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best and foremost classes of society. On the whole, his life appears to me to have been one of unusual prosperity; and 1 do not find Sir Francis Palgrave's surmises at all supported by the authority of the biographers of this illustrious person.

Yours, &c. M.

Mr. URBAN, Chelsea, April 5. THE ornamental Garden at Kensington mentioned by your correspondent J. M. (see Gent. Mag. June, p. 338.) was situate on the north-west of the great Green-house, and immediately next to the Palace on the north; its site is now occupied by the large and beautiful promenade called' Yewtree Walk,' and in some older plans, Brazen-face Walk. The plot and arrangement of this part of the garden is shown in the accompanying woodcut, extracted from John Rocque's "Plan of the Royal Palace and Gardens of Kensington," engraved in 1736, in which by a figure of reference it is designated as the "Old Gravil Pit." In a drawn plan of Kensington Gardens, in the royal collection in the British Museum, about the middle of the last century, this garden is cleared away, but it is still represented as "The Pitt."

The whole extent of the Gardens of Kensington when first inclosed and planted by King William, was about twenty-six acres; they were laid out in the prevalent formal style. In Kip's Views of the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry, are many representations of the tiresome uniformity of the gardens at that period, long and straight gravel walks, with clipped hedges extended throughout, only varied by giants, animals, and monsters in yew or holly. The hollow bason and mount, and plantations which excited the admiration of Addison, were all filled up and levelled by Queen Caroline, who altered this and many other parts of the gardens to the state in which we now see them. The great open masses of trees on the east of the palace are said to have been originally planted by command of George the Second to represent an army in marching order; on a fine summer's evening, when enlivened by the

rays of the setting sun, they present to the admirers of forest scenery, by their lively and countless tints, a most majestic and beautiful appearance, not to be equalled in the vicinity of the Metropolis. Many particulars of the gradual extension and improvement of these gardens will be found recorded in my History of Kensington.

Yours, &c. THOMAS FAUlkner.

On the Prayer and Homily Society, and the Modern Greeks.

THE critical accuracy of the modern Greeks may be judged of by the following circumstance:

"The Prayer and Homily Society sent me some polyglot Liturgies of the Church of England to present copies to the dignitaries of the Greek Church. My object was to give them some ideas of the praywhich they were entirely unacquainted; ers and doctrines of our Church, with and so better dispose them to form translations of the Scriptures, to which some opposition had been shown. I called, among others, on Chrypanto, Bishop of Seres, who was afterwards elected Patriarch, and presented him with one in Ancient Greek. His critical eye at once detected many errors. The first was in the Rubric of the general confession. 'Here,' said he, 'are two faults: the first is Xaov.' I recollected that this was a literal δει όλον τον ὁμιλον, it should be όλον τον

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translation of our Rubric-'the whole congregation,' and told him so. Then,' said he,ólov is superfluous, for it is contained in ὁμιλον. TEVTOV is not Greek.' I said μeraέv goAgain,' said he, " μεταξύ verned a genitive case. 'Yes,' said he,' but TEVTv is the genitive absolute, and has the form of pedaέv.' I now happened to open at the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, which he ran his eye over, and said• Here is another error, χαρισομενος should be xapicoμevos, not the future, but the present tense.' I said, I believed the first was the word of St. Chrysostom himself.

"The bishop took up his own Li. turgy, and referred to the prayer; it was χαριζόμενος. It should thus appear that the modern Greeks study their ancient language with the same care and still re

tain some of the critical acumen for which their ancestors were distinguished." Walsh's Constantinople, ii. 401.

INFANS ANGELUS LOQUITUR.

In des Herzens heilig stille Raume

Muss du fliehen aus des Leben's drang Freiheit lebt nur in dem reich der Träume Und das Schöne blüht nur im gesang.-SCHILLER.

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From scenes like these of pain and woe,

Oh! let me, Father, pass away; I cannot, must not dwell below,

Amid these children of the clay.What means this sky so stern and cold, These restless winds that ever blow; Trees that no glittering foliage hold, And earth beneath her pall of snow? Does Nature for her children grieve, And mourn the eternal death within; Or is she too without reprieve,

Closed in the fatal curse of sin? Each form the spectre Misery wears, Of crime and folly, guilt and care; And each the varying vulture tears,

Disease in some-in some despair.

And woes there are that never speak,
Yet bear the silent spirit down,
Like hers, that flower so pale and meek,
Who fades beneath a tyrant's frown.
And who is he, whose care-worn brow
And cruel eye and visage cold,
Now in delight, in terror now,

Hangs o'erhis heaps of hoarded gold? And one there lives, whose hand is red With blood of Christian brethren

slain;

Whose throne is built upon the dead :Oh! take me back to heaven again. Why linger here? perpetual tears

Are all this ruin'd earth can show, Delusive hopes, and cruel fears,

And every varying shape of woe.

