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pardon, and imputing every thing to his despair. She saw no release.

Mirabel, and received a reply in the affirmative.

Agnes now saw what she had before expected, that his abduction was not the

They continued to travel through the whole of the day, changing horses at the usual stages, but seldom leaving the cha-sudden thought of the day, but that it had riot. The postillions, worthy of their li been preconcerted, and every thing arbertine master, so well obeyed their orders ranged beforehand. that Agnes was every where regarded as a young lady preserved from an imprudent elopement by the vigilance of her guardian. The landladies surveyed her with a smile of intelligence which sufficiently convinced Agnes that all appeal to them would be useless. She suffered the day, therefore, to pass without any new at tempt.

Towards evening they entered a byeroad between two mountains, and Agnes for the first time began to suspect that she was in Wales. After descending the mountain, or of the loftiest hill she had ever seen, appeared to her to merit that name, they entered upon a plain of some extent. Its further extremity was bordered with a wood which was already clouded by the approaching night.

Her

They did not gain the wood till the moon had arisen, and proceeded through it by the light of its rays. At any other time Agnes could not but have admired the beauty of this night scene. thoughts, however, were now too much occupied upon herself to admit any other object. They continued to travel some miles further, and at length about midnight one of the postillions dismounted, and opening a gate the chariot entered a lawn, the gravel-road around which was scarcely visible through the weeds and long grass which concealed it. The chariot stopped before the door of the house. Agnes saw that it was an old abbey rendered venerable by time, and dilapidated only at one end. She started in terror from its desolate appearance, which seemed to adapt it to every work of lawless outrage.

Mirabel now assisted Agnes from the carriage, and conducted her through a spacious hall up a stone staircase. He led her into an old fashioned parlour, when he thus addressed her :

"Miss Harrowby, you will consider yourself as mistrsss here in every thing but one,—that is to say, having taken so much trouble to secure you, I shall not easily permit your escape. You are upwards of thirty miles from any town, and the people of the adjacent village will not understand even your language. Escape therefore is impossible, and I trust you will not make the useless attempt. You will never see me without your own express permission. I love you, dearest Agnes, and will endeavour to merit your return by not abusing my present power. Every thing is prepared for you. Rest is at present most necessary; Mrs. Marshall, will conduct your to your chamber.

The old woman obeyed,-" You. follow me Miss," said she.

"Where is Daubigny?" said Mirabel to to the old woman as she was leaving the apartment with Agnes.

"He is at Bristol, your honour," replied she; "he expected that you would pass through that city in your road hither," "Plague on him for a fool, "replied Mirabel peevishly.

Agnes now followed her conductress to her chamber. It was one of those long roomy apartments which are not uncommon in old houses of two or three centuries back. The hangings were damask silk, which had suffered little from time, the wainscot being oak and therefore dry. Two long narrow windows descended from the ceiling to the floor immediately oppoThe postillions for some time con- site the foot of the bed. The moon now tinued in vain to knock, the inhabitants shone brilliantly through them, and iliu of the house were buried in a too profe und minated with its silvery ray the whole repose. An old woman, however, at length length of the apartment. The windows obeyed the summons. "Are the cham-looked upon what was now an orchard and bers aired, Marshall, is every thing pre-meadow, but what in former days had been pared for this young lady's reception:" said a part of the lawn and pleasure-ground at

the back of the abbey. The branches of || she affected to be so., She was too much

a tree shaded the windows.

The bed and chairs were likewise of damask. The whole apartment had that air of substantial comfort which distinguished our ancestors of the age of Henry the Eight and Elizabeth, and which has perhaps been idly replaced by an exchange into modern elegance. Agnes was SO thoroughly exhausted in spirits, and in strength, that she threw herself on the bed; the old woman had some difficulty to persuade her to take off her cloathes, but at length prevailed.

"You will find the Abbey very pleasant," said she, "Miss, when you come to know more about it, the grounds are beautiful, and every field or two is a wood or a grove or a stream of water. I'll warrant you'll soon forget your sweetheart here, though he were as handsome a man as Sir Harry himself."

