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The Emperor's arrival commenced the grand display. He took his place under the curtains of the royal pavilion. The dead were removed; perfumes were scattered through the air; rose-water was sprinkled from silver tubes on the exhausted multitude; music resounded; incense burned; and, in the midst of these preparations of luxury, the terrors of the lion combat began.

A portal of the arena opened, and the combatant, with a mantle thrown over his face and figure, was led in, surrounded by soldiery. The lion roared and ramped against the bars of its den at the sight. The guard put a sword and buckler into the hands of the Christian, and he was left alone. He drew the mantle

from his face, and bent a slow and firm look round the amphitheatre. His fine countenance and lofty bearing raised an universal sound of admiration. He might have stood for an Apollo encountering the Python. His eye at last turned on mine. Could I believe my senses! Constantius was before me!

All my rancour vanished. An hour past I could have struck the betrayer to the heart. I could have called on the severest vengeance of man and heaven to smite the destroyer of my child. But to see him hopelessly doomed;

the man whom I had honoured for his noble qualities, whom I had even loved, whose crime was at worst but the crime of giving way to the strongest temptation that can bewilder the heart of man; to see this noble creature flung to the savage beast, dying in tortures, torn piecemeal before my eyes, and this misery wrought by me-I would have obtested earth and heaven to save him. But my tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth. My limbs refused to stir. I would have thrown myself at the feet of Nero; but I sat like a man of stone, pale, paralysed-the beating of my pulses stopped-my eyes alone alive.

I saw

The gate of the den was thrown back, and the lion rushed in with a roar, and a bound that bore him half across the arena. the sword glitter in the air: when it waved again, it was covered with blood, and a howl told that the blow had been driven home. The lion, one of the largest from Numidia, and made furious by thirst and hunger, an animal of prodigious power, couched for an instant, as if to make sure of his prey, crept a few paces onward, and sprang at the victim's throat. He was met by a second wound, but his impulse was irresistible, and Constantius was flung upon the ground. A cry of natural horror rang round the amphitheatre. The struggle was now for instant life or death. They rolled over each other; the lion reared on its hind feet, and, with gnashing teeth and distended talons, plunged on the man; again they rose together. Anxiety was now at its wildest height. The sword swung round the champion's head in bloody circles. They fell again, covered with gore and dust. The hand of Constantius had grasped the lion's mane, and the furious bounds of the monster could

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An exulting shout arose.-I saw him reel as as if struck.--Gore filled his jaws -Another mighty blow was driven to bis heart.—He sprang high in the air with a howl.-He dropped; he was dead. The amphitheatre thundered with acclamation.

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not loose the hold; but his strength was evi- | I lay helpless under him. I felt his fiery dently giving way: he still struck terrible breath-I saw his lurid eye glaring—I heard blows, but each was weaker than the one be- the gnashing of his white fangs above me. before; till, collecting his whole force for a last effort, he darted one mighty blow into the lion's throat, and sank. The savage yelled, and, spouting out blood, fled bellowing round the arena. But the hand still grasped the mane, and his conqueror was dragged whirling through the dust at his heels. A universal cry now arose to save him, if he were not already dead. But the lion, though bleeding from every vein, was still too terrible, and all shrank from the hazard. At length the grasp gave way, and the body lay motionless on the ground.

What happened for some moments after I know not. There was a struggle at the portal; a female forced her way through the guards, rushed in alone, and flung herself upon the victim. The sight of a new prey roused the lion; he tore the ground with his talons; he lashed his streaming sides with his tail; he lifted up his mane, and bared his fangs. But his approach was no longer with a bound; he dreaded the sword, and came snuffing the blood on the sands, and stealing round the body in circuits still diminishing. The confusion in the vast assembly was now extreme. Voices innumerable called for aid. Women screamed and fainted; men burst out into indignant clamours at this prolonged cruelty. Even the hard hearts of the populace, accustomed as they were to the sacrifice of life, were roused to honest curses. The guards grasped their arms, and waited but for a sign from the emperor: but Nero gave no sign.

I looked upon the woman's face. It was Salome! I sprung upon my feet. I called on her name; I implored her by every feeling of nature to fly from that place of death, to come to my arms, to think of the agonies of all

that loved her.

With Salome clinging to my bosom, Constantius raised me from the ground. The roar of the lion had roused him from his swoon, and two blows saved me. The falchion was broken in the heart of the monster. The whole multitude stood up, supplicating for our lives in the name of filial piety and heroism. Nero, devil as he was, dared not resist the strength of the popular feeling.

