THE MAN OF STRAW AND THE THREE EMPERORS. N From the same. JAPOLEON, having become Emperor of France, was eager to secure the throne to his own family; and yet he was fully aware that his brothers were in no way worthy to succeed him. He deemed it advisable that the crown should be transmitted to his direct heirs; and as the age of Josephine precluded the hope of his having issue by her, he resolved to repudiate her, and to form an aliance with some of the great European powers. The recollection that the blood of Austria had been shed on the Place de la Révolution, in the person of Marie Antoinette, perhaps deterred Napoleon from addressing himself to the Emperor Francis to solicit the hand of one of his daughters; for in the first instance he turned his thoughts towards Russia. There can be no doubt that the Emperor Alexander had resolved to grant him the hand of one of his sisters, when the negotiation was unexpectedly broken off by an intrigue of the Vienna court, of which Prince Schwartzenberg, then Ambassador from Austria to France, was the principal promoter and actor. Prince Schwartzenberg discovered the rapid progress of the negotiations between France and Russia, though every precaution had been taken to keep the affair as secret as possible; and being convinced that the few obstacles which might arise in the mind of Alexander, would soon be smoothed by Napoleon, he without loss of time transmitted a communication to the Emperor of Austria. He despatched several couriers to Vienna, at short intervals the one from the other; but they were all furnished with a copy of the same note, so that in case one had been taken ill, or had died or been intercepted on the road, another might reach his destination. In his despatch, M. de Schwartzenberg announced Napoleon's marriage with a Russian princess, as an affair nearly arranged, and perhaps already concluded. He regarded this alliance as bighly prejudicial to the interests of Austria, which he observed would henceforth be placed between two fires, and compromised by any differences that might arise between the two most formidable powers of Europe. Having entreated his court to weigh these considerations, he added that if the Emperor of Austria were not averse to giving one of his daughters in marriage to the Emperor Napoleon, he thought he could still, without difficulty, break off the Russian marriage, and bring about a union between Bonaparte and the daughter of his Sovereign; but, he added, there was not a moment to lose, that he must forthwith be furnished with full powers, and a carte blanche, and that with these full powers, must be sent a man of straw, whom he might own if the enterprise succeeded, and disown if it failed. The man and the letter accordingly arrived with all the expedition that could be wished. But how was this man of straw, the Baron de, to fulfil his preliminary mission? He could not speak to the Emperor without being previously presented, which on the one hand was not wished, and on the other would have occupied too much time. About this period Buonaparte's sisters gave several brilliant fêtes, at which the Emperor was present. It was so arranged that the German Baron should be invited to one of these parties; and choosing the moment when Napoleon passed by him, he hazarded the words: The Emperor Napoleon can marry the Emperor of Austria's daughter. Napoleon turned, looked at him, and passed on. The man of straw then took his seat in another part of the saloon, and," watching the moment when Buon porte again passed by, he repeated: The Emperor Napoleon can marry the Emperor of Austria's daughter. At this second summons, Buonaparte looked stedfastly at him, and without making any reply, beckoned to M. de Schwartzenberg, who, as may well VOL. 6.] MacNab's New Work. be supposed, was not far off. Napo- Cambacères and the Duke de Bassano were confounded. Fouché, who knew the state of the negotiations with Russia, concluded that the Emperor was passing a joke upon them. Talleyrand did not utter a word, and Murat knew not what to think. Having stared at each other for some minutes, they at length thought it necessary to T 37 open their mouths. The King of Naples, the Arch-Chancellor, the Duke of Otranto, and the Duke of Bassano were in favour of the Russian alliance, and each supported his opinion as ably as he could. But Talleyrand thought differently, and M. de Fontanes seconding him, said Your alliance with a daughter of the house of Austria will be an act of expiution on the part of France, and will be the fairest page in your history. Perhaps so, M. de Fontanes, replied the Emperor drily, if you are to be the historian. : Having delivered their opinions, the members of the council separated. Buonaparte determined to adopt Talleyrand's advice, though he did not immediately make known his resolution. Meanwhile, he despatched a messenger to M. de Schwartzenberg. He was hunting in the forest of Saint Germain ; an express was sent to him; he immediately returned, and having made known the powers with which he was invested, the business was accordingly settled. Two couriers were immediately dispatched, one to Germany, to announce that the negotiation was concluded, and the other to Russia, to state that the reason for breaking off the alliance was, that the Emperor Alexander's sister was not yet of a marriageable age. MACNAB ON THE UNIVERSE !