said, it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.' May they give Thee all the glory of whatever success thou shalt be pleased to bestow upon their endea vours. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.'

"O Lord, we desire to feel that we are as nothing before Thee; that our days on the earth are as a shadow, and that there is none abiding; that all things come of Thee; that in thine hand are power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence;' that Thou wouldst convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and

Almighty and most merciful Father, for thy Son's sake, hear, we beseech Thee, these our prayers. We do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O our God,' and for the sake of thy Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; in whose most blessed name, and perfect form of words, we further call upon Thee, saying

"Our Father which art in heaven," &c.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. As I am given to understand that the pages of the Christian Observer are not shut against the petitions of poor unfortunate individuals like myself, I take the liberty of introducing to your notice a part of my domestic history, hoping that I may thus obtain redress for some of the grievances under which I labour.

I am the youngest of seven brothers, belonging to an ancient and highly respectable family. At present we are chiefly known by a set of nicknames, which we had the misfortune to acquire in our travels through a pagan country, where we were forced to worship certain idols, by whose names we have ever since been known. A few well-behaved persons have indeed

attempted to do us more justice, by simply calling us first brother, second brother, &c. according to our ages: but their example has not been generally followed; and, to say the truth, we are not very particular on the subject, as the aforesaid names have, by long usage, become so familiar, that they convey no intentional disrespect, and seldom remind the hearer of their pagan origin. Many sovereigns, and other persons eminent in history, are distinguished chiefly by their nicknames, as the Great, the Fair, the Bald, the Impudent*, so that we do not feel ourselves particularly entitled to complain. I must, however, beg your readers will not confound us

* Emma, daughter of Charlemagne.

with ten rascally fellows who a few years since pretended to our acquaintance, and obtruded themselves on the French Republic in our place. I could tell you many sad tales of that atheistical De cemviri; but as they are now justly sent into banishment, I shall not recal the memory of their atrocities.

And now, sir, you shall hear, in few words, the story of my misfortunes. I have already mentioned that I am the youngest of the family; yet, in many respects, I was considered the most illustrious. I was born at a moment of universal peace and repose, when all nature was order and harmony and perfection. My armorial bear ings were peculiarly splendid; namely, a terrestrial globe, in the expanse of heaven, surrounded by stars, and under it the motto, Creavit; Perfecit; Quievit; Consecravit. My birth day was considered an important era in the family, and was celebrated with peculiar solemnities. No person, who pretended to decency of conduct, thought of doing any thing on that festival but what comported with its dignity; and at one time so strictly was it observed, that any one who had ventured to attend to the ordinary affairs of business on that occasion would have met with severe punishment. Nothing could be more imposing than the spectacle presented at those happy seasons; when, forgetting the cares and vicissitudes of life, my numerous friends devoted themselves to hallowed rites, and every heart was elevated in sacred contemplations. At length, however, circumstances, which it is not necessary to mention on the present occasion, but which were perfectly satisfactory to every considerate observer, rendered it proper to transfer this great festival from my birth day to that of my eldest brother. From that time my slavery began. I am now the drudge of the whole family, and my presence is the sig

nal for all kinds of indignities. So universally am I hated, that young and old, rich and poor, masters and servants, would be glad, I fear, as matters now stand, to blot my birth-day from their calendar. Many who wear decent apparel when they visit my brothers delight in insulting me with rags and filth. I am made to work more hours in the day than any other branch of the family; and am frequently abused because I cannot do all that is laid upon me. I seldom have a farthing in my pocket, and am usually obliged to eat my dinner upon credit. But what pains me most is, that I am compelled to tell lies for all the family. It is fearful to think of the vows and obligations which are imposed upon me, and which were never intended to be fulfilled when they were made. To various classes of tradesmen, I am the unwilling cause of much trouble, and oftentimes I fear of some guilt; for they are so much in the habit of promising, and their customers of requiring of me, more than I could get through if I had half a score pair of hands to work with, that I seldom retire to rest without innumerable broken promises and execrations upon my head. And what is another most serious evil is, that I am obliged to sit up so late at night, that I am scarcely in bed before it is time to begin celebrating my eldest brother's birthday; and with what heart that can be done, after the scene I have been describing, I will leave your readers to judge. And what is as great a grievance as any I have mentioned is, that I seldom get any wages till late at night; so that I am often obliged to retire either supperless or in debt to bed; and my eldest brother bitterly complains, that in consequence of my late hours, he is grossly insulted as he takes his morning rounds, by disrespectful shopkeepers and their customers, who, forgetting his dignity, threaten to kick him out of the street and

