12 Mr. Taylor on the Notions of the Platonists respecting Prayer. [Aug. 1, on the south-west, to the white cliffs of Culver on the cast. The fort here is the most regular fortification on the island, and is well-manned and placed in a defensive attitude. Here are also considerable barracks. Near these stands Sandown Cottage, once a favorite retreat of that shining star in the political horizon, the late celebrated John Wilkes, esq. The lovely aspect of the country, silvered over by the mild lustre of the lamp of night, left us little to regret in our compulsory ramble; and we arrived without fatigue at the little village of Shanklin. We had scarcely contemplated the possibility of a second disappointment in quarters; and advanced with the confidence of expected guests to the Crab inn, or rather ale-house, the humble resting-place of this secluded hamlet. We were not a little chagrined to find that here also we had been anticipated by more fortunate inmates. What was to be done? It was growing late, and several miles intervened before another house occurred. Even there we might be placed in a similar situation. We preserved, however, our good humour on the occasion, and proposed to rest here awbile and consult on the measure to be adopted. The spirit of good humour and accommodation to circumstances ever begets a correspondent feeling in others. After repeated whispers among the little circle assembled, our kind hostess announced her determination to lodge us in some attainable way. The night had become chill, and we drew with pleasure towards the lighted faggot that blazed on the hearth and reflected its beams on the honest faces around. We soon discovered the cause of this unusual assemblage at the recluse little inn. The worthy woman, oppressed by age, was about to quit the scene of her active years; and had once more gathered round her the scattered members of her family, to recall the occurrences of past days on the spot where they had happened. We listened to her little tale of troubles; for Heaven, impartial in its distribution of joys and cares, had sent her share of sorrow even into this remote corner. Widowed in her age, she had also lost her sight; and unable longer to bustle on the stage of life, was about to seek an asylum in the family of one of those amiable daughters who now formed the little circle. Her friends, indeed, she said, advised her to seek relief from medical advice in London. Her daugh ters expressed astonishment at the vastness of the project, and the good woman confessed that she would be the first of the family who had visited the great metropolis; while a smiling Hebe of a granddaughter seemed rapt in the contemplation of so gigantic a design. To leave the confines of this her little palace, appeared the deepest wound that fortune had yet inflicted. It was here she had passed her youthful days. Here her children were born. In this house she bad trained them to habits of industry and virtue; and from hence she had spread them over the surface of the little island, each with a husband and protector to guide her steps. A tear glistened in the eyes of her family as she related her peculiar griefs. May thy last glimmer of life shed a peaceful and contented ray, exemplary matron! And may the filial piety that now distinguishes thy amiable daughters be repaid by the smooth pillow spread for them in their decline of life by the hands of their instructed offspring! How infinitely preferable is one pure feeling flowing warn from the heart, one genuine spark of nature to all the refinement of science or the glitter of sentiment. The temporary couch spread by the family of the worthy Mrs. Pope appeared a bed of softest down; for it was formed with smiles of complacence and alacrity, and hallowed by the benedictions of innocence and virtue. (To be continued.) ON THE NOTIONS OF THE PLATONISTS (Continued from Vol. V. p. 405.) MR. EDITOR, I send you a continuation of the admirable observations of Proclus concerning prayer, which are as follow:-"And this, indeed, is the best end of prayer, the conjunction of the soul's conversion with its permanency; establishing in unity whatever proceeds from the divine unities, and surrounding our light with the light of the Gods. Prayer, therefore, is of no small assistance to our souls in ascending to their native region. Nor is he who possesses virtue superior to the want of that good which proceeds from prayer, but the very contrary takes place; since prayer is not only the cause of our ascent and return, but with it is connected piety to the Gods, that is, the very summit of virtue. Nor, indeed, ought any other to pray than he who excels in goodness, as the Athenian guest in Plato admonishes us; for to such a one, while 1816.] Mr. Taylor on the Notions of the Platonists respecting Prayer. 13 enjoying by the exercise of prayer, familiarity with the Gods, an efficacious and easy way is prepared for the enjoyment of a blessed life. But the contrary follows to the vicious; since it is not lawful for purity to be touched by impurity. "It is necessary, therefore, that he who generously enters on the exercise of prayer, should render the Gods propitious to him, and should excite in himself divine conceptions, full of intellectual light. For the favour and benignity of more exalted beings is the most effectual incentive to their communication with our nature. And it is requisite, without intermission to dwell in the veneration of divinity: for, according to the poet, the Gods are accustomed to be present with the mortal constantly employed in prayer. It is likewise necessary to preserve a stable order of divine works, and to produce those virtues which purify the soul from the stains of generation, (i.e. the sublunary region), and elevate her to the regions of intellect, together with faith, truth, and love; to preserve this triad, and hope of good, this immutable perception of divine light, and segregation from every other pursuit, that thus solitary, and free from material concerns, we may become united to the solitary