behind his chair stood a tall strapping damsel, who scratched his bald head with a comb, and who stared at the bold mortal, as he approached, with an impudent face of curiosity. Aristus deposited on the table before him a little casket of gold curiously wrought, and filled with precious stones, and was proceeding to make a speech, when he was interrupted with, "Yes, yes, sir, upon my honour you shall have it, your credentials are already made out, and shall be delivered to you this afternoon. Bring us back good news." So saying, he arose, with a paint brush in one hand, and a sponge stained with the purple juice of the murex in the other, and conducted the favoured candidate to the door, bowing at every step, and repeating, "Yes sir, yes sir," till he was out of hearing. Aristus departed not quite so happy as his patron. In truth, he was confounded at the meanness he had been guilty of, and internally blamed his over-zealous friends who had pushed him to this extremity. Their arguments, however, respecting the king's safety and the general good, recurred. "Tis what all men do," said he, " and being brought to a level by bribes, our merits determine the balance after all." With this opiate he quieted his scruples, and went home to prepare for his expedition.

Deinus, in the mean time, though less known as a candidate, was not less active. Foreseeing the wealth and importance a dexterous man might squeeze out of such an appointment, he had set his heart upon it from the first, and had from time to time made considerable presents both to the mistress and the minister, obtaining in return considerable promises. But the game, to use a huntsman's phrase, was still on its feet, and he resolved on this very morning to give it the finishing blow. He arrived a few minutes after Aristus had withdrawn, and forced admittance by the same means; but though he urged his claims with unusual earnestness, he could extract nothing except general and evasive answers from the cautious statesman. "I shall see! I shall see! my whole influence shall be exerted in your favour. Believe me! believe me!" Deinus thought reserve unnecessary, and mentioned plainly an enormous sum which he would hold out in one hand, while he received his appointment with

" I be

the other, but not sooner. lieve that will do," said the minister, for when certain characters understand each other, a bargain of one kind is as soon struck as another. "Come to court in the afternoon." Deinus obey, ed, and the whole matter was speedily adjusted.

'Tis what I deeply merited," said Aristus to a friend, who condoled with him on his ill success," and may I reap eternal disappointments when I listen to any suggestions unsanctioned by the voice of honour and virtue."

There resided at that time in Sidon, a young lady of singular attractions. She was reputed the richest heiress in that part of the world, and being lately declared marriageable, was, of course, pursued in all public places by an ocean of fops and fortune-hunters. Her mother having died a few months after her birth, and her father and brothers having fallen before the town surrendered to the Greeks, she grew up under the protection of an aunt, who possessed the advantage of being able to enforce, by her own example, her lectures on severe virtue, and contempt for the other sex. Aristus visiting one afternoon at the house of an elderly female relation, with whom he was a great favourite, was informed that she would have the pleasure of introducing him to the orphan daughter of a very deserving man, who, having spent the whole of his life in promoting the best interests of the state, had in consequence left his family in very narrow circumstances. "Helen," continued she, "has retired wholly from the gay world, and disdaining little delicacies, lives happily with her aged mother and two younger sisters, all of whom she supports by weaving purple; and you, my friend, will have the satisfaction of seeing an accomplished young female, clothed in the works of her own hands." This description excited something stronger than mere curiosity in the auditor, and his heart leapt quicker than was to be accounted for by the approach of an indifferent stranger, when the door opened, and the most splendid phenomenon he had ever beheld walked lightly into the room. A mantle of bright Tyrian dye hung loosely from her shoulders, half shrouding a bosom of exquisite delicacy, beneath which it was fastened by a gold button. Her hair, which seemed to float at every

motion, descended in profuse soft ringlets from her head, without concealing a round slender neck, whiter than alabaster. On our young gentleman's name being mentioned, she turned towards him a countenance so majestic, illuminated with a smile so divinely beautiful, as actually deprived him for some moments of his understanding. The conversation was neither slow in its commencement nor progress; but Aristus was incapable of throwing in a single remark, all his faculties having retired to his eyes. His assistance was not wanted. The fair enchantress set out with an animated encomium on the young Greek officers, who had done prodigious things during the siege,-an event which, though several years old, was still regarded as very respectable news in the absence of more recent calamities. She enlarged on the superiority of their manners, courage, and accoutrements, to those of her own countrymen, and declared herself immensely in love with Alexander, whom she described as the most engaging little man she had ever seen in her life. The other lady, though, as I said, an elderly matron, could, notwithstanding, talk as fast as other people, but as both addressed themselves to Aristus, and often at the same time, she did not receive all that preference of attention her superior years and wisdom seemed to require.

