we were about one hundred and seventy-five pounds out of pocket.

"Now, my Lord, I leave you to judge whether the parish-money was not worse employed while I was Church-warden, than ever it was before."

The Negro's Complaint.

Wide o'er the tremulous sea
The moon spread her mantle of light,
And the gale gently dying away,
Breath'd soft in the bosom of night;
On the forecastle Maraton stood,
And pour'd forth his sorrowful tale;

His tears fell unseen in the flood,
His sigh pass'd unhear'd in the gale.

Ah wretch, in wild anguish he cried,
From country and liberty torn,
Ah Maraton! would thou hadst died

E'er o'er the salt wave thou wast borne; Accurst be the merciless band

Who his love could from Maraton tear, And blasted this impotent hand

That was sever'd from all I hold dear.

Thro' the grove of Angola I stray'd,
Love and hope made my bosom their home,
Then I talk'd with my fav'rite maid,
Nor dreamt of my sorrow to come :
From the thicket the man-hunter sprung,
My cries echo'd loud thro' the air;
Then was fury and wrath in his tongue,
He was deaf to the cries of despair.

Slow my tears down my cheeks ever flow,
Still let sleep from my eyelids depart,
And still may the arrow of woe

Drink deep of the stream of my heart;
But hark! in the silence of night
My Adila's accents I hear,

And mournful beneath the wan light
I see her lov'd image appear.

Slow o'er the smooth ocean she glides

As the mist that hangs light on the wave, And fondly her lover she chides,

That lingers so long from his grave; "O, Maraton! haste thou, she cries, "Now the reign of oppression is o'er, "The tyrant is robb'd of his prize, "And Adila sorrows no more."

Now sinking amidst the dim ray,

Her form seems to fade on my view! O stay then, my Adila, stay

She beckons, and I must pursue; To-morrow the white man, in vain, Shall proudly account me his slave; My shackles I plunge in the main,

And rush to the realms of the brave!

Curious original Anecdote of Peter the Great.

Few works excite so much curiosity as those which contain interesting and well authenticated anecdotes of distinguished personages.

Peter the Great, independent of the true heroism and superiority of genius, which hath justly ranked him high amongst the most celebrated men of his age, possessed an interesting singularity of character, in every part of his public, and private life.

This prince was at all times, careful to visit the works and manufactories of the countries through which he passed: Having

gone to see the iron works at Istria, he remained there for some time, in order to learn the manner of conducting the manufactory. When he left it, he had, with his own hands, wrought eighteen puds of metal, each pud weighing forty pounds. His attendants were employed in carrying fuel, lighting the furnaces, and blowing the bellows. At his return to Moscow, the Czar went to visit

Muller, proprietor of the work, and after bestowing great praises upon his manufacture, he asked him how much he paid his workmen for a pud; Muller said, he generally gave them three copecks, or an altin.—Very well, replied Peter, I have then earned eighteen altins. Muller immediately pulled out eighteen ducats, and presented them to him, saying, that a workman like his Majesty ought not to receive less. No, said Peter, stepping back, I will have none of your ducats, I have wrought no better than a common workman, and therefore, you must pay me only as such. With the money I have earned, I intend to buy a pair of

shoes, of which I am at present in great need—He then, shewing him the shoes he had on, which were very much torn, and had already been soaled, took the eighteen altins, and actually bought himself a pair of shoes, and every time he put them on, he enjoyed singular satisfaction in telling, that he had procured them by the labour of his own hands."

Tirmond, one of his ablest surgeons, and to whom he was much attached, having died, his widow married a young barber from Dantzic, who was somewhat more expert in gallantry, then in surgery; as he became very wealthy by this marriage, he made a great figure at Moscow : -Being one day sent for by the Czar, he went to court in a magnificient dress, and in one of his most elegant carriagesPeter examined him, and roughly told him, " he was a blockhead, and immediately called, in a troop of valets and peasants, whom he ordered him instantly to shave;"