When Maria had come a little to her self, I asked her if she remembered a pale thin person of a man, who had sat down betwixt her and her goat about two years before. She said, she was unsettled much at that time, but remembered it upon two accounts -that ill as she was, she saw the person pitied her; and next, that her goat had solen his handkerchief, and she had beat him for the theft-she had washed it, she said, in the brook, and kept it ever since in her pocket, to restore it to him in case she should ever see him again, which, she added, he had promised her. As she told me this, she took the handkerchief out of her pocket to let me see it; she had folded it up neatly in a couple of vine leaves, tied round with a tendrillon opening it, I saw an S marked in one of the corners. She had since that, she told me, strayed as far as Rome, and walked round St. Peter's once-and returned back-that she found her way alone across the Appennines had travelled over all Lombardy, without money-and through the flinty roads of Savoy without shoes: how she had borne it, and how she had got supported, she could not tell-but God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the shorn lamb. Shorn indeed! and to the quick, said I; and wast thou in my own land, where I have a cottage, I would take thee to it and shelter thee; thou shouldst eat of my own bread and drink of my own cup-I would be kind to thy Sylvio-in all thy weakness and wanderings I would seek after thee, and bring thee back-when the sun went down I would say my prayers, and when I had done, thou shouldst play thy evening song upon thy pipe; nor would the incense of my sacrifice be worse accepted, for entering heaven along with that of a broken heart. Nature melted within me, as I uttered this; and Maria observing as I took out my handkerchief, that it was steeped top mach already to be of use, would needs go wash it in the stream -And where will you dry it Maria? said I-I will dry it in my bosom, said she-it will do me good. And is your heart still so warm, Maria? said I. I touched upon the string on which hung all her sorrows-she looked with a wistful disorder for some time in my face; and then without saying any thing, took her pipe, and played her service to the Virgin-Th. string I had touched ceased to vibrate-in a moment or two Maria returned to herself-let her pipe fall-and rose up. And where are you going, Maria? said I. She said, to Moulines, Let us go, said I, together. - Maria put her arm within mine, and lengthening the string to let the dog follow in that order we entered Moulines, Though I hate salutations and greetings in the market place, yet when we got into the middle of this, I stopped to take my last look and last farewell of Maria, Maria, though not tall, was nevertheless of the first order of fine forms affliction had touched her looks with something that was scarce earthly-still she was feminine and so much was there about her of all that the heart wishes, or the eye looks for in woman, that could the traces be ever worn out of her brain, and those of Eliza's out of mine, she should not only eat of my bread and drink of my own cup, but Maria should lie in my bosom, and be unto me as a daughter. Adieu, poor luckless maiden!-imbibe the oil and wine which the compassion of a stranger, as he journyeth on his may, now pours into thy wounds-The Being who has twice bruised thee can only bind them up forever. STERNE. CHAPTER V. JUNIUS BRUTUS OVER THE DEAD BODY OF YES, noble lady, I swear by this blood, which was once so pure, and which nothing but royal villainy could have polluted, that I will pursue Lucius Tarquinius the proud, his wicked wife, and their children, with fire and sword: nor will I ever suffer any of that family, or of any other whatsoever, to be King in Rome. Ye Gods, I call you to witness this my oath ! There, Romans, turn your eyes to that sad spectacle-the daughter of Lucretius, Collatinus's wife-she died by her own hand. See there a noble lady, whom the lust of a Tarquin reduced to the necessity of being her own executioner, to attest her innocence. Hospitably entertained by her as a kinsman of her husband, Sextus, the perfidious guest, became her brutal ravisher. The chaste, the generous Lucretia could not survive the insult.Glorious woman! But once only treated as a slave, she thought life no longer to be endured. Lucretia, a woman disdained a life that depended on a tyrant's will; and shall we, shall men, with such an example before our eyes, and after five-andtwenty years of ignominous servitude, shall we, through a fear of dying, defer one single instant to assert our liberty? No, Romans, now is the time; the favourable moment we have so long waited for is come. Tarquin is not at Rome. The Pa tricians are at the head of the enterprize. The city is abun dantly provided with men, arms, and all things necessary. There is nothing wanting to secure the success, if our own courage do not fail us. Can all those warriors, who have ever been so brave when foreign enemies were to be subdued, or when conquests were to be made to gratify the ambition and avarice of Tarquin, be then only cowards, when they are to deliver themselves from slavery? Some of you are perhaps intimidated by the army which Tarquin now commands. The soldiers, you imagine, will take the part of their general. Banish so groundless a fear. The love of liberty is natural to all men. Your fel ow-citizens in the camp feel the weight of oppression with as quick a sense as you that are in Rome: they will as ea gerly seize the occasion of throwing off the yoke. But let us grant, there may be some among them, who, through baseness of spirit, or a bad education, will be disposed to favour the tyrant. The number of these can be but small, and we have means sufficient in our hands to reduce them to reason. They have left us hostages more dear to them than life. their wives, their children, their fathers, their mothers, are here in the city. Courage, Romans, the Gods are for