But to the subsequent emanations of his prolific genius, whether in prose or verse, we have devoted our attention. It were superfluous to state, that we have derived from them a high intellectual gratification. It were needless to add the singular encomium, that repetition does not cloy, but that their beauties are ever fresh, like the charms and fragrance of a perpetual spring. All the world has long conspired to award this praise to Moore. But we proceed farther, and venture to declare our opinion, that they have been made auxiliary to the cause of virtue (!). That sense of honour, which, purified and refined by Christian principles, is but the sincerity enjoined by the apostle, ardour and fidelity in friendship, cheerful uncalculating love of his fellow creatures, courage in danger, uncompromising hatred of oppression, enthusiastic patriotism, and that towards a country which it is, everywhere, 'treason to love,' if not 'death to defend;' these, these are the idols of Moore's worship. The passion of love, the universal, but dangerous instrument of poetry, is not, indeed, handled by him as it would be in the sanctuary or the cloister, but to the man of the world it is made subservient to the interests of virtue (!). It is not with Moore the base indulgence of sensuality (!!); it is fidelity in virtuous engagements, it is constancy and purity in conjugal affection (!!!). If it be said that the poet occasionally, as in the matchless Lalla Rookh, offers an apology for fallen innocence, we answer at once, and boldly, that nothing can be more striking than his contrast between weakness and vice, of which the former is presented for our pity and our warning, and the other is held up to our execration.

"We are not ignorant that the Catholic advances another charge against the literary career of the poet, founded on the levity with which he occasionally treats the mysterious doctrines of revelation, and especially the characters of those great and holy persons whose exalted virtues claim the homage of the man, not less than of the Christian. We regret exceedingly that men indebted to their Creator for extraordinary mental endowments should so frequently be unmindful of the great author of these splendid gifts; and those, whom merit or accident has invested with power over the public mind, should so frequently exercise this power to strengthen the prejudice which the Protestant reader so generally entertains against the church of God. No man of modern times is more seriously obnoxious to this imputation than the late Sir Walter Scott. The merits, the mere literary merits of this much-be-praised writer appear to us to have been exceedingly overrated. A more slovenly writer, as to style, never rose to eminence, and no one seems ever to have possessed less of profound thought or originality of sentiment," &c.

In a very superficial age indeed! but really one has not patience to go on with this man's abuse of Sir Walter Scott, whom he denounces as a most immoral writer (having just lauded Mr. Moore's morality to the skies), and then abuses all the Romanists who have subscribed to the Abbotsford memorial. He then proceeds thus :-" If Mr. Moore has not altogether avoided the course which we have condemned, he certainly has indulged in it less than any one of the greater number of his contemporaries, and has occasionally suffered to escape him expressions vindicating the faith, as if to compensate for the sarcasms of a more thoughtless moment." Little or no comment is necessary. Let it only be observed and remembered by what base arts Romanists endeavour to make or to keep converts. If there is one living man who more than another has tended by his writings to encourage sensuality and licentiousness-who has represented vice under an alluring and specious aspect-who has broken down all the banners between vice and virtue-that man is Mr. Moore. Allow him all the praise which is fairly his due (and be it remembered that that is not the praise of being a great Poel), but remember his outrageous offences against virtue, beginning with his earliest publications, and consummated to the thinking mind in his last, the life of Lord Byron. Remember VOL. IV.-August, 1833.

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that this is all a matter not in dispute, but acknowledged by all decent people -and then remember that because such a man has now written a book in favour of Romanism, that the Catholic Magazine proclaims him--not a penitent-but the constant, unvarying friend of virtue. Even in Little's Poems he is a friend to virtue :' and in his other works he makes the passion of love'-'subservient to the interests of virtue.' This is too shameful, or rather too shameless.

IN a Petition of the Society of Friends to the House of Commons for the Abolition of Tithes, &c., the following passage occurs :

On this principle, we have always refused the payment of Tithes, and other ecclesiastical demands; and, at the same time, have offered no opposition to the distraint of our goods for these purposes. In the earlier periods of the society, its members were exposed to grievous sufferings and persecutions on this account. Not only were they despoiled of their property, in a vexatious and ruinous manner, but their persons were seized, and they were immured in dungeons, to the injury of their health, and, in many instances, even to the loss of their lives: and, although the laws which render us liable to suits in the ecclesiastical courts are now but seldom enforced, we still suffer considerable injury from the levying of distraints, and from the exactions with which they are often accompanied."

