enchantour: and so he was payed hys wages according to his desertes." Our learned monarch, James the First, was perfectly convinced that these, and other inferior feats exhibited by the tregetours, could only be performed by the agency of the Devil," who," says he, "will learne them many juglarie trickes, at cardes and dice, to deceive men's senses, thereby, and such innumerable false practiques, which are proved by over-many in this age." It is not, however, very easy to reconcile with common sense the knowledge the king pretended to have had of the intercourse between Satan and his scholars the conjurers, unless his majesty had been, what nobody, 1 trust, suspects him to have been, one of the fraternity. But, notwithstanding the high authority of a crowned head in favour of Beelzebub, it is the opinion of some modern writers, that the tricks of the jugglers may be accounted for upon much more reasonable, as well as more natural, principles. These artists were greatly encouraged in the middle ages; they travelled in large companies, and carried with them, no doubt, such machinery as was necessary for the performance of their deceptions; and we are well aware, that very surprising things may be exhibited through the medium of a proper apparatus, and with the assistance of expert confederates. A magic lanthorn will produce appearances almost as wonderful as some of those described by sir John Mandevill, to persons totally ignorant of the existence and nature of such a machine. The principles of natural philosophy were very little known in those dark ages; and, for that reason, the spectators were more readily deceived. In our own times, we have had several exhibitions that excited much astonishment; such as an image of wax, suspended by a ribband in the middle of a large room, which answered questions in various languages; an automaton chess-player, that few professors of the game could beat; and men ascending the air without the assistance of wings: yet these phenomena are considered as puerile, now the secrets upon which their performance depends have been divulged.-But, returning to the tregetour, we shall find that he often performed his feats upon a scaffold erected for that purpose; and probably, says a late ingenious writer, received his name from the trebuchet, or trap-door, because he frequently made use of such insidious machines in the displayment of his operations. Chaucer has told us, that Coll the tregetor exhibited upon a table; and other authors speak of "juggling upon the boardes," which clearly indicates the use of a stage or temporary scaffold. Now, let us only add the machinery proper for the occasion, and all the wonders specified in the foregoing passages may be reduced to mere pantomimical deceptions, assisted by slight of hand, and the whole readily accounted for, without any reference to supernatural agency. In the fourteenth century, the tregetours seem to have been in the zenith of their glory; from that period they gradually declined in the popular esteem; their performances were more confined, and of course became less consequential.' We are told, in another place, that The joculator regis, or king's juggler, was anciently an officer of note in the royal household; and we find, from Domesday Book, that that Berdic, who held that office in the reign of the Conqueror, was a man of property. In the succeeding century, or soon afterwards, the title of REX JUGLATORUM, or king of the jugglers, was conferred upon the chief performer of the company, and the rest, 1 presume, were under his control. The king's juggler continued to have an establishment in the royal household till the time of Henry the Eighth; and in his reign the office and title seem to have been dis continued. The profession of the juggler, with that of the minstrel, had fallen so low in the public estimation at the close of the reign of queen Elizabeth, that the performers were ranked, by the moral writers of the time, not only with ruffians, blasphemers, thieves, and vagabonds;" but also with "Heretics, Jews, Pagans, and sor cerers" and, indeed, at an earlier period they were treated with but little more respect, as appears from the following lines in Barclay's Eclogues: Jugglers and pipers, bourders and flatterers, In another passage, he speaks of a disguised juggler, and a vile jester, or bourder; by the word disguised he refers perhaps to the clown, or mimic, who, as Comenius has just informed us, danced" disguised with a vizard." In more modern times, by way of derision, the juggler was called a bocus pocus, a term applicable to a pick pocket, or a common cheat; and his performances were denominated juggelling castes." These quotations will suffice to give an adequate idea of what may be expected from a perusal of the entire work., It will readily be supposed that many of the pastimes of our ancestors, as here recorded, reflect no honour on their