vited her to abandon her retreat, and take up her residence at the Belvedere.

At the time that she was preparing to make this change, the dwarf, in whom she had placed the greatest reliance at all times, warned her of the consequences of what she was about to do. He told her that ruin awaited Stanislas, and that she, of course, would be a sharer in his calamities.

The terms upon which Axinia consented to this alliance were, that Stanislas should enrol himself amongst the friends of the people. His assent to this arrangement drew upon him the hostility of all his family; and, at a concerted meeting of all its members, the oldest, the Prince Czartoryski, took the parole, and inveighed bitterly against the two-fold determination of Stanislas.

It was, on quitting this assembly, which Stanislas left so abruptly as to be too quick for his attendants, that the famous personal attack was made upon this king. The account is given by Mrs. Gore with great spirit. She describes the humiliations and ill-treatment which his majesty endured from the vulgar conspirators. It is sufficient to say that he was put into a state of great bodily suffering, having been compelled to walk barefooted all night over a muddy country. The persons who accompanied the persecuted king gradually abandoned him during the night; and, when day-light approached, he found himself lying on the wet ground, exhausted with fatigue, and with no more than a single conspirator with him, whose name was Kosinski. Being altogether unable to cope with Kosinski, the King induced him, by promises, to allow him to bend his feeble steps towards a spot which he knew not to be distant. This was the Mill of Mariemont; and, having obtained the permission of his companion, he took the road to the Mill. Here the party received the greatest rudeness; but at length they gained admission, and prevailed on the miller and his family to furnish what accommodation they could afford.

From this retreat his majesty despatched messengers for some of his most confidential adherents, who ultimately carried him in triumph into Warsaw.

On his arrival he was met with joy by the inhabitants; but his satisfaction was overwhelmed in grief when he found that Axinia was no more. The intelligence of her fate was communicated by the dwarf, who alone could be found possessed of sufficient courage for the bold task. When the dwarf was introduced into the king's presence, the latter addressed him :

"Chedzim!" exclaimed the king, starting from his reclining position, as he noted the sinister expression pourtrayed on the countenance of the old Tâtar.—“ What tidings from Bielewsko?"

But instead of vouchsafing a reply, the whole person of the dwarf seemed convulsed with unspeakable emotion. A moment's pause imparted a stony rigidity of aspect scarcely less ominous of evil.

How is the Princess?" faltered Stanislas, scarcely capable of utterance." Well."

"

Chedzim,-your voice and aspect thrill me with horror!-Speak out! -What has induced my Axinia to withhold from me the consolation of her presence?-When comes she to the Belvedere,—and where are we to meet again?"

In the presence of the King of kings!" replied the old Kalmuck, in a stern and steady voice.

་་

"Has any evil befallen your lady? What-what have you done?" "Laid her in her bed of everlasting rest; and lo! the stone is rolled back to the door of the sepulchre !" replied the dwarf.

"Explain at once the origin of the fatal catastrophe," interposed General Coccei, perceiving that his royal master was now incapable of

utterance.

"Speak, you; for you know all !" retorted the old man," and the words are anguish in my mouth."

"The lamented event to which he alludes," observed the Bishop of Ploczko, who now officiously, sustained the person of the king,

appears to be one among the many frightful results of the late impious attack upon the life of your majesty. Princess Baratinhoff, having by some inexplicable means obtained warning of the sacrilegious outrage about to be perpetrated, dispatched an express to the city; which, it appears, must have been waylaid by the conspirators."

"Not content with the zeal of her household," continued the General, in a more soothing tone, "it appears that her Highness insisted upon accompanying her servants on foot, unescorted, in the dead of night, for the purpose of giving further alarm, to the head quarters of the Russian troops.'

In our parley with the first Russian patrol," faltered Chedzim, the tears streaming down his withered face as he spoke, a gang of ruffians made towards us,-challenged the sentinel,-fired upon us "Enough," interrupted Stanislas. "Enough-enough!-The rest I know. She perished! My Axinia exhaled her last sigh in my presence, even while my thoughts were engrossed by mischances all my own."

-sur

No!" interrupted the harsh voice of Chedzim, "she survived ;vived to be carried back to the blessed roof to which your presence has proved a consuming pestilence; to endure torments with the fortitude of a saint; to expire in anguish with the resignation of a martyr. With her dying lips she blessed your name,-she blessed the name of Poland-she-" But the words expired upon his lips; and, turning aside his head, the old man wept aloud.-pp. 234-237.

Stanislas, however, bore the loss with patience, and the scene of the eventful drama closes in the midst of the pompous ceremonies which were prepared to celebrate the safe return of his majesty.

The fortunes of Stanislas being the subject of authentic history, we are enabled to compare the present fiction with the reality. The chief passages of this tale are founded in fact, and the portion

which relates to the king's taking refuge in the mill, is founded on the narration of the real event, given by the king himself to the English ambassador, Sir Thomas Wroughton. It will be found in Coxe's Travels in Russia and Poland; and forms the groundwork of an episode in Miss Porter's Thaddeus of Warsaw.

The concluding tale is a very short one, called "Pasieka; or, the Bee Farm." It is a story of Samogitia, a favoured place, distinguished from all the other parts of Poland, by the circumstance of its land being parcelled out into commodious farms, and the state of the people being far more comfortable than is generally the case in that part of the north of Europe. The narrative possesses nothing of great interest to make it worth our while to enter into the particulars of the story; and we therefore dismiss these volumes for the present, with a deliberate conviction of the truth of the character as a writer, which we had assigned to Mrs. Gore.

