Next time I see you, on condition you will let me laugh, you shall talk of loves and graces, lilies and roses, flames and darts, till chanticleer gives his last summons to the phantoms and fairies to disappear.

CLERIMONT.

My Lord,

LETTER XXI.

To the Earl of

I AM just recovered of the wound I received in the duel, which you, with so much reason and humanity, endeavoured to prevent. I think myself now under an obligation to own the justice and force of your Lordship's arguments, and to retract whatever I said in defence of such an human practice. It was frenzy that made me reject the advice of one who had so true a notion of honour, and whose courage had been so gloriously employed in the cause of liberty, and the Protestant succession.

You told me what the event of this mad adventure would be; that, instead of defending, I should expose my sister's innocence to the public censure. It is too late for me to wish I had been guided by your generous and friendly admonitions; which, for the future, will bear the stamp of infallibility on them. Nor can I propose to myself a nobler example than your Lordship's, in every part of human life. The generous friend, the tender husband, and affectionate parent, appear in their proper lustre.Virtue, with a superior excellence, shines in your character, and inforces her precepts with resistless eloquence.

The review of your conduct is a severe reproach to my own. I shall never reflect on my late ridiculous exploit without confusion. Whatever bravery I affected, I was conscious of the most slavish fears, in the midst of my insolent flights of vanity. Deliberate guilt hung heavy on my soul. I spent the night before the bloody assignation, in anguish which no words can express; in

fernal visions haunted my imagination; the caverns of the night, the joyless abodes, disclosed their terrors ta my distracted fancy.

But so entirely was I governed by the maxims of the licentious part of the world, that with great gallantry, I challenged my own ruin, and bid defiance to death and damnation, exposing myself to all the horrors, dreadful to reason and nature, to avoid the imputation of cowardice.

So tyrannical a thing is custom, that it is necessary to ask the world forgiveness, for presuming to be reasona ble creatures. People are often compelled to be mad in their own defence, and to act against their reason to a void being singular. It is hard indeed, that the caprice of mankind should expect an apology from the few that are wiser than the rest, for being awake, and in their right senses; that they should be forced to excuse them→ selves for keeping their eyes open, and having penetration enough to foresee a distant danger, and so much discretion as to avoid it.

A man resolved to leap from a precipice might, with a better assurance, ridicule his companions for not promising to follow him; and more justly reproach them with cowardice, for refusing to break their necks, than these men of honour can upbraid a person for not com plying with rules of valour, at the expence of his life, and all his hopes of future happiness. If my generous adversary had not spared my life, when it lay at his mer cy, (while my salvation depended upon that important moment,) instead of giving you this penitent relation, I had been now cursing my own folly, under the weight of eternal infamy. Your Lordship's, &c. ANTONIO.

LETTER XXII.

To Valerius, from an English merchant: giving an account of the adventures of his voyage.

I AM at last safely arrived in Holland, and have taken the first opportunity to give you a relation of the adventures that detained me so long in foreign countries.

In my return from the Indies, I had some affairs with a Spanish merchant; which while I was managing, in one of their sea-ports, there came in a Spanish corsair, who had taken a rich Turkish prize, with several Turks and Moors prisoners, whom he offered to sale as slaves. I never had any traffic of this kind, from any view of interest; but, from a motive of compassion, I had purchased liberty for many a miserable wretch, to whom I gave freedom the moment I paid his ransom.

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Among the captives newly taken, there was one distinguished by the richness of his habit, and more by the gracefulness of his port. He drew all my attention; of which he appeared sensible, and still directed his looks to me: our souls seemed to greet one another, as if their intimacy had been of a long standing, and commenced in some pre-existent period. There was something in the air of this young stranger superior to adversity, and yet sensible of the present disadvantage of his fate; while I felt for him an emotion, soft as the ties of nature, and could not but impute it to the secret impres sion of some intelligent power, which was leading me to a height of generosity beyond my own intention; and, by an impulse of virtue on my soul, directing it to the accomplishment of some distant and unknown design of Providence. The heavenly instigation came with a prevailing force, and I could not but obey its dictates.

