our apartments, in one of which 【 found the woman-fervant, Stella, in tears, mixing a draught involuntarily exclaimed, How is your lady?'

I carefully read the paper, and found it exactly correfponded with what Ollifent had faid,-and then again fwore, as I had before promifed to do, that I would punctually fulfil it. As we were fome miles from Montferrat, it was fettled.I should meet one of the company at a certain fpot near the Abbey, that day fortnight, who was to conduct me to it, through the paffage before-mentioned, fhew the cave, &c. and give any inftructions I wished to receive.-D'Ollifont mentioned that he fhould leave Italy on the next day, and return to Spain. As I was leaving the apart-tered time enough to receive her latt ment, following my guide, he uttered, as if in fome meafure affected, Adieu !'

"He feemed chagrined, and Jooked as if furprifed I was not more in awe at fuch a place.-He again feated himself. We paffed the blacks, the door closed after us,and my guide locked the grates. We then left the hall; and, that door being alfo locked, I foon found myfelf at the end of the place where we entered:-my companion then wifhed me a good night, and we parted.

"Her anfwer, hardly articulate, pronounced Dying, my lord.' "I heard no more,--but flew, half frantic, to her chamber,-where, (oh! fight of woe!) on the bed was laid my beloved Caffandra, just recovered from a fainting fit; her head fupported by Lucretia, and the phyfician feated (in a melancholy posture) on the other fide.—I en

breath; and dropping on my knees, I clafped her hands, while tears flowed in abundance.-She knew me (though he had been infenfible for nearly an hour), and exclaimed,

My husband, -the Almighty aid thee-Then, turning her eyes towards her daughter, the feemed inwardly to fupplicate heaven in her behalf; and, heaving a foft figh, expired in my arms. - Lucretia fainted, and was fupported by Stella, who had just brought the diaught, while I remained loft for fome time in gloomy forrow and ftupidity.

"At length, turning to the phyfician, I defired to know why he had flattered me with hopes that the might live for a length of time.— "A heavy load now feemed to He only anfwered by fhaking his have fallen from me; for the ex-head, and faying the disorder had pectation of what d'Ollifont's requeft might be, had driven me almoft to madnets; and though even now I detefted the meaanels I had fubmitted to,--yet, in fome degree, I was reconciled, when recollection whispered me that I bad faved the life of my Lucretia, the beloved child of my heart.

"Pleafed with the ideas of the pleasure I fhould convey to Caffandra in relating the fervice I was to perform (her dread of it having been equal to my own), I fhortly tound myself at the inn where we reiided.-1 foon made my way to

come to a crifis fooner than he expected. He left the inn; and i (having ordered my daughter to be put to bed, and committed the care of the funeral to my confidential fervant Jafper) retired to my own rooin, overwhelmed with the molt poignant grief.

"It is impoffible to defcribe the anguifh fuffered by myself and child on this mournful event; I fhall, therefore, draw a veil over the fcene, a recollection of which is even now almoft too much for me."

The hermit here was constrained to make a pause of fome few minutes,

while he paid a tributary tear to the
memory of fo beloved a wife.
"Suffice it to fay, (continued he)
in the courfe of a week fhe was
interred near the place where we
then refided, and I tore myself from
the spot after a few days, with the
two fervants, and my now only re-
maining comfort, my dear Lucretia.
"After a long day's journey, a
prey to the deepest melancholy, we
arrived at Montferrat, and flopped
at a tolerably-built cottage; the
owner of which, fortunately, had an
inclination, and alfo convenience, to
accommodate us with board and
lodging for fome weeks.-The fitua-
tion fuited me for the prefent, as it
was extremely retired."

the wall.-We followed him along this place for fo confiderable a length of time that I knew not how far he might have taken us, and halted at the idea.

"Continue your pace (faid he), and we fhall foon be at the end of our journey."

