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one continued scene of stratagem and deceit; and is passed in the courts of gallantry and in the halls of intrigue. Those rare qualities of being a good housewife and economical mistress, are not the butt at which she aims; but, in defiance to all respectability and steady decorum, she runs headlong into the deepest mazes of pleasure, and there carries on her various fooleries-the scoff of every good person, and the companion of the fop. A domestic life, in her estimation, is odious; and she quits the sober and diligent services of home, for the flirtings of gaiety, the opera, balls, masquerades, and assemblies, with a thousand other species of amusement, in which she can display her foibles, and be the gazing-stock of the surrounding multitude.

her person, and she manages them all with uncommon facility. Her motions in the dance acquire to her the wondering eyes of the company. Each step is taken with precision, but without clumsiness and to correctness, she adds elegance in its fullness. Her figure is genteel and gracile, and her habiliments possess every touch which the expert milliner and dress-maker's taste could produce. To one then, on whom nature and art have expended their bounties so profusely, it may readily be supposed, that men of gallantry, who are susceptible of being brought into admiration by the splendour of beauty, should pay their obsequious devoirs whenever opportunity affords. Her hand is courted, and, when obtained, is prized beyond conception. The poor victims of her refusal are many; and the person on whom she does not shew this particular favour, at once becomes the odium of his disappointed rivals. She, however, acts with such policy as not to offend in her denial; and, therefore, ensures to herself throughout the whole evening a continuance of attentions. Hope will buoy men up, even when they find themselves sinking: so it is with the race of admirers and lovers; they will not quit the expectation that they have cherished of becoming, in a short period, the triumphaut and unassailable conqueror of his mistress's heart.

In the ball-room the coquette reels over the boards and tosses her head with an air as exalted as can possibly be conceived in one of us sublunary creatures, whose beauty (if we really possess any) is doomed early to fade. Her cheeks (which perhaps have suffered from a previous rake, and if exhibited in their real condition, would wear a livid and cadaverous aspect) bear upon their surface a rich hectic bloom, that is mellowed finely, till it gradually dies away into the skin of snow-white. Her bosom heaves with a rechecher undulation, and now and then a gentle sigh escapes its retreat, and serves to awaken in each beholder the flame of passion. The fine ivory painted fan is wielded in her hand, and now and then is raised to secure her blushes from the stare of her admirers, or to be the screen, through whose various loopholes she may with more safety take a glance at that individual, who might otherwise be conceited enough to suppose her to be in love with him, provided she was so incautious as to fix her eyes upon him, in token of admiration. To a fine head of hair, all laid out in the most fascinating forms, or dangling on her neck in exquisite ringlets, are added, as embellishments, a profusion of feathers, that wave aloof like so many downy canopies. Diamonds sparkle in each head-piece, and the delicate pearl displays its charms. Her motions are most graceful, easy, and unconstrained. A placid, but dignified smile, plays upon her lips. The Graces seem to have lavished, in toto, their riches upon

After a good deal of cozenage on the part of the coquette, and much of wile and fraud being mingled with her actions, the time at length arrives when she must retire, and, for her beau, must adopt some one of the flattering fops who stand all alive on tiptoe, full of attention, and offering, with exceed. ing politesse, to wait upon her to her home. Her choice is made, and away goes the lady and her gallant in a vehicle which seems to move with the swiftness of thought. When, after their arrival and parting draws nigh, what emotions fill the breast of the young admirer. He has lavished his affections upon her, and Cupid has set fire to his heart. Reason vanishes his mind, and Venus takes a strong possession: he kneels at her feet, vows of eternal love fall from his lips with surprising rapidity; tears roll across his cheek; he presses her hand to his mouth, and giving vent to a sigh that might be mistaken for his heart bursting, he tears

IA

27 MAR 1969

himself from her, but not without swearing to see her again.

The poor love-stricken dupe returns and repeats his call, but has the mortification to find all her vows broken, and herself off with some other admirer. He again meets her, and is again dazzled into love with her. He forgets all his angriness, and resumes his former pleasing appearance. Thus he lays himself open to the snares of his fair deceiver, and she binds him to herself with a hard and trammelling cord. He follows in her train of other gallants; and with all the art of generalship, she manages her corps to her own advantage. Full of intrigues, deceit, and hypocrisy, she pretends to one, what she dissolves next moment in her protestations to another; and thus all are deceived, and yet none desert her standard. Her dalliance with one, excites the other to stronger emotion; and thus she holds in power, and at her pleasure, a whole string of the flippant-minded gay gentlemen, who may always be found in myriads, dancing through the avenues of fashion and high life. She becomes vain over the language that they utter in her praise: billets-doux, in thousands are sent to her, full of amorous and extravagant flattery; madrigals of the highest polish, are the means often employed to convey to her the sentiments of her admirers. She becomes puffed up with conceit, and fashions her thoughts to her own praise.

