bounty was allowed to vessels occupied in the business for a given length of time. In 1807, 71,000 tons of shipping, belonging to Massachusetts, were employed in the cod fishery alone. In 1803, the State passed a law providing for an inspection of fish. In the following year, the number of barrels of mackerel packed in Massachusetts, was 8,079. The number gradually increased until 1808, when, after a temporary declension, the business extended, and, in 1811, the number of barrels packed was upwards of 19,000. In 1820, the number was 236,243. This was before the separation of Maine. In 1831, there were packed in this State, 348,750 barrels. The number of vessels employed was 400, and of men, 4,000. The probable value of the mackerel fishery exceeded $1,500,000. The number of ships employed in the whale fishery, in 1832, was more than 300; of men, 6,000. These vessels are chiefly owned, built, and manned in Massachusetts. They are supposed to require, to equip for sea, 6,000 tons of iron hoops for casks, 18,000 bolts of sail cloth, 36,000 barrels of flour, 30,000 barrels of beef and pork, 6,000,000 staves for casks, besides numerous other expensive articles of equipment and provisions. They require annually about 700,000 pounds of sheathing copper.

A part of Dr. Smith's book is taken up in describing the anatomy and physiology of fishes; then follows a scientific delineation of the structure and habits of the fishes of Massachusetts. The book is concluded with an essay on trout and angling. Entertaining anecdotes and incidents are interspersed. The disciples of Wotton and Walton will find it a pleasant companion. We have room but for one extract.

"Age to which they live.-Perhaps there is no subject on which the naturalist has labored with less success, than in trying to ascertain the age to which fishes attain. Admitting that an individual of any species were undisturbed by enemies, or unmolested by its own kindred, and quietly enjoying a circumscribed body of water, amply supplied with appropriate food, there is no reason for doubting that it would live for many centuries. We know of no limits to their longevity, nor can we suppose that the internal machinery would wear itself out, so long as the digestive organs were properly excited.

"But the time must ultimately arrive when death will terminate their existence; though admirably constructed for an uncommonly long life, they are not, nor can they be exempted from the operation of a law, which to intelligent beings, is contemplated with the deepest feelings of awe and solemnity.

"Pike and carp, in artificial ponds, have been repeatedly found, with gold rings in their fins, and other kinds of labels, on which were also found dates, that proved, conclusively, that one hundred years had elapsed since the inscription was made.

"Gesner speaks of a pike that was known to be 267 years old. It is affirmed by some of the French writers, that several pike are in a pond, which formerly belonged to the duke of Orleans, father of the present king, so very aged, that their original complexion is completely lost: they have become of a dingy hue, and actually give the spectator the idea of extreme

old age.

"Cartilaginous fishes have a still greater prospect of living to an advanced period. Instead of bones, as previously remarked, their skeletons are elastic, having but a small portion of earthy matter in them. As the vessels secrete but little ossific matter, they do not become rigid, as in the land animal :the heart is in no danger of being converted into bone,-indeed, we do not know why many of them might not live and continue to grow for a thousand years.

"It was at one time thought that the circles discoverable on the ends of the vertebræ of the osseous tribes, indicated the age, as the rings on the extremity of a log, marked the years of the growth of the tree. Those, unfortunately, are no guides, and we therefore regret that we know of no mode, at the present day, of solving a problem of the highest interest to the curious. Of the marine fishes, the sharks unquestionably reach a truly patriarchal age.

"Sleep.-Exposed as these animals must necessarily be, to the voracious jaws of millions of belligerent, as well as hungry associates,-it would seem hardly possible that they should find a safe opportunity for this kind of rest, however much they might at any period require it. Again, being without eye-lids, they would be regarded, at first thought, as organized to require no suspension of the powers of volition. Impossible as it is to speak with certainty on this point, we are fully persuaded that they not only require sleep, but that they also find safe and convenient times to enjoy that sort of repose. Gold fishes, in vases, repose regularly through the night, after the lights have been extinguished. This is inferred from their remaining precisely in one position, six and eight hours at a time."

8.-Lectures, on the Literary History of the Bible, by Rev. Joel Hawes; on the Principle of Association as giving dignity to Christian Character, by Rev. T. H. Gallaudet; and on the Temporal Benefits of the Sabbath, by Rev. Horace Hooker: originally delivered before the Goodrich Association. Hartford, Ct.: Cooke & Co. 1833. pp. 110.

WE consider these lectures as very happy specimens of what ought to be the mental sustenance of our lyceums and popular associations. They are written with care, with much previous preparation, in a popular style, with entire freedom from sectarianism, and on subjects, which ought to be universally interesting. Dr. Hawes thus describes the manner in which our English version of the Bible was effected.

