IMITATED BY F. WRANGHAM. "Muse! thou who bidd'st young Genius sweep the shell, Ne'er be I shameless renegade from thee! We will here put a final period to our selections from these poetical fragments. We can easily imagine that the mere scholar and man of taste could desire no pleasanter companion on a summer's day, than the "Arundines" would prove to him, whether he were resolved to pass it upon the mountainside or in the peaceful vale. For our own part, we are free to confess that we should derive far more pleasure from a volume of sacred poetry, even if it were executed with power much feebler, and with less of poetic talent. How much does poetry lose, which is not pervaded by the life-giving truths of the Gospel! Let any one who can doubt this turn from such volumes as those to which we have referred, in which there are to be found many poems rich in successive images-sacrifices, so to speak, of blissful thoughts to the Penates; let him turn from these, say we, to such exquisite lines as breathe through almost every page of the "Christian Year," and such an one will at once apprehend our meaning. Even Robert Burns seems to have had some dim notices of the truth at which we have here briefly hinted, for he was right, even on the low ground of mere sensibility, when he resolved that he would deeply imbue the minds of his children with religion; for, by so doing, should his son prove a man of feeling and of taste, he was persuaded that he should be adding largely to his sources of happiness. What Christian man is there, or woman either, who does not more than sympathize with the partially developed sentiment of the Scottish bard? What Christian is there that does not feel the stirring, yet soothing influence of sacred poetry, which is really such? And who is there that, feeling this, is not disposed to rank it very highly in the short list of earthly resources which tend to enliven and to cheer the soul, and which leave with us a "joy for memory?” To speak of the late Archdeacon as he deserves to be spoken of, as a scholar, in the full sense of the word, would require as much as could be rendered at the hands of any of his surviving contemporaries, and the exertion of a mightier and more discriminating judgment than many will easily be found to possess. And yet, when we have said it is universally allowed that his learning, while it was of the most refined, was also of the most solid character, and various withal beyond that of most men of his time-when we have added that, in point of elegance, none can be said to have surpassed, very few to have equalled him for he caught a grace wherever it was to be had, from the purest sources, and noted beauties with a very nice discernment-we apprehend that little more remains to be remarked, that is to say, in general terms, which could tend to advance his fame, unless we should add that his attainments in the Latin and Greek languages not only excited the admiration of Dr. Parr, but extorted from him the expression of no slight and languid commendation. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that the classical scholar and the man of letters should lament his loss as one which will not be presently supplied; so extensive and so various being the extent of his erudition. To adopt the beautiful words of a bright ornament of the English Church, when speaking of another who was scarcely less eminent, also gone to his reward "He belonged to a school of attic elegance, which is declining amongst us a school of men who studied the classics, not as a means by which to obtain distinction-not merely to acquire, in the knowledge of another language, a key to fresh mental acquirements, but for their own sweetness. These were men whose whole spirit breathed of classical refinement. The bustle of our busy age, its hard and unpoetical features, seeking in everything immediate utility, exalting science above literature, and the lower and more productive provinces of science above that which is more abstruse and intellectual, are altogether unfavourable to the production of such characters. That so few of them remain is one of the worst signs of our literary taste." As an English scholar, the late Archdeacon was to be placed, without any doubt, in the highest class. What Lord Dudley so truly observed of Mr. Fox's oratory, may, with greater truth, be applied to the composition of him of whom we speak, viz., “that it was of that chaste argumentative sort, that it could only be addressed with success to an educated and intelligent audience;" so great was the loftiness and simplicity of his mind and the extreme delicacy of his taste. There is another Archdeacon, not to mention the present Archdeacon of Surrey, whose powers have barely attained to their meridian-Archdeacon Hare-but whose name has been more than once associated by men of eminence with that of Mr. Wrangham, as being also one of the greatest masters of the English tongue of which this island can boast. There are many amongst our readers, we doubt not, who are familiar with his beautiful sermons and charges, as well as with those of his brother Augustus, of kindred excellence, though wanting in power of thought, and yet only when compared with the writings of his elder brother. We would not, however, advise our readers to adopt his mode of spelling, however consonant it may be said to be to the genius of our language; for we feel assured that the attempt to introduce it, as it has hitherto failed, so it will also fail in the end, and that even the distinguished name of Julius Hare will prove insufficient to recommend it. We do not say this because we are prejudiced in the least against the writings of this distinguished man-the very reverse would be nearer to the truth; we are able, we trust, in some degree, to taste and appreciate their excellence; and "once and again" have we hung with delight over that preface to the last but one of his valuable charges, where he dwells with such evident affection and touching simplicity upon the private, as well as the episcopal, character of the late lamented and excellent Bishop of Chichester.