fimilar to thofe for which he inflicted fuch ignominious deaths on others. Yet fuch is the fact: witness his amours with Dona Tereza Lorenza, by whom he had that illuftrious character Don John, the founder of Batalha. Indeed, his manner of punishing other offences was lefs reprehenfible. To give an inftance: a gentleman having borrowed fome filver utenfils of a countryman, refused, after many folicitations, to return the fame; upon which the lender. finding all other means ineffectual, appealed to the King, who made the gentleman not only return the goods to the owner, but also pay him nine times their value, the penalty to which thieves were then fubject; and further, made him refponfible for the countryman's life. The clergy, who hitherto could not be tried for alleged offences but by the ecclefiaftical court, he rendered amenable to the common courts of justice, and punished them with death when their crimes were capital. When folicited once to revife the fentence of fuch criminals, and to refer it to a higher tribunal, (meaning that of the Pope) he anfwered very calmly, "I fhall moft certainly fend them to the higheft of all tribunals, that of the Omnipotent Being." To prevent all tedious litigations, and the baneful confequences attending them, he purged the nation of attornies, and limited the procedure of counsellors in fuch a manner, that a fuit was determined in a few days. And when the judge was found guilty of bribery, as was the cafe in one inftance, he immediately ordered him to be hanged. In fhort, his inexorable justice, and indefatigable zeal to check the progrefs of vice, were fuch, that no confideration of rank, or fortune, or particular privileges, could fcreen the guilty from the fword of the law. The infinite fervice he rendered the country during the ten years he reigned, have left a lasting impreffion on the minds of the Portuguefe. They have ftill a faying among them, " that Providence either should not have sent Pedro, or else not have taken him away.” The two English tragedies that have been formed from this melancholy hiftory of Ignez de Caftro, are entitled Elvira, and Inez de Caftro. Murphy's Travels. THE DECAYED ENGLISH MERCHANT AND HIS DAUGHTER. FROM PRATT'S GLEANINGS. The dangerous rocks, A MERCHANT of confiderable emi- fortunes. The care of her education nence in London, was reduced to the was his moft certain relief from the fituation of poor Baffanio, and from corroding reflections of the past; and precifely the fame run of ill luck in his the certainty of her poffeffing, at his fea-adventuresdeath, fufficient to prevent a good mind from the horrors of dependence, foftened his thoughts of the future; the prefent was filled up with the delights of feeing her ambition yet humbler than her fortunes, and literally bounded by Το the objects that furrounded her. tend the flowers fhe had fet with her own hand, to nurfe the fhrubs she had planted, to fport with and feed the lamb he had domefticated, to fee it follow her in her rambles, and to listen to the melodies of nature, as they murmured in the waters or echoed through the woods, were her chief amufements without doors, and by a thousand love-taught To thefe mifcarriages abroad were added fimilar calamities at home. Several great houfes broke in his debt; and with the wrecks of his fortune, gathered together, he left the metropolis, and took refuge in the mountains of Montgomeryshire. A little girl, then only nine years of age, his only furviving child, was the fole companion of his retreat, and smiled away his mif N do duties to make a father forget that he had ever been unhappy or unfortunate, her deareft study within. Of her perfonal attractions 1 fhall fay little: a fingle line of Thompfon's gives the trueft image of them, and of the unaffected mind by which they were illumined. Ardless of beauty, she was beauty's self. It is not easy to be wretched in the conftant fociety of perfect innocence: the company of a beautiful child, wholly unpolluted by the world, affords one the idea of angelic affociation. Its harmleffnefs appears to guarantee one from harm: we reflect, nay we fee and hear, almost every moment it is climbing our knees, playing at our fide, engaging our attentions, or repofing in our arms, the words and acts of an unfpotted being; and we can fcarce be perfuaded, any real ill can befall us, while a companion fo like a guardian cherub is near. When the babe is our own-fay, ye parents, how the fenfation is then exalted!