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ber of innocent amusements, in their festivals, their gambols, their athletic exercises. His Right Hon. Friend, while picturing the hap. piness derived from Bull-baiting, had forgot that it was confined to an individual, while his wretched family, excluded from any participation of the spectacle, were condemned to feel the want of that money which he squandered away on such occasions. After all these considerations, he concluded that we must look upon the practice of Bull-baiting as destructive to the true happiness and morality of individuals, and consequently the general good of society.

Mr William Smith and Mr. Newbolt spoke strongly in favour of the Bill.

Mr. Frankland spoke at considerable length against the Bill. He contended, that if the amusement involved, in any degree, the practice of cruelty, it was not induced for the sake of cruelty. In some points of view, the amusement of horseracing may also be termed cruel. So might it be said of stag-hunting, Speaking of the practice of Bullbaiting, he stated, that he over and over and over and over again, had opportunities of witnessing that none of the cruelties imputed to the practice, had taken place. It was impossible the Bill could pass in its present state; the assumption that the practice of Bullbaiting had increased, was false. He seemed to think with the Right Honourable Gentleman who opposed the measure, that the national character was implicated in it. It was the encouragement given to such manly sports, and invigorating exercises, that made us what we were. Mr. Sheridan observed, that he could not help admiring the ingenuity, talents, and address which Mr. Windham had displayed. A great deal of what had been said might be reduced to a short question, which, for the sake of illustration, he would put in the metaphorical language of an Honourable Gentleman under the gallery, who said, as the higher orders of the people had their Billington, the lower orders should have their Bullbaiting. Mr. Sheridan proceeded to express his surprise, that if the Right Honourable Gentleman thought the subject so low, so trifling, as to be utterly unworthy of the interference of the legislature, he should have deemed it necessary to oppose the Bill in a very long and elaborate speech, a speech prepared for the occasion. If the Right Hon. Gentleman deemed the subject trifling, and unworthy of attention, why take all that trouble about it? It was rather extraordinary, that though the Right Honourable Gentleman denied the subject to be of importance, yet he considered the measure to proceed from the combined effects of Jacobinism and Methodism, to overturn the constitution of the country; and another Gentleman seemed to be of opinion, that if the lower orders of the people were not indulged in the joyous and jovial practice of Bullbaiting, the constitution must eventually be overturned.

In regard to the argument held out, that if this custom was suppressed, we should know not where to stop, and that the amusements of hunting, shooting, and fishing, would become the next objects of suppression. To this idea he could shortly answer, that these amusements have no more analogy to the barbarous practice in question, than any things the most opposite in their natures could have; and he must observe, with regard to the Honourable Gentleman who had beheld those scenes, over and over and over again, that no man could advance such arguments or defend the practice, who had not been inured to it. But that Gentleman said, the object was, not to torture the animal, that cruelty was not inflicted for the sake of cruelty: where was the difference in the effect, or in the tortures of the wretched animal, when the cruelty proceeded only from sport? He could conceive different sources of passion from which cruelty could arise, as wrath, malace; fear, cowardice, and worse than these was it when proceeding from beastly appetite, from the effect of gluttony, but certainly worse than any, or than all put together, was the nature of inflicting cruelty merely for sport. If the House suffered the Bill to go to a Committee, they could produce facts which must excite feel. ings of horror and indignation. He expatiated with great feeling, animation, and effect, on the barbarous custom of Bulibaiting, as not only producing the most inconceivable tortures to the wretched animal, and often to the instruments of his torments, but tending to deaden the feelings of humanity in, and to brutalize the minds of the beholder, and at such sights, women and children were often present: of this he stated some facts in illustration; among these, that of a brutal Bullbaiter, who, possessing an old Bull-bitch, that lately had a large litter of puppies, was wil ling to shew the staunchness of her blood and the extent of her prowess; he set the bitch at a Bull, she pinned, and fastened on him, and in that situation he literally cut her to pieces, the animal still keeping her hold. He then sold the puppies for five guineas a-piece. These facts shewed the diabolical and malignant spirit with which such sports were conducted; and encouraging these, instead of making a people manly and generous, would, by inuring them to acts of cruelty, render them base, and fit to submit to the yoke of tyranny. To encourage them in such acts of barbarism would also render the people barbarous and tyrannical in their turn; teach them to oppress the weak, by rioting in the blood and tortures of dumb and unoffending animals, and on all occasions, as a sure result, to bow the neck to the yoke of power. Such practices surely called for the interference of the legislature; they degraded the national character, as well as brutalized the people, and had incontrovertibly extended to the length of contra bonos mores. Undoubtedly, as had been said, cruelties may be practised upon animals, and of

the most shocking kinds, in circumstances which it was beyond the power of the law to remedy. True, but if these practices were exhibited openly, they would become nuisances, and call for the interference of the legislature. Those bold and bare-faced practices, which exhibit their sanguinary details to the eye of day, should certainly be put down. It was a question, whether the existing laws may not be sufficient to remedy the evil, by the interference of the magistrates. How ever that might be, the old law seemed to be worn out; its teeth could not fix upon the evil: it was the object of the present Bill to remedy this defect, and to render the law effi. cacious.

