THE FRANK AND THE GREEK.

WHEN Halton, one of the officers of Charlemagne's household, went an embassy to the Byzantine court, he was invited by the Greek Emperor to dinner, and placed by

on

him in the midst of his nobles. There was an established law among the Greeks, that no one at the prince's table should turn over the body of any animal that was served up, but that they should eat of the part that was uppermost. On this occasion, a fresh-water fish was brought up, garnished with various sauces. The ambassador, who knew nothing of the customs of the country, unfortunately turned the fish over, upon which the courtiers, filled with indignation, arose, and, addressing the Emperor, said, "Do not suffer yourself, O Emperor, to be treated with a disrespect which

was never shown to any of your ancestors, command that this stranger, who has broken your laws in your very presence, may be instantly put to death." The King answered, turning to Halton and sighing, "I cannot refuse the request of my lords, but ask of me any other boon than that of your life, and I will grant it." Halton reflected for a moment, and then said, I will only ask of you a small favour, grant, most gracious sovereign, that all who saw me turn the fish over, may have their eyes put out." The Emperor as tonished at the strangeness of this request, swore that he had not seen it done, and had only pronounced upon the word of others. The Empress also called heaven to witness that she had seen nothing of it; and the nobles one after another made the same declaration, with the most terrible oaths. The wise Frank, having thus humbled the proud Greek in his own country, returned home safe, sound, and triumphant.

FAITHFULNESS.

A heathen king caused a holy bishop to be brought before him, faith and sacrifice to the false gods. and commanded him to abjure his

Lord and King-this may not be." But the bishop answered-" My

Then the king was wroth, and said, "Knowest thou not that thy life is in my hands, and that I have power to kill thee? I have only to give the sign, and it is done."

"I know it," answered the bishop, "but I beseech thee first to hear a

parable, and answer one question. Suppose one of thy most faithful servants should fall into the hands of thine enemies, and they should seek to move him to infidelity and treachery against thee. Suppose, too, thy servant continuing steadfast in his loyalty, they should take him and strip him of his clothes, and hunt him with mockery from among them. Say, O king! if he came back to thee, thus in shame and nakedness, wouldst thou not give unto him of thy best raiment, and recompense his shame with

honour ?"

Then said the king-"Yea, truly; but what meaneth this, and where has the like come to pass ?”

thou also canst strip me of this The holy man answered-"See, Master who will clothe me anew earthly clothing; but I have a with honour. Shall I then take

thought for the raiment, and for it give up my faith?"

Then said the king- Go, O life."-From the German. faithful servant. I give thee thy

USE OF PICTURES.

"At Chapel my soul ascended to God, and the sight of the picture at the Altar, of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness, animated me exceedingly to devotedness to the life of a missionary."Journal of Henry Martyn.

and courageous conduct it is designed to commemorate, he will not be offended at the liberty that has been taken, in thus holding up his

are disposed to listen, I am prepared to redeem my promise. Before I begin, however, I must recall to them my object in bringing these facts (for facts they are, not fictions) before their eyes. My desire is not to write a panegyric on the character of our seamen. As a body of men, they certainly have a claim upon the gratitude and regard of all Englishmen. To the scamen of our Navy we owe protection and safety, and to our Merchant seamen we are indebted for the enjoyment of most of those comforts and luxuries, which, to many, in our days, have become absolute necessaries; but, recruited, as they mostly are, from a sadly-neglected class of society, without education, often totally uninstructed in the very rudiments of religion, witnessing, perhaps, from their infancy scenes of drunkenness and depravity, it is not surprising that there should be many bad, and even desperate characters among them, rather it ought to move our astonishment that even amongst this untutored class, we so often meet with deeds of heroic courage and disinterested self-sacrifice. With proper moral and religious training, what might not such a body of men become?

The main facts of the following narrative are strictly true. The names of the various actors in it have been changed, and the details have been slightly altered to admit of their being woven into a connected story. Should it meet the eye of the individual whose noble

and imitation.

