A peal of bells just at this moment rose Shades of night now softly falling Round the fading landscape close, My gentle brother! when the shadows fall As I approach, and calls me enemy. Slowly his dark eyes then he turned to heaven ANGEL OF DEATH. Thou God Most High! whose ministers we are, Then spake the other angel: Brother mine, Thus spake he, and the other smiled. Then both As one who into a deep trance is thrown Of the "Od-force" transfused into his frame, Upon a pallet in a low, close room, A young man lay, in mortal sickness stretched, " Till first he suffered-How the door to Life "Father all merciful! who from Thy throne The bread of heaven. And, as we freely grant Then was the spirit of the young man glad The sick man's soul commended to the Lord, "Though Death's dissolving hand shall touch this frame, Yet in my flesh shall I the Lord behold, And view him with mine eyes. For I do know When mortals' hearts are failing them for dread, And Heaven, and Earth, and Hell shall own His power." With these last words triumphantly exhaled His wife Ah! wife no more-his widow lone- "Your author, whoever he be," said the parson, when Herbert concluded his poem, "is, I perceive, like most of his countrymen, a believer in mesmerism and clairvoyance, and, moreover, a disciple of the Von Reichenbach School." "I am not of course," replied Herbert, "answerable for his opinions, nor called upon to defend him. Yet, I may be permitted to say, that while caution in the reception of novelties in science is justly commendable, an obstinate determination to believe nothing that does not square with our own preconceived notions of what is, or is not, within the limits of nature, is to be especially deprecated. I have no doubt, that more injury has been done to the cause of human knowledge by over-scepticism than by over-credulity." "Well, that is all very true, but is no argument in favour of mesmerism ; would you have us believe contrary to all our experiences, that cataleptic people can read in the dark, with the tips of their fingers, or the backs of their heads. Nay, further, that in the highest state of the sleep-trance, the soul not only wanders through her own body, and reveals all its hidden anatomy and secret diseases, but actually travels out of the body to the most distant regions, and seek out those with whom it is en rapport." My dear sir, I will not insist on your believing any such thing till you have the strongest evidence of the truth of what you are called on to believe. If such can be adduced it will be as much your duty to yield your assent then as it is now to withhold it. All I would wish to assert is, that no one is justified in alleging that such things cannot be, because they contradict our experiences. That would be to insist that our experience was co-extensive with all physical and psychological phenomena; that the last fold of the veil is removed from nature, and that she now stands fully disclosed to our vision. I will tell you a true story. It is little more than two centuries ago since a Florentine philosopher announced to mankind the astounding absurdity that the world, instead of being quietly at rest, with the sun revolving around her, absolutely went gadding through the regions of space, and revolved around the sun. This contradicted all experience. Why, sages saw the sun, from day to day and month to month, changing its place amongst the heavenly bodies, and every man, except he was drunk, felt that the earth was as steady as a rock. Ridiculous! Nay, worse-impious! heretical! And so the holy Inquisition threw Galileo into prison, and made him repeat the penitential psalms weekly, and the Pope decided that the world did not go round Still the world would have its own way, and kept never minding the Pope, and declined to be imprisoned as poor Galileo was. And so at last men found out that the world did really go round, and that the sun stood still in the heavens, and that all this was not contradictory to experience, but only appeared to be so. Galileo, however, was dead by this time. Done to death by those wise sceptics! So there was no help for the matter. And it is now as familiar a proverb in a child's mouth that the world goes round' as that the sun shines.' I leave the application to yourself." the sun. The Parson mused a moment, and then said, "In truth I believe we are not in a condition to discuss this question at present. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."" "Come," said my uncle, "the girls are looking quite frightened, and I begin to think the lights are burning a little blueish. Besides, 'tis getting late." The Parson took the hint, and, rising from his seat, brought over the large family Bible. Whatever be the state of our knowledge or our ignorance, one thing, at least, we know, that here (and he opened the volume) God has given us the knowledge that is sufficient for our welfare in this life, and our happiness in the future. It may be a pleasant, and even a profitable speculation to ascertain how far our senses can reach, or our spirits expatiate, while in this mortal coil; but all that is needful for us to know what are their duties here and their functions hereaf ter-God has graciously vouchsafed himself to tell us. While we may lawfully suspend our judgments on what may not agree with the standard of our own erring reason, one sure guide we have, steadily to reject whatever is inconsistent with the plain word of unerring Wisdom." Then the Parson read the service for the evening, and we separated. Thine, dear Anthony, in all times and seasons, JONATHAN FREKE SLINGSBY. CHEAP JUSTICE NOT LOW-PRICED LITIGATION. To decide and enforce private rights between individuals of the community is one of the first duties of Government, as providing the means of doing so is one of the first objects of forming civil societies; and the machinery of the State is perfect, nearly in proportion to the facility and certainty with which this is attained. "Cheap justice" is, therefore, a legitimate demand of every genuine reformer. But injustice, or the law imperfectly administered, is dear at any price; and he who would sacrifice the justice for the sake of the cheapness is among the most dangerous of political speculators. The cheapest of all tribunals is an ordeal. The law might compel all men whose rights are questioned to abide by the tossing up of a penny, or the casting of lots; but this would be to abolish the administration of justice, not lower the cost of it; which latter is a very different thing from lessening the expense at which a man may be enabled to coerce his neighbour. The administration of the civil branch of the law in Ireland is now mainly conducted through two classes of tribunals, the superior courts and the civil bill courts. The former administer the law with care and certainty; but their proceedings are somewhat cumbrous and expensive. In the latter, the administration of the law is, comparatively speaking, much more imperfect; but their proceedings are inexpensive. There are, then, two modes of cheapening law: one, to lessen the expense of the good tribunals; the other, to increase the powers of the bad. Strange to say, our rulers are desirous of adopting the latter. The Attorney-General for Ireland has introduced a bill for extending the jurisIdiction of the civil bill courts from £20, to which they are now limited, to £50, in personal actions, and for enlarging, in a less degree, some other branches of their authority. Without reference to any of the vices peculiar to the civil bill system, the plan of extending the authority of petty local courts, as contrasted with facili tating recourse to central tribunals, is on principle objectionable. There are evils inherent in the nature of minor jurisdictions which no change in the form of their procedure can get rid of. The means of enforcing their authority are necessarily imperfect. Parties and witnesses without their local jurisdiction cannot be effectually reached. Either the process of the court is limited to its district; or it uses some secondary and less effective means of following parties out of the district; or it clashes with its neighbours. This evil is not much felt in the present state of the civil bill code, because the great mass of the cases tried before the assistant-barristers are among the humbler agricultural classes, whose dealings are generally confined to their neighbours; but it is one which, with a jurisdiction extending to larger amounts, would frequently lead to great injustice. If a plaintiff has a difficulty in bringing his witnesses, or fears that his adversary will remove himself or his property out of the county, he needs not resort to the civil bill court. But the defendant has no such option; he may be sued there, though it deprives him of the means of compelling a witness to prove his defence, or enables the plaintiff, if defeated, to evade payment of costs or a cross demand. Nay, these may suggest the very reasons why a dishonest plaintiff would select the inferior jurisdiction. Another evil, inseparable from the use of local courts, is the want of consistency in the administration of jus tice. Uniformity of decision is hardly to be obtained from the most learned and competent interpreters of the law in the most central tribunals; but the differences introduced by the various degrees of knowledge, prejudice, intelligence, or care of inferior judges, are infinite. There may be literally as many codes as there are counties. The most cursory acquaintance with the working of the civil bill courts will supply numerous instances of the most contradictory decisions made on the same points of law. But beside the inconsistencies arising from deliberately formed opinions, there are the differences arising from the character or disposition of the judges. In |