had tacked it together, who requires a portion of the respect due to ministers, would deserve the opposite of praise and popularity. But what J. A. meant by the expression, am at a loss to understand. Supposing a selection or gleaning to be made, from the works of celebrated divines, " such a sermon could only deserve censure, was it published without the due acknowledgments;" then, if these acknowledgments were not made, the sermon would deserve censure, but," to make them from the pulpit, would be tormentingly pedantic," and, " by disturbing the ideas, interrupt the argument, and greatly diminish the effect of the whole," consequently it would be highly improper to make them; and from the foregoing propositions it appears, that the sermon, or rather minister, would deserve censure, even all the severity of censure, which a “public exposure was intended to convey.

T. T.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE POCKET MAGAZINE.

MR. EDITOR,-IN your last number I perceive an article, entitled an "Essay on Oratory." It consists of a few extracts from a paper I wrote about two years ago, in a letter to a friend; who has, without my knowledge, sent it to you, having omitted many parts of the original, and substituted some observations of his own.

I never intended that the paper should be submitted to the public, or I would have taken more care in its construction. I am sorry it has appeared in its present state, as the alterations made by my friend are not consonant with my ideas on the subject. I will, with your permission, notice one of them.

My friend writes, 66 an art, attained with no great difficulty." In my letter it was thus expressed: "An art, the attainment of which is the certain road to fame, and frequently to fortune. It is true, that to some persons, not endowed by nature with rhetorical talents, the difficulties are so great that they can never surmount them; while others, to whom she has been more bountiful in this particular, soon rise, with little tuition, to oratorical celebrity. Notwithstanding this,

I would recommend it to the attention of all; for although those, who have not some of the principal requisites of eloquence engrafted in them by nature, can never expect to excel as orators, yet, by care and diligence, they may become very tolerable speakers, and sometimes soar above mediocrity."

There are other observations of my friend's, with which I do not perfectly agree; but I will not contradict them, as I am unwilling to occupy the pages of your valuable publication unnecessarily on this subject, and perhaps to the exclusion of more interesting

matter.

Another correspondent of your's, (J. A.) is displeased at the freedom with which the compositions, ungraceful delivery, &c. of some of our divines are criticised. I am sorry to say these worthy pastors have brought it all upon themselves; and the only way to remedy it is, to pay some attention to the science of rhetoric. Is it not painful to hear those professors of divinity, inculcating some of the finest theological precepts, in a whining tone, and continued monotony? or to hear them repeating the solemn words of "Lord have mercy upon us!" and at the same time looking carelessly over the reading desk, to see who is sitting in the next pew? J. A. may rest assured that the fault is generally with the preacher, and not with the people who criticise: for a good preacher will impress his audience with the greatness of the subject, and remind them of their future state; he will send them home, not to criticise his language, or ridicule his gesture, but to endeavour to profit from what they have heard. The preacher who cannot effect this has no business in the pulpit. I am convinced that the reason which induces many people to absent themselves from public worship, is the insipid style, and inanimate delivery, of the preacher for in those churches where the pulpit is more ably filled, so in proportion is the church more crowded.

I will not trouble you with any further remarks on J. A.'s hypothesis, as I think he has been sufficiently answered by your judicious observations. Wishing that your magazine may still increase in popular favour, I remain, sir, your obedient servant,

August 12th, 1818.

D. P.

ANECDOTE AND WIT.

No. 9.-DUTCH HEROISM.

ALBERT BEILING, who in the fifteenth century was governor of the town of Schoonhoeven, having defended it obstinately against the faction of Hoeck, on being taken, was condemned to be buried alive. Requesting a month's delay to put his affairs in order, it was granted him, on his parole. The month expired; he returned, and his sentence was executed. About the same time, the little town of Barneveld was attacked by the opposite party, the faction of Cabilliaux. John van Schaffelaar, with eighteen or nineteen others, retired into a church, which they bravely maintained for some time. Convinced, however, of the inutility of their resistance, they at length demanded to capitulate. They were answered, that they should have no quarter, unless they would throw their leader down headlong from the tower. Rather than dishonour themselves thus, they resolved to die. But Van Schaffelaar, knowing the implacable animosity of their enemies, voluntarily mounted the tower: "Friends," said he, "I must die once, and I will not be the cause of your deaths:" he then threw himself down on the pikes of the enemy, who stood underneath the wall, and soon dispatched him.

