mined, was going to difmifs the pleaders from the court, when the Indian cried out, "The horfe is mine, and I'll prove it!" He immediately took off his mantle, and with it quickly covered the head of the animal; then addreffing himself to the judge-"Since this man,' fays he, affirms that he has bred this horse, command him to tell on which of his two eyes he is blind." The Spaniard, who would not feem to hesitate, instantly answered, "On the right eye." "He is neither blind," faid the Indian, "on the right eye, nor on the left." The judge, convinced by a proof fo ingenious and decifive, decreed him the horse, and the affair was terminated.

before the

A Learned friar in Italy, famous for his piety and knowledge of mankind, being commanded to preach pope, at the year of jubilee, repaired to Rome a good while before the day appointed, to fee the manner of the conclave, and to accommodate his fermon the better to the folemnity of the occafion. At length, when the day came, having ended his prayer, looking about him for a long time, he cried out with a loud and vehement voice, three times, "St. Peter was a fool! St. Peter was a fool!-St. Peter was a fool !" and then came down

66

from the pulpit. Being immediately queftioned before the pope concerning the unfuitableness of his behaviour, he made this reply: If, holy father, a cardinal may go to heaven, abounding in wealth, honour, and preferment, and living at eafe, wallowing in floth and luxury, and feldom or never preaching, St. Peter certainly was a fool, who took fo hard a way of travelling thither, by fafting, preaching, abftinence, and humiliation.' The pope could not deny the reasonableness of the reply.

66

I Thankfully acknowledge your love in your kind remembrance of me upon the oportunitye. Alas! you doe too highly prize my lines and my company. I may be afhamed to owne your expreffions, confidering how unprofitable I am, and the meane improvement of my tallent yet to honour my God, by declaringe what hee hath done for my foule, in this I am confident, and I will be foe. Truly then this I finde, that hee giveth fpringes in a drye and barren wilderneffe, where no water is. I live (you knowe whereof " Mefhech, which they fay fignifies prolonginge) in Kedar, which fignifies blacknefs;" yet the Lord forfaketh mee not. Though hee doe prolonge yett hee will (I truft) bringe mee to his tabernacle, to his reftingplace. My foule is with the congregation of the first-borne, my body refts in hope; and if here I may honour my God, either by doeing or fufferinge, I shall be most glad. Truly no poore creture hath more caute to put forth himself in the cause of his God than 1. I have had plentyful wadges beforehand, and I

am

am fure I fhall never earne the leaft mite. The Lord accept me in his Sonn, and give me to walke in the light as hee is in the light. He it is that inlightneth our blackneffe in darkneffe. I dare not fay hee hideth his face from me. He giveth mee to fee light in his light. One beame in a darke place hath exceedinge much refreshment in it. Blefied be his name for fhininge upon foe darke a hart as mine. You knowe what my manner of life hath bine. I lived in and loved darkness, and bated the lighte. I was a chief, the chief of finners. This is true. I hated godliness, yet God had mercy on me. O the riches of his mercy! praye him for me, that hee, whoe hath begunne a good worke, would perfect it to the day of Chrift. Salute all my good freinds in that family whereof you are yet a member. I am much bound unto them for their love. I bleffe the Lord for them, and that my fonn, by their procure ment, is foe well. Let him have your prayers, your councell. Let me have them. Salute your hufband and fifter from me. Hee is not a man of his worde; hee promifed to write about Mr. Wrath, of Epinge: but as yet I received no letters. Putt him in minde to doe what with convenency may bee done for the poore cozens I did follicit him about. Once more farewell; the Lord bee with you. Soe pray. eth your truly lovinge cozen,

OLIVER CROMWELL.

Ely, 13th of October, 1638.

My wives fervice and love prefente to all her friends.

A STRIKING INSTANCE OF

COURAGE.

