to the avaricious 'they will pilfer your coffers:' to the superstitious, 'they aim at nothing less than the overthrow of the throne and the altar.' To all these in congregation, 'beware of suffering innovation on the institutions sanctified by time, by glory, by wealth, by truth. And yet I blame them not, for they have great possessions which they profoundly wish to keep entire from sacrilegious hands, from philosophic marauders: and hitherto they have contrived to do so, by using a combination of mechanical operation, which is every day growing more disjointed and inadequate, from the opposed leverian force of general, extended information. What does the history of all society of the nature I have pointed out, present, but a succession of revolt and bloodshed, of a prolonged and wearisome struggle between assumed power labouring to maintain ascendancy above, and subjection striving for extrication from beneath?”

LETTER XXII.

"I SHALL premise, however," continued L"that the honest mind which endeavours to alleviate or remove the sources of the unhappiness so palpably visible in the unnatural lot of the greater portion of mankind, or even to trace their windings, is too often daunted at the onset; too apt to shrink from the ridicule, which those interested in continuing the present systems, invariably throw on its laudable attempt; from the malign aspersions, the invective which they heap, as of course, without remorse, on all who incline to step forward in the cause of suffering humanity. The man who resolutely divesting himself of habit and prejudice, of the false impressions imbibed from early childhood, resolves to know Truth, if haply she may be found, is sure to be assailed, threatened, mimicked, and insulted, with abuse the most pitiful and inane, with derision the most paltry, stupid, and futile, wholly unworthy of the exaltation to which human attainment boasts to have arrived. 'His honesty is decried as presumption, his avowal

of naked truth as sedition; his exposure of existing abuse, as demoralization.' It is diligently whispered to timidity, ignorance, and bigotry, 'Take heed, beware of that man, he fears neither God nor devil;' or some such sweeping clause of excommunication. He who endeavours to reform, has undertaken a task mighty indeed; he has to encounter and combat against the combined forces of habit, interest, prejudice, selfish pride, idleness, avarice, and bigoted superstition, a tolerably formidable array; to wage an unequal contest against this precious septemvirate, this 'holy alliance,' who, linked hand in hand as twin sisters, have danced roughshod round the world, kicking up their heels and playing all sorts of harlequinade, jigging merrily to an accompaniment of sighs and groans. But comtemplative philosophy is not dismayed; she sees through the links of this chain of Dames;' after patiently waiting, a long sad interval, forced to suspend her own sweet strain, from the prevalence of the jingle which has unceasingly and furiously fiddled round them, regardless of time and expression; she at last sees their lassitude, their exhaustion: they have danced their best and begin to pause for respiration; they have lost their first graceful attitudes and precision of movement; their

action is become slow and clumsy. It yet remains to be seen, whether they will or will not be forced to withdraw, and make room for a display of talent and of skill, of virtue and of knowledge, such as the world has never yet seen on its area. The reformer is placed in the situation which that great man, M.Necker, experienced on a particular occasion. The anecdote is told by Marmontel in the memoirs of his own life, in his usual admirable style.

"Necker had, in the presence of three of his enemies and of the king, successfully repelled an accusation of Bourboulon : his memorial, in which he had libelled Necker's 'Exposition of Finance,' was by the latter incontestibly disproved: but when the king asked Maurepas, one of the hostile triumvirate, what he thought of the calculation and statement? the wily old courtier replied, 'I think, sire, that it is as full of truth as of modesty.'

"On another occasion, shortly after, Necker asked to be admitted to the privy council, where, as director of finance, he thought his presence would be at least useful: but Maurepas saw, or feigned to see, in so just a demand, only a misplaced vanity. 'Who! you in the council,' said he, 'you who do not go to mass?'-'Count,' answered Necker, 'that reason suits neither you or me: Sully did not

go to mass, and Sully was of the council.' 'Maurepas, in this answer, only caught at the ridicule of comparing himself to Sully, and instead of admission to the council, he offered to ask his admission to the cabinet. Necker did not dissemble that he considered this offer as a derision, and begged to retire from the ministry.

"Alas! how few Necker's, and how many Maurepas's, do we daily see! But so it is; if a man in speaking his mind boldly, lets fall a single expression which wilful perversion can turn to a point of ridicule, as implying a feeling of vain self-approval, so she takes special care to do; to cry him down as a shallow, impudent pretender, without sincerity, swayed only by down-right self-interest. -Who,' says Luxury, (peering from her silken couch, and drawling her nasal twang,) 'Who are these beggars, these Sans-Culottes, who would break in on my hallowed repose? Are they not blood-thirsty traitors, foes to all order and rule, wretches on whom wax-lights never shone, hatched from the spawn of atheism and Revolution; who have all to gain and nothing to lose by a change, only anxious for a scramble in the mire of anarchy? I'm not at home; at any rate bid them wait. Pry'thee leave me to my nap: my head aches most dam