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truth. He was alarmed visibly. he exclaimed, but with inconceivable composure the frivolous girl interrupted him: Callias, yes your faithful Callias it is, who could not possibly hear of the danger of his master without convincing himself of it. With these words she stood by his bed. He took her hand. I saw him blushing and growing pale again, I saw the glowing looks she cast upon him, the happy intoxication with which his bright eye was gliding over the charming form and with rapture dwelt on the beautiful features before him. Then I heard him thanking her, with deeply affected voice, for her kindness, and the terror that first had chained me to the spot, melted into wild sorrow. A violent sobbing so overwhelmed me, that the happy couple, surprised, looked round at me. I fled. Oh! God! thus end my hopes!"

Two hours later.

"I had intended not to see him again-to enter his room no more. I would have adhered to my resolution, but Tabitha was busy with another sick person, when Heliodorus came to visit Agathocles in the evening, and thus I was obliged to go along with him to render some little assistance.

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Our occupation was not yet finished, when the fine young man entered who on the previous evening had evinced so much sympathy for Agathocles. The eyes of the patient flashed with joy. Constantine' he exclaimed, and the stranger clung to his breast. Long they held each other embraced. . That then was Constantine, the son of the occidental Cæsar, who once had saved Agathocles' life. Now I could explain his sympathy of last night. How endeared did he become to me by this love! How gladly would I have sunk to his feet, to thank him for the life of his friend! Thus, then, do I still love him! Thus, then, this flame will never become extinct! Thus, then, no levity, no grievance, is able to heal me! Oh I am weak even to contemptibility. I condemn myself for it; but I can-I cannot help it. Deeply with my existence, with the finest threads of my life, this love is intertwined,—only with. them will it be severed. O do not be angry with me, Junia! I fly soonsoon to you!"

THEOPHANIA TO JUNIA MARCELLA.

Nicomedia, 26th February, 303. "What awaits me! To what dreadful step will the rugged Heliodorus force me! I am to discover myself to Agathocles, now, under these circumstances, and without delay! If I refuse to do so, in a suitable manner,he has threatened to go himself, and without regard to my feelings,-for what are love and delicacy to such austere virtue-to tell it straightforward. What is left to me ?"

Some hours later.

"Like an angel sent from God, suddenly the thought has come to me, to address myself to the noble Constantine. He is Agathocles' friend; he cannot be wanting in that delicacy which the treatment of this relation requires. I shall write to him: my letter will contain my preservation in Trachene, my liberation by Heliodorus, my sojourn in Synthium, in Nicaea, and the reasons which hitherto have guided my actions. Constantine would not be so noble as fame and features proclaim him to be, if he had no feeling for my situation, no firm will to solve the painful relation between us, in such a manner as is best for his friend and for me. He knows his heart, he will be able to judge of the effect which this discovery must have upon him. Oh, if he-I shall pressingly entreat him so if he could arrange it so, that Agathocles himself would be satisfied never to see me again! It is a dreadful idea! I conceive its necessity, but still I tremble at it. I cannot yet embrace it entirely.—Never!”

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With the certainty that I am to see him no more, I have yesterday and to-day enjoyed the sole happiness left to me. To enter his room I dared no more, since eight days ago Calpurnia's visit drove me from it. Tabitha has undertaken the care of him: I, in return, wait upon her patients; but in the adjoining room I linger as long as I am able. There I hear him breathing, speaking, sighing,-ah! for whom? It is a painful enjoyment, but it is my sole, my last! Soon I shall be obliged to renounce even this! Then his voice

will waken no more a thousand sweet feelings and recollections in my breast, -then I shall have no more care to bestow upon him, then all, all is lost! Oh, Junia!

Perhaps I shall follow this letter soon: by to-morrow my fate is decided! -I come quickly, quickly !"

THEOPHANIA TO JUNIA MARCELLA.

Nicomedia, 28th Febr. 303.

