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Brief Account of the Burmese.-Aphorisms, &c.

tinction among them being, that the oldest | is always considered the head wife. No other ceremony takes place on occasion of a marriage, except what I have mentioned. -Library of Entertaining Knowledge.

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE BURMESE.

MR. Fox, late Missionary at Ceylon, has communicated the following particulars concerning Burmah and Budhuism:

"The Burman empire is, in its original extent, one of the oldest empires in Asia. That it was in existence as an empire about seventeen centuries ago, I think they have histories which cannot well be questioned; and other Indian histories, in their enumeration of the cities in the known world, particularly mention Ava.

"According to their own account, and the accounts of the Singhalese, the Burman emperor was the first distinguished character, who countenanced the doctrines of Budhu; and at Ava the principal relics of Budhu, (so supposed,) are enclosed in a magnificent mausoleum, near which stands the principal temple, dedicated to Budhu. From the policy of the Budhuist monarch, strangers have generally been prevented from passing into the interior of these countries; and from this cause, little has been known of the Burman empire for centuries, except from Budhuist priests of other countries, who have received their education there, and authority to perform the highest offices of the Budhuist priesthood. It is supposed, that a century ago the empire was still confined within its ancient limits, and that the first effort to enlarge it, was by attacking the Siamese : all other conquests fall within the present century. It is hard to conceive, from what principle they could make so many unprovoked attacks on the Company's territories. I have been told, that the emperor's prime ministers flatter his "omnipotence," (for this is one of his titles) in high terms, telling him that such is his power, that he has only to will it, and Fort St. George and Fort William, (Madras and Calcutta,) will be overturned at once. But as these insults, which have been borne with unusual patience, have all fallen out since the English subdued the Budhuist kingdom of Kandy; and there has, to my knowledge, been much recent communication between them, I greatly question if the conduct of the Burman emperor has not been the result of revenge and fanaticism; since any failure in Budhuism at this time must be cousidered ominous, as the reign of their present

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Budhu, according to their own accounts, is drawing near to a close.

"Their system is a system of pure atheism-virtue and vice, from a necessity of nature, produce their own reward. They admit no God the Creator, no God the Judge, no God the righteous Rewarder. From anecdotes which I have heard from Mr. Chater, the Baptist Missionary, who resided some years at Rangoon, and from George Nadoris, and Benjamin Parks, our converts in Ceylon, who resided at Ava, the character of Budhuism in the Burman empire, and in Ceylon, is the same :—it palliates every vice, and feeds a principle of selfishness to a degree unknown in the worst parts of the least favoured Christian country: it cherishes no social feeling, it has no bond but the ties of self-interest; it inculcates, at least produces, no higher humanity than that practised by the priest and Levite, (Luke x. 31, 32.) The will of the king is law.

"The cruelties of the Burman monarch exercised on his subjects, are similar to those formerly practised by the monster of Kandy. The king of Kandy impaled alive; his Burman majesty crucifies. The ancient language of the country is the Magudha, or Pali; a language confessedly so ancient, that among the Indian literari, there are as strong controversies on the claim of the Sangscrit, and Pali, to antiquity, as there have been in Europe, for the antiquity of the Hebrew and Arabic languages: and though it is a controversy which can never be terminated, the arguments for the Magudha are very strong. The Singhalese profess to have come originally from the country a little south-east of the Burman empire, viz. from Sincapore, or Singhapoora, the lion's city, and they call themselves Singha-le, from the lion's blood; some say, because one of their kings sprung from a lion, perhaps a famous warrior, but more probably because the emblem of their monarch was a lion."

APHORISMS, &c.

AN APHORISM is a maxim or general rule; a brief sentence comprehending much matter in a few words. In language strong, pointed, and vigorous, ideas should be as numerous as expressions, leaving no room for useless or unimportant words.

A harsh man can sometimes smile, and a kind man can sometimes frown; the former is the transient sunshine of winter, the latter is the evanescent gloominess of summer.

Times of public commotion are those in which the talents and virtues of humble life

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are called into publicity; and often have the workshop and the loom furnished characters for the future historian, and proved that the true nobility of mankind are not always adorned with a riband, nor pointed out to vulgar gaze by the glittering of a star.

