on the water, half seduced him from his love of romance, and a little ennui tempted him to dose. But the minister of Spalatro forbad the latter effort, by tapping the defective enthusiast on the skull, as though he wished to know who might be at home. And with this rebuke for his sluggishness, he mumbled some gibberish, as it seemed to the gondoliers, who thereupon struck up the following words:

64

"El gusto del boccolo Ga Nina vezzosa Ma quel della rosa Ga Betta per me,

El naso sul boccolo."

66 Hang the brocoli! When shall we get to the end of this very long voyage?" here piteously exclaimed Roberts, tired of the song, tired of his occupation, tired of his thoughts. "Eh! Sir?" replied the other, our voyage, for the present, is terminated." And hereupon giving directions to the boatmen, the gondola was run along a little neck of land, so low on the water as to have previously escaped notice. He got out, prosenting his hand to Roberts, who followed him without delay. They advanced a few steps, when the other, in a quick decided tone, thus addressed him :-" I must here leave you. Wait patiently till the arrival of the captain or my own return. Be vigilant." He turned away, and almost instantly the splash of oars was audible, and the voices of the gondoliers were soon assuring the desolate hero, that

"El naso sul boccolo Nol gode mai tanto, Me quando l' e spanto El bon ghe senti." "Fol-de-riddle-li-do," grumbled out my friend, when he found himself alone; determined, however, not to be outdone by a brace of lubberly Venetians. Strange place," thought he, "strange people! Is it the continent, or an island?" How could be determine? It was dark as pitch, nothing to guide or comfort him. The last notes of the merry

and he began to consider himself illtreated. His first idea was to survey the territory. But the ground was so swampy and uneven as to offer a very insecure footing, and a rash step brought him down with a prodigious cadence. He was half soused in water, and after extrication his better judgment condemned the idea of geographising without a lans tern. He tried astronomy: but the heavenly bodies were gone, like des cent bodies, to their slumbers, and as he gazed round about for a stray roué of a luminary, his cheek was saluted by a heavy drop of rain, the precursor of a severe shower. Was there no shelter-no alternative ? Must be stand there like a searecrow, to be laughed at by the elements? A second migratory, movement was as unsuccessful as the first. He grew fidgety and cross. "Hang this Spalatro!" cried he aloud; but the echo of his own voice was rather too loud and sudden to be comfortable. So he spoke no more, openly...

"Hang this Spalatro!" thought he to himself, "he's a bad general, however he may answer as a captain. Who could think of enlisting an amateur like myself, and treating his gratuitous services with such indifference? Why didn't I discover the arrangements of the night before I sate myself down as an audience to those two mad ballad-singers ?— There they go, or something like them. I can see the lamps. Heavens ! at what a distance! But stop-surely I see something glimmering not far off- Can it be a light on shore here ?"

And turning round, he attempted to approach the quarter whence a faint gleam seemed to sparkle; but he found that the land was intersected by currents of water, more or less deep and wide, and frequent was the immersion which his lower man encountered in this chase. Still he seemed to advance, and, in a sanguine spirit, nothing begrudged the toil and travel: when, lo! the beacon disappeared! He was again in

utter darkness, numbed with cold, hopeless, and out of humour. He sate down upon a comparatively firm plot of ground, and with the courage of despair hallooed towards the faith less luminary. There was no immediate answer; but as he sate ruminating on his forlorn condition, with

no:

disposition to uplift his voice again, a sudden flash of intense light glared full on his face, with such force as to compel him for a moment to avert his head. But this, also, like the more distant apparition, pass ed away. He had not recovered a steady strength of vision, before it was gone, and his nerves were no longer what they had been. Was it á wraith, a devil, or an earth-born monster? He feared each in succession, and as he heard an indistinct splashing of water at no great distance, his courage utterly forsook him, and he imagined that it was, like Cerberus, all the "three gentlemen at once." The cold and faintheartedness which now quickly stole upon him, made each particular limb mercurial. He began to blaspheme; but oaths became him not in his dejection. His voice waxed feeble; he knew not what manner of man he was; and, gazing wildly around him, he deemed himself an inhabitant of Chaos. Poor fellow!-he forgot his flask ;-no wonder he had forgotten himself.

1

14

A

It seemed to him that an eternity had elasped in this unpleasant manner, when the sound of human voices caught his eari He listened with all: his senses, and could presently distinguish a mongrel noise with which he fancied himself familiar. It became more and more distinct, and at last he could for a certainty recognise the

"El naso sul boccolo."

"God bless the brocoli!" shouted the distressful man, straining every faculty to become the better conscious of the approaching ship of promise. And, certes, it did approach, and without long delay, was moored beside the projecting bit of land, whereon stood the newly animated 55 ATHENEUM, VOL. 9, 2d series.

Roberts, like Pygmalion's statue, timidly expanding into life.'"

66 we

Quick, quick, Sir, no loitering," cried the saturnine Lieutenant; must away, or your excellency will lose promotion."

"Where is Signor Spalatro?"