“Junia! Junia! I am happy, I am inexpressibly happy! Why can 1 not give wings to my letter, to let you this moment share my joy! I am happy, I am so entirely happy, that I fear nothing but the excess; for it is impossible that my bliss should maintain itself long in this strength and purity. Hear then the joyful tidings, and rejoice with me as heartily as hitherto you have heartily grieved with me.”

Here she proceeds to relate her interview with Constantine, to whom she has delivered the letter mentioned in her last communication to Junia Marcella. Early the following morning the prince visits Agathocles. The particulars of his interview, and the effect of his tidings upon the patient our readers may anticipate. Then the letter continues :

"I was awakened by Heliodorus' voice, which sternly called to me: "The ophania, follow me! Agathocles desires to see you! I tottered, hardly was I able to obey him. Oh, what decision was I going to hear!

At the opened door I stood hesitating. Heliodorus drew me into the apartment. I know not what happened to me,-heaven and earth had vanished from my senses :-then a voice of most heartfelt love awakened me. 'Larissa, my Larissa!' cried Agathocles. I looked up, I saw him bent far forward, stretching his arms towards me, as if he would rush to meet me. Larissa!' he called once more. Now all was forgotten. I flew to his breast, I

knew nothing more of the world, I knew nothing but that I was loved! My joy was quickly changed into terror. Agathocles lay pallid, with his eyes closed, in my arms. I cried for help: then he raised his eye, and fixed a look upon me. Ah, Junia! all heaven was in this look! "You live,' began he now after a while, you live,you are free, you are mine!""

It hardly will be necessary to add, that Agathocles then leads his beloved Larissa to the altar. With the marriage, ordinary writers would, as usual, have concluded the story; but Madame Pichler's Agathocles is more than a lover, he is an hero, a Christian hero. The lofty ideas he and Constantine have conceived, to raise the Christian religion upon the tottering ruins of Polytheism, remain yet to be brought into action. Diocletian abdicates: Galerius is proclaimed successor to the Augustus. Meanwhile every thing has been secretly prepared by Constantine to raise his standard in the West. But spies betray his plans, he is overtaken in Chalcedon, brought back to Nicomedia, and cast into prison. His death is determined on: with him all the grand prospects of the Christians would have vanished, perhaps, for ever. Agathocles resolves to die for him. He bribes the guard, enters the prison, and prevails on the prince to fly, disguised in his dress. Galerius infuriated at Constantine's escape, knows no mercy: Larissa's husband falls a victim of his friendship for the preserver of his life and his faith, and a martyr for his religion. She retires with her children into solitude.

These extracts will, we trust, convince our readers, that Madame Pichler is an authoress above the common level of novelists; but having already occupied so much space with translations, we must, for the present, refrain from commenting any further upon her merits and works, and defer this to some future occasion.

HYMN TO EVENING.

Εσπερε παντα φερεις ιμέροιντα.SAPPHO,

Hail sweetest Eve! All pleasant things are thine;
The social meal, the spirit-stirring wine;

Th' unutter'd joy which thrills the mother's breast,
As on it sinks her smiling babe to rest.

All hail, sweet Eve! How grateful is thy close
To him who toils-how sweet is his repose:
So feels the peasant when the day is done,
Greeting with silent hymn the setting sun.
E'en storm-nurs'd seamen on their native main
Bless in their hearts thy brief and gentle reign,
In cities too, the industrious artizan

Bound to one spot from morning's earliest dawn,
Earns with more cheerfulness his scanty fee,

Sweetening the long day's toil with thoughts of thee!
With thoughts of thee, and of his own lov'd home,
Whither Restraint, his demon, cannot come ;
But where Affection's cup, full to the brim,
And unexhausted ever, waits for him!

