sors.

the place,) whose acquaintance I had made at Geneva a year before. We had much conversation on the state of the Protestant cause in this part of France, and on religious affairs in general. M. Jay has at persent the charge of six churches, at which he preaches in turn; the Liturgy and a printed sermon being read by one of the deacons in the five in which he is not present; but he will soon be relieved from two of these, as the government is going to allow another pastor. The affairs of these six churches, and of six others in the neighbourhood, are regulated by a consistory, consisting of twelve laymen, one from each church, and three pastors; six of the former going out of office every year, after they have chosen their succesFrance was divided into consistories at the end of the Revolution, one being generally formed for a district in which there were six thousand Protestants to be found, and to each of these the government generally allows three pastors. But these proportions are of course modified according to circumstances; at Nimes, for instance, there are fourteen thousand Protestants and five pastors, besides a suffragan and a catechist. The election of the pastors is in the hands of these consistories, subject, however, to be confirmed by the government; but, with this exception, which is seldom of any detriment, each consistory is perfectly independent of any extraneous authority. The lowest sum which a Protestant pastor receives from the government is twelve hundred franks, i. e. forty-eight pounds, a year. Besides this, the commune allows something in consideration of house-rent, and there are contributions from the flock; so that no pastor has less than eighty or ninety pounds a year, and in most places this will go as far as double the sum would in England. At Royan I spent three days, and they are days to which I shall often look back as to some of the happiest of my life. They were occupied in strolling about the town and neighbourhood with my kind host— in inhaling with him the delicious air on the rocks which overlook the mouth of the Gironde-in looking over his library-and conversing with him on a great variety of subjects of the most interesting nature.

From what came under my own observation, as well as from what I learnt from others, I have every reason to believe that M. Jay is an excellent pastor, entering deeply into the feelings of his flock, and attentive to their spiritual wants-loving them, and loved in turn. It was quite delightful to walk out with him, and to observe the terms of kindness and of brotherhood on which he was with the whole population, both Protestant and Catholic. It did my heart good to hear the Adieu, ma petite! which he bestowed upon almost every little girl that we met, and to witness the warmth of affection with which he greeted those who were recovering from sickness. Would to God that all those who take upon themselves the sacred office of a pastor, would evince equal zeal in the discharge of some of its most important duties !

19th, hired a horse to carry me to Saintes, and a man to bring it back. My friend accompanied me three or four miles on the road, and I felt, on parting from him, as if I was leaving.one of my own kin and my own blood. I had a tiresome ride to Saintes, and returned to Bourdeaux by the same conveyances by which I had come.

Sunday, 21st, attended the service aux Chartrons; the congregation numerous and highly respectable, probably five or six hundred persons; the preaching animated and eloquent, but too impassioned for me.

22nd. The weather had been so wet on my first arrival at Bourdeaux, that I could not see so much of the town as I wished; but this day it was

beautifully fine, and I made up for lost time. This is one of the finest towns in France; the modern part is well-built and handsome, the streets wide, and the houses all of white stone. In the bridge I was somewhat disappointed, as we generally are in objects of which we have heard much. The Place de Louis XVI. will be magnificent when it is completed; the new hospital, which is now building, surpasses every thing of the kind that I ever saw, excepting that of Greenwich; and the cemetery, though not so extensive as that of Père La Chaise at Paris, is far more peaceful and retired, and contains several monuments in exquisite taste. The expense of living is high at Bourdeaux, and the climate is moist, for much rain falls here, and the situation is low and surrounded by water.

23rd, came by the steam-boat to Marmande, on the Garonne, a distance probably of sixty miles, in fourteen hours-the day wet, and the country uninteresting.

24th, came in a voiture to Agen, the country during the latter part of the ride the most beautiful that I had seen in France, fertile and well cultivated, and with the vines trained upon the trees, or festooned as they are in Italy.

25th, arrived at Montauban to breakfast, having obtained a place in the malle-poste, a large cabriolet, drawn by three horses, which carries the courier and one passenger. This climate is sensibly warmer than any which I have yet found in the course of my journey, so that it is pleasant to escape from the heat of the sun into the shade. Montauban is, to my eye, by far the pleasantest town in France, being beautifully situated on a rising ground, which ascends from the north bank of the Garonne, and in the midst of a well-cultivated country. The streets indeed are narrow, but they contain many good houses, and there are delightful public walks overlooking the river.

