ment of obstinate Curiofity. Jacob's obtaining the inheritance of his brother, is an early evidence of deceit. Efau's menaces, are inftances of Revenge. Laban's trick upon Jacob with refpect to Leah, is one of the first instances of broken Faith; and the treatment of Dinah, is a remarkable circumftance of Lafcivioufnefs and Inhofpitality. This is, I think, the firft rape upon record; and it is also one of the most pardonable; for the ravisher, who, by the bye, was a nobleman, (contrary to the modern maxim of men of intrigue), was defirous to repair the injury he had done, by marriage, and entreated the hand of the damfel after poffeffion, with unabated ardour: nay, the young man carried this matter farther still, for he faid to her relations, "Ask me never fo much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall

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say unto me; but give me the damfel to "wife." He even adopted a part of their religion to obtain her; and as soon as they yielded their confent, he ftill continued his intentions of doing her all poffible justice,

and

and did not defer the nuptials. By this fair dealing Shechem became more honourable than all the house of his father. After this, the bridegroom's father propofed a plan of intercourfe, and intermarriage with the tribe of Jacob, and, in general, it was accepted. But fome braver fpirits amongst the relations of Dinah, fcandalized at the indignity which their family had fuftained, meditated revenge; and two of her brothers who poffeffed a nicer fenfibility of honour (viz. Simon and Levi,) took each man his fword, and came upon the city boldly, and flew both the ravisher and his father. When Jacob, expoftulated with the young men on this tranfaction, and even rebuked them for deftroying the character he had in the hearts of the people of that country, they answered him with a dignity truly fraternal, and discovered at once a high fense of infult, and a becoming veneration for the great focial compact, by which men are united to each other: "Should he deal with our fifter, as with an "harlot?" A concise question this, but comprehending

comprehending a full and noble meaning: Shall the fon of the very man whom we have dealt well with, in the way of bufinefs, violate the law of hofpitality, and ftrike the first wound in the very vitals of our honour and happiness? even in the reputation of our fifter? Can we, O father, be fo loft to the duties of a brother, as to fee her polluted, and in her, all our family, without punishing the ravisher? Forbid it, Courage, forbid it, Virtue! Heavens, fhall our fifter, the fifter of the fons of Jacob; of Jacob, who hath contended with angelic natures, and prevailed-fhall they bafely bear a stain and an ignomy like this, without redrefs? No, my father! the fpirit, the paternal fpirit, nay, the very inspiration of the Deity is in us, and urged us to the flaughter-to the facrifice, we fhould have faid; for lo! the victim lies bleeding before thee.

Such is the language of true intrepidity: Should he deal with our fifter as with an "harlot?" Though I would not be thought

to

to recommend bloodshed, yet I can scarce avoid propofing the noble conduct of thefe young men as a pattern of imitation. He, who violates the chastity of a woman, is by fo much the more infamous, and deferving of death, than the man who plants a pistol at the bofom, as a crime which is liable to the justice of the laws, is lefs fafe, and less mifchievous, than that, which involves in the difgrace of one, the difgrace also of a numerous family, and for the most part, a wide and infulted circle of connections. Yet where, except in the sword of a parent, or a brother, where is a redress for this grievance? Ravishment, indeed, is cognizable; but where is the legal punishment for the more frequent and more fatal effects of undermining feduction? of ruin in the form of love, and treachery bewitchingly arrayed in the fhape of reciprocal tenderness? Where, but in the bosom of bravery, is the scourge for that accumulated injury, which alienates the kindeft relatives; which. entices the daughter from the house of her father, till, by degrees, fhe becomes an inhabitant

habitant of a brothel, paffes away the days of beauty and youth, amidst disease and wretchedness, and at length dies, untimely, a nuisance to the street? If then the laws of the land have no provifion against the increase of this forest of all human violations, what is the natural fuccedaneum? The arm of Vengeance! And yet, are we not forbidden to abstain from blood, on any provocation? We are, and we should be: A moment's reflection convinces us, that the inhibition is founded in the law of eternal rectitude. It is mans' to err, and to mend; be it God's, to punish and to pardon.