land, in which he had no tie of affinity or friendship, and where there was no wistful eye to follow him, nor tongue to pronounce a blessing on him as he went away. The day arrived the barrack was crowded: his comrades, even the lowest of them, were surrounded with relatives and friends, who came to honour, with perhaps the last mark of their attention, those with whom their pleasures were once associated to tell them with what difficulty they resigned that enjoyment, and with what fervour they would pray for its return. But B- was without a being to speak regret and consolation to him. He walked round the yard, contemplating the endearing scene: he rejoiced that all but himself were attended, in their departure, with the forms that intimated their being beloved; that the expression of their grief was social and communicative, while his was silent, solitary, and consuming. The drum now beat--the fareweli was pronounced in trepidation and haste-the line was formed, and the martial music spread its charm over the solemnity of the parting hour. In the performance of the evolutions the soldier was exact; but there was one principle of discipline from which the man was obliged to deviate: the eye forgot all its military tractability; it turned not to the right, nor to the left, according to orders; but bent upon those objects of affection, tenderness, and regret, whom nature delegated, upon this occasion, to the paramount and exclusive command. (To be Resumed.) THE GAMESTER'S ANTIDOTE. THE late Colonel Daniel, who took great pleasure in giving advice to young officers, guiding them in their military functions, the management of their pay, &c. whenever he was upon the article gaming, he used always to tell the following story of himself, as a warning to others, and to shew, that a little resolution may conquer this fatal passion: In Queen Anne's wars, he was an ensign in the English army then in Spain: but he was so absolutely possessed with this evil, that all duty, and every thing else that prevented his gratifying his darling passion, was to him most grievous: he scarce allowed himself time for rest; or, if he After : slept, his dreams presented packs of cards to his eyes, and the rattling of dice to his ears: his meals were neglected; or, if he attended them, he looked on that as so much lost time, and swallowed his meal with precipitance, and hurried to the dear gaming-table again. In one word, he was a professed gamester. For some time, fortune was his friend : and he was so successful, that he has often spread his winnings on the ground, and rolled himself on them, in order that it might be said of him, " He wallowed in gold." Such was his life for a considerable time; but, as he hath often said, and we dare say every considerate man will join with him, it was the most miserable part of it. After some time, he was ordered on a recruiting duty, and at Barcelona he raised one hundred and fifty recruits for the regiment; though this was left entirely to his serjeant, that he might be more at leisure to indulge his favourite passion. some changes of good and ill luck, the fickle goddess declared so openly against him, that, in one unlucky run, he was totally stripped of the last farthing. In this distress, he applied to a captain of the same regiment with himself for a loan of ten guineas; which was refused, with this speech What, lend my money to a professed gamester! No, sir, I must be excused: for of necessity I must lose either my money or my friend: I therefore choose to keep my money." With this taunting refusal, he retired to his lodging, where he threw himself on the bed, to lay himself and his sorrows to a momentary rest, during the heat of the day. A gnat, or some such vermin, happening to bite him, he awoke, when his melancholy situation immediately presented itself to him. Without money, and no prospect how to get any to subsist himself, and his recruits to the regiment, then at a great distance from him; and should they desert for want of their pay, he must be answerable for it; and he could expect nothing but cashiering for disappointing the Queen's service. He had no friend! for him whom he had esteemed so, had not only refused to lend him money, but had added taunts to his refusal. He had not an acquaintance there; and strangers, he knew, would not let him have so large a sum as was answerable to his real necessity. This naturally led him to reflect seriously on what had induced him to commence gamester; and this, he perceived, was idleness. He had now found the cause, but the cure was still wanting: how was this to be effected so as to prevent a relapse? Something must be done, some method must be pursued, so effectually to employ his time as to prevent his having any to throw away at gaming. It then occurred to him, that the adjutantcy of the regiment was to be disposed of, and this he determined to purchase, as a post the most likely to find him a sufficient and laudable way of passing his time. He had letters of credit to draw for what sum he pleased, for his promotion in the army, but not to throw away idly, or to encourage his extravagancy. This was well but the main difficulty remained, and he must get to the regiment before he could take any steps towards the intended purchase, or draw for the sum to make it with. While he was endeavouring to fall upon some expedient to extricate himself out of this dilemma, his friend, who had refused him in the morning, came to pay him a visit. After a very cool reception on the colonel's side, the other began by asking him, what steps he intended to