CHINESE JUSTICE AND MERCY.

A MAN of letters, called Ouang-si-Heou, lived in the country as a philosopher, amusing himself with writing and study. To enliven his works, and make them more read, he sometimes inserted in them what were deemed too bold expressions and reprehensible ideas. He was sixty years old, and had acquired wealth and reputation by his labours, when, in 1777, an enemy or a rival accused him. He was arrested, tried, and found guilty of the four following crimes. 1. The having dared to make an abridgment of the great dictionary of Kang-hi, and even in some places to contradict it. It is to be observed, that Kang-hi was an emperor, by whom, or by whose direction, the dictionary was made. 2. In the preface of this abridgment, he has had the audacity to

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use the little names of Confucius, and of the ancestors of the emperor: a want of respect, say the judges, that makes us tremble. We must add, that, in speaking of the emperors of China, it is not permitted to use the names which they bore before their accession to the throne: these names are ineffable in China. 3. The author has pretended to be a descendant of Hoang-ti, by the family of Tcheou. This is the same thing as if a man in Europe should pretend to be descended from one of the patriarchs. 4. Lastly, in his poems he has again insinuated this descent, using reprehensible expressions, in which he appears to have evil designs, In his defence he observed, that he had abridged the dictionary of Kang-hi, because, consisting of a great number of volumes, it was expensive and inconvenient : that he had inserted the little names of the emperors in it, to make youth acquainted with them, that they might not use them through ignorance; but that, perceiving his fault, he had omitted them in a second edition: and that his pretended descent was but the momentary whim of poetic vanity. The judges reply, that being a man of letters of the second class, he could not be considered as one of the vulgar, who might have sinned through ignorance; that consequently what he had done and written must be deemed offences against his imperial majesty, and high treason, and that according to the laws of the empire, he must therefore be cut in pieces, his goods confiscated, all his relations above sixteen years old put to death, his wives, his concubines, and his children under sixteen banished, and given as slaves to the nobility. The emperor, who revises every sentence of death, favoured the culprit so far as to direct his head to be cut off only, respited his sons to the grand autumnal execution, and confirmed the rest of the sentence!

FREDERIC THE GREAT DEFEATED.

AT a review at Potsdam, the king was desirous of placing himself with his suite on an eminence, on which some sutlers had erected their booths. These took it into their heads to dispute the ground with him; asserting, that it was convenient for selling their

wares, that they had in consequence paid him his dues, and that he might see his puppets equally well from any other place. Some expressions which the king made use of upon the occasion offending these ladies, they addressed him in such forcible language, that he soon made off, saying to his officers, "Is it not laughable, that I, who make so many thousands of men move at my command, must give way to a couple of Billingsgates?"

AN ELEGANT EPITAPH.

IN the church-yard of a village called Bisbrooke, in Rutlandshire, there is a large stone raised to the memory of a waggoner; on the top is a representation of a waggon and horses, a gate, a green hedge, and a waggoner; each side is decorated with implements of husbandry. After the age of the person, time of death, &c. &c. there are the following lines:

"Here lies the body of Nathaniel Clarke,

Who never did no harm in the light nor in the dark; But in his blessed horses taken great delight,

And often travelled with them by day and by night."

PHILIP V. OF SPAIN.

AN officer of the revenue had stopped and searched the baggage of the son of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, one of the first grandees of Spain, and master of horse to the king. It is probable that this act of duty had been accompanied by some degree of insolence; and the youth, proud of his father's rank, and impatient of the defiance of an inferior, forgot his respect for the laws, and shot the officer through the head. So daring an insult on civil government was not to be passed over in silence; and the criminal was immediately arrested, and closely confined by the orders of Portocarrero. The cardinal was, however, unwilling to expose himself to the resentment of the Spanish nobles, by the public execution of one of their order; and before the transaction could transpire, he dispatched a courier with the particulars of it to the king. The Duke of Medina Sidonia had accompanied his sovereign to