Again, (page 15) "The organic remains found in stratified rocks, shew that their formation is of a much later occurrence than the crystalline rocks, havin been formed when vegetables and animals lived on the surface; and the limestone formation, especially the upper or chalk beds, are so full of remains of animal life, that it is questionable if they were not formed altogether of the skeletons of minute animals; indeed lime only begins to appear in what are called the secondary formations, and gradually increases in amount in the most recent of the tertiary beds; magnesia, again, is only found in small quantities in primary and secondary rocks, while it is a characteristic ingredient of tertiary beds. The more dense bodies, as metallic oxides, are confined to the primary or the earliest deposits of the secondary strata, &c."

In these few lines we have no less than seven distinct assertions, to which we are compelled, in the name of geologists, to give a most positive and unhesitating denial. 1st. The occurrence of organic remains does not prove that the rocks in which they are found were formed subsequently to the crystalline rocks: every geologist knows that crystalline rocks are being formed at the present day. 2nd. The only limestone formation we know of is the carboniferous linestone to which the chalk does not in any way belong, and therefore does not form its upper beds. 3rd. Lime does “begin to appear" with the earliest stratified rocks. 4th. It does not "increase in amount in the most recent of the tertiary beds" there being clays sands and gravels. 5th. Magnesia is found in abundance in the secondary rocks, to which its great depositary the magnesian limestone, belongs. 6th. It is not a characteristic of the tertiary beds. 7th. The metallic oxides occur in all strata, and are not confined to the primary, &c.

Again, (page 18) "The sedimentary rocks bear evidence of having been submitted to the action of sea water, as they contain a quantity of the salts, such as exist in the ocean.' * Would Mr. Antisell be good enough to give us the analyses, as this is the only thing he appears competent to do?

...

Page 19—“ Sand (or powdered quartz) is abundantly found in nature in the mineral rock crystal." Sand in rock crystal? yes, good reader it is a fact, Mr. Antisell has said it, and therefore it must be true. And yet we scarcely think he can ever have seen a bit of crystal; and then he goes on to say, "It (sand) is the silica of chemists, the oxide of a metal called silicium. It is, when pure, white, gritty, and its weight may be 27, water being 10. As it (sand?) exists in sand, it is insoluble in water," but alkalies render it soluble. It exists desolved (dissolved?) in warm springs, &c.

Page 24-We are told, "In this country," "the secondary formations, excepting limestone, are not abundant, and the tertiary formations, still rarer, as chalk, oolite, and new red sandstone."

Where did Mr. Antisell find that chalk, oolite, and new red sandstone, were classed as tertiary formations? We have always known them considered secondary.

Page 27-Speaking of Basalt, he says, "Walls of trap also are found near Basalt, and are called dykes; these have been found at Killala, Erris, and Donegal." He might have said in every part of the country, and as far from any mass of Basalt, as they could be in the island.

Again, (page 27) "Greenstone is that variety of rock where the crystal of felspar and horblende are distinct, and may be either fine grained or coarse, in the latter case, if it" (what? the greenstone, the felspar or the horblende?) “be red it is called Sienite, which is found in Donegal."

If Mr. Antisell had taken the trouble of looking to any glossary of geological terms, he might have found the meaning of the word sienite, of which he is now most beautifully innocent, and seen that the redness of the felspar, for it is to this he should have referred, had nothing to do with the name.

Page 34-Speaking of the carboniferous limestone, among other equally intelligible sentences, we have "Some of the beds contain sulphur in the form of sulphuret." Of what?-docs he mean the sulphuret of sulphur?

Page 35-He says, "Marls are found above the new red sandstone in the more recent formations, and constitute an important constituent of the oolite, and lias formations in England; in our country they usually lie upon the new red sandstone, and are occasionally found by it, forming the red marl, or mixed with a

quantity of argillaceous matter, oxide and iron forming the blue marl. They are abundant in fossil remains, giving strength to the supposition that those beds are solely the residues of animal life extinct."

A greater amount of confused nonsense could scarcely be put into the same space. If Mr. Antisell means the marls (so called) of the new red sandstone, as might appear, he is altogether in error in supposing them to abound in organic remains, they are singularly deficient; and if he means what are ordinarily called marls through the country, he is equally in error in thinking they belong to the new red sandstone or oolite. They are found resting on all formations, and are the deposits formed on the beds of former lakes, after the country had assumed nearly its present physical features. In these marls, the splendid specimens of

the Irish Elk are found.

Again, he says, (page 36) “ Magnesian limestone is found in the lower beds of the new red sandstone; it consists of thin beds of slate, and limestone, and gypsum, placed over each other." "Beds of this limestone are found at Howth and Milltown, near Dublin; it occurs also at Belfast.

