112 AN APOCRYPHAL CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND; BEING A TRUE AND PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF WHAT DID NOT HAPPEN IN THIS UNITED KINGDOM IN THE YEAR 18**—18**. INTRODUCTION. THERE is a gossip's story in a work of one of our old poets *, concerning a storm of rain in a certain island, which drove every body mad on whom a drop of the unholy water fell; when the pranks which these unfortunate people committed under the inspiration of that insanity, so much resembled the extravagancies of reasonable beings, that the whole might be regarded as a satirical pic * Drayton's Moon Calf. ture of the age in which the author lived. Now it is not intended that there should be a word of satire in the following authentic history of a period not to be found in the annals of any nation, but which, if it had occurred, would, undoubtedly, have produced events (perhaps not these identical ones), of the same character with those which shall be forthwith faithfully recorded. Should the scrupulous reader question this disavowal of every purpose, either invidious or insidious, the author can most positively assure him, that it is as true as any thing else in this chapter. It is morever to be hoped, that this impartial exhibition of unrealities will not be without benefit to those who consider the subject duly; for then this figurative exemplification of some of the fearful issues that might be expected, were the beneficent influence of the Gospel entirely suspended among us, cannot fail to impress the mind with a grateful sense of the blessings accruing from it. The measure of that influence (though unhappily not so predominant as the antagonist principle,) is little suspected by superficial observers; but it cannot be denied by those who look closely into the agency of great causes, that the sanctions of religion not only operate directly on the hearts of true believers, but indirectly affect all the institutions of civil government, and silently regulate the courtesies of private life. There lives not the man, woman, or child in this kingdom, capable of distinguishing between good and evil, who is not, more or less, whether knowingly or not, under the control of Christian principles acting upon his hopes, his fears, or his good sense, as member of the community. a SECTION I. An unparalleled Prodigy takes place. ONE beautiful sabbath-morning, in the month of June 18**, the bells of ten thousand parish churches, from Berwick-onTweed to Penzance, were ringing for divine service; and the doors of innumerable meeting houses were quietly standing open to receive their respective audiences; while the children of as many Sunday schools as both put together were conning their lessons from the words of eternal life. The guardian angels of our isle, from their various stations, beheld, with a joy which heavenly intelligences alone can feel, the myriads of those who worship God in spirit and in truth, repairing from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, on public highways, through meadows and corn-fields, in crowded streets, along solitary lanes, by the side of rivers, across moor-lands and mountains, to their houses of prayer in villages, market towns, and populous cities; while with them went the multitude of those who observe the forms of devotion and frequent the temple because their fathers did so before them, and it is proper that their children should do so after them, without feeling for themselves either the duty or the privilege of holding communion with the Father of Spirits. We notice not here the far greater number of those to whom the sabbath was no day of rest either from labour or from sinning. "Tears, such as angels weep," most probably were shed over both the latter classes by the compassionate beings who were rejoicing over the former; and it may be presumed that they were also earnestly praying, as angels pray, that formalists and hypocrites might be converted and healed, as well as that sinners might be turned from the error of their way. Meanwhile it was a spectacle which made the light of that seventh day as the light of seven, to all, whether angels or men, who, witnessing it, could estimate the effects throughout the ensuing week, and thence running into the depths of eternity, of the sabbath's occupations upon those who were rightly engaged in them, thus to behold the tribes of the Lord going up to worship in the beauty of holiness, though they bore sundry denominations, and were passing in different directions, meeting, crossing, accompanying, |