sons; and there was not, throughout its whole space, a single spot vacant. After the ceremony had concluded, his Lordship, proceeding in the same manner as he had entered the cathedral, retired to an adjoining chamber, where the clergy of the diocese attended, and paid their respects. His Lordship dined with the Mayor and Corporation in the evening; and several other parties were given on the occasion.

The following paragraphs, from replies given by his Lordship to addresses of congratulation presented to him by the corporation and inhabitants of Winchester, will gratify our readers.

Under date of Jan. 15:-" The warm and cordial reception which I experienced, during my late visit to Winchester, from all classes of the inhabitants, can never be effaced from my memory. That they may not have cause to withhold from me, as an individual, on further acquaintance, that respect which they have now paid to the important office I have been called to fill, is my most earnest prayer. For my own part, I will venture to promise, that, by God's blessing, my best endeavours will be ever directed to promote, as far as in me lies, the spiritual and highest interests of a city, with which I am now connected by so many solemnities."

Jan. 18." It was with no common satisfaction that I witnessed, on the occasion of my late visit to that city, the cordial and affectionate attachment to the church which was manifested by all classes of people. Such demonstrations of regard afford new motives for exertion in that sphere of duty which has been recently opened to me in this see. I must not forget, however, that these motives, powerful and encouraging as they are in their proper place, should be considered only as secondary to a still higher principle. My earnest prayer is, that, by God's grace, I may be influenced primarily, not by the favour or fear of man, but by the remembrance of that solemn account I must one day give of the care which has been taken of the spiritual interest of the diocese committed to my charge."

BEQUEST TO POOR CLERGYMEN.-Perhaps it is scarcely known beyond the precincts of the parish of Christ Church, Surrey, that a benevolent inhabitant of that parish, the late Mr. William Boyce, some time since bequeathed to the rector and churchwardens of Christ Church the several sums of 2667. 13s. 4d. and 2,215. stock in the 3 per Cent. Consols, and also 1,000l. stock in the 3 per Cent. Reduced, in trust, to distribute one moiety of the dividends arising therefrom to poor distressed clergymen of the Church of England. No restriction or limitation as to locality is annexed to this charitable bequest.

PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL.-The Dean and Chapter of Peterborough, without any fabric funds, have commenced a renovation of their fine Norman cathedral, and also a complete repair of the 'splendid and unique west front. They have also begun a subscrip

tion, by liberal advances themselves, collectively and individually, towards forming a new organ-screen, altar-screen, and stalls; all of which, in their present state, are not only mean, but contemptible.

IRELAND. The progress which education has made in Ireland, within the last twenty years, is perfectly astonishing. From the returns made by the clergy, in 1808, the number of scholars attending all the schools was estimated at 200,000; it was found to be 394,813, when the general census was taken in 1821; and in 1824 it had risen to 560,542, according to returns made by the Established elergy, and to 568,964, according to those made by the Catholic priests: the amount of education has thus been almost tripled in sixteen years. If we estimate the population of Ireland, in 1824, at 7,500,000, the children at school will amount to nearly one thirteenth part of the inhabitants. In Scotland, which holds a high rank in this respect, the children at school form one ninth part of the population; in England, they are only about one sixteenth; in Holland, one twelfth; in Prussia, one eighteenth; and in France, one thirtieth.

EARTHQUAKE AT BOGOTA.--On the 16th of November last, shortly after six o'clock in the evening, the capital of Colombia was threatened almost with total ruin by another earthquake, much more severe than the one which it suffered in the year 1826. The palace, public offices, and the churches, have all suffered more or less; but the loss sustained by private individuals is much more considerable; and in many parts of the town the houses are literally torn to pieces. It is remarkable that the fury of the shock took its course in certain lines; the houses of some streets having been severely injured throughout their whole extent, while those of other streets have scarcely experienced any damage whatever. The cathedral, a very noble edifice, forming almost one entire side of the principal square, from its great height, has suffered very much; and the domes, with which it was ornamented, are entirely destroyed. The house occupied by the British Chargé d'Affaires, as well as all those surrounding the square, are rendered uninhabitable; but the Quinta, in which Mr. Henderson, the British Consul General, resided, has suffered probably more than any other the whole of that part, which consisted of an upper story, is totally in ruins, and the family had a most providential escape. A few lives only have been lost, and those principally from the falling of the "Tabiquer," or slight inner partition of walls. The town is now in that dilapidated state, that if another severe shock were to occur, the main portion of it would become a heap of ruins.

