rock where the two Macdougalls stood when they discovered the approach of Dugald and his mother, and where they resolved to return and assassinate their uncle, is still well known. It is called in Gaelic by a name which, translated, means "The Rock of the Wicked Resolution."

SALE OF NEGROES, AT RICHMOND IN VIRGINIA.

"The sale of negroes, by auction," says a traveller, "is of frequent occurrence in this city. I was present at one the other day: more than a hundred were disposed of that morning; they formed part of the estate' of John Graham, a wealthy Scotsman, deceased. A sort of temporary platform was erected in the street, for the accommodation of the auctioneer, and the negroes for sale. Many were sold before I arrived on the spot. The purchasers consisted of citizens buying for their own use, and two or three negro speculators, from the western and southern states, to whom the poor creatures are generally averse to being sold. The following is a literal narrative of what passed during my stay :

"Auctioneer-Gentlemen, the next we offer you for sale, is Billy, a good rough carpenter, about thirty-eight years of age, able-bodied, and warranted sound; can do plantation work, if required, and is in every respect a very useful hand. Gentlemen, what will you give for the rough carpenter? Will nobody give me a bid for Billy?'- 350 dollars,' by a voice in the crowd. -Auctioneer, No more than 350 dollars for this valuable hand? Well, gentlemen, going for 350.' 400-410-420, and 425 were successively bid. Auctioneer- Going at 425 dollars! I have many niggers to dispose of, gentlemen, and cannot dwell;-once, twice, three times gone at 425 dollars.' Buyer, James Grant, a negro trader, from New Orleans.-Auctioneer,The next nigger for sale, gentlemen, is Ponto. Come, Ponto, stand up here, and tell the gentlemen what you can do.' Ponto murmured something, with which the auctioneer seemed not very pleased, who, turning from him, addressed the assembly with, "Gentlemen, what will you give for Ponto? a good field hand, thirty-two years of age, and'-here the negro interrupted the auctioneer by calling out-Gentlemen, I is rising forty!' Auctioneer- He is described in the bill of sale, gentlemen, as thirty-two years of age, which, I presume, is correct.' Why, gentimmen, I has lived with Mr. Gordon, rising twenty-one years, and when he bought me, I was a heap better man than I is now.'-Auctioneer, Well, well, gentlemen, you see the nigger before you, he is described as being thirty-two years of age; he says he is forty-it is for you to judge which of the two is correct; at any rate, he is a very valuable nigger; a first-rate plantation hand, strong, and able-bodied'-here the negro interrupted him again, with the following address: Gentlemen, I is not able-bodied, for, in the first place, I is troubled with puking, and in the next place, I has got a wen on my right shoulder, as big as an Irish potatoe!' This address silenced the bidders, and the auctioneer observed, Gentlemen, you see this fellow does not want to be sold; however, I shall find a master for him-for the present, we shall be under the necessity of passing him by.' He was then ordered to stand down, and Jacob was ordered up in his place.-Auctioneer,Now, gentlemen, I am about to offer you one of the most valuable niggers in the city of Richmond: he is an excellent tanner and currier, the first of that profession I ever had for sale; he is an active, lively nigger, about thirty-five years of age, and bears an

excellent character for honesty, sobriety, industry, and ingenuity. Now, gentlemen, I anticipate a very high bidding for this most valuable servant; come, gentlemen, what will you give me for Jacob, the tanner.' A bidder -400 dollars.' Auctioneer-400 dollars for the tanner and currier! why, gentlemen, he would hire for 200 a-year.' Mr. Grant, the negro traderJacob, are you willing to leave Richmond?' Jacob, No!' I observed after this that Mr. Grant never bid for him! he was knocked down at 350 dollars to an inhabitant of this neighbourhood. The next lot was a family; a man, woman, and their two small children, whom the auctioneer said, he was instructed not to separate; they sold for 840 dollars to a citizen of Petersburgh. The selling of this lot occupied near half an hour, the auctioneer appearing exceedingly unwilling to dispose of them at that price. After this I left the sale for some time, and on my return, I found it had just closed; and the auctioneer was informing the assembly, that there were about thirty more negroes, male and female, belonging to this estate, who would be disposed of by private contract; with the privileges of chusing their own masters. The chusing their own masters, (a privilege not often granted, is rather a negative than a positive choice; it is the liberty of determining who they will not go to. Thus public notice is given that such a negro is for sale; a person wishing to purchase, sends for the negro, and asks him if he is willing to be sold to him; if he answers in the affirmative, application is made to the seller, and probably the bargain is closed. If the answer be in the negative, no further steps are taken. This is called the liberty of chusing his own master.' In the hiring out of negroes, by the year, the privilege of chusing their own employers (negatively as above) is generally given. Negroes sold by auction are generally the property of persons deceased, or who have failed in business. Under other circumstances the sale of negroes is not common; for, being considered rather discreditable, it is generally the last description of property a man will dispose of. If a person, hitherto in good repute, should sell one of his niggers,' (unless it be for some great fault) it is immediately suspected that his circumstances are on the wane. Negroes are considered not only as belonging to, but in some measure as forming part of the family. When a man dies, he divides his negroes among his children; each of these divisions again, go on increasing, probably in geometrical progression, till by the death or marriage of their owner's family, other divisions take place; and so on, perhaps through several generations. Should a pretty Mulatto woman be offered at public auction, the sale is generally attended by bachelors, by one of whom she is purchased, and taken into keeping."

