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nalised in the life of Chalmers by the publication of his treatise on Political Economy, and his Bridgewater Treatise, both extremely valuable publications. They contain many things which are doubtful, many things which in the present state of our knowledge we are inclined to think clearly erroneous; but there are also in these works some valuable truths, clearly set forth for the first time, and Dr. Chalmers, whether right or wrong, "has always" in the language of Mr. Mill, as quoted by Dr. Hanna, "the merit of studying phenomena at first hand, and expressing them in a language of his own, which often uncovers aspects of the truth that the received phraseologies only tend to hide."

In the same year, 1832, Dr. Chalmers was elected the first time Moderator, that is, chairman of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and in the year following he took a leading part in the passing of the very important Veto Law, an act of the General Assembly by which a pastor nominated by a patron may be rejected by the Presbytery, upon the disapproval of a majority of the male heads of families in the vacant congregation.

which was the general formula by which the simple Yorkshire lad expressed his astonishment at the wonders of the Peak, of Chatsworth, and of all the other marvels they encountered, excited Chalmers's love of the humorous, and became thenceforward a kind of standing joke and proverb in his family. The following is a part of the account of their doings at Chatsworth:

"Near this is an artificial tree, which on the opening of a stop-cock sends out from the ends of all its branches thin jets of water, and which amused the little Princess Victoria so much, that when asked, on her visiting Chatsworth some months ago,* which of all the things she had seen she liked best, she said it was the squirtingtree. We had, besides this, two magnificent water-jets thrown open for us, one sixty, another at least a hundred feet high. From this I ascended to the top of a high tower, which the servants told me visitors never went to, and that I would find it locked. I nevertheless walked to the foot of it, and it so happened that an old man was there feeding peacocks, and had it open at the time. He allowed me to go to the top of it, and I got one of the best views which the country affords, besides having a great deal of jocular talk with the peacockfeeder, to whom I gave a shilling for his civility. And you may tell Eliza that I found this man the best worth chatting with of any person in and about all Chatsworth. On descending from the tower, and the high ground it stood upon, I reentered my gig, which two little boys kept for me at the stables, and I got further leave from the servants to drive a good deal more through the grounds than is commonly allowed to visitors. The following circumstance will perhaps explain this deference of theirs to my wishes. I took my gig-driver with me through the whole exhibition, nor was any objection made to show him every thing, even the finest rooms, going with me every where. I gave him my hat and silver-headed stick to carry, and he kept behind at a most respectful distance, while I walked before with a book in my hand, which I consulted, and in which I jotted down all the remarkables that I saw. There were several numerous and highly elegant parties that were seeing the house at the same time; and I learned afterwards, from a gentleman belonging to one of them, to whom I was introduced at Derby, that my appearance, which I have no doubt, *This was written in 1833.

A long vacation, spent in rambles through England, followed this important and arduous labour. With Dr. Chalmers, as with most people, rambling was the best of relaxations. He had a great fondness for sightseeing of all kinds, and especially for ascending lofty eminences, amongst which the towers of cathedrals and churches were pre-eminent attractions to him. He derived from the view thus obtained of surrounding neighbourhoods a fixed general impression of the characters of particular spots and countries, which to him was peculiarly instructive, as well as agreeable. On the present occasion he proceeded by coach to Huddersfield, and thence, hiring a gig, rode round to all the wonders of Derbyshire. His letters home during this journey are exceedingly amusing. He kindly allowed his gig-driver to accompany him to all the sights he visited, and-"There's no such place in all Huddersfield

in conjunction with that of my Huddersfield post-boy, was sufficiently picturesque, had excited a great deal of speculation, and that the conclusion which one and all

of them came to was that M. P. Chalmers's papa was a foreign nobleman. Left Chatsworth about three; and my companion, the Knight of the Whip, confessed as we drove off from the grounds, that there was no such sight to be seen in all Huddersfield.'"

Arriving at Cambridge during a meeting of the British Association, he found lodging in Trinity College, and writes thence full of enthusiasm about Newton and Sedgwick, Whewell, Lubbock, Babbage, and the other worthies past and present who render Cambridge illustrious. A journey into Kent, a week "in the very thick of London society," and of grand sermonpreaching in defence of religious establishments, another week amongst the Bridges's and the Gurneys in the eastern counties, and thence home by Lincoln, Hull, Beverley, Whitby, and the Border, every where meeting friends, and every-where describing his peregrinations with great simplicity and gusto, returned him to Edinburgh prepared for new duties and struggles.

