believe from the words of our Saviour, that murder is an (or the) unpardonable sin; these words are "No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." This, however, is a disputable point, and as such let it pass. But what says this famous soliloquy of a Roman Senator, which has been so much applauded by christian critics and christian teachers? It says nothing of Christ; nor of a future state of bliss, through faith in him; and although it admits the immortality of the soul, because Pluto reasoned well on the subject; yet it inculcates and justifies the horrible crime of murder; and such murder, too, as cuts off the murderer from all penitence or pardon, even if it be a pardonable offence; because it is self-murder; and the criminal therefore cannot live to repent, and to implore and receive divine grace and forgiveness: For it must be borne in mind, as we read this soliloquy, that after Cato has seized the sword, and determined on self-murder, comes the clause

"The soul, secure in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years:
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds."

Thus we perceive that the soul of a man, who

was about to murder himself, was, notwithstand

ing that horrible crime, to "flourish in immortal youth," &c. A christian, it is true, might say to an assassin

My "soul, secure in her existence, smiles

At" thy "drawn dagger, and defies its point."

But could he say this of the dagger in his own hand, and with which he had impiously determined to commit self-murder? And yet this is the stuff which has been so long recited and admired, both in and out of the Theatre, in great Britain and the United States, two of the most enlightened christian nations in the world!" It is no answer to this objection, to be told that Cato was a heathen, and that Mr. Addison was obliged, by the laws of rhetoric, to make him speak heathen sentiments; because nine-tenths of the youth who flock to the Theatre are not sufficiently learned to enter into this discrimination, and of this we have a case in point, and an awful one it is. We have the fact from one of the most pious and exemplary clergymcn in Albany, that a young man who committed self-murder, in Philadelphia, a few years since, left on his table, in his own hand-writing, the following justification of his crime-"What Cato did, and Addison approved, cannot be wrong!" Here then is the practical, the awful demonstration, how readily young men may imbibe from Mr. Addison's Cato, the horrible prin

tion, or want of reverence for the sacred volume; for although the mere ritual, civil and political laws of Moses are not binding upon christians; yet the positive law of God, delivered by himself, on his holy mountain, and which contains the enactment against murder, was, and is, and ever will be, binding upon all men and all nations, from the moment of its delivery till the last trump shall blow.

We doubt much, however, whether Pope had any very serious reverence for the sacred volume. There is no doubt, indeed, that he was as gross an infidel as Bolingbroke, his bosom friend; for in a letter to Swift, of Sept. 1, 1733, now before us, he says "The day is come, which I have often wished, but never thought to see, when every mortal that I esteem is of the same sentiment in politics and in religion." "At this time, therefore,” adds Dr. WARTON, in a note, "he and Bolingbroke were of the same sentiment in religion as well as politics."

We cannot take leave of Cato without stating, that if any heathen philosopher deserved to be held up as an object of imitation for christians, he was the last of the whole tribe that deserved such an honor; for he was not only so destitute of all delicacy of sentiment, as to be proud of going bare-foot, to show his contempt of luxury, proving thereby that he was no bet

ter than a brute in manners; for none but a brute in manners, will ever go barefoot, if able to buy a pair of shoes and stockings; and a brute in manners is pretty sure to be a brute in morals; and so it was with this" God-like" Roman; for he did not hesitate to lend his wife to his friend Hortensius! Such was the man who afterwards murdered himself like a poltroon; and who is nevertheless sainted, in a moral sense, by two of the best English writers! what a prostitution of genius! The grand-father of this Cato was famous for selling his aged slaves, and his old horses, after they had served him in hard toil, and were absolutely worn out in his service! We do not wonder, therefore, that the lineal descendant of such a mercenary being, could be proud of going barefoot, could prostitute the wife of his bosom, and finally commit self-murder!

We might add, that if Mr. Addison thought proper to take up this heathen subject, there was no necessity for treating it in a heathen manner. The events in the life of Cato, which form the basis of the tragedy, might have been wrought up with equal effect in the poem, without introducing any of his peculiar religious sentiments; the greatest difficulty, in the case, perhaps, would have been in turning his death, considering the manner of it, to a good, instead

of a bad account. But be this as it may, we have shown clearly that two of the very best written and purest tragedies in the English language, are fraught with gross immorality, foul philosophy and false religion; and while our children of three feet are sure to have their minds poisoned by them, we fear there are not a few of our children of six feet liable to the same injurious effect from their exhibition on the stage; for there are children of six feet, and no giants either, in this world of ours: And if such be the immoral and dangerous tendency of the higher class of dramatic productions, what have we to expect from the lower? This we shall see directly. It is, however, painful and disgusting to think of these things; and we could almost wish that there was not an item of history left, except the sacred volume, beyond the era when christianity became firmly established; that we might never witness any more of these incongruous mixtures on the stage or any where else (for they are too often met with even in our college halls)—of gross and licentious heathenism, with the pure principles of the gospel.

But let no reader of this article imagine that we mean the slightest disrespect to the memory of Home or Addison. They were, comparatively at least, great and good men; but they