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Thomason's health was gradually declining, and that the only human hope of her restoration was to be found in exchanging a sultry climate for the invigorating air of her native land. On her account solely, he commenced the homeward voyage in October. On the 26th of March, 1826, Mr. Thomason communicated to his son in India, the intelligence of her death, or rather "her translation into life."

"About midnight on Good Friday, she was seized with the agonies of dissolution, which were greatly protracted; she did not breathe her last till near ten o'clock the following morning. About ten minutes before ten on Saturday morning, her spirit took its flight. O the unutterable anguish of this sad-sad scene; sad to us-but she has joined the innumerable company of glorified spirits and angels-she died in the Lord. Three days before her death, she expressed to me a strong hope that God would raise her up to be a comfort to her husband and children; but what if it should please him to dispose otherwise,' I said; ' then,' said she 'his will be done!' She added expressions of dependence on her Saviour, but complained that her heart was dull and sluggish. Conversation was highly injurious, I could only read with her at intervals, with a few words of prayer. To a question whether the Saviour comforted her, she said, 'he does.' Her countenance indicated that she was much exercised in prayer. On Saturday evening her precious remains were committed to the deep. The evening was still, and all was solemn; the service was read by dear S- whose brotherly tenderness and sympathy I cannot adequately describe. Being myself overwhelmed by the bereavement, I was unable to perform that last service; but I saw from a distance the coffin dropped into the sea, and heard the words,' We commit her body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for the resurrection of the body (when the sea shall give up her dead) and the life of the world to come through our Lord Jesus Christ, who at his coming shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.' O, my beloved boy, I cannot tell you the consolation afforded by that hope. I earnestly trust it will be as a healing balm to your own heart. I felt comfort in the thought that the whole Christian world were celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ. She was committed to the deep on Easter even, when we commemorate the Saviour's lying in the grave, thus consecrating it as the place of repose for his faithful followers, previous to the great and joyful day of resurrection."

On his return to England, he commenced the pastoral charge at Cheltenham. In 1828, he was again involved in

a severe internal conflict, respecting the expediency of returning to India. "How could the version of the Hindoostanee Old Testament be perfected in England," was the consideration which induced him again to embark. According to the unanimous advice of his friends, he once more entered into the marriage state, becoming connected with Miss Dickenson of Liverpool. It was a step which greatly promoted his happiness. In June, 1828, he left England forever. He returned to India to die. Soon after he reached Calcutta, it was determined that a voyage to the Mauritius was expedient. But this measure proved wholly unavailing. On Sabbath, June 21, 1829, twelve days after landing in the Isle of France, his earthly tabernacle was dissolved, and his spirit numbered amongst the just made perfect.

"On Sunday he had a very suffering day, but his mind was composed, he was quite sensible his end was approaching, and his frequent prayer was for patience: yet indeed he was an example of patient suffering: towards the evening I perceived evident signs of approaching dissolution, and therefore requested a Christian friend to be with me at the closing scene; he can bear witness with myself, to the firm faith and strong hope which disarmed death of its sting, and shed a holy quiet and peace around.

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"Many sweet expressions we heard from his dying lips, in the midst of severe bodily agony, such as the following: This is a dark valley, but there's light at the end.' 'Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' 'Lord, give me patience, may patience have its perfect work.' 'When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open kingdom of heaven to all believers.' About three o'clock in the morning, he inquired what time it was, and when told, he replied, I thought I should have been far away before this.' He complained of a sharp pain in his heels, and also at the back of his head, which reminded of the first great blessed promise vouchsafed to fallen man. He seemed to watch the progress of death as it advanced up his cold legs. He asked why there was not a candle in the room, on being told there was, he said, 'Oh, then, I am losing my sight, for it appears dark.' After a slight convulsion, I saw his change was near, and said to him, 'The Lord is coming quickly,' he replied with a smile, 'I hope so.' Shortly after this his heart ceased to beat, his spirit fled, and he entered the joy of the Lord."

"The rank which Mr. T. occupied as an oriental scholar and translator of the Scriptures was very high. In Persian, Arabic, Hindoostanee, and Hebrew above all, his erudition has seldom

been surpassed; and in effecting a version of the greater portion of the Old Testament into one of the most widely diffused languages of the East: in proclaiming the truth as it is in Jesus in season and out of season; fulfilling gladly the ministry he had received, he consecrated his time and talents to what he justly deemed the sublimest ends."

We congratulate our readers upon the early republication of this Memoir in the United States. It contains a noble testimony to the grace and glory of the gospel. It is refreshing beyond expression to follow the steps of one who resembled Henry Martyn, and whose life Henry Martyn's biographer depicts. Mr. Thomason's course shows the perfect compatability of ardent attachment to study and of deep spiritual affections. At the time when he saved the slender pittance of his pocket-money to purchase oil that he might read Hebrew in the evening, he was panting to tread in the holy steps, and share in the holy blessedness of Hebrew patriarchs and prophets. A character so nearly unexceptionable in all the relations of life, we have hardly ever contemplated. Selfishness seemed to have no place in the elements of his nature. The names of such men as Brown, and Buchanan, and Martyn, and Corrie, and Thomason, are music to the soul. Long may the English church be blessed with such luminaries; long may India welcome such apostles to her shores.

