tical chemists, whose proximity, with one exception, afforded them better opportunities of judging. The exertions which he has made, are obviously meritorious; and, even if his deductions be as unworthy of confidence, as the committee have alleged, they may still be useful in exciting inquiry, and eliciting truth. In page 98, Vol. ii. of the American Journal of Science, Professor Silliman says:

"This memoir, (alluding to Mr. Bull's,) is the result of a long course of experiments evidently conducted with great care and skill. It is replete with interesting information, and is to be regarded as one of the most important contributions of science to the arts, and to domestic economy, which has been made for a long time in this country. It is worthy of being carefully studied both by scientific and practical men; and, for the sake of the latter class, it might be well if an analysis of this practical and detailed paper, presenting in a lucid and concise form the practical and important results obtained by Mr. Bull, were prepared for publication."

In order to lay before the reader the opinions of Professor Silliman, concerning the objections of the committee, we will subjoin his letter to Mr. Bull, page 14 of the "Defence:"

"Yale College, July 17th, 1826.

"Dear Sir, I have twice perused with attention your communication of the 6th instant, covering the report of the committee of the American Academy of Boston, upon the subject of your experiments upon the heat, evolved in combustion, &c.

"In reply to your request, that I would give you my opinion of the objections made by the committee, and of your reply to them, I proceed to remark:

"1st. I conceive that the exterior room, being sustained at a given temperature by a source independent both of the inner room and of the external air, is as good a non-conductor as can be provided, and that the inner room is as effectually guarded as possible from any influence from the external air, and that it is sufficiently guarded to prevent any appreciable inaccuracy from that source.

"2d. There being no visible smoke from the anthracite coals, and scarcely any volatile combustible matter, that is not immediately consumed by the fire, there is, in the case of this fuel, no room for the combustion of the smoke; and as the object of the experiments was to show the comparative quantity of heat evolved in the usual modes of burning fuel, in domestic economy and in the common arts, and not the whole possible amount, it did not come within your plan to compass this object, nor does it appear to be necessary for the purpose in view. "3d. The spirit of these remarks is applicable to the third objection. Your selection of fuel appears to have been sufficiently precise to furnish the average result of the good fuel in market, and this was all that the case required.

"For my general opinions of the value of your paper, I beg leave to refer you to the American Journal, vol. ii. page 98, just published, where under the date of May 11th, you will find my impressions consisely, but fully expressed.

"Entertaining the greatest respect for the committee of the American Academy, and having myself the honour to be a member of that body, I trust they will receive with candour the opinions which I have expresed, and which would have been communicated with equal frankness, had I been so fortunate as to coincide with them. I remain, dear sir, your's very respectfully. "B. SILLIMAN.

Mr. BULL."

AMERICAN QUARTERLY REVIEW.

No. VIII.

DECEMBER, 1828.

ART. I.-Palestine and other Poems. By the late REGINALD HEBER, D. D., Lord Bishop of Calcutta. Now first collected. With a Memoir of his Life. Carey, Lea & Carey: Philadelphia: 1828.

It has been the complaint of the last half century, that very little of the true spirit of poetry, has preserved its existence unimpaired; and, that the "prodesse volunt, aut delectare" has degenerated on the one hand, into the very questionable shape of the modern song, and the scarcely more elevated sonnet, or sunk completely on the other, into the degrading service of immorality and vice. That this complaint is in some measure true, it is the misfortune of the lovers of genuine poetry, to be compelled to acknowledge, though they will be far from disposed to receive it in that latitude of meaning in which it is generally made. There are many redeeming instances which it is unnecessary for us to stop to mention, in which the efforts of the most exalted genius have been consecrated to the service of morality and religion; and if we are not strangely mistaken, the moral taste of the age is far from deterioration.

Among the individuals, who are very far from the application of all these sweeping denunciations, stands conspicuously the prelate whose poetical effusions have been collected in the volume, the title of which is placed at the head of our present article. And so familiar has the name of Heber become, not only in the religious, but the literary circles of our country, that we feel constrained to bestow a larger share of attention on the subject, than under ordinary circumstances would be deemed advisable. If, after all, our readers should think, that we have made too large a demand on their time and patience, all the apology VOL. IV. No. 8.

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we offer is, that every work has its extrinsic, as well as intrinsic character; and that though the present volume of Heber is small in compass, especially when compared with the great work to which our attention was lately called, yet it derives importance from the circumstances which have invested the character of its author with a deep and lively, and universal interest. Previous, however, to our entering on a critical examination of the work itself, it may be proper to make some brief general observations, touching the history of Christianity in India, in order to introduce to our readers the memoir by which the poems are accompanied, for it is no disparagement to say, that Heber, the Poet, is indebted for his greatest reputation to Heber, the ardent and devoted Bishop. To the effort to plant the religion of the Cross in the far-distant regions of the East, are we beholden not only for the "Journal" which has passed under our notice, but to much of the charm of Heber's life, and Heber's poetry.

