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SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH was born in | fail to be interesting to our readers. 1765, in the county of Inverness. He is extracted from a letter written to Mr. was a branch of the clan of Mackintoshes, Hall from Bombay, which has since been which was, in former times, a numerous published, and which affords a specimen and considerable tribe in Scotland, of the remarkable taste and beauty of his and produced some men of martial and epistolary style. official notoriety. His father, Captain Mackintosh, being absent on military service during the earlier years of Sir James's life, the care of his education was chiefly devolved on Lady Mackintosh, his grandmother. This was commenced at the school of Fortrose, where he evinced such talents as induced the master to recommend his being placed at a university, and he accordingly entered at King's College, Aberdeen. Here his studies were of a somewhat various and desultory character, having no specific relation to either of the professions to which he subsequently attached himself. It was at this time, however, that he formed a connexion which had, as he himself testifies, a most important bearing on his future character. This was with the late Rev. Robert Hall, with whom he was ever after on terms of intimate friendship, and for whom he enter tained the highest veneration and regard. The following testimony, as to the influence of this intimacy on his mind, cannot

Here he attended the lectures of Dr. Cullen and Professor Black, though he still indulged deeply in those moral and metaphysical studies for which his mental character appeared through life to be especially adapted. In 1787 he graduated in medicine, and retired from Edinburgh. Instead, however, of entering on the practice of his profession, he engaged more deeply in the study of politics, and, in 1789, published his first pamphlet on the regency question, which harmonized so little with the tone of the times, that it was comparatively unnoticed. In this year he married Miss Stuart, and, to the fixed and regular character given by this event to the habits and pursuits of Mr. Mackintosh, we probably owe the extraordinary production which appeared two years after from his pen. We mean the "Vindicia Gallicæ," in answer to Mr. Burke's letter on the French Revolution. This book, though composed amidst continual interruption, and with a careless rapidity characteristic of its author, evinces such a profound acquaintance with political science, such acuteness in argument, such vigour and variety of illustration, and such overwhelming power of eloquence, as place it at the foundation of his fame, and assign it a most distinguished position in the literature of the age. It would not comport with our necessary limits to attempt extended criticism of this masterpiece of political controversy. We may, however, give it as our opinion, that the time of its composition may be fixed as dating the zenith of its author's powers. The entire resources of his mighty genius seem to have been mustered for this important and trying occasion, and the result was a work which can only be adequately eulogised by saying, that it was equally worthy of him from whom it emanated, whom it was directed. and of the illustrious opponent against

But it was not Mr. Burke's "Reflections" alone that this work was intended

to oppose; it also contained strictures on a publication of M. Calonne; and it is not the least to the honour of the author, that whilst, throughout his work, he vents his indignation against the principles held in common by Burke and Calonne, he constantly preserves, with respect to their authors, the widest and most marked discrimination. Indeed, he rarely omits an opportunity of testifying his high apprethe genius that illustrated, the character ciation of the virtues that adorned, and of Mr. Burke; whereas, in the cold blood of his preface, he pours on Calonne the following pungent vituperation :-"That minister, who has for some time exhibited to the eyes of indignant Europe the spectacle of an exiled robber, living in the most splendid impunity, has, with an effrontery that beggars invective, assumed in his work the tone of afflicted patriot

ism, and delivers his polluted Philippics | we rejoice to claim him as one of the Iceived within those walls the obsequies of as the oracles of persecuted virtue.' most unwavering and valuable opponents a panegyric, more enduring than the hoof the atrocious system of West Indian nours of a monument or an epitaph. But Slavery. His opinions on this subject these days have long passed away; and were most decided, and stood conspicu- we are left to rejoice, in the absence of ous in his moral and political creed. He that tribute to which he was unquestionaffirmed that he deemed it "the greatest ably entitled, that during his life he of all public questions;" and, at a meet-achieved far more for his own immortaing of the Anti-Slavery Society held in lity than could be expected from the 1825, he summed up his views on this enthusiasm of posthumous veneration. point in the following terms:-“I feel the most zealous wishes for the success of this cause, because I consider its success indispensable to acquit the consciences and clear the honour of the British people; because, in sincerity of soul, I believe its success would, more than any other measure, contribute to the safety and welfare of the European inhabitants of the colonies; and lastly, and above all, because I think it would raise a million of human beings to the condition of men."

