Agra, or traverse the great waters in the ships of India. Some happier few, who have found grace in the eyes of the Sultan, lived only to shew me the difference between what I was, and what I am; yet the remembrance of those I lost, I bore with resignation. I wept, indeed, and retired, but as yet repined not. But to know no end of misery; to be kept as a witness to the luxury of those who were once our equals, is surely the worst that can be inflicted.

"I have said to the slaves, why will not my lord, the Sultan, dismiss the maid whom he thinks unworthy his embraces, and whose presence will rather cast a cloud over his pomp, than increase it; but they treat my tears and my remonstrances with scorn, nor are their hearts melted in them with pity. Night and silence are over all the seraglio; even the horrid guards to whose care we are consigned, are fast locked up in sleep. When, oh! when shall I enjoy that sweet oblivion! Discontent and per

petual uneasiness of mind banish from my eyes all propensity to rest: the night only affords me an opportunity to vent my complaints, and my greatest happiness is this. hour of universal repose, when I can, undisturbed, and unmolested, give utterance to the sorrows of my heart."

As she was speaking these last words,. the shades of darkness were suspended on a sudden, and a light diffused itself around her like the flash of mid-day; she looked up and beheld, when Azael, the angel of reproof, became visible to her sight; she bowed her head in the dust, and humbled herself before him. "Selima," he cried, "arise thou misguided child of affliction ; I am that genius who was with thee when thou wast a child, and in my book were thy future fortunes written. I was with the angel whose ministry it was to seal the eyes of thy parents, and who laid hands on thy sister. Under my influence wast thou brought as a captive unto Amurath, from the Banks of Oxus, and immured in the

walls of his seraglio: thou hast complained of thy fate; thou hast said that the eye of thy genius frowned on thy birth, and that misfortune has marked thee for her daughter; but I am come to clear thy doubts, and to direct thee where thou mayest find the mansions of rest; let my words sink deep. in thee, and engrave them in living characters on thy heart: I will take away the mist from before thine eyes, for thou knowest not what thou hast said.

"Thou hast lamented the fate of thy sister, who is happier by far than thou art, and who has her station assigned her in the realms of bliss. The situation of thy companions, who have appeared pleasing to the Sultan, has been the object of thy envy; but, alas thine is a paradise to their's.. Thou hast repined at that solitude, which, hadst thou made a right use of, would have taught thee to know thyself; and hast grieved that thou wert not born to that beauty which thousands possess, and which would have been to thee a punishment

instead of a blessing. I will now shew thee what, but for my interposition, would have been thine own destiny, had this thy last, thy presumptuous wish, been crowned with success.-Hadst thou been bidden in thy turn to deck thyself with Oriental pomp, and repose on the silken pavilions in the inner chambers of the palace, turn thyself to the east, and view there what I shall explain to thee."

She turned, and beheld a woman seated on a throne, surrounded with every circumstance of eastern magnificence. She was fair, as one of the houries, and sparkling with the gold of Hindostan and thẹ diamonds of Surat. In her presence, every eye was fixed on the ground, every mouth was dumb, and every knee bent with fear; yet she seemed to receive the adorations of the crowd with coldness, nor was her heart glad at the approach of her lords. She seemed alone, as to herself, though amidst wondering thousands and ten thousands at her feet. "View her yet again, Selima,"

said he, as the crowd retiring leave her closet, and what happiness does she seem possessed of that thou wishest to be thine? Does not that gloom that hangs on her brow owe its being to fear? Is she not conscious that treachery or chance can in a moment bring her fancied happiness to an end; and guilt, that viper in her bosom, destroys all relish for pleasures, and points out to her the vanity of all joys, which have not virtue for their foundation. But see, the guards rush in at this moment, to seize her, and accuse her of conspiring against the life of her lord! Mark, how the splendid apartments and alcoves of pleasure disappear, and in their stead the joyless gloom and grated windows of a prison. How she is hurried in, they throw the black robe of death upon her; in vain does she now think of command, in vain wave that hand, which a few hours before would have stilled the raging of the people, and humbled the rulers of the world. now begs to be heard, and has recourse to

She