were making themselves ridiculous, for the amusement of the Veronese, and while we wandered over, and measured some parts of the structure, we could not but look upon these men in their booth, paid to be merry amid wretchedness, as the representatives of modern times, in contrast with the amphitheatrethe scene of ancient amusement. Our readers have seen Punch, as exhibited in our streets by some squalid strollers. The mimic figures contrast absurdly enough with the living men around them; and not less absurdly did the modern Veronese comedians, whom we thus happened to see, contrast with their predecessors within the same walls-the Romans of Trajan's time. The moral standard, however, was perhaps equally low in each.

Other scenes in this city deserve our notice. The house, the window, and the garden, which figure in Romeo and Juliet (apocryphal or genuine), are shown. The residences of their two families still exist, and there is an order issued against their being modernized. The poet of our species-Shakespeare-has thus thrown the charm of his genius around Verona; but while we admire the gifts and wondrous power which thus made him so mighty among men, and which could add new beauties to a land already so attractive, we cannot but deplore the utter absence of pure and undefiled religion from all that he has put on record. Take the Word of God as your standard, and what a fetid mass would the obscenities, the impieties, the blasphemies and imprecations of Shakespeare make, were they all culled and collected! Shakespeare, Burns, Byron-all men of noble but prostituted powers-how have they deepened the delusions, and urged on the ruin of myriads! In the eye of religion, how much more admirable she "who knows her Bible true, and knows no more!"

Verona, like other cities, poured forth its crowds when the fever-fit of superstition which led to the crusades was precipitating the inhabitants of Europe upon the plains of Palestine. The names of Calvario, Betleme, Nazareto, and others in the neighbourhood, still connect the present with the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

To the passing stranger, VICENZA is the home or the production of Palladio, and little more; for as it is decorated by his genius, one thinks of little else while there. His general style of architecture is that of chaste, and therefore grand, simplicity; and though he sometimes swerved from the standard which his own taste set up, he never did so but at the cost of grandeur and effect. A peer arrayed in frippery, though a peer, would be despicable; and, on the same principle, a pile of architecture decorated with grotesque and frittered ornaments loses all its majesty. Palladio, in general, has avoided such redundancy, and has not, like men of less genius, endeavoured to load his structures with all the ernaments which their façades could carry; yet his Palazzo della Ragione at Vicenza is not sufficiently simple, and is too confused to be majestic. His Olympic Theatre, in the same city, though comparatively diminutive, is, in its symmetry and sweetness, a nobler specimen of his power; and had he confined himself to the chaste simplicity which characterizes it, he would have deserved even more than he does

to rank among the prince of architects-he would have been, at the very least, their primus int i par 2. Perhaps no Palladio could stamp the influence of his genius on the infinitely diversified and inventive or, perhaps, ill-regulated mind of our island; but were such an one to arise, how vast the revolution which our architecture would undergo! The wit's epitaph on Vanburgh would be less applicable to many :

"Earth, lie heavy on him; for he

Laid many a heavy load on thee."

We passed from Vicenza to PADUA, and found in the latter all that could betoken depopulation and decay. It is the St Andrews of Italy, the Old Saruri of Science; and one could not but think, amid its dreary dulness, of Sir Jonah Barrington's lines on the crumbling seminary in the city whose

"Turrets tow'r on high;

Where learned doctors lecture, doze, and die."

