the patricians, by standing up in defence of what I have myself done.

12. Observe, now, my countrymen, the injustice of the patricians. They arrogate to themselves honours, on account of exploits done by their forefathers, whilst they will not allow me due praise for performing the very same sort of actions in my own person.

13. He ras no statues, they cry, of his family. He can trace no venerable line of ancestors. What then! is it matter of more praise to disgrace one's illustrious ancestors, than to become illustrious by one's own good behaviour?

14. What if I can show no statues of my family? I can show the standards, the armour, and the trappings, which I have myself taken from the vanquished; I can show the scars of those wounds which I have received by facing the enemies of my country.

15. These are my statues. These are the honours I boast of. Not left me by inheritance, as theirs; but earned by toil, by abstinence, by valour; amidst clouds of dust and seas of blood; scenes of action, where those effeminate patricians, who endeavour, by indirect means, to depreciate me in your esteem, have never dared to show their faces.

FRATERNAL AFFECTION.

IN the beginning of the sixteenth century,

the Portuguese carracks sailed from Lisbon to Goa, a very great, rich and flourishing colony of that nation in the East Indies. There were no less than twelve hundred souls, mariners, passengers, priests and friars, on board one of these vessels.

2. The beginning of their voyage was prosperous; they had doubled the southern extremity of the great continent of Africa, called the Cape of Good Hope, and were steering their course northeast, to the great continent of India, when some gentlemen on board, who had studied geography and navigation, found, in the latitude in which they were then sailing, a large ridge of rocks laid down in their sea charts.

3. They no sooner made this discovery, than they acquainted the captain of the ship with the affair, desiring him to communicate the same to the pilot, which request he immediately granted, recommended him to lie by in the night, and slacken sail by day, until they should be past the danger.

4. It is a custom always among the Portuguese, absolutely to commit the sailing part, or the navigation of the vessel, to the pilot, who is answerable with his head for the safe conduct or carriage of the king's ships, or those belonging to private traders; and he is under no manner of direction from the captain, who commands in every other respect.

5. The pilot, being one of those self-sufficient men, who think every hint given them from others, in the way of their profession, derogatory from their understandings, took as an affront to be taught his art, and instead of complying with the captain's request, actually crowded inore sail than the vessel had carried before.

6. They had not sailed many hours, when, just about the dawn of day, a terrible disaster befel them, which would have been prevented if they had lain by. The ship struck upon a rock. I leave to the reader's imagination, what a scene of horrour this dreadful accident must occasion among twelve hundred persons, all in the same inevitable danger; beholding, with fearful astonishment, that instantaneous death which now stared them in the face.

7. In this distress, the captain ordered the pinnace to be launched, into which, having tossed a small quantity of biscuit, and some boxes of marmalade, he jumped in himself, with nineteen others, who with their swords prevented the coming in of any more, lest the boat should sink.

8. In this condition they put off into the great Indian ocean, without a compass to steer by, or any fresh water but what might fall from the heavens, whose mercy alone could deliver them. After they had rowed four days in this miserable condition, the captain, who had been for some time very sick and weak, died.

9. This added, if possible, to their misery; for as they now fell into confusion, every one would govern, and none would obey. This obliged them to elect one of their own

company to command then, whose orders they implicitly agreed to follow. This person proposed to the company to draw lots and to cast every fourth man overboard; as their small stock of provisions was so far spent, as not to be able, at a very short allowance, to sustain life above three days longer. 10. There were now nineteen persons in all; in this number were a friar and a carpenter, both of whom they would exempt, as the one was useful to absolve and confort them in their last extremity, and the other to repair the pinnace, in case of a leak, or other accident.

11. The same compliment they paid to their new captain, he being the odd man, and his life of much consequence. He refused their indulgence a great while; but at last they obliged him to acquiesce; so that there were four to die out of the sixteen remaining persons.

12. The three first submitted to their fate. The fourth was a Portuguese gentleman, who had a younger brother in the boat, who, seeing him about to be thrown overboard, most tenderly embraced him, and with tears in his eyes besought him to let him die in his room; enforcing his arguments by telling him that he was a married man, and had a wife and children at Goa, beside the care of three sisters, who absolutely depended upon him; that, as for himself, he was single, and his life of no great importance; he therefore conjured him to suffer him to supply his place.

