TEMPLARS.

No doubt there were numbers who did not useardent spirits ; but it was not because they were notperpetually in their way. They were an establishedarticle of diet, almost as much as bread, and, withvery many', they were in much more frequent use.The friend who did not testify his welcome with them,and the master who did not provide bountifully ofthem for his servants, were held niggardly ; andthere was no social meeting, not even of the mostformal or sacred kind, where it was considered inde-corous, scarcely any where it was not thought neces-sary, to produce them. The consequence was, thatwhat the great majority used without scruple, largenumbers indulged in without restraint. And thoughno statistics of the vice were yet embodied, it wasquite plain that it was constantly making large num-bers bankrupt in property, character, and prospects,and inflicting upon the community a vast amount ofphysical and mental ill in their worst forms. The evilwas too obvious and dreadful not to be the subject ofmuch anxious observation ; but endeavours to restrainit had hitherto taken no more effective shape thanthat of individual influence applied to individualcases. The idea of concentrating public sentimentupon it, in some form to produce more importantresults, seems to have been first developed, if notconceived, by some members of an ecclesiasticalbody, called the General Association of Massachu-setts. At a meeting of this association, in 1811, acommittee was appointed to form the constitution ofa society, whose object should be “ To check the pro-gress of intemperance, viewed by the association asan alarming and growing evil.” Such a society wasformed, consisting of about 120 members, in differentparts of the state. It held its first meeting in 1813,and elected the late honourable Samuel Dexter forits president.

The first attempt of the society was naturally tocollect facts towards a precise exhibition of the natureand magnitude of the existing evil, with the view ofdrawing public attention to it, and of directing endea-vours for its removal. The reports presented, fromyear to year, embraced statements and calculationswhich were found to make out a case of the mostappalling nature, such as to amaze even those whosesolicitude on the subject had been the greatest.

In 1831, more than 2200 societies, embracing170,000 members, were in correspondence with theparent society. More than 1000 distilleries had beenstopped by the influence of the society, forming atenth part of all which had been in operation.

“ More than 1,000,000 persons in the UnitedStates,” says one of the publications of the society,“now abstain from the use of ardent spirits.” Themeans by which the society has produced these results,apart from the contemporaneous labours, in writing,and by more personal endeavours, of a great numberof individuals, connected and not connected with it,have been the calling of attention to the subject, andthe diffusing of information upon it, by the circula-tion of tracts and the addresses of travelling agents,and then collecting such as have been influenced bythe representations made, into auxiliary associationsembracing a larger or more limited neighbourhood,thus making such individuals distinctly responsible■or personal, and, as opportunity should permit, morepublic cooperation with its objects. Such associationshave included females and children, it being thought

l he highest importance thus to secure the influence

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of the former class, and the forming habits of sobrietyin the latter. The basis on which these associationshave been formed, at least from an early period, hasbeen that of an engagement, on the part of each mem-ber, to abstain from the use of distilled spirits, exceptfor medicinal purposes, and to forbear to provide themfor the entertainment of friends or the supply ofdependants.

In the latter part of 1829 or 1830, the first tem-perance society in Great Britain was formed at NewRoss, in Ireland, and, before the close of that year,there were societies in Ireland and Scotland, number-ing more than 14,000 members. In June, 1831, ageneral society was formed in London under thoname of the British and Foreign Temperance Society,which has increased with considerable rapidity sincethat period, a circumstance which argues well for thefuture prosperity of the working classes of GreatBritain.

Templars. A celebrated order of knights, which,like the order of St. John and the Teutonic order,had its origin in the crusades. Hugh de Pajens,Godfrey de St. Uldemar, and seven other knights,established it in 1119, for the protection of the pil-grims on the roads in Palestine. Subsequently, itsobject became the defence of the Christian faith, andof the holy sepulchre against the Saracens. Theknights took the vows of chastity, of obedience, andof poverty, like regular canons, and lived at first onthe charity of the Christian lords in Palestine. KingBaldwin II., of Jerusalem, gave them an abode inthat city, on the east of the site of the Jewish tem-ple ; hence they received the name of Templars.Pope Honorius II. confirmed the order, in 1127, atthe council of Troyes, and imposed on them rulesdrawn from those of the Benedictine monks, to whichwere added the precepts of St. Bernard de Clair-vaux, who warmly recommended this order. Thofame of their exploits procured them not only nume-rous members, but also rich donations in houses, lands,and money. The different classes of this order were,knights, squires, and servitors, to which were added,

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in 1172, some spiritual members, who officiated aspriests, chaplains, and clerks. All wore a badge ofthe order,—a girdle of linen thread, to denote theirvows of chastity' ; the clerical members had white,the servitors gray or black gowns ; the knights wore,besides their armour, simple white cloaks, adorned