the agonies of death, so that they "might dance to music." One prisoner was half gibbeted, and subsequently "finished off," in order to amuse this vile wretch, by Popish courtesy, termed-a soldier. Kirke's valiant companions in arms, also, quaffed bumpers of wine at their hotel windows, as a practical jest to irritate each criminal on ascending the scaffold for execution. Fit prototype was Jeffreys. Several hundred victims of the law fell under the inhuman severity of the Chief Justice. This wanton judge declared at Exeter "That he could smell a Presbyterian forty miles." In the course of this "Bloody Assize" the jurors, if at all wavering as to the completeness of the evidence, were bullied until they returned a verdict of guilty. Lady Lisle was the first victim. At Taunton a thousand one hundred were arraigned; of these two hundred and thirty-nine suffered death. Their mangled limbs, fixed up in various parts of that district, presented a hideous spectacle to the affrighted traveller. The total number of rebels hanged on this circuit was three hundred and twenty. Jeffreys, also, when invested with the dignity of Chancellor, could turn extortioner with wonderful facility; he received £15,000 from a person named Prideaux to save his life against suborners. The venerable Baxter, through the violence of this judicial monster, had passed upon him a severe sentence, for some passage of his paraphrase on the New Testament. Altogether the corruption in high circles was so predominant, as finally to have settled down into a regular system of plunder, by intimidation. Father Petre, the King's confessor, had £3,000 of the money that Hampden was in this manner compelled to pay; whilst the Maids of Honour levied similar black-mail on many of their own sex. Notwithstanding these atrocities, committed in the name of Justice, the King unfeelingly styled the special commission "Jeffreys' western campaign;" a sickly joke for a Catholic potentate to indulge over such carnage of his subjects. Assuredly the thirst for blood is an insatiable appetite which plunges the wretch that has so fiendish a propensity, deeper and deeper into the vortex of cruelty, until the natural feelings manifest a complete revulsion: mirth usurps the place of sympathy— and vengeance of mercy. How solemn is the reflection, that throughout the countless ages of eternity, the abode of the lost will be peopled with such arch workers of iniquity!

At this juncture, both King and statesmen, conjointly threatened by the perfidy of their actions, to submerge England into her former slavery; but, after a limited time, occupied with the schemes of political vision

aries, and the hasty Royal encouragement given to the Jesuits, also the utter disregard of that vital principle in the government of nationsLiberty, James encountered many vicissitudes and was compelled to abdicate. How did the dethroned Monarch interest himself about the fate of his country, at this extremity of his fortunes? Why, in harmony with his creed, lamenting to Lord Winchelsea, that he (the ex-King) had lost a scrap of wood, said to be a relic of the true cross, and which holy trifle was originally found in the tomb of Edward the Confessor ! No unusual pedigree for the sacred antiquities of Rome. Even a personage so deficient of moral principles as James, finds an apologist in the Comte de Montalembert, who contends "that the King paid with his crown the hazardous honour of having tried to imitate Louis XIV, in imposing at the same time Catholicism and absolute power on his subjects." If it be noble to direct sanguinary measures against the people, for the purpose of satisfying ones private feelings of revenge, and raising the bigotry of the few over the many, then King James II. is entitled to share the fame of his illustrious exemplar-Mary. The next event relating to this regal episode, was the arrival of James at the French Court, with the appellation of "Saint;"-being the last fragment of Popish fiction, ever attached to the throne of England.

The following reign of William and Mary, was an era of toleration. The laws enacting uniformity of worship were abolished, and thereby Dissenters gained liberty to conduct public worship in accordance with the dictates of their consciences: taking the oath of allegiance and holding no secret meetings being the only restrictions enjoined. It is almost needless to observe, that these concessions were obtained under Protestant rule. In the early part of this reign, the ex-King was suspected of giving encouragement to a plan for the assassination of William III; but, Providentially, these "holy Catholic designs were frustrated. Newton, the immortal philosopher, and Tillotson, the eminent divine now flourished. The sun may shine on for ever, without shining upon a genius, equal to rival in execution the abstruse grandeur of the Principia.

From the accession of Queen Anne down to the present epoch, civil and religious liberty, after undergoing many vicissitudes, have found an asylum in England. These terms, which comprise popular rights and freedom of opinion, ought not to be confused with the clamorous requirements of democracy: they (the former) are unmistakeable, as

applied to those self-evident principles of Government that receive the assent of nearly all moderate parties. Though much of this progression is only theoretical, yet few public grievances have been hitherto ascertained in their aggregate nature, and a clearly defined remedy sought of the Parliament, without a remission of such particular burdens ultimately taking place. Reform, Free Trade, Catholic Emancipation, Abolition of the Slave Trade, and the admission of Jews into the Senate are examples in point. Hence, right is not a favour sought, but a demand of natural justice.