We address ourselves to this preliminary work, confident of meeting the approbation of the great body of Christians of every name among us; and not without the expectation of furnishing some materials even for philosophic speculation. For, we believe, there are few subjects which afford greater scope for intellectual and moral investigation, than those novel phenomena of mind, which are beginning to stand out so conspicuously before the public, on the score of what is technically called "the missionary enterprise." And let the apparently feverish excitement of the age on this subject, be viewed, as some foolishly affect to view it, as a kind of epidemic mania, pervading the land, and seizing on certain persons among the high and the low, the rich and the poor;-or let it be considered in the most favourable light, which the most zealous religionists can desire, it still affords a subject worthy of the philosopher's analysis and patient attention. But to our object.

Unquestionably, the most splendid missionary establishment which the world ever saw, was that well known under the title of the College "de Propaganda fide." Apart from the consideration, that one of the objects of this magnificent concern, was the aggrandizement of the Catholic church, it has challenged, and received, the admiration of the world, for the grandeur of the conception displayed in its plan,-for the truly gigantic character of its apparatus, and the prodigious energy and judgment which prepared and directed the arrangement and application of its means. Attention was early directed to the destitute and benighted regions of the East, and we have no hesitation in recording our conviction, that could a project of such extent and importance have been accomplished by human policy or power, the efforts of that society would seem to have been adequate.

The designs of the "Propaganda" embraced the conversion of the world, and in the different religious orders prepared to act under its directions, it had a power prodigious in force, and proportioned to the magnitude of the undertaking. These singular institutions supplied a number of men distinguished by ardour of piety and innocence of life, accustomed to labour, to poverty, to the severest privations; inured to implicit obedience; proficients in the study of human nature, and versed in the sciences, the arts, and the languages which could facilitate admission and intercourse in the several countries assigned for the exertions of their zeal. Bishop Warburton, who remarks that "we should be unjust to Rome, not to acknowledge its zeal to be equal to that of other churches, in displaying the Christian banner throughout the habitable world"-has given a striking picture of the training to which the Propaganda missionaries were subjected. He had spoken of the qualifications of the missionary,-"ardent zeal and unwearied diligence-appetites subdued to the distresses of want, and a mind superior to all the terrors of death." Now, all these qualities and habits, their several orders of religions, whence these missionaries are taken, very early labour to inculcate. One quality is more deeply implanted by this order, another by that; and the most necessary and essential are formed in all: thus every monastic institution kindles and keeps alive that exalted charity-a self-sacrifice for the salvation of souls.

The Jesuits subdue the will by the severe discipline of blind obedience to stand where they are placed, and run where they are bid. The Carthusians subdue the appetites by a tedious course of bodily labours and mortifying abstinences; and the order called "the Congregation of St. Paul," subdues the whole man; for, in a sense peculiar to them, as their holy patron, they die daily; the observance of their whole rule consisting in one continued meditation on that king of terrors.

Nor is this all. The several orders, like workmen who travail separately on the various parts of the same machine, each of them to be sent to the master artist to be put into its destined place, where, by a proper combination, all are fitted for their peculiar use; the orders I say, send their subjects, thus prepared, to the COLLEGE DE PROPAGANDA FIDE, to receive their last finishing and first motion; "by instruction in the languages, the manners, and the customs of the barbarous nations, to whose conversion they are appointed and addressed."†

Dr. Hooley, Lord Bishop of London, before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, 1817.

† Warburton, Lord Bishop of Gloucester, before the Society for the Propaga tion of the Gospel in foreign parts, 1766.

And yet, the effect produced by all this mighty apparatus, was not so great in proportion, as might have been expected. Of the causes of failure, we are not qualified to speak, neither should we care to enter into any discussion, as this would lead into the region of polemics, as foreign from our taste, as it is from the grand design of our work.

Our business, in rapidly tracing the history of Christian ef fort in India, is more particularly connected with Protestantism, and still more with the efforts made by the British church. We necessarily pass by a variety of missions directed to other quarters of the globe, and we shall leave out from the consideration, those established by our own countrymen, neither last, nor least; because a full investigation would extend our article far beyond all reasonable limits, and we may find some future opportunity to enter fully into the history of American effort in the East.

In the beginning of the 18th century, Frederick IV., King of Denmark, attempted the conversion of the heathen on the coast of Coromandel, and for that purpose he sent out Bartholomew Zeigenbalgrus and Henry Plutche, both educated for the ministry at the University of Halle, in Upper Saxony, and ordained by the Bishop of Zealand. In 1707, two years after their landing, they baptized five of the natives, as the first fruits of their labours among the heathen. This mission was patronized by George I. of England, and the then Primate, Archbishop Wake; and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which had been established a few years before in London, came forward with alacrity and zeal in the support of the undertaking. Among the constant accessions of strength which this mission received, one of the most important was that of Christian Frederick Swartz, in 1750-a man, who, for nearly fifty years, was one of its brightest and most distinguished ornaments. Of this apostolic man, and his labours, it is impossible for us to speak in the short compass allowed for this sketch-suffice it to say, his equal has never yet appeared on the shores of India. What Heber might have been, had his valuable life been spared, we know not; but take all the circumstances into consideration, and Swartz has not yet had a rival. In token of his respect for Swartz, the Rajah of Tanjore, in 1798, wrote to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, requesting them to erect a monument of marble in his capital, in the church where the good man preached; "with a view," said he, "to perpetuate the memory of Father Swartz, and to manifest the high esteem I have for the character of that great and good man, and the gratitude I owe him-my father, my friend, the protector and guardian of my youth." In 1807, the monument was erected by the East India Company.