little sayings and doings together in a most irregular way, and without the slightest adherence to form, or order; but the fact is, I write merely from memory, and just as the thoughts occur. As to the simple facts themselves, you may rely on them; and as to the rest, if I have given you a tolerable idea of the man I have been endeavouring to sketch, it is of little consequence whether I begin with his head or his heels. "Should it be considered that I have not entered into this man's character so much as might have been expected, considering the frequent opportunities I have of seeing him; let it be remembered that I do not understand one syllable of the Persian language, and that the Mirza's knowledge of ours extends not beyond a few familiar phrases which he learnt during his passage to England. It is true that I sometimes request Sir Gore Ouseley or Mr. Morier to tell me what the Mirza is saying, but good breeding, and indeed common decorum, brings these questions and interruptions within such narrow limits, that it is but rarely I venture to ask for an explanation of that which I am so anxious to learn. "A circumstance has just come into my recollection, which certainly ought not to be omitted. On the third or fourth day of the Ambassador's arrival, the Turkish Ambassador paid him a visit. 'What are you about?' cries the Turk. I am writing English!' Writing English! why you have scarcely been here three days, whilst I have been in England seven years, and know not a syllable of the language, or how to form even a single letter.' "Thanks to Mr. J. Morier's kind attention and instruction, the Mirza writes daily copies that would do credit to any boy of twelve or fourteen. So much for the Persian Ambassador. Whatever more I can collect concerning him that is worth notice, you shall have it.-Adieu." Mr. URBAN, A Jan. 14. LOVE for those pursuits in which you have so long been eminent was my inducement to take up Polydore Vergil; and the following is, with a few additions, an abstract of his "Brief Commentary on the Lord's Prayer." After blaming, in his Letter of Dedication to the Bishop of Rochester, the substitution of incredible legends of Saints for this Prayer, he mentions "that his present subject was made choice of, though there had been similar Commentaries by Cyprian, Augustin, and others, from a hope that, since we most readily assemble thoughts that are our own, on future occasions of using the prayer, those most sacred truths which it contains might imbue the writer's mind.London, Nov. 5, 1524. G. Mathew." The place where prayers should be usually offered, " in secret,” “in our closet," seems fixed in order to apprize us of the likeliest way, as well as absolute necessity, of collecting the full vigour of our souls before we address the great Discerner of the heart. Let us be mindful how many there are in every land, of every denomination, whom, in the very first words of this prayer, we own brethren; for all are God's children: all have a federal right to call him Father, who have received his Christ to them bath he given " power to become the Sons of God." May we never forget, amid the disquietudes of this stage of wrong, that Heaven in which our treasures and our hearts should be! We were early received into his visible Church in the Name' of God. How do we dishonour it, when we break our baptismal vow! Surely, against using it heedlessly or wantonly, least of all to warrant a lie, no additional check should be wanting. That first object of seeking "the kingdom of God," begins to come in us when, through sanctification of the Holy Ghost, He lives and reigns in our souls. Be the watchword in our struggle with sin, “ Ipherit the kingdom prepared from the beginning of the world." The most entirely our own, the most arduous of all sacrifices is that of the will, a principle variable, conflicting, headstrong; yet the petition, "Thy Will be done!" renounces it, unless conformed to God's will. Blessed exchange (let us exclaim), of a blind disordered leader, for an allcheering resignation! of earth, for wise guide! of bitter constraint, for heaven! It is intimated that our prayer should ascend daily, by no more than "our daily bread" being asked for. It is of three kinds: 1st, The word of God, that bread which came down from Heaven, and makes the partakers immortal. 2dly, Sacramental bread, The food and sustenance of the body, the sign of union with Christ. Sdly, for which we depend on our heavenly Father, and having earned which we should be content. Ere Ere we trust our lips with the next request, let us pause try our hearts, for dreadful is the condemnation in which it involves the unforgiving. Let us weigh it, that we may bless the royal law that knits mankind in mutual charity, that giveth light to the sim ple, like the Sun of the moral System, bringing forth, fostering, and perfecting all that is good. We next pray that God, who has placed us in this state of probation, would not suffer us to be led into temp. tation which we do not overcome. Fore-armed then, as well as forewarned, should we be against the thousand varying snares that, from every sense and every passion,continually beset our path. Greater than he that is against us, and abundantly able to "deliver from" the power of our adversary the "Evil" one, is "He that is with us." To Him, therefore, in conclusion, we justly ascribe, as "the honour due unto his