The listening Friend bestow'd a flattering smile;
A sleeping boy the mother held the while;
And ere she fondly bore him to his bed,
On his fair face the tear of anguish shed.
And now his task resumed, "My tale," said he, "Is short and sad, short may our sadness be !"
"The Caliph Harun, as historians tell,
Ruled, for a tyrant, admirably well ;
Where his own pleasures were not touch'd, to men
He was humane, and sometimes even then ;
Harun was fond of fruits, and gardens fair,
And wo to all whom he found poaching there :
Among his pages was a lively Boy,
Eager in search of every trifling joy ;
His feelings vivid, and his fancy strong,
He sigh❜d for pleasure while he shrank from wrong; When by the Caliph in the garden placed,
He saw the treasures which he long'd to taste;
And oft alone he ventured to behold
Rich hanging fruits with rind of glowing gold;
Too long he stay'd forbidden bliss to view,
His virtue failing, as his longings grew;
Athirst and wearied with the noontide heat,
Fate to the garden led his luckless feet;
With eager eyes and open mouth he stood,
Smelt the sweet breath, and touch'd the fragrant food;
The tempting beauty sparkling in the sun
Charm'd his young sense-he ate, and was undone :
When the fond glutton paused, his eyes around
He turn'd, and eyes upon him turning found;
Pleased he beheld the spy, a brother page,
A friend allied in office and in age;
Who promised much that secret he would be,
But high the price he fix'd on secrecy.
"Were you suspected, my unhappy friend,' Began the Boy,' were would your sorrows end? In all the palace there is not a page
The Caliph would not torture in his rage:
I think I see thee now impaled alive,
Writhing in pangs-but come, my friend! revive;
Had some beheld you, all your purse contains
Could not have saved you from terrific pains;
I scorn such meanness; and, if not in debt,
Would not an asper on your folly set.'
"The hint was strong; young Osmyn search'd his
For bribes, and found he soon could bribe no more;
That time arrived, for Osmyn's stock was small,
And the young tyrant now possess'd it all;
The cruel youth, with his companions near,
Gave the broad hint that raised the sudden fear
;
Th' ungenerous insult now was daily shown,
And Osmyn's peace and honest pride were flown;
Then came augmenting woes, and fancy strong
Drew forms of suffering, a tormenting throng:
He felt degraded, and the struggling mind
Dar'd not be free, and could not be resigned;
And all his pains and fervent prayers obtained
Was truce from insult, while the fears remain❜d.
"One day it chanced that this degraded Boy
And Tyrant-friend were fix'd at their employ ;
Who now had thrown restraint and form aside,
And for his bribe in plainer speech applied:
'Long have I waited, and the last supply
Was but a pittance, yet how patient I !
But give me now what thy first terrors gave,
My speech shall praise thee, and my silence save.'
Osmyn had found, in many a dreadful day,
The tyrant fiercer when he seem'd in play :
He begg'd forbearance; I have not to give ;
Spare me awhile, although 't is pain to live:
Oh! had that stolen fruit the power possess'd
To war with life, I now had been at rest.'
'So fond of death,' replied the Boy, ''t is plain Thou hast no certain notion of the pain;
But to the Caliph were a secret shown,
Death has no pain that would be then unknown.'
"Now," says the story, "in a closet near,
The monarch seated, chanced the boys to hear;
There oft he came, when wearied on his throne,
To read, sleep, listen, pray, or be alone.
"The tale proceeds, when first the Caliph found
That he was robb'd, although alone, he frown'd;
And swore in wrath, that he would send the boy
Far from his notice, favour, or employ ;
But gentler movements soothed his ruffled mind,
And his own failings taught him to be kind.
'Relenting thoughts then painted Osmyn young
His passion urgent, and temptation strong;
And that he suffer'd from that villain-Spy
Pains worse than death, till he desired to die;
Then if his morals had received a stain,
His bitter sorrows made him pure again :
To reason, pity lent her powerful aid,
For one so tempted, troubled, and betray'd;
And a free pardon the glad boy restored
To the kind presence of a gentle lord;
Who from his office and his country drove
That traitor-Friend, whom pains nor pray'rs could
Who raised the fears no mortal could endure,
And then with cruel av'rice sold the cure.
"My tale is ended; but to be applied,
I must describe the place where Caliphs hide.”
Here both the females look'd alarm'd, distress'd, With hurried passions hard to be express'd.
"It was a closet by a chamber placed, Where slept a lady of no vulgar taste; Her friend attended in that chosen room
That she had honoured and proclaimed her home;
To please the eye were chosen pictures placed,
And some light volumes to amuse the taste;
Letters and music on a table laid,
For much the lady wrote, and often played;
Beneath the window was a toilet spread,
And a fire gleam'd upon a crimson bed.”
He paused, he rose ; with troubled joy the Wife
Felt the new era of her changeful life;
Frankness and love appear'd in Stafford's face,
And all her trouble to delight gave place.
Twice made the Guest an effort to sustain
Her feelings, twice resumed her seat in vain,
Nor could suppress her shame, nor could support her
Quick she retired, and all the dismal night
Thought of her guilt, her folly, and her flight;
Then sought unseen her miserable home,
To think of comforts lost, and brood on wants to
-She hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity;
Yet, notwithstanding, being incensed, is flint--
Her temper, therefore, must be well observed.-2 Henry IV.
-Three or four wenches where I stood cried
"Alas! good soul!" and forgave him with all their hearts; but there is no heed to be taken of them: if Cæsar had stabb'd their mothers, they would have done no less.-Julius Cæsar.
I'm cold myself-Where is the straw, my fellow ?
The art of our necessities is strange,
That can make vile things precious.-Lear.
FEMALES there are of unsuspicious mind,
Easy and soft, and credulous and kind;
Who, when offended for the twentieth time.
Will hear th' offender and forgive the crime :
And there are others whom, like these to cheat,
Asks but the humblest effort of deceit;
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