The Friends should be exact in their statements. Now one common practice among them is, not to allow distraint to the full value, but to have a tacit understanding with the clergyman to take a certain composition; and then, as the churchwardens distrain for church rates, they request that the whole sum may be distrained for together, in order to save the expenses of two distress warrants. Is this like submitting to religious persecution, or suffering for conscience' sake? Is it not rather ridiculous than anything else, as all half measures are?

TRANSLATION FROM AN ARABIC MANUSCRIPT,
BY THE LATE DR. NICOL.

[The work from which the following passages are translated was very highly valued by Bp. Heber.] THIS disputation was held in the presence of the prince, surnamed Melek Almoshammar, during the reign of Melek Al-Dhaher Gazi Ben Yusef Ibn Aioub, of the family of Salah, over the nation of Islem, in the city of Aleppo, who was lord of Antioch, and during the reign of Leo, the son of Stephen, king of the Armenians, in the 10th Indiction, which corresponds with the year of our father Adam, upon whom be peace, 6615. It is a circumstance well known that the abbot of the monastery of Simeon Albahri presented himself once before the sultan, the lord of Aleppo and the adjacent country, for the purpose of settling some business with him relating to that monastery. When he came into the presence of the sultan, together with the monks who accompanied him, the sultan received them in the most friendly manner, and gave orders that their business should immediately be settled, and requested them to sit down, in the meantime, in his brother's pavilion. Among the monks who accompanied the abbot, was a venerable personage, far advanced in years, of supereminent wisdom and most profound knowledge, whose hoary locks attracted the respect of all, and whose manners were so courteous and agreeable, that the eyes of all men were fixed upon him by a kind of charm. This man had been an inmate of the monastery from his early youth, and had rendered himself remarkable for his exemplary practice of all those virtues which peculiarly adorn, and are required in the monastic life; he had also been abbot of the monastery for a considerable number of years, until old age obliged him to resign that office. His name was Father George. As soon as he was presented to the prince, the brother of Melek Almoshammar, that prince treated him in the most honourable and respectful manner,

and had such pleasure in looking upon him, that he could scarcely withdraw his eyes from him; he then made him come near to himself, and sit down by him. When the abbot went back to the sultan, in order to settle his business finally, the prince took the old man by the hand, and began to converse with him, and to ask him concerning the monastery and the monks, concerning their mode of life, their conduct, and occupations. We shall here, then, commemorate some of the questions proposed to him by the prince :

Prince. O monk, do you eat flesh?

Old Man. No; in general, we do not.

Prince. Have you any intercourse with women?

Old Man. No; we fly from them, and never approach them.

Prince. But wherefore? Surely the supreme God created man, male and female; and surely he did not forbid the eating of flesh.

Old Man. We do not forbid marriage or the eating of flesh. But it is our study to aim at the attainment of a life resembling the divine and immaterial, and we endeavour to approach, as nearly as possible, to the pure immaterial essence of God by the spiritualization of the body. Iron, in proportion as it is brought near the fire, and is united to it by fusion, in the same proportion loses its dross and grosser parts; and according as water is pure and transparent, so is the light of the sun diffused through it; and you see that transparent bodies, in proportion to the fineness of their texture and transparency, admit the rays of the light to pass through them. But you likewise know, that the clouds ascending from the earth darken the sun, and obstruct his light; and, in like manner, O prince, the rational intellect, which contains part of the divine essence, is darkened by a life of sin and effeminacy; and, according to the degree of that darkness, we are removed from God; and according to our removal from God, we are enthralled by the pleasures of the body, and the love of the present life. We are not prohibited from the eating of flesh and intercourse with women only, but from all the pleasures of the body, and from all those things which are sources of pleasure to the five senses. Upon this ground, we hope for our portion of happiness with God in his paradise and everlasting kingdom; for Christ told us, "that we should not receive joy and gladness in the world to come, unless we endured sorrow and misery in this transitory world." On this account, we suffer misery in this perishable and fleeting world, in order that we may receive peace in the world which is imperishable and everlasting.

Prince. Your words, O monk, indicate what is right, and the genuine truth. But surely God hath graciously bestowed upon us all things, and allowed us the proper enjoyment of them?

Old Man. Yes; but your prophet, on the other hand, has given you a slack and easy rein, who has allowed you the unrestrained enjoyment of pleasures, and has promised you after this life a paradise, in which you will enjoy every kind of sensual pleasure, according to his words, "I will give you a river of milk, and a river of honey, and a river of wine, and black-eyed nymphs."

