any assuagement of her fears, they had lost sight of Sicily, and at last she was disembarked at Oran, which is an African port, over against Spain. Meanwhile Tebaldo was landing at Palermo, where he learnt, with a renewal of all his pangs, the fate of his beloved mistress. Forgetting all his enmity, therefore, he repaired presently to Mercanti, to concert with him how to redeem her out of the hands of the accursed Moors; a proceeding which he would not have paused for, had fortune put it in his power to proceed instantly to her ransom.

The merchant lamenting his years and infirmities, which forbade him to go in search of his wife, Tebaldo readily offered himself to proceed in his behalf; adding," that it was only through the poverty of his means that he had not sailed already at his own suggestion; but that if Mercanti would furnish him with the requisite sums, he should hope to restore the unfortunate Bianca to his arms. The merchant wondering very much at this proposal, and asking, what securities he could offer for such a trust

"Alas!" quoth Tebaldo, "I have nothing to pledge for my performance, except an unhappy love for her, that would undergo thrice-told perils for her sake. I am that hopeless Tebaldo Zanche, who was made so eminently miserable by her marriage: nevertheless, I will forgive that, as well as all other mischances, if I may but approve my honourable regard for her, by this self-devoted service. There are yet some reasonable doubts you may well entertain of my disinterestedness and fidelity on such a mission, and I know not how to remove them; but when you think of the dangerous infidels in whose hands she now is, I have a hope that you may bring yourself to think her as safe at least in mine.

The passionate Tebaldo enforced these arguments with so many sincere tears and solemn oaths, and, besides, depicted so naturally the horrible condition of the lady amongst the Moors, that at last the merchant consented to his request, and furnishing him with the proper authorities, the generous lover, with a loyal heart, which designed nothing less than he had, professed, set sail on his arduous adven

ture.

Let us pass over the hardships and dan gers of such an enterprize, and above all its cruel anxieties, the hopes which were raised at Tunis being wrecked again at Algiers, till at last he discovered Bianca amongst the slaves of a chief pirate at Oran, who, despairing of a ransom, began to contemplate her as his own mistress. Tebaldo's bargain was soon made; where

upon the lady was set at liberty, and to her unspeakable joy, by the hands of her own beloved Zanche; yet when they remembered the final consequence of her freedom, the brightness of their delight was quenched with some very bitter tears. The generosity of their natures, however, triumphed over these regrets, and with sad-hearts, but full of virtuous resolution, they re-embarked together, in a Genoese carrack for Palermo.

And now their evil fortune still pursued them, for falling in with a Sallee rover, although they escaped a second capture by the fast-sailing of their ship, they were chased a long way out of their course into the Straits of Gibraltar, and the wind turning contrary, increased towards night to a violent tempest. In this extremity it required all the tenderness of Tebaldo to encourage Bianca, whose low-spirited condition made her more fearfully alive to the horrors of the raging sea; which, indeed roared round them as if the watery desert had hungry lions of its own, as well as the sandy wastes of Africa, but ten times more terrible; the ship's timbers, besides straining as if they would part asunder, and the storm howling through the cordage like the voices of those evil angels, who, it is believed, were cast into the dreadful deep.

When the daylight appeared, there was no glimpse of any land, but the ship was tossing in the centre of a mere wilderness of sea, and under the pitch-black and troubled clouds, which were still driving by a fierce wind towards the south. The sails were torn into shreds, and the mariners, ignorant of where they were, let the ship drift at the mercy of the unmerciful elements, which slacked not their fury because the prey no longer resisted, but assaulted the helpless bark with unmitigated rage.

It could be no great wrong of Tebaldo and Bianca, if, at such a time, they exchanged one embrace together in everlasting farewell. They then composed themselves to die calmly as became them, in each others company; not with any vain shrieks or struggles; but heroically, as they had lived and loved. Thus sitting together in a martyr-like mood, and listening to the awful rushing of the waters across the deck, they heard a sudden noise overhead, which caused Tebaldo to look forth, and, lo! there were the drunken mariners putting off from the ship's side in the longboat, being beguiled to their fate by a glimpse of land, which none but their experienced eyes could yet discover. However, they had not struggled far with their oars, when three monstrous curling billows, a great deal loftier than any of the

The miserable Bianca wept abundantly at this discourse; however, she begged that Tebaldo would not mention the subject for at least seven more days, in which time she hoped God might save them from such a step, by sending some ship to their succour. She spent almost all this interval in watching from the coast, but still there came no vessel, not so much even as a speck on the horizon, to give her any hope of return. Tebaldo then resuming his arguments, she answered him thus:

"Oh, my dearest Tebaldo! let us rather die as we have lived, victims of implacable fate, than cast any reproach upon our innocent loves. As it is, no one can reprove our affection, which, though violently controuled, we have never disavowed; but it would kill me to have to blush for its unworthy close. It is true that in one point we are disunited, but there is no distance between our souls. We may not indeed gratify our fondness by caresses, but it is still something to bestow our kindest language, and looks, and prayers, and all lawful and honest attentions upon each other; nay, do not you furnish me with the means of life and every thing that I enjoy? which my heart tells me must be a very grateful office to your love. Be content, then, to be the preserver and protector, and the very comforter of my life, which it is happiness enough for me to owe to your loving hands. It is true that another man is my husband, but you are my guardian angel, and show a love for me that as much surpasses his love as the heavenly nature is above the earthly. I would not have you stoop from this pitch, as you needs must -by a defect of virtue and honour; still, if you insist, I will become what you wish; but I beseech you consider, ere that decision, the debasement which I must suffer in your esteem. Nevertheless, before such an evil hour, I hope God will send some ship to remove us, though, if I might prefer my own sinful will before His, I would rather of all be dead."

