of Anak, giants and mancaters though they Mr. Smith, who, as the advertisement of his hobe, shall yield to the chosen people of the Lord, tel states, is "a member and minister of the Amen." Methodist Episcopal Church," may excuse me in the present case, for paying so much attention to the pulpit oratory of San Juan. I know that the Evening Post does not usually report sermons, but I hope that the subject, and the ingenious method of treatment adopted by CHINAISM AT HOME. In an extraordinary Letter to the Queen*-the cry of a fearfully oppressed and injured woman it is pointed out that, by the present laws of England, only rich men can obtain divorce from their wives-an act of parliament being required for it-and that no more than four women ever obtained a divorce from their husbands. A woman who has been married in England, however she may have been obliged to live apart from her husband, has no independent standing in law. He may have driven her from his house by the harshest usage, or by his profligacy: it is no matter. "As her husband, he has a right to all that is hers: as his wife, she has no right to any thing that is his." If she gains money for herself, or has it bequeathed to her, he can take it from her. In short, the position of a married woman in England is a monstrous anomaly. women to sue for divorce from their husbands. Yet, near as Scotland is, all this is in vain as a means of enlightening the House of Peers. If English women knew the comparative justice they secure by marriage in Scotland, they would all insist on being taken there by their fiancés, though Hymen were only to appear before them in the form of a blacksmith or a justice of peace. As it is, we wonder that the western railways never yet thought of advertising cheap trains to Gretna, on the pure ground of humanity towards their countrywomen. With all this staring us in the face, are we not entitled to regard England as a kind of China, which shuts itself up from all benefit from the example of other countries? Is it not in a manner worse than China, in as far as it ignores, not the advantageous usages of the outside barbarians, but of its own kith and kin? Another striking example of its inaccessibility to any To the north of the Tweed, a wholly different new ideas from without, is presented in connecsystem of law prevails, under which women are tion with the late_newspaper stamp-laws. The not nearly so ill treated. There the wife, if ac-advocates of a cheap press had all along the cused of infidelity to her husband, can defend case of America to point to. There, newspapers herself, which she cannot do in England. "Her could be purchased by all classes, and every property is protected; rules are made for her place had its newspaper. The posting, where aliment" or support; and her clothes and "pa- necessary, implied only a half-penny envelop. raphernalia" cannot be seized by her husband. Nothing could he simpler or clearer, both as an Above all, the law has power to divorce a vinculo, encouragement to a similar system here, and a so as to enable either party to marry again; and plan for working it. But all this was long in the right of the wife to apply for such divorce is vain; and even when an unstamped press was equal to the right of the husband." at length resolved on, a most valuable part of It has often been proposed to remedy the the American arrangements was slighted. The shocking absurdity, not to say cruelty, of the penny stamp was retained on a part of the imEnglish law towards women, especially in the pression of each paper, as the equivalent of postmatter of divorce; but always some bugbear conveyance, that so a large part of the circulation starts up to deter legislators from interfering. of newspapers might still remain under the old They fear to encourage wives to be unforgiving bondage. It is satisfactory to know that the deto their husbands, by giving them independent sign, if there was any, of this modification, is in rights, or affording them a power of divorce. a great degree defeated, for the railways are so It seems to be thought that advantage would be taken of any facility in this respect to an extent shocking to morality. Now, there is Scotland, a part of the same island, represented in the same parliament, visited for shooting every August, with this power of divorce for good cause nearly three hundred years old in it, and where returns show only about twenty cases at an average per annum; proving, so far as experience can prove anything, that there is no undue inclination in *A Letter to the Queen on Lord Chancellor Cranworth's Marriage and Divorce Bill. By the Hon. Mrs. Norton. London: Longman & Co. 1855. liberal and active in transporting cheap news. papers to distant places, that the stamp is comparatively little resorted to: as an example, we are assured that a new daily journal of the west of England, out of a circulation of 14,000, stamps only 400! But this does not excuse the Chinese obstinacy of the minister and his advisers in refusing to act by the light of a thoroughly similar case laid before him by our transatlantic cousins. Nor will it save him from the disgrace manifestly in store for him, of having, after all, to adopt the plan of the half-penny envelop, as the only one which is calculated to give the entire public the benefit of a cheap press-Chambers's Journal. From The Press. tated. That fervor, however, which is its best Lyra Germanica: Hymns for the Sundays and characteristic, is apt to run into vulgar and Chief Festivals of the Christian Year. Trans- even irreverent extravagance, unless it be lated from the German by Catherine Winkworth. London: Longmans. under the guidance of a truly poetic imagina tion. Most of our Methodist hymns show this tendency, while the collections commonly used THERE are two distinct species of religious in our churches are, as a whole, deficient in poetry, or rather there are two principles under the requisites both of spiritual aspiration and one or rather of which what we most admire in poetic beauty. That collection most extenit may be ranged. One is common to all sively in use, and which is printed with the kinds of poetry, depending for its excellence recommendation of the Bishop of London, is on the force of its ideas and expression, the far from satisfactory. One hymn commences variety and beauty of its images, and generally with the emphatic line, I'm not ashamed to own the Lord a wonderful instance of