watches, and waits about the sick-bed of this friendless boy at sea? Who would not love it indeed? Alas! the power of kindness! especially when its object is a poor orphan boy, homeless and friendless, and the benefactor a beautiful woman, whose looks are so full of tenderness, and whose tones so full of love! IK MARVEL says, we can sometimes afford to be sick; nay, covet it, for the very sympathy it brings, especially when that sympathy was felt and expressed in our behalf by the woman we best love. JOHN HOWARD, the lowly yet immortal, whose name is indorsed in heaven, while sick at Stoke Newington, was not proof against the unremitted kindness and devotion of his landlady, Mrs. LOIDORE; but long before fully restored to health, had not only confessed his sincere attachment to her; but, though she was twenty-five years his senior, offered her his hand as well as his heart, and was accepted; nor was it ever known that he had the first occasion to repent of the step he had taken. We certainly, then, shall not wonder to learn that, long before the 'Duke of Grafton' arrived in Madras, HASTINGS was avowedly in love.

'But his love, while it was strong, earnest, and deep, was not impetuous. Intent now, since his heart was altogether engaged, and, as he then felt, his happiness for life at stake, on realizing at any expense, or whatever sacrifice, the fruition of his desires, he set about maturing a scheme for the accomplishment of this object, with as calculating a mind, and cool consideration of ways and means, as he had previously done for the redemption of his paternal estates. The plan which he, in connection with his mistress, finally adopted, was as follows:

'He would proceed immediately to Bengal, and get reëstablished in business, while she was to institute a suit for divorce in some of the courts of Franconia. While this matter was pending, (which, in all probability, would be during five or six years,) she should remain with her husband, as usual; but as soon as the marriage was dissolved, he would make her his wife, and adopt the children which she had borne to her former husband.

'Whatever view, in a strictly moral sense, we may take of these amours of HASTINGS, or his mode of working out his purposes, we can yet but admire if not applaud the singular fidelity with which he lived to fulfil all his vows; fulfil to a letter this contract, the offspring at once of passion, yet of mature deliberation.

'Fired now with a double ambition, to redeem the home of his fathers, and spend there, with her whom he now loved better than his own life, his declining years, the evening of life, he proceeded at once to engage himself in the service of the East-India Company, and applied himself to his pursuits with a devotion and decision of purpose, that promised some success. Nor was it long delayed; commencing at first in the humble capacity of clerk, by his indomitable energy and untiring application, he so worked his way from one post of honor and trust to another, and by his indefatigable devotion to business and the interests of the Company, as well as by the wisdom of his counsels and the skill displayed ever in his political exploits—coups d'état —so secured the confidence of the Company, that mainly through its influence, in less than fifteen months after his return he was called to occupy the high and responsible position of Governor-General of India. Like BYRON, indeed, he too had suddenly awoke and found himself famous.'

'The millions of India were now all his subjects, and obedient to his will; a standing army was at his command, ready and willing to do his veriest bidding, even to letting itself to foreign service for pay, and exterminating the innocent, defenceless, unfortunate Rohillas. The resources of a vast and ancient empire were subject to his control; and the treasures of time-honored and inoffensive

nabobs gathered to swell his treasury, and carry forward his enterprises. His word was law in the province, and his name soon became a terror to all the tribes abroad. In short, in an almost incredibly brief space of time, from the capacity of posting books for the Company, he was become statesman, diplomatist, monarch. His movements were attracting the attention of the whole civilized world, and for a long series of years, afforded a fruitful topic of comment and disquisition by the English press, and of debate in the House of Commons. Feeling indeed that he was born to be dictator supreme, in defiance of instructions from the Home Government, he outwitted and discomfited altogether Sir PHILIP FRANCIS, a man who had eminently distinguished himself as a statesman at home, the alleged author, indeed, of the papers of JUNIUS, who, with one or two others, had been sent out to rule as associate Governors of India with himself, and correct some of the abuses of which the latter had been charged as guilty. In the mean while, with such consummate skill and indomitable energy and perseverance, was he pushing his enterprises, he was winning the admiration even of his enemies. So manifestly was all India undergoing, under his administration, a radical and rapid revolution, and the English Government securing a firmer, a stronger hold upon the country than ever before, that he was popular with the Court, in spite of his obstinacy and excesses. So astonishingly were the coffers of the EastIndia Company replenished by the rich harvest of pagodas he was reaping, that they were bound to sustain him at all hazards.

'Now then, query: would not this highly-distinguished and honored potentate, flushed with this tide of victory and success, conscious that, in the future he was to be the companion of nobles and princes, and be associated with the titled and the powerful, look with contempt upon, if not entirely forget his love affair with the Dutch woman on board the 'Duke of Grafton.' Not so: all praise to his honor! About five years from the event of that voyage, during which time HASTINGS had neither seen nor been able to hear from his intended, news was received that one Mme. IMHOFF had at length succeeded in obtaining a divorce from her husband in the Franconia courts. HASTINGS hailed the piece of news with every demonstration of joy; took immediate measures to have the lady brought to him; caused the day of his nuptials to be announced as an universal holiday, and celebrated it with festivities of a very conspicuous order, bidding welcome to all, friend or foe, young and old, all in the name of his bride.

