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the stage, that is to say, with the air of knowing that he is the object of general remark.

company

"Leaving these scenes where Pleasure puts on her gayest trappings, and appears in all her smiles and fascinations, you may enter others where her attire is coarser, and she has assumed more of the louring, jaded, desperate look of vice. The Café Montensier was a theatre during the revolutionary period, and it still continues to be divided into galleries and pit:the stage is covered with a vast bouquet of flowers. Here the is understood to be of a loose description: the men are chiefly military. They go lounging about, from below to above, and from above to below; and the large proportion which their profession forms of all public assemblages, and their reckless, irregular, profligate carriage, open one's eyes to the blessings of a military population, and to the prudence and patriotism of those who would make military badges be regarded as objects of the Mighest ambition, by holding them forth as the most honourable indications of desert.

"The gambling rooms constitute spectacles purely shocking. They are licensed and inspected by the government, and therefore they are orderly and regular on the surface of their arrangements and behaviour; but they are licensed by the government, and therefore they destroy the foundations of order, morals, honour, and loyalty. If a father debauches his children, is his family likely to be noted for subordination and respectability?" "On entering these horrid places, you are first startled by the preparation of taking from you your hat and stick in the antichamber:-when you proceed into the rooms where they play, your heart is withered by anxious looks, and a heated stillness, rendered more impressive by the small interruptions given to it by the sudden sharp click of a bit of wood, which intimates that

the winner is seizing his money.Of all popular vices, gaming is the most odious and deadly; it is opposed to all social feelings,-it renders even extravagance selfish, and improvidence mean;-it stifles kindness in proportion as it encourages hope;-it gives to the disposition a sharp, edgy, contracted character, and, while it ruins the circumstances more fatally and surely than any other illicit pursuit, it throws neither pomp nor pathos around the downfall. About these hellish tabies, halfpay officers, private soldiers, clerks, and ex-employés, are seen in a desperate contention with treacher ous fortune:-the expression of the face, as the trembling hand puts down the piece of money, is awful;-one piece follows another,

gold is succeeded by silver, and, from five franc coins, the unfortu nate wretch is reduced to the risk of a single franc. He loses it, and leaves the room with a face that bespeaks him drained and despe rate. For what atrocity is he not now prepared ?-The appearance of women at these tables is still more horrible :-their sex, which is so susceptible of lovely appearances, natural and moral, seems equally calculated to display the features of deformity in their most revolting aspects.

"There is yet much more that belongs to the Palais Royal,-but I believe I have described all that will bear description. Prostitution dwells in its splendid apartments, parades its walks, starves in its garrets, and haunts its corners. It is not, certainly, so riotous in its manner as in England; but it is easy to see, that its profligacy is of a deeper, fouler, more nauseous kind.

"Such is the Palais Royal;-a vanity fair; a mart of sin and seduction! Open, not on one day of festival, or on a few holidays; but every day of the week. Every day does it present stimu lants and opportunities to profi

gacy and extravagance, to waste, and riot, and idleness. It is there -always ready to receive the inclined, to tempt the irresolute, to confirm bad habits, and dispel good resolutions. It is there-as a pestilential focus of what is dan gerous and depraved,-a collection of loose and desperate spirits, iu the heart of a luxurious capital, as a point of union for every thing that is evil,-where Pleasure, in all her worst shapes, exists, in readiness to be adapted to every variety of disposition, and to enslave and corrupt the heart by making the senses despotic. There is but one Palais Royal in the world, say the Parisians; and it is well for the world that there is but

one.

"Besides the amusements here alluded to, there are ten theatres in Paris open every night, and every night crowded. The Boulevardes are full of coffee-houses, such as have been described as belonging to the Palais Royal. At several of these, petite plays are performed: there are also public dancingrooms, public gardens, and exhibitions without number. The people increase this enormous amount of amusement for themselves;-in all the public walks, in fine weather, they are to be seen dancing in parties. The waltz is the predominating figure, and the women of Paris of all ranks, grisettes as well as duchesses, delight in it to madness, and exercise it with skill and grace. "The whole neighbourhood of Paris, within the circle of six miles, is crowded with similar places of entertainment; adding rural enjoy ments to those of the town: and all these places, in country and in city, are well supported. A more important feature of national character than this excessive fondness for revelry and public entertain ment, cannot be imagined. It never can exist amongst a people who are deeply attached to their homes; and amongst a people who are not deeply attached to their homes,

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 163.

the most illustrious public virtues will but rarely be found."

