s of superior
race, depraved at heart and debased by custom.

If two men choose to stand up and fib each other about (saying nothing of
the practice), why let them do it; or if two dogs worry each other to
death for a bone, or two cocks meet and contend for the sovereignty of a
dunghill. In these last two cases the appearance of cruelty is out of the
question, and how much soever we may be inclined to pity, we are entirely
divested of the ability to blame. Dogs naturally quarrel; and any attempt
to reform and reconcile two snarling puppies, would be as inconsistent as
it would be foolish to abuse the nettle for stinging our flesh, or to
upbraid the poppy for its disagreeable and choking odour.

The true criterion of perfection to civilization is in proportion to the
kind feeling entertained, and the humanity practised, towards those
animals (in particular) which are subject to the immediate control of man.

_Lavenham_.

F. RIBBANS.

* * * * *

THE SELECTOR, AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.

* * * * *

THE JEWS BEFORE THEIR DISPERSION.

In our second reading of _Levi and Sarah, or the Jewish Lovers_, we
have been struck with the following narrative of the pristine celebrity of
this favoured people:--

The most ancient of all the written histories of the human race, of their
deeds and condition, is undoubtedly that of the people of Israel: a people
to whom God himself was both leader and lawgiver--for whom the sea was
divided, and the stony rocks poured forth fountains of water---whose food
descended on them from heaven--for whom angels from above fought--and whom
all nature cheerfully obeyed,--in short a people, who, through a course of
many centuries, though surrounded with numerous Heathen nations, bore
constant testimony to the existence of one God alone. It is not wonderful
that such a people should think themselves exalted far above all others.
Moses, the first of all instructors and legislators, desired to raise his
people above the fate which had ruined other nations, by communicating to
them firmness and perseverance in their adherence to such institutions, as
should keep them a distinct nation from all others. These institutions
were peculiarly appropriate to the time, to the situation, and the
circumstances of the people for whom they were prescribed. It was not his
design that the Children of Israel, when freed from their misery