away. Paintings are rent, sculpture mutilated, inscriptions defaced; and family records, love tokens, and gifts of friendship are torn, trampled, and burned. Oaths and blasphemies resound, riot and debauchery are every where seen with the wildest forms of cruelty and death. A father has borne all, grinding his teeth in agony! He has seen the wreck of his property, the destruction of his worldly goods; but, when the lawless hand of the ruffian-soldier lays hold on his family, he can bear no more: starting up in their defence, and seemingly with more than mortal energy, he attacks his enemies. It is in vain! a dozen bayonets bear him to the ground; and while he draws his last gasp, his life welling from his wounds, he drinks in the agonizing shrieks of those who are dearest to him, calling uselessly for his aid. His wife struggles hopelessly in the savage grasp of the abandoned ruffians to preserve her babe. Alas! it is wantonly slaughtered, and mother and child lie bleeding on the ground; while the cruel jests, and mad merriments of their hard-hearted murderers, echo through the desolated mansion. Nor is this a solitary scene. The same demon-like career is carried on throughout the city, for the place is given up to pillage," mercy is exiled, and youth and beauty, wisdom and age, the infant and the hoary-headed are alike. Rapine, brutality, murder, and conflagration are abroad. Reader, this is the meaning of a city “being given up to pillage!" Are you not called on then to resist, with every power you possess, that spirit of warfare which tolerates such enormities? Ought you not to bear testimony against it, leaving it on record to your children, and children's children, to do the same? Have you a son in whom you delight, and does he thirstily drink in, as water, the lessons of instruction you bestow. Are desires gathering in his heaving breast; and hope, and enterprise, and expectation visible in his brightening eye? It remains with you, I speak with due reverence to the Most High, whether he, by sharing such excesses as have been described, shall become a scourge to mankind; or, by the practice of virtue and humanity, he shall be an ornament and a blessing to his race. Have you a daughter, who is your joy and your glory? whose gentleness, tenderness, and affection are to influence, in future years, the more rugged heart of man ? It remains with you, whether your child, by encouraging in others the selfish dreams of ambition and pride, shall strengthen the ranks of war, and spread around desolation and death; or by the exercise of persuasion, kindness, and mercy, she shall prove the gentle advocate and influential promoter of peace. Blame me not for pressing this matter on your thoughts, but rather give it the consideration it deserves. Be convinced, and try to convince others, that the only way to avoid the evils of war, is to drink into the spirit of the gospel, and with earnestness, truth, and sincerity, to "follow after the things which make for peace," Rom. xiv. 19. POLITICAL POWER OF THE PAPACY. Ir must be obvious, to the most casual visitor of Rome, that the great aim of those in power here is, to exalt and aggrandize the Romish church. All the splendid collections and rich specimens of the fine arts in the Vatican, are designed to adorn, beautify, and encircle with a halo of glory, the skeleton of popery. There is another consideration, which makes the papal religion assume an air and attitude of importance and dignity here-it is the court religion. No one can expect any civil honours or offices, or any favour from the crown, who is not a zealous adherent to popery. The Romish church is the very prop and pillar of the civil government of the papal states. The Pope is their civil as well as ecclesiastical sovereign, by virtue of the peculiar relation he holds to the Romish church. He is the king of the land through all the papal states, as well as the head of the church. The road to power and political influence is through the church, and the favour of those who guide its affairs and guard its interests. The same motives which lead men in our country to resort to popular arts to please the people, and gain political influence, lead them at Rome to become zealous Roman Catholics. If the truth were known, I expect it would be found that the Pope himself values his civil, quite as much as his spiritual sceptre. Of course, the church is the pillar of his hopes, the great apparatus by which he gulls and hoodwinks the people; and as long as he loves temporal power, he will hold on to his professed priestly supremacy, and seek to perpetuate the reign of superstition and darkness. Every one who has at all examined the subject, will sce that there are prodigious incitements in the papal church to unsanctified ambition. The most obscure monk, clad in the coarsest robe, girded with a flaxen rope, and shod with wooden sandals, may, by tact and cunning, and a certain course of management, obtain a cardinal's hat, ride in a princely chariot, roll in splendour, and ultimately sit in