To him the church, the realm, their powers consign,
Through him the rays of regal bounty shine;
Turn'd by his nod the stream of honor flows,
His smile alone security bestows—

Still to new heights his restless wishes tow'r ;
Claim leads to claim, and pow'r advances pow'r ;
Till conquest unresisted ceas'd to please,
And rights submitted, left him none to seize.

At length his sov'reign frowns, the train of state
Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to hate;
Where'er he turns, he meets a stranger's eye,
His suppliants scorn him, and his followers fly;
Now drops at once the pride of awful state,
The golden canopy, the glittering plate,
The regal palace, the luxurious board,
The liv'ried army, and the menial lord.
With age, with cares, with maladies oppress'd,
He seeks the refuge of monastic rest.

Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings,
And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings;
Speak thou, whose thoughts at humble peace repine,
Shall Wolsey's wealth, with Wolsey's end, be thine
Or liv'st thou now, with safer pride content,
The wisest justice on the banks of Trent?
For why did Wolsey, near the steeps of fate,
On weak foundations raise th' enormous weight?
Why, but to sink beneath misfortune's blow,
With louder ruin to the gulfs below?

What gave great Villiers to th' assassin's knife,
And fix'd disease on Harley's closing life?

What murder'd Wentworth, and what exil'd Hyde,
By kings protected, and to kings ally'd?

What, but their wish indulg'd, in courts to shine,
And pow'r too great to keep or to resign?

THE AGED PRISONER.

1. UPON the accession of Louis sixteenth to the throne, the ministers then in office, moved by humanity, began their administration with an act of clemency and justice. They inspected the registers of the Bastile, and set many prisoners at liberty. Among them was an old man who had groaned in confinement for forty-seven years, between four thick and cold stone walls. Hardened by adversity, which strengthens both the mind and constitution, when they are not overpowered by it, he had resisted the horrors of his long imprisonment with an invincible and manly spirit.

2. His locks, white, thin, and scattered, had almost acquired the rigidity of iron; whilst his body, environed for so long a time by a coffin of stone, had borrowed from it a firm and compact habit. The narrow door of his tomb, turning upon its grating hinges, opened not as usual by halves, and an unknown voice announced his liberty, and bade him depart. Believing this to be a dream, he hesitated; but at length rose up and walked forth with trembling steps, amazed at the space he traversed. The stairs of the prison, the halls, the court, seemed to him vast, immense, and almost without bounds.

3. He stopped from time to time, and gazed around like a bewildered traveller. His vision was with difficulty reconciled to the clear light of day. He contemplated the heavens as a new object. His eyes remained fixed, and he could not even weep. Stupified with the newly acquired power of changing his position, his limbs, like his tongue, refused, in spite of his efforts, to perform their office. At length he got through the formidable gate.

4. When he felt the motion of the carriage, which was prepared to transport him to his former habitation, he screamed out, and uttered some inarticulate sounds; and as he could not bear this new movement, he was obliged to descend. Supported by a benevolent arm, he sought out the street where he had formerly resided; he found it, but no trace of his house remained; one of the public edifices occupied the spot where it had stood.

In whose reign was there a general release of prisoners from the French Bastile?-How long had the aged prisoner been confined?

5. He saw nothing which brought to his recollection, either that particular quarter, the city itself, or the objects with which he was formerly acquainted. The houses of his nearest neighbors, which were fresh in his memory, had assumed a new appearance. In vain were his looks directed to all the objects around him; he could discover nothing of which he had the smallest remembrance. Terrified, he stopped and fetched a deep sigh. To him what did it import, that the city was peopled with living creatures? None of them were alive to him; he was unknown to all the world, and he knew nobody; and whilst he wept, he regretted his dungeon.

6. At the name of the Bastile, which he often pronounced and even claimed as an asylum, and the sight of his clothes which marked his former age, the crowd gathered around him; curiosity, blended with pity, excited their attention. The most aged asked him many questions, but had no remembrance of the circumstances which he recapitulated. At length accident brought to his way an ancient domestic now a superannuated porter, who, confined to his lodge for fifteen years, had barely sufficient strength to open the gate. Even he did not know the master he had served; but informed him that grief and misfortune had brought his wife to the grave thirty years before; that his children were gone abroad to distant climes, and that of all his relations and friends, none now remained.

