By starts awak'd, and doubted-To her search For the soul to be left in this condition, would be to exclude it from its interests, and prevent that noble expansion of its faculties, which would follow such a knowledge, as would discountenance its doubts, and extinguish its perplexities. This conducts me to my position, that Divine knowledge is absolutely necessary, any THE following letter, replete with mo- We (The date of Mr. Crabtree's letter must be inferred from that of Lord Kenyon's answer.) 66 My Lord, Lastly, That the soul might ascertain the nature of the posterior life it anticipates, and thus be enabled to institute any proceedings, which might be requisite to secure such an existence as it would desire. The comparison between present and eternal things, falls short of dimensions. The ponderous magnitude of infinity overwhelms the fleeting contingencies of time, and swallows all in its inconceivably profound abyss. Hence, in the mind awakened to an idea of its immortality, and indulging hopes of interminable years, it is natural there should be the inquiry, how far the present taste and habits are such as may resemble the future, and whether any change of sentiment or practice should be experienced, as a capacitating fitness for another world. Enwrapped with so much obscurity and perversion of feeling as pervades this lower scene, the possibility of correct judgment in the case is almost,-is completely, excluded. The loveliness of virtue, and deformity of vice, might indeed shew on which reward would probably be bestowed, and punishment inflicted; but how effectually to avert wrath and secure mercy, would be unknown, as is fully proved by every human theo-rect its exertions, is like a traveller on logical theory, and as is yet more per- a pathless desart, bewildered and tingently evinced, by the peculiarities confused; it proceeds without knowof that Revelation which God has ing whither, and perhaps sinks in the given us. pursuit of that, which, by timely assistance, it might have attained with pleasure. In order, therefore, that the dignified, though fallen inhabitant of earth, might be invested with all his mental and moral privileges;-be defecated from the impurity of sin, and pardoned of the guilt of rebellion ;-restored from the distance of revolt, and intro "I am a young man about to enter into the profession, at the head of which you preside with such distinguished eminence; and am desirous of moving in the sphere I am placed in, with as much credit as it will admit of. To gain a competent knowledge of the spirit and principles of the law, must be most essentially necessary to the pure practice of it; and I am now induced, by the accounts I have always heard of your Lordship's goodness, humbly to request, that you will be pleased to honour me so much as to communicate to me the course of reading necessary to be pursued in order to attain so desirable an end. "The mind, without a guide to di "Your Lordship will certainly be astonished at my presumption, yet I trust you will not wonder at the reason of it. It is natural for a man eager after knowledge, to wish to Lord Kenyon's Answer to Mr. Crab- A Discourse delivered at Plymouth, tree's Letter. "Sir, "I am afraid you have concluded before this time I decline to answer your letter: to say the truth, I had some suspicion that the letter did not come from a real person; but being convinced of that, I do not delay to write to you. I wish it was in my power to propose any plan that you could rely on. The truth is, that in the study of the law, a mass lies before the student enough to deter young minds, and they are left to hazard in which road to proceed. "I would advise you to read very carefully Blackstone's Commentaries; and if you would have the perseverance to go through it two or three times, I believe it would be of great use. After this, you may, perhaps, with some advantage, read Serjeant Hawkins's Abridgment of Coke's Littleton, and then proceed to Coke's Littleton, accompanying that arduous task with reference to the Abridgment I have mentioned, which will point out to you those parts of that vast work which are now rather obsolete. When you have done this, you will read the more modern Reports; Sir James Burrows's, Mr. Douglas's, Cowper's, and the Term Reports; and in Equity, the 1st vol. of Equity Cases Abridged; Mr. Cox's Edition of Peer Williams's; Hawkins's Reports in the time of Lord Talbot; and Precedents in Chancery. By the time this is done, you will be as good a (America,) in Commemoration of the First Settlement of New England. By Daniel Webster. Wells and Lilly, Boston. MR. EDITOR. SIR,-I rejoice to have it in my power, among the foremost of our periodical contemporaries, to lay before your readers some account of a production of the American press, highly creditable to the talents and good feeling of the individual writer, and of the society from which it emanates. It at once abounds