he was admirably qualified by his handsome figure, and his polite and insinuating address, were all the duties required of him. Indeed, he was also deputed to attend the nocturnal balls so frequently held by people of colour, and to entice away Mulatto girls. After being detained on board, leading the most dissolute life, those wretched victims were sold to the highest bidders on the coast of Spanish America. The pirates made several prizes, and Rodnam silenced the remonstrances of conscience by calling to remembrance the manifold wrongs alleged by the crew against traders in general; and he said to himself, that it was reprisal, not piracy, since no bloodshed, no cruelty accompanied the seizure. This last quietus was of brief duration. A vessel made determined resistance: the pirates boarded, and by numerical superiority vanquished her brave crew. Her cargo was the most valuable they had taken since Rodnam joined them; but the lifeblood of the captors and the captured streamed along the deck, and the heart of our Hibernian died as it were within him when the dialect of Great Britain saluted his ear. His courage in boarding had drawn huzzas of applause from his intrepid messmates; but at, that moment the encomiums of ruffian spoilers and murderers were odious, as the guilt of several had the aggravation of being committed to the injury of their countrymen. This remnant of good feeling wore away, or was stifled by the influence of custom: four years indurated the once generous and compassionate nature of Rodnam; the destruction of human beings appeared as no more than the fate of warfare: yet he inflicted no wanton cruelties, and was instrumental in restraining the ferocity of Monaghan on different occasions. Heaven in mercy arrested his progress in depravity, ere his better dispositions were quite deteriorated. The watch at the mast-head gave notice that a large merchantship, carrying some guns, was making for the port of Charlestown, South Carolina: the pirates got between her and the harbour, and prepared for action. The crew at this time had lost many of Rodman's first acquaintances by sickness and wounds; they now, with few exceptions, consisted of run-away Negroes, who fight with desperation, preferring death to a surrender, knowing the terrific penalties of desertion from their masters. Three Negroes from the plantation which Mr. Rodnam had left were of the number; and when they found him on board, they shouted for joy, remembering his lenient exercise of authority. They studied to oblige him, and more important services were to testify their gratitude. The trading vessel was inferior in metal to the pirate, and her complement of men fewer by half: overpowered by the ferocious boarders, the wounded Americans were forced to yield. They stood to their guns till faint with loss of blood, and not one man remained unhurt. The pirates, in admiration of their valour, behaved to them with more than their usual civility. Rodnam was among the first to spring from the deck of the pirateship into the trader; but he was not impelled by avidity for spoil. He had observed a young girl clinging to to an aged gentleman, who, with his left arm and his head bound up, seemed to be losing blood through the | Shipley sat on deck with the lifeless bandages; yet with a drawn sword body of her father in a distracted stood ready to oppose the boarders. embrace. Alarm and grief suffoThey made repeated thrusts at him cated her voice; but though her sorbefore Rodnam could allay their fury: row was mute, the expression of her the colours were struck; Mr. Ship- face revealed the inaudible anguish ley gave up his sword, and sunk in of her mind. In acknowledgment the arms of his daughter. What a of Mr. Rodnam's endeavours to consituation of horror and woe for a sole her, she raised her eyes with young and delicate female! but she looks of gratitude that penetrated forgot herself in grief for her parent. his soul, and confirmed his resolution Mr. Rodnam tied up the gashes in- to brave every hazard in preserving flicted by the boarders, assuring the her from insult. lady of honourable treatment. Mr. Shipley recovered a little; and Mr. Rodnam having repeated the protestations of respect and humanity, the dying gentleman said, For myself I care not-but my child, my daughter. O young man, you look and speak like a gentleman, though--but why offend? I am soon to be no more, and to you I must commit the honour of my ill-fated Mary. Oh! how ill-fated to be here, and her only protectors dead or dying! Save her! She has fortune and friends to give their all for her ransom: take all, young man; her friends will provide for her." In one continuous expanse of azure, lightly tinged by silvery clouds, the moon shone full and clear; the prize-ship lay a motionless hulk on the surface of the main; and except the purling of gentle waves on the planks they supported, no sound was heard on deck. What a contrast to the uproar of intoxicated freebooters below! They left the watch to Rodnam and his triple shadows, as they nicknamed his devoted Negroes, and gave themselves up to enjoyment. The oldest Negro came close to Mr. Rodnam, and whispered to him, "Now, massa, now be time to save lady. We put down boat, all without noise." While they