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They are making fuitable preparations for conducting Sacontala to her hufband's palace.

Anu. [With surprise.] What fay you, my friend?

Pri. Hear me. I went juft now to Sacontala, meaning only to ask if the had slept well.

Anu. What then? oh what then? Pri. She was fitting with her head bent on her knee, when our father Canna, entering her apartment, embraced and congratulated her." My fweet child," said he," there has been a happy omen: the young Brahmen who officiated in our morning facrifice, though his fight was impeded by clouds of fmoke, dropped the clarified butter into the very centre of the adorable flame. Now fince the pious act of my pupil has profpered, my fofter child muft not be suffered any longer to languifh in forrow; and this day I am determined to fend thee from the cottage of the old hermit who bred thee up, to the palace of the monarch who has taken thee by the hand!"

Anu. My friend, who told Canna what paffed in his absence?

Pri. When he entered the place where the holy fire was blazing, he heard a voice from heaven pronouncing divine measures.

aftonish me.

Anu. [Amazed.] Ah ! you Pri. Hear the celeftial verfe :"Know that thy adopted daughter, O pious Brahmen, has received from Duthmanta a ray of glory deftined to rule the world; as the wood Sami becomes pregnant with myfterious fire."

Anu. [Embracing Priyamvada.] I am delighted, my beloved; I am transported with joy. But-fince they mean to deprive us of our friend fo foon as to day, I feel that my delight is at least equalled by my forrow.

Pri. Oh! we muft fubmit patiently to the anguifh of parting. Our beloved friend will now be happy; and that fhould confole us.

Anu. Let us now make hafte to drefs her in bridal array. I have already, for that purpose, filled the hell of a cocoa nut, which you fee fixed on an Amra tree, with the fragrant duft of Nágacéfaras: take it down, and keep it in a fresh lotos leaf, whilft I collect fome Góráchana from the forehead of

a facred cow, fome earth from confecrated ground, and fome fresh Cufa grafs, of which I will make a paste to enfure good fortune.

Pri. By all means. [She takes down the perfume-Anusuya goes out.]

Behind the Scenes. O Gautami bid the two Mifras, Sarngarava and Saradwata, make ready to accompany my child Sacontala.

Pri. [Liftening.] Lofe no time,Anufuya, lofe no time. Our father Canna is giving orders for the intended journey to Haftinápura.

Anufuya re-enters with the ingredients of

ber Charm.

Anu. I am here: let us go, my Priyamvada. [They both advance.]

Pri. [Looking.] There ftands our Sacontala, after her bath at sunrise, while many holy women, who are con gratulating her, carry baskets of hallowed grain.-Let us haften to greet her. Enter Sacontala, Gautami, and female Hermits.

Sac. I proftrate myself before the goddefs.

Gaut. My child, thou canst not pronounce too often the word goddess : thus wilt thou procure great felicity for thy lord.

Herm. Mayft thou, O royal bride, be delivered of a hero! [The Hermits go out.]

Both Damfels. [Approaching Sacontala.] Beloved friend, was your bath pleasant ?

Sac. O my friends, you are welcome let us fit a while together. [They feat themselves.]

Anu. Now you must be patient, whilft I bind on a charm to fecure your happiness.

Sac. That is kind.-Much has been decided this day and the pleasure of being thus attended by my sweet friends will not foon return. [Wiping off ber tears.]

Pri. Beloved, it is unbecoming to weep at a time when you are going to be fo happy. Both damfels bu f into tears as they drefs ber.] Your elegant perfon deferves richer apparel: it is now dec orated with fuch rude flowers as we could procure in this foreft.

Canna's Pupil enters with rich clothes.

Pup. Here is a complete drefs. Let the queen wear it aufpiciously; and may her life be long! [The women isch with astonishment.]

Gaut. My fon, Harita whence came this apparel ?

Pup. From the devotion of our father Canna.

Gaut. What doft thou mean?

Pup. Be attentive. The venerable fage gave this order: "Bring fresh flowers for Sacontala from the most beautiful trees ;" and fuddenly the woodnymphs appeared, raifing their hands, which rivalled new leaves in beauty and foftness. Some of them wove a lower mantle bright as the moon, the prefage of her felicity; another preffed the juice of Lácfhà to stain her feet exquifitely red; the rest were bufied in forming the gayeft ornaments; and they eagerly showered their gifts on us.