I think it will be generally admitted that the description given by Mr. Scott, of the state of Paris, presents to the eye an awful picture of moral deformity. If there are those who can contemplate it unmoved, I envy not their feelings. It was natural to expect that the late signal deliverance which France experienced would have some effect in checking the torrent of profligacy which has overspread this guilty city. But how painful to the Christian observer must it have been to perceive that the only marked change consisted in the revival of many superstitions which had fallen into disuse, and that, while open infidelity was less visible, true piety was not more apparent, If the crime which hurried Louis XVI. to the scaffold, began to be viewed in its true character, it was not the less revolting to the feelings of Christians, to learn that a body of priests were fixed at St. Denis, whose peculiar office it was to pray for the soul of the departed monarch! If the French people, and especially their king, might have been expected to refer to the proper source the astonishing events which gave peace to them, and restored to him the throne of his fathers, what astonishment was excited by finding these ascribed to the blessed Virgin? If the French government could so far render homage to virtue, as to recognize in the treaty of Paris the injustice of the Slave Trade, was it to be expected that in the very same public act, she should deliberately proclaim herself the restorer of all the guilt and misery, the unexampled perfidy and atrocity of such a commerce; or that the first use which the nation was anxicus to make of the peace aud freedom so miraculously restored to her, should be to forge chains for the Haytians, and to carry war and desolation into their border.

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If again, in the same short period of repose, Louis XVIII. sought in vain to convince his people of the obligations of the Christian Sabbath, what does this argue, but a total insensibility on the part of that people to one of the most imperative duties and the highest privileges of Christianity? It is not a little remarkable, that one of the first addresses to the Usurper, who lately resumed his precarious seat on the throne of France, contained an express congratulation to that nation on having regained her undoubted right to profane the sacred day!

I am naturally led by this remark, to advert to the extra ordinary spectacle which France has recently presented to the astonished world by the perjury and infamy which have accompanied the recal of its blood-stained Chief. The demoralizing influence of infidel principles is as evidently seen in the conduct of the French army now, as in that of the French people from the beginning of the revolutionary period. The bands of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, in the early times of the Revolution, and the present troops of the French nation, appear to be characterised by the same desire of invading the property of others; the same revolting apathy in carrying on the trade of death; the same contempt of God; and the same disregard of man. Rapacious, cruel, and unrelenting; perjured to the Deity, and hating his image in his creatures, at once the adoration and terror of a nation which fosters and fears it, the French army is the Scourge of its friends, no less than of its enemies; and perhaps it is hardly possible to conceive a more proper instrument of retributive vengeance to a people "that delight in war," than an army so constituted and so commanded.

I have been led into these re

flections from considering the deplorable and abject condition of France in a moral point of view.

Let any English husband, or father, or brother, after considering the state of Parisian manners, ask himself whether this is a condition of being for rational and immortal creatures. Let him, then, contrast with such a state of things, the very superior tone of society in England; and let him honestly inquire whether the distinction is not to be ascribed to our purer faith. But if our moral and religious advantages have been greater, our gratitude should be proportionate; for of this we may be assured, that in proportion to our superior light will be our increased responsibility. And had not these observations been already so far extended, I think it would not be difficult to shew that we have cause enough for apprehension with reference to England; and that it is more than probable, that the storm which may burst in all its fury over France, may also reach ourselves under some milder form of visitation, and cause us to feel that if the tower should fall in Siloam, and wrath descend upon the Galileans, yet, except we repent, we shall likewise perish.

I am, &c.

LAICUS*

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I WISH some of your correspondents would write a paper against bigotry and prejudice.-I have been reading a work, full of demonstrations, by the Rev. Mr. Norris, which, if men would listen to reason, could not fail to put an end to one of the most dangerous and widespreading mischiefs that ever threatened to overturn the fabric of social order, and to destroy the foundation of all good morals.

* We received the above communi. cation about two months ago, but were prevented by the press of matter from

inserting it. The events which have

since occurred are certainly not calculated to lessen the interest of Mr. Scott's too-faithful portrait.

1815.1

Truth of Mr. Norris's Demonstrations demonstrated.

I allude, sir, to the circulation of the Bible: and as you have (from pure ignorance, I trust,) contributed to the evil, let me counsel you without delay to make what reparation you can for the calamities which you have helped to bring upon the world. You will tell me, perhaps, that I must not rely with faith too implicit upon the statements of Mr. Norris. Sir, I do not feel it necessary to rely upon his statements: I have got facts of my own. It is to his demonstrations, sir, that I appeal, and to the testimony of the newspapers, in evidence of their unimpeachable and unassaliable truth. Listen, I beseech you, and perpend. He demonstrates that the word of God, if put indiscriminately into the hands of the poor, can do no good, and must do harm. With respect to saving souls from perdition, he demonstrates that the Bible Society, of which the sole object is to distribute Bibles, "is baneful in its operations," (p. 53); that its perfect work is to produce, even among the better informed, "indifference to every religious opinion," (p. 223); that the wideness of the circulation of the Scripture is the most baneful property of the Society, (p. 46); that the Bible is despised, because it is cheap, (ib.); that the facility of obtaining it has caused one woman to tell a lie, (p. 77); and a second to abuse her hostess for not telling one (ib.); it has enabled Jew boys -thieves to a proverb-to sell Christian Scriptures, (p. 46); has furnished the means of drunkenness to the lovers of gin, (p. 47); and of wicked profanation to the dealers in cheese, (ib.)

