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defended by her egis, upon which may be seen the head of Medusa.

Unfortunately for Medusa she was the most beautiful of the three Gorgons who reigned together over the Gorgonian Isles. Distracted with her charms, and unable to bend either her heart or her virtue, Neptune surprized | and violated her in the temple of Minerva. The outraged Goddess changed the locks of Medusa into serpents, and had her head engraven upon her egis.

Sometimes the helmet of Minerva is surmounted by a young owl, and they place near her sometimes a cock, the symbol of courage, and sometimes an owl. It was into this bird that Nictimene was changed for having an incestuous intercourse with her father. The misfortune of Nictimene and of Medusa attest the chastity of Minerva. She gave a stronger proof of it at the expence of Tyresias, whom she struck blind, because he had seen her when she was in a bath.

You will be easily persuaded that Minerva remained a virgin through eternity. For my own part, I dare neither assert nor combat so delicate an opinion; all I know for certain is, that she as well as Vesta presided over virginity.

At the celebration of her feasts, virgins rather in the wane of their charms, divided themselves into different brigades, armed with sticks and stones; then sounding a charge, they fell with fury upon one another. The first who perished in the action was regarded as infamous, and they threw her body into the water; while they led in triumph her who, without yielding, had received the most wounds. Thus the most celebrated faces in these regions were the most disfigured.

It is supposed that the feasts established in Lybia, on the borders of the Tritonian marsh, were transferred to Athens when Minerva gave her name to that city. Neptune had disputed

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this honour with her. In order to terminate their difference, it was mutually agreed that the patronage of the infant town should belong to that one of the two who should produce the thing most useful to the inhabitants. Neptune created the horse, Minerva the olive. The olive obtained the prize. It is thus I should have adjudged it, for that tree is the symbol of peace. Loving you, my Emilia, I secretly prefer the myrtle to the laurel; and the myrtle rarely flourishes but under the shade of the olive.

care.

Minerva had a temple in the citadel of Athens, and another in that of Troy. It is there that she was adored under the name of Pallas, as president of combats. The Trojans gave her statue the name of the Palladium, and preserved it with the most scrupulous This little figure was made of the bones of Pelops, the ancient King of Peloponesus; it was made to move like a puppet, a circum stance calculated to inspire the simple Trojan women with infinite veneration. The men regarded this figure as the pledge of their country's security. When the Grecks besieged Troy, Ulysses and Diomed having penetrated by a subterranean passage into the temple of Minerva, carried off the Palladium, and the city shortly afterwards submitted to her conquerors.

This event recalls to my mind a piece of news which interests me deeply. Report says, that during a whole twelvemonth the Prince of Cythera, with his army of Loves, has laid close siege to you. Your fate is like that of Illion; Cupid's success or disappointment depends solely on your heart; before you are reduced that must be stolen. Thus I fear the siege will last terribly long. Alas! your vestal reserve convinces me that Love has not yet taken the Palladium-Adieu,

(To be continued.)

THE CHATEAU OF ROUSSILLON.

THE sun had just set behind the Pyrennees; || Madame St. Hypolite: at this hour, in one of deep purple shadows covered the landscapes of Roussillon and darkened the waters of the Garonne and the Mediterranean; a melancholy gleam yet lingered upon the summits of the mountains, faintly touching the wood-tops with a smile of light; while among these forests of gloomy pines, not a breath of wind disturbed the calm of the autumnal evening.

the open lattices, stood Julie St. Hypolite with her brother Francois. They had been conversing at the window, till gradually as the mists thickened, and the surrounding scenery swam before their sight, their conversation had declined in animation, and now they both leaned against the lattice unconscious of the presence of each other. Lulled by the melanIn a chateau romantically built upon the|| choly rippling of the water, and the soft rustsea shore, and overhung with trees, dweltling of the vines which mantled the chateau,

