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thing belonging to the mistress of the school was lost; by what means it was lost is, as far as I know, to this day a secret, but the guilt, as usual, was fastened upon me. I protested my innocence, but in vain. It must be that I had taken it, and, if I did not confess, I must be severely flogged. In spite of all threatenings, supported by a consciousness of my integrity, I persisted to deny my know. ledge of it. Nothing, however, but a confession of guilt would be accepted. To this, which not only the master and mistress, but the whole of the boys, affirmed to be indispensable, what could a child (little more than six years old,) oppose? The conse quence was, I was made to accuse myself, though perfectly innocent, in order to escape punishment. Under the disagreeable stigma of theft I passed my days not only at that school till manhood, but even for many years after; and, I believe, to this very hour (though now upwards of threescore) I am, by the remaining scholars, and others to whom they have reported it, considered as the guilty person.

endeavour, during the short stay I made at the Cape, to ascertain the leading traits of that character, so far as to be enabled, at a future period, to judge of his views, of their probability of success, and of the motives that actuated them.

Now, Mr. Editor, you see what a very hard and unjust case this is. What then I have to urge is, that parents and masters would be very careful of extorting confessions from children through fear of punishment. This is, in reality, little, if at all, better than the proceedings of the inquisition; and, instead of supporting the cause of truth, is the way to take away from the mind and conscience that firm adherence to it, which is essential to a great and useful charac

ter.

VERAX.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

SOME doubts having been expressed respecting the claims of Toussaint Louverture to the character which his friends, in this country, have attributed to him, the following extracts, from a work by MARCUS RAINSFORD, Esq. entitled, St. Domingo; or, an historical, political, and military Sketch of the projected Black Republic, may serve to place his pretensions in a less dubious point of view.

"Of the character of Toussaint Louverture, it will be expected that I should here say something; and I did

"These traits are certainly of the most favourable kind, and are such as must indisputably result from a mind the most elevated, and a disposition the most benign. Casual acts of justice may mark the reign of anarchy itself, and complacency sometimes smooth the brow of the most brutal tyrant; but when the man possessed for a long period of unlimited power, of whose actions no venal journalist is the herald, has been charged in no instance with its abuse; but on the contrary, has preserved a consistent medium of conduct, fortified by sound sense and acute discernment, deviating only to actions of magnanimity and goodness; he has past that test to which only, as human beings, we can recur in judgment on him, who, with all our own frailties, and without the adventitious aids of those born to rule, holds one of the highest seats in human existence.

"His government does not hitherto appear to have been stained by the influence of any ruling passion; for if a thirst of power had animated him alone, he would long since have ceased to be a leader of insurgents; had avarice swayed him he would have retired early in the contest, with immense riches, to the neighbouring continent; or had a bloody revenge only employed his views, he would scorn to lead those who betrayed him to the altar of the God of mercy instead of the flames; or dismiss those in peace to a sense of their crimes, whom civilized governors would have tortured on the rack *.

*"Among many other instances of the forbearance of Toussaint, in respect to those who had betrayed him, one is recorded to have happened while General Maitland was on the island. Four Frenchmen were retaken, who had deserted him with aggravated treachery. Leaving them in suspence as to their fate, he ordered lowing sabbath, and while that part of the them to be produced in Church on the folservice was pronouncing that respects mutual forgiveness, he went with them before the priest, and impressing them with the flagitiousness of their conduct, discharged them without further punishment,”

"I shall only add, that from every opportunity I enjoyed of observing the character of Toussaint, it appeared to me exemplary; he is reported by his countrymen generous, affable, humane, and neither his habits nor his manners contradict their testimony; to foreigners he is liberal in an equal degree; and above all, RELIGION and MORALITY appear to receive his unfeigned support in precept and in practice.

"In person Toussaint is of a manly appearance, to which his age is about to give a venerable aspect; his countenance is remarkably striking, but full of the most prepossessing suavity. He is a perfect black, and such a description of figure as might be supposed that of the sable Mars.

"He was stiled the 'General en chef,' and always attended by four aids-de-camp. He receives in public a very general voluntary respect which he appears anxious to return, or rather to prevent, by the most grateful civilities; in short, though his manners have not the graces of the courtier, they possess the most winning affability, and the most exalted benevolence."

