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fuch general and arduous encourage- fmall circle of relations or acquaintment. Inftead of producing evil, I ance. believe that a recital of the miferies of greatnefs will have a different effect men may become more content in the humbler walks of life, by learning that exalted stations do not make us lefs vulnerable by calamity, but more liable to its affaults; and they may become more moderate in their ambition, and more unwilling to facrifice their peace of confcience, by attaining by guilty means an eminence, which, attained without guilt, might not inveft them with greater happiness than they were in poffeffion of before.

With refpect to the opinion, that our fympathy is unjufly lavished upon thofe perfons, whofe forrows hiftory has recorded, it fhould be remembered, that it is natural to be more interested in the fate of those, on whom the fate of empires may in fome degree have depended, to whom we feel grateful for bleffings which their virtues may have beftowed, or indignant for afflictions, which their errors or their vices may have entailed upon us, than in the fortune of private individuals, from whom either good or evil could be expected only by a

I

THERE

In my opinion, Mr. D'lfraeli would have taken a different method in the investigation of his fubject, had he been earneft in the cause of truth: he would, I think, have confulted the authorities on which our histories are founded, and have compared them with the most authentic details of past cccurrences, and eftimates of the abilities of diftinguished men: till he had done this, he ought not to have afferted that hiftorians have transferred the miraculous to their perfonages, that they are fabulits, that their aim is more to please the imagination than inform the mind, and that they will teach us to form false estimates of the human character.

I will conclude, by recommending to this lively author a ferious attention to a few words, in which Dr. Johnfon, in the concluding number of his Rambler, has conveyed a great deal of inftruction to fucceeding writers: Arbitrary decifion and general exclamation I have carefully avoided, by afferting nothing without a reafon, and establishing all my principles of judgment on unalterable and evident truth.'

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On the EXISTENCE of a SUPREME BEING. A GOD?-It is a queftion of infinite moment, on the folution of which depend every obligation and every confolation of religion. It is a queftion, however, which it is unneceffary to involve in the perplexity of abftrufe fpeculation, fince it may be determined by a fingle argument, which is fo obvious as to be intelligible to every capacity, and withal fo conclufive, that the whole weight of the great cause of religion may be fafely rested upon it.

No man obferves the conftruction of a clock, or other piece of mechanifm, without immediately concluding it to be the production of fome ingenious artist. And this conclufion is the fame, whether it be deduced from the relation which the mind perceives between the ideas of a work and a

workman, an at and an agent, in any particular cafe, or referred to an univerfal axiom, grounded on the obfervation cf many individual cafes in which it is exemplified. When a vulgar fpectator infers from the marks of defign and ingenuity which any fpecies of manufacture discovers, that there must have been fome mechanic employed in producing it; when the fame obferver fo far generalizes his ideas as to remark, that every work fuppofes a workman; and when the philofopher, who has accustomed himfelf to contemplate the ideas of fenfible objects abftractedly, maintains that every effect must have a cause, and that every effect which bears marks of defign, muft have a defigning or intelligent caufe ;-the mind, in each cafe, paffes through the fame opera

tion; the fame relation of ideas is obferved; and the fame conclufion is drawn, perhaps with precifely the fame degree of conviction: for no general truth is more evident than any particular truth comprehended in it.

All the refinements of philofophy can add nothing to the clearness and certainty with which the mind perceives, that an effect fuppofes a caufe; that an action implies an agent; and that appearances of defign and contrivance in any production, with a view to fome end, are unquestionable indications of the existence of fome being, who was poffeffed of intelligence and kill equal to the effect produced. Nor can all the fubtleties of metaphyfical fophiftry destroy the perception which the mind has of thefe relations, or render their exiftence problematical. The moft uncultivated understanding muft fee (and the most ingenious fceptic will find it impoffible, on any ground of folid argument, to deny) that every work which bears evident marks of defign, and is adapted to answer fome purpofe, must be produced by an intelligent caufe.

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Apply this obvious principle to the great operations of nature. Obferve, for example, the ftructure and growth of a plant. Remark the variety of delicate fibres of which it is compofed, the diftinct forms of the feveral parts, their mutual relations, the regular and complete whole which is produced by their combination, and the provifion which is made for their production, nourishment, and growth, Contemplate the amazing diversity of genera and fpecies, and the nice gradations from one genus, and from one fpecies, to another, which the fcientific study of this part of nature has difcovered. From the vegetable, turn your attention to the animal world, and obferve, difplayed in a ftill more wonderful manner, perfection of form, variety of fpecies, and mutual relation and dependence. Behold every animal provided with abundant eternal fources, and external means of life and enjoyment. Survey

the curious ftructure of that complex machine an animal body, in which the feveral parts are exactly adjusted to each other, and combined in the moft perfect harmony, to carry on the feveral functions of animal life. Recollect, that combinations of thefe materials, milar in the great outline, but infinitely diverfified in the fubordinate parts, form that countless multitude of animals which people the earth.

