those which is proved to be nugatory by the example of the illiterate Methodists. The sermon I heard in Virginia was as well arranged as one of South's or Clarke's, and yet the preacher had no notes, and did not know that he was to preach till about five minutes before he entered the pulpit. I heard another delivered at the State Prison in New York, which was both regular and impassioned. This was also extemporaneously delivered by a Methodist. Why the feelings should not be operated on as well as the understanding, I cannot conceive. The orator of a popular assembly is often glad to rouse the passions: why then should the preacher be indifferent to the power of pathetic or animating appeals?

CHAPTER XVII.

THE SHAKERS.

AMONGST the various sects in the United States, one of the most curious is that of the Shakers. As these people have been grossly misrepresented in some recent publications, and as but little is known of them in England, a somewhat minute account of them seems necessary. The person who must be considered as their founder was Ann Lee of Manchester, a blacksmith's daughter; for though some of the doctrines of the future society were publicly taught by two young men before Ann had adopted them, yet she must have the credit, if any there be, of moulding the elementary parts into a system. On the ground of alleged, and perhaps real intolerance towards her and her disciples, they quitted England for the United States. During a storm on their passage, which was so tremendous as to place their lives in the utmost jeopardy, it is said that Ann was the stay of both passengers and crew. The passengers doubtless paid more deference to her, than the centurion under similar circumstances to the Apostle Paul, for her ob

scure expressions were treasured up as oracles, and she was as devoutly appealed to as the priestess at Delphi. High pretensions to special Divine illumination, when accompanied by the appearance of sanctity and mortification, have often produced amongst the ignorant this blind confidence. It was by such means that Mahomet secured such devotedness in his followers, and that Peter the Hermit produced the Crusades. If we consider that human nature is in all ages and countries the same, always prone to rely on supposed infallibility, we shall not wonder at the authority obtained by Ann Lee. The disciples gave her the appellation of Mother, but she used to say of herself, "I am Ann the Word!" However foolish or blasphemous this language may appear, it is consonant to their belief that Jesus Christ made his second appearance in her! And they remind those, who shocked at such presumption manifest abhorrence of it, that his first appearance as the reputed son of a carpenter, was no less abhorrent to the preconceived ideas of the Jews.

Soon after the disembarkation of Ann and her disciples, they settled near Albany in New York, For several years, little or nothing was done towards the settlement of a new society; the rea

son for which I apprehend to be, that they had not a sufficiency of property to enable them to relax from business to travel in pursuit of converts. After a time however, they began in good earnest. Success attended them. As their numbers increased, a new polity was developed; and a society was gradually formed, more peculiar than most that preceded it. They established a community of property; they practised celibacy; they instituted a novel mode of worship, and a system of discipline more exact than that of the army. Instead however of mixing with society at large, they purchased tracts of land, built villages in which none who refused to conform were allowed to settle, and by thus keeping themselves distinct from others, they could easily enforce their strict regulations. By industry and economy, they accumulated considerable property. New settlements were from time to time formed, and their present number is supposed to be about five thousand.

The idea of property being held in common has often been acted on. To say nothing of the early Christians as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the Jesuits in Paraguay had, as is well known, established a community of property in the districts which they laid out in that country.

One party of the two into which the Dutch Mennonists were divided, did the same thing, and obtained in consequence the title of the perfect Mennonists. The Labadists in France professed and acted in like manner. It is not generally known, but it is nevertheless true, that they extended their system amongst the colonists in Maryland. In other respects too, they were like the Shakers; but they soon ceased as a separate community. The Duhobortsi in Russia, and the Harmonists in Illinois have adopted the system; and at the school at Hofwyl, and in the cotton factory at New Lanark an approximation to it exists. From these various trials of the system of a common property, we may infer that under judicious regulations, it is by no means unfavourable to industry. How extensive it is possible to make the system, it is not now my business to enquire. That it will never become general, will be admitted by most, notwithstanding the arguments in Godwin's Political Justice, or the benevolent enthusiasm of Robert Owen. It must, I conceive, soon be brought to an end, in all cases where marriage is allowed; but as the Shakers practise celibacy, it may continue amongst them for ages to come, if no internal dissensions cause a dissolution of the society.