He, therefore, firmly rejected Mourad's offer, and even remon'strated with him on his own change of religion.

12. The Bey, finding his father determined, and that his family's distress demanded immediate succour, sent him back to Syria, with a large sum of money, and a vessel loaded with corn. The happy husbandman immediately returned to the plains of Damascus, where his arrival banished misery and tears from his homely roof, and brought joy, ease and felicity.

SCENE BETWEEN CATO AND DECIUS.

Decius. CESAR sends health to Cato

Cuto. Could he send it

To Cato's slaughtered friends, it would be welcome.
Are not your orders to address the senate?

Dec. My business is with Cato; Cæsar sees
The straits to which you're driven, and, as he knows,
Cato's high worth, is anxious for your life.

Cato. My life is grafted on the fate of Rome.
Would he save Cato, bid him spare his country.
Tell your dictator this; and tell him, Cato
Disdains a life which he has power to offer.

Dec. Rome and her senators submit to Cæsar;
Her generals and her consuls are no more,
Who checked his conquests, and denied his triumphs.
Why will not Cato be this Cæsar's friend?

Cato. Those very reasons thou hast urged forbid it.
Dec. Cato, I have orders to expostulate,
And reason with you, as from friend to friend.
Think on the storm that gathers o'er your head,
And threatens every hour to burst upon it.
Still may you stand high in your country's honours,
Do but comply, and make your peace with Cæsar.
Rome will rejoice, and cast its eyes on Cato,
As on the second of mankind.

Cato. No more;

I must not think of on these conditions.

Dec. Cæsar is well acquainted with your virtues,

And therefore sets this value on your life.
Let him but know the price of Cato's friendship,
And name your terms.

Cato. Bid him disband his legions, Restore the commonwealth to liberty, Submit his actions to the publick censure, And stand the judgment of a Roman senate. Bid him do this, and Cato. is his friend.

Dec. Cato, the world talks loudly of your wisdom

Cato. Nay, more; though Cato's voice was ne'er employed
To clear the guilty, and to varnish crimes,
Myself will mount the rostrum in his favour,
And strive to gain his pardon from the people.

Dec. A style like this becomes a conqueror.
Cato. Decius, a style like this becomes a Roman.
Dec. What is a Roman, who is Cæsar's foe?
Cato. Greater than Cæsar; he's a friend to virtue.
Dec. Consider, Cato, you're in Utica,
And at the head of your own little senate;
You don't now thunder in the capitol,
With all the mouths of Rome to second you.

Cato. Let him consider that. who drives us hither;
'Tis Cæsar's sword has made Rome's senate little,
And thinned its ranks. Alas! thy dazzled eye
Beholds this man in a false, glaring light,
Which conquest and success have thrown upon him.
Didst thou but view him right, thou'dst see him black
With murder, treason, sacrilege and crimes,
That strike my soul with horrour but to name 'em.
I know thou look'st on me as on a wretch
Beset with ills and covered with misfortunes
But, be it known to thee, millions of worlds
Should never buy me to be like that Cæsar.

Dec. Does Cato send this answer back to Cæsar,
For all his generous cares and proffered friendship?
Cato. His cares for me are insolent and vain.
Presumptuous man! the gods take care of Cato.
Would Cæsar show the greatness of his soul,
Bid him employ his care for these my friends,
And make good use of his ill-gotten power,
By sheltering men much better than himself.

Dec. Your high, unconquered heart makes you forget You are a man. You rush on your destruction. But I have done. When I relate, hereafter, The tale of this unhappy embassy, All Rome will be in tears.

THE BEGGAR'S PETITION.

PITY the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span;
Oh! give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.

2. These tattered clothes my poverty bespeak,
These hoary locks proclaim my lengthened years,
And many a furrow in my grief-worn cheek
Has been the channel to a flood of tears.

3. Yon house, erected on the rising ground,
With tempting aspect, drew me from my road;
For plenty there a residence has found,
And grandeur a magnificent abode.

