in Naples would have fallen victims to his insanity. In this state he was, indeed, not only a pitiable, but a dangerous object, and the Viceroy at last gave orders for his assassination, and a band of hired bravoes, backed by a multitude of the dregs of the population, rushed upon him in the midst of one of his most furious speeches, and stabbed him to the heart. His body was ignominiously treated by the savage mob, but, being at last rescued by his devoted followers, it was carried in honourable triumph through the chief streets of the city, and buried with all the ceremonies of a royal funeral.

'Mas'-aniello had many great and noble qualities, and exhibited great vigour, promptness, and presence of mind. The more subtle niceties of political government were beyond his uncultivated powers of intellect; and had his life been preserved, it is more than probable that Don John of Austria, who ultimately suppressed the popular rising towards the close of the year, would have imprisoned him for life, or brought him to an ignominious death on the scaffold.

Such is the history of one of the most extraordinary revolutions upon record. It was conducted by an heroic young man, hardly out of his boyhood, who gained his ascendancy over others in the first instance by the noble qualities of his youth. It commenced from causes almost trifling, as great events often do. The discontent of an oppressed people lay smouldering, and only wanted a spark to ignite it. This was

found in the boy liberator, and it burst into a flame which destroyed the march of tyranny at least for a season, leaving behind it a landmark by which the oppressors of all nations may take warning.

'Mas'-aniello was a hero, but he was one of the lower classes, and the lower classes alone were with him. From their ignorance and want of principle, they are rarely to be trusted, and they are always jealous of the man who leads them, and especially are they vindictive and ungrateful. In all cases where the mob is moved to excesses, whether successful or not, this will be found to be the result; and it will be well if the noble ardour of boyhood, which so frequently displays itself in early life, be tempered by the caution and prudence which can best be learned through a contemplation of those scenes in which attempts have been made to remedy grievances by an appeal to the ferocious passions and turbulence of a mob.

A.D. 1744.

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"POWDER-MONKEY" boy? What is that? Well, a powder-monkey boy" is a boy who was often taken from the dregs of the "street boys " by a "pressgang," which used to be the arbitrary way of manning, the navy in the wars of old, and put on board a manof-war to serve out the powder and shot in time of action, by running from gun to gun through the thickest of the fight, braving all dangers, and showing a wonderful lot of pluck. Aye, often have 1 seen-for_my

carly career was passed on board a man-of-waroften have I seen many a poor little fellow of seven years of age, or even less, stretched bleeding on the deck, cruelly mangled by shot or shell, yet dying like a hero, and uttering a faint hurrah before he died.

Such a boy was William Hornby, who was at a very early age kidnapped, and placed on board a man-ofwar, to be a "powder-monkey." The first dawn of his life was in the battle-smoke, and his schooling was that of bursting bombs, double-headed shot, and boarding-pikes. He may be said to have taken well to this schooling, and to have conned his lessons with great assiduity. But noble conduct does not consist only in deeds of warfare, and Hornby was as generous as he was brave; for one of his little shipmates, about his own age, and even a child for his years, being charged with an offence, William generously took all the blame upon himself, and underwent the discipline of the cat as they call that cruel scourge with nine tails, used for flogging men and boys at sea-rather than betray his friend. This was the first proof of his nobility of soul, but many others were given till the end of the war sent him ashore again. He soon "got a ship," as sailors say when they get employment on board a vessel, and displayed such noble courage in rescuing the crew of a foundering ship, that, although then but a boy, he was soon made master of the vessel-of course a merchantman-and sailed in her from Great Yarmouth, in the year 1744.

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He steered for the coast of Holland, but when well over to the other side of the channel, a French privateer, the Braneas, came upon his vessel, the Isabella. The strength of the two vessels was very unequal, for the Isabella mounted only four carriage guns, and two swivels, and her crew consisted of only five men and three boys, beside the boy-captain; while the Braneas, commanded by Captain André, had ten carriage guns, and eight swivels, and seventy-five men, with three hundred small-arms.

Now it would have been a justifiable thing, against such odds, for a man to have surrendered his ship and cargo. But Captain Hornby was not a man to do this; he felt that the honour of his country and the interests of his employers were concerned, and so having animated his crew by an appropriate address, and obtained their promise of standing by him to the last, he bravely hoisted the British colours, his men giving three cheers, and with his two swivel guns returned the fire of his enemy's chase-guns. At last, after peppering each other in this way for some time, the Frenchman got close to the Isabella, and in peremptory terms told Captain Hornby to strike. The brave English captain, in no very polite terms, returned an answer of brave defiance, upon which the privateer, doubly shotting her guns, put her helm up, and poured such a shower of bullets into the Isabella, that Hornby found it necessary to call his men into close quarters, and they barricaded themselves in the