each humble seminary, there is a reading of the purest and most impressive character, in full circulation amongst both the parents and the children who belong to it; and, what is not the least important effect of all, that, by the frequent recurrence of week-day visitations, there is both a Christian and a civilizing influence sent forth upon a whole neighbourhood, and a thousand nameless cordialities are constantly issuing out of the patriarchal relationship, which has thus been formed between a man of worth, and so many outcast and neglected families."-p. 77, 78. 66 Strong, however, as our partialities are for the Saltmarket Society, we are not sure but that we feel a still greater interest in the solitary, yet eminently successful, attempt of a gentleman in our city, whose name, from motives of delicacy, we forbear to mention. It is now about a year and a half ago, since he assumed a district to himself, which he resolved to cultivate, on the system of local philanthropy. We believe that, in respect of the rank and condition of those who live in it, it is greatly beneath the average of Glasgow. It comprises a population of 996; whom he, in the first instance, most thoroughly surveyed, and all of whom, we are confident, he has now most thoroughly attached, and that, by a series of the most friendly and enlightened services. He has found room, within its limits, for four Sabbath-schools, which he provided with teachers of his own selecting, and who, like himself, labour, of course, gratuitously in the cause; as, indeed, we believe, do all the other Sabbath teachers in the city. The scholars amount to 110; which is, also, in very full proportion to the number of inhabitants. He has also instituted a Savings Bank, which takes in deposites only from those who live, and from those who work, within the bounds of this little territory. With this last extension of his plan, the bank may embrace a population of 1200; and, from its commencement, in December 19th, 1818, to December 18th, 1819, the whole sum deposited is 235l. 12s. 3d. During the twelvemonth, sixty families of this small district have opened their accounts with the bank, and received an impulse from it, on the side of economy and foresight. This, in such a year, proves what might be made of the neglected capabilities of our labouring classes. Any general savings bank for the town at large would not have called out one-tenth of this sum, from the obscure department which this gentleman occupies, and which, with the doings and devices of a most judicious benevolence, he is so fast rescuing from all the miseries which attach to a crowded population. We hold this to be one of the most signal triumphs of loca lity. The sum deposited in this local bank is about proportional to the sum of 30,000l. for the town and suburbs of Glasgow; and forms another proof, among the many others which multiply around us, of the superiority, in point of effect, which a small, and, at the same time, distinct and unfettered management holds, over a wide and ambitious superinten dence. "We read in the book of Genesis, how few the righteous men were, that would have sufficed to save a city from destruction. It is cheering to calculate on the powers of human agency, and how much even an individual may do, when those powers are wisely and steadily directed, and, above all, what is the number of individuals required, who, if each, labouring in his own duteous and devoted walk, would altogether assure the magnificent result of a country recovered from vice and violence, and placed conclusively beyond the reach of all moral and all political disorders. "This result will, at length, be arrived at, not by the working of one mighty organization, for the achievement of great things, but by the accumulation of small things-not by men, whose taste it is to contemplate what is splendid in philanthropy, but by men whose practical talent it is to do what is substantial in philanthropy-not by men who eye, with imaginative transport, the broad and boundless expanse of humanity, but by men who can work in drudgery and in detail, at the separate portions of it. But, before we can sit down and be satisfied with doing thoroughly and well, that which lies within the compass of our strength-there must be a conquest over the pride of our nature-there must be a calling in of the fancy, from those specious generalities, which have lured so many from the path of sober and productive exertion-we must resign the glory of devising a magnificent whole, and count it enough to have rendered, in our narrow sphere, and in our little day, the contribution of a part to the good of human society. The whole it is only for Him to contemplate fully whose agents we are, and who assigns a portion of usefulness to each severally, as he will. It is our part to follow the openings of his Providence, and to do, with our might, that work which he hath evidently put into our hands. Any great moral or economical change in the state of a country, is not the achievement of one single arm, but the achievement of many; and though one man walking in the loftiness of his heart, might like to engross all the fame of it, it will remain an impotent speculation, unless thousands come forward to share among them all the fatigue of it. It is not to the labour of those who are universalist 1820. in science, that she stands