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A LADY FAUST

An Allegory

A LADY looked in her mirror's face;

Nor wealth had she, nor beauty, nor grace;

And one by one had her visions died,

She thought, as she looked in the glass-and sighed !

"I wield no sceptre, no empire rule,

Nor can make out of all wise men one fool;

And out of the lees of fashion's wine

Flows not for me one drop divine."

She started; lo, at her side there stood
(At her side, that is, in her fancy's mood)
A soft impalpable spirit of air,

That answered the murmurs of her despair.

He had a specious, plausible mien,
Rose-flowers for wings, but a thorn between;
A tender smile, but a withering eye-

False beacon to lure a vessel by.

Said the tempter, "Thou shalt have jewels and gold;
Thy face shall be fair, thrice-fair to behold;
And thine eyes like diamonds bright shall shine
From the richest depths of Golconda's mine.

Thy foes shall envy, thy friends shall smile,
And men shall bow to thine every wile;
Life's cup to thee shall be lusciously sweet,
And its golden chaplets fall at thy feet.
Ten years I give thee of untouched health,
Ten years of the pearls of beauty and wealth;
Beauty is conquest, and wealth is power,
And the twain together an empress's dower.

But presently shall thy bloom fall off,
And men shall wonder and women scoff;
And thy golden locks grow scanty and gray,
And the gloom of night eclipse life's day."

She paused awhile-hour followed hour-
Ten years, ten years of beauty and power!
"Twas terribly great the sacrifice;

But "the woman" triumphed—she paid the price!
ASTLEY H. BALDWIN.

BOUND TO JOHN COMPANY

OR THE

Adventures and Misadventures of Robert Ainsleigh

CHAPTER XXII. RELEASE.

I FOUND myself shortly after our release sitting on the wet grass outside the veranda, in a stupefied condition, staring vacantly on the prostrate form of my patron, who was stretched at full length beside me. I think I had followed him and remained with him by a kind of instinct, which was something less than sense or affection; for my brain was dazed, and all that followed during this day, and several other days, seemed of the nature of a dream.

First came a vision of a spacious chamber, adorned with a certain barbaric splendour-the throne-chamber of a conqueror-roughly put together in a house half destroyed by cannon-shot; -a handsome brown face and glittering eyes, arched brows of deepest black scowling upon us from beneath a jewelled turban, and round about us a crowd of grinning slaves and parasites, and the flash of arms, and gaudy colouring of Moorish uniforms.

This is Suraja Doulah, before whom my patron has been brought to answer for his misdeeds, and to say what he has done with the English wealth that is missing from the treasure-chamber of the factory.

I hear a voice that is strange and yet familiar relating, in faint, broken accents, the horrors of last night; and looking towards the speaker, see Mr. Holwell sitting on a heap of plundered books, supported on each side by a Moorish sergeant, and with a countenance more ghastly than death.

The Sun of the State has neither time nor attention for this stupid recital of human agony.

"Tell me where the English treasure is buried," he cries savagely; "that there is hidden wealth in this place, I know; and you, who held the fort when the others had fled, doubtless helped to put it away. Lead my treasurer to the hiding-place, or, by the soul of the Prophet, you shall be blown from a cannon's mouth before sunset."

"Death, saheb, has no terror for me," answered Mr. Holwell calmly; "I suffered last night an anguish as many times worse than sudden death as there are grains in a handful of sand. Think not I

VOL. VII.

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fear death at the mouth of a cannon, or from the lash of a native executioner."

He then, with a most wonderful calmness, proceeded to assure the Soubahdar that none of the Company's money had been buried or hidden, and to explain how it happened that the treasury was so low at the time of the siege; how the greater part of the native merchandise had been shipped before the month of April, while the vessels containing our British importations had not yet arrived; and how we were thus as poor in goods as in cash,-which was diminished by the large sums advanced to native factors, whose cotton-stuffs would only be ready in the ensuing year.

The tyrant listened, but half-convinced as I could perceive, and, with a muttered execration, ordered us from his presence as prisoners, in the charge of the general of the household troops.

Mr. Holwell reminded him of his solemn promise of honourable treatment; but this question he waived, and still harped upon the hidden treasure.

We were carried in a hackerry to the general's camp, which lay within the Morattoe ditch, and near Omichund's garden, full three miles from the fort. The rest of the survivors were set at liberty, with the exception of Mrs. Carey, our one female companion in that fatal death-chamber. This wretched creature-whose husband, a man of full habit, had expired of suffocation-happened to be young and handsome. She was conducted at once to the Soubah's zenana; by this one cruel instance, we may divine what fate would have awaited other Englishwomen had they been so unfortunate as to fall into the power of this Moorish profligate.

and

The dead were thrown promiscuously into the ditch of an unfinished ravelin, and hastily covered with the earth.

Arrived at the camp, we were loaded with fetters, and stowed, with two miserable companions-also members of the Company's civil service into a sepoy's tent, four feet long by three wide, and about three feet high. Here we lay, half in and half out of the tent. But although a heavy rain fell without ceasing all through the ensuing night, it was as a night in Paradise compared with the sufferings that had gone before.