Francois were by her side. "What is the matter, my dearest mother?" they exclaimed together.-Madame St. Hypolite did not answer directly; but soon recovering, and dry

and which were now just stirred by the seabreeze, they severally pursued the train of serious thought into which the hour and the surrounding objects had thrown them. Suddenly the sound of voices at a distance swelleding her eyes, she said: "That song, Julie, upon the air and floated towards the land: it drew nearer; till at length, as the boat from which the voices proceeded came directly under the windows of the chateau, the chorus ceased, and one singer was heard alone. The amelody he sung was wild and tender, and from the stillness of the night Julie was enabled to catch even the softest notes of a voice that seemed to breathe a soul into the void of air. Pursuing its course, the boat glided on, and the sounds becoming fainter, were soon heard no more. A profound silence reigned for some minutes; at length Julie raised her head from the hand upon which she had hitherto supported it "They are quite gone!" said she with a sigh; "quite gone!" And Francois answered mechanically, while his eyes were still fixed upon the sea. "Quite gone!" he repeated in a tone of recollection; and closing the lattice, "let us now join my mother." To this Jolie assented by following him into another apartment..

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has brought back the remembrance of days long since past; it is associated with so many painful recollections, that even thirty years have not effaced its power-Smile at your mother's weakness, for she smiles at it herself." As she spoke, Madame St. Hypolite brushed auother tear from her eye. "It is Italian, is it not?" asked Francois."Yes! it was the popular air of the day when I was at Naples in my youth; it was played and sung at every place; in the streets, in private parties, upon the theatres; in short, I heard it continually, and it is, therefore, inseparably connected with the idea of the person in whose society I enjoyed all the amusements of Naples. I have never heard it since until this day, and you see the foolish effect it has produced.”—“ Ah, I dare say," cxclaimed Julie, "that it is my grandfather it recalls.”

Madame St. Hypolite's eyes again filled with tears, but they were the tears of maternal satisfaction. "Dear child!" she exclaimed, "how does this paint your tranquil and dutiful heart! to you there is as yet no sentiment so powerful as filial tenderness. I do not say, be it ever thus; but I pray God to give a bles sing on the hour in which you first learn that there is something more absolute."

They found Madame 3t. Hypolite already seated at work. The parlour in which she sat was the scene of family pleasure and family industry; its pannels were painted by the pencil of Francois; the flowers with which it was dressed, were cultured and arranged by Julie; its sofas and curtains were embroi- Francois comprehended her at once, and dered by Madame St. Hypolite herself; and al! respectfully kept silence: Julie cast down her around, in agreeable disorder, were scattered eyes, and blushingly stammered out an apology the musical instruments aud books of Julie for her remark. Without withdrawing her and her brother. "Where have my dear chil-affectionate regards from her children, Madame dren been all this evening?" said Madame as they entered, "they have both deserted me.""But we are come to atone for it," said Francois gaily. He then confessed having allured his sister into a long walk, from which they had returned through his study, where the sunset, and mutual absence of mind, had de

tained them thus late.

Julie had fallen in love with the melody they had heard from the passing vessel; and as her musical memory was peculiarly strong, she now took her lute and tried to repeat the air. At the first bar, Madame St. Hypolite hastily turned round and fixed her eyes upon her daughter: Julie smiled with pleasure at this look of attention and sympathy in her taste; but before she had reached the last notes of the romance, she perceived her mother's countenance gradually sadden, till at length tears fell over her checks, and a heavy sigh burst from her lips. The next moment Julie and

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resumed in a calmer tone.—“ The person of
whom I spoke was the Marquis Solerno.
met him at Naples when I went thither to
visit a relation that had married a Neapolitan.
The Marquis was eminently graceful and ac-
complished; he was the first in the circles of
the court, and of science; he was the patron
of literature, the arbiter of taste, and the
protector of the oppressed; in short, he was
formed to inspire a true passion, and to deserve
it; he was most likely formed to feel one, but
not for an inexperienced girl of seventeen. He
was the friend of my cousin's husband, and
their intimacy threw us perpetually into the
same societies; in matters of taste our com
plete sympathy naturally attracted us to each
other, I might add in matters of feeling too,
but there ended our equality; in other things
I was but the woman: I had all the wroug
notions, prejudices, and imprudence of seven-
teen; he all the correct opinions, liberal views,

