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descriptions. Whatever may be the advantages of soil and climate, it is evident that a capital item in the cup of happiness -political security-is wanting. Mexico can never establish a government of law, till there is more of intellectual and moral light diffused among her heterogeneous population, till wax tapers cease to be a principal article of consumption!

We select the following animated description from Mrs. Holley's letters.

"Brazoria is thirty miles from the mouth of the Brazos by the meanders of the river, and fifteen by land. It is situated on the right bank, and contains from two to three hundred inhabitants. It has a very good boarding-house, that is, one that furnishes every thing that absolute necessity requires, in neatness and good order. The proprietors of it are from New York, and know how things should be, and have intelligence and good sense enough to make the best of circumstances they cannot control. Thus they contrive to render their house, not only a comfortable, but an agreeable sojourn for travellers. A hotel is about to be erected, which will accommodate a greater number of persons. It is a very desirable thing to have such a one here, as in all places, the first impression, whether favorable or the contrary, depends so much upon the degree of personal comfort enjoyed.

"Brazoria has, already, some families of education and refinement. In one of my visiting excursions, I called on Mrs. who was, I found, from my native State, (Connecticut,) a circumstance sufficient to place us, at once, on the most sociable footing. The family had not been here long, and their cabin was not yet built. They occupied a temporary shed among the trees, or camp, as they call it here, not impervious to the light, though there was no window. A white curtain supplied the place of door. The single apartment contained three or four beds, as white as snow. Books, glass, china, and other furniture in polite usage, were arranged in perfect neatness about the room, as best suited the present exigence. It was Sunday evening. Mrs. was seated in a white cambric wrapper and tasteful cap. The children around the door, and the servants, were at their several occupations, or sitting at leisure about the temporary fire-place without. The whole scene was an exhibition of peace and happiness. I gazed upon it with emotions of admiration and delight. I have seldom seen a more striking domestic group, or enjoyed a conversation of more genuine good sense, than during the hour of my visit. The prospects of a new country and the retrospect of the old, were of course the absorbing topics of our discourse, as they are the unfailing themes of conversation among all classes in Brazoria, all uniting to extol the advantages of these fair regions of the sun, over the frozen climates of the north. Mr. is an alumnus of Yale College. Stimulated by the love of occupation and the desire of doing good, he is about to open a school, in which the higher branches of education will be taught; the first school in Brazoria.

"Nowhere is conversation so animated as here, where every body is excited by the beautiful creations around them, and all busily engaged in appropriating the luxuriant bounties of heaven to their own use. Each has the best land, the best water courses, the finest timber, and the most judicious mode of operation; proving, at least, that each is satisfied with his own lot, and not disposed to envy his neighbor. Never was self more amiably displayed. Never was rivalry more honorable in itself, or one that promised more beneficial results to the community.

"In Texas, most domestic business is transacted in the open air. There has not been time to attend to the supernumerary wants of convenient kitchens. The most simple process is used for culinary purposes, and one is often reminded that hands were made before tongs, shovel and poker, as well as before knives and forks. Rumford and Franklin seem to have

labored in vain, and the amusing melody of mother Goose is almost realized; for pots, kettles, and frying-pans, in playful confusion, greet the eyes of visitors and enjoy the benefit of fresh air, as well as of severe scrutiny."

The political relations of Texas are a topic of great interest. We hope that its purchase by the United States may never become a serious question. No measure could be more injudicious. The existing constitution and laws totally prohibit slavery. If it should become a part of the United States, it would be difficult if not impossible to exclude the system, and her fine prairies would become the receptacle of the redundant slave population of other countries, as Louisiana now is. We hope that no inducement whatever, will make the friends of liberty in the congress of the United States, or out of it, swerve on this point for one moment. Amidst all that is dark in the history of the Mexican republic, we are glad there is one bright spot; involuntary servitude is now totally abolished. We learn from Mrs. Holley's book, that the more prudent and intelligent settlers have no wish to dissolve the present connection with the Mexican confederation.

Accompanying the volume is an accurate and beautiful map of Texas, drawn up by Col. Austin, and published by Tanner.

3.-The Life of Nicholas Ferrar, M. A. Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, designed particularly for youth. Philadel phia: French & Perkins. 1833. pp. 108.

Memoir of Julius Charles Rieu, from the French of Frederic Monod, Jun. one of the pastors of the Reformed French Church of Paris, with introductory remarks. By the Rev. A. Alexander, D. D. Philadelphia: French & Perkins. 1833. pp. 65.

