For fools unqualified:

While a fool sate under the Speaker's wig,

And sate so speakerly,

And yawn'd as wide and look'd as big
As solemner fools than he.

Such laws they pass'd! no end had they
But to keep their follies alive,
To make the foolisher many the prey

Of the drones who fool'd the hive: They were laws made brother and brother foes,

Made Fraud and Rapine strong,— Yet never a fool in the nation rose,

Το say such laws were wrong.

Yet these had a sort of wild success,—
For fools upon every side

Sprung up, like weeds in a wilderness,
And rankly multiplied.

The 'Few' were fools, and the 'Many'

the same;

And whatever the first might do, The second would hold them free from blame,

And follow their folly too.

And the fellows would bawl till their throats were hoarse

'Hurrah for the folly new!

Big fools as you are, good lords o' the

course,

We are sorrier fools than you.'

There were fools who starved at a granary-door,

And fools who help'd them die, And talk'd, as they turn'd the corpses o'er,

Of the beauty of loyalty;

There were fools made clothes for others to wear,

Yet went themselves unclad;

And tools:-but the list of the madmen

here

Would drive the hearer mad.

To be sure there were some few wise ones' thought

This folly must have an end; But the wisest of them were fools who taught

That folly itself would mend. [shops, "Tis best not meddle, but mind your And grumble when nothing is spent, And shut your eyes for the wonderful crops From Folly's firmament.

There were laws for the better making So time pass'd on, as great a fool

of thieves,

As any of all the rest,

Though he learn'd, 'twas only in Folly's school

Some change of folly at best: Till the very shell o' the world got crack'd,

And the folly-it all fell through; And though your worships may doubt the fact

I woke, and found it true.

SPARTACUS.

Open your mouths and shut your eyes and see what heaven will send you' was the favourite maxim of one of their radical politicians, the foun. der of the Nonintervention School.

Ellustrative Notices.

A CORRESPONDENT, who was formerly at Harmony, has made a visit to the Redemption Society's estate in South Wales, situate ten miles from Caermarthen, and twenty-two from Swansea in Caermarthenshire. He writes-'I and Mr. West, of Leeds, went together-we staid on the farm two days and two nights. We examined the land and found it good. The two farms comprise 150 acres. The society occupies one farm, near ninety acres-Mr. Williams the other. A good stream of water divides them. There is some useful timber, good clay, and stone, with coal and lime. Mr. R. Swindles is farm superintendent. They have about twenty sheep, twelve cows, one bull, two horses, six or seven pigs, and some poultry. Altogether I was much pleased, as the means exist, with good management, of a completely successful experiment. I have a letter informing me that they have got their wheat in, and the oates will soon follow, in good condition.'

The Lincoln Mercury, No. 8049, says-Steps are being taken to promote a union of all the Sunday school teachers of Lincoln, for the purpose of founding branch Temperance Societies in the different schools. Much additional good would be done by the Sunday schools if some portion of the sabbath was devoted to the teaching of writing to those who have no other means of obtaining a knowledge of the art. Writing, some years since, was taught in the Wesleyan Sunday schools, and the obtaining of a good so conducive to the future moral and religious welfare of children could be no desecration of the day,'

'London,' says Eliza Cook's Journal, 'is a centre of all free movements; it is a very refuge from despotism and oppression of all kinds. The refugees of all countries flock to it-Poles, French, Italians, and Spanish. There you may at present find Louis Blanc and Metternich; Guizot, Caussidiére, and Polignac; refugees from the vengeance of people and their governments. But a year ago, London was equally the resort of refugees from the despotism of kings; of such men as Mazzini the Italian, Bem the Hungarian, and Freiligrath the German patriot. These men are now engaged in manfully working out the emancipation of their countrymen; and may all success attend them in their efforts.'

The Times, of August 28, remarked :-' Bristol has long been noted as one of the strongholds of Methodism, and the recent proceedings at Conference, in expelling certain of the ministers for refusing to deny their connection with the Fly Sheets, has caused much excitement there. The following address, signed by ninety local preachers, class leaders, &c., has been issued:-We, the undersigned trustees, stewards, local preachers, and other officers of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, in the Bristol north and south circuits, viewing calmly and dispassionately the deliberations and discussions of the late Conference, feel grieved at the want of fairness which has been exhibited in not allowing every member of the Conference a full opportunity for freely expressing his views and opinions. We consider the principle upon which three devoted ministers of Christ have been ignominiously expelled from the Wesleyan connection to be an infringement on our liberties as Englishmen, a violation of the spirit of Wesleyan Methodism as established by our venerable founder, and an enactment unprecedented except in the annals of a corrupt church. We know not how sufficiently to express our feelings of regret and surprise that three zealous, devoted, and high-minded men, without a stain on their moral or ministerial character, should be punished with the utmost possible rigour for their steady adhesion to independent principles. We therefore resolve, not only to give this expression of our opinions, but, in conjunction with the Wesleyan body at large, to take such measures as will, if possible, insure justice being rendered to those who, whether expelled or censured, are deeply injured, and prevent a repetition of proceedings which are as inimical to the interest of vital Christianity as they are opposed to the prosperity and wellbeing of our own society. In accordance with these views, we are of opinion that a meeting of the officers and members of the Wesleyan Society should be held at an early period.' G. J. H.

