best house in it was presented to me, called St. John's Hill." Aphara afterwards wrote in her novel of Oroonoko

"It stood on a vast rock of white marble, at the foot of which the river ran a vast depth down, and not to be descended on that side; the little waves, still dashing and washing the foot of this rock, made the softest murmurs and purlings in the world; and the opposite bank was adorned with such vast quantities of different flowers eternally blowing, and every day and hour new, fenced behind 'em with lofty trees, of a thousand rare forms and colours, that the prospect was the most ravishing that sands can create. On the edge of this white rock, towards the river, was a walk or grove of orange and lemon trees, about half the length of the mall here: whose flowery fruit-bearing branches met at the top, and hindered the sun, whose rays are very fierce there, from entering a beam into the grove; and the cool air that came from the river made it not only fit to entertain people in, at all the hottest hours of the day, but refreshed the sweetest blossoms, and made it always sweet and charming; and, sure, the whole globe of the world cannot show so delightful a place as this grove was; not all the gardens of boasted Italy can produce a shade to outvie this, which Nature had joined with Art to render so exceeding fine; and 'tis a marvel to see how such vast trees, as big as English oaks, can take footing in so solid a rock, and in so little earth as covered that rock. But all things by nature there are delightful and wonderful."

In another place, in the same novel, she writes of the country-"Though in a word I must say thus much of it; that certainly had his late Majesty of sacred memory but seen and known what a vast and charming world he had been master of in that continent, he would never have parted so easily with it to the Dutch. 'Tis a continent, whose vast extent was never yet known, and may contain more noble earth than all the universe besides; for, they

say, it reaches from the east to the west one way as far as China, and another to Peru. It affords all things both for beauty and use; 'tis there eternal spring, always the very months of April, May, and June; the shades are perpetual, the trees bearing at once all degrees of leaves and fruit, from blooming buds to ripe autumn; groves of oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, nutmegs, and noble aromaticks, continually bearing their fragrancies. The trees appearing all like nosegays adorned with flowers of different kinds, some are all white, some purple, some scarlet, some blue, some yellow; bearing at the same time ripe fruit, and blooming young, or producing every day new. The very wood of all these trees has an intrinsic value above common timber; for they are, when cut, of different colours, glorious to behold, and bear a price considerable, to inlay withal. Besides this, they yield rich balm and gums; so that we make our candles of such a rich aromatick substance, as does not only give a sufficient light, but, as they burn, they cast their fumes all about. Cedar is the common firing, and all the houses are built with it. The very meat we eat, when set on the table, if it be native, I mean of the country, perfumes the whole room; especially a little beast called an armadilly, a thing which I can liken to nothing so well as a rhinoceros; 'tis all in white armour, so jointed, that it moves as well in it as if it had nothing on; this beast is about the bigness of a pig of six weeks old." The reader will admit that Aphara knew well how to place the wonders of her travels before the gaping Londoners!

The young girl, while she was in America, had very delicate health, and was subject to fits of melancholy and sudden fainting. But indisposition did not restrain her from exerting herself in a manner that would astonish young ladies of the present day. She joined in the fierce sport of tiger-hunting; and made expeditions far up the country, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the native

tribes. On one occasion she was introduced to the warcaptains of a tribe, whose appearance struck her. "For my part, I took 'em for hobgoblins and fiends, rather than men; but however their shapes appeared, their souls were very humane and noble; but some wanted their noses, some their lips, some their ears, and others cut through each cheek with long slashes, through which their teeth appeared; they had several other formidable wounds and scars, or rather dismemberings. Cæsar was marvelling as much at their faces, wondering how they should all be so wounded in war; he was impatient to know how they came by those frightful marks of rage and malice, rather than wounds got in noble battle. They told us by our interpreter, that when any war was waging, two men, chosen out by some old captain whose fighting was past, and who could only teach the theory of war, were to stand in competition for the generalship, or great war-captain; and being brought before the old judges now past labour, they were asked, what they dare do, to show they were worthy to lead an army. When he who is first asked, making no reply, cuts off his nose, and throws it contemptibly on the ground; and the other does something to himself that he thinks surpasses him, and perhaps deprives himself of lips and an eye; so they slash on till one gives out, and many have died in this debate." There was no routine system, it would appear, in the war-offices of that people.

