guage, the habits, the political condition and resources of the people among whom endeavours are making to diffuse Christianity; and we wanted them from men who, to all the necessary qualifications of travellers, add the warm interest and zeal of Christian love. We wanted also clearer statements of the obstacles, as well as advantages, which the peculiar circumstances of each country presents for the purpose of conversion; and we wished to obtain them from partial relations and observations, rather than from dissertations or formal treatises on the subject. In all these respects, we have been highly gratified by the publications on our table: that of Dr. Henderson, in particular, is full of curious and useful information; and his researches into the nature and derivation of the northern languages are of the most interesting character. His book is a full exemplification of our observations. He has remarked whatever was worthy the notice of the traveller, or useful in relation to the original design of his journey; and our readers will find in the pages of his volume rich materials for reflection.

The tour, of which the narrative is here given, was made during the years 1821 and 1822, in company with Dr. Paterson, the well-known Biblical traveller, and, for a part of the time, with Mr. Serof, the Assistant Secretary to the Russian Bible Society. During the eleven months which they were absent from St. Petersburgh they traversed the space of nearly 9,000 versts, and passed through twenty governments of the Russian empire. The account of this journey is replete with amusement; and, to those who are fond of books of travels, we know of few volumes more likely to prove acceptable; while the remembrance of the object for which the tour was undertaken gives it a deep and impressive interest, which no other of a different nature can possess. After having obtained letters, through the kindness of Prince Galitzin, to the principal civil and ecclesiastical authorities they might have to confer with on their journey, our travellers set out, from the house belonging to the Bible Society, about three in the afternoon of the 2d of March, O. S., 1821. Besides the letters above mentioned, they had also obtained, through the influence of the prince, a free podoroshnaia, which serves both as an order for post-horses and a passport through the empire. It was their hope to reach Moscow before the breaking up of the winter roads: in this, however, they were disappointed, and on the 16th they were obliged to exchange their carriages for the common sledges of the country. On the evening of the next day they came within sight of the ancient capital of this immense empire, whose domes and spires, glittering in the setting sun, formed a striking con

trast to the dreary road our travellers had just passed. Their arrival in Moscow, it appears, was very fortunate; for it happened just two days before the Bible Society commemorated its anniversary, and they had the gratification to be present at a meeting rendered more than commonly interesting to them, by the presence of several of the Russian, Armenian, Greek, and Georgian clergy. Owing to the impassable condition of the roads, they were obliged to remain in Moscow nearly a month; during which time the weather almost entirely prevented their leaving their rooms. The time, however, was not lost; and Dr. Henderson devoted his leisure to the study of the Armenian and Turkish languages; in acquiring the former of which he was assisted by a young priest of that communion. As soon as they were able to leave their apartments, they visited all the most remarkable parts of this vast city. But the most interesting part of their relation is that of their interview with the Armenian Archimandrite Seraphim, who is represented as a very learned and amiable man. Our travellers left Moscow on the 13th of April, and, after passing through Borovsk and Maoli Ioroslavetz, the last rendered famous by the first battle lost by Napoleon on his retreat from the capital arrived in a day or two at Kaluga, a town situated on the left bank of the Oka. The Auxiliary Bible Society at this place, which had not been formed above a year before, they found in the most prosperous condition. It had twenty-five corresponding agents, and had already sent 20,000 rubles to the committee at St. Petersburgh. On the 6th of May, Dr. Henderson and his companion arrived at Kharkof, the capital of the government of that name. They were here, as on a former occasion, delighted with finding they had arrived just in time to be present at a very interesting meeting. The students at the university, it seems, had determined on forming a Bible Association among themselves; and on the morning after their arrival a deputation waited on our travellers to require their attendance. The account of this meeting is highly interesting, and happy would it be for England were the same spirit alive in her universities, which animated these children of half-civilized Russia.