Pri. [Looking at Sacontala.] Thus it is, that even the bee, whofe neft is within the hollow trunk, does homage to the honey of the lotos flower.

Gaut. The nymphs must have been commiffioned by the goddefs of the king's fortune, to predict the acceffion of brighter ornaments in his palace. [Sacontala looks modeft.]

Pup. I must haften to Canna, who is gone to bathe in the Malina,and let him know the fignal kindness of the woodnymphs. [He goes out.

Anu. My fweet friend, I little expected fo fplendid a dress :-how fhall I adjust it properly?—[Confidering.]--Oh! my skill in painting will fupply me with fome hints; and I will difpofe the drapery according to art.

Sac. I well know your affection for him.

Canna enters meditating. Can. [Afide.] This day muft Sacontala depart that is refolved; yet my foul is fmitten with anguifh.-My fpeech is interrupted by a torrent of tears, which my reason fuppreffes and turns inward: my very fight is dimmed. Strange that the affliction of a forefter, retired from the haunts of men, fhould be fo exceffive!-Oh! with what pangs muft they who are fathers of families be afflicted on the departure of a daughter! [He walks round mufing.

Pri. Now, my Sacontala, you are becomingly decorated: put on this lower veft the gift of fylvan goddeffes. [Sacontala rifes and puts on the mantle.

Gaut. My child, thy fpiritual father, whofe eyes overflow with tears of joy,

ftands defiring to embrace thee. Haf ten, therefore, to do him reverence.

[Sacontala modeftly bows to bim.

Can. Mayft thou be cherished by thy hufband,as Sarmifhtha was cherished by Yayati! Mayft thou bring forth a fovereign of the world, as she brought forth Puru!

Gaut. This, my child, is not a mere benediction; it is a boon actually conferred.

Can. My best beloved, come and walk with me round the facrificial fire.They all advance.)-May these fires preferve thee! Fires which spring to their appointed stations on the holy hearth, and confume the confecrated wood, while the fresh blades of mysterious Cufa lie fcattered around them!-Sacramental fires, which deftroy fin with the rifing fumes of clarified butter !—(Sacentala walks with folemnity round the bearth.)Now fet out, my darling, on thy aufpicious journey.-(Looking round.) Where are the attendants, the two Mifras ?

Enter Sárngarava and Sáradzata. Both. Holy fage, we are here. Can. My fon, Sarngarava, show thy fifter her way.

Sarn. Come, damsel. (They all advance, Can. Hear, all ye trees of this hal lowed foreft; ye trees, in which the fylvan goddeffes have their abode; hear, and proclaim, that Sacontala is going to the palace of her wedded lord; the who drank not, though thirsty, before you were watered; fhe, who cropped not, through affection for you, one of your fresh leaves, though he would have been pleafed with fuch an ornament for her locks; the whofe chief delight was in the feafon, when your branches are spangled with flowers!

CHORUS of invifible Woodnymphs. May her way be attended with profperity! May propitious breezes fprinkle, for her delight, the odoriferous duft of rich bloffoms! May pools of clear water, green with the leaves of the lotos, refresh her as the walks! and may shady branches be her defence from the fcorching fun beams!

[All liften ruith admiration. Sarn. Was that the voice of the Có cila wifhing a happy journey to Sacontala? Or did the nymphs, who are allied to the pious inhabitants of these woods, repeat the warbling of the muy

£cal bird, and make its greeting their own?

Gaut. Daughter, the fylvan goddef fes, who love their kindred hermits, have wished you profperity, and are entitled to humble thanks. [Sacontala walks round, boring to the Nymphs.

Sac. [afide to Priyamvada.] Delighted as I am, O Priyamvada, with the thought of feeing again the fon of my lord, yet, on leaving this grove, my early afylum, I am scarce able to walk. Pri. You lament not alone.-Mark the affliction of the forest itself when the time of your departure approaches!--The female antelope browfes no more on the collected Cufa grafs; and the peahen ceases to dance on the lawn: the very plants of the grove, whofe pale leaves fall on the ground, lofe their ftrength and their beauty.