The despairing lovers at these words wished mutually in their hearts, that they had perished together in the waves that were fretting before them,-when Bianca, looking up towards the horizon, perceived the masts and topmost sails of a ship, whose hull was still hidden by the convexity of the waters.* At this sight, though it had come seemingly at her own invocation, she turned as pale as marble, and with a faltering voice bade Tebaldo observe the vessel, which with a death-like

* See the Embellishment, illustrative of the above, p. 17.

gaze he had already fixed in the distance

for, doubtless, they would rather have remained as they were till they died, than return to the separation which awaited them in Sicily:-however, the ship still approached with a fair wind, and at last put out a pinnace, which made directly towards the island.

And now Tebaldo became a bitter convert from his own arguments, confessing that it was better to breathe only the same air constantly with Bianca, than to resign her companionship to another; neither did she refuse to partake in his regrets; and more tears were never shed by any exiles on the point of returning to their native land. With heavy hearts, therefore, they descended, hand in hand, like the first pair of lovers when they quitted their paradise, to whom, no doubt, these sad Sicilians inwardly compared themselves, as they walked lingeringly to meet the boat, which belonged to a vessel of Genoa, and had been sent to obtain a supply of wood and water. The mariners wondered very much at their appearance, and especially at Bianca, who wore a fantastical cap, made of rabbit skins, with a cloak of the same motley fur, to defend her from the sharp sea air; and as for Tebaldo, his garments were as motley as hers, being partly seaman's apparel and partly his own, whilst his beard and mustaches had grown to a savage length.

He

The sailors, however, took them very willingly on board, where they inquired eagerly concerning Mercanti; but although the captain knew him well, having often carried his freightages, he could give no tidings of his estate. promised, notwithstanding, to touch at Palermo; whether the ship made a very brief passage, to the infinite relief of the lovers: for now, after all their misfortunes, they were about to return to the same miserable point where they began. Bianca, therefore, spent the whole time of the voyage in grieving apart in her own cabin, not daring to trust herself in sight of Tebaldo; who on his part, at the prospect of their separation, after such an intimate communion of danger and distresses, was ready to cast himself into the sea.

Suppose them, then, arrived at Palermo, where Tebaldo, with a sadder heart than he had foreseen, proceeded to complete his undertaking, by rendering up Bianca to her husband. He repaired, therefore, to the house, and inquired for Mercanti; whereupon, being shewn into his presence

"I am come," said he, "to render up my trust, and would to God that my life were a part of the submission. I have

redeemed your wife, at the cost of your ten thousand florins, and some perils besides; for which, if you owe me any thing, I leave her my executor, for I have nothing left me now but to die."

The merchant, looking somewhat amazed at his discourse, then answered him thus:

"If the lady you speak of is the wife of my brother Gio Mercanti, he has been dead these three months; but I shall rejoice to see her, and, likewise to make over the properties that belong to her by his bequest. And for the eminent service you have rendered to her, for my late brother's sake, I will gratefully repay you, his last words having been full of concern for his dear lady, and of confidence in the integrity of the Signor Tebaldo Zanche; which name I doubt not you have made honourable in your own person. I beseech of you, therefore, to lead me instantly to my kinswoman, that I may entertain her as she deserves."

The overjoyed Tebaldo, without waiting to make any answer to these courte sies, ran instantly on board ship to Bianca, who now, without any reserve, cast herself into his loving arms. She did not forget, however, the tears that were due to the generosity of her dead husband, but mourned for him a decent season; after which, with the very good-will of her parents and all parties, she gave her hand to the faithful Tebaldo. Thus, after many trials, which they endured nobly, they were finally made happy, as their long misfortunes and virtue well deserved and their names are preserved until this day, as the Two Faithful Lovers of Sicily.-Hood's National Tales.

MYSTERIES; OR, RELIGIOUS

DRAMAS.

THESE devout spectacles have been generally believed to have originated with the pilgrims who returned from the Holy Land, or other consecrated places; they began by composing canticles of their travels, and amused their religious fancies by interweaving scenes, of which Christ, the Apostles, and other objects of devotion, served as themes. These pilgrims travelled in troops, and stood in the public streets, where they recited their poems, staff in hand; while their chaplets and cloaks, covered with shells and images of various colours, formed a picturesque exhibition, which at length excited the piety of the citizens to erect ocasionally a stage on an extensive spot of ground. From such circumstances, most probably,

we may date the origin of our present dramatic exhibitions. These spectacles served as the amusement and instruction of the people. So attractive were these gross exhibitions, in the darker ages, that they formed one of the principal ornaments of the reception which was given to princes when they entered towns.