After this general review of the productions of nature, let reafon judge, whether fuch regular, yet diverfified, forms could be produced, without the agency of a defigning intelligence. If the ear be admirably conftructed for hearing, and the eye for feeing, the car and the eye were furely formed by a Being who intended that animals fhould hear and fee→ that is, are the effect of an intelligent caufe. It should feem impoffible to obferve, in thefe and other inftances, the tendencies of the various parts of nature to accomplith certain ends, without the fulleft conviction that there is fome active Power or Being, by whom thefe ends are perceived, and who conducts the operations of nature with the intention of accomplishing them. Upon every page in the volume of nature, written, in characters which all may read and understand, this great truth THERE IS A GOD.

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The contemplation of this great truth, and of the various and important truths connected with it, cannot but fill the ftudious and reflecting mind with the molt devout fentiments of wonder and adoration. And well may he exclaim, in the fublime language of the Poet of the Seafons,

Were ev'ry falt ring tongue of Man, Almighty Father! filent in thy praife, Thy works themselves wou'd raise a general voice,

Ev'n in the depth of folitary woods
By human foot untrod; proclaim Thy
And to the choir celeftial Thee refound,
Th' eternal Caufe, Support, and End of

power,

all!

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Sir.

THOUGHTS ON SUICIDE.

To the Editor of the Univerfal Magazine.

WHEN-a human creature fixes customed manner in the family in

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its eternal ftate, by an act which the refided, with the fame apdreadful and irrevocable, and that ad- parent indifference as if nothing had mits not of repentance, every thinking happened, until a very short space of mind must feel a hock. The num time before she lost her fenfes and berlefs inftances of felf-deftruction then, it being impoffible longer to which have lately occurred are truly conceal her illness, or counterfeit inlamentable. Suicide is almoft be- difference, fhe intimated with her laft come a fashion-dreadful reflection! words what she had done, almost inIt should feem as if people imagined, ftantly went into a lethargic fit, and that upon every little embarrassment died. Now, it is more than probable, and vexation in life, they had an un- that this young woman, at the moment doubted right to terminate their exift- the intimated the dreadful act she had ence. What abfurdity to fay, by way been guilty of, would have parted with of palliation, that they had a nice fenfe every thing fhe held most dear and of honour, and that they could not bear valuable in this world to have recalled fhame! But let me afk, do not the but a few hours of her past life. No perpetrators of fuch deeds fix indeli- doubt, the thought of having precible fhame upon their name? They pitated herself into eternity, in fo un must bear shame, and bear it eternally warrantable a manner, appeared to too. If it could be poffible to know her mind in its full magnitude of hor what paffes within the mind of fuicides, ror. We can readily fuppofe that the juft at the awful moment before they human mind must be very much agilofe their recollection, when the power tated, and fuffer a prodigious deal of of utterance is gone, and while the fecret anxiety before it can bring itfaul is trembling on the lips, it is felf to the commiffion of fo dreadful probable there is not one but would an act; and it appears wonderful, inwish to recall that last act of despair.deed, that it can affume placidity at a Facilis defcenfus Averni:

Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum, fuperafque evadere
ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor eft.

VIRGIL.

The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the defcent, and eafy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful fkies,
In this the task and mighty labour lies.

DRYDEN.

The following melancholy tale is a remarkable inftance of deliberation, and, in fome measure, a confirmation, that when, alas! it is too late, and beyond their power, they with the deed undone. A young woman, induced by fome unknown motive, fwallowed a large quantity of laudanum, and, afterward, continued to employ herfelf, for feveral hours, in her ac

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time when it must be certain the body
is in the very article of death, and
uncertain whether life was to terminate
in infenfible tranquillity, or whether
the frame might not be racked and
tortured with horrid convulfive ago-
nies. We have frequently read and
heard of the remarkably compofed
manner, in which people have put a
period to their exiflence; but then
there has always been some real cause
affigned; witnefs the inftances of Fal-
doni, Smith, Chatterton, &c. but in
the unhappy inftance above related, a
veil is drawn before the motive and
inducement. No love affair was the
cause of it; and fhe was far above
want.

It is by fome thought highly cul-
pable in chymifts and apothecaries to
fell deleterious drugs to every perfon

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indifcriminately, and that a prohibitory law to prevent their being fold, but to people in the medical profeffion, might be productive of good; but, upon a little confideration, every one must be fenfible that fuch a reftraint could not tend even to check the evil, much lefs ftop it.. While the rope, the pistol, and the river, are in every one's power, fuch prohibitions can anfwer no purpose.

children. Do not the unhappy furviving relatives already feel fufficient diftrefs by the manner in which they have loft a friend? To deprive them of the property too, is adding mifery to mifery, and coupling infamy and injuftice together to fill up the meafure of affliction. Is it likely that an unhappy wretch, who has no regard® to his own foul, nor his own fame, will think a single moment refpecting what becomes of his body or of the property that is to go to another? The fhames attaches to the living; the dead are beyond its reach. It is apprehended thefe are the principal reafons which induce the jury, almoft in every inftance, to bring in a verdict of lunacy; and, indeed, it must The law, as it now ftands, is to be admitted, that the mind that is tally inadequate to the purpose. If agitated with tumultuous paffion is, it be proved to the coroner's jury that undoubtedly, for the moment, in a the perfon wilfully deftroyed himself, ftate of frenzy: yet that law is furely his property is confifcated. This is defective, which prevents men from inhuman: it is, indeed, frequently being jult, without being inhuman. vifiting the fins of the father upon the

If religion, and a dread of what may happen hereafter, cannot prevent defperate and unthinking minds from madly rufhing into the prefence of the Almighty, it is to be feared that the wifeft laws which could be framed by the wisdom of man would be of little avail.

