For ah! thy shade, tho' dark and deep it be,

Can hide them not from Him to whom its gloom

Is bright as noontide.

Let the solemn thought

Come o'er my soul, that even as now in sleep,

So shall we lay us down in death ere

long,

A.

slaves

Shall soon repose upon the self-same

bed

OF JUNE.

Then must all sleep; seed in the bosom of earth,

To shoot or weeds or flowers when the fair spring

Of immortality shall dawn; and then
Be gathered with the general harvest in,
And garnered in the stores of Heaven-
or swept

With the vile chaff away. Eternal God! Thou who art wrapt in clouds of majesty

And dazzling light-the Lord-the Judge

of all!

woodlark sings,

In the beautiful haze of a summer

day's even,

While soft dews and pare incense the passing gale flings,

And the star of love gleams like a spirit in heaven.

Oh! 'tis soothing to list, at that magical time,

To the whispers that breathe through the glen and the bowerTo the low breeze that mellows the far evening chime,

While it prints its sweet kisses on wave, leaf and flower.

For there dwells a deep charm in that dim vesper hour,

Which recals in sweet dreams all we ever held dear;

Which awakens past sorrows, but softens their power,

And embalms ev'ry sigh, and illumines each tear.

1821. March 25, at Paisley, the Rev. Dr. JOHN FINDLAY, in the 41st year of his ministry.

April 26, in Belfast, in the 46th year of his age, the Rev. WILLIAM NEILSON, D. D., M. R. I. A., Professor of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and Head Master of the Classical School in the Belfast Academical Institution. Dr. Neilson was the fourth son of the Rev. Dr. Neilson, Presbyterian Minister at Redemon, county Down, who still survives to lament the loss of his son. From early years he displayed an ardent taste for literary knowledge, especially for the study of languages, of which the Greek soon appeared to be his favourite. At an early period of life he finished his philosophical studies in the University of Glasgow. For some years subsequent he assisted in conducting his father's academy. In 1797, he was ordained Presbyterian Minister of Dundalk, where he gave to the world his Greek Exercises, English Grammar, Greek Idioms, and Irish Grammar. He was also the author of many valuable essays on subjects connected with languages, in various literary journals. His character in literature stood so high, that the University of Glasgow conferred upon him the degree of Doctor in Divinity-an honour which was equally unsolicited and unexpected. The Royal Irish Academy invited him to become one of their members. In 1818, he was invited to become Professor and

Head Master in the Belfast Institution; and in the full and laborious exercise of his duties in that literary establishment, he was unexpectedly arrested by death, after a residence of little more than three years. The literary fame of Dr. Neilson, particularly as a linguist, was great, and was even more extended in England and Scotland than in his own country. His labours in the composition of excellent elementary works, calculated in particular to facilitate the knowledge of the Greek language, have been appreciated in all parts of the empire. Notwithstanding his various avocations in Belfast, he gave to the world, about a year ago, an edition of Moore's Greek Grammar, with large additions and improvements, which has been already adopted as a text-book in some of the Universities of Scotland, and has been highly approved by the best judges. His speculations on the more intricate and philosophical parts of gram

mar and language, were refined and philosophical. His great and unremitting labours in the Institution can be fully estimated by those alone who were intimately acquainted with him, or by those who had the advantage of receiving his instructions. To the Belfast Institution, since his removal to it, he always displayed the warmest attachment, founded upon the rational hope, from what it had already performed, of its becoming of the greatest benefit to the north of Ireland. In the death of Dr. Neilson, the Institution and the town of Belfast have sustained a great loss. As a Christian clergyman, he was distinguished by pure and rational piety; and in discharging all the duties of his religious office, he was anxious to impress the truths which he himself sincerely felt.-(New Month. Mag.)

