but Balaam; befides it was, as we may fay, a narrow road, he could but juft, pafs; therefore they must all be justled, together in a strange manner, if we fuppofe that the rest heard, &c."

yet he would go, and fo the ass fpake, &c...

This, Sir, I think, is a fufficient fpecimen of fo useful a fociety, and may serve to convince the world, that it cannot be ridiculous to talk about things impoffible to be determined.

he was not then living, bowfom dever, 'tis fcripture, and must be taken on that authority; 'tis plain matter of fact narration, in literal meaning; to be fure then the afs fpoke, but it is won. derful, that's certain; but as to the queftion, whether any body heard him befides the diviner, I can't fay; the fervants might hear, or they might have left their mafter, or they might be a long way behind. We know St. Paul, in the Acts of the Apoftles, where it is faid, they faw the light, but heard not the voice, and therefore, I think, they might not hear the afs, or, if they did, it was only the braying; fo that they could not diftinguish the words."

Now Mr. Snipabus prepared his mouth for pronunciation, with a hem! a ha! and a hem! and thus difplayed his eloquence: "Why, it can't be wonderfully for an ass to speak, fór you know Cot-a-meety does many more greater miracles in fcripture, even he can do every thing, and leek-wife made the dumb to speak, and also that the afs did speak is very fartin; for the apoftles say, the dumb ass rebuked the madness of the prophet; now. Balaam was a wicked man, even fo, that his heart was set on the wages of unrighteousness, he faddled his ass in a hurry to get his reward, but the angel met him in the way, and would have killed him. Moreover, his fword was drawn, but even the afs fell down under him, and fpake unto him; and fo leekwife though he could not go beyond the vard of the Lord, though they give him his houfe zull of feelver or gold,

From the COMPLETE MAGAZINE.

An Account of the Colossus at Rhodes,

tue, erected at Rhodes, and menHIS Coluffus, or gigantic fta

tioned by many writers of reputation, was always dignified with the first place of this kind. It was defigned to reprefent the god Apollo, and dedicated to the fun, in height seventy cubits, or one hundred and five feet English meafure, and in the fpan of the legs fo wide, that one of its feet stood on one fide of the harbour's mouth, and the other on the oppofite fhore, in fuch a manner, that fhips under fail could pass between its legs, and every part was caft in just proportion: the thumb being so big, that few men could scarce grasp it with both their arms, and every finger as big as an ordinary sized statue.

This prodigious ftatue was made of caft brafs, by Chares, a difciple of Lyfippus, who spent twelve years in making it, at the expence of the goverment of Rhodes, for the purposes of a lighthoufe, to direct the courfe of the navigation on their coaft, and to conduct hips fafe into their port.

After it had ftood in defiance of thun

der and lightning, storms of wind, and many destroying hurricanes, for 1300 years, this beautiful and ufefu) statue was thrown down and demolished by an earthquake, and almost destroyed the navigation at the entrance of that harbour where it fell, and laid till the Saracens, having made themselves masters of Rhodes, fold the ruins of this famous Coloffus to a Jew, who loaded nine hundred camels with the metal that remained, and efcaped the injuries of time, and other incidental wafte; fo

that,

that, allowing 800 weight to each load, besides the lofs by ruft and theft, it weighed, at the time of its fale, 720,000 lb. or 360 tons: a prodigious quantity of brafs to be employed in forming one fingle statue! Some of the moderns have doubted whether there ever was such a statue at Rhodes as the Coloffus above defcribed, and indeed, the extravagant dimenfions afcribed to it, would tempt one to doubt the truth of its relation but being mentioned by many writers of reputation, it is more than probable, that there was at Rhodes an image of a prodigious fize, dedicated to the fun; though the hyperbolical or figurative expreffions ufed by fome writers concerning it, may have given occafion to others to magnify its dimenfions confiderably beyond the truth.

fo

From the COMPLETE MAGAZINE.

Lord Beilhaven's firft Speech on the Union between Scotland and England.

My lord chancellor,

WH

HEN I confider this affair of an Union betwixt the two nations, as it is expreffed in the feveral articles thereof, and now the fubject of our deliberation; I find my mind crowded with variety of very melancholy thoughts, and I think it my duty to difburthen myself of fome of them, by laying them before, and expofing them to the ferious confideration of this honourable house.

