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Literary and Philosophical Intelligence.

Schule und das Haus, von F. P. Wilmseln. 2d edition. Berlin, 1826:

The Life of Jesus Christ, according to the Evangelists, and described in 59 Poems by the best Poets of Germany; an elementary book, designed for schools and families. By F. P. Wilmseln.

In this new edition are added-The Flight to Egypt, by Silbert; The Infant Jesus, by Westphal; Jesus working Miracles, by Keuffer; The Lord and his Disciples, by Krummacher; Martha

and Mary, by Linde; The Anointing of Jesus in Bethany, by Von Coelln; The entrance of the Jews into Jerusalem, by Praezel; Jesus the Friend of Children, by Krummacher; Jesus glorified by the Resurrection, by K. A. Doering; The Ascension, by the same; and the Resurrection of Jesus preached to the Heathen, by Bahnmeir.

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE.

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The College of Geneva contains usu⚫ ally nearly the same number of schools. At present there are 457. The two primary schools contain 66 young persons; another school, that of St. Germain, 50. The Lancestrian classes, which are three in number, received in June, 1825, 324 boys and 138 girls. The mutual instruction in music is continued with great suc

cess.

It is to be recollected, in perusing this document, that the Canton of Geneva contains a population of only from 40,000 to 45,000 souls. The proportion, therefore, between the population and individuals admitted to the benefits of education is very favourable.

The instruction given at the Geneva Academy was originally intended to be confined to Theology and Law. Subsequently to the re-establishment of the Republic, the government formed the plan of giving increased consequence to scientific and literary studies, which had been considered merely as accessories; for this purpose new professorships were created. But the experience of a few years evinced that this first measure was not sufficient. On the one hand, this extension of instruction in literature and the sciences was made at the expense of those who did not want to make them the object of deep study. On the other,

the plan did not wholly satisfy persons whose taste led them to the cultivation of those branches. Measures have been taken to remove these objections. On the recommendation of the academical body, the council of State has this year sanctioned a new organization of the Academy. Four faculties are now established, those of Theology, Law, the Sciences, and the Belles Lettres. The two latter comprise two kinds of courses, those of the first and second years, which are called common studies, and those of the third and fourth years, which are called special studies. The programme for the academical year, which extends from 6th November, 1826, to the 24th of May, 1827, specifies the thirty-five courses, which compose the whole system of instruction.

They are distributed as follows, among the four faculties;-THEOLOGY. Dogmatical Theology, Professor Chenevière; -Ecclesiastical History, Professor Vaucher;-Apologetical Theology, Professor Duby, to whom is also consigned the Lectures on Pulpit eloquence;-Hebrew, Professor Cellerier, who takes also Sacred Antiquities and Biblical Criticism. -LAW. Roman Law, Professor Rossi, who takes also Criminal Legislation;Modern Civil Law, Professor Bellot;Commercial Law, Professor Rigand.— SCIENCES. Common Studies. Natural History, (Elements of Botany,) Professor. De Candolle ;-the course on the elements of Natural History continues two years; the second of which is devoted to Zoology ;)-Physics and experimental Chemistry, Professor De La Rive; Rational Philosophy and Social Philosophy, Professor Choisy ;-Mathematics, Professor Pascalis; - Mechanics, Professor Maurice. Special Studies. Organic Natural History, Professor De Candolle ;-Mineralogy and Geology, Professor Necker;-Experimental Physics, Professor De La Rive;-Astronomy, Professor Gautier ;-Mathematics,

Professor Pascalls. There are promised for the ensuing year, a course of Mathematics superior to this, and a course of Analytical Mechanics and of Mathematical Physics.-BELLES LETTRES. Common Studies. General Belles Lettres

and Archaiology, Professor Boissier ;Greek and Latin Literature, Professors Duvillard and Conte;-History, Professor Conte ;- Preparatory courses of Mathematics, Professors Choisy and Maurice. Special Studies. History of the Fine Arts, Professor Boissier;-Greek Literature, Professor Duvillard;-Medals, Professor Picot;-Arabic Language, Professor Humbert. Besides this winter course, the programme mentions preparatory summer courses, which last rather longer than a month; the subjects embraced by these are the French language, Latin literature, elementary Mathematics, topography and surveying. The Academy confers Bachelors' and Doctors' Degrees. The first may be obtained in the Sciences or in the Belles Lettres, after having prosecuted the common studies. The titles of Minister of the Gospel, or Doctor, are granted after examinations and trials to the students of the several faculties.

