535 On the Substratum of Matter. 536 its identity." As I never ❝ presumed on the existence of no permanent principle," however similar the plight may have been in which we have both been placed, there must have been something of difference in it. Your correspondent's "permanent principle," is the substratum of matter; mine is matter itself. I deny a substratum, but do not deny a permanent principle. His principle is something distinct from its attributes; mine is not, except it be in name and in imagination. The denial of an ulterior substratum, therefore, does not involve the startling consequences which M. S. has deduced from it. IN the article that gave birth to "a Constant Reader's" remarks, some However absurd my notion of the doubts were expressed on the exist- identity of subject and attributes may ence of an unknown substratum of appear to M. S. it cannot appear more matter; and the reasons urged against so to him than does his incongruous it were as follow.*-First, that when notion of the existence of something in the mind excluded from its concepwhich properties are united. His protions the essential properties of mat-perties are things that he well knows; ter, it had nothing left within its -his some-thing, is no-thing that he grasp. Secondly, that as far as the essential does know; and yet it appears to him properties of any being are known, so more rational to unite his known promuch is known of its essence or na-perties to his unknown something, ture. Thirdly, that the doctrine of an unknown substratum leads to specu lative atheism. A conjecture was somewhat hastily expressed, namely, that " solidity may be the essence of matter, and consciousness the essence of spirit." But as I know nothing of essences, as real entities, distinct from certain aggregates of indissolubly united properties, I cannot admit that any single property is entitled to such a denomination. I therefore disapprove of that phraseology, and pass over the remarks which it occasioned. 66 M. S. has frequently found himself in the same plight as myself, but adopted a different plan to extricate himself; he has reasoned thus; If I presume on the existence of no permanent principle or substance, I must then grant that there is solidity while there is nothing that is solid; extension, while nothing is extended; shape, while nothing possesses figure; and I suspected that I was thus involved in greater difficulties, and surrounded by greater inconsistencies, than if I allowed the existence of something in which these properties were united, though I could not separate them from it without destroying * Imperial Magazine, vol. i. col. 980. and to give it "a local habitation and a name," than to deny a doubt of its existence, and admit that an assemblage of attributes constitute as well as imply a subject. It must, I think, be admitted, that, which side soever we take of this question, difficulties and inconsistencies present themselves; and we only dif fer as to the side on which they preponderate. M. S. thinks that they incline to the latter; and I judge them to be more numerous and weighty against the former; and with these views we shall probably both throw down our pens, and agree to differ. M. S. observes very justly, "that God can create substances different in principle, and bearing different and even opposite properties; and infers, "therefore there may be matter and spirit." But is not one of these substances matter? and is not matter one of these substances?—and though the terms are different, and do not produce precisely the same mode of conception, yet do they not both refer to the same thing, namely, to a substance called matter? And as a particular constitution, or the essential properties that being, as we know something of of any being, constitutes the nature of the constitution and properties of matter, how can its nature or essence be 537 On the Substratum of Matter. unknown? The essential properties of any being, bear a similar relation to that being, that the parts of an object bear to the whole, with this difference, that while the parts of a whole may exist separately, essential properties cannot; they are indissolubly united. And as a whole is not distinct from all its parts, though distinguished by a different name; so neither are properties different from their subjects, tho' distinguished by particular names. A material substance is a certain aggregate of properties, and a certain indissolubly united aggregate of properties is a material substance. In contending for his "mysterious principle," your correspondent, after the example of others, presents it to us in very different capacities. 1. We have it as a prop; in this it bears properties. 