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Tombstone nor heaving sod could impede the headlong course of the delirious barber. Over these he leapt, over those he tumbled, huddled, scrambled, till, gaining at length the path, he fled straight on, and, pitching himself into the high road, ran pell-mell against a female foot passenger walking swiftly along.

"Lord have mercy upon us! Is that you, Singe?" cried his wife (for it was indeed she). "How did you get out? Surely you were not tired of staying by yourself so long at home."

"How came I out?" said the barber, wildly, "that's the question. Tired of staying so long at home! I was tired of staying so long at my long home. Why, you've buried me alive; if it hadn't been for two fellows-mercy on us, what an escape!

Here an explanation took place of the most exciting description. "Well, come home now," urged the wife, when this indispensable conference was at an end; 66 we shall be discovered. To-morrow morning early we can escape. I have got the ten pounds from the Society, and "

"I'll not go to London-hang the Seven Dials!" cried the barber. "I've had enough of these schemes. I shall expose all. I shall expose Slash; why, he wanted to cut me up, after all. I'll show him that I'm cut and come again. But this is all owing to Frizzle; d -n that Frizzle."

Almost as rapidly as these words were spoken did Singe hoist up the tattered train of his long bedgown, and, turning suddenly round, rushed in the direction of the surgeon's house, which he soon reached, and now, with gliding motion, entered through the shop door.

Slash was at that moment braying a difficult compound in a mortar, but, hearing a slight noise, looked up, when his eyes lighted upon the mischief-fraught countenance of Singe. I know not what degree of wild instinct it was that impelled him to launch the pestle at the head of this fearful apparition, but Singe evaded the deadly missile, and making a lounge forwards, as one skilled in the use of the small sword, entrapped with vicious gripe the nose of the doctor between his fingers,

"Wretch! wouldst thou disturb the repose of the dead?" said the barber, in a hollow voice.

"Awful spirit!" stammered Slash.

"I'm

"Awful fiddlestick!" cried the barber, relaxing his hold. alive, and I don't care who knows it, and I mean to expose your iniquities. Good night." And the barber darted from the premises without further word.

As he hurried across the green a light attracted his attention. He knew it of old; it was a cheering ray shot from the parlour of the Griffin. He was irresistibly drawn to a spot so hallowed by recollections of former happiness, and, peeping over the blind, beheld two of his quondam boon companions.

"Yes, he certainly had many faults," said one (it was Grim the farrier)" a shockingly vain man, and, for my part, I never could see what for."

"And not master of his business either," said the other (it was

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Rusk the baker)" a vile shaver, and such hair-cutting! Why, Frizzle"

That hated name was enough. It awoke two tigers in the bosom of the listener.

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Dash my wig if that isn't too bad," he cried, and, once more lifting up his long bedgown, he pounced upon the handle of the door and precipitated himself into the middle of the room.

To paint the mortal terror of these utterly confounded customers were a vain attempt. Grim bit off the end of his pipe, which he crushed to powder between his teeth. Rusk fell back, with a loud shriek, into the coal-scuttle; while Spigot, who was at that instant entering from the bar-door with a pot of ale, stood rooted to the spot, the toe of one foot barely resting on the floor, till at length his frenzy of fear found vent in a prolonged and complaining whine.

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Spigot, I am alive, fear not," said Singe, mildly, beckoning to him to approach; "hand me over that pot of ale, I am thirsty."

And now a vast assemblage of neighbours dashed into the parlour, among whom Slash the surgeon struggled to obtain precedence.

"Make way for the doctor-room for the doctor," was echoed on all sides, and Slash at last was permitted to approach his contemplated victim. Seizing the barber by the wrist, as though he were about to feel his pulse, he drew him aside and said with emotion, "Singe, don't reveal that unpleasant circumstance." "What will you give me?" demanded Singe.

"A hundred pounds."

"When?"

"To-morrow."

"A bargain," said Singe. And he fell into the arms of his wife, who now, with a well-assumed rapture, staggered towards him.

"Neighbours," said Slash, "our friend is yet very weak. Postpone therefore all your friendly and well-meant enquiries till to-morrow morning." And Singe, carefully wrapped up in well-aired sheets and blankets, was borne home in triumph by a host of marvelling and relenting friends.

What myriads flocked on the morrow to obtain ocular demonstration of his existence, and once more to shake by the hand the resuscitated shaver! Mr. Uppercrust, accompanied by Ichneumon and a party of gentlemen, condescended to sit awhile under the shadow of his roof-tree, nor left him without "golden opinions" of his wondrous adventure, and especial requests that he should call as heretofore and resume his professional avocations.

A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY.-No. I.

(By Cantabrigiensis.)

INTRODUCTION.

THE history of philosophy occupies a most exalted station in the march of mind; for it not only comprises the most noble works of man's intellect, but embraces also that species of research which has exercised the greatest influence on every branch of human knowledge.

Philosophy arises in the reflections which men make on the knowledge they have acquired, and in the necessity there is for certain methods by means of which they may increase their present stock of wisdom and enhance its value. It engenders a habit of enquiring by what studies certain acquirements have been attained, and is almost essential for the education of a sound understanding and the training it to those courses which make good men and useful members of the state. In its progress it leads or follows in the path of civilization, by turns taking a part in its formation and advancement, or feeling the effects of its growth.

No one endued with an elevated soul can open the annals of philosophy without feelings of veneration for the history which comprises so many antique traditions, so many important discoveries, so many profound controversies. We seek, with a just curiosity, to know the labours by which the most illustrious geniuses of all ages and all nations have shed their beams on the paths of wisdom, and have brought to light the secrets of a knowledge till then veiled from the eyes of mortals by an impenetrable obscurity. The commerce thus held with them will inspire us with a generous emulation. We shall perceive the causes of the progress already made, and of the errors committed. We shall be taught how to appreciate the merit or absurdity of different systems, and to observe the mutual aid the various sciences have lent to each other. We shall learn to form our judgment of theories from their principles as well as their effects, to know the limits of the empire of philosophy, and discover the voids which yet remain to be filled up,-above all, to distinguish true philosophy from false pretensions the sober dress of science from the meretricious ornaments of empiricism.

