glanced rapidly over the universe, the sun far sunk behind him, the moon under his feet, the earth spread in prospect before him, and the firmament all glittering with constellations above. He paused a moment, and then, in that tongue wherein, at the accomplishment of creation, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," he thus brake forth :-"Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! In wisdom hast thou made them all.-Who would not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art holy ?"-He ceased,—and from that hour there has been harmony in heaven. MONTGOMERY.

THE DEATH OF PADILLA, AND HEROISM OF HIS WIFE.

THE resentment of his enemies did not suffer Padilla to linger long in expectation of what should befall him. Next day he was condemned to lose his head, though without any regular trial, the notoriety of the crime being supposed sufficient to supersede the formality of a legal process. He was led instantly to execution, together with don John Bravo, and don Francis Maldonada, the former commander of the Segovians, and the latter of the troops of Salamanca. Padilla viewed the approach of death with calm but undaunted fortitude; and when Bravo, his fellow-sufferer, expressed some indignation at hearing himself proclaimed a traitor, he checked him, by observing, "That yesterday was the time to have displayed the spirit of gentlemen, this day to die with the

meekness of Christians." Being permitted to write to his wife and to the community of Toledo, the place of his nativity, he addressed the former with a manly and virtuous tenderness, and the latter with the exultation natural to one who considered himself as a martyr for the liberties of his country. After this, he submitted quietly to his fate. Most of the Spanish historians, accustomed to ideas of government, and of regal power, very different from those upon which he acted, have been so eager to testify their disapprobation of the cause in which he was engaged, that they have neglected, or have been afraid, to do justice to his virtues; and, by blackening his memory, have endeavoured to deprive him of that pity which is seldom denied to illustrious sufferers.

The victory at Villalar proved as decisive as it was complete. Valladolid, the most zealous of all the associated cities, opened its gates immediately to the conquerors; and being treated with great clemency by the regents, Medina del Campo, Se. govia, and many other towns, followed its example. This sudden dissolution of a confederacy, formed not upon slight disgusts, or upon trifling motives, into which the whole body of the people had entered, and which had been allowed time to acquire a considerable degree of order and consistence by establishing a regular plan of government, is the strongest proof either of the inability of its leaders, or of some secret discord reigning among its members. Though part of that army by which they had been subdued was obliged, a few days after the battle, to march towards Navarre, in order to check the progress of the French in that kingdom, nothing could prevail on the dejected commons of Castile to take arms again, and to

embrace such a favourable opportunity of acquir. ing those rights and privileges for which they had appeared so zealous. The city of Toledo alone, animated by donna Maria Pacheco, Padilla's widow, who, instead of bewailing her husband with a womanish sorrow, prepared to revenge his death, and to prosecute that cause in defence of which he had suffered, must be excepted. Respect for her sex, or admiration for her courage and abilities, as well as sympathy with her misfortunes, and veneration for the memory of her husband, secured her the same ascendant over the people which he had possessed. The prudence and vigour with which she acted, justified that confidence they placed in her. She wrote to the French general in Navarre, encouraging him to invade Castile by the offer of powerful assistance. She endeavoured by her letters and emissaries to revive the spirit and hopes of the other cities. She raised soldiers, and exacted a great sum from the clergy belonging to the cathedral, in order to defray the expense of keeping them on foot. She employed every artifice that could interest or inflame the populace. For this purpose she ordered crucifixes to be used by her troops instead of colours, as if they had been at war with the infidels and enemies of religion; she marched through the streets of Toledo with her son, a young child, clad in deep mourning seated on a mule, having a standard carried before him representing the manner of his father's execution. By all these means she kept the minds of the people in such perpetual agitation as prevented their passions from subsiding, and rendered them insensible of the dangers to which they were exposed by standing alone in opposition to the royal authority. While the army was employed

in Navarre, the regents were unable to attempt the reduction of Toledo by force; and all their endeavours, either to diminish donna Maria's credit with the people, or to gain her by large promises and the solicitations of her brother the marquis de Mondeiar, proved ineffectual. Upon the expulsion of the French out of Navarre, part of the army returned into Castile, and invested Toledo. Even this made no impression on the intrepid and obstinate courage of donna Maria. She defended the town with vigour, her troops in several sallies beat the royalists, and no progress was made towards reducing the place, until the clergy, whom she had highly offended by invading their property, ceased to support her. As soon as they received information of the death of William de Croy, archbishop of Toledo, whose possession of that see was their chief grievance, and that the emperor had named a Castilian to succeed him, they openly turned against her, and persuaded the people that she had acquired such influence over them by the force of enchantments, that she was assisted by a familiar demon which attended her in the form of a negro maid, and that by its suggestions she regulated every part of her conduct. The credulous multitude, whom their impatience of a long blockade, and despair of obtaining succours either from the cities formerly in confederacy with them, or from the French, rendered desirous of peace, took arms against her, and, driving her out of the city, surrendered it to the royalists. She retired to the citadel, which she defended with amazing fortitude four months longer; and when reduced to the last extremities, she made her escape in disguise, and fled to Portugal, where she had many relations. ROBERTSON.

THE BLIND WOMAN.

ENTERING the parlour of the post-house, (at Mauren,) I saw an old woman of fourscore sitting before the stove, chewing with difficulty a piece of bread, and drinking a glass of wine. By her side lay a crutch. In her youth she must have been handsome, her countenance was still pleasing, and the silent grief with which it was clouded, rendered her interesting to me. I asked the post-master's wife whether she was her mother? "No, indeed," she replied, "she is a very poor blind woman, who is obliged to live on charity, and who calls upon us occasionally, when we do for her what we can." -"But she does not beg?" "No, that she never does but all who know her give her something." I accosted the old woman: "Have you been long blind?" I began. "A short time ago," said she, "I could still perceive a glimpse of light, but now this is vanished: yet I cannot die." Notwithstanding the concern which I seemed to express for her, she would not beg. This moved me: one word brought on another; she related her melancholy story. She had been married to a clergyman in Hanover, had children, and lived happily. Then came on the seven years' war, with poverty and distress in its train. She lost her all, pined in want, and yet kept up her spirits. She beheld her children expire, and supported them in the hour of dissolution. At last her husband died also: a long illness consumed what little property she had left; she was obliged to quit her place of residence, destitute and forlorn.

She was advised to go to her brother-in-law, a counsellor of appeal at Darmstadt. She did not