He waved a signal to the guards; the portal was opened, and my children sustaining my feeble steps, and showered with garlands and ornaments by innumerable hands, slowly led me from the arena.”—Salathiel.

COFFIN DEALERS IN JAVA.

THERE are many coffin-makers in this great city, where death so often keeps his court, and slays not only his ordinary thousands in the course of the year; but, at particular seasons, strikes down his tens of thousands-in the houses in the streets-in the fields: walking with the pestilence in darkness, and slaughtering with the arrow that flieth at noon-day. We noticed particularly the Chinese coffins, which are not only exposed for sale in every undertaker's work-shop, but are frequently seen placed at the doors of their own dwellings; for a China-man likes a good bargain of any kind, and will eagerly buy a coffin for himself if he can get it cheap, though he hopes to live forty years; nor does the sight of it annoy him with any feeling less pleasant than the recollection that he has his money's worth in it. These coffins are not expensive, being made both solid and spacious out of four thick blocks of timber, the upper one forming the lid and projecting over the edges, with a Ishoulder-piece; the body of the chest, thus compacted, is nearly cylindrical. The buryingplace of the Chinese belonging to Batavia, like one which we have elsewhere described, is on the slope of a hill, where the graves are disposed in the most exact order, as cells, with their precious deposits sealed up in masonry, or brick-work, with ornaments according to the rank or riches of the deceased. A second corpse is never laid in a sepulchre already occupied.—Bennet and Tyerman's Voyages.

She had raised the head of Constantius on her knee, and was wiping the pale visage with her hair At the sound of my voice she looked up, and calmly casting back the locks from her forehead, fixed her gaze upon me. She still knelt: one hand supported the head, with the other she pointed to it as her only answer. again adjured her. There was the silence of death among the thousands round me. sudden fire flashed into her eye, her cheek burned. She waved her hand with an air of superb sorrow.

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I am come to die," she uttered in a lofty tone. "This bleeding body was my husband. I have no father. The world contains to me but this clay in my arms. Yet," and she kissed the ashy lips before her, yet, my Constantius, it was to save that father that your generous heart defied the peril of this hour. It was to redeem him from the hand of evil that you abandoned a quiet home! Yes, cruel father, here lies the noble being that threw open your dungeon, that led you safe through conflagration, that to the last moment of his liberty only thought how he might preserve and protect you." Tears at 66 But," length fell in floods from her eyes. said she, in a tone of wild horror, "he was betrayed; and may the Power whose thunders avenge the cause of his people, pour down just retribution upon the head that dared"

I heard my own condemnation about to be uttered by the lips of my child. Wound up to the last degree of suffering, I tore my hair, leaped on the bars before me, and plunged into the arena by her side. The height was stunning; I tottered forward a few paces, and fell. The lion gave a roar and sprang upon me.

THE TWO FOUNTAINS.
(From Moore's Evenings in Greece.)

I saw, from yonder silent cave,
Two fountains running side by side;
The one was Memory's limpid wave,
The other cold Oblivion's tide.
"O Love!" said I, in thoughtless dream,
As o'er my lips the Lethe pass'd,
"Here, in this dark and chilly stream,
Be all my pains forgot at last."

But who could bear that gloomy blank,
Where joy was lost as well as pain?
Quickly of Memory's fount I drank,
And brought the past all back again :
And said, O Love! whate'er my lot,
Still let this soul to thee be true-
Rather than have one bliss forgot,
Be all my pains remembered too!"

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tain, the still more fearful waste of human | West India planter as an encouragement of
life discovered, in an average decrease of seven- his expensive and murderous system, and after
teen Negroes annually out of 314-or eighty- all are insulted and threatened with rebellion.
five slaves, being equal to one-fifth of the whole When will the national conscience be aroused
population, cut off in the space of five years! to the moral obliquity of such a course? When,
The estates of John Thorp, situate in the pa- especially, will British Christians do justice to
rish of Trelauney, show a diminution of num- their principles, by withdrawing their patron-
bers, within the same period, amounting to age from so accursed a traffic? The system is
two hundred, out of a population of 2809. But within our power, and we may do with it as
on the coffee plantations, where night-work is we please. If our rulers refuse to manumit
unknown, mark the contrast; on a plantation the slaves, we may accomplish it ourselves,
having 214 slaves, the average increase for five by a process which, though slower, will be as
years is three per cent. per annum; and, taking effectual. If the opposition of the West India
an extensive parish, the staple commodity of party prevent any parliamentary enactment,
which is coffee, the average increase through- we have only to exclude their produce from
out is not less than three per cent, per annum. our dwellings, and the triumph of humanity
Can there be a more convincing proof of the will be achieved. Let us, then, combine with
shocking waste to which human life is subject a zeal and self-devotedness worthy of the
on sugar estates (and owing mainly to the cause. Let associations be formed throughout
system of night-work), than this? And yet to the kingdom for the exclusion of West India
such a system must the man of grey hairs, or sugar. Let the ministers of religion take a
the mother of a numerous offspring, after toiling lead in this movement, and outraged humanity
throughout the day, under the scorching beams will rise from its oppressions, and bless our
of a tropical sun, submit; and again be ex-
posed to the bleak north wind, to the chilling We have commonly heard it alleged that
mists of heaven, or to the pelting rain; and, such an attempt is hopeless; but we are per-
when overtaken with sleep, to lie down faint suaded to the contrary. This is the common
and weary, and at the risk of a heavy punish-plea of supineness, and should be treated as
ment, under the great canopy of heaven, with- such. Suppose it were well founded, would
out another comforter, save Him, who pities it justify our continued encouragement of
the oppressed."*
cruelty and murder? If we can effect no im-
provement in the condition of the slave, we are
yet bound to abstain from the infliction of in-
jury. If we cannot manumit, we must refrain
from rivetting his chains. We owe it to our-
selves as well as to the negro to wash our
hands of this pollution.

