of the convictions, which first impelled me to the present undertaking, to leave unattempted any honourable means of recommending them to as wide a circle as possible; and though all the opinions which I shall bring forward in the course of the Work, on politics, morals, religion, literature, and the fine arts, will with all their applications; be strictly deducible from the principles established in these earlier Numbers; yet I doubt not, that being Truths and interesting Truths (and such, of course, I must be supposed to deem them) their intrinsic beauty will procure them introduction to the feelings of my Readers, even of those whose habits or avocations preclude the fatigue of close reasoning, and that each Essay of itself, by the illustrations and the auxiliary and independent arguments appropriate to it, will become sufficiently intelligible and evident.

Hitherto, my dear Sir, I have been employed in laying the Foundation of my Work. But the proper merit of a foundation is its' massiveness and solidity. The conveniences and ornaments, the gilding and stucco work, the sunshine and sunny prospects, will come with the Superstructure. Yet I dare not flatter myself, that any endeavours of mine, compatible with the duty I owe to Truth and the hope of permanent utility, will render THE FRIEND agreeable to the majority of what is called the reading Public. I never expected it. How indeed could 1, when I was to borrow so little from the influence of passing Events, and absolutely excluded from my plan all appeals to personal curiosity and personal interests? Yet even this is not my greatest impediment. No real information can be conveyed, no important errors rectified, no widely injurious prejudices rooted up, without requiring some effort of thought on the part of the Reader. But the obstinate (and toward à contemporary Writer, the contemptuous) aversion to all intellectual effort is the mother evil of all which I had proposed to war against, the Queen Bee in the Hive of our errors and misfortunes, both private and national. The proof of the Fact, positively and comparatively, and the enumeration of its' various causes, will, as I have already hinted (P. 75) form the preliminary Essay of the disquisition on the elements of our moral and intellectual faculties. To solicit the attention of those, on whom these debilitating causes have acted to their full extent, would be no less absurd than to recommend

exercise with the dumb bells, as the only mode of cure, to a patient paralytic in both arms. You, my dear Sir, well know, that my expectations were more modest as well as more rational. I hoped, that my Readers in general would be aware of the impracticability of suiting every Essay to every Taste in any period of the work; and that they would not attribute wholly to the Author, but in part to the necessity of his plan, the austerity and absence of the lighter graces in the first fifteen or twenty Numbers. In my cheerful moods I sometimes flattered myself, that a few even among those, who foresaw that my lucubrations would at all times require more attention than from the nature of their own employments they could afford them, might yet find a pleasure in supporting the Friend during its infancy, so as to give it a chance of attracting the notice of others, to whom its' style and subjects might be better adapted. But my main anchor was the Hope, that when circumstances gradually enabled me to adopt the ordinary means of making the Publication generally known, there might be found throughout the Kingdom a sufficient number of meditative minds, who, entertaining similar convictions with myself, and gratified by the prospect of seeing them reduced to form and system, would take a warm interest in the work from the very circumstance, that it wanted those allurements of transitory interest, which render particular patronage superfluous, and for the brief season of their Blow and Fragrance attract the eye of thousands, who would pass unregarded.

-Flowers

Of sober tint, and Herbs of med'cinable powers.

I hoped that a sufficient number of such Readers would gradually be obtained, as to secure for the Paper that small extent of circulation and immediate Sale, which would permit the Editor to carry it on to its' conclusion, and that they might so far interest themselves in recom mending it to men of kindred judgements among their acquaintances, that the alterations in my list of Subscribers should not be exclusively of a discouraging nature. Hitherto, indeed, I have only to express grati tude, and acknowledge constancy; but I do not attempt to disguise from myself that I owe this, in many instances, to a generous reluctance hastily to withdraw from an

Undertaking in it's first struggles, and before the Adventurer had had a fair opportunity of displaying the quality of his goods, or the foundations of his credit.

*****—the one tantum vidi: the other I know by his works only and his public character. To profess indifference to their praises would convict me either of insensibility or insincerity. Yet (and I am sure, that you will both understand, and sympathize with, the feeling) my delight was not unalloyed by a something like pain, as if I were henceforward less free to express my admiration of them with the same warmth and affection, which I have been accustomed to do, before I had even anticipated the honor of such a communication. You will therefore not judge me too harshly, if so confirmed and cheered, I have sometimes in the warmth of composition, and while I was reviewing the materials of the more important part of my intended Essays, if I have sometimes permitted my Hopes a bolder flight; and counted on a share of favour and protection from the soberly zealous among the professionally Learned, when the Principles of The Friend shall have been brought into clear view, and Specimens have been given of the mode and the direction in which I purpose to apply and enforce them.

