thought to his neighbor? At length it occurred to Nydia, that as it had been resolved to seek the seashore for escape, her most probable chance of rejoining her companions would be to persevere in that direction. Guiding her steps, then, by the staff which she always carried, she 5 continued, with incredible dexterity, to avoid the masses of ruin that encumbered the path and to take the nearest direction to the seaside. The sudden illumination, the bursts of the flood of lava, and the earthquake, which we have already described, 10 chanced when she had just gained the direct path leading from the city to the port; and here she was arrested by an immense crowd, more than half the population of the city. They spread along the fields without the walls, thousands upon thousands, uncertain whither to 15 fly. The sea had retired far from the shore; and they who had fled to it had been so terrified by the agitation and preternatural shrinking of the element, the gasping forms of the uncouth sea things which the waves had left upon the sand, and by the sound of the huge stones cast 20 from the mountain into the deep, that they had returned again to the land, as presenting the less frightful aspect of the two. Thus the two streams of human beings, the one seaward, the other from the sea, had met together, feeling a sad comfort in numbers, arrested in despair and doubt. 25 And now new fugitives arrived, from one of whom Nydia learned that Glaucus was still in the forum. Silently she 5 glided through those behind her and retraced her steps to the city. She gained the forum — the arch; she stooped down she felt around she called on the name of Glaucus. A weak voice answered, "Who calls on me? shalt be saved!" Take my hand! Glaucus, thou In wonder and sudden hope Glaucus arose — "Nydia still? Ah! thou, then, art safe!" 10 The tender joy of his voice pierced the heart of the poor Thessalian, and she blessed him for his thought of her. Half leading, half carrying Ione, Glaucus followed his guide. After many pauses and incredible perseverance they gained the sea, and joined a group, who, bolder than 15 the rest, resolved to hazard any peril rather than continue in such a scene. In darkness they put forth to sea; but, as they cleared the land and caught new aspects of the mountain, its channels of molten fire threw a partial redness over the waves. Meanwhile the showers of dust and 20 ashes, still borne aloft, fell into the wave and scattered their snows over the deck. Far and wide, borne by the winds, those showers descended upon the remotest climes, startling even the swarthy African, and whirled along the antique soil of Syria and of Egypt. Io'ne. Nydia (nid ́ia). — lu'rid: pale, ghastly, or a smoky yellow. Perhaps no English word is so frequently misused. Bulwer apparently intends it to mean fiery. — hurtling: crashing. — fo ́rum: a market place. – Thessa ́lian: a native of Thessaly, Greece. THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS THOMAS B. MACAULAY Such a system as his 5 NOTE. -The power of England in India, which had begun in 1757 with Clive's victory at Plassey, had been in danger of utter defeat. That it was preserved was due to the energy of Warren Hastings, who returned from the East hoping for recognition and reward. But with him came stories of his tyranny, his injustice, and his cruelty. was shown to be was foreign to the English spirit, and in 1788 he was impeached, or charged with misconduct in public office. The trial lasted for years, and although Hastings was acquitted, the real end of the impeachment was gained. The spirit of humanity, brotherhood, and sympathy for the far-away sufferers in a dependent colony had been roused in 10 English hearts, and a great step in social progress had been taken. The place was worthy of such a trial. It was the great hall of William Rufus, the hall which had resounded with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings, the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon and the 15 just absolution of Somers; the hall where the eloquence of Strafford had for a moment awed and melted a victorious party inflamed with just resentment, the hall where Charles had confronted the High Court of Justice with the placid courage which has half redeemed his fame. 20 Neither military nor civil pomp was wanting. The avenues were lined with grenadiers. The streets were kept clear by cavalry. The peers, robed in gold and ermine, were marshaled by the heralds under Garter King-at-arms. The gray old walls were hung with scarlet. The long 25 galleries were crowded by an audience such as has rarely excited the fears or the emulation of an orator. There were gathered together, from all parts of a great, free, enlightened, and prosperous empire, grace and female 5 loveliness, wit and learning, the representatives of every science and of every art. There were seated round the Queen the fair-haired young daughters of the house of Brunswick. There the ambassadors of great kings and commonwealths gazed with admiration on a spectacle 10 which no other country in the world could present. 15 There Siddons, in the prime of her majestic beauty, looked with emotion on a scene surpassing all the imita tions of the stage. There were seen, side by side, the greatest painter and the greatest scholar of the age. The sergeants made proclamation. Hastings advanced to the bar and bent his knee. The culprit was indeed not unworthy of that great presence. He had ruled an extensive and populous country, had made laws and treaties, had sent forth armies, had set up and pulled 20 down princes. And in his high place he had so borne himself that all had feared him, that most had loved him, and that hatred itself could deny him no title to glory, except virtue. He looked like a great man, and not like a bad man. 25 A person small and emaciated, yet deriving dignity from a carriage which, while it indicated deference to the court, indicated also habitual self-possession and self-respect; a high and intellectual forehead, a brow pensive but not gloomy, a mouth of inflexible decision, a face pale and worn but serene: such was the aspect with which the great proconsul presented himself to his judges. The charges and the answers of Hastings were first 5 read. The ceremony occupied two whole days. On the third day Burke rose. With an exuberance of thought and a splendor of diction which more than satisfied the highly raised expectations of the audience, he described the character and institutions of the natives of India. 10 He recounted the circumstances in which the Asiatic Empire of Britain had originated, and set forth the constitution of the company and of the English presidencies. Having thus attempted to communicate to his hearers an idea of Eastern society as vivid as that which existed 15 in his own mind, he proceeded to arraign the administration of Hastings as systematically conducted in defiance of morality and public law. At length the orator concluded. Raising his voice till the old arches of English oak resounded, "Therefore," 20 said he, "hath it with all confidence been ordered by the Commons of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Commons' House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in the 25 name of the English nation, whose ancient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of |