there who have even ventured to recommend the prohibition of them altogether. Much as we respect the intention of these worthies, we cannot carry our complaisance so far as to praise their "discretion," which, as the poet says, is oftentimes "the better part of valour." Let it be assumed that the tendency of classical studies as now pursued is to divert the mind of the student from the more solemn investigations of divine truth; and our reply to such an argument would be, that the object of any undertaking may be overlooked and its spirit perverted; and that, consequently, whereinsoever an improper bias is given to the mind by a course of studies, or too great a latitude is allowed for extraneous speculations, the fault lies more in the authorised directors of a place of learning, than in the foundation laid by the experience of ages for the cultivation of a correct taste, the exercise of the faculties, and the improvement of the mental powers. To say nothing of the knowledge of the languages in which the Scriptures were first written and preached, as actually necessary to instruct him who is to instruct others; of the knowledge of the customs and history of the ages in which this took place, as useful to throw light upon the allusions of the sacred penman, or of the intellectual pleasure which accrues from the consideration of the many beauties which are spread along the flowery paths of ancient literature; who, that professes to have the cause of the Gospel at heart, and would wish to present the holy precepts and sublime morality of the Redeemer in their clearest aspect, can venture to part with that brightest of all the evidences of the Christian faith, the result of a comparison of that which human philosophy, through a series of years, and by the thorough subjection of the noblest of human faculties to the most splendid of human theories, had been able to effect, with the simple and modest, yet convincing and perfect scheme of moral duties which was established by the power and in the person of the Son of God? How, we would ask, if the study of the literature of Greece and Rome be laid aside, how are we to overcome the arguments of the objectors to the Gospel, on the score of its unnecessary introduction, as a rule of life? It is by comparison alone with what the wisest of merely human lawgivers and human moralists have decreed or written, that we can obtain a just conception of the unparalleled grace and adaptation to our wants and weakness of the concise and unpretending code of Jesus Christ: it is only by such a method that we can 66 convince gainsayers," and show them, that the "wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." Assertions, therefore, such as those which we allude to, are of little weight, and less avail : nor should we have condescended to advert to them, had not the subject of the work before us afforded us an opportunity of stating

what we think upon this point. So far, however, as these studies are perverted, or are misapplied, we join with the anti-classics in condemnation of the neglect or culpable connivance of the great Gamaliels of the day for it is to be remembered, that the study of ancient learning is only the preparation of the mind to enter on the more important study of sacred literature; and if, instead of using these pursuits as adjuncts, we employ them for themselves alone, to serve the ambition or the pride of human acquirements, we are guilty, in the eyes of God, of a gross perversion of his gifts, and of a scandalous profanity of his more imperative concerns. We fear it may be too true, that in some of our public seats of instruction, the children of Christian parents, baptized into the service of a Divine Master, and to be placed in situations of importance and responsibility in the Christian world, are educated in the mysteries, obscurities, and wickedness of Pagan times, to the exclusion of those rules of life and those doctrines of faith which might be strengthened, but which are weakened as to their influence on the young and ardent mind. We fear that, at the last great settling day, of mental as well as bodily offences, the humble uninstructed peasant, whose study lay simply in the word of God, will have more reason to rejoice that he was ignorant, than the accomplished scholar that he was made a possessor of the benefits to be derived from the application which is given to the requirements of the age. But allowing this, and it is a concession which might have been made without a compromise even by Porson himself, we are so far from wishing the pursuits called 'classical' to be abolished, that we would gladly hail their more extended application; so that, in all cases, the legitimate object be but observed. Half the errors which have been palmed upon the unlearned, or uninquiring, by the charlatan interpreters of the time, have arisen in the grossest ignorance of those very studies which these very men condemn: nor should we have witnessed such sorrowful perversions in judgment, or such sad offences against common sense as we have often witnessed, had the language, customs, and history of the Greeks and Romans been better understood. Knowing, then, the use as well as the dangers of this study, we are glad to see so much valuable instruction offered to the young as the publication, whose title heads the present observations, is calculated to afford and earlier would we have exhibited its merits, by quotation, had we not thought it proper to stand up in the defence of a subject, which might have been charged against us in this instance had we said nothing with respect to it.

