64

had only a few coppers, not amounting to a sixpence, in the house, before we received the welcome gold coin.

I could have got a situation immediately afterwards. But the salary offered was very small; and I had received fifty pounds from my late employer's relations, as an acknowledgment of my services. So, scorning to "shelf" myself, as I called it, I resolved to wait till something worth my acceptance presented itself. I do not know how it was, but I spent three or four busy months idling about. I waited on this person and that person; spoke of my capabilities and my wants; tried for two or three situations, and began to feel what I had never properly felt before, that the fraternity I belong to, like that of our employers, is a numerous onetheir name is Legion, for they are many.

One day, in the street, I met a barrister who had been one of the personal friends of my late employer. "Oh, Turner," he said, "I wanted to see you-come with me." I went with him to the chambers of a well-known conveyancer. After being duly introduced, I was desired to wait, and the kind barrister, doubtless thinking he had effectually served me, went away. Some time afterwards, I was called into the sanctum. Well, Mr. TurnerTurner is, I think, your name, is it not?" said he, in a voice that made me think him as musty and precise as an old titledeed. I bowed. "With whom did you say you were last, Mr. Turner?" I mentioned the name. "Ah! poor fellow, he died as he was getting into a very good business,-did he not, Mr. Turner?" I replied. of course, in the affirmative. "But you were with a conveyancer before you were with him, were you not, Mr. Turner?" I said, No-but that I was sure I would soon get into the routine of the business. "Ah! well, I am busy now, Mr. Turner, but leave me your address, and I will send for you when I want you." I pulled out my card, which the conveyancer told me to put down on the table. Next day the situation was filled up, but not by me.

I next applied for the head clerkship in an attorney's office, but the attorney wanted an experienced man, and I was amongst the rejected candidates. I heard one night of a vacancy in a barrister's clerkship, and was waiting at the chambers next morning before the barrister appeared himself, amongst half-a-dozen young men, who mutually guessed each other's purpose-but the barrister had been suited the night before. The question began to occur to me -what can I do? Here was I, the father of a family, a grown member of an overstocked profession, and all I can really do to earn my family's subsistence is the copying of legal documentsan art that a boy of fourteen can perform as well as a man of forty. Yet, forsooth! my shabby gentility must be kept up-dig I cannot, and to beg I am ashamed. In the first impulse of the moment, I resolved to sell off all that I had, and emigrate to the Backwoods of Canada. And pray, said I to myself, as I cooled a little, what can you do in the Backwoods of Canada? You can neither handle the axe, nor the saw, nor the hammer; hardly know how to plant a cabbage-and can barely tell the difference between wheat and oats!

My father had oeen ailing, and was at last called away, and I, heretofore the great man of the family, could do nothing towards laying him in his quiet grave. A brother, by trade a blacksmith, one whom I had ridiculed for the awkward homeliness of his manners, and whom I have more than once avoided in the street, defrayed the expenses of the funeral, and, being unmarried, charged himself with the maintenance of my mother. Yes, the tables were turned. Yet even amid the bitterness of heart which every thing

I had parted with the silver chain, as well as some other ornaments previously, but the ring kept its place on my little finger. This I now took off, sold for a few shillings, and went and got drunk, like a mean-spirited hound, with the money. Staggering about the streets, and covered with mud from a fall, I was met by the kind barrister, who had not lost his interest in me, and who, but for the circumstance of his having an excellent clerk, would have taken me. He was accompanied by another barrister, who had just discharged his clerk for drunkenness and embezzlement, and the empty place had been reserved for me-it was a very good one. They both knew me, both spoke to me, and I answered them with a hiccuping bravado, which, as I learned next morning, under a head-ache and a heart-ache, lost me the situation.

The next night was one of the dreariest I ever spent in my life. I slipped out while my wife was asleep, and began to ramble about the streets to cool the fever of body and mind. "London is indeed a large place," thought I. There are hundreds in it, ay, thousands, who, if they knew my condition, would pour a sufficiency for the present distress into the lap of my family-yet a bold, bad, begging-letter impostor, by working on the feelings of the charitable, can sometimes gather pounds while I am destitute of pence. And there are hundreds of situations, requiring no greater ability than what I possess, which supply what I would term affluence to their possessors, while I am wandering about like a vagabond, no man offering me aught to do. But the previous night's adventure came back to my recollection, and I knew I was solacing myself with a lie. It was a bitter night of murmuring, repining, selfaccusation, and reproach of the arrangements of Providence. I forgot how much of my present condition was owing to my own wilful misspending of the time of my youth, and the money acquired in a comfortable situation.