-Which of you, having at your option the lofs of the ampleft fortune, or of the feebleft in. fant, would not cleave to the last, and refign the former? or, if any of you balanced a moment, would not one lifping word, one cafual look, turn the scale in favour of nature, and make you think it a crime to have hesitated? Such were the fentiments of the merchant, and under their cheering influence he lived many years, during which, a few mountain peafants, an old relict of his better days, as a fervant, who had ben nurfe to the young lady, and his daughter, were the only objects with whom he converfed. So powerful is habit, that we affimilate to perfons, places, and things, that on our first introduction to them, we might imagine, neither philofophy, cuftom, nor religion, could make fupportable. We are furprifed to find we attach to them, even to endearment. In time, even our former habits, no lefs ftrong in us, are but flightly remembered; and thofe purfuits, diverfions, and focieties, without which it once appeared impoffible we should ever pafs a day, are yielded for others, that it then would have been thought as impoffible even to have endured. Our merchant would have deemed the company of a monarch an intrufion; and the jargon of the Exchange, which had for fo many years been mufic to his ears, could not now have been borne. I have here given you fome of his own expreffions. At length he fell fick : His daughter was then in her eighteenth year; the diforder was of a gradual kind, that threatened to continue life after one has ceased to love it, and to clofe in death. He lingered eleven weeks; and the old domeftic being now fuperannuated and almoft blind, his daughter was at once his nurfe, his cook, his confoler, and . might truly be faid to make his bed in his ficknefs. She wanted not the world to teach her the filial duties. Her own pure heart fupplied them all, and her own gentle hands adminiftered them. But now, for the first time of her existence, the added to her father's anguith. It almost kills me to look on you, my only love, cried he, with an emphafis of forrow, and bursting into tears. · I am fure, (replied fhe, falling on her knees at his bed-fide) it has almost killed me to hear you fly fo; and if it would make my dearest father better, I would kill myfelf this moment, and truft in God's mercy to forgive me. Ah, my child you miftake the caufe and motive of my regrets, refumed the parent--the thoughts of leaving you without protection, there is the bitternefs. I am not going to be left, faid fhe, rifing haflily: I have a prefage you will be well foon; and I am a great prophetefs, my beloved father. Be in good fpirits, for I am fure, you will recover. I have fent to Montgomery and Welch Pool; and to-morrow, I am to have the two beft doctors in Wales. Your goodness is always a comfort, my darling (replied the defponding merchant :) but two thoufand Welch doctors could not fet me again on my legs. If -If indeed I was in a condition to fing him to the hour of my death. O, procure--but that's impoffible! that I were a man to fetch him! Procure what?-whom?-Nothing The father preffed her tenderly in is impoffible, anfwered his daughter his feeble arms, in acknowledgement with the most eager haste. of her affection; but told her, that, from a multiplicity of other claims, it would be as impoffible for the doctor to get down to Wales, as for himself to go out of his fick-bed to London. Do not, therefore, let us think of it, my child, continued the father, fince it is only the aggravation of a vain with, to know that it muft end in difappointment. 1 have an idle and romantic faith in the only man in the whole world that knows my conftitution; and he is as far beyond my reach, as if he were out of existence. Good heaven! you mean Dr, exclaimed the daughter. I have heard you often fpeak of his having twice before faved your precious life; for which I have had him in my nightly I am refigned. prayers ever fince, and fhall go on blef (To be continued.) ON THE DISADVANTAGES WHICH HAVE ATTENDED THE INTRODUCTION OF NERVES. SIR, IT may appear ftrange to you to receive a letter containing a ferious and formal complaint against any part of the human body; because, as that is not of our forming, and every part is given for the beft purposes, it is at leaft a mark of very great prefumption in any one to find fault. However this may be, Sir, I have my doubts whether the fubject of the prefent complaint be any of the works of nature, whether men and women were not born originally without it, and whether it has not lately been introduced as a pretended improvement on the human frame, by certain perfons, who not being content with what nature has allotted them, are even endeavouring to fupply the fuppofed deficiency with fomething artificial. tainment like yours. But it is neceffary to fay, what I believe agrees with the experience of all grown perfons, that our ancestors knew