"Inhabitant of heaven!" cried Bozaldab, "suffer not this wretch to perish by the fury of wild beasts.” "Peace," said the angel," and observe." He looked again, and beheld a vessel approach the desolate island. What words can paint the rapture of the starving merchant, when the captain offered to transport him to his native country if he would reward him with half the jewels in his casket! No sooner had this merciless commander received the stipulated sum, than he held a consultation with the crew, and they agreed to seize the remaining jewels, and leave the unhappy exile in the same helpless and lamentable condition in which they first discovered him. He wept and trembled, intreated and implored in vain.

"Will heaven permit such injustice to be practised?" exclaimed Bozaldab."Look again," said the angel," and behold the very ship, in which, short-sighted

as thou art, thou wishedst the merchant
might embark, dashed in pieces on a rock:
dost thou not hear the cries of the sinking
sailors? Presume not to direct the Go-
vernor of the Universe in his disposal of
events. The man whom thou hast pitied
shall be taken from his dreary solitude, but
not by the method thou wouldst prescribe,
His vice was avarice, by which he became
at once abominable and wretched; he
fancied there was some mighty charm in
wealth, which, like the wand of Abdiel,
would gratify every wish, and obviate every
fear. This wealth he has now been taught
'not only to despise, but to abhor-he cast
the jewels upon the sand, and confessed
them to be useless; he offered part of them
to the mariners, and perceived them to be
pernicious: he has now learned that they
are rendered useful or vain, good or evil,
only by the situation and temper of the
possessor. Happy is he whom distress has
taught

taught wisdom!-but turn thine eyes to another and more interesting scene."

The califf instantly beheld a magnificent palace, adorned with the statutes of his ancestors wrought in jasper; the ivory doors of which turning on hinges of the gold of Golconda, discovered a throne of diamonds, surrounded with the rajas of fifty nations, and with ambassadors in various habits, and of different complexions; on which sat Aboram, the much lamented son of Bozaldab, and by his side a princess, fairer than an Houri.

"Gracious Alla! it is my son," cried the califf: "O! let me hold him to my heart." "Thou canst not grasp an unsubstantial vision," replied the angel, “I am now shewing thee what would have been the destiny of thy son had he continued longer on earth." "And why," returned Bozaldab, "was he not permitted Why was I not suffered to

to continue?

be a witness of so much felicity and pow"Consider the secret," replied he,

er?"

"that dwells in the fifth heaven."

Bozaldab looked earnestly, and saw the countenance of his son, on which he had been used to behold the placid smile of simplicity, and the vivid blushes of health, now distorted with rage, and now fixed in the insensibility of drunkenness; it was again animated with disdain, it became pale with apprehension, and appeared to be withered by intemperance; his hands were stained with blood, and he trembled by turns with fury and terror. The palace, so lately shining with oriental pomp, changed suddenly into the cell of a dungeon, where his son lay stretched out on the cold pavement, gagged and bound, with his eyes put out. Soon after he observed the favourite Sultana, who before was seated by his side, enter with a bowl of poison, which she compelled Aboram to drink,

and

and afterwards married the successor to

his throne.

"Happy," said Coloe, "is he whom providence hath, by the angel of death, snatched from guilt! from whom that power is withheld which, had he possessed, would have accumulated upon himself yet greater misery than it would bring upon others."

"It is enough," cried Bozaldab, "I ádore the inscrutable schemes of omniscience-From what dreadful evils hath my son been rescued, by a death which I rashly bewailed as unfortunate and premature-a death of innocence and peace, which has blessed his memory upon earth, and transmitted his spirit to the skies."

"Cast away the dagger," replied the heavenly messenger, "which thou wast preparing to plunge into thine own heart; exchange complaint for silence, and doubt for adoration.

Can a mortal look down