When to his great relief he met a man:

"I say, good friend, pray tell me if you can, How far is 't hence to Derby?"

Derby, hey!

Why zur, thee be'est completely come astray;

This y'ant the road." "Why zounds the guide-post showed

'To Derby, five,'-and pointed down this road!"

Ay, dang it, that may be, for you maun know,

The post it war blown down last night, and so
This morn I put it up again, but whether
(As I can't put great A and B together)
The post is right, I'm zure I cannot zay,-
The town is just five miles the other way."

[Anon.

PART IV.

DIALOGUES-SERIOUS.

THE TWO ROBBERS.

[ALEXANDER the Great in his tent. A man with a fierce countenance, chained and fettered, brought before him.]

Alexander. What, art thou the Thracian robber, of whose exploits I have heard so much?

Robber. I am a Thracian and a soldier.

A. A soldier!-a thief, a plunderer, an assassin ! the pest of the country! I could honor thy courage, but I must detest and punish thy crimes.

R. What have I done of which you can complain?

A. Hast thou not set at defiance my authority; violated the public peace, and passed thy life in injuring the persons and properties of thy fellow subjects?

R. Alexander! I am your captive,-I must hear what you please to say, and endure what you please to inflict. But my soul is unconquered; and if I reply at all to your reproaches, I will reply like a free man.

A. Speak freely. Far be it from me to take the advantage of my power, to silence those with whom I deign to converse.

R. I must then answer your question by another. How have you passed your life?

A.

Like a hero.

Ask Fame, and she will tell you.

Among the brave, I have been the bravest ; among sovereigns, the noblest; among conquerors, the mightiest.

R. And does not fame speak of me, too? a bolder captain of a more valiant band? but I scorn to boast. easily subdued.

Was there ever Was there ever,—

You yourself know that I have not been

A. Still, what are you but a robber,-a base, dishonest robber?

R. And what is a conqueror? Have not you, too, gone about the earth like an evil genius, blasting the fair fruits of peace and industry; plundering, ravaging, killing, without law, without justice, merely to gratify an insatiable lust for dominion? All that I have done to a single district with a hundred followers, you have done to whole nations with a hundred thousand. If I have stripped individuals, you have ruined kings and princes. If I have burned a few hamlets, you have desolated the most flourishing kingdoms and cities of the earth. What then is the difference, but that as you were born a king, and I a private man, you have been able to become a mightier robber than I?

A. But if I have taken like a king, I have given like a king. If I have subverted empires, I have founded greater. I have cherished arts, commerce, and philosophy.

R. I, too, have freely given to the poor what I took from the rich. I have established order and discipline among the most ferocious of mankind, and have stretched out my protecting arm over the oppressed. I know, indeed, little of the philosophy you talk of, but I believe neither you nor I shall ever atone to the world for half the mischief we have done it.

A. Leave me. Take off his chains and use him well. we then so much alike? Alexander a robber! reflect.

Are

Let me

[Dr. Aikin.

THE HAKON JARL.

HAKON-ERLING.

[HAKON enters, leading his son Erling by the hand.]

Erling. 'Tis cold, my father!

Hakon. 'Tis yet early morning. Art thou so very chill?

E. Nay, 't is no matter.

I shall behold the rising sun,-how grand!

A sight that I have never known before.

H. Seest thou yon ruddy streaks along the east?

E. What roses! how they bloom and spread on high ! Yet, father, tell me whence come all these pearls, Wherewith the valley here is richly strewn ? How brightly they reflect the rosy light!

H. They are not pearls, it is the morning dew! And that which thou deem'st roses, is the sun! Seest thou? he rises now. Look at him, boy!

E. O! what a beauteous whirling globe he seems: How fiery red! Dear father, can we never

Visit the sun in yonder distant land?

H. My child, our whole life thitherward is tending;
That flaming ball of light is Odin's eye,—

* His other is the moon, of milder light,
That he just now has left in Mimer's well,
There by the charmful waves to be refreshed.
E. And where is Mimer's well?

H. The sacred ocean,

That is old Mimer's deep and potent well.

That strengthens Odin's eyes. From the cool waves,

At morning duly comes the sun refreshed,
The moon again by night.

E. But now it hurts me,

It mounts too high.

-

H. Upon his golden throne,

The almighty father mounts, soon to survey
The whole wide earth. The central diamond
In his meridian crown, our earthly sight
May not contemplate. What man dares to meet
The unvailed aspect of the king of day?

E. (Terrified.) Hu! hu! my father, in the forest yonder, What are those bearded, frightful men?

H. Fear not,—

They are the statues of the gods, by men

Thus hewn in marble. They blind not with sun-gleams.

Before them we can pray with confidence,

And look upon them with untroubled firmness.
Come, child, let us go nearer !

E. No, my father!

I am afraid,—seest thou that old man there!
Him with the beard? I am afraid of him!

H. Child, it is Odin,-wouldst thou fly from Odin? E. No, no,-I fear not the great king in heaven,— He is so good and beautiful, and calls

The flowers from earth's bosom, and himself shines
Like a flower on high;-but that pale sorcerer,-
He grins like an assassin!

At least let me bring my crown of flowers,

I left it there on the hedge, when first

Thou broughtest me hither to see the sun rise.
Then let us go home;

Believe me, that old man there means no good!