+ From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. HIS is one of the best systems of universal knowledge that have lately fallen into our hands; and, when rightly understood, will go a long way towards rendering useless most books that have been published in modern times. Mr. MacNab calls himself, onthe title page, Solicitor of the Supreme Courts of Scotland-a designation by no means worthy or characteristic of the man who has explained, upon a principle entirely new, the moral and physical system of the universe. It is painful to think, that he who has roamed through the gardens of Eden, and all the wonders of the antideluvian world like Mr. MacNab, should pore upon parchments; and that the same ears which have drank the harmony of the spheres, should be tortured by the dissonance of the Scottish bar. But such is often the hard law of life; and, after all,there is something sublime in thus uniting activity with contemplation. A Jeremy Bentham is a less wonderful occurrence than à Francis Maximus MacNab. It would not be acting fairly to this gentleman were we to explain his + A Theory of the Moral and Physical System of the Universe, &c. &c. ; by Francis Maximus MacNab, Solicitor of the Supreme theory to the world. 66 his work. It is no business of a journal such as this, to deal in systems of the universe. They would cause our contents to run into too great length, and indeed give the whole miscellany a frowning and philosophical physiognomy. At the same time, there is nothing in our plan to hinder us from giving specimens" of such systems; and we have no doubt that a few extracts from that of Mr. MacNab will induce many to study the great work itself. It is, perhaps, impossible to compose any theory of the system of the universe that shall be, in all points, correct and satisfactory; and it would not be acting candidly to Mr. MacNab, nor fairly to the world, to assert that he has overcome all the difficulties inseparable from so great an undertaking. But it seems highly probable that he will succeed in rendering his theory more perfect before there is a call for a second edition. Let them buy fruition, without fatigue, without satiety." At this period, Mr. MacNab is of opinion" that fire, which now destroys all things, was then the instrument for their preservation, that all nature was then bathed in a preserving fire." He also believes that Adam could fly, and was an excellent diver. "It is reasonable to think that man enjoyed a power of counteracting, to a certain extent, the laws of gravitation, so as to exercise to its fullest rational meaning, his dominion over the fouls of the air and the fish of the sea."" With equal good sense he holds, that "in the solar system every thing was then perfectly balanced, and hence the idea of libra or the scales of justice." "No inequalities then disturbed the planetary nations, but they exhibited throughout the perfect figures of the square and the circle, save where the orbits of the comets displayed the variety of the oval. At that time (he adds) it is probable that all the worlds were far nearer the sun, being enveloped in the blaze of that glorious luminary." He afterwards adds, that "the viscera of the different worlds were known by external indications like those of animals." Mr. MacNab is equally at home with Eve as with her husband. When she was created, "Adam's promise no longer lay in the depictive train of sensual pleasure, taste and sentiment, and all the delirium of exquisite enjoyment, for these were the province of woman, whereby she was eminently fitted to afford delight. But the pursuits of man lay in the didactive train of practical judgment, speculation, and immortal glory. Then arose the province of man whereby he was fitted to afford instruction. Thus were they adapted to each other, with perfect correspondence; for it was well observed by the ancients, Mr. MacNab seems to us to understand the character of Adam better than any one who has treated of our first parent. "In him," says he, "that natural sensibility which is first in the scale of intelligence was brought to its ne plus ultra," &c. "From this source flowed an exquisitely perfect natural taste, whereby Adam enjoyed a complete depictive or figurative knowledge of himself, of the universe, and of the scheme of providence, down to the consummation. He felt its harmony by a kind of innate tact, extending in space as far as the visible universe, and in time as far as the last day," &c. "But all his knowledge was of natural facts expressed by sensible objects, for as yet he knew the reason or final cause of nothing. His capacity was consummate, but as yet there was no improvement of it." This is quite the notion we ourselves have long had of Adam's Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, character, but to Mr. MacNab belongs the merit of having so well expressed it. The state