Xan. Hence, villains! tempt me not. Eac. Ha! would'st thou then resist? What ho! within there! Ditylas!-Sceblias !-Pardocas !—What ho! Come forth, I say; and cuff this fellow soundly. Should beat another Eac. Most unnatural! - the thief - may I die! But see the noble proof that I will give thee: There, take this slave of mine; prove, torture him! 1 With no nice or sparing hand: flay Fast bind him to the ladder, then mid-air Eac. A fair proposal: - should the fellow's points Be injur'd, I engage to reimburse thee.* Xan. No matter: take the knave and torture him. Therein a stronger reason for the flogging: Bac. But, wherefore, as thou say'st thou art the god, Xan. Fair reason! And him that first cries "hold!" or, when the lash 1 The slaves of Athens were in fearful subjection to their masters. lines indicate what horrid tortures these slaves might be compelled to undergo. 2 The laws of Athens enjoined that, if any slave, put to torture by a third party, should die under the infliction, the price of the poor wretch should be guaranteed to his owner. Bac. But what your laws Of dealing out the blows in honest measure? Eac. Thus : you shall have them blow and blow alternate. Xan. Good: (Eacus strikes him) now observe me whether I shall Eac. Thy turn is paid. Bac. And wherefore groaned I not? Eac. 'Tis passing strange: but now again thy fellow. Xan. A plague on thy delay! lay on! (He is struck.) Atat! Xan. Tut! not I! 'Twas a mere note of wonder, when the feast Would be, of Hercules, in the ward of Drome.1 Eac. Most holy thought!-Well; with impartial hand I give thee this (striking Bacchus) in turn. Bac. Eac. Oh! oh! How now? Bac. Methought I saw some knights. Eac. But whence those tears? Bac. Tears? Those vile onions have distraught me ! Eac. 'Tis turn and turn alike; there take thou that. (Striking Bac. (Writhing with pain and speaking slowly.) Pound the slave's stomach; that may serve thy purpose. 1 There is some doubt as to the real meaning of this passage. The scholiasts say that Drome was one of the districts of Athens, and that in it some well known festival of Hercules was held. If this be so, the remark in the text would be obviously proper enough in the mouth of Xanthias, who is personating Hercules. Some think that in the extremity of his pain, the fellow mixes up the feast of Hercules with that of Jove, to which there may be some allusion in the word Drome. 2 The line which he quotes is not from Hipponax but Ananias: a mistake ludicrously indicative of his confusion and pain. VOL. II. G Xan. I heard a groan. Bac. (He is struck on the belly by Eacus.) "Or in depths of azure main.” Eac. By Ceres! it doth 'scape my scrutiny, Which of you is the god: but get ye in; 'Twere fit my master saw you; Proserpine And he shall test you, for they are immortals. Xan. A happy thought! but would thou had'st conceiv'd it, Ere yet my back had felt that whip of thine. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCOTLAND. WE extract the following notice of the suicidal proceedings of the Scottish Kirk from the Edinburgh Advertiser, a most respectable newspaper, on the conservative side of politics. By an arbitrary stretch of power, the Commission of the General Assembly has suspended from rank and pay seven parish ministers, in the face of St. Paul's command to obey the powers that be. The "Commission" is a sort of representative of the General Assembly in the intervals of its sittings; and its transactions are subject to review, and may be approved or reversed by the next General Assembly, which sits for about ten days, in the month of May; but till then its decisions are imperative on the presbyteries. 2 "The proceedings of the Assembly's Commission in the Marnoch case, and the sentence of the Court suspending seven clergymen of the Presbytery of Strathbogie, will, doubtless, create very great and very general astonishment in the country. It is a step wholly without precedent or example in the history of the Church of Scotland; and will afford an instructive demonstration of the extreme length to which a certain party in the Church are prepared, at all hazards, and in defiance of the Civil Courts, to carry out their peculiar views of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. By the decision of the Commission, seven parishes are laid vacant, seven ministers are suspended from the office and functions of the holy ministry; and for what? Because they could not obey an injunction of the supreme Church Court, which injunction they held to be contrary to the law of the land, and in opposition to a decree of the Court of Session; and exposing them to the infliction of personal or pecuniary damages. We are precluded from offering any comments at present on this extraordinary procedure. It will of course give rise to a number of new ques 3 1 In the extremity of his pain, Bacchus roars out, "Neptune!" but suddenly recollecting himself, goes on as if quoting from some well known play; but even then his effort consists but of a few disjointed lines, having neither rhythm nor sense. 2 This party fraternizes with the evangelical party in the Church of England, and, like them, falsely accuse their more sober brethren of a leaning towards popery. 