My next vision is of a march under the burning sun, the march of four gaunt ghosts, heavily laden with fetters, scarce able to drag their weary limbs onward at the savage word of command. Then a night in an open veranda fronting the broad bright river, the four wretches still laden with irons, and guarded by a strong detachment of stalwart Mahometans-it is so probable these fever-stricken, fettered creatures will try to run away.

less.

Now comes a journey in an open boat, a journey that seems endThe four English wretches have broken out into boils, which

spread all over their bodies like the boils of Job. The boat draws a good deal of water, and the four sufferers lie on a bed of wet bamboos. When the crew are negligent of baling, the sufferers wake from fitful feverish slumber to find themselves half under water. But after the Black Hole this is luxury: yes, even though no one of the sufferers can move his cramped and fettered limbs without inflicting exquisite tortures upon himself, or on his companions. These travellers are half naked, and for sole defence from sun, rain, and dew, possess a ragged bit of matting, which they begged as they were leaving the dock-head at Calcutta. Their diet is rice-water gruel.

And so up the noble river to Hooghley, scarce a less ghastly burden than the corpses which piety sets afloat on the sacred waters. Forward again, with numerous misadventures, to Santipore, where our open boat broke down, and a request being sent to the zemindar for other boats was refused; and here, after incalculable sufferings endured by my patron, who was marched to the rebellious zemindar ironed as he was, his legs streaming with blood, his body faint and exhausted by fever, fatigue, and pain, we were at last transferred to an open fishing-dingy. In this boat we endured a new torture from want of room, and so continued our voyage, which only ended on the afternoon of July 7th, having thus lasted thirteen days.

Much kindness had been shown us on our way, notably by Mr. Law, the manager of the French factory, who bribed our guards to indulge us, and provided us with clothes, linen, provisions, liquors, and cash.

We landed at Muxadavad, and after being marched as felons through the streets of the city, were deposited in an open stable near the Soubah's palace. Here we lay, closely guarded on one side by Moors, on the other by Gentoos, and almost stifled by the crowds of spectators who came from all quarters of the city to stare at this pleasing show, and so blocked us in from morning till night that we narrowly escaped a second suffocation.

On the 11th of July the Soubah arrived at the city from Calcutta, which he had rechristened Allynuggur, the Fort of Ally, in pious commemoration of his heroic victory. We were now moved from the stable to a bungalow, and flattered with hopes of speedy release. These hopes were, however, suddenly destroyed by the intelligence that the Soubah had determined upon sending us back to Calcutta in irons, to be delivered to the mercy of Manickchund, the new governor. My patron now abandoned himself to despair, protesting that we should never be got alive out of the hands of that Hindoo miser.

Seeing nothing but destruction before us, we dined with the desperate appetite of wretches doomed to immediate execution, and lay down to sleep with the lazy apathy of despair. From this slumber we were wakened suddenly by the chief of our guard, who told us the

Ally was the son-in-law of the Prophet Mahomet, and is venerated by all Mahometans.

Soubah was approaching on his way to the palace. Resolved to appeal once more to this wretch, we entreated the guard to leave us free to see and be seen by him; and when the royal litter came abreast of our shelter, saluted the tyrant with the usual salaam.

It seemed as if some touch of pity was actually awakened in that brutal breast; or it is more likely Suraja Doulah was weary of torturing us, and was at last convinced of our poverty. He beckoned us to the side of his palanquin, stared at us inquisitively from head to foot for some moments, as at some curious spectacle, and then ordered the guard to strike off our irons and set us free.

It was all the work of a few minutes. We stood in the road staring at one another stupidly, until one of us burst into tears, and we fell upon each other's breasts and embraced as Englishmen rarely do in the most moving moments.

CHAPTER XXIII.

I TAKE SERVICE WITH A NEW MASTER.

AFTER receiving hospitable entertainment and much kindness from the gentlemen of the Dutch factory, we started on our journey to Fulta, where the fugitives from Calcutta were now stationed. The care of our Dutch friends had done much to recover us; but we were still shattered in health and spirits, and the shadows of what we had been before that fatal night of the 20th of June. At Fulta we found nothing but misery. The frightened creatures who had left Calcutta had fled for the most part without so much as a change of clothing, and were now herded together in the ships, where they slept on the decks, exposed to all the hardships of weather, and threatened on every side by death; for this part of the river is most unhealthy, and a malignant fever had already begun to decimate our countrymen when Mr. Holwell and I arrived at Fulta.

He spoke with considerable warmth of the folly the English were guilty of in remaining at this miserable station one hour after the wind and weather permitted them to make for Madras.

me.

"These people have a perfect genius for fatal mistakes," he said to "What could be easier for them than to push on to Madras? yet they stick here, at a constant waste of life and money. Since ships have to be kept here in order to protect them, they say that to leave the river would be to give up the cause for lost. It would be but abandoning a cause already lost, and lost by their own misconduct. These miserable creatures can do nothing to retake Calcutta; and whatever effort is to be made for its recapture would be assisted by our departure, as the Nabob would consider we had abandoned the case as hopeless, and would thus be thrown off his guard."

The fugitives were, however, in no humour to listen to reason. They had lost everything. The wealth and independence for which

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