There is a word in the vocabulary more bitter, more direful in its import, than all the rest. If poverty, disgrace, bodily pain, slighted love, or perjured friendship, is our unhappy fate, we may kneel, and bless Heaven for its beneficent influence, if we are not tortured with the anguish of Re

morse.

The satisfaction derived from revenge endures but for a moment; but that which is the offspring of clemency is eternal.

Of what advantage is a cultivated mind, or improved taste, if it does not render us more independent of the casualties of life?

Those who have only experienced affluence can judge but incorrectly of themselves or others: the rich and powerful live in a perpetual masquerade, in which all about them wear borrowed characters: and the estimation they are held in is only discovered when they can no longer give hopes or fears.

There is this difference between happiness and wisdom, he that thinks himself the happiest man really is so, but he that thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.

Sensibility would be a good Porteress, if she had but one hand-but with her right she opens the door to Pleasure, with her left to Pain.

Dionisius strove to be the best poet; Caligula, to be the best orator; Nero, the best fiddler, of their times-but they were the worst emperors.

Heat is the instrument, and anger the whetstone of fortitude.

Pride hath two steps; the lowest, blood— the highest, envy.

In common life, reason and conscience have only the appetites and passions to encounter; but in higher stations they must oppose artifice and adulation.

Suffering is no duty, but where it is necessary to avoid guilt or to do good.

Many men lose by desire, but are crowned by content.

As oft as we do good, we offer sacrifice. When the punishment is disproportioned to the offence, abhorrence of the crime is absorbed in compassion for the criminal; and when expediency is pleaded for the severity, instead of justice, the force of the example disappears, and the moral principle loses much of its efficacy.

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That man employeth his thoughts well, who useth them rather to testify his virtue, than to nourish his displeasure.

Yielding to immoral pleasures corrupts the mind; living to animal and trifling ones, debases it: and both, in their degree, disqualify it for its genuine good, and consign it over to wretchedness.

Where the peoples' affection is secured, the traitor's purpose is prevented.

Beauty is the true glass of divine virtue, and suspicion the mirror in which we see our own noted dangers.

A man of no resolution, or of weak resolution, says an old drama, will be won with a nut, and lost by an apple.

True wisdom teacheth us both to do well and to speak well.

They who are hasty in adopting new projects, ought to be reminded, that in all novelty there is hazard, and in all experiments there is a risk of disappointment-for no man can reason so accurately from the past, as to be certain of a future result.

To play the scoffing fool well, is a sign of some wit, but no wisdom.

We seldom value rightly, what we have never known the misery of wanting.

Society is the true sphere of human virtue.

Sterne has well expressed the too common spirit of detraction-" Does a man from real conviction of heart forsake his vices? The position is not to be allowedno-his vices have forsaken him!"

To fly from covetousness is to gain a kingdom.

It is not death that destroyeth the soul, but a bad life.

Pomps and honours are bitter mockeries to the troubled mind.

Experience, that touchstone of truth, abundantly convinces us, that all parts of nature are in correspondence with, and dependent on, each other for the exercise of their functions, and the accomplishment of their destination; and that the final term in which the vairous uses of the parts which compose our world centre, is visibly man. Corrupt company is more infectious than corrupt air.

There is no security in evil society, where the bad are often made worse, the good seldom better.

The bitterest fruit of distress is the bread of another's baking; but if it must be eaten in base company, fortune has done her

worst.

He is my friend that succoureth me-not he that pitieth me.

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade.

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Celestial Phenomena.-Poetry.

CELESTIAL PHENOMENA.

