Page images
[ocr errors]

the following day. At the appointed hour the Frenchman came with his bags, which, having holes in the sides and near the top, suffered some dollars to be seen.

The gold being counted and weighed, he presented an empty bag, in which it was put.

Just at this moment, when the dollars were to be examined, a friend entered in great haste, and called him away on urgent business. However, he left not only the bag supposed to contain the gold, but also the bag supposed to contain the dollars, and said he would return in two hours to see them counted; desiring, in the mean time, they might be locked in the Jew's bureau.

The two hours elapsed, and the Frenchman did not make his appearance, but the Jew thought himself safe. He was unwilling to unlock the bureau till the Frenchman should be present. At length, another hour having glided away, he began to say to himself:---- Is it possible that I can have been cheated :” The very question was alarming to any man, and especially to a money changer. The first anxiety of the Jew led him to the supposed bag of gold; this he untied, and discovered that the bag containing the gold had been exchanged for one which was full of leaden counters, He scarcely needed to have enquired further; however, he opened the bag of silver, and found himself equally deceived.

He hastened to go and acquaint the police; but when he came to an outward door that led to his apartment, it was locked and bolted. The Frenchmen had post-horses prepared, and had instantly taken flight; but, when they were at a certain distance, they were

guilty of some imprudent delay; and, after the Jew had ob:ained his release, the vigilance of the pursuit was so great that the Frenchman, against whom the Jew had deposed, was taken. · During his imprisonment at Amsterdam his behaviour and abilities were equally remarkable. By the aid of burned turf and straw be drew the siege of Mantua on the walls, and Buonaparté on borseback, heading the French armies. While the executioner was whipping him, he spoke of the magistrates in the most contemptuous terms. “What,” said he, “is my crime compared to theirs? I have but cheated a Jew; a vile fellow, who has become rich by cheating; while the wretches who condemn me to this ignominious punishment have betrayed and sold their country." He was afterwards branded; and at the moment of inflicting the mark, he cried aloud, 'ite la Republiquet!

+ It must be allowed that this man was a worthy Repub. lican, and every way qualified for a distinguished command in Buonaparte's legion of honour! A worthy compagnon d'armes, and brother knight of those modern Attilas, the Jourdans, the Massenas, the Augereaus, the Brunes; who, with so much bravery and magnanimity, have desolated and plundered peace ful and defenceless countries.

Rivalem patienter habe. Ovid.
With patience bear a rival in thy love.


The demon, Jealousy, with gorgon frown,
Blasts the sweet flowers of pleasure not his own;
Rolls his wild eyes, and through the shuddering grove
Pursues the steps of unsuspecting love;
Or drives o'er rattling plains his iron car,
Flings his red torch, and lights the flames of war.
Here cocks heroic burn with rival rage,
And quails with quails in doubtful fight engage;
Of armed heels, and bristling plumage proud,
They sound th'insulting clarion, shrill and loud,
With rustling pinions meet, and swelling chests,
And seize, with closing beaks, their bleeding crests;
Rise on quick wing above the struggling foe,
And aim in air the death-devoting blow.
There the hoarse stag his croaking rival scorns,
And butts and parries with his branching horns;
Contending boars, with tusk-enamell’d, strike,
And guard with shoulder-shield the blow oblique;
White female bands attend in mute surprise,
And view the victor with admiring eyes.-
So knight on knight, recorded in romance,
Urg'd the proud steed, and couch'd th’extended lance;



imand in

ans, the so much ed peacs

* The following similies are to be reprobated as to their poetical propriety; but, in a moral sense, they energetically show the evils of jealousy, the torment and malignancy of that disorder of the heart, when deeply rooted in it.

He whose dread prowess, with resistless force,
O'erthrew th' opposing warrior and his horse;
Bless'd as the golden guerdon of his toils,
Bow'd to the beauty, and receiv'd her smiles.
So when fair Helen, with ill-fated charms,
By PARIS wood, provok'd the world to arms,
Left her vindictive lord to sigh in vain
For broken vows, lost love, and cold disdain;
Fir'd at his wrongs, associate to destroy
The realms unjust of proud adult'rous Troy,
Unnumber'd heroes brav'd the dubious fight,
And sunk, lamented, to the shades of night.

--Hominem pagina nostra sapit. --Mart.

Men and their manners I describe, The two opposite customary laws, namely, those of hospitality and revenge, are sacredly observed among the Circassian knights, as well as among most other nations of the Caucasus. The right of hospitality, which they term runak, is established on certain principles; and every person submitting to its protection is perfectly secure from all injuries. He who befriends a stranger, defends him, if occasion requires it; not only with his own blood and life, but also with that of his relatives; nor does he suffer him to depart without an equestrian escort, and delivers him to his next confederates, under such conditions that a murder or injury committed on the guest is avenged with equal severity as the death of a relation by consanguinity.

A stranger who intrusts himself to the patronage of a woman, or is able to touch with his mouth the breast of a wife, is spared and protected as a relation of the blood, though he were the enemy, nay, even the murderer, of a similar relative.

The opposite conduct, or bloody revenge, is practised with the most scrupulous adherence to custom. The murder of a family relation must be avenged by the next heir, though he should be an infant at the time when the deed was committed. Every degree of vindictive malice is exercised sooner or later, whether publicly or in a clandestine manner, to take away the life of the murderer, lest the injured party should be considered as an outcast of society: nay, this desire of revenge is hereditary in the successors and the whole tribe: it remains as it were rooted with so much rancour, that the hostile princes or nobles of two different tribes, when they meet each other on the road, or accidentally in another place, are compelled to fight for their lives, unless they have given previous notice to each other, and bound themselves to pursue a different route. Among the Circassians the spirit of revenge is so great, that all the relations of the murderer are considered as guilty. This customary infatuation to avenge the blood of relatives, generates most of the feuds, and occasions great bloodshed among all the nations of the Caucasus; for, unless pardon be purchased, or obtained by intermarriage between the two families, the principle of revenge is propagated to all succeeding generations. The hatred which the mountainous nations evince against the Russians, in a great measure arises from the same source. If the thirst of vengeance is

« PreviousContinue »