When the prince and the monk had proceeded thus far in their conversation, three learned moslims, whose robes exhaled the perfume of musk, arrived, and made the due salutations and invocations of felicity to them. The prince embraced them, returned their salutations, and made room for them to sit down. These, immediately regarding the monk with attention, began to address the prince in the Turkish language, and asked him whence the monk came, and what was the cause of his coming into his presence. The prince replied, "He belongs to the monastery of Simeon, and came to us on account of some business relating to the monastery, to be settled by the sultan, my brother, whom may God glorify! What think you," added the prince, "of his person and appearance?" One of them then, whose name was Abu-Dhaher, of Bagdad, said, “As my life is devoted to you, O prince, every thing in him is pleasing and becoming, and his countenance is agreeable. What a pity it is that he is a Christian!" Al-Moslim said, "As our Lord commands." He then would have commenced a conversation with him on the subject of religion.

Prince. Are you then resolved to dispute with him on the subject of religion? Then the one began to regard the other; and at length one of them, who was called Abu-Salamé Ibn Saad of Mosul, advanced forward and thus addressed the monk :"We reverence your Messiah, and we glorify his power, and we exalt his dignity above that of all prophets, except Mahommed, the prophet and apostle of God. But you Christians lower his dignity, and do not attribute to him the honour due to him, although the most high God honoured and dignified him, and sent down to him the

Koran, as a light and guidance and mercy from the Lord of worlds. And you Christians deny that he is the prophet of God; for which he will certainly bring you to account in the day of the resurrection and judgment.

Old Man. Know, Abu-Salamé, that every place has its meet language, and every question its proper answer. We did not come into your country for the purpose of entering into an argument about religion. We came in the character of supplicants; it would not, therefore, be proper for us to say anything to you, except that which would be agreeable to you, and would be well received. Besides, I know that vehemence is common among you, and a custom in which you glory, as one of your own writers has testified.

Abu-Salamé. We are respecters of faith and equity, and there is no one here who will say anything to you which is not consistent with propriety, if you yourself do not advance any falsehood instead of the truth.

The prince then turned round towards the monk, and said to him, “O monk, I am a believer in the Christianity professed by the Greeks, and you may answer what you please without fear." He then took a seal ring from his finger, and put it upon that of the monk.

Old Man. O Abu-Salamé, I shall not advance any falsehood instead of the truth, although the perversity of your nature may incline you to think what is true is false. With regard to your objection, that we do not honour Mahommed, nor admit that he is the apostle of the Most High, or a prophet, I shall give you a clear explanation and demonstration on this point.

Abu-Salamé. Yes, do so, if you are able; but no doubt you can, after due consideration.

Old Man. The truth shall be manifest, and deceit discovered. Do not you allow that God is the creator of all created things?

Abu-Salamé. Yes; God created every thing in heaven and in earth, by his word and command.

Old Man. Is there any world created by any other God?

Abu-Salamé. No; the universe was created by one God, the same whom we serve, and beside whom there is no God.

Old Man. Do you think that God wishes the salvation of the whole world, or only of a particular nation out of his whole creation, and gives to destruction all others? or, do you not allow that God is self-sufficient and beneficent? If you say that God does not wish the salvation of the whole world, then you reduce the supreme Creator to a character of poverty and parsimony, and make him like a certain man, who prepared a feast for a hundred men, and when another hundred came, he said, "Go away, I have no food for you;"--a sufficient indication of his poverty and parsimony.

Abu-Salamé. God is certainly not as you describe, and I admit and confess, that he is self-sufficient, beneficent, and kind, the Creator of all created beings, and is desirous of their salvation.

Old Man. If God wished the preservation of the whole world, Mahommed would necessarily have been sent as his apostle to the whole world. It is, moreover, necessary that he who declared his own mission, and said that he was the apostle of God, should have had with him some apostolic power, and some convincing proof, testifying that he was the apostle of God.

Abu-Salamé. What power, and what proof?

Old Man. Such as the apostles of Christ had.
Abu-Salamé. What were they?

Old Man. Three things-the performance of miracles, the power of speaking in all languages, and their preaching throughout the whole world; whereas the contraries of these three requisites are found in your prophet.

Abu-Salamé. Explain yourself.

