cousin, thy kinsman, favourite, and adjure the God by the scenes of his infant years, no longer to repuls me as a stranger or an alien, but to favour me with his peculiar countenance and protection! He daily bestows his greatest kindnesses on the undeserving and worthless assure him that I bring ample documents of meritorious demerits!-pledge yourself for me, that for the glorious cause of LUCRE, I will do any thing, be any thing-but the horse-leech of private oppression, or the culture of public robbery ! Religion, my honoured friend, is surely a simple business, as it equally concerns the ignorant and the learned, the poor and the rich. That there is an incomprehensible Great Being, to whom I owe my existence, and that he must be intimately acquainted with the operations and progress of the internat machinery, and consequent outward deportment of this creature which he has made, these are, I think, self evident propositions. That there is a real and eternal distinction between virtue and vice, and, consequently, that I am an accountable creature; that from the seeming nature of the human mind, as well as from the evident imperfection, nay, positive injustice in the administration of affairs, both in the natural and moral worlds, there must be a retributive scene of existence beyond the grave, must, I think, be allowed by every one, who will give himself a moment's reflection. I will go farther and affirm, that from the sublimity, excellence, and purity of his doctrines and precepts, uparalleled by all the aggregated wisdom and learning of many preceding ages, though, to appearance, he himself was the obscurest and most illiterate of our species-therefore Jesus Christ was from God! Whatever mitigates the woes, or increases the happiness of others, this is my criterion of goodness; and whatever injures society at large, or any individual in it-this is my measure of iniquity. What think you, madam, of my creed? Religion, my dear friend, is the true comfort! A strong persuasion in a future state of existence; a proposition so obviously probable, that setting revelation aside, every nation and people, so far as investigation has reached, for at least near 4000 years, have in some form or other firmly believed it. In vain would we reason and pretend to doubt. I have myself done so to a very daring pitch, but when I reflected that I was opposing the most ardent wishes and the most darling hopes of good men, and flying in the face of all ages, I was shocked at my own conduct. I know not whether I have ever sent you the following lines, or if you have ever seen them, but it is one of my favourite quotations, which I keep constantly by me in my progress through life, in the language of the book of Job: "Against the day of battle and of war," spoken of religion. 'Tis this, my friend, that streaks our morning bright, When wealth forsakes us, and when friends are few, Within the breast bids purest raptures rise, Bids smiling conscience spread her cloudless skies! What strange beings we are! Since we have a portion of conscious existence equally capable of enjoying pleasure, happiness, and rapture, or of suffering pain, wretchedness, and misery, it is surely worthy of an enquiry, whether there be not such a thing as a science of life; whether method, economy, and fertility of expedients be not applicable to enjoyment; and whether there be not a want of dexterity in pleasure, which renders our little scantling of happiness still less, and a profuseness, an intoxication in bliss, which leads to satiety, disgust, and self abhorrence. There is not a doubt but that health, talents, character, decent competency, respectable friends, are real substantial blessings; and yet, do we not daily see those who enjoy many, or all these good things, contrive, notwithstanding, to be as unhappy as others, to whose lot few of them have fallen? I pelieve one great source of this mistake, or misconduct, is owing to a certain stimulus with us, called ambition, which goads us up the hill of life, not as we ascend other eminences for the laudable curiosity of viewing an extended landscape, but rather for the dishonest pride of looking down on others of our fellow creatures, seemingly diminutive in humbler stations. I am out of all patience with this vile world for one thing. Mankind are by nature benevolent creatures, except in a few scroundelly instances. I do not think that avarice of the good things we chance to have, is born with us; but we are placed here among so much nakedness and hunger, and poverty and want, that we are under a necessity of studying selfishness, in order that we may EXIST! Still there are, in every age, a few souls that all the wants and woes of life cannot debase into selfishness, or even to the necessary alloy of caution and prudence. If ever I am in danger of vanity, it is when I contemplate myself on this side of my description and character. God knows, I am no saint; I have a whole host of follies and sins to answer for; but if I could, and I believe I do as far as I can, I would wipe away all tears from all eyes. Adieu ! What, my dear C. is there in riches, that they narrow and harden the heart so? I think that were I as rich as the sun, I should be as generous as the day, but as I have no reason to imagine my soul a nobler one than any other man's, I must conclude that wealth imparts a bird-lime quality to the possessor, at which the man in his native poverty would have revolted. (To be concluded in our next. ) ON WALKING. In the last Number of our Miscellany, p, 134, we gave an interesting Extract from DR. WILLICH's TRANSLATION OF STRUVE ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN; From the same Work we have taken the following Article ON WALKING, which, we doubt not, will be found equally interesting to our : Readers. E able to that artificially enforced. We should VERY kind of spontaneous exercise is prefer therefore afford children early opportunities of using their legs. But a question here arises, how do they in general learn to walk? Certainly in a very absurd manner, and with danger to their health and straight growth. Many a well-meaning mother enjoys the short, but illusive pleasure, of seeing her child stand on its legs at a very early age, without considering whether these limbs have acquired sufficient strength and firmness to support the body; and many nurses prematurely induce infants to walk, that they may indulge their own 1 idle dispositions, or pursue their own ordinary business, while they expose their charge to all the effects of such mismanagement. Sometimes, also, vain mothers endeavour to excel their neighbours in teaching children the use of their legs; but this artificial effort may, with more propriety, be termed way of waddling than walking it is a wretched tottering about, and stumbling, which cannot but offend the eye of every judicious spectator. Children are often, in a manner, suspended by what are called leading-strings, which are fastened to their jackets, or corsets, at the shoulders. These have the appearance of an harness contrived for the taming of a wild animal, rather than for leading a tender and sprightly infant. Whoever has once observed the wanton manner in which nurses pull and toss about those ill-fated children used to leading-strings, must be convinced of the injurious tendency of such practices; especially when in dan ger of falling, they are raised by them, as a horse is checked by his bridle, so that they are often subject to dislocations. Besides, they thus rely upon extraneous assistance, and do not exert their own powers. Leading-strings farther compress the shoulders, and impede the circulation of the blood in those parts; and, while the child reclines for ward with the whole weight of his body, it habitually acquires an improper and disagreeable pos ture. Not less objectionable are the moveable machines, vulgarly called go-carts. When infants remain for a length of time in such a constrained situation, the weight of the body bends the feeble legs, which ultimately become crooked. The breast also suffers, by leaning upon the circular top, and pushing the machine. To teach children to walk, by holding one of their hands, tends to produce a deformity of that |