near the sea-entrance into my recess, almost close to the promontory, from which they had probably been severed by successive storms. As they were always in the sea, I could easily make my calculation by observing whether they seemed to lengthen or shorten. With my near-sighted glass I watched them; and great was my consternation when, little by little, I lost sight of them. I now looked wistfully on to the main ocean, in the hope of espying some vessel, or fishing-boat, with intention of spreading and waving my parasol, in signal of distress, should any one come in sight. But nothing appeared. All was vacant and vast! I was wholly alone,wholly isolated. I feared to turn my head, lest I should become giddy, and lose my balance. In this terrible state, painful, dangerous, and, more than all, solitary, who could paint my joy, when suddenly, re-entering by the aperture in the rock through which she had quitted me, I perceived little Diane ! For the instant I felt as if restored to safety-I no longer seemed abandoned. She soon leaped across the flat stones and the sands which separated us; but how great was the difficulty to make her climb as I had climbed ! Twenty times she advanced only to retreat from the sharp points of the rock, till ultimately she picked herself out a passage by help of the slate, and got upon the enormous table, of which the upper part was my support; but the slant was such, that as fast as she ascended she slipped down, and we were both, I believe, almost hopeless of the desired junction, when, catching at a favourable moment that had advanced her paws within my reach, I contrived to hook her collar by the curved end of my parasol and help her forward. This I did with one hand, and as quick as lightning, dragging her over the slab, and dropping her at my feet, where she soon nestled herself in a sort of niche of slate, in a situation much softer than mine, but in a hollow that was for me impracticable. I hastily recovered my hold, which I marvel now that I had the temerity to let go; but to have at my side my faithful Diane was a comfort which no one not planted, and for a term that seemed indefinite, in so unknown a solitude, can conceive. What cries of joy the poor little thing uttered when thus safely lodged! And with what tenderness I sought to make her sensible of my gratitude for her return! I was now, compared with all that had preceded, in Paradise; so enchanted did I feel at no longer considering myself as if alone in the world.

O, well I can conceive the interest excited in the French prisoner by a spider, even a spider! Total absence of all of animation in a place of confinement, of which the term is unknown, where volition is set aside, and where captivity is the work of the elements, casts the fancy into a state of solemn awe, of fearful expectation, which I have not words to describe; while the higher mind, mastering at times that fancy, seeks resignation from the very sublimity of that terrific vacuity, whence all seems exiled but self; seeks, and finds it in the almost visible security of the omnipresence of God. To see after my kind little companion, was an occupation that for awhile kept me from seeing after myself; but when I had done what I could towards giving her comfort and assistance, I again looked before me, and saw the waters at the base of my rock of refuge still gradually rising on, while both my rocks of mark were completely swallowed up!

My next alarm was one that explained that of Diane when she came back so scared from the cavern; for the waves, probably from some subterranean passage, now forced their way through that cavern, threatening inundation to even the highest part of my chamber. This was horrific. I

could no longer even speak to Diane-my eyes were riveted upon this unexpected gulf, and in a few moments an immense breaker attacked my rock, and, impeded by its height from going straight, was dashed in two directions, and foamed onward against each side. I did not breathe, I felt faint, I felt even sea-sick. On, then, with added violence came two widespreading waves, and being parted by my rock, completely encompassed it, meeting each other on the further and upper ground.

I now gave up my whole soul to prayer for myself and for my Alexander, and that I might mercifully be spared this watery grave, or be endowed with courage and faith for meeting it with firmness. The next waves reached to the uppermost end of my chamber, which was now all sea, save the small rock upon which I was mounted ! How I might have been subdued by a situation so awful at once and so helpless, if left to its unmixed contemplation, I know not; had I not been still called into active service in sustaining my poor Diane. No sooner were we thus encompassed, than she was seized with a dismay that filled me with pity. She trembled violently; and rising and looking down at the dreadful sight of sea, sea, sea all around, and sea still to the utmost extent of the view beyond, she turned up her face to me as if appealing for protection; and when I spoke to her with kindness, she crept forward to my feet, and was instantly taken with a shivering fit. I could neither sit nor kneel to offer her any comfort; but I dropped down as children do when they play at "hunt the slipper," for so only could I loose my hold of the slab without falling, and I then stroked and caressed her in as fondling a way as if she had been a child; and I recovered her from her ague-fit by rubbing her head and back with my shawl. She then looked up at me somewhat composed, though still piteous and forlorn, and licked my hand with gratitude. While this passed, the sea had gained considerably in height, and in a few minutes afterwards all the horrors of a tempest seemed impending. The wind roared around me, pushing on the waves with a frothy velocity that, to a bystander, not to an inmate amidst them, would have been beautiful. It whistled with shrill and varying tones from the numberless crevices in the three immense rocky mountains, by whose semicircular adhesion I was thus immured; and it burst forth at times in squalls, reverberating from height to height or chasm to chasm, as if the big-mouthed thunder

'Were bellowing through the vast and boundless deep.'

