3 which I have acquired, has arifen from fure by fuch reflections, that I have acmy contemplating the beautiful comparison fo frequently inftituted between life and a journey, and I am perfuaded that the more frequently we dwell on this comparison, the more we fhail learn to appreciate the true value of those things, which form the fubject of our wishes and wants. It is in a great mea quired that perfect indifference to little things, which removes from me all impatience about them, and that decent refpect for the more serious difpenfations of Providence, which guides our eye to the end of our journey. 1 am, Sir, THOMAS PLACID. ON THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL CAUSES ON THE MORAL FACULTY. THE fubject upon which I am to have the honour of addreffing you, is an inquiry into the influencs of physical caufes upon the moral faculty. Our books of medicine contain many records of the effects of physical caufes upon the memory, the imagination, and the judgment. Perfons who labour under the derangement or want of these powers of the mind, are confidered, very properly, as fubjects of medicine; and there are many cafes upon record, that prove that their diseases have yielded to the healing art. dium of the fenfes, the paffions, the memory, or the imagination. Their influence is equally certain, whether they act as remote, pre-difpofing, or occafional caufes. 1. l'he effects of climate upon the moral faculty claim our first attention. Not only individuals, but nations, derive a confiderable part of their moral, as well as intellectual character, from the different portions they enjoy of the rays of the fun. Irafcibility, levity, timidity, and indolence, tempered with occafional emotions of benevolence, are the moral qualities of the inhabitants of It is, perhaps, only because the dif- warm climates; while felfifhnefs, temorders of the moral faculty have not pered with fincerity and integrity, form been traced to a connection with phyfi- the moral character of the inhabitants cal caufes, that medical writers have of cold countries. The state of the neglected to give them alfo a place in weather, and the feafons of the year, their systems of nofology, and that fo alfo, have a visible effect upon moral few attempts have been hitherto made fenfibility.-The month of November, to leffen or remove them by phyfical, in Great Britain, rendered gloomy by as well as rational and moral remedies. conftant fogs and rains, has been thought In treating of the effects of phyfical to favour the perpetration of the worit caufes upon the moral faculty, it might fpecies of murder; while the vernal help to extend our ideas upon this fub- fun, in middle latitudes, has been as ject, to reduce virtues and vices to cer- generally remarked for producing gentain fpecies, and to point out the ef- tlenefs and benevolence. fects of particular caufes upon each particular fpecies of virtue or vice; but this would lead us into a field too extenfive for the limits of the prefent inquiry. I fhall only hint at a few cafes, and have no doubt but the ingenuity of my auditors will fupply my filence by applying the reft. It is immaterial whether the phyfical causes that are to be enumerated, act upon the moral faculty through the me 2. The effects of diet upon the moral faculty are more certain, though less attended to, than the effects of climate. "Fulness of bread," we are told, was one of the pre-difpofing causes of the vices of the cities of the plain. The fafts fo often inculcated among the Jews, were intended to leffen the incentives to vice; for pride, cruelty, and fenfuality, are as much the natural confequences of 5L 2 luxury Juxury, as apoplexies and palfies. But 4. Extreme hunger produces the moft unfriendly effects upon moral fenfibility. It is immaterial whether it acts by inducing a relaxation of the folids, or an acrimony of the fluids, or by the combined operation of both thofe phy fical caufes. The Indians, in Ameri ca, whet their appetites for that favage fpecies of war, which is peculiar to them, by the ftimulus of hunger: hence, we are told, they always return meagre and emaciated from their military excurfions. the quality, as well as the quantity of aliment, has influence upon morals; hence we find the moral difeafes that have been mentioned are most frequent ly the offspring of animal food. The prophet Ifaiah feems to have been fenfible of this, when he afcribes fuch falutary effects to a temperate and vegetable diet. "Butter and honey fhall he eat, (fays he) that he may know to refufe the evil and choose the good." But we have many facts which prove the efficacy of a vegetable diet upon the paffions. Dr Arbuthnot affures us that he cured feveral patients of irafcible tempers, by nothing but a prefcription of this fimple and temperate regimen. 