Mr. Dent spoke at some length in explanation.

The House divided; for the Second reading of the Bill 51-against it 64.

May 31.

Sir William Scott moved the Order of the Day for the House to resolve itself into a Committee on the Clergyman's Non-residence Bill.

Mr. Simeon argued at some length against the principle of the bill, which he considered as an unnecessary violation of the law, as it had stood from the period of the reign of Henry VIII. The Honourable Gentleman took occasion to recommend, that government should make an addition of Forty or Fifty Thousand Pounds to Queen Anne's bounty, to be divided among the poorer clergy, which would operate more to encourage the clergy to attend to their duty, than this bill could; a bill which was calculated to reduce them to such a state of slavery to the bishops, that if it should pass into a law, he would sooner put his son apprentice to a shoemaker, than make a clergyman of him.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that the bill was one which was called for by the almost unanimous sentiment of the House itself, and by the voice of the best men in the country, who felt for the sufferings of the clergy. To make comfortable provisions for the lower class of these, he thought highly necessary. In that he concurred with the Honourable Gentleman, and he regretted that it was impossible in the course of this Session, to arrange that business, or to combine it with this bill; which, in fact, was only a part of a great system in contemplation respecting religion and the clergy, who, as a body, were from their conduct, and particularly from the principles they had manifested during the last nine

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To

or ten years, strongly intitled to the respect Gratitude and admiration of parliament. therefore strengthened the claims of policy and justice in favour of those among them who possessed inadequate revenues. money could, in his opinion be more usefully applied, than to the relief of such men. promote religion itself, it was wise to make its ministers at least independent-that religion, without which, however he might rely on the ability of our statesmen, or the courage of our warriors, it would be in vain to look for national tranquillity and happiness; without it, our security would rest upon a rotten basis. In order, therefore, to forward the interests of that invaluable blessing, it was intended to increase the places of public worship in those districts where the population had increased, and by giving a competence to all classes of the clergy, encourage them in the exercise of their duty.

A long conversation ensued on various clauses and amendments.

At length on the motion of Sir William Scott, it was ordered that the Chairman report progress, which was done, and the Committee was ordered to sit again.

HOUSE OF LORDS. June 2.

Lord GRENVILLE apologised to the House for calling their attention to the Bill now before the House of Commons respecting the Parochial Residence of the Clergy. But when the House considered that this bill was no less than a project for changing the whole system of ecclesiastical discipline in the Established Church, which had been settled from the period of the Reformation, he was persuaded their Lordships would agree with him, that it was a subject of too great magnitude for their Lordships to take up and decide upon at so late a period of the Session of Parliament. With respect to the principles and object of this bill, he could assure the House it was a subject which had not escaped the notice or the consideration of those who form. ed his Majesty's late administration, of which he had the honour to be one. They had given the subject the fullest consideration, and had formed a general plan upon the subject of which the Parochial Residence of the Clergy, important as it was, formed but a part.

The Lord CHANCELLOR approved of Lord Grenville's sentiments; but, as the subject of the bill alluded to was not regularly before the House, it could not bear regular allusion.

OBITUARY.

Ar his house at West Green, Hants, General, Sir Robert Sloper.

Suddenly, in his chapel, the Reverend Mr.. Turner, Minister of a Roman Catholic congregation at Morpeth.

At East Bourne, Miss L. Hudson, youngest

daughter of Sir Charles Grave Hudson, Bart. of Wanley Hall, Leicestershire.

Captain Stewart, Aid-de-camp to General Stewart, Commander in Chief of the late English contingent in Portugal.

The Rev. William Griffiths, Vicar of St.

Issey, near St. Columb; it is conjectured that he fell over the cliff at Mawgan, into the sea, on the 31st of July, his body having been found the next morning in the sea, under the cliff. He has left a widow and five children.

In Upper Grosvenor Street, the Countess Dowager of Somerset.

G. A. Cook, Esq. aged 78 years, 64 of which he was Gentleman Usher and Daily Waiter to his present Majesty and George II.

At Ibbetson, Dorsetshire, the Reverend R. D'Aubeney, Rector of that place.

Aug. 4, at Islington, in the 76th year of his age, Mr. Charles Moorhouse, upwards of 40 years one of the Clerks of the Bank of England.

