Hazael ascended the throne, and ambition took possesion of his heart. "He smote the children of Israel in all their coasts. He oppressed them during all the days of king Jehoahaz:" and, from what is left on record of his actions, he plainly appears to have proved what the prophet foresaw him to be, a man of violence, cruelty and blood.

In this passage of history, an object is presented, which deserves our serious attention. We behold a man who, in one state of life, could not look upon certain crimes without surprise and horror, who knew so little of himself, as to believe it impossible for him ever to be concerned in committing them; that same man, by a change of condition. and an unguarded state of mind, transformed in all his sentiments; and as he rose in greatness, rising also in guilt; till at last he completed that whole character of iniquity, which he once detested

SECTION III.

HAMAN; OR, THE MISERY OF PRIDE.

BLAIR.

AHASUERUS, who is supposed to be the prince known among the Greek historians by the name of Artaxerxes, had advanced to the chief dignity in his kingdom. Haman, an Amalekite, who inherited all the ancient enmity of his race to the Jewish nation. He appears, from what is recorded of him, to have been a very wicked minister. Raised to greatness without merit, he employed his power solely for the gratification of his passions. As the honours which he possessed were next to royal, his pride was every day fed with that servile homage, which is peculiar to Asiatic courts; and all the servants of the king prostrated themselves before him. In the midst of this general adulation, one person only stooped not to Haman. this was Mordecai the Jew; who, knowing this Amalekite to be an enemy to the people of God, and with virtuous indignation, despising that insolence of prosperity with which he saw him lifted up, "bowed not nor did him reverence," On this appearance of disrespect from Mordecai, Haman "was full of wrath; but he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone." Personal revenge was not sufficient to satisfy him. So violent and black were his passions, that he resolved to exterminate the whole nation to which Mordecai belonged. Abusing, for this cruel purpose the favour of his credulous sovereign, he obtained a decree to be sent forth, that, against a certain day, all the Jews throughout the Persian dominions should be put to the sword. Meanwhile, confident of success, and blind to

approaching ruin, he continued exulting in his prosperity. Invited by Ahasuerus to a royal banquet. which Esther the queen had prepared, "he went forth that day joyful, and with a glad heart." But behold how slight an incident was sufficient to poison his joy! As he went forth, he saw Mordecai in the king's gate; and observed, that he still refused to do him homage. "He stood not up, nor was moved for him ;" although he well knew the formidable designs which Haman was preparing to execute. One private man, who despised his greatness, and disdained submission, while a whole kingdom trembled before him; one spirit, which the utmost stretch of his power could neither subdue nor humble, blasted his triumphs. His whole soul was shaken with a storm of passion. Wrath, pride, and desire of revenge, rose into fury. With difficulty he restrained himself in public; but as soon as he came to his own house, he was forced to disclose the agony of his mind. He gathered together his friends and family, with Zeresh, his wife. "He told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children, and of all the things wherein the king had promoted him; and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. He said, moreover, yea, Esther, the queen, suffered no man to cene in with the king, to the banquet that she had prepared, but myself and to-morrow also am I invited to her with the king. "After all this preamble, what is the conclusion? “Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."

The sequel of Haman's history I shall not now pursue. It might afford matter for much instruction, by the conspicuous justice of God in his fall and punishment. But contemplating only the singular situation, in which the expression just quoted present him, and the violent agitation of his mind which they display, the following reflections naturally arise: How miserable is vice, when one guilty passion creates so much torment! how unavailing is prosperity, when, in the height of it, a single disappointment can destroy the relish of all its pleasures! how weak is human nature, which in the absence of real, is thus prone to form to itself imaginary woes!

SECTION IV.

ORTOGRUL; OR THE VANITY OF RICHES.

BLAIR.

As Ortogrul of Basra was one day wandering along the streets of Bagdat, musing on the varieties of merchandise which

the shops offered to his view; and observing the different occupations which busied the multitudes on every side, he was awakened from the tranquillity of meditation, by a crowd that obstructed his passage. He raised his eyes, and saw the chief vizier, who, having returned from the divan, was entering his palace.

Ortogrul mingled with the attendants; and being supposed to have some petition for the vizier, was permitted to enter. He surveyed the spaciousness of the apartments, admired the walls hung with golden tapestry, and the floors covered with silken carpets; and despised the simple neatness of his own little habitation.

“Surely," said he to himself, "this palace is the seat of happiness; where pleasure succeeds to pleasure, and discontent and sorrow can have no admission. Whatever nature has provided for the delight of sense, is here spread forth to be enjoyed. What can mortals hope or imagine, which the master of this palace has not obtained? The dishes of luxury cover his table; the voice of harmony lulls him in his bowers; he breaths the fragrance of the groves of Java, and sleeps upon the down of the cygnets of Ganges. He speaks, and his mandate is obeyed; he wishes, and his wish is gratified; all whom he sees obey him, and all whom he hears flatter him. How different, O Ortogrul, is thy condition who art doomed to the perpetual torments of unsatisfied desire; and who hast no amusement in thy power, that can withhold thee from thy own reflections! They tell thee that thou art wise; but what does wisdom avail with poverty? None will flatter the poor; and the wise have very little power of flattering themselves. That man is surely the most wretched of the sons of wretchedness, who lives with his own faults and follies always before him; and who has none to reconcile him to himself by praise and veneration. I have long sought content, and have not found it; I will from this monient endeavour to be rich."

