SINGULAR GENEROSITY OF AN ARABIAN PRINCE.

Hatem Tai was esteemed so liberal, that the most powerful monarchs were jealous of his great reputation. The Sultan of Damascus, being very desirous to have some positive information if what Fame had published of that Arab was true, dispatched one of his principal officers with presents for Hatem, and with orders to ask of him twenty camels with red hair and black eyes. This species of camel was very rare, and consequently of great value.

To answer this demand, Hatem forthwith had a general search made in the desert for all camels with black eyes and red hair, promising to each proprietor the double of their value. The Arabs, who placed in Hatem the greatest confidence, soon mustered together a hundred camels such as he required. Hatem sent them to the king, and heaped presents on the officer.

The sovereign of Damascus, quite astonished at this magnificence, endeavoured to surpass it. The same camels he procured to be loaded with the most precious stuffs, and sent them back to Hatem; when all those who had brought these rare animals were by him immediately complimented with them and the burdens they carried. At this news the king of Damascus acknowledged himself conquered.

Hatem's reputation soon extended beyond the bounds of Asia, and reached Europe. The Emperor of Constantinople, vexed in some degree that a chief of the Arabs should stand in competition, in point of liberality, with the greatest monarchs, wanted also, like the sultan of Damascus, to put his generosity to the test.

Among the great number of horses Hatem kept, there was one so extraordinary, that he prized it more than all his wealth. Nature had never formed so perfect an animal; fire seemed to gush out of his nostrils; and he surpassed, in running, the fleetest stags. This horse, in fine, was not less celebrated in the east for his beauty, than his master was renowned for his liberality.

The emperor, who knew how much Hatem loved his horse, resolved to ask it of him; believing, by so doing, he should put his generosity to the severest trial. He sent to him a lord of his court. The monarch's officer arrived at Hatem's habitation in a dark stormy night, and at a time when all the Arabian horses were out at grass. He was received by the most magnificent of men, as the emperor's envoy ought to be. After supper, Hatem conducted his guest into a very rich tent.

The next day, the envoy delivered to Hatem his master's presents, with a letter from that prince. Hatem, reading it, seemed to be under some affliction. If you had informed me yesterday,' said he to an officer, of the object of your mission, I should not now be under so vexatious an embarrassment; and would have given the emperor that feeble testimony of my obedience; but the horse he desires is no more. All our animals at this season feed in the meadows, and it is customary with us to keep but one horse at home; that was the horse I kept. Surprized by your coming, and having nothing to treat you withal, I had him slain; and he was served up for your supper. The darkness and bad weather hindered my sending for some of my sheep, which are now in far distant pastures." Hatem then gave orders for bringing to him his finest horses; and begged the ambassador to present them to his master. That prince could not help admiring Hatem's extraordinary generosity; and owned that he truly deserved the title of the most liberal of all men.

It was Hatem's ill fate to give umbrage to all monarchs. Numan, king of the Happy Arabia, conceived a violent jealousy against him. That prince

prided himself for generosity; but, in the main, it was nothing but ostentation. He proclaimed with pomp throughout the east, that all desirous of any favour might repair to the foot of his throne. His design was to surpass Hatem in generosity. He would have obliterated from the memory of men the name of an odious rival; but, in spite of his efforts, innumerable multitudes repeated the name of that benefactor to mankind, and published his praises. Numan felt the most indignant emotions: Is it possible,' cried he, that an Arab should be compared with me, who has neither sceptre nor crown, and who wanders about in the deserts?' His jealousy continually increasing, he believed it easier to destroy than to surpass him.

There was, at Numan's court, one of those courtiers who sell themselves to the caprices of princes, and who are ever ready to undertake all, and to obtain all. The king made choice of him for the instrument of his diabolical design. Go,' said he, deliver me of a man whom I abhor; and depend on a reward equal to the service you are expected to perform.'

6

The venal courtier wings his flight, and arrives in the desert where the Arabs were encamped. Espying at a distance their tents, he recollects that he had never seen Hatem; and then meditates how he shall know him, without hazarding, in any respect, the discovery of his design. Full of these vile thoughts, he was accosted by a man of amiable figure, who invited him into his tent. He accepted the invitation, and was charmed with his polite reception. After a splendid supper, he rose to take leave of his host; but the Arab prayed him to tarry with him for some days. Thou generous man,' said the king's officer to him, I cannot sufficiently thank you for the good treatment I have met with from you; but an affair of the last importance obliges me to leave you.'' Can you possibly,' replied the Arab, communicate to me this affair? You are a stranger in these parts; and I may perhaps be of service to you.' The courtier, reflecting with himself, that he should not be able alone to accomplish his enterprize, resolved to profit by the good offers of service made him by his host.