The first of the latter was almost fatal to him. After diligent study of all the facts of a dispute between the town council and the clergy of Edinburgh respecting the mode in which the latter were paid, Chalmers delivered an address upon the subject in the Presbytery. The exertion was overpowering, and was followed on the same day by a slight attack of paralysis. This was on the 23rd January, 1834, when he had very nearly attained the age of fifty-four. Relaxation, thus again rendered necessary, was succeeded in a few months by missionary labour in a deserted district near to his own residence in Edinburgh, and by arrangements which terminated in the erection of a church in the Cowgate. The latter led naturally to wider efforts of the same kind. The General Assembly took up the wide subject of church extension, and applied to the Government for pecuniary aid. Lord Melbourne was inclined to consent to a parliamentary grant; but the Dissenters, taking alarm, made so strong an opposition, that the Government withdrew its almost pledged concur

rence, and determined to appoint a Commission of Inquiry. Several of the Commissioners were persons extremely distasteful to the churchmen, many of whom felt inclined, in consequence, to dispute the validity of the Commission altogether. Chalmers and Lord John Russell threw themselves into the breach. The latter, in a calm, sensible letter, smoothed down much angry feeling, which the good-humoured instability of Lord Melbourne had rather excited than appeased; whilst Chalmers, with equal propriety of feeling, refused to put the slightest obstruction in the way of investigation. "I would not, for the world," he said, most judiciously, "that our Church should interpose a single straw in the way of such an inquiry."

At this point the volume comes to a close. Its successor, which will conclude the work, will contain many stirring, busy scenes, of great public moment, as well as strikingly illustra tive of the character and position of Dr. Chalmers. The author deserves high praise for the judicious way in which, by means of letters and other memoranda, he has made Chalmers himself develop the incidents of his own life. As a biography the work is most satisfactory, and the interest of the subject goes on increasing.

Of Chalmers's character it will be time to speak when the work is brought to a close. The present volume contains a multitude of most interesting proofs of his cheerful happy disposition, his quick and ready talent, and his amiable unaffected simplicity of heart and temper. But the shades begin to grow darker around him. His labours evidently produce greater effect than they were wont to do upon his bodily powers, his prejudices strengthen, and we trace some little loss of that elasticity of mental action which once distinguished him. Still, as yet he is vigorous and active, his intellect and judgment are mature, experience has strengthened his convictions and given authority to his decisions; he is just in that condition of both mind and body in which a man may be most safely followed as a leader in such a movement as that to which the next volume will relate. Until its appearance, we heartily bid Dr. Hanna farewell.

CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY AND LEGENDARY ART.

BY J, G. WALLER.

SYMBOLS OF THE SAINTS.-THE ANGEL.

THERE are a number of forms which have, from the earliest times, obtained a veneration, and occupied a very prominent place in Christian Iconography, as distinctive marks or symbols. Those in chief and most frequent use are: the cross, the lamb, the vine, the dove, the fish, the lyre, the pelican, the ship, the hart, the anchor, the olive, the palm, the phoenix, the eagle, the cock, the lion, the unicorn, the serpent or dragon, and some few others of less note or account. Many of these have obviously an earlier history than that they obtain in Christian art; but, nevertheless, it is in the latter that they were more developed and particularly acknowledged as hieratic signs. Some of them became obsolete at a comparatively early period of the Christian era, and seem to have sunk into oblivion during the condemnation of symbolism; others, however, have survived even the censures of the Church, and have not, even, quite lost their influence among those communities who have been severed from the communion of Rome. In the last article the symbols of the Evangelist were treated of; and perhaps one cannot do better than continue to illustrate the subject by recurring again to the same forms, as we find them reappearing as attributes of the saints. For it will always be found, that these attributes are not merely arbitrary, but have an especial reference to the life of the individual represented, sometimes indeed obscurely, but ever shadowing forth some myth or moral. It will be found, too, on a close examination, that an extraordinary similarity exists whereby the figures of the saints can be grouped together as in one class, nor does this refer more to the language employed by art, than to that used by the legendary; and it becomes evident to the most cursory observer, that the tendency to imitation has been the foundation of it. The life of one saint has been the model for that of another; the spiritual conflicts they underwent, became interpreted grossly by the vulgar mind; and such interpreta

tions again formed the fruitful sources of new legends, which pictorial art not a little contributed to multiply. But this part of our subject will be better exemplified by an array of facts; and once more we shall consider the ANGEL, which, though scarcely correctly termed a symbol, is nevertheless so used in the instance of St. Matthew the Evangelist, and is also an attribute to many other saints.