name," "the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever und ever;" repeating emphatically, as it were, and reinforcing the heartiness of our wishes and the sincerity of our faith, through out every petition, by the final Amen. Bury St. Edmund's, Jan. 14. Mr. URBAN, Nanswer to C. L. (Vol. LXXXIX. mode of producing germination in exotic seeds," and feeling a strong desire to know the result of chemical experiments, as conuected with Botany, I beg to refer your numerous readers to the following quotation from "Principles of Botany and of Vegetable Physiology," by Professor Willdenow, "Edin. 1811." "It has long been known that every plant affects its own particular soil, and that on this account seeds do not germinate in all kinds of soil; at least they soon decay in a disadvantageous one. Various trials have been made to make seeds germinate in various matters, different from the usual earths. Sukkow made plants grow in pounded fluar of lime and barytes. Bonnet made plants grow iu saw dust, slips of paper, cotton, and even an old book. That cress (lepidium sativum) ger. minates upon a piece of woollen cloth, is a well-known fact. M. Humboldt's experiments to make seeds germinate in metallic oxyds, especially the red oxyd of lead, red massicot, &c. are more instruct ive. In powder of coal and sulphur, seeds germinated likewise very well. He found that oxygen proved an extreme stimulus to plants, and that without it they never can be brought to germinate. On this account germination went on 'quickly in meoil, on the contrary, carbon, hydrogen, tallic oxyds, especially in minium. In in the filings of lead, iron and copper, as well as in powdered molybdene and in alkalis, no one seed germinated. It soon occurred to him, that with oxygen as a stimulant, he might forcibly make seeds germinate faster; and he actually found, that at the temperature of 20° Reaum. all seeds vegetated most rapidly when steeped in oxymuriatic acid. One instance alone will suffice. The seeds of Lepidium sativum germinated after six or seven hours, when put into oxymuriatic acid; whereas, when lying in common water, they required from 36 to 38 hours. In a letter, dated Feb. 1801, he writes to me, that in Vienna they derived much benefit from the discovery of this fact, and that seeds, 20 or 30 years old, brought from the Bahama Islands, Madagascar, &c. which constantly refused to germinate, very readily in this way vegetated and profully. As every gardener cannot obtain the oxymuriatic acid, Mr. Humboldt proposes a very easy method to procure it without difficulty. He took a cubic inch of water, a tea-spoonful of common muriatic acid, two tea-spoonfuls of oxyd of manganese; mixed it, and placed the duced plants which grew up very success seeds in them. The whole was now allowed to digest with a heat of 18-30 In this the seeds germinated excellently; but it is necessary to take the seeds out as soon as the corkle appears. That the seeds are not injured by the acid, been treated in this way, under the inspecis proved by the many plants which have tion of Mr. Jacquin, and in which vegetation went on extremely well. "It is the oxygen of the atmosphere which stimulates the seeds to germination; and this explains at once the experiment of Mr. Achard, why plants vegetate faster in very compressed air, than in air in its common state. "Besides oxygen, ammonia favours the germination of seeds: hence, they germidung, which, therefore, serves as manure. nate almost immediately, when placed in Cow-dung, we know, consists of muriatic acid and ammonia. In fluids which conThus, they never germinate in oil, which tain no oxygen, seeds will not germinate. consists of hydrogen and carbon." The preceding observations may induce some of your correspondents to exercise their patience and ability towards effecting the germination of foreign seeds, in which case, should " May come and go, so unapprov'd, and "No spot or blame behind." [leave Paradise Lost, Book V. Lines 117, 118, 119. Admitting the maxim, so far as relates to man, (for as far as it relates to the sovereign mind, it is not strictly correct, and appears somewhat dero gatory from the idea of the divine perfection); admitting it, then, with this limitation, some allowance may be made for the assertion. Yet is there probably no part in the whole system of practical and moral duty of higher importance than the proper regulation of the thoughts. In this, perhaps we may truly say, consists a main branch of self-government. Thoughts may indeed be generally considered as the master-springs of human action. No one who has paid due attention to the operation of the mental faculties, can fail to have observed the tendency of the human mind to expatiate on the wings of imagination, in a manner independent on external circumstances. Many a thought, which, at its first rise, wears the appearance of a slight suggestion, depends for its confirmation on the reception it meets with at the moment of its origin. The question may be fairly said to turn on the single point of assent or dissent, of indulgence or dismissal, whether it shall assume the more decided character of a principle of conduct, and thereby produce that course of action, towards which it is calculated to excite our inclination. Here it is to be lamented, that the influential tendency of every such mental suggestion, if it be of an evil nature, is often not a little strengthened by