lieve that it is impossible for the face to wear so different an appearance from that which the heart would naturally give it, we would remind them, that there are several causes which concur to produce the effect which we have described, as being that which characterizes a life of pleasure. Let it be remembered, that having once acknow ledged that the recollection of past scenes of dissipation is always attended with uneasiness, and that in order to divest himself of what is the source of pain, the votary of pleasure rushes again into the very whirlpool from which he had for a few moments escaped, though they have granted no more than the most casual observation would afford, yet they have conceded sufficient to prove the truth of our assertions. Is it possible that a man can have once tried an expedient which he has found to fail, and yet again resorts to the same, carried along by a kind of invincible necessity of which he becomes the willing victim, rather with a view to fly from the reflections of the present moment than to forget the past; without recurring to the failure in his desires which he has so lately experienced without remembering the incipient remorse which he has in vain endeavoured to check by the repetition of its producing cause? without recollecting the heart-rending feeling that was beginning to torment him? and without recalling the self-accusations that conscience in the stillness of night was more than whispering in his car? and can reflections such as these be at all in accordance with a smiling face, and a countenance animated by apparent cheerfulness.

Nor is it "busy-meddling memory" alone, which contributes to throw a gloom over present enjoyment: when she has ceased to perform her task, she has only quitted the field to give way to another, whose office is still more unpleasing. Recollection of the past will be followed by anticipation of the future; if former indulgences have been thus succeeded by harassing reflections, what can the present or future afford but an accumulation of such unwelcome visitors. If one vice brings misery in its train, what but a proportionably increasing degree of that mi sery must result from a proportionably increased indulgence in that vice? and if the uneasiness attendant upon the recollection of a less number of crimes has not been effaced, by resorting again to the only refuge which suited his taste,

and to him seemed likely to effect his purpose, how can this prove more effi cacious in future when he will carry with him increased sorrow, keener recollections, and more harassing antici pations.

But independent of these, there is one consideration, and with which we must content ourselves at present, which is alone sufficient to prove our position: that the man of pleasure does not find that satisfaction even in the actual pos sessession and enjoyment of what he has considered as the source of happi ness, which many are too willing to al lot to him. Every discontented mind, must, whilst labouring under that feel ing be necessarily unhappy whilst de siring something which it has not, it declares the inability to confer satisfac tion of that which it has; and every desire to obtain that which is not at present within its reach,supposes the pri vation or absence of the object it desired, and this circumstance is always, to a certain degree, painful. Now the man of pleasure is demonstrably a man of an unsatisfied mind, or else why should he be seeking for that in the amusements, and gaieties, and dissipations of life, which he already possessed? and if these, to which he has recourse, are unable to afford what he requires, and the remorse which attends them proves that they have not been the means of procuring what they were intended to obtain, he has been the slave of wishes which he has not been able to gratify, and misery will be always proportioned to the extent of our requirements, and the inability of their objects to supply them. If we conceive an intelligent, intellectual, spiritual being, of perfect innocence, and unsullied purity, whose abilities are equal to his desires, and who, from his very nature, can only form desires consistent with bis own happiness; we realize one whose felicity must be complete: and in proportion as we depart from this standard, in the same degree in which our wishes are extended beyond our faculties of satisfying them, and particularly when we attempt to arrive at the object of those wishes by a deviation from the precepts of morality and the laws of religion, shall we be adding disappointment to disappointment; and what is of much greater importance, and of higher consideration, we shall be leaving that road to happiness which the Scriptures have pointed out, and a Supreme Lover of order has ordained as the only path to its unceasing possession. ALFRED.

THE impression which is communicated to the mind by the sight of an object commonly arises from an association of ideas. That association may be either immediate or remote; it may consist in retrospect, or in anticipation. The interest which an infant usually excites is principally derived from the last mentioned source. Independent of this association, the sportive gambols of the lamb, or the playful frolics of the kitten, are far more calculated to attract the attention of a common observer. Reason being dormant, instinct less active than in other animals, incapable of locomotion, and unable to satisfy the calls of nature, an infant is in itself one of the least engaging objects in animated creation. The reflection that we were once such inactive, helpless, torpid beings, is humiliating to our pride, and well adapted to modify those exalted notions which we are too apt to entertain of the dignity of our species, and of our own personal importance. Thus feeble was the body of a Samson; thus inert was the mind of a Newton. Viewing the subject in this light, every man would assent to the declaration of the Roman orator :-“ si quis Deus mihi largiatur, ut ex hac ætate repuerescam, et in cunis vagiam, valdè re

cusem."

