tion was not able to bear the inclemency of the open air.Albert and his father set to work for her convenience, and formed a kind of shed with the branches of trees, which she hour's march of the valley.The inhabitants were abandoning their cottages for refuge in the wood, and Basil could recommend nothing else for the safety of his children.Albert proposed to fly into It-reposed under when weary.aly, or some other foreign country; but the French troops had unfortunately taken possession of all the passes, and their endeavours to escape would have been fruitless. In consequence, they followed the example of their neighbours, and took shelter in an adjacent forest. Early on the following morning they heard the clash of cymbals die along the air, and, accompanied by some more fugatives, ventured out of the ticket where they had concealed themselves, to the skirts of the wood. They perceived volumes of smoke issuing from their little habitations, which the victorious banditti were destroying by fire. Shuddering with fear, they again returned to their hiding place, and, being overcome with fatigue and hunger, and the te dious anxiety experienced during the night, made a scanty meal on the wild fruits which the forest afforded. Laura's delicate constitu It was a poor shelter, but in her eyes preferable to ravishment and slavery under an unrelenting foe. Several days elapsed without any thing particular, till, one morning Basil having penetrated a little distance into the wood for the purpose of gathering fruit, Albert seated himself pensively at the entrance of the shed, and was watching the lovely Laura || while she enjoyed the sweets of sleep. Suddenly he heard a rustling among the bushes, and a low murmuring that seemed to proceed from behind the thatch; he laid his hand on his sword, but, ere he could draw it, a band of French soldiers advanced and disarmed him. His struggles awoke Laura; she ran towards the officer who commanded the detachment, and on her knees | implored his mercy; he was for a moment moved at her tears, but quickly conceived the diabolical design of secu ring her to himself, and ordered the soldiers to conduct Laura her to the camp. resisted, and endeavoured to free herself; whilst Albert made a motion to assist her, but was felled to the ground by a blow from the officer.Burning with rage, he rose, and, breaking from the soldiers who tried to withhold him, drew forth a pocket pistol which he had concealed in his belt, and shot his adversary dead. The guards stood amazed at this piece of courage. Albert, flushed with success, forgot his danger, and was embracing his dear Laura, when a soldier stabbed him in the back with a bayonet. The wounded youth fell, covered with blood, and, for the few short moments his fainting spirit struggled with death, he articulated, in broken senten'Father! Laura !' and ces, expired. Laura, whose nerves were naturally weak, was overcome with horror; the shock had so great an effect upon her, that she could not support herself. Her sight failed her, and she fell lifeless on the body of the deceased. At that instant Basil returned; it is not possible to describe his feelings at so unexpected a sight. After the first emotions of his grief were ended, he addressed himself to the soldiers in these words: 6 Frenchmen ! ye who aspire to rule the world, you will not effect your design without showing mercy to those whom the fortune of war puts in your power.. Your country has committed the grossest injustice in proceeding hostilely against us; and it was the least generosity you could have shown to spare the wretched, when force was no longer opposed to you. You have here murdered two innocent people who never wronged you in the remotest thought. Go fill up the measure of your crimes. You will acquire the title of conquerors, but never that of Christians; and, remember, that an awful day will arrive, when for these your evil deeds God will bring you unto judgment.' So saying, he knelt down, and kissed the cheeks of the deceased lovers. The soldiers quitted the spot, ashamed of what they had done, and some of them felt a pang of remorse, if there dwells any in the hearts of barbarians. Albert and Laura were interred in one grave beside each other as they had lived to low and articulate, and every sentence given with an effect so unique, that the orchestra is never thought of when once she gets hold of her audience. Who does not listen with admiration when she sings the cucko song in Rosalind?' and who does not weep to hear her in the frantic strains of gether in life, so in death their SKETCHES, Of Vocal Performers in London. MRS. JORDAN. Mr. FAWCETT. THIS gentleman has little more to do with singing, than when a song is now and then introduced in character; and then it is generally more admired for the oddity of the subject, and the grotesque manner of his giving it to the audience, than for the music of his lungs, He is an excellent comedian, and