Arabic, Talma actually signifies in- || see I have forgotten to state. The trepid, and that it is one of those Count de Mouradia, who has reappellations which that nation em-sided a long time in the East, and ploys to distinguish the different branches of the same family. You will readily conceive how proud such an explanation must have made me, and how constantly I have striven to prevent the honour of the name from being tarnished in my keeping. It has happened, unfortunately for me, that having always devoted myself to the culture of the arts, I have never had the means of proving that my name was justly acquired. These different intimations led me to suppose that we derived our origin from a Moorish family, who had remained in Spain and embraced Christianity; that this family had afterwards passed from Spain into the Low Countries, which were then in the possession of the Spaniards, and removed thence to settle in French Flanders.

But, on the other hand, I have been told in Holland that our name had a Dutch origin, and was very general in that country. This new piece of information has overthrown at once the fine edifice raised by my fancy, and transported me in an instant from the barren sands of Arabia to the verdant pastures of Holland. You, sir, as you speak Dutch, can decide much better than myself, whether our family comes originally from the north or the south; whether our ancestors wore the turban or the chaperon; and whether they worshipped Mahomet or the God of the Christians.

But there is still another conjecture relative to our origin, which I

has written upon the religious sys-, tems of the Orientals, cites a passage from one of their authors, who informs us that King Pharaoh IV. of Egypt, the same who drove out the Israelites, was named Talma. That king was a great scoundrel; but we must not be too nice on the score of character when an illustrious descent. is in question. You see, sir, that there is no German baron with his sixteen quarterings, nor even any of the kings of the four quarters of the world, who can boast of an antiquity so remote and so legitimate as that of our family. I think, however, much more of the honour of being related to so distinguished a scholar as yourself, than of being the descendant of a crowned head.

I hope you will have the goodness to inform me whether you think our name is Dutch or Arabian. At any rate, I shall felicitate myself on bearing a name which you know so well how to honour; and I flatter myself that some favourable circumstance will, one day or other, bring about a meeting between us, and so afford me an opportunity to make your intimate acquaintance, either by my going to Holland, or by your coming to Paris.

Accept, sir, the assurance of those sentiments of high consideration with which I have the honour to be

Your most devoted servant,
TALMA,

Rue St. Lazare, 56, Chaussée d'Antin.

IGNATIUS DENNER.

ABOUT the latter end of the sixteenth century, in one of the wildest forests in the district of Fulda, dwelt a bold huntsman, named Andrew Schweil. He had formerly been in the service of Count Aloys von Bach, whom he had attended during a tour through Italy; and once, when travelling in the kingdom of Naples, then, as now, the favourite haunt of banditti, he had by his prudence and bravery extricated his master from a most périlous adventure, which had nearly placed him in the power of one of the bands which infest that country.

count, his new office entailed on him only fatigue, danger, and poverty, and sorrow and misery soon overwhelmed him. The scanty wages in money which he received were barely sufficient to clothe himself and Georgina; the small profits arising from the sale of wood were precarious; his garden, the formation and cultivation of which cost him great labour, was frequently laid waste by the wild boars and wolves, notwithstanding all the watchfulness and care of himself and his man; and the produce of the toil of months, on which he depended for the support of his family, was annihilated in a single night. His life too was threatened by the robbers whose advances and offers he repelled with honest indig

duty fearlessly and faithfully, and rather die than acquire wealth or safety by dishonest means. Exasperated at his invincible fidelity, they resolved on his destruction, and nothing but the terror of his fierce watch-dogs saved his house from being attacked and its inmates from being murdered.

In the hotel at Naples where they resided, a poor but lovely orphan had been taken by the hostess out of charity, but treated with brutal inhumanity and condemned to the low-nation, resolving to discharge his est drudgery. The kind-hearted Andrew pitied her wretched lot, and his compassion so won upon the poor girl's affection, that he soon became the sole hope of her life, and she was easily persuaded to leave her country and attach herself to the only being she recollected as having ever shewn kindness to her. The prayers of Andrew and the tears of Georgina prevailed on the count to permit their attachment and add Georgina to his travelling suite. Before they quitted Italy they were united; and on their return to Germany, the count, as a reward for the faithful services of his attendant, appointed him keeper of his most extensive forest. Accom-ed by the report of fire-arms in the panied only by his Georgina and one old servant, he retired to the lonely and wild forest which he was to protect from the depredations of poachers; but instead of the prosperity which had been promised by the

