himself. This ambitious, or rather frantic prince, who but a month before had sent the threatening message to Damel, was now himself led into his presence as a miserable captive.

The behavior of Damel on this occasion, is never mentioned but in terms of the highest approbation; and it was, indeed, so extraordinary in an African prince, that the reader may find it difficult to give credit to the recital. When his royal prisoner was brought before him in irons, and thrown upon the ground, the magnanimous Damel, instead of setting his foot upon his neck, and stabbing him with his spear, according to the custom in such cases, addressed him as follows: "Abdulkader, answer me this question; if the chance of war had placed me in your situation, and you in mine, how would you have treated me?"

"I would have thrust my spear into your heart," returned Abdulkader, with great firmness, " and I know that a similar fate awaits me."-"Not so,' said Damel; "my spear is indeed red with the blood of your subjects killed in battle, and I could now give it a deeper stain, by dipping it in your own; but this would not build up my towns, nor bring to life the thousands who fell in the woods. I will not, therefore, kill you in cold blood, but I will retain you as my slave, until I perceive that your presence in your own kingdom will be no longer dangerous to your neighbors, and then I will consider of the proper way of disposing of you."

Abdulkader was accordingly retained, and worked as a slave for three months; at the end of which period, Damel listened to the solicitations of the inhabitants of Foota Torra, and restored to them their king. Strange as this story may appear, I have no doubt of the truth of it. It was told me at Malacotta, by the Negroes; it was afterwards related to me by the Europeans on the Gambia; by some of the French at

Goree; and confirmed by nine slaves, who were taken prisoners along with Abdulkader, by the watering place in the woods, and carried in the same ship with me to the West Indies.

The distress which the inhabitants of Guinea experience at the loss of their children, which are stolen from them by the persons employed in the slave trade, is, perhaps, more thoroughly felt than described. But, as it is a subject to which every person has not attended, the following is an attempt to represent the anguish of a mother, whose son and daughter were taken from her by a ship's crew, belonging to a country where the God of justice and mercy, is owned and worshipped.

"Help! O help! thou God of Christians!
Save a mother from despair;

Cruel white men steal my children,

God of Christians! hear my prayer.

"From my arms by force they 're rended,
Sailors drag them to the sea-
Yonder ship at anchor riding,

Swift will carry them away.

"There my son lies, pale and bleeding,
Fast, with thongs, his hands are bound;
See the tyrants, how they scourge him!
See his sides, a reeking wound!

"See his little sister by him,
Quaking, trembling, how she lies!

Drops of blood her face besprinkle,
Tears of anguish fill her eyes.

"Now they tear her brother from her!
Down below the deck he's thrown;
Stiff with beating-through fear, silent,
Save a single death-like groan."

Hear the little daughter begging:
"Take me, white men, for your own;
Spare! oh, spare my darling brother!
He's my mother's only son.

66

See, upon

the shore she's raving;
Down she falls upon the sands-
Now she tears her flesh with madness,
Now she prays with lifted hands.

"I am young, and strong, and hardy;
He's a sick and feeble boy-
Take me, whip me, chain me, starve me,
All my life I'll toil with joy.

"Christians, who's the God you worship,
Is he cruel, fierce, or good?
Does he take delight in mercy,
Or in spilling human blood?

"Ah! my poor distracted mother,
Hear her scream upon the shore"-
Down the savage captain struck her,
Lifeless on the vessel's floor.

Up his sails he quickly hoisted,
To the ocean bent his way—

Headlong plunged the raving mother,
From a rock into the sea.

LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD.

Faithful French Servant.

A lady of Marseilles, in the earlier period of the revolution, about to emigrate, wished, before her departure, to place a considerable property, in plate, linen, trinkets, wearing apparel, and other articles, in a place of safety. To bury in cellars was become so common, that they were now among the first places searched, on any suspicion of concealed treasures; and to convey the things out of the house, even by small portions at a time, without being discovered, was a thing out of all hope. What then was to be done?

She consulted with an old and faithful servant, who, during a great number of years that he had been in the family, had given such repeated proofs of his fidelity and attachment to it, that she placed unbounded confidence in him. He advised her to pack the things in trunks, and deposit them in a garret, at one end of the house; then to wall up the door into it, and new plaster over the whole room adjoining, so as to leave no traces by which it could be discovered that it had any communication with another apartment.

This advice was followed, and the plan executed without the privacy of any other person than the man who suggested it. He himself walled up the doorway, and plastered over the outer room; and, when all was finished, the lady departed, leaving the care of her house entirely to him.

Shortly after her departure, the servant received a visit from the municipal officer, who came, with a party of his myrmidons, to search the house, as belonging to an emigrant, and suspected of containing a considerable property. They examined every room, every closet, every place in the house, but nothing of any value was to be discovered;-some large articles of

furniture, which could not conveniently be disposed of, and which it was judged better to leave, in order to save appearances, were the only things to be found.

The officer said that it was impossible the other things could be conveyed away, and threatened the servant with the utmost severity of justice, if he would not confess where they were concealed. He, however, constantly denied any knowledge of the matter, and said, that, if any thing had been concealed, the secret was unknown to him. This did not satisfy the officer; but, finding he could make no impression on the man, he carried him before the commune.

Here he was again interrogated, and menaced even with the guillotine, if he did not confess where his mistress's property was concealed; but his resolution still remained unshaken; he steadily adhered to his first assertion, that, if any thing was concealed, it was without his knowledge; till, at length, the officers, believing it impossible that, if he really were in possession of the secret, he could retain it with the fear of death before his eyes, were persuaded that he was not in his mistress's confidence, and dismissed him.

They obliged him, however, to quit the house, and a creature of their own was placed in it. Again and again it was searched, but to no purpose; nor was the real truth ever suspected. But when the career of the terrorists was closed by the fall of their leaders, the faithful servant, who beheld their downfall with exultation, as his own triumph, on a representation of his case to the new magistracy, was replaced in his trust in the house of his mistress.

Some little time after, a person came to him one day, who said that he was sent on the part of his mistress; that, as she was unable at present to return, she wished some trunks, which she had left concealed, to be sent to her, as they could now be moved with safety; and she had described to him, he said, the place and manner in which they were concealed, to