Livy, who was a native of Padua, gives it a fabulous origin; but it needed no more than the fact of it being his own birth-place to render it interesting. Its university is well known to have been the nursery of thousands of minds influential on their age, or even upon their kind; and its history is for ever associated with the Galileos, and the M'Laurins, with our own admirable Crichton, with the noted Earl of Gowrie, who was for a year Rector of the University,* and with a host besides, some of them illustrious, and all of them powerful in the kingdom of mind. The glory has indeed departed, and perhaps not more than a fifteenth of the number-one thousand, instead of twelve or fifteen-now resort to its halls. Nay, while the number of its students once amounted to eighteen thousand, it is recorded, that in the year 1817, they had sunk so low as three hundred. There are still forty-five professors here; but Italy and its Padua have actually retrograded, while other parts of Europe have advanced; and while we trod the deserted courts of its university we thought instinctively of cenotaphs and sepulchres-of science extinguished and learning obsolete. It were difficult to assign all the causes of this melancholy decline; but we cannot doubt that the persecuting spirit of its creed, and the veto long put by it upon progress even in science, has tended first to benumb and then to extirpate the learning and the mind of Padua. Not

a few of its students, about three centuries ago, embraced the doctrines of the Reformation; and its history might have been different had spiritual and scientific freedom been installed together. Perhaps of all the melancholy spectacles connected merely with earth that we meet in Italy, the forlorn and delapidated state of that city is the most distressing. Though the present university was designed by Palladio, and founded by an emperor, neither these nor the remembrance of the great who are gone, can do anything for Padua but invest it with a deeper gloom, like the tomb of departed science.

Yet this city has some redeeming associations. Its cathedral was designed by Michael Angelo, and con

• Life of Rev. R. Bruce, Wod. Soc. Edit., p. 188.

tains a monument to Petrarch, with a bust by Canova. In the Palazzo della Ragione, which contains a hall three hundred feet long by ninety-four, we saw what were said to be the tomb and the bust of Livy; and a monument to Belzoni, the eastern traveller, who was also a native of Padua. But in spite of all such associations, the city appears destined to sink into deeper and deeper decay. Some bold thinker may arise from time to time in its schools, to shed a lurid light for a little on its towers and halls; but nothing could now permanently redeem it from the mummylike state into which it is hastening. Its inquiries once extended to the whole range of human knowledge-like a noted Thesis of John Pic de Merindole, its investigations were "De omni scibili," but now they are limited to a very narrow span, and few connected with the place are known many miles from home.

From Padun to VENICE the road is lined with palaces, by Palladio-adorned with frescoes, said to

be by Paul Veronese. Our approach to this prede

cessor of Britain, "The queen of seas, throned on her hundred isles," was signally magnificent. The Brenta, swollen by recent floods, rolled down to lose itself in the Adriatic. The brief Italian twilight which succeeded a cloudless sunset, speedily gave place to darkness-that again was ever and anon illumined by broad sheets of vivid lightning, so frequent and bright that Galileo's Tower, the domes of St Mark's, and all the landmarks of the amphibious city were clearly lit up by the brilliance. Amid this scene of quiet yet awing magnificence, we were rowed from the mainland across the lagoon, and entered the city by the grand canal; along which, as place after place was named-the Rialto, the Palace of Byron, and others we felt as if all were familiar, and as if wellknown faces might be seen in every gondola, upon every canal.

It is not less true in nature than in religion, that out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaks; I therefore again remark, that wherever we have wandered, our impressions against Popery have become deeper and more decided. There is a native vivacity about Italians which renders them everywhere light and gladsome. Properly trained and directed, their nation might now, as of old, furnish men to help forward the moral and the civil amelioration of our race. But the energies of mind are here systematically repressed; or if they have an outlet, it is in such a direction as tends rather to pervert and to fetter than to ennoble and expand. Hence the native buoyancy of mind degenerates into frivolity-the native ardour into violent passion, often ending in sudden deeds of atrocity. And looking round for relief for Italy, whence shall we expect it? Only from religion-THE RELIGION OF GOD. The spiritual empiricism by which it is now enthralled could not co-exist with mental freedom; and the master-aim of men in power is, therefore, to enslave. That system invented by priests, and perpetuated by politicians, spreads a spiritual midnight over Italy; and never till men "know the Son, and the Son make them free," will that country be aught but priest-ridden-the granary, perhaps, of Nature's affluence, but also the prison of Superstition's slaves.

