30# Famine, Disease, and War. 



thought, to which OJir fashionable poetry 

 Kad been too long a stranger ; and iiis 

 style I will boldly pronounce to be tlie 

 most nervous and expressive rhyme in 

 the English language: 

 "'Tis musical, but sadly swpet. 

 Such as when winds and harp-strings meet, 

 And take a long unmeasured tone, 

 To mortal minstrelsy unknown." 



H. N. 



5'o the Editor of the Blonthhj Magazine. 

 SIR, 



IF, in compliment to a frequent cor- 

 respondent, you should think the 

 following essay deserving a place in 

 your valuable miscellany, I hope it will 

 Mot be misundorslood as opposing the 

 desire all must have for the abolition of 

 Svar; but as an attempt to shew that 

 War is one of those evils to which man 

 must be subject, to avoid greater. 



H. R. 



From an Arabic Fragment. 

 In those days all the neighbouring 

 nations were vexed willi great calami- 

 ties — Pestilence or Famine had destroy- 

 ed half the inhabitants of the earth, but 

 health and gladness revelled in Jerusa- 

 lem, and plenteonsness was within her 

 palaces. Now, the heart of Solomon the 

 king delighted in the welfare of his peo- 

 ple ; and lie said, " By the wisdom of my 

 counsellors my kingdom flourishes, and, 

 by the knowledge of my learned men, 

 health prevails;" — and the king's heart 

 emote him as he retired into the inner- 

 most chamber of his palace. On a sud- 

 den great darkness overspread the cham- 

 ber, and a voice, as of an angel, spoke 

 these words, " Wisdom is only fiom on 

 high, but the knowledge of good and 

 evil belongeth not to man — look and 

 understand :" and the king beheld, as in 

 a large mirror, a nation of decrepit and 

 infirm old men, some blind, others deaf, 

 some lame, and all feeble, helpless, and 

 bent down with age. The voice conti- 

 nued, " Man waxeth old, as doth a gar- 

 ment, and life prolonged is but vanity 

 and vexation of spirit ; know, therefore, 

 that the mercy of Providence has or- 

 dained various means to counteract the 

 natiiral and gradual decay of life, and 

 its gloomy termination. There be three 

 genii which minister to the Angel of 

 Jjife, these ai e called. Health, Pletity, and 

 love; and there be three genii which 

 minister to the Angel of Death, these are, 

 famine, Disease, ainl War." Now, the 



[Nov. t, 



king beheld in the miiTor that Fainin« 

 and Disease had dominion over all 

 ranks and conditions, sparing neither 

 age nor sex ; he saw the good and bad, 

 the guilty and the innocent, alike fall 

 victims to these ministers of death. No 

 courage could avail, no prudence coun- 

 teract, no caution could defend ; but all 

 alike were mingled in one mass of de- 

 struction by premature death, and 

 snatched from the impending horrors of 

 decaying nalure and decrepit age. And 

 the king said, "Verily, if Famine and 

 Disease are dreadful, how much mora 

 so is War, by which man is destroyed 

 by man ;" and l>ehold, as he looked in 

 the mirror, he saw an army of heroes ; 

 and, as he could read the inmost re- 

 cesses of their thoughts, he was sur- 

 prized to find that the nature of man 

 became totally changed under the in- 

 fluence of War: that it taught mankind 

 to seek pleasure in dangers, glory in 

 diflRculfies, and satisfaclion in the ago- 

 nies of death ; (hat it taught Ihem to re- 

 sign with cheerfulness the great prero- 

 gative of man — his thinking faculties 

 to become part of a machine to be put 

 in motion by others ; and that it could 

 change the natural benevolence which 

 dictates the jjreservalion of a fellow 

 creature into the most ferocious dcsirA 

 to destroy, by fire and sword, by force 

 or cunning, those from whom they ha<J 

 received no injury, but who, like them- 

 selves, are paid for spreading death to 

 anticipate the decay of life. Yet such 

 was flic effect of War, that it could 

 rouse the spirit of glory and honour, and 

 magnily the sense of shame ; that death 

 lost all its terrors ; and those were most 

 honoured, and deemed happy, who died 

 in the field of battle. 



And the king exclaimed, "Now of a 

 truth do I perceive that, of the three ge- 

 nii who oljey the commands of Death, 

 War is the most merciful ; aud, but for 

 these, life would become an intolerable 

 scene of old age and decrepitude. The 

 genii of Health, Plenty, and Love, fur- 

 nish life ; aud life must necessarily be 

 followed by death ; happy then is that 

 nation w hich is exposed to War, rafhei* 

 than to Pestilence or Famine ; for, bless- 

 ed are those who exchange life for glory 

 and honour, above those who perish in 

 need or sickness, or those who linger 

 under helpless decay." 



And the king, bow ing his head to the 

 ground, repeated, " Wisdom is only 

 from on high, and the knowledge of 

 good aud evil belongeth not to miui." 