principles of humanity and their state of civilization; and we are glad to observe that Mr. Strutt mentions the barbarity of various sports with due reprobation and abhorrence. Why Why is the fable of the frogs forgotten, or neglected? Most of the feats, which have been taught to different animals must have been accomplished by measures of the most cruel nature; and we are surprized to find that the author's feelings were not alive to this conviction, in his records of these unnatural undertak Buli-baiting and bull-running, however, he stigmatizes with deserved severity; and we cannot on this occasion, refrain from expressing our sincere regret at the failure of the late attempt to entirely abolish such outrages in this country, as well as our amazement at the sophistry by which they have been supported. Posterity will learn with astonishment that they could obtain protection from an English House of Parliament in the 19th century; and that a vote of the legislature should countenance the defamatory position, that a familiarity with cruelty was necessary to the preservation of courage among Britons at that period!--among Britons, too, who had been combating con combating for the preservation of order and morality, and the principles of Christianity, against a whole nation whose cor duct was described as subversive of them all. The habitual cruelties of Nero could not inspire him with fortitude, in the moments of personal danger and merited punishment; and surely it is obvious that the practices of ferocity may produce a Spartacus, but will never form an Abercrombie; that they may contribute to the qualifications of a leader of banditti, but will never constitute the hero who promotes the honor of human nature while he defends the interests of his country. ART. III. A Letter to Sir William Pulteney, Bart. Member for Shrewsbury, on the Subject of the Trade between India and Europe. By Sir George Dallas, Bart. Member for Newport. 4to. pp. 102. 5s. Boards. Stockdale. 1802. IT appears from a note prefixed to this letter, that it was in the press, and designed to be published, prior to the debate which took place on the subject of its contents in the House of Commons, on the 25th of November last: but that the printer was not able to get it in sufficient forwardness before the discussion on that day commenced. So many different and even opposite sentiments, concerning the true interests of the East India Company, and the proper methods by which they should be pursued, have at various times existed both in debates and in publications, that we almost despair of ever seeing them brought to agreement. the inean while, the company proceeds and prospers; and it is not for us to decide whether any other plan of conduct in the directors would render it more flourishing. Sir George Dallas's arguments tend to favour the policy of enlarging the privileges of the free merchants, in order to attract to this country as much of the trade of India as its capital and industry can reach; and at the same time he unfolds the principles on which such a position rests. He shews the utility of employing India-built ships preferably to all others, for the purpose of bringing home the surplus trade from that quarter of the globe; and he then proceeds to consider in what respect an indulgence of this nature is to be viewed, as, in effect, desiring the opening of the trade altogether: which imputation he refutes by a candid appeal to the charter of the company. It is not in our however, to accompany the worthy baronet through all the topics of his discourse; and it must suffice to say that he writes apparently with a thorough knowlege of his subject, and in a style sufficiently animated to excite and maintain attention. After After having discussed, at some length, the merits of the 'peace, Sir George concludes by saying: On the duration, then, of his [Bonaparte's] authority and life, perhaps, the continuance of peace may much depend. In the altered situation of France, we are summoned to look forward to the future with additional anxiety. Without impeaching the sincerity or the intentions of France, we are called upon to look at her interests, and survey her situation. What have we seen? She has subdued the greater States of Europe, and been baffled by ourselves. She stands on the ruins of her own Empire, still heaving from the throes of internal faction, looking at the nations she has vanquished, yet turning, in the midst of their fall, an eye of hope to the surviving power of these United Kingdoms. Her enlarged dominion she feels but weak, while yet we maintain an Empire more universal than her own. What then will be her object, but to endeavour, by unremitting attention to her marine, to place it on that respectable footing that shall enable her, at a more convenient period, in conjunction with her vassal states, to dispute this Empire with us, and break down the barriers