During that night's ramble, I saw two or three destitute creatures, mcn and boys, wandering the streets like myself, and a young lad, who was sitting huddled up on the steps of a door, told me his story, which, if it was not true, was told in a very truth-like way. It was a pitiable story of destitution, and made me ashamed of my want of spirit. There was a penny in my pocket, remaining from my previous night's debauch; I gave it to him with hearty good will, and returning home, found my wife up, and weeping at the alarming thought of my having abandoned her, but determined. as she said with great spirit, to "scrub her nails off" to earn a subsistence for herself and the children.

I now thought of trying for a situation in the Post Office. Accordingly, I set to work-got up a memorial, and had it signed by a number who knew me, and by a number who did not-and sent letters along with it to the Postmaster-General and the Secretary. My hopes rose high about the success of this scheme, for the letters were nicely written, nicely folded, and nicely sealed. I allowed at least ten days for an answer, and did not become impatient till the third week. Then I began to sit each morning at the window, watching the postman, and biting my nails as he passed. The oldness of the maxim has not abated one jot of its truth, that, hope deferred maketh the heart sick." The third week passed, and the fourth, and no answer came. In the fifth week, unable to bear the agony of suspense, I sent a note, entreating an answer, and gently hinting that my application might have been overlooked

in the hurry of business. A few days afterwards I got an answer. and broke the official seal with a trembling hand and a beating heart. The inclosure was a note, intimating, in dry, but civil terms, that my application had been laid before the PostmasterGeneral, but that his list was so full as to prevent all possibility of any hope of employment being held out to me.

Next day I got, by what appeared almost a mere chance, the situation of clerk to a barrister, with a salary of 501. a year. I had been offered the same sum, with a chance of picking up some fees, immediately after my former employer died, but I was too saucy at that time to take it. Now, however, the tone of my spirit was lowered a little. My new employer had scarcely any business, and but small chance of augmenting it-for though not lacking ability, he wanted the "turn"-the manner, or what you choose to call it, which helps a man along in the crowded walks of the law. But I had not been long with him, when he began to throw out hints about his prospects, and his connexions. He was very well connected, and was industriously grubbing about for the roots of an official appointment. He distinctly gave me to understand that he should provide for me as soon as he was provided for himself. I dare say he would have fulfilled his promise, if nothing had intervened. I was serviceable to him; and though a considerable amount of pride still subsisted in my heart, I brought myself to act as a valet, as well as a clerk, to a man who I could not but see was proud, poor, mean, and ungenerous. After two years' service with him, he got an appointment in one of the colonies, and having one or two relations to provide for, I could not be considered in his "arrangements." He had not the courage or the honesty to tell me the real cause, but said that my family was the

obstacle in the way.

I now longed for an opportunity to "cut" the law, and would have given all I ever had in the world to any man who would have endowed me with a faculty of earning my family's subsistence different from that of copying a legal document, and making a flourish at the bottom of the page. A little shop was to be let in my neighbourhood-a kind of compound shop, in which the goods sold came under the class of huckster and green-grocer. I knew nothing about buying and selling: but better late than never, thought I, and I resolved to make the experiment. The price of fixtures and good-will was only thirty pounds, but where was I to get thirty pounds? My worthy blacksmith brother came to my aid. He lent me a few pounds he had saved, and he borrowed a few more ; my old friend the barrister, who had long before become reconciled to me, and who had learned that I was not an habitual drunkard, presented me with ten pounds; and one way or another I raised the thirty pounds, though with a desperate struggle. So I entered on face to hide the scantiness of the stock, and the awkwardness of the possession of my little shop; and it required a good laughing my motions. My wife, indeed, has served me excellently well; only for her handy cleverness the shop would have been shut up long ago. We are doing pretty well in it, not making a fortune, but eking out a livelihood. Meantime I have got another situation with a Chancery barrister, in which I do not get more than about 18s. a week, but where the work is light, and I do not require to go out of town. My wife attends to the shop during the day, and at night too: but if the custom of the shop should increase, so as to enable us to maintain our family by it, I will "cut" the law altogether; and acting on my father's maxim, bring up my children to "honest" trades, instead of learning them a shabby gentility, which may make them more helpless in a great city than a Spitalfields ora Paisley weaver.

