Revieto of Select Remains of the Rev. C. F. Rumftler. 29 



predatory incursions, the Byzantine empire ; and at length gained per- 

 manent possession of the provinces, which, to the southward of the Danube, 

 stretch across the continent from the Adriatic to the Euxine. Under the 

 various names of Servians, Dalmatians, Croats, Wallachians, Bosnians, and 

 Bulgarians, the same people still form the mass of population in those 

 countries, where their language testifies their origin. Tribes of the 

 other, or western branch of the Slavonian stock, appear to have crossed 

 the Vistula into northern Germany, at different times in the sixth century, 

 and to have spread themselves over the territories, wholly or partly aban- 

 doned by the Suevi, the Vandals, Burgundians, and other Teutonic nations, 

 over Bohemia, evacuated by the Marcoraanni, and over all the southern 

 sea-coast of the Baltic. Notwithstanding the numbers and the extent of 

 the countries occupied by the Wendish tribes, the greater talents and 

 military power of the Saxons, Danes, and other German nations, at length 

 overcame them. They adhered with the tenacity of ignorant idolaters to 

 their dark and barbarous superstitions, but at length admitted the pre- 

 vailing light of Christianity, the progress of which has ever held an even 

 pace with the social improvements of mankind. Still many dialects of the 

 Slavonian language form the vernacular speech of numerous tribes to the 

 westward of the Vistula, and within the boundaries of ancient Germany. 



We shall in the sequel endeavour to form some idea of the Slavonian 

 nations in a different point of view, and obtain some insight into their 

 mental character, and the nature of those superstitions to which they 

 were so obstinately attached. 



REVIEW. 



Select Remains of Rev. C. F. Ramftler, Minister in the Church of the 

 Moravian Brethren. By the Rev. T. Grinfield, M. A. 8f o. pp. 288. 

 Bristol, Chilcott, 1833. 



This is a plain and unpretending little volume, which commemorates an 

 individual well known and respected in this city, and which has been, both 

 from local circumstances and its intrinsic merits, widely circulated therein. 



Cliristian Frederick Ramftler was a minister in the church of the United 

 Brethren or Moravians, after the Waldcnses, the most ancient Protestant 

 community, and one of the most respectable. He was born and educated 

 in Germany, whither his parents and grand-parents liad been driven by 

 those religious persecutions, whereby France, to her own material injury, 

 bestowed upon other countries inestimable benefits, in arts, policy, and 

 religion, and in the persons of many valuable citizens. 



In the year 1801, at the age of twenty-five, Mr. Ramftler proceeded to 

 England, to take charge of a congregation j and in 1824 he settled upon a 

 similar appointment at Bristol, where he died in 1832, aged fifty-two. 



The volume iKjfore us contains a Memoir of Mr. R., several of his Ser- 