its assailing us in some point already weakened by our predominant disposition, confirmed as that often is by the force of habitual indulgence. Thus, the voluptuary is led (without guarding what may be justly consi dered as the first avenue to action) to entertain the complation of some licentious and orbidden pleasure; the ambitious man to engage in some scheme for the attainment of worldly greatness; the avaricious one in some plan of exorbitant gain; the envious in some unlawful endeavour to supplant his imagined rival; the ma licious and revengeful, in some pur pose of hostility to the subject of his displeasure. Shakspeare, that exquisite master of the science of human nature, in the able delineation he bas afforded us of the workings of guilty ambition, bas greatly heightened the effect of his noblest drama, by exhibiting in the character of Banquo the feelings of a well-principled mind: while Macbeth, the guilty hero of his piece, according to the confession put into his mouth by the poet, yields "to that suggestion, "Whose horrid image should unfix his hair, "And make his seated heart knock at his Against the use of nature." [ribs While Lady Macbeth, too, is represented as invoking "all the murderous Ministers that wait on Nature's mischief, to unsex her, and fill her from the crown to the toe, top full of direst cruelty, &c. to enable her to execute her lawless scheme of violence, how forcible is the impression made on the mind of the reader or spectator, in favour of the amiable character above referred to, who is exhibited to us, as resolved" to lose" no honour in seeking to augment it, but still to "keep his" bosom fran. chis'd, and allegiance clear! And bow highly is the portrait finished, by our Author's exhibition of him, when about to retire to rest, as offering up the pious ejaculation, "Merciful Powers! "Restrain in me the cursed thoughts, which "Gives way to in repose." [Nature Thus, we find him not trusting in his own strength, but seeking help from above, to assist him in the government of his mind. On the same principle that, as Christians, we are taught to deprecate evil suggestions, we should make it the object of our supplication to the great Father of Spirits, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, that he may inspire us with the contrary dis positions, and make us ready to every good work. In that excellent devotional composition, well known by the name of the Evening Hymn (see Spectator, vol. viii.), we find both these sentiments admirably expressed, in the petition, When in the night I sleepless lie, "My soul with heavenly thoughts supply; "Let no ill dreams disturb my rest, No powers of darkness me molest." &c. Now, forasmuch as he, who would wish w, foraire the truest freedom of action, should learn to govern his thoughts, for which purpose nothing appears better suited than, in the first place, to become as far as possible acquainted with his own prevailing disposition of mind; perhaps no better plan can be suggested for the adoption of any person whose situation and circumstances afford him opportunity to put it in practice, than that of fre quently committing them to paper, in seasons of retirement and leisure, and, after proper intervals, reading them. Those which, on an attentive reperusal, conducted with a due referrence to the sound principles of natural and revealed religion, he finds no reason to reject or disavow, let bim retain and cherish, erasing any which he then perceives will not stand the full test of such further scrutiny. Let him in the repeated exercise of this species of examination, be careful not to spare what he has thus set down, out of any regard to its having been originally his own. This occasional exercise of those nobler powers of his nature, reason and conscience, will then have a growing tendency to promote every good inclination, to pre-occupy the mind with pure and upright principles, to correct any habits or propensities which stand opposed to virtuous practice, to remove the obnoxious shades of self-love, to subdue the swellings of pride, to silence the suggestions of envy, to resist the baneful influence of vanity, and dispel the luring visions of ambition. The clouds excited by prejudice and passion will gradually vanish before the pure light of just reflection; and trath, like the morning sun, beaming with genuine lustre on his soul, will direct him to the habitual "choice of that which is good, and to the refusal of that which is evil." So may he learn to keep his heart with all diligence," remembering that "out of it are the issues of life." So may he render the present state of his exist- Mr. URBAN, Feb. 4. Missions from this of religious HE great extent deserves attention by every friend to the universal spread of the Gospel. They are conducted by persons well selected for this important purpose, by the ancient Societies for propa gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts,for promoting Christian Knowledge; by the Church Missionary Society, by the Wesleyan Methodists, by the United Brethren, by the Moravians, by the Baptists, by the Calvinists, and by the Independents; these all rank under the denomination of Protestants, both of the Church of England and also of Dissenters: but the union The Church of Rome also sends forth in this cause is proved by their effects. her servants for the same ends of conversion, although they take perhaps