Ye fair; forgive me if I wrong ye; but I here only speak of some. That there are others who uphold in their conduct the influence of decorum, and have not the odium of the respectable part of the community from their heterogeneous behaviour, I am ready to acknowledge; but that there are many whose life and character is full of worthless coquetry, I hope will be granted. If we trace the appearance of the former with the aspect of the latter, and look upon them with a just and impartial observation, we shall soon be brought to extol the one, to the dispraise of the other. Women of fashion, now a-days, as they flaunt before us, deserve our contumely; and every good person must view their career with horror. Each quality that is truly good, and will make woman the fit creature which God intended, is violated and laid aside, for the attainment of empty shew and ludicrous

embellishment. The passions lead to destruction, when fed profusely; but, alas! we daily observe them to their full extent; and whether they be displayed in the miserable rags of the debased prostitute, or elicited from under the specious and wily garb of the creature of fashion, still they have the same gaol, and virtuous nature recoils at the sight of them.

A loose, and over-gay conduct in any woman, displays little respect to all those characteristics which make her sex so amiable in the world-whether in the duties of a wife, a parent, a child, a sister, or a friend. That behaviour, which is by many only esteemed as the fort of gallantry, is subservient, in my opinion, to the worst of purposes. Men are flirted with; true affection becomes a sport; romantic and wild thoughts are cherished; religion and the principles of good knowledge are despised, for the empty pageantry of a ball-room, or the conversation of a fop; social and domestic acquirements are disregarded as being worthless; home is neglected, and dress and shew are courted; in fact, vice and infamy follow in the train of the gaudy woman and the falsehearted coquette.

THE FLOATING BEACON.

(Continued from our last.)

Angerstoff and Morvalden tended the beacon alternately during the night. The latter had the watch while I remained upon deck. His appearance and manner indicated much perturbation of mind, and he paced hurriedly from side to side, sometimes muttering to himself, and sometimes stopping suddenly to look through the sky-light, as if anxious to discover what was going on below. He would then gaze intently upon the heavens, and next moment take out his watch, and contemplate the motions of its hands. I did not offer to disturb these reveries, and thought myself altogether unobserved by him, till he suddenly advanced to the spot where I stood, and said, in a loud whisper,-"There's a villain below-a desperate villain-this is true-he is capable of any thing-and the woman is as bad as him."-I asked what proof he had of all this.-"Oh! I know it," returned he; "that wretch Angerstoff, whom I once thought my friend, has

gained my wife's affections. She has been faithless to me-yes she has. They both wish I were out of the way. Perhaps they are now planning my destruction. What can I do? It is very terrible to be shut up in such narrow limits with those who hate me, and to have no means of escaping, or defending myself from their infernal machinations.""Why do you not leave the beacon," inquired I, "and abandon your companion and guilty wife?"Ah, that is impossible," answered Morvalden; "if I went on shore I would forfeit my liberty. I live here that I may escape the vengeance of the law, which I once outraged for the sake of her who has now withdrawn her love from me. What ingratitude! Mine is indeed a terrible fate, but I must bear it. And shall I never again wander through the green fields, and climb the rocks that encircle my native place? Are the weary dashings of the sea, and the moanings of the wind, to fill my ears continually, all the while telling me that I am an exile? a hopeless despairing exile. But it won't last long," cried he catching hold of my arm; "they will murder me !-I am sure of it-I never go to sleep without dreaming that Angerstoff has pushed me overboard."

"Your lonely situation, and inactive life, dispose you to give way to these chimeras," said I; "you must endeayour to resist them. Perhaps things aren't so bad as you suppose."-"This is not a lonely situation," replied Morvalden, in solemn tone, "Perhaps you will have proof of what I say before you leave us. Many vessels used to be lost here, and a few are wrecked still; and the skeletons and corpses of those who have perished lie all over the sand-bank. Sometimes, at midnight, I have seen crowds of human figures moving backwards and forwards upon the surface of the ocean, almost as far as the eye could reach. I neither knew who they were, nor what they did there. When watching the lantern alone, I often hear a number of voices talking together, as it were, under the waves; and twice caught the very words they uttered, but I cannot repeat them-they dwell incessantly in my memory, but my tongue refuses to pronounce them, or to explain to others what they meant."

