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24d. per quart. Now we come to the Queen's time, when, France disturbing us again, the malt tax, the duty on hops, and that on coals, took place; and, as the duty on malt surpassed that on hops, the brewers endeavoured at a liquor wherein more of the latter should be used: thus, the drinking of beer became encouraged in preference to ale. This beer, when new, they sold for 22s. per barrel; and, at the same time, advanced their ale to 19s. and 20s. per barrel; but the people, not easily weaned from their heavy, sweet drink, in general drank ale mixed with beer from the victualler at 24d. to 24d. per quart. The gentry now residing in London more than they had done in former times, introduced the pale ale and pale small beer, which they were habituated to in the country, and either engaged some of their friends, or the London brewers, to make for them these kinds of drink; and affluence and cleanliness promoted the delivery of them in the brewers own casks, and at his charge. Pale malt being dearest, the brewer being loaded with more tax and expence, fixed the price of such small beer at 8s. and 10s. per barrel, and the ale at 30s. per barrel: the latter was sold by the victualler at 4d. per quart, and under the name of two-penny. This little opposition excited the brown beer trade to produce, if possible, a better sort of commodity, in their way, than heretofore had been made. They began to hop their mild beers more, and the publican started three, four, or six butts at a time; but so little idea had the brewer, or his customer, of being at the charge of large stocks of beer, that it gave room to a set of

mouied peo, le to make a trade, by buying these beers from brewers, keeping them some time, and selling them, when stale, to victuallers, for 258.62 268. per barrel.

"Our tastes but slowly alter or reform. Some drank mild and stale beer; others, what was then called 3-threads, at 3d. per quart; but many food all stale, at 4d. per quart. On this footing stood the trade until about the year 1722, when the brewers conceived that there was a mean to be found preferable to any of these extremes; which was, that beer should be well brewed, and from being kept its proper time, becoming mellow (i.. neither new nor stale) it would

recommend itself to the public. This they ventured to sell at 23s. per barrel, that the victualler might retail it at 3d per quart. Though it was slow, at first, in making its way, yet, as it was certainly right in the end, the experiment succeeded beyond expectation. The labouring people, porters, &c. found its utility; from whence came its appellation of porter, or entire butt. As yet, however, it was far from being in the perfection which we have since had it,

"Porter was, at different times, raised to 30s. per barrel, where it remained till the year 1799, and was retailed at 34d. per quart, when, in consequence of malt rising in price to, from 41. to 41. 10s. and 51. per quarter, and hops from 41. 10s. to 171. 181. and 201. per cwt, porter was raised to 11. 158. per barrel, and retailed at 4d. per quart. Ale, likewise, experienced a rise of from 21. 2s. to 21. 12s. 6d. per barrel." p. 10-15.

The Author adds the subsequent advances upon porter; but as these have been taken off again, we trace him no further.

At the end of the work, Mr. M. gives the expence of licences, and a table of the various duties payable to the excise on strong beer.

XXXI. LA BAGATELLA, OF Delineations of Home Scenery, a descriptive Poem, in two Parts, with Notes Critical and Historical. By Wм. Fox, Jun. Fine crown 8vo. with engraved vigneties, pp. 224. 7s. 6d. Conder, Rivingtons, and Johnson.

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"INTRODUCTION.

may perhaps amuse my rea

ders to learn the history of the following Bagatelle, which is briefly this:-It happened, that on a fine morning, in the early part of last spring, having just recovered from the languors of an indisposition, I strolled forth through the fields that lie contiguous to my habitation [Hackney], and feeling greatly re vived by the genial warmth of the air, and the fresh and blooming aspect of every object around me, I could not forbear, on returning from my walk, to express myself in terms, perhaps too enthusiastic, of the beauties of the country, and the pleasantness of the scenery, over which I had rambled.

"A lady, who was then visiting in my family, rallied me a great deal on the poetic fervour of my descriptions; but sarcastically lamented, that my Jabours should have been employed on scenes so entirely unworthy of the embellishment which I had be stowed upon them; and concluded by triumphantly asking, What of sylvan or of rustic beauty could be any where found at a distance ⚫ of not more than three miles from the metropolis, within the din of its noises, and the very smoke of its chimnies?"

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"Piqued by the severity of the observation, my spirit inwardly muttered, Although, my fair friend, you despise now these home-scenes, in the praises of which I am so lavish; yet I will, methinks, one day • compel even you to allow that they are not destitute of every attraction; and that if to your eyes they can 'present no real verdure, you shall one day confess, that at least they • look green in song."

