city to the treachery and malice of the Popish faction, &c.." The correctness of this imputation has always been questioned; with what justice it is difficult to say. In the time of James II., the inscription was cut away, but restored in deep characters, in that of William III. It has lately been again erased.

Having, in this account of the Monument, naturally alluded much to the fire which occasioned its being built, we cannot but observe, that a signal instance of the goodness of Providence has been discovered in the catastrophe; namely, that it seems to have been the means, under Him, of putting a stop to the visitations of the Plague; a scourge, which had for some centuries, and after short intervals, afflicted London, and had appeared in a fearful form, and with the most destructive effects, only the year before.

THE species of olive represented above, is that which is chiefly cultivated in the south of France, from which the best salad oil is prepared.

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"The olive-tree has been celebrated from the earliest ages, and is the second tree, with which we are acquainted, which is mentioned in the Sacred Writings it must have been known before the Flood, as the dove returned to Noah in the ark with a leaf of it in her mouth. There can be little doubt of this incident having been the origin of the olive's being considered the emblem of peace. This tree must have been very extensively cultivated in Judæa, to have furnished the vast quantities of oil which were used in the sacrifices and service of the Temple; besides its general consumption as an article of food.

"The mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, was a favourite place with our blessed Lord while on earth; repeated mention is made of His frequenting it; and it was probably one of those retired and peaceful spots, which have ever been favourable to meditation. It is a curious fact, that after the lapse of upwards of 1800 years, and all the changes of destiny that have been experienced by the Holy Land, olive-trees should still be found growing wild on the same spot.

"The olive being propagated by means of shoots which arise from the roots, it is not improbable that those now in existence, may be the offsets of the very plants that covered the same spot in the time of our Saviour. There

"Olive-trees sometimes attain a great age. is an olive-tree in the environs of Villa Franca, near Nice, the lowest extremity of the trunk of which, next the surface, measures about thirty-eight feet, and, three feet and a half above the surface, nineteen feet in circumference. One of its main branches is six feet and a half in circumference, and the trunk itself eight feet and a half in height. This is both the oldest and largest olive-tree in that part of the country, and though fast decaying, still retains much of its stately appearance. The celebrated olive-tree at Pescio, which has hitherto been considered the most ancient in Italy, and is stated by Maschettini to be seven hundred years old, is much younger than this wonder of Nice. There are records now extant which show that as far back as the year 1516, the latter was accounted the oldest in those parts. 1818, it bore upwards of two hundred weight of oil, and in earlier days, in good years, more than three hundred and fifty."

In

To prepare the olive oil, the fruit is gathered when it is at its utmost maturity, in November, as it begins to redden; being put under the mill as soon as gathered, care is taken that the mill-stones are set at such a distance that they may not crush the nut of the olive. The fleshy pulp covering the nut or stone, and containing the oil in its cells, is then put into bags made of rushes, and moderately pressed; and thus is obtained a considerable quantity of a greenishcoloured oil, which, from its superior excellence, is called virgin oil.

The mass remaining after the first pressure is broken to pieces, moistened with water, and returned to the press; it then gives out a quantity of oil, mixed with water, which being left undisturbed, soon separates; and, although inferior to the first, is still fit for the table. The process is again repeated, and an inferior kind is extracted, which is valuable to the soap boiler, and other manufacturers.

THE BETTER LAND.

"I HEAR thee speak of the Better Land,
Thou callest its children a happy band;
Mother! Oh where is that radiant shore?
Shall we not seek it, and weep no more?
Is it where the flower of the orange blows,
And the fire-flies glance through the myrtle-boughs?'
'Not there, not there, my child!"

"Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise,
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies?
Or 'midst the green islands of glittering seas,
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze,
And strange, bright birds, on their starry wings
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?"

-"Not there, not there, my child!"

"Is it far away, in some region old,
Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold?
Where the burning rays of the ruby shine,
And the diamond lights up the secret mine,
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand?—
Is it there, sweet mother, that better land?"

-"Not there, not there, my child!"
"Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy!
Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy;
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair-
Sorrow and death may not enter there;
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom,
For beyond the clouds, and beyond the tomb,
-It is there, it is there, my child!'

46-2

MRS. HEMANS.

