sufficient depth and substance to offer a resting-place to some enterprising fisherman. Montgomery, in his poem of the Pelican Island, gives the following beautiful description of the formation of one of these islands. I MARK'D a whirlpool in perpetual play, Compress'd like wedges, radiated like stars, Millions of millions thus, from age to age, To swell the heightening, brightening, gradual mound, Still dying upwards as their labours closed: * * * * * **** * A point at first, That speck became a handbreadth; day and night Nine times the age of man that coral-reef THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH. BY THE HON. G. TUCKER, OF VIRGINIA. DAYS of my youth! ye have glided away; TAXES. PART I. WE read in Scripture (Nehemiah iv. 17), that when the Jews returned from the captivity, and began to rebuild the walls of their city, they were so beset by enemies that they were forced to be constantly armed and on their guard; and, for fear of a sudden attack, each man worked with one hand only, and the other hand held a weapon ready. In this way it would take at least two men to do the work of one. But the danger they were in, obliged them to put up with this inconvenience. Many countries in the East are at this day nearly in the same condition. They are so infested by robbers, chiefly Arabs, always roaming about in search of plunder, that no man can hope to escape being robbed, unless he is well armed, and on his guard. Travellers tell us, that when a husbandman goes to sow his fields, he takes with him a companion with a sword or spear, to protect him from being robbed of his seed-corn. This must make the cultivation of the ground very costly; because the work which might be done by one man, requires two; one to labour, and the other to fight. And both must have a share of the crop which would otherwise belong to one. And after all, the protection of property must be very imperfect. For you may suppose the robbers will often come in such force, as to overpower the defenders, and plunder the industrious of all the fruits of their labours. Accordingly, in these countries, there is very little land cultivated. Most of it lies waste; the inhabitants are few; not one twentieth of what the land could maintain; and these few are miserably poor. And all this is owing to the insecurity of property. And the same is the case in all Countries where the people are savages or nearly savages. Most of the time, and labour, and care of a savage, is taken up in providing for his defence. He is occupied in providing arms for his protection, against those whom he is able to fight; or in seeking hiding-places from those who are too strong for him. In the islands of New Zealand, several families are obliged to join together, and build their little cabins on the top of a steep rock, which they fence round with a trench and sharp stakes, to protect them against their neighbours of the next village. And after all, they are often taken by surprise, or overpowered. In such countries as that, there are a hundred times as many people killed every year, in proportion to their numbers, as in any part of Europe. It is true that there is not so much property lost; because there is very little to lose. For people must be always exceedingly poor in such countries. In the first place, above half their time and labour is taken up in providing for their safety; and in the next place, this is so imperfectly done after all, that they can never be secure of the fruits of their industry. The remedy for this miserable state of things is to be found in settled Government. The office of a Government is to afford protection; that is, to secure the persons and property of the people from violence and fraud. For this purpose it provides ships of war, and bodies of soldiers, to guard against foreign enemies, and against pirates, bands of robbers, or rebels; and also provides watchmen, constables, and other officers, to apprehend criminals; judges and courts of justice for trials; and prisons for confining offenders; and, in short, every thing that is necessary for the peace and security of the people. The expenses of the army and navy, and of every thing that Government provides, are paid by the People; and it is but fair that we should pay for all these things, since they are for our benefit. We pay | There is one great difference between this exchange Taxes and Government-Duties for these purposes. Taxes are the price people pay for being governed and protected. They correspond to the hire which the husbandman, in eastern countries, must pay to his companion who carries the spear or sword, to guard him from robbers. Some people do not understand this, or do not recollect it. Many are apt to think Taxes quite a different kind of expense from all others; and either do not know, or else forget, that they receive any thing in exchange for the Taxes. But, in reality, this payment is as much an exchange as any other. You pay money to the baker and butcher for feeding you, and to the tailor for clothing you; and you pay the King and Parliament for protecting you from being plundered, murdered, or cheated. Were it