Though an inclination to a kept mistress is seldom lasting, it would be unjust to conclude that every voluntary union would be short-lived. The connexion between a rake and a courtesan is only founded on his blind passion and her sordid interest. If disgust succeed not to his raptures, she will quit him so soon as his fortune is unable to satisfy her avarice or to support her extravagance. But though a gross impulse should not attach the debauchee to the illiterate, unaccomplished and depraved courtesan, constancy would unite lovers of a more amiable character. A woman may possess virtues and qualities which no marriage ring, no nuptial benediction can communicate. Could a man of feeling cease to love her? If a spontaneous constancy should not animate such a couple, would not a forced constancy be unnatural, and, if unnatural, detrimental and impolitic? The Spanish lady is permitted to choose and change her cicesbeo; yet this extraordinary connection, which being voluntary must exceed marriage in happiness, equals it in constancy; and the enamoured pair are usually torn asunder by death alone. Beside, if both parties were allowed to separate at pleasure, both would be reciprocally more attentive and obliging in their behaviour; whereas, at present, if a man and woman in company are particularly rude and indifferent to each other, one may conclude that they are man and wife.

Is not human life sufficiently beset with misfortunes? Are not the fondest hopes of mortals subject to disappointments? their existence embittered by the loss of whatever is dear to them, and their health the sport of a multiplicity of diseases? But must the lawgiver contribute to their misery? He should not measure out every indulgence with the severity of an Egyptian taskmaster, but should allow every gratification which is not attended by pernicious consequences.* Should his sagacity favor an institution which cramps the genius and vigor of the male, or his justice tolerate a ceremony which debases the female into a slave?

When bondage was abolished, the land-holders conceived themselves ruined; but their estates were cultivated by freemen, and they found themselves richer than before. In like manner men would profit by the liberty of women; for what man of generous sentiments would not prefer the affections of the spirited and accomplished Eloisa to the passive obedience which Sarah paid to her lord and master Abraham?

Mrs. Wolstonecraft proposes the foundation of public schools where both sexes might be educated together. During the ex-.

The North-American Indians laugh at the Europeans for having only one wife, and that for life; as they conceive the Good Spirit formed them to be happy, and not to continue together unless their tempers and dispositions be congenial.--- Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter, by J. Long.---1791.

In the course of this romance will be proved the possibility of educating

istence of marriage, and the present ideas on chastity, this project would be impossible; but under the Nair system nothing could be so advantageous. A union of two strangers would not have the same prospects of stability as one between a couple who have had every opportunity of knowing each other. Would not friendship, habit, and the pleasing recollection of every event which occurred in the days of childhood and innocence, unite them without chains, and promise a perpetual constancy? What are so lasting as the friendships commenced at school or college? Such are the advantages of the Nair system. O ye, who boast of your benevolent feelings, whose humanity urges you to unshakle the captive African, or to unfurl on Sierra-Leona the white banner of liberty, why should ye fly so far from the polished world in quest of objects of pity? Rather rescue your sisters and manumit your wives from an oppressive yoke, and promote a system which merits the attention of the politician, because favorable to population; which claims the approbation of the aristocrat, because it would ensure to the nobility a birth incontestably genuine ; and demands the support of the philanthropist, because it would augment the happiness and liberty of mankind.

the two sexes at the same school, without danger from any indulgence previous to the age determined by the law.

This continence among school-fellows must not be judged impracticable, when it is practised by bed-fellows; and not only in America, but in the heart of the British empire. The peasant in Wales is in the habit of going to bed to his sweetheart, to say soft things and talk to her of love; and she rises so unpolluted from the side of a vigorous swain as if she had been reposing in the arms of a primitive bishop, who wished, by mortifying the flesh, to gain a victory over the devil. It is at least so probable, that the Welch bride, after having had frequent parleys in the bed of courtship, will enter the bed of marriage a virgin, as the young lady educated in the convent, or the prude who, in crossing a stile, fears to show her legs to a man. “The servant-maid of the family that I visited in Caernarvonshire," says Pratt in his Gleanings, "was the object of a young peasant, who walked eleven long miles every Sunday morning, and regularly returned the same night through all weathers, to be ready for Monday's employment in the fields, being simply a day-labourer. He usually arrived in time for morning prayers, which he constantly attended; after which, he escorted his Dulcinea home to the house of her master, by whose permission they as constantly_passed the succeeding hour in bed, according to the custom of the country. These tender sabbatical preliminaries continued near two years, when the treaty of alliance was solemnized.

"My friend informed me, that, during thirty-six years residence in Wales, he had seen so few abuses of this mode of courtship, that he conceived it as innocent as any other. One proof of its being thought so by the parties, is the perfect ease and freedom with which it is done. No aukwardness or confusion appears on either side; the most well-behaved and decent young women give into it without a blush; and the Welch women are by no means deficient in modesty: Thus the force of habit is stronger than the force of passion."

Printed and Published by RICHard Carlile, 62, Fleet-street, where all Communications, post-paid, or free of expense, are requested to be left.

The Lion.

No. 22. VOL. 2.] LONDON, Friday, Nov. 28, 1828. [PRICE 6d.

Every Clergyman of the Established Church, is, at his ordination, declared to have received the Holy Ghost.

"The Reverend Peter Fenn, who, for forgery, is ordered for execution on Monday next, is an ordained Clergyman of the Established Church.

