ij 
ISi 1.] Fillainies of lo'W Attornks^ 
op my accounts, and, calculating the 
profits of my trade, I was overtaken by 
sleep. In that situation, I saw the 
Angel of Death, who had just come 
tJpon me like a hurricane; and, before 
I could ask pardon for my sins, he struck 
me with a terrific blow to the earth. 
I vvas seized with horror on perceiving 
that my doom was unalterable, that I 
was entering on eternity, and that it 
was no longer possible either to add 
to the good that I had done, or to di¬ 
minish the evil I had committed. I was 
carried to the foot of the throne of him 
whose habitation is the third heaven, 
and from the refulgent light which shone 
before me, I was addressed in these 
words; ‘ Carazan ! the divinity has reject¬ 
ed thy worship; thou hast closed thy heart 
against humanity, and concealed thy trea¬ 
sures; thou hast lived for thyself alone; 
and on this account to all eternity thou 
s'halt be excluded from the society of 
other beings.’ 
“ In that moment I was hurried away 
by an invisible power, and conveyed 
through the brilliant edificeof the creation. 
Soon were left behind me innumerable 
^vorlds; and, when I approached the 
last limits of .nature, I observed that 
the shades of a boundless void were 
Jost, before me in the abyss,—the dread¬ 
ful empire of eternal silence, solitude,* 
and obscurity. The prospect filled me 
with inexpressible horror. Insensibly 
the last stars were eclipsed to my eyes, 
and the clearness of light was gradu¬ 
ally lost in the profound of darkness. 
The violent anguish of ray despair in¬ 
creased as every moment removed me 
farther from the last of inhabited w'orlds. 
I then considered, witn bitter impa¬ 
tience, that, after I should have been 
carried forwards during ten thousand 
times ten thausai\d years, far from the 
limits of the created world, I might still 
perpetually advance in the immensity of 
this abyss. 
“ In the numbness of rey senses, per¬ 
suaded of the reality of the objects 
which presented themselves to my mind, 
I raised my arm with such violence 
that I awoke. 1 have since learned to 
esteem mankind.; for in that horrible 
solitude, I should have preferred the 
worst of them against whom I shut my 
door when I was puifed up hy fortune, 
to the treasures of Golconda.” 
Barthez, in his Theorie du BeaUj 
(1307) observes, that “ Herschell con¬ 
siders all the stars that are visible to 
No. 210. 
us, the milky-way included, as a certain 
system or assemblage to which our sun 
appertains. Taking afterwards that vast 
assemblage as a single unity, he makes 
of it a very small part of the creation, 
by reducing it to be a single nebula; 
that is to say, by supposing that this 
entire collection of visible stars would 
assume the appearance of a nebula, if 
seen at the distance at which that ap¬ 
pearance is presented to us. Each of 
the 2000 nehulcB that lie has discovered 
may therefore be a system similar to 
that which comprehends the innumera¬ 
ble fixed stars that we can perceive.’* 
It is estimated that there are 80,000 
stars visible with a telescope of mode¬ 
rate power ; and, with one of Ilirschell’s, 
no less than 75,000,000 ! See Lalande’i 
Antronomie, 
Well may the poet exclaim, 
The unde'v.Dui astronomer Is mad !” 
Cirmcelter,ld>\\, A. IM. 
To the Editor of the Monthly MagaziruCt 
SIR, 
N your valuable Miscellany for Jun«, 
I find a “ Proposal for a society for 
protection against the villainies of low 
attornies and pettifoggers.” 1 certain¬ 
ly agree w'ith your Correspondent that 
a check to their low cunning and chi¬ 
canery is highly necessary; but, as the 
means of effecting this very desirable 
purpose, I conceive no benefit can arise 
by the formation of any society, wliila 
the objects of it are able to shelter 
themselves under the strong fortress of 
the common law or general custom, 
I should rather suppose it must be left 
to the legislature to revise those laws, 
which, from their vague or indefinite 
nature, are liable to be abused bv every 
unprincipled or litigious character; and 
ot this class are the existing laws re¬ 
specting small debts, where much is left 
to the discretion of the attorney, and 
consequently in the hands of a man 
of honour, ora knave as it may happen; 
but, supposing the latter case, Law, 
which should be the hand-maid of Jus¬ 
tice and Equity, is made the mere tool 
of malice and revenge, as the foliow-ing 
case related to me by an intimate 
friend will clearly show. A trades¬ 
man owed him on a running account 
about sol. which Imving stood nearly 
three times the length of the usual cre¬ 
dit, and having some fear of his sol¬ 
vency, h@ wrote repeatedly requesting 
C paymeHt, 