indebted for her present solidity, or her present elevation, but to the separate labours of many-each occupying his own little field, and heaping, on the basis of former acquisitions, his own distinct and peculiar offering. And it is just so in philanthropy. The spirit of it has gone marvellously abroad amongst us of late years; but still clouded and misled by the bewildering glare which the fancy of ambitious man is apt to throw around his own undertakings. He would be the sole creator of a magnificent erection, rather than a humble contributor to it, among a thousand more, each as necessary and important as himself. And yet, would he only resign his speculations, and give himself to the execution of a task, to which his own personal faculties were adequate, he would meet with much to compensate the loss of those splendid delusions, which have hitherto engrossed him. There would be less of the glare of publicity, but there would be more of the kindliness of a quiet and sheltered home. He could not, by his own solitary strength, advance the little stone into a great mountain, but the worth and the efficacy of his labours will be sure to recommend them to the imitation of many-and the good work will spread, by example, from one individual, and from cae district to another-and, though he may be lost to observation, in the growing magnitude of the operations which surround him, yet will he rejoice even in his very insignificance, as the befitting condition for one to occupy, among the many millions of the species to which he belongs -and it will be enough for him, that he has added one part, however small, to that great achievement, which can only be completed by the exertions of an innumerable multitude-and the fruit of which is to fill the whole earth.” pp. 84-88. years, contains, likewise, views and REMARKS ON A FATHER'S SECOND pression which they bear of a sound PRESENT TO HIS FAMILY. We mentioned this little work in our last Number, but only mentioned it; and as we think it contains an useful summary of natural and reveal ed religion, we shall now proceed to give some farther account of it. It is an expansion, in a different form, of the author's preceding little treatise, which was so favourably received, or, while that skimmed over the ground, chiefly with a view to the instruction of the young, the present work, though quite suitable to their By a Layman, author of a Father's Gift to his Children. 1820. and honest mind, finding its own direct path in the midst of the sophistries and cavillings with which the literature of his age and country was but too much beset. Taking them in this view, there is a strain of no inconsiderable originality and eloquence in many parts of these treatises. The first is on natural religion, and is supposed to be the conclusions of "a plain man" upon that great and interesting subject. It consists, accordingly, of the arguments which most readily occur to a person of an unsophisticated understanding on the evidence of a Deity, and of the moral government of the universe, as they are discovered to the light of nature, and it contains many valuable observations upon these grand points. It was from this treatise that we made a pretty long quotation in our last Number. The next is upon the subject of Revelation, and, instead of the "plain man,' our author here figures to himself a philosopher, who is supposed to have visited Judea at the time of our Saviour's appearance, and to have surveyed, with an attentive spirit, the great scene of moral regeneration which was then opening upon the world. The idea is a very happy one, and was suggested by a hint of Hume, whose intention, however, was to insinuate that the conclusions of the philosopher would have been very different from what they are here shown to be. Perhaps the idea might have been brought out with still more effect than we here find it, if the philosopher had actually been supposed to have written the treatise, (addressing it to some Terentianus, Hermippus, or other,) and to have detailed his reasonings, as they occurred to him, on the various objects which were actually present to his view. As it is, we have no very lively conception of this philosopher, and are apt sometimes to confound him with the plain man," as, indeed, the plain man, in his turn, not unfrequently treads on the heels of the philosopher. There might, however, be an impropriety in a fiction of this kind. The pure ground of sacred history ought not to be invaded, perhaps, by the feigned travels of an Anacharsis. 66 We cannot go through all our philosopher's observations. They arise chiefly from the contrast between the theological system of the sacred books of the Jews and that of the Heathen nations; and, if possible, the still greater contrast between the religious and moral purity of our Saviour's doctrine, and character, and those of any other teacher whom the world had hi therto seen. There are important considerations, likewise, on the great peculiarities of Christian doctrine; but we have room only to quote the conclusion, in which is summed up, in a few words, the result of the whole. "Our philosopher having thus finished his inquiries, and witnessed the winding up of the eventful history, would consider to what the whole amounted. A strong presumption had existed, that a great teacher and deliverer would descend from heaven