and execution, and defer a more extended analysis until the whole is completed.

None who have seen Mr. Hanbury's former publications, especially his invaluable edition of Hooker, would have wished the honourable task devolved upon him, to have been placed in other hands; and for our own parts, we are free to acknowledge that his work, so far as it has been proceeded with, rather exceeds than falls short of our expectations. We have to congratulate all parties on the appearance of this portion of it-the committee, under whose auspices it is published-the large and influential denomination to whose affairs it relates-and especially the worthy and indefatigable author himself. We have here the result of more than the viginti annorum lucubrationes. He has realised whatever might have been expected from his well known industry and various erudition, combined with great honesty of purpose, much critical ingenuity, the utmost fairness and candour towards opponents, and profound sympathy with the CAUSE, and its many martyrs. It should be remembered, that this enterprise has been accomplished, (gratuitously we believe,) by one whom no alma mater' has nourished, and whom no university has delighted to honour-by an individual actively engaged in the bustle of life, and still more busily occupied in the self-denying labours of Christian zeal-and it has been accomplished, we regret to add, under the pressure of a sad domestic affliction, to which, with a full and smitten heart, the author so tenderly alludes in his preface.

Every page attests the qualities we have referred to, and although we may regret the lack of a severer logic in the use of his materials, we must regard the author's design-and it would have been most unjust to have insisted on other and higher excellencies, to have required in addition to these rare and sterling merits, that our accomplished Dissenting antiquarian should have illumined his work by original generalization, and enriched it by richer wit and eloquence. It must be left to some future Gibbon of the nonconformists, to exercise his philosophy and fancy in arranging and adorning these amply collected stores. As the committee may not be disposed to wait for the spontaneous appearance of this phenomenon, perhaps they will enhance the value of the work, by offering a reward for the best essay upon it, after the much approved fashion of encouraging latent genius. The fact is, the book abounds with the very excellencies which some will affect to desiderate in it-being enriched, beyond any historic work we know of, on a purely sectarian subject, with some of the choicest, as well as most curious specimens of wit, eloquence, poetry, and philosophy, selected from an infinite variety of sources, with wonderful patience and ingenuity.

We can, therefore, assure those of our readers who may consider the field of Mr. Hanbury's labours exhausted by his prede

cessors, that the volume is replete with novel and important matter, of the highest interest to men of every creed who care for the Bible, and to men of every party who relish true learning.

It is not our intention to indulge in mere eulogium; we shall be as free to notify defects as we have been to speak of merits.

Mr. Hanbury's first object seems to have been to let the early witnesses for Independency explain their own doctrines, and his second to accompany their statements, by a running commentary of historical and critical illustrations. The design is simple enough, and in our opinion the execution corresponds with the design. That he has produced what is called a readable book, we will not pretend to assert, but he has worked out his own idea, and accomplished his own purpose, which is more than can be alleged on behalf of one in a hundred writers. Whatever merit a performance may have, its author only deserves credit so far as he has realized his own conception, or when the specific performance shall be found answerable to the given undertaking.

'In every work regard the writer's end;

Since none can compass more than they intend.'

Few can compass what they intend; but those who do may be said to have succeeded, whatever the absolute value of their performance. Bearing in mind another distich of the same sage poet, who recommends us to

Read each work of wit

With the same spirit that its author writ.'—

a piece of advice not less applicable to works like the present, than to those directly alluded to; let us measure the execution by the design, and then ascertain the correctness of the design and the fidelity displayed in accomplishing it.

Such being the author's purpose, the book before us is rather a continuous abstract from a series of memorials, profusely illustrated, than an historical epitome or dogmatic relation of their subject matter; and is therefore properly entitled 'Memorials,' although neither a mere commentary or a mere register, but a blending of both by the introduction of times, persons, and actions-in other words, by giving the memorials relating to this extraordinary sect, a historical character. To history, properly speaking, the work can make no pretensions, because it is the business of such a writer to tell the story himself, in his own proper person-to be himself the chronicler of the time, the biogra pher of the person, and the relater of the event. If the author's design had been strictly historical, or, to speak more correctly, if the legitimate history of the body had been the author's object;

VOL. VI.

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his work might have been comprised in a tithe of the space necessarily allotted to the present undertaking, simply because the substance of such a work could not, in artistical hands, occupy a tithe of the bulk of its concrete material.

Although history proper' is almost the highest of literary enterprises, it does not convey so lively an impression as some of its inferior branches. We learn more by having the matter presented in detail than by having it in its essential and philosophical form. There is less difficulty and more interest in the one than in the other. Mr. Hanbury's book, although of a composite character, will be found to possess this interest to all who will take the trouble of perusing it carefully. He has best consulted his own object, and his own powers, by dealing with his multifarious materials in an antiquarian rather than in a historical spirit; not resolving them into their elemental or abstract shapes, but giving them to us in their wholeness and entirety as he found them, only breaking them up with a view to arrangement, and not attempting to recast them. So far as is possible, therefore, (and even to a greater extent than was perhaps desirable,) he presents the reader with the identical sayings and doings of the successive witnesses for the Congregational polity, not with his own notions about them-and collects from hundreds of other works whatever others may have said or done by way of illustration. For such a work an author must be allowed ample room and verge enough' -it could not be comprised in a nutshell.

