initial commit of ebook 6097HEADmain

5 files changed, 8415 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/6097.txt b/6097.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f41d56f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6097.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8399 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Amelia Volume III, by Henry Fielding
+#6 in our series by Henry Fielding
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Amelia Volume III
+
+Author: Henry Fielding
+
+Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6097]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 5, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMELIA VOLUME III ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF HENRY FIELDING
+
+EDITED BY
+
+GEORGE SAINTSBURY
+
+IN TWELVE VOLUMES
+
+VOL. IX.
+
+AMELIA
+VOL. III.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Leaned both his elbows on the table fixed both his eyes
+on her]
+
+
+
+
+AMELIA
+
+BY
+
+HENRY FIELDING ESQ
+
+VOL. III.
+
+EDITED BY GEORGE
+SAINTSBURY WITH
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+HERBERT RAILTON
+& E.J. WHEELER.
+
+MDCCCXCIII
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. III.
+
+
+
+BOOK IX.
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+In which the history looks backwards
+
+CHAPTER II.
+In which the history goes forward
+
+CHAPTER III.
+A conversation between Dr Harrison and others
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+A dialogue between Booth and Amelia
+
+CHAPTER V.
+A conversation between Amelia and Dr Harrison, with the result
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Containing as surprising an accident as is perhaps recorded in history
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+In which the author appears to be master of that profound learning
+called the knowledge of the town
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+In which two strangers make their appearance
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+A scene of modern wit and humour
+
+CHAPTER X.
+A curious conversation between the doctor, the young clergyman, and
+the young clergyman's father
+
+
+
+BOOK X.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+To which we will prefix no preface
+
+CHAPTER II.
+What happened at the masquerade
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Consequences of the masqtierade, not uncommon nor surprizing
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Consequences of the masquerade
+
+CHAPTER V.
+In which Colonel Bath appears in great glory
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Read, gamester, and observe
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+In which Booth receives a visit from Captain Trent
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Contains a letter and other matters
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Containing some things worthy observation
+
+
+
+BOOK XI
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Containing a very polite scene
+
+CHAPTER II.
+Matters political
+
+CHAPTER III.
+The history of Mr. Trent
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Containing some distress
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Containing more wormwood and other ingredients
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+A scene of the tragic kind
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+In which Mr. Booth meets with more than one adventure
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+In which Amelia appears in a light more amiable than gay
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+A very tragic scene
+
+
+
+BOOK XII.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+The book begins with polite history
+
+CHAPTER II.
+In which Amelia visits her husband
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Containing matter pertinent to the history
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+In which Dr Harrison visits Colonel James
+
+CHAPTER V.
+What passed at the bailiff's house
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+What passed between the doctor and the sick man
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+In which the history draws towards a conclusion
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Thus this history draws nearer to a conclusion
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+In which the history is concluded
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+LEANING BOTH HIS ELBOWS ON THE TABLE, FIXED HIS EYES ON HER
+
+BOOTH BETWEEN A BLUE DOMINO AND A SHEPHERDESS
+
+DR HARRISON
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IX.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_In which the history looks backwards._
+
+
+Before we proceed farther with our history it may be proper to look
+back a little, in order to account for the late conduct of Doctor
+Harrison; which, however inconsistent it may have hitherto appeared,
+when examined to the bottom will be found, I apprehend, to be truly
+congruous with all the rules of the most perfect prudence as well as
+with the most consummate goodness.
+
+We have already partly seen in what light Booth had been represented
+to the doctor abroad. Indeed, the accounts which were sent of the
+captain, as well by the curate as by a gentleman of the neighbourhood,
+were much grosser and more to his disadvantage than the doctor was
+pleased to set them forth in his letter to the person accused. What
+sense he had of Booth's conduct was, however, manifest by that letter.
+Nevertheless, he resolved to suspend his final judgment till his
+return; and, though he censured him, would not absolutely condemn him
+without ocular demonstration.
+
+The doctor, on his return to his parish, found all the accusations
+which had been transmitted to him confirmed by many witnesses, of
+which the curate's wife, who had been formerly a friend to Amelia, and
+still preserved the outward appearance of friendship, was the
+strongest. She introduced all with--"I am sorry to say it; and it is
+friendship which bids me speak; and it is for their good it should be
+told you." After which beginnings she never concluded a single speech
+without some horrid slander and bitter invective.
+
+Besides the malicious turn which was given to these affairs in the
+country, which were owing a good deal to misfortune, and some little
+perhaps to imprudence, the whole neighbourhood rung with several gross
+and scandalous lies, which were merely the inventions of his enemies,
+and of which the scene was laid in London since his absence.
+
+Poisoned with all this malice, the doctor came to town; and, learning
+where Booth lodged, went to make him a visit. Indeed, it was the
+doctor, and no other, who had been at his lodgings that evening when
+Booth and Amelia were walking in the Park, and concerning which the
+reader may be pleased to remember so many strange and odd conjectures.
+
+Here the doctor saw the little gold watch and all those fine trinkets
+with which the noble lord had presented the children, and which, from
+the answers given him by the poor ignorant, innocent girl, he could
+have no doubt had been purchased within a few days by Amelia.
+
+This account tallied so well with the ideas he had imbibed of Booth's
+extravagance in the country, that he firmly believed both the husband
+and wife to be the vainest, silliest, and most unjust people alive. It
+was, indeed, almost incredible that two rational beings should be
+guilty of such absurdity; but, monstrous and absurd as it was, ocular
+demonstration appeared to be the evidence against them.
+
+The doctor departed from their lodgings enraged at this supposed
+discovery, and, unhappily for Booth, was engaged to supper that very
+evening with the country gentleman of whom Booth had rented a farm. As
+the poor captain happened to be the subject of conversation, and
+occasioned their comparing notes, the account which the doctor gave of
+what he had seen that evening so incensed the gentleman, to whom Booth
+was likewise a debtor, that he vowed he would take a writ out against
+him the next morning, and have his body alive or dead; and the doctor
+was at last persuaded to do the same. Mr. Murphy was thereupon
+immediately sent for; and the doctor in his presence repeated again
+what he had seen at his lodgings as the foundation of his suing him,
+which the attorney, as we have before seen, had blabbed to Atkinson.
+
+But no sooner did the doctor hear that Booth was arrested than the
+wretched condition of his wife and family began to affect his mind.
+The children, who were to be utterly undone with their father, were
+intirely innocent; and as for Amelia herself, though he thought he had
+most convincing proofs of very blameable levity, yet his former
+friendship and affection to her were busy to invent every excuse,
+till, by very heavily loading the husband, they lightened the
+suspicion against the wife.
+
+In this temper of mind he resolved to pay Amelia a second visit, and
+was on his way to Mrs. Ellison when the serjeant met him and made
+himself known to him. The doctor took his old servant into a coffee-
+house, where he received from him such an account of Booth and his
+family, that he desired the serjeant to shew him presently to Amelia;
+and this was the cordial which we mentioned at the end of the ninth
+chapter of the preceding book.
+
+The doctor became soon satisfied concerning the trinkets which had
+given him so much uneasiness, and which had brought so much mischief
+on the head of poor Booth. Amelia likewise gave the doctor some
+satisfaction as to what he had heard of her husband's behaviour in the
+country; and assured him, upon her honour, that Booth could so well
+answer every complaint against his conduct, that she had no doubt but
+that a man of the doctor's justice and candour would entirely acquit
+him, and would consider him as an innocent unfortunate man, who was
+the object of a good man's compassion, not of his anger or resentment.
+
+This worthy clergyman, who was not desirous of finding proofs to
+condemn the captain or to justify his own vindictive proceedings, but,
+on the contrary, rejoiced heartily in every piece of evidence which
+tended to clear up the character of his friend, gave a ready ear to
+all which Amelia said. To this, indeed, he was induced by the love he
+always had for that lady, by the good opinion he entertained of her,
+as well as by pity for her present condition, than which nothing
+appeared more miserable; for he found her in the highest agonies of
+grief and despair, with her two little children crying over their
+wretched mother. These are, indeed, to a well-disposed mind, the most
+tragical sights that human nature can furnish, and afford a juster
+motive to grief and tears in the beholder than it would be to see all
+the heroes who have ever infested the earth hanged all together in a
+string.
+
+The doctor felt this sight as he ought. He immediately endeavoured to
+comfort the afflicted; in which he so well succeeded, that he restored
+to Amelia sufficient spirits to give him the satisfaction we have
+mentioned: after which he declared he would go and release her
+husband, which he accordingly did in the manner we have above related.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii
+
+_In which the history goes forward._
+
+
+We now return to that period of our history to which we had brought it
+at the end of our last book.
+
+Booth and his friends arrived from the bailiff's, at the serjeant's
+lodgings, where Booth immediately ran up-stairs to his Amelia; between
+whom I shall not attempt to describe the meeting. Nothing certainly
+was ever more tender or more joyful. This, however, I will observe,
+that a very few of these exquisite moments, of which the best minds
+only are capable, do in reality over-balance the longest enjoyments
+which can ever fall to the lot of the worst.
+
+Whilst Booth and his wife were feasting their souls with the most
+delicious mutual endearments, the doctor was fallen to play with the
+two little children below-stairs. While he was thus engaged the little
+boy did somewhat amiss; upon which the doctor said, "If you do so any
+more I will take your papa away from you again."--"Again! sir," said
+the child; "why, was it you then that took away my papa before?"
+"Suppose it was," said the doctor; "would not you forgive me?" "Yes,"
+cries the child, "I would forgive you; because a Christian must
+forgive everybody; but I should hate you as long as I live."
+
+The doctor was so pleased with the boy's answer, that he caught him in
+his arms and kissed him; at which time Booth and his wife returned.
+The doctor asked which of them was their son's instructor in his
+religion; Booth answered that he must confess Amelia had all the merit
+of that kind. "I should have rather thought he had learnt of his
+father," cries the doctor; "for he seems a good soldier-like
+Christian, and professes to hate his enemies with a very good grace."
+
+"How, Billy!" cries Amelia. "I am sure I did not teach you so."
+
+"I did not say I would hate my enemies, madam," cries the boy; "I only
+said I would hate papa's enemies. Sure, mamma, there is no harm in
+that; nay, I am sure there is no harm in it, for I have heard you say
+the same thing a thousand times."
+
+The doctor smiled on the child, and, chucking him under the chin, told
+him he must hate nobody 5 and now Mrs. Atkinson, who had provided a
+dinner for them all, desired them to walk up and partake of it.
+
+And now it was that Booth was first made acquainted with the
+serjeant's marriage, as was Dr Harrison; both of whom greatly
+felicitated him upon it.
+
+Mrs. Atkinson, who was, perhaps, a little more confounded than she
+would have been had she married a colonel, said, "If I have done
+wrong, Mrs. Booth is to answer for it, for she made the match; indeed,
+Mr. Atkinson, you are greatly obliged to the character which this lady
+gives of you." "I hope he will deserve it," said the doctor; "and, if
+the army hath not corrupted a good boy, I believe I may answer for
+him."
+
+While our little company were enjoying that happiness which never
+fails to attend conversation where all present are pleased with each
+other, a visitant arrived who was, perhaps, not very welcome to any of
+them. This was no other than Colonel James, who, entering the room
+with much gaiety, went directly up to Booth, embraced him, and
+expressed great satisfaction at finding him there; he then made an
+apology for not attending him in the morning, which he said had been
+impossible; and that he had, with the utmost difficulty, put off some
+business of great consequence in order to serve him this afternoon;
+"but I am glad on your account," cried he to Booth, "that my presence
+was not necessary."
+
+Booth himself was extremely satisfied with this declaration, and
+failed not to return him as many thanks as he would have deserved had
+he performed his promise; but the two ladies were not quite so well
+satisfied. As for the serjeant, he had slipt out of the room when the
+colonel entered, not entirely out of that bashfulness which we have
+remarked him to be tainted with, but indeed, from what had past in the
+morning, he hated the sight of the colonel as well on the account of
+his wife as on that of his friend.
+
+The doctor, on the contrary, on what he had formerly heard from both
+Amelia and her husband of the colonel's generosity and friendship, had
+built so good an opinion of him, that he was very much pleased with
+seeing him, and took the first opportunity of telling him so.
+"Colonel," said the doctor, "I have not the happiness of being known
+to you; but I have long been desirous of an acquaintance with a
+gentleman in whose commendation I have heard so much from some
+present." The colonel made a proper answer to this compliment, and
+they soon entered into a familiar conversation together; for the
+doctor was not difficult of access; indeed, he held the strange
+reserve which is usually practised in this nation between people who
+are in any degree strangers to each other to be very unbecoming the
+Christian character.
+
+The two ladies soon left the room; and the remainder of the visit,
+which was not very long, past in discourse on various common subjects,
+not worth recording. In the conclusion, the colonel invited Booth and
+his lady, and the doctor, to dine with him the next day.
+
+To give Colonel James his due commendation, he had shewn a great
+command of himself and great presence of mind on this occasion; for,
+to speak the plain truth, the visit was intended to Amelia alone; nor
+did he expect, or perhaps desire, anything less than to find the
+captain at home. The great joy which he suddenly conveyed into his
+countenance at the unexpected sight of his friend is to be attributed
+to that noble art which is taught in those excellent schools called
+the several courts of Europe. By this, men are enabled to dress out
+their countenances as much at their own pleasure as they do their
+bodies, and to put on friendship with as much ease as they can a laced
+coat.
+
+When the colonel and doctor were gone, Booth acquainted Amelia with
+the invitation he had received. She was so struck with the news, and
+betrayed such visible marks of confusion and uneasiness, that they
+could not have escaped Booth's observation had suspicion given him the
+least hint to remark; but this, indeed, is the great optic-glass
+helping us to discern plainly almost all that passes in the minds of
+others, without some use of which nothing is more purblind than human
+nature.
+
+Amelia, having recovered from her first perturbation, answered, "My
+dear, I will dine with you wherever you please to lay your commands on
+me." "I am obliged to you, my dear soul," cries Booth; "your obedience
+shall be very easy, for my command will be that you shall always
+follow your own inclinations." "My inclinations," answered she,
+"would, I am afraid, be too unreasonable a confinement to you; for
+they would always lead me to be with you and your children, with at
+most a single friend or two now and then." "O my dear!" replied he,
+"large companies give us a greater relish for our own society when we
+return to it; and we shall be extremely merry, for Doctor Harrison
+dines with us." "I hope you will, my dear," cries she;" but I own I
+should have been better pleased to have enjoyed a few days with
+yourself and the children, with no other person but Mrs. Atkinson, for
+whom I have conceived a violent affection, and who would have given us
+but little interruption. However, if you have promised, I must undergo
+the penance." "Nay, child," cried he, "I am sure I would have refused,
+could I have guessed it had been in the least disagreeable to you
+though I know your objection." "Objection!" cries Amelia eagerly "I
+have no objection." "Nay, nay," said he, "come, be honest, I know your
+objection, though you are unwilling to own it." "Good Heavens!" cryed
+Amelia, frightened, "what do you mean? what objection?" "Why,"
+answered he, "to the company of Mrs. James; and I must confess she
+hath not behaved to you lately as you might have expected; but you
+ought to pass all that by for the sake of her husband, to whom we have
+both so many obligations, who is the worthiest, honestest, and most
+generous fellow in the universe, and the best friend to me that ever
+man had."
+
+Amelia, who had far other suspicions, and began to fear that her
+husband had discovered them, was highly pleased when she saw him
+taking a wrong scent. She gave, therefore, a little in to the deceit,
+and acknowledged the truth of what he had mentioned; but said that the
+pleasure she should have in complying with his desires would highly
+recompense any dissatisfaction which might arise on any other account;
+and shortly after ended the conversation on this subject with her
+chearfully promising to fulfil his promise.
