purposes in conformity to the requirements of the divine laws. And it is to the general infraction of these, in the procedure of settlement and colonization, that we have referred. But for sin, there would have been neither savagism nor tyranny. The same causes have produced imperfect forms of society, and the oppression of the weak by the strong. The religion of revelation supplies the remedy for all these evils; and, in our own day, this is becoming, by the glorious results of Missionary operations, increasingly apparent.

Our wish is, always, as far as possible, to lead our readers to the contemplation of the principles which facts suggest, as well as to the facts themselves. We have, therefore, taken the beautiful miniature representation of one of the best productions of the great American painter, (for though he lived the greater part of his life in England, and died there, yet he was an American, and let our transatlantic brethren have the honour of his name,) Benjamin West, as the theme of these introductory observations. Over-populated countries have a right to look for parts of the earth where, with advantage to themselves, and without injury to others, the excess of their inhabitants may find a new home. The earth is God's earth, and none of God's creatures have a right to waste it, by persisting in a mode of life which leaves its powers of supporting additional inhabitants undeveloped, and thus useless. It is a spurious philanthropy that eulogizes the degraded life of the savage. But, in seeking to share with them the land where they dwell, and by better cultivation to make it more efficient for supplying means for the welfare of all, the rules of justice must be strictly observed. Had this always been the case, savage races that now have melted away would have been reclaimed, and their continued existence would have been accompanied with increasing good. To an extent, formerly unknown, this problem is now in course of solution; and, wherever the right methods are adopted, we have no fear as to the result. In our principles we have the utmost confidence. No mathematical formula, however rigidly demonstrable, is more certain than this moral one:- True civilization is the developement of Christian influence upon And short, comparatively, as the period of trial has

man.

been, in most cases that of our own life-time, by facts, as delightful as they are undeniable, are the arguments and predictions of principle verified and accomplished. The supporters of Christian Missions are the true philosophers and philanthropists of modern times.

Our readers will require no apology for the length of this introduction, for we will not call it a digression. We have been naturally led to it by the consideration of the facts which have been recalled to our recollection by the engraving which we put in the forefront of our provision for the year. The subject deserves the most careful attention.

That colonization and justice may go hand in hand,—that man may find new abodes in a country where his fellow-men have dwelt before, without inflicting injury upon them,-the memorable fact which the engraving represents, and which the painter has aided the historian in eternizing, abundantly proves. If we may venture on an almost worn-out figure, the settlement of Pennsylvania is a beautiful oäsis in that fearful historic desert in which the progress of colonization, like the track of the caravan shown by the whitened bones of animals and men, is marked by ruin and mortality.

Among those who served the English Commonwealth in the navy, though in heart a Royalist, was William Penn. He was born at Bristol, 1621; and having entered the navy, and risen to be a Captain, for his services in the Dutch war, in 1653, he was made Admiral. In 1655, he assisted in the expedition by which Jamaica was taken from the Spaniards. He was chosen, soon after, on his return to England, Member of Parliament for Weymouth; but, not being considered well-affected to the ruling powers, on an accusation for coming home without leave, he was committed to the Tower. When the Royal Family was restored, he was created Knight, received several appointments, and commanded the fleet under the Duke of York in 1665, when the Dutch were defeated. He advanced large sums of money in those days when the Crown avoided seeking money by Parliaments, and died in retirement at Wanstead, in Essex, 1670.

Sir William had a son, born in London, October 14th, 1644, likewise named William. He was carefully educated, and

was entered a Gentleman-Commoner at Oxford, in 1660. He became attached while there to the Quakers, and, afterwards, greatly to his father's displeasure, joined them altogether. Eventually, he became one of their most celebrated members; and, to the present day, his writings, together with those of George Fox, and Robert Barclay, may be said to constitute the standards of Quaker divinity. Though high in favour with the King and his brother, he several times experienced the effects of the persecuting spirit of the age, in imprisonments both in the Tower and Newgate. As an only son, on his father's death, he succeeded to his large property. Included in this, was a debt of £16,000 from the Crown. In consideration of this, in 1681, he received the grant of a province on the Delaware, in America, which was named after him, Pennsylvania. He was made its absolute proprietor and Governor. He published an account of the country, and offered advantageous conditions to settlers: he, likewise, drew up a frame of government and law for the province. Three ships soon sailed for it, carrying chiefly Quakers, in the autumn of 1682. He had previously communicated with the natives of the soil, and not satisfied with the grant from the British Crown, he entered into a treaty with them. A great meeting took place under a large elm-tree, near the site of Philadelphia, the name he had given to the town which he had founded, and which ultimately became the chief city of the province. He here negotiated with them for the surrender of their rights, giving them large, and, to them, valuable, presents in return. For more than seventy years, while the Quakers had the chief power in the government, the friendship thus established was never interrupted. His laws, likewise, which manifested much wisdom, were conceived in a spirit of equity and toleration.

