who know not how rare and painful a work it is calmly to diffipate the carnal phantoms that disturb even a pious mind. Let thofe treat you with rigour, who are ignorant of the extreme difficulty that there is to purify the eye of the inward man, to render him capable of feeing the truth which is the fun and light of the foul. Let thofe treat you with rigour, who have never felt the fighs and groans that a foul must have, before it can have any knowledge of the Divine Being. To conclude, let those treat you with rigour, who never have been feduced into errors near a kin to thofe you are engaged in. "I pafs over in filence, that pure wif'dom, to which but a few spiritual men attain in this life: fo that though they know but in part, because they are men; yet, nevertheless, they know what they do know with certainty: for in the Catholic church, it is not penetration of mind, nor profound knowledge, but fimplicity of faith, which puts men in a state of fafety.”† To fuch an illuftrious authority we fhall add another. Salvianus, bishop of Marfeilles, difcourfing on the Arian Vandals, fpeaks as follows: "They are ignorant of what is commonly known among other men; and only know what their doctors have taught them, and follow what they bave heard them fay. Men fo ignorant as thefe, find themselves under a neceffity of learning the mysteries of the gospel, rather by the inftructions that are given them, than by books. The tradition of their doctors, and the received doctrines, are the only rules they follow, because they know nothing but what they have taught them. They are then heretics, but they know it not. They are fo in our account, but they believe it not, and think themselves fo good Catholics, that they treat us as heretics, judging of us as we do of them. We are perfuaded that they believe amifs, concerning the divine generation, when they maintain the Son inferior to the Father: and they Imagine that we rob the Father of his glory, who believe them both to be equal. We have the truth on our fide, and they pretend it is on theirs. We give to God his due honour, and they think they honour him better. They fail in their duty, but they imagine they perform it well; and they make true piety confit in what we call impious. They are in a mistake, but with a great deal of fincerity; and it is fo far from being an effect of their hatred, that it is a mark of N O.. T E. † Auguftinus contra epillolam fundamenti. their love of God; fince by what they do, they fhew the greatest refpect for the Lord, and zeal for his glory. Therefore, though they have not true faith, they nevertheless look upon that, as a perfec love of God. It belongs only to the Judge of the univerfe, to know how thefe me will be punished for their errors at the laft day." I As to what is concealed from the knowledge of mortals," fays St, Chryfultom, "let the fearcher of hearts deter mine, who alone knows the measure i knowledge, and the quantity of faith: whofe judgments are infcrutable, and ways uniearchable." § Religion, then, recoils at the thougs of fripping the victim for his mode r worship. We fhould make allowance for the weakness of our fellow-creatures; and reflect that few perfons view objects in the fame light. What makes a deep impreflion on one, makes but a flight im preífion on another. Univerfal orthodoxy has never been established, fince Cain has built the first city, and feparated from the children of God, nor ever will to the end of time. Amiift the dark and doubtful images of things, the sport of the pallions, the prejudices of education, the difputes of the learned, and the clouds that hang over weak and fluctuating reason, it is hard to feparate the clear from the abfeure, truth from error, and to atga them their proper fituations in light and shade. Add to this what I remarked before, that faith is a gift of God, to which the heart must be difpofed by the operations of an interior grace, which God alose can give, and which is obtained more by prayer than by difputing. If we take à furvey of nature itfeif, which God has given up to the difputes of men, the fmallef infect baffles our feverett fcrutiny. From the ant up to the elephant, and from the germination of a blade of grafs, to the immenfe bodies that fwim in the yielding ether above, every thing is an inexplicable mystery. The very foul with whofe nature we fhould be better ac quainted, and from whose active powers we derive our faculties and judgment, is a torch with which we are enabled to view the univerfe, and yet our philofophers know not where it fhines. Some affign the brain for the feat of this immortal fpirit. Others the blood; others the pineal gland; and others, unable to comprehend how matter and spirit can be fo clofely interwoven, as to form oce N O TE S. Salvianus. compound compound called man, affert that the foul abides at a distance