Our

"The ass was browsing, and never dreaming that he was one day to be a judge of music. But stranger things sometimes happen. two birds lighted beside him, complimented him on his gravity and judgment, explained the subject of their dispute, and begged him very humbly to decide it.

"But the ass, scarcely turning round his clumsy head, and continuing to browse most diligently, made them a sign with his ears that he was hungry, and that he was not that day 'holding a bed of justice.' The birds insistthe ass continues to browse. At last, however, his appetite was appeased.

“There were some trees planted on the skirt of the meadow. Well,' said he, 'go there, and I will come to you. You sing, and I will digest. I will listen to you, and then give you my opinion.'

"The birds take flight, and perch in a tree. The ass follows them, with the air and step of a chief justice. He lay down on the grass, and called to them, 'Begin: the court will hear you.'

666

"My Lord,' said the cuckoo, 'you must not lose a note I sing; you must seize the character of my song; and, above all, be pleased to observe its contrivance and method.' Then, drawing himself up, and clapping his wings each time, he began to sing, Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckcuckoo,

cuckoo, cuckcuckoo!' and after having combined these notes in all possible ways, he held his peace.

"The nightingale, without any preamble, began to display her voice, struck into the boldest modulations, and warbled the most singular and original strains. Her songs were successively sweet, airy, brilliant, and pathetic; but it was not music for everybody.

"Carried away by her enthusiasm, she would have sung longer; but the ass, who had been yawning fearfully all the while, interrupted her. I have no doubt,' said he, that all that you have been singing is very fine, but I can make nothing of it. It seems to me to be strange, confused, and incoherent. You are perhaps more learned than your rival, but he is more methodical than you; and, for my part, I am for method.'

"Now," said the Abbé, addressing Le Roy, and pointing to Grimm with his finger, "there is the nightingale, you are the cuckoo, and I am the ass who decides in your favour. Good-night."

DIDEROT.

CL.

TRAJA N.

That virtuous and active prince had received the education of a soldier, and possessed the

talents of a general. The peaceful system of his predecessors was interrupted by scenes of war and conquest; and the legions, after a long interval, beheld a military emperor at their head. The first exploits of Trajan were against the Dacians, the most warlike of men, who dwelt beyond the Danube, and who, during the reign of Domitian, had insulted with impunity the majesty of Rome.

To the strength and fierceness of barbarians they added a contempt for life, which was derived from a warm persuasion of the immortality and transmigration of the soul. Decebalus, the Dacian king, approved himself a rival not unworthy of Trajan; nor did he despair of his own and the public fortune, till, by the confession of his enemies, he had exhausted every resource both of valour and policy. This memorable war, with a very short suspension of hostilities, lasted five years; and as the emperor could exert, without control, the whole force of the state, it was terminated by an absolute submission of the barbarians. The new province of Dacia, which formed a second exception to the precept of Augustus, was about thirteen hundred miles in circumference.

Trajan was ambitious of fame; and as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory

will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters. The praises of Alexander, transmitted by a succession of poets and historians, had kindled a dangerous emulation in the mind of Trajan. Like him the Roman emperor undertook an expedition against the nations of the east, but he lamented with a sigh that his advanced age scarcely left him any hopes of equalling the renown of the son of Philip. Yet the success of Trajan, however transient, was rapid and specious.

The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled before his arms. He descended the river Tigris in triumph, from the mountains of Armenia to the Persian Gulf. He enjoyed the honour of being the first, as he was the last, of the Roman generals who ever navigated that remote sea. His fleets ravaged the coasts of Arabia; and Trajan vainly flattered himself that he was approaching towards the confines of India. Every day the astonished Senate received the intelligence of new names and new nations that acknowledged his sway. But the death of Trajan soon clouded the splendid prospect; and it was justly to be dreaded that so many distant nations would throw off the unaccustomed yoke when they were no longer restrained by the powerful hand which had imposed it.

GIBBON.

CLI.

DEATH OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE.

On Monday, the 14th of October 1793, a cause is pending in the Palais de Justice, in the new Revolutionary Court, such as these old stone walls never witnessed,-the trial of MarieAntoinette. The once brightest of queens, now tarnished, defaced, forsaken, stands here at Fouquier-Tinville's judgment bar, answering for her life. The indictment was delivered her last night. To such changes of human fortune. what words are adequate? Silence alone is adequate.

Marie-Antoinette, in this her utter abandonment and hour of extreme need, is not wanting to herself, the imperial woman. Her look, they say, as that hideous indictment was reading, continued calm; "she was sometimes observed moving her fingers, as when one plays on the piano.' You discern, not without interest, across that dim revolutionary bulletin itself, how she bears herself queen-like. Her answers are prompt, clear, often of laconic brevity; resolution, which has grown contemptuous without ceasing to be dignified, veils itself in calm words. "You persist then in denial?" "My plan is not denial: it is the truth I have said, and I persist in that. . . . . ."