"Do not let your senses be imposed upon by a distempered imagination,”

said I; "there is no reality in the things you have told me."-" Perhaps my mind occasionally wanders a little, for it has a heavy burden upon it," returned Morvalden. "I have been guilty of a dreadful crime. Many that now lie in the deep below us, might start up, and accuse me of what I am just going to reveal to you. One stormy night, shortly after I began to take charge of this beacon, while watching on deck, I fell into a profound sleep; I know not how long it coutinued, but I was awakened by horrible shouts and cries-I started up, and instantly perceived that all the lamps in the lantern were extinguished. It was very dark, and the sea raged furiously; but notwithstanding all this, I observed a ship a-ground on the bank, a little way from me, her sails fluttering in the wind, and the waves breaking over her with violence. Half frantic with horror, I ran down to the cabin for a taper, and lighted the lamps as fast as possible. The lantern, when hoisted to the top of the mast, threw a vivid glare on the surrounding ocean, and shewed me the vessel disappearing among the billows. Hundreds of people lay gasping in the water near her. Men, women, and children, writhed together in ago nizing struggles, and uttered soul-harrowing cries; and their countenances, as they gradually stiffened under the hand of death, were all turned towards me with glassy stare, while the lurid expression of their glistening eyes upbraided me with having been the cause of their untimely end. Never shall I forget these looks. They haunt me wherever I am asleep and awake-- night and day. I have kept this tale of horror secret till now, and do not know if I shall ever have courage to relate it again. The masts of the vessel projected above the surface of the sea for several months after she was lost, as if to keep me in recollection of the night on which so many human creatures perished, in consequence of my neglect and carelessness. Would to God I had no memory! I sometimes think I am getting mad. The past and present are equally dreadful to me; and I dare not anticipate the future"

I felt a sort of superstitious dread steal over me, while Morvalden related his story, and we continued walking the deck in silence, till the period of his watch expired. I then went below, and

took refuge in my birth, though I was but little inclined for sleep. The gloomy ideas, and dark foreboding, expressed by Morvalden, weighed heavily upon my mind, without my knowing why: and my situation, which had at first seemed only dreary and depressing, began to have something indefinitely terrible in its aspect.

Next day, when Morvalden proceeded as usual to put the beacon in order, he called upon Angerstoff to come and assist him, which the latter peremptorily refused. Morvalden then went down to the cabin, where his companion was, and requested to know why his orders were not obeyed. "Because I hate trouble," replied Angerstoff.66 I am master here," said Morvalden, "and have been entrusted with the direction of every thing. Do not attempt to trifle with me ""Trifle with you!" exclaimed Angerstoff, looking contemptuously. "No, no; I am no trifler; and I advise you to walk up stairs again, lest I prove this to your Cost."-" Why, husband," cried Marietta, "I believe there are no bounds to your laziness. You make this young man toil from morning to night, and take advantage of his good-nature in the most shameful manner."-" Peace, infamous woman!" said Morvalden; "I know very well why you stand up in his defence; but I'll put a stop to the intimacy that exists between you. Go to your room instantly! You are my wife, and shall obey me.',-" Is this nsage to be borne ?" exclaimed Marietta. "Will no one step forward to protect me from his violence"?" Insolent fellow cried Angerstoff, "don't presume to insult my mistress."—" Mistress!" repeated Morvalden. "This to my face!" and struck him a severe blow. Angerstoff sprung forward, with the intention of returning it, but I got between them, and prevented him. Marietta then began to shed tears, and applauded the generosity her paramour had evinced in sparing her husband, who immediately went upon deck, without speaking a word, and hurriedly resumed the work that had engaged his attention previous to the quarrel.

Neither of the two men seemed at all disposed for a reconciliation, and they had no intercourse during the whole day, except angry and revengeful looks. I frequently observed Marietta in deep

consultation with Angerstoff, and easily perceived that the subject of debate had some relation to her injured husband, whose manner evinced much alarm and anxiety, although he endeavoured to look calm and cheerful. He did not make his appearance at meals, but spent all his time upon deck. Whenever Angerstoff accidentally passed him, he shrunk back with an expression of dread, and intuitively, as it were, caught hold of a rope, or any other object to which he could cling. The day proved a wretched and fearful one to me, for I momentarily expected that some terrible affray would occur on board, and that 1 would be implicated in it. I gazed upon the surrounding sea almost without intermission, ardently hoping that some boat might approach near enough to afford me an opportunity of quitting the horrid and dangerous abode to which I was imprisoned.