unities of the Gods; since he who attempts by multitude to unite himself with unity, acts preposterously, and dissociates himself from divinity. For as it is not lawful for any one to conjoin himself by that which is not with that which is, so neither is it possible with multitude to be conjoined with unity. Such, then, are the consequences primarily apparent in prayer, viz. that its essence is the cause of associating our souls with the Gods; and that, on this account, it unites and copulates all inferior with all superior beings. For as the great Theodorus says, all things pray except the FIRST. "But the perfection of prayer, begin ning from more common goods, ends in divine conjunction, and gradually accustoms the soul to divine light. And its efficacious and vigorous energy, both replenishes us with good, and causes our concerns to be common with those of the Gods. We may also rationally suppose that the causes of prayer, so far as they are effective, are the vigorous and efficacious powers of the Gods, converting and calling upwards the soul to the Gods Theodorus Asinæus, a disciple of Por phyry. themselves. But that so far as they are perfective, they are the immaculate goods of the soul, from the reception of which, souls are established in the Gods. And again, that so far as they are paradigmatical, they are the primary fabricating causes of beings: proceeding from the good, and conjoined with it by an ineffable union. But that so far as they are formal, or possess the analogy of forms, they render souls similar to the Gods, and give perfection to the whole life of the soul, Lastly, so far as they are material, or are analogous to matter, they are the marks or symbols conferred by the Demiurgus on the essences of souls, that they may be wakened to a reminiscence of the Gods, who produced both them and whatever else exists. "We may also describe the modes of prayer, which are various, according to the genera and species of the Gods. For of prayers, some are operative, others of a purifying nature, and others, lastly, are vivific. I call those operative, which are offered for the sake of showers and winds. For the fabricative Gods are also the causes of these; on which account, it is customary with the Athenians to pray to such divinities, for the sake of obtaining winds which procure serenity of weather. But I call those prayers of a purifying nature, which are instituted for the purpose of averting diseases, originating from pestilence, and other contagious distempers, such as are written in our temples. And lastly, those prayers are viuific, with which we venerate the Gods, who are the causes of vivification, on account of the origin and maturity of fruits. Hence it is that prayers are of a perfective nature, because they elevate us to these divine orders; and those who consider such prayers in a different manner, do not properly apprehend in what their nature and effi cacy consists. But again, with respect to the things for which we pray: those which regard the safety of the soul obtain the first place; those which pertain to the proper disposition and strength of the body, the second; and those claim the third place which pertain to external concerns. And lastly, with respect to the distribution of the times in which we offer up prayers, it is either according to the seasons of the year, or the centers of the solar revolution; or we establish multiform prayers acording to other such-like conceptions." With the above admirable extract, the following, from Iamblichus de Myst. sect. 1, cap. 12, may be very properly 14 Illustrations of the Custom of making April Fools. conjoined. The design of it is to shew that the Gods are not agitated by passions, though they appear to be moved through the influence of prayer. "Prayers are not to be directed to the Gods as if they were passive, and could be moved by supplications; for the divine irradiation, which takes place through the exercise of prayer, operates spontaneously, and is far remote from all material attraction; since it becomes apparent through divine energy and perfection, and as much excels the voluntary motion of our nature, as the divine will of the good surpasses our election. Through this volition, the Gods who are perfectly benevolent and merciful, pour their light without any parsimony on the supplicating priests, whose souls they call upwards to their own divine natures, impart to them an union with themselves, and accustom their souls, even while bound in body, to separate themselves from its dark embrace, and to be led back by an ineffable energy to their eternal and ineffable original. Indeed it is evident that the safety of the soul depends on such divine operations for while the soul contemplates divine visions, it requires another life, employs a different energy, and may be considered with the greatest propriety as no longer ranking in the order of man; for it often lays aside its own proper life, and changes it for the most blessed energy of the Gods. But if an ascent to the Gods, through the ministry of prayer, confers on the priests purity from passion, freedom from the bonds of generation, and an union with a divine principle, how can there be any thing passive in the efficacy of prayer? For invocation does not draw down the pure and impassive Gods to us, who are passive and impure; but, on the contrary, renders us, who are become through generation impure and passive, immutable and pure. "But neither do invocations conjoin through passion the priests with the divinities, but afford an indissoluble communion of connection, through that friendship which binds all things in union and consent. Nor do invocations incline the intellect of the Gods towards men, as the term seems to imply; but according to the decisions of truth, they render the will of men properly disposed to receive the participations of the Gods, leading it upwards, and connecting it with the divinities by the sweetest and most alluring persuasion, And on this account the sacred names of the Gods, and other divine