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witness) refrain from execrating the system under which such atrocities are tolerated?

"Madame de Posnikof was a widow of Petersburgh, who had, at some distance from that capital, an estate tolerably peopled. This lady took from it every year the young girls that were the best made, and the best organized, as soon as they attained the age of ten or twelve years. She then had them brought up in her own house, under the inspection of a sort of housekeeper, and caused them to be instructed in the most useful and agreeable arts. They were at the same time taught dancing, music, sewing, embroidery, hair-dressing, &c. so that this house, where there were always a dozen young girls thus brought up, appeared like a well conducted boarding-school. At fifteen these young misses were sold; the most clever to ladies, in order to make them their femmes de chambre, and the prettiest to libertines for their mistresses. As the proprietor sold them as high as five hundred rubles a piece, this made a constant produce, half of which was clear profit.

HORRORS OF THE WAR IN EGYPT.

The sight of many of our gallant officers, mutilated, hacked, or wounded by shot in different parts of their bodies, and of others brought off from the shore incapable of service, from the injuries of the climate, presented a revolting picture of the ravages of war. Nor was this all. One day, leaning out of the cabin window, by the side of an officer who was employed in fishing, the corpse of a man, newly sewed in a hammock, started half out of the water, and slowly continued its course, with the current, towards the shore. Nothing could be more horrible: its head and shoulders were visible, turning first to one side, then to the other, with a solemn and awful movement, as if impressed with some dreadful secret of the deep, which, from its watery grave, it came upwards to reveal. Such sights became afterwards frequent, hardly a day passing without ushering the dead to the contemplation of the living, until at length they passed without our observation. Orders were issued to convey as many as possible for interment upon Nelson's Island, instead of casting them overboard. The shores of Egypt may in truth be described as washed with blood. The bones of thousands yet whiten in the scorching sun, upon the sands of Aboukir. If we number those who have fallen since the first arrival of the French upon the coast, in their battles with the Turks, Arabs, and English, we shall find no part of their own ensanguined territory so steeped in human gore. Add to this the streams from slaughtered horses, camels, and other animals, (the stench of whose remains was almost sufficient to raise a pestilence even before the arrival of the English,) and perhaps no part of the world ever presented so dreadful an example. When a land-wind prevailed, our whole fleet felt the tainted blast; while from beneath the hulks of our transports, ships that had been sunk, with all the encumbering bodies of men and carcases of animals, sent through the waves a fearful exhalation.

INSTANCES OF FEMALE HEROISM.

The Revolutionary Committee of Thoulouse had condemned one citizen Caussee of that city. It was night when his sentence was pronounced, and the execution was postponed till the day. His wife heard of the delay, and

immediately conceived the design to avail herself of it, and release him from his executioners. An uninhabited house adjoined the place in which he was to pass the night; his wife, who had sold every thing which she possessed, in order to distribute gold in his behalf, instantly bought this house. Thither she stole, followed by a female servant, in whom she could confide. They both laboured, and made a hole in the wall contiguous to the prison, sufficiently large to let out the captive whom they wished to release; but then how could they elude the guards with which the neighbourhood was filled? The provident lady had brought a military disguise, which served for this purpose. She herself, dressed as a gens d'arme, conducted him through the posts of sentinels. In this manner they traversed the city, and even passed the very spot wherewas already prepared the instrument which was to have destroyed the life which love had found means to destroy.

Love also saved a young man of Bourdeaux, who was thrown into one of the prisons of that city. The unwholesome air, which he breathed, had injured his health, and he was sent to the hospital. A young lady, named Thérèse, took upon herself the charge of attending him. He was handsome, and possessed the advantages of birth and fortune. His amiable countenance made an impression on the heart of the young lady the first moment she saw him. Having listened to the melancholy story of his sufferings and his fears, pity confirmed the resolution to which a more tender sentiment had given birth. She determined to set him at liberty. Having communicated to him her design, without, however, acknowledging her attachment, she advised him to feign the most violent convulsions, and at length to assume the appearance of death. The young man performed his part admirably well. Thérèse spread the sheet over his face in the customary manner; and when the physician came to him at the usual hour, she informed him that the patient had just expired; and the doctor, without a suspicion of the fraud, retired. In the evening, the young Thérèse, pretending that the pupils of the hospital had claimed the body of the deceased, caused him to be removed to the dissecting room. Having succeeded in conveying him thither, she disguised him in the dress of a surgeon, who was in the secret, and by this means he escaped without observation. The stratagem was not discovered till the following day. Thérèse was interrogated upon the subject; and, so far from dissembling the truth, she related the whole proceeding with such a striking frankness, that she obtained a free pardon. She had, however, excited a passion still more powerful than that with which she herself was inspired. The youth, whom she had saved, prevailed on her to visit him in his retreat, and falling on his knees, implored her to give a value to the life which she had saved, by becoming his wife. It may be supposed that she did not reject his suit, since she obtained happiness herself by bestowing it on him. They retired into Spain, and were there united in marriage.

