scoured, polished, and oiled. To render and preserve them bright was an object to which they were exceedingly attentive. This appears to have been done by anointing them with oil. Accordingly we find Isaiah directing to anoint the shield; and as this was done to give them a lustre, so they were covered with a case when they were not in use, to preserve them from becoming rusty. Hence we read of the uncovering of the shield. (Isaiah xxii. 6.) To this practice may also be referred (2 Sam. i. 21.) the anointing mentioned, belonging to the shield, and not to Saul, a version of the passage perfectly agreeable to the original.

"No. 265.-Isaiah xlix. 16. I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.] This is an allusion to the eastern custom of tracing out on their hands, not the names, but the sketches of certain eminent cities or places, and then rubbing them with the powder of the hennah or cypress, and thereby making the marks perpetual. This custom Maundrell thus describes: The next 'morning nothing extraordinary pass'ed, which gave many of the pilgrims leisure to have their arms marked 'with the usual ensigns of Jerusalem. The artists, who undertake the ope'ration, do it in this manner: they have stamps in wood of any figure that 'you desire, which they first print off 'upon your arm, with powder of char'coal; then taking two very fine nee'dles tied close together, and dipping 'them often, like a pen, in certain ink, 'compounded, as I was informed, of 'gunpowder and ox gall, they make with them small punctures all along 'the lines of the figure which they 'have printed, and then washing the 'part in wine, conclude the work. These punctures they make with 'great quickness and dexterity, and 'with scarce any smart, seldom piercing so deep as to draw blood.' Fourney, at March 27."

LII. BREAD; or the Poor. A Poem, with Notes and Illustrations. By Mr. PRATT, Author of Sympathy, &c.

EXTRACTS:

"L°! O as the fainting labourer stoops to reap, The deadly drops his clay-cold tem ples steep; VOL. I.

"Unhappy matron! doom'd by fiends to know,

The dire excesses of a parent's woe! Long time she toils, and waits in patient grief,

And vainly tries and vainly hopes relief:

'BREAD FOR MY CHILDREN! GIVE
ME BREAD,' she cries,
Ev'n now, by hunger struck, my
husband dies;

His wife must follow fast; yet save,
O save

These orphan little ones, and this poor babe,

This helpless suckling, starving on my breast.'

Her pray'r is scorn'd, her sorrows made a jest,

The jest of that proud plunderer, who

braves

THE POOR MAN'S CURSE, nor heeds

where famine craves." Dd

ANCIENT AND MODERN FARMING

CONTRASTED.

"Ascend yon hill, and give thy straining eye

To view the stretching landscapes as they lie

In many an ample sweep of varying ground,

With all the flocks and herds that graze around;

The level pastures, and the mountains steep,

The intermediate vales, and forests deep.

Time was, when twice ten husbandmen were fed,

And all their wholesome progeny found bread,

And a soft home, each in his modest farm,

By tillage of those lands-and rai

ment warm;

The cloak of scarlet dye, so bright and clean,

And one of silk, on sabbath only seen;

And yet a third, of goodly camblet neat,

For winter days, extending to the feet.

Then took at plough the son and sire their turn,

The wife then milk'd the cow, and work'd the churn,

And many a mile the daughter trudg'd with ease,

To vend her butter, chickens, eggs, and cheese; And, home returning, heavy laden, brought

Full many an article at market bought;

And tho' she bow'd beneath her basket's weight,

Oft would she sing the country maiden's fate; And haply, sweetheart, who in ambush lay,

To ease her load, would join her on

the way:

Well pleas'd was he that useful load to bear,

Yet saw, with wise delight, the damsel's care;

Good signs of future helpmate there were shown,

And as he smil'd, he mark'd her for

his own; Whisper'd his wish to share her toils for life. Purchas'd the ring with speed, and call'd her wife.

And thus for ages far'd the rural train,

Nor plague, nor famine, scourg'd the blissful plain.

Past are these scenes, the bloomy substance fled,

Lo! the thin shadow's offer'd in their stead.

