ven of the o'clock, when the report coming to me, I went streight to his Excellency and told him I desir'd to accept the challenge. His Excellency thereupon looking earnestly upon me, told me he was an old soldier and that he had observed two sorts of men who used to send challenges in this kind; one was of those who having lost perchance some part of their honour in the field against the enemy, wou'd recover it again by a single fight. The other was of those who sent it only to discover whether our army had in it men affected to give trial of themselves in this kind; howbeit if this man was a person without exception to be taken against him, he said there was none he knew, upon whom he wou'd sooner venture the honour of his army than myself; and this also he spoke before divers of the English and French commanders I formerly nominated. Hereupon, by his Excellency's permission, I sent a trumpet to the Spanish army with this answer, That if the person who wou'd be sent were a cavalier without reproach, I wou'd answer him with such weapons as we shou'd agree upon, in the place he offer'd; but my trumpeter was scarcely arrived, as I believe, at the Spanish army, when another trumpeter came to ours from Spinola, saying the challenge was made without his consent, and that therefore he wou'd not permit it. This message being brought to his Excellency, with whom I then was, he said to me presently, this is strange; they send a challenge hither, and when they have done, recall it. I should be glad if I knew the true causes of it. Sir, said I, if you will give me leave, I will go to their army and make the like challenge, as they sent hither; it may be some scruple is made concerning the place appointed, being in your Excellency's camp, and therefore I shall offer them the combat in their own: his Excellency said, I shou'd never have persuaded you to this course, but since you voluntarily offer it, I must not deny that which you think to be for your honor. Hereupon taking my leave of him, and desiring * Sir Humphry Tufton, a brave gentlemen, to bare me company, thus we two attended with only two lackies, rode streight towards the Spanish camp before Wezel; coming thither without any disturbance, by the way I was demanded by the guard at the

* Third son of Sir John Tufton, and brother of Nicholas Earl of Thanet.

ent'ring into their camp, with whom I wou'd speak, I told them with the Duke of Newbourg, whereupon a soldier was presently sent with us to conduct us to the Duke of Newbourg's tent, who rememb'ring me well, since he saw me at the siege of Juliers, very kindly embraced me, and therewithall demanding the cause of my coming thither; I told him the effect thereof in the manner I formerly set down; to which he replied only, He wou'd acquaint the Marquis Spinola therewith; who coming shortly after to the Duke of Newbourg's tent, with a great train of commanders and captains following him, he no sooner ent'red, but he turned to me and said, That he knew well the cause of my coming, and that the same reasons which made him forbid the Spanish cavalier to fight a combat in the Prince of Orange's camp, did make him forbid it in his, and that I shou'd be better welcome to him than I wou'd be, and thereupon intreated me to come and dine with him; I finding nothing else to be done did kindly accept the offer, and so attended him to his tent, where a brave dinner being put upon his table, he placed the Duke of Newbourg uppermost at one end of the table, and myself at the other, himself setting below us, presenting with his own hand still the best of that meat his carver offer'd him he demanded of me then in Italian, Di che moriva Sigr. Francisco Vere; Of what died Sir Francis Vere? I told him, Per aver niente à fare, because he had nothing to do; Spinola replied, E basta per un generale, and it is enough to kill a general; and indeed that brave commander, Sir Francis Vere, died not in time of war but of peace.

(To be resumed.)

FROM MUSTAPHA RUB-A-DUB KELI KHAN, CAPTAIN OF A KETCH, TO ASEM HACCHEM, PRINCIPAL SLAVE-DRIVER TO HIS HIGHNESS THE BASHAW OF TRIPOLI.

(Resumed from page 81.)

SWEET, oh, Asem! is the memory of distant friends! like the mellow ray of a departing sun it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. Every hour of absence from my native land rolls heavily by, like the sandy wave of the desert, and the fair shores of my country rise blooming to my imagination, clothed in the soft illusive charms of distance. I sigh,

-yet no one listens to the sigh of the captive; I shed the bitter tear of recollection, but no one sympathises in the tear of the turbaned stranger! Think not, however, thou brother of my soul, that I complain of the horrors of my situation ;-think not that my captivity is attended with the labours, the chains, the scourges, the insults, that render slavery, with us, more dreadful than the pangs of hesitating, lingering, death. Light, indeed, are the restraints on the personal freedom of thy kinsman; but who can enter into the afflictions of the mind;-who can describe the agonies of the heart? they are mutable as the clouds of the air, they are countless as the waves that divide me from my native country.

