ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



959 



other. The governor of Canton, 

 after describing, in one of his late 

 proclamations on the subject, the 

 pernicious and fatal effects arising 

 from the use of opium, observes, 

 " Thus it is, that foreigners by the 

 " means of a vile excrementitious 

 '• substance, derive from this cm- 

 *' pire the most solid profits and ad- 

 " vantages; but that our country- 

 " men should blindly pursue this 

 " destrudtivc and ensnaring vice, 

 *' even till death is the consequence, 

 " without being undeceived, is in- 

 " deed a faft odious and deplorable 

 " in the highest degree." Yvt the 

 governor of Canton very composed- 

 ly takes his daily dose of opium. 



" The young people have no oc- 

 casional assemb-Jies for the purpose 

 of dancing, and of exercising them- 

 selves in feats of afiivity, which in' 

 Kurope are attended with the hap- 

 py effects of shaking off the gloom 

 and melancholy that a life of con- 

 stant labour or seclusion from so- 

 ciety is apt to promote. They have 

 not even a fixed day of rest set a- 

 part for religious worship. Their 

 a6ts of devotion partake of the same 

 solitary cast that prevails in their 

 domestic life. In none of the dif- 

 ferent se6ts of religion, which at 

 various times have been imported 

 into, and adopted in China, has 

 eongregational worship been incul- 

 cated, which, to that country in 

 particular, may be considered as a 

 great misfortune. For independent 

 of religious considerations, the sab- 

 batical institution is attended with 

 advantages of a physical as well as 

 of a moral nature; and humanity is 

 not less concerned than policy, in 

 consecrating one day out of seven, 

 or some other given number, to the 

 service of the great Creator, and to 

 rest from bodily labour. When 

 1 



the government of France, in the 

 height of her rage for innovation, 

 fell into the hands of atheistical de- 

 magogues, when her temples were 

 polluted, and every thing sacred 

 was invaded and profaned, the se- 

 venth day was considered as a relic 

 of ancient superstition, and the ob- 

 servance of it accordingly abolished ; 

 and about the same time it became 

 the fashion among a certain descrip- 

 tion in our own country; as being, 

 for example, a day for the encou- 

 ragement of idleness, drunkenness, 

 and dissipation. Such a remark 

 could only be applied to large cities 

 and tow Hs ; and in crowded manu- 

 facturing towns the mechanic, who 

 can subsist by working three days in 

 the week, would be at no loss in 

 finding opportunities, were there no 

 sabbath day, in the course of the other 

 four to commit irregularities. And 

 who, even for the sake of the me- 

 chanic and artificer, would Mish to 

 see the labouring peasant deprived 

 of one day's rest out of seven, which 

 to him is more precious than the 

 wages he has so hardly earned the 

 other six ? What man possessed of 

 common feelings of humanity, in 

 beholding the decent and modest 

 husbandman, accompanied by his 

 family in their best attire, attending 

 the parish church, docs not parti- 

 cipate in the smile of content which 

 on this day particularly beams on 

 his countenanca, and bespeaks the 

 serenity of his mind ? Having on 

 tliis day discharged his duty to God, 

 refreshed his body with rest, en- 

 joyed the comfort of clean cloth- 

 ing, and exercised his mind in con- 

 versing with his neighbours, he re- 

 turns with double vigour to his daily « 

 labours, having, as Mr. Addison 

 observes in one of his I>pc6tnlors, 

 " rubbed off the rnstof the week.'' 



« The 



