the coloured people should continue in a degraded state is spoken of by Dr. Dewey without any reference to the conduct of those who keep them in this condition, by refusing to treat them as rational beings and as fellow-men! We must make some allowance for the strong language the Abolitionists use, when they perceive that the only amalgamation of the classes denounced as impracticable, is that hallowed by the matrimonial tie, and when they see their benevolent purposes thwarted by those to whose good reputation and extensive influence they might reasonably look for encouragement and support. Dr. Dewey suggests, as the only imaginable remedy for the evil he deplores, the removal of the coloured people to distant territories,—their expatriation from the soil of their birth, on which they have as inalienable a right to reside as those who recommend their banishment from it! There appears to be no doubt that the light in which the free coloured people are viewed by the inhabitants of the Northern States, and the conduct generally pursued towards them, has greatly tended to keep up that indifference to the existence of Slavery in the South which is so general in the free portions of the Union. The behaviour of individuals towards this class is considered by the Abolitionists as a criterion of their views and wishes with regard to abolition. No sincere advocate of emancipation ever treats the coloured people otherwise than as 'men and brothers.""

The Moral Consequences of American Slavery is the subject of the next Section. Its debasing influence upon the minds of the people, the reckless character of the inhabitants of the Slave States, the disrespect for the laws, and the evil effect produced even on the literature of the United States, are mentioned. The sentiments of the inhabitants of this country with respect to America are thus stated:

"The people of America are, probably, most imperfectly acquainted with the effect of their Slave institutions upon public opinion in this and other European countries. In whatever connection America is named amongst us, the monstrous inconsistency forces itself upon our notice, of a nation priding itself on its love of liberty, declaring that all men are born free and equal, and yet at the same time exhibiting to the world three millions of its citizens in endless Slavery! Our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic must not be surprised, if the blighting influence of their Slavery disinclines numbers of our travel-loving population from journeying in the United States; and they must make some allowance for those who have visited their shores, if, disgusted with what they have seen of Slavery at the South, and of the unchristian treatment of the free coloured people at the North, they have viewed America with prejudiced eyes, and have not done justice either to her people or her institutions. Those of us who remember the state of feeling towards America among a large and intelligent class in this country forty years ago, cannot but remark how expectation and hope have been disappointed in the failure of the experiment, so anxiously watched, of the working of a republican government in a civilized and Christian country, unfettered by any of the institutions which were too firmly fixed in the Old World to be eradicated. To the continuance and increase of Slavery this failure is mainly attributable: and it is curious to observe the change that has taken place in the sentiments of a large section of English society, from a sanguine belief that true liberty was only to be found in America, to a higher appreciation of English freedom, a greater admiration of the sanctity and even-handedness of English laws, and a deepened attachment to our modified form of monarchical government."

A Section is introduced, apparently not much connected with the particular subject of the tract, on the Origin and Intellect of the Negroes. The object appears to be to refute a weak argument sometimes employed by the supporters of Slavery, which maintains the natural inferiority of the Negro to the White. The author states that the opi

nion of the most eminent modern physiologists is in favour of the unity of our species, and quotes Blumenbach, Dr. Prichard and M. Flourens, as holding this view. Though many, perhaps, will sympathize in his estimate of Phrenology, he adverts to the subject with more boldness than those would venture to do whose studies have not been particularly directed to physiological subjects. He says,

"The so-called science of modern Phrenology (mischievous because false, not false because mischievous), unsupported by Anatomy, and requiring centuries of observation upon millions of human beings to justify a tenth part of its present pretension to allot particular localities in the brain for the faculties of the mind, has tendered its unworthy and presumptuous services to aid the degradation of the despised and injured Negro. Until those who compose this class of beings have been placed in circumstances favourable to moral and intellectual culture, and the experiment of their improvement has been fairly tested, we are not warranted in the unqualified assertion of their inferiority to those who have hitherto been their oppressors. Numerous instances exist of individuals among them who have evinced eminent talent, and acquired much knowledge, under the greatest difficulties and discouragements."

The subjects of some of the foregoing Sections will be found more amply treated of in the very valuable tract upon American Slavery in the third volume of "Chambers's Miscellany.'

(To be concluded in the next No.)

MR. SHARPE ON ACTS xxviii. 11.

"And after three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was the Dioscuri" [or Children of Jove].

