improved by the pursuits and the exercises intellectual improvement and philosophical in which they are engaged. Hitherto a large investigation.-The mechanical arts, such portion of the American people have been as of masons, carpenters and smiths particuamused with the idea that the duration and larly, are necessary, not only to aid the perfection of political happiness depend en- farmer in the progress of his occupation, but tirely on a free constitution written on paper. contribute essentially to his convenience and But many have ever believed, that when the comfort. But a small proportion of this manners of the people arrive to a certain de- class of citizens are however sufficient for gree of degeneracy, the laws which have all the necessary purposes of their respective usually governed human actions and passions arts. It is very obvious that without the will decide its fate; and that such a state of plough, the hoe and the harrow, the producdegeneracy can be prevented only by habits tive powers of the soil would never have of industry in the pursuit of objects best been developed in any degree adequate to calculated to meliorate the human condition. the great objects of civilization, and of improving the natural condition of man.

surplus of the produce of the earth, and the introduction of commerce, money was invented as the representation of property, and by that means it was found practicable to purchase not only the necessaries but the conveniences of life, the natural indolence of the human disposition began to yield to the fascinating charms of luxurious ease.

According to the christian chronology,

Should our republic exhibit the phenomenon, which has never yet been exhibited in the But in the invention of these arts which civilized world, that of a nation of husband- were necessary to improve the science of men making commerce and the mechanical agriculture, mankind were gradually led to arts wholly subservient to the interests of the discovery of those which increased their agriculture, and enforcing upon our citizens, riches; and when by the acquisition of a as it were, by national discipline and the influence of public opinion, habits of rigid temperance and industry, we might indulge more sanguine hopes of its immortal duration. History, that monumental record of national rise and national ruin, has taught us that through every stage of civil society, the miseries attending the condition of man have been accumulated, in proportion to their neglect of the peaceful and happy employ- it was more than three thousand years ment of cultivating the earth. It has been justly remarked by one* who has heretofore directed the destinies of our country, that "God has made the breast of those who labor in the earth his peculiar deposit for substantial virtues; the focus in which he keeps alive the sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth; that corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age or nation has furnished an example; it is the mark set on those, who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does the husbandman, depend for it on the casualties and caprice of customers; and that the proportion which the aggregate of other classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound to its healthy parts."

from the creation of our world, before the use of silver and gold metals were introduced as a circulating medium, and a substitute for the value of property; during which period empires rose and flourished and fell. It would be a curious subject to investigate the history of the use of money, and its progressive influence on the manners of civil society.

But for any important practical use to Americans, in their present condition, it is sufficient for them to learn whether its present use, or the means which are practised to accumulate it, have a tendency to advance our political happiness, or to perpetuate the duration of our own republican privileges.

If the great object of accumulating money is not to meliorate the condition of our counThe voice of reason and nature confirms try by facilitating the means of subsistence the truth of these remarks. There is no generally, and making our citizens wiser occupation which like agriculture, contributes and better, it is not questionable, whether to the health and energy of the human con- the increase of our money capital and our stitution; and when attended to as a science, population, will essentially advance the it presents a vast field for the display of happiness and the durable strength of our republic? It has been remarked that the strength of a nation is derived from the

*Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States.

character, not the wealth, nor the number appear in republican America, to labor of its people.

And of the truth of this remark, ancient Sparta has furnished us with an example. The republic of Sparta, after Lycurgus had suppressed the circulation of gold and silver coin, and introduced money made of iron, as the only circulating medium, and enforced, by law, such a distribution of property, that there were no citizens either rich or poor, and with a less population than the surrounding nations, flourished for ages, the most powerful and happy republic of Greece, and perhaps of any other that has ever existed.

The object of the celebrated institution of Lycurgus, was, to make her citizens powerful and happy, by making them wiser and better, by improving their manners and habits, rather than by accumulating their wealth, extending their dominion, and increasing their population.

