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O for a voice like thunder, when it peals across the An aged man beside him stood, of aspect grave and deep, mild;

To startle those that idly dream, and waken those He heard that burst of fervid zeal, and placidly he that sleep!

"O for a pen that I might dip in liquid fire, and

write

The name of Jesus o'er the skies in characters of light,

That every soul that name might know, and every eye might see,

smiled;

Long years had made him feel the truths he from the

Word had learned,

And calmly thus he uttered them, as to the youth be

turned :

"The ways of God are not like man's his thoughts are not like ours;

And all of every tribe and tongue might bow to it His kingdom comes not by the might that dwells in the knee!

"O for an angel's fearless wing, to speed from clime to clime

To warn and waken all who dwell within the coasts of time

To spread before their view the things belonging to their peace,

creature powers.

Not all man's boasted wisdom, nor excellence of speech,

Nor trump nor harp of angel to the corrupt heart can reach.

""Tis not the sweeping whirlwind, when it rends the rugged rock;

And bid them think upon these things ere this their 'Tis not the heaving earthquake, when the mountains day shall cease!

feel its shock;

"O for one hour of Moses' rod! O for Ithuriel's "Tis not the fire wide wasting that his glory can re

spear,

To touch the toads that whispering squat at many a simple ear-*

And show them in their proper shape before their victims' eyes,

And strip from off the ravening wolf the lamb's affected guise!

"O for a rein, the whirlwind's blast in all its strength | to guide,

With power to share its wild career, and on its wings to ride,

That with it I might rush and roam o'er all the dark domains,

Where yet an undisputed sway the strong man armed maintains;

"That I might crush and sweep from earth his palaces and towers,

His prisons and his feasting halls, and soft luxurious bowers;

His haunts obscene of brutish lust, his dungeons dark and drear,

And all with which he rules the world by blandishment or fear!

"O for a seraph's harp and voice, of Jesus' love to sing,

With melody so loud and sweet that heaven and earth might ring,

Till discord hushed its grating din, and harsh polemic

sounds

veal;

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influence in producing and maintaining the welfare THERE are some things which have an indispensable of families, which fall more properly under our cultivation. Order, good temper, good sense, religions principles-these will bless thy dwelling, and fill thy "tabernacle with the voice of rejoicing."

I. Without order you can never rule well your own house. "God is not the God of confusion."

Gave place to strains of harmony through all the He loves order-order pervades all his works. He

Church's bounds!"

"Twas from a young enthusiast's lips such aspirations broke,

When first from nature's sleep of death to conscious life he woke;

overlooks nothing. "He calleth the stars by their names "" He numbereth the hairs of our head""He appointeth the moon for seasons; and the sun knoweth his going down." There is no discord, no clashing, in all the immense, the amazing whole! He has interposed his authority, and enjoined us "to do everything decently and in order." And this command is founded in a regard to our advantage. The dark, mysterious maze of life seemed spread be- them; to assign everything its proper place-its It calls upon you to lay down rules, and to walk by

While, as he viewed this earthly scene from Contemplation's height,

fore his sight.

* See Paradise Lost, book iv.

allowance of time-its degree of importance; to ob serve regularity in your meals-in your devotions-in

HOW TO SECURE THE HAPPINESS OF FAMILIES.

your expenses. From order spring frugality, economy, charity. From order result beauty, harmony, concurrence. Without order there can be no government, no happiness. Peace flies from confusion. Disorder entangles all our affairs, hides from us the end, and keeps from us the clue; we lose self-possession, and become miserable, because perplexed, hurried, oppressed, easily provoked.

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to pass by-when to be immovable and when to yield. Good sense will produce good manners will keep us from taking freedoms and handling things roughly; for love is delicate, and confidence is tender. Good sense will never agitate claims of superiority; it will teach us to "submit ourselves one to another, in the fear of God." Good sense will lead persons to regard their own duties, rather than to recommend those of others.

