mandments, the Articles of Faith, and the Lord's Prayer. The number of clergymen examined was about 340; and I will now give your readers an instance or two of the biblical knowledge of some of these worthies.

The articles in which all Ministers have been examined, viz., concerning the Commandments delivered by God to Moses in Exod. xx., concerning the Articles of Belief, and the Lord's Prayer.

Of the Ten Commandments.

Quest. 1. How many are the Commandments of God?

2. Where are they recorded?

3. Are they able to repeat them from memory ?*
Of the Articles of Belief.

Quest. 1. What are the Articles of the Christian faith?
2. Whether they can repeat them from memory?

3. Whether they are able to maintain them on Scriptural authority? Of the Lord's Prayer.

Quest. 1. Are they able to repeat the Lord's Prayer from memory ? 2. How they know that it is the Lord's Prayer?

3. Where is it recorded?

Of the Commandments.

John Jones, Minister, being examined concerning the Commandments, says that they are ten in number, but does not know where they are recorded, nor is able to repeat them from memory.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He knows, however, the Articles of Belief, and can repeat them from memory, but is unable to maintain them by Scripture proofs.

Of the Lord's Prayer.

He is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer from memory, but does not know by whom it was delivered nor where recorded.

Of the Commandments.

Richard Ramscoat, Vicar, being examined concerning the Commandments, said they are ten in number, that they are recorded in the xx. chapter of Exodus, but cannot repeat them from memory exactly as they are there recorded.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He knows, however, the Articles of Belief, and repeated them from memory, but is unable to prove them by the authority of Scripture.

Of the Lord's Prayer.

He is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer from memory, says that it is recorded in the vi. chapter of Matthew, but is utterly ignorant by whom it was delivered.

Of the Commandments.

Thomas Astell, Minister, being examined concerning the Commandments, says that they are ten in number, that they are recorded in the New Testament, but does not know where, nor is he able to repeat them correctly from memory.

The record is altogether in Latin, which we translate. As a specimen of the Latinity, we give a few lines of the original.

De Decem Præceptis.

Questiones. 1. Primo, Quot sunt Dei mandata?

2. Secundo, Ubinam sunt scripta?

3. Tertio, An memoriter recitare valeant?

Johannes Jones, Minister, examinatus de Præceptis dicit quod decem sunt numero, sed ubi scripta, nescit, nec recitare memoriter valet.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He knows, however, the Articles of Faith, and repeated them from memory, but is unable to maintain them on the authority of Scripture.

Of the Lord's Prayer.

He is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer from memory, but does not know by whom it was delivered, or where recorded.

Of the Commandments.

John Lawrence, Rector, being examined concerning the Commandments, says that they are ten in number, that they are recorded in the xx. chapter of Exodus, and is able to repeat them exactly as they are there contained.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He also knows the Articles of Belief, and is able to repeat them from memory, but cannot prove them by the authority of Scripture.

Of the Lord's Prayer.

He is able to repeat the Lord's Prayer from memory, but knows not by whom it was delivered or where recorded.

Of the Commandments.

Nicholas Compton, Vicar, examined concerning the Commandments; he knew the number, but says that they are written in the sixteenth of Matthew, or in some of the evangelists; and he is not able to say them by heart.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He knew also the Articles of Belief, and repeated the same from memory, but he did not even prove one by the authority of the Scriptures.

Of the Lord's Prayer.

With respect to the Lord's Prayer, he is scarcely able to answer.

Of the Commandments.

Robert Heyet, Minister, examined concerning the Commandments; he neither knew the number nor the place where they were written, nor is he able to recite them from memory in any way.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He knew not also the Articles of Belief, nor is he able to recite the same from memory, or to prove them by the authority of the Scriptures.

Of the Lord's Prayer.

He is not able to recite from memory the Lord's Prayer; he knew not even by whom it was delivered, or by whom it was written.

The name of the parish church where the clergyman officiated is given, and also the number of communicants, varying from 9 to 1500. Having introduced to your readers some of the unlearned, I will now give an instance or two of the more learned answers.

Of the Commandments.

