1 In the mean time, Za Saluce, far from finding the encouragement he expected in Amhara, was, upon his first appearance, fet upon by the nobility of that province; and being deferted by his troops, he was taken prifoner; his eyes were put out, and, being mounted on an afs, he was carried, amidst the curfes of the people, through the provinces of Amhara and Shoa. If canda was fucceeded by his fon Andreas, or Amda Sion, an infant, who reigned seven months only. NAOD. From 1495 to 1508. SOON after the unfortunate death of the young king Alexander, the people in general, wearied of minorities, unanimoufly chofe Naod for their king. He was Alexander's youngest brother, the difference of ages being but one year, though he was not by the fame mother, but by the king's second wife, Calliope. Naod was no fooner feated on the throne than he published a very general and comprehensive amnesty. By proclamation he declared, "That any perfon who should upbraid another with being a party in the misfortunes of paft times, or fay that he had been privy to this or to that confpiracy, or had been a favourite of the emprefs, or a partizan of Za Saluce, or had received bribes from the Moors, fhould, without delay, be put to death." This proclamation had the very beft effect, as it quieted the mind of every guilty perfon when he faw the king, from whom he feared an enquiry, cutting off all poffible means by which it could be procured against him. Naod having, by his courage and prudence, freed himfelf from fear of a foreign war, fet himself, like a wife prince, to the reforming of the abufes that prevailed every where among his people, and to the cultivation of the arts of peace. He died a natural death, after having reigned 13 years. DAVID III. From 1508 to 1540. DAVID was only 11 years old when he was placed upon the throne; and, at his inauguration, took the name name of Lebna Denghel, or the Virgin's Frankincense; then that of Etana Denghel, or the Myrrh of the Virgin; and after that of Wanag Segued, which fignifies Reverenced, or Feared, among the Lions, with whom, towards the last of his reign, he refided in wilds and mountains, more than with men. He died in the year 1540, after a reign of complicated misfortunes. CLAUDIUS, OR ATZENAF SEGUED. CLAUDIUS fucceeded his father David III. being yet young, and found the empire in circumstances that would have required an old and experienced prince. But, though young, he poffeffed thofe graceful and affable manners which, at firft fight, attached people of all forts to him. He had been tutored with great care by the emprefs Helena, was expert in all warlike exercifes, and brave beyond his years. Such is the character given this prince by the Abyffinian writers: but Mr. Bruce is of opinion that he did not merit thefe encomiums. Under this reign, Mr. Bruce relates fome particulars of Nur, governor of Zeyla, and general of the Moors, which, in fpite of the narrow limits to which we are confined, we cannot avoid tranfcribing. He was deeply in love with a widow lady, Del Wumbarea, from whom he had marks of gratitude to expect, as he had affifted her in making her escape into Atbara, that day her husband was flain. But this heroine had conftantly refused to liften to any propofals; nay, had vowed she never would give her hand in marriage to any man, till he fhould first bring her the head of Claudius, who had flain her husband. Nur willingly accepted the condition, which gave him few rivals. Claudius, who had hitherto been victorious, had marched towards Adel, when he received a meffage from Nur, that there ftill remained a governor of Zeyla, whofe family was chofen as a particular inftrument for fhedding the blood of the Abyffinian princes; and defired him, therefore, to be prepared, for he was speedily to fet out to come to him. Claudius had F 4 been been employed in various journies through different parts of his kingdom, repairing the churches which the Moors had burnt; and he was then rebuilding that of Debra Werk when this meffage of Nur was brought to him. This prince was of a temper never to avoid a challenge; and if he did not march against Nur immediately, he staid no longer than to complete his army as far as poffible. He then began his march for Adel, very much, as it is faid, againft the advice of his friends. This advice was fingular, as he was, at that time, victorious. But many prophecies were current in the camp, that the king was to be unfortunate this campaign, and in which he was to lofe his life. These unfortunate rumours tended much to discourage the army, at the fame time that they feemed to have a contrary effect on the king, and to confirm him in his refolution to fight. Both armies were drawn up and ready to engage, when the chief priest of Debra Libanos came to the king, to tell him a dream, or vision, which warned him not to fight; but the Moors were then advancing, and