brought her comfort, and they afforded her frequent fupplies of it. She again defired the 14th of St. John to be read. She now funk too low, to converfe much at a time.

Some hours after

I asked her, if I fhould read any part of the Scripture to her; but The declined hearing it, faying, "I am very comfortable; but my bodily weakness is fo great!" While in great diftrefs of body, being reminded of the fufferings of our Saviour, the replied, Yes--if it be poffible ;---yet not my will, but thine be done." Obferving her husband in great affliction and trouble, she said to him, "May God be your portion, Mr. D. and fupport you. He "fupports me, and bleffed be his holy Name." This afternoon

the defired her little girl to be brought to her (the youngest child being at nurfe *) and with a tender kifs took her laft farewell of this lovely infant. How great muft this trial be to an affectionate mother? yet Mrs. D. was enabled, by divine grace, to drink of this bitter cup without murmuring.

Many doubtlefs have equalled her in maternal love and attention; but I think it may be truly faid, fhe was exceeded by none in thefe points. It was not however that kind of fecondary affection, which is confined to a concern for temporal happiness and welfare, by which he was influenced; for although the did not neglect this, yet her views and wishes extended far beyond it. Her anxiety for their best interest was obfervable in thus expreffing herself a few hours before her death, "God blefs the babies ; --let piety be the first thing." She was prevented finishing the fentence by her extreme lownefs, and difficulty of breathing. Great indeed was our pleasure to hear her fay a little time after, with the utmost composure of mind, but fill panting for breath and painfully reflefs, "What a comfortable thing it is to have nothing to do, but to die." You are fupported, faid I, to the laft. "Yes," fhe replied; and added, in aliufion to what is faid of our Saviour "I am the fame, yesterday, to day, and for ever: " repeating likewife the following verfe, although with some difficulty, as he was finking lower every hour. "Fear thou not; for "I am with thee; be not difmayed; for I am thy God: I will "ftrengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee "with the right-hand of my righteoufnefs." She pronounced the words with a pleasant and chearful emphasis on the "I." The inquietude, and great diftrefs of her bodily feelings, formed a ftriking contraft with the happy tranquility of her mind. Looking at her fifter with great earneftnefs fhe faid, "May you come after; ---there is room; and all your bleffed children." With a moft chearful countenance she said to her father, "The Devil is a liar," alluding to the temptations before fpoken of. Although temptations are permitted thus to diftre/s the Chriftian's mind, as a trial of his faith, or a chaftifement for his fins, yet are they not fuffered to deftroy him.

* Mrs. D. has left two children; a girl upwards of two years old, and a boy about fourteen months.

During these three laft days, according to the ftate of her ftrength, which was fluctuating, Mrs. D. often fpake with great pleasure, in allufion to thofe celeftial joys, of which the expected foon to partake, expreffing repeatedly her ardent wishes and prayers for the fpiritual welfare of thofe around her. Suffering much in her body, the expreffed a fear that she should not be fufficiently patient. While labouring for breath, fhe said to me, "I fhall foon fee my old neighbour;" (meaning Mr. Clarke.) Soon after she endeavoured to repeat the third verfe of Dr. Watts's hymn, "There is a land of pure delight," but was too low to utter the words diftinctly. We perceived that her end was rapidly approaching, although every now and then fhe was wonderfully revived. "No body, faid fhe, can wish these conflicts to lat long." "Not my will, but thine, be done ;---yet, come quickly." She defired to kifs Mr. D. and all her relations in the room; and in about an hour after fhe died.

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"Farewell, bright faint; take thy exalted place,

"For thou art near to fee thy SAVIOUR's Face."

