John wished to have disciples, and he; had them. He was chief of a sect among the lower orders of the people, and it cost him his life: It even appears that Jesus was at first among his disciples, since he was baptised by him in the Jordan, and John sent some of his own party to him a short time before his death.

The historian Josephus speaks of John, but not of Jesus-an incontestable proof{ that in his time John the Baptist had a greater reputation than he whom he baptised. A great multitude followed him, says that celebrated historian; and the Jews seemed disposed to undertake whatever he should command them.

of Jesus Christ alone. The Acts of the Apostles do not mention any one baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;-whence it may be concluded, that the author of the Acts of the Apostles knew nothing of Matthew's gospel, in which it is said—“Go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The Christian religion had not yet received its form. Even the Symbol, which was called the Symbol of the Apostles, was not made until after their time: of this no one has any doubt. In Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians, we find a very singular custom which was then introduced-that of baptising the dead; but the rising Church soon reserved baptism for the living alone: at first, none were baptised but adults; and the ceremony was often deferred until the age of fifty, or the last sickness, that the individual might carry with him into the other world the unimpaired virtue of a baptism recently performed.

From this passage it appears that John was not only the chief of a sect, but the chief of a party. Josephus adds, that he caused Herod some uneasiness. He did indeed make himself formidable to Herod, who at length put him to death; but Jesus meddled with none but the Pharisees. Josephus, therefore, mentions John as a man who had stirred up the Jews Now, all children are baptised: none against King Herod; as one whose zeal but the anabaptists reserve this ceremony had made him a state criminal; but for the mature age; they plunge their Jesus, not having approached the court, { whole bodies into the water. The Quawas unknown to the historian Josephus. kers, who compose a very numerous soThe sect of John the Baptist differed {ciety in England and in America, do not widely in discipline from that of Jesus. use baptism: the reason is, that Jesus In the Acts of the Apostles, we see that, Christ did not baptise any of his disci twenty years after the execution of Jesus, ples; and their aim is, to be Christians Apollos of Alexandria, though become a only as his disciples were-which occaChristian, knew no baptism but that of sions a very wide difference between John, nor had any idea of the Holy them and other communions. Ghost. Several travellers, and among Addition to the Article BAPTISM by the others Chardin the most accredited of all, say that in Persia there still are disciples of John, called Sabis, who baptise in his name, and acknowledge Jesus as a prophet, but not as a God.

Abbé Nicaise.

The Emperor Julian the philosopher, in his immortal Satire on the Cæsars, puts these words into the mouth of ConAs for Jesus Christ himself, he received stantius, son of Constantine-"Whosobaptism, but conferred it on no one: his ever feels himself guilty of rape, murder, apostles baptised the catechumens, or cir- plunder, sacrilege, and every most abocumcised them, as occasion required:minable crime, so soon as I have washed this is evident, from the operation of cir-him with this water, he shall be clean cumcision performed by Paul on his and pure."

disciple Timothy.

It was, indeed, this fatal doctrine that It also appears that when the Apos-occasioned the Christian emperors, and tles baptised, it was always in the name the great men of the empire, to defer their

baptism until death. They thought they had found the secret of living criminal and dying virtuous.

begged the hospitality of a holy Jewish woman, who gave him some milk, and drove a great cart-nail through his head while he was asleep. We are very sorry for it; but this is not the matter to be discussed. We wish to speak of chariots of war.

How strange an idea-that a pot of water should wash away every crime! Now, all children are baptised, because an idea no less absurd supposes them all criminal; they are all saved until The battle was fought at the foot of they have the use of reason and the Mount Thabor, near the river Kishon. power to become guilty! Cut their Mount Thabor is a steep mountain, the throats, then, as quickly as possible, to branches of which, somewhat less in ensure their entrance into paradise. This height, extend over a great part of Gais so just a consequence, that there was lilee. Betwixt this mountain and the once a devout sect that went about poi-neighbouring rocks, there is a small plain soning and killing all newly-baptised covered with great flint-stones, and iminfants. These devout persons reasoned practicable for cavalry. The extent of with perfect correctness, saying-"We { this plain is four or five hundred paces. do these little innocents the greatest pos- We may venture to believe that Sisera sible good; we prevent them from being did not here draw up his three hundred wicked and unhappy in this life, and we thousand men in order of battle; his three give them life eternal." thousand chariots would have found it difficult to manœuvre on such a field.

