began to adopt those modes of comfort, cleanliness, and convenience, which they had formerly viewed only as the peculiarities of a strange people. External improvement has continued to make progress, together with an increasing anxiety for instruction. Very interesting, indeed, are the evidences detailed by the missionary of an onward civilization; while he speaks with deep gratitude and strong assurance relative to the change of heart of not a few of the formerly benighted people. Portions of scripture, and also pieces of an elementary and devotional character, have been translated into the language of the Bechuanas, and which a considerable number of them have been taught to read. More missionaries have been added; and more sewing-school mistresses. A printing-press, type, paper, and ink, have also been obtained. These are points upon which many details will be found in the volume before us; while there are others, such as the building of an additional place of worship, with the prospect of being regularly resorted to by eager and tractable inquirers, that are highly gratifying. We quote a passage to wind up our very bald outline of the progress of civilization and of Christianity among the Bechuanas.

Large additions of Bechuanas to the church at Grigua Town have already been noticed; and in 1838, great accessions were made to that of the Kuruman, under the very efficient and assiduous superintendence of Mr. Edwards, the number of readers connected with the mission had increased in equal ratio; while the Infant School, commenced and carried on by Mrs. Edwards, with the assistance of a native girl, gave the highest satisfaction. The people made rapid advances in civilization; some purchasing waggons, and breaking in their oxen for those labours which formerly devolved on the female sex. The use of clothing became so general that the want of a merchant was greatly felt, to supply the demands for British commodities. This induced us to invite Mr. D. Hume, in whom we placed implicit confidence, who had already made much with the natives, and travelled a great distance into the interior, to take up his constant abode on the station for that purpose. He built himself a house, and the measure has succeeded beyond our expectations. Mr. H. has also rendered a very considerable amount of gratuitous labour, in assisting the late Mr. Hugh Millen, in raising the walls of the chapel, and subsequently in finishing it. The place of worship was so far in readiness, that it was opened in November, 1838. This was a deeply interesting occasion to all, and especially to the missionaries, and the church which has been gathered from among the heathen. Between eight and nine hundred entered those walls, now sacred to the service of Jehovah.

This moral revolution as well as industrial and physical improvement, may be in some measure computed and estimated, if, ere dismissing Mr. Moffat's volume, we contrast the condition and appearance of the people at the Kuruman station, with a people, a division of Zoolus called Matabele, the name of whose king was Moselekatse. This ruler had heard some accounts, extraordinary to him, of the

white men and the new teachers, and sent two of his chiefs for the purpose of obtaining a more particular knowledge of such strange persons. On the arrival of these envoys at the missionary station," they were astounded beyond measure with everything they saw, and as they, according to the custom of their nation, were in a state of nudity, their appearance very much shocked the comparatively delicate feelings of the Bechuanas, barbarians as they were." The visitors, however, most cheerfully allowed themselves to be clothed, for the sake of propriety; and were shown every mark of attention, which was received with a politeness to which we had been entirely unaccustomed among the Bechuanas." "The smith's forge filled them with admiration and astonishment," in an especial degree. "You are men, we are but children," said one; while the other observed, "Moselekatse must be taught all these things." A lookingglass amusingly perplexed them. But "nothing appeared to strike them so forcibly as the public worship in our chapel." They were inquisitive about everything, "and were surprised to find that the hymns we sung were not war songs."

Mr. Moffat accompanied these envoys back to their own country, travelling in waggons. Much of the region passed through reminded the missionary of Scotia's hills, dales, and streams. "It was a

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country once covered with a dense population." But Moselekatse was an African Napoleon; a terribly savage warrior, the beau ideal of a cruel tyrant, who was served and obeyed with the most abject parasitism. In the course of the journey, the particulars of which are full of interest, Mr. Moffat's attention was one day arrested by a "beautiful and gigantic tree standing in a defile leading into an extensive and woody ravine, between a high range of mountains." The tree was found to be inhabited by several families. I ascended by the notched trunk, and found, to my amazement, no less than seventeen of these aërial abodes, and three others unfurnished. On reaching the topmost hut, about thirty feet from the ground, I entered and sat down. Its only furniture was the hay which covered the floor, a spear, a spoon, and a bowl full of locusts." Many abodes appeared in the country which by artificial means were elevated several feet above the ground, to escape the lions.

