policy to which instinct had directed us as best suited to our nature; and secondly, in following the example of man before his reason had become matured." "If by the maturity of reason," replied the spirit,

be meant that fullness of knowledge in which mañ shall be acquainted with every fact in nature, who will venture to predict that that period shall ever arrive? But if you refer to that clear perception of particular truths which, commanding universal assent by their consistency, become the principles of science, mankind can offer no example worthy of imitation in the conduct of their affairs. If a system in all respects adapted to the faculties and exigencies of man were once put in practice by a single community, that system would speedily be applied in every country where the light of knowledge was admitted. Survey the most civilized portions of the globe, and you there behold a variety of forms of government, but none without the germs of discord and misery, abundantly testifying that the reason of man in the art of legislation is to this day crude and imperfect."

"But whence does it arise," said Orpheus, "that man should not have been able to discover truth on a subject of such vital importance to his happiness, and one which it might have been expected would engross his whole attention ?"

'Truth,” replied the spirit, "can be elicited only by observation and experiment. The mechanic who invents a superior implement in husbandry, constructs the machine without the necessity of previously convincing the judgement of others: but the theorist in legislation is unable to exhibit his combined principles in operation without the aid of large numbers; and as a sufficient number of individuals cannot for a time be induced to co-operate, he is compelled to wait the further progress of knowledge for his practical illustration."

"But without this practical experiment,” rejoined Orpheus, "my friend Emilius has ventured to extol a scheme recently promulgated, but which was

"The Deity seems to have said to man, 'I endow thee with sensibility, the blind instrument of my will, that being incapable of penetrating into the depth of my views, thou mayest accomplish all my designs. I place thee under the guardianship of pleasure and pain; both shall watch over thy thoughts and thy actions; they shall beget thy passions, excite thy friendship, thy tenderness, thine aversion, thy rage: they shall kindle thy desires, thy fears, thy hopes; they shall take off the veil of truth; they shall plunge thee in error, and after having made thee conceive a thousand absurd and different systems of morality and government, shall one day discover to thee the simple principles, on the unfolding of which depends the order and happiness of the moral world.'"-Helvetius.

deemed chimerical by the bees in general, and consequently rejected."

"I had long since," said Emilius, "by contemplation, detected the causes of good and evil under our existing polity; and having patiently and thoroughly investigated the plan which was first proposed to mankind, I found it a combination of those principles alone, that have ever been productive of good order and happiness in society."

It

Upon this allusion to the science of Social Union, the Genius displayed great animation, and thus replied: "I heard of that inimitable system, and hailed it as the fruition of those cheering and delightful anticipations in which poets and philosophers of all preceding ages have indulged. is true, as Emilius has stated, that it was previously offered to mankind, but their prejudices for a time have hindered them from forming a just estimate of its merits, and from perceiving the glorious prospects that await them upon its general adoption. As you, Orpheus, and others, have been misled in attempting to follow the example of mankind while they were ignorant of the most important of all the sciences, I will exercise that power which belongs to the spirit of poetry, and conduct you to a spot from whence you shall behold communities formed

upon true principles, and nearly a century in advance of the present period. I direct you to assemble on the Hills tomorrow about midnight, when

I will again appear. In the mean time collect the dead bodies, and having burnt them, deposit the ashes in an urn to be erected as a lasting memorial of your fatal departure from the laws of nature."

CHAPTER II.

"Umbritius here his sullen silence broke,

And turn'd on Rome indignant as he spoke,—
Since virtue droops, he cried, without regard,
And honest toil scarce hopes a poor reward;
Since every morrow sees my means decay,
And still makes less the little of today;
I hasten there where all his labours past,
The flying artist found repose at last "."

Gifford's Juvenal, 3d Satire.

ON the following night the bees were assembled on the Hills in considerable numbers long before the appointed hour. At midnight the genius of Allan Ramsay was seen to arise surrounded by an immense cloud, which opening in front displayed his figure at full length; although no flame was visible, the whole was exceedingly luminous. His hair of light brown was entwined with a chaplet of flowers, in

a Perhaps there can be found no better commentary upon the evils inflicted by individual competition upon ancient Rome, than is contained in the Satires of Juvenal. For a commentary upon the dissensions, follies, and misery, springing from the same source in modern times, consult the columns of a daily

newspaper.