Mavromikális felled him to the earth, drew the sword, and saying, 'it should never be stained by himself, or disgraced by another,' he snapped the blade, and threw it at the feet of the commanding officer." Knowing his impetuous character," said Clara, "I can scarcely blame him; but what will be the result?” "Alas! there is no uncertainty, dearest; guilty of having rebelled against orders, and of striking his superior officer, he is taken to the Fort prison, and by the Greek military code, the sentence of death is inevitable!" * * * * On recovering from the first shock of this overwhelming intelligence, I proceeded to the villa; here a hurried and defaced note from Anastásoula awaited me, stating, "she had gone to seek the aid of a distant friend; alone, and disguised, lest she might be intercepted." Sadly I returned home, and found Frederick had sought admission to the prisoner in the Fort; but this the foreign sentinel had refused, coarsely saying, "It would be time enough to see him three days hence, when led forth for execution!" As a last resource we framed a petition to the stern Ektatos, signed by the English and leading Greeks; but he replied, the state of regimental insubordination was such, that he had been waiting to make a striking example of a man of rank and influence, such as Mavromikális ; and therefore all interference was in vain. * * * * The awful ceremonial of death was arranged in all its melancholy solemnity; the soldiers, looking pale from their distressing duty, stood silent as the grave. A movement arose among the crowding spectators, and the pri soner was led forth, no longer in that uniform which had proved so fatal, but habited in the flowing tunic and vest of his native place; this, however, did not conceal the hasty ravages of sorrow on his young frame, hitherto firm though slight, but now devoid of elasticity as he mournfully stepped towards the doomed square. For the first time he raised his head, and looking towards heaven, was soon lost in mental prayer; then murmurs at his extreme beauty came from the crowd, and while their anxiety was at its most painful height, a peasant girl pressed in front of the line, setting down a lovely boy, who joyously bounded towards the condemned, exclaiming, " Mamma! my own Mamma again!" That sound caused an electric change in the bearing of the prisoner, whose abstracted thoughts were recalled to earth by nature's soft bonds; the long, long embrace, the hysteric maternal cry of " my Boy! my Boy!" proved to the spectators that the unerring perception of affection had exceeded theirs, and taught the infant boy to discover, in the disguised prisoner, his own loved mother, whose life he had thus preserved ! Having failed in all her appeals for pardon, Anastásoula had effected her entrance into the fort, disguised so that even the prisoner did not recognize her; and, professing to be an agent of his wife's, had prevailed on him to escape, and conceal himself on board Vernon's yacht, where, she added, his family would join him. He effected all she had well arranged by faithful agents; but he little thought that his heart's treasure was to be the price of his deliverance; he had even experienced a half-reproachful regret that Anastásoula had not risked a personal inter view, to cheer him for his perilous undertaking ;-so seldom does man divine the devotion of woman, or guess the ecstasy arising from self-sacrifice for an idolized object, intense in proportion to the extent of what she has relinquished; for the woman who adores, there is but one hopeless suffering, the desolating conviction of having lost the heart which has cast its spells over her first affections. Ektatos Koliopulos, on learning the exchange, and concluding the rebel was beyond his reach, withdrew from the manifestations of popular feeling; and the heroic Anastásoula was borne nearly lifeless to our house. Her alabaster skin had been stained to the deep tint of her husband's, and the resemblance made complete by the sacrifice of her luxuriant tresses, so that nothing but childhood's instinct could have discovered her. We soon after received a private intimation, from the cautious Ektatos, that he had commuted the sentence of death, for instant banishment from Ypsarà; and having no ties there, we hastily broke up our establishment, carrying away our Greek friends, whom we left to retirement and affection at Tenedos. Our English party were at Corfu in 1833, when the Governor gave an entertainment to the young Otho, on his route to take possession of his new kingdom. I had the honour of waltzing with this good-natured, plain, flatfeatured, Moorish-looking Prince (whom I found, like myself, much fonder of dancing than politics, and who, whatever sort of king he may be, is one of the best waltzing partners in Europe, which is much more agreeable); I took an opportunity to relate the foregoing trait of his new nation; and, as I felt that no waltz-loving prince could refuse a petition while dancing to "The Notre-dame," I made mine in such effective terms, that I had the pleasure, soon afterwards, of adding a bright ornament to his court in the fascinating Anastásoula, the devoted young GREEK WIFE. ON THE MARRIAGE OF THE LADY GWENDOLIN TALBOT WITH BY MR. RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES. LADY! to decorate thy marriage morn Rare gems and flowers and lofty songs are brought; The name, into whose splendor thou wert born, Rome, May 11th, 1835. * St. Peter's. Far from the world's deceitful maze, SONNET. BY WM. HENRY BROOKFIELD. WE meet at morning, while the laughing light Of years, if in the vale again we meet, As now it blendeth with the breezy prime; And curfew sad like pleasant matins chime. |