19. His friend, evading these questions, hastily conducted his importunate companion to one of their magnificent temples, where he gladly consigned him to the instructions of the priesthood. The emotion which the stranger had betrayed, when he received the first idea of death, was yet slight in comparison with that which he experienced as soon as he gathered, from the discourses of the priests, some notions of immortality, and of the alternative of happiness or misery in a future state.

20. But this agony of mind was exchanged for transport, when he learned that, by the performance of certain conditions before death, the state of happiness might be secured. His eagerness to learn the nature of these terms, excited the surprise and even the contempt of his sacred teachers. They advised him to remain satisfied for the present with the instructions he had received, and defer the remainder of the discussion till to-morrow.

21." How!" exclaimed the novice," say ye not that death may come at any hour? may it not come this hour? and what if it should come before I have performed these conditions? O! withhold not the excellent knowledge from me a single moment!" The priests, suppressing a smile at this simplicity, then proceeded to explain their theology to their attentive auditor.

22. But who can describe the ecstasy of his happiness, when he was given to understand the required conditions were, generally, of easy and pleasant performance, and the occasional difficulties, which might attend them, would entirely cease with the short term of his earthly existence. If, then, I understand you rightly," said he to his instruc ters, "this event which you call death, and which seems in itself strangely terrible, is most desirable and blissful.

23. "What a favour is this which is granted to me, in being sent to inhabit a planet in which I can die !" The priests again exchanged smiles with each other; but their ridicule was wholly lost on the enraptured stranger. When the first transports of his emotion had subsided, he began to reflect with more uneasiness on the time he had already lost since his arrival.

24. "Alas! what have I been doing?" exclaimed he, "This gold which I have been collecting, tell me, reverend priests, will it avail me any thing when the thirty or forty years are expired, which, you say, I may possibly sojourn

in your planet?" "Nay," replied the priests, " but verily you will find it of excellent use so long as you remain in it." 25. "A very little of it shall suffice me," replied he; "for consider how soon this period will be past. What avails it what my condition may be for so short a season? I will betake myself, from this hour, to the grand concerns of which you have so charitably informed me."

26. Accordingly, from that period, continues the legend, the stranger devoted himself to the performance of those conditions on which, he was told, his future welfare depended-but, in so doing, he had an opposition to encounter wholly unexpected, and for which he was even at a loss

to account.

27. By thus devoting his chief attention to his chief interests, he excited the surprise, the contempt, and even the enmity of most of the inhabitants of the city; and they rarely mentioned him but with a term of reproach, which has been variously rendered in all the modern languages. Nothing could equal the stranger's surprise at this circumstance; as well as that of his fellow-citizens appearing, generally, so extremely indifferent as they did, to their own interests.

28. That they should have so little prudence and forethought as to provide only for their necessities and pleasures for that short part of their existence in which they were to remain in this planet, he could consider as the ef fect of disordered intellect; so that he even returned their incivilities to himself with affectionate expostulation, accompanied by lively emotions of compassion and amaze

ment.

29. If ever he was tempted for a moment to violate any of the conditions of his future happiness, he bewailed his own madness with agonizing emotions; and to all the invitations he received from others to do any thing inconsistent with his real interests, he had but one answer-“ Oh,” he would say, "I am to die-I am to die."

ELEGY.

TIRED with the busy crowds, that all the day
Impatient throng where folly's altars flame,

My languid powers dissolve with quick decay, "Till genial sleep repair the sinking frame.

Hail, kind reviver! that canst lull the cares,
And every weary sense compose to rest,
Lighten the oppressive load which anguish bears,
And warm with hope the cold desponding breast.

Touched by the rod, from power's majestic brow,
Drops the gay plume: he pines a lowly clown;
And on the cold earth stretched, the son of wo
Quaffs pleasure's draught, and wears a fancied crown

When roused by thee, on boundless pinions borne,
Fancy to fairy scenes exults to rove,

Now scales the cliff gay-gleaming on the morn,
Now sad and silent treads the deepening grove;

Or skims the main, and listens to the storms,
Marks the long waves roll far remote away;
Or mingling with ten thousand glittering forms,
Floats on the gale, and basks in purest day.

