ith a fword and a brace of good the chair. Here, my lord,' faid ftols, went to Somerfet-houfe, and the old man, here are copies of the und there a man, who, without fales of three of the principal feats eaking made him a fign, to follow belonging to your ancestors, which m: after walking for about an your great grand-father fold, or rabur, they came into a street almost ther pretended to fell, during the trounpty, where the conductor knock bles. Here are alfo letters of the at the door of a fmail old houfe: pretended buyers, by which you may hen it was opened, he faid, walk immediately recover the eftates on my lord, and the door was thut your arrival in Scotland. Precaution them. The intrepid nobleman, ons have been taken to prevent any lding his fword in one hand and a difputes. What was his lordships ftol in the other, went up the aftonishment when he saw these ircafe and entered a room; the three contracts of eftates, which he rniture of which feemed very knew formerly belonged to his house: cient. Come in, my lord, (faid faint voice iffuing from a bed) me in, you have nothing to ar; pray fit down in a chair near y bed, and we will converfe toge. r. Very well,' faid lord Stair; ut make hafte and tell me the rea1 of this odd adventure.' 'You hafty my lord, but have patice lay down your arms; take it feat, and come and look at me.' is lordship, surprised at fuch authoative commands, to which he was le accustomed, got up, took the np, went to the bed, and remained ipified at the fight of an old man, le and thin, with a long white ard, and whose eyes were inftantly ed upon him. Look at me, my 'd,' faid he, I am still alive, I ve to you the only true pleafure I ve tafted these many, many years. ge and misfortunes, have they enely effaced the marks of one who nearly related to you, and who delighted to find in you features ich are most dear to him? His dhip, ftill more aftonished, lookat the old man, and unable to acunt for the different emotions which itated him, fpoke not a word. stoop, faid the old man, and you fin under my bed a box which ntains papers capable of amply pairing the loffes which your faly has fuffered by the civil wars.' is lordship having placed the box on the bed, fat down again upon Ah!' cried he with tranfport, Ah! who are you, venerable and benevolent old man, to whom I owe more than to my own father? speak, I beg of you! favour me with the name of fo generous a benefactor in whom I am fo fingularly interested, and whofe days heaven feems to have prolonged, that he may find in me the most tender and refpectable of friends, and the most grateful of men!' Leave me, my dear lord,' faid the old man, in hafte. I am too weak to bear a longer converfation, leave me, I beg; take that box, and bid adieu to an old man, who thinks himself lefs unfortunate fince he has had the happiness of holding you in his arms.' Ah! whoever you are,' faid lord Stair, and whatever reafons you may have to conceal the name of fo generous a man, can you have the cruelty to oblige him to obey you? To abandon you in fuch a fituation, without friends, without help, without. my dear lord! it is with pleasure. I fee in you fuch generous fentiments; but I know that your friend, (fince you think him worthy of that title) however unfortunate he may be in other refpecs, is ftill free from want: therefore, if you wish to oblige me, leave me, my lord, inftantly; nay, do more, and believe me I have a right to demand it: fwear to me that you will never come here again, Stop, nor nor ever fearch after me, unless I fend for you.' His lordfhip feeing by his tone of voice that he would not be refufed, promised to obey him; once more embraced him, and then left him with tears in his eyes. On his return home he immediately opened the box, and found a great number of papers which he judged would be of great ufe to him. Next morning, as he was preparing (notwithstanding his promife) to return to the old man, he was fuddenly ftopped by the following letter, fealed with his own arms, and to his exueme furprife, figned George Stair. 'Do not return to me, my dear lord, for you will not find me. If it had been only to tell you who I am, that is, your great grandfather, who has fo long been fuppofed dead, and who justly deferved to be fo, I thould not have oppofed your juft defire of knowing your benefactor; but the confequences which I forefaw of fo interefting a fcene, too much fo for my weak age to bear, made me dread to fatisfy your curiofity upon circumflances, which far from offering to you fo dear and refpectable a relation as you imagined, would only have fhewn to you a wretch-a monster lefs worthy of pity than horror! My father died a few months after my birth; my mother foon followed him; I was left to the care of an aunt, fifler to my father, who brought me up fo tenderly that (though the was the caufe of my crime) I ftill retain the moft grateful remembrance of her in my heart. I was fcarce feventeen, when, ftruck with indignation at feeing my counnymen armed against their lawful fovereign, I formed the defign of ten dering to king Charles I. the offer of my fortune and, fword: but what was my astonishment when at difclofing my intention to my good aunt, I faw her trembling, lift her hands to heaven, and look at me with a kind of horror. Surprifed and afflicted at the state she was in, turning with impatience to know: reafon, You force me then to you,' cried fhe, bursting into tears know then that the prince you fo defirous of ferving, is the aut of my fhame and of your father' death. I was about fifteen, a among the attendants who waited his mother, when