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Landshut, Berlin, Bonn,

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This statement comprises not only the ordinary and extraordinary professors, but also all the individual masters, whose courses are announced in the half-yearly programmes. Roman Catholic Germany, which contains nineteen millions of inhabitants, has only six Universities; whilst Protestant Germany has no less than seventeen for a population of seventeen millions.

It is calculated, also, that the proportion of the individuals who study, is 149 in a population of 250,000, in the Protestant countries, and only sixty-eight on the same number in the Roman Catholic States. It is, however, fair to observe, that this account does not include the Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, who do not prosecute their studies in the Universities, but the diocesan schools.

Many other cities formerly possessed Universities which were successively suppressed at the periods here named viz.

Greifswald, Prussia

Basle, Switzerland

Tubingen, Wurtemberg.

Marburg, Hesse Cassle

Koningsberg, Prussia

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Jena, Grand Duchy of Weimar

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Giessen, Hesse Cassel

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Founded. Suppressed

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1477

1790

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DISCUSSION BETWEEN REV. MR. POPE, AND REV. MR. MAGUIRE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

SIR-As your country readers may feel interested in the singular and important conference that has just taken place between the Rev. Messrs. Pope and Maguire, perhaps in the narrow columns of your Domestic Intelligence a place may be granted for a sketch, however trivial, of this unusual colloquy. I believe, since the days of James I, when Usher, yet a boy, in his nineteenth year, disputed with the Jesuit Fitzsimmons in the Castle of Dublin, and won from his antagonist the acknowledgement that he was Acatholicorum Doctissimus, there has been no such discussion in this town. I confess, Sir, I was extremely anxious to obtain admittance to this conference, and was glad to find that arrangements were made for it by wise and impartial men, whereby the dangers of riot or interruption, were altogether obviated, and that it was likely to proceed with the decorum which became gentlemen, and the charity which should belong to Christians: the price of the tickets was raised to such a standard as precluded the admission of any but gentlemen, and their number was duly calculated so as to fill the room without any inconvenience. I, Sir, being a curious man, capable of, and perhaps, loving much, mental excitement, have been in the practice of attending public meetings, and certainly, in this speechifying age, have been at no loss in gratifying my propensities; I say I have prepared myself for many a meeting, but for none with such intense anxiety, and such an involvement of interest as this-you may be sure I was at the entrance door long before it was opened. As excitable as the old Athenians, on the stretch to hear some new thing, we all stood pressing round the door, and as I had nothing to do I busied myself in wondering whether in accordance with my phrenological grammar, which I have been lately studying,

the organ of curiosity was developed more or less, on the heads that surrounded me. The door, in due time, being opened, we all, making a rush, got in, and chose our places; and great was the self-complacency depicted in each countenance, as choosing a position favourable to sight and hearing, seats were taken around the platform; and here it was certainly a pleasing sight to observe the number of intellectual and pious men that seemed aggregated from all parts of the kingdom. The religion of Ireland seemed bere assembled, its clergy and laity of all sects here represented-and I, Sir, who from age, travel, and experience, know something of my native land, can truly say that I never saw so many men of different persuasions, and different modes of thinking, assembled: and standing up besides my well guarded seat, it was the agreeable exercise of my memory to recognise my clerical acquaintances of the Establishment; of the Methodist, the Baptist, the Independent, the Presbyterian congregations; and it was also an exercise of my tact and smattering in physiognomy and phrenology to guess away-such a man is surely a Priest: the solemnity belonging to the confessional-the proud consciousness of bigh descended consecration--the long assumed externals of humility,which occasional fasting, and stated repetition of prayer confer, mark that young man there with the blue cloak and broad hat, as a Priest. Then I thought I could mark all in the same manner: the open faced young man there, dressed in black coat, and Oxford grey trowsers, with the tortoise-shell eye glass between his fingers-his look serious, and at the same time good humoured, yet almost too fashionable in attire to be considered a Minister of the Gospel; that man, says I, though I know him not, is a a young Curate of the Es