+
+In reality, poor Amelia had now a most unpleasant task to undertake;
+for she thought it absolutely necessary to conceal from her husband
+the opinion she had conceived of the colonel. For, as she knew the
+characters, as well of her husband as of his friend, or rather enemy
+(both being often synonymous in the language of the world), she had
+the utmost reason to apprehend something very fatal might attend her
+husband's entertaining the same thought of James which filled and
+tormented her own breast.
+
+And, as she knew that nothing but these thoughts could justify the
+least unkind, or, indeed, the least reserved behaviour to James, who
+had, in all appearance, conferred the greatest obligations upon Booth
+and herself, she was reduced to a dilemma the most dreadful that can
+attend a virtuous woman, as it often gives the highest triumph, and
+sometimes no little advantage, to the men of professed gallantry.
+
+In short, to avoid giving any umbrage to her husband, Amelia was
+forced to act in a manner which she was conscious must give
+encouragement to the colonel; a situation which perhaps requires as
+great prudence and delicacy as any in which the heroic part of the
+female character can be exerted.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_A conversation between Dr Harrison and others_.
+
+
+The next day Booth and his lady, with the doctor, met at Colonel
+James's, where Colonel Bath likewise made one of the company.
+
+Nothing very remarkable passed at dinner, or till the ladies withdrew.
+During this time, however, the behaviour of Colonel James was such as
+gave some uneasiness to Amelia, who well understood his meaning,
+though the particulars were too refined and subtle to be observed by
+any other present.
+
+When the ladies were gone, which was as soon as Amelia could prevail
+on Mrs. James to depart, Colonel Bath, who had been pretty brisk with
+champagne at dinner, soon began to display his magnanimity. "My
+brother tells me, young gentleman," said he to Booth, "that you have
+been used very ill lately by some rascals, and I have no doubt but you
+will do yourself justice."
+
+Booth answered that he did not know what he meant. "Since I must
+mention it then," cries the colonel, "I hear you have been arrested;
+and I think you know what satisfaction is to be required by a man of
+honour."
+
+"I beg, sir," says the doctor, "no more may be mentioned of that
+matter. I am convinced no satisfaction will be required of the captain
+till he is able to give it."
+
+"I do not understand what you mean by able," cries the colonel. To
+which the doctor answered, "That it was of too tender a nature to
+speak more of."
+
+"Give me your hand, doctor," cries the colonel; "I see you are a man
+of honour, though you wear a gown. It is, as you say, a matter of a
+tender nature. Nothing, indeed, is so tender as a man's honour. Curse
+my liver, if any man--I mean, that is, if any gentleman, was to arrest
+me, I would as surely cut his throat as--"
+
+"How, sir!" said the doctor, "would you compensate one breach of the
+law by a much greater, and pay your debts by committing murder?"
+
+"Why do you mention law between gentlemen?" says the colonel. "A man
+of honour wears his law by his side; and can the resentment of an
+affront make a gentleman guilty of murder? and what greater affront
+can one man cast upon another than by arresting him? I am convinced
+that he who would put up an arrest would put up a slap in the face."
+
+Here the colonel looked extremely fierce, and the divine stared with
+astonishment at this doctrine; when Booth, who well knew the
+impossibility of opposing the colonel's humour with success, began to
+play with it; and, having first conveyed a private wink to the doctor,
+he said there might be cases undoubtedly where such an affront ought
+to be resented; but that there were others where any resentment was
+impracticable: "As, for instance," said he, "where the man is arrested
+by a woman."
+
+"I could not be supposed to mean that case," cries the colonel; "and
+you are convinced I did not mean it."
+
+"To put an end to this discourse at once, sir," said the doctor, "I
+was the plaintiff at whose suit this gentleman was arrested."
+
+"Was you so, sir?" cries the colonel; "then I have no more to say.
+Women and the clergy are upon the same footing. The long-robed gentry
+are exempted from the laws of honour."
+
+"I do not thank you for that exemption, sir," cries the doctor; "and,
+if honour and fighting are, as they seem to be, synonymous words with
+you, I believe there are some clergymen, who in defence of their
+religion, or their country, or their friend, the only justifiable
+causes of fighting, except bare self-defence, would fight as bravely
+as yourself, colonel! and that without being paid for it."
+
+"Sir, you are privileged," says the colonel, with great dignity; "and
+you have my leave to say what you please. I respect your order, and
+you cannot offend me."
+
+"I will not offend you, colonel, "cries the doctor; "and our order is
+very much obliged to you, since you profess so much respect to us, and
+pay none to our Master."
+
+"What Master, sir?" said the colonel.
+
+"That Master," answered the doctor, "who hath expressly forbidden all
+that cutting of throats to which you discover so much inclination."
+
+"O! your servant, sir," said the colonel; "I see what you are driving
+at; but you shall not persuade me to think that religion forces me to
+be a coward."
+
+"I detest and despise the name as much as you can," cries the doctor;
+"but you have a wrong idea of the word, colonel. What were all the
+Greeks and Romans? were these cowards? and yet, did you ever hear of
+this butchery, which we call duelling, among them?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, have I," cries the colonel. "What else is all Mr. Pope's
+Homer full of but duels? Did not what's his name, one of the
+Agamemnons, fight with that paultry rascal Paris? and Diomede with
+what d'ye call him there? and Hector with I forget his name, he that
+was Achilles's bosom-friend; and afterwards with Achilles himself?
+Nay, and in Dryden's Virgil, is there anything almost besides
+fighting?"
+
+"You are a man of learning, colonel," cries the doctor; "but--"
+
+"I thank you for that compliment," said the colonel.--"No, sir, I do
+not pretend to learning; but I have some little reading, and I am not
+ashamed to own it."
+
+"But are you sure, colonel," cries the doctor, "that you have not made
+a small mistake? for I am apt to believe both Mr. Pope and Mr. Dryden
+(though I cannot say I ever read a word of either of them) speak of
+wars between nations, and not of private duels; for of the latter I do
+not remember one single instance in all the Greek and Roman story. In
+short, it is a modern custom, introduced by barbarous nations since
+the times of Christianity; though it is a direct and audacious
+defiance of the Christian law, and is consequently much more sinful in
+us than it would have been in the heathens."
+
+"Drink about, doctor," cries the colonel; "and let us call a new
+cause; for I perceive we shall never agree on this. You are a
+Churchman, and I don't expect you to speak your mind."
+
+"We are both of the same Church, I hope," cries the doctor.
+
+"I am of the Church of England, sir," answered the colonel, "and will
+fight for it to the last drop of my blood."
+
+"It is very generous in you, colonel," cries the doctor, "to fight so
+zealously for a religion by which you are to be damned."
+
+"It is well for you, doctor," cries the colonel, "that you wear a
+gown; for, by all the dignity of a man, if any other person had said
+the words you have just uttered, I would have made him eat them; ay,
+d--n me, and my sword into the bargain."
+
+Booth began to be apprehensive that this dispute might grow too warm;
+in which case he feared that the colonel's honour, together with the
+champagne, might hurry him so far as to forget the respect due, and
+which he professed to pay, to the sacerdotal robe. Booth therefore
+interposed between the disputants, and said that the colonel had very
+rightly proposed to call a new subject; for that it was impossible to
+reconcile accepting a challenge with the Christian religion, or
+refusing it with the modern notion of honour. "And you must allow it,
+doctor," said he, "to be a very hard injunction for a man to become
+infamous; and more especially for a soldier, who is to lose his bread
+into the bargain."
+
+"Ay, sir," says the colonel, with an air of triumph, "what say you to
+that?"
+
+"Why, I say," cries the doctor, "that it is much harder to be damned
+on the other side."
+
+"That may be," said the colonel; "but damn me, if I would take an
+affront of any man breathing, for all that. And yet I believe myself
+to be as good a Christian as wears a head. My maxim is, never to give
+an affront, nor ever to take one; and I say that it is the maxim of a
+good Christian, and no man shall ever persuade me to the contrary."
+
+"Well, sir," said the doctor, "since that is your resolution, I hope
+no man will ever give you an affront."
+
+"I am obliged to you for your hope, doctor," cries the colonel, with a
+sneer; "and he that doth will be obliged to you for lending him your
+gown; for, by the dignity of a man, nothing out of petticoats, I
+believe, dares affront me."
+
+Colonel James had not hitherto joined in the discourse. In truth, his
+thoughts had been otherwise employed; nor is it very difficult for the
+reader to guess what had been the subject of them. Being waked,
+however, from his reverie, and having heard the two or three last
+speeches, he turned to his brother, and asked him, why he would
+introduce such a topic of conversation before a gentleman of Doctor
+Harrison's character?
+
+"Brother," cried Bath, "I own it was wrong, and I ask the doctor's
+pardon: I know not how it happened to arise; for you know, brother, I
+am not used to talk of these matters. They are generally poltroons
+that do. I think I need not be beholden to my tongue to declare I am
+none. I have shown myself in a line of battle. I believe there is no
+man will deny that; I believe I may say no man dares deny that I have
+done my duty."
+
+The colonel was thus proceeding to prove that his prowess was neither
+the subject of his discourse nor the object of his vanity, when a
+servant entered and summoned the company to tea with the ladies; a
+summons which Colonel James instantly obeyed, and was followed by all
+the rest.
+
+But as the tea-table conversation, though extremely delightful to
+those who are engaged in it, may probably appear somewhat dull to the
+reader, we will here put an end to the chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_A dialogue between Booth and Amelia_.
+
+
+The next morning early, Booth went by appointment and waited on
+Colonel James; whence he returned to Amelia in that kind of
+disposition which the great master of human passion would describe in
+Andromache, when he tells us she cried and smiled at the same instant.
+
+Amelia plainly perceived the discomposure of his mind, in which the
+opposite affections of joy and grief were struggling for the
+superiority, and begged to know the occasion; upon which Booth spoke
+as follows:--
+
+"My dear," said he, "I had no intention to conceal from you what hath
+past this morning between me and the colonel, who hath oppressed me,
+if I may use that expression, with obligations. Sure never man had
+such a friend; for never was there so noble, so generous a heart--I
+cannot help this ebullition of gratitude, I really cannot." Here he
+paused a moment, and wiped his eyes, and then proceeded: "You know, my
+dear, how gloomy the prospect was yesterday before our eyes, how
+inevitable ruin stared me in the face; and the dreadful idea of having
+entailed beggary on my Amelia and her posterity racked my mind; for
+though, by the goodness of the doctor, I had regained my liberty, the
+debt yet remained; and, if that worthy man had a design of forgiving
+me his share, this must have been my utmost hope, and the condition in
+which I must still have found myself need not to be expatiated on. In
+what light, then, shall I see, in what words shall I relate, the
+colonel's kindness? O my dear Amelia! he hath removed the whole gloom
+at once, hath driven all despair out of my mind, and hath filled it
+with the most sanguine, and, at the same time, the most reasonable
+hopes of making a comfortable provision for yourself and my dear
+children. In the first place, then, he will advance me a sum of money
+to pay off all my debts; and this on a bond to be repaid only when I
+shall become colonel of a regiment, and not before. In the next place,
+he is gone this very morning to ask a company for me, which is now
+vacant in the West Indies; and, as he intends to push this with all
+his interest, neither he nor I have any doubt of his success. Now, my
+dear, comes the third, which, though perhaps it ought to give me the
+greatest joy, such is, I own, the weakness of my nature, it rends my
+very heartstrings asunder. I cannot mention it, for I know it will
+give you equal pain; though I know, on all proper occasions, you can
+exert a manly resolution. You will not, I am convinced, oppose it,
+whatever you must suffer in complying. O my dear Amelia! I must suffer
+likewise; yet I have resolved to bear it. You know not what my poor
+heart hath suffered since he made the proposal. It is love for you
+alone which could persuade me to submit to it. Consider our situation;
+consider that of our children; reflect but on those poor babes, whose
+future happiness is at stake, and it must arm your resolution. It is
+your interest and theirs that reconciled me to a proposal which, when
+the colonel first made it, struck me with the utmost horror; he hath,
+indeed, from these motives, persuaded me into a resolution which I
+thought impossible for any one to have persuaded me into. O my dear
+Amelia! let me entreat you to give me up to the good of your children,
+as I have promised the colonel to give you up to their interest and
+your own. If you refuse these terms we are still undone, for he
+insists absolutely upon them. Think, then, my love, however hard they
+may be, necessity compels us to submit to them. I know in what light a
+woman, who loves like you, must consider such a proposal; and yet how
+many instances have you of women who, from the same motives, have
+submitted to the same!"
+
+"What can you mean, Mr. Booth?" cries Amelia, trembling.
+
+"Need I explain my meaning to you more?" answered Booth.--"Did I not
+say I must give up my Amelia?"
+
+"Give me up!" said she.
+
+"For a time only, I mean," answered he: "for a short time perhaps. The
+colonel himself will take care it shall not be long--for I know his
+heart; I shall scarce have more joy in receiving you back than he will
+have in restoring you to my arms. In the mean time, he will not only
+be a father to my children, but a husband to you."
+
+"A husband to me!" said Amelia.
+
+"Yes, my dear; a kind, a fond, a tender, an affectionate husband. If I
+had not the most certain assurances of this, doth my Amelia think I
+could be prevailed on to leave her? No, my Amelia, he is the only man
+on earth who could have prevailed on me; but I know his house, his
+purse, his protection, will be all at your command. And as for any
+dislike you have conceived to his wife, let not that be any objection;
+for I am convinced he will not suffer her to insult you; besides, she
+is extremely well bred, and, how much soever she may hate you in her
+heart, she will at least treat you with civility.
+
+"Nay, the invitation is not his, but hers; and I am convinced they
+will both behave to you with the greatest friendship; his I am sure
+will be sincere, as to the wife of a friend entrusted to his care; and
+hers will, from good-breeding, have not only the appearances but the
+effects of the truest friendship."
+
+"I understand you, my dear, at last," said she (indeed she had rambled
+into very strange conceits from some parts of his discourse); "and I
+will give you my resolution in a word--I will do the duty of a wife,
+and that is, to attend her husband wherever he goes."
+
+Booth attempted to reason with her, but all to no purpose. She gave,
+indeed, a quiet hearing to all he said, and even to those parts which
+most displeased her ears; I mean those in which he exaggerated the
+great goodness and disinterested generosity of his friend; but her
+resolution remained inflexible, and resisted the force of all his
+arguments with a steadiness of opposition, which it would have been
+almost excusable in him to have construed into stubbornness.
+
+The doctor arrived in the midst of the dispute; and, having heard the
+merits of the cause on both sides, delivered his opinion in the
+following words.
+
+"I have always thought it, my dear children, a matter of the utmost
+nicety to interfere in any differences between husband and wife; but,
+since you both desire me with such earnestness to give you my
+sentiments on the present contest between you, I will give you my
+thoughts as well as I am able. In the first place then, can anything
+be more reasonable than for a wife to desire to attend her husband? It
+is, as my favourite child observes, no more than a desire to do her
+duty; and I make no doubt but that is one great reason of her
+insisting on it. And how can you yourself oppose it? Can love be its
+own enemy? or can a husband who is fond of his wife, content himself
+almost on any account with a long absence from her?"
+
+"You speak like an angel, my dear Doctor Harrison," answered Amelia:
+"I am sure, if he loved as tenderly as I do, he could on no account
+submit to it."
+
+"Pardon me, child," cries the doctor; "there are some reasons which
+would not only justify his leaving you, but which must force him, if
+he hath any real love for you, joined with common sense, to make that
+election. If it was necessary, for instance, either to your good or to
+the good of your children, he would not deserve the name of a man, I
+am sure not that of a husband, if he hesitated a moment. Nay, in that
+case, I am convinced you yourself would be an advocate for what you
+now oppose. I fancy therefore I mistook him when I apprehended he said
+that the colonel made his leaving you behind as the condition of
+getting him the commission; for I know my dear child hath too much
+goodness, and too much sense, and too much resolution, to prefer any
+temporary indulgence of her own passions to the solid advantages of
+her whole family."
+
+"There, my dear!" cries Booth; "I knew what opinion the doctor would
+be of. Nay, I am certain there is not a wise man in the kingdom who
+would say otherwise."
