mediately carried to a most pernicious extent. The learned, who were chiefly in the possession of this knowledge, and who were incapable of distinguishing themselves by their own productions, yielded an unlimited deference to the ancients, and with great appearance of reason, as they are models in their kind. They maintained that nothing could be hoped for the human mind but in the imitation of the ancients; and they only esteemed in the works of the moderns whatever resembled or seemed to bear a resemblance to those of antiquity. Every thing else was rejected by them as barbarous and unnatural. It was quite otherwise with the great poets and artists. However strong their enthusiasm for the an cients, and however determined their purposes of entering into competition with them, they were compelled by the characteristic peculiarity of their minds, to proceed in a track of their own, and to impress upon their productions the stamp of their own genius. Such was the case with Dante among the Italians, the father of modern poetry; he acknowledged Virgil for his instructer, but produced a work which, of all others, differs the most from Eneid, and far excels it in our opinion, in strength, truth, depth, and comprehension. It was the same afterwards with Ariosto, who has most unaccountably been compared to Homer; for nothing can be more unlike. It was the same in the fine arts with Michael Angelo and Raphael, who were without doubt well acquainted with the antique. When we ground our judgment of modern painters merely on their resemblance of the ancients, we must necessarily be unjust towards them; and hence Winkelmann has undoubtedly been guilty of injustice to Raphael. As the poets for the most part acquiesced in the doctrines of the learned, we may observe a curious struggle in them between their natural inclination and their imagined duty. When they sacrificed to the latter they were praised by the learned; but by yielding to their own inclinations they became the favourites of the people. What preserves the heroic poems of a Tasso and a Camoëns to this day alive, in the hearts and on the lips of their countrymen, is by no means their imperfect resemblance to Virgil, or even to Homer, but in Tasso the tender feeling of chivalrous love and honour, and in Camoëns the glowing inspiration of patriotic heroism.

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FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

BLUE LAWS AND WITCHES IN OLD ENGLAND.

OUR sturdy ancestor, honest John Bull, as he is pleased to be called, has a great propensity to be diverted with whatever is absurd or ridiculous among his neighbours; but has ever been perversely blind to his own defects. The erudite travellers Weld, Parkinson, Ashe, and others of the same description whose names we cannot recollect, who were sent to this outlandish country to discover our nakedness, while they sneered at the "witch-hanging" and "blue-laws" of that section of our community which formerly boasted so much of its steady habits, forgot that in the time of their first James, laws were enacted in England to burn, and in Scotland to drown, all the witches upon whom the catchpoles could lay their hands; in consequence of which many a wretched old crone, to the great edification and delight of the hụmane populace, was tortured in this world, in anticipation of the treatment they were told to expect in the next. Their monarch himself wrote "a great square book" to prove the verity of the nursery stories concerning the old hags who were said to inhabit his dominions. These laws were not repealed till the ninth year of the reign of George II.

We do not pretend to defend the former puritans, the "gifted Filfillans" of New-England, for fining an uxorious husband, because he kissed his wife on the sabbath:

Making love on Sunday,

Who might as well have put it off 'till Monday."

But, ridiculous as this and fifty other acts, or pretended acts, of our eastern brethren were, they can be fully matched by countless absurdities in the annals of our mother country. Sir Henry Spelman informs us, that at a great council held at Berkburnstead, in the county of Hereford, in Great Britain, the following decrees, among others of the same nature were made:

"If a servant, by his masters' command, does any work on Saturday, after sun-set, the master shall forfeit eight shillings.

"If a freeman travels on Sunday, he shall pay six shillings; and a servant for the same offence shall stand in the pillory."

"If a husband or wife offer any thing to the devil, they shall forfeit their estate."

"If a servant does so, he shall forfeit six shillings or be whipped."

Does any one say that these decrees were enforced a long time ago? We defend our brethren, on this side of the water, with the same plea; and can further say, that the follies they exhibited were the follies of the time, more than the place, in which they lived; and were all brought with them from "the fast anchored isle," of which they were the legitimate offspring, as well as Praise-god Barebones, Kill-sin Pimple, and all that host of horrid names, which are too abundant to be enumerated, and too uncouth to be pronounced.

As for the scenes of the witches, they lasted but for a short time here. The diffusion of education among the poorer classes, which is so common in New-England, soon put a stop to them. But can the same be said in Old England? Among a thousand instances there, which might be quoted, we shall mention but one, which barbarous as it is, occurred within these last seventy years, at Tring in Herefordshire, and within thirty miles of London.

