that futurity is not in his power; and that the present is given to him to cultivate those dispositions, which may secure a blessing on his projects. Mea, especially those in the higher ranks, are apt to frame very inconsiderate projects; to lose sight of the dependence in which they live: but he is best secured who sets God before him in all his ways, and spends his short time here in such a manner, that the fatal dart shall never find him unprepared; who knows that here he is under the eye of an affectionate Father, that cares for him, and will take care of whomsoever he leaveth to his charge. the The situation of the royal house cannot but force itself on our reflections. It seemed at one time to be so firmly settled, that a numerous progeny might long before this have been expected to secure foundations of future stability. Two generations have been cut off at one blow, and from the loins of the aged king is not a descendant except those who derive their birth immediately from him. This is a case scarcely to be paralleled in the history not merely of a royal but of any private house. The branches, however, of the family which was appointed by act of parliament, to rule over us, are numerous: and with no distant part of the line of succession the blood of Buonaparte is connected. This is one among those events which are deemed curious, that the history of life frequently brings to our view for it is not unlikely, that through this very branch, in no great length of time, the blood of Buonaparte may flow in the veins of every sovereign of Europe. The aspect of the United Kingdom, from the time that the fatal news had reached its extremities, is a satisfactory answer to all that had been urged in various speeches and publications respecting the people on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. Melancholy as is the cause of this manifestation of the loyalty of the people of England, still it is a decisive proof, that whatever might have happened in a few places from the distresses of the times, or the criminal acts of spies set on, or others combining to excite temporary confusion, still the great mass of the people were not affected by it, nor was it likely that any means could operate upon it, to withdraw its allegiance from the House of Brunswick. It is indeed one of the most difficult things in the world to shake the loyalty of a people; and in general it is the disloyalty of sovereigns, which produces at any time general confusion. The effect may not appear in the reign of the sovereign, who committed first the act of disloyalty. His successors may rue the consequences of previous misgovernment. Thus our Charles fell a sacrifice to his own error in governing England for so long a time without a par liament, and the best of the Bourbons, Louis the Sixteenth, felt the effects of the mal-administrations of his predecessors Louis the Fourteenth and Louis the Fifteenth. In all cases of distress we naturally look out for sources of consolation and matter for future improvement. Here indeed is ample subject. On the virtues of the departed every one dwells with mournful satisfaction; and here is the proof that if princes are not wanting to themselves, the people will not be wanting in affection. May this reflection sink deep in the hearts of all who govern and all who are goverued. Affection is better than myriads of armed men, and Alexander of Russia is safer from this cause, than from all the terrors that autocracy could excite. This melancholy subject absorbed the mind too much for the fate of some wretched men at Derby, expiating the crime of high treason by their death, to produce any considerable sensation. The poverty of these wretches, the evident folly of their proceedings, and the general belief that they were urged on by a spy to this criminal conduct, diminished very much the impressions that a charge of high treason naturally excites. There had been murder committed, and the chief culprit seemed to be one of those hardened men capable of engaging in any enterprise, but without talents for the execution of any thing but the mere work of destruction. The old sentence of our law in these cases is very disgusting, suited only to the manners of a barbarous age. A great deal of what is shocking to the feelings of humanity was omitted; but still the exposure of the mangled head, after it had been severed from the body, struck a horror in the attendant multitude, more likely to produce a feeling of abhorrence of the mode of execution, than of the crime which it was intended to impress the most on their minds. It may be justly doubted, whether in a Christian country, any outrage should be committed on the dead. When the breath is out of the body, the man can feel no more. Whatever indignity is offered to his remains, attaches not to him. Yet fallen man is an object of respect for the sake of the living; and if the vengeance of the law were satisfied with the death of the criminal, except when the body is applied to useful purposes for the sake of anatomy, and then it can no longer be called vengeance, the living would be as much deterred from crime as by the present intended means to excite horror also. Still the executions at Derby prove a melioration of feeling on this subject, and let us hope that a farther melioration may not be called for for ages to come. Another proof of the barbarity of our ancestors has been brought forth to public notice by a singular appeal to a mode of It is not necessary to expatiate on the absurdity of trying a case by single combat. It is felt by the whole nation; and most probably, our statute-book will be cleared in the next sessions of parliament