who were busy with the carriage, quitted their spoil, formed themselves in the middle of the road, and taking a deliberate aim, fired. One of the dragoons fell, another was wounded, and the whole were for a moment checked and thrown in confusion. The robbers loaded again in an instant. The dragoons discharged their carbines, but without apparent effect. They received another volley, which, though none fell, threw them again into confusion. The robbers were loading a second time, when they saw the foot soldiers at hand." Scampa via !" was the word: they abandoned their prey, and retreated up the rocks, the soldiers after them. They fought from cliff to cliff, and bush to bush, the robbers turning every now and then to fire upon their pursuers; the soldiers scramb'ing after them, and discharging their muskets whenever they could get a chance. Sometimes a soldier or a robber was shot down, and came tumbling among the cliffs. The dragoons kept firing from below, whenever a robber came in sight.

The Englishman had hastened to the scene of action, and the balls discharged at the dragoons had whistled past him as he advanced. One object, however, engrossed his attention, It was the beautiful Venetian lady in the hands of two of the robbers, who, during the confusion of the fight, carried her shrieking up the mountain. He saw her dress gleaming among the bushes, and he sprang up the rocks to intercept the robbers, as they bore off their prey. The ruggedness of the steep, and the entanglements of the bushes, delayed and impeded him. He lost sight of the lady, but was still guided by her cries, which grew fainter and fainter. They were off to the left, while the reports of muskets showed that the battle was raging to the right. At length he came upon what appeared to be a rugged footpath, faintly worn in a gully of the rocks, and beheld the ruffians at some distance hurrying the lady up the defile. One of them hearing his approach, let go his prey, advanced towards him, and levelling the carabine, which had been slung on his back, fired. The ball whizzed through the Englishman's hat, and carried with it some of his hair. He returned the fire with one of his pistols, and the robber fell. The other brigand now dropped the lady, and drawing a long pistol from his belt, fired on his adversary with deliberate aim. The ball passed between his left arm and his side, slightly wounding the arm. The Englishman advanced, and discharged

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THE INN AT TERRACINA.

his remaining pistol, which wounded the robber, but not severely.

The brigand drew a stiletto and rushed upon his adversary, who eluded the blow, receiving merely a slight wound, and defended himself with his pistol, which had a spring bayonet. They closed with one another, and a desperate struggle ensued. The robber was a square built, thick-set man, powerful, muscular and active. The Englishman, though of larger frame and greater strength, was less active and less accustomed to athletic exercises and feats of hardihood, but he showed himself practised and skilled in the arts of defence. They were on a craggy height, and the Englishman perceived that his antagonist was striving to press him to the edge. A side-glance showed him also the robber whom he had first wounded, scrambling up to the assistance of his comrade, stiletto in hand. He had in fact attained the summit of the cliff, he was within a few steps, and the Englishman felt that his case was desperate, when he heard suddenly the report of a pistol, and the ruffian fell. The shot came from John, who had arrived just in time to save his

master.

The remaining robber, exhausted by loss of blood and the violence of the contest, showed signs of faltering. The Englishman pursued his advantage, pressed on him, and as his strength relaxed, dashed him headlong from the precipice. He looked after him, and saw him lying motionless among the rocks below. The Englishman now sought the fair Venetian. He found her senseless on the ground. With his servant's assistance he bore her down to the road, where her husband was raving like one distracted. He had sought her in vain, and had given her over for lost; and when he beheld her thus brought back in safety, his joy was equally wild and ungovernable. He would have caught her insensible form to his bosom had not the Englishman restrained him. The latter, now really aroused, displayed a true tenderness and manly gallantry, which one would not have expected from his habitual phlegm. His kindness, however, was practical, not wasted in words. He despatched John to the carriage for restoratives of all kinds, and, totally thoughtless of himself, was anxious only about his lovely charge. The occasional discharge of fire-arms along the height showed that a retreating fight was still kept up by the robbers. The lady gave signs of reviving animation. The Englishman, eager

to get her from this place of danger, conveyed her to his own carriage, and, committing her to the care of her husband, or-. dered the dragoons to escort them to Fondi. The Venetian would have insisted on the Englishman's getting into the carriage, but the latter refused. He poured forth a torrent of thanks and benedictions; but the Englishman beckoned to the postilions to drive on.

John now dressed his master's wounds, which were found not to be serious, though he was faint with loss of blood. The Venetian carriage had been righted, and the baggage replaced; and, getting into it, they set out on their way towards Fondi, leaving the foot soldiers still engaged in ferreting out the banditti.

