to return-a record of human crime and misery, from which we shall gladly turn our eyes to find consolation and peace in the realization of the scripture promises.

THE COLISEUM AT ROME.

EDITOR.

I hail thy desolation-blood-stained pile!
"Tis as it should be! 'Mid the prostrate halls
Of Justice and of Piety-where the senators
Gave peace to nations, or the white-robed choirs
Chanted hosannas to the King of kings;-
There let the stranger ruminate; there weep
For Time's insatiate ravages. But here,-
Where earth is rank with carnage, blood of men
Wasted in hideous revelry by man,

While crowned Wealth and bloated Power looked on,
And congregated myriads yelled applause

In frantic exultation; where, e'en the maid,
With lip disparted and suspended breath,
Gazing in curious earnestness, surveyed

The writhe of mortal agony ;-shall we weep,—
Weep that the tide of Time hath swept them hence
And left their mansions desolate,-their halls
Of murderous triumph silent, echoless

As their own graves?-That Rapine's fatal hand
Hath rent thy pond'rous architrave, and dislodged
Thy deep imbedded cornice, and unlocked
Thine adamantine vaults' gigantic mass?
Yet art thou beauteous.-From thine every part
A thousand dreams of ages past away,
Crowd on the eye of fancy,-from the arch
Tier above tier in long succession piled,
Through which the azure canopy of heaven
Beams in unclouded brilliance, to the vault
Black in its dense profundity of shade;

Whilst o'er the mouldering galleries, straggling wild,
The tangled foliage, Nature's mantle, veils
In graceful negligence, the guilty scenes.
Be ever thus, proud fabric! With that brow
Of shattered grandeur still to after ages,
(More eloquent than all the lore of schools)
Whisper of man's mortality. And thou
Stranger, if well-attuned thy thoughts, receive
The solemn lesson! turn thee from the scene
Of Pagan godlessness to man redeemed-
To man o'er Death victorious, led from earth
By perfect holiness and Christian love.

BISHOP SHUTTLEWORTH.

I would not enter on my list of friends,

(Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility), the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight,
And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes,
A visitor unwelcome, into scenes,

Sacred to neatness and repose, the alcove,
The chamber, or refectory, may die :
A necessary act incurs no blame.

Not so, when held within their proper bounds,
And guiltless of offence, they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the spacious field:
There they are privileged; and he that hunts
Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong,
Disturbs the economy of nature's realm,
Who, when she formed, design'd them an abode.
The sum is this. If man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Else they are all-the meanest things that are,
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,
As God was free to form them at the first,
Who in his sovereign wisdom made them all.
Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons
To love it too. The springtime of our years
Is soon dishonour'd and defiled in most
By budding ills, that ask a prudent hand
To check them. But alas ! none sooner shoots
If unrestrained, into luxuriant growth,
Than cruelty, most wicked of them all.
Mercy to him that shows it is the rule
And righteous limitation of its act,

By which Heaven moves in pardoning guilty man ;

And he that shows none, being ripe in years,
And conscious of the outrage he commits,
Shall seek it, and not find it, in his turn.

CowPER.

DUEL, DUELLIST, DUELLING.

1. A COMBAT between two; a single fight. 2. A single combatant. 3. The act of fighting a single combat, which sense also is expressed by the verb To DUEL.

DUEL is derived from the Latin noun Duo, two, from which root we have also a variety of other words, for example DUAL, belonging to two; DUUMVIRATE, a government of two; DUET, a tune performed by two, &c., &c.

SHAKSPEARE has described the SOLDIER as one who seeks the bubble reputation

Even at the cannon's mouth."

And DUELLING may be regarded as WAR on a less extended scale; it is consequently, in its degree, equally sinful and unchristianlike.

REPUTATION comes from the Latin verb Reputo, which signifies, I think and think again; Puto meaning I think. CHARACTER implies the moral mark which distinguishes one man from another: REPUTATION is what is thought of a man by others.

HONOUR is a word of many meanings; JOHNSON gives no less than thirteen, of which the three following, with the subsequent quotations, will suffice for our purpose: Subject of praise; nobleness of mind; due veneration. This latter quality is fully illustrated by the Fifth Commandment, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

It is a respect which, in the nature of it, implies a mixture of love and fear, and in the object equally supposes goodness and power. But if by honour is meant anything distinct from conscience, it is no more than a regard to the censure and esteem of the world, (this is the duellist's honour.) ROGERS.

