Astonished and confounded at the boldness of the propofal, Gyges attempted by every poffible means to pacify and divert the anger of the princefs; but her defign was too deeply rooted to be fhaken by the rhetoric of the courtier. She gave him to understand, that his refufal was in vain; and that, if he perfifted, he must not hope to efcape the fate which awaited fuch a refolution. The virtue, or rather the policy, of Gyges yielded to the plea of felf-prefervation; he murdered Candaules; and poffeffed his empire and his queen. Thank that lot an American farmer, inftead of a Ruffian boor, or an Hungarian peafant. It is ftrange, that mifery, when viewed in others, fhould become to us a fort of real good. The hardships of these people is certainly greater than those which our negroes experience.-When young, I thought of felling my farm, becaufe it afforded but a dull repetition of the fame labours and pleafures. But when I confidered my felf as divested of my farm, I imagined the world fo wide, and every habitable place fo full, that I began to fear, left there would be no room for me. My farm, my house, my barn, prefented objects from * These letters were publifhed in 1782, by Davis, previous to the acknowledgment of American independence.-"Were it poffible," fay the Monthly Reviewers, to entertain any doubts of the authenticity of this pube lication, its internal evidence would alone be sufficient to remove them." which I adduced quite new ideas; ideas more forcible than before. Why should I not find myfelf happy, faid I, where my father lived and died in profperity. Though he gave me no other education than the art of reading and writing, he left me a good farm-and his experience; free from debts, and other difficulties. I married; and this perfectly reconciled me to my fituation: my wife rendered my houfe all at once cheerful and pleafing; it no longer appeared gloomy and folitary as before. When I went to work in the fields, I worked with more alacrity; I felt that I did not work for myself alone, and this encouraged me much. My wife would often come with her knitting in her hand, and fit under the fhady trees, praifing the ftraitnefs of my furrows, and the docility of my horfes. This fwelled my heart; and I regretted that I had not before, I no other landlord than the LORD of all land, to whom I owe the moft fincere gratitude. My father left me three hundred and feventy-one acres of land, forty of which are good timothy meadow, an excellent orchard, a good house, and a fubftantial barn. How happy am I that he lived to build, and to pay for all these improvements! As my difficulties are lefs than his, I have but to tread his paths, to be as good as he was. I know enough of the law to regulate my concerns with propriety; nor do I dread its power. These are the grand outlines of my fituation; but as I can feel much more than I am able to exprefs, I hardly know how to proceed. When my firft fon was born, the whole train of my ideas was fuddenly altered; never was there a charm that acted fo quickly and powerfully: I ceafed to ramble in imagination through the wide world; my excurfions fince have not exceeded the bounds of my farm, and all my principal pleasures are now centered within its feanty limits: but at the fame time there is not an operation belonging to it in which I do not find fome food for useful reflections. This is the reason, I fuppofe, that, when you was here, you ufed, in your refined ftile, to term me the farmer of feelings: but how rude muft thofe feelings be in him who daily holds the axe or the plough! Thofe feelings, however, I will delincate as well as I am able, agreeable to your earnest request. croud into my mind. I am now doing for him, I fay, what my father formerly did for me: may God enable him to live, that he may perform the fame operations, for the fame purpofes, when I am worn out and old! I relieve his mother of fome trouble while I have him with me; the odoriferous furrow exhilarates his fpirits, and feems to do the child a great deal of good, for he looks more blooming fince I have adopted that practice. Can more pleasure, more dignity, be added to that primary occupation? The father thus ploughing with his child, and to feed his family, is inferior only to the Emperor of China, ploughing as an example to his kingdom. ANECDOTE OF FREDERICK II, KING OF PRUSSIA HE When I contemplate my wife, by my fire-fide, while the either fpins, knits, darns, or fuckles our child, I cannot defcribe the various emotions of love, of gratitude, of confcious pride, which thrill in my heart, and often overflow in involuntary tears. It is true these pleafing images vanish with the fmoke appear my T16 the battle (of appear from my mind, the impreffion night after the battle (of they have made on my heart is indelible. When I play with the infant, my warm imagination runs forward, and eagerly anticipates his future temper and conftitution.Whenever I go abroad, it is always involuntary; I never return home without feeling fome pleafing emotion, which I often fupprefs as useless and foolish. The moment I enter on my own land, the bright idea of property, of exclufive right, of independence, exalt my mind. Precious foil, I fay to myself, by what fingular custom of law is it that thou walt made to constitute the riches of the freeholder! Often, when I plough my low ground, I place my little boy on a chair which fcrews