In 1792, Mr. Mackintosh entered himself at Lincoln's Inu, and commenced the study of the law. It was whilst employed in this pursuit, that he suffered a severe domestic calamity in the loss of his wife; and the depression of mind which this event occasioned rendered it the more desirable that he should occupy himself in some congenial labours. He, therefore, directed his chief attention to the study of the law of nations, in which he is believed to have much excelled. Having digested the subject, he arranged the plan of a course of lectures upon it, which he delivered at Lincoln's Inn, and which were listened to with admiration by some of the greatest men of the day. The introductory lecture has been published, and exhibits the genius and research of its author in a very advantageous light. This treatise was published in 1799, four years after he had been called to the bar, during which time, he had entered into a second marriage with the daughter of J. B. Allen, Esq. of Cressity, in the county of Pembroke.

a

SLAVE AND FREE-LABOUR CONTRAST

ED: A HINT TO SLAVE-HOLDING
CULTIVATORS.

A WRITER in an American paper, says, “I
was coming from Washington city the other
where presently there came through the
day, and stopped at the half-way house;
lot thirteen horses, on each horse a negro,
and over each horse's shoulders a bag of oats.
They came along at a very slow walk, and
stopped at the tavern well. I asked them how
far they had come, and was answered, 'half a
mile;' and that each horse was to be watered;
and that then they would proceed to a field at
half an hour, and, when I left, they had not
some distance, to sow these oats. I remained
finished watering the horses. What would
these oats cost the cultivator of them, on such
a system? I presently passed a small new
house, and about thirty acres, well fenced, and
divided into four fields; and in one field were
a white man and two lads, planting potatoes;
by a yoke of oxen; one boy dropped the seed
the father dropped manure from a cart drawn
from the basket, and the other covered the hill
before the manure became sun-dried and im-
poverished. Thought I to myself, this man
will be able to undersell his wealthier neigh-
bour, in potatoes, and oats too, if he have any."
—Gen. Üniversal Emancipation.

POPULATION.

To conclude this very imperfect sketch, which our limits of time and space forbid us to extend, we must glance, in few words, at his other literary productions. The principal of these is his History of In 1803, a new scene opened upon him. England, of which a part only has apA prosecution had been set on foot against peared, in Dr. Lardner's Cabinet CycloM. Peltier, a French journalist, resident pædia, and the remainder has been found in London, at the instance of Buonaparte, since his death, as we understand, in then First Consul of France, for a libel different degrees of completeness, and upon himself. Mr. Percival, afterwards in "shreds and patches," very characprime minister, and the late Lord Tenter- teristic of the fitful temperament of the den (then Mr. Abbott), conducted the author. What we have been favoured prosecution, and Mr. Mackintosh singly with, though, perhaps, the subject is not undertook the defence. The verdict was the most adapted to the favourable exhigiven against M. Peltier; but the extra-bition of Sir James's talents, is impressed ordinary professional talent displayed by with all the prominent features of his inMr. Mackintosh marked him out as THERE is a striking disproportion in the tellectual character. The general plan comparative increase of the population of three person who might be employed in some and structure of it is highly philosophi- of the leading monarchies of Europe, during official station with great advantage to cal; the thought is free and vigorous; the last ten or twelve years. England, Wales, his country. The Recordership of Bom- and occasionally we meet with the well- and Scotland, had 14,072,331 inhabitants in bay was accordingly offered to him in the known bursts of his rampant and impe-1821, and, in 1831, 16,255,605, showing an same year, which, after some hesitation, tuous eloquence-the chafing of his ge- Prussia increased her population by 2,033,315 average increase of 218,334 souls per annum; he accepted, and spent nine years in that nius, impatient of the chastening severity souls during the interval between 1817 and capacity, at the expiration of which he of the historical style. Besides this, we 1828, being an average increase of 184,846, was obliged to relinquish his arduous and have from his pen "Discourses on the which, on an average population of 11,000,000, effective services, and return to England. Laws of England," published in 1799; is far greater than our own; and France, during In 1813 he commenced his parliamentary and various admirable criticisms in the the same eleven years, exhibited an increase of career, as representative of the county of Edinburgh and Monthly Reviews, are 2,260,530 only, averaging but 205,502 a year, Nairn, in Scotland. In the field of debate confidently attributed to his pen. on an average population of scarcely more In he had some serious difficulties to oppose addition to these works his history creased at the rate of the Prussian, it ought to than 30,000,000. Had our population in-a harsh voice, and a strong provincial of Moral and Metaphysical Science have given an average augmentation of 258,700 pronunciation. These, however, soon will ever be esteemed among the most per annum, whilst the French should have yielded. His firm and consistent sup- valuable productions of his pen. He added an average of 554,400 to its number, port of his principles, and his energetic died on the 30th of May in the instead of only 205,502. and impassioned cloquence, soon gained year. In addition to what has already him the respectful attention of the house; been said of his character, we may add, and few men have shown more power to that it was graced with private and social tured in England, is estimated at £6,000,000 THE first-cost of a year's cotton, manufaccompose or to agitate the stormy ele- virtues of a high order, which contributed sterling; the wages paid to 833,000 persons ments it contained, than did Sir James to the admiration of his talents the rarer employed in its manufacture, in various ways, on many memorable occasions. His ar- addition of personal affection from all is £20,000,000 sterling; the profit of the ma dour was chiefly directed to the reforma- who were privileged with his intimacy.nufacturers may be estimated at £6,000,000 tion of the criminal code, a task be- We cannot close without adverting to the queathed to him by his unfortunate but silence and neglect with which the event highly-gifted friend, Sir Samuel Romilly. of Sir James Mackintosh's death was Various other questions received from treated in the House of Commons. There him occasional attention; but, above all, was a time when departed greatness re

