nifter; but Aloyfius was too fecure in his own importance for admitting the thought that fuch a man as Martinengo was likely to become his rival; and the latter was too prefent to himself, too much on his guard, to awaken his opponent from this prefumptuous fecurity, by any inconfiderate act of his. What had made thousands before him to trip on the flippery ground of princely favour, caufed Aloyfius alfo to fall-too much confidence in himself. The private familiarities that paffed between Martinengo and his master, gave him no disturbance at all. He readily granted the upftart of his own erection a happiness which he in his heart defpifed, and which he had never made the object of his purfuit. The friendship of the Prince had never any charms for him but as it alone could fmooth his way to fovereign power; and he carelessly kicked down the ladder behind him as foon as it had helped him to the elevation he fought. Martinengo was not the man to content himself with playing fo fubordinate a part. At every advance in the favour of his master, he gave his wishes a bold er fcope, and his ambition began to thirst after more folid gratifications. The artificial display of fubmiffion he had hitherto made to his benefactor, became daily more irksome to him, as the growth of his profperity awakened his arrogance. The refinement of the minifter's behaviour towards him, not proceeding in equal pace with the rapid advances he made in the favour of the Prince; but, on the contrary, often feeming visibly enough defigned to humble his afpiring pride by a falutary glance at his origin; fo, this conftrained and contradictory behaviour grew at length fo troublesome, that he seriously fet about a plan to end it at once by the downfal of his rival. Under the most impenetrable veil of difguife, he foftered his plan to maturity. Yet durft he not venture to meafure fwords with his rival in open combat; for, though the prime of Aloyfius' favouritifm was over, yet, it had been too early implanted, and was too deeply rooted in the mind of the youthful Prince, to be fo fuddenly torn up. The flightest circumstance might reftore it to its priftine vigour; and therefore Martinengo well imagined that the blow he intended to give him must be a mortal blow. What Aloyfius perhaps had loft in the Prince's love, he might have gained in his ef teem; the more the latter withdrew from state affairs, the lefs could he difpenfe with the man, who, even at the expence of the country, took care of his interefts with the most confcientious fidelity and devotion-and, dear as he had formerly been as a friend, so important was he now to him as minister. The particular method by which the Italian reached his aim, remained a fecret between him who received the ftroke, and him who ftruck it. It has been fuppofed, that he laid before the Prince the originals of a fecret and fufpicious correfpondence, which Aloyfius fhould have carried on with a neighbouring court; whether genuine or forged, is a matter on which opinions are divided. Be that as it may, he obtained his end to a dreadful degree. Aloyfius appeared in the eyes of the Prince as the most ungrateful and blackest of traitors, whofe treafon was placed fo far out of doubt, that it was thought proper to proceed immediately against him without any formal trial. The whole was managed with the profoundest fecrecy between Martinengo and his mafter, fo that Aloyfius never once perceived the storm that was gathering over his head obftinate in his baneful fecurity, till the awful moment, when he was funk from an object of general adoration and envy, to an object of the deepest compaffion. On the arrival of the decifive day, Aloyfius, according to cuftom, went to take a turn on the parade. From Enfign he had become, in the fpace of a few years, Colonel of the guards; and even this poft was no more than a modefter name for the office of Prime Minifter, which in fact he filled, and which distinguished him above the fore- the whole affembly. The terrified multitude stood fixed, with pailid countenances, with palpitating hearts, and with a deathlike ftare, round him, who, in this wretched condition-a fingular spectacle of ridicule and horror! paffed a moment that is only to be felt under the hands of the executioner. Thoufands in his place would have fallen fenfelefs to the earth at the first impuife of terror; but his robust nervous fyftem, and his vigorous fpirit, outstood this dreadful trial, and gave time for the horrors of it to pass and evaporate. most in the country. The guard-parade was the place where his pride was wont to receive the general homage, where in one fhort hour he enjoyed grandeur and glory which amply repaid him for the