In the forenoon I went to the Protestant College, or, as it is here called, La Faculté, to deliver a letter of introduction, with which I was furnished, to one of the professors. The College is an old nunnery, and I was amused to see the jealous peep-hole which still remains in the principal gate. I was delighted with the appearance of its inner court, with shady bigonnia catalpas planted in the middle, with graceful vines trained upon its walls, and surrounded by cloisters, which afford a cool promenade to the professors and students. In spite of the tenth commandment, I envied the building for our College at York. But then, who could study in such a climate as this? The walls of the cloisters are covered with wise maxims, to excite the students to diligence and good conduct. Among these there was one which I was particularly glad to see; "Maxima hæresis est vita improba." Calvinism, I thought, could not be the order of the day, where such a dogma as this occupies so conspicuous a place; nor was my surmise far from the truth, for the majority of the professors, whatever may be the precise shade of their orthodoxy or their heterodoxy, are certainly not Calvinists. The old Protestant College of Montauban was suppressed at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in the year 1685. Napoleon revived it in 1808, and bestowed upon it an old nunnery as its local. It has six Professors, who give lectures on the following subjects: Gospel Morality and Pulpit Eloquence; Dogmatical Theology; Ecclesiastical History, and Sacred Criticism; Hebrew; the higher parts of Latin (haute Latinité) and Greek Literature; Natural Philosophy, Metaphysics and Ethics, Besides these there are five Tutors, (Repétiteurs,) who teach Latin and Greek; Mathematics; Rhetoric and French Literature; Geography and History. Twelve or fifteen

young men go out of the College every year, prepared for the Christian ministry; and the number of students in the last session was 146; 72 of philosophy, and 74 of theology. Of these not more than twenty or thirty have apartments in the College, and all the Professors, except one, live in the town. The session lasts nine months, beginning with November. This institution is entirely supported by the government, at least with the assistance of a few thousand francs which it receives from different consistories and from private individuals. The students pay no fees; some of them even receive bursaries of four or five hundred francs a year from the government, and each of the Professors has 6000 francs from the same source, so that it costs the government about 40,000 francs, i. e. £1600 a year. When the College was revived in 1808, it was presented with 6000 volumes from the remains of some old libraries at Paris; but the selection was made with so little judgment, that the gift is of comparatively little value. There is, however, a library which has been lately formed by the students, and to which the Professors have made a grant of a thousand volumes, comprehending all the works which have been either bought or presented since the year 1816. For the purchase of books, and for the accomplishment of several other important objects, it were much to be wished that this College had more extensive funds at its disposal, especially as it is the only establishment of the kind in France, besides Strasbourg. Many of the Protestant clergy are educated at Geneva, but the distance must often operate as a serious obstacle.

26th. This day I spent half an hour in the Lancasterian school. It was one of the first days after the holidays, and it was also the season for sowing the grain, so that the scholars were not all assembled; but there are on the list 135 boys and 120 girls. The Commune pays for the instruction of sixty boys, and the rest pay a frank per month for themselves. I was much pleased with the order and system which appeared to prevail, and was glad to hear that the school was flourishing, notwithstanding the ill-will of the Catholic priests, who do not like that the common people should possess more knowledge than what they can gain in the wretched seminaries of which they have themselves the direction, and from which the children go out nearly as ill-informed as they were when they entered. The master lent me the "Guide de l'Enseignment Mutuel, avec des Gravures et des Tableaux." This work contains very clear and ample directions for the establishment and regulation of these schools. It seems from the Preface, that neither Bell nor Lancaster can justly claim the merit of the original invention, though the latter deserves great praise for having reduced into a more practicable form what he found in the works of his predecessors, and more especially for his zeal in introducing his system to the notice of the public. It is to Herbault that we owe the economical invention of large sheets of letters or words pasted on boards, with rods to point out what is to be read, and the division of the scholars into classes; to the Canon Cherrier we are indebted for the plan of teaching children to read their letters by writing them, as well as for the system of monitors.

In the afternoon I walked out into the country, and was tempted to stroll on farther and farther, by the pleasantness of the day, by the beauty of the landscape, and by the snug, inviting appearance of the pretty white-washed houses, which every where met my eye. Every thing about me was bright, and cheery, and pleasing-with some considerable approach to the neatness and trimness of England, yet combined with all the gay luxuriance of

France; and this, too, in a climate which must yield the palm only to that of Madeira. Though I had made my arrangements for wintering at Marseilles, I felt half tempted to change my plans, and to remain where I was ; nor was it a small addition to the inducements already mentioned, that I should here enjoy the society of several pastors and professors, whose sentiments are of the most liberal cast. Living, too, is extremely reasonable. I was offered a furnished room for twenty francs a month, or two on the same floor for thirty, and I have no doubt that a man might live very comfortably, every expense of board and lodging included, for less than £5 a month.