Here again we have the same confusion. There is certainly limestone at Howth and Milltown which contains magnesia, and which may therefore be called magnesian limestone, but is no more conected with the new red sandstone in either of these places, than is Howth with Belfast. Mr. Antisell should have known that " magnesian limestone is a term now applied to a remarkable limestone which occurs at a peculiar part of the series of stratified rocks, as he has described, and that the term dolomitic is used to denote those local patches of limestone containing magnesia, which occur at other parts of the series, as at Howth.

We shall not delay to notice the errors into which Mr. Antisell has fallen, with regard to the localities of the rocks, for any geological map will rectify these; but there is one other error which we must notice, especially as finding it repeated two or three times, we suppose Mr. Antisell considered it an important point. Page 40-He says, "6 Lastly, though the rule hold generally true, that the soil is derived from the subjacent rock, yet some of the limestone soils of Ireland appear to be an exception, there positively being a destitution of lime in the soil; in some cases as much as 2 per cent cannot be detected." And the same idea is stated, page 22 and page 54. Now what is the fact, why simply this, that these soils so called limestone soils, are formed not on limestone, but on very thick and widely spread deposits of gravelly clay, which belongs to the most recent tertiary series; and from which, as it does not possess much itself, it would be impossible for the soils to derive any considerable amount of lime.

We cannot follow Mr. Antisell through the succeeding chapters on manures, rotation of crops, and improvement of soils. Scattered through them there are some useful hints, extracted from other works on the subject, and there is no want of useful matter in this portion of the treatise. But we must say, that if a "Manual of Agricultural Chemistry," as applied to Ireland, was a desideratum, that want has not yet been supplied A dozen analyses of soils and rocks, so loosely acquired, that we are only informed that a soil is from Tipperary, or from Derry, neither of them very small districts, will not suffice to supply it; nor is it at all likely that one who is unable to express his ideas without confusion, will be capable of conveying in a condensed form the results of his own or others experiments.

Remarks on the Connexion between Religion and the State. By W. Urwick, D.D. A Concise View of the Ordinance of Baptism By W. Urwick, D.D.Robertson, Dublin, 1845.

These little works are from the pen of Dr. Urwick, one of the principal Ministers of the Independent Congregation of Dissenters in this country. The first of them is remarkable for the novelty of being inscribed in a long address to his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, as a tribute of the "profound respect" entertained by the writer for his Grace's "intellectual power, sterling integrity, and manly candour in stating his convictions; liberality of sentiment towards those who differ from him; and the important services he has rendered to our common Christianity, particularly

in so triumphantly exposing errors fatal to Protestantism, that have arisen in his own communion." The work owes its origin to the proposal of the Government to endow Maynooth, and contains the substance" of observations made in discourses addressed to" the congregation of the writer upon that subject. The author, however, is not quite sure that he should have published it, but for the well known charge delivered by the Archbishop upon the Maynooth Grant In his dedicatory address, therefore, he proceeds to take to pieces this charge, and contends that the Archbishop has, by the doctrines put forward in it, placed himself in a dilemma, which obliges him either to recant these doctrines, or to go further and to advocate the abolition of state religion. We leave the Archbishop to settle this question with Dr. Urwick; to us it matters little how it may be decided, as we repudiate equally the doctrine of both. For the rest, the book contains nothing deserving of special notice. No new argument is put forward; and it adds nothing to the cogency of the old. All that is here stated, has been already urged over and over again, and as often refuted. To those, however, who wish to see collected in a small compass the arguments of those who object to State Establishments for Religion, we recommend this little work as containing a resume of the reasoning upon the subject. It is also marked by that kindliness of temper and feeling which characterizes the author, for whom, (though we have no great fear of him as an opponent,) as a good and sincere man, we have a great respect. The second work contains an exposition, of the peculiar doctrines of the sect to which the author belongs, upon the subject of Baptism; which he looks upon as a mere outward form of initiation into the Christian communion. The same remarks apply to this work as to the other. Neither the views or the mode of treating them are new.

Contrasts between the Righteous and the Wicked: compiled from the Holy Scriptures, with a suitable text prefixed to each. By the Hon. Mrs. Penrose. Hardy and Sons, Dublin, 1845.