13. The elder brother, astonished, and melting with this generosity, replied, that, since the divine providence had appointed him to suffer, it would be wicked and unjust to permit any other to die for him, especially a brother, to whom he was so infinitely obliged. The younger, persisting in his purpose, would take no denial; but, throwing himself on his knees, held his brother so fast, that the company could not disengage them.

14. Thus they disputed for a while, the elder brother bidding him to be a father to his children, and recommended his wife to his protection; and as he would inherit his estate, to take care of their common sisters; but all he could say could not make the younger desist. This was a scene of tenderness that must fill every breast, susceptible of generous impressions, with pity. At last the constancy of the elder brother yielded to the piety of the other.

15. He acquiesced, and suffered the gallant youth to supply his place, who, being cast into the sea, and a good swimmer, soon got to the stern of the pinnace, and laid hold of the rudder with his right hand, which being perceiv ed by one of the sailors, he cut off the hand with his sword; then dropping into the sea, he presently caught hold again with his left, which received the same fate by a second blow.

16. Thus dismembered of both hands, he made a shift, notwithstanding, to keep himself above water, with his feet and two stumps, which he held bleeding upwards.

17. This moving spectacle so raised the pity of the whole company, that they cried out, "He is but one man, let us endeavour to save his life," and he was accordingly taken into the boat, where he had his hands bound up as well as the place and circumstances could permit.

18. They rowed all that night; and the next morning, when the sun arose, as if Heaven would reward the piety of this young man, they descried land, which proved to be the mountains of Mozambique, in Africa, not far from a Portuguese colony. Thither they all safely arrived, where they remained until the next ship from Lisbon passed by and carried them to Goa.

CONVENIENCES NOT ALWAYS NECESSARIES.

How

OW few of what are now considered necessaries, really deserve the name. So accustomed are we to the many comforts which the ingenuity of man has procured for us, that we can hardly imagine how people could subsist without them. The history of our race, however, furnishes abundant proofs that our real wants are few, and many which we cherish are by no means indispensable to our health or happiness.

2. We should perhaps find it difficult to dispense with our tea and coffee, and yet it is not two hundred years since these common beverages were first introduced into Europe. Te is supposed to have been introduced into England in 1650, when a pound weight sold for about ten guineas. It

was only used by princes and grandees, until 1657, when a tea shop was opened in London, and resorted to by all who could afford to drink it.

3. Probably tea was not in general use in families until after the year 1687. Coffee was introduced into England about the year 1652, and was sold only at publick houses, which from that circumstance acquired the name of coffee houses. These soon became the resort of literary men and politicians, and on that account, rather than from any hostility to the berry itself, these houses were all shut up by royal proclamation in 1675.

4. Previous to the introduction of tea and coffee into England, the people were accustomed to drink beer and wine, but their use had long been known in the east. The Chinese were the first who prepared tea, and the following anecdote will show that they are at least as whimsical as Europeans, while it proves that the virtues attributed to tea are either imaginary, or may be found in many plants in our own country, whose cheapness has prevented them from being noticed.

5. When the Dutch first visited China, they could not obtain their tea without disbursing money; but on their second voyage, they carried a great quantity of dried sage, and bartered it with the Chinese at the rate of three or four pounds of tea for one of sage; but at length the Dutch could not procure a sufficient quantity of sage to supply the demand.

6. Tobacco, which is now consumed in such quantities under various forms, was first brought to England from America by Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh, about the year 1586, and met with an early and most violent opposition. The use of it was exclaimed against by the clergy and physicians, and even King James wrote a book against it, entitled the Counter-Blast to Tobacco.

7. In 1580, the usual dinner hour among the upper classes in England was eleven in the forenoon; and wooden trenchers for plates were still to be found at the most sumptuous tables in 1592. Forks were not introduced into England before 1611, previous to which time the fingers had been the sole substitute. A writer of that day mentions the invention of forks to the great saving of napkins.