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so much so, that the chronicles of to glean from them, that it soon began to foment quarrels between neighbouring potentates, and, even in some instances, excited a feeling of discontent among the hitherto submissive subjects of the patriarchal monarchies which then swayed with absolute power the sceptres of the infant nations. The process of degeneracy was now visibly and rapidly developing itself; and the beclouded sun of this era sunk in the horizon to give way to the less bright and less welcome luminary which shone upon the Age of Brass.

the times deemed it the commencement of a new era, and, as a matter of course, pronounced it an epoch of degeneracy. They significantly named it the Silver Age, that metal being esteemed next in value to gold. The new art was happily confined, for a long period, to a very small portion of the inhabitants of what we now call the civilized world; but the invention was deemed of vast importance, by the self-conceited fellows to whom it was imparted, and some of them boldly designated themselves "Philosophers," as though they, who had so disturbed the existing order of things, could lay any claim to a love of wisdom, or to any regard for the best interests of the human race. Most of those who lived in this Age of Silver, blushed at their manifest inferiority to those who had preceded them, and pathetically deplored the byegone joys of Auld lang syne." We say most of those who lived in that period, because there were a few, and this, we lament to say, furnishes us with no slight proof of their degeneracy-who regarded themselves as a privileged classaye, poor, deluded, short-sighted mortals, they called themselves a privileged class when they became noviciates in the novel art of spelling! How highly those esteemed themselves, and what was their self-complacency, who had matriculated in the university of Cadmus, and had obtained classic honours as Abecedarians, is beyond our knowledge, and almost beyond our conception, for the records of the day are not easily accessible, and the list of graduates not quite perfect.

How much woe this newly acquired information induced upon the heads of our luckless progenitors, such scanty materials of their history as have been preserved from the devouring scythe of time, do not inform us; but we are able

Writing was the distinguishing feature of the epoch which separates the Age of Brass from its more splendid precursor. The mischiefs which arose from the influence of this many-handed and many feathered monster defy all human calculation. The evils of the former age were of so light a character, when placed in comparison with those which resulted from the art of writing, that even that came to be spoken of as a "good old time." The bare idea of the wars and fightings of that melancholy period, of the rapid increase of every species of vice that can disgrace humanity, and its manifold other ills, causes an involuntary shudder; and we are only aroused from the dejection of spirit which the contemplation of such a scene is too well calculated to produce, by the more cheering prospects of the period which immediately followed.

Happily for man, under the spells of an Ecclesiastical Magician born at Rome, the hydra fell asleep for a time, and his evil influences ceased, in a great measure, to agitate the human race. The lights, as they were termed, which had been set up in different places, by his agency and instrumentality, began to grow dim, and some were totally extinguished. The intestine feuds of nations were nearly quelled, the impertinent

and presumptuous claims-if they partook not too much of folly and nonsense to be so termed of slaves to the astounding and unheard-of privilege of speaking to those in power, were silenced, and the turbulence of democracy, if not wholly subdued, was much softened down by the iron hand of the feudal and ecclesiastical legitimates. Such, indeed, was the blissful state to which affairs were restored, that many thought the Age of Silver was returned; and some even went so far as to affirm that they had a distant glimpse of the approach of that of Gold. Illusive dream! This was the period which our historians contemptuously designate "The Dark Ages." Dark, indeed! And who would not wish for darkness, if such as we have referred to are the effects of light? We must not omit to mention one class of persons who reflected honour on this illustrious era. They were termed Monks, and many of them sedulously and profitably employed themselves in demolishing, as far they dared, the productions of the pen. Many of the most mischievous efforts of the evil spirit of writing were thus, during his sleep, if not wholly destroyed, transmitted into charms of less potence, and the magnitude of the evil tendencies considerably diminished. These proceedings, to be sure, could not be always carried on in so snug and quiet a way as not occasionally to endanger his awaking, particularly as he now and then indulged in a little Somnambulism; but much was achieved. The chief point of danger lay in the examination of these productions, and the inquiry into their character and tendency, for some were of a very infatuating nature, and very much endangered that indolence of mind which it is so desirable to produce. And here it was that, while walking in his -sleep, the demon was aroused. A N. S. No. 35.

