forwarded, every measure for the promotion of Christian knowledge among us; and we have, lastly, received the strongest proof of your Lordships's real regard for our most valuable interests, in the part which you have taken towards the selection and appointment of a most exemplary and distinguished clergyman as our Bishop, whose auspicious commencement of his episcopal functions forms a memorable æra, from which, we trust, may be dated an increased improvement in all that tends to the advancement of the true respectability of our order, to the right administration of the Church of these Islands, and to the promotion of Christian knowledge and practice in all classes of this community. For these and all other instances of your past kindness and regard to us, we now beg leave to tender to your Lordship our most respectful and grateful acknowledgments and with our humble prayers to Almighty God for his blessing on yourself and on all your labours for the public good, we have the honour to remain, My Lord, Your Lordship's faithful and obedient Servants."

[Signed by the Clergy of Barbados.]

To the Rt. Hon. and Rt. Rev. the
Lord Bishop of London.

"Fulham, July 25, 1825. "MY REV. BRETHREN,-I am much gratified by your Letter, of May 4th, transmitted to me through the Bishop of Barbados. The terms in which you advert to my late connexion with your Island, and care of its spiritual concerns, which, though not founded in law, I have always regarded as constituting a part of my duties, demand my especial acknowledgment. Without claim to personal merit, I may express my persuasion that the ecclesiastical superintendance of the Bishop of London, however insufficient in

many respects, has been of material use to the Colonies: and I have great pleasure in adding, that my intercourse with the Island of Barbados has been uniformly productive of satisfaction. Whether on the one hand I looked to the Clergy, their respectability as a body, and the exemplary zeal of many individuals in the exercise of their holy calling, or on the other to the disposition which has lately been evinced by the laity to encourage the diffusion of religious knowledge, and in particular the religious instruction of the Slaves, I discovered the elements of progressive improvement among all classes of the people. I cannot however but rejoice in seeing the functions, which have been hitherto imperfectly executed by a distant and questionable authority, combined with an effective jurisdiction in the person of a resident Bishop, whose talents, temper, and piety, will add weight to his high office. Yet while I congratulate you on the acquisition of so faithful a monitor, so able a coadjutor, and so kind and judicious a friend, I have the satisfaction of reflecting, that my intercourse with the Colony is not altogether terminated. As a member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,' it will still be my duty to watch over the interests of the College; and in the capacity of President of the Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves,' I may hope, with the Divine blessing, to assist you in promoting the spiritual interests of that numerous and useful class.

"Requesting you to accept my sincere thanks, as well for former attentions, as for this last demonstration of your kindness, and heartily commending your persons and labours to Almighty God,

"I remain, my Rev. Brethren, your faithful servant and friend,

"W. LONDON."

Mineral and Mosaical Geologies," &c. reviewed in our number for April last, is preparing for publication a work on the Geology and Antiquities of the Parish of Awre, Gloucestershire; in which, among several new discoveries,

he will adduce strong additional evidence, from his own observations on the shore of the Severn in that parish, against the opinion of Mr. Granville Penn, that entire genera and species of animals were excluded from the ark at the Noachic Deluge-an opinion decidedly opposed, as well to the express language of Scripture, as to the certain testimony of Fact.

We observe, with pleasure, the announcement of a publication of great and general interest, namely, Illustrations of Ornithology, by Sir William Jardine, Bart. and Prideaux John Selby, Esq.; with the co-operation of Mr. Bicheno, Secretary to the Linnæan Society, Mr. Children, Zoologist to the British Museum, MajorGen. T. Hardwicke, Dr. Horsfield, Zoologist to the East India Company, Mr. Jameson, Reg. Prof. Nat. Hist. Ed. and Director of Ed. Museum, &c.; Mr. Vigors, Sec. of Zool. Society; and of the late Sir T. Stamford Raffles. The Prospectus mentions coloured Plates of Birds, accompanied by Descriptions including their Generic and Specific Characters, references to the best figures of those already published, and occasional remarks on the nature, habits, and comparative anatomy of the species. 1. The illustration of new groups and new species; 2. Such subjects as have been described, but not figured; 3. Those which have been incorrectly represented, or where the variation in plumage, arising from age, sex, or season, has not been particularised; and, lastly, in order to render the work complete, all the species which have already been described or figured. The work is to be published in Quarterly Parts, royal 4to., with from fifteen to twenty Plates, on which will be figured from twenty to thirty species in each. The first part is expected on next New Year's Day.

Leipsic Fair.-Three hundred and ninety-one booksellers met at the last Easter fair at Leipsic; and two thousand three hundred and seventy-four new works, written in German or in the ancient languages, sufficiently proved the prodigious activity with which the sciences are cultivated. To these must be added atlasses, romances, dramatic pieces, musical

compositions, &c., making the whole number amount to two thousand seven hundred and forty-nine. Among the most remarkable philological publications were, the Analecta Literaria of the celebrated Professor Huschke; Hermann's Treatise; Observations by the same learned writer on the Greek inscriptions published by Böckh'; Süvern's Remarks on the Clouds of Aristophanes; Wullner's Treatise on the Epic Cycle; that of Monk on Pomponius, &c. Of the archæological works, Gerhard's collection of Antiquities: a Treatise, by Kosegarten, on the Egyptian Papyrus; and another, by Franck, on the Philosophy and Literature of the Hindoos,-were the most distinguished. The other sciences also received numerous valuable contributions.