See from the summit where thou stand'st, the pride

That arrogantly grasps the prospect wide:

Ah me! that lofty mountain but com. mands

One tyrant husbandman's half-cultur'd lands;

Insatiate giant of the plunder'd plains, At once the scourge and terror of the swains;

A vain usurper of the country round, Possessing, yet encumbering the ground;

In deep carousal, high above his lord, This village despot can each vice afford

That luxury suggests to ill-got wealth, The bane at once of virtue and of

health.

"The horn invites! the tyrant scours the lawn,

While his poor vassals, up at peep of dawn,

With trembling hands the heavy plough-share guide,

Each cheary hope, each cordial 'thought deny'd;

For pleasure foremost of the noisy throng,

The farmer-sportsman wheels his steed along; Purse-proud and vain, behold he takes the field,

And joys to see the 'squire and huntsman yield;

And as he stretches o'er his rented grounds,

Mark'd for his own, he cheers the panting hounds;

Then they more fell, and eager in the chase,

Nor gate, nor stream, obstruct his headlong pace. His drudging slaves at plough their master spy,

And work the furrow as he gallops

and a half in London, with a view to a farther improvement in his profession. After this preparation, he entered upon the practice of the law at Dedham, in his native country, in Feb. 1769. Having attended a short time to the practice of the law, he determined to change his profession, and enter into holy orders, for which step he assigns his reasons, in a letter to a relative.

From June 1783 to June 1784, Mr. Pattrick travelled in France and Italy; these memoirs contain a descriptive sketch of some of the principal places he visited, which we present to our readers as lively and concise.

"PARIS. I am alternately charmed with the richness and splendour, that is diffused through every thing in this city; and disgusted with the sluttishness and filth that is blended with it. The French are a most untidy people. As are their houses, so are their persons. There is scarce a common lodging that has not rich plates of looking-glass, carved and gilt ornaments, and drawers and cabinets of beautifully inlaid woods. At the same time, the floors are laid with tiles or bricks; and, either the fire-place, or some other corner of the room, is the reservoir of all the dirt and rubbish, that months, and perhaps years, have collected. So also with their persons: those in the lowest departments, waiters at coffee-houses and inns, Jacqueys and porters, have heads dressed for an assembly; when, at the same time, the squalidity of their apparel, and their slovenliness about their heels, will assault the greater part of the five senses.

"There is a vivacity about the French, the feminines especially, that makes a very pleasing impression on a stranger; and persons we are daily dealing with, though we know them to be picking our pockets, yet do it with such good humour and address, that there is no possibility of being angry with them. Amongst ladies of the ton, there seem to be many who possess a large share of the beauties of nature; but they manage their faces as they do their meats. Meats, that are in themselves naturally good, they totally disguise by their cookery; and reduce all things to nearly the same consistency, stewing them to

rags; and instead of the true taste, savour them with the artificial and unnatural taste of the stewpan, and culinary compounds.

I

"The faces of the women of fashion are perfectly covered up with a thick coating of paint, and all complexions are reduced to that white and red, which is furnished by the paint pot; and the colours, furnished by Dame Nature, seem to be so out of vogue, that they are not even imitated. do not think your parlour wainscot has a thicker coating than some of these ladies' faces have, particularly the elder ladies. I saw two or three the other night, who must be near, if not altogether, three-score years and ten, who looked more blooming, than any thing nature ever produced at fifteen; nor should I have known the difference between seventeen and seventy, but from the conical appearance of the cheek-bones, and the fosses and redoubts, that time, in despite of art, had formed in their faces.-

"NAPLES.

-Nice is a sweet and delightful city, situated in a broken punch-bowl. The broken side is open to the sea; and the sides are entirely covered with vines, and orange and lemon-trees, and oliveyards, speckled over with seats and villas of the gentry.

"Genoa is of the same nature, but on a large scale. The whole city is arranged round a semi-circular bay of the sea, rising gradually therefrom; and street above street in height, make a wonderful and beautiful amphitheatre. The neighbouring high hills and vallies, are covered with a profusion of palaces and villas. the city there are entire streets of palaces, adorned with marble.

