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vice writhed in torture. Bold, intrepid, and open was his brow; and as the streams of satire issued from his tongue, Rome seemed to rise with all its debauchery before me ;-yet, once that he extended his theme to mankind in general, Rome and its peculiarities were forgotten, and he burst forth into a strain of such sublime morality, that I listened in expectation that, in the next sentence, I should hear the name of Christ issuing from his lips. The second who appeared used the lash with the same adroitness and severity, but with more caution. He seemed fearful of detection his face was muffled in such a manner, that many words escaped my ear, and therefore I could not always fully understand him.

Scarcely had they departed, when I thought I heard the shout of countless multitudes; and a Grecian and a Roman entered, both in the attitude of speaking. The first looked like Jove haranguing the gods. The thunder seemed to issue from his tongue, and the lightning from his eye; he stopped not to ornament, but all was irresistibly simple and commanding. But the

second put me in mind of Apollo -the Graces and the Muses seemed to throng around the rostra on which The stood the music of Helicon was on his lips; and his eye, though devoid of the lightning of the former, beamed with a steady and diffusive light,-an eye that told all that was within, and collected all that was without. The first clanked a massy chain, and defied me to elude it; the second, ere I was aware, had silently entangled me in golden shackles. A civic crown appeared to descend, and was just lighting upon the head of the first, when I beheld one hastily advance, and attempt to withdraw it; he was equal to his antagonist in agility, but inferior in strength, and after a desperate contest he was compelled to yield, and the crown rested for ever on the victor's brow. Over the head of the last was inscribed, in characters of living gold, "Pater Patriæ,"-and tyrants, usurpers, women, and hirelings, eagerly attempted in vain to erase it.

But who can describe the scene that followed ?-a scene of stupendous grandeur and overwhelming magnificence. For then advanced the man of sciencethe priest of nature, who cast a long and venturous look into the holy of holies! the sanctuary of creation. Heaven and Earth saluted him-the Elements paid him homage, and Nature gave a burst of universal gratulation. He waved his wand,-and it seemed as if a vast curtain had been withdrawn from the face of heaven, and I saw the Sun with all his satellites in tenfold magnitude and splendour, as if just fresh from the Creator; the print of his hand was upon them; and the traces of his finger when he described the orbits in which they should move, were visible; the harmony of their motions was so great that it could not be confined to one sense; the harps of cherubim and seraphim beat time to their movements;—" the morning stars were singing together, and all the sons of God were shouting for joy." I looked again at the sage :angels and archangels were conversing with him, and were revealing to him the mysteries of the universe. After some interval, he stooped to the earth,—and a voice, (as it were) from the bowels of the earth, seemed to declare the secrets of its prison-house, and the power of that tremendous grasp which holds the world together. Instantly a great number of philosophers crowded around him to catch the sound of the voice: each, according to the different words which he caught, formed some peculiar instrument, either of surprising efficacy, or beautiful construction. Still I never withdrew my eyes from him, upon whom indeed all eyes were intent; and I beheld a rainbow, like a glory, encircling his brow; and the seven colours of heaven beamed with a living lustre around him.

I know not how to describe the ludicrous circumstance which drew my attention from a scene so en chanting; I saw a figure approach, which I did not at first perceive to be myself, so tattered and disfigured was my academic dress; while I was looking at my

self with the most sincere mortification,* my gown began gradually to gather itself into large and graceful folds above my whole person; the sleeves began to lengthen; and a sleek velvet overspread the unsightly pasteboard of my cap. I assure you, I gazed with perfect self-conceit upon the improvement of my costume; but I was soon roused from my dream of vanity, by the appearance of Archimedes weighing the king of Syracuse's crown in water, and detecting the fraud of its master.

Then advanced two buskined Grecians, both in long and sweeping garments, who looked with an eye of jealousy upon each other, and often related the same tale in different style and language, but still with all its shades of sorrow and horror. Their voices both seemed to have softened down the deep-toned thunder of Homer, into the refined tenderness of Athenian music. They were attended by a band of virgins, who mimicked all their motions,-wept as they wept, and raged as they raged Their language was sometimes so enigmatical, that, but for their beauty, I should have taken them for sphinxes.

