~ 
- 
1808.] 
: \ : 
in the service of the Nawaub of 
Secdhial. his. pay was six rupees 
er month, out of which scanty pittance, 
iE provided his own cloathing and main- 
tained himself and family, assisted per- 
haps by their industry in spinning cotton 
thread. which was sold to. the: weavers. 
He took a friendly chillam with Mungloo, 
and parted with mutual salams. 
" (Ta be continued.) 
For the. Monthly. Magazine. 
THE ENQUIRER.—No. XXV. 
Was the reronmation beneficial , to 
BUROPE? 
*€ Let the bigotted, the interested, or the 
powerful, exert themselves aS much as they 
please, it is a truth confirmed:to us by the 
experience of all ages, that all the opinions 
which now reign in the world, how strongly 
soever established, or how antient soever 
they. may be, if: not grounded eriginally on 
matures but on the consent only and contri- 
vance of men, will be sure in the end to find 
the same fate with. old buildings, which, 
while they acquire to themselves.a sort of, 
veneration from their very age, are every 
day gradually weakened, till being found at 
last rotten and ruinous, they are demolished 
by common consent.” -Miiddleton’s Preface. 
ATHETHER. the introduction: of 
Protestantism has or has not been: 
adyantageous to human society, is a ques- 
tion of late much agitated, It has for+ 
med. the subjcet. of a, prize-enquiry. pro-- 
sed. by the National Institute of Paris. 
e successful, dissertation of Mr. C, 
Villers has been printed, translated, aud 
admired ; and is thought to have. proved 
that: the Protestant Reformation was not 
merely a step.in the progress, but in the: 
amelioration, of social order. 
_ Doubts may be suggested of the soli- 
j ne this inference. 
urope is indeed: better off now than 
it was. three. hundred; years ago. It is, 
more; populous. The accomodations of 
life abound more among the. mostweedy. 
The. proportion. of. educated, civilized, 
and refined. individuals is greater. in, a, 
given number of persons. Wealth and 
art, science, and, taste, scatter more; 
widely their productions and, gratiiica- 
tions. An,influcncing, philanthropy has 
softened ihe harsher laws and inuluphed 
e benevolent institutions. But of this 
indisputable advancement. of prosperity, 
how litte. can) be attributed to the, Re- 
formation ! 
If the, three hundred years. which 
1d between 1500, and. 1800, be divi-; 
inte, equal parts, the spirit of, the; 
rmation will be allowed to huve been 
The Enquirer.—No. XXV. 
205 
are ee 
most operative duvivg the: first hundred 
and fitty years. But the diffusion of 
general weifare. and illumination will be 
found most conspicuous during the lase 
hundred and fifty years. This progress, 
both of populousness and of refinement, 
resulted chiefly from the increase of 
wealth; and the increase of wealth re« 
sulted chiefly from that extension of 
commerce which grew out of the eonquest 
of Hindustan, and the colonization, of 
Amevica; events independent of the res 
formation. 
If the European territories shaken hy 
this revolution, be distinguished into 
protestant aud catholic countries, and 
the respective masses be compared. witlr 
each other, the protestant will. uniformly, 
be found the more barbarous during the 
three first. lalf-centuries of the Reforma= 
tien ;.as_ if the victory of the new opis 
nions had occasioned. a) retrogression of 
civility, The catholic. provinces. seem 
barely, to. have retained their antertor 
refinement; but the protestant provinces! 
to have far receded toward. rudeness; 
and these only began to recover- thei 
natural rank,in the competition of nations. 
al culture, when the religious zeal of 
their ruling. classes began to.abate, What 
Ttaly was under.the Medici, and’ France: 
under Louis XIV. England becameunder: 
the two. first Georges, and Germany) 
under Frederic, Valuing thus, in, gress, 
the effects of the Reformation, it isisurely) 
hol.easy to perceive its,merits. 
By attending more in, detail, ta itsi 
operation on, morals, religion, policy, and 
literature ; some approach) to equitables 
appreciation may perhaps be made, Ther 
following are obvious, features, of thes 
change. An austere: ascetic. scriptural: 
morality was generally substituted for the: 
lax gentlemanly traditional practice of the: 
catholics. The play-house- was reviled,. 
fernication was aborninated, cempotation» 
was encouraged ; the young men became: 
puritanic and sottish, Adaltery was held? 
out by a married clergy to just abhor- 
rence. 
diffused by the. vernacular Seriptures,, 
Liturgies and Homilies of the Refurmers, 
Some, degradation of public taste and? 
temper was supermduced by a scurrilousy 
literature, appealing to. the lowest valgar, 
A more lamentable degradation: of pubs» 
lic. humanity eusuedetrom the pious inte= 
lerance of the autagonist parties. Truth, 
a, 
A taste for holy reading: wass.. 
and reason, were so littlesthe gainersiby» : 
the doctrinal .conftist,, that.it remains? , 
doubifoi, whether; more, points eof: faith: 
were changed tor the bettemor the worse.’ 
The belief in a purgatory is more humang 
ang 