2. As a subject of inhesion; in this properties stick in it. 3. As a cement; and in this capacity, it unites properties with itself. But how solidity, extension, and figure, can either rest upon, inhere in, or be blended with, this unknown phantom, completely baffles my conceptions. That it cannot perform all these offices, is certain, as each of them presents to us modes of existence incompatible with each other. There seems to be as much mystery about the use of this "principle" as of its nature; and all that is said in its favour amounts to this, that it is some thing, and is connected with properties some how. Your correspondent says, that "the "principal charge I bring against the "existence of a primary material sub"stance is, that it cannot be the object "of our senses, and therefore we can "know nothing of it." In this he has erred; I bring no such charge, nor ever intended. I reject it, because it is inconceivable by the mind, not because it is imperceptible by sense. I confess that I do believe that the materials of our knowledge are originally derived through the medium of the senses. But then we have evidence sufficient to justify a belief in the existence of objects impervious to sense, though their particular nature is not directly known. The existence of spirits, we infer from their operations: of their nature we know little, but as the negative of matter. And if the nature of matter itself were unknown, • Imperial Magazine, vol. i. col. 848. No, 28.-VOL. III. 538 they would be a novel negative indeed!" It is because we have no idea of spirit, (says a great writer) that we are naturally led to express it by a negative, to call it immaterial substance, or something that is not matter, something that is not anything we know."+ M. S. has backed his opinion by a quotation from an authority to whom I yield more than a common deference; but should the inference which atheists have drawn from the doctrine of an unknown substratum prove illogical when closely examined, if the principle be false, and the phraseology improper that leads to such a result, it is of importance to reject them. 66 Allow me, Sir, to write another paragraph, and I will then thankfully quit this "land of darkness," this 'thorny path," these "bogs and brakes of metaphysics;" for," my weary soul" is already "sick of journeying," and I am almost ready to "sink into a state of supineness and apathy," counting it all "vanity, and vexation of spirit." It is a charge of treason I have now to repel, and perhaps nothing elso would have raised this last muscular effort, and the last particle of mental energy, that will be directed by me against this "palpable obscure." It seems, that to deny a substratum of matter, is an attempt to shift from his seat an aged and an unseen sovereign. This is a serious charge, but it is "as false as it is foul." To deny the existence of a sovereign, is not the same thing as an attempt to depose him. The "gentlemen" who deny the existence of this mysterious, unseen, aged sovereign, have been at no small pains to discover his nature, and his residence; but having failed in their attempts, they suspect that he is nobody, and that his residence is nowhere. In this opinion I concur with them; but lest there should be, after all, such an old gentleman, I will say no more against him, but leave him in the undisturbed posses→ sion of his invisible sovereignty. It was my intention to extend my remarks on the origin of human knowledge; I have, however, declined this, and shall only notice the opinion, that "all our notions of the spiritual world are purely negative." On this subject, I am happy that we are not left to the wild vagaries of unassisted reason. + Wesley's Philosophy, vol. v. p. 153. 2 M 539 Fragment of a Day-Book. FRAGMENT OF A DAY-BOOK. (Concluded from col. 413.) "16th July. The king assisted with the whole court at the marriage of count Dietrichstein, with the lady of honour Alexandrine Schuwaloff: the ceremony took place in the diningroom, and the Nuntius Litta wore the dress of a bishop. After that, the act was repeated in the chapel, according to the rites of the Greek church, whereby Count Schuwaloff held the garland over the head of the bride. The empress had adorned the bride with her own hands, and she wore diamonds to the value of a million of rubles. "On the 17th the emperor embarked with his whole family for Cronstadt, and took the most hearty leave of the king." 66 540 ing of Orestes and Pylàdes, in the most 66 Kammenoy-Ostrog, near Petersburg. On the 24th the king went to a country-seat of prince Kurakin. The princess Dolgorucki,an intimate friend of the family, celebrated, as usual, the birth-day of princess Kat Alexandrowskie. The festivity had been advanced this year by a whole month, Gatschina, 9th September, and folon account of the approaching depar-lowing days.-One of the three Russian ture of the Austrian embassador, count bishops, who had been knighted, made Cobenzl, who is a great friend of both a speech to the emperor. It is to be the ladies, and whose taste has always remarked, that only under the present enlivened their social amusements. government the bishops have received The company went first to a thicket; red and blue ribands. At the ball, where the children of both families which was given in the evening, the offered, in shops of green branches, empress asked the king, whether he various things for sale, such as flowers, played at cards? and when he acknowfruit, music, &c. Instead of sign-ledged his ignorance on that point, boards, these shops had inscriptions the emperor said that it was the same drawn from the best and most