toils of the preceding day. Here perfons of the highest ranks approached him only with refpectful timidity, and those who did not feel themselves fure of his fmiles, with trembling. The Prince himself, if occafionally he prefented himself here, faw himself neglected in comparifon of his Grand Vifier, as it was far more dangerous to displease the latter than it was of ufe to have the former for a friend. And this very place, where he was accustomed to be revered as a god, was now pitched upon to be the dreadful theatre of his degradation. He entered carelessly the well-known circle, who ftood around him to-day with the fame reverence as ever, expecting his commands, as ignorant of what was to happen as he was himself. It was not long before Martinengo appeared, attended by fome adjutants, no longer the fupple, cringing, fmiling courtier-arrogant, and ftrutting with pride, like a lacquey raised to a lord, he went up to him with bold and refolute steps, and standing before him with his hat on his head, demanded his fword in the name of the Prince. It was delivered to him with a look of filent furprise; when, setting the point against the ground, and putting his heel upon the middle of the blade, he snapped it in two, and let fall the pieces at, the feet of Aloyfius. This figual being given, two adjutans feized him by the collar, a third fell to cutting out the ftar on the breast of his coat, and another proceeded to take the ribbon from his fhoulder, the epaulets from the uniform, and the feather from his hat. During the whole of this amazing operation, which went on with incredible rapidity, among more than five hundred men who stood clofe round, not a fingle found was to be heard, not a breath in No fooner was this operation over, than he was conducted along the rows of innumerable spectators to the farther extremity of the place de parade, where a covered carriage ftood waiting for him. He was ordered by dumb figns to get into it; an efcort of huffars accompanied him. The report of this tranfaction was foon fpread over all the refidence; every window was opened, and all the streets were filled by perfons whom curiofity and surprise had brought from their habitations. A mob ran after the cavalcade, who affailed the ears of the difgraced minion with the intermingled fhouts of fcorn and triumph, and the ftill more cutting repetitions of his name with terms of pity. At length he was got out of their noife, but a new scene of terror awaited him here. The carriage turned off from the high road, down an unfrequented long byway-the way towards the place of execution; whither, by exprefs order of the Prince, he was dragged flowly a long. Here, after making him feel all the torments of the agonies of death, they turned again down another crossroad, much frequented by paffengers. In the fcorching heat of the fun, with out any refreshment, deftitute of human converfe, he paffed feven doleful years in this conveyance, which stopped at laft, as the fun went down, at the place of his delination, the fortress of Crum-* wald. Deprived of confcioufnefs, in a middle ftate between life and death, as a fall of twelve hours and a constantly parching self. parching thirst had at laft got the bet himfelf had furnished the means of ma ter of his gigantic force, they lifted him king this dungeon a more cruel abode. out of the vehicle, and he came to him- Not a long time ago he had come hither felf in a horrid dungeon, under the in perfon to take a view of the buildearth. The firft fight that prefented it ing, and to haften the work. For deepfelf to his opening eyes was the dread- ening his mifery to the utmost extreme, ful prifon-wall, against which the moon it must fo fall out in the order of things, darted down fome feeble rays, through that the very officer for whom this a narrow crevice at the height of nine- gloomy cell was prepared fhould fucteen fathoms from the ground of his ceed to the poft of the deceased comcell. At his fide he felt a fcanty loaf mandant of the fortrefs; and, from a of bread and a pitcher of water, and victim to his vengeance, fhould become near him a fcattering of ftraw for his the mafter of his fate: This vanished couch. In this condition he held out away his laft fad comfort of self-comtill the following noon; when, in the miferation, and of charging fortune middle of the turret, a fliding fhutter with injuftice in loading him with fuch feemed to open of itself, through which heavy calamities. To the fenfible-fenprefently two hands appeared, letting fation of his mifery was affociated a down a hanging basket with the fame raging self-abhorence, and the pain that allotement of provifion he had found is always most biting to stubborn