In these Missions there were in January 1823 about forty stations, with a number of schools dependent on them. These stations are occupied by about ninety Europeans, who have been sent forth from this country to the different missions. Of these thirty-two are ordained missionaries; twenty-four are wives of missionaries, and the rest are lay teachers and settlers, male and female. Of native laborers there are about 160; two of whom are ordained missionaries, and the others readers, catechists, teachers, and assistants. The number of scholars, adults and children, cannot be exactly ascertained; but it appears, from the last returns, to be about 10,500. In several places churches have been built, and many converts have been added to the church. It may in truth be said that the blessing of God has rested on these and other missions, very much in proportion to the length of time since they were established, the number of laborers, and the concurrence of providential openings and other favorable circumstances. The success, however, has been most remarkable in the first mission, that to West Africa; while its trials and difficulties also have been the most severe.

It enters into the plan of the society to employ the press very widely in the diffusion of missionary information. It has opened a communication with various foreign institutions, and distributed its reports, and copies of the Missionary Register, with other publications, very extensively, both at home and abroad. Translations and editions of the Scriptures claim attention from every missionary society; and, from the institutions connected with the united church, the translation of its primitive liturgy will obtain especial regard. In various languages of Mahometans and heathens, this society has accordingly rendered, in different ways, every assistance to these objects. Tracts also in various languages are prepared and widely circulated, more particularly in the Mediterranean and Indian Missions. The Proceedings of the Society, which are published annually, contain twenty-two sermons and reports, and form ten volumes, 8vo.

The Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. This institution, which is connected with the established Kirk, has been highly useful in promoting religion, morality, and industry, among the lower order of the natives in the highlands and islands, many of whom reside at a very great distance from any kirk or parish school.

It derived its origin from the benevolence and public spirit of a few private gentlemen, who, early in the last century, formed themselves into a society for the reformation of manners, by diffusing the knowledge of divine truth. Direct ing their attention to the mountainous regions of their own country and the islands connected with it, in which the inhabitants were in a state of deplorable ignorance, and cut off from all access to religious instruction, a society was founded in 1709 under the title of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Highlands and Islands.' The object of the society, which received from queen Anne a royal charter, and which was warmly supported by the general assembly of the Scottish Church, has been, ever

since its institution, to establish schools in which the elements of education are taught, to circulate the Scriptures, and to appoint missionary teachers in parishes which, from their immense extent, or their inaccessible situation, could not enjoy the advantage of the religious establishment under which they were placed. This admirable society has most deservedly obtained cordial support. A donation from the sovereign is annually made to it, which is under the control of a committee of the General Assembly; a sermon is yearly preached, and many pious and benevolent individuals have contributed to enlarge the funds of which it is possessed. Its labors have been attended with much success; ignorance has been banished from many districts in which it would else have remained, and the humanising influence of religion has corrected the previous habits which had for ages been acquiring strength.

This society supports about 300 schools, in which nearly 20,000 disciples of both sexes are trained up in the knowledge of religion and good morals, writing, and arithmetic, and various useful arts, and in habits of industry. The schoolmasters teach the old, as well as the young, from house to house, on week days, when not employed in the schools; and on Sundays they read the Scriptures, and other pious books, to the inhabitants of the district assembled, sometimes in the open air-catechise the children in the presence of their parents and friends, and preside among them in the duties of prayer and praise.

The funds of the society now amount to upwards of £90,000; but the restrictions of its charter do not permit any encroachment on the capital.

An institution, entitled The Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and chiefly supported, we believe, by dissenters, has lately been formed, for carrying more extensively into effect the instruction of the people in the highlands. Its schools are chiefly formed on the ambulatory plan, as considered to be best adapted to the nature of the country; and much good is daily effected by its active co-operation with the venerable society. No language can do justice to the beneficial and active exertions of numerous other societies, established and supported by various religious communities for diffusing the knowledge and benefits of Christianity throughout the world. Among these we may specify, the African Institution, for the Civilisation of Africa, the Education of 'Native Youth, &c., founded in 1806. The London Society for the Conversion of the Jews, established in 1809, and now wholly conducted by the members of the United Church. The Prayer-book and Homily Society, 1811. The Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society in the United States, for Foreign and Domestic Missions, 1820. Each of the other four principal denominations of Christians in the United States, viz. the Congregationalists, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, and the Methodists, has now a missionary society in connexion with it, which directs its attention to foreign objects, as well as to the Indians within the union. And see Dr. W. Brown's History of the Propa

gation of Christianity among the Heathen since the Reformation, 3 vols. 8vo. 1814; and the Missionary Register, a periodical work replete with new and valuable information respecting the labors and success of the societies.

The Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, London, merits, perhaps, more distinct notice. It was instituted in August 1808, and was at first conducted under the management of a committee consisting of eighteen members, churchmen and dissenters, besides the treasurer and secretary, five of whom were a quorum; and met on the first Friday in every month at the Jews' Chapel in Spitalfields. The object of this society was at first to relieve the temporal distresses of the Jews, as well as to promote their spiritual welfare; the committee, therefore, was empowered, from time to time, to adopt such measures for any such purposes as the majority of the members present should approve. General meetings were held twice in the year for receiving the reports of the committee; and two collection sermons preached at each of the half-yearly meetings, for the benefit of the society, one in the established church, and the other among the dissenters. Of late years the society has passed, we believe, wholly into the hands of the churchmen, and temporal relief is rarely or never granted by it to the Jews; but the Scriptures and tracts advocating Christianity are largely distributed by it both at home and abroad.

The Philo-Judean Society of London is of a very similar description with the above, only that it is supported both by churchmen and dissenters; that it distributes according to the original plan of the Jews' society temporal relief, and invites to the debate and investigation of prophecy, on which its directors entertain some peculiar opinions.

The Sunday School Society was established in 1796 for promoting free and Sunday schools in Wales, under the patronage of the prince of Wales. Its officers are a president, vice-president, treasurer and vice-treasurer, and secretary. A society for promoting Sunday schools throughout the British dominions was instituted in 1785. See EDUCATION.

The Society for the Suppression of Vice was established in Essex Street in the Strand in 1802, Its officers are a president, twelve vice-presidents, a treasurer, a secretary, and collector.

The National Society, for promoting the education of the poor in the principles of the established church, in England and Wales, was instituted in 1811. The prince of Wales was patron, and the archbishop of Canterbury president: it has a great number of vice-presidents, including all the bishops, a treasurer, and secretary, and has done great good.

A very meritorious society, for the Discharge and Relief of Persons Imprisoned for Small Debts must not be omitted here. It was instituted in February 1772. The debts, or composition for them, of the persons that are relieved must not exceed £10; and the aged and infirm are preferred, as well as those that have the largest families, and others who have lost their liberty by unavoidable misfortunes, and not by fraud, vice, or extravagance. No debtor can be relieved a second time. The annual subscrip

tions are two guineas, and those for life are twenty guineas. Similar in its object is the Philanthropic Society at Mile-End; the annual subscription being only twelve shillings, and five guineas constituting a life-governor.

The Society for the Establishment of a Literary Fund was instituted A. D. 1790, for the relief of authors in distress, whose claims, stated in writing to the committee, are duly considered by them, and admitted, if proper, at their discretion, whilst the names of the applicants are not disclosed. The annual subscription is one guinea, and that for life is ten guineas. The society's house is in Gerard-street, Soho.

SECT. II.-OF SOCIETIES FOR PROMOTING SCIENCE AND Literature.

In

The Royal Society of London is an academy or body of persons of eminent learning, instituted by Charles II. for the promoting of natural knowledge. The origin of this society is traced by Dr. Sprat, its earliest historian, no farther back than to some space after the end of the civil wars,' in the seventeenth century. The scene of the first meetings of the learned men who laid the foundation of it is fixed by him in the University of Oxford, at the lodgings of Dr. Wilkins, warden of Wadham College. But Dr. Birch, on the authority of Dr. Wallis, one of its earliest and most considerable members, assigns it an earlier origin. According to him certain worthy persons, residing in London about 1645, being inquisitive into natural and the new and experimental philosophy, agreed to meet weekly on a certain day, to discourse upon such subjects, and were known by the title of The Invisible or Philosophical College.' 1648 and 1649 the company who formed these meetings were divided, part retiring to Oxford and part remaining in London; but they continued the same pursuits as when united, corresponding with each other, and giving a mutual account of their respective discoveries. About 1659 the greater part of Oxford Society returned to London; and, again uniting with their fellowlaborers, met once, if not twice, a-week, at Gresham College, during term time, till they were scattered by the public distractions of that year, and the place of their meeting made a quarter for soldiers. On the Restoration, in 1660, their meetings were revived, and attended by a greater concourse of men eminent for their rank and learning. They were at last taken notice of by the king, who, having himself a considerable taste for physical science, gave them an ample charter, dated the 15th of July, 1662, and afterwards a second, dated the 15th of April, 1663, by which they were erected into a corporation, consisting of a president, council, and fellows, for promoting natural knowledge: and to give their investigations, against which strange prejudices were entertained, every possible support, he sometimes honored their meetings with his presence.