ARTICLE XI.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

1.-Legends of the West. By James Hall. Philadelphia: Harrison Hall. 1832. pp. 265.

MR. HALL is favorably known to many of our readers as the author of Letters from the West, editor of the Illinois Magazine, and now of the Western Magazine, published at Cincinnati. In the Legends of the West, it is his object to convey accurate descriptions of the scenery and population of the western country. The legends are entirely fictitious, but are founded on incidents

which have been witnessed by Mr. Hall during a long residence in the western States, or upon traditions preserved by the people. The tales are twelve in number. Mr. Hall has a fine tact in describing the border-warfare, the rifle-shooting, the solemn scenery of the thick woods, the lingering love of the emigrant for the "old States," the evening-fires of the camp-meeting, and the whole range of western men and manners. His power of description, we think, sometimes misleads him. The moral effect, or the intention, disappears in the fascination of the story, and the excitement of the narrative. We are more anxious to know whether the principal parties were at last comfortably married, than we are to know any thing respecting the main object of the writer. We think if he introduced the tender passion more sparingly, he would accomplish greater good. He does not need

its aid.

We are aware that there are various opinions respecting the utility of tales and romances. In moderate measure, however, and in illustration of important principles, or even as an innocent amusement, we do not know how fictitious writing can be condemned in mass. The grave and the sententious must sometimes give place to the light and playful. In entering this field, Mr. Hall, we doubt not, is actuated by pure and honorable motives. He thus speaks of the Sabbath, in one of his legends. "It is to all who submit to its restrictions, a day of repose, when the weary are at rest, and the wicked cease from troubling,' a day from which care and labor are banished, and when the burdens of life are lightened from the shoulders of the heavy laden. But to him who sincerely worships at the altar of true piety, and especially to one who has been led in infancy to the pure fountains of religion, the return of the long neglected Sabbath brings up a train of pure and ecstatic recollections."

2.-A Memoir of the Life of William Livingston, member of Congress in 1774, 1775, and 1776; delegate to the Federal Convention in 1787, and governor of the State of New Jersey from 1776 to 1790. By Theodore Sedgwick, Jr. New York: J. & J. Harper. 1833. pp. 452.

AMONG the most self-denying of the duties incident to the war of the revolution, were those performed by the governors of the several colonies. They were the medium of intercourse between the people and congress. Through them General Washington sent out his appeals to the patriotism of his countrymen. They had the delicate task of managing the system of taxes and supplies, of watching the tories, of levying and paying troops, and of controlling the thousand nameless evils incident to a state of war, and to independent, half formed sovereignties not connected by any general government. No man shared more largely in

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these perplexities than governor Livingston, and no man bore up against them with a braver spirit.

The Livingston family is said to have come originally from Hungary to England; they soon removed to Scotland. Robert Livingston, son of John who was eminent in Scotch Church History, was born at Ancram on the Teviot, on the 13th of December, 1654. About the year 1676, he removed to this country and became connected by marriage with the Rensselaer and Schuyler families. He succeeded in securing for himself a manor, or large estate, comprising originally between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and fifty thousand acres south of the city of Hudson. His son Philip married Catharine Van Brugh of Albany. Their fifth child was William, born at Albany, in November, 1723. The first fourteen years of his life were passed under the protection of his maternal grandmother. In 1737, he entered Yale College, and in 1741, graduated at the head of his class. He then commenced the study of law in the office of Mr. James Alexander, a Scotch lawyer in New York city. Before he had completed his professional studies, he married Susannah French, a daughter of Philip French. Her character was simple and unpretending, though she was endowed with a strong intellect, and ardent affections. In 1748, Mr. Livingston was admitted to practice as an attorney. He was engaged in the laborious and honorable duties of his profession for more than twenty years. In 1772, he removed to Elizabethtown, in New Jersey. For three years, he was a member of the continental congress, and on the expulsion of the royal governor, from New Jersey, William Franklin, in 1776, he was chosen governor. To this high station, he was annually elected, with singular unanimity, till his death in 1790.

The character of Governor Livingston was very strongly marked. He did with his whole heart whatever he attempted. The principal defect was an irritability of temper which he was never able wholly to overcome. His power at satire and bitter retort, sometimes led him into harsh and unseemly language. His expressions respecting the Supreme Being occasionally border on irreverence, as where he says, "Blessed be God, and Huzza for Louis XVI."; notwithstanding, the foundations of his character were strongly laid in religion. He had a great regard for the excellent president Burr of Princeton, and at his death, pronounced an eulogy. He was a member of the Presbyterian church in Wall street, New York, and was generally regarded, we believe, as a true Christian. And here, we cannot but express our regret, that Mr. Sedgwick did not make the religious character of his subject more prominent. If Mr. Livingston had distinctive traits of religious feeling or opinion, why not exhibit them? We think that some of the patriots of the revolution have never had full justice done them in this regard. In a letter to one of his

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