Letters from HAMBURGH state, that two propositions have been suggested to the Senate, and are likely to be adopted, which are highly important to the inhabitants of that city. Not those of the Lutheran persuasion only, but the citizens of every religious profession are in future to be rendered equally eligible to the honours of the Senate. An income tax, to the amount of 800,000 mares banco, is to be levied on the inhabitants, and the sum to be employed in defraying the expense of entirely demolishing the remainder of the fortifications of the city.

Blind Institutions.-Previously to the year 1805, there were no other establishments for the Blind in Germany and the adjacent states, than the common hospitals; but since that period several have been organized: one at VIENNA, in 1805; one at BERLIN, in 1806; one at PRAGUE, in 1807; one at AMSTERDAM, in 1808; one at DRESDEN, in 1809; one at ZuRICH, in 1810; and one at COPENHAGEN, in 1811. The education of the blind in these institutions is on the plan of one at Paris as described in a work of Guille on the subject. Similar establishments are about to be organized in WURTEMBERG, and in all the chief cities of Bavaria.

M. ROSENMULLER, professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Leipsic, published formerly an elementary work for facilitating the study of the Arabic. It has been held in high estimation, and is now succeeded by a very complete Grammar, which unfolds the rules of Syntax, with a perspicuity and precision that fully correspond with the wishes of the student.

ITALY.-ROME.

"A New System of Moral Philosophy, compiled from the best English Authors," has lately appeared in Rome. It is written in very elegant Latin, by Sig. D. LEOFOLDI SEBASTIANI; well known as a missionary in the East, where, at different times, he passed more than twenty years. In Europe he is chiefly known by his edition of Lycophron; a gigantic work, which is an improvement upon Potter's edition by the aid of 16 MSS., preserved in various Roman libraries, all unknown to our countryman. He printed at Calcutta a Persian translation of the New Testament, and has since published another in Latin, in London. The present work appears to be borrowed, where it is borrowed, from Cudworth, Clarke, Price, Hutcheson and others. Even the theories of Hobbes are examined and confuted. The ideas of Hume are declared to be of "little practical utility," and a

high encomium is passed on Dr. Johnson, After a very learned and long preface, in which the systems of polytheism, of the theocracy of the Jews, of Christianity, Mahometanism and Deism are discussed, he informs his readers that they are indebted entirely to the English moralists for the system of ethics which follows; and he concludes with a high compliment to the British nation, in which he alludes to certain ill-treatment received from his own. Common-place as his praise appears, it was all the author could venture here. The work was condemned by the censors of the press for many months; and it was only in consequence of the threats of the author to publish it elsewhere, that a reluctant permission to print it in Rome was at last obtained. The title-page alone is said to have given great offence to the church dignitaries, by mentioning English Authors and Philosophy together. Without possessing much originality to an English reader, it is quite new enough in Rome to excite a great deal of attention. The English heretics, respected for their practical virtues, are found, to the astonishment of the Romans, to be possessed of wellarranged systems of morality, derived from a religion which the bigoted among the Italians suppose us to be essentially ignorant of.

Seat of Infallibility.-Rome, Feb. 13. M. SETTELE, Professor of the University della Sapienzas, had composed a course of astronomy by order of his superiors, and had intended to give it to the press; but as he had taught the system of Copernicus, and the motion of the earth, the censorship refused him the Imprionatur. It is intended to ask the opinions of the Congregation of the Holy Office, and those of the Index. Pope Benedict XIV. permitted this system to be taught as an hypothetical, but not as a positive doctrine.

NAPLES.-Sir HUMPHREY DAVY has completely succeeded in unrolling the leaves of the manuscripts of Herculaneum and Pompeii. A short time only will be necessary to know the contents of every roll, and its title, which is generally inside. But it has been discovered that great part of the manuscripts are totally illegible, and there is little chance of discovering in them literary treasures. A catalogue of the collection is, however, nearly executed, and we shall thus be enabled to appreciate their value. Other manuscripts are expected by exploring further the ruins.

SARDINIA.

The King of Sardinia has by an edict

their herds into the fields, and separate from the world; they subsist in the Steppes entirely on their manual labour, and eat their bread with the sweat of

their face. Whether this might be the beginning of a preparation for their return to their own land, I am not authorized to judge; but I could not help being struck with the idea that they might, even in those Steppes, be infinitely happier than their forefathers in Jerusalem itself, if they would but know Him whom their fathers saw only through types and figures. I hesitated not to declare this

my opinion to them; and, when they said they would rather be in Jerusalem than in the Steppes, I told them that they might have here more than a Jerusalem, a paradise itself, if they would with one heart and one mind return to

Him whom their fathers have so unjustly pierced; but who was, notwithstanding, the bright glory that adorned the second temple at Jerusalem. There is one advantage which I had here above other places, viz. that I found among them much less difficulty of introducing the subject and obtaining their ear than among the busy Jews in the towns, where you may generally hear excuses similar to those in the Gospel, I have no time to attend; I must first provide for my family. Here I heard no such thing; on the contrary, whichever colony I entered, I had no sooner alighted from my britchky than I saw almost all the inhabitants around me, and the rabbi himself on my side. Bibles, Testaments, and tracts were brought in: we read them together, we pointed out passages to one another, and the conversation was every where carried on with mutual candour and amity, and sometimes for three or four hours together.