3. The effects of certain drinks up on the moral faculty are not lefs obfervable than upon the intellectual powers of the mind. Fermented liquors, of a good quality, and taken in a moderate quantity, are favourable to the virtues of candour, benevolence, and generofity; but when they are taken in excefs, or when they are of a bad quality, and drank even in a moderate quantity, they feldom fail of rousing every latent fpark of vice into action. The laft of these facts is fo notorious, that, in Portugal, when a man is observed to be ill-natured or quarrelfome after drinking, it is common in that country to fay," that he has drank bad wine." While occafional fits of intoxication produce illtemper in many people, habitual drunkennefs (which is generally produced by diftilled fpirits never fails to eradicate veracity and integrity from the human mind. Perhaps this may be the reason why the Spaniards, in ancient times, never admitted a man's evidence in a court of juftice who had been convicted of drunkennefs. Water is, the univerfal fedative of turbulent paffions it not only promotes a general equanimity of temper, but it compofes anger. I have heard feveral well-attefted cafes of a draught of cold water having fuddenly compofed this violent paffion, after the ufual remedies of reafon had been applied no purpose, 5. Idlenefs is the parent of every vice. It is mentioned in the Old Teftament, as another of the pre-difpofing caufes of the vices of the cities of the plain. Labour of all kinds favours and facilitates The country the practice of virtue. life is a happy life, chiefly because its laborious employments are favourable to virtue, and unfriendly to vice. It is a common practice, I have been told, for the planters in the southern states, to confign a house flave, who has become vicious from idlenefs, to the drudgery of the field, in order to reform him, The bridewells and work-houses of all countries prove that labour is not only a very fevere, but the most benevolent of all punishments, inafmuch as it is one of the moft fuitable means of reformation. Mr Howard tells us, in in his Hiftory of Prifons, that, in Hol land, it is a common faying, "Make men work, and you will make them honeft." And over the Rafp and Spinhouse, at Groningen, this fentiment is expreffed, he tells us, by a happy motto: "Vitiorum femina-otium-labore exhau riendum *." 6. The effects of exceffive fleep are intimately connected with the effects of idlenefs upon the moral faculty :—hence we find that moderate and even fcanty portions of fleep, in every part of the world, have been found to be friendly, not only to health and long life, but, in many inftances, to morality. The prac * Idleness, the feed of all vices, is to be extirpated by labour, tice tice of the monks, who often sleep upon the pleasure, and one of the advantages, a floor, and who generally rife with of a flower garden. the fun, for the fake of mortifying their fenfual appetites, is certainly founded in wisdom, and has often produced the moft falutary moral effects. 9. As fenfibility is the avenue to the moral faculty, every thing which tends to diminish it tends also to injure morals. The Romans owed much of their cor7. Too much cannot be faid in fa- ruption to the fights of the contests of vour of cleanliness, as a phyfical mean, their gladiators, and of criminals, with of promoting virtue. The writings of wild beafts. For these reasons, execuI Mofes have been called, by military tions fhould never be public: Indeed, men, the beft" orderly book" in the I believe there are few public punishworld. In every part of them we find ments of any kind that do not harden cleanliness inculcated with as much zeal the hearts of the spectators, and thereby as if it was part of the moral, instead leffen the natural horror which all of the Levitical law. Now, it is well crimes at firft excite in the human mind. known that the principal defign of every 10. Cruelty to brute animals is anprecept and right of the ceremonial other means of deftroying fenfibility. parts of the Jewish religion was to pre- The ferocity of favages has been afcribvent vice and promote virtue. All wri- ed, in part, to their peculiar mode of ters upon the leprofy take notice of its fubfiftence. Mr Hogarth points out, connection' with a certain vice. To this difeafe grofs animal food, particularly fwine's flesh, and a dirty fkin, have been thought to be pre-difpofing caufes: hence the reafon, probably, why pork was forbidden, and why ablutions of the body and limbs were fo frequently inculcated by the Jewish law. Sir John Pringle's remarks, in his Oration upon Captain Cook's Voyage, delivered before the Royal Society in London, are very pertinent to this part of