and advocating its objects, visited Selby, Yorkshire, in his progress, on Monday, the 8th of Nov. when a public meeting was held in the large and venerable Abbey church in that town, the Rev. J. Muncaster, the incumbent, in the chair. The meeting, composed of the religious classes in the town, of every sect and creed, was of the greatest respectability, and large beyond all precedent.

Mr. Cresson entered at length into a review of the origin, progress, and present prospects of Liberia; after which, a string of resolutions was agreed to, approving of the objects of the colony, a corresponding committee formed, and a liberal subscription opened. The deepest interest excited, was by Mr. C.'s address; and the large and various auditory by which he was surrounded, told in tears, "the feast of soul" they anticipated, in the prospect of becoming instrumental in settling the liberated African again in his father-land.

PROFUSION AT KING'S TABLES.

(From an Old Volume.) THE magnificence and abundant plenty of our king's tables, hath caused amazement in foreigners. In the reign of king Charles I. there were daily in his court 86 tables well furnished for each meal, whereof the king's tables had 28 dishes, and the queen's 24; four other tables 16 dishes each, 3 others 10 dishes, 12 others 7 dishes, 17 others 5 dishes, 3 others 4, 32 had 3, and 13 had each two; in all about 500 dishes each meal, with bread, beer, wine, and all other things necessary. There was spent yearly in the king's house, of gross meat, 1500 oxen, 7000 sheep, 1200 veals, 300 porkers, 400 sturks, or young beefs, 6800 lambs, 300 flitches of bacon, and 26 boars. Also 140 dozen of geese, 250 dozen of capons, 470 dozen of hens, 750 dozen of pullets, 1470 dozen of chickens, for bread, 36,400 bushels of wheat, and for drink 600, tuns of wine, and 1700 tuns of beer. Moreover, of butter 46,640 pounds, together with the fish, and fowl, venison, fruit, and spice proportionably. This prodigious plenty in the king's court caused foreigners to put a higher value upon the king, and was much for the honour of the kingdom. The king's servants being men of quality, by his majesty's special order went to Westminster Hall in term-time, to invite gentlemen to eat of the king's acates or viands; and in parliament time, to invite the parliament men thereto.

AN ESSAY ON ENVY.

HUMANITY is the subject of various depraved affections and malignant passions, which clearly prove a disordered nature, disturb the repose of the soul, and mar the image of God, oftentimes where it has been restored. Of all these vicious propensities, envy, the subject which is now to occupy our thoughts, is one of the blackest, and most unfriendly to mankind. Lucid as our theme is in itself, and repugnant as it may be to our best feelings, we should recollect that, in order to a perfect acquaintance with ourselves, we must, with impartiality, review our vices as well as our virtues; and, scrupulously examine the hidden springs of our conduct, whether they be good or bad.

If we study accuracy rather than originality, in attempting a definition of this passion, it will be found neither possible nor expedient greatly to vary the terms in which it has been defined by most writers. We, therefore, with them, declare it to be "that painful disquietude, associated with a degree of malignity, which is felt by those who repine at the endowments, acquisitions, and prosperity of their fellows."

It differs from jealousy, with which it is frequently confounded. The latter respects what we already have in our own possession, and has an aspect to what may seem to interfere with our individual interest: as in the case of one who fears, and is vigilant, lest the glory of his character should suffer the least disparagement; or, as in the case of the amour, who entertains a suspicion that he may be supplanted in the object of his affections. But the former casts her malicious eye upon the good qualities and appendages of another, who is in no way injurious, and heaves a sigh at the luminous halo which encircles his brow.

Although few, if any, are entirely void of envy, it has been held in universal detestation. He who gives place to it in his breast, is nevertheless ashamed to acknow. ledge it as a guest. When charged with it, he blushes, is tempted to deny its existence, and so belie his conscience. Philosopher, divine, and poet, have joined in casting an odium upon its character. The philosopher calls it, "the most malignant passion that can lodge in the human breast; which devours, as its natural food, the fame and happiness of those who are most deserving of our esteem." The theologian stigmatizes it, as "one of the most hateful and unsightly abortions of a malevolent disposition." And the muse, fired with indignation, exclaims

"O Envy! hide thy bosom, hide it deep:

A thousand snakes with black, envenomed
mouths,

Nest there, and hiss, and feed through all thy
heart."