It is almost needless to remark, that while the accomplishment of such a task requires extraordinary diligence on the part of the writer, the just appreciation of his labour will require exemplary patience on the part of his reader. As the learned Dr. Taylor has observed, the reader will be considerably disappointed, if he 'looks for entertainment without the expense of attention.' To all who relish antiquarian pursuits, a work executed in the spirit we have referred to, possesses innumerable charms; and we have known men with a more direct and disquisitional turn of mind, soon acquire a taste like those which for such researches contain so much suggestive matter to a reflective mind. There is an indescribable gratification felt by all students of the graver sort in having pondered over and mastered books of exact and copious learning, with a brimming text and numberless notes and references, that seem to maintain an endless quarrel with each other for the possession of the author's page, or the reader's eye. Nor can we bring ourselves to believe that there are fewer students of this class now than formerly; on the contrary we are rather disposed to believe there are more now than ever. Such men will duly prize a volume which contains so many goodly relics of the olden time, congenially and elaborately presented and bestowed. But when great utility is combined with great interest-when it is the

progress of civil and religious liberty that we are thus minutely tracing in the words and works of its first assertors and earliest pleaders-when it is the cause of Christian truth that we are thus watching as it gradually evolves itself from error, we cannot doubt that our author with such views and with such subjects, will be cheered, and his work heartily and generously appreciated.

Having said thus much of our author's design, and glanced at the mode in which it has been executed, we shall proceed to give our readers a taste of the work itself. The suggestive matter which it contains with regard to the Congregational polity— the moral effect of the system, historically considered, in teaching self-government in religion, and leading to self-government in politics-and with regard to the voluntary principle which is its de facto offspring-whose basis is established in the right of private judgment, and which would, if Christians had relied upon it, have effected a safer and infinitely more complete reformation in this kingdom than that which Henry the Eighth achieved at such cost-must be reserved, as we have previously hinted, to another, and, we trust, not distant, opportunity.

The preface naturally attracts our first attention. Short and simple as it is, there is an air of emotion about it, a blending of modesty with self-confidence, such as might have been expected, and such as every ingenuous mind will appreciate. We could almost write an article on the proper way of reading a preface! Few sympathize, and fewer still are capable of sympathy, with an author who is just on the point of ushering upon a cold and careless world, the work which has long been his laborious but favorite task-with an author whose 'task' is smoothly done,' all but the penning of a few prefatory sentences. We can; and knowing what a work is before us, we read the preface in the spirit in which it must have been written. All efforts to please or to instruct, within the vast range of art, must, we are aware, stand or fall by themselves-but we should like to see a more generous tone prevailing-a more lively sympathy on the part of the world (and the church is just as cold and careless as the world for this matter,) when an individual comes before them with an honest view, in manliness and modesty, to amuse or edify them. This utter callousness of heart in judging of these efforts, of whatever kind, is, we must maintain, by no means so characteristic of professed critics, as it is of mere readers, or mere hearers, or mere spectators, of those who never in their lives made any attempt at such efforts as they are so free to be severe upon. There is enough, in all conscience, of the idolatry of intellect amongst us; but there is little, if any, of the respect for, or appreciation of honest effort, amongst us. We need be at no pains to patronize the geniuses whose performances compel the instantaneous ho

mage of all-but we should be better critics if we measured the productions of mere ordinary men, by the amount of effort they cost. Whatever the earnest performance, be it a picture, or a book, or even a sermon, let the reader stay his judgment until he has put himself in the author's position, and we will answer for it that his judgment will be all the sounder. He will, of course, after such a digression as we have indulged in, on the art of reading prefaces, (although Mr. Hanbury's stands in no need of such a round-about, deprecatory apology,) not object to accompany us back to the one before us.

The project and its execution,' says our author, are entirely his own. Trained to prize civil liberty, of all earthly acquisitions the next to religious freedom, he renders his homage to the Father of Lights,' and rejoices in having drawn from their long night of repose, treasures inestimable, retaining the charms of pristine freshness; relics of mind and conduct in by-gone ages, and testimonies of superior wisdom, though not always of perfect sobriety.'

After alluding to the desirableness of a historical collectionCorpus Historicum-adequate in all respects to the present and 'increasing importance of the Christian denomination to which the author is confirmed in his attachment, after a systematic scrutiny more persevering than perhaps any other layman ever engaged in '-which he properly notes to be even yet a deficiency in ecclesiastical literature'-the plan upon which he has proceeded is thus referred to.

The plan whereon the work is executed thus far, and on which it will be proceeded with, is that which admits of compliance with the dramatic writers,-distingue tempora, et conciliabis Scripturas. Words and deeds disposed in the closest connexion with what occasioned them; the exact and nearest succession of events; being the most natural and regular, must ordinarily present the best means of arriving at a correct judgment in relation to them. Accordingly so much of what is original and documentary, whether amicable or hostile, is here placed when practicable, in immediate vicinity. Hence they who are dead yet speak for themselves; and if all they spake to purpose be not adduced, the deficiency is one which could not be supplied."

The design, we believe, is novel-at least we are not aware of any work which supplies us with excerpts and abstracts from the fathers and founders of this particular polity.

Before giving a sample of the execution, we shall quote the continuing paragraph from the preface.

So far the author-for he has endured all the labours of authorship is secure in his self-approbation; but that he has never erred