"His words were true; for, after a few windings, it terminated at a fmall door, hardly large enough to admit one perfon:-this-we paffed, and afcended a flight of ftone ftairs.

At the top, we entered a finall fubterraneous room,-in which was a ftool, a table, fome eatables, and wine; with a bed, which showed (though empty now) it was daily occupied. Our guide preffed against "On the night and hour appoint-a fpring, in a manner which he pared, accompanied by Jafper, whom I ticularly explained; and (by a kind was permitted to acquaint with the of mechanifin, aided by clock-work circumstances I was involved in, I placed at the further part of the attended the place of rendez-vous, apartment) a fquare of about five where I was to be met by the perfon feet of the ceiling above gradually deputed by d'Ollifont. fell within two feet of the floor on which we food:-this I jumped upon,--and, by a fecond preffure of the foot on a certain part, it rofe in the fame manner that it fell, and clofed with equal nicety; by which means I found myself in that room, oppofite to the one we are now in.

We were both punctual; and, as I was ftill fearful of treachery from so vile a character, both myfelf and fervant were armed.-He was, alone:-his figure, which I could now more fully obferve, was noble and majestic; his countenance very handfome, though there was a fiercenefs in his eyes, added to the turn of his dark brows, which made it in fone respects terrific.

"Follow me, (faid he) and I will conduct you to the place you have before heard of."

The night was exceeding gloomy confiderable claps of thunder followed each other (though they feemed at a distance), and faint fafhes of lightning darted on the cafements.-Both my fervant and our conductor were foon with me, He led us to the cave I now by the fame means that I had afcendinhabit. We entered, and he fhew-ed; and we all three proceeded ed me the parts which you have already feen; but after fome little time he opened a concealed door, that difcovered a fmall room. From hence we defcended, by a trap artfully jointed to the floor, a number of fteps, at the bottom of which was an arched fubterraneous paffage, entirely darkour guide, however, was provided with a lamp, by which he lighted another placed againit

through this room to the hall, where we were met by a mean, meagre looking fellow, with alfo a lamp in his hand, that reflected on a countenance I did not by any means approve.

"It was now late, and a more than common oppreffion feemed to weigh on my fpirits.Our guide faluted this man. Enuchio, (faid the) has there been any interruption' fiuce the count laft saw you?”

"None.

"None, fignor (he answered); and I have regularly performed my duty with this lamp every night."

That's well (returned the other); lead us to the west tower.' "Jafper now whispered to me, Be careful, my lord:-we know not who may be concealed there.'

A HINDOO'S REMARKS on the Rt.
LIGION of the ENGLISH.
[From Mifs Hamilton's Letters of a
Hindoo Rajah.]

L'

ET not the noble rajah be deceived. Let him not vainly imagine the Chriftians to be in pof

"I ftrove to quiet his apprehenfeflion of fich an invaluable treasure

fions by a nod of confidence, though I felt confiderable alarm myfelt.-There was, however, no alternative, and we followed in filence.--I un

derstood from the converfation of Enuchio, and the other, as we were proceeding to the weft tower, that the former had attended at the close

of every evening, to perform the ceremony, now invested on me.

"In paffing through one of the chambers, Jalper (who was behind, and partly in the dark) ran againft a fuit of armour that was placed there, with feveral implements of war, fome of which are now in one of the rooms under the upper apartments.--The crash it made in falling was horrible, and it had nearly destroyed niy faithful attendant; he, however, fortunately escaped, without any material blow.

"Enuchio faid, when we entered the chamber above, that he thought he could fee, through one of the cafements, by the frequent flafbes of lightning, fome perfon on that fide of the building.He accordingly fhowed his light, and, after a few minutes, pailed the cafement with the lamp in his hand. Having looked over this room, we defcended to the lower part; where we heard several blows against the outer gates, and many efforts made to force them open."

It is natural to fuppofe that this was the very night on which the late Percival Maferini, father of Alfred and Matilda, first discovered a light and figure in the Abbey; which made him at the time (diftracted with his own ideas) attempt, by force, to enter the building.

