and physi-theistical opinions. Should any nobleman, opulent commoner, or lay impropriator, choose to present to me the richest benefice in the kingdom, and I chose to play the part of accepting it, there is no power in Church or State that could lift a finger in my impediment. 24. I am still responsible to the ecclesiastical authorities, still convenable at their summons; degraded I never have been. Were there a stain on my moral character, the clergy in convocation would be competent to impeach me; and on proof had, might demand the surrender of my orders, and pronounce my degradation. This, I stand before them in subjectness and defiance of their power to do; this would indeed assign me over to the ranks of the Jocelyns and the Woodcocks, and destroy, and justly destroy, all possible moral effect of my writings, all respectability of my person, all influence of my exertions and labour in any way. 25. And am I to give my enemies their wish, by castrating myself into impotence, and shedding the powers I hold in their annoyance? Am I to run the hazard of what construction may be put on an unusual and unprecedented act, that will at any rate bear the worst as plausibly as the better construction? These reasons for retaining the distinction, seem to me to be stronger than any I have ever heard of to the contrary; and while I retain ambition enough to think it due to me, on as high a ground as it was ever given to those who most widely differ from me, I shall continue to wish it from my friends, to expect it from strangers, and to challenge it from adversaries. Most heartily wishing you increase of numbers, unanimity of counsels, and vigour of operations, Oakham Castle, Nov. 29, 1828. I am, Gentlemen, Your obliged humble servant, ANSWER TO THE FREE-THINKER, A. P.'S INJECTION INTO THE LION'S MOUTH. SIR,-The air of pontifical assumption and sacred insolence which characterizes your claim for insertion of your observations in “ the paper or pamphlet," which you would have it thought an infinite condescension for such a Deity as you to name, bespeaks the wellknown genius of the Gin-and-Gospel school of Free-thinkers,— a sect, happily for the hopes of moral virtue among men, as contemptible in point of numbers,as they are pre-eminent above all sects that ever were on earth, for their measureless arrogance, consummate ignorance, and infinite hypocrisy. I know your craft, Sir: your airs become it; your tone and attitude befit the geography of your position on the outer line that disconnects ourang-outang stupidity from the climate of human courtesy, and where the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ breathes its pure native element oxymurialized with the oxygen of civilization. Sir, if 'tis from the setting forth of that Egyptian romance, the New Testament, that we are to judge of the characters of the Apostles, I only challenge you to show what Pope on earth ever more audaciously called on us to put out our own eyes and see with his, than the insolent intolerant, who would force such a violence upon evidence, as the making us find that the Apostles were in an inch of honesty, of patriotism, or of virtue of any complexion, the betters of the Scribes and Pharisees of ancient times, or the Hypocrites, Quakers, and Free-thinkers of our days; than whom, I hold it impossible that there should be among men, any less honest, less patriotic, or less virtuous. Who murdered Ananias and Sapphira, that gave them a portion of their property, because they gave not all? Who betrayed, forsook, forswore, and sold their master? Who inculcated the most slavish, abject, and rascal submission" to the powers that be," for the vile purpose of ingratiating themselves into favour with those powers, and worming themselves into a share of the tyranny they supported? Who sacrificed the Corinthian to the Devil? Who circumcised, while he preached against circumcision? Who maintained that their lies abounded to the glory of God, and professedly became all things to all men, till they had coaxed, lied, cheated, and wheedled themselves into such a degree of influence over their deluded followers, that they were ready to pluck out their own eyes, and yield them to their rapacity? Who left no hypocrisy.. unpractised, no crime unperpetrated, in their way to an ascendancy over the minds, the properties, lives, and liberties of men, than which, before, the like had never been more fraudulently obtained, never more mercilessly exercised? Who are the great exemplars and paragons of spiritual presumption, the record of whose arrogance stands as the everlasting rule and text-book to lesser villains? whose transcendant grimness of crime, laid on beyond the truth of nature, gives a lightness of cast to the ebony of our Borgias, Ximenes, Torquemadas, Bonnors, and Ferdinands? Tell us that crime is innocent, that ice is hot, that fire is cold; do violence to our reason-let not our eyes see, let not our thoughts think, let us not read ourselves, but read the shallow, insolent, o'er-weening, would-be-God-a'mighty free-thinking High Priestfor us! and then, and not till then, shall we forget that the Apostles are as