known with him: but I, said the empress, authors, and befitting the occasion. must play a little at picquet par conOne of the children made a speech, tenance; and she did then play for and then they all united in merry about half an hour with the fieldmardances. From this place, one pro- shals Soltikoff, Repnin, and Kamensceeded to the theatre of the castle: koy. On the 10th, the king requested the princess Dolgorucki acted most the emperor to give him somebody, excellently a scene of Nina, or insanity who could point out to him all the caused by love. Thereupon followed beauties of Gatschina; and immedirepresentations of the magic lantern ately was the general-adjutant Plesbehind a curtain of gauze: the direc- chtschejeff sent to him as his guide: tor of the lantern appeared, and an- this man, who has served in the Engnounced the rising of the sun, and lish navy, has the reputation of saying this sun was the Austrian embassa- always what he thinks; and whatever dor dressed in brocade, and his head he says, bespeaks a man of honour. surrounded by beams of gilded paste- He went with the king through the board; he was followed by the moon, subterraneous passages, which remind represented by Mandini, the first Ita- one of the catacombs, to the top of lian singer, who gave afterwards, with the tower: the interior division of the Mr. De Riviére, a brother-in-law of walls is still the same as in the time Mme. Le Brun, the painter, the part-when Count George Orloff was in pos 541 Fragment of a Day-Book. 542 old well-known French performer Ausrène, and Mr. Riviére, were appointed for the remainder. In the second piece performed princess Dolgorucki herself with her wonted superiority, and her charming children appeared as harlequins. "On the 23d October, a Greek bishop lodged with the king; his name is Eugene, and he was born at Corfu. Without having ever been a monk, he was named by Catharine to be bishop of Tauria. He resigned after a few years, to spend his pension here. He has translated an Eneide in Greek verses, and, according to the judgment of connoisseurs, his performance is a very good one: he speaks French and Italian, and knows the best authors of these nations. His conversation is spiritual, and one does not perceive his eighty years." session of the castle; but the emperor | enfeld, a marquis de Montmort, the has enlarged it very much, and has decorated it entirely to his own liking. A Polish painter, Labinski, has furnished, amongst others, the finest Arabesks. Under the great number of paintings, one remarks five large portraits by Robert; one seven feet high by Vernet; Charles the Third of Spain at dinner; and a stag-hunt, which prince Condé gave to the emperor when he visited him at Chantilli as grand duke, &c. The three graces, painted on a piece of marble, are less remarkable for their beauty, than because they have been dug up at Herculaneum. A representation of Peter the Great on horseback, is perhaps the best which one has of him, but the horse might be better: the dress is more modern than one is accustomed to see from that epoch, and the painter has forgotten the star of the order of St. Andrew. In the drawing-room an antique basrelief is placed over the chimney, which has been so well preserved, that one might almost doubt the truth of what is asserted about it: they say, that it had originally decorated a monument of Trajan, and that from that it had been transplanted with several others to the triumphant arch of Constantine, whence thieves had torn it off during the night, and sold it to chief-chamberlain Schuwaloff, who was just then travelling in Italy. In the cabinet of the emperor hang five portraits-Prince Henry of Prussia, betwixt four Russian fieldmarshals. As for the garden, the king has but slightly glanced at it, for the present. The emperor seemed highly pleased with the king's good opinion of a place in which he delights so much himself: he said, it appears to me as if I were no where at home but here. It certainly must be acknowledged that even Pawbowski, pretty as it is, can be called but a small diamond, when compared with Gatschina. "Gatschina, 26th October.-The emperor treated the empress to-day to an Italian Opera seria by Anfossi, which was excellently executed. The decorator, (scene-painter,) Gonzaga, has surpassed himself: he is one of the first artists in his line, and knows how to produce optical effects which border on enchantment; although the house is but small, and the principal spectators are placed immediately behind the orchestra: even on the curtain stands a temple which seems to project, seen at a distance of only six feet: a woody district of his produces the effect of a painting by Breughel: a sun-beam coming through a window of a prison, was absolutely deceiving; and he has painted walls al fresco, which delude the eye, notwithstanding prior information. After the opera, Le Pieg gave a ballet, in which he showed himself to great advantage, in spite of his sixty years. On the 24th November, the emperor had the opera repeated on the court theatre in Petersburg; and as this is by far larger than that "Petersburg, 17th October.