George the First. . . . I often thought, as I took my kind old friend's hand, how, with it, I held on to the old society of wits and men of the world." I cannot resist the temptation to paraphase this extract from the great satirist, and say, as I can very literally :"A very few years since I knew a Friend who had known another who had seen and conversed with the Founder of Pennsylvania. I often thought, as I took my kind old friend's hand, how, with it, I held on to the old society of men who were wiser than wits, and better than men of the world." JAMES BOORNE. A WORD OR TWO ABOUT PATRIOTISM. AT the present crisis, when so much is said by those who advocate war about patriotic feeling, it may not be unprofitable to inquire what it is that is dignified by this name? It is to be feared that much of it might better be classed under the head of expanded selfishness. "I like to think myself a greater man than my Continental neighbour; and, having no particular individual excellence to recommend me, I will be proud of my mother-country. Not that I am a very creditable son, or that I've done anything to amend her laws or institutions (I haven't brains enough for that), but I was born here, I have attained my present comely proportions by the aid of the Roast beef of old England,' and I've a right to say she is the best country under the sun; and if any man dares to contradict me, I'm ready for him." Less coarsely expressed, yet much the same in spirit, is, apparently, much of our boasted patriotism. Happily, we have also much of a more exalted kind; and it is with the desire of drawing, to some extent, a line of distinction between the true and the false aspect of a sentiment common to all but the most degraded, that these few remarks are made. The love of our native land is not only a natural, but a truly noble passion, and all should sympathise with the man who is willing to devote his time, his talents, or, if need be, his life, for the benefit of his compatriots. But as to the mode in which this may be done opinions must greatly differ. In the first place, we ought to consider whether the love of country is to be allowed to interfere with a strict regard to justice; in a word, are we to defend our own side, right or wrong, merely because it is our own? Secondly, was any nation ever really benefited, in the truest sense, by having been able to overcome right by might? I say No, most emphatically; and that "ill-gotten gains" can no more be expected to prosper by kingdoms than by individuals. That good is, in spite of our misdeeds, continually evolved from evil, is no reason for doing wrong; and if, as we may have seen, the conquest of a nation has ultimately been conducive to the welfare of the vanquished, yet it is not to the credit of the victors, who sought only their own aggrandisement, and left the moral result to take care of itself. Fortunately for us, there is truth in the remark of Bishop Butler, that, by a provision of Providence, "all the bad natural consequences of men's actions should not actually follow "; but we need not on this account plume ourselves on the good that has followed in the wake of our conquests. The best men of a nation do not wish for unfairness, and surely they deserve to be heard before the more unscrupulous. Why should honesty and mercy be set aside for the sake of blind devotion to one spot of earth? Far be it from us to undervalue the sacred ties and holy feelings binding us to the land of our birth, with its time-honoured institutions of freedom. Let us strive to serve our beloved country by all means consistent with the high standard of Christianity; but, beyond this, let no fallacious ideas of national glory be suffered to lead us. Oh! that England would indeed be the first to listen to, and profit by, the strains of her own gifted poetess, when she exclaims that With truth, and smite a foe upon the cheek Worth a great nation's finding, to prove weak Then, indeed, might she stand pre-eminent among the nations, and her sons rejoice far more than they ever did over her hard-won battle-fields! Till then, her most enthusiastic well-wishers may unite in this other earnest appeal from the same voice, no more heard among us, yet seeming to speak more solemnly from her far-off Italian grave Oh, my England, crease · Thy purple with no alien agonies That reach thee through the net of war!-no war! Be henceforth prosperous as the angels are- C. E. FERRIS. UPPERSIDE MONTHLY MEETING. THE Monthly Meeting for the Upperside of the County of Bucks is one to which much interest attaches. Although Friends are now very thinly scattered in the district, in the latter part of the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries they formed a not insignificant portion of the community, and meetings for worship were established in most of the towns and larger villages. Among the leading members were William Penn (who was married and buried within the compass of the Monthly Meeting), Isaac Penington, Thomas Ellwood, and other well-known names. Upperside Monthly Meeting extended from Watford to Aylesbury (twentythree miles) in one direction, and from High Wycombe to Berkhamstead (fifteen miles) in another. The records of the Meeting have been preserved almost from the commencement, there being only a few leaves of the first book missing. The date of the first Meeting of which we have the record is 1669; in the following year the Meetings were held at Thomas Ellwood's house, at Hunger Hill, near Jordans, and continued to be so held till his decease in 1713, and for many years he acted as Clerk. We may clearly gather from these records that the attenders of meetings for discipline, when compared to the number professing to be Friends, were but few; the same names occurring in the minutes over and over again. A little consideration will show that it could hardly have been otherwise. Many Friends were then in humble life, and would have found it impracticable to travel a distance of twenty miles or |