steadiness of pursuit, perseverance, patience, and comprehensiveness, he will never be so remarkable, as that other, for the brilliancy, variety, unexpectedness, or rapidity of his intellectual combinations. But give the same bauble to the other, and he will hardly stop to examine it. The first sound that passes his ear; the first gay colour that flashes on his eye; the first active, tingling sensation that intrudes itself in any way, through any sense, every one of which is on the alert, will carry him away; he is all eagerness, impatience, and caprice he reaches for everything -cries for everything-crams everything into his mouth; while his eyes are taking in the colour of the coral, he will be blowing away at the whistle, shaking the bells, and pulling at his mother's watch chain. That child will never be profound. He will never think steadily enough, to become a great mechanick, theologian, linguist, or man of science. He will be chiefly remarkable for brilliant and hasty coruscations of intellect, spirited adventure, and splendour of theory-precipitation, showyness, and hardihood. Such a man, too, will be likely to turn out a poet, a painter, a musician, or an orator; and, in either case, he will force his own spirit, like a flood of fire, into every subject with which he comes in contact. He will never reason, never convince; but he will dazzle and confound, terrify and illuminate, all who hearken to him, by the flashing and brightness of his imagination. It may be said, perhaps, that, on the contrary, in proportion to the animal sensibility of the child, will be the fixedness of his attention, upon any one subject-being more affected by it, he will be more engaged. To this, every person's recollection will furnish a complete reply. Place a man in the middle of the Louvre, (as it was)—a man of enthusiasm-a lover of the fine arts-a man of surpassing animal sensibility-and will any one masterpiece be able to fix his attention, as it would, if he had it alone, and apart from all the rest? But, in the midst of the dazzling confusion of colour and spectacle, that surround him, let the galleries be all lighted up; fill them all with incense; beauti.ul women, extraordinary men, banquetting, pageantry, and procession, so that every sense may be VOL. XVI. kindled to delirium, at the same instant, what will he hear, or see, or remember of any one thing? what, in comparison with some other man, who was blind, or deaf, or insensible to show and beauty; or, who had the faculty, no matter how acquired, of abstracting himself instantaneously, and concentrating all his powers of observation upon any one object? These are precisely the two children: One sees, hears, feels, tastes, smells everything, and all at the same time, owing to the vivacity of his temperament; the other goes thoughtfully over one thing at a time, without feeling so intensely altogether, but feeling more intensely upon some division, some part of the spectacle. One sees double, in the ardour and intoxication of every sense; the other, singly and soberly. The first becomes a poet, or an orator; the latter, a reasoner, a mathematician. One looks for resemblances, types, apparitions, and shadows; the other will have nothing to do with resemblance -he must have proof-substantial, unequivocal, undeniable proof. Well then, if this be substantially true, (and, what more can we ask for a new theory?)-if it be true, that people of the most imagination are always remarkable, for a nervous temperament, great animal sensibility, and a certain delicacy of animal organization; if it be true that (other circumstances being equal-as age and education,) people so distinguished, by delicacy of bodily structure, great animal sensibility, and a nervous irritability of temperament, have more imagination than their fellows, (and are more subject to the diseases and disorders of the imagination, as they certainly are-witness nervous women, and delicate men)—and if the faculty of imagination waxes and wanes with our animal sensibility— flourishing precisely in that season, when our animal temperament is most irritable, irritating, and active-(as in youth, or under disease, when the whole atmosphere becomes luminous with beauty, and crowded with a magnificent population; or when we have taken wine, musick, or opium, till our animal nature is inflamed,) and gradually decaying with our animal sensibility,—if this be substantially true, (and who will deny it?)