seems more calculated for the court of Momus, than the temple of Apollo, who in concord with fair Euterpe, tis said, will fill the heavens all with harmony. NATURE has endowed this lady with more than common theatrical powers; there is a versatility in her acting which is rarely to be seen, or if seen it is seldom with such perfection; yet Mrs. Jordan, like Incledon, in her singing divests herself of the orchestra ; but as we have not heard her sing with accompaniments the maxim has worked itself into a custom, and her singing any other way is not expected : perhaps she is no musician, and if that should be the case, there is a kind of excuse for it; be-cellent in Pantomime, and no sides her songs are generally nothing more than brief little airs; and her voice is so mel Miss DE CAMP. Miss De Camp has also great versatility as an actress, has sometimes aimed at Tragedy, is a good comedian, ex bad mimic. When she undertakes a singing character, she sets it off with a good voice : and being endowed with a good figure and an arch manner, lays hold of the audience in a bewitching way; which is assisted greatly by a natural and necessary confidence; and though she does not come under the description of a professed singer, yet she sings so well, acts so well, dances so well, and looks so well, that she is deservedly a great favorite of the town, and a very considerable prop to the Theatre to which she belongs. This lady was found very useful at Drury-Lane, on the sudden relinquishment of Mrs. Storace the Managers were fortunate to meet with so good a substitute, when the town lost so unexpectedly, so great a favourite as Storace, who took flight with 'Braham, alias Abraham, the Israelite :-he was a charming singer, and a very young man, and Storace, finding herself a great way verging on the lees, thought it might prove no bad resource erhaps, to shelter herself in Abraham's bosom. Mr. VERNON. Vernon was a good musician, and the best acting singer we ever had, if he may have been allowed the name of singer, for, it was little more than speaking musically, and acting with good effect. He was a compact figure, trod the stage elegantly, and always looked like a gentleman. Wherever the poet or musician meant to be particularly impressive, by introducing some interesting passage to the audience, it seldom suffered in the hands of Vernon, but generally was given by him with the true force and meaning, and it was never his fault if it was not properly understood. He played the character of Cymon with uncommon ability; and also Hawthorn, in Love in a Village: as well as Leander, in The Padlock.' His Amiens in As you like it ;' his Loren zo, in the Merchant of Venice, &c. and many others of Shakespeare's characters, were never in our memory, so well given to the audience by any acting singer on the stage. He studied seriously in his closet, was in love with such parts as deserved affection; he made use of no mummery or subterfuge, but presented them to the world in their natural form and shape; nor did he ever disgrace the actor by resorting to contortion, or mutilate the language of the author by running away from his text, and introducing any nonsensical ribaldry of his own. would involve that nation perhaps in irretrievible ruin. He wisely forbore retort, though nature could not restrain his feelings, from overflowing in silent complaint to his bosom friend. If then, I would reason, a man can tamely submit to an insult for the sake of a mass of people, with the ten thousandeth part of which he is unacquainted, ought he not, at many times, and in many instances, to bear the 'flings and sneers of fortune' for his own individual prosperity ?-doubtless, in many instances, upon it depends his future promotion or downfall. Independent men will have their caprices, whims, and humour, and if such we are bound to serve, is it not much better to mildly give way, and earn by Baron Ehrensward, a Swedish nobleman, once wispered a gentleman, upon leaving the audience of a Tyrant, That it required more real courage to encounter with dignity and selfcommand, unbecoming provocations, which the person who gave them, knew could not be resented, than to brave a death, which the mouths of cannon vomit, or the point of bayonets inflict.' This principle of the Baron's every one must allow to be correct; yet how few do we find patiently bear-industry our daily pittance, ing up against the contumely than by refractory conduct to of their superiors, for it is too throw ourselves upon the mermuch in the nature of man to cy of strangers and a pitiless rebel, when he finds his rights community? The temper in the least infringed.. Ehrensward, however, though at the time, a diplomatic character from a virtuous, if not powerful court,felt every word he uttered no doubt most sensibly he was in the grasp of a Tyrant (a rather his nation was) and he knew the resenting of any personal indignity, be so of an employer, may |