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tores') the cutters of cumin'; if he is not accustomed to con over matters', and call up one fact with which to prove and illustrate another', let him study the lawyers' cases'. Hence', every defect of the mind may have its special receipt'.

There are three chief vanities in studies', by which learning has been most traduced'; for we deem those things vain which are either false or frivolous'—which have no truth', or are of no use'; and those persons are considered vain', who are either credulous or curious'. Judging', then', either from reason or experience', there prove to be three distempers of learning': the first'.. is fantastical learning', the second', contentious learning', and the last', affected learning'—vain imaginations', vain altercations', and vain affections'.

SECTION IV.

Liberty and Slavery.-STERNE.

DISGUISE thyself as thou wilt', still', Slavery', still thou art a bitter draught'; and', though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee', thou art no less bitter on that account'. -It is thou', thrice sweet and gracious goddess', Liberty', whom all in publick or in private worship', whose taste is grateful', and ever will be so', till Nature herself shall change'. No teint of words can spot thy snowy mantle', or chymick power turn thy sceptre into iron'. With thee', to smile upon him' as he eats his crust', the swain is happier than his monarch', from whose court thou art exiled'.—Gracious Heaven"! grant me but health', thou great Bestower of it', and give me but this fair goddess as my companion', and shower down thy mitres', if it seem good unto thy divine Providence', upon those heads which are aching for them'.

I sat down close by my table', and', leaning my head upon myd hand', began to figure to myself the miseries of confinement'. I was in a right frame for it'; and so I gave full scope to my imagination'.

I was going to begin with the millions of my fellow-creatures', born to no inheritance but slavery'; but finding', however affecting the picture was', that I could not bring it near me', and that the multitude of sad groups in it did but distract me', I took a single captive', and', having first shut him up in For-not, fur, nor, f'r. Up-on' him-not, 'pun ım. •From-not frum, nor, fr'm. Me-but, when emphatick, mf.

his dungeon', I then looked through the twilight of his grated door to take his picture'.

I beheld his body half wasted away with long expectation and confinement', and felt what kind of sickness of the heart it is which arises from hope deferred. Upon looking nearer', I saw him pale and feverish'. In thirty years the western breeze had not once fanned his blood'. He had seen no sun', no moon', in all that time'; nor had the voice of friend or kinsman breathed through his lattice'. His children'

But here my heart began to bleed-and I was forced to go on with another part of the portrait'.

He was sitting on the ground upon a little straw', in the farthest corner of his dungeon', which was alternately his chair and bed'. A little calender of small sticks was laid at the head', notched all over with the dismal days and nights he had passed there'. He had one of these little sticks in his hand'," and', with a rusty nail', was etching another day of misery to add to the heap'. As I darkened the little light he had', he lifted up a hopeless eye towards the door', then cast it down', shook his head', and went on with his work of affliction'. I heard his chains upon his legs' as he turned his body', to lay his little stick upon the bundle'.-He gave a deep sigh'. I saw the iron enter his soul'.-I burst into tears'.- -I could not sustain the picture of confinement which my fancy had drawn'.

SECTION V.

On the Starry Heavens.-FLINT.

'Words Italicised, are emphatick, in various degrees; but it is only those words most prominently emphatick, that are thus designated.)

I

go forth in the silent and meditative hour of evening', under the cerulean', star-spangled dome of the firmament'. These numberless stars', this multitude of movements', these radiant orbs', this earth of our habitation carried round in space', like a frail vessel borne upon the ocean', penetrate my mind with profound astonishment'. I attempt to scan the grandeur and the power of Him who has placed us in of such magpresence nificent spectacles'. I contemplate the motion of worlds', compared with that of the humblest insect'; the planets', which

*Kinz'mán. Me-but, when emphatick, ml. cal-ter'nåte'le-not awl ter'nate le. d Distinctly, "in his hand"-not, eh ne zand.

manent-not, fir'ma munt.

fAs-tônish'mènt.

Um'blêst.

e Fêr'

circulate in the void', without ever deviating from their path', animals', moving in their appointed spheres from an interiour impulse'; and man', whose thought', more astonishing still', transcends the limits of time and space', without the accom paniment of the body which it animates'; the two motions of the earth', the one on its axis', the other round the sun'; and they are all radiant with the wonderful impress of the Creator's beneficent intelligence'. One of the earth's compound movements', is inexplicable upon any of the known laws of physicks'. Attraction causes bodies to tend towards a centre', but gives them no impulse of motion'. Who can fail to admire the exact equilibrium of these motions', and the wants of man and nature? The earth', inclining on its axis', presents in turn its two hemispheres to the sun', causing us the grateful alternation of day and night'; while the other motion presents us with the varied aspects and delightful vicissitudes of the seasons'.

c

It is another harmony of the motions of the earth', that while we are carried round with the greatest absolute rapidity', we should have the sensation of being at rest'. The atmosphere', and every relative landmark by which we could measure', and be made to perceive this motion', are carried round with us'; and thus we have a consciousness that we have not changed our place'. We have familiar examples of the deceptive character of this motion'. The fisherman', abandoning himself in his boat to the stream', and borne down by the current', sees the shores apparently ascend', and seems himself at rest'. The spectator on the shore', measures the progress of the boat by the trees', and discovers its true and absolute motion'. To us', the sun and planets seem to advance from the eastern to the western horizon'. A person who could contemplate this motion from a fixed point in the heavens', would see the true and absolute motion to be that of the earth advancing rapidly from west to east'.

