432 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. chap. xv. 



the former but reluctantly spared his popish sister Mary, the 

 latter preserved the life of a heathen priest who had devised 

 and attempted the destruction of his own. 



The temperament of the prince is ardent and imjDulsive. 

 Hence his conduct may at times be hasty ; and this tendency 

 has not been restrained by the discipline of sound education. 

 His disposition prompts him to rely much on others ; hence 

 his greatest danger is from false or pretended friends, and 

 his greatest want is wise and faithful counsellors. Still there 

 is much to excite admiration, if not surprise, in the amount of 

 his intelligence, and the soundness of his judgment. But 

 when his parentage, and the tone of feeling amongst those 

 around him on the subject of torture and bloodshed are con- 

 sidered, together Avith the spectacles of misery and the exam- 

 ples of cruelty to which his childhood and youth must have 

 been exposed, his kindly sympathies, his horror at the shed- 

 ding of innocent blood, and his sacred regard for human life, 

 appear truly marvellous. Considering his character, and his 

 influence for good, together with the perils of his position, for 

 his friends are painfully apprehensive for his life, as well as 

 the hallowed hopes that seem to hang upon that valuable 

 life, every friend of religion and humanity must feel impelled 

 to pray that the prince royal of Madagascar may be preserved 

 and his career be prosperous. 



