And begg'd him to vouchsafe to tell his slave,
The reason first of that command he gave
About the light; then, when he saw the face,
Why he knelt down; and lastly, how it was,
That fare so poor as his detain'd him in the place.

The Sultan said, with much humanity,
"Since first I saw thee come, and heard thy cry,
I could not rid me of a dread, that one
By whom such daring villanies were done,
Must be some lord of mine, perhaps a lawless son.
Whoe'er he was, I knew my task, but fear'd
A father's heart, in case the worst appear'd:
For this I had the light put out: but when
I saw the face, and found a stranger slain,

I knelt and thank'd the sovereign arbiter,

Whose work I had perform'd through pain and fear;

And then I rose, and was refresh'd with food,

The first time since thou cam'st, and marr'dst my solitude."

Leigh Hunt.

Brutus.-Let us take a survey of the example which is most offensive to the delicacy of the present age; I mean the conduct of Junius Brutus, who sentenced his own sons to death, for having conspired against the state, at a crisis, when the slightest sinister accident threatened its ruin. It is certain that, if he had pardoned them, his colleague would have pardoned all their accomplices, and the republic would have been undone. But it may be asked, of what consequence was that? We will suppose it then a matter of indifference, that the state had still subsisted; and that Brutus, in the course of his office, was about to condemn another criminal; might not the culprit with great justice address him as follows: "Wherefore, consul, do you condemn me? Am I guilty of a greater crime than betraying my country? And am not I also your child?" I should be glad to know what reply Brutus could

make to such a remonstrance.

Will it be said that Brutus ought to have abdicated the consulship, rather than have condemned his own children? I answer, No! On the contrary, I affirm that every magistrate or governor, who should leave his post at such a crisis and abandon his country in such a perilous situation, would be a traitor and worthy of death. There is no medium in these things: Brutus must have been infamous, or Titus and Tiberius have fallen by his order, under the axe of the lictors.-Rousseau.

TIMOLEON.

TIMOLEON was the son of Timodemus of Corinth. His love of his country was remarkable, and so was the mildness of his disposition, saving that he bore an extreme hatred to tyrants and wicked men. His natural abilities for war were so happily tempered, that as an extraordinary prudence was seen in the enterprises of his younger years, so an undaunted courage distinguished his declining age. He had an elder brother, named Timophanes, who resembled him in nothing; being rash and indiscreet of himself, and utterly corrupted, besides, by the passion for sovereignty, infused into him by some of his profligate acquaintance, and certain foreign soldiers whom he had always about him. He appeared to be impetuous in war, and to court danger, which gave his countrymen such an opinion of his courage and

activity, that they frequently intrusted him with the command of the army. And in these matters Timoleon much assisted him, by entirely concealing, or at least extenuating his faults, and magnifying the good qualities which nature had given him.

In a battle between the Corinthians and the troops of Argos and Cleone, Timoleon happened to serve among the infantry, when Timophanes, who was at the head of the cavalry, was brought into extreme danger; for his horse, being wounded, threw him amidst the enemy. Hereupon, part of his companions were frightened and presently dispersed; and the few that remained, having to fight with numbers, with difficulty stood their ground. Timoleon, seeing his brother in these circumstances, ran to his assistance, and covered him as he lay, with his shield; and, after having received abundance of darts and many strokes of the sword upon his body, and his armour, by great efforts repulsed the enemy and saved him.

Some time after this, the Corinthians, apprehensive that their city might be surprised through some treachery of their allies, as it had been before, resolved to keep on foot four hundred mercenaries; and gave the command of them to Timophanes. But he, having no regard to justice or honour, soon entered into measures to subject the city to himself; and having put to death a number of the principal inhabitants without form of trial, declared himself absolute prince of it. Timoleon, greatly concerned at this, and accounting the treacherous proceedings of his brother his own misfortune, went to expostulate with him, and endeavoured to persuade him to renounce this madness and unfortunate ambition, and to bethink himself how to make his fellow-citizens some amends for the crimes he had committed. But, as he rejected his single admonition with disdain, he returned a few days after, taking with him a kinsman, named Eschylus, brother to the wife of Timophanes, and a certain soothsayer, a friend of his, whom Theopompus calls Satyrus, but Ephorus and Timæus mention by the name of Orthagoras. These three standing round him, earnestly entreated him yet to listen to reason and change his mind. Timophanes at first laughed at them, and afterwards gave way to a violent passion; upon which, Timoleon stepped aside, and stood weeping, with his face covered, while the other two drew their swords, and dispatched him in a moment.*