+
+"Don't abuse me, young gentleman," said the doctor, "with appellations
+I don't deserve."
+
+"I abuse you, my dear doctor!" cries Booth.
+
+"Yes, my dear sir," answered the doctor; "you insinuated slily that I
+was wise, which, as the world understands the phrase, I should be
+ashamed of; and my comfort is that no one can accuse me justly of it.
+I have just given an instance of the contrary by throwing away my
+advice."
+
+"I hope, sir," cries Booth, "that will not be the case."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the doctor. "I know it will be the case in the
+present instance, for either you will not go at all, or my little
+turtle here will go with you."
+
+"You are in the right, doctor," cries Amelia.
+
+"I am sorry for it," said the doctor, "for then I assure you you are
+in the wrong."
+
+"Indeed," cries Amelia, "if you knew all my reasons you would say they
+were very strong ones."
+
+"Very probably," cries the doctor. "The knowledge that they are in the
+wrong is a very strong reason to some women to continue so."
+
+"Nay, doctor," cries Amelia, "you shall never persuade me of that. I
+will not believe that any human being ever did an action merely
+because they knew it to be wrong."
+
+"I am obliged to you, my dear child," said the doctor, "for declaring
+your resolution of not being persuaded. Your husband would never call
+me a wise man again if, after that declaration, I should attempt to
+persuade you."
+
+"Well, I must be content," cries Amelia, "to let you think as you
+please."
+
+"That is very gracious, indeed," said the doctor. "Surely, in a
+country where the church suffers others to think as they please, it
+would be very hard if they had not themselves the same liberty. And
+yet, as unreasonable as the power of controuling men's thoughts is
+represented, I will shew you how you shall controul mine whenever you
+desire it."
+
+"How, pray?" cries Amelia. "I should greatly esteem that power."
+
+"Why, whenever you act like a wise woman," cries the doctor, "you will
+force me to think you so: and, whenever you are pleased to act as you
+do now, I shall be obliged, whether I will or no, to think as I do
+now."
+
+"Nay, dear doctor," cries Booth, "I am convinced my Amelia will never
+do anything to forfeit your good opinion. Consider but the cruel
+hardship of what she is to undergo, and you will make allowances for
+the difficulty she makes in complying. To say the truth, when I
+examine my own heart, I have more obligations to her than appear at
+first sight; for, by obliging me to find arguments to persuade her,
+she hath assisted me in conquering myself. Indeed, if she had shewn
+more resolution, I should have shewn less."
+
+"So you think it necessary, then," said the doctor, "that there should
+be one fool at least in every married couple. A mighty resolution,
+truly! and well worth your valuing yourself upon, to part with your
+wife for a few months in order to make the fortune of her and your
+children; when you are to leave her, too, in the care and protection
+of a friend that gives credit to the old stories of friendship, and
+doth an honour to human nature. What, in the name of goodness! do
+either of you think that you have made an union to endure for ever?
+How will either of you bear that separation which must, some time or
+other, and perhaps very soon, be the lot of one of you? Have you
+forgot that you are both mortal? As for Christianity, I see you have
+resigned all pretensions to it; for I make no doubt but that you have
+so set your hearts on the happiness you enjoy here together, that
+neither of you ever think a word of hereafter."
+
+Amelia now burst into tears; upon which Booth begged the doctor to
+proceed no farther. Indeed, he would not have wanted the caution; for,
+however blunt he appeared in his discourse, he had a tenderness of
+heart which is rarely found among men; for which I know no other
+reason than that true goodness is rarely found among them; for I am
+firmly persuaded that the latter never possessed any human mind in any
+degree, without being attended by as large a portion of the former.
+
+Thus ended the conversation on this subject; what followed is not
+worth relating, till the doctor carried off Booth with him to take a
+walk in the Park.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_A conversation between Amelia and Dr Harrison, with the result_.
+
+
+Amelia, being left alone, began to consider seriously of her
+condition; she saw it would be very difficult to resist the
+importunities of her husband, backed by the authority of the doctor,
+especially as she well knew how unreasonable her declarations must
+appear to every one who was ignorant of her real motives to persevere
+in it. On the other hand, she was fully determined, whatever might be
+the consequence, to adhere firmly to her resolution of not accepting
+the colonel's invitation.
+
+When she had turned the matter every way in her mind, and vexed and
+tormented herself with much uneasy reflexion upon it, a thought at
+last occurred to her which immediately brought her some comfort. This
+was, to make a confidant of the doctor, and to impart to him the whole
+truth. This method, indeed, appeared to her now to be so adviseable,
+that she wondered she had not hit upon it sooner; but it is the nature
+of despair to blind us to all the means of safety, however easy and
+apparent they may be.
+
+Having fixed her purpose in her mind, she wrote a short note to the
+doctor, in which she acquainted him that she had something of great
+moment to impart to him, which must be an entire secret from her
+husband, and begged that she might have an opportunity of
+communicating it as soon as possible.
+
+Doctor Harrison received the letter that afternoon, and immediately
+complied with Amelia's request in visiting her. He found her drinking
+tea with her husband and Mrs. Atkinson, and sat down and joined the
+company.
+
+Soon after the removal of the tea-table Mrs. Atkinson left the room.
+
+The doctor then, turning to Booth, said, "I hope, captain, you have a
+true sense of the obedience due to the church, though our clergy do
+not often exact it. However, it is proper to exercise our power
+sometimes, in order to remind the laity of their duty. I must tell
+you, therefore, that I have some private business with your wife; and
+I expect your immediate absence."
+
+"Upon my word, doctor," answered Booth, "no Popish confessor, I firmly
+believe, ever pronounced his will and pleasure with more gravity and
+dignity; none therefore was ever more immediately obeyed than you
+shall be." Booth then quitted the room, and desired the doctor to
+recall him when his business with the lady was over.
+
+Doctor Harrison promised he would; and then turning to Amelia he said,
+"Thus far, madam, I have obeyed your commands, and am now ready to
+receive the important secret which you mention in your note." Amelia
+now informed her friend of all she knew, all she had seen and heard,
+and all that she suspected, of the colonel. The good man seemed
+greatly shocked at the relation, and remained in a silent
+astonishment. Upon which Amelia said, "Is villany so rare a thing,
+sir, that it should so much surprize you?" "No, child," cries he; "but
+I am shocked at seeing it so artfully disguised under the appearance
+of so much virtue; and, to confess the truth, I believe my own vanity
+is a little hurt in having been so grossly imposed upon. Indeed, I had
+a very high regard for this man; for, besides the great character
+given him by your husband, and the many facts I have heard so much
+redounding to his honour, he hath the fairest and most promising
+appearance I have ever yet beheld. A good face, they say, is a letter
+of recommendation. O Nature, Nature, why art thou so dishonest as ever
+to send men with these false recommendations into the world?"
+
+"Indeed, my dear sir, I begin to grow entirely sick of it," cries
+Amelia, "for sure all mankind almost are villains in their hearts."
+
+"Fie, child!" cries the doctor. "Do not make a conclusion so much to
+the dishonour of the great Creator. The nature of man is far from
+being in itself evil: it abounds with benevolence, charity, and pity,
+coveting praise and honour, and shunning shame and disgrace. Bad
+education, bad habits, and bad customs, debauch our nature, and drive
+it headlong as it were into vice. The governors of the world, and I am
+afraid the priesthood, are answerable for the badness of it. Instead
+of discouraging wickedness to the utmost of their power, both are too
+apt to connive at it. In the great sin of adultery, for instance; hath
+the government provided any law to punish it? or doth the priest take
+any care to correct it? on the contrary, is the most notorious
+practice of it any detriment to a man's fortune or to his reputation
+in the world? doth it exclude him from any preferment in the state, I
+had almost said in the church? is it any blot in his escutcheon? any
+bar to his honour? is he not to be found every day in the assemblies
+of women of the highest quality? in the closets of the greatest men,
+and even at the tables of bishops? What wonder then if the community
+in general treat this monstrous crime as a matter of jest, and that
+men give way to the temptations of a violent appetite, when the
+indulgence of it is protected by law and countenanced by custom? I am
+convinced there are good stamina in the nature of this very man; for
+he hath done acts of friendship and generosity to your husband before
+he could have any evil design on your chastity; and in a Christian
+society, which I no more esteem this nation to be than I do any part
+of Turkey, I doubt not but this very colonel would have made a worthy
+and valuable member."
+
+"Indeed, my dear sir," cries Amelia, "you are the wisest as well as
+best man in the world--"
+
+"Not a word of my wisdom," cries the doctor. "I have not a grain--I am
+not the least versed in the Chrematistic [Footnote: The art of getting
+wealth is so called by Aristotle in his Politics.] art, as an old
+friend of mine calls it. I know not how to get a shilling, nor how to
+keep it in my pocket if I had it."
+
+"But you understand human nature to the bottom," answered Amelia; "and
+your mind is the treasury of all ancient and modern learning."
+
+"You are a little flatterer," cries the doctor; "but I dislike you not
+for it. And, to shew you I don't, I will return your flattery, and
+tell you you have acted with great prudence in concealing this affair
+from your husband; but you have drawn me into a scrape; for I have
+promised to dine with this fellow again to-morrow, and you have made
+it impossible for me to keep my word."
+
+"Nay, but, dear sir," cries Amelia, "for Heaven's sake take care! If
+you shew any kind of disrespect to the colonel, my husband may be led
+into some suspicion--especially after our conference."
+
+"Fear nothing, child. I will give him no hint; and, that I may be
+certain of not doing it, I will stay away. You do not think, I hope,
+that I will join in a chearful conversation with such a man; that I
+will so far betray my character as to give any countenance to such
+flagitious proceedings. Besides, my promise was only conditional; and
+I do not know whether I could otherwise have kept it; for I expect an
+old friend every day who comes to town twenty miles on foot to see me,
+whom I shall not part with on any account; for, as he is very poor, he
+may imagine I treat him with disrespect."
+
+"Well, sir," cries Amelia, "I must admire you and love you for your
+goodness."
+
+"Must you love me?" cries the doctor. "I could cure you now in a
+minute if I pleased."
+
+"Indeed, I defy you, sir," said Amelia.
+
+"If I could but persuade you," answered he, "that I thought you not
+handsome, away would vanish all ideas of goodness in an instant.
+Confess honestly, would they not?"
+
+"Perhaps I might blame the goodness of your eyes," replied Amelia;
+"and that is perhaps an honester confession than you expected. But do,
+pray, sir, be serious, and give me your advice what to do. Consider
+the difficult game I have to play; for I am sure, after what I have
+told you, you would not even suffer me to remain under the roof of
+this colonel."
+
+"No, indeed, would I not," said the doctor, "whilst I have a house of
+my own to entertain you."
+
+"But how to dissuade my husband," continued she, "without giving him
+any suspicion of the real cause, the consequences of his guessing at
+which I tremble to think upon."
+
+"I will consult my pillow upon it," said the doctor; "and in the
+morning you shall see me again. In the mean time be comforted, and
+compose the perturbations of your mind."
+
+"Well, sir," said she, "I put my whole trust in you."
+
+"I am sorry to hear it," cries the doctor. "Your innocence may give
+you a very confident trust in a much more powerful assistance.
+However, I will do all I can to serve you: and now, if you please, we
+will call back your husband; for, upon my word, he hath shewn a good
+catholic patience. And where is the honest serjeant and his wife? I am
+pleased with the behaviour of you both to that worthy fellow, in
+opposition to the custom of the world; which, instead of being formed
+on the precepts of our religion to consider each other as brethren,
+teaches us to regard those who are a degree below us, either in rank
+or fortune, as a species of beings of an inferior order in the
+creation."
+
+The captain now returned into the room, as did the serjeant and Mrs.
+Atkinson; and the two couple, with the doctor, spent the evening
+together in great mirth and festivity; for the doctor was one of the
+best companions in the world, and a vein of chearfulness, good humour,
+and pleasantry, ran through his conversation, with which it was
+impossible to resist being pleased.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_Containing as surprizing an accident as is perhaps recorded in
+history_.
+
+
+Booth had acquainted the serjeant with the great goodness of Colonel
+James, and with the chearful prospects which he entertained from it.
+This Atkinson, behind the curtain, communicated to his wife. The
+conclusion which she drew from it need scarce be hinted to the reader.
+She made, indeed, no scruple of plainly and bluntly telling her
+husband that the colonel had a most manifest intention to attack the
+chastity of Amelia.
+
+This thought gave the poor serjeant great uneasiness, and, after
+having kept him long awake, tormented him in his sleep with a most
+horrid dream, in which he imagined that he saw the colonel standing by
+the bedside of Amelia, with a naked sword in his hand, and threatening
+to stab her instantly unless she complied with his desires. Upon this
+the serjeant started up in his bed, and, catching his wife by the
+throat, cried out, "D--n you, put up your sword this instant, and
+leave the room, or by Heaven I'll drive mine to your heart's blood!"
+
+This rough treatment immediately roused Mrs. Atkinson from her sleep,
+who no sooner perceived the position of her husband, and felt his hand
+grasping her throat, than she gave a violent shriek and presently fell
+into a fit.
+
+Atkinson now waked likewise, and soon became sensible of the violent
+agitations of his wife. He immediately leapt out of bed, and running
+for a bottle of water, began to sprinkle her very plentifully; but all
+to no purpose: she neither spoke nor gave any symptoms of recovery
+Atkinson then began to roar aloud; upon which Booth, who lay under
+him, jumped from his bed, and ran up with the lighted candle in his
+hand. The serjeant had no sooner taken the candle than he ran with it
+to the bed-side. Here he beheld a sight which almost deprived him of
+his senses. The bed appeared to be all over blood, and his wife
+weltering in the midst of it. Upon this the serjeant, almost in a
+frenzy, cried out, "O Heavens! I have killed my wife. I have stabbed
+her! I have stabbed her!" "What can be the meaning of all this?" said
+Booth. "O, sir!" cries the serjeant, "I dreamt I was rescuing your
+lady from the hands of Colonel James, and I have killed my poor
+wife."--Here he threw himself upon the bed by her, caught her in his
+arms, and behaved like one frantic with despair.
+
+By this time Amelia had thrown on a wrapping-gown, and was come up
+into the room, where the serjeant and his wife were lying on the bed
+and Booth standing like a motionless statue by the bed-side. Amelia
+had some difficulty to conquer the effects of her own surprize on this
+occasion; for a more ghastly and horrible sight than the bed presented
+could not be conceived.
+
+Amelia sent Booth to call up the maid of the house, in order to lend
+her assistance; but before his return Mrs. Atkinson began to come to
+herself; and soon after, to the inexpressible joy of the serjeant, it
+was discovered she had no wound. Indeed, the delicate nose of Amelia
+soon made that discovery, which the grosser smell of the serjeant, and
+perhaps his fright, had prevented him from making; for now it appeared
+that the red liquor with which the bed was stained, though it may,
+perhaps, sometimes run through the veins of a fine lady, was not what
+is properly called blood, but was, indeed, no other than cherry-
+brandy, a bottle of which Mrs. Atkinson always kept in her room to be
+ready for immediate use, and to which she used to apply for comfort in
+all her afflictions. This the poor serjeant, in his extreme hurry, had
+mistaken for a bottle of water. Matters were now soon accommodated,
+and no other mischief appeared to be done, unless to the bed-cloaths.
+Amelia and Booth returned back to their room, and Mrs. Atkinson rose
+from her bed in order to equip it with a pair of clean sheets.
+
+And thus this adventure would have ended without producing any kind of
+consequence, had not the words which the serjeant uttered in his
+frenzy made some slight impression on Booth; so much, at least, as to
+awaken his curiosity; so that in the morning when he arose he sent for
+the serjeant, and desired to hear the particulars of this dream, since
+Amelia was concerned in it.
+
+The serjeant at first seemed unwilling to comply, and endeavoured to
+make excuses. This, perhaps, encreased Booth's curiosity, and he said,
+"Nay, I am resolved to hear it. Why, you simpleton, do you imagine me
+weak enough to be affected by a dream, however terrible it may be?"