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On the 4th of this month the noble planet Jupiter is stationary, and may be noticed as the apex of an isosceles triangle and w Sagittarii being the base. He now commences a direct motion, and his configurations with the stars in Sagittarius will interest the observer as he passes to the south of his tract during February, March, and April last. He slowly recedes from 26 Sagittarii, and on the 17th is observed between and 29 Sagittarii, and in a line with 30 and 33 of the same constellation. On the 25th he is noticed between and the former star, and on the 29th between and 33. His passage under y Sagittarii is now interesting. On the 1st of October he is seen in a line with 29 and 30, and between the latter star and w. On the 6th he is noticed in a line with γ and 2 Sagittarii, and between the former star p. On the 8th he is between and w, and and 30; he is also noticed in a line with and 33. On the 11th he is in a line with and 29, and between the former star and 7. On the 13th he is seen between 1 and 2, and w Sagittarii. On the 16th he is observed in a line with and 30, on the 19th with 1 and 2, and between and and o and 4. On the 22d he is seen between w and o Sagittarii and forms a cross with r, 4, and w. the 24th he is seen in a line with 29 and 33, on the 26th between and 33, and Tand w; and on the following day between 0 and T. He now directs his course between the former star and, passing them on the 1st of November. On the 3d he is observed in a line with o and 1, and on the following day with the former star and 2. On the 7th he passes between and ; on the 10th between T and d; and on the following day he is seen in a line with p 1 and 2 Sagittarii. On the 13th, between and d, and r and p 2; and on the 15th between and 2. After this day he approaches 50, and passes between it and 3 Sagittarii on the 24th.

On

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her, and at 24 minutes 24 seconds past 9, it is distant from her only 10 minutes. Mars will be seen some distance to the east of the moon.

POETRY.

BOSWORTH FIELD.

RELUCTANT from his eastern bed
The blood-red sun rose, as in pain,
And mournfully his lustre shed

On Boswell's wild and heathy plain;
Where nigh encamp'd, a gallant band
Waited their leaders' stern command,
When fiercely, in the deadly strife,
Kinsman should aim at kinsman's life.*
Instinctive Nature seeming caught

A knowledge of impending dread;
No murmuring bee the heath bell sought,
Away the screaming curlew fled;—
The shepherds, from the heathery waste
Drove forth their wandering flocks in haste;
The neighbouring rustics hied away,
Far from their homes in dire dismay.

For now the trumpet's shrilly sound
Awoke the warlike brave to arms;
Their movements shook the swampy ground,
And ope'd the scene of war's alarms:
Ten thousand lances brightly glare,
And banners sweep aloft in air,
Unnumber'd plumy helmets wave
Above the wearers' waiting grave!

The fiery war-steeds proudly prance

Beneath a countless range of spears;
And sword and bowmen there advance,-

For yonder Richmond's host appears;
Their banners, in the morn-gale spread,
Display Lancastria's rose of red:
That rose, which ere the fall of night,
Shall triumph o'er York's boasted white!
Richard, undaunted, stern, and proud,

Beheld the scene with fearless frown;
The red sun bursting from a cloud,

Gleam'd on his bright, but blood-won crown,That crown, for which, alas! was spilt Blood sinless, innocent, free from guiltThat crown which blood alone can clasp, And snatch from his ambitious

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grasp They charge; and, like the dreadful sweep Of a dark equinoctial tide, When night-storms lash the furious deep, Bursts the fierce fray on every side: Plumed helms are cleft, and blades are broke, And halberts deal the deadly stroke, And shiver'd lance, and shining shield, Bestrew the well-contested field.

The feathery arrows lightly shed

A darting shadow as they pass;
But where they fall is havock spread
Among Lancastria's close-wedg'd mass;
While these with ardent vigour pour
Among their foes an equal shower,
And dubious stands th' opposing strife,
Amid the boundless wreck of life.

Again they mix in closer fight,

The flashing steel gleams round and round, And every stroke, with giant might, Brings a stout warrior to the ground; And eye to eye, and hand to hand, Is raised the fiercely-flaming brand: Brothers with brothers there contend, And sire with son, and friend with friend!

* The battle of Bosworth Field was fought on Monday, August 14th, 1485, and terminated the contentions between the houses of York and Lancaster.

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Unshaken as the ocean-rock,

Awhile the tyrant's phalanx stood, While 'mid the devastating shock

Flow'd o'er the field a tide of blood: Richard, at length, in sad dismay, Beheld his wavering troops give way, And with a voice which rage had bound, He thus bespoke his vassals round.

"Avaunt! what! ye who have so long,
On many a glorious foughten field,
Like the stern forest-oak, been strong,

At last to yon raw vagrants yield!-
Nay, by Saint Paul! this blade shall yet
With traitor Stanley's blood be wet:
I swear again by this true steel,
Victory or death my doom shall seal!

