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your contributors, at the house of an old young lady, who affects the fashionable oddity of a blue stocking, O what a meeting! our very faces had in their variety the chequered appearance of" your excellent Miscellany," to use the words of many a celebrated author. There was Philologomatheticos with a two-sheet-and-ahalf essay, praising brevity of speech, inscribed along the longitude of his philosophical face; there was Simeon Simkin, with a reading-made-easy sort of style, discoverable in certain dimples on his round cheeks; there was Languino" with a woful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrow," and a thousand sonnets to sun, moon, and stars, in his rolling eye, (all in his eye, you'll observe;) there were Farrago, and Nullo, and Nemo, and the whole range of the alphabet, with various combinations, from A to Z, from Alpha to Omega: but what I beg your particular attention to is, that all these gentlemen very modestly confessed, that they had great store of good things in their heads, if they could only get them to come out, or what is the same thing, if they could find a way of introducing them. Now, what can be easier for you than to write a hundred or two of these introductions, fold them up, and title them like law papers, placing them according to their nature in different compartments of your bureau, as did a famous advocate of old, named M. Tullius Cicero, Esq. who, I am persuaded, conducted one of the principal reviews of his time? so that, when any of us felt at a loss for an introduction to some notions of importance, which your contributors have in great abundance, we might apply to our literary sovereign, sure of obtaining one to fit. The advantages of such a plan are so manifest, that it would be a useless parade of argument to reason any more upon the subject. I shall, therefore, be satisfied with humbly offering the beginnings of a few original introductions, which you may amend and amplify at your leisure, for the aforementioned excellent purpose.

And now to metaphysics grant we the foremost place. Does Profundus wish to plunge into the abyss of man's

Celebrated in the page devoted to answers to Correspondents.

moral nature and obligations? let him set out with a "I do not know whether there is in man a greater propensity to good or evil, but of one thing I am certain, that sometimes he falls into the former, and sometimes is guilty of the latter;" or, "The nature of man is in itself so complicated, and, owing to circumstances, makes its appearance in so many different lights, that it is next to impossible to know any thing about it at all. I shall, however, give a full explanation of the matter," &c. There is a taking modesty about this; but having thus set pen, to paper, let him, like John Bunyan, beware

Lest thoughts should breed so fast
As prove ad infinitum at the last.

Is Dromio desirous of opening up the treasures of his comic vein, but hesitating as to the manner of first breaking the ground? let mine host of the Green Lion enter, bawling in vain to arouse his lazy myrmidons. Does Buskin feel inclined to treat

your readers with a morsel of tragedy? let fear and awe fall from the lips of a moderate number of monks, whose faces whiten in the foreground, while the heavens are represented as blackening in the back; otherwise, let the steward Butto and the menial Servio be discovered over a flagon of wine, or a bowl of punch, discussing with great prudence and sagacity the affairs of their mysterious master Mantric, and his divine daughter the angelic Angelica. As for that rambling hair-brained fellow Pasquine, when he writes any thing, no other introduction is necessary than his own impudence. Would any lover of the ancient ballad lead your readers to the subjects of an exploded but highly interesting credulity? he might commence with something like the following:

I zeid ane faerie on ye grene,

Whilk was ane beauteous sighte, Brighte and blue was her glauncyng eyne,

And her fete thaie daunced sae lighte. And aye as scho whiskit round and round, Scho sang ane eirie sang,

Nae manne mot heare that wildynge sound, And duelle wi' ye livynge lang, and so forth. But of all writers, writers of tales stand most in need of introductions. The carriage has so often broken down at the cottage door, -the wounded knight has so often

in the compahy of a very intelligent personage, who will easily understand all he has to say, and he feels himself constrained to proceed, when lo, and behold!

Forth springeth from these words

Or th' endless host of thoughts allied to
mirth,

In varied yet unbroken consequence;
As fate, or chance, or talent shall decide.
OLD MULBERRY.

ON PROPHECY.

