the Square; but just then suddenly commenced one of those two charges of the military, which, being made without previous notice, after the perfect supineness of the night and the preceding day, could not but involve the innocent, and even the useful, with the guilty. The second was a very serious and I believe destructive one, soon after ten; but it was after the troops of the 14th had been openly brought back, and when (where there actually were proceedings of riot) the clearing of the streets was the preservation from further evil: but even that was without notice to those whom various duties called into those public streets where there had been no riot; and I am glad that the order so given, (though probably, in the circumstances, right for the commanding officer to issue,) did not proceed from the magistracy. The one to which I first referred, about half-past six, was, in my judgment, next to useless; and sudden, and without notice, as it was, did not do credit to the discretion of the individual who caused it. The soldiers quite unexpectedly dashed through the central avenue from the Square, and then in all directions through Prince's Street. At no great distance from me, a soldier broke his sword on a man, who was remote from all others, and who appeared as little engaged in riot as myself. I went thence to the Bishop's Palace, and found two or three young special constables keeping the ground, and a few persons (gradually increasing in number) who appeared principally influenced by curiosity. One woman, however, told me, that she wished she could find an old Bible for her son my head was full, and I did not tell her that the Bible would not by her finding it, have become hers. The young men wished the ground to be cleared; and I spoke to a decently dressed workman who was furthest from the gate, telling him that I thought we should all do well to leave the place. As we were walking away, speaking of the vast devastation, he said, "You all conspire to oppress the poor." I told him I -never had knowingly done a poor man any injury. "All of you," he added, "that are in trade." I replied that I believed him quite in the wrong there too. He went on a little more, and concluded by telling me, that he had himself been turned out of work, because he would not vote as his master wished. It has been more common here for men to submit to the degradation of voting against their judgments, at their masters' command: but by both systems the bonds which should unite the rich and the poor have been weakened.-The fact seemed to me deserving to be recorded. Major Mackworth, an officer, who was on a visit in the neighbourhood, who after having, as he states in print, spent the night at a distance, came down to the Square about the time I did myself, and, struck with the devastation, urged and even directed the troops to charge home, though, with Colonel Breretou at their head, they had previously been looking on, and though, I believe, all riot was now over. By nine or ten on Monday, all appeared awakening to activity and duty, as the times required. All business was suspended, and the constabulary force called out, especially by the efficient efforts of the parochial authorities. A warning proclamation was issued, exhorting the inhabitants, not on duty as special constables, (who had a badge,) to leave their houses after dark; parties of horse kept arriving through the day; and a large detachment of foot came in at night, much to the joy and security of all. Measures for search were instituted; and various judicious plans carried into execution for the apprehension of the offenders, the restoration of property, and the protection of the city. These were continued till after the 5th of November; and I never saw the streets so free from the crying evils of the place as during that week. On the 2nd of this month, a large meeting was held at the Commercial Rooms, at which it was resolved to urge the Government to institute an inquiry into the origin and circumstances of the recent outrages; and there has been for some time a military court of inquiry sitting, to ascertain whether there is sufficient reason for putting Colonel Brereton on his trial by a Court Martial; but Lord Melbourne, in his reply (of the 16th) to the memorial of the inhabitants, gives no expectation that the Government will undertake this inquiry. Nevertheless, he makes ulterior measures depend on the information to be received; and one part is very important. "It is impossible," he says in his letter to Mr. Baillie, one of our Members, "not to agree with the memorialists, that the fullest and strictest investigation which the law authorizes and empowers, is required to be instituted into the conduct both of the civil and military authorities. If there is reason to presume that these unfortunate events have had their origin in supineness, neglect of duty, or delinquency, they should be inquired into by due process of law, and according to the established forms of legal proceeding. If the disastrous results which have been witnessed are to be attributed to an imperfect and inadequate constitution of the civil authorities, such imperfection