water out of shoes; and all in forty eight duodecimo pages. We hope the purpose of its judicious and benevolent author will be answered, and that his book may "afford assistance to the labouring classes in procuring for them more comforts than they at present enjoy," even with their scanty earnings. ART X.-Memoir of Miss E. Spreck- and Marshall. 1831. THIS is one of the most ordinary of the very common histories of a life and death of what is exclusively called piety; the piety testifying itself by alternations of feeling and by expectations of supernatural interposition. (P. 89) Such narratives are as uncongenial with our principles as with our taste. ART. XI. A French Grammar. By P. F. Merlet. Richardson, Cornhill. La Traducteur, or Historical, Dramatic, and Miscellaneous Selections from the best French Writers, &c. By P. F. Merlet. Effingham Wil son. THE learning of grammar becomes yearly a more hopeful matter. On looking over the works before us, we were conscious of an idle and envious regret for the hours and weeks and months of our school-life that we spent over Chambaud. Instead, however, of grudging our youth of the present day the facilities which we did not enjoy, we will exhort them to make use of them with all thankfulness to the literary labourers who help to lighten the great but necessary toil of mastering the grammar of a new language. The teacher of French at the London University has constructed his grammar on principles of philosophy which appear to us sound, and of arrangement which are excellent both as they regard the progress of each individual pupil, and the external convenience of various classes of learners. The work is divided into four parts, which may be obtained either separately, as the learner proceeds, or arranged as a complete French grammar. The first part-on Pronunciation-is a less hopeless attempt than many we have seen to supply the want of oral instruction: the Accidence and Syntax are at the same time complete and concise; and the Dictionary of Difficulties forms a no less valuable than novel Appendix to the whole. This manual of grammatical casuistry would be remarkable for its originality if it were not so for its usefulness. The other work appears to answer its purpose as faithfully as the Grammar, and is, of course, by far more entertaining. We need only recommend our rea ders to amuse themselves with it. ART. XII. The Commercial Vade THE more knowledge accumulates, the more necessary it becomes to contract the space in which it may be stowed. This is accordingly the age of literary gems and pocket editions of every thing, from the classics down to the almanacks. Here we have, in less compass than a housewife's pincushion was wont to occupy half a century since, as much knowledge as may facilitate the commercial intercourse of a nation of merchants; - a calendar for twenty years, tables of interest, of commission, of brokerage, of coins, of commercial cities, with their statistics, of distances, routes, &c., &c., and all for three shill. ings, including morocco and gilding. What will the world come to? The next generation may carry the natural history of the universe in their snutfboxes. ART. XIII. - The New Game Laws, &c. By Lieut.-Col. P. Hawker. THIS little pamphlet is brought out as an "Appendix" to the Sixth Edition of the well-known "Instructions to Young Sportsmen;" and begins with a compliment to Lord Althorp, for getting rid of the "diabolical Old Game Laws." Col. Hawker then proceeds to point out many of the Statutes which are good, and others that are open to amendment; and, after recapitulating some original suggestions of his own, he gives a brief epitome of the old Statutes repealed; an outline of those Laws which still remain in force; and concludes with a clear Abridgment of the New Act, accompanied with some useful explanations. REV. PHILIP TAYLOR. OBITUARY. THE REV. PHILIP TAYLOR, late of Harold's Cross, near Dublin, whose death was briefly recorded in our publication of last month, was born in the parish of St. George Colegate, Norwich, the 11th May, 1747. He was the eldest son of Mr. Richard Taylor, of that city, and grandson of that justly celebrated divine, Dr. John Taylor, whose admirable tract, "On the Value of a Child," was occasioned by his birth. Some particulars of Mr. Taylor's maternal ancestors, who had been for two centuries resident in the parish in which he was born, will be found in the memoir of his truly estimable brother, Mr. John Taylor (Mon. Repos. Vol. XXI. p. 482). From his fifth to his seventh year Mr. Taylor was sent to the school of Isaac Jarmy, clerk of the Society of Friends in Norwich. His first classical instructor was his learned grandfather; and in the year 1757, he accompanied him to Warrington; whither the Doctor removed, to fill the situation of Theological Professor in the Dissenting Academy then recently established there. For two years after this period he was under the care of Dr. Edward Harwood, an able classical teacher at Congleton, and author of the "Introduction to the Classics." He then returned to Warrington, and passed a year under his grandfather's roof, going daily to the free school, under the Rev. Mr. Owen. In 1760, he became a pupil, with his cousin, Dr. Rigby, afterwards of Norwich, of Dr. Priestley, at Namptwich, whom he accompanied in the autumn of 1761 to Warrington, in consequence of the sudden death of his grandfather, in the month of March of that year, and Dr. Priestley having been appointed Classical Tutor in the Academy. In