BISHOP HEBER. THERE is scarcely a name, within our own day, whose very sound excites more delightful recollections and associations, than that of Reginald Heber. He is here called by the simple title by which he will always be the best known, and the most fondly remembered, by his friends; and his friends were almost all who had the happiness of his acquaintance. Few men have ever been in fuller possession of the enviable power of making themselves universally beloved. Without popular arts, without compromising his opinions, which he always maintained steadily and decidedly, he yet was able to win the affections of all who approached him, high and low, old and young, grave and gay, in a manner not easily paralleled. And the great secret of his attraction was this:--he had a heart overflowing with the milk of human kindness. Hence, his benevolence was not studied or affected; it was not overbearing or ostentatious; it imparted a mild and unpretending tone to his general habits ; and led him, not merely on great and trying occasions, but in the ordinary intercourse of life, to consult the feelings, to study the temper, and almost to lend himself to the fancies and foibles, of all with whom he associated. And when to this benignity of manner we add the greatest alacrity of spirit, and a gay and animated style of conversation, it will not be matter of surprise how he made all hearts bow unto him. Only one other general remark shall be added, before entering on a brief sketch of the life of Heber; viz., that he possessed in an eminent degree the habit,a habit which he had in common with the late Sir Walter Scott, and indeed with almost all really great men,-that of looking at the brighter and fairer side of every object presented to his view. He had no taste for dwelling on blemishes and faults; and into whatever society he was cast, his happy alchemy seldom failed to extract something commendable or agreeable, out of subjects the most unpromising, and almost desperate.

Reginald Heber was born April 21, 1783, at Malpas, in Cheshire, of which place his father was rector. Extraordinary instances are related of his early piety, as well as of his early talent; but on these our limits forbid us to dwell. He received his education principally under a private tutor, Mr. Bristow, at Neasdon; and in 1800, he removed o Oxford, where he first was a commoner at Brazen-nose College, and afterwards a Fellow of All Souls. It was at Oxford

that he laid the foundation of his high fame. Beside being known, for his general acquisitions in scholarship, he gained every distinction which the University then had to bestow, the regular Undergraduate's and Bachelor's prizes,-the one for a Carmen Sæculare, and the other for an Essay on the Sense of Honour. He was also the successful competitor for an extraordinary prize that had been offered for an English poem on the subject of Palestinc. This poem is now of standard reputation; and certainly, for fancy, for splendour of imagery, and for poetical diction, it has deservedly placed its author-scarcely twenty years old when it was written-in an elevated rank amid our English poets.

After taking his degree, Heber left the University to engage in active life. The living of Hodnet was at his option; and this circumstance, coupled with his strong religious bias, determined him to devote himself to the Church, as his profession. But as he was still young for Holy Orders, he wished to employ two or three intermediate years in foreign travel; and the customary route upon the Continent being then shut up by the war, he bent his steps towards Russia and the east of Europe. He went with a mind full of observation and curiosity; and some of his notes, having been communicated to Dr. Clarke, form a very valuable part of his volume of travels in Russia.

But at length the time arrived, when Heber was to devote himself seriously to the duties of his sacred profession. In 1807, he took possession of his living of Hodnet, and soon afterwards married Miss Shipley, daughter of the Dean of St. Asaph. Hodnet, although beautifully situated amid the rich and wooded pastures of Shropshire, is no more than a large village, containing a population quite rustic. Yet here Heber devoted himself to the humble office of a village pastor, with no interruption, except occasional visits to Oxford, to officiate as Bampton Lecturer, and select preacher before the University. There is on his monument, in Hodnet church, a delightful testimony how, for fifteen years, he performed his pastoral duties, " cheerfully and diligently, with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength." And in this calm retreat, which the subsequent changes in his fortune seemed only the more to endear to him, he would cheerfully have closed his days but his reputation would not allow him to be buried in retirement. In 1822, he was elected preacher at Lincoln's Inn. This was an appointment peculiarly

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suited to him. Without being altogether separated from his beloved Hodnet, he passed a part of each year in the metropolis, in the society of the polished and the learned; and he had an auditory for his discourses from the pulpit, that might well call forth all his powers. With what credit he acquitted himself is well known; and it was generally believed that the highest honours of his profession awaited him at home, when he was called to another sphere of action, by his acceptance of the proffered bishopric of Calcutta.

Never, it is believed, did any man accept an office from a higher sense of duty. He was in possession of affluence; he had the fairest prospects before him; and it may not be superfluous to add, that he had recently built for himself at Hodnet, at considerable expense, a parsonage-house, combining every comfort with elegance and beauty. Once he declined the proposal; but his exalted piety considered it as a call from heaven, from which he might not shrink; and he resolutely determined to obey the summons.