II. Many things will arise to try your temper; and he is unqualified for social life who has no rule over his own spirit" who cannot bear," to use the words of a good writer, "the frailties of his fellow-be creatures with common charity, and the vexations of life with common patience." Peter, addressing wives, reminds them that "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price." And Solomon often mentions the opposite blemish in illustrating the female character: "It is better to dwell in the corner of the house-top, than with a brawling woman in a wide house"- The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping "and so on. We should deem it invidious to exemplify this imperfection in one sex only-we would address you equally; and call upon you, as you value a peaceful abode, to maintain a control over your tempers. Beware of passion; say little when under irritation: turn aside -take time to reflect and to cool-a word spoken unadvisedly with your lips may produce a wound which weeks cannot heal. "I would reprove thee," said the philosopher, "were I not angry." It is a noble suggestion. Apply it in your reprehension of servants and correction of children. But there is something against which you should be more upon your guard than occasional sallies of passion-I mean habitual pettishness. The former may be compared to a brisk shower, which is soon over; the latter, to a sleet or drizzling rain, driving all the day long. The mischief which is such a disturber of social enjoyment is not the anger which is lengthened into malice or vented in revenge, but that which oozes out in constant fretfulness, murmuring, and complaint; it is that which renders a man not formidable, but troublesome; it is that which converts him, not into a tiger, but into a gnat. Good humour is the cordial, the balm of life. The possessor of it spreads satisfaction wherever he comes, and he partakes of the pleasure he gives. Easy in himself, he is seldom, offended with those around him. Calm and placid within, everything without wears the most favourable appearance; while the mind, agitated by peevishness or passion, like a ruffled pool, reflects every agreeable and lovely image false and distorted.

III. The influence and advantage of good sense are incalculable. What streams, what vessels, are the noisy? The shallow, the empty. Who are the unyielding? The ignorant, who mistake obstinacy for firmness. Who are the infallible ?-They who have not reflection enough to see how liable and how likely we are to err-they who cannot comprehend how much it adds to a man's wisdom to discover, and to his humility to acknowledge, a fault. Good sense will preserve us from censoriousness-will lead us to distinguish circumstances-to draw things from the dark situation of prejudice which rendered them frightful, that we may candidly survey them in open day. Good sense will keep us from looking after visionary perfection: "The infirmities I behold are not peculiar to my connections; others, if equally near, would betray the same; universal excellence is unattainable--no one can please in everything. And who am I, to demand a freedom from imperfections in others, while I am encompassed with infirmities myself?" Good sense will lead us to study dispositions, peculiarities, accommodations-to weigh consequences to determine what to observe and what

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IV. We must go beyond all this, and remind you of those religious principles by which you are to governed. These are to be found in the Word of God; and as many as walk according to this rule, mercy and peace shall be upon them. God has engaged that, if you will walk in his way, you shall find rest unto your souls. If it be said there are happy families without religion, I would answer, First, There is a difference between appearances and reality. Secondly, If we believe the Scripture, this is impossible: "The way of transgressors is hard"-"There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked." Thirdly, Religion secures those duties upon the performance of which the happiness of households depends. Would any man have reason to complain of servants, of children, or of any other relation, if they were all influenced by the spirit, and regulated by the dictates, of the Gospel? Much of religion lies in the discharge of these relative duties; and to enforce these, religion brings forward motives the most powerful, and always binding, and calls in conscience and God, and heaven and hell. Fourthly, Religion attracts the divine blessing, and all we possess or enjoy depends upon its smiles. God can elevate or sink us in the esteem of others he can send us business or withhold it-he can command or forbid thieves to rob and flames to devour us he can render all we have satisfying or distasteful; and they that honour him he will honour. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the just." Finally, Religion prepares us for all events. If we succeed, it keeps our prosperity from destroying us. If we suffer, it preserves us from fainting in the day of adversity. It turns our losses into gains; it exalts our joys into praises; it makes prayers of our sighs; and, in all the uncertainties of time and changes of the world, it sheds on the mind a " peace which passeth all understanding." It unites us to each other, not only as creatures, but as Christians-not only as strangers and pilgrims upon earth, but as heirs of glory, honour, and immortality. For you must separate-it is useless to keep back the mortifying truth. It was the condition upon which your union was formed. man! it was a mortal finger upon which you placed the ring-vain emblem of perpetuity. O woman! it was a dying hand that imposed it. After so many mutual and growing attachments, to separate !What is to be done here? O Religion, Religion! come, and relieve us in a case where every other assistance fails. Come, and teach us not to wrap up our chief happiness in the creature. Come, and bend our wills to the pleasure of the Almighty, and enable us to say: "It is the Lord! let him do what seemeth him good; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord." Come, and tell us that they are disposed of infinitely to their advantage; that the separation is temporary; that a time of re-union will come; that we shall see their faces, and hear their voices again. Take two Christians, who have been walking together, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Is the connection dissolved by death? No. We take the Bible along with us, and inscribe on their tomb: "Pleasant in life, and in death not

