fions the entertained left her fuccef- The young wife never forgot the refpect, efteem, and affection which he owed to the elder as her benefactrefs: the days of this conjugal trio glided happily away, and nobody took offence at their extraordinary union. for in the conjugal bed fhould ill-treat her motherlefs infants; he begged and conjured her husband, now that the was going to leave him, to marry the young and robuft Rotina, who had always been a faithful fervant to them both, and cheerfully performed whatever was required of her. The hufband regarded this propofal of his. fick wife as the effect of impaired intellects, but as the infifted that he fhould fwear to fulfill her withes, he, to pleafe her, took an oath to that purpose Two days afterwards, the patient, diftrufting her husband's fincerity, called him and Rofina ro her, bed, and told the latter that the intended to unite her in marriage with the man whom the herfelf was about to leave a widower; exhorting her, at the fame time, to be faithful to him, to love him, and to take great care of his children and his domeltic concerns. The good natured Rofina promifed, weeping, to do whatever the required. The fick woman united them herfelf, made them both take the matrimonial vow, and obliged them immediately to put the feal to their new contract to pievent the poffibility of their receding. Having accomplied this bufineis to her fatisfaction, the patient gradually grew better; but the hufband, whofe fight the new wife had found favour, told his former partner on her recovery, that fince the had obliged him to marry Rotina, he was determined not to forfake her as long as the lived. The former, fo far, from being difpleafed, was, on the contrary, highly delighted with this refolution, and embraced her husband, and by her careffes, teflified the warmest approbation. No mifunderstanding was ever known to arife between thefe two wives. The fecond bore feveral children, to which the firft thewed as much tendernefs as to her own, and paid the utmost attention to the mother in her lying-m. Female Intrepidity. LUCRETIA GRENVILLE was betrothed to Francis, duke of Buckingham, at the time he fell in battle, by the hand of Cromwell himself, and upon receiving intelligence of the melancholy event, the fwore to revenge his death on the murderer.--During the three fucceeding years fhe exercifed herself with piftols in firing at a portrait of Cromwell, which the had felected as a mark, that the might not be awed by the fight of the original; and, as foon as the found herself perfect, the fought an opportunity of gratifying her revenge. But Cromwell feldom appeared in public, and when he did, it was with fuch precaution, that few could approach his perfon. An occafion, at length occurred: the city of London refolved to give a magnificent banquet in honour of the protector, who either from vanity, or with a political view, determined to make his entrance into London in all the fplendour of royalty.Upon this being made public, the curiofity of all ranks was excited; and Lucretia Grenville refolved not to neglect fo favourable an opportunity. Fortune herfslf feemed to fecond her purpote; for it fo happened, that the procellion was appointed to proceed through the very treet in which the refided, and a balcony before the first ftory of her houie yielded her full fcope for putting her long premeditated deflign into effect. On the appointed day the feated herfelf, with feveral other fenele companions, in the balcony, having on this occafion, for the first time ince her her lover's death, caft off her mourning, and attired herfelf in the moft fumptuous apparel. It was not with out the greatest exertions that the concealed the violent emotion under which the laboured; and when the increafing preffure of the crowd indicated the approach of Cromwell, it became fo ftrong that the nearly faint ed, but, however, 1ecovered just as the ufurper arrived within a few paces of the balcony. Haftily drawing the pistol from under hier garment, the fearlessly took her aim, and fired; but a fudden fart which the lady who fat next to her made, onbeholding the weapon, gave it a different direction from that which was intended, and the ball ftriking the horse rode by Henry the protector's fon, it was laid dead at his feet. This circumftance immediately arrested the progrefs of the cavalcade, and Cromwell, at the fame time that he caft a fierce look at the balcony, beheld a fingular fpectacle. Above twenty females were upon their knees, imploring his mercy, with uplifted hands, whilft one only ftood undaunted in the midst of them, and looking down contemptuoufly on the ufurper, exclaimed, 1yrant, it was I who dealt the blow; nor thould I reft fatisfied with killing a horfe inflead of a tiger, were I not convinced that ere another twelvemonth has elapfed, Heaven will grant another that fuccefs which it has denied to me.' The multitude, actuated more by fear than love, were preparing to level the houfe to the ground, when Cromwell cried aloud, with the most artful fangfraid, Defift, my friends! ales! poor woman, the knows not what he does,' and purfued his courfe but afterwards caufed Lucretia to be arrested, and confined in a mad-house. Refutions on Iron. THE vegetable kingdom fupplies man with food and clothing, and the animal kingdom furnithes him with the fame. The mineral kingdom affords him implements for feparating bodies and joining them together, means of fecurity, and weapons of defence. Man deftroys the animal and vegetable kingdom. The mineral kingdom, to which nature has affigned no particular form, is not destroyed by man, but deftroys him; for he himfelf employs it for his deftruction.