stuck to the oracle of truth not less faithfully than they would have stuck to the most preposterous law fiction, — as one of the secrets of the craft whereby they got their wealth. Yet even from their lips it was the voice of reason, and it prevailed. Such was the impression made on the fears and prejudices of their hearers by the tongues of the lawyers, rattling like false dice, and always turning up the same side, however diversely, dexterously, or desperately thrown, that when the house divided, the " ayes" and "noes" were equal. Hereupon the Speaker, in the noble language of the barons at Runnymede, gave his casting vote against the bill, and in favour of Christianity, by pronouncing in the true senatorial tone, "Nolumus leges Anglice mutari." That instant the clock struck twelve, being midnight of Saturday, June * * * *, corresponding with the commencement of that Sabbath morning with a description of which this chapter was opened, and with the close of which it must be concluded; for the author, suddenly recovering from a reverie, found that the whole interpolated year had only occupied the time and space of half an hour's walk between his dwelling and ******. ln fact, it had only existed in his own imagination, which hath here more amply bodied forth the forms of things that flitted through its fairy region, and given to many an "airy nothing a local habitation and a name." Whether he can be justified in promulgating so outrageous a fiction, is a matter on which good men may be divided in opinion. He can, howover, honestly affirm, that he has not been combating giants and dragons of his own creation, nor telling a marvellous tale for the stupid diversion of tooth-picking timekillers. There has been an aim and a moral in all that he has written; even when he has hazarded censure by an apparent excess of frivolity on the one hand, or exaggeration on the other. He may not indeed have made himself always intelligible either in the fable, or the application; but after this exposure of his own views, he will frankly appeal to the judgments of his readers, to enquire for themselves, what would be the probable effects of the entire extinction of Christian principles, sanctions, and ordinances, with their immediate and indirect influence on the manners of society, and the public institutions of this land. When they have satisfied themselves on this subject, the author, in conclusion, would press the question home upon the consciences of all whom it concerns, — whether the Gospel of Jesus Christ be not a greater glory, blessing, and defence to this United Kingdom, than it has ever yet entered into the minds of statesmen, philosophers, or poets to conceive; and whether to be deprived of this would not be the greatest calamity that could befal its inhabitants, from the king on the throne to the meanest of his subjects? 144 THE EGOTIST. No. III. A FORENOON AT HARROGATE. I Am not so much at home here as I was at Scarborough last year :— there I had perfect retirement in my spacious apartments, and could be "myself alone," without the apprehension of eyes and ears being spies on my motions. I could sit, stand, walk, or lie down, at pleasure; I could read, write, or do neither; could look out of the window to discover islands and continents in the clouds; or pore over my fire in an evening before candle-light, and build ruined castles, or trace the lineaments of human faces and the shapes of nondescript animals, among the consuming embers, without interruption or annoyance. Here, — between the sound of perpetual footsteps in the passage, the phenomena of figures stalking by the low window in front of the parade, and " airy voices that syllable men's names" on every side, — my little parlour is never at peace from noises and spectacles that bewilder attention and disturb my reveries. • I can think here as freely as I could at Scarborough, but I cannot fix my thoughts, or pursue tlvem in. a train upon paper. They flock about me like pigeons, while I merely feed them; but if I attempt to catch them, they all take wing in a moment, and leave me gazing through vacancy at their flight. I will, however, try to net a few, as memorials how I spent my time here; but I must spread my toils very circumspectly, and take whatever comes, good, bad, and indifferent, in the hope that there may be one idea among a hundred worth the trouble of recording the rest. It was a clear dark night, without the moon, towards the close of September. Many of the most splendid constellations were abroad in the heavens, and shed their purest influence on the earth beneath, where nothing was visible but black masses of shade, whose uncouth outlines broke the ring of the horizon. Among the buildings at Low Harrogate, scattered lights in upper rooms, by their sudden appearance, quick motions, and early extinction, showed that the visiters and inhabitants, like myself, were retiring to rest. My last look, when I put out my candle, was towards the sky. The planets Jupiter and Saturn, with their beams nearly touching each other, were lords of the ascendant, and shone with steady lustre in the south-east; while, towards the zenith and in the north, the fixed stars were sown so thickly, that they seemed to twinkle all at once, and the galaxy gleamed beyond them, like the twilight of eternity on the confines of our universe. There was nothing changeable, or indicative of change above. Thus might the firmament have stood from creation, and thus it might continue till the dissolution of nature, a spectacle of wonder and beauty, whose silence speaks to the soul in a language which may be felt but not uttered. While I gaze upon the sky I forget every thing below it: but the spirit rests not there ;—" hope, full of immortality," carries adoring thought to the footstool of the throne of" Him that liveth forever and ever." Fixed in eternal repose though the heavens appeared, I knew that the stars were in their courses; I knew that the pageantry would soon be gone^by, and morning would come, as it has never failed to do since the first day after chaos. On this occasion, therefore, for I had an eye towards the morrow—so unconsciously selfish we are,—I anticipated a fine morning and a delightful harvest-day, after a night of such serene and imperturbable quiet. I lay down in hope, I slept in peace, I awoke in health. Leaving my bed, I sprang eagerly towards the chamber window: a fine morning had indeed risen on the earth, and a delightful harvest-day was probably behind; but there had been a storm in the night; the highways were glittering with pools of water, and the gardens were drenched and drooping beneath the weight of rain that had fallen while I was dreaming of any thing rather than what was happening around. Had the ground been hoary with frost, every blade, leaf, |