[Tranfmitted by T. Q.] WHILE the Romans were at war with the Gauls, (A. R. 394) the latter advanced as far as the banks of the river Anio, within three

miles of Rome. The Romans marched against them: the two armies continued fome time in fight of each other, without coming to action, feparated only by the bridge over the river. A Gaul, of a gi gantic ftature, advanced upon the bridge, and cried out with a loud voice, "Let the bravest man in the Roman army enter the lifts with me; the fuccefs of our combat fhall determine which is the more valiant nation." His extraordinary fize and fierce looks struck the Romans with fuch awe, that for a long time not one in the whole army appeared to accept his challenge. At length young Manlius, who had fo remarkably fignalized his piety for his father, touched with a juft fense of the affront offered to the Roman name, quitted his poft, and flying to the dictator, afked leave to encounter the enemy: 66 Though I were sure of victory," fays he, "I would not fight this proud Gaul without your order; but, if you will give me leave, I will make this huge boafter know, that I am of the blood of that Manlius, whofe valour proved fo fatal to the Gauls on the capitol." The dictator, who had been very uneafy that no Roman had accepted the challenge before, readily com. plied with the request of the brave youth. Go, Manlius," said he, "and humble the pride of this infulting enemy; revenge the cause of the city where you firft drew your breath, as fuccefsfully as you relieved him to whom you owe it." Upon this the young Roman, having changed the round buckler, which he wore as a Roman knight, for a fquare one, and armed himself with a fhort fword, fit both for cutting and ftabbing, advanced against the Gaul, who was strutting about in his ar mour, and making an oftentatious fhew of his ftrength. Both Romans and Gauls retired to their refpective pofts, leaving the bridge free for the

two

two champions. The Gaul, fays Livy, began the combat by difcharging a great blow with his long fword at Manlius, which made much noife, but did no execution; hereupon the young Roman dexteroufly flipped under his enemy's fhield, stabbed him in two places, fo that he foon fell, and covered, to ufe Livy's expreffion, a vaft piece of ground with his enormous body, The conqueror cut off his head, and without troubling himself about the reft of the spoils, only feized a golden collar, which he tore from his neck, and, bloody as it was, put it upon his own, in token of his victory; and hence he got the furname of Torquatus, which he tranfmitted to his pofterity. The event of this combat fo difcouraged the Gauls, that they abandoned their camp in the night, and retired into Campania.

Liv. lib. i. c. 11.

THE RISE AND TENETS OF QUAKERISM.

[Communicated by G. W.] THE quakers doubt about the afcenfion of Chrift in the body, with which he appeared to St. Thomas: they deny the refurrection of the flesh; and pretend to be conducted in all things by the fpirit, a fort of inward light and illumination.

About the year 1624, when the kingdom was overfpread with fanaticifm in all its wildnefs and extravagance, this fect was founded by one George Fox, a native of Lancafhire, whom his father had bound apprentice to a fhoemaker. This ignorant fellow feeling a greater propenfity to fpiritual contemplations, than to the employment in which he was engaged, deferted his mafter, and strolled about the country in a leathern doublet, with his bible in his pocket. He broke off all communication with his friends

and family, and paffed whole days in hollow trees, indulging the wildeft reveries of ignorant enthufiafm. Having fettled within himself ́ his plan of reformation, he began to make profelytes, and was very fuccefsful in his endeavours. He, and his difciples, not only rejected all rights of religion; but carefully avoided the common forms of civility, as the inventions of carnal vanity and felf-conceit. They refused to bestow any titles of diftinétion, or to accoft any perfon by any other falutation than that of friend. They would neither bend their bodies, move their hats, nor exprefs the leaft figns of reverence and refpect.

They reduced their language to the fimplicity of thou and thee, yea and nay, terins which they ufed to all perfons without diftinction of rank or character. They laid afide every fuperfluity and ornament in drefs, fuch as plaits to the coats, buttons to the fleeve or hat, lace, ruffles, and embroidery. Such violence of enthufiafm, tounded on the opinion of a directing fpirit within them, could not fail to produce ftrange effects upon the nerves of the body. Their bodies were agitated by convulfions, distortions, and tremblings of the limbs; and hence they derived the name of quakers. They confidered thefe agitations as the motion of the holy spirit, and uttered extemporaneous effufions, twanged through the nofe, as the oracles of infpiration. They would admit no prieft into their fociety, believing that each individual was already ftamped with a much fuperior character, by means of divine illu mination. At their meetings, every perfon who felt the inward motion was qualified to preach and to teach; even women were confidered as proper vehicles to convey the dictates of the holy fpirit: fometimes many perfons were moved to fpeak at once: fometimes the whole congre

gation

A quaker being afked for his cloak, gave his coat alfo; when fmote upon the cheek, he held up the other: no confideration would induce him to fwear, even to the truth, in any court of judicature: nor if he dealt in merchandize, would he demand for his wares more than the precise fum which he was refolved to have. The zeal of the quakers was often too hard for their difcretion, and they played a thoufand extravagant pranks that favoured more of lunacy than of religion. They broke into churches, and difturbed the public worship, by railing at the minifter, and reproaching the congregation. The fpirit moved them to revile all perfons that did not adopt their doctrines and principles. They held forth in churches, ftreets, and courts of judicature, undervaluing worship, bufinefs, and proceedings at law: they uttered blafphemies, and feduced zealots from the army.