name.

ON THE DISUSE OF SLAVE SUGAR. HUMAN nature has been termed a bundle of inconsistencies. Conflicting opinions are frequently entertained by the same person, and practices are sanctioned at open variance with the profession made. A very limited knowledge of mankind will be sufficient to convince us of the accuracy of such a representation. We have only to compare the conduct with the recorded sentiments of men, in order to be assured of their frequent incongruity. On no point is this inconsistency more gross and palpable than on that which is referred to in the title of this paper. It is well known that a large and rapidly increasing portion of the British public regard colonial slavery as a process of slow murder; and they appeal triumphantly to the population returns of the sugar islands in justification of their estimate. It is not simply that they view slavery with disfavour,From the population returns we learn, that that they regard the coerced and unremunein fourteen sugar colonies the decrease of the rated labour of the African as impolitic and Negroes, on an average of the last eleven years, unrighteous. Such a conviction would, in all has been 58,601. The advocates of slavery honesty, pledge them to abstain from the con- have endeavoured to account for this decrease sumption of slave produce, to withhold from by various theories, which are sufficiently dissuch a system of exaction and wrong the proved by the notorious fact, that the Maroons But positive benefit must follow. If the slightest share of their patronage. But the in Jamaica, the free blacks throughout our co-slave-holder finds the sale of his sugars greatly truth of the matter is, their conviction of the lonies, and even the slaves in America and diminished, he will, as a mere matter of cominiquity of British colonial slavery is much on the coffee plantations in our own islands, mercial policy, modify his system, so as to stronger than we have supposed. They believe are uniformly increasing. The decrease on meet the views of his customers, and to preit to be a barbarous and cursed system, involv- sugar plantations cannot therefore be account- serve himself from ruin. Let him once pering the worst features of rebellion against Goded for by circumstances which exist equally in ceive that the British public are thoroughly with unparalleled cruelty to man. And the case of those other classes. There must resolved no longer to encourage him in their yet they patronize it: they encourage the planter obviously be something in the nature of their market, and he will abandon slavery rather in the perpetration of wrong, yea, they bribe employment, and its duration and intensity, than abide by its consequences. The same him to coerce the labour of his slaves to a murwhich shall account for a difference so palpa- plan would work redemption to the slaves in derous extent. But how, it may be asked, is ble.-This argument is strengthened by the various other ways. It would materially lessen this done? How can charges of so serious a fact, that the rate of decrease in the sugar the value of slaves, and thus facilitate manunature be established? Nothing is more easy. colonies bears an observable proportion to the mission. This appears by the returns from the We consume the articles which the planter quantity of sugar produced. In Demerara, slave colonies printed May 9th, 1826, and numsends us, and more especially his sugar, to Trinidad, and the Mauritius, for instance, bered 353. These returns embrace a period of which our observations now extend. It is in whence the exportation of sugars has been five years-from the 1st of January, 1821, to the production of this latter article that the largest in proportion to the number of slaves, the 31st of December, 1825. Amongst other misery of the slaves is perfected. They are the Negro population has decreased most ra- matters, they furnish the number of slaves sold worked on an average through the year six-pidly; while in Barbadoes and Dominica, where in execution for their masters' debts, specifying teen hours per day, and their labour during little sugar is grown, the slaves have slightly their age, sex, price, &c. Hence we learn the the greater part of this time is performed under increased; and in the Bahamas, where no average price of slaves in the different islands, the impulse of the whip. Human nature cansugar is raised, their increase has been rapid. and the following are some of the results not endure such exaction. It is a demand The increase in the latter case has been sub- ascertained. In Demerara, a sugar colony, which her powers are not competent to meet: sequent to the abandonment of sugar cultiva- the value of the slave is £86 sterling, and in and we find, what general principles would tion. As long as the soil would furnish a crop Berbice £90; while in Barbadoes, whence have led us to anticipate, that the negro po- nually diminished; but, immediately that it be-£28; and in the Bahamas, where no sugar is sugar-canes, the slaves in the Bahamas an- little sugar is exported, his price is reduced to

