of an action is doubtful. And, this being admitted, it will be found that Suicide is countenanced by the examples of men, both of ancient and of modern times, whose names are, and ever will be dear to the lovers of virtue, of wisdom, and of knowledge. "Yet, notwithstanding the reasons I have produced in favour of Suicide, I still believe it to be a crime, though much, very much more venial than it is asserted to be by those dogmatical declaimers who are always willing to believe those acts to be sins which they have no inclination to commit.

"There is something that impels me forward: an invisible power which I cannot resist, that incites me to the step I am about to take.

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"That there is a future state, for one moment of my life since reason first began to exert its powers, I never doubted, and despair of obtaining that mercy and salvation which I felt to be necessary, had perhaps no inconsiderable influence on the melancholy thoughts which have leď to this result. I am convinced that a sinning creature like myself could never inhabit a place where nothing unholy enters. The Scriptures offer mercy and pardon through Jesus Christ for that pardon and mercy I have prayed day and night, but my prayers have been unavailing I could not repent, though, when convinced of the futility of my own efforts, I prayed for the power of repentance. I still sin; though I have prayed

r

to be cleansed from iniquity, again I will pray.”

"The appointed hour approaches, and I have little more to say.

"How tenacious man is of existence. Hoary age clings to life with as fervent a grasp as manly vigour. Behold the aged man! he is on the brink of that wide sea-Eternity; and yet he is as unconcerned as the youth apparently more distant. He is as unprepared as I am at this moment and, were I to live, I should probably be fifty years hence as he is at present. Then is it not better to die now, before the weight of added sins draws me deeper, and still deeper

"down

To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire?"

"And what became of Wanley?" will be the natural inquiry after perusing there extracts. "Did he succeed in the object which he undoubtedly attempted ?" I am glad that this little narrative must be deficient in the interest which it would derive from so tragical a conclusion.

He still lives, and contemplates with horror his former attempts, and the fallacious sophistry with which he endeavoured to silence the voice of conscience. He lives, to thank that merciful Providence which

preserved him from the actual commission of such a deed of guilt; though he fears that time will never eradicate from his mind that tone of thought which was acquired in the days of his misery and distress.*

The Author would beg leave in this place to refer the reader to the general advertisement which precedes the letters.

On Sublimity.

Of all the emotions excited by external objects, those of the sublime and the beautiful are the mostimportant. In analyzing the emotions themselves, and in investigating their causes, men of the highest abilities have not thought their time ill employed ; for the subject is not more interesting to the poet and the painter, than it is to the philosopher, and to every man of understanding and taste.

The emotion inspired by the beautiful is more frequently experienced than that caused by the Sublime; for there are fewer Sublime than Beautiful objects in existence, and the emotion which the former can communicate is of too exalted a description to be felt by those persons of limited intellects and uncultivated tastes, who may not, however, be unable to form tolerably correct judgments on the Beautiful and Deformed.

In treating of the subject I purpose rather to consider the objects by which this emotion is excited and which are therefore denominated Sublime, than to enter into a metaphysical disquisition on the mental operation by which the idea of Sublimity is formed on the mind.

Those objects only are Sublime that produce in us the feelings of Awe, Melancholy, Admiration, or Wonder, which are the chief component parts of of the emotion of Sublimity. But it is not necessary that one object inspire all these constituents, for, according to the nature of that which is beheld some one of them generally predominates, frequently to the exclusion of every other. However, that which we experience on viewing an object that is vast, solemn, or majestic is less frequently a simple than a compound emotion.

It appears to me that, in general, too little attention has been paid to the distinction which exists between the Sublime and the Beautiful; for, though there be a general resemblance, the emotion communicated by the latter, can claim no identity with that which the former inspires. The emotion of Sublimity is an exercise of all the noblest principles of our nature, and in its most exalted form, it seems to assimilate us with those men of illustrious minds whose memories we have been accustomed to revere, and with those celestial intelligences in whose existence we believe. The impression made by a sublime scene, on a mind duly prepared to appreciate it, is such as no other emotion, of which our nature is capable, can equal. We rise, for a moment, above the mighty nothings which often engross all our faculties; and our hearts involuntarily expand with benevolence towards all the human race, and with