John Jones, Minister, being examined concerning the Commandments, says that they are ten in number, that they are recorded in the xx. chap. of Exodus, and is able to repeat them from memory exactly as they are contained in Exodus.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He also knows the Articles of Belief, and is able to repeat them from memory, but is unable to maintain them directly by Scripture proofs.

Of the Lord's Prayer.

He repeated from memory the Lord's Prayer, and knows that it is the Lord's Prayer, because it was delivered by Christ to his apostles, and was recorded in

Matt. vi.

Of the Commandments, the Articles of Belief, and the Lord's Prayer. John Williams, Vicar, being examined, is found to be a remarkably learned man, and gives learned replies to all the articles mentioned above.

Of the Commandments.

Christopher Woodward, Rector, being examined concerning the Commandments, says that they are ten in number, that they are recorded in the xx. chap. of Exodus, and repeated them from memory exactly as they are therein contained.

Of the Articles of Belief.

He also knows the Articles of Belief, and is able to repeat them from memory, and can prove them immediately by the authority of Scripture. Of the Lord's Prayer.

He repeated from memory the Lord's Prayer, and knows that it is the Lord's Prayer, because it was delivered by Christ to his disciples, and was recorded in the vi. chap. of Matthew.

I will not fatigue your readers with any further extracts. A sufficient number have been produced to shew the extreme ignorance of many of the clergy in the days of Bishop Hooper; and if such ignorance existed in the diocese of Gloucester, where there was so enlightened a Bishop, what must have been the state of the clergy in other parts? It is rather a singular fact that nearly all the 340 clergymen examined knew the Articles of Faith, but not above twenty could produce what was considered Scripture authority for the same,a sufficient proof that if they searched the Scriptures for that purpose, they searched them in vain.

R. COGAN.

WHAT ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY SHOULD BE. CHRISTIANITY is a religion for the masses, and we demur to a professed history of Christianity which leaves its effects upon the masses untold. We would learn how, in other times and among other people, the religion with whose ordinary effects among ourselves we are conversant, has been received, and has operated among the community at large. We would know what it has done for the peasant in his cottage, for the artificer at his loom, for the matron amid her children, as well as what it has achieved or suffered in palaces, cathedrals and colleges. We would gaze on the stream as it steals through the green fields and by the happy homes of poor men, as well as when it dashes down the rocky fall, or expands in artificial beauty in the lordly park. We would, in short, have the historian of Christ's religion to remember, that it is part of his proper province to chronicle the effects and manifestations of that religion, not only among the few noble and mighty and wise by whom it is embraced, but as they appear in those retired scenes of domestic life where Christ himself delighted to be, and amongst that class of the community who, in the days of his flesh, were the first and readiest to "hear him gladly."-British Quarterly Review, No. III. p. 85.

There are a few instances like the following:

Concerning the Commandments, Articles of Faith, and the Lord's Prayer. Richard Shessard, Vicar, examined concerning the Articles above mentioned, is found a man altogether ignorant.

John Shearche, Rector, examined, and is found a man ignorant above the

rest.

Christopher Horton, Minister, examined, and is found a man ignorant above all the rest, for he is able to answer nothing directly.

EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND EUROPE.*

THIS is a very interesting book, on one of the most important subjects which can engage the public mind-we mean the education of the great mass of the people. Mr. Kay, in his capacity of Travelling Bachelor of the University of Cambridge, appears to have visited several of the principal countries of Europe for the express purpose of examining their systems of Public Instruction, and has here presented us with the result of his investigations. We are not prepared to say that his statistical information makes any large addition to the facts which had been previously collected, and were well known to those who were conversant with the inquiry. But we owe him our thanks for placing them in a more accessible and popular form, and confirming and elucidating them by his own personal observations. The work, throughout, is written in a thoroughly liberal and earnest spirit—too liberal, we are afraid, to be quite acceptable to any sect or party amongst us ;-too earnest, not to give occasion to the cold and apathetic to accuse it of over-warmth, enthusiasm and exaggeration. We think, however, that the wise, benevolent and thoughtful will find matter in every page for interesting and useful reflection; and, if they cannot adopt all, or indeed any of the views suggested by the author, may, at all events, be led in all probability to re-consider and modify their own, and be stimulated to renew their consideration of the subject in a fresher, more enlightened, and more catholic spirit. It would have been a delightful task to follow the amiable and intelligent writer through the various topics which he has brought forward and handled, and to discuss each of them with him in a friendly manner; recording our approval where we agree with him, and giving at large our reasons where we are compelled to differ. Circumstances, however, will not allow us to do so just now; and we cannot prevail upon ourselves to defer to a distant and uncertain period making our readers acquainted with a work so well calculated to afford them pleasure and instruction, and the subject of which is one which daily events are rendering more interesting and more important. We must, therefore, on the present occasion, do little more than give a brief notice of what the book contains, chiefly for the purpose of inviting our readers to procure and study it for themselves.

