called; and in some places, the strongest efforts have been applied to abolish the self-sacrifice of a surviving wife on the funeral pile of her deceased husband! In Asia, in Africa, and in America,-in the islands of the great Atlantic, idolatry has been attacked by these Messengers of Peace, who have succeeded in casting down her altars stained with the blood of her victims, and raising upon their ruins the pure devotion of Jesus of Nazareth. Wherever we turn our eyes over these records of truth, a divine though unseen hand has conducted and protected its servants, and led them to persevere through the sharpest personal difficulties, through fatigue, through danger, through want of supplies and accommodation, through opposition and insuit on the one hand, and persecution on the other, until they have established the true faith throughout the remotest regions, and under the most barren and unfruitful auspices! and where human efforts alone must have been abortive! I am persuaded that these hints are sufficient to induce your Readers to turn to some of the papers to which I have alluded, where they will rejoice in the active measures for the spread of the word of truth. As these measures are intimately connected with the established and tolerated Religion of the united kingdom, a plan has been suggested for forming a general meeting upon the subject, on some particular day in the year, to implore the Divine aid and sanction to these efforts. To these laudable efforts it must be remarked that the greater part, if not all, of the Societies above mentioned, either on their own account, or in connection with the British and Foreign Bible Society, have distributed immense numbers of copies in 126 different languages and dialects, of the Holy Scriptures. So that where ever the Missionary has journeyed, the Sacred Word is his leading compauion, and which has given him a support among both Jews and Gentiles in all parts of the world;-they have thus together civilized the savage, and subdued the morose and selfish,modulated the brutish, and taught the ignorant; they bave ameliorated the social- adorned the polished, and shown the way of Truth to the philosopher as well as the peasant: the consolations of the Gospel of Peace have planted hope in the despairing heart,-have shut the door against the murmurs of Infi delity, and have given the soothing balm of resignation to adversity! It has become "the seat of Light and Peace, and Christian Union." Surely we may hope, with humble confidence, that the hand of Divine Providence is with us in these united endeavours to extend the blessings of peace to all parts of the world, preparing the human mind for the great events which are daily nearer approaching, when mankind will see their happiest and best interests, and know that their universal happiness, even in this life, is, and ever has been, the beneficent dispensation of their God and Saviour! to A circumstance every where occurs in the correspondences, which manifests a general union of mind to receive all the instruction thus offered; for in every place the people are stated to apply with eagerness for copies, and with great solicitude to hear the addresses of the Missionaries. God has thus opened the hearts of the most obdurate, and encouraged them to listen to the Sacred Word of life. What may not be effectually done, when accompanied with power from on high! Personal and pecuniary difficulties, not common other undertakings, have been felt and overcome in these; ardour and alacrity have sprung forward to effect their divine instrumentality, wholly devoid of self-interest, and free from all worldly fame. All persuasions and sects, lay and ecclesiastical, Jew, Christian, Catholick*, and Protestant, have all united in this glorious the stern Deist and the Christian believer will not long be suffered to remain apart; and the Atheist, if there be such, or the Infidel of every degree, will soon be led to acknowledge the light that irradiates the joy of forgiveness upon his heart!-Thus shall he rejoice with joy unspeakable to view the day cause; * When it is considered that from Constance alone, 30,000 Catholic New Testaments have been issued, some judgment may be formed of the extent to which the general distribution has been carried.Bib. Soc. Rep. 1820.] Effects of Religious Missions.—Lucky Hits. spring from on high, which in its benign visitation will finally secure every soul of man, as in one fold under one shepherd! I cannot conclude these brief observations without sending you the following extract from a Letter of W. B. Martin, Esq. late resident at Amboyna, to whose care was confided the distribution of 3000 Malay Testaments, for which he had selected a certain number of individuals: "This intention I was afterwards com pelled to relinquish; as I found it impos sible to confine the distribution within the narrow limits which a rigorous adherence to it would have prescribed; for so great was the eagerness pervading the community to reap the benefit of a liberality which they had not before experienced, and of which they would not expect soon to witness the recurrence, that on the day appointed for the distribution, instead of the comparatively small and select number of individuals designated by the lists, the church was crowded by a multitude of people of both sexes, and of all ages, imploring, with an earnestness of supplication which could not be resisted, the unreserved communication to them all, of an advantage which all appreciated, and all had been prepared, and were qualified to enjoy *." As the demand for the Holy Scriptures every where