May 2, at Clifton, aged 82, Mrs. HESTER LYNCH PIOZZi. She was the daughter of John Salusbury, Esq., of Bodvel, in Caernarvonshire, but better known as the wife of Mr. Thrale, the Southwark brewer, the friend and patron of Dr. Johnson. Her second husband was an Italian, a music-master at Bath. She published several works: Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson; a Collection of Letters to and from him, in two 8vo. volumes; Observations in a Journey through France, &c., 2 vols. 8vo.; British Synonymy, 2 vols. 8vo.; Retrospection, or a Review of and fugitive poetical pieces, amongst the last 1800 years, 2 vols. 4to., &c.; which is the popular poem of the Three Warnings, imitated from La Fontaine.

15, on Woolwich Common, JOHN BONNYCASTLE, Esq., Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy. He was born at Whitchurch, in the county of Buckingham, and, after a country education, was induced by the opinion entertained of his abilities to seek his fortune in London. He was for some time usher in the school of the late Rev. Mr. Noble, the General Baptist Minister, of whose church he became a member, but he had long before his death dropped his early religious connexions. He was engaged by the Earl of Pomfret as private tutor to his sons, the present Earl and the Hon. General Fermor, in or near whose family at Easton, Northamp He then tonshire, he passed two years.

obtained the situation of one of the Mathematical Masters at Woolwich, where he continued for more than forty years, during which time he published a variety of elementary scientific works, too well known to need describing. He was one of the contributors to Dr. Rees's Cyclopædia. He possessed a great fund of information, and his talents for conversation made his company attractive. The attendance at his funeral at Charlton estified the respect in which he was held.

May 15, in the neighbourhood of Bristol, Dr. CALCOTT, celebrated for more than thirty years for his original genius and profound science as a musician.

June 14, at Daventry, Mr. JAMES BLENCOWE. It has frequently been urged by the opponents of Unitarianism, that it is incapable of affording consolation and support in a dying hour. Numerous are the instances on record where this assertion has been disproved, but in none more so than in him whose death is here lamented. Few in early life have been called to endure such a long and painful affliction, and few have borne it so well. After serving an apprenticeship to a druggist in his native place Daventry, he removed to London, where he resided some years, gaining by his industry and integrity the esteem and affection of his employer. Having been early educated in the doctrines of the Established Church, during the greater part of his life he conformed to her ritual, and was often, as circumstances would permit, a worshiper at her altar. Naturally of a thoughtful and inquisitive disposition, his leisure hours were employed in reading and reflection, and among other subjects which engaged his attention, he deemed religion of the utmost importance. Becoming dissatished with the Creeds and Articles in which he had been instructed, he was in danger of concluding that Christianity was indeed a cunningly-devised fable. In this state of mind he read with caution and patience the arguments for and against revealed religion; and by his examination of the Sacred Records became a firm and decided believer in the truth of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine of the Trinity and its appendages, which had been to him "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence," his acute and penetrating mind soon perceived, were the inventions of men, and not the doctrines of the gospel. The more he read the better was he satisfied, that the Father alone is the Christian's God; and that he who is in Scripture emphatically styled, "the Father, the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" is alone entitled to the adoration and thanksgivings of his creatures. Persuaded that the unity of God is a primary doctrine of the Jewish and Christian revelations, and that the supreme and eternal Jehovah is the only proper object of religious worship, he abstained for the last three or four years of his life from the public services of religion, except where it was conducted on these principles. A change from the religion of our forefathers generally exposes the conscientious subject of it, if not to persecution, to misrepresentation and trouble, from which our friend was not altogether exempt; but neither the kind entreaties of rela tives, nor the damnatory sentences of others, could draw him from an adherence to the simplicity of gospel truth. He held fast the profession of his faith without wavering, and was ever ready to adopt the language of the great apostle: Though others acknowledge "Gods many and Lords many, to us there is but one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Truth had been the object of his research, for he knew it must be beneficial; having sought it as the pearl of great price, and found it, he valued it highly, and held it firmly. Leaving London on account of his health, he retired into the country, where it became so far established that his active and ardent mind could not remain satisfied unemployed. Having the offer of a business at Bewdley, in Worcestershire, he was induced to take it, and for some time had the felicity of thinking that a country situation was adapted to his constitutional disease. Though his residence here was not many months, his business flourished, and success, more than he expected, crowned his exertions. But the pleasing prospects he had formed of future usefulness and happiness were soon overcast; scarcely had the brightness of the morning sun risen upon him than it was darkened by the evening shades; and those delightful associations which, at his period of life, arise in the youthful mind, were suddenly extinguished. His old complaint returned, and, from this time, he was finally laid aside from active life. Yet not a murmur escaped his lips, nor ever did he arraign the wisdom or goodness of that Great Being, who, no doubt, for wise and benevolent purposes, thus thought fit to afflict him. "Tis true he wished for life, and while there was hope, cherished it; but, during the last few months of his life, he seemed fully sensible he was hastening to the tomb. To the surprise of many, his fortitude and cheerfulness never forsook him; the principles he had embraced in health, supported him in the hour of affliction and distress.