Θεηγορὸς ἔςςι Προφήτης· ἄγγελος ἔςςομένων.

been carried from the Black Forest to
the Gray Castle, the horrors of the
darkest night in the gloomy month of
November, when the rain fell in tor-
rents, when the wind howled with
tremendous blasts, when the cries of
the foundling were heard faintly in Essay or poem, tale or legend wild,
the pauses of the storm, these acci-
dents, and these horrors, I say, have
so often recurred, that no respectable
tale is willing to be ushered in by
such forerunners. If Narro, then,
will delight us with his tales, alas, too
true, let him be original in his intro-
ductions, let him begin with some re-
flection of his own, which shall be il-
lustrated by the facts he has to re-
late; and let him become acquainted
with these facts in a natural way, not
through the medium of some tobacco
paper, or some mouldy manuscript,
found in the garret of a starved and
solitary author, a hundred years after
his death, which, notwithstanding its
being torn and illegible in a thousand
places, is always as full in its infor-
mation as any production of the pre-
sent day, which regularly begins at
the beginning, and ends at the end.
These shifts won't do now-a-days;
we are too well informed to be taken
in so. A friend of mine, who puts
great faith in these introductions, and
who, for seven and twenty years, has
picked up and examined every piece
of paper he could find, as religiously
as ever a Turk did, candidly con-
fesses, that the papers which inclosed
his butter, snuff, &c. were always
grocers' old bills, scrawled after a most
horrible fashion; and though he has
scrupulously inspected a vast number
of garrets, he has never been so for-
tunate as to find even one of these
venerable MSS.

In fine, I would recommend to all writers for magazines, a plan of be ginning equally universal and easy. No subject in the whole range of man's knowledge or imagination can be so uncommon as not to follow, with propriety, this wonderful introduction; and it is contained in two words, viz." Mr Editor." There is no fear of a man who has any brains after he has got this length; he finds himself

The Turks secure every piece of paper they can meet with, believing that these fragments will arrange themselves beneath their feet, when they have to pass the bridge of red-hot iron.

THE uniformity of the laws of nature, taken in conjunction with that faculty of the human mind, which may be called the power of induction, or generalisation, naturally conducts to the discovery of rules or laws. The correct application of these rules or laws is, accordingly, the attribute of minds endowed with a turn for philosophising, and is at once the great benefit that accrues to men from the extension of science, and the powerful engine by which knowledge is rendered subsidiary to the increase of human power. But what is ap propriately denominated science, with regard to subjects of physical inquiry, assumes the name of experience, with reference to human actions, and human affairs. In science, and in the affairs of life, the mental operation is the same, however different the results. In both cases, a general law is traced through an immense complexity and aggregation of individual facts, though the degree of certainty which will belong to the future synthetical application of the rule, will solely depend on the intrinsic attributes of the individual facts that have been the subject of our examination in the elaboration of the rule, or law. In science, our conclusions are certain, because the properties of the subjects of investigation are either immutable, or vary within certain limits. In common life, on the other hand, the volitions of men are perpetually vacillating, and accidents and events are constantly occurring to affect the conclusions of the inductive faculty, and to direct the current of human actions and opinions into new channels. Yet,

after making every proper allowance for this admitted peculiarity, in the latter instance, there can be no question, that the course of human affairs exhibits, at the long run, general laws; and hence we are enabled to account for the almost prophetic foresight which men of profound learning, extensive observation, and penetrating sagacity, have sometimes displayed, in their premonitory intimations relative to events as yet undelivered from the womb of Time.

From all this, then, it follows, that Prophecy, and that degree of foresight with respect to future events which is referable to human sagacity, must be totally and essentially different. The following criteria seem to determine what is meant by a true and actual prediction. 1. The event foretold must extend to a period too remote, or be of a complexion too anomalous and unique to admit the supposed intervention of a sagacious divination from past experience, or from the tenor of events presently passing in the world. 2. Prophecy must enter into minute details, draw distinct pictures, impress peculiar features, and give a distinct and easily-knowable individuality to the future occurrences and personages which it undertakes to describe. 3. To carry with them a necessary and profitable authority, the enunciations of the Prophet must be attended by the visible manifestations of the Prophet's God.

