Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

the Protestant reformed religion as established by law. I will preserve unto the bishops and clergy, &c., all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them; and I will maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, &c., as by law established."

Now certainly the expression "do or shall appertain" must incontrovertibly imply the idea of some alteration or change, either an addition to, or a diminution of, what they then had, or had been then settled. But if the idea of increase alone, of addition and not of subtraction, were intended, they have unfortunately introduced an ambiguity of expression which they did not wish. They might have rendered their meaning, on that supposition, more determinate by a small alteration of the words. Let the expression run in somewhat of the following form: "All such, &c., as by law do now appertain unto them, and as shall hereafter be added thereto; nor will I admit of any diminution or any other alteration or modification whatsoever than above specified, under whatever circumstances or conditions may arise or be proposed." If such had been their intention, this would have rendered their meaning precise and clear. It would have been determinately fixed that as much as you please may be added, but that nothing may under any consideration be withdrawn; that, even if every individual of the whole bench of bishops, and the whole body of the clergy to a man, should agree in wishing a diminution of any part or a surrender of the whole, or any alteration or modification of the same, the King, under the obligation of such an oath, would not be able to give his assent to the said universal wish and general consent; but whatever had once been granted in the way of right or privilege, or once settled, must continue theirs and unalterable for ever. For it is supposed that such right, privilege or settlement has been granted and fixed by law, that is, by the consent of the King, Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament; and that the King, without whose consent the law cannot be altered, has sworn that he will to the utmost

of his power preserve the same, and not admit of any alteration or modification whatever.

Since, however, no such precision of expression has been adopted, it is just to conclude that the framers of the coronation oath, as men well aware of what changes human affairs and human opinions are subject to, purposely left the matter open, by a laxity of expression, for any future king to consent, according as circumstances might arise, to an alteration without violation of the oath he had so solemnly taken to maintain all such rights, &c., as by law do or shall appertain, &c.; that is, as by the law as it then was, or, as by the law as it may hereafter be altered and established in consequence of the consent to the same of King, Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, may appertain to them or to any of them.

As to the other two parts in which occur the expressions, "as established by law," or "as by law established," I contend that they are adapted to admit of the same latitude of interpretation, and to allow the King on the throne to give his assent to any alteration proposed, provided it be still a Protestant Reformed Religion, and still a settlement of the Church of England, and that such alteration has been introduced by law, that is, as just now explained, by the consent of the King, the Lords and the Commons assembled in Parliament. the expression "as established by law," i as by law established," is evidently quite elliptical, and the ellipsis may be supplied either "as it has been," or "as it is now," or "as it shall hereafter be established by law," or generally, "as it may be established by law."

For

Thus it appears that all the expressions used in the form of the coronation oath, only amount to this, that the King thereby binds himself that he will never of his own will alone, of his own single power and authority, make any such alteration in the established religion of the country, in the rights and privileges of the bishops and clergy, or in the settlement of the Church of England; but that, when the other two branches of the Legislature have agreed to any such alteration under the limitations

expressed above, that it is still a Protestant Reformed Religion, and still a settlement of the Church of England, he is free to give his assent to the same.

And surely the general tenor of the history of the contentions which have in this country been maintained between Royal Prerogative, Aristocratical Privileges, and Democratical Rights, will fully justify us in giving to the expressions used in the coronation oath that explanation, that laxity and extent of meaning, which we have endea voured to establish. For, what has been the general aim in these contentions but to bind the monarch that he shall not of his own free-will and unlimited authority exert his power to alter or settle any thing contrary to the established rights of the nation, and to their will expressed in Parliament, personally as to the Lords, by their representatives as to the People? When again we consider the difficulties to be contended with and the obstacles to be surmounted by the several religious, civil and political innovators in different æras of our history, (to whom surely we are indebted for all the advantages of our admired system of polity and government,) and that in various instances they would fain have gone farther than they did, but that they feared lest, by outstripping the spirit of their age and doing more than the times in which they lived would bear, they might obstruct what they had in their power to do, and ruin what they had accomplished; and that they therefore left to posterity to carry on their designs and proceed in the same career of gradual improvement-it is natural to conclude that, in settling what they did establish, they would adjust all forms in such a manner as to leave to posterity, and of course to future kings, the means, in aiding them by their assent consistently with their oath, of making any such alterations, under the specified limitations noticed already, as the circumstances of the times, the necessities of the state, or a change in the general opinions of the people, might warrant or even demand. The improved and improving state of the world, the advance of civilization, the general diffusion of knowledge, the march of the human intellect, all combine, under the su