the beginning of the year 1762, he lost his excellent father; and, in the following autumn, he was removed to the Academy at Exeter, under the care of Mr. Micajah Towgood, Messrs. Merivale, Hogg, and Turner. There he remained till 1765, when he again returned to Warrington, and finished his theological course, under that excellent man and accomplished scholar, Dr. John Aikin. * The celebrated Dr. Crotch, Musical Professor at Oxford, and author of the Oratorio of "Palestine," was born in the house adjoining Mr. Jarmy's. In April, 1766, he preached, for the first time in public, at Blakely, near Manchester. In September, 1767, he was chosen assistant to the Rev. John Brekell, minister of Kaye Street, in Liverpool, whom he succeeded as pastor of the congregation upon his death, and was ordained thereto, July, 1770, in the presence of eighteen ministers. In the year 1771, he paid his first visit to Dublin, a voyage having been recommended for the recovery of his health, aud from this incident arose his introduction into the family of the Rev. Dr. Weld, for whom he preached, and to whose only daughter he was afterwards married iu September, 1774; a connexion of unalloyed felicity to both parties. Never was man more highly blessed in a virtuous and sympathizing consort. Three years after this period he was invited over to Dublin as assistant to his fatherin-law, Dr. Weld, and co-pastor with his much-esteemed friend the Rev. Samuel Thomas, with whom he had previously been acquainted in 1764, when on a visit at Yeovil, where Mr. Thomas was then minister. Dr. Weld was the immediate successor of the learned Dr. Leland, and it is a remarkable fact, that the ministry of Dr. Leland, Dr. Weld, and Mr. Taylor, embraced a period of more than 150 years. Whilst a student at Exeter, he contracted a warm and lasting friendship with James White, Esq., afterwards a barrister, with whom he continued to correspond until the death of the latter, in the year 1825, and whose steady attachment, notwithstanding their different professions and pursuits, was a source of high enjoyment to the pure and benevolent mind of our venerabie friend. Drs. Enfield and Estlin, too, may be mentioned as kindred minds, whose correspondence often delighted him. Mr. Taylor was eminently fitted to give and to receive enjoyment from society. His cheerful temper, his frank and cordial manners, his animated conversation, enlivened by humour and enriched with anecdote, rendered him a delightful and desired companion. But he never forgot, nor could any of his friends or associates be betrayed into forgetting, the respect due to the character of a Christian minister. No one ever felt under improper restraint in his presence; on the contrary, he was the promoter of innocent cheerfulness upon all occasions; yet he was the last man with whom a scoffer, or a libertine, would have ventured to take a freedoni. His musical acquirements contributed their aid to the charm of his society. Nature had gifted him with a voice of great power and excellent quality, and he had cultivated both vocal and instrumental music with considerable success. His taste was remarkably pore; aud some of his Psalm-tunes may be reckoned among the most perfect specimens of that description of composition. He was for many years a member of one of the musical societies of Dublin, then adorned by the talents of Stevenson, Spray, Smith, and T. Cooke. His brethren in the ministry were particularly attached to him, and always delighted in bis cheerful and entertaining society. With these distinguished social habits, however, he neglected not the domestic duties. His home to him was always the centre of happiness, and from him that happiness was diffused to the humblest being within the reach of his influence. He was dearly loved by every inmate of his house. In his garden he took great delight, and few could excel him in horticulture. Many an affectionate friend will remember the order which pervaded it, and the luxuriance of its productions: but when in the evening, seated in the midst of his happy circle, he delighted all hearts with the beauty of his reading and the excellence of his selections-it was in these hours he might be said to present a perfect pattern of benign enjoyment and domestic felicity. In all arrangements of life, he was remarkably exact, and his pecuniary engagements were fulfilled with scrupulous punctuality. To his friends and connexions he was ever hospitable, and to his neighbours gene. rous and kind. He took with him to the grave the blessings of the poor, and as he never made an enemy while he lived, so his memory is sacred in the hearts of all who ever knew him. As a husband, a father, and a friend, he stood pre-eminent, and as a bright pattern of Christian excellence, he presented a model which well and fitly illustrated the doctrines he impressed upon others. He possessed, in a remarkable degree, attachment to all the members of his fa mily, and also to his native city; and though early separated from his paternal roof, neither time nor distance had the power to weaken those bonds of affection which united him to them. Of his numerous relations, there was not one in whose welfare he did not take the interest of a father or a brother, and during his long life this delightful union of hearts was never, in a single instance, broken or impaired. He was accustomed, about every seventh year, to visit Norfolk, there to assemble his relations around him: and never were the interchanges of family affection more sin. cerely