We cannot pass over a relation of this kind without feeling deeply impressed with regret at the want, in our seminaries of learning, of any thing similar to such an evidence of zeal and consistency. Putting aside all party considerations, and every thing unconnected with the immediate interests of Christianity, how is it that we see not even a pretended effort of academical influence to advance her cause? How is it, that, while the theorizing divines of Germany and the apostles of Popery come forth to promulge

the doctrines of their sanctuaries, the temples of English learning are buried in silence and inactivity? It may be answered, they are fully employed in educating the priesthood of the country: let it be so. Might they not do more? Have they not an influence peculiar to themselves? and could they not rouse, by their example, and the power which antiquity has given them, thousands who sleep under their shadow and slumber under their patronage? Had we time, however, we should not quietly admit their only claim to usefulness in the cause of the Gospel. We would ask them, what they do in preparing the preachers of its truths? We would inquire the reason why divinity, and even its collateral aids, is always a subordinate study? We would say to Cambridge, especially, and that from some years' experience in her discipline, why, when the old geometers are pushed aside for La Place, might not the Bible be admitted as a part of the new system? We shall be answered, no doubt, that a considerable change has taken place in the studies and examinations: and we answer again, that the addition made is paltry and contemptible. That no man of learning, unconnected with the university, does not laugh at the pretence; and that it is neither fitted to advance the students, or in harmony with the literary spirit of the age.

That the system pursued at Cambridge is unsuited to arouse the energies of the youthful mind, or urge it on to industrious and useful exertion, wants no other proof than the well-known fact that the idlest of her students can prepare themselves for their degree in two or three months. We know, to obtain honours, a longer preparation is necessary; but when it is certain that the great mass do not aspire after these distinctions, but are, notwithstanding, intended as ministers of religion, ought the testimonial of a learned and a sound education to be earned by a shorter course of study than the one supposed to be employed? Ought insufficiency and indolence to meet with patronage in a place professing to educate men for the most important offices of human life? That a university education is not proportionably rising in importance with the advancing science of the age, requires no evidence beyond that afforded by the present progress of knowledge without the aid either of patronage or power, both among the middling and lower classes of the people.

But, to return from this digression, and follow our author to the town of Kief, whose antiquity can be traced farther back than that of any other city in Russia, he has furnished us with several very amusing particulars. The population of this place is at present 20,000. It must, however, a few centuries back, have been considerably greater, as the town, it is said, in the eleventh century, contained 400 churches; which, though

evidently an exaggerated statement, is a proof of its ancient populousness. The whole account of this place is particularly interesting. We extract the description of the catacombs.

The following morning, at eight o'clock, we again visited this place, according to appointment, in order to make the tour of the Catacombs, or the extensive domains of the dead, consisting of subterrannean labyrinths of great extent, which are excavated in the precipitous declivity of the hill forming the bank of the river. These remarkable dormitories are divided into two classes; the nearer and the more remote,-the distance being reckoned from the principal church within the precincts of the monastery, in the gulley to the south of which the two churches are situated, whence the descent into" the nether parts of the earth" is effected. Following a young monk, who had been selected to conduct us, and who shewed every disposition to gratify our curiosity, we made our egress from the convent by a small wicket gate in the massy stone wall by which it is surrounded; and, proceeding down a small steep lane, paved with stones, we came to a covered walk, or gallery of wood, about 500 feet in length, which led us to a magnificent chapel, with three gilded turrets, dedicated to "the Elevation of the Holy Cross," and designed to receive the devotions of those who descend into the gloomy abodes below. While our guide and the servants were lighting the candles, which were to render in some measure visible to us the darkness of the caverns, we viewed a large painting on the wall of the vestibule, representing a motley group of good and evil spirits, abiding the departure of the dying, in order to convey their souls to the regions, either of felicity or of woe. The latter were depicted in the midst of vivid flames and the arch-fiend, having been rendered more conspicuous than any of the other figures composing the scene, a boy, who was standing by, infuriated with rage, ran up and gave him some hard blows with the sharp leathern front of his cap. From the battered appearance of the head, and that of some of the fiends that were near him, it appeared this was not a solitary instance of this kind of treatment. Would that men were equally enraged at the cloven foot, when presented in the multiform shapes of temptation!

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Our lights being provided, we descended into the passage leading to the Catacombs, known by the name of St. Anthony's, the founder of the monastery, whose relics are preserved in a cubitory at the extremity of the labyrinth. This passage is about six feet in height, but so extremely narrow, that it is with difficulty two persons can pass each other. Like all the other apertures and subterraneous galleries to which it leads, it is dug out of the hill, which seems to consist of a mixture of sand and clay, possessing a considerable degree of adhesion, but too soft to be entitled to the character of stone. The sides and roof are, for the most part, black from the smoke of the torches which are incessantly conveyed through the passage; and, where there is any turn or winding in it, the projecting angle is partly smoothed and worn away by the friction occasioned by the numerous companies of visitors.

