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der him less nimble-footed on future occasions. The poor devil came limping towards me after this unkind treatment to beg a few pesettas by way of consolation, a compliance with which changed his pathetic strain to notes of gladness. I had scarce learnt his disgrace, when I received an invitation, borne by a dozen of the bashaw's body-guard, to attend at the alcassaba myself.

I found his excellency the bashaw, seated on the ground at his castle gate, busied in giving the pass-word to the night patrole, who with their cudgels and other arms were proceeding to their respective posts for the night. He was not long in acquainting me with the nature of what he had to impart, nothing less than the said charge of murder !

Thinking his excellency labored under some delusion, I begged to inform him through an honest dragoman-the same person who cuts such a conspicuous figure in Capt. Beauclerk's "Tour to Morocco," as the "Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox of the sultan "-that the accident was fortunately but a trifling one; also, that I was not the precise person who had occasioned it. It was, however, gently hinted to me, "that this made no difference, and that if anything happened to the girl, I might prepare for the worst." As an especial favor, after many threats of imprisonment, I was allowed to remain in confinement in my own house, under surveillance, till the result of the girl's accident was ascertained.

I subsequently discovered that my cunning friend, Gambado, leagued with the dragoman, had contrived to shift the weight of the offence upon my shoulders, by causing the bashaw to understand that I was the person who had rode over the girl, an imposture I did not discover at the moment. The farce, however, was near being turned into tragedy; the parents of the girl, in order to extort a sufficient sum of money, had employed

means to aggravate the wound in the girl's head, which they had caused to be shaved. Medicines were administered to her which produced violent fever, and if a prompt settlement had not taken place they would have killed her, in order to derive a pecuniary benefit from her death.

As any rescue from the hands of the Moors, through official interference (though I must here acknowledge the kindness of the European consuls at Tangiers in offering me their assistance), might have been both a slow and doubtful process, I preferred the shorter route of disengaging myself from the grasp of power by sending for the worthy conspirators, and paying the amount of their demand. Their meeting was sufficiently ludicrous; they wept, debated, and fought with my arbitrators, and at last come blows. I was then assured everything was in a fair way of settlement, and that they would certainly not hold out much longer. Battle was, in fact, the signal of accommodation, the talbs or scribes were sent for, and upon payment of certainly a less penalty than I expected, they drew up my release. few days subsequent to this arrangement, the young lady was restored to perfect health, and was able to walk to her garden as well as ever.

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Occurrences like the foregoing are always looked upon by the authorities in the light of business, and that course which may bring a share of the damages to their own pockets, is the one they are sure to pursue. Public officers having no stated salaries, think it no harm to make the worst of every chance which comes in their way, nor is the emperor himself backward in showing a bad example.

Sidi Hamet Benja, a Moorish merchant, who died a few years back at Gibraltar, was known to the whole mercantile world by the extent of his connections and his great riches. This man the Emperor of Morocco tried to destroy, for

which Benja owed him an eternal hatred; notwithstanding which, his oppressor became his sole and universal legatee.

Benja from insignificant beginnings had acquired great wealth, the fame of which soon reached the sultan's ears, who by insinuations and flattering messages, induced him to repair to the royal presence. The unsuspecting merchant proceeded to Barbary; no sooner had he landed there than he was informed by a friend, of his having placed his foot in the net; that the sultan had given orders to prevent his return, and to send him in chains to Morocco, in case he did not proceed voluntarily on his journey.

This intelligence would have damped the spirit of any one but a man of Benja's presence of mind, who too late saw the folly of his credulity, but determined, if possi-. ble, to retrieve his error. Profiting from the information given him, he resolved to go boldly forward, feigning an entire ignorance of the sultan's intentions. Having caused the sum of 50,000 dollars to be forwarded to him from Gibraltar, the money was laden on mules, and placed under the care of his escort. Benja shortly after knelt in the royal presence. Previously to inquiring the nature of the sultan's command, he stated his intention to withdraw his riches from Europe, and to take up his residence near Seedna, his lord and master, whom he intended to constitute his sole heir; in token of this intention, he pointed out the gold which already awaited the suitan's acceptance, at the palace gates. The money was unladen in the court-yard of the palace. The greedy sultan listened to the tale with the utmost credulity-the chains which awaited the merchant were withheld. The sultan, thinking himself sure of getting the whole property into his hands, urged Benja's speedy departure to put his purpose into execution, promising him all sorts of honors and influence on his return.

Benja was not tardy in obeying the sultan's commands; he took his leave, but no sooner was he out of the kingdom, than he acquainted the sultan of his knowledge of the infamous intention to imprison him till he should have purchased his freedom, and congratulated himself on having escaped the fangs of such a monster at so small a sacrifice. Benja little intended at this time to have made the sultan his heir, yet such was the case; for having an aversion to making a will, he died intestate, and thus, by a law of Barbary, the sultan claimed his property-which the authorities of Gibraltar found themselves compelled to pay into his hands.

