importance of the occasion on which it is incurred. The nature of the offence, in a general way, is sufficiently suggested by the name. It consists in leaning too much to one side. The opposite virtue consists in having no leaning to either side.

"What is included in this? Two things are included. The first is, that we have no affection to the one side more than the other. The second is, that we bestow equal attention upon the evidence on both sides.

1.. First, it is required that we have no affection to the one side more than the other. When there is an affection to the one side, a wish that the truth should be found on that side, a wish that it should not be found on the other, the weaker evidence on the favourite side produces more impression, than the stronger evidence on the other. By what delusive process of the mind this unhappy effect is produced, we shall by and by explore. At present we have to do with the certainty of the fact, and the extent of its influence.

"A man must have looked abroad upon the world to very little purpose, who has not observed how invariably every class of men have provided themselves with a set of opinions, grounded upon the feelings connected with their own interests, and not upon the evidentials of the case. The aristocratical class have opinions of a superiority inherent in themselves; and inferiority inherent in the other classes. Wherein consists the pride of birth? Whence arises the belief of something noble or ignoble in the blood, with all the practical feelings which result from it, and all the great 20nsequences on life of which such feelings are the proximate cause?

"Whence are derived that remarkable class of opinions which are held by the white masters respecting their black slaves, in the West Indies, and in America? The opinion of the utter degradation of the sable race; the opinion of such a superiority in the fair race, that any the smallest tinge in the blood of an individual, whatever his worth, whatever even his riches, makes him unfit to associate with one whose veins contain the European liquid in elevating, ennobling purity?......

"How difficult is it to find a man who does not over estimate the importance of the particular faculty in which he excels? Look at the tribe of lawyers, the class who hire their tongues as readily to promote what is iniquitous and cruel, as what is just and humane. Their self-importance rises to the ridiculous; were it not for them, the race of men, they tell us, could hardly exist.

"What need to speak of the exaggerations of the clergy, in magnifying their own importance, and that of the services which they render to the rest of men?

"How excessive the over-estimate which a fond mother com

monly makes of the perfections of her child! How blind to its defects; how possessed with every point of its excellence!

Every body can adduce sufficient cases to show what sport the affections make with the understanding, and has observed how small the number of human creatures whose decisions can be depended upon whenever the affections interfere with the judgment.

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Practically speaking, therefore, it is never safe to come to the examination of any question, without a strict examination of the affections. When we proceed to the investigation of any question, the first thing required is, a process of self-examination. Have I any affection on either side? If not, I may safely proceed to ascertain and weigh the evidentials on both sides. If, however, the result of the self-examination is, that I have an affection on the one side, and none on the other, what must I do? The proper plan would be, if it could be done, to abolish the affection on that side; and so come to the study of the question free from affection on either side; or, if this could not be done, to raise, if it were possible, an equal affection on the other side. If it were the question for a fond mother to decide, whether her own or another child were the most amiable, it would be necessary, for a fair decision, either that she should divest herself, for the time, of her peculiar affection to the one side, or put on an equal affection for the other. This generally is impossible; and then, there is only one other resource, that of making an allowance for the efficacy of the affection. As evidence which favours an affection, of equal force with evidence which makes against it, appears of greater force to the mind which is under the influence of the affection, it is necessary to such a mind, if it would be fair, to allow greater weight to the evidence opposite to the af fection than it seems to have, and less to that which favours it. Thus, if it appears that the evidence which makes against the affection, and that which makes in its favour, are of equal force, we ought to conclude that the evidence which makes against it is the stronger. If a fond mother sees another child which she thinks equally admirable with her own, she may be very sure

that it is better."

OUGHT such a man to be considered sane, and be allowed to manage such an accumulated capital?

THE EARL OF BRIDGEWATER.

The following probably overcharged, but curious account of this eccentric character, appears in a Paris paper:-" Some persous, knowing but imperfectly this model of originals, past, present, and to come, and appear

ing desirous to learn something more respecting him, we think it may be agreeable, if we collect such anecdotes respecting such a singular personage as are well calculated to enrich the history of human oddities. No one has higher claims to a distinguished place in such history than M. Egerton, who has for several years borne the name of Lord Bridgewater. Those who have once seen-nay, those who have never seen this meagre personage drag himself along, supported by two huge lacqueys, with his sugar-loaf hat, slouched down over his eyes, cannot fail to recognize him. An immense fortune enables him to gratify the most extravagant caprices that ever passed through the head of a rich Englishman. If he be lent a book, he carries bis politeness so far as to send it back, or rather have it conducted home in a carriage. He gives orders that two of his most stately steeds be caparisoned under one of his chariots, and the volume, reclining at ease in milord's landau, arrives, attended by four footmen in costly livery, at the door of its astounded owner. His carriage is frequently to be seen filled with his dogs. He bestows great care on the feet of these dogs, and orders them boots, for which he pays as dearly as for his own. Lord Bridgewater's custom is an excellent one for the boot-maker; for, besides the four feet of each of his dogs, the supply of his own two feet must give constant employment to several operatives. He puts on a new pair of boots every day, carefully preserving those he has once worn, and ranging them in order; he commands that none shall touch them, but takes himself great pleasure in observing how much of the year he has each day past, by viewing the state of his boots. Lord Bridgewater is a man of few acquaintance, and very few of his countrymen have got as far as his dining-hall. His table, however, is constantly set out with a dozen covers, and served by a suitable attendance. Who then are his privileged guests? No less than a dozen of favourite dogs, who daily partake of milord's dinner, seated very gravely in armed chairs, each with a napkin round his neck, and a servant behind to attend to his wants. These honourable quadrupeds, as if grateful for such delicate attentions, comport themselves during the time of repast, with a decency and decorum which would do more than honour to a party of gentlemen; but if, by any chance, one of them should, without due consideration, obey the natural instinct of his appetite, and transgress any of the rules of good manners, his punishment is at hand. You, perhaps, gentle reader, suppose that corporal punishment is meant, as the walls of the capital so eloquently but so inef fectually define it; but no-you are mistaken, 'tis in his self-love that the offender is punished. The day following the day of his offence the dog dines, and even dines well; but not at milord's table, and as becomes a dog to dine: banished to the ante-chamber, and dressed in livery, he eats in sorrow the bread of shame, and picks the bone of mortification, while bis place at table remains vacant till his repentance has merited a generous pardon! We have not been able to learn what dress Lord Egerton puts on his domestics, when he has cause to be dissatisfied with their service!

