telic marbles, they gave artificial hues to some of the distinguishing details of their structures. The triglyphs of the Doric order were, in the tombs of Cyrene, invariably painted blue; the soffit of the corona, blue and red. Some interesting remains of painting were also discovered, and much knowledge of the figure, both in proportion and action, is displayed in the coloured copies given in the volume.

While the travellers were thus occupied, an express was received from Derna, announcing the arrival of His Majesty's ship Adventure off that town; and as they were anxious to communicate with Captain Smyth, no time was lost in recommencing their journey eastward. Derna is, on the whole, a flourishing place, but without much to distinguish it from Arab cities in general. On the return to Cyrene, Captain Beechey took the coast road for the purpose of exploring the remains of Apollonia, formerly the port of that capital, and of which the principal remains consist in the ruins of its strong fortifications, and the vestiges of splendid Christian churches. The renewed researches of the party among the antiquities of Cyrene, afforded much elucidation of its former condition; but the most interesting results were afforded by an examination of the excavated channel of the fountain of Apollo. It was found to penetrate upwards of thirteen hundred feet into the solid rock, with an average width of from three to four feet, and an height of about five. A considerable quantity of clay was found plastered against the sides, and characters were found indented on its surface. It was at first taken for granted that recent visiters must have done this; but on examination it was found, that some of these inscriptions were as old as the reign of Dioclesian, and that they had been retained by the wet clay during the long term which had elapsed from that period to the present time. Nothing of importance was, however, elicited beyond the mere fact of their antiquity.

The interest of the journey ceased here: in fact, the expedition was soon afterward recalled, and on the 25th of July, it left Africa for Malta.

We have thus given a somewhat detailed account of the contents of the present volume. For our own parts, we have been much interested by its contents, although we do not imagine that they will be particularly attractive to general readers. It contains many valuable elucidations of ancient geography, and will be found to communicate as much information respecting the relative and positive situations of former localities, as is, under present circumstances, to be looked for. We have already said, that the maps and plans are well executed; we regret that we cannot give equal praise to the aquatint views.

that the few admissions they make, all have their source and origin in the Holy Scriptures; and yet, alas! there is no other book against which they wage so constant and violent a warfare. Talk to them of the Koran of Mahomed, the Shasters of the Hindoos, or any of the works of antiquity, they are quite dispassionate; these may be probable-nay, admissible. They wage no war with ancient philosophy; the credibility of heathen sages, they adait; and many of them are even believers in the dark mysteries of astrology. The subject of a peopled planetary system, (though impossible to be proved,) finds among them many advocates. Signs, omens, lucky and unlucky days, and even the fables of antiquity, are objects of their credulity.

They will believe in Pandora's box, but they will not admit the fall of man, of which that is a fine allegory. They affect to think that there has been a golden age, but the garden of Eden, and man's innocence, they doubt Egyptian, Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman antiquities and fables, may be true, but the Scriptures cannot; for although heathen mythology is but an ape of the religion of the Bible, and their fables garbled and gypsified transpositions of the record of God; yet the former shall com. mand their assent, but the latter they stiffly deny. They will believe in Saturn, Janus, Apol lo, Mars, and Hercules, nay, even Niobe, but they doubt the existence of Adam, Noah, Joshua, Samson, and Lot's wife; of whom the former were but clumsy imitations. And though the Bible is the fountain head of all cosmogony, religion, antiquity, and philosophy, as both Gale and Stillingfleet have proved; yet these misguided men admit the stream, but overlook the

source.

Plato was glad to derive his philosophy from the Scriptures; they leave the light of truth, to follow the fire-fly of reason. It is the Bible, and the Bible alone, that is false; this is not. cannot, must not, be true. This pyramid of heavenly wisdom, the wonder of ages, is all priestcraft. The moral Pharos, that has enlightened the world for nearly four thousand years, is proved to be a priest's jack-o'-lantern, to mislead. This rock, against which all the surges of ancient and modern infidelity have beat in vain, is said to be a mere Sorbonian bog, swallowing up both reason and credibility.

But will you permit me to ask, Where does the deist borrow his system? Does he not steal it from that blessed volume he so foully libels? Does he believe in Jehovah, one God; who told him there is but one? for any thing his system knows to the contrary, there may be thousands. Where did he learn the immortality of the soul? Surely not from the beathen: many of whom doubted the fact. Does he allow to the Deity justice, wisdom, power, goodness: what part of the Bible of nature furnished this information? here also he borrows from the Oracles of God. In short, Sir, his admissions are fatal to his scheme: he had bet ter avow that he "believes in all unbelief,TM than throw himself upon the horns of a dilem ma, by admitting, what never can be admitted but upon the principle of a revelation. Take that away, and all is dark as Erebus; not a sta twinkles through the gloom.