But that connexion of thought to which we have just alluded, and the dubious uncertainty which hides the future destiny of this apparently insignificant object, give it considerable interest and importance. The state of infancy, regarded as

-the bud of being, the dim dawn, The twilight of our day, the vestibule," Europ. Mag. Vol. LXXII. Oct. 1817.

affords an ample field for the reflections of the moralist, and the speculations of the philosopher. Though now. too weak to support its tender frame, he will shortly bear his part in the active employments of life. Though now incapable of reflection, or of speech, the faculties of the mind, and the powers of the tongue, will soon be developed. Though now so innocent, because too weak to be wicked, the rankling passions will not long slumber in the bosom, but will presently display themselves, requiring the corrections of a parent, and the restraints of self-government. The mother is now perhaps the only person who feels concerned in its welfare; the knowledge of its existence may scarcely extend beyond the walls of its habitation; but in all probability he is destined to make some figure in society, and to have some influence on the happiness or misery of those with whom he shall be associated. He may indeed creep through life with just a name to distinguish him from his companions, but without any distinguishing character. He may possess a soul which shall never exert greater energies than his body is capable of at present; or perhaps that fragile form is the receptacle of a mind which shall ere long enclose all the stores of science in its grasp; of an imagination which shall take a bolder flight than genius ever yet attempted; of a heart whose benevolence shall embrace mankind. The stupendous mind of a Johnson, the lofty imagination of a Milton, the philanthropic heart of a Howard, was once the inhabitant of so humble and so tottering a tenement. That puny babe may possess a dauntless spirit destined to repel invasion, or to avenge an injured country; or an aspiring one, which shall hold the trembling world in awe. A thumb and finger could once have crushed the infant forms of a Leonidas and an Alexander, extinguishing the patriotic ardour of the one, and the boundless ambition of the other.

The Goddess of Wisdom is fabled to have sprang from the head of Jupiter full grown. Such an origin would perhaps have been more properly descriptive of Instinct. The sagacity of the brute creation is generally as apparent when young, as when arrived at maturer age; but the increase of reason is slow, the mind and the body advancing in a similar progression. In S s

the earliest part of our being, there is nothing to prove that we are rational creatures; even the vigilant eye of a parent cannot discover whether his child be sane or an idiot. Here then man is sunk below the brute, and we perceive the propriety of the remark: "Quid enim interest, motú animi sublato, non dico inter hominem et pecudem, sed inter hominem et saxum, aut truncum, aut quidvis generis ejusdem ?" Mental perception at length displays itself in a few pleasing particulars; the infant can distinguish its mother, it smiles at her appearance, and spurns the attentions of others while she is present. But the form which Reason even now assumes is in no wise superior to that intuitive principle which governs and preserves inferior animals. But from this period the mind begins gradually to expand; the passions of the soul are evinced by the expressions of the countenance; and the power of the understanding is manifest by the humble attempts at imitation. Every hour produces new evidences of intellect, and every day endues the little prattler with additional interest. The doting parents now look upon their offspring with feelings of peculiar delight; the father fancies he can discern the symptoms of latent genius in the countenance and remarks of his child; the mother thinks she sees the pleasing promise of an amiable disposition and a submissive temper. The most simple observations are magnified into prodigious acuteness, and the operations of natural affection are mistaken for extraordinary benignity.

"Oh ye who live at home, and kiss each eve Your sleeping infants ere ye go to rest, And, waken'd by their call, lift up your eyes

Upon their morning smiles!"

Remember, this is the time when blind partiality, foolish fondness, and criminal indulgence, are particularly apt to insinuate themselves into parent's heart. Though you may contrive to persuade yourselves that your children are little angels, a disinterested observer can perceive, they are merely men in miniature. Did you, by throwing a veil over their faults, simply conceal them from your own inspection, you would betray your weakness; but you are at the same time hiding them from their discovery, you are fostering those pernicious weeds you ought to eradicate, and neglecting to discharge that im

portant trust which Providence has reposed in you. Were their little virtues multiplied and extended only in your eyes, you would prove the shallowness of your discernment: but you are also leading them to form an extravagant opinion of themselves; you are laying the foundation for those stub. born and inflated passions, silly vanity, presumptuous arrogance, and confident self-conceit, which will ere long repay you for your folly, by disputing your competency and your right to govern, by opposing your wishes, despising your counsels, and rejecting your authority. Think not that there is any merit in that excess of love which prompts you to comply with the desires of your chil dren, however unreasonable or improIt exhibits the tenderness of your heart, and the acuteness of your sensibility, but it also proclaims that your judgment is a slave under the arbitrary government of your feelings. It never originates in virtuous principle, and it invariably terminates in rumous consequences.

per.

