At this recital I could not help exclaiming, with uplifted hands, "Oh, in what an age do we live!" "Psha!" exclaimed Celadon, in his turn, "you have no occasion to exclaim against the present times. Human nature is the same in all ages; and vice and folly, as they appear in town and in country, differ but in the degree. In both, we find the sordid gratification of self, the predominant passion; and if in the latter there be less dissipation, it is because there is less opportunity to dissipate." "But after all" (for anxious to hear the conclusion of the story, I was in no humour to argue the point with him), "after all," cried I. "what became of poor Maria? Did the hapless girl survive this heavy stroke!" "Survive it! why, she got another husband directly." "Another husband! directly too! - and after having already experienced such usage from man ?" Such, I confess, were my ejaculations, and silly enough will they propably be thought by some people. "Even so," resumed Celadon, " injured innocence can boast of as few friends in the bosom of a village as in the bosom of a court. Maria, instead of becoming an object of either pity or respect, now found herself pointed at with the finger of ridicule and scorn; and as being the acknowledged beauty of the place, there was not a woman within ten miles, who, whether young or old, did not exultingly cry out, 'Yes, yes, I thought what it would come to! I always said she would be left in the lurch at last. This comes of your fine faces! For my part, I could never see more about the hussey than about other people; and, after all, to run away with a recruiting serjeant.' "Here," continued he, "they spoke a melancholy truth. Deprived of the man who had seduced her into a belief that she was to be his wife, and unable to bear the envenomed taunts she daily experienced from a malignant neighbourhood, to which she was a credit, she eloped the week after the nuptials of her sister, with a military adventurer of the above description, nor has she since been heard of. It was a measure of necessity, not of choice. Where, then, is her peace of mind, and where that felicity which fancy had fondly pictured to her while yet she was single! those jewels the wealth of Asia could never recover for her. Forced, from her situation, to associate with the profligate and abandoned, what avails it that she has left behind her a wretched father, who, productive of his own misery, in vainly attempting to establish the happiness of one child at the expense of that of another, is already, in addition to his sorrows, doomed to the mortification of having that child returned upon his hands, plundered of all by a husband, who, in the truest sense of the words, had mar. ried her for what he could get! No: circumstances like these can afford no comfort to Maria; though they may in time teach her to detest her mercenary deluder as much as it is possible she could ever have loved him. To a heart already wrung with calamity, the tears of others add but to our own tears; and, ah! would that those of Maria could but soften the heart of every father, and of every lover, whether in high life or in low life, who may be inclined, like the father and the lover of this hapless villager, to sacrifice a permanent felicity to the visionary idea of a momentary accommodation!" ON SUICIDE. FROM MARTIAL. When all the blandishments of life are gone, The coward creeps to death, the brave lives on. EASTERN SUPERSTITION. AMONG the cities of the east, few can compare with Damascus for antiquity or grandeur. It was known as a city 3000 years before London existed, or even England was known, but as an island, inhabited by barbarians. The above is a view of one of its streets and mosques, which will give some idea of the general appearance of the city. Notwithstanding the antiquity of the east, superstition is still more prevalent than in any other part of the world. Mr. Buckingham, the oriental traveller, relates the following trait which occurred to him whilst in Damascus. " During an evening party, I was entreated, by several of the individuals composing it, for written charms against poverty, sickness, danger, &c. At first I endeavoured to persuade the applicants that no human being possessed the power to possess such charms, however impostors might pretend, from interested motives, to propagate a belief in their efficacy; and that a very strong proof in support of their being false and delusive was to be gathered from the fact, that the vendors of such charms, to save others from misfortune, were not able to protect themselves from the evils inseperable from humanity, but were equally liable, with all other men, to sickness, misfortune, and death. This argument, however, convincing as it would have been to most minds, had no effect whatever on theirs, and I was somewhat surprised to find it combated by an example from sacred history; one of the parties observing that the same objection had been raised, but without foundation, against the divinity of Christ, when those who mocked him, exclaimed, "He saved others: himself he cannot save." It was vain to attempt conviction on minds intrenched behind such a position; and, therefore, to satisfy the increasing importunity of