immortal honour, and no human being can undo it. Let them rear the standard of ignorance that please, but Britons will always rejoice when their princes rear the standard of education; when, by so doing, they prove themselves as much the guardians of intellectual good, as of the laws and liberties of the empire. Thousands of children, who but for this decried and persecuted system, would have been ignorant of their duty, are now taught to love those by whose means they have been instructed, who join with me in the heartfelt desire, that the house of Hanover may continue worthy of the empire, and for ever and for ever hold it. Let Herbert Marsh and his coadjutors denounce this system with all their fury; while the BIBLE and the CROWN form the basis and support of my system, I trust every friend of Church and KING will support a system which has proved itself worthy the support of all who are enemies of ignorance.-I remain the public's dutiful servant in promoting national EDUCATION.

JOSEPH LANCASTER. P. S. Herbert Marsh has taken great pains in his second Letter, to make his confession of faith in favour of knowledge. This is like a cautious general: whatever happens to Dr. Bell, he has endeavoured to secure himself from the imputation; yet his assertions in favour of extended knowledge, are a censure on Dr. Bell's plea for its limitation.

THE

OMNIANA.-No. VII.

HE following pretty lines are from Bosworth's poem, entitled, To the Immortal Memory of the fairest and most virtuous lady, the Lady —

We let our friends pass idly, like our time,

Till they be gone, and then we see our crime,

And think what worth in them might have been known,
What duties done, and what affections shown;

Untimely knowledge! which so dear doth cost,
And then begins when the thing known is lost!

The Parisians, though groaning under Buonaparte's tyranny, still occasionally indulge in jokes at his expense. The Usurper having caused the letter L, the initial letter of Louis, to be removed from all public buildings, and its place supplied with an N, the initial of Napoleon, the Parisians say, Il a des N mis partout,' words which agree in sound with Il a des ennemis partout;' but the first expression implies only, that He has an N put every where:-the latter, that He has enemies every where.'

THE

The value of Diamonds has fluctuated with political events during the last quarter of a century. The emigrations from France, at the era of the French revolution, occasioned a rapid and considerable reduction in the value of Diamonds, from the immense numbers that were forced into the market by the necessity of the emigrants. The counter-revolution, effected by Buonaparte, has again raised the value of these precious articles of splendid luxury. Such is the demand arising from the numerous rich presents required by etiquette, from the crowd of regal satellites revolving round their great centre, that, in the principal cities of the continent, agents are actively employed in buying up jewels of every description, but diamonds in particular. In addition to the increase of demand, a diminution in supply adds to their scarcity; for neither from the Brazils, nor the East Indies, has there lately been received in Europe the customary supply. While diamonds of the first water are eagerly purchased in France, and the numerous courts in Germany, stones of inferior value are readily taken off at Constantinople, where the luxury of the Mussulmen rivals that of the ancient possessors of Byzantium. In no article of expense is the luxury of the day in London more brilliantly displayed, than in the superb ornament of cut glass, with which the mansions of wealth and fashion are decorated; but we are yet, as it should seem, but novices in splendid luxury, compared with the fashionables of Constantinople, where the girandoles by which they light their state apartments are ornamented with jewels; and in the harems of the Grand Seignior, his Vizier, and the great officers of state, with diamonds. This refinement in splendour, surpassing even the descriptions of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, is, however, more rational than the infantine amusement of the Russian Prince Potemkin, who, to beguile the solitude of retirement, was accustomed to spread forth, on a table covered with black velvet, the unrivalled collection of diamonds and other precious stones of which he was possessed. In the fanciful and various arrangements of these baubles, would this semi-barbarian pass whole evenings. A letter from Frankfort of recent date, quotes diamonds of the finest water, at more than 121. sterling per carat.

A Spanish paper contains the details of a well-concerted attack, made by a small Guerilla, consisting of not more than eleven persous, upon a French corps of one hundred and twenty cavalry and infantry: On this occasion,' says the narrator, we made more use of stratagem than of force; at the moment of attacking the French, Don Gayetano gave the word of command aloud, Company to the left, file! Don Ventura's battalion, Form line of battle to the left;' and I, Companies to the right, file!' As

soon

soon as these words of command were given, the eleven men discharged three rounds, which caused the enemy to abandon their baggage, and take to flight. Such was the panic inspired into the enemy by these words of command (he believing our party to be a division of the army), that all those who could escape from this action, as likewise from the cantonments within a circumference of three leagues round Vidigudino, united with all possible celerity, and marched to Ledesma, six leagues distant. The result of this successful action has been, that the enemy lost twenty-four killed on the spot, some wounded, and twelve prisoners, whom we gave over to the Governor of Ben-Porta, in Portugal, taking his receipt; besides sixty horses and mules, thirty saddles, seventy new uniforms, thirty pairs of pantaloons, seventy feathers, fifty-three pairs of gloves, thirty-four pairs of boots, fifty-six portmanteaus full of linen, forty-six pounds weight of plate, twenty-two pairs of pistols, seven muskets, nineteen sabres, twenty-six sets of draught harness, &c. four hundred and fifty-three head of sheep, and many other objects of their barbarous plunder.'