present

COTTON.

at least. This gives a clear profit of £20,000,000 from the manufacture of not quite one-third of manufactured over the unwrought material is the amount; or the increased value of the 31-4d to 1; and nearly a million of persons besides get from it constant employment.

REVIEW,

REMARKS ON THE COLONY OF LIBERIA, AND
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
By C. STUART. London: J. Messeden.
1832.

A LETTER TO THOMAS CLARKSON. BY JAMES
CROPPER. And PREJUDICE VINCIBLE, &C.
By C. STUART. Liverpool: Egerton, Smith,

& Co. 1832.

ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER. No. 102.

societies, and all their kindred and ill-judged mea

sures."

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Indeed, Sir, ALL OF US LOOK TO FORCE of some kind or other, direct or indirect, moral or

physical, legal or illegal. Many who are opposed,
they say, to any compulsory feature in the bill,
desire to introduce such severe regulations into our
police laws-such restrictions of their existing
privileges-such inability to hold property, obtain
employment, rent residences, &c., as to make it
impossible for them to remain amongst us.
Is not,
this force?'

Mr. Fisher said: If we wait until the free negroes consent to leave the state, we shall wait until time is no more. They never will give their consent; and, he believed, if the house amended

the bill as proposed, and the compulsory principle forced to leave by the harsh treatment of the were stricken out, this class of people would be whites."

We could say much on the iniquity of this, and some similar proceedings in America, but the subject ere long, for the purpose of noour limits forbid. We shall probably recur to ticing some points which we are compelled to omit at present. In the meanwhile, let the friends of humanity and constitutional freedom discountenance the scheme as essentially unjust, tending to the perpetuation of slavery, which slavery is the hot-bed. "The term diaand to the encouragement of all the vices of