lowered a boat, Mr. Rodnam roused the faculties of Miss Shipley by holding out the near prospect of deliverance. Mr. Rodnam, discerning in this incoherent rhapsody the approach of delirium and death, endeavoured to fortify the bereaved daughter against the impending affliction. Mr." Can my father go?" she said.Shipley expired before the pirates collected and divided their booty. They left the father and daughter to Rodnam and his attendant Negroes, as they seemed to require no other booty. Elated with their success, Monaghan and his crew forgot their wounds when dressed, and having ransacked every part of the vessel, sat down to carouse with the rich wines and French brandy which formed a portion of the cargo. Miss "We dare not venture to wait so long. One moment and we may be lost," answered Rodnam. Miss Shipley pressed her lips to the breathlessclay, and accepted assistance to rise. She was placed in the boat. Mr. Rodnam and the Negroes pulled with all their might, and they probably reached Charlestown before they were missed. Miss Shipley introduced Mr. Rodnam to her relations, people of wealth 106 all those questionable indulgences which some of the lordly sex regard and claim as a prerogative. As a husband, a father, a friend, a mem ber of society, he was held in general esteem; but no encouragement, no persuasion could win him to mix with the busy or the gay. His exemplary virtues brightened the shade of retirement, and his affectionate wife found her dearest happiness in coinciding with all his tastes or in and conséquence. Her warm sense of obligation to her deliverer was undisguised; but her uncle and brothers advised her to delay their marriage, until one year should prove that he was not quite unworthy of her hand. His first act was to emancipate the Negroes according to legal forms; but they begged leave to serve him as domestics in the field or house. The relations of Miss Shipley made over to him a piece of ground, which the Negroes culti-clinations. To her he rendered the vated; and his unexceptionable conduct reconciled her uncle and brothers to bestow on him the rescued lady and her fortune. But conscious of culpable errors in his youth and early manhood, he was severe to himself, rigorously abstaining from domestic circle a little world of bliss, while he shrunk from observation, continually haunted by the mortifying conviction, that he might be pointed at as THE PIRATE. B.G. THE GIANTS OF THE SHARKA VALLEY: A popular Tale of Bohemia. THE last heir of the ducal house | ed; and as he grew up, he was uniof Bohemia had fallen in battle with Ottiko, the neighbouring prince of the Boji, who, in consequence, became master of the whole country, and, like its native sovereigns, held his court at Prague. He removed all the servants of the late duke from their places, lest their attachment to the latter might render them dangerous to himself; with the exception, however, of one man, who tended the ducal flocks, who was beloved by all for his piety and integrity, and whom he did not dismiss, under the idea that he had nothing to fear from an humble shepherd. versally allowed to be the loveliest boy in the whole country. When Jaroslaw had attained his seventeenth year, his father, feeling that his end drew near, called his son to his bedside, and said, " My dearly beloved son, it gives me great pain to part from thee. I have little to leave thee but precepts and exhortations to pursue the path of virtue, which I have so often repeated: but I have one more gift to make thee before I die. Thou must know that many years since, one bitter stormy night, a pilgrim knocked at the door, and solicited a lodging: we cheerfully The wife of this shepherd had admitted him into our humble cotborne him a son, who received in tage: thy mother, who was still live holy baptism the name of Jaroslaw:ing, quickly prepared for him some such was the beauty of this child, refreshment and a couch. The stran that all who saw him were enchant-ger, who must have been a very wise the earth, he repaired to the ducal castle at Prague, with the flock committed to his care, for the purpose of applying to the prince for the place held by his deceased father: was justly apprehensive that the duke would object to trust him with so many valuable sheep. It was not, therefore, without some anxiety that he entered the city, resolving in his own mind, in case he should not obtain the appointment, to go abroad into the wide world, and try what he could effect with his wonderful lute. man, took the will for the deed, and humble as were the best accommodations that we poor people could afford him, he was so well pleased with them, that he led me to the cradle where thou wast soundly sleep-but as he was still very young, he ing, and presented me with two invaluable jewels, which he desired me to keep for thee. The one was alute, by means of which thou wilt be able to accomplish the most extraordinary things: whenever thou beginnest to play a merry tune upon it, every one who hears thee will be compelled, even against his will, to leap and dance; and by soft and tender airs thou mayst dispose the heart to love and to all the gentle affections. The other was this little ivory staff: when thou art in imminent danger from an enemy