3 This is as bad in effect as a papal interdict on a small scale, and shows which party" is most inclined to lean to popish tyranny. tions. There may be a question as to whether the decision was competent to the Commission, surrounded as the case confessedly is with so many irregularities. It may also be a question whether the mode of supplying the vacant parishes prescribed by the Commission be practicable, as the parish churches and pulpits belong to the ministers and heritors, who have the custody of the keys, and may refuse access to any pastor or pastors intruded upon them, even though they come by order of the advocates of non-intrusion. There may be likewise a question whether a Bill of Suspension may not be obtained from the Court of Session by the seven brethren of the Strathbogie Presbytery against the finding of the Commission, as enjoining a proceeding in contravention to a decree of the Civil Court. These and a variety of contingencies are involved in this case, which may embroil the Church in expensive and tedious litigation, from which she may not escape except at the sacrifice of breaking up her establishment, and forfeiting all the privileges and emoluments which she derives in virtue of her alliance with the state." NATIONAL EDUCATION. THE National Society deserves the national gratitude for nobly rescuing the rising youth of Great Britain from one of the most insidious of the popish plots-a plot for the utter subversion of religion and morality in the nation, by poisoning them at their source. The government plan was concocted by papists and jesuits, with the view of their having the sole management and control of the schools and schoolmasters. They miscalculated, however, the moral feeling of England, and imagined that the nation would be captivated with the clap-trap heathenism, that "geography and the use of the globes," "the training of children in habits of order, cleanliness, discipline, and industry," are of "equal importance with religion." In short, political economy was intended to supersede the Gospel, and under this detestable system of covetousness, which is idolatry, it was intended to have opened a door for the jesuits to have introduced the actual, visible, and external idolatry of popery. The government grant of £30,000 was gained by an unconstitutional trick, and now the lords of the treasury have annexed so many conditions to its application that the national schools are thereby purposely excluded from all participation in it. The National Society have therefore nobly come forward to assist those who, depending on the support of government, have incurred overwhelming expenses. Were the present priest-ridden government capable of feeling the compunctious visitings of shame, the following circular would call it forth : "No. "National Society's Office, Sanctuary, Westminster, Nov. 30, 1839. School Case. "Reverend Sir,-The Committee of the National Society have been for some time prevented from deciding upon the various cases now before them, by the difficulties and embarrassments arising from their negotiations with the Committee of Council on Education; now that these negotiations are at an end, the Committee have been able to adopt the following resolutions: "In the first place, the Committee will make good any guarantee or promise of aid as soon as it becomes due. 66 Secondly, In all cases where the parties interested have incurred personal liabilities in full confidence of obtaining a grant from Government, but have been prevented from accepting it by the new condition with which it is incumbered, the Committee will make a loan to the amount necessary for their immediate relief, not exceeding 10s. for each scholar. "When the amount of these loans has been ascertained, the Committee will proceed to consider cases that have already been before them, and will make the applicants such grants, or such additions to former grants, as such case, considered on its own merits, may appear to deserve, and as the funds of the Society may be able to afford. 66 Lastly, In the case of applicants who have been disappointed of a grant from government, the Committee will immediately advance whatever sums they may have voted, without insisting on the usual condition, that the school shall be free from debt. "The Committee hope that under some one of the above provisions every contingency is included; and that you will not have any difficulty in applying them to your own case.-Believe me, Rev. Sir, your faithful and obedient servant, JOHN SINCLAIR, Secretary." CAMBRIDGE SOCIETY FOR NATIONAL EDUCATION PRINCIPLES OF THE ESTABLISHED IN THE ON Friday morning, 6th December, pursuant to notice and advertisement, a public meeting of noblemen and gentlemen resident in the county and town of Cambridge, and likewise the learned members of the several colleges of the University, was held at the Town Hall, for the purpose of taking into consideration the most efficient measures to be adopted for "extending and improving the education of the people, in the principles of the Established Church of England." It was stated in the Cambridge Chronicle, that in the early part of the present year, the clergy of this town and neighbourhood were in communication with the Lord Bishop of Ely, and with each other, for the purpose of effecting within the diocess an improvement in the education of the people, according to the principles of the Established Church. The result had been tardily brought to a point by the above meeting being convened, and it could not be doubted that on such an occasion, with such able views in contemplation, and when it was considered that all the influential and respectable portion of the University, county, and town, were in |