perintendence and guidance of the One All-wise, All-good, All-powerful, to forbid that human laws, made of course by frail, short-sighted mortals who cannot penetrate into futurity, should, like those of the Medes and Persians of old, be unalterable. The recent establishment of political economy as a science, tends to make whatever may promote the happiness and prosperity of a nation, more attended to; and opinions prevailing among the people at large have much more weight and influence than formerly, and must eventually induce a regard to the general wish, which a wise and provident monarch, who looks to the comfort and happiness of the people intrusted to his paternal care, would notice, and which nought in the coronation oath taken by British sovereigns, as explained above, would forbid them to consider, and, approv ing, to comply with the same.

STEPHEN FREEMAN.

[blocks in formation]

In early times, it appears, the inhabitants of the West Bow were peculiarly zealous in the cause of the Covenant. Pitcairne, Pennycuik, and other poets of the Cavalier or Jacobite faction, distinguish the matrons of this street by satirical epithets, such as the "Bowhead Saints," the "Godly plants of the Bowhead," &c. We also see that many of the polemical pamphlets and sermons of the Presbyterian divines since this period, have been published in the Bow.

By far the most curious publications of the latter sort, were those of one William Mitchell, a crazy white-ironsmith, who lived in a cellar at the Bow-head, and occasionally held forth as an orator or preacher. What his peculiar tenets were we do not strictly know, but understand them to have been founded upon the opinions held by the rigid party of the Church of Scotland before the Revolution. Mr.

Mitchell was altogether a strange mixture of fanaticisin, madness and humour. He published many pamphlets and single sheets, very full of amusing nonsense, and generally adorned with a wooden cut of the Mitchell arms. Some of his poetry was re-printed about twenty years ago, by Messrs. Oliver and Boyd, in small parcels, and sold at one penny. His verses possess humour equal to that of (his contemporary) Allan Ramsay's, but are debased by great coarseness and obsccnity. In one of his prose pieces he gives a curious account of a journey which he made into France, where, he affirms, the "King's Court is six times bigger than the King of Britain's; his guards have all feathers in their hats, and their horse-tails are to their heels; and their king is one of the best-favoured boys that you can look upon, blythe Iyke, with black hair; and all his people are better natured in general than the Scots or English, except the priests. Their women seem to be modest, for they have no fardingales. The greatest wonder I saw in France, was to see the braw people fall down on their knees on the clarty ground, when the priest comes by carrying the cross to give a sick person the sacrament."

The Tinklarian Doctor (for such was his popular appellation) appears to have been fully acquainted with an ingenious expedient, which we observe practised by many publishers of juvenile toy-books in our own day,namely, that of self-recommendation. As in certain sage little histories of Tommy and Harry, King Pepin, &c., we are sure to find that "the good boy who loved his lessons" always bought his books from "kind, good, old Mr. J. Newbury, at the Corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, where the greatest assortment of nice books for good boys and girls is always to be had," -so, in the works of Mr. Mitchell, we find some sly encomium upon the Tinklarian Doctor constantly peeping forth; and in the pamphlet from which we made the above extract, we have, moreover, a plentiful advertisement or puff of his professional excellence as a white-smith. "I have," he says, a good pennyworth of pewter spoons, fine like silver, none such made in Edinburgh, and silken pocks for wiggs, and French

white pearl beads,-all to be sold for little or nothing." Vide "A Part of the Works of that Eminent Divine and Historian, Doctor William Mitchell, Professor of Tinklarianism in the University of the Bow-HEAD; Being a Syse of Divinity, Humanity, History, Philosophy, Law and Physic; Composed at various Occasions for his own Satisfaction and the World's Illumination." In his works he does not scruple to make the personages whom he introduces speak of himself as a much wiser man than the Archbishop of Canterbury, all the clergymen of his native country, and even the magistrates of Edinburgh! One of his last productions was a pamphlet on the murder of Captain Porteous, which he concludes by saying, in the true spirit of a Cameronian martyr, "If the King and Clergy gar hang me for writing this, I'm content, because it is long since any man was hanged for religion." But we give him little credit for this expression; for whatever may be said, there is fully as much pleasure and advantage, as pain and loss, in what sectarians are pleased to call martyrdom.

