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An elegiac Ode on the ever-to-be-lamented death of Lord Viscount NELSON, who fell, on the day of victory, by a shot. translation.

Britannia's Lamentation.

Instead of the voice of triumph for a victory, which God hath this day wrought, and there hath never yet been any like it, why do I hear a great mourning?

* See Isai. xxiii. 1; Ezek. xxvii. 7.

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קינה הבריטאניא : מקול תרועה על תשועה אשר האל היום עשה ולא כמהו עוד נהיתה למה מספר גדול אשמע :

+ See Isai. xxxiii. 23.

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It was during the Crusades that the custom of using coats of arms was first intro

duced into Europe. The knights, cased up in armour, had no way to make themselves be known and distinguished in battle but by the ensigns on their shields; and these were gradually adopted by their posterity and families, who were proud of the pious and military exploits of their ancestors. Hume's Hist. vol. ii. p. 38.

We are to reflect, that, before an alphabet was invented, and what we call literary writing was formed into an art, men had no way to record their conceptions, or to convey them to others at a distance, but by setting down the figures and shapes of such things as were the objects of their contemplation. Hence the way of writing in picture was as universal, and almost as early, as the way of speaking in metaphor, and from the same reason, the necessity of the thing. In process of time, and through many successive improvements, this rude and simple mode of picture-writing was succeeded by that of symbols, or was enlarged at least and enriched by it. By symbols I mean certain representative marks, rather than express pictures; or, if pictures, such as were at the same time characters; and, besides presenting to the eye the resemQ2

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blance of a particular object, suggested a general idea to the mind. As when a horn was made to denote strength, an eye and sceptre, majesty; and in numberless such instances, where the picture was not drawn to express merely the thing itself, but something else which was, or was conceived to be, analogous to it. This more complex and ingenious form of picture-writing was much practised by the Egyptians, and is that which we know by the name of hieroglyphics. Hurd's Serm. p. 288. And the Israelites especially, who had their breeding in that country, at the time when the hieroglyphic learning was at its height, carried this treasure with them, among their other spoils, into the land of Canaan. And, though it be credible that their great lawgiver interdicted the use of hieroglyphic characters, yet the ideas of them were deeply imprinted on their minds, and came out, on every occasion, in those symbols and emblems with which, under the names of riddles, parables, and dark sayings, their writings are so curiously variegated and embossed. Idem, p. 291. See Hieroglyphics, Letters, and Writing.

If he, i. e. James the first, has composed a commentary on the Revelations, and proved the pope to be ANTICHRIST, may not a similar reproach be extended to the famous Napier, and even to Newton, at a time when learning was much more advanced than during the reign of James? From the grossness of its superstitions we may infer the ignorance of an age, but never should pronounce concerning the folly of an individual from his admitting popular errors, consécrated by the appearance of religion. Hume's Hist. vol. vi. p. 196.

Hume, by this observation, would insinuate the absurdity of this doctrine, that the pope is antichrist; and gets out of his way as an historian to shew himself a divine, or rather to discredit revelation.

By the law of Moses, death was the punishment of ADULTERY, and restitution with a fine was the punishment of theft. But in Christian nations, I know not how and wherefore, this rule is inverted, and it is safer to commit adultery than to steal, though surely it ought not to be so. - The seventh commandment is of the utmost consequence to the peace of families and to the welfare of society, and forbids an iniquity most odious in the sight of God; an offence which all human laws condemn, but which they do not always punish as strictly as it deserves. Jortin's Sermons, vol. v. p. 161, 162.

Domitianus Cæsar salubri constitutione, probrosis fœminis, quæ macharentur, jus capiendi hæreditates legataque ademit, neve lecticis vectarentur, inhibuit." Alex. ab Alex. lib. vi. c. 15.

Oliver Cromwell, agreeably to the Mosaic law, punished adultery with death; and, if it was necessary to make sheep-stealing a capital crime from the frequency of it, does not adultery, for the same reason, deserve the same punishment?

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