STOCKTON UPON TEES.-"The first Methodist Chapel here, thirty-six feet by twenty-seven, with a small gallery in the end, was built in the year 1769. In 1790, two side-galleries were added. In 1812, it was partly rebuilt, and enlarged, on a much more commodious scale. Applications were repeatedly made for pews; but none could be obtained. At length, it was resolved that a new one should be erected, sufficiently large to accommodate those who wished to sit under the Methodist Ministry. An eligible situation offered. Ground was purchased; and the foundation-stone of a new Chapel, sixty-four feet by fifty-four inside, was laid, on the 6th of March, 1823, by RICHARD WALKER, Esq., assisted by the Worshipful the Mayor. An appropriate address was delivered on the occasion by the REV. R. JACKSON. Upwards of £1200 have been subscribed towards the erection; and, among the various respectable subscriptions, one of FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS, contributed by R. WALKER, Esq., is acknowledged with peculiar thankfulness. The Chapel was opened on Wednesday evening, Dec. 31, 1823, by the REY. R. NEWTON. Sermons were also preached on New-Year's Day, by the REV. R. NEWTON and the REV. THEOPHILUS LESSEY; and on the following sabbath, by the REV. DR. MACALLUM and the REV. Jos. HOLLINGWORTH. The collections amounted to £200. Nearly the whole of the pews were let at the two first sittings; and several persons have since applied. It is probable that more pews must be erected; but sufficient room is left for the poor, and comfortable seats are prepared for three hundred Sunday-school children. Since the opening, the Chapel has been well attended; and nearly one-fourth of the adult population have become regular hearers of words whereby they may be saved.""

COALPIT-BANK, Wellington, Shropshire." A new Chapel was opened here, Jan. 11th, 1824. It is fourteen yards by twelve, with a gallery at one end. The old Chapel was rendered untenable by the coal-works, which had undermined the ground on which it stood; so that it was extremely dangerous for a congregation to assemble in it. The site on which the new Chapel stands belongs to

EARL GOWER, who had kindly given permission to the Wesleyan-Methodists to erect the former Chapel, and who has renewed that permission for the ground they now occupy, with the acknowledgement, on our part, of an annual groundrent. The Wesleyan Society connected with this Chapel, consists of more than 240 members. It is in the midst of a dense population of poor people, chiefly colliers and furnace-men, who are disposed to attend upon the Ministry of the Gospel. Nearly £100 have been raised by subscription; and the Collections on the day of opening amounted to £65. Three sermons were preached by the REV. DR. TAFT and the REV. JAMES GILL. The Chapel will cost £350, in addition to £100 of debt which remained on the old premises."

HIGH WYCOMBE, Bucks." This Chapel has lately undergone a considerable enlargement; and was re-opened, January 14th, by the REV. JOHN SCOTT. The REV. W. JUDSON, Independent Minister, (who had kindly lent the use of his pulpit to the Methodists, while their own Chapel was enlarging, and whose congregation had generously put themselves to great inconvenience for the sake of thus accommodating their christian friends,) and the Rev. W. ALLEIN, of Missenden, assisted on the occasion. The ground for the enlargement was liberally given, from his Park, by LORD CARRINGTON. Nearly all the new seats are bespoken."

RAWDON, (near Leeds,) in the

Woodhouse-Grove Circuit.—"A new Chapel, twenty-eight feet by thirty-five within, was opened here, Jan. 14th, by the REV. GEORGE MARSDEN and MR. WILLIAM DAWSON. Sermons on the occasion were also preached on the following Sunday, by the REV. MILES MARTINDALE and the REV. JOHN RIGG. The collections at these services, with the subscriptions previously obtained, amounted to the liberal sum of £315. There is a gallery in the Chapel which will seat 150 persons. Under a part of the Chapel there is a good School, fifteen feet by thirty-five, towards which the Members of the Society of Friends kindly contributed £55. Applications have already been made for all the sittings. The whole of the expenses will be $570."

appointment, and of this indispensable part of his public duty; and many of the Villagers themselves, when they consult the Plan for other purposes, will be able to refer at once to those portions of the Divine Oracles to which the Sunday-Reading of themselves and their families may with advantage be specially directed. For ourselves, we heartily wish that one chapter at least of the Sacred Volume were constantly read to the people in our Sabbath-evening Services, in addition to the two which occur during the morning-worship. While the great mass of those who attend the Sunday-evening Services of the Methodists were in the habit of attending also the Church-Service, or some other place where the Scriptures were largely read, in the earlier parts of the day, this was not so necessary. But the altered circumstances of the Connexion, in our large towns es pecially, as to that habit, now demand, we think, a corresponding improvement of our ancient usage. Where the Lessons are read only in the Morning-Service, and these appointed for the Evening-Service are quite omitted, the consequence is, that many of our People never hear, in their public worship, a very important and useful portion of the Holy Volume. This might be met, we grant, by altering the Calendar, and adapting it to our present custom, so as to introduce in their turn the Lessons from the Epistles, &c., in a due and edifying proportion. But it would be much better met, by altering our custom, taking the Calendar as it stands, and reading the Scriptures, (at least of the New Testament,) as appointed for the evening. To an established Calendar, venerable for its antiquity, and endeared by its association

