engroffed him. It is not furprifing, that it fhould have occurred to his imagination, and that on opening the Almanack in the dark, he might have thought he faw this date which he was feeking, and that his imagination might have reprefented it to him, in as lively a manner as if he had actually feen it. Neither is it furprifing, that he should have opened the Almanack at the month of December; the cuftom of perufing this month must have made him find it in the dark by a mere mechanical operation. Man never feems to be a machine so much as in the state of fomnambulism; it is then that habit comes to fupply thofe of the fenfes that cannot be ferviceable, and that it makes the perfon act with as much precifion as if all his fenfes were in the utmost activity. Thefe circumftances deftroy the idea of there being any thing miraculous in the behaviour of young Devaud, with refpect to the date and the month that he was in queft of; and the reader, who has entered into our explanations, will not be furprised at his knowing the German Almanack; the touch alone was fufficient to point it out to him; and the proof of this is the fhortness of the time that it remained in his hands. An experiment was made by changing the place of the ink-ftandifh during the time that Devaud was writing. He had a light befide him, and had certified himself of the place where his ink-holder was ftanding, by means of fight. From that time he continued to take ink with precifion, without being obliged to open his eyes again but the inkftandish being removed, he returned as ufual to the place where he thought it was. It must be obferved, that the motion of his hand was rapid till it reached the height of the flandish, and then he moved it flowly, till the pen gently touched the table as he was feeking for the ink: he then perceived that a trick had been pur on him, and complained of it; he went in fearch of his ink-ftandifh and put it in its place. This experiment was feveral times repeated, and always attended with the fame circumftances. Does not what we have here ftated prove, that the ftandish, the paper, the table, &c. are painted on his imagination in as lively a manner as if he really faw them, as he fought the real ftandish in the place where his imagination told him it ought to have been? Does it not prove, that the fame lively imagination is the caufe of the most fingular actions of this fleep-walker? And laftly, Does it not prove, that a mere glance of his eye is fufficient to make his impreffions as lively as durable? The committee, upon the whole, recommend to fuch as wifh to repeat the fame experiments, 1. To make their obfervations on different fleepwalkers. 2. To examine often whether they can read books that are unknown to them, in perfect darkness. 3. To obferve whether they can tell the hours on a watch in the dark. 4. To remove, when they write, the inkftandifh from its place, to fee whether they will return to the fame place in order to take ink. 5. And lastly, to take notice whether they walk with the fame confidence in a dark and unknown place, as in one with which they are acquainted. They likewife recommend to fuch as would confirm or invalidate the above observations, to make all their experiments in the dark; because it has been hitherto fuppofed, that the eyes of fleep-walkers are of no use to them. The H The SPORTSMAN.-From GREVILLE'S MAXIMS. OWEVER inferior natures run down fuperior ones, they never fail paying them the most fincere, as the most involuntary homage when ever they meet without disguife. What is curiofity a strong defire of knowing the object that excites it: how then do you reconcile that univerfal principle of curiofity with that univerfal reception of falfhood in mankind? I hardly know fo melancholy a reflection, as that parents are neceffarily the fole directors of the management of children, whether they have or have not, judgment, penetration, or tafte, to perform the talk. Haoyk, hayk, hawrk, hoalow! poor Furio was a little in his beer, and contrary to his cuftom, he accofted us, his left fore finger in his left ear, with this fporting, this deafening vociferation generally he is rather glum, and you fee plainly, for it is plainly to be feen, that the fire and fpirit of his character lies a little low: Furio profeffes himself a lover of his own country, a very patriot; happy turn in a young gentleman poffeffed of 3000l. per annum! thofe are the men to do honour to it. Dn their bags and folitaries, fays Furio, dn their operas, their fuppers and their speeches and fluff, there's no tafte, no honelly in any of them; they have no foul, by g-d, they have no foul! what has a man of fortune and tafte to do with any thing but a pack of fox-hounds, well man'd and well hors'd, and fumetling in a good qualification upon which he can sport two or three cool hun dreds? D-me this is living, and like a gentleman, dn all their French nonfenfe fay I, by g-d there is not one of them knows a horfe from a gelding, or whether he is fourseen, fifteen or fixteen hands high; old England fay I. Thus Furio ran on, and had you heard the tone, the emphafis, with which he utter'd it all, it must have impress'd it very deeply on your mind as it did on mine: his carriage and drefs were quite correfpondent to his discourse; and I lamented that a figure which nature had done fo much for, should be thus difgraced by false education and ill-directed fpirit; he was light, admirably fhaped, and made to be genteel; his dress was adapted to his character, extravagant and minutely exact to every rule of taste and elegance, received by the best judges in the clafs of men to which he belong'd, from head to foot, from his feratch comb'd down to his eyes, to his walking fhoe (not pump) with one leather for his heel, and no leather for his toe; he never