His career in India was short, but brilliant. It is not easy to conceive a situation of greater difficulty than awaited him there. He had to preside over a Diocese much larger in extent than the whole of Europe, with his Clergy scattered about at stations thousands of miles apart. Although the foundations of an ecclesiastical establishment had been laid deep and strong, by his venerable predecessor, Bishop Middleton, yet much of the superstructure remained for the hands of the new Bishop. He had no one at hand to consult in his difficulties; yet every act of his was to serve as a precedent for future cases. He had to preside over a body of Christians, living in the midst of an overwhelming multitude of misbelievers; and those Christians, if such more than in mere name, accustomed to be a law to themselves, in religious matters. Yet to all these difficulties Bishop Heber resolutely addressed himself. He went forth strong and invincible; first, in his trust in God, and next, in that kindliness of disposition, and that suavity of manner, which almost disarmed opposition.

It does not come within the limits of this brief narrative, to relate all that he did, during his short rule, in the way of promoting various plans for the advancement of Christianity in the East. His fervent and apostolical zeal never allowed him to despair of any useful undertaking; and his conciliatory temper and manners persuaded discordant parties to act in unison together. But his most memorable exploit was his extraordinary Visitation of his diocese: starting from Calcutta, he pursued, the course of the Ganges almost to its source,-visited the Himalaya Mountains,-crossed the northern provinces of India, —and, after visiting Bombay and the island of Ceylon, returned again to Calcutta. We may easily imagine what must have been the delight to a mind ardent and poetical like Heber's, to have had the opportunity of visiting scenes so interesting and so novel; and we have the advantage of knowing the impression which they made on his mind, by the posthumous publication of his Journal. This book we consider quite invaluable. We should make some allowance for a work which never received the author's finishing hand; we ought, perhaps, to remember that some of the judgments on men and things were delivered after casual inspection, and that further and better opportunities of observation inight have corrected some of them; but we cannot I wish the work other than it is. It comes so fresh from the mind of the writer,-it contains so much spirit and original thinking,—it throws so much light

on subjects, new and old.—and, above all, it is the outpouring of a heart so pure, so single, so candid, so affectionate, so thoroughly imbued with the love of God and man, that we consider the Journal, not only one of the most interesting books ever written, but one of the most beautiful pictures of the human mind that ever was exhibited to view.

It was not long after Bishop Heber's return from the visitation of which we have been speaking, that he undertook another episcopal visitation, when the hand of death arrested him in his career of usefulness. On the 3rd of April, 1826, at Tritchinopoli, he was found drowned in a bath, owing it was supposed, to the sudden transition to cold water, after great exertion in confirming some native Christians. The deep and painful sensation produced by his unexpected decease, both in India and at home, cannot yet be forgotten. In him the Christian civilization of the East seemed to have lost its most zealous, most active, and most enlightened friend. It is our part to submit in meek resignation to the decrees of Providence, assured that they work together for the accomplishment of good, even when that good may be totally concealed from our sight. But, in the present case, we seem almost to perceive the beam of mercy behind the dark cloud. Even Heber, if he had lived, could not have escaped the common lot of humanity. What man could do, he would have done; but in his difficult situation, he would have been exposed to opposition, to obloquy and misrepresentation; and his greatest and most successful efforts might have been little known beyond the scenes where they were performed. But, from the tomb he speaks with a voice that reaches to the end of the earth, and thrills through every human heart. His book has been read by thousands and ten thousands, to whom his living name might have been almost unknown: and so pleasing is the light in which he has unconsciously placed himself; such also is the interest which he has excited for the cause of Christianity in India; that, as his example distinctly marks out the proper course to be pursued, so we are convinced the Christian world will never relax in their efforts, till the cross is planted in triumph upon the deserted Mosques of Mahomet and Pagodas of Bramah

The frontispiece annexed is a view of Bishops' College, Calcutta, an institution planned by Bishop Middleton. This edifice stands on the right bank of the Hooghly, on a piece of ground granted by the government, about three miles from Calcutta, and immediately adjoining the Company's Botanical Gardens. It faces the south, and forms a beautiful object on sailing up the " Garden Reach" of the river. The college was built principally from the produce of a King's Letter, granted in 1819 to the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, authorizing collections to be made in the Churches throughout England, in furtherance of their views. It consists of a chapel, library, hall, lecturerooms, and apartments for the Principal and Professors; and it is designed for the several purposes of instructing both Mussulmans and Hindoos in the English language, and in useful knowledge-for educating both native and European Christians in the doctrines of our Church, so as to fit them for the offices of schoolmasters, catechists, and priests-for translating the Scriptures and Common-Prayer into the oriental languages-and for receiving Missionaries sent from England before they are appointed to their respective stations.

THE smallest hair casts a shadow; the most trifling act has its consequences, if not here, at least hereafter.