* When we turn to look at the late Archdeacon Wrangham, in the character of a divine, we would remark, that those who are familiar with his writings cannot have failed to note the gradual progress of his mind from barren orthodoxy, to a scriptural view of the way of salvation. His discourses, it has been justly said, were distinguished by scriptural soundness and mild benevolence, while the gentleness and modest timidity of his nature, in some measure, disqualified him for breaking up the fallow ground of uncultivated fields, as well as for setting forward so prominently and strikingly as is now, we are happy to be witnesses, very generally done, those particular truths of the everlasting Gospel in which he was a firm believer through life, and to which he clung as his ground of confidence in the calm decay of his later years. We feel sure that his later sermons, did we possess them, would be found to confirm what we have said; and if we may not look for some account of his life, just because it was so quiet and retiring (the very reason which would make us prize it the more), may we not indulge the hope, that as his later unpublished charges and sermons would be enough to make more than one volume of considerable size, the time will not be long before they will be given to the world? * Dr. Otter. Our readers will, in a great measure, be able to gather, from the foregoing remarks, how deeply he must have been valued and regarded in the quiet circle in which he delighted, and in which it was his lot to move. There were few subjects on which he did not touch, and there was no subject which he touched that he did not adorn. "Nihil tetiget quod non ornavit," should, in truth, have been his motto. Who is there that has ever been permitted to gaze upon the portrait now hanging before us, and to note, as such an one must have noted, the peculiarly delicate form of those temples, the subdued brightness of the eyes beneath, the gentle compression of the well-formed lips, and the mild benevolence that crowned the whole-without at once recognizing in the faithful representative the earthly image of one, whose mind, powerful by nature, and wrought by judicious culture to the finest edge, must have been qualified to excel, in his particular line, almost without a rival? His span was prolonged beyond that of the common lot of man: his sun cannot seem to have "gone down while it was yet day," who was permitted to number so many years.* Life, at such a period, may seem to drop, "like the ripe and mellow fruit of autumn, from the bending tree; and we reconcile ourselves the more easily to the event, because it has taken place in its most natural season." How selfish and earthly are the hearts that would, with a foolish fondness, desire to retain those loved ones in this vale of tears, whom we as firmly trust dismiss their spirits only to merge them into the brightness of celestial vision. Just so it was, we believe, with him who has been so recently removed; and we cannot, perhaps, bring this somewhat lengthened notice of his life and writings more appropriately to a close, than by citing the concluding lines of his own beautiful poem on the "Raising of the Daughter of Jairus” :-"Their mortal clay, resign'd in heavenly forms, Shall rise, resplendent as the summer's sun, Even in his mid-day lustre: and with bliss, O'er paying years of bitterest agony, Hear the glad accents: Faithful servants, come, LIBRARY ATW "He died at his residence at Chester on the 27th of December, 1842, in the 74th year of his age. His funeral was attended by the amiable and excellent Bishop of Chester, whom he had intimately known for so many years." 86 ART. V.-An Essay on the Philosophical Evidence of Christianity; or the Credibility obtained to a Scriptural Revelation, from its Coincidence with the Facts of Nature. By the Rev. R. D. HAMPDEN, M.A. London: Murray. 1827. 2. The Use and Abuse of Party Feeling in matters of Religion, considered in Eight Sermons. Being the Bampton Lecture for 1822. By R. WHEATLY, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. Third Edition. London: Longman. 1839. 3. Sermons. By T. ARNOLD, D.D., Head Master of Rugby School. Five Vols. 1832-42. Rivingtons, and Fellowes. TO study the most probable means of recommending truth, both human and divine, to the minds of men, is a task worthy of the highest wisdom, and a duty imperatively binding on all who assume the office of instructing others. It is clear that the beauty of truth excites no love in the breasts of many. This is, no doubt, in a great measure, because, while pointing to some vice in themselves which must be renounced, or to some interest which must be foregone, she necessarily appears to wear an aspect of sternness and severity. But is it not also undeniable, that she is made, by some of her advocates, to assume a forbidding expression, which is not her own? It is generally confessed that the obstacles to the reception of truth, arising from the inattention, the prejudices, and the passions of men, are manifold, and difficult to surmount. But, after all, those prejudices and passions are not sufficiently regarded, with the practical purpose of overcoming their resistance or eluding their force. It is not duly remembered that their action may be either aggravated by abrupt and injudicious assaults, or nullified by avoiding all direct collision. Men who are convinced, and justly so, that they are in the right, are apt to be too easily satisfied that they have done their duty if they have stated the truth faithfully and plainly. If it is rejected, they are content to set this to the account of their opponent's perverseness, without considering whether they themselves are not chargeable with some error or defect, which has interfered with the natural effect of their statements. Zeal and honesty in a disputant are not alone sufficient to justify a reasonable hope of success. By themselves these virtues will prompt him to the eager and direct pursuit of his end, without adequate reflection on the means by which it is most likely to be attained. It is necessary that the active force of these principles should be regulated by wisdom, which will regard, not only the importance of the end to be gained, but also the peculiar character of those persons who are to be influenced; and will exact from the teacher of truth, |