left the room. Reynolds, enraged to be thus in the power of one so much his debtor, called Mercer a coward, a fawning hypocrite, told him he dared not fight him like a gentleman with swords, and charged him with the benefits conferred on him by himself. "You have dissolved every tie,” answered Mercer; "I will not be called a coward or hypocrite by any man. Your past favors-would to God I had never received them-your future favors I disdain. I will meet you this moment, at any place you appoint.” They immediately sallied forth as the morning dawned, to a retired spot, and drew their swords upon each other. Mercer had learnt the art of fencing of an uncle who was a good swordsman, and he knew that he was superior to Reynolds. He therefore contented himself with parrying the violent thrusts of his adversary, and at the same time gave him some slight wounds to show that he was completely in his power. Reynolds was only rendered by this conduct more furious, and even foamed at his mouth with violent rage. Extreme anger seems to drive away every other passion from the human heart but cunning. Cunning is ever the faithful ally and necessary companion of revenge. Reynolds suddenly dropping the point of his sword, thrust it into the ground, and held out his hand. "Give me your

hand, you are still the best of friends-I am in the wrong." Mercer replied, "I am rejoiced to see you return to your right mind. I hope our friendship will become the stronger from this unhappy interruption, but I for ever decline your further pecuniary assistance." At the commencement of the contest, they pulled off their coats. Mercer turned round to put his on, and while he was swinging it over his head, Reynolds drew his sword from the ground and stabbed him to the heart. No sooner was the deed done than his reason, which had been clouded by passion, returned. He raised the bleeding body of his friend who had fallen on his face; beheld his ghastly countenance just fixed in death; vainly attempted to staunch the blood which gushed from the wound, and fell back in a swoon of agony and distress. So soon does punishment follow in the footsteps of crime. By the assistance of his still fond father, he escaped to France in a merchantman. For a long time he wandered through different parts of Europe, till by the in

tervention of his father's powerful friends in England, he obtained the pardon of the king. "Return, my son," said his father, "and close my eyes in peace, for my life is drawing to a close." He embarked in a vessel bound to America, but before he arrived his parents had both died, leaving an immense fortune at his disposal. But destitute of friends, of relations, shunned by the virtuous, pitied by few, life was a burden. He presented himself at the bar of justice, and tearing the king's pardon in pieces before the eyes of the judges, he demanded the punishment due to his crime. "I wish for death-may my execution be a warning example to those who come after me." The judges refused to pronounce his doom, declaring that the king's pardon had been given, and though the certificate had been destroyed, it still remained in force. Reynolds returned home, but his peace of mind was for ever lost. In his reveries, in the midst of the crowded circle, he would start and shriek, declaring with great vehemence of gesture, that he saw the bloody body of Mercer. Nothing could soothe the irritability of his mind; the hideous spectacle met him in every path, and was the subject of his nightly dreams. The human frame is incapable of enduring for any length of time such distress. He grew emaciated, mortality quitted her moorings, and he died in all the agonies of despair.

DANGEROUS AERIAL VOYAGE OF THE DUKE DE CHARTRES.

On the 15th of July, 1784, the duke de Chartres, the two brothers Roberts, and another person, ascended with an inflammable air balloon, from the park of St. Cloud, at 52 minutes past seven in the morning. This balloon was of an oblong form, its dimensions being 55 feet by 34. It ascended with its greatest extension nearly horizontal; and after remaining in the atmosphere about 45 minutes, it descended at a small distance from its place of ascension. But the incidents that occurred during this aerial excursion, deserve particular notice, as nothing like it has happened before to any other aerial travellers. This machine contained an inferior small balloon, filled with common air;

by which means it was supposed that they might regulate the ascent and the descent of the machine, without any loss of the hydrogen gas, or of ballast. The boat was furnished with a helm and oars, that were intended to guide the ma chine, but which were in this, as well as in every other similar attempt, found to be quite useless.