different from such philanthropic and virtuous characters as you would represent them to be,-as the style and structure of your communication is from that of one who felt that his statements would bear looking into. Your's, as herein, ROBERT TAYLOR. LORD BEXLEY TO THE REV. ROBERT TAYLOR. SIR,-I desire to acknowledge your letter, and to assure you, that its not being received when first sent to me was no intentional affront, but the consequence of a general direction I have been obliged to give my servants, not to receive packages above weight, unless they are acquainted with the writing of the direction. With regard to the letter itself, I need not inform you, that any application for a mitigation of your sentence must be addressed to the Secretary of State, who is always ready to give full consideration to any application for the Royal mercy. This was not however, perhaps, your object; and I can only return the kind wishes you express for me, by a sincere wish on my part that you may yet return to the faith of which you were once a minister, and which 1 believe to be the true road to happiness. Without entering into discussions so often treated by abler hands than mine, allow me to recommend to you a little book, which I think you will find it interesting, if you have not read it: "Keith's Evidence of Prophecy." An acute and reflecting mind cannot but be sensible of the extreme improbability of future events being distinctly foretold, ages before their accomplishment, except by a divine power; and that when the circumstances are multiplied and various, it amounts to a moral impossibility. I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant, Foot's Cray Place, 22 Nov. 1828. BEXLEY. Rev. R. Taylor. Journal of a Tour by Wm. Edmeads, in company with J. Alexander, in the year 1801-1802, through France, Italy, Switzerland, a part of Germany and the Netherlands. Dedicated to William Elgar. (Continued from p. 704.) FROM Roveredo, the road to Turin, even, spacious, and decked with rows of trees on each side, crosses a rich level, in a direct line, so that you view the citadel and lofty buildings of the city, immediately on leaving the town. The approach and entrance into Turin is really magnificent, equalled by nothing we had seen of that kind, (except Versailles.) The road is broad, many elegant houses are near it, and the hills on each side, at some little distance, are crowded with beautiful villas. The buildings of the city, the Boulevards, the fortifications, the streets, were uniformly grand; and we were so much pleased with the exterior appearance of Turin, that we determined, contrary to our original design of galloping to the extremity of our tour, to make a stay of some days here. The city itself is regularly formed, having a magnificent square, from which streets branch in right lines to the extremity, not of exact length or width, but all of them well built, as well as two or three lesser squares.— Round the extremity of al!, is a very grand promenade, beyond this a part of their celebrated fortification; I say a part, because the French, to secure the absolute power they possess over the Turinese, have partly executed their design to raze the whole of their fortifications, and demolish the citadel. This promenade on the ramparts commands a bounded, but a rich and delightful view; the hills on the opposite banks of the Po, being covered with palaces, seats, and convents. The grand square is probably equal in magnitude to any in Europe; in the centre, stands the town-hall, au antient and respectable building, with a lofty square tower. It fronts the Mont Cenis, one of the principal streets, and behind it is the Endauns, another grand street, leading to the Po. On one side of the square, stands the superb palace of the ci-devant king. In this direction there are no streets, but nearly the same space of ground is occupied by the royal gardens behind the palace, which are arranged with taste, and command a fine view of the Alps and the plain between. Many of the buildings in this square are devoted to public purposes; the theatre, the royal printing office, the post, and other offices of Government. Yet the buildings, with the exception of the palace, seem all equal, because there is an elegant portico round the whole, like what is improperly called the piazza, at Covent Garden; as there is throughout all the main streets of this complete city. Under them on the outward edge, are stalls at particular places, permitted for the sale of vegetables, fruits and various articles of easy removal; withinside are the shops. These porticoes furnish a lively and comfortable lounge at all seasons, when cold and dirty, they are warm and dry; and they are cool and shady when the summer is intolerably hot. The Cathedral and Churches, appeared to us remarkably rich and splendid, but the dejected priests shook their heads significantly, on comparing the present tinsel with their former valuable ornaments of gold and silver, which repeated requisitions had melted down, and indeed oppresed the whole inhabitants so severely, that they told us, the city did not exhibit but a shadow of