The Caesar, who is mentioned in the preceding extract from Oroonoko, was a negro slave on Lord Willoughby's estate, for whom Aphara had conceived a violent passion. He had been a powerful prince and warrior in Africa, and was known and feared as "the brave Oroonoko." Deprived of his liberty by an English slave-merchant, who was an extreme example of the villany of the English slave-merchants of that period, the Prince Oroonoko was conveyed to Surinam, and there sold to Lord Willoughby's agent. The

VOL. I.

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misfortunes of this poor fellow aroused the sympathies of the generous Aphara, who exerted herself to her utmost to gain his liberty, and was instrumental in bringing about his marriage with an old love, Imoinda, a beautiful captive, who had been taken from his embraces in Africa, and sent as a slave to South America, luckily to the same colony her lover was to visit in wretched servitude. The end of Oroonoko was heart-rending. He came into contention with the authorities of the colony, and was by them flogged once and again, roasted till he was nearly dead, and theu, before life was extinct, was brutally dismembered. Aphara, luckily, did not witness her poor friend's last sufferings, but her mother and sister were present during the perpetration of the atrocity, ineffectually endeavouring to prevent the intentions of Oroonoko's merciless persecutors being carried into effect.

On the return of Mrs. Johnson and her children to England, Aphara made her appearance at court, and told Charles the Second the story of her adventures. She assured him that America contained snakes three score yards long, and I know not what else. The merry monarch was so delighted with her intelligence, and so deeply affected with the narration of Oroonoko's wrongs, that he requested her to publish her account for the benefit of the world. In obedience to the royal request, she wrote and in due time published "The History of Oroonoko; or, the Royal Slave." This is by far the best of her novels,-full of feeling and generosity, because the affections of the writer were warmly interested in the subject of her story. It had a great success-perhaps a greater for that day than Mrs. Stowe's famous "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The world went mad on the enormities of slavery. There doubtless would have been public meetings of ladies on the question, had it then been the custom for ladies to hold parliaments on such matters. Southerne put the great novel on the stage.

His tragedy, "Oroonoko"-which is nothing more than a · dramatic version of Aphara's novel, and in some respects is not worthy of its original-was received by the play-goers with loud applause. Its author was amply rewarded, as indeed he was for nearly all his literary undertakings, for he once obtained no less a sum than £700 for a play.

A great literary authority has said that the memory of Southerne should be held sacred, because he was the first English writer who used his peu to exposo the injustice and iniquity of the slave-trade. This remark, though made by a justly celebrated man, is erroneous, and does wrong to more than one author besides Aphara Behn.

To those who maintain that humanity moves in a circle, ever in action, but never progressing, it may cause the delight of a cynical sneer to know, that nearly two hundred years ago the favourite work of light literature was a "nigger novel."

Immediately Aphara returned to England, she was bosieged by lovers of all degrees in rank and age. Her selection was prudent; Mr. Behn, a rich London merchant, of Dutch extraction, was the suitor so fortunate as to win her. History does not say much of this man, but it would appear that he did not live long after their marriage, for there is good reason to suppose that he died before the close of the year 1666.

In that year Aphara was employed by the king in an important service. Our conflict with the Dutch was then at a most interesting crisis, and Aphara was sent abroad to act as a spy on the enemy's movements. Charles himself was the person who named her as the fittest possible agent for such a mission. She prudently fixed her head-quarters at Antwerp, and from that city sent a summons to a former admirer, whom she speaks of as Vander Albert, to hasten and gladdon her with a sight of his countenance. Vander Albert was a merchant of Utrecht, of considerable reputa