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served, then turned and cursed their preservers for heretics.—' This is as it should be,' said I, these men act up to their nature, and the English are a nation of fools; I will not go amongst them.'— After a short time behold a new city was rising on the ruins of the old one! The people took the builders tools, which the English had sent them, and made themselves houses: I overheard a fellow at his work say to his companion- Before the earthquake I made my bed in the streets, now I shall have a house to live in.'' This is too much,' said I; their misfortunes make this people happy, and I will stay no longer in their country.'—I descended to the banks of the Tagus; there was a ship, whose canvass was loosed for sailing. She is an English ship,' says a Galliego porter; they are brave seamen, but damned tyrants on the quarter deck. They pay well for what they have,' says a boat-man, and I am going on board her with a cargo of lemons.'-I threw myself into the wherry, and entered the ship: The mariners were occupied with their work, and nobody questioned me why I was amongst them. The tide wafted us into the ocean and the night became tempestuous, the vessel laboured in the sea, and the morning brought no respite to our toil. Whither are you bound?' said I to the master. To hell,' said he,

'for nothing but the devil ever drove at such a rate!'-The fellow's voice was thunder; the sailors sung in the storm, and the master's oaths were louder than the waves; the third day was a dead calm, and he swore louder than ever.-'If the winds were of this man's making,' thought I, he would not be content with them.'-A favourable breeze sprung 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

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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 Bourdeaux; every thing at sea goes 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! Lewis,' said he to a handsome youth, who stood at his elbow, we will now seek out this Monsieur Chaubert at Bourdeaux, and get payment of his bills on your account.-Shew 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 villian 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 villian 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.

NUMBER XVI.

CHAUBERT'S narrative proceeds as follows:"When the English master declared he was happier in his present hard service than in his former prosperity, and that he forgave the villian who had ruined him, I started with astonishment, and stood out of his reach, expecting every moment when his phrenzy would break out; I looked him steadily in the 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 hc,' 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 he 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'

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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 Bourdeaux ; 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 compting 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; Ilost 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 out so eagerly and what he had farther to confess.

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"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." Here ends the diary of Chaubert.

I do not mean to expose my ideas to ingenious ridicule by maintaining that every thing happens to every man for the best, but I will contend, that he, who makes the best of it, fulfills the part of a wise and good man: Another thing may be safely advanced, namely, that man is not competent to decide upon the good or evil of many events, which befal him in this life, and we have authority to say, Woe be to him that calls good evil, and evil good! I could wish that the story of Chaubert, as I have given it, might make that impression upon any one of my readers, as it did upon me, when I received it and I could also wish, that I felt myself worthy to add to it the experience of many occurrences in