FORETHOUGHT AND INDEPENDENCE.

IN connexion with industry, children should be taught to take care of property. They should find that labour is the source of property, and that property, carefully preserved and diligently improved, rapidly accumulates. This may be done in such a way as not to excite a mercenary spirit, but to stimulate a spirit of honest independence. Let them see that comfort and respectability are the result of honest industry and perseverance; accustom them to raise their standard of the comforts and decencies of life higher than that of the filthy half-furnished hovels in which, perhaps, some of them have passed their infancy; show them the neat, clean, and well-built cottage which is occupied by some industrious couple, who have only their own labour and its results on which to depend; tell them how their prosperity began-perhaps in some childish act of industry and frugality, the produce turned round and round, each time upon a larger scale, until they were able to maintain themselves, and have gradually risen to the state of comfort and sufficiency which they now enjoy.

JOHN LAW OF LAURISTON, AND THE MISSISSIPPI

SYSTEM.

SECOND ARTICLE.

In pursuance of the plan devised by Mr. Law, and noticed in a former paper, a commercial company was erected in August, 1717, by letters patent, under the name of the Company of the West. The whole province of Louisiana was granted to them; and this country being watered throughout its whole extent by the great river Mississippi, the subsequent operations of the company came to be known under the general title of THE MISSISSIPPI SYSTEM. livres each, to be paid in billets d'état. These were in such disThis company was divided into 200,000 actions, or shares, of 500 credit, from the bad payment of interest, that 500 livres nominal company took them at their full value, and became creditors of the King to the amount of 100 millions of livres, the interest of which was fixed at four per cent.

value were not worth more than 150 or 160 in the market. The

Of this Company of the West, Mr. Law (who had now advanced so high in the Regent's favour, that the whole ministerial power was reckoned to be divided among him, the Abbé Du Bois, minister for foreign affairs, and M. d'Argenson, keeper of the seals,) was named director-general. The actions were eagerly sought after; Louisiana having been represented as a region abounding in gold and silver, of a fertile soil, capable of every sort of cultivation. Such was the rage for speculation, that the unimproved parts of that country were sold for 30,000 livres the square league, at which rate many purchased to the extent of 600,000 livres; vigorous preparations were made for fitting out vessels, to transport thither labourers and workmen of every kind; and the demand for billets d'état, in order to purchase shares, occasioned the former to

rise to their full nominal value.

The farm of tobacco, the charter and effects of the Senegal Company, and the exclusive privilege of trading to the East Indies, China, and the South Seas, together with the possessions and effects belonging to the China and India Companies, were made debts of these companies, now dissolved. The Company of the over to the new company, on condition of paying the lawful West assumed on this occasion the title of the Company of the rated at 550 livres each, payable in coin, to be employed partly in Indies. Fifty thousand new shares were ordered to be constituted, satisfying the creditors of the old companies, and partly in building vessels and in other preparations for carrying on the trade. The price of actions quickly rose to one thousand livres; the hopes of the public being raised by the favourable prospects of possessing a very lucrative branch of commerce.

On the 25th July, 1719, the Mint was made over to the Company of the Indies, for a consideration of fifty millions of livres, to shares, rated at one thousand livres each, were directed to be be paid to the King within fifteen months; and fifty thousand new issued, in order to raise that sum. On the 27th August following, the Regent took the great farms out of the hands of the farmersgeneral, and made over the lease to the Company of the Indies, on their agreeing to pay 3,500,000 livres additional rent for them; thus relieving the people from the exactions of that powerful body, under whose management the taxes became quite intolerable,-not them. On the 31st of the same month, the Company obtained so much from their own weight as the oppressive mode of levying the general receipt of other branches of the King's revenue. When they had acquired all these grants, and had thus concentred in themselves the whole foreign trade and possessions of France, and the collection and management of all the royal revenues of that kingdom, they promised an annual dividend of two hundred livres on every share; the consequence of which was, that the price of actions instantly rose in the market to five thousand livres; the public ran upon the last creation of fifty thousand with such eagerness, that nearly double the requisite sum was subscribed for, and the greatest interest was exerted, and every stratagem put in practice, to secure places in that subscription.

