petite. Amiable youth! how swelled thy noble heart with generous pity for thy betrayed master; and with grief for thy fallen mistress? Even the danger that on all hands surrounded thee, could not stem the chrystal tide that hopped down thy manly cheeks. Whilst Sabrina sat with her eyes fixed upon thee, eyes sparkling both with love and revenge.

Mistaken woman! she interprets Joseph's tears in her own favour, and bent on compleating her own shame, she lays hold on him, and threw herself on the bed, saying, "Come, Joseph, let us enjoy the present moment, whilst kindness gently flows through your yielding heart.'

"No, Madam," replied the steady youth, " dungeons and gibbets are no objects of my fear; criminal converse with a forbidden object; injuring my master, and offending my God, are what I justly fear; and I am in danger of them all, whilst I am in your company, But I abbor the deed, and fly from the place of temptation." So saying, he turned hastily about, freed himself from her embrace, and rushed from the room. Her lust grown to a fury unbridled, she strove to pull him upon the bed, when disentangling the diamond which buttoned his purple scarf, he left it in her possession, and so escaped the snare.

The noble youth departed obstinate in virtue, she was miserably distracted between the sting of her disappointed love, and the fear of being discovered; but she soon resolved the ruin of him, who had goodness enough not to ruin her, even at her own request. She cried aloud, as if in imminent danger, and nurse Syrena, who guessed at the cause, flew to her assistance. She found her sitting upon a bed, Joseph's scarf lying by her, and deeply bathed in tears.

what shall I do, Syrena," cried she, "the scornful Hebrew despiseth my passion, and fled but just now from me, with as much horror as if I had been a cockatrice. Go nurse, alarm the house, and have him seized; for I will swear an attempt of ravishment against him. Befriend me now but this once, my dear Syrena, and I am your friend for ever."

The household alarmed, Joseph is seized and kept in confinement till Potiphar's return, which was in the, evening; he went directly to his spouse's chamber to enquire after her health, where he found her in the utmost disorder and confusion, with the rage of her disappointed lust. Struck with astonishment, he' kindly enquired the cause of her disorder.

"Alas! my lord," said this daughter of deceit, "we have nourished up a viper to sting us, a wretch. that will undo us, if permitted under the roof. The insolent Hebrew, forgetting his wretchedness when. you was pleased to take him under your protection, and the friendly entertainment we have given him since he lived with us; not content with being the sole disposer of all your possessions, aspireth even to your bed. I was laid down to take a little slumber at noon, when the fellow came audaciously into my chamber, and explained his beastly design. I chid his impudent lewdnesss, and charged him to be gone that instant, or I would inform you of his conduct; but instead of departing, the villain laid hold on me, and by force would have obtained his filthy purpose, had I not alarmed the house with my cries. When he found me inflexible, and heard the cries of my distress, he hasted away in such disorder, that he left his scarf behind him; a sure testimony of his villainy. My lord, you have professed to love me. If you do, you will revenge the insult offered to my honour, by inflicting the most exemplary punishment upon this insolent wretch. I shall never be able to endure the sight of him again about the house.

Highly delighted with the virtue and probity of his lady, and astonished at the effrontery of the Hebrew, he commanded Joseph to be brought pinioned into his presence, and with a countenance stern' as the face of war, thus accosted him. Wretch! What pity is it that thy outside, and undaunted air, should bely such a base and diabolical heart. I blame myself, wretch, that I ever sheltered thee under my roof, and placed such a villain at the head of my affairs. But thy vile hypocrisy would deceive those that are even

but a few degrees better than thyself: well then might thy saintly shew gain upon my artless heart, á stranger to treachery and black design. Wouldst thou, viper, bite the hand that feeds thee, and poison the bosom that nourished thee? Was it not enough that I had put my all into thy untrusty hands, but thou must aspire even to my bed? A gloomy dungeon shall supersede the purple bed to which thou aspiredst; and rattling chains shall serve instead of the soft caresses of unlawful love. Away with the slave to his destined, dwelling, till I have time to meditate some unheard-of punishment for his baseness!" The same virtue that preserved the pious Hebrew, in the time of temptation, from the guilty deed, preserved him now from fearing the threats of his master; wherefore, with a steady and undaunted air, he replied