+
+"Nay, sir," cries the serjeant, "as for that matter, dreams have
+sometimes fallen out to be true. One of my own, I know, did so,
+concerning your honour; for, when you courted my young lady, I dreamt
+you was married to her; and yet it was at a time when neither I
+myself, nor any of the country, thought you would ever obtain her. But
+Heaven forbid this dream should ever come to pass!" "Why, what was
+this dream?" cries Booth. "I insist on knowing."
+
+"To be sure, sir," cries the serjeant, "I must not refuse you; but I
+hope you will never think any more of it. Why then, sir, I dreamt that
+your honour was gone to the West Indies, and had left my lady in the
+care of Colonel James; and last night I dreamt the colonel came to my
+lady's bed-side, offering to ravish her, and with a drawn sword in his
+hand, threatening to stab her that moment unless she would comply with
+his desires. How I came to be by I know not; but I dreamt I rushed
+upon him, caught him by the throat, and swore I would put him to death
+unless he instantly left the room. Here I waked, and this was my
+dream. I never paid any regard to a dream in my life--but, indeed, I
+never dreamt anything so very plain as this. It appeared downright
+reality. I am sure I have left the marks of my fingers in my wife's
+throat. I would riot have taken a hundred pound to have used her so."
+
+"Faith," cries Booth, "it was an odd dream, and not so easily to be
+accounted for as that you had formerly of my marriage; for, as
+Shakespear says, dreams denote a foregone conclusion. Now it is
+impossible you should ever have thought of any such matter as this."
+
+"However, sir," cries the serjeant, "it is in your honour's power to
+prevent any possibility of this dream's coming to pass, by not leaving
+my lady to the care of the colonel; if you must go from her, certainly
+there are other places where she may be with great safety; and, since
+my wife tells me that my lady is so very unwilling, whatever reasons
+she may have, I hope your honour will oblige her."
+
+"Now I recollect it," cries Booth, "Mrs. Atkinson hath once or twice
+dropt some disrespectful words of the colonel. He hath done something
+to disoblige her."
+
+"He hath indeed, sir," replied the serjeant: "he hath said that of her
+which she doth not deserve, and for which, if he had not been my
+superior officer, I would have cut both his ears off. Nay, for that
+matter, he can speak ill of other people besides her."
+
+"Do you know, Atkinson," cries Booth, very gravely, "that you are
+talking of the dearest friend I have?"
+
+"To be honest then," answered the serjeant, "I do not think so. If I
+did, I should love him much better than I do."
+
+"I must and will have this explained," cries Booth. "I have too good
+an opinion of you, Atkinson, to think you would drop such things as
+you have without some reason--and I will know it."
+
+"I am sorry I have dropt a word," cries Atkinson. "I am sure I did not
+intend it; and your honour hath drawn it from me unawares."
+
+"Indeed, Atkinson," cries Booth, "you have made me very uneasy, and I
+must be satisfied."
+
+"Then, sir," said the serjeant, "you shall give me your word of
+honour, or I will be cut into ten thousand pieces before I will
+mention another syllable."
+
+"What shall I promise?" said Booth.
+
+"That you will not resent anything I shall lay to the colonel,"
+answered Atkinson.
+
+"Resent!--Well, I give you my honour," said Booth.
+
+The serjeant made him bind himself over and over again, and then
+related to him the scene which formerly past between the colonel and
+himself, as far as concerned Booth himself; but concealed all that
+more immediately related to Amelia.
+
+"Atkinson," cries Booth, "I cannot be angry with you, for I know you
+love me, and I have many obligations to you; but you have done wrong
+in censuring the colonel for what he said of me. I deserve all that he
+said, and his censures proceeded from his friendship."
+
+"But it was not so kind, sir," said Atkinson, "to say such things to
+me who am but a serjeant, and at such a time too."
+
+"I will hear no more," cries Booth. "Be assured you are the only man I
+would forgive on this occasion; and I forgive you only on condition
+you never speak a word more of this nature. This silly dream hath
+intoxicated you."
+
+"I have done, sir," cries the serjeant. "I know my distance, and whom
+I am to obey; but I have one favour to beg of your honour, never to
+mention a word of what I have said to my lady; for I know she never
+would forgive me; I know she never would, by what my wife hath told
+me. Besides, you need not mention it, sir, to my lady, for she knows
+it all already, and a great deal more."
+
+Booth presently parted from the serjeant, having desired him to close
+his lips on this occasion, and repaired to his wife, to whom he
+related the serjeant's dream.
+
+Amelia turned as white as snow, and fell into so violent a trembling
+that Booth plainly perceived her emotion, and immediately partook of
+it himself. "Sure, my dear," said he, staring wildly, "there is more
+in this than I know. A silly dream could not so discompose you. I beg
+you, I intreat you to tell me--hath ever Colonel James--"
+
+At the very mention of the colonel's name Amelia fell on her knees,
+and begged her husband not to frighten her.
+
+"What do I say, my dear love," cried Booth, "that can frighten you?"
+
+"Nothing, my dear," said she; "but my spirits are so discomposed with
+the dreadful scene I saw last night, that a dream, which at another
+time I should have laughed at, hath shocked me. Do but promise me that
+you will not leave me behind you, and I am easy."
+
+"You may be so," cries Booth, "for I will never deny you anything. But
+make me easy too. I must know if you have seen anything in Colonel
+James to displease you."
+
+"Why should you suspect it?" cries Amelia.
+
+"You torment me to death," cries Booth. "By Heavens! I will know the
+truth. Hath he ever said or done anything which you dislike?"
+
+"How, my dear," said Amelia, "can you imagine I should dislike a man
+who is so much your friend? Think of all the obligations you have to
+him, and then you may easily resolve yourself. Do you think, because I
+refuse to stay behind you in his house, that I have any objection to
+him? No, my dear, had he done a thousand times more than he hath--was
+he an angel instead of a man, I would not quit my Billy. There's the
+sore, my dear--there's the misery, to be left by you."
+
+Booth embraced her with the most passionate raptures, and, looking on
+her with inexpressible tenderness, cried, "Upon my soul, I am not
+worthy of you: I am a fool, and yet you cannot blame me. If the stupid
+miser hoards, with such care, his worthless treasure--if he watches it
+with such anxiety--if every apprehension of another's sharing the
+least part fills his soul with such agonies--O Amelia! what must be my
+condition, what terrors must I feel, while I am watching over a jewel
+of such real, such inestimable worth!"
+
+"I can, with great truth, return the compliment," cries Amelia. "I
+have my treasure too; and am so much a miser, that no force shall ever
+tear me from it."
+
+"I am ashamed of my folly," cries Booth;" and yet it is all from
+extreme tenderness. Nay, you yourself are the occasion. Why will you
+ever attempt to keep a secret from me? Do you think I should have
+resented to my friend his just censure of my conduct?"
+
+"What censure, my dear love?" cries Amelia.
+
+"Nay, the serjeant hath told me all," cries Booth--"nay, and that he
+hath told it to you. Poor soul! thou couldst not endure to hear me
+accused, though never so justly, and by so good a friend. Indeed, my
+dear, I have discovered the cause of that resentment to the colonel
+which you could not hide from me. I love you, I adore you for it;
+indeed, I could not forgive a slighting word on you. But, why do I
+compare things so unlike?--what the colonel said of me was just and
+true; every reflexion on my Amelia must be false and villanous."
+
+The discernment of Amelia was extremely quick, and she now perceived
+what had happened, and how much her husband knew of the truth. She
+resolved therefore to humour him, and fell severely on Colonel James
+for what he had said to the serjeant, which Booth endeavoured all he
+could to soften; and thus ended this affair, which had brought Booth
+to the very brink of a discovery which must have given him the highest
+torment, if it had not produced any of those tragical effects which
+Amelia apprehended.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_In which the author appears to be master of that profound learning
+called the knowledge of the town._
+
+
+Mrs. James now came to pay a morning's visit to Amelia. She entered
+the room with her usual gaiety, and after a slight preface, addressing
+herself to Booth, said she had been quarrelling with her husband on
+his account. "I know not," said she, "what he means by thinking of
+sending you the Lord knows whither. I have insisted on his asking
+something for you nearer home; and it would be the hardest thing in
+the world if he should not obtain it. Are we resolved never to
+encourage merit; but to throw away all our preferments on those who do
+not deserve them? What a set of contemptible wretches do we see
+strutting about the town in scarlet!"
+
+Booth made a very low bow, and modestly spoke in disparagement of
+himself. To which she answered, "Indeed, Mr. Booth, you have merit; I
+have heard it from my brother, who is a judge of those matters, and I
+am sure cannot be suspected of flattery. He is your friend as well as
+myself, and we will never let Mr. James rest till he hath got you a
+commission in England."
+
+Booth bowed again, and was offering to speak, but she interrupted him,
+saying, "I will have no thanks, nor no fine speeches; if I can do you
+any service I shall think I am only paying the debt of friendship to
+my dear Mrs. Booth."
+
+Amelia, who had long since forgot the dislike she had taken to Mrs.
+James at her first seeing her in town, had attributed it to the right
+cause, and had begun to resume her former friendship for her,
+expressed very warm sentiments of gratitude on this occasion. She told
+Mrs. James she should be eternally obliged to her if she could succeed
+in her kind endeavours; for that the thoughts of parting again with
+her husband had given her the utmost concern. "Indeed," added she, "I
+cannot help saying he hath some merit in the service, for he hath
+received two dreadful wounds in it, one of which very greatly
+endangered his life; and I am convinced, if his pretensions were
+backed with any interest, he would not fail of success."
+
+"They shall be backed with interest," cries Mrs. James, "if my husband
+hath any. He hath no favour to ask for himself, nor for any other
+friend that I know of; and, indeed, to grant a man his just due, ought
+hardly to be thought a favour. Resume your old gaiety, therefore, my
+dear Emily. Lord! I remember the time when you was much the gayer
+creature of the two. But you make an arrant mope of yourself by
+confining yourself at home--one never meets you anywhere. Come, you
+shall go with me to the Lady Betty Castleton's."
+
+"Indeed, you must excuse me, my dear," answered Amelia, "I do not know
+Lady Betty."
+
+"Not know Lady Betty! how, is that possible?--but no matter, I will
+introduce you. She keeps a morning rout; hardly a rout, indeed; a
+little bit of a drum--only four or five tables. Come, take your
+capuchine; you positively shall go. Booth, you shall go with us too.
+Though you are with your wife, another woman will keep you in
+countenance."
+
+"La! child," cries Amelia, "how you rattle!"
+
+"I am in spirits," answered Mrs. James, "this morning; for I won four
+rubbers together last night; and betted the things, and won almost
+every bet. I am in luck, and we will contrive to be partners--Come."
+
+"Nay, child, you shall not refuse Mrs. James," said Booth.
+
+"I have scarce seen my children to-day," answered Amelia. "Besides, I
+mortally detest cards."
+
+"Detest cards!" cries Mrs. James. "How can you be so stupid? I would
+not live a day without them--nay, indeed, I do not believe I should be
+able to exist. Is there so delightful a sight in the world as the four
+honours in one's own hand, unless it be three natural aces at bragg?--
+And you really hate cards?"
+
+"Upon reflexion," cries Amelia, "I have sometimes had great pleasure
+in them--in seeing my children build houses with them. My little boy
+is so dexterous that he will sometimes build up the whole pack."
+
+"Indeed, Booth," cries Mrs. James, "this good woman of yours is
+strangely altered since I knew her first; but she will always be a
+good creature."
+
+"Upon my word, my dear," cries Amelia, "you are altered too very
+greatly; but I doubt not to live to see you alter again, when you come
+to have as many children as I have."
+
+"Children!" cries Mrs. James; "you make me shudder. How can you envy
+me the only circumstance which makes matrimony comfortable?"
+
+"Indeed, my dear," said Amelia, "you injure me; for I envy no woman's
+happiness in marriage." At these words such looks past between Booth
+and his wife as, to a sensible by-stander, would have made all the
+airs of Mrs. James appear in the highest degree contemptible, and
+would have rendered herself the object of compassion. Nor could that
+lady avoid looking a little silly on the occasion.
+
+Amelia now, at the earnest desire of her husband, accoutred herself to
+attend her friend; but first she insisted on visiting her children, to
+whom she gave several hearty kisses, and then, recommending them to
+the care of Mrs. Atkinson, she and her husband accompanied Mrs. James
+to the rout; where few of my fine readers will be displeased to make
+part of the company.
+
+The two ladies and Booth then entered an apartment beset with card-
+tables, like the rooms at Bath and Tunbridge. Mrs. James immediately
+introduced her friends to Lady Betty, who received them very civily,
+and presently engaged Booth and Mrs. James in a party at whist; for,
+as to Amelia, she so much declined playing, that as the party could be
+filled without her, she was permitted to sit by.
+
+And now, who should make his appearance but the noble peer of whom so
+much honourable mention hath already been made in this history? He
+walked directly up to Amelia, and addressed her with as perfect a
+confidence as if he had not been in the least conscious of having in
+any manner displeased her; though the reader will hardly suppose that
+Mrs. Ellison had kept anything a secret from him.
+
+Amelia was not, however, so forgetful. She made him a very distant
+courtesy, would scarce vouchsafe an answer to anything he said, and
+took the first opportunity of shifting her chair and retiring from
+him.
+
+Her behaviour, indeed, was such that the peer plainly perceived that
+he should get no advantage by pursuing her any farther at present.
+Instead, therefore, of attempting to follow her, he turned on his heel
+and addressed his discourse to another lady, though he could not avoid
+often casting his eyes towards Amelia as long as she remained in the
+room.
+
+Fortune, which seems to have been generally no great friend to Mr.
+Booth, gave him no extraordinary marks of her favour at play. He lost
+two full rubbers, which cost him five guineas; after which, Amelia,
+who was uneasy at his lordship's presence, begged him in a whisper to
+return home; with which request he directly complied.
+
+Nothing, I think, remarkable happened to Booth, unless the renewal of
+his acquaintance with an officer whom he had known abroad, and who
+made one of his party at the whist-table.
+
+The name of this gentleman, with whom the reader will hereafter be
+better acquainted, was Trent. He had formerly been in the same
+regiment with Booth, and there was some intimacy between them. Captain
+Trent exprest great delight in meeting his brother officer, and both
+mutually promised to visit each other.
+
+The scenes which had past the preceding night and that morning had so
+confused Amelia's thoughts, that, in the hurry in which she was
+carried off by Mrs. James, she had entirely forgot her appointment
+with Dr Harrison. When she was informed at her return home that the
+doctor had been to wait upon her, and had expressed some anger at her
+being gone out, she became greatly uneasy, and begged of her husband
+to go to the doctor's lodgings and make her apology.
+
+But lest the reader should be as angry with the doctor as he had
+declared himself with Amelia, we think proper to explain the matter.
+Nothing then was farther from the doctor's mind than the conception of
+any anger towards Amelia. On the contrary, when the girl answered him
+that her mistress was not at home, the doctor said with great good
+humour, "How! not at home! then tell your mistress she is a giddy
+vagabond, and I will come to see her no more till she sends for me."
+This the poor girl, from misunderstanding one word, and half
+forgetting the rest, had construed into great passion, several very
+bad words, and a declaration that he would never see Amelia any more.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_In which two strangers make their appearance._
+
+
+Booth went to the doctor's lodgings, and found him engaged with his
+country friend and his son, a young gentleman who was lately in
+orders; both whom the doctor had left, to keep his appointment with
+Amelia.
+
+After what we mentioned at the end of the last chapter, we need take
+little notice of the apology made by Booth, or the doctor's reception
+of it, which was in his peculiar manner. "Your wife," said he, "is a
+vain hussy to think herself worth my anger; but tell her I have the
+vanity myself to think I cannot be angry without a better cause. And
+yet tell her I intend to punish her for her levity; for, if you go
+abroad, I have determined to take her down with me into the country,
+and make her do penance there till you return."