increases, so we may be allowed, in an enlarged proportion, to encourage the hopes above expressed, and "may infer, from this general avidity to possess them, that the Gospel has begun to make its way, as, it doubtless will ever spread. Where a fair effort is made to remove the obstructions of ignorance and incapacity, a free course is left to the blessed influence and operation of Divine Truth." Yours, &c. I Mr. URBAN, A. H. Chelsea, Feb. 3. N your Supplement for 1819, Part ii. page 619, you inform your Readers of an egregious bite, without making any comment, save and except your sarcasm on the old goody who parted with a mirror into which, it seems, she had no wish to pore. These are your own words: "Some time since The Mirroor of the Worlde, edited and printed by JOHN CAXTON, in 1487, in perfect condition, was sold for the small sum of 2s. 6d, * Bib. Rep. 127 through the ignorance of the vender, a poor illiterate widow, in the Isle of Wight. The book is at least worth 707." All the world knows the bright manoeuvres by which the Duke of Marlborough's famed Boccaccio came into the Earl Spencer's library at less than half price, astantibus, arridentibus, ac annuentibus primoribus Bibliomaniacorum. (See Gent. Mag. June, 1819, pp. 501.503. 556.) Not to weary you with repetitions of similar instances, however, let one very recent case of good luck for this time suffice. On Thursday, 20th January, 1820, Mr. William Boone, a spirited young bookseller, resident in the Strane, London, bought for only six shillings, at a public sale by Mr. Robert Saunders, the noted auctioneer of Fleetstreet, Lot 242, GEYLERI NAVICULA FATUORUM, ARGENT. 1510. which is the first edition of a book remarkably curious and scarce. N. B. Of this singularly pious work [far more rare than the supposed first edition of Brant's STULTIFERA NAVIS, or even than Barclay's paraphrase called THE SHIP OF FOOLES] a neat copy was knocked down by Mr.Evans, at his sale of a library belonging to the late Mr. Edwards of Harrow, for the truly moderate sum of forty-three pounds. Books are two-edged tools, Mr. Urban. A true Bibliomaniac well knows how to show off all ticklish commodities with fascinating terms of art: and in a dainty ‘Lincolne Nosegay' can touch up his own snug purchases slily to some golden tube. Still, the whole tribe of bookworms have Scriptural evidence that their ingenious devices are of very antient date indeed." Pessimum est, ait emptor; sed quum digressus fuerit, tum se ipsum laudat." -Anglicè. "It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth." Prov. xx.14. Your shrewd Correspondent, T. M. in p. 40, of your Magazine for Jan. 1820, seems mentally to assent to the orthodoxy of this doctrine, and to the utility of its practice. In truth, the CANTER editions he mentions are almost invaluable for their rare oc currence. A LOVER OF GREAT GAINS FROM BOOKS. ACCOUNT ACCOUNT OF INDOSTAN, BY MR. GUSTAVUS DUCAREL, IN APRIL 1767. INDOSTAN is divided by the fol lowing powers: from the Attoch to Lahor, and Serhind, are the Siks, about 50 or 60,000 fighting men; but disunited, and under several different Chiefs. The province and city of Dehli are held by Nudjil ut Dowla, Mir Buxy of the empire; he with great difficulty defends it against the Morattoes, Siks, and other invaders. The King's eldest son is with him, and near a thousand descendants of the Royal Family, shut up in the Castle of Dehli. To the Westward are the Rajeponts. At Agra dwells Rajah Juvaher Sing Taut; the dominions of the Tauts extend to the Eastward, along the banks of the Jumna, and on both sides of it; they have several strong forts to the North of Agra; all the country extending from the province of Dehli to the frontiers of Sujah Dowla's and the King's dominions, is possessed by the Rohillas, who are Mahometans and Pattans; they are under three Chiefs, but tolerably united with each other. The country, from Corah Gehanabad to Allahabad, at the conflux of the Jumna and Ganges, about 60 or 70 coss, is allotted for the King's maintenance; and our protec. tion supports him in a quiet possession. The district of Benares is between the Caramnassa and Allahabad, and belongs to Sujah Dowla; all the rest of his dominious lay to the Eastward of the Ganges, and are bounded by a range of mountains. We now come to Bengal, &c.; who that belongs to is sufficiently known. The great countries laying from the Jumna Southward, and from the Judus Westward to Orixa and the confines of Bengal, are either possessed or traversed by the Moratta armies; their principal seat of Government is on the Malabar coast; the next is that of Nangpoor in the province of Berar, Johnagee Rajah; there is also one if not more Chiefs in other places, but they are tolerably united in the common cause of plunder. Notwithstanding these immense possessions, they are ever discontented, and want ing to increase them. They have for a long time kept a large army near the Jumna ready to take advantage of any disturbance that may arise in those parts; but on the approach of Abdallee, who has beat them handsomely, the cowards walked off. Nothing need be said of the Decan; affairs there are so well known. It is only in Indostan such changes have happened within these six or seven years, as to admit of no records being made; and it is chiefly from the mouths of people who have been eye witnesses to the principal transactions, that one is able to obtain a just account of the present state and division of the country. Abdallee, the Ďurannee Shing to Dehli, has lately frightened all the powers of the country; but all apprehension is now over. Abdallee has