CRU. Gentlemen, gentlemen, pray don't quarrel

LEN. It would seem, indeed, as if I could not pay my own debts, but must look to him for the means! Your presumption can be compared -to nothing-sir

BEL. But your vaingloriousness!

CRU. Come, come, make an end of this.

LEN. Yes, Mr. Crusty, it shall have an end. [With great earnestness.] Peter, break the buttons off those foils.

BEL. Ay, Peter, leave the points sharp enough.

CRU. [Terrified.] Gentlemen, surely you will not attempt

LEN. Attempt? Sir, we will do.

PET. [Aside.] They'll do the landlord, at any rate.

BEL. Oh, don't be alarmed, sir, 'twill be over in a minute.
LEN. And the survivor will pay your bill.

you insist Twill be

CRU. The survivor! Dear gentlemen-good gentlemen-if on killing one another, for mercy's sake, go somewhere else. very inconvenient to have you die here! Wouldn't it be better to make a drawn battle of it, and each pay half?

LEN. All or nothing. We have gone too far for a compromise. Stand back! give us room!

BEL. [To Crusty.] Farther off. That's no place for a second.

PET. [Places a chair.] There, sir, there's a chair with its arms outspreading to receive you.

CRU. No, no-I'll not quit your side-I'll part you, and be paidLEN. I defy you!

BEL. Out of the way, or take the consequences.

CRU. Pray, gentlemen, think of my character-think of my carpet. LEN. [Assuming great coolness and decision.] Mr. Crusty, be calm. I have been insulted-but, though I know what is due to honor, I know too well what is due to you—

CRU. Ay, now you talk sensibly.

[Holding out his hand.]

LEN. And I therefore choose the only consistent course remaining.

Crosses to table, gravely takes up BELTON'S coat and puts it on.

BEL. [Aside to him.] Hang it, what are you about? Don't take my coat. LEN. [Aside to Belton.] Don't be a fool. Don't let him know we've only one coat between us. [Aloud.] And now, Mr. Belton, feeling, as I do-as I do, what honor exacts, I rely on your remembering it elsewhere, sir. [Takes Belton's sword and hat.] Confusion!

BEL. [Aside.] My hat and sword, too! LEN. [To Crusty.] And you, most respectable of your race, no language can express the extent of my esteem for you; but if you dare to take his money, sir, be certain not even that esteem shall prevent my cropping both your ears.

Exit, slamming door after him.

BEL. And let me warn you, sir, if you dare suffer him to pay-my sword shall let the daylight through your body.

Dashes into his chamber, and, slamming the door, locks it after him. CRU. Mad! both mad! What shall I do? Perhaps I shall be able

[Knocks at door.]

to manage him better by myself.—Sir !—Sir !— PET. [Aside.] If I stop he may turn upon me. CRU. Was ever a landlord the victim of such extraordinary punctiliousness?

THE ROMAN FATHER.

[Brutus; or, the Fall of Tarquin. A Tragedy. 1818.]

BRUTUS, VALERIUS, TITUS, LICTORS, CITIZENS, ETC.

BRU. Romans, the blood which hath been shed this day

Hath been shed wisely. Traitors, who conspire

Against mature societies, may urge

Their acts as bold and daring; and though villains,
Yet they are manly villains; but to stab
The cradled innocent, as these have done,
To strike their country in the mother-pangs
Of struggling childbirth, and direct the dagger
To freedom's infant threat, is a deed so black
That my foiled tongue refuses it a name.
There is one criminal still left for judgment;
Let him approach.

TITUS is brought in by the Lictors.
Prisoner

Romans! forgive this agony of grief;

My heart is bursting, nature must have way,

I will perform all that a Roman should,

I cannot feel less than a father ought.

[A pause.]

[Gives a signal to the Lictors to fall back, and advances from the judgment seat.]

Well, Titus, speak, how is it with thee now?

Tell me, my son, art thou prepared to die?

TIT. Father, I call the powers of heaven to witness

Titus dares die, if so you have decreed.

The gods will have it so.