from the body, and influences it as the fun influences certain plants, that turn round and humour its motion. What an immenfe library could be made up of all the books on this immortal fpark that animates us! Whether it exifted before its union with the body, Whether it undergoes the fame fate of extinction, If it furvives, whether it goes to the filent shades of the dead, naked, or clothed in a thin pellicle, imper ceptible to the anatomist's eye, but qualifying it in the other world for feeling the fmarting fenfations excited by tormenting fire, which otherwife could not affect a pure fpirit, without having recourse to an extraordinary power, the miraculous exertion whereof is fpared by this coat of imperceptible Skins, cut for the fpirit in a philofopher's brain-The foul's ftate and refidence in the long interval between death and the final confummation of all things. Burnet, the learned author of the theory of the earth, laughs at the purgatory of the Catholics; but ftrikes into a path in which few Proteftant divines would choofe to take him for their guide. He admits none to the clear fight of God, until after the resurrection; heaps up teftimonies to vindicate prayers for the dead; eftablishes Kades, a receptacle for fouls, and a middle state where they expect the coming of Chrift, and the found of the laft trumpet. † If, from ourselves, and nature that furrounds us, we make an excurfion into the region of myfteries, with what darknefs has not God overfpread "the face of the deep!" What difputes between Catholic and Proteftant writers on one fide, and the Arians and Socinians on the other, about the divine generation of the Son of God! What a deluge of blood fpilt on that occafion, when the Arians were fupported by powerful emperors, who drew the fword to decide the controverfy! Should one of the Bramins come amongst us, and after ftudying our languages, fit down to read the fcriptures, to confult our writers, and to determine upon the choice of a religion, what a la borious task! From the time of Pelagius, down to our days, what difputes about original fin! How could it be propagated to a child whofe body could not fin, whofe foul came pure from its Creator's hands, whofe father and mother N O T E. + In his book De Statu Mortuorum et Refurgentium. Hib. Mag. Nov. 1782. were purified themfelves from original ftain, and guiltlefs in complying with the inftitutions of God and nature. Let this Bramin read the works of the divines of the church of England, in favour of infant baptifm, he will regret his not having been confecrated to God before the ufe of his reafon. When he reads the Anabaptist divines against infant baptifm, he will rejoice that he did not enter too foon into a covenant, whereof he did not know the conditions and terms. When Barclay published his apology for the Quakers, he cut out a good talk for the divines of the church of England, who were obliged to display their erudition in order to refute him. If from baptifm we pafs to the Lord's fupper, what difficulties to encounter! What arguments against the real prefence by Zuinglius, Calvin, Du Moulins, Claude, Tillotson! And what formidable opponents have not thofe writers to engage, in the perfons of Luther and the Lutheran divines; Boffuet, Arnauld, and the numerous tribe of Catholic Doctors! Text for text: reafon for reason. Affailants and defendants take their weapons from the fame arfenal, and handle them with furprifing addrefs and fkill. If the church of England be confulted on the important mystery, her answer only puzzles and perplexes: "What is the inward part of the fa crament? If "The body and blood of Chrift, verily and indeed received by the faithful." For as doctor Burnet remarks, the dis vines who compofed the liturgy, had orders to leave it as a fpeculative point, not determined; in which every perfon was left to the freedom of his choice. the divines, after fearching the fcriptures and fathers, call philofophy to their affiftance, Mr. Locke, one of its oracles, will tell them, that the idea of body and the idea of place, are fo closely connected, that it is impoffible to conceive one body in two different places at the same time. Cartefius, who was the first that difpoffeffed Ariftotle of his throne, Gaffendi, that famous priest, who revived and improved Epicurus's fyftem of atoms, Caffini, and thousands befide, were as well acquainted as Locke, with the nature of place and bodies, and doubtless his superiors in the knowledge of the mathematics; yet they could difcover no contradiction in the fame body being in different places at the fame time, when once they fuppofed the interpolition of infinite power, and N O T E. Hiftory of the Reform, b. 3. Сссе the the pliancy of space and matter, to theirrefiftible will of omnipotence, which can either create or annihilate them. Thus, after a laborious