APPARITIONS.


Dr. Southey's opinion on apparitions deserves to be carried to the
controversial account of this ever-interesting question:--"My serious
belief amounts to this, that preternatural impressions are sometimes
communicated to us for wise purposes; and that departed spirits are
sometimes permitted to manifest themselves."--_Colloquies_.

* * * * *


THE FEUDAL SYSTEM.


The system of servitude, which prevailed in the earlier periods of our
history was not of that unmitigated character that may be supposed. "No
man in those days could prey upon society, unless he were at war with it
as an outlaw--a proclaimed and open enemy. Rude as the laws were, the
purposes of law had not then been perverted;--it had not been made a
craft;--it served to deter men from committing crimes, or to punish them
for the commission;--never to shield notorious, acknowledged, impudent
guilt, from condign punishment. And in the fabric of society, imperfect
as it was, the outline and rudiments of what it ought to be were
distinctly marked in some main parts, where they are now wellnigh
utterly effaced. Every person had his place. There was a system of
superintendence everywhere, civil as well us religious. They who were
born in villainage, were born to an inheritance of labour, but not of
inevitable depravity and wretchedness. If one class were regarded in
some respects as cattle, they were at least taken care of; they were