"The murders committed within the period have been both more in number, and more horrid in the circumstances attending them, than have disgraced the annals of the kingdom for a long series of years," &c. (p. 373.)

Some persons pretend to say that the murders at Shadwell, to which

447

my author alludes, were committed before the establishment of the Bible Society in that quarter. Well, sir, if then the mere prospect of the distribution of Bibles was such and so horrible as to induce men to murder one another beforehand, what, I ask, will be the effect when I challenge the boldest of you to the Bibles are actually circulated? come forth and reply. It is plain to demonstration, that if the poor end in civil wars and general bloodare suffered to have Bibles, it must shed.-I know that some there be, who sneer at an argument of anticipation, and smile when you talk of the authority of Mr. Norris; but my argument is not an argument of anticipation. My facts have not been proved fictitious. Do you remember the establishment of Associations in London for the purchase of this same Bible? Are you aware that young persons were invited to give a penny a week, in order to procure it? Well, sir, mark the result. Has not every newspaper, which binations among the boys of the we have lately read, told us of commetropolis to rob and destroy? It cannot be denied: were these things ever heard of till this circulation of Bibles? No.-Take another fact: "A great number of burglaries and robberies have lately been committed in Hertfordshire, particularly and Bishopstortford." (Times, Feb. in the neighbourhood of Hockeril 1.) And was not a Bible Society established last year at Bishopstortford?-Look a little further. A well-meaning writer in the Times of January 31st, under the signature of "Publicola," calls the attention origin of all manner of crimes: his of the public to ginshops, as the but he has not reached the bottom statement is true, as far as it goes; of the case.-What carries people to the ginshop? Is it not the Bible? What gives them facilities for proyou-the Bible? Did Publicola curing it? Has not Mr. Norris told complain of ginshops before the es 3 M 2

tablishment of the Society? I would be glad of an answer to that question, sir. If the poor contribute to Bible Associations, they will all get Bibles; and what then can be the result, as my author has declaratively demonstrated, but an increasing indifference to religion, an increasing contempt for the Scriptures, an accession of liars, a harvest of Jew boys, and robbery, and drunkenness, and profanation, and mountains of cheese, and oceans of gin?

The same causes will universally be followed by the same effects. If the Bible produce crimes in England, it will produce them in France. "It would seem," says the Times, Jan. 30, "that Paris is at present as much annoyed by juvenile depredators as London. The Gazette de France tells us, that the Paris court of assizes was engaged in a trial of twenty-one thieves, most of whom were only from twenty to twenty-two years of age." The Bible-Society again! Was not an edition of the New Testament circulated last winter in Paris? I suspect, indeed, some connection between this fact and the return of Napoleon.

I know that some will object to these demonstrations, under the idle pretext that the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has been employed in the same sort of work for a century, and yet we had none of these horrible murders and robberies, and Jew boys and gin shops, till within the last few years. But this appeal confirms my argument: that society was never guilty of too extended a circulation: they distributed the Bible with the most laudable and exem

plary caution: they did it so quietly and so sparingly, that if we may believe one of their own number, many even of the clergy knew not of their existence: the poor, comparatively speaking, had few Bibles till this mischievous excrescence, called the Bible Society, began to

be troublesome; and then in evil hour-alas! for their simplicity!the venerable institution deter mined to set to work in good earnest; and they, to be sure, must have their auxiliaries, and their filiations, and their branches too, under some name or other. Who then can wonder, while two such engines are in motion to subvert the morals of the people, that we should witness a period so dreadfully prolific in crime!

I have thought much about a cure for the evil; but I can see no effectual mode of procedure, except by complete and radical extirpation. Would you play with canine madness? Would you trifle with the plague? My remedies are these:-First, Take from the poor all the Bibles which they possess;those persons alone excepted, who can prove, to the satisfaction of my author and myself, that they have made a good use of them; that is, have never read them without a comment, nor presumed to open them but with the consent of the

curate.

Secondly, Hang upon one gallows, the higher the better, all the presidents, vice-presidents, and committees, whether district or diocesan of both societies, and of all their auxiliaries and branches: some of them will never cease from their nefarious doings so long as they are permitted to live.

Thirdly, Transport to Botany Bay, for the term of natural life, all their comforters and abettors.

Fourthly, To prevent the possible recurrence of mischief, make it felony for laymen to read or write,

Thanne ful mery wol the day be for

olde Englelond Whan lewed men ne rede ne wis to un

derstonde:

When ilke text they hold not worth an oistre

Til ytaughte belike by the monk of the

cloistre ;

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