A widow, in the prime of life, whose lover was imprisoned in one of the northern departments, displayed an energy, which was not crowned with a success equal to that which attended the above instance of female heroism. She no sooner heard of his confinement, than she hastened to solicite his enlargement, but ineffectually. She asked either to be allowed to see him, or to be confined in the same dungeon; but every solicitation she could urge was refused. She flew to the prison, the front of which faced the street, and there waited for the first opportunity which should offer to obtain a sight of him. On his presenting himself at one of the windows, it is not difficult to conceive what each of the parties felt. She repaired several times to the

same station, braving both the rain, the wind, and the sentinels, still more pitiless than the weather, to obtain a short interview. One day, however, at the instant of her arrival, a mournful spectacle presented itself; a cart, in which were her lover and several other victims, bound like criminals, setting out for the place of execution. On perceiving this, she darted on the horses, which she endeavoured to stop; and calling the populace to her aid, beseeching them to prevent the death of the object of her love. She was seized by the attendants, from whose hands she endeavoured to escape, to embrace the unfortunate wretch they were hurrying to execution. Every effort she could make being ineffectual, she reproached them with their dastardly obedience to the tigers they served; and implored them to allow her to share the fate of him who was above every other earthly consideration dear to her. On their attempting to drag her from the spot, she seized a sabre which one of them held in his hand, and plunged it to her heart. At the sight of her blood, which gushed forth in streams, the populace collected together, and surrounded the soldiers, who stood motionless and appalled. While the lover betrayed the deepest emotions of grief and terror, his unfortunate companions forgot the fate which awaited them, and were entirely absorbed in their reflections on his calamitous situation. In the meantime a party of municipal officers arrived, and ordered the corpse to be removed.

In the prison called Plessis, were lodged the unfortunate victims who were brought to Paris for trial. One of these had a young and beautiful wife, who never quitted him. As she was walking in the court-yard with the other prisoners, her husband was called to the wicket. She was aware that it was the signal of death, and would have followed him. The gaoler prevented her; but, strong with despair, she overcame all opposition. She threw herself into the arms of her husband, and clung to him, determined, at least, to have the melancholy pleasure of sharing his fate. The guards separated them. "Barbarians," exclaimed she, "I nevertheless will die." At the same time she sprung towards an iron gate, dashed her head against it, fell, and expired.

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Another female, after the death of her lover, distinguished herself by a transport of affection differently characterized but equally tender in its nature. She had been present at the execution of the unhappy man, whom she loved most ardently. She followed the body to the spot where it was interred, together with those of other victims. She there endeavoured, by a bribe, to obtain from the grave-digger, the head. Eyes," said she, "where love once reigned, and the lustre which death has just extinguished; the finest flaxen locks of hair; the graces of youth, blended with the soft melancholy which misfortune has shed over his brow. Such is the image of him whom I seek. A hundred louis shall reward this service." Having obtained the promise of the head she returned alone to the burrying-ground, where it was delivered to her, and carefully enfolded in her veil. Nature, however, was more powerful than love. This delicate female, exhausted by the struggles she had encountered, fell at the corner of the street St. Florentine, and revealed to the view of the terrified spectators, the burden she had hitherto so carefully concealed. She was sent before the revolutionary tribunal, the members of which regarded as a crime, an act which ought to have moved them to pity. She was soon after led to the scaffold, enchanted with the hope of finding, in a better world, the object which she had so passionately loved in this.