These thoughts suggested the following Poem, which goes upon the principle, that all is uncertain, except so far as the light of truth shines upon our path; and that all knowledge of Divine things is by revelation. Antiquity, reason, nature, and philosophy, although a quadruple alliance, are but blind guides: when the deep things of God are concerned, the Bible is the only pilot, compass, quadrant, and chart, in the ocean beyond time. No deist ever circumnavigated that Mare Incognitum. Life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel alone; and this is the point from which I have started in the verses appended to these remarks. Should they induce any candid deist to read Stillingfleet's Origines Sacra, Gale's Court of the Gentiles, or Ellis on the Knowledge of Divine Things from Revelation, I shall not have lost my labour. Whether my verses possess the "argumentum ad hominem" in favour of a Revelation, is not for me to say; but let any man sail, in his own imagination, East, West, North, or South, in quest of the Truth, he must come to this point at last,that his Bible and his Redeemer are the only haven in which he can find rest for his soul. JOSHUA MARSDEN.

WHAT IS TRUTH?-John xviii. 38.

I asked old time and the spheres,
To answer this question so high;
Days, months, and the swift rolling years;
But neither gave any reply.

I stood on a steep precipice,
And call'd to the surges below,
If ocean could answer me this?
Its hoarse billows murmured-No!

Creation I ventur'd to sound,
Streams, groves, valleys, meadows, and flowers;
But mute was the landscape around,
Twas silence in gardens and bowers.
Of seasons adorning the year,
Young spring, summer's roseate flush,
I ask'd, and they lent me an ear;
But all were as mute as a rush.

Yon sun in his chariot of gold,
Fair Luna, that angel of night,
Those folio volumes so old,

I read, but they gave me no light:
I look'd to the blue vaulted sky,
Which sages are wont to explain,
And each constellation on high-
But sought for solution in vain.
Astronomy bade me draw near,
The signs to decipher and read;
But planets, though brilliant and clear,
Were dark on this subject indeed:
And dark was astrology too,
The famed hieroglyphical lore;
Though Merlin had lent me his clue,
It left me as dark as before.

Whom fame in her temple enroll❜d,
The masters of magic and song;
I sought to the sages of old,
But silent was every tongue :
In wilderness mazes they stray'd,
On seas of uncertainty toss'd,
Philosophy lent them her aid,
But Truth was in Paradise lost.
Rel. Mag.-No. 6.

From the Christian Observer. NARRATIVE OF A THREE-YEARS' RESIDENCE IN ITALY; with Illustrations of the present State of Religion in that Country. London. 1823. 1 vol. 12mo. 7s. 6d.

We have been much pleased with this little volume. It often happens that much useful information might be obtained from the publications of voyages and travels, when the works nevertheless are in some respects of a character which forbids us to place them in our libraries or on our tables; and especially is it a fault in many, even of the better class of wanderers, that they seem not in their wanderings to recognise the presence and the over-ruling power and providence of God. We have, however, now before us, a volume of a different kind, not only calculated to give a very pleasing representation of many interesting scenes in the countries visited, but to engage the attention by affecting narratives of domestic affliction, related with the pathos of Christian simplicity, and brought home to the heart in a way very conducive to the promotion of practical piety.

The writer is a lady from Ireland; with an ample share of the Irish characteristic kindness of disposition, and, if we may judge from such matters as forgetfulness of passports and letters, not wholly without other qualities which calculating persons are accustomed to ascribe to natives of that country. Having lately recovered from a severe illness, she determined to join some near relatives at that time in Italy; took shipping at Liverpool, and in due time, after experiencing the usual variations of clouds and sunshine, and the common apprehensions of a fresh-water sailor, at length found herself safe in the harbour of Genoa.

The lady now discovered the inconvenience 3 U

of travelling without a passport, and ran not a little risk of being sent back to England to fetch one. This difficulty being surmounted, another was immediately at hand; for what is a stranger to do in Italy without a knowledge of Italian? An introduction, [however, was happily obtained to a Scotch family, who were shortly to proceed in a felucca to Leghorn. After a short renewal of anxiety at Florence, our traveller finally succeeds in joining her friends at Rome. This junction being effected, the whole party, consisting of our traveller, Sir Walter and Lady S. (her brother-in-law and sister,) with their little family and servants, set off for Naples. Through the remainder of their travels we shall not follow them with any regularity: it may suffice to state, that after residing some time in the Neapolitan territory, they returned to Rome.

