many of the much-abused offspring of the Minerva Press, from which, it seems, the author is so anxious to distinguish and sequestrate this moral publication. There are many passages of interest,-some speeches of considerable eloquence, though generally redundant in expression; and some extremely animated scenes of battle and warlike adventure; but they do not advance the plot, which loiters and retrogrades, without mercy. The author has also thought proper to encumber the high-road of his story by several puerile and unnecessary episodes, which, like toll-gates upon a turnpike, detain the reader till he has paid the penalty of patience to no small amount. Such is the account of an island all flowing with milk and honey, and inhabited by sundry unsophisticated and Utopian personages, on which the exiles of this Tale are shipwrecked, and in which the author, like honest Dogberry, has "found it in his heart to bestow all his tediousness upon us."

We do not think we should do our readers any favour, or the author any service, by an analysis of his Tale, but we shall extract from his work one or two passages, exhibiting some power of conception and description.

The following describes the retreat of Sir John Davenport, the military commander of James II., through a defile in possession of the Covenanters. The extract is long, but its interest would be injured by any abridgement.

The road through which the troop had to travel was circuitous and difficult, sometimes winding among the hills, and sometimes rising over steep ascents; and having halted for some time in a lonely valley to rest their horses, it was not till pretty late in the afternoon that they ar. rived at a difficult path, which formed the only pass into the low ground. venport had observed it in the morning with a soldier's eye, and had remarked to his friend the Sheriff, that, with a single company of well-disciplined men, he could defend it against all the forces of the kingdom.

Da

suddenly into a new and more dangerous course. Nothing could be more sublime and romantic than the scene which now

presented itself. It seemed as if some mighty convulsion of Nature had torn the earth asunder, and had laid open its hand, crags rising on crags towered to bowels to the light of day. On either

heaven. Behind and before, the view was terminated by abrupt precipices, which seemed to shut up the passage, and to deny all egress to the awe-struck traveller; and, at this moment, it was rendered still more tremendous by a thick fog, which, resting on the top of the mountain, gave an undefined appear. ance of immensity to its height. The way, which was not broad enough to admit of two horses a-breast, had, in some places, been cut with considerable labour out of the solid rock, and wound with rapid ascent along the face of a mountain, which rose almost perpendicularly from the bed of the rivulet.

"Here we are again at your famous pass, General," said Cumin jocularly. should pay us "What if your friends of the Covenant a visit in this fearful

place? Would you be as successful in your attack as you told me this morning you knew how to be in its defence ?"

"Thank my stars," replied Davenport, "they are too busy just now canting and praying, and wrestling in spirit for a miraculous interposition, to think of the human means in their power, otherwise we might have hot work. The fools! if they had but one grain of common sense, they might not only force our prisoners from us, but send us all apacking to

99

"Hark! did you not hear a noise ?" said Eccleston hastily. "I confess I do not like this place. We have lingered too long on the road."

"What are your nerves shaken by these horrors?" asked Sir John, with a smile. "Remember, man, under whose auspices you are.-Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro."

"Look there! look there!" cried the Sheriff; " as I'm a living man, there are human figures moving in the mist!"

"Some travellers," returned he, care. lessly. "If they wait not till we gain the top, woe betide them. Your fears, my friend, are a more magnifying medium than the mist itself."

"Nay, but, General, it is no joke," " [ replied the other, in great alarm. I consee a large body of armed men. ceal them from you; but look now, and judge for yourself."

Cumin, who was foremost, by moving a little to one side, opened to the Ge

neral a view of a considerable corps stationed on a ridge directly in front; and although they could only be dimly seen through the mist, it was too plain they were enemies. He changed colour, and looked anxiously back at his men. Be. ing at the head of the column, he had now advanced more than midway up the precipice; but his troops were straggling singly, and without caution, up the ascent, forming a long broken line as far as the road could be seen, the rear files still coming one by one into view from behind a jutting crag.

He halted, and passed the order to close to the front. This spread a sudden alarm; and the command being promptly obeyed, he moved cautiously forward, when a quick turn of the road presented to his eye an appalling sight. Numbers of people in arms were now distinctly seen posted to the right and left, and in front, so as completely to obstruct the passage.

"Dash on! dash on!" cried Davenport to the Sheriff," or allow me to pass."

"It is impossible," returned the other; 66 we shall all be butchered to a

"No, no! let us dismount and retreat," exclaimed another. "We shall find our way over the hills."

"Nay, gentlemen, I see it will not do," said Davenport, after a moment's reflection. "We are in a complete snare, and must try to negotiate."

At this instant he was startled by a voice immediately above him calling his name; and, looking up, he saw a youth of manly appearance, attended by several others, all well armed, standing on a projecting rock, which completely commanded his position. It was young Wallace.