It may be naturally supposed that the Angel, being the messenger of superior intelligence, appears in that character when forming an attribute, and so it is. St. Frances, a lady of Rome, born in 1383, after suffering many troubles in this life, particularly in the loss of two of her children, abjured the world. One morning, when she was standing in her oratory in holy contemplation, on the anniversary of the death of her beloved son, the chamber was filled with a bright light, in which she saw him as in life, but much more beautiful, and in his company another youth of very great beauty. The mother accosted her son, inquiring after his condition, and was answered, that he was "in the second choir of the first hierarchy, numbered among the archangels, in company of this youth, who is an archangel in the same choir, but in a more lofty grade, and is sent by God for your consolation in order that he may keep you company in my place, and in that of Agnes my sister." Having passed some time in discourse with his mother, he disappeared, first asking her leave; but the archangel remained with her as a guide in the ways of perfection, a comforter in the afflictions and labours that she suffered from infernal spirits, who, when they found that she could not be overcome with temptations, nor terrified with fear and menaces, prepared to do her some great bodily evil, but the archangel, with a slight movement of his head, made them all fly, and if the demons assailed her with greater fierceness, he put himself into the midst of them and appeared to her to combat and ward off the blows which

otherwise would have fallen upon her. It is due to this passage in the life of the saint, that she is represented as accompanied by a protecting angel.

In like manner an Angel is an attribute which accompanies the figure of St. Valerian the Martyr, the bethrothed of St. Cecilia, whose history is placed in the Martyrologia under the reign of the emperor Alexander Severus, and who is said to have suffered with the Saints Tiburtius and Maximus. Valerian was a pagan of noble family, but St. Cecilia was Christian; and, after the ceremony of espousals had taken place, she admonished him, that an angel protected the purity and chastity in which she intended to live; whereupon her spouse demanded to see this angel of whom she discoursed, or otherwise he should believe that she loved another man. But Cecilia told him that, unless he had a celestial spirit, he could not see an angel of heaven, and without first receiving the rite of baptism. Valerian from his great desire assented to this condition, and was baptized: returning home he made a prayer, and then perceived "the angel of the Lord shining like the sun, and having in his hand two beautiful crowns of roses and lilies, one of which he gave to Cecilia, and the other to Valerian, saying, These crowns have I brought to you from Paradise, preserve them with a pure and chaste heart, they will never fade, never die, nor lose their sweet odours, &c." By the fragrance emitted, Tiburtius, the brother for whom he had prayed to God that he might receive the light of truth, became convinced of the miraculous apparition, and was converted to Christianity.

Another of the martyrs of the first ages was St. Sergius, who is likewise distinguished by an Angel, on account of one having visited him and his fellow prisoner, consoling and bidding him to fear nothing, as God would defend him. Accordingly, after enduring acute sufferings, being made to run before the coach of Antiochus, the minister of the emperor Maximin, in shoes filled with iron spikes, an angel came and healed his wounds, which point is taken for illustration in the representations of the saint.

The Angel as a protecting spirit also

attends upon St. Eleutherius the Abbat, shielding him from stripes, about to be inflicted by his persecutors.

In the wonderful story of St. Dunstan there occurs an apparition of angels singing, which is the reason for sometimes making that saint accompanied by troops of angels. This is the vision of Elfgar, Dunstan's chaplain, who on Ascension day was engaged in the duties of the church, and, being in a holy trance, saw St. Dunstan dictating ecclesiastical laws to a clerk. Soon, a number of angels in garments of white, and adorned with crowns of gold, entered the gates of the church, saluting the saint, saying, "Hail, our Dunstan! if thou art prepared to come to us, freely join our host." To whom he answered, "Ye know, O blessed spirits, that Christ ascended this day into heaven, therefore this day's homage is due to him; so that for this time I may not go with you." Then they said, "Be thou prepared on the next Sabbath to go with us, and before the Holy of Holies as a saint eternally to sing." To this he assented, and his celestial visitors departed. This is said to have happened three days previous to the death of St. Dunstan. It is frequently recorded in paintings of the saint; but not so often as a dragon beneath his feet, which belongs to a more popular myth.

