very intimate terms with our royal neighbours, we have begun to feel ashamed of that simplicity which is the real beauty and strength of our government. In our enthusiastic applause of what is really illustrious and enviable in the refined nations of Europe, we are apt to be indiscriminate in our admiration, and to confound what is base with what is praiseworthy. We have manifested a certain hankering after regal pomp and courtly show, without considering that these are the necessary gildings of bad government that betoken the bitterness of the pill. We have involuntarily in our private walks evinced a profound deference for those nations that had kings to reign over them, and whenever foreigners have made themselves merry, as they are sometimes pleased to do, with our republican simplicity, we have shrugged up our shoulders, and submitted with acquiescent inferiority. These remarks, my worthy sir, are made from my own observation and experience; for, with all humility and contrition I acknowledge it, I have felt the influence of them myself. I can recollect many a wish of lurking vanity, secretly twitching at my heart, that our government would hold up its head, assume more state, and swagger a little like its neighbours. When I have heard of magnificent feasts and spectacles at Carleton-House, and St. Cloud, I have experienced something like repining and contempt for the hum-drum style at Washington. Nay, why need I disguise the truth, when I read of the marrying, and unmarrying, and remarrying, of Bonaparte, and the royal amours of the prince regent, who is rivalling Solomon, if not in the depth of his wisdom, at least in the number of his seraglio, I blushed for the plebeian moderation of Mr. Madison, who, I understand, is fain to content himself with but one wife, and, as far as I can possibly ascertain, has not a single concubine !

It is almost impossible to overcome that habitual and almost superstitious reverence with which we regard station and authority. There is something in crowns and sceptres, and robes of ermine, and chairs of state, that hide the real insignificance or deformity of the occupant. We behold only a combination of sumptuous pageantry and glittering regalia, and form an idea of the dignity or dimensions of the wearer, from the trappings with which he is surrounded. In this way we are prone to judge of princes more from their situation than from their real merits. For my part, I had generally considered them as elevated above the groveling feel

ings of common humanity; free from those little vile habits and pitiful frailties that cling to ordinary mortals. I had imagined them refined, generous, delicate, magnanimous, high minded-or if, perchance, they had vices, that they were doubtless of so dignified and majestic a nature as to lose all their grossness and deformity, and to be at least on a par with the virtues of vulgar life. I had supposed that they were compelled by their conspicuous stations and high responsibilities, to conduct themselves with more than ordinary care and circumspection; both to avoid the prying eyes of curiosity, ever bent upon greatness, and to set illustrious examples to the world, of which they were in a manner the guides and luminaries. I almost pitied them that they had always to be wise and immaculate; that they could not occasionally unbend and indulge in those little snug sins and dainty peccadilloes, which we humble folk enjoy, under cover of our insignificance-in a word, I thought it a very fine thing to be a king, but a very comfortable thing to be a common man; and preferred, like Sancho, to have my morsel in a corner, where I could eat as I pleased, and chew on both sides of my mouth.

Such was the singular delusion under which I laboured; and there is really something so agreeable in being deceived into magnificent dreams and phantasies, that, for my own part, I feel almost as little satisfaction at being awakened to the true nature of these royal pageants, as I was to be convinced of the unreality of fairies and witches, and those other imaginary beings, that filled my youthful mind with wonder and admiration. But this prying, matter of fact age, is as deadly a foe to the one as to the other, and has as completely laid open to the eye of day, and what is worse, of vulgar curiosity, the sacred seclusions of the palace, as the fancied realms of fairy land.

I now begin to think that, after all, kings and princes are but mere common beings-mere "caterpillars drest"--and so far from being refined and ennobled by their high and responsible situations, the very reverse is the case. They seem to consider themselves elevated above restraint, and at full liberty to indulge every wayward and sensual inclination.

I do not know what effect the precious disclosures in this "genuine" book, may have had in the country for which they were intended. Men are strangely bigoted to the errors and impositions under which they have been brought up; and there is nothing

more difficult than to disenthral them from those superstitions, whether religious or political, which have, from infancy, taken possession of their minds. The gods and goddesses of antiquity were known by their worshippers to be a set of outrageous rakes and demireps. Old Jupiter, being the sovereign, seems to have had the right of the manor in its fullest latitude, and to have made free, not merely with the ladies of his court, but with the wives and daughters of his subject mortals, whenever they pleased his fancy. As to the rest of the court, every body knows what kind of characters they were: Mars, though a blustering soldier, ran away from the plains of Troy, and was more famous for his affair with dame Venus, than for any affair in the field of battle. Mercury was an arrant cut-purse and horse-stealer. Apollo was a great whip, a pitcher of quoits, a frequenter of race-grounds, and a notorious hunter of petticoats, assuming all manner of disguises, and going all lengths in the course of his amours-and as to the goddesses, so light were their characters, that Diana was considered a miracle of chastity among them, though it is well known that she kissed Endymion, when she thought no body saw her; and had a delicate investigation taken place, there is no knowing but she might have been expelled from the court of heaven, as unworthy of associating with the other goddesses of immaculate reputation who had not as yet been found out.