All hail, sweet Eve! Where deserts outstretch'd lie
Beneath the ardour of a cloudless sky,

Droops the faint traveller in the mid-day blaze,

And shrinks before the Sun's relentless gaze,

And dreams of springs that from the sand-hills burst,
And long-long draughts to slake his burning thirst :
But oh, how leaps his very heart to see

The lengthening shadow promise give of thee.

All hail, sweet Eve! What joys fond lovers feel,

When from the mocking crowd's rude gaze they steal

To roam unseen thro' forests' twilight shade,

Or by the unruffled stream, or loud cascade,

Το gaze in silence on thy silv'ry star,

Which seems to smile upon them from afar,

While drunk of heart they own Love's twin-born power-
Deep feelings murmuring forth-sweet evening hour!

All hail, sweet Eve! There is an unmark'd grave,
O'er which the dark-leav'd mourners sadly wave;
Tall weeds and o'er-fed grass grow heavily there,
And you may hardly breathe the still dull air-
That spot is dear to me as the warm sun-
Oh! not a leaf but I have wept upon!
No wild-flow'r of the spot, whose darksome hue
Tells of the tainted ground, now drinks the dew,
But lives within my heart for aye to be
Water'd by tears of saddest memory!

Sweet evening hour! I bless thy glad return,
In secret o'er that narrow mound to mourn;

Far from the crowd-the vain, the cold, the gay,
To bend me o'er that fondly-cherish'd clay,
And in thy ear alone to pour-apart,
The lone, sear'd hope of my forsaken heart!
All hail, sweet Eve! Sweet Eve all hail again!
The Sun is set-the Stars are met-Amen.

ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AMERICA.

NO. II. THE DOLPHIN.

It was late one evening when, after spending the day ashore, I went down to the beach with the intention of going on board the Dolphin. I found Seyton before me, loitering along the strand, and waiting for a boat for which he had given orders in the morning. We were for some time together, owing to some unexpected delay in the arrival of the boat, and we spent our time in conversing on some information which had reached us that day, and which was of much importance to the service in which we were engaged. I was glad of this opportunity of conversing alone with Seyton, as it enabled me to draw from him an account of the manner in which he first got possession of the Dolphin, which was then lying at anchor within sight of the spot where we were walking. I had often heard allusions made to it, and was anxious to ascertain the particulars from Seyton himself, for though I had joined that sloop, which was under his command, and been a good deal with him, and had entered into all the amusements and usual pursuits, and had a part in some of the adventures of him and his companions, I yet never knew all the particulars of the manner in which he obtained that beautiful sloop, I was therefore well pleased when I prevailed on him to give me a detailed account of that adventure.

“Well,” said he, "as it will illustrate the kind of roving and reckless life we have been leading, it may perhaps have some little interest for you who have so lately joined us, and are yet unacquainted with our habits. We had been at anchor for some weeks a few miles from Santara, and were obliged to have recourse to every kind of amusement, hitherto known or unknown, that we could possibly command to lessen and enliven the dull monotony of a ship at anchor, under a vertical VOL. I.

sun, for, though we were in almost daily expectation of the arrival of our friends, for we were then proposing to attack Alanzos, and though we were on that account in a state of some excitement at the prospect of some active work, yet our time on board was on the whole a very dull and heavy concern. We used therefore almost every day to make up a party and go ashore to wander among the woods, or shoot the little game that we could find there, and this, as having something of variety in it, was preferable to the stupid tedium of lounging about the deck. On one of these occasions our party was very numerous, as we proposed to visit a very beautiful waterfall at some distance in the woods, and Mrs. B., of whom you have often heard among us, accompanied us; she had obtained the consent of her husband, Captain B., and took possession of my arm as her selected guardian on the occasion; as I always felt quite conscious that her society heightened the enjoy ment I experienced in such wild wanderings, I felt much sincere pleasure in finding myself visiting with her the very beautiful and romantic scene which was the object of our ramble. Nothing very unusual occurred during our ramble, which occupied the greater portion of the day, till, after being much gratified and afterwards much wearied, we returned to the beach, where we expected to find our boats in readiness to take us on board our ship, for we had desired them to come for us before sunset.