can only be remedied and supplied by the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, or by the intervention of the power of the Legislature." The last sentence is of the greatest prospective importance; and few who know all the circumstances doubt what must be the result of a full and strict inquiry under an honest and liberal Government, with a straight-forward and patriotic Monarch ready to support all measures which are wise and salutary to the people. On Monday last a very large and orderly meeting was held in the Assembly Rooms, close by the scenes of devastation. The proceedings are already, probably, in the London papers. It was resolved again to address the Government to undertake the inquiry; and this Memorial will, I hope, The date of the former part of this letter, which is now completing on the 23rd. obtain its object: at the same time a Committee was appointed to prepare materials for investigation. At this meeting I took an unexpected share; having to aid in preventing the speakers from giving those details, and that examination of public documents, which would have given our proceedings a character, not of preparation for inquiry, but of actual investigation. But the statements actually made were very important; and when it was emphatically declared, "that Bristol owed all the calamities they deplored to the system under the predominance of which they had taken place," the speaker, Mr. Manchee, was answered by a universal expression of full accordance which could not be mistaken by any one. "Looking on the scenes of devastation around, I indulge the consolatory hope, that the city will ultimately be benefited, not by, but in consequence of, the late tremendous evils." Such was my statement at the meeting; and with it I conclude. If good is not brought about, we shall have ourselves alone to blame for it; for all are awake to the evil, and most are to the leading causes of it. In the order of Divine Providence, evil is the leader on to good. L. CARPENTER. CRITICAL NOTICES. THEOLOGY. THIS is the right idea. Here we bave "Bible Stories" told in the language of the Bible, of the Common Version, that is, and therefore told in the simplest style possible, and simpler than any person of the present day can, however great his efforts, hope to write in. The language of the English Bible is the language for children, because it is that language, the genuine old English, of Saxon origin, which they hear in the nursery, and in which they are taught to express their earliest wants and desires. On this no laboured effort can, for children, improve. We should be sorry if it could. We do not wish to part with the language of the English Bible. It is a well of good, pure, idio matic English; and needed in these And draw a knowledge of his duties with the means for performing them, as well as of his destiny. We are not, however, sure that the lengthiness, which is a peculiarity of all prose composition written in an early age, and of Herodotus, therefore, as much as of the Bible, may not be a disqualifying circumstance. A story for children should be put in a nut-shell. They are impatient of delay, and eager to come to a conclusion; so much so, that they prefer a short tale, however simple and bald, to a long one, however replete with incidents. Whereas, "Bible Stories," if told by the writers of the Bible, are full of unessential words, if not particulars. This is, however, a small matter in comparison of the important advantages which result from having the "Sacred Histories in the Language of the Received Version," whilst, by a judicious selection, those things which are hard to be understood, of questionable utility, or of actually injurious tendency to the young, are prevented from puzzling their minds, or injuring their moral feelings, or alienating their hearts from the sacred page. The small edition which, as we un In a derstand, is published of this work, will, we doubt not, be quickly sold. second edition, or in a second volume, we would suggest to the author the propriety of inserting histories selected from the interesting and heroic story of the Maccabees, filling up what the Apocrypha does not supply, by narratives from profane writers, so as to connect together the last of the prophets with him of whom they all spake. The same plan might be, and ought to be, continued in, into, and through, the New Testament, and with the learning and taste for which the author is distinguished, might, much to the benefit of the young, and the increase of sound knowledge, be carried through the German, Roman, and English histories, as well as the period and series of events comprised in the term ecclesiastical history. A succession of well-executed works, such as we have now alluded to, is much wanted-we shall look in hope to Manchester. We add, in conclusion, that in what we have above said, we have no wish to derogate from the merit of Mr. Wood's "Bible Stories." They are as good as the plan of the author permitted, and though we place them second to cred Histories," it is not that Mr. W. has not done well, but that another, and VOL. V. "Sa 3 Q with less trouble to himself, has done better. ART. II.