the wretch, a pofing on my age and credulity, the most facred oaths, contrived feduce me-in fhart I was ruine The perfidious prince, foon went to Spain, in hopes of marry the Infanta. I fhould have been tirely loft if your father had not corn to London to him I was oblige. own my misfortune and the com quences which I dreaded. That brother, afflicted even to tears, ra immediately to the queen, obtai permiffion to take ine away, and me to one of his feats near Edinbur where I remained till I was perfec recovered. Alas! (added the) I doomed to fee him no more. Th grief which he conceived for my 4 doing, foon killed him; and his we thy wife, who after bringing into the world, furvived only a mont Such, my dear nephew, were ta fecrets and deplorable motives wi reduced me to that obfcurity in wi I have fince lived, and of which yo are alone acquainted. Judge noe my friend, it after the care I lav taken of your infancy, and the e cation I have procured you, fay, ca you devote your fortune and arms the author of fo many calamities, a barbarian who has carried de into the breafs of your parents, into mine cternal remorie!' No cried I, by God! no! the wred is unworthy of life, and he fhall by my hand!' To tell you, my by what means, as refined as dange ous, my fury against the king tinually increafing, I was at laft to fulfil my revenge and execra oath; to tell you all the events, and excess of remorfe which foon followed my crime, would be now too grievous in my weak ftate to relate. Be fatisfied with knowing, that you may abhor me as much as I deteft myfelf; that the executioner of king Charles I. who appeared under a mask, was in fact no other than your unworthy, too guilty great grandfather Sir George Stair.' From 1649 (when Charles I. was beheaded) to 1743 (when the battle Dettingen was fought) there is an interval of 94 years. On fuppofition that fir George Stair was 20 years old when he committed this crime, his age in 1748 must have been 114 years. The anonymous author of these memoirs adds; that whatever were the emotions of lord Stair at reading the letter, his first care was to look for the street and the house where he had feen his great grand-father; but finding the house empty, he had learnt from the neighbours that it had only been occupied fince eight days; that it was never known by whom; that fince the preceding night the fervants had abandoned it, furnished as it was; that they could not tell of whom the tenant held the house the proprietor being long tince fettled in America. Extraordinary Criminal Profecution. THE circumftance attending a criminal profecution in one of the largest cities of Italy, are of fo fingular a nature as to excite at once the pity, contempt, and rifibility of the reader. On the 21st of June. 1774, two dogs, in the city alluded to above, were publicly executed, after being duly tried and convicted of having wilfully, maliciously, and at the infligation of the devil, devoured a child a fhort time before. They were tried according to all the forms, of law by, faperiour tribunal, and It coincides with the laws of Mofes, in as much as by thefe the ox who had killed a man was condemed to die. If an ox gore a man or a woman that the die, then the ox fhall be furely ftoned, and his fleth thall not be eaten.' xad. xxi. 28. Again, in Genes. ix. 5. Surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every bealt will I require it.' The judges of Athens, conformably to one of Draco's laws, fentenced the pillar erected in honour of Nicon, a celebrated artist of that ciry, to be thrown into the fea, because it had fallen upon a man and killed him. The divine Plato directs in his code that a horfe or other animal which has killed a man to be put to death, and Pliny, lib. viii. c. 18. informs us, that in purfuance of fimilar law he had feen a great number of lions hanged in Africa. That great and experienced lawyer, Anthony Manories, affures us, that feveral peatants' dogs were fentenced to die, because they had devoured a Francifcan fijar; and he adds, that he had been him of confulted on the cafe. Muller even relates pro relates that the Saxons punifled a death with deep penitence and con horfe which had been inftrumental in trition. Ah! no; on their brow carrying off a woman, not to menti- fcowled proud defiance, and unfbak. on many other fin ilar fentences and en courage was their conductor: adducing the anthorities of great men, with tails erect, and looks wild and which would lead me into tow great bold, they approached. So far from lengths. What I have alrealy ad- manifefting repentance for their vanced is more than fufficient to crime, they feemed rather to long prove that the magiftrates of the city for the relics of their bloody feait; a of have molt justly condemed fresh proof of the truth of the the two dogs to an ignominious death verb-that chains and prifons do no by the band of the executioner, fince, produce amendment. And yet at the without the flightest motive, or the fight of the culprits all hearts were fmalleft provocation, they devoured a moved, every eye was fixed upo poor helplefs infant, that the memory them, and iù cach gliftened a tear, of fo black a deed may be perpetuated the executioner alone was convulle among men.' with laughter. The cruel minifer of vengeance at length brandie the club to give the fatal blow: wid force it fell upon the skull of the unhappy dogs, and extended them ha dead upon the ground. The welki rings with their howls, all the degr of the city yell refponfive, and the fiery Sirius himfelf barks in the ex panfe of heaven! But their indignant thades