"What a charming lady," exclaimed Aristus, as the lovely visitor retired. "Ah," replied his friend, "had my sweet little Helen come, you would have seen more beauty, and heard less noise." "Who is this, then?" for he had all this while supposed the interesting orphan was before him." Her name is Lalista,-she is the wealthiest ward in Sidon." Though somewhat abashed at this discovery, and chagrined at the sinister interpretation the conduct he had already determined to pursue might be subjected to, he went home, however, devising schemes to bring about a second interview. The wards of those times were rather more strictly guarded than those of our days. But, by securing the confidence of the aunt, he soon succeeded in enjoying large opportunities of access to the precious jewel she had in her possession. Aristus was a man of fortune, talent, and fine accomplishments; and the perfect integrity of his heart imbued his

Pre

manners with a familiar simplicity, the great charm, and almost inseparable companion of superior minds. Lalista, though gay and talkative in public, possessed more valuable qualities than a first-sight judge would have been inclined to allow. paration for uninterrupted exhibitions, which great beauty seems to entail on its possessors, left no time for reflection, and concealed her true character from herself, while her conversation, extempore in the strictest sense, and not unfrequently at variance with the cool dictates of a judgment naturally sound, and a very affectionate bosom, rendered it as great a mystery to others. The more he discovered of his mistress, the more was Aristus satisfied with the reasonableness of his passion, which he found it impossible any longer to conceal; and he delighted himself with the idea of snatching her from the dissipating whirlpool of fashionable life, where the fruit of all her virtues was perishing, from the impossibility of their acting for a sufficient length of time in one direction, and of maturing the noble principles of her nature in the bosom of comparative retirement. One day, when her looks were even more complacent than usual, and some indistinct suspicion of a certain rival had made him resolve to hasten an explanation, he ventured to declare his love in the precise language used by ardent young men on such occasions. Though his eyes had expressed the same thing a thousand times, and she had long wondered at the slow progress his ideas made towards his tongue, Lalista contrived to listen to this avowal as a young fawn does to an unexpected clap of thunder. At first she was thrown into the most amazing confusion, and frowned with fascinating sweetness on the object of her terror. By and by she begins to think measures necessary for her safety,-spoke seriously of withdrawing, or of calling in some third person to turn the conversation on less alarming topics,—and concluded by permitting him to fold her in his arms, and impress his very soul on her lips.

But this state of matters was too delicious to continue; for as those persons who are acquainted with the extravagant temper of fortune know assuredly, when that goddess puts on too smiling an aspect, and prates in

terms of remarkable tenderness and affection, that she is just on the point of sousing you in a torrent of abuse. Scarcely had they exchanged vows to love each other for an incredible length of time, when a random visitor was announced, on whose approach, almost at the same instant with his prolocutor, the lady seemed confused, in good earnest, and hastily retired.This was no other than Deinus, of whose proceedings I must now take a short review.

Deinus had accomplished the purposes of his embassy with a success that never failed him, and on his return, proceeded in the road of preferment with augmented celerity. Having gone, on the death of his father, to look after his estates in the country, he discovered a very handsome domain contiguous to one of his, for which he accordingly conceived an unfeigned attachment; and no sooner understood that it appertained to a young heiress of unbounded expectations besides, than he hastened back to town to secure his prize. His first reception would not have been very palatable to the primitive and harmless lovers met with in modern novels. The lady laughed immoderately at his bandy legs, censured the whole plan of his construction, and made all her acquaintance merry with stories of her amorous dwarf. But Deinus was not a person to allow his centre to be shaken by a battery of this sort. He knew that deformity needs only to be made familiar to be forgotten; and that the supposed generosity of this act renders the mind so well satisfied with itself, that a portion of its complacency reverts, by a kind of natural justice, to the object of what now appears unreasonable contempt. He presented himself, therefore, before her as often as he could invent a tenable pretext, continuing to supply her, at a trifling expense to his own pride, with fresh materials for family and visiting amusement, till the idea of him was familiarized, and constituted a part of the furniture of her mind. This point being gained, he seized a more advanced post, and proceeded to instruct her regarding the management of her domain, on the sorry state of which he descanted with great feeling and pathos. A considerable portion of it, he said, if not absolutely over

flowed, was in perpetual danger of being so, an event which would utterly deface it, as it was surrounded on all sides but one by cross-grained neighbours, who, envying her beauty and accomplishments, would not permit an outlet to be formed for the water through their possessions. Leaving her to perplex herself a few days with this dilemma, he returned with the plan of a monstrous drain he had formerly projected through his own grounds to the verge of hers, which, being carried a little farther, would entirely obviate the dreaded calamity. The lady was hugely pleased with the ingenuity of this expedient, and the lover, pushing his advantage, explained the propriety of uniting the estates for ever, hinting intelligibly enough at the means by which it might be accomplished. After a laborious fit of laughter, upon mature reflection, she could not certainly discover wherein lay the absurdity of this proposal; and though at that time she loved Aristus with all her strength, she found that something or other had made a powerful diversion in favour of his rival. Matters were in this doubtful state when the events above mentioned took place; and having enlightened the reader on this point, I return to the main body of the narrative.

