The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1828-02-27
From a Paris paper.

tribunal in one of the departments of the
north of France condemned to death III. des
k ****, an ancient Magistrate, and a most
estimable man, guilty, at fifty leagues from
Paris, of conspiracy, which had not exist
ed at ST. Lazare. d. des r. had Water
Spaniel, Of ten or twelve years old of the
small breed, which had.been brought up by
him, and never quilted him. Des Ras*** in
prison saw his family dispersed. by a system
of terror; some had taken flight; others,
themselves arrested, were carried into dis
tant gaols his domestics were dismissed
his house was buried in the solitude of the
Seals; his friends either abandoned him, or
concealed themselves; every thing in the
world was silent to him except his dog.
This faithful animal had been refused adj
mlttance into the prison. He had returned
! to his masters house, and found it shut. He
took refuge with a neighbor, WHO received
him; but that posterity may Judge soundly
Oh Ifie tfrIIv5 in which hysro vzrivtol, :.
must be added, that this man received him
trembling, in secret, and dreading less his
humanity for an animal should conduct him
to the scafold. Every day, at the same
hour, the dog left the house and went to the
door of the prison. He was refused admit
lance, bat he constantly passed an hour be-
fore it, and then returned. His fidelity at
length won upon the porter, and he one day
allowed himto enter. The dog saw his master.
1t was difficult to part them; but the gaoler
carried him away, and the dog returned to
his retreat. He came back the next NOR
ming, and every day; and once each day he
was admitted. He licked the hand Of his
friend, looked at him, licked his hand again,
and went away of himself.
When the day of sentence arrived, not
withstanding the crowd, notwithstanding
the guard, he penetrated into the hall, and
crouched himself between the legs of the
unhappy man, whom he was about to loose
forever. The Judges condemned the man !;
and may my tears be pardoned for the ex-
preston, which escapes from them, they
condemned him in the presence Of his dog.
They re-conducted him to the prison, and
the dog from that time did not quit the door.
The fatal hour arrives; the prison opens /;
the unfortunate man passes out; it is the
dog that receives him at the threshold. He
never more be spread upon thy caressing
head He follows him. The axe falls, the
master dies, but the tenderness of the dog
cannot cease. The body is carried away !;
he walks at its side; the earth receives it !;
he lays himself upon the grave.
There he passed the asst night, the next
day, the second night. The neighbor, in
the mean time, unhappy at not seeing him,
risks himself, searching for the dog, guesses
for the extent of his fidelity the asylum he
has chosen, finds HIM, caresses him, brings
him back, and makes him eat. An hour after
Words, tir0 dog e-@Apad. and repained his
favorite place. Three months passed away,
each morning of which he came to seek his
food. and then returned to the ashes of his
master but each day he was more sad,
more meagre, more languishing, and it was
plain that he was gradually reaching his
end They endeavored, by claiming him
up, to wean him; but you cannot triumph
over nature! He broke or bit through his
bonds; escaped; returned to the grave,
and never quilted it more. 1t was in vain
that they endeavored to bring him back.
They carried him food, but he ate no longer.
For four and twenty hours he was seen en-
ploying his weakened limbs in digging up
the earth that separated him from the re-
mains of the man he had so much loved.
Passion gave him strength, and he gradually
approaches the body; his labors OF affection
then vehemently increased his efforts be-
came convulsive he shrieked in his strug-
giles; his faithful heart gave way, and he
breathed out his last gasp, as if he knew he
had found lis masterl
BRUCE AND THE SPIDER. After receiv-
! ing the last unpleasant intelligence from
Scotland, Bruce was lying one morning on
his wretched bed, and celebrating with
/ himself whether be had not better resign
( all thoughts of again attempting to make
good his right to the Scottish crown, and,
dismissing his followers, transport himself
and his brothers to the Holy Land, and
spend the rest of his life in fighting against
the Saracens by which he thought, per-
haps, he might deserve the forgiveness o.
! Heaven for the great sin of stabbing Comyr
in the church at Dumfries.
But, then, on the other hand, he thought
| 1t would be both criminal and cowardly to
give up his attempts to restore freedom tc
Scotland, while there yet remained the
least chance of his being successful in al
undertaking, which, rightly considered, wa.
much more his duty than TO drive the inf
dels out of Palestine, though the snpersti
ton of the age might think otherwise.
While he was divided betwixt these re-
Elections, and doubtful of what he SHOULD
do, Bruce was looking upward to the roo
of the cabin in which he lay, and his eye
was attracted by spider, which, hanging
at the end Of a long thread of his own spin
ming, was endeavoring, as is the fashion 0
that creature, to swing himself from on
beam in the roof 20 another, for the pur
pose of fixing the line on which he mean
to stretch his web. The insect made th
attempt again and again without success
and at length Bruce counted that it had trie
to carry its point six times, and been as of
en- unable to do so. 1t came into his hea
that he had himself fought just six battle
against the English and their allies, an
that the poor persevering spider was exact