"One

"Three thousand one hundred dollars.” hundred more," shouted the dealer. "Ancther hundred," said the stranger. A look, which would, had it been possible, have annihilated his person, was given by the dealer, as he vociferated "Fifty more." "Another fifty," continued the stranger. "Fifty more," shouted the dealer. "One hundred more," echoed the stranger: "she is mine," he added, with spirited firmness, "at any price." The pulse of the mortified and enraged trafficker in human beings, might have almost been heard, as the unwelcome sounds saluted him. He had, however, proceeded as far as he dared, and therefore, answered not the repeated call of the auction-man. "One, two, three," at proper intervals, was repeated, and at length the hammer fell; the stranger being the purchaser, at the sum of three thousand four hundred and fifty Rix dollars!

The business, although nearly terminated, was not yet closed: payment was to be made, and immediate payment was demanded. The gentleman offered his check on the bank at Cape Town; but the auctioneer, who experienced a degree of vexation at the disappointment which his friend, the dealer, had met with, determined to throw every possible obstacle in the way, to prevent the bargain, therefore refused the check. The stranger looked perplexed, and argued the validity of the payinent, but the hammer-man was inexorable.

Humanitus marked the conduct of the man carefully; and as he did so, he felt those pleasing

emotions (for the existence of them he could not account), which the purchase of the slave by his friend had created, suddenly subsiding. At this moment, his thoughts rested on the sum of which he was the bearer to the clergyman, and aware it could be replaced in a day or two, he presented the gentleman with it. Three hundred he produced from his pocket, and, in silver, they made up to the amount of fifty more between them. Still the sum was not complete, and this modern Shylock demanded the whole sum, or its equivalent. The stranger hesitated a moment, and then drew forth a handsome gold watch and appendages, and throwing the whole on the table, concluded the purchase.

Still, ignorant of her future fate, but as if happy to have escaped from the power of the slavedealer, the weeping and trembling creature rushed forwards, and fell at the feet of her purchaser. A scene followed which baffles all description. Angels, in their messages of mercy to the sons of men, might have been arrested in their flight, to notice and applaud it; but the act received the approving smile of Him who is the God of Angels. The stranger bended over the prostrate female, and having raised her from the earth, took her hand and led her to her fostersister, whose agony was still intense, to whom he presented her, saying,-"Receive your friend, no longer as a SLAVE, but as a companion; and in your daily supplications at the throne of grace,

forget not to implore a blessing on the head of Major M-"*

* The stranger was an officer in the East India Company's service. He had visited the Cape for the benefit of his health, and while shooting in the mountains was attracted by the crowd in the valley, and providentially arrived in time to perform the noble action, than which, none is more imposing in the compass of history.

THE VILLAGE CLERGYMAN;

OR,

ENDURING AFFECTION.

"Go to thy darling, false one! go!
And gaze enraptur'd on her charms;
Sink on her breast of melting snow,
And court her fond, luxuriant arms.

Murmur again the ardent vow,

That mingle's hope with fond desire;
Now paint the lover's wish—and now
Behold a woe-worn wife expire,

Who, when her dearest hopes were flown,
And thou wert guilty passion's slave,

Mourn'd o'er thy errors as her own,

And sought to hide them in the grave."

ANON.

EVERY country has views peculiar to itself; and every county in our own country has picturesque embellishments peculiar to itself: nor are the diversified charms which nature exhibits in her

different scenes of awful grandeur, subduing simplicity, or towering sublimity, more various, or greater in number than the tastes of her admirers. There is an evident association (although no rules can be laid down by which to explain it) between the scenery presented, and the temperament of the enamoured beholder. The mild and gentle are not fascinated by the wild uproar of the dashing cataract, the bellowing crater, or the fearful ravine; nor are the bold and impetuous enraptured by the soft and easy landscape, the neat retired villa, or the unvarying summer skies of luscious Italy; and yet in each there are indescribable emotions blending with their childhood scenes, and the places of their birth, which never can be erased by any other views, of any other country.

Allowing these desultory observations to pass for axioms, yet the admission must be made that there are circumstances which not unfrequently throw a halo of beauty around the most unlovely spots, in our imagination; or which gives to beauty itself an impressing power, which causes its identity ever to stand before the mind's

eye.

I feel the correctness of this admission while I write it. Years have not been able to wear out the impression, nor have scenes of every grade and form, weakened the sensations which cause my mind to turn mechanically to the period and the spot referred to. A gentle draw upon memory, suffices to bring the minutia of my "tale's particulars" into being, or to cause, by a process which