excurfion into the provinces of philofophy and theology, the philofophical divine muft return back to the first elements of logic and gram mar, that treat of the modes of speech; and, from the combination of time, place, circumstances, the nature of the teftament, or laft will of a man on the eve of his death (but a man who united in the fame perion, the finlefs weakness of humanity, with the power and nature of the Godhead) determine whether he fpoke in a literal or figurative fenfe. For place and body, matter and space, are incompre. henfible riddles which the greatest philo. fophers are at a lofs how to unravel. The fenfations of cold, hunger, thirst, pain, and pleasure, convince us fufficiently that we have bodies, whofe daily decay we are continually repairing with fleep and aliment. We are, in like manner, convinced that there is fuch a thing as place, when we remove from the firefide to bed, where, locked up in the clofe arms of Пleep, we are for a while in an intermediate flate between life and death; dreaming fometimes that we are fovereigns, fwaying the fceptre of authority; and at other times, trembling under the hand of the executioner, who has the axe in his hand to fever the head from the body, or the rope to frangle us; alternately enjoying the grandeur of kings, and undergoing the punishment of criminals, without the reality of either. The different impreffions we receive from the fun, moon, and ftars, fcorching flames, and refreshing, fprings, make us believe that there are other bodies in nature, besides thofe frail rachines we carry about us. In a word, fenfations from within, and impreflions from without, concur to convince us that there are places and bodies. The arguments of divines, and the feverity of human laws, in fupport of thofe arguments, configning thofe bodies to prifon, death, banishment, or hunger, are collateral proofs that we have those bodies, and that we feel their existence by means of painful fenfations. Yet the immortal Berkeley, bishop of Cloyne, has proved by arguments hitherto unanswerable, that there is no demonstration for the existence of one fingle body in nature, He has reconciled the Catholic and Proteftant philofophers and divines, about the real prefence, by cutting off, at one blow, both body and place. Our whole life, according to this fyftem, adopted by feveral learned men, is but one continual fcene of delusion. Ob. jects we never faw, during the day-time The Hiftory of the Empire of Indoftan, with the Rife and Progress of the Carnatis War. TH (Continued from p. 528.) HE inconveniencies arifing from the want of a port at Bourbon, induced the French to take poffeffion of Mauritius. This ifland extends about 45 miles in length from north to fouth, and about 30 from weft to caft. In the north-eaftern quarter is a plain extending about ten miles from east to west, and in fore places five miles in land from the northern coaft. All the rest of the island is full of high and feep mountains, lying fo near to one another that the intervals between them, instead of vallies, form only beds of torrents; and thefe are choaked with vaft fragments of tone torn from the rock above. The fummits of these mountains are covered with foreûts of ebony, and other large trees, and the ground under the shade of the trees produces herbage, fhrubs, and plants of various forts, from the common grafs to the ftrongest thorn, in fuch profufion that they form a thicket fo clofely interwoven, that a step cannot be made, but with the hatchet in hand. Many plantations have been raised with fuccefs on these mountains, and some improvements made on the plain to the north eaft; but the productions, although mostly of the fame kind, are in lefs quantity, and in lefs perfection, than at Bourbon; it produces no coffee; but, by the induftry of M. de la Bourdonnais, fugar, indigo, and cotton, which are not at Bourbon, were cultivated here with fuccefs; and although thefe plantations have been much neglected fince his departure, they may at any time be recovered. They are at this time endeavouring to cultivate the genuine cinnamon, from plants procured at Ceylon; but thefe, if they do not perifh, will in all probability, from the difference of foil and climate, greatly degenerate. Iron mines have been difcovered in the mountains, near the plain to the north-east; and, thefe mountains supplying great quantities of fuel, forges have been erected; but the iron produced is brittle, and is made into cannon-balls and fhells for mortars. Beeves, sheep, and goats, are preserved with great difficulty: the the beeves generally die before they have been a year in the ifland, and are therefore frequently imported from Madagafcar and other parts. Common domestic fowls breed in great plenty; and thef, with fish and turtle, furnish a great part of the food of the European inhabitants. Thefe