It has often been remarked, that persons who are very orderly and correct at home in the observance of the Lord's day, and in the services of public worship, are apt, with change of place, to change materially this part of their character. Transfer them to a fashionable watering-place, even in their own country, and they will be found among the loungers on the parade, or the idlers on the beach, during a part at least of that holy day, with as much apparent unconcern as the lightest butterflies around them. To have complied in the morning with the sound of the church-going bell, is deemed by many, who appear to hold different principles at home, a sufficient sanctification of the Sabbath, in a place where few persons know them, or where custom has introduced a relaxed system of duty; and the rest of the day is given up to exercise and amusement. Let a person of this class find himself in another country, amongst the light-hearted inhabitants of France for example, or the alternately joyous and superstitious children of Italy, and the probability is, that he will, with little reflection, imitate the examples of carelessness before him; and, while no otherwise interested in their acts of public worship than as a mere spectator, will scarcely feel the want of any religious service for himself. By the removal of those unobserved but powerful restraints which exercised over him their salutary influence in his own vicinity, and by the loss of those various associations which tended there to control him, he finds himself enjoying an unwonted liberty, and is but too often tempted to abuse it.

Our travellers were of a far different description; and not all the delightful scenery of Naples could induce them to forget the unfavourable circumstances in which they were placed, with reference to the public service of God.

"Sunday. We have one great want here; we have no church service performed. There is no clergyman to read it to us, and the Sunday appears very different to us from what it used to do. Both here and at Rome, the bells pealing on all sides convey a melancholy sound, for there is none of them calling us to worship. We could not mingle in the worship of we know not what; for it is not merely an unknown language which we hear, but divers ceremonies are performed which I cannot un

derstand. Oh what a privilege to be born in a land where the truths of God are declared in our native tongue, and the understanding and the heart may unite in his public worship." pp. 62, 63.

The frequent recurrence of our traveller to this subject during her future movements, and the warm delight which she expresses when her party had the opportunity at Rome, and in other places, of hearing the English service devoutly performed, sufficiently exhibit the habitual state of her mind on this important subject. We select two or three extracts from different parts of the volume.

After describing the exhibition at St. Peter's on Easter Sunday, she adds,

"About two o'clock the ceremonies at St. Peter's were at an end; and we and the rest of the English met at the clergyman's apartments, to hear our own service. The contrast was very striking, from the scene of gaiety and bustle which we had just left, to the quiet assembly of two or three gathered together in the name of the Lord, where some hearts at least, we trust, were drawn to Him in fervent prayer, meek humility, and love." p. 175. Again at Pisa,

The children and I went to church to-day, and heard our liturgy most beautifully and impressively read by Doctor Nott, who afterwards preached an excellent sermon. I say church, because though the service was performed in the clergyman's private apartments, the house is called Casa Chiesa, very appro priately, being now the Church of the English; all of whom are invited to attend, and all de very regularly, except Lord Byron and some of his associates."

"Christmas Day. We attended divine ser vice and the sacrament administered by Dr. Nott. The mercy of God has again brought us to the celebration of this festival. May our hearts overflow with thanksgiving! The year which is past has been a year of sorrow, but it has also been a year of mercy. Come, let us return unto the Lord! for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.' 'In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge."" p. 308.

The same spirit we observe in her reflections upon some of those interesting objects, visited by all travellers in Italy, but too seldom leading to that train of reflection which, in a Christian mind, they would seem especially calen lated to excite. Many a wanderer has visited with deep feelings of interest the vestiges of Pompeii, and been impressed with admiration at the stupendous ruins of the Coliseum; but how few, comparatively, view such scenes through the medium in which they are regarded by a reflecting and sensitive Christian mind, like that of our excellent author!

It has often been recommended to persons who appeared to be sceptical concerning the abominations and superstitions of Popery, not to take their notions of that religion from the qualifying and apologetic statements of its interested defenders, but to visit the countries where it exists in the plenitude of its domination; to see what it is when unrestrained by the proximity of a better system; to observe it

in the immediate vicinity of the self-styled representative of Christ upon earth. If, after this they can think with any respect of its character, or can make little account of its degrading, debasing influence, we may be content to leave them in the undisturbed enjoyment of their opinions. We give a specimen.