To pry into futurity is a fundamental tendency in the mind of man, is at once indicative of his ignorance, and of the cravings of his nature for brighter illumination and deeper knowledge, and has, in all nations and times, proved the fruitful parent of those ridiculous and fantastical superstitions, which have so frequently enabled the crafty few to enslave at once the bodies and the spirits of the ignorant and credulous many. Yet, to foretell, with accuracy and minuteness, events yet unborn seems to be a godlike quality. Prescience is the unparticipated attribute of Deity. He alone sees into futurity, and KE alone can, therefore, communicate the power to foretell what it is not given to the spirit of man, in its present condition, to know. But, here, the question returns; supposing the gift of prophecy, for special purposes, to be communicated to certain lofty and superior

minds, elevated above the baser and more earthly weaknesses of common men; how shall this power be recognised in a short-sighted mortal, incident to the errors and imperfections of his fellow-men,-and amidst the clouds of ignorance, superstition, and imposture, that successively obscure, and lord it over the human mind ?— Upon this question hangs the whole matter under consideration. And here I remark, that the three criteria above specified seem to me to determine the quality of a prophecy abstractedly considered; but to bestow on it a present and immediate effect, it must be attended (1.) with a direct exhibition of the concomitant operation of Divine power; and (2.) with the positive prediction of proximate, but unexpected events-with a minuteness, precision, and detail, which no degree of human sagacity could admit, and which, being fulfilled in the lifetime of the prophet, may found a substantial claim to credibility, in regard to those predictions which look forward into the shadows and darkness of a long futurity. A prophet would be a comparatively useless minister of religion were his predictions disregarded, contemned, or forgotten in his lifetime. Prophecy was generally intended to serve an immediate as well as a remote purpose. The greater part of the sacred writings of the Jews consist of the records of prophecy, which foretold the advent of an era of light and emancipation, when a purer faith, and the principles of a more propitious and comprehensive religious toleration should be disseminated in the world; but these were uniformly conjoined with some strong injunctions, and admonitions, as to present conduct. Farther, we have only to look into these prophecies to be satisfied of the truth of the preceding remarks. Miracles were performed by Moses, Elijah, Daniel, &c. and predictions of approaching, but unexpected, events were delivered by all. Of this we have memorable examples in Elijah's prediction that it should not rain for three years and six months; of Daniel's interpretation of the handwriting on the wall, and of Nebuchadnezzar's dream; and above all, of our Saviour's prediction of the sacking of Jerusalem, and the horrors and atrocities with which it would be attended-an event which at the time

of the prophecy was most improbable, and which, from its proximity, must have been considered as decisive of his character and his mission.

And here it ought to be remarked, as a general corollary from what has been advanced, that prophecy exercises a double function; it sustains the faith of those to whom it is immediately addressed, and of those that follow after them under the same system; and it lays the foundation for the creed of those born to witness its accomplishment. It must therefore be in the first instance believed, for one or other, or both, of the reasons already assigned, viz. the working of miracles, or the prediction of proximate events; and while its truth reIceives in its fulfilment its last and appropriate vindication, it must be seen not only to derive its existence from God, but to have proceeded for a particular purpose. No prophecy was ever uttered merely to astonish or amaze, but to serve a useful end. This is applicable to every prophecy contained within the two sides of the Bible. If then all these requisites be congregated in one group of authentication, THE PROPHECY IS TRUE.

With respect to the majority of the Jewish prophecies little need be said. Every mind must be struck to find in them a constant and beautiful accom

modation to one great and mighty object, a striking convergence to one glorious point of consummation-the preparation of mens' understandings and hearts for a cordial reception of that incarnate God who brought life and immortality to light by his gospel. Take the event and the prophecy, compare them together, allow for the distance of time that intervened between these two extreme points of the series, ascribe to human sagacity as much as you possibly can, resist all belief in superior agency as long as you can, refuse every proof that is short of demonstration; do all this, and yet say, if you can, that the marvellous coincidence above alluded to is either accidental or imaginary?

It has been said that prophecy is obscure. So is a book of travels that describes the manners, customs, and institutions, of a country wholly different from our own. The state of the world, 500 or 1000 years hence, will, in all likelihood, be as dissimilar to its present condition, as the civil

and political manners and institutions of Great Britain now differ from those of the Siamese or Otaheitans. We cannot form distinct conceptions of either, because the points of coincidence and association are comparatively few. What may, therefore, be a very correct description of the future state of the world, and of the individuals destined to act a conspicuous part in the mighty drama of humanity, may not be very intelligible to those who live ages before the period to which these descriptions and predictions directly and specially apply. It is enough if it be proved by infallible historical evidence that the prediction foreran the event by centuries, and that no man could possibly mistake or misunderstand it when the era of fulfilment arrived.-I am, &c. A FREETHINKER.

