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between America and the East Indies. That trade would certainly cease, if the Americans could come to an Indian market at the Cape."

We cannot close our remarks, without reverting to a subject, which we deem of vital consequence to the welfare of this settlement; namely, its government and laws. Whatever may be the views or the efforts of the colonial secretary in this country; however encouraging and practicable may appear the prospects held out to the settler, still, if the governor at the Cape does not enter zealously and sincerely into the project, it will assuredly and fatally fail. If the matter be forced upon the local authorities, however the letter may be preserved, the spirit of the plan will be defeated. It might indeed seem as a matter precluding doubt, that colonial governors should implicitly obey the wishes, and more especially the commands of their superiors at home. So unaccustomed, however, as these governors are to be opposed; so tenacious of authority, and jealous of dictation, as their situation naturally makes them, pretences will never be wanting to evade instructions from this country at all opposing their prejudices or their power. Were the laws of England, and a regular council established, instead of the confused and contradictory laws now in force, and the mere ipse dixit of the governor, the British emigrant might repair to the Cape in safety. At present there are few, we fear, who, having resided any length of time in the colony, will not deplore the monstrous union of undefined laws and despotic authority.

*

Thus far we had written, when a pamphlet was put into our hands, from the pen of Mr Burchell. We are most happy in having an opportunity of qualifying our strictures on temporary tracts, by some quotations from these able and valuable "Hints." Mr Burchell has been for a length of time in South Africa, and has travelled further, we believe, than any other Englishman into the interior. There are few men better qualified to give information respecting the Cape.-But we shall proceed to our extracts.

"The facility with which the necessaries of life are procured, has perhaps been the

use.

main cause of that indolence and want of energy which is a principal feature in the character of the present inhabitants of the colony; over whom a British emigrant, carrying with him the industry and knowledge of his own country, would have a thousand advantages, and would be the means of bringing to light the real resources of the country, and of turning to profit many valuable productions, now passed by unobserved, or ignorantly supposed to be of no Those who have a family of children, of whom at least two or three are old enough to be useful, will derive many advantages from their numbers. The settlers are advised to take with them a moderate stock of clothes, sufficient to last them for two or three years; such medicines as they may judge necessary; agricultural and garden implements; carpenter's and smith's tools; and whatever manufactured articles they may think requisite for domestic use; but not to encumber themselves with any thing not essentially necessary. A body of colonists would require a large area of land fit for agriculture and pasture. This is nowhere to be found within the colony, except in the Zuure Veldt (Albany).— This tract is about eighty miles by fifty, as measured on a map, or 100 by 60 of travelling distance. The Sunday river bounds it on the west, the ocean on the south, the Great Fish river on the east, and the inhabited part of the colony on the north. It is a beautiful and delightful country, varied with every diversity of scenery and surface; abounding in herbage, wood, and water; and having a soil capable of feeding large herds of cattle, and of producing corn and vegetables more than sufficient for the sup ply of a numerous population. The greatest part of it is free from wood, and may receive the plough or spade immediately. Within the first twelvemonths a harvest may be reaped; during which time, to supply immediate want, two or three crops of potatoes may be raised. Here also the vine may be cultivated with complete success, and that lucrative branch of agriculture may at last be shared by the British. To all these advantages is superadded the important one of a line of coast of no less than 100

miles, from which an immediate supply of fish may be procured towards the support of the infant settlement. The Great Fish river, at its mouth, is as broad as the Thames below London, but is not navigable many miles upwards. A jutty carried out beyond the surf would ensure a safe landing for boats at most seasons. the Nysma admits ships which have sailed out with cargoes of timber; and were it possible to raise the sunken rocks at its mouth, it would be the most eligible spot in To introduce the whole colony for a town. the practice of well-digging would be to

The fine harbour of

Hints on Emigration to the Cape of Good Hope, by William J. Burchell, Esq. London. Hatchard. 2s. 6d. 1819.

double the value of this part of Africa. The nearest town is Graaff-Reynét, which bids fair to become a considerable place. The nearest sea-port is Algoa bay, where a jutty is all that is required for making landing safe and easy. Here the emigrants should disembark, and not at Cape Town."