An envious person, moreover, can never plead, with the jealous individual, that his passion is sometimes laudable: since the Deity reveals himself to be "a jealous God;"--but an envious man is always a personification of that which is diametrically opposed to the character of Jehovah. He is an anomaly in human kind; for reason teaches us, that excellence is the legitimate object of love, but he converts it into an excitement of uneasiness and spleen. Hence, that which was intended to be the boon of intelligent creatures, becomes the fruitful source of the most baneful distemper: These observations naturally lead us to specify some of the incitements to envy. They are numerous, and the limits of this essay will only admit of a very general classification of them.

We remark, first, that natural endowments, both corporal and intellectual, have given rise to this unhallowed feeling. The exquisitely beautiful Lucretia fell a victim to its influence, in Sextus Tarquinius. He envied Collatinus, her unfortunate husband, the conjugal happiness he was supposed to enjoy in her society, and therefore resolved to gratify his unlawful appetites at the expense of her chastity; which induced the unhappy woman to plunge a dagger into her breast, with the hope of concealing the insult offered to her person. The roseate cheek, the beamy eye, the delicate form, the beautiful symmetry, and dignified mien of nature, have always been exposed to the same evil eye. And this has fallen upon the internal, as well as upon the external, accomplishments of our nature. Genius, a sound judgment, a ready perception, a correct taste, a retentive memory, and a fertile imagination, have not escaped the malignant glance. On the contrary, these qualities of the mind are frequently primary causes of uneasiness.

In the next place, we mention erudition and literary distinctions, as having no inconsiderable influence upon the heart susceptible of this disquietude. They are highly appreciated by the enlightened part of society, and they throw a lustre round their possessor, which the organ of vision often finds it painful to gaze upon, even for a short time. The eye of an envious man instantly revolts, and turns away from such an object, as when affected by the dazzling splendour of the meridian sun. It cannot derive pleasure from that which ought to impart it, solely because another body is

the source. Light, its proper element, is scarcely supportable, when emanating from a body that shines more brightly than its own; it becomes quite offensive, and there is a strong desire to see it extinguished. Every increase of knowledge, every new acquisition, instead of creating joy, only renders grief more pungent. The heart sighs over the accessions which a companion is making in the various departments of science, and, as he climbs the hill which leads to honourable fame, is in bitterness of spirit, rejoices at every slip, and longs to witness his total failure.

The success of others in the varied pursuits of life, is also a stimulus that operates powerfully to perturb the breast. It is narrowly watched in each stage of its progress; and the nearer it approaches to completeness, the greater, is the uneasiness experienced. Whatever may be the undertaking, the same scowl and satanic feeling is superinduced by its accomplishment. What joy thrills the soul, when there is but a probability of defeat; and what a gloom overspreads the countenance, when there is a prospect of conquest! The heart has many a time sickened at the sight even of the fading palm, and evanescent laurel; or, at the hearing of a well-earned plaudit.

The distinctions of ancestry, of heraldry, of rank and influence, are, furthermore, beheld with poignant sorrow by him who laments the weal of his fellow-creatures. These things are a rock of offence, which he cannot easily avoid, without retiring from the arena on which we are destined to figure for a period they are "a root of bitterness," everywhere springing up to trouble him. If he look to the right hand, he is the mortified spectacle of some one who approximates much nearer to the throne than himself: and if he turn to his left hand, he is chagrined by the appearance of opulence and power. He envies the individual who basks in the sunshine of prosperity, and reclines under his own vine and his own fig-tree; whilst he is obliged to be contented with a mere competency. It, moreover, gives him pain to know and hear of the happiness of a neighbour, fellow-citizen, or acquaintance. The conjugal relation, and domestic circle, in connexion with a cup running over, surrounded by every comfort, and the smile of Heaven giving a zest to every pleasure, is an intolerable eye-sore to the diseased eye; which brings to our remembrance the lines of our immortal bard, who thus represents the arch-fiend, turning his eyes towards the lovely condition of our first progenitors in Eden :

-aside the Devil turned
For envy, yet with jealous leer malign
Eyed them askance."

