jectors condemned all bell-ringing. The following draft of a letter in the Bishop's handwriting is among the Hobart MSS. It is an eloquent plea for the continuance of ringing the church bells, as a call to Divine Worship.

"TO THE EDITORS OF THE AMERICAN.

"GENTLEMEN

"It is the immemorial custom of every Christian nation to announce the hours of public worship by the ringing of bells, thus reminding the community at large of the great duty of worshipping their divine Benefactor & Father. But it seems that this, one of those public observances by which Christian nations are distinguished, & which like other external observances is not without its effect on the religious habits of the people is considered by some of your correspondents as a 'great nuisance.' How does it happen that the delicate nerves & sensibilities which are so shocked at the sound of 'The Church going bell,' should not display themselves any where but in the city of New-York. Ages have rolled away, during which all Christian nations have thus been accustomed to mark the 'holy hours of prayer.' The crowded cities & the lonely villages of our own country, resound with these calls to assemble at the temples of the Most High, proclaiming the religious sense of the community, and reminding the careless & indifferent of their duty. The great nuisance' of this practice, so general in every age and country that it may be considered as a dictate of a powerful religious principle, has been no where discovered except in this city. Is it grievous to the sick & dying? But an argument which proves too much, proves nothing. The clattering of pleasure carriages & the heavy thundering of carts are often seriously annoying to the sick & the dying. Why not put a stop to these? In cases of peculiar nervous irritability in sick persons, the noise of carriages is guarded against by strewing the streets with tan. And in every case where requested as necessary to the comfort of a sick person the ringing of a neighbouring bell has been either entirely suspended, or diminished in frequency & loudness. It really seems to me wonderful that only in this city should there be that exquisite sensibility which is so much agonized at ringing of bells, which in England & in some places in our own country, particularly in the neighbouring city of Philada where the quiet habits of the Friends prevail is frequently resorted to as an amusement. With this view solely, Christ Church bells in Philada sound a merry peal for an hour or more two evenings in the week.

"The usage of all religious denominations to summon their people to Church on Sundays, & of some on the festival or prayer days of the week has been of so long standing, & is so justified & sanctioned by the long immemorial practice of all Christian nations, that it may be considered as a religious right; and I confess I cannot for a moment think, that in this free country where legislation is managed with so much. regard to the religious feelings & habits of the people, the corporation of the city will depart from the wise maxim of not governing too much, & will attempt to invade a right which is respected in the strong monarchy of England & in the despotic governments of the old world. "A FRIEND TO OLD CUSTOMS.

"Dec: 29: 1825"

With some slight alterations the letter appeared in the issue of the New-York American for December 30th.

Bishop Croes, with that modesty of character which so distinguished him, thus acknowledged the generosity of the Trinity Corporation :

"NEW BRUNSWICK, Jan. 11th 1826. "VERY DEAR AND RT. REVD. FRIEND AND BROTHER,

"I received your kind letter, last evening; but the contents of it were wholly unexpected. When, at your request, I cheerfully engaged to perform for you the duties that might be necessary in your Diocese, during your indispensable, but regretted absence; I considered it not a labour, but a pleasure, as an opportunity was thus afforded mehowever distressing the cause-to oblige you, and thus shew you my regard. And during the exercise of the office, I cheerfully and pleasurably did everything that I thought would promote the interests of the Diocese, without exposing myself to the charge of being too assuming or officious. In this I was abundantly rewarded by the pleasure, I received, in the exercise of the office itself, in assisting to keep the Diocese in order, and in progress, and from the courteous, and respectful manner, in which, I was invariably treated by those of your Presbyters and Deacons, with whom I had intercourse, especially those in the town and its vicinity.

"I cannot, therefore, accept of the very liberal sum you state in your letter, if I must view it in the light of a compensation or reward for any services, I may have, done; but I will not refuse it, on the other hand, I will gratefully accept it, as a generous donation,

from the respected Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of an opulent Ch. -always liberal in their favours-to the Head of a Diocese, which is unhappily deficient in the means necessary to afford him a proper support.

"I accept also their thanks, with emotions of pleasure.

"I am, my dear brother and friend,

"affectionately and sincerely yours,

"RIGHT REV. BISHOP OF NEW YORK."

"JOHN CROES.

The Bishop's friends in England kept up their correspondence with him on his return to this country; some, like the Rev. G. Holden, sending copies of their works to the General Theological Seminary.