It is affirmed, that a Professor at Munich, of the Academy of Sciences, has discovered a method of rendering wood incombustible. He has combined caustic alkali in solution with a certain earthly substance, washed and sifted and applied on the wood, to which it gives a nitreous surface, which renders it also imperviable to water, and to all kinds of humidity. The Architectural Committee of the Theatre Royal at Munich, has made trial of this method on, two small buildings, one of which was prepared according to the Professor's plan, the other not. Fire having been lighted in both these buildings, the one was burnt, the other received no injury. The expense of the application is only two francs for 100 feet.

Entomology.-An unsual number of the insects called Lady-birds have appeared this season. At Brighton, immense numbers have fallen in every part of the town, and the fishermen state that at sea they have been actually covered with them. It may not perhaps be known to all our readers, that the larva of this beautiful little creature preys most voraciously upon the aphis, or green-fly, by which so many hundred acres of pulse have been destroyed. A close observer might have seen, a short time ago, a small caterpillar, of a dark grey colour, inclining to purple, with orange spots, actively employed in devouring those ravagers upon almostTM

every stalk where they had settledthus beautifully illustrating the order of the universe, by which even when one description of insect becomes most threatening, its numbers are brought within due limits by a corresponding increase of another. The connexion of ills (or seemingly ills) and remedies is further shewn by the accounts from Brighton; for not only does the coccinella supply food to birds, which perhaps would otherwise suffer, in a dry season like this, from the scarcity of worms and other ground insects; but it also, as Mr. Kirby concludes, becomes the sustenance of those fish, in the sea, which at other seasons ascend the rivers in search of them. In what manner the larvæ of the lady-birds, incapable of flying or of moving to a great distance, are brought together in the spot where their food is to be found, might be a curious subject of inquiry. Of their... flight Mr. Kirby gives the following

account:

"As the locust-eating thrush (Turdus gryllivorus L.) accompanies the locusts, so the coccinellæ seem to pursue the aphides; for I know no other reason to assign for the vast number that are sometimes, especially in the autumn, to be met with on the seacoast or the banks of large rivers. Many years ago, those of the Humber were so thickly strewed with the common lady-bird (C. septempunctata, L.) that it was difficult to avoid treading upon them. Some years afterwards I noticed a mixture of species, collected in vast numbers, on the sandhills on the sea-shore, at the north-west extremity of Norfolk. My friend, the Rev. Peter Lathbury, made long since a similar observation at Orford, on the Suffolk coast; and about five or six years ago they covered the cliffs, as I have before remarked, of all the watering places on the Kentish and Sussex coasts, to the no small alarm of the superstitious, who thought them forerunners of some direful evil. These last probably emigrated with the aphides from the Hop-grounds. Whether the latter and their devourers cross the sea has not been ascertained; that the coccinella attempt it is evident from their alighting upon ships at sea, as I have witnessed myself."

NATURAL HISTORY.-It is generally known that cold countries have fewer species of plants than warn ones. A learned botanist shews that this difference follows pretty constantly the progression of the temperature; according to him, there are in Spitzbergen only 30 species of plants; in Lapland, 534; in Iceland, 553; in Sweden, 1,500; in Brandenburg, 2,000; in Piemont, 3,800; in Jamaica, 4,000; and in Madagascar, 5,000.

Mr. Davis, of Slough, has published the result of an experiment for ripening wall-fruit, by covering the wall with black paint, which has completely succeeded, besides adding to the weight of grapes nearly two-thirds.

The Plain of Jericho.-The traveller, Brochi, in going from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem, took Jericho in his way. With respect to the apple of Sodom, whose outward form and beautiful appearance allures the eye, and deceives him who thinks to enjoy it, containing within nothing but a light dusty substance, he believes that Halbequist has erroneously taken it for the fruit of the Solanum Melongena, which our traveller found no where near Jericho, but only the Solanum Sanctum. He himself conceives the apple of Sodom to be nothing else than the bladderformed gall-nut, which is raised by the stings of insects upon the Pistacia Terebinthus. He remarked, that no where has Flora undergone greater changes than in the Plain of Jericho. The valuable shrub which gave the balsam has disappeared; of the celebrated rose of Jericho no vestige is left; of the numberless palm-trees, on account of which Jericho was called the City of Palms, there remains only a single representative; in vain should one look for that fig-tree of which St. Luke speaks. The whole broad plain is now a naked desert waste, which stretches from the mountains of Judah to the banks of the Jordan.-Nuov. Gior. de Letterati.