to instruct and bless mankind; and while the necessity of sacrifice seemed also to be expected, that some great atonedeeply implanted in human nature, it was ment would be made for the human race. The first of these presumptions was fortified by the expectations of all nations, and the latter by the existence of immolation in every quarter of the world. For the completion of these divine objects, it was necessary, too, that the knowledge of the true God should have been retained, and that while polytheism had overspread the earth in general, yet that, in one quarter of it, the great attributes of Deity should con tinue to be known. "Now, with such general reflections, our philosopher had found a nation, where the knowledge of the living God had been retained from the remotest times, and was preserved pure throughout all the stages of its society. In the early periods of the records of other countries, the Saviour had been darkly foretold, but there he was prophesied in the clearest manner, and the fulfilment of some of these prophecies our philosopher had witnessed. But the least of all secds' was still to grow up, and wax a great tree, and spread out its branches, the stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands,' was to become a great mountain, and fill the earth. From him who was the mighty subject of such predictions, our inquirer had heard all that was sublime in religion and pure in morality, and while he was satisfied that he had arisen from the dead, the first fruits of those who slept,' he saw the dawn many ages, in which mankind through him should be blessed. of "In such thoughts as these, our great inquirer must have returned to Rome not almost, but ALTOGETHER A CHRISTIAN." VERSES FROM ANACREON. YES! wretched he who loves not, And wretched he who loves, More wretched he who proves not What happy lovers prove; Love, birth and wisdom scorning, No charm in riches sees; Bright love, life's wreath adorning, Can ask for none of these. And may he perish ever, The wretch prevailed on first By gold's accursed thirst! JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO HOLLAND. (Continued from p. 19.) DEAR J- THOUGH Our journey yesterday was but short, Thursday, yet the variety of ob7th August. jects, and the incidents of embarking and disembarking several times with our luggage, together with the uniform flatness of champagne country, and the quiet monotony of the treck-schuit, altogether made it appear a great day's work. As it was evening when we got into the Hague, nothing could be seen; and, being quite ready for the comforts of tea and coffee, the evening was spent at the hotel, where we were served by one of Bonaparte's most ferocious-looking soldiers. Every one had his accommodation pointed out by the maitre hotel; but, in the morning, some complained of the Dutch-compliment of damp-nay, almost wet-sheets; others of want of air; and the whole party were sensible of close and unsavoury smells, arising from the low situation of the house, and the hot ness of the weather. manner in which the Dutch fisherwomen shade and defend their faces from the influences of the sun and the effects of the weather. Here, instead of the simple English muslin cap, it is common to wear a large straw-hat, measuring about two feet and a half in diameter, suited to all the purposes of the eastern parasol and the northern umbrella, under which they certainly ogled very prettily, with their handsome decorations of large drop ear-rings, pearl-pins at the breast, and not a few with the gold-plate or clasp of North Holland encircling their foreheads, their ears, even to the back part of the head. Those of the party who were most interested and zealous about the sights of the place had arranged a morning walk to the village of Scheveling, which, in England, we should term the Watering-place or Fish-town of the Hague. This walk was truly delightful, for, after passing the Royal Deer Park, you enter a grove with rows of stately elins, forming a most seasonable shade, which continues all the way to the village. The road is formed of brick; and here you meet with the fish-women, in great numbers, coming to town, some carrying their fish in baskets upon their heads, while others have them in small truck-carts, drawn by a team of dogs. Whether it were a disposition to admire what is new or foreign, or that the fish-women had something rather interesting in their countenances, I shall not here pretend to say; but this much may be affirmed, that their features are totally free from that haggard terseness of expression which, we must admit, is but too common with the same class, particularly on the northern shores of Britain. This, indeed, is to be accounted for by the VOL. VI. Scheveling is a village, snugly sheltered from the north-western blast behind an extensive range of sand hills, which defend this line of coast to seaward. It contains about 2000 inhabitants, who have their entire dependence upon their traffic with the Hague. It has a beautifully flat sand beach, which may be said to form a ride many miles in extent, even all the way up to Catwick and Haarlem. To seaward, this beach, which is of fine white sand, slopes very gradually from high to low water, forming what seamen term an extensive ebb. Here we witnessed a very interesting spectacle, the cargoes of several Dutch fishing doggers