The headship of the Pope is not more palpably opposed to the declarations of Scripture,-does not more directly trench upon the prerogatives of the One Master and Head, than the headship of the King, for which Anglican Protestants contend. Mr. Young has not noticed this circumstance, which gives so fair a handle to the Romanists; and the lecture, though containing much that is forcible, is less close and irrefragable in argument, than almost any of the others. The following three relate to errors so gross and indefensible, as to require scarcely any other confutation than the mere statement involves. They are judiciously reserved for the close of the course, as exposing the crowning absurdities of a baseless system of imposture. We must transcribe the concluding remarks upon the dogma of Transubstantiation. The direct tendency of the dogma of transubstantiation is to forward a design which is too obvious to be mistaken, and which seems to be inherent in all the main principles of the Popish church,-the exaltation of the priesthood. It is easy to anticipate with what veneration those must be regarded whom it is believed God employs as the instruments of accomplishing, whenever they choose, one of the most awful and stupendous miracles. I do not say that we have in this the real origin of the dogma; but no one can deny that such a dogma is calculated to become an engine of tremendous power in the hands of an ambitious order of men. And can the fact be concealed that such it has actually been? Nay, it admits of no question, as a matter of history, that the dogma has been prostituted to worse than the purposes of ambition and of worldly power, that it has been a tool in the hands of the grasping and the avaricious, and that the very mystery of the incarnation, and the very passion of the Redeemer, have been bought and sold for money! 'It has been said that Christianity needs some such dogma as this to form a cope-stone of glory to the system, and to connect and to unify us with God. It is this dogma (I ̊ lately heard it declared from the pulpit of a Popish chapel) which wondrously renews that intercourse between the Creator and his creatures, which had been broken up by sin, and which incorporates us with God. And it may be granted that upon the supposition Roman Catholics do indeed incorporate themselves with God, and that they do accomplish a union with God, but it is of a gross and material kind. It is not a harmony between the views and the affections of their minds and the will and the heart of Christ; but it is a carnal and a monstrous union of their flesh and blood with the flesh and blood of Christ. Such a union we do not desire, and the very idea we hold to be not only absurd, but awfully blasphemous. But there is a glorious spiritual union between Christ in heaven and his people on earth, compared with which the mere animal incorporation of Roman Catholics is ineffably disgusting. There is a union of affection and of will,—an ardent love to Christ on the one hand, and a delightful sense of his love to us on the other, an intimate and endearing fellowship with him in the exercise of religious affections by us, and in the communication of the tokens and expressions of love by him! There is such a union and fellowship which is not only permitted, but which it is the very desire of Christ to establish. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I WILL COME IN TO HIM, AND SUP WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME. pp. 402-404. " - It will be seen from our extracts, that these Lectures are at once argumentative and popular, free from all vapid or intemperate declamation, abounding with appeals to the conscience, and never losing sight of the main object, religious edification. We commend them, not only to the perusal of our readers, but to the imitation of those upon whom it more especially devolves, at the present moment, to stand forward as the consistent and politically disinterested champions of the Protestant faith,—with hands clean from tithes,-with minds unshackled by any authority in matters of faith save the Word of God, and accustomed to the free and unembarrassed assertion of those principles and arguments to which the ministers of Protestant Establishments have recourse only with reluctance and of necessity, in controversy with the Romanist, but upon which Protestant Dissenters can fearlessly take their stand. Let our pulpits, then, bear witness, that while we refuse to join in a crusade against the just political claims of our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, we have not in any degree declined from that zeal in maintaining and earnestly contending for the pure doctrines of the Reformation, which distinguished our Nonconformist ancestors. Art. III.-1. Poetical Remains of the late Mrs. Hemans. Fcap. 8vo. pp. 321. Edinburgh and London, 1836. 