+
+"Dear sir," said Booth, "I know not how to thank you if you are in
+earnest."
+
+"I assure you then I am in earnest," cries the doctor; "but you need
+not thank me, however, since you know not how."
+
+"But would not that, sir," said Booth, "be shewing a slight to the
+colonel's invitation? and you know I have so many obligations to him."
+
+"Don't tell me of the colonel," cries the doctor; "the church is to be
+first served. Besides, sir, I have priority of right, even to you
+yourself. You stole my little lamb from me; for I was her first love."
+
+"Well, sir," cries Booth, "if I should be so unhappy to leave her to
+any one, she must herself determine; and, I believe, it will not be
+difficult to guess where her choice will fall; for of all men, next to
+her husband, I believe, none can contend with Dr Harrison in her
+favour."
+
+"Since you say so," cries the doctor, "fetch her hither to dinner with
+us; for I am at least so good a Christian to love those that love me--
+I will shew you my daughter, my old friend, for I am really proud of
+her--and you may bring my grand-children with you if you please."
+
+Booth made some compliments, and then went on his errand. As soon as
+he was gone the old gentleman said to the doctor, "Pray, my good
+friend, what daughter is this of yours? I never so much as heard that
+you was married."
+
+"And what then," cries the doctor; "did you ever hear that a pope was
+married? and yet some of them have had sons and daughters, I believe;
+but, however, this young gentleman will absolve me without obliging me
+to penance."
+
+"I have not yet that power," answered the young clergyman; "for I am
+only in deacon's orders."
+
+"Are you not?" cries the doctor; "why then I will absolve myself. You
+are to know then, my good friend, that this young lady was the
+daughter of a neighbour of mine, who is since dead, and whose sins I
+hope are forgiven; for she had too much to answer for on her child's
+account. Her father was my intimate acquaintance and friend; a
+worthier man, indeed, I believe never lived. He died suddenly when his
+children were infants; and, perhaps, to the suddenness of his death it
+was owing that he did not recommend any care of them to me. However,
+I, in some measure, took that charge upon me; and particularly of her
+whom I call my daughter. Indeed, as she grew up she discovered so many
+good qualities that she wanted not the remembrance of her father's
+merit to recommend her. I do her no more than justice when I say she
+is one of the best creatures I ever knew. She hath a sweetness of
+temper, a generosity of spirit, an openness of heart--in a word, she
+hath a true Christian disposition. I may call her an Israelite indeed,
+in whom there is no guile."
+
+"I wish you joy of your daughter," cries the old gentleman; "for to a
+man of your disposition, to find out an adequate object of your
+benevolence, is, I acknowledge, to find a treasure."
+
+"It is, indeed, a happiness," cries the doctor.
+
+"The greatest difficulty," added the gentleman, "which persons of your
+turn of mind meet with, is in finding proper objects of their
+goodness; for nothing sure can be more irksome to a generous mind,
+than to discover that it hath thrown away all its good offices on a
+soil that bears no other fruit than ingratitude."
+
+"I remember," cries the doctor, "Phocylides saith,
+
+       Mn kakov ev epens opens dpelpelv ioov eot evi povtw
+[Footnote: To do a kindness to a bad man is like sowing your seed in
+the sea.]
+
+But he speaks more like a philosopher than a Christian. I am more
+pleased with a French writer, one of the best, indeed, that I ever
+read, who blames men for lamenting the ill return which is so often
+made to the best offices. [Footnote: D'Esprit.] A true Christian can
+never be disappointed if he doth not receive his reward in this world;
+the labourer might as well complain that he is not paid his hire in
+the middle of the day."
+
+"I own, indeed," said the gentleman, "if we see it in that light--"
+
+"And in what light should we see it?" answered the doctor. "Are we
+like Agrippa, only almost Christians? or, is Christianity a matter of
+bare theory, and not a rule for our practice?"
+
+"Practical, undoubtedly; undoubtedly practical," cries the gentleman.
+"Your example might indeed have convinced me long ago that we ought to
+do good to every one."
+
+"Pardon me, father," cries the young divine, "that is rather a
+heathenish than a Christian doctrine. Homer, I remember, introduces in
+his Iliad one Axylus, of whom he says--
+
+     --Hidvos o'nv avopwpoloi
+       pavras yap tyeeokev
+[Footnote: He was a friend to mankind, for he loved them all.]
+
+But Plato, who, of all the heathens, came nearest to the Christian
+philosophy, condemned this as impious doctrine; so Eustathius tells
+us, folio 474."
+
+"I know he doth," cries the doctor, "and so Barnes tells us, in his
+note upon the place; but if you remember the rest of the quotation as
+well as you do that from Eustathius, you might have added the
+observation which Mr. Dryden makes in favour of this passage, that he
+found not in all the Latin authors, so admirable an instance of
+extensive humanity. You might have likewise remembered the noble
+sentiment with which Mr. Barnes ends his note, the sense of which is
+taken from the fifth chapter of Matthew:--
+
+ [Greek verse]
+
+"It seems, therefore, as if this character rather became a Christian
+than a heathen, for Homer could not have transcribed it from any of
+his deities. Whom is it, therefore, we imitate by such extensive
+benevolence?"
+
+"What a prodigious memory you have!" cries the old gentleman: "indeed,
+son, you must not contend with the doctor in these matters."
+
+"I shall not give my opinion hastily," cries the son. "I know, again,
+what Mr. Poole, in his annotations, says on that verse of St Matthew--
+That it is only to _heap coals of fire upon their heads_. How are
+we to understand, pray, the text immediately preceding?--_Love your
+enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you_."
+
+"You know, I suppose, young gentleman," said the doctor, "how these
+words are generally understood. The commentator you mention, I think,
+tells us that love is not here to be taken in the strict sense, so as
+to signify the complacency of the heart; you may hate your enemies as
+God's enemies, and seek due revenge of them for his honour; and, for
+your own sakes too, you may seek moderate satisfaction of them; but
+then you are to love them with a love consistent with these things;
+that is to say, in plainer words, you are to love them and hate them,
+and bless and curse, and do them good and mischief."
+
+"Excellent! admirable!" said the old gentleman; "you have a most
+inimitable turn to ridicule."
+
+"I do not approve ridicule," said the son, "on such subjects."
+
+"Nor I neither," cries the doctor; "I will give you my opinion,
+therefore, very seriously. The two verses taken together, contain a
+very positive precept, delivered in the plainest words, and yet
+illustrated by the clearest instance in the conduct of the Supreme
+Being; and lastly, the practice of this precept is most nobly enforced
+by the reward annexed--_that ye may be the children_, and so forth. No
+man who understands what it is to love, and to bless, and to do good,
+can mistake the meaning. But if they required any comment, the
+Scripture itself affords enow. _If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he
+thirst, give him drink; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for
+railing, but contrariwise, blessing._ They do not, indeed, want the
+comments of men, who, when they cannot bend their mind to the
+obedience of Scripture, are desirous to wrest Scripture to a
+compliance with their own inclinations."
+
+"Most nobly and justly observed," cries the old gentleman. "Indeed, my
+good friend, you have explained the text with the utmost perspicuity."
+
+"But if this be the meaning," cries the son, "there must be an end of
+all law and justice, for I do not see how any man can prosecute his
+enemy in a court of justice."
+
+"Pardon me, sir," cries the doctor. "Indeed, as an enemy merely, and
+from a spirit of revenge, he cannot, and he ought not to prosecute
+him; but as an offender against the laws of his country he may, and it
+is his duty so to do. Is there any spirit of revenge in the
+magistrates or officers of justice when they punish criminals? Why do
+such, ordinarily I mean, concern themselves in inflicting punishments,
+but because it is their duty? and why may not a private man deliver an
+offender into the hands of justice, from the same laudable motive?
+Revenge, indeed, of all kinds is strictly prohibited; wherefore, as we
+are not to execute it with our own hands, so neither are we to make
+use of the law as the instrument of private malice, and to worry each
+other with inveteracy and rancour. And where is the great difficulty
+in obeying this wise, this generous, this noble precept? If revenge
+be, as a certain divine, not greatly to his honour, calls it, the most
+luscious morsel the devil ever dropt into the mouth of a sinner, it
+must be allowed at least to cost us often extremely dear. It is a
+dainty, if indeed it be one, which we come at with great inquietude,
+with great difficulty, and with great danger. However pleasant it may
+be to the palate while we are feeding on it, it is sure to leave a
+bitter relish behind it; and so far, indeed, it may be called a
+luscious morsel, that the most greedy appetites are soon glutted, and
+the most eager longing for it is soon turned into loathing and
+repentance. I allow there is something tempting in its outward
+appearance, but it is like the beautiful colour of some poisons, from
+which, however they may attract our eyes, a regard to our own welfare
+commands us to abstain. And this is an abstinence to which wisdom
+alone, without any Divine command, hath been often found adequate,
+with instances of which the Greek and Latin authors everywhere abound.
+May not a Christian, therefore, be well ashamed of making a stumbling-
+block of a precept, which is not only consistent with his worldly
+interest, but to which so noble an incentive is proposed?"
+
+The old gentleman fell into raptures at this speech, and, after making
+many compliments to the doctor upon it, he turned to his son, and told
+him he had an opportunity now of learning more in one day than he had
+learnt at the university in a twelvemonth.
+
+The son replied, that he allowed the doctrine to be extremely good in
+general, and that he agreed with the greater part; "but I must make a
+distinction," said he. However, he was interrupted from his
+distinction at present, for now Booth returned with Amelia and the
+children.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_A scene of modern wit and humour._
+
+
+In the afternoon the old gentleman proposed a walk to Vauxhall, a
+place of which, he said, he had heard much, but had never seen it.
+
+The doctor readily agreed to his friend's proposal, and soon after
+ordered two coaches to be sent for to carry the whole company. But
+when the servant was gone for them Booth acquainted the doctor that it
+was yet too early. "Is it so?" said the doctor; "why, then, I will
+carry you first to one of the greatest and highest entertainments in
+the world."
+
+The children pricked up their ears at this, nor did any of the company
+guess what he meant; and Amelia asked what entertainment he could
+carry them to at that time of day?
+
+"Suppose," says the doctor, "I should carry you to court."
+
+"At five o'clock in the afternoon!" cries Booth.
+
+"Ay, suppose I should have interest enough to introduce you into the
+presence."
+
+"You are jesting, dear sir," cries Amelia.
+
+"Indeed, I am serious," answered the doctor. "I will introduce you
+into that presence, compared to whom the greatest emperor on the earth
+is many millions of degrees meaner than the most contemptible reptile
+is to him. What entertainment can there be to a rational being equal
+to this? Was not the taste of mankind most wretchedly depraved, where
+would the vain man find an honour, or where would the love of pleasure
+propose so adequate an object as divine worship? with what ecstasy
+must the contemplation of being admitted to such a presence fill the
+mind! The pitiful courts of princes are open to few, and to those only
+at particular seasons; but from this glorious and gracious presence we
+are none of us, and at no time excluded."
+
+The doctor was proceeding thus when the servant returned, saying the
+coaches were ready; and the whole company with the greatest alacrity
+attended the doctor to St James's church.
+
+When the service was ended, and they were again got into their
+coaches, Amelia returned the doctor many thanks for the light in which
+he had placed divine worship, assuring him that she had never before
+had so much transport in her devotion as at this time, and saying she
+believed she should be the better for this notion he had given her as
+long as she lived.
+
+The coaches being come to the water-side, they all alighted, and,
+getting into one boat, proceeded to Vauxhall.
+
+The extreme beauty and elegance of this place is well known to almost
+every one of my readers; and happy is it for me that it is so, since
+to give an adequate idea of it would exceed my power of description.
+To delineate the particular beauties of these gardens would, indeed,
+require as much pains, and as much paper too, as to rehearse all the
+good actions of their master, whose life proves the truth of an
+observation which I have read in some ethic writer, that a truly
+elegant taste is generally accompanied with an excellency of heart;
+or, in other words, that true virtue is, indeed, nothing else but true
+taste.
+
+Here our company diverted themselves with walking an hour or two
+before the music began. Of all the seven, Booth alone had ever been
+here before; so that, to all the rest, the place, with its other
+charms, had that of novelty. When the music played, Amelia, who stood
+next to the doctor, said to him in a whisper, "I hope I am not guilty
+of profaneness; but, in pursuance of that chearful chain of thoughts
+with which you have inspired me this afternoon, I was just now lost in
+a reverie, and fancied myself in those blissful mansions which we hope
+to enjoy hereafter. The delicious sweetness of the place, the
+enchanting charms of the music, and the satisfaction which appears in
+every one's countenance, carried my soul almost to heaven in its
+ideas. I could not have, indeed, imagined there had been anything like
+this in this world."
+
+The doctor smiled, and said, "You see, dear madam, there may be
+pleasures of which you could conceive no idea till you actually
+enjoyed them."
+
+And now the little boy, who had long withstood the attractions of
+several cheesecakes that passed to and fro, could contain no longer,
+but asked his mother to give him one, saying, "I am sure my sister
+would be glad of another, though she is ashamed to ask." The doctor,
+overhearing the child, proposed that they should all retire to some
+place where they might sit down and refresh themselves; which they
+accordingly did. Amelia now missed her husband; but, as she had three
+men in her company, and one of them was the doctor, she concluded
+herself and her children to be safe, and doubted not but that Booth
+would soon find her out.
+
+They now sat down, and the doctor very gallantly desired Amelia to
+call for what she liked. Upon which the children were supplied with
+cakes, and some ham and chicken were provided for the rest of the
+company; with which while they were regaling themselves with the
+highest satisfaction, two young fellows walking arm-in-arm, came up,
+and when they came opposite to Amelia they stood still, staring Amelia
+full in the face, and one of them cried aloud to the other, "D--n me,
+my lord, if she is not an angel!"--My lord stood still, staring
+likewise at her, without speaking a word; when two others of the same
+gang came up, and one of them cried, "Come along, Jack, I have seen
+her before; but she is too well manned already. Three----are enough
+for one woman, or the devil is in it!"
+
+"D--n me," says he that spoke first, and whom they called Jack, "I
+will have a brush at her if she belonged to the whole convocation."
+And so saying, he went up to the young clergyman, and cried, "Doctor,
+sit up a little, if you please, and don't take up more room in a bed
+than belongs to you." At which words he gave the young man a push, and
+seated himself down directly over against Amelia, and, leaning both
+his elbows on the table, he fixed his eyes on her in a manner with
+which modesty can neither look nor bear to be looked at.
+
+Amelia seemed greatly shocked at this treatment; upon which the doctor
+removed her within him, and then, facing the gentleman, asked him what
+he meant by this rude behaviour?--Upon which my lord stept up and
+said, "Don't be impertinent, old gentleman. Do you think such fellows
+as you are to keep, d--n me, such fine wenches, d--n me, to
+yourselves, d--n me?"
+
+"No, no," cries Jack, "the old gentleman is more reasonable. Here's
+the fellow that eats up the tithe-pig. Don't you see how his mouth
+waters at her? Where's your slabbering bib?" For, though the gentleman
+had rightly guessed he was a clergyman, yet he had not any of those
+insignia on with which it would have been improper to have appeared
+there.
+
+"Such boys as you," cries the young clergyman, "ought to be well
+whipped at school, instead of being suffered to become nuisances in
+society."
+
+"Boys, sir!" says Jack; "I believe I am as good a man as yourself, Mr.
+----, and as good a scholar too. _Bos fur sus quotque sacerdos_. Tell
+me what's next. D--n me, I'll hold you fifty pounds you don't tell me
+what's next."
+
+"You have him, Jack," cries my lord. "It is over with him, d--n me! he
+can't strike another blow."
+
+"If I had you in a proper place," cries the clergyman, "you should
+find I would strike a blow, and a pretty hard one too."
+
+"There," cries my lord, "there is the meekness of the clergyman--there
+spoke the wolf in sheep's clothing. D--n me, how big he looks! You
+must be civil to him, faith! or else he will burst with pride."
