the fate of his friends, what was to follow his denial, frankly told the Ras, that it was by the king's special orders they, and a considerable body of the household troops, had joined Fasil the night before; and further, that it was the Armenian, who, by the king's order, had fired at him, and killed the dwarf, who was fanning the flies from him. Upon this information all the prisoners were dismissed. The army returned the same night to Gondar, and, though they had been fasting all day, a council was held, which sat till very late, at the rising of which a messenger was' dispatched to Wechne for Hatze Hannes, who was brought to the foot of the mountain the next day. In the same night Shalaka Becro, Nebrit Tecla, and his two sons, Lika Netcho and his two sons, and a monk of Tigre, called Welleta Christos, were sent to the palace to murder the king, which they easily accomplished, having found him alone. They buried him in the church of St Raphael, as we shall find from the regicide's own confession, when he was apprehended, when we shall relate the particulars. At the same time Michael exhibited a strange contrast in his behaviour to the Armenian, who had fled to the house of the Abuna for refuge. He sent and took him thence, and banished him from Abyssinia ; but so considerately, that he dispatched a servant with him to Masuah to furnish him with necessaries, to see him embark, and save him from the cruelty and extor tions of the Naybe. HANNES II. 1769. Hannes, brother to Bacuffa, chosen king-Is brought from Wechne-Crowned, at Gondar-Refuses to march against Fasil-Is poisoned by order of Ras Michael. HANNES, a man past seventy years of age, made his entry into Gondar, the 3d of May, 1769*. He was brother to Bacuffa, and having in his time escaped from the mountain, and been afterwards taken, his hand was cut off by order of the king, his brother, and he was sent back to the place of his confinement. It is a law of Abyssinia, as we have already observed, derived from that of Moses, that no man can be capable either of the throne, or priesthood, unless he be perfect in all his limbs; the want of a hand, therefore, certainly disqualified Hannes, and it was with that intent it had been cut off. When this was objected to him in council, Michael laughed violently, and turned it into ridicule; "What is it that a king has to do with his hands? Are you afraid he shall not be able to saddle his own mule, or load his own baggage? Never fear that; when he is under any such Hannes was the second son of Yasous the Great, by his celebrated mistress Ozoro Keduste, the mother of David IV. E. difficulty, he has only to call upon me*, and I will help him." Hannes, besides his age, was very feeble in strength; and having had no conversation but with monks and priests, this had debilitated his mind as much as age had done his body. He could not be persuaded to take any share in government. The whole day was spent in psalms and prayers; but Ras Michael had brought from the mountain with him two sons, Tecla Haimanout the eldest, a prince of fifteen years of age, and the younger, called George, about thirteen. Guebra Denghel, a nobleman of the first family in Tigre, had married a daughter of Michael, by one of his wives in that province. By her he had one daugh ter, Welleta Selasse, whom Michael, in the beginning, while Joas and he were yet friends, had destined to be queen, and to be married to him. Hannes was of the age only to need a Shunnamite; and Welleta Selasse, young and beautiful, and who merited to be something more, was destined as this sacrifice to the ambition of her grandfather. A kind of marriage, I believe, was therefore made, but never consummated. She lived with Hannes some months in the palace, but never took any state upon her. She was a wife and a queen merely in name and idea. Love had, in that frozen composition, as little share as ambition; and those two great temptations, a crown and a beautiful mistress, could not animate Hatze Hannes to take the field to defend them. Every possible method was taken by Michael to overcome his reluctance, and to do away his fears. All was vain; he wept, hid himself, turned monk, demanded to be sent * What made the ridicule here was, Michael was older than the king, and could not stand alone. again to Wechne; but absolutely refused marching with the army. Michael, who had already seen the danger of leaving a king behind him while he was in the field, finding Hannes inexorable, had recourse to poison, which was given him in his breakfast; and the Ras, by this means, in less than six months became the deliberate murderer of his two sovereigns. TECLA HAIMANOUT II. 1769. Succeeds his Father Hannes-His Character and prudent Behaviour-Cultivates Michael's FriendshipMarches willingly against Fasil-Defeats him at Fagitta-Description of that Battle. TECLA HAIMANOUT succeeded his father. He was a prince of a most graceful figure, tall for his age, rather thin, and of the whitest shade of Abyssinian colour, for such are all those princes that are born in the mountain. He was not so dark in complexion as a Neapolitan or Portugueze, had a remarkably fine forehead, large black eyes, but which had something very stern in them, a straight nose, rather of the largest, thin lips, and small mouth, very white teeth and long hair. His features, even in Europe, would have been thought fine. He was particularly careful of his hair, which he dressed in a hundred different ways. Though he had been absent but a very few months from his native mountain, his manners and carriage were those of a prince, that had sat from his infancy on an hereditary throne. He had an excellent understanding, and prudence beyond his years. He was said to be naturally of a very warm temper, but this he had so |