In

Leghorn is another, but smaller sea-port city, situated in a fertile flat.

"Rome is a large, dull, and, in many parts, a dirty city. There are 500 palaces, more or less; but they stand in narrow streets, and are very lofty and very dark. The lower floors are all grated in the windows, and look like prisons; but within, they are filled with pictures and statues, precious marbles, and costly furniture. In the environs and all over it, are curious remains of the grandeur and fine taste of the antient

Romans, and fragments of buildings perfectly amazing.

"Naples is all life, noise, and bustle; half as big as London, but more populous in proportion. The country about it rich, fertile, and romantic. It encompasses the finest bay of the sea in the world, and, as seen from thence, appears to be the finest city in the world. Proud Mount Vesuvius, with its fuming crest, is seen from every part; though the sea is between it and us. Other mountains and other shores, enriched with spacious buildings, adorn the prospect of this place; which, on the whole, is much like Genoa, but on a scale still larger.

"It is the splendour of the churches, that most attracts a vulgar eye, like mine. They are mostly covered, so that there is not a hand's breadth of floor, sides, pillars, or roof, that is not richly decorated with paintings, statues, or very precious marbles, and pictures of the finest and first-rate masters. The breadth of St. Peter's is the length of St. Paul's; yet not an inch of space is there within that is not thus adorned. I heard mass in it on Christmas-day; when the pope officiated, and there were present all the cardinals, the nobility and gentry of Rome, the emperor of Germany, and the king of Sweden, besides fifteen or twenty thousand well-dressed people. The altar was covered with the pope's mitres and tiaras; richer in diamonds and jewels, than any royal crown I

ever saw.

"The functions, as they are called, i. e. public ceremonies on certain days, are very magnificent and pleasing. The dead are carried to the grave, and attended by vast proces sions singing them to their eternal rest. Sometimes the body is drest in gay attire, and carried, exposed to view, upon a gilded litter; at other times in gilded boxes, and under embroidered palls, but buried without any coffin at all; but at Rome, a coffin is carried after the body, as a part of the procession; and at the end of the ceremony it receives the body, and is pitched endwise down into the pit.

"On certain grand fetes or holidays, in many of the churches, music is introduced into the service; and such music, being by the most exinstruments and performers,

as is almost enough to ravish the heart, and make a man forget he is upon the earth. But oh! if such strains are heard here below, from men that are by no means saints, and yet are capable of exciting such sensations, what shall we feel, when all the hosts of Heaven shall strike the lyres! when saints and angels sing!

"Let us then glory in the hope, that we shall meet and mingle there our voices. There are the regalia; there is the concert; there is the jubilee! That alone deserves the pursuit and anxious toils and labours of the Christian; and whatever little rubs and disappointments we meet with in our journeyings, all will be well, when once we are landed at that port,-the desired haven, where all our griefs, and sufferings, and fears, will be laid aside, and assumed no more for ever! To that day and to that rejoicing, it is my wish, that you and I may be preserved. But yet, if God's will be so, I desire to meet you again on this side the grave. The hope of this, and the enjoyment of some few other friends, are all that in this life is worth our wishes. When you pray for absent friends, bear me also upon your heart, and beg that I may be kept in safety, and returned in the same health I now enjoy, to assure you with my mouth, as I now do with my pen, that I am your's with the sincerest and warmest affection."

Mr. Pattrick was highly esteemed and very popular: he possessed a lively and fertile imagination, which, his biographer informs us, led him into the error of allegorizing, and accommodating passages of scripture in his preaching; the means of remedying this defect in the Author is stated at large in these memoirs, with a view to correct the abuse in others who may have adopted the same method; and to further the important design, we transcribe what appears to us the most important on this subject.

Mr. P. had preached a sermon from Nahum ii. 1. at St. Bride's, upon occasion of the Voluntary Contributions in support of the War, which he was strongly solicited to publish he requested the opinion of another clergyman, who was present when it was preached, and received the following reply. An early answer to your question, can only contain an extempore