Sac. Venerable father, suffer me to addrefs this Madhaví creeper, whofe red bloffoms inflame the grove.

Can. My child, I know thy affection

for it.

Sat. [Embracing the plant.] O moft radiant of twining plants, receive my embraces, and return them with thy Rexible arms from this day, though removed to a fatal distance, I fhall for ever be thine-O beloved father, confider this creeper as myself.

Can. My darling, thy amiable qualities have gained thee a husband equal to thyself: fuch an event has been long, for thy fake, the chief object of my heart; and now, fince my folicitude for thy marriage is at an end, I will marry thy favourite plant to the bridegroom Amra, who sheds fragrance near her.Proceed, my child, on thy journey.

Sac. [Approaching the two damfels. Sweet friends, let this Madhaví creeper be a precious depofit in your hands.

Anu. and Pri. Alas! in whofe care fhall we be left? [They both weep.

Can. Tears are vain, Anufuya: our Sacontala ought rather to be fupported by your firmnefs, than weakened by your weeping. [All advance.

Sac. Father! when yon female an telope, who now moves flowly from the weight of the young ones with which She is pregnant, fhall be delivered of them, fend me, I beg, a kind meffage with tidings of her fafety.-Do not forget.

Can. My beloved, I will not forget it. Sac. [Advancing, then flopping.] Ah! what is it that clings to the skirts of my robe, and detains me.

[She turns round and looks.

Can. It is thy adopted child, the little fawn, whose mouth, when the sharp points of Cufa grafs had wounded it, has been fo often smeared by thy hand with the healing oil of Ingudi; who has been so often fed by thee with an handful of Syamaka grains, and now will not leave the footsteps of his protectress.

Sac. Why doft thou weep, tender fawn, for me, who must leave our common dwelling place?-As thou waft reared by me when thou hadst lost thy mother, who died foon after thy birth, fo will my fofter-father attend thee, when we are feparated, with anxious care.-Return, poor thing, return—we muft part.

[She burfit into tears.

Can. Thy tears, my child, ill fuit the occation: we fhall all meet again: be firm fee the direct road before thee, and follow it. When the big tear lurks beneath thy beautiful eye-lafhes, let thy resolution check its first efforts to difengage itself. In thy paffage over this earth, where the paths are now high, now low, and the true path seldom diftinguished, the traces of thy feet muft needs be unequal; but virtue will prefs thee right onward.

Sarn. It is a facred rule, holy fage, that a benevolent man fhould accompa ny a traveller till he meet with abundance of water; and that rule you have carefully observed: we are now near the brink of a large pool. Give us, therefore, your commands, and re

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Can. My fon Sárngarava, remember, when thou fhalt prefent Sacontala to the king, to addrefs him thus, in my name: "Confidering us hermits as virtuous, indeed, but rich only in devotion, and confidering alfo thy own exalted birth, retain thy love for this girl, which arofe in thy bofom without any interference of her kindred; and look on her among thy wives with the fame kindness which they experience: more than that cannot be demanded; fince particular affection must depend on the will of heaven."

Sarn. Your meffage, venerable man, is deeply rooted in my remembrance.

Can. (Looking tenderly at Sacontala.) Now, my darling, thou too must be gently admonished.-We, who are humble foresters, are yet acquainted with the world, which we have forfaken.

Sorn. Nothing can be unknown to the wife.

Can. Hear, my daughter-When thou art fettled in the manfion of thy husband, fhow due reverence to him, and to those whom he reveres: though he have other wives, be rather an affectionate handmaid to them, than a rival. -Should he displease thee, let not thy refentment lead thee to difobedience. In thy conduct to thy domefticks be rigidly just and impartial; and feek not eagerly thy own gratifications.-By fuch behaviout young women become refpectable; but perverfe wives are the bane of a family.——What thinks Gautamí of this lesson ?

Gaut. It is incomparable :-My child, be sure to remember it.

Can. Come, my beloved girl, give a parting embrace to me and to thy tender companions.

Sac. Muft Anufuya and Priyamvada return to the hermitage?