7. This recital was made with the indifference which people discover for the events long passed and almost forgotten. The miserable man groaned, and groaned alone. The crowd around, offering only unknown features to his view, made him feel the excess of his calamities even more than he would have done in the dreadful solitude which he had left. Overcome with sorrow, he presented himself before the minister, to whose humanity he owed that liberty which was now become a burden to him. Bowing down, he said, "Restore me again to that prison from which you have taken me. cannot survive the loss of my nearest relations ; of my friends; and in one word, of a whole generation. Is it possible in the same moment to be informed of this universal destruction and not to wish for death?

What was the reason of his wishing to be again returned to the Bastile?

8. "This general mortality, which to others comes slowly and by degrees, has to me been instantane us, the operation of a moment. Whilst secluded from society, I lived with myself only; but here I can neither live with myself, nor with this new race, to whom my anguish and despair appear only as a dream." The minister was melted; he caused the old domestic to attend this unfortunate person, as only he could talk to him of his family.

9. This discourse was the single consolation which he received; for he shunned intercourse with the new race, born since he had been exiled from the world; and he passed his time in the midst of Paris in the same solitude as he had done whilst confined in a dungeon for almost half a century. But the chagrin and mortification of meeting no person who could say to him, "We were formerly known to each other," soon put an end to his existence.

THE INQUISITION.

1. THE court of Inquisition was founded in the year 1204, or not long after that time. To Dominic de Guzman, the honor of first suggesting the erection of this extraordinary court is commonly ascribed. He was born in the year 1170, descended from an illustrious Spanish family. He was educated for the priesthood; and grew up the most fiery and the most bloody of mortals. Before his time, every Bishop was a sort of inquisitor in his own diocese; but Dominic contrived to incorporate a body of men, independent of every human being, except the Pope, for the purpose of ensnaring and destroying Christians. Having succeeded in his diabolical designs, and formed a race like himself, first called preaching, and then Dominican friars, he died in his bed, was canonized as a saint, worshipped as a divinity, and proposed as a model of piety and virtue to succeeding generations!

2. The Pope gave the Inquisitors the most unlimited powers, as judges delegated by him, and immediately represent

When was the Inquisition founded?-By whom was it founded ?— What powers were given the Inquisitors?

ing his person, they were permitted to excommunicate, or sentence to death, whom they thought proper, upon the slightest information of heresy; were allowed to publish crusade against all whom they deemed heretics; and enter into leagues with sovereign princes, to join those crusades with their forces. About the year 1244, their power was further increased by the emperor Frederic the Second, who declared himself the protector and friend of all Inquisitors, and published two very cruel edicts, viz. that all heretics, who continued obstinate, should be burnt; and that all heretics, who repented, should be imprisoned for life. This zeal in the emperor for the Inquisitors, and the Roman Catholic persuasion, arose from a report which had been propagated throughout Europe, that he intended to turn Mahometan; the emperor therefore attempted, by the height of bigotry and cruelty, to show his attachment to popery.

3. Pope Innocent IV. endeavored to establish the Inquisition on a permanent foundation. It was every where intrusted to the care of Dominican friars. But many of the most populous states that were subject to the see of Rome, never permitted the establishment of the tribunal among them. In France it was early introduced, but soon after expelled, in such a manner, as effectually to preclude a renewal of the attempt. Nor has it been alike severe in every place into which it has been introduced. In Spain and Portugal this scourge and disgrace to humanity has for centuries glared with its most frightful aspect. In Rome it has been much more tolerable. Papal avarice has served to counterbalance papal tyranny. The wealth of modern Rome has arisen very much from the constant resort of strangers from all countries and of all denominations. This would have been, in a great measure, prevented by such a horrid tribunal as existed at Lisbon and Madrid.

4. Exclusive of the cruel punishments inflicted by the holy office, it may be truly affirmed, that the Inquisition is a school of vice. There the artful judge, grown old in habits of subtlety, along with the sly secretary, practises his cunning in interrogating a prisoner, to fix a charge of heresy.

What two edicts were published by Frederic II. ?-Was the Inqui sition permitted to be established in all the States subject to Rome? -In what places has it been carried to the greatest extent ?—What term may be justly applied to the Inquisition?