This little work is "decidedly of a religious character," and, to quote
the preface, "its contents are in unison with the sanctity of its
title." The editor is the Rev. W. Shepherd, the author of _Clouds and
Sunshine;_ and we quote an extract from one of his contributions: its
gravities will blend with the gaieties of our sheet. The passage occurs
in "Holy Associations:"--
"But there are other feelings besides those of mortality which are
closely connected with a churchyard. Whilst from the ashes of the dead
comes forth a voice which solemnly proclaims, 'The end of all things is
at hand,' there arises also to the well-regulated mind a scene of still
greater interest--one more in unison with the soul. There is a kind of
indescribable sympathy, which, like the sentiment of the prophet of
Judah, prompts us to wish that our bones may lie by the side of our
brethren in the sepulchre. This feeling is part of our nature, and
belongs to that universal link which connects and binds man to man, and
continues the chain till lost in the essence of divinity....
"What, indeed! can mark a greater alienation of the soul from its
original nature, than the infidelity which chooses for the bed of the
grave spots unhallowed by religious associations. They who deny their
God, and cavil at his Word, can have no reverence for places which, like
his houses of prayer and the consecrated receptacles of the dead, derive
all their sanctity and influence from a belief in his mercies, and a
sense of our demerits--hence, having banished themselves from their
Father's house, they are content to 'lie down in the grave like the
beasts that perish.' Whilst, on the contrary, the simply virtuous, the
sincerely religious, the soberly pious, without attaching any value as
to the future destination of the soul, to the spot in which its earthly
sister may crumble to its kindred dust, cherish the pleasing hope that
their mortal bodies may repose in those places alone which religion
hallows. They long not for pleasure grottos or druidical coppices, in
which to be gathered to their fathers, but dwelling with chastened hope
on the glories of the resurrection, they desire their mortal particles
may be found when the Lord cometh to complete his victory over the
grave, in the spot, and contiguous to the house 'in which he has chosen
to place his name there.'
"From the same fountain of ethereal purity, deduced through this genuine
principle of amiability, is derived that love of country which makes his
Alps and Avalanches dear to the Swiss, and suggested that beautiful
image to the Mantuan muse, of the Grecian soldier remembering in the
last struggles of death his pleasant Argos. It is this which makes us
revert, with ever verdant freshness, to our homes and native places, and
binds us to the land of our birth with adamantine links. From the
burning desarts of sunny Africa--from the wild tornados of the gusty
West--from the mountains of ice piled by a thousand ages, like
impassable barriers round each frozen pole--from the fertile plains and
trackless forests of Australia, frequently rises, like a breeze of
sweetest incense, the fond remembrance of our _native land_; which, even
in bosoms scathed by storm and pilgrimage, causes to spring up, like a
sudden fountain in a barren waste, the gushing images of the scenes of
home, and all their prime deliciousness."
There are seventy-five pieces in prose and verse, narrative and
descriptive.--The price and pretensions would not allow costly
engravings; and, with the exception of a beautiful architectural
frontispiece, by Mr. Britton, F.S.A. the embellishments are but meagre.
This plate is accompanied by a brief paper on Christian Architecture, at
the close of which Mr. Britton says, "The frontispiece has been composed
from the architectural members of the west front of _York Minster_; and
it shows that the monastic artist who designed that magnificent facade,
gave to it a decided, unequivocal Christian character."
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