Aug. 7, at Knightsbridge, Mr. Lewis, the oldest bookseller about London.

Aug. 9, in Sloane Street, the Reverend Dr. Lewis, Rector of Wippingham, in the Isle of Wight, and of Ewell in Surrey.

Same day, in Broad Street, in her 78th year, Mrs. Platt, widow of the late John Platt, Esq. of Cornhill.

At Twickenham, in her 71st year, Lucy Dowager Viscountess Clifden.

At Camberwell, Mrs. M.Oxenford, aged 74. At Berlin, his Excellency Count Charles Adolphus de Bruhl, in his 61st year. Admiral Dumaresq, of Pilham Place, Hants, aged 73.

Lately, in Russel Place, Fitzroy Square, by the breaking of a blood-vessel, Miss Taylor; and on Tuesday last, from the same cause, the mother of the above lady, and wife of John Taylor, Esq. of the island of Antigua.

At Leicester Grange, near Hinckley, Mrs. Foster, widow of John Foster, Esq.

At Lancaster, Mrs. Elizabeth Barwick, a maiden lady, aged 63. A few days before her death, she fell from a window three stories high, by which accident she had a leg, thigh, and arm broken, and was otherwise dreadfully bruised.

Aug. 11, Mr. Daniel Richards, aged 86, formerly a stationer in Holborn, and Father of the Stationers' Company.

Berlin, Aug. 1, His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of Frederick the Great, General of Infantry, in the 77th year of his age.

The person known by the name of M. de Verdion, whom our readers must have remembered about the streets of London for a great number of years, wearing a little bag wig, and a large cocked hat, and carrying an umbrella, died last week of a cancer in the breast, being, it appears, a female, though she always wore the masculine habit. By papers found in her apartments, it seems she was the natural daughter of the late king of Prussia, and came over to England with Madame Schwellenberg, Mistress of the Robes to her Majesty. It is understood she was once in the possession of property to the amount of 8000l. which, trusting in the hands of a foreign banker, who failed, she entirely lost. She has since subsisted by teaching foreign languages. In her lodgings a number of valuable suits of clothes have been found, in which she used, till within these few years, to attend at court on gala days, in the male character, having never been known in any other since her residence in this country, except to her patroness; her external form was, however, such as almost to have caused a suspicion of the real fact. The ensemble of her figure, when decorated in its usual paraphernalia, was whimsically grotesque.

His

Edgeware Road, Paddington, Mr. John Alexander Woodel, aged twenty-two. death was occasioned by the explosion of a firework, on the night of the general illumination. He was a youth of an amiable and pious disposition; and there is reason to hope, that the loss his friends have sustained by his removal, has proved his eternal gain.

July 25, at Lynn, in her 21st year, Mrs. W-. The circumstances of her dissolution are peculiarly distressing. Mr. W-, her husband, had from a habit of gaming got into great pecuniary embarrassment, and a creditor having called upon him that day, Mr. W-, in order to satisfy him, gave him a bill of sale of the whole of his effects. Mrs. W-, on being made acquainted with the circumstance, fainted away; when she had recovered she retired to bed, and the thoughts of future distress had such an effect upon her spirits, that she expired in the same afternoon.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received Letters from two friends, complaining that by our unqualified praise of the Sermons of Mr. Gisborne, and in particular by the quotation inserted p. 372, col. 1, of our Number for June, we have violated our promised neutrality on the points of difference between Calvinists and Arminians. With due deference for the judgment of these much respected friends, the favour of whose communications we thankfully acknowledge; we plead not guilty to the charge. We have, it is true, bestowed great, and, we think, merited commendation on Mr. Gisborne's Sermons; but we have not expressed-at least, we have not intended to express our approbation of all the sentiments contained in the passage objected to. We allow, at the same time, that neither was it our intention to convey a censure of these sentiments. Praise or blame might, in this instance, have been equally construed to be a departure from that middle course which we had professed to hold. But it must surely be admitted to be a full vindication of the propriety of inserting the extract Christ. Observ. No. 8.

B

complained of; that it was requisite, in order to convey a fair statement of the Author's theological system, in which the opinions there exhibited hold a distinguished place. We introduced the quotation by the following words, "Mr. Gisborne strenuously defends the position, &c." terms which, as we conceived, would give the reader to understand, that it was Mr. Gisborne's position, and not any position of our own, which we were about to

state.

The expression towards the end of the Review, "even Calvinists will acknowledge, &c." has been understood to imply that we stand opposed to Calvinists. We do not think that the words necessarily or even fairly bear this construction, and they certainly were not intended to bear it. It is, as if we had said, "Mr. Gisborne uses language on some points differing very materially from what some of his brethren would be inclined to use, but even those who thus differ from him will acknowledge, &c." We should have no objection in reviewing a work which took an opposite side to Mr. Gisborne on the controverted points in ques tion, but which possessed equal title to our approbation to say of it, that "although it will seem to some to lean too much towards the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism, even Anticalvinists will acknowledge, &c."