our fubject. "Cleanlinefs (fays he) is con ducive to health: but it is not fo obvious that it alfo tends to good order and other virtues. Such (meaning the fhip's crew) as were made niore cleanly, became more fober, more orderly, and more attentive to duty." in his ingenious prints, the connection between cruelty to brute animals in youth, and murder in manhood. The Emperor Domitian prepared his mind, by the amufement of killing flies, for all those bloody crimes which afterwards difgraced his reign. I am so perfectly fatisfied of the truth of a connection between morals and humanity to brutes, that I fhall find it difficult to reftrain my idolatry for that legiflature that fhall first establish a fyftem of laws to defend them from outrage and oppreffion. 11. The laft mechanical method of promoting morality that I fhall mention, is to keep fenfibility alive by a familiarity with fcenes of distress from poverty and difeafe. Compaffion never awakes in the human bofom without being accompanied with a train of fifter virtues. Hence the wife man juftly remarks, that, "by the fadnefs of the countenance the heart is made better." 8. Odours of various kinds have been observed to act in the most sensible manner upon the moral faculty. Brydone tells us, upon the authority of a celebrated philofopher in Italy, that the It will be fufficient only to mention peculiar wickedness of the people who light and darkness, to fuggeft facts in live in the neighbourhood of Aina and favour of the influence of each of them Vefuvius is occafioned chiefly by the upon moral fenfibility. How often de fmell of the fulphur, and of the hot ex- the peevish complaints of the night is halations which are conftantly difcharg fickness, give way to the compofing ed from those volcanos. Agreeable 0 rays of the light of the morning! Othel dours feldom fail to inspire ferenity, and lo cannot murder Defdemona by canto compofe the angry fpirits. Hence dle-light; and who has not felt the ef fo J fects of a blazing fire on the gentle paf fions? It is to be lamented, that no experiments have as yet been made, to determine the effects of all the different fpecies of airs, which chemistry has lately difcovered, upon the moral faculty. I have authority, from actual experiments only, to declare, that dephlogifticated air, when taken into the lungs, produces cheerfulnefs, gentleness, and ferenity of mind. It might help to enlarge our ideas upon this fubject, to take notice of the influence of the different ftages of fociety of agriculture and commerce—of foil and fituation-of the different degrees of cultivation of taste, and of the intellectual powers of the different forms of government-and, lastly, of the different profeffions and occupations of mankind, upon the moral faculty: but as thefe act indirectly only, and by the intervention of causes that are unconnected with matter, I conceive they are foreign to the business of the present inquiry. Delivered before the American Philofophical Society at Philadelphia, by Dr Rufb. HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN ENGLAND. FROM THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE. NEHEMIAH ranks among the great characters of ancient hiftory. He forfook a place of influence at the most fplendid court of Afia, to encounter every hardship, for the beneficent purpofe of beftowing independence upon a horde of poor, ignorant, and wretched flaves, and of educating them by religious and civil culture into a moral, brave, and industrious nation—and he fucceeded. Before Nehemiah, the Jews were addicted to idolatry, and untaught as to an hereafter. By the wife felection of traditions and laws, which his inftitutions impreffed upon the people, they became zealous monotheifts, auf terely moral, and brave defenders of their independence without acquiring the fpirit of conqueft:. Yet they neglected not the arts of peace. They covered the rocks of Galilee with olive trees; and purfued commerce with fo great fuccefs, that to Alexander it already appeared an object to court the fettlement of Jewish colonies in his feaports. They multiplied rapidly in all places. In the time of Tiberius, much of the commerce of the Mediterranean was in their lands. They had fyna-. gogues every where, which they to lerantly fuffered to become fchools of Chriftianity. Even, under Vefpafian, Jerufaleny was fell maintaining, against Roman tyranny, a noble but unequal ftruggle for its religious and civil liberties. How foon any Jews fettled in Great Britain is unknown: but from the fpread of Chriftianity among the Britons, previously to its eftablishment under Conftantine, it is reasonable to infer that there had long been fome fynagogues here to ferve as flubs of propegation for the new faith. The inroads of the Saxons