pulation throughout the sugar colonies is rapidly decreasing.

"Of all the evils to which the Negro is liable, throughout the whole system of slavery, there is not a greater than this-night-work on sugar estates. In proof of this, my Lord, only

look at the facts to be found in a late return to Parliament, of the average increase and decrease of slaves for the five preceding years to 1828, on the principal properties in Jamaica, distinguishing coffee and other plantations from the sugar estates. We find from these returns, one sugar estate with 663 slaves, on which there has been an average decrease of ten. On another, with 242 slaves, a decrease of fifteen; and on a third, called Blue Moun

of

came too exhausted for this purpose, the same
race multiplied. The depressing force was
removed, and nature acted on her general

law.

which we pursue? Manifestly such as no
Such is the fact. What, then, is the course
moral principle or humane feeling can sanc-
tion. We receive the sugar raised at this
sacrifice of human life. We exempt it from
fair competition with free-labour sugar by our
bounty and protecting duties. We give on an
average several hundreds annually to each

* Rev. J. M. Crew's Letters to the Duke of Wellington, 1830.

raised, he may be purchased for £21 8s. How much greater the facility of manumission in the latter islands than in the former!-and how much more enviable in consequence the condition of the slaves!

But this is not all. The time of a slave in a sugar colony is of more value to his master than in any other. Hence the labour exacted from him is more protracted and intense, and the opportunities of improving his own condition are proportionally smaller. But, further, in sugar colonies, the slaves are mainly dependent on imported goods with which their masters supply them. These are given in such quantities as barely suffice for the maintenance

of life, and nothing can, in consequence, be saved by the negro as part of the price of his redemption. But when the cultivation of sugar ceases, the master finds it for his profit to give provision grounds to his slaves, on which they raise their own support. Hence they become the small poulterers and greengrocers of the community, and are enabled, in many cases, gradually to accumulate a sufficient sum to purchase their freedom. The system, therefore, which we recommend, operates in their favour two ways: it reduces their value, and it supplies them with money. Englishmen! let your hereditary love of freedom dictate the course you should pursue. Open every door of escape to your oppressed and wretched fellow-subjects. Restore to them, by every means in your power, the rights of which they are deprived, the joys which have long been strangers to their breasts. Then will you have the purest satisfaction which is allotted to humanity on earth, and will shield your country from those appalling evils with which a retributive providence will otherwise visit it.

SUBSIDENCE OF THE BALTIC.

A SINGULAR and interesting fact has been ascertained respecting the level of the Baltic.

It was suspected that the waters of this sea
were gradually sinking; but a Memoir in the
Swedish Transactions for 1823 has put the
change beyond doubt. From latitude 56 to
63 degrees, the observations show a mean fall
of one foot and a half in forty years, or four-
tenths of an inch annually, or three feet four
inches in a century. The Baltic is very shal-
low at present; and, if the waters continue to
sink as they have done, Revel, Abo, and a
hundred other ports will, by and by, become
inland towns; the gulfs of Bothnia and Fin-
land, and ultimately the Baltic itself, will be
changed to dry land.

EPITAPH

ON THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEA'S LEG.

Attributed to the Right Hon. George Canning.

Here rests-and let no saucy knave
Presume to sneer and laugh,
To learn that mouldering in the grave
Is laid-a British calf.

For he who writes these lines is sure
That those that read the whole
Will find such laugh is premature,
For here, too, lies a sole.

And here five little ones repose,

Twin-born with other five,
Unheeded by their brother toes,
Who now are all alive.

A leg and foot, to speak more plain,
Rest here of one commanding,
Who, though his wits he might retain,
Lost half his understanding.

And when the guns, with thunder fraught,
Pour'd bullets thick as hail,
Could only in this way be taught

To give the foe leg-bail.
And now in England, just as gay
As in the battle brave,

Goes to the rout, review, or play,
With one foot in the grave.
Fortune in vain here show'd her spite,
For he will still be found,
Should England's sons engage in fight,
Resolv'd to stand his ground.