No Moor can reside out of his sovereign's dominions without special leave: this was one of the flimsy pretexts on which the sultan intended to imprison Benja. Where there are wives or children, they are generally held responsible for the husband or father's conduct, and are punished in case of his disobedience to the law.

It is surprising that despotic governments should find any advocate; yet such is the case. A late tourist has even held the government of Morocco up to admiration,; by citing cases wherein the sultan's arbitrary measures have produced benefits, which even-handed justice never could have obtained; but it would be far better that a few guilty individuals should escape, than that one innocent man should suffer. Some instances may be pointed out, wherein despotic proceedings have been attended with good effects; but this cannot justify their general adoption.

A party to which I belonged, in the eagerness of the chase, pursued their game across a douar where sporting is prohibited; this precaution being neglected, some of the sportsmen were surrounded by the Arabs, who, under pretence of ad miring the fine detonating locks of English guns, relieved one of my

friends from the trouble of carrying his gun any further. Vexation for its loss caused a complaint to the caid of our guard; the caid applied to the chief of the douar. The Arabs denied all knowledge of the theft, which so enraged the chief, that he threatened to flog the whole douar, in case the property was not immediately produced. Two or three of the villagers had actually undergone a flagellation, in pursuance of the chief's resolve, when a woman, whose husband was next in turn for the bastinado, brought forward the much wished for gun, displaying the triumph of conjugal affection over mercenary feeling. Many European ladies would not have been in such haste to spare their husbands a flogging!

Another case occurs to my memory in which the wielding of arbitrary power may be seen to all its disadvantage. A late governor of Tangiers being called by some business of importance to the interior, pitched on one of the principal merchants or shopkeepers of the place to govern during his absence. This was a favor from which the merchant would have willingly shrunk, but refusal was impossible. On the bashaw's departure, he handed a list to his deputy of the sums he was expected to raise during his absence. Notwithstanding every possible economy and diligence, the period of the bashaw's return drew near, the day of resignation was at hand, and there yet remained a deficit of fifty dollars in the stipulated levies. This, to a Moor, who foresaw he would have to pay the defi

ciency out of his own pocket, was no trifling matter, and caused serious reflection. In the midst of his distress, two men were brought in wounded, who had quarreled and fought in the streets. This grave offence required the infliction of a heavy penalty, which, as it promised to relieve the deputy governor from his embarrassment, caused him no small joy in discovering a means of shifting the payment of the muchwanted sum on the first aggressor. But in this case the man happened not to possess a single blanquillo. Not all the stripes in the world, nor any means could be devised to make either of the parties produce the lowest copper coin of the country, which sum it turned out had been the cause of their dispute. The witnesses of the affray were next inquired for, and on its being discovered that a wealthy man had accidentally witnessed the quarrel, the deputy sent for him, flew into a great rage, and threatened to put him into confinement for remaining a quiet spectator, in a case of murder. Inability to separate the combatants was pleaded, as well as the danger of their turning their knives on himself, had he attempted to interfere. Remonstrance was useless, the crime was unpardonable : "My friend," whispered the deputy governor, "you had better pay the money without hesitation, for the bashaw may return to-morrow, and if he finds. I have neglected my duty, he may be inclined to make a governor of you-which you may find a greater punishment than that which I now inflict on you."

MAT KAVANAGH, THE IRISH HEDGE SCHOOLMASTER. THE village of Findramore, it appears, was without a schoolmaster; one of these worthies having been hanged for only being concerned in burning the house of an agent; and his successor, a lame young man, named Garraghty, the son of a widow, having, it was maliciously reported, died of poverty.

Garraghty had been attentive to his little pupils, and his instructions were sufficient to give them a relish for education; a circumstance which did not escape the observation of their parents, who duly appreciated it. His death, however, deprived them of this advantage; and, as schoolmasters, under the

old system, were always at a premium, it so happened that, for three years afterwards, none of that class presented himself for their acceptance. Many a trial had been made, and many a sly offer held out as a lure to the neighboring teachers, but they did not take; for, although the country was densely inhabited, yet it was remarked that no schoolmaster ever 'thruv' in the neighborhood of Findramore. The place in fact had got a bad name." The villagers, however, determined to have their children educated, and, as fair words and an advertisement, placarded against the chapel door, could not induce a teacher to settle among them, it was agreed, at a meeting held one Saturday evening, in Barney Brady's sheebeen house, to carry off Mat Kavanagh, the master of a school distant eighteen miles from Findramore.

Although the instruction of the rising generation was a powerful stimulant towards the abduction of a schoolmaster, it must not entirely be forgotten that there were other motives-not mentionable in broad day-light; of these, the principal was the necessity which existed for a secretary to the secret association of Findramore, variously termed Peep-of-day Boys, White Boys, and Rockites, whose literary productions were extensively circulated through the country, in the shape of notices to quit certain lands by a certain time, orders against employing proscribed persons, and friendly intimations that, unless these mandates were immediately complied with, all the horrors of fire and sword would follow. A schoolmaster was therefore required who could officiate in a double capacity, as distinct, and not quite as harmless as

“A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day." Kavanagh, who was never the man to gainsay a glass of whiskey, was, with some difficulty, made drunk by the party despatched for the purpose, first of bringing him

to Findramore, and afterwards of asking his consent to remain there. He was then put into a sack, and tied on a horse, "free from all earthly care."