4. Hard is the fate of the infirm and poor!
Here, as I craved a morsel of their bread,
A pampered menial drove me from the door,
To seek a shelter in an humbler shed.

5. Oh! take me to your hospitable dome;
Keen blows the wind, and piercing is the cold!
Short is my passage to the friendly tomb,
For I am poor, and miserably old.

6. Should I reveal the sources of my grief,
If soft humanity e'er touched your breast,
Your hands would not withhold the kind relief,
And tears of pity would not be repressed.

7. Heaven sends misfortunes; why should we repine? 'Tis Heaven has brought me to the state you see; And your condition may be soon like mine, The child of sorrow and of misery.

8. A little farm was my paternal lot;
Then, like the lark, I sprightly hailed the morn;
But, ah! oppression forced me from my cot,
My cattle died, and blighted was my corn.

9. My daughter, once the comfort of my age,
Lured by a villain from her native home,
Is cast abandoned on the world's wide stage,
And doomed in scanty poverty to roam.

10. My tender wife, sweet soother of my care,
Struck with sad anguish at the stern decree,
Fell, lingering fell, a victim to despair,
And left the world to wretchedness and me.
11. Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span ;
Oh! give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.

THE TEST OF GOODNESS.

REAL goodness consists in doing good to our enemies.

Of this truth the following apologue may serve for an illustration. A certain father of a family, advanced in years, being desirous of settling his worldly matters, divided his property between his three sons.

2. "Nothing now remains," said he to them, "but a diainond of great value; this I have determined to appropriate to whichever of you shall, within three months, perform the best actions."

3. His three sons accordingly departed different ways, and returned by the limited time. On presenting themselves before their judge, the eldest thus began.

4. "Father," said he," during my absence, I found a stranger so circumstanced, that he was under the necessity of intrusting me with the whole of his fortune.

5. "He had no written security from me, nor could he possibly bring any proof, any evidence whatever, of the depósit. Yet I faithfully returned to him every shilling. Was there not something commendable in this action?"

6. "Thou hast done what was incumbent upon thee to do, my son," replied the old man. "The man who could have acted otherwise were unworthy to live; for honesty is a duty; thy action is an action of justice, not of goodness."

7. On this, the second son advanced. "In the course of my travels," said he, "I came to a lake in which I beheld a child struggling with death. I plunged into it, and saved his life, in the presence of a number of the neighbouring villagers, all of whom can attest the truth of what I assert." 8. "It was well done," interrupted the old man ; "but you have only obeyed the dictates of humanity." At length the youngest of the three came forward.

9. "I happened," said he, "to meet my mortal enemy, who, having bewildered himself in the dead of night, had imperceptibly fallen asleep upon the brink of a frightful precipice. The least motion would infallibly have plunged him headlong into the abyss; and, though his life was in my hands, yet, with every necessary precaution, I awaked him, and removed him from his danger."

10. "Ah, my son," exclaimed the venerable good man with transport, while he pressed him to his heart," to thee belongs the diamond; well hast thou deserved it."

DESCRIPTION OF MOUNT ÆTNA.

THERE is no point on the surface of the globe, which unites so many awful and sublime objects, as the summit of Mount Etna. The immense elevation from the surface of the earth, drawn as it were to a single point, without any neighbouring mountain for the senses and imagination to rest upon, and recover from their astonishment in their way down to the world:

2. This point or pinnacle, raised on the brink of a bottomless gulf, as old as the world, often discharging rivers of fire, and throwing out burning rocks, with a noise which shakes the whole island:

3. Add to this the unbounded extent of the prospect, comprehending the greatest diversity, and the most beautiful scenery in nature; with the rising sun, advancing in the East, to illuminate the wondrous scene.

4. The whole atmosphere by degrees kindled up, and showed dimly and faintly the boundless prospect around. Both sea and land looked dark and confused, as if only emerging from their original chaos; and light and darkness