prietor whom we will name LATHRODACNUS: a man of no influence in the Colony, but much respected by Pamphilus. They were indeed relations by blood originally and afterwards by intermarriages; and it was to the power and protection of Pamphilus that Lathrodacnus owed his independence and prosperity, amid the general distress and slavery of the other Proprietors. Not less fortunately did it happen, that the means of passing the River were possessed exclusively by Pamphilus and his above mentioned Kinsman; and not only the Boats themselves, but all the means of constructing and navigating them. As the very existence of Lathrodacnus, as an independent Colonist, had no solid ground, but in the strength and prosperity of Pamphilus; and as the interests of the one in no respect interfered with those of the other; Pamphilus for a considerable time remained without any anxiety, and looked on the river-craft of Lathrodacnus with as little alarm, as on those of his own Establishment. It did not disquiet him, that Lathrodacnus had remained neutral in the quarrel and though many advantages, which in peaceful times would have belonged to Pamphilus, were now transferred to his Neighbour, and had more than doubled the extent and profit of his concern, Pamphilus, instead of repining at this, was glad that some good at least to some one came out of the general evil. Great then was his surprize, when he discovered, that without any conceivable reason Lathrodacnus had employed himself in building and collecting a very unusual number of such Boats, as were of no use to him in his traffic, but designed exclusively as ferry-boats: and what was still stranger and more alarming, that he chose to keep these in a bay on the other side of the river, opposite to the one small Plantation, along side of Pamphilus' Estate, from which plantation Lathrodacnus derived the materials for building them. Willing to believe this conduct a transient whim of his Neighbour's, occasioned partly by his vanity, and partly by envy (to which latter passion the want of a liberal education and the not sufficiently comprehending the grounds of his own prosperity, had rendered him subject) Pamphilus contented himself for a while with urgent yet friendly remonstrances. The only answer, which Lathrodacnus vouchsafed to return, was: that by the Law of the Colony, which Pamphilus had made so many professions of revering, every Proprietor was an independent Sovereign within his own boundaries; that the Boats were his own, and the opposite shore, to which they were

fastened, part of a field which belonged to him; and, in short, that Pamphilus had no right to interfere with the management of his Property, which, trifling as it might be compared with that of Pamphilus, was no less sacred by the Law of the Colony. To this uncourteous rebuff Pamphilus replied with a fervent wish, that Lathrodacnus could with more propriety have appealed to a law, as still subsisting, which, he well knew, had been effectually annulled by the unexampled tyranny and success of Misetes, together with the circumstances which had given occasion to the law, and made it wise and practicable. He further urged, that this law was not made for the benefit of any one Man, but for the common safety and advantage of all that it was absurd to suppose that either he (Pamphilus) or that Lathrodacnus himself, or any other Proprietor, ever did or could acknowledge this law in the sense, that it was to survive the very circumstances which made it just and proper, much less could they have even tacitly assented to it, if they had ever understood it as authorizing one Neighbour to endanger the absolute ruin of another, who had perhaps fifty times the property to lose, and perhaps ten times the number of souls to answer for, and yet forbidding the injured person to take any steps in his own defence: and, lastly, that this Law gave no right without imposing a corresponding duty, and therefore if Lathrodacnus insisted on the rights given him by the law, he ought at the same time to perform the duties which it required, and join heart and hand with Pamphilus in his endeavours to defend his independence, to restore the former state of the Colony, and with this to re-enforce the old Law, in opposition to Misetes, who had enslaved the one and set at nought the other. So ardently was Pamphilus attached to the Law, that excepting his own safety and independence, there was no price which he would not pay, no sacrifice which he would not make for its' restoration. His reverence for the very memory of the law was such, that the mere appearance of transgressing it would be a heavy affliction to him. În the hope therefore of gaining from the avarice of Lathrodacnus that consent, which he could not obtain from his justice or neighbourly kindness, he offered to give him in full right a Plantation ten times the value of all his boats, and yet, whenever the Colony should once more be settled, to restore the Boats: if he would only permit Pamphilus to secure them during the present state of things, on his side of the River, retaining whatever he really wanted for the passage of his own Household. To all these persuasions and entreaties Lathrodacnus turned a deaf ear; and Pamphilus remained agitated and undetermined, till at length he received certain intelligence, that Lathrodacnus had called a Council of the chief members of his Establishment, in consequence of the threats of Misetes, that he would treat him as the Friend and Ally of Pamphilus, if he did not declare himself his Enemy. Partly for the sake of a large Meadow belonging to him on the other side of the River, which it was not easy to secure from the Tyrant, but still more from envy and the irritable temper of a proud inferior, Lathrodacnus, and with him the majority of his advisers (though to the great discontent of the few wise heads among them) settled it finally, that if he should be again pressed on this point by Misetes, he would