and Danes oblitered much of the imperfect converfion of the native inhabitants. At this period, the Jews, with fingular liberality, patronized the civilization of thefe barbarous heathens by endowing Chriftian monafteries. In a charter of Witglaff, king of Mercia, made to the monks of Croyland, we find confirmed to them not only fuch lands as had at any time been given to the monaftery by the kings of Mercia, but also all their poffeffions whatever, whether they were originally bellowed on them by Chriftians or Jews. Omnes terras et tenementa, poffeffiones et eorum pekulia, que reges Merciorum et eorum proceres, vel ali fideles Chriflianis vel Judai, dictis monachis satexerunt. Nearly a hundred years earlier, the Jews must have been numerous in England, fince the 146th paragraph of the Cano nical Excerptions, published by Egz bright, Archbishop of York, in 740; forbids forbids any Chriftians to be prefent at of the church. We may in part owe the Jewish feafts. to them the spirit which dictated the Conftitutions of Clarendon. In 1188, the parliament at Northampton propofed to affefs the Jews at fixty thoufand pounds, and the Chriftians at feventy thoufand, toward a projected war. The Jews must have been very rich, or the parliament very tyrannical. Indeed, during the feudal ages, the Jews feem to have been the moft opulent, polished, and literate perfons of the laity. They were the only bankers, or as the vulgar termed them, uferers of the time. They conducted what there existed of foreign trade, and often vifited the civilized fouth of Europe. Under Richard I. the prejudices of They wrought most of the gold and the populace were let loofe against the filver ornaments for altars. William Jews. A crufade had been refolved Rufus, who (as Tovy fays) was no on. The declamations of the clergy in better than an infidel," not only per- favour of this holy war, ftirred up the mitted, but encouraged them to enter intolerance of the vulgar. In London, into folemn contefts with his bifhops a riotous populace broke open and plunconcerning the true faith; fwearing, by dered the houfes of the Jews. Three the face of faint Luke, that, if the Jews perfons only were punished, who by got the better in the difpute, he would mistake had injured the houses of Chrifturn Jew himself. Accordingly, in his tians. In fix months the flame became time, there was a public meeting of the general: The most formidable explochief leaders on both fides in London, fion happened at Stamford-fair, which when the Jews oppofed the Chriftians had drawn together great multitudes of with fo much vigour, that the bishops people, and among them whole troops and clergy were not without fome foli- of roaming faints, who were preparing citude how the difputations might ter- to go with the king to the Holy Land. minate. No other class of men was at Thefe zealous men, difdaining that the that period enlightened enough to cope enemies of Chrift should abound in with the priesthood. Some young Jews wealth, while they, who were his great were fo imprudent as even to value them- friends, were obliged to strip their felves upon their infidelity. The fon of wives and children of common necefone Moffey, of Wallingford, to laugh faries, to fupply the charges of the voyat the votaries of Saint Fridefwide, age, perfuaded themfelves, that God would fometimes crook his fingers, and would be highly honoured, if they then pretend he had miraculously made fhould first cut the throats of the Jews, them ftraight again at other times he and then feize upon their money: So would halt like a cripple, and then in a ready are men to believe what makes few minutes fkip and dance about, bid- for their worldly advantage. Accord ding the croud obferve how fuddenly he ingly they flew upon them, and finding, had cured himself. very little refiftance from an oppreffed Henry II, in the 24th year of his and fpiritlefs enemy, quickly made reign, granted a burial place to the Jews themselves mafters both of their perfons on the outside of every city where they and fortunes: the former of which they dwelt: proof they were numerous and ufed with all kinds of barbarity. Some refpected. In this reign, one Joshua, few of them, indeed, were fo fortua Jew, furnished the rebels in Leland nate as to get shelter in the castle; with great fums of money. And one whither, as they fled without their Sancto, of Bury Saint Edmund's, took riches, the fource of all their mifery, in pledge certain veffels appointed for they were not earnestly pursued. And the fervice of the altar. Others were as thefe devout pilgrims pretended to grown fo prefumptuous as even to fcoff do all this for the advancement of God's at, and ridicule the highest dignitaries glory, to fhew they were in earnest, they 3 took |