rits, and humbly confessing your own unworthiness and many frailties."-Pp. 28, 29.

After noticing the vagueness of this address, Mr. B. proceeds:

But this is not the only point in which your address lies open to objection. I have another charge to bring against it, of still more grave and serious import. THERE

IS A TOTAL OMISSION EVEN OF THE MOST DISTANT ALLUSION TO THE GREAT DOCTRINES OF THE ATONEMENT AND MEDIATION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESU'S CHRIST. What was the practical effect which the "consciousness of his sins' was to have upon this unhappy man? It was not to impress upon his mind the salutary conviction, that without an interest in bis Saviour's merits, there could be no salvation for him; it was not to lead him with penitential sorrow to the foot of the cross for pardon and for peace; it was not to direct him to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world; but it was to induce him to cast himself upon the uncovenanted mercies of God, without ever reminding him, that he had incurred a debt which he was unable to discharge, and that the curse of the broken law hung over his devoted head, and would inevitably consign him to everlasting perdition, unless he could without delay obtain an interest in that vicarious sacrifice, which is the only sure foundation of the sinner's hope.-Pp. 30, 31.

Mr. W. appears to come forward as the decided advocate of card-playing, dancing, and theatrical exhibitions. On the subject of card-playing, Mr. Browne refers to the seventy-fifth Canon. On dancing and theatrical exhibitions, he refers to Gilpin's Dialogues and Pearson's Life of Hey, with the extracts from which we must conclude the present article.

"Is all company that are well dressed, promiscuously admitted? or, admitted on the introduction of nobody can tell who? Is there no vying in dress, and ornament, and fashion? Are no card-tables introduced? Are suppers, and drinking, and late hours excluded? While you are dancing, or carding, or drinking above stairs, is any care taken of your poor servants below? Are they left to saunter about inn-yards and tap-houses, to get into bad company; or, not knowing what to do with themselves, to debauch one another? Unless you can answer me rationally on all these heads, I shall never suffer any clergyman, over whom I have inAuence, to attend any of these meetings. It

may be difficult perhaps to prevent the layman from filling the heads of his sons and daughters with dress, and vanity, and folly, and intrigue, and all the impertinence that attends such promiscuous, ill-regulated assemblies: we must leave him also to take no more care of the morals of his servants, than if they were his cattle; and to pay no attention to the difficulties into which he leads them, If he will run into these excesses (I have no better word in my dictionary to explain my meaning), I cannot prevent it; but certainly I should wish the clergyman to be very cautious how he gives any encouragement to such assemblies, by his example. The world may laugh at him; but he must learn to bear the ridicule of the world; and I hope in return he will meet approbation elsewhere."-Pp. 68, 69.

Mr. Pearson, in his Life of Mr. Hey, inserts the following queries on the subject of the stage.

"1. Are not they who hire and employ others to commit sin, as guilty as those who commit it?

"2. Are not they who hire persons to do who attend the theatre), as guilty as talk profaneness and indecency (which they those who talk profanely and indecently

themselves?

"4. Have not they who will not forego

an amusement, abounding with that which

is hateful and displeasing to God, just reason to conclude that they are lovers of

pleasure, more than lovers of God?

"5. Is it not the character of fools to

make a mock of sin?

"6. Are not filthiness, foolish talking, and jesting (those constant ingredients of stage wit), ranked among the sins which ought to bave no place among Christians, and on account of which, the wrath of God will most certainly come upon the children of disobedience?" Pearson's moral and social Life of William Hey, Esq. p. 244.

The Importance of educating the infant Children of the Poor, &c. containing an Account of the Spitalfields Infant School. By Samuel Wilderspin, Master of the said School-Hailes. 1823. Pp. 184.

WE have been exceedingly interested in the perusal of this little

volume. It is a plain, simple, sensible narrative of the beneficial effects produced by the liberality of a single individual, Joseph Wilson, Esq. in establishing and supporting an infant school in the midst of the dense and poor population of Spitalfields. We found it impossible to lay the book down until we had read the whole, and were in consequence induced to take the ear liest opportunity of visiting the school; a visit which afforded the highest gratification*. The school contains between two and three hundred children, the oldest not exceeding seven, and some below two years of age. It is entirely managed by Mr. and Mrs. W.; and the order, comfort, and attain ments of the children reflect the highest credit on their judgment and diligence : these infants read and spell, and sing hymns; they add, subtract, and repeat pence and multiplication tables; they relate Scripture histories, and answer questions with a readiness and correctness far beyond their years.

After a suitable Introduction, the book contains, the Rules of the School-Order

-Different Modes of teaching the Alphabet -teaching Arithmetic by means of Cubes of Wood-Method of giving little Children Exercise, mental Improvement, and Pleasure-Pictures-Rewards and Punishments -Cleanliness-Frightening Children-Accidents and Dangers-Juvenile Delinquency -Dimensions of a School-Play-groundQualification of Master and Mistress-and Conclusion.

On all these points great good sense is manifested, and much information afforded, which may be sought for in vain in larger and more expensive publications. The grand feature is the application of the whole to infants, and the bringing children of two or three years old to take an interest and find pleasure in learning, &c. so as actually to prefer school to their own homes. We had marked several

* The school is situated in Quaker Street, Spitalfields, and may be visited between nine and eleven, or two and four. I 9: APRIL 1823.

passages for insertion, but our limits compel their omission, and we must therefore earnestly recommend the perusal of the work itself. The plan will be found of incalculable advantage in manufacturing, in agricultural, or in other districts where parents are required to go out to work, and are often prevented from engaging in profitable_labour by the difficulty of finding persons to take care of their children.