+
+"Ay, ay," cries Jack," let the clergy alone for pride; there's not a
+lord in the kingdom now hath half the pride of that fellow."
+
+"Pray, sir," cries the doctor, turning to the other, "are you a lord?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. ----," cries he, "I have that honour, indeed."
+
+"And I suppose you have pride too," said the doctor.
+
+"I hope I have, sir," answered he, "at your service."
+
+"If such a one as you, sir," cries the doctor, "who are not only a
+scandal to the title you bear as a lord, but even as a man, can
+pretend to pride, why will you not allow it to a clergyman? I suppose,
+sir, by your dress, you are in the army? and, by the ribbon in your
+hat, you seem to be proud of that too. How much greater and more
+honourable is the service in which that gentleman is enlisted than
+yours! Why then should you object to the pride of the clergy, since
+the lowest of the function is in reality every way so much your
+superior?"
+
+"Tida Tidu Tidum," cries my lord.
+
+"However, gentlemen," cries the doctor, "if you have the least
+pretension to that name, I beg you will put an end to your frolic;
+since you see it gives so much uneasiness to the lady. Nay, I entreat
+you for your own sakes, for here is one coming who will talk to you in
+a very different stile from ours."
+
+"One coming!" cries my lord; "what care I who is coming?"
+
+"I suppose it is the devil," cries Jack; "for here are two of his
+livery servants already."
+
+"Let the devil come as soon as he will," cries my lord; "d--n me if I
+have not a kiss!"
+
+Amelia now fell a trembling; and her children, perceiving her fright,
+both hung on her, and began to cry; when Booth and Captain Trent both
+came up.
+
+Booth, seeing his wife disordered, asked eagerly what was the matter?
+At the same time the lord and his companion, seeing Captain Trent,
+whom they well knew, said both together, "What, doth this company
+belong to you?" When the doctor, with great presence of mind, as he
+was apprehensive of some fatal consequence if Booth should know what
+had past, said, "So, Mr. Booth, I am glad you are returned; your poor
+lady here began to be frighted out of her wits. But now you have him
+again," said he to Amelia, "I hope you will be easy."
+
+Amelia, frighted as she was, presently took the hint, and greatly chid
+her husband for leaving her. But the little boy was not so quick-
+sighted, and cried, "Indeed, papa, those naughty men there have
+frighted my mamma out of her wits."
+
+"How!" cries Booth, a little moved; "frightened! Hath any one
+frightened you, my dear?"
+
+"No, my love," answered she, "nothing. I know not what the child
+means. Everything is well now I see you safe."
+
+Trent had been all the while talking aside with the young sparks; and
+now, addressing himself to Booth, said, "Here hath been some little
+mistake; I believe my lord mistook Mrs. Booth for some other lady."
+
+"It is impossible," cries my lord, "to know every one. I am sure, if I
+had known the lady to be a woman of fashion, and an acquaintance of
+Captain Trent, I should have said nothing disagreeable to her; but, if
+I have, I ask her pardon, and the company's."
+
+"I am in the dark," cries Booth. "Pray what is all this matter?"
+
+"Nothing of any consequence," cries the doctor, "nor worth your
+enquiring into. You hear it was a mistake of the person, and I really
+believe his lordship that all proceeded from his not knowing to whom
+the lady belonged."
+
+"Come, come," says Trent, "there is nothing in the matter, I assure
+you. I will tell you the whole another time."
+
+"Very well; since you say so," cries Booth, "I am contented." So ended
+the affair, and the two sparks made their congee, and sneaked off.
+
+"Now they are gone," said the young gentleman, "I must say I never saw
+two worse-bred jackanapes, nor fellows that deserved to be kicked
+more. If I had had them in another place I would have taught them a
+little more respect to the church."
+
+"You took rather a better way," answered the doctor, "to teach them
+that respect."
+
+Booth now desired his friend Trent to sit down with them, and proposed
+to call for a fresh bottle of wine; but Amelia's spirits were too much
+disconcerted to give her any prospect of pleasure that evening. She
+therefore laid hold of the pretence of her children, for whom she said
+the hour was already too late; with which the doctor agreed. So they
+paid their reckoning and departed, leaving to the two rakes the
+triumph of having totally dissipated the mirth of this little innocent
+company, who were before enjoying complete satisfaction.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+_A curious conversation between the doctor, the young clergyman, and
+the young clergyman's father_.
+
+
+The next morning, when the doctor and his two friends were at
+breakfast, the young clergyman, in whose mind the injurious treatment
+he had received the evening before was very deeply impressed, renewed
+the conversation on that subject.
+
+"It is a scandal," said he, "to the government, that they do not
+preserve more respect to the clergy, by punishing all rudeness to them
+with the utmost severity. It was very justly observed of you, sir,"
+said he to the doctor," that the lowest clergyman in England is in
+real dignity superior to the highest nobleman. What then can be so
+shocking as to see that gown, which ought to entitle us to the
+veneration of all we meet, treated with contempt and ridicule? Are we
+not, in fact, ambassadors from heaven to the world? and do they not,
+therefore, in denying us our due respect, deny it in reality to Him
+that sent us?"
+
+"If that be the case," says the doctor, "it behoves them to look to
+themselves; for He who sent us is able to exact most severe vengeance
+for the ill treatment of His ministers."
+
+"Very true, sir," cries the young one; "and I heartily hope He will;
+but those punishments are at too great a distance to infuse terror
+into wicked minds. The government ought to interfere with its
+immediate censures. Fines and imprisonments and corporal punishments
+operate more forcibly on the human mind than all the fears of
+damnation."
+
+"Do you think so?" cries the doctor; "then I am afraid men are very
+little in earnest in those fears."
+
+"Most justly observed," says the old gentleman. "Indeed, I am afraid
+that is too much the case."
+
+"In that," said the son, "the government is to blame. Are not books of
+infidelity, treating our holy religion as a mere imposture, nay,
+sometimes as a mere jest, published daily, and spread abroad amongst
+the people with perfect impunity?"
+
+"You are certainly in the right," says the doctor; "there is a most
+blameable remissness with regard to these matters; but the whole blame
+doth not lie there; some little share of the fault is, I am afraid, to
+be imputed to the clergy themselves."
+
+"Indeed, sir," cries the young one, "I did not expect that charge from
+a gentleman of your cloth. Do the clergy give any encouragement to
+such books? Do they not, on the contrary, cry loudly out against the
+suffering them? This is the invidious aspersion of the laity; and I
+did not expect to hear it confirmed by one of our own cloth."
+
+"Be not too impatient, young gentleman," said the doctor." I do not
+absolutely confirm the charge of the laity; it is much too general and
+too severe; but even the laity themselves do not attack them in that
+part to which you have applied your defence. They are not supposed
+such fools as to attack that religion to which they owe their temporal
+welfare. They are not taxed with giving any other support to
+infidelity than what it draws from the ill examples of their lives; I
+mean of the lives of some of them. Here too the laity carry their
+censures too far; for there are very few or none of the clergy whose
+lives, if compared with those of the laity, can be called profligate;
+but such, indeed, is the perfect purity of our religion, such is the
+innocence and virtue which it exacts to entitle us to its glorious
+rewards and to screen us from its dreadful punishments, that he must
+be a very good man indeed who lives up to it. Thus then these persons
+argue. This man is educated in a perfect knowledge of religion, is
+learned in its laws, and is by his profession obliged, in a manner, to
+have them always before his eyes. The rewards which it promises to the
+obedience of these laws are so great, and the punishments threatened
+on disobedience so dreadful, that it is impossible but all men must
+fearfully fly from the one, and as eagerly pursue the other. If,
+therefore, such a person lives in direct opposition to, and in a
+constant breach of, these laws, the inference is obvious. There is a
+pleasant story in Matthew Paris, which I will tell you as well as I
+can remember it. Two young gentlemen, I think they were priests,
+agreed together that whosoever died first should return and acquaint
+his friend with the secrets of the other world. One of them died soon
+after, and fulfilled his promise. The whole relation he gave is not
+very material; but, among other things, he produced one of his hands,
+which Satan had made use of to write upon, as the moderns do on a
+card, and had sent his compliments to the priests for the number of
+souls which the wicked examples of their lives daily sent to hell.
+This story is the more remarkable as it was written by a priest, and a
+great favourer of his order."
+
+"Excellent!" cried the old gentleman; "what a memory you have."
+
+"But, sir," cries the young one, "a clergyman is a man as well as
+another; and, if such perfect purity be expected--"
+
+"I do not expect it," cries the doctor; "and I hope it will not be
+expected of us. The Scripture itself gives us this hope, where the
+best of us are said to fall twenty times a-day. But sure we may not
+allow the practice of any of those grosser crimes which contaminate
+the whole mind. We may expect an obedience to the ten commandments,
+and an abstinence from such notorious vices as, in the first place,
+Avarice, which, indeed, can hardly subsist without the breach of more
+commandments than one. Indeed, it would be excessive candour to
+imagine that a man who so visibly sets his whole heart, not only on
+this world, but on one of the most worthless things in it (for so is
+money, without regard to its uses), should be, at the same time,
+laying up his treasure in heaven. Ambition is a second vice of this
+sort: we are told we cannot serve God and Mammon. I might have applied
+this to avarice; but I chose rather to mention it here. When we see a
+man sneaking about in courts and levees, and doing the dirty work of
+great men, from the hopes of preferment, can we believe that a fellow
+whom we see to have so many hard task-masters upon earth ever thinks
+of his Master which is in heaven? Must he not himself think, if ever
+he reflects at all, that so glorious a Master will disdain and disown
+a servant who is the dutiful tool of a court-favourite, and employed
+either as the pimp of his pleasure, or sometimes, perhaps, made a
+dirty channel to assist in the conveyance of that corruption which is
+clogging up and destroying the very vitals of his country?
+
+"The last vice which I shall mention is Pride. There is not in the
+universe a more ridiculous nor a more contemptible animal than a proud
+clergyman; a turkey-cock or a jackdaw are objects of veneration when
+compared with him. I don't mean, by Pride, that noble dignity of mind
+to which goodness can only administer an adequate object, which
+delights in the testimony of its own conscience, and could not,
+without the highest agonies, bear its condemnation. By Pride I mean
+that saucy passion which exults in every little eventual pre-eminence
+over other men: such are the ordinary gifts of nature, and the paultry
+presents of fortune, wit, knowledge, birth, strength, beauty, riches,
+titles, and rank. That passion which is ever aspiring, like a silly
+child, to look over the heads of all about them; which, while it
+servilely adheres to the great, flies from the poor, as if afraid of
+contamination; devouring greedily every murmur of applause and every
+look of admiration; pleased and elated with all kind of respect; and
+hurt and enflamed with the contempt of the lowest and most despicable
+of fools, even with such as treated you last night disrespectfully at
+Vauxhall. Can such a mind as this be fixed on things above? Can such a
+man reflect that he hath the ineffable honour to be employed in the
+immediate service of his great Creator? or can he please himself with
+the heart-warming hope that his ways are acceptable in the sight of
+that glorious, that incomprehensible Being?"
+
+"Hear, child, hear," cries the old gentleman; "hear, and improve your
+understanding. Indeed, my good friend, no one retires from you without
+carrying away some good instructions with him. Learn of the doctor,
+Tom, and you will be the better man as long as you live."
+
+"Undoubtedly, sir," answered Tom, "the doctor hath spoken a great deal
+of excellent truth; and, without a compliment to him, I was always a
+great admirer of his sermons, particularly of their oratory. But,
+
+    _Nee tamen hoc tribuens dederim quoque caetera_.
+
+I cannot agree that a clergyman is obliged to put up with an affront
+any more than another man, and more especially when it is paid to the
+order."
+
+"I am very sorry, young gentleman," cries the doctor, "that you should
+be ever liable to be affronted as a clergyman; and I do assure you, if
+I had known your disposition formerly, the order should never have
+been affronted through you."
+
+The old gentleman now began to check his son for his opposition to the
+doctor, when a servant delivered the latter a note from Amelia, which
+he read immediately to himself, and it contained the following words:
+
+"MY DEAR SIR,--Something hath happened since I saw you which gives me
+great uneasiness, and I beg the favour of seeing you as soon as
+possible to advise with you upon it.
+ I am
+         Your most obliged and dutiful daughter,
+                   AMELIA BOOTH."
+
+The doctor's answer was, that he would wait on the lady directly; and
+then, turning to his friend, he asked him if he would not take a walk
+in the Park before dinner. "I must go," says he, "to the lady who was
+with us last night; for I am afraid, by her letter, some bad accident
+hath happened to her. Come, young gentleman, I spoke a little too
+hastily to you just now; but I ask your pardon. Some allowance must be
+made to the warmth of your blood. I hope we shall, in time, both think
+alike."
+
+The old gentleman made his friend another compliment; and the young
+one declared he hoped he should always think, and act too, with the
+dignity becoming his cloth. After which the doctor took his leave for
+a while, and went to Amelia's lodgings.
+
+As soon as he was gone the old gentleman fell very severely on his
+son. "Tom," says he, "how can you be such a fool to undo, by your
+perverseness, all that I have been doing? Why will you not learn to
+study mankind with the attention which I have employed to that
+purpose? Do you think, if I had affronted this obstinate old fellow as
+you do, I should ever have engaged his friendship?"
+
+"I cannot help it, sir," said Tom: "I have not studied six years at
+the university to give up my sentiments to every one. It is true,
+indeed, he put together a set of sounding words; but, in the main, I
+never heard any one talk more foolishly."
+
+"What of that?" cries the father; "I never told you he was a wise man,
+nor did I ever think him so. If he had any understanding, he would
+have been a bishop long ago, to my certain knowledge. But, indeed, he
+hath been always a fool in private life; for I question whether he is
+worth L100 in the world, more than his annual income. He hath given
+away above half his fortune to the Lord knows who. I believe I have
+had above L200 of him, first and last; and would you lose such a
+milch-cow as this for want of a few compliments? Indeed, Tom, thou art
+as great a simpleton as himself. How do you expect to rise in the
+church if you cannot temporise and give in to the opinions of your
+superiors?"
+
+"I don't know, sir," cries Tom, "what you mean by my superiors. In one
+sense, I own, a doctor of divinity is superior to a bachelor of arts,
+and so far I am ready to allow his superiority; but I understand Greek
+and Hebrew as well as he, and will maintain my opinion against him, or
+any other in the schools."
+
+"Tom," cries the old gentleman, "till thou gettest the better of thy
+conceit I shall never have any hopes of thee. If thou art wise, thou
+wilt think every man thy superior of whom thou canst get anything; at
+least thou wilt persuade him that thou thinkest so, and that is
+sufficient. Tom, Tom, thou hast no policy in thee."
+
+"What have I been learning these seven years," answered he, "in the
+university? However, father, I can account for your opinion. It is the
+common failing of old men to attribute all wisdom to themselves.
+Nestor did it long ago: but, if you will inquire my character at
+college, I fancy you will not think I want to go to school again."
+
+The father and son then went to take their walk, during which the
+former repeated many good lessons of policy to his son, not greatly
+perhaps to his edification. In truth, if the old gentleman's fondness
+had not in a great measure blinded him to the imperfections of his
+son, he would have soon perceived that he was sowing all his
+instructions in a soil so choaked with self-conceit that it was
+utterly impossible they should ever bear any fruit.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK X.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_To which we will prefix no preface_.
+
+
+The doctor found Amelia alone, for Booth was gone to walk with his
+new-revived acquaintance, Captain Trent, who seemed so pleased with
+the renewal of his intercourse with his old brother-officer, that he
+had been almost continually with him from the time of their meeting at
+the drum.