"The Wondrous Tale of Alroy" is a romance, written on a plan, and in a style, altogether original; but how far calculated to have success, we shall not take upon us to decide.

The great object of the author seems to be to present to the public a picture of the average character of oriental life; and in choosing as the period for the time of his illustration, the twelfth century, he feels that he is justified in the arrangement, inasmuch as but little difference in manners and habits has, never since that remote era, been introduced in the east. The representation of the manners, as they were formed in the twelfth century, says the author, will therefore stand good as a description of those of the present day.

The most authentic account which we have of Alroy, shows him to have been either an enthusiast or an impostor. The sultan, before whom he was once conducted, made some inquiries of him; he replied, that he was the Messiah. He seems to have been well acquainted with magic, and other mysteries peculiar to those times. At the period of his appearance, the caliphate was in a condition of rapid decay, which allowed the Seljukian sultans, or magistrates of the provinces, to be absolute masters instead of the caliph, who had been left, as it was thought by Divine command, as governor of the whole. These smaller sultans had divided the dominions held by the successors of the Prophet, into four portions, each giving birth to a title; so that the ancient caliphate was separated into so many jurisdictions, the rulers of which were called Sultan of Bagdad, Sultan of Persia, Sultan of Syria, and Sultan of Roum, or Asia Minor; but the common vice of luxury soon corrupted these sultans, and it was not until they saw the whole country threatened by the invasion of the kings of Karasme, that they began to consider the danger of their situation. The Arabian power sustained also not a little prejudice from that of the Hebrew. In the east, the Jews, upon the destruction of Jerusalem,

were in the habit of holding periodical meetings for all purposes of jurisdiction and internal regulations. At their head was a native ruler, who was said to be a descendant of David, and to whom they gave the title of "The Prince of Captivity." These princes were still in existence, when Alroy rose to fix the attention of the eastern world by his powers of mind.

The nature of this romance is not such as will allow us to delay long upon it: it is altogether a mere emanation of an eccentric fancy rioting in its own licentiousness, and giving shapes and forms to the ideal superstitions of the dark ages. The style is elevated to the scale of the formal and primitive character of Ossian's poems, and savours more of the arrangement which belongs to metrical poetry, than that which is natural to prose.

In justifying the employment of the strange style which he has formed, the writer admits that it is one of his own invention. Conscious of the hazard which attends so bold an experiment, he has not resolved upon coming before the public with his discovery, without previous meditation, as well as examination of its qualities. Notwithstanding the precautions of our author, we fear that he has not been quite successful in exempting himself from all objection on the score of his style; at all events, we feel quite certain that few will be found in his train as voluntary imitators.

The third work which we have got to notice, is the "New Road to Ruin," by Lady Stepney. The story turns on the history of an English family, which formed a portion of the aristocracy of the country. We regret to say, that we despair of being able to justify to the reader any promise of gratification from an analysis of this work. The characters are much too numerous; they have each too many independent interests to attend to, they come upon the scene too abruptly in succession, to allow the reader to be aware of what is really passing, or what is the direct object of calling such a mass of human beings together.

It would be in vain, even if it were desirable for us, to attempt presenting any thing like a sketch of the narrative, eternally distracted as it is by episodes and accidental circumstances, which effectually obliterate the whole of the incidents that should be remembered, in order to enable us to keep up the thread of the story. We lament exceedingly the necessity, which truth and justice impose upon us, of speaking harshly of a performance to which a lady has affixed her hand.

ART. XI.-Remarks on the United States of America, with regard to the Actual State of Europe. By HENRY DUHRING. Small 8vo. London: Simpkin and Marshall. Amsterdam: Sulpke. New York: Jackson. 1833.

THE object which the author of this work has had in view, is to reconcile the vast differences which subsist between the accounts of America, given by the travellers from various countries, who have visited the former continent in recent years. This is a task, which, if performed with judgment and impartiality, cannot fail to be productive of useful and important consequences.

The first point which the author discusses, is the fundamental one-will the North American Union last? According to the_rational meaning of the word, government is a power constituted by common consent, for the purpose of promoting mutual intercourse, for the protection and happiness of the community where it exists. The constitution of the United States of America appears to be a realization of this description for it is an aggregate of separate States, each having its government modified so as to suit the local circumstances, and the peculiar wants, of those who are under its application. He thinks, then, that the notion which now makes such rapid strides in Europe, as to the probable speedy dissolution of the North American Union, is unjustifiable, and may easily be shown to be so. The different States, in the first place, are linked together in one bond of union by the most intimate connexions, by a common language, by a sense of the necessity of maintaining that system of general activity which now subsists so much to the general benefit. He concludes, therefore, that the advantages of a permanent union will always be so obvious to the general body of Americans, as to render it very unlikely that any portion would withdraw. The author touches with great good feeling, and a just sense of what is wise and right, upon many subjects which have been but recently brought to our attention, and to which he looks as sources of apprehension, lest the harmony of the American nation should be destroyed. But he looks to the termination of all differences, whenever they may happen to arise, in consequence of the certainty there is, that a preference for an ultimate greater advantage will always direct the experienced mind to put up with present and minor grievances.

The second of the propositions, upon which Mr. Duhring explains his opinions, comprehends an inquiry into the fact-has the want of an established church produced a want of religion in the United States? The author unhesitatingly declares that his opinion is against such a belief, and he thinks that the impression which prevails in Europe to the effect, that there is a want of religion in America, and that that want is caused by the absence of a church,