condescension, it must gregation. on those qualities which move the imagination. This kind of religious poetry may be composed by profane writers, and we find numerous specimens of it in their works, from Lucretius be admitted, on the part of a Christian conto Byron. One common form of it consist in describing the wonders of creation and referring them to Deity, or in accumulating fanciful images as emblems of His Nature and of its workings. The other species is more special. Its excellence lies in the fervor with which it expresses purely devotional feelings, as love and gratitude, representing the soul as in earnest communion with God, imploring his favor or deprecating his wrath. The one kind is the poetry of natural religion (if there be such a thing), the other of revelation. The lines of Byron to the ocean, Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty form, Psalmody, as practised in our churches, is too plainly a contrivance to allow the minister a breathing pause, or to afford the congregation relief from one posture to another, or to fill up the gap necessarily occasioned in the intervals between distinct parts of the service. It does not appear to be practised for its own sake, and hence the two or three verses chosen too brief for the expansion of a sentiment or of a striking passage in Scripture-are languidly listened to by the congregation, and endured as a necessary formality. selection, are much better supplied with devoThe German churches, to judge from this and even the magnificent hymn of Addison, the translator of this attractive volume had tional poetry than our own Church. We wish describing the glories of the heavens, are but the expression of that sentiment of given us some information as to the actual awful reverence which the view of the wonders practice among German congregations. All of of creation irresistibly forces on an inagina- much too long to be sung at once, yet their these pieces, according to our usage, would be tive mind. But this vague sentiment has very effect would be spoilt if split into fraglittle in common with that approach of the soul to God, arising from firm belief in His ments. Were Psalmody made a really imFatherhood, and in His nearness to us, which portant and vital part of our service, one or two we require in devotional poetry. This element such poems as are contained in this volume is only to be comprehended and appreciated the devotional fervor of the congregation. As might be sung entire, with great advantage to by believing Christian people. The poet, as a it is, there is scarcely one of them which would poet merely, either does not perceive it, or is inclined to condemn it as faulty in taste. not, from its length, be out of place in any When the Psalmist exclaims, "As the hart of our collections, though they might be very panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth them having the character of pious ballads-a advantageously used in households, many of my soul after thee, O God," every one can recognize a certain degree of beauty in the species of composition which might easily be imagery; but it is those only who know from come as popular in this country as it has long actual experience what this longing is, how been in Germany. One of the hymns in this ardent is the passion and with what in-volume, composed by George Neumarck of tensity it seizes on the soul, that can make the Weimar, about two centuries ago, acquired alverse their own, and feel in it a living truth far more precious to them than the poetical image. The best kind of devotional poetry is not that the significance of which can be instantly perceived and generally appreciated, but that which requires some sympathetic feeling for its comprehension, and which grows on the mind, and becomes more prized as it is more medi most instant popularity. No one knew who Leave God to order all thy ways, It is scarcely possible to exhaust the beauty of a simple composition of this kind. It is a creed in itself, and eminently calculated to form a habit of piety in the mind. We wish that by any process similar pieces could be made popular among the masses of our people. Their educational influence would be of incalculable value. Though these hymns have been specially selected from Bunsen's large collection, to accord with the different Sundays of the year, yet many of them have a historical character. The following is remarkable as having been often sung by Gustavus Adolphus with his army. It was composed by Altenburg, and bore the title, "A heart cheering song of comfort on the watchword of the Evangelical Army in the battle of Leipsic, September 7th, 1631, God with us." This hymn was sung by the great Christian soldier immediately before the battle of Lützen; Fear not, little flock, the foe Dread not his rage and power: Be of good cheer; your cause belongs As true as God's own word is true, Against us shall prevail. A jest and byword are they grown; Our victory cannot fail. Amen, Lord Jesus, grant our prayer! So shall Thy saints and martyrs raise World without end. Amen. Several of the hymns bear relation to the distress and persecution consequent on the Thirty Years' War. In the latter half of the seventeenth century a new school of devotional song was founded, of which the hymns of Johann Scheffler, commonly called Angelus, afford admirable specimens." The pervading idea of this school," it is said in the introduction, "is the longing of the soul for that intimate union with the Redeemer of the world, which begins with the birth of Christ in the heart, and is perfected after death." The hymns of this school resemble those of our Wesleyans in spirituality, but are of higher poetical merit. We give one example from Angelus, though the specimen is scarcely a favorable one: Nothing fair on earth I see When I see the reddening dawn And the golden sun of morn, Quickly turns this heart of mine To Thy glorious form divine. Oft I think upon Thy light When I see the moon arise 'Mid Heaven's thousand golden eyes, Or I think in spring's sweet hours, As their varied hues I see, When along the brook I wander, Or beside the fountain ponder, And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight; Straight my thoughts take wing and mount thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he re Up to Thee, the purest Fount. Sweetly sings the nightingale, Sweetly all the air is stirr'd Come then, fairest Lord, appear, Take away these veils that