THE ENGLISHMAN'S

FIRE-S I D E.

No. 6. 1

JULY, 1820.

[ Vol. I.

THE QUEEN.

THE unexpected arrival in England of her Majesty the Queen, has occasioned discussions in Parliament, which, we sincerely hope, will lead to an amicable adjustment of those long-existing differences which every well-wisher to his Country must lament and deprecate.

To effect so desirable an object, that virtuous and eminent statesman, Mr. Wilberforce, (to the labours of whose life we owe the abolition of the Slave Trade,) has stood forward in the purest spirit of Patriotism, to avert a disclosure, which cannot but be of fatal consequences to the moral interests of the people. To this work of peace, he has bent all the faculties of his admirable mind; and on Thursday the 22nd last, in the House of Commons, after a speech of considerable length and feeling, he proposed the following resolutions on the subject, which were carried by a great majority amidst the cheers of the house:

Resolved

"That that House was fully sensible of the difficul. ty which her Majesty might justly feel in taking upon herself to relinquish any point in which her own dignity and honour were involved, yet, feeling the inestimable importance of effecting an amicable and final adjustment of the difference alluded to, could not but

C C-VOL, I.

be of opinion, when such large advances had been made towards meeting the wishes of the Queen, that her Majesty, by yielding to the earnestly expressed wishes of the House, and forbearing to press those points on which there was most difficulty in coming to an arrangement, would not be understood to do any thing that could mark a wish, on her own account, to avoid an inquiry into her conduct, but would only give a new proof of her readiness to submit to the decision of Parliament, thereby entitling herself to the gratitude of that House, by sparing them the painful necessity of instituting proceedings, and of entertaining discussions, which, whatever might be their result, could not be other than distressing to the feelings of her Majesty, disappointing to the hopes of Parliament, derogatory to the dignity of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the empire."

Ignorant as we are of the merits of the case, it would be presumptuous in us to offer any remarks upon the subject;-but for the welfare of the state-for the love of all that is good and virtuous in society-we do trust that the illustrious female we allude to may be induced to listen to the wishes of Parliament, and in a mutual spirit of conciliation, accept the hand of peace which is offered her, and which the Nation so earnestly desires!

THE

VALLEY OF TEARS;

OR,

BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURTHENS.

A VISION.

THE following paper being sent us by a kind correspondent, we are so much pleased with it, as to be happy to comply with his request of giving it insertion in our present number; and we doubt not, but that it will be equally acceptable to our readers.

ONCE upon a time methought I set out upon a long journey, and the place through which I travelled appeared to be a dark valley, which was called the Valley of Tears. It had obtained this name not only on account of the many sorrowful adventures which poor passengers commonly met with in their journey thro' it, but also, because most of these travellers entered it weeping and crying, and left it in very great pain and anguish. This vast Valley was full of people of all colours, ages, sizes, and descriptions. But whether white, or black, or tawney, all were travelling the same road; or rather, they were taking different paths, which all led to the same common end.

Now it was remarkable, that notwithstanding the different complexions, ages, and tempers of this vast variety of people, yet all resembled each other in this one respect, that each had a burthen on his back, which he was destined to carry through the toil and heat of the day, until he should arrive by a longer or shorter course at his journey's end. These burthens would in general have made the pilgrimage quite intolerable, had not the Lord of the Valley, out of his great compassion for these poor pilgrims, provided, among many other things, the following means for their relief.

In their full view over the entrance of the Valley, there were written in great letters the following words:

BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURTHENS.

Now I saw in my vision, that many of the travellers hurried on without stopping to read this inscription; and others, though they had once read it, yet paid little or no attention to it. A third sort thought it very good advice for other people, but very seldom applied it to themselves. In short, I saw that too many of those people were of opinion, that they had burthens enough of their own, and that there was therefore no occasion to take upon them those of others; so each tried to make his own load as light, and his own journey as pleasant as he could, without so much as once casting a thought on a poor overloaded neighbour. Here, however, I have to make a rather singular remark, by which I shall plainly shew the folly of these selfish people. It was so ordered and contrived by the Lord of this Valley, that if any one stretched out his hand to lighten a neighbour's burthen, in fact he never failed to find that he at that moment also lightened his own. Besides, the obligation to help each other, and the benefit of doing so, were mutual. If a man helped his neighbour, it commonly happened that some other neighbour came by-and-by and helped him in his turn; for there was no such thing as what we call independence in the whole Valley. Not one of all these travellers, however stout and strong, could move on comfortably without assistance, for so the Lord of the Valley, whose laws were all of them kind and good, had expressly ordained.

I stood still to watch the progress of these poor wayfaring people, who moved slowly on, like so many ticket porters, with burthens of various kinds on their backs; of which some were heavier, and some

were lighter, but from a burthen of one kind or other not one traveller was entirely free.

THE WIDOW.

The first that I took notice of was a poor sorrowful widow, oppressed with the burthen of grief for the loss of an affectionate husband; she would have been bowed down by the heavy load, had not her children with great alacrity, stepped forward and supported her. Their kindness, after a while, so much lightened the load, which threatned at first to be intolerable, that she even went on her way with cheerfulness.

THE HUSBAND.

I next saw a poor old man tottering under a burthen so heavy, that I expected him every moment to sink under it. I peeped into his pack, and saw it was made up of many sad articles; there was poverty, oppression, sickness, debt, and what made by far the heaviest part, undutiful children. I was wondering how it was that he got on even so well as he did, till I spied his wife, a kind, meek Christian woman, who was doing her utmost to assist him. She quietly got behind, gently laid her shoulder to the burthen, and carried a much larger portion of it than appeared to me when I was a distance. She not only sustained him by her strength, but cheered him by her counsels. She told him that "through much tribulation we must enter in"to rest; that "he that overcometh shall inherit all "things." In short, she supported his fainting spirit, that he was enabled to "run with patience the race that was set before him.

THE KIND NEIGHBOUR.

An infirm blind woman was creeping forward with a very heavy burthen, in which were packed sickness and want, with numberless others of those raw materials