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR OF

σε THE REPUBLICAN."

If I were disposed to amuse myself at the expence of your Cotrespondent, F. P., his waspish article in your last Number would

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supply me with abundant materials: but however low I may stand in that gentleman's estimation on account of my hostility to his favourite speculations, I trust I know too well what is due to the readers of " The Republican," and to my own respectability, to indulge in either unseasonable merriment or dogmatical ill humour.

F. P. says he was not a party to the contest; what meaning be affixes to the word contest I know not, but his letters and essays are in the columns of " The Republican," and unless some critical cavil be implied in the phrase, what he calls the contest," his assertion must pass for nothing.

a tub

It is equally unfounded that I have imputed motives and called names;". I have done neither one nor the other: if to the whale" be a cap fitted to his noddle, he is welcome to wear it; but I did not intend it for either him or any other individual. I know F. P. only as an anonymous Correspondent of "The Republican;" and certainly it never entered my mind to impute poor leatherto one who describes himself as a ci-devant " breeches maker," a design to mislead the people of the three kingdoms! As to calling names, I have called him nothing but a Political Economist: if he and those who think with him dislike the term, let them rebaptize themselves; I will endeavour to pay all proper respect to their new cognomination.

That I have once or twice alluded, in somewhat satirical terms, to public writers and lecturers, I readily admit-had I not a right? But I defy F. P. or any one else to point out a single line or phrase which can be deemed personally offensive to him. Let him select one which he thinks the worst; I will cheerfully leave it to the judgment of any twelve readers of "The Republican,' and, if their decision be against me, make a full and an immediate retractation.

But how stands the matter with him? Are his hands so clean as to entitle him to the first throw, even at the guilty? I have reperused the four letters of F. P. beginning with his rude attack upon Mr. Single, and found upwards of twenty expressions, applied personally to him and me, the mildest and most courteous of which is deplorably ignorant."

"

But this writer's want of precision in these respects is quite equalled by his want of candour in others; who would not imagine, from the following passage in his last letter, that it was really true that he had never contested or discussed the subjects of machinery and population with me? Alluding to my assertion, "J. F. quarthat he had withdrawn from the contest, he says, The Bolton relled with an article which you copied from Chronicle;' but that did not make me a party in what he calls the contest." Now, if the reader will take the trouble to turn to p. 147. he will find, in a letter of four pages, written by F. P. pressly in reply to me, this passage: Only a few days ago I

ex

sent an essay to a provincial paper on machinery, wages, and population; I will send one of these papers to Mr. Carlile for J. F. Mr. Carlile will probably give the essay a place in his 'Republican.'" This requires no comment.

I should be sorry, Sir, to occupy the columns of "The Repub lican" with such matter as this, did I not feel that I was defending those principles of free discussion which its Editor so nobly maintains. F. P.'s anger "yearns not me;" but the tone which he assumes might, if unresisted, deter many a valuable aspirant to public utility from taking part in any discussion, and doom to "the desert air" talents which under better treatment might have contributed largely to the public good.

I have stated more than once, in express terms, that I believed F. P.'s motives to be good, (though he has disingenuously accused me of the reverse) and as it is possible that he may have meant well even in using the supercilious expressions which distinguish his last letter, I will not be ungrateful: I will give him a word or two of advice at parting. If he is a young man, as by his faulty style and abundant zeal I should take him to be, he will perhaps thank me when my bald pate shall be mouldering in the dust.

Let him in his future writings, especially if his object be to make proselytes, mingle a little more of the suaviter in modo with the fortiter in re. All who differ from him in opinion may be "deplorably ignorant," but he can do no good by telling them

SO..

"Men must be taught as tho' you taught them not,
And things unknown conveyed as things forgot."

I would advise him too, neither to presume too much upon those professions of inability with which every really modest and well-informed writer, or speaker, prefaces his observations, nor to say in print, even in reply to the most ignorant anonymous opponent, what he dare not say orally in good society.

Oct. 17.

J. F..

Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 62, Fleet Street.--All Correspondences for "The Republican," to be left at the place of publication.