335

THE USES OF CHURCH CLOCKS. THE late Rev. Richard Watson would sometimes step out of his way to administer merited reproof. One Sabbath morning, in Wakefield, he had not proceeded far in his discourse, when he observed an individual in a pew just before him rise from his seat, and turn round to look at the clock in the front of the gallery, as if the service were a weariness to him. The unseemly act called forth the following rebuke: "A remarkable change," said the speaker, "has taken place among the people of this country in refathers put their clocks on the outside of their places gard to the public service of religion. Our foreof worship, that they might not be too late in their attendance. We have transferred them to the inside of the house of God, lest we should stay too long in the service. A sad and an ominous change!' Jackson's Memoirs of Watson.

MOUNTAINS OF ARRAN.

of Arran. They were enveloped in clouds, and renI ROSE early in the morning to view the Mountains dered invisible. Thus, it occurred to me, have my fair prospects in the landscape of life been often obscured, and the mists of sadness and uncertainty have shed a gloom over my spirits. I have said: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

I looked again across the arm of the ocean which intervened, and I saw the clouds becoming gradually thinner; the mountains showed their grotesque and interesting forms, as if seen through a veil, which at length dispersed, and the magnificent group of hills was seen in all its beauty. So, I thought, has Mercy often shed her rays over the scene of life, dissolved the clouds of apprehension and sorrow, and cheered the whole prospect with the enlivening light of hope and love. Every mountain raises its head to the glory of God, and all their fantastic but sublime combinalovely scenery shall preach to my soul; and from its tions declare his wisdom, power, and goodness. This ever-varying features I will draw forth instruction, and subjects for praise and adoration.-Legh Richmond.

Fragments.

THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE.-Knowledge is not a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; nor a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down on; nor a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon; nor a commanding fort for strife and contention; nor yet a shop for profit and sale; but a rich storchouse, for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate.-Bacon.

WIT is brushwood-Judgment is timber. The first makes the brightest flame; but the other gives the most lasting heat.-Hunter.

THE Emperor Constantine the Great said, his life herds, but much more troublesome.-Jeremy Taylor. was something more honourable than that of shep

MEN balance a moment in possession against an eternity in anticipation; but the moment passeth away, and the eternity is yet to come.

WE see how much a man has, and therefore we envy him; did we see how little he enjoys, we should rather pity him.-Seed.

Baily Bread.

FRIDAY.

"The carnal mind is enmity against God."-ROM, viii. 7.
For Satan in the heart resides,
And calls the place his own;
With care against assaults provides,
And rules as on a throne,

The corruption of an unregenerate state is unweariedly working out itself, in every act and motion of our souls. Not so much as one good thought could ever yet escape to heaven free from it. It is as a corrupt fountain, continually sending forth corrupt and bitter streams; and though these streams take several courses, and wander severally into several ways and channels, yet they all taste of the same brackishness: so, though the soul is various in its actions, yet all its actions have a taint and relish from the same corruption-that corruption that hath tainted the fountain.-Hopkins.

SATURDAY.

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"-ROM. vi. 2.

Forbid, almighty God!

Nor let it e'er be said,

That we whose sins are crucified

Should raise them from the dead.

The reservation, indulgence, or allowance granted to any one known lust, is utterly inconsistent with a state of grace. One lust, that hath obtained your pass to go to and fro unmolested, and to traffic with the heart undisturbed, whatever opposition you may make against other sins, is a certain sign of a corrupt heart. One lust will serve as a spy, to hold intelligence with the devil. A scion can never be incorporated into the stock while there is the least skin or film betwixt them; no more can we ever be incorporated into Jesus Christ, if there be but the separation of any, the least allowed sin to interpose betwixt him and us.—Ibid.

SABBATH.

"They serve Him day and night in his temple."-Rev. vii. 15.
Let us praise, and join the cherus
Of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted Him before us-
Now their praises fill the sky.