symbols, from their [Aug. 1, elevating nature, are able to connect in- Manor-place, Walworth. MR. EDITOR, As your correspondent, NED RETLAS, vol. v. p. 318, has requested "" an elucimaking fools on the first of April," I beg dation of the origin of the practice of leave to enclose you an extract from that valuable work, MAURICE's Indian Antiquities, (vol. vi. p. 71, &c.) which will prove the antiquity of the custom, and if friend, will, perhaps, communicate some not afford entire satisfaction to your curious information to the public. H. N. "The First of April was anciently observed in Britain as a high and general festival, in which an unbounded hilarity reigned through every order of its inhabitants: for the sun, at that period of the year, entering into the sign Aries, the new year, and with it the season of rural sports and vernal delight was then supposed to have commenced. The proof of the great antiquity of the observance of this annual festival, as well as the probability of its original establishment in an Asiatic region arises from the evidence of facts afforded us by astronomy, which shall presently be adduced. Although the reformation of the year by the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the adaptation of its commencement to a different and far nobler system of theology, have occasioned the festival-sports, anciently celebrated in the country on the first of April to have long since ceased; and although the changes, occasioned during a long lapse of years by the shifting of the equinoctial points, have in Asia itself been productive of important astronomical alterations as to the exact æra of the commencement of the year; yet, on both continents, some very remarkable traits of the jocundity which then reigned, remain even to these distant times. Of those preserved in Britain, none of the least remarkable or ludicrous is that relic of its pristine pleasantry, the general practice of making April Fools, as it is called, on the first day of that month; but this Colonel Pearce has proved to have been an immemorial custom among the Hindoos (in the second volume of Asiatic Researches) at a celebrated festival, holden about the same time in India, which is called the Huli festival. I shall insert the account in the Colonel's own words: 1816.] Controversy respecting Eliz. Fenning and the African Institution 15 'During the Huli, when mirth and festivity reign among Hindoos of every class, one subject of diversion is to send people on errands and expeditions that are to end in disappointment, and raise a laugh at the expense of the person sent. The Huli is always in March, and the last day is the general holiday. I have never yet heard any account of the origin of this English custom, but it is unquestionably very ancient, and is still kept up even in great towns, though less in them than in the country. With us it is chiefly confined to the lower class of people, but in India high and low join in it; and the late Suraja Doulah, I am told, was very fond of making Huli fools, though he was a Mussulman of the highest rank. They carry the joke here so far, as to send letters, making appoint ments, in the names of persons who it is known must be absent from their home at the time fixed upon, and the laugh is always in proportion to the trouble given."" MR. EDITOR, Dr. Johnson, in one of his literary contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine, suggested the propriety of having a moderator selected who might superintend the progress and debate of every disputed question, "restrain all needless excursions, repress all personal reflections, and at last recapitulate the arguments on each side; and who, though he should not assume the province of deciding the question, might at least exhibit it in a true state." The adoption of some such expedient I have more than once desired, and particularly on reading some observations inade in your former numbers on two questions: 1st, the actual innocence or guilt of Elizabeth Fenning: 2d, the controversy between the Directors of the African Institution on the one hand; and Dr. Thorpe, and those who think with him, on the other. In both questions it is impossible for an obscure individual living in the country to procure, peruse, and weigh the evidence on each side; and it would be therefore peculiarly satisfactory to have the assistance of a moderator, as already described, who might present to the uninformed reader a view of the facts, and thereby enable him with little trouble to come to something like a satisfactory conclusion. After these preliminary observations, allow me to say, that in both the above-named questions, the presumptive evidence (nor am I in possession of any other) would lead me to form conclusions the very opposite to what you seem to have formed. There may undoubtedly be facts, of which I am not in possession, that may materially affect each question; but with regard to the first of them, is it probable that the sentence against the criminal would have been carried into effect without the most satisfactory evidence of her guilt? I believe the case was most minutely investigated by Lord Eldon, who, it is hardly to be suppposed, would have leaned to the side of rigour, had he considered that there was the least ground for doubt respecting her guilt. Many respectable persons, it is true, may have entertained, and may still entertain, doubts on the subject; but I should wish to know if those persons had read and weighed the evidence, or were not rather under the influence of the dying declaration of the criminal, namely, that she was altogether innocent. With regard to this declaration, I shall only observe, that it is no uncommon thing for persons of the Roman Catholic religion to persist in declarations to this effect, though convicted on the most indubitable evidence; of this there have been many instances in Ireland. Had the guilt of this woman been doubtful, we should, I think, have heard much on the subject in the House of Commons, from some of those persons who are ever on