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other peaks above Bex; beyond them the "Gemmi," and the countless peaks of the Oberland Alps; among which the Jungfrau-the Shreckhorn -the Eiger-the Finsteraarhorn-raised their white fronts in beautiful distinctness.

Turning towards the right, St. Gothard, the Grimsel, the Furka, and part of the chain of mountains on the Italian side of the Vallais appearthe Matterhorn's pointed summit, high lifted up among them, and glaring in the sunshine-then Mont Rosa, the queen of the Alps, one of the most beautiful of mountains; its towering enormous pinnacles presenting a splendid appearance. Nearer to us were, the St. Bernard-Mont Velanthe long line of Aiguilles, beginning from the Col du Balme, and coming along the valley of Chamonix to the Aiguille du Midi, which was far beneath our feet; among these, the Argentière and the Dru were most prominent. Far below us were the Mer de Glace, the Jardin, and the lofty peaks surrounding them. To the right of these, and nearer us, rose the Col du Géant and its fine aiguille. Towards the south, the eye penetrated into the valley of Aosta and part of the Allée Blanche; then, glancing over the mountains on the other side, rested on the immense blue surface formed by the plains of Lombardy and Piedmont, in which was discovered the course of the Po. The situations of Turin and Milan were pointed out, but these cities were not visible.

'At the further extremity, and to the left of the blue, rose the Apennines; they, joining the Maritime Alps, formed a long line of mountains running towards the right, along the Mediterranean, as far as the Col du Tende, and thence turning up the western side of the blue surface or plain of Piedmont. Monte Viso reared itself high among them, as well as the lofty points about the Cenis. Behind gaps in these mountains were seen another chain, being the mountains of Dauphiné and Provence. The Mont Cenis closed this western boundary to the plain of Piedmont; and on this side of it appeared the Petit St. Bernard and Tarentaise Alps. the Col du Bonhomme and the mountains around Servoz and Cluses followed; and, further in the back-ground, the mountains of the Lyonnais. We looked down into the valleys of Servoz and Salenche, and upon the round back of the Dome du Goûté, and again upon the lake of Geneva, thus closing the panorama.

We could perceive our friends still assembled on the Breven, enjoying a prospect less extensive than the one I have attempted to describe, although in some respects, perhaps, equally beautiful.

The shape of the summit has been well likened to the "dos dâne" (ass's back), the broadest and highest part being toward the north, or Chamonix, and the narrowest inclining a little to the east. An idea of the summit, as we found it, may be formed by cutting a pear longitudinally into halves, and placing one of them on its flat side; but consisting, as it does, of snow, drifted about by the wind, and subject to increase and diminution by the accumulation of the winter's storms, and the influence of the summer's sun, it may probably present some novelty of form to every traveller who visits it. We found it to be about one hundred and seventy feet in length, and its greatest breadth about fifty. The hard snow of which it is composed, bearing a resemblance to a conglomerate of crystal beads, appeared to be of the depth of from two hundred to three hundred feet upon its rocky foundation, which probably consists of a

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cluster of pinnacles similar to the Derniers Rochers, some points being visible, protruding through their snowy mantle nearer to the summit, although from their situation they were inaccessible.

'We found no living thing upon it; but Mr. Fellows mentioned to me that he had seen a butterfly, borne by the wind, pass rapidly over his head while on the summit.

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Having determined, as I have already said, to attempt the descent to Chamonix that evening, it was necessary that we should not remain too long on the summit; the ropes were therefore adjusted, and other preparations made for starting; and, whatever reluctance I might have felt, in the middle part of our ascent from the Grands Mulêts, to persevere in the exertion necessary to reach the spot upon which we now stood, it did not in any degree equal the unwillingness which I felt to commence my return. The more I gazed on the stupendous scene around me, the more I was delighted and astonished, my most sanguine expectations having been much exceeded; and now, just as I had become capable of marking and appreciating its beauties and wonders, the signal for departure tore me from the enjoyment.'-pp. 52-56.

The inexperienced reader will hardly believe that the descent from high mountains is much more distressing than the ascent to their summits. Mr. Auldjo and his guides, however, returned to the village of Chamouney without having suffered more than the usual fatigue, from the effects of which the mineral baths of the place, and the repose of a day or two, completely restored them all. We should have observed that there are interspersed through this volume, several lithographic views of scenery, which reflect great credit on Mr. Auldjo's pencil, and upon the artist who transferred his sketches to the stone.

