not only to prevent their ruin, but to obtain for them the rewards due to their virtuous patriotism? Yet, so they fell, unpitied, and unassisted by those who should have been foremost to espouse their cause. We shall ever put ourselves forward to celebrate the true glories of our country; but when our country is dishonoured, we shall not be restrained from uttering our complaints.

Who does not feel the most pungent regret, that the fine apostrophe of D. Puigblanch, uttered in the pure exultation of humanity, on closing his labours as the supposed precursor of its triumphs, should, through the prevalence of the most hateful opposition, be at present only a vain anticipation!

• Ye cold and desolate walls of those same prisons which lately contained the ancient father of a family, the virtuous priest, the distinguished man of letters; who, bent down with the weight of manacles and of chains, were destined to deplore within your gloomy solitudes the absence of a tender wife and children, the loss of reputation, or the fatality of talents; ye black roofs of those same dungeons which mournfully echoed back the clanking of chains and the cries of despair, unite now in the universal gladness; since, the very bosom of fanaticism being torn asunder, ye will no longer be used as the halls of torture, or witness the dire outrages of humanity. Ye victims of this cruel tribunal! ye venerable shades who wandering within these sullen piles where your bodies had wasted away, or by public execution had been reduced to ashes, renew the remembrance of those lengthened days, those eternal nights of bitterness and grief, and felicitate yourselves on the close of life, because it was the end of captivity; cast off the feelings of melancholy, and exult with joy-for the sighed-for moment is at hand when the enemy of God and of man, the abominable and perverse Inquisition, shall cease to exist, and its outrages be avenged. Yes, it will disappear from the face of the earth, pursued by the maledictions of heaven, whose authority it so sacrilegiously usurped; and loaded with infamy, its name will be an object of horror to 'posterity.' Vol. II. p. 458.

We shall not always be mocked by the illusions of hope. Connected with all the movements of this sublunary state, and directing its novel and surprising scenes, there is an agency greater than that of man, on which our confidence reposes as often as the vexatious disappointments of life arise, and its gladdening prospects are darkened. Over that agency the highest of mankind have no control, nor will their inclinations be consulted by its Omnipotent Possessor, when he shall proceed to execute his purposes, and by the illustrious displays of his power and grace obtain for himself an everlasting name. By the strange vicissitudes of the times which have been passing over the nations of the earth, He has been teaching les sons of righteousness to political rulers; and having afforded

!

them, in the reverses of their condition, a season of reflection, by the appropriate duties of which they might be prepared to answer, in their subsequent elevation to the thrones from which they had been cast down, the good and holy purposes of his will, has now, in their prosperity, furnished them the opportunity of effecting the beneficial changes by which the renovation of the world must be accomplished. It cannot, we may assure ourselves, be in accordance with the will of the Supreme Governor, that Institutions of intolerant character, opposed to the freedom and purity of religious worship, and hostile to human good, are again set up. Nor is it less evident that they must be destroyed. If they into whose hands. the Almighty has entrusted the means of freedom and happiness, fail in the suitable employment of them, He can again reduce them to a condition of the greatest humiliation, and call others to take a part in the fulfilment of His counsels who shall perform all his pleasure. The Stuarts, after abusing their authority, were compelled to submit to the adversities of a fallen condition; and having after their restoration proved themselves to be without amendment from the corrections by which they had been admonished, were, after the requisite period of trial, again, and finally, discarded. This is an example which rulers should not forget. It teaches aggrieved and persecuted subjects, and the friends of mankind, never to despair of God's interference to correct the disorders of the world, and to raise the oppressed and perishing. The resources from which he can bring forth aids to support the cause of truth and righteousness, are without number and without limits; and the means by which he can make deliverance arise, and which he can in a moment adapt to their proper destination and use, are various and exhaustless. Though, therefore, the Inquisition, under bigoted and arbitrary patronage, is again set, up, though the Jesuits have unfurled their banners and drawn their weapons, though Papal edicts, and all the other instruments and servants of despotism, are sent abroad,-we do not despair. We attach ourselves to an interest which can never perish, and all whose obscurations are only preparatory to its final and unclouded splendours. Our disappointments from human means only serve to strengthen our expectations from Him who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

not only to prevent their ruin, but to obtain for them the rewards due to their virtuous patriotism? Yet, so they fell, unpitied, and unassisted by those who should have been foremost to espouse their cause. We shall ever put ourselves forward to celebrate the true glories of our country; but when our country is dishonoured, we shall not be restrained from uttering our complaints.

Who does not feel the most pungent regret, that the fine apostrophe of D. Puigblanch, uttered in the pure exultation of humanity, on closing his labours as the supposed precursor of its triumphs, should, through the prevalence of the most hateful opposition, be at present only a vain anticipation

Ye cold and desolate walls of those same prisons which lately contained the ancient father of a family, the virtuous priest, the distinguished man of letters; who, bent down with the weight of manacles and of chains, were destined to deplore within your gloomy solitudes the absence of a tender wife and children, the loss of reputation, or the fatality of talents; ye black roofs of those same dungeons which mournfully echoed back the clanking of chains and the cries of despair, unite now in the universal gladness; since, the very bosom of fanaticism being torn asunder, ye will no longer be used as the halls of torture, or witness the dire outrages of humanity. Ye victims of this cruel tribunal! ye venerable shades who wandering within these sullen piles where your bodies had wasted away, or by public execution had been reduced to ashes, renew the remembrance of those lengthened days, those eternal nights of bitterness and grief, and felicitate yourselves on the close of life, because it was the end of captivity; cast off the feelings of melancholy, and exult with joy-for the sighed-for moment is at hand when the enemy of God and of man, the abominable and perverse Inquisition, shall cease to exist, and its outrages be avenged. Yes, it will disappear from the face of the earth, pursued by the maledictions of heaven, whose authority it so sacrilegiously usurped; and loaded with infamy, its name will be an object of horror to posterity.' Vol. II. p. 458.