"Oh! he's far enough off; but we'll overtake him, if you will but move. Are you coming?"

66

Why, to tell you the truth, I shall be well content to go anywhere, but if I have a preference for one place beyond another, it certainly, at this moment, is for Venice."

"For Venice?" ejaculated the freebooter.

"For Venice," sneakingly faultered the martyr.

"Sir, 'tis impossible! You have done nothing as yet, and I shall miss my bounty, if I fail to bring my aid. 'Tis impossible."

"But, good Monsieur, I am quite useless as a coadjutor in my present state, whatever your employment may be;" whined Roberts.

"Then stay where you are.Antonio!" cried he, to one of the boatmen, and in a few words of Italian, seemed to give directions for pushing off; when farther progress was stayed, by the supplicatory appeal of the miserable amateur.

"Good Sir, excellent Monsieur, as I live, you shall not repent it; I'll make intercession with Spalatro." "It cannot be."

"I'll give you an equivalent for your loss."

""Tis not enough." "I'll give you morething you demand.”

-aye, any

"Will you, though?" sleekly demanded the other; and a negociation was immediately opened. The deliberation which followed was not long protracted, when the terms were to be settled by one of the parties only, and accordingly the sum of fifty Talari was agreed upon as the price of his reconveyance, and the satisfied lieutenant was to call at mid-day on the following morning.

They returned in mute pomp, and Roberts shrunk to bed.

Early the next day, I invaded his room for the purpose of hearing the events of the important night, and was sitting with him, when Harvey and a friend were announced; they came in, and the unknown visitor was introduced as a Captain Montgomery. A little desultory conversation ensued, in which the captain took no part, till at last, during a pause one indeed of many caused by an unaccountable awkwardness in our friend Roberts-the stranger opened his mouth for the first time with these singular words :

"I have taken the liberty of calling on you, for the fifty Talari, ac cording to covenant."

captain, here, Spalatro ;" pointing to Harvey; "who wisely kept out of the way, and a plague on him for his prudence."

"Surely this is a mistake."

"Well, then, Mr. Roberts-shall I give you the whole cantata of Ninetta Caretta ?" And he commeneed the song.

"No-for goodness' sake," cried poor Roberts.

"Will you scamper with me over the marshes, in pursuit of our boy's decoy lamp ?"

"In pity, my dear fellow !??

"Or shall the lad flash his dark lantern in your eyes again?"

But Roberts had said his say;

EVERYTHING relating to the Russians and Turks, and the present seat of war between these two nations, is at this time valuable, The following account of their last sanguinary conflict previous to the late commencement of hostilities, from a work recently published, will, we think, be read with interest.

"In the year 1805 the Turks were in a state of great weakness, under their amiable but feeble monarch, Selim; their provinces in a state of insurrection abroad; their people turbulent and discontented at home; and pressed and harassed by the conflicting and peremptory demands of the great European powers. They had conceded to Russia, by the treaty of Yassi, 1792, an extraordinary right of interfering in the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, that their respective Hospodars should be continued in office seven years, and not removable but by the consent of

Russia.

To this agreement, however, they did not adhere. The then reigning Hospodars were deposed before their time; and when the Russians remonstrated, the Bosphorus was closed against their ships. Taking umbrage at these causes of complaint, General Michelson was despatched with an army of sixty thousand men, who crossed the Niester, took Bender and Chotzim with little resistance, and entered Yassi, the capital of Moldavia. From hence he proceeded to Bucharest, the capital of Wallachia, where he found a Turkish force which had been sent against him by Mustapha Bairactar, the energetic Ayan of Rutschuk, These, however, he soon defeated; when his approach was known, the inhabitants rose upon the Turks, attacked them suddenly with all kinds of weapons; and, with the aid of a small advanced guard of the Russians, drove them out of the town, leaving

fifteen hundred dead in the streets: he then entered Bucharest, and took entire possession of the three provinces of Bessarabia, Moldavia, and Wallachia; not leaving a Turkish corps or fortress on the north side of the Danube, with the exception of Giurdzio; and he prepared immediately to pass over to the other side. "A tumultuary army was now hastily collected at Adrianople, of troops from the provinces of Asia, and moved forward with the Janissaries to the Danube; they mutinied, in their march, massacred some of the officers who wished to introduce European discipline among them, and when they at length arrived at the scene of action, were so disorganized, that they effected nothing against the Russians, who remained in almost undisturbed possession of the province, till the year 1810, when the armies on both sides were augmented to two hundred thousand men, and a fierce and sanguinary contest ensued, which, perhaps, never was surpassed.

"The Russians passed the Danube in three places. Their direct progress would have been from Giurdzio to Rutschuk; but at this latter place the passage was impracticable, either at the town or near it, as the banks were steep and high, and defended with Turkish batteries. They therefore crossed over above it at Ostrova, near Widdin, and below it at Hirsovay and Toutourkay, and laid siege to Rutschuk. The town was vigorously defended; and the Russians were repulsed, in a desperate attack, in which they lost six thousand men. Kaminsky made also a similar assault on the entrenched camp at Shumla; but here, too, he was driven back with great carnage. The Turks, though unacquainted with regular discipline in the field, make a fierce and sanguinary resistance when attacked behind their ramparts. On these occasions they issued their memorable bulletin that they had taken such a number of infidels' heads, that they would serve as a bridge by which the faithful might pass over to

the other world.' It is to the vigorous defence of these two places, and the losses sustained before them, that the final failure of the campaign is generally attributed.