the papal chair. The now reigning Pope rose to his present station, from an obscure monk of the order of St. Gregory. Sixtus v. also, who filled the papal see the latter part of the sixteenth century, might be referred to, as another instance, illustrative of the preceding remarks. He was born near Montalto, of very indigent parents, and spent his early years in the most humble labours, to procure his daily bread. His proper name was Felix Peretti. He had an uncle that was a Franciscan monk, through whose influence he obtained admittance into one of the schools of this religious order. Evincing brilliancy of intellect, he ingratiated himself so far into the favour of his instructor, that he was continued in school till he had received a thorough education. He particularly distinguished himself in scholastic philosophy and theology, and in Roman literature. He now rose rapidly, and obtained not only holy orders, but the title of Doctor of Divinity. His celebrity as an acute logician and eloquent preacher, soon became widely diffused. His learning and talents, and increasing distinction, awakened the jealousy of not a few of the great men in the Roman Catholic church, whose fame he threatened to eclipse. They engaged in controversy with him, and tried to crush him. For a while they partially succeeded but at length, he obtained a cardinal's hat, and took the name of Montalto. Well acquainted with the policy of his colleagues, he believed the surest way to gain the triple crown, the great object of his ambition, was to pursue a course of conduct which should not awaken the jealousy of the other cardinals. Up to this period, he had been distinguished as an intolerant, violent, and most ambitious man. His habits, also, were very active; no labour or toils would prevent him from carrying into execution any plan he had formed. The vigour and strength of his body appeared every way equal to the activity and restlessness of his mind. But all these qualities seemed now suddenly annihilated. He would not connect himself with either party in the conclave, after the death of Pius v. He withdrew almost wholly from the court, and very reluctantly took any part in political affairs, under Gregory XIII. He treated every one with kindness and affability, and suffered injuries without seeking revenge. He expended his income in acts of benevolence and literary enterprise; erecting monuments to forgotten saints, and ministering to the poor. His whole bodily appearance was changed. Instead of a stout, vigorous frame, he had become greatly emaciated, and presented the appearance of a sick and broken-down old man, who loved, above all things else, tranquillity and devotion. Under the mask of pious simplicity and feeble old age, he gained much information from the licentious nobles, who confided to him their secrets, while he acted as their confessor. He thus deceived all about him, as to his true character. Upon the death of Gregory XIII., the majority of candidates were of the opinion, that a pope like Montalto would be most easily managed, and probably would soon, by his demise, leave the see vacant for another election. In the midst of the conclave, convened in the electoral chapel, stood Montalto, leaning with bent form and tremulous limbs, upon a staff, to all appearance on the verge of the grave, when his election to fill the pontifical chair was announced. Instantly he threw down, as with scorn, the staff on which he had leaned, and stood forth erect in form, and with an elasticity of step that perfectly astonished and electrified the whole college of cardinals. He no longer the feeble, decrepit, simple old man, but the firm, vigorous, shrewd, ambitious pope Sixtus v., who showed that he could grasp and wield the sceptre of the world. His object was now attained. He had been acting a part fifteen years, and now, having obtained the object of his wish, the mask was thrown off. was The possibility of attaining this high eminence is more clearly illustrated by the fact, that the occupants of the papal chair are generally selected, as in the instance just related, from those whose prospects of continued life were not the most encouraging. To show the truth in London is more generally visited than the British Museum; and it might be difficult to find a place that has been more frequently described. It possesses two very great attractions: one, that it has much within it deserving attention; the other, that it may be seen for no| thing. As viewed from the spot where I am now standing, it has little in appearance to recommend it. Neither its guarded gateways, its square turrets, its front of dirty red brick, nor its old crazy cupola, is of an alluring character. Even in the short time it has occupied me to note down this remark, twenty-three persons have passed by the two sentinels, who are on duty with their bayonets fixed at the end of their muskets; and now a carriage has driven up to the gate. It is time for me to trudge across the street, and to enter the place myself. THE PERAMBULATOR. THE BRITISH