As the evening gun had already been fired and it was now dusk, we were a good deal disappointed at finding that the boats had not yet arrived, and as we waited on the beach and looked out to seaward for them, we grew somewhat anxious for their arrival, feeling that it would be very far from pleasant to be obliged to spend our

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night in the woods of that wild and lonely place. While we were in this state of suspense night came rapidly on and still no boats arrived. Our party soon divided into several smaller groups and wandered along the beach, to while away the time as they best might, and in this state some hours /passed away and still no boats arrived. It was now so late that it was thought prudent to make some preparation for remaining the night there, as it now appeared to be no very improbable event, and as we recollected having passed by a small Indian hut about a quarter of a mile in the wood, it was suggested by Mrs. B. that we should take shelter in it till morning, or at least till our boats should arrive; we immediately acted on this suggestion, and were not long in finding the hut, which was inhabited by only two aged and very feeble old men. We stated our circumstances and were received with evident kindness; they immediately made a large fire in the centre of the hut, which, as the night was cold, was very acceptable, and they then brought a thick mat and kindly gave it to me for Mrs. B. to lie down on. I placed it in a corner, and though at first she was a little fearful, yet her timidity was soon removed by my promising to keep strict watch and ward over her in case she should fall asleep, she then lay down and was almost immediately asleep, for she was much wearied with the length of the day's rambling. The rest of our party seated themselves round the fire or

stretched themselves at full length along the floor, and many of them were soon asleep, while Calcraft and myself agreed, in compliance with the wishes of Mrs. B. to act as sentinels on the occasion, we therefore paraded before the hut for a long time, occasionally strolling towards the beach, to ascertain whether our boats had arrived. In this state we spent above an hour, and having seen how peaceably all matters were proceeding outside the hut, we proposed to have a look at the inside.

"The appearance of the interior of the hut was singular at that moment. We had left a large wood-fire blazing strongly and brightly on the floor, so as to fully illuminate the entire apartment; it had now almost wholly burned out, and very little remained except the large and glowing pieces of charcoal which were still red, but had

ceased to emit any flame; they threw around them on every object a deep red colouring that gave a very striking appearance to the persons who surrounded it. We had left our friends all awake and conversing on various subjects, when we first left them to look out during the night, and we now found them, without a single exception, either sleeping or dosing in some one position or another; some were still sitting, others were in a reclining posture, while the greater portion were stretched at full length on the floor, and as the red light of the glowing wood fell on their faces and persons, it had a very peculiar effect; indeed, the large mustachoes of some, and the glittering uniform of others, the plain and unadorned sailor's dress of a few, and the belts, and swords, and pistols, and fowling-pieces of more, when shone on by that peculiar light, gave them the appearance of a sleeping banditti, rather than a party of gentlemen, so that Calcraft and myself felt considerably amused as we entered the hut. It was no part of the object of our visit to speak to any of them, and we therefore were not disposed to awake or disturb them, and so were returning again to the open air, when I wished-it was a thought that just crossed my mind-to see whether my friend, Mrs. B., was comfortable on her little Indian mat; so I returned, and stepping towards the corner where she lay, stumbled over one of our young men, who was stretched at full length exactly in my way, and was not visible to me in the feeble light; I fell flat on my face, and was some moments before I regained my footing; in the mean time he started up, and springing on his feet, proved to be the coarse and savage Johnston: he had been dreaming of an attack, and being thus roused, cursed and swore, as usual, in his furious fashion; the accident had wellnigh proved a fatal one for me, for he was in a towering passion, and having drawn his sword, was cutting me down before I had time to draw and defend myself, when Calcraft, who was always as quick as lightning wherever swords were seen, saw my danger, and springing forward, received on his own weapon, the blow that was aimed at me. All this was the work of a moment; and before another instant pas

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