"General," said he, in a firm but polite tone," you wish to negotiate; and we are ready to meet you on easier terms than you probably expect, seeing that you are entirely in our power, and have so long an arrear of injuries and provoca tions to discharge. But we thirst not for your blood, and you shall see how Christians can act."

"You speak boldly, young man," replied the General; but let us hear your proposal."

"Deliver up your prisoners," said Wallace. "Lay down your arms, and give us a pledge of indemnity. If you do this, you shall depart in peace."

"Lay down our arms!" cried Forbes. "What! to rebels and fanatics! I shall sooner have my brains blown out. To the attack, General! To the attack!" "Moderate your fury, young man !" said Davenport with a frown. your peril stir a step till you are ordered."

"At

Then addressing Wallace, he said with assumed composure," We will grant you all you ask but the indignity of surrendering our arms. This is what you ought not to require, for your own sakes. For if you rouse the spirit of the soldiers against you, the day of vengeance may come. Suppose you that a forced promise of indemnity would secure you from the rage of a dishonoured soldiery and an insulted Government ?"

"Do you threaten, then, to break the engagement which necessity may now compel you to make with us ?" asked Wallace indignantly. "This is at least plain speaking, and we must take our measures accordingly."

"Do your worst," cried Davenport; "but remember your two friends are in our power, and if one shot be fired, they are dead men."

So saying, he gave instant orders that the prisoners should be passed to the front. This command, owing to the narrowness of the path, was obeyed with some difficulty; and in the mean time the conference proceeded.

66

"Kill the prisoners, say ye?" cried Sandy Donaldson, who stood by Wallace's side. Ay, ay, we ken what to think o' that blaw-flum. I dare ye to lay a single han' on them. Down ye wad gang lith and limb, into that awfu pit there; and deeper, deeper still wad gang your trembling souls, down, down, down, into the pit without a bottom! Hegh, sirs, what a tumble ye wad get !”

"Bridle that tongue of yours, Donaldson," said Wallace." It is unmanly to exult over an enemy who is in our power."

"But it angers me," returned he, "to hear them try to scar us wi' their humbugs. Na, na, we're owre auld birds to be ta'en wi' caff!-Lay hands on the prisoners, truly! I ken ye owre weel, Sir John.-Ye're no sae wearied o' this warld, and ye're no sae keen o' the next; and as little reason hae ye to be keen o't."

"Peace, fellow!" cried Davenport, furiously; "my business is with your leader."

“And think ye this laddie's our leader?" asked Donaldson. "Worthy though he is to be at our head, as ony that ever steppit on neat's leather, we ha'e a better leader than him."

"Send for him then, that I may confer with him," said the General.

Sandy answered by bursting into a horse laugh; and then composing himself to a more serious frame, The leader I mean," he said solemnly," is ane that led you there, and led us here. He watches owre his ain, and will save his twa servants frae you red-coats, raging tigers though ye be, even as he saved Daniel frae the mouth o' the lions, in their very den."

"Heed not his impertinence, General,” replied Wallace." His tongue is quite uncontrollable; but he speaks the truth, when he says I have no title to the character of a leader here; and as I wish not to take on myself the responsibility of managing this important conference without advice, you will excuse me till I consult with others of more wisdom and experience. Meanwhile, I trust the prisoners will be treated kindly."

"It will be the fault of your own people if they are not," replied the General. "But in your absence I fear mischief."

"Nay, I pledge myself," returned the other," that there will be no violence on our part, unless provoked. By all that is sacred, Donaldson," added he privately to Sandy," be quiet, and keep within bounds. These taunts of yours are base and ungenerous; and then think what is at stake the safety of those who are so dear to you as well as to me."

"I'll do my best, Mr William," returned the garulous Covenanter, with a shrug; "but ye had better no bide lang out o' the gate, for ye ken my tongue's quite uncontrollable."

Wallace had not been gone many minutes, when Donaldson, who, in his present humour, felt the restraint of silence, which, in obedience to his young master's injunctions, he had determined to impose on himself, quite intolerable, began to utter his gibes against the soldiers to his companions, speaking at first in an under tone, and gradually raising his voice loud enough to be heard by Davenport, whose impatient temper could ill brook the coarse raillery of which he perceived himself to be the butt, while it was his policy not only to bear all in silence himself, but to impose silence on his men. At last, however, the Covenanter stumbled upon something which so galled and chafed the imperious Cava. lier, that he lost all self-command, and giving way to his passion, retaliated on

his tormentor with loud oaths and the most opprobrious epithets.

This was marrow to Donaldson's bones; and after the burst of impotent fury had expended itself, he renewed the attack on his part.

