360 Sleam-Packet Regulations. QOct. 



the same with the same sense of freedom ; the crew, being all freemen, 

 exhibit their predilections for rum, undisturbed by the frowns of kings, 

 peerage, or parliament; the ship takes fire during the general 

 libation to liberty, — and captain, crew, ship and passengers are roasted 

 whole. It was but the other day, that one of the largest steamers navi- 

 gating Lake Erie went to the bottom at once, with, the papers say, 

 seven hundred people on board ! 



We are glad to see that a member of the Commons is about to bring 

 in a bill on the subject. Let it be brief, plain, and practical, and it 

 must pass. Before half-a-dozen years are out, three-fourths of the sea- 

 going vessels, and all the river-vessels of Britain, will be steamers. The 

 liability to accidents will naturally multiply with the navigation, and 

 nothing can prevent the most dreadful catastrophes, but the direct inter- 

 position of the Legislature ; and the sooner it saves us from the rapacity 

 of proprietors, and the carelessness of captains and sailors, the better. 



BREVITIES. 



Drinking, with a view to heighten natural good-spirits, is like 

 attempting to improve the natural fi-agrance of the rose by smearing it 

 with pomatum. 



A benevolent man Avould not so much wish for the lever of Archi- 

 medes to move the world itself, as for a moral lever that would enable 

 him to lift its inhabitants one degree nearer to heaven ; — and this glo- 

 rious privilege every such man does in a degree possess. His example 

 operates as a strong arm, stretched out to raise his fellows to the eminence 

 he has reached himself. 



In the heathen mythology, Diana was twin-born with Apollo — a use- 

 ful hints to poets of the luxuriant class. 



It is a severe satire on mankind to say that prosperity is more difficult 

 to bear than adversity. The maxim implies a natural meanness or 

 malignity in those to whom it is applicable ; for if a man has but the 

 habitual wish to diffuse happiness, what more does he require to make 

 his prosperity a blessing to himself and all about him ? 



Fame, like money, can never be enjoyed while we are obliged to dun 

 the world for it. That only is worth having which comes unasked. 



Genius is the wand of an enchanter; — talent, the strength of a 

 giant. 



Continuing the game-laws in order to induce country-gentlemen to 

 reside on their estates, reminds one of Master Billy enticed to school by 

 his tender parents, with a promise that, if he is a good boy and minds 

 his book, he shall kick the cat about when he comes home. 



The Genius of Astronomy, with his starry wand, has effectually 

 shivered the fortress of Superstition — shivered, but not destroyed ; — 

 almost every one possesses a piece of the ruin as a sort of relic ; but it 

 can never be re-united as a place of strength to overawe the nations. 

 Where Newton is freely studied and believed, we shall have no more 

 religious wars. 



Nations are sometimes, though rarely, ungrateful ; but they much 

 oftener commit the folly of being grateful infinitely overmuch. Let them 

 beware of this ; it is wasting one of the most precious streams, that Pro- 

 vidence has ordained to fructify human genius and benevolence. 



O. 