us; those Gods, whose temples and altars the impious Tarquin has profaned by sacrifices and libations made with poiluted hands, polluted with blood, and with numberless unexpiated crimes committed against his subjects. Ye Gods who protected our forefathers, ye Genii, who watch for the preservation and glory of Rome, do you inspire us with courage and unanimity in this glorious cause, and we will to our last breath defend your worship from all profanation, LIVE. :: ८८ CHAP. VI.S HANNIBAL TO HIS SOLDIERS. KNOW not soldiers, whether you or your prisoners be eit compassed by fortune with the stricter bonds and necessities. Two seas enclose you on the right and left ;-not a ship to flee to for escaping. Before you is the Po, a river broader and more rapid than the Rhone: behind you are the Alps, over which, even when your numbers were undiminished, you were hardly able to forcera passage. Here then, soldiers, you must either conquer or die, the very first hour you meet the enemy. But the same fortune which has thus laid you under the neces sity of fighting, has set before your eyes those rewards of victory, than which no men are ever wont to wish for greater from the immortal Gods. Should we by our valour recover only Sicily and Sardinia, which were ravished from our fathers, those would be no inconsiderable prizes. Yet what are these? The wealth of Rome, whatever riches she has heaped together in the spoils of nations, all these, with the masters of them, will be yours. You have been long enough employed in driving the cattle upon the vast mountains of Lusitania and Celtiberia; you have hitherto met with no reward worthy of the labours and dangers you have undergone. The time is now come to reap the full recompence of your toilsome marches over so many mountains and rivers, and through so many nations, all of them in arms. This is the place which fortune has appointed to be the limits of your labours; it is here that you will finish your glorious warfare, and receive an ample recompence of your completed service. For I would not have you imagine, that victory will be as difficult as the name of a Roman war is great and sounding. It has often happened that a despised enemy has given a bloody battle, and that the most renowned kings and nations have by a small force been overthrown. And if you but take away the glitter of the Roman name, what is there, wherein they may stand in competition with you? For (to say nothing of your service in war for twenty years together with so much valour and success) from the very pillars of Hercules, from the ocean, from the utmost bounds of the earth, through so many warlike nations of Spain and Gaul, are you not come hither victorious? And with whom are you now to fight? With raw soldiers, an undisciplined army, beaten, vanquished, besieged by the Gauls the very last summer, an army unknown to their leader, and unacquainted with him. Or shall I, who was born I might almost say, but certainly brought up, in the tent of my father, that most excellent general, shall L, the conqueror of Spain and Gaul, and not only of the Alpine nations, but, which is greater yet, of the Alps themselves, shall I compare myself with this half-year captain? A captain before whom should one place the two armies without their ensigns, I am persuaded he would not know to which of them he is consul? I esteem it no small advantage soldiers, that there is not one among you, who has not often been an eye witness of my exploits in war; not one of whose valour I myself have not been a spectator, so as to be able to name the times and places of his noble atchievements; that with soldiers, whom I have a housand times praised and rewarded, and whose pupil I was : before I became their general, I shall march against an army of men, strangers to one another. On what side soever I turn my eyes, I behold all full of courage and strength, a veteran infantry; a most gallant cavalry; you, my allies, most faithful' and valiant; you, Carthagenians, whom not only your country's cause, but the justest anger impels to battle. The hope, the courage of assailants, is always greater than of those who act upon the defensive. With hostile banners displayed, you are come down upon Italy; you bring the war. Grief, injuries, indignities fire your minds, and spur you forward to revenge! First they demanded me; that I, your general, should be delivered up to them; next, all of you, who had fought at the siege of Saguntum; and we were to be put to death by the extremest tortures. Proud and cruel nation! Every thing must be yours, and at your disposal! You are to prescribe to us with whom we shall make war, with whom we shall make peace! You are to set us bounds; to shut us up within hills and rivers; but you you are not to observe the limits which yourselves have fixed. Pass not the Iberus. What next? Touch not the Saguntines. Saguntum is upon the Iberus, move not a step towards that city. Is it a small matter then, that you have deprived us of our ancient possessions Sicily and Sardinia; you would have Spain too? Well, we shall yield Spain; and then-you will pass into Africa. Will pass, did I say?-This very year they order. ed one of their consuls into Africa, the other into Spain. No, soldiers, there is nothing left for us, but what we can vindicate with our swords. Come on then. De men. The Romans may with more safety be cowards; they have their own country behind them, have places of refuge to flee to, and are secure from danger in the roads thither; but for you, there is no middle fortune between death and victory. Let this be but well fixed in your minds, and once again, I say, you are conquerors. LIVY! CHAP. VII. HUMANITY. In the rude and almost savage ages of antiquity, humanity was worshipped as a most beneficent Goddess, and her votaries, who offered their ample sacrifices at her shrines, were looked upon as worthy of immortality; while those, who slighted the worship of the goddess were loaded with everlasting execrations-such M |