"There stand you, Sir John Davenport by name," cried he, "ane o' the arrantest oppressors and bloodiest persecutors o' auld Scotland and the Covenant that ever drew the breath o' life. Ye ha'e ridden frae east to west, and frae north to south, wi' malice in your heart, and a sword in your hand reeking wi' the lifeblood o' the saints ;-ye ha'e sent spies to betray us, and soldiers to ferret us, and tax-gathers to fleece us,-ye ha'e spulzied our gear,-ye ha'e shut up our kirks,— ye ha'e thrown our ministers into prison,

ye ha'e put our meetings for the worship o' God under public bann,-na, ye ha'e done to us what the wicked Hazael of old did to the Israelites: Our young men ye ha'e slain wi' the sword, you ha'e dashed our children, and ripped up our women wi'

"Foul-mouthed varlet," interrupted the General; "you and your canting clan have not got half their deserts, otherwise"

"Na, what wad become o' ye," vociferated Sandy, so loud as to drown Davenport's voice; "what wad become o' you and your hellish crew, were we now to gie ye the wages ye ha'e wrought for, -as weel we might? If we had ony o' your black spirit within us,-if we were na the servants o' Him that wadna break the bruised reed,-yon sun that ye see e'ennow sae gloriously glinting owre the high tap o' Carsphairn,-ye might live to see't gang down, but ye wad never, never waken to its rising again."

"And would my death be unrevenged?" asked Davenport fiercely. "The blood shed at Bothwell, and since on the scaffold, and in the fields, would be but as a drop to the ocean that would deluge the land, if a hair of my head were touched. There is no chicken-hearted Monmouth now to stand between you and public vengeance."

"Tent me weel," exclaimed Donaldson, stepping forward in his eagerness, and looking down on Davenport with a keen and ominous glance; "if the fray begin, it 'ill no be your death, nor the death of a' your men, that 'll end it. Frae this wee clud a storm 'ill rise that 'ill shake the hale land, and blaw the crown off a worthless head."

"Shall I shoot the villain, General'?" asked Ensign Forbes, with fierce indignation, drawing a pistol from his belt, and presenting it.

Trow ye that I'll let ye?" retorted the Covenanter, levelling his piece with quick but steady aim, and firing down upon him.

Both horse and rider fell together, and, staggering for a moment on the edge of the precipice, tumbled over and disappeared.

"There fa's ane o' the rampest youths I ha'e seen," said the Covenanter, shuddering at the deed he had done, but endeavouring to justify it. “I couldna help it.It was neck or naething wi' me.-Hegh, but I'm sorry though!"

"Sandy, Sandy! what hae ye done ?" cried his comrades. "Ye'll mak' them desperate. See, there's our gude minister and Mr Patrickson come up. They'll be murdered!-0, they'll be murder ed !"

"No, no, no!" cried Donaldson in an agony. "Rather tak' me. It was me that did it. Spare the guiltless!"

So saying, he stepped to the brink of the precipice, scarcely knowing what he did, and was bending over in the act of throwing himself down, when he was forcibly drawn back by his companions. "Tak' me, and spare the guiltless!" he repeated, struggling with those who held him. "I canna-I winna outlive them!"

But Davenport knew his own interest too well to sacrifice his prisoners in such critical circumstances to his revenge. He had other views; and as soon as Patrickson and M Wierd reached the front, he caused the former to mount behind himself, and the letter behind the Sheriff, and took the lead in an attempt to force his way through the midst of his enemies, trusting to the attachment of the Covenanters towards the prisoners, which he flattered himself would protect him from their fire so long as these shared the danger. For the rest, he trusted to the spirit and fleetness of his horse, and to the known aversion of the Presbyterians to to shed blood. It was a desperate attempt, but it seemed to afford him a chance of escape, and in his situation this was enough.

It was not long, however, before he was brought to a dead stand, the enemy having contrived to break up the road in several places. His charger had already made one or two perilous leaps, and had at last spanned a gap, which none but a horse of the first mettle would ever have attempted; but now he could proceed no farther; and the astonished General found himself in an isolated spot on the very verge of the precipice, with scarcely sufficient breadth for the poor animal to procure a safe station for its feet.

The Sheriff, in the mean time, ob. serving his friend's danger, had drawn up before it was too late, and halted on the brink of the first gap. Here, how ever, he was closely pressed by the horsemen behind, who pushed on, unconscious of the obstruction; and as Eccleston's horse began to rear, M Wierd instinctive ly caught hold of the branch of a tree, which projected from a cliff of the rock above his head, and saved himself from his perilous situation by clinging to it, and gaining a footing among its branches. From this he sprung to another tree, and from this again to a ledge of rock, ac. quiring energy from the natural love of life, till at last he found himself on less precipitous ground, and out of the reach of danger.

While this was passing, Davenport and his prisoner remained motionless in their perilous station; the noble animal beneath them being sensible of the danger, and standing steady, while it trembled in every limb. Nothing indeed could be more alarming than the situation in which they were placed, with a perpendicular rock above, a yawning abyss below, and a footing so narrow, that the slighest motion either of the horse or rider would hazard instant destruction.