with the finest eloquence, varied display of knowledge, national liberality of opinions, and profound remarks. From the pen of a gentleman of distinguished rank and abilities in the law, whose merits are very generally appreciated and admired in his own country, such a display of genuine oratory and powers of mind, comprehending much that is great and excellent in government, national manners, and religion, cannot but be interesting to the lovers of freedom, liberality, and religious toleration, on this side of the Atlantic. Under this impression, I proceed. to give some extracts, which I think will fully substantiate the foregoing remarks: premising only, that the discourse was given to the Transatlantic public, at the request of the society, which thus concludes the invitation to the Hon. Daniel Webster, through their Secretary. "While in the performance of this duty, as honourable as it is pleasing, I am directed to subjoin, that the Committee of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and of the American Antiquarian Society, who attended on this occasion by invitation, unite in the request. After a few more general preliminary observations, the learned and accomplished speaker thus continued his discourse: "It is a noble faculty of our nature, which enables us to connect our thoughts, our sympathies, and our happiness, with what is distant in place or time; and looking before and after, to hold communion at once with our ancestors and our posterity. Human and moral although we are, we are nevertheless not mere insulated beings, without relation to the past or the future. Neither the point of time, nor the spot of earth in which we physically live, bounds our rational and intellectual enjoyments. We live in the past by a knowledge of its history; and in the future, by hope and anticipation. By ascending to an association with our ancestors; by contemplating their example, and studying their character; by partaking their sentiments, and imbibing their spirit; by accompanying them in their toils, and rejoicing in their successes and their triumphs; we mingle our own existence with theirs, and seem to belong to their age. We become their contemporaries, live the lives which they lived, endure what they endured, and partake in the rewards which they enjoyed. We protract our own earthly being, and seem to crowd whatever is future, as well as all that is past, into the narrow compass of our earthly existence. As it is not a vain and thoughtless, but an exalted and religious imagination, which leads us to raise our thoughts from the orb, which, amidst this universe of worlds, the Creator has given us to inhabit, and to send them with something of the feeling which nature prompts, and teaches to be proper among children of the same eternal Parent, to the contemplation of the myriads of fellowbeings, with which his goodness has peopled the infinite space; so neither is it false or vain to consider ourselves as interested and connected with our whole race, through all time; allied to our ancestors, allied to our posterity, closely compacted on all sides with others; ourselves being but links in the great chain of being, which runs onward through its successive generations, binding together the present, the past, and the future-and terminating at last, with the consummation of all things earthly, at the throne of God. "Standing in this relation to our ancestors and our posterity, we are assembled on this memorable spot, to perform the duties which that relation, and the present occasion, impose upon us. We have come to this rock, to record here our homage for our pilgrim fathers, our sympathy in their sufferings, our gratitude for their labours, our admiration of their virtues, and our attachment to those principles of civil and religious liberty, for which they encountered the dangers of the ocean, the storms of heaven, the violence of savages, disease, exile, and famine, to enjoy and to establish. 6 "And we would leave here, also, for the generations which are rising up rapidly to fill our places, some proof that we have endeavoured to transmit the great inheritance unimpaired; that in our estimate of public principles and private virtues, in our veneration of religion and piety, in our devotion to civil and religious liberty, in our regard to whatever advances human knowledge, or improves human happiness, we are not altogether unworthy of our origin. "Great actions and striking occurrences having excited a temporary admiration, often pass away and are forgotten, because they leave no lasting results affecting the prosperity and happiness of communities. Such is, frequently, the fortune of the most brilliant military achievements. Of the ten thousand battles which have been fought; of all the fields fertilized with carnage; of the banners which have been bathed in blood; of the warriors who have hoped that they had risen from the field of conquest, to a glory