not for this, you could be employed scarcely half your time in providing food and clothing, and the other half would be taken up in guarding against being robbed of them; or in working for some other man whom you would hire to keep watch and to fight for you. This would cost you much more than you pay in Taxes; and yet you may see, by the example of savage nations, how very imperfect that protection would be. Even the very worst Government that ever was, is both much better and much cheaper than no Government at all. Some of the Roman emperors were most detestable tyrants, who plundered and murdered great numbers of innocent men: yet even under their reigns there were not so many of their subjects (in proportion to their numbers) plundered or murdered, in ten years, as there are among the New Zealanders, and other savage tribes, in one year. PART II. You understand, now, that taxes are the hire or price paid to Government, in exchange for protection; just as any other payment is made in exchange for any thing we want. : There is, however, one important difference: that other payments are left to each man's choice; but every one is obliged to pay the Taxes. If I do not choose to buy shoes of a shoemaker, but to make shoes for myself at home, or to go without them, I am at liberty to do so: and the same with other such payments. But it is not so with the payments to Government. If any one should say, "I choose to protect my own person and property myself, without any assistance from soldiers, or sailors, or constables, or judges, and therefore I will not pay Taxes;" the answer would be: Then go and live by yourself, in the wilds of America, or in some such Country; or join some tribe of wild Indians, and live as they do But, while you live with us, in a Country which has a Government, you cannot, even if you wish it, avoid partaking of the protection of government. The fleets and armies, which keep off the foreign enemies from plundering the Country, are a defence to you, as well as to us; you are protected, as well as we, by the laws and officers of justice, from the thieves and murderers, who would otherwise be let loose on society. Since, therefore, the Government must, whether it will or no, afford you a share of its protection, it is fair that you should be obliged, whether you will or no, to pay your share of its expenses. But if you are so foolish as not to like this bargain, you must leave the Country, and go and live some where else in the wilderness." It is quite fair, then, that as long as a man lives in any Country, he should be obliged to submit to the Government, and to pay the Taxes: and how much each shall pay is determined by the Government. and all others; when you hire a man to work for you, you make your own bargain with him; and if you and he cannot agree as to the rate of payment, you will employ some one else instead. But the Government of any country, whether it be a King, or a President, or a Senate, or Parliament, or, in short, whatever kind of Government it is, must always have power to make all the People submit; since otherwise, it could not perform the office of protecting them. It is not left to each person's choice, therefore, how much he shall pay for this protection; but Government fixes the Taxes, and enforces payment of them. Many governments have made a bad use of this power, and have forced their subjects to pay much more than the reasonable expenses of protecting and governing the country. In some Countries, and in this among others, the people are secured against this kind of ill-usage by choosing their own governors; that is, the Members of Parliament, without whom no laws can be made, or Taxes laid on. It is very right to require that the public money should not be wastefully spent, and that we should not be called on to pay more than is necessary. But many persons are not so thankful as they ought to be for the benefit which they enjoy, in living under the protection of a Government, because they do not know, or do not consider, the wretched condition of those who are without any regular Government. Of all the commodities we pay for, there is none so cheap, compared with what it would cost us to provide ourselves with it, as the protection which is afforded us by Government. If we all made clothes and shoes for ourselves, instead of buying them of the tailor and shoemaker, our clothes and shoes would indeed be much worse than they are, and would cost us much more. But we should be far worse off still, if each of us had to provide by himself for the defence of his own person and property. Such protection as he would be thus able to obtain, would cost a great deal and be worth very little. PART III. MUCH the greatest part, however, of the Taxes that are paid, goes to the expenses, not of the present year, but of past years; that is, to pay the interest on the National Debt. During our long and costly wars, much more was spent in each year than could be raised by taxes. Government, therefore, borrowed money of rich merchants and others, engaging to pay interest on this till it should be repaid, which most of it has not been, and