join him and commence hostilities against his old Neighbour and Kinsman. It is indeed but too probable, that he had long brooded over this scheme, for to what other end could he have strained his income and over-worked his servants, in building and fitting up such a number of passage-boats? As soon as this information was received by Pamphilus, and this from a quarter which it was impossible for him to discredit, he obeyed the dictates of self-preservation, took possession of the passageboats by force, and brought them over to his own grounds; but without any further injury to Lathrodacnus, and still urging him to accept a compensation and continue in that amity which was so manifestly their common interest. Instantly, a great outcry was raised against Pamphilus, who was charged in the bitterest terms with having first abused Misetes, and then imitated him in his worst acts of violence. In the calmness of a good conscience Pamphilus contented himself with the following reply: "Even so, if I were out on a shooting Party with a Quaker for my companion, and saw coming on towards us an old Footpad and Murderer, who had made known his intention of killing me wherever he might meet me; and if my companion the Quaker would neither give me up his Gun, nor even discharge it as (we will suppose) I had just before unfortunately discharged my own; if he would neither promise to assist me nor even promise to make the least resistance to the Robber's attempt to disarm himself; you might call me a Robber for wresting this Gun from my companion, though for no other purpose, but that I might at least do for by myself, what he ought to have done, but would not do either for, or with me! Even so, and as plausibly, you might exclaim: "O the Hypocrite Pamphilus, who has not been deafened with his complaint against Robbers and Footpads and lo! he himself has turned Foot-pad and commenced by robbing his peaceful and unsuspecting Companion of his doublebarrelled Gun!" It is the business of THE FRIEND to lay down Principles not to make the applications of them to particular, much less, to recent cases. If any such there be, to which these Principles are fairly applicable, the Reader is no less master of the facts than the Writer of the present Essay. If not, the Principles remain : and the Friend has finished the Task, which the Plan of his Work imposed on him, of proving the identity of international Law and the Law of Morality in spirit, and the reasons of their difference in practice, in those extreme cases in which alone they have been allowed to differ,

PENRITH: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. BROWN; AND SOLD BY MESSRS. LONGMAN AND CO. PATERNOSTER ROW, AND CLEMENT, 201, STRAND, LONDON.

THE FRIEND.

No. 25, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1810.

EPITAPHS

TRANSLATED FROM CHIABRERA.

PERHAPS

1.

ERHAPS some needful service of the State
Drew TITUS from the depth of studious bowers,
And doomed him to contend in faithless courts,
Where gold determines between right and wrong.
Yet did at length his loyalty of heart

And his pure native genius lead him back
To wait upon the bright and gracious Muses
Whom he had early lov'd. And not in vain
Such course he held! Bologna's learned schools
Were gladdened by the Sage's voice, and hung
With fondness on those sweet Nestrian strains.
There did he live content; and all his thoughts
Were blithe as vernal flowers.-O human life,
That never art secure from dolorous change!
Behold a high injunction suddenly

To Arno's side conducts him, and he charm'd
A Tuscan audience: but full soon was call'd
To the perpetual silence of the grave.
Mourn, Italy, the loss of him who stood
A Champion steadfast and invincible,
To quell the rage of literary War!

2.

O Thou who movest onward with a mind
Intent upon thy way, pause though in haste!
"Twill be no fruitless moment. I was born
Within Savona's walls of gentle blood,
On Tiber's banks my youth was dedicate
To sacred studies; and the Roman Shepherd
Gave to my charge Urbino's numerous Flock.

Much did I watch, much laboured; nor had power
To escape from many and strange indignities;
Was smitten by the great ones of the World
But did not fall, for virtue braves all shocks,
Upon herself resting immoveably.

Me did a kindlier fortune then invite

To serve the glorious Henry, King of France,
And in his hands I saw a high reward

Stretch'd out for my acceptance-but Death came.—
Now, Reader, learn from this my fate-how false
How treacherous to her promise is the World,
And trust in God-to whose eternal doom
Must bend the sceptred Potentates of Earth.

In this, and some preceding Numbers, has been given a selection of Epitaphs from the Italian Poet CHIABRERA; in one instance imitated, and in the others carefully translated. The perusal of the original collection afforded me so much pleasure that I was induced to think upon the nature of that species of composition with more care than I had previously bestowed upon the Subject: the result of my reflections may perhaps be interesting to the Readers of THE FRIEND. An attempt will be made to unfold the Laws of Taste and Criticism systematically, as soon as certain topics, which have already been entered upon, shall be concluded: in the mean while, I wish to avai! myself of the present occasion to tempt the more practised Reader into a short prelusive exercise of powers which he will hereafter be called upon to put forth in good earnest; and, in respect to those Persons who are unfamiliar with such speculations, my labour, in the present Essay, may be likened to that of a Teacher of Geology, who, to awaken the curiosity of his Pupils, and to induce them to prepare for the study of the inner constitution of the Planet, lectures with a few specimens of fossils and minerals in his hand, arranged in their several classes, and the beauty of which he points out to their attention.

"To define an Epitaph," says Dr. Johnson," is useless; every one knows that it is an inscription on a Tomb. An Epitaph, therefore, implies no particular character of writing, but may be composed in verse or prose. It is indeed commonly panegyrical; because we are seldom distinguished with a Stone but by our Friends; but it