account of eminent piety or distinguished qualifications for the pastoral charge. This has been no slight cause of the evil which we all lament. Our parishes have not been generally filled with zealous and laborious ministers; many of those who have deserved that character have not been duly patronized by their superiors, nor encouraged by their brethren :-they have rather been branded with some reproachful epithet, and treated as enemies to that church of which they were in truth very bright examples.

If, however, we desire that the church should be preserved, we must implore the great Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into the harvest, we must honour those that are such, and use our utmost endeavours to promote the success of their labours.

We must also, oppressed as we are by our other public burdens, be willing to raise an adequate fund for the support of an additional number of clergymen in populous districts, and for the more adequate remuneration of those who are serving large parishes without deriving from them the means of comfortable subsistence. Upon the necessity, and the mode of making this provision, we refer our readers to a very useful pamphlet entitled, "Substance of the Speech of the Earl of Harrowby, June 18, 1810." They will there find briefly, but clearly discussed, the moral and physical wants of the church, and we think that they will agree with us in thinking that the arguments are no less conclusive against the crude opinions of another noble lord, than demonstrative of rational and enlightened zeal in forwarding the true interests of the established church. The late returns to the legislature show how numerous are the parishes whose vicarages or perpetual curacies have been deprived of the original maintenance of the minister by the abuse of lay impropriation. To attempt an alienation of the tithes subject to impropriation (particularly those held by laymen), would be, in the present state of things, an unwarrantable invasion of the established rights of property; but in many cases, if a fulfilment of the fundamental condition enjoined by the laws of the land were required, namely, that every impropriator should afford a convenable maintenance to the officiating clergyman, a considerable 'diminution of the evil would take place. In many instances, if the public repositories of ancient ecclesiastical documents were carefully searched, endowments of vicarages, which have long been lost, would be brought to light, or such papers discovered as would cause the detection of many frauds committed by the ancient patrons on the benefices of which they had the disposal.

In many such parishes there is a large proportion of waste land, from which, if a small allotment were assigned by the authority of parliament to the minister, his income might be augmented without an increase of national expenditure, and without any material sacrifice on the part of his parishioners, who ought cheerfully to consent to a measure so likely to in crease the usefulness as well as the comfort of their minister, where his provision is evidently too small for his station.

In addition to such measures as it might be thought expedient to adopt for encreasing the number of places of worship and augmenting the incomes of ill provided ministers, a revival of primitive discipline and an increase of episcopal vigilance* is highly to be desired. By this is not meant an enforcement of obsolete canons, or an exertion of vexatious interference, but an active and personal examination of the state of parishes and the characters of clergymen, an encouragement of the diligent, a reprehension of the negligent and worldly, an endeavour to promote unity and mutual concord, and a frequent consultation concerning those means which might best promote the prosperity of the church in general, and the improvement of each district in particular. A system of this sort is said to have been established in the diocese of St. David's, which is highly worthy of imitation. To this should be added, earnest endeavours on the part of the clergy to explain to their parishioners, in a familiar manner, the nature and excellencies of our establishment, and the high claims which it has to their respect and ådherence.

In a word, if we would defeat the designs of those who me ditate the overthrow of our ecclesiastical polity, we must resort to a system of active but amicable counteraction. We must, as it was once said by a pious prelate, out-preach, out-pray, and out-live our dissenting brethren.-We must refrain from all intemperate language, and all unkind conduct; we must endeavour, by gentle means, to draw back to our communion those who have departed from it, whilst we use our utmost exertions

རྩ་ ་ མ ཏ

* The late Bishop Porteus (as we find in his nephew's publication) never held a confirmation without following it up with a forcible address to the young persons assembled; and if we consider the imposing nature of the ceremony to their young and innocent minds, fresh from the simple objects and ideas familiar to the age of childhood, and just impressed by the ministers of their parish with the religious responsibility they are about to assume, we can conceive no practice more likely to create that lasting conviction of the duty and importance of a religious life, which must always arise from the combined operations of the feelings and the judgment. It with great regret, then, that we see this practice so uncommon in the church; the omission appears to be no part of a sound system.

to remove all pretence, and obviate all necessity for further separation. Unity among churchmen, increased zeal on the part of the clergy of all ranks, a more abundant supply of places of worship, and permission to ministers to take such means as appear best to them for the edification of their own parishioners, subject always to vigilant and reasonable, but not vexatious episcopal superintendence. These seem to be the only measures, or at least the most important of those, by which the growth of schism, and the consequent downfall of the church, is to be prevented.