We shall not always be mocked by the illusions of hope. Connected with all the movements of this sublunary state, and directing its novel and surprising scenes, there is an agency greater than that of man, on which our confidence reposes as often as the vexatious disappointments of life arise, and its gladdening prospects are darkened. Over that agency the highest of mankind have no control, nor will their inclinations be consulted by its Omnipotent Possessor, when he shall proceed to execute his purposes, and by the illustrious displays of his power and grace obtain for himself an everlasting name. By the strange vicissitudes of the times which have been passing over the nations of the earth, He has been teaching lessons of righteousness to political rulers; and having afforded

them, in the reverses of their condition, a season of reflection, by the appropriate duties of which they might be prepared to answer, in their subsequent elevation to the thrones from which they had been cast down, the good and holy purposes of his will, has now, in their prosperity, furnished them the opportunity of effecting the beneficial changes by which the renovation of the world must be accomplished. It cannot, we may assure ourselves, be in accordance with the will of the Supreme Governor, that Institutions of intolerant character, opposed to the freedom and purity of religious worship, and hostile to human good, are again set up. Nor is it less evident that they must be destroyed. If they into whose hands the Almighty has entrusted the means of freedom and happiness, fail in the suitable employment of them, He can again reduce them to a condition of the greatest humiliation, and call others to take a part in the fulfilment of His counsels who shall perform all his pleasure. The Stuarts, after abusing their authority, were compelled to submit to the adversities of a fallen condition; and having after their restoration proved themselves to be without amendment from the corrections by which they had been admonished, were, after the requisite period of trial, again, and finally, discarded. This is an example which rulers should not forget. It teaches aggrieved and persecuted subjects, and the friends of mankind, never to despair of God's interference to correct the disorders of the world, and to raise the oppressed and perishing. The resources from which he can bring forth aids to support the cause of truth and righteousness, are without number and without limits; and the means by which he can make deliverance arise, and which he can in a moment adapt to their proper destination and use, are various and exhaustless. Though, therefore, the Inquisition, under bigoted and arbitrary patronage, is again set, up, though the Jesuits have unfurled their banners and drawn their weapons, though Papal edicts, and all the other instruments and servants of despotism, are sent abroad,-we do not despair. We attach ourselves to an interest which can never perish, and all whose obscurations are only preparatory to its final and unclouded splendours. Our disappointments from human means only serve to strengthen our expectations from Him who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

Art. V. The Christian's Manual, compiled from the Enchiridion Militis Christiani of Erasmus, with copious Scripture Notes, and Comments on several fatal Errors in Religion and Morality. Prefixed is some Account of the Author, his Reception in England, and Correspondence. By Philip Wyatt Crowther, Esq. London.8vo. pp. xliv. 234. Price 8s.

THE combination of causes in which signal and interesting events have originated, and the variety in the agency by which they have been carried forward to their crisis, it is the business of the philosophic historian to detail and investigate; not only for the purpose of ascertaining the springs of human conduct in the several actors who have operated great changes in the political and moral relations of mankind, but that the portion of censure or applause to which they may be respectively entitled, may attach to their names, in the estimation of those for whose instruction and benefit their deeds may be recorded. Distinctly to point out the share which each individual may claim in promoting the improvement of his species, that, while the most eminent leaders of heroic and virtuous enterprize shall occupy the station to which their conduct entitles them, the subordinate agents may not be overlooked, or their merit underrated, is a demand which the writers of history should endeavour scrupulously to satisfy. Honour to whom honour, in the requisite proportions which may be fairly challenged as due to men whose names posterity has taken under its protection and rewarding care, for the good they effected in their life-time, is a maxim sanctioned by Scripture and approved by reason. Now, it may so have happened, that in the page of history, and especially in the knowledge of our contemporaries, the great and primary agents in important transactions may be so distinguished, and so regarded, that others, worthy of no mean place in the contemplation of the virtuous, may be reduced to such comparative insignificance as may involve the greatest injustice to their memories. Many persons, it is possible, who have exerted a beneficial influence on the events of their own times, the effect of which may be interminable, may have been the objects of grateful remembrance only to a few of their contemporaries. The praise-worthiness of others may be concealed from those who only wait for the occasion of its being declared to them that they may do it justice. In this latter predicament we are disposed to place the illustrious name of Erasmus; a name which maintains its honours in the recollections of the scholar, but which is by no means so familiar to the eyes and ears of mankind as it deserves to be.

How-much-soever it may be regretted that Erasmus did not unite with the leaders of the Protestant cause, justice exacts the acknowledgement, that to him the Reformation is indebted for a