I hear no voice cherubic breathe
In whispers to my waking ear;
I see no hands angelic wreathe
Celestial roses round my hair.

I hear no hymns of glory rise,

No harps their voice symphonious join;

No duteous hearts, no grateful eyes;

Ah! this can be no world of mine. Then let me go!—My heart would break,

Imprison'd in this dungeon-gloom; Mid these, the wretched ones who wake To witness in their life, their doom. Oh! Father! let me leave this race Of earthly hearts estranged from thee;

And let thy child again embrace

His little brethren pure and free.-
"Tis heard!-Methinks I seem to hear
The rustling of angelic wings;
I catch from yonder sunlit sphere
The echoes, as a seraph sings.

I hear their voice-their forms I know,
The shining-ones in bright array ;
They glide adown the emerald bow
To bear me in their arms away.

Children of Beauty! from their birth

Each with his star of radiance

crown'd; They come while o'er the enamour'd earth

Celestial fragrance breathes around. And tens of thousands spirits pure,

With roseate lips that breathe of love, Will hail their lost one now secure

Amid the guardian thrones above. And when of earth they hear-and all Man's sufferings there for wealth

and fame; Tears from those cherub eyes will fall, And every brow be red with shame, And every little hand be raised

In prayer for them the unforgiven; Oh! Lord of Mercy! thou art praised By every sainted child of heaven! B-ll, May 1838. J. M.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Calvin's Life and Theology, selected by Samuel Dunn. With a Life of the Author. 1837.

IF there is a disadvantage attending abridgments, and other means of facilitating a certain knowledge of subjects which, in their full extent, require learning and patient application, by affording only a partial and imperfect view, as well as by encouraging too discursive methods of reading ;by flattering a vague curiosity and indulging that indolence which is sure to be ready, when we relax aught of the severe and painful study which can alone enable us to acquire the knowledge beneficial to ourselves and others; yet, on the other hand, it may be said, that they serve as it were to open the gates of knowledge, leaving us to our own option to extend our progress,—that they stimulate us by provoking curiosity to the investigation of what we otherwise should have relinquished in ignorance of its value, or in despair of our powers of mastering it,-that, well used, they may serve as grammars and introductions of elemental knowledge, and lastly, that because it is impossible for the mind to acquire a mastery over every science and every branch of knowledge, it does not follow that it ought to remain content in its entire darkness; that what is not sufficient to enable us to teach, may yet be beneficial to learn,—that a variety of attainment will give richness of illustration and variety of allusion, that it will feed the fancy with diversified images, and supply the reason with new analogies: so that when we have once selected that branch of study most congenial to our faculties, penetrated into its recesses, and mastered its principles, we may safely and profitably indulge ourselves in extending the frontier of our knowledge; and follow the bent of our minds without danger, and, as curiosity may prompt, into inquiries perhaps remote from our own. Now, for such purposes, we shall feel the benefit of those who will act like pioneers in smoothing the way before us, who GENT. MAG. VOL. X.

will give us views and vistas of the extensive landscape which we cannot hope to travel, and select for us out of a large repository of intellectual wealth, what is most striking for its beauty, most estimable for its value, or most convenient for its use. Some of these observations will apply to the work before us, of which, for the reasons we have given, we entertain a favourable opinion. And we think a two-fold advantage may be derived from Mr. Dunn's volume; it may either lead those to the study of Calvin's works, who but for it would never have had courage or curiosity to open their pages, or it may to others present a certain knowledge of the opinions of that very learned and acute man on the great cardinal points of disputed theology. In both cases an useful purpose will be answered. Dead to all curiosity must he be, who is content to have heard the name of Calvin without any wish to know upon what foundation of piety and learning his universal fame is built; nor can he show any laudable anxiety to comprehend the great fundamentals of his religious faith, who would remain ignorant of the sentiments of one who brought to the study of them at once as acute and subtle an intellect, as wide and as profound an erudition, as firm and deep-seated a faith, and as laborious and patient an application as ever conjointly threw their light on the most important of all subjects. And yet, where are the students of modern days who would not shrink from the toil of investigating truth through fourteen volumes, folio, of Latin theology? Surely, therefore, one ought to be grateful to Mr. Dunn for presenting us with a few shining apples from this spacious orchard, and giving us the opinions of this wise and good man upon subjects where an opinion of some kind or another must be formed by us. To this he has prefixed a very judicious and well written Life of Calvin, and a chronological list of his works. We observe, under the head of Humility, p. 245, a curious passage

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