York, 22d July, or Aug. 18, it will do. Mr. Emery will not quit me till the London theatre opens-therefore you can only play occasionally-but you will have full scope untill the end of October, and then I can judge of continuance or raising terms, according to your desert and success-for a good comedian only will do if I can get him. Your, &c. TATE WILKINSON. Dear Sir-I am truly pleased at your success, and think it a feather in the York company-but you write to me as if I was in a recoverable state-instead of that, (to write) this is a violent fatigue. I had near 901. monday night at Leeds-but I am not equal to be pleased, or to eat any thing. I am worse than ever. Your letter is now before me. I cannot get through it, yet you write to me as if I was as gay as yourself. I want to see no July Richards or Octavians-not but you may tell Mr. Elliston if he can come on the 7th Sunday in Trinity I shall be glad to see him. Tell him to write by return. He can play on Monday in London-monday, Aug. 12. I have no strength or time for compliments. Wishing you good health Yours in great pain, to me. To Mr. Mathews. Spirit of the Magazines. LIFE OF GENERAL MINA. THIS brave patriot has at length consented to gratify the wishes of his friends by a brief history of his life, or rather of his campaigns, for his private annals are mingled up and chronicled in those of his unhappy country. Whatever of prejudice attached to his name will now be fully removed by this publication; and if the character of Mina once attracted notice by his chivalrous devotion to Spain, in her days of tribulation, the interest will, for the same reason, be tenfold increased. The difficulties with which he had to encounter, in his career of glory, are plainly and modestly told. He was the son of an honest farmer of Idozin, in the province of Navarre, and until his 20th year devoted himself to the labours of husbandry. His patriotism was first excited by the treacherous invasion of Spain by Napoleon in 1808; and, anxious to serve his country, he abandoned his native village in 1809, and enlisted as a private soldler. By his bravery 66 and good conduct in irregular skirmishing, he soon rose to the situation of commander-in-chief of the Guerilla of Navarre. His services were agreeable to the Regency, which governed the kingdom during the captivity of Ferdinand, that they heaped military honours upon him, the bare enumeration of which occupies two pages of the work. This patronage was not bestowed in vain. Mina became the chief actor in every warlike effort which the Spanish army made, while we acted as their auxiliaries; and though his troops were ill-provided with necessary equipments-though military stores could not be obtained, except by breve manu captures from the enemy; and even defection was sown in his camp, he still maintained his ground; and to his effective aid in distracting the forces of the French, our successes at Vittoria and Pampeluna may be greatly attributed. He kept his authority and command till the return of Ferdinand, when despotism and fanaticism having arrayed themselves against Constitutional liberty, he was obliged to exile himself in France. This finished his "Campaign of Independence." After spending six years under Buonaparte and the Bourbons, he arrived in Spain, and was almost immediately afterwards invested with a command in chief. The exertions in the "Campaign of Liberty' did not sully the laurels which he had already gained. He was ever to be found firm at his post-the same brave patriot-the same intrepid soldier who rose superior to the obstacles which were thrown in his path, and to the evil machinations of his enemies. But the irruption of the French-coming like a torrent from the Pyrenees to destroy every vestige of national independence, completely paralyzed the hand of Mina. Stretched on the sick-bed-without troops-without resources-surrounded by spies and traitors, he languished for some time in Spain, vainly expecting a re-action in the minds of his degraded countrymen. "At last," says he, p. 101, “when the Constitutional Government was dissolved, with the Cortes; the King restored to absolute power; and when the enemy's army, reinforced by the 5th corps, under the command of Marshal Lauriston, was threatening a formidable siege to the only places in Cataluna which continued to defend themselves, Barcelona, Tarragona, and Hostalrich; what was to be done? To prolong the defence of them was next to impossible; hope there was none; and LIFE OF GENERAL MINA. to bury ourselves in their ruins was absolutely useless. These strong and afflicting motives obliged me to conIclude with Marshal Moncey, for the occupation of those three places, the treaty of the 1st of November, 1823." Mina now appears before us as the victim of a cruel and despicable tyrant -as one of the noblest spirits whom the convulsions of Spain called into a new existence. Many of his companions in arms, whose bosom throbbed with emotions as high and as pure, now sleep in a lowly and unhonoured grave: yet their memory will still be cherished by those who can sympathize with patriotism, in whatever station of life it may be educed. Revolution does not merely chafe the surface of society into billows; it descends into its deep and hidden recesses. Every link in the national chain, from the monarch to the serf, experiences its influence; and that talent and enterprise which yawned over the plough, the loom, or the