At the late Great Sessions held at Welshpool, for the county of Montgomery, it came out in the course of the examination of a witness, in an action for slander, that a man and his son, in the township of Trewern, were at midnight stealing wheat from a barn, and that after they had put into a bag as much as they could carry away, the father asked the son, who they should have to help them up with it? The son replied—' Oh! the Devil will help us.' Immediately a sweep, who frequents the neighbourhood, and who was taking his repose in the barn, jumped up and exclaimed, 'I'l help you. The terrified robbers instantly ran away.

Letters from India inform us, that the Rajah of Travancore is become so favourable to the cause of Christianity, that he is expected to prohibit the annual pilgrimages from his territories.Thus, all changes in religion lead to persecution; and thus the result of the Christian missions to India may be that of robbing millions of fellow-creatures, who have never offended us, of the means of satisfying their consciences, of going down to the grave in peace, after fulfilling the precepts of their fathers! The answer to this is, that, whatever may be the sum of evil so inflicted, the good will much more than counterbalance it; and hence it is evident, how secretly popular is the principle, though few have been candid enough to avow it, of doing evil, that good may come. Now, the Scriptures admit, that good cometh out of evil,' but denounce in a very unqualified manner, "Woe to him from whom the evil cometh; thereby leaving us to infer, that, though evil shall

produce

produce good, yet this is not to be offered in mitigation of punishment for the commission of evil, a crime positively inhibited, intrinsically wicked, and not capable of palliation from any extrinsic circumstance whatever. And how admirably does this Scriptural doctrine confirm the human argument under which the principle, of doing evil, that good nay come of it, (that miserable calculation of consequences,' so highly extolled in a book of modern philosophy, and so justly abhorred by its wiser class of readers,) stands unalterably condemned! The human argument is, that shortsighted and ignorant as we necessarily are, it is not for us to calcu late the consequences of any event, nor even of our own actions. It is true, that, in the affairs directly under our own management, it is proper for us to make such calculations, and to regulate our conduct accordingly, at whatever risk of blunders, and of disastrous issue; but the risk is not to be wantonly incurred; we are not to go about the world, taking upon us the affairs and the fate of others, and seeking opportunities for employing ourselves in a task for which we are so peculiarly unqualified. Our duty in life is often a more simple one than we think for:

BE GOOD,

And let Heaven answer for the rest.

-After all, it would be an excellent occasion for our jokes (unless loss of temper should spoil our joking) were the Bramins one day to follow our example, and send missionaries to Great Britain, to reclaim this island from darkness.

In all countries, the true patriot and philanthropist will endeavour to support, and not to pull down, the established religion:

Nor think

That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise!

It is known, that Europe has received almost every thing, even its fashions in building, furniture, &c. from the East; and yet, amid the charge of besotted ignorance, which, in part justly, we so freely bring against those parent regions, it was hardly to be expected, that in the nineteenth century, we should be employed in copying its system of school-education!

Peter della Valle (a native of Rome, who for twelve years, from 1614 to 1626, employed himself in visiting Turkey, Egypt, the Holy Land, Persia, India, and other eastern countries, of which he published an interesting account, in a series of fifty

Godwin's Political Justice.

four

four letters) informs us, that he observed a way of writing shortlived memorandums in India, where he beheld children writing their lessons with their fingers on the ground, the pavement being for that purpose strewed all over with very fine sand. When the pavement was full, they put the writings out; and, if need were, strewed new sand, from a little heap they had before them, wherewith to write farther (p. 40). Dr. Shaw (whose travels were published at Oxford in 1738, and have often been reprinted) tells us, that the children in Barbary, who are sent to school, make no use of paper, but each boy writes on a smooth thin board, slightly daubed over with whiting, which may be wiped off, or renewed, at pleasure; and it seems they learn to read, to write, and to get their lessons by heart, all at the same time. Indeed the learned and reverend Mr. Harmer, in his admirable work entitled Observations on various Passages of Scripture,' has given us reason to believe, that the practice of writing in sand is as old, at least, as the days of Job. In his exposition of the following passage, ' O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! That they were graven......in the rock for ever!' he refers, among others, to the two writers who are just cited; and then he says, "Doubtless, things were often wiped out of the memory of the Arabs in the days of Job, as well as out of their writing-tables, as it now often happens in Barbary. Job therefore goes on, and says, 'O that they were written in a book,' whence they should not be blotted out. But books were liable to injuries; and for this reason, also, Job wishes his words might be even graven in a rock,' the most lasting way of all, and much more effectual to perpetuate them than a book. Thus (adds Mr. Harmer) the distinction between writing, and writing in a book, becomes perfectly sensible; and the gradation appears in its beauty, which is lost in our translation, where the word printed is introduced, which, besides its impropriety, conveys no idea of the meaning of Job; records, that are designed to last long, not being distinguished from less durable papers, by being printed. Further, (adds this gentleman,) One would be tempted to think the prophet Jeremiah had this way of writing in view, when he says, of them that depart from God, they shall be written in the earth,' ch. xvii. 13. Certainly it means, in general, soon be blotted out, and forgotten,' as is apparent from Ps. Ixix. 28. Ezek. viii. 9.'

There is an anecdote, the moral of which is extremely good, of the celebrated President Hénault, the author of the Abrégé Chronologique, and Madame du Deffand. They were both complaining one day of the continual interruptions they met with from the society in which they lived: How happy should we be,' said the

lady,