614 The Vision of Almet the Dervife. the traveller from a fenfe of toil and danger; of whirlwinds which in a moment may bury him in the fand, and of thirst which the wealthy have given half their poffeffions to allay? Do thofe on whom hereditary diamonds fparkle with unregarded luftre, gain from the poffeffion, what is lot by the wretch who feeks them in the mine; who lives excluded from the common bounties of nature; to whom even the viciffitude of day and night is not known; who fighs in perpetual darkness, and whofe life is one mournful alternative of infenfibility and labour? If thofe are not happy who poffefs, in proportion as thofe are wretched who beltow, how vain a dream is the life of man! and if there is, indeed, fuch difference in the value of existence, how fhall we acquit of partiality the hand by which this difference has been made? While my thoughts thus multiplied, and my heart burned within me, I became fenfible of a fadden influence from above. The streets and the crouds of Mecca difappeared. I found myself fitting on the declivity of a mountain, and perceived at my right-hand an angel, whom I knew to be Azoran, the minifter of reproof. When I faw him, I was afraid. I caft mine eye upon the ground, and was about to deprecate his anger, when he commanded me to be filent. Almet,' faid he, thou haft devoted thy life to meditation, that thy counfel might deliver ignorance from the mazes of error, and deter prefumption from the precipice of guilt; but the book of nature thou haft read without un derstanding it is again open before thee; look up, confider it and be wife.' I looked up, and beheld an inclofure, beautiful as the gardens of paradile, but of a small extent. Through the middle, there was a green walk at the end, a wild defart, and, beyond, impenetrable darkness. The walk was fhaded with trees of every kind, that were covered at once with blooms and fruit; innumerable birds were finging in the branches; the grafs was intermingled with flowers, which impregnated the breeze with fragrance, and painted the path with beauty; on one fide flowed a gentle transparent ftream, which was just heard to murmur over the golden fands that sparkled at the bottom; and on the other were walks and bowers, fountains, grotto's, and cafcades, which diverfi. fied the fcene with endless vanety, but did not conceal the bounds. While I was gazing in a tranf port of delight and wonder on this enchanting fpot, I perceived a man stealing along the walk witha thoughtful and deliberate pace; eyes were fixed upon the earth, and his arms croiled on his bofom; he fometimes ftarted, as if a fudden pang had feized him; his counte nance expreffed folicitude and ter ror; he looked round with a figh, and, having gazed a moment on the defart that lay before him, he feemed as if he wished to ftop, but was impelled forward by fome in vifible power; his features, how ever, foon settled again into a calm melancholy; his eye was again fixed on the ground, and he went on as before, with apparent reluct ance, but without emotion. I was ftruck with his appearance; and, turning haftily to the angel, was about to enquire, what could produce fuch infelicity in a being furrounded with every object that could gratify every fenfe: but he prevented my requeft: The book of nature,' faid he, is before thee: look up, confider it and be wife.'l looked and beheld a valley between and two mountains that were craggy barren barren; on the path there was no verdure, and the mountains afforded no fhade; the fun burned in the zenith, and every spring was dried up, but the valley terminated in a country that was pleafant and fertile, fhaded with woods, and adorned with buildings, At a fecond view, I difcovered a man in this valley, meagre indeed and naked, but his countenance was chearful, and his deportment active; he kept his eye fixed the upon country before him, and looked as if he would have run, but that he was reftrained, as the other had been impelled, by fome fecret influence; fometimes, indeed, I perceived a fudden expreffion of pain, and fometimes he stepped fhort as if his foot was pierced by the afperities of the way; but the fprightlinefs of his countenance inftantly returned, and he preffed forward without appearance of repining or complaint. 