Haply, ere long, pierced by the howling blast,

Through dark and pathless deserts I shall roam, Plunge down th' unfathomed deep, or shrink aghast Where bursts the shrieking spectre from the tomb:

Perhaps loose luxury's enchanting smile

Shall lure my steps to some romantic dale, Where mirth's light freaks th' unheeded hours beguile, And airs of rapture warble in the gale.

Instructive emblem of this mortal state!

Where scenes as various every hour arise
In swift succession, which the hand of fate
Presents, then snatches from our wondering eyes

Be taught, vain man, how fleeting all thy joys,
Thy boasted grandeur, and thy glittering store;
Death comes, and all thy fancied bliss destroys,
Quick as a dream it fades, and is no more.

And, sons of sorrow! though the threatening storm
Of angry fortune overhang awhile,

Let not her frowns your inward peace deform,
Soon happier days in happier climes shall smile.

Through earth's throng'd visions while we toss forlorn,
'Tis tumult all, and rage, and restless strife;
But these shall vanish like the dreams of morn,
When death awakes us to immortal life.

THE SLAVE TRADE.

1. THE leading object of Europeans, in their commercial connexion with Africa, for more than three centuries, has been the prosecution of the slave trade. European nations call themselves civilized and christian; yet it will remain an indelible reproach to them, that for so long a time, their intercourse with Africa, instead of imparting to the natives the blessings of civilization and religion, has tended only to destroy their happiness, and to debase their character.

2. What impressions must the much injured Africans have respecting the religion and humanity of Europeans! The treatment which they have received has caused them to identify Christianity with perfidy and cruelty; and many years must elapse before their unhappy prejudices will be removed. This abominable trade has cherished among the unfortunate negroes the vilest passions.

3. It has kindled among them intestine wars, which have been made for the purpose of obtaining captives; and they have learned to betray and kidnap each other. "The best people," says Mr. Newton, who resided a time in Africa,

are those who have had the least intercourse with the Europeans; they are worse in proportion to their acquaintance with us; and when charged with a crime, will say, "Do you think I am a white man ?"

4. The African slave trade was commenced by the Portuguese in the latter part of the 15th century; the Spanish, English, French, and other maritime powers of Europe, soon followed the example, and established factories on various parts of the African coast, for the purpose of collect

ing slaves. The number of these unhappy beings, forced away from their native shores has, in some years, exceeded one hundred thousand.

5. The slaves are divided by Mr. Clarkson into seven classes. The most considerable, and that which contains at least half of the whole number transported, consisted of kidnapped people. This mode of procuring them includes every species of injustice, treachery, and cruelty. The second class consists of those whose villages are set on fire and depopulated, for the purpose of obtaining them.

6. The third class comprises those who have been convicted of crimes; the fourth, consists of prisoners of war, being either such as are the produce of wars that originate from common causes, or from wars made solely for the purpose of obtaining them; the fifth, such as are slaves by birth; the sixth and seventh, such as have sacrificed their liberty by gaming or by debt; these last, however, are very few in number.

7. Having lost their liberty in one or other of these ways, they are conveyed to the banks of the rivers, or to the seacoast; some from places near, others from afar, sometimes even from the distance of one thousand miles. Those that come from a distance, over land, march in droves, or caufles, as they are called. They are secured from running away by pieces of wood, which attach the necks of two and two together; or by other pieces, which are fas tened by staples to their arms.

8. When the slaves are to be conveyed to the shore and sold, they are carried in boats to the different ships, whose captains have purchased them. The men are immediately confined, two and two together, either by the neck, leg, or arm, with fetters of solid iron. They are then put into their apartments; the men occupying the fore part, the women the after part, and the boys the middle. The tops of these apartments are grated for the admission of light and air, and they are stowed like lumber.

9. Many of them, whilst the ships are waiting for their full lading, and whilst they are near their native shore, from which they are separated for ever, have manifested an appearance of extreme depression and distress, insomuch that some have been induced to commit suicide, and others have been affected with delirium and madness. In the