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they will never submit to pay so immense a tribute for a debt incurred by their ancestors, to a king who admits them to no portion of his power. The only thing which reconciles the people to the payment of sixty millions a year, is, the public discussion of political affairs in the House of Commons, and in the newspapers.

The second circumstance which stands in the way of arbitrary power, is this very liberty of discussion. There certainly exists in this country, a very large mass of enlightened men, who, without taking a decided part in her political parties, entertain liberal ideas, and are favourable to the progress of knowledge, and all the improvements of civilised life. it is not easy to conceive a nation passing from so general a diffusion of the light of knowledge, to the utter darkness of a despotism; and this circumstance formerly induced me to think the British Constitution was immortal.

Of all questions which can occur, there are none so interesting as those which concern the length and constitution of Parliament. Every question which relates to it, the duration of Parliament, non-resident freemen, diminishing expense, corrupt boroughs, &c. &c. ought to be brought into close and successive discussion. Many improvements might, no doubt, be made without the slightest danger. But, in my humble opinion, it would not be a wise measure to divide the country into districts, each of which is to return a member: such an alteration would, in fact, be a complete change in the form of government, and, as such, it is the very catastrophe which I am anxious to avoid. When we are obliged to look out for a new Constitution, a more perfect one may, perhaps, be devised. But, for one, I should wish to avoid such a necessity, because, with all the burthens of unnecessary wars, I still perceive more freedom, in combination with justice and civilisation, in Eng. land, than I ever saw, heard, or read of in any other country.

Its splendour for a moment dazzled my
senses, and benumbed my grief; but it
has quickly resumed with increased
pain. The thousands of human beings
whom I see every moment of the day,
seem as strange to me as the flies and
the birds. I am not a passenger in the
same ship: I am worse than a stran-
ger. I wish them all struck with the
same judgment as myself; I wish the
world a desert, every one of its cities a
Carthage, and every Roman citizen a
Marius-yet I bear the Romans no ill
will; they have conquered, they have
triumphed; they flourish and enjoy.-
I hate the triumphant and the prosper-
ous-yet they are vicious and corrupt:
in that I rejoice; their manners may
afford me pleasure and satisfaction.

I supped yesterday with Atticus.As he is an idle and luxurious man, he supped at an earlier hour than other people. Every thing was in a magnificent style. Having previously bathed and anointed, we lay down about three o'clock on beds of tortoise-shell, to a table of which the support was ivory.— Each guest was crowned with a garland of roses, and the ceiling was so contrived as to open from time to time, and let fall showers of perfume upon the room. There was a great profusion of sow's belly, and thrushes, and phænicopterus, and many of the dishes were deliciously prepared with honey. The liver of a goose, however, dressed with mulsus, milk, and fig, was the best dish I tasted. Yet it moved even my pity, to see a poor friend of the family to whom the good dishes were never offered: he had not even the good bread which was put to more favoured guests, and happening by chance to taste his wine, I found it execrable. The best part of his dinner consisted of a kind of bad crab. I wonder what should induce him to come. The conversation certainly could offer no inducement; it was in the usual style of this great aristocracy, stately, correct, and dull.The dinner was as barren of ideas, as it was copious in dishes. At long pauses, and in short phrases, a few words were said upon these last; as, "This turbot is excellent."-" Very good indeed."" The wild venison is very well drest."—"I think it is."Sometimes, too, a conversation of ten minutes took place upon jewels, which all the company understood; but the subjects which alone seemed to excite any interest, were wrestling and wine. I have acquired much information on How magnificent is the city of Rome. these two subjects, and an indigestion. I was

On the other hand, those who are so violently prejudiced against the very name of Reform, should consider how many of the people are ready to serve under that banner; and they should beware how they increase those numbers, by protecting clear and convicted abuses-Omnia dat qui justa negat. EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE WANDERING JEW.

I was present lately at an entertainment which promised very different fare from that which I have described above. It was a supper given by Lucan to Quintilian, Statius, Juvenal, and other wits. Lucan is very rich, and his supper was splendid; but for amusement, it afforded little. Every one seemed resolved not to speak unless he could shine, and the conversation fell entirely into the hands of Paullinus, who, being a great talker, did nothing but enter tain us with an account of his journey to Baiæ, and the effects of the hot bath upon his own constitution. Telesinus, who sate next to me, said, in a low voice, "If this man had travelled over Asia and Africa, and was now relating very curious things which he had seen and heard, he would excite the envy and hatred of the greater part of the company; but as he is a silly fellow, and only talks nonsense, no one disputes with him the place of orator of the

table."