lying in the offing, being laid out on the beach, consisting chiefly of turbot, sole, skate, cod, haddock, whiting, gurnard, &c. At the same time, great numbers of fish-women were walking about, each with her fish-basket in her hand. Their chief attention was directed to a kind of deemster or bailiff, who was provided with a long pole in his hand, painted in the Dutch style, of a deep blue colour, with a sort of ornamented and gilded head. This person, after collecting information as to the state of the cargoes brought to market, and taking all circumstances into view, fixes the price which the women are to pay to the fishermen, after the fish are laid out upon the sand; and his fiat is perfectly binding upon all parties, which saves much trouble, and induces a degree of smooth dealing, very different from the jarring noise of a Billingsgate market. Nothing is more common than for persons partially acquainted with the manners and customs of a people, to find fault with some of their best P maxims. Accordingly, I take to my self this reproof, with regard to the form and build of the Dutch fishing doggers, for till this morning I never understood the indispensable necessity of the very flat, and, to an English eye, uncouth and clumsy form of Dutch vessels. On this great range of coast, extending from Scheveling to the Helder, there is a succession of fishing towns, without a single harbour capable of receiving a vessel of almost any description. When the Dutch fisherman, therefore, arrives upon this coast with a cargo, he allows his vessel to take the ground, when she surges or is driven before the breakers or sea to high-water mark upon the beach. Being quite flat, she preserves an upright position, and is easily guided in the direction of the surf. Whereas such treatment to an English vessel would be certain destruction, as she would immediately be thrown upon her beam ends, her cargo turned topsy-turvy, and her hold soon filled with water. The prudent Dutchman, fitting his vessel to his harbour or coast, is quite at home, and perfectly at ease, under such circumstances. It would, therefore, be well for many who are disposed to sneer, if they first learn exactly how the land lies, instead of taking things on their first appear ance. In looking to the numerous lighthouses on this range of coast, as public establishments, one is both shocked and astonished to find how the commercial country of Holland is so far behind England in these maritime appointments, on which the navigator has so close a dependence. It appears, however, that the present minister of marine is now recommending some improvements in this important branch, and that he has actually got the lighthouse of Scheveling altered from a coal to an oil light, with reflectors; but the other lights which I have seen on this part of the coast consist merely of fires exposed in choffers. The very remarkable range of sandhills with which this coast is lined, as far as the eye can extend, is striking, and it is a matter of doubt and dispute among the learned at this day, whether they be natural or artificial productions. It humbly appears to me that they have originally been the embankments of the early settlers in Holland, formed at the usual height of other Dutch dikes, and were probably set down at a very considerable distance from the line of highwater mark of those days; but, as the sea appears every where to be making rapid progress upon the land, it has here advanced upon these dikes, now greatly increased in height, from the blowing of the sand. So strikingly observable is this encroachment of the sea, that the churches of Scheveling and Catwyke, said formerly to have stood in the middle of these villages, are now exposed to the wash of the sea in storins, and many of the inhabitants have had their houses to remove. As the weather was extremely hot, the thermometer standing in the shade at 60° at eight in the morning, the walk in returning to the Hague being about three miles, it was thought better to procure a carriage, which travelled at a rate far beyond what one would have expected from the appearance of the vehicle. After breakfasting at the Hague, the whole party set off to visit the Palace of the Wood, about two miles distant, which we found to be a fine old-fashioned house, a good deal modernized in the interior by the furniture and equipment of Louis Bonaparte. Its situation is upon low flat ground, which is every where intersected with cuts or ditches for the stagnant waters of the ground, which are also thickly coated with green matter. The Dutch seem to delight more in shrubbery and trees than is consistent with a free current of air. Their trees and shrubs are accordingly covered with thick foggage and parasitical plants. things most worthy of notice at the Palace in the Wood are the great painted saloon, and the suite of Chinese rooms, which are truly magnificent. These apartments owe their chief decorations to the Princes of Orange, but the modern furniture was brought from Paris by Louis Bonaparte, while the Dutch, with much frugality, took possession of all the royal palaces for the King of the Netherlands without alteration, and the present family uses the same furniture, nay, it is even said, the very bedding of the Bonapartes. To an English mind, considerations of this kind would have been very unpleasant, The i |