Agnes now understood that the woman was under the same error, and same delu. sion, as others on the road, at least that

wearied, however, to make any further reflections, ber spirits and strength were so much exhausted that she was almost insensible to her situation.

"Good night, Miss," continued the old woman with the door in her hand; "I'll warrant you'll sleep well, the bed and room have been well aired. No one has slept in it since Squire Oldcastle to whom it once belonged, he came to visit it about forty years ago, when I was a girl, for I have lived here all my life."

"Does not the Abbey belong to Sir Harry?" said Agnes,

"No, Miss, Sir Harry rents it as a shooting residence of one Squire Larkins who succeeded to the estate of the Oldcastles, though no one knows how."

"Good night," said Agnes exhausted. The old woman repeated the same words, and closed the door.

[To be continued]

THE LOWER WORLD; A POEM.

BY MR. PRATT.

It is not often that a more pathetic or persuasive piece of poetry has come under our notice than the present; the object of which is to enforce the recommendation of Lord Erskine, of tenderness and humanity to the brute creation, and to concur with that eminent orator in establishing some system of rights, and code of laws for the protection of the Lower World against the arbitrary cruelty and licentious des potism of man. The duty of benevolence towards animals is taught by morality and sanctioned by religion; but the magistrate has not hitherto condescended to bring them within the pale of legal defence. The Coventry Act has no clause which comprehends a felonious intent of murder against a horse or an ass; and we are afraid our Old Bailey lawyers have no very ready precedent of an indictment for overdriving or ham-stringing an ox. It is certainly a question, whether the humane intention of Lord Erskine can be shaped into a legal enactment; but whether it be judged proper or not for the legislature to interfere,

it is certainly the duty of a writer who en joys so much popularity, and possesses such powers of genius as Mr. Pratt, to recommend this primary duty by the arts of poetry and eloquence;-he has undertaken this task, and executed it in his very best manner. We shall make a pretty long extract from this Poem, which we earnestly recommend to our readers; it thus com

mences:

"WHEN public honours, in the public cause, "Exalt to power, yet dignify the laws; "When with Fame's brightest laurels cover'd

o'er

"To favour'd genius, Fame can give no more; "On these, when proud distinctions of the state,

"The fair awards of eloquence await; "When these, by noblest paths have led to wealth,

"And nature grants the richer boon of health: "O! with all these assembled blessings crown'd, "Where sacred Leisure spreads its shades around:

"Where resting from the World's entangled road,

"The soul ascends sublime from man to God; "Mid the bow'r'd silence of the private scene, 46 Say, what so well can fill the pause between "As that which Nature prompts to Pity's breast?

"Pity, of ev'ry generous heart the guest, "As that which dares each colder code refute, "And justifies the ways of man to brute?

"A thousand laws, and what no law can reach,

"The ways of man, to fellow man may teach, "Not those alone who wrong their native

land,

"The mask'd assassin, or the robber band; "Not those who stop the traveller on his way; "Ruffians of midnight, or of open day; "Not they to whom the direst acts belong, "But for each shade of social crime and wrong "Law lifts the giant arm, nor lifts in vain, "The sacred powers of order to maintain, “Guardian of human rights, nor wants the force

"To aid inferior beings in its course. "Yet aids them only on the social plea, "Of goods or chattels, claim'd by you or me; "As right protects, as property defends, "But to pure human pity ne'er extends. "The LOWER WORLD, like purchas'd slaves, must find

"A tyrant savage, or a master kind;

6. This, holds the helpless tribe in sacred trust, "That, tortures life, or crushes it in dust.

"Oh! who can paint the horror that prevails,

"Where Law controls not, and where Mercy fails?

