mentary statutes. Mr. Green were, that perpetual king's prerogative, and parliacuracies, such as those of Hurst and Ruscombe in the present case, were merely stipendiary offices with cure of souls by delegation, in ecclesiastical law a most important distinction; that the holders of such curacies were not parsons, imparsonmees, or, ́ incumbents, but serve the cure in the name and as representatives of the impropriator. They further observed, that when the impropriator of such a curacy is an ecclesiastic, the cure is in him originally, but if a layman, in the ordinary, who if the impropriator neglects, may appoint a curate; that in certain cases the ordinary or licenser may remove on cause shewn in due course of law, but only for such cause as would occasion deprivation. That the curate in these instances possesses no freehold in the church, chancel, churchyard, or glebe, or in any particular portion of tythes; that he is neither instituted nor inducted, all of which requisites, or the major part of them, are absolutely requisite to create a perfect benefice; it was finally insisted by Mr. Green's learned advocates, that papal councils, legative decrees, episcopal and provincial constitutions, have no force further than as they agree with the usage of the realm, the of the realm, the Sir George Hay, dean of the court, decreed against Mr. Blundel's prayer without giving costs on either side, declaring at the same time, that perpetual curates are removable on good cause shewn to the proper jurisdiction by impropriators; and that having a large benefice, at a very great distance, in the present case more than ninety miles, might be a good and sufficient cause for vacating a perpetual curacy; but that in the case before him, it lay with the impropriator of the curacy, and not the patron of the rectory. EAST a AST INDIA VOYAGE.I can scarcely enter house either in town or country, but I see clouded brows and female tears produced by the crimes or follies of some of the younger branches, who after having exhausted paternal patience and maternal tenderness, tried different situations, and emptied their fathers pocket of fees, premiums, &c. are as a last resort, shipped off to the East Indies. Of these the majority previously injured in health by evil habits, anxiety, despair, and a long voyage, fall a sacrifice to the fiery atmosphere of that country, in which a poor fellow who who perished there, once told me, only the devil or a salamander could exist. In the mean time the expence of fitting out, in large families a serious sum, is thrown away; for I never yet met with any instance of an account of effects being sent to their friends in England, and a young, perhaps, excepting as before excepted, an amiable man, who might have been reclaimed and preserved to comfort his family, is lost to his relatives and the world, and dispatched as effectually as Buonaparte's former associates to Cayenne. I wish some public-spirited member of parliament to put an end to this expensive and afflicting method of deportation, for surely it is of more importance to restore a diseased limb than to cut it off, to amend than to destroy.. For these and other reasons, I humbly propose that penitentiary houses for the middle and more elevated classes of society, one in each county, be immediately erected; that a power, for I will not mince the matter, of issuing LETTRES DE CACHET be granted to the magistrates, previous permission being obtained from a secretary of state,. grounded on affidavits from parents and guardians. In these receptacles for criminal infatuation, I would, considering them as mad, shut up for a certain time, and keep on bread, water, and hard labour; undutiful children, spendthrifts, gamblers, and all young men and even women notoriously and flagrantly deficient in duty, practice, and profession. Under strict coercion, religious discipline, low diet, and solitude, rebellious passions might be restrained, bad habits broken, and salutary compunction take place. As reason and religion returned, they might be restored gradually to society; but in case of relapse, should be again shut up under circumstances of augmented severity. This crude plan, loudly called for by imperious circumstances, I submit to clearer heads and abler hands, to digest, organize, and put into execution. That the power I wished to grant might be abused I do not deny, but even its abuse I consider as a less evil than the grievance I wish to remedy, which poisons domestic bliss and places parents in a cruel situation; they are compelled either to destroy their offspring, or submit to the exhausting inroads of vice, caprice, and profusion. EMPE This Pythagorean philosopher was eminent in his day as a poet and historian, he also studied medicine, and is said to have been deeply skilled in the mysterious theology originally taught by the Egyptian priests; this last attainment and his turning his attention to astronomy, subjected him to the accusation of being a magician, of producing many of the phonomena of nature and the celestial bodies, which he seemed so clearly to understand and so readily to explain. Illum magum vulgus nominabat, quasi fecit quod fieri sciebat. But Empedocles was not a man of learning and science only; he attempted to apply what he knew to the purposes of human life, and endeavoured to turn the attention of his fellow citizens to his favourite pursuits, and what was a more difficult task, to improve their morals: for at the time he returned to his native city, having travelled into various and remote countries, he found