THE JEWISH CAPTIVES RELEASED. An old Song to a new Tune. WHEN Zion's sons, from Babel's plains, Their transports seem'd as tho' they dream'd, And mirth and songs employed their tongues, We'll sing the praises of our King As water streams, in southern climes, The man who bears his seed in tears, But now he leaves it, bearing sheaves, NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS. H. H. Our correspondent H. H. is not mistaken in his conclusion, that the improvement of DICK's moral principles' is the sole intention of his other friends;' and we are obliged by his recommending the Cheap Magazine to ROGER as a suitable periodical publication for the entertainment of his brother. Although his two ballads came too late for DICK to begin with, yet as one of them seems peculiarly adapted to the present times, when so many of our countrymen are about to return from a long captivity to their native mountains, we have inserted it as above; and trust, that those at least into whose hands these pages may fall, will not suffer themselves to be behind the Jews in point of gratitude to their great Deliverer, and the God of all their mercies. The obliging favours of A.-BENEFICIUM, and the translation of an Italian tale, are received. The BEACON in a blaze again! containing some further particu lars in the life of TOM BRAGWELL and his former companions, wil form the leading story in our next. Haddington; Printed and Published by G, MILLER & SON: Aye! TOM BRAGWELL is in a poor situation now. O, Sir, if you had seen him when he was marched off from our prison by a party of soldiers it would have made your heart wae to look at himfor he was wair like death than life." CONTAINING SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS IN THE LIFE OF TOM BRAGWELL AND HIS FORMER COMPANIONS. To the Publishers of The CHEAP MAGAZINE. ALTHOUGH from the characters of the boys, intre. duced as the heroes of a former paper, the sequel that I am about to communicate might have been naturally expected; yet, I must confess, that at the time I penned it, I could not possibly have had the remotest idea, that before the completion of the second volume of the Cheap Magazine,. the rapidity of events in the history of that unhappy individual, whose melancholy fate is about to form the principal part of my story, would have been such as to have hurried him so quickly from one degree of vice to another, till he arrived at that deplorable condition to which he is now reduced; and which, if mercy prevents not, must soon hurry him from an earthly to a heavenly tribunal, with all his sins and imperfections on his head. In turning your eyes to "the BEACON," in the first number of your little work, you will observe, that when about taking leave of my young auditors in the beanVOL. II. Χ field, field, I signified to them a wish that before they separated they should find out their former unworthy associate, and, while my words were still fresh in their memory, tell him all that they had heard and seen; and from a conversation I had lately with two of them, under the following circumstances, I find that my request, on the part of these young men, had been most religiously complied with. With what effect on the mind of BRAGWELL will soon appear. Having occasion a few days ago to visit the same town, where my residence was at the time the interview, above alluded to, took place, I could not help feeling as I passed the well-known spot, a strong desire to learn something of my young acquaintances, particularly what impression my discourse had made on JOHN CARELESS; and still more so, to be informed of the fate of his more hardened companion, whom fancy brought to my recollection pursuing, with rapid strides, his way across the field. As for WILL CANDID and DAVID DOUBTFUL I had the best of hopes, from the time I parted with them, and felt not the smallest anxiety on their account. No sooner, therefore, had I arrived at my lodging, and made arrangements for the night, than I sent a message to WILL, (whose master's name, a respectable shoemaker in the place, I had formerly learned,) about the time people of his profession usually drop work for the day, and in a few minutes after was waited on by the young man, who entered the room with a mixture of diffidence and surprise, viewing me attentively as he advanced, with his hat in his hand. At the first glance I perceived that open frankness of countenance which formerly prepossessed me so strongly in his favour; but I could not but observe a certain trait of melancholy which overcast his features, and shed its influence still more deeply as he approached. "Well, my young man," said I, " do you recollect having seen me before? "Yes, Sir," said he, "and I shall never forget you." Adding with a low and tremulous tone of voice : "Shall I go and fetch DAVIE. O how happy he will be to see you! for we thought we would never see you more." "That for the present may be unnecessary," said I; "and I am besides a good deal fatigued with my journey. But what has become of DAVID, and how is he employed? for I wish to hear all about him. To this he gave me a very distinct, and I must add, a most satisfactory account of the conduct of this young man, in which I could not help remarking the wonderful change in his language and the manner in which he expressed himself, since our last conversation. DAVID, he informed me, now assisted his father in the way of business, and had become such a dutiful son, that his behaviour was pointed out as a model for young men to imitate, all over the neighbourbood; that he lived with him in habits of the greatest intimacy, meeting on the evenings after work hours to improve themselves in useful knowledge. "And sometimes," said he, "when the weather is favourable we take a walk in the fields, and admire the wonders of creation, even in objects which we thought beneath our notice before the Cheap Magazine made its appearance. When we go through a field of beans, Sir," continued he, "we now no longer think of filling our pockets, for we remember that they are private property, and that the first approaches to vice must be carefully guarded against; but we sometimes pull a single stalk, and as we muse on the several parts recollect, with gratitude, that lecture you gave us, which while memory lasts can never be, effaced. When we discover a bird's nest in our rambles, we no more think of robbing the dam of its treasures, but reflect on the amazing instinct displayed in the structure of the little building, and the wonderful formation of the Chick in the egg! And if we at any time meet with a savage little boy tormenting an insect, we remind him of the rebuke given by Harley to the unfeeling youth, whose name is concealed because it was not to his credit it should be known: Nor are the maxims of that excellent monitor only of use to us when we pursue our walks in the fields, for we derive much benefit and information from them in a number of the common and incidental occurrences of life. Instead of giving ourselves up to the excesses of riot and intemperate mirth last new year's morning, we thought upon the years which were past and gone, and formed resolutions as to our conduct in those which might follow. Our Christmas gifts and holiday presents are no longer spent on trifling toys and gilded baubles; for we re X 2 member member the story of Father Abraham, and of the boy who paid too much for his whistle. Cruel sports and barbarous diversions of every kind we detest and abhor, and when we heard some English officers comparing our countrynien to barbarians, for indulging themselves in tormenting a cat, at what they called the carter's play, we could not help remarking, that it was no play to the poor cat! and wondered how Scots carters could practise any thing shocking to the feelings of English soldiers! How different, thought we, was the conduct of that good man who was so kind to his old horses-I think they call him Mr Howard. O, sir, how happy the Russians should think themselves in having such an emperor as the new and true Alexander the Great; and how much the French are to be pitied under the government of a man who will not suffer them to rest at home, bnt leads them far away to be killed in a foreign land. I'm sure, Sir, if what is said in the December Magazine be true, and if the cry of the blood of a single man shall be heard for vengeance, some awful judgment must wait the remorseless tyrant, who can sacrifice so many human beings to his inordinate ambition. I have no father and mother to provide for, and David knows he cannot yet do much for his, but he often declares that if he met with a misfortune like the Bricklayer's Son, and was laid off work, the thought of being a burden to his parents would give him the greatest concern; and that if his health and strength are preserved he shall exert himself to the utmost like the Exemplary Sons and the Boy of Dundee, that his father and mother may never come to want. There is a story, Sir, in the Seventh Number, called the Dutiful Daughter, which DAVIE's sister says is worth all the rest put together; and although she confesses that she has got much good from the Cottager's Advice to his Daughter, and will attend to the instructions of MARY'S father as if they were from her own, when she goes to service, yet her DEAR AMELIA is the continual theme of her discourse. I once was much afraid of going abroad at night; but I formed a resolution at the beginning of last winter, that if ever any thing startled me into the belief that I saw a Ghost or a Witch in the dark, I should follow the advice of little John's father. The |