The Company now came under an obligation to lend the King,

in order that he might pay off his creditors, the sum of 1500 millions of livres, at the rate of three per cent. per annum; and to this rate the interest of the 100 millions formerly lent to his Majesty (in billets d'état) was also reduced: the King, consequently, had to pay them in all forty-eight millions a year. To raise this sum of 1500 millions, there were, in the months of September and October, 1719, 300,000 new actions created; the subscriptions for which were fixed at five thousand livres each. The actions were thus brought to the full number of 600,000 (but

Ditto upon the farm of Tobacco

Ditto upon the general receipt of Taxes Ditto upon their Trade

48,000,000

15,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000

1,500,000 10,000,000

-making a total of 80,500,000 livres, open to be improved by the extension of their commerce abroad, and by a good administration at home. Other writers on the subject, however, computed the annual revenue of this great Company at no less than 131 millions, viz. 48 millions from the King,

39 millions profits upon the Farms, the Mint, and the receipt of Taxes; and

44 millions profits upon their Trade :

in which case they could well afford a dividend of even more than two hundred livres on every share.

The cupidity which these prospects of immense profit in some measure, but principally the prodigious fortunes acquired by the original proprietors, excited among all ranks, was such as no nation had ever witnessed. A universal infatuation for the acquisition of shares in the India Company now seemed to occupy the whole kingdom, from the lowest of the people up to magistrates, prelates, and princes. This infatuation, of which at the present day we can scarcely form a conception, increased in proportion to the difficulty of succeeding in that view; for the whole 300,000 actions of the last fabrication being, by a particular agreement, kept up, in order to be sold to the Regent (who had also got possession of 100,000 of those formerly issued), no more than 200,000 remained in the hands of the public; and only a part thereof, quite inadequate to the demand, was now brought to market. The frenzy prevailed so far, that the whole nation, clergy and laity, peers and plebeians, statesmen, princes, nay even ladies, who had or could procure money for that purpose, turned stockjobbers, outbidding each other with such avidity that, in November 1719, the price of shares rose, after some fluctuations, to above ten thousand livres each; more than sixty times the sum they originally sold for, when the discredit of the billets d'état is taken into the account.

M. de la Mothe and the Abbe Terasson, two of the ablest scholars in France, conversing together on the madness of the Mississippi adventurers, congratulated themselves on their superiority over all weaknesses of that nature, and indulged themselves in ridiculing the folly of the votaries of the fickle goddess. But it so happened that they met, not long afterwards, face to face in the rue Quinquempoix*: at first, they endeavoured to avoid each other, but, finding that impracticable, put the best look possible on the matter, rallied each other, and separated in order to make the most advantageous bargains they could. The courtiers, according to their usual custom of following implicitly the royal example, engaged so deeply in this business, that it was said only five persons of that description (the Maréchaux de Villeroi and de Villars, the Ducs de St. Simon and de la Rochefoucault, and the Chancellor) had kept free from the contagion. The Maréchal Duc de Richelieu relates that those who did not embark in the Missisippi scheme were looked upon as no better than cowards or fools.

In consequence of a murder which took place in the rue Quinquempoix, the stock-market was first transferred to the Place Vendôme, and business was carried on in tents pitched in the area to the gardens of the Hotel Soissons; where and afterwards business was transacted in tents pitched among the trees, which tents the brokers were obliged to make use of. The situation of France in November 1719 is thus described by a contemporary writer :-"The bank-notes were just so much real value which credit and confidence had created in favour of the state. Upon their appearance, Plenty immediately displayed herself through all the towns and all the country; she relieved our citizens and labourers from the oppression of debts which indigence. had obliged them to contract; she enabled the King to liberate himself from great part of his debts, and to make over to his subjects more than fifty-two millions of livres of taxes, which had been imposed in the years preceding 1719; and more than

A little dirty street where the stock-jobbing was carried on.

thirty-five millions of other duties extinguished during the regency. This plenty sunk the rate of interest; crushed the usurer; carried the value of lands up to eighty or one hundred years' purchase; raised up stately edifices, both in town and country; repaired the old houses which were falling to ruin; improved the soil; gave an additional relish to every fruit produced by the earth. Plenty recalled those citizens whom misery had forced to seek their livelihood abroad. In a word, riches flowed in from every quarter: gold, silver, precious stones, ornaments of every kind which con. tribute to luxury and magnificence, came to us from every country in Europe. Whether these prodigies or marvellous effects were produced by art, by confidence, by fear, or by whim, they produced have produced. Thus far the system has produced nothing but good: everything was commendable and worthy of admiration."* him in no way inferior to the King and Regent; the mob being ac Mr. Law was perfectly idolised by the people, who looked upon customed to cry out, whenever he appeared in public, "Long live Mr. Law!" He made a public profession (with his son and daughter) of his conversion to the catholic faith; and, every obstacle being now removed, he was, on the 5th January, 1720, declared comptroller-general of the finances of France.

