carbuncled nose of the inn-keeper, and, stinging him sharply, he drew one of his fingers from his ear, and struck off the painful visitant at that very moment, the words " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," pronounced with great solemnity, entered the ear that was opened as a clap of thunder; it struck him with irresistible force: he kept his hand from returning to his ear, and, feeling an impression he had never known before, he presently withdrew the other finger, and hearkened with deep attention to the discourse which followed.

That day was the beginning of days to him; a change was produced upon him, which could not but be noticed by all his former companions. He never from that day returned to any of his former practices, nor ever afterwards was he seen in liquor, nor heard to swear. He became truly serious, and for many years went all weathers six miles to the church where he first received the knowledge of divine things. After about 18 years faithful and close walk with God, he died rejoicing in the hope of that glory he now enjoys.

CRUELTY.

NOTHING can be more contrary to nature, to reason, to religion, than cruelty. Hence an inhuman man is generally considered as a monster. Such monsters, however, have existed; and the heart almost bleeds at the recitals of the cruel acts such have been guilty of. It teaches us, however, what human nature is when left to itself; not

only treacherous above all things, but desperately wicked.

Commodus, the Roman emperor, when but twelve years old, gave a shocking instance of his cruelty, when, finding the water in which he bathed somewhat too warm, he commanded the person who attended the bath to be thrown into the furnace, nor was he satisfied till those who were about him pretended to put his order in execution. After his succession to the empire, he equalled, if he did not exceed, in cruelty, Caligula, Domitian, and even Nero himself; playing, we may say, with the blood of his subjects and fellow-creatures, of whom he caused great numbers to be racked and butchered in his presence, merely for his diversion. Historians relate many instances of his cruelty. He caused one to be thrown to wild beasts for reading the life of Caligula, written by Suetonius; because that tyrant and he had been born on the same day of the month, and in many bad qualities resembled each other. Seeing one day a corpulent man pass by, he immediately cut him asunder; partly to try his strength, in which he excelled all men, and partly out of curiosity, as himself owned, to see his entrails drop out at once. He took pleasure in cutting off the feet and putting out the eyes of such as he met in his rambles through the city. Some he murdered because they were negligently dressed; others because they seemed trimmed with too much nicety. He assumed the name and habit of Hercules, appearing publicly in a lion's skin, with a huge club in his hand, and ordering several persons, though not guilty of any crimes, to be be disguised like monsters, that, by knocking

out their brains, he might have a better claim to the title, the great destroyer of monsters. He however was destroyed in his turn: Martia, one of his concubines, whose death he had prepared, poisoned him; but as the poison did not quickly operate, he was strangled by a wrestler in the 31st year of his age.

In Italy, during the greater part of the sixteenth century, assassinations, murders, and even murders under trust, seem to have been almost familiar among the superior ranks of people. Cæ sar Borgia invited four of the little princes in his neighbourhood, who all possessed sovereignties, and commanded armies of their own, to a friendly conference at Senigaglia, where as soon as he arrived he put them all to death.

History records but few characters more cruel than Charles IX. It is said, that when he observed several fugitive Huguenots about his palace, in the morning after the dreadful massacre of 30,000 of their friends, he took a fowling-piece, and repeatedly fired at them. That this prince was naturally barbarous, we may learn from the following anecdote: One day, when he amused himself with rabit-hunting, "Make them all come out," said he, "that I may have the pleasure of killing them all."

This sanguinary monarch. died very wretched, for he expired bathed in his own blood which burst from his veins, and in his last moments he exclaimed-"What blood!-what murders!I know not where I am!-how will all this end? -what shall I do?-I am lost for ever!-I know it !"

The late celebrated king of Prussia, intending to make, in the night, an important movement in his camp, which was in sight of the enemy, gave orders that by eight o'clock all the lights in the camp should be put out, on pain of death. The moment that the time was past, he walked out himself to see whether all were dark. He found a light in the tent of a captain Zietern, which he entered just as the officer was folding up a letter. Zietern knew him, and instantly fell on his knees to entreat his mercy. The king asked to whom he had been writing: he said it was a letter to his wife, which he had retained the candle these few minutes beyond the time in order to finish. The king cooly ordered him to rise, and write one line more which he should dictate. This line was, to inform his wife, without any explanation, that by such an hour the next day he should be a dead The letter was then sealed and dispatched as it had been intended, and the next day the captain was executed.

man.

The cruel Parent.

The honourable commodore Byron was an eye witness to the following shocking scene of brutal rage on the coasts of Patagonia. I shall present the reader with it in his own words.-" Here I must relate a little anecdote of our Christian cacique. He and his wife had gone off at some distance from the shore, in their canoe, when she dived for sea eggs; but not meeting with great success, they returned a good deal out of humour. A little boy of their's, about three years old, whom they appeared to be dotingly fond of, watching for his father and mother's return, ran

The father handed

into the surf to meet them. a basket of sea eggs to the child, which being too heavy for him to carry, he let it fall; upon which the father jumped out of the canoe, and, catch. ing the boy up in his arms, dashed him with the utmost violence against the stones! The poor little creature lay motionless and bleeding, and in that condition was taken up by the mother, but died soon after. She appeared inconsolable for some time, but the brute his father shewed little concern about it.

But we need not search the records of other countries for anecdotes of cruelty. Alas! Eng. land has been guilty in too many instances; we will only however select one: Alexander Leighton, a doctor of divinity, by desire of some of his friends, had written and published a book, entitled "Zion's Plea against Prelacy." It contained some warm, imprudent invectives against the prelates, and the conduct of those in power. Soon after the publication of the work, without an information upon oath, or legal proof who was the author, Leighton, as he was coming from church, was arrested by two high commissioned pursuivants: they dragged him to the house of Laud, where he was kept till seven in the evening without food. Laud returning at this time, in great pomp and state, with Corbet Bishop of Oxford, he demanded to be heard. The haughty Lud did not deign to see him, but sent him to Newgate he was clapped into irons, and confined in an uninhabitabie apartment; where, notwithstanding the weather was cold, and the snow and rain beat in, there was no convenient place to make a fire. From Tuesday night to Thursday