For fortune's pardon I must beg-
She meant not to disarm;
And when she lopp'd the hero's leg,
She did not seek his h-arm;
And but indulg'd a harmless whim,
Since he could walk with one,
She saw two legs were lost on him,
Who never meant to run.

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SCULPTURE OF THE FATES INTERRUPTED BY THE GODDESS OF HEALTH.

Mark with what fatal skill yon deathful pair
The web of human destiny prepare;
Life's brittle thread those ruthless sisters hold,
And swift around the impetuous wheel is roll'd.
A third more dreadful sister near them stands,
The fatal shears extended in her hands,
Eager to strike the blow, and seal the doom
Of some pale victim trembling o'er the tomb.
ANON.

of a very singular figure common in the Latin language, being derived from the word parco," to spare," because, forsooth, they spare nobody !

Philemon we find the following sentence: | by an ancient commentator, is an instance "We are subject to kings, kings to the gods, and the gods to necessity." Indeed, to such a height was this impiety carried, in the earliest ages of Greece, that we find Homer and Hesiod teaching that the gods themselves were generated by Necessity of Night and Chaos. The THE ancient mythology recognized a same power exercised an uncontrolled power superior to that of the gods, namely, dominion over the events and duration of that of fate, or necessity. Hence Herod- | human life, and in this character is reotus quotes an oracle which declared that presented by the three sisters, seen in the "God himself could not shun his des- above engraving. They were called | tined fate;" and in the fragments of | Parcae; which name, as we are informed

|

Their personal appellations were, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos; of whom the first held a distaff, the second spun the thread of human destiny, and the third cut it short with a pair of scissors-thus determining the close of life. The ancients imagined that the Parcæ used white wool for a long and happy life, and black for a short and unfortunate one.

DECISIVE BATTLE BETWEEN THE
IDOLATERS AND THE CHRISTIANS
IN THE ISLAND OF TAHITI.
THE 12th of November, 1815, was the most
eventful day that had yet occurred in the his-
tory of Tahiti. It was the Sabbath. In the
forenoon, Pomare, and the people who had
come over from Eimeo, probably about eight
hundred, assembled for public worship at a
place called Narii, near the village of Buna-
auia, in the district of Atehuru. At distant
points of the district they stationed piquets;
and, when divine service was about to com-
mence, and the individual who was to officiate
stood up to read the first hymn, a firing of mus-
kets was heard; and, looking out of the building
in which they were assembled, a large body of
armed men, preceded and attended by the
flag of the gods, and the varied emblems of
idolatry, were seen marching round a distant
point of land, and advancing towards the
place where they were assembled. It is war!
it is war! was the cry which re-echoed through
the place; as the approaching army were seen
from different parts of the building. Many,
agreeably to the precautions of the Missiona-
ries, had met for worship under arms; others,
who had not, were preparing to return to their
tents, and arm for the battle. Some degree of
confusion consequently prevailed. Pomare
arose, and requested them all to remain qui-
etly in their places; stating, that they were
under the special protection of Jehovah, and
had met together for his worship, which was
not to be forsaken or disturbed even by the
approach of an enemy. Auna, formerly an
Areoi and a warrior, now a Christian teacher,
who was my informant on these points, then
read the hymn, and the congregation sang it.
A portion of scripture was read, a prayer offer-
ed to the Almighty, and the service closed.
Those who were unarmed now repaired to
their tents, and procured their weapons.

or defence, made with strongly twisted cords of
romaha, or native flax, and armed with a mus-
ket and a spear.
She was supported on one
side by Farefau, her steady and courageous
friend, who acted as her squire or champion;
while Mahine was supported on the other by
Patini, a fine, tall, manly chief, a relative of
Mahine's family, and one who, with his wife
and two children, has long enjoyed the paren-
tal and domestic happiness resulting from
Christianity,-but whose wife, prior to their
renunciation of idolatry, had murdered twelve
or fourteen children.

Pomare took his station in a canoe with a
number of musketeers, and annoyed the flank
of his enemy nearest the sea. A swivel mount-
ed in the stern of another canoe, which was
commanded by an Englishman, called Joe by
the natives, and who came up from Raiatea,
did considerable execution during the engage-

ment.

one of the idolaters, who had outrun his companions, sprang upon him before he was aware of his approach. Unable to throw him on the sand, he cast his arins around his neck, and endeavoured to strangle, or at least to secure, his prey, until some of his companions should arrive and despatch him. Raveae was armed with a short musket, which he had reloaded since wounding the chief; of this, it is supposed, the man who held him was unconscious. Extending his arms forward, Raveae passed the muzzle of his musket under his own arm, suddenly turned his body on one side, and, pulling the trigger of his piece at the same instant, shot his antagonist through the body, who immediately lost hold of his prey, and fell dying to the ground.

