482 
almoft fickened me with bealths, and pal- 
led a gracelels'meal, which began without 
a thought of thanks to God, and ended 
with a loud and general call for the Devil. 
He came, infting&t with fire, amid an uni- 
verfal hubbub wild of foft piano pipes, 
and brazen’ throats, ftriving for. maftery. 
<< The Devil, the Devil 1” “Ithuriel oncé 
touched. him lightly with his foear, but 
forks deep in the grifly king, and'then, with 
breath that whifpers whence it ffole its fa- 
voury fpoil, tranfmit this type of Satan, 
‘The {mug curate gives thanks, and theh 
-retatls fome paltry pun. ore 
' At length, I can’ fhut ‘my, chamber- 
door in the world’s face—I ‘can ‘firide 
acrofs my ‘room in’ptoud independence— 
FE can tread upon the fervitudes of life’as I 
tread'on this carpet of chequered colours 
—I can defcribe my femicircle rowmd oné 
warm friend, my perennial fire. It is ‘the 
fun of my fyftem, and I am an avowed 
enemy to the anti-focial confpiraty of ‘4 
Rumitosd-grate. I fhouid not have expected 
this attempt to extinguifh the light of onr 
terreftrial fun from a perfon who das been 
fuppofed one of the z/uminati. Perhaps, 
however, he knows the proper times and 
places to conceal or to reveal his light, as 
wellas heat. It firrizg the fire be no lon- 
ger the order of the day throughout Eu- 
rope, let usat leaft be fuffered to /uuff the 
candle. The light of reafon is now the 
only refource, the fole hope, of mankind. 
Tam ftruck with the account given by 
Fourcroy of the wonderful change wrought 
by the chemiftry of nature in the bodies 
interred inthe church-yard of the Inno- 
‘ cents at Paris. They were changed into 
@ material for giving light, and fome fuc- 
cefsful experiments have been lately made 
in England for fhortening the procefs by 
which dead bodies are changed into an ex- 
eeilent fpermaceti. It gives. me great 
pleafure to think, that William Pitt and 
‘Thomas Paine may, at fome future time, 
mingle their light for the good of the rifing 
generation. As the price of fpermaceti 
will be reduced by the increafe of quanti- 
ty, the ex-minifter may contribute to the 
illumination of fome cobler’s ftall, while 
Common-fenfe is fpreading its rays thro” 
the cabinets of princes. 
This material metempfichefis (and light 
feems fo much the foul of the world, that 
I may hazard the expreffion) cherifhes my 
heart, which always grows cold on ap- 
proaching the repofitory of the dead. The 
idea, like one of thofe perpetual lamps 
faid tobe found burning in ancient fepul- 
chres, and whicliin reality is only the de- 
Walks by the Fire-fide, No. If. 
(Jan. Ij 
compofition of the brain into a phofphoric 
‘light——the idea of this change {eems to ir- 
radiate the gloom of the grave, and feeds 
the fancy with the hope of early refurrec- 
tion into ufeful exiftence. It muft imdééd | 
be obferved, that this change or conver- 
fion is truly of the democratic kind, as it 
happens, at leaft in the natural procefs, to 
take place only where multitudes of bodies 
~ fill up one’common, cavity. The felfith arif- © 
tocrat fhudders at the dread equality of the 
tomb, and; in his triple coffin, feems to 
endeavour at,.a perpetual feclufion from 
the commonalty,. maintaining even there 
his favourite principle of keeping mankind 
in the dark, © But it is to be hoped, that, 
as the fabftance of the brain is efpéecially 
difpofed to this change into.a fatty and 
inflammable matter, the’great majority oft 
the people will, at lengeth, be permitted to 
lay thewrvheads’ together, and that even: 
Trifhinen may’ be allowed,to wnite in peacey 
in the brotherhood of the grave. The 
defpot may wifh, as it were, to egotize 
himfelf for. ages. .to. come.in the centrak 
chamber of:a pyramid. © The ariftocrat 
may, m his mauioleum, ftill prove a-drag: 
ob. the great revolutionary wheel of ufeful 
exiftence,:. but the. multitude will fupply 
fufficient. oil for the motion of that wheel,” 
whofe ceafelefs rotation renovates the ele- 
ments, while life, like the phoenix, {prings 
from the afhes of diffolution. +. ¢) «0 
Inftead then of inferibing on the entrance 
of our cemeteries, ‘* The place of eternal 
fleep,’’I fhould, on this difeovery, fubftitute 
the words *¢ Fiat lux.’ I think I fee the Cor- 
ref{ponding Society. as rows of lamps, giv- 
ing light to the ftreets of the metropolis 5 
and, in“this terreftrial refurrection, even 
Meflieurs Wyndham and Wilberforce may 
turn out the incendiaries of the next ge- 
neration. I haveheard it faid of late, that. 
Charles Fox was in aneclipfe. ‘This ex- 
preffion put me in mind of the blunder 
which our almanack-makers are fo fre- 
quently guilty of—** This year (fay they} 
an eclipfe of the fun zzwifible ;*” and, al- 
though the-eclipfe of Mr. Fox at prefent 
be, as I think, of this clafs, I believe any. 
accidental deficiency of light that now 
takes place will be amply reftored by his _ 
pofthumous refplendence. He will burn 
like an Argand’s lamp, the flame of which 
is always pure and clear, and never re- 
quires trimming. 
Of light celeftial, infinite is the variety 
from that which Milton addreffes to that °' 
which Mammon worthips.—‘* From that 
divine and incomparable. greater hight, 
which illumines all, delights alt, from 
which all proceed, to whichall mutt retura, ' 
: ; which 