Upon the whole, the day passed disagreeably. Quintilian was out of humour at being asked to meet Juvenal, and Statius was evidently revolving in his mind a comparison between the splendour of Lucan's table, and the empty honour which his public recitations of the Thebaid produce. I asked each of the guests separately, his opinion of the Pharsalia, which seems to me to contain more fine passages and energetic thoughts, than any work of the day: such as the comparison between Cæsar and Pompey; the passage of the soul of Pompey into those of Brutus and Cato, &c. &c.

No one, however, was of my opinion. One said that Lucan was a very worthy man, but knew nothing of poetry; another, that his taste was execrable; a third, that all that was good in him was in the first half of the first book; and a fourth whispered in my ear, that the story had been much better versified by a friend of his, whose poem had not been fairly read through by any one of his readers, but himself.

Kal. Sextiles.-A fire has broken out which threatens to destroy this immense town. I was paying my respects to Flavius Sabinus, who was taking his exercise in a carriage under a covered portico, when an account was brought us, of a violent fire that was consuming some houses on the Calian hill. He immediately threw himself from his carriage, and we both ran to the spot; for, as his house is at the back of the Cælian, he reasonably

feared that it might be in danger. Upon arriving there, we found that the fire had begun in the Circus, and, catching some shops, had already been carried å great way by the wind. The narrow streets, and high houses, afford a great advantage to the flames. It was curious to see the people who came out of these filthy habitations; many of them seemed not to have seen the light of day for years; their clothes grew as it were to their skin, and their limbs, unused to the weight of their bodies, scarcely supported them; they turned their hollow eyes on every side, as if uncertain where they were and what had happened to them: yet I observed that when they recovered their senses, they

were much more anxious about their rotten moveables, than the senators for the safety of their tables of gold and silver. But the very poor had a more pressing care. Multitudes were deprived on a sudden of their only means of subsistence; and some, despairing of succour, threw themselves again into the flames from which they had been rescued. The streets were filled with children crying for their parents, and old men blind and helpless from age. Most of these either mistaking the way by which they could escape, were surrounded and devoured by the flames, or overthrown and trampled upon by a mob of ruffians, who were searching for plunder. An old woman of some fortune, was entirely deserted by her slaves in the beginning of the tumult: she loaded herself with gold, and had already passed the fire, when she was knocked down by some of a gang of plunderers. I saw one of them, after she had been stripped, throw her back into the flames. In another part, a slave devoted his life to save the child of his master; he threw him into his mother's arms, and, overcome with the torture of his wound, ran himself upon a sword. No aid was brought to quench the flames. The soldiers of the city guard ran about disguised with the mob, and partook of the spoils. intervals these wretches gave a shout, as it were, of encouragement, which formed a contrast with the cries of women and children. When the fire reached a great palace, the clamour was redoubled, and some of the most unpopular patricians, so far from getting aid against the fire, had the misery of seeing lighted torches thrown into their houses. They themselves fled in different directions out of the town. Yet, in the midst of all the clamour,

At

as

as I was passing through a quarter of the town remote from the fire, I saw the people lying in the sun, and eating their fried fish as if nothing had happened;-perhaps, to-morrow the same calamity will reach their own dwellings. Upon the whole, it was the most amusing day I have passed in Rome.

15. Idus. Nero came in from Antium just as his own palace was taking fire; he has ordered his gardens to be thrown open to the people, and temporary buildings to be erected. He has even sent for furniture from Ostia, and lowered the price of bread to a mere trifle: yet an absurd rumour has spread amongst the people, that he played the "Fire of Troy," whilst his own town was meeting the same fate.

23. It is now said that Nero set fire to the city himself; he has taken a prompt and decisive resolution. "It is necessary;" he said to his freedman, "to dispel this rumour, and convince the people that I am ready to punish. The idle opinion they have taken up, must be refuted by a great and public measure. Let the Christians be condemned and put to death immediately."

24. The order of the Emperor has been fully executed; I went to-day to glad my eyes with the sight. It was diverting to see some of the victims shut up in the skins of wild beasts, pursued by dogs, and torn to pieces; others were crucified, and I told them, as they groaned with pain, that they ought to be satisfied, since they were treated in the same manner as their God. As the night approached, fires were kindled, and a number of them thrown into the flames. The people do not consider them as guilty, and they are looked on with compassion; but as it was a dark night, and the fires were very splendid, a great multitude attended the spectacle. I alone beheld their sufferings with real delight. I did not lose one of their cries, nor pass unobserved one of their contorsions ; and when their bones were consumed, I scattered them in the air, that none might preserve their remains. Nero was there, and mixed in the crowd in the disguise of a coachman.