Though the transgression of our first parents introduced sin into the world, and entailed it upon all their posterity, yet we cannot but observe that this natural depravity assumes very different appearances in different characters. There is generally some predominating passion in the breast of every individual, which usurps the dominion over all the other passions, influences the general conduct, and distinguishes itself in every particular action. This masterpassion is most easily discovered in childhood, before the infant mind has learned to conceal his faults under the cloak of hypocrisy, or to varnish them over by the artifices of dissimulation. It is then also most easily corrected, not having yet acquired that sturdy inflexibility which a deeper root and maturer growth will impart. Let parents be careful then how they suffer an improper passion to gain the ascendancy in the hearts of their children. Let them investigate the springs of their actions, and where they are guilty of errors in judgment, convince them by reasonings adapted to their feeble un derstandings and inexperienced minds: but if their faults originate in wilful perverseness, let them inflict a suitable chastisement; for as often as they spare the rod, when required, they only re serve it to descend with tenfold severity upon themselves. There is a dan

gerous and mistaken notion, which is not unfrequently advanced as an apology for indulgence, and an excuse for the peccancies of childhood-that as the mind enlarges, it will perceive its errors, and accordingly correct them. The dispositions of men, like the peculiar propensities of brutes, will uniformly become invigorated as their corporal powers increase. Would you subdue the courage of the lion, or tame the savageness of the tiger, you should commence the task while the body is too feeble to exert all the natural ferocity of the temper. Discipline should begin with the first manifestations of an evil disposition, before the occasional sallies of passion have grown into a determined and deep-rooted habit. Vicious inclinations will then fail an easy victim before the rod of reproof, if they cannot be dissipated by the more wholesome medicine of persuasion or rebuke.

The formation of the mind, as well as the dispositions of the heart, greatly depends upon the attention which is bestowed upon its cultivation at this early but momentous period of life. Though genius must ever be considered as an endowment, and not an acquisition, yet it should be remembered, that education will in a great measure supply the deficiency of natural talent, and that the finest abilities may be thrown away upon a neglected mind.

But as our next Essay will necessarily lead us to enter more fully upon this subject, we forbear any further remarks: merely observing, that as the task of discipline should commence with the first appearances of depravity, education should also begin with the earliest dawnings of intellect. Frome.

WILLIAM HENRY.

human kind. To point the lance at such a vast multitude is rather a chivalrous adventure; and I have not the folly or the vanity to imagine myself or my weapons exempt from the faults which I condemn. But if he only who is free from error is to throw the first stone, who could be found that would not stand an idle spectator ?

I have borrowed, but not barefacedly pillaged: the excellent relics which I have taken, have long been a legacy to the public; they are so still the only crine of which I can be culpable is that of having misplaced them; but the knowledge of their existence, and the mines in which they are to be found, may by this means be more widely dif fused. I shall feel satisfied if I only rouse the energies of abler pens, or if the few thoughts which are original shall, by being in such good company, slide down the stream of time in the columns of a periodical Publication. If, therefore, you think them not undeserving a place in your's, by admitting them, you will oblige,

Your's, most obediently, 21st June, 1817.

S.

Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam Jungere si velit, el varias inducere plumas, Undique collatis membris, ut turpiler atrum Desinat in piscem mulier formosa supernè: Spectatum admissum risum teneatis, amici?

HOR. Ars Poet, v. 1.

It

CONSISTENCY of character is one of those moral qualities which may truly be said to adorn human nature. claims our admiration, whether we discover it in the individual actions of meu, or in the general tenor of their conduct. We mean such actions and such conduct as are in unison with the prospect of a future and a better state, such as are comprised in that perfect virtue described by Seneca,

SIR,

enclosed at

æqualitas ac tenor vile per omnia sibi consonans, Ep. 31; as in any other

leisure hours. It owes its origin to the circumstance of having heard, and that not for the first time, a voluntary in the jigg style, which gave rise to a variety of reflections on its absurdity, and led to others on the two opposite qualities of Consistency and Inconsistency of Character.

I was not aware what an exhaustless subject I had thus fixed upon, no less indeed than all the vices of

would cease to be either true or univergal. For the vicious may be consistent in their misdeeds, so far as they resemble each other, yet we never can admire them, because they disturb the order of society, and are at variance with the great purpose of their being. And this consideration, of which we ought never to lose sight in estimating the actions of others, whenever we con template the latter, cannot fail to excite