as bright and as durable as the stars, how few continue long to interest mankind! "The victory of yesterday is reversed, by the defeat of to-day; the star of military glory, rising like a meteor, like a meteor has fallen; disgrace and disaster hang on the wheels of conquest and renown; victor and vanquished presently pass away into oblivion, and the world goes on in its course, with the loss only of so many lives and so much treasure." But I must here omit much interesting matter, to arrive at portions of the work more immediately applicable to passing events, to this country, and the general purpose I have in view. The author proceeds to state: "Some retrospect of the past century which has now elapsed, is among the duties of the occasion. It must, however, necessarily be compressed within the limits of a simple discourse. I shall content myself, therefore, with taking notice of a few of the leading and most important occurrences, which have distinguished the period. "When the first century closed, the progress of the country appeared to have been considerable, notwithstanding that, in comparison with its subsequent advancement, it now seems otherwise. A broad and lasting foundation had been laid, excellent institutions bad been established, much of the prejudices of former times had been removed, a more liberal and catholic spirit on subjects of religious concern had begun to extend itself, and many things conspired to give promise of increasing future prosperity. "Perhaps it may also be added, that during the period of the civil wars in England, and the reign of Cromwell, many persons whose religious opinions and religious temper might, under other circumstances, have induced them to join the New England colonists, found reasons to remain in England; either on account of active occupations in the scenes which were passing, or of an anticipation of the enjoyment in their own country of a form of government, civil and religious, accommodated to their views and principles. The violent measures too, pursued against the colonies in the reign at the anniversary of this occurrence, the young papists make a practice of catching as many wrens as they can, and on these innocent victims they wreak their ferocious vengeance for the crime of their predecessor. But what species of punishment are these pretty songsters destined to suffer? Sir, they are wrapped up in a lock of tow, tied to the iron pot crook, and thus suspended over a slow fire, till they expire in indescribable agony! This tale needs no comment; it speaks volumes to British hearts, concerning that religion, (if we must degrade the sacred term by so foul an application,) which could first give birth to, and which still continues to cherish and encourage, such diabolical dispositions. Does it not outstrip the barbarity of the savages of North America? Yes; for their cruelty is REMARKABLE DISPLAY OF MALICIOUS merely the ebullition of irritated human CRUELTY. 66 MR. EDITOR. SIR, There is a tradition in the North of Ireland, that during the popish rebellion and massacre of the Protestants in that country, in the year 1641, a little bird, of the Wren species, by its cheerful note, awoke a certain Protestant, just at the critical moment when his bloody persecutors were approaching, to fulfil that portion of their duty to their Church, which enjoins them to destroy and extirpate all heretics and schismatics, as enemies and rebels against their Sovereign Lord the Pope;"* in consequence of which, the intended victim of popish piety, effected his escape, and, by a seasonable alarm, preserved an entire district of country from the merciless fangs of these monsters in human shape. But mark the consequences! and while with horror and disgust we peruse the heart-sickening tale, let us bless the goodness of that God, who, in his merciful providence hath delivered the British dominions from the domination of a religion, which inculcates and cherishes such dispositions as this tale unfolds. Sir, it is a fact, well known in that part of the country, viz. in the county of Tyrone, and was related to me by an eye witness, of unquestionable veracity, that * Vide the Roman Catholic Bishop's consecration oath, described in the Imperial Magazine for February, 1820, col. 43, and still taken by the prelates of that church. nature: but the above fact exhibits a spirit of infernal revenge. I am, Sir, your's, &c. Belfast, 12th June, 1822. S. T. AN EXTRAORDINARY DELIVERANCE. THERE is no subject, perhaps, which the human mind can contemplate, accompanied with more difficulty than to reconcile the operation of natural causes, and the free agency of man, with the superintending providence of the all-seeing eye. That there is such a thing as free agency, that natural causes produce their own effects, and that he who gave both a being, rules and overrules them for his own glory, we have no reason whatever to doubt. The providence of the Almighty