the Agri gentines devoted to luxury and vicious pleasure. Possessing the vine and the olive, blessed with a fine climate and a fruitful soil, they had long carried on a considerable commerce, which augmenting their population and wealth, brought with them their usual accompaniments, excess, sensuality, and voluptuousness. The city was ornamented with temples, public buildings, and private houses, remarkable for magnificence and bulky solidity ; this circumstance and their profuse mode of living gave occasion to Empedocles to observe, that the Agrigentines built as if they were to exist for ever, but wasted their substance, as if they had only a single day to live. We may judge how highly they valued the luxuries of their table, and their ability and industry in procuring them, when a private citizen, having fixed a day for a public entertainment, was disappointed by contrary winds and tempestuous weather of a supply of fish and wild-fowl, he ordered a wide and deep excavation to be directly made, extending more than a mile, and twenty feet in depth, near the city; by means of a river or the sea, it was quickly quickly filled and converted into a store pond for fish and fowl. E these means a similar misfortune was prevented. Another wealthy Agrigentine, having won a prize in the Olympic games, is described by Diodorus the Sicilian, as making a public entry into the city, mounted on a lofty car, followed by three hundred others in a similar equipage, and every one drawn by white horses. Most general readers are acquainted with the story told by Athenæus concerning a gay party of young men of this city, who continued drinking wine, 'till in the madness of intoxication they fancied the house they were in was a ship, tossed about by a furious tempest; and that the vessel, unless lightened, would inevitably sink for this purpose they proceeded to throw the tables, chairs, and other moveables out of the window, 'till they had emptied the house of its furniture. This anecdote is well related by a modern traveller and a pleasant writer, who humourously asks whether the English phrase of turning a house out at window might not have derived its origin from this incident. Another author in the spirit of raillery or exaggeration relates, that on a certain occasion, VOL. IV. when Agrigentum was besieged by the Carthaginians, it was given out in public orders, that no soldier who kept guard during the night, should be allowed more than one camel skin, one tent bed, one woollen coverlet, and two pillows; this, he adds, was thought a hard and unreasonable law. In a city so wealthy and luxurious, it is difficult to account for the voice of philosophy and moderation being listened to, or even heard; yet Empedocles is said to have been extremely popular, and to have gained a wonderful ascendancy over his fellow citizens; he reduced their intemperate habits within the bounds of rational enjoyment, and pointed out more legitimate channels for the expenditure of superfluous wealth; he taught them a lesson which it were to be wished all philosophers had taught, to afford shelter to age and sickness, to protect the fatherless, the way-worn stranger, and the widow; and they confessed, after exhausting the resources of art and imagination, that this was the greatest of pleasures. The grateful Agrigentines offered to make Empedocles their king, but having acquired by personal worth and strong attachment a firmer and more His being a Pythagorean is a circumstance which renders the general good-will he maintained with his neighbours still more surprising, as persons of that sect, from the unaccommodating singularity of their dress, tenets, and manners, were generally disliked, had been frequently persecuted, and sometimes put to death. The inhabitants of Agrigentum, when they recollected the eminent services he had rendered them, probably overlooked this defect in the character of their favourite. An instance is recorded in which a peculiar indulgence was granted him. Having gained an Olympic prize, it was the custom for every victorious candidate to sacrifice an ox to the gods, but a law of Pythagoras expressly forbad the killing any animal, he was therefore permitted to offer an artificial bullock made of precious gums and other fragrant substances. Empedocles was well acquainted with the theory and practice of music, and is said, on good authority, to have applied his knowledge of the doctrine of harmony and sounds to the cure of diseases, particularly of insanity, and succeeded in many desperate cases.ils On another occasion, being alarmed as he passed the street by loud expressions of sorrow, which seemed to proceed from a house near which many persons were assembled apparently overwhelmed with sorrow, he demanded the cause, and was told, that an excellent woman, the mother of a large family, and doated on by her distracted husband, had been just quitted as dead by her physician. Prompted by curiosity, or a wish to know if the matron was actually dead, he entered the house, but could neither feel any pulse nor observe any respiration; in his endeavours to find if there was any pulsation of the vital organ remaining, for at that time physicians felt the pulse of their patients by applying the back of their hands on the left side near the seat of the heart, he perceived a warmth. Considering this circumstance as a sufficient reason for doing something, he employed powerful means, the almost extinguished spark of life brightening up expanded into a flame, gentleness and perseverance gave new powers to skill, and the happy |