034 Pagayiini, and the History of the Violin. [|Dec. 



of the letter / for the sound-holes of the violin, as cutting too many 

 fibres. In his invention those holes are parallel and straight. A com- 

 mittee, on which were Cherubini the composer, and Prony the engineer, 

 gave in a favourable report on this violin, which they had heard played on 

 by Boucher, the famous violinist, in an adjoining room, alternately with 

 a Stradivarius, without being able to discover which was which, except- 

 ing that they mistook the old violin for the new, which, as being the 

 presumed supei'ior, was a triumph for JM. Chanot. But from all this 

 we have not heard of any further results. The violin of Cremona still 

 holds its ancient supremacy, and deserves it, at least in point of figure : for 

 the new violins are angular and unpleasing to the eye. We have heard 

 no more of IM. Chanot; and are inclined to conclude that his invention 

 was finally found inapplicable. This, however, should not deter our 

 English artists from the experiment. They make the best harjis and 

 pianos in the world, and why they should not make every other instru- 

 ment equally well is beyond our conjecture. 



THE GREEK CHURCH. 



The degree of public attention which is now turned to the affairs of 

 Greece, and the important influence which the Greek church may be 

 expected to possess in moulding the character of the nation, induce us 

 to give a sketch of the prevalent form of its religion at the present 

 day. 



Christianity was originally established in Greece by the Apostles and 

 their immediate successors. While the memory of those illustrious men 

 was fresh upon the general mind, Greece abounded in examples of the 

 purest piety. It was famous for the hallowed energy of its teachers, 

 the active charity of its converts, and the heroic fortitude of its martyrs. 

 But in the second century of the Christian sera, the innate evils of the 

 Grecian character began rapidly to develope themselves. 



The national passion for novelty, which had made them welcome every 

 strange worship of the earth to their native idolatry, prompted them to 

 mingle the extravagant doctrines of the east with the simplicity of the 

 Scriptures. Fond of learned distinction, they adopted the Magic, then 

 popular among the higher ranks of their Roman masters, and they 

 adopted with still more ardent zeal the fantasies of the Gnostic mytho- 

 logy. Plato was guiltily placed side by side with Christ ; the Alexan- 

 drian school of philosophy was erected as the grand guide of the 

 Christian disciple, and the infallible explainer of the Christian mysteries; 

 folly was heaped on folly ; the Scriptures were forced to bend their pure 

 and lofty wisdom to the absurdities of mysticism ; Greece was blinded 

 by clouds raised from under Its own feet ; and her theology became a 

 tissue of fanaticism and worldliness, as her morality became a tissue of 

 casuistry, caprice, and licentiousness. 



It is no xmwise or unproductive pursuit to follow the corruption of 

 religion to its fruits in the decay of national prosperity. The gross 

 perversion of Christianity was the pregnant evil of the Grecian empire. 

 Bloody feuds were the first result of the perversion, — foreign calamities 

 were the next. The land thus shaken by domestic discord, and dimi- 

 nished of its external strength, was destined to a still deeper visitation. 

 A foreign enemy, resembling that scourge which prophecy had so long 

 threatened to Jerusalem, and which divine justice finally inflicted upon 