In brief, since we might proceed indefi. nitely under this part of our theme, whatever contributes to dignify, embellish, and distinguish a compeer; whether it appertain to body or to mind-whether it be really meritorious or not-whether it refer to the

present time or to futurity-whether it obtain the approbation of God, or only of man-envy has reared her head, and writhed in pitiable anguish. Even superior and exalted piety, than which there is certainly nothing more amiable, and more generally to be admired, has engendered this contemptible creature. Here we are forced to differ from Dr. Blair, who is of opinion, that virtue is never an object of envy. But, enough has been advanced under that branch of our subject.

We might now, if it were advisable, enter as fully into the principal subjects of envy, as we have done into its objects; but we decline, and briefly suggest, that, although we have expressed our belief that it is an entire stranger to very few, yet it has a peculiar residence with the proud and ambitious, the illiterate and pedantic, the indolent and discontented. The vain-glorious and aspiring are so puffed up by their fleshly mind, having formed so extravagant an estimate of their own worth and merit, and being desirous of shining as the sun, eclipsing every other light by its orient rays, that they are vexed with the bright orbs which perchance threaten but partially to obnubilate their disks; and, would fain keep all resplendent revolving in their own circle, at an immense distance from themselves. If, in addition to pride, a man be illiterate, and at the same time ostentatious of knowledge, he will be galled the more by the indications of surpassing learning in those he emulates. And, should vanity and ignorance be accompanied by indolence and discontent, a still greater restlessness of mind will arise at the perception of one, who by industry has attained to honourable distinction. Such a person, whilst he reclines in his easy chair, folding his arms, suffering the dust to encrust his books and furniture, allowing the sun to set, day after day, a reprover of his dronish habitsrepines and feels pain at the acquirements and celebrity of a far more diligent, and therefore deserving, acquaintance.

Another thing yet remains to be considered, namely, the tendency and results of this passion. It wreathes itself about the heart, and works silently within; but it does not rest there :

"Ille inter vestes et levia pectora lapsus Volvitur attactu nullo, fallitque furentem; Vipeream inspirans animam: fit tortile collo Aurum ingens coluber, fit longæ tænia vitæ, Innectitque comas, et membris lubricus errat. Ac dum prima lues udo sublapso veneno Pertentat sensus, atque ossibus implicat ignem, Necdum animus toto percepit pectore flammam.

ENEID, lib. vii. 350.

In perfect 'accordance with this beautiful description of Virgil, envy difluses a viperous affection, which manifests itself in words and actions, whilst it is "the rottenness of the bones," and, "slayeth the silly one" who entertains it, as the nurtured serpent that wounded the unsuspecting husbandman, in Æsop. "Who is able to stand before envy?" asks Solomon. She sallies forth in disguise, marking out her victims, and seeking to inflict a mortal wound.

We have already seen a Lucretia falling a prey to it; and we have only to turn over the pages of history, to become acquainted with the spoils of this deadly foe, scattered in all directions, and of every variety. Kings have been dethroned, princes have been assassinated, senators have been poisoned, innocence has suffered violence, merit has been aspersed, moral worth has been traduced: the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph, their brother; and, for envy, writes the Evangelist Matthew, the Jews delivered Christ to be crucified: "For where envy and strife are, there is confusion, and every evil work." It is the instrument of Satan, and when he wishes to instigate the vicious against the virtuous, and can do it no other way, he paints, vividly to their imagination, the advantages which accrue to the excellent of the earth, and thus provokes them to envy, which rankles in their bosoms, till a discharge takes place in scurrility and detraction, perchance in murder.

Now, if we cannot at pleasure rid our. selves of this troublesome inmate, successful attempts may be made to lessen its ascendancy. There are some who have fostered it, and so increased its growth, until they have found it to be an unmanageable and rebellious creature; injurious to its nurse, and a pest to society. The following are a few of the dissuasives from an indulgence of this hurtful passion.

First, the scriptures class envy with the most criminal obliquities; murder, deceit, malignity, fornication, evil-speaking, (Romans i. 29; 1 Peter ii. 1,) and to such sins, tribulation and wrath are threatened, by the Judge of all the earth.