One beautiful harmony of the universe', resulting from this illusive appearance of relative motion', compared with absolute rest', must not be overlooked'. While movement' and repose', darkness' and light', the changes of the seasons' and the march of the stars', which diversify the decorations of the world', seem to result from real change of place', they are successive only in appearance', being', in reality', permanent'. The scene which is effaced from our view', is repainted for another people'. It is not the spectator', but the spectacle only', that has Fish'år-mán-not

aSférez. bal-ter-na'shun-not, awl'ter na shun. fish'er mun. ¿Ap-på'rẻnt-ẻ. «Prôg'grès.

changed'. The Author of nature has seen fit to unite the absolute and relative progress of succession', as well as of mc tion', in his beautiful work of creation'. The one is placed in time', the other', in space'. By the one', the beauties of the universe are perpetual', infinite', always the same'. By the other', they are multiplied', finished', and renewed'. Without the one', there would be no grandeur in creation'. Without the other', it would have been all monotony. In this way', time presents itself to view in a new relation'. The least of its fractions becomes a complete whole'; which comprehends every event', and modifies every change', from the death of an insect to the birth of a world'. Every moment is', in itself', a little eternity. Bring together', then', in thought', the most beautiful accidents" of nature'. Suppose you see', at the same moment', all the hours of the day', and all the aspects of the seasons—a morning of spring', and a morning of autumn'a burning noon of summer', and a noon of frost and snows'a night bespangled with stars', and a night of darkness and clouds'-meadows enamelled with flowers', and forests robbed of their foliaged by winter and storms'-plains covered with springing corn', and gilded with harvests': you will then have a just idea of the various aspects of the universe as they are presented', at the same moment', to different spectators'.

It is an astonishing fact', that while you admire the sun', sinking under the arches of the west', another observer beholds him springing from the regions of the morning'. By a won derful arrangement of the Creator', this ancient and unwearied luminary that reposes from the heat and dust of the day behind his golden canopy' in the west', is the same youthful planet that awakes', humid with dew', from behind the whitening curtain of the dawn'. At every moment of the day', to some of our fellow-beings the sun is rising', blazing in the zenith', or sinking behind the western wave'. Our senses present us this charming illusion'. To a spectator', beholding from a fixed point in space', there would be neither east', meridian', nor west'; but the sun would blaze motionless from his dome'.

Let us imagine the view of the spectacle', if the laws of nature were abandoned to the slightest change'. The clouds', obeying the laws of gravity', would fall perpendicularly on the earth'; or would ascend beyond condensation into the upper regions of the air'. At one period', the air would become too gross', and at the next', too much rarefied', for the organs of

Prog'gres. Ak'se 'dênts-not, ak'se'dunts. Mo'ment. ¿Fö′lè'äjo eåne'tshent-not, ân'shunt. “Kân'ò'pë—not, can'e py.

respiration'. The moon', too near', or too distant from us, would be at one time invisible', and at another', would show herself bloody and covered with enormous spots', or filling with her extended orb all the celestial dome'. As if possessed of some wild caprice'," she would either move upon the line of the ecliptick', or', changing her sides', would at length discover to us a face which the earth has not seen'. The stars', smitten with the same uncertainty of motion', would rush together', and become a collection of terrifick conjunctions'. On a sudden', the constellation of summer would be destroyed by that of winter'. Boötes would lead the Pleiades'; and the Lion would roar in Aquarius'. Here', the stars would fly away with the rapidity of lightning'; there', they would hang motionless in the heavens'. Sometimes', crowding into groups', they would form a new Milky-way'. Again', disappearing altogether', and rending the curtain of worlds', they would open to view the abysses of eternity'. Reason as we will upon the inherent laws of nature', second causes are not sufficient to explain all the phenomena'. There must be a perpetual and omnipotent vigilance always sustaining these laws in their equilibrium'. would need no other effort to destroy this great work', than to abandon it to itself'. Our confidence that these laws will never change', must rest upon our conviction of the immortality of his character'.

God

SECTION VI.

Extract from Essays on Scenes in Italy.-LADY MORGAN.

Ir struck my imagination much, while standing on the last field fought by Bonaparte, that the battle of Waterloo should have been fought on a Sunday. What a different scene did the Scotch Grays and English Infantry present, from that which, at that very hour, was exhibited by their relatives, when over England and Scotland each church-bell had drawn together its worshippers! While many a mother's heart was sending up a prayer for her son's preservation, perhaps that son was gasping in agony. Yet, even at such a period, the lessons of his early days might give him consolation; and the maternal prayer

Pôz-zést. bKå-préése'. Na'tshåre not, nå'tshår. not, eg zibit ed.

Bo-o'těz. dPlé'yâ-děz. In-hé'rênt. Dé-stroè'-not, dis trawe'. Egz-hib'lt-éd

h

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