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

AMONG the various pieces circulated at the present momentous crisis under the character of patriotic publications, there is one which, for reasons to be specified, seems to be entitled to peculiar attention. It is a "Life of Bonaparte, &c. by John Corry, author of a Satirical View of London, &c." Printer, Nicholson, Warner-street, Clerkenwell. To the latter publication this author claims the commendation of the Anti-jacobin Review.

Now this writer does certainly so far yield to the tide or rather torrent of popular sentiment, as to censure the character and conduct of the First Consul in some particulars, and to admit the necessity of vigorously opposing his hostile attempts against this country. All this would be prudent. But an attentive reader may easily discern, that Mr. Corry entertains a sanguine admiration of the Corsican tyrant, and, although he admits, endeavours to palliate his enormities. The suspicion likewise which this biographer has attempted to cast upon the authority, or the veracity of

p.

Sir Robert Wilson, ought not to be passed over without a particular indication. After quoting the account which this officer has given of Bonaparte's cruelty at Jaffa, and his confirmation of that account against the remonstrance of Andreossy, Mr. Corry coolly observes, "The reader is left to make his own conclusions.' p. 23. To establish this suspicion, seems to be a favourite object of Bonaparte's panegyrist; for, after some circumstances mentioned by him, he observes, that they "render the account of the cruelties said to have been practised by him (Bonaparte) at Jaffa very improbable indeed." 28. Again, at p. 34, he adverts to the "ferocious spirit said"—his own insidious italics" to have been manifested by him at Jaffa, but which yet seems to require confirmation.” An evidence of the good will which this writer bears to government, may be drawn from the observation which he makes upon the late peace. "An event," (says he, p. 30,) "so desirable excited universal joy, and was celebrated with illuminations throughout the united kingdom, and the French Republic; but unhappily for mankind the imprudence or the ambition of statesmen has continually involved them in wars." It is in such ambiguous sentences that the art of the writer principally appears. These are the sentences which are evidently meant to stick in the mind of the reader; the rest seem to be mere words of course-a formality which present circumstances render necessary;

I have considered the duty of exposing so suspicious a publication the more urgent, because, as was the fact in the present instance, tracts of a patriotic description are often dispersed by the best friends of their country without being read; from a confidence, for which there does not always appear to be sufficient ground, that few, if any, can be found so base as to assume the garb of patriotism in order to abate the ardour and excite the disaffection of their countrymen at the present crisis.

FRAGMENTS.

DR. MIDDLETON.

S. C.

THE following passage in one of Bishop Warburton's best sermons-The

influence of learning on revelation, undoubtedly refers to the case of Dr. Middleton:-" But if simple vanity be thus strong, how powerful will it prove when joined to warm resentments for neglected merit or injurious suspicions! I wish I could not say, there have been some, even of those consecrated to the service of religion, who have suffered those passions and resentments to carry them into the quarters of the enemy." How humiliating a consideration!

BRYDONE.

Kirwan, in his Geological Essays, p. 105. writes "M. Dolomieu tells us that Canon Recupero denied having ever expressed any doubt on that head," (the truth of the Mosaic Chronology), "and could not conceive why a late celebrated traveller should endeavour to render suspicious the orthodoxy of his belief." Has Mr. Brydone, the traveller alluded to, ever cleared himself from this charge?

A MAXIMUM.

In a time of scarcity, the Emperor

Commodus had recourse to the natural expedient of a maximum:-The historian observes-vilitatem proposuit, ex qua majorem penuriam fecit. l. Lamp. Vit. Com. § 14. Casaubon, in his note on the place, refers to a similar instance. Am. Marcell. 1. xxii.

ITHACIUS.

"I deny not, therefore, but that our antagonists, in these controversies, may peradventure have met with some not unlike to Ithacius, who mightily bending himself by all means against the heresy of Priscillian, (the hatred of which one evil was all the virtue he had) became so wise in the end, that every man, careful of virtuous conversation, studious of scripture, and given to any abstinence in diet, was set down in his calendar. of suspected Priscillianists, for whom it would be expedient to prove their soundness of faith by a more licentious and loose behaviour." Hooker's Ep. Ded. to his Ecclesiastical Polity.

