an Edinburgh caddie than as the chief, which I take you to be, of a band of Arabian robbers.'

'Oh, but you mistake, Mr. Chillingham,' replied Campbell hastily. These men, though they have attacked you certainly for the purpose of plundering you, are not robbers by profession; they are soldiers in the pay of the Turkish government, and I am their commander; but they could not resist the temptation of spoiling you, such opportunities rarely coming in their way; and it would have been more than my life was worth to have attempted to prevent them; but I will have every rascal of them soused for this when we get to Cosseir. I shall have the head taken from the shoulders of every tenth man of them at least, and the rest bastinadoed till they cannot stand: that they may depend upon. In the meantime, Captain Chillingham,' continued Campbell, 'I shall try, though at the risk of having my throat cut, to save your property, at any rate, from their clutches, if you will be good enough to point it out to me. That of your friends, if it can be recovered at all, must be recovered by other means. What these means are, I shall mention before parting. Which are your camels, captain?' added Campbell. Mr. Chillingham having pointed them out, the former immediately rode off towards them, and was shortly after seen speaking vehemently, and with threatening gestures, to those who were plundering the luggage they carried, pointing from time to time to the captain as he spoke. In a few minutes afterwards he rejoined the latter, and told him that he had succeeded in his object, and that his property was safe. 'As to that of your friends, Captain Chillingham,' he added, 'I hope on your account, that, with the assistance of the effendi at Cosseir, I shall recover the greater part of it at any rate.' He then recommended the whole party-taking care, however, not to excite any suspicions of collusion amongst his own men by any of his communications with the travellers-to remain at Thebes until they heard from him, which he assured them would be in less than ten days.

Having said this, and once more bidden an affectionate adieu to his old patron and friend, Campbell placed himself again at the head of his troop, who were now in readi

ness to continue their march, having secured all the most portable and valuable portion of the travellers' effects, and in a few minutes the whole party started at full gallop, and were speedily lost in the distance in the Desert.

The travellers pursued their journey. They stopped at Thebes, as they had been recommended to do by Campbell; and within the time he had mentioned, the whole of their property, with the exception of some trifling articles, was restored to them; but from this moment, neither Captain' Chillingham nor any of his party ever saw or heard more of the son of the Edinburgh caddie, alias Abdel Hassan the Turkish commander, further than that he was in high favor with the Turkish government, and in a fair way of becoming a very great

man.

There only remains to be added to this little narrative some account of the circumstances which led to so extraordinary a change in the condition of the principal subject of it. Young Campbell, who was naturally of an enterprising turn, and whose appetite for travelling had been excited by some of the stories in the Collections he had purused, by way of lessons, at the school at the foot of the Bow, had been employed as a servant to an English gentleman of large fortune, about to set out on a tour through the more interesting parts of Egypt. This foreign_expedition was exactly the sort of thing which jumped with the erratic humor of the lad, and he accordingly proceeded, with great good-will, with his master. Most unfortu nately, or perhaps fortunately, for Campbell, his master died in the course of his travels, by which event he was suddenly thrown upon his own resources. In these circumstances he applied for assistance and advice to the pacha of Kennah, who, struck with his personal appearance, which was singularly prepossessing, and with his intelligence, proposed, half jestingly and half in earnest, that he should remain where he was, and that he would procure him some military appointment under the Turkish government. Campbell at once closed with the offer; and his appearing in the character in which we have latterly exhibited him was the result. When met in the

Desert by Mr. Chillingham, he had been nearly seven years in the Turkish service; and in that time he had raised himself, by his bravery and good conduct, from one of the lowest commands in the army of that power, to the distinguished station he filled at the period alluded to in our story, and was, as already noticed, looked upon as one in the high road to further preferment.

[The editors, while they think it necessary to mention that there is nothing fictitious in this story but the names, cannot help pointing to it as an exemplification of the advantage which often accrues, unexpectedly, from conduct for which there was no other motive than general benevolence. The kindness which the officer manifested towards his temporary servant, in obedience simply to the demands of good feeling, was unquestionably the means of saving him, in a later period of life, and in a remote part of the world, from a very great misfortune; and he thus purchased, at little more than a sentimental expense, what nothing else perhaps could have obtained for him, and what he certainly would have wanted, if he had happened to be a man of churlish nature, or one who looked upon his inferiors as a set of beings with whom he was expected to entertain no sympathy. It is thus made clear, that the man of kind nature, while exposed, it may be allowed, to some hazards through its operation, is also liable to reap from it great advantages: sowing, as it were, with gracious and soothing words, seeds which may afterwards grow up to his hand in splendidly-compensatory benefits.]

