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in return, they gave us poison. The white people having now found our country, tidings were sent back, and more came amongst us; yet we did not fear them. We took them to be friends: they called us brothers; we believed them, and gave them a larger seat. At length their numbers so increased, that they wanted more land: they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened, and we became uneasy. Wars took place; Indians were hired to fight against Indians; and many of our people were destroyed. They also distributed liquor amongst us, which has slain thousands.

Brother! Once our seats were large, and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but, not satisfied, you want to force your religion upon us.

Brother! Continue to listen. You say you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, and that if we do not take hold of the religion which you teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. How do we know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in a book. If it was intended for us as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given it to us; and not only to us, but why did he not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that book, with the means of rightly understanding it? We only know what you tell us about it, and having been so often deceived by the white people, how shall we believe what they say?

Brother! You say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agree, as you can all read the book?

Brother! We do not understand these things: we are told that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us: it teaches us to be thankful for all favours received, to love each other, and to be united: we never quarrel about religion.

Brother! The Great Spirit made us all; but he has made a great difference between his white and his red children: he has given us different complexions and different customs. To you he has given the arts; to these he has not opened our eyes. Since he has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may he not have

given us a different religion? The Great Spirit does right: he knows what is best for his children.

Brother! We do not want to destroy your religion, or to take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own.

Brother! We are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbours. We will wait a little, and see what effect your preaching has had upon them. If we find it makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again of what you have said.

Brother! You have now heard our answer, and this is all we have to say at present. As we are about to part, we will come and take you by the hand and we hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey, and return you safe to your friends."

:

LESSON XXXIII.

Dialogue between Mercury, an English duellist, and a North American Savage.-DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD.

Duellist.

MERCURY, Charon's boat is on the other side of the water; allow me, before it returns, to have some conversation with the North American Savage, whom you brought hither at the same time that you conducted me to the shades. I never saw one of that species before, and am curious to know what the animal is. He looks very grim.-Pray, Sir, what is your name? I understand you speak English.

Savage. Yes, I learned it in my childhood, having been bred up for some years in the town of New-York: but before I was a man, I returned to my countrymen, the valiant Mohawks, and having been cheated by one of yours in the sale of some rum, I wished never to have any thing to do with them afterwards. Yet, with the rest of my tribe, I took up the hatchet for them in the war against France, and was killed while I was upon a scalping party. But 1 died very well satisfied; for my friends were victorious, and before I was shot I had scalped seven men and five women and children. In a former war I had done still greater exploits. My name is the Bloody Bear: it was given me to denote my fierceness and valour.

Duellist. Bloody Bear, I respect you, and am much your

humble servant. My name is Tom Pushwell, very well known at Arthur's. I am a gentleman by birth, and by profession a gamester, and a man of honour. I have killed men in fair fighting, in honourable single combat, but I do not understand cutting the throats of women and children.

Savage. Sir, that's our way of making war. Every nation has its own customs. But, by the grimness in your countenance, and that hole in your breast, I presume you were killed, as I was myself, in some scalping party. How happened it that your enemy did not take off your scalp?

Duellist. Sir, I was killed in a duel. A friend of mine had lent me some money; after two or three years, being himself in great want, he asked me to pay him; I thought his demand an affront to my honour, and sent him a challenge. We met in Hyde Park; the fellow could not fence; I was the most adroit swordsman in England. I gave him three or four wounds; but at last he ran upon me with such impetuosity that he put me out of my play, and I could not prevent him from whipping me through the lungs. I died the next day, as a man of honour should, without any snivelling signs of repentance; and he will follow me soon, for his surgeon has declared his wounds to be mortal. said that his wife is dead of her fright, and that his family of seven children will be undone by his death. So I am well revenged; and that is a comfort. For my part I had no wife. I always hated marriage.

It is

Savage. Mercury, I won't go in a boat with that fellow. He has murdered his countryman; he has murdered his friend. I say I won't go in a boat with that fellow, I will swim over the river; I can swim like a duck.

Mercury. Swim over the Styx! it must not be done it is against the laws of Pluto's empire. You must go in the boat, so be quiet.