+
+Amelia acquainted the doctor with the purport of her message, as
+follows: "I ask your pardon, my dear sir, for troubling you so often
+with my affairs; but I know your extreme readiness, as well as
+ability, to assist any one with your advice. The fact is, that my
+husband hath been presented by Colonel James with two tickets for a
+masquerade, which is to be in a day or two, and he insists so strongly
+on my going with him, that I really do not know how to refuse without
+giving him some reason; and I am not able to invent any other than the
+true one, which you would not, I am sure, advise me to communicate to
+him. Indeed I had a most narrow escape the other day; for I was almost
+drawn in inadvertently by a very strange accident, to acquaint him
+with the whole matter." She then related the serjeant's dream, with
+all the consequences that attended it.
+
+The doctor considered a little with himself, and then said, "I am
+really, child, puzzled as well as you about this matter. I would by no
+means have you go to the masquerade; I do not indeed like the
+diversion itself, as I have heard it described to me; not that I am
+such a prude to suspect every woman who goes there of any evil
+intentions; but it is a pleasure of too loose and disorderly a kind
+for the recreation of a sober mind. Indeed, you have still a stronger
+and more particular objection. I will try myself to reason him out of
+it."
+
+"Indeed it is impossible," answered she; "and therefore I would not
+set you about it. I never saw him more set on anything. There is a
+party, as they call it, made on the occasion; and he tells me my
+refusal will disappoint all."
+
+"I really do not know what to advise you," cries the doctor; "I have
+told you I do not approve of these diversions; but yet, as your
+husband is so very desirous, I cannot think there will be any harm in
+going with him. However, I will consider of it, and do all in my power
+for you."
+
+Here Mrs. Atkinson came in, and the discourse on this subject ceased;
+but soon after Amelia renewed it, saying there was no occasion to keep
+anything a secret from her friend. They then fell to debating on the
+subject, but could not come to any resolution. But Mrs. Atkinson, who
+was in an unusual flow of spirits, cried out, "Fear nothing, my dear
+Amelia, two women surely will be too hard for one man. I think,
+doctor, it exceeds Virgil:
+
+    _Una dolo divum si faemina victa duorum est_."
+
+"Very well repeated, indeed!" cries the doctor. "Do you understand all
+Virgil as well as you seem to do that line?"
+
+"I hope I do, sir," said she, "and Horace too; or else my father threw
+away his time to very little purpose in teaching me."
+
+"I ask your pardon, madam," cries the doctor. "I own it was an
+impertinent question."
+
+"Not at all, sir," says she; "and if you are one of those who imagine
+women incapable of learning, I shall not be offended at it. I know the
+common opinion; but
+
+    _Interdum vulgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat_."
+
+"If I was to profess such an opinion, madam," said the doctor, "Madam
+Dacier and yourself would bear testimony against me. The utmost indeed
+that I should venture would be to question the utility of learning in
+a young lady's education."
+
+"I own," said Mrs. Atkinson, "as the world is constituted, it cannot
+be as serviceable to her fortune as it will be to that of a man; but
+you will allow, doctor, that learning may afford a woman, at least, a
+reasonable and an innocent entertainment."
+
+"But I will suppose," cried the doctor, "it may have its
+inconveniences. As, for instance, if a learned lady should meet with
+an unlearned husband, might she not be apt to despise him?"
+
+"I think not," cries Mrs. Atkinson--"and, if I may be allowed the
+instance, I think I have shewn, myself, that women who have learning
+themselves can be contented without that qualification in a man."
+
+"To be sure," cries the doctor, "there may be other qualifications
+which may have their weight in the balance. But let us take the other
+side of the question, and suppose the learned of both sexes to meet in
+the matrimonial union, may it not afford one excellent subject of
+disputation, which is the most learned?"
+
+"Not at all," cries Mrs. Atkinson; "for, if they had both learning and
+good sense, they would soon see on which side the superiority lay."
+
+"But if the learned man," said the doctor, "should be a little
+unreasonable in his opinion, are you sure that the learned woman would
+preserve her duty to her husband, and submit?"
+
+"But why," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "must we necessarily suppose that a
+learned man would be unreasonable?"
+
+"Nay, madam," said the doctor, "I am not your husband; and you shall
+not hinder me from supposing what I please. Surely it is not such a
+paradox to conceive that a man of learning should be unreasonable. Are
+there no unreasonable opinions in very learned authors, even among the
+critics themselves? For instance, what can be a more strange, and
+indeed unreasonable opinion, than to prefer the Metamorphoses of Ovid
+to the AEneid of Virgil?"
+
+"It would be indeed so strange," cries the lady, "that you shall not
+persuade me it was ever the opinion of any man."
+
+"Perhaps not," cries the doctor; "and I believe you and I should not
+differ in our judgments of any person who maintained such an opinion--
+What a taste must he have!"
+
+"A most contemptible one indeed," cries Mrs. Atkinson.
+
+"I am satisfied," cries the doctor. "And in the words of your own
+Horace, _Verbum non amplius addam_."
+
+"But how provoking is this," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "to draw one in such
+a manner! I protest I was so warm in the defence of my favourite
+Virgil, that I was not aware of your design; but all your triumph
+depends on a supposition that one should be so unfortunate as to meet
+with the silliest fellow in the world."
+
+"Not in the least," cries the doctor. "Doctor Bentley was not such a
+person; and yet he would have quarrelled, I am convinced, with any
+wife in the world, in behalf of one of his corrections. I don't
+suppose he would have given up his _Ingentia Fata_ to an angel."
+
+"But do you think," said she, "if I had loved him, I would have
+contended with him?"
+
+"Perhaps you might sometimes," said the doctor, "be of these
+sentiments; but you remember your own Virgil--_Varium et mutabile
+semper faemina_."
+
+"Nay, Amelia," said Mrs. Atkinson, "you are now concerned as well as I
+am; for he hath now abused the whole sex, and quoted the severest
+thing that ever was said against us, though I allow it is one of the
+finest."
+
+"With all my heart, my dear," cries Amelia. "I have the advantage of
+you, however, for I don't understand him."
+
+"Nor doth she understand much better than yourself," cries the doctor;
+"or she would not admire nonsense, even though in Virgil."
+
+"Pardon me, sir," said she.
+
+"And pardon me, madam," cries the doctor, with a feigned seriousness;
+"I say, a boy in the fourth form at Eton would be whipt, or would
+deserve to be whipt at least, who made the neuter gender agree with
+the feminine. You have heard, however, that Virgil left his AEneid
+incorrect; and, perhaps, had he lived to correct it, we should not
+have seen the faults we now see in it."
+
+"Why, it is very true as you say, doctor," cries Mrs. Atkinson; "there
+seems to be a false concord. I protest I never thought of it before."
+
+"And yet this is the Virgil," answered the doctor, "that you are so
+fond of, who hath made you all of the neuter gender; or, as we say in
+English, he hath made mere animals of you; for, if we translate it
+thus,
+
+    "Woman is a various and changeable animal,
+
+"there will be no fault, I believe, unless in point of civility to the
+ladies."
+
+Mrs. Atkinson had just time to tell the doctor he was a provoking
+creature, before the arrival of Booth and his friend put an end to
+that learned discourse, in which neither of the parties had greatly
+recommended themselves to each other; the doctor's opinion of the lady
+being not at all heightened by her progress in the classics, and she,
+on the other hand, having conceived a great dislike in her heart
+towards the doctor, which would have raged, perhaps, with no less fury
+from the consideration that he had been her husband.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_What happened at the masquerade_.
+
+
+From this time to the day of the masquerade nothing happened of
+consequence enough to have a place in this history.
+
+On that day Colonel James came to Booth's about nine in the evening,
+where he stayed for Mrs. James, who did not come till near eleven. The
+four masques then set out together in several chairs, and all
+proceeded to the Haymarket.
+
+When they arrived at the Opera-house the colonel and Mrs. James
+presently left them; nor did Booth and his lady remain long together,
+but were soon divided from each other by different masques.
+
+A domino soon accosted the lady, and had her away to the upper end of
+the farthest room on the right hand, where both the masques sat down;
+nor was it long before the he domino began to make very fervent love
+to the she. It would, perhaps, be tedious to the reader to run through
+the whole process, which was not indeed in the most romantick stile.
+The lover seemed to consider his mistress as a mere woman of this
+world, and seemed rather to apply to her avarice and ambition than to
+her softer passions.
+
+As he was not so careful to conceal his true voice as the lady was,
+she soon discovered that this lover of her's was no other than her old
+friend the peer, and presently a thought suggested itself to her of
+making an advantage of this accident. She gave him therefore an
+intimation that she knew him, and expressed some astonishment at his
+having found her out. "I suspect," says she, "my lord, that you have a
+friend in the woman where I now lodge, as well as you had in Mrs.
+Ellison." My lord protested the contrary. To which she answered, "Nay,
+my lord, do not defend her so earnestly till you are sure I should
+have been angry with her."
+
+At these words, which were accompanied with a very bewitching
+softness, my lord flew into raptures rather too strong for the place
+he was in. These the lady gently checked, and begged him to take care
+they were not observed; for that her husband, for aught she knew, was
+then in the room.
+
+Colonel James came now up, and said, "So, madam, I have the good
+fortune to find you again; I have been extremely miserable since I
+lost you." The lady answered in her masquerade voice that she did not
+know him. "I am Colonel James," said he, in a whisper. "Indeed, sir,"
+answered she, "you are mistaken; I have no acquaintance with any
+Colonel James." "Madam," answered he, in a whisper likewise, "I am
+positive I am not mistaken, you are certainly Mrs. Booth." "Indeed,
+sir," said she, "you are very impertinent, and I beg you will leave
+me." My lord then interposed, and, speaking in his own voice, assured
+the colonel that the lady was a woman of quality, and that they were
+engaged in a conversation together; upon which the colonel asked the
+lady's pardon; for, as there was nothing remarkable in her dress, he
+really believed he had been mistaken.
+
+He then went again a hunting through the rooms, and soon after found
+Booth walking without his mask between two ladies, one of whom was in
+a blue domino, and the other in the dress of a shepherdess. "Will,"
+cries the colonel, "do you know what is become of our wives; for I
+have seen neither of them since we have been in the room?" Booth
+answered, "That he supposed they were both together, and they should
+find them by and by." "What!" cries the lady in the blue domino, "are
+you both come upon duty then with your wives? as for yours, Mr.
+Alderman," said she to the colonel, "I make no question but she is got
+into much better company than her husband's." "How can you be so
+cruel, madam?" said the shepherdess; "you will make him beat his wife
+by and by, for he is a military man I assure you." "In the trained
+bands, I presume," cries the domino, "for he is plainly dated from the
+city." "I own, indeed," cries the other, "the gentleman smells
+strongly of Thames-street, and, if I may venture to guess, of the
+honourable calling of a taylor."
+
+"Why, what the devil hast thou picked up here?" cries James.
+
+"Upon my soul, I don't know," answered Booth; "I wish you would take
+one of them at least."
+
+"What say you, madam?" cries the domino, "will you go with the
+colonel? I assure you, you have mistaken your man, for he is no less a
+person than the great Colonel James himself."
+
+[Illustration: Booth between the blue domino and a Shepherdess.]
+
+"No wonder, then, that Mr. Booth gives him his choice of us; it is the
+proper office of a caterer, in which capacity Mr. Booth hath, I am
+told, the honour to serve the noble colonel."
+
+"Much good may it do you with your ladies!" said James; "I will go in
+pursuit of better game." At which words he walked off.
+
+"You are a true sportsman," cries the shepherdess; "for your only
+pleasure, I believe, lies in the pursuit."
+
+"Do you know the gentleman, madam?" cries the domino.
+
+"Who doth not know him?" answered the shepherdess.
+
+"What is his character?" cries the domino; "for, though I have jested
+with him, I only know him by sight."
+
+"I know nothing very particular in his character," cries the
+shepherdess. "He gets every handsome woman he can, and so they do
+all."
+
+"I suppose then he is not married?" said the domino.
+
+"O yes! and married for love too," answered the other; "but he hath
+loved away all his love for her long ago, and now, he says, she makes
+as fine an object of hatred. I think, if the fellow ever appears to
+have any wit, it is when he abuses his wife; and, luckily for him,
+that is his favourite topic. I don't know the poor wretch, but, as he
+describes her, it is a miserable animal."
+
+"I know her very well," cries the other; "and I am much mistaken if
+she is not even with him; but hang him! what is become of Booth?"
+
+At this instant a great noise arose near that part where the two
+ladies were. This was occasioned by a large assembly of young fellows
+whom they call bucks, who were got together, and were enjoying, as the
+phrase is, a letter, which one of them had found in the room.
+
+Curiosity hath its votaries among all ranks of people; whenever
+therefore an object of this appears it is as sure of attracting a
+croud in the assemblies of the polite as in those of their inferiors.
+
+When this croud was gathered together, one of the bucks, at the desire
+of his companions, as well as of all present, performed the part of a
+public orator, and read out the following letter, which we shall give
+the reader, together with the comments of the orator himself, and of
+all his audience.
+
+The orator then, being mounted on a bench, began as follows:
+
+"Here beginneth the first chapter of--saint--Pox on't, Jack, what is
+the saint's name? I have forgot."
+
+"Timothy, you blockhead," answered another; "--Timothy."
+
+"Well, then," cries the orator, "of Saint Timothy.
+
+"'SIR,--I am very sorry to have any occasion of writing on the
+following subject in a country that is honoured with the name of
+Christian; much more am I concerned to address myself to a man whose
+many advantages, derived both from nature and fortune, should demand
+the highest return of gratitude to the great Giver of all those good
+things. Is not such a man guilty of the highest ingratitude to that
+most beneficent Being, by a direct and avowed disobedience of his most
+positive laws and commands?
+
+"'I need not tell you that adultery is forbid in the laws of the
+decalogue; nor need I, I hope, mention that it is expressly forbid in
+the New Testament.'
+
+"You see, therefore," said the orator, "what the law is, and therefore
+none of you will be able to plead ignorance when you come to the Old
+Bailey in the other world. But here goes again:--
+
+"'If it had not been so expressly forbidden in Scripture, still the
+law of Nature would have yielded light enough for us to have
+discovered the great horror and atrociousness of this crime.
+
+"'And accordingly we find that nations, where the Sun of righteousness
+hath yet never shined, have punished the adulterer with the most
+exemplary pains and penalties; not only the polite heathens, but the
+most barbarous nations, have concurred in these; in many places the
+most severe and shameful corporal punishments, and in some, and those
+not a few, death itself hath been inflicted on this crime.
+
+"'And sure in a human sense there is scarce any guilt which deserves
+to be more severely punished. It includes in it almost every injury
+and every mischief which one man can do to, or can bring on, another.
+It is robbing him of his property--'
+
+"Mind that, ladies," said the orator;" you are all the property of
+your husbands.--'And of that property which, if he is a good man, he
+values above all others. It is poisoning that fountain whence he hath
+a right to derive the sweetest and most innocent pleasure, the most
+cordial comfort, the most solid friendship, and most faithful
+assistance in all his affairs, wants, and distresses. It is the
+destruction of his peace of mind, and even of his reputation. The ruin
+of both wife and husband, and sometimes of the whole family, are the
+probable consequence of this fatal injury. Domestic happiness is the
+end of almost all our pursuits, and the common reward of all our
+pains. When men find themselves for ever barred from this delightful
+fruition, they are lost to all industry, and grow careless of all
+their worldly affairs. Thus they become bad subjects, bad relations,
+bad friends, and bad men. Hatred and revenge are the wretched passions
+which boil in their minds. Despair and madness very commonly ensue,
+and murder and suicide often close the dreadful scene.'
+
+"Thus, gentlemen and ladies, you see the scene is closed. So here ends
+the first act--and thus begins the second:--
+
+"'I have here attempted to lay before you a picture of this vice, the
+horror of which no colours of mine can exaggerate. But what pencil can
+delineate the horrors of that punishment which the Scripture denounces
+against it?
+
+"'And for what will you subject yourself to this punishment? or for
+what reward will you inflict all this misery on another? I will add,
+on your friend? for the possession of a woman; for the pleasure of a
+moment? But, if neither virtue nor religion can restrain your
+inordinate appetites, are there not many women as handsome as your
+friend's wife, whom, though not with innocence, you may possess with a
+much less degree of guilt? What motive then can thus hurry you on to
+the destruction of yourself and your friend? doth the peculiar
+rankness of the guilt add any zest to the sin? doth it enhance the
+pleasure as much as we may be assured it will the punishment?
