of the Governor, and against the right of the British Government to tax the colonies. In 1774, a committee of correspondence was appointed by the members of the assembly, whereupon the Governor immediately dissolved the assembly; but the committee called a meeting of the members who proceeded to choose two delegates to represent New Hampshire in the General Congress, to meet in Philadelphia that year; and Mr. Bartlett was chosen, but declined the honor on account of the pressing embarrassment of his private concerns, occasioned by the destruction of his house by fire. By the patriotic course he pursued, he gave such offence to the Governor, that, in Feb. 1775, he was notified that his name was erased from the commission of the peace, and he was removed from his military command. In 1775, he continued a member of the assembly, a majority of which had now become enemies of the Governor. He was also a member of the committee of safety. In Sept. 1775, the Governor retired to Boston, and afterwards issued from the Isle of Shoals a proclamation, adjourning the assembly to the next April. This was the last act of the colonial or provincial Governor, and with it terminated the British government in New Hampshire. In Sept. of this year, Mr. Bartlett was appointed to the command of a regiment, by the first Provincial Congress. He had been previously, in August, chosen a delegate to the Continen tal Congress, and continued a member of that body by successive elections until the autumn of 1778. The vote upon the declaration of Independence was taken by colonies, beginning with N. H. Dr. B. was first called and gave an affirmative vote. He also was first to sign that document, after Mr. Hancock, the president. His services while a member of this body were such as will always be acknowledged with gratitude by his country. He possessed a clear, steady judgment, and manifested a most firm, unwavering attachment to the cause of liberty. In 1779, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in New Hampshire, and continued in the discharge of the duties of that office until 1782, when he was raised to the bench of the Supreme Court, and officiated as an associate Justice until 1788, when he was made Chief Justice. He was an active member of the Convention called in New Hampshire for the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. In 1789, he was chosen a Senator under that constitution, but declined the honor on account of his infirmities. In June, 1790, he was chosen President of New Hampshire, in which office he continued intil June, 1793, when he was elected the first Governor, which

office he resigned in 1794, that he might be released from the cares and fatigues of public business, and enjoy the repose of private life. This enjoyment, however, was of short duration, for in May, 1795, he died.

Dr. Bartlett was a man of stern integrity, frank and undisguised in his deportment. His patriotism was ardent and sustained by a mind of uncommonly comprehensive powers. His perceptions were quick, his judgment clear, and his conclusions accurate. He rose to high distinction by his own merit, and justly enjoyed in an uncommon degree, the confidence of the public.

SELECTED MISCELLANY.

JAN SCHALKEN'S THREE WISHES.

A DUTCH LEGEND.

D.

Ar a small fishing village in Dutch Flanders, there is still shown the site of a but, which was an object of much attention whilst it stood, on account of a singular legend that relates to its first inhabitant, a kind-hearted fellow, who depended on his boat for subsistence, and his own happy disposition for cheerfulness during every hardship and privation. Thus the story goes one dark and stormy night in winter, as Jan Schalken was sitting with his goodnatured buxom wife by the fire, he was awakened from a transient doze by a knocking at the door of his hut. He started up, drew back the bolt, and a stranger entered. He was a tall man, but little could be distinguished either of his face or figure, as he wore a large dark cloak, which he had contrived to pull over his head after the fashion of a cowl. "I am a poor traveller (said the stranger,) and want a night's lodging. Will you grant it to me?" "Aye, to be sure, (replied Schalken,) but I am afraid your cheer will be but sorry. Had you come sooner you might have fared better. Sit down, however, and eat what is left." The traveller took him at his word, and in a short time afterwards retired to his humble sleeping place. In the morning as he was about to depart, he advanced towards Schalken, and giving him his hand, thus addressed him: "It is needless for you, my good friend, to know who I am; but of this be assured, that I can and will be grateful; for when the rich and the powerful turned me last night from their inhospitable gates, you welcomed me as man should welcome man, and looked with an eye of pity on the desolate traveller in the

tious views, and was had been brought up.

storm. I grant you three wishes. Be they what they may, those wishes shall be gratified." Now Schalken certainly did not put much faith in these promises, but still he thought it the safest plan to make trial of them; and, accordingly, began to consider how he should fix his wishes. Jan was a man who had few or no ambicontented with the way of life in which he In fact, he was so well satisfied with his situation,that he had not the least inclination to lose a single day of his laborious existence; but on the contrary, had a very sincere wish of adding a few years to those which he was destined to live. This gave rise to wish the first. "Let my wife and myself live (he said) fifty years longer than nature has designed:" "It shall be done," cried the stranger. Whilst Schalken was puzzling his brain for a second wish, he bethought him that a pear-tree, which was in his little garden, had been frequently despoiled of its fruit, to the no small detriment of the said tree, and grievous disappointment of its owner. "For my second wish, grant that whoever climbs my peartree shall not have power to leave it until my permission be given."