with the names of Confessors and Martyrs, and Fathers in Israel, all modest and well-principled men are predisposed to pay a reasonable deference. Such deference would not so easily be obtained for a Calendar newly constructed, even though it might possess some improvements on its predecessor.-As to the practice of choosing portions of Scripture to be read to the people indiscriminately, at the mere caprice of the Preacher, without order or system of any kind, that would be still more objectionable than our present plan. Some chapters would thus be read very often : and others, equally suitable, would happen to be very rarely selected. A settled Minister might guard against this inconvenience, by drawing up a comprehensive Calendar, or Table of Lessons, for himself: but in our Itinerant Ministry, where the congregations are seldom supplied by the same Preacher for many Sabbaths together, to leave the matter to every man's discretion would be to leave it to a mischievous uncertainty. Our existing Rules, therefore, wisely enjoin our Ministers to read the Lessons for the Day, as prescribed by the Church of England. As a general direction, this cannot be mended: but we again say that we should hail with satisfaction an agreement among our Preachers to read one or both of the Evening Lessons, as well as those for the Morning. GOD always honours his own pure word; and would certainly bless that mode of administering it to the sheep of his pasture, whom it is the duty of his Ministers assiduously to "feed with knowledge and understanding." By proper management, this plan would not materially increase the length of the Evening-service, while it could not fail to add to its solemnity and permanent usefulness.

A SOCIETY, under the patronage of his Majesty, has long been established, for abolishing the practice of employing children to sweep chimneys. A volume, in prose and verse, to be entitled "The Climbing-Boy's Album," containing contributions from some of the most eminent writers of the day, illustrated with

engravings from designs by MR. CruikSHANK, will be published in the course of the present season. The object of this Work will be to draw public attention more earnestly than heretofore to the practicability and the necessity of discontinuing one of the most cruel, unjust, and flagitious usages in existence.

WONDERFUL PROGRESS OF MECHANI

CAL INVENTION, &c.

Ar a late Annual Meeting of the Proprietors of the Liverpool Royal Institution, the President, BENJAMIN ARTHUR HEYWOOD, Esq., delivered the Anniversary-Discourse. Among other topics, to which he adverted, MR. H. detailed some curious facts respecting the wonderful perfection to which Mechanical Invention has attained in this country. The thread, he remarked, which, at no very remote period, required to be spun by one man and one machine, was now multiplied a hundred-fold by the same force; and there were single factories, worked by the steam-engine, producing in one day, a length of thread which would twice encircle the globe. Within the walls of a factory, power-looms, requiring little manual labour, were capable of delivering, in each minute, a piece of cloth twenty-eight yards long, and in each day a length of cloth exceeding fifteen miles. In the last year, a machine had been invented for weaving figured cloth, by raising and depressing the threads of the warp upon the principle of a barrel-organ, and the pattern was formed in the same manner as the notes of music were produced. An American artist had lately invented a machine which, when completed, would produce sixty pins in a minute. It was curious, observed MR. HEYWOOD, that this manufacture should have been selected by ADAM SMITH as an instance of the benefit to be derived from the division of labour among many hands, when its object might now be attained almost without the labour of any. To eulogise the steam-engine, (said the President,) was become common-place Its value to this country might be estimated from the calculations of DUPIN, who says, "The steam-engines in England represent the power of 320,000 horses, equal to 1,920,000 men, which being, in fact, managed by 36,000 men only, add ac tually to the power of our population 1,884,000 men." The state of the country, at this moment, (said MR. HEYWOOD,) is without parallel in the records of either ancient or modern times. field of wealth is cultivated, and its harvest is gathered in: but to manual efforts, which require the consumption of food and the alternation of rest, is added an increase of power of half the amount, at least; an addition consuming no food and requiring no relaxation. By these means time is also multiplied. The steam-engine requires

The

no rest, and the brightness of day can be emulated by the introduction of gaslight. MR. HEYWOOD stated, that onesixth of the population of Great Britain derive their maintenance from arts dependent on machinery. Having considered the improvements which had been recently made in the commercial and useful arts, MR. HEYWOOD proceeded to direct the attention of the meeting to those that had been added to the scientific acquirements which the country had previously attained. Among them would be found education by mutual instruction; navigation by the power of steam; illumination by means of gas; the almost incredibly quick communication by telegraphs; the hydraulic press; the safety lamp; vaccine inoculation; stereotype printing; lithographic engraving and printing; and chemical discoveries of various kinds, and applied to various useful purposes. MR. HEYwood remarked, that the Parliament of this empire had patronised MR. BABBAGE, to whom the country was indebted for a machine which performed labour hitherto deemed exclusively intellectual. It was for calculating and printing mathematical tables. The parts which performed the calculations had the disposal of 30,000 numerals, and, should accident create a momentary error, the immediate correction was unavoidable. The power thus given to mere matter struck the mind as incredible; but how great must be our astonishment, (said the President,) to find that the work of man's hands absolutely produces mathematical correctness, which the best exertions of his intellect had hitherto failed to obtain! He had heard it suggested, indeed, by able mathematicians, that to the steam-engine we might probably be indebted for assistance in solving mathematical problems! Such considerations encouraged the proprietors of the Institution in their present labours, and led to an increased conviction of the utility of the establishment. Invention might have passed the bounds which uneducated talent and uncultivated genius could hope to reach. That which had been done must be understood, and that which was necesary to be known must be learned, before we could inprove upon the existing refinements. Study might be hereafter necessary to open the way to distinction in every useful art; and the lecture and the model rooms become absolutely neces sary to the developement even of the greatest natural mechanical genius.

R