The Jacobins may be considered as the remnant of those actors that have so long cherished a system of intrigue, for the advancement of Popery in England. Ecclesiastical domination is overthrown. Its absolute sway will no more arise than feudal times, or poll taxes can be revived out of the ashes of the past. Priestcraft may contrive and wriggle, yet not again become so brazen and so omnipotent as of yore. In marked contrast to the bigotry of Romish rulers, the Protestant reigns of Anne and the Georges (personally the latter were sad scoundrels), elevated our country to a high standard of civilization. Admitted, that the barriers of error when once forced open could not be entirely closed; still despotism can blight those improvements it dares not attempt to crush. Commerce, wealth, learning, laws, and religion having been based upon the true essentials of security, namely, Freedom; it is not surprising that the refined Jesuitical arts of Rome, together with her bitter cruelties, vanished at the near approach of Christian Liberty. Every reign, either directly or indirectly, corrupted by Popery, uniformly exhibits its dark track of horrors; whilst (singular coincidence! the sophist exclaims) Protestant power, though defective and weak, has been invariably characterized with some degree of moderation and much real progress. To the unbiased observer, history tells this tale throughout. That we have only preserved "the memory of Catholic Rulers" is a solecism. Thus the notoriety of Mary, James, and Charles is far from being either exalted, or enviable. Dissolute, cruel, and bigoted, are the triad features of their several characters. Protestant Kings and Queens gave us real independence. Liberty and Protestantism are convertible terms in England, and ever have been. James I., (though a hybrid) ordered the Scriptures to be translated into the present English version; whilst Elizabeth extended an Englishman's privileges to a degree unknown amid the narrow policy of Popish Monarchies. The motives of

the former King, though somewhat obscure, were avowedly Christian; thus, if he sinned against his conscience, why posterity reaps the advantage of such dissimulation.

Comte de Montalembert says "the pride of the Anglicans and the fanaticism of the Dissenters would rejoice at seeing the Catholics replunged into their former slavery." Without lingering to investigate the anomaly of the majority of a people madly desiring to accomplish a certain end, to wit, enforcing pains and penalties against Papists; nevertheless, they do not effect this delightful object-let us proceed to examine the "glory of the Holy Catholic Church" upon its "all in all" ground -the continent of Europe. Then we shall perceive the imaginary serfdom of English Protestants in contradistinction to that universal bond of brotherhood, so freely enjoyed by the followers of the Romish Church. Thriving amongst zealous partizans and the grossest luxuriance of ritual; also constantly plied with ample revenues as well as bidding defiance to civil law-behold! the past efforts of Popery arrayed in all the lust of power and the magnificence of error.

ANTICHRIST ABROAD. A detailed examination of French history would be very apposite, as a set-off against the defects and the irregularities of our own nation; for the actions of a people within the pale of the "true" Church ought, on retrospection, to present more legitimate and glorious facts than could possibly be extracted out of the annals of heretics. Reason and Revelation both teach, "that a tree shall be known by its fruit." Does this method of deduction prove favourable to our foreign neighbours? No :—lust, and rapacity stain the records of the lives of French Kings, as of their Anglo contemporaries. In fact, some pages of French history, even surpass the most sanguinary and appalling of our native chapters of tragic incidents. The sway of crime is flexible: it bends to all local specialities, and thus enfolds the Empire of the world. However, the limits of a Review compel the writer to forbear impeaching the whole race of Catholic French Monarchs at the bar of public opinion. Further, recrimination, even as a subsidary aid, is adverse to those great arguments which can be adduced in support of the Truth.

To sum up briefly in historical order, the lineal course of Gallie Kings, we notice firstly:-of the Merovingian race, Chilperic I, surnamed the Nero of France; also Dagobert I, who was enslaved by superstition, and bestowed his revenues upon the monks in return for their

flattery are respectively the infamous and the puerile examples of this class of Kings whilst Louis I, called the Debonnaire, a weak, priestbound Monarch, and Charles the Bald, whose vices were legion, and his word too weak; likewise the fifth Louis, termed the Slothful, a King despised both for his evil propensities and folly, comprize regal specimens of the Carlovingian race. Next in order, is Philip I, who reigned at the time of our Conquest. He frequently quarrelled with William of England; and the issue of their struggles was bloody. Avarice and ingratitude were Philip's characteristics. The closing part of his life presents still more odious features, having been occupied with voluptuous pleasures. Though not distinguished by any historical soubriquet, this King might significantly be styled the Caligula of France. During the above reign, Peter the Hermit, a fanatical Ecclesiastic preached the Crusades, a mad project for recovering Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Saracens. In the first enterprise, nearly 500,000 persons engaged, of whom the greater number perished. Differences between rival sects have led to the most prolonged, and violent contests ever recorded. Neither political faction, nor ancestral feuds equal the violence, the treachery, and the fanaticism manifested in such "Holy" struggles. If the histories of so-called religious wars were concentrated into one statistical focus of observation, what an amazing amount of slaughter would be thereby exhibited! In obedience to the corrupt demands of the age, Philip III. continued these sanguinary wars against the Infidels; for, beside his own enormities, a general depravity of manners prevailed at this period. The annals of this King possess, moreover, a terrible notoriety for that massacre of the French known as the Sicilian Vespers, the inhuman butchery of the Albigenses, and the savage treatment of the Knight Templars. Louis X., the last prince but two of the Capetine line, strangled his Queen, and condemned Marigni, the Minister of the former reign, to the gibbet. The King first performed a mean act of injustice, namely, robbed that unhappy nobleman of his fortune, to defray the Coronation expenses. Louis XI., of the house of Valois, had the title of Most Christian King bestowed upon him by the Pope! The former was a barbarous oppressor of humanity; unbounded in his ambition; an absolute tyrant, whose subjects and neighbours hated him. Though the reigns of Francis II. and Charles IX. were deeply stained with Protestant blood, yet those Kings can only be regarded as the miserable instruments of Catherine de Medicis, who was