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nounce happiness for ever; had I first felt the same sentiment for the same object, at sevenand-twenty, when my judgment could have appreciated all his excellence, my less elastic and more impressive heart would never have recovered its spring. As it was, indeed, the blooming part of my youth was spent in depression and indifference to rational as well as lighter pleasures. After giving my hand to your noble father, I loved him tenderly and gratefully, and though I never remembered Solerno without emotion, it was not with criminal regret. Perhaps during that period I never felt so many of my first feelings conneeted with his image, as at the moment in which Julie surprized them from their long sleep."

and settled discretion of mine-and-twenty; my self-abandonment, but they never restored how then could any thing but a visionary girl my gaiety. Your father then saw and loved expect to be chosen by such a man for his com- me; his tenderness touched me; his gentle panion through life? When my friends retired and virtuous character, at length, secured my to their country resdience in the lovely isle of esteem and affections; by my own sorrows I Ischia, Soleruo came there to spend his sum- knew how to pity his. I married him; I mer. For three delightful mouths our party made him happy, and I was happy myself." had no other additions than a young widow, "I hope so, mother," said Francois, eagerly. who was just charming enough to make me "You may be sure I was," continued Mafancy his preference of me, a flattering distinc-dame; "it is rarely at seventeen that we retion: I surrendered my mind to the dangerous hope, and finally deceived myself into the shame of an unreturned affection. Ah, Julie! forget not your mother's story; remember that love is not a sentiment to be despised: it blesses or blights the best years of our life; it is therefore to be considered with caution, and not contempt. I will not say, do not give your heart till your hand is absolutely asked for; since, if you love worthily, it is to the esteem of admirable qualities, and not to gratified vanity, that you will yield.—But I warn you to keep a strict watch over your imagination, and not to be too easily led to indulge an inclination from a slight suspicion that it is secretly desired; if irrevocable obstacles do not exist, few men will content themselves with secretly desiring what they may always seek. Men also are susceptible of many different shades of liking, of which women are ignorant. Yes, Francois, your sex are often awakened to transient likings that have nothing to do with the heart, while delicate and credulous women as often mistake the gaze of momentary passion, or the glance of sudden admiration, for the look of tenderness. Such was the mistake that I made, while shut up for three months in an isle like Eden, with the most animated and courteous man of his time. Fortunately his principles were as noble as his countenance; for the moment my attachment was rendered evident, he acted with strict propriety. He returned with us to Naples, but from that period we never met again; he went on an embassy to Portugal, and I returned to France."

Madame St. Hypolite paused bere, sighed and smiled alternately, then laying her hand on the arm of her attentive daughter, added:

"Be sure of this, Julie, that while a woman is forced to esteem the man froin whom she would detach her heart, no conviction of his being indifferent to her will eradicate her love; without perfect esteem, the wildest passion will soon rave itself out. Having nothing to reproach Solerno with, I found no other eure than time, and reflections upon my other duties; religion and time at length conquered No. XVII. Vol. III.-N. §.

Madame ceased to speak, and Julie once or twice was on the point of asking what had become of the Marquis Solerno; but dreading to excite pain, she sighed, and remained silent.-Her amiable mother resumed.

"This old ballad," she said, "has drawn me into relating a tale of other days, which has made both my dear children look grave; come then, Julie, let me hear some other music now, and I promise you to hear your stolen an with real pleasure another time."

Julie flew to her harpsichord, Francois took up his flute, and a succession of animating pieces restored hilarity to every face.

The succeeding day led Francois amongst the Pyrennees with his dog and his hunting spear; and allured by the freshness of aù autumnal morning, Julie inconsiderately followed him alone.

