"Come along with me," said he, " and I will shew you how I have been supplied with food and medicine." They followed, and he led them to the centre of the island, where they entered a little thicket of sugar canes. He took one of them, and, bruising it with a large stone, expressed the juice, saying, "Though you left me here to perish of sickness and hunger, from hence have I obtained health and nutriment." The consciousness of their guilt struck them dumb; but the generous man relieved them from their embarrassment, by observing that he knew they acted only from compulsion, and was too well convinced that their lord was the grand projector of this infernal plot. They acknowledged the truth, and deprecated his pardon for the part they had taken. He as readily forgave them, and proposed, that since a failure in their expedition would inevitably subject them to the rage of a violent master, on whose caprice their lives depended, they should return without him, as faithful to their trust, while he patiently submitted himself to his fate. This instance of unexampled submission overcame them; and, at their departure, they invoked heaven to shower blessings on his head, and favour him with a speedy release. On their return, their master received them with every mark of satisfaction, and applauded their fidelity in the work on which he had employed them, shortly after taking quiet possession of the lands of his late injured neighbor. Some months had rolled away, when a casual circumstance led to a developement of this nefarious stratagem. The tyrannical Shamarauze, for some petty offence, had doomed one of his late confidential agents to a severe chastisement. The poor menial wished to avenge himself, and resolved to seize the opportunity chance had thrown in his way. He fled by night to the Rajah, and made an ample confession of all he knew. This chief was naturally a lover of justice and humanity; and he expressed the utmost abhorrence at the disclosure of such a scene of consummate villany. spurns However modern philosophy might have labored to refine away guilt, and prove gratitude no virtue,* every honest heart with indignation at the idea of ingratitude, from a natural antipathy to its blackness and deformity; and we have very frequent proofs of its being viewed with detestation by the eye of the omniscient and omnipotent Being, by his making it the object of his fearful resentment. The generous Rajah sought the banished man in his retreat; and, having a ready penetration, easily conceived. that the sugar cane, thus accidentally discovered, would one day be accounted a very valuable acquisition. Vendrapedroo had naturally a sound judgment and a fertile invention; he cultivated the cane with astonishing success, and had contrived a machine of great powers, on a simple construction, to extract the sugar in large quantities. His patron knew.how to appreciate merit, while he felt justly disposed to punish ingratitude. He lavished favors on Vendrapedroo, and finally procured for him a grant of the island, as the reward of his deserts. He then turned his attention toward his adversary, whom he caused to be divested of his possessions, and transported to the fortunate island, to become the slave of Vendraped roo, and do the drudgery of his manufactories, whose assiduous exertions soon advanced him to wealth and honor. Sugar,* for its medical and other properties, became an invaluable article of commerce, and the spot which was chosen for his destruction was soon frequented by traders of every description. Succeeding generations respect his memory, and distant lands enjoy the benefit of his misfortune. * This is a dogma of the revolutionary school; and it has been frankly avowed by one of its acknowledged adepts, in his popular harangues. * Sugar was first imported into Europe in the 12th century from Asia. -It was attempted in vain to cultivate it in Italy.—It was not known in America, till about the year 1516, when it was carried thither by the Spaniards and Portuguese, and has since become, in almost all countries, a capital article of trade.-See Robertson's hist. chap. v. VOL. I. 35 "Ah! Fortune! ce traite d'avanture propice, MOLIERE. Thus trivial very causes often produce the most important effects, although human foresight is exceedingly circumscribed, and we are ever unwilling to consider evils as "bles sings in disguise;" though “Such dear-bought blessings happen ev'ry day, DRYDEN, As we tread the labyrinth of life, we see not the hand which conducts us, and are ignorant of the goal to which our labors tend. When the path is smooth and strewed with flowers, we rejoice but when rugged and planted with thorns, we repine. By submitting resignedly to misfortunes, we feel them lose their force, while the impatient man struggles with them, like a lion in the toils. Unable to judge for ourselves, we too often reflect on the proceedings of Providence; but, on a retrospective view, our heart cannot but acknowledge the wisdom and the justice of this supernatural agent, whose eyes penetrate into futurity, and whose hands possess the powers of retribution ! ON STUDY. MARTIN Luther's advice to young students was, to confine their attention to some well-selected and well-informed authors, and not to distract and confuse themselves with too great a variety of books. Miscellaneous readers (observed Luther) never learn any thing correctly, but are led away by vague and crude notions: as those persons who dwell every where, and settle in no place, cannot be said to have any certain habitation. SELECT SENTENCES. THOSE know little of real love or grief, who do not know how much we deceive ourselves, when we pretend to aim at the cure of either. It is with these, as it is with some distempers of the body,-nothing is agreeable to us, but what serves to heighten the disease. THE tenderest of passions is capable of subsiding; nor is absence from our dearest friends so unsupportable as it may at first appear. Distance of time and place do really cure what they seem to aggravate; and taking leave of our friends resembles taking leave of the world; concerning which it has been often said, that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible. THE courage as well as cowardice of fools proceeds from not knowing what is, or what is not, the proper object of fear. Indeed we may account for the extreme hardiness of some men, in the same manner as for the terrors of children at a bugbear. The child knows not but that the bugbear is the proper object of fear: the blockhead knows not that the cannon ball is so. SUCH is the nature of man, that whoever denies himself to do you a favor, is unwilling that it should be done to you by any other. WHY should we be more surprised to see greatness of mind discover itself in one degree or rank of life than in another? Love, benevolence, or what you please to call it, may be the reigning passion in a beggar as well as in a prince : and wherever it is, its energies will be the same. Palaces sometimes contain nothing but dreariness and darkness, and the sun of righteousness hath shone forth in all its glory in a cottage. If we regard this world only, it is the interest of every man to be either perfectly good, or completely bad. He had better destroy his conscience than greatly wound it. bitter reflections, which every bad action costs a mind in which The many there are any remains of goodness, are not to be compensated by the highest pleasures which such an action can produce. AMELIA. MORAL REFLECTIONS. CONCUPISCENCE and DRUNKENNESS are vices similar in their ends, as tending to ruin the body and soul, and as being the destroyers of social harmony. TRUTH is the ornament of speech, and even to infidels carries conviction; it is conspicuous as the day, unerring as the light, and although obliquely applied, cuts to the very soul. DECENCY becomes all things; as food is pleasant to the palate, so is decency to the eye. MODESTY has power to intimidate and check even liber tines. BEAUTY is a flower when spoke of externally, but the beauties of the mind render a deformed person agreeable. YOUTH is the season for an early cultivation of manners; this time once lost is never regained. ORIGINAL POETRY. The following anigma is inserted to gratify the desire of a friend, rather than our own taste. In truth, we think solutions of this kind of riddles may justly be compared to the wit of Gratiano" two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; and when you have found them, they are not worth the search." EDITOR. FOR THE POLYANTHOS. JEU D'ESPRIT. THE Grecian whose beauty could Paris inspire, |