5 1 2 Societi/for diffusing Knowledge 

 sniife, reprcliciicj, and syhipathize with 

 mC ; and I solicit this effect— for their 

 siiUe — for the sake of truth— and in the 

 liopc that, if our feelings have been reci- 

 procal, our mutual labours will not have 

 Ijccn wasted! At tliu end of my short 

 ijareer, I conscientiously look back on 

 ffie'incidcnts of my journey, with the 

 complacency with which we may all 

 look back in our old age on the iu- 

 cldeuts of a well-spent life — and let 

 feo one sneer at the comparison, for, 

 Vihcn human life has passed away, in 

 what deijrec are its multiplied cares and 

 cheque(ed scenes more important than 

 the simple events which attend a moru- 

 ^"•'s walk? liOok on the i^ravesof that 

 cluJrch-yard, and see in them the rc- 

 meseritatious of hundreds of anxious 

 lives! Are not those jraves, then, said 

 I, the end of thousands of busy cares 

 aiid ambitious projects .' A^'as not 



life THE MEIIE DHEAM of tllCir UOW 



scuselcsii tenants— like THK mire p\th 

 OF A "IRD IN THE AIK, or of a fish in the 

 waters'? Mtiy iiot the events of a morn- 

 ing wliicli' slides away, and is ne\cr re- 

 membered, be correctly likened th(ie- 

 foic to the courses of human life ? The 

 ouq, like the other, may be \\ ell or ill 

 jp^nt — idly dissipated or beneficially 

 employed -—and the ohecfjiiered inci- 

 dents will be found to be similar to those 

 which mark the jjcriods of the longest 

 life. lit-t me liojic, however, that iny 

 cxamplewill be follow'ed, in other situa- 

 lions, by minds variously stored and di- 

 tected by dilTerent enquiries! I^ike the 

 day which has just been reeordeil, the 

 incidents of every situation, and tlie 

 thoughis whie!) pass without intermis- 

 sion tinr.ugh the mind, wonld, in a simi- 

 lar portion of time, fill similar volumes, 

 ■which, as indcNCS of man's intellectual 

 jtiachim;ry, woulil serve thepurpose ofllic 

 dial of a clock, or tiie gnomon of a sun- 

 dial, and prove agreeable sonrees of 

 hmuscment, as well as efficacious means 

 of disscmiiialiiia; valuable principles and 

 Dieful irtsiruclion. 



■I ;;!>•=» '(I 



il 



tbKiiioV Sessb. 



To the Ifditor of the Monthly Magajrin^. 

 SIR, 



IF any of your iiunicrous eoirespon- 

 dents will inform me where a bio- 

 graphical account of Mr. Buike (who 

 fio-urcd under the Shelbunie udnyinis- 

 tration,) may be met with, or will fur- 

 nish a good account of him, he will 

 greatly oblige, 



A Constant JIeadeji. 



tf>i the Punishment of Death. [Jan. I, 

 To the E'lifor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR. * 



I CONFESS that tny pride was ra- 

 ther hurt at seeing, in Oldfield's 

 Representative History of Great Bri- 

 tain and Ireland, my iiarive city classed 

 amongst the rotten boroughs — a charac- 

 ter whieh, at one time, it certainly did 

 deserve ; but you will be pleased to hear, 

 that the spell by which we were so \n»% 

 held has been dissolved, by the election 

 for the last parliament, and aj^in for 

 the present, of a S\orthy and honest 

 cortjitry gentleman. Sir J. G. Egerton; 

 in the face of all the exertion that a 

 neighbouring lord and bis agents -could 

 make. The independent freemen wer« 

 not aware of their strength, or llwy 

 might as well have seyt two members 

 as one. "' '-^ '« A. C. M; 



Chester. 



To the Editor of the Monthly MagaziiKi 

 SIR, 



rHlHERE Is a Society in London, 

 M. which lias now been formed for 

 eight years, on a most important sub- 

 ject, but H hieh ajiijcars to me to be very 

 little notieedby the public, -—what this 

 circumstance is owing to, I know not: 

 the object of it is one of the most bene- 

 volent that can be imagined, but «Hie 

 which may not be so apparently bencli- 

 cial as that of other societies, whicii are 

 for feeding the hungry, cloathing the 

 nahcd, or visiting the sick ; I allude to 

 the " Society for diffusing Knowledge 

 rr.<pectivg the Vnnishment of Death, and 

 the improvement of Prismi Disci pliiie,"^ 

 That the opinion of a vei-if great majo-' 

 ri(y of the people of England is in f*- 

 voui' of the pindshnent of death being; 

 takfn off from most of the offences to 

 which it is no* attached, I most Jirmly 

 believe; if the English arc truly humane, 

 it Surelv must be so. The operations of 

 this society have moslly been conlined 

 to printing extmcts from various books. 

 On the punishment of death, and pub- 

 lisliing debates in Parliament relative lo 

 the siuue sub.iect. Three volumes have 

 already appeared, entitled, " 'I'he opi- 

 nions of different Authors npon the Pii- 

 filihmcnt of Death; sclecltd by Basil 

 Montague, c*:q.*of Lincoln's-iim." Lou- 

 don, 1809, 1812, 1813. 



These volumes are well worth the at- 

 tention of the benevolent Clirislian, and 

 cannot fail, I think, of working, by de- 

 grees, a reformation in the criminal code 



* ClrairoHooftlie'^ocJet^, 



of 



