the organization of the universe, when it became perfect, would produce a universal Mind or common Sensorium. A sailor who published the History of his Voyages, expresses his abhorrence of a watery grave because it would be out of reach of the sun; which else, he thought, would revivify him in the shape of some plant or animal, such perhaps as he might have had a sympathetic affection for while he lived. Py. thagoreans in diet have been rather more common than in faith. A certain Thomas Tryon attempted to form a sect of such about a century ago; the disciple who wrote his epitaph says, that he almost worked his body up into soul. But, though almost every folly seems to strike root in England as in a congenial soil, this never could be naturalized. The pulse diet of Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego, would hardly become popular in a country where beef-eater is a title of honor, where the soldiers march to battle with a song about roast beef in their mouths, instead of a prayer, and where the whole nation personify themselves by the name of John the Bull. This Tryon published a few books in his lifetime; his sect, if he ever formed any, died with him; and he is so nearly forgotten, that, when I heard him spoken of lately, a new book upon the same principle being the topic of conversation, the rest of the company were as ignorant of his existence as myself. The new book which led to this is the work of Ritson; one of the most learned English antiquarians, but of so unhappy a temper, that it is generally believed he is deranged. We should think him possessed, from the evidence of this essay, every page and almost every line of which teems with blasphemy;-it is full of open and avowed hatred of religion and of nature, and declarations that if there be a God he must be a being who delights in malignity. God have mercy on this poor wretched man, who seems to find a heavier pun

*

Fu an el Toro. It is needless to comment upon this passage; there may, however, be some readers who do not know that beef-eater is a corruption of Buffetier. Buffet is a cupboard, or sideboard displayed. Beau-fait-TR.

ishment in the wickedness of his own heart than earthly laws could inflict upon him!

The principle of abstaining from animal food is not in itself culpable or ridiculous, if decently discussed. We know that in many cases where indulgence is not sinful, abstinence is meritorious. There is therefore nothing irreligious in the opinion, and certainly it is favorable in some of its consequences to morality. But ultimately it resolves itself into the political question, Whether the greater population can be maintained upon animal or vegetable diet? It is to be wished the Pythagoreans in England were numerous and philosophical enough to carry on a series of experiments upon this subject, and upon the physical effects of their system.

We who acknowledge fasting to be a duty at stated times, an act of devotion at others, and who have the example of the more rigid monastic orders, shall think these people less absurd than their own countrymen think them; and perhaps less than they really are, as the principles of religion have nothing to do with their speculations. But what will you say when I tell you, that there are also Pagans in the country, actual worshippers of Jupiter and Juno, who believe in Orpheus instead of Christ, Homer and Hesiod instead of the prophets, Plato and Plotinus instead of the apostles? There is a story of an Englishman at Rome who pulled off his hat to a statue of Jupiter, saying, I beg, sir, if ever you get into power again, you will remember that I paid my respects to you in your adversity." Those whom I now speak of are more serious in their faith. I have heard of one who sacrificed a cock to Esculapius, at midnight, and upon a high place, in the midst of a large city.

The great apostle of the Heathen gods is one Thomas Taylor. He openly avows his belief, saying, in a page prefixed to one of his works, which he dedicates to the Sacred Majesty of Truth," Mr. Thomas Taylor the Platonic philosopher, and the modern Plethon, consonant to that philosophy, professes polytheism." For many years he has been laboring indefatigably to propagate this faith by the most unexceptionable means,