already tread the downward path of hell, on their way to that abode which the pious canon i affigned to animals. The triple headed Cerberus, who guards_ta entrance, efpies them; he growls at the approach of dogs who have died ignominioufly upon the fcaffold; his tremendous barking fcares their af frighted manes far away from the thores of Styx. Weighty as thefe reafons may be, ftill we are of opinion that the lives of thefe four-footed culprits would have been spared, had they been allowed to employ council in their defence. Their advocate would, undoubtly have grounded his arguments on Seneca and Ariftotle, the latter of whom exp:cfly fays, that no animal can either be virtuous or vicious. Had all his arguments failed, he would at least have demanded time for the examination of witnelles, and have proved by them that there was no malice prepenfe, and that his clients were not the affailants. In this cafe the culprits would perhaps have come off with five year's fervice on board of the gallies; or by means of an appeal to the fovereign he might perhaps have obtained a commutation of the fentence into confinement for a certain time on bread and water. But a fevere doom awaited them. All the spectators at their exceution took warning by them, and lamented their fate. Their unfortunate end called forth the genius of an Italian poet, by whom it was recorded for the benent of pofterity. Here follows a translation of fore of the concluing ftanzas of his perform You may perhaps fuppofe that thele four-tooted linners went to meet They wander about in the thick ets which berder the internal ftream, and there await the arrival of their judges and executioner in order to crois it with them. Count Baldwin of Flander. A Tak. CHARLES, count of Flanders, had rendered important fervices to the pope, and fill greater to Philip T E. N The canon Cadouici, a Venetian, who afferts that animals have an immortal for and that after death they go to hell, where they help to torment the damned. Augulus, Auguftus, king of France. At his leath he nominated that monarch to be the guardian of his only fon, Pa'dwin. Riches, honour, and power may be inherited, but merit muft be acquired, and talents must be innate. ` Baldwin, notwithstanding the bravery of his father, notwithflanding the care with which his royal guardian caufed him to be educated, did very little honour to his deceafed parent, and gave very little fatisfaction to the French monarch; for he had more pride than one recently ennobled, more vanity than a girl, and more impudence than a modern critic. He was not deficient in underlanding; but he made a fool of himself by his vain-glory. He was certainly diftinguifhed for his valour, but those who allowed him this quality, fo far from praifing him, only lammented that they were obliged to refpe& something in fo intolerable a man. he called him the crown of chivalry, denominated herself the most unfortu❤ nate of princeffes and protested that the had come far, very far from beyond the feas, merely for the purpose of foliciting his aid. Baldwin flood ftill.; the beauty of this ftranger delighted his eye, her addrefs flattered his vanity, and the word princess still more powerfully excited his curiofity. He therefore enquired more particularly who he was, whence the came, and what was her errand. Philip Augftus was perfectly aware of all this, but he had given his father his word that he would make him his fon-in-law. This promife was irrevocable, and he perhaps thought, that a wife may amend him whom nothing elfe can. In a word, he offered Baldwin the hand of his youngest daughter, Beatix. Beatrix was young, beautiful, zcomplished, and the daughter of a powerful monarch, but the had not a kingdom for her dowry. Baldwin regarding only what the had not, and not what the poffeffed, refufed her hand. The court of Paris highly refented this conduct; the count laugh ed at the court of Paris, and repaired to his own dominions. One day when he was hunting in one of his forefts, he met a lady of great beauty, of a majestic figure, and richly dreffed. Her hair was adorned with pearls; precious ftones of inestimable value encircled her arms, and her neck. With graceful gefture, and moving tone, the fupplicated his affittance: I am the daughter and fole heirefs! replied the, of one of the moft powerful monarchs of Afia.— My father long treated me as the most affectionate of parents, but, at length, he wanted to force me to marry, For a confiderable time I refifted his commands, but when refiftance was no longer of any aval [ fled, taking with me immence riches; and providing myfelf with a numerous retinue, I embarked for Europe. Not far from the coaft of Flanders we were overtaken by a tremendous form; our fhip foundered; out of the whole crew I alone reached the thore upon a plank, and took refuge in this wood. An honeft peafant received me into his cottage, fupplied me with food, dried my garments, and was going to accompany me to your court, when we heard of your intention of hunting in this foreft.' This brief narrative contained many improbabilities. The heiefs of the powerful Afiatic monarch had forgotten to mention the name of his kingdom. It was fingular that not a creature but herself out of the numerous crew of the veffel had escaped. It was fingular that juft at the time of this tempeft the fhould have put on her mott fumptuous appeal; it was ftill more extraordinary that the latter thould not have fultained any injury from the accident; but the moft extraordinary circumftance of all was, that a native of fuch a re mote region of Afia fhould peak the |