I have, of late, my dear Asem, laboured under an inconvenience singularly unfortunate, and am reduced to a dilemma most ridiculously embarrassing. Why should I hide it from the companion of my thoughts, the partner of my sorrows and my joys? Alas! Asem, thy friend Mustapha, the sublime and invincible Captain of a Ketch, is sadly in want of a pair of breeches ! Thou wilt doubtless smile, oh most grave mussulman, to hear me indulge in such ardent lamentations about a circumstance so trivial, and a want apparently so easy to be satisfied; but little canst thou know of the mortifications attending my necessities, and the astonishing difficulty of supplying them. Honoured by the smiles and attentions of the beautiful ladies of this city, who have fallen in love with my whiskers and my turban; courted by the bashaws and the great men, who delight to have me at their feasts; the honour of my company eagerly solicited by every fiddler who gives a concert; think of my chagrin at being obliged to decline the host of invitations that daily overwhelm me, merely for want of a pair of breeches! Oh, Allah! Allah! that thy disciples could come into the world all-befeathered, like a bantam, or with a pair of leather breeches like the wild deer of the forest! Surely, my friend, it is the destiny of man to be for ever subjected to petty evils, which, however trifling in appearance, prey in silence on his little pittance of enjoyment, and poison those moments of sunshine which might otherwise be consecrated to happiness.

The want of a garment, thou wilt say, is easily supplied, and thou mayest suppose need only be mentioned, to be

:

remedied at once by any tailor in the land little canst thou conceive the impediments which stand in the way of my comfort; and still less art thou acquainted with the prodigious great scale on which every thing is transacted in this country. The nation moves most majestically slow and clumsy, in the most trivial affairs, like the unwieldy elephant, which makes a formidable difficulty of picking up a straw! When I hinted my necessities to the officer who has charge of myself and my companions, I expected to have them forthwith relieved; but he made an amazing long face, told me that we were prisoners of state, that we must, therefore, be clothed at the expense of government; that, as no provision had been made by Congress for an emergency of the kind, it was impossible to furnish me with a pair of breeches, until all the sages of the nation had been convened to talk over the matter, and debate upon the expediency of granting my request. Sword of the immortal Khalid, thought I, but this is great!-this is truly sublime! All the sages of an immense logocracy assembled to talk about my breeches! Vain mortal that I am ;-I cannot but own I was somewhat reconciled to the delay which must necessarily attend this method of clothing me, by the consideration that, if they made the affair a national act, my 66 name must of course be embodied in history," and myself, and my breeches, flourish to immortality in the annals of this mighty empire!

"But pray," said I," how does it happen that a matter so insignificant should be erected into an object of such importance as to employ the representative wisdom of the nation, and what is the cause of their talking so much about a trifle !" "Oh," replied the officer, who acts as our slavedriver," it all proceeds from economy. If the government did not spend ten times as much money in debating whether it was proper to supply you with breeches as the breeches themselves would cost, the people who govern the bashaw and his divan would straightway begin to complain of their liberties being infringed; the national finances squandered; not a hostile slang-whanger throughout the logocracy but would burst forth like a barrel of combustion; and ten chances to one but the bashaw and the sages of his divan would all be turned out of office together. My good Mussulman," continued he, "the administration have the good of the people too much at heart to trifle with their pockets;

and they would sooner assemble and talk away ten thousand dollars than expend fifty silently out of the treasury; such is the wonderful spirit of economy that pervades every branch of this government." "But," said I, "how is it possible they can spend money in talking;-surely words cannot be the current coin of this country?" "Truly," cried he, smiling, "your question is pertinent enough, for words indeed often supply the place of cash among us, and many an honest debt is paid in promises; but the fact is, the grand bashaw and the members of Congress, or grand talkers of the nation, either receive a yearly salary, or are paid by the day."* "By the nine hundred tongues of the great beast in Mahomet's vision, but the murder is out;-it is no wonder these honest men talk so much about nothing, when they are paid for talking like day-labourers.' ❝ You are mistaken," said my driver," it is nothing but economy!" I remained silent for some minutes, for this inexplicable word economy always discomfits me; and, when I flatter myself I have grasped it, it slips through my fingers like a jack-o'-lantern. I have not, nor perhaps ever shall acquire, sufficient of the philosophic policy of this government, to draw a proper distinction between an individual and a nation. If a man were to throw away a pound, in order to save a beggarly penny, and boast at the same time of his economy, I should think him on a par with the fool in the fable of Alfanji, who, in skinning a flint worth a farthing, spoiled a knife worth fifty times the sum, and thought he had acted wisely. The shrewd fellow would doubtless have valued himself much more highly on his economy, could he have known that his example would one day be followed by the bashaw of America, and the sages of his divan.

This economic disposition, my friend, occasions much fighting of the spirit, and innumerable contests of the tongue, in this talking assembly. Wouldst thou believe it? they

*The salaries paid to the president and the government officers are not very great, though quite enough, perhaps, for every good purpose in a republic. The president receives about £5,300 sterling; -Vice-president, £1,060 ;-Speaker of the House of Representatives, 12 dollars per diem during his attendance. The members of the Senate, and House of Representatives, 6 dollars each for every day's attendance, as well as for every twenty miles travelling to and from the seat of government. The chief justice of the United States has £850 per annum,-the rest in proportion.