His religion was not that of fashion, custom, or fanaticism, but the religion of Jesus, producing its natural effects on an ingenuous and well-disposed heart; like him whom he acknowledged as his Lord and Master, his hand was ever ready to do good, and his heart glowed with affection to his friends and good-will to all. In conversation, his remarks were solid and judicious, and often enlivened by the smartness of his wit. To the last, he enjoyed society, entered into the subjects of the day with his accustomed cheerfulness, and long as his strength permitted, contributed to the pleasures of the social circle. On no occasion did he officiously intrude his particular opinions, but he was never ashamed to avow and fearlessly to defend them. Whenever opportunity offered, he was the undaunted advocate of civil and religious liberty, and gloried in the great leading principle of Nonconformity. Though he was often censured because, in the way which some call heresy, he worshiped the God of his Fathers, he never learnt the lesson of ignorance and bigotry to condemn again; and the charity always expressed for those who differed from him, emanated from a truly liberal and benevolent heart. He beguiled the hours of his long and painful affliction, by contemplating the paternal character of God, indulged the pleasing and inspiring hope, that all the frail and misguided children of his varied family, would ultimately be permitted to join in thanksgiving and praise to him who liveth and reigneth for ever, and rested in the firm persuasion, that a Being of almighty power, unerring wisdom, and infinite goodness, must do all things well. On asking him at one of those farewell interviews it was my painful lot to experience, if he had any doubts as to futurity, he answered, "None; I am perfectly satisfied of that." He placed his hope of immortality on the resurrection of him who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by his Gospel. To say that he had no sins to bewail or errors to lament, would not be faithful to his character; he felt them keenly, and his pillow was sometimes watered with the tears of regret, at time misspent and talents neglected and abused. He has passed through much affliction and sorrow, to that home where his frailties and imperfections will be no more remembered, and removed to a land where promise cannot fail, nor hope be disappointed. "May those who have witnessed, and he who records them, imitate his virtues; then will they not have been recorded in vain; but if in vain, still he the office mine."

To the young, and especially the Unitarian just entering on the busy, per

plexing and ensnaring scenes of commercial life, his example furnishes the instructive lesson, that the path of duty is the path of peace; and though an adherence to the pure and simple religion of Jesus is not the fashion of the day,-may be attended with the loss of some worldly good,-subject its professors to the coldness and indifference of friends, and gain for them the name of heretics and despisers of the cross of Christ, let them not be dismayed; a conscientious regard to the worship it alone enjoins, "The God and Father of all,” and a practical obedience to its holy precepts, will in the end produce that peace of mind which passeth all understanding, and which the world can neither give nor take away. W. W. Stratford upon Avon, June 19, 1821.

Lately, in Dorsetshire, aged 65, Mr. WILLIAM TOWERS, brother of the late Rev. Joseph Towers, LL.D., and more than 40 years Editor of the "Sherborne Mercury."

Additions to Obituary of Dr. GREGORY,

of Edinburgh (p.314).