To those of our readers who are interested in such matters, we earnestly

recommend the perusal of this modest and intelligent pamphlet ; and we sincerely trust the author may be induced by its success to fulfil his promise, of drawing up, for the use and guidance of emigrants, more detailed instructions, accompanied by all the information and advice essentially necessary upon the subject.

LIFE OF ANTONIO LAMBERTACCI.

From the "Historie Memorabili della Citta di Bologna da Gaspare Bombaci." (Continued from Vol. V. Page 59.)

THE narrative of the events which followed immediately, or very shortly after, upon those last recorded, shall be pursued in the words of our histo

rian.

"Imelda Lambertacci, and Boniface Gieremei, equal in birth, in the graces of person, and in years, to each other, became inspired by a reciprocal passion; and the obstacles which the ancient feud of their parents opposed to its gratification, proved only a greater incitement to their amorous desires. The damsel, enflamed and agitated by the violence of her new passion, discovered plainly to her lover her heart in her looks, and betrayed to him her most secret thoughts by the changes of the colour in her cheek, as if they were painted on her countenance. The youth, well understanding the signs of love, so much the more rejoiced at these tokens of a reciprocal affection, as she was the more precious to him both by reason of her birth and of her beauty. He, at the same time, felt the torment of not being able to find means to obtain the entire possession of her, on account of the mutual hatred of their families, rather smothered than extinguished; because although all occasion of offence was taken away by the reconciliation before mentioned, nevertheless they (the two rival families) still abhorred the idea of union. Despairing, therefore, to obtain her in the way of marriage, and judging, from the mutual tokens they had interchanged, that it depended only upon him to proceed farther, he devised the means of being with her as soon as possible, not less in order to satisfy the impatience of his own passion, than that he might not give time for the fickleness of the female sex to elude him. The agree ment of their wishes, to which no

The supreme

thing is difficult, made their path of conduct more easy; nor did the fear of exposing himself to the danger of a thousand accidents retard him; either because every one thinks, in such cases, that he is the favourite of fortune, or because the satisfaction of a vehement passion appears the most important object to him who entertains it, and because to evince, in the execution of his designs, less daring than a woman, is deemed the greatest disgrace, and the basest of infamy. At the time and hour resolved upon, Bonifacio was introduced, with the greatest possible secrecy, into the chamber of Imelda. contentment, the ecstacy of joy, which they experienced, may be more readily imagined than it can be described; and I shall say nothing more than that they would not have exchanged their then present condition for the highest state of felicity ever granted to be enjoyed on earth. But contemplate a little how easily the designs of human creatures are frustrated, and with what close connexion pleasure and misery are linked together! While they were thus engaged together, the brothers of the damsel, who were disporting themselves for the evening at an entertainment in the house of their neighbours, the Cacciaremici, received information of the fact, as is probable, from some of those who were most bound in honour and duty to have kept it secret; and, immediately on being advertised of it, they silently broke away from their company, and on reaching their own mansion, one of them laid his hands on a poignard, the point of which he anointed with a poisonous unguent, and altogether softly and on tiptoe, approached the chamber-door; on their opening which, Imelda, terrified, fled to the other end

of the apartment, in order to conceal herself. Bonifacio had scarce time to feel the influence of fear, before he found himself assailed on the sudden, and, pierced with many wounds, breathed (as it were) his soul out in the arms of his murderers, who threw the body into a water-course that ran close by the walls of the house, while it yet palpitated with the last gasp of life. It is even to be believed that they would have done the same with their own sister, if it were not that either they were troubled in their consciences by reason of that which they had already committed, or else that, having sought her through the apartment, they were unable to find her, and therefore, not to lose time, hastily flew to Bologna. As soon as they were departed, Imelda, who already trembled at the bare imaginations of the event, repenting herself of having a bandoned to his fate the beloved object, without whom life could offer nothing that is desirable to her imagination, beating her bosom, and crying out upon herself as the cause of so great a calamity, followed the track of blood which led her to the spot where her unhappy lover had found, before his death, his place of sepulture. Thither having descended, and having there made discovery of the corpse, which yet retained some portion of animal heat and motion, she knelt down beside it, and as if it possessed the power of sense to understand her expressions, asked of it forgiveness for her offence in deserting him while alive, with so great tenderness, and such abundance of tears, that it would

