VIRGINIA.

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he had obtained the consent of the Commons to the abolition of the Tribuneship, and had been the chief of that Council of Ten to which the whole direction of the State had been committed. In a few months his administration had become universally odious. It had been swept away by an irresistible outbreak of popular fury; and its memory was still held in abhorrence by the whole city. The immediate cause of the downfall of this execrable government was said to have been an attempt made by Appius Claudius on the chastity of a beautiful young girl of humble birth. The story ran, that the Decemvir, unable to succeed by bribes and solicitations, resorted to an outrageous act of tyranny. A vile dependent of the Claudian house laid claim to the damsel as his slave. The cause was brought before the tribunal of Appius. The wicked magistrate, in defiance of the clearest proofs, gave judgment for the claimant. But the girl's father, a brave soldier, saved her from servitude and dishonour by stabbing her to the heart in the sight of the whole Forum. That blow was

the signal for a general explosion. Camp and city rose at once; the Ten were pulled down; the Tribuneship was re-established; and Appius escaped the hands of the executioner only by a voluntary death.

It can hardly be doubted that a story so admirably adapted to the purposes both of the poet and of the demagogue would be eagerly seized upon by minstrels burning with hatred against the Patrician order, against the Claudian house, and especially against the grandson and namesake of the infamous Decemvir.

In order that the reader may judge fairly of these fragments of the lay of Virginia, he must imagine himself a Plebeian who has just voted for the re-election of Sextius and Licinius. All the power of the Patricians has been exerted to throw out the two great champions of the Commons. Every Posthumius, Æmilius, and Cornelius has used his influence to the utmost. Debtors have been let out of the workhouses on condition of voting against the men of the people; clients have been posted to hiss and interrupt the fa

zealous adherent of the Tribunes, has ma song which will cut the Claudian famil heart. The crowd gathers round him, on him to recite it. He takes his stand spot where, according to tradition, more than seventy years ago, was seized pandar of Appius, and he begins his stor

YE good men of the Commons, with loving hearts and
Who stand by the bold Tribunes that still have stood
Come, make a circle round me, and mark my tale with
A tale of what Rome once hath borne, of what Rome
This is no Grecian fable, of fountains running wine,
Of maids with snaky tresses, or sailors turned to swin
Here, in this very Forum, under the noonday sun,
In sight of all the people, the bloody deed was done.
Old
men still
creep among us who saw that fearful da
Just seventy years and seven ago, when the wicked Te

Of all the wicked Ten still the names are held accu And of all the wicked Ten Appius Claudius was the He stalked along the Forum like King Tarquin in his Twelve axes waited on him, six marching on a side;