as last autumn-Saturday, May 15th, witnessed the inauguration of a new era on this time-honored site. The rapid and substantial erection of so large a building is almost unprecedented, and no small triumph is it that its acoustic and ventilating qualities are found to be excellent. Mr. Barry and Mr. Gye have achieved wonders, and the new Covent Garden Theatre stands a monument of what skill and ingenuity may accomplish, backed by the thews and sinews of British artisans.

The House of Lords having rejected the 5th clause of the Oaths' Bill, which omits the words "on the true faith of a Christian" in the oath when taken by members of the Jewish persuasion, Lord John Russell moved that the House of Commons do disagree from the Lords' amendment, which resolution upon division, was carried by 263 to 150. Upon a further motion of Lord John Russell, a committee was appointed to draw up the reasons for disagreeing from the Lords in their amendment, and Mr. T. Duncombe moved that Baron Rothschild be a member of the committee, a resolution which, after some discussion and an adjournment to the following day (May 11), was carried by 251 to 196.

Thus we have the curious spectacle of a Christian legislative assembly arguing, discussing, and legislating for the preservation intact of what the great founder and master of Christianity distinctly forbids. "But I say unto you swear not at all; neither by Heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is God's footstool. But, let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."

May 18th, Mr. Slaney asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill to enable or facilitate grants of land to be appropriated near populous places for the use and regulated recreation of adults, and as play-grounds for poor children. Many of our subscribers being personally interested in this undertaking, we call attention to this fact, and to the advertisement in our advertising pages, by which it will be seen that an effort is making, both in public and private, for the attainment of this most desirable object.

May 18th, soon after five o'clock in the morning, the Duchess d'Orleans expired, at her residence at Richmond. This fatal termination to an attack of influenza was wholly unlooked for, and has plunged the exiled royal family into deep affliction. Her dignified and heroic bearing at the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies on the 24th of February, 1848, where she presented herself, with her two children, claiming the throne for the Count de Paris, is fresh in our recollection. The fortitude of this noble princess, under the sudden and terrible bereavement of her royal husband, and, subsequently, under the misfortunes of exile, combined with her known devotion as wife and mother, endear her to the memories of all.

We are indebted to Mr. Russell, the well-known Times correspondent, for a long and graphic account of Ex-Commissioner Yeh, wherein dirt, dissimulation, and deceit form prominent characteristics. A more ignoble specimen of the great man of a country, who coolly owns to the execution of 200,000 men and women under his rule, it would be difficult to conceive. However exalted the boasted "Taoli" may be in theory, it is very evident that in China, as elsewhere, practice and precept are far from being one and the same thing. The abject terror evinced by Yeh on his arrest, until assured that his life was in no danger, the shrewd calculations for personal comfort, and the assumption of personal dignity which instantaneously followed, shew self to be his main-spring of action. What Chinamen really are, we have yet to learn. Yeh parried questions and baffled suggestions with the same cunning which made him assume indifference to surrounding objects while others were present, to climb to the stern windows when he believed himself safe from observation. Loathsome in his person and habits, Yeh, the external man, is made familiar to us by Mr. Russell's admirable description; but Yeh, the moral and intellectual being, the representative of his race, is as great a riddle as ever.

The late duel or as it would be more fitly termed, assassination-at Paris, has produced a profound and painful sensation. There seems little doubt that M. de Pène received two wounds, one, it is affirmed, being given as he was falling from the effects of the first. Spite of the great loss of blood, "which poured from the two wounds as through the spout of a tea-pot,' he was, according to continental practise, immediately bled. His sufferings are represented as terrible, and every moment was expected to be his last. Madame de Pène soon reached the spot where the unfortunate man lay, and informed by Dr. Guérin that the life of her husband depended upon her appearing calm, she had the heroism to control all expression of feeling, though she swooned immediately on leaving his presence. M. Courtiel, with whom M. de Pène first fought, sends a dispatch from Amiens every day to inquire after his health, and when the regiment of Cuirassiers, in garrison at St. Germain, goes out for its usual manoeuvres, the band ceases to play as it approaches the Bridge of Pecq, close to which the wounded man lies. It is to be hoped, for the honor of the Imperial army, that some public manifestation of its sympathy with the wounded man and disapprobation of his would-be murderers, will take place.