It is most unseemly in Christians; for, "do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth

Lastly, we are commanded by the great Almoner of mankind, "in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content." And, why should we be displeased with the dispensations of Heaven? Ought we not to acquiesce in the arrangements of the only wise God? Are they not all made in wisdom? A few inore rising and setting suns, and the chief objects of our envy will have vanished" in tenuem aurem." Thrones will have tottered to the ground; empires will have disappeared; the great and the noble will be numbered with the dead-all earthly distinctions will be merged in those of eternity ! Piety will be all that is important; and the envious wicked will look upwards to the realms of light, whilst their torment will be increased by the bliss of the redeemed. Envy thrives in hell!

Σχολαστης.

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE ASIATIC CHOLERA.

(From the New York Christian Guardian, Aug. 1, 1832.) On the 28th of August, 1817, this terrible disorder appeared at Jassore, a- very considerable town, situated about 100 miles north-east of Calcutta. At Jassore it proved fatal to about one-tenth of the inhabitants. In less than a month it travelled from thence to Calcutta, visiting village after village in its journey, and sweeping off thousands of the population. From Calcutta it spread in different directions. Following the course of the Ganges, it extended northward to Delhi, desolating Benares, Lucknow, Agra, and other cities. Benares lost 15,000 inhabitants. In an army of 18,000 men, under the command of the Marquis of Hastings, encamped at Mundelah, Gubblepore, and Saugor, on the southern branches of the Upper Ganges, more than half were swept off by the Cholera in twelve days.Having passed the banks of the Nebuddah, it reached Bombay, to the westward, in September, 1818, (one year after its first appearance in Calcutta,) taking, in its course, among many other places, the famous cities of Aurungabad and Poonah.

To the south from Calcutta its travels were equally rapid and destructive. It reached Madras in October, 1818, and arrived soon after at the extremity of the peninsula, diffusing itself over the whole Coromandel coast. In the following January it passed over from the peninsula to Cey

lon, and laid in the dust a large number of the inhabitants. In November, 1819, it broke out in the Isle of France, and in six weeks destroyed one-fourth of the population. It is supposed to have been brought to this island from Ceylon, a distance of nearly 1000 leagues, in the Topaz frigate, which arrived at Port Louis in October, 1819. Many of the crew died of the Cholera during the voyage; and, though there were no cases on board on her arrival, yet three weeks after the landing of the convalescents, the desolating disease began its work of destruction among the inhabitants. Soon after its appearance at Calcutta, it commenced a rapid journey of mortality to the eastward. It travelled along the coast of Bengal, to the kingdom of Arracan, where it arrived in the early part of 1819. It proceeded from Arracan to Siam, in the capital of which it destroyed 40,000 inhabitants. Having traversed the kingdom of Siam, it passed through the peninsula of Malacca, and visited in regular succession the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. It reappeared in Java in 1822, when it removed 100,000 souls into eternity. In the same year (1822) it paid a terrific visit to Celebes, Amboyna, and several other islands of the Eastern Archipelago. It attacked Cochin-China and Tonquin in 1820; entered China, and began its ravages at Canton, and scattered its fatal poison over the Philippine and Spice Islands, towards the close of the same year. It arrived at Pekin in the early part of 1821, and proved so mortal to Pekin and Nankin during that and the two following years, in defiance of the strictest precautions, that the public treasury was obliged to furnish funds to bury the dead.-In about one year, the Cholera travelled over the whole Indian Peninsula, containing 600,000 square miles; and in less than two years it ravaged a territory in Asia of about 1,300 leagues in length, and 1,000 in breadth-nearly one hundred and twenty millions of square miles.

The Cholera reattacked Bombay in 1821, and, taking the islands in its course, it proceeded westward towards Europe. It crossed the Arabian Sea, and made its appearance at Muscat, situated at the eastern extremity of Arabia. To the in-. habitants of this commercial city, it proved very destructive. Passing on both sides up the straits of Ormus and the Persian Gulf, it extended on the Persian side to Shiraz, Yezd, Ispahan, Tabereez, and into Armenia: and on the Arabian side, at the head of the Persian Gulf, it attacked Bassorah, an Ottoman town, with terrible mortality sweeping off one-fourth of the population in 14

days. To the northward it proceeded up the Euphrates and Tigris to Bagdad, and slew one-third of the inhabitants. From Bagdad it ascended to Astrachan, a populous town on the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, at the mouth of the Volga, where it arrived in September, 1823.-To the westward from Bassorah, it proceeded to the shores of the Mediterranean, ravaging Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Syria. In 1823 it appeared at two points on the frontier of Europe.