'Tis fixed. O, therefore, let not fancy cheat thee:
So fixed thy death, that 'tis not in the power
Of mortal man to save thee from the axe.

TIT. The axe! O heaven! then must I fall so basely?
What, shall I perish like a common felon ?

BRU. How else do traitors suffer? Nay, Titus, more,
I must myself ascend yon sad tribunal,

And there behold thee meet this shame of death,
With all thy hopes, and all thy youth upon thee,
See thy head taken by the common axe,
All,-if the gods can hold me to my purpose,-
Without one groan, without one pitying tear.
TIT. Die like a felon-ha! a common felon!
But I deserve it all. Yet here I fail;

This ignominy quite unmans me.

O, Brutus, Brutus! Must I call you father,
Yet have no token of your tenderness,
No sign of mercy, -not even leave to fall
As noble Romans fall, by my own sword?
Father, why should you make my heart suspect
That all your late compassion was dissembled ?
How can I think that you did ever love me?

BRU. Think that I love thee by my present passion,
By these unmanly tears, these earthquakes here,
These sighs that strain the very strings of life;
Let these convince you that no other cause
Could force a father thus to wrong his nature.
TIT. O hold, thou violated majesty!

I now submit with calmness to my fate.
Come forth, ye executioners of justice,

Come, take my life, and give it to my country!

BRU. Embrace thy wretched father. May the gods

Arm thee with patience in this awful hour.
The sovereign magistrate of injured Rome,
Bound by his high authority, condemns

A crime, thy father's bleeding heart forgives.
Go, meet thy death with a more manly courage
Than grief now suffers me to show in parting ;
And, while she punishes, let Rome admire thee!
No more! Farewell! Eternally farewell!

TIT. O, Brutus! O, my father!

BRU. What would'st thou say, my son?

TIT. Wilt thou forgive me? Don't forget Tarquinia

When I shall be no more.

BRU. Leave her to my care.

TIT. Farewell, forever!

BRU. Forever!

Lictors, attend! Conduct your prisoner forth!

[Kneels.]

[Rises.]

[Reascends the Tribunal.]

VAL. Whither?
BRU.

To death! When you do reach the spot,

My hand shall wave your signal for the act,

Then let the trumpet's sound proclaim it done!

[Titus is conducted out by the Lictors. Brutus remains seated on the Tribunal.]

Poor youth! Thy pilgrimage is at an end!

A few sad steps have brought thee to the brink

Of that tremendous precipice, whose depth

No thought of man can fathom. Justice now
Demands her victim! A little moment,

And I am childless. One effort, and 'tis past!—
Justice is satisfied, and Rome is free!

BEING

William Leete Stone.

BORN in New Paltz, N. Y., 1792. DIED at Saratoga, N. Y., 1844.

A CASE OF CIVILIZED BARBARITY.

[Life of Joseph Brant. 1838.]

EING pressed by hunger at Sandusky, a considerable number of the Moravian Indians, with some of their families, had been allowed to return to their former habitations on the Muskingum, to secure their corn, and such other provisions as they could find, and forward the same from time to time to their suffering brethren. Unhappily, while this peaceable party were thus engaged at Salem and Gnadenhuetten, the weather being favorable for the operations of scalping-parties, a few hostile Indians of Sandusky had made a descent upon the Pennsylvania frontier, and murdered the family of Mr. William Wallace, consisting of his wife and five or six children. A man named John Carpenter was taken prisoner at the same time.

Enraged at these outrages, a band of between one and two hundred men, from the settlements of the Monongahela, turned out in quest of the marauders, thirsting for vengeance, under the command of Colonel David Williamson. Each man provided himself with arms, ammunition, and provisions, and the greater number were mounted. They bent their course directly for the settlements of Salem and Gnadenhuetten, arriving within a mile of the latter place at the close of the second day's march. Colonel Gibson, commanding at Pittsburgh, having heard of Williamson's expedition, despatched messengers to apprise the Indians of the circumstance, but they arrived too late.

It was on the morning of the 7th of March that Williamson and his