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divided." Is the one removed before the other? He becomes an attraction to the other; he draws him forward, and is waiting to "receive him into everlasting habitations." Let us suppose a pious family re-uniting together, after following each other successively down to the grave. How unlike every present meeting! Here our intercourse is chilled with the certainty of separation; there we shall meet to part no more-we shall be for ever with each other, and for ever with the Lord. Now affliction often enters our circle, and the distress of one is the concern of all; then we shall "rejoice with them that rejoice," but not "weep with them that weep; " for "all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, and the days of our mourning shall be ended."-Jay.

NOTES ON MADEIRA.

BY THE REV. JAMES JULIUS WOOD.

CONCLUDING PAPER.

WITH regard to the personal appearance of the Madeirenses, the men are, many of them, stout, goodlooking, active fellows, of dark complexions, and in some instances very swarthy. To a stranger, a striking part of their dress is the little blue cloth cap, lined with red, called a carupuça, with a long tail or handle sticking up from the centre of it. How they contrive to make it adhere to the head one cannot imagine. Their dress is a shirt of coarse white linen, and a pair of white linen drawers, very wide, and buttoned tight immediately below the knee. They wear boots of whitish half-tanned bullock's skin, without stockings, which reach about midway up the leg, leaving the dark brawny limb bare for a considerable space between the boot and the drawers. This is their usual entire dress. Sometimes they carry a blue cloth jacket thrown loose over their shoulders, to be used or not as occasion may require. They are never without a large stick-a páo-to help them in ascending and descending the hills; they also use it very freely in their quarrels, which are of frequent occurrence, especially at the festas, which seem to be regarded as favourite times for settling old grudges. Those who live high among the mountains use a long pole shod with iron-a bordão-just like the Alp-poles used by travellers among the Swiss mountains. The women, as in most warm countries, soon appear old. Their common head-dress is a handkerchief, white, or any other colour, as it may be, folded in the form of a triangle, laid over the head, tied loosely beneath the chin, and left open behind. Many of the women wear, in addition, the carapuça. The upper part of their dress consists of bodice laced in front, and buttoned at the neck like a man's shirt. If the wearer is a person of some little consequence, the bodice is embroidered or trimmed with lace. The upper part of the arm is covered only a little way below the shoulder, with the sleeve of the shift fitted tight to the skin, the rest of the arm being left bare. They are very fond of trinkets, and, as the best mode of preserving any little money which they have got, they convert it into gold chains, gold or silver buttons, &c. The skirt of their dress is of linsey-woolsey, manufactured by the country people themselves. They have no stockings, but use the white boots of half-tanned

leather, like the men. When they go abroad, they wear over the shoulders a large cape of blue or scarlet cloth. Many of the women, as well as the men, are to be seen with the pao or bordào. This description of the dress of the men and women ap plies only to the country people. In the city of Funchal there is every possible variety of quantity and quality, from total or almost total nakedness, ragged trowsers, and old cotton gowns, to the gayest silks and superfine broad cloths.

