VICE.

IT is the curse of vice, that in some sort, The mind doth reach perfection. He who hath sold

His brother to the yoke, or rifled her

That trusted him. These have the quicker sight
For dangers, stratagems. 'Tis guilt that rubs
From off the human eye its film, and shews
All the dark world of terror.-"Tis the knave
Who best can read the subtle look, and trace
Amidst the windings of the heart, (tho' smiles
May deck the visage,) each most dark intent.—
In his own soul, which, like a mirror, holds
The portrait of his own similitudes
Up to his view, he reads it all.

H.

Sir Walter Scott received from Mr. Murray an unique MS. Copy of Poems by PATRICK CAREY, dated 1651, from which he has published a few trifles, which possess great merit, as the following specimen will prove.

NULLA FIDES.

FOR God's sake marcke that fly,

See what a poore, weake, little thing itt is. When thou hast marck'd, and scorn'd itt; know that this,

This little, poore, weake fly,

Has kill'd a pope; can make an emp’rour dye.

Behold yon sparcke of fire:

How little hott! now near to nothing 'tis ! When thou hast donne despising, know that this, This contemn'd sparcke of fire,

Has burn't whole townes; can burn a world entire.

That crawling worme there see:
Ponder how ugly, filthy, uild itt is.

When thou hast seene and loathe'd itt, know that this

This base worme thou doest see,

Has quite deuour'd thy parents; shall eate thee.

Honour, the world, and man,

What trifles are they! Since most true itt is
That this poore fly, this little sparcke, this
So much abhorr'd worm, can

Honour destroy; burne worlds; deuoure up man.

REFLECTION.

THERE is a sad and melancholy pleasure
In tracing, tho' in wild disjointed measure,
The airy thoughts that flit across the brain,
Be they of joy or hope, of pleasure or of pain;
When in the luxury of causeless grief
(The child of solitude) it brings relief.
When looking on an Autumn's sun, that sinking,
Lost in the pleasing witchery of thinking,
A thousand thoughts flit undistinguished by,
And draw a rapturous tear one knows not why;
Ah such a silent, heart-felt tear is worth
All other joys that smile upon the earth!
For whilst it slow is trickling o'er the cheek,
The bosom feels a joy which none can speak,

No. 11. VOL. II.]

canst

Anecdotes.

ORIENTAL ANECDOTE.

THE great desert of Naubendigan had long been infested by banditti, who robbed the caravans, and murdered the merchants. About the beginning of the eleventh century, soon after Persia had been conquered by Mahmoud, Sultan of Ghezna, a caravan was plundered; and, amongst those who fell, was the son of a widow. The poor woman immediately set out for Ghezna, and demanded justice from the Sultan for the life of her son. Mahmoud heard her complaint with attention; and then told her, that Irac being far removed from his seat of government, it was impossible to remedy every disorder which might happen at such a distance. "Why then," says the widow, dost thou conquer more than thou govern? Will not an account of this be required of thee at the day of judgment?" Struck with the justice of the widow's reply, Mahmoud was not offended. He made her, on the contrary, rich presents, and promised her speedy justice. He hastened immediately to Ispahan, and issued a proclamation, promising security, in person and property, to all travellers through the desert. Many mer chants flocked, in consequence, to Ispahan: but when the caravan was ready to depart, they were surprised to find only an hundred soldiers appointed for their guard. They represented to the king, that the robbers were so numerous and bold, that a thousand would be quite insufficient. He knew, however, the measures he had taken, and desired them to depart, with assurance of perfect safety. The Sultan had, in the mean time, privately ordered a number of hampers of most choice fruits to be poisoned, and gave orders to the commander of the guard to halt in a certain place, where the banditti generally made their attack; and there to unload the fruits, under pretence of drying them in the sun. This was done; and, the robbers soon appearing, the guards, as they were ordered, fled. As nothing, in these scorching desarts, could be more tempting than such cool and delicious

[PRICE 6d

fruits, the thieves knowing that the caravans might be soon overtaken, allowed them to move on; and devouring the fruits with so little moderation, that before they could discover the poison, it began to operate; and all of them perished on the spot.

INDIAN ANECDOTE.

AMONG the Hurons, who are much given to thieving, and who perform it with a dexterity which would do honour to our most expert pick-pockets, it was lawful, on the discovery of the thief, not only to take from him what he has stolen, but also to carry off every thing in his cabin, and to strip himself, his wife, and children, stark naked, without their daring to make the least resistance: and farther, in order to shun all such contestation which might arise on this head, certain points were agreed upon, from which they never deviated. For example, every thing found, were it but a moment after it was lost, belonged to the finder, provided the former proprietor had not before reclaimed it; but on discovery of the least dishonesty on the part of the former, they obliged him to make restitution, which occasioned sometimes dissentions, which were with difficulty put an end to the following is an instance of the sort singular enough.