perhaps never will be. The lenders, therefore, received, in exchange for their money, annuities; that is, a right to receive so much a year out of the Taxes raised by Government; and these annuities, which we call Government-Securities, or property in the Funds, may be sold by one person to another, or divided among several others, just like any other property. When a poor man has saved up a little money, he generally puts it into the Funds, as it is called, or deposits it in a Savings Bank, which does this for him; he is then one of the Government Creditors, and receives his share of the Taxes. You see, therefore, that if the National Debt were abolished by law, without payment, many, even of the labouring classes, would lose their all; and the English nation would not be relieved of the burden; since it would be only robbing one set of Englishmen for the benefit of another set. We may be sorry that so much money was formerly spent or gunpowder, which was fired off, and on soldiers' coats and ships, which were worn out; but nothing we can now do can recall this, any more than last year's snow. The expense is over and past, and the Taxes raised to pay the interest of the money borrowed, are not so much lost to the Country, but only so much shifted from one to another. All of us contribute to pay this in Taxes: and all government creditors, that is all who have money in the Funds, or the Savings' Banks, receive their share of it, as a just debt. Thus the Taxes find their way back into many a poor man's cottage who never suspects it. I have said that the far greater part of Taxes are raised for this purpose; that is, for paying the interest of the National Debt. The following calculation will make this clear to you; every twenty shillings paid in Taxes, are disposed of in about these proportions: -- 1509 Henry VII., King of England, first sovereign of the House of Tudor, died at Richmond, in Surrey, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and twenty-fourth of his reign. He acquired the crown by the battle of Bosworth, fought on the 22nd of August, 1465, in which Richard III. was killed; but strengthened his title to it by marrying the heiress of the House of York. 1663 The Royal Society of London first incorporated by charter. 1676 De Ruyter, the celebrated Dutch admiral, slain in a naval action with the combined French and Spanish Fleet off the coast of Sicily. 1715 A total Eclipse of the Sun, visible in London about nine o'clock in the morning. For the space of more than three minutes, the darkness was so complete, that the stars appeared, while the birds and animals were in a state of evident aların and trepidation. 2794 M. de Malesherbes, a celebrated advocate and man of letters, who had recently distinguished himself by his eloquent defence of Louis XVI., was guillotined in Paris. 1814 Louis XVIII. held a Court in London, previous to his departure for France, to the throne of which country the triumphs of the allies had restored him. TUESDAY, 23rd. ST. GEORGE'S DAY.-St. George is the Patron Saint of England, and has been considered as such, according to some authors, ever since the early Norman reigns, while others assert that King Edward III. first invoked his protection at the battle of Calais in 1349. So many ridiculous legends, and incredible stories, have been handed down relative to this Saint, that his very existence has not only been doubted, but even wholly denied by several modern writers. Divested of all this extraneous matter, however, the ancient and well-authenticated history of St. George of Cappadocia, called by the Greeks the Great Martyr, appears to be, that he was born of respectable, though not wealthy, Christian parents; that he afterwards acquired a large estate in Palestine, and entered into the service of Dioclesian the Tyrant, who, in ignorance of his being a Christian, gave him the command of a legion, and a seat in council. On the breaking out of a persecution against the Christians, St. George quitted the emperor's service, and openly distributed his whole fortune in their support and assistance. Dioclesian would have recalled him, but finding that neither offers of aggrandizement, or the threats of death, could move him to abandon his faith, at length, after putting him several times to the torture, caused him to be ignominiously dragged through the streets of the city of Lydda, and, finally, beheaded on the 23rd of April, 290.-St. George is also the Patron of the most NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER, the most ancient and most distinguished of the British Orders of Knighthood, which was founded by King Edward III. in 1349. All the installations and festivals of the Order are held on this day, on which also his late Majesty, King George IV. kept the annual celebration of his own birth-day. 1616 William Shakespeare was born 1564, and died 1616. On the same day died Michael Cervantes, the celebrated 1795 Warren Hastings, Esq., late Governor-General of Bengal, acquitted by the House of Lords of the high crimes and misdemeanours charged against him. The East India Company immediately settled a pension of £5000 per annum on him. 1796 The Dutch Colony of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, taken. We still retain it. 1823 Died J. Nollekens, the celebrated sculptor. -- A. Arrowsmith, an eminent geographer, famed as a constructor of maps and charts throughout Europe and America, died, WEDNESDAY, 24th. 1625 Died Maurice de Nassau, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder, son of William de Nassau, the first Stadtholder of the United Provinces. 