When these mysteries were performed, at a more improved period, the actors were distinguished characters, and very frequently were composed of the ecclesiastics of the neighbouring villages. Their productions were not divided into acts, but into different days of performance, and they were acted in the open plain. In these pieces the actors represented the person of the Almighty, after their fashion, without being sensible of the gross impropriety. So unskilful were they in this infancy of the theatrical art, that very serious consequences were often produced by their ridiculous blunders and illmanaged machinery. In the history of the French theatre the following anecdotes are preserved, which throw considerable light upon these singular representations and their performers.

In the year 1437, when Conrad, Bishop of Metz, caused the Mystery of the Passion to be represented on the plain of Veximel, near that city, the Almighty was represented by an old gentleman, by name Nicholas Neufchatel, curate of St. Victory, of Metz, and who was very near expiring on the cross, had he not been timely assisted; he was so enfeebled that it was agreed another priest should be placed on the cross the next day, to finish the representation of the person crucified, and which was done; at the same time the said Mr. Nicholas undertook to perform the resurrection, which being a less difficult task, he did it admirably well. Another priest, whose name was John de Dicey, curate of Metrange, personated Judas, who was almost stifled while he hung on the tree, by his neck being nearly dislocated; this was fortunately perceived time enough to allow him to be taken down and recovered.

Another instance is recorded by John Bouchet, in his Annals of Aquitaine, a French author who lived in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which informs us that in the year 1486, he saw played and exhibited in mysteries, by persons of Poictiers, the Nativity, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ, in great triumph and splendour, before an immense assemblage of the ladies and gentlemen from the surrounding provinces.

The first of these incongruous exhibitions in Italy is said to have taken place

as early as 1243, and the earliest account of them in England is recorded by Matthew Paris, the English historian, who wrote in the thirteenth century, detailing in his writings the performance of a religious play by the scholars of the Abbey school of Dunstable; these representations were given in most of the counties of England, especially Chester and Warwickshire, and furnished amusement for all classes, from the king and the nobles down to the meanest peasant. The performers who assumed the characters in the drama were the religious of monasteries, the pupils of learned men, the trading companies of cities, and the society of Parish Clerks, in London, who were greatly famed for their performances at the Skinners' Well, Clerkenwell. The period of the year when these amusements were resorted to was the festival of Corpus Christi day.

THE DISCOVERY OF GUNPOWDER.

We owe the discovery of this destructive agent to a circumstance that happened in 1292, to Barthold Schwartz, otherwise called the Black Monk, or Constantine Aucklitzen, a native of Fribourg, in Germany, which was occasioned by his having put some saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal in a mortar, for some chemical preparation; a spark of fire accidentally flew into it, when the mortar was rent asunder by the sudden explosion.

The monk, who, unfortunately for mankind, escaped with his life, had no sooner recovered his fright than he began to make experiments, which, by moderating of this dreadful composition, taught him

how to use it as a sure engine of destruction.

Though the invention has been set down in the pages of history as the result of German ingenuity, yet it ought to be ranked among the discoveries of this country. For that the ingredients of gunpowder, and the art of making it, was known to the celebrated Roger Bacon, an English monk, who was born near Ilchester, in the year 1214, is very certain. But that humane philosopher, aware of the danger of communicating such a baneful discovery to the world, so transposed the letters of the Latin word which signify charcoal, as to render the whole obscure and unintelligible. By this means he rendered it difficult for any one to discover the fatal secret by the perusal of his works, and secured to himself the honour of the invention, if it should be discovered by any other person.

Enabled as we are to state correctly the date when the art of making gunpowder was first found out, yet we are at fault when we attempt to attach a date as to its first being employed to discharge firearms; however, but a short period intervened from its being first made, to its use in the field, for we find that it travelled from Germany into France, as may be seen by the following item from the accounts of the treasurer of war, in the year 1338:-"To Henry de Faumichan, for gunpowder and other things necessary for the cannon at the siege of Puy Guillaume." In 1340 the English were compelled to raise the siege of Eu, at which this artillery consisted of two large " iron artillery was employed by the garrison: boxes," which they loaded with round pebbles. It was considered as a remarkable instance of good fortune that these pieces had received no damage; proving, that the art of managing them with effect was unknown. Froissard tells us, that when the English laid siege to St. Malo, in 1373, they had four hundred cannon with them, which account is somewhat at variance with Hume's detail in his History of England, where he seems to say that at the besieging of Orleans, in the reign of Henry the Sixth, in the year 1428," that it might be reckoned among the first sieges where cannon was employed in Europe to advantage.' cannon spoken of by Froissart were hand cannon, which was carried by two men, and fired from a rest fixed in the ground. These portable fire-arms were not used in France till the reign of Charles the Sixth. In Italy gunpowder was first used against the Genoese by the Venetians, in 1380. Some authorities state it to have been first employed in Europe, at

"The