fringement of personal liberty, except as all laws-game laws, excise laws, and the licensing system-may be considered as trenching upon it; it is a law of protection, of mercy and of kindness, which policy would recommend, if the Sabbath were a mere human institution, but which has the still more binding character of a Divine institute.

To buy and sell on the Sabbath, as it is a more overt outrage on its sanctity than any species of amusement, so, it tends more directly to obliterate all sense of its obligation, and to degrade as well as demoralize the poor. Its character as a day of rest, a merciful provision of the Deity for the use both of man and beast, becomes completely lost sight of, and public worship, if attended at all, is deprived of half its meaning and interest. Not only so, but the humanizing decencies of the Sabbath, the self-respect connected with the Sunday-dress, the cleanliness, and the disposable leisure of the day, the break which it introduces in the dull and sordid tenor of worldly occupations,-all these are sacrificed, more or less, where so scandalous a desecration of the day of rest is sanctioned or connived at by the magistracy and men of influence.

As to amusements, were it not for the public-house, that moral pest-house, we should say that the poor must be and ought to be left to themselves. Men cannot be made religious by statute-law. The only way of leading them to observe the day religiously, is by instructing their minds respecting its obligation, providing them with books and other sources of innocent and useful amusement, and promoting of the formation of domestic habits, by rendering their homes attractive. Mr. Slaney has an excellent hint in another chapter, which bears on this point.

A porch to the door of a cottage gives ornament to the outside, and comfort within. The cost of a pig-stye and shed for the poor man's harvest, is well expended. A good garden is, above all, necessary to a peasant. There he employs his odd hours, and his children do something to inure them to industry. On holidays, it is his farm; on Sundays, it is his pleasure ground.'

"The Sabbath was made for man," and they are the worst enemies of society who would rob him of it. It was made for home enjoyments, on which religion frowns not: it only shews a "more excellent way" of promoting them, by superinducing on the charities of life, piety and obedience towards God and "the hope of glory."

In conclusion, as Mr. Slaney has addressed himself mainly to the opulent landed proprietor, we shall take the liberty to offer a few remarks to two other classes. And first, the wealthy

manufacturer has equal, if not, in many cases, greater oppor tunities of promoting the comfort and melioration of the poor. He it is who forms them into a dense population, where vice becomes a more deadly contagion, but among whom at the same time it becomes easier to introduce the means of instruc tion and moral iufluence. It is he who has called into existence the trim rows of hovels, which some petty builder runs up, heedless what burden they may eventually entail on the parish, so long as the rack-rent obtained from each narrow, fragile dwelling, yields him his required per-centage. We must not look for garden-ground, bee-bench, or pig-stye here, in the crowded purlieus or bye places of the town, into which, to save themselves the toil of a wholesome walk, the manufacturing population flock by scores and hundreds to live in dirt and infection. Now we do say, that society has a strong claim on every wealthy employer of manufacturing labourers, to employ some portion of his expenditure beneficially, rather than profitably, more especially by promoting schools, libraries, benevolent societies, Bible societies, saving-banks, and all other means of preventive charity. His direct influence is often immense, and it involves a heavy responsibility.

But, in the mean time, as neither every great land-owner nor every wealthy manufacturer can be brought to see his true interest in a just light, nor to feel aright for the welfare of society, can nothing be done by those who are not great or wealthy? There is something in the first survey of a motley, crowded, squalid population of a neglected district, that inspires a hopeless feeling of discouragement. One is ready to take up the words of the Prophet, "Can these dry bones "live?" There is the noisomeness of death attaching to them. All that is lovely in infancy is there obliterated in the sickly, stunted offspring of the pauper mothers, seen there in rags and dirt. No feeling of home can attach to those comfortless tenements, and little moral or religious feeling of any kind can long subsist in combination with squalid poverty. Where must the philanthropist begin? With the children, if he can; but, as they cannot be withdrawn from the habits and example of their parents, comparatively little good is to be hoped for, if, beginning at instructing the children, his efforts terminate there. Now to reform a neighbourhood, a district, is a hopeless undertaking. In order to introduce any beneficial change in the habits of an adult population, it is obvious, that an experiment must first be made on a small scale; and who can tell the efficiency of one good example.

What then is the social design of those religious institutions which we call churches? What, indeed, we might ask, is the VOL. XXII, N.S.

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ultimate moral design they are intended to answer; but to uphold, collectively, a high moral standard, and to diffuse, collectively, a powerful moral influence? This is the true theory of a Christian church. Men might agree to worship in the same place, and to hear the same minister, and to partake of the sacrament together, without any such compact or institution as is implied in the idea of such a society. But we are apt to talk much of the benefit to be derived to ourselves from entering such a body. Would to God that the benefit were never problematical! There is a benefit to ourselves attaching, we readily admit, to every act of religious obedience; and the duty of publicly confessing the name of Christ, and observing all the ordinances of religion, is binding upon all. But we think that persons quite mistake the matter, in looking upon this as the final object of the establishment of such societies; for in nothing can his own benefit be a legitimate final object to a real Christian. It appears to us, that St. Paul hints at their real design, when he requires of the church at Philippi, that its members should be" blameless as well as "harmless, and without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation," among whom they were collectively to "shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life."