*Sulp. Sever. Hist. Eccles.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

CXXII. A Dissertation on the Mysteries of the Cabiri; or, the great Gods of Phenicia, Samothrace, Egypt, Troas, Greece, Italy, and Crete; being an Attempt to deduce the several Orgies of Isis, Ceres, Mithras, Bacchus, Rhea, Adonis, and Hecate, from an Union of the Rites commemorative of the Deluge with the Adoration of the Host of Heaven. By GEORGE STANLEY FABER, A. M. Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. 2 vols. 8vo.

1803.

THE Mosaic records, grounding their claims to universal belief on a vast mass of positive evidence, require not the doubtful and indirect support of Pagan fables. It is, indeed, of consequence to shew, that those fables furnish no credible evidence on the other side of the question; but this task has been often performed. The neutrality in this respect of the classical legends is, perhaps, no where more ably proved than in the Origines

Sacra of Stillingfleet; while that of the Oriental Mythology has been_more recently established by Sir W. Jones. Still the researches of those men are extremely valuable, who with due caution explore the recesses of Pagan tradition by the light of sacred history. Such researches supply auxiliary proofs, which, however slight, cannot, in a case so important, be properly called superfluous; they gratify a curiosity which, within certain bounds, is highly laudable; they diffuse too over the regions of classical story a degree of sanctity, as the march of the Israelites consecrated the wilderness.

The work before us, notwithstanding its modest pretensions, is, in fact, an analysis of ancient mythology. Mr. Faber considers all the various religions of Pagan antiquity as different modifications of the same substance; on this principle he examines their most noted fables and their mysteries; he attempts to explain the names of their mythological charac

ters by deriving them from oriental radicals; and from these premises he deduces the inference that they almost all refer to two events, the universal deluge, and the supposed introduction of Sabianism by Nimrod. In some respects Mr. Faber appears to be a disciple of Mr. Bryant. He discovers, however, no superstitious attachment to the autos ia of his great master. He is, on many important points, an original thinker; and, whatever becomes of his hypothesis, he must be allowed the praise of no common learning, industry, and ingenuity.

The chief fault of this work, considered as a composition, is defect of method. This defect, however, will be treated with indulgence by those who recollect that the subject is too various and extensive to be very patient of arrangement. The style is manly, correct, and perspicuous; rising, indeed, when opportunity is af forded, even to elegance. Many, however, will wish that Mr. Faber had imitated the example of those elder critics of modern times, who discuss classical topics only in a classical language.

Our author, in the very commencement of his dissertation, presents us with a table of forty-five radical words or syllables, on which the etymological part of his system is almost entirely founded: such as, ain, a fountain; ag, og, ong, the ocean; al, el, God or the solar god; ai, aia, a country, &c. &c. Many of them will be recognised as old acquaintances by the readers of Mr. Bryant. Mr. Faber (Vol. I. p. 25,) though he seems aware of the objections which have been urged against the etymological system of the Bryantian school, yet only notices them cursorily, This, we acknowledge, is, in our opinion, a material defect, as the objections of which we speak apply closely to the work under our review. Of the many authors, English and foreign, who have professed their distrust of Mr. Bryant's etymologies, we have seen but few; and of those few the most distinguished (with the exception, perhaps, of two short passages in Sir William Jones's third and ninth disc. Asiat. Res.) is Richardson, the author of the Persian dictionary*. Many of

* In the dissertation prefixed to his dictionary, afterwards published separately. CHRIST. OBSERV, No. 23.

this writer's remarks are certainly hypercritical. Still much of what he and others have said on this topic remains unanswered, if not unanswerable. A catalogue of arkite radicals is professedly a vocabulary of the language spoken by Noah. But to give a portrait of so remote an ancestor from a survey of the features of a numerous posterity; to distinguish the simple articulations of the primeval language amidst the surrounding din and confusion of tongues; to discover a common measure for the discordant geniuses and analogies of so many dialects; to trace the characteristic marks of those dialects, not only in their general qualities, but in what may be called their vices, their peculiar modes of corrupting primitives, their various fashions of degenerating; how complex a problem! Only one man has yet arisen capable from his acquirements even of attempting to solve it, and he has pronounced the complete solution impossiblet. We shall not pretend to analyze the catalogue before us on these profound and extensive principles. Indeed we dare not.