a different mode to produce it. I believe there is no part of the civilized globe where the Missionaries are not well received, except in the Turkish dominions. to these measures by the sanction and The accession aid of the Emperor of all the Russias, has carried the communications of glad tidings to the deserts of Siberia. The secluded empire of China and Tartary has at length been induced to permit the printing and circulation of the Scriptures and of religious Tracts into their interior country, where, within 15 years since, the Chinese printers and teachers were punished with wearing the great cangue and banishment for life. The establishment of an English Bishop at Calcutta has greatly served this cause, and given personal encouragement to the efforts of the officers of the British and Company's army, who have accompanied all their conquests with religious instruction ;-the prejudice of Caste has been broken,-infanticide has been almost abolished,-buman sacrifice has been annulled,—and the idol destructions of the Jaghurnaut, and the voluntary deaths of the followers of a chieftain, have been re called; called; and in some places, the strongest efforts have been applied to abolish the self-sacrifice of a surviving wife on the funeral pile of her deceased husband! In Asia, in Africa, and in America,—in the islands of the great Atlantic, idolatry has been attacked by these Messengers of Peace, who have succeeded in casting down her altars stained with the blood of her victims, and raising upon their ruins the pure devotion of Jesus of Nazareth. Wherever we turn our eyes over these records of truth, a divine though unseen hand has conducted and protected its servants, and led them to persevere through the sharpest personal difficulties, through fatigue, through danger, through want of supplies and accommodation, through opposition and insult on the one hand, and persecution on the other, until they have established the true faith throughout the remotest regions, and under the most barren and unfruitful auspices! and where human efforts alone must have been abortive! I am persuaded that these hints are sufficient to induce your Readers to turn to some of the papers to which I have alluded, where they will rejoice in the active measures for the spread of the word of truth. As these measures are intimately connected with the established and tolerated Religion of the united king dom, a plan has been suggested for forming a general meeting upon the subject, on some particular day in the year, to implore the Divine aid and sanction to these efforts. To these laudable efforts it must be remarked that the greater part, if not all, of the Societies above mentioned, either on their own account, or in connection with the British and Foreign Bible Society, have distributed immense numbers of copies in 126 different languages and dialects, of the Holy Scriptures. So that whereever the Missionary has journeyed, the Sacred Word is his leading companion, and which has given him a support among both Jews and Gentiles in all parts of the world;-they have thus together civilized the savage, and subdued the morose and selfish,modulated the brutish, and taught the ignorant; they have ameliorated the social-adorned the polished, and shown the way of Truth -- to the philosopher as well as the peasant: the consolations of the Gospel of Peace have planted hope in the despairing heart,-have shut the door against the murmurs of Infi. delity, and have given the soothing balm of resignation to adversity! It has become "the seat of Light and Peace, and Christian Union." Surely we may hope, with bumble confidence, that the hand of Divine Providence is with us in these united endeavours to extend the blessings of peace to all parts of the world, preparing the human mind for the great events which are daily nearer approaching, when mankind will see their happiest and best interests, and know that their universal happiness, even in this life, is, and ever has been, the beneficent dispensation of their God and Saviour! A circumstance every where occurs in the correspondences, which manifests a general union of mind to receive all the instruction thus offered; for in every place the people are stated to apply with eagerness for copies, and with great solicitude to hear the addresses of the Missionaries. God has thus opened the hearts of the most obdurate, and encouraged them to listen to the Sacred Word of life. What may not be effectually done, when accompanied with power from on high! Personal and pecuniary difficulties, not common to other undertakings, have been felt and overcome in these; ardour and alacrity have sprung forward to effect their divine instrumentality, wholly devoid of self-interest, and free from all worldly fame. All persuasions and sects, lay and ecclesiastical, Jew, Christian, Catholick, and Protestant, have all united in this glorious cause the stern Deist and the Christian believer will not long be suffered to remain apart; and the Atheist, if there be such, or the Infidel of every degree, will soon be led to acknowledge the light that irradiates the joy of forgiveness upon his heart!-Thus shall be rejoice with joy unspeakable to view the day When it is considered that from Constance alone, 30,000 Catholic New Testaments have been issued, some judgment may be formed of the extent to which the general distribution has been carried.Bib. Soc. Rep. |
