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First, Vincenzo, Duke of Mantua !”

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AND SEMI-WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER.

New Series. o gate ot Fo: GVELECT TALR.

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, “Mary of “Mantua,

BY 6. P. R. JAMES. (Continued.)

Mary of Mantua drew back ; she turn- @a one timid glance toward the monas- tery ; it was in sight: the people who were elowly preparing the carriage were within ¢all: the stranger was alone, too. But that was not all; there was anopen can- ¢or in his look, a nobility in his demean- of, ® frank grace in his countenance, that atruck and won upon her. He was inthe prime of youth, with a warm glowing eheck and bright eye. The full arching ipa parted in somewhat of & smile at her apprehensions, and there wes a cheerful giance in his eye that spoke of a bright tree spirit. Above the ordinary height, Ke was graceful as well as strong in trame, and his features were like some taat Bhe had seen before. Hia personand complexion were anything but Italian; and had he not spoken the language without the slightest accent, she might nave taken him for one of the followers of the Louse ot Austria. [is whole appear- ance, liowever, was oxtremely pleasing, aod though still somewhat alarmed, she at bength ventured to ask what were his whee.

“Be not afraid, lady,!” he answered mm a full, sweet-toned voice; “I come tosave you from danger, not to place you init. Approach a little nearer for I must speak low, and must not be seen by any but you.” ;

She took astep nearer to the place where le stood, still looking upon bim as z tunid fawn looks at these who would draw it to eat bread out of their hand.

“Listen!” he said, “listen, Mary of Mantua, for what I have to say imports you much to know; and I have a short time to say it. Your hand is a prize for which three princes now wiil strive.

“ Heaven forbid !” exclaimed. Mary, in a tone of fear; “ can youmean my wncle 2?”

“Even so,” answered the stranger, “but hear me out, fair maid, for time is short: the next is one you know well, Ferrand, Prince of Gustaila.” —

“IT know him not,” eried Mary, with a lbok of horror, “ Once, only once, have I seen his dark and lowering face; but I have heard enough to rhake me abhor the ground that bears bim.,”

The stranger made no. comment, but wenton, “the third is Charles, Duke of Rhetel.”

“An atien to our race, and the son of my father’s enemy,” exclaimed Mary.

The stranger smiled apparently well pleased.

““These are three princes,” he said, bat what say you, lady, ifa simple gen- tlemen, of nobie birth, and of some re- nowin—ogainet these three princes, fate, forture, and all the world to boot—were to enter the lists for that fair hand.”

~He were a bold man.” answered Bary with » deep blush.

“Thank God! le is a bold man,” re- plied the stranger, “ but to my more press- tng task, for | see the carriage is nearly ready. The Prince of Gustaila is now within the territory of Mantua; he knows that this night you enter thecity. If you ge by the ordinary road, you will fall into kis hands, and nothing buta miracle can save you from his power, When you some to the vineyard of Perrotti, just op- posite the castle of Frederic di Sasso, erder the driver to turn down the left hand road and follow it to the city. Aid shall be near at hand, if needful: but it were better, far beter te avoid then te ‘counter evi”

CT tt i teeta. att an

CHARL

“Oh! better, far better! echoed Mary ; “but, oh! gentle stranger, do not leave me. Ifyou have power, give me protec- tion against that daring man !”

“T will not be far from thee, fairest and brightest,” replied the stranger; “ but have | not said that L am without power in the land? Whatthis hand can do shall be done in your defence ; and if it be needful to pour out the last drop of my heart’s blood, it shall be staked as freely as a gambler’s ducat. A few faithful servants, too, will not flinch from their poor master in the hour of need; and if you are saved from hazard, my guerdon shall be one kiss of that fair hand—shall it not be so?”

“Oh, you might claim far better boons than that,” cried Mary eagerly.

“Well, then, it shall be so,” he said, “one kiss of those sweet lips!-—but now, bethink you, lady, how will you meet your uncle. If, as sure as I am he will, he offers, contrary to God’s law, to make his brother’s child his wife, be wise, and drive not his passionate mind to frenzy. He has a wife still living; bu: the bonds between them, the pliant church is now about to sever. Be cautious; show ne harsh repugnance. Tell him that you can hear no such words as long as he is priest, uncle, husband to another; that all these bonds must be loosened by the church ere you can even let his words rest in your ear: But, lo! they seek you ; I must away! Contrive some short delay, that f may reach the point of danger first, ‘To-morrow, at this hour, if you have re- turned, 1 wil} seek you here.”

Thus saying, the stranger turned and left her, and in a few minutes the servants sought her, saying that the carriage was ready. ‘I'he directions of the stranger she fullowed implicitly, trusting with the confidence of unchastised youth. She detained the carriage for a few minutes, and then ordered the coachman to drive as she had been instrected. The Italian looked at her in sulky silence, and went on as if intending to obey; but when the vehicle had reached the turning of the road, he was evidently about to pursue the way he had been forbidden. Mary of Mantua, however, stopped the carriage, and trying to rise ber gentle voice into the sharp tone of displeasure, asked how he dated to disobey.

The man replied surryly, “ Because. it is the best road!” and he would have certainly driven on had not the old ser- vant who attended upon her interfered to enfurce his mistress’ command. Even his authority the driver was inclined to resist; but while, with true Italian ecare- lessness of mind, with loud words, and exaggerated gestures, the two were arguing, there came asound of horses galloping. It was what the driver wished and expected, and looking up the road, he saw abody of some tenor twelve. mounted men coming full speed. Mary | saw them too,and terror and anguish took possession of her heart. As they came on, however, there suddenly appear- ed other figures on the road between her and them. From amongst trees and vine-. yards poured out a Jittle band on foot and horseback, and at their head; managing his fiery horse with ease and grace, he whom she had seen at the convent not a hour before. Of her he now took no notice; but standing firm in his way, formed with his band a barrier between her and the coming horsemen. The driver still paused, though she besought him to go on,and she could behold swords crossed and pistols fired, and one or two horsemen fly up the road again. She saw not well which party had the

TTETOWN, SEPTEMBER 235, 1850.

advantage, but the driver judged more clearly, cad smacking his whip, drove

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down the road he had been ordered to take.