involves one connected and complete chain of events, without fettering the free agency of man. Every link of this would appear in its proper place, were we only possessed of penetration to discern it; but, "Blind unbelief is sure to err, And he will make it plain." here, but what bring forth events unThere are few days of our existence accountable to us, even when we duly attend to them. Their appearing so frequently on the stage of action, throws us into a kind of listlessness, and they recede from the eye without commanding the attention. There are some singular and extraordinary cases, however, which arrest the mind, and excite us to reflect on the dangers, toils, and deaths, which await unthinking man. Among the many of this stamp, the following is deserving of notice. A farm-house, in the county of Antrim, near Colerain, being at a considerable distance from water, the master determined to dig for it at the end of his own house. As the ground was sandy, the pit was 36 feet deep before water appeared. This being deemed too expensive for a pump, a windlass, rope, and bucket, were procured, and the water was obtained after a tedious operation. On a Saturday night, July 1819, the bucket slipped off the hook in the act of drawing up, and of course an exertion must be made to recover it. This was deferred till the next morning, when a boy of 16 years of age, was let down on a chair, fastened to the rope of the windlass. He had just arrived within ten feet of the surface of the water, when the sides of the pit gave way, and, awful to relate, he was literally buried alive, more than twenty feet below the surface of the ground. This produced a strong agitation in the neighbourhood, and every band that could find room to work, was actively engaged in removing the earth, thinking to extricate him alive. This humane proceeding, however, was shortly abandoned, in consequence of a very heavy rain, which began to fall, and continued nearly till the evening. Every hope of his life now became extinct, and it was deemed unnecessary to resume the labour until after the sabbath had expired. An individual, however, who had travelled better than six miles to worship, near the place, repaired to the spot as he returned home, being attracted by his curiosity. While he stood upon the place, he heard, or fancied that he heard, the voice of the lad proceeding out of the ground. His assertions immediately gave a stimulus to the neighbours, and again they set to work, and continued to labour hard until the shades of night constrained them to desist. This they would not have done, had they not lost faith in the possibility of his being alive, and in the declaration of the man who asserted that he heard him cry. On Monday morning, the clamours of the boy's mother, a poor widow, alarmed the people again, and they recommenced the arduous task. They continued diligently to remove the earth, and in the evening, as it grew dark, they came to the body, which, to the astonishment of every one present, was still alive, and had sustained no particular injury, though upwards of thirty-six hours under the earth. The boy appeared to be deranged for a few hours after he was extricated; but both body and mind were as well as ever the next day. There are a few circumstances connected with this extraordinary event, which deserve our notice. 1. The arrival of the man after the rain, was particularly providential, inasmuch as he excited the people to renew their exertions, from his belief that he was still alive. 2. It appears not a little curious, that, though the lad shouted as loud as he possibly could, no one ever heard his voice but the individual mentioned, who, no doubt, was quicker in his hearing than the rest of the people, and yet the lad heard every word that was spoken above him. It was next to death itself to him, when he heard them despairing of his life, and going off from the spot, first on account of the rain, and then because it grew dark. He knew this was the case from the conversation of the people, which he could repeat after he recovered. 3. We might be ready to imagine, that if nothing tended to deprive him of life, he might have died in consequence of the cold of the surrounding earth; but so far from this being the case, he was so extremely warm that suffocation nearly ensued. This produced an unconquerable thirst, and had his arms been at liberty, he would have taken his own life, if possible, rather than endure the painful sensation. 4. His preservation he ascribed, and that justly, to the rain which fell on Sunday in such a plentiful manner. Had there been no rain, in all probability he would have died before he could be dug out, as we see it took them so long to remove the earth; but the rain ran abundantly down the rope and tended to keep his frame cool, and supplied him with drink, as he sucked the rope in his mouth. I cannot forbear remarking here, that the basin which was formed |