BARBARITY OF CROMWELL.

In the time of the civil wars, the owner of Norton Conyers was Sir Richard Graham; of whom an anecdote is recorded worth relating; as it is not only curious in itself, but throws a very strong, yet natural shade on the character of Cromwell.

When the affairs of Charles the First were in their wane in all the southern counties, the Marquis of Newcastle's prudence gave them some credit in the north. His residence was at York, where he engaged two of the gentlemen of the country to act under him as Lieutenants. Sir Richard Graham was one; whose commission under the Marquis is still in the hands of the family. As Sir Richard was both an active man, and much attached to the royal

cause, he entered into it with all that vigour, which ability, inspired by inclination, could exert; and did the King more effectual service than perhaps any private gentleman in those parts.

On that fatal day when the precipitancy of Prince Rupert, in opposition to the sage advice of the Marquis, led the King's forces out of York against Cromwell, who waited for them on Marsdon Moor, Sir Richard Graham had a principal command; and no man did more than he, to end the action with success, which had been undertaken with temerity. When the day was irretrievably lost, and nothing remained, but for every man to seek the best means of security that offered, Sir Richard fled, with twenty-six bleeding wounds upon him, to his own house at Norton Conyers, about fifteen miles from the field. Here he arrived in the evening; and being spent with the blood and fatigue, he was carried into his chamber; where taking a last farewell of his disconsolate lady, he expired.

Cromwell, who had ever expressed a peculiar inveteracy against this gentleman, and thought a victory only half obtained if he escaped, pursued his flight in person, with a troop of horse.

When he arrived at Norton, his gallant enemy was dead; having scarce lived an hour, after he was caried into his chamber; and found his wretched lady weeping over the mangled corpse of her husband, yet scarce cold.

Such a sight, one would have imagined, might have given him-not indeed an emotion of pity-but at least a satiety of revenge; on the contrary, he still felt the vengeance of his soul unsatisfied; and turning round to his troopers, who had stalked after him into the sacred recesses of sorrow, he gave the sign of havoc; and in a few moments the whole house was torn in pieces: not even the bed was spared, on which the mangled body was extended; and every thing was destroyed, which the hand of rapine could not carry off.

NAVAL ANECDOTES.

On board La Fortune (a French corvette taken off Damietta by Captain Hallowell) were several officers, and amongst the rest a Surgeon on the staff, who, it seems, had suffered his sense of the dangers and difficulties he was exposed to by the expedition, to get the better of his prudence, and had expressed his disapprobation of it with so much acrimony that General Buonaparte had, by way of punishment, put him into the corvette, bound on a cruize off Damietta. As soon as he was informed of the event of the battle in Aboukir Bay, and that his brother was killed on board l'Orient, he threw his snuff-box overboard, and expressed the most lively sorrow, when suddenly recovering himself with the observation, c'est la fortune de la guerre,' he turned to the spectators and said he would amuse them, and instantly pulled from his pocket a ludicrous figure of a monk, with which he so entertained himself and them, that in a few moments all care for his brother, his country, or himself, now a prisoner, was forgotten.

Captain Harvey commanded the Brunswick, of seventy-four guns, on the memorable 1st of June, 1794. He was wounded early in the action by a musket-ball, which tore away part of his right hand; but this he carefully concealed, and bound the wound up with his handkerchief. Some time after this he received a violent contusion in the loins, which laid him almost lifeless on the deck: from this severe blow he however rallied his strength of

mind, and continued at his post, directing and conducting the action, until a double-headed shot splitting, struck his right arm near the elbow, and shattered it to pieces. Growing faint through loss of blood, he was now compelled to retire; but when assistance was offered to conduct him below, he nobly refused it," I will not have a single man leave his quarters on my account! my legs still remain to bear me down into the cock-pit." In this wounded and shattered state he cast a languid, yet affectionate look towards his brave crew-"Persevere, my brave lads, in your duty! continue the action with spirit, for the honor of our king and country; and remember my last word-The colours of the Brunswick shall never be struck!" About sun-set it was found necessary to amputate his arm above the elbow; and on the day after the Brunswick's arrival at Spithead, he was conveyed on shore at Portsmouth, where, after bearing the most excruciating pain with Christian resignation, he was released from this world, and lost to his country, on the 30th June.