Georgina, unaccustomed to the inclemency of the climate, and unable to bear up against continual terror and misery, daily declined in health. Her complexion, formerly of a clear brown, changed to a sickly paleness; her sparkling eyes grew dim, and her elegant form wasted to a skeleton. Onwaking at midnight, she was alarm

forest; the dogs howled furiously, and her husband, softly creeping from her side and cursing his fate, hastened into the forest with his man, Fervently and anxiously did she pray that the Almighty would deliver them

With these words they entered the cottage. The stranger took off' his travelling-cap and cloak, under which he carried a portmanteau and a small iron box; he also took out a dagger and a pair of pocket pistols, which he

from their wretched state, and restore way in the forest this awful night; them to the world and their former the storm is violent; will you admit happiness. At length the birth of a me into your house to recruit myself son stretched Georgina on the bed before I proceed on my journey?" of sickness, and daily becoming weak-" Alas! sir," replied the wretched. er, she saw her end approaching. Andrew," you have come to a house Gloomy and desponding, the wretch- of misery, and excepting a bench on ed Andrew watched over her; his which you may rest yourself, we have last hope and comfort seemed depart-nothing to offer you; I have no food ing with his beloved wife. The wild even for my poor sick wife till the beasts of the forest rushed by him return of my man, who is gone to as if scorning and deriding his ina- Fulda." bility to destroy them; his hand was no longer steady; his bullets flew in vain; and but for his assistant, a skilful marksman, he would not have been able to procure the game with which he was bound to furnish the count. One night he sat by Geor-placed upon the table. Andrew had gina's bed, his eyes, dim with tears, returned to the bedside of Georgina, fixed on his beloved wife, who, al- || who lay nearly senseless. The stranmost exhausted, scarcely breathed ger approached, gazed earnestly on audibly. In an agony of grief, her her, and gently taking her hand, laid hand clasped in his, he heard not his finger on her pulse. "Fear even the cries of the infant for the nothing, my good friend," said he in nourishment its dying mother could reply to the anxious inquiries and no longer supply. The man had been despairing exclamations of Andrew; dispatched that day to Fulda to pur-" make your mind easy; nothing ails chase, with the last coin they pos- your wife but want of proper nousessed, some food that might gratify rishment, and the best medicine the appetite of the invalid. No com- would be some enticing, invigorating forting neighbour, no friendly form food. I am not, it is true, a physiwas near them; but the storm raged cian, but a merchant: yet I am not with fury around, and terrified by its quite unskilled in the healing art, and violence, the dogs crept to the feet of possess many an arcanum of the oldtheir master, and whined responsively en time, which I usually carry about to the thunder without. Suddenly with me, and in fact trade in.” He Andrew heard a sound like footsteps then opened his box, took out a small in the front of the house; he fancied vial full of a dark red liquor, poured it might be his man who had returned, two or three drops of it on some suthough he did not expect him for gar, and gave it to the invalid; then some hours, but the dogs rushing drawing from his portmanteau a bottle out, barked furiously at a stranger. of Rhenish wine, he filled two glasses Andrew went to the door and opened and poured it down her throat. He it; a tall spare man entered, wrapped then directed the infant to be laid on in a gray cloak, his travelling-cap flap- its mother's breast, and both to be ped partly over his face. "Friend," left to quiet repose. said the stranger, "I have lost my

Poor Andrew thought an angel

had descended from heaven to restore || he cried, he laughed, he shouted, he

capered round the room. The man returned, and prepared with what he brought a frugal meal, of which the stranger accepted their invitation to partake. He himself made a nou

they observed that he put several roots and ingredients he had with him.