"Brandon+ e'en by this hand is gone!

His standard hurl'd among the dust!Why cower ye back?-what! would ye shun In victory's hour my sacred trust! Catesby and Ratcliffe, (hearts of steel,) On Richmond still their terrors deal: Tho' Norfolk lies among the slain, Charge, ye vile cowards! charge again!" Again the battle rages keen,

Again the rallied troops advance; Again in furious broil are seen,

Death-dealing sword and darting lance: Soldiers and nobles 'mid the fray, A countless host, are swept away, Like harvest-field, in pride array'd, Beneath the mower's sweeping blade. "Tis vain. Serene amid the strife, Richmond cheers on his valiant band ;Amid the sacrifice of life,

He cheers them on with heart and hand: Stern ruin does their foes appalBehold the white-ros'd banner fall! The flower of York-the tyrant's pride, Are fallen, or flee on every side!

Forward! brave Richmond! forward now,
Hark the glad trump of victory sounding!
Thy shatter'd clans, with helmless brow,

The shout of triumph are resounding!
Richard is down among the slain,
He bites the earth in rage and pain:
That crown which fate compels to yield,
Is left upon the death-strewn field.

Victorious Richmond! unto thee

Of right that royal crown belongs-
Wear it! 'tis nobly won!-and free-
Avenger of the people's wrongs!
To the seventh Henry homage bring-
A choral shout proclaims him King!
Indissolubly now unite

The red rose and the blooming white!

THOS. CROSSLEY.

Near Halifax, July 22nd, 1830.

HEAVEN.

HEAVEN is the pilgrim's home,
The end of all his toils-

Where tears of grief can never come,
But pleasure always smiles,

The couch on which he may recline,
And say,
"Eternal rest is mine."

Heaven is the port of peace,
Where tempests never roar,
Only the soft refreshing breeze,

And shipwrecks are no more;
Oh! blow propitious heavenly gale,
That to this port my bark may sail!

Poetry.

Sir Wm. Brandon, standard-bearer to the Earl of Richmond, said to have fallen by the hand of Richard.

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WHAT is it soothes our various woes
And o'er sorrows wrinkled brows,
Joy's celestial halo throws:

"Tis Hope, gentle Hope.
What is it chases death's thick gloom,
And on the cypress of the tomb,
Hangs garlands of unwithering bloom:

'Tis Hope-heaven-born Hope.

The Hope of earthly promise born,
Falls like the shaken dews of morn,
Fades like the early blossom torn :

'False Hope, fatal Hope.
The Hope that truths divine supply,
Support in life, and when we die
Is full of immortality:

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Sweet Hope, blessed Hope.

THE POET'S SOUL.

-The haven for a soul,

Where the storms of genius roll;
It often lights him to his doom,
A halo round an early tomb."
R. MONTGOMERY.

WHERE destroying tempests roar,
Wild storms rage, and cataracts pour;
Where blue lightnings glare and flash,
Mountains tremble-thunders crash,
Threatening death from pole to pole,
Is pictur'd forth the Poet's Soul.
Where the vernal breath of May,
Midst bloom of flow'rs redolent play-
Where the silvery spring-brook flows,
Soothing nature to repose;

Where life's sparkling joy-streams roll,
Is pictur'd forth the Poet's Soul.
Where rage flashes in the eye,
Where the soul lives in a sigh,
Where revenge or hatred glows,
Breathing death on friends and foes;
Where love and pity bear control,
Is pictur'd forth the Poet's Soul.
Calm and tempest, love and ire,
Cooling streams, destroying fire;
Beauty's charms and symmetry,
Loathsome, loath'd deformity;
Order's wreath, and ruin's scroll,
Picture forth the Poet's Soul.

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Review.-The Book of the Priesthood.

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REVIEW.-The Book of the Priesthood, an Argument, in Three Parts. By Thomas Stratten Sunderland. 8vo. pp. 328. Holdsworth. London. 1830. THE design of this book is to prove that the Christian ministry is not a priesthood, and that the assumption of this latter character is an imposition upon those communities that have been taught to support it, and to incorporate this branch of the Levitical institution with the Christian system. The three parts of Mr. Sunderland's argument are stated as follows

"The Christian ministry not a priesthood: Christ the only, but all-sufficient Priest of the Christian church: the Levitical terms employed in the New Testament, which do not apply exclusively to Christ, belong equally to all true Christians."