There are charges, the very suspicion of which is painful to an ingenuous mind in exact proportion as they are unfounded and inapplicable. I can bear with resignation a charge of enthusiasm. Even if accused of presumption, I will repay myself by deriving from the accusation an additional motive to increased watchfulness over myself, that I may remain entitled to plead, Not guilty! to it in the Court of my own conscience. But if my anxiety to obviate hasty judgements and misapprehensions is imputed to a less honorable motive than the earnest wish to exert my best faculties, as to the most beneficial purposes, so in the way most likely to effectuate them, I can give but one answer: that however great my desires of profit may be, they cannot be greater than my ignorance of the world, if I have chosen a weekly paper planned, as the Friend is, written on such subjects, and composed in such a style, as the most promising method of gratifying them

S. T. C.

SONNETS.

Of mortal Parents is the Hero born

By whom the undaunted Tyrolese are led ?
Or is it Tell's great Spirit from the dead
Returned to animate an age forlorn?

He comes like Phoebus through the gates of morn
When dreary darkness is discomfited:
Yet mark his simple state!-upon his head
A Heron's feather for a crest is worn.
O Liberty! they stagger at the shock,
The Murderers are aghast; they strive to flee
And half their host is buried:-rock on rock
Descends :-beneath this godlike Warrior, see!
Hills, Torrents, Woods, embodied to bemock
The Tyrant, and confound his cruelty!

W. W.

Advance-come forth from thy Tyrolean ground
Dear Liberty !-stern Nymph of soul untamed,
Sweet Nymph, oh! rightly of the mountains named!
Through the long chain of Alps, from mound to mound,
And o'er the eternal snows like Echo, bound,

Like Echo when the Hunter-train at dawn

Have roused her from her sleep; and forest-lawn,
Cliffs, Woods, and Caves, her viewless steps resound
And babble of her pastime !-On dread Power,
With such invisible motion speed thy flight,
Through hanging clouds, from craggy height to height,
Through the green vales and through the Herdsman's bower,'
That all the Alps may gladden in thy might
Here, there, and in all places at one hour?

W. W.

SPECIMENS OF RABBINICAL WISDOM,

SELECTED FROM THE MISHNA.

1.

The Lord helpeth man and beast.

During his march to conquer the World, Alexander the Macedonian, came to a People in Africa, who dwelt in a remote and secluded corner in peaceful huts, and knew neither War nor Conqueror. They led him to the hut of their Chief, who received him hospitably and placed before him golden Dates, golden Figs, and Bread of gold. Do you eat Gold in this Country! said Alexander. I take it for granted (replied the Chief) that thou wert able to find eatable food in thine own Country. For what reason then art thou come among us? Your Gold has not tempted me hither, said Alexander, but I would willingly become acquainted with your Manners and Customs. So be it, rejoined the other. Sojourn among us as long as it pleaseth thee. At the close of this Conversation two Citizens entered as into their Court of Justice. The Plaintiff said, I bought of this Man a piece of Land, and as I was making a deep drain through it I found a Treasure. This is not mine, for I only bargained for the Land, and not for any treasure that might be concealed beneath it and yet the former Owner of the Land will not receive it. The Defendant answered: I hope I have a Conscience as well as my Fellow-citizen. I sold him the Land with all it's contingent, as well as existing advantages, and consequently the Treasure inclusively.

The Chief, who was at the same time their supreme Judge, recapitulated their words, in order that the Parties might see whether or no he understood them aright. 'Then after some reflection said; Thou hast a Son, Friend, I believe? Yes! And thou (addressing the other) a Daughter? Yes! Well then, let thy Son marry thy Daughter, and bestow the Treasure on the young Couple for their marriage Portion. Alexander seemed surprized and perplexed. Think you my sentence unjust? the Chief asked him-O no, replied Alexander, but it astonishes me. And how, then, rejoined the Chief, would the Case have been decided in your Country?-To confess the truth, said Alexander, we should have taken both Parties