MUSEUM. WITH the exception of St. Paul's Cathedral, perhaps no public building Ay! This spacious quadrangle gives a different aspect to the building, and the fine flight of steps adds much to its general appearance. The French architect, Peter Puget, who designed the edifice, now rises in the estimation of the spectator. But the sarcophagus, covered with hieroglyphics, near the gateway, and the ancient canoe, formed apparently from a large tree, hollowed out by the chisel or by fire, draw the visitors aside, and claim for a season their attention. At the foot of the flight of steps, surrounded by a slight enclosure, the gigantic head bones of two enormous creatures arrest the eye of the spectator. They are of a most astonishing size and form; and a stranger, until he reads the inscription beside them, wonders to what kind of animal they could belong. I have something to say on this sub A few years ago, on passing over London Bridge, my attention was attracted by half a dozen bright yellow placard papers, pasted against a wall near the bridge. On these papers, was printed the following wonderful announcement: "Wonderful Remains of an Enormous Head, eighteen feet in length, seven feet in breadth, and weighing seventeen hundred pounds. The complete bones of which were discovered, in excavating a passage for the purpose of a railway, at the depth of seventy-five feet from the surface of the ground in Louisiania, and at a distance of one hundred and sixty miles from the sea. This great curiosity to be seen from ten in the morning till six in the evening." posite the elephant and giraffes, sometimes regarding them, and sometimes leaning my head backwards to admire the painted ceiling, whereon the fall of Phaeton, and the synod of heathen gods, are beautifully painted. In a very short time, I directed my steps to the Cosmorama, in Regent Street, where the enormous head was to be seen. There I gazed on the prodigy, and much did it excite my wonder. The proprietors were Frenchmen, and many were the dreams of imagination in which they indulged. It was thought the head might have belonged to a bird, for the beaklike formation of the projecting bones gave some colour to such a possibility; but, then, had such a monster lived, kitelike, on other birds, he would speedily have depopulated a space equal to a whole parish, ay, a whole county of its feathered tribes. It was suggested by one, that it might have belonged to a fish; but the circumstance of it being found so deep in the earth, and so far from the sea, threw a difficulty in the way of this suggestion. It was intimated by another, as no improbability, that it belonged to a reptile, a gigantic lizard; and to such a creature, supposing that he sustained himself by vegetation, shrubs and bushes must have been as grass, and young oaks and elms as a pleasant sort of asparagus. In short, from the conversation I had with these foreigners, it was clear that in their apprehension, the eagle might be but a Îark, the whale but a minnow, and the mammoth but a mite, compared to the creatures that once inhabited the air, the ocean, and the earth in the ages that have longed winged their way to eter-implacable spirit of savage men. nity. Youth, maturity, and age, all press forward to see the British Museum. There is a perfect throng now upon the staircase. Holiday and cheerfulness may be seen in almost every face. A pleasant sight it is to witness human happiness! Well! I lost sight altogether of this "Enormous Head" for some years, and did not expect to see the like again, until one day visiting this place I saw the two heads now before me, one that of the Spermaceti whale, (Physeter macrocephalus,) the other the skull and lower jaw of the northern whalebone whale, (Balana mysticetus.) The strong resemblance of the latter convinced me that the "Enormous Head" was nothing more than the head of a whale. I have entered my name in the book, kept in the hall, for the purpose of receiving signatures of visitors: given a glance at the gilded idol, and the mysterious impression made by his foot, ascended the staircase, paused a moment opposite the musk ox, polar bear, and gigantic fernsprays, and am now op are Here is a room crowded with curiosities, once the property of savage tribes, living thousands of miles apart from each other! The Esquimaux, the new Zealander, the Otaheitan, and the South American Indian have all contributed to the collection. Implements of labour, fishing tackle, warlike weapons, and instruments of music ranged around. The spear, the javelin, the shark-tooth saw, the club, the tomahawk, and the scalping knife, are mingled with bows and arrows, canoes, sledges, fish hooks, harpoons, bowls, and calabashes. Here is a screen made of the feathers of an eagle; there, a dancing dress of the fibres of cocoa nut bark, and yonder are ugly idols, bracelets of boars' tusks, mirrors of black slaty stone, necklaces of seeds and shells, and wooden coats of armour. Nor are the trophies of war forgotten; the scalps of the vanquished in battle may