them only by name, and that they are a very modern improvement, or addition, or what you will, to our catalogue of corporeal qua lifications. A venerable aunt of mine avers that there were no nerves in her day, that fhe has lived fixty-nine years without them, and hopes to be carried to her long home without them. The' fame declaration, I am well affured, has been made by fundry ancient and fage matrons of this kingdom. The queftion then comes to be, at what period nerves were first introduced, and for what purpofe? The latter part of this queftion will come to be confidered hereafter. In the mean time, it The fubject of my prefent complaint, is for our confideration at what period Sir, is what is, or are called the NERVES; nerves were first introduced? This is for 1 believe few people make a diftinc- attended with fome difficulties. It ap tion whether they be plural or fingular. pears to me, that the conftruction of I shall not enter into an anatomical hi- nerves bears fome analogy to the plantftory of them, nor attempt to determine ing of oak timber. It is planted by one whether they proceed from the brain, generation, makes a progrefs in a fecond, or from the fpinal marrow. I do not, a further progrefs in a third, and comes however, think the former probable, be- to perfection in a fourth. Nerves, therecaufe I have obferved, that they who fore, were the work of a long time, behave mcft nerves have feweft brains, and fore they arrived at the perfection in vice verfa; and as to their proceeding which we now find them, and before. from the fpinal marrow, the queftion they became fo general, as to extend would be too intricate, and my language from the palace of the prince to the hut too technical for a mifcellary of enter of of the peafant. Leaving this matter I have, in the firft place, fir, a wife fomewhat undetermined as to the exact whom I married for love, for fhe had point of time, let us confider what is the not one penny of fortune, and yet notprobable caufe of nerves, and how they withstanding this latter circumstance, she are constructed. is in poffeffion of a moft watchful and irritable collection of nerves, and enjoys a perpetual ftate of trepidation. I had the curiofity to keep a register of her alarms for the last year, 1795, and found they amounted to nine hundred and forty-fix, very nearly three per day,` a number almost incredible; but your wonder will ceafe, when I tell you that it is the peculiar nature of nerves to take the alarm at what occafions no kind of uneafincfs to any thing, or any body elfe. The falling of a china-cup, the fudden fhutting of a door, the barking of a dog, or the fcream of a cat, whofe tail happens to be trod upon, are all fufficient for a moft lovely trepidation, and a charming palenefs of colour. And yet, fir, fhe has the moft carclefs and unmannerly fervants, and is never without lap-dogs and kittens in every part of the houfe, not to speak of a colle&ion of parrots, canary birds, and linnets, whofe cries and diforders are regularly transferred into her frame, as if by magic, phyfical fympathy, or philofophical affociation of ideas. Nor am I fafe from the misfortune of being the innocent caufe of much confufion among the nerves. If I return foon from an engagement, the is fhocked to think I am not well. If I stay late, fhe is fure fome accident has befallen me. Happy would it be were our nights quiet and peaceable; but fire and thieves are two misfortunes we are every night expofed to, and one or other of them has broke my firft fleep for the faft twenty years, although he never gos to bed without feeing all the fires out, and waiting till the floves are cold; and as to robbery, it is almoft phyfically impoffible in our fituation. Were it otherwife, I fhould think fix or eight months quiet very cheaply bought at the price of a few fpoons and butterboats. A very eminent chemift, to whom I applied on this occafion, chiefly on account of his fkill in anatomy, told me that it belongs particularly to his branch of bufinefs to determine this queftion. "From anatomy," said he, you will receive very little fatisfaction, but from chemistry you may expect to have your doubts pretty nearly removed. Nerves came in either with the diftillery, or with tea, and their advancement has been in a regular progreffion with the ufe of the fill and the kettle. It is, therefore, either by boiling or diftillation that people attain a fufficient quantity of nerves, to enable them to be neighbour like, and furnith a conftant theme of converfation. It is with great juftice, therefore, that nerves are reckoned no part of the human body, but a modern addition drawn from the fugar cane and fundry other foreign vegetables, by