This being admitted, it would seem that such institutions present, when efficiently constructed, the very means of beginning the desired reform in the moral habits of a district, A certain portion of the population, and, we would hope, in general the best or most improvable portion, is brought directly in contact with Christian benevolence. Upon these persons we speak both of members and hearers-the experiment must first be made. It must not be concealed, that among those who attend our places of worship, there are the ignorant, the dirty, the indolent, the wasteful, some who are neither harmless nor blameless, and many who shine very darkly, even among the class who may be called 'good people' Now the clause which makes "whatsoever is lovely and of good report" a part of the Christian character, warrants our position, that with such persons our economic reform must begin. We cannot, it may be, establish a town library: Is there a vestry library? We cannot visit all the sick and the afflicted: Is there a benevolent society connected with the place of worship, that provides at least for the necessities of its own poor? Are such members of the church as have tenants of their own, anxious to preserve them from being a burden to the parish; and does the poor man find in them a ready friend? Are the poor who attend our chapels, bettered in their condition, more cleanly, more economical, better informed, through the pains taken by hose in a superior station, to instruct or assist them?

Or is it thought doing enough, to preach to them? We pity the Christian minister who is not better seconded. "Pure religion and undefiled before God, even the Father, is this, to visit the widows and the fatherless in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world." To realize this purity of separation on the one hand, and this active benevolence on the other, is the design of Christian churches; and when they fail of this, their utility becomes very questionable. But were Christians but animated with the spirit of the institution, such societies present an engine of mighty efficiency, like every thing of Divine origin or authority, for regenerating the world.

Art. XI. Greece in 1823 and 1824; being a Series of Letters and other Decuments, on the Greek Revolution. Written during a Visit to that Country. By the Honourable Colonel Leicester Stanhope. Illustrated with several curious Fac-similes. To which is added, the Life of Mustapha Ali. 8vo. pp. 368. Price 13s. London. 1824.

SEVERAL work of considerable interest relating to the origin and progress of the Greek Revolution are lying on our table, to which we ought to have paid earlier attention. The time is not come, however, for writing the history even of what is past, as every day tends to throw further light on the true character of the struggle. The present volume contains the testimony of an intelligent, brave, and noble-minded individual, founded on his own observation, and will be read with the interest it claims. It bears all the marks of authenticity and impartiality, and while it is laudably free from the flummery and affectation which have been vented on the subject of the Greeks, it is adapted to create an increased interest in their cause, and to excite the most ardent wishes for their

success.

Colonel Stanhope offered his services to the Greek Committee in the character of their agent, in September, 1823, as a substitute for Captain Blaquiere, whose affairs did not allow of his proceeding to Greece as had been arranged. He reached Missolonghi in December. In May last, he was served with an order from the Adjutant General's office, directing his immediate return to England. The present volume consists of the Colonel's correspondence, chiefly with Mr. Bowring for the information of the Greek Committee, during his absence, interspersed with some letters addressed to the Greek authorities, together with an apppendix of documents. In a letter to Jere

my Bentham, Esq. dated Salona, May 4th, the following account is given of the state of parties.

The state of Greece is not easily conveyed to the mind of a foreigner. The society is formed, 1st, of the Primates, who lean to oligarchy, or Turkish principles of government; 2dly, of the captains, who profess democratical notions, but who are, in reality, for power and plunder; and lastly, of the people, who are irreproachable in character, and of course desire to have a proper weight in the constitution. The people of the Peloponnesus are much under the influence of the civil and military oligarchies. Those of Eastern and Western Greece are chiefly under the captains. Of these Odysseus is the most influential. His father never bowed to the Turkish yoke; he was a freeman and a robber. Odysseus himself was brought up by the famous tyrant Ali Pacha. He is shrewd and ambitious, and has played the tyrant, but is now persuaded that the road to fame and wealth is by pursuing good government. He, therefore, follows this course, and supports the people and the republic. Negris, who once signed his sentence of death, is now his minister. Of the islands, Hydra and Spezia are under the influence of some rich oligarchs, supported by the rabble, and Ipsara is purely democratic.

The parties may be said to be three, 1st. There is Mavrocordato, the oligarchs of the islands, and some of those of the Peloponnesus, and the legislative body. These are for order and a mild despotism, either under a foreign king, or otherwise. This faction stood high, but must now change its principles or lose its power. 2dly, There is Colocotroni, and some of the captains, and some of the oligarchs of the Morea, who are for power and plunder. This party is going down hill at a gallop. And, 3dly, there is Ipsilanti, Odysseus, Negris, and the mass who are now beginning to embrace republican notions, finding that they cannot otherwise maintain their power.

Now, the question is, which of these parties should an honest man embrace? All have stumbled by endeavouring to hug the best of these factions. I have pursued another course, cautiously avoiding them all I have loudly rated all for their vices, and as loudly praised them for their good acts. This for one who has no genius for political intrigue, tactics, or what is called diplomacy, is the safest course. It places a man of a plain mind on a level with and even above a high-flying politician of the Gentz or Metternich school.

'Greece and all the islands are tranquil, with the exception of two towns, namely Napoli, which is blockaded by the government, and Missolonghi, which is disturbed by a body of Suliots, who play the pretorians.

Civilization and good government are gaining ground, chiefly through the means of publicity. There is a great fund of virtue in Greece, but it is monopolized by the peasantry. What is most wanted is a good representative body, some good prefects, good judges, and public writers. Two or three active and strong-minded