The last of that illustrious train which my vision presented, unfolded an immense picture, where I saw Rome in all and through all its vicissitudes. I saw it rising under Romulus, and sinking beneath the Gauls, -reviving under Camillus, -trembling before Hannibal, triumphant with Scipio,-the mistress of the world beneath Augustus. But alas! a large and brilliant portion was lacerated and defaced; and I, in the warmth of my emotions, cursed the unclassic hand that could mar so fair picture. I then heard a confused noise of Reason, right Reason, Obligation, Government, when, unluckily, my cap, which I had hung but loosely on a peg, fell and awoke me. I must however remark, that there were many forms, in academic

* It may be proper to observe, that this alludes to the change of academic costume upon obtaining a scholarship, which honourable distinction he had just then acquired.

dresses, passing to and fro during my dream, which I did not then notice, but which I have since learnt to value most dearly; friends, who have since formed the brightest parts of the picture, and without whom, the beauties of the rest would to me have almost terminated with the vision in which they appeared;-friends, to whom I have turned from the page of Horace, to realize the scenes he has described; whose kindness has assisted me,-whose generosity has upheld me,-and whose conversation has heightened my hours of pleasure, and mitigated my days of despair: and when I shall revert from the toils of manhood, and the imbecility of age, to this youthful period, it shall not be one of my least gratifications to recollect, that while I was employed in cultivating an acquaintance with the illusstrious dead, I did not neglect to form a still more endearing attachment to the living.

PATRIOTISM.

Angels of glory! came she not from you?
Are there not patriots in the heav'n of heav'ns?
And hath not every seraph some dear spot-

Throughout th' expanse of worlds some favourite home
On which he fixes with domestic fondness?

Doth not e'en Michael on his seat of fire,

Close to the footstool of the throne of God,

Rest on his harp awhile, and from the face

And burning glories of the Deity,

Loosen his rivetted and raptured gaze,

To bend one bright, one transient downward glance,
One patriot look upon his native star?

Or do I err?-and is your bliss complete,

Without one spot to claim your warmer smile,

And e'en an angel's partiality?

And is that passion, which we deem divine,

Which makes the timid brave, the brave resistless,-
Makes men seem heroes,-heroes, demigods-

A poor, mere mortal feeling?-No! 'tis false !

The Deity himself proves it divine;

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For when the Deity conversed with men,
He was himself a Patriot !*-to the earth-
To all mankind a Saviour was he sent,
And all he loved with a Redeemer's love;

Yet still, his warmest love, his tenderest care,
His life, his heart, his blessings, and his mournings,
His smiles, his tears, he gave to thee, Jerusalem-
To thee, his country !-Though, with a prophet's gaze,
He saw the future sorrows of the world;

And all the miseries of the human race,

From age to age, rehearsed their parts before him;
Though he beheld the fall of gasping Rome,
Crush'd by descending Vandals; though he heard
The shriek of Poland, when the spoilers came;
Though he saw Europe in the conflagration
Which now is burning, and his eye could pierce

* The observation of Bishop Newton upon the passage of Scripture thus alluded to, may be introduced here as authority for the boldness of this expression." So deeply was our Saviour affected, and so tenderly did he lament over the calamities which were coming upon his nation! Such a generous and amiable pattern of a patriot-spirit hath he left to his disciples, and so contrary to truth is the insinuation of a noble writer, that there is nothing in the Gospels to recommend and encourage the love of one's country!"-18th Dissert. on the Prophecies, vol. ii. p. 138.

I beg leave to add a quotation from Brown's admirable Essays on Lord Shaftesbury's Characteristics. To the objection of the noble writer, that "Christianity does not enjoin a zeal for the public and our country," it is thus replied: "If by zeal for the public, and love of our country be meant such a regard to its welfare as shall induce us to sacrifice every view of private interest for its establishment, yet still in subordination to the greater law of universal justice,-that is naturally, nay, necessarily involved in the law of universal charity. The noble writer indeed affirms, that it is no essential part of the Chris tian's charity. On the contrary, it is a chief part of the Christian's charity. It comes nobly recommended by the examples of Jesus and St. Paul; the one wept over the approaching desolation of his country; the other declared his willingness to be cut off from the Christian community, if by this means he might save his countrymen." Speaking of the principle of universal love, in which this natural affection is included, the same author observes: "Christianity alone hath kindled in the heart of man this vital principle, which, beaming there as from a centre, like the great fountain of light and life that sustains and cheers the attendant planets, renders its proselytes indeed burning and shining lights, shedding their kindly influence on all around them in that just proportion which their respective distances may demand." -Pp. 231, 236.-EDITOR.

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