On the level of the sea, the mercury in the barometer stood at 30.25 inches, and at the place of ascension it stood at 30.12. Three minutes after its ascension, the balloon was lost in the clouds, and the aerial voyagers lost sight of the earth, being involved in a dense vapor. Here an unusual agitation of the air, somewhat like a whirlwind, in a moment turned the machine three times from the right to the left. The violent shocks which the adventurers suffered prevented their using any of the means prepared for the direction of the machine; and they even tore away the silk stuff of which the helm was made. Never, said they, a more dreadful situation presented itself to any eye, than that in which they were involved. An unbounded ocean of shapeless clouds rolled beneath, and seemed to forbid their return to the earth, which was still invisible. The agitation of the balloon became greater every moment. They cut the cords which held the anterior balloon, which consequently fell on the bottom of the external balloon, just upon the aperture of the tube that went down to the boat, and stopped that communication. At this time the thermometer was a little above 44°. A gust of wind from below drove the balloon upwards, to the extremity of the vapor, where the appearance of the sun showed them the existence of nature: but now, both the heat of the sun, and the diminished density of the atmosphere, occasioned such a dilatation of the gas that the bursting of the balloon was aprehended; to avoid which, they introduced a stick through the tube, and endeavored to remove the inner balloon, which stopped the aperture within the external balloon; but the dilatation of the gas pressed the inner balloon so forcibly against that aperture, as to render every attempt ineffectual. During this time they continually ascended, until the mercury in the barometer stood not higher than 24.36 inches; which showed their height above the surface of the earth to be about 5100 feet. Under

these dreadful circumstances, they thought it necessary to make a hole in the balloon, in order to give exit to the gas; and accordingly the duke himself, with one of the spears of the banners, made two holes in the balloon, which opened a rent of about seven or eight feet. In consequence of this, they then descended rapidly, seeing, at first, no object either on earth or in the heavens; but in a moment after, they discovered the fields, and that they were descending straight into a lake, wherein they would inevitably have fallen, had they not quickly thrown over about 60 pounds weight of ballast, which occasioned their coming down about 30 feet beyond the edge of the lake. Notwithstanding this rapid descent, none of the four adventurers received any hurt; and it is remarkable, that out of six glass bottles, full of liquor, which were simply laid down in the boat, one only was found broken.

MARION THE REPUBLICAN GENERAL.

WE received, says his biographer, a flag from the enemy in Georgetown, S. C., the object of which was to make some arrangements about the exchange of prisoners. The flag, after the usual ceremony of blindfolding, was conducted into Marion's encampment. When led into Marion's presence, and the bandage taken from his eyes, he beheld in our hero a swarthy, smoke dried little man, with scarcely enough of threadbare homespun to cover his nakedness! and, instead of tall ranks of gaily-dressed soldiers, a handful of sun-burnt yellow legged militia-men, some roasting potatoes, and some asleep, with their black firelocks and powder-horns lying by them on the logs. Having recovered a little from his surprise, he presented his letter to General Marion, who perused it, and soon settled every thing to his satisfaction.

The officer took up his hat to retire.-"Oh no!" said Marion, "it is now about our time of dining; and I hope, sir, you will give us the pleasure of your company to dinner."

At the mention of the word dinner, the British officer

looked around him, but, to his great mortification, could see no sign of a pot, pan, Dutch oven, or any other cooking utensil, that could raise the spirits of a hungry man.

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'Well, Tom," said the general to one of his men, “come, give us our dinner."-The dinner to which he alluded was no other than a heap of sweet potatoes, that were very snugly roasting under the embers, and which Tom, with his pine stick poker, soon liberated from their ashy confinement, pinching them every now and then with his fingers, especially the big ones, to see whether they were well done or not. Then having cleansed them of the ashes, partly by blowing them with his breath, and partly by brushing them with the sleeve of his old cotton shirt, he piled some of the best on a large piece of bark, and placed them between the British officer and Marion, on the trunk of the fallen pine on which they sat.

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I fear, sir," said the general, "our dinner will not prove so palatable to you as I could wish-but it is the best we have." The officer, who was a well bred man, took up one of the potatoes, and effected to feed, as if he had found a great dainty, but it was very plain that he ate more from good manners, than good appetite.

Presently he broke out into a hearty laugh: Marion looked surprised-"I beg pardon, general," said he, "but one cannot, you know, always command one's conceits. I was thinking how droll some of my brother officers would look, if our government were to give them such a bill of fare as this."

"I suppose," said Marion, "it is not equal to their style of dining?" "No, indeed," quoth the officer, "and this, I imagine, is one of your accidental Lent dinners-a sort of ban yan; in general no doubt, you live a great deal better?" "Rather worse," answered the general, "for often we do not get enough of this." "Heavens !" rejoined the officer, "but, probably what you lose in meal you make up in malt-though stinted in provisions, you draw noble pay." "Not a cent, sir," said Marion, "not a cent." "Heavens and earth! then you must be in a bad box; I don't see, general, how you can stand it." "Why, sir," replied Marion, with a smile of self approbation, "these things depend on feeling." The Englishman said, "he did