The dissatisfaction of our friends would perhaps be moderated, if they knew how vehement are the charges preferred against us in other quarters, on very opposite grounds. It is our anxious wish to render the Christian Observer the means of more widely inculcating the great doctrines of our faith, general orthodoxy of principle, and universal purity of conduct; in short, to enforce practical piety, and, in particular, the grand virtue of charity, a virtue to which, perhaps, too low a place is assigned in the system of all parties. If in the prosecution of these objects, we should seem to some persons to deviate occasionally from what they conceive to be the right path, they ought to keep in view the general fallibility of man,and the particular difficulties of our situation, and to consider whether, upon the whole, our work be not likely, through the blessing of God,to produce good: and whether, therefore, it have not a fair claim to their encouragement and support.

We regret the trouble which S. has had in translating so largely from the Works of Chrysostom, as we are of opinion that the extract will not suit our work.

We concur with DUNELMENSIS in thinking very highly of Dr. Doddridge's Family Expositor, but we could not conveniently adopt the plan respecting it which he recommends. We commend the zeal of ELEUTHERIUS, and we trust he will continue to direct his attention to the objects most worthy of it, but the paper he has sent us is not sufficiently mature for our purpose.

AN OLD EPISCOPARIAN'S two Letters have come to hand. We agree with him as to the impropriety of the expressions he has noticed in a certain religious miscellany; and in order to prevent a repetition of them, we have transmitted his animadversions to the editors of that work. Had we transcribed the objectionable passages into our pages, we should have incurred a similar censure. We unquestionably must condemn the indecencies of language to be found in the Voyage to which he alludes.

To be admitted :-C. C.; S. D. R.; A CANDIDATE FOR HOLY ORDERS; VIATOR; Anecdotes of Mr. Walker of Truro.

Received:-J.; HIEREUS ECCLESIAS; E; G.; SCHOLASTICUS; N. E. O. S.

We beg leave to inform a correspondent, that the Work of Mr. Davis, the Curate of Olveston, on the original Language of Great Britain, has already been noticed in our Literary Intelligence. We perceive that the list of subscribers, already amounting to about 1700, is very highly respectable.

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On the following day Paul was examined before the Chief Priests and the Council; but when he prefaced his defence by declaring, that he had lived in all good conscience before God until that day, the High Priest commanded him to be smitten on the mouth. Upon this violation of public justice and decency, the Apostle was transported to unbecoming warmth, and he sternly answered, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. For sit test thou to judge me after the law, and commandest thou me to be smitten contrary to the law? But when they who stood by said, Revilest thou God's High Priest? instantly recalling a Christian temper, he answered calmly, I wist not, brethren, that he was the High Priest; for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. How happily is this error corrected, and how needful is the admonition to respect the magistracy, even when it is degraded by him who is placed in it, lest we should poison the public mind, and sever those bonds which are essential to social order! The weakness of human nature considered, it is not surprising that good men, particularly if misled by false zeal, should lose their temper in even a greater degree than St. Paul did; but that, in the hour of recollection, they should approve and vindicate such a spirit, may well excite a doubt whether they have indeed acquired the mind of Christ?

After Paul had made his defence, perceiving the council to be divided, and that the Pharisees were inclined, to judge him favourably, he seized the critical moment, and appealed to them, saying, Men and brethren, I am a Pha

risee, the son of a Pharisee. Of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question: Thus, with equal truth and judgment, resting his cause on the resurrection of Jesus; while with admirable address, he interested the Pharisees in his behalf, by shewing the question in debate to be closely connected with the grand truths which they vindicated against the Sadducees. For the Sadducees say, their is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. This appeal had the desired effect; for the Scribes, which were of the Pharisees part, arose and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man; but if an angel or spirit hath spoken to him let us not fight against God. A conflict so fierce and tumultuous now arose between the hostile sects, that Lysias fearing Paul would have been torn in pieces among them, rescued him with an armed force, and secured him in the castle, until being informed of a conspiracy against the life of his prisoner, he sent him by night, under a strong guard, to Felix, at Cesarea. Thither he was followed by the High Priest and Elders, and accused to the Governor, who referred the cause to a second hearing, when he should have acquired some satisfactory information from the Chief Captain. In the meanwhile Paul was remanded to the care of a centurion, with permission to see his friends, and to preach in his own house. Among the curious inquirers into the principles of the new religion were Felix and his wife Drusilla, a Jewess, who sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, tem perance, and judgment to come, Felix

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