-then have Ì established my first proposition 3 E that imagination is always proportioned to animal sensibility, and delicacy of animal organization. My second, that women have more animal sensibility; and are more delicately organized than men, will require no farther proof, than the observation of every human being will furnish, at a glance. The conclusion, then, is unavoidable, that women have more imagination than men. But while I believe this, and consider it so evident, as to be incapable of dispute, I would add that their imagination is different from that of men; and that I do not allow them any superiority, in consequence of their having more imagination than we-any more than I allow young people to be superior to full-grown men, although the former have undoubtedly more imagination than the latter. Another inference to be drawn from what I have said, is this, that we must expect women to be productive in those departments of literature, and the fine arts, where young men are, of similar animal sensibility. The delicacy of their organs, and, of course, the vivacity of their impressions, will prevent either from becoming profound-or so profound, as others, whose temperament is less irritable; but then, they will be, for that very reason, altogether more remarkable for splendour and beauty of imagination-adventure-chivalry -feverish enterprize, and surprising combinations of thought. Perhaps, also, it will not be going too far to say, that, admitting the original intellectual properties and capacities of man to be alike in every man, this difference alone, of animal sensibility and animal organization, will be sufficient to explain and account for all the differences in the subsequent intellectual appetites, pursuits, and disclosures of men; and, perhaps, for all the phenomena attendant upon what we call the genius of men—a difference of genius being, after all, chiefly, if not entirely, owing to a difference of animal organization. It is not fair then-it is worse-it is unphilosophical, and cruel, to ask, where we are to look for a Shakespeare or a Cervantes, among women?-Wait until women are educated like mentreated like men-and permitted to talk freely, without being put to shame, because they are women-wait, indeed, until there have been as many female writers, as there were male writers, before Shakespeare and Cervantes appeared; and, so far as the imagination alone, of either, is concerned, I do not scruple to say, that they will be fully equalled by women. OMEGA. SONG." There is not a breath." THERE is not a breath on the breast of the ocean, And the mariner anxiously plies at the oar, Yet mournful I wander, though beauties surround me, In her mantle of darkness affliction hath bound me, And dried up the fountain of peace from my heart: A THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE DISSENTERS. WE are not among those who could witness with pleasure the total annihilation of the Dissenters. We do not agree with them in doctrine; we dislike some of their conduct; but, nevertheless, believing, as we are taught to believe, that the creeds of many of them, in essential points, will lead to Heaven, we think they have their uses in more ways than are dreamed of; and that, so long as they are kept within a certain limit, with regard to power and numbers, they produce far more rational benefits than evils. Speaking, in the first place, of religious matters―The dissenting ministers act upon the regular clergy, much as the Opposition acts upon the Ministry; and the loss of them would be almost as severely felt, in a religious way, as the loss of the Opposition would be in a political one. A national clergy can only be taken from the mass of mankind; it cannot be perfectly freed from the infirmities of human nature, and it necessarily needs those stimulants to right conduct and the due discharge of duty, which are needed by all bodies of men, whatever may be their character. Freedom from opponents and competitors-absolute monopoly-in our judgment, mainly produced those monstrous errors and abuses which have so long characterised the Roman Catholic Church; and we think the same cause would produce, to a very great extent, in any church, the same consequences. We doubt that any laws any church regulations-any interference of the government, or of the laity-could prevent the evils; or that anything, save rival religious teachers, could operate with due effect upon a national clergy, so as to spur it to the discharge of duty on the one hand, and to restrain it from ecclesiastical tyranny on the other. We are well aware that it is charged upon the Dissenters, that they destroy the knowledge and practice of genuine religion, and that they produce fanaticism and party animosity. Now, the greater part of the charge is abundantly refuted by the state of the country; and if we grant the remainder to be just, it is unworthy of notice, when placed in comparison with the benefits which flow from the Dissenters. In no country in the whole world is religion-not nominal and spurious, but genuine Bible religion-so generally understood and practised as in our own. The people of other states may be the slaves of their priests; they may be much more attentive in the observance of religious formalities than ourselves; they may be religious fanatics; but with regard to true religious knowledge and practice, they fall very far below us. In no other people do religious principles operate so unremittingly and powerfully; and in no other people do such principles produce such abundant portion of justice, integrity, benevolence, and virtue. Public morals in Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, &c. are in the lowest state; they have reached an elevation in Great Britain, to which they never previously ascended in any great