his family. His employment was to make up bales of merchandize, and carry them aboard veffels that lay in the port of Balfora; and at other times to unload the veffels that arrived, and carry the bales to the ftore-house. He was hired to do this drudgery by Zadoc, a Jewish merchant, whofe avarice feemed to encrease with his wealth. Thus had Omri the mortification to find himself become the menial fervant of one with whom he could formerly have vied in riches and opulence.

Amram, the son of Omri, shared with his father in this laborious and wretched occupation; and by their unwearied diligence, they earned wherewithal to procure the bare neceffaries of life for them felves, as well as for Arpafia and Zeneide. Omri, though reduced thus low, ftill retained fome remains of hope, when he contemplated the perfections of his fon and daughter, which the ftrokes of adverfe fortune could not impair. The brightness of their beauty, and their thining qualifications, would, he thought, foon raife them from obfcurity, and herein he was not deceived: but the Angel of evil found means to make thofe very perfections, in which he placed his confidence, the occafion of the ruin of both.

Amram happened one day to recreate himself after his toil, by taking a walk with his fifter Zeneide, in one of the fquares of Balfora, where rows of palm-trees formed a pleafing fhade on each fide of a verdant plain, and delighted the eye with the beauties of nature; to vie with which, art had lavithed all its ornaments on the

fuperb palaces, which they fcreened from the fcorching rays of the fun.

The pleasure which Amram and Zeneide took in contemplating the noble piles of building before them, and the ferene beauties of the evening was foon interrupted: they were feized fuddenly by a band of armed men, who having blindfolded their eyes, conducted them thro' a variety of paffages to the Vizir's feraglio, which was not far diftant from the square. They were there lodged in different apartments, and their being separated from each other filled their minds with inquietude; whilft the magnificence that furrounded them, and the respect fhewn them by numerous attendants, who ferved them with the utmost officiousness, made fuch a contraft with the abject ftate in which they had for fome time lived, that they almost thought themselves under the influence of inchantment. They were clothed in the richest raiment which the wardrobes of the Vizir could afford; their eyes were dazzled by the golden vafes befet with gems, which glittered before them; lamps fed with naptha and afphalthis yielded them light; and their hearing was regaled with a moft delightful fymphony.

In the morning, Zeneide was brought before the Vizir Ekbar Ogluff: he was ftruck with furprize at the first view of her charms, his furprize was quickly fucceeded by love, and the foon became the mistress of his heart. The other women of the feraglio, and above all Zoraide, who till then held the first place in the favour of Ekbar Ogluff, inwardly pined with envy and difcontent to fee their fainter

charms

charms eclipsed by thofe of Zeneide; but they concealed their fecret jealoufy with the mask of affected complaifance.

Ekbar Ogloff having thus beftowed his affections upon Zeneide, could not neglect her brother Amram, who had qualities fufficient to excite his esteem, even if the charms of Zeneide had not pleaded in his behalf. He made him the chief of his domeftics, and every day fhewed him new marks of diftinction.

Amram and Zeneide, in their exalted state, did not forget their father Omri; they spoke of him to their benefactor, and Omri was brought to the palace of the Vizir, where a magnificent apartment was affigned him, and he was treated with a deference which thewed the high regard that Ogluff had for his fon and daughter. Thus was Omri again raised to a state of felicity, which foon made him forget his former fufferings; and his hap. pine's would have been compleated, had but Raffid been prefent to be a witnefs of his exaltation. In this circumstance he was indulged likewife: the plague having broke cut at Bagdad, Raffid, with his family, came to settle at Balfora, and were Atruck with furprize at feeing their former neighbours raised to a fta tion which, for grandeur, equalled their late debafement. The force of habit made Rafid and Selima compare their own circumstances with thofe of the family of Omri; and though they had never, like them, been reduced to a state of indigence and mifery, they found, from the comparison, reason to repine at their own fate, and to envy that of their neighbours.