LUCRETIA AND MARGARET DAVIDSON, THE POET CHILDREN OF PLATTSBURG.

LUCRETIA.

MUCH attention has been excited in America by the touching history of the Misses Davidson of Plattsburg, two remarkable victims of the disease which manifests itself in what is called precocious genius. The enlightened part VOL. IV.-B 13

of our own community is now becoming aware, that precocious genius is the symptom of a disease, or perhaps we should speak more properly if we said an unhealthy organization, and that it requires a very nice and careful treatment, in order that the dangers which it threatens may be averted. But still many are ignorant of the fact; and it is only too common to see the parents of youthful prodigies urging them to severe mental tasks, when their endeavor ought rather to be to tempt them to amusements, bodily exercise, and vacation of mind. The great object of parents ought to be the physical culture-strengthening the bodily constitution-of their children; and this, along with the development of moral sentiments, is nearly all that should at first be attempted. Let those who neglect this rule, and with heedless pride urge an erroneous system of education, ponder on the story of Lucretia and Margaret Davidson.

These young ladies were the children of Dr. Oliver Davidson, a medical man, we presume, in respectable circumstances. The mother is described as a woman of uncommonly susceptible feelings, and from her probably was derived that ardent temperament with which the daughters were so dangerously gifted. Both parents were alive in 1841. Lucretia, born in 1808, manifested a quick and studious mind when a mere child, and was early found liable to sudden alternations from high to low spirits. 'As soon as she could read, her books drew her away from the plays of childhood, and she was constantly found absorbed in the little volumes that her father lavished upon her. Her mother, on one occasion in haste to write a letter, looked in vain for a sheet of paper. A whole quire had strangely disappeared from the table on which the writing implements usually lay; she expressed a natural vexation. Her little girl came forward confused, and said: "Mamma, I have used it." Her mother, knowing she had never been taught to write, was amazed, and asked what possible use she could have for it.'

After some time, the mystery was explained. Although the child had as yet received no instruction in writing, she had filled one side of each sheet with a sketch of some

familiar object; the other with Roman letters—some placed upright, others horizontally, obliquely, or backwards; not formed into words, nor spaced. Her parents pored over them till they ascertained that the letters were poetical explanations, in metre and rhyme, of the picture on the back of the paper. The first more regular attempt at composition was an epitaph on a pet robin. When about twelve, she accompanied her father to the celebration of Washington's birthnight, and the fête excited her enthusiasm; the result of which appeared the next day, when her eldest sister found her absorbed in writing. She had sketched an urn, and written two stanzas beneath it. She was persuaded to show them to her mother; she brought them blushing and trembling. Her mother was ill in bed; but she expressed her delight with such unequivocal animation, that the child's face changed from doubt to rapture, and she seized the paper, ran away, and immediately added the concluding stanzas. When they were finished, her mother pressed her to her bosom, wept with delight, and promised her all the aid and encouragement she could give her. The sensitive child burst into tears. And do you wish me to write, mamma?-and will papa approve?-and will it be right that I should do so?" This trembling sensitiveness seems delightfully characteristic.

In her thirteenth year, the disposition to write seemed to have become an irresistible impulse. She penned her ideas rapidly, and sometimes expressed a wish that she had two pair of hands, to record as fast as she composed. Hitherto, she had attended a school in Plattsburg; but in the following summer her health failed, and she was withdrawn from it to visit some friends in Canada. The novel scenes she there beheld, the cessation from study, and other causes, combined to renovate her health, and to fill her mind with bright and joyous emotions. But these were not the feelings of a volatile or thoughtless girl; her increased joyousness of spirit found vent in pious gratitude. She had already become deeply impressed with the truths of religion, and amongst her most favorite studies were the books of Job, Jeremiah, and the Psalms, which, even as literary compositions, must take the prece