592 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



The following account of the situation of the Church after the conversion of 

 Constantine seems to us so applicable to the establishment of our times, that 

 we shall extract it as a specimen. 



" The zeal and earnestness which it well became the early Christians to 

 feel in the propagation of their faith, were now about to be mixed with the 

 leaven of magisterial pride. The authority which had been rightly awarded 

 to superior sanctity, was on the eve of being transferred to those who were 

 best qualified to make their way in courts, and who would consequently have 

 to support their authority by new and extraordinary means. Another Canaan, 

 in fact, besides the promised land of God, had been opened by the favour of 

 the Emperor, and scarcely had it spread its inviting scenes before the 

 preachers of the faith, when crowds of them rushed to claim an inheritance in 

 its borders. The Church of Christ shook to its foundation at that time, but 

 the shock was unfelt or unheeded. A revolution had taken place in the Chris- 

 tian Commonwealth as great as ever overturned a dynasty. New principles 

 of action were thenceforth to govern its leaders ; the bad had sufficient motives 

 to appear holy ; and the good were tempted to take up weapons, which they 

 ought never to have wielded. To defend an opinion was to support an 

 interest, the integrity of a system was to be preserved because it was the 

 foundation of profitable establishments : and the keen subtle reasoner, the 

 skilful courtier, the bold rhetorican, and the confident zealot, possessed equal 

 chances with the holiest of acquiring power and distinction in the Christian 

 Church. The humbler professors of the new faith could at first be little 

 affected by the ambitious views of their teachers ; but all those who held the 

 same rank, or had a right to the same distinctions, were exposed to a severe 

 trial by the proceedings of their worldly-minded brethren. Many of them 

 remembered too readily the warning that they were to be wise as serpents, 

 and in doing so, lost the harmlessness and simplicity of the dove." p. 143. 



PORTRAITS OF FEMALE CHARACTERS IN THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 

 PART 5. LONDON. CHAPMAN AND HALL. 



SOME of these heads are so happily executed that we could easily fancy 

 the fair heroines to have actually sat for their portraits : such is the JSrenda, 

 from LESLIE, which wins upon the eye by its appropriate character, sweet 

 expression, and tasteful costume ; it is also a good example of the mixed line 

 and stippled engraving. Margaret Ramsay, after BOXALL, is successful in the 

 expression, but the drawing is indifferent, and the figure disproportioned to 

 the head. Miss SHARP'S Phcebe Mayflower, illustrates the text by a sim- 

 plicity of character, in which is blended a touch of good sense. Minna is 

 rather a coarse representation of the heroine of the Pirate : a little more deli- 

 cacy in the form and features would not be inconsistent with the same 

 trength of character. 



ILLUSTRATIONS TO PRINSEP'S JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE FROM CALCUTTA 

 TO VAN DIEMAN'S LAND. LONDON. SMITH, ELDER & Co. 



THESE lithographic sketches are designed with taste, and executed with the 

 freedom of a practised hand. The number before us contains six views, 

 four of which characterize the scenery of Van Dieman's land, and are re- 

 markably English in appearance. The Slack Snake Inn would find a parallel 

 in many a picturesque bit of home landscape jandthe view of Hobar Town from 

 Beaulieu Lodge, might easily be mistaken for a glimpse of the Severn. New 

 Norfolk is like a section of paradise, seemingly designed expressly for the 

 snug retreat of a young couple during the period of the honey-moon. We 

 commend these views not only as clever drawings, but as pleasing examples 

 of picturesque landscape in that part of the world, the natural beauties of 

 which they profess to exhibit. 