The idolatrous army continued to fight with obstinate fury, but were unable to advance, or make any impression on Mahine and Pomarevahine's forces. These not only maintained Before the king's friends had properly form- their ground, but forced their adversaries ed themselves for regular defence, the idola- back; and the scale of victory now appeared trous army arrived, and the battle commenc- to hang in doubtful suspense over the contended. The impetuous attack of the idolaters, ing parties. Tino, the idolatrous priest, and attended with all the fury, imprecations, and his companions, had, in the name of Oro, boasting shouts practised by the savage when promised their adherents a certain and an easy rushing to the onset, produced by its shock a triumph. This inspired them for the conflict, temporary confusion in the advanced guard of and made them more confident and obstinate the Christian army: some were slain, others in battle than they would otherwise have been; wounded, and Upaparu, one of Pomare's lead-but the tide of conquest, which had rolled with ing men, saved his life only by rushing into them in the onset, and during the early part the sea, and leaving part of his dress in the of the engagement, was already turned against hands of the antagonist with whom he had them, and, as the tidings of their leader's death grappled. Notwithstanding this, the assailants became more extensively known, they spread met with steady and determined resistance. a panic through the ranks he had commanded. Overpowered, however, by numbers, the viro The pagan army now gave way before their or front ranks were obliged to give way. A opponents, and soon fled precipitately from kind of running fight commenced, and the the field, seeking shelter in their pari's, strongparties intermingled in all the confusion of holds, or hiding-places in the mountains; barbarous warfare. leaving Pomare, Mahine, and the princess from Raiatea, in undisputed possession of the field.

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SIMPLE EXPEDIENT.

"Here might the hideous face of war be seen, Stript of all pomp, adornment, and disguise." Flushed with success, in the moment of vicIn assuming the posture of defence, the The ground on which they now fought, ex-tory, the king's warriors were, according to king's friends formed themselves into two or cepting that near the sea-beach, was partially former usage, preparing to pursue the flying or three columns, one on the sea-beach, and covered with trees and bushes; which at times enemy. Pomare approached, and exclaimed, the other at a short distance towards the moun- separated the contending parties, and inter- Atira! It is enough! and strictly prohibited any tains. Attached to Pomare's camp was a num-cepted their view of each other. Under these of his warriors from pursuing those who had ber of refugees, who had, during the late com- circumstances it was, that the Christians, when fled from the field of battle: forbidding them motions in Tahiti, taken shelter under his pro- not actually engaged with their enemies, often also to repair to the villages of the vanquished, tection, but had not embraced Christianity; kneeled down on the grass, either singly or to plunder their property, or murder their on these the king and his adherents placed no two or three together, and offered up an ejacu-helpless wives and children.-Ellis's Polyreliance, but stationed them in the centre, or latory prayer to God-that he would cover nesian Researches. the rear. The Bure Ata requested to form the their heads in the day of battle, and, if agreeviro or front line, advanced guard; and the able to his will, preserve them, but especially apoa viri, or cheek of their forces; while the prepare them for the results of the day, whepeople of Eimeo, immediately in the rear, ther victory or defeat, life or death. formed what they called the tapona, or shoulder, of their army. In the front of the line, Auna, Upaparu, Hitote, and others equally distinguished for their steady adherence to the system they had adopted, took their station on this occasion, and showed their readiness to lay down their lives rather than relinquish the Christian faith, and the privileges it conferred. Mahine, the king of Huahine, and Pomarevaline, the heroic daughter of the king of Raiatea, with those of their people who had professed Christianity, arranged themselves in battle-array immediately behind the people of Eico, forming the main body of the army. Mahine on this occasion wore a curious helmet, covered on the outside with plates of the beautifully spotted cowre, or tiger-shell, so abundant in the islands; and ornamented with a plume of the tropic, or man-of-war bird's feathers. The queen's sister, like a danghter of Pallas, tall, and rather masculine in her stature and features, walked and fought by Mahine's side, clothed in a kind of armour