I think I fee a free and independent kingdom delivering up that, which all the world have been fighting for, fince the days of Nimrod; yea that, for which most of the empires, kingdoms, states, principalities and dukedoms of Europe, are at this very time engaged in the most bloody and cruel wars that ever were, viz. a power to manage their own affairs by themselves, without the affiftance and counsel of any other.

I think I fee a national church,

founded upon a rock, secured by a claim of right, hedged and fenced about by the strictest and pointedeft legal fanction that fovereignty could contrive, volun tarily defcending into a plain, upon an equal level with Jews, Papifts, Socinians, Arminians, Anabaptists, and other fectaries, &c.

I think I fee the noble and honourable peerage of Scotland, whose valiant predeceffors led armies against their enemies upon their own proper charges and expences, now divefted of their follovers and vaffalages, and put upon fuch an equal foot with their vaffals, that I think I fee a petty English excifeman receive more homage and refpect, than what was formerly paid to their quondam Mackallanmores.

I think I fee the prefent peers of Scotland, whofe noble ancestors conquered provinces, over-run countries, reduced and fubjected towns and fortified places, exacted tribute throught great part of England, now walking in the court of requests like fo many English attornies, laying afide their walking-fwords, when in company with the English peers, leaft their felf-defence i fhould be found murder.

T

I think I fee the honourable eftates' of barons, the bold affertors of the nation's rights and liberties in the worst of times, now fetting a watch upon their lips, and a guard upon their tongues, left they be found guilty of fcandalum magnatum.

I think I fee the royal ftate of boroughs walking their defolate streets, hanging down their heads under difappointments; wormed out of all the branches of their old trade, uncertain what hand to turn to, neceffitate to become apprentices to their unkind neigh bours; and yet after all, finding their trade fo fortified by companies, and fecured by preferiptions, that they defpair of any fuccefs therein.

I think I fee our learned judges laying afide the practiques and decifions, studying the common law of England, gravelled with certiorari's, nifi prius's, writs of error, verdicts indovar, ejetti

one

one firmæ, injunctions, demurs, &c. and frighted with appeals and advocations, because of the new regulations and rectifications they may meet with. I think I fee the valiant and gallant foldiery either fent to learn the plantation trade abroad; or at home petitioning for a small fubfiftence as the reward of their honourable exploits, while their old cores are broken, the common foldiers left to beg, and the youngest English cores kept standing.

I think I fee the honeft induftrious tradefman loaded with new taxes and impofitions, disappointed of the equivalents, drinking water in place of ale, eating his faltlefs pottage, petitioning for encouragement to his manufactories, and answered by counter-petitions.

In short, I think I fee the laborious ploughman, with his corn spoiling up on his hands, for want of fale; curfing the day of his birth, dreading the expence of his burial, and uncertain whether to marry or do worse.

I think I fee the incurable difficulties of the landed men, fettered under the golden chain of equivalents; their pretty daughters petitioning for want of husbands, and their fons for want of employments.

I think I fee our mariners delivering up their fhips to their Dutch partners; and what through preffes and neceffity, earning their bread as underlings in the royal English navy.

But above all, my lord, I think I fee our ancient mother Caledonia, like Cafar fitting in the midst of our fenate, ruefully looking round about her,-covering herself with her royal garment, attending the fatal blow, and breathing out her last, with an Et tu quoque mi fili fquadrone.

Are not thefe, my lord, very afflicting thoughts? and yet they are but the leaft part fuggefted to me by these difhonourable articles. Should not the confideration of these things vivify these dry bones of ours? fhould not the memory of our noble predeceffors valour and constancy rouse up drooping spirits? Are our noble predeceffors fouls got fo

far into the English cabbage-stock_and cauliflowers, that we should shew the leaft inclination that way? are our eyes fo blinded are our ears fo deafened? are our hearts fo hardened? are our tongues fo flattered? are our hands fo fettered, that in this our day, I fay, my lord, that in this our day, we should not mind the things that concern the very being and well-being of our ancient kingdom, before they be hid from our eyes!

No, my lord, God forbid: Man's extremity is God's opportunity: He is a prefent help in time of need, and a deliverer, and that right early. Some unforeseen providence will fall out, that may caft the ballance. Some Joseph or other will fay, Why do you strive together, fince you are brethren? None can deftroy Scotland, fave Scotland's felf; hold your hands from the pen, you are fecure. Some Judah or other will fay, Let not our hands be upon the lad, he is our brother. There will be a Jehovah-jireh, and some ram will be caught in the thicket, when the bloody knife is at our mother's throat. Let us up then, my lord, and let our noble patriots behave themselves like men, and we know not how foon a bleffing may come.