6 I turned again toward the angel, impatient to enquire from what fecret fource happiness was derived, in a fituation fo different from that in which it might have been expected; but he again prevented my request: Almet, faid he, remember what thou haft feen, and let this memorial be written upon the tablets of thy heart. Remember, Almet, that the world in which thou art placed is but the road to another; and that happinefs depends not upon the path, but the end; the value of this period of thy existence is fixed by hope and fear. The wretch who wifhed to linger in the garden, who looked round upon its limits with terror, was deftitute of enjoyment, because he was deftitute of hope, and was perpetually tormented by the dread of lofing that which yet he did not enjoy. The fong of the birds had been repeated till it was not heard, and the flowers had fo often re curred, that their beauty was no feen; the river glided by unnoticed; and he feared to lift his eye to the profpect, left he should behold the wafte that circumfcribed it. But he that toiled through the valley was happy, because he looked forward with hope. Thus, to the fojourner upon earth, it is of little moment whether the path he treads be firewed with flowers or with thorns, if he perceives himfelf to approach thofe regions, in comparifon of which the thorns and the flowers of this wilderness lose their distinction, and are both alike impotent to give pleasure or pain. What, then, has eternal Wifdom unequally diftributed? That which can make every ftation happy, and without which every ftation must be wretched, is acquired by virtue; and virtue is poffible to all. Remember, Almet, the vifion which thou haft feen; and let my words be written on the tablet of thy heart, that thou mayeft direct the wanderer to happiness, and juftify God to men.' While the voice of Azoran was yet founding in my car, the profpect vanifhed from before me, and I found myfelf again fitting at the porch of the temple. The fun was gone down, the multitude was retired to reft, and the folemn quiet of midnight concurred with the refolution of my doubts to complete the tranquillity of my mind. Such, my fon, was the vifion the prophet vouchfafed me; not for my fake only, but for thine. Thou haft fought felicity in temporal things, and therefore thou art difappointed. Let not inftruction be loft upon thee, as the feal of Mahomet in the well of Aris; but go thy way, let thy flock cloath th: naked, and thy table feed the hungry; deliver the poor from op4 I 2 pre lion, 616 Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons. preffion, and let thy converfation be above. Thus fhalt thou rejoice in hope, and look forward to the end of life, as the confummation of thy felicity. Almet, in whose breast devotion kindled as he spake, returned into the temple; and the ftranger departed in peace. MEMOIRS of Mrs. RS. SIDDONS is the daughMRS. is the emble, who defcended from a good family in the city of Hereford. Her father, who went early on the stage, married an Actrefs of confiderable merit. They were the proprietors of an itinerant company, in which, at fo early an age as thirteen, their daughter, Mifs Kemble, performed the principal finging parts, in a manner perfectly unufual on a country stage. A tender attachment took place a year or two after between our rifing young Actress and Mr. Siddons. Her extreme youth appears to have been the only objection which her parents could form to this alliance; and this operated fo forcibly on them, that finding the fuggeftions of prudence against the impropriety of fo early an engagement were ineffectual, they deprived themfelves of all the advantages that they could hope from her admirable talents, and placed her as a companion to a lady of fome rank, who had been charmed by her profeflional abilities, and entertained a fincere friendship for her. But her paffion for the ftage was too powerful to render this connection lafting. At the expiration of about two years, fhe made a private application to Mr. Garrick, who, though he faw ard admired her powers, was so amply fatisfied with the poffeffion of a Yates and a Younge, that he gave her to encouragement. In the mean time, a correfpondence had been kept up between the two SIDDONS. lovers, and her parents at length confenting to their union, the was married, when hardly eighteen, to Mr. Siddons. She now appeared again on the ftage, and at Cheltenham was honoured with particular marks of diftinction by the Earl of Aylef bury, then Lord Bruce, whofe eulogiums on her rifing merit were so warm and repeated, that at length they reached the ears of Mr. Garrick; and the refult was, that Mrs. Siddons engaged in the fervice of that great theatrical Monarch. She first appeared in the character of Portia, and afterwards in other parts of lefs confequence. She did not then meet with that applaufe, which has fince diftinguished her performances. Probably her rifing powers were not fufficiently matured; and thofe who are acquainted with the Theatres muft be fenfible how much fuccefs depends upon the generosity, candour, and foftering kindnels of a Manager; qualities which Mrs. Siddons had not the good fortune to difcover in Mr. Garrick. He difcharged her at the end of the feafon; a circumftance which by no means redounds to his credit, when it is confidered that our young Actress engaged herfelf without any ftipulations whatever, and with a perfect reliance on the honour of the Managers. Mrs. Siddons now retired to Bath, where Mr. Palmer, the Pa tentee of that Theatre, received her with great cordiality