The

roarious hilarity to the cutting bitter laugh of wounding and sarcastive insult—a combination and form, indeed, to which St. Patrick seemed to set his seal, and give the world assurance of a Milesian. two gentlemen who attended as sidesmen or seconds, were equally contrasted: one exhibited the outward form of an honest, sensible, experienced man, possessing the undisputed qualification of some rank in society, and still higher station in intellectual endowment; he seemed a man to whose prudence and decision I would like to resort in difficult cases-my guide in prosperity-my guard in adversity. The other, a most peculiar looking man, a countenance pale and prominent, the cnin protuded far, the broad deep seated mouth, the long nose, the facial angle of the forehead thrown back, reminding you much of the forehead of the Marquis De La Fayette, as represented in Lavater--it was not either an English, or a Celtic, or a Milesian physiognomy-the man, let his name or lineage be what it will, has a French or Gallic countenance; there certainly, said I, is genius in that man-if I met him on the mountains of Cunnemara in a beggar's rags, I could say, that man carries a certain rate of talent with him-he has the fire, the freedom, the off-handedness, the total absence of prudential calculation that becomes a Frenchman, who is prepared to rush into danger, without ever thinking how he may retreat from it- he has got the name of honest J-k L -ss, long may he deserve to bear it. But see, I am delaying to bring forth the foreground figures of my group, and I believe I do so for the best of reasons, because I fear my pencil here will fail me but I may not, having my canvass ready and my colours mixed, draw back see then the two Disputants, one evidently under the influence of great debility, a mind-worn frame of body; a form from whence the elasticity of youth had fled before its time, leaving spirit to invigorate for a season, the form from whence health had departedOh! what a tall commanding figure standing there, in all the lofty proportions of a temple, dedicated to genius, which some ravager had despoiled; the face once certainly handsome, but its beauty now attended with a cast of habitual severity, and yet on the mouth of this young man, for young he is, though not in looks, on his mouth there sometimes plays a smile that bespeaks benignity and sweetness of temper, more than anyother smile I ever saw decorating human lips-look at that over-arching forehead, and far 3 E

tablished Church. Then the grave, yet assumed look, under yonder shovel hat, convinced me that a fat living was represented here. That man, says I to myself, with the high cheek bones, the combed down hair, decent attire, (a little the worse for the wear,) and black worsted stockings, is a Methodist preacher. And who is that little man, just come in, with the sharp black sparkling eye, which rolls as if it floated in light, under the magnificent portico of a perpendicular forehead-who is that? Why that must be some Independent or Presbyterian preacher, who is accustomed to address an audience with all the confidence and readiness which long habits of extemporaneous speaking confer. Thus was I amusing myself, discursively exploring those with whom I was not acquainted, and receiving the nods and smiles of my old friendswhen all of a sudden a side door opened, and exactly at eleven o'clock the platform was ascended by the two Chairmen, the Disputants, their two Seconds, and the two Reporters. Some one has said that poverty makes men acquainted with strange bed-fellows-controversy, it ap pears, also can do something similar; nothing possibly could be more contrasted than the appearance of the two Chairmen, the two Disputants, the Seconds, and Reporters; though all Irishmen, yet they looked to be the representatives of different nations; and I busied my fancy in accurately fixing, as exhibited in the men before me, the distinctive characteristics of the Milesian and Anglo Hibernian races one Chairman with a profile prominent, but narrow; high forehead, aquiline nose,deep sunk mouth, and prominent chin-there is bravery in that man's heart, there must be the organ of determination developed in its due place— he sits there exhibiting all the external forms of an honest, firm, decided character, a dealer in, and doer of, honorable things. Then the other Chairman who would not say there was a man of genius, who would not say, he was a bold brave man, a true representative of the Milesian character; look at the broad bow of his forehead, look at the capacious rotundity of his cranium, look at the small sunken eye which seems so well acquainted with the leer of satire, or the gathering loweringcorruscations of wrathful reproach-then the nose, that of a true Milesian is generally short, it mostly ends in a turning up, which denotes unmeasured assurance, and the mouth and lips were here expressive of the power to adapt themselves to, and practice every species of smile, from the broad grin of upVOL. IV.

