Tri. To study the law

Old F. The law !

Tri. I am most resolutely bent on following that profession.
Old F. No!

Tri. Absolutely and irrevocably fixed.

Old F. Better and better! I am overjoyed. Why, 't is the very thing I wished. Now I am happy! [Tristram makes gestures as if speaking.] See how his mind is engaged!

Tri. Gentlemen of the Jury

Old F. Why, Tristram !

Tri. This is a cause

books, directly!

Old F. O, my dear boy! I forgive you all your tricks. I see something about you now that I can depend on. depend on. [Tristram continues making gestures.]

Tri. I am for the plaintiff in this cause—
Old F. Bravo! bravo! Excellent boy! I'll go and order your

Tri. "T is done, Sir.

Old F. What, already!

Tri. I ordered twelve square feet of books, when I first thought of embracing the arduous profession of the law.

Old F. What, do you mean to read by the foot?

Tri. By the foot, Sir; that is the only way to become a solid lawyer.

Old F. Twelve square feet of learning! Well

Tri. I have likewise sent for a barber

Old F. A barber! What, is he to teach you to shave close?

Tri. He is to shave one-half of my

ead, Sir.

Old F. You will excuse me if I cannot perfectly understand what that has to do with the study of the law.

Tri. Did you never hear of Demosthenes, Sir, the Athenian orator? He had half his head shaved, and locked himself up in a coalcellar.

Old F. Ah, he was perfectly right to lock himself up, after having undergone such an operation as that. He certainly would have made rather an odd figure abroad.

Tri. I think I see him now, awaking the dormant patriotism of his countrymen, lightning in his eye, and thunder in his voice; he pours forth a torrent of eloquence, resistless in its force; the throne of Philip trembles while he speaks; he denounces, and indignation fills the bosom of his hearers; he exposes the impending danger, and every one sees impending ruin; he threatens the tyrant, they grasp their swords; he calls for vengeance, their thirsty weapons glitter in the air, and thousands reverberate the cry! One soul animates a nation, and that soul is the soul of the orator!

Old F. O, what a figure he will make on the King's Bench! But, come, I will tell you now what my plan is, and then you will see how

1

You have [Tris

nappily this determination of yours will further it.
tram makes extravagant gestures, as if speaking] often heard me
speak of my friend Briefwit, the barrister

Tri. Who is against me in this cause —
Old F. He is a most learned lawyer
Tri. But, as I have justice on my side-

Old F. Zounds! he does n't hear a word I say! Why, Tristram!
Tri. I beg your pardon, Sir; I was prosecuting my studies.
Old F. Now, attend -

Tri. As my learned friend observes attention.

Go on, Sir; I am all

Old F. Well, my friend the counsellor
Tri. Say learned friend, if you please, Sir. We gentlemen of the

law always

Old F. Well, well,
Tri. A black patch!
Old F. Will you listen, and be silent?
Tri. I am as mute as a judge.

Old F. My friend, I say, has a ward who is very handsome, and who has a very handsome fortune. She would make you a charming

wife.

my learned friend

Tri. This is an action

Old F. Now, I have hitherto been afraid to introduce you to my friend, the barrister, because I thought your lightness and his gravityTri. Might be plaintiff and defendant.

Old F. But now you are grown serious and steady, and have resolved to pursue his profession, I will shortly bring you together; you will obtain his good opinion, and all the rest follows, of course. Tri. A verdict in my favor.

Old F. You marry and sit down, happy for life,

Tri. In the King's Bench.

Old F. Bravo! Ha, ha, ha! But now run to your study-run to your study, my dear Tristram, and I 'll go and call upon the counsellor.

Tri. I remove by habeas corpus.

Old F. Pray have the goodness to make haste, then. [Hurrying him off.]

Tri. Gentlemen of the Jury, this is a cause [Exit.]

Old F. The inimitable boy! I am now the happiest father living. What genius he has! He'll be lord chancellor, one day or other, I dare be sworn. I am sure he has talents! O, how I long to see him

at the bar!

43. SALADIN, MALEK ADHEL, ATTENDANT. -New Monthly Magazine.

Attendant. A stranger craves admittance to your highness.
Saladin. Whence comes he?

Atten. That I know not.

Enveloped with a vestment of strange form,
His countenance is hidden; but his step,
His lofty port, his voice in vain disguised,
Proclaim - if that I dare pronounce it

Sal. Whom?

Atten. Thy royal brother!

Sal. Bring him instantly. [Exit Attendant.]
Now, with his specious, smooth, persuasive tongue,
Fraught with some wily subterfuge, he thinks
To dissipate my anger. He shall die!

[Enter Attendant and Malek Adhel.] Leave us together. [Exit Attendant.] [Aside.] I should know that

form.

Now summon all thy fortitude, my soul,

Nor, though thy blood cry for him, spare the guilty!
[Aloud.] Well, stranger, speak; but first unveil thyself,
For Saladin must view the form that fronts him.

Malek Adhel. Behold it, then!

Sal. I see a traitor's visage.

Mal. Ad. A brother's!