The two friends saluted very civilly, and as they had ever done, with a hearty contempt for each other. Aristus was too full of ecstacy to converse long with an uninspired person, and Deinus too glad of his absence to be very eager to detain him. What he had already learned made him tremble for his success, and he began to curse the unwarrantable tardiness of his former operations. Lalista returned, however, but with a countenance which boded him no good. Contempt, anger, and disdain, were exexpressed in every feature. Indeed she seemed horribly chagrined, and ready to burst into a passion of tears. She evidently came to chide, and if once high words arose, it was hard to guess how far she might inflame herself. Deinus, therefore, with the dexterity of a cunning man on the point of being blown up, drew from his pocket a string of pearls, reserved for such an emergency, so large, so genuine, and so numerous, that her eyes were instantly dazzled, and before she could

utter one word good or bad, he hung them round her neck; saying, with a smile, he had obtained many more for her of superior value at the court of Alexander, which he hoped soon to have the happiness of presenting to her on their wedding-day. No sooner was the weight of them felt on her bosom, than the whole economy of her love for Aristus was annihilated, and the half-forgotten plan of improvements rushed back on her imagination with tenfold impetuosity. It would only insult the penetration of mankind to suppose it necessary to add, that they were married next day, and that a few weeks thereafter, the lady commenced a fiend's life of remorse and mélancholy.

Aristus bore this reverse with less patience than might have been imagined. He ate little for several days, and spoke still less. At length he declared himself a man unfit for this world, and retired from his native city to spend the remainder of his life in the philosophic groves of the Academy. Here his mind soon recovered its natural serenity, retaining few visible marks of the rude points of society by which it had been lacerated, though he sometimes remarked, that a man should conceal all his good qualities from his mistress, observing, at the same time, that her own equivocal ones afford the best handles for securing her. F.

ON THE RESEARCHES AT POMPEII.

MR EDITOR,

I OBSERVED, with much satisfaction, in the "Literary and Scientific Intelligence" of your Second Number, p. 192, some account of the researches now making among the ruins of Pompeii. Regarding this as one of the most interesting scientific proceedings of the present age, I cannot avoid expressing my hopes, that you will devote future columns of your journal to similar accounts of the progress of this vast undertaking; and I am hence encouraged to suggest, how greatly it would tend to enliven the interest of such notices, if you were to give a preparatory general sketch of the history of these extraordinary relics of former splendour, and,

in particular, of the progress that has been already made in the exhumation of a city, that, after having been buried for so many centuries, has arisen unchanged from the ashes that origin. ally overwhelmed it.

As a testimony of the general interest excited by the grand survey now pursuing for the restoration of this place to its primitive state of existence, and of the instructive results that may be expected from its accomplishment, as conducive to the elucidation of ancient customs and habits of society, I beg to cite a passage from a highly interesting memoir on the subject, commenced (though I believe never completed) in a very ably conducted Italian journal.

"Una città che da circa diciassette secoli nascosta sorge intera sotto i facili sforzi della vanga; che tali offre monumenti da non lasciare alcun dubbio, nè sull' epoca in cui fù da vulcanica eruzione sepolta, nè sul grado alto di splendore a cui era a quell' epoca giunta, è certamente un oggetto straordinario di stupore, riserbuto soltanto alle classiche sponde dell' antica Partenope. In Ercolano e Pompei veggonsi due intere città fuggite dalle revoluzioni degli anni e degli uomini, e rimeste tutte ad un tratto, come per una specie di magico sonno, nello stato medesimo in cui furono sorprese, in mezzo a tutti i moti della vita; l'ultimo giorno di queste città infelici, ci si presenta di nuovo, e quale già fu per gli sventurati loro abitanti. Non avvi spettacolo più di questo atto a eccitare con forza l'immaginazione, e senza dubbio, le ricerche che hanno per oggetto di farci conoscere dei dettagli a ciò appartenenti saranno accolte con il più vero interesse."*

The valuable report from which this extract is drawn, contains some hints towards forming an estimate of the probable extent and disposition of this city, calculated from the dimensions of its existing walls and situation of its gates, with various particulars relative to the edifices and other relics remaining, as far as yet discovered, in a great degree, in their original magnificence and grandeur.

May 11, 1817.

SIMPLEX.

* V. L'Italico, tom. 3tio, p. 60.