Thus has Mrs. Dunkerton left an excellent example for her children to imitate. Happy will it be for them, if, as they grow up, they follow her as the followed Chrift. Their tender age renders them now incapable of eftimating the great lofs of a mother, upon whom Providence had beftowed an excellent fhare of good fenfe, and genuine piety: and confequently they are preferved from thofe painful feelings, which in mature age they would have endured. But we must recollect, that this event is permitted by Infinite Wisdom, and therefore it must be right. Christianity, however, does not teach us to deftroy our focial affections, but to regulate them. We cannot but feel grief at the lofs of our much valued friends; and upon the prefent occafion, I must confess, my forrow is great. Nor is this inconfiftent with the duty of refignation, if it be not immoderate; for our perfect exemplar and divine Saviour, JESUS, wept,-when intreated to vifit the grave of his friend Lazarus,

Men of the world may in their gay moments ridicule or despise religion, but they muft fooner or later be convinced, that this is the "one thing needful:" for they will find themselves in a fituation to require that confolation and fupport, which nothing but real religion can afford. How erroneously then do they judge of Chriftianity, who confider it as a gloomy or melancholy fubject, as if it was calculated to damp our joys, instead of affording rational delight, and chearing the dejected mind. Let the fenfualift, or Deift, vifit the dying Chriftian, and affert, if he can, that any worldly pleasure, or philofophic fyftem, can afford a rational mind a degree of folace, that is worthy a comparison with what the defpifed follower of a crucified Saviour frequently experiences, when death ftares him in the face. If a fcene of this kind thould not fully convince a man that Chriftianity is a Truth, and the

only

only fource of real and permanent felicity; it must at least confound and flagger his infidelity. However, be the advocates for this caufe many or few, the event will certainly prove, that real Chriftians have not followed "cunningly devifed fables: "---And those who now treat them with fcorn and derifion, will be driven at last (unless they repent) to that defperate and fhameful confeffion "We fools, accounted their life madnefs, and their end to be without honour: How are they now numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the faints." But we know that the pure religion of Chrift, which has been so often perverted to bafe and hypocritical purposes, does not confist in a furious or bigotted attachment to any particular church, fect, or party; nor in embracing a nicely-adjufted fyftem of opinions, which may float only on the furface of the brain; nor in the mere outward obfervance of religious duties: but in an entire change of the heart from fin to holinefs, which muft manifeft itself by a confiftent life; for our Saviour affures us that "not every one who faith unto me Lord, Lord, fhall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the Will of my Father, which is in Heaven." I have taken the liberty of adding these few thoughts, which occurred to my mind, while meditating on the power and excellence of religion, which was fo confpicuous in the case I have been communicating to you.

I intended, at firft, to have comprised what I had to fay within a much narrower compafs, but my heart being engaged in the fubject, one idea led almost imperceptibly to another, until I have fo far extended my letter, as to render it neceffary to apologize for being fo prolix. I confider myfelf however as writing to a friend, who will be more difpofed to profit by the serious subject, than to criticife on the compofition. I fhall conclude with expreffing my hearty wifh, that when our latter end approaches, we may be as well prepared for the important change as our departed friend was, "having nothing to do but to die." I remain, dear Sir, your fincere Friend, H. R.

EXTRACT OF

Mr. BRUCE'S TRAVELS in ABISSINIA.

[Continued from page 40.]

́HEN Mr. Bruce arrived at Gondar, the king, and Ras

distance from the capital with the army; which had been employed in attempting to fupprefs a dangerous rebellion which had broke out in the kingdom. In the mean time the Integhe, or queen (mother to the reigning king) being informed that Mr, Bruce was a phyfician, fent for him to the palace of Kofcam, the place of her refidence, where he had the care of fome of the

royal

royal family, who were ill of the fmall-pox. The attention he fhewed to his patients, and his fuperior skill in treating that diforder, attracted the regard of the queen, and her daughter Ozora Esther, wife to Ras Michael. Mr. Bruce being thus honourably employed for fome days, till the return of the army to Gondar, where he was introduced to the Ras and the king, which he relates in the following terms:

