passages, supposed by some to be such also, have nothing to do with that subject, but only relate to other persons and things. 14. That the book of Job is a poetical allegory, founded chiefly on some ancient facts, embellished by the machinery of poetry; and that it was written by Moses. 15. That the bodies of Adam and Eve were treated mortal by nature; and that the sentence of death passed on them related to the death of the soul. 16. That the inspiration of the New Testament is partial also. That there was по doubt a superintendancy, according to the promise of our Lord, to bring all necessary facts, proper to be recorded, to the remembrance of the writers, but that there is no proof of any thing more. 17. That it is an injury to the Christian cause, to assert more authority than can be proved. That its internal evidence is abundantly sufficient to prove its divine origin. That the discourses and parables of our Lord are so infinitely superior to any thing else in the world, that they prove divine wisdom to have been given to him in abundance, because he spake as never man before him spake. 18. That the orthodox doctrines of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, original sin, the imputation of Christ's righteousness, his vicarial satisfaction, unconditional personal election and reprobation, irresistible grace, necessary final perseverance, and the eternity of hell torments, were not in his Bible. 19. That to suppose the Great Father of all, furious and severe, till Jesus made him propitious, is contrary to the plain declarations of the apostles, as well as to reason. 20. That there cannot be guilt in mistaken opinions; and that to suppose God will punish his creatures for these, is forming most unworthy notions of the Great and Gracious Father of all. 21. That Christianity is entirely a moral system, sanctioned by future rewards and punishments. 22. That the wicked and impenitent will hereafter be punished, according, and in proportion, to their guilt, and then will be put out of being. 23. That the second death, and the destruction, so frequently mentioned in the scripture, is the extinction of a wicked soul; and eternal life the great prize and gift of God to the righteous. 24. That the whole body which is laid into the earth is not to arise, but only the original stamina, which had been expanded by advenLitious nourishment. That the matter of this Bourishment will be left behind, and that the real original body will be expanded, and made, perhaps, as subtle as light itselt, and filed with a glorious splendour, if the imal allotment be happiness. 25. That, notwithstanding the corrupt prac MONTHLY MAC. No. 194. tice of multitudes of Christians, it is idolatry to worship as God any being except the Great Spirit, the Father of all. That our Lord never ordered divine worship to be paid to himself, and that be is not the right object thereof, but only the Great Universal Parent. 26. That in the present state of the Christian church, ignorant, uneducated ministers are its disgrace, and never truly useful. That a distinct order, carefully educated and separated from secular employments, is absolutely necessary for promoting the true understanding of the gospel. Nevertheless such an or der is not divinely appointed, and any one who understands Christianity may teach it: any Christian may baptize another; and any number of Christians may celebrate the Lord's Supper, either with or without a clergyman. 27. That baptism of infants is absurd, because they cannot repent or believe: and that in the baptism of adults, it is immaterial in what way the water is applied, whether by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling. I believe Dr. Pike held most, if not all, of these sentiments. He was, perhaps, a Christian sui generis; yet he certainly never embraced a novel notion without deep thought, and what appeared to him to be substantial reasons. Before I conclude, I must mention further, that I am in possession of some letters, and other old papers, by which it seems to me, that I know more of his family and descent than he ever appeared to know himself, as he never mentioned his ancestors beyond his great-grandfa ther. Be John Picus, the celebrated Earl of Mirandula, a lordship in Italy, who was a very remarkable man in the fifteenth century, and whose life was partly translated from the Italian by a Thomas More, (I suppose Sir Thomas,) could trace his descent on the paternal side, from a nephew of the Emperor Constantine. that as it may, he was born anno 1463, and during his youth was most remarkable for his intense application to his stu dies, and rapid acquisition of all learning. He was not entirely prudent in the government of his inclinations, for, (as my papers say) before he was twenty years old, he had a son by a young lady, to whom, it was believed, he was privately married, notwithstanding he was intended for priesthood. She died, and the marriage was never owned. Soon after, there appeared a wonderful change in his disposition and conduct. He forsook all splendour and voluptuousness, to the notions of those days. He burned and became a rigid religionist, according D many many amorous poems and sonnets, which he had before composed, and devoted himself, for the remainder of his life, to the study of the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. Having arge estates he was very liberal to the poor; and three years before his death, he sold most of his estates, and gave away the produce to necessitous people, that he might free himself from every incumbrance. He reserved only enough for his own bare comfortable subsistence in his retirement. He adhered firmly to the Romish communion, and punished himself with continual penances, which were then thought meritorious. At length he died near Florence, in 1494. I learn from my papers, that the son above-mentioned, was