The people generally are a quiet, orderly race. They are kept in great ignorance, and in a state of abject submission to the higher orders. But they seem to possess the elements of a fine people. They manifest a great wish for instruction; and, were they well educated and well governed, their beautiful island would present a very different appearance, and they themselves might be among the happiest peasantry in the world. Some thousands of the peasantry of Madeira lately emigrated to Demerara, with the view of supplying the demand for field labour in that colony. I believe they have suffered severely from disease; owing, probably, to their own conduct or carelessness. They have not made good field labourers, and have generally become keepers of small shops, or chapmen vending small wares throughout the country. A considerable number still annually leave Madeira to join their countrymen in Demerara; and last autumn some hundreds, with their families, proceeded to the Island of St Vincent, under an engagement to a planter there. These emigrants cannot but better their situation by the change; for nothing can be more wretched thau the condition of the greater part of the cultivators of the soil in Madeira, owing to the very depressed state of the wine trade.

The higher ranks have a great dread of the instruction of the common people, from the very absurd notion that it would make them more difficult to be governed, and, as occasionally appears, from an ap prehension of their becoming as wise and learned as themselves-certainly no very great or difficult attainment. They are also particularly opposed to the hum bler classes being taught the doctrine of justification by faith-a free, full pardon of all sin through faith in Jesus Christ, without deeds of the law. They express their great horror at such a doctrine, as tending certainly to lead the poor people who embrace it to indulge freely in every kind of sin; not knowing that the Word of God, by the pen of Paul, expressly meets their objection: "Do we, then, by faith make void the law? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." What strikes one is the form in which the objection is put; it always refers to others-to the poor and ignorant-as if the educated and wealthy were sufficiently protected from the evil influence of such a dangerous and licentious doctrine as that of justifica tion by faith!

Recruiting for the army is carried on in the cruel and oppressive spirit of our own press-gang system, with this additional evil, that the poor worn-out Por tuguese soldier, however long and faithfully he has served, has no pension to support him in his old age, when discharged and unfit for labour. The trouble some characters, and those who have incurred the

NOTES ON MADEIRA.

ill-will of the priests or other influential persons, are laid hold of by the authorities, and are compelled to shoulder a musket; and any number that may still be wanting is made up by ballot. This has been made an instrument of oppression towards those who have shown any love for Gospel truth; the Bible Christians are threatened with being made soldiersa dreadful thing to any one who has been enlightened to know the truth, from the part which the military are called upon to take in the idolatrous services of the Popish Church.

The drilling of the poor recruits is one of the most ludicrous exhibitions we ever witnessed. They have no uniform, but are dressed in every possible variety of habiliment which poverty can produce. One may have a boot on one foot and a shoe on the other his neighbour is bare-footed and bare-legged altogether; one has an old jacket-another has only his ragged shirt and drawers; one has a carapuça, another an old straw hat, and a third is bare-headed; and there they stand, and there they march, at the word of command, the very impersonation of that ragged company of whom their captain said: "I'll not march through Coventry with them, that's flat." The mode of calling a person at a distance struck me as furnishing an illustration of sundry passages of Scripture. For example, in Isa. v. 26, it is written: "And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly." And Zech. v. 8: "I will hiss for them, and gather them." The hiss here mentioned is just the word or sound with which, in Madeira, a person solicits the attention of one at a distance, and calls him to come to him. The Portuguese use a loud hiss in place of the ho or hallo which we employ.

The distaff is very often to be seen in the hands of the women as they are seated in the doors of their houses. It is merely a piece of wood or cane, round which the flax is wrapped; it is held in the arm, and they spin from it with both hands, wrapping up the thread as it is formed on a pirn or bobbin, which usually swings in the air. I believe all their spinning is done by this distaff-any other machinery for spinning, even the very simplest kind of it, being unknown in Madeira.

The husbandry is very unskilful. Their ploughs are of the simplest and rudest construction. Their principal implement in tillage is the enxada-a kind of hoe or mattock. With this they plant and clean their vines, turn over their vegetable and potatoe grounds, and even many of the patches where they sow barley and wheat. The spade is nearly unknown among them; they have no wheel-barrows; indeed they are strangers to almost every mechanical contrivance elsewhere employed to aid man in his labours.