Before arriving at Fondi, the fair Venetian had completely recovered from her swoon. She made the usual question— "Where was she ?"—"In the Englishman's carriage. "How had she escaped from the robbers ?"—"The Englishman had rescued her."

Her transports were unbounded; and mingled with them were enthusiastic ejaculations of gratitude to her deliverer. A thousand times did she reproach herself for having accused him of coldness and insensibility. The moment she saw him she rushed into his arms with the vivacity of her nation, and hung about his neck in a speechless transport of gratitude. Never was man more embarrassed by the embraces of a woman.

"Tut-tut!" said the Englishman.-"You are wounded!" shrieked the fair Venetian, as she saw blood upon his clothes. "Pooh! nothing at all!"-"My deliverer!-my angel!" exclaimed she, clasping him again round the neck, and sobbing on his bosom.-"Pshaw !" said the Englishman, with a goodhumored tone, but looking somewhat foolish, "this is all humbug."-The fair Venetian, however, has never since accused the English of insensibility.

-WASHINGTON IRVING.

THE BOWER OF ROSES.

THERE'S a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream,
And the nightingale sings round it all the day long;
In the time of my childhood 'twas like a sweet dream,
To sit in the roses and hear the bird's song.

Р

That bower and its music I never forget,

But oft when alone, in the bloom of the year,
I think-Is the nightingale singing there yet?

Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer?

No-the roses soon wither'd that hung o'er the wave:

But some blossoms were gather'd while freshly they shone,
And a dew was distill'd from their flowers, that gave
All the fragrance of summer, when summer was gone.

Thus memory draws from delight, ere it dies,
An essence that breathes of it many a year;
Thus bright to my soul, as 'twas then to my eyes,
Is that bower of roses by calm Bendemeer.

-MOORE,

MAGNA CHARTA.

(A. D. 1215.)

IN the reign of John, all the rapacious exactions usual to the Norman kings were not only redoubled, but mingled with other outrages of tyranny still more intolerable. These, too, were to be endured at the hands of a prince utterly contempti ble for his folly and cowardice. One is surprised at the forbearance displayed by the barons, till they took arms at length in that confederacy which ended in establishing the Great Charter of Liberties. As this was the first effort towards a legal government, so is it beyond comparison the most important event in our history, except that revolution without which its benefits would rapidly have been annihilated. The constitution of England has indeed no single date from which its duration is to be reckoned. The institutions of positive law, the far more important changes which time has wrought in the order of society, during six hundred years subsequent to the Great Charter, have undoubtedly lessened its direct application to our present circumstances. But it is still the key-stone of English liberty. All that has since been obtained is little more than as confirmation or commentary; and if every subsequent law were to be swept away, there would still remain the bold features that distinguish a free from a despotic monarchy. It has been lately the fashion to depreciate the value of Magna Charta, as if it had sprung from the private ambition of a few selfish barons, and redressed only some feudal abuses. It is indeed of little importance by what motives those who

obtained it were guided. The real characters of distinguished in the transactions of that time are determined at present. Yet if we bring these suspicions to the test, they prove destitute of all foundation. An equal distribution of civil rights to of freemen forms the peculiar beauty of the charter just solicitude for the people, and in the moderat infringed upon no essential prerogative of the mor may perceive a liberality and patriotism very unlik fishness which is sometimes rashly imputed to tho barons. And, as far as we are guided by historical two great men, the pillars of our church and stat considered as entitled beyond all the rest to the glo monument; Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canter William, Earl of Pembroke. To their temperate legal government, England was indebted during th period for the two greatest blessings that patriotic could confer; the establishment of civil liberty immovable basis, and the preservation of national dence under the ancient line of sovereigns, which ra were about to exchange for the dominion of France.

By the Magna Charta of John, reliefs were lim certain sum, according to the rank of the tenant, committed by guardians in chivalry restrained, the ment in matrimony of female wards forbidden, an secured from compulsory marriage. These regulation ing to the sub-vassals of the crown, redressed the w ances of every military tenant in England. The fra the city of London and of all towns and borou declared inviolable. The freedom of commerce wa teed to alien merchants. The Court of Common Ple of following the king's person, was fixed at We The tyranny exercised in the neighborhood of roy met with some check, which was further enforce charter of forests under Henry III.

But the essential clauses of Magna Charta are th protect the personal liberty and property of all fr giving security from arbitrary imprisonment and spoliation. "No freeman" (says the twenty-ninth Henry III's charter, which, as the existing law, I