Their manner of electing fellows is by balloting. Their council are in number twenty-one, including the president, vice-president, treasurer, and two secretaries; eleven of whom are continued for the next year, and ten more added to

them; all chosen on St. Andrew's day. Each member at his admission subscribes an engagement that he will endeavour to promote the good of the society; from which he may be freed at any time, by signifying to the president that he desires to withdraw. The charges are five guineas paid to the treasurer at admission, and 13s. per quarter so long as the person continues a inember: or, in lieu of the annual subscription, a composition of twenty-three guineas in one payment. Their design is to make faithful records of all the works of nature or art which come within their reach; so that the present as well as future ages may be enabled to put a mark on errors which have been strengthened by long prescription; to restore truths that have been neglected; to push those already known to more various uses; to make the way more passable what remains unrevealed,' &c. To this purpose they have made a great number of experiments and observations on most of the works of nature; and also numbers of short histories of nature, arts, manufactures, useful engines, contrivances, &c. The services which they have rendered to the public are very great. They have improved naval, civil, and military architecture; advanced the security and perfection of navigation; improved agriculture; and put not only this kingdom, but also Ireland, the plantations, &c., upon planting. They have registered experiments, histories, relations, observations, &c., and reduced them into one common stock; and have, from time to time, published those which they reckoned most useful, under the title of Philosophical Transactions, &c., and laid the rest up in public registers, to be transmitted to posterity as a solid ground-work for future systems.

They have a library adapted to their institution; towards which Mr. Henry Howard, afterwards duke of Norfolk, contributed the Norfolcian library, which is now greatly increased by a continual series of benefactions. The museum of natural and artificial rarities, given them by Daniel Colwal, esq., and since enriched by many others, is now removed to the British Museum, and makes a part of that great repository. Their motto is Nullius in verba; and their place of assembling is Somerset House, in the Strand. Sir Godfrey Copley, bart., left five guineas to be given annually to the person who should write the best paper in the year, under the head of experimental philosophy. This reward, which is now changed to a gold medal, is the highest honor the society can bestow. It is conferred on St. Andrew's day.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh was incorporated by royal charter on the 29th of March, 1783, and has for its object the cultivation of every branch of science, erudition, and taste. Its rise and progress towards its present state was as follows: in 1718 a literary society was established in Edinburgh by the learned Ruddiman and others, which in 1731 was succeeded by a society instituted for the improvement of medical knowledge. In 1739 the celebrated Maclaurin conceived the idea of enlarging the plan of this society, by extending it to subjects of philosophy and literature. The institution was accordingly new-modelled by a printed set of

laws and regulations, the number of members was increased, and they were distinguished from that time by the title of The Society for Improv ing Arts and Sciences, or more generally by the title of The Philosophical Society of Edinburgh. Its meetings, however, were soon interrupted by the disorders of the country during the rebellion in 1745; and they were not renewed till 1752. Soon after this period the first volume of the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh was published, under the Title of Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary, and was followed by other volumes of acknowledged merit. About the end of 1782, in a meeting of the professors of the university of Edinburgh, many of whom were likewise members of the society, a scheme was proposed by the Rev. Dr. Robertson, principal of the university, for the establishment of a new society on a more extended plan, and after the model of some of the foreign academies. It appeared an expedient measure to solicit the royal patronage to an institution of this nature, which promised to be of national importance, and to request an establishment by charter from the crown. The plan was approved and adopted; and the Philosophical Society, joining its influence as a body in seconding the application from the university, his majesty was most graciously pleased to incorporate the Royal Society of Edinburgh by charter. This society consists of ordinary and honorary members; and the honorary places are restricted to persons residing out of Great Britain and Ireland. The election of new members is appointed to be made at two stated general meetings, which are to be held on the fourth Monday of January, and the fourth Monday of June. A candidate for the place of an ordinary member must signify by a letter, addressed to one of the members, his wish to be received into the society. He must then be publicly proposed at least a month before the day of election. If the proposal be seconded by two of the members present, his name is to be inserted in the list of candidates, and hung up in the ordinary place of meeting. The election is made by ballot, and is determined in favor of a candidate, if he shall have the votes of two-thirds of those present, in a meeting consisting of at least twenty-one members. The general business of the society is managed by a president, two vice-presidents, with a council of twelve, a general secretary, and a treasurer. These officers are chosen by ballot annually on the last Monday of November. All public deeds, whether of a civil or of a literary nature, are transacted by this board, and proceed in the name of the president or vice-president.