The abode of this singular enthusiast has been pointed out to us, as that low cellar on the west side of the Bowhead, (No. 19,) now occupied by Mrs. Philip, a dealer in small wares; here he is said to have delivered his lectures to the élèves of the Bow-head University.

The profession of which the Tinklarian Doctor subscribed himself a member has long been predominant in the West Bow. We see, from a preceding extract, that it reckoned dagger-makers among its worthy denizens in the reign of James VI.; but this trade has long been happily extinct every where in Scotland; though their less formidable brethren the whitesmiths, copper-smiths and pewterers, have continued down to our own day to keep almost unrivalled possession of the Bow. Till within these few years there was scarcely a shop in this crooked street occupied by other tradesmen; and we can easily imagine, that the noise of so many hammermen pent up in a narrow thoroughfare would be extremely annoying. So remarkable was it for this, that country people used to ask any acquaintance lately returned from town, if he went to hear

"the tinklers o' the Bow,"-reckon- 2. Lord Kames' English Inscription

ing them to form one of the most remarkable curiosities of Auld Reekie. Yet, however disagreeable their clattering might seem to the inhabitants of the peaceful plain, we are credibly informed, that the people who lived in the West Bow became perfectly habituated to the noise, and felt no inconvenience whatever from its ceaseless operation upon their ears; nay, rather experienced inconvenience from its cessation, and only felt annoyed when any period of rest arrived and stopped it. It was for this reason that they became remarkable above all the

rest of the people in Edinburgh, for rising early on Sunday mornings, which, in certain contiguous parts of the town, is rather a singular virtue. The truth was, that the people could not rest in their beds after five o'clock, for want of the customary noise which commenced at that hour on work days. It is also affirmed, that when the natives of the West Bow removed to

another part of the town, beyond the reach of these dulcet sounds, which so long had given music to their morn. ing dreams, sleep was entirely out of the question for some weeks, till they got habituated to the quiescence of their new neighbourhood. An old gentleman once told us, that having occasion to lodge for a short time in the West Bow, he found the incessant clanking extremely disagreeable, and at last entered into a paction with some of the workmen in his immediate neighbourhood, who promised to let him have another hour of quiet sleep in the mornings, for the consideration of some such matter as halfa-crown to drink on Saturday night. The next day happening (out of his knowledge) to be some species of Saint Monday, his annoyers did not work at all; but such was the force of a habit acquired even in three or four days, that our friend awoke precisely at the moment when the hammers used to commence; and he was glad to get his bargain cancelled as soon as possible, for fear of another morning's want of disturbance. Such a dispersion has taken place in this modern Babel, within the last few years, that there are now (1824) only two tin-plate workers in the whole Bow.

[blocks in formation]

for Smollett.

Dr. Anderson, in his Life of Smollett, speaking of the pillar erected to the novelist's memory at Bonhill, says, at p. 137, "Lord Kames himself, Dr. Moore informs us, wrote an inscription in English for this pillar, of which the late Lieutenant-Colonel Latin one was preferred. Though the Smollett shewed him a copy; but the fact seems to be indisputable, yet it is remarkable, that Lord Kames, neither at that time, nor any future period, ever mentioned this English inscription to his friend and neighbour, Mr. also mentions in his "Journal," that Ramsay, of Ochtertyre."-Boswell Lord Kames proposed such an inscription, and that upon its being spoken of to Johnson, the idea of any thing but a Latin one met with the lexicographer's contempt. No mention is made, however, of Lord Kames having written an English inscription; and indeed the fact that he did so, has never been We can now bring the truth to light, more than conjectured by the public. by producing a copy of the actual inscription, taken verbatim from the original in Lord Kames' hand-writing, now in the possession of a relative of the novelist, who is quite capable of appreciating so curious and valuable a document.