admitted any, nor did any hints from the repeated knocks he got from intruding ftones, (for the toes were fo round and flat, he got many) induce him to alter the fashion. In his carriage he had an agreeable flouch beyond defcription, a determined merit-confeious air, and flood with his long fhoes almoft ftraight as well as flat on the ground, and his right hand thrust into his bofom-the elbow a little rounded-within two buttons of the top of his waistcoat, (I mean the upper, for he always wears four,) which was only button'd down to the last two buttons, for that alfo is the bel-air; his talk was generally laconick, yet sturdy; but the chief expretion of eloquence lay in a peculitr ile of fpitting, occafion'd by the beft pig-tail'd quid in the three kingdoms. Alas! poor human nature! how has all the spirit of thy compofition been perverted! what an exuberance of fire, life, perhaps tafte and merit, had it been rightly directed! I fell into many reflections on human nature, on the force of edu cation, cation, on the negligence of parents and educators, and retir'd; nor thought I more of Furio, when I had once got him out of my head, till the next year a character I met with accidentally, recall'd him to my mind, by the oppofition and contraft of it. It was a young man of a pretty figure just landed from France, and to all appearance a French coxcomb, the very reverse of Furio; he held forth on the intolerable rufticity of the English, they 'don't know how to live, they can ⚫ neither walk, fit, nor fland, ah! ' quelle difgrace! how coifféed! how chaufféed and indeed his thoes were in one refpect the very reverfe of Furio's, for they were fo very piqued that they could not fail pinching and fqueezing his toes all together; he rav'd about clear fauces, Entrees, Entremets, Defferts, what not; every third word was French, Ecorché indeed fometimes, but the aim was always perfect; if an a came in his way he took care it should be broader than the ftrongest affectation in a Frenchman would have made it, je'n fuis bienFAAWCHE; no truer Frenchman as far as heart and inclination could go; every common-place remark against his country was run over, and none was fo odious: ah, thinks I, were Furio here-his friend comes in and accofts him, with my dear Will Furio! I ftarted, ftared, wondered, it was he, it was Furio. The PYRENEAN HERMITS: ATALE. By M. DIXMERIE. N the mountains that feparate One day when this youth was abSpain from France lived two fent, the Spaniard came to visit his hermits, the one a Frenchman the brother hermit. The vile habit, faid other a Spaniard, at a little diftance he, that covers you, cannot conceal from each other. Their age was from me that you were not born to be nearly equal, and both were young; thus clothed, thus lodged, thus fed : their figure was noble, even under the In a word, that fomething fingular in difguife of their coarfe habit, and their your history has obliged you to reconduct was perfectly oppofite to that nounce the world, for thefe inhofpitof ordinary hermits. They neither able mountains: and undoubtedly begged, nor received gifts or vifits; they must have been very cruel, or they could read, and they had books. very extraordinary accidents, that At first they were anxious to fhun could drive you to fuch a refolution.' each other, but fomething congenial-Oh! as for that, replied the other, in their minds and their fituations I am more than juftified. But what foon drew them together; in fhort, frange and difaftrous adventures have they were neighbours without being forced you to adopt a refolution fo enemies, a circumftance rather strange fimilar to mine ?' in rivals of this, as well as of every other kind. The French hermit had a companion whofe care he could not fufficiently applaud. This difciple was a model of attachment, of zeal and of activity. Tho' hardly fifteen years of age, no hardship could difcourage, no duty fatigue him. All the graces of beauty and youth were displayed in his countenance, and he feemed the god of love in difguife. -VOL. III. No. 7. It is true, faid the Spaniard, who wished to be communicative, and who faw no danger in being so, that I was not born to be thus muffled in a gown, to feed on roots and fleep on the ftraw. It is likewife true that I mitigate in fecret this apparent aufterity. But a load of difgrace and of faults have made this condition neceffary.— Your misfortunes, faid the other, cannot be equal to mine. You will judge, faid the Spaniard. In the first G place, place, I am married.' So am I,' replied the French hermit. I love my wife and fhe avoids me,' faid the first.-Ifhon mine and the loves me,' faid the other. I accomplished my marriage by a trick.'- A trick was made ufe of to force me to mine.'This, faid the Spanish hermit, is indeed a fingular contraft; but let us fee how far it will go. I will begin, perfuaded that you will imitate my frankness and fincerity. In me you fee the Count d'Olivier. My family is ancient and illuftrious, my fortune confiderable. I ferved my king with zeal and with fuccefs in the war of Italy. There I formed an intimacy with the Count de Cuences, a man noble by birth, and opulent in fortune; advantages which promifed him another till more worthy of envy. At his return he was to marry Donna Leonora, one of the finest women in Spain, but at the fame time one of the proudeft. I knew her only by name, nor was I better known to her. An hereditary enmity fubfifted between our families, which had been abfurdly perpetuated for generations. I was far from adopting this unjuftifiable hatred. I even experienced at the fight of a portrait of Leonora very different fentiments. Her family had fent it to the Count for his confolation, till he could take poffeffion of the original. He feemed, however, not fo much ftruck with it as I