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reach the hearts of any congregation whatever. The Dissenters manage these matters differently. With them, no man can be admitted as a regular preacher who has not preached some time previously on trial. They make oratorical ability, as well as proper life and doctrine, a sine qua non, and the consequence is, that the worst of these regular preachers would, as an orator, put to shame a very large number of our clergy. Blackwood's Magazine.¦‚'

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In this extract, there are several members including a number of particulars. Point out those of this character, whether simple or compound. This ought to be read in an earnest energetic tone, approaching to anger, occasioned by the vivid perception of the faults of those who, pretending to qualify candidates for the Church, forget "one of the main qualifications-that which is necessary to give effect to all others"—Oratory. How true!

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CORNWALLIS," said he, "was a man of probity, a generous and sincere character. Un très brave homme.* He is the man who first gave me a good opinion of the English; his integrity, fidelity, frankness, and the nobleness of his sentiments, impressed me with a very favourable opinion of you. I recollect Cornwallis saying, one day, 'There are certain qualities which may be bought; but a good character, sincerity, a proper pride, and calmness in the hour of danger, are not to be purchased.' These words made an impression upon me. I gave him a regiment of cavalry to amuse himself with at Amiens, which used to manoeuvre before him. The officers of it loved him much. I do not believe that he was a man of first-rate abilities; but he had talent, great probity, and sincerity. He never broke his word. At Amiens, the treaty was ready, and was to be signed by him at the Hôtel de la Ville, at nine

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o'clock, Something happened which prevented him from going; but he sent word to the French ministers, that they might consider the treaty as having been signed; and that he would sign it the following day. A courier from England arrived at night, with direc tions to him to refuse his consent to certain articles, and not to sign the treaty. Although Cornwallis had not signed it, and might have easily availed himself of this order, he was a man of such strict honour, that he said he considered his promise to be equivalent to his signature, and wrote to his government, that he had promised, and that having once pledged his word, he would keep it. That if they were not satisfied, they might refuse to ratify the treaty. There was a man of honour-a true EnglishSuch a man as Cornwallis ought to have been sent hither, instead of a compound of falsehood, suspicion, and meanness. I was much grieved when I heard of his death. Some of his family occasionally wrote to me to request favours for some prisoners, which I always complied with."

man.

O'Meara.

As there is something to come, said he will take the rising slide. His integrity, fidelity-simple series. There are certain qualities, contains in its latter member a negation, with the downward slide. But if so, altogether on the supposition of not being modified by any succeeding member. What inflection at bought, going, treaty, order? What tone of voice does There was a man of honour-a true Englishman, require ?

The New Testament incomparably better authenticated than Tacitus.

BRING Tacitus and the New Testament to an immediate comparison, and subject them both to the touchstone of ordinary and received principles, and it will be found that the latter leaves the former out of sight in all the marks, and characters, and evidences, of an authentic history. The truth of the gospel stands on a much firmer and more indepen

dent footing, than many of its defenders would dare to give us any conception of. They want that boldness of argument which the merits of the question entitle them to assume. They ought to maintain a more decided front to their adversaries, and tell them that in the New Testament itself in the concur rence of its numerous, and distant, and independent authors—in the uncontradicted authority which it has maintained from the earliest times of the churchin the total inability of the bitterest adversaries of our religion to impeach its credibility-in the genuine characters of honesty and fairness which it carries on the very face of it; that in these, and in every thing else, which can give validity to the written history of past times, there is a weight and a splendor of evidence which the testimony of Tacitus cannot confirm, and which the absence of that testimony could not have diminished.

If it were necessary, in a court of justice, to ascertain the circumstances of a certain transaction which happened in a particular neighbourhood, the obvious expedient would be to examine the agents and the eye-witnesses of that transaction. If six or eight concurred in giving the same testimony-if there were no appearance of collusion amongst them-if they had the manner and aspect of creditable men-above all, if this testimony were made public, and not a single individual, from the numerous spectators of the transaction alluded to, stepped forward to falsify it, then, we apprehend, the proof would be looked upon as complete. Other witnesses might be summoned from a distance to give in their testimony, not of what they saw, but of what they heard upon the subject; but their concurrence, though a happy enough circumstance, would never be looked upon as any material addition to the evidence already brought forward. Another court of justice might be held in a distant country, and years after the death of the original witnesses. It might have occasion to verify the same transaction, and for this purpose might call in the only evidence which it was capable of collecting-the testimony of men who lived after

the transaction in question, and at a great distance from the place where it happened. There would be no hesitation, in ordinary cases, about the relative value of the two testimonies; and the record of the first court could be appealed to by posterity as by far the more valuable document, and far more decisive of the point in controversy. Now, what we complain of is, that in the instance before us this principle is reversed. The report of hearsay witnesses is held in higher estimation than the report of the original agent and spectators. The most implicit credit is given to the testimony of the distant and later historians, and the testimony of the original witnesses is received with as much distrust as if they carried the marks of villany and imposture upon their foreheads. The genuineness of the first record can be established by a much greater weight and variety of evidence than the genuineness of the second. Yet all the suspicion that we feel upon this subject annexes to the former; and the apostles and evangelists, with every evidence in their favour which it is in the power of testimony to furnish, are, in fact, degraded from the place which they ought to occupy among the accredited historians of past times.

Chalmers.

What inflection at principles, characters, footing, itself, authors, church, credibility, it, these, times? Whether do the sentences beginning thus, The truth, They want, They ought, belong to the answering or the questioning part? Look at that sentence, If it were necessary, and the following sentence. Where do the

questioning parts end? Where would commence the rising inflection of the first? Why? Point out all the sentences which include the questioning and answering parts, and those which do not. Are there any parenthetical members in this extract? Does this extract require the same uniform tone? Are there any compound serieses? This piece is characteristic of Dr. Chalmers' energy.

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Character of the unclaimed Scottish Novels,
Waverly, etc.

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1. WE have often been astonished at the quantity of talent, of invention, observation, and knowledge of character, as well as of spirited and graceful composition, that may be found in these works of fiction in our language, which are generally regarded as among the lower productions of our literature, upon which no great pains is understood to be bestowed, and which are seldom regarded as titles of a permanent reputation. If novels, however, are not fated to last as long as epic poems, they are at least a great deal more popular in their season; and slight as their structure, and imperfect as their finishing may often be thought in comparison, we have no hesitation in saying, that the better specimens of the art are incomparably more entertaining, and considerably more instructive. The great objection to them, indeed, is, that they are too entertaining, and they are so pleasing in the reading, as to be apt to produce a disrelish for other kinds of reading, which may be more necessary, and can in no way be made so agreeable. Neither science, nor authentic history, nor political nor profound instruction, can be conveyed in a pleasing tale; and, therefore, all these things are in danger of becoming dull and uninteresting to the votaries of those more seductive studies. Among the most popular of these popular productions that have appeared in our times, we must rank Waverly, Guy Mannering, and The Antiquary; and we do not hesitate to say, that they are well entitled to that distinction. They are, indeed, in many respects, very extraordinary performances-though in nothing more extraordinary than in having remained so long unclaimed. There is no name, we think, in our literature, to which they would not add lustre-and lustre, too, of a very enviable kind: for they not only show great talent, but infinite sense and good nature,- -a more vigorous and wide-reaching intellect than is often displayed in novels, and a more power

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