and conspicuously manifested. His feelings on one of these delightful occasions are thus described in a letter to his colleague, the Rev. Joseph Hutton, in the summer of 1796; "I cannot," he says, "express how much I am affected by the kind and unremitting attentions of all my dear relatives to fill up every hour in rational enjoyment which sleep does not occupy. We are at my brother John's, where we are enjoying the constant feast of his company and conversation, to which few women could add so much as the very uncommon and elevated character with which it has been his merited good fortune to become united. This is to be our grand week of family union. Our meeting will be large, and promises as much happiness as can reasonably be hoped for. Yet tell the worthy members of our flock," he adds, "that their absent pastor, even amidst these scenes of abundant domestic gratification, is never forgetful of them, or indifferent to their interests. I rejoice to hear of their ge. neral welfare. I beg you will present my affectionate regards to all, as you shall happen to see them, and express the pleasure I have in the hope of returning to them with better health and capacity to serve them as I could wish." Dated Norwich, July 19, 1796. Mr. Taylor was a Nonconformist of the old school: steady, conscientious, unfliuching, in his attachment to the principles of civil and religious liberty, through a period and in a country in which such a consistent profession was not easy. His earliest religious and political impressions were formed at a time when the attempt of the Pretender to regain the crown of his ancestors was a comparatively recent event; and when, among the Dissenters in particular, popery and slavery were terms seldom disunited. Among his first associates in the ministry were those who had been actively engaged in opposing that puny bantling of legitimacy in his march to Derby; and his future residence in Ireland was not likely to induce a forgetfulness of the evils and errors of popery. Hence prejudice might have led him, as it did many of his less consistent Dissenting brethren both in Ireland and granting to the Catholics a full enjoy England, to question the propriety of ment of their civil rights; but he was governed, not by prejudice, but principle, and therefore he was a decided advocate of Catholic emancipation. Firm and unbending, however, as he was, in attachment to the principles of nonconformity, he numbered among his friends men of all religious persuasions. Among these were Dr. Law, the late Bishop of Elphin; and Dr. Brinkley, the present Bishop of Cloyne. With the former of these learned and accomplished dignitaries of the established religion, who never made any secret of his Unitarian convictions, he lived on terms of cordial amity. Mr. Taylor's pulpit exercises were distinguished by a correct style and chaste elocution. His appearance and delivery were so carnest and dignified that no one could listen to his discourses without advantage. His devotional services were always simple, pure, and impressive; it was in this delightful part of the public worship of the sabbath that he peculiarly excelled; and flowing as his prayers did from a truly pious heart, they seldom failed to engage the responsive Amen of every hearer. On the 8th of October, 1820, after a happy union of forty-six years, Mr. Taylor was deprived by death of the faithful friend and partner of his life. Possessed as she was of a mind highly cultivated, of manners the most refined and amiable, and piety as warm as it was sincere and deeply rooted, no wife or parent, no friend or loved companion, was ever consigned to the grave amidst more lively or general regret. She possessed a heart which overflowed with charity and benevolence. It was impossible to know her without loving and respecting her pure character, and in every relation of life she shone bright and conspicuous to the last. We now come to the concluding events of Mr. Taylor's life. On the 29th of April, 1827, when he had been sixty years an officiating minister, the last fifty of which he presided over the congregation in Eustace Street, Dublin, his increasing infirmities suggested to him the prudence of retiring from the pastoral office. In the letter which announced his determination, he says, "While still allowed to retain some little power of body and mind, I trust that I shall conclude my public labours now with a better grace than if com pelled to abandon them by a sudden and knowledging the kind indulgence and total incapacity." After gratefully acaffectionate regards of his flock, during nearly fifty years of his ministry, he concludes in this beautiful and impressive language: "It is my fervent hope and prayer to the Fountain of all Wisdom, that He may preside over your deliberations on this important business, and direct you to the choice of a successor to myself, who is rich in spiritual gifts and graces, and abounding in all those amiable qualities of the heart which can make him to you a useful and acceptable minister, and to my ever and highly esteemed friend and colleague a welcome and affectionate associate." Notwithstanding this letter, he continued to officiate until the appointment of his successor, the Rev. James Martineau, in whose ordination he bore a part, on the 26th of October, 1828; on the last day of which month he was presented by his affectionate flock with a most gratifying mark of their esteem and love (as more particularly detailed in the Mon. Repos. Vol. III. New Series, p. 