"Pleased, and strongly impressed with such an idea, I examined with some attention the capabilities of my subject for poetical embellishment; and I will freely acknowledge, that the first result of this examination was by no means flattering to my wishes. Not, however, to be diverted from my design, and not easily to be discouraged by difficulties, I turned over in my recollection the many admired poems, which had been produced from materials even more barren and unyielding than those on which I had fallen; and thus animated, I resolved upon the prosecution of my design." . iii, iv.

Having given the occasion of this Poem, in the Author's own words, we now present our readers with the open. ing of the Poem, which is as follows:

"Tis lovely May, and Nature's freshen'd face

Is all o'er-hung with new-blown flowret bells,

Cull'd from the primrose paths of laughing Spring;

The azure brightness of the dappled sky,

By long, light, shiver'd clouds, just marbled o'er,

Cheers and revives the sight. While

the gay sun Gilds the rich landscape round, th' earth roosted lark,

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spring:

The modest daisy, the wild marigold, The deep-red poppy, and the yellow orchis,

With variegated tints enrich the green.

"Oh how I love to stop and loiter here,

On the green bench, beneath the willow tree,

To list the trembling of the water by, To watch the herd that in the meadow graze,

Or track the labourer to his morning toil.

Or, if my vagrant eye should rove so
far,

To tell the turrets of the distant town,
Pleas'd with the space that rolls 'twixt

them and me.

"Hence, oft as turns my path, I

backward turn,

To spy, at intervals, our village tower,
Just peeping forth 'twixt yonder aged

elmis;

In this lone path the foot of passen.

ger

I seldom meet, save one good care-
ful dame,
Who, as the morning punctual, tends
her charge,

A ruddy blooming child on either
hand,

To daily school.-'Good morrow, sir,' she cries,

With curtsey dropp'd' Good morrow,' I rejoin,

And onward each our distant journey wind.

Far to the right the nursery extends, The school of plants, where, as in other schools,

Scions are formed and cultur'd for the world,

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ven.

"As St. Paul was not a disciple of Christ during his ministry, and as many Jewish zealots and other heretics were offended at his doctrine, his right to the name and dignity of an apostle of Christ was disputed by many, especially in Galatia and at Corinth. And, though he triumphed over his enemies, and silenced them during his life, yet some later heretics have refused to acknowledge him as a messenger from Christ: but his divine mission is sufficiently proved by his miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost. I have not room to enlarge, as I could wish, on this subject: but I will take notice of the principal objections, which in modern times have been made to St. Paul's divine mission. That he wilfully and maliciously imposed upon the world is an assertion almost too absurd to be made; for it is impossible to conceive what advantage he could have proposed to himself from the imposture. He subsisted by the labour of his own hands; he lost his credit among the Jews by preaching the Gospel; he involved himself in troubles and disgrace; and was at last obliged to seal his doctrine with his blood. If we consider farther the undissembled calmness of mind con

Bear'd but to be remov'd to stranger spicuous throughout the second Epistle to Timothy, at a time when his

soils;

death was impending, he cannot possibly be taken for a wicked deceiver, who was disappointed in his hope. According to Epiphanius*, the Ebionites propagated the following ridiculous story: St. Paul,' they said, ⚫ who acknowledged himself to be a ⚫ native of. Tarsus, was born a hea⚫ then; but that on coming to Jerusalem, he was captivated with the daughter of a Jewish high-priest †, ⚫ and in order to obtain her in marriage, underwent the rite of cir⚫ cumcision. His expectations, however, they say, were disappointed, and on that account St. Paul became such an enemy to the Jewish religion, that he resolved to preach Christianity as the surest means of ⚫ undermining it.' This story is so absurd, that it carries with it its own confutation.

"Others pretend, that St. Paul was an enthusiast, and that he was not so much an intentional deceiver of others, as one who was himself deceived. It is said, that the appearance of Christ to St. Paul, on his journey to Damascus, was merely an imaginary vision, and the result of St. Paul's heated imagination; that it was merely thunder which he took for the voice of Christ, and which he fancied to be a call from Heaven; and that his own gift of miracles, as well as his power of imparting it to others, was wholly ideal. The comnon answer to this objection is, that his former zeal for the law and against Christ, rendered it impossible for him to persuade himself falsely that Christ had appeared to him, and called him to be an apostle. But this answer is not satisfactory, for enthusiasts always run into extremes, and are very apt, in certain circumstances, to imagine things directly opposite to their former sentiments. I would propose, therefore, the following questions:

"1. If the appearance of Christ to St. Paul, related in the ninth chap ter of the Acts, was a mere imaginary vision, and only a phantom which presented itself to St. Paul's agitated mind, what is the reason that his companions likewise saw and heard any part of what passed?