Francois's bugle was heard echoing in the heart of the mountains, and satisfied that he was near her, his sister sat down in a green recess, under, a slauting ledge of granite; there giving way to ber thoughts, she sat unconscious of the lapse of time and the surrounding solitude, revolving her mother's story. Sometimes Julie reasoned and poudered solely on the lesson she might learn from it; sometimes it suggested to her visions of future joy or sorrow for herself; judgment and imagination reigned by turns. Thus absorbed, she forgot every foreign cirs

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cumstance, till a sudden blast of wind scattered a shower of leaves upon her head, betokening a coming storm, and made her hasten in search of her brother. She ascended to a greater height, and gaining sight of him not far off, again sat down under shelter of a projecting steep, to recover strength and breath.

answer; her voice was drowned in the roar of the cataract, and the uoise of the forest that now began to groan and bend in the gathering storm. The clonds thickened around the centre of the mountain, and soou she could only hear the splashing of the watery chasm in the valley, and distinguish only the highest pinnacles of the rocks around her.

The roar of the waters, the swinging of the woods, aad the black clouds which sailed sublimely below her feet, made her sensible of her imprudence in permitting her brother to depart alone. She now listened in vain for the chorus of monks, or the shrill bark of

Julie was at this moment in one of the most sequestered spots amongst the Pyrennees; she was nearly enclosed by dark inaccessible crags, which shooting athwart a deep valley, cast over it the darkness of night. With difficulty she had ascended thus far by a rugged goat-track; but though some terror might || Francois's dogs; no sound but the rising din have been excited by such a situation, that sentiment was lost in admiration. The little verdant nook is which she stood was gay with a variety of lichens and dianthus superbus; while, looking down into the valley beneath, she could just perceive the foam of a torrent (which dashed from the rocks above her head) sparkling in the sun, under a rude bridge of fallen larch.

A now bright, and now shaded sky, gave even to these objects of terror the charm of beauty. Gigantic shoots of marble and granite, piled high in the air, became luminous with light; while the moss-campion, juniper, and rosemary, which thrust through every fissure yet wet with dissolving snow, glanced like brilliants upon the eye.

Reclined amongst fragrant rosebays, and shaded by magnificent cedars, Julie gazed with all the luxury of taste upon the light mists which, rising from the Mediterranean, now floated towards the Pyrenuecs, and wreathed in thin drapery around their feet.

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of the elements approached her ear; she seemed isolated from all the world, and believed for one horrid moment, that she should perish in these frightful deserts.

The thunder now began to mutter among the clouds, and the lightning came in pale, but frequent flashes across the grauite which shaded her. Julie arose, trembling with fear; every object around threatened with universal darkness; and the clouds as they rolled away upon the wind, blackened in their flight. The thunder became louder, and as it was answered by the echoes to the remotest of the Pyrennees, it appeared as if a continuous peal encircled earth and heaven. The lightning augmented with the thunder, and Julie now stood amidst the scenery enveloped in sheets of fire, and starting as fragments of the rock, disunited by the storm, plunged in the watery gulph below.

Whilst she stood thus with a heart beating in prayer to Heaven, but her eyes wandering over the wide range of the mountains, she perceived, in a strong flash of lightning, a young man resting against a projection of rock unclothed by trees; he was attended by a man, whose dress announced him to be a Pyrennean

Profound stillness reigned in these solitudes, interrupted but at intervals by the faint sound of voices ascending from the chapel of a convent of White Friars, that gleamed through a vista of the mountains. || guide.—Julie tried to speak, but sudden joy

The sacred edifice was dimly seen amid woods of cork trees, and Julie almost fancied she heard their low murmur, as the wind swept among their branches. The voices, however, she distinctly heard, mingled with the more powerful peals of the organ; now they rolled forward like thunder, reverberating from rock to rock; now borne away upon the blast, were Just in distant deserts.