2. The Last Autumn at a favourite Residence, with other Poems; and Recollections of Mrs. Hemans. By Mrs. Lawrence. 12mo. pp. 419. Liverpool, 1836. MRS. RS. HEMANS, if not in all respects the most gifted of the female writers who form so bright a constellation in the sphere of our contemporary literature, surpassed them all in those attributes of genius which characterize the lyric poet. Without possessing the dramatic conception of Joanna Baillie or Mary Mitford, the masculine vigour and depth of thought displayed by the late Mrs. Fletcher, (better known as Miss Jewsbury,) or the fertile imagination of others of our delightful female prose writers, -she outshone them all in her peculiar orbit; and though she wrote too much, and often too carelessly, to sustain in all her compositions the high standard of poetic excellence to which she often attained, her best productions, in her own rich and peculiar vein, rival those of the mightiest masters of English song; while their exquisitely feminine character justify the remark, that the poetry of Mrs. Hemans could have been written only by a woman. There is much truth and discrimination in the following critical estimate of her productions, from the pen of her Biographer. Without aspiring to the vehemence which some writers have mistaken for energy, the poetry of Mrs. Hemans is never languid, even in the depths of its taste, tenderness, and elegance. To the most graceful and harmonious diction, she wedded themes of endless variety,the outpourings of piety, and love, and friendship,-the delights of the past and of the future,-records of household affection,-lays of patriotism, and legends of history and romance. She has also given many beautiful and most delicate illustrations of Wordsworth's favourite theory regarding the subtile analogy existing between the external and the moral world; and which has embued the aspects of nature with something akin to sentiment and perception. Nothing can be richer or more glowing than her imagery; yet her pictures are never overlaid with colour; and all her delineations are clear and distinct. Many of her descriptions are ornate, even to gorgeousness; but her decorations are never idle; they are brought in either to act as a foil to simple elegance, or to contrast with the anguish of defeated passion and baffled hope. The whole tone of her mind was poetical, and the most trifling occurrence of the moment,- -a word spoken,—a tone heard, a circumstance of daily life,-frequently formed the germ of what, in her active imagination, was woven into a beautiful and perfect composition. Yet it should be remembered, that, instead of trusting to her natural powers of thought and fancy, she was, through the whole course of her literary career, an ardent and unwearied student. From a course of extensive reading, she enlarged her comprehension with much that was soul-stirring and noble,-with much that was gentle and refined: and if she has not often ventured,as Wordsworth, Crabbe, and Wilson have so powerfully done, to descend to the delineation of what is homely in life and manners, it evidently arose from no arrogance of intellect, but simply from such themes being incompatible with the system which she formed for herself, and had resolved to follow out in her writings. Over all her pictures of humanity are spread the glory and the grace reflected from purity of morals, dignity of sentiment, beauty of imagery, sublimity of religious faith, and ardour of patriotism; and, turning from the dark and degrading, whether in circumstance or conception, she seeks out those verdant oases in the desert of human life, on which the wings of her imagination may most pleasantly rest.' In a word, her poetry breathes the spirit of romance, blended with the inspiration of the scenes of beauty which were the home of her affections; but of such feelings, pure and delicious as they are, it cannot be said, that they have 'less of earth in them than 'heaven.' Her 'sublimity of religious faith' had in it more of picturesque, than of moral elevation; and savoured more of the choir than of the oratory. A fine enthusiasm lights up her poetry, but it is the enthusiasm of cultivated taste, the play of imagination, the beauty of sentiment, not the fervour of soul caught from the objects of a faith that transcends imagination, or the working of emotions almost too deep and sacred for utterance. Perfectly accomplished and self-possessed, moving every where with grace and dignity, her muse never betrays the agitation of passion, or the weakness of transport, but keeps her 'wonted 6 state, 6 With easy step and musing gait, And looks commercing with the skies, As if, like divinest Melancholy, held in holy passion still,' she could forget herself to marble in the shrine of her own imaginings. No wonder that Mrs. Hemans should find the literature of