"Sorrento, Sunday. There was a great Festa at Meta, held in honour of the Madonna del Lauro, an image of the Virgin and Child found under a laurel tree; and said, like Diana of the Ephesians, to have dropped miraculously from the clouds. The story told is, that an old woman saw a cow in a field stop, and look intently on something: her curiosity being excited, she went to the spot, where, to her great astonishment, she found the two images with a lamp burning at their side. The field was considered sacred, and a church erected upon it; and certainly the old woman, the cow, and the images, could not have chosen a situation more appropriate to a place of worship. The scenery all around is truly sublime, commanding on one side the beautiful bay of Sorrento; on the other, it is encircled by the Apennines rising in the most picturesque forms. The calm seclusion of this enchanting spot is well calculated to inspire devotional feelings; but, upon entering the church, one sees with disap. pointment its gaudy decorations, better fitted to adorn a theatre than the temple of God. The miraculous images, adorned with crowns of gold and other tawdry ornaments, are placed on the high altar, under a splendid dome. Some musicians played delightfully on a very fine organ, and accompanied the music with the melody of sweet voices. This was the only part of their worship which gave us pleasure. The Gospel for the day, in Latin, was rather gabbled over than read, while guns were continually firing, as a mode of evincing the joy of the people at the event." pp. 64, 65.

"Rome. This day the Abbé Taylor's funeral procession passed down the Corso." "We have been told that the first nobility, as a penance, frequently walk in the processions in the dress of barefooted Carmelites; and, by that slight punishment, unknown to any but themselves and their confessors, make expiation for manifold and aggravated offences. O what a religion of gross errors! When will the light of truth dawn upon these benighted minds, to teach them that vain ceremonies will never appease the wrath of an omniscient Judge, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and will not pass by the transgressor!" pp. 121,

122.

tionally sullied her image, was condemned to the galleys for the remainder of his life, for the crime of profanation.' p. 128.

"The most superstitious legends gain impli cit credit here (at Romne), and are often related by persons who, it might be supposed, would have understanding and reflection to discover their absurdity. A few which I have just heard, I will write down while fresh in my memory, as you may probably never have imagined that rational creatures, professing the Christian religion, could be so led away from the simple truth, as it is in Jesus, as to believe them. He certainly never delegated power to his followers to perform miracles which could not possibly tend to any good purpose; such as, a blacksmith (being a saint), to save himself trouble, taking off the legs of the horses, that he might more conveniently shoe them at his forge; and that being performed, dexterously screwing them on again. Again, they very seriously tell you, that at the Ara Cali, there is a little wooden image of a child, to represent the infant Saviour, which was painted by the Virgin Mary, who descended for the purpose, from her etherial abode, when the carpenter had finished his part of the work. Miraculous powers are attributed to this little figure, such as the cure of many diseases. One lady, in particular, applied to it in behalf of her child, who was seized with some desperate malady, the cure of which made her eagerly desire to have in her own possession a treasure of such inestimable value. She caused to be made so accurate an imitation, that the nicest observer could not distinguish the difference, and she secretly substituted the one for the other. But that very night the sleeping monks were roused from their slumbers, by the violent peals of the convent bells, and loud knocking at the outer gate, which opened of itself, and discovered the little wooden image, who requested that the usurper might be deposed, and itself be restored." pp. 150, 151.

If our readers wish for a variety of similar illustrations of gross superstition, from the blessing of horses to the miracles of modern wonderworking Madonnas, they may find sufficient at once to distress and disgust them, in some ample extracts from the work of another lady, the authoress of "Rome in the Nineteenth Century," in our volume for 1825, page 349. There is this difference, however, between the descriptions; that the author of Rome in the Nineteenth Century details chiefly in the spirit of satirical levity, though certainly with much point, what the truly Christian narrator of the

Three Years' Residence" cannot utter but with "weeping, and lamentation, and wo." They of necessity go over much of the same ground.

"A nobleman who is one of our most constant visiters, asked my sister last night, Who wrote Tasso?' who translated it into Italian?' and whether 'Virgil were the author of the Gerusalemme Liberata."" p. 209.

