thought to that effect-and yet, what more possible? since, as he well knew, they were destitute of those qualifications which are held indispensable to salvation, although possessed of many which rendered them useful and amiable on earth. Such was also the case in general with the hardy pioneers of the west-coarse in manners and in speech, and wholly ignorant of, and indifferent about, the mysteries of the christian faith; yet frank-hearted and hospitable, and reckless of hardship and danger, when responding to the calls of duty or humanity.

"Am I to believe, then, Mr. Paddle," the elder took courage to inquire, "that you are really a damned spirit-and that my honored parents, together with the helpless women of the early settlement, who were massacred, and the gallant men who died in their defence, are in a like predicament as yourself?"

"Yes," replied the goblin, "you are to believe this, and moreI announce to you that nineteen twentieths of those who achieved the liberties of your country-whose names and whose deeds are so eulogized in fourth of July orations-who have commanded your armies and your ships-who have poured forth their souls, in words that aroused the soul, in your senate-yea, who have occupied your presidential chair-such men, too, (I grant them to have been) as were never surpassed, perhaps never equalled: yet, I tell you in truth, that nineteen twentieths of them are damned! He, he, he! I have often laughed in the orator's face (invisible to him) as dilating upon their splendid deeds, he has pointed to heaven as the place where these heroes are to receive the meed of their services in the cause of liberty and right! He, he, he! Does the orator think that in those days of strife, and danger, and blood, these gallant fellows took time to concern themselves about faith, and the new birth? Not much did old Putnam, I trow, nor Warren, nor Montgomery, nor Gates, nor Marion, nor old De Kalb, nor Green. And, to come to later times, who suspects that Lawrence, or Decatur, or Jefferson, or Monroe, or Franklin, were subjects of an evangelical faith, and of regeneration? And it has been asserted on high authority of even the great Washington, that although he gave a general and loose assent to the truth of christianity, yet he undoubtedly stopped short of the mystical degree of the new birth; and with all his unrivalled virtues I am sorry to announceBut you bite your lip, and manifest great im

patience, my friend; well, I will spare you then the pain that my disclosure might inflict. Nevertheless, I can assure you of one thing, viz. that hell contains a large majority of the most learned and brilliant men that have been born into the world, poets, orators, historians, legislators, patriots, warriors, statesinen, priests, and monarchs; very many too in whose praise history is loud, and many, also, whose excellent moral precepts have formed the elements of the moral code for millions of mankind."

"Alas! Mr. Paddle," interrupted our friend Triptolemus, in a tone of deep dejection, "I must needs admit that there seems to be much truth in the matters you reveal, and the more so as they correspond with a revelation made in the scriptures, viz., that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; and we see, indeed, that it is even so-but few, comparatively, of splendid genius or attainments, it is to be feared, concern themselves about securing an interest in heavenly bliss.”

"You are right, my friend Triptolemus, quite right," rejoined the goblin, "and I will inform you how it happens, (for as you are of the elect, it is permitted you to be informed of these matters.) In all countries and ages, the priests (good souls!) have found it easy to impress upon unlettered and unreflecting men the wholesome truth, that the gates of heaven or hell will be opened to them in eternity, according as their actions have been good or bad in time. It has been found easy also to make the same classes believe, that good actions consist of prayers, and fasting, and a right faith, and a right experience, and pious alms, tract reading, attendance at church, etc., which all-important matters have been neglected by too many of bright genius and enlarged understanding, to the loss of their immortal souls; for they have usually thought, that, as the infinite Being is above being personally benefited by their performances, they were serving him most acceptably when they served and blest mankind. And they have also generally persisted in the absurd notion that the great Jehovah is entirely too good and wise to have staked the interests of man for eternity on the precarious contingencies of time! He, he, he! They have thought better of their Creator than facts have warranted they have robed his character in their highest conceptions of excellence-he, he!-by the light of the fires of hell they are enabled to correct these crude fallacies; they there learn to com

prehend the seeming paradox, that unbounded love can burn without pity, without end-and therefore, without other object than revenge-unnumbered myriads of helpless beings, who owe their existence to his creative power!

"Thus it has happened that the most brilliant, and (in the world's estimation) the most excellent and exalted of mankind have, by the dim and deceptive light of philosophy, or the bewildering glare of genius, blundered their way down to the infernal pit; and they carried with them so many virtues and accomplishments, that, as I have said before, the world of woe can boast a most delectable society, and numerous are our occupations and amusements to divert our attention from the uncomfortable heat of the climate. Blind Homer, the father of song-Virgil, his most gifted disciple-the versatile Shakspeare-Horace, Ovid, Euripides, Juvenal, Dryden, Ben Johnson, Otway, Collins, Cowley, Rowe, and nearly the whole fraternity of bards, more especially those who have employed their poetic talent in the profane business of writing plays-these amuse us by reciting and explaining their old productions, or composing new ones. We have lectures on history, delivered by Herodotus, Tacitus, Xenophon, Sallust, Gibbon, Hume, Clarendon, and others. Socrates (who was damned for sacrificing a cock to Esculapius, as his last act in life,) Cato, Solon, Pythagoras, Zeno, Diogenes, Aristotle, Athenagoras, and other heathen sages, edify us with their lessons in philosophy. We have also most splendid orations on law, politics, physic, the different branches of physical science, language, chymistry, and even divinity-for we are not without an ample complement of theological professors in hell.