The excellent compiler of this useful little volume has expressed so well its origin that we cannot do better than give her own words :—

"The following pages were commenced many years since, when, during a season of sickness the mind was happily drawn from the broken cisterns' of this world's false comfort and consolation, to seek for them in the Book of God, where alone true joy, peace, and comfort, is to be found. In reading one parallel passage after another, the compiler was so struck with the plain and decided contrast between the Righteous and the Wicked in their thoughts, their words, their deeds, their names, their joys, their sorrows, their life, their death, their present and their future state-all so wonderfully carried out from the Book of Genesis to Revelations, that she occasionally transcribed them merely to assist the memory; but in a short time they became so numerous that several friends expressed a wish to see them in print. However circumstances were not then favourable to its publication, or rather it was not God's time to favour the work He saw fit in his wisdom to delay, but not to destroy it; for after many years he sent another illness, and then it was that fresh vigour was imparted to complete what the compiler feels has been so rich a privilege and true enjoyment to her own soul." We have looked over the work and we think it excellently done: without violence to the sacred text, and yet with a striking degree of "contrast.' It bids fair to be of great value to those who delight in God's Word, and is well adapted to strike the minds of the careless. We strongly recommend it to our readers and heartily wish it success.

THE

Frish Monthly Magazine,

(Late THE IRISH UNION MAGAZINE.)

Some time ago I laid before thee sundry gleanings from various sources, in the form of a sketch of the life of Sir Thomas More, in whom we contemplated an admirable specimen of a conscientious Romanist, maintaining his convictions of the truth at the expense of his life, without bitterness towards his opponents, and with no more intolerance than is perhaps inseparable from earnestness of character and a strong persuasion of the truth. I hesitated not to express freely the admiration I felt for his saintly life, even whilst differing widely from his opinions; and I was the more anxious to do this in this day of bitter controversy, when it seems scarcely enough to upset a man's argument unless you can also blacken his character.

I now present to thee, for thy considerate perusal, a sketch of the life of one who may be considered as the type or representative of the Protestant or Anglican Church party, with whom we may find as much sympathy and a closer agreement; and the two taken together may give to those who fear the effects of a larger dose of history, some idea of the state of affairs in the reign of Henry VIII.

THOMAS CRANMER was born July 2, 1489, at Aslacton, Nottinghamshire, of an ancient and respectable family. For the rudiments of his literary education he was intrusted to the parish clerk, "under whom," says Strype, "he learned little and endured much." He was entered of Jesus College, Cambridge, at the age of 14 years, and having taken the degree of M.A., he was elected Fellow of his college. He forfeited his fellowship by his marriage, but was appointed a reader in Buckingham College, and within a year had the misfortune to lose his wife. "After her death, the maister and fellowes of

VOL. II.

R

Jesus College, desirous againe of their old companion, namelie, for his towardnesse in learning, chose him again fellow of the same college. Where he, remaining at his studie, became, in a fewe yeares after, the reader of divinitie lectures in the same college, and in such speciall estimation and reputation with the whole universitie, that being doctor of divinitie, he was commonly appointed one of the heads (which are two or three of the chiefest learned men) to examine such as yearelie professe in commencement, either bachelors or doctors of divinitie, by whose approbation the whole universitie licenseth them to proceed unto their degree; and againe, by whose disallowance the universitie also rejecteth them for a term to proceed, until they be better furnished with more knowledge."

"Now, Dr. Cranmer, ever much favouring the knowledge of the Scripture, would never admit any to proceed in divinitie, unless they were substantially sure in the storie of the Bible; by means whereof certaine friers and other religious persons, who were principally brought up in the study of schoole authors, without regard had to the authoritie of Scriptures, were commonly rejected by him, so that he was for that, his severe examination of the religious sort, much hated and had in great indignation: and yet it came to pass in the end, that divers of them being thus compelled thus to study the Scriptures, became afterwards very well learned and well affected, insomuch, that when they proceeded doctors of divinitie, they could not overmuch extol and commend M. Dr. Cranmer's goodness towards them, who had for a term put them back, to aspire unto better knowledge and perfection."

It appears that during this time Cranmer refused a fellowship in the college newly founded by Cardinal Wolsey (New College), and we cannot doubt that he took a deep interest in the discussion of the king's divorce, which then occupied public attention.

Thus far for Cranmer's private life, and what is ordinarily called the least interesting; but if we could become thoroughly and minutely acquainted with the early history and pursuits of great public characters, we should find that, although unconsciously, they are in truth educating for their calling; and this providential training must possess for us the deepest interest, whether we consider the individual thus mysteriously led, the public upon whom he is preparing to act, or the generations to whom his influence will be transmitted. It is always a matter of great regret that we know so little of the pursuits of great men during the quiescent period of their lives.

Thus, although we know very little of Cranmer, we do know that he was skilled in ecclesiastical learning and in the knowledge of the scholastic divinity; that he valued above all, and was thoroughly versed in, the Scriptures. Now, we can have very little doubt that on the subject of the king's marriage, if he thought at all, the Bible was his standard authority, and that he valued other learning merely as explanatory or illustrative of the holy volume.

How the results he then obtained were brought to bear upon the public interests we shall see in a few moments, but first we must say a word or two upon the state of affairs at that period.

Revolutions may be brought about, either by the mass of the people, or by the authorities and upper class, or by both combined; in the