We cannot do better than suffer the author to develop his plan in his own language; and, for that purpose, shall transprint some portions of the introductory chapter, the commencement of which will, we are convinced, recall, in the minds of many of our readers, the

VOL. XI. NO. V.

the dark depravity of the modern drama; how the former was employed to inculcate lessons of morality, to expose vice, and encourage virtue and piety towards heaven, and how the latter is sometimes protected by the open patronage of the most impudent and greedy profligacy. In a future edition we hope to see this defect supplied; as Christian Remembrancers we could not omit to notice it, for it cannot be denied to any unprejudiced observer, that the protectors of our great metropolitan theatres have scarcely done more than change their patron for the Bacchus of antiquity, substituting the guardianship of a more than Cytherean Venus. Doubtless there are exceptions,-but what must conscience say, when it is acknowledged, that that which in heathen ages was adopted for its service to religion, is now celebrated for the vices which, in that case, heathenism abjured, and which now flourish under the protecting eye of legislation and rank in the brightest days of the Christian dispensation?

We have already exceeded our limits, but we must give a specimen of the latter portion of the work, by way of exhibiting it in a more novel light. That which we select relates to the history of modern Greece.

"When Sparta, which is now called Misitra, was surrendered by Thomas Palæologus to Mahomet the Great, those Greeks who were unwilling to live under the Turks, are supposed to have fled into the recesses of Mount Taygetus, and to have settled amongst the Mainotes. The lower ridge of the mountains of Maina extends to the Promontory of Tænaros, now Cape Matapan; and Marathonisi, a town situated to the east of the Cape, and containing about five hundred inhabitants, is considered to be the principal residence of the chief Mainotes. These people live in huts throughout the whole of this mountainous district, disdaining the usual restraints of civilized life, and utterly regardless of the illustrious origin from which they profess to be derived. Subsisting by piracy, and the plunder of whatever vessels may be shipwrecked upon their shores, or driven by stress of weather to seek the shelter of their coast, they are marked throughout the Morea, on account of their barbarity and violence, with the disgraceful appellation of Cacovougnis, or villains of the mountains.' Perpetual exposure to the sun and the sea air has given them a tawny complexion, which adds to the ferocity of their whole appearance.

"About the latter end of the fifth century, the bishop, whose authority over this extraordinary people appears not to have been disputed, was persuaded to acknowledge, as Proto-geronte, or First Elder, a person who styled himself the son of David, the last Greek Emperor of Trebizond. This self-erected government remained for a long time unnoticed by the Turkish Sultans, who overlooked so obscure and barren a corner of their empire, till the complaints of Modon, Coron, and Misitra, which suffered by repeated aggressions of the robbers, roused their indignation. An attack was then made upon the Mainotes of the North, who fled hastily from the contest, and embarked, to the number of four thousand, in six large ships, four of which were lost near Corfu. The remaining two reached Corsica, where the fugitives settled; and some of their descendants have recently been recognized by travellers in that island.

"Upon this circumstance a claim of an extraordinary nature was founded, when the troops of the French Republic attempted to penetrate through Egypt, and attack the foundation of our wealth and power in India. Amongst the Mainote families, who had succeeded in establishing themselves in Corsica, was one named Kalomeros, which, when literally translated, is rendered Buonaparte,

in Italian; and from this coincidence of name, coupled with the flight and settlement of the northern Mainotes, a belief was prevalent in the Peloponnesus, that the late ruler of France was descended from an original Grecian stock, and that the blood of Sparta flowed in his veins. Buonaparte, previously to embarking as General of the Republic in the Egyptian expedition, sought to turn this popular report to the advantage of the French cause, and dispatched a letter to the Chief of the 'Free people of Maina,' as he termed them, by the hands of agents, whom he asserted to be also descendants of the Spartans. Had not the British arms triumphed in Egypt, it is thought that this claim of Spartan lineage might have been very effectual in rousing the inhabitants of the Morea to a successful resistance against their insolent masters.

"The Cacovougnis, thus deserted by their chiefs, and by a principal part of their comrades, fled to their steepest rocks, and created four captains of the whole nation; whose descendants, whether male or female, were to succeed to their power. In the year 1765, Demetria, a widow of one of these captains, filled with consternation the Turks of Misitra, and cut off the communication between that town and Modon. They continued afterwards to maintain their independence of the Porte, and lived entirely upon plunder; no vessel, under whatever flag, was safe from their attacks, should it venture to approach incautiously the rocks of Matapan; and the caloyers, or monks, who retained considerable influence over their ill-governed countrymen, frequently issued from the fastnesses of the mountains to encourage their rapacity and to share the booty. When the Russians invaded the Morea, in the year 1770, these freebooters joined the army, committing the most frightful excesses at the storm of Misitra, and afterwards deserting their allies to the failure of the expedition. Since that period, they have sometimes been considered as subject to the Pasha of Tripolizza, and sometimes as independent.