THE authors of the Latin Vulgate have, instead of a translation, here given us a commentary, and say the sign or figure-head of the ship was Castor and Pollux. In this they have been followed by most translators. But reasons may be given which make it improbable that Castor and Pollux were the Dioscuri here spoken of; and therefore it would be better to leave the words as we find them in the Greek, "Children of Jove." This title was occasionally given to all demi-gods and kings, though certainly more usually to Castor and Pollux.

When Alexander the Great lost his favourite Hephæstion, he made him a demi-god by permission of the high-priest of the Oasis of Ammon, and he ordered Cleomenes, the prefect of Egypt, to dedicate to him the new city and port of Alexandria. All contracts between merchants were to be invalid by law if not made in the name of Hephæstion; and as modern policies of insurance usually begin with the words, "In the name of God, Amen," so all contracts made in the Emporium or Exchange of Alexandria began with the words, "In the name of Hephaestion." But two reigns later, when the Pharos light-house was being completed by Ptolemy Philadelphus, Hephaestion was deprived of this honour, which the king then gave to his late father and mother, Ptolemy Soter and Berenice. The light-house was dedicated to them under the names of the gods Soteres, or the saviour gods, and they were made the patron deities of the port.

We have unfortunately no record remaining of what figure-heads were at this time carried by the Alexandrian ships, but it is probable they were first Hephæstion, and afterwards Ptolemy Soter and Berenice, the gods Soteres. Figure-heads were not always placed on ships according to the whim of the owner. Every Athenian ship bore the head of Minerva, every Samian ship a goat, and every Baotian ship bore Cadmus with a dragon in his hand. Hence it seems not improbable that the Alexandrian ship in which Paul sailed was under the protection of the gods Soteres, and bore their heads as its ornament; and without impropriety they may have been called the Dioscuri, or Children of Jove.

It is remarkable that it has escaped the notice of commentators that the historian Josephus most probably sailed with Paul on this voyage from Judea to Rome. Josephus was then twenty-six years of age; and when he wrote his own life, thirty years afterwards, he thus mentions the circumstance, here given in the words of Whiston's translation :

"At the time when Felix was procurator of Judea, there were certain priests of my acquaintance, and very excellent persons they were, whom on a small and trifling occasion he had put into bonds, and sent to Rome to plead their cause before Cæsar. These I was desirous to procure deliverance for; and that especially because I was informed that they were not unmindful of piety towards God, even under their afflictions, but supported themselves with figs and nuts [abstained from meat, fasting]. Accordingly I came to Rome, though it were through a great number of hazards by sea; for as our ship was drowned in the Adriatic Sea, we that were in it, being about six hundred in number, swam for our lives all the night, when upon the first appearance of the day, and upon our sight of a ship of Cyrene, I and some others, eighty in all, by God's providence, prevented the rest, and were taken up in the other ship; and when I had thus escaped and was come to Dicearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli, I became acquainted with Aliturius, an actor of plays, and much beloved by Nero, but a Jew by birth. Through his interest I became known to Poppea, Cæsar's wife."

The difference between the narrative in the Acts and this is not greater than would naturally occur when one author wrote at the time, and the other after an interval of thirty years. The number of persons differs, and the island on which they were wrecked is not mentioned by Josephus. But the two accounts agree in the time and cause of the voyage, the wreck in the Adriatic, the being saved, the arrival at Puteoli, being met there by some of the brethren, and thus introduced to the emperor's household. The ship of Alexandria might naturally be called a ship of Cyrene. The two ports were under one jurisdiction, and if the ship sailed from Alexandria, it only quitted the coast of Africa at Cyrene.

SAMUEL SHARPE.

EXTRACTS FROM MY JOURNAL.-SWITZERLAND.