The Hanover Square Rooms were refused for the ANAND RELIGION OF SHAKSPERE. By

THE REASONER

No. 12.-NEW SERIES.] EDITED BY G. J. HOLYOAKE.

[PRICE 2d.

AN EXCULPATORY WORD FOR THE REV. MR.

CHAPMAN, OF COVENTRY..

'PUNCH,' who has of late pandered to the conventional friends of order, family, and property,' in his treatment of the struggles of the despairing and misruled classes and peoples of neighbouring nations-or who, if he has not pandered, has manifested most conscientious coarseness and brutality in many things said both of Chartists and Young Irelandershas nevertheless, as Spartacus sings in his World of Folly,' ' lucid fits,' and now and then dresses out political and clerical fools in their proper motley, caps and bells. In this spirit, Punch has had a word to say on the five C's-the Rev, Mr. Chapman, the Candle Converting Clergyman of Coventry. Our hunch-backed satirist thus discourseth upon this 'Light of the Church,' the Coventry Bonner :

'Once upon a time there was celebrated a goodly auto-da-fe in the most catholic city of Seville. A man was burned at the stake; charred by the fires of the church. 'Dearly beloved friends," said the Grand Inquisitor, pointing out to the faithful the shapeless stuff that was once a human being," most pious people, I sorely grieve that out of the very tenderness of my conscience, my love for our burnt-up brother (you heard how he yelled in the flames !) I have been compelled to do this; but the sad, the afflicting truth is this-I found him of an obtuse intellect, of a lethargic temperament, and of a moral sense exceedingly debased. And

so-so I had him burnt to a cinder."

'The Rev. Mr. Chapman, late chaplain of Coventry gaol, scorches the hand of Mary Ball (sentenced to die, and since executed), blisters the convict's flesh over a candle; and for the like reason ascribed by the Inquisitor-Mary Ball was "of an obtuse intellect, of a lethargic temperament, and of a moral sense exceedingly debased." The Pope has reestablished the Inquisition at Rome. Of course, as a Protestant, Mr. Chapman cannot become an active officer of the Institution. We trust, however, that Pius will find the Conventry chaplain some honorary distinction. Such candle-light ought not to be hidden under a bushel.' Now we have an exculpatory word to say for Mr. Chapman, which none of his friends have dared to say for him, and none of his opponents have taken the opportunity of saying for him. The Church, Episcopal

Since this paper was penned we have received an article by a correspondent, W. A.,' of Dalston, entitled The Coventry Gaol Chaplain Tried by Scripture.' The writer goes over a field of inquiry un trodden upon this question, which he is well fitted to treat. We shall insert his article, not only as illustrating somewhat the views above written, but also as presenting this public question in a useful and orthodox light.-ED.

[No. 173, V. Vil.]

or Evangelical, are never grateful for anything which we do or say for them-this shall not, however, prevent us doing them justice.

It appears to us that what the Rev. Mr. Chapman has done was both logical and humane-according to the faith which he held, and the church which he represented. He burnt Mary Ball with a candle, that happily he might save her from being burnt by the Devil in hell. The language in which we are obliged to tell the fact startles by its ferocitybut it is the language of theology, and a very fashionable theology too. Of all the Christian sects of this land, none-except the Unitarians, who are not considered Christians by any body but themselves, or people their way of thinking-none save the Unitarians disown the idea that the torments of hell will be torments of fire. The whole body of Christians, meeting under Cathedral domes, before Catholic fanes, in Presbyterian kirks, and Dissenting chapels, all hold this terrible belief. Then where was the brutality of Mr. Chapman in making Mary Ball taste the unutterable torments which she risked, by what he held to be her hardness of heart? Little as we should like to fall into the hands of the Inquisitors of the Holy Office-little as we should relish their logic if applied to us, we should be compelled to hold them justified according to their faith. We might protest against them, Humanity might condemn them—but their religion would hold them blameless.

Let us hear Mr. Chapman's own defence, which is not to be derided on the ground which the Morning Chronicle has taken. When he held Mary Ball's hand over the candle, she struggled to get it away (we are transcribing from Mr. Chapman's letter to the Home Secretary). He released her hand, which he had blistered. He then endeavoured to get it again, to hold it over the candle a little longer. She declined the favour, when he addressed her to this effect-'Do not imagine that I have been influenced by any feelings of cruelty towards you, in thus placing your hands over the candle; I have done this to teach you the value of your immortal soul. If you flinch from such a trifling amount of pain as this which I have been inflicting upon you, how will you endure the torments of an eternal fire hereafter, which will inevitably be your portion unless you make an ample confession of your guilt before you die? We believe this defence. Of two evils Mr. Chapman adopted the lesser. He logically deemed it better that Mary Ball should be blistered here than burn eternally hereafter-and he tried the experiment from what, to him, was a humane motive, however brutal it seems and is-judged by the tenets of a more humane faith than that of which he is the minister. Nor can the Quarter Sessions of Coventry help themselves, except by putting another clergyman of the Unitarian persuasion in his place or one of easy faith, who will let sinners go to hell ther own way. All Christians who believe in the literality of the horrible words elsewhere written, viz., he who believes shall be saved, and he who believes not shall be damned'-that is, as it is further written, shall 'go out into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; all who believe this must accept the Rev. Mr. Chapman's defence. Yet even Sir George Grey has refused it, and approved his suspension.

The fact is this that Mr. Chapman is a simple hearted man, who holds his creed in truth and earnestness, and who thinks it is to be carried out