"The waves, when wild they overflow their bound,

"Covering with wrecks the watery world around; [air, "The meteors, when they ride the catching "And shake contagion from their blazing hair; The maniac whirlwinds, when oppos'd they

rave; "The ravenous earthquake-an enormous grave,

"Whose mouth capacious, by whose cities fed, "In one dire moment swallowing quick and dead,

"Less fell than man, with passions unconfin'd "And soul debas'd let loose upon his kind; "His wit, his genius, then but more annoy, "His godlike powers but engines to destroy, "The fiercest monster that e'er roam'd the

wood

"Or lash'd the billow less profuse of blood.

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seen,

"Pastur'd in meadows of Parnassian green; "There bolder sketch'd the spirit-breathing Steed,

"Like some proud courser of ethereal breed, "Seems now to rest upon the canvass plain, "Now triumphs in the verse, and spurns the rein.

"Reposing soft upon his master's knee "Caress'd, caressing, there the Dog we see, "In hopes to gain his lord's society, "He watches now each motion of the eye "Consults the history of the monarch face, "And leaps with joy when partner of the chase.

"With rapture wild, yet passive to command, "Next view him bounding o'er the dewy land; "The master seems the servant's bliss to share, "Aud mingled music fills the vocal air; "As in you group they join the hunter train, "Skirting the copse, and scattering o'er the plain.

"Man, too, full oft so fondly is pourtray'd "No cares annoy him, and no griefs invade; "Here friendship's villa, there love's cot is shown

"And Cupid seated on his mother's throne. "Mark how th' affections circle yonder bound "While rose-lip'd children dance like cherubs round. [blend, "There infant buds and manhood's blossoms "And every creature seems a cherish'd friend: "No gory bludgeon, no uplifted knife, "No object that revives a foe to life; "Man, bird, and beast, scarce differ but in food,

And all is sung or painted fair and good. "The poet's passion, and the painter's soul, "With magic arın'd, emparadise the whole.”

MR. EDITOR,

MODERN PROPHETS.

"If simple women chance to go astray,
“Their stars are said to be in fault-not they."

rudiments of common sense. Now, Sir, there is no man, not even a professed woman-hater, who will pretend to accuse our lovely countrywomen of a deficiency of the latter qualification; and as to the former, it is so expressly taught both at our fashionable boarding-schools and our fashionable institutions, that we cannot suppose women of fa-hion to be ignorant of

IT is acknowledged by all, that the age of miracles is gone by, aud that the days of witchcraft and of sorcery are no more; is it not then astonishing that individuals can still be found willing to believe and to encourage a set of impostors who pretend to a foreknowledge of future events? Some of the modern admire's of human reason, || it. may perhaps be disposed to deny the mo- If it is thus difficult to excuse, it is much dern faith in supernatural agency; the more so to account for it; for we cannot public papers, however, and several recent rationally suppose that the mere impulse convictions of those foretellers of events, of curiosity would induce any person to who thereby seem to know every body's ask questions of those whom they must business, or fate, but their own, are suffi- know to be incapable of answering them. cient to prove the fact. It is true, indeed,|| Are we then to conclude that those ladies that the followers of those pretenders have of rank and fashion who consult those exbeen among the lowest and most ignoraut pounders of all lawful questions," have a classes of society; but I believe it is not real and bona fide belief in their skill? Can unknown to many of the fair readers of those who have been accustomed to exaLa Belle Assemblée, that there are both mine and to understand the astronomical male and female prophets now in full trade || plates in Ferguson's or in Bryant's Astroat the west end of the town; people who nomy, really believe that there is any maknow at least their own lucky moments,gical mystery in the uncouth figures drawn and who contrive, by secret imposition on at random by these pretenders to long expublic credulity, to live in elegant apart-ploded astrological knowledge? Can young ments; nay, in more than one instance, to ladies who have been instructed in the exhave fashionable looking houses, where treme nicety required for astronomical they deal out their oracles to their daily || observations, though with the very best and nightly visitants.

instruments, believe that a fellow ignorant

That some of these residences of vatici-even of common Eng'ish, can consult the nation are neither more nor less than absolute houses of intrigue, ought alone to deter women of delicacy and character from frequenting them; to persuade your fair readers, however, to avoid them on that principle alone, without shewing them at the same time the absurdity of the pretension itself, would be merely a palliative for an evil which I am sorry to say "has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished."

