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Gentleman's Magazine:

AND

Historical Chronicle.

From JULY to DECEMBER, 1814.

VOLUME LXXXIV.

(BEING THE SEVENTH OF A NEW SERIES.)

PART THE SECOND.

PRODESSE ET DELECTARE.

E PLURIBUS UNUM.

By SYLVANUS URBAN, Gent.

LONDON: Printed by NICHOLS, SON, and BENTLEY,
at Cicero's Head, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street;

where LETTERS are particularly requested to be sent, POST-PAID
And sold by J. HARRIS (Successor to Mrs. NEWBERY),
at the Corner of St. Paul's Church Yard, Ludgate Street;

and by PERTHES and BESSER, Hamburgh. 1814.

ANNIVERSARY ODE ON THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, for 1814,

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PREFACE

TO THE

SECOND PART OF THE EIGHTY-FOURTH VOLUME.

FOR

OR a long and continued succession of years we have been accus tomed, with solemn resignation to the Great Disposer of Events, confiding in his mercy, and hoping in his justice, to contemplate one object, and almost one only. This has been the disastrous consequence of a Tyrannical Usurpation, which, like the cloud on Mount Carmel, at first no bigger than a man's hand, gradually spread its gloom and horrors over a large part of the civilized world, overturning from their foundations many of the most antient and solid Establishments, and threatening the security of all. Extensive indeed was the circulation of its destruc tive principles. They were seen and felt far beyond the bounds of Europe; they were discernible even in the remote regions of China, they spread alarm in Siam and Pegu, they were recognized in the heart of Hindostan, and much of their mighty mischief had reached to Persia.

The contagious effects of this Despotism were not only aimed at the moral constitution of things: they blighted every thing they approached; and, from profaning the holy edifices consecrated to the Most High, they descended to the Bowers of the Muses, and, like the plague of Locusts, converted their delightful haunts into the barrenness of the desert, and forbade all approach to their territories.

How changed the scene!-how cheering the future prospect! What demands upon our gratitude as Men, as Citizens, as Friends to every ingenious Art, and every branch of Science! The present scene seems strongly to remind us of the period of the Middle Ages, when, after the barbarous fury of Goths and Vandals had buried Learning and the Arts in the darkest obscurity of night, "Leo's golden days" arose, and again restored them to light and liberty. Already are the delightful effects visible in Europe. The Scholars of the North and of the South, for a long time compelled either to suppress or restrain their ardour for Science, or, what is worse, forced by a Tyrant's arm to employ their talents on unworthy subjects, for dishonest purposes, once more are actively engaged in the multiplication of learned, useful, and important works. The Muses of France, so long cramped, fettered, and oppressed, are roused from their bed of iron, and, lending their powerful aid to the general cause, have placed at a distance, and concealed from view, in the closed Temple of Janus, that execrable image which alone they were allowed to adore, the Genius of Military Science.

Our Countrymen, we well know, will lend no reluctant assistance in the promotion of so glorious an object as the improvement and diffusion of Science; we may also add, and the melioration of manners. It is one of the curses of a protracted state of Warfare, that it renders Man ferocious, 20644

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