fired money were not proper objects of bounty, and that by all who were proper objects of bounty, money was defpifed. I therefore buried nine in the earth, and, renouncing fociety, I wandered into a wild and fequeftered part of the country: my dwelling was a cave by the fide of a hill; I drank the running water from the fpring, and eat fuch fruits and herbs as I could find. To increase the aufterity of my life, I frequently watched all night, fitting at the entrance of the cave, with my face to the east, refigning myself to the fecret influences of the Prophet, and expect ing illuminations from above. One morning, after my nocturnal vigil, juft as I perceived the horizon glow at the approach of the fun, the power of fleep became irrefiftible, and I funk under it. I imagined myself ftill fitting at the entrance of my cell; that the dawn increased; and that as I looked earnestly for the first beam of day, a dark spot appeared to interrupt it. I perceived that it was in motion; it increased in fize as it drew near, and at length I discovered it to be an eagle.I ftill kept my eye fixed ftedfastly upon it, and faw it alight at a fmall distance, where I now defcried a fox, whofe two fore-legs appeared to be broken. Before this fox the eagle laid part of a kid, which the had brought in her talons, and then disappeared. "When I awaked I laid my forehead upon the ground, and bleffed the Prophet for the inftruction of the morning. I reviewed my dream, and faid thus to myself:-Cofrou, thou haft done well to renounce the tumult, the bufinefs, and the vanities of life; but thou haft as yet only done it in part; thou art ftill every day bufied in the fearch of food; thy mind is not wholly at reft, neither is thy truft in Providence complete. What art thou taught by this vifion? If thou haft feen an eagle commiffion ed by heaven to feed a fox that is lame, fhall not the hand of heaven alfo fupply thee with food; when that which prevents thee from procuring it for thyfelf, is not neceflity but devotion? I was now fo confident of a miraculous fupply, that I neglected to walk out for my repast, which, after the first day, I expected with an impatience that left me little power of attending to any other object. This impatience, however, I laboured to fupprefs, and perfifted in my refolution; but my eyes at length began to fail me, and my knees fmote each other; I threw myfelf backward, and hoped my weakness would foon increase to infenfibility. But I was fuddenly rouzed by the voice of an invifible being, who pronounced these words : "Cofrou, I am the angel who, by the command of the Almighty, have registered the thoughts of thy heart, which I am now commiffioned to reprove. While thou waft attempting to become wife above that which is revealed, thy folly has perverted the inftruction which was vouchfafed thee. Art thou difabled as the fox? haft thou not rather the power of the eagle? Arife, let the eagle be the object of thy emulation. To pain and fickness, be thou again the meffenger of cafe and health. Virtue is not reft, but action. If thou dost good to man, as an evidence of thy love to God, thy virtue will be exalted from moral to divine; and that happiness, which is the pledge of Paradife, will be thy reward upon earth." "At thefe words I was not lefs aftonished than if a mountain had been overturned at my feet; I humbled myfelf in the duft; I returned to the city; I dug up my treafure; I was liberal, yet I became rich. My kill in reftoring health to the body, gave me frequent opportunities of curing the difeafes of the foul. I put OR on the facred veftments; I grew eminent beyond my merit; and it was the pleasure of the King that I should ftand before him. Now, therefore, be not offended; I boast of no knowledge that I have not received; as the fands of the defert drink up the drops of rain, or the dew of the morning, fo do I alfo, who am but dust, imbibe the inftructions of the Prophet. Believe, then, that it is he who tells thee, all knowledge is prophane, which terminates in thyfelf; and by a life wafted in fpeculation, little even of this can be gained. When the gates of Paradife are thrown open before thee, thy mind fhall be irradicated in a moment; here thou canft. little more than pile error upon error; there thou shalt build truth upon truth. Wait, therefore, for the glorious vifion; and in the mean time emulate the eagle.-Much is in thy power, and, therefore, much is expected of thee. Though the Almighty only can give virtue, yet, as a Prince, thou mayeft ftimulate thofe to beneficence, who act from no higher motive than immediate intereft: thou canst not produce the principle, but mayeft enforce the practice. The relief of the poor is equal, whether they receive it from oftentation or charity; and the effect of example is the fame, whether it be intended to obtain the favour of God or man. Let thy virtue be thus diffufed; and if thou believeft with reverence, thou fhalt be accepted above. Farewell. May the fmile of Him, who refides in the heaven of heavens, be upon thee! and against thy name in the volume of his will, may happinefs be written !" The King, whofe doubts, like thofe of Mirza, were now removed, looked up with a smile that communicated the joy of his mind. He difmisfed the Prince to his government; and commanded thefe events to be recorded, to the end that pofterity may know," that no life is pleafing to God, but that which is useful to mankind!" For the NEW-YORK MAGAZINE. The DRONE.No. V. UNREASONABLE WISHES. ! Says little Frank, how I "O' with the fpring would laft the whole year round !"