The battle continued to rage with fierce- In the granite quarries near Seringapatam, ness; several were killed on both sides; the the most enormous blocks are separated from idolaters still pursued their way, and victory the solid rock by the following neat and simple seemed to attend their desolating march, until process. The workman having found a portion they came to the position occupied by Ma- of the rock sufficiently extensive, and situated hine, Pomare-vahine, and their companions in near the edge of the part already quarried, arms. The advanced ranks of these united lays bare the upper surface, and marks on it a hands met, and arrested the progress of the line in the direction of the intended separation, hitherto victorious idolaters. One of Ma- along which a groove is cut with a chisel about hine's men, Raveae, pierced the body of Upa- a couple of inches in depth. Above this groove fara, the chief of Papara, and the commander- a narrow line of fire is then kindled, and mainin-chief of the idolatrous forces. The wounded tained till the rock below is thoroughly heated, warrior fell, and shortly afterwards expired. immediately on which a line of men and woAs he sat gasping on the sand, his friends gamen, each provided with a pot full of cold thered round, and endeavoured to stop the water, suddenly sweep off the ashes, and pour bleeding of the wound, and afford every as- the water into the heated groove, when the sistance his circumstances appeared to require. rock at once splits with a clean fracture. "Leave me," said the dying warrior: "Mark Square blocks of six feet in the side, and upyonder man, in front of Mahine's ranks; hewards of eighty feet in length, are sometimes inflicted this wound; on him revenge my death." Two or three athletic men instantly set off for that purpose. Reveae was retiring towards the main body of Mahine's men, when

detached by this method, or by another equally simple and efficacious, but not easily explained without entering into particulars of mineralogical detail.-Herschel's Natural Philosophy.

LAST DAYS OF VOLTAIRE.

We have very full details of the last days of this distinguished person. He came to Paris, as is well known, after twenty-seven years' absence, at the age of eighty-four; and, the very evening he arrived, he recited himself the whole of his Irene to the players, and passed all the rest of the night in correcting the piece for representation. A few days after, he was seized with a violent vomiting of blood, and instantly called stoutly for a priest, saying, that they should not throw him out on the dunghill. A priest was accordingly brought, and the patriarch very gravely subscribed a profession of his faith in the Christian Religion; of which he was ashamed, and attempted to make a jest, as soon as he recovered. He was received with unexampled honours at the Academy, the whole members of which rose together, and came out to the vestibule to escort him to the hall; while, on the exterior, all the avenues, windows, and roofs of houses, by which his carriage had to pass, were crowded with spectators, and resounded with acclamations. But the great scene of his glory was the theatre; in which he no sooner appeared than the whole audience rose up, and continued for upwards of twenty minutes in thunders of applause and shouts of acclamation, that filled the house with dust and agitation. When the piece was concluded, the curtain was again drawn up, and discovered the bust of their idol in the middle of the stage, while the favourite actress placed a crown of laurel on its brows,

and recited some verses, the words of which could scarcely be distinguished amidst the tumultuous shouts of the spectators. The whole scene, says M. Grimm, reminded us of the classic days of Greece and Rome. But it became more truly touching at the moment when its object rose to retire. Weakened and agitated by the emotions he had experienced, his limbs trembled beneath him; and, bending almost to the earth, he seemed ready to expire under the weight of years and honours that had been laid upon him. His eyes, filled with tears, still sparkled with a peculiar fire in the midst of his pale and faded countenance. All the beauty and all the rank of France crowded round him in the lobbies and staircases, and literally bore him in their arms to the door of his carriage. Here the humble multitude took their turn; and, calling for torches, that all might get a sight of him, they clustered round his coach, and followed it to the door of his lodgings, with vehement shouts of admiration and triumph. This is the heroic part of the scene; but M. Grimm takes care also to let us know that the patriarch appeared, on this occasion, in long lace ruffles, and a fine coat of cut velvet, with a grey periwig of a fashion forty years old, which he used to comb every morning with his own hands, and to which nothing at all parallel had been seen for ages, except on the head of Bachaumont the novelist, who was known, accordingly, among the wits of Paris, by the name of "Voltaire's wig-block."

This brilliant and protracted career, however, was now drawing to a close. Retaining, to the last, that untameable spirit of activity and impatience which had characterized all his past life, he assisted at rehearsals and meetings of the Academy with all the zeal and enthusiasm of early youth. At one of the latter, some objections were started to his magnificent project of giving a new edition of their dictionary, and he resolved to compose a discourse to obviate these objections. To strengthen himself for this task, be swallowed a prodigious quan

tity of strong coffee, and then continued at work for upwards of twelve hours without intermission. This imprudent effort brought on an inflammation in his bladder; and, being told by M. De Richelieu, that he had been much relieved in a similar situation by taking, at intervals, a few drops of laudanum, he provided himself with a large bottle of that medicine, and, with his usual impatience, swallowed the greater part of it in the course of the night. The consequence was, as might naturally have been expected, that he fell into of his faculties, except for a few minutes at a a sort of lethargy, and never recovered the use time, till the hour of his death, which happened three days after, on the evening of the 30th of May, 1778.