Continental Canals. The project of a canal to unite the Rhine with the Seine, thus giving Paris the advantage of water communication, and extending to Havre de Grace, is still pursued. Engineers are employed in surveying the intermediate country. A Brussels Journal says, that the same system is

་་

proceeding rapidly in the Netherlands. A great navigable canal for merchantmen is making between the Hague and Schevenergen. By this means the Hague would become a maritime and commercial city, and derive vast advantages from a direct communication with London, by means of steam-boats. New canals are also making in Brabant and Guelderland. The canal of Liege will unite the Maese with the Scheldt and the Rhine.

Church Patronage.-Although there appear to be only 9,483 parish churches in England, there are 11,593 benefices; 1,290 of which are in the patronage of the diocesans, 1,005 in the dean and chapters, 103 in five collegiate churches of Manchester, Ripon, Southwell, Westminister, and Windsor; 583 in the Universities and Colleges of Oxford

and Cambridge, Eton and Winchester; 1,015 in the King, and Prince of Wales, and Duke of Lancaster, leaving 7,597 in the patronage of lay impropriators.

The proposed improvements at St. John's College, Cambridge, are of the most splendid description. It is proposed to build an oblong court, four hundred feet in length, on the western side of the river, in the shape of the letter E, with an open screen or colonnade in front to the south. A gateway will be opened through the cloisters in a line with the three present portals; and a new iron Gothic bridge will be thrown across the river, into, and in a straight line with the colonnade above-mentioned; and will form altogether an uninterrupted perspective from Trinity-street to the fields.

POLITICAL

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.-Upon the internal state of the country we have little to remark different from our last report. In the manufacturing districts, symptoms of gradual improvement continue to appear. The crops of winter food for cattle are so much benefited by the late rains as to afford a rational hope that no severe distress will be experienced on that account. Hops prove a most plentiful crop, and have been secured under such advantages as to present samples of the very finest quality. The duty, the usual estimate of the crop, is expected to be more productive than for many preceding years.

Government has deemed it advisable to open the ports for the importation of various sorts of grain, subject to a small duty on entering. We consider this as a very wise and salutary measure. It will give some employment to

VOL. VIII. NO. X.

a particular description of vessels, and of course a little assistance to the shipping interest. No class of our countrymen have suffered more severely or more undeservedly during every period of distress since the conclusion of the war, than the ship owners. No description of our national property conduces more effectually than this to the superiority of our country in time of war, or to the extension of civilization and the improvement of the human race in a period of peace; and, consequently, we must hail with the sincerest approbation, every measure which faintly promises the least relief to those whose capital is vested in it.

The measure will be productive of much greater benefit to other classes of our fellow-subjects, and of injury to none. The quantity that may probably be imported before the 24th of December,

4 M

when the licence expires, may prevent any great increase of price in those sorts of grain, but cannot produce any depression: whilst the value of those importations, which must be paid for, will probably create some extra demand for the manufactures of this kingdom, just at the very moment when any the least stimulus given to it, by lessening the quantity on hand, or calling for a fresh supply, must be beneficial.

Indeed, whilst writing this, we have received information that it has begun to have such an effect. The very circumstance of opening the ports to the admission of foreign grain, has roused the attention of parties engaged in that commerce, and we are encouraged to expect that although wages may continue low, yet that few of the operatives will be left without employment during the approaching winter.

The

INDIA. Burmese War.-This war is again brought to a close: the victorious British troops had advanced to within two days march of the capital of the Burman empire before its monarch would conclude a peace. cession of Assam, which consolidates and secures our possessions in the north-east of India, the whole line of sea-coast on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, the payment of one crore of rupees towards the expenses of the war, and the security of the King of Siam as our ally, are the fruits of a series of victories achieved by forces very inferior in number to their enemies, and who had to contend with every difficulty which a country alternately hill, dale, morass or jungle, full of woods, and destitute of roads, could pre

sent.

Great are the advantages gained

by the British from this contest-they have extended their dominion over the only line of sea-coast which remained, in what may properly be called India, accessible to the influence of their foes. Ports of great safety and capacity, and which a power, usually hostile to us, had for years been attempting to occupy, are irrecoverably lost to that power, and as firmly secured, with all their advantages, to their rival; whilst facility of access to the interior is now so certain, that it will probably insure the preservation of peace: or if that should be interrupted, hostilities will be renewed under circumstances so advantageous, as to deprive the war of that formidable aspect which it once possessed.

Important as this may be to ourselves, it is far more so to the inhabitants of the ceded districts. Wherever Britons conquer, it is to civilize and bless the conquered. The natives of this country will soon learn to know the value of a government, which, ruling by law, will secure their persons from oppression, their property from plunder; whilst the diffusion of knowledge, which will inevitably follow, will as certainly conduce to their temporal and eternal welfare.

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. The death of the truly apostolic bishop of Calcutta is an event which every one must deeply deplore. His eminent qualifications for his most important station, and his unwearied zeal in the application of them, were too evident whilst living to admit, and the want of them, at least for a time, will be too severely felt to require any comment. The government, we trust, will take into their grave consideration the enormous extent