We have no intention here to enquire at what time Baruch was chief of the Jewish people; why, being chief, he allowed his army to be commanded by a woman; whether this woman, named Deborah, had married Lapidoth; whether she was the friend or relative of Baruch, or perhaps his daughter or his mother; nor on what day the battle of Thabor, in Galilee, was fought between this Deborah and Soera, captain-general of the armies of King Jabin-which Sisera commanded m Galilee an army of three hundred thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and three thousand chariots of war, according to the historian Josephus.

We shall at present leave out of the question this Jabin, king of a village called Azor, who had more troops than the Grand Turk. We very much pity the fate of his grand-vizier Sisera, who, having lost the battle in Galilee, leaped from his chariot and four, that he might ty more swiftly on foot. He went and

We may believe that the Hebrews had no chariots of war, in a country renowned only for asses; but the Asiatics made use { of them in the great plains.

Confucius, or rather Confutze, says positively that, from time immemorial, each of the viceroys of the provinces was {expected to furnish to the emperor a thousand war-chariots drawn by four horses.

Chariots must have been in use long before the Trojan war, for Homer does not speak of them as a new invention : but these chariots were not armed like those of Babylon; neither the wheels nor the axles were furnished with steel blades.

This invention must at first have been very formidable in large plains, especially when the chariots were numerous, driven with impetuosity, and armed with long pikes and scythes; but when they became familiar, it seemed so easy to avoid their shock, that they fell into general disuse.

In the war of 1741, it was proposed to renew and reform this ancient invention.

A minister of state had one of these

chariots constructed, and it was tried. It was asserted that in large plains, like that of Lutzen, they might be used with ad

But above all, the soldier must have honour, and must be led by honour alone. "War," says he, "is but too great a corrupter of morals ;" and he reminds us of the Italian proverb- War makes thieves, and peace finds them gibbets.

vantage, by concealing them behind the cavalry, the squadrons of which would open to let them pass, and then follow them; but the generals judged that this manœuvre would be useless, and even dangerous, now that battles are gained by cannon only. It was replied, that there would be as many cannon in the army using the chariots of war to defend them, as in the enemy's army to destroy them. It was added, that these chariots would, in the first instance, be sheltered from the cannon behind the battalions or squadrons, that the latter would open and let the chariots run with impetuosity, and that this unexpected attack might have a pro-occasion required-a great art, which digious effect. The generals advanced nothing in opposition to these arguments; but they would not revive this game of the ancient Persians.

BATTALION.

LET us observe that the arrangements, the marching, and the evolutions of battalions, nearly as they are now practised, were revived in Europe by one who was not a military man-by Machiavel, a secretary at Florence. Battalions three, four, and five deep; battalions advancing upon the enemy; battalions in square to avoid being cut off in a rout; battalions four deep sustained by others in column; battalions flanked by cavalry-all are his. He taught Europe the art of war; it had long been practised, without being known. The Grand Duke would have had his secretary teach his troops their exercise, according to his new method. But Machiavel was too prudent to do so; he had no wish to see the officers and soldiers laugh at a general in a black cloak: he reserved himself for the council.

There is something singular in the qualities which he requires in a soldier. He must first have gagliardia, which signifies alert vigour; he must have a quick and sure eye-in which there must also be a little gaiety; a strong neck, a wide breast, a muscular arm, round loins, but little belly, with spare legs and feet-all indicating strength and agility.