EXTRACTS FROM THE

66

have excited compassion in any thing less inexorable than death itself; and then, throwing upon him to kiss his envenomed wounds, and imbibe with his life's blood whatever of his spirit might yet linger amid the veins of its ancient habitation,-behold! on a sudden she felt herself wax faint and feeble, and shortly thereafter lay reclined insensible on the bosom of her slaughtered lover, not suspecting, while she breathed her last sigh, that she owed her so speedy dissolution to any other cause than the vehemence of her grief and passion. Next morning the event was made public, and related in divers ways according to the interests and attachments of the relators. Public assemblies, and secret cabals, were spread throughout the city, and when at last the truth became known, as the affair had really happened, some men feared, and others hoped for, the commencement of new contests, as, in each individual, a regard for his own private advancement, or for the public weal, was most predominant. Nevertheless no immediate rising or commotion ensued, both because the accomplices in the deed were at a distance, and because those of the Lambertacci who remained were satisfied with the vengeance taken by their absent brethren, while the Gieremei could not but entertain the reflection that the injury committed by Bonifacio was deserving of punishment; and therefore suppose it probable that they might not be able to excite any classes of men in favour of their quarrel."

(To be continued.)

HISTORIA MAJOR" OF MATTHEW PARIS, MONK OF
ST ALBANS.

(Continued from Vol. V. p. 268.)

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surrendered themselves by degrees to the influence of religion, and neglected the use of arms; many of them assuming the monastic habit; and, some at Rome, others in their own country, exchanging their temporal for a spiritual kingdom. Many, who still continued in the world during their lives, founded churches and monasteries and treasuries for the poor, and in short, completed all the good works of charity. The whole island shines so refulgent with the light of martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins, that you

can hardly enter any considerable town without hearing the illustrious name of some new saint invoked within it. At length, however, charity grew cold, and the golden age was converted into an age of clay: then the works of religion fell into disuse, and (as once before happened in the invasion of the Danes, so now again in the expulsion of the English by the men of Normandy) the sins of the people drew down their own destruction upon their heads. For the nobles of the land, enslaved by their sensual appetites, no longer went early in the morning into the churches as Christians are wont, but, in their bedchambers, and in the arms of their wives, heard the matin service and masses read over to them in haste by some careless priest, and the clerks and those in orders were so destitute of learning, that one who knew his grammar was an object of wonder to all the rest. Their potations all made in common, and they wasted whole days and nights also, in that sort of study. They gorged themselves with food, and drank till they vomited at their banquets. However, you are not to understand this of all men equally; it being well known that many among that nation, of all condition and dig nities, were pleasing to God.

II.—The return of one from the Grave to visit and admonish his Companion. Related under the year 1072. ABOUT this time, there lived in a town of Britanny, called Nantes, two clerks, who from their boyhood had been so knit together in the bonds of friendship, that, if necessity required it, either would have sacrificed his life for the other. One day they agreed together, that, whichever of the two should first die, he should appear within thirty days to the survivor, whether sleeping or waking, in order to certify to him the state of things hereafter, and what is the condition of souls after their departure from the body; so that, being sufficiently informed hereof, he might thenceforth know, which of the opinions maintained by philosophers, concerning the soul, was fittest to be embraced. For the Platonist hold that the death of the body doth not extinguish the soul, but dismisses it freed, as from a dungeon, to God, from whom it sprung; while the Epicureans contrariwise assert

that the soul, when dismissed from the body, vanishes away into the air and is utterly dissolved; and Theologians, holding a still different opinion concerning it, maintain that souls have three distinct mansions assigned them after the dissolution of the body, one in heaven, another in purgatory, and the third in hell; and that, as those which are in hell shall in no wise be saved, so those which are in purgatory shall receive mercy. Now it fell out that, shortly after this mutual pledge was given and accepted, one of the friends departed on a sudden, without having confessed, or received the Viaticum. The other, who remained alive, thought continually of the promise made, but waited for its accomplishment till the end of the thirty days in vain. After this time had expired, hopeless of the fulfilment of the promise, he had begun to apply his mind again to other affairs, when lo! the dead man appeared, and thus accosted him, "Dost thou know me?" he asked. "I do know thee," answered his friend. "Then," said he, "Oh my friend! my coming may (if thou choosest) be of the utmost importance to thee: to me it can avail nothing. For the judgment of God hath gone out against me, and I am doomed, miserable that I am, to everlasting torments." Then the living man promised that he would give all his effects to the church and to the poor, and pass all his days and nights in continual prayer and fasting, for the redemption of his departed friend; but the apparition answered him, "Nay, that which I have said is fixed; for, because I departed this life without repentance, the judgments of God are just, and by them I am plunged into the sulphureous gulf of hell, where, so long as the stars roll round the pole, and the waves of the sea break upon the shore, I shall continue to be tormented for my sins. Now, that thou mayest feelingly experience only one of my innumerable sufferings, stretch out thine hand to receive a drop of my bloody sweat." The living man did as he was directed, and thereby his skin and flesh were perforated as by a burning caustic, and a hole was made in them, large enough to receive a hazle nut; but, when he testified the greatness of his pain by his exclamations, "This mark" resumed the appa