take to relieve himself from the anxiety he plainly saw he was in? The colonel then told him all that he had thought upon that head, and the resolution he had made of purchasing the adjutantcy as soon as he could join the regiment. His friend then getting up, and embracing him, said, "My dear Daniel, I refused you in the morning, in that abrupt manner, in order to bring you to a sense of the dangerous situation you were in, and to make you reflect seriously on the folly of the way of life you had got into. I heartily rejoice that it has had the desired effect. Pursue the laudable resolution you have made; for, be assured, that idleness and gaming are the ruin of youth. My interest, advice, and purse, are now at your command: there, take it, and please yourself with what are necessary to subsist yourself and recruits to the regiment." This presently brought the colonel off the bed; and this afternoon's behaviour entirely obliterated the harshness of his friend's morning refusal he now viewed him in the agreeable light of a sincere friend, and for ever after esteemed, and found him such. In short, the colonel set out with his recruits for the regiment, where he gained great applause for his success, which, as well as his commission, he had well nigh lost by one morning's folly: he immediately solicited for, and purchased, the adjutantcy; and, from that day forward, never touched cards or dice, but as they ought to be used, merely for diversion, or to unbend the mind after too close an attention to serious affairs. PATRIOTISM. AT the siege of Turin, in 1795, the French had obtained possession of one of the subterraneous galleries which communicated with the citadel. Hoping by this means to make themselves masters of the citadel, they had secretly posted in the gallery a party of two hundred grenadiers. A Piedmontese peasant, named Micha, who had been forced to serve as a pioneer, and who had been made a corporal, was at work on a mine, near the spot, with twenty men. Hearing the French over-head, and convinced if they remained a moment longer master of the gallery the fortress would be lost, he determined to sacrifice his own life to save the place. He immediately sent away his comrades, desiring them to let him know, by the discharge of a musket, when they were out of the reach of danger. As soon as he heard the signal, he put the match to the mine, and blew himself up along with the two hundred grenadiers. The King of Sardinia rewarded his wife and children, whom, at the moment of his death, Micha had recommended to his care, and he likewise settled a pension on the whole of his family. Can the boasted annals of antiquity, produce a nobler instance of heroic self-devotion than that which was given by this Piedmontese peasant? PARLIAMENTARY BULLS. ON account of the great number of suicides, a member of the House of Commons moved for leave to bring in a Bill, to make it a capital offence. In May, 1784, a bill introduced to limit the privilege of franking, was sent from the parliament of Ireland for the royal approbation. It contained a clause, "That should a member be unable to write, he might authorize another person to frank for him, provided that on the back of the letter so franked, the member gives a certificate, under his hand, of his inability to write. In a bill for pulling down the old Newgate in Dublin, and rebuilding it on the same spot, it was enacted, that to prevent unnecessary expense, the prisoners should remain in the old gaol, till the new one was finished. When Sir John Scott (now Lord Eldon) brought in his bill for restraining the liberty of the press, a member moved as an additional clause, that all anonymous works should have the name of the author printed on the title-page. CRITICISM IN SHAKSPEARE'S TIME. As no periodical work can possibly exist in the present times, without the seasoning of a little criticism, it may be well to give early notice to our fashionable readers, that we are in possession of a number of choice specimens of that noble art, with which they will from time to time be regaled. Some of these are as as old as the days of Shakspeare, and seem to have served as models for the present most approved style of criticism. As a specimen, we present to the reader a review of the tragedy of Othello, supposed to have been written by Geoffrey Cockloft, one of the most famous critics of that day. All we have been able to learn of the writer, is, that he presided over the taste of the town for several years, and by sitting in judgment upon the most celebrated writers of his age, at length actually believed himself superior to them all, and thereupon became exceedingly vain and conceited. Like many other men, however, who make a great figure during life, he sunk quietly into oblivion at his death, and his works, with the exception of some manuscript criticisms, perished with him. In addition to these valuable manuscripts, we have had the good fortune to secure the co-operation of a young gentleman, who has written criticisms for our theatres for the last ten years, and is the author of several of those which lately appeared in some of the public papers, to the great edification of the town. This young fellow possesses rare and invaluable requisites for this branch of the literary trade. He sings a good song, is a member of several musical societies, and has regularly attended all the concerts for several years past. He is a consummate judge of horses and dogs, and consequently, exceedingly well qualified for a stage critic of the present times, where the principal characters are per |