his composition was accompanied with very few alterations and corrections. Mr. Dallas, who had good means of information, gives a different account. But his lordship's poetry would have been much improved, even in a literary aspect, by more erasures and corrections; and, while he disliked and almost despised what has been called "the Mosaic work" of Gray, he erred himself in the opposite extreme of carelessness.

But his literary faults, whatever they are, might easily be forgiven for the sake of his many beauties. It is his delinquency in a moral and religious sense which forms "the head and front of his offending;" which has made much of what he has written pernicious, and which ought to brand some of his later per formances with a stamp of lasting infamy. His scepticism and impiety have been already noticed his licence of remark and improprieties of description constitute another charge against him, of the most serious nature. In truth, the sins of indecency and profaneness are not seldom found associated in the same writer. It is grievous to reflect, that the poet who, in one of his first performances, had blamed a brother-poet, though far too tenderly, for his polluting strains, should afterwards pursue the same course, and lend himself to the same species of corruption. Upon this subject, however, I shall not detain your readers long: this is a vice which has been exposed and reproved with such just severity, in one of the most powerful passages of the "Rambler," that, instead of any remarks of my own, I shall here take the liberty of extracting it. "The wickedness of a loose or profane author," says Dr. Johnson, is more atrocious than that of the giddy libertine; not only because it extends its effects wider, as the pestilence that taints the air is more destructive than poison infused in a draught, but because it is committed with cool deliberation. By the tantaneous violence of desire, a

good man may sometimes be surprised before reflection can come to his rescue: but for the frigid villainy of studious lewdness, for the calm malignity of laboured impiety what apology can be invented? What punishment can be adequate to the crime of him who retires to solitudes for the refinement of debauchery; who tortures his fancy, and ransacks his memory, only that he may leave the world less virtuous than he found it? that he may intercept the hopes of the rising generation, and spread snares for the soul with dexterity? What was his motive, or what his excuse, is below the dignity of reason to examine. If, having extinguished in himself the distinction of right and wrong, he was insensible of the mischief which he promoted, he deserved to be hunted down by the general compact of mankind, as no longer partaking of the social nature: if, influenced by the corruption of patrons or readers, he sacrificed his own convictions to vanity or interest, he was to be abhorred with more acrimony than he that murders for pay, since he committed greater crimes without greater temptations."

It may be observed, upon a general review of Lord Byron's poetry, that its moral aspect and tendencies have spoiled, to every reader of proper feelings, those attractions which the superiority of his genius has created. No poet ever knew better how to display the grand and picturesque of nature in a striking light; but the chilling gloom of his half-sneering, half-desponding scepticism, descends at intervals upon the prospect, and, like clouds and rain sweeping over some rich valley after the brightness of sunshine, buries all its beauties in mist and mournfulness. What are the glories of creation to one who beholds them without any reference to a wise, merciful, and "faithful Creator;" who looks around upon this scene of wonder and magnificence, without ever having his thoughts

in the mind of a single individual. I will not undertake to say which of Lord Byron's poems may or may not be read without danger; but of all works palpably evil or even doubtful, the duty of the Christian is clear, to abstain from familiarity with them. Let then every one, who professes the smallest regard for morals and religion, abstain from the gross inconsistency of encouraging publications which have a manifest tendency to overturn them. Want of serious consideration, as to this particular, sometimes produces the worst effects that could ensue from total want of principle. Were all decorous and respectable persons -to say nothing of sincere Christians to concur in a determination of this nature, the result would be most salutary. Their conduct would operate as a strong expression of public opinion, and as a happy restraint upon the polite literature of the present, and perhaps of future ages. It would be the means of gradually consigning to oblivion what ought never to have seen the light. It would shew, that, with a British public, no superiority of rank or intellect can screen an impious and licentious author from the just punishment of being reprobated and consigned to oblivion. And, let me add, that the warmest friends and admirers of the deceased poet cannot by any other means so effectually benefit his memory, as by suppressing those at least of his works, or parts of them, which, whatever be his condition now, whether happy or miserable, he must wish that he had never penned. F.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. A WORK has recently appeared from the pen of " an English Gentleman," entitled "an Excursion through the United States and Canada, in the Year 1822-23," which contains some incidental notices of Negro Slavery, fully confirmatory of those views of the

"A Missouri planter, attended by two slaves, a man and woman, was travelling to St. Louis, in a small wheeled carriage called a 'Dearborn,' and had stopped at Vincennes to rest his horses. Now the day before I arrived, both his slaves had run away. Trying to travel all night when nearly barefooted, the man had both his feet so severely frost-bitten, that he could not proceed. Consequently he was overtaken by some people sent after him by his master, and was brought back to Vincennes the very evening after my arrival. When I got up early the next morning, I saw the poor old slave, who had passed the night in the kitchen, with a heavy chain padlocked round both his legs. A man from North Carolina, who had ridden in company with me from White River, where he had been delayed, came into the room at the same time I did; and, although a slave-holder himself, was touched with compassion at seeing the miserable state of this old Negro. Having procured the key, he took off one of the padlocks, and desired the unhappy being to come towards the fire, in order to warm his frostbitten legs and feet, which were much swollen, and were no doubt very painful. The poor slave was so lame he could hardly move, but managed to come and sit down by the hearth. The Carolinian then said to him, 'You have committed a great crime, as you must be well aware: how came you to do it?' The Negro replied, Master, I am an old man, upwards of sixty years of age, and I have been all my life in bondage. Several White men told me, that as this was a free State, if I could run away I should be free;

and you know, master, what a temptation that was. I thought if I could spend my few remaining days in freedom, I should die happy.' But, replied the Carolinian, You were a fool to run away; you know you are much better off as a slave, than if you were free.' "Ah! master,' said the poor old Negro, no one knows where the shoe pinches, but he who wears it.'