A female quaker actually went ftark naked into a churchwhere Oliver Cromwell affifted at divine fervice, and faid fhe was moved by the spirit to appear as a fign to the people. A great number of them fancied the revolution of all things was begun, and threw away their cloaths, with the reft of their fuperfluities. Such irregularities could not fail to attract the notice of the civil power. They were fometimes confined to madhouses; fometimes fent to prifon; many were fcourged in public, and a few fet in the pillory. All these feverities they bore with fuch patience, that they were believed to be fupported by fupernatural affiftance. James Naylor fancied him felf Christ, the Saviour of the world,

attempted to raise a perfon from the dead; he entered Bristol mounted on a horfe, while his difciples spread their garments before him, crying Hofanna to the higheft! holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Sabaoth: when apprehended as a blafphemer and impoftor, and brought before the civil magiftrate, he would make no other answer to the questions that were put to him, but "thou haft faid it."

The behaviour of this frantic enthufiaft attracted the attention of the parliament, which, after ten days spent in debates and enquiries about him, condemned him to be fet in the pillory, to be fcourged, burned in the face, and have his tongue bored through with a red hot iron. All these feverities he bore with pa tience, and even a kind of triumph: but when he was committed to the house of correction, debarred all communication with his difciples, kept to hard labour, and fed with bread and water, his illufions were diffipated: he found himself no more than an ordinary man, and, being fet at liberty, retired quietly to his former occupation. The quakers of England have formed themselves into a body, governed by certain regulations, and are, perhaps, more united than any other fociety, whether civil or religious, in all chriftendom. They hold stated affemblies monthly and quarterly in London, and other great towns, where they likewife have meetings for their worship.

All the different branches of this fociety in Great Britain, Ireland, and the plantations, correfpond together by regular communications: they encourage and fupport one another in refufing the payment of tythes, which they account an abomination: they even cenfure and excommunicate the back-fliding brethren, and keep exa& registers of

all

eir principles, in a celebrated perormance, called Barclay's Apology, hich he dedicated to king Charles

1.

likewife to accept of their fimple affirmation, instead of an oath, as, fufficient evidence in any court ofjudicature.

ESCRIPTION OF THE ABYSSINIAN

THORN KANTUFFA.

From the 5th Volume of Bruce's Travels.}

T

HIS thorn, like many men we meet daily in fociety, has got itself into a degree of reputation and refpect from the noxious qualiies and power of doing ill which it poffeffes, and the conftant exertion of thefe powers. The Abyffinians, who wear coarfe cotton cloths, the coarfest of which are as thick as our blankets, the finest equal to our mufJin, are in the fame degree annoyed with it. The foldier fcreens himfelf by a goat's, leopard, or lion's fkin, thrown over his fhoulder, of which it has no hold. As his head is bare, he always cuts his hair fhort before he goes to battle, left his enemy fhould take advantage of it; but the women, wearing their hair long, and the great men, whether in the army or travelling in peace, being always cloathed, it never fails to incommode them, whatever fpecies of raiment they wear. If their cloak is fine muflin, the least motion against puts it all in rags; but if it is a thick, foft cloth, as thofe are with which men of rank generally travel, it buries its thorns, great and fmall,

it

either dismount and appear naked, which to principal people is a great difgrace, or elfe much time will be fpent before he can difengage himself from its thorns. In the time when one is thus employed, it rarely fails to lay hold of you by the hair, and that again brings on another operation, full as laborious, but much more painful, than the other.

In the courfe of my history, when fpeaking of the king, Tecla Haimanout II. first entering Gondar after his exile into Tigré, I gave an inftance that fhewed how dangerous it was for the natives to leave this thorn standing; and of fuch confequence is the clearing of the ground thought to be, that every year when the king marches, among the necef fary proclamations, this is thought to be a very principal one, * Cut down the Kantuffa in the four quarters of the world, for I do not know where I am going." This proclamation, from the abrupt ftile of it, feems at firft abfurd to ftranger ears, but when understood, is full of gol fenfe and information. It means, Do not sit goffiping with your hands before you, talking. The king is going to Damot, he certainly will go to Gojam, he will be obliged to go to Tigré. That is not your bufinefs, re