all these realities which the ancient administration neve could

Thus the admiring world beheld an obscure foreigner, by the mere force of extraordinary genius and abilities, rise, in the course of a few months, from a private condition to the high station of prime minister to the politest nation of Europe, which he governed for some time with almost absolute power. It must be mentioned to his honour, that he voluntarily gave up the whole perquisites, as well as the salary annexed to his office; and he was so little addicted to luxury and extravagance as to take care that the most regular order and strictest propriety should be observed in the management of his household; while at the same time his dress was remarkable for its plainness and simplicity.

The credit of the Bank was now at its acmé, but fears began to be entertained by those behind the scenes. A constant drain of specie from the bank was going on, caused chiefly by hoarding and remittances abroad, and the immense quantities of plate manufactured for the rich Mississippians. Several edicts were in consequence issued, limiting the payment in specie; and at length a decree was issued, on the 27th February, 1720, prohibiting indi viduals from having in their possession more than five hundred livres in specie. The Royal Bank and the Company were incorporated together, and the issue of notes was pushed to an enormous extent, for the payment of the public creditors. On the 1st of May, 1720, notes to the amount of 2000 millions of livres were in circulation, whilst the whole specie in the kingdom, at the equitable rate of sixty-five livres to the marc, was estimated at only one half that amount. It was now debated in council whether it were not necessary to equalise the value of the notes and the specie; a proposal which was strongly opposed by Law, who urged the absolute necessity of suffering matters to remain as they were. Although he well knew that the issues had been excessive, and far beyond what a healthy state of circulation required, he knew that the credit of the Bank and Company was well founded, and that any interference would ruin every thing. His advice was disregarded. An arbitrary and dishonest edict was issued, after a long discussion upon the question whether the shares should be depre ciated or the nominal value of the coin raised. The shares of the Company were reduced from 8000 livres to 5000 livres, by gradations of 500 livres a month; and the bank-notes, by like gradations, were reduced one half.

It is needless to say what was the effect of this measure, which was a barefaced robbery of the people, and was particularly iniquitous. Popular commotions ensued, which were with difficulty quieted. The Bank stopped payment, under pretence of examining into certain alleged frauds. Various efforts were made to restore public confidence, but in vain. At length the affairs of the Bank and Company were arranged, but in such a manner as to cause the ruin of thousands, and to relieve the King from about forty millions of livres, which were justly due to public creditors.

Such was the end of the Missisippi system, which was a great attempt, originated by a powerful mind, to establish a sound paper currency in France; and which, but for the arbitrary interference of a despotic government, would have made Law, its author, to be regarded as a benefactor, instead of being cursed as a destroyer. The great farms, Mint, and Royal Revenues were taken out of

• Réflexions Politiques sur la Finance et le Comnicrce; par M. du Tof tom. ii. 330,

the hands of the Company, who were thus reduced to a mere trading body, and continued to flourish for a long time.

The people being extremely irritated against Law, attributing to him all the evils they suffered, he obtained permission from the Regent to quit France, and left the kingdom on the 14th or 15th of December, 1720, accompanied by his son. Lady Catherine Law remained in Paris, under the protection of the Duke de Vendôme, until she had discharged all her husband's debts. After travelling through Italy he went to England, where he was very well received. For some time he entertained hopes of recovering part of the property which he possessed in France, both in land and in shares of the India Company; but the whole was confiscated, and he never recovered any part of it. The Regent entertained an idea at one time of recalling Law; but at his death this scheme was no longer thought of, and the pension which Law had hitherto received from the French government was no longer paid. He was thus thrown into such difficulties that he determined to leave England, which he accordingly did in 1725, and fixed his residence at Venice; where he died, in a state but little removed from indigence, on the 21st May, 1729, in the fiftyeighth year of his age; and he lies buried in one of the churches in that city, where a monument to his memory is yet to be seen. Mr. Law married Lady Catherine Knollys, third daughter of Nicholas Earl of Banbury, who died in 1747; by whom he had a son, John Law, a cornet of the regiment of Nassau Friesland, who died of the small-pox at Maestricht, February 1734, aged about thirty-one, and unmarried; and a daughter, Mary Catherine Law, who married, 4th July, 1734, her first cousin, William Viscount Wallingford, major in the first troop of Horse Guards, eldest son of Charles fourth Earl of Banbury. She died a widow, at her house in Park-street, Grosvenor-square, 14th October, 1790.

THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION.

DURING the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, scientific men were perplexed and startled by the occasional ideas which resulted from a consideration of the phenomena presented in the crust of the earth. Now and again a powerful mind would obtain a glimpse of some of the truths which geology teaches: but all was darkness and confusion, for the sciences of chemistry and astronomy were only in progress of formation, and until they were shaped and established, the science of geology could make little progress. It was, however, generally believed, that the fossil shells and other organic remains found everywhere, even on the tops of mountains, were proofs of the general prevalence of the deluge; it was said that the interior of the earth was a vast abyss of water; that the "breaking up of the fountains of the great deep" was a disruption of the crust which enclosed this abyss; and that, when the waters abated, they retired into this abyss once more. "Whiston, who was better versed in physical science than any of his contemporaries, introduced, in addition, the notion of extraneous force; he brought a comet to envelop the earth in its misty tail, to cause violent rains, to raise vast tides in the internal abyss, and thus effectually destroy the external crust of the planet." Sober-minded Christians, who considered that the Bible taught that the earth was only about six thousand years old, were offended by theories or opinions which were thrown out from time to time impugning their belief; and, in the language of Cowper, they indignantly asked,

"If He who made it, and revealed its date

To Moses, were mistaken in its age?"

But, towards the end of last century, light began to illuminate the darkness: Smith, in England, established the fundamental truth of geology, that there were distinct periods in the formation of the crust of the earth, each period being marked by its peculiar organic remains; and Cuvier, in France, may be said to have breathed life into the dry bones, clothed them with flesh and muscle, and showed us wonderful creatures of all kinds, who swam, and flew, and walked, in ages long prior to the existence of man. Geology at once rose into the rank of a science, worthy of the

ardent devotion of minds of the first order.

What object, it was asked, is apparent in this existence of the earth, with its animals and vegetables, so long prior to the existence of man, the lord of creation? If no object had been apparent, it would not invalidate the fact. But the question has been beautifully and eloquently answered. The crust of the earth has been long in preparation for the existence of man; the tremendous convulsions it has undergone have all a visible reason; they gave to the earth its mountains and valleys, and rendered its rich treasures

accessible; forests engulfed in ages long gone by have been converted into coal for the comfort and advantage of men, and in the rich deposites which England has of this and other minerals, we may infer the superintendence of a MIND which prepared not merely the earth for the human race, but a small portion of that earth for the habitation of a small portion of the race, who were intended to play an important part in the civilisation of their fellow-men. Geology, as well as astronomy, supplies us with striking and astonishing proofs of His existence, who "throned in His own unfathomable essence, fills all space and all time, and without beginning and without end, unites in His wondrous Being the extremes of eternity.'

All who believe in the Bible as a Divine revelation, believe that the narrative of the creation in the first chapter of Genesis, was written under the direction of the same MIND that thus watched over the early history of the world; and poor, indeed, would be the spirit of the man who, even in the very act of denying the account to be a revelation, did not, at least, admit the beautiful brevity and simplicity of this most ancient narrative. "The geology of Moses has come down to us out of a period of remote antiquity before the light of human science arose : for, to suppose that it was borrowed from or possessed by any other people than the remarkable race to which Moses himself belonged, involves us on all hands in the most inextricable difficulties and palpable absurdities. Of that race it has been long since justly remarked, that while in religion they were men, in human learning and science they were children; and if we find in their records any system of an extensive and difficult science, we know that they did not obtain it by the regular processes of observation and induction, which, in the hands of European philosophers, have led to a high degree of perfection in many sciences. It is very possible that Moses had no geolo gical knowledge beyond the order of time in the creation which his history exhibits. It is very probable that fossil and entombed organized remains and fragmentary rocks, and indeed most of the facts which geology has developed, were unknown to him; and that, as he told a story for mankind at large, he told it in the same spirit and with the same understanding with which it has been commonly received."

