not a tent was standing, except what belonged to the hospital their refuge was among the wounded and dying. At night the army retreated, and at break of day reached very advantageous ground.

After halting for refreshment, they were on the point of setting again in motion, when lady Harriet sent a message to general Burgoyne, who was the commander in chief, expressing her earnest desire of passing to the camp of the enemy, to request the permission of general Gates, to attend her wounded husband. The magnanimity of this undaunted heroine astonished general Burgoyne. He could hardly conceive how a woman, brought up in the luxury of high life, after so long an agitation of spirits; exhausted not only for want of rest, but absolutely for want of food; drenched in rain for twelve hours together, should have sufficient courage remaining, to deliver herself into the hands of the enemy, probably in the night, and uncertain what treatment she might receive. He sympathised in her affliction, but had very little power to assist her. He had not even a cordial or a cup of wine to revive her. All he could do was to provide an open boat, and to give her a few lines, written upon paper that was wet and dirty, addressed to general Gates, recommending her to his protection.

She was accompanied in her enterprise by Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain to the artillery; besides her own female servant, and the major's valet de chambre, who then had in his shoulder a ball received in the late action. The night was advanced before the boats reached the outposts of the enemy; and the centinel refused to let

it pass, or even to come ashore. In vain Mr. Brudenell offered the flag of truce, and represented the circumstances of the extraordinary passenger on board: the guard suspected treachery; and, faithful to his orders, threatened to fire into the boat if it stirred before daylight.

What a situation for a delicate female, accustomed to every indulgence, to pass seven or eight tedious hours in an open boat, bereft of every accommodation, exposed to the accumulated terrors of the most cruel anxiety, the inclemencies of an American sky, hunger, fatigue, darkness, cold, and rain! What could support her in this dreadful moment, but the consciousness of doing her duty, and the height of her affection for her husband! Blush, ye votaries of pleasure, who neglect your families, and lose the serenity of your countenances on the slightest opposition.

What joy must she have felt at the first dawn of morning! Her situation having been made known to general Gates, he gave immediate orders that this magnanimous woman should be conducted to his quarters, where every refreshment he could procure was set before her; and she received the most generous tokens of his esteem and humanity, for which he was justly celebrated. She was then conducted to her husband, who, without these trials, could not have fully known the value of the heart he possessed. She had the happiness to see her husband recover; to which, no doubt, her tender care greatly contributed.

The virtue of madame La Fayette was put to a trial as difficult to sustain, though of a different nature. Her husband, general La Fayette, languished, a prisoner, for several years, in the citadel of Olmutz. She not only obtained permission to share his captivity; but, when her constitution was sinking under the baneful effects of confinement, and she had liberty to leave the prison, though with the prospect of being separated from her husband for ever, she bravely determined to meet a tedious, lingering death, rather than to leave him to pine alone, whilst she enjoyed the pleasures of health and liberty.

Let these brilliant examples of conjugal affection, rouse those thoughtless wives to greater propriety of conduct, who lay aside the attractions of tenderness and good-humour, when they assume the name of wife; forgetting, that the secret of domestic happiness consists not in gaining a husband, but in retaining his affections.

MASTERS AND SERVANTS.

IN the mountainous districts of Scotland, great purity of morals is preserved, and a simplicity of manners that resembles those of the patriarchs. The landholders, who live by farming, and grazing numerous flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, are thinly scattered at a dis

tance from each other, which greatly debars them from the pleasures of society, and that intercourse which bears the name of visiting in the populous towns of South Britain; but, as a recompence for this loss, they seek for social enjoyments in the bosom of their own families, and in the tie of relationship, which is a sufficient claim for kindness and attention, though the object of it be reduced to poverty. A person who becomes poor through misfortune is not disgraced; if his conduct has been irreproachable, he is received with the same welcome, and treated with the same respect by his relatives, as in more prosperous days. Perhaps this generosity owes its origin to the pride of ancestry, which honours the descendants of the same stock, under all circumstances but that of infamy. To whatever cause it may be attributed, its effects are admirable. It cheers the drooping spirits of the unfortunate, and is a preservative against that meanness of sentiment, that sometimes accompanies the fall of those who attach too much value to wealth; whilst it draws together the powerful and the weak, and affords the former an opportunity of administering to the wants of the latter with delicacy and effect.

Hospitality is another virtue, for which the inhabitants of these remote districts are distinguished. Secluded as they are from the frequent intercourse of near neighbours, the appearance of a friend from a distant part is welcome, and each individual endeavours to render his stay agreeable. He is not entertained with the costly

feast or the regale of ceremony, but with the warmth of heart that gives a zest to the plainest fare and the most homely accommodation.

The opportunities of enjoying the company of strangers occurring but seldom, the members of the same household are bound closer together, and are obliged to place a greater dependance upon each other, than where a communication with others is more easily attained. An attachment something resembling paternal affection subsists between the heads of families and their servants, who may be said to be educated under their roof; for the female servants, especially, are generally selected at an early age from the children of the labourers employed on the farm, which excites an emulation amongst them to deserve this preference. A tractable disposi tion ensures the encouragement of their mistress, who, though she gives what we should term very low wages, perhaps not more than forty shillings a year, provides them with the means, if they are industrious and provident, of laying up a store against the day of marriage, or a solitary old age; and it is not uncommon for a servant in a family of this description to amass, in a few years, as much as twenty pounds!

Mrs. Grant, late of Laggan, the amiable writer of Letters from the Mountains, relates that she had a very large wooden bowl, which served as a measure for a certain portion of flax seed, given at a particular season of the year to every female servant in her house to this gift was added a piece of ground to sow it on; and