anvil, are now strangely impelled into a more extended sphere. The great prizes in the lottery of life are now brought within the compass of every one; rank is stripped of its homage and respect and the naked strength of individual character triumphs over the artificial restraints which law and custom impose. It is true, that, when the great barriers of the government are gained, the collision of unrestrained passion-of unbridled ambition, and unrectified enthusiasm,deluge the country with the blood of civil strife; but after the scum has boiled over, and the pecculant humors are extracted, enough of the pure spirit remains, to infuse additional strength and energy into the national character. If governments were never chastened, by revolution, much of the latent power of the country would be lost, and the great germs of regeneration would lie concealed in the very depths of society, would become corrupt and rotten. During the struggles in France, what an array of talent was mustered by classes of society, whose natural rights previously were trod and trampled upon? Who could have thought that men, whose fathers were treated like brutes, and goaded to their toils by the whip, could all at once assume that intensity of feeling, and those high and lofty purposes, which befit those who are nurtured in the lap of a free and civilized community! Had France not been rocked to her lowest foundation, we would not have heard of the Marats, the Dantons, and the Dumouriers, who successively guided the public pulse; and, by a pa 317 rity of principle, La Fayette, Mirabeau, Condorcet, and others of as high birth, who rallied round the republican standard, would, in other circumstances, have allowed the vessel of the state to be fixed in the fetid bed of corruption. In England, the events which preceded the dynasty of Cromwell called forth new and unusual characters into the arena of active existence: men, in the most retired walks of life, felt the strong impulse of the times; and they who dreamt only of passing their days in the drowsy round of animal existence, suddenly became the arbiters of their country's fate. In truth, revolution, (however many the evils and disasters in its train) comes as a seasonable relief to states which have grown old in abuses, and have fallen into "the sear and yellow leaf;" and while it brings the antipodes of society together, it reads a memorable and impressive lesson to that ambition which exalts itself on the necks of a thralled and enslaved population. But, however clear these principles may seem to the candid enquirer-nay, to all who are interested in the growth of enlightened freedom, they are necessarily the objects of execration by legitimate governments. When the tempest of revolution has burst forth, and is fast overwhelming every regal attribute, monarchs think it wise to stoop to its fury, and to hold out the olive-branch of peace and concession to their infuriated subjects. But when the atmosphere has lost its fiery hues, and when the flushing verdure of tranquillity begins to re-appear, then do they shrink back from prom ses, and strive, by every effort, to efface the memory of the recent convulsions. When Ferdinand was throned anew in Spain, the first act of his reign was to revive those dark and terrific factions, which, under the pretext of restoring his government, had spread themselves over the country; and to mark out to his royal solicitude those characters who had been outlawed by the letter of the Constitution. France has followed this example. The Chamber of the Peers are now occupied with Villele's proposition for remunerating the noblesse who flocked to this country during the revolution. One naturally asks, why they alone, if the principle must be acted upon, should be singled out among the many victims of the riot and intoxication of the people. These emigrants-cemeuted to the ancient regime by the most powerful ties -were the first to abandon the sinking fortunes of their master. They did not rally round his banner, even when the continental potentates had leagued for his liberation-they made no diversions in the country, or in foreign parts, except the rash and ill concerted movements in La Vendée ;-they consulted their personal safety by flight, at the expense of their honour; and were content to receive the pensions of England, while the blood of the infatuated Louis stained the guillotine. Admitting that they were sufferers by the revolution, the folly of this measure is more apparent. All ranks and classes of people in France drunk as bitter (if not a bitterer) cup of misery. The hopes of the humble cottar, and of the wealthy husbandman-the coffers and speculations of the merchant-the schemes of the philosophers-the tenderest relations of domestic life-all sunk under the tide of blood which oozed from the pores of the state. Indemnify the widow for the loss of her husband-the orphans for the murder of their parents-give bread to the poor and comfort to the wretched-then may the claims of the noblesse be entitled to a bearing. But to fatten up the remains of this profligate and idiot race, and to turn a deaf ear to the complaints of the lower classes, is to tear open those wide wounds which the course of events has tried to heal, and to recal those odious distinctions which the Revolution leveled to the dust. Let France be upon her guard: a few more such measures will infallibly excite discontent and dissatisfaction; and the fire once re-lit, the prophecy of Mirabeau will be realized-that a Bourbon prince is ever destined to sleep on a volcano. THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEFUNCT.* A step of life that promis'd such a race."— NAPOLEON has now sent us back from the grave sufficient echoes of his living renown: the twilight of posthumous fame has lingered long enough over the spot where the sun of his glory set, and Lis name must at length repose in the silence, if not in the darkness of night. Since writing this article, we have been informed that the object of our funeral-oration is not difinitively dead, but only moribund. So much the better; we shall have an opportunity of granting the request made to Walter by one of the children in the wood, and "kill him two times." The Abbe de Vertot having a siege to write, and not receiving the materials in time, composed the whole from his invention: shortly after its completion, the expect ed documents arrived, when he threw them aside, exclaiming" You are of no use to me Row; 1-have carried the town." In this busy and evanescent scene, other spirits of the age are rapidly snatched away, claiming our undivided sympathies and regrets, until in turn they yield to some newer and more absorbing grief. Another name is now added to the list of the mighty departed, a name whose influence upon the hopes and fears, the fates and fortunes of our countrymen, has rivalled, and perhaps eclipsed that of the defunct "child and champion of Jacobinism," while it is associated with all the sanctions of legitimate government, all the sacred authorities of social order and our most holy religion. We speak of one, indeed, under whose warrant heavy and incessant contributions were imposed upon our fellow-citizens, but who enacted nothing without the signet and the sign manual of most devout Chancellors of the Exchequer. Not to dally longer with the sympathies of our readers, we think it right to premonish them that we are composing an epicedium upon no less distinguished a personage than the Lottery, whose last breath, after many penultimate puffs, has been sobbed forth by sorrowing contractors, as if the world itself were about to be converted into a blank. There is a fashion of eulogy, as well as of vituperation; and though the Lottery stood for some time in the latter predicament, we hesitate not to assert that "multis ille bonis flebilis occidit." Never have we joined in the senseless clamour which condemned the only tax whereto we became voluntary contributors, the only resource which gave the stimulus without the danger or infatuation of gambling, the only alembic which in these plodding days sublimised our imaginations, and filled them with more delicious dreams than ever flitted athwart the sensorium of Alnaschar. Never can the writer forget when, as shoulder in Guildhall, and looked down a child, he was hoisted upon a servant's upon the installed and solemn pomp of the then drawing Lottery. awful cabinets of iron, upon whose The two initials were gorgeously emblazoned, as massy and mysterious portals the royal if after having deposited the unfulfilled prophecies within, the King himself had turned the lock and still retained the key in his pocket; the blue-coat boy, with his naked arm, first converting the invisible wheel, and then diving into the dark recess for a ticket;-the grave and reverend faces of the commissioners eyeing the announced number;—the anxious countenances of the surrounding populace, while the giant figures of (To be concluded in our next.) MECHANICS' ORACLE AND DOMESTIC GUIDE. Mechanics' Dracle and Domestic Guide. DOMESTIC ECONOMY. IN obedience to the commands of several amiable housewives, the Editor has here inserted their invitation to rational economy, and recommends to his readers the following maxims: "Nourishment is the main end of eating," and "A hearty welcome is the best sauce.” We can only anticipate the future by concluding what is probable from what is past. Only those who have properly performed the first duty of life, can we reasonably presume will fulfil the second "Dutiful daughters make beautiful wives." Only those who have been dutiful sons and daughters, and loving brothers and sisters, can we naturally hope will be faithful and affectionate husbands and wives, or perform the third, of being provident fathers and fond mothers-or the fourth, and prove firm friends, and improving companions: "What can we reason but from what we know?" Only among kindred minds who have given these sureties, the only real sureties, of their worthiness,-will the virtuous seek society, or the wise hope to find friends. To such benevolent beings "Whom humble joys and homefelt quiet please, Successive study, exercise, and ease." To whom "home's home, be it ever so homely:" the strongest inducement to forego the comforts of their own fireside, is the attractive charm of agreeable and instructive society, and the opportunity of cultivating connexions which may augment the interest and increase the enjoyment of their journey through life. "Those who are negligent when young, will be necessitous when old." If you hope to enjoy the comfort of having enough in the close of life, in the commencement of your career you must sometimes be contented with a little, "and learn the virtue and the art To live on little with a cheerful heart,” "When Socrates was asked which of mortal men was to be accounted nearest to the GoDs in happiness, he answered," that man who is in want of the fewest things." 