The earliest period of which we have any authentic accounts in which philosophy was made a study and the subject of public instruction carries us back to the time when liberty first dawned on Greeceto the age of Thales, of Solon, of Pythagoras. It was at the end of this period that Anaxagoras flourished, and crowned it by the demonstration of the existence of a supreme Spirit-the greatest benefit that philosophy could bestow on the world.

The next begins from the time when Socrates taught by the example of his death as well as of his life,-by his practice as well as his precepts, to how great a perfection the virtues of patience and forbearance may be brought, and how large a share they have in the production of surpassing wisdom and unequalled philosophy.

From this epoch may be dated the youth of knowledge. The four succeeding centuries gave us a Plato, an Aristotle, a Zeno of Citium, a Pyrrho, and an Epicurus. The entire realm of philosophy was visited by its enthusiastic votaries-no part was left unexplored; and, if their theories have proved false, the ground of their systems untenable, the fault is not to be laid to their want of excelling ingenuity or unwearied industry.

In the third division, however rife in political events, important not merely to the world of that time, but exercising a prospective influence over that of our own, we may rather remark the fading of science than its flourishing. When the mighty empire of Rome gave way beneath the weight of its northern enemies, and a reign of barbarism took place of that of civilization, philosophy was for a time enveloped in the same dark shadows, and its further progress, nay, its very existence, seemed forbidden for ever.

The revival of learning under Charlemagne and Alfred, and the rapid progress of the Arabs under the caliphs, mark the commencement of the fourth period. During this, the reign of scholastic philosophy, a slow-a very slow-advance was made in human knowledge; and for eight long centuries the gaudy show of subtleties vainly attempted to supply the place of original ideas and bold conceptions.

An extraordinary concourse of events determines the epoch at which the last period commences, about the conclusion of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries. Columbus added a new world to our old one. The art of printing was discovered, and by its ready dissemination of the opinions of individuals, the facilities it afforded for the promulgation of truth, paved the way for the reformation of the church by Luther and Calvin. The wisdom of Bacon and the skill of Galileo belong also to this brilliant era. Original minds gave scope to the breadth of their intellect, and opened for themselves new roads to distinction. The arts of peace prevailed over the excitements of war, and the gown of the student replaced the cloak of the soldier. losophy again shone forth in all her ancient splendour, breaking through the clouds and darkness of ignorance, like the sun through the mists of the morning. This restoration once begun there seem no limits set to the improvement of science, but those which divide mortality from the divine essence.

art.

CHAPTER I.

FIRST PERIOD. The Origin of Philosophy.

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PHILOSOPHY may be viewed in two lights: as a science, and as an

As a science its first object is the study of the moral and intellectual nature of man: its second is the knowledge of the systems of all existing matter, the generality of the laws of the universe, and the connection between cause and effect.

Considered as an art its end is the application of the theories obtained by it in its former character to practical purposes, and the education and exercise of our faculties.

!

In its latter character of an art philosophy arrived at a comparatively perfect state immeasurably sooner than it did in its more noble one of a science. It is not difficult to account for this rapid progress when we reflect that what is applied to practical purposes displays its utility to all at the first view, and is eagerly followed by some from the desire of profiting by the advantages to be derived from it, by others from motives which are easily conceived, knowing as we do the more pressing necessity for action than for thought, in addition to which every experiment is an advance in practical philosophy, while we must collate the results of long experience before we can venture to lay down a theory, establish a fundamental law, or attribute certain effects to the same invariable cause.

We possess but few of those facts which, if recorded, might enlighten the darkness in which the first age of human reason is shrouded, both on account of the great space of time intervening and the nature of the circumstances enquired into. This poverty of intelligence left a wide field open for conjecture, and we have accordingly a vast number of hypotheses, some of which are not only ingenious but highly probable.

Plato and Aristotle taught that philosophoy owed its birth to admiration. Others have assigned for its origin curiosity, the necessity which our reason has for the exercise of its activity, the desire of obtaining a uniform system. Adam Smith has given it to surprise and the tendency of the human mind to account for phenomena, to reconcile discrepancies, and to fill up the chasms which separate them. All these theories are, to a certain extent, correct; for many causes and circumstances must have combined to produce the effect in question, and it is more than probable that each of these conjectures is an approximation to the truth, or at least to a part of it.

The intellectual man is curious to know the past and the future. He craves after the explanation of all by which he is surrounded; and this he can only find by tracing every thing to its origin. He devotes his whole energies to the discovery of first principles, that he may trace ultimate effects to their final causes.

Every thing in existence is constantly undergoing some change, and such is the first idea presented to the speculative mind. It is not yet prepared to receive the idea of a creation. From unformed but pre-existent matter, in other words, chaos, it supposes all to have originated by successive changes. The analogy there is among the creeds of antiquity is a striking example of this tendency of the human intellect. The Indians, the Chinese, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Persians, all admitted similar doctrines. They were to be found also in ancient Greece and among the Etrusci. According to Berosus the Chaldean, the universe at first consisted of water, inhabited by every species of monster. This darksome realm was divided by Belus into the heavens and the earth. The latter he bedewed with the blood of an inferior deity, from which arose man and the rest of the animal creation. In the heavens he placed the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. The Indian traditions set forth that Vishnu, their supreme deity, at first lay in a deep sleep in a lake of milk, alone with power and wisdom. After a

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