by the hordes of the North, in the sixth century, the Roman troops were for some time supplied with a small quantity of provisions; but the inhabitants were destitute of food; and they were driven to such extremity, that their cries were distracting, many hundreds of persons killed themselves, and the rest devoured one another.

In war, the most novel and effective means are employed for the destruction of human life. Ingenuity is strained to afflict mankind. There have been weapons of various sorts; - spears, bows and arrows, slings, darts, tomahawks, and battle-axes; lances, cimeters, swords, dirks, and poniards; guns, muskets, pistols, bombs, grenadoes, mortars, and all kinds of artillery; weapons of wood and stone, gold and steel; - all for the purpose of inflicting suffering and death! When the crusaders under St. Louis had reached the shores of Africa, they were attacked by the Moors in a most unexpected manner. The natives took advantage of the kamsin, or tempest of the desert; and with machines raised clouds of sand, which almost overwhelmed the Christian army: thousands of men perished. Treachery - indeed, any method for the destruction of life is practised - and thus the army of Hannibal was almost destroyed. Scipio Africanus caused the Carthaginian tents to be set on fire at night; and being composed of reed, with other combustible materials, they blazed most furiously, until the whole encampment was a sheet of fire: forty thousand men were burnt to death. How horrid is war! and yet there are men who

will sacrifice whole nations to their ambitious projects; as if, in the language of Coleridge –

"The soldier died without a wound;

As if the fibres of this godlike frame

Were gored without a pang; as if the wretch,
Who fell in battle, doing bloody deeds,

Pass'd off to Heaven, translated and not kill'd;
As though he had no wife to pine for him,
Nor God to judge him!

Ambition hardens the feelings, and war produces cruelty; else Tacitus would never have said what he did of the horrid slaughter of the Bructarii :"By the favour of the gods," he observes, "we had the pleasure of observing this conflict without taking any part in it. We witnessed sixty thousand men cutting each other's throats for our amusement. May the nations at war with us continue to cherish these mutual animosities ! "

Peace appears sometimes to have taken her final leave of men. Sometimes a generation passes away, and there is nothing but the alarm of war. Azotus was surrounded by the armies of Egypt for twentynine years. Europe, in our time, has been desolated with war for more than twenty years. The Temple of Janus at Rome was shut only eight times, and those were short periods; and the Temple of Peace was consumed by fire as if the elements themselves would sweep away all monuments in honour of tranquillity and security.

War has been a dreadful curse to subjects; but have rulers and great generals gained much by warfare? A glance at the history of some of the most eminent will convince us to the contrary.

Xerxes

Cyrus extended his power, and established a mighty empire; he reached the very pinnacle of the temple of glory, and then he was slain in an ambush by Queen Tomaris, in Scythia, and his head being cut off, was thrown into a vessel of blood:-"There," said the queen, "drink thy fill, for thou wert ever a blood-thirsty man." gloried in his power and in his mighty armies, and at last he was miserably assassinated by one of his guards. Alexander conquered the world, and died in the prime of life, a disgraceful death by intemperance. Pyrrhus II. was killed at Argos by a tile, which was thrown by a woman, and thus his glory was terminated. Hannibal destroyed himself by poison. Pompey and Cæsar fought for the dominion of the world, and the victor as well as the vanquished was assassinated. Charles XII. was killed by a cannon ball; and Napoleon finished his days in gloomy exile. The sun of the warrior may have arisen in beauty, and it may have shone brilliantly at the zenith, but it has generally set with a dark and troubled sky. Hence we may conclude, that wars of ambition are a curse to the leaders and the people, and that war in no case is allowable, except for the preservation of our rightful possessions.

Peace is exceedingly delightful: under its influence the arts are improved, the sciences diffuse their cheering influence into every corner of the land; the ground is cultivated; deserts are changed into fruitful pastures, and the valleys are adorned with trees; public buildings are raised; canals and other conveniences for trade are formed; commerce

flourishes; the poor are supplied with bread; the cot is safe in the humble valley; the palace in its retreat among forests; the town and the city are secure; ships convey the treasures of various nations without fear of an enemy; the government has leisure to direct its attention to internal affairs, to the happiness of the nation. There are no dreaded and yet anxiously expected posts, to bring the account of sons or fathers slain on the field of battle; the feelings of humanity are less frequently shocked than they are during the progress of war; virtue and piety increase; and every one sits beneath his vine and fig-tree, none daring to make him afraid. These are the natural and legitimate results of external and internal peace.

CHAP. III.

ON VIRTUE AND VICE.

THE word virtue among the Romans signified any great or heroic quality; but it is generally, in the present day, restricted to the conduct of one man towards another. Virtue and piety are frequently united in the same person, indeed the purest virtue springs from duty to God; but virtue refers chiefly to the laws of society, and piety refers primarily to the laws of our Maker. The man who lives honestly, because dishonesty would be unfavourable to his character and respectability, is a virtuous man; but he who does so because the Almighty requires it, is, in this respect, pious. Virtue refers to earth, and piety to heaven. The one prepares a man for this life, and the other for the next. fore Christianity was introduced, men were regulated most probably by the law of virtue only,except in those countries where the Jewish law was promulgated: the same system may exist in barbarous countries in the present day. This, and this only, will account for the degradation of the inhabitants in their principles and their practice. A light from Heaven, though it were but a twinkling ray from the fountain of Goodness, would never allow the horrid practices which the laws of some countries have established. The nations to whom

Be