Low on the surface of the sea Faint sounds like whispers glide Or as within a sleeping wood A wayward phantasy might say Were clapping little hands of play, The traveller by land and flood, The man of ready mind, Much questioning the reasoning, stood- That day, on Egypt's distant land, Two nations fought with armed hand, That fluttering whisper, low and near, And so this aching in my breast, The uproar of the battle fought The thundering roll in whispers brought It will be seen that we could hardly pick out so many beautiful things, if Mr. Mac Donald's volume were not rich in fine matter. We thankfully accept it at his hands, and shall make sure of meeting him again, in the company of a more robust and free-footed Muse. Nobody who reads 'Death and Birth' can doubt of the Author's poetic future. The Fables of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. BOOK THE SECOND. NO. X.-THE ASSES. The asses complained to Jupiter that men treated them too cruelly. 'Our strong backs,' said they, 'carry their burdens, beneath which they and every weaker animal must sink. And yet, by means of merciless blows, they try to compel us to a swiftness, which would be rendered impossible to us by the burdens, even if nature had not denied it us. Forbid them, Jupiter, to be so unjust, if indeed men allow themselves to be forbidden any wickedness. We will serve them, because it seems that thou hast created us thereto, but we will not be beaten without a reason for it.' 'My creature,' replied Jupiter, to his petitioner, the request is not unjust; but I see no possibility of convincing men that your natural slowness is not idleness. And as long as they believe this you will be beaten. But I will contrive to alleviate your lot. Insensibility shall henceforth be your portion; your skin shall be hardened against blows, and so weary the arm of the driver.' 'Jupiter,' exclaimed the asses, thou art ever wise and gracious!' They went away joyous from his throne, as the throne of universal love. NO. XI.THE PROTECTED LAMB. Hylax, of the race of wolf-dogs, was guarding a gentle lamb. Lykodes, who both in hair, mouth, and ears was more like a wolf than a dog, saw him and fell upon him. 'Wolf,' cried he,' what art thou doing with this lamb?' Wolf thyself!' retorted Hylax. (The dogs were both mistaken.) 'Begone! or thou shalt learn that I am its protector!' Lykodes, however, insists upon taking the lamb from Hylax by force; Hylax insists upon detaining it by force; and the poor lamb-excellent protectors!-is torn in pieces in the struggle. NO. XII.-JUPITER AND APOLLO. Jupiter and Apollo disputed which of them was the better archer. 'Let us put it to the proof,' said Apollo. He bent his bow and shot so directly into the middle of the appointed mark, that Jupiter saw no possibility of surpassing him. 'I see,' said he, 'that you really do shoot very well. I should find a difficulty in beating that. However, I will try another time.' He has yet to try, the prudent Jupiter ! NO. XIII.-THE WATERSNAKE. Jupiter had now given the frogs another king; a voracious watersnake instead of a peaceful log. If thou wishest to be our king,' cried the frogs, 'why dost thou devour us?' Why,' answered the snake, because you have asked for me.' 'I did not ask for thee,' 6 6 said one of the frogs, whom the snake already devoured with its eyes. Not?' said the water snake; so much the worse! Then I must devour thee, because thou didst not ask for me.' NO. XIV. THE FOX AND THE MASK. In the olden times a fox found the empty mask of an actor, with the mouth gaping open. 'What a head!' said the observing fox; without brains and with an open mouth! Must not that have been the head of a talker?' This fox knew you, ye eternal speakers, ye curses of the most innocent of our senses. NO. XV.-THE RAVEN AND THE FOX. A raven was carrying away in his claws a piece of poisoned meat, which the enraged gardner had thrown down for his neighbour's cats. He was just about to eat it in an old oak-tree, when a fox crept by, and cried out to him, 'Blessings on thee, bird of Jupiter!' 'For whom dost thou take me?' asked the raven. 'For whom do I take thee?' replied the fox. Art thou not the vigorous eagle, who from the right hand of Jupiter daily descends to this oak, to feed poor me? Why dost thou disguise thyself? For do I not see in thy victorious claw the desired gift, which thy god still continues to send me through thee?' The raven was astounded, and inwardly rejoiced at being taken for an eagle. 