EXCURSION TO MOUNT VESUVIUS.-We left Naples about eleven A. M., and having arrived at Resina, found Salvatore ready to accom pany us. We mounted asses, and after a long ride, during torrents of rain, reached the hermitage on the side of the hill at one o'clock. The road so far is very rugged, with many detached fragments of lava;

but the great bed of the latter is now resuming marks of slight verdure. The habitation of the monks itself is placed on a projection from the mountain of tufa rock, formed in the year 1779 by the eruption, and lies so towards the crater, that, though the lava flows on both sides, the eminence itself is left untouched. When we arrived here the weather appeared to be clearing; and, as we had plenty of time to ascend and see the sun set from the top, we remained some time with the holy fathers, and the afternoon answered our expectations. When almost fair, we set off, and pursued our way on asses towards the cone. Our road (if such it could be called) lay over an extensive bed of lava, partly formed in 1822. A more desolate scene can scarcely be conceived; rugged rising grounds, with craggy convulsed dells between, all formed of black, monotonous, and frightfully romantic lava; the very Tartarus on earth, whether we imagine it burning with sheets of liquid fire, unquenchable by human means, and rolling down its dread, resistless tide, or whether we see its wide con. vulsed remains, its indescribably horrid, desolate, uninhabitable aspect. It seems as if the elements of nature were exposed to light, and one chaotic spot left amidst the richness of creation. Passing this dreary tract, we reached the bottom of the cone at half past two, where we left our beasts, and ascended on foot. It is composed of productions of the volcano itself, and the exterior is quite coated with loose cinders, which render the ascent very laborious, as you often sink back till you are above the ancle in these loose materials. I ascended it in forty minutes. When we reached the brink o the crater, we found it full of smoke and fumes, while the strongest sulphureous smells prevailed. We rested and refreshed ourselves for some time in a hot crevice, where we left several eggs to roast, and then advanced round the south brink of the abyss, and had a tolerably easy walk for about half its circumference, during which we heard occasionally noises like thunder proceeding from rocks every now and then giving way from the sides in vast masses, whose fall is reverberated and renewed by the echoes of the vast cavern. At length the edge of the crater grew much lower, forming a gap in the side of the cone next to Pompeii, which we first descended, and then scrambled inwards towards the centre of the mountain, being a fall on the whole of 1000 feet. In this gulf nature presented herself under a new form, and all was unlike the common state of things. We were, in truth, in the bowels of the earth, where her internal riches are displayed in the wildest manner. The steep we had descended was composed of minerals of the most singular, yet beautiful description. The heavy morning rains were rising in steam in all directions, and had already awakened each sulphureous crevice, while almost every chink in the ground was so hot that it was impossible to keep the hand the least time upon it. But this sensation was in unison with the objects around; the great crater of the volcano opening its convulsed jaws before you, where the rude lava was piled in every varied form, in alternate layers with pozzulana and cinders. Below us the newly

