place." Among the various ceremonies devised in ancient times to strengthen and secure an alliance, was a distribution between the parties of some animal slain in sacrifice. In reference to this custom, the widower divided the victim of lust into twelve parts, and sent one to each tribe, to tell his wrongs and plead for vengeance. An embassy of such a nature could not plead in vain. All Israel went out, and was gathered together as one man in this cause, except only the tribe of Benjamin ; for to this tribe also the Levite made his appeal, lest any should be found in it who feared God, and would arise to punish so atrocious an act. But no such man was to be found. Benjamin was hardened to his own destruction, and collected from every city the whole strength of the tribe for the defence of Gibeah, which was now besieged by the united army of Israel, amounting to four hundred thousand men. Benjamin only mustered twenty-six thousand and seven hundred soldiers, so much had continual war and contention reduced this tribe since it first entered Canaan. Strong, however, in their skill and intrepidity, they refused with scorn to deliver up the authors of the war, and on the approach of Judah, who formed the van of the hostile army, marched out of the city, and routed him with prodigious slaughter. The slain, on the part of Judah, were little less than the whole number of the Benjamites. Not disheartened with this repulse, the Israelites again advanced to the same ground, and the defenders of Gibeah, flushed with their victory, again sallied forth and routed their enemy, killing eighteen thousand men. But these successes only tended to whet the fury of the assailants, and in the end brought on heavier destruction. Learning prudence from their defeats, and rightly imagining that the self-confidence

of Benjamin would lead him into their snare, they determined to put into practice the stratagem through which Joshua captured the city of Ai. They placed a chosen body in ambush, in the meadows of Gibeah, with orders to lie still, till the enemy had left the city, and pursued their main army to some distance. This was instructed to retire on the high way before the pressure of Benjamin, who rushed on to the charge as before, confident of a third victory. The city, thus deprived of its garrison, easily fell a prey to the ambushed troops, and the smoke of its burning was a signal to both armies; of advance and revenge to one, of dispersion and ruin to the other. Eighteen thousand of the men of Belial perished within the circle of their foes. Five thousand were gleaned in the highways. Two thousand more were cut to pieces at Gidom. Every city belonging to the tribe was set on fire, according to the barbarous custom of the times. Every thing that came to hand, man and beast, was indiscriminately slaughtered. Six hundred fugitives alone took refuge in the rock of Rimmon, and eluded the day of vengeance. These, after a time, were instructed to seize the virgins who came to the feast of Shiloh, (as the Romans afterward seized the Sabine virgins,) and preserve to Israel the name of Benjamin.

Little more, however, than the name of the tribe was preserved. Although the first King was chosen from this, "the smallest of the tribes of Israel;" although its cities were rebuilt, and the military prudence of Saul restored to Gibeah somewhat of its former distinction; although it produced a few great and good men, Jonathan, for instance, the friend of David, and Paul the Apostle; yet, in a political view, it became a mere appendage to Judah. The fame and power of the tribe,

of which the first was evil, and the second the slave of iniquity, perished for ever in

THE DESTRUCTION OF GIBEAH.

Israel's wolf is on the way,

Who shall turn him back?
On! to thy twice-defeated prey,

On! by the bloody track!

Nor Canaan's train hath soil'd thy plain,
Nor Jebus mocks thy slinger's might,
But Judah's hand hath ta'en the brand,
To crown his Lord's avenging fight.

Deaf to mercy's sacred call,
Yet hark to Gibeah's cry!
And see above her loftiest wall
Yon cloud-like canopy!
It rises higher, it turns to fire,
And Judah halts his flying host-
His rallied spear is on thy rear,
But thou-thy very heart is lost!

Belial walk'd in Gibeah's street,
His hand was on his prey;
She sank, a suppliant, at his feet,
But he turn'd his heart away.
Her shame is won, her penance done,
Her corpse lies at the stranger's door;
But the spoiler's pride is dash'd aside,

And Gibeah-Gibeah lives no more!

61

Stanzas,

On the Loss of His Majesty's Ship Saldanah;

BY

The late Thomas Sheridan, Esq.

"BRITANNIA rules the waves !"-
Heard'st thou that dreadful roar?
Hark! 'tis bellow'd from the caves
Where Lough-Swilly's billow raves,
And three hundred British graves

Taint the shore.

No voice of life was there:
"Tis the dead that raise that cry;
The dead, who rais'd no prayer
As they sunk in wild despair,
Chaunt in scorn that boastful air,

Where they lie.

"Rule Britannia” sung the crew
When the stout Saldanah sail'd ;
And her colours, as they flew,
Flung the warrior-cross to view,
Which in battle to subdue

Ne'er had fail'd.

Bright rose the laughing morn,
(That morn that seal'd her doom;)
Dark and sad is her return,

And the storm-lights faintly burn,

As they toss upon her stern

Mid the gloom.

From the lonely beacon's height,
As the watchmen gaz'd around,
They saw their flashing light
Drive swift athwart the night;
Yet the wind was fair, and right
To the Sound.

But no mortal pow'r shall now
That crew and vessel save-
They are shrouded as they go

In a hurricane of snow,

And the track beneath her prow

Is their grave.

There are spirits of the deep,
Who, when the warrant's given,
Rise raging from their sleep
On rock, or mountain steep,

Or mid thunder-clouds that keep

The wrath of heav'n.

High the eddying mists are whirl'd
As they rear their giant forms;
See! their tempest flag's unfurl'd,—
Fierce they sweep the prostrate world,
And the with'ring lightning 's hurl'd

Through the storms.

O'er Swilly's rocks they soar,
Commissioned watch to keep;

Down, down, with thund'ring roar,

The exulting demons pour

The Saldanah floats no more

O'er the deep!