It

It was Angerstoff's watch on deck till midnight; and as I did not wish to have any communication with him, I remained below. At twelve o'clock, Morvalden got up and relieved him, and he came down to the cabin, and soon after retired to his birth. Believing, from the arrangement, that they had no hostile intentions, I lay down in bed with composure, and fell asleep. was not long before a noise overhead awakened me. I started up, and listened intently. The sound appeared to be that of two persons scuffling together, for a succession of irregular footsteps beat the deck, and I could hear violent blows given at intervals. I got out of my birth, and entered the cabin, where I found Marietta standing alone, with a lamp in her hand. "Do you hear that?" cried I." Hear what? returned she; "I have had a dreadful dream-I am all trembling." "Is Angerstoff below?" demanded I.-"No-Yes, I mean," said Marietta. "Why do you ask that? He went up stairs.""Your husband and he are fighting. We must part them instantly." "How can that be?" answered Marietta; "Angerstoff is asleep." 'Asleep! Didn't you say he went up stairs "I don't now," returned she, "I am hardly awake yet-Let us listen

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a moment.

Every thing was still for a few seconds; then a voice shrieked out, "Ah! that knife! Your are murdering me! Draw it out! No help! Are you done? Now,

now, now!" A heavy body fell suddenly along the deck, and some words were spoken in a faint tone, but the roaring of the sea prevented me from hearing what they were.

I rushed up the cabin stairs, and tried to push open the folding doors at the head of them, but they resisted my utmost efforts. I knocked violently and repeatedly, to no purpose. "Some one

is killed," cried I. "The person who barred these doors on the outside is guilty." "I know nothing of that," returned Marietta. "We can't be of any use now. Come here again! How dreadfully quiet it is. My God! A drop of blood has fallen through the sky-light. What faces are yon looking down upon us? But this lamp is going out. We must be going through the water at a terrible rate. How it rushes past us! I am getting dizzy. Do you hear these bells ringing?and strange voices-"

The cabin doors were suddenly burst open, and Angerstoff next moment appeared before us, crying out, "Morvalden has fallen overboard. Throw a rope to him!- He will be drowned." His hands and dress were marked with blood, and he had a frightful look of horror and confusion. "You are a murderer!" exclaimed I, almost involuntarily." How do you know that?" said he, staggering back; "I'm sure you never saw-" "Hush, hush," cried Marietta to him; "are you mad?—— Speak again!-What frightens you ?— Why don't you run and help Morvalden?""Has any thing happened to him ?" inquired Angerstoff, with a gaze of consternation." You told us he had fallen overboard," returned Marietta. "Must my husband perish?”—“ Give me some water to wash my hands," said Angerstoff, growing deadly pale, and catching hold of the tablé for support.

I now hastened upon deck, but Morvalden was not there. I then went to the side of the vessel, and put my hands on the gunwale, while I leaned over, and looked downwards. On taking them off, I found them marked with blood. I grew sick at heart, and began to identify myself with Angerstoff the murderer. The sea, the beacon, and the sky, appeared of a sanguine hue; and I thought I heard the dying exclamations of Morvalden sounding a hundred fathom below me, and echoing through the caverns of the deep.

I

advanced to the cabin door, intending to descend the stairs, but found that some one had fastened it firmly on the inside. I felt convinced that I was intentionally shut out, and a cold shuddering pervaded my frame. I covered my face with my hands, not daring to look around; for it seemed as if I was excluded from the company of the living, and doomed to be the associate of the spirits of drowned and murdered men. After a little time I began to walk hastily backwards and forwards; but the light of the lantern happened to flash on a stream of blood that ran along the deck, and I could not summon up resolution to pass the spot where it was a second time. The sky looked black and threatening-the sea had a fierceness in its sound and motions-and the wind swept over its bosom with melancholy sighs. Every thing was sombre and ominous; and I looked in vain for some object that would, by its soothing aspect, remove the dark impressions which crowded upon my mind.

While standing near the bows of the vessel, I saw a hand and arm rise slowly behind the stern, and wave from side to side. I started back as far as I could go in horrible affright, and looked again, expecting to behold the entire spectral figure of which I supposed they formed a part. But nothing more was visible. I struck my eyes till the light flashed from them, in hopes that my senses had been imposed upon by distempered vision-however it was in vain, for the hand still motioned me to advance, and I rushed forwards with wild desperation, and caught hold of it. I was pulled along a little way notwithstanding the resistance I made, and soon discovered a man stretched along the stern-cable, and clinging to it in a convulsive manner. It was Morvalden. He raised his head feebly, and said something, but I could only distinguish the words "murdered-overboardreached this rope-terrible death."-I stretched out my arms to support him, but at that moment the vessel plunged violently, and he was shaken off the cable, and dropped among the waves. He floated for an instant, and then disappeared under the keel.

I seized the first rope I could find, and threw one end of it over the stern, and likewise flung some planks into the sea, thinking that the unfortunate

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