open butchery to be resorted to, as among the Spar- mities will be perpetrated, to induce this class of tans with the helots; or general emancipation and in-persons to leave the State. Who does not know corporation, as in South America; or abandonment of that when a free negro, by crime or otherwise, has the country by the masters?' Either of these was a rendered himself obnoxious to a neighbourhood, deplorable catastrophe:-could all of them be how easy it is for a party to visit him one night, avoided?-and if they could, how? 'There was take him from his bed and family, and apply to him but one way, and it was to provide and keep open a the gentle admonition of a severe flagellation, to drain for the excess of increase, beyond the occasions induce him to consent to go away? In a few nights already opened. The African Repository, vol. 7, in the language of the physicians, quantum suff. of profitable employment, &c. &c. This drain was the dose can be repeated, perhaps increased, until, page 246, says, Enough, under favourable cir- has been administered to produce the desired opecumstances, might be removed for a few successive ration; and the fellow then becomes perfectly willyears, if young females were encouraged to go, to ing to move away. WE class these publications together, as keep the whole coloured population in check!!! In 14th Report, pages 12 and 13.-' And the they relate to the same subject, and are emi-slave-holder, so far from having just cause to comnently adapted to disabuse the public mind in plain of the Colonization Society, has reason to reference to the character and design of the congratulate himself, that in this institution a American Colonization Society. It has been channel is opened up, in which the public feeling with much pain we have discovered the truth and public action can flow on without doing vioof the case, and we feel it due to the cause of leace to his rights! The closing of this channel humanity and truth unhesitatingly to anmight be calamitous to the slave-holder beyond his nounce our conviction. In common with conception; for the stream of benevolence that many friends of the Negro race, we hailed the now flows so innocently in it might then break out in forms even far more disastrous than abolition first announcement of this Society as an omen of good to Africa. We imagined it was based on righteous principles, and would prove subservient to the happiness of the Negro and the The cloak under which this nefarious design civilization of Africa generally. In this conis concealed is that of Christianizing Africa. clusion we have erred, and we should not be "The Society proposes to send, not one or two honest to the Anti-slavery cause if we did not at pious members of Christianity into a foreign once seek to unmask the delusion. It is, probably, land, but to transport annually, for an indefiknown to many of our readers, that an agent nite number of years, in one view of its scheme of the Colonization Society is now in Eng-6000, in another 56,000, missionaries of the land, soliciting pecuniary aid. His applica- descendants of Africa, itself to communicate tions have naturally led to some enquiries re- the benefits of our religion and of the arts."specting the principles and history of the So- Report of the Pennsylvania Col. Society, ciety, and we regret to say that the result has for 1830. And yet the same persons are debeen most unsatisfactory and painful. Mr. scribed in the Thirteenth Report of the General Cropper and Captain Stuart, whose names are Society, as an "unfortunate, degraded, and well known to the Anti-slavery public, and anomalous class." "They are, emphatically," whose characters command universal respect, it is said, “ a mildew upon our fields, a scourge have come forward, in the pamphlets before to our backs, and a stain upon our escutcheon.bolical," remarks Mr. Cropper, “is not too severe; for never did Satan, with more sucus, to acquaint the public with the true state To remove them is mercy to ourselves and of the case. The Anti-slavery Reporter, also, justice to them." Again: Fifteenth Re-cess, transform himself into an angel of light, than in the gloss which has covered its dehas taken up the subject, in its present num-port, "The race in question were known, as ber, so that we hope the religious and humane a class, to be destitute, depraved, the victims formities." That any of the philanthropists of of this country will be effectually guarded of all forms of social misery." Such is the America, or of our own country, should have against a misappropriation of their funds. inconsistency of error. Africa is to be blessed lent their influence to it, must have resulted The state of the case appears to be this the with an importation of 56,000 missionaries from ignorance, and cannot long be continued. Colonization Society originates in the dis- annually, drawn from the lowest and most de- Truth is omnipotent, and, though suppressed for a season, will ultimately triumph. graceful prejudices of the white class in Ame- praved of the American population. rica, and is adapted to perpetuate slavery in the States by removing the competition which arises from the presence of the free coloured population. The slave-holders, therefore, are amongst its warmest supporters; while the free coloured people protest against its proceedings, as based in unrighteousness and tending to their ruin. The black population, both free and enslaved, is rapidly increasing. The former is already about half a million the latter upwards of two millions. This increase terrifies the slave party, and they therefore propose to transport the free black to Africa, in the hope of being able more easily to retain their slaves in bondage. This is not the representation of an enemy, but may fairly be gathered from their own Reports. Thus, in the Fifteenth Report, page 25, it is asked, "What is the free black to the slave? A standing, perpetual excitement to discontent. The slave would have then little excitement to discontent, but for the free black; he would have as little to habits of depredation, his next strongest tendency, but from the same source of deterioration."

Again-

15th Report, page 26.-'If none were drained away, slaves became inevitably and speedily redundant, &c. &c. When this stage had been reached, what course or remedy remained? Was

The advocates of this Society shrink not from proposing the most violent methods in order to accomplish its design. What will the British public think of the following language employed in the Virginia House of Delegates :

"It is idle to talk about not resorting to force,' said Mr. Broadnax, a member, every body must look to the introduction of force of some kind or other; and it is in truth a question of expediency, of moral justice, of political good faith, whether we shall fairly delineate our whole system on the face of the bill, or leave the acquisition of extorted consent to other processes. The real question, the only question of magnitude to be settled, is the great preliminary question-Do you intend to send the free persons of colour out of Virginia, or not? "If the free negroes are willing to go, they will go-if not willing, they must be compelled to go. Some gentlemen think it politic not now to insert this feature in the bill, though they proclaim

their readiness to resort to it when it becomes ne

cessary; they think that for a year or two a suffi-
cient number will consent to go, and then the rest
can be compelled. For my part, I deem it better
to approach the question and settle it at once, and
avow it openly.