But conceding the legitimacy of all Mr. Faber's derivations, we still eye them with jealousy. All his radicals are immediately reducible to monosyllables. The words therefore to be tried by them are first disjointed, large advantage being taken of the convertibility of letters of the same rank and order. Most of them yield at once to this inquest. The few that remain proof are assailed with the additional instruments of prefixes, syncopes, metatheses, and (as the last resort) anomalous corruptions. Thus tortured, they speak whatever is prescribed to them. Applying this process of inquisition, we are disposed to think that, throughout all the forty languages used in Tartary, there is not one word which we could not trace to the sun, or the ark, or both. Can evidence so flexible be trusted?

With one remark more (it is important though not new) we shall dismiss this subject. We should not be emboldened to build etymologies on slight resemblances, merely because instances can be found of derivatives which but slightly resemble their acknowledged radicals. Extravagant hypotheses are not to be indulged be

Sir W. Jones's ninth disc. Asiat. Res. 4Q

cause improbable events sometimes occur. It may now be reasonably conjectured that the Oriental charac tern thau was the lineal progenitor of the English noun amazement; but were the Greek language lost, which supplies the pedigree of this noun, would not such a conjecture rival in absurdity the learned reveries of the great Postel:

Having thrown together, for the sake of convenience, our strictures on the etymological grounds of Mr. Faber's system, we come to the system itself. It resolves itself into two main propositions, which we shall consider separately; the identity of the various Pagan deities, and the double allusions to the sun and the ark with which their histories and rites are conceived to have abounded. This division we could almost wish the author had adopted; but possibly it might have clogged the execution of his plan with difficulties which do not discover themselves in the theory.

I. The identity of the Pagan deities, Mr. Faber maintains chiefly in his third and fourth chapters; and in the tenth, he also contends for the identity of the mysteries respectively sacred to many of those deities. His opinion is not new; but we know not that it is any where more skilfully supported. We accede to it, although not without some qualifications.

With regard to the identity of the deities themselves, it appears to us that an important distinction should be made. Was it a mythical or a philosophical identity? In other words, were these divinities all or most of them originally mere personifications of the same individual, or rather, were they the personifications of distinct individuals, formed at various periods, and afterwards identified by those philosophers who wished to graft on the vulgar polytheism the doctrine of the divine unity? We incline to the latter of these opinions, while our learned author seems unreservedly to have embraced the former. But surely to imagine that the invention of idolaters was for ages active in the mere fabrication of new names, is to underrate greatly the prolific powers of fancy impregnated by superstition. If, during the flourishing times of the Roman Empire, not only men of distinction were enrolled in the Olympic calendar, but even a Samaritan sor

cerer was honoured with an altar in Rome*, what may not be expected from the credulity of a barbarous age? Indeed, in point of fact, no fabulist has ever asserted the identity (strictly speaking) of the heathen gods. From fabulists nothing more can be collected than that the innumerable legends of those gods were, as might have been expected, greatly involved and inextricably confounded together. Nothing more than this can be collected from that passage of Diodorus, in which Mr. Faber (Vol. I. p. 160) has discovered that Pan was the same as Osiris, Serapis, Pluto, &c. For distinct avowa's of the pantheistic doctrine we must resort, as Mr. Faber generally does, not to fabulists but to philosophers; to the writings of Platonists or the Orphic verses of the Pythagoreans.

We have said, that this subsequent adaptation of deities to each other arose from the timidity which induced the philosophers to compromise with the polytheism, popular among their countrymen. It arose in part, also, from another and a more curious cause. Under the emperors, the vast conflux of foreigners in Rome brought into close contact almost all the modifications of idolatry in the world. Experience proves, that all religions, which are not adjusted to a divine, and therefore an inflexible standard, no sooner approach each other than they discover a tendency to mutual accommodation and resemblance. Nor is it altogether a preposterous conjecture of Verstegan, that the resemblance discoverable between the gothic and the classical fables is to be dated from the period when the Goths possessed themselves of the Roman altars. At any rate we cannot wonder that in imperial Rome, the resort of all nations, a pantheistic taste (if we may so express it) should diffuse itself, and such we believe to have been the case. This taste some of the emperors at once imbibed and promoted, from a desire, natural to sovereigns, of binding together their dominions by the tie of a common religion. A letter of Adrian, preserved by Vopiscus, is on this subject an

*Justin. Mart. Apol. i. c. xxxiv. 75.

The accuracy of Justin's information here has been hotly disputed. After examining the arguments on both sides, we give our humble verdict decidedly in his favour.

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