-Prince in Gatschina, Gonzaga was obliged to Dolgorucki surprised the king in the paint fresh sceneries in the greatest evening with a theatre, which he had haste: this served anew to prove his erected, during the king's absence, in fruitful genius, and his extraordinary the marble palace. One gave two skill. The play which had been anFrench pieces: Lecon seit paternel; and nounced for the 28th, was counterLe bon menage, by Florian. The author|manded as soon as the emperor learned of the first is a count Golofilin, who of the death of the king of Prussia." was educated abroad: the piece is actually full of new and interesting scenes. Madame Litwinoff acted the principal part; a Bavarian count Lerch- | 66 Petersburg, 5th December.-This day, prince Condé visited the king, and declared that he should have known him again, as he had had the pleasure 543 Extract of a Letter from New South Wales. 544 of seeing him once at his ball in 1754. | male? and then he guesses from the When prince Condé descended at his characters, not only the age of the perdwelling in the Taurish palace, he son, but even the moral disposition. found there all the servants dressed in He has guessed several times with an the same livery which his own domes- astonishing exactness; and Lavater tics had worn at Chantilli, when the might become jealous of him." emperor Paul saw him there: (how Extract of a Letter from the statedelicate an attention!) on the courtcounsellor Boeder, chief physician chariots, which are intended for the of the king, to Monsieur Bacciarelly, prince's use, the emperor had his arms cabinet-secretary at Warsaw. painted; and on the colours of his regiment, the Russian eagle is surrounded by French lilies. The palace of Czernischeff he gave him as a present; and when he went there for the first time, he found Hotel de Condé written over the gates." "Petersburg, 6th April, 1798.-Our good master died merely through an attack on the nerves, which was brought on by the painful and disagreeable labour to get out of the embarrassing situation in which unfortunate projects had involved him. For the rest, his end was like that of the empress Catharine, and he was buried with the same honours." COWELL, TO ROBT. FOWLER, BROMP- "On the 15th December, 1797,-the king was present at a dinner which prince Besborodko gave. Besides the usual splendour, and the completely exhausted art of cookery, one remarked about twenty perfuming pans, which exhaled the most precious odours. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM MR. JOHN There appeared also the famous bomb of Sardanaple, with the epicurean sauce, invented by a butler of Frederick the Second. The most costly wines of all countries were in abundance, and hundreds of wax candles illuminated the tables. At the dessert, every dish was covered with a glass bell, of beautiful workmanship. Etrurian painting adorned these bells, and they did great credit to prince Jusupoff, who is the director and active manager of this manufactory." "I HAVE to inform you of the death of Mayree, the New-Zealander: he died on the 9th of April, about half past two o'clock in the afternoon, in lat. 43. 34. S. long. 89. E. I have great hopes that he died rejoicing in Christ Jesus as his saviour. During the passage, he was very attentive to the instructions given him in reading, writing, &c. He was particularly atten"On the 8th January, 1798,-the tive to the reading of the scriptures. king was present at the consecration The morning of his death, I attended of the water; but his balcony had been on him until half past ten o'clock; dursurrounded with windows. The em-ing that time I endeavoured to point out press, although very far gone with Jesus Christ to him as his saviour: he child, had walked to the wooden cha-was very thankful for my attention and pel, which had been erected on the ice advice. My dear partner then came of the ditch that encloses the admi- into his cabin to relieve me, while I ralty: she came afterwards likewise to attended divine service in the afterthe balcony, had the windows opened, cabin, it being the sabbath-day. Durand stood there longer than two hours ing the morning he was perfectly senwithout umbrella, and apparently with-sible, and about half an hour before out any inconvenience, although it snowed very hard, and the snow lay two inches high around her feet. The count of Montmorenci, son of the duke of Laval, has given several proofs of a very singular art, which he pre-friend-Mayree die and go to heatends to have learned from the bishop ven." After divine service I attended of Nanci: One gives him something in his cabin, and in a few moments he in writing, even the mere address of a expired; leaving this world, I hope, to letter, by a person of whom he knows dwell with Christ his saviour in the nothing at all, and whose name one kingdom of heaven. During his illdoes not tell him: he asks only whe-ness on board the ship, he expectorather it is the writing of a male or fe- ted very little. I was desirous to as his death, he begged Mrs. Cowell to pray with him; which she did. After prayer, he said, "Now, Mrs. Cowell, you make a write: tell all my England friends that Jesus Christ is Mayree |