Success still attends our arms in India, the last mail bringing details of the capture of Kotah. The setting in of hot weather, however, opens new dangers upon our gallant troops, and will cause further and painful anxieties to those who have husbands, sons, and brothers among them. At home the ministry has been threatened and the country agitated and excited by Lord Canning's proclamation and Lord Ellenborough's despatch thereon; of which last it now appears that the manner more than the matter was in fault, Sir Colin Campbell and Sir James Outram having pronounced against the proclamation in India, as Lord Ellenborough pronounced against it here. The excitement reached its climax on the evening of Friday, May 21, when every seat in the House of Commons was occupied before prayers began. The "ins" and "outs" alike were on the horns of a dilemma. Setting all private and individual feeling aside, neither party, in the present condition of the country, could look without apprehension to the dissolution of Parliament, which was almost sure to follow, should Mr. Cardwell's motion go to a division. First rose Lord Palmerston with two questions for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to which guarded and qualified answers were returned. The adjournment of the House was next moved-and then, forth burst the storm! The Liberal members one after another, clamoured for the withdrawal of Mr. Cardwell's resolution. Recent despatches had altered the aspect of the question-the nature of the issue was entirely changed-to vote for the motion as it now stood would place the Liberal party in a false position with the country. Mr. Cardwell stood his ground. The storm waxed higher and higher, till Lord Palmerston gave the signal, and Mr. Cardwell put his motion into the hands of the House. It was finally withdrawn. Thus ended this parliamentary "Much ado about nothing," and the country will have reason to congratulate itself, if the second portion of the performance be only a " Comedy of Errors."

XLI.-WOMEN'S WORK IN THE REFORMATORY MOVEMENT.

ON no portion of the human race has Christianity conferred a more inestimable benefit than on woman. This has been frequently and forcibly set forth by eminent divines and other writers, both in England and in our sister country; it would therefore be unnecessary here to attempt to prove it, especially since the lamented Robertson, whose words and thoughts thrill the hearts of thousands on each side of the mighty ocean, has so ably and touchingly set it forth in not a few of his discourses, particularly in that entitled "The Glory of the Virgin Mother." We all know it, we require it not to be proved to us. We all have felt a gratitude inexpressibly tender, when we have seen that the Messiah, the anointed Prince, did not scorn even in public, to talk with the woman, one too of a despised race, and that though the disciples "wondered" that he thus descended from the dignity of a Teacher. We love him, because he so loved

us; he drove not from him the fallen outcast, nor did he despise the officious household cares of Martha, while Mary undisturbed enjoyed the precious privilege of sitting at his feet and hearing his words. We delight to see that all the last sacred evenings of that eventful week which was to close his mortal career, were spent in the quiet home of those sisters; and that when the devotion of Mary, displaying itself in a costly offering, excited the rude scorn and avaricious comments of those around, he shielded her with a thoughtful graceful consideration, which would enshrine her for ever in the world's loving remembrance. Then, eighteen centuries ago, women responded gratefully to his love; shall they not now? They felt what he had done for them, and they followed him from Galilee, and ministered to him of their substance, and did not desert him in his last trial when his chosen Apostles forsook him and fled; they could not be driven back by angry Pharisees, nor by cruel soldiers from the foot of the Cross; they did not sink under the weight of their own harrowed feelings while aught remained to be done, nor were they deterred by "the watch, the stone, the seal," from seeking to bestow their last offices of love and reverence on the sacred remains, as soon as the morning's earliest ray permitted them to go forth, unforbidden by the duties of the sabbath. Their love was accepted

VOL. I.

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by the Saviour-and it was rewarded; women first beheld him when he had put on immortality; his Apostles were affrighted and thought that they had seen a spirit, and required tangible and material proof of his actual identity, but they at once discerned him as he was,Rabboni,-the Lord,-the Saviour.