Penetrated with delicious melancholy, Julie forgot her brother, till she heard him calling his dogs, and caught a view of his figure, as he appeared for a moment upon a remote height; | the next instant he disappeared amongst the thick pines with which these untrodden wilds are wooded. She called, but he did not

had deprived her of utterance; fortunately the same flash which had discovered these strangers to her, showed her figure, bending forward amongst the cedars, with her arms stretched out, and her long hair and white garments blown violently upon the wind.

The flashes and the peals succeeded each other with pauseless velocity; and now the whole sweep of mountains being illuminated, shewed to Julie the strangers leaping from height to height, and cressing that fearful bridge of larch, now white with the spray of the cataract, her eyes still eagerly following them, as they were now lost, and now seen among the defiles. At last the superior of the two approached the ledge of rock on which

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Ou recovering, Mademoiselle St. Hypolite found herself in the same place, supported on the bosom of a stranger; she gazed wildly round, and confusedly recalling what had passed, exclaimed :-" What fell!is no one hurt?"-The young man, from whose bosom she started, courteously drew back, and pointed to a huge chesnut tree that had been shivered by a thunderbolt; part of its enormous ribs lay close beside them, and the awful view made Julie's heart throb with gratitude for having escaped their fall. Still more impressed with what she owed to the stranger's intrepidity, she heartily poured forth her thanks amidst tears of joy. Her preserver replied in her native language; yet though he spoke it with the ease of a Frenchman, it was with the accent of an Italian; and offering to be her escort home, he bade bis guide precede them by the safest path.

A circuitous track led them down the mountains, without being forced to cross the bridge over the torrent. The way was long and toil some, but at the most difficult passes, the stranger resigned Julie to the stronger hold of the guide, following their steps more slowly at a distance. After some time the road got smoother, and Julie was again assisted by her

graceful deliverer. They were now at the extremity of the wilds, entering upon the vineyards of Roussillon; the storm was over, but the rain fell in such torrents that not even the thick mantle of the stranger could shelter his delicate companion.

Little affected by personal discomforts, Julie was occupied in observing him, as he walked with an air of melancholy abstraction by her side. His rich black velvet habit, the diamond loop of his cap, and the sparkling order upon his breast, announced him to be noble; but his face and figure excited a higher interest. The stranger was in the prime of manhood and beauty; yet 66 care sat on bis faded cheek," and at times an expression of strong mental pain agitated his pensive features. Julie more than once took this expression for that of bodily anguish, for he grew red and pale in the same instant, and suddenly stopped; she ventured then to speak her apprehensions, but he turned on her a look of grateful sweetness, courteously observing, that she roust not blame him for be traying signs of uneasiness, while he had so precious a charge as herself under his protection-At this compliment, which was said as if from the mere habit of elegant gallantry, Julie blushed and was silenced. At length a turning of the road brought them close to the chateau.

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HISTORIC ROMANCE.

HISTORY OF DON ZAMBOGA AND SERAPHINA; WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

My name is Don Zamboga Perez. I am the son of Don Michal Perez, Count of Villanova, a grandee of Spain. My father was at once the Minister and Cardinal of his Sovereign, and continued in this eminence of station until interest, the predominant consideration with Philip, dissolved the ties of their early intercourse. But, previously to this event, such was the intimacy and mutual confidence of the Minister and the King, that even the difference of rauk appeared to be forgotten, and the natural haughtines of Philip submitted to the equality which a friendship of such familiarity at once induced and required. In one of those mo

ments of mutual attachment, the King preposed that my father should introduce me into the palace, as the companion of the pleasures and studies of the Infant Don Carios. My father did not hesitate to comply with a command thus flattering; the error of his life has been ambition, an error at that period more venial, as the experience of life had not yet instructed him in the vanity of its pursuits. He had not hitherto formed a desire which the anticipating kindness of the King had not gratified. He spread his sail in full security to a breeze of such promise; nor had as yet learned, that nothing was so subject to vicissitude as royal favour. His security was

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