rition, "will remain with thee till the day of thy death, in dreadful remembrance of my misery; therefore neglect not this amazing remedy, but use it as the means of salvation; while thou art yet able, change thy garment, and therewith change thy mind also, so as thou mayest escape from the anger of thy Creator." To this the living man returning not a word, the spectre looked upon him with a more stern countenance, and said, "miserable wretch! if thou doubtest, turn thee and read this writing." And thereupon he stretched out his hand, which was all over written with black characters, in which Satan and all the legions of hell were made to return thanks to the whole ecclesiastical order, for that, while they indulged without restraint in their own pleasures, they only suffered the souls of such as were subjected to their care, through their neglect, to descend to hell in such numbers that no former ages had ever seen the like. After which, the apparition vanished. The living man immediately distributed all his goods to the church and to the poor, and took upon him the holy habit at the monastery of Saint Melan, admonishing all present of what he had seen and heard; who, seeing his sudden conversion, exclaimed," Behold what the hand of the most High hath wrought!"

III.-The Character and Death of Walter, Bishop of Durham. Under the year 1075.

IN those days, Walter, Bishop of Durham, occupying himself in secular concerns to the prejudice of the Pontifical Dignity, bought the Earldom of Northumberland of the King, and, acting in the capacity of Sheriff of the county, presided in the Courts of Laical Jurisdiction, and violently extorted immense sums of money out of all the inhabitants of his province, alike nobles and serfs; so that, at the last, the people, seeing themselves reduced to extreme penury by his extortions and those of his servants, became greatly indignant thereat, and meeting together in secret council, unanimously ordained one and all to attend the county court, armed to repel injuries, should necessity demand it. Shortly after, they came to the court accordingly, with spirits determined to exact justice for

their several wrongs, of which they made their complaint, demanding redress; but the Bishop arbitrarily replied, that he would do them no justice for any wrong of which they so complained, until they should have paid down to him four hundred pounds of lawful money. Then one, speaking for the rest of them, asked license of the bishop to consult together about the bishop's demand, that they might return their answer the more advisedly; which license being obtained, while they were consulting together, one, on whose judgment they had all great reliance, hastily said, in the language of his country, "Short rede, good rede, slea ye the byshoppe;" whereupon they all of one accord flew to arms, and the bishop was cruelly slain, with a hundred men of his train, on a spot close by the river Tine, where this fatal court had been held by him.

IV.-Foundation of the Church of Lin

coln by Saint Remigius. Anno 1085. By this time the Normans had accomplished the will of God over the whole English nation, and hardly one nobleman of English birth remained in the kingdom, all being reduced to a state of servitude, in such sort, that it became a disgrace to be called an Englishman. Then did unjust imposts and the worst customs spring up over the land; and, the more those in authority gave judgment according to law and justice, the greater was the oppression. They who were called justiciaries were the authors of all injustice. To steal a deer or wild goat was punished with the loss of sight; nor was there any man to resist such oppressive laws. For this cruel king loved beasts of chase as if he had been the father of them; so that, at the last, following his evil counsels, he enacted that, even in towns where men hold discourse together, and in the churches themselves which are consecrated to the worship of God, wild deer and other animals should be suffered to run about unrestrained. Whence it is proverbially asserted, that for thirty miles and more the fruitful country was converted into a forest, and into the haunts of wild beasts. In the construction of castles, also, this king exceeded all his predecessors. Normandy had come to him by hereditary right; Maine he

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