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I have already expressed it as my opinion,
that few, very few, will voluntarily consent to emi-
grate, if no COMPULSORY MEASURE be adopted.

I will not express, in its full extent, the idea
I entertain of what has been done, or what enor-

CAPTAIN CAREW.

Ar the siege of Tortona, the commander of the army, which lay before the town, ordered Carew, an Irish officer in the service of Naples, to advance with a detachment to a particular post. Having given his orders, he whispered to Carew, Sir, know you to be a gallant man; I have, therefore, put you upon this duty. I tell you in confidence, it is certain death to` you all. I place you there to make the enemy spring a mine below you." Carew made a bow to the general, and then led on his men in silence to the dreadful post. He there stood with an undaunted countenance; and, having called to one of his soldiers for a draught of wine, "Here," said he, "I drink to all those who bravely fall in battle." Fortunately at that instant Tortona capitulated, and Carew escaped that destruction which he had so nobly displayed his readiness to encounter at the call of honour.-Percy Anecdotes.

LORD BACON.

WHEN the French Ambassador visited the illustrious Bacon, in his illness, and found him in bed, with the curtains drawn, he addressed this fulsome compliment to him :-"You are like the angels, of whom we hear and read much, but have not the pleasure of seeing them." The reply was the sentiment of a philosopher, and language not unworthy of a Christian ::-" If the complaisance of others compares me to an angel, my infirmities tell me I am a man.'

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APHORISMS.

PERHAPS that is nearly the perfection of good writing, which is original, but whose truth alone prevents the reader from suspecting that it is so: and which effects that for knowledge which the lens effects for the sun-beam, when it condenses its brightness in order to increase its force.-COLTON'S LACON.

Men carry their minds, for the most part, as they carry their watches, content to be ignorant of the constitution and action within, and attentive only to the little exterior circle of things to which the passions, like indexes, are pointing.-FOSTER.

The only humanity which, in the great affairs of men, claims their respect, is that manly and expanded humanity which fixes its steady eye on the object of general happiness.-SIR J. MACK

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ST. GERMAINS.

THE above is all that remains of a con- | mains. Among them is a magnificent vent of Augustine canons, now forming tomb, erected in memory of Edward part of a church, which constitutes the Eliot, uncle of the first Lord Eliot, with chief object of interest in the little town a recumbent statue of the deceased, and of St. Germains, in Cornwall. It con- other figures, executed by Rysbrack. Here also is the monument of Walter Moyle, an eminent writer, and intimate friend of Locke, who died in 1721.

LINES WRITTEN IN A LADY'S ALBUM. tains several monuments of the Eliot fa

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appears;

Then might I fitly hope to gain,
Forgiveness for the page I stain.

But life's a strange bewildering stream,
And 'tis not oft we find

That following far our favourite dream,
Leaves no blank ebb behind;
Renown or love-gold-titles-stars-
Whate'er our chase, it deeply mars

That music of the mind,

To which, when life was smiling yet,
Its thousand stirring strings were set.

And thus the discord grows, which turns
Our gladness into gloom,

And hearts, like rose-leaves, cast in urns, Yield but a faint perfume:

I can restring the lyre no more,

I cannot to the flower restore,
The beauty of its bloom,-

My flower is gathered, and my lyre

Is warm with no celestial fire.

Yet when in twilight of the spring,
The south-wind freshly blows;
It sometimes wakes the tuneless string,
And waves the withered rose;
Till both the flower and instrument,
Give forth a music and a scent,
Diviner from repose:
Ev'n thus my spirit from its thrall,
Awakes at thy enchanting call.
But, Mary, there's a sweeter voice,
A lovelier breeze abroad,
To bid the wilderness rejoice,

And tune the lifeless chord;
It is the still small whisper heard,
In the soul's solitude-the Word
And Spirit of the Lord,
Which, as it vibrates round us, brings
All Eden on its healing wings.
Come, Dove divine! immortal breath
Of mercy, make descent!
Speak life to the dull ear of death,
Speak peace to our lament;
Restring the broken chord, chastise
To goodness the lost soul that lies
In misery unmeant;

And for the blest Redeemer's sake,
Our living hearts thy Album make!

mily, upon the representative of which it confers the title of Earl of St. Ger

800,000 SUBJECTS

Of King William the IVth in Slavery.

TO ELECTORS.

The following QUESTION is recommended to be put to every Parliamentary Candidate, upon the subject of British Colonial Slavery.

In the event of your becoming a member of the next Parliament, will you vote for and strenuously measures for the immediate and entire support abolition of Colonial Slavery?