afterwards brought to England; and, after many changes of fortune, and much difficulty to subsist, be engaged himself with a carpenter at Marlborough, in Wiltshire, and followed that trade during the rest of his life. I believe his death is to be found in the register of that town, about the year .1565. He left several sons, one of whom followed his business. There is such a coincidence of circumstances in this little history, and Dr. Pike's account of his family, that I cannot but think these were his ancestors. And if so, his descent was what the world calls a great one. But he would not have set any value on this, if he had known it, for no man ever held mere aristocracy in more complete contemps than he. I have endeavoured to do some little justice to departed merit. Perhaps I have exceeded proper bounds: I therefore hasten to conclude. Your's, &c. W. B. chants from Guzerat, Surat, Joynagur, Dehly, Benares, Allahabad, Lucknow, and Furrakabad, are those who chiefly resort to Punnah for that express pur. pose. They employ workmen to dig for them, at the rate of five rupees per month, over whom guards, belonging to the rajah, are stationed, in order to ascertain the precise number found, and to appraise their value. One-fourth of their worth is given to the rajah, either in mo. ney or kind; the residue is left to the merchants for their own benefit. For all, however, superior in price to 30,000 rupees, the rajab gives the merchant onefourth, and keeps the stones himself. These gems are usually found about eighteen inches from the surface, at six feet deep, and at twenty-four feet deep, amidst a rough, coarse, honey-combed, brown stone, or gravelly substance, called khakroo, mixed with a dusky red argilla ceous earth, like ochre, but both so hard that the miner cannot sometimes excavate a foot square during a whole day. Where there is no khakroo, they are not to be met with; of this khakroo, when burnt, is made line. From hence it should seem, that this concretion is the matrix of their generation. When no khak oo is discovered at twenty-four feet, the miner desists from delving lower. Round their pits they leave arches, wide enough for two people to traverse. From the mines the earth is hoisted in baskets, and then rinced and sifted. When diamonds are amongst it, their crystals emit a lustre, by which they are presently discerned, and easily distinguished. Those jewels which are of a larger size, or finer than common, the rajah (as above mentioned) reserves for his own wear, or disposes of himself to the more considerable merchants. Diamonds are said to have been discovered within this district not more than sixty years ago, (and like most other extraordinary discoveries) by accident. Children were casually seen playing with some rough stones, by a lapidary, who chanced to come to Punnah from Bemares, He honestly disclosed to the rajah the nature and value of them, who caused the earth to be explored accordingly, and they were found near the fol lowing villages, Rangpore, Mujgawan, Chowperrah, Berrejepore, Etoowah, Jowhurpore, Manikpore, and Cowahko. Noue are found in the vicinity of Chat-, terpore, a town about thirty miles northwesterly of Punnah, as has been erro. neously supposed. It is observed above, that the diamond Country extends from Punnah, on three sides, to the distance of twenty-four miles. Now, as no part of this space is permitted to be cultivated, it may be questioned, whether the possessor really derives so much advantage from the dianonds, as he would reap from the successive culture of the same compass of ground, either in pasture or tillage. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, HOULD you have any thing better on the subject, I freely consent that the following be committed to the flames: it not, perhaps you will allow a place in your useful miscellany to these remarks, upon the criticism of your learned correspondent, R. B. upon the use of the word "flebilis." (Vide last volume, p. 471.) My confined reading does not enable me to decide, whether this word ever occurs in any classical writer, in the precise meaning in which it is used by Lord Hailes; but, from the number of examples cited by Stephanus in his Thesaurus, none of which will apply, I am willing to allow that it does not. Nevertheless I think it may be maintained, that, in the sense he has used it, he has not deviated farther from the ordinary application of the word by other classical writers, than Horace himself has done. To me it appears, that R. B. has very properly stated, that "it is the quality of exciting grief, or the quality which renders the thing or person the subject of grief, which is expressed by this verbal adjective;" but surely this definition includes two distinct meanings, which your correspondent seems to consider as one and the same. When Roman writers speak of a carmen flebile, or modi flebiles, &c. the word expresses the quality of exciting grief. But when Horace says "multis ille bonis flebilis occidit," the word flebilis, in the language of R. B. expresses the quality of rendering the person the subject of grief in others, and may be accurately translated into English by the ward lamented. Now, upon examining the examples of the word jiebilis, cited by Stephanus, of which there are fifteen, the one just quoted from Horace is the only one, in which the word is affixed to the subject of grief, or in which it could be rendered lamented in English. In all the rest it expresses the quality of exciting grief; and I believe answers exactly to the English word doleful; as cantus flebilis, (doleful singing); carmen flebile, (a doleful song); clamor flebilis, (a doleful noise ;) elegia flebilis, (a doleful clegy); gemitus flebiles, (doleful groans); modi flebiles, (doleful tunes); murmur flebile, (a doleful murmuring); questus flebiles, (doleful complainings); voces