Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-03-14
THE RENEGADE.
Father, | would speak with the
gTsl. Nj 4 IL

vent, man SICK unto ueatn, ana VINO
had barely asked permission to die with
in its sanctified walls. He was clad in
the garments of the East--the wide
trowsers--the slippers, the ample tur-
| ban of the Mussulman. He wore his
beard, curling in dark and neglected
prolusion around his lips, and contras-
ting its gloomy blackness with the 2hast-
! ly and death like pallor of his brow.
| Speak my son. said the Monk.
Father, am not what eeern, said
the sick man. MY garb is that of a
Musselman, | have knclt with the de-
voices OF the Prophet, | have shouted
aloud for the False Teacher, and yet, |
northumberland dark creed ofMecca.'
The monk started back as if SER
pent had stung him. Thou art an a.
postate from our holy religionl' and he
crossed himselfas decentralization were
!, near him Its even SO, father---nay,
look not thus fearfuly upon me-, am
a poor, weak, sinful and dying man;
and il thou wilt hear my story, thou
wilt pity and not roproach me-" The
Monk crossed himself and listened in
silence.
Il am the younger son of a noble fatni-
/ ly in Venice said the Renegade, land
was early educated for q life of monas-
tic seclusion. But my frequent visits
to Venice, the sight of the brave city,
/ its gallant cavaliers, its beautiful wo-
/ men, the tales which my young ear
caught of the Glorious excitement of
war and travel, end romantic adyen-
I ure, rendered tie quiet gloom and awe
of the convent utterly repugnant to my
warm and imretuous spirit longed
to break away, in freedom; to mingle
in the bright, busy, thronginl world a.
round me. And | did break away, l.
shook off the restraints which had fet-
tered nay desires; / fed from the gen.
tie ahodes Of religion, and my father
and brother dying soon after, became
at once powerful and wealthy.
ran wild in my new freedom. II
wandered to all the bright and beautiful
places in Italy, pausing to, look upon
the ancient Roman battle field; the ruin,
standing out, in its lonely dosolation,
the gay chronicler Of the past; the lofty
mountains, lifting its bald peaks high
up into the clear thin atmosphere, with
the pure sky over and around il, like
shrine OF chrystal; the streams, cles-
sic and beautiful; the cities, gay, glow.
ing, and fullof life and energy and beail-
jty. Then came the desire of visiting
other lands; to look upon hew scenes
and new faces; and went abroad, a
young and reckless adventurer.
/ visited Egypt, that land of ancient
/ glory, and learned to love the strange
habits of tho solemn and bearded Mos
lem, to deiightin urging my feet cour-
ser over the wide waste of the desert,
and to sit in the cool veranda of the vo-
lluptuous Turk; to lounge upon the soft
,dlyaii, and TO taste the luxurious of
the cooled pipe, the morning coffee, and
to compete with bearded men in the
game of chess, or the whirl OF the ar.
rowy ieered.
| NY black servant had been In the
lemploy Of the Bey Of Alexandria. He
was one of those, who, early deprived
lof the Incentives Of passion, are en-
Iployed by the jealous and careful Turk,
to watch over and attend the inmates
of his harem. He had narrowly es-
lcaped from the palace of the Bey, hav-
ling incurred the displeasure of the mis-
ltress of the harcm. He frequently
lspoke of the inmates of the palace; the
beauties who had been collected from
Iall parts OF the East; and one in parti-
Icular, he represented as the most en-
Ichanting loneliness, but as unhappy in
lher confinement. | used to listen for
hours tohis animateddescription Of that
Iyoung being. | was passionate ad-
Imirer of beauty; and, accustomed as |
Ihad been in Italy, to look without re-
lserve upon its finest manifestations in
1.-THE female form. had grown weary
Iof the closely yelled and mufiled figures
which now met me in my wanderings.
| longed to look upon something beau
|tifnl and mild and gentle, and as such,
lmy fancy pictured the Circassianin the
Harem of the Beys
/ NV servant really loved me, and
lmore than once, after finding his story
had made a deep impression on my
mind, he intimated that might posi-
Ibly obtain the beauty Of the harem-
lbut not without mourning the most
fearful danger and detection, and Spec
ldy and terrible punishment. With
passions easily excited, with restless
Esprit Of adventure within me, did not
hesitate, bat baae ns gsyyus at all