in the field is unfashionable! Cincinnatus was called from the plough to direct the destinies of an empire, that gave laws to the world; and to the proffers of unbounded wealth, and the splendors of ambition and of power, preferred his cottage and the cultivation of his little farm. Yet among Americans, a large class of our citizens, who would claim the exclusive right to the title of gentlemen, would think it degrading to their dignity to be found, as the Deputies of the Roman senate found Cincinnatus, holding the plough and dressed in the mean attire of a laboring husbandman. In republican America, too many of our sons and daughters would excuse themselves from honest industry, because it is supposed to be unworthy of the capacity improved by science. But Americans should not forget what the lessons of history and experience have taught, that degeneracy of morals and And Americans should not forget, the manners has invariably originated in that policy of Lycurgus, so far as it related to class of citizens who have shunned honest the importance of forming the habits of our industry as degrading; and that when that citizens to industry, and their morals to vir- class becomes so numerous as to control the tue, in establishing a national character, current of popular opinion, the ruin of was enjoined on us by advice, and exem-political happiness and of liberty is inevi plified in the character of our Washington. table. When on the occasion of his inauguration to the office of our first chief magistrate, he admonished them to honor men who with their own hands maintain their families, and raise up children who are inured to toil, he doubtless saw in this class of citithe surest pledge of their welfare and the permanency of our privileges.

zens,

This remark of our illustrious chief was a salutary reproof to that class of overgrown planters and farmers, who would degrade the condition of the laboring husbandman to that of the slave.

In giving lessons to posterity, his exalted policy was not influenced by partial views or personal motives; by the pride or prejudice of the world.

In the experience of a life devoted to the welfare and glory of his country, he found in the employment of agriculture, the best resources of individual happiness and national prosperity.

If, then, we love our country, and would transmit to our posterity the blessings we enjoy, we should adopt the advice of our greatest political benefactor, honor the men who with their own hands maintain their families, and thereby render agricultural pursuits popular, render them fashionable, and raise them to that dignity to which they should be elevated, and to which they must be elevated, to preserve the happiness and secure the permanency of our republic.

THE love of praise should be preserved under proper subordination to the principle of duty. In itself, it is a useful motive to action; but when allowed to extend its influence too far, it corrupts the whole character, and produces guilt, disgrace, and misery. To be entirely destitute of it, is a defect. To be governed by it is depravity. The But although there have been characters proper adjustment of the several principles renowned for wisdom, for intellectual capa- of action in human nature is a matter that city, and for patriotism, who have in every deserves our highest attention. For when age and every country, been disposed to raise one of them becomes too weak or too the dignity and improve the science of strong, it endangers both our virtue and our agricultural pursuits, yet strange as it may happiness.

FROM THE PERSIAN.

"TELL me, gentle trav'ler thou,
Who hast wander'd far and wide,
Seen the sweetest roses blow,

And the brightest rivers glide,
Say, of all thine eye hath seen,
Which the fairest land has been ?”

Lady, shall I tell thee where
Nature seems most blest and fair,
Far above all climes beside ?
'Tis where those we love abide,
And that little spot is best

Which the lov'd one's foot hath press'd.
Though it be a fairy space,
Wide and spreading is the place:
Though 'twere but a barren mound,
'Twould become enchanted ground.
With thee, yon sandy waste would seem
The margin of Al Cawthar's stream;
And thou couldst make a dungeon's gloom
A bower where new-born roses bloom.”

THE SABBATH WRECKS.

A LEGEND OF DUNBAR.

It was a beautiful Sabbath morning in the autumn of 1577; a few small clouds, tinged with red, sailed slowly through the blue heavens; the sun shone brightly, as if conscious of the glory and goodness of its Maker, diffusing around a holy stillness and tranquility, characteristic of the day of rest; the majestic Frith flashed back the sunbeams, while on its bosom, slowly glided the winged granaries of commerce; there, too, lay its islands, glorying in their strength-the May, shrouded in light, appeared as a levia than sunning in its rays-and the giant Bass, covered with sea fowl, rose as a proud mountain of alabaster, in the midst of the

forth to the kirk to preach to his people, he beheld the unhallowed preparations of the fishermen on the beach; and he turned and went amongst them and reproved them sternly for their great wickedness. But the men were obdurate--the prospect of great gain was before them, and they mocked the words of the preacher.--Yea, some of them said unto him, in the words of the children to the prophet--"Go up, thou bald head." He went from boat to boat, counselling, entreating, expostulating with them and praying for them.

"Surely," said he, "the Lord of the Sabbath will not hold ye guiltless for this profanation of his holy day." But at that period, vital religion was but little felt or understood upon the Borders, and they regarded not his words.