27th. With the assistance of the sexton, I found the grave of poor Mr. Goodier, who died here in July, 1818, and was interred in the Protestant burying-ground. There is not a stone to tell where he lies, but my conductor said that he was sure of the spot, as he had himself assisted at the interment. It was an affecting incident to visit the grave of so truly pious and valuable a young man, cut off when he was just entering on a bright career of useful exertion. As I gazed on the simple elevation of earth which marks the spot where his remains are deposited, I breathed forth a fervent prayer that we, who are still left to fulfil our day in this world of uncertainty and temptation, may imitate him in the purity of his heart, in the gentleness of his temper, in his calm, enlightended resignation, and ardent desire of doing good. God grant that we may endeavour in some degree to supply his place, and, if we have not his talents, that we may, at least, not fall below him in zeal!

Sunday 28th, attended the service at the principal Protestant church. In Catholic France it was a grand and glorious sight to behold so large an assemblage in a Protestant place of worship. There must have been á thousand persons present, and I was assured that this was considered a small congregation, many being at this season in the country. But then there are at Montauban 8,000 Protestants, that is, one-third of the whole population. The preacher, who was a young man, the suffragan of one of the pastors, gave us a good moral sermon on the fear of death; and he did what every preacher ought to do-he addressed his hearers, and not his book, for he had no book before him.

I find that my journal occupies so much more space than I expected, that I must reserve the remainder for another letter. This will give me the opportunity of maturing more carefully some remarks, with which I mean to conclude, on the state of religious opinion and the prospects of the Protestant church in this part of France.

SAMUEL WOOD.

I inquired what would be the expense of laying down a grave-stone, with a short inscription, and found that, including what is paid to the consistory for the permission, it could not be done under £12. It is to be hoped that they who knew and valued Mr. Goodier, will not scruple this sum to provide a suitable memorial of his talents and his virtues.

ON THE SPIRIT AND TENDENCY OF RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. Je le demande aux penseurs éclairés, s'il existe un moyen de lier la morale à l'idée d'un Dieu, saus que jamais ce moyen puisse devenir un instrument de pouvoir dans la main des hommes, une religion ainsi conçue ne seroit-elle pas le plus grand bonheur que l'on pût assurer à la nature humaine?-De Stael, De la Litter., Tom. I. ch. xi. p. 263.

WHETHER Christianity be able to preserve and perpetuate itself in the world, or require to be maintained by the patronage and endowment of the civil power, is a problem of the deepest interest, not only to the Christian, who is naturally concerned for the success of a religion which he believes to be divine, but also to the politician and economist, who, whatever may be their own sentiments, cannot fail to discern its transcendent influence on the minds of men, and what a powerful instrument it may be made of human improvement and happiness. Perhaps England presents the most favourable circumstances that could be selected for trying this problem; since the rare union of universal toleration with the establishment of a particular sect, the co-existence of every conceivable variety of Dissenters with an ancient, wealthy, and learned hierarchy, furnishes precisely those data which are required for its solution.

It would be foreign to the object of the present essay to search the New Testament for authorities for or against the lawfulness of religious establishments. The most candid of their advocates admit that they form no part of Christianity, but are only a means of inculcating it. They are institutions of human origin for preserving and disseminating divine truths; and the question for us to consider is, whether they fulfil the purposes for which they have been ostensibly framed. Like all human institutions, they must be estimated by their utility and expediency, by the effects which they have invariably been found to produce.

The principle of religious establishment is the selection of some particular form of Christianity, either as to doctrine or discipline or both, in exclusion of all others, for the especial favour, patronage, and endowment of the civil power; and to this exclusive principle, which is essential to the existence of religious establishments, all the mischiefs and abuses inseparable from them may be directly traced. It is true, that an establishment of a more liberal and comprehensive character, intended to uphold only the essentials of Christianity, and to include several forms of church-discipline, has been advocated by some writers; but in every plan that has been proposed, the principle of preference and exclusion is, to a certain degree, admitted, and, so far as it operates, it must lead to consequences that are obstacles to the progress of truth and genuine piety. In America, the experiment has been tried of a civil establishment of all forms of Christianity, by requiring every man to contribute to the support of some religion, but allowing him the choice of his own. This scheme has been greatly commended, as combining all the advantages of an establishment, with the enjoyment of the most unrestricted liberty of conscience. Some men, however, conscientiously disapprove of all religious worship, and have no fixed religious principles; and there is an obvious injustice in compelling them to contribute to the support of institutions which they consider useless, and to the propa

*Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, Book vi. Ch. x.