hearts, befide him the day before. Now, for to depend on the generofity of a foe, the first time fince his fatal reverfe, to whom he had never shown any himpain and anxiety forced from him these queftions to the invifible perfon-how he came here? and what crime he had committed? But no anfwer was returned from above the hands were withdrawn, and the fhutter clofed. Without feeing a human vifage, without even hearing a human voice, unable to gucfs at what might be the end of this deplorable stroke, in like dreadful uncertainty on the future and on the past, cheered by no genial ray of light, refreshed by no wholesome breeze, cut off from all affistance, and abandoned by common compaffion, four hundred and ninety doleful days did he count in this place of condemnation, by the bread of affliction which was daily let down to him at noon in filent and fad uniformity. But a discovery he made foon after his confinement here, completed the measure of his diftrefs. He knew this place. He himself it was who, impelled by a fpirit of bafe revenge, had built it afresh but a few months before, for a brave and deferving officer, who, for being fo unfortunate as to fall under his difpleasure, was here to pine away his life in forrow. With ingenious barbarity he VOL. LVIII. But this upright man was of a difpofition too noble to harboura mean revenge. The feverity he was enjoined by his inftructions to use towards his prifoner, coft many a ftruggle to his friendly fpirit; but, as an old foldier, accustomed to follow the letter of his orders with implicit precifion, he could do no more than bewail his misfortunes. The forlorn wretch in the dungeon found an active helper in the perfon of the chaplain to the garrifon; who, moved at the diftrefs of the miferable captive, of which he had not till lately heard, and that now only by obfcure and unconnected reports, immediately took up the firm refolution of doing fomewhat for his relief. This worthy ecclefiaftic, whofe name I fupprefs with reluctance, thought he could nowife better comply with his paftoral office, than by turning it now to the benefit of a poor unhappy, man, who was capable of affiitance by no other means. As he could not obtain from the commandant of the fortrefs leave to vifit the prifoner, he fet out in perfon on the road to the capital, to prefent his request directly to the Prince. He 3 K made made his genuflexion before him, and tine health withstood !-Shuddering implored his compaffion in behalf of a with horror, and overpowered with miferable man, who was languifhing in compaffion at the fight, the preacher utter deftitution of the benefits of chrif- ran immediately from the fpot to the tianity, from which even criminals at Governor, to draw from him a second tainted of the blackest enormities cannot boon in favour of the poor emaciated juftly be excluded, and perhaps verging wretch, without which the former would on the horrors of defpair. With all ftand for nothing. the intrepidity and dignity which the fentiment of difcharging our duty in fpires, he demanded free access to the prifoner, who belonged to him as one of his flock, and for whofe foul he was answerable to Heaven. The good caufe he was pleading gave him an irrefiftible eloquence, and as the firft difplcafure of the Prince was fomewhat abated by time, he granted him his request to go and comfort the prifoner by a fpiritual vifit. The first human countenance that the wretched Aloyfius had feen for a period of fixteen months, was the face of this ghoftly comforter. For the only friend he had in the world, he was indebted to his mifery; his profperity had gain ed him none. The entrance of the preacher was to him the apparition of an angel. I make no attempt to defcribe his feelings. But, from this day forth his tears flowed in lefs abundance, as he faw himself pitied by one human being. But he, fheltering his refufal once more under the exprefs letter of his inftructions, the paftor generously refolved on another journey to the refidence, to throw himself once more on the clemency of the Prince: He declared, that he could not think of profaning the dignity of the facrament fo far, as to enter upon fo facred an act with his prifoner, until he was restored to the likeness of a man. This request was likewife graciously complied with; and from that time the prifoner might again be faid to live. In this fortrefs Aloyfius ftill paffed feveral years, but in a far more easy fituation, after the short summer of the new favourite was gone by, and others had fucceeded to the point, who were either of humaner fentiments, or had no revenge to fatiate upon him. At length, after a ten years confinement, the day of redemption appeared-but no