"Dungeons and chains, my lord, I can defy, nor can even the approach of death at all disturb the peace of my heart: but your displeasure, my lord, 'I cannot sustain. The hatred of my kind and generous master, once my avowed friend, is worse than a thousand deaths. But remember it, Potiphar, Joseph is clear from theguilt charged against him; and his own conscience cannot accuse him of so much as a dishonest. thought of this kind. I believe in God. The God of my father, in due time, will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness in clearing up my innocence, and exposing to infamy the baseness of my accusers, of what rank soever they be.' He said, and instantly was conducted to jail, with a strict charge to the keeper, to lade him with the hea viest irons, and to shut him up in the closest ward.

ARGUMENT.

Gabriel ascends to heaven to receive fresh instructions-Rachel and Thirzah the wife of Shem, descend, and comfort him unperceived-Potiphar, called in a hurry to fight the Ethiopians, forgets Joseph-Their discourse-Chorion, the jailor, has a dream that impresseth his mind with tenderness-1 he night following, sees an heavenly apparition go to Joseph's aparment-Gabriel appears to Joseph, instructs and comforts him-The jailor's reverence for Joseph-He gets acquainted with the king's butler, and baker, Their Dreams-The butler's interesting history-The good interpretation of his dream-The fatal interpretation of the baker's dream-his former villany and murder-An apparition of his murdered brother-The butler's restoration to his office-Joseph falls in love with an unknown princess-The baker's execution-Sabrina's passion for Joseph, rekindles.

BOOK THE FOURTH.

GABRIEL appointed guardian to the banished Joseph, industriously strove to fortify his youthful mind against the attacks of wickedness. Seeing now the issue, ascended swifter by far than the forked lightnings, to the regions of eternal day, to receive instructions from the universal governor, what to do in favour of his beloved charge. Meanwhile, Rachel, Joseph's mother, and Thirzah, the wife of Shem, riding on a golden cloud, were taking a tour through this part of the universe; and seeing the lovely youth conducted to prison, they descended low, and breathed ambrosial fragrance into the dungeon, a little to mitigate his sorrow. "O Thirzah," said Jacob's departed spouse, "how deep and intricate are the ways of the Almighty to us, whilst in a state of dark mortality? Who could, from his present circumstances, think that in the divine purpose, my Joseph should be placed at the head of his brethren from whom he is separated? Who could suppose that the lovely pri

soner is to be the future protector of the chosen seed? The archers have indeed, galled thee sore, my son, but thy bow has still abode in its strength; by the mighty God of thy father Jacob, shall the arms of thy hands be made strong, and these thine enemies shall yet bow down unto thee. O Jacob! thou dear thou honourable man. What pangs would wring thy sorrowful heart, didst thou but know the agonies of thy beloved? But thou art soothed under the kind deception, believing his pain long since to have been finished. His supposed death gave thee less sorrow by far, than his present life would bring upon thee. Faith and patience, possess ye the heart of my darling till he ascend triumphant over his enemies." "O my Rachel! my dearest daughter," returned the wife of Shem, "we have ever seen, that whom the holy and all-wise God designs for eminent usefulness, he trains them up in the rough school of adversity. The afflictions my lovely descendant endures, will endue him with sympathy for the distressed: even when ascended to the government of the kingdom, thy chains Joseph, will make thy grandeur to sit more graceful upon thee. The false accusations laid against thee, will teach thee the necessity of caution and impartiality in the administration of Justice. Persevere in virtue my son. Take kindly the rough means by which thy heavenly father instructest. The end shall crown the work, and fill thy heart with gratitude, and thy mouth with praise. Thus the two mothers conversed together, after the manner of disembodied spirits, and gently moved forward upon their cloudy chariot, leaving the perfumes of life behind them.

Chorion, the jailor, had just secured his new prisoner in irons, made fast the prison, and retired to rest, when he fell into a deep sleep, from which he was awaked by the following dream. He supposed himself in a widely extended field, ruminating on the beauties which every where decorated the teeming earth. Walking slowly along, a yearling lamb, closely pursued by a couple of wolves, ran up to him and fell down at his feet, as if supplicating protection.