Do you wish to be for ever employed in the loving, praising, serving, and enjoying of God, without interruption or cessation? Why, then, do you not endeavour to fit yourselves for it against the time of your appearing in glory? why do you not labour after true grace, that alone can fit you for that holy and blessed work? That idea and notion that wicked men frame to themselves of heaven only as a place of ease, rest, and all-blessedness, makes them to believe that they do really wish themselves possessed of it; but yet, if it could be supposed that such a person were taken up to heaven, he would find it a place so contrary to his fancy and corrupt inclinations, that he would soon wish rather to be on earth again, in the pursuit of his more sensible and suitable pleasures.-Ibid.

MONDAY.

"My son, give me thine heart."-PROV. xxiii. 26.
Why do I not the call obey-
Cast my besetting sin away,

With every useless load?

Why do not I this moment give
The heart thou waitest to receive,
And love my loving God?

The heart is that field from which God expects the most plentiful crop of glory. God bears a greater respect to your hearts than he doth to your works.

God looks most where men look least. If the heart be for God, then all is for God—our affections, our wills, our desires, our time, our strength, our tears, our alms, our prayers, our estates, our bodies, our souls; for the heart is the fort-royal that commands all the rest the eye, the ear, the hand, the tongue, the head, the foot; the heart commands all these. Now, if God hath the heart, he hath all; if he hath not the heart he hath none. The heart of obedience is the obedience of the heart; as the body is at the command of the soul that rules it, so should the soul be at the command of God who gave it.-Dyer.

TUESDAY.

"Pray."-MA TT. xxvi. 14.

O Lord, in never-ceasing prayer
My soul to thy continual care

I faithfully commend;

Assured that thou through life shalt save, And show thyself, beyond the grave,

My everlasting Friend.

Begin and end the day with God; let prayer be your first work and your last work every day. Oh! Christian, lock up thy heart with prayer, and give God the key. Are you called by the name of Christ, and will not you call upon the name of Christ? Take away spiritual breathings, and you take away spiritual living. We may pray always, and yet not be always at prayer; Christians can never want a praying time, if they do not want a praying frame. None can pray aright, but those that are new creatures; but all ought to pray, because they are creatures.-Ibid.

WEDNESDAY.

Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."-
EPH. v. 19.

We have laid up our love and treasure above,
Though our bodies continue below:
The redeem'd of the Lord, we remember his word,
And with singing to Paradise go.

There is a certain pleasure and sweetness in the cross, to them who have their senses exercised to dis cern and find it out: there is a certain sweetness in one's seeing himself upon his trials for heaven, and standing candidate for glory: there is a pleasure in travelling over those mountains where the Christian can see the prints of Christ's own feet, and the footsteps of the flock who have been there before him. How pleasant is it to a saint, in the exercise of grace, to see how a good God crosseth his corrupt inclinations, and prevents his folly! How refined a pler sure is there in observing how God draws away prevision from unruly lusts, and so pincheth them that the Christian may get them governed!—Boston.

THURSDAY.

"He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."-GAL, ÍÎÌ. 13. Thou for me a curse wast made, That I might in thee be blest; Thou hast my full ransom paid, And in thy wounds I rest.

Lord, the condemnation was thine, that the justfication might be mine; the agony thine, that the victory might be mine; the vinegar and gall were thine, that the honey and sweet might be mine; the curse was thine, that the blessing might be mine; the crown of thorns was thine, that the crown of glory might be mine; the death was thine-the life pur chased by it mine; thou paidst the price that I might enjoy the inheritance!-Flavel.

Edinburgh: Printed by JOHN JOHNSTONE, residing at 12 Windsor Street, and Published by him at 2, Hunter Square. London: R. GROOMBRIDGE & SONS. Glas gow: J. R. M'NAIR & Co.; and to be had of any Book seller throughout the Kingdom.