He was long at the head of the Medical School and the Medical Practice of Edinburgh. He was appointed in 1776, at the early age of 23, to the Professorship of the Theory of Physic, and he continued to teach this class with great distinction for fourteen years. As a textbook for his lectures, he published, in the year 1782, his Conspectus, which soon became a work of standard reputation all over Europe, on account not only of its scientific merits, but also of its classical language. In the year 1790, he was appointed, in consequence of the death of Dr. Cullen, to the Chair of the Practice of Physic, the most important Medical Professorship in the University; and for 32 years he sustained and increased the celebrity which the eminence of his predecessor had conferred upon the office. His fame caused him to be enrolled in the Institute of France. He was fond of metaphysics, but his reputation in this branch of philosophy is of a doubtful character. His funeral was public, and was one of the most solemn and impressive scenes ever witnessed.

Death Abroad.

April 15, after a long illness, in Sweden, Baron NIELDS EDELCRANZ, President of the Board of Trade. He was born in Finland, a country which has furnished Sweden with many statesmen, soldiers and literati. In him Swedeu has lost the most learned and indefatigable of her political economists.

Dissenting Ministers' Petition on the Penal Laws.

(From the Votes of the House of Commons.)

Mercurii, 23o die Maii, 1821. A PETITION of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the Three Denominations in and about the cities of London and Westminster, was presented, and read; setting forth, That the Petitioners have long and deeply lamented in secret the severity of the Penal Laws, in which this country, honourably distinguished in so many other respects above the nations of the earth, seems to be less observant of the principles of mercy than any other Christian state; as Ministers of the Gospel, the Petitioners cannot but deplore the application of capital punishments to so many crimes not accompanied by violence, and bewail with tears of anguish the number of human beings that have been hurried by them into eternity in so awful a state of unpreparedness for their final account; the Petitioners beg leave, with all humility, to state to the House, that the proper ends of civil punishments appear to them to be the reformation of the offender, the making of compensation to such as he may have wronged, or the protection of society from his further evil designs, all of which

are in a measure counteracted by san guinary punishments, since the infliction of death leaves little opportunity of reformation to the wretched culprit, and disables him wholly from making compensation to the injured; and since the dread of being the cause of so awful an event as the loss of life by violence, deters many persons who are wronged from entering upon prosecutions, and lays witnesses and jurors under a temptation, from motives of pure humanity, to tamper with the sacred obligations of an oath; for these reasons, the Petitioners beseech the House to institute in their wisdom such a revision of the Criminal Code as shall assimilate it more closely to the benevolent spirit of our holy reli gion, and, at the same time, make it more effectual for restraining, chastising and reforming evil-doers, and for protecting, strengthening and encouraging them that do well; and should the House condescend to the prayer of the Petitioners, they will not cease to implore the Father of light and love to guide their deliberations and to crown their benevolent labours with his blessing, that in the event, the Throne may be esta blished in mercy, and the nation be exalted by righteousness.

DOMESTIC.

The General Baptist Assembly was holden, as usual, on Whit-Tuesday, June 12th, at Worship Street, London. The Scriptures were read and the devotional service conducted by Dr. Evans and Mr. Wright; and Mr. Harding, of Bessel's Green, Kent, preached from 1 Thess. i. 8: "For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia," &c. The preacher's object appeared to be, first, to claim for Christianity a divine origin as the only rational means of accounting for its early rapid and extensive spread, notwithstanding it had to contend with so many powerful and inveterate eisemies; secondly, to vindicate its great Founder and his apostles from having promulgated those doctrines which are generally reputed orthodox, but which

are so repugnant to enlightened reason, and so derogatory from the character of the universal Parent ;-and, lastly, to enforce on ministers and hearers the duty and advantage of carrying the good news of salvation into villages in the vicinity of their several residences, and to open places for religious worship whereever a house or a room can be found suited to the purpose.

Most of the letters from the churches in connexion with the Assembly reported an increase of members since the last anniversary; but from some churches the information was not cheering. Deaths and removals had thinned their numbers, and their prospests were but gloomy.— The letter from the church at Dover, contained the gratifying intelligence, that free communion had been adopted by the almost unanimous consent of the members. A strong desire was expressed in more than one letter, that there should