This was also assented to. Schalken was a sober man, and liked to sit down and chat with his wife of an evening; but she was a bustling body, and often jumped up in the midst of a conversation that she had only heard ten or twelve times, to scrub the table or set their clay platters in order. Nothing disturbed him so much as this, and he was determined, if possible, to prevent a recurrence of the nuisance. With this object in view he approached close to the stranger, and in a low whisper told him his third and last wish: "that whoever sat in a particular chair in his hut, should not be able to move out of it until it should please him so to order." This wish was agreed to by the traveller, who, after many greetings, departed on his way. Years passed on, and his last two wishes had been fully gratified by often detaining thieves in his tree, and his wife on her chair. The time was approaching when the promise of longevity would be falsified or made manifest. It happened that the birth-days of the fisherman and his wife were the same. They were sitting together on the evening of the day that made him 79 years, and Mietja 73 years of age, when the moon that was shining through the window of the hut seemed suddenly to be extinguished, and the stars rushed down the dark clouds and lay glaring on the surface of the ocean, over which was spread an unnatural calmness, although the skies appeared to be mastered by the winds, and were heaving onward, with their mighty waves of

clouds. Birds dropped dead from the boughs, and the foilage of the trees turned to a pale red. All seemed to prognosticate the approach of Death: and in a few minutes afterwards sure enough he came. He was, however, very different from all that the worthy couple had heard or fancied of him. He was certainly rather thin, and had very little color, but he was well dressed, and his deportment was that of a gentleman. Bowing very politely to the ancient pair, he told them he merely came to give notice that by right they should have belonged to him on that day, but a fifty year's respite was granted, and when that period had expired, he should visit them again. He then walked away, and the moon, and the stars, and the waters regained their natural appearance. For the next fifty years every thing passed on as quietly as before; but as the time drew nigh for the appointed advent of Death, Jan became thoughtful, and he felt no pleasure at the idea of the anticipated visit. The day arrived, and Death came preceeded by the same horrors as on the former occasion. "Well, good folks, (said he,) you now can have no objection to accompany me; for assuredly you have hitherto been highly privileged, and have lived long enough." The old dame wept and clung feebly to her husband, as if she feared they were to be divided after passing away from the earth on which they had dwelt so long and so happily together. Poor Schalken also looked very downcast, and moved after Death but slowly. As they passed by Jan's garden, he turned to take a last look at it, when a sudden thought struck him. He called to Death and said, "Sir allow me to propose something to you. Our journey is a long one, and we have no provisions; I am too infirm, or I would climb yonder pear-tree, and take a stock of its best fruit with us; you are active and obliging, and will, I am sure, Sir, get it for us." Death, with great condescension, complied, and ascending the tree, gathered a great number of pears, which he threw down to old Schalken and his wife. At length he determined upon descending, but to his surprise and apparent consternation discovered that he was immoveable, nor would Jan allow him to leave the tree until he had given them a promise of living another half century.

I

They jogged on in the old way for fifty years more, and Death, came to the day. He was by no means so polite as he had formerly been, for the trick that Schalken had put upon him offended his dignity and hurt his pride not a little. "Come, Jan," said he, "you used me scurvily the other day, (Death thinks but very little of fifty years!) and I am now determined to loose no time—come."

Jan was sitting at his table, busily employed in writing, when Death entered. He raised his head sorrowfully, and the pen trembled in his hand as he thus addressed him, "I confess that my former conduct towards you merits blame, but I have done with such knaveries now, and have learnt to know that life is of little worth, and that I have seen enough of it. Still, before I quit this world I should like to do all the good I can, and was engaged when you arrived in making a will that a poor lad who had been always kind to us, may receive this hut and my boat. Suffer me but to finish what I have begun, and I shall cheerfully follow wherever you may lead. Pray sit down, in a few minutes my task will be ended." Death, thus appealed to, could refuse no longer, and seated himself in a chair from which he found it as difficult to rise as he had formerly to descend from the pear-tree. His liberation was bought at the expense of an additional fifty years, at the end of which period, and exactly on their birth-day, Jan Schalken and his wife died quietly in their bed, and the salt water flowed freely in the little village, in which they had lived long enough to be considered the father and mother of all its inhabitants.

AFRICA.

We have received accounts of a recent discovery in Central Africa, which will soon be laid before the public in greater detail; but of which the following outline is sufficiently curious:-Major Clapperton and Captain Denham, in the course of their late expedition in that quarter of the world, arrived in the territory, and subsequently resided for some weeks, in the capital of a nation, whose manners and history seem likely to occupy, to no trivial extent, the attention of the public of this country-we might safely say of the whole civilized world. They found a nation jet black in color, but not in our sense of the term negroes, having long hair and fine high features. This people was found to be in a state of very high civilization; and above all, the British travellers witnessed a review of 7000 cavalry, divided into regular regiments, and all clothed in complete armor. Six thousand wore the perfect hauberk mail of the early Norman knights; most strange by far of all, one thousand appeared in perfect Roman armor. The conjectures to which this has given rise are various. We confess, for ourselves, that, looking to the polished and voluptuous manners ascribed to these people, the elegance of their houses, &c. &c. ; in a word, the total difference between them and any other race as yet discovered