+
+"'But if you can be so lost to all sense of fear, and of shame, and of
+goodness, as not to be debarred by the evil which you are to bring on
+yourself, by the extreme baseness of the action, nor by the ruin in
+which you are to involve others, let me still urge the difficulty, I
+may say, the impossibility of the success. You are attacking a
+fortress on a rock; a chastity so strongly defended, as well by a
+happy natural disposition of mind as by the strongest principles of
+religion and virtue, implanted by education and nourished and improved
+by habit, that the woman must be invincible even without that firm and
+constant affection of her husband which would guard a much looser and
+worse-disposed heart. What therefore are you attempting but to
+introduce distrust, and perhaps disunion, between an innocent and a
+happy couple, in which too you cannot succeed without bringing, I am
+convinced, certain destruction on your own head?
+
+"'Desist, therefore, let me advise you, from this enormous crime;
+retreat from the vain attempt of climbing a precipice which it is
+impossible you should ever ascend, where you must probably soon fall
+into utter perdition, and can have no other hope but of dragging down
+your best friend into perdition with you.
+
+"'I can think of but one argument more, and that, indeed, a very bad
+one; you throw away that time in an impossible attempt, which might,
+in other places, crown your sinful endeavours with success.'
+
+"And so ends the dismal ditty."
+
+"D--n me," cries one, "did ever mortal hear such d--ned stuff?"
+
+"Upon my soul," said another, "I like the last argument well enough.
+There is some sense in that; for d--n me if I had not rather go to D--
+g--ss at any time than follow a virtuous b---- for a fortnight."
+
+"Tom," says one of them, "let us set the ditty to music; let us
+subscribe to have it set by Handel; it will make an excellent
+oratorio."
+
+"D--n me, Jack," says another, "we'll have it set to a psalm-tune, and
+we'll sing it next Sunday at St James's church, and I'll bear a bob,
+d--n me."
+
+"Fie upon it! gentlemen, fie upon it!" said a frier, who came up; "do
+you think there is any wit and humour in this ribaldry; or, if there
+were, would it make any atonement for abusing religion and virtue?"
+
+"Heyday!" cries one, "this is a frier in good earnest."
+
+"Whatever I am," said the frier, "I hope at least you are what you
+appear to be. Heaven forbid, for the sake of our posterity, that you
+should be gentlemen."
+
+"Jack," cries one, "let us toss the frier in a blanket."
+
+"Me in a blanket?" said the frier: "by the dignity of man, I will
+twist the neck of every one of you as sure as ever the neck of a
+dunghill-cock was twisted." At which words he pulled off his mask, and
+the tremendous majesty of Colonel Bath appeared, from which the bucks
+fled away as fast as the Trojans heretofore from the face of Achilles.
+The colonel did not think it worth while to pursue any other of them
+except him who had the letter in his hand, which the colonel desired
+to see, and the other delivered, saying it was very much at his
+service.
+
+The colonel being possessed of the letter, retired as privately as he
+could, in order to give it a careful perusal; for, badly as it had
+been read by the orator, there were some passages in it which had
+pleased the colonel. He had just gone through it when Booth passed by
+him; upon which the colonel called to him, and, delivering him the
+letter, bid him put it in his pocket and read it at his leisure. He
+made many encomiums upon it, and told Booth it would be of service to
+him, and was proper for all young men to read.
+
+Booth had not yet seen his wife; but, as he concluded she was safe
+with Mrs. James, he was not uneasy. He had been prevented searching
+farther after her by the lady in the blue domino, who had joined him
+again. Booth had now made these discoveries: that the lady was pretty
+well acquainted with him, that she was a woman of fashion, and that
+she had a particular regard for him. But, though he was a gay man, he
+was in reality so fond of his Amelia, that he thought of no other
+woman; wherefore, though not absolutely a Joseph, as we have already
+seen, yet could he not be guilty of premeditated inconstancy. He was
+indeed so very cold and insensible to the hints which were given him,
+that the lady began to complain of his dullness. When the shepherdess
+again came up and heard this accusation against him, she confirmed it,
+saying, "I do assure you, madam, he is the dullest fellow in the
+world. Indeed, I should almost take you for his wife, by finding you a
+second time with him; for I do assure you the gentleman very seldom
+keeps any other company." "Are you so well acquainted with him,
+madam?" said the domino. "I have had that honour longer than your
+ladyship, I believe," answered the shepherdess. "Possibly you may,
+madam," cries the domino; "but I wish you would not interrupt us at
+present, for we have some business together." "I believe, madam,"
+answered the shepherdess, "my business with the gentleman is
+altogether as important as yours; and therefore your ladyship may
+withdraw if you please." "My dear ladies," cries Booth, "I beg you
+will not quarrel about me." "Not at all," answered the domino; "since
+you are so indifferent, I resign my pretensions with all my heart. If
+you had not been the dullest fellow upon earth, I am convinced you
+must have discovered me." She then went off, muttering to herself that
+she was satisfied the shepherdess was some wretched creature whom
+nobody knew.
+
+The shepherdess overheard the sarcasm, and answered it by asking Booth
+what contemptible wretch he had picked up? "Indeed, madam," said he,
+"you know as much of her as I do; she is a masquerade acquaintance
+like yourself." "Like me!" repeated she. "Do you think if this had
+been our first acquaintance I should have wasted so much time with you
+as I have? for your part, indeed, I believe a woman will get very
+little advantage by her having been formerly intimate with you." "I do
+not know, madam," said Booth, "that I deserve that character any more
+than I know the person that now gives it me." "And you have the
+assurance then," said she, in her own voice, "to affect not to
+remember me?" "I think," cries Booth, "I have heard that voice before;
+but, upon my soul, I do not recollect it." "Do you recollect," said
+she, "no woman that you have used with the highest barbarity--I will
+not say ingratitude?" "No, upon my honour," answered Booth. "Mention
+not honour," said she, "thou wretch! for, hardened as thou art, I
+could shew thee a face that, in spite of thy consummate impudence,
+would confound thee with shame and horrour. Dost thou not yet know
+me?" "I do, madam, indeed," answered Booth, "and I confess that of all
+women in the world you have the most reason for what you said."
+
+Here a long dialogue ensued between the gentleman and the lady, whom,
+I suppose, I need not mention to have been Miss Matthews; but, as it
+consisted chiefly of violent upbraidings on her side, and excuses on
+his, I despair of making it entertaining to the reader, and shall
+therefore return to the colonel, who, having searched all the rooms
+with the utmost diligence, without finding the woman he looked for,
+began to suspect that he had before fixed on the right person, and
+that Amelia had denied herself to him, being pleased with her
+paramour, whom he had discovered to be the noble peer.
+
+He resolved, therefore, as he could have no sport himself, to spoil
+that of others; accordingly he found out Booth, and asked him again
+what was become of both their wives; for that he had searched all over
+the rooms, and could find neither of them.
+
+Booth was now a little alarmed at this account, and, parting with Miss
+Matthews, went along with the colonel in search of his wife. As for
+Miss Matthews, he had at length pacified her with a promise to make
+her a visit; which promise she extorted from him, swearing bitterly,
+in the most solemn manner, unless he made it to her, she would expose
+both him and herself at the masquerade.
+
+As he knew the violence of the lady's passions, and to what heights
+they were capable of rising, he was obliged to come in to these terms:
+for he had, I am convinced, no fear upon earth equal to that of
+Amelia's knowing what it was in the power of Miss Matthews to
+communicate to her, and which to conceal from her, he had already
+undergone so much uneasiness.
+
+The colonel led Booth directly to the place where he had seen the peer
+and Amelia (such he was now well convinced she was) sitting together.
+Booth no sooner saw her than he said to the colonel, "Sure that is my
+wife in conversation with that masque?" "I took her for your lady
+myself," said the colonel; "but I found I was mistaken. Hark ye, that
+is my Lord----, and I have seen that very lady with him all this
+night."
+
+This conversation past at a little distance, and out of the hearing of
+the supposed Amelia; when Booth, looking stedfastly at the lady,
+declared with an oath that he was positive the colonel was in the
+right. She then beckoned to him with her fan; upon which he went
+directly to her, and she asked him to go home, which he very readily
+consented to. The peer then walked off: the colonel went in pursuit of
+his wife, or of some other woman; and Booth and his lady returned in
+two chairs to their lodgings.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_Consequences of the masquerade, not uncommon nor surprizing_.
+
+
+The lady, getting first out of her chair, ran hastily up into the
+nursery to the children; for such was Amelia's constant method at her
+return home, at whatever hour. Booth then walked into the dining-room,
+where he had not been long before Amelia came down to him, and, with a
+most chearful countenance, said, "My dear, I fancy we have neither of
+us supped; shall I go down and see whether there is any cold meat in
+the house?"
+
+"For yourself, if you please," answered Booth; "but I shall eat
+nothing."
+
+"How, my dear!" said Amelia; "I hope you have not lost your appetite
+at the masquerade!" for supper was a meal at which he generally eat
+very heartily.
+
+"I know not well what I have lost," said Booth; "I find myself
+disordered.--My head aches. I know not what is the matter with me."
+
+"Indeed, my dear, you frighten me," said Amelia; "you look, indeed,
+disordered. I wish the masquerade had been far enough before you had
+gone thither."
+
+"Would to Heaven it had!" cries Booth; "but that is over now. But
+pray, Amelia, answer me one question--Who was that gentleman with you
+when I came up to you?"
+
+"The gentleman! my dear," said Amelia; "what gentleman?"
+
+"The gentleman--the nobleman--when I came up; sure I speak plain."
+
+"Upon my word, my dear, I don't understand you," answered she; "I did
+not know one person at the masquerade."
+
+"How!" said he; "what! spend the whole evening with a masque without
+knowing him?"
+
+"Why, my dear," said she, "you know we were not together."
+
+"I know we were not," said he, "but what is that to the purpose? Sure
+you answer me strangely. I know we were not together; and therefore I
+ask you whom you were with?"
+
+"Nay, but, my dear," said she, "can I tell people in masques?"
+
+"I say again, madam," said he, "would you converse two hours or more
+with a masque whom you did not know?"
+
+"Indeed, child," says she, "I know nothing of the methods of a
+masquerade; for I never was at one in my life."
+
+"I wish to Heaven you had not been at this!" cries Booth. "Nay, you
+will wish so yourself if you tell me truth.--What have I said? do I--
+can I suspect you of not speaking truth? Since you are ignorant then I
+will inform you: the man you have conversed with was no other than
+Lord----."
+
+"And is that the reason," said she, "you wish I had not been there?"
+
+"And is not that reason," answered he, "sufficient? Is he not the last
+man upon earth with whom I would have you converse?"
+
+"So you really wish then that I had not been at the masquerade?"
+
+"I do," cried he, "from my soul."
+
+"So may I ever be able," cried she, "to indulge you in every wish as
+in this.--I was not there."
+
+"Do not trifle, Amelia," cried he; "you would not jest with me if you
+knew the situation of my mind."
+
+"Indeed I do not jest with you," said she. "Upon my honour I was not
+there. Forgive me this first deceit I ever practised, and indeed it
+shall be the last; for I have paid severely for this by the uneasiness
+it hath given me." She then revealed to him the whole secret, which
+was thus:
+
+I think it hath been already mentioned in some part of this history
+that Amelia and Mrs. Atkinson were exactly of the same make and
+stature, and that there was likewise a very near resemblance between
+their voices. When Mrs. Atkinson, therefore, found that Amelia was so
+extremely averse to the masquerade, she proposed to go thither in her
+stead, and to pass upon Booth for his own wife.
+
+This was afterwards very easily executed; for, when they left Booth's
+lodgings, Amelia, who went last to her chair, ran back to fetch her
+masque, as she pretended, which she had purposely left behind. She
+then whipt off her domino, and threw it over Mrs. Atkinson, who stood
+ready to receive it, and ran immediately downstairs, and, stepping
+into Amelia's chair, proceeded with the rest to the masquerade.
+
+As her stature exactly suited that of Amelia, she had very little
+difficulty to carry on the imposition; for, besides the natural
+resemblance of their voices, and the opportunity of speaking in a
+feigned one, she had scarce an intercourse of six words with Booth
+during the whole time; for the moment they got into the croud she took
+the first opportunity of slipping from him. And he, as the reader may
+remember, being seized by other women, and concluding his wife to be
+safe with Mrs. James, was very well satisfied, till the colonel set
+him upon the search, as we have seen before.
+
+Mrs. Atkinson, the moment she came home, ran upstairs to the nursery,
+where she found Amelia, and told her in haste that she might very
+easily carry on the deceit with her husband; for that she might tell
+him what she pleased to invent, as they had not been a minute together
+during the whole evening.
+
+Booth was no sooner satisfied that his wife had not been from home
+that evening than he fell into raptures with her, gave her a thousand
+tender caresses, blamed his own judgment, acknowledged the goodness of
+hers, and vowed never to oppose her will more in any one instance
+during his life.
+
+Mrs. Atkinson, who was still in the nursery with her masquerade dress,
+was then summoned down-stairs, and, when Booth saw her and heard her
+speak in her mimic tone, he declared he was not surprized at his
+having been imposed upon, for that, if they were both in the same
+disguise, he should scarce be able to discover the difference between
+them.
+
+They then sat down to half an hour's chearful conversation, after
+which they retired all in the most perfect good humour.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_Consequences of the masquerade_.
+
+
+When Booth rose in the morning he found in his pocket that letter
+which had been delivered to him by Colonel Bath, which, had not chance
+brought to his remembrance, he might possibly have never recollected.
+
+He had now, however, the curiosity to open the letter, and beginning
+to read it, the matter of it drew him on till he perused the whole;
+for, notwithstanding the contempt cast upon it by those learned
+critics the bucks, neither the subject nor the manner in which it was
+treated was altogether contemptible.
+
+But there was still another motive which induced Booth to read the
+whole letter, and this was, that he presently thought he knew the
+hand. He did, indeed, immediately conclude it was Dr Harrison; for the
+doctor wrote a very remarkable one, and this letter contained all the
+particularities of the doctor's character.
+
+He had just finished a second reading of this letter when the doctor
+himself entered the room. The good man was impatient to know the
+success of Amelia's stratagem, for he bore towards her all that love
+which esteem can create in a good mind, without the assistance of
+those selfish considerations from which the love of wives and children
+may be ordinarily deduced. The latter of which, Nature, by very subtle
+and refined reasoning, suggests to us to be part of our dear selves;
+and the former, as long as they remain the objects of our liking, that
+same Nature is furnished with very plain and fertile arguments to
+recommend to our affections. But to raise that affection in the human
+breast which the doctor had for Amelia, Nature is forced to use a kind
+of logic which is no more understood by a bad man than Sir Isaac
+Newton's doctrine of colours is by one born blind. And yet in reality
+it contains nothing more abstruse than this, that an injury is the
+object of anger, danger of fear, and praise of vanity; for in the same
+simple manner it may be asserted that goodness is the object of love.
+
+The doctor enquired immediately for his child (for so he often called
+Amelia); Booth answered that he had left her asleep, for that she had
+had but a restless night. "I hope she is not disordered by the
+masquerade," cries the doctor. Booth answered he believed she would be
+very well when she waked. "I fancy," said he, "her gentle spirits were
+a little too much fluttered last night; that is all."
+
+"I hope, then," said the doctor, "you will never more insist on her
+going to such places, but know your own happiness in having a wife
+that hath the discretion to avoid those places; which, though perhaps
+they may not be as some represent them, such brothels of vice and
+debauchery as would impeach the character of every virtuous woman who
+was seen at them, are certainly, however, scenes of riot, disorder,
+and intemperance, very improper to be frequented by a chaste and sober
+Christian matron."
+
