle, that had been besieged almost a year at different times, was delivered up by Captain Valet, the Governor, to Sir William Brereton. There were in it fifty-six soldiers, who by agreement had liberty to depart with their arms, colours flying, and drums beating, with two cart-loads of goods, and to be conveyed to Denbigh: twenty of the soldiers craved liberty to go to their own homes, which was granted. There was neither meat nor drink found in the Castle, but only a piece of a turkey pie, and a live peacock and peahen." Platt, in his "History of Nantwich," says, “During this period, the garrison was reduced to the greatest extremities, being obliged to eat dogs and cats."

Shortly after the taking of Chester in 1646, Beeston

January 28th, 1644, in the Tinker's Croft, Nantwich."--Russom's Sketch of Beeston Castle.

Burghall says, "What made much against Steele, he took Sandford down into his chamber, where they dined together, and much beer was sent up to Sandford's men; and the Castle, after a short parley, was delivered up; Steele and his men having leave to march, with their arms and colours, to Nantwich; but as soon as he was come into that town, the soldiers were so enraged against him, that they would have pulled him to pieces, had he not been immediately clapped in prison. There were much wealth and goods in the Castle belonging to gentlemen and neighbours who had brought it thither for safety, besides ammunition, and provisions for half a year at least, all which the enemy got."-Ibid.

Tradition says, that Prince Rupert dined with the lady of Beeston-Hall, on the 19th of March. After dinner he told her he was sorry to make so bad a return to her hospitality, but advised her to secure her valuables, for he must order the house to be burnt that night, that it might not be garrisoned by the enemy.

Castle underwent the fate of other seats of loyalty: it was dismantled and ruined.* JOHN S. STAMP.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATONS.

EXODUS xiii. 18. "The Red Sea."-The Arabian Gulf occupies a basin, in general deep and rocky, and its length from Suez to the Straits is fourteen hundred miles, while its average breadth approaches to one hundred and fifty. Throughout this great extent it does not receive the water of a single river. The western coast is of a bolder character, and has a greater depth of water than the eastern. The gulf abounds in sunken rocks, sand-banks, and small islands, together with numerous coral-reefs, which in some places rise above the water to the height of ten fathoms. The bottom is covered abundantly with the same substance, as well as with marine plants, which in calm weather give that appearance of submarine forests and verdant meadows to which the sea probably owes its Hebrew name of Yam Suph, as well as its present Arab name of Bahr Souf. Burckhardt observes, that the coral is red in the inlet of Akaba, and white in that of Suez. The remarkably beautiful appearance which this sea exhibits has attracted notice in all ages; and among its other characteristics, the far more than ordinary phosphorescence of its waters has been mentioned with peculiar admiration. The width of the gulf contracts towards its extremities, and at its mouth is considerably narrower than in any other part. The strait of Bab-el-Mandeb is there formed, and does not exceed fourteen miles in breadth; besides which it is divided, at the distance of three miles from the Arabian shore, by the island of Perim. The high land of Africa and the peak of Azab give a remarkably bold appearance to the shore in this part. At its northern extremity the Red Sea separates into two minor gulfs or inlets, which enclose between them the peninsular of Sinai. The easternmost of these is that of

* See Pennant's "Journey from Chester to London;" Lyson's "Topographical and Historical Account of Cheshire;" Hanshall's "History of Cheshire;" together with "A Sketch of the History of Beeston Castle, Cheshire. By John Russom."

Akaba or Ailah, called by the Greeks and Romans Ælanites; this is only about half the extent of the other, and is rendered very dangerous by shoals and coral-reefs. The westernmost gulf is called the Gulf of Suez, anciently Heeropolites: the ancient and modern names of both inlets being from towns that formerly did, or do now, stand at their extremities. It is the latter, the western gulf, which was crossed by the Hebrews. It is about one hundred and sixty miles in length, with a mean breadth of about thirty miles, narrowing very much at its northern extremity. The mean depth of its water is from nine to fourteen fathoms, with a sandy bottom; and it is of much safer navigation than the other. There are many indications which place it beyond a doubt that the Arabian Gulf was formerly much more extensive and deeper than at present. One of the most certain proofs of this is, that cities which were formerly mentioned as sea-ports, are now considerably inland.-Knight's Illustrated Commentary.

WESLEYAN CHRONOLOGICAL NOTICES.
No. XXXVII.