'No, he had not forgotten the old mistress of his heart, that guardian spirit that watched over him when none other was near to pity, to comfort, or to cheer. And we are by no means out of humor, amid all the hypocrisies, infidelity, and deceit so fearfully rife, especially in high life, that history has not deemed it foreign to its province to preserve this one instance of singular fidelity and trust in an affair de cœur.

'HASTINGS was some fifteen years Governor of India, and his wife always exerted a marked and controlling, nay, almost magical influence over him. And when he at length returned to England, she who was born under the Arctic circle, had played the queen under the Tropic of Cancer, proved herself worthy to grace the Court of Queen CHARLOTTE, acted a conspicuous part during the famous and protracted trial of a husband, whose alleged crimes are preserved in the amber of the immortal eloquence of SHERIDAN and BURKE; and subsequently, HASTINGS having been enabled, through the liberality of the East-India Company, to redeem his ancestral home, for which object he had lived and labored so long, but in which his long and expensive trial had well-nigh defeated him, became extensively known and favored as the distinguished Lady of Daylesford.'

STORY OF A DETECTIVE 'EXPERT.' The reader of the Lost Jewels of ACHMET BEY,' in a late number of the KNICKERBOCKER, will need no added inducement to peruse the following, which proceeds from the same pen:

THE circumstance which occurred in Cairo to which I alluded in my account of the recovery of the jewels of Achmet Bey happened on this wise.

'I had been to Petra and Mount Sinai, and had reached Cairo, en route for Upper Egypt. Departing from my regular custom of sleeping at a Khan, I put up at SHEPPARD's Hotel, determined to atone for past fatigue by a fortnight's rest. Our caravan arrived late in the evening, and when I sat down to tea I found but one companion. He was a large and rather handsome Englishman, whose gigantic frame and ruddy countenance evidently bespoke a traveller for pleasure and not for health. The usual courtesies of strangers passed between us on meeting, and it was not until we were nearly through our meal, that an active conversation was commenced.

'Finding our tastes somewhat similar, and being much prepossessed in his favor, at my solicitation he accompanied me to my room, where there was a good fire, more for appearance sake than necessity, and soon being involved in a dense cloud of Latakia, (for which my heart now sighs,) we unfolded our several histories. He had for some years been the chief 'detective' in a large English city; having grown weary of his calling, and possessing some property, he had determined to travel. 'Not,' as he bluntly and honestly confessed, 'because he was a scholar, and wished to see that of which he had read, but because he simply wished to enlarge his views, and enjoy himself.' He entertained me until long past mid-night, with detailed accounts of the adventures and difficulty he had experienced in ferreting out offenders, although he frankly confessed that it was an unpleasant thing to find that what at first was amusement, soon turned into an unpoetical, degraded feeling of spy-like drudgery. About one o'clock we separated, promising to devote the next day to sight-seeing; I offering, as an inducement, my knowledge of the language which would preclude the necessity of other guide than our donkey-boys.

·

Two or three days of pleasant companionship had rapidly flown, during which much was accomplished, when the servant who brought fresh water to me in the morning, asked if I had heard of 'the murder.' In answer to my listless inquiries, he told me that IBRAHIM, the cobbler, was missing, and that there had been enough blood found on the floor of his room to guarantee the belief that wherever he was, he was not alive. This was all he knew, and I thought little more on the subject until breakfast time.

THOMPSON—So I shall call my friend-was already seated when I reached the table, and after bidding me good morning, he asked me the English and American question: What news?'

''It would appear,' I replied, that they have had a murder or abduction case during the night, for our old friend of whom you bought your red slippers, has disappeared.'

If, instead of murdering him, they had made him wear a pair of his own slippers for an hour or two, I think they would have punished him badly enough,' said THOMPSON, who the day before had been heroically enduring a pair of Turkish shoes.

After we had finished our meal, I proposed the Pyramids, or the Palace of VOL. LI.

21

ABBAS PASHA, (which latter was not then completed.) THOMPSON said his feet were too much blistered to walk round 'the curiosities,' and proposed we should visit the house where the murder was committed, and, said he, 'Perhaps I can give you a hint or two on circumstantial evidence, which will prove useful to you some day.' So saying, he limped out of the hotel, I following, and we were soon cantering gayly toward the bazaars.

'When we reached the house, which was in the thickest part of the Tahan Bazaar, a large crowd had already assembled, and the secretary of the Pasha was loudly vociferating and calling upon them to disperse.

THOMPSON seemed to forget his lameness, for dismounting, he ploughed a path to the house, I following in his furrow. Watching his chance, when the secretary was engaged in laying down the law to the most persistent, he pushed open the door, and walking in, as quietly closed it, leaving none within its walls but ourselves. The sight to me was almost sickening; and, to divert my thoughts, I was about peering into the closets, when my companion called to me to stop.

