again the terrible front of Mars. He resisted all their pleading. His bosom heaved, and agitation shook his mighty frame; but he yielded not. Volumnia begged him to name conditions to the full advantage of the Volscians; to drop the sword of warfare, and secure a lasting peace between their states: or, should he refuse their prayers, she vowed to lay herself before the city gates, where he should never enter as a conqueror, but treading over the prostrate bleeding frame of her who gave him life. This threat was seconded by the sorrowing Virgilia, who called the gods to witness, that the moment which brought her husband to her sight, entering the gates of Rome as an eneiny-even before his eyes, she would plunge a dagger to her heart, and the gushing tide of life should be his welcome! Coriolanus shuddered; he appealed to Aufidius, who, moved by the affecting scene, looked as if he sanctioned his desire of relenting but in this Aufidius was treacherous, and only wished a pretence to break all terms between them.

:

Coriolanus yielded to the strong impulses of nature; and, leading his wife and mother forth, sent them back to Rome exulting-promising in a few days to send the proposals of union between the Romans and Volscians.

The two tribunes were exposed to the very utmost rage of the people-when shouts of joy and sounds of triumph put a period to their danger. The procession was returned from the camp-returned with joy! The following day, Coriolanus drew back the Volscians from the camp; when sacrifices were offered in Rome to the gods, and the ladies led through the city in triumph. But these. rejoicings were transient; and soon succeeded by an event least of all to have been expected.

At the next general meeting of the Volscian senate Tullus Aufidius advanced many unjust acon

sations against Coriolanus; and commanded him to resign the authority which had been entrusted to bin. This he refused to do, unless by the desire of the people, at whose request, as well as at the de sire of Tullus, he had undertaken its exercise. He then addressed the senators and people; and so great was his eloquence, when he chose to exert it, so unjustifiable Aufidius's charges against him, and so powerful the general sentiment of esteem and admiration which he had excited, that Aufidius, fearing his rival's triumph would be rendered more complete by the very means he had intended should destroy him, rudely interrupted him in his address, and offered him such unwarrantable insults, that Coriolanus, thrown off his guard by these new instances of ingratitude and baseness, indignantly drew his sword upon Aufidius. The vile conspirators now rushed at once upon him, and he fell, overpowered by innumerable wounds.

The senators were highly enraged, and charged Aufidius with falsehood and ingratitude but he pointed cut so effectually the danger which surrounded them while Coriolanus lived, that if they were not convinced, they at least were silent. When Aufidius beheld at his feet the mangled form of him who, while living, "had plucked all gaze his way," his resentment abated, his admiration revived, and he repented of the deed he had committed. assisted in raising the body; and with three of his soldiers bore him on his shoulders to his tent—giving orders that all honours befitting a warrior should be prepared to grace the hero's funeral.

He

So fell the invincible Coriolanus, even in his prime of life; leaving behind a memorable lesson that human nature, however exalted our station, cannot stand secure against the darts of malice or of envy, and therefore it were well the mind should early be taught the wisdom of becoming humility. Pride is

a precious gem, if exerted only with judgment; but a dangerous instrument, if used incautiously. Minds, highly wrought, require a tenfold portion of forbearance; first to command themselves, and next to guard against the machinations which ever will be employed against them, by those who have neither generosity to acknowledge their merits, nor virtue to imitate them.

Some spirits are so formed, as it should seem
The mighty hand of Heav'n had bankrupts mabe
Of half a million, to enrich one mind

With more endowment than to one pertains;
Setting this crested favourite above

The mass of human kind, like some high hill
Casting its shadow o'er the lowly vales;
As 'twere to teach them insignificance:
Or like the sun (peerless in brilliancy)
Riding majestic through the vaulted skies
Spreading his golden beams on this our earth,
And now again withdrawing them-or lest
We underprize that value-ever near-
Yet as the sun, the richest gift of God
Bestowed upon this perishable globe,
Some imperfection entertains, to prove
Omnipotence alone is free from taint;

So in the forming of these lofty minds,
Some grosser matter aptly mingles there
To throw a gloom upon the brighter part:
Or pride too highly wrought, or vanity,
Or overpois'd ambition, vaunting high;
Or vice, or weakness, in some sort to shade
The page sublime of glowing intellect,
And countermine its richer grace and beauty;
Embracing sometimes peril and destruction.
Alas! to man it never yet was given
To breathe the breath of life, and be a God.
The soul, encaged in tenement of clay,
Imbibes contagion from its earthly prison
To circumvent its flight. Mortality-
Heav'n teaches us to know its utmost limits.
Thus far proud man-not farther shalt thou go,
Lest, here on earth, thon shouldst partake of heaven,
Presuming to attain perfectability!

This chequered life with sorrow is replete!
Some evils are by Providence ordained;
Some by our own illsorted fancies framed!
And these the worst;-since nor Philosophy
Can aid-nor yet Religion influence.

When Heaven affliction sends, we bow our heads,
And pray for patience-so Religion aids;

When we do injuries sustain, we call

Philosophy to give us strength of mind!

But, when our follies rob us of our peace,
What hope?-where seek we consolation then?
The grief of folly can admit no cure;

Save in the wisdom of resolved amendment.

THAT it is more difficult to keep a lover, than to win one, is a truth universally allowed; yet, like many other painful truths, it is rather lamented as a misfortune not to be obviated, than considered as a fault of our own creation, for which the remedy lies in our own power. Courtship is too commonly made a system of mutual deception, each striving to conceal their faults, and magnify their virtues, in order to enhance their power: not reflecting, that possession tears away the veil, and renders every trifling defect more glaringly conspicuous. This is one cause of the failure in matrimonial happiness. Another, and