Selima never cat her eye upon

the deformity of her daughter Zelis, without feeling the most poignant grief, and was tormented with envy whenever the reflected upon the happiness of Arpafia, whofe daughter Zeneide had charms which could engage the affections of a Vizir. Raffid was equally mortified when he contemplated the imperfections of his fon Almannor, with which the genius and uncommon perfonal beauty of Amram made a striking contraft. In fine, neither father or mother took any delight in their offspring; they thought that without external beauty life was in vain beftowed by heaven, and often wished that the angel of death might remove from their fight a fon and daughter, whofe defe&s were a conftant source of uneafiness to them. The unhappy children could not but feel the unkindness of their parents, but their mutual tenderness for each other continued unabated. This was a grear alleviation to their unhappiness, and by a conftant ftudy of the Koran, and meditating upon its divine preceps, they learned to be content with their lot; and whilft their parents were confiantly repining at their want of beauty, acquiefced in the will of the Supreme Allah, and fubmitted with refignation to his ordinance...

Raid and Selima continued to repine at the decrees of heaven, and thought fate had been as fevere to them, as it had been kind to Omri and his children; but a few revolving moons fhewed that mortals are unable to form a judgment of that which conftitutes their happinefs, and, that Allah favours them most highly when be refufes to grant their prayers. The vindic

tive

tive Zoraide felt the ftrongest pangs of jealous rage to fee Zeneide become the Vizir's favourite mistress; and her furious refentment rose to fuch a pitch, that the formed the cruel refolution of deftroying her rival by poison. This inhuman purpose was easy for her to carry into execution; Vavaffor, the chief of the Eunuchs, was devoted to her intereft, and having grown old in the feraglio, could not but be verfed in all its various mysteries of iniquity. He prepared for Zeneide a poison fo fubtile, that its effect was inftantaneous; Zeneide fell a victim to jealousy, and the Vizir was inconfolable for her lofs. The affliction of her unhappy father was equal to that of her lover; but the misfortunes of his family were not yet at an end. The Vizir Ogluff was foon after the death of Zeneide sent for to Bagdad by the Califf; at his departure, he left the care of his domeftic affairs to Amram, whom, as the brother of Zeneide, he preferred to his moft antient fervants.

The bloody Zoraide, who but feldom faw Amram when the vizir was at Balfora, having frequent opportunities of feeing him when he fuperintended the houshold of Ogluff in his abfence, conceived for him a paffion as ftrong as her hatred for his fifter. As he was bent upon the gratification of all her defires, fhe made fuch open advances to Amram, that he could not poffibly be ignorant of her fentiments for him; but though he was ignorant of her being the murtherefs of his beloved fifter Zeneide, he had an antipathy for her of which he did not know the reason, and returned all her 4

proffered love with fcorn and dif dain. The furious Zoraide, seeing herself neglected by Amram, resolved to deftroy the man who refused to be fubfervient to her pleafures, and to gratify her defire of revenge when her luft was disappointed. It was not hard for her to compafs her defign; the antient domeftics of the Vizir were discontented at seeing Amram raifed over them, and readily liftening to her fuggeftions, formed a party against him. Thefe having watched their opportunity, fell upon Amram one night in an avenue of the palace; and thougr he defended himself with great refolution, he at laft was overpowered by numbers, and fell at the feet of his enemies, covered from head to foot with wounds,

Thus did Amram and Zeneide owe their deftruction to that beauty, which their parents thought the choiceft gifts of heaven, whilft the children of Raffid and Selima were by their happy deformity fecured from the ftrokes of fate. The eyes of their parents were now opened by the calamities which befel the family of their neighbour; they no longer with-held their affection from their children, nor repined at the difpenfations of Providence, but acknowledged that Allah alone knows what is really for the good of men. The plague being over, they returned to Bagdad, where they lived in a ftate of uninterrupted happinefs during the remainder of their lives; and Raffid caufed to be wrote in letters of gold over his gate, "Oh mortals! when you pray to Allah, guard against the fuggeftions of your hearts; what you defire moft ardently, may turn to your bane,

bane, and your happiness may refult from the circumftances that excite your strongest abhorrence. The true nature of good and evil are known only to Allah and his holy prophet Mahomet, who are sometimes merciful in rejecting your prayers."