of man and wife in paraHis opinion of paradise is also the same dise, differed from that in our days prinas our own. "Paradise was a condi- cipally in this, "that the wife was tion rather of exquisite passive enjoy- not required to obey her husband-she ment, than of active moral virtue. It did it naturally, and by doing so, enwas but the infancy of nature when she joyed the most exquisite pleasure." We lay at rest on a bed of roses, undergo regret extremely that our limits will not allow us to give the whole of Mac ind of rapture, a state of natural Nab on the Fall. He seems to understand that unfortunate occurrence as thoroughly as if he had been one of the parties. In particular, he mentions with the exactness of an Aberdeen Almanack, the situation of the heavens, at the moment when the fatal apple was cut. 314. The whole analogy indicates, that the temptation must have succeeded at that critical moment, or never. For had the tempter lost that moment, Adam would have reached and tasted the tree of life, and to that side of the scale the balance would have irreversibly inclined. Had Eve adhered to her husband's side, notwithstanding the first attempt of the seducer, it is natural to suppose she would have persevered to the end: and as nature then was perfect, what is now a natural supposition, must have been then a moral certainty. For we all know the effect of habit, or reiteration, in blunting our passive feelings, and quickening our active energies; so that the serpent could never afterwards have succeeded, unless by offering a greater temptation. 315. But this could not possibly have been. For, in the first place, he could not have told, without detection, a falsehood, in any thing falling within the scope of intelligence or reason; because it would have been repugnant to the analogy of nature, then consummately known by Eve,and would therefore have shocked her exquisite innate taste. The same limitation required, that the falsehood which he should tell, even in regard to things transcending human reason, should seem to harmonize with the analogy of nature, and to the most desirable truth which man could know. All these requisites were essential to constitute a temptation, adequate to move the heart of a being perfectly happy, and infallibly secured from error, in any thing lying within the ken of created intelligence. He dwells at great length upon the various accomplishments of the serpent -for all of which singing-walking as well as wisdom-be finds an adequate explanation in the probability of the animal having itself abstracted a few apples from the tree of knowledge, for, says he, "This tree the serpent now occupied." 316. The primitive serpent walked erect. Like man, his lofty crest pointed towards heaven, and he scarcely seemed to touch the earth with his lower extremity. That his voice was exquisitely melodious, is deducible from many of the heathen traditions aftermentioned, associating the serpent with ideas of music and fascination. Instead of being startled or shocked, Eve was actually charmed with it, though she was endowed with perfect taste, and was herself the consommation of rapture. The melody of the primitive ser + Wilberforce on Practical Christianity. 39 pent's voice, is also deducible by antithesis, from the fatal perversion, changing that voice into the hiss, the natural expression of derision and shame. The powers of fascination possessed by the serpent, though affected by observable in some degree in the modern ratthe same horrid change, are said to be still tlesnake; and there are many facts connected with the natural history of serpents, tending to throw additional light on the allegory. We very unwillingly skip over 4 or 500 pages of Mac Nabism, and conclude our notice of this invaluable work with a short account of some part of the chapter on the "Intermediate State of the Departed Soul." Our author, aware that the earth is an "oblate spheroid," of which the mean diameter is about 8000 miles, very reasonably conceives, that if all this mass were a solid body, "there would be a prodigious waste of material." He is of opinion that there is an "interior rind matter of the earth and sea are spread. or shell, upon which the terraqueous 66 This shell is a hollow sphere; and, from analogy, it is obvious that its recesses must have their inhabitants, all converse with the external universe. though secluded by walls of iron from Who then can they be, if not the disembodied souls of the human race?" Throughout this chapter are interspersed some philosophical opinions respecting the poles, which, we are afraid, had not attracted the notice of the Admiralty, when they sent cut the expeditions last year, under Captain Buchan. Mr. Mac Nab is of opinion, that at the 66 poles there is neither land nor sea. The three central steps of the scale, the animal, vegetable, and chemical kingdoms, vanish there, leaving exposed, something we know not what, connected with iron, and intense preternatural cold, It is the empty place where the north is stretched out." (Job. xxvi, 7.) but 1107. These things are strange; what is not strange? Can our Sophists