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Ir has been our pleasing task, during the progress of our work, to record many instances of that wonderful presence of mind, by which some men of exalted intellect often extricate themselves from dangers of the most perilous description. In no case is that facility of invention and quickness of thought so strikingly displayed, as in an adventure which happened to the Scottish monarch, James the Fourth. He was celebrated for his personal bravery, and for that complete mastery of his feelings, which often relieves a man from many awkward and embarrassing situations in which ill-fortune may have placed him; and for that energetic and instantaneous mode of procedure which oftentimes turns a very untoward accident to his advantage, which otherwise would probably have been fatal, or at best exceedingly injurious to him.

During the early part of his reign almost the whole of the country was infested (as it had been during the reigns of his predecessors) with innumerable hordes of banditti and robbers; who, having taken up their residence in the dark caverns and gloomy forests of the Highlands, often conjoined together and sallied forth in considerable numbers upon the unguarded husbandman and villager, or benighted and unwary traveller. Many dreadful anecdotes are upon record relative to these lawless bands, who having grown powerful and insolent, in consequence of the supineness or insufficiency of the ment, which, during those dark ages, possessed little real power-even bearded the monarch in his very palace.

Their criminal offences at last arrived to such a pitch, that king James, soon after his accession to the throne, resolved, if possible, utterly to extirpate them. This he nearly accomplished-but the task was too Herculean for him to effect; what he left undone, his successor fully completed; and we consequently hear but little of these freebooters after this period. The daring deeds, dreadful crimes, and bloody cruelties, of which they were guilty, appear to have equalled in monstrosity those committed by the banditti of the Alps, the

VOL. II.

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Carbonari of Italy, or the Forestmen of Ireland. For their lawless depredations the rocky glens, deep ravines, gloomy forests, and yawning chasms of the Highlands of Scotland were peculiarly well suited; and the strong holds which they possessed, and which were always guarded with the most wary caution, rendered their abodes inaccessible to the stranger.

King James IV. possessed an innate courage which rendered him superior to every feeling of fear or terror; and in the early part of his government, perceiving the increasing power of these desperadoes, and that their deeds became more fearful and glaring, he determined at every risk to bring them to that justice which had so long been exerted in vain for the removal of the evil. For this purpose he would wander disguised for days among the gloomy woods and recesses of the Highland mountains, and make such observations as were necessary for the fulfilment of his design. In the course of these lonely excursions, he often fell into dangerous snares and fearful perils, from which nothing but his own extraordinary boldness, presence of mind, and promptitude of execution could possibly extricate him. He was once overtaken by a violent storm of thunder and lightning, and the might being pitchy dark, excepting when the vivid gleam shed a flickering light over the dreary wastes of the forest, he was compelled to take shelter in a cavern near Wemys, which is one of the most remarkable antiquities of Scotland. Having advanced a considerable way into it, the king discovered a number of men and women of uncouth dress and appearance ready to begin to roast a sheep, by way of supper. From their place of abode, and mysterious and cautious whispers he began to suspect that he had not fallen into the best of company; but, as it was too late to retreat, he requested hospitality till the storm was over. They granted it, and, after some consultations by signs, they invited the monarch, whom they did not know, to sit down, and take part with them. They were a band of those outlawed desperadoes whose deeds filled every heart with terror. As soon as they had finished their repast, one of them presented a plate, upon which two daggers were placed in the form of a St. Andrew's cross, telling the king, at the same time, that this was the dessert which they always served to strangers; that he must choose on one of the daggers, and combat with him whom the company should appoint to attack him. The king did not lose his presence of mind, but instantly seized the two daggers, one in each hand, and plunged them into the hearts of the two robbers who were next him; and running full speed to the mouth of the cavern, he escaped from their pursuit, through the obscurity of the night, and the horrors of the storm. The king arrived safe at his residence, and without delay deputed a sturdy band to seize upon these outlaws.-This was accordingly done, and the whole of them were hanged without mercy.

INSTANCE OF AFFECTION IN A WIFE.

In the reign of Vespasian there was a rebellion in Gaul, the chief leader of which was Julius Sabinus. The Gauls being reduced, the Captain was sought after to be punished; but he had hid himself in a vault, or cave, which was the monument of his grandfather, and caused a report to be spread of his death, as if he had voluntarily poisoned himself; and the better to persuade men of the truth of it, he caused his house to be set on fire, as if his body had therein been burned. He had a wife, whose name was Epopina; she knew nothing of his safety, but bewailed his death with inconsolable grief:

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