"Just at this time, in came the master of the slave, and, after swearing a terrible oath that he would punish him, desired him to go and get ready the carriage. The poor old man answered that he was in too great pain even to stand upright. Upon this the brute, saying I will make you move, you old rascal,' sent out for a 'cowhide.' Now the sort of whip called by this name is the most formidable one I ever saw. It is made of twisted strips of dried cow's skin; and from its weight, its elasticity, and the spiral form in which the thongs are twisted, must, when applied to the bare back, inflict the most intolerable torture.

"The wife of the tavern-keeper coming in, and hearing that the Negro was going to be flogged, merely said, I would rather it had not been on the Sabbath.' For my part, I thought it signified very little upon what day of the week such an atrocious act of wickedness was committed; so, after trying in vain to obtain a relaxation of the punishment, I called for my horse, determined not to hear the cries of the suffering old man. Yet even when I had ridden far from the town, my imagination still pictured to me the horrors that were then being performed; and I should have thought myself deficient in human kindness, if I had not cursed from the bottom of my heart every government that, by tolerating slavery, could sanction a scene like this."

"The constitution of this Republic would be, if it were not for Negro slavery in the southern States, a spectacle for gods and men to rejoice at. It must however be conCHRIST. OBSERV. 281.

fessed, that slavery is a blot of such magnitude and enormity as greatly to diminish our admiration for the whole system."

"The traveller, in crossing from Kentucky into Ohio, sees at once the marked difference between a slave and a free State; for though Ohio is by much the younger State, he will there find a far greater degree of comfort and cleanliness, in both the interior and the exterior of the houses and taverns. This arises from the habits of industry necessary in a new State, where that moral pest Slavery is not tolerated.”

America, this traveller tells us, furnishes a practical demonstration of the truth of a noble sentiment of Mr. Fox, "that what is morally wrong, cannot be politically right;" and he thus illustrates it :

"Slavery is a complete check to the building of towns and villages, because it almost entirely prevents any demand for labour or merchandize. Say a man possesses forty slaves. All these unhappy beings are clothed and fed in the coarsest and cheapest manner, generally on a little salt-fish and Indian-corn. They live in huts on the estate of their master, and, having nothing to sell, can buy nothing. Each proprietor has his shoemaker, tailor, carpenter, &c. on his own estateall slaves. These are either taught by other slaves, or are, when young, sent by their masters as apprentices to a White artisan at some large town.

"If, therefore, a White settler should go to one of the slave States, what could he do? He could not, if an artisan, find any employment; for there is no demand for it. If he should buy land, he could not cultivate it without becoming a slave-holder; and this would require considerable capital. Hence in the slave States, the towns, as they are called, consist of little more than a tavern, a small store, and a blacksmith's shop. I speak, of course, of the towns in the interior, where there is no foreign commerce. The

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under a humane and kind master, are not much worse off than the lowest order of domestic servants in Europe, always however excepting their liability to be beaten or sold."

"The following paragraph, copied from a Charleston paper of 1823, will give some idea of the enlightened spirit existing among the slave-holders.

"The Grand Jury of Charleston

"All these spurious generations are slaves, liable to be sold, and often actually sold to Negro drivers, who again sell them to some one else, for mistresses. Indeed, in the southern States, the ladies would be very angry, and turn any one out of society, who kept a White woman for his mistress; but would not scruple even to marry him, if he had a Coloured one, and a whole family of children by her. But what should we say in Europe if a man sold his own natural son, brother, or sister? This however takes place quite commonly, and as a matter of course. I could mention the name of a lady, not a hundred miles from Washing. ton, who lets out as a servant her own natural brother, a good-looking Mulatto."

"The further to the south, the worse the slaves are off. This is particularly the case in those States that do not produce food for them. In the more northern slave-holding States, as Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and towards the west, in Kentucky, where Indian corn, and other sorts of grain abound, the slaves are somewhat better provided for. But in the more southern, where little else is raised but cotton, sugar, coffee, and tobacco, the food of the slave (which must be bought) is an object of greater consequence to the master, and consists of little but Indian corn and salt fish. More over, in these States, the slaves are kept together in much larger gangs, and with a much smaller admixture of Whites; consequently, there are fewer of the domestic slaves, who,

"As the Blacks are most carefully excluded from all schools kept by White persons, where their presence would be considered as a sort of contamination both by the master and scholars, this bill of the Grand Jury will deprive them at once of all instruction. This indeed, although they do not avow it, (for even the most hardened are sometimes sensible to public shame,) is their real object and intention.

"It is curious to see how fearful all despots are, that mankind, and particularly those under their own immediate rule, will ultimately become enlightened.

"That great man, the Emperor of Austria, when inspecting a certain University, is reported to have said, I do not want learned, but loyal subjects!' which, being interpreted, means--I do not want men of enlightened understandings, but slaves.-He, in common with the aforesaid Grand Jury of self-styled Liberals, is aware that despotism can only be maintained by keeping the mass of the people in ignorance. Let any one contrast the anxiety of the State of Connecticut for the extension of knowledge, in their admirable system of obliging, under penalties, every child in the State to be taught to read and write, with the Austrian-like conduct of the Grand Jury of Charleston. He will