A wave, at length, more stupendous than any which had preceded it, dashed against my rock, as if enraged at an interception of its progress, and rushed on to the extremity of this savage chamber with foaming impetuosity. This moment I believed to be my last of mortality! but a moment only it was; for scarcely had I time, with all the rapidity of concentrated thought, to recommend myself, my husband, and my poor Alexander, humbly, but fervently, to the mercy of the Almighty, when the celestial joy broke in upon me of perceiving that this wave, which had bounded forward with such fury, was the last of the rising tide! In its rebound, it forced back with it, for an instant, the whole body of water that was lodged nearest to the upper extremity of my recess, and the transporting sight was granted me of an opening to the sands; but they were covered again the next instant; and, as no other breaker made a similar opening, I was still, for a considerable length of time, in the same situation; but I lost hope no more. The tide was turned: it could rise, therefore, no higher the danger was over of so unheard-of an end, of

:

vanishing no one knew how or where, of leaving to my kind, deploring friends, an unremitting uncertainty of my fate, of my re-appearance or dissolution. I now wanted nothing but time and caution to effect my deliverance."-Diary of Madame D'Arblay.

CHRISTIAN INTEGRITY REWARDED.

(To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.)

EXAMPLES of Christian fidelity, and of providential interposition in behalf of good men, are always edifying, and are regarded by devout people with feelings of lively satisfaction. They serve to encourage the spirits of the timid, and to stimulate the faithful to perseverance in the path of duty. Under this impression I have been induced to write, for the purpose of publication, the following fact, which was related to me about forty years ago by one of the parties concerned.

An aged man, who was remarkable for the purity of his character, the cheerfulness of his piety, and the general respect in which he was held, told me, that when he was young he hired himself as a shepherd to a respectable farmer in the fens of Lincolnshire; and that, during the time of his servitude, Methodist preaching was introduced into the village; the itinerant Ministers of that denomination coming at stated periods, and in an humble cottage declaring the word of life. My informant, and several of his fellow-servants, attended the ministrations of these zealous strangers, from whose lips were heard the words of truth and salvation. He received the Gospel message with a believing and obedient heart, and obtained an assurance of God's forgiving mercy, with that regenerating grace by which he was made a new creature.

After some time, the master, who was not himself a religious man, sent for the whole of his servants to appear before him in the parlour, every one of them wondering what was the matter. He then addressed them to the following effect :-" I understand that you have all gone to hear these Methodist Preachers, and that some of you regularly attend their meetings. I now inform you that I shall not allow any of my servants to become Methodists; and unless you promise me, before you leave this room, that you will not attend another Methodist meeting during your stay with me, I shall immediately pay you the wages which are due to you, and send you away, to seek employment elsewhere."

Beginning then with the foreman, he inquired of every one in order whether he would attend the Methodist preaching again; demanding of each a direct answer, yea or nay. Most of them, with little or no hesitation, expressed their regret for having thus offended him, and promised never more to offend in this matter. The farmer called upon the shepherd last, asking, with a grave countenance and a stern manner, "Harry, what hast thou to say for thyself?" Harry answered, "I am very happy in my place, and should be glad enough to remain with you, as your shepherd; but my soul is of more worth than the wages that I am hired for. I have received good under the preaching of these men; and I am determined to hear them, whatever may come of it. I will not act against my conscience, Sir, for anybody." On hearing this, the farmer, whose object it was merely to ascertain the real characters of his men, exclaimed, "Thou art an honest lad, Harry, and worthy to be trusted. As for these other fel

lows, every one of them would sell his soul for worldly benefit; and what confidence can one put in them?" He then declared that he should retain Harry as his shepherd, and forthwith dismissed every other servant, as unworthy of his confidence. The venerable man who gave me this account was then about eighty years of age; and as the facts occurred in the early part of his life, nearly a century has now elapsed since the religious principles of these poor men were thus severely tested.

These facts are stated as presenting an edifying example of pious fidelity in humble life, and as suggesting encouragement even to young converts to maintain their Christian integrity at all hazards, assured that the Lord, whom they serve, will sustain and defend them. As to the farmer, he seems to have known that religious people ought to subordinate everything to the salvation of their souls; but he was very unskilful in the application of this principle to individual cases. Because his servants had heard a few Methodist sermons, he expected from them all the fruits of established piety; when, perhaps, some of them had only a very indistinct apprehension of the truth which they had heard, and others had been actuated in their attendance by mere curiosity. His conduct was as unwise as the attempt to mend an old garment, by inserting in it a piece of new cloth, which, having never passed through the fuller's hands, is stiff and unyielding, and therefore increases the rent which it is meant to repair: or, to use another of our blessed Saviour's comparisons, the farmer did not perceive the folly of putting new wine into old leathern bottles, which, having lost their elasticity, are torn asunder when the wine begins to ferment; so that they and their contents perish together. (Matt. ix. 16, 17.) A SEXAGENARIAN.

