CHARACTERS. 



469 



living as hostages in Djezzar's pow- 

 er. " You will not like to begin 

 your reign," said he, " by slaugh- 

 tering them ; I will do that busi- 

 ness for you :" accordingly, order- 

 ing them to be brought before him, 

 he had them all put to death 

 in his presence. Soon afterwards 

 he died, leaving, as he had pre- 

 dicted, the undisturbed possession 

 of a very extensive territory to 

 his successor, Ismael Pasha : de- 

 scribed by English travellers, who 

 have since visited Acre, as a very 

 amiable man, and in every thing 

 the very reverse of this Herod of 

 his time. 



CMABACTER OF ALGERNON SYDNEY. 



[From his Life, by Mr. Meadley.) 



The name of Algernon Sydney 

 has been long illustrious in the an- 

 nals of his country, and revered 

 among the friends of freeilom as 

 the champion and martyr of their 

 cause. In vain have the apologists 

 of courtly crimes endeavoured to 

 traduce his character, and to bring 

 public virtue into discredit, by im- 

 peaching the rectitude of his de- 

 signs. Though prejudice and de- 

 lusion might prevail for a moment, 

 the atrocious calumnies were soon 

 exposed ; for the more minutely 

 his conduct is investigated, the 

 more frte will it be found from 

 every selfish stain. As a patriot, 

 indeed, liis character has been 

 justly admired ; but his virtues as 

 a man have been neglected, or at 

 least imperfectly understood. He 

 has generally been considered as 

 austere in his deportment, and de- 

 void of those amenities, which con- 



tribute so much to the happiness of 

 social life. He was no doubt iras- 

 cible, tenacious, and impatient of 

 contradiction or control ; but he 

 was sincere, steady, and consistent 

 in his attachments, and open in the 

 avowal of his enmity or disgust. — 

 When he wished to acquire a com- 

 manding influence, few men pos- 

 sessed a more insinuating address ; 

 and he enjoyed, in return, the 

 most unbounded confidence from 

 his friends. His letters, particu- 

 larly those he wrote from Italy to 

 his father, display a heart alive to 

 every tender sympathy, and vibrat- 

 ing with the most exquisite feelings. 

 The sweetness of nature, so much 

 noticed in his early years, may be 

 traced in his subsequent progress ; 

 enabling him to acquire new friends 

 in exile ; and to defy the malice of 

 his persecutors in the closing scenes 

 of life. His kindness to Lord 

 Strangford and his sister shows, 

 that amidst the tumults of civil 

 dissension, he was not regardless of 

 the interest of his family, or the 

 blessings of domestic peace. And 

 the anxiety, which he felt from the 

 unmerited resentment of his father, 

 was more poignant, than what 

 arose solely from the recollection 

 of his other misfortunes. He ap- 

 pears to have been subject to oc- 

 casional fits of despondency, when 

 chagrined or wearied with the diffi- 

 culties to which he was exposed. 

 Retirement and study then became 

 the solace of his wounded mind. — 

 But, that mind soon recovering 

 its tone and elasticity, he was hur- 

 ried again to mingle in more ac- 

 tive scenes. Hence the apparent 

 inconsistency of his conduct, in 

 withdrawing himself, at times, al- 

 together from society, and in again 