Wine is the principal produce of Madeira. It is grown all around the island, and up the mountain sides to the height of about eighteen hundred feet. The different kinds of wine which the island yields are Madeira, of which we have already spoken, Malmsey, Bual, Sercial, and a red wine called Tinto. The annual produce is between fifteen and sixteen thousand pipes. By far the best wine is grown on the south

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side of the island. The culture of the grape has of late been paying the landowner and the farmer so ill that probably the quantity of wine produced will fall off.

The sugar cane and the coffee plant grow very well in Madeira. Formerly the sugar-cane was cultivated in considerable quantities, but the vine displaced it. There are at present one or two sugar mills on the island; but the making of sugar is scarcely, if at all attempted, the juice of the cane being employed for a variety of other purposes. It is probable that the cultivation of coffee will considerably increase; it might certainly become an important article of exportation: the trees bear well, and the quality of the coffee is excellent. An attempt was made some years ago to introduce the silk-worm, and a large quantity of mulberry trees were planted to feed the insects. But the attempt failed; for it is a very difficult thing to introduce into a new place a product and manufacture so as to cope, in excellence of production and in cheapness, with those places in which it has been located for a long period, and where it enjoys many little but important advantages, which time and experience have gathered around it. The country people, too, in their wisdom, set themselves against the experiment, and destroyed many of the mulberry trees, in the apprehension that the silk-worms would not be content with the mulberry leaves, but would betake themselves to the leaves of the vines.

The large,

We saw the cochineal insect in the fazenda of an English gentleman near Funchal, and from what we witnessed, and the information which we received, we are persuaded that cochineal might be produced in considerable quantities in Madeira. coarse cactus-the prickly pear-which constitutes the food of the insect, and a suitable habitation for it, grows almost of its own accord in Madeira most plentifully and luxuriantly. The climate seems to be quite suited to the insect, and apparently a little care and enterprise would successfully introduce it.

The products of the island are, arrow-root of excellent quality, potatoes-which are beginning to be much cultivated, there being an increasing demand for them for exportation to Demerara, and by ships calling at the island for refreshments. the sweet potatoe, and the yam. Of fruits, there are oranges, lemons, bananas, peaches, almonds, figs-very good - apples, pears, walnuts, pomegranates, custardapples, strawberries, gooseberries, and pine-apples. All of them might be much finer were anything like skill and care bestowed on them. But they are very much in a state of nature, without any ingrafting, or any of those means of improvement which science and experience have discovered.

Madeira was once covered with wood. A large portion of the island has long ago been cleared, and the wood seems to be gradually disappearing from the remainder. A good deal, however, is still left. The oak, the walnut, the til, the vinhatico or island mahogany, the chesnut, the mulberry, are all to be found on the island, and are all used for economic purposes.

Some of the chesnuts are very noble trees. I saw one at Campanavia, the circumference of which I

cannot venture to name, but the trunk, which was beginning to decay, was so large that a boy of the family had a comfortable roomy workshop in it, where he was carrying on the building of a handsome miniature first-class frigate.

The wood of some of these trees is extremely pretty, and furniture of native manufacture is to be had in Funchal both very reasonable in price and very beautiful.

It may be a comfort for those who have been plagued with the miserable currency of the Continent and of Italy, to know that no such annoyance awaits them in Madeira. It is somewhat remarkable, however, that, with the exception of the copper money, the currency of Madeira is in Spanish coins. It consists of dollars of 4s. 2d. value, pistrines of 10d., and tostaons or bits of 5d. Accounts are kept in rees, an imaginary coin, 100 of which are a tostaon, and 1000 a dollar. British sovereigns are also current at their full value; visitors will find it advantageous to take out their money in sovereigns.