those who now believed, from my very scruples and reluctance, that I really had the power, but was indisposed to exercise it for their benefit. I wrote on slips of paper various unmeaning characters, which were taken as favors, and construed into talismans of a general, rather than a particular nature, from my declining to assign to them any specific virtue. The occurrence of such a scene as this among the Mohammedans of the Nile, or the barbarians of Nubia, or the savages of Africa, would not have been surprising; but here, as I had been forced, by what I had seen, to estimate the state of civilization among the Arab Christians of these parts, I had not before supposed it to be so low as this incident evidently showed it to be." Ladies' Pocket Mag. Atlantic Tales. THE LITTLE DUTCH SENTINEL OF THE MANHADOES. BY J. K. PAULDING. (Continued from page 232.) "The search now commenced with great vigour in the garden, although Jan Sol openly declared it as his opinion, that they might look themselves blind before they found the spectre, who could fly over a wall as easy as a grasshopper. He accordingly kept aloof from the retired part of the garden, and stuck close to his noble commander, Captain Knyff, who, by this time, had come up with the pursuers. All search, however, proved vain; for, after a close investigation of more than an hour, it was unanimously agreed, that the intruder, whether man, monster, or ghost, could not possibly be hid in the garden. The governor then determined to have the house searched. and accordingly the whole party entered for that purpose, with the exception of the two sentinels without the gate. Here, while rummaging in closets, peering under beds, and looking up chimneys, in vain, they were alarmed by a sudden shout from the garden, which made their hearts quake with exceeding apprehension. The shout was succeeded by loud talking, and apparent tugging and struggling, as if between persons engaged in hot contention. At the same moment, the governor's daughter rushed into her chamber, and throwing herself on the bed, with a loud shriek, remained insensible for some time. Every body was sure she had seen the spectre. "It appears, that while the search was going on in the big house, and the attention of everybody employed in that direction, the sentinels outside the gate, heard the key cautiously turned inside; then, after a little pause, slowly open. A face then peeped out, as if to take an obs servation, and the owner, apparently satisfied that the coast was clear, darted forward. The first step he unluckily tripped over a rope, which these trusty fellows had drawn aeross the gate, and fell full length on the ground. Before he could recover his feet, the two sentinels were upon him, and, in spite of his exertions, kept him down, until their shouts drew the rest of the guard to their assistance. The sceptre was then secured with ropes, and safely lodged in the cellar, under a strong escort, to await his examination the next morning. Jan Sol was one of the band, though he insisted it was all nonsense to mount guard over a spectre. "The council met betimes, at the sound of a bell, rang by a worthy citizen, who, in addition to his vocation of bell-ringer, was crier of the court, messenger to the governor, sexton, clerk, and grave-digger to the whole city of New Amsterdam. It was something to be a man in those days, before the invention of steam-engines, spinning jennys, and chess-playing automatons, caused such a superfluity of human beings, that it is much if they can now earn salt to their porridge. At that time, men were so scarce, that there were at least half a dozen offices to one man; now there are half a dozen men to one office, all which is owing to machinery. This accumulation of honours in the person of the bellringer made him a man of considerable consequence, insomuch, that the little boys about Flattenbarrack Hill chalked his name upon their sleighs, and it is even asserted that he had an Albany sloop called after him. I could, therefore, do no less than make honourable mention of a person of his dignity. "After the council met, and every thing was ready, the door of the cellar was cautiously opened, and Jan Sol at the head, that is to say in the rear, of a file of soldiers, descended for the purpose of bringing forth this daring interloper, who had thus from time to time disturbed the sleep of the sober citizens of New Amsterdam. Jau offered to bet a canteen of Schiedam, that they would find nobody in the cellar, but, contrary to all expectation, they presently came forth with the body of a comely youth, apparently about the age of five-and-twenty, which was considered very young in those days. Nothing was more customary there, than for a sturdy mother to bastinado her boys, as she called them, after they had grown to be six feet high. They were all the better for it, and made excellent husbands. "When the young man came into the presence of the puissant governor of the New Netherlands, he appeared a comely person, tall, faircomplexioned, and pleasant of feature. He was asked whence he came, and not having a lawyer at his elbow to teach him the noble art of prevarication, replied without hesitation " From Pavonia.' city?' " I