SKETCHES OF MANNERS, SCENERY, &c. IN THE FRENCH PROVINCES, SWITZERLAND, AND ITALY, WITH AN ESSAY ON FRENCH LITERATURE.

whose title we have just copied, became first known to the literary world by his Paris Visited and Revisited, promise, and which at once raised works of great power and auspicious him to a high place among men of talent and genius. He seemed gifted by nature with a vigorous fancy, and strong conception, and although the purity of his taste and style might with which we delighted to sympasometimes be questioned, a spirit thise, breathed throughout his writings, while the soundness of his judgment, and the purity of his principles, stamped a peculiar value on all his compositions. Mr Scott was obviously a man of an ardent and oriHis ideas of honour ginal mind. were as lofty as his love of virtue was innate and habitual. But while his talents commanded the admiration, the qualities of his heart were fitted to secure the affections of his friends; and no man ever had fairer prospects of rising to distinction in the world,

THE lamented author of the volume

By the late John Scott, Esq. author of the Visit to Paris, &c. London, Longman and Co. 1821.

when these were at once blasted for ever in the cruelest and most unlookedfor manner. The public have already made up their minds as to the nature of the transactions which led to his extermination, and we have no wish to fret those sores which are yet recent, and must still, we fear, rankle and fester in hopeless and incurable malignity. But when we say,

MULTIS ille BONIS flebilis occidit, we hazard an assertion which we suspect there is hardly one man breathing disposed, or at least competent to deny; and we would indulge the flattering hope that a death which we join with every right-thinking man in bewailing, may not prove valueless in as far as regards the moral dignity and purity of our national literature. The first part of this volume only and the Essay on French Literature, which "was, in substance, published in a review," are all that the author appears to have prepared for the press. The spirit that pervades the whole, however, is admirable. His account of the provinces of Normandy and Bretagne supplies a great desideratum in travelling literature; his remarks on the traces which he discovered, and the effects which he saw exemplified of the French Revolution, coming as they do from a Whig, and a man of liberal principles, must carry great weight with the moderate of all parties; and his Sketches of Scenery on the banks of the Loire are at once original and interesting; disclosing to us in lively pictures, and fine descriptions, a scene generally untravelled by our "ambulating" countrymen, and manifesting a power of imagination, and a warm feeling for natural beauty, which, compared with the galimatias of other "voyageurs," are quite attractive and refreshing. He seems, however, to have seen little of Switzerland beyond Lausanne and Geneva, and his notes on Italy are nothing more than reminiscences in aid of his own recollection. As such, therefore, they claim an exemption from criticism. The Essay on French Literature is very cleverly, if not profoundly, written. The author appreciates, with much precision and taste, the force of national character on national literature, displays very convincingly the poverty of the French language in what

VOL. IX.

constitutes par excellence poetical expression, and developes, with singular ingenuity and effect, the influence of recent events on the morals, taste, and literature, of the French nation. The chief fault of this essay appears to be too great expansion. We find the same idea recurring again and again in a new dress and attitude, and are obliged to listen to illustration crowded on illustration, after our conviction was complete. This is the natural error of a mind and imagination unusually active, and overflowing with an exuberant redundancy of thoughts and images. But we must proceed to give our readers a few specimens of the interesting volume before us, which we would earnestly recommend to their attention on Two accounts: first, for its own intrinsic merits; and secondly, with reference to the future comfort of the remaining and afflicted branches of the author's family.

The following passage displays, in full perfection, the comforts of a French Inn.

"As they conducted us up two stairs of this large and externally magnificent building, we found every step besmeared with gross nastiness, and we were introduced through a dark passage, and one of their own bed-rooms, into the apartments allotted for us. Their walls, and particularly

those of the two bed-rooms, were stained all over with spitting. This, however incredible it may appear, is a common practice in France. The back of every bed, even in the first rate hotels of Paris, gives this beastly evidence to the coarse manners of its occupants. In fact, a Frenchman seems to consider spitting a gratification, and its frequency an accomplishment. He always makes a display of it; and he spits against his wall as readily as quite removed from all communication into his handkerchief. Our rooms seemed with those who were to attend on

us.

There were no bells to be found in them:

the yard below was large, and our distance from it great. We loudly objected to our situation, and requested to know how we should contrive to convey intimation of our wants to those who were to supply them. The dirtiest of the waiters had every thing to say for the place. There was a superb salle below: the chambers were bien propres, and our wishes would in every case be anticipated; but in case, by any accident, it should happen that Monsieur might have occasion to demand any thing, he would have the honour to shew Monsieur how to signify his pleasure. He accordingly led me out, with an air of self

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