Machiavel had but a poor opinion of the French infantry; and until the battle of Rocroy, it must be confessed that it was very bad. A strange man this Machiavel! He amused himself with making verses, writing plays, showing his cabinet the art of killing with regularity, and teaching princes the art of perjuring them selves, assassinating, and poisoning, as

Pope Alexander VI, and his bastard, Cæsar Borgia, practised in wonderful perfection without the aid of his lessons.

Be it observed, that in all Machiavel's works, on so many different subjects, there is not one word which renders virtue amiable-not one word proceeding from the heart. The same remark has been made on Boileau. He does not, it is true, make virtue lovely; but he represents it as necessary.

BAYLE.

WHY has Louis Racine treated Bayle like a dangerous man, with a cruel heart, in an epistle to Jean Baptiste Rousseau, which, although printed, is very little {known?

He compares Bayle, whose logical acuteness detected the errors of opposing systems, to Marius sitting upon the ruins of Carthage :

:

Ainsi d'un oeil content Marius, dans sa fuite, Contemplait les débris de Carthage détruite. Thus exil'd Marins, with contented gaze, Thy ruins, Carthage, silently surveys. Here is a simile which exhibits very little resemblance, or, as Pope says, a simile dissimilar. stroyed reason and arguments; nor did he contentedly view its ruins; but, on the contrary, he was penetrated with an elevated sentiment of melancholy, on contemplating the vicissitudes of human affairs, when he made the celebrated an

Marius had not de

swer-"Say to the Proconsul of Africa, that thou hast seen Marius seated on the ruins of Carthage."

What motive could the author of Phædra and Iphigenia have for falling into such a prodigious error? Simply this, that

We ask in what Marius resembled Rousseau had made verses for the JanBayle?

senists, whom he then believed to be in high credit.

Louis Racine, if he thinks fit, may apply the epithets hard-hearted and cruel to Marius, to Sylla, to the triumvirs, &c. &c.; but, in reference to Bayle, the phrases detestable pleasure, cruel heart, terrible man, should not be put in a sen-curus, nor against the numerous philosotence written by Louis Racine against one who is only proved to have weighed the arguments of the Manichæns, the Paulicians, the Arians, the Eutychians, against those of their adversaries. Louis Racine proportions not the punishment to the offence. He should remember that Bayle combatted Spinosa, who was too much of a philosopher, and Jurieu, who was none at all. He should respect the In vain has a parliament of France good manners of Bayle, and learn to rea-done him the greatest honour, in renderson from him. But he was a Jansenist, ing his will valid, notwithstanding the that is to say, he knew the words of the severity of the law. The madness of language of Jansenism and employed party knows neither honour nor justice. them at random. You may properly call I have not inserted this article to make cruel and terrible, a powerful man who the eulogy of the best of dictionaries, commands his slaves, on pain of death, which would not be becoming here, and to go and reap corn where he has sown of which Bayle is not in need; I have thistles; who gives to some of them too written it to render, if I can, the spirit of much food, and suffers others to die of party odious and ridiculous. hunger; who kills his eldest son, to leave a large fortune to the younger. All that is frightful and cruel, Louis Racine! It is said that such is the god of thy Jansenists, but I do not believe it.

Such is the rage of faction let loose upon Bayle; but you do not hear any of the dogs who have howled against him bark against Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, Epi

phers of antiquity. It is all reserved for Bayle: he is their fellow citizen-he is of their time-his glory irritates them. Bayle is read, and Nicole is not read; behold the source of the Jansenist hatred! Bayle is studied, but neither the reverend Father Croiset, nor the reverend Father Caussin! and hence Jesuitical denounce{ment!

BDELLIUM.