Can. They too, my child, must be fuitably married; and it would not be proper for them yet to vifit the city; but Gautami will accompany thee.

Sac. (Embracing him.) Removed from the bofom of my father, like a young fandal tree, rent from the hills of Malaya, how shall I exift in a strange foil? Can. Be not fo anxious. When thou fhalt be mistress of a family, and confort of a king, thou mayft, indeed, be occafionally perplexed by the intricate af fairs, which arife from the exuberance

of wealth, but wilt then think lightly of this tranfient affliction, efpecially when thou fhalt have a fon (and a fon thou wilt have) bright as the rifing dayftar.--Know alfo with certainty, that the body must neceffarily, at the ap pointed moment, be feparated from the foul who, then, can be immoderately afflicted, when the weaker bounds of extrinfick relations are loosened, or even broken?

Sac. (Falling at his feet.) My father, I thus humbly declare my veneration for you.

Can. Excellent girl, may my effort for thy happiness prove fuccessful.

Sac. (Approaching her two companions.) Come then, my beloved friends, embrace me together. [They embrace ber.

Anu. My friend, if the virtuous monarch fhould not at once recollect you, only fhow him the ring on which his own name is engraved.

Sac. (Starting.) My heart flutters at the bare apprehenfion which you have raised.

Pri. Fear not, fweet Sacontala: love always raises ideas of mifery, which are feldom or never realized.

Sarn. Holy fage, the fun has rifen to a confiderable height: let the queen haften her departure.

Sac. (Again embracing Canna.) When, my father, oh! when again fhall I behold this afylum of virtue?

Can. Daughter, when thou shalt long have been wedded, like this fruitful earth, to the pious monarch, and shalt have borne him a fon, whofe car fhall be matchlefs in battle, thy lord fhall transfer to him the burden of empire,and thou, with thy Dufhmanta, fhall again feek tranquillity, before thy final departure,in this loved and confecrated grove.

Gaut. My child, the proper time for our journey paffes away rapidly: fuffer thy father to return.-Go, venerable man, go back to thy manfion, from which the is doomed to be fo long absent.

Can. Sweet child, this delay interrupts my religious duties.

Sac. You, my father, will perform them long without forrow; but I, alas! am deftined to bear affliction.

Can. O! my daughter compel me not to neglect my daily devotions.(Sighing.)-No, my forrow will not be diminished.-Can it cease, my beloved, when the plants which rife luxuriantly

from the hallowed grains which thy hand has strown before my cottage are continually in my fight ?-Go, may thy journey profper. (Sacontala goes out with Gautami and the two Mifras.

Both Damfels. (Looking after Sacontala with anguifb.) Alas! alas! our beloved is hidden by the thick trees.

Can. My children, fince your friend is at length departed, check your immoderate grief, and follow me.

(They all turn back. Botb. Holy father, the grove will be a perfect vacuity without Sacontala.

Can. Your affection will certainly give it that appearance. (He walks round, meditating.)-Ah me !-yes; at last my weak mind has attained its due firmnefs after the departure of my Sacontala.-In truth a daughter must sooner or later be the property of another; and, having now fent her to her lord, I find my foul clear and undisturbed, like that of a man who has restored to its owner an inestimable deposit which he long had kept with folicitude. (They go tak

ORIGINAL.

POETRY.

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The gay pert nymph, too conscious of her charms,

The maid too modeft, ever in alarms; The felf-taught fage, whofe life is fquared by rule,

The ignorant witling, and the learned fool;

The infant, dying on its mother's breast, The aged, gently finking down to reft; Each different character in life, I ween, May in the garden's motley group be feen.

O'er heaven's high arch, when stormy clouds fly fast, And milder fkies proclaim the winter past,

Fair fnowdrop rifes from her chilly bed, Opes her pale eyes, and lifts her languid head;

Too foft her frame to endure the roughning air,

Too weak her nerves the heat of noon

to bear,

One short-lived day oppreffive pain she feels,

Till night's cold breath the fount of life congeals.

Next, modeft daffodil* attracts our

view,

Whose charms tho' oft beheld are ever

new,

The Daffodil is a fpecies of the Nar siffa, of a yellowish colour, and blows much earlier than the real white Narciffa.

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