PREFACE.

cessors.

Snice the commencement of our Magazine, periodical works have increased to a tenfold degree. Scarcely a month has elapsed, without giving birth to some new candidate for public favour. Among these, many pretty bubbles have floated along on the tide for a short season, until some, bursting through their own weakness, have vanished ; and others, by their own specific gravity have sunk to the bottom, where they remain in undisturbed repose.

Unaffected by the many instances of literary mortality which surround us, knowing that our constitution is sound, and supported by firm and unbending principles, we still continue to thrive ; and it is with feelings of unfeigned gratification, that, in concluding the labours of fourteen years, we find ourselves enabled to lay before our subscribers, a volume, whose contents render it as interesting and edifying as any of its prede

The policy on which we act is broad and liberal. Hence, our pages are enriched with communications of an indefinite variety of character, untrammelled by any particular dogmas, and unfettered by opinions which nothing but antiquity appears to recommend.

Over the interests and sanctity of religion we have always watched with a jealous and unwearied eye; for, although we do not profess to identify ourselves with, or to uphold the peculiar tenets of any religious denomination, we avow ourselves to be the enemies of vice, in a state of decided hostility against the votaries of superstition, the advocates of intolerance, the champions of bigotry, the abettors of infidelity, and the defenders of outrageous abuses.

In the Scientific department, our columns are open to the rational investigation of undetermined principles, and we gladly receive the essays of those, who, by well directed efforts, endeavour to extricate from its labyrinth of perplexities, original truth.

Of the Literature in this volume we must say nothing; this must speak for itself. We invariably strive to select pieces which blend instruction with interest ; and in the tales and narratives we insert, the incidents, are calculated to render virtue amiable, to inform the understanding, and to expand the heart.

In Biography we confine ourselves to no sect, party, or profession, but give to the world memoirs of individuals, whose developed talents have made them eminent in their different spheres of operation.--The Divine, whether Churchman or Dissenter, whose energies have been devoted to promote the best interests of mankind; the Philosopher, whose researches have tended to the advancement of science; the Patriot, who has striven for the welfare of his country ; the man of letters, who has extended the range of intellectual rese

search, may be found in our

numbers set forth for the admiration of the good, or held up as objects of emulation to those who would tread the same paths, and gain the steep ascent of deserved fame.

The Engravings which beautify our work being for the most part of the highest order, will not shrink from comparison with some of the most splendid specimens of the graphic art. It is not for a magazine of such a standing as ours, which has been carried along on the tide of public approbation for so many years, to resort to the common-place system of puffing, for the sake of exciting attention and notoriety; but we should be wanting in duty to ourselves and to our subscribers, were we to neglect this opportunity of announcing, that the extensive and continually increasing sale of this work has enabled the proprietors to expend large sums on highly finished plates ; and they pledge themselves that the portraits and illustrations in future shall not fall short of the preceding ones in any point of excellence, if the concentrated powers of art and genius can command success.

The field of politics we never enter, nor are political discussions admissible into our columns; yet, having the heart and soul of Englishmen, we cannot avoid congratulating our readers on the late important event, so interesting to every lover of his country, and so valuable to posterity. This measure, justly termed the new Magna Charta, though not gained by the barons, as on the field of Runnymede, but half extorted from them, seems to promise purification to the source of government, and salubrity to its streams. That dark thunder-cloud which appeared big with the fate of the British empire, and threatened to spread confusion, anarchy and ruin, throughout the kingdom, has rolled heavily away, and wreaking the fury of its lightning-shaft only on barren and useless institutions, has burst in grateful showers of long-desired blessings, and shed peace, smiles, and contentment on a delighted nation.