Should these observations, imperfect as we fear they are, contribute in any degree to so important an object, we shall be most humbly and sincerely thankful; and shali rejoice in having rendered even the slightest service to that excellent church, to which we glory in belonging, and for the preservation of which our earnest prayers will, we trust, never cease to be offered,

ART. V. Voyage dans l'Amerique Meridionale, par Don Felix de Azara, Commissaire et Commandant des Limites Espagnoles dans le Paraguay, depuis 1781, jusqu'en 1801. 4 vols. 8vo. à Paris. 1809. Chez Dulau, &c.-Contenant la Description geographique, politique, et civile de Paraguay, et de la Rivière de la Plata; Histoire de la Découverte, et de la Conquète de ces Contrées; des Details nombreux sur leur Histoire naturelle, et sur les Peuples sauvages qui les habitent; le Récit des Moyens employés par les Jesuites, pour assujetir et civiliser les Indigènes, &c. &c. Publiés d'apres les Manuscrits de l'Auteur, avec une Notice sur sa Vie par le Traducteur Walcknaer, suivis de l'Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux du Paraguay, et de la Plata, avec des Notes par Sonnini.

THE political events that have burst within the last two years on the horizon of the South American continent becoming daily of greater moment, every authentic source of information respecting those long neglected regions is an object of the greatest importance to the English public, and an interesting subject of research to the inquiring mind. Buenos Ayres, or La Plata, including Paraguay, from the advantages of locality, from its having been recently the seat of our abortive expeditions, from its possessing a larger share of white population than any other part of South America; from its rich plains, its mountains, and forests, suited to all the purposes of agriculture,

and intersected by the finest rivers in the world; from its natural history, and from its having been the seat of the labours of the jesuits, (to which it perhaps owes many of those comparatively enlightened principles of knowledge and of civil freedom, which it is now displaying to the world,) constitutes a subject of interest and curiosity, not less momentous than New Spain, and to it Mr. Azara has dedicated his labours.

The few mutilated and incoherent fragments which have been laid before the public, respecting the South American continent within the last two centuries, and which succeeded to the inconsistent, and often partial reports given by the Spaniards of its conquest, without describing the interior, or imparting any idea of its actual state, had left a void which the man of science has long been anxious to fill up. The established principle of secrecy observed by the Spanish and Portuguese governments, made them guard with a jealous eye every avenue to information; and though it always entered into the department of the intendants of each ultramarine province, not only to describe the districts under their control, but also to point out their local resources, and delineate them by maps and plans; these valuable documents were reserved for the exclusive use of the council of the Indies, and were never accessible even to the Spanish public. It is to be presumed that they have now fallen into the hands of the French, and will be carefully deposited for future use among the archives of the revolutionary empire.

Their jealousy lest any disclosure should endanger their distant settlements, was not however the only bar to our information respecting them. The lively and fertile genius of the Spanish creoles, had given rise to many descriptive works of merit; but the want of a press, and the difficulty of even obtaining leave to print, rendered these manuscripts of no use to the public; and the frequent example of authors who incurred the animadversions of their government by attempting to extend to the people the result of their inquiries, also counteracted the zealous wishes of many. Through the exertions of the jesuits, a few confined remarks respecting the interior were published, but the geographical parts were found defective; and possessing more anecdote than description, they by no means satisfied curiosity, or answered any beneficial purpose. These restraints were however in some measure broken down by the expulsion of the jesuits, and as a means of subsistence, some of those who sought refuge in Italy published their researches in a language not their own; among these Clavajero and Molina were the foremost. Charles the Fourth of Spain, whilst yet

surrounded by some of his most patriotic ministers, sought to extend the confined knowledge of geography and botany; but the persecution subsequently incurred by Malespina, which equally fell to the lot of Azara, delayed the gratification of the world. Upon the whole, therefore, we may fairly presume that the energy of the South American mind was depressed by every expedient which political jealousy and religious bigotry could suggest to a weak and timid government.

But the great shock which in our own days has agitated Europe, reverberated on the shores of America, and breaking down the barriers interposed by authority, opened an inlet, of which the French, with their accustomed enterprize, were the first to avail themselves. Expecting, after the conquest of Europe, to make these interesting countries equally the scenes of their inroads and pillage, learned characters were early dispatched to obtain new and correct details of their present state, and to spread a chain of influence connected with ulterior plans. The results of their secret and political information have not appeared before the European public, yet the specimens of descriptive and statistical accounts already published, may in some degree enable us to judge how interesting they must be to the government for which they were obtained. Moreover, as men of science are the leading members of every community, more especially in South America, and such were uniformly the companions and confidents of the French literati sent thither, they doubtless possess upon the spot many friends to their cause.

Azara, with more honourable views, and with not less talent, forgotten in the deserts, a stranger to the rapid progress of natural science in Europe, whence he had been long absent, and without any communication with the civilized world, completed the description and delineation of a country more than five hundred leagues in length, on a width of three hundred, in the interior of which he made his researches with a more philosophic eye than his predecessors. Alone, and without books, he extended his inquiries into two of the most important branches of natural history, making us acquainted with the existence of birds and quadrupeds hitherto unknown, and correcting the confused accounts respecting others which we had before obtained from polluted sources.

We shall briefly introduce Mr. Azara to the acquaintance of our readers by detailing a few particulars of his life.

The profession which he chose in early life was that of a military engineer, in which merit afterwards raised him to the rank of brigadier. Moreau de St. Mary, ignorant of the man