My object in writing these tales, is to illustrate a truth, allowed by all in theory, but too much overlooked in practice, namely,-that virtues will not grow of themselves, but that they require to be cultivated in their proper field, if we would acquire them in any degree of perfection; that danger must be faced in order to make us courageous; that exertions must be made if we would have energy; that self-denial and privations must really be practised and undergone in detail, if we would in good earnest learn forgetfulness of self and acquire vigour, and strength of character.

I have chosen the

seaman's life for my subject, as being particularly calculated to develope the whole class of manly My present and bardy virtues.

tale will bring before the reader an example of cool courage and selfpossession in a most trying and perilous situation.

And now I must transport you, good reader, to the far-distant California. California, thou land of golden dreams! Who, in these days of the worship of Mammon, does not feel an interest at the mention of thy name? On thy shores the God of this modern world has set up his altars! How thickly throng his votaries! What painful sensations does it not excite to behold such numbers of miserable men, who are daily rushing westward, urged on by the insatiable thirst for gold! How many of that wretched crowd, think you, return with what

they went to seek? How many, think you, return at all? The demon of covetousness requires human sacrifices. It is a land of guilt and woe. I saw but a short time ago, one who had just returned from thence. He had gone as a surgeon to San Francisco, hoping to find practice, which had been slack at home. Nor was he disappointed; patients were not wanting, and they had the means of paying. He might have amassed a fortune there, but his words to me were, "No sum of money would have induced me to remain another year in such a Pandemonium. It is indeed a very hell upon earth!"

It was, however, from no thirst for gold, but in the honest pursuit of his calling, that Captain Ramsay, commander of the ship Falkirk, entered the port of San Francisco, in the summer of 18-. He had taken out a cargo of passengers from Great Britain to New Zealand, and from thence he had proceeded to China, where he had expected to take in a cargo of tea, but being disappointed in this, and finding passengers offer themselves for San Francisco, he thought to employ the time profitably for his owner in conveying them thither, with the intention of returning to Canton in time for the season of shipping the tea. Very few days, however, had elapsed after his arrival at San Francisco, ere the gold fever seized upon the greater part of his crew. Regardless of their duty, and of the strait in which they left their captain, who, from the uniform kindness, and, at the same time, firmness of his conduct, had ever been a deservedly popular man, they yielded to the irresistible spell, and deserting the ship one dark and moonless night, ran off to the "diggings," as the ravines where the gold is found are called. Thither we shall not pursue them. But what was poor

Captain Ramsay to do without a crew? He had only four men left, namely, the two mates, the carpenter, and the steward. Certainly it was not a promising state of things, for who could be induced to supply the place of the deserters, and to leave this tempting land? Yet to navigate so large a ship as the Falkirk with only four hands was an impossibility. It is said to be a matter of consolation, to have companions in misfortune. If so, Captain Ramsay had the satisfaction of knowing, that there were several hundreds of other vessels in the same predicament, their crews having deserted and run off to the gold country; but in the present instance, this only made affairs much worse, since the demand for seamen was thereby increased, and seamen, it appeared were not to be had. Captain Ramsay, nevertheless, did succeed in getting a crew, and in a much shorter time than he had anticipated. The motives, unknown, of course, to Ramsay at the time, which induced these men to ship themselves on board the Falkirk, will throw light upon their characters, and prepare the reader for the events that follow.

Numerous cargoes had lately been imported from China, and it was pretty generally known in San Francisco that but a small part of their value had been returned. Under the impression that gold in large quantities would be sent away in some ship or other, indirect inquiries were made as to which would be the vessel taking it. Not many days after the desertion of the crew of the Falkirk, Captain Jones, the master of a brig then lying in the harbour, was taking his evening stroll along the pier, which has been built out into the Bay of San Francisco. It was the close of a very sultry day, the cloudless sky had become suffused