No. VI.-LAKE LEMAN.*

As we passed by the rustic churchyard-gate, an inscription, well turned and touching, invited us to remember the poor-and alas for him who could visit such scenes without having his heart opened to all kind influences! The village itself presents nothing remarkable; one sees, however, from the number of hotels and pensions, that its rustic character has ceased to be what it was in the time of Rousseau, and that the malade and the ennuyé have at length penetrated this sanctuary of Nature, bringing with them, perhaps, the corrupting influences of the great world. Descending the hill on which the churchyard stands by another path, we soon entered upon the main road, and pushed on for Clarens, where we proposed to dine. The Fates would have it otherwise, however; for one of the neatest, cleanest inns I have long met with stood by the road-side, there can be no doubt, on purpose to invite us in; and the "Cygne," which curled his neck so proudly above the door, looked down upon us with so encouraging and patronizing an air, that we no longer hesitated to mount the snowy stairs. What a pretty scene of rural finery greeted us! There were real muslin curtains so snowy white-and chairs polished bright as any mirrors, forbidding us almost to use them-and an attempt at a sofa, which was covered up carefully as if to conceal its glories from vulgar eyes and a fly-trap of most elegant design suspended from the centre of the room, to the astonishment or terror of a numerous swarm who were buzzing around it—and, glory of glories! some half-dozen pictures, their frames covered up with muslin, and scattered here and there with proper economy, representing Tell shooting Gesler and his attempting not to shoot his son, all staring as hard at one another as Hamlet at the ghost of his father, and flourishing about like tragedy kings and queens flaming in robes of purple and crimson. Who can recount all the accumulated wonders of the Swan at Verney!-and yet I would not have had an article changed, so much in harmony was every thing with the character of the place and those around it. Now, if I wanted to enact Rousseau, and, disgusted with the world, were seeking for some spot where I might forget the past and indulge in dreams of impossible happiness and virtue, I know none that would be so favourable to my purpose as the little covered terrace on which the apartment I have just described opens. It hangs over the Lake; and as we sate there waiting the hasty meal we had ordered, my brother filling up his journal, and I musing, and the lads thinking less of the romance than of the every-day realities of the scene, I fell into that comfortable state of mind which makes us incredulous of sin, and happy and contented with every thing. And surely it was a marvellous scene of beauty which the landscape presented, heightened by those transient graces which come and go with the sunshine or the breeze. The trees and Lake and mountains were coloured with a thousand varying tints, and a glorious summer's sun was pouring down his beams, illuming and vivifying and warming all things. Myriads of created beings were

sailing and buzzing through the air, in Nature's own sweet harmony, or else sporting in the waters which were sleeping beneath our feet, only disturbed at intervals by some saucy gnat which, settling on their glassy surface with ever multiplying circlets, gave notice of their prey to the finny tribe beneath. On such a day and amidst such scenes might the Royal Psalmist have exclaimed, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Such was the sentiment which, at all events, found utterance in my own heart. More forcible than a thousand homilies was the scene I witnessed to my mind, and "faccia a terra," as the Italian says, I could have acknowledged and adored the Almighty Spirit glowing in the sunshine and embodied in all the substantial forms of beauty around me. Thoughts, however, even the most sacred must give place to others more material; and so it was with us, that from musings the most sublime we were compelled to descend to the discussion of our humble fare, served, however, with that neatness which makes a fast a feast, and by one of those pretty, neat-handed Phyllises who seem indigenous almost to Switzerland. In a few moments we once more set upon our travels, passing through Clarens, charmingly situated, sheltered by lofty hills covered with rich wood, and arriving shortly at Vevay. Now Vevay has a great name, but I confess I do not like it. It resembles a fashionable town in miniature. There are modistes from Paris, and tailors from Heaven knows where, and smart wine-shops with empty bottles labled with all the liquors and liqueurs of Christendom, and livery stables and landaus. Here barbers are professors, and every one, forgetful of his birth, is transformed into French or English. Lazy lackeys and coachmen and gentlemen's gentlemen are for ever lounging through the streets, whilst their masters are ruralizing in French polish boots at a very large, very comfortable, and very well-appointed hotel, it may be at the end of this ambitious, frog-in-the-fable-like village. There can be no possible objection, indeed, as far as I can see, to comfort and ease and luxury, in the abstract; but every thing in its right place; and as pleased or displeased should I be to see a Swiss chalet side by side with the Clarence, as a large West-end hotel in a little humble village on the banks of the Lake of Geneva. No, no; depend upon it that the thatched roof where the birds may build their nests in the spring, and wake you in the early morn with their matin hymn—and the white-washed front, all covered over with honeysuckles and jessamine-and the neat garden, with the trelliced harbour half concealed with flowers, are much more in character with Vevay than the great square fabric which now looks down upon the Lake with something like hauteur. Mais chacun a son gout. I have mine, and so had a friend I met at Kiel last year, near Strasburg-an Eisenbahn and a Dampschift station, as the German has it-plenty of noise and bustle there-of dust and heat and mosquitoes, too, an abundance-flat is it also as a Dutch province. "Where have you been all this summer?" said I, quite delighted at having unearthed my friend. "Oh! I brought my wife and daughters down to Kiel," said he, with a satisfied and well-polished face, which seemed to ask, Was it not a bright thought? "And pray how long have you been here?" "Six weeks," was the reply. Why what on earth could induce you to remain here?" was my honest, rather than prudent observation-"what beauty, what

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