piety, a zeal for the honour of God, and an unaffected concern for the welfare of those committed to his care, will furnish at once the motives and the means to the parish priest of executing his office diligently and successfully. But inferior means must not therefore be neglected. How shall we safely neglect any thing whereby a soul may be saved, a sinner be restored, or a servant of God approve himself in the sight of his heavenly Master? The author of the "Enquiry" has brought before the public a subject far too important to be fully discussed in a pamphlet of fifty or sixty pages, and has made out a case which, however it is to be dealt with, must not be dismissed in a Letter of half the size. The writer of the "Letter" contents himself with denying the defects complained of, and sneering at the remedies proposed. He asserts that "the clergy of the establishment are neither in precept nor example unfit for their sacred office and therefore there is an end to all objections to the present mode of education adopted in our universities." This is taking a position which can only be assailed by disparaging the character and conduct of our clergy, which we are by no means disposed to do. Yet we may venture, perhaps, without giving any reasonable ground of offence, to say, that our clerical students are subjected to difficulties and disadvantages which, if possible, should be diminished; that they too often enter upon their profession, slenderly provided for the task which they undertake; that if the Church, or the State which supports it, com→ mit to a youth of twenty-three so weighty a charge as that of a cure of souls, it ought to take care that means be afforded by which he may be qualified for it; and that under the present circumstances, he must look to his own private studies and the advice of his friends to obtain such qualifications. May we be permitted to add,-premising our unfeigned belief that the clergy of the present day are in general as exemplary as those which our country has reared in any former age, that in many instances much may yet be added, in steadiness of principle, in theological acquirements, in deep and varied learning, in devotedness to their calling, in their mode of officiating both in the reading-desk and at the altar, in the style of their discourses and the manner of delivery, in visiting the sick and the whole within their cures, in their treatment of those who oppose or dissent from them; and, in short, in the whole course and tenor of a clergyman's practice? This "may not be the time" to use the language of the writer before us, "wantonly to exaggerate the defects of our church; but it is the fit and imperative time to remove or diminish every cause that may injure or degrade its ministers." And though one or two may speak of them in terms of flattery, and many (we would hope) in the language of truth, there are thousands ready to exaggerate every failing, and depreciate every good quality. "Deal then fairly with the clergy; censure them no longer till you have tried every means to improve their education. Let candidates for holy orders be guarded with a strict and liberal discipline; let them be educated as sound scholars, and as able, active, conscientious pastors." The former part of this education is amply provided for; the latter is entirely wanting. To say that youths are educated for the church at our Universities, is, in fact, to assign to these Universities an office which, according to the system at present pursued, can hardly belong to them. The University knows little of any persons who do not read for a degree. It may be a convenient place for study, but that is all. What is wanted, is a regular system and course of instruction under able teachers. Were the classical and mathematical studies finished, and the degrees in arts taken at as early an age as formerly, then indeed the young students in divinity might continue to attend lectures upon subjects immediately connected with their profession. And this might, perhaps, be still the readiest way of remedying the deficiency in clerical education. Let lectures be read after the first degree has been taken; let young men be invited to attend ; let the lecturers consider it part of their office to assist the students by their advice, to watch their conduct, to lead them to a regular plan of theological study, to impress upon their minds a due sense of the solemn office for which they are preparing themselves. This will not satisfy the author before us; for he will not be content unless the education of those who are intended for the church be separate and distinct from a much earlier period. But we confess, that in our opinion it has been well judged, that all those who are to be members of a learned profession, should study the learned languages and liberal sciences in common; and that the exclusive studies of each profession should commence when they are supposed to have attained a competent knowledge in that which is common to all. Other objections may indeed arise. Though the Universities cannot now be charged with excess of "compotations ingurgitations, and other ungodly expensys, to the manyfest subvertion of devotion and cleanness of lyving, and to the moost notable slander of Christ's holy evangely;" and though the formidable array of "taylor, vintner, horsedealer, and the whole race of shopkeepers," which our author has represented as " in union against the gownsmen," be not quite so formidable as he has pictured it: yet, certainly, it is many times convenient to break through habits, connections, and practices which have been formed at college. The most important part, too, of the duties of a parish priest-a kind and paternal intercourse with his parishioners, can scarcely be taught in the University. Perhaps some divinity lectureships could be founded at the Universities, for the benefit of those who wished to profit by their ready access to all the sources of theological learning; and some establishments by individuals in the country, might unite the professional studies with an initiation into the practical duties of a clergyman. Of the former, it may be observed, that a large debt is due from the successors and inheritors of those who, in the sixteenth century, overthrew and plundered those Institutions, which, with all their defects, were schools of learning, and halls of charity. The charity has since been demanded of the nation at large by law; and some tardy compensation might perhaps be made to the friends of learning and the professors of religion. The good Archbishop Cranmer proposed, in vain, the appropriating of some part of the monastic revenues to the founding of seminaries for religious instruction; and would that some such plan could, in these our happier days, be executed by those who have sincerely at heart the interests of our Church! It is not in our