By the immediate abolition of Slavery is understood the substitution of judicial for the private and irresponsible authority now exercised by the master, securing to the Slave an equality of all Civil, Political, and Religious Rights. with the free-born subjects of Great Britain.

Agency Anti-Slavery Society's Office, 18, Aldermanbury.

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LANDSCAPE ANNUAL FOR 1833.
HE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL, or TOUR-

THT IN ITALY, for 1833, illustrated with twenty-six
beautiful Engravings in line, from Drawings by J. D.
HARDING: the Literary Department by THOMAS ROSCOE,
Esq.

Price One Guinea in Green Morocco. Large paper,

with India Proofs of the Plates, royal 8vo. Green Morocco, £2 12s. 6d. Portfolio, Columbier 4to.

Twenty-six Illustrations to the above, delivered in a

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£4 4 0

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India Proofs before letters India Proofs with letters • Proofs, white paper A few copies of each year, namely, 1830, 31, and 32, are left for sale at the prices above.

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This, the fourth Volume, completes the Tour of Italy, by

THERE is a system pursued in the German dominions of Austria, which has been attended with singularly beneficial results, in diffusing knowledge amongst the working classes, and, in fact, amongst the people in general. No village is without its school; and each school is under the care of a master, who is paid by the government. It is a law of the land, in the hereditary provinces, that no male can enter into the marriage state unless he is able to read, write, and cast accounts; and every master is liable to a heavy penalty, if he employ a workman who is unable to read and Messrs. Prout and Harding. write. Short publications of a moral character, which are compiled with great care, and sold at a low price, are circulated in every town, and throughout every cabin in the country. May we not refer it to this system, that crimes are of extremely rare occurrence in the German provinces of the crown of Hapsburgh? Indeed, it is accounted a disastrous year, so far as public morals are concerned, if two executions take place at Vienna in the course of the twelvemonth. Under what other sky, we may ask, is the schoolmaster abroad to so rich a purpose?-Quarterly Journal of Education.

JENNINGS AND CHAPLIN, 62, CHEAPSIDE.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. The suggestions of our Reading Correspondent will receive our immediate attention.

We have received the Poetry of F.
Our thanks are due to S.

Parts I. and II. of" The Tourist" are now ready. for delivery.

Printed by J. HADDON and Co.; and Published by J. CRISP, at No. 27, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, where all Advertisements and Communications for the Editor are to be addressed.

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But what strange arts, what magic can dispose
The troubled mind to change its native woes?
Or lead us willing from ourselves, to see
Others more wretched, more undone than we?
This, books can do-nor this alone; they give
New views to life, and teach us how to live;
They soothe the grieved, the stubborn they chastise;
Fools they admonish, and confirm the wise;
Their aid they yield to all: they never shun
The man of sorrow, nor the wretch undone ;
Unlike the hard, the selfish, and the proud,
They fly not sullen from the suppliant crowd;
Nor tell to various people various things,
But show to subjects what they show to kings.

The Library.-CRABBE.

FROM the earliest ages, and in every state of society, men have been desirous of preserving testimonies and memorials of the achievements and glory of their forefathers, their lustre being reflected on themselves. During many centuries, tradition alone conveyed from one generation to another the deeds and story of nations; but it naturally, in course of time, became obscure and fabulous, as

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To the Hebrews is attributed, in the collection and preservation of the Sacred Writings, the earliest formation of a library. The Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and many other nations, formed public collections of books. The first literary collection of the Greeks was established by Pisistratus of Athens, in the sixth century before Christ; that of the Romans by Asinius Pollio; and the celebrated Alexandrian library by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 284 years B. C. This last contained 700,000 volumes; by which we must not understand volumes such as our modern libraries are composed of, but rolls of papyrus or parchment, each con

taining only a chapter or small subdivision of the whole work. This immense collection, after various vicissitudes, was at last totally destroyed by order of Omar, the Arabian caliph, A. D. 638; who, being solicited to preserve it, returned the well-known answer: "If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran they are useless, and not to be preserved: if they disagree they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed." Gibbon says,

66

'The sentence was executed with blind obedience; the volumes of paper or parchment were distributed to the four thousand baths of the city, and such was their incredible multitude, that six months were barely sufficient for the consumption of this precious fuel."

But two centuries before this period the northern hordes of barbarians had invaded the Roman empire, which crumbled to pieces under their unceasing attacks. In less than a century after their settle

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