ish
officers was tied, and the others stood near bound, and in the hands of
the executioner.

This sight so amazed Horatio, that he had not the power of speaking one
word;--till Mullern, who happened to be the person that was fastened
upon the rack, cried out to him,--Be not lost in consideration, Horatio,
said he; are we not in the hands of Muscovites, from whom nothing that
is human can be expected?--rather prepare yourself to disappoint their
cruelty, by bravely suffering all they dare inflict.

Hold then, said Horatio, even Muscovites would chuse to have some
pretence for what they do; and sure the first favourite and
generalissimo of a prince, who boasts an inclination to civilize his
barbarous subjects, will not, without any cause, torture them whom
chance alone has put into his power, and who have never done him any
personal injury.--By heaven, pursued he, turning to the prince, we all
are innocent of any part of those crimes laid to our charge:--time,
perhaps, if our declarations are ineffectual, will convince your
highness we are so, and you will then regret the injustice you have
done us.

You all are in one story, cried the prince, but I am well assured of the
main point:--the particulars is all I want to be informed of:--but since
I am compelled to speak more plain, which of you is it for whose sake
you all received such instances of Edella's bounty?--Whoever tells me
that, even tho' it be the person himself, shall have both pardon
and liberty.

Impossible it is to express the astonishment every one was in at this
demand: five of them had not the least notion what it meant; but
Mullern, Horatio, and that friend to whom he had shewn the letter of
Mattakesa, had some conjecture of the truth, and presently imagined that
lady had been the incendiary to kindle the flame of jealousy in the
prince's breast. The affair, however, was of so nice a nature, that they
knew not how to vindicate Edella without making her seem more guilty, so
contented themselves with joining with the others, in protesting they
knew of no one among them who could boast of receiving any greater
favours from her than his fellows, but that what she did was instigated
merely by compassion, since she had never seen, or knew who any of them
were, till after she had moved the governor in their behalf:--they
acknowledged she had been so good as to come sometimes to the prison, in
order to see if those she entrusted with her bounty had been fai