-The Church: its Civil 66 AN acute and caustic production. It was originally addressed to Archbishop Magee, and occasioned by his affirming in a Charge, as a very plain proposition, that it is the duty of the Sovereign to provide a true religion for his people;" an arduous duty, seeing that he is not allowed to provide a religion for himself, but must take such as is provided for him. The Archbishop died while this pamphlet was in the press, and the author has therefore inscribed it to the Bishops and Clergy of the Province of Dublin. Considering the importance of the subject, and the interest arising from the practical testimony of its Author conscience, we should have been glad to (the Rev. Armstrong) to truth and devote more space to it than we can at present spare. The inconsistencies of the fierce polemic, who now rests from ingly exposed; as are those of the syshis conflicts, are powerfully and unspar tem which rejoiced in him as its champion. That system the writer emphatically, but justly, describes as "at once a blunder in conception, a tyranny in pretension, and an utter abortion in practice." ART. III.-A Word to the Bishops from One of their Order. Extract from a Convocation Sermon on Conforming and Reforming. By John Colet, D. D., Dean of St. Paul's. Wilson. 8vo. pp. 16. A WORD in season, though more than three centuries have elapsed since it was first spoken. "The friend of Erasmus and Sir Thomas More, the associate of the best men of his time, the founder of one of our most useful seminaries, (St. Paul's School,) and the approved of his Sovereign, may well be excused speaking from the tomb, and calling upon his fellow-labourers to set an example worthy of their high calling." He may be excused, but will they listen, even if he were to rise, as well as speak, from the tomb? The evils complained of by the good Dean are no whit diminished; but it may be feared that his remedy, the rehearsing the canons which prohibit simony, pluralities, non-residence, improper promotions, &c., is scarcely strong enough to cure a disorder now so inveterate. The publisher has strengthened the prescription, and filled up the sheet, by extracts from Earl Grey's Address to the County of Northumberland, in 1821, and from the Extraordinary Black Book. If these fail, surely the disease must be mortal. of the materials of a history which ought ART. IV.-The Sunday Library. Vol. sion of the Cholera Morbus. THIS volume completes the Sunday Library, a selection in which we have found little that any sincere and pious Christian will object to, and much by which all may profit. A few, and but a few, controversial discourses are introduced. Most are practical, and many are excellent. Such especially are those, in this concluding volume, which bear the names of Milman, Sydney Smith, and Bishop Maltby. "The Officer of the Lancer Guard and the Pyramid of Bayonets. officers, of the Russian Horse-guards are "The officers, as well as the subsubjected to the most rigorous discipline, and are required to execute on horseback all the manœuvres of a theatrical equestrian. guard was going through his exercise "One day an officer of the Lancerbefore the Grand-Duke. He had performed all the usual evolutions in the most satisfactory way, until, when at ART. V.-The Sacred Offering, for full gallop, he was suddenly ordered to 1832. GENERAL LITERATURE. ART. VI.-Poland under the Dominion of Russia. By Harro Harring. From the German. London. Cochrane. 1831. THE style of this volume is occasionally disfigured by affectation, and also by a very misplaced levity of expression, but these defects are amply compensated. It would be very amusing, were it not so deeply interesting. It contains many very graphic descriptions illustrative of the condition of the Poles under the capricious brutality of the Grand Duke Constantine, a being compared with whom Robespierre was a very respectable character. These are some turn, the horse proved restive, and refused to obey either bridle or spur. "The command was repeated in a his efforts to make the horse obey it; thundering voice, and the officer renewed but without effect, for the fiery animal continned to prance about in defiance of his rider, who was, nevertheless, an excellent horseman. The rage of the Grand-Duke had vented itself in furious imprecations, and all present trembled for the consequences. Halt!' he exclaim ed, and ordered a pyramid of twelve muskets, with fixed bayonets, to be erected. The order was instantly obeyed. The officer, who had by this time subdued the restiveness of his horse, was ordered to leap the pyramid-and the spirited horse bore his rider safely over it. "Without an interval of delay, the officer was commanded to repeat the fearful leap, and to the amazement of all present the noble horse and brave rider stood in safety on the other side of the pyramid. "The Grand-Duke, exasperated at finding himself thus thwarted in his barbarous purpose, repeated the order for a third time. A general, who happened to be present, now stepped forward and interceded for the pardon of the officer, observing that the horse was exhausted, and that the enforcement of the order |