"Now boys,' said Dolan, 'let us do the thing clane an' dacent. Let you Jem Cogan, Brian Murphy, Paddy Delany, and Andy Connell, go back and tell the wife and two childher a cock-and-a-bull story about Mat; say that he is coming to Findramore for good and all, an' that 'ill be truth you know; and that he ordhered yees to bring her and them after him; and we can come back for the furniture tomorrow.'"

Kavanagh arrived at his journey's end without the slightest gleam of consciousness having broken in upon his mind. He was unsacked and deposited in a settle-bed at a farmer's house, where he remained in an oblivious trance until breakfast time on the next morning.

"In the mean time, the wife and children were taken care of by Mrs. Connell, who provided them with a bed, and every other comfort which they could require. The next morning, when Mat awoke, his first call was for drink.

"Wather!' said Mat, a drink of wather-if it's to be had for love or money-or I'll split wid druth. I'm all in a state of conflagration, and my head-by the sowl of Newton, the inventor of fluxions-but my head is a complete illucidation of the centrifugle motion, so it is. Tundher an' turf, is there no wather to be had? Nancy, I say, for God's sake, quicken yourself wid the hydraulics, or the best mathematician in Ireland's gone to the abode of Euclid and Pythagoras, that first invented the multiplication table.'

"On cooling his burning blood with the hydraulics, he again lay down, with an intention of composing himself for another sleep; but his eye noticed the novelty of his situation: he once more called Nancy.

"Nancy, avourneen,' he inquired, will you be afther resolving me one single proposition? Where am I at the present spaking? Is it in the siminary at home, Nancy?'

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Nancy, in the mean time, had been desired to answer in the affirmative, hoping that if his mind was made easy on that point, he might refresh himself by another hour or two's sleep, as he appeared to be not at all free from the effects of his previous intoxication.

"Why, Mat, jewel, where else would you be, a lannah, but at home? Sure isn't here Jack, and Biddy, an' myself, Mat, agra, along wid me? Your head isn't well, but all you want is a good rousin' sleep.'

"Very well, Nancy, very well, that's enough-quite satisfacthory quod erat demonstrandum. May all kinds of bad luck rest upon the Findramore boys any way! The unlucky vagabonds-I'm the third they've done up. Nancy, off wid ye, like quicksilver, for the priest.' "The priest ?-why, Mat, jewel, what puts that into your head? sure there's nothing wrong wid ye, only the sup o' drink you tuck yesterday.'

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Go, woman,' said Mat, did you ever know me to make a wrong calculation? I tell you I'm non compos mentis from head to heel. Head! by my sowl, Nancy, it 'ill soon be a caput mortuum wid meI'm far gone in a disease they call an opthical delusion-the devil a thing less it is-me bein' in my own place, an' to think I'm lyin' in a settle-bed, that there is a large dresser covered wid pewter dishes and plates, and, to crown all, the door on the wrong side of the house. Off wid ye, an' tell his Reverence that I want to be anointed, and to die in pace and charity wid all men. May the most especial kind of bad luck light down upon you, Findramore, an' all that's in you, both man and baste-you have given me my gruel along wid the rest; but, thank

God, you won't hang me, any how! Off, Nancy, for the priest, till I die like a Christhan, in pace and forgiveness wid the world;-all kinds of hard fortune to them! Make haste, woman, if you expect me to die like a Christhan. If they had let me alone till I'd publish to the world my Treatise on Conic Sections; but to be cut off on my march to fame! Another draught of the hydraulics, Nancy, an' then for the priest; but see bring Father Connell, the Curate, for he understands something about mathew-maticks; an' never heed Father Roger, for little he knows about them, not even the difference betune a right line and a curve-in the page of history to his everlastin' disgrace be it recorded.'

"Mat,' replied Nancy, scarcely preserving her gravity, ' keep yourself from talkin', and fall asleep, then you'll be well enough.'

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"Is there e'er a sup at all in the house?' said Mat; if there is, let me get it for there's an ould proverb, though it is a most unmathematical axiom as ever was invinted, try a hair of the same dog that bit you;' give me a glass, Nancy, any how, an' you can go for Father Connell after. Oh, by the sowl of Isaac, that invinted fluxions, what's this for?'

"A general burst of laughter followed this demand and ejaculation! and Mat sat up once more in the settle, and examined the place with keener scrutiny. Nancy herself laughed heartily; and as she handed him a full glass, entered into an explanation of the circumstances attending his translation.

"Mat, at all times of rather a pliant disposition, felt rejoiced that he was still compos mentis; and on hearing what took place, he could not help entering into the humor of the enterprise, at which he laughed as heartily as any of them.

"Mat,' said the farmer, and half-a-dozen of the neighbors, 'you're a happy man; there's a hundred of the boys have a school

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