and Moorish cymbal; now I think you are ready for any deeds of daring. Is not music wonderful? And yet I am persuaded, from the rapid strides that science has lately made, both in theory and practice, it is yet in its infancy. In after times, the instruments now in use may become obsolete, be pronounced barbarous and uncouth."

"But do, for heaven's sake, turn your eyes to those men uniformly clothed and armed, not with persuasive music, but with weapons wrought expressly for the extirpation of such of their brethren as the prize-fighters of our race may at their will and pleasure ticket for slaughter, as enemies to whim and lust of dominion; perhaps to their religion, to that religion which was given as the heal-all of man ; to put away all discord, all grief, and to unite them as one federative band!! Look at them performing evolutions, manœuvres, which shall enable them to wheel and pounce as the hawk stoops! Look at their automaton movements, as if spell-bound by some master-fiend! Can any honest man, any true friend to humanity, argue that these men are in the state for which every one is produced? That the feelings with which they are inspired and led against their fellows, are those of Nature and Reason? Not that I would condemn them, or even their im

mediate leaders; let us be careful to blame principles, not the individuals through whose blind agency they are put in motion: these soldiers have sworn to do their duty; in plain terms, to aid each other in the work of destruction to their fellow-men: they must perish in the attempt, conquer, or retreat honourably: disgrace to a mind brought up in what we call honourable principles, whether well or ill founded, would be worse than death; it is absolutely insupportable. Honour is more truly second nature, than any other inculcated feeling. These men are personally brave, but have parted with their liberty, and are become wheels of the great state engine. Of all the machines in the world moved by foreign impulse, without one atom of self-motion, or even tendency to motion, a mercenary soldier who does not closely unite the military character with that of the citizen, is the most inert and passive; he is the veriest puppet the mind can conceive. He cares no more whether the cause for which he is bid to fight be just, or unjust, than that drum cares who strikes it; nay, not so much for the drum most strictly obeys the impulse the hand gives it, but the soldier is the slave of blind dictation, the organ of foreign will, and can never be kept to the precise line of impulse intended to be given him. It

is true, the 'pomp and panoply of war' are most impressive, especially to an ardent disposition wanting vent on something: but this is only outside trickery; think of its effects, its success founded on waste of life, on the groans and tears of the surviving relatives who take but comparatively little share in its scenes and

excitement!

"It has been said, 'man is a pugnacious animal,' prone to combat with his species. I deny that. Certainly he resents a natural injury to his person, his property, or his near connections, who may be fairly said to be a part of himself, as involuntarily as a dog snaps at another who snatches his food: the clenched fist of man is his instinctive weapon, as much as the paws of the tiger are his: but to say, that the laws which regulate his being, bid him be led in squadrons against those whom the very scum of human nature, the refuse of mankind, capriciously designate as his foes, because opposed to their own single views of things, is manifestly the extreme of wickedness and absurdity. If one state is aggressed by another in the territories necessary for the nourishment and due support of its citizens, then may they well take up arms and unite in common defence against a common foe: but not a jot further. No shedding of innocent blood for alledged

attack on protected monopoly: no invasions to gratify the mere ambition of enlarging the number of subjects, foolishly subject to some literal legitimate; who probably condenses as much foolery in his own royal scull as would suffice for apportionment throughout his dominions, and still leave plenty behind for private use. No palpable contradictions like those of our own times, such as supporting the cross with one hand, the crescent with the other.' No crusading to put down freedom of opinion, to stifle the expression of those feelings with which every ingenuous mind glows. These brave men are for the most part without the slightest cultivation of mind, without the smallest reflection: I pity, from my soul, the untimely fate which awaits most of them; their trade is sickening to philanthropy. Let us change the scene."

LETTER XV.

As we walked from the soldiers, L—— said, "We were talking sometime ago of some persons telling other persons constantly, to set no store by this life, but to regard it as vanity and vexation of spirit; as a mere embryo existence, preparatory to bursting the shell, and stepping forth into the next: this puts me in mind of an odd story.

"Some few years back, I went in company with a lively girl to view Windsor Castle, the country box of our beloved monarch. As we went through the apartments, my arch companion whispered; "The next time we are told to observe the paintings on the ceiling, instead of looking up and gaping with the rest of the spectators, amuse yourself with taking a side-glance at their twisted necks and visages, gazing with reverential wonderment at the vile taste exhibited in King Charles being represented in a flowing wig, riding about in a tilbury, as if there was nothing the matter, in spite of the bustle around him.' I did I did so, and found the different expressions of the various