"Our children's drawing master told us that he met a friend at church on Sunday last; who, after mass was over, asked the officiating priest to explain to him the Gospel for the day in his own tongue; but he found the priest as ignorant of the Latin language as he was himself. The drawing master added, that it was no uncommon thing for a priest to be ordained in Italy, without ever having studied Latin, though all the ritual is performed in that language. So great is their ignorance, that they charge the women not to fly in the face of Providence by inoculating their children; never considering, that God ordains and blesses the means of warding off the small-pox as well as the remedies for any other complaint." p. 279.

That the rabble of Rome should invade the cemetery of English and German heretics, and with mallets even mutilate their tomb-stones (p. 123), might naturally be expected, if the government were either too cowardly or too bigotted to interfere; but that a priest, who was of sufficient rank and consideration to preach before the pope during Easter-week, should dare to denounce the English place of worship in that city as a temple at the very foot of the Capitol for the worship of false gods, denotes a degree of bigotry among the higher orders absolutely without excuse. As several English persons were present, the zealous preacher, it seems, was severely reprimanded for his pains; but can there be a doubt that he expressed the prevailing sentiment of his order?

In one part of the volume our traveller mentions the cheerful and well-cultivated appearance of Tuscany, as signally contrasted with the wretchedness which she had left in the papal dominions. It is a subject which leads to many painful reflections as to the disastrous effects of Roman Catholicism, where it exists unchecked and unrestrained: but we were scarcely aware of the full measure of degradation which exists under the blighting shadow of St. Peter's. In other countries nobles may be poor; but there are few places in Christendom where they have so entirely lost all selfrespect. Our author gives examples of the most ancient of the Roman nobility making their palace a lodging house, soliciting a petty alms, and even sending a young and handsome daughter alone to an English gentleman to make such a request.

We have reserved, for the conclusion of this article, the affecting details concerning the illness and death of different individuals, with two of whom the writer was nearly connected, and in the welfare of the third she took a lively in

terest.

With one of these, a gentleman of the name of Owen, she met originally at Genoa: he was travelling for the benefit of his health, in company with the family which was proceeding from Genoa to Leghorn, and showed much friendly attention to our passportless and solitary voyager. Several months after parting at Leghorn, they met again at Rome; and the writer and her friends now endeavoured to repay him for his former kindness. And truly it was a pleasure to attend his hallowed death

bed. We have room but for one of these sacred interviews.

"He broke the silence himself by saying, that he wished to have as few wants or desires as possible, that his thoughts might with more constancy and freedom rest on God. He then asked me to read to him the first and second chapters of the Epistle to the Ephesians. At the words, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,' he remarked, that the change brought about in those who believe, by the mighty power of God, is here compared to the miracle of raising the dead. At the words, ' and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,' he said, 'I was, indeed, dead in trespasses and sins, until quickened by the Spirit of God.'

"In the evening he was in the same quiet state; a heavenly peace was spread over his tranquil countenance. When I asked how he felt, he answered, 'I feel, when every earthly comfort is gone, that there is One above which never faileth. He talked a great deal of his mother; called her his blessed mother, and said, that he should like a journal to be kept for her of his own observations on the daily portions of Scripture read to him. On the fifth and sixth verses of the eighty-fourth psalm, he observed, To a believer, every trial is salutary: by faith he is enabled to realize the presence of Christ under every dispensation; to follow as he leads beside the still waters of comfort."

"Psalm lxxxv. 8: 'I will hearken what the speak peace unto His people and to His saints Lord God will say concerning me, for He shall that they turn not again. That,' he said, 'marks the Christian watching with humble resignation to the will of God, who at length condescends to speak peace to his waiting strength, to turn no more out of the narrow way servant, and to bestow upon him grace and which leadeth unto life. The word hearken" seems to imply attention to the intimations of God's will. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. With the obedience and docility of a child, he listens to the voice of his heavenly Father, by whom his soul is kept in peace. How different from the conduct of those who are emphatically called careless ones' in the first chapter of Proverbs! The Lord will laugh at the calamity of the one, and mock when their fear cometh as desolation; but those who hearken unto him shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.'" pp. 190-192

For the remaining history of this excellent young man, we must refer to the volume itself. It pleased God to prolong his life for a time, so that he returned to visit his family in Ireland; but he went back once more to Italy, and died at Leghorn in May, 1823.

The next blow was yet more painful to our traveller. She was particularly attached to her niece Anny, the daughter of Sir Walter and Lady S., and appears to have been very anxious on her account during the period of the voyage to Genoa and the subsequent journey to Rome. It was mainly for the sake of this beloved child that the party proceeded to