within under the shelter of these well defined eye-brows, see the dark,lucid, well set bazel eye-then the organs of intellect, how observable in their localities on his capacious forehead-his black crisp and curled hair, so gracefully adorning, and shewing off his well proportioned and well set head; these curls always befitting such a forehead, and such a head, it is only when in the enthusiasm of his feelings he moves and tosses it on high, that you can then perceive what an accompaniment to his peculiar eloquence are the shakings of these fine natural curls-and his voice, I never heard such a voice, it does not appear to come from human lungs, but seems to rise and roll forth from some deep seated and more capacious receptacle, resembling more the full swells of the diapason tones of a Cathedral organ, than the common measures of a human voicethere be sat before the audience, after having gracefully bowed to it, absorbed apparently in mental prayer, and seeking aid and grace from that Saviour whose cause he was about to advocate, under whose banner he bad enlisted himself a faithful soldier, and servant, unto his life's end. On the other side of a small table stood his antagonist, in sooth a different being who bad come from the mountains of Leitrim, from the spring-head of the Shannon, to defy his opponent. A young man, strong, firm, and well proportioned, of that middle height, so favourable to the development of mental and bodily faculties; there was a breadth in his shoulders, a pliancy in his limbs, there was a dancing spirit in his eye that bespoke the genial warmth of a constitution made up and perfected by the exercises of a mountaineer, and if report speaks truly,his practice has not belied his bearing, for we have heard that as

"TAM DIANE QUAM MINERVE." 66 This sylvan Priest could mount the threatening steep,

"Rush through the mountains down to vallies sweep

Spring on his good mare's neck with eager speed,

"While earth roll'd back beneath his flying steed."

This young man seemed to make a conquest of the platform, and assert his place with the same assurance that a cock grouse on one of his native hills, would bop upon a tussock, and crow and challenge all around. The braciness of his air, the healthy, bonest freshness of his countenance, confirmed me in the impression-that if body can act on mind he could not readily be over

come. At the same time, no one ob serving his head and temples, could avoid acknowledging that in those capacious receptacles, there was abundant room for all the capacities of thought; and that the organs of combativeness and individuality, leading to the expansion of logical talents, and of indomitable pertinacity, were largely expressed. I recollect that in my younger days, when living on the banks of the Shannon, it was the opinion of the people, that all those who were thrice dipped in the waters of this king of Irish rivers, were made incapable of' mauvaise honte;' the Stygian waters not more efficacious in conferring invulnerability, than this broad stream was supposed to be in giving assurance. Now as our disputant dwelt at the fountain-head of this river, doubtless, he was therein dipt, and questionless, he seemed to possess, no mean measure of this qualification-really, he seemed quite at home. He paced the platform with as much self-possession, addressed the collected rank, talent and piety of Ireland, with as much ease and freedom, as if he stood within the altarrails of his mountain chapel, and was in the act of exhorting his rude flock to fear Ged, and obey himself. And still there was something amusing, and comic in the good humoured "degage" bearing of this young priest, although without a pretence to eloquence, with words and sentences of the homeliest construction, a voice untunable, with the brogue of a mountaineer and Connaught man--pacing up and down before us-now 'shrugging up his shoulders-now pulling up the waistband of his trowsers, and his mouth either distorted with sarcastic and Sardonic smiles, or expanded in the broad grins of native humour: still there was a freshness and valour in the caustic, jocose, triumphing, humbugging way in which he treated his subject;-the joy of combat seemed so completely to possess his spirit, that, I thought I saw one of those, healthy, fair-haired Goths before me, whom Jornandes describes, as “bello gaudentes, prælio ridentes," In truth, he often amused, and never tired us; it was impossible not to laugh at his humour, admire his ingenuity, applaud the dexterity, with which he seemed to make large concessions, without once compromising the real safety of his cause. was my conviction, that he was just the advocate, that Popery had power to produce, admirably fitted to act upon the superficial, excitable, fun-loving people of Ireland; to confirm them in their prejudices, and cover with the semblance

It

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