brain from its long and inglorious inactivity. The pageant of Ambition returned. He was again a lieutenant, a colonel, a general, an emperor of France. He filled again the throne of Charlemagne.* His kindred pressed around him, again invested with the pompous pageantry of royalty. The daughter of the long line of kings again stood proudly by his side, and the sunny face of his child shone out from beneath the diadem that encircled its flowing locks.

8. The Marshals 10 of the Empire awaited his command. The legions of the Old Guard † were in the field; their scarred faces rejuvenated", and their ranks, thinned in many battles, replenished. Russia, Prussia, Austria, Denmark, and England gathered their mighty hosts to give him battle. Once more he mounted his impatient charger, and rushed forth to conquest. He waved his sword aloft, and cried, "Tête d'Armée! 2" The feverish vision broke, the mockery was ended. The silver cord was loosed, and the warrior fell back upon his bed a lifeless corpse! This was the END OF EARTH. THE CORSICAN WAS NOT

CONTENT.

STATESMEN AND CITIZENS! The contrast suggests its own impressive moral.

1 PRE-CO'CIOUS. Ripe or mature before the natural time.

2 CŎN'SŎL. One of the three chief magistrates of France from 1799 to 1804.

3 PA'TRI-ÄRCH. The father or head of a family among the ancient Israelites; here, applied to the Pope, the highest dignitary of the church.

4 SEE. The jurisdiction of a bishop; the office or authority of the Pope. 5 IN-DE-FEA'ŞI-BLE. Incapable of being defeated or made void.

• PLE-BE'IẠN. One of the common people or lower order of citizens.

* CHARLEMAGNE (shär'lẹ-mān), or Charles the Great, a famous king of France, who ruled over the greater part of Europe in the eighth century.

† Old Guard. A select body of troops that bore a distinguished part in the campaigns of Napoleon.

Attendant. A stranger craves admission to your Highness. Saladin. Whence comes he?

Att. That I know not.

Enveloped in a vestment of strange form,
His countenance is hidden, but his step,
His lofty port, his voice, in vain disguised,
Proclaim if that I dared pronounce it—

Sal. Whom?

Att. Thy royal brother.

Sal. Bring him instantly.

[Exit ATTENDANT.

Now with his specious', smooth, persuasive tongue,

Fraught with some wily subterfuge, he thinks

To dissipate my anger- he shall die.

[Enter ATTENDANT and MALEK ADHEL.]

Sal. Leave us together. [Exit ATTENDANT.] [Aside.] I should

know that form.

Now summon all thy fortitude, my soul;

Nor, though thy blood cry for him, spare the guilty.
[Aloud.] Well, stranger, speak; but first unveil thyself,
For Saladin must view the form that fronts him.
Malek Adhel. Behold it, then!

Sal. I see a traitor's visage.

Mal. Ad. A brother's.

Sal. No

Saladin owns no kindred with a villain.

Mal. Ad. O, patience, Heaven! Had any tongue but thine Uttered that word, it ne'er should speak another.

Sal. And why not now? Can this heart be more pierced

By Malek Adhel's sword than by his deeds?

O, thou hast made a desert of this bosom !
For open candor, planted sly disguise;
For confidence, suspicion; and the glow

Of generous friendship, tenderness and love,
Forever banished. Whither can I turn,
When he, by blood, by gratitude, by faith,
By every tie, bound to support, forsakes me?
Who, who can stand, when Malek Adhel falls?
Henceforth I turn me from the sweets of love,
The smiles of friendship ;. and this glorious world,
In which all find some heart to rest upon,
Shall be to Saladin a cheerless void:
His brother has betrayed him!

Mal Ad. Thou art softened;

I am thy brother, then; but late thou saidst -
My tongue can never utter the base title.
Sal. Was it traitor? True-

Thou hast betrayed me in my fondest hopes.
Villain? "Tis just; the title is appropriate.
Dissembler? "Tis not written in thy face;
No, nor imprinted on that specious brow,
But on this breaking heart the name is stamped,
Forever stamped, with that of Malek Adhel.

Thinkest thou I'm softened? By Mohammed, these hands

Should crush these aching eyeballs, ere a tear

Fall from them at thy fate! O monster, monster!
The brute that tears the infant from its nurse

Is excellent to thee, for in his form

The impulse of his nature may be read;
But thou, so beautiful, so proud, so noble,
O, what a wretch art thou! O, can a term
In all the various tongues of man be found
To match thy infamy?

Mal. Ad. Go on, go on;

"Tis but a little while to hear thee, Saladin, And, bursting at thy feet, this heart will prove Its penitence at least.

Sal. That were an end

Too noble for a traitor; the bowstring is
A more appropriate finish — thou shalt die!

Mal Ad. And death were welcome at another's mandate What, what have I to live for? Be it so,

If that in all thy armies can be found
An executing hand.

Sal. O, doubt it not!

They're eager for the office. Perfidy,
So black as thine, effaces from their minds
All memory of thy former excellence.

Mal. Ad. Defer not then their wishes. Saladin,
If e'er this form was joyful to thy sight,
This voice seemed grateful to thine ear, accede
To my last prayer-O, lengthen not this scene,
To which the agonies of death were pleasing-
Let me die speedily.

Sal. This very hour!

that face,

[Aside.] For-oh! the more I look upon
The more I hear the accents of that voice,
The monarch softens, and the judge is lost
In all the brother's weakness; yet such guilt,
Such vile ingratitude! it calls for vengeance,

And vengeance it shall have! What, ho! who waits there?
[Enter ATTENDANT.]
Att. Did your Highness call?

Sal. Assemble quickly

My forces in the court!

tell them they come

To view the death of yonder bosom-traitor;

And bid them mark, that he who will not spare
His brother when he errs, expects obedience,
Silent obedience, from his followers.

Mal. Ad. Now, Saladin,

The word is given-I have nothing more
To fear from thee, my brother. — I am not
About to crave a miserable life

[Exit ATTENDANT

Without thy love, thy honor, thy esteem,
Life were a burden to me. Think not, either,
The justice of thy sentence I would question:
But one request now trembles on my tongue,
One wish still clinging round the heart, which soon
Not even that shall torture. — Will it then,
Thinkest thou, thy slumbers render quieter,
Thy waking thoughts more pleasing, to reflect,
That when thy voice had doomed a brother's death,
The last request which e'er was his to utter,

Thy harshness made him carry to the grave?

Sal. Speak, then; but ask thyself if thou hast reason To look for much indulgence here.

Mal. Ad. I have not!

Yet will I ask for it. We part forever;

This is our last farewell; the king is satisfied;
The judge has spoken the irrevocable sentence;
None sees, none hears, save that Omniscient Power,
Which, trust me, will not frown to look upon
Two brothers part like such. When in the face
Of forces once my own, I'm led to death,
Then be thine eye unmoistened; let thy voice
Then speak my doom untrembling; then,
Unmoved, behold this stiff and blackened corse.
But now I ask,- nay, turn not, Saladin, -

I ask one single pressure of thy hand,

From that stern eye one solitary tear

O, torturing recollection! one kind word

From the loved tongue which once breathed nought but

kindness.

Still silent? Brother,

friend, beloved companion

Of all my youthful sports, are they forgotten?

Strike me with deafness, make me blind, O Heaven!
Let me not see this unforgiving man

Smile at my agonies, nor hear that voice