Sal. No!

Saladin owns no kindred with a villain.

Mal. Ad. O, patience, Heaven! Had any tongue but thine Uttered that word, it ne'er should speak another.

Sal. And why not now? Can this heart be more pierced

By Malek Adhel's sword than by his deeds?
O, thou hast made a desert of this bosom!
For open candor, planted sly disguise;
For confidence, suspicion; and the glow
Of generous friendship, tenderness and love,
Forever banished! Whither can I turn,
When he by blood, by gratitude, by faith,
By every tie, bound to support, forsakes me?
Who, who can stand, when Malek Adhel falls?
Henceforth I turn me from the sweets of love:
The smiles of friendship, and this glorious world,
In which all find some heart to rest upon,
Shall be to Saladin a cheerless void, -
His brother has betrayed him!

--

Mal. Ad. Thou art softened;

I am thy brother, then; but late thou saidst.
My tongue can never utter the base title!
Sal. Was it traitor? True!

Thou hast betrayed me in my fondest hopes!
Villain? T is just; the title is appropriate!
Dissembler? "T is not written in thy face;
No, nor imprinted on that specious brow;

But on this breaking heart the name is stamped,
Forever stamped, with that of Malek Adhel!
Thinkest thou I'm softened? By Mohammed! these hands
Should crush these aching eyeballs, ere a tear
Fall from them at thy fate! O, monster, monster!
The brute that tears the infant from its nurse
Is excellent to thee, for in his form

The impulse of his nature may be read;
But thou, so beautiful, so proud, so noble,
O, what a wretch art thou! O! can a term
In all the various tongues of man be found
To match thy infamy?

Mal. Ad. Go on! go on!

"T is but a little while to hear thee, Saladin; And, bursting at thy feet, this heart will prove Its penitence, at least.

Sal. That were an end

Too noble for a traitor! The bowstring is

A more appropriate finish! Thou shalt die!

Mal. Ad. And death were welcome at another's mandate!

What, what have I to live for? Be it so,
If that, in all thy armies, can be found
An executing hand.

Sal. O, doubt it not!

They 're eager for the office. Perfidy,
So black as thine, effaces from their minds
All memory of thy former excellence.

Mal. Ad. Defer not, then, their wishes. Saladin,

If e'er this form was joyful to thy sight,

This voice seemed grateful to thine ear, accede
To my last prayer:
- O, lengthen not this scene,
To which the agonies of death were pleasing!
Let me die speedily!

Sal. This very hour!

[Aside.] For, Ŏ the more I look upon that face,
The more I hear the accents of that voice,
The monarch softens, and the judge is lost
In all the brother's weakness; yet such guilt,
Such vile ingratitude, it calls for vengeance;
And vengeance it shall have! What, ho! who waits there?

[Enter Attendant.]

Atten. Did your highness call?
Sal. Assemble quickly

My forces in the court. Tell them they come
To view the death of yonder bosom-traitor.

And, bid them mark, that he who will not spare

His brother when he errs, expects obedience,
Silent obedience, from his followers. [Exit Attendant.]

Mal. Ad. Now, Saladin,

The word is given; I have nothing more
To fear from thee, my brother. I am not
About to crave a miserable life.
Without thy love, thy honor, thy esteem,
Life were a burden to me. Think not, either,
The justice of thy sentence I would question.
But one request now trembles on my tongue,
One wish still clinging round the heart, which soon
Not even that shall torture, - will it, then,
Thinkest thou, thy slumbers render quieter,
Thy waking thoughts more pleasing, to reflect,
That when thy voice had doomed a brother's death,
The last request which e'er was his to utter
Thy harshness made him carry to the grave?

Sal. Speak, then; but ask thyself if thou hast reason To look for much indulgence here.

Mal. Ad. I have not!

Yet will I ask for it. We part forever;

This is our last farewell; the king is satisfied;
The judge has spoke the irrevocable sentence.
None sees, none hears, save that omniscient power,
Which, trust me, will not frown to look upon
Two brothers part like such. When, in the face
Of forces once my own, I 'm led to death,
Then be thine eye unmoistened; let thy voice
Then speak my doom untrembling; then,
Unmoved, behold this stiff and blackened corse.
But now I ask
nay, turn not, Saladin !
I ask one single pressure of thy hand;
From that stern eye one solitary tear
O, torturing recollection! - one kind word

From the loved tongue which once breathed naught but kindness. Still silent? Brother! friend! beloved companion

Of all my youthful sports! are they forgotten?
Strike me with deafness, make me blind, Ŏ Heaven!
Let me not see this unforgiving man
Smile at my agonies! nor hear that voice

Pronounce my doom, which would not say one word,
One little word, whose cherished memory
Would soothe the struggles of departing life!
Yet, yet thou wilt! O, turn thee, Saladin !
Look on my face, thou canst not spurn me then;
Look on the once-loved face of Malek Adhel
For the last time, and call him -

Sal. [seizing his hand]. Brother! brother!
Mal. Ad. [breaking away]. Now call thy followers.