The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction. Volume 14, No. 391, September 26, 1829. Various

hurdles, throng on throng,

      Whole multitudes are offered to appease

      Some angry god, whose will and power of wrong

      Vainly they thus essayed to soothe and please—

      Alas! that thoughts so gross man's noblest powers should seize.

      But, bowed beneath the cross, see! prostrate fall

      The mummeries that long enthralled our isle;

      So perish error! and wide over all

      Let reason, truth, religion ever smile:

      And let not man, vain, impious man defile

      The spark heaven lighted in the human breast;

      Let no enthusiastic rage, no sophist's wile

      Lull the poor victim into careless rest,

      Since the pure gospel page can teach him to be blest.

      Weak, trifling man, O! come and ponder here

      Upon the nothingness of human things—

      How vain, how very vain doth then appear

      The city's hum, the pomp and pride of kings;

      All that from wealth, power, grandeur, beauty springs,

      Alike must fade, die, perish, be forgot;

      E'en he whose feeble hand now strikes the strings

      Soon, soon within the silent grave must rot—

      Yet Nature's still the same, though we see, we hear her not.

      1

      "Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.

      2

      The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and reserved for extreme possible emergencies, or for certain military pu

1

"Literary Gazette," Sept. 19, 1829.

2

The propellers, I am informed, are not absolutely discarded. They are now not fixed, but movable, and reserved for extreme possible emergencies, or for certain military purposes.

3

Yorkshire. This wonderful assemblage lies scattered in groups, covering a surface of nearly forty acres of heathy moor. The numerous rocking-stones, rock-idols, altars, cannon rocks, &c. evidently point out this spot as having been used by the Druids in their horrid and mysterious ceremonies. The position of some of these rocks is truly astonishing; one in particular resting upon a base of a few inches, overhangs on all sides many feet; while others seem suspended and balanced as if they hung in air.

4

Human sacrifices formed part of the religious rites of the Druids.