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ART. XII.-A Letter on the Present Neglect of the Lord's Day: addressed to the Inhabitants of London and Westminster. By C. J. Blomfield, D.D., Bishop of London. Fourth Edition. 8vo. pp. 38. London:

Rivingtons. 1830.

It is not unknown to our readers that the Lord Bishop of London has the command of every pulpit in his Diocese, which he can make instrumental to any legitimate purpose that he thinks proper. It is equally notorious that his Lordship is a member of the House of Peers, where he has a greater liberty of speech than he can exercise even in the church, and from which he can, by the thousand tongues of the press, make the whole empire his audience. How it is that the Bishop, having a grand remonstrance to utter and a grand reform to propose, should abandon the opportunities of his religious and political station, and select the humble and uncertain medium of a pamphlet, "to do the work of Him who sent him," his Lordship may perhaps be very reluctant to explain. He certainly gives no exaggerated picture of the flagrant violation of the Sabbath, or, rather in conformity to his Lordship's distinction, the Lord's Day. We agree with him in reprobating the laxity of

the local authorities in the metropolis, and of those too who have local influence in not repressing the disorders which a Sunday morning now ushers in, with the periodical certainty of a returning sun. But the worst of it is, these scandalous scenes arise out of a system of impunity, which by custom has been conceded to the lower orders of the metropolis; for it has been found highly inconvenient to attempt to prevent them from making the purchases of which they standi n need during the early part of the Sabbath. It has been discovered, too, that the postponement of these purchases to the Sunday, has not always been the fault of the tradesman, but arises very often from an improper mode of paying wages. But, undoubtedly, both masters and tradesmen, and that whole class with whom a desecration of the Sabbath is now so unfortunately habitual, could be made to yield, if not to the mild admonitions of the spiritual adviser, certainly, in the last resort, to that law which will not be denied; and we are sure that the extraordinary means which might be required for such a purpose, would be cheerfully furnished by every man of right feeling in the metropolis. The question is, where to begin with the reform? For our own parts we should hold it to be a most unjust measure which would prevent a poor shoemaker from purchasing his pound of dried bacon on a Sunday morning, and would leave a Minister of State at liberty to carouse with a hundred of his own rank during the evening of the same day. We should also deem it unpardonable in the Legislature or the Government, to take the horses from under the "short stage" of the humbler classes on the Sabbath, whilst it permitted the Bishop of London to rattle through the streets in his well appointed vis-a-vis. Such an unequal regulation would be monstrous, and, we hope, would be found impracticable. Well, then, what is more natural and proper than that we should begin with the upper ranks, and, if we can effect no other good, surely it will be doing much to leave the lower ones without the excuse of a bad example. No one can be more persuaded than the Bishop himself, that those who "should know better" are in fault; but he has not had the boldness to say so in their presence, and hence it is that his lordship, vacating both the pulpit and the Bench of Bishops, takes care to shoot his arrow from behind the protection of a pamphlet. He has been now for some years no very silent or uninfluential member of the House of Lords, and although for every gin-drinker, every stage-coach goer, and every gambler of the lowest class, who indulges his propensity on a Sunday, his lordship could lay his finger on a prototype amongst the noble society around him; yet in that place, so sacred to the liberty of speech, his lordship has exhibited a most Christian resignation to the profanation of the Sabbath day. Why, like another Paul, did he not select his Felix in the public chamber, and pour forth his holy resentment against the glittering criminal before him? The Bishop mentions that this is not the first time that he has stickled for the due observance of the Lord's day.