"B. N. SOLOMON. "To Rev. C. S. Hawtrey."

Letters from St. Petersburgh state, that the Emperor ALEXANDER, apprehensive that the morals of his people would be injured by their reading the account of Carlile's trial, had given directions to the police to prevent the introduction of all the English newspapers which contain it.

MISCELLANEOUS.

In the Times Newspaper of Feb. 7th, is an advertisement for the clergy who wish to preach, but have not leisure to compose, a Royal Funeral Sermon, which we copy in all its barbarousness :-" Ad Clerum. Ecclesiasta quibus non satis est Otii ad tempestivas conscione componendas in Memoriam defunctæ Regis GEORGII, hæbendas Exemplaria varia, aut MS. non ante prolata ad rem rite

luctuosam idonea consequi possent. Adeundum est," &c.

Report of the National Society, that there Education. It appears from the Eighth are 1467 schools on Dr. Bell's system; British and Foreign School Society, that and from the Fourteenth Report of the there are 297 schools upon the Lancasterian plan; making a total, upon the new system, of 1764 schools.

A new Prophet has risen up, and has opened his commission by a paragraph in the newspapers, as follows: "This day, Feb. 28, 1820, is put into the hands of Mr. Mills, bookseller, Portsmouth, a Work written by RowLAND MONEY, Capt. R. N. C. B. and ordered to be published according to the command of God to his servant Rowland Money."

The Rev. DR. PARR who had long held one of the numerous prebendal stalls in St. Paul's Cathedral, which never produced him more than £10. per annum, has been fortunate enough to negociate a lease in right of his stall, to the Regent Canal Company for no less than £24,000 sterling. So says report-we hope truly. Gent. Mag.

In our list of New Publications, p. 179, is the title of a pamphlet by DR. CARTER, in answer to Mr. Belsham's Reply to Dr. Moysey. The competency of this new theological polemic, may be judged of by his appealing to the authority of Sir Isaac Newton, as a believer "that Jesus was God" !

The Gazette of Saturday (says The Times, of Monday, Feb. 14) contains the necessary alterations in the Church Service on the demise of the King. This, we are aware, is a subject of considerable delicacy, and extremely sorry we shall be if political differences insinuate themselves into our worship. The old clause in the Liturgy runs thus:-"That it may please thee to bless and preserve [our gracions Queen CHARLOTTE, their Royal Highnesses GEORGE Prince of Wales, the Princess of WALES, and] all the Royal Family." The Gazette directs the omission of the passage within the brackets, leaving the clause thus: "That it may please thee to bless and preserve all the Royal Family." The London Clergy, we find on minute inquiry, fulfilled the directions; but in the country, where the Gazette had not arrived, the clergy as generally made the change in the most easy and obvious way, by praying for this Queen as for the last, and simply substituting the word CAROLINE in the place

of CHARLOTTE- "That it may please thee to bless and preserve our gracious Queen CAROLINE, and all the Royal Family." We merely state these facts, and the subject is painful to us. That course, we predict, will be found the easiest and the safest which occasions the fewest changes, and the least deviation from ancient custom.

Another Order of Council, of the date of Feb. 17, commands a Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God to be drawn up, for "His Majesty's Recovery from his late dangerous sickness."

FIRE-ACT CLERGY.-On Feb. 24, a report was made and agreed to in the Common Council of the City of London relating to the London Tythes. It was stated by the mover of the report, that in the year 1802 an application had been made to Parliament by the Fire-Act Clergy for an increase of their incomes; that they then obtained an addition, in many instances, of double their incomes, and in others of more, so as to create the expense to the city of £12,241, besides glebe-houses; that in 1819 they applied for a further increase, and it would scarcely be believed that this increase involved a further burden to the City of not less than £25,584; and that he (the mover, Mr. HURCOMBE) had heard from one of those reverend gentlemen that if they succeeded, they intended to make a further application, in order to have their income the full 2s. 9d. in the pound on the rent of houses. In resisting successfully the application of the clergy, the Committee had received the cordial support of three of the then members for the city, Aldermen WOOD, WAITHMAN and THORP, but they had been strenuously opposed by the other member of the City, Mr. WILSON, as also by Sir W. CURTIS, who" when he conceived that he was likely to carry it all his own way, laughed at those who opposed it." Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN said that there was never any measure so warmly contested in a Committee before; and so great were the exertions made in support of the bill, that it was lost in the Committee by only two or three votes.

Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance, in an 8vo. volume.