Do not touch any thing,' he said; 'here is a rare chance to show you, that all my adventuros were not idle talk. I will guarantee that if you will interpret for me, I can find out who did this deed.'

'I looked at him in astonishment. His keen eye was rapidly scanning the room, and indelibly transferring to his memory all it rested on.

We shall not long remain undisturbed here, and therefore do n't say any thing to me, but note every thing, however minute, about the place, and we will talk it up afterward.'

'I obeyed his instructions. In about half-an-hour the crowd had been dispersed, and the latch was drawn. At the noise we both looked up. It was the secretary who entered, with a broom in his hand; I paid little attention to his looks, however; my friend paid more. The secretary was a little startled at finding two Franks in the dwelling, and he seemed heated and fatigued with his contest with the people outside; he, however, asked us to be seated, and apologized for his having no refreshments to offer us. He did not ask us our business, as is the custom among the Orientals, although they always couch the inquiry in such terms as to make it appear an act of friendly interest rather than curiosity. Although he did not ask me, it seemed so natural to make some remark concerning our affairs, that I asked THOMPSON what excuse I should offer for our intrusion.

Tell him,' replied he, that we are going to discover the murderer, after the English plan; that we would like him to recommend us to the Pasha, as being excellent diviners.'

Although I was somewhat troubled to find the requisite words in which to frame this eloquent address, I managed in some manner to convey the idea to him, and with abundant assurances that he would exert his influence with the Pasha on our behalf, we left him.

'After taking a ride for an hour or two longer, we returned and enjoyed a siesta before dinner. I took a little walk round the square, which is in front of the hotel, and then went to my friend's room. I found him drawing, at the table, and without looking up, he pushed a piece of paper before me and asked me to draw a plan of the room in which the tragedy took place.

'On comparing them, they were found to agree in general; but in detail, his was much more exact than mine.

'He then drew two chairs before the fire, and after clapping his hands in the hall to summon a servant, he ordered some of ALSOP's East India,' which, though less

·

poetical than sherbet, is far more satisfactory. We lighted our cherry-handled chibouks and drew comfort from their amber mouth-pieces.

"And now,' said THOMPSON, after we had smoked a while in silence, what do you remember about the room, and what things attracted your special attention?' 'I gave him all the observations I had made, without skipping, as I thought, the most trivial thing. When I had ended, he praised my power of noticing, and said he thought a few lessons would make me an adept. Then, refilling his pipe, he told me his views, as follows. I only omit such things as we talked up and discarded as irrelevant :

'I noticed that the house was at one end of a small street, although it fronted on the bazaar; there was no occupied house in front of it, and the shops on either side, I remember, are closed at night. In the rear there are no houses whose windows command IBRAHIM's dwelling. I noticed that the house was composed of the room in which we were and the loft above. Now that loft has never been opened, within a week at least, as the cobwebs were as thick round it as they are round the mouth of a parish poor-box. Now, as the man must have slept somewhere, he slept in that room, and perhaps was sleeping when his assassin entered. I observed in one corner of the room a mat and some pillows, which had not been disturbed; and the only evidence I have that he was sleeping, was the evident adjustment of those three ottomans. Now a man is never murderedat least very, very seldom-except from covetousness, jealousy, or hatred for an injury done; insanity I look upon as a mere make-shift used by clever counsellors to divert the law from its true course; although so popular has the doctrine become that the word murder seems to be defined unpunishable insanity. But that is getting off our subject. In this enlightened country, where it is no object for a man to be insane, we may reduce our inquiries to the three causes of murder before mentioned. And first, let us take up jealousy. Was the man handsome, was he even passably good-looking? was he young? was he attractive? What think you?' To me,' I replied, 'he appeared to be none of these.'

Very well,' continued THOMPSON, 'at best, these are but suppositions; we will find out to-morrow, in a quiet way, a great deal more about him. You think then, we might dismiss jealousy?'

''I do.'

Then, to my mind, he either had something worth coveting, or else he had done some one a real or supposed injury, and this was their revenge. From my experience, I am much inclined to favor this idea, and here are my reasons: he seemed to be a poor man; had he been a Jew, we might have found him working hard, notwithstanding immense, so to speak, latent wealth. Then again the Turks are an extremely jealous people, and from the crafty way this murder was conducted, I am disposed to think the culprit one of that nation. Here again, however, in my mind two ideas clash: I have some reason to think the offender a Bedawee; and if I am correct, I would be willing to bet, from your description of their character, that rapacity was the object; had it been revenge, a less open place would have been selected. To further this opinion, that it was covetousness of treasure, to which we are to ascribe the deed, I would call your attention to the room once more. Do you remember that there was a pile of bed-clothing in one corner untouched, although the three ottomans bore marks of a person having reclined on them? Now why were those clothes not used? You know that an inhabitant of these climes, even in the hottest weather, covers himself completely when he sleeps. May we not argue from this circumstance, however slight, that he did not intend to compose himself for a sound sleep. What was the motive?