What is a poor woman to do who is left a widow with four or five children, the eldest perhaps not more than ten years of age? She is obliged to go out to washing, or other daily labour: the consequence is, her children are left to shift for themselves, because the mother is not able to pay for their schooling, and the free schools will not admit them because they are too young; thus they imbibe principles and habits of

which neither parents, tutors, nor even the law itself, in many instances, can ever break them.-P. 2.

children are exposed to, between the ages

Great and many are the dangers that

of two and seven years; for, when children have been successful in stealing an orange or an apple, they will not stop there, but make a second attempt, and perhaps get so confirmed in evil before they are seven years old, as to prefer being in the street to going to school or work. This, then, is a very great evil; but this is not all: not a week passes, but we read in the public papers of little children being run over by coaches or other vehicles; or of children being burnt to death in consequence of being left alone.-P. 3..

obliged to go out, lock their children in I have known parents who have been a room to prevent them from getting into the streets, or falling down stairs, and who have taken as they imagined every precaution to protect the children; but the little creatures, perhaps, after fretting and crying for hours at being thus confined, have ventured to get up to the window, in order to see what was passing in the streets, and to gratify their little minds, when one overreaching itself has fallen into the street and been killed on the spot. There are cases enough of this kind daily to be met with in the public prints, and hundreds of accidents have occurred, that are not noticed in the papers at all.-P. 107.

There are several children in the school, at this present time, that had contracted some very bad habits, entirely by their being accustomed to run the streets and one boy in particular, only five years of X

age, was so frequently absent, and as frequently would bring such a reasonable excuse for his absence, that it was some time before I detected him; at last I thought it best to see his mother; I therefore sent the boy to tell his mother I wished to see her the boy soon returned, saying his mother was not at home. The following morning he was absent again, and I sent another boy to know the reason, when the mother waited on me immediately, and assured me that she had sent the child to school. I then produced the slate, which I keep for that purpose, and informed her how many days, and half days, her child had been absent for the last month; when she again assured me, that she had never kept the child at home a single half day, nor had he ever told her that I wanted to see her; at the same time observing, that he must have been decoyed away by some of the children in the neighbourhood, and regretting that she could not afford to send him to school before; adding, that the Infant School was a blessed institution, and an institution, she thought, much wanted in the neighbourhood. I need scarcely observe, that both father and mother lost no time in searching for their child, and after a search of several hours found him in Spitalfields market, in company with several other children, pretty well stored with apples, &c. which they had no doubt stolen from the fruit-baskets that are continually placed there. They brought him to school, and informed me that they had given him a good flogging, which I found to be correct, from the marks that were on the child; and to use their own words, they stated, they had no doubt but that would cure him. But, however, he was not so soon to be cured; for the very next day he was absent again; and after the parents had tried every expedient they could think of, without success, they delivered him over to me, telling me to do what I thought proper. I tried every means that I could devise, except the keeping him at school after school hours, since I always had a great disinclination to convert the school into a prison; my object being, if possible, to teach the children to love the school; and I thought I could not take a more effectual method of causing them to detest it, than by keeping them against their will after school hours. But I at last tried this experiment, with as little success as the others, and was about sending the child out of the school altogether, as incorrigible. But I was unwilling that it should be said, that a child of only five years of age should master us all, and knowing that the older he was the more difficult he would be to cure. however at last hit upon an expedient, which I have reason to thank the Almighty has had the desired effect; namely, we have

I

a kind of guard in the school, for the purpose of keeping the children from getting too near the stove, and it forms a kind of cage. In the summer this guard is put on an elevated situation, at one end of the school; and it struck me, that if I put him in there, it might do him some good. I accordingly procured a ladder, and placed him in it, taking care to prevent the possibility of an accident; he had scarcely been in five minutes, when the whole of the children, as if by common consent, called out, "Pretty Dicky, sweet Dicky:" he immediately burst into tears, a thing very unusual with him, and I must say, I was extremely glad to see it, and have to observe, that I have never known him absent without leave since; and what is more, he appears to be very fond of his school, and is now a very good child. Is not this, then, a brand plucked from the fire?-Pp. 71-76. I recollect a short time ago seeing two little children, very near the school where I live, seemingly in close conversation, and from their frequently looking at a fruit-stall that was near at hand, I felt inclined to watch them, having previously heard from some of the children in the school, that they had frequently seen children in the neighbourhood steal oysters and different things. I accordingly placed myself in a convenient situation, and I had not long to wait, for the moment they saw there was no one passing, they made up to the stall, the eldest walking alongside the other, apparently to prevent his being seen, whilst the little one snatched an orange, and conveyed it under his pinbefore, with all the dexterity of an experienced thief. Will it be believed that the youngest of these children was not four years old, and the eldest apparently not above five? and, from what I saw, I had good reason to believe it was not the first time these children had been guilty of stealing, though perhaps unknown to their parents, as I have subsequently found to be true in other instances.-Pp. 161, 162.

As it has been shown that children are very early inclined to do that which is wrong, many persons, who heretofore thought differently, will now see that it is never too soon to endeavour to teach them what is right. When such young children commit a fault, it is generally passed over by their parents and others, with this observation, "O! he is but a child, and knows no better:" but it may be answered, perhaps, with some propriety, that they never will, unless they are taught; and I have shown that many thousands never have an opportunity of being taught, unless the pious and humane will stretch forth their hands and snatch them from the many dangers by which they are surrounded.-Pp. 168, 169.