The matter being soon generally known, the principal and most valuable part of the Corinthians extolled Timoleon's detestation of wickedness, and that greatness of soul which, notwithstanding the gentleness of his heart, and his affection to his relations, led him to prefer his country to his family, and justice and honour to interest and advantage. While his brother fought valiantly for his country, he had saved him; and slain him when he had treacherously enslaved it. Those who knew not how to live in a democracy, and had been used to make their court to men in power, pretended indeed to rejoice at the tyrant's death; but at the same time reviling Timoleon, as guilty of a horrible and impious deed, they created him great uneasiness. When he heard how heavily his mother bore it, and that she uttered the most dreadful wishes and imprecations against him, he went to excuse it and console her; but she could not endure the thought of seeing him, and ordered the doors to be shut against him. He then became entirely a prey to sorrow, and attempted to put an end to his life by abstaining from all manner of food. In these unhappy circumstances his friends did not abandon him. They even added force to their entreaties, till they prevailed on him to live. He determined, however, to live in solitude; and accordingly he withdrew from all public affairs, and for some years did not so much as approach the city, but wandered about the most gloomy parts of his grounds, and gave himself up to melancholy. Thus the judgment, if it borrows not from reason and philosophy sufficient strength and steadiness for action, is easily unsettled and depraved by any casual commendation or dispraise, and departs from its own purposes.

* Diodorus tells us that Timoleon slew his brother with his own hand, in the market-place.

For an action should not only be just and laudable in itself but the principle from which it proceeds firm and immoveable, in order that our conduct may have the sanction of our own approbation. Otherwise, upon the completion of any undertaking, we shall, through our own weakness, be filled with sorrow and remorse, and the splendid ideas of honour and virtue, that led us to perform it, will vanish; just as the glutton is soon cloyed and disgusted with the luscious viands which he had before devoured with too keen an appetite. Repentance tarnishes the best actions; whereas the purposes that are grounded upon knowledge and reason never change, though they may happen to be disappointed of success. Hence it was that Phocion of Athens having vigorously opposed the proceedings of Leosthenes, which notwithstanding turned out much more happily than he expected, when he saw the Athenians offering sacrifice, and elated with their victory, told them, he was glad of their success, but if it were to do over again, he should give the same counsel. Still stronger was the answer which Aristides the Locrian, one of Plato's intimate friends, gave to Dionysius the elder, when he demanded one of his daughters in marriage, I had rather see the virgin in her grave, than in the palace of a tyrant. And when Dionysius soon after put his son to death, and then insolently asked, What he now thought as to the disposal of his daughter? I am sorry, said he, for what you have done, but I am not sorry for what I said. However, it is only a superior and highly accomplished virtue that can attain such heights as these.-Plutarch

THE CONSCIENCIOUS.

ANGELINA E. GRIMKE and her sister SARAH (two of the most zealous advocates for the abolition of Slavery in the United States of America) are Quaker ladies of South Carolina. They are (what is called) highly connected, being sisters of the Hon. Thos. S. Grimke. This gentleman was, in point of scholarship, the greatest ornament of the United States, and his character was honoured by the whole community. After his death his sisters strove, by all the means which could be devised by powerful intellects and kind hearts, to ameliorate the condition of the slaves they had inherited. In defiance of the laws, they taught them, and introduced upon their estates as many as possible of the usages of free society. But it would not do. There is no infusing into slavery the benefits of freedom. When these ladies had become satisfied of this fact, they surrendered their worldly interests, instead of their consciences. They freed their slaves, and put them in the way of providing for themselves in a free region, and then retired to Philadelphia, to live on the small remains of their former opulence. It does not appear that they had any intention of coming forward publicly, as they have since done; but the circumstance of their possessing the knowledge, which other abolitionists want, of the minute details and less obvious workings of the slavery system, was the occasion of their being applied to, more and more frequently and extensively, for information, till they publicly placed their knowledge at the service of all who needed it, and at length began to lecture wherever there was an audience who requested to hear them. Their Quaker habits of speaking in public rendered this easy to them; and the exertion of their great talents in this direction has been of most essential service to the Anti-slavery cause. It was before they adopted this mode of action that the public first became interested in these ladies, through a private letter written by Angelina to her friend Garrison- a letter which he did his race the kindness to publish, and which strengthened even the great man's strong heart. (Thus grandly it concludes :) "At one time I thought this system (of Black Slavery, would be overthrown in blood, with the confused noise of the warrior; but a hope gleams across my mind that our blood will be spilt, instead of the slaveholders'; our

lives will be taken, and their's spared.-I say a hope, for of all things I desire to be spared the anguish of seeing our beloved country desolated with the horrors of a servile war.”—A. E. GRIMKE.