climbed the wall, near the company's windmill.' " And how did you get into the governor's garden?' "" The same way I got out.' "Through the gate.' gate?' " With what?" "Not if I am hanged for not telling.' ""What have you done with the wings with which, according to the testimony of Jan Sol, you flew from the wall, and through the street, into the governor's garden?' "" I never had any wings, and never flew in the whole course of my life." "Here Jan Sol was called up, and testified positively to the wings and the flying. There was now great perplexity in the council, when the keeper of the windmill demanded to be heard. He stated, he remembered perfectly well, that on the two nights referred to, he had set his windmill going about the hour in which Jan saw the spectre whirl round and fly from the wall. There had been a calm for several days previous, and the citizens began to be in want of flour; he had, therefore, taken advantage of the rising of the wind at the time, to set his mill going. A little farther inquiry led to the fact, that the place where the spectre scaled the wall was exactly in a line with the windmill, and the spot where Jan held his watch. It was thus that the spectre became identified with the wings of the mill. This exposition, marvellously quietted the fears of the good people; but there were a number of stern believers who stuck by the little sentinel, and continued "How did you get through the to believe in the winged monster. "Was it treason against the governor did not appear, to grace "" By unlocking it.' As for poor Jan, he looked ten times more foolish, than when he used to be caught emptying the canteens of his comrades in his sleep. This elucidation being over, the examination "No answer. proceeded. "Whence came that key?' "" I shall not tell.' ""What induced you to scale the wall and intrude into the garden?? "I shall not tell.' "Not if you are hanged for not telling?' "" Did you know the law making it death for any one to enter or depart from the city, between sunset and sunrise, except through the gate?' " I did.' "What induced you to violate it?' " I shall not tell.' "" Was it plunder?" "I am no thief.' the fort for safe keeping till the period arrived. "That day the daughter of the "And this was all they could get out of him. Various cross question were put to entrap him: he replied to them all with perfect freedom and promptitude, until they came to his name, and his motives for intruding iuto the city in violation of a law SO severe, that none as yet had ever been known to transgress it; then, as before, he declined answering. "In those early days, under the Dutch dynasty, trial by jury was not in fashion. People were too busy to serve as jurymen, if they had been wanted; and the decision of most cases was left either to the burgomasters, or if of great consequence, to the governor and council. Justice was severe and prompt, in proportion to the dangers which surrounded the early colonists, and the spirit of the times in which they flourished. They lived in perpetual apprehension; and fear is the father of cruelty. The law denouncing death to any person who should enter the city betwixt sunset and sunrise, except by the gate, was considered as too essential to the security of the citizens, to be relaxed in favour of any one, especially of a person who refused to tell either. his name or the motive for his intrusion. By his own admission, he was guilty of the offence, and but one course remained for the council, The young man was sentenced to be hanged, that day week, and sent to the table of his excellency; nor in the management of those little household affairs that are not beneath the dignity of the daughters of kings. She was ill with a head-ache, and kept her bed. The governor had no child but her, and, though without any great portion of sensibility, was capable of all the warmth of parental affection. Indeed, all his affections were centred in this little blooming offspring, who was the only being in all the New World that carried a drop of his blood, coursing in her blue veins. He was also proud of her, so proud, that his pride often got the better of his affection. She had many admirers; for she was fair, wealthy, and the daughter of the greatest governor in the New World, not excepting him of Virginia. It followed, as a matter of course, that she was admired, but it was at an awful distance. The honest Dutch swains, who had not pursued the female sprite through all the mazes of romance, and learned how oftimes high-born ladies stooped to lads of low degree, gaped at her at church, as if she had been a sea.serpent. They would as soon have thought of aspiring to the governor's dignity, as to the governor's daughter. Besides. he was one of those absurd old blockheads, who consider nobody good enough for their daughters at home, and hawk them about Europe in search of some needy sprig of nobility, who will exchange his mighty honours for bags of gold, and a fair blooming virtuous virgin in the bargain. He had sworn a thousand times, that his Catalina should never marry anything below a Dutch baron." "Was her name Catalina? was she my namesake?" interrupted the little granddaughter. "Yes, girl, she was your great |