Monk of the name of Luther, for such detestable malefactors ought to be exposed to public notoriety, went too far in his meddlesome inquiries, and, ere a retreat could be effected, all hope of it was precluded by the birth of a still more terrible monster in the wilds of Germany. This was no other than Printing, and with his reign com menced the Age of Iron. This was truly an age

"In iron clasped, in iron bound;" and our limits would fail us in the attempt to narrate the effects, nor indeed are the powers of our feeble pen adequate to the task, to pourtray the miseries which this "black art," and its concomitant "devils," have poured upon the devoted heads of our fallen, and still falling race. The good old maxims of antiquity, that "Ignorance is bliss," and that "Ignorance is the mother of devotion," with others of a like character, were not merely called in question, but absolutely denounced as childish, old-fashioned, and fanatical! Some even dared to deny that golden adage, “Ne sutor ultra crepidam," and were for letting every man strive with his neighbour, without any distinction of rank in society, or any regard to what the Hindoos term "caste."

These were the "Levellers" of the day, who contended that all were "the sons of Adam and of Eve," and as not even princes and nobles" could "claim higher" pedigree, all ought to be placed upon a fair level, and start afresh. They even ventured to hint their suspicion, that chemical analysis could prove no distinction between royal and plebeian blood. They were few in number, and their doctrine was then too gross for the age to swallow. But, alas! the truth must be told, although the recital be painful and humiliating; an age has at length supervened, in which such fallacies as these find nu4 F

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merous supporters, and scarcely can we imagine a vagary of the human brain, which has not an advocate in some quarter or other. The Age of Iron has passed away, and even that is now, in a great measure, a good old time." So, ultra, to use a well-known term adopted by the people of this era, is its degeneracy, so manifold and so vast are its evils, and so multifarious its characteristics, that even its own writers are not yet agreed upon an appropriate designation. It has been called, by one of their poets, The Age of Bronze, and the Age of Cantothers have sought a little in some metal of less value than iron; but their search has been fruitless. The Age of Clay has been adopted by one party, as expressive of that ductability, or, more emphatically, that gullibility by which it is enabled to assume any shape, given to it by design or accident, but to retain it only till it meets another turn of the wheel of Fortune.

But these partake too much of a substantial quality to suit, in our opinion, the prevailing characteristics of this age. We must look for something of a more aerial nature, of more fragile, of less perceptible, and of an incorporeal character, and this, we think, is comprised in the title placed at the head of this article, "The Age of Intellect!!"

The

evanescent nature of the intellectual portion of man, as well as its incomprehensible qualities, justly shadow forth the leading features of this age; and no feature is more striking, or can excite more painful feeling in a mind formed upon the model of the olden time, than the general establishment of institutions for the spread of the evils of reading and writing, among the very lowest orders of society. These efforts, and they are strenuous ones, to impart to the subordinate classes that instruction which the sound

policy of our ancestors, who felt that they could not entirely suppress it, had wisely confined, as their only alternative, to the higher classes, have impressed us with forebodings, as to the prospects of our posterity, of a most alarming nature. The evils which must inevitably result from them are appalling, and not among the most trivial of them is the inculcation of the dogma, that all men, are by nature equal; that the clay of which all were originally made was of the same quality, and that they all, no matter how they stand in this world, bear the same relation to their Creator. To enumerate the consequences of these opinions would be difficult; but the difficulty arises solely from their numerous ramifications. Their general character must be too ob

vious to render much detail needful, and we forbear-the prospect is painful.

We are now living in "the Age of Intellect;" and we cannot, perhaps, better illustrate the utter degeneracy of the present race of men, than by adducing the simple fact, that poor, weak mortals, are constantly boasting of the improvements, as they term them, (probably derived, as Horne Tooke observed, from improbare, to deteriorate,) which they have effected in the institutions of their ancestors. Improvements, indeed! What words can express our indignation at such abuse of language!

Amidst this melancholy prospect, however, we have sometimes, though such instances are but "few and far between," the consolation of hearing a casual expression of regret that "the golden days of Queen Bess" are gone by; and once-it was but once-had we the exquisite delight of listening to a ditty which lamented the departure of "The good old days of Adam and of Eve!" When will our ears be again re

galed with strains so mellifluous? this "march of mind," and all Perhaps never! Proud of his assumed superiority, man "struts his brief hour upon this world's stage," and turns a deaf ear to all the claims of the “ olden time;" and so it will be, as long as continues the reign of that tripleheaded, all-prying Cerberus, of Aldermanic memory, the three R's, 66 Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic." Of encountering them with the most remote prospect of success, we entirely despair. Neither the Parthian, nor the Guerilla mode of warfare give us even a faint hope, for their influence is all-pervading, they are endowed with the fascinations of an almost omnipotent magic, and their progress is as difficult to trace, as its effects are visible.

the principles now in operation tending to that end-when we look, not only on this society, but on the attempts to evangelize (as they term it) the metropolisthe establishment of Sunday, and other schools, in almost every parish in the kingdom-and, what portends far more extensive consequences, the institution of infant schools, for teaching babes of eighteen months to read their letters before they know how to pronounce them-alas! when this aggregate of evil is brought before us, with all its alarming array of results, the mind of every friend to " things as they were,' sickens and revolts from the spectacle. There still remains, however, one consolation, and it is this, the hope that whoever may live to witness the renovated state, or, more properly, as our forefathers would term it, the derangement of society, which must inevitably be produced, we may not: and why should one care for any body but one's self? Should I find, however, that the dreadful pro

“The march of armies may be told,—

But not the march of mind."