We had not proceeded far, when we came to a niche on the right side of the passage, containing a coffin without the lid, in which lay the mummied body of one of the saints, wrapped in a silken shroud, with one of the stiffened hands placed in such a posture, as easily to receive the kisses of those who visit the cemetry for purposes of devotion. This token of respect was paid by our guide, not only to this relic, but to all we passed, the number of which, in this dormitory, amounts to eighty-two. After advancing to the distance of about twenty yards, in a north-westerly direction, we turned round suddenly to the east, by a somewhat circuitous passage, and then proceeded again towards the north; observing, as we passed, the numerous niches on both sides, containing bodies, or parts of the bodies of those who have acquired renown by the degree of austerity and mortification to which they attained in reducing to practice the

rules of ascetic discipline. Besides these niches, we came every now and then to separate dormitories, in" the sides of the pit"-little chambers having been dug in the sand, and after the bodies had been deposited in them, again closed up by a thin wall, parallel with the side of the gallery, in which, about four feet from the ground, a small glass window is inserted, discovering, on a candle being held to it, the funeral attire of its unghostly inhabitant. In one of these little chambers we were shewn the remains of a rigorous ascetic of the name of John, who, as the legend goes, constructed his own dormitory, and, after building himself in by a wall with a small window, as above described, he interred himself up to the waist, and in this posture performed his devotions, till death left him in possession of the grave he had made. A figure representing him is visible through the small aperture, but whether his mummy, or merely his effigy, we could not determine. Another of these sepulchres is said to contain the relics of the twelve friars who first addicted themselves to the severities of the monastic life in this place, one of the bones of the protomartyr Stephen, and some of the children of Bethlehem, murdered by order of King Herod!

After penetrating to the northern extremity of this " region and shadow of death," we came to the sepulchre of Nestor, the celebrated father of Russian history, who flourished in the Petcherskoi Monastery from about the middle to the end of the eleventh century, and was contemporary with Ari Frode, the first Icelandic historiographer. This monk appears to have been gifted with a large share of natural understanding; and, to judge from the style of his writings, he must have been familiar with the Scriptures; for he not only quotes them frequently, but seems to have adopted their narrative style as the model of his own compositions. His intercourse with the reigning family, his perusal of the Byzantine historians, the opportunities he enjoyed of collecting the current traditionary accounts from the mouth of his countrymen, and the numerous historical monuments which Kief and its immediate vicinity presented to his view; all furnished advantages of which he happily availed himself, and has thereby transmitted to us the knowledge of important historical facts, connected with the ancient history of Russia, which must otherwise have perished with the lapse of time. Of his Annals, a truly critical edition, in the original Slavonic, accompanied with various readings, a German translation, and valuable historical commentaries, was published by Professor Schlözer, of Gottingen, 1802-9.

From the dormitory of Nestor, the dreary avenue turned round by a gradual descent towards the Borysthenes; and, after leading us past a number of dead bodies, brought us to two subterraneous chapels: the first, only at a short distance from the river, is dedicated to Anthony, who here lies enshrined in a coffin covered with silver; and the other, situated nearer to the entrance, is dedicated to the Purification of the Virgin. Both are richly ornamented, and are used for the performance of mass on such days in the calendar as are appropriated to these festivals.

We now returned to the spot whence we had descended, and were glad to exchange the confined air, and melancholy gloom of this sepulchral labyrinth, for the fresh breeze ascending from the river, and the exhilarating prospect supplied by the surrounding scenery.

At a short distance to the south, are situated the "farther" Catacombs, or those of Theodosius; but they are neither so sinuous, nor so extensive as the former; nor is the celebrity of the saints, whose relics they contain, equal to that of those entombed in the caverns of Anthony. Besides the chapel and tomb of the founder, we visited two chapels dedicated to the Virgin, and the Elevation of the Cross, but found nothing remarkable, after what we had seen in the others. The number of bodies, or parts of bodies, contained in the latter