nation. In Ireland, and in every continental nation where the clergy have an actual or virtual monopoly, fanaticism of the worst kind abounds; but with us it is little known; it only shews itself among the most ignorant, and it assumes its mildest and most pardonable form. We, as a people, cannot be made to believe, that a clergy can work miracles, and exercise the other attributes of the Deity; we cannot be taught to hate and consign to perdition our fellow-creatures, because they belong to another religion; and our religious teachers cannot drag us after them beyond the point to which the Scriptures command us to follow. Where monopoly exists, and discussion is prohibited, it is the manifest interest of the clergy to establish superstition and fanaticism, and to assume the attributes of God; in an opposite state of things, contrary conduct is the manifest interest of religious teachers. If a minister of religion among us propagate doctrines glaringly at variance with the Bible and common sense, his opponents immediately attack him, expose his errors, and strip him of all but the most worthless followers. He can only hope to gain proselytes where he wishes to gain them, and where he must gain them, to keep his sect in existence-among the middling and respectable classes-by making his creed to harmonize in essentials with the Scriptures and reason. Our Joanna Southcotes and Prince Hohenlohes can only pick up a few disciples among the dregs of the nation; and the monstrous absurdities with which they commence, are either gradually abandoned as they proceed, or the teachers themselves are abandoned. Even more powerful bodies of Dissenters have been long silently modifying their creed and conduct to protect them from attack, and to adapt them to the taste of the wealthy and intelligent. The Calvinists keep their more obnoxious principles in the back ground -and the Methodists openly condemn the field-preachings, groanings, convulsions, sudden conversions, &c. which were so highly in favour in the days of Wesley. In Catholic nations the most gross fanaticism is combined with the most gross immorality; but with us, fanaticism is almost invariably united with peculiar purity of life. We are so well acquainted with the Scriptures-we know so well what the lives of religious people ought to be-that no sect can flourish or exist among us, which does not profess to hold vice and immorality in abhorrence. Fanaticism here may produce preposterous and even guilty errors with regard to belief; but it almost always amends the life, and renders essential service to public morals. The Dissenters undoubtedly create a certain portion of fanaticism, and a considerable portion of party animosity; but these kick the beam when thrown into the scale against the sobriety, integrity, and general good conduct which they produce among the lower classes of the community. It is chiefly to the practical want of rival religious teachers to the virtual monopoly enjoyed by the Catholic clergy-to the absence of religious discussion and controversy-that we ascribe the present benighted and horrible condition of Ireland. It is true, that two rival churches have long existed in that unhappy country; but while the one is followed by nearly the whole of the people, the other makes scarcely any proper efforts to obtain proselytes. In England, the government encourages the clergy to resist the Dissenters; wealth and dignities are showered upon those who distinguish themselves in behalf of the church; but in Ireland, the clergy are encouraged to remain passive in the most important part of their duty; and a clergyman could hardly do anything that would more effectually thwart his promotion, than to exert himself to the utmost in attacking the errors of Popery. The clergyman receives nearly the same income without, as with, a congregation; and in so far as he is acted upon by interest, it leads him to avoid all contest with his rivals. While this is the case, the Catholic priests are stimulated by interest and everything else to strain every nerve to fill their followers with detestation of their opponents; they are almost exclusively heard by the people; and as to morals, it is clear, from the state of their flocks, that they take no pains to teach them. Ireland, therefore, has the evils of a religious opposition, if we may so speak, without the benefits. The two churches are much in the same situation as the Ministry and the Opposition would be placed in, were the former to be restricted from defending its own creed and attacking that of its adversary, and the latter to be possessed of almost boundless liberty. The toleration of which we boast so much is virtually denied to the regular clergy, while their opponents enjoy what amounts to much more than toleration. Were the Whigs and the Tories to be plaIced in the relative circumstances in which the two churches stand, the people of England would very speedily be all converted to Whiggism. The consequences are, that real and beneficial religious discussion and controversy are in a great measure unknown, and of course real and beneficial religious