From 1823 to 1830 Asia has been annually subjected to the scourge of this terrible pestilence. It did not, however, pass over into the European territories until July 1830, when, after severely re-attacking Astrachan, it passed along the Don, the Dnieper, and the Volga into Europe, traversing a space of 1,600 miles in less than three months. It penetrated to the heart of the Russian empire; among the Don Cossacks its ravages were extensive; it made successive attacks upon the capitals of the several provinces south of Moscow; it entered Moscow three months after its re-appearance at Astrachan, and made a prey of about 5,000 inhabitants. In 1831, the Cholera entered Poland, by the Russian armies, and visited most of the villages and towns of that unfortunate kingdom. It soon reached the shores of the Baltic, successively attacked Riga and Dantzic, and, in defiance of rigid quarantine regulations, and every possible precaution, entered St. Petersburg. It passed into Prussia, and made its appearance in Berlin, Hamburg, and other German cities. It passed from Syria into Asia Minor, and was very destructive in Smyrna. From Astrachan it directed its course westward to the Sea of Asoph, traversed the northern shores of the Black Sea to the mouth of the Danube, which it ascended, scourging Hungary in its march, and arrived at Vienna before the winter of 1831. On the approach of the winter, its malignity appeared to subside upon the continent of Europe. The British nation, however, was paralyzed with a panic of alarm, by its sudden appearance at Sunderland, on the eastern coast of England. Soon after, it appeared in other places, visiting Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Ireland. It has since crossed the Atlantic, arrived upon our shores, entered our towns, terminated the probationary state of several thousands of our neighbours and countrymen, and emptied many a habitation of its most needed inmates. It still exists amongst us, and prevails to a considerable extent in New York, and other places in the neighbouring states.

soon

Whether this pestilence is yet destined to

In conclusion, we beg to add a few general observations on this disease.

1. It is not generally admitted by physicians that the Cholera is a disease peculiar to the present century. Physicians of India profess to have the best authority for believing that it carried off 30,000 inhabitants of Bengal in 1762, and re-visited that region in 1781; that it appeared at Madras in 1774, in the Isle of France in 1775, and in Arcot in 1787. It is also affirmed by respectable authority, that the epidemic pestilence in England in 1669 and in 1676 was no other than the present spasmodic Cholera.

2. An alarming fact connected with the history of the Cholera is, that it establishes itself permanently in almost every place that it attacks, and breaks out at intervals in its dreadful ravages upon the inhabitants. It attacked Calcutta 14 times, or every year from 1817 to 1830; Madras, 9 times; Bombay, 12 times; the principal cities of India, frequently. Its frequent irruptions in China, Persia, and Syria, furnish abundant facts of the same kind; the same is likely to be the case in England; it will probably be the same in this country. It has been ascertained that, up to May 1831, there have been six hundred and fifty-six IRRUPTIONS of the Cholera.

3. The destructiveness of this disease exceeds the mortality of any plague or pestilence recorded in ancient or modern, sacred or profane, history. Its mortality in India for the last fourteen years has been estimated at two millions five hundred thousand, annually. At the lowest estimate, it has swept off eighteen millions of human beings in Hindostan, and thirty-six millions in Europe and the rest of Asia-about one in sixteen of the inhabitants of the globe!

4. The capriciousness of the disease is very extraordinary, and several facts connected with it appear to be unaccountable upon any ascertained principles of physiology. In some cases, not more than one half or one third of the infected perish; at other times, without any perceptible variation of circumstances, six out of seven of its victims perish. It is stated, that the disease has sometimes taken a complete circle round a town or village, passed on to another district, and then, after the lapse of several weeks, returned, passed by the places heretofore infected, and ravaged the places which had so recently escaped. In the very heart of a Cholera district have been found neighbourhoods and patches of terri