1731 Died Daniel Defoe, a voluminous writer, but best remembered THURSDAY, 25th. as the author of Robinson Crusoe. ST. MARK THE EVANGELIST.-This day is kept as a festival in the Reformed Church; in that of Rome is considered a fast, or day of abstinence.-St. Mark was of Jewish parentage, of the tribe of Saviour usually assembled. He seems to have been first brought to Levi; and it was at the house of his mother that the disciples of our the knowledge of divine truth by the Apostle Peter, who calls him "Marcus, my son;" and it was probably from the discourse of St. Paul that he compiled the book called the Gospel according to St. Mark. Having achieved this most important task, he is said to have quitted Rome and proceeded to Egypt, where his preaching converted multitudes, and he established a bishopric at Alexandria. That done, he extended his labours westward, until about the year 61, when he returned to superintend the church he had founded at Alexandria; here he remained undisturbed until the year 68, when, on the 25th of April, the heathen burst into the church while he was preaching, and, tying his legs together, dragged him through the streets and stony places till the flesh was torn from his body, and he expired in the most excruciating agony. St. Mark is generally represented with a pen in his hand, in the act of writing his Gospel, and a winged lion couchant at his feet. 1595 Died, at Rome, the epic poet of Italy, Torquato Tasso, a the fifty-first year of his age. His Jerusalem Delivered has been translated several times into every European language; and the united suffrages of the continental nations, who know not Milton, assign to it the next place after Homer and Virgil. 1800 Died, at Dereham, in Norfolk, the amiable William Cowper, author of the Task and other poems, which are in the hands of every one, and whose universal popularity is evident proof of their high merit. His life was spent in the practice of every virtue, and his faith was fixed on the Rock of ages; yet a large portion of his existence was overshadowed by the darkest clouds of morbid melancholy and despair, even, more than once, to the temporary overpowering of his reason. 1521 1716 FRIDAY, 26th. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator, in the service of the Emperor Charles V., was slain in an action with the natives of Matan, one of the Phillippine islands. He had been sent on an expedition to expel the Portuguese from the Moluccas; and instead of proceeding by the Cape of Good Hope, the usual passage, took a westerly course, discovered and sailed through the straits connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, which still bear his name; and had he lived to reach Europe, would have been the first captain who had circumnavigated the globe. As it was, his vessel, which returned to Seville, September 7, 1522, was the first ship by which that voyage had been performed. Died, the celebrated Lord Somers, Lord High Chancellor of England. He was one of the counsel for the seven accused Bishops, and actively engaged in bringing about the Revolution of 1688. SATURDAY, 27th. 1785 Prince Leopold of Brunswick was drowned in a desperate, but unavailing, attempt to succour the inhabitants of a village which was overflowed, and in danger of being swept away, by the River Oder. 1794 1794 Died, at the early age of forty-eight, Sir William Jones, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Caicutta; a man whose uncommon acquisitions in learning were equalled only by the unfeigned devoutness of his heart. As an oriental scholar he perhaps exceeded any competitor of his own or any other age. This study confirmed strongly the faith of Sir William Jones, and supplied him with new weapons for the defence of Revealed Religion. (See Saturday Magazine, vol. i., p. 70.) Died, at his house in Scotland, aged sixty-four, the celebrated traveller, James Bruce, who resided some years in Abyssinia, and succeeded in visiting one of the sources of the Nile. When his travels were first published, their veracity was severely called in question, but subsequent travellers have confirmed most of the material facts. SUNDAY, 28th. THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. 1434 Geoffry Chaucer, the father of English poetry, died. He was buried in the church of St. Saviour's, or St. Mary Overy, at the foot of London Bridge. 1789 The mutiny broke out on board the Bounty, when Captain Bligh, and nineteen other persons, were forced into a small boat, and turned adrift in the midst of the Pacific Ocean. In the month of June they succeeded in reaching the little Island of Timor, after a voyage of 1200 leagues. 