health and happiness once more to his dwelling. At first the dark penetrating glances of the stranger had awed him; but now gratitude for his compassionate sympathy, and for the evident amendment he had wrought || rishing broth for Georgina, in which in the malady of his Georgina, irresistibly attracted him to his benefactor. He related to the stranger the history of his life, how, by the Meanwhile night came on: the very benefits which the count had stranger consented to stay till dayconferred on him, he had been plung- || break, requesting that a bed of straw ed into poverty and misery, from might be provided for him in the which he never could hope to extri- same room with Andrew and Georcate himself. The stranger spoke gina. It was prepared accordingly, some words of consolation, and re- and Andrew, unable to sleep from minded him how often in this life, anxiety for his wife, remarked that when every thing seems at the worst, almost every hour through the night the current changes, and wealth and the stranger rose, approached the comfort unexpectedly visit the mi- bed softly, and with the utmost tenserable and forlorn; he hinted that derness felt her pulse and admini sometimes a bold effort is necessary stered her medicines. to bend Fortune to our wishes, "Alas! dear sir," replied Andrew, "I can only rely on God and his holy saints, to whom my wife and I daily offer up our fervent prayers. What can I do to obtain wealth and comfort? If God does not see fit to bestow them, it is sinful even to desire them. If he has destined my lot to be prosperous in this world, which, for my poor wife's sake, who has left her country to follow me into this dreary wilderness, I earnestly long for, he will bestow it without risking life or limb for their attainment."

The stranger smiled gloomily at this reasoning of the simple forester, and was apparently about to reply, when Georgina with a deep sigh awoke from the slumber into which she had fallen. She felt herself wonderfully strengthened, and her boy once again drew nourishment from her breast. Andrew was beside himself with joy;

When morning broke, Georgina's amendment became more and more apparent. Andrew thanked the stranger, whom, in the fulness of his heart, he called his guardian angel ; and Georgina asserted that God had answered her fervent prayers by sending him to their succour, These expressions of gratitude seemed to be somewhat annoying to the stranger, who declared again and again that he must have been wholly devoid of humanity had he not assisted the inva lid with the skill and remedies he possessed; and that not Andrew but himself was the obliged person, as, notwithstanding their poverty, they had so hospitably entertained him, and he should by no means leave this kindness unrewarded. He drew forth a large purse, and taking out several pieces of gold, would have forced them on Andrew, but the latter persisted in refusing any remu

ney, I shall present it to your wife, who will not be offended at my earnest wish to raise you from the poverty in which you are sunk." Thus saying, he took the purse again, and approaching Georgina, poured into her hands the gold he had already offered to Andrew; she gazed on the glittering coin with eyes that glisten

neration. "What, sir!" said he, "why and wherefore should I take so much gold from you? To shelter you in my house when benighted in the forest was but an act of christian duty, and even should you think it deserving recompence, you have al ready amply, and more than I can express by words, overpaid me, by saving my beloved wife from deathed with hope and joy; unable to utter by your humanity and skill. What her gratitude, she could thank him you have done for me I never can only by her tears. forget, and would to God an oppor- The stranger turned from her, and tunity might arrive when I could again addressing Andrew, "My hoprove my gratitude at the expense nest friend," said he, "you may ae» of my best blood!"-At these words cept my present without hesitation; a dark fearful glance shot from the I give it out of my abundance. I stranger's eyes. "Notwithstanding will acknowledge to you that I am all this, my honest friend," replied he, not what I seem. From my thread"you must take the money. You bare clothing and my mode of traforget that it will be requisite to pro- velling, like a needy wanderer on foot, cure your lovely wife proper food, you may have imagined that I am which she must have if you would poor, and depend on the profits which wish to save her from a return of that I derive from my small trade at fair debility from which she has scarcely or town; but I assure you that, from recovered, and to enable her to suckle || long and prosperous dealings in jewher infant."-"Pardon me, sir," reels, I have acquired an immense forsumed Andrew, "pardon me, but a tune, and continue my simple mode secret voice whispers that I ought of life from choice, not from necesnot to accept your undeserved bounty.sity. In this small box are contained This secret voice, which I have always obeyed as the impulse of my protecting angel, has carried me through life, and shielded me from every peril of body or soul. If you will complete your kindness, grant my request, and leave me a little of your wondrous medicine, that my wife's recovery may be ensured by its pow erful virtues." Georgina had raised herself in the bed, and the look of woe which she gave her husband seemed to implore him not to persist in his resolution, but thankfully to accept the gift of the liberal stranger: the latter observed her. "Well," said he, "if you will not take my mo

་

jewels and valuables, chiefly of oldfashioned device, which are worth many thousands. Lately I have been so successful in Frankfort, that what I have given you is not the hundredth part of my profit. Besides, I do not give you the gold for nothing, but shall require an important service from you in return. I am on my way from Frankfort to Cassel, and have wandered from the high-road: I find, however, that the route through this forest, which is usually avoided by travellers, is very agreeable for a pedestrian; therefore, on my future journeys I shall generally prefer this road and pay you a visit. You will