A good old woman had for all her worldly goods but one colar of wampum, worth about ten crowns of our money, and which she carried about with her every where in a little bag. One day, as she was at work in the fields, she chanced to hang her bag on a tree: another woman who had perceived it, and had a desire to filch her colar from her, thought the present a favourable occasion for seizing it, without being liable to be accused of theft: she, therefore, kept her eye continually upon it: in about the space of an hour or two, the old woman, having gone into the next field, she flies to the tree, seizes the bag, and falls a-crying how lucky she had been to find so valuable a prize. The old woman turns immediately about, and says the bag belonged to her, and that it was she who had hung it upon the tree; that she had neither lost it nor forgot it, and that she intended to take it down when her work should be over: her adversary made an answer, that we

are not to judge the intentions, and that, having quitted the field without taking down her bag, she was deemed in law to have for got it.

After many disputes between these two old women, who never spoke so much as one disobliging word the whole time, the affair was brought before an arbiter, who was chief of the village: "According to the rigour," said he, "the bag is the property of the finder ; but the circumstances of the thing are such, that if this woman would not be taxed with avarice, she ought to restore it to the claimant, and be satisfied with some little present, which the other cannot refuse her." Both parties acquiesced in this judgment; and it is proper to observe, that the fear of being accused of avarice had full as much power on the minds of the Indians, as the fear of punishment could have had, and that these people are generally governed by the principle of honour, more than by any other motive whatever.

1

AT a banquet, when solving enigmas was one of the diversions, Alexander said to his courtiers, "What is that which did not come last. year, has not come this year, and will not come next year?" A distressed officer starting up, said "It must certainly be our arrears of pay. The king was so diverted, that he commanded him to be paid up, and also increased his salary.

Correspondence.

SENTIMENTAL LUCUBRATIONS,

IT would seem that every age and country have, in some degree, been sensible of the advantages arising from the social principle; and to the love of cultivating it, we may attribute the first formation of mankind into families and societies; as also the mutual intercourse that subsists among these families, by means of visiting each other, than which nothing can be more laudable, did not the landlord often abuse his guests, with what is falsely loooked upon as an exuberance of friendship.

This over-acted hospitality of landlords, has of late years prevailed so much, that peo ple, from a kind of custom, have contracted a habit of thinking themselves as much at liberty to get drunk in the house of a friend as in a tavern.

We have been favoured with a sight of several letters on this subject, some of which we are allowed to lay before the public. The first is from a batchelor housholder.

DEAR SIR:-You cannot imagine the numerous grievances that we poor batchelors labour under: my fortune, you know, is but very moderate, though my mind is so social, that I always love to have a few friends about me; and with these I have lived tolerably happy these dozen years past; but of late, the genius of my neighbours is so much changed, that I shall either be obliged to lay aside my social plan, and not admit a creature within my door, or immediately run out my constitution and estate.

Formerly I used, upon some particular occasions, to make a few of my guests drunk, but now almost upon every occasion they make themselves so at my expense. I am often obliged to make my servant go out of the way, and then pretend he has taken the key of the cellar along with him. But this seldom avails me any thing; for some one of the company

is generally complaisant enough to go for the blacksmith to break open the door, or to do it himself, and to surprise me at once, by setting a dozen or two of my best upon the table.

The price of this dozen, which I intended to have saved, is not all the loss I sustain: the company grow riotous, my glasses, tables, chairs, and other furniture, are broken and abused, and myself laid up in bed with a sick stomach and an aching head all the next day.

When I have any company to dine with me, they seldom go away till they have supped also. When they stay supper, I must sit up all night; if I give hints that they should go away, I am only a few hours and bottles the farther from my purpose. We cannot go away so, says one; nobody goes home sober from a batchelor's house, says another: so every one takes upon him to be landlord; calls for what he pleases, and gets drunk as fast as he can. I have tried every method of stopping this licentious custom, but in vain have I tried them all; shall therefore soon be reduced to the necessity of shutting up my house against every visitor, or of being turned to the door of it, a beggar. I am, sir,

Your abused friend,

FRANCIS FREEHEART.

Epigrams.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EPIGRAM.

AN Epigram should be, if right,
Short, simple, pointed, keen, and bright,
A lively little thing;

Like wasp, with taper body, bound
By lines-not many, neat and round,

All ending in a sting.

To spouse, in jeering carriage.

"One of your relatives I hear."

"Yes, love," says he," by marriage."

appears,

Since she slept not with one, but the whole House of Peers.

ROBERT complained much one day,
That Frank had ta'en his character away:

"I take your character," says Frank, "G-d z―s, I would not have it for ten thousand pounds."

"YOUR countenance, Jack," says my father, one day,

"Is form'd to insure your disgrace;" "Very likely," cried I," it may be as you say, For I know I've the family face."

Epitaphs.

IN CHICHESTER CHURCH-YARD.
ART thou in health, and spirits gay?
I, too, was so the other day,
And thought myself secure and safe,
As you who read this epitaph.