power to discuss the plan of Ecclesiastical Colleges, or a third University, proposed by our author. We shall be thought perhaps to have already bestowed too much time upon the subject, yet we should quit it with regret, were we not persuaded that its importance will speedily bring it again under discussion. We conclude at present with presenting our readers with a passage from the former of the two pamphlets under review, which will leave the subject on their minds much in the state in which we would wish it to be viewed. "Much," says he, "may be done in the controul of the conduct and direction of the studies of those destined to holy orders, after the attainment of the bachelor's degree.. This degree is generally taken, about the age of twenty-one. From that period to the proper age for ordination (say two years) a young man is in most, if not in all cases left to his own discretion, and wholly free from any official guidance, both as to his conduct and studies. He may spend the whole of this important and perilous interim, in doing nothing, or far worse than nothing. I have only to appeal to the experience of most parents to say, how bitterly and unavailingly they have lamented this grievous and irreparable waste of time. In too many cases, when the bachelor puts on his gown, farewell to study that is, patient, systematic, effective reading. Some few, out of the many hundreds, remain at college and take pupils; but the majority lead an idle life at home, a burden and an annoyance to their friends, or ramble on the continent without a guide or an object, and loose in the vice and frivolity of France and Italy, not only the purity, but the decorum of an English clergyman. These evils I would endeavour to obviate. "We shall assume then the truth of what has been so often and stoutly contended for, namely, that our own universities do not pretend to prepare for any single profession; on the contrary, that they are mere schools of general preparation, whence each student may go forth into the world, and make an election of his own calling. Now, this shewing of the case, (which I presume will be allowed by the veriest stickler for Oxford and Cambridge, with their present studies and discipline) furnishes the strongest and aptest argument to prove, that an after-education, that some definite and exclusive tutorage is required, towards the practice of every other profession; and why not for the church, among the rest? The fact indeed, is, that in every profession, save that of the church, the education of the student is incomplete, and his pretensions unavailing, till a professional has been added to a collegiate course of study. The barrister must attend his terms at the inns of court, (whether to any good purpose is quite a distinct question), and the medical probationer must walk the hospitals, (with at least the opportunity of improvement), before either can be admitted to practise. In our universities, both law and physic have (equally with theology) their professors and lectures; but in neither of these faculties does any man aspire to practise, nor indeed will be admitted to do so, till in another and exclusive school, he has abstracted himself from a general, to a strictly professional and technical education. But for church candidates, where do we find a suitable and peculiar school? Where are we to send our sons, (in most colleges, after the attainment of the first degree, none except fellows, can remain) to be trained up, for the arduous and responsible duties of the Christian ministry?" Enquiry, p. 26. The Library Companion; or, the Young Man's Guide, and the Old 1824. By the Rev. T. F. HAD the title of this "stout Octavo" been simply "The Library Companion; or, Guide in the Choice of a Library," we should have expected to find it a very interesting and a very useful work, inasmuch as the author of it is well known to be eminently qualified to talk of books, and at least as conversant as any other "Bibliomaniac," with their fancy prices. But in these days of solemn sense, quaint, antethetical, and catching titles no longer indicate genius and érudition; they are no longer signs of "good fare within :" when, therefore, we read of "The Young Man's Guide, and the Old Man's Comfort, in the Choice of a Library," we began to suspect that middle-aged gentlemen were excluded from the benefit of Mr. Dibdin's chatty guidance and biblionetical comfort. We should have submitted, with what resignation we might, to this implied exclusion, had not the legible and attractive word DIVINITY, as a left hand running title, reminded us that it was our duty to inform those among our (anticipated) readers who may belong to the more favoured classes, the young and the old, what quantum of assistance they may derive from their " Library Companion." This duty we shall proceed to fulfil, premising only that we do not intend to overstep our limits, and shall not venture a remark upon any syllable beyond the 128th page, at which the "Divinity" portion is concluded. We shall endeavour to let Mr. Dibdin himself exemplify the manner in which he has executed the very important task of directing to the best sources of information the theological student, whose object is sacred literature; and of initiating into the mysteries of the science the book-collector or "bibliopolist," whose delight is in tall copies, in O Mirificam editions, in "magnificent vestments of blue morocco," or in "membranaceous treasures." With regard to the manner in which he has combined these two services to the public, there may, perhaps, be some difference of opinion. Mr. Dibdin says, in the first page of his preface," From the beginning to the end, I have never lost sight of what I considered to be the MOST MATERIAL OBJECT to be gained from a publication of this nature; namely, the imparting of a moral feeling to the gratification of a literary taste.” That this is an excellent object to keep in view, we admit; but are not quite of a mind with Mr. Dibdin as to the best mode of gaining it. We may be too fastidious; but we are not fond of sudden transitions from the sublime to the ridiculous. We know that the contents of a book cannot be disjoined from its qualities of size or beauty, or even from its binding-without violence; yet we do not like such juxtaposition of the sacred and profane as this, for instance: "Happy, and more than thrice happy, is that Young Man,' who * with means and appurtenances to boot,' has the taste and zeal to indulge himself in a collection of the INSPIRED WRITINGS, far beyond the narrowed limits (prescribed from necessity) which the foregoing pages disclose who, in all the turnings and windings of the bookmania, casts an anxious eye upon many a stately folio, and many a beautiful duodecimo, of which the merits have not been here sufficiently appreciated, or the beauty sufficiently depicted; which have |