Angelina E. Grimke was married, (in the spring of 1838) to Theodore D. Weld, a man worthy of her, and one of the bravest of the abolition confessors. The wedding took place at Philadelphia, and, the laws of Pensylvania constituting any marriage legal which (the parties being of age) is contracted in the presence of twelve persons, was attended by neither clergyman nor magistrate. Mr. Weld, in promising to be just and affectionate to his wife, and to protect and cherish her, expressly abjured all use of the power which an unjust law put into his hands over her property, her person, and her will. Among those assembled was Garrison, who took charge of the certifying part of the business; and two persons of colour, friends of the Grimkes, and who had been their slaves.-Harriet Martineau.

Confinement of Debtors.-The property of a people is proportionate to the number of hands and minds usefully employed. Every being that continues to be fed, and ceases to labour, takes away something from the public stock. The confinement therefore of any man in the sloth and darkness of a prison, is a loss to the nation, and no gain to the creditor. For of the multitudes who are pining in those cells of misery, a very small part is suspected of any fraudulent act by which they retain what belongs to others. The rest are imprisoned by the wantonness of pride, the malignity of revenge, or the acrimony of disappointed expectation.-Dr. Johnson.

Spies.-A Spy is the creature of an unjust government, employed to foment the insurrection of an outraged People, and so, betraying them, to afford a pretext for greater villainies than tyranny dares openly to practise.

Pension. The pay of a State-hireling for treason against his country.Dr. Johnson.

Libel.-Falsehood put forth with intent to injure.-W. J. Fox.

Ambassador-One sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.

Sir Henry Wotton.

Ignorance. That man must be very ignorant, for he answers every question that is asked him.-Voltaire.

Vulgarity is commonness, piquing itself on the reverse.-Leigh Hunt.

Invitation to a fever.-He that tempts me to drink beyond my measure, civilly invites me to a fever.-Jeremy Taylor.

THE DELUGE.

THE question has long been agitated, whether the Deluge was universalwhether it inundated the whole earth without exception, or only the portion of the earth which was then known. Those, who have thought that it extended only to the tribes then existing, have founded their opinion on the inutility of flooding unpeopled lands, which reason seems very plausible. As for us, we abide by the Scripture text, without pretending to explain it. But we shall take greater liberty with Berosus, an ancient Chaldean writer, of whom there are fragments preserved by Abydenus, quoted by Eusebius, and repeated word for word by George Syncellus. From these fragments we find, that the Orientals of the borders of the Euxine, in ancient times, made Armenia the abode of their Gods. In this they were imitated by the Greeks, who placed their deities on Mount Olympus. Men have always confounded human with divine things. Princes built their citadels upon mountains; therefore they were also made the dwelling-place of the Gods, and became sacred. The summit of Mount Ararat is concealed by mists; therefore the Gods hid themselves in those mists, sometimes vouchsafing to appear to mortals in fine weather.

A God of that country, believed to have been Saturn, appeared one day to Xixuter, tenth king of Chaldea-according to the computation of Africanus, Abydenus, and Apollodorus, and said to him

"On the fifteenth day of the month Oësi, mankind shall be destroyed by a deluge. Shut up close all your writings in Sipara, the city of the sun, that the memory of things may not be lost. Build a vessel; enter it with your relatives and friends; take with you birds and beasts; stock it with provisions: and when you are asked, 'Whither are you going in that vessel?' answer, 'To the Gods, to beg their favour for mankind.""

Xixuter built his vessel, which was two stadii wide and five long; that is, its width was two hundred and fifty geometrical paces, and its length_six hundred and twenty-five. This ship, which was to go upon the Black Sea, was a slow sailor. The flood came. When it had ceased, Xixuter let some of his birds fly out; but, finding nothing to eat, they returned to the vessel. A few days afterwards, he again set some of his birds at liberty, and they returned with inud in their claws. At last they went, and returned no more. Xixuter did likewise: he quitted his ship, which had perched upon a mountain of Armenia, and he was seen no more: the Gods took him away. There is probably something historic in this fable. its banks, and inundated some portions of territory; dea hastened to repair the damage. We have in ridiculous, founded on some small portion of truth. are for the most part serious Rabelais.-Voltaire.

The Euxine overflowed
and the King of Chal-
Rabelais tales no less
The ancient historians

The Believers.-I am not afraid of those tender and scrupulous consciences, who are over cautious of professing and believing too much if they are sincerely in the wrong, I forgive their errors and respect their integrity. The men I am afraid of, are the men who believe every thing, subscribe to every thing, and vote for every thing.-Bishop Shipley.

Custom may lead a man into many errors, but it justifies none.-Fielding.

Principles. The change we personally experience from time to time, we obstinately deny to our principles.-Zimmerman.