Full of his new resolution, he shut himself in his chamber for six months, to deliberate how he should grow rich. He sometimes proposed to offer himself as a counsellor to one of the kings in India; and sometimes resolved to dig for diamonds in the mines of Golconda. One day, after some hours passed in violent fluctuation of opinion, sleep insensibly seized him in his chair. He dreamed that he was ranging a desert country, in search of some one that might teach him to grow rich; and as he stood on the top of a hill, shaded with cypress, in doubt whither to direct his steps, his

father appeared on a sudden standing befor him. "Ortogrul," said the old man, "I know thy perplexity; listen to thy father; turn thine eye on the opposite mountain." Or togrul looked, and saw a torrent tumbling down the rocks, roaring with the noise of thunder, and scattering its foam on, the impending woods. "Now," said his father, "behold. the valley that lies between the hills." Ortogrul looked, and espied a little well, out of which issued a small rivulet. "Tell me now," said his father, "dost thou wish for sudden affluence, that may pour upon thee like the mountain torrent, or for a slow and gradual increase, resembling the rill gliding from the well?" "Let me be quickly rich," said Ortogrul; "let the golden stream be quick and violent." "Look round thee," said his father," once again." Ortogrul looked, and perceived the channel of the torrent dry and dusty; but following the rivulet from the well, he traced it to a wide lake, which the supply slow and constant, kept always full. He awoke, and determined to grow rich by silent profit, and persevering industry.

Having sold his patrimony he engaged in merchandize; and in twenty years purchased lands, on which he raised a house, equal in sumptuousness to that of the vizer, to which he invited all the ministers of pleasure, expecting to enjoy all the felicity which he had imagined riches able to afford. Leisure soon made him weary of himself, and he longed to be persuaded that he was great and happy. He was courteous and liberal: he gave all that approached him hopes of pleasing him, and all who should please him hopes of being rewarded. Every art of praise was tried, and every source of adulatory fiction was exhausted. Ortogrul heard his flatterers without delight, because he found himself unable to believe them. His own heart told him its frailties; his own understanding reproached him with his faults. "How long," said he, with a deep sigh," have I been labouring in vain to amass wealth, which at last is useless! Let no man hereafter wish to be rich, who is already too wise to be flattered. DR. JOHNSON,

SECTION V.

LADY JANE GREY.

THIS excellent personage was descended from the royal line of England by both her parents.

She was carefully educated in the principles of the reformation; and her wisdom and her virtue rendered her a shining example to her sex, But it was her lot to continue only a

D

short period on this stage of being; for, in early life, she fell a sacrifice to the wild ambition of the duke of Northumberland, who promoted a marriage between her and his son, lord Guilford Dudley; and raised her to the throne of England, in opposition to the rights of Mary and Elizabeth At the time of their marriage she was only about eighteen years of age, and her husband was also very young: a season of life very unequal to oppose the interested views of artful and aspiring men; who, instead of exposing them to danger, should haver been the protectors of their innocence and youth.

This extraordinary young person, besides the solid endow ments of piety and virtue, possessed the most engaging dispo sition, the most accomplished parts; and being of an equal age with king Edward v1, she had received all her education with him, and seemed even to possess a greater facility in acquiring every part of manly and classical literature. She had attained a knowledge of the Roman and Greek languages, as well as of several modern tongues; had passed most of her time in an application to learning; and expressed a great indifference for other occupations and amusements usual with her sex and station. Roger Ascham, tutor to the lady Elizabeth, having at one time paid her a visit, found her employed in reading Plato, while the rest of the family were engaged in a party of hunting in the park; and upon his admiring the singularity of her choice, she told him that she received more pleasure from that author, than the others could reap from all their sport and gaiety." Her heart, replete with this love of lite rature and serious studies, and with tenderness towards her husband, who was deserving of her affection, had never opened. itself to the flattering allurements of ambition; and the infor mation of her advancement to the throne was by no means>> agreeable to her. She even refused to accept of the crown; pleaded the preferable right of the two princesses; expressed her dread of the consequences attending an enteprize so dan-s gerous, 5, not to say so criminal; and desired to remain in that private station in which she was born. Overcome at last with the entreaties, rather than reasons, of her father and fatherîn-law, and, above all, of her husband, she submitted to their will, and was prevailed on to relinquish her own judgment. But her elevation was of very short continuance. The nation declared for queen Mary; and the lady Jane, after wearing the vain pageantry of a crown during ten days, returned to a private life, with much more satisfaction than she felt when roy alty was tendered to her.