Davenport, who, in the field of battle, or when called to face danger in any active service, was daring and interpid, felt his courage give way in this new situation, where there was no high deed to be done, and no fame to be gained, and where bodily and mental vigour seemed equally vain. He remained cowering over the neck of his horse with shut eyes, and his trembling hands grasping its mane, while he scarcely dared to breathe lest the motion should disturb the horse's balance, or induce it to attempt a change of position. Patrickson, on the contrary, sat steady and erect, commending him. self in secret prayer to the Supreme Disposer of events, and looking calmly round for some feasible plan of escape. He looked, however, in vain. Before and behind him the rustic pioneers had so completely done their work, that beyond the isolated spot on which the horse was perched, like a statute on a pedestal, not an inch of level ground could be seen near enough to afford him the slightest hope of escaping by the desperate experiment of a leap.

"Sir John," said he, "you were but a few minutes ago a powerful commander, and I was your prisoner; but now we are in this respect on a level, and the only question is, which of us can look on the King of Terrors with the steadiest eye, or rather, what is to become of us

after he has done his work. A frightful dissolution awaits us. Probably, however, not a painful one. But that is nothing, compared with the awful thought that the next moment is to summon us into the presence of our eternal Judge."

"Tease me not with your infernal cant," exclaimed the General, impatiently; "I have something else to think of. Do you see no possibility of escaping ?"

66 None," replied the other. "That your horse could have reached the nar. row stripe on which we are insulated, is quite astonishing. It is impossible even to dismount; but if we could, it would be just as hopeless to attempt to get back as to get forward."

"But call your people to our assistance," cried he, in an earnest and piteous tone. "They perhaps may do something. O I cannot die just now! Save me! save me! save me!"

“This is unmanly, General Daven. port," returned Patrickson. "Look round you, and judge for yourself. No human aid can be of the slightest use; and, without a miracle, our fate is inevitable. Let us patiently submit to the will of Him in whose hands is our life."

A deep groan was the only answer his companion could return; and a few moments afterwards a loud shriek of despair behind them, followed by a tumbling niose, announced some fatal catastrophe.

"The Sheriff! O, the Sheriff!" were the only words that could be distinctly heard amidst the hubbub which ensued. Again and again the shrieks were repeated, and sounds were heard which but too truly indicated the falling of fresh victims into the frightful abyss, as the pressure of the advancing horsemen irresistibly urged them forward.

"Death is busy," said the Covenanter. "Your friend Eccleston is gone before us to his long account; and I fear also the excellent M'Wierd, for whose zeal I had hoped that great things were in reserve. But he was prepared. O pray, Sir John! Let us unite our prayers! It may not yet be too late!"

both. "May I yet be heard ?-No, no! impossible!"

"Not impossible, if God wills it," rejoined Patrickson. "What are we all but lost and perishing sinners, till God visits our souls in mercy through the blood of a Redeemer. The Apostle Paul was a persecutor like yourself, and like him you may be snatched from perdition, even when breathing out"

"Folly! cant! puritanism!" muttered the General, with a wild and desperate sneer, relapsing into his former feelings, and endeavouring to harden himself in his long-cherished infidelity. "It is all a lie! A cheat! A theme for whining hypocrites. I cannot-I will not believe a word of it!"

"Unhappy man! from my soul I pity you," said Patrickson, in a tone of the deepest commiseration.

ly.

"Pity me!" retorted the other sharp"No, Sir! I scorn your pity. Pity yourself, and not me. You are a dupe. Annihilation is my word. It is but to cease to think. It is but to sleep without waking."

"O cruel, fatal blindness! cried the good Covenanter. "But you do notyou cannot believe it. You tremble! you shudder!-You know-you feel that there is another world, O bethink you—”

"Bethink me! I cannot think," faultered out the other, his nerves again failing him. "O it is an awful thing to be dashed to pieces on those pointed rocks! I have faced danger even in the cannon's mouth,-I have been where carnage raged without control, and blood ran like water, but I never knew what terror was till now."

"It is an awful thing to die," observed Patrickson. "How many ties do we at that moment break, and how mysterious is the change! But the hour palling thought! of judgment!-There-there is the apWho can stand before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity?"

"And yet you are calm and selfpossessed, Mr Patrickson," said Davenport, endeavouring to rally his courage.

"Alas! you know not what I feel," returned the worthy man. "It is not that I am unwilling to leave the world, -God knows the contrary ;-but my

"What say you ?" exclaimed Sir John eagerly, erecting himself in the saddle with a sudden and energetic motion, which had almost proved fatal to them

for the last time?-Not one word—not one smile!-Parted for ever!"

The idea seemed for some moments to absorb all his faculties; but, soon recovering himself, he said joyfully,➡ No, not for ever! We will meet to part no more. General Davenport! he he