present, though they might gain some trifling object by surprize, they are in too small force to carry any point of importance.

XXIII. On Tuesday, Nov. 2, 1824, this society held its first meeting in its new saloon, or drawing-room, in Lincoln's Inn Fields; and with its spacious staircases, rich carpets, and pier-glasses, looked quite regenerated from the antiquated concern of 1691. It is thought, that this placing of the candle on a suitable candlestick, may enable it to spread more light, and to attract more notice, than under the old bushel of a court in Holborn. The walls are decorated by portraits of Nelson, the author of the "Feasts and Fasts;" of Swartz, Dr. Gaskin, and his predecessor Dr. Broughton (a venerable emblem of orthodoxy, and index of growing antiquity in the society; with an enormous wig and a Delta hat, like the horizontal section of a pyramid!). It was full time, that the increasing body should obtain this local habitation; for a year before, when Bishop Heber took his leave, his lordship was treated with a cluster of the grapes of Eshcol: a lively antepast, not only of the climate, but of the Black Hole in Calcutta. Some difficulty will arise from the abandonment of the old name, and the adoption of some such new one as the Lincoln's Inn Fields Society; for the long running title of the Society for promoting

Christian Knowledge, is not glib enough for ordinary parlance. It remains for some cunning and mischievous association to take possession of the abandoned room, to call themselves the Bartlett's Buildings Society, and to raise money under false pretences. It is the old trick.

CHAPTER XXIX.

ON MISSIONS.

Contents.

I. Danish Missions, patronized by the English Societies. -II. Their own Missions in Madras and other Parts of India.-III. Obstacles in the Way of the Missionaries.-IV. Bishop Middleton's Letter for Assistance, and the Measures taken in Consequence of it.-V. Extract from the Writer's Sermon-VI. Church Missionary Society.-VII. Its Stations.-VIII. Corresponding Committee.-IX. London Missionary Society.-X. Its Exclusions.-XI. Baptist Missionary Society.-XII. Wesleyan Missionary Society.-XIII. Moravian Missions.-XIV. Home Missionary Society.

I. UNDER the auspices of the Danish Mission College, founded in 1705, by Frederick the Fourth, Zinglebalg, of Halle, founded the first Protestant mission in India. On his return to Europe, in 1724, he was patronized by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and by King George the First. Thus encouraged, he finished his Tamul Bible in fourteen years. A succession of pious missionaries, since his death, were long supported jointly by the

Danish College and the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. Their principal station has been at Tranquebar; and the names of Scheltz, Joenicke, Gericke, and Swartz, are still venerated in India; but war having destroyed the Royal College of Copenhagen, and the Orphan House at Halle, in Germany, the Lincoln's Inn Fields Society has become the sole support of the mission.

II. Encouraged by the success of this ancient Danish mission, the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge extended its care to the neighbouring English settlements, and founded its first mission at Madras, in the year 1728; under the superintendence of Fabricius and Briethaupt. In the year 1737, Kiernander and Hutteman were settled at Cuddalore; on the capture of which place, by the French, in 1758, they withdrew with their flock to Tranquebar; whence Hutteman returned to Cuddalore in 1760. In the meantime, Kiernander repaired to Bengal; where he opened a school for the natives in 1758, and preached the Gospel. In the early reports of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, interesting letters from these first missionaries are inserted; giving testimony to their correct principles, primitive simplicity, and Apostolic zeal. In Bengal, the society assisted Mr. Kiernander's labours; which became the means of improve

ment to the English, and conversion to the natives. Mr. Hutteman, labouring under the weight of his charge at Cuddalore, was there, in 1766, supplied with a colleague, the Rev. Mr. Gerickè; and, in the year following, the celebrated Swartz opened a new mission at Trichinopoly; and other stations were fixed at Veperay and Tanjore. As at that time the society could only support these establishments with the trifling interest of 1000l. the Court of Directors, being applied to, contributed 500 pagodas. From this period, the several missions have received ample support from the society; who have supplied them with types, Bibles in various eastern languages, and highly estimable missionaries.

III. These missionaries have had as much success as could be augured, considering the obstacles and difficulties they had to encounter. The acquisition of the various languages of the peninsula, and the reduction of them into systematic grammars, vocabularies, and dictionaries, is itself a difficult matter; though it pioneers the way for the march of future ministers. But the evils attending the loss of caste must operate as a still more powerful obstruction to the work. This too, however, we have before observed, is only incidental to the earlier periods of conversion: as the nucleus gathers fresh conglobation,-as the adherents