On the subject of negro-slavery, that crime, than which a blacker never darkened the face of heaven, our opinions are too well known to need repetition. We have not treated it as a mere political question, but on the wide ground of humanity and justice, as one involving the misery of eight hundred thousand of our fellow-creatures,-bone of our bone, and flesh of our fesh,—who are suffering the woes of a hopeless and interminable captivity, degraded from their rank in human nature, to a level with the beasts of the field ; their spirits crushed under a weight of oppression, and their intellects buried beneath a load of chains, 'till they have nothing left but the form of men; and even that is too frequently denied repose from fierce and unmitigated torture. When the eyes

of the whole country, with the exception of interested individuals, are simultaneously, and eagerly looking for the emancipation of these wretched beings, we cannot refrain from expressing our hopes, that in a reformed Parliament, the subject will meet with the consideration it imperatively demands; and that the time is not far distant, when traffic in human blood, that plague-spot on the fair fame of Britain, shall be known no longer in her dominions, and no subject of the King of England, robbed of the glory of his nature, shall be branded with the name of slave.

With these principles in operation, and with feelings of gratitude to our correspondents for their valuable communications, we again leave ourselves with the Public, confident of the same patronage that has hitherto been extended towards the IMPERIAL MAGAZINE.

INDEX TO VOL. II.

OF THE

SECOND SERIES.

No more,

473, 524

E.
PAGE

PAGE
East India company, origin of the, 284 Mahratta warfare,

180
Eddystone lighthouse, the,
216 Mamelukes, massacre of the,.

179
Electric spark from the magnet,
374 Melbourne, lord, memoir of,.

345
Electricity, theory of,...

418 Memoirs,.. 9, 57, 153, 201, 249, 297,
Emigrants, hints to religious,

283

345, 449, 497
Europe, in the winter of 1831-32,. 82 Meteorological observations,..36, 90,

in the summer of 1832, 436 133, 181, 233, 285, 325, 377, 479,
Exeter-hall exhibition of paintings,.. 285

434, 543, 575
Externals, on,
514 Miracle, pretended, at Calais,

175
Eye, structure of the,...
29 Missionary communications,

149
F.

N.
Factory child's tale, a,

411 Nares, archdeacon, memoir of,. 249
Filter by ascension,
284 Nature, science of,

320
Fisherman, the,
370 Negro colony at Liberia,

371
Food, varieties in human,
173 New-year's day,

24
Friend, on the death of a,..

167 New Zealand, cannibalism in,. 210
Friendship, essay on, .
356

67
G.

558
Note-book, no. 5,

Notices, literary, 55, 101, 154,
Genius and piety combined,

351

200, 248, 296, 314, 392, 440, 496,
Gleanings, 54, 102, 150, 199, 246, 294,

544, 584
343, 391, 439, 495, 543, 583

0.
Greek and Roman authors,

Old John Brown, the sexton,

377
H.
Olden writers,

413
Hair-dresser, the conscientious, 70

P.
Halifax, gibbet law of, .

407
Hall, bishop, sufferings of,
77 Paper, duty on,

296
Human sacrifices, Coventry petition, 246 Patrick O'Connor,

527, 570
Human mind, remarks on the, 257 Peaceable disposition, importance of a, 560
Hume, David, death of,.
406 Peasant, the happy,

312
Humility and perseverance,

465
Peter Jones in England,

245
Physician, duty of the,

352
I.

Plainness of speech in the pulpit, 209
Indecision,

258 Playfair, professor, of Edinburgh, 201
Indian saint, an,
134 Pemberton's lectures,.

285
Imprudence,..

458
Piety, original test of,

341
Infidel's testimony, an,

512
Portugal,

390
Intemperance, remarks on,

314, 463
Poverty favourable to letters,

566
Ishmael, prophecy respecting,
394 Precepts, admonitory,

317, 513
J.
Prodigality, religious,

563
Profane father reclaimed,

412
Jail-governor's house, Edinburgh, 105

Providence, a remarkable,

479
Jamaica, religious persecution in, 434

Pulpit, plainness of speech in,..... 209
Jew, baptism of a,

434

R.
Johnson, Dr., and th Quaker lady, 315
Jonah, on the character of,
396 Relics, inventory of,

233
L.

552
Reminiscences of early years,
Respectability, standard of,

464
Lamotte, allegorical fable from,

Roods, miracles, &c.,

232
Last branch, the,...

.... 256