446). He continued for nearly three years after this period in the enjoyment of comparative health, and an almost enviable cheerfulness of mind and spirit; and at length, by a gradual and almost imperceptible decline, sank to rest in Jesus. My spirit" (he beautifully says, in that instrument which, as it were, closed his earthly career) "I resign into the hands of that gracious God who gave me being, and hath crowned a long life with innumerable mercies; humbly hoping that, through His continued goodness, my soul may be redeemed from the power of the grave to the possession of complete and enduring happiness in a better world to come." Who then shall say, after contemplating the beautiful life and the peaceful death of our venerable friend, that the Unitarian faith is incapable of sustaining the mind and supporting the spirit in such a gloomy hour? Verily, his was the faith which triumphs over death, which enables the believer to say with the Apostle, "O Death! where is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory? Blessed be God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." MRS. SARAH HERFORD, Oct. 30th, aged 40, at Altringham, iu the county of Chester, SARAN, the wife of Mr. HERFORD. When worth, talents, : i and energy, are summoned away in the full career of their useful action, when the parent of a large family, their companion, instructor, guide, and friend, fulfilling with sedulous and untiringcheerfuluess the varied duties of wife and mother, is removed from the presence of those who delighted in her society, it is fitting that such an event should be seriously considered, that the living should "lay it to heart." Blind unbelief complains of the unequal distribution of happiness and misery in this world; and feeble, unreflecting faith almost shudders at appointments in which, apparently, unmixed evil prevails; but the sincere, the rational, the confiding Christian feels a firm conviction that the entire ways of Divine Providence form a mighty and harmonious whole, and is enabled to bow with calm resignation under the action of the immutable decrees of him who "saw the end from the beginning."* Many circumstances conspire to render the death of Mrs. John Herford unusually distressing and deeply impressive to an extensive circle of relatives and intimates. Highly gifted by nature, and with talents industriously cultivated and improved, she had for many years devoted herself to the work of education; and, incessantly and usefully occupied, she was happy in the success of her own efforts, and ever ready to contribute to the success and advancement of others. Especially, she held herself favoured in being permitted to assist and promote the welfare, in succession, of a number of her young friends, who now, profitably employing the information they received from their amiable instructor, recall, with respectful regret, the recollection, not of the teacher only, but of the kind, the active, and the unwearied friend. Thus usefully proceeded the days of the excellent person whose decease, in the prime of middle life, is here recorded. But her exertions were not confined to the routine of her engagements. Fully ap preciating the value of time, and the importance of the often disregarded series of small detached portions of this precious gift, she had the happy faculty of finding suitable and useful employ. ment for every passing minute. She thus gained leisure for the acquisition of knowledge where others saw only constant and wearying occupation in her professional pursuits; and thus was she enabled, not only to continue her course of self-education in the various branches of useful knowledge and elegant literature, but (indulging a predilection which, from her earliest childhood, she had evinced) to surprise her friends by the continual production of new efforts of taste and skill in more than one branch of the pictorial art, which shewed, that had she been devoted to that pursuit, as the occupation of her life, she would have been recognized as one of the painters "of this age and nation." She also published a comprehensive Chart of History and Biography, in which, by an ingenious contrivance, she succeeded in exhibit ing, not only the rise, progress, and extent, of each empire, but its comparative condition of prosperity or decay. In the midst of this constant activity, Mrs. H. never permitted herself to degenerate into the mere worldly character. Her religious feelings were pure and ardent; her admonitions on this subject earnest and affectionate; her faith enlightened and sincere, and her benevolence disinterested and diffusive. Enjoying to the last the complete use of her faculties, she was enabled to administer consolation to her surrounding friends, and to suggest the best possible arrangements for continuing for the benefit of her family, the establishment she had succeeded in forming. Such an example is surely worthy of being recorded. It shews that the best feelings of the friend and the Christian may co-exist with the most assiduous exercise of the mental faculties, and the most active occupation of the time. It shews to the young that the task and duty of acquiring knowledge need not be renounced because their days are constantly and laboriously employed. It presents, in fact, another instance in addition to many more which might be quoted, to prove that the more regular and important are the occupatious, the more opportunities may be found for benevolent and intellectual pursuits. Birmingham, Νου. 6, 1831. W. H. S. |