"In the month of September, Kaminsky left Langeron before Rutschuk, and with his disposable force suddenly attacked the Turksat Bayne. They defended themselves with desperate valor; but were at length defeated, with the loss of twelve thousand men in killed and wounded; and Rutschuk was compelled to surrender, with all the Turkish flotilla lying before it, and Giurdzio on the other side. In order to create a diversion, the Turks now sent a fleet into the Black Sea, and threatened an attack on the Crimea; notwithstanding this, the Russians concentrated their forces in Bulgaria, and the Grand Vizier was obliged to retreat before them, recross the Balcan, and take up a position at Adrianople; leaving, however, the strong and impregnable fortresses of Varna on the sea coast, and Shumla on the ascent of the mountains, well secured at the other side.

"The feeble Selim, and his successor Mustapha, had both been strangled, and Mohammed had been called to the throne, who, even then, displayed the vigor which since has distinguished him. He set up the standard of the prophet at Daud Pasha, a large plain two miles from Constantinople, and issued a Hattisheriff, that all Mussulmen should rally round it. In this way he assembled, in a short time, a large army; appointed a new Grand Vizier, whom he sent on with the troops; and returned to the city. The new Vizier, Ahmed Aga, was a man of the same energy as the Sultan, and had distinguished himself by his defence of Ibrail. He immediately descended from the mountains, forced the detached corps of Russians in Bulgaria to recross the Danube, and made a fierce attack upon Rutschuk, defended by the Russian general Kutosov. The Russians, hard pressed, transported the inhabitants to the

other side of the river, set fire to the town in four quarters, and then retreated themselves. The Turks rushed into the burning town, put a stop to the conflagration, and took up their position there. The Grand Vizier, having thus driven the Russians to the opposite shore, was now determined to follow them; and he made the attempt in three places, Widdin, Rutschuk, and Silistria. He succeeded at Widdin, and established thirty thousand men in Wallachia. He also succeeded at Rutschuk, took possession of a large island in the river called Slobodsé, and, in perfect confidence, passed the greater part of his army to the other side, and established them in an entrenched camp. Kutosov was not idle; he immediately availed himself of the Vizier's crossing over, and detached eight thousand men, under General Markoff, to attack the camp he had left behind.

"A Turkish camp is formed with out any regularity. The Grand Vizier's tent is always conspicuous in the centre, and becomes the nucleus round which all the rest are pitched, as every man chooses to place them. It is, however, their strong hold, to which they always retire, as a wild animal to its lair; and they defend it with the same fierceness and obstinacy. On this occasion, they were completely surprised; the whole of the camp, including the general's tent, fell into the hands of the Russians, and the fugitive Turks crowded into Rutschuk. Here they were can nonaded by the artillery of their own abandoned camp, and General Langeron, from the other side, directed one hundred pieces of cannon to bear upon them. The Vizier, having heard of this misfortune, threw himself into a little boat, and, availing himself of a storm of wind and rain, he pushed across, and landed in safety; but the Russians now brought up their flotilla, and intercepted all communication between the divided por tions of the Turkish army. They next attacked and carried the island, and turned the guns on the entrench

ed camp of the Turks, who were thus cut off from all communication or supply. In this state they endured the severest privations; and after feeding on the flesh of their horses, and giving up all hope of relief, they were compelled to surrender, having lost 10,000 men in the different assaults made on them. This was the last effort of the combatants. The Turks, who had entered Wallachia, at Widdin, retired to the other side, and the Grand Vizier, having receiv ed great reinforcements, concentrated them at Rutschuk; but while the combatants were preparing to renew the sanguinary conflicts, the exhausted state of the one, and the critical, state of the other, invaded by the French, induced them to come to an accommodation; and the peace of Bucharest, concluded in 1812, gave another accession of territory to the Russians, extending their frontier from the Niester to the Pruth, and assigning to them all the country that lay between the two rivers, Bessarabio, and a considerable part of Moldavia,

"The Russians withdrew from the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, which they had occupied for seven years, and have never since entered them: they are now, however, in appearance, about to renew their desperate conflicts, and dye the Danube again with blood and the general opinion is, that they will meet with no effectual opposition to their further progress; but certainly the events of the last campaign should induce us to adopt a different opinion. They availed themselves of a moment of their enemies' weakness, and advanced, with little opposition, to that river; here they stopped; and after a very sanguinary aud persevering conflict of six years, we find them, at the end of that period, sill on its shores. Whenever they at tempted to proceed beyond it, they were driven back with carnage, and a single town scarcely fortified, as contemptible in the eyes, as it would be weak in the bands, of European troops, effectually arrested their career."