It is astonishing to see the rapid and magnificent creation of the new city. Of the fourteen quarters into which old Rome was divided, three were burnt to the ground, and seven more reduced to MON. MAG. No. 342.

ruins.

Nero has shown no small degree of judgment in his directions for rebuilding the town. Each house is separate and independent, forming what is called an island. For every house built within a certain time, of a kind of stone which is not affected by fire, like the common tufo, the Emperor grants a premium. He also engages to build the porticoes in front of every house, from his own funds: add to this, that the streets are broad, that each house has a yard, and that water is brought to fixed places for the convenience of extinguishing fires.

So much for the public; but Nero has not been less careful for, or less generous to himself. He has built an immense palace, which contains every luxury that a fertile imagination could suggest to a sensual disposition. Gold, and silver, and ivory, are the common mate. rials of the furniture. The columns of marble from Alexandria, are, through a wantonness of decoration, incrusted with marble from Numidia. The ceilings of the supper-rooms change with every service, now exhibiting a face of glass, and now of painting. But one is still more surprised on going into the garden. Three of the seven hills of Rome are devoted to this purpose. Here the trees are so planted as to form in a short time an impenetrable shade; there the ground is left open, and leaves a long prospect of lakes, meadows, and temples. In some parts are confined the beasts of the three quarters of the globe; in others the various plumage of a thousand birds delight and dazzle the eyes. The magnificence of the baths is indescribable. Even those in the city, built for the use of the people, are adorned with silver spouts, and enjoy the convenience of a grove, and a circus. I saw a common fellow, who had probably been active in the fire, lounge out of the bath with this exclamation: "Some praise Romulus, for building the city; and some praise Augustus for beautifying it; but I say long live Nero for burning it."

HAPPINESS.

As a spectator of life, I am often led to obrve what makes men happy, whilst they who are playing the game, seem scarcely ever to reflect on the causes of their pleasures and pains.

It appears to me, that if men were to consult rationally their own interests, their pursuits would always tend to something positive and fixed. For 1 have observed, that those who follow 4 Q diligently

diligently a trade or a science, the results of which can be weighed and measured, are generally men of cheerful disposition and unreserved conversation; whilst those whose hearts are fixed upon the esteem of society, or public reputation, are, for the most part, infected with gloom in their solitude, and jealousy in their commerce with the world. An instance of this has occurred in my own street:-Publius Virginius kept one of the smallest wineshops in Rome, and was long in a state of great poverty: to make matters worse, as his neighbours thought, he had married early in life; but this circumstance, though it narrowed his means, quickened his industry. By great care and frugality he accumulated a small sum of money, with which he bought a larger shop, and laid in a stock of better wine. His house acquired great custom, partly from the merit of the owner, but more from the superior excellence of his commodity. Step by step he bought a vinyard, a villa, and finally, a palace in Rome. This man was never seen to be out of spirits in the worst days of his poverty he always said he knew what his best efforts could do, and was willing and able to do it; nor did he ever sink under the event of untoward fortune: he reckoned, justly, perhaps, that prudence must in time gain the victory over chance.

His son Quintus is a very different man. Inheriting from his father a large property, he endeavoured, as much as possible, to forget the obligation. He would fain have had it believed, that the person to whose skill and talents he

was indebted for an independant fortune, was not the same Publius to whom he owed his life and education, but some remote ancestory, of whose history he knew nothing. Not only did he show a want of gratitude and right feeling by this behavour, but exposed himself to general ridicule: it is become a matter of diversion for all the idle patricians, to remark the efforts he makes to push himself into their society. In the forum, he is always squeezing up to a judge, and whispering in his ear some trifling piece of news. He returns to his house with a greater number of clients, and is more generous in the distribution of the sportula, than any one. His suppers are the most sumptuous in Rome, and are attended by persons of the greatest eminence, both for rank and talent. Yet he is never satisfied with his situation. If he can find nobody to play at the palla with him, he thinks it is because he is the son of a victualler. If Petronius Arbiter gives a supper to which he is not invited he thinks he is losing ground in the world. If Gordian has theatricals at his villa, and he is not one of the company, he supposes that there is an inner circle of patrician society, infinitely more select, more refined, and more agreeable than that in which he moves, from which he shall always be excluded. Hence his life is a series of little vexations, and useless miseries: his invention is always on the rack to find a motive for discontent, and the slightest word of raillery is sufficient to poison the purest of his joys, and outweigh a solid year of ostentatious parade.

END OF THE FORTY-NINTH VOLUME.

The Binder is requested to place the Plate of

The Republic of Venezuela, facing the Title-page
Messrs. Perkins, Fairman and Heath's Siderographia, at page

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