met with such opposition from the Siks, a Gentoo nation, inbabiting between Lahor and Dehli, as has prevented him from reaching the latter city; and much more extending his views to Bengal, which would he near a thousand miles further to march. This man's dominions are situated beyond the Judus, or Attock; containing the countries of Candabar, Caboul, &c.; he was very low in the service of Nadirshaw, and for some misdemeanour lost his ears; but being descended from the Chiefs of the Abdallees, a principal tribe of the Affghans, at the demise of his master, and the confusion which followed in the affairs of Persia, he prevailed on his countrymen to revolt and declare him their King; he has since made a principal figure in the affairs of Indostan, having twice carried off great riches from Dehli. SPEECH OF HENRY SMITH, ESQ. TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK. "May it please your Royal Highness, "I AM commanded by the Master and Wardens of the Drapers' Company, to inform you that they are now convened in Court, for the purpose of executing an unanimous resolution of the Court of Assistants, that your Royal Highness should be humbly requested to receive the Freedom of this Company. In order that your Royal Highness may be enabled to form a correct judgment of the proper answer to be returned to the Petition now preferred, it may be convenient that I should apprize your Royal Highness of the duties and functions of the Body of which you are requested to become a Member, and of the motives which have induced the request. 1820.] Speech of H. Smith, Esq. to the Duke of York. "It will doubtless not have escaped the historical reading of your Royal Highness, that the London Companies were instituted in the infancy of Commerce aud Manufacture, for the encouragement and regulation of the several trades whose name they bear; whatever may have been the utility of such institutions in their origin, trade, at least the trade of the woollen-draper, which was committed to the care of this Company, has long ceased to need such protection; the jurisdiction and authority, therefore, of this Society as to matters of trade, has certainly become obsolete, and perhaps may be extinct. "Its corporate capacity, however, still remains, and the Drapers' Company still continue to form a component part of the City of London, partaking of its interests, and supporters of its credit and honour; amongst others, it is not the least important of the duties of the Company, to seJect from its menibers those freemen, who, from wealth and situation, may be supposed to be independent, to join in the choice on the part of the Metropolis, of those persons who are deemed worthy to represent the Commons of the united kingdom in Parliament. "The Company have also from time to time been invested with the duties of executors and trustees to a large extent, and in that character have the adminis tration of various charitable establishments; the execution of these important functions was probably confided to them in part, from their perpetual existence as a Corporation; but chiefly, one would fain believe, from the fidelity with which they have carried into execution the intentions of those who have placed trust in them; in this manner the Company have become charged with the care of children, in different schools, in some of which they are not only educated, but wholly maintained; they have the administration of funds destined to place youth of both sexes in apprenticeships; they are the Governors and Managers of Alms-houses, and funds for the consolation and relief of age and infirmity; the honest discharge of these various duties is an arduous task, and its frequent recurrence calls for the patient exercise of much discretion, much kindness, much forbearance. "The Company have likewise property of their own, though by no means to the extent often supposed; of this they have the entire disposal, free from any control but that of the good sense and judgment of those in whom the executive administration of their concerns is vested by charter, and by this means they are enabled to indulge their feelings in acts of charity and liberality. One of the most interesting parts of this property consists of lands in Ireland, granted to the Company by GENT. MAG. February, 1820. was 129 one of the predecessors of our revered Monarch, in consideration of large contributions to the public exigencies; the grant not unconditional; the condition, however, was of a most acceptable nature. The grant, if it did not express, fully implied, that the grantees were to take the estate upon condition of their improving the country, a duty most grateful in its performance, as it must be attended with the advantage of those upon whom it is fortunately imposed. "Persons competent to perform the functions to which I have had the honour of referring, must be capable of appreciating the conduct of those to whom is intrusted the administration of the public affairs of the State in which they live; nor can it be deemed an impertinence, that in a free country, such persons should turn their minds to the consideration of such subjects. The members of this Company have done so, and their considerations have led them to an ardent affection for our Constitution and Laws, being thoroughly convinced that they are well calculated for the end for which every Civil Society is formed. The considerations of the Company have also fully convinced them, that the Nation is highly indebted to the House of Brunswick for making our Constitution and our Laws effectual to their object, the preservation and enjoyment of our liberties.