discovered that my looks were fixed upon him, he had the art of taking away all expression from his eyes, as if they had been turned into marble. His countenance was then immoveable, except a vague smile, which his lips assumed at random, to mislead any one who might wish to observe the external signs of what was passing within.

WAR IN NAPLES.

ABBE DE PRADT.

To see a whole people hastening to the defence of its liberty, and shutting the gates of its country against the invasion of foreigners, is certainly a magnificent spectacle; but that it may be preserved in all its glory, it should be consistent. The sword once drawn, the scabbard should be thrown away. If they had fought as well at Naples as they have talked, the children of Greece would not, in our days, have been behindhand with their ancestors. Athens and her Tribune, Thermopylæ and Leonidas, would again have been witness'd. This is the third time, within twenty-two years, that this people has shewn the same want of heart. What can all this mean? Who is it that forms these nimble footed armies ? Who are these men born subjects of fear, who dare not look in the face of an enemy under arms? Are they not the children of Greece? Were they not Brutians and Sam

Once more,

nites? Did they not cost Rome ages of labor? What is it they are wanting in ? Are they not robust?-Are they not endowed with passions ? And with these is not one man as good as another? whence does this arise?. Have treason, seduction, been at their usual work ? Have those who ought to have given an example of firmness, paved the way for defection and flight? Have commanders been wanting in their duty, and their reputation? Did aīl these soldiers serve against their will ? and did their hearts accord with their arms? No, the cause is to be found in the history of the people; that alone explains every thing. Having passed from hand to hand, like å wretched piece of furniture lent upon hire, a stranger to all great political interest, to war, to commerce, having to do only with heaven and with the earth, and finding them constantly propitious, this nation has seen its manly qualities dwinded away for want of employment. It has turned its faculties, which were otherwise useless, towards the enjoyment of effeminate luxury. The Palace and the Court have, for want of better employment, become temples consecrated to the arts, and the amusement of leisure hours. Activity has been divided between the churches and the theatre. What can be expected from man decomposed by the continual action of these dissolvents. Superstition brutifies him, idleness enervates him. When the hour of danger approaches, no one is to be found.-Having established convents and favoured convents, you have no longer but an army of monks. The inequality between the power of Austria and the nullity of Naples, was also too great for the results to be favorable to the latter. Austria bears upon Italy with her whole empire; she is upon its borders, and has formed an establishment against the Italian states, not to be shaken. She is backed by the Alps and by the sea; she is covered by the Po, the Tesino, the Adda, the Mincio, the great Alpine lakes, the Adige, the Tagliamento, the Izonzo. She occupies Pavia, Pizzigithone, Mantua, Peschiera, the citadel of Ferrara, Venice, Palma Nova, and Codriopo. When therefore an Austrian army is seen on the Po, Naples is lost.

DISCOVERY OF SATAN IN THE GARDEN

OF EDEN.

Now had night measured with her shadowy cone
Half way up hill, this vast sublunar vault,
And from their ivory port the Cherubim
Forth issuing at the accustomed hour, stood armed
To their night watches in warlike parade;
When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake :
Uzziel! half these draw off, and coast the south
With strictest watch ; these other wheel the north ;
Qur circuit meets full west. As flame they part,
Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.
From these, two strong and subtle spirits he called

That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge:
Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed
Search through this garden, leave unsearch'd no nook;
But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
This evening from the sun's decline arrived
Who tells of some infernal spirit seen
Hitherward bent, who could have thought? escaped
The bars of hell; on errand bad, no doubt;
Such where ye find seize fast, and hither bring.
So saying, on he led his radiant files,
Dazzling the moon ; these to the bower direct,
In search of whom they sought: him there they found
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
Assaying by his dev'lish art to reach
The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
Illusions, as he list phantasms and dreams;
Or if inspiring venom, he might taint
Th’ animal spirits, that from pure blood arise
Like gentle breaths from rivers pure; thence raise
At least distempered discontented thoughts,
Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,
Blown up with high conceits, ingendering pride.
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touched lightly; for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness: Up he starts
Discovered and surprised. As when a spark

T

Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, laid
Fit for the tun, some magazine to store
Against a rumoured war, the smutty grain
With sudden blaze diffused inflames the air,
So started up in his own shape the fiend.
Back stept those two fair angels, half amazed
So sudden to behold the grissly king;
Yet thus, unmoved with fear accost him soon:
Which of those rebel spirits adjudged to hell
Com’st thou, escaped thy prison ? and transformed
Why satt'st thou, like an enemy in wait
Here, watching at the head of these that sleep?
Know ye not then said Satan, filled with scorn,
Know ye not me, ye knew me once no mate
For you, there sitting where ye dur’st not soar;
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your throng; or, if you know,

,
Why ask ye, and superfluous begin
Your message, like to end as much in vain?
To whom the Zephon, answering scorn with scorn :
Think not revolted spirit, thy shape the same,
Or undiminished brightness, to be known,
As when thou stood'st in heaven, upright and pure;

; That glory then when thou no more was't good Departed from thee; and thou resemblest now Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foul. But come, for thou, be sure, shal't give account To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep This place inviolable, and these from harm.