He went to one boat, which was the property of members of his own congregation, and there he found Agnes Crawford, the daughter of one of his elders, hanging upon the neck of her husband, and their three children also clung around him, and they entreated him not to be guilty of breaking the Sabbath for the sake of perishing gain. But he regarded not their voice; and he kissed his wife and his children, while he laughed at their idle fears. Mr. Simpson beheld the scene with emotion, and approaching the group--"John Crawford"he exclaimed, addressing the husband, "you may profess to mock, to laugh, to scorn the words of a feeble woman, but see that they return not like a consuming fire into your own bosom when hope has departed. Is not the Lord of the Sabbath the Creator of the sea as well as of the dry land? Know ye not that ye are now braving the wrath of Him, before whom the mighty ocean is but a drop, and all space but a span? Will ye, then, glory in insulting His ordinances, and delight in profaning the day of holiness? Will ye draw down everlasting darkness on the Sabbath of your soul? When ye were but a youth, ye have listened to the words of John Knox--the great apostle of our country-ye have trembled beneath their Now, tidings were brought to the fisher-power, and the convictions that they carried men that an immense shoal was upon the with them; and when ye think of those coast; and, regardless of its being Sabbath convictions, and contrast them with your morning, they began to prepare their thous- conduct this day, does not the word apostate and boats, and to go out to set their nets. burn in your heart? John Crawford, some The Rev. Andrew Simpson, a man possessed of your blood have embraced the stake for of the piety and boldness of an apostle, was the sake of the truth, and will ye profane then minister of Dunbar; and, as he went the Sabbath which they sanctified? The

waters.

A thousand boats lay along the shores of the Dunbar. It was the herring seasonand there were many boats from the south and from the north, and also from the coast of Holland.

At

Scotsman who openly glories in such a sin, pest. Darkness was spread over the earth, forfeits his claim to the name of one, and lightnings gathered together their terrors, publishes to the world that he has no part and clothed in the fury of their fearful maor communion with the land that gave him jesty, flashed through the air. The fierce birth. John Crawford, hearken unto my hail was poured down as clouds of ice. voice, to the voice of your wife and that of the awful voice of the deep thunder the your bairns, (whose bringing up is a credit whirlwind quailed, and the rage of the temto their mother,) and not be guilty of this pest seemed spent. gross sin." But the fisherman, while he regarded not the supplications of his wife, became sullen at the words of the preacher, and springing into the boat, seized an oar, and with his comrades began to pull from

the shore.

Nothing was now heard save the
rage of
the troubled sea, which lashed into foam by
the angry storm, still bellowed forth its white
billows to the clouds, and shouted its defi-
ance loud as the war-cry of embattled worlds.
The congregation still sat mute, horrified,
death-like, as if waiting for the preacher to
break the spell of the elements.
to return thanks for their preservation, and
he had given out the lines-

"When in thy wrath, rebuke me not,
Nor in thy hot rage chasten me,"

He rose

The thousand boats put to sea, and Mr. Simpson returned sorrowful from the beach to the kirk, while Agnes Crawford and her children followed him. That day he took for his text, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;" and as he fearlessly and fervidly denounced the crime of Sabbath break-when the screams and the howling of women ing, and alluded to the impious proceedings and children rushing wildly along the streets of the day, his hearers trembled, but poor rendered his voice inaudible. The congreAgnes wept aloud, and her children clung gation rose, and hurrying one upon another, around her, and they wept also, because she they rushed from the church. The exhorwept. But, ere the service had concluded, tations of the preacher to depart calmly were the heavens began to lower. Darkness fell unheard and unheeded. Every seat was deover the congregation--and first came the serted, all rushed to the shore, and Agnes murmur of the storm which suddenly burst Crawford and her children, also, in terror, into the wild howl of the tempest. They with the multitude. gazed upon each other in silent terror, like guilty spirits stricken in their first rebellion by the searching glance of Omniscience. The loud voice of Psalms was abruptly hushed, and its echo mingled with the dreadful music of the elements, like the bleating of a tender lamb, in the wind that sweepeth howling on the mountains. For a moment, their features, convulsed and immoveable, were still distended with the song of praise; but every tongue was silent, every eye fixed. There was no voice, save heaven's. The church seemed to rock to its foundations, but none fled-none moved. Pale, powerless as marble statues, horror transfixed them in the house of prayer. The steeple rocked in the blast, and as it bent, a knell, untold by human hands, pealed on the ears of the breathless multitude. A crash followed. The spire that glittered in the morn-widows wept their husbands lost. ing sun lay scattered in fragments, and the full voice of the whirlwind roared through dead, as they were driven on shore, beyond The spectators were busied carrying the the aisles. The trees crouched and were the reach of tidemark. They had continued stripped leafless; and the sturdy oak whose their melancholy task for near an hour, when roots had embraced the earth for centuries, a voice exclaimed-"See! see!-one still torn from the deep darkness of its founda- lives, and struggles to make the shore !" tions, was uplifted on the wings of the tem-! All rushed to the spot whence the voice

The wrecks of nearly two hundred boats were drifting among the rocks. The dead were strewed along the beach, and amongst them, wailing widows sought their husbands, children their fathers, mothers their sons, and all their kindred; and ever and anon, an additional scream of grief arose, as the lifeless body of one or other such relations were found. A few of the lifeless bodies of the hardy crews were seen tossing to and fro; but the cry for help was hushed, and the yell of death was heard no more.