jlebiles, (doleful voices); &c. R. B. appears to me to have made the same mistake in quoting Stephanus's vel dignum quod fleatur, by speaking of explanation of flebilis. Plenum lachrymis, it as containing one' meaning only, when he says, that this author has given many examples of its use in that sense, but in no other;" for surely this definition by Stephanus, contains two distinct meanings, the 1st. plenum lachrymis, (tearful or doleful); the 2nd, dignum quod fleatur, (that which may be lamented). Now it is to the first sense only, that all the examples cited by Stephanus, except the one quoted above from ilorace, will ap ply. I submit it therefore to your learned readers, whether Horace himself has not, by using flebilis to signify lamented, deviated as far from its constant acceptation in every other classical writer, as Lord Hailes has done, by using it to signify lamenting or weeping, which would plenum lachrymis. come under, Stephanus's definition of Your's, &c. SUBDOCTUS. R. B. would not have written his criticism P. S.-Persuaded, in my own mind, that without having taken ordinary pains, at least, to discover if any authority existed for the use of flebilis in the sense in which Lord Hailes has applied it, I too hastily concluded that no such authority could be easily found. But, since writing the above, upon turning to the Index Verborum in Horace, two cases in point immediately occurred, viz. Garm. lib. 4. Od. 2. Flebili sponsæ juvenemve raptum. HORAT, These instances I suppose, will be amply suf ficient to satisfy R. B. that the word is used correctly by Lord Hailes; and at the same time, they render the above letter, as far as respects his criticism, perfectly nug story. It may nevertheless, serve to show that the Lexicographers have not well explained flebilis in its three signi fications, and may therefore be not altogether uninteresting to some of your readers. I suspect that the quotation from Horace, example to be found in any classical writer, in "multis ille bonis flebilis," &c. affords the only which flebilis has the signification there given it of lamented. It may be curious too, to remark, how exactly, in every other instance, the the old English word doleful corresponds with the Latin word flebilis; for though not frequently used to denote an afflicted person, it is so applied by Sydney: How oft my doleful sire cried to me, Tarry,son, When first he spied my love. For the Monthly Magazine. ORATION DELIVERED at WASHINGTON, JULY 4, 1809, at the REQUEST of the CITIZENS of the DISTRICT of COLUMBIA, by JOEL BARLOW. Friends and Fellow Citizens: E day we now commemorate will never cease to excite in us the most exhilarating reflections and mutual gra tulations. Minds of sensibity, accustomed to range over the field of contemplation, that the birth of our empire spreads before them, must expand, on this occasion, to great ideas, and invigorate their patriotic sentiments. The thirty-three years of national existence, which have brought us to our present condition, are crowded indeed with instructive facts, and comprise an interesting portion of history. But they have only prepared this gigantic infant of a nation to begin its own development. They are only the prelude to the greater events that seem to unfold themselves before us, and call for the highest wisdom to give them their proper direction. It appears to have been the practice of the public speakers, called to give utterance to the feelings of their fellow citizens on the anniversary of this day, to dwell chiefly upon those memorable transactions which necessitated, and those which afterwards supported, the Act of Independence, that gives name to the present festival. Such were the oppressions of Britain, and our effectual resistance to those oppressions, Transactions SO eventful, are, doubtless,worthy to be held in perpetual remembrance. And as they ought never to be forgotten, they should frequently be recalled to the notice of our younger brethren, who can know them only from their elders. But those conflicting scenes are now become every where inatters of record. They are detailed so copiously in our annals, and so often by our orators, as to render the repetition of their story, at this moment, far less important than to turn our attention to other subjects, growing out of the interests of our blessed country. Our departed heroes and statesmen have not gone without their fame. Our tears have mingled with the ashes of those fallen in our battles, and those who have descended in peace to a later tomb. Our gratitude attends the precious few who reinain to us of that list of worthies; the illustrious relics of so many fields of danger, and so many years of labour; who led us in all our darings, when resistance to tyrants, as well, in the forum as in the heid, was deemed rebellion, and threatened with death. Their whitened locks that still wave among us are titles to our veneration; they command and they will obtain it, while the virtues they have taught us to practice shall continue to warm our hearts. we But our respect for the memory and the persons of all our leaders will be best evinced by the pious culture we bestow on the rich heritage they have secured, and are handing over to our possession. The present race is likewise passing away; but the nation remains and rises with its years. While we, the present race, are able to call ourselves the nation, should be sensible of the greatness of the charge that has devolved upon us. We have duties to posterity as well as to our selves. We must gather up our strength and encounter those duties. Yes, my friends, we are now the nation. As such we have arrived at that epoch, when, instead of looking back with wonder upon our infancy, we may look forward with şolicitude to a state of adolescence, with confidence to a state of manhood. Though as a nation we are yet in the morning of life, we