Having, after a long journey, arrived at the out-posts of Moselekatse's dominions, Mr. Moffat was desirous to return, "having now brought them (the envoys) thus far, and, according to the phraseology of the country, placed them among, or behind, the shields of their nation." This was an alarming proposal; for, said one of them, "Father, you have been our guardian. We are yours. You love us, and will you leave us?" and pointing to certain mountains, "yonder," he added, "dwells the great Moselekatse, and how shall we approach his presence, if you are not with us. If you love us,' save us, for when we shall have told our news, he will ask why

our conduct gave you pain to cause your return; and before the sun descend, on the day we see his face, we shall be ordered out for execution, because you are not." The missionary went on, discovering on every hand indications of former prosperity, nay signs of immense labour and perseverance, in the ruins around caused by the grinding despotism of the king, and his depopulating wars.

At length the waggons approached close to the capital of the sable monarch. "There," said one of his ambassadors, pointing to the town, "there dwells the great king Pezoolu, Heaven, (one of his titles) the Elephant, the Lion's paw," following up these titles with ascriptions of extravagant praise. Having come to the centre of the town, "all was silent as the midnight hour, while the men were motionless as statues. Eyes only were seen to move, and there was a rich display of fine white teeth." The war-song burst forth, "till out marched the monarch from behind the lines, followed by a number of men bearing baskets and bowls of food. He came up to us, and having been instructed in our mode of salutation, gave each a clumsy but hearty shake of the hand.” "The land," he said, "is before you; you are come to your son." He looked upon the "moving houses," the waggons, "with unutterable surprise; and this man, the terror of thousands, drew back with fear, as one in doubt as to whether they were not living creatures." A great mystery was, "how the large band of iron surrounding the felloes of the wheel came to be in one piece without end or joint." One of the ambassadors said, "I saw that very hand," pointing to Mr. Moffat's, "cut these bars of iron, take a piece off one end, and then join them as you now see them." A minute inspection ensued to discover the welded part. "Does he give medicine to the iron?" was the monarch's inquiry.

The great king plentifully supplied the missionary and his party; and to demonstrate his royal and courteous benignity, he gave a ball. He took his stand in the centre of an immense circle of his soldiers, numbers of women being present, who with their shrill voices and clapping of hands took part in the concert. About thirty ladies from his harem with long white wands marched to the song backward and forward on the outside of the ranks, their well lubricated shining bodies being too weighty for the agile movements which characterized the matrons and damsels of lower rank. They sang their war-songs, and one composed on occasion of the visit of the strangers, gazing on and adoring with trembling fear and admiration the potentate in the centre, who stood and sometimes regulated the motions of thousands by the movement of his head, or the raising or depression of his hand."

This tyrant of the desert must be seen in a position or two, and then we shall part from him:

He drew near to the spot where I stood, with some attendants, bearing

dishes of food; the two chiefs who had been at the Kuruman were with me; but on the approach of their sovereign, they bowed and withdrew. Moselekatse, placing his left hand on my shoulder, and his right on his breast, addressed me in the following language:-" Machabane," (the name of his father,) “I call you such, because you have been my father: you have made my heart as white as milk. Milk is not white to-day-my heart is white. I cease not to wonder at the love of a stranger! You never saw me before; but you love me more than my own people!"

Of course, some allowance will be given to Mr. Moffat's free translation; but his colloquies abound with eloquence whenever he represents Moselekatse's royal discourse. Aha! here is character:"Wherever he was seated, or wherever he slept, a number of sycophants, fantastically dressed, attended him, whose business was to march, jump, and dance about, sometimes standing adoring his person, then manoeuvring with a stick, and vociferating the mighty deeds of valour performed by himself." "He had carried his arms far into the tropics, where, however, he had more than once met his equal; and on one occasion, of six hundred warriors, only a handful returned, to be sacrificed, merely because they had not conquered, or fallen with their companions." Napoleon indeed!