But how are we to reconcile what we know of geology with the narrative of the creation, as delivered to us by Moses? Geology leads us to conjecture that perhaps the original state of the materials of our globe was that of gaseous expansion-a nebulous body, similar, probably, to the nebulæ observed in the heavens. "Of the original state of the materials of our planet, as first formed by the Creator, we know nothing. It is, however, in the highest degree improbable, that the innumerable crystals of so many different substances and forms, which we find in the earth, were originally created as we now see them. Crystallisation, by natural laws, is constantly going on around us, and we can, at pleasure, form crystals of many substances; in some cases, we produce those that never have been discovered in nature, and in others we can surpass them in size and beauty. Although, as already remarked, it is possible that crystals might have been the first forms of mineral matter, it is in the highest degree improbable; it is far more reasonable and philosophical to admit, that wherever we find a crystal in the earth, it has been formed by the laws of crystallisation operating upon the crude materials; and there is no reason to doubt that we could always imitate natural crystals, provided we could command the powers and circumstances which operated in the original crystallisation of mineral bodies. In all the geological epochs, after the primitive, there is decisive evidence of the great mechanical changes operating first on the primitive rocks, to produce the materials for the derivative rocks, which often exhibit unquestionable proofs of mechanical destruction and mechanical formation; in a word, of changes from the pristine state of the materials in the primitive rocks, greater than crystallisation implies in relation to the constituent or integrant particles, which we may presume to have been originally created.

"As to the proximate causes of crystallisation among minerals, it can be referred only to two agents, heat and solution. The only powers with which we are acquainted, that are at all equal to the effect, are water and fire, aided by various acid, alkaline, saline, and other energetic and chemical agents, which, in large quantities, we now find actually entering into the constitution of the rocks, and which were, therefore, originally provided in the grand storehouse of created materials.

The solution theory, once almost universally prevalent, has "Among the primitive rocks, mechanical force is exhibited in fraotures, elevations, &c."

now given way to the igneous, which, not stopping with actual or extinct volcanoes, or with trap, porphyry, or pitchstone, has taken possession of the granite mountains, and of the very centre of the earth. It undoubtedly explains with great felicity the appearances of granite veins, and of many other phenomena, although neither the igneous nor any other theory has explained every feature of the planet.

"It is allowed by nearly all geologists, that the ocean has for a long time occupied all countries. It is now evident, also, that ignition and fusion have always existed in the earth on a great scale, and this is admitted by all, whether they believe in the fusion of the central nucleus or not. Internal fire still prevails to a great extent in the interior of our planet, and its effects appear to have been the greatest, and the most extensive, in the earliest periods. Volcanic mountains and islands are known to have risen, even in modern times, from the bosom of the ocean, and islands are still existing, where in former ages the sea raged uncontrolled. The sub-marine volcanoes also occasionally project flames, smoke, and red-hot stones, through the ocean, and thus inform us, that water cannot always subdue fire; that even now, there are strata at the bottom of the sea, where exteme ignition and extreme hydrostatic pressure operate conjointly upon the firm materials; and that both, aided by the principal chemical agents which we know to exist in the constitution of our globe, may unite to produce results of which our trifling experiments can give us but a feeble conception. An attempt, for instance, to dissolve granite by boiling it in water, is just as rational as an attempt to melt it in a common fire; neither experiment can possibly succeed; but the former would not prove that granite was never dissolved, nor the latter, that granite was never melted; because, the circumstances which may have operated in the interior of the earth are not under our control, and our experiments are, therefore, nugatory.

"The earliest condition of the surface of the planet appears to have been that of a dark abyss of waters, of unknown depth and continuance, which repressed the deep-seated forces of internal fires.

"The structure of the crust of the planet affords decisive evidence of a long series of events, in relation both to the formation of rocks, and to the creation and succession of organized bodies, of which many of them contain such astonishing quantities. "Time and order of time, event, succession, and revolution, are plainly recorded in the earth; and sacred history expressly states that the events involved both time and order of time.

"Geology cannot decide on the amount of time, but it assures us that there was enough to cover all the events connected with the formation of the mineral masses, and with the succession of the generations of living beings, whose remains are found preserved in the strata."

"The question then recurs-How can the amount of time be found, consistently with the Mosaic history? for the order of time is the same. The solution of this difficulty has been attempted in the following modes:

"1. The present earth was formed from the ruins and fragments of an earlier world, rearranged and set in order during the six days of the creation.