(To be continued.)

as the Shafter *

he defcribes; a Shafter promulgating the glorious hopes of immortality; calculated to produce the naiverfal reign of peace and justice, the exercife of the pureft benevolence, and the most perfect virtue. Let not the rajah think that the knowledge of fuch a book as this exifts among Chriftians. If it did, is it poffible, that in the ten years in which I have intimately converfed with Chriftians of all ranks and or

ders, military commanders, chiefs invefted with the powers of civil authority, and men who made the ftudy of literature their employment and delight,-is it poffible, I fay, that I fhould never once have heard

of fuch a book? Let the noble rajah be the judge.

1

That a book of ancient origin, vulgarly called the Bible, was once known to the English, I have had certain information: but far from containing doctrines of fuch a nature as the rajah has announced, the first proof of genius which a young man gives to the world, upon his iffuing from the fchools, is to fpeak of it with

becoming degree of contempt.Indeed, to extirpate from fociety all regard for the pernicious doctrines it contains, has long been the pri mary object of attention to the enlightened philofophers of Europe. How much the book is detefted by thefe fage philofophers, may 'eafily be inferred, when 1 declare, that of the many philofophers I have met with, who had moft vehemently fpoken and written against it, not one had contaminated himself by deigning to examine its contents.

* Scriptures.

Qae

mighty fabric contained near feven hundred people, governed by a few chiefs, whofe commands were obeyed with the quickness of the lightning's glance, and the frown of whofe difpleafure was followed by the feverity of punishment. We had made two

One of these great men, a profound writer of hiftory, has given to the world a work more voluminous than the Mahabbarat*, more brilliant than the odes of Sancha †, undertaken, and accomplished, as I was well affured, with the benevolent purpose of convincing his country-thirds of our voyage to the coaft of men of the fuperiority of the Mahommedan to the Chriftian faith. Whether thefe enlightened men will ever really fucceed in their intention of establishing the religion of Mahommed in England, is, however, in my opinion, rather doubtful.

Britain, when a thip appeared at a diftance, which our skilful mariners foon perceived to be in diftrefs.I had fo often witneffed what I thought to be the exércife of cruelty during my abode in this fea-borne fortrefs, that I did not expect the However alluring the doctrine of diftreffes of people, whom they had polygamy, and the view of the Ma- never feen, would excite much of hommedan paradife may be to men their compaffion. In this, however, of taste and fentiment, there are fome I was mistaken. To my aftonishobftacles which, I apprehend, would, ment, every effort was inftantly in the opinion of the people, be in- made to afford relief to these stianfurmountable. The chief of these I gers; and I beheld the toil-ftrengthtake to be the prohibition of wine, ened nerves of thefe lions of the the ftrict faft of Ramozin, and, ocean, ftrained by the moft vigorous above all, the injunctions concerning exertions, to fave the almoft finking the treatment of flaves, which are fo veffel. At length, the object of their mild and generous, that the Chrifti- labours was effected; and they, who ans of England, who are concerned had been fo zealous to fave, now in the traffic of their fellow-creatures appeared perfectly indifferent to the (and who form a large and respect-expreffions of gratitude and admiraable part of the community) would never be brought to submit to its authority.

From the delufive opinion entertained in the fublime mind of the rajah, of the religion of the Chriftians, he will, no doubt, be inclined to imagine, that their philanthropy embraces the wide circle of the human race. How far the rule of "doing to others, as they would be done by, in the like cafe," actuates the Chriftians of England, may be learned from the following hiftory of my voyage.