The House of Commons, to perpetuate the memory of this heroic man, unanimously voted a monument to be erected in Westminster abbey: had he survived, his name would have been included in the flag-promotion which took place on the 4th of the following month. It is a singular coincidence of events, that Captain Harvey and Captain Hutt, of the Queen, where companions in a post-chaise from London, on joining their respective ships, previous to their last cruize: they both lost a limb in the action; and are both recorded on the same monument, raised by a grateful country to their memory.

The following anecdote is related of James Daley, a seaman of the Victorious, whose left thigh was carried away by a shot, so high up that a portion of the hip was attached to it, and the right shattered to pieces. On his way to the cock-pit, he observed that one of the guns close to the hatchway, was run out, and about to be discharged; he immediately desired the seamen who were carrying him down, to stop, which they did, when he requested to be allowed to have one shoot more at the enemy before he died; "after doing which,” he added, "I will die content." His request was granted; when he very contentedly permitted himself to be carried down, exclaiming on the ladder, "Fight on, my boys! fight on for your King and Country until you die." On his arrival in the cock-pit, he said to the surgeon, Šir, I know you will do all you can for me, but I also know, there is nothing in your power." In less than half an hour after, his gallant soul left this for another world.

66

Captain Otway continued to command the Trent on the Jamaica station till September 1800, when he sailed for England with the flag of Sir Hyde Parker. During the six years that he had served in the West Indies, he is supposed to have captured and destroyed about 200 of the enemy's privateers and merchantmen, mounting on the whole 1000 guns. Nothing can mark the character of this officer more strongly than the following anecdote, of the authenticity of which we are well assured :-A party of seamen belonging to the Trent were on shore at Portsmouth returning stores, when the MasterAttendant of the Dock-yard asked them how they liked their Captain; one of them replied, "He was a man who would never deceive his crew, for if any of them deserved a couple of dozen, and he promised it, they were sure to get it; but that he did not make them polish shot or stanchions, and that he made the officers do their duty as well as the men." Another of them observed, that," The Captain always slept with one eye open,' and looked out for them all."

On Captain Otway's ship, the Edgar being paid off at Chatham, in July 1802, it is remarked, that the ensuing Christmas night was the first he had slept on shore since 1784, a period of eighteen years!"

Captain Hallowell presented Lord Nelson, in May 1799, with a coffin made from the wreck of the French Admiral's ship, L'Orient, which blew up at the battle of Aboukir, accompanied by the following letter:

“My Lord.—I have taken the liberty of presenting you a coffin made from the mainmast of L'Orient, that when you have finished your military career in this world, you may be buried in one of your trophies-but that that period may be far distant, is the earnest wish of your sincere friend,

+

"BEN. HALLOWELL."

On the bottom of this singular present was pasted a certificate, written on paper, to the following effect:-"I do hereby certify, that every part of this coffin is made of the wood and iron of L'Orient, most of which was picked up by His Majesty's ship under my command, in the Bay of Aboukir. "Swiftsure, May 23, 1797.

"BEN. HALLOWELL."

The astonishment that prevailed amongst the crew of the Vanguard, Lord Nelson's flag-ship, when they were actually convinced it was a coffin which had been thus conveyed on board, will be long remembered by their officers: "We shall have hot work indeed," said one of the seamen ; 66 you see the Admiral intends to fight till he is killed, and there he is to be buried." Lord Nelson highly appreciated the present, and for some time had it placed upright, with the lid on, against the bulk-head of his cabin, behind the chair on which he sat at dinner, and viewed it with the undaunted mind of a great warrior. At length, by the tears and entreaties of an old servant, he was prevailed on to allow its being carried below. When his Lordship left the Vanguard, the coffin was removed into the Foudroyant, where it remained for many days on the gratings of the quarter-deck. Whilst his officers were one day looking at it, he came out of the cabin: "You may look at it, Gentlemen," said the hero," as long as you please; but depend on it none of you shall have it."

THE BATTLE OF MOSKOWA.

The following account of the battle of Moskowa is extracted from a work recently published by General Comte de Segur, entitled "L'Histoire de Napoleon, et de la Grande Armée, pendant l'Année 1812."

"It was now half-past five in the morning when Napoleon arrived near the redoubt that had been taken on the 5th of September. There he awaited the first appearance of day, and the first musket-shots from Poniatowski's detachment. The sun arose, and the Emperor, pointing it out to his officers, exclaimed, Behold the sun of Austerlitz,' but it was unfavourable to us. It rose on the side of the Russians, enabling them to see us distinctly, while it dazzled our eyes. It was then discovered that during the darkness our batteries had been stationed out of reach of the enemy. It was necessary to advance them; this we did without receiving any obstruction from the enemy The attention of the Emperor was directed towards the right, when suddenly on the left the battle began; he soon was informed that one of Prince Eugene's regiments, the 106th, had carried the village of Borodino, and the bridge, which they should have broken down, but that, hurried away by their success, in despite of the cries of their general, they pushed on to attack the heights of Goreki, from whence the Russians swept them by a fire in front and flank.