but the conclusion upon which they insisted was, that therefore the ministry ought to be displaced, and they themselves be appointed to succeed them; and they who agreed with them most entirely on the first part of the proposition, would have regarded the second as a worse evil than the expedition itself. The temper and views with which this party called for a vote of censure, were exposed by Mr. Stephen in a singularly felicitous allusion. The public, he said, were led to expect a redress of grievances and a punishment of delinquents; but the gentlemen on the opposition bench had the more substantial game in view, of obtaining possession of the government; and this was the true cause of their impatience. They reminded him of the squire of the va lorous knight of La Mancha. The knight, like the people of England in this case, was intent on generous purposes, though with mistaken views; but Sancho had always his eye to the main chance; and as soon as an adventure was achieved by his master, he conceived, like these right honourable gentlemen, that his own end was attained; and said, "I do beseech you, sir, give me immediately that same government." CRITICISM. "And on your eye-lids crown the god of sleep.”—Shakspeare, Hen. IV. Mr. Malone says this is a strange image; but I believe it will be deemed more strange that he and Mr. Steevens should either be slow to perceive or to admit the justness of Dr. Warburton's applause of it; "sleep crowned on his eye-lids," is sleep seated there in the supremacy of delight." Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness; Making such difference between sleep and wake, As is the difference betwixt day and night. Mr. Sheridan seems to have thought of this passage when he was writing the Duenna, and has sweetly improved it: Tell me, my lute, can thy fond strain So gently speak thy master's pain; So softly breathe, so humbly sigh, That though my sleeping love may know Who sings, who sighs below, Her rosy slumbers shall not fly. MUSIC. Every being presently discovers those faculties with which nature has endowed it. The least elevation or depression of voice must have, necessarily, made the first race of men perceive that their organs were capable of producing other sounds than those of speech, and that singing was as natural to them as speaking. A little more experience must have shown them, that metals and all other bodies, when struck, and disposed in a certain manner, produced also sounds. Lastly, it must have required some considerable time to discover that the intestines, when dried and properly prepared, were also sonorous. The present musical instruments, have, therefore, been successively invented. And who knows how many others may hereafter be produced! The tones that are drawn from china, glass, wood, and even straw, were almost unknown till the present age. Most of the pleasurable diversons have a tendency, when pursued with ardour, not only to relax but to enervate the mind. They indispose for manly virtue, and introduce a tenderness ill suited to encounter the usual asperities of life. But the study of music, while it sweetly sooths the sense of hearing, touches the soul, and elevates and refines its nature. Conducted by philosophy, it is able to inspire the noblest thoughts, to urge the most animated action, to calm the ruffled spirits, and to eradicate every malignant propensity. THE GREEKS. The salubrity of their climate, by its effects upon the imagination, marked their character with enthusiasm and sensibility. Liberty exalted their minds. The equality of their citizens made them set a high value upon the opinion of each other; and, as each individual might aspire after the highest offices of the state, this flattered their self-love, and made them entertain a favourable opinion of themselves. The public games and exercises brought them frequently together, and made them well acquainted with each other's characters. The great number of petty states excited a spirit of emulation in each. In a word, great interests and victories gave them those elevated sentiments which aspire after renown. Upon returning from the combat, in which thousands of Persians were defeated by a handful of freemen, was there a Greek whose soul did not feel itself exalted and warmed with the love of glory. Add to all this, the particular institutions of each city; the public festivals, the funeral games, the assemblies of all the states, the races and combats on the banks of the Alpheus; the prizes bestowed upon superior strength, address, talents, and genius; kings mingling with the combatants; heralds proclaiming the victory; fathers embracing their victorious sons with transports of joy; and the country which gave birth to such citizens distinguished by peculiar honours. Such was the ardent sensibility of the Greeks for glory; and this principle was cultivated with great care by the several states. No rewards were bestowed that could debase the soul or give it a narrow and contracted turn. Talents and virtues were never so far degraded as to be rewarded with gold; glory, and not interest was the universal pursuit. Crowns, inscriptions, vases, statues; these were the rewards of superior merit; these produced heroes. In Greece, which way soever the eye was directed, it beheld monuments of glory. The streets, the temples, the galleries, the porticos, conveyed useful instructions to every citizen, and were schools for public virtue. In such a country, therefore, it is not surprising that panegyrics were common. The Greeks, like the Egyptians, had funeral eulogiums, but they applied them in a different manner. In Egypt, where policy and religion were closely connected, the principal view was to promote and encourage morality among all ranks of people: in Greece, which was composed of free and warlike republics, their chief study was to exalt the soul and inspire it with a contempt of danger and death. Accordingly, funeral culogiums were only granted in the name of the state, to those who lost their lives in its service. If we consider the various pursuits in which men are engaged; state how the most active are employed; and sum up their different merits, this conclusion may be made: that, take them in general, they are seldom so much, and never so nobly and innocently employed, as the man who passes his life in literary ease, and is by the world called idle. Trade debases the mind. Its only recommendation is, that it furnishes the means of subsis tence. Men are always discontented, and one who has spent all his days in literature, may, through ignorance, wish, at a late period of existence, that he had followed some business: but no man, who has seen what business is, and abandons it for literature, will, at any time of life, desire to return to it. GROTIUS. When this excellent man was confined by the prince of Orange, in the castle of Louvestein, with his friend Barneveldt, on the suspicion of favouring the sect of the Armenians, he obtained permission to have his books sent to him. After some time the guards neglected to examine the boxes as they came in and were sent out. His wife placed Grotius in one of the empty boxes that was going out, and he was safely, in this manner, extricated from his confinement. Some soldiers, whilst they were carrying the chest, observed, that it was as heavy as if an Armenian had been in it.-Grotius, however, after much apprehension, escaped. The following verses were made to commemorate so fortunate an elopement.-The arca, or chest, in which he was concealed, is alluded to by the author: Hæc ea, quæ domini solita est portare libellos Mutatum neque sensit onus, quod enim illa ferebat, Id quoque, sed spirans bibliotheca, fuit. Or thus, done into English. This chest, which to its master did convey Full many a massy volume every day, Unconscious now of greater weight and cares A living library in Grotius bears. Grotius related this circumstance to M. Menage. It happened in the year 1662. PIRON. A bishop, not generally suspected of writing his own sermons, accosted Piron, with, "Well, Piron, have you read my charge to the clergy.” “No my lord; have you?" was the reply of the poet. PUNNING SERMON. During Cromwell's government, one Slater, a broken apothe cary of Birmingham, got possession of the rectory of St. Martin's, in opposition to one Jennings, owner of Aston furnace; one Smallbroke, a wealthy inhabitant; and Sir Thomas Holt, who wished for it. In his first sermon he told his people, the Lord had carried him through many troubles, for he had passed, like Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, through the fiery furnace; and as the Lord had enabled the children of Israel to pass over the Red Sea so he had assisted him in passing over the Small brooks, and to overcome the strong Holts of sin and Satan. J. E. H. SELECTED POETRY. PORTUGUESE HYMN TO THE VIRGIN MARY. "The Star of the Sea."-By John Leyden. Star of the wide and pathless sea, Who lovest on mariners to shine, Amid the warring waters tost, We called no other name but thine, Ave Maris Stella! Star of the vast and howling main, |