of "intention," and that intention a mental process unknown to the lender, and which he would strongly object to if known, much less can they be allowed the name if they persist in obtaining valuables, or considerations that are valuable, upon such purely hypothetical conditions as the supposed metallic property of manufactured papyrus. We remarked a page or two back, that an alteration, small in respect of words but tremendous in its effect, was achieving in the original law of love to one's neighbour, by the connivance of the teachers of truth with feudal institutions; in other words these teachers clung to the system of publicly prominent forms that obliged them to lean upon state support, and they only obtained that support by amalgamating truth with public morality or motivity, and commenced a process of adaptation that has resulted in smothering the vitality of the church itself, as the following painting not yet hung will show. A dilapidated giant of enormous stature, in seedy particoloured garments, a vast deal too large in the arms and legs, and only well filled out about the belly, small mitred head, carried high in air, collar round neck, with royal arms of Britain attached; and with very small shrunken feet, called lower orders, totters as fast as it can scuffle along from two men and a lad pursuing. The first, a dirty, uncombed, unwashed man, with only a sheet thrown over him daubed over with hieroglyphics and smears of ink, carrying his box under his arm, shouts continually for the lad to follow, calling him his " devil." His companion is a man stark naked, who carries a keg with him; both appear very solicitous to come up to the giant, they say their object is to knock him off his legs, and they don't care to aim at his collar, or head. The legs are naturally indignant at being thus openly aimed at, and move off as fast as they can, to the great disgust of the arms, who pray and beseech the giant to move his legs in the order of return to some position from which they have wandered; but the head declines to give the word and only that these querulous arms have fastened the clothes so tight about the wrists, and hampered their action with HIEROGLYPHIC FOR ZADKIEL'S NEXT ALMANAC. 153 rings, fall-lalls, and trumpery of all sorts, they possibly might have succeeded in knocking the head off for temporizing in this fashion; but what can the poor head do? It has no control over the other members of the body, and as for the belly, it wakes up now and then to demand what all the noise is about, and with this, and objecting to receive too much Low diet, it seems to be asleep. An entire change is needed for the giant's crazy constitu tion, the size of the belly is out of all proportion to the rest of the body, and this, and the attenuated voice and absurd gestures of his every attempt at speaking, are mainly the causes that serve to irritate the dirty fellow in his sheet, and the man in buff. They are not indisposed to negotiate terms of peace, for truth to say they don't progress any easier or faster than their antipathy, for the man in his sheet has to get clean sheets, once in a way to rearrange his types, and stop to have a drink with casky, who always applies his mouth to the bung, smokes incessantly, and getting helplessly drunk rolls over his keg, which sometimes turns round and gets away from him, and then as it must be replenished, further delay arises; between these two pot companions and their devil, there is sustained a conversation, mainly composed of blasphemy and positively vulgar indecency, but not unmixed with too much truth for the giant's comfort, about his vulnerable, and weak points. It might be possible to appease these coarse spoken fellows, but unluckily the greatest cause for alarm is hidden behind a corner towards which the giant is fast hastening. This danger arises from an old, miserable, half famished looking fellow, who grasps a huge club, which he calls a specific for actual starvation, and threatens in no ambiguous phraseology to hit the giant in the belly, whenever he gets his chance. Did the giant know his danger, he would reduce the size of his belly, and increase the circulation in his lower limbs, especially his feet, which are not big enough nor strong enough to support him; and above all he needs vitality, for a more miserable effete compound, neither hot nor cold, neither high nor low, neither bad nor good, you shall nowhere else see. When the crash comes, you will see this British State Church the first to go down, and if you ask "Why?"