There are few wild animals in Madeira. Rabbits abound, but there are neither hares nor foxes, nor any animal of prey except several species of the hawk. There are a few partridges and quails, and multitudes of blackbirds. It is a common saying, that " a crow and a Scotchman are to be found in every part of the world." In Madeira there are certainly plenty of Scotchmen, but the other part of the saying fails to hold good, for there is not a crow on the whole island. There are multitudes of rats and lizards, which are very destructive to the grapes, oranges, custard-apples, &c., of which they are extremely fond. There are a few frogs, who make no small noise in their own way; toads are unknown; nor did I hear of any poisonous creature in Madeira except a black spider, whose bite is said to be venomous. The large striped tarantula spider—a beautiful animal-is frequently to be met with; a considerable variety of very beautiful moths, and on the mountains immense swarms of huge grasshoppers.

Fish are to be had in great abundance, and an immense variety; but all, with the exception of the mackerel, different from what are found on our coasts. Some of them are pretty good, but in general the quality is inferior to what we have at home.

Everything needed for the comfort of individuals and families visiting the island may now be had in Funchal, or can easily be procured from London by any of the regular traders. Bread is about the same price as in this country-beef much cheaper and very good-veal good-mutton in general very bad-pigs poor in comparison of those at home. Fowls are plentiful. The country people bring great quantities of them into Funchal for sale, carrying them suspended by the legs over their stick or páo. A strong fellow will in this way carry a dozen or a dozen and a-half of fowls or turkeys. There is great cruelty in this, and sometimes the poor animals die of apoplexy from being kept so long with their heads hanging down.

There is no breed of horses peculiar to the island. They are imported from various quarters, and a few only are reared by the Portuguese. They are used only for the saddle; all draught being performed

by oxen, and all burdens borne by mules and asses. Many of the invalids ride a great deal: indeed, it is the only mode by which exercise on land, to any extent, can be taken, owing to the want of level ground. A good horse, with a man to attend it, may be hired for about twenty-five dollars a month, and a nice pony for fifteen dollars. This includes everything: you have no care or responsibility. You order your horse at any hour you choose, your burraquero brings it, and attends you wherever you go; and when your ride is over, you give it up to his care: it is his concern to feed and dress his own horse as he pleases. In climbing the steep ascents, the horse is taught to set off at a canter or gallop, and your attendant, on such occasions, in order to keep up with you, lays hold of your charger's tail, and is towed along by means of it. Horses can also be hired by the hour on reasonable terms. Some of the invalids prefer boating to riding, and a boat with a couple of stout rowers can be had for a very moderate sum per hour. Those who cannot stand the fatigue of riding, make their excursions and long journeys in a hammock or net, suspended by the two ends from a strong bamboo pole, and carried on the shoulders of two men. Palanquins are used for short distances about the city.

We take the liberty of quoting the following sentences from a letter of an intelligent commercial gentleman, written from Madeira last winter, and published in the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle:

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Nearly every article one sees here is of British manufacture. As a specimen of the general rule, and not to refer to private life, I may notice the furniture of the hotel. In the parlour I occupied there, one of the tables was covered with oil cloth, which I at once recognised as being of London manufacture-another with a coloured cotton cover of Dunfermline manufacture; the sofas were covered with striped cotton, which I knew to be made only in Glasgow; the dinner and breakfast dishes were evidently from Staffordshire; and the block-tin covers had an English stamp, showing their Birmingham origin; the knives and forks were, of course, from Sheffield; and the table-cloths from Dunfermline. In my bed-room, the curtains were made of checked muslin, of Manchester manufacture; and the printed sofa-cover, in the same room, was evidently of the same parentage. The two first women whom I happened to see after landing, were peasants from the interior, and they wore cotton shawls of Paisley origin; and printed cotton handkerchiefs on their heads, evidently from Glasgow."

This is curious and interesting, as giving one some notion of the extent to which the produce of British ingenuity and industry now ministers to the comforts of the people of other lands. Perhaps this may be a mean of preserving peace among the nations. There seems little for any to gain, and certainly much for all to lose, by war.

I do not intend to lengthen out farther these "Notes on Madeira." Perhaps some of my readers may have felt an interest in the account which I have given of the state of religion, and of the Lord's work in that island. Let them bear on their spirits at a throne of grace their sore-tried and suffering brethren.

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