Germany most in unison with her own style of thought and feeling. She took,' we are informed, particular pleasure in the writings of Schiller and Goethe; and considered her intimacy ' with their works in particular, and with the many treasures of 'German literature generally, as having imparted an entirely new impulse to the powers of her own mind.' But we are anticipating the brief record of her brilliant career. Felicia Dorothea Browne-that was her maiden name-was born in Liverpool, Sept. 25, 1793. Her father was a merchant, at one time of some eminence, but who, having engaged in too extensive speculations, became involved, and, in consequence of reverses, retired, with his family, into Denbighshire. Her mother, whose family name was Wagner, is stated to have been of Italian descent, although the name is German. She is described as a very accomplished and excellent woman; and to her, Felicia was indebted for her intellectual and moral training, the fruits of which she survived to enjoy in an overpayment of delight.' She died at Bronwylfa, St. Asaph, early in 1829. 6 Brought up in a secluded region where the romantic varieties of sea and mountain scenery are beautifully combined, Felicia, at a very early age, began to display a susceptibility of those impressions of the sublime and lovely in the features of the material world, which exerted so marked an influence upon the tone of her mind and feelings. While yet only in her sixth year, she 'took to the reading of Shakspeare as her favourite recreation; and such was the retentiveness of her memory, that she could repeat pages of his most striking scenes, as well as many passages from our best poets, after little more than a single perusal.' This early love of poetry naturally gave birth to imitative efforts; and, in the words of her friend, Mrs. Lawrence, she added another example to the rare and splendid one exhibited by Lord 6. 6 Byron, of a precocious mediocrity which shot forth subsequently with all the vigour of genius.' A volume of her childish poems, with designs of her own, was published by subscription, at St. Asaph, in 1806, when she was, consequently, in her thirteenth year. ‹ When some critic, "expert in breaking a butterfly upon a wheel," had launched out, in the oracle of the age, against these childish effusions, their little Author was put to bed for several days, weeping and heart-sick of vexation and disappointment. This was the first and the last time she tasted the bitterness of criticism; and this castigation (justifiable only by Dr. Parr's penal code, and his often expressed opinion of its salutary results,) was beneficial: it repressed a facility which might have been dangerous or fatal.' Mrs. Lawrence's Recollections, p. 291. The discouraging effect could not have been very deep or permanent, since, we are told by her Biographer, this little volume of her infantine productions, was, in the course of the four succeeding years, followed by two others, which evinced powers gradually but steadily expanding, and which were received with increasing favour by the admirers of poetry.' None but those who have seen the volumes of letters she received from individuals the most distinguished in the literary world, ' can imagine,' says Mrs. Lawrence, the praise and homage that were offered to her, and this while she was still young.' All this was enough to intoxicate a romantic and beautiful girl yet in her teens; and any judicious friend must have trembled for the result. Gay, sanguine, and inexperienced, she appears to have given away her heart to a red-coat; and in her nineteenth year, was married' to one who could never appreciate her,'-Captain Hemans, of the Fourth Regiment. In the ages and situation in life of the parties, there was no disparity; but every prudential consideration forbade their union; and her mother assented to this unfortunate attachment, it is said, only because she dreaded for Felicia the fate of a beautiful elder sister, who had died very young of consumption. It is known that the estrangement which ensued arose only out of one of the least blameable sources of such conventional separations; either from the pressure of worldly cares, or the utter incompatibility of habits and feelings. But whatever censure may be attached to it, must not rest upon Mrs. Hemans, for, upon her mother's death, her offer to rejoin her husband was rejected. After this, and indeed from the year 1828, they met no more. On this subject, it is believed, she hardly ever spoke; never unless a few words burst from her under the pressure of recent vexation.. She never complained, but what she suffered from this or other ills, might be gathered from her harassed, feverish countenance, from the paroxysms of beating of the heart in almost audible pulsations, which used to seize her (as one of her children said,) "after she got her, |