have multiplied very little by inarriage, most of them being natives of France. Their Caffre flaves are fubject to great mortalities from the fmall-pox and other epidemical distempers. Mauritius has two ports, one on the fouth east coaft, and the other on the north-weft. The trade-wind from the fouth-eaft blows in these latitudes all the year round, excepting for a few days at the summer folftice, when it is interrupted by hard gales and hurricanes from the north. The facility with which this wind enables fhips to enter the fouth-eaft port, induced the French, when they first took poffeffion of the island, to give the preference to this harbour; but on finding that the fame wind often rendered the paffage out fo difficult, that a fhip was fometimes obliged to wait a fortnight before the could put to fea, they left it, and have ever fince made ufe of the other har bour. This lies nearly in the middle of the north fide of the inland; and its entrance is through a channel formed by two fhoals, which advance about a mile into the fea. When a fhip arrives oppote to this channel, the fouth-east wind hinders her from entering the port under fail; and the muft either warp in with cables, or be towed in by boats: the neceffity of this operation, joined to the narrowness of the channel, which does not afford paffage for two fhips a breaft, is one of the greatest difficulties an enemy would meet with in attacking the har bour; for although there are two forts, and as many batteries, which command the channel, yet thefe might easily be reduced, if fhips of force could approach them under fail. This port is capable of containing 100 fail, and is provided with all the neceffaries for repairing and even for building of thips. The entrance of the fouth-eaft port is defended by batte ries, and an army landed here would meet with great difficulties in pafling over the mountains to the other parts of the island. There are several places, between the north-east extremity and the north port, where boats may land; but all thefe are defended by batteries, and the counry behind them is a continued thicket; he reft of the coaft is inacceffible; and the French, relying on the difficulties of approaching the fhore, had made no forifications in any part of the inland to ob trust the progrefs of an enemy when landed. The greatest extent of Diego Reys is 27 miles; it is full of rocks, which harbour great numbers of land tortoiles of a very large fize, which are esteemed excellent food: here the French keep a detachment of men, who are employed in catching theie animals for the inhabitants of Mauritius: and this is the principal ufe they make of Diego Revs. The fouth-eaft trade-wind obliges all fhips bound to thefe iflands to approach them from the east. The paffage from Diego Reys to Mauritius is performed in two days, and from Mauritius to Bourbon in one; but it requires near a month to go from Bourbon either to Mauritius or Diego Reys: from April to October the voyage from Mauritius to the coat of Coromandel is easily performed in a month. Thefe islands being out of the track of common intelligence, a large armament, fent in detail from France, may rendezvous in the port of Mauritius, and from thence arrive in India before any intelligence is received there either of its ftrength or deftination: hence it is evident, that, if we have any regard to our fettlements in India, the reduction of this place ought to be one of the firft objects of our attention in the beginning of a war with France. The poffeffion of Mauritius would probably be followed by the voluntary fubmiffion of Bourbon, or would certainly render it of no ufe to the French for the purposes of war. The feet was thirty-five days in its paffage from the Cape of Good Hope to Mauritius, and came in fight of the eastera coaft on the 23d of June at day-break. Three of the Dutch fhips were miffing, having separated from the relt in had weather. As foon as the hips came to the north-eat point of the island, they proceeded along the northern conft in a line of battle a head, the men of war leding, and the company's fhips following them; and before night they had advanced within two leagues of the port, and came to anchor in a kind of bay lying between the mouths of two fmall rivers. They had hitherto discovered only two places along the thore where the imoothiefs of the water feemed to indicate a patibility of making a defcent, and thefe were de fended by two fafcine batteries of fix guns each, which fired on the fhips as Cey paffed all the rest of the thore was defended by rocks and breakers. : by his for car no lan to in eli de. hc to ar T vi Life of Mary Queen of Scots. 