One passage more out of several equally significant and striking:He came to me, attended by a party of his warriors, who remained a short distance from us, dancing and singing. Their yells and shouts, their fantastic leaps, and distorted gestures, would have impressed a stranger with the idea that they were more like a company of fiends than men. Addressing me, he said, "I am a king; but you are Machabane, and I am come to sit at your feet for instruction." This was seasonable; for my mind had just been occupied in contemplating the miseries of the savage state. I spoke much on man's ruin and man's redemption. Why," he asked. “are you so earnest that I abandon all war, and not kill men ?” Look on the human bones which lie scattered over your dominions, was my reply! They speak in awful language! "You say," he added, "that the dead will rise again." My remarks on this subject were startling in the ears of a savage.

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But if we go on at this rate we shall have to copy out as much as would fill a number of the Review; and therefore without more words, than to say that the volume is well illustrated with woodcuts, &c. we close this deeply interesting contribution to the archives of Christian missions.

ART. VI-The Life and Defence of the Conduct and Principles of the Venerable and Calumniated Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London. By a TRACTARIAN BRITISH CRITIC. Seeley and Burnside. THIS is an able and witty book; the author while affecting to defend the "bloody" bishop, and to consider the "Best Mode of again Changing the Religion of this Nation," embodying what he regards to

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be the Puseyite doctrines, and showing them to be identical with those which were in force during the reign of Mary. The opinions and the history of Bonner are closely traced, and his actions, if not wholly defended, are dexterously extenuated, so as to represent him to have been a consistent and noble character, a man having the blunt honesty of a true Englishman, with the sanctity of an apostolic theologian. The Tractarian's shafts are levelled with great force and skill: one can hardly think that he is not honest and sincere in his apologetic and affirmatory discourse; while the general fairness of his strictures have much of the downy smoothness of the divine. In short, the work appears to us to be a powerful and pungent piece of sarcasm, that will damage the new-fangled Oxford divinity more effectually than an intemperate assault, however well supported by argument and facts, could have accomplished. Of course the Monthly Review expresses no opinion on the merits of the contested points, but speaks merely in a critical capacity of the literary characteristics of the publication. One or two passages will bear out our general eulogy, and display the Tractarian's adroitness in the use of a weapon that is by turns the small sword and the claymore. We follow a contemporary journal's taste when we select Bonner relative to the authority of the Romish priesthood.

The authority, dignity, and creative power of the priesthood.

The next anecdote or fact related of Bonner meets with the most cordial approbation hoth of myself and my friends The whole of our system, and the whole of Bonner's system, as applied by his and our friends, rests upon the divine authority of the Christian priesthood. Neither shall I quote any passage to vindicate the eulogy of Bonner at the Convocation in 1554; when he affirmed that "priests and elders be worthy of all men to be worshipped, for the dignities' sake which they have of God-as in Matt. xvi. Whatsoever ye shall loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven.'" Why shall I hesitate to praise Bonner for this declaration? If, as my friend Froude, so often quoted, affirms, we have the power "to make the body and blood of Christ," then, as Bonner goes on to say, a priest is like the Virgin Mary as she conceived Christ, the priest makes him. Mary by five words did conceive Christ: the priest by five words makes his very body. Other things he adds; and he concludes that "the dignity of priests passes the dignity of angels, because there is no power given by the angels to make the body of Christ. The least priest on earth may do that which the highest angel cannot do in heaven. Oh! worshipful dignity of priests, in whose hand the Son of God is, as in the womb of the Virgin, incarnate! wherefore priests are to be honoured before all kings, princes, and nobles. A priest is higher than a king, happier than an angel, maker of his Creator." Such are the words of Bonner. The UltraProtestant may deride them, but that Tractarian will never deny their justice, who believes that the priest can make the body and blood of Christ. This Froude believed; this Bonner believed. If I love Froude, why shall I not dare with him to love, to admire, to vindicate this our dear Bonner.

Martyrdom and its heroes.