New agitation now fell upon Mary of Mantua as she approached the abode of her uncle; and as drawbridge after drawbridge, gate after gate were passed, she prayed to Heaven for strength and prudence to save herself from the dark horror of his love.

She had not seen the Duke Vincenzo for many years, and had jong forgotten him, so that imagination drew her own sketch from the rumors and stories of the day. It was now twilight when she was ushered up the long flights of marble Stairs—afterwards destroyed in the cruel sacking of the city—and then into a cabi- net where she remembered having played in the days of her childhood, when’ her father was living Duke of Mantua. It now seemed smaller, but more gloomy, though it was well lighted, and on the opposite side sat one whose appearance at once marked out the Prince. He rose and advanced towards her as different a being as was possible to conceive, from all that she had previously fancied. Tall, graceful, handsome, though in hig de- cline, and though sickness—perhaps vice —had worn all the rosy lines of youth away, and left nothing but the shadow of beauty behind, his appearance was far more prepossessing than Mary of Mantua had oxpected. Nevertheless, there was something in the expression of his coun- tenance—something in the fixed and criticising gaze with which he looked upon the lovely form before him, that made an involuntary shudder pass over her frame ; and when he took her by the hand, and as her uncle kissed her cheek, the warm blood rose up in it, and she thought of the warning she had received, and of him who had given it.

Tae Duke was not long ere he spoke upon the theme which she most dreaded . to hear; but it was notin the terms which might have been most painful to her. He treated it but as a matter of court necessity; he talked of his marriage with her as a thing that would benefit the state. Princes, he said. must be the slaves to their duties; and though he doubted not that to one so young and beautiful as herself, it must be somewhat painful to unite herself to aman in the decline of life, yet he was sure that she would make no-opposition to that which would set at rest forever all the contending claims of Mantua and Montferrat.

(To be concluded in our next.)

Ehe Cxaminer.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1850.

—_———

Tie only apology for political apostacy which a discomfited and disingenuous re- negade could offer, is made by Mr. Mac- lean in the last number of the Islander. Ye intimates that, seven years ago, when he penned the fierce diatribes against the present officials, from which we presented to our readers a few extracts in a late No. of Tne Examiner, he was misinformed as to the real character of the men, and deceived by those of the liberal party with whom he then associated. Mr. Maclean may fancy that this is a very satisfactory explanation of his conduct, but to us it appears to be infinitely more damaging to Mr. Maclean than anything he has yet written. It shews that he had no discri- mination—no serscity, when he condemn-

“THIS 13 TRUE LIBERTY WHEN FREE-BORN MEN—HAVING TO ADVISE THE PUBLIC-—MAY SPEAK FREE.”—Mivton’s Eorir

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. Vol. 1:.No. 63

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ed the officials upon insufficient evidence —describing them as a, tyrannical, and oppressive set of harpies, merely because. he was told they were such! What would be thought of a Judge who, not waiting to hear evidence for the defence, would straightway charge the Jury, to, find the prisoner at the Bar guilty of a capital of- fence? In such a case Justice would be. not only allegorically but truly blind, ang common sense and common honesty would assert their power in hooting the ermiped rascal from the Bench, So: attaaies,. But Mr. Maclean was misled, {if we are to place any reliance on his confegsion

character of the existing, Government; but as to the condition of the country. He. described it as oppressed, impoverished, and ruined,—and attributed this manifold calamity to the miseonduct of the officis le whom he now flatters and labours to keap~ in office. If he judged of the condition of the country through his own eyes, his visual organe must have been painfully defective: if he observed it with the eyes of other men, his judgment must haye been lamentably weak to give credence to testimony which did noi bear the stamp of truth. In the latter cage, he would be like those literary thieves, who carry us, in jmagivation, al] the world over—des- cribine the manners, custome, and condi- tion, of different countries ; while, in fact, they never stirred from their garrete or firesides, and purloined their knowledge from the forgotten books of other authors. Giving Mr. Maclean the ful! benefit of his recreant confession, and edmitting that he may have been misled as to thes character and motives of the meu who constitute the two parties, viz. the liberals and the anti-liberals, or those ont of office end those who are in—is it possible that he was deceived regarding the principles entertained by both? A cause is not ne cessarily bad because some of ite advo- cates may be men of bad dispositions ; and by the same analogy, a cause is not good, though it be supported by men of correct feeling. Take any great question which agitated the public mind in Britain—the Corn Laws, the Slave Trace, or the Re- peal of the Union—would it be reasonable or just to estimate the merits of either duestion according to the character of the parties who have been foremost in its ad- vocacy? Mr. Cobden may have been deemed an impracticable and wrong-head- ed enthugiast by the friends of Protection ; but that did not lessen the importance of giving cheap bread to the starving mil- lions of the mother country. Mr. Wil- berforce may have been regarded as an infatuated old fool by those interested in the continuance of the Slave Trade ; but would that be a sufficient reason for per- petuating the traffic in human flesh, and giving toa particular class of men the right to buy and sell, and flagellate at will, any portion of their species. Mr. O’Conneli has been stigmatized as a mer- cenary égitstor, solely intent upon putting

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