We are very much puzzled to know what this Bdellium is, which is found near the shores of the Pison, a river of the Oh slaves of party, people attacked with terrestrial paradise which turns into the the jaundice, you constantly see every-country of the Havilah, where there is thing yellow!

gold. Calmet relates that, according to several commentators, Bdellium is the carbuncle, but that it may also be chrystal. Then it is the gum of an Arabian tree, and afterwards we are told that capers are intended. Many others affirm that it signifies pearls. Nothing but the etymologies of Bochart can throw a light on this question. I wish that all these commentators had been upon the spot.

And to whom has the unthinking heir of a father who had a hundred times more taste than philosophy, addressed this miserable epistle against the virtuous Bayle? To Rousseau-to a poet who thinks still less; to a man, whose principal merit has consisted in epigrams which are revolting to the most indulgent reader; to a man, to whom it was alike whether he sang Jesus Christ or Giton. The excellent gold which is obtained Such was the apostle to whom Louis Ra- in this country, says Calmet, shows evicine denounced Bayle as a miscreant.dently that this is the country of Colchis,

It

have never varied in their consideratio for the beard. Marriage among the has always existed, and that period is sti the epoch of life from which they n longer shave the beard. The long dre and the beard impose respect. T Westerns have always been changing t fashion of the chin. Mustachios we

and the golden fleece is a proof of it. is a pity that things have changed so much for Mingrelia; that beautiful country, so famous for the loves of Medea and Jason, now produces gold and Bdellium no more than bulls which vomit fire and flame, and dragons which guard the fleece. Every thing changes in this world; and if we do not skilfully culti-worn under Louis XIV. towards the ye vate our lands, and if the state remain always in debt, we shall become a second Mingrelia.

BEARD.

1672. Under Louis XIII. a little pointe beard prevailed. In the time of Hem IV. it was square. Charles V., Juli II., and Francis I. restored the lar beard to honour in their courts, whi CERTAIN naturalists assure us that the had been a long time in fashion. Gown secretion which produces the beard is the men, through gravity and respect for t same as that which perpetuates mankind. customs of their fathers, shaved then An entire hemisphere testifies against selves; whilst the courtiers, in double this fraternal union. The Americans, of and little mantles, wore their beards: whatever country, colour, or stature, they long as they could. When a king may be, have neither beards on their those days sent a lawyer as an ambass chins, nor any hair on their bodies, ex- dor, his comrades would laugh at him cept their eye-brows and the hair of their he suffered his beard to grow, beside heads. I have legal attestations of of-mocking him in the chamber of accoun ficial men, who have lived, conversed, or of requests.—But quite enough upc and combatted, with thirty nations of beards. South America, and they attest that they have never seen a hair on their bodies; and they laugh, as they well may, at writers who, copying one another, say that the Americans are only without hair because they pull it out with pincers; as if Christopher Columbus, Fernando Cortez, and the other adventurers, had loaded themselves with the little tweezers with which our ladies remove their superfluous hairs, and had distributed them in all the countries of America.

I believed, for a long time, that the Esquimaux were excepted from the general laws of the new world; but I am assured that they are as free from hair as the others. However, they have children at Chili, Peru, and Canada, as well as in our bearded continent. There is, then, a specific difference between these bipeds and ourselves, in the same way as their lions, which are divested of the mane, and in other respects differ from the lions of Africa.

It is to be remarked that the Orientals

BEASTS.

WHAT a pity and what a poverty spirit, to assert that beasts are machin deprived of knowledge and sentimen which effect all their operations in t same manner, which learn nothing, nev improve, &c. &c.

What! this bird, who makes its nest a semicircle when he attaches it to a wal and in a circle on a tree-this bird de all in the same blind manner! T hound, which you have disciplined i three months, does he not know more the end of this time than he did befor Does the canary, to which you play air, repeat it directly? Do you not e ploy a considerable time in teaching Have you not seen that he sometim mistakes it, and that he corrects himse Is it because I speak to you, that judge I have sentiment, memory, ideas? Well, suppose I do not speak you; you see me enter my room with afflicted air, I seek a paper with inqu