The society is divided into two classes, which meet and deliberate separately. The physical class has for its department the sciences of mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, medicine, natural history, and whatever relates to the improvement of arts and manufactures. The literary class has for its department, literature, philology, history, antiquities, and speculative philosophy. Every member is desired at his admission to intimate which of those classes he wishes to be more particularly associated with;

them only by the geographical limits of Asia; so that, considering Hindostan as a centre, and turning your eyes in idea to the north, you have on your right many important kingdoms in the eastern peninsula, the ancient empire of China with all her Tartarian dependencies, and that of Japan, with the cluster of precious islands in which many singular curiosities have too long been concealed; before you lies that prodigious chain of mountains which formerly, perhaps, were a barrier against the violence of the sea; and beyond them the very interesting country of Tibet, and the vast regions of Tartary, from which, as from the Trojan horse of the poets, have issued so many consummate warriors, whose domain has extended at least from the banks of the Ilyssus to the mouths of the Ganges; on your left are the beautiful and celebrated provinces of Iran or Persia, the unmeasured, and perhaps unmeasurable, deserts of Arabia, and the once flourishing kingdom of Yemen, with the pleasant isles that the Arabs have subdued or colonised; and, farther westward, the Asiatic dominions of the Turkish sultans, whose moon seems approaching rapidly to its wane. By this great circumference the field of your usual researches will be enclosed; but since Egypt had unquestionably an old connexion with this country, since the language and literature of the Abyssinians bear a manifest affinity to those of Asia, since the Arabian arms prevailed along the African coast of the Mediterranean, and even erected a powerful dynasty on the continent of Europe, you may not be displeased occasionally to follow the stream of Asiatic learning a little beyond its natural boundary; and, if it be necessary that a short name be given to our society, that of Asiatic appears both classical and proper, whether we consider the place or the object of the institution, and preferable to Oriental, which is a word merely relative, and conveys no very distinct idea.

'If now it be asked, What are the intended objects of our enquiries within these spacious limits? we answer, MAN and NATURE; whatever is performed by the one or produced by the other. Human knowledge has been elegantly analysed according to the three great faculties of the mind, memory, reason, and imagination; which we constantly find employed in arranging and retaining, comparing and distinguishing, combining and diversifying, the ideas which we receive through our senses or acquire by reflection hence the three main branches of learning are, history, science, and art; the first compre hends either an account of natural productions, or the genuine records of empires and states; the second embraces the whole circle of pure and mixed mathematics, together with ethics and law, as far as they depend on the reasoning faculty; and the third includes all the beauties of imagery and the charms of invention displayed in modulated language, or represented by color, figure, or sound. Agreeably to this analysis you will investigate whatever is rare in the stupendous fabric of nature, will correct the geography of Asia by new observations and discoveries; will trace the annals and even tradition of those nations who from time to time have peopled or

desolated it; and will bring to light their various forms of government, with their institutions civil and religious; you will examine their improvements and methods in arithmetic and geometry; in trigonometry, mensuration, mechanics, optics, astronomy,, and general physics; their systems of morality, grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic; their skill in chirurgery and medicine; and their advancement, whatever it may be, in anatomy and chemistry. To this you will add researches into their agriculture, manufactures, trade; and whilst you enquire with pleasure into their music, architecture, painting, and poetry, will not neglect those inferior arts by which the comforts and even elegancies of social life are supplied or improved. You may observe that I have omitted their languages, the diversity and difficulty of which are a sad obstacle to the progress of useful knowledge; but I have ever considered languages as the mere instruments of real learning, and think them improperly confounded with learning itself: the attainment of them is, however, indispensably necessary; and if, to the Persian, Armenian, Turkish, and Arabic, could be added not only the Shanscrit, the treasures of which we may now hope to see unlocked, but even the Chinese, Tartarian, Japanese, and the various insular dialects, an immense mine would then be open, in which we might labor with equal delight and advantage.'

Of this society many volumes of Transactions have been published, which are replete with information in a high degree curious and impor tant; and we hope that the European world will soon be favored with another. The death of the accomplished president may indeed damp the spirit of investigation among the members; for, to conquer difficulties so great as they must meet with, a portion seems to be necessary of that enthusiasm which accompanied all the pursuits of Sir William Jones; but his successor is a man of great worth and learning, and we trust will use his utmost endeavours to have the plan completed of which Sir William gave the outlines.

The American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, was formed in January, 1769, by the union of two societies which had formerly subsisted in that city. This society extends its attention to geography, mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy; medicine and anatomy; natural history and chemistry; trade and commerce; mechanics and architecture; husbandry and American improvements. Its officers are a patron, president, three vice-presidents, one treasurer, four secretaries, and three curators, who are annually chosen by ballot. The duty of the president, vice-presidents, treasurer, and secretaries, is the same as in the other society. The business of the curators is to take the charge of all specimens of natural productions, whether of the animal, vegetable, or fossil kingdom; all models of machines and instruments; and all other matters belonging to the society which will be entrusted to them. The ordinary meetings are held on the first and third Fridays of every month from October to May inclusive. This society was incorporated by charter the 15th of March, 1780; and has published three volumes