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consoling maxim applied. Those who take any interest in the welfare of their fellow mortals, must have frequent opportunities of observing how apposite it is to the situation and circumstances of a considerable portion of the unfortunate part of mankind.

This proverb, and another of similar import, "God fits the back to the burden," are deduced from a consideration of that almost universal quality inherent in human nature, of assimilating our conduct, and moulding our characters to those emergencies which arise in the fluctuations of human affairs.

Under the influence of this property of our nature, Philadelphia has witnessed the remarkable case of a French nobleman, whom the revolution in his country had hurled from the pinnacle of wealth and dignity, and who occupied himself here in the profession of a tinman. In this occupation he conducted himself with the most perfect propriety, and his "back" was as completely "fitted to the burden" as if he had borne it from his infancy. There are at present cases to be met with here, and in other parts of the United States, not dissimilar to this of the noble tinman. Hamburg, Altona, Amsterdam, London, and various other cities in Europe have all beheld numberless instances of persons who had moved in the same high sphere, and who on being detruded from thence, have employed their talents of music, dancing, drawing, fencing, mathematics, &c. to earn a support. Many of them have acknowledged, that in these reduced situations, they have enjoyed more real happiness than formerly, when surrounded with all the profusion of Asiatic luxury.

But however remarkable and commendable these cases are, they do not excite the same emotions in my mind, nor are they so honourable to human nature, as those of many respectable females, who, when bereft of parents and husbands, have nobly met and defied "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," and supported themselves and families in the most exemplary manner. On these occasions they have, all at once, assumed the energy and fortitude which many of our sex absurdly believe belong exclusively to us. They appear on a sudden wholly transformed into new creatures, and to have entirely devested themselves of that helplessness which is partly the result of the natural delicacy of the female sex, but is in a much greater degree the fostered offspring of erroneous systems of

Russians. After peace was restored, it was actually debated in the Turkish divan, whether or not the whole Greek nation should be exterminated as a punishment for their rebellion. This barbarous measure was on the point of being carried into execution. The celebrated capudan Pacha prevented it from being adopted-but not by any arguments drawn from the criminality or inhumanity of the measure-but from a motive of more potent influence with the divan. "If," says he, "we massacre all the Greeks, we shall lose the capitation they pay us." This argument was irresistible, and rescued the miserable descendants of Solon, Lycurgus, Plato, Themistocles, and Miltiades from impending destruction. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.-Ibid.

BLASPHEMOUS ADULATION.-A thesis was dedicated to Louis XIV., in which that proud and arrogant monarch was absolutely compared with the divinity. The bishop of Meaux was consulted on the propriety of its publication. He disapproved of it, and was of opinion it ought to be suppressed. With this opinion the king was not quite satisfied, and sent it to the college of Sorbonne for the decision of the faculty there. They pronounced the same sentence upon the sycophantic and blasphemous performance as the bishop had done. It was accordingly suppressed.-Idem, p. 253.

"For every fool finds reason to be proud,

Though hiss'd and hooted by the pointing crowd."

VANITY AND FOLLY.-In regarding human nature attentively, and examining its follies and weaknesses, I know of none more general, more absurd, or more inconvenient in its consequences, than that morbid sensibility, which makes us resent as an affront or insult the slightest hint at any of our defects or imperfections, even when made with the most friendly view. It would appear as if we supposed that those who take the pains to admonish us of any of our follies or vices, actually created them. We every day meet with men highly respectable, who have defects in their manners, in their address, or their conduct, which they have borne with them probably from their early days, and which have grown with their growth, and have con

stantly subjected them to ridicule even among their friends, and worse than ridicule among others. Yet from the morbid sensibility I have stated, on the one hand, or a very erroneous idea of politeness on the other, no person dares to draw their attention to the defect, or to point out a remedy.

Let me, reader, draw you a portrait. It is, if I err not, a likeness of a large portion of mankind-probably of you, and full as probably of myself who undertake to write a lecture on the subject. Behold that person, sumptuously attired, proceeding to a ball-room, to display himself to the best advantage. Unfortunately there is upon his arm a piece of ordure, equally offensive to the eye and to the olfactory nerves of those whom he encounters. It is so conspicuously placed, that it cannot escape the attention of the most cursory examiner. A friend perhaps advances, takes off his hat, bows, and is about to advise him to remove the filth. Instead of returning him thanks for his kindness, he flies into a passion-repels his friend-and perhaps repays him with as much undeserved insult, as if, instead of wishing the removal of the offensive matter, he had actually thrown it upon his arm.