As I attended the family of a great man, I had the advantage of being accommodated on board one of their fhips of war, a huge edifice, whofe fides were clothed with thunder. This

* A Shanferit epic poem, of great antiquity.
An ancient Hindoo poet.
The Muffulman Lent, obferved 30 days.

tion which were poured out by the people whom they had fo gallantly delivered from the jaws of deftruction. Our carpenter was employed to repair the breaches in the unfor tunate veffel. And, as the weather was now calm, curiofity Ted the principal people of our company to visit the fhip of the ftrangers. I was among the number. But Oh! that I

could obliterate from my mind the memory of a fcene, the horrors of which no pen can defcribe, no tongue can atter, no imagination conceive! It was an English veffel, which had been on a voyage to the coaft of Africa, from whence it was now proceeding to the British fettlements in the Weft-Indies, with a cargo, not of filver and gold, not of fome hundreds of the most wretched coftly fpices and rich perfumes, but of of the human race; a cargo of flaves.

Thefe

for no other purpose but to cultivate the fugar-cane; a work of which the lazy Europeans are themselves incapable.

When I mention the flaves of Chriftians, let not your imagination

These miserable beings were here Imuddled together in the fqualid cells of a moving dungeon. Their uncouth fcreams, their difmal groans, their countenances, on which were alternately depicted the images of fury, terror, and defpair, the clank-turn to the bondsmen of Afia, as if ing of their chains, and the favage looks of the white barbarians who commanded them, exhibited such a fcene as möcks defcription.

their fituations were parallel. No. By the mild laws of our Shafter, and even by the less benevolent inftitutions of Mahommed, flaves are confidered as people who, having bar

are entitled to the strictest justice, lenity, and indulgence. They are always treated with kindnefs, and are most frequently the friends and confidants of their mafters. But with thefe white favages, these mercilefs Chriftians, they are doomed to fuffer all that cruelty, inftigated by avarice, and intoxicated by power, can inflict. Ah! beloved Hindoftan! happy country! paradife of regions! the plant which in the tranf-Atlantic iflands is fattened with the blood of the wretched, with thee raifes its blooming head, a voluntary offering to thy pure and innocent children. That lufcious cane, which the inhabitants of Europe purchase by the enormous maís of mifery, is, on the banks of the Ganga, the exclufive property of the laughing deity, the heart-piercing Cama; with it the fon of Maya forms the bow, from which his flowery shafts are thrown at the fons of men: with it the blameless hermit approaches the altars of the rural gods; and from it the fimple repafts of the favoured of Veefhnut receive their highest relif.

Surely, the magnanimous rajah will not imagine that the perpetra-tered their liberty for protection, tors of this cruelty could be the profeffors of a religion of mercy. No. Had a ray of knowledge enlightened their understandings,-through the tawny hue of the unlettered favage, they would have recognifed the emanation of the creating fpirit; they would have perceived the kindred mind, which, in its progreffive courfe through the ftages of varied being, might one day inhabit the bodies of their own offspring. For my part, when I contemplated the fene before me, I anticipated, in imagination, - the few fwiftly roiling years, which night change the abode of the fouls of thefe tyrant whites into the frames of woe-deftined negroes; while the prefent victims of their cruelty would, in their turns, become the mafters, and, feizing the fcorpion whip of oppreffion, retaliate their prefent fufferings with all the bitternefs of revenge. But, alas! the divine doctrine of retribution is unknown to these Chriftians. No dread of after-punishment reftrains the remorfelefs hand of cruelty. No apprehenfion of the vengeance of an offended deity diverts them from the greedy pursuits of avarice, or difturbs the enjoyments of luxury. For, let it not ftagger your faith in my veracity, when I inform you, that all this aggregate of human mifery is incurred, in order to procure a luxurious repaft to the pampered appetites of thefe voluptuaries, and that the unhappy negroes are torn from their county, their friends and families,

But my obfervations on the religion of the people of England ftop not here. To obtain complete information upon this fubject, was the object I kept perpetually in my view. And I hope it is known to the rajah, that a bramin of my character is not eafily to be deceived. The cufiom

*The Indian Cupid.
The Preferving Power.

of