-This feeling the Court of Assistants are most anxious to acknowledge and testify; and they know not how better to make an offer of respectful homage to the Royal Family, than by humbly requesting your Royal Highness, as one of its most eminent and illustrious Members, to accept the Freedom of their Company. "It is my duty further to state that, in coming to the resolution I have just had the honour to mention, the Court of Assistants were actuated by considerations personal to your Royal Highness, as well as of your relation by blood to the Reigning Sovereign. In the Court of Assistants, in common with their countrymen, entertain a high and grateful sense of the very important services which your Royal Highness has rendered to the Realm in the management of His Majesty's Army, which, under the conduct of your Royal Highness, has attached a perfection almost unexampled; which has enabled this Country, under Providence, to contri-; bute most essentially to the deliverance of Europe from evils as great as any with which the World has been at any time visited. "The Drapers' Company are well aware, Sir, that what they offer is no boon. They do not deceive themselves by presuming to imagine that they are conferring a favour. They consider that they are peti petitioning for one at the hand of your Royal Highness. They will look on your acceptance of the Freedom proffered, as an assurance of the good opinion and protection of your Royal Highness. And with this feeling, I am commanded humbly to entreat of your Royal Highness, in the name of the Master and Wardens of the Drapers' Company, that you will be graciously pleased to permit your name to be enrolled as a Member of the Corporation of The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London'." Mr. URBAN, WHE Shadwell, Feb. 5. THEN I submitted for your insertion my Letter of the 1st September, 1818, on the subject of Colonization of the Cape, admitted in your Magazine for Dec. 1819, p. 434, it was my intention to have followed it by a continuation of communications on the subject, for your wellinformed Readers to notice; and, if worthy their observations, to avail myself of them. It so happened, that, detention in publishing my first Letter prevented others in continuation. Having in early life landed where, I believe, the foot of man never trod before, and enjoying in reflection a train of ideas that led my mind back to the creation of our first parent, I gave up the imaginary sentiment which first occurred, that where I then stood was preferable than to be placed on the spot where our first parent stood. Following the occasion of my travels, I afterwards encamped with, and sojourned amongst savages; and during the total eclipse of the sun, the birds went to roost, and the beasts of the forest began to prowl: illustrating to my feelings the beautiful language in which such scenes are expressed in the 104th Psalm; whilst the Aborigines surrounded me with the most marked terror, in expectation that nature was about to subside, and all visible things to be annihilated. Impressions made in youth are retained to the close of life; and having observed at this time the attempts of civilized man to begin his operations of forming settlements in the wilderness, the full impression has been retained ever since. My avocations and employment leading me to consider and reflect on the situation of the country which gave me birth, was another ground of inducement to wish that, circumscribed as islanders, increasing in population as we are, and observing that jealousy takes possession of states as well as of indivi duals, it was absolutely necessary to promote colonization; and, for reasons already advanced, the Cape was the fittest place. Your correspondent G. A. in your Magazine for January, p. 35, favours ts with his just remarks. No doubt, much was, and still is, requisite to illustrate the subject; and it was, as I before observed, my intention to have submitted the necessity of a Board of three Commissioners and a Secretary, with an office in the City, all men of business, and more useful than lucrative, for the express purpose of attending to this great national concern, the Colonization of the Cape. It was found necessary to have such a Board, to settle the claims of the American Refugees, and also such a Board to settle the Dutch claims, and I am persuaded, in this momentous business, if such a Board had been established, with small salaries, upon the principle on which the Directors of the various Public Offices in the City are formed, much good would have arisen, and perhaps 50,000l. more subscribed, in addition to the 50,000. granted by Parliament. The late Lord Mayor did me the favour of a note of introduction to Mr. Parker, the intelligent and principal settler who is gone to Algoa Bay. Pressed beyond measure at the time, he said, the plan of Commissioners would have been every thing. It is a subject of so serious a nature, attending to the comfort of new settlers and a previous arrangement with the greatest possible information on the subject, that the whole time of such a Board would have been occupied in the duties of it. To do things merely on the spur of the occasion, is one way; but to do them well, requires a steady thought and gradual employment; and also requires very different feelings from what, I am sorry to say, actuates people in the present day mere speculation and dash will not do, but a strong discrimination is necessary. Persons offering themselves, require to be convinced of the propriety or impropriety of their views; take, for instance, a poor, weak, |