who is stronger than thyself, thou needest but touch him with the end of it, and he will instantly sink lifeless at thy feet. The stranger added, that if thou shouldst know how to make a proper and seasonable use of these gifts, thou mightst attain high honours, and even a throne-but I have scarcely occasion to tell thee, that this was only a figurative expression, and to warn thee against indulging expectations that can never be realized. Take these last gifts of thy dying father; abuse not the power over others which they confer on thee; but let thy conduct be invariably governed by virtue and integrity, that I may look down with satisfaction upon thee from those abodes of bliss to which I am about to be removed." The old man's strength was exhausted by the exertion: his lips quivered convulsively; he closed his eyes, and expired. Jaroslaw wept bitterly. After he had consigned the remains of his beloved father to When the handsome shepherd-boy was conducted into the presence of the duke, the latter was so well pleased with him, that, notwithstanding his youth, he had no hesitation to commit all his flocks to his charge. He immediately appointed him his chief shepherd, and concluded the directions which he gave him for his conduct with the following words: T "If I intrust thee with the care of my sheep, I must also, as thou art still so young, warn thee of the dangers which threaten both thyself and my flocks. Not far from my pastures, in the quarter in which the sun sets, lies a narrow valley inclos ed by rocks and pleasant hills: there the cunning Sharka, by dishonest arts, made Zeman Ctirad her prisoner; and since that time this valley has been the haunt of all sorts of monsters and demons, who take delight in doing injury to all who come within their reach. Beware then of ever setting foot in that valley: for shouldst thou even escape with thy life, my flocks would certainly fall a prey to these mischievous demons; and I swear to thee that thou shouldst pay me with thy life for this loss." Jaroslaw promised to obey the duke's injunctions, and returned home highly pleased with his flock from the city. He faithfully performed the duties of his office, and lived quiet and retired. He sometimes made trial of his lute, and when he played a merry tune on it, his lambs would leap and frisk about, and he was convinced that all his father had said concerning it was true: but he could not make the same experiment with the ivory staff, for he was too kind-hearted to kill even a brute animal wantonly, and he relied with confidence on the assurance of the good service that it would render him in case of need. The winter was past; the icy chains which had bound all nature were dissolved; the birds cheerily warbled on the sprays; the earth was covered with a robe of new verdure; the trees began to display their tender foliage; lovely flowers were bursting into blossom; in short, all was gaiety and joy when the duke's shepherd fixed his wistful eyes on the beautiful valley which he was forbidden to enter. When he contemplated the delightful aspect of the hills, clothed with the freshest green, he could not suppress an inward impulse to drive his flock to these rich pastures, which were much finer and more luxuriant than the duke's; and he would often have yielded to it, had he not been deterred by the rigid injunction of his master. One night he had retired to rest, and had not been long asleep, when he dreamt that a tall majestic female figure, wearing a long silken robe, over which was a cuirass of polished steel, and a bright helmet on her head, approached his couch, and cried, "O silly boy! why dost thou not follow the powerful impulse of thy prophetic spirit, which urges thee to enter the valley inclosed by yon lovely hills, where such good fortune awaits thee? Why dost thou suffer the gossip of a timid old man to deter thee from seeking certain glory and honour?" Having uttered these words, the majestic figure instantly vanished. Jaroslaw awoke, and the thoughts of this extraordinary vision prevented him from closing his eyes again for the rest of the night. ༩ ༣, ལ། Next morning when he drove out his flock, the forbidden valley ap peared more delightful and lovely than ever, so that he could no longer withstand the invisible power which impelled him to conduct his sheep to its rich pastures. What ill can befal me? thought he. My father's bequest secures me from danger of every kind; and should an enemy threaten me, I can either set him adancing, or in case of extreme emergency, deprive him of life. Suspending his lute by a blue ribbon from his neck, and putting his ivory staff carefully in his scrip, he boldly drove his flock before him into the charming valley. Jaroslaw had not advanced far be tween the lovely hills, studded with trees covered with fragrant blossoms, and his lambs skipped merrily about in the luxuriant pasture, when he all at once perceived a giant, who was so tall, that he himself scarcely reached to his waist. His colour was black, and his features were distorted and hideous to behold; a black garment was loosely thrown over his shoul ders, and in his right hand he carried a massy club of ebony, In a terri-› fic voice the giant cried to the shepherd-boy, "Audacious dwarf, how |