You shall judge,' said he, of the confidence I place in you from the importance of the secret I am going to reveal to you. Know, that Hatem has been devoted to death by Numan, king of Arabia. That prince, whose favourite I am, made choice of me to be the minister of his vengeance: but how shall his orders he executed by one who has never seen Hatem? Shew me the man, and add that benefit to those you have already heaped on me.' I promised to serve you,' answered the Arab; you shall see if I am punctual to my word: I am Hatem! and strike,' added he, laying naked his bosom: *shed my blood: and may my death keep in peace your prince who desires it; and may it procure for you your hoped-for reward! It is, however, necessary to acquaint you, that time is precious, and therefore you must not delay putting your master's orders in execution, and departing directly. The darkness of the night will screen you from the vengeance of my friends and relations. If to-morrow day-light surprises you in these quarters, destruction will pour down on your head.'

These words were as a thunderbolt to the courtier. Astonished at the blackness of his crime, and the magnanimity of him who spoke to him, he fell at his feet: God forbid,' cried he, that I should lay on you a sacrilegious hand! Though I were to incur the disgrace of my prince; though he should even put me to death; nothing shall be capable of making me incur the guilt of so much baseness. At these words, he resumed the route of the Happy Arabia.

The cruel monarch asking his favourite for Hatem's head, he related all that had happened. Numan, astonished, cried out It is with justice, O Hatem ! that thou art revered as a kind of divinity. Men, excited by a mere sentiment of generosity, may give away all their substance; but to sacrifice life is an action far surpassing humanity.'

Generosity and greatness of soul were almost hereditary in Hatem-Tai's family. After his death, the Arabs, whose chief he was, refused to embrace Islamism. The legislator Mohammed condemned them all to death; but, in memory of her father, chose to spare Hatem's daughter. That generous woman, seeing the executioners ready to strike, threw herself at Mohammed's knees, conjuring him to take away her life. Take back your fatal benefit,' said she to him; to me it would be a punishment ten thousand times more grievous than that which you design for my fellow-countrymen. Either pardon them all, or let me die with them.' Mohammed, touched by so generous a sentiment, revoked the pronounced sentence, and pardoned the whole tribe, in favour of Hatem's daughter.

Hatem-Tai being dead, his brother pretended to replace him. Cherbeka, his mother, constantly told him, that he would never equal him whose reputation was so justly merited. As, after the example of Hatem, he thought of entertaining all those who were accustomed to resort to his brother, he left standing his vast tent without any alteration. This tent had seventy doors to it. Cherbeka, having disguised herself in the garb of a poor woman, entered the tent, her face covered with a thick veil. Her son, who did not know her, gave her an alms. The same woman veiled, came in by another door; and the new benefactor, observing her to be the same, reproached her with her importunity. Then Cherbeka, taking off her veil-I was not mistaken, son,' said she, in assuring you that you would never equal Hatem. Once, to try your brother, I so disguised myself, and successively came in at the seventy doors of the same tent; and seventy times I received benefactions from him. I guessed, from your tender infancy, that your characters would be different. Your Brother Hatem would not suck, unless another child shared my breast with him you, on the contrary, while you sucked at one breast, would lay hold of the other, to keep it from any other child that might use it.

Hatem-Tai being asked if he had ever in his life met with a man more magnificent than himself Yes,' answered he: being out once on a journey, I passed near the tent of a poor Arab, who offered me hospitality without knowing me. It was late, and I was still at a distance from home. I willingly accepted the offers of that Bedouin. I saw some pigeons flying about his tent; but expected to eat rice and some eggs, the common food of the lower sort of people: I was surprised to find a plate served with one of these pigeons, which I knew to be the poor man's whole wealth: he would not even let me testify my gratitude to him; and I could no otherwise thank him, than by commending whatever he had dressed for me.'

'I was getting ready to set out the next morning, and was meditating with myself how I should best reward the generosity of my host, when I saw him come to me with ten other pigeons in his hands, whose heads he had wrung off; and he begged to accept them as the only things he had in his power. They were, in fact, all he possessed in the world. How afflicted soever I was, that he had so deprived himself of his whole wealth for my better reception, I took with me the present, which was also become very dear to me. As soon as I reached home, I sent that poor man three hundred camels and five

hundred sheep.'-What say you of generosity?' said his friends to him: 'you was more generous than that Arab. No, indeed,' replied Hatem-Tai; ⚫ for the Bedouin, who did not know who I was, had given me all his substance without any hopes of a return; and I gave him but a very small part of what I possessed, in gratitude for what I had received.'

REMARKABLE REVERSE OF FORTUNE.