Savage. Do not tell me of laws; I am a savage! I value no laws. Talk of laws to the Englishman; there are laws in his country, and yet you see he did not regard them, for they could never allow him to kill his fellow-subject in time of peace, because he asked him to pay a debt. The English cannot be so brutal as to make such things lawful.

Mercury. You reason well against him. But how comes it that you are so offended with murder: you who have massacred women in their sleep, and children in their cradles?

Savage. I killed none but my enemies; I never killed

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my own countryman; I never killed my friend. Here, take my blanket and let it come over in the boat, but see that the murderer does not sit upon it or touch it; if he does I will burn it in the fire I see yonder. Farewell. I am resolved to swim over the water.

Mercury. By this touch of my wand I take all thy strength from thee. Swim now if thou canst.

Savage. This is a very potent enchanter. Restore me my strength, and I will obey thee.

Mercury. I restore it; but be orderly and do as I bid you, otherwise worse will befall you.

Duellist. Mercury, leave him to me, I will tutor him for you. Sirrah, Savage, dost thou pretend to be ashamed of my company? Dost thou know that I have kept the best company in England?

Savage. I know thou art a scoundrel! Not pay thy debts kill thy friend who lent thee money, for asking thee for it! Get out of my sight, or I will drive thee into the Styx.

Mercury. Stop, I command thee. No violence. Talk to him calmly.

What

Savage. I must obey thee.-Well, Sir, let me know what merit you had, to introduce you into good company. could you do?

Duellist. Sir, I gamed as I told you. Besides that, I kept a good table.-I ate as well as any man in England or France.

Savage. Eat! Did you ever eat the chine of a Frenchman, or his leg, or his shoulder? There is fine eating! I have eaten twenty.-My table was always well served. My wife was the best cook for dressing man's flesh in all North America. You will not pretend to compare your eating with mine.

Duellist. I danced very finely.

Savage. I will dance with thee for thy ears. I can dance all day long. I can dance the war dance, with more spirit and vigour than any man of my nation; let us see thee begin it. How thou standest like a post! Has Mercury struck thee with his enfeebling rod; or art thou ashamed to betray thy awkwardness? If he would permit me, I would teach thee to dance in a way that thou hast not yet seen. I would make thee caper and leap like a buck. But what else canst thou do, thou bragging rascal ?

Duellist. Oh, heavens! must I bear this? What can

I do with this fellow? I have neither sword nor pistol; ani his shade seems to be twice as strong as mine.

Mercury. You must answer his questions. It was your own desire to have a conversation with him. He is not wellbred, but he will tell you some truths which you must hear in this place. It would have been well for you if you had heard them above. He asked of you what you could do besides eating and dancing?

Duellist. I sang very agreeably.

· Savage. Let me hear you sing your death-song, or the war-whoop. I challenge you to sing;-the fellow is mute. -Mercury, this is a liar. He tells us nothing but lies. Let me pull out his tongue.

Duellist. The lie given me !-and, alas! I dare not resent it. Oh, what a disgrace to the family of the Pushwells!

Mercury. Here, Charon, take these two savages to your care. How far the barbarism of the Mohawk will excuse his horrid acts, I leave Minos to judge; but what excuse can the Englishman plead? The custom of duelling? An excuse this, that in these regions cannot avail. The spirit that made him draw his sword in the combat against his friend, is not the spirit of honour; it is the spirit of the furies, of Alecto herself. To her he must go, for she has long dwelt in his merciless bosom.

Savage. If he is to be punished, turn him over to me. 1 understand the art of tormenting. Sirrah,* I begin with this kick, as a tribute to your boasted honour. Get you into the boat, or I will give you another. I am impatient to have you condemned.

Duellist. Oh my honour, my honour, to what infamy art thou fallen!

LESSON XXXIV.

The mice.-FENELON.

A MOUSE, weary of living in the continual alarm attendant on the carnage committed among her nation by Mitis and Rodilardus, thus addressed herself to the tenant of a hole near her own.

"An excellent thought, has just come into my head :—I *Pronounced Sar'rah.

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