-I say look at the insuperable flunkeyism, and thinly veiled blasphemy, staring every one in the face when he opens his Bible and looks at the first page. Even supposing royalty had patronized the printing and translating into English the Holy Scriptures, there was no decent excuse for the men he countenanced, going the length they did in deifying royalty, and prostituting the truth to the fulsome flattery of kings and queens who took to religion, as most people do, because it was something new, something to add to their dignity, something to do credit to those who chaperoned it. To judge of the pernicious effects not unlikely (nay sure) to be produced in a distant land by the accidental circulation or direct importation of one of these royally authenticated Bibles, let us imagine a Chinese professor, So-Keen, of inquiring mind, in possession of one of these copies, and a Prayer-book, (to refer to in case of doubt) recently a Buddhist, then a disciple of the Laotseans, finally at sea altogether, prepared to learn anything, but still biassed in favour of Buddhist doctrines. "He opens the Bible at Genesis?" O no, the Chinese read from beginning to end, so he commences at the very first page, and is pleased to find an illustration there. It is the royal coat of arms. The professor of course rummages the Prayer Book, and finds the same thing there; having digested the Catechism as usual, he returns again to the il ustrated page in the Bible, and concludes that this coat of arms is a representation of the Trinity. He takes two entire days and nights to master the scheme of it, for he of course connects the mottoes with the figures, as thus, Dieu is the lion, et mon, the crown, shield, &c., and Droit, the unicorn. It all falls in at last beautifully dovetailed, "Evil be to him who evil thinks” is the key stone of the whole. He is in raptures at the appropriateness. He has discovered the fountain of original sin! and loses an entire week in metaphysical speculations about harps, and women, lions, and all the rest of it. See this, the poor man's salvation is perilled, he gets a KING JAMES THE FIRST AND HIS TOADIES. 155 wooden model made of the thing, has it gilt, and hung up in his house. He lights his candles, strews his flowers, burns his incense, kotous and chin-chins this thing as he used to do his pot-bellied Fo. So the inquiring professor continues his search. Passing by the form of license, a copy of which is taken as a sort of Agnus Dei or charm, to be worn amulet fashion, as a specific against such contageous diseases as cholera morbus, and such cutaneous complaints as the itch, so fashionable in China; and he arrives at further distressing perplexities, which can only be explained by taking them in connection with the royal arms before mentioned. He finds these words: TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE JAMES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, &C., The Translators of the Bible wish Grace, Mercy, Peace, The Chinese Doctor of Laws is not aware of what we know, that the mighty prince sails here under false colours; King of France and Defender of the Faith indeed! It would be well to resign these titles before they are forcibly torn away. Professor reads on: 66 "Great and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereign, which Almighty God, the Father of all mercies, "bestowed upon us, the people of England, when first he sent "your Majesty's Royal Person to rule and reign over us. For "whereas it was expectation of many, who wished not well "for our Sion" (professor gets bewildered) "that upon the "setting of that bright Occidental star, Queen Elizabeth of "most happy memory," So-Keen breaks off here to give his mind time to appreciate the tremendous discovery that here flashes into it. It is too plain. The man just recovering from idolatry relapses altogether, and rushing to the op n window, salaams, kotous, or chin-chins the planet Venus just then setting, and calls that star Queen Elizabeth ever afterwards. What a happy hit, and you see quite accidental, this comes of learning folk's names in these flunkey dedications. The poor Queen, however, gets worshipped in her favourite capacity at last. This is not all; a little further on he finds King James likened to the "sun" in its strength, so first thing next morning what does So-Keen do, but chin-chin the sun as he was once accustomed to do, only it has been invested with a new name, but for the matter of that it cannot concern us what title is given, the spirit is looked at through the ordinance or other thing, all the wrong way round, so we shall ever go on if we retain old church clothes instead of wearing new garments. What is idolatry but the presentation to the sight or mental perception of some figure on wood, stone, or paper, to assist men in their talk worship, or devotions as they are called; time elapses and gradually the man sees less and less through the object, or ordinance, or sacerdotalism, and he becomes owl blind, bat blind, mole blind, and he wants to finger his deity, so that in some nation less civilized than Europeans, a man gets a stout, serviceable, washable, monstrosity made, and keeps it in some cupboard or recess; and in case it refuses to work miracles, for all idolaters demand miracles, signs, &c., he takes his god out, and gives it a good hammering, and after a little fresh paint, and a new tooth or so, it goes to its drawer again, to be once more hauled out when another miracle is wanted, failing which, it gets another fustigation, and perhaps in the owner's blind rage its nose is bitten off, and its divine features are otherwise dentally marked, and it would be a good job for its exasperated and disappointed patroniser, if it were thrust into the oven fire by mistake. All idolatry has small beginnings, and it would be unpardonable to let such a Bible as I have just exhibited fall into the hands of an enquiring and intelligent Chinese professor. Why, if the sychophantic pedants that penned the insuffer |