The Basket of Flowers; or Piety and Truth Triumphant. A tale for the young, translated from the French, and altered and arranged. By G. T. Bedell, D. D. rector of St. Andrew's church, Philadelphia. Philadelphia: French & Perkins. 1833. pp. 144.

THE first of these volumes contains the life of a singularly devout man, who flourished in the seventeenth century. He was born in London, in February, 1591, and was the third son of a rich East India merchant. In 1610, he received the degree of bachelor of arts at Cambridge, and was soon after unanimously elected to a fellowship. Severe indisposition compelled him to travel. Having joined a body of courtiers, who were escorting Elizabeth, daughter of James I. to the continent, on her marriage to a German prince, he proceeded to Holland, where he remained for several months. He then left the escort, and made

the tour of Germany, Italy, and France, every where increasing, with the greatest diligence, his stores of learning, and at the same time preserving his attachment to protestantism and piety. On his return to England, he became secretary to the Virginia company, formed for the purpose of establishing settlements on James river. In this capacity he gained the acquaintance of Raleigh, Hawkins, Drake, and other distinguished men. He was about the same time appointed Savilian professor of mathematics at Oxford, which appointment he declined. In 1824, he was chosen a member of the house of commons, and took a conspicuous part in public business. When the plague appeared in London, he purchased an estate in a town in Huntingdonshire, called Little Gidding. Thither the entire family removed, and Mr. Ferrar, taking orders in the church, became the spiritual pastor of his little flock, composed, in a great degree of his kinsmen. He here spent the remainder of his days in happy retirement from the world, superintending his large family, composing helps for them in biblical and other studies, comforting the neighboring poor, and in various ways adorning his high profession. In the arrangements of the household, we are reminded of the large establishments of some modern sects. There seems, however, to have been very little objectionable in Mr. Ferrar's method of life. The utmost purity and propriety of manners prevailed.

We will only add that the little book is well worthy of a perusal. It is adapted to the comprehension of children from ten to fifteen years of age, while it will be equally acceptable to persons in mature life.

The second book in the list, at the head of this article, is a brief memoir of an evangelical minister, a native of Geneva, who was born in 1792, and died in 1821. He was pastor, for four years, of the Reformed church of Fredericia, a colony of French refugees in the Danish province of Jutland. He was a man of a spirit kindred to those of Brainerd, Neff, Cornelius, Martyn, and others, who have early in life been numbered with the saints in glory everlasting, and who, on earth, desired to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Rieu had a cultivated understanding, and sweet and simple feeling, which, with his ardent piety, greatly endeared him to his flock. The author is Mr.

Monod, well known in this country and in Europe. The translator has accomplished his task in good taste and with fidelity. We wish such books as these were multiplied an hundred fold.

The following extract describes his manner of study and preaching.

"The point of view in which his subject was to be exhibited being once determined, he kneeled before the Lord, implored the assistance of his Spirit, and besought Him to prepare himself that spiritual nourishment which He knew to be best suited to the souls for which it was designed. He then took

his pen in hand, and wrote with freedom and rapidity a sermon which was always useful, because it was full of the spirit and the word of Christ; of that word which never returns void to him from whom it emanates. And this man, who but a year before occupied months in the laborious composition of a single sermon, now prepared two during each week; for he preached on the Sabbath morning in French, and in the afternoon in German. The first of these sermons he committed to memory; the second he read, not being yet sufficiently familiar with the German to trust his memory with the repetition of a discourse in that language. During nearly four years, he constantly composed two sermons in each week; for it rarely, if ever, happened, that he repeated an old discourse. He thought that this practice gave to the ministry too much the character of a trade; that it was important to give to public discourses, as far as possible, the appearance of improvisation, and that the tone, the tendency, and the details of a sermon ought to vary according to circumstances, which are never entirely the same at different periods. He adopted the habit recommended by Reinhard,* of being always in advance by one week in his preparation. Seldom did he preach a sermon either in French or German, unless that which was to succeed it was ready in his desk, and thus he was never left to be embarrassed by those accidents which might occur during the week, to interrupt the labors of preparation. It is true that he rose at four o'clock in the morning; that he occupied, as a faithful steward, every quarter of an hour which his master allowed him; and only took that repose which was absolutely necessary to the preservation of his health, a strict attention to which he considered his duty, both as a pastor and a son. The Sabbath was to him the happiest day of the week. Far from sharing in that species of anguish with which many pastors regard so rapid a succession of the Sabbaths of the Lord, he beheld their approach with joy, the source of which was to be found in the manner in which he employed them. At nine o'clock he ascended the pulpit and preached in French. He then visited, in suc cession, three or four infirm persons of his flock who had been confined for years to their own houses, and performed with each of them a private service. At two o'clock he commenced his service in German, at the close of which he held in his own house a large Sunday school. And finally, at six o'clock, the young apostle opened the doors of his house, and the faithful resorted thither with eagerness, to be again edified by the reading of the holy word, and by the tidings of the progress of Christianity on the earth. The day of the Lord being thus occupied to the end, the faithful pastor closed it in supplications for his flock, and found in his own heart a sweet and effectual recompense for his labors, a true foretaste of that eternal recompense which awaited him, and which he was so soon to receive."