shops to be shut, requested the above-mentioned assembly to take their case into consideration; but nothing has yet been done *.

Indeed, to drop the allegory, I had almost said worse than nothing, if we may judge from the manner in which the petitions presented by Lord Kenyon in the House of Lords, and Mr. Courtenay in the House of Commons, were received by certain members. I copy the following paragraph from the newspapers of the day.

"Mr. Lambton could not but feel the greatest disgust at the hypocritical cant which this petition contained. For the petitioners to declare that the circulation of Sunday newspapers prevented them from attending the sacred duties of religion was the most extraordinary assertion he had ever heard. He would never, in his place in that House, hear accusations of this kind made against Sunday newspapers without repelling them. Most of those publications were so carried on as to promote moral as well as political information. He knew of none that taught seditious doctrine; and he conceived, if the petitioners studied to amend their lives at home, instead of attacking the conductors of those publications, their conduct would be far more consonant with the principles of the Christian religion.”

The "hypocritical cant" of the newsvender's petition is not, I think, easy to discover; or even if the men be hypocrites, their argument is sound. Let your readers judge for themselves. They stated as follows:

"That many of your petitioners, unwilling to live by the perpetual breach of the Sabbath, and in the practice and promotion of immorality, have made great pecuniary sacrifices, rather than engage in a traffic so inconsistent with Christian principles, and so disgraceful to a Christian country: while as to others of the petitioners, their circumstances unhappily forbid their reject ing so considerable a portion of the news-business, and throwing it into the hands of others who feel no such scruples. At the same time, it is with the utmost reluctance, that your petitioners engage in an occupation, which not only necessarily prevents their attendance on the public services of the church, but more than usually fatigues their bodies and minds on that sacred day

I should add, that my eldest brother was not drawn into this vile habit without many previous scruples of conscience, to overcome

which is especially appointed as a day of rest; and obliges them to employ upon it a number of extra hands in the distribution of the Sunday papers.

"Your petitioners also beg leave, in addition, to state their full impression and belief, that the publication of Sun. day papers has a decided tendency to injure and deprave the public morals, not only as respects the profanation of the day in the employment of printers and newsmen, and in the temptation thus afforded to multitudes of readers, to absent themselves from public wor ship, and to frequent public houses; but also in consequence of many of such papers giving currency to principles which are manifestly disloyal, seditious, and profane, withont the possibility of your petitioners exercising any discri

mination in their distribution."

Now, sir, I see no hypocrisy in persons wishing to relinquish a part of their profits, or in asking the legisla ture to enable them to keep its laws. But be this as it may, if Sunday pa pers were of any assignable benefit to morals or religion, there might be some excuse for retaining them. Yet even in that most favourable of cases, and supposing them to be as loyal and moral as they are generally otherwise, who would assert that a delay of twentyfour hours in communicating their information would be any public injury? If revenue, as I fear, is the main ob ject of consideration, it is surely most pitiful to weigh a few thousand groats of stamp-duty against the impiety of the practice, and its deeply injurious effects upon society. Mr. Lambton, it seems, thinks it "the most extraordinary assertion he ever heard," that men cannot attend the sacred duties of religion," while they are running up and down the streets blowing horns and delivering newspapers on the day which God has commanded to be kept holy. What the honourable gentleman's ideas of" sacred duties " may be I am yet to learn; as well as what is the valuable "moral and political information," contained in such publications as Thelwall's Champion, Hunt's Examiner, or Wooler's Gazette.

I shall close this protracted note with