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For several years I had the charge of a parish, in which there was a large inn, (situated close to the church), where persons travelling to Newmarket usually stop for their last change of horses. The line of towns and villages between London and that place is kept in a state of continued noise and bustle during the whole of the Sundays which precede the New"market meetings. As the Easter meeting is the most numerously attended, so it is Easter-day, the anniversary of our blessed Saviour's resurrection, which is most outrageously and scandalously profaned. It has been customary for booths to be erected and refreshments to be sold on the road, at the different stages, on that day, for the accommodation of the country people, who come in great numbers from the surrounding parishes, "to see the gentry go down to Newmarket." This indecent practice I succeeded in doing away with in my own parish: but I could not prevent concourse of people, nor the disturbance and confusion which it occasioned amongst my own flock, upon a day, which ought to be regarded as peculiarly a day of holy joyfulness and devout recollection. More than forty pair of horses have sometimes been changed there on Easter-day, a great proportion of them while I was celebrating divine service. Not only all the servants and dependents of the inn, but a great number of the young men of the parish, were taken away from their own Sabbath duties, to assist in this flagrant violation of them by others; not to mention that hundreds were engaged in observing their betters thus ostentatiously setting at nought the ordinances of religion; some urging with bribes, and others with execrations, the drivers of those poor jaded animals, for whom the merciful provision of a Sabbath seemed almost to have been made in vain: while others were seen engaged in gambling, and scattering the implements of their unholy pastime about the road.'—pp. 19, 20,

Now we happen to remember very well, that one of the principal offenders in this way was the late Duke of York. We state not this for the purpose of disparaging the memory of a prince, whose guileless and unaffected character whilst he lived, must have left but little disposition in his survivors to traduce him after his death. But the fact was so-the Duke of York was a terrible Sabbathbreaker, and never thought of a Sunday when he wanted to change the scene from the Horse-Guards to Newmarket. Now the present Bishop of London, under the title of Bishop of Chester, sat over and over again, "cheek by jowl," with the frail Prince in the House of Lords, and did he ever, either by direct charge, or implication, communicate to his Royal Highness a knowledge of the evil of his example-did he ever complain even of the profanation? No, he did not. So far from honestly facing the delinquents themselves, at that time as now, the bishop was contented to address those who were not guilty at all, using that subterfuge of rhetoric, which enables one to speak at, instead of speaking to, the guilty parties. Had the Bishop of London the strong feelings and the moral courage which the task requires, he would employ the facilities he possesses for shaming, if he could not argue, the great violators of the Sabbath into decorum. My Lords," he would say, you who hold the highest rank in society, are bound by a double

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obligation to observe, in a suitable manner, the day set apart for a more particular reference of our thoughts and actions to God. You are bound to do by his laws, in the first place; and you are, secondly, bound by the duty of giving to your inferiors a proper example. For, my lords, can I blame the unenlightened for an act in which they but imitate their betters? Shall I tell the mechanic that he must not make an excursion of pleasure to a neighbouring hamlet on a Sunday, whilst an infinite line of equipages is moving in Hyde-park? Shall gin be prohibited to be tasted on the day that champaign pours intoxication around your tables? Is it a violation of the Sabbath for a party of friends to play at cards, while Crockford's Pandemonium invites its votaries to destruction?" Something like this should be the language of a Christian Bishop, who suffers no other distinctions between man and man to operate upon his mind, save those which are exclusively connected with his spiritual state. We do not now enter into the details of this letter, because we are very certain that it will produce no practical good. The means of bringing about a reform of the present lax observance of the Sabbath must be of a far more active nature, than any which a vague and general impression of the want of that reform will supply, A vigorous shoulder must be put to the wheel; the influential Sabbath-breakers must be taught to think that rank does not exempt a man from obedience to the ordinances of God; and that opulence will not be able to purchase impunity for their violation. To do this we want Bishops who will not fly from their places in Parliament, and shew their virtuous indignation on behalf of outraged religion in pamphlets alone. When we see the right reverend political senator vindicating the solicitude of the spiritual pastor for the prosperity of religion, then shall we think it time to talk seriously about co-operating with Dr. Blomfield in this matter.

NOTICES.

ART. XIII.-1. Sketches from Nature.-By John McDiarmid. 16mo. pp. 388. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. 1830.

16mo. pp. 247. 10

2 Studies in Natural History.—By William Rhind. Engravings. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. 1830. SINCE the principles of every science are deduced from facts, all attempts to add to the one, by increasing the other, should be hailed by the public with applause. The two gentlemen, whose unpretending offerings to the stores of natural history we have now before us, are, we think, eminently entitled to this approbation. Mr. Mc Diarmid is well known in the literary world, as a gentleman of considerable imagination, feeling, and taste. At present, we have to regard him as a disciple of nature, whom he certainly seems to worship with enthusiasm. The great value of his book, is, that the information it gives is the result almost entirely of his own experience, and with a mind so observing and vigilant, and so well stored

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