562 The news of this atrocious murder quickly spread abroad, and the fufpicion king fell, with an almoft univerfal confent, on the carl of Bothwell, of whofe guilt there remains the fulleft evidence, that the nature of the action will admit. The queen herself was accused of being privy to this barbarous tranfaction, and her known fentiments with regard to her husband gave a great appearance of probability to the imputation. Bothwell put himself upon his trial in April following; but no perfon appearing against him, he was acquitted; and a confiderable number of the nobility engaged in a bond of affocia tion to maintain his innocence, and promote his marriage with the queen. Thus fupported, he raised a body of a thoufand horfe, and intercepting Mary on her return from Stirling, conveyed her to his cattle of Dunbar. obtained a divorce from his wife, he conSoon after, having ducted the queen to Edinburgh, where The created him duke of Orkney, and finally married him on the 15th of May, contrary to the general sense of her people, and that regard which the ought to have preferved for her own reputation. This was undoubtedly an imprudent and fatal ftep, by which the entailed upon herfelf numberless mortifications, mifery, and ruin, Bothwell, not fatisfied with the honour of efpoufing his fovereign, endeavoured to make himself master of the perfon of the young prince, (afterwards king James I. of England) who had been committed by his mother to the care of the earl of Mar; but this nobleman refufed to deliver up bis charge. t Bothwell having rendered himself odious to the generality of the Scottish nation, many of the nobility affembled at Stir ling, and formed a league for the defence of the prince's perfon. They had well nigh furprized the queen and her husband at Holyrood-house, from whence the efcaped with difficulty to the caftle of Borthwick; but the earl of Home appearing before that place, the retired to Dunbar, Mean-while the confederate lords enter ing Edinburgh, declared by proclamation, that their defign was to take vengeance on Bothwell for murdering the king, and confpiring against the life of the prince. Thence they proceeded against the queen and Bothwell, who had levied a confiderable force; and both fides prepared for an engagement. Mary, however, previously demanded a conference with Kirkaldy of Grange, one of the confederates, who, in the name of the reft, promised her, that, if he would difmifs her bufband, and govern the realm by the advice of her pobles, they would obey her as N their queen. During this parley, Bot well, attended by a few followers, rod off the field, and was foon after obl to leave the kingdom. Mary hav complied with the conditions propofed the confederates, was fent under a stro guard to the cattle of Lochlevin, belc ing to William Douglas, who received a order, figned by the affociated lords, t detain her in fafe cuftody. They no compelled her to refign the crown to be infant fon, and to appoint the earl d Murray regent during his minority. queen escaped from her confinement, and In the beginning of May, 1568, the collected a body of forces; but being de feated by the regent Murray, fbe fled to England, and implored, the affiftance queen Elizabeth. However, upon her ar rival there, fhe was detained as a prifoa the charge of being acceffary to the mur er, until she should vindicate herself from der of loid Darnley, who was a native of England. to take cognizance of her caufe; deputic Commiffioners were appointed were fent from Scotland to accufe her, and York was named for the place of con ference. This commiffion was foon recalled, and the matter brought to a hear ing at Westminster, though without ef fect. Mary's confinement, which was a ftrict one, occafioned repeated attemp both at home and abroad to procure her deliverance, and even fome plots againt the life of queen Elizabeth: in confequence of which, in 1584, a general afl ciation was entered into by the fubjects of that queen in her defence. In 1534 having a fhare in Babington's confpiracy, the queen of Scots being charged with it was determined by the English minifters to bring her to trial, which was accordingly done in October that year; and on the 25th of the fame month fentence of death was pronounced against her, which was confirmed a few days after by the unanimous confent of both houses of parliament, who petitioned queen Elizabeth that it might be put in execution. On the 1st of February, 1587, Elizabeth figned the warrant for Mary's death; but being defirous to have the blame of the action, as much as possible, removed from herfelf, the gave orders to her fecretaries Wallingham and Davifon to write to Sir Amias Pawiet and Sir Drue Drury, the queen of Scots' keepers, to put her fecretly to death; but they declining this inhuman office, ber majefty commanded that a letter fhould be fent to Pawlet for the speedy execution of the warrant, Mary, on the day of her diffolution, which was the 8th of February, behaved with extraordinary compofure and magnanimi |