"On the 18th of April, 1751, the crier of Hemel Hempstead received a paper, which he was to read in the public market, which paper contained the following words: This is to give notice, that on Monday next a man and woman are to be publicly ducked in Tring, in this county, for their wicked crimes.'-Mr. Barton, the overseer of the poor at Tring, having heard the paper cried about at different places, inquired who the persons were, and finding them to be John Osborn and Ruth his wife, both poor aged people, he sent them to the workhouse, in order to screen them from any danger that might happen. But notwithstanding this prudent conduct of the overseer, a great mob of upwards of five thousand persons assembled at Tring, on the 22d, headed by one Thomas Colley, declaring revenge on Osborne and his wife, calling them witch and wizzard, and pulled down a large wall belonging to the workhouse, after which they broke both the windows and frames, demanding the two poor people in order to duck them. But Mr. Tomkins, the master of the workhouse, in order to preserve them from the fury of the mob, had on the evening before, prudently removed them to the vestry of the church, thinking that should it be known where they were concealed, the sanctity of the place would protect them from violence: but he was mistaken; for as soon as the mob entered the work house, although he told them they were not in it, yet they would not believe it, but searched

every closet and box in the house, even to the salt box. From these extremities they proceeded to greater, and Colley cried out, let us search the ceiling. The ceiling was accordingly searched, but neither of them being found, Colley swore, that unless Tomkins would deliver up the two old people, he would immediately set fire to the house, and likewise reduce the whole town of Tring to ashes.

Tomkins seeing them ready to execute their diabolical purpose, told them where the unhappy persons were, on which the mob marched in a body, led by Colley, to the vestry-room, broke open the door, seized Osborne and his wife, whom they laid across their shoulders like calves, and carried them about two miles; but not finding water in that place, they carried them in the same inhuman manner to a place called Marlston Green, where they stripped them both naked, without any regard to decency. They next proceeded to tie their thumbs and great toes together, and in that manner carried them to a deep pond, into which they threw them three different times. The poor woman, who was near seventy years of age, died in the water.

Having thus satiated their diabolical malice, they took Osborne to a neighbouring house, where they laid him in bed, and the body of his murdered wife beside him, after which they dispersed to their own homes."

We have stated the circumstance in the words in which it was narrated at the time. It is little compensation to outraged humanity to add, that the ringleader of the infatuated multitude was executed on a gibbet. What a terrible state must the populace be in, who could assemble to the number of five thousand, to assist in and enjoy such scenes of barbarity and superstition!

No country can boast of more splendid qualifications than Great Britain; and no one can entertain a higher opinion than we do, of the talents of her statesmen, and the prowess of her warriors. Her philosophy has enlightened, and her arts have improved, the state of mankind. But this eulogium, unfortunately, must be confined to the favoured few. As for her multitude-were we to speak of the countless numbers of impostors of their quacks, priests, prophets, and prophetesses-of their boundless credulity, from the bottle conjurer, down to the exhibition of the fork, which belonged to the knife, with which Margaret Nicholson would have killed their king--of the avidity with which they swallow accounts of American literature, composed by a "Brummagem" agent, and dissertations on the victories of our gallant tars, drawn up by an English farrier-were we to speak of Old England, with

these specimens of her before our eyes, we might be tempted to exclaim, in the language of Trinculo, "there would this monster make a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.”

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

BAPTISM IN ABYSSINIA.

We proceeded towards Chelicut, says a late traveller, and on our arrival at that place completed our preparations for our journey to the coast. On the following day I attended the baptism of a Bedowee boy, at that time living as servant with Mr. Pierce, whom we had persuaded to become a convert to the Christian faith, not only with the view of benefiting the poor boy; but also from being desirous by this last act, of making an impression on the Abyssinians favourable to the British character. I had previously by the distribution of a few presents, gained the sanction of his friends, and the boy himself was delighted with the change, owing to the inconveniencies to which he had been subjected from being a mussulman. This ceremony took place on the fifth at day break, an early hour being considered as requisite on account of the subsequent celebration of the sacrament of the communion, which can only be administered fasting. On reaching Church we found the head priest Abou Barca, with about twenty priests of an inferior order, waiting in a small area about thirty yards from the spot, some of whom were engaged in chanting psalms while the rest were busy in preparing the water, and making other necessary arrangements for the occasion. At sunrise every thing being ready, an attendant was sent round from the high priest to point out to each person concerning the parts which he was to take in the ceremony. The officiating priest was habited in white flowing robes, with a tiara or silver-mounted cap on his head, and he carried a censer of burning incense in his right hand. A second of equal rank was dressed in similar robes supporting a large golden cross, while a third held in his hand a small