The belief in these impositions can in nowise be excused but on a plea of ignorance; ignorance of the first principles of natural philosophy, nay indeed of the first No. VI. Vol. I.-N. S.

stars in his garret? Can they, after being shewn the elaborate calculations necessary for the construction of astronomical tables, and the extreme simplicity of their application to practice, actually believe that there are any secret rules for astrology, or that fellows ignorant of the first principles of astronomy, can calculate the places of the planets; nay, is it possible that they can believe that planets whose motions are so simple and so equable as to be calculated with the utmost certainty and accuracy for many years in advance, can at the same time by that equable motion mark the various destinies of the millions who are in exNA

istence, for if they do it for one they must lieve that all things are alike known to do it for all?

I have adopted this Socratic mode of elucidating my meaning, Mr. Editor, for the purpose of inducing your fair readers to think; those who think, seldom || think wrong, the want of thought is the handmaid of error.

them. To bring the point then to an issue, let them be asked for the leading particulars in the French Papers which are next to arrive; let them be asked on the Monday, who is to be in the next Saturday's Gazette; or let them be asked for a list of those who shall be ca ried to Bow-street in If then my amiable countrywomen, the evening, but no! that last question after answering these questions to them- would be superfluous, as it has been often selves, are of opinion that no man can proved that these folks are not able to foretel any thing respecting the stars ex- foretel the operations of the law. Whilst cept their motion and relative positions in || therefore fate has denied them that species consequence, much less can they believe of knowledge of most importance to them. that the twirling of a coffee-cup, or the selves, surely no person after a moment's turning up of a card, shall enable any one consideration will believe that they have to dive into the secrets of futurity. If been favoured with a supernatural knowthere are any persons, however, who can ledge respecting others, a knowledge of no still believe that this book of futurity, this use but as they can turn it to their own prospective knowledge is really open to advantage. these impostors, they must of course be

L.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF HERALDRY AND GENEALOGY,
ILLUSTRATIVE OF ANCESTRY AND GENTILITY.

selves wives amongst the "Daughters of Men," a phrase which, according to the orien tal figurature language, implies a difference of origin, or rather of immediate descent.

But to leave conjecture for some kind of certainty, it may be observed, that in examining the history of the most distant ages, we find that even those nations whose progress towards civilization was yet but in its infancy, had a high sense of the claims of ancestry, and were stimulated to heroic actions by a remembrance of the deeds of their progenitors. Indeed this bias, or partiality, was so powerfulia animating the whole body of the people to

Of all the passions of the human mind, whether nurtured by habit, acquired through | prejudice, prompted by vanity, or actually arising from what may almost be called an innate principle of our nature, there is not one whose antiquity runs higher, and of course whose origin is more obscure, than a love of Genealogy, from whence Heraldry has sprung, and on which it is still dependent. From the universality of this passion, in all ages and in|| all countries, it is indeed evident, that it either is an original principle in itself, or that it emanates immediately from principles im Alanted in man at his first creation ; a circumstance which furnishes a most curious para-enterprizes of high daring for the public dex for metaphysicians, as it appears from good, in prompting to energy in council, and hence that the first man was created and im- to cool: intrepidity in execution, that the bued with principles which in him could never chiefs of the warlike clans, and even the be brought into action. Pere Menestrier who, senates of the little infantiue republics according to the French custom, has refined cherished it with an holy zeal. It was ingraftrather too much on this idea, says that Adamed on their religion by the deification of their was placed in a worse situation than his descendants, inasmuch as he could neither amuse himself with Heraldry nor Genealogy; without however going seriously to this extreme, we must allow that family distinctions really exist There never was a period in which Britain ed before the flood, as we read in sacred Serip-|was more imperiously called on to avail her ture of the "Sons of God," taking to them-self not only of the virtues but even of the

ancient heroes, and intimately mingled with their social and domestic policy on the monuments of the state, in the pages of the his torian, and in the songs of the bard!

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