The third book is a tale, translated from the French, with considerable alterations and amendments, by Dr. Bedell. The great lesson which it successfully and very beautifully inculcates is, that God will finally, if not immediately, show to the world that he is the advocate of those who suffer on account of him. The narrative has great interest, and the moral every where appears so prominently that we can make no objection to the fictitious incidents. The following paragraph will show the style in which the book is written.

* See Letters of F. V. Reinhard on his studies and labors as a preacher, translated from the German by J. Monod, one of the pastors of the Reformed church, of Paris. This valuable work has been translated into English by Rev. O. A. Taylor, of the Theological Seminary, Andover.-Tr.

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About three o'clock the next morning, James faintly said, 'I feel very ill-open the window a little.' Mary opened it, the moon had disappeared; but the sky, covered with stars, presented a magnificent spectacle. 'See how beautiful the sky appears,' said the sick man. 'What are the flowers of earth, when compared with these stars, whose beauty suffers no diminution? it is there I am now going-what joy! Come, Lord Jesus-come quickly! On saying these words, he fell upon his bed, and died the death of a Christian. Mary thought he had only fainted, for she had never seen any one die, and did not think he was so near his end; nevertheless, in her fright she awoke all the family; they ran to the bed of James, and there she heard them declare he was dead. She threw herself upon the body of her father, embraced it, and wept-her lips fastened upon his wan and pale visage. The tears of the daughter mingled with the cold sweat of the father that had ceased to be. Oh, my father-my good father,' said she, how shall I acquit myself of all the obligations I am under! Alas! I cannot-I can only thank you for all the words, for all the good advice that I received from that mouth, those lips now sealed in death. It is with gratitude that I now kiss your hand, now cold and stiff, that hand which has bestowed on me so many benefits, and which has labored so much for my good. Oh! if my soul could at the same moment leave its tenement of clay-if it could follow you, my father, into the heavenly kingdom. Oh! "let me die the death of the righteous." It is certain that this life is nothing-really nothing. What happiness must there be in heaven and in everlasting life! That is now my only consolation.'

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"This was a heart-rending scene. At last the farmer's wife, after persuading Mary for some time, prevailed upon her to lay [lie] down. Nothing would induce Mary during the following day to leave the body of her father. She read, wept, and prayed until morning. Before the coffin-lid was nailed down, Mary took one more look at her father. 'Alas!' said she, it is the last time that I shall ever behold your venerable face. How beautiful it was when you smiled, and it shone with the glory into which you were going to enter. Farewell-farewell, my father,' cried she, sobbing aloud. May your mortal remains rest peaceably in the bosom of the earth, now while the angels of the Lord are, as I hope, bearing your soul to eternal rest.' She took a branch of rosemary, of primrose as yellow as gold, and violets of a deep blue. She made a bouquet of them, and placed them on the bosom of her father, who during his life had sown and cultivated so many flowers. May these flowers, the first-fruits of the earth, be,' said she, an image of your future resurrection; and this rosemary, always green, the symbol of the pious recollection that will be for ever engraven on my heart.' When they began to nail down the coffin-lid, every stroke of the hammer caused her so much emotion, that she almost fainted. The farmer's wife led her into the next room, and begged her to lie on the bed to recover herself. After the departure of the funeral, Mary, dressed in a suit of mourning, which one of the girls of the village had given her, followed close to the body of her father. She was as pale as death, and every one pitied this poor forsaken orphan, who now had neither father nor mother. As Mary's father was a stranger at Erlenbrunn, they dug a grave for him in the corner of the cemetery, beside the wall. Beside this wall were two large pine trees, which shaded the tomb. The curate preached a touching funeral sermon, in respect for the deceased. He had taken for his text these words of Jesus: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.' John xii. 24. He spoke of James's patience, and of the resignation with which he bore all the misfortunes which had fallen to his lot, and the good example he had set for those who knew him. He offered consolations to the orphan, who was overwhelmed with grief. He thanked, in the name of the deceased, the farmer and his wife, who had so well proved to Mary and her father the kindness of their hearts. In short, he begged them to be father and mother to Mary, who had no longer any parents. Whenever Mary attended divine

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