"No circumstance is trivial in the

history of eminent men! Behold, Passenger! the birth-place of TOBIAS SMOLLETT, who by nature was destined to banish spleen, and promote cheerfulness, sweet balm of life! His grave, alas! is in a distant country.

"How dismally opposite is an Alexander or a Louis, men destined by nature for depressing the spirits of their fellow-creatures, and for desolating the earth!

"This Pillar, erected by JAMES cousin, who possesses a more noble SMOLLETT, of Bonhill, is not for his Monument of his literary productions, but for thee, O Traveller!. If literary fame be thy ruling passion, emulation will enliven thy genius: Indulge the hope of a Monumental Pillar, and, by ardent application, thou mayst come to merit the splendid reward.”

[blocks in formation]

Evangelists, is attended with difficulties, of which the enemies of Christianity have availed themselves, in order to invalidate its divine origin. The author of a pamphlet, entitled "The New Trial of the Witnesses," published some time since, has occupied this ground; and I purpose, from the data he assumes, and the positions he advances, to shew how incompetent he and men like him are to question the truth of the Christian religion.

The writer says, p. 15, "Mark and Luke are not to be considered in the light of disciples or eye-witnesses. Michaëlis observes, and with him Lardner, Watson and Paley, that St. Luke, being a Heathen by birth, was neither one of the seventy disciples, nor an eye-witness of Christ's works. Thus it appears," he adds, "that Mark and Luke were not present at the ascension, nor on any of those important occasions to which their history refers. Now, with respect to the competency of these writers, let us hear Mr. Locke: I think it will not be amiss,' says he, to take notice of a rule observed in the law of England, which is, that though the attested copy of a record be good proof, yet the copy of a copy, ever so well attested, and by ever so credible witnesses, will not be admitted as a proof in judicature: this is so generally approved as reasonable, and suited to the wisdom and caution to be used in our inquiry after material truths, that I never yet heard of any one that blamed it. This practice, if it be allowable in decisions of right and wrong, carries this observation along with it, namely, that any testimony, the further off it is from the original truth, the less force and proof it has; a credible man, vouching his know ledge of it, is a good proof; but if another, equally credible, do witness it from his report, the testimony is weaker; and a third that attests the hearsay of a hearsay, is yet considerably less; so that in traditional truths, each remove weakens the force of the proof, and the more hands the tradi

[blocks in formation]

Irenæus in the second century, and received from him by modern critics, though directly contradicted by Luke himself. This is a matter of high importance, and cannot be too often brought forward, as well calculated to humble the triumphs of Deistical writers, and to illustrate the folly of implicitly trusting to learned men, who in succession adopt, without due examination, the opinions handed down to them by their forefathers. The following are the introductory verses of Luke: "Inasmuch as many have set forth a perverted narrative of those things which have been accomplished among us;-2. As they who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us;-3. It seemed good to me also, as having, from the very first, scrupu lously investigated every fact, to write to thee, most excellent Theophilus ; 4. That thou mightest know the certainty of those things in which thou hast been instructed."

Luke, there will appear reason to believe, published his Gospel in Egypt. There certain impostors composed false Gospels, in opposition to the account of Christ given by the apostles. These were the men to whom Luke alludes, when he says, that "many undertook to set forth a perverted narrative of the things which have been fulfilled among us." The verb he uses is avataσoquat, which means to new model, or arrange afresh, and which, when applied to the history of Christ already given to the public by competent vouchers, with the strictest regard to truth, must signify to forge, feign or pervert. That their object was to deceive by false narratives is evident; for the Evangelist intimates that, because incompetent and faithless writers had attempted to mislead Theophilus and others, he was induced to publish his Gospel, to give such as were misled, or doubtful, a full assurance of the truth.

The pseudo-evangelists taught that Jesus spent his early life, and was educated, in Egypt; and hence they

« AnteriorContinua »