Thefe words excited the curiofity of all the inhabitants of Bagdad; and the Califf having received information of them, fent for Raffid, and enquired into the rea

fon of his caufing thofe words to be wrote over his gate. Raffid having difcovered his motive to the Califf, that prince fent for Almannor and Zelis to court, and every day bestowed upon them new marks of his favour. Thus did the deformity of thefe, in the end, raife them to a more exalted station than Amram and Zeneide had attained to by their beauty and fhining qualifications.

Ireland, of a good family. Nature beftowed on her a mind replete with every amiable quality, lodged in an elegant and lovely form; and education added every accomplishment that could improve the one or grace the other. Married in her early youth to a man advanced in years, by her exemplary conduct she became an honour to his name, and the pride and comfort of his declining life to be obedient only was for her too mean a virtue; it was her conftant study to prevent his wishes, to difcover his inclinations, and make them appear the object of her own choice. After having been for fome years the beft of wives, he became a widow in the prime of life, with a numerous and lovely offspring: to educate thefe in the most effectual and moft becoming manner, the dedicated the remainder of her days: never was a parent better qualified to convey, never were young minds better dif. pofed to receive, inftruction; the

fo tempered and foftened by the mildnefs and tenderness of her difpofition, that her children learnt from their earliest infancy to truft her, as their friend and companion, with the most hidden thoughts and fecrets of their hearts; and being fully poffeffed of their love and confidence, he acquired an influence over their very minds as well as actions, which feverity never can attain. She judged too well to think folitude the proper scene of education, or that a young perfon was likely to make a better figure in the world from having been bred up in total ignorance of it; the rather chofe that her children fhould learn from their own obfervation, affifted by her inftruction, the dullness and infipidity of a life fpent in conftant purfuit of amusement; at the fame time that they were taught, by her example, how confiftent a moderate and rational enjoyment of pleasure is with the ftrict performance of every duty of

ed by the most pleafing and unaffected gaiety; while virtue, in all its native brightness, fhone forth in her countenance with a purity that the most envenomed malice dared not attempt to fully, and the moft licentious tongues were forced to refpe&t; efteemed and reverenced by her grateful dependants; beloved by her numerous and valuable friends; adored by her children, every

MR. Wilkes was taken into cuf

tody, on Saturday April 30, 1763, by a warrant from the fecretaries of state, charged with being the author and publisher of a feditious libel, intitled the North Briton, Number 45, published on Saturday April 23, 1763; and after examination before the fecretaries of ftate, was committed to the Tower. The afternoon of the day of his commitment, an Habeas Corpus was granted by the lord chief justice of the court of Common Pleas, to bring him to that court to answer to the faid accufation.

The following is the contents of a paper publickly difperfed throughout London and Westminster, relative to Mr. Wilkes's commitment to, and treatment in, the Tower.

MAGNA CHARTA.

CAP. 29. "Nullus Liber Homo capiatur, vel imprifonetur, aut diffeifiatur de libero Tenementum fuo, vel LibertaMay, 1763.

tibus, vel liberis Confuetudinibus fuis, aut uilagetur aut exulet, aut aliquo Modo deftruatur. Nec fuper eum ibimus, nec fuper eum mittemus nifi per legale Judicium Parium fuorum vel per Legem Terre."

[No Freeman may be apprehended, or imprisoned, or diffeised of kis Freehold, or LIBERTIES, or free Cuftoms, or be outlawed or banished, or any wife deftroyed. Nor will we pafs upon him, nor condemn him, but by the lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land.]

AS the apprehenfion and com

mitment of John Wilkes, Efq; member of parliament, to the Tower, must have raifed the curiosity of many people to know the circumftances attending it; the following detail of fimple facts (upon which every reader will make his own comments) cannot be unfeafonable, and are perhaps abfolutely neceffary to be laid before the public.

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