G.

Extraordinary ADVENTURE and RESOURCES of an INDIAN WOMAN, In our Magazine for September last, we gave an Account of the Customs and Manners of fome of the Indians in the Neighbourhood of Hudson's Bay, from Mr. Hearne's Journey thence to the Northern Ocean. From the fame valuable Work, we now felect the following extraordinary Adventure.

ON the 11th of January 1772, as fome of my companions were hunting, they faw the track of a ftrange fnow-fhoe, which they followed; and at a confiderable distance came to a little hut, where they difcovered a young woman fitting alone. As they found that the understood their language, they brought her with them to the tents. On examination, she proved to be one of the western dogribbed Indians, who had been taken prifoner by the Athapúfco Indians in the fummer of one thousand feven hundred and feventy; and in the follow ing fummer, when the Indians that took her prifoner were near this part, fhe had eloped from them, with an intent to return to her own country; but the distance being fo great, and

having, after the was taken prifoner, been carried in a canoe the whole way, the turnings and windings of the rivers and lakes were fo numerous, that the forgot the track; so fhe built the hut in which we found her, to protect her from the weather during the winter, and here fhe had refided from the firft fetting in of the fall.

From her account of the moons past fince her elopement, it appeared that she had been near seven months without feeing a human face; during all which time fhe had supported herself very well by fnaring partridges, rab bits, and fquirrels ; fhe had also killed two or three beavers, and fome porcupines. That fhe did not feem to have been in want is evident, as fhe had a fmall stock of provifions by her

when he was discovered; and was in good health and condition, and I think one of the finest women, of a real Indian, that I have feen in any of North America.

The methods practifed by this poor creature to procure a livelihood were truly admirable, and are great proofs that neceffity is the mother of invention. When the few deer finews that the had an opportunity of taking with her were all expended in making fnares, and fewing her clothing, the had nothing to fupply their place but the finews of the rabbits legs and feet; thefe fhe twisted together for that purpose with great dexterity and fuccefs. The rabbits, &c. which the caught in those fnares, not only furnithed her with a comfortable fubfiftence, but of the skins fhe made a fuit of neat and warm clothing for the winter. It is fcarcely poffible to conceive that a perfon in her forlorn fituation could be fo composed as to be capable of contriving or executing any thing that was not abfolutely neceffary to her existence; but there were fufficient proofs that he had extended her care much farther, as all her clothing, befile being calculated for real fervice, fhewed great tafte, and exhibited no little variety of ornament. The materials, though rude, were very curioufly wrought, and fo judiciously placed, as to make the whole of her garb have a very pleafing, though rather romantic appearance.

Her leisure hours from hunting had been employed in twifting the inner rind or bark of willows into fmall lines, like net-twine, of which she had fome hundred fathoms by her; with this the intended to make a fishing net as foon as the fpring advanced. It is of the inner bark of willows, twifted in this manner, that the dog-ribbed Indians make their fifhing-nets; and they are much preferable to thofe made by the Northern Indians.

Five or fix inches of an iron hoop, made into a knife, and the fhank of an arrow head of iron, which ferved her as an awl, were all the metals this

poor woman had with her when the eloped; and with thefe implements the had made herfelf complete fnow-shoes, and feveral other ufeful articles.

Her method of making fire was equally fingular and curious, having no other materials for that purpofe than two hard fulphurous ftones. Thefe, by long friction and hard knocking, produced a few fparks, which at length communicated to fome touchwood; but as this method was attended with great trouble, and not always with fuccefs, fhe did not fuffer her fire to go out all the winter. Hence we may conclude that she had no idea of producing fire by friction in the manner practifed by the Efquimaux, and many other uncivilized nations; because if the had, the abovementioned precaution would have been unneceffary.

The fingularity of the circumstance, the comeliefs of her perfon, and her approved accomplishments, occafioned a strong contest between feveral of the Indians of my party, who fhould have her for a wife; and the poor girl was actually won and loft at wreflling by near half a fcore different men the fame evening. My guide, Matonabee, who at that time had no less than feven wives, all women grown, befide a young girl.of eleven or twelve years old, would have put in for the prize alfo, had not one of his wives made him afhamed of it, by telling him that he had already more wives than he could properly attend. This piece of fatire, however true, proved fatal to the poor girl who dared to make fo open a declaration; for the great man, Matonabee, who would willingly have been thought equal to eight or ten men in every respect, took it as fuch an affront, that he fell on her with both hands and feet, and bruifed her to fuch a degree, that, after lingering fome time, the died.

When the Athapuscow Indians took the above dog-ribbed Indian woman prifoner, they, according to the uni verfal cuftom of thofe favages, furprifed her and her party in the night,

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