the king, on horfeback, made no reply, but marched brifkly forward to the enemy. The cowardly Abyffinians, upon the firft fire, fled, leaving the king engaged in the middle of the Moorish army with twenty horse, and eighteen Portuguese mufqueteers, who were all flain around his perfon; and he himself fell, after fighting manfully, and receiving twenty wounds. His head was cut off, and by Nur delivered to Del Wumbarea, who directed it to be tied by the hair to the branch of a tree before her door, that the might keep it conftantly in fight. Here it remained three years, till it was purchased from her by an Armenian merchant, her first grief having, it is probable, fubfided, upon the acquifition of a new husband. The merchant carried the head to Antioch, and buried it there in the sepulchre of a faint of the fame name. In this manner died king Claudius, in the 19th year of his reign, who, by his virtues and capacity, might hold a first place among any series of kings we have known, victorious in every action he fought, except in that one only in which he died. A great flaughter was made after this among the routed, and many of the first first nobility were flain in endeavouring to escape; among the reft, the dreamer from Debra Libanos, his vifion, by which he knew the king's death, not having extended fo far as to reveal his own. The Abyffinians immediately transferred the name of this prince into their catalogue of faints, and he is called St. Claudius in that country to this day. ; This battle was fought on the 22d of March, 1550; and the victory gained by Nur was a complete one. The king and most of his principal officers were flain great part of the army taken prifoners, the reft difperfed, and the camp plundered; fo that no Moorish general had ever returned home with the glory he did. But afterwards, in his behaviour, he exhibited a spectacle more memorable, and that did him more honour than the victory itself; for, when he drew near to Adel, he clothed himself in poor attire, like a common foldier, and bare-headed, mounted on an ordinary mule, with an old faddle and tattered accoutrements, he forbade the fongs and praise with which it is usual to meet the conquerors in that country, when returning with victory from the field. He declined also all share in the fuccefs of that day, declaring that the whole of it was due to God alone, to whofe mercy and immediate interpofition he owed the deftruction of the Chriftian army. MENAS, OR ADAMAS SEGUED. From 1559 to 1563. Menas fucceeded his brother Claudius, and found his kingdom in almoft as great confufion as it had been left by his father David. As nothing occurs very remarkable in this reign, we fhall pass on to his fucceffor SERTZA DENGHELL, OR MELEC SEGUED. From 1563 to 1595. He was only twelve years old when he came to the throne, and was crowned at Axum with all the ancient ceremonies. The beginning of his reign was marked by a mutiny of his foldiers, who, joining themselves to fome Mahometans, plundered the town, and then difbanded. Sertza Denghell, having proved victorious in all his wars, determined to chastise the malecontents of a people called the Damots, when he was accosted by a priest, famous for his holiness and talent for divination, who advised him not to undertake that war; but the king expreffed his contempt both of the advice and the advifer. The priest is faid to have limited his advice still further, and to have only begged him to remember not to eat the fifh of a certain river in the territory of Giba, in the province of Shat. The king, however, flushed with his former victories, forgot the name of the river, and the injunction; and, having eat fish out of this river, was immediately after taken dangerously ill, and died on his return. The writer of his life fays, that the fatal effects of this river were afterwards experienced in the reign of Yafous the Great, at the time in which he wrote, when the king's whole army, encamped along the fides of this river, were taken with violent fickness after eating the fish caught in it, and that many of the foldiers died. Whether this be really fact or not, Mr. Bruce does not take upon him to decide. Whether fifh, or any other animal, living in water impregnated with poisonous minerals, can preferve its own life, and yet imbibe a quantity of poifon fufficient to deftroy the men that fhould eat it, seems to him very doubtful. Sertza Denghell was of a very humane, affable difpofition, very different from his father Menas. He was fted faft in his adherence to the church of Alexandria, and feemed perfectly indifferent as to the Romish church and clergy. In converfation, he frequently condemned their tenets, but always commended the fobriety and fanctity of their lives." ZA DENGHELL. From 1595 to 1604. No fooner was Sertza Denghell de..d, perhaps fome time before, but a confpiracy was formed to change the order |