that of translating the Heathen philosophers, and elucidating their most mysterious parts. His doctrines have made little or no progress, not because they are too nonsensical, for in these cases the more nonsense the better, but because they are too obscure and require too much attention to be understood; if, indeed, they be not altogether unintelligible. His fame, however, has reached the Continent. Early in the French Revolution the Marquis Valedi came over to visit him: he called at his house, dressed in white like an aspirant; fell at his feet to worship the divine restorer of the Platonic philosophy; rose up to put a bank note of twenty pounds in his hand as an offering, and insisted upon being permitted to live in the house with him that he might enjoy every possible opportunity of profiting by his lessons. In vain did the philosopher represent the want of room in his house, his method of living, the inconvenience to himself and to his pupil. Nothing would satisfy the marquis,-if there was no other room, he would have a bed put up in the study where they were conversing :-away he went to order it, and was immediately domesticated.-After some little time it was discovered that he was disposed to worship the wife instead of the husband, and here ended the Platonism. They parted, however, in friendship. Valedi had left France, to escape a young wife, because, he said, she had no soul: he went back to take a part in the Revolution. Taylor saw him as he was setting off; he was in complete regimentals, with a fierce cocked hat,-and his last words were, "I came here Diogenes, and I return Alexander." His fate was like that of many wiser and better men; he perished by the guillotine, being of the twenty-two who suffered with Brissot.

Transmigration forms a part of this Pythagorean Platonist's creed. He says of Julian the Apostate "The greatness of his soul is so visible in his writings, that we may safely believe what he asserted of himself that he had formerly been Alexander the Great."

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LETTER LXV.

Eagerness of the English to be at war with Spain.

IT is amusing enough to hear these people talk of the pride of the Spaniards, when they themselves are as proud as the Portugueze. The Dons, as they call us, are, in their conception, very haughty, jealous to excess, and terribly revengeful, but honorable and right rich; therefore they like to deal with us in time of peace, and the slightest rumor of war makes every sailor in the service think he is infallibly about to make his fortune. So whenever the government begin by going to war with France, it is calculated that war with Spain will follow. They reserve it as a sweetener for the nation; when the people begin to be weary of their burthens and to suspect that no good can come of a contest carried on without vigor, without system, and in fact without object or means, a declaration against Spain puts them in good humor: the seamen come from their hiding places, and pirates swarm out from every sea-port.

There is certainly nothing like national enmity between England and Spain, each nation is too honorable not to do justice to the character of the other. They speak of our weakness with a contemptuous pride, which sometimes excites a Spaniard's shame but more frequently his indignation; but in their sober and settled judgment they avow that it is the interest of England to see us strengthened rather than humiliated, and that their wishes accord with their true policy. They say, and say truly, that Spain and Portugal united and in health would form an excellent counterpoise to the power of France: that our peninsula seems made by nature to be a powerful empire, and that it would be to the advantage of Europe that it should again become so. Yet upon the slightest pretext of quarrelling with us, all this would be for

gotten; the prospect of plunder would intoxicate the people, the government would do any thing to gratify the sailors, and the buccaneering would begin again. They forget that in proportion as they weaken Spain they derange still more the balance of power: they forget that by cutting off the communication between the two countries they compel us to use our own manufactures instead of theirs, thus teaching us to become independent of them, and doing for us what we ought to do for ourselves; and they forget also that war forces us to become again a military nation; and disciplines a navy, which only wants discipline to contend once more for the sovereignty of the seas.

After all, if a balance were struck England would find little reason for triumph. Our gunboats have injured the commerce of England more than the navy of England can hurt the trade of Spain. A galleon in the course of seven years' war is but a poor compensation for Gibraltar seven years blockaded; and the straits lined with armed vessels, like a defile, which came out like greyhounds upon every merchant ship and insulted and endangered their three-deckers.

But never were a people so easily duped. They believe, one and all, that their last war with us was exceedingly glorious, because by the cowardice of some of our captains and the insubordination of others, our fleet suffered that unfortunate defeat off Cape St. Vincent. They do not remember how we beat their famous Nelson from Teneriffe, where he left a limb behind him as a relic to show that he had been there. They forget their disgraceful repulse at Ferrol and their still more disgraceful attempt upon Cadiz; when, in spite of the governor's admirable letter, which stated the situation of the town, and in spite of the destructive consequences of victory to themselves if they had been victorious, their troops were actually embarked in the boats for the purpose of inflicting the curse of war upon a people then suffering pestilence and famine. England ought to regard it as the hap piest event of the war that the commander recalled his orders in time, either for shame or humanity or more truly under the impulse of a merciful Providence;