describes, as the cause of the feeling; and the description is so given, as to be powerfully conducive to the existence of the same feeling in the mind of the reader. Had the same method and power of description been applied to the objects of external nature, Charles Wesley would have been placed, by common consent, in the very first class of descriptive poets. How is it, then, that his claims are not allowed? Especially when as to general power of description, unsurpassed in its particular sphere of action, is to be added, an epigrammatic terseness and point, when occasion calls for it, not inferior to Martial himself? It will not do now to quote the dictum of Dr. Johnson, respecting the inapplicability of poetry to devotion. It was pronounced in ignorance not only of the general subject, but of the particular facts of the case. It is utterly disproved by the Bible. The Psalms are devotional; and the Psalms are full of poetry. But is it,

ú priori, at all likely that one of the most important endowments with which the Creator has favoured man, should be incapable of employment in reference to the hallowed intercourse with spiritual realities to which man is called? Dr. Johnson spoke in haste, and with an exceedingly limited view of poetry, when he said that its essence consisted in invention. Even when invention is employed, it is invention that implies truthful analogy, not fanciful falsehood. There is poetical invention in, "The pastures are clothed with flocks ;" and in, "They shout for joy; they also sing." But this is invention that implies truth. "All thy works praise thee, O God!" is highly imaginative, but it is imagination that implies truth. It is not that devotion is essentially unpoetical; but there are truths which scriptural devotion loves, but which find no favour with the unrenewed heart. "The world will love its own," is a maxim which implies subjects, as well as persons; and the poetry of Charles Wesley was employed on themes which the world not only does not love, but which it deeply dislikes. He was a Methodist poet; and many are persuaded that Methodism furnishes no subject for thought but a low, repulsive fanaticism: while many, who go not so far, have no sympathy with the expressions of repentance, and faith in Christ, and

love towards a pardoning God. It is a remarkable expression of St. John, describing one of the glorious occurrences which, in the visions of prophecy, he was permitted to behold: "And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne. And no man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth." Where redemption from earth is truly experienced, not only is the heart attuned to heavenly music, but opened to understand the new song. And will any of those who possess this experience, say that the writer of the following exciting and triumphant anapasts was but an inferior poet?

"What a rapturous song,

When the glorified throng
In the spirit of harmony join:
Join all the glad choirs,

Hearts, voices, and lyres,

And the burden is, 'Mercy divine !'

"Hallelujah, they cry,

To the King of the sky,

To the great, everlasting I AM;
To the Lamb that was slain,
And liveth again,

Hallelujah to God and the Lamb!"
(To be concluded in our next.)

VISIT TO THE CHINESE COLLECTION, LONDON. No. I.

CHINA has always, to all young persons possessing any geographical knowledge, been an object of intense curiosity; the principal reasons being, first, a vague notion that there was much to be known, and, secondly, that so little actually was known. It was known that our tea came from China, and tea has now become one of the necessaries of English life, and we wanted to know something about the people from whom we procured it. It was known that on one of the frontiers of China there was an immense wall, along the top of which carriages could be driven, with towers frequently occurring to add to its strength; that this was carried up hill

and down dale for the distance of fifteen hundred miles; and that thus the people without were to be kept out, and the people within were to be kept in; and we very naturally wanted to know something of the people thus, to a certain extent, immured. But much as we wanted to know, little could we obtain to supply our demand for information. The policy of the Chinese has been long to keep themselves to themselves; and of late years, since the growth and establishment of European power in India, this policy has been strengthened, and the measures to which it led been rendered more effectual than ever.

And then there was another reason why we wished to know as much as possible respecting China. This is an age of Missionary exertion, and the young have been, very laudably, deeply interested, and actively engaged, in Missionary subjects and undertakings. Now China is supposed to contain nearly three hundred millions of people; and these were known to be idolaters. Something of their actual condition and character was naturally sought to be known, that the results of the religious system under the influence of which they lived, might be also known. But, to a great extent, China has hitherto been as a sealed book. The works which have been given to the public have, indeed, disclosed something, but for want of a more accurate and extensive knowledge of the foundation of the social system, and its general structure, they have not been sufficient to gratify curiosity; they have been like pictures of small portions of an extensive and complicated building, which, while they describe the represented part, give no idea of the entire collection and mass. Still, "Lord Macartney's Embassy to China," and more particularly Mr. Medhurst's volume, latterly published, have always been read with eagerness and instruction.