Angels singing together with a saint denote St. Nicholas of Tolentino, a monk of the Augustine order, who spent his life in great charity, according to the legendary, like a perfect man come from heaven. The same authority informs us that, six months before his death, he had nightly a choir of angel's music until the morning hour, and thence he knew that the hour of his death was nigh, and so predicted it to his brethren. He died in 1306, fixing his eyes upon a crucifix containing a piece of the true cross, which he held in the greatest veneration.

In illustration of the imitative character of the historic records of the saints, another group may come under our notice; in which the office of the Angel is a gracious administration of the holy sacrament. Such an instance occurs in the life of St. Bonaventura, though not recorded by many writers, and perhaps not so generally received as many others; but as sometimes this

saint is represented as receiving the consecrated host from an angel from heaven, it is necessary to allude to that part of the legend that gives authority for it. The story runs, that the saint regarding himself as the greatest of sinners, out of his extreme humility, frequently withheld himself from the holy table, and, according to the act of his canonization, "several days had passed, nor durst he yet presume to present himself at the heavenly banquet. But whilst he was hearing mass, and meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, to crown his humility and love, put into his mouth, by the ministry of an angel, part of the consecrated host taken from the hand of the priest." Similarly, we find St. Mark the Hermit distinguished; but here the angel gives the consecrated wafer in a spoon, an event the saint stated to have been of frequent occurrence in his solitude. The era of his life was the fifth century, and it is probable that his legend is the earliest instance in which this act of grace is declared, and that those of St. Bonaventura and of St. Stanislaus Kostka, which will be now alluded to, must be considered as imitations. St. Stanislaus was born 28 October, 1550, in Poland, of which he is now the joint patron with St. Casimir. Whilst pursuing his studies at Vienna, at the house of a Lutheran, he fell dangerously ill, and asked to receive the holy viaticum. It was refused him, and the saint filled with sorrow sought the aid of heaven by his prayer, and had a vision, where Angels appeared to him bringing the holy communion. He was canonized in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. and is therefore not of much importance in the subject of our inquiry, the date being so recent, beyond showing a similarity of circumstances.

Of assistance given by an Angel in the martyrdom or the sufferings of saints, being the authority for the introduction of the figure as an attribute which should recall the story of the saint's life, instances have already appeared; and to these we shall now add that of St. Columbu, a virgin martyr of the early ages. She is generally represented with a sword, the instrument of her martyrdom, having been beheaded by Aurelian in 273. An

angel appears to her as she stands upon a burning pile. The legend states that two angels were sent from heaven who covered her with white raiment, after that she had been stript by the order of Aurelian.

St. Hildegunde, a virgin of the twelfth century, is distinguished in representations by having an angel accompanying her on horseback; she is further represented in man's attire. Her history runs thus: her father wished to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, directing his daughter to accompany him in the dress above named. He died upon the sea, and she, being seized upon by robbers, was delivered from that peril by an angel, who afterwards accompanied her for her protection. She lived at the close of the twelfth century, and it may be remarked that the incident here recorded is, unlike many others, original, and without imitation. In the legend of St. Isidore, is also a story which conventional art has delighted to illustrate. The saint is represented as a peasant, and an angel accompanying him ploughing with white heifers. The reason for which is, that being hard worked by his master, and, at the same time, frequently reproached for his laziness, it happened that on one occasion during his holy contemplations an angel came and performed his labour for him. St. Isidore died at Madrid in 1170.

The influence of the ancient doctrine of the protecting and active ministry of angels in the concerns of mankind, has naturally rendered the introduction of this power very important in the lives or legends of the saints. It would be indeed tedious to enumerate them all, but there is scarcely an action of grace that has not been represented as done by this intermediate messenger of supreme will. More than one saint, the founder or reformer of an order, has the rules of that order transmitted from heaven by an angel, as in the case of St. Paphnutius. St. Hugh is defended from lightning, which, during the middle ages, was considered as the work of malign spirits, against whom the angels were constantly waging war, and for the terror of whom bells were consecrated and dedicated to the archangels. In some instances, as in the case of St. Guthlac,

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