knowledge is unknown. The followers are engaged in strife instead of the leaders, and Ireland has religious war, but not religious argumentation and instruction. The argument that the active exertions of the clergy against Popery would produce additional party animosity and turbulence, is below contempt. It is refuted both by experience and reason. In England, the zealous struggles between the dissenting ministers and the clergy, have stimulated both to sanctity of life, and the laborious discharge of duty. The discussions and controversies to which they have given birth, have destroyed the mischievous parts of ecclesiastical discipline and authority, have explained what seemed ambiguous, and reconciled what seemed discordant in the Scriptures-have cut off, or ren dered harmless, the rotten parts of almost every creed, and have at the same moment engaged the nation in the study of religious matters, and placed before it the most ample supply of instruction. If any reason exist, why the same cause should not produce in due season the same effects in Ireland, it is not within the range of our powers of vision. Nothing can permanently pacify and reform Ireland, but the overthrow of the fabric of Popish tyranny and superstition under which the people groan; and this cannot be overthrown if it be not attacked-if it be not, moreover, attacked by the proper assailants and with the proper weapons. Having spoken of the religious benefits that flow from the Dissenters, we will now speak of the political ones, which are, in our judgment, of very high importance. Our government is called one of checks and balances; the definition would perhaps be more perfect if it included the term-stimulants. Now it must be obvious to every man who can use his eyes, that the stimulants, checks, and balances, must operate duly upon the whole mass of the community, or they will never operate duly upon the government. The Opposition would be nearly worthless, if it did not stand upon, and receive support from, a large portion of the nation. All the component parts of the government to which the characteristics-stimulants, checks, and balances belong, must virtually derive their power of acting from the party and other divisions of the community. Those who support the Ministry, cannot at the same time support the Opposition; the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Crown, must have their respective parties to support them. Our Three Estates-our government of stimulants, checks, and balances are in reality but the acting members of the grand parties into which the community at large is divided; and to assume that such a government could exist in anything but name, amidst a unanimous population, would be the most monstrous of assumptions. If we look into our history, we find that whenever the nation was generally unanimous, the stimulants, checks, and balances ceased to operate, and the Constitution was practically laid aside, to make way for the tyranny of a king or a faction. The division of the population merely into Whigs and Tories, is very far from being sufficient for the preservation of our constitution and liberties. It ought to be divided into many parties, we could almost say the more the better, provided every one be faithful to the Constitution and laws. Were the population to consist principally of two, it would be almost impossible for the equipoize to be maintained between them; the one would frequently be powerless and passive, and the other would as frequently be without any effectual stimulant, check, and balance. The fewer parties we have, the greater is the danger that one of them will obtain mischievous preponderance. Every one knows that when a party comprehends the great majority of a people, has its passions inflamed by conflict and victory, and is irresistible, it will resort to the wildest measures of outrage and tyranny, even though the consequences ultimately fall on itself. If we dissect the form of society in England, the operation throws a flood of light upon the secret of our liberty. In no other country in the world does it possess a frame so strong and so perfect. Every inch, from its prodigious base to its towering and splendid apex, displays the most solid inaterials and the most finished symmetry—the most accurate proportions of stone, cement, wood, iron, and gold-everything save flaw and defect-nearly everything that can render a fabric everlasting. In most other countries, society presents scarcely anything but a void between an ignorant labouring population, and a needy and profligate nobility; its parts have but little connexion, are disproportionate, and cannot balance and bind each other; but with us the space between the plough man and the peer, is crammed with circle after circle, fitted in the most admirable manner for sitting upon each other, for connecting the former with the latter, and for rendering the whole perfect in cohesion, strength, and beauty. This multiplicity of classes has its natural attendant, a multiplicity of interests. We have a mighty shipping interest, a mighty mercantile interest, a mighty trading interest, a |