Taken altogether, the best work we possess on China, is one by Mr. Davis, published among his " Miscellanies," in a cheap and convenient form, by Knight. To this work we

"The Chinese; a General Description of China and its Inhabitants. By J. F. Davis, Esq., F.R.S., &c. Late His Majesty's Chief Commissioner in China." (With numerous and well-executed Woodeuts.) Square foolscap. Svo., pp. 383. C. Knight.

refer all our readers who wish to know all that, by reading, is knowable about China. It ought to stand on the shelves of every Sunday-school library, and should be read by all young persons who are desirous of being acquainted with China as the subject of Missionary contemplation. In the present series of papers we shall keep it before us, and wherever necessary, avail ourselves of the information which it communicates.

Of China, it may be said beforehand, that its inhabitants furnish a remarkable illustration, by way of contrast, of the power of Christianity as the great instrument in the hands of God for promoting civilization; that is, the most perfect form of human society, considered as such. China is a civilized country; yet it is in many respects a barbarous one too. The civilization is exceedingly imperfect, neither restraining some of the worst evils to which society is exposed, nor affording room for that onward movement of which society is capable, and for which society is by its Author designed. We might multiply comparisons to illustrate this position. The Chinese seem like a nation of living and walking mummies, the swathed and bandaged representatives of generations ages ago passed away from the face of the earth. Their government is sometimes said to be patriarchal, founded on the analogies presented by the domestic constitution. It may be so; but the Monarch seems very much like a self-indulgent, narrow-minded, and tyrannical parent; and the subjects as so many full-grown children, men in stature, but children in understanding and behaviour; a nation of great babies, yet proudly thinking that they are the men, and that wisdom will die with them. Perhaps their own most singular notion of the principles of beauty as applied to the female foot, will supply the most correct figure of their own social state. There is first an unnatural standard to begin with. The beauty of the foot consists in its being a foot no longer, but a sort of stump. Such are many of the Chinese notions of propriety and excellence. And then there is the work of cramping and deprivation. The remainder of the body grows, but the foot is kept to the same measure. Of every other part, there is the natural develop

ment of the whole; but here, to maintain the required and supposed-to-be elegant minuteness, the poor ten toes must take their leave, if not of actual existence, for bones and muscles, and all that goes to make the toe, remain,—yet of visible existence; for when the process is completed, the toes themselves seem lost in the foot, and their possessors hobble about as if they were walking on the end of cork stumps. And thus, in the social development of China, much that as really belongs to man as his toes belong to his foot, is either overlooked, or only noticed to be cramped and stunted in their growth, till they come to be as though they were not. Here is the glory of Christianity. It aims at removing from man all the defilement that cleaves to him, and supplies a remedy for all his diseases: but it takes away nothing truly belonging to his original nature, as it was God's first gift to him. And here, therefore, is the excellence of Christian civilization. Its laws, like those designed for individuals, may be weak through the flesh; but in themselves they are most admirably adapted to the end which is to be promoted by them. They contemplate the social development of the whole man, and always suppose his original capacity of activity, improvement, and growth. With other nations, a case of extreme difficulty is very significantly expressed by the term, being at a stand-still. And, by the way, young folks would do well sometimes to study the philosophy of even the commonest occurrences or phrases. The daisy may be a very familiar flower; and we may think the dandelion only fit for the childish amusement of indicating the hour of the day by the number of puffs necessary for setting all its downy spicula afloat in the atmosphere; but both daisy and dandelion will afford no common gratification to the youthful botaniser. But, to get back to China, it really seems as though their highest notions of excellence consisted in keeping man at a stand-still.

At length, however, the way into China-the way to China has been open for a long time-seems to be opening. The events which have latterly occurred, appear as though they would ultimately open China to European research. The recently-concluded treaty which the Tartar Emperor has been