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on the guilty head of the owner, to fill up the measure of his sins!

Suppose a reverse of fortune-that an English or Scotch slaveholder or slavedealer is shipwrecked on the Barbary coast, and is retained as a slave by the Moors who seize him, or is sold as such to another person, according to the detestable custom of that savage people! Would he esteem himself the lawful property of his tawny master, because the wretched police of those barbarians, in tolerating slavery, is similar to his own former practices as an American slaveholder or African trader? Would he not think it cruel treatment to be esteemed a mere chattel, and, as such, to be ranked with the horses and oxen of his African master? Like them, to be compelled by stripes to perform the most servile and abject labor? Like them, to receive no wages, or other reward for his service, except a little coarse provender, merely to keep him in working order for his master's benefit? Would he not think himself grievously injured by being forcibly detained and prevented from working for himself? And would he not think himself absolutely robbed of the fruits of his own labor? He would certainly have ample reason to lament the Mahometan's ignorance of the heavenly precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" for he would then be taught, by his own sufferings, to comprehend the full force, extent, and meaning of that benevolent command, which, in his prosperity, he was never willing to understand, though the doctrine is so plain and obvious that there can be no excuse for misunderstanding it; for unless the slaveholder can make it appear that his slave is not his neighbor, he must necessarily acknowledge this "law of liberty" to be the true measure of his conduct and behavior towards his slave as well as towards all other men.

"He shall have judgment without mercy who hath shewed no mercy," by which the Apostle manifestly refers to the breach of that particular precept which ought to regulate the conduct of all mankind towards each other; and, therefore, we must acknowledge this same precept to be also the true measure or test on which our eternal doom will depend in that awful day when it "shall be measured unto us again," according to the measure of our actions, as declared by the Eternal Judge himself, whose words cannot fail! And if even a mere neglect or omission in our duty towards our neighbor is so offensive to our blessed Lord that he esteems it as a denial and affront to his own person, how much more offensive to him must be the actual commission of the

Matt. vii. 2; Mark iv. 24; Luke vi. 38.

1

grossest injuries, such as the exaction of an involuntary service from our poor brethren "without wages," and the various cruelties usually practised to enforce the same, which are the necessary and unavoidable attendants on slavery! What a dreadful measure of retribution, then, may obstinate and unrepenting slaveholders and slavedealers justly expect from the righteous Judge! Surely there is but too much cause to apprehend that Christ will one day profess unto them-"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me!" *

*

The African slave trade, which includes the most contemptuous violations of brotherly love and charity that men can be guilty of, is openly encouraged and promoted by the British Parliament! And the most detestable and oppressive slavery that ever disgraced even the unenlightened heathens is notoriously tolerated in the British Colonies by the public acts of their respective assemblies -by acts that have been ratified with the assent and concurrence of British kings!

The horrible guilt, therefore, which is incurred by slavedealing and slaveholding, is no longer confined to the few hardened individuals that are immediately concerned in those baneful practices, but, alas! the whole British empire is involved!

By the unhappy concurrence of national authority, the guilt is rendered national; and national guilt must inevitably draw down from God some tremendous national punishment (which, I trust, is fully demonstrated in my tract on The Law of Retribution), if we do not speedily "take away the accursed thing from among us"-if we do not carefully reform and redress at least every public and notorious violation of God's "royal law,” “the perfect law of liberty!"

"Glory to GoD in the highest!

And on Earth-Peace,

Good will towards men!"

HERBERT KNOWLES, 1798-1817.

Or this most promising youth, who was born in Canterbury, in the year 1798, I can find no particular account, except the following concluding paragraph of an article in the twenty-first volume of the "London Quarterly Review," upon the "Cemeteries and Catacombs of Paris:"

1 Matt. xxv. 40.

"We cannot close this article more appropriately than by a churchyard poem, written by a youth who soon afterwards was laid in the grave himself. His life had been eventful and unfortunate, till his extraordinary merits were discovered by persons capable of appreciating, and willing and able to assist him. He was then placed under a kind and able instructor, and arrangements had been made for supporting him at the university; but he had not enjoyed that prospect many weeks, before it pleased God to remove him to a better world. The reader will remember that they are the verses of a schoolboy, who had not long been taken from one of the lowest stations of life, and he will then judge what might have been expected from one who was capable of writing with such strength and originality upon the tritest of all subjects.”

LINES WRITTEN IN THE CHURCHYARD OF RICHMOND, YORKSHIRE.

"It is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles : one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias."-Matthew xvii. 4.

Methinks it is good to be here;

If thou wilt, let us build-but for whom?
Nor Elias nor Moses appear;

But the shadows of eve, that encompass with gloom
The abode of the dead and the place of the tomb.

Shall we build to Ambition? Ah no!

Affrighted, he shrinketh away;

For see, they would pin him below

In a small narrow cave, and, begirt with cold clay,
To the meanest of reptiles a peer and a prey.

