18230 



contrary to the principles of sound 

 reason, if we consider, hrsl, the falli- 

 bility of human judgment, whicii in 

 justice demands that no act should 

 be irremediable or irrevocable ; cases 

 having occurred of the innocent suf- 

 fering for the guilty, and no restitution 

 could be made. Life and death are 

 in their consequences of so much im- 

 portance to man, that the balance of 

 their disposal should be alone held by 

 that hand which is omnipotent, and 

 judged of by that eye which is otnnis- 

 cient. Again, if life be the gift and 

 property of God, and no man has a 

 right to take away his own, surely he 

 cannot transfer such a right to any 

 body of men, or repose it in any depo- 

 sitary of laws. 



Furthermore, the design of punish- 

 ment should be, the reformation of the 

 otfender ; but that of death is opposed 

 to this, and takes away the subject 

 over which it acts. 



Another end likewise in punishment 

 should be to deter from crime by ex- 

 ample : but this, also, is superseded by 

 the death of the criminal ; and, so far 

 from his public execirrion having a 

 tendency to improve the morals of the 

 people, the very reverse is known to 

 be the case. It was stated in the 

 House of Commons, by C. C. Western, 

 esq. member for Essex, in the session 

 of 1821, "That, at the previous assizes 

 Iield in the town of Chelmsford, five 

 unfortunate criminals received the 

 sentence of the law, and were there 

 executed. The town was thronged by 

 multitudes, who came in from the 

 country to sec tlie sight ; and it was 

 lamentable to relate, that, so far from 

 any salutary elfect having been pro- 

 duced upon the minds of the people 

 by this afllicting and dreadful spec- 

 tacle, the appearance of the town 

 was exactly similar to that which is 

 generally seen at the time of fairs and 

 wakes ; and, in the evening, so exten- 

 sive a scene of riot and drunkenness 

 prevailed, that the civil power was 

 had recourse to, for the preservation 

 of peace." Of the truth of this, by no 

 means solitary circumstance, the writer 

 was an eyc-witniss ; and he sincerely 

 hopes, that the time will soon come 

 when Clnistianily shall have such in- 

 Ihience over the minds of legislators, 

 as to lead to the abolilion of the pu- 

 nishment of death. S. P. 



(Jhclmfford. 



Monthly Mao. No. ;}80. 



The German Sludtnl, No. XXVII. 209 



For the Monthly Magazine. 

 THE GERMAN STUDENT. 



NO. XXVII. 



WIELAND (continued). 



IN the autumn of 1765, VVieland 

 married Miss Hillenbrand, the 

 daughter of a merchant at Augsburg ; 

 a lady more remarkable, it is said, for 

 a pleasing person, and for domestic 

 virtues, than for much accomplish- 

 ment of mind. She looked up to her 

 husband with a sort of worship, but is 

 believed to have been little versed in 

 his writings. Wieland being some- 

 what choleric, and often provoked by 

 little things into sudden bursts of an- 

 gry eloquence, his wife bore these 

 explosions of temper with such gentle 

 patience, that any by-stander was 

 filled with real admiration; even Wie- 

 land himself usually changed sides 

 before he had done chiding, and turn- 

 ed his own zeal into ridicule : many of 

 his felicities of diction were thus struck 

 out at a heat. 



He did not long continue at Bibe- 

 rach, although two daughters were 

 born to him there; for, in 1769, he 

 received from the Elector of Maynlz 

 an invitation to become principal or 

 first professor of law at the university 

 of Erfurt, with a salary of 600 dollars, 

 and the title of privy-counsellor. This 

 oH'er was transmitted through Ba- 

 ron Grosschlag, the Elector's arbiter 

 eleyantiarnm, but was probably due to 

 the recommendation of Count Stadion, 

 who had connexions with Mayntz, 

 and whose friendship for Wieland in 

 reality outlasted his ostensible fa- 

 vour. With the skill of a courtier, he 

 was contriving to withdraw from Bibe- 

 rach the herald of an independence 

 obnoxious at Vienna, and yet to give 

 a more adapted station to his late 

 guest and companion. Wieland con- 

 sidered the offer, and accepted it : if 

 the situation at Biberach was less 

 precarious, that of Erfurt seemed an 

 opening to higher advancement ; and, 

 if but little was added to his pecuniary 

 income, yet the increase of leisure, the 

 entire devotion of his time to litera- 

 ture, and the nobler circle in which 

 he was to move, I)ad claims to his 

 preference. 



(Jn arriving at lufurt, Wieland had 

 to lament the recent removal of his 

 relation and early instructor, liauraer, 

 to a mineralogical lectureship in 

 Saxony. He moreover found an uni- 

 versity in decay, \\\X\\ sinecure pro- 

 E e lessors 



