and will wash their hands from this blood of the souls and often of the bodies of men. The Sermon before us is well calculated to assist the efforts of virtuous men and real patriots, in diffusing just views of this deplorable evil, and the means of reducing, and finally exterminating it. 1 should be altogether,' says the preacher, unfit to stand in this place, if I did not on the present occasion, follow the strong impulse of my mind, and enter a public protest against such an infraction of order and of law. It is a violation of the laws of the country.-In answer to this, I know it has been said, that the laws in question are bad, fit only to be broken; and that some legislators themselves have been known to concur in breaking them.-With regard to the last part of the objection; there have been many makers of laws, whom I should be very sorry to see taken as patterns in morals: and as to the former part, it is possible that the statutes in question proceed upon a mistaken policy, as well for the proprietor as for the public. But this is not the place to discuss the quality of any particular law: it is, however, the place to state that no man has a right to take the laws into his own hand, and dispense with them whenever they may not agree with his individual opinion. If this monstrous notion were once admitted, it would open a way for the destruction of all law, and the removal of every barrier by which property is secured, and order preserved. You may dislike one law, your neighbour another, a third person another; thus the bonds of society would be broken, and the whole frame of government frittered away and undermined at every one's caprice. If any law be grievous and unjust, there are legitimate and constitutional methods of redress, to which a British public may resort, and which seldom fail of success. I will venture further to add, they never can ultimately fail, if judiciously and temperately persevered in.-Passive obedience and non-resistance are odious tenets, which have been long and universally exploded in Britain, in theory at least; and I hope my countrymen will ever explode them in practice. But, my hearers, in the name of every thing that is generous and good, let us be open and manly: it is unworthy of an honourable mind to be implicated in deeds which can only be accomplished by artifice and stealth. We are commanded by the highest authority, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them*.-Let it also be considered that the infraction of law in this case, is principally done by a class of persons not much accustomed to discriminate in questions of such a nature. It is a hazardous experiment to sanction disobedience to law in such a quarter. It is making them familiar with that, which ought, if possible, ever to be kept far from their thoughts. From the breaking of one law, it is but a slight transition, with such persons, to the violation of another and perhaps the transition is slighter still from two to ten. Especially when countenanced by those who are considered as better * Eph. v. 11. informed, and better disposed, for obvious reasons, to respect as they ought to do the laws and magistracy of their country. It is not doing to others as you would have them do unto you.—If you purchase an estate, to which the legislature has attached certain privileges; you justly conclude you are entitled to the same. as comprised in that for which the consideration is given. Or if you derive it from your ancestors, they are legally attached to your inheritance. Now if as is the case with most persons so situated,) your are at fur. ther expence for the security of what hath been so acquired, in what light, I ask, would you view the nightly spoiler, who should ravage and rob your peaceful domain? And more especially if his pursuits were accompanied as is often the case) with resistance, and shedding the innocent blood of those to whom your orders had committed the protection of your lawful possessions? Let any one put himself in such situation, and then form his opinion on the propriety of sanctioning the practice in question. It is the fruitful parent of the worst of crimes and miseries.—It leads to pilfering, and pilfering leads to housebreaking, housebreaking to murder, and murder to the gallows. I apprehend there is no doubt of the truth and reality of this statement, with regard to the unhappy individuals whose end hath given occasion for this discourse; and, not in reference to them only, but many besides. There is reason to fear that this single practice, contributes much, by its tendency and its consequences, to swell the calendar of every assize; to people our gaols, to bind fetters on our countrymen, and lift up against them the executioner's arm. Behold then the effects of this deed of darkness, and judge whether it be not of too detestable a nature, to be countenanced by any one who would be deemed a friend to honesty and to the interests of society.' pp. 16-20. Art. VIII. Familiar Poems. Moral and Religious. By Susannah Wilson. 