means of fire. True it is, it may not be easy to determine whether a lady or gentleman owes her or his nerves more to one of thefe caufes than to the other; but wherever you find a proper affortment of genteel nerves, you may certainly attribute them either to the one or the other, either to boiling or diftillation. This, indeed, creates a certain confufion in phrafes and terms, which is not eafy to get over; the fact is, that when we introduce any novelty in art or fcience, we are obliged to fpeak a figurative kind of language, by borrowing the terms of one art to exprefs another. For example, when a perfon complains that his fpirits are low on Tuesday, we commonly fay that they must have been over-proof on Monday, and fo on of many others, with which I fhall not" at prefent trou Je you. 1 Such is the fubftance of my learned friends' communication on this fubject, the truth of which I have been enabled confirm by pretty long experience. But this is not all. Little did I think I have been all this while propagating a race of nerves to plague future generations. Our children inherit a moft plentiful commodity. They fcream with their mother in unifon, and if I but fuddenly hem three or four times in a morning to clear my pipes (a right ancient and wholefome cultom) they have fuch palpitations! Not one of them will venture into a dark room or paffage for the world, and when they afcend the ftairs to bed, the fervants guard them on all fides, left one thief fhould be be fore, and another behind them. Should but a cat jump hastily out of a room on this occafion, we are all in fits, and even the neighbours begin to complain, that there is more noife and frightful cries in our house, than in any other in the whole street. About a month ago, we performed our refpective parts in a very admirable scene. A coufin of mine from the country took up his refidence with us for a few days. One day, 1 happened to breakfast abroad, and on returning about twelve o'clock, found my family in the utmost confufion; my wife almost distracted, my daughters and fon, altogether fo. For fome time, I could not learn the cause of this, but at length it turned out to be a very lamentable business indeed. Our coufin had not come down at the ufual hour to breakfast. The maid had knocked again and again at his room-door; no answer; the mistress had knocked, my daughters had knocked, and my fon had knocked, and John the footman had knocked, but all was as ftill as the grave. The conclufion therefore was, that he was dead, and it was equally plain that he had been murdered. What confirmed them in this opinion was, first, that he was a young man, and had gone to bed in good health; and, fecondly, that daylight was feen under his door. The thief (for we are never without them on fuch occafions) had entered by the window, performed the bloody deed, and departed the fame way, and they dared fay had taken my coufin's watch and money, and what elfe he could get. I was not very much alarmed at this account, it being nothing new; for I recollected I had been twice murdered in the fame manner fome time before." "But" faid I, "have any of you been in the room?" This was answered by a No! expreffive of the greatest horror, and fome furprise, that I fhould expect they would encounter fo fhocking a fight "It does not fignify, my dear, if none of you have been in the room, I must go I will have no dead bodies in this houfe, without providing decently for them," and was rifing, when they all clung about me, begging for God's fake I would not go unarmed. Why, what occafion is there for arms? dear what may You don't know, my happen. What can happen, my dear, the man's dead, and there is an end to his power; and if he is not dead, what can we fear from him? Then we will all go with you, I am determined on that. As you pleafe, my dear; but you, John, you cowardly blockhead, why did not you go? You know my coufin never fleeps with the door bolted. Why, my dear, it is not John's fault, indeed: I would not let him go. And pray why would not you let him? Because you know, my dear, people might say it was him that did it. Phaw! come along. The proceffion began, myself in front, my wife and children, fupported on each fide by the fervants; the door was opened by my adventurous hand, when lo! no coufin dead or alive was to be found! I know not how long their confufion and aftonishment would have lafted, nor whether they would not have concluded that the devil had run away with the murdered man, if my coufin had not made his appearance, booted and fpurred, and juft returned from an early ride which he was induced to take from the finerefs of the morning, and for that purpose had stolen out of the |