that gaiety and splendour, which under the monarchy embellished it. The river is about a quarter of a mile from it, and serves more to adorn than enrich the town. It is as wide here as the Medway at Newhithe, but too rapid to be usefully navigated. Hills rising gradually behind it form an excellent back ground to this view from the Boulevards, upon them are the country seats of the citizens, and the fastidious scheme of extensive Parks not being fashionable in Italy, they are so numerous as to absolutely whiten the whole bank, About the middle of the hill, the former palace of the Queen is situated, and on the summit you see an elegant church, built in miniature after the model of St. Paul's at London, which was the burying place of the royal family. This view, as well as the magnificence of the city, bears testitimony to the antient wealth and prosperity of Turin. On the second day of our stay in Turin, finding the inn, where we lodged intolerably bad, we took our dinner at a coffee-house in the Grand Square, where we observed no particular change from the manner or dishes of a French table, (except that they gave us very fine cauliflowers), March 2nd. After we had dined, a French officer who was seated in the next box, hearing us talk English, and speaking our language tolerably well, joined in the conversation and after sitting with us some time, remarked that it was the last day of carnival, and that if we wished to go to the theatre, we should be unable to procure places, unless we accepted seats in his box. As refusal would have been offensive to the rules of politeness, as well as painful to our inclinations, we therefore accepted and accompanied him and another friend at the appointed hour. The Coup d'œil on entering the theatre proved an agreeable surprise. It seemed equal in arrangements, magnitude, and decorations to any one in Paris. The whole house too was crowded; but an Italian theatre borrows no brilliancy from the company, as they suffer no lights round the boxes, that they thay give the stage every possible effect. It was that evening, as it had been for many successive weeks (an Italian custom) a lively opera, from a Grecian tale. The music was excellent, and there was one remarkable sweet voice of the Italian kind. The dancing was by no means equal to the Parisian, but we were amused by what they call a grotesque dance, in which men and women in sylvan dresses, figure away in a droll style. It seems principally intended to show the agility of the dancers, and some of the men had great muscular strength and activity. Our military friend introduced another French gentleman to us, who we afterwards learned was Governor of the Finances in this department, and has since been created AdministratorGeneral, and now resides in the superb ci-devant royal palace. His name is Monsieur Anette, he speaks English well, if slowly, and seems very conversant with English literature, which he spoke very highly of. After sitting with us half an hour, he insisted on the honour of introducing us that evening to General Jourdan, at the palace; we were determined to be as polite as Frenchmen, and complied with every thing. As soon as the opera was over, Monsieur Anette took us to his own house, and introduced us to his lady and family, who accompanied us to the palace. On our introduction to the general, he very politely bowed, and lamented that he could not speak our language, "a fond" he could say “G--d d---n,” and laughed. He then présented us to the company generally. The ladies were beautiful and brilliant---we had all of elegance and taste, that present Turin could produce. Being the last day of carnival, a whole suit of rooms was thrown open, and all were thronged, the rooms are still garnished with the royal furniture, and are unexceptionably as rich and splendid as any in England. In half an hour, the ball-room was opened, and dancing began. With great politeness they gave us several English country dances, but being in boots, we were unable to sport the "light fantastic toe." However, but a small portion of the party danced, and we enjoyed a very interesting conversation with several of the Turinese ci-devant nobility, who seemed to express a more than common sympathy in the interest of our country. They openly avowed to us (although then at the French Commandant's), that they hoped that the English would not conclude peace until another attempt had been made to rescue them from the republic. We gave them our sentiments very explicitly, and were happy to find about two months afterwards, that the ratification confirmed them. Several of the party spoke English very fluently. The general himself, as he told us, could not speak English, Mr. Alexander therefore did not spare in the conversation we had, on his old acquaintances, that we had met in Paris. He introduced us however, to the prefect of the department, who conversed very fluently. Jourdan himself, is a corpulent man, of middling stature, and his manners are not more graceful and insinuating, than his person is commanding. From the high military authority he possessed during the great struggles of the repub |