from this stain upon it. Yet many persons, who can see at once the folly of this expedient, will not be the less ready to justify an appeal to arms, in the case of a dispute between two nations. Has not such an appeal been nine times out of ten equally absurd? And does not à great responsibility lie upon one or other of the nations, for the blood shed in the war? This is a serious question; and, if the nations engaging in the combat, profess the Christian religion, how greatly is its wickedness aggravated, if it takes up arms in an unjust or an unnecessary war! In such cases, many excuse themselves as not participating in the guilt of the country which is in fault, because, they say, our voice could not be heard; but this will certainly not excuse those, who, by their language in conversation or in sermons, encourage the spirit of war, and foment, instead of assuaging, the causes of discord. The shedding of men's blood involves an awful responsibility; and whether it be by the single combat in lists, witnessed by judges, or by nations in the field of battle, or by individuals, according to the preposterous notions of honour, in duel, the voice of the avenger of blood cannot be stifled. The curse of the first-born,Cain, rests upon the murderer. Yet these sentiments will meet with a sneer. from the men of this world. Even the other day, a duel was announced between a foreign prince and a general, with all the circumstances of time and place, and a set of seconds on each side. Unhappy wretches! Little do ye think of the value of your own souls, and the blindness, wickedness and folly of your prejudices. The parliament of France is assembled, and a great question is brought before them, that of the liberty of the press. It will, probably, end in the victory, as it is termed, of the governors over the governed, in exposing to the penalties of law those who have the courage to speak the truth. There cannot be a doubt that the pen, as well as the tongue, may be guilty of great offences; yet in the prevention of them, care must be taken, that greater injury is not done to the cause of virtue and truth, by the laws against supposed libellers, than could be produced by the worst effusions of the worst of men. The debates upon this subject will be interesting, and afford matter for deep reflection. Yet, in spite of every thing, the press is so powerful an engine, that the maddest governors will find it out of their power to subdue it. Good governors will never be afraid of it. Its benefits are far superior to the trifling inconveniences that may occasionally result from it. Fire is a most destructive element; yet, who would consent to have his grates destroyed, because houses have been burnt down? NEW PUBLICATIONS On the Death of the Princess Charlotte. Biographical Memoir of the Public and Private Life of the Princess Charlotte of Wales and Saxe Coburg. 8vo. A Cyprus Wreath for the Tomb of her late Roval Highness, &c. By J. Coote, J. Gilliam, and others. Foolscap 8vo. Frontispiece, Likeness and Pac Simile. The Mourning Isles, an Elegy, occasioned by the Melancholy Death of H. R. Highness. By John D Dwyer. 1s. 6d. England's Hope prematurely cut off. In Parts, 1s. each. By R. Edwards. Portrait. 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Is. 6d. THE Monthly Repository, No. CXLIV.] JER HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. Memoir of the late Rev. Jeremiah Joyce. 【EREMIAH JOYCE, the youngest son of Jeremiah and Hannah Joyce, persons in humble life but of truly respectable character, was born on the 24th of February 1763, at Cheshunt, in the county of Herts. His father carried on at that place for many years the trade of a wool-comber. The subject of this memoir has borne public testimony to his worth as well as that of his other parent, who died only a few months before this affectionate son. He was placed in a • In the Appendix to the sermon published after his liberation from the tower, Mr. Joyce, speaking of his attachment to the principles of liberty, says, that it was "not the effect of sudden impressions, but the consequence of instructions received in early youth. I can remember (says he) nothing of earlier date than the honest indignation of a late highly respected parent, against the measures taken to enslave our brethren across the Atlantic. From him I learned to consider the cause of America as the cause of MAN. His gratitude to the opposers of that unnatural and malignant war was unbounded. The names of CHATHAM, CAMDEN and their coadjutors (the Jacobins of that day) were dear to his heart, and the continual theme of his praise." P. 13. To his mother, Mr. Joyce paid a becoming tribute of gratitude in the last volume of this work. (XI. 110.) She died in her 90th year, February 9, 1816, leaving a high character for personal piety and maternal wisdom, care and tenderness. A few weeks after his mother, March 29th, died an elder brother, Mr. Joshua Joyce, of Essex Street, a man of active and eminent virtue, of whom also Mr. Joyce gave an account in the same volume. (XI. 244.) By an affecting coincidence, bis death took place suddenly on the morning of the day on which Mr. Joyce preached before the Unitarian Society, and indeed appeared for the last time as Secretary to that institution. VOL. XII. 4 x He good school for commou education, in his native village, and afterwards put apprentice to a painter and glazier in the Strand, Westminster. In this site ation, so disadvantageous to a youth whose first object was mental improvement, he gave indications of that, he was afterwards so much distinindustry and perseverance by which guished; for, after labouring all the day