1825 The Baron Denon, celebrated for his works on the antiquities of Egypt, died. LONDON: PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE, BY JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. Hawkers and Dealers in Periodical Publications supplied on wholesale terms by ORR, Paternoster-row; BERGER, Holywell-street. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. THE LAGO MAGGIORE, AND STATUE OF SAN CARLO BORROMEO. THE City of Milan has had, in its time, two most This eminent prelate was born at the Castle of Arona, in 1538, of a noble family, and was made Archbishop of Milan when but two and twenty years old. He made so good use of a short life, by his works of munificence and charity, that his countrymen still bless his memory. During the time in which the plague raged at Milan, he never ceased to go about amidst the thickest of the contagion, comforting the afflicted, tending the sick, and administering the Sacrament to the dying. Borromèo was a man of great learning and humility: he died in 1584, at the age of forty-six, and was canonized, or sainted, by the Pope, in the year 1610. His body is deposited in a Chapel under the Cathedral of Milan, which is hung with crimson, and adorned with rich silver work. The worldly pomp and vanity, which he rejected and despised when living, have been profusely heaped on his unburied remains, which are still exhibited in a crystal coffin, and are covered with gaudy trinkets and jewels ;-a strange and offensive contrast to his humble and holy life, and a melancholy instance of superstition. VOL. II. After his death, a colossal statue of San Carlo Borromèo, which is here represented, was erected as a monument of the public gratitude. This statue is of bronze, 72 feet in height, on a marble pedestal of 38 feet. It stands on the border of the Lago Maggiore, the largest, and by some thought to be the most beautiful of the Italian lakes, and is placed on the summit of a hill, overlooking his native town of Arona. The noble example thus set by this great and good man, was afterwards well followed by another Archbishop of his name and family, Federigo Borromèo, in the great plague which visited Milan in the year 1630. Among the many visitations of the Plague, few have been more fatal, and none more instructive, than this last; of which Manzoni has collected some interesting details. The pestilence had been committing great havoc in other parts of Italy for some time previous to its appearance in Milan; but, notwithstanding this warning, the Milanese were taken by surprise, and were almost unprepared for its approach. The chief physician of the city, Settala, was old enough to remember the terrible visitation which it had experienced fifty years before. therefore, anxious to provide against a similar visitation, and exhorted them, but in vain, to take the necessary precautions. After having made its appearance in several places, at the distance of only twenty miles, and still without any efficient measures being taken to prevent infection, it was at length He was, 52 brought into Milan by means of the clothes of a | man who had died of the disease. A few persons only were seized at first, and the precautions which were taken seemed to have prevented it for a little while from spreading. Cases occurred, from time to time, in different parts of the city, but these were pronounced by the inexperienced and the sceptical to belong to other diseases. The two principal physicians, who foresaw the terrible calamity which was approaching, were even hooted and pelted by the mob, for asserting them to be real cases of plague. At length it broke out, in the month of March, with considerable violence; and though the people and some of the physicians still refused to call it the plague, the board of health and the magistrates took measures to put the lazaretto, or plague hospital, under better regulations; and as the number of sick was fast increasing, they augmented the establishment. They placed at the head of it two Capuchin friars, Felice Casati and Michele Pozzobonelli, whose conduct under the trying circumstances which followed was truly Christian and heroic. Father Felice was invested with supreme authority over the whole. The place was in great disorder, and as the disease advanced in its the difficulty of managing both the lazaretto and the whole city became very great. The symptoms of the plague became too notorious to be concealed, Spasms and lethargy, with the usual appearance of livid spots and buboes, marked out the victims, and the lazaretto was soon crowded with multitudes of wretched inmates, all sick, and most of them dying of the pestilence. progress, In the midst of this scene of horrors, Father Felice went his rounds day and night, clad in sackcloth, and carrying a staff. A number of other monks volunteered to assist him, who not merely discharged their spiritual functions, but superintended the nurses, and even nursed the patients themselves. Most of these pious men perished in this service, but they left behind them a noble example of zeal and selfdevotion which was not lost upon their city. Father Felice himself took the