The first section in the first part, bears with peculiar force upon the manufactured doctors of the Romish church, who endeavour to sustain a title for which in scripture they have no authority. We must not, however, imagine that this is the only professing Christian establishment to which his argument will apply. Priest and priesthood, under the Christian dispensation, wherever the terms occur, fall under his attack, and those by whom they have been introduced receive from his pen, a degree of castigation to which he thinks the advocates of intruders at all times entitled. In his concluding paragraph he thus argues.

"As Christianity is the last dispensation, and the best, so it is the most comprehensive in its character, and permanent in its duration. It is designed and adapted, and was prophetically promised, and has been authoritatively instituted, for the whole race of mankind, and the whole duration of the world in which they dwell. Now, under such a dispensation, intended for the world, involving the destinies of the unnumbered millions of its coming generations, embodying for their enjoyment the clearest light which God ever intends to vouchsafe to men upon earth,-if, under such a dispensation, salvation were to be obtained through the medium of the official rites of an earthly priesthood, might not we expect that the authority and ritual of that priesthood, would, at least, be equally clear with the authority and ritual of the Jewish priesthood? Would not the immensely expanding, the infinitely multiplying interests involved in the one case, warrant us to expect, if it were possible, prescriptions even more explicit, sanctions even more incontrovertible, than the other? But what are the facts of the respective cases? Why, when we open the Old Testament-the priesthood, under its proper designation, and in some or other of its branches or engagements, lives and moves before us in almost every page; while one entire book, and a

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considerable portion of others, are occupied by the arrangement of its services. If, however, we open the New Testament, and search through it from beginning to end, we shall find respecting the institution of an earthly priesthood for the Christian church-not a word; the title of priest applied to designate any minister of the Christian religion -not once; reference to priestly rites as discharged by one man for others-not one. That the writers of the New Testament employ no Levitical terms in their numerous references to the office and work of the Christian ministry, will appear the more remarkable, when it is remembered, that they had themselves been educated in the bosom of the Jewish church, that their earliest associations were connected with the work of its priesthood-and that, on almost every other subject, Levitical analogies evidently presented themselves with spontaneous exuberance to their minds, and are most freely and beautifully recorded by their pens. It was only when writing upon that subject, in illustration of which, if modern ideas be correct, these analogies might have been employed with most propriety and effect, that they carefully abstain from their use; or rather, the current of their thoughts in reference to the Christian ministry flowed in channels so different from those which have been subsequently opened, that they never occurred in this connexion to their minds."-p. 17 to 18.

Among the various readers into whose hands this volume may fall, few will suspect the author of being partial to church establishments. Their alliance with the state he views as hostile to their prosperity; wealth, and secular power, paralyzing all the energies of their members, and rendering them little better than a splendid but lifeless mass.

"Those," he argues, " would prove themselves the best friends of the episcopal church, who would endeavour to extricate her from that alliance, and withdraw her from those endow

ments, which secularize her spirit, fetter her liberty, and weaken her moral strength. Episcopacy maintains itself in Scotland amid the indignant recollections and inveterate prejudices of the people, and under the discountenance of the authorities in the state. In republican America, an ungenial climate, where, like every other religious system, it is unfettered and uncontaminated by political interference, it is said to flourish and increase. It is only in England, its native soil and friendly atmosphere, where wealth, learning, antiquity, the deeply-rooted prejudices of hereditary rank and royalty, are on its side, where it lifts its mitred heads in courts and parliaments, that it withers and decays."-p. 302.

The author does not attempt to deny the provision made in the New Testament for the appointment of a Christian ministry, nor to doubt the legitimacy of such as give evidence of their credentials. But this establishment, he contends, bears no resemblance to the priestly office, and gives no sanction to the adoption of the name. The characters and offices he argues are essentially different, being founded on other principles, and belonging to quite another dispensation.

On all these topics, both negatively and positively, he has made out a strong case, having fortified his propositions with numerous arguments and authorities, derived from different sources. His language is

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