they were before threatened; and they found themselves incapable of coming to any refolution in fo cruel and diftrefsful a fituation.

9. At last one of the principal inhabitants, called Euftace de St. Pierre, whofe name deferves to be recorded, ftepped forth, and declared himself willing to encounter death for the fafety of his friends and companions. Another, animated by his example, made a like generous offer. A third and fourth prefented themselves to the fame fate; and the whole number was foon completed.

10. Thefe fix heroic citizens appeared before Edward in the guife of malefactors, laid at his feet the keys of their city, and were ordered to be led to execution. It is furprifing that fo generous a prince fhould ever have entertained fuch a barbarous purpose against such men; and ftill more, that he should seriously persist in the refolution of executing it.

II. But the entreaties of his queen faved his memory from that infamy.. She proftrated herself before him, and, with tears in her eyes, begged the lives of thefe unhappy men. Having obtained her request, she carried them into her tent, ordered a repast to be set before them, and, after making them a prefent of money and clothes, difmiffed them in fafety.

SUBLIMITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

GOD came from Teman, and the Holy One

froin mount Paran. Selah.. His glory covered the heav ens, and the earth was full of his praife. And his brightnefs was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of his power.

I. Before him went the peftilence; and burning coals. went forth at his feet.. He food and measured the earth; he beheld and drove afunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were fcattered; the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting.

3. I faw the tents of Cufhan in affliction; and the curtains of the land of Midian did treinble.

Was the Lord:

difpleased

difpleafed against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the fea, that thou didst ride upon thy horfes, and thy chariots of falvation? Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy fword. Selah.

4. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains faw thee and they trembled; the overflowing of the water paffed by; the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The fun and moon ftood still in their habitation. At the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering fpear.

5. Thou didit march through the land in indignation; thou dift thresh the heathen in anger. Thou wenteft forth for the falvation of thy people, even for falvation with thine anointed. Thou woundedft the head out of the house of the wicked, by difcovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

6. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages; they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me; their rejoicing was as to devour the poor fecretly. Thou didst walk through the fea with thine horfes, through the heap of great waters.

7. When I heard, I trembled; and my lips quivered at the voice. Rottennefs entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might reft in the day of trouble, When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

AND I faw another mighty angel come

down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the fun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book open; and he fet his right foot upon the fea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, feven thunders uttered their voices.

2. And when the feven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from

heaven

heaven faying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

3. And the angel, whom I saw stand upon the fea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him who liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things which therein are, and the earth, and the things which therein are, and the fea, and the things which are therein, that there fhould be time no longer. But in the days of the voice of the feventh angel, when he shall begin to found, the myftery of God fhould be finifhed, as he hath declared to his fervants the prophets.

ANECDOTE OF MONTESQUIEU.

A GENTLEMAN, being at Marseilles,

hired a boat, with an intention of failing for pleafure. He entered into converfation with the two young men who owned the veffel, and learned that they were not watermen by trade, but filverfmiths; and that when they could be fpared from their ufual bufinefs, they employed themfelves in that way to increase their earnings.

2. On expreffing his furprise at their conduct, and imputing it to an avaricious difpofition; Oh! fir, faid the young men, if you knew our reasons, you would ascribe it

to a better motive.

3. Our father, anxious to affift his family, fcraped together all he was worth; purchased a veffel for the purpofe of trading to the coaft of Barbary; but was unfortu nately taken by a pirate, carried to Tripoli, and fold for a flave.

4. He writes word, that he is luckily fallen into the hands of a mafter who treats him with great humanity; but that the fum which is demanded for his ransom is fo exorbitant that it will be impoffible for him ever to raise it. He adds that we muft, therefore, relinquish all hope of ever feeing him again, and be contented that he has as many comforts as his fituation will admit.

5. With the hopes of reftoring to his family a beloved father, we are striving, by every honest mean in our power,

to

to collect the fum neceflary for his ranfom; and we are not ashamed to employ ourselves in the occupation of watermen. The gentleman was ftruck with this account, and, on his departure, made them a han Home prefent.

6. Some months afterwards, the young men being at work in their fhop, were greatly furprifed at the fudden arrival of their father, who threw himfelf into their arms; exclaiming, at the fame time, that he was fearful they had taken fome unjuft method to raise the money for his ranfom, for it was too great a fum for them to have gained by their ordinary occupation.

7. They profeffed their ignorance of the whole affair, and could only fufpect they owed their father's releafe to that ftranger, to whofe generofity they had been before fo much obliged. After Montefquieu's death, an account of this affair was found among his papers, and the fum actually remitted to Tripoli for the old man's ranfom.

8. It is a pleasure to hear of fuch an a& of benevolence performed even by a perfon totally unknown to us; but the pleafure is greatly increafed, when it proves the union of virtue and talents in an author fo renowned as Montefquieu.

THE BENEVOLENT PAIR.

A POOR man and his wife at Vienna, who had fix fmall children, finding themfelves unable to fupport them all, were reduced to the neceflity of turning the youngest upon the public. The husband carried it reluc tantly to the foundling hofpital, depofited it in the basket which was placed near the gate for the reception of the foundlings, and anxiously waited till the arrival of the infpector, that he might take a farewel view of his child.

2. When the infpector came at the ufual time to examine the basket, he perceived two children therein. Obferving the laborer who stood at a fmall diftance, he fuppofed that he had brought them both; and compelled the poor man, notwithstanding all his proteftations to the contrary, to return with two children inftead of one, which was already more than he knew to maintain. F

3. His

3. His wife, as well as himself, was exceedingly dejected at this increafe of their expenfes ; but, unwilling to expofe the little ftranger in the street, they determined to ufe all their endeavors to fupport themselves and the feven children; and they hoped Providence would affift them.

4. On undreffing the child, the woman found a paper fewed to its clothes, containing an order upon a banker for five crowns a month, to be paid to the perfon who took care of it. The good people were not a little rejoiced at

their happy fortune.

5. But the story being circulated, and coming to the knowledge of the managers of the hofpital, they claimed the child as their property. The laborer refufed to relinquifh it, and was affifted by fome perfons of diftinction.

6. The caufe being tried in a court of juftice, it was decreed, that, as the foundling hofpital had at firft declined receiving the child, it of right belonged to the poor man who had shown fuch humanity in keeping it, when he was fo ill able to afford any additional expenfe.

THE UNFORTUNATE PHILANTHROPIST.

IN the year 1775, a fhip lying at anchor in

Table-bay at the Cape of Good Hope, was driven on fhore in a violent form, and the crew reduced to the ut most distress and danger. Their cries for affiftance were diftinctly heard by the inhabitants; but at firft there appeared no profpect of relief from any quarter.

2. The fwell of the fea, which broke over the fhip with the greatest violence, made it impoffible for them to fave themselves in boats, and highly dangerous to attempt it by fwimming. Some of thofe, who ventured to fwim to the fhore, were thrown against the rocks and dashed to pieces; others, as foon as they had arrived at the fhore, were carried back by another wave and drowned.

3. A Dutchman by the name of VOLTEMAD, who happened to be a fpectator of this diftreffing scene, was touched with compaflion of fo noble a kind, and at the fame time fo operative, that, mounting a high spirited horse,

he