"In 1526, the New Testament was translated and published in English, by William Tyndal. This was a crime for which he was condemned to death. He was strangled, and afterwards burned. He expired, praying repeatedly and earnestly, 'Lord open the king of England's eyes.' In 1535, a translation of the whole Bible, and the first English one ever printed, and the first also ever allowed by royal authority, was completed under the direction of Miles Coverdale. Through the influence of Archbishop Cranmer, an order was obtained from the king that a book of the whole Bible should be provided and laid in the choir for every man that would to look and read therein.' Several other editions of the Scriptures were published during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., but all of them were only revised copies of Tyndal and Coverdale's translation. Passing over these, we come to our present authorized version. This, as already stated, was made by order of James I. In 1604, the king nominated fifty-four 45

VOL. I.

learned men to re-translate, revise or correct preceding versions, so as to produce as perfect a translation as possible. Of these, only forty-seven actually engaged in the work, the others having died, or declined the appointment. They were men of distinguished piety, and profoundly versed in a knowledge of the original languages of the sacred writings. Those who lived to engage in the work were divided into six companies. . To each company was assigned a particular book or portion of the Bible, which was to be translated by each individual belonging to that division. The book thus finished, was sent to each of the other companies, to be again examined; so that each book passed the scrutiny of all the translators successively. Three entire copies of the Bible, thus translated and revised, were finally submitted to a committee of six, who reviewed and polished the whole work. Nearly three years were spent in completing the translation; and from this account of it, it appears that no time or pains were spared to make it perfect. It was published in folio, in 1611, and has ever since been the version in common use. And we have the best reasons, on the whole, for being satisfied with it. Doubtless, with the improvements which have been made in biblical knowledge, some corrections might be made in our present translation, and some passages rendered more clearly expressive of the meaning of the original. But take it all in all, our English Bible is a noble monument of the integrity, fidelity and learning of its venerable translators. Their reverence for the sacred Scriptures induced them to be as literal as they could, to avoid obscurity; and while they have been extremely happy in the simplicity and dignity of their expressions, they have, by their adherence to the Hebrew idiom, at once enriched and adorned our language."

We give the following as a specimen of Mr. Gallaudet's

manner.

"Suppose the mind of one of our most distinguished statesmen, to be under the controlling influence of the Christian's faith, to be actuated by the motives which this faith inspires, and to teem with those associations of thought and feeling, which the objects of this faith afford. He is a Christian patriot; and in all the laborious duties of his official stations; in all his counsels with kindred souls; in all his plans of reform and improvement, the future moral and religious, as well as political aspects of his beloved country, pass before his mind, and glow in his imagination, with all that vividness and beauty which his own creative fancy, in the light of the promises of revelation, sheds around them. His grandest projects, and his mightiest efforts, with their most splendid results, rise in his estimation to still higher degrees of grandeur and sublimity, because they are but the preparatory steps for making this his beloved country, become, to the millions and millions of people who are yet destined to inhabit it, the great entrance way to that holier and happier country, where Jehovah, in the person of his Son, will manifest his glory, and his empire be one of universal peace and love. "He seeks the honor of his nation, but his estimate of this honor is made with reference to distant times and ages, when the records of history shall breathe the same spirit as the records of revelation, and the admiration of mankind be directed to the heroes who have been great in doing good, and to the nations that have been the benefactors of mankind; and he seeks to prepare the way, in the very discharge of his political duties, to have his beloved country distinguished as the instrument, in the hand of the King of kings, of diffusing the blessings of civilization, of freedom, and of Christianity, throughout the world.

"He is a Christian statesman; and he anticipates the day when the principles which he recognizes, and the measures which he advocates, based on the eternal foundation of truth and justice; imbued with the spirit of the gospel; acknowledging the paramount obligation of loving our neighbors as

ourselves, and of doing to others as we would have others do to us; breathing peace on earth and good will to men; when these principles shall regulate the intercourse of nations; and the universal adoption of these measures shall bind all men together in one brotherhood of affection: when they shall acknowledge God as their common father; his Son, as their only Saviour and Lord; living to do good to each other, as members of one great family; and inspired by the same hopes of immortality, as fellow heirs of a common inheritance, which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away."

Mr. Hooker gives us a very opportune and thorough exposition of the temporal benefits of the Sabbath.