'I must not tell the fox of his mistake,' thought he. With stupid generosity he let his prey fall, and flew proudly away. Laughingly the fox seized upon the flesh, and ate it with malicious joy. But soon the joy was changed to agony; the poison began to work, and he died. Accursed flatterers, may ye never win anything but poison ! NO. XVI.-THE AVARICIOUS MAN. 'Unhappy me!' complained a miser to his neighbour; 'some one has robbed me this night of the treasure which I had buried in my garden, and put an abominable stone in its place.' 'But you would not have used your treasure,' replied his neighbour. Imagine then that the stone is your treasure, and you are none the poorer.' 'But even if I were none the poorer,' rejoined the miser, 'is not another all the richer? Another all the richer! I could go mad!' NO. XVII.—THE RAVEN. The fox saw that the raven plundered the altars of the gods, and lived upon their sacrifices. 'I should like to know whether the raven has a claim to the sacrifices, because he is a prophetic bird; or, whether he is considered a prophetic bird because he is bold enough to share the sacrifice with the gods.' Record of Christian Missions. COULD we feel at all certain of the accuracy of the rumours respecting the massacre of Christian missionaries in Bengal, it would be a sad pleasure to devote a few pages this month to a 'record' of the 'advancement' of Christian learning in that great Presidency, up to the time when English negligence and English injustice stopped the progress of civilization and Christianity in a sixth part of the British dominions. But we do not like speculating upon rumours, which may possibly turn out to be altogether unfounded. From two or three sources we learn of lives spared that had been given up for lost, and Christian missionaries are scarcely likely to be the first to be sacrificed in such a revolt as has taken place in Bengal. Their own converts would take advantage of every means of sheltering them from the insurrectionists, and would probably so secrete them, that they could not be immediately found. On the whole, therefore, we shall receive any intelligence respecting the death of missionaries with great caution, and, for the sake of their friends at home, we would advise an equally unwilling and cautious circulation of all such rumours. With present possibilities before us, news and advice respecting Hindoo Christianity reads rather curiously. How many narratives, like the following, taken from the Chronicle' of the present month, are we likely again to read? We copy from Mr. Porter's letter on the success of the mission in Cuddapah, Presidency of Madras: 'At the beginning of the year a petition addressed to the missionary, signed by thirty families belonging to this village, was sent to Cuddapah. At the time it came I was at the committee meeting at Madras, but Mrs. Porter was at home, to whom the letter was read. The purport of it was to say that they had now made up their minds to renounce all idol worship, and were anxious to receive a Christian teacher, and to have their children instructed in the great doctrines of the Christian faith. One of our catechists was immediately sent to Dhoor, where he was kindly received by the people, who confirmed vivâ voce what they had written in the letter. Jacob preached to them the word of life under one of the trees in their village. About eighty persons, besides several children, assembled on that occasion. After singing and reading the word of God, the question was put to them, “Have you entirely renounced all idolatry?" To this they replied, “Yes, yes." The catechist then asked them, “Will you now give me proof that what you say is true? Will you not throw away your idol?" As soon as they heard this, some of them went to the pillar, which is in front of the temple, and pushed it down. Afterwards they went to the idol and tried to push it down, but it was so firmly fixed in the ground that they could not succeed. Then one of them took a large stone and cast it on the idol, saying, “Can you curse me now, O idol-we have nothing to do with you, thou stony idol." The god was afterwards dug up. and put to the threshold of the new school-room, which was built for the benefit of their children. In the meantime another man came up with a copper idol (Venkethasoo), saying, “Sir, since I have brought this idol into my house a curse has come upon me and my children. O sir, take this idol and throw it away." Besides all this, the people cried out with a loud voice, “O sir, we have done with our idols and our false gooroos. We will now worship that Saviour of whom you spoke to us six years ago, and send our children for instruction."' Mr. Underhill's report, written on the presumption of a long and quiet peace, seems now more like a document intended for a past generation. We remark that his estimate of the Bengal missions is not a very high one. 