Besides the prevailing national religion and the general worship of the ancients, there existed almost everywhere a secret doctrine, which was either communicated by priests, likewise to a small circle of selected individuals, or taught by particular inquirers as the fruit of profane philosophy. Of the first, especially, remarkable proofs appear among many small nations. We speak here of mysteries, which we see originate in remote antiquity, and, at that time, produce the greatest effect.

There were several kinds of mysteries, which differed widely in object and effect. Some consisted only of religious ceremonies, the mystical solemnity of which seemed adapted to proclaim a higher majesty of the god, or to fill the mind with religious awe. Other mysteries were associations of devout people, who, by particular devotional practices, or by pursuing peculiar rules of life, endeavoured to attain a higher moral perfec-tion than that of the rest. The third and noblest kind of mysteries were those where a secret doctrine was imparted to the initiated concerning subjects to the investigation of which we are urged by a high and eternal interest, but the unveiled contemplation of whicn is dangerous for the common intellect. There were, however, several grades of initiation. To the inferior-where those admitted were prepared, examined, or entertained by vain delusion, as in the great Elusmian mysteries - many, even women and children, were able to attain; into the inner sanctuary but few were introduced. They sufficed to prevent the extinction of the beneficial flame, ana always let as much light emanate from their centre into external circles, and into the whole nation, as relations and the general state of cultivation permitted.

We meet with oracles in the ancient religions still more gen-erally than with mysteries, by which here not merely those sacred places are understood, where a certain god replied by some organ to the questions put to him, but in general all the means and ways which superstition has invented to arrive at the knowledge of the divine will and the future. Man is incessantly tor-, tured with the inquiet desire to raise the impenetrable veil, which lies over his future; and inexplicable feelings are often in his mind, which he calls forebodings, because he supposes a secret connexion between these and a coming event. For his little person is the centre from which he considers the world. Everything exists in reference to him; he imagines that on account of his private affairs, the gods stop the machinery of nature, and that even the celestial bodies direct their courses according to his destiny. This disposition was early abused by cunning men, and, to the question, who invented soothsaying, we may without hesitation answer with Voltaire: "it was the first rogue that met with the first blockhead." What advantage they were able to derive from this superstition did not escape the priests. Even legislators, who discerned in it an efficacious means for the direction of the multitude, favored the same, and it became a peculiar, sacred art, pursued according to fixed rules, and generally respected, to interpret the future from the constellations, the entrails of animals, the flight of birds, dreams, lots, etc.

A Curious Baptism, which took place at Dublin, in the year 1807. - A Moor, a native of Mogadore, in Africa, a strict observer of the religion of Mahomet, wearing always, of course, the costume of his country, resided a few months in the above city. A family, where he occasionally visited, being about to baptize their infant, solicited the stranger to stand godfather, which was immediately consented to; and on the appointed day, he appeared splendidly arrayed in his turban and robes, at the sacred font, where, with clue solemnity, he answered to the accustomed intenopatives,-" All this I sted-fastly believe." To add still further to the oddity of the circumstance, the father was a member of the Roman Catholic church, and the mother of the Established one.

Some account of Kalmuck Praying Machines: from Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia. - "Among the most remarkable of the sacred utensils of the temples, is the Kurda, a cylindrical vessel of wood or metal, either very small, or of immense size. In its centre is fixed an iron axle; but the interior of the cylinder, which is quite hollow, is filled with sacred wiitings, the leaves of which are all stuck one to another at the edge, throughout the whole length. This paper is rolled tightly round the axis of the cylinder till the whole space is filled up. A close cover is fixed on at each end, and the whole kurda is very neatly finished, painted on the outside with allegorical representations, or Indian prayers, and varnished. This cylinder is fastened upright in a frame by the axis; so that the latter, by means of a wheel attached to it below, may be set a-going with a string, and with a slight pull kept in a constant rotatory motion. When this cylinder is large, another, twice as small, and filled with writing, is fixed for ornament at the top of it. The inscription on such prayer-wheels commonly consists of masses for souls, psalms, and the six great general litanies, in which the most moving petitions are preferred for the welfare of all creatures. The text they sometimes repeat a hundred, or even a thousand times, attributing, from superstition, a proportionably augmented effect to this repetition, and believing that by these frequent copies, combined with their thousands of revolutions, they will prove so much the more efficacious. You frequently see, as well on the habitations of the priests, as on the whole root of the temple, small kurd'a placed close to each other, in rows, by way of ornament; and not only over the gates, but likewise in the fields, frames set up expressly for these praying-machines, which, instead of being moved by a string, are turned by the wind, by means of four sails, shaped and hollowed out like spoons.

"Other similar kurda are fastened to sticks of moderate thickness; a leaden weight is then fastened to the cylinder by a string, which, when it is once set a-going, keeps it, with the help of the stick, in constant motion. Such like prayer-wheels neatly wrought, are fastened upon short sticks to a small wooden pedestal, and stand upon the altars, for the use of pious persons. While the prayer-wheel is thus turned round with one hand, the devotee takes the rosary in the other, and at the same time repeats penitential psalms.

"A fourth kind of these kurd'a is constructed on the same principle as those which are turned by wind, only it is somewhat smaller, and the frame is adapted to be hung up by a cord, in the chimneys of the habitations or huts of the Mon-guls. When there is a good fire, they are likewise set in motion by the smoke and the current of air, and continue to turn round as long as the fire is kept up.

"A fifth kind of kurd'a is erected on a small stream of water, upon a foundation like that of a mill, over which a small house is built to protect it from the weather. By means of the wheel attached to it, and the current, the cylinder is in like manner kept in a constant circular motion. These water kurd'a are commonly constructed on a large scale, and maintained at the joint expense of the inhabitants of a whole district. They have a reference to all aquatic animals, whether alive or dead, whose temporal and eternal happiness is the aim of the writings contained in them, in like manner as the object of the fire. Kurd'a is the salvation of the souls of all animals suffering by fire."