An historical work on the Persecutions in France is in preparation by Mr. MARK WILKS..

MR. B. HANBURY is preparing for the press An Historical Research concerning the most ancient Congregational Church in England, shewing the claim of the Church of Union-street, in the Borough, to that distinction.

We have satisfaction in reporting that Mr. SHARON TURNER's third edition of the History of the Anglo-Saxons, in three volumes 8vo., is nearly ready for publication. It will contain an addition of several observations and dialogues of King Alfred on the subjects discussed by Boethius, a fuller analysis of the heroic poem of Beowulf, a larger view of the Witenagemot or Anglo-Saxon Parliament, and a detail of the population of the Anglo-Saxons.

NOTICES.

THE Anniversary of the SOUTHERN UNITARIAN FUND will be held at Portsmouth, on Wednesday, 5th April, when the Rev. J. B. Bristowe will preach before the Society at the General Baptist Chapel in Thomas Street. Service to begin at Twelve o'Clock. There will be an evening service at the Unitarian Chapel in High Street, at a quarter before SeveD o'clock.

TUESDAY, May the 2nd, being the day appointed for opening the new Unitarian General Baptist Chapel at Dover, the following gentlemen have kindly agreed to preach on the occasion: Rev. Sampson Kingsford, of Canterbury, in the morning ; Rev. James Gilchrist, of Worship Street, London, in the afternoon; Rev. W. J. Fox, of Parliament Court, London, in the evening. The devotional parts of the services will be filled up by other gentlemen.

The Annual Association of the Kent Unitarian Baptist Churches, which was fixed to be held at Headcorn, will, by mutual consent, be held by adjournment at Dover, on the following day, (Wednesday, May 3rd,) when a sermon will be preached by the Rev. Matthew Harding, of Seven Oaks.

No. CLXXII.]

Vol. XV.]

UNITA

INITARIANISM in Transylvania, or, as it is called by the Germans, Siebenbürgen, is well known to have derived its origin from George Blandrata, an Italian physician, who had left his native country on account of the freedom of his opinions, and, after residing at Geneva and in Poland, was invited into Transylvania on account of his reputation in the medical profession, to be physician to the king, in 1563. He converted to his opinions Franciscus Davidis, at that time a Calvinistic preacher, and by the high favour which he enjoyed with the young prince, John II., prevailed upon him to displace his own preacher, and give the place of court preacher to Davidis. Basilu, Plebau, or Minister, of the Saxon Church in Clausenburg, having been converted to the same opinions, and employing his talents as a preacher in their diffusion, the Unitarian doctrine came to be not only patronized by the king and many of the nobles and courtiers, but also to be very popular among the lower orders. It was not to be expected that the Lutherans and Calvinists would remain tranquil spectators of this defection from the true faith; in 1566, a Synod was called together at Torda, in the same year another at Marus-Vasarhely, where each party exhibited Theses and Anti-theses without any result. At the command of the young king, a conference was held, in 1568, at Weissenburg, (Alba Julia,) in the Royal Palace, during ten successive days. "Disputationem cum fervore orsi, sine omni, qui in Ecclesiam Christi redundaret, fructû clauserunt:" it was, however, enacted under pain of death, that each party should abstain from injurious reflections upon the other, and that no new dogmas should be broached. Unitarianism continued to flourish during the remainder of the reign of John II., and at the very last diet which was held in his reign, a few weeks only before his death, it was placed among the received religions of

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Transylvania, (as opposed to the tolerated,) and freedom of religious wor ship and eligibility to all offices of state were conferred upon the professors of it, exactly as these had been before possessed by the Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed religions. Although himself apparently an Unitarian, it does not appear that he employed any force against the orthodox, and it is probable that he was the author of a saying attributed to his successor, Stephen Bathory, with whose conduct it by no means suited: "Regem se esse populorum, non conscientiarum ; triaque esse quæ Deus sibi reservaverit, creare aliquid ex nihilo, prænosse futura, conscientiis dominari." Stephen Bathory, who was a zealous Catholic, did not choose directly to attack the Unitarians, but drove them from Court, and invited the Jesuits into Transylvania, and gave them rich foun dations in the places where Unitarianism most abounded, namely Clausenburg and Weissenburg, from which they diffused their missions over the adjacent country. In the reign of his brother and successor Christopher Ba thory, occurred the unhappy schism between Blandrata and Davidis respecting the worship of Christ, which ended in the condemnation of Davidis's opinions, and the confinement of himself and his son-in-law in a loathsome prison, where they perished miserably. I shall only observe, upon this disgraceful history, that Blandrata, however inconsistently he acted as a professed lover of the truth, was wise in his generation as the founder and head of a party. Nothing could have been more unfavourable to the stability of the newlyerected edifice, than to be divided against itself. A church without an authoritative confession would be considered in those days as a monster incapable of being received into political union; indeed it may be doubted whether the very idea of an established religion, such as Unitarianism was and is in Transylvania, does not include