explain the phenomena of magnetism, which evidently point at something connected with this subject? Excepting at the Poles, the iron shell of the Globe is everywhere else deeply buried under the superincumbent terraqueous mass of the Kingdoms of Nature, the Earth, and the Abyss, or Waters under the Earth,' like its flesh and blood, spread over its iron ribs. At the bottom of the Sea, there is doubtless a thick sediment, which may impede the transmission of the magnetic efAuvia, and by its variable density, account in part for the variation of the compass. I say in part, because that variation is also affected by a periodical change, embracing a long secular revolution, and by other anomalies, the causes of which I cannot explain. But the phenomena of the dipping needle, clearly shew that the cause, whatever it be, lies deep beneath the surface. It is connected, as I have said, with iron; and had it not been for the phenomena of the dipping needle, we might have suspected that the iron shell of the Globe, (which is every where else covered) is exposed at the Poles, by the disappearance of Land and Sea. But the dipping indicates, that the great mass of iron is deeply sunk, even beneath the low level of the Poles. From all these circumstances, I infer that the main body of the iron, lies below the terraqueous mass; below the "Great Deep,' or Abyss,' whose waters, communicating with the main ocean, undermine all the continents; washing their way among the subterraneous rocks, and supply ing, by capillary attraction, that moisture, or humidity, which pervades the superincumbent earth. We entreat Mr.Barrow to read, with attention, the following paragraph :The intense cold which prevails near the poles, and in the upper regions of the atmosphere, all round the earth, was introduced by the deluge. The latitude, or mechanical position of a place, in relation to the direct or oblique rays of the sun, is the most inconsiderable of all the data which determine the temperature of its climate; for it depends much more on the chemical state of the atmosphere, at different degrees of elevation from the level of the sea. A condensing fri gorific influence, destructive of every species of life, and strangely opposed to all the other laws of Nature, environs this globe at a certain height from the ground. This height is greatest at the equator, and descends inversely, as the latitude; till, at the poles, it comes in contact with the earth,rendering those spots inaccessible to any living creature. The frigorific influence at the poles is more than natural. It is essentially destructive of every kind of life, animal or vegetable. But it operates in a way the very reverse of decomposition; for it squeezes, compresses, or coudenses, every expansive effort of vitality. It is with reluctance that we part with Mr. MacNab; and seriously do we wish that his philosophical writings may not, in this ignorant and prejudiced age, lessen his practice as a solicitor of the Supreme Courts of Scotland. He tells us in his preface, that his work derives no recommendation from the name, talents, erudition, rank or circumstances of the author." If I have spoken according to the word of God, my work will stand in need of no human patronage; if it be not according to the word, I myself will assist in suppressing it." For our own parts, we wish to preserve a perfect neutrality—for Mr. Mac Nab, speaking of his opponents, says, "when they met me full in the front, and would have me turn back, or to the right or left, I have felled them to the ground, without respect of parties or persons." We might find it, like the Lord High Commissioner, somewhat difficult to parry these “argumenta ad hominem," and as our motto has always been " be amang us," May ne'er waur Mr. MacNab, that we are, with the we beg leave to assure highest consideration, his most obedient humble servants. VARIETIES. From the Monthly Magazine. CHALMERS, THE PREACHER. Y FROM PETER'S LETTERS. ESTERDAY being Sunday, I threw myself into the midst of one of these overwhelming streams, and allowed myself to float on its swelling waves to the church of the most celebrated preacher in this place; or rather, I should say, the most celebrated preacher of the day in the whole of ScotlandDr. Chalmers. I had heard so much of this remarkable man in Edinburgh, that my curiosity in regard to him had been wound-up to a high pitch, even before I found myself in the midst of this population, to which his extraordi nary character and genius furnish by far the greatest object of interest and attention. I had received a letter of introduction to him from Mr. Jeffrey, (for the critic and he are great friends) -so I called at his house in a day or two after my arrival in Glasgow, but he had gone to visit his friends in a parish of which he was formerly minister, in the county of Fife, so that I was for the time disappointed. My landlady, however, who is one of his admirers, had heard of his return the evening before, and she took care to communicate this piece of intelligence to me at breakfast. I was very happy in receiving it,and de termined to go immediately; upon |