judicial examination, no formal acquittal. He received his liberty from the hands of princely grace; at the same time that it was enjoined him to quit the country for ever. A ghaftly horror feized the ecclefiaf tic on entering this cave of despair. His eyes rolled about in fearch of a man-when a grifly spectre crawled out Here the accounts of his hiftory forof a corner to meet him, a place that fake me, which I have been able to looked more like the den of fome favage gather from oral tradition alone; and monster than the fojourn of a human I perceive myself obliged to fkip over creature. A pale and death-like car- a period of twenty years. During this cafe, all colour of life departed from space Aloyfius had begun his career a his vifage, in which forrow and defpon- fresh in the military fervices of foreign dercy had worn large furrows, the hag- ftates, which led him alfo there to the gard eye-balls fixed in one horrid ftare, brilliant eminence from whence he had the beard and nails grown by long ne been fo dreadfully hurled at home. glect to a hideous length, the cloaths Time at laft, the friend of the unforhalf rotted away, and the air about him tunate, who exercises a flow but an incharged with peftilential vapour from delible judgment, took up the caufe of the total want of ventilation; in this this unhappy victim. The years of condition did he find this darling of paffion were over with the Prince, and fortune; and all this had his adaman- humanity began to foften his heart, as It was not long ere Aloyfius was seen again in fuli poffeffion of all his former dignities-and the Prince repreffed his inward averfion to give him a fplendid compenfation for what was paft. But could he give him back the fatisfaction he had before in these diftinctions? Could he revive the heart he had deadened for ever to the enjoyment, of life? Could he give him back the years of hope? or think of conferring on him a happiness when old, that fhould but remotely make amends for the robbery he had committed on him when in the prime of life? his whitening hairs admonished him of a man gladiy looks back on the end of his mortality. Treading flowly the de- a frightful voyage. cline of life, he felt a hankering defire after the favourite of his youth. That he might compenfate, as much as poffible, to the old man the difafters he had heaped on him while young, he invited the exile, in friendly terms, to return to his country; to which Aloy, fius was by no means averfe, as an ardent inclination to pafs the remainder of his days in peace at home, had long dwelt in his heart. The meeting was attended on both fides with real emotion, the embrace was as warm and affecting as if they had parted but yesterday. The Prince looked him in the face with a confidering regard, as if contemplaring the countenance fo familiar and yet fo ftrange; or as if counting the wrinkles. he had made on it himself. With eager research he strove to recollect the beloved features of the youth in the shri. velled vifage of age; but what he fought for was no more to be found. They forced themselves into a kind of cold familiarity-hame and fear had fepara ted their hearts for ever and ever. A fight that must ever recall his cruel precipitancy to his mind could give no complacency to the Prince; and Aloyfius could no longer be familiar with the author of his woes. Yet fedate and confoling was his view of the past, as For nineteen years, however, he enjoyed this bright evening of his days. Neither age nor adverfity had been able to abate the fire of his paffions, nor entirely fubdue the hilarity of his fpirit. Still, in his feventieth year, he was grafping at the fhadow of a comfort, that in his twentieth he actually poff. ffed. At length he died, commander of the fortrefs where the State prifoners were kept. It may be expected, that he exercised towards them a humanity, the value of which he had fo feverely been taught to know. But he treated them with cruelty and caprice; and a burst of rage against one of them laid him in the grave in his eightieth year. Varieties of Literature. REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS. chapter V. on Arts, and chapter VII. on few of the authorities; that no part of Manners, he had only fketched out a the narrative was written by him; and that those two chapters are entirely the work of Malcolm Laing, Efq; who has finished them at the requeft of Dr Henry's executors.'-We learn alfo, that 6 the whole of the Appendix is likewise of the volume was completed by Dr Mr Laing's, but that every other part Henry himself, and is faithfully published from his MS.' The hiftorical part of this volume contains the Hiftory of Britain from the ac3 K 2 ceffion |