"MY DEAR & RIGHT REV. SIR

"Your note of the 1st Sept' was perused with pleasure, tho' not unmixed with regret that my return home only a few days after you had embarked for America, had deprived me of the still higher gratification of personally congratulating you upon the improved state of your health, & of introducing you to my Family. I have, however, to rejoice with you upon the truly gratifying & distinguished manner in which your safe return to your Diocese was welcomed; & I participate, in common with the rest of your Friends, in those feelings to which such an interesting occurrence must give birth.

"It was my intention to have thanked you by the Canada on her last visit to N. Y. for the Sermon delivered by you in Rome-the place, the occasion were in a high degree extraordinary & interesting! Does it not warrant the hope that a favourable change has taken place in the Vatican? Your benevolent efforts, I trust, were rewarded with the success which they so well merited. The subscriptions in this Country, I am concerned to observe, do not advance as might be wished; but the times are adverse; and the increasing difficulties in the commercial world, will, I fear, for a while continue to obstruct the stream of charity.

"But I will account for my silence-Soon after you left Liverpool for the Continent, one or two of the Pamphlets for which I am indebted to your kindness, were lent to a Clerical Friend, Mr. Holden, who, probably, may not be unknown to you as an Author. Mr. H. was

1 "the permission I mean granted to you &c."

much gratified with the perusal of your Pamphlets, and requested that I would present to you, for the use of the Theological Seminary in N. Y. a copy of his works, wh then consisted of the following:

These Volumes were sent to a Relative of his in Liverpool to be forwarded to me, but, taught to look for your return in the Autumn of 1824, I desired they might remain in Liverpool. Deprived of the pleasure of presenting them in person by my absence at Harrogate, I asked for the Volumes upon my return, but they were not to be found -part of his books were out of Print-application was made to Rivingtons; and not many days have elapsed since Mr. H. was enabled to furnish me with a complete Set. The Xtn Sabbath' the production of his pen, only a few weeks old, he has added to the Vols. above.

"Mr. H. has deemed it proper to accompany his Offering with a letter to you, as it afforded him an opportunity of expressing the interest which he feels in the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, in which feeling I need not assure you how fully I participate. Mr. Roughsedge our worthy & venerable Rector, as well as many others of our Brethren, who had the pleasure of being introduced to you, have expressed their concern that your short stay in Liverpool, did not allow them an opportunity of renewing their acquaintance with you.

"Have the goodness to offer my best respects to Mrs. Hobart, and to accept the good wishes of

"The Books are sent by the New York Packet."

The following letter from the Bishop's staunch friend, the Rev. H. H. Norris, deals so well with the sermon the Bishop preached on his return from Europe that it deserves to be placed permanently on record.

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

"March 6th 1826.

"Tho I am really at this time overwhelmed with engagements I must not suffer the Packet to leave England without a letter to you,

because my silence might have the appearance of having taken offence at your comparative view of our two countries and at all events would keep you in painful suspense upon a point on which I know you feel a lively sensibility. I have read your sermon with great attention and it is very evident to me that there are two objects aimed at throughout. The first of these is to proclaim your own unaltered attachment to your own Church and its institutions-to stimulate the same feeling amongst its members and to give a popularity to it, which has been kept in check by its Episcopal character, allying it in appearance more to England than to the Civil Government established amongst yourselves; and the second is to do this without giving your friends here reasonable offence, by qualifying all your animadversions with strong testimonies in favour of the Church of England and the warmest expressions of respect and affection.

"I do not conceive it to have been possible to have promoted the first object more effectually than you have done, and if you have not succeeded in your second to the extent which I am sure it was your desire to do, you have fully manifested that desire, and have only fallen into the same dilemma which Du Moline fell into before you when, in attempting to defend the Geneva platform against some French assailant, he ran rather foul of our Episcopal Establishment, and incurred the displeasure of our first James. The correspondence which this produced between him and Bishop Andrewes was published last year in the "Xtian Rembr" and you will there see Du Moline very much in your present situation. You will judge I trust from what I have already said that I am not the least out of charity with you for your Patriotic effusions. I desire as heartily as you can do the extension of the American Church; and if there are defects in our system, which I readily admit, next to seeing them corrected my prayer is that you may avoid them and you give me not the least umbrage by pointing them out; but I think with all your inquisitiveness and keenness of observation, your opportunities here did not enable you to get to the bottom of all points upon which you speak with confidence, and that you have consequently committed yourself in some particulars. I honour most cordially that devotedness to your own native land which makes you cherish a preference to it when compared with all other lands in almost every point of comparison.' This is a genuine English as well [as] American feeling. It predominates with me so strongly, that I have never set foot out of England, though I have the means at my command, and am delighted with the 1 Abbreviation for Christian Remembrancer.