up as if it had come at his calling. I thought it was coming,' says he; put her before the wind, it blows fair for our port.'-' But where is your port?' again I asked him.- Sir,' says he, 'I can now answer your question as I should do; with God's leave I am bound to Bordeaux; every thing goes at sea as it pleases God.' My heart sunk at the name of my native city. I was freighted,' added he, from London with a cargo of goods of all sorts for the poor sufferers by the earthquake; I shall load back with wine for my owners, and so help out a charitable voyage with some little profit, if it please God to bless our endeavours.'-' Heyday!' thought I, how fair weather changes this fellow's note!'

6

Lewis,'

said he to a handsome youth, who stood at his elbow, we will now seek out this Monsieur Chaubert at Bordeaux, and get payment of his bills on your account.'- Show me your bills,' said I, for I am Chaubert.'-He produced them, and I saw my own name forged to bills in favour of the villain who had so treacherously dealt with me in the affair of the woman who was to have been my wife. Where is the wretch,' said I, 'who drew these forgeries ?'-The youth burst into tears. He is my father,' he replied, and turned away.' Sir,' says the master, 'I am not surprised to find this fellow a villain to you, for I was once a trader in affluence, and have been ruined by his means, and reduced to what you see me; but I forgive what he has done to me; I can earn a maintenance, and am as happy in my present hard employ, nay, happier than when

I was rich and idle; but to defraud his own son proves him an unnatural rascal, and, if I had him here, I would hang him at the mizen yard.'

"When the English master declared he was happier in his present hard service than in his former prosperity, and that he forgave the villain who had ruined him, I started with astonishment, and stood out of his reach, expecting every moment when his phrensy would break out; I looked him steadily in his face, and to my surprise saw no symptoms of madness there; there was no wandering in his eyes, and content of mind was impressed upon his features.- Are you in your senses?' I demanded, ' And can you forgive the villain ?'-' From my heart,' answered he,else how should I expect to be forgiven?'His words struck me dumb; my heart tugged at my bosom; the blood rushed to my face. He saw my situation, and turned aside to give some orders to the sailors; after some minutes be resumed the conversation, and, advancing towards me, in his rough familiar manner, said—It is my way, Mr. Chaubert, to forgive and forget, though to be sure the fellow deserves hanging for his treatment of this poor boy his son, who is as good a lad as ever lived, but as for father and mother'. Who is his mother? What was her name?' I eagerly demanded. Her name had no sooner passed his lips than I felt a shock through all my frame beyond that of electricity; I staggered as if with a sudden stroke, and caught hold of the barricade; an involuntary shriek burst from me, and I cried out,- That woman -Oh! that woman'-' Was a devil,' said the

master, and if you knew but half the misery you have escaped, you would fall down upon your knees, and thank God for the blessing: I have heard your story, Mr. Chaubert, and when a man is in love, do you see, he does not like to have his mistress taken from him; but some things are better lost than found, and if this is all you have to complain of, take my word for it, you complain of the luckiest hour in your whole life.' He would have proceeded, but I turned from him without uttering a word, and shutting myself into my cabin, surrendered myself to my meditations.

"My mind was now in such a tumult that I cannot recall my thoughts, much less put them into any order for relation. The ship however kept her course, and had now entered the mouth of the Garonne; I landed on the quay of Bordeaux; the master accompanied me, and young Lewis kept charge of the ship. The first object that met my view was a gibbet erected before the door of a merchant's counting house. The convict was kneeling on a scaffold; whilst a friar was receiving his last confession; his face was turned towards us; the Englishman glanced his eye upon him, and instantly cried out- Look, look, Mr. Chaubert, the very man, as I am alive; it is the father of young Lewis.'-The wretch had discovered us in the same moment, and called aloud- Oh Chaubert, Chaubert! let me speak to you before I die!'-His yell was horror to my soul; I lost the power of motion, and the crowd pushing towards the scaffold, thrust me forward to the very edge of it; the friar ordered silence, and demanded of the wretch why he had called

1

out so eagerly, and what he had farther to confess.

"Father,' replied the convict, this is the very man, the very Chaubert of whom I was speaking; he was the best of friends to me, and I repaid his kindness with the blackest treachery; I seduced the woman of his affections from him, I married her, and, because we dreaded his resentment, we conspired in an attempt upon his life by poison.'-He now turned to me, and proceeded as follows:- You may remember, Chaubert, as we were supping together on the very evening of Louisa's elopement, she handed to you a glass of wine to drink to your approaching nuptials; as you were lifting it to your lips, your favourite spaniel leaped upon your arm, and dashed it on the floor; in a sudden transport of passion, which you were addicted to, you struck the creature with violence, and laid it dead at your feet. It was the saving moment of your life-the wine was poisoned, inevitable death was in the draught, and the animal you killed was God's instrument for preserving you; reflect upon the event, subdue your passions, and practise resignation. Father, I have no more to confess! I die repentant. Let the executioner do his office.""

CUMBERLAND.

JUPITER AND THE DESTINIES.

AMONG the various sets of correspondents who apply to me for advice, and send up their cases from all parts of Great Britain, there are none who are more importunate with me, and whom I am more inclined to answer, than the complainers. One of them dates his letter to me from the banks of a purling stream, where he used to ruminate in solitude on the divine Clarissa, and where he is now looking about for a convenient leap, which he tells me he is resolved to take, unless I support him under the loss of that charming perjured woman. Poor Lavinia presses as much for con solation on the other side, and is reduced to such an extremity of despair by the inconstancy of Philander, that she tells me she writes her letter with her pen in one hand, and her garter in the other. A gentleman of an ancient family in Norfolk is almost out of his wits upon the account of a greyhound, that, after having been his insepa, rable companion for ten years, is at last run mad, Another, who I believe is serious, complains to me, in a very moving manner, of a loss of a wife; and another, in terms still more moving, of a purse of money that was taken from him on Bagshot Heath; and which, he tells me, would not have troubled him if he had given it to the poor. In short, there is scarce a calamity in human life that has not produced me a letter.

It is indeed wonderful to consider how men