A Spanish journal contains the following account of the life of M. Thurriegel, a Bavarian, the founder of the German colony in Sierra Morena.-Being employed by the French court to reconnoitre the Island of Minorca, in 1754, and passing through Sierra Morena on his way, he first conceived the plan of its population. After the death of Marshal Bellisle he became a lieutenant in the Prussian service, and raised the corps of Geschray, which the king gave him the command of; a dispute with General Geschray caused Thurriegel to be arrested and imprisoned at Magdebourg, but the corps being made prisoners, he was liberated. Discharged at the end of the war in Silesia, he was stripped by his mistress of all his jewels, money, clothes, and linen, and lived in great distress at Franckfort on the Main, where digesting his plan of colonizing Sierra Morena, he was ordered to Madrid, after his scheme was presented by the Spanish resident at Franckfort. His necessities protracted this journey till he resolved to walk to Madrid on foot, where he entered into a contract for sending six thousand colonists and four thousand soldiers from Germany to Spain. The terms were advantageous, but as no money was advanced, he sought a partner in that country to no effect, and was on that account obliged to travel back to Germany on foot, where he met with as little success.-His appearance, notwithstanding he was furnished with a large parchment signed by the King of Spain and his council, seemed continually to paint him as an empty projector, but indefatigable. After travelling from one place to another, he at length met with a patron in the person of a merchant at Lyons, in France. Being now richly provided with money, he chose Cologne as the centre of his operations, from whence the colonists being sent to Genoa, and there shipped for Barcelona, were followed by Thurriegel, who realizing sixty thousand piastres, as the condition of the contract, settled in Valencia.

ILLUSTRIOUS EXAMPLE OF THE GRATITUDE OF BONAPARTE.

A young man was passing with his regiment through Lyons, in 17—, where he fell sick and was obliged to remain at an hotel. He was very ill supplied with money, and his purse was speedily exhausted by the expense his malady occasioned him: his hostess, untouched by his destitute situation, had him carried into a granary, where all the furniture she allowed him was a palliasse and a chair, and all the sustenance, a little barley-water; refusing to call in the aid of a physician, to avoid the responsibility in which she apprehended such an additional charge might involve her. It happened that the first floor of this furnished hotel was occupied by two Genevese ladies, Madame and Mademoiselle Agiée, who had visited Lyons for the benefit of change of air they were both advanced in years, Mademoiselle Agiée being near fifty. These two ladies were clever and well informed; but, according to the

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Genevese habit, they did injustice to their real merit by a pretension to something beyond it, and a pedantry completely national. The fate of the young soldier interested all the domestics of the hotel, and the particulars of his friendless condition reached the ear of Mademoiselle Agiée through her maid, who acquainted her at the same time with the cruelty of the landlady, who threatened to send him to the hospital. The maid succeeded in awakening the sympathy of her mistress, who immediately sent for a physician, informing the hostess that she would answer all expenses, and that it was her pleasure the sick man should be removed without delay to a comfortable chamber. The humane Abigail, meanwhile, never quitted the chamber of the invalid whom she had taken so happily under her protection. Weakened by his illness, which had been so aggravated by neglect, the young soldier was in a frightful state of delirium when the physician visited him, and during the process of changing his apartment, so that, when he recovered his senses, he was greatly astonished to find himself in a well furnished chamber, and believed himself dreaming. Near his bed was his faithful nurse, whom he began to question, but who contented herself with replying that a friend, who took an interest in him, had given orders that he should be properly attended. Days, and even weeks escaped thus, till at length the young soldier, recovering his strength, insisted on being informed to whom he was indebted for so many benefits. There was in the expression of his countenance something that commanded respect, which perhaps even excited fear; the good woman named her mistress, and, with all possible delicacy, related to him the miserable circumstances in which she had found him. He entreated to see Mademoiselle Agiée, that he might lighten his heart of some of its gratitude; he was not yet able to rise, nor was he permitted to read; but he was, nevertheless, sufficiently re-instated to feel the weariness of an idle life. Mademoiselle Agiée consented to the demand of the young soldier, and paid him her first visit; she remained with him only a few moments, but promised to return and bring him books, desiring him to make his choice, and offering to read for him till he should be no longer forbidden to occupy himself. He accepted her proposal with joy, and selected the "Life of Turenne," and a book on geometry. Every day Mademoiselle Agiée passed some hours with the convalescent soldier, who listened cagerly as she read, often interrupting her to make observations, which were always just, and sometimes very striking. He did not seem easily inclined to confidence, and it was not till some time had thus elapsed, that one day, as if led on by a military ardour beyond his power to restrain, he began to speak of his projects to Mademoiselle Agiée ; she smiled as she listened to him, " In truth," said she, "I believe we shall one of these days see you a colonel." "Colonel!" replied he in a tone of indignation," I shall be a general-and perhaps―" but he interrupted himself, as if alarmed at what he was about to say, and perhaps even internally rebuking himself for what he had said. "Until now," said Mademoiselle Agiée, "I have never asked you a single question, either with regard to your country or family. By your accent, I conceive you to be a foreigner, although you belong to a French regiment." "I am a Corsican, and my name is Napoleon.' The young man was Bonaparte.

Mademoiselle Agiée every day became more and more, interested in Napoleon; and when he was entirely recovered, she equipped him, and supplied him with the money necessary to enable him to rejoin his regiment. On taking leave of his benefactress, the young man was much affected. "Believe me," said he, "I shall never forget what you have done for me! You will hear of