Yet with all these scenes of rampant debauchery full within their knowledge; notwithstanding that all the Grub street of antiquity were daily chanting them forth, in every variety of song, yet do we find that the good people of those days still continued to look up to them with superstitious reverence. They dedicated to them the most magnificent temples, celebrated public games and festivals in their honour, and lavished treasures at their shrines. The just, the wise and good, from habit, the force of education, and early planted prejudices, considered them as the divine guardians of virtue; and he who raised the fatal knife, reeking from the blood of a Tarquin, addressed his vows to that Jupiter who was a universal ravisher.

All this I look upon as clearly demonstrative of the superior devoutness and religious zeal of the ancients over the moderns, inasmuch as they were so scrupulous in their homage to deities of such worthless and dissolute characters, while we languish in our

devotions, and scarcely evince a spark of fervour in our piety, though blest with a religion the most simple, pure and amiable, presenting the noblest lessons and examples to the mind, and the most endearing claims on the affections. So, also, I consider the invincible loyalty of the nation to which I have alluded, as highly creditable to its character, inasmuch as the fidelity of the servant is always more deserving of praise, in proportion to the unworthiness of the master. I have, therefore, looked with great admiration at this loyal people, patiently toiling in the traces, and carrying their heads higher the more they are curbed and lashed; and have compared them to well broken, full blooded, proud spirited carriage horses, chafing a little to be sure, and champing on the bit, and now and then showing a little impatience, particularly when driven through dirty places; but in the main, prancing quietly along, exceedingly vain of their fine harness, fine drivers, and their fine equipage-which they have the honour of dragging.

I only wish that my fellow-citizens, who are fain to copy the vices and follies of foreigners, would for once attempt to copy their virtues. That they would read attentively every work of the kind here noticed, and reflect, that if a nation can be attached to a government so full of evils and corruptions, how much greater reason have we to glory in the happy form of government under which we live-which permits no permanent elevation above the opinions and feelings of the people-which presents no humilitaing picture, of men invested in the purple, not from merit, but from birth -insulting the moral principles and grieving the domestic feelings of the nation, by open licentiousness and undisguised violation of all those tender and virtuous ties that society holds most dear. Whether we have good or bad men to rule over us, must depend on our own discretion—if good, we have the power of continuing them in office-if bad, they sink to the bottom by the weight of their own unworthiness. This much is certain, that to continue in power, they must either be virtuous, or at least seem to be so; if they do not act justly from principle, they will at least do so from policy-and surely that country is most likely to be happy in its rulers, where those who govern have to depend on the good opinion of those who are governed.

Yours, &c.

A QUID-NUNC.

For the Analectic Magazine.

CUPID AND HYMEN.

AN ALLEGORY.

THE immortal Jove, in grateful acknowledgment for the incense offered up by mankind, determined to bestow on them the choicest blessings in his power. He called Cupid and Hymen, who had hitherto inhabited the etherial abodes, and bade them visit the earth, there to employ themselves in administering to the delight of the human race. They descended together into the beautiful plains of Thessaly, where the air is always pure, the breezes all zephyrs, and the smooth Peneus meanders through meadows for ever enamelled with flowers. Hymen was crowned with wreaths of blooming roses; in one hand he bore a burning torch, and over his shoulders was thrown, with inimitable grace, a robe of glowing purple. Cupid appeared like a beautiful winged boy, armed with bow, and quiver full of arrows. He looked a picture of innocence and simplicity; but those who viewed his countenance more closely, discovered something in it that appeared like mischievous archness. He came among the shepherds, and seemed to be for ever employed in those diversions that suited the thoughtlessness of his age. Sometimes he was seen rolling a hoop, or playing with a swan on the margin of the river; sometimes he would put a helmet on his head, and march along with the triumphant air of a conqueror returning from battle; and at others he chased the butterflies among the flowers.

The nymphs and swains gathered around this enchanting pair, and covered the beautiful boy with kisses and caresses. He wove for them the most delicious garlands of jasmine and roses, but he too often twined the thorns with the roses, and when the young nymphs pressed them to their bosoms, they were wounded to the heart. Sometimes, too, he would bend his bow, as if in sport, and inflict, with his feathered arrows, wounds that the simple art of the shepherds knew not how to cure. Tired and irritated with these repeated offences, the inhabitants of the vale gathered VOL. II. New Series.

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