This is, you will doubtless say, ridiculous-truly ridiculous. Yet it is man's every day habit. Few of us can boast an exemption. The blemishes which we are all afflicted with, are the ordure-and not on our clothes, but on our characters and conduct, of infinitely more importance. Yet we frighten away every person who would kindly help us to remove the odious incumbrance. What folly! what madness!

Some of the most envenomed animosities that I have ever known, have arisen from friendly advices, obtruded on persons whose follies were a town talk, and known to all the world but themselves. Idem, p. 256. .

A DREARY WILDERNESS.-Hearne, who was employed nearly forty years ago to travel in search of a water communication between the English settlements at Baffin's Bay, and the Pacific Ocean, travelled from the sixth of November, 1770, till the twenty-second of January, 1771, seventy-seven days, and several hundred miles, without meeting a human being! During his journey, he was several times obliged to fast two days and two nights-twice upwards of three days-and once nearly seven days, during which he and his companions tasted nothing but a

few cranberries, scraps of old leather, burned bones, and water. When the Indians, he says, are in this extremity, they sacrifice such parts of their leather dress as they can best spare.—Ibid.

"A SAILOR'S Life's a Life of Wo."-In a parish in Norway, on the sea coast, for forty years there did not die above ten grown men. The rest, mostly fishermen and pilots, were drowned.-Ibid.

COGENT AND BENEVOLENT REASONS OF STATE. The civilized parts of the world sometimes believe that in the crooked paths of state policy they have no rivals among the savages. This is a most egregious error. I offer a case in full proof. Captain Vancouver, in his voyage round the world, states that the king of Otaheite, meditating the conquest of the neighbouring islands, informed him, that it was highly necessary for the comfort and happiness of the people at large, that over the whole group of islands there should be but one sovereign. How humane, how benevolent! Could Louis XIV., before he ravaged the Palatinate, Catharine II., before the capture of Ismail, or Frederick, previous to the seizure of Silesia, have devised a more unanswerable justification of their conduct!-Idem, p. 257.

CUMBERLAND'S MEMOIRS.-Few biographical works possess so much attraction, and afford so great a degree of entertainment, as the Memoirs of Cumberland, lately published by himself, at the advanced age of seventy-two. These Memoirs furnish an extensive range of the history of literature and literary men, during the very long period they embrace. The anecdotes of the author's ancestors are not among the least valuable parts of the work. The writer exhibits himself without disguise. There is hardly a page that does not bear strong testimony of his benevolence and goodness, as well as of his talents. His laudable design of making the drama subservient to the noble purpose of banishing gross national prejudices, which it had formerly to successfully fostered, would alone have entitled him to a monument of national gratitude. The Irish, the Scotch, the Welch, and the Jews, are all under high obligations

to him, for placing them, in his dramatic works, in a respectable point of light. His Major O'Flaherty, his Colin McLeod, his Dr. Druid, and his Sheva, while they bear strong characteristic marks of nationality, are endued with those excellent qualities of the heart, and that purity of intention, which command for man the plaudit of his fellow mortals "from pole to pole." By other writers, individuals of those nations are rarely introduced among the dramatis personæ, but to excite or extend prejudice, and to tickle the exuberant vanity of a proud and arrogant audience, by the very flattering comparison. From this folly, to call it by no harsher name, Shakspeare himself could not claim an exemption. In his Merchant of Venice, he absolutely falsified history, to pander to the miserable prejudices which existed against the ill-fated Jews, so often, for centuries before his time, the victims of the most abominable persecution. Need I, after adducing Shylock, waste words upon the Archy Mac Sarcasms, the Brulgrudderies, the Teague O'Regans, the Darbies, the Shenkins, and all those caricatures of human nature, which so many scribblers have exhibited for the purpose of rendering the imaginary defects of one nation food for the vanity of another?

I have heard Cumberland charged with egotism. Those who prefer this charge against him say, that "I, the hero of each little tale," applies to his memoirs with great propriety. This is too fastidious. They attempt to decry an individual work for what forms the very essence of this species of composition. Can a man write his own life, without being, to a certain degree, an egotist? Surely not. And whatever egotism Cumberland displays, in his memoirs, is absolutely inseparable from every similar production.

In this interesting work there are some curious political arcana completely developed, which throw considerable light on the honour and honesty of the cabinets of the rulers of the globe.-Idem, Dec. 1809, p. 528.

DUNCAN M'INTOSH.-There is no subject that yields to a benevolent mind a more sublime gratification than the contemplation of a man employed in the divine act of rescuing his fellow mortals from impending destruction, without the smallest shadow of suspicion of his being actuated by any sinister or selfish motives. This is unquestionably the highest grade of human

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