"The Sabbath has a similar effect in clearing away the mists which blind our judgment; and we shall never know, in this world, from how many foolish and ruinous plans we have escaped through its influence. Mere cessation from our usual employments will not, indeed, accomplish all this. The ledger may be closed; the client be dismissed; the scientific tome be laid aside; while the heart still 'goeth after its covetousness,' and the soul wearies itself even on the day of rest. The current of earthly schemes and cares must be checked; the chain of worldly associations be broken; or, as to intellectual benefits, the Sabbath comes and goes in vain. The power to check this current, to break this chain, belongs chiefly to the sublime and momentous realities of eternity. They disenchant the heart, as nothing else can, of the spirit of gain and of ambition. They drive the strong man armed' from his castle, and give to the captive prisoner a momentary respite. Were death, then, an endless sleep-were the objects of revelation, which seize with so powerful a grasp on the heart and conscience, only the visions of fancy, by neglecting the sanctuary we should lose half the intellectual refreshment of the Sabbath.

"But there are cases which show still more conclusively the absolute necessity of mental relaxation on the Sabbath, especially on the part of those whose minds are severely taxed by the duties of either professional or public life. One of the most striking is the case of the late Marquis of Londonderry, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. It is stated in the Christian Observer, that he allowed not himself the repose of the Sabbath; that he did not withdraw his mind from his official business and cares on that day. Overcome by the incessant burden, and the perplexities and responsibilities of his elevated station, he put an end to his life in what was thought to be a state of mental derangement. He took on himself a load which God never lays on his creatures, and the apparent consequence was, that he sank under the weight. Dr. Farre, in the examination from which we have already quoted, says, 'The working of the mind in one continued train of thought, is destructive of life in the most distinguished class of societyand senators themselves stand in need of reform in that particular. I have observed many of them destroyed by neglecting this economy of life.'

"These principles are applicable at all times and in all countries-but especially are they applicable to our own time and country. The present is an age of excitement, and our own country seems to be the very fountainhead of it. Every thing in our situation and in our circumstances combines to wake up excitement. Wealth with us stands in the place of rank, and birth, and merit, and talents. Hence the intensity of desire manifested in its acquisition. Political parties are rife, and the state of our civil affairs often calls forth the deepest anxiety of the heart. Canals, and rail-roads, and steam-boats, are concentrating the different parts of the country, and stimulating every power of body and mind to the highest pitch. Where, then, is the sedative influence of the Sabbath more needed than in the United States? Where its holy calm more desirable than with us?—Not here and there one is under the influence of excitement-were it so, we could better spare the Sabbath. Nor is the excitement found only in accu

mulating means of moral and intellectual improvement. It lurks in the haste to be rich; in the desire to gain office; in the disappointed hope of the heart; in the anxiety which watches over favorite plans in progress of execution; in the thousand risks to which business exposes, and in the ten thousand afflictions which flesh is heir to.' These rush through the soul like a wild tornado. The excitement from books, and from the means of moral and intellectual improvement, are to these only the soft whisperings of the summer zephyr. Do what else we will, we must change the whole face of our country, check the whole current of business, and transform the whole genius and spirit of our countrymen, before we can perceptibly diminish the prevailing excitement.-The returning Sabbath, in a measure, breaks its force, and strengthens men to resist its influence. Discard the Sabbath, and the human mind, left to bear up against the ever-swelling tide of business and care and discouragement, may swing from its moorings, and dash against the rocks of despair.-An alarming increase of insanity and suicide might follow here, as in France, when during the revolution the excitements were intense, and the Sabbath almost forgotten."

9.-My Imprisonments: Memoirs of Silvio Pellico da Saluzzo, translated from the Italian. By Thomas Roscoe. New York: J. & J. Harper. 1833. pp. 216.

As the result of the congress of Vienna of 1815, the Austrian predominance was more firmly established in Italy than ever. In the mean time, the desire of independence was not extinguished among the people of Italy. Several of the gov ernments in vain endeavored to protect themselves against political societies by means of inquisitorial tribunals, Jesuits, and secret police. While the spirit of independence, excited by the Spanish revolution of 1820, and having for its object the union of Italy under one government, and its independence of foreign powers, particularly of Austria, threatened to subvert the political institutions of the peninsula in general, and of single states in particular-the cabinets labored with equal zeal to maintain the principle of stability by the suppression of every revolution, and by opposing to the popular spirit the power of the police. The influence of Austria on the internal administration was every where felt. In Naples, tribunals were erected, supported by moveable columns, to punish the authors of revolutions. Executions, proscriptions, and banishment, ensued. Some condemned Neapolitans and Lombards, were carried to the Austrian fortresses of Spielberg and Munkatsch. In 1824, the government of Naples was compelled, for the fourth time, on account of the crowded state of the prisons, to have recourse to extraordinary expedients. In Venice, the court of justice condemned thirty-two persons, and in Milan sixteen persons to death, though the sentence was afterwards transmuted to perpetual solitary imprisonment. In September, 1821, the pope excommunicated the sect of the Carbonari, and all similar associations, as branches of the long prohibited freemasons; but in the