Old Man. The three things practised by your prophets were the inspiration of terror by the sword, indulgence, and sophistical argument.

Here the monk turned towards the prince, and said to him, "O prince, may God uphold your power and glory! Supposing a person should in these times come to you, professing to be a messenger sent to you by the caliph, for any particular object, but have with him no letter from the caliph, nor seal, nor any token whatsoever, would you be assured that he was really the messenger of the caliph ?"

Prince. No; I should treat him as he deserved, and punish him properly.
Abu-Salame. But what is your argument and demonstration to prove that the

apostles of Christ possessed this power, and the several faculties of working miracles, speaking in all tongues, and preaching throughout the world?

Old Man. The proof is before you, and the demonstration is manifest before your eyes; for whether you go to the east, or travel to the farthest west, or turn to the Kiblah, or the north, you will there find the worship of the Messiah established; and there is no region of the world in which the Christian religion is not found to be professed. This is a clear proof that the apostles of Christ must have travelled through the whole earth, from country to country. We find likewise a proof that they must have been able to speak all languages, for nowhere is there found a nation, or language, or tongue, in which the worship of Christ is not celebrated. The prophet David foretold, many generations before the apostles, that they would speak in all tongues, saying, "their voice went out through the whole earth, and their speech pervaded the regions of the world." This is a plain proof that the apostles spoke all languages. Have you, Abu-Salamé, anything to object to these two arguments?

Abu-Salamé. This is quite evident-there is no doubt of it.

Old Man. It now remains for me to prove that they did not perform miracles and wonders by their own power, but by that which sent them. This appears from the submission made to their commands by barbarous nations, the difficulty of exhorting mankind, their preaching and inculcating doctrines with gentleness, not by menaces, the power of the sword, the conferring of riches, elegance of language, and the wisdom of this world; for they were men destitute of the wisdom of this world, devoid of the knowledge of books, the greater number of them having been fishermen and tent-makers. But the power which they received from Christ, who sent them, enriched them with the wisdom of this world, and of existing things; for when Christ sent them to preach through the whole world, he appeared to them after his resurrection, and came into the chamber where they were, although the door was shut; and first of all he gave them his salutation of peace (for they feared the Jews), then he breathed upon them, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, who will be your protection, by whose power ye shall raise the dead, cure diseases, be victorious over kings, put to silence the eloquent, and put an end to error; if ye forgive men their sins, they shall be forgiven them; and if ye retain their sins, they shall be retained; ye have received freely, give therefore freely."-He also said to them, "Carry with you neither staff, nor sack for provisions, nor clothes, nor shoes, nor brass in your purses." Tell me, now, what could be more severe than this poverty, and so vile a condition? If you think that their precepts and commands, or rather those of Christ the Lord, were light and easy, hear what those were-" To him who strikes you on the right cheek, turn your left; to him who wishes to take your coat, give also your cloak; to him who compels you to go a mile, go two; love your enemies; bless those that curse you; do good to them that hate you.' Say, who would have attended to such severe precepts, or attempted the performance of them, if the sight of miracles had not astonished all men, and convinced them of this truth? But if, O Moslim, you do not assent to the truth of these things, from the perverseness of your nature, and your mind is not sufficiently convinced, consider with yourself, and reflect upon the preaching of the apostles. They preached before eloquent and learned men, before kings and common men, saying, "Believe, O people, in God, who was born of a virgin, who ate and drank, who was beaten and received stripes, who was derided, and spit upon, and buffetted, who had a crown of thorns placed upon his head, who was crucified, who died, was buried, and rose again." No one listened to their words, but they called them liars, mocked, beat, and persecuted them. When they declared before the congregations of men wonderful things, every one who heard them disbelieved them. They said, "O people, bring to us the naked, the aged, the dead, and all that are afflicted with disease;" and the disciples said, "In the name of Christ of Nazareth, who the Jews crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, rise up, thou dead, and let the breath of life return to thee." Thus, also, the eyes of the blind were opened, the maimed were restored to soundness of body, and every kind of disease was cured. Mankind, therefore, were convinced of the truth of their words by their deeds, and believed in their God, and the doctrines they preached; their actions bore testimony to their words, manifesting the truth of their religion; and the heavens, the earth, angels and men, kings and common men, the learned and the ignorant, have borne testimony that the apostles were the messengers and ministers of God, and that their religion is the religion of truth. Even your prophet, Mahommed, testifies the truth of their words and their gospel,