have already attained an elevation which enables us to discern our course to its meridian splendor; to contemplate the height we have to climb, aud the commanding station we must gain, in order to fulfil the destinies to which we are called, and perform the duties that the cause of human happiness requires at our hands. To prepare the United States to act the distinguished part that Providence has assigned them, it is necessary to convince them that the means are within their power. A familiar knowledge of the means will teach us how to employ them in the attainment of the end. Knowledge will lead to wisdom; and wisdom, in no small degree, is requisite in the conduct of affairs so momentous and So new. For our situation is, in many respects, not only new to us, but new also to the world. The form of government we have chosen, the geographical position we occupy, as relative to the most turbulent powers of Europe, whose political maxims are widely different from ours; the vast ex tent text of continent that is, or must be, comprised within our limits, containing not less than sixteen hundred millions of acres, and susceptible of a population of two hundred millions of human beings; our habits of industry and peace instead of violence and war-all these are circumstances which render our situation as novel as it is important. It requires new tueories; it has forced upon us new and hold, and in some cases doubtful, experiments; it calls for deep reflection on the propensities of human nature; an accurate acquaintance with the history of human actions: and what is perhaps the most difficult to attain, a wise discrimination among the maxims of wisdom, or what are such in other times and nations, to determine which of them are applicable, and which would be detrimental, to the end we have in view. I would by no reaus insinuate that we should reject the councils of antiquity in mass; or turn a deaf ear to the voice of modern experience, because it's not our own. So far as the policy of other nations is founded on the real relations of social man, on his moral nature undisguised, it may doubtless be worthy of imitation; but so far as it is drawn from his moral nature, disguised by nabits materially different from ours, such policy is to be suspected, it is to be scrutinized, and brought to the test, not perhaps of our experience, for that may in certain cases be wanting, but the test of the general principles of our institutions, and the habits and maxims that arise out of them. There has been no nation,either ancient or modern, that could have presented human nature in the same character as ours does and will present it; because there has existed no nation whose go. vernment has resembled ours. A representative democracy on a large scale, with a fixed constitution, had never before been attempted, and has no where else succeeded. A federal government on democratical principles is equally un-. precedented, and exhibits a still greater innovation on all received ideas of statesmen and lawgivers. Nor has any theorist in political science, any among those powerless potentates of reason, the philosophers, who have taught us so many valuable things, ever framed a system or conceived a combination of principles producing such a result. Circumstances beyond our controul had thrown in our way the materials for this wonderful institution. Our first merit lay in not rejecting them. But when our sages began to discern the use that might be made of materials then so unpromising, they discovered great talents and patriotism in combining them into the system we now find in operation. It is indeed a stupendous fabric; the greatest political phenomenon, and probably 'will be considered as the greatest advancement in the science of government, that all modern ages have produced. This is not the moment to go into a dissertation on the peculiar character of our political constitutions. The subject being well understood by so respectable a portion of this assembly, and the time allotted to this part of the exercises of the day being necessarily short, I should hardly expect to obtain your indulgence if I were even capable of doing justice to so great a theme. Otherwise the whole compass of human affairs does not admit of a more profitable inquiry. Every citizen should make it his favorite study, and consider it as an indispensable part of the education of his children. But nations are educated like indivi dual infants, They are what they are taught to be. They become whatever their tutors desire,and invite, and prepare, and force them to become. They may be taught to reason correctly; they may be taught to reason perversely; they may be taught not to reason at all. The last is the case of despotism; the second, where they reason perversely, is the case of a nation with an unsettled and unprincipled government, by whatever technical name it may be distinguished; for a democracy without a constitution, though generally and justly called the school of disorder and perversity, is no more liable to these calamities than a monarchy ill defined, and without a known principle of action, and where the arm of power has not that steady tension which would. render it completely despotic. The first, the case in which they reason correctly,, if it ever existed, or ever is to exist, must be ours. Our nation must, it can, its legislators ought to say, it shall, be taught to reason correctly, to act justly, to pursue its own interest upon so large a scale as not to interfere with the interest, or at least with the rights, of other nations. For the moment it should interfere with theirs, it could no longer be said to be pursuing its own. What then are the interests of this nation, which it becomes us as private citizens (without any mission but the autocratical right of individuals) to recommend to the great body of the American people |