formed* crater was pouring forth its steamy clouds, and at every growl which labouring nature gave from below, these volumes burst forth with renewed fury. At our feet, and on every side, were deep beds of yellow sulphur, varying in colour from the deepest red orange, occasioned by ferruginous mixture, to the palest straw colour, where alum predominated; and beneath these, white depositions of great extent and depth, which are lava decomposed by heat, and in a state of great softness. Contrasted with these productions of beauty, we find the sterner formations of black and purple porphyry, which occasionally assume the scarlet hue from the extreme action of heat add to this the sombre grey lava, and that of a green colour glittering throughout with micaceous particles, with the deep brown volcanic ashes, and you will have a combination which, for grandeur and singularity, must be almost unparalleled. It is singular enough, that among so many sulphureous fires we should have suffered from pinching cold. At the lowest point to which we went, the thermometer stood at 43 10-2. We employed ourselves for a considerable time in collecting the finest specimens we could obtain of the above-mentioned minerals. We then retraced our steps in this descent, which proved considerably laborious; and after gaining the top, visited a crevice a little way down on the outside of the cone, opened within the last forty days, which, though about one finger broad, and not much longer, emits a current of air so tremendously heated, that, on laying a bunch of ferns quite wet with the morning's rain upon it, they speedily were in a blaze. Resuming the edge on the summit, we returned the way we came to the top of the descending path, and on our way saw the sun set in a very splendid manner, illuminating the distant islands of Ischia and Procida, the point of Misenum, and the Bay of Baie, with his last rays. Having eaten our eggs, we descended the cone; but being rather dark, I made no particular haste: on a former occasion, I went down the cone with great satisfaction in four minutes. Had there been fewer stones, I could easily have gone quicker. We left the top about half past five, and having taken our cold dinner at the hermitage, we descended to Resina by torch-light, and reached Naples safely at half past eight o'clock.-Brewster's Philosophical Journal.

POLLOK THE POET.-The Rev. Robert Pollok was born at Muirhouse, parish of Eaglesham (N. B.), October 19, 1798. His father still occupies the same farm, and is esteemed by his neighbours as a very worthy and intelligent person. Robert was the youngest of the family; and his early days were spent on the farm with his father, in such labours as the seasons called for. He was always fond of reading; and the winter's evenings were employed in this manner, when his companions were perhaps engaged in some trifling amusement.

* A small crater burst out in the bottom of the large one on the morning of the 18th this excursion was on the 21st of November.

He is not known to have made any attempts at poetry when very young. At seventeen years of age he commenced the study of the Latin language; and a few months after this he produced the first poem which he is known to have committed to paper. In October 1813, when seventeen years of age, he entered the University of Glasgow, where he studied five years: at the end of which time he obtained the degree of Master of Arts. While at college, he was a very diligent and exemplary student, and distinguished himself so far as to have several prizes awarded him by the suffrage of his fellows: besides the regular exercises, he composed a number for his own pleasure and improvement, and several of these were poetical. Before he had finished his curriculum, his health was considerably impaired. In the autumn of 1822 he entered the United Secession Divinity Hall, under the care of Dr. Dick. Here his discourses attracted considerable notice, and called forth some severe criticisms from his fellow-students. A mind like his could not submit to the trammels of common divisions: the form of an essay suited better the impetuosity of his genius; and he occasionally indulged in lofty descriptions, both of character and external nature. In May 1827 he received licence to preach from the United Secession Presbytery of Edinburgh, During his previous trials he was employed superintending the printing of his poem. His first public discourse is said to have produced a powerful sensation on the audience. The text was, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. " Some descriptive parts, respecting those who serve Baal rather than God, are said to have been awfully grand. He preached only three other times, when he was obliged to retire from public service. His labours had been too great for his constitution, in which the seeds of consumption had long before been sown. By some medical gentlemen of eminence in Edinburgh, he was advised to try the effects of a warmer climate: Italy was his intended retreat; and, after providing himself with letters of introduction to some learned men on the Continent, he set out, accompanied by a sister. He had got as far as the neighbourhood of Southampton, when, overpowered with the fatigues of travelling, he was compelled to desist. He here fevered, and after a few days expired, far from the scenes of his birth and his studies. It is comforting to learn that Mr. Pollok's death was that of a true - saint; his last moments being characterized by patience, resignation, and faith.

Mr. Pollok's mind was certainly of a very superior order : of this, there need no other proof be given than the encomiums which bis “ Course of Time ” has called, forth-encomiums, many of them, penned before his death was known, but which did not appear till after he had gone beyond the reach of earthly applause. His habits were those of a close student: his reading was extensive: he could converse on almost every subject: he had great facility in composition; in confirmation of which, he is said to have written nearly a