My lord, I wish from my heart, that this my vision prove not as true, as my reafons for it are probable; I defign not at this time to enter into the merits of any one particular article; I intend this difcourse as an introduction to what I may afterwards fay upon the whole debate, as it fails in before this honourable houfe; and therefore in the further profecution of what I have to say, I fhall infift upon fome few particulars very necessary to be understood, before we enter into the detail of fo important

a matter.

My lord chancellor, the greatest ho-` nour that was done unto a Roman, was to allow him the glory of a triumph the greatest and most dishonourable pu~ · nifhment was that of parricide. He that was guilty of parricide was beaten with rods upon his naked body, till the

blood

blood gufhed out of all the veins of his body; then he was fowed up in a leathern fack called a Calcus, with a cock, a viper, and an ape, and thrown headlong into the fea.

My lord, patricide is a greater crime than parricide all the world over.

In a triumph, my lord, when the conqueror was riding in his triumphal chariot, crowned with laurels, adorned with trophies, and applauded with huzza's, there was a monitor appointed to stand behind him, to warn him, "not to be high-minded, nor puffed up with over weening thoughts of himfelf;" and to his chariot were tied a whip and a bell, to mind him, "that for all his glory and grandeur, he was accounta ble to the people for his adminiftration, and would be punished as other men, if found guilty,

"

The greatest honour amongst us, my lord, is to reprefent the fovereign's facred perfon in parliament; and in one particular it appears to be greater than that of a triumph, because the whole legislative power feems to be wholly in truited with him if he give the royal affent to an act of the eftates, it becomes a law obligatory upon the fubject, tho' contrary or without any inftructions from the fovereign: if he refuse the royal affent to a vote in parliament, it cannot be a law, tho he has the fovereign's particular and positive inftructions for it.

His grace the duke of Queensberry, who now represents her majefty in this feffion of parliament, hath had the honour of that great trust as often, if not more than any Scotfman ever had; he hath been the favourite of two fucceffive fovereigns; and I cannot but commend his conftancy and perfeverance, that, notwithstanding his former difficulties and unsuccessful attempts, and maugre fome other fpecialities,not yet determined, that his grace has yet had the refolution to undertake the most unpopular measures laft. If his grace fucceed in this affair of an Union, and that it prove for the happiness and welfare of the nation, then he justly merits to have a ftatue of gold erected for himself: but

if it shall tend to the entire destruction and abolition of our nation; and that we the nation's trustees fhall go into it; then I must say, that a whip and a bell, a cock, a viper, and an ape, are but too fmall punishments for any such bold unnatural undertakingand complaifance.

That I may pave a way, my lord, to a full, calm, and free reasoning upon this affair, which is of the last consequence unto this nation; I fhall mind this ho nourable house, that we are the fucceffors of our noble predecessors, who founded our monarchy, framed our laws, amended, altered and corrected them, from time to time, as the affairs and circumftances of the nation did require, without the affistance or advice of any foreign power or potentate, and who, during the time of two thoufand years, have handed them down to us, a free independent nation, with the hazard of their lives and fortunes; fhall we not then argue for that which our progenitors have purchased for us at fo dear a rate, and with fo much immortal honour and glory? God forbid. Shall the hazard of a father unbind the ligaments of a dumb fon's tongue, and thall we hold our peace when our patria is in danger? I speak this, my lord, that I may encourage every individual member of this houfe, to speak their mind freely. There are many wife and prudent men amongst us, who think it not worth their while to open their mouths; there are others, who can speak very well and to good purpose, who shelter themselves under the shameful cloak of filence, from a fear of the frowns of great men and parties. I have obferved, my lord, by my experience, the greatest number of fpeakers in the most trivial affairs; and it will always prove fo, while we come not to the right understanding of our oath de fideli, whereby we are bound, not only to give our vote, but our faithful advice in parliament as we should anfwer to God; and in our ancient laws, the reprefentatives of the honou rable barons, and the royal boroughs, are termed spokesmen: it lies upon your lordship therefore, particularly to take

notice