The work consists of four Chapters. The first is devoted to some prefatory observations on the necessity of adopting immediate measures for the development of Primary Education in England and Wales.

After drawing an animated picture of the remarkable progress which our northern counties have made within the last fifty years, the extraordinary growth of our commercial and manufacturing resources, and the immense extent of our present population, the writer ventures a prediction, that, enormous as these have been, they will become still more so in the next half century, under the stimulus which will be imparted to our industry by the great change about to be introduced into our commercial policy. He then asks,

The Education of the Poor in England and Europe. By Joseph Kay, B.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, Travelling Bachelor of the University. Pp. 400. London, 1846.

"But what will be the necessary accompaniment of this extension of our commercial system? A still greater accumulation of masses of labourers, and a still more rapid increase in the numbers of our population, throughout all the mining and manufacturing districts of the kingdom. Who can say what their numbers will amount to in another fifty years?

"But are we prepared to increase this population, without attempting to change its character? Is it safe, to say the least of it, to multiply indefinitely a population improvident, ignorant and irreligious? Is no danger to be apprehended from a recurrence of slack times, and from the impossibility of employing a multitude of untutored beings, few of whom have thought of laying by any thing against a time of scarcity ?"-P. x.

The author sees sad omens for the future in the present condition of these districts. If we do not share his fears to their full extent, it is only because we think that there are causes at work which are tending partially to neutralize the danger. We think we observe a certain kind of education going on amongst the people, resulting from the collision of opinion forced upon them by their very compression,a certain tendency to the recognition of sounder principles on one or two important subjects than have usually prevailed. Still we are afraid that there is danger, and to a considerable degree; and of one thing we are quite sure, that the manufacturers and great capitalists would do well, even upon the lowest considerations of self-interest, to give their utmost support to any existing means of education, and to further them to the utmost of their power, if it were only to give increased value to their property in the improved habits and greater efficiency of their workmen, and add to its security by the elevation of their moral character, and the wider diffusion of correct opinions as to their mutual relations and necessary dependence one upon the other.

Turning from the manufacturing to the agricultural districts, our author remarks on the gradual increase of our expenditure for the relief of the poor, notwithstanding the great improvement of our commerce in 1843 and 1844, and the greatly increased demand for labourers of all kinds; and the steady augmentation of our out-door relief. These facts, in his opinion, indicate the decrease of careful and provident habits amongst our poor, which he thinks can be restored and maintained only by an improved education, and by the gradual abolition and final extinction of out-door relief to the able-bodied, except under peculiar circumstances. We quite agree with him.

The writer concludes this chapter with the following observations, which we fear, in the present temper of religious parties, will, instead of a responsive echo, only excite in many breasts a charge against our author of lukewarmness and indifference:

"The progress of religion among the poor would be much better promoted by ending our quarrels on religious dogmas, which, as far as the poor are concerned, are at best of only minor importance, and which prevent us giving to them what all agree to be necessary to their present and future welfare, than by raising bitter and uncharitable disputes on points which can never in this life receive a satisfactory solution, and by refusing to act in concert in advancing the best interests of our ignorant and neglected poor, because we cannot agree on the solution of these doubtful questions.”—P. xx.

The Second Chapter treats of the present state of Primary Education in Switzerland, France, Prussia, Wirtemberg, Baden, Bavaria, Austria, Holland and Denmark.