in his master's service, he would spend part of the night in the acquilearned, the more desirous was he of sition of knowledge. The more he learning; his views were gradually turned towards the Christian ministry; and at the expiration of his apprenticeship, he determined to prepare himself for assuming the office of a senters, the denomination of Christians teacher amongst the Protestant Disto which his family belonged. was directed and assisted in his preparatory studies by the late Rev. Hugh Worthington, on whose ministry he attended during his apprenticeship, and whom he used to call his "favourite preacher." To this popular speaker and kind-hearted man, Mr. Joyce was ever forward to acknowledge his deep obligations both for his best moral impressions and for the chief advantages of his professional education. His memoir of his deceased benefactor in this work, (VIII. 561-575,) is the best account of Mr. Worthington that has been published, and is highly creditable to the writer's tween him and his early patron a feelings, especially as there was beconsiderable difference of theological opinion, which the latter could not always contemplate with philosophical composure. It must not be omitted, that Mr. Joyce applied himself at this period with great assiduity to the study of the mathematics, in which he received the assistance of Mr, Taylor, the Platonist. In the year 1786, Mr. Joyce was admitted on the foundation of the New College, Hackney, under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. Kippis, Dr. Rees, and Mr. Worthington. Here he remained four years, supported by the liberality of friends and a small patrimony of about two hundred pounds, which he owed to the integrity and generosity of his brother, Mr. Joshua Joyce.' His improvement was answerable to the singular advantages which he enjoyed under his eminent tutors; besides whose lectures, he, with two other pupils, received the instructions of the cele brated Dr. Richard Price, in the higher branches of the mathematics. So pleased was Dr. Price with his appli. cation and behaviour, that at the termination of his academical studies he recommended him to the late Earl Stanhope, as tutor to his eldest son, Lord Mahon, the present Earl. He entered into this noble family in the year 1790, and was connected with it for ten years, being actively and usefully employed in his favourite pursuits of the education of youth and of self-improvement, and rendering himself by his manly integrity, simplicity and modesty, a general favourite. During life he enjoyed, we believe, a remuneration of his services in this flattering connexion. Whatever prospects were opened to him by Earl Stanhope's patronage, he maintained his purpose of devoting himself to the Dissenting ministry, and before and after his engagements at Chevening, he gladly embraced every opportunity of performing the duties of the pulpit. Some of the Dissenters in Kent still remember with gratitude the regularity and zeal with which he officiated amongst them, evidently feeling it to be an honour to retire on the sabbath from the mansion of his noble patron to join in the humble worship of a small society of his Christian brethren. At the time when Mr. Joyce became connected with Earl Stanhope, there was much agitation in the public mind, respecting the great political questions which were forced into controversy by the French RevoluHe had been brought up in the tion. * See Mr. Joyce's obituary of his brother, XI. 244. love of liberty, and his earliest attachments strengthened his patriotic sentiments. In Lord Stanhope's family he was of necessity associated with the leading reformers of the day, of whom no one was more zealous, and it may be added, more enlightened and more consistent than that nobleman himself, Thus educated and connected, he became an active politician. He had none of the intrigue, much less of the simulation and dissimulation, that are usually thought to belong to that character: he saw great and growing corruption in the system of government, and loving his country with a Christian's purity, he was desirous of contributing his talents and exertions to the great and glorious work of reform. He joined in this sentiment with some of the wisest and best men of his day, and particularly of his religious circle: Price and Priestley were ardent political reformists, and their names are amply sufficient to shield the party which they at once supported and adorned from the suspicion of any design which is not honourable to a man and a Christian. Urged by a sense of duty rather than an inclination for the turbulence of political life, Mr. Joyce entered into the Society for Constitutional Information, the only society of the kind to which he ever belonged. An association more respectable, whe ther its object or the rank and character and talents of its members be considered, never was formed. The following extract from its first report will explain its design :-- "In the venerable Constitution handed down to us through a long succession of ages, this is the basis and vital principle, LAWS TO BIND ALL, MUST BE ASSENTED TO BY ALL. "As every Englishman has an equal inheritance in those Laws, and that Constitution which has been provided for their defence, it is, therefore, necessary that every Englishman should know what that Constitution is; when it is safe; and when it is endangered. "To diffuse this knowledge univer. sally through the realm, to circulate it through every village and hamlet, and even to introduce it into the humble dwelling of the cottager, is the wish and the hope of this Society. They trust it is a wish that will be approved by all good men, |