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On the 9th of March I met Ras Michael at Azazo. He was dreffed in a coarfe dirty cloth, wrapt about him like a blanket, and another like a table-cloth folded about his head: He was lean, old, and apparently much fatigued; fat ftooping upon an excellent mule, that carried him speedily without shaking him; he had alfo fore eyes. As we faw the place where he was to light by four crofs lances, and a cloth thrown over them like a temporary tent, upon an eminence, we did not fpeak to him till he alighted. We alighted at the fame time he did, and afterwards, with anxiety enough we deputed a Greek prieft, who was a friend of Michael, to tell him who I was, and that I was come to meet him. The foldiers made way, and I came up, took him by the hand and kiffed it. He looked me broad in the face for a fecond, repeated the ordinary falutation, "How do you do? I hope you are well;" and pointed to a place where I was to fit down. A thousand complaints, and a thousand orders came immediately before him, from a thousand mouths, and we were nearly fmothered; but he took no notice of me, nor did he ask for one of his family. In fome minutes after came the king, who paffed at fome distance to the left of him; and Michael was then led out of the fhelter of his tent to the door, where he was fupported on foot till the king paffed by, having firft pulled off the towel that was upon his head, after which he returned to his feat in the tent again. I returned to Kofcam, very little pleafed with the reception I had met with. All the town was in a hurry and confufion; 30,000 men were encamped upon the Kahha; and the firft horrid fcene Michael exhibited there, was caufing the eyes of twelve of the chiefs of the rebel Galla, whom he had taken prifoners, to be pulled out, and the unfortunate fufferers turned out to the fields, to be devoured at night by the hyæna. Two of these I took under my care, who both recovered, and from them I learned many particulars of their country and manners.

The next day, which was the 10th, the army marched into the town in triumph, and the Ras at the head of the troops of Tigre. He was bareheaded; over his fhoulders, and down to his back, hung a pallium, or cloak, of black velvet, with a filver fringe. A boy, by his right stirrup, held a filver wand of about five feet and a half long, much like the staves of our great officers at court. Behind him all the foldiers, who had flain an enemy and taken the fpoils from them, had their lances and firelocks ornamented with small fhreds of fcarlet cloth, one piece for every man he had flain. One thing remarkable in this cavalcade, which I obferved,

2

obferved, was the head-dress of the governors of provinces. A large broad fillet was bound upon their forehead, and tied behind their head. In the middle of this was a horn, or a conical piece of filver, gilt, about four inches long, much in the shape of our common candle extinguishers. This is called kirn, or horn, and is only worn in reviews or parades after victory. This I apprehend, like all other of their usages, is taken from the Hebrews, and the feveral allufions made in fcripture to it arife from this practice:-"I faid unto fools, Deal not foolishly; and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn-" Lift not up your horn on high; fpeak not with a stiff neck *"-" For promotion cometh," &c."But my horn fhalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn "And the horn of the righteous fhall be exalted with honour." And fo in many other places throughout the Pfalms. [See 1 Sam. ii. 1, 10, 16. Job xvi. 15. Jer. xlviii. 25. Pfm. lxxv. 4. ---lxxxix. 17.--xci. 10, &c.

Next to these came the king, with a fillet of white muslin about three inches broad, binding his forehead, tied with a large double knot behind, and hanging down about two feet on his back. About him were the great officers of ftate, fuch of the young nobility as were without command; and after these, the houshold troops. Then followed the executioner of the camp, and his attendants; and, laft of all, amidst the King's and the Ras's baggage, came a man bearing the ftuffed fkin of Woofheka [one of the rebel chiefs] upon a pole, which he hung upon a branch of the tree before the king's palace appropriated for public executions. It was now the 13th of March, and I had heard no word from Ozora Efther, or the Ras, though removed to a houfe in Gondar. I had gone once every day to fee the children at Kofcam; at all which times I had been received with the greatest cordiality and marks of kindness by the queen, and orders given for my free admittance upon all occafions like an officer of her houfhold. In the evening, Mahomet Gibberti came to my house, and told me, that, befides the letter I carried to Ras Michael from Metical Aga his mafter, he had been charged with a particular one, out of the ordinary form, dictated by the English at Jidda, who, all of them, had agreed to make a point with Metical Aga, devoted to them for his own profit, that his utmost exertion of friendship and intereft, fhould be fo employed in my recommendation, as to engage the attention of Ras Michael to provide in earneft for my fafety and fatisfaction in every point. This letter I had myself read at Jidda; it informed Michael of the power and riches of our nation, and that they were absolute masters of the trade on the Red Sea, and ftrictly connected with the Sherriffe, and in a very particular manner with him, Metical Aga; that any

* The crooked manner in which they hold their neck when this ornament is on their forehead, for fear it should fall forward, perfectly fhews the meaning of fpeaking with a ftiff neck when you hold the horn on high, or erect like the horn of the unicorn.

accident