217 



NOTES AND EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 



WE are glad to notice the announcement of a Berlin publisher, a 

 German translation of Mr. Baines's History of the Cotton Manufac- 

 ture. 



*' MEMORY.*' The traces of some events of our lives are inde- 

 lible ; they would seem to have been burnt in. Those of an unplea- 

 sant character are most permanent ; and foolish actions, I fear, more 

 so than serious ones. 



Liberty is not idleness it is a free use of time to choose our labour 

 and our exercise ; in one word, to be free, is not to do nothing, but 

 to be the sole arbiter of what we do, and what we leave undone. In 

 this sense, what good so great as liberty ? 



Governments depend far more than is generally supposed upon 

 the opinion of the people, and the spirit and the age of the nation. 

 It sometimes happens that a " gigantic mind" possesses supreme 

 -power, and rises superior to the age in which he is born ; such was 

 Alfred in England and Peter in Russia; but such instances are very 

 rare ; and, in general, it is neither amongst sovereigns nor the 

 higher classes of society, that the great improvers or benefactors of 

 mankind are to be found. 



" OUR MOST RELIGIOUS KING." This phrase was originally in- 

 troduced into a new Collect framed in the reign of Charles the Se- 

 cond, and then only conveyed the meaning of the Latin word Religi- 

 osus, importing the sacredness of the Royal person. 



Lord Lowther has shown himself a sensible man of late : these are 

 stirring times; and ^ people" will not be insulted with perfect im- 

 punity. Lord Lowther knows the use of coals, as well, or better 

 than most dealers in that dangerous but useful commodity. His lord- 

 ship does not wish to heap coals ofjire, however, upon his own head. 



The ex prime minister is for peeling without any delay. The fox 

 thinks he is under the vine, and can lay hold on the grapes. How 

 futile how vain '.yet, how portenteous ! semper idem is the fool's 

 motto what is Proteus ? 



JUNIUS AND THE TORY MASTERS. The subjoined quotation, from 

 Junius's letter "to George III., is so applicable to the present 

 times, that it may not be uninteresting to those who regard that elo- 

 quent writer as an authority on great political questions: "Is it 

 possible for you to place any confidence in men who, before they .are 

 faithful to you, must renounce every opinion, and betray every prin- 

 ciple, both in church and state, which they inherit from their ances- 

 tors, and are confirmed in by their education ? whose numbers are 

 so inconsiderable that they have been obliged to give up the princi- 

 ples and language which distinguish them as a party, and to fight 

 under the banners of their enemies ? Their zeal begins .with hypo- 

 crisy, and must conclude in treachery. At first they deceive at last 

 they betray." 



A certain lady of distinction is not in a state that ladies are said 4o 



MM. No. 8, 2 & 