Franklin lectures to us on economy, electricity, and other matters; and we have many noble fellows, of ancient and modern times, including Demosthenes, Cicero, Themistocles, Alcibiades, Hannible, Junius Brutus, and Marcus Brutus, (besides many who signed the declaration of your nation's independence,) who devoted themselves, soul and body, to the interests of their respective countries, but neglected, alas for them! in the heat of their enlarged zeal in the cause of man, to commit their creeds, and obtain an orthodox faith and experience toward God".

A slight noise here drew off the elder's attention, for a moment, in an opposite direction, and on his resuming it, Mr. Shadrach

Paddle had disappeared-nothing was to be seen in the place he had occupied, but a faint line of mist! The elder rubbed his eyes, and strained his vision to the utmost, but to no effect; he began at length to doubt whether his senses had not been deceiving him as to the apparition he thought he had seen, and the conversation he supposed he had maintained with it! However," thought he, "if imagination has been deceiving my eyes and ears all this while, I am much obliged to it, nevertheless, for the wholesome facts it has brought home to my reflection, of which I have never seriously thought before. Gracious God! what selfish beings we are! How comfortably we can yield our faith to the dark and dreadful dogma of unending woe, without reflecting how nearly we ourselves must necessarily be concerned in its realities, (however secure our title to eternal bliss my be,) on account of friends and kindred, and numberless other of our fellow beings, whom, for their virtues, splendid parts, or noble exertions and sacrifices in the common cause of man, we have been taught to love and admire! I must not pursue this train of thought, though, or it will cause my carnal judgment to quarrel with my creed-so I must strive, with divine assistance, to forget what has passed, since, after all, it may be a mere temptation from the devil.”

CHAPTER III.

"Well, well! Dorothy Tub, my dear, this world we live in is a mighty large one! for the Old Dominion' of itself is a pretty big piece of ground: but, my stars! it makes a mighty little show on this map! Well, then, there's Pennsylvania, which is nearly as large, and the Empire state, and Maryland, and Jersey, and all the eastern, all the western, and all the southern states, besides the vast tract of uninhabited country this side of the Rocky mountains, and all that lies beyond-and yet, there's the country between our national territory and the polar circle, on the north, and Texas and Mexico, on the south-and when we have estimated all this, we have got less than a fifth part of the solid portion of our earth! Only think, Dorothy Tub!" Such were the profound speculations of our old friend Triptolemus, as, snugly seated in his elbow

chair one night, he was doubly occupied in toasting his feet by the fire, and in perusing a map of the globe. His spouse, Dorothy, sate (or did a few minutes before) in another easy chair, the fellow to that which contained the rotund person of the elder; but on his looking up from his studies, in the expectation of a response to his ejaculations about the magnitude of the earth, her chair was evacuated-no Dorothy Tub was there-nor had the elder any right to expect her there, for I am sure she had been quite audibly complaining for some time, and predicting a change of weather, from the uneasy condition of her corns and rheumatiz; but Mr. Tub had been too profoundly engaged to hear any of this, (a too common case with the lords of creation, when their loving ribs are detailing their aches and pains ;) so Mrs. Dorothy Tub finding no response from her husband touching these interesting matters, had betaken herself to her bed in a huff.

"A monstrous big world!" exclaimed the elder, continuing his erudite cogitations; "it would take a long-lived man his whole life to walk over it, I guess, for there's South America, and Africa, and Europe, and Australia, and the islands-and yet, with all these, full three fourths of the earth's surface, I perceive, is covered with water. How vast a conception it requires, to embrace the idea of such magnitude!

Why, I"

Paddle interrupted his specula"He, he, he, he!" And upon

Here the giggle of Shadrach tions, as upon a former occasion. the elder's looking up, there sat that queer personage, most profanely ensconced in Mrs. Tub's easy chair, and grinning in his face. "He, he, he! Your world, that you think so large, my good Triptolemus, is no bigger than a hazelnut as compared with hell!" exclaimed the goblin. "Why, my dear fellow, a moment's reflection will suffice to convince you of this fact; for what is the earth's population? It is variously computed at from seven to twelve hundred millions. I will take ten hundred millions as a medial estimate; this number of human beings is swept into eternity and renewed about every twenty-five years, and for all these heaven and hell are the only receptacles. And what proportion of these do you think hell receives? I know right well, as I have been there for some time, and have paid some attention to its statistics; but I will not ask you to take the answer on the faith of a damned spirit; you shall have it on the faith of figures, within your own