1782. SEPTEMBER 27th. Under the direction of Mr. Wesley, Adam, subsequently, Dr. Clarke, though not more than eighteen years of age, enters the Wesleyan itinerancy; being appointed to labour in the Bradford (Wilts.) Circuit.

1783. Tuesday, April 29th. On that and three following days, Mr. Wesley, after an absence of nearly five years, holds a "little Conference,” the thirteenth of the kind presided over by him, in Ireland; where, notwithstanding the excitement occasioned by his controversy with Father O'Leary, he is "cordially received by all ranks of people."

Thursday, June 12th. Mr. Wesley, at the solicitation of Mr. Ferguson, formerly a member and Local Preacher of the London society, sets sail for Holland; where, during a visit of several weeks, he is welcomed with " uncommon respect," associating with many both of the Dutch and English churches there, who were "Methodists in everything except the name." "I can by no means regret," observes he

in his Journal, “ either the trouble or expense which attended that little journey. It opened me a way into, as it were, a new world; where the land, the buildings, the people, the customs, were all such at I had never seen before. But as those with whom I conversed were of the same spirit with my friends in England, I was as much at home in Utrecht and Amsterdam as in Bristol and London."

1783. Tuesday, July 29th. The fortieth Wesleyan Conference commences its sittings in Bristol. The "needless multiplying of preaching-houses," is referred to as a great evil. Laxity of discipline is also complained of in reference to the school at Kingswood. "We all agreed," Mr. Wesley records, "that either the school should cease, or the rules of it be observed; particularly, that the children should never play," (manual exercises being used in lieu of it,) "and that a master should be always present with them."

December. At the request of a few pious soldiers in Jersey, Robert Carr Brackenbury, Esq., under Mr. Wesley's sanction, proceeds thither, and is instrumental in the establishment of Methodism throughout the island; preaching first in "an old religious house near the sea," and afterwards in a hired room in the town of St. Helier.

1784. February 28th. Mr. Wesley executes the celebrated "Deed of Declaration;" in which he constitutes one hundred of the Ministers in connexion with him, "The Conference of the People called Methodists;" giving at the same time a legal definition of the term "Conference," and making provision for its perpetuity and government. The proper settlement of the chapels of the Connexion is also satisfactorily secured by this important instrument.

March. Mr. Wesley publishes "An Account of the Disturbances in his Father's House," the Vicarage at Epworth; fully establishing, so far as human testimony is concerned, the supernatural character of that singular visitation.

Tuesday, July 27th. The forty-first Wesleyan Conference is held at Leeds; "concluded," Mr. Wesley observes, "in much love, to the great disappointment of us all;" referring thus to fears which had been entertained as to the dissatisfaction of some of the Preachers whose names had been

omitted from the "Deed of Declaration:" three of whom, Messrs. John Hampson and Son, and Joseph Pilmoor, shortly afterwards retired from the Connexion. The period of probation, as it regards candidates for the ministry, is at this Conference extended from one to four years.

1784. Mr. Wesley publishes, in duodecimo, an abridgment of the liturgy of the English Church, bearing the title, “The Sunday Service of the Methodists, in the United States of America. With other Occasional Services." The work is characterized by the omission of most of the holy days, so called; by an abridgment of the Lord's-day service; together with the omission of various sentences in the offices of Baptism, and for the Burial of the Dead, and also several portions of the Book of Psalms.

Wednesday, September 1st. Mr. Wesley, after much deliberation, and being fully convinced from Lord King's account of the primitive church, that Bishops and Presbyters are the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain, proceeds solemnly to set apart the Rev. Dr. Coke, and through him, Mr. Asbury, as General Superintendents of the Societies in America. Assisted by Dr. Coke and Mr. Creighton, he afterwards ordains Messrs. Whatcoate and Vasey to act as Elders, by baptizing, and administering the supper of our Lord. A step of this kind the urgency of the case rendered necessary; so that Mr. Wesley finding his scruples to be at an end, proceeds at once "to exercise the right which he doubted not God had given him."

A "Benevolent or Strangers' Friend Society," the first of the kind in Methodism, is instituted in London; “a few poor persons agreeing to pay each a penny per week, in order to relieve strangers who had no habitation, no clothes, no food, no friends."

December 25th. A General Conference of the American Preachers, under the Presidency of Dr. Coke, is this day convened at Baltimore in the State of Maryland. Mr. Asbury, with the concurrence of his brethren, is ordained first Deacon, then Elder, and ere the termination of the Conference, Co-Superintendent with Dr. Coke. The American societies, now amounting to upwards of eighteen thousand