I SET Out, one day, from Damascus, to visit Balbec and its ruins. My friend the Pacha had referred me to the charge of the Sheik Nasel, who was the chief of fifty Arabs. My people followed me at the distance of a day's journey. We travelled on, sometimes in the night, and sometimes in the day; and the sun had thrice risen since my departure, when a messenger, mounted on a dromedary, sped forward towards our caravan. He addressed a word to the Sheik Nasel, who became troubled, and changed countenance. "What is the matter?" said I. 66 Nothing," he replied, and we proceeded on our route. Presently a second dromedary reached us; and the result much increased the depression evinced by Nasel. I insisted on knowing the cause of it. "Well, then, Cid Milady," answered he, "since I must tell you, my father is pursuing me with a force three times superior to mine, and will shortly overtake us. He seeks my life, I am certain. The offence demands blood; but you have been intrusted to my care; and I will rather die than abandon you." 66 Make your escape; fly!" exclaimed I. "For me, I will sooner abide singly in the desert, than see you slain by your father's hand. I will await his coming, and attempt your reconciliation. In any case, Balbec cannot be far off; and the sun shall be my guide." With these words I quitted him. He sprang forward, and disappeared with his fifty Arabs. I had been left alone, nearly an hour, with no other com pany than the animal that carried me, and no other protection than my dagger, when a cloud of dust showed itself in the horizon: horsemen approached at full gallop; and, in a few moments, Nasel was at my side. "Honoured be the Cid Milady!" was his exclamation, "he* wears the heart of a warrior! All that I have pretended to him, has only been to prove his courage. Come, my ather is at hand to receive you." *Forgetting her sex, in the hardihood and fearless bearing which sometimes almost concealed it, the wild Arabs were accustomed, it seems, to address Lady Stanhope in the masculine gender. I followed him, and was welcomed beneath his tent, with all the state and ceremony of the desert. Gazelles and young camels supplied our repast; and poets celebrated th exploits of past times. I cultivated the alliance of their trib who, from that day, have loved and respected me. AMONG the dwellers in the silent fields, Favour divine, exalting human love; Whom, since her birth, on bleak Northumbria's coast, A single act endears to high and low, Through the whole land, to manhood, moved in spite Of the world's freezing cares, to generous youth, — To infancy, that lisps her praise, and age, Save in the rolls of heaven, where hers may A theme for angels, when they celebrate live The high-souled virtues which forgetful earth Has witnessed. Oh! that winds and waves could speak A maiden gentle, yet, at duty's call, As when it guarded holy Cuthbert's cell: All night the storm had raged, nor ceased nor paused, Beating on one of those disastrous isles. Creatures, how precious in the maiden's sight! "But courage, father! let us out to sea — Here to elude and there surmount, they watch True to the mark, They stem the current of that perilous gorge; Their arms still strengthening with the strengthening heart, Though danger, as the wreck is neared, becomes More imminent. - Not unseen do they approach; And rapture, with varieties of fear Incessantly conflicting, thrills the frames Or, be the visitant other than she seems, A guardian spirit sent from pitying Heaven, That no one breathing should be left to perish, Placed in the little boat, then o'er the deep Breathes out from floor or couch, through pallid lips EXERCISE CXIX. MONODY ON THE DEATH OF GRACE DARLING. Mrs. C. B. Wilson. WHEN round her ocean-dwelling The laurel for the warrior's brow, But far more verdant did it glow, And, ever, to thy deathless name Thy firm, but woman's spirit shrank EXERCISE CXX. FEMALE STUDIES. Mrs. Barbauld. MEN have various departments in active life: women have but one; and all women have the same, differently modified, indeed, by their rank in life, and other incidental circumstances. It is, to be a wife, a mother, a mistress of a family. The knowledge belonging to these duties, is woman's professional knowledge; the want of which nothing will excuse. The acquisition of literary knowledge, therefore, in men, is often an indispensable duty: in women, it can be only a desirable accomplishment. In woman, it is more immediately applied to the purposes of adorning and improving the mind, of refining the sentiments, and supplying proper stores for conversation. For general knowledge, women have, in some respects, more advantages than men. Their occupations often allow them more leisure: their sedentary way of life disposes them to the domestic, quiet amusement of reading: the share they take in the education of their children, throws them in the way of books. The uniform tenor and confined circle of their lives, make them eager to diversify the scene by descriptions which open to them a new world; and they are |