Incidental mention is frequently made in the other writings of the New Testament, proving that women were henceforth admitted into equal communion in the Christian Church, and even distinctly received as fellow-workers in it. They remained with one accord with the other disciples waiting, with prayer and supplication, to receive the promise of the Father. The humble ministrations of Tabitha, who did what she could in her unobtrusive sphere among the widows and orphans, were gloriously acknowledged ;-the woman Damaris had a soul that responded to the Apostles' words on the hill of Mars, as did that of the Areopagite;-Timothy had been prepared to fill his important office by the pious instructions of his mother and grandmother, and Paul sent an especial greeting to "Mary, who hath bestowed much labor on us.' These individuals may be regarded as types of large classes of women who have ministered, and are still ministering, in the Christian Church, and in the large family of their Heavenly Father.

Did we desire to prove what woman owes to Christianity, we might turn our eyes to other parts of the world and see how at even at this advanced period she is degraded where its light has not spread; we might, on the one hand, pity the Indian squaw, made the drudge of the household, the slave, rather than the companion and friend of man; and on the other, more deeply compassionate the wretched inmates of the eastern Harem, surrounded with all to delight the body, while the soul is stifled. But this is

not our present purpose. Nor will we turn our attention at the present time to the fearful wrongs which woman is still enduring in our own country,-wrongs caused in part by unjust laws which do not recognise her as a human being, a member of the State, and in part by the unchristian condition of our nation. But we forbear. Our object now is rather to shew what privileges specially belong to woman, as such, in Christ's work of mercy to the lost, and what duties consequently devolve upon her.

Now as it is Christianity only which has given to woman her true position in society, so far as she possesses it, so it is in the Christian spirit only that she is absolutely free. Whatever legal or social disabilities she may still lie under, however she may be thwarted in her aims, cramped in her endeavours, fettered in her action, by the real or imaginary shackles imposed by public opinion, yet let her be imbued deeply and strongly with a Christian spirit of self-denying love, and she will have the freedom which Christ has given to his disciples, and which no mortal can take from her. will thus carry into her acknowledged household sphere an undefined, but deeply felt spirit of holiness which the mere Martha, anxious

She

and troubled about many things, fails to impart; she will be the devoted friend, humbly sitting at the feet of the Saviour, shedding over the loved one the sweet perfumes of costly offerings, which the worldly may sneer at, but which embalm her love for ever; she may discharge for the lowly and the destitute, humble offices of daily life, which will carry divine charity into their hearts, and the earthly clothing made by her own hands for them will be transformed into heavenly raiment which even to the world's end will clothe her spirit, when its mortal covering has been dissolved; she may bestow, unforbidden by a true apostle, "much labor" on the affairs of the church; and as her most holy and natural mission, she may devote herself with Lois and Eunice, to the kindling and drawing out of the divine spirit shrined in a young child,—a child who may become the leader on of thousands to the heavenly kingdom.

All these are the peculiar privileges of woman, as such; they involve sacred duties, but before considering what these are, let us premise a few observations, lest we should be misunderstood.

In the first place we are not now speaking to married women. They have entered into a solemn and most holy engagement; each one such has inseparably linked her whole being to another, to whom is henceforth her first duty, saving only that which she owes to Him who gave her being. Whatever she now undertakes of what may be called Christ's especial work, must be done with his concurrence, or at any rate without interfering with her duties to him and to her household. Whatever woman devotes herself to external work, to the neglect of those devolving on her, either as a wife or a mother, is, we believe, incurring a very heavy responsibility before God.

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Nor, again, are we speaking to all unmarried women. are many who, without having by their own act, and of their own will, taken upon them the sacred relationship alluded to, are bound by others equally sacred, imposed by Him who is the God of Nature as well as of Grace. We would not judge others, but entreat all to apply to the test of their own consciences, the following remarks.

We call, then, on Christian women, who are not bound by their pecuniary circumstances to work for their own living, to exercise their privileges, and at once, if they have not hitherto done so, address themselves to some earnest work for the good of others; and should their inclinations and powers so direct them, we would especially commend to them the work in the Reformatory movement. In this, every function which we have already spoken of may be fully exercised. The Martha may find full scope for her household cares; the Mary will watch for the moments when she may pour precious balsam, not on the Saviour, but for him, on his little ones; the Dorcas will expand her heart's love into innumerable humble daily duties for these young lost ones; she who would have labored much for the Apostle will do so for his disciples of these distant ages; and those who are mothers in heart, though not by God's gift on earth, will be able to bestow their maternal love on those who are