-'Twas a very natural wish for a child-he had been viewing the beauties this delightful feafon exhibits, and contrafting them with the recent winter; and altho' he was void of reflection, as appears from the nature of the exclamation, yet he spoke the language of many, people in mature, and even advanced years. Youth is the feafon of pleasure, the fpring of life. O! fays the gallant, while he is roving from flower to flower, and tasting their fweets-O that fpring would laft the whole year round! The coquette, like the fpider, fpreads her net, and fops like filly flies are taken. Exultingly the views her captives-Rare fport, fays fhe-O that it would always be fpring!-Reclined on the bed of down, and locked in each other's arms, the new married pair are wrapt in pleasure; and while that fhort feafon lafts into which fatiety does not intrude, O! fay they, that fpring would last for ever!The antiquated virgin, who perhaps of all creatures has the least use for life, although her roses and lilies have long fince faded and withered, and the fnow on her head befpeaks the frigid season, yet the dear creature has all the flirts and capers of youth. She fancies fancies that her eyes will yet do great execution, although fhe cannot read without spectacles. How odious the idea of marriage! fays fhe-to facrifice all the little pleasurable follies of youth, for a-man!-Well, many have married younger, and I think I'll venture-How delightful I fhall look in white fatin !-O that I could always be young!-Full of fpleen and vapour, paffionate and crabbed as a gander, the old bachelor limps along in pumps curfing his corns and the foul weather. He tells Junetta, a girl of about fourteen, of whom he fays he is moft paffionately fond, that all the ladies of his acquaintance call him a beau! Very fuitable, fays Junetta, if fpelt aright, for you always put one in mind of the token in the ky. He applauds her fatirical wit by a grin-hops about the floor to fhow his fprightlinefs-hums, or rather gums a tune-bleffes his stars that he is yet in his youth-and exclaims, O that the spring would always laft!The brifk young widor of fifty-five, and the jolly wi dower of three fcore, promise themfelves many happy hours;-not with each other-but with young, difcreet partners, who would marry forlove. How fweet, fays the widow, licking her old rufty lips, to marry for-love!-O that this meridian of life would always laft!— However inconfiftent such conduct may appear, 'tis not uncommon. Young people in general live as if the feafon of youth would never pass away. They do not accustom themfelves to reflect, that it is fhort, that time is ever on the wing, and will foon land them on the ftage of middle life, till they have actually arrived at that period, with all the follies and bufinefs of youth on hand. Time ftill flies with increafing rapidity; and before they are ready to depart from the fecond stage, they arrive at the laft.Thus the indolent hufbandman fleeps away his fpring, fows in harvest time, and winter overtakes him entirely unprepared in the midst of his business. G. R. ANECDOTE of FREDERICK III. KING of PRUSSIA. among the attendants of the King; Fla, has received many compli- and Frederick himself joining the ments from difcerning writers; but that his conduct fometimes juftly deferved cenfure, is equally true of him as of other celebrated characters. The following anecdote is credibly related, and fhews that the impetuofity of his temper fometimes gave rife to repentance.-A certain Colonel who had long ferved with diftinguished honour in the Pruffian army, in a bloody conflict at the storming a redoubt of the enemy's received a fevere wound on the thign, which fo materially affected the tendons as to have a difagreeable effect on his gait ever after. On a general review of the army the oddity of the Colonel's walk excited an unmannerly mirth laugh, inconfiderately ordered the officer to walk like a foldier, and not wriggle like a dancing-mafter." If I had not, replied the irritated veteran, for fo long a term ferved an ungeateful mafter, perhaps I might have walked as upright as the ingrate himfelf."-" What! fays Frederick, do you dare anfwer your fovereign fo?" "When my fovereign descends to the level of fops, fays the Colonel, he becomes with them subject to the contempt of the brave." The unjustly enraged monarch raised his cane and ftruck his old foldier. Unable to bear the difgrace, he drew his piftols from his girdle, and prefenting one of them towards the King, "I efteem "I eflcem you, fays he, as a necessary evil to my country; this your dejert therefore I give to the wind, and leave revenge to heaven! but a foldier, Sire, fhould never furvive difgrace." He inftantly difcharged one piftol in the air, and the other thro' his head, and expired on the fpot. The afflicted monarch, as the only recompence in his power, made ample provifion for the Colonel's family, and mourned for his fate ever after. ANECDOTE of the late M. J. J. RoUSSEAU, as related by Mr. Magellan. HE converfation (fays Mr. on the misfortunes of human life; M. Rouffeau fixed his eyes upon me; "What, (fays he,) were you there at the time?" "Yes, (answered I,) and I never recollect this dread ful event without fhuddering with horror. The fight of fome of my own particular friends, involved in the public deftruction, aggravated