319 In this answer, Socrates left it to be guessed by his auditors, whether by exemption from want which was to constitute happiness, he meant amplitude sire. And indeed there is so little difof possessions, or contradiction of deference between them, that Alexander the Great confessed the inhabitant of a tub was the next man to the master of the world. Those who have the fewest wants are not only the happiest but the richest if they do not abound in what the world calls wealth-they do in independence. To make great acquisitions can happen to very few; and in the uncertainty of human affairs, to many it will be incident to labour without reward, and to lose what they already possess by endeavors to make it more; it is therefore happy that nature has allowed us a more certain and easy road to plenty-" Every man may grow rich by contracting his wishes." Cautiously contrive that your conconsiderably within the half of what stant every day expences are confined you have actually ascertained to be your absolutely certain means of defraying them. "Let no man anticipate uncertain profits." "Who lives by hope may die by hunger," and "Let no man squander against his inclination," "the saga says that" doctor subtilis cious Samuel Johnson. "With this precept it may be, perhaps, imagined easy to comply; yet if those whom profusion has buried in prisons, or driven into banishment, were examined, it would be found that very few were ruined by their own choice, or purchased pleasure with the loss of their estates; but they suffered themselves to be borne away by the violence of those with whom they conversed, and yielded reluctantly to a thousand prodigalities, either from a trivial emulation of wealth and spirit, and a mean fear of contempt and ridicule; an emulation for the prize of folly, or the dread of the laugh of fools." Rambler, No. 57. The moment that you permit your current expences to exceed three-fifths of your certain income, you enter the path of danger. "Certainly if a man would not run out, his ordinary expences ought not to exceed the HALF of his receipts; and if he thinks to increase Lord Bacon's Essay on Expence. his estate, not the THIRD part of them." To keep a scrupulously EXACT ACCOUNT OF PAYMENTS AND OF RECEIPTS can alone euable you so to regulate your plan of expenditure-that it will admit of occasional indulgence without imprudent extravagance. Set down the smallest sum-"Take care of the pence, the pounds will take care of themselves."—" A penny a day is half-a-crown a month, and thirty shillings a year." "Who spends more than he should, Shall not have to spend when he would." Not only limit your expences to pounds and shillings-but ever bear in mind the old favorite and fortune-saving maxim of frugal housewives: "One penny saved is TWO pence clear, JOHN BUNYAN. John BUNYAN was highly praised by Dr. Johnson: "His Pilgrim's Progress (said he,) has great merit, both for invention, imagination, and the conduct of the story; and it has had the best evidence of its merit,-the general and continued approbation of mankind. Few books, I believe, have had a more extensive sale. It is remarkable that it 'begins very much like the poem of Dante; yet there was no translation of Dante when Bunyan wrote. There is reason to think that he had read Spen cer. ZEUXIS. Don't let fools laugh you out of your before Christ, painted a economy "Many a little makes a mickle;" 1 WHEN Zeuxis, of Heraclio, who flourished as a painter about 400 years boy loaded with grapes so beautifully, that the birds flew at the picture, be was ex leave them their jest, and keep you, ceedingly vexed, and frankly confessed 'your MONEY. Keep within compass, and you shall be sure To avoid many evils which others endure." There are two questions which "The Cook's Oracle" advises every economist always to ask before he makes any purchase "IS THIS ACTUALLY WANTED CAN WE DO WITHOUT IT?" "BEWARE OF 'TIS BUTS.' There are very few of my readers, who, if they please to reflect on their past lives, will not find that had they saved all those LITTLE SUMS which they have spent unnecessarily, their circumstances would be very different from what they are. Essence of Anecdate and Wit. DR. JOHNSON. JOHNSON said, "No honest man could be a Deist; for no man could be. so after a fair examination of the proofs of Christianity." Hume was inentioned. Johnson answered, "No, Sir, Hume owned to a clergyman in the bishopric of Durham, that he had never read the New Testament with attention." it was not perfectly finished, since, had he represented the boy as naturally as the grapes, the birds would have been afraid of him. EDWARD VI. A Sussex knight, having speut a great estate at court, and reduced himself, to a single park, with a fine house in it, was yet ambitious to entertain his sovereign, King Edward the Sixth, view he newly painted his gates, with a with a suitable magnificence; with this letters of gold-OIA VANITAS. Sir coat of arms, and this motto, in large Anthony Cooke, preceptor to that amia. ble monarch, offering to read it, desired to know of the gentleman what he meant by OIA, who told him that it stood for Omnia. I wonder, said Sir Anthony, that having made your Omnia so little as you have, you should make your Vanitas so large. LONDON-Printed for WILLIAM CHARLTON WRIGHT, 65, Paternoster Row, and may be had of all Booksellers and Newsmen. |