337

THERE are three methods by which we may arrive at a correct knowledge of the Jesuits. The first is by studying the history of the Society; the second is by consulting the writings of its theologians; and the third is by investigating its constitution, as laid down in its official documents. Either of these sources may furnish information sufficiently accurate regarding the character of the Society; but, to reach the ends of a fair and searching inquiry, it is necessary to combine all the three. The extraordinary facts disclosed in the course of Jesuitical history are sufficiently instructive; and when we find these to be in strict accordance with the maxims and principles contained in Jesuitical casuistry, the evidence becomes still stronger. But in estimating from these sources alone the principles and spirit of a Society so widely diffused, and comprehending such a vast variety of characters, we might be in danger of ascribing to the whole body the acts and maxims for which individuals only were responsible. This danger is completely prevented by a careful study of the Constitutions of the Society. And, in point of fact, as this Society is an artificial body, owing its existence entirely to its laws, and not depending for its character on the genius of any particular nation, but, on the contrary, pervading the whole world, and composed of men of all nations; as, moreover, it has, at all times, and among all people, manifested the same spirit, acted on the same principles, and produced the same fruits; it is apparent that, if we would discover the reasons of this character and of these tendencies, which have continued so uniformly the same during three centuries, we must search for them in the accredited laws and institutions of the body. On this subject we are not left to grope in ignorance, or wander in conjecture. Secrecy has always been a leading object with this politic Society; and there is reason to believe that the original design of its authors was to keep the whole system a profound mystery from the world. Even their Constitutions, properly so called, they have seldom committed to the press, except in the colleges of their order. Whenever they ventured to print this work elsewhere, they always took precautions to secure the whole impression. From the number of editions thrown off, these precautions proved in vain, and the enemies of the sect found means to obtain copies of them; but they were never authoritatively promulgated until 1761, when they were brought to light in a very remarkable way. Father La Valette, a Jesuit missionary No. 29.

at Martinique, following out the policy which we described in our last paper, had engaged in mercantile speculation to a vast extent, and ultimately failed for the incredible sum of three millions. The creditors in France becoming clamorous for their money, the Jesuit fathers attempted at first to pacify them, by offering to say masses for their souls, and to pray for them, that they might be enabled to bear their misfortunes with Christian patience.* Incensed at being thus mocked by the hypocrites who had robbed them, the creditors brought the matter into the courts of justice, and finally before Parliament; pleading that, by the constitution of the Society, the general had the supreme disposal of its funds, and must therefore he responsible for its debts. This led to the production of the mysterious volume of their Institutes.

The "Constitutions of the Society of Jesus," which the Jesuits once boasted of as being divinely inspired, and to which they now appeal as the authentic record of their principles, were, as formerly stated, the joint composition of Ignatius, and his disciples Lainez and Aquaviva; and they bear the impress of the religious fanaticism of the founder, combined with the worldly policy and ambition of his coadjutors. Many of the regulations are worthy of all praise; and the system, as a whole, evinces masterly ingenuity in its contrivance. The novices, who are required to go through a long probation, before being admitted to the rank of professed members, are subjected to the most sifting examination, to ascertain their talents, tastes, and tempers. Great care is taken to select those of the best capacities; and provided one has "received distinguished gifts from God," little scruple is to be made to his admission, even though he may have committed some enormous sins (peccata enormia), provided this is not known in the place; while your good, honest sort of men, who do not promise to be useful, are to be either quietly dismissed with a flattering character, so as to carry away a good report of the Society, or, if they should prove refractory, are to be "worried out" by a continued system of petty annoyances. Persons of good figure and graceful elocution are to be preferred; while any "notable deformity" is an insuperable obstacle. Rank and fortune are very good things when they come in the way; but the best recommendation for admission is shrewdness and talents, provided these can be turned to the purposes of the Society. Your inquisitive men,

* D'Alembert's Destruction of the Jesuits, p. 91.

September 12, 1815.