my grief to a degree which I am incapable of expreffing. Among others, I recollect one particular accident, the remembrance of which retraces the moft affecting picture to my imagination. "A citizen of Lisbon happened to be from home when the third fhock brought down the greater part of thofe houses, the walls and founda. tions of which had been loofened by the two preceding fhocks. As foon as he had time to reflect, he haftened to the relief of his wife and children, WH whofe fate he dreaded. Agitated by this apprehenfion, he climbgitated the ruins with which the streets were choaked up; and his courage was redoubled on finding his houfe ftill ftanding, though the doors and windows were clofed up by the ruins of the buildings oppofite to it. He called out aloud to his family, and had the pleasure of being answered by them; though they had it not in their power to get out, as every opening was blocked up. "The unfortunate man immediately fell earnestly to work, to remove the rubbish; entreating thofe who paffed by to affift him in making a hole through which his family might effect their escape from this kind of tomb. Unhappily, the flames burst out from a houfe fo near his own, that nothing remained for him but to join his cries and tears to thofe of his family, who were burnt alive in his fight."-At thefe words, M. Rouffeau, who had been very attentive to the whole of this recital, made a fudden turn to one fide; and, as if he had been ftruck by lightning, remained motionless for fome time.It is impoffible for me to give the reader any idea of his phyfiognomy at that inftant: but it perfectly expreffed what was paffing within him. ANECDOTE. Comfortable Confolation at the Clofe of Life. HEN the brave Sir George Rooke was making his will, fome friends who were prefent expreffed their furprife that he had not more to leave:-"Why, (faid the worthy man) I do not leave much; but what I do leave was honeftly acquired, for it never coft a failor a tear, nor my country a farthing." Obfervations Obfervations upon the Genius, the Manners, and Inflitutions of the People of India. From Robertfon's Ancient India. I (Continued from page 341, and concluded.) -6 F from Europe we now turn to wisdom, and goodness difplayed in Aha, we shall find, that the ob- the formation and government of it, fervation which I have made upon as elevated their minds above the the history of falfe religion holds e- popular fuperftition, and led them to qually true there. In India as well acknowledge and reverence one Suas in Greece, it was by cultivating, preme Being, the Creator of all science that men were first led to ex-things (to ufe their own expreffiamine and to entertain doubts with ons,) and from whom all things refpect to the established fyftems of proceed.' fuperftition; and when we confider the great difference between the ecclefiaftical conftitution (if I may use that expreffion) of the two countries, we are apt to imagine that the eftablifhed fyftem lay more open to examination in the latter than in the former. In Greece there was not any diftinct race or order of men fet apart for performing the functions of religion, or to ferve as hereditary and interested guardians of its tenets and inftitutions. But in India the Brahmins were born the minifters of religion, and they had an exclufive right of prefiding in all the numerous rites of worship which fuperftition prefcribed as neceffary to avert the wrath of Heaven, or to render it propitious. Thefe diftinctions and privileges fecured to them a wonder ful afcendant over their countrymen; and every confideration that can influence the human mind, the honour, the intereft, the power of their order, called upon them to fupport the tenets, and to maintain the inftitutions and rites, with which the prefervation of this afcendant was fo intiniately connected. But as the most eminent perfon's of the cast devoted their lives to the cultivation of science, the progrefs which they made in all the branches of it (of which I have given fome account) was great, and enabled them to form fuch a juft idea of the fyftem of nature, and of the power, VOL. I No. 7. This is the idea which Abul Fazel, who examined the opinions of the Brahmins with the greatest attention and candour, gives of their theology. They all,' fays he believe in the unity of the Godhead, and although they hold images in high veneration, it is only becaufe they reprefent celestial beings, and prevent their thoughts from wandering.' The fentiments of the moft intelligent Europeans who have vifited India, coincide perfectly with his, in respect to this point. The accounts which Mr. Bernier received from the Pundits of Benares, both of their external worfhip, and of one Sovereign Lord being the fole object of their devotion, is precifely the fame as that given by Abul Fazel. Mr. Wilkins, better qualified perhaps than any European ever was to judge with refpect to this fubject, reprefents the learned Brahmins of the prefent times as Theifts, believers in the unity of God. Of the fame opinion is M. Sonnerat, who refided in India feven years in order to inquire into the manners, fciences, and religion of the Hindoos. The Pundits who tranflated the Code of Gentoo Laws, declare, that it was the Supreme Being, who, by his power, formed all creatures of the animal, vegetable, and material world, from the four elements of fire, water, air, and earth, to be an ornament to the magazine of B. - creation; |