"This explanation has been given by men of powerful minds, strongly impressed with the overwhelming evidence which the earth presents of innumerable events, and of progressive development through successive ages. It therefore honestly meets the difficulty, and fully grants the necessity of allowing sufficient time for the series of geological formations. It is, however, unsatisfactory; because it does not provide at all for the regular succession of entombed animal and vegetable races, and for the progressive consolidation, often in long-continued tranquillity, of the strata which are formed around the organic bodies, and also for the numerous alternations and repetitions of these strata, frequently, as in the coal-fields, in a regular order. All this demands time, and seasons of protracted repose, interrupted indeed by occasional elevations, subsidences, and other convulsions and catastrophes. In order that the solution above stated may prove satisfactory, it is necessary that the earth should be, what it actually is not, a confused pile of ruins, not only of loose fragments, such as are now found on its surface, but they must be consolidated, to form all its mountains and strata. Ruins, the mountains and strata do, indeed, in many places, contain, but they form only a portion of a vast structure, in which ruins have no part.

"The earth is unlike Memphis, Thebes, Persepolis, Babylon, Balbec or Palmyra, which present merely confused and mutilated

masses of colossal and beautiful architecture, answering no purpose, except to gratify curiosity, and to awaken a sublime and pathetic moral feeling;-it is, rather, like modern Rome, replete indeed with the ruins of the ancient city, in part re-arranged for purposes of utility and ornament, but also covered by the regular and perfect constructions of subsequent centuries.

"This theory, if it provide at all for the primitive rocks, must assign their crystallization and consolidation to a period of indefi. nite geological antiquity, and it must also admit that they have undergone more recent modifications, particularly in being upheaved by subterranean force, and thus elevating, not only themselves, but the superincumbent strata.

"The hypothesis has, however, great merit, inasmuch as it admits, in the long-gone-by ages, of just such events and successions as geology has proved to have taken place; but it adds a general catastrophe, which has not happened, and it implies a reconstruction of the crust of the planet, entirely out of its own ruins, a supposition which is inconsistent with the state of facts. "2. The present crust of the planet has been regularly formed between the first creation in the beginning,'* and the commencement of the first day.

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By asserting that there was a beginning, it is declared that the world is not eternal, and the declaration that God made the heavens and the earth, is a bar, equally, against atheism and materialism. The world was, therefore, made in time by the omnipotent Creator.

"The creation of the planet, was, no doubt, instantaneous, as regards the materials; but the arrangement, at least of the crust, was gradual. As a subject either of moral or physical contempla. tion, we can say nothing better, than that it was the good pleasure of God that this world should be called into existence; but, it was also his pleasure, that the arrangement, by which it was to become a fit habitation for man, should be progressive.

"This is in strict analogy with the regular course of things in the physical, moral, and intellectual world. Everything except God has a beginning, and everything else is progressive. The human mind, the bodily powers, the inception and growth of the animal and vegetable races, the seasons, seed-time, and harvest, science and arts, wealth, civilization, national power, and character, and a thousand things more, evince that progression is stamped upon everything, and that nothing reaches its perfection by a single leap.

"The gradual preparation of this planet for its ultimate destination, presents, therefore, no anomaly, and need not excite our surprise.

"It is of no importance to us, whether our home was in a course of preparation, during days or ages, for the moral dispensations of God to man could not begin until his creation.

"The abyss of waters, which existed at an early unknown period before the time of the final arrangement of the surface, which preceded the creation of man, and continued, we may suppose, for an unlimited time, is just such a state of things, in coincidence with the operation of internal fire, as is demanded for the formation of the central rocks, and for their elevation, as far as facts may justify us in supposing that it took place so early. the igneous and aqueous theory of the earth; and, indeed, it would be impossible to account for the appearance of things, without the conjoined agency of internal fire, and of an incumbent ocean; the latter repressing the expansive and explosive power of the former, causing its heat greatly to accumulate, even to the fusion of the most refractory materials; preventing the escape of gaseous matter, as, for instance, of carbonic acid gas from the limestones, and by its pressure and slow cooling, from the small conducting power of water, preventing melted rocks from assuming the appearance of volcanic cinders, slags, scoriæ, and other inflated

"The supposition now before us is equally consistent with both