The priest to whom he had made his confession, and another, entered his chamber a short time before he breathed his last. He recognized them with difficulty, and assured close up to him, he threw his arm round his them of his respects. One of them, coming neck, as if to embrace him; but when M. a Curé, taking advantage of this cordiality, proceeded to urge him to make some sign or acknowledgment of his belief in the Christian faith, he gently pushed him back, and said, Alas! let me die in peace." The priest turned to his companion, and, with great moderation and presence of mind, observed aloud, "You see his faculties are quite gone." They then quietly left the apartment; and the dying and vigilant attendants, and named several man, having testified his gratitude to his kind

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times the name of his favourite niece, Madame

Denis, shortly after expired.

Nothing can better mark the character of the work before us, and of its author, than to state, that the dispatch which contains this striking account of the last hours of his illusobscene epigram of M. Rulhiere, and a gay trious patron and friend, terminates with an critique on the new administration of the Opera Buffa.

There are various epitaphs on Voltaire, scattered through the secret of the volume: we prefer this very brief one, by a lady of Lausanne:

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Ci git l'enfant gaté du monde qu'il gata." Among the other proofs which M. Grimm has recorded of the celebrity of this extraordinary person, the incredible number of his portraits that were circulated deserves to be noticed. One ingenious artist, in particular, of the name of Huber, had acquired such a facility in forming his countenance, that he could not only cut most striking likenesses of him out of paper, with scissors, held behind his back, but could mould a little bust of him, in half a minute, out of a bit of bread; and, at last, used to make his dog manufacture most excellent profiles, by making him bite off the edge of a biscuit which he held to him in three or four different positions!—Edinburgh Review of M. Grimm's Correspondence.

MODES OF LIVING AMONG THE
CHINESE.

THE modes of living among the Chinese are, of course, very different, according to the rank and wealth of the people; but the extremes of luxury and misery are no where more ludicrously contrasted. Those who can afford to purchase rare and expensive delicacies grudge no cost for them, as is proved by the price paid for edible birds' nests (glutinous

compositions, formed by a kind of swallow, in vast clusters, found in caves in the Nicobar and other islands), 5000 dollars being sometimes given for a picul, weighing 1332 pounds. In the streets, multitudes of men are employed in preparing these for sale, with a pair of tweezers, plucking from them every hair, or fibre of feather, or extraneous matter; and, at the same time, carefully preserving the form of the nests, by pushing through them very slender slips of bamboo. Sharks' fins are highly prized, and, when well-dried, they fetch looking black sea-slug, formerly described), a great price. The beche-de-lamer (a horridbrought from the Pacific Islands, is also exceedingly esteemed by Chinese epicures. But, while the rich fare thus sumptuously, the mass of the poor subsist on the veriest garbage. The heads of fowls, their entrails, their feet, with every scrap of digestible animal matter earth-worms, sea-reptiles of all kinds, rats, and noticed lots of black frogs, in half dozens, other vermin, are gredily devoured. We have tied together, exposed for sale in shallow troughs of water. We have seen the hindquarter of a horse hung up in a butcher's shop, with the recommendation of the whole leg attached. A lodger in our hotel complains that, his bed-room being over the kitchen, he is grievously annoyed in a morning by the noises of dogs and cats, which are slaughtered below for the day's consumption-but not at our table. Not a bone nor a green leaf is ever

for every thing that would be refuse elsewhere. -Bennet and Tyerman's Voyages.

seen in the streets: some use or another is found

THE PETITION

OF

THE SUGAR-MAKING SLAVES : Humbly addressed to the Consumers of Sugar. You no wish that we should suffer, Gentle Massa, we are sure; You quite willing we be happy, If you see it in your power.

We are very long kept toiling,

Fifteen hours in every day;
And the night for months is added,
Wearing all our strength away.

'Tis because you love our sugar,

And so very much you buy; Therefore, day and night we labour, Labour, labour, till we die.

Oh! if less could e'er content you,

Or you'd buy from Eastern isles, You would fill our hearts with gladness, And our tearful eyes with smiles. Then we should have time to rest us, And our weary eyes might sleep; We could raise provision plenty,

And we might the Sabbath keep.

"Twould not hurt us, Massa gentle,
If you should our sugar leave;
We should only fare the better,
So you need not for us grieve.

'Tis while plenty sugar's wanted,

That we suffer more and more: Ease us, Massa, ease our sorrow!

See, it is within your power.

It should be enough for Massa, If we work as English do; All to want poor Negro's sugar, Makes our toil a killing woe.

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