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7 awaits it; and innocence, though occasionally a sufferer, is proved in the end to be the surest path to happiness.”

“ But,” resumed the solitary, “can it be said that the lot of innocence is always preferable to that of guilt in this world? ”

“ If it cannot,” replied the other, “ thinkest thou that the Almighty is unable to make retribution in a future world ? Dismiss then from thy mind the care of single events, secure that the great whole is ordered for the best. Expect not a par-ticular interposition of heaven, because such an interposition would seem to thee seasonable. Thou, perhaps, wouldst stop the vast machine of the universe to save a fly from being crushed under its wheels. But innumerable flies and men are crushed every day, yet the grand motion goes on, and will go on, to fulfil the benevolent intentions of its Author.”

He ceased ; and sleep on a sudden left the eyelids of the solitary. He looked abroad from his cell, and beheld all nature smiling around him. The rising sun shone in a clear sky, Birds were sporting in the air, and fish glancing on the surface of the waters. Fleets were pursuing their steady course, gently wafted by the pleasant breeze. Light fleecy clouds were sailing over the blue expanse of heaven. His soul sympathized with the scene, and peace and joy filled his bosom.

GENEROUS REVENGE.

At the period when the Republic of Genoa was divided between the factions of the nobles and the people, Uberto, a man of low origin, but of an elevated mind and superior talents, and enriched by commerce, having raised himself to be the head of a popular party, maintained, for a considerable time, a democratical form of government.

The nobles, at length uniting all their efforts, succeeded in subverting this state of things, and regained their former supremacy. They used their victory with considerable rigour; and, in particular, having imprisoned Uberto, proceeded against him as a traitor, and thought they displayed sufficient lenity in passing a sentence upon him of perpetual banishment, and the confiscation of all his property. Adorno—who was then possessed of the first magistracy, a man haughty in temper, and proud of ancient nobility, though otherwise not void of generous sentiments—in pronouncing this sentence on Uberto, aggravated its severity by the insolent terms in which he conveyed it.

“ You,” said he, “ you, the son of a base mechanic, who have