was. Far from being enchanted with the happiness that awaited him, he became thoughtful and melancholy. He replied with embarraffment to the questions that were put to him on his future marriage, and gave me room to fuppofe that he confented to it with reluctance, a circumitance that filled me with aftonishment. The war was carried on with violence, and rencounters were frequent and bloody. The Count and I one day were dispatched on a fecret ex pedition. He fell into an ambufcade, and was furrounded by a troop more numerous than his own. I arrived in time to disengage him, but he had been already wounded, and was lying on the ground without fenfe, ready to be trampled under the feet of the enemy. I made him be carried off while I oppofed the Germans, who had been reinforced. After an obftinate conflict, victory declared for us. A foldier of my troop prefented me with the portrait of Leonora, which he took from one of the enemy who had rifled the Count. The condition to which this laft was reduced, and especially the defire of poffeffing the portrait, made me wish to delay its reftitution. I accordingly detained it. The indulgent law of gallantry cafily tolerates fuch fort of larceny. I even confidered myself entitled to become the heir of the Count in this respect, if he did not recover of his wounds. He was ftill in a dangerous condition, when a fudden peace feparated the armies and recalled me to Spain. I repaired to Saville, where Leonora lived. I faw her without letting myfelf be known, or noticed by her. She feemed to me ftill more beautiful than her portrait, and I became defperately in love with her: but at the fame time, I trembled at the obftacles which the mutual antipathy of our families would throw in the way of my love. I attempted fome means of reconciliation, but all were in vain. In this interval, the Count de Cuences, cured of his wounds, was named Governor of Oran, a city of Africa, for which he fet out from Italy. The governor of this place cannot abfent himself on any pretext. The post is but an honourable prifon, and the new governor confidered that Donna Leonora would be an excellent antidote against the loneliness of that prifon. He judged well, but he took his measures ill. Not being able to act by himself, he chofe for his deputy one of his principal domeftics, an African by birth, and one a thousand times more felfish than that circumftance fuppofes. I had been of fervice to him in Italy, and chance threw me in his way as he landed at Cadiz. He informed me of the object of his miffion; he came, he faid, in the name of his matter to demand Donna Leonora of her parents. The news made me turn pale, and the African obferved it. He put various queftions to me, tending at once to thew his own zeal, and to read my heart. I trusted him with my fecret, and confeffed to him that my death was certain if another obtained poffeffion of Donna Leonora. The African appeared thoughtful for an inflant, then faid, that he had a fecret for preferving my life, which, however, might hazard his own, and might ruin his fortune paft refource. I offered him my protection, and a reward proportioned to the greatness of his fervice. I did not foresee that he could be of further ufe to me than by preventing the intended marriage from fucceeding, and even this was a great deal. But the African's fchemes were deeper laid. He propofed that I should fubftitute myfeif in the room of his mafter, an expedient, as he thought, eafy and excufable. It appeared to me however very difficult and difhonourable, tho' the only one I could think of. What will not impetuous love attempt, when it wants the ordinary means of attaining its end, and when the oppofite courfe enfures it of fuccefs?-The agent of the Count was furnished with the clearest and most authentic credentials, fo that it was impoffible to doubt the truth of his miffion. This was not all, the Count had written that he would come and effectuate in perfon what he folicited by his meffenger. My rival was about ten years older than I was, but the difference in our appearance was not very remarkable. There was befides in our fhape and features a refemblance fitted to mislead those not much accuftomed to fee either of us, and the Count having been abfent from Seville for twenty years, was totally unknown to Donna Leonora and her friends. I was feduced by the concurrence of fo many favourable circumftances, and it was agreed that the African fhould formally make the demand in the name of the governor, and fubftitute my portrait for his; and in order to favour the illufion, I gave him that of Donna Leonora, which belonged to the Count. What we expected came to pafs. The propofition of the governor of Oran was approved by the relations of the lady, and, what I had not dared to hope for, my figure was not difagreeable to that proud beauty. You may eafily imagine that the Count's agent wrote to him in a ftile fitted to chain him more clofely than ever to his rock. But while this rival, deceived by the letter, confidered his application in this cafe as defperate, I boldly reaped the fruits of it. After a reasonable interval I prefented myfelf under the name of the Count, accompanied by fome friends who approved and feconded my stratagem. I arrived in the evening, and the ceremony was not even deferred till the morning. I juftified this precipitation by the abfolute necefiity of my immediate return to Africa, and the danger of my being difcovered in Spain. We repaired without delay to the port of Cadiz, where a veffel lay ready to receive us. An old aunt of Donna Leonora's, by whom she had been educated, proposed to accompany us; this I could not oppose, though I confented to it with regret. Donna Padilla was doubly to be dreaded, on account of the hereditary hatred I have fpoken of, and becaufe |