-Steel protects against fteel.The helmet and the thield defend the head and breast against the sword and the arrow; but not against the death-dealing bomb, or the bullet of lead difcharged by the force of kindled powder from the murderous tube. For this reafon the helmet and the thield are no longer retained in thefe days of death and defolation, but are thrown afide as an unneceffa, ry burden to the warrior. The engines of destruction have gained the victory over those destined for protection. With the aug mented powers of the former, thofe of the latter have not been able to keep pace. The helmet and the fhield are thrown atide, but nothing has been fubftituted in their stead. Iron revenges on man the havoc which he makes in the animal and vegetable world. The foft wool c the theep clothes him. The trunks of the trees, though he has cut them. down, afford him a convenient ha bitation, and fcreen him from the wind and the rain. But iron, which he has himself forged for his own deftruction, dafhes him in pieces and kills him. In the hand of man, iron is at once the most useful and the mot dangerous of fubftances. Deftruction is invariably its principal object. By the axe the tree and the ox are felled; by the faw the internal compofition of the former is deftroyed; by the knife the organization of the animal Man who admires this wonderful concatenation of things, who takes a comprehenfive furvey of their action and counteraction, their origin and annihilation, is at a loss what a final refult to draw from thefe circumflances. The various relations of things to each other again operate on his powers of reflection and involuntarily fet them in activity. He thinks, and thinks, and imagines that he has difcovered fomething, but it almoft feems as if nothing but the fibres of his brain were fet in motion; for, at laft, the fole fruit of his fpeculations is a play of the ideas. Extraordinary Inftance of Intrepidity in a Young Naval Officer. AMONG the young officers who affembled a few days ago at the navy office, to pafs their examination for lieutenants, a mr. William Pearfe prefented himself for that purpofe.His certificates from his late commanding officers attracted every one's attention; as it appeared to them that he had, more than twenty times, rifked his life to fave thofe of his fellow creatures, by leaping overboard after thofe who had fallen into the fea in gales of wind, and when the fhip was going at a great rate; and that he had had the fingular good fortune, by thefe means, of faving the lives of a dozen seamen. The crew of his majeity's fhip Foudroyant had generously prefented him with a handfome fword, on which his fortunate exertions in preferving the lives of three of their fhipmates are exprefsly engraven. Mr. Pearfe went through his examination before fir R. Barlow, &c. with much credit to himself, and with the praifes and approbation of every one then present. On the day following he was prefented to the admiralty, and, through the medium of a fhort memorial and his fword, his character was -made known to lord Mulgrave. His lordfhip was fo pleafed with the extraordinary intrepidity and zeal of the young man in the cause of humanity, that he immediately prefented him with lieutenant's commiffion. Mr. Pearfe is a native of Con wall, and not yet twenty-two years of age. der through Racine, miftake Tafto, fit ftill at Virgil, and tear Homer in a pet; fhe fhall decline nouns like a fchoolboy, and conjugate verbs like a boarding-fchool mits; the fhall, laftly, be able to write effays with little labour, and compofe fonnets on love extempore, On the contrary, a domeftic woman is, according to my motto, one who ftudies Houfehold good, and in her husband good works to promote.' She is neither the enthufiaft of Homer, nor the defciple of Plato. It is of little confequence to her whether Shakespeare he fpelt with or without the e; whether Virgil had an asthma, or Horace rheumatic eyes. She is happy if the can render her hufband fo and her offspring. She asks no feraph's wing, no angel's fire, To be, contents her natural defire." In her domeftic fphere of action fhe finds fufficient opportunities to gratify her heart with innocent recréations; and the leaves thofe ftudies, fuited only to the conceptions of man, which would draw her afide from her duty and obedience.