Temperate, and, though active, serene, William Penn lived to a good old age. Latterly his mental faculties began to decay, and, eventually, three severe strokes of apoplexy still further reduced his vigour both of mind and body. To the last, however, he was preserved in Christian peace, and died July 30th, 1718, when nearly seventy-four years of age; a good and, though neither warrior nor worldly politician, a

great man. In 1728, his writings were collected, and published in two volumes, folio. His proprietary rights passed to his children; and after the Revolution, when the States became independent, Pennsylvania, wishful to follow the example of honesty set by its founder, paid to his heirs the sum of £130,000, in purchase of the rights they had inherited from him.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS.

EXODUS XXX. 7. "Burnt thereon sweet incense."-There is nothing more ancient on the subject of incense and perfume than what this chapter contains. Of incense there is no notice in the offerings and sacrifices of the Patriarchs; and it is equally true, that, in the early history of most religions, we find no mention of incense. Theophrastus says, that anciently men offered no incense or odours to the gods, but only herbs, which they plucked, and presented upon the altar, as an offering taken from the earth. Ovid, also, speaking of the times of Janus, describes the sacrifices as being then without incense and without blood. This is all, however, with a reference to eastern Europe; and aromatic offerings were known to the Arabians, Egyptians, and Hebrews, long before those times which were ancient to the Greeks and Romans. These have always thought themselves bound to offer to God part of that which was most precious among themselves; and hence incense was probably offered almost as soon as known. As Arabia was famous for its aromatics, which Egypt never produced, there is nothing improbable in the idea of Calmet, who, in his comment on this chapter, thinks that the custom of offering perfumes on the altar commenced in Arabia. The Israelites were at this time in that country; and it is not impossible that the Arabians themselves may have taken the idea from the Hebrews, of whose customs they must have obtained some knowledge. Offerings of incense were, however, very anciently in use among the Egyptians; but there is nothing to show whether the custom was in use among them at the period before us. We should rather think that it was; for the "art of the perfumer," according to which the incense was to be compounded, is not an art which any of the

Israelites could have known, unless they had learned it in Egypt. Plutarch says that the Egyptians offered incense to the sun, resin in the morning, myrrh at noon, and about sunset an aromatic compound which they called kypi. This statement is corroborated by the incense-altars which appear in Egyptian paintings.—Knight's Illustrated Commentary.

OCCASIONAL PAPERS ON ENGLISH POETS
AND POETRY.

MODERN POETS.

66

ROBERT POLLOK: COURSE OF TIME.

We shall be thought, we hope, agreeably to diversify our articles on English poetry, by interspersing among them some references to those more modern poets, whose works have contributed to give so high a character to the literature of the present day. We need not observe any particular order in doing this. We shall take them up as they happen to come into our mind. They form a splendid constellation, having, however, no other connexion than that of co-etaneousness, and may, therefore, be taken at random as advantageously as in any other method. Indeed, we know not whether any particular method would be practicable, or how any orderly arrangement could be made of the works of Montgomery, Wordsworth, Southey, Moore, Byron, Hemans, and of the rest of the true poets by whose productions the first half of the present century will always be characterized as one of the most poetical ages that England, or indeed the world, ever knew. We intend to begin with Robert Pollok.

Among modern poets, Robert Pollok rapidly rose to a high position. And that by only one work. Scarcely twenty years ago the "Course of Time was published: and it has now passed through almost as many editions. It is religious poetry; and to this it owes much of its popularity. But its success has been too great to be attributable entirely to this. Many have written religious verses since the "Course of Time" was published; but they are forgotten, while this takes its stand among the imperishable productions of the age.