To Beauty? Ah no! she forgets

The charms which she wielded before;

Nor knows the foul worm that he frets,

The skin which but yesterday fools could adore,

For the smoothness it held or the tint which it wore.

Shall we build to the purple of Pride,

The trappings which dizen the proud?

Alas! they are all laid aside,

And here's neither dress nor adornments allowed,
But the long winding-sheet and the fringe of the shroud.

To Riches? Alas! 'tis in vain;

Who hid in their turns have been hid;

The treasures are squandered again;

And here in the grave are all metals forbid

But the tinsel that shines on the dark coffin lid.

To the pleasures which Mirth can afford,
The revel, the laugh, and the jeer?

Ah! here is a plentiful board!

But the guests are all mute as their pitiful cheer,
And none but the worm is a reveller here.

Shall we build to Affection and Love?
Ah no! they have withered and died,

Or fled with the spirit above.

Friends, brothers, and sisters are laid side by side,
Yet none have saluted, and none have replied.

Unto sorrow ?-the Dead cannot grieve;
Not a sob, not a sigh meets mine ear,

Which Compassion itself could relieve.
Ah, sweetly they slumber, nor love, hope, or fear;
Peace! peace is the watchword, the only one here.
Unto Death, to whom monarchs must bow?
Ah no! for his empire is known,

And here there are trophies enow!

Beneath the cold dead, and around the dark stone,
Are the signs of a sceptre that none may disown.
The first tabernacle to Hope we will build,
And look for the sleepers around us to rise!

The second to Faith, which insures it fulfilled;

And the third to the Lamb of the great sacrifice,

Who bequeathed us them both when He rose to the skies.

THOMAS BROWN, 1778-1820.

THOMAS BROWN, the distinguished metaphysician, was born at Kirkmabreck,' in Scotland, and was the youngest son of the Rev. Samuel Brown, minister of the parish. His father having died when he was an infant, he was placed by his maternal uncle, from his seventh till his fourteenth year, at different schools near London, in all of which he made great progress in classical literature. Upon the death of his uncle in 1792, he returned to his mother's house in Edinburgh, and entered as a student in the university. His attention was at once directed to metaphysical studies by Dugald Stewart's "Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind" being put into his hands, and the next winter he attended Mr. Stewart's class. Here he immediately distinguished himself by his acute and profound observations upon this subject, and a friendship commenced between the illustrious teacher and his no less illustrious pupil which continued through life.

In 1798, he published "Observations on the Zoonomia of Dr. Darwin," which was considered a remarkable production for one so young. In 1803, having attended the usual medical course, he took his degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he brought out the first edition of his poems,

In the county of Kirkcudbright, in the south-west part of Scotland, about eighty miles south-west of Edinburgh, near Solway Frith.

in two volumes, which exhibit marks of an original mind, and a refined taste. His next publication was an examination of the principles of Mr. Hume respecting causation, which Sir James Mackintosh pronounced the finest model in mental philosophy since Berkeley and Hume. A second edition was published in 1806, and a third in 1818, so enlarged as to be almost a new work, under the title of "An Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect."

Up to the year 1808, Dr. Brown continued a practising physician in Edinburgh, though it was not the calling suited to his taste and studies. This year a circumstance occurred that placed him in a situation that entirely harmonized with his inclinations. The health of Professor Stewart had been declining for some time, and he applied to Dr. Brown to supply his place for a short time, with lectures of his own composition. He did so, and gave universal satisfaction; and in 1810 he was, agreeably to Mr. Stewart's wishes, appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy, in conjunction with him. He entered upon his duties with great ardor and untiring industry, and prepared for his students that series of lectures on which his fame rests. In the summer of 1814, he published anonymously his poem entitled "The Paradise of Coquettes," which met with a very favorable reception; and in the next year two others, "The Wanderer of Norway," and "The Bower of Spring." In the autumn of 1819, he commenced his text-book for the benefit of his students. He was then in good health, but in December he became indisposed, and during the summer recess his health seemed evidently to be failing. "When he again met his class in the fall, his lecture unfortunately happened to be one which he was never able to deliver without being much moved, and from the manner in which he recited the very affecting lines from Beattie's 'Hermit,' it was conceived by many that the emotion he displayed arose from a foreboding of his own approaching dissolution."

"Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more;

I mourn, but ye woodlands I mourn not for you;

For morn is approaching your charms to restore,

Perfum'd with fresh fragrance, and glittering with dew:

Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn;

Kind nature the embryo blossom shall save;

But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn?

O, when will it dawn on the night of the grave!

This was the last lecture he ever delivered. Day after day he became weaker, and he died on the 2d of April, 1820.

The most prominent features of Dr. Brown's character were great gentle. ness, kindness, and delicacy of mind, united with great independence of spirit, a strong love of liberty, and a most ardent desire for the diffusion of knowledge, and virtue, and happiness among mankind. The predominating quality of his intellectual character was, unquestionably, his power of analysis, in which he had few equals. In his prose he has shown great powers of

"Encyclopædia Britannica," vol. v.

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