'I could not but notice,' he says, 'with regret, how dependent the converts seemed to be upon the care and protection of the missionary, and how rare were the instances among them of a voluntary and ardent zeal for the extension of the blessings of the gospel to their perishing fellow-countrymen. This accordingly formed a frequent topic of discourse in the numerous meetings I had with them, and every occasion was seized to urge the duty of supporting the ministry of their native teacher, of providing for themselves the means of grace, and of communicating to others the knowledge of Christ. On the whole, however, I received favourable impressions of the piety of the converts. If the lamp burn feebly, it must not be forgotten how recently the people have emerged from a form of heathenism the most degrading and demoralizing the world has ever seen, and that they have to shake off the influence, and to be released from the shackles of superstitions which bind the whole nation as a child is bound in swathing bands.' With the missionaries altogether withdrawn, with caste prejudices revived, with an open and wide-spread revolt, and with the necessity, under the most favourable circumstances, of an entire reconstruction of our system of government, the immediate prospect for missionaries is dark indeed. But we shall be able to write with more confidence a month or two hence. Meantime, surely no portion of the great vineyard needs so much the showers of the Spirit's blessing; and no portion so much the remembrance of the devout believer. We are glad to see, by letters from Christian missionaries of all denominations, that the effect of the Chinese war in retarding the preaching of the gospel has not yet extended beyond the limits of the immediate neighbourhood of Canton. Thus Mr. Piercy, of the Wesleyan Missions, writes from Macao on April the 11th, that he finds abundant scope for all his strength and abilities. Mr. Williamson, of the London Society Mission, writing from Shanghae on the 4th of the same month, says that the war has not at all affected his work. The surrounding district is as quiet as ever; not even a breath of dissatisfaction has ruffled the placid temper of the people.' Mr. Fearnley, also of the Church Missionary Society, is still labouring at Fuh-chaw without interference. We append one or two interesting sketches from the communications of the two last-named gentlemen : RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY. 'The claims of the Chinese cannot be over-estimated. Whether you contemplate their history, their literature, their polity, the educated classes, or the trading throngs, you rise penetrated with a sense of their importance. Nor is this feeling diminished by intercourse. On the contrary, it is heightened into intensity. Like all other great objects, no one can fully realize the magnitude of the Chinese nation till he has met it face to face. I have read of their cities with their temples and their crowds, of their shipping with its extent and universality, but never till I had entered the one, and gazed upon the other, had I anything like a just idea of the energy which pervades the masses, and the extent of this country's resources. We have cities nearly as crowded as London, and, instead of flies and omnibuses, we have boats moving in as quick and constant succession as they do in Fleetstreet.'-Mr. Williamson. THE CHINESE INTELLECT.-THE EDUCATED CLASSES. As a field for Christian enterprise, China stands unrivalled. The country lies before us. Ere many years pass, we may confidently anticipate free access to its remotest corners. They are a reading people. A spirit of inquiry and discussion is arising among them. Not a few literati in various parts of the country-to our knowledge-have already discarded opinions which have been long and religiously held. Not a week passes but many come to us-often from distant provinceseagerly inquiring after truth, and especially scientific truth. Among these, not a few possess talents of a very superior order, and, generally speaking, the educated classes are, in mental calibre, quite equal to their compeers in Europe.'-Ibid. RECEPTION OF THE SCRIPTURES. "The public examinations which took place at Kwan Shan and Sung Keang during October and November of last year were visited, and many copies of the New Testament and other works distributed to thousands eager to receive them. "Kea Hing," "Ra ze," "Ping hoo," "Kea ting," "Ta tsang," and almost all the |