66

The clerical or law-established inference is, that THE HOLY GHOST IS TO BE HANGED ON MONDAY NEXT!!!"

THE foregoing sentences form a placard in my shop window, at the bottom of which, I refer the reader to this number of THE LION. There is nothing now more clear, than that the religion of the country is such a mass of absurdity, that every man of common information is ashamed of its definitions and inferences. We have here a striking instance of the absurdity. A clergyman, or preacher of the Christian religion, is, in this country, declared to be called by the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God, to become a preacher of this God's revelation to mankind, or rather to the small portion of them who are Christians, and that he has no temporal motive, no view to profit, never thinks about a bishopric or a benefice, the call is purely spiritual, he receives and is filled with the Holy Ghost, and when once filled, no power on earth or in heaven can recall from him that Holy Ghost-once a priest a priest for ever. It is upon this recognized canonical principle, that Robert Taylor finds the title of reverend stick to him. He cannot get rid of the Holy Ghost. He cannot squeeze or blow it out of him. It is completely a part of his system, and he feels, that he must bear the spiritual inhalation to death. He is most distinctly sensible, that the same Holy

Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 62. Fleet Street. No. 22.-Vol. 2. 2 x

Ghost which called him to reveal or to preach certain revelations, thonght better of the matter, altered its mind, and finding its ally honest and with talent enough, called upon him to attack those revelations as abominable absurdities and falsehoods.

The same was the case with the Reverend John Horne, afterwards called Horne Tooke. In his case it was decided by the House of Commons, that he had received the Holy Ghost, that the Holy Ghost was not competent to legislate for the aristocracy, and that it should not be a member of the House of Commons. The principle, that the Holy Ghost, once having entered, was inseparable from the man, was solemnly decided by the House

of Commons.

Let us apply this principle fairly and candidly to the case of the Reverend Peter Fenn, and we shall find, that THE HOLY GHOST IS TO BE HANGED ON MONDAY NEXT.

Let me not be considered as treating with levity the fate of a human being sentenced to die. I do not here meddle with the case, but with the religious character of the man, for the purpose of setting forth in a new light the absurdities of that religion. am not here meddling with the question as to whether death in cases of forgery be proper or not, I am attacking, not the man, nor the law which condemns him, nor the administration of the law which puts that condemnation into execution; but the religion of the country as mixed up with the fate of the reverend criminal.

The Morning Herald of this morning tells us, that the reverend culprit, declaims vehemently against his execution, and styles it a legal murder. He does not seem to be concerned, as I am concerned, about the hanging and legal murder of the Holy Ghost, which, of course, as it was sent into him for the sole purpose of teaching and directing him how to preach the Christian religion, cannot be a particeps criminis with the evil spirit that conjointly inhabited the Reverend Divine, and induced him to commit the forgery. Alas! for the hard fate of the Holy Ghost!

Nor is this hanging of the Holy Ghost more of a mystery than the crucifixion of the Son of God. And as one part of the trinity has died on a cross, and another part is about to die on a gallows, if the third will but take a fancy to death in some similar way, we may get rid of all contention about this great mystery, at least, until we get to heaven, and meet them again in their immortalities. At any rate, it would be wise to suspend the contention until we get near enough to the mystery to have some proof of it. It would be wise not to dispute the matter and to cut throats and characters about it, while we are on earth.

I am a Christian Iconoclast. I have in my shop window, the Father, the Mother, and the Son, but I and my boys failed to

complete the mystery of the trinity or quaternity in unity, we could not paint a good pigeon, and so the divine family groupe is incomplete. After the Holy Ghost be hanged, we must try what we can do in the exhibition of a dead pigeon; for the present, I must content myself in giving, as it has been given to me from the mouth of an inspired poet, a new version or definition of the mystery of the trinity:

"Skilful a thesis to maintain,

A student in divinity,

Asked me in triumph to explain
The mystery of the trinity:
Quoth I, my friend, I trust I can,
The doctrine may seem odd,

But as nine tailors make a man,
Three persons make a God.”

RICHARD CARLILE.

To the Editor of "The Lion."

SIR, I have been requested to write a few lines to you, on account of the death of an acquaintance, who has been a reader and admirer of your publications ever since you began The Republican.

Edward Sale, the subject of this letter, died on the 24th of last month, in the 55th year of his age, after a long and painful illness, which he bore with manly fortitude. His understanding never failed him, nor did he ever swerve from the principles he had imbibed and maintained during his life. This has been fully confirmed by all those present. Notwithstanding this, it has been scandalously reported, that he "cried out for mercy, that he died under the horrors of a miserable conscience, and the sense of an eternal damnation." It is also reported, there was a man in the room, who said to him, "damn you, you don't die tender," which I am requested to contradict, for no one was in the room at the time, but his daughters, who state that he appeared perfectly tranquil. But what will not Christians do or say, in support of that mischievous system, which has been so long maintained and supported at the expence of public virtue. And supposing he died as he is represented by those zealous Christian truth-speakers, (who fear no lies but those against the Holy Ghost) he would only have been like thousands of Christians, who have died under more of the horrors of a miserable conscience, than it were possible for the Infidel to have been subject to.

If you will insert the above in THE LION, you will oblige me and the relations of your late subscriber.

Nottingham, November 10, 1828.

I remain, your well-wisher,

JOHN BRADSHAW,