to the beam of the machine; its motion, and that of the horses, please him; he is perfectly happy, and begins to chat. As I lean over the handle, various are the thoughts which the troops made great fires to warm themselves. Towards the morning, the king paffed on horfeback along the front of the line from the left wing to the right. When he came to the regiment of guards he alighted, and warmed himself in the midst of his regiment and of his grenadiers; and in this manner waited for the break of day, intending to attack the Auftrians again, if they fhould not have retreated, which the darkness of the night made it impoffible to discover. He entered into converfation with the grenadiers, and bestowed much praise on the courage they had fhewn in the action. The grenadiers, who were no ftrangers to his goodness and affability, continued to croud around him; when one of them of the name of Rebiac, to whom the king moft frequently addreffed himself, and to whom he had often given money, had the boldness boldnefs to ask him, "Where he had been during the battle.-In general," faid he, "you lead us where the fire is hotteft: but this time nobody faw you, and it is not well to abandon us." The king anfwered, with an air of good humour and kindness, that during the whole action he had been with the left of the army, which had prevented his placing himfelf at the head of his regiment. While he was faying this, he unbuttoned his great coat, on account of the heat, and the grenadiers remarked that a mufket-ball, which he had received in his clothes, fell to the ground. The hole the ball had made in his furtout and coat was eafy to be feen; and the foldiers, feized with a fpirit of enthufiafm, cried out, 66 You are fill our old Fritz! You fhare every danger with us! we will die for you! God fave the king! God fave the king!" ANECDOTE OF A SINGULAR CHARACTER *. TH HE great aunt of Lord Huntley, Mrs. Gordon, was my tirewoman for a great number of years, fays the widow of Monfieur. She was a fingular character, and for ever in a reverie. One day, intending to feal a letter in bed, the put the burning wax upon her thigh, and preffing the feal upon it, at laft difcovered her mistake, and cried out moft terribly. Frequently, when The brought me my head-drefs to go to court, the put her gloves upon my head, and her hands in my cap. She had also an unusual cuftom of unbuttoning the waistcoats ters of Madame Charlotte Elizabeth of of gentlemen to whom the was fpeak- ANECDOTE OF HENRY THE FOURTH OF FRANCE. N the month of December, about I * From Fragments of Original Let- C rarely 1 rarely to be equalled, faid to the captain, "Let him go, I freely for give him!" But afterwards undertanding that this youth was a fcholar to the Jefuits, who fecretly held that it was lawful to difobey and even to destroy the king while he remained under excommunication, it was judged expedient to bring him to trial; and he was punifhed in this manner: he was conveyed to the place of execution holding up the fatal knife; the hand which gave the blow was first cut off; after which the flesh from his arms and thighs was gradually torn off with burning pincers: four horfes were then fastened to different parts of his body, who, pulling in oppofition to each other, of course tore the miferable wretch in pieces, which were thrown together into a large fire, confumed to afhes, and fcattered to the wind. with an uncommon share of courage, fcrambled fingly over the wall; and, to deal execution with the best profpect of fuccefs, armed himself with two cutlaffes, one in each hand. Thus prepared, he met a Spanish officer juft roufed from fleep, who, in the hurry and confufion which prevailed, had forgot his fword. This circumftance instantly restrained the fury of the British hero, who, difdaining an unarmed foe, prefented him with one of hi weapons, crying, "I fcorn any pi tiful advantage: you are now on an equal footing with me!" The afto. nifhment of the Spaniard at fuch an act of matchlefs generofity, when, from the uncouth and hoftile ap pearance of the feaman, he expect ed to be hewn in pieces, could be equalled only by the admiration of his countrymen, when he informed them of the godlike motive which had contributed to his prefervation. He could not encounter the arm that might have crushed him without refiftance; he became a prifoner; nor was it long before the garrifon furrendered, making no other terms than for their lives. T THE UNIVERSAL HISTORIAN. NUMBER I. fupport the character we have affumed, it will be neceflary to begin with Ancient Hiftory, which properly commerces from the Creation to the Birth of Christ. In defcribing this divifion, we fhall not be minute, as the Scriptures abound fo fully with particulars, with which our readers are already, or ought to be, acquainted. This will lead us to the Middle Age, which begins with the Chriftian æra, and ends with the fourteenth century. From the fourteenth century to the prefent time extends Modern Hiftory. Ancient History may be divided into feven periods; the first of which contains, according to the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch, about 1657 years; that is, from the Creation to the Deluge. The fecond period includes, as nearly as can be afcertained, eight hundred years, from the flood to the departure of the children of Ifrael from Egypt; from which time to the foundation of Rome, |