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Appalling as is this posture of affairs, worse seems to await us, particularly in this devoted country. A society has recently started up, composed of a number of men of wealth, and, what they are pleased to call, talent, the object of which is avowed in their spectus, to be the imparting to all classes of the community, particularly to such as are unable to avail themselves of experienced teachers," a knowledge of Hydrostaties! Hydraulics!! Pneumatics !!! and, in fact, the whole circle of the Sciences !!!! Already have they issued nearly a dozen sixpenny treatises, and rumour says, that their sale of each is at least 18,000 copies. What will be the result, if this is permitted to go on, we cannot-we dare not predict. We are almost ready to faint at the very title of the mischief-portending Association, and what conceivable title can we bestow upon that era, when its mischiefs shall be fully developed? Oh! when we unite in one comprehensive view, all the efforts now making to hasten

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consequences foretold by the foes to modern innovation really do follow, you will hear again from your new correspondent, the Secretary to the "Society for the Suppression of Knowledge," and Honorary Member of "The Protestant Order of Jesuits,"

ANTI-PHILANTHROPICUS.

ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION
OF REV. iii. 12.

(To the Editors.) GENTLEMEN,-Will you have the kindness to accept the following illustration of Rev. iii. 12. I do not remember any where to have met with it.

"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God."

It was a custom among the Greeks to place the statues of

distinguished characters as columns in their temples; of this there is a remarkable instance in the Pandrosium at Athens, where the figures of Athenian females, as pillars, support the entablature of the canopy which shadowed the olive sacred to Minerva, and the altar of Jupiter Herceus: other instances might be mentioned, but I select this, because it is copied in the new St. Pancras Church, and may be seen by any one passing along the road.

The text proceeds in exact accordance with Greek manners, "and I will write upon him my new name." The donor of a column frequently inscribed it with his own name.-What name so fit to be inscribed upon such a pillar, as that of the Saviour who redeemed him? Homerton.

JAMES EDMESTON.

་་་་་་་་་་

HOOKER'S CELEBRATED PASSAGE "OF LAW," &c. TRACED TO ITS ORIGINAL..

(To the Editors.)

Gentlemen,

THOSE of your readers whose taste and acumen lead them, in their pursuits of Literature, to explore its pure chambers of imagery, or to ramble florilegiously over its richly variegated parterre, can judge what pleasure was afforded on discovering the original of one of its choicest ornaments; a genuine duplex Cranmeri et Hookeri. The passage constituting the peroration of Hooker's first book of his Ecclesiastical Polity has been long the theme of panegyric among the best judges of composition. Its effect on the ear is no less enchanting than on the mind: "This," exclaims one, who is himself eloquent, "is the very music of eloquence." To elucidate the subjoined analysis, I shall here quote the passage" Of Law," &c. with its introductory sentence.

"Thus we see how even one and

the self-same thing is under divers considerations conveyed through many laws; and that to measure by any one kind of law all the actions of men, were to confound the admirable order wherein God hath disposed all laws, each as in nature, so in degree, distinct from other. Wherefore, that here we may briefly end, of Law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world; all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power; both angels and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy."

I now proceed to demonstrate the original of this exquisite production: not to detract from its superlative merit, but simply to exhibit a literary curiosity; and a useful illustration of what has happened from one man's thoughts passing through the alembic of another man's mind. No doubt the process was incidentally performed by Hooker, without any consciousness of a precedent, although it was as familiar as "household words" in his well stored memory. But even the amiable Cranmer (though there are greater improbabilities than that he himself might have transferred them from one of the early Fathers) would have been gratified to see that he had supplied the materials, in "their comely order," which the genius of "judicious" Hooker has so elegantly condensed, and enlivened by prosopopia or personification. The exordium of the Tenth Homily, itself very harmonious when well read, is given in the first column, and a part of it in the third; and the parallel parts of Hooker are so arranged as to present indisputable coincidences, never till now pointed. out.

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