It was, in truth, a fearful day-a day of lamentation, of warning, and of judgment. In one hour, and within sight of the beach, a hundred and ninety boats and their crews, were whelmed in the mighty deep; and, dwelling on the shore between Spittall and North Berwick, two hundred and eighty

They were borne to their own house, where in a few moments she recovered; but her husband manifested no signs of vitality. All the means within their power, and that they knew, were resorted to, in order to effect his resuscitation. Long and anxiously she wept over him, rubbing his temples and his bosom, and, at length, beneath her hand his breast first began to heave with the returning pulsation of his heart.

proceeded, and a young man was perceived, hope still lighted up her features, and her with more than mortal strength, yet laboring hand yet grasped her apparently lifeless in the whirling waves. His countenance burden. Despair again brooded on the counwas black with despair. His heart panted tenances of her friends. For a moment, she with suffocating pangs. His limbs buffeted disappeared amongst the waves; but the the billows in the strong agony of death, and next, Agnes Crawford lay senseless on the he strained with desperate eagerness, towards beach, her arm resting on the bosom of him the projecting point of a black rock. It was she had snatched from a watery grave-on now within his grasp, but in its stead, he the bosom of her husband. clutched the deceitful wave that laughed at its deliverance.-He was whirled around it, dashed on it with violence, and again swept back by the relentless surge. He threw out his arms at random, and his deep groans and panting breath were heard through the sea's hoarse voice. He again reached the rock-he grasped, he clung to its tangled sides. A murmur moaned through the multitude. They gazed upon one another. His glazed eyes frowned darkly upon them. "He lives!-he breathes!" she exclaimed, Supplication and scorn were mingled in his and she sank back in a state of unconsciouslook. His lips moved, but his tongue utter-ness, and was carried from the room. The ed no sound. He only gasped to speak-preacher attended by the bedside, where the to implore assistance. His strength gave unconscious fisherman lay, directing and way the waters rushed around the rock as assisting in the operations necessary for rea whirlpool. He was again uplifted upon storing animation. the white bosom of the foam and tossed within a few yards of the waiting but unavailing crowd.

"It is John Crawford !" exclaimed those who were enabled to recognize his features. A loud shriek followed the mention of his name a female rushed through the crowd, and the next moment the delicate form of Agnes Crawford, was seen floating on the wild sea. In an instant a hundred plunged to her rescue, but, before the scream of horror and surprise raised by the spectators when they beheld her devoted but desperate purpose, had subsided, she was beyond the reach of all who feared death. Although no feminine amusement, Agnes had delighted in buffeting the waters from a child, as though she felt at home upon their bosom; and now the strength of inspiration seemed to thrill through her frame. She again appeared, and her fair hand grasped the shoulder of the drowning man! A shout of wild joy rang back on the deserted town. Her father, who was amongst the multitude, fell upon his knees. He clasped his hands together"Merciful Heavens !" he exclaimed, "Thou who stillest the tempest, and holdest the waters in the hollow of Thy hand, protect -protect my child!"

The waters rioted with redoubled fury. Her strength seemed failing, but a smile of

In a few hours the fisherman awoke from his troubled sleep, which many expected would have been the sleep of death. He raised himself in the bed he looked around wistfully. Agnes, who had recovered, and returned to the room, fell upon his bosom. "My Agnes !--my poor Agnes !"-he cried, gazing wistfully in her face--"but wherewhere am I?--and my bairnies, where are they?"

"Here, father, here!"--cried the children, stretching out their little arms to embrace him.

Again he looked anxiously round. A recollection of the past, and a consciousness of the present, fell upon his mind. "Thank God!" he exclaimed, and burst into tears; and when his troubled soul, and his agitated bosom had found in them relief, he inquired, eagerly--"But oh, tell me, how was I saved? --was I cast upon the beach? There is a confused remembrance in my brain, as though an angel grasped me when I was sinking and held me. But my head is confused, it is fearfully confused, and I remember naething, but as a dream; save the bursting awa o' the dreadful storm, wi' the perishing o' hunders in an instant, and the awful cry that rang frae boat to boat--"a judgment has come owre us!"--And it was a judgment indeed! O Agnes! had I listened to yer words, to