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dead; in Circassia and Georgia the spirit of beauty weeps over the ruin of
its favourite temple--the form of woman.
Our own distresses, though they were occasioned by the fictitious
reciprocity of commerce, encreased in due proportion. Bankers, merchants,
and manufacturers, whose trade depended on exports and interchange of
wealth, became bankrupt. Such things, when they happen singly, affect only
the immediate parties; but the prosperity of the nation was now shaken by
frequent and extensive losses. Families, bred in opulence and luxury, were
reduced to beggary. The very state of peace in which we gloried was
injurious; there were no means of employing the idle, or of sending any
overplus of population out of the country. Even the source of colonies was
dried up, for in New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, and the Cape of Good Hope,
plague raged. O, for some medicinal vial to purge unwholesome nature, and
bring back the earth to its accustomed health!
Ryland was a man of strong intellects and quick and sound decision in the
usual course of things, but he stood aghast at the multitude of evils that
gathered round us. Must he tax the landed interest to assist our commercial
population? To do this, he must gain the favour of the chief land-holders,
the nobility of the country; and these were his vowed enemies--he must
conciliate them by abandoning his favourite scheme of equalization; he must
confirm them in their manorial rights; he must sell his cherished plans for
the permanent good of his country, for temporary relief. He must aim no
more at the dear object of his ambition; throwing his arms aside, he must
for present ends give up the ultimate object of his endeavours. He came to
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