18mo. pp. xii. 161. Price 28. Darton and Co. 1814. AMONG the numerous attempts, misnamed poetical, whose good intention is their only claim to indulgence, and whose piety alone absolves them from contempt, it is pleasing to meet with an instance of native talent surmounting the depressions of uneducated poverty, and presenting its artless offerings at the altar of truth No rank has yet been fixed to which genius is confined; no eircle struck, which it has not overstepped. Many a hidden biography would bear record how oft, 'the Muse has found, Her blossoms on the wildest ground? and while we receive with reverence the products of successful culture, and the stores of laborious and polished research, it is with a simple feeling of pleasure, that we welcome the efforts of an un aspiring mind, wrought up by no classic invo cation, nor gifted by any other inspiration than that only genuine one, the love of Nature, warmed and enlightened by a meek and fervent spirit of devotion. • Susannah Wilson is of humble parentage: her father was a journeyman weaver, and her mother a very pious woman, who was anxious that her children should have an early acquaintance with the important truths of the Bible; from whence it is evident that Susannah has drawn most of her sentiments and reflections. Susannah was born in Kingsland-road, in the year 1787. She learned to improve her reading at a Sunday-school, and to write at an evening school. For many years past they lived in a litt.e cottage in St. Matthew's, Bethnal-green, reared by her father on a spot of garden ground, which he hired at a low rent, and where two of the daughters still reside, and pursue the weaving business, to which they were all bred: while thus engaged, she says, verses spontaneously flowed into her mind, which she took every opportunity of committing to paper. Confined almost exclusively to the narrow range of her own family circle, Susannah worked at her father's business till about three years since; when owing to a bad state of health, from excessive application to a sedentary business, she was recommended to seek a service for the sake of more active employment. Hitherto her reading had been almost entirely confined to her Bible, Dr. Watts's Hymns, and two or three other religious works, but as she advanced in years, she took every opportunity of procuring books; and Milton, Young, and some other authors, fell into her hands, which she read with great avidity. She likewise had the advantage of acquiring a little knowledge of English grammar. This was a stimulus to fresh poetical exertions, and she devoted almost all her intervals of leisure to writing verses.' By the history of Susannah Wilson's obscure origin and humble station, we were prepared for those defects which mark the want of cultivation, and on which we shall leave our readers to exercise their indulgence. We might select several poems interesting for their simplicity and their spiritual turn of thought. There is something that the Atheist might envy in the refined perception which reads on every leaf and flower a parable of heavenly teaching. The poems are characterized chiefly by the religious nature of the subjects, and the serious manner in which they are treated. Our limits will admit the insertion only of the two following: ON THE DEATH OF A SISTER'S CHILD. Sweet babe! how short thy stay! How soon thy journey's o'er! Thy spirit's fled away, To visit earth no more; Thy spirit found a nearer road Than thousands to thy blest abode. There join thy kindred dear One went the nearer road; Ye weeping parents view With all their little hands: "Come Father! Mother! come up here, And shall they call in vain, Eternal glory, it would seem, But, Oh! be wise to-day, And make the Lord your friend: 'Tis awful to delay; You hasten to your end: This moment only is your own, And, while you speak, behold! 'tis gone " WRITTEN JAN. 1, 1814. Immediately after my Mother's Death. And is she gone? and left me here to mourn Ah no! ah no! she is for ever fled, And all her cares and sorrows now are o'er; She now is number'd with the silent dead, The place that knew her, knows her now no more. Alas! alas! I mourn beneath the stroke, That severs from me my most tender part; That the maternal tie of life has broke, And rent with bitter pangs my aching heart. •No more shall her dear hands my head sustain, • Her faithful warnings now I hear no more, To me her mem'ry will be ever dear, Such blessings I've obtain❜d at her own cost; She is not lost, but only gone before, And I with rapid steps am hast'ning on, And hope to meet her on that peaceful shore, Where pain and parting shall no more be known.' Come then, my muse, and dress thy plume, Take me to the realms of bliss, I would mount and hear her sing. Then, those kind celestial bands 1 |