infection, but soon recovered, and resumed his labours with fresh zeal. He exhorted and comforted the sick, encouraged the attendants, punished offenders, and ruled them all with great prudence and skill. Tadino, the historian of this pestilence, says, that had it not been for the wonderful exertions of these monks, the whole population might have been exterminated. The alarm soon became great, and the superstitions of the multitude added very much to the panic. They imagined that the infection was spread by the agency of poisoning and witchcraft. Reports went abroad that persons had been seen in the cathedral, anointing the seats and partitions with poisonous ointment; and the fear which this created, was augmented by the fact, that, on the following morning, it was discovered that many of the houses had been daubed by some mischievous persons, with yellow stripes on the doors during the night. The city was now in an uproar. Foreigners were the persons most suspected, and many of them were dragged to prison by the credulous and furious populace. Some thought it was done by agents of Cardinal Richelieu; others laid it to revenge on the part of Gonzalo de Cordova, surnamed the Great Captain, because he had been insulted by the people; but nobody could be fixed upon with certainty, and at length the tumult sub sided. The unhappy city soon began to feel the danger of those other evils which are generally found in the train of plague and pestilence, namely famine; and, | afterwards, as the distress increased, the popular superstition took another turn. They entreated the archbishop to order a solemn procession, in which the body of San Carlo should be carried through the city. For some time he refused, doubting, as well he might, the efficacy of such a remedy, and fearing the result of such a general concourse; but, at last, the temper of the people became so alarming, that he found it prudent to yield; for their suspicion of the anointing and witchcraft had broken out afresh, and many persons had been ill-treated and imprisoned as anointers. One old man, of more than eighty, was dragged to the torture merely because he had been seen brushing one of the seats in a church with his cloak. The wishes of the multitude were, therefore, complied with. The body of San Carlo was brought forth under a magnificent canopy, preceded by a number of women, barefooted and in sackcloth, the trades and companies of the city, and a numerous train of monks and clergy, bearing lighted tapers, and followed by the archbishop and the nobles. After passing through every part of the city, and offering up prayers, the procession returned to the cathedral. The confidence of the people as to the success of this superstitious ceremony was unbounded, but on the morrow the archbishop's fears were verified; the pestilence broke out with still greater fury in every part of the city; yet, so infatuated were the people, that, though they could not deny that the increase had been owing to the procession, they laid it to the charge of the anointers, who had, as they thought, taken advantage of the crowd, to pursue their wicked designs, by strewing the way with poisoned powders. Such is popular credulity and superstition! and to such a pitch of infatuation was this carried, that, at length, even friends and relations became suspicious and distrustful of each other, and all the bonds of society seemed to be giving way, and in danger of being broken asunder. In a few days after the procession, the number in the lazaretto increased from 2,000 to 12,000, and at length it reached to 16,000. The deaths, according to Tadino, amounted on some days to 3,500; and the scenes of misery and horror, to which this dreadful mortality gave rise, were beyond description. One instance may be given. A great number of infants, whose mothers had died of the plague, were left to perish in the streets, no one being able to take care of them. The sick were often abandoned to their fate, without even an attempt to save them, for though a new lazaretto was formed, capable of holding 4000 persons, even that was not sufficient; and, besides this, the medical attendants died in such numbers, that large rewards would hardly induce others to take their place, and the city authorities became at length unable to find means for burying the dead. The Board of Health, in despair, applied to the heroic Monks who managed the lazaretto; when father Michael, the second in command, undertook in four days to clear the city of dead bodies. This he accomplished by inducing the peasantry to dig large trenches outside the city, and making the monatti, or bearers, collect the corpses from the streets and houses and bury them. These monatti were a terrible accompaniment to the miseries of the plague. It was only among the most reckless persons, that men could be found to undertake this dreadful office; and, as might be expected, they took advantage of the confusion, to plunder the helpless families which were infected, and were guilty of all manner of cruelty and oppression. They were in league with thieves and murderers, and it is said that they endeavoured to |