cruelty by the loss of life. But, however great his offences might be, I must own that I was shocked and disgusted upon reading an account of the conduct of the lower orders, previous to, and during the time of, his execution. The public press teemed with every invective which could possibly enrage the populace against him; his name was heard in every street, branded with all the malicious appellations that revenge could invent; his figure was represented in every print-shop, either as inflicting the cruelties which he had committed, or as undergoing the punishment to which he was to be doomed. His execution was repeatedly announced for a certain day, and then deferred. Hence, so great was the anxiety of the populace, so ardent their wish for the gratification which they expected from beholding his punishment, that, upon seeing the object of their hate, after they had repeatedly been disappointed in the performance of his execution, appear upon the fatal platform, they raised three loud and heart-drawn cheers, as if now certain of their victim. The same species of disgraceful barbarity was repeated at that most appalling moment, when the culprit was launched into eternity. While his limbs were yet quivering with the last agonies of death, the same tumult and hellish gratification manifested itself in almost every mind. But the most disgusting and brutal instance of their hatred, is yet, I think, untold. women, even women, at the conclusion of his punishment, stationed themselves at the foot of the scaffold upon which he suffered, and drank perdition to him! Nay, the fatal rope itself, after having performed its duty, was cut into the smallest pieces, and purchased by the mob with avidity! Is this a Christian country? Are these the actions of a nation upon which the light of the Gospel has shone? An indelible stain remains upon the events of that day. It remains on the records of Heaven, a lasting stigma on those who participated in such in Some humanity. May succeeding generations, upon reading the scene which I have just recounted, be warned from that degradation of human nature, to which our countrymen were precipitated by Popular Prejudice! Hitherto, we have viewed Prejudice, and the evils it produces in public affairs. We have seen to what an excess it has been carried-to what madness and rage it has excited a whole people. We will now make a few observations on its effects in the more immediate concerns of private life. Nothing is, I think, more conducive to quarrels, jealousies, and heart-burnings in every family, than the foolish partiality which some parents show to a favourite child; while they neglect, or even treat with severity, some other of their offspring. This conduct may be defined Parental Prejudice. And here it is to be observed that those parents fall into a double error; for while they, from some trifling and ridiculous cause, take a dislike to one child, and make use of every opportunity to afflict and torment him; while they magnify all his small failings, and pass over his good qualities without notice, they will most probably behave as absurdly in the reverse towards the favourite. All that he does will be right; he will be set forth as a pattern of cleverness, application, and every good quality, for the imitation of all young people in his vicinity. His very faults will be palliated and unobserved-nay, sometimes even be applauded and deemed worthy of commendation. But what are the consequences of this blind partiality and folly? The favourite is hated :-the amity which ought to subsist between each of the family is destroyed. But the whole consequences of such an error as this are not yet enumerated. At the time when both venture together upon the ocean of life, the one who formerly could depend upon no assistance from his parents will far surpass the other in the formation of his projects, and the completion of his designs; while the real good qualities of the favourite will be found to be choked up by the weeds of self-conceit and adulation. Prejudice, when admitted against the various professional duties, is extremely detrimental to many, whose genius deserves a better fate. Nothing can be more disgusting than to hear the Church, the Bar, the Army, Navy, or Medicine, attacked, on account of the misconduct of some one individual in these several lines of life, who has disgraced himself and his profession. Yet true it is, that many form their opinions merely from one example, and consider that the probity and honour of all connected with that profession must be weighed by the same standard. Hence many a promising youth, whose talents have been particularly inclined to any one branch of Science, has been placed in a sphere unworthy of him, merely through a foolish dislike which one of his parents have entertained against those men whose studies and occupations he wished to pursue. Nor is this species of Prejudice to be looked upon as detrimental in one light alone. However great a man's abilities may be, in whatever degree he may deserve praise, should he chance to meet with any misfortune, or fail in the discharge of his duties, so as to excite dissatisfaction and prejudice against him, his utmost exertions will never raise him to his former eminence. The most excellent and harmonious poet; the bravest soldier; the most skilful physician; the most able painters, sculptors, and musicians ;--will all, if the breath of Prejudice once taint their fame, verge from the zenith of their glory, and be levelled with the common herd. When, therefore, I hear a good poem ridiculed, or a well-written essay abused, merely because it is the fashion to ridicule and abuse them; when I hear the character of a brave man attacked, and his conduct depreciated by the general voice, for some offence, the relation of which is most probably founded on rumour alone; when, in short, I see a man who has signalized himself in any station of life, cast down from the good opinions of all, and reduced to a level, from which he is not allowed, whatever may be his powers, to rise again;-I inwardly curse Prejudice, and all the mischiefs she causes. It is needless to enumerate the many and various less important species of Prejudice. Not a day can pass without presenting to an observant eye, the follies, the inconveniences, and the ridicule, to which all are subjected, when they obey the dictates of this most odious and contemptible error. It manifests itself not only in the occupations, but even in the amusements, of life. What adage is more true than that of Horace ?- "Oderunt hilarem tristes, tristemque jocosi ; Oderunt porrecta negantem pocula, quamvis Well did he know, from his intimate acquaintance with the manners and passions of mankind, the influence which Prejudice obtains over so many:-clearly has he shown the excess to which it may be carried, even in affairs of the most trifling importance. One more argument alone need be adduced upon the subject of these observations. When a hundred years from this period shall have come and gone; when we shall be as the dust of the earth, and our very names and actions shall have faded in oblivion; of what value shall we deem the good or bad opinions of the world, to which we formerly were subject in this life, if we have only lived righteously, and according to the dictates of our Redeemer ? In the hour of death we shall be free from the virulence of Prejudice; yet, at that future time, a mind conscious of its own virtue will triumph over the contemptible scoffs and ridicule which were aimed at its quiet during life; and exult in the expectation of attain ing that heavenly mansion, from whence care, enmity, slander, prejudice, and all things conducive to our misery in this state of probation, are banished for ever. M. STERLING. Letter from the Rev. Marmaduke Bradshaw to Mr. Matthew Swinburne, inclosing an Article. MY DEAR MATTHEW, Broughton, May 4, 1821. I HAVE two Nephews, who were enrolled amongst the number of your schoolfellows about a fortnight before your last Holidays, and, as I know full well, from experience, all that a new boy suffers when first introduced into such a tumultuous company of perfect strangers, I have been looking about among my Etonian acquaintance for some one, who might smooth, perhaps, a few of their difficulties, and give them some little confidence in their new element. You will guess, I am sure, when you have read as far as this, what I have to ask of you: it is, that you will take some notice of these urchins; indeed, I am particularly desirous that you should not refuse my request, for I cannot conceive any one better able, from situation in the school and many other reasons, both to assist and protect them. It is quite unnecessary for me to mention any favours that you may confer on the young Rashleighs: you know these matters much better than I; indeed, most probably they are changed, as every thing else has been since my time. Perhaps you might get for them, if the practice is still continued, the liberties of your friend Courtenay, Montgomery, and others, not forgetting Mr. F. Golightly, upon whom I consider myself, and consequently my reations, to have some claim, after the free use which he made of my name and character, in the account which |