He is worthy of honour who willeth the good of any man, and he is much unworthy thereof who seeketh his own profit, and oppresseth others. CICERO.

True honour, or the fear of doing anything base or unworthy, is a noble principle; while false honour, or the fear of the world, is a degrading principle in all situations. He is the true man of honour who keeps steadily in the path of virtue, and braves the laugh of the world.

GILPIN. A king can make a man honourable and right honour

able, but he cannot make a man of honour.

It is an honour for a man to cease from strife.

PROVERBS Xx. 3.

From the Latin noun HONOR, are derived the following words: HONOUR; HONOURABLE; HONORARY; UNHONOURED; DISHONOURED, &c.

Titles of honour add not to his worth who is himself

an honour to his titles.

He's truly valiant that can wisely suffer

JOHN FORD.

The worst that men can breathe; and make his wrongs
His outsides; wear them like his raiment, carelessly;
And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart

To bring it into danger.

SHAKSPEARE.

The custom of duelling took its rise in times of profound ignorance and superstition. It was prevalent amongst the ancient Gauls and Germans, and became universal in Europe after the irruption of the barbarians had destroyed the Roman empire.

The military education of the feudal chiefs and their retainers, tended to perpetuate and extend this barbarous practice, which was at length sanctioned by the law and the church. Judicial combats were held in every state for the settlement of civil questions; even the rights of the church, it domains and revenues were subjected to this singular ordeal, and sometimes the zeal of an ecclesiastic carried him into the lists as a champion. Although Christian ministers have preached, and moralists have railed against this bloody usage, it still prevails to a greater or less extent in every country in Europe, and is almost daily producing the most fatal results in America. Public opinion is in an unhealthy state upon this subject; there is too ready a disposition to sneer at the man who would refuse to peril his life in a deadly conflict, no matter how unjustifiable the cause. Lord Powerscourt, in the year 1839, fought a duel with Mr. Roebuck, and the Archdeacon and clergy of the city of Bath presented to him an address, expressing their deep regret that he should have given his sanction to "a practice so injurious to the best interests of society, at variance with the laws of the land, and in direct violation of the precepts of the gospel." The following is an extract from his answer :- "The law of public opinion-the most influential of the laws of men, and too often more so than the law of God-consigns a young man, who, when either challenged or publicly insulted, shrinks from a duel, to that scorn and contempt which the imputation of cowardice entails; and I confess that I have been deficient in that exalted moral courage, which in this instance would alone have enabled me to despise the scoffs of the world and the sneers of my asso

ciates." We have reason to hope that a better feeling is beginning to prevail in society, from the circumstance of there having been lately established in England an "AntiDuel Association," to which many noblemen, and men of high standing both in the army and navy, have given the sanction of their names. In other countries, also, as the annexed paragraph will show, a better feeling prevails.

COURT OF HONOUR IN BERLIN.-This new Court of Honour has recently prevented a duel between two lieutenants, whose differences came before the court, by virtue of the new enactment against duelling, and by their decision a hostile meeting was prevented. This law is likely to have a highly beneficial effect in society. Why not establish a Court of Honour for nations?

We read in Swedish history, that Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, determined to suppress these false notions of honour, issued a severe edict against the practice. Two gentlemen, however, generals in his service, in a quarrel, agreed to solicit the King's permission to decide their difference by the laws of honour; the King consented, and said he would be present at the combat. He was attended by a body of guards and the public executioner, and before they proceeded to the onset, he told these gentlemen that they must fight till one of them died. Then turning to the executioner, he added, do you immediately strike off the head of the survivor.

This had the intended effect; the difference between the officers was adjusted, and no more challenges were heard of in the army of Gustavus Adolphus.

TRUSLER'S MEMOIRS.

MATHEMATICAL DEMONSTRATION.-The late eccentric mathematician, Professor Vince, of King's College, Cambridge, being once engaged in a conversation with a gentleman who advocated duelling, is said to have thrown his adversary completely hors de combat by the following acute and characteristic reply to his question:-" But what could you do, Sir, if a man told you to your very face 6 you lie?'" "What cud I do? Why, I wudn't knock him down, but I'd tell him to pruv it. Pruv, Sir, pruv it, I'd say. If he cudn't, he'd be the liar, and there I shud have him; but if he did pruv that I'd lied, I must e'en pocket the affront, and there I expect the matter wud end."