between her and universal sway? To revive and recruit this marine, will be the primary object of her care; and to strike us where most we are vulnerable, the first effort of her strength Every encouragement will be given by her Government to increase the nursery of her seamen. The sails of commerce will be widely spread; and INDIA, as the most valuable and the most important of our foreign dependencies, in the event of a future war, will be the ob ject of her attention, and the point of her attack. Imitating the policy of the Romans, our distant possessions will be her first aim. Sicily and Spain had yielded before Carthage fell. It is there, on the coasts of Hindoostan, that we may have to struggle for our sovereignty at home; and it is there that by every consideration of national policy, we are invited to strengthen ourselves. It is not by fcets and armies alone that we can preserve these distant dominions. Let us reign in the hearts of the people, and a bulwark more powerful is erected than even the walls of our glory. Let us attach to our cause and our interests both the Natives of the East and the Subjects of Great Britain, by extending to them all the blessings which a mild and beneficent Government is capable of imparting; and by shewing to them, that if we have reduced them to our dominion, it is only to improve their happiness. Let us not see the foreign flag streaming on the Ganges, to confer protection where we can yield it ourselves; and to bear away to foreign Europe the wealth of our subjects, when we ought to convey it to our own shores. Let us open the Thames to the flow of their gratitude, and the produce of their soil. Let us cast off the fetters of commercial restraint, and breathe the expansive sentiment of national greatness. The Natives of India expect it from us. The Subjects of Britain claim it. The voice of millions implores of their conquerors not to paralize the efforts of their industry, but to allow them, for their reciprocal benefit, freely to extract from their soil and their arts all the advantages of which they are capable. The Merchants and Manufacturers of of England call upon the justice of Parliament to expand the spheres of their industry. The voice of the Nation speaks. It claims from its guardians renewed securities for its defence, when the great fabrick of civil society is rent asunder, and the elements of its safety are convulsed! These are the calls which attach to this question. INDIA asserts that permitting her ships to bring home her surplus produce to Great Britain, will animate her industry, revive her prosperity, augment her capital, quicken her productive powers in agriculture and manufactures, strengthen her allegiance, and increase the happiness of her peaceful children. GREAT BRITAIN affirms, that it will enlarge her navigation, her customs, and her trade. will destroy that Clandestine Commerce, which now invades her rights. It will gladden her Manufacturers, by augmenting the calls on their industry. It will render her Metropolis the mart of the Commerce of the East. It will encircle her with securities. Her harbours will be crowded with the fleets of Asia. The tide of abundance will be hers. The majesty of justice will exalt her power. And the generous principles by which she retains a distant Empire in subjection, in sealing the rights of humanity, will spread new glories round her Constitution!" It This work will be perused with interest by all those who are concerned in the subject which it discusses. ART. IV. Notes, Critical and Dissertatory, on the Gospel and Epistles of St. John. By the Rev. R. Shepherd, D.D. F.R.S. 4to. PP. 450. 11. 5s. Boards. Mawman *. IF the stern churchman who peruses this work should say that Dr.Shepherd has overstepped the boundaries of rigid orthodoxy, it must be allowed that he has kept within the more sacred pale of candour and liberality. He discovers, indeed, an ingenuousness of mind which intitles him to our respect; and though we cannot uniformly agree with the commentator, we never cease to esteem the man. Some indulgence, also, is to be extended to the undertaking. The Gospel of St. John has a character peculiar to itself, and contains matter not to be found in any of the other Evangelists. It commences in a very singular manner, by employing a term which is suspected by some to have a Platonic origin, and which, after the introductory verses, never occurs again either in the Gospel or the Epistles. From the beginning to the end of the narrative of the actions and doctrines of Christ, he is never once called the Logos, though this word is introduced with such solemnity in what may be regarded as the exordium. The first eighteen verses of the first chapter make a part by themselves, and do * The date at the bottom of the title page is 1796: but, though the work was printed in that year, it was not published till 1801. REV. JUNE, 1802. L not |