blind, The hymns of Novalis belong to this school, and, in our opinion, are of the highest order of beauty. We must be content with one example: Though all to Thee were faithless, I could weep night and morning How much for us didst Thou! Though all had turn'd aside. In bitter tears shall melt. Lord, I have inly found Thee, Depart Thou not from me, ceived his sight, and followed him, glorifying My Saviour, what Thou didst of old, Thou sufferedst me Thy grace to find, And longing gnaw'd my heart; My pain grew more than I could bear, To call upon Thy name; And ever weeping as I spoke With bitter prayers and sighs, A sudden answer stilled my fear, "Oh, poor blind man, be of good cheer, I felt, Lord, that Thou stoodest still, A change came o'er my thought. And words of Thine can never fail, The translation from the German is always easy and flowing, though sometimes the verse might be improved with a little more care. Altogether the volume is a pleasing one, combining high poetic merit with true devotional fervor, and serving to illustrate the growth of In a very different style is the single hymn religious feeling in the German mind. A HUSBAND FOR THE PRINCESS ROYAL. A HUSBAND FOR THE PRINCESS ROYAL, his part, and perhaps we shall be correct if we do not suppose his political ideas to be strongly pronounced. Nevertheless, there is PRINCE FREDERICK WILLIAM of Prussia if not in disgrace at least in official coolness the corroboratory evidence that he has been is a guest at Balmoral, where the Royal Family on account of his non-Russian tendencies; of England is in villeggiatura. The Princess and it is probable that the constant report of Royal, now almost fifteen years of age, is as his sentiments has had some ground in his tall as her mother, and is "quite the woman;" conversation. The present King has perhaps and a species of authoritative nod is given to been more sinned against than sinning; but the popular presumption that Prince Frederick at best he is a man of feeble body and of William comes to court a bride. The suppo- feeble will, and now there appears every sign sition is perhaps more premature than incor- of his breaking-up. The Prince of Prussia is rect. Queen Victoria enjoyed an unusual not more than fifty-eight years of age; he degree of freedom for a British Princess in seems to be in tolerably vigorous health, and being the reigning Sovereign before she be- is likely enough to be Frederick William the came a bride; and she was able to secure her Fifth. The Prince who has just been receiv own consent in accordance with the dictates ed at Balmoral, his eldest son, is not quite of her affections. Etiquette has stifled more twenty-four years of age; he is reputed to be than one anecdote to prove the genuine char- an intelligent youth, and has the prospect of acter of the attachment-stifled the tale, at being Frederick William the Sixth of Prussia. least, until some future day, when history may There does not seem to be anything frightful, record the earliest evidences of that happy then, in the destiny of a Princess Royal of union which has rendered the Queen and her England condemned to be Queen of Prussia husband a model pair for the encouragement under such circumstances, nor is there any of the lieges. Of course a Princess Royal strong political objection apparent on the face could not expect the same immunities with a of the Almanach de Gotha. Queen-regnant; but Queen Vietoria is a woman of so much sense as well as good feel- any advantage by the match? Queens-conOn the other hand, could we count upon ing, that no one would expect a force to be sort seldom go for much. If Frederick Wilput upon her daughter, and we do not imagine liam of Prussia was more Russian because the that the Princess Victoria will become Queen astute Czar called him "Fritz" and treated of Prussia expectant by any paternal or regal him as one of the family, the result must be compulsion. If there is truth in the story ascribed partly to the candid cunning of current, it is most probable that the young Nicholas, and partly to the pliant disposition people are to make each other's acquaintance, of William. Victor Emmanuel is not more and that the Prince will be left to win the Austrian because his Queen is a daughter of hand he claims. And, sooth to say, such a the Grand Duke Reignier. In fact, almost all prize is seldom worth having unless it be these royal families are related; so that, if we fairly won. Even princes have been com- were to judge by ties of blood and wedlock, pelled to discover that truth, as destiny makes we might expect to find the court of Europe them discover most truths which are essential one happy family, instead of being the bear to our mortal nature. But, howeyer the Princess Royal may take allied itself with Belgium, Naples, Brazil, and garden that it is. The Orleans family has it, what will the British public say? does it relish the prospect of an alliance matri- the elder Bourbon branch, with its endless How Spain; but it is not the less exiled; nor has monial with Prussia? The words give cool ties of blood, been able to keep or recover comfort enough; and yet even politically, the the throne of France. It was the first Napoalliance, though not recommended by any leon's idea to rivet the crown upon his head great promise, is free from positive or known by the link of a royal alliance; but it was a objection. "Il y a Prusse et Prusse;" even miscalculation; and the power of the present King Frederick William is not supposed to be Emperor Napoleon, for all the doubts which quite so Russian as he looks under the bad hung upon its genesis, does not appear to be advice which controls his actions; but it is in the slightest degree diminished by the fact decidedly understood of his brother Frederick of his alliance with a noble but not a royal William Louis, Prince of Prussia, that though family. No doubt, these alliances constitute a commander of Russian musketeers and pro- embarrassments or facilities according to the prietor of an Austrian regiment of infantry, character of the persons allied, and still more he is more national than Russian, and decid- according to the tact and will of the statesmen edly opposed to the feeble and trimming who know how to use collateral circumstances course of his Government. There is, indeed, for political objects. Short of some revoluno very authentic manifesto of sentiments on tion, we must accept things as they are; and |