The price set on this captive was extravagantly high, and such as would be a vast disadvantage to my present affairs to part with. However, I listened to the gentle monitor within, and paid the corsair his full demands.

As soon as I had conducted the youth to my lodgings, I told him he was from that moment free; the price I had paid, was for his friendship and liberty.

Then you have confined me (replied the gentle stranger) by the most lasting engagements. I might have broke through any other restraint; but I am now " your voluntary slave, and dare trust you with a secret yet unknown to the Spaniards. My name is Orramel, the only son of a wealthy Bassa in Constantinople; and 6. you may demand what you will for my ransom,'

You will soon be convinced (said I) there was no ⚫ mercenary intention in this action. The amity I have • for you is noble and disinterested: it was kindled by a celestial spark, an emanation from the divine clemency, and terminates in nothing below your immortal happiness. And were you inclined to examine, those sacred truths which would lead you to that felicity, and to share my fortune in a free and happy nation, the wealth of the Indies should not buy you from my affections: but if it is your choice to return to the customs and religion of your country, you are absolutely free, without attending to any terms for your

' release.'

With a friendly but dejected look, he told me,, it was impossible for him to dispense with his filial obligations to an indulgent parent; but positively refused his freedom, till he had given intelligence, and received an answer from his father which he soon had, with a carteblanche to me, on which I might make my own demands for his son's ransom. I returned it with no other terms, but the liberty of all the Christian slaves he had in his possession; hoping, by this disinterested conduct, to leave a conviction on the mind of my young friend in favour of Christianity. He could persuade me to receive nothing but some little present, and left me with an apparent concern.

It was some months after he was gone, before I could finish my negociations in Spain; but, as soon as they were dispatched, I embarked for Holland. We had not

been a week at sea before the ship was taken by a Turkish pirate, and all the men in it carried to Constantinople, to be sold as slaves. My lot fell to a master from whom I was like to find most barbarous treatment; however, I was resolved to endure my bondage, till I could give intelligence to my friends in England to procure my ransom. I was fixed to this, that no hardship should reduce me to give Orramel an account of my distress, till I was again in circumstances not to need his kindness, nor expect a retaliation of my own,

But Heaven had kinder intentions by bringing me in

to this adversity; nor left me long without redress. As I was talking, in a public place, to one of my fellow slaves, Orramel came by. He passed beyond me; but instantly returning, looked on me with great attention, till some melting sorrow dropped from his eyes: when making enquiry of some that were near, to whom I belonged, and being informed, without speaking a word to me, he flew to my new master, paid his demand for my ransom, and immediately conducted me to his house,, where he welcomed me with the warmest marks of affection. He spoke-he paused-and was in the greatest perplexity to find language suitable to the sentiments; of his soul.

My brother!' said he, my friend or if there are more sacred ties in nature or virtue, let me call you by some gentler appellation! we are now united by the bands of celestial am ty; one in the same holy faith, and hopes of a glorious immortality. Your charity rescued me from a worse than Spanish slavery, from the bondage of vice and superstition : your conduct banished my prejudices to the Christian name, and made way for the entrance of those heavenly truths to which I now assent. But this is a secret even to my • own domestics: and whether such a caution is crimi-. nal, I am not yet able to determine '

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With what rapture, what attention, did I listen to this language! I blessed the accents that told me my friend, my Orramel, had embraced the Christian faith. An angel's song would have been less melodious. I looked upward, and with a grateful elevation of mind, gave glory to the Supreme Disposer of all human events. The instinct was, from above that first moved me to ransom this young captive: thence was the spring of my compassion. It would be vanity, it would be the most criminal arrogance, not to ascribe this action to the assist ing Deity.

The illustrious Orramel made it his joy, his study, to evidence his affection. He told me, his father died since we parted in Spain; and that he had left five daughters,. which he had by several of his wives. He offered me