The hall was extremely crowded, but Sered (though labouring under personal derangement) had recovered his reason; and there being no positive accusation, the sentence of acquittal was about to be prononnced, when the dervises Vishni and Salem entered the hall.

Unmindful of the royal presence, they advanced through the crowd, and placing themselves at the foot of the throne, Salem bowed thrice, and began

"Sovereign of kings; deign to receive instruction from the incidents before you; and ye people, attend the moral of this transaction, and be wise !-Sered is guilty-because reason, without a dread of future punishment, is unable to restrain the violence of human passions; his own vices have brought upon him his present sufferings; already is the work of retribution begun. Tekah is innocent-not from inclination, but the force of education, which induced him to tremble at the consequence of crime. The first virtuous action of his life, arising from purity of intention, was preferring the safety of Nour Hali to his own, to the casket of jewels, and this action will be rewarded by the love of that amiable maid :gratitude already fills her heart.— Her lover, the weak-minded Nolah, was rescued from death by my care. It was I who sent him to warn Tekah of his danger; but

the temptation was too strong; he fancied to escape detection, but the eye of Providence was upon him, and while he grasped the gems, he forfeited life and Nour Hali, who, from the moment she learns his perfidy, will despise and detest him.-O then! ye people! and thou, O Sultan! be assured, that if sometimes justice lifts the sword and poises the scale in this life, much more shall the next be accountable for the actions of the present! Vishni, who stands there, wrapped in confusion, is an evil genii, who insidiously, and by representing man in false but glittering colours, dazzels and deceives your minds; believe neither him nor his doctrine." "And how," cried the Sultan, "shall we believe thee?" This," cried Salem, his eyes sparkling with heavenly fire, "this is the token of my truth!"

At that moment the hall was illumined with a blaze of impervious light. The forms of the dervises were lost in air; and on the spot where Vishni had stood remained only a heap of ashes.

For the Lady's Miscellany.

THE LUNATIC.

No. 4.

My friends have had so littlemercy in exposing what they term my lunacy, to the world, that Ì

with her train of celestial visitants, forsook their polluted abodes. Love alone remained, having been sto.en away by Hope, who was his nurse, and conveyed by her to the forests of Arcadia, where he was brought up among the shepherds. But Jupiter assigned him a different partner, and commanded him to espouse Sorrow, the daughter of Até. He complied with reluctance; for her features were harsh and disagreeable, her eyes sunk, her forehead contracted into perpetual wrinkles, and her temples were covered with a wreath of cypress and wormwood. From this union sprung a virgin, in whom might be traced a strong resemblance to both her parents; but the sullen and unamiable features of her mother were so mixed and blended with the sweetness of her father, that her countenance, tho'

mournful, was highly pleasing The maids and shepherds of the neighbouring plains gathered round, and called her Pity, A red-breast was observed to build in the cabin where she was born; and while she was yet an infant, a dove, pursued by a hawk, flew into her bosom. This nymph had a dejected appearance, but so soft and gentle a mien, that she was beloved to a degree of enthusiasm. Her voice was low and plaintive, but inexpressibly sweet; and she loved to lie for hours together on the banks of some wild and melancholy stream, singing to her lute. She taught men to weep, for she took a strange delight in

tears; and often, when the virgins of the hamlet were assembled at their evening sports, she would steal in amongst them, and captivate their hearts by her tales full. of a charming sadness. She wore on her head a garland composed of her father's myrtles twisted with her mother's cypress.

One day, as she sat musing by the waters of Helicon, her tears by chance feil into the fountain; and ever since, the Muses' spring has retained a strong taste of the infusion. Pity was commanded by Jupiter to follow the steps of her mother through the world, dropping balm into the wounds she had made, and binding up the hearts she had broken. She follows with her hair loose, her bosom bare. and throbbing, her garments torn by the briars, and her feet bleeding with the roughness of the path. The nymph is mortal, for

her mother is so; and when she has fulled her destined course upon the earth, they shall both expire together, and Love be again united to Joy, his immortal and long-betrothed bride.

LUCRETIA GRENVILLE.

The following extraordinary account of an attempt made by Lucretia Grenville, to assassinate the tyrant OliverCromwell, copied from a European Magazine, is a remarkable trait of female revenge. As it is probable ve ry few of our readers are acquainted with the particulars, we believe it will be generally acceptable.

THIS exalted female was betrothed

to Francis, Duke of Buckingham, at the time that he fell in battle by the hand of Cromwell himself, and upon receiving intelligence of the melancholy event, she swore to avenge his death on the murderer. During the three succeeding years, she exercised herself with pistols in firing at a portrait of Cromwell, which she had selected as a mark, that she might not be awed by the sight of the original; and, as soon as she found herself perfect, she sought an opportunity of gratifying her revenge. But Cromwell seldom appeared in public; and when he did, it was, with such precaution, that few could approach his person.

An occasion at length occurred; the city of London resolved to give a magnificent banquet in honor of the Protector, who, either from vanity or with a political view, determined to make his entrance into London in all the splendor of royalty. Upon this being made pub. lic, the curiosity of all ranks was excited; and Lucretia Grenville resolved not to neglect so favourable an opportunity. Fortune herself seemed to second her purpose; for it so happened, that the procession was appointed to proceed through the very street in which shee-* sided, and a balcony before the first sto ry of her house yielded her full scope for putting her long premeditated design in effect.

On the appointed day she seated herself, with several other female compan. ions, in the balcony, having on this occasion, for the first time since her lover's death, cast off her mourning, and attir. ed herself in the most sumptuous appa rel. It was not without the greatest exertions that she concealed the violent emotion under. which she laboured: and when the increasing pressure of the crowd indicated the approach of Cromwell, it became so strong, that she near

ly fainted, but, however, recovered just as the usurper arrived within a few paces of the balcony.

Hastily drawing the pistol from under he garment, she fearlessly took her aim, and fired; but a sudden start, which the lady who sat next to her made, on be holding the weapon, gave it a different direction than was intended, and the ball striking the horse rode by Henry, the Protector's son, it was laid dead at his feet. The circumstance immediately arrested the progress of the cavalcade and Cromwell, at the same time that he cast a fierce look at the balcony, beheld a singular spectacle: about twenty fe males were on their knees imploring his mercy with uplifted hands, whilst one only stood undaunted in the midst of them, and looking down contemptuously on the 65 usurper, Tyrant it was I who dealt the blow; nor should I be satisfied with killing a horse instead of a tiger, were I not convinced that, ere another twelvemonth has elapsed, Heaven will grant another that success which it has denied to me!"