"Their mutual dissensions have lately promoted the views of the Turks, who, by the aid of treachery, have made themselves masters of some of the fortresses of Maina; but the remnant of the people, under an intrepid governor, still maintain themselves in the fastnesses of Bathi; and would willingly make sacrifices to any foreign power, so that they might retain even the shadow of independence. No Turk can travel in their country without a large armed force; but a Frank, putting himself under the protection of their bishop, or one of their captains, is secure against all danger.

"Such are the present descendants of that hardy and illustrious race, who were the rivals, and at last the conquerors, of Athens. The noble sentiments which animated their ancestors, have yielded to the single feeling of unfettered liberty; and ages of barbarity and ignorance have sunk the most just and obedient citizens of Greece to a troop of robbers. It is hardly allowable to reason from their present state as to their probable conduct, in case any great revolution should emancipate them from the degrading influence of Moslem power; but I cannot be deterred from expressing an earnest hope, that the warcry now raised throughout the Peloponnesus may resound to its remotest shores, and assemble all its inhabitants to the rescue of their dearest rights, in the tremendous day of victory and retribution."-Pp. 180-186.

"Liberty is a blessing, which must be earned by our individual exertions, in order to be prized according to its full value; and that independence alone is likely to be lasting, which is obtained by a nation after much endurance and many a conflict in the tented field. Whenever Greece shall have shown herself worthy to be free by her heroism and perseverance, and have proved that she is not actuated by mere momentary feeling; doubtless she will be encouraged in her efforts by Christian Europe; and then the price of her ransom will never suffer her sons to forget the value of that freedom for which she has fought and bled."-Pp. 237, 238.

We have no room for the description of Parnassus, nor of Athens, nor for the examination of the reflections on the changes in empires,

but may spare for a concluding passage, which will not fail to recall the remembrance of one of Granta's worthiest sons, the room which it deserves:-

"We will close this short visit to the seat of arts, and arms, and eloquence," said Mr. Warner, " by repairing to the Temple of Theseus, and dropping a tear upon the grave of the excellent and accomplished Tweddell; one of the brightest ornaments of the Society, within whose venerable walls we are now sitting, while he here pursued his youthful studies; and one whose future promise had raised the hopes and expectations of the learned world. Having visited Switzerland, Germany, most parts of the Russian Empire, the borders of the Euxine, and Constantinople, he traversed the Grecian Isles, Macedonia, and Thessaly; and, after a residence of several months at Athens, paid the great debt of nature, when upon the very point of reaping that harvest of his toils, which was to repay him for all the sacrifices he had made. In the Theseum, the most beautiful of Doric temples which the hand of time has spared, and at this day the most perfect of the surviving structures of Greece, were deposited his mortal remains; and the inexpressible dignity and simplicity of the edifice by which they are sheltered, are in harmony with the mind by which they were once animated. A large block of Pentelican marble, from the ruins of the Parthenon, is, by the exertion of English travellers, now laid over his grave; and the elegant pen of Mr. Walpole, of this College, has recorded, in Greek elegiac verse, the grief of his countrymen, and their admiration of his genius. May all and each of you, my young friends, aspire to the same honours which graced his residence in the University; and should you ever extend your travels to that classic land, which is the object of our earliest predilections, may you not forget to pay a just tribute of respect to the scholar, who pointed you to the path of happiness and fame!"-Pp. 248–250.

In this aspiration we most heartily agree; and the more readily, because, though addressed to an imaginary hearer, it carries with it sufficient recommendation to induce us to echo it in the ears of some who are destined to give a local habitation and a name to Mr. Warner's unsubstantial pupils. If the attention we have given to them shall induce our younger friends to turn their attention to the subjects treated of in this way, we shall have discharged a duty to the compiler of this pleasing publication, in giving it the celebrity which we may be able to confer upon it, by our conscientious tribute of applause in the pages of a miscellany dedicated to the interests of the church. And we only wish to see the book in a somewhat larger form: it is worthy to be put upon the shelves of other than a juvenile library.

LITERARY REPORT.

A Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament.... By JOHN PARKHURST, M. A. A New Edition, comprising the more valuable parts of the works of some later writers. By HUGH JAMES ROSE, B.D. of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: Riving

tons, Longman and Co. &c. &c. 1829. Pp. xvii. 92, 961. Price 17. 11s. 6d.

SIXTY years have elapsed since the pious and learned Mr. Parkhurst first gave to the public his well-known and