here be seen, a species of spoil that is too dear to the cruel and How opposed to the fierce hostility and relentless revenge of the untutored Indian, is the merciful injunction, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them whieh despitefully use you, and persecute you," Matt. v. 44. And yet the time will come, for the mouth of the Holy One has declared it, when this Christian command shall run through the wigwam and through the world, when the javelin of the savage shall be broken, his bow be snapped in sunder, and his scalping knife be guiltless of his fellow's blood. In the centre of the room, in a glass case, lies the far famed Magna Charta, wrung from a tyrannous monarch by the armed hands of his barons; and many a prying eye pores over the time-worn document with curiosity and wonder. It takes us back to the days when king John, a treacherous and false-hearted | king, made, as it were, the land "desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger,' Jer. xxv. 38. But his tyranny prevailed not. What a fine burst of language is that, in which the prophet Isaiah rebukes those who are fearful of the oppression of man, and yet forgetful of the goodness of God! "Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor ?" Isaiah li. 12, 13. The painted ceilings by Charles de la Foss, and the splendid groupes of flowers, by James Rousseau, are admirable productions. They remind me of the vivid pencillings of Le Brun, in the palace of Versailles. The more I look on them, the more I like them. To describe the animals, birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects, the shells, minerals, fossils, petrifactions, and antiquities of this place, would be impossible; for there is not one department that would not furnish amusement for a week. They are all classed in a scientific manner; the carnivorous animals are separated from those that are granivorous; and the birds of prey from the aquatic and those that sing. From the diminutive humming bird to the stately ostrich; the feathered creation may here be seen in all their varied forms and gaudy plumage. The kite in the glass case there, reminds me of an anecdote that has just been related to me. "A respectable farmer in Scotland, after a walk over his farm, at the beginning of this year's lambing season, and on a very warm morning, fell asleep on a high hill. On awaking, he found that his broad blue bonnet, and a yellow silk handkerchief, which he had placed beside him, were both missing. At first, he suspected they had been taken away in sport by some person on the farm; but, on inquiry, every individual on the farm and neighbourhood, who could possibly have approached the spot, denied all knowledge of the missing articles. Some weeks after, our correspondent and a party were ascending a very steep and dangerous rock on the farm, to destroy the nest of a glede, (kite.) Great was his amazement, when the first article taken out of the nest, was the missing yellow silk handkerchief; then the broad blue bonnet, with three eggs most comfortably ensconced in it; next appeared an old tartan waistcoat, with tobacco in one pocket, and Orr's Almanac, for 1839, in the other, the almanac having the words, scarcely legible, 'J. Fraser,' written upon it; then came a flannel nightcap, marked with red worsted, 'D. C. J.;' a pair of old white mittens, a piece of a letter with green wax, and the Inverness postmark, an old red and white cravat, and a miscellaneous assortment of remains of cotton, paper, and other things. This bird had, indeed, been a daring robber, and had carried on his extensive larcenies for a long time with impunity.” Herculaneum and Pompeii have sent of their long buried stores to add to the costliness of this extended treasure house. Greek and Roman antiquities are here, and numerous idols of metal, stone and wood; terracottas, sculptures, vases, jars, and urns; with busts and figures, coins and medals, rings and curious seals. There are also beautiful specimens of precious stones, of all the kinds that are known, so that almost every shade of disposition may find something that will add to its gratification. One of the most costly curiosities of the place, is the Portland Vase; for two hundred years, it was the principal ornament of a palace: it was found in the road between Rome and Frascati. By far the greater number of visitors pass this by, as a thing of little value, yet thousands of pounds would not purchase it. What a number of mummies are here, and ornamented mummy cases! and yet this is London, and not Egypt. They set one thinking of the pyramids, of the statue of Memnon, and Thebes with her hundred gates, of the idols, Orus, Apis, Isis, and Osiris. Here is a splendid mummy case, half opened, and the embalmed mummy half unswathed. "And thou hast walked about, how strange a story! In Thebes' streets, three thousand years ago, When the Memnonium was in all its glory, And time had not begun to overthrow Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which the very ruins are tremendous." |