ed, and in equilibrio, for about twelve minutes; at that time it is called low water.

Q. What is the cause of thefe wonderful appearances?

A. We are told that Aristotle despairing to discover the true cause that produced them, had the folly, in spite of his philosophy, to throw himself headlong into the sea. According to Newton they are occasioned by the attraction of the moon; for the waters immediately underneath the moon, will be attracted up in a heap, whilst the waters on the opposite side of the earth. being but feebly attracted, will be very light; if they be very light they will also rise, and all the neighboring waters flowing into that place, they will swell into an heap, or mountain of waters, pointing to the opposite part of the heavens. Thus does the moon in once going round the earth in twenty-four hours produce two tides or swells, and consequently as many ebbs.

These tides must flow from east to west, for they must necessarily follow the moon's motion, which is from east to west.

OF METAPHYSICS.

Q. What is meant by metaphysics? A. A science more sublime than physics. Q. What is the difference of these two sciences ?

A. Physics treat of natural things, and judges of them from experience.

Metaphysics is applied only to the contemplation of God, angels and spiritual things, and judges of them only by abstraction, and independent of material things. LESSON VI.

LESSON VI

JURISPRUDENCE.

WHAT is jurisprudence?

A. The science of what is just and unjust; or the knowledge of the laws, rights, customs, ordinances, &c. necessary for the administration of justice.

Q. Whence is the word jurisprudence derived? A. It is compounded of the Latin words jus, right, and prudentia, knowledge or skill. Q. How are laws distinguished?

A. Into the law of nature, the law of nations, and civil law.

Q. What is the law of nature ?

A. That which nature and reason have taught mankind; as the power it gives to parents over their children.

Q. In what consists the law of nations?

A. In certain customs allowed of by all civilized nations against violating hospitality, or incroaching upon the privileges of ambassadors, &c. sent by one prince to another.

Q. What is civil law?

A. The peculiar law of every nation, ordained to provide for the public utility and the necessities of the people considered as a body corporate. When this respects a city or borough, which enjoys particular privileges, it is called municipal law. Q. Specify the several kinds of law now used in England?

A. They are, first, the civil law, before mentioned; 2d, common law, containing a summary of all the laws, rights, and privileges, in what is. called Magna Charta, or the great charter of En

glish rights; 3d, statute law, consisting of statutes, acts, and ordinances of the king and parliament; 4th, canon law, a collection of constitutions, decisions, and maxims, for the rule and measure of church government; 5th martial law, used in all military and maritime affairs; 6th, forest law, which relates to the regulation of forests and the chase; to these may be added, 7th, the law of custom, which is remarkable in some parts of England.

Q. Specify the several kinds of laws now in use in the United States.

A. The laws by which the United States are governed, are,

1st. The civil law before mentioned.

2d. Common law containing a summary of all the laws of England, and which are regarded as precedents in our courts of Judicature, where the statute law does not supercede.

3d. Statute law consists of acts passed either by Congress, and which are the same in all the States, or by the Legislatures of the several States, and which affect only the State in which they are made.

LESSON VII.

OF GOVERNMENT.

WHAT is the object of Government ? A. The object of government is, or ought to be, the protection of the lives, properties, rights and privileges of the people collectively and individually. Q. How

Q. How many kinds of national are there?

kinds of national government

A. Four; monarchical, aristocratical, demo cratical, or republican, and mixt.

Q. What is a monarchical government? A. Monarchical government is when the supreme authority is in the hands of one person, who is styled a sovereign, emperor, monarch, king, prince, &c. Of these, some are absolute or despotic in their authority, i. e. they have no rule for their conduct, but their own will, and are therefore absolute masters of the lives and pro perties of their subjects: others are limited, having their powers strictly defined and restrained by the laws.

Q. What is an aristocratical government ?`

A. It is that wherein the nobles or great men of a nation exercise the supreme authority with. out the suffrages of the people. If their num bers be small, it is called an oligarchy.

Q. What is a democratical or republican gov ernment?

A. It is that wherein the people have the sov. ereign authority in their own hands; whence it is delegated, for a given time, to those whom: they may choose to appoint as their representa. tives in congress, parliament, &c. This govern. ment, wherein all men by wisdom and patriot ism, may equally aspire to posts of honor and trust among their fellow citizens, as they may aspire to Heaven, by the practice of virtue and piety, is the only true, free, and republican gov

ernment.

Q. What is to be understood by a mixt gov ernment?

A. It is that wherein any two, or all of the preceding forms are blended; as in Great Britain, where the government is a compound of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy.

The country under a monarch, emperor,king, prince, duke, &c. is called an empire, kingdom, principality, dukedom, &c. but that under an aristocracy or democracy, particularly the latter, is termed a state, republic or commonwealth.

Q. What appears to have been the earliest form of government among men ?

A. Patriarchal: A kind of government in which the chief magistrate or ruler sustained the character of father of his people.

Q. Into how many branches or departments is government divided?

A. Three; the Legislative, whose business is to make the laws; the Executive, by whom the laws are carried into effect, obedience enforced, or transgression punished; the Judiciary, whose right it is to interpret the laws, determine con-troversies between man and man, and pronounce man,and sentence. of penalty or punishinent.

The fundamental laws of a country or state. which secure the rights of the people, and regulate the conduct of their rulers, are termed its constitution.

OF POLITICS.

Q. What are politics?

A. The science of government.

Q. What is necessary to the forming of an able politician?

A. An accurate knowledge of the whole condition of our own and of foreign countries with regard