2. How could St. Paul imagine, to the end of his days, that he

wrought certain miracles which were never wrought? Were not his senses evidences to him of the contrary? How could be imagine that he communicated to others the gift of tongues, if they did not speak languages, with which they were not before acquainted? Was St. Paul himself, were the Christian communities to which he wrote, were his fellow-labourers, so deprived both of their sight and hearing, as to imagine these things if they had never happened? The prophets of the Cevennes, in the present century, were the greatest enthusiasts in the world; yet they did not imagine the contrary of what they saw and heard; and though they were sanguine in prophesying that they should raise the dead, they never ventured to make the experiment. But St. Paul, it is pretended, persuaded himself almost twenty successive years, that he was working what he did not work; and that many thousands joined with him in be lieving the contrary of what they saw. Is this possible?

3. What enthusiast, or fanatic, ever ventured upon morals, without being misled by his imagination to invent an extravagant system? whereas, in the morality taught by St. Paul, we meet with nothing but what is rational and consistent with philosophical ethics.

"4. When a man of frantic and disordered brain suffers the heat of his imagination to carry him so far as to seal his error by his death, his resolution is generally accompanied with a wild irrational vehemence and despair. The joyfulness of the martyrs in the second and third centu ries, and the eagerness with which they plunged into sufferings, frequently bordered on this kind of phrenzy. But, when St. Paul saw death approaching, his temper of mind was calm and rational. He went with fortitude to meet death, but he did not seek it; on the contrary, he defended himself, as well as he was able, and felt the usual and natural apprehensions of a man who expects to forfeit his life.

Lastly, some have contended that St. Paul was not an enthusiast, but a cool and deliberate free-thinker, whose object was to deliver, by a well-intended fraud, both the world

*Hæres. xxx. § 16. The name of the high-priest is very in general, and the Jews in particuprudently not mentioned." lar, from the yoke of superstition.

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"Of St. Paul's Profession, or Trade. "ST. PAUL frequently says in his Epistles, that he received no pay from the Christian communities, except from that of Philippi, and that he earned his bread by the labour of his own hands; though at the same time he declares, that the labourer is worthy of his hire, and that the teacher deserves to be recompensed by those who are taught. He even ordained that other teachers should be paid by the churches, and excluded only himself from a participation of the pay He says, in express terms, to the elders of the church at Ephesus, where he had resided three years, I

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have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel; yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and ⚫ to them that were with me +.' Now St. Paul had generally several assistants with him; and when he was at Ephesus, he by no means live in a narrow or sparing manner; for he hired a public auditory, where he daily taught the doctrines of Christianity, and where every one was permitted to enter without fee or reward. And among his Ephesian friends he reckoned several Asiarchs, who were opulent annual magistrates, and who were certainly not Christians, as it was their office, especially of one of their body, to preside over the religious games, of which the president defrayed the greatest part of the expences. Nor does St. Paul appear to have been in narrow circumstances during his two years imprisonment at Cæsarea; for the Roman governor, Felix, frequently sent for him, and conversed with him, expecting that money would be offered for his release.

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"That among the Jews, even men of learning (as St. Paul certainly was, who had been educated under Gamaliel) gained their livelihood by the labour of their own hands is a matter which is well known. But the question is, by what kind of labour was St. Paul, who devoted so much time to the exercise of his apostoli cal office, enabled to provide so plentifully both for himself and his com panions. The Greek term used by St. Luke, Acts xviii. 3. where he says that St. Paul and Aquilas exercised the same art, is onvooos. This word, which does not occur in other Greek authors, is supposed to be equivalent to axvoggados, and is taken by some commentators to denote a worker in leather, either a saddler, or a maker of Jeather chairs which were strapped on the back of a camel. But no man can exercise the trade of a saddler, who leads such a wandering life as St. Paul did; for a saddler has so many materials necessary for his business, that they cannot be conve niently transported from town to town. Whoever, therefore, reads with attention the sixteenth and seven. teenth chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, and observes how short a stay St. Paul made in each place, and how frequently he was forced to depart suddenly, must perceive that the notion of St. Paul's being a travelling saddler is wholly absurd. Besides, the very employment of a saddler is by no means calculated for a travelling trade; for since saddlers in every town have generally their fixed customers, a man of this trade, who came a stranger to any place, might wait there a twelvemonth before he found employment. And even if this objection were removed, it is still difficult to comprehend how any man, who devoted the greatest part of his time to spiritual purposes, and had only a few hours' leisure every day for the labour of his hands, could earn enough as a saddler to supply, in an ample manner, the necessities both of himself and of his friends. If we explain cos as denoting

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a maker of leather chairs to be strapped on the backs of camels,' the difficulty will be still increased; for St. Paul was very frequently in places where there were no camels, and consequently where no such chairs were wanted. Other coinmentators

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