the watch to detect real or supposed misconduct on the part of Government, from the Broughams, Burdetts, or Folkstones. In short, Mr. Editor, unless there are strong grounds for accusing the judicature in this instance of condemning, and the executive of punishing an innocent person, I hold it extremely indiscreet, thus, " spargere voces in vulgum ambiguas,” and thereby lead others, who are not in possession of facts, to suppose that murder has been committed under the semblance of law. At the same time I cannot but regret that any step has been taken which could have given rise to suspicion, such as that mentioned by your correspondent, of the Recorder "holding a pri vate interview with the Turner family during the interval between the sentence and the execution;" nor can I forbear adding, that after the insinuations which have been thrown out, it is the bounden duty of all the parties concerned to disclose every particular respecting the transaction, in order that the heaviest censure may be passed on any who have been guilty even of indecent precipitation;much more if they have consigned an innocent person to an untimely grave. 16 Remarks on the Law of Settlement of Paupers. With regard to the question respecting the African Institution, I can, as before, only argue from presumptive evidence, having neither money nor time to purchase and peruse the postscripts, pamphlets, and replies on either side of the question; but I must humbly submit it to the consideration of others, whether it be likely that such men as Mr. Wilberforce,Mr.Stephens, and others of approved integrity and philanthropy would lend their sanction to a systen of hypocrisy and oppression; whether, though abuses may prevail in some of the inferior departments, the grand aim, object, and intention be not pure, and the means used to effect it, generally speaking, correct; and lastly, whether the clamour against the plan for the registry of slaves in the West Indies-a plan supported, I find, by Lord Grenville, be not excited principally by those who were inost active in their opposition to all measures for the abolition of the slave trade. I write in no party spirit, but with a sincere desire for information; and feeling deeply interested in every thing which respects the abolition of the slave trade. Having heard also that the patrons of this iniquitous traffic are ingenious in devising ways for carrying it on clandestinely, I cannot but rejoice in the contemplation of any measure, the tendency of which is to prevent the possibility of its recurrence. Submitting these remarks to your candour and impartiality, I am, &c. May 2, 1816. MR. EDITOR, A FRIEND TO TRUTH. I am induced to offer you a few remarks upon a subject of vital importance to the interests of society, from a perusal of the communication signed SCRUTATOR, in your Magazine for February last. What I allude to is the administration of the laws, so far as they fall within the jurisdiction of justices of the peace. It certainly is to be lamented, that there is too much occasion for the observations made by SCRUTATOR on the incapacity of many gentlemen who are in the commission of the peace; but it will, I am apprehensive, be found difficult, if not impracticable, to remedy this evil by substituting a local police of regularly educated professional men; and perhaps the policy of such a measure is very questionable. It is, however, very necessary that the proceedings of justices at their quarter sessions should be conducted with regularity and consistency, and with [Aug. 1, that strict attention to the rules of law which ought always to be found in a court of justice. lies to the court of quarter sessions from An appeal generally the determinations of justices made out of it; and it frequently happens that the hearing of such appeal is final. Now, in order to further the administration of justice, I would propose, that the chairman of every quarter sessions should be a barrister of at least six years standing, with a salary adequate to the duties of his office. This might be effected with little additional expence to the country, and would be productive of much good, in promoting the regularity of the proceedings and decisions of the courts of quarter sessions: for it frequently happens, and more particularly so where such courts are not attended by counsel, that those decisions are at variance with the rules of law. I lately saw a striking instance of this upon the trial of an appeal in a settlement case. The question was, whether a removal had been made of the pauper's father many years ago, which had not been appealed against; and the justices allowed parole evidence of the removal, without any proof being given of the existence of the order of removal, and of the subsequent loss or destruction of it, or that it had been searched for, or that the opposite party had been served with notice to produce any copy or duplicate of it in his possession. It was in vain that the advocate insisted upon the total inadmissibility of parole evidence of the removal without such previous proofs: and that he referred to a reported case proving its incompetency, as well as to the practice in analogous cases upon questions of settlement by apprenticeship, as also to the rule requiring the best evidence to be given that the nature of the thing is capable of. His pleading was in vain, and the case was decided against him. Now, Sir, this could not have happened if a barrister had presided. It is true the Court of King's Bench would soon set a matter of this kind right if it came before it; but it unfortunately happens that the justices have a discretionary power either to state a case, or not, as they may think proper; and if they refuse it, which I understand is uniformly the practice in some courts, the party has no relief. In the instance alluded to, though a case was not refused, yet a material fact was excluded which rendered it of no avail. In order to remedy these evils, I would further propose that all questions of settlement should be decided by a jury. |