* But this character I fhall draw more largely in its proper place, while we proceed to confider that of the literary woman. feelings of a man. How rarely or how frequently foever this may occur, it is not my prefent intention to inteftigate. I thall only point out here the impoffibility of a woman. given to literary purfuits to fulfill the facred functions of a wife and mo ther. Every man knows that the happinefs of marriage confifts as much in the performance of thofe many little nameless attentions, as in the mere immediate acts of duty. It would be idle and frivolous to infift here upon the common obfervations, that man cannot be truly happy without murual intercourfe with the female fex.If we consider why this is, the reafon will inftantly ftrike us. In the allotments of Providence, man is placed in a scale of being wherein The labours woman cannot appear. of ftuddy, &c. are altogether incomof the field, of war, of commerce, patible with feminine weakness. All the wonders of art proceed from the labours of man! Our churches, temples, bridges, monuments, all are the effect of man's progreffive informed for fuch laborious exercises. duftry. Hence our natures are more And herein the wife defigns of ProviShe who binds herself by the moft What, if we were equally adapted for dence are wonderfully exemplified.— folemn vows to a man for life, and the nurfery, the workroom, or the invokes the Almighty to ratify thofe vows, fhould tremble how the dares violate them. She binds her felf in the prefence of God and man, to obey, ferve, love, and honour him, to keep him in fickness and in health, and, forfaking all other, keep only unto him! What more folemn proteftations can be made? Every excufe would be infufficient to palliate a breach in them, but one--when the hufband, forfaling the laws of nature and reafon, acts towards her without the N 0 TE. I think I fee fome of my female readers bufily employed in razing out there two edious words, and fubftituting in their fad, quill and inclination. kitchen! What, if we were anxithofe feveral places! How mean and ous to perform the feveral duties of contemptible compared with our prefent noble occupations! Who would rather purfue fuch than the fublime rather be thus employed, than to br• refearches into nature? Who would hold fructures of magnificence from themfelves beneath their hands, and fcience opening her treafures to their view? Why then was woman given to man? To perform thote dues for which they are peculiarly qualified by nature. To foften our native ruggednels; to footuc our minds in harmo ny, and to divide with us the toils of life. She was not given to act be- here below: Oh woman! lovely woman! If every woman would confider how facred are their duties in the marriage ftate, how they offend againft God in neglecting them, and how allo they incur the cenfure and contempt of mankind by fuch neglect, there would, I conceive, be wanting no arguments to perfuade them to a ftrict difcharge of thofe duties. Can we contemplate in nature a more grand or pleafing object than a wo man exerciting hertelf in the double character of a wife and mother? Can there, in the whole fcale of exiftence, occur a more noble, a more exalted fphere of action? Where can a woman fhine with fo much luftre as in the bofom of her family? Where do fo many occations offer themfelves for the difplay of every virtue under Heaven? How delightful is the talk to inftil into the phant mind of infancy the first principles of love, piety, benevolence, juftice, and charity! To fafhion under your hands, perhaps, the future faviour of his country. What pen can defcribe the complicated feelJune, 1803 ings of a mother, when her infant joy rifes to manhood, and grows, alle that her most fanguine hopes could with, or enthufiaftic imagination form. Hail, happy mother! who thus reapeth the harveft of thy troubles! She, joyful, fees all thofe virtues in perfection, which coft her fo many anxious hours to engraft. She fees him efteemed by his fuperiors, beloved by his equals, and refpected by his inferiors. She beholds him ennobled and dignified by the exercife A of manly and unerring virtue. woman capable of rearing fuch a fon, who can tell her joys? They are endlefs! She hourly receives new gratifications from objects apparently trivial! To fmooth the pillow of languid illness warms her heart with rapture! To pour balm into the agonized bofom of woe exalts her into extacy! To dry the tears of fuffering innocence, to ftrain to her bofom the victim of defpair, to exhilirate with joy the child of penury, and to invigorate with health the corrupted with dileafe, fit her for Heaven and her God! Can fuch blifs become the inmate of Fauftina's heart? No. In her the feelings of a wite, a mother, and a friend, are blotted out by fuch fuperficial ones as are the effect of books. She would faint at the ideaof leaving her dear authors to attend the bed of fickness or miferies of poverty. She never felt thofe fublime emotions which arife from contemplating the glow of convalefcence in a hufband, in a child, or in a friend !— She never watched with more anguifh the languid heaven-bent eye of departing life-never frothed its terrors-never whispered redemption and a world to come! Could the clafp in the agony of affliction the cold clammy hand of death, prefs its bloodlefs lips, or weep upon its mute inactive lineaments? Could the by the tender offices of love huth the departing foul, and quell its flutterings? Could the wipe the drops of agony 2 X which |
