1796.) 
To conclude, the zodiac can have been in- 
vented but at one * of two {pecific periods : 
all the faéts are compatible with the later 
date; many feem incompatible with the 
early date: we are bound, then, to admit 
the more recent, asthe only probable pe- 
riod of the invention, and to rejeét this 
French argument for the antiquity of hu- 
man civilization. 
Fune 6, 1796- 
eee 
MEDITATIGNS ON A GENERAL 
ELECTION. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
y HAVE taken up the pen to offer to the 
confideration of your readers, a few 
reflections on the peculiar advantages 
which attend a GENERAL ELECTION; 
but as in a Mifcellany lke your’s, it 
svould be very unpleafing to interrupt the 
entertainment your readers have a right 
to expect, it is abfolutely neceflary for 
me to premife, that it is no part of my 
intention to enter into 2 difcuffion of the 
various queftions which have lately agi- 
tated the public mind, refpecting the 
duration of parliaments:—It is not my 
purpofe to enquire whether one, three, 
or feven years ought to be the age of a 
parliament ; whether the eletions ought 
to remain’ as they are; or whether uni- 
verfal fuffrage would not be more for the 
advantage of the nation? Thefe quef- 
tions I leave to be difcuffed in St. Ste- 
phen’s Chapel, Coachmaker’s Hail, the 
Old Bailey, or any other place where 
the friends of reform happen to meet. 
What I fhall now trouble you with, is 
little elfe than a meditation on the moral 
and religious effedts of a General Eledtion. 
And, firft, fir, let us contemplate 
with a becoming reverence, a fpectacle 
which has no parallel in the moft vir- 
tuous periods of antiquity, upwards of 
five hundred and fifty gentlemen of pro- 
perty, many of high rank, preffing for- 
ward with the moft earnetft ftruggle, and 
warm zeal, to a fituation in which they 
may confult for the good of their coun- 
try. Let us mark their anxiety, how pa- 
triotic! their profeffions, how fervent ! 
their purpofes, how difinterefted |! Me- 
thinks the golden age is again revived, 
and I fee embodied all the virtues which 


* Sir W. Jones fays, in the Afiatic Refearches, 
yol, ii, p. 305, that the Brachmans affert the 
games of the zodiacal ftars to occur in the Ve~- 
das. If fo, thefe Vedas muft have been com- 
poled withia goo years of the Chriftian ara, 
Meditations on a General EleGion. 
379 
poets and painters have feigned. But 
how imperfect the verfes of the one, or 
the canvafs of the other, to exprefs the 
panting breafts of our Britifh patriots, 
contending who fhall have a fthare in 
the falvation and prefervation of their 
country ! 
To obtain this, let us remark, is not 
a matter of eafy attainment, and that they 
muft fuffer feverely in thofe refpects 
upon which men are apt to fet the higheft 
value. Yet defpifing that worldly wif- 
dom which is peculiar to low and felfith 
minds, they facrifice their riches, their 
time, their health, and not unfrequently 
their reputations, in the good caufe; de- 
fpifing the opinion of the world, {purn- 
ing that wealth which their anceftors 
accumulated with fo much pains, and 
throwing afide every confideration capa- 
ble of damping their zeal, or weakening 
their fupport. Is this nothing? Is it 
nothing, in an age of mifers and of felf- 
interefted men, that fo great a number 
fhould be found ready to beggar them- 
felves that others may be rich; and to 
confign themfelves cyen to reproach, 
and fhame, and anguifh, that the nation 
may acquire fame, and honour, and hap- 
pinefs ? We have heard much of the 
religious mortifications of former days, 
and we have read of the contempt with 
which philofophers were accuftomed to 
view the luxuries of life; but how in- 
fignificant do fuch pretenders to fortitude 
and difintereftednels appear, when com- 
pared to the voluntary penance of a 
county canvafs, or the meek refignation 
of a martyr on the huftings! To be re- 
viled, to be hiffed, to be buffeted, and 
to be devoured, and to bear all this with 
mildnefs, argues a fortitude more ealy 
to be celebrated than to be equalled. 
Secondly, fir, and connected with the 
above, is the Humitiry of gentlemen 
during a General Eleétion. Humility 
is the firft of Chriftian virtues, and the 
moft attractive. Hear in what humble, 
and felf-debafing language they addrefs 
the people: They profefs (and who 
will not believe them?) that ‘¢ they are 
unfit for the high honour they afpire to;”” 
—that ‘many perfons might be found 
infinitely better qualified’—that ‘ an 
anxiety for the public good has ever 
been their ruling principle’ —that ‘with 
their lateft{ breath, they will remember 
the honour done to them’’—that they ap- 
ply ‘* with moft perfeét fubmiffion’”— 
that ‘‘ they can refer to the whole tenor 
of their conduét’—that ‘their con- 
{cience has ever been their guide’’—and, 
136 2 in 
