When any country is likely to become the theatre of remarkable events and revolutions (as, for instance, Holland, at this present moment), it is worth one's while to refresh one's memory with the history of that country, its constitution, and the changes it has heretofore undergone, the nature and disposition of the people, &c. a sort of knowledge which is sure to be called for. The man who makes himself perfect and correct in it, will gain credit, and give pleasure, in every company, into which it may happen to fall.

Whatever instruction is reaped from history, may be reaped from a newspaper, which is the history of the world for one day: It is the history of that world in which we now live, and with which we are, consequently, more concerned than with those which have passed away, and exist only in remembrance: though, to check us in our too fond love of it, we may consider, that the present likewise will soon be past, and take its place in the repositories of the dead.

There is a passage in the Night Thoughts, which I cannot resist the temptation of transcribing, as it contains one of the most astonishing flights of the human imagination, upon this awful and important subject, the transient nature of all sublunary things:

Nor man alone; his breathing bust expires;

His tomb is mortal; empires die; where, now,
The Roman, Greek: They stalk, an empty name!
Yet few regard them in this useful light,
Thơ' half our learning is their epitaph.
When down thy vale, unlock'd by midnight thought,
That loves to wander in thy sunless realms,
O Death! I stretch my view; what visions rise!
What triumphs! Toils imperial! Arts divine !
In wither'd laurels glide before my sight!
What lengths of far-fam'd ages, billow'd high
With human agitation roll along
In unsubstantial images of air!

The melancholy ghosts of dead renown,
Whisp'ring faint echoes of the world's applause,
With penitential aspect, as they pass,
All point at earth, and hiss at human pride,
The wisdom of the wise, and prancings of the great.

NIGHT IX.

Accounts of the most extraordinary events in old time are now perused by us with the utmost indifference. With equal indifference will the history of our own times be perused by our descendants; and a day is coming, when all past transactions will appear in the same light, those only excepted, by a consideration of which we have been made wiser and better.

There are few, perhaps, by which we may not become so.

What nobler employment for the human mind, than to trace the designs of Providence in the rise and fall of empires; the overthrow of one, and the establishment of another upon its ruins! to watch diligently the different steps by which these changes are effected! to observe the proceedings of the great Ruler of the universe, always in strict conformity to the rules with which he himself has furnished us! to behold generals with their armies, and princes with their people, executing his counsels while pursuing their own! to view upon the stage of the world, those scenes which are continually shifting, the different actors appearing in succession, and the gradual progress of the drama, each incident tending to develope the plot, and bring on the final catastrophe!

In the midst of these secular commotions, these conflicts of contending nations, it is useful to observe the effects produced by them on the state of religion upon the earth; while, among the powers of the world, some protect, and others persecute; some endeavour to maintain it in its old forms, and others wish to introduce new; all perhaps, more or less, aim at converting it into an engine of state, to serve their own purposes, and to avail themselves of that influence which it must always have on the minds of men.

Above and beyond these human

machinations, a discerning eye sees the controuling power of Heaven; Religion preserved amidst the tumultuous fluctuations of politics; and the Ark sailing in safety and security on the waters which threatened to overwhelm it.

When we read of the events taking place in our own country, the subjects become more interesting, and we are in danger of having our passions rouzed and fomented. Let us therefore be upon our guard, judging of nothing by first reports, but awaiting the calmer hour of reason preparing to decide on full information. For the prosperity of our country let us be thankful and grateful; in its adversity, sorrowful and penitential; ever careful to correct our own faults, before we censure those of others.

With respect to individuals and their concerns, examples (and they are not wanting among us) of piety, charity, generosity, and other virtues, should effectually stir us up to copy, to emulate, to surpass them; to join, so far as ability and opportunity will permit, in designs set on foot for the promotion of what is good, the discouragement and suppression of what is otherwise. And here, there is great choice: many such designs are on foot; and let those, who have talents for it, bring forward more. All are wanted.

The follies, vices, and consequent miseries of multitudes, displayed in a newspaper, are so many admonitions and warnings, so many beacons, conti nually burning, to turn others from the rocks on which they have been shipwrecked. What more powerful dissuasive from suspicion, jealousy, and anger, than the story of one friend murdered by another in a duel? What caution likely to be more effectual against gambling and profligacy, than the mournful relation of an execution, or the fate of a despairing suicide? What fmer lecture on the necessity of economy, than an auction of estates, houses, and furniture, at Skinner's, or Christie's?-"Talk they of morals"? There is no need of Hutchenson, Smith, or Paley. Only take a newspaper, and consider it well; read it, and it will instruct thee, Plenius et melius Chrysippo et Crantore.

A newspaper is, among other things, a register of mortality. Articles of this kind should excite in our minds reflections similar to those made by one of my predecessors, on a survey of the tombs in Westminster Abbey. They are so just, beautiful, and