and kindness. At Bath her genius was cultivated, her talents trained, and her qualifications as a great Actress brought to maturity. The refult proved extremely beneficial to Mr. Palmer, whole houfe, whenever Mrs. Siddons afted, was filled with the most brilliant audiences. Having left the London Theatre for near eight years, the new Managers of Drury-Lane were now fully apprized of the value of fuch an acquifition, and made overtures to Mrs. Siddons, which in the fequel were accepted. Previous to her leaving Bath, this favourite Actress wrote and fpoke a very elegant poetical addrefs. In the bills of the day fhe had undertaken to produce three reafons for quitting that Theatre. This naturally excited great curiofity, and brought a very numerous audience. How much the whole house was affected, when, in the delivery of this addrefs, fhe produced her three reafons in three beautiful children, may be more easily conceived than expreffed. It is impoffible to enter into a minute difcuffion of Mrs. Siddons's excellence, at once fo vaft and various in the different characters fhe Some Account of Mrs. RS. BILLINGTON is the has appeared in. Her fuperior ta- BILLINGTON. Feb. 13, in the character of Rofetta, Mdaughter of the late celebrated in Love in a Village, when the Mrs. Weichfell. Her hufband is After having performed with gave the moft convincing proofs of her mufical abilities. The embarraffment that a first appearance before Majefty, and a crouded theatre, naturally produced in her, difappeared on her fecond performance, and left her to a full display of her uncommon mufical powers. She has been equally fuccefsful in every other character fhe has undertaken to perform, particularly in Clara, in the Peruvian. Every fong is given with fuch exquifite tafte, feeling, 618 The Properties and Ufe of the Anthelmia. feeling, fcience, and tone, as would do honour to the first operas in Europe. Concerts and Italian operas have hitherto been the nurferies of mufical genius; they have generally exhausted the abilities of capital performers, and fent them debilitated to the dramatic ftage but Mrs. Billington comes unimpaired, in the full vigour of youth, in the poffeffion of the most exquifite talents, to delight and aftonith our fenfes by the melody of her tuneful notes. Her tone is uncommonly brilliant and In clear; her fhakes neat, and her cadences in the highest ftile. fhort, her performances in general are a most luxuriant difplay of fenfibility, judgment, ability and tafte; and from the fpecimens we have had, we will venture to pronounce, that her future efforts will command the admiration of the prefent age.. Mrs. Billington's face is handfome and expreffive: her height not above mediocrity; but her fhape and air is remarkably genteel. ør Account of the Properties and Ufe of the ANTHELMIA, F SPIGELIA LINN ÆI. W HOEVER confiders, that the poorer fort of people and flaves, to take care of whom we are equally urged by intereft and the laws of humanity, are not only fubject to the fame diforders with the rest of mankind, but also to many others, arifing from their grofs irregular diet and neceffities, muft certainly commiferate their hardships, and endeavour his utmoft for their relief: and how pernicious to fuch people worms (the peculiar produce of fuch grofs and irregular living, muft of neceffity prove, appears from the numberless diforders and complaints arifing from them, with which there are but few, in the way of obfervation, unacquainted. In 1768 the dif orders from this fource alone raged in fome parts of the American colonies to fuch a height as to threaten the ruin of many planters by the lofs of their flaves. At that time I had a fufficient opportunity of obferving the extraordinary virtues of the Anthelmia, or worm-grafs, by the ufe of which alone many lives were faved, and much ruin prevented. Induced therefore by the laws of humanity, and a regard for the public welfare, I freely communicate its defcription, effects, and the manner of using it. It is well known that many plants have peculiar effects; we fee, for inftance, the ranunculus caufes the rifus fardonicus, whilft opium lulls all pain and irritations; the ipecacuanha excites a vomiting and a violent contraction of fome mufcles, whilft cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, &c. ftrengthen the fame parts, and appeafe fuch inordinate motions; manna increases the periftaltic motion of the bowels, and promotes a discharge by ftool; and the Anthelmia, as appears by innumerable fuccessful experiments, is of fo extraordinary a nature, that I dare affirm, we have not a fimple fo effectual in any other diforder, as this is in those which proceed from worms. In fome parts of the island of Jamaica grows a small plant, known in the Windward Islands by the name of worm-grafs, which I have taken the liberty of defcribing by the name of Anthelmia, as it was a genus not before known in botany. |