~ 
38 
attribute to our dogmas effects which 
are only to be ascribed to their laws, 
and reproach us with habits which they 
have compeiled us te contract. 
“Seated on the first throne of the 
world, a man, the most astonishing man 
whom history presents to us, has given 
the fragments of Israel a new era and a 
better fate ! 
“ Since the time our ancestors have 
ceased to form a nation, the vicissitudes 
which have afflicted our existence have 
been interrupted but by short intervals. 
Nations civilized themselves; we among 
them, alone, remain barbarous! Hu- 
man ‘vanity seemed pleased by our hu- 
miliation. But let us turn away our eyes 
from contemplating the horrid picture of 
our past calamities; ages of fanaticism 
and ignorance, where the miserable Is- 
raelite was cast out of the society of men, 
and could find no resting-place. Frede- 
rick the Great, in Prussia; Joseph I. in 
Austria; Leopold, in Tuscany; Alexan- 
der, in Russia; by their enliyhtened to- 
leration, have commenced the great work 
of our regeneration: but it was reserved 
for the hero of this age to accumplish it 
on a more enlarged plan. 
“This fortunate change in our situa- 
tion will resolve a great problem in legis- 
Jation and morality ; we shall now see,. 
having obtained a Bea character, 
whether the Israelite shall still perse- 
vere in that pee sae e he has so long 
shewn for agriculture and the arts; for 
useful trades, and the profession of arms. 
We shall see if that insulated state in 
which he has hitherto existed, and if the 
practices of money transactions are in 
him the result of a peculiar character, 
produced by his religion, or if we are not 
to ascribe these to exterior circuinstances, 
totally uncounected with his holy re- 
ligion.” 
This is a small part of the eloquent 
address of the president. 
Eh Sa 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N page 446, of vol. xxHi. Of your 
Magazine, appeared a letter signed 
C. 5. proposing aul alterat ion in the form 
OF stirrups, as now use 
I cannot consider This alteration aS an 
sroprov ement; for the stting out of the 
stirrup, (made as recominended by him), 
which would frequently bappen, the stu- 
rup-leather must be held by the hand, 
while the foot 1s put in, on aceount of 
the smallness of the ring; and the mder’s 
foot ge Cc 
On a proposed Alteration in the Form of Stivrups. 
[Aug 
body, in so doing, must be bent forward 
with the ee nearly touching the mane, 
a position which would cause most horses 
to set off full speed; and, supposing the 
horse to be going fast at the time the foot 
becomes disengaged, he must either be 
stopt, or the mder cannot have any com- 
mand of him while his foot is regaining 
its position. 
In the present size, the footing is easily 
regained when lost, and, with a good ri- 
der, is kept at the rise of the instep. ‘Phe 
foot of an unhorsed person being entan- 
gled in the stirrup, is not occasioned by 
its going through the ring, as supposed by 
your correspondent, but by the toe point- 
Ing upw ards, aud catching the top of i 
ring, while the heel is pressed against th 
bottom; and the heavier the vody of he 
rider, the more ditiicult it is to extricate 
the foot. hd 
Iam convinced that more accidents 
would happen in one year, fyom the adop~ 
tien of the form recommended by C. S. 
than happen in ten by that now used. 
Yet Ido not contend that the present 
form is incapable of improvement: there 
isi something wanting” in this requisite 
assistance to a rider; and, could wish the 
makers to turn their attention to it. 
Your's, &e. 
Cheadle, near Stockport, 
June 18 1807. 
De ky 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
LYC/EUM OF ANCIENT LIVERAs 
TURE Neo. VII. 
THE EZNEID. 
HE characters of the AXEneid now 
claim our attention; and in this res 
spect, the inferiority of Virgil to Homer 
is no where more observant The Thad 
is full of character and life; Achilles, in- 
deed, appears to be the hero: but there 
are taany others on whom the poet has 
bestowed very considerable interest. The 
admiration due to Virgil must not pre 
vent us from remarking those points in 
which he has more ‘peculiarly failed. 
There is in the Awneid no character suf- 
ficiently marked ; and, above all, that of 
the hero 1s by ne means an interesting 
one. Aristotle has observed, that there 
are characters which, hawever defective 
in morality, may be “excellent in poetry. 
The same pass sions by which tragedy is 
actuated, must also animate the epopea ;’ 
and the rules which are prescribed for 
the one, are also essential to the other. 
This principle has been fully confirmed 
by. 