REMINISCENCES OF A MISSION TO THE MYSORE.

BY THE REV. WILLIAM ARTHUR.

CHAPTER VII.-THE RETURN.

(Concluded from page 47.)

SIMON'S-TOWN is a neat, quiet, little place; but we remained there only long enough to procure a conveyance to Cape-Town. Our driver was a Malay, insinuating, talkative, and sinister; greatly in love with the English, and no admirer of the Dutch: how he would have found his taste had his passengers been of the latter nation, I cannot answer. His countrymen exist in considerable numbers at the Cape; the Dutch having draughted into that colony, as into Ceylon, Malay regiments from Java. They preserve their costume, their language, and their Mohammedanism. Wynberg, lying between Simon's-Town and Cape-Town, is a lovely village; a charming medium between England and India, with many of the beauties of the one and of the other, and yet presenting a whole different from both. Near it lies Constantia, celebrated for its luscious wine. Wynberg offers a delightful residence to the convalescent "Indians," who resort in great numbers to the Cape. I stopped here to see Captain Dobbs, who had been compelled by ill health to leave India, about a year and a half before; and was delighted to find him with looks far different from those with which I had seen him start from Toomcoor. It was just the hour for a

religious meeting at the house of one of his friends: I joined with lively delight a numerous company, composed chiefly of gentlemen from India, with their ladies, and heard the excellent Captain give them a faithful exhortation to holiness of life.

The locomotive genius of the age is displayed even at Wynberg: I travelled thence to Cape-Town in an omnibus! an omnibus, it is true, that would look primitive beside its London prototypes; but, at the same time, travelling with creditable celerity. I met with a reception truly brotherly from the excellent Mr. Hodgson. Cape-Town is well built and clean, with streets of tolerable width, in some cases shaded by rows of oak and elm. The grouping in the streets is singularly varied: Europe, Asia, and America meet upon the soil of Africa. Perhaps in the very same street, and blended in picturesque relations, you see the free, familiar air of the Englishman; the conical cap and eastern countenance of the Malay; the lusty Dutch burgher, the British soldier; the turbaned Hindu, who has followed his master from India; the elegant European carriage; the semisavage air of the Brazilian slave-dealer, apparently cursing the English for having robbed him of his prey; the comfortable, well-clad Dutch housewife; a waggon drawn heavily by twelve, fourteen, or sixteen giant bullocks, with wide, rambling horns, and driven by a Hottentot whom English generosity has lifted out of slavery; the wiry frame and swarthy visage of the Anglo-American; the tall cap and flowing robe of a Persian horsedealer; the dark, meanly-clad African women; and a light waggon drawn by eight horses, a farmer driving the eight in hand at full trot, while an assistant by his side has charge of the whip. To the east of the town, and commanding the bay, stands the castle, an extensive pentagonal fortress, having a deep fosse, regular outworks, and a rampart connecting it with two forts which lie farther to the east. On the other side of the town, Table-Mountain rises to the height of three thousand five hundred and sixty-seven feet, having the first nine hundred feet of vertical schistus, the next nine hundred of granite, then two hundred of horizontal red sandstone, and from that to the top an indurated sandstone, white, and embedding numerous pieces of quartz. Upon it are said to be found nearly thirty different varieties of heath. Table-Bay, spacious, and flanked on either side by bold, rugged hills, has at its mouth an island of considerable size, which serves as a penal station; and beyond it spread the waters of the wide Atlantic. From that bay, forty years ago,* the peaceful and saintly Henry Martyn watched the British forces drive, from height to height, the Dutch, defending in vain, for the second and last time, this possession which they had held for a century and a half. The English, Scotch, and Dutch churches in the town are supported by Government. The only religious service which I had the opportunity of attending was a Dutch prayer-meeting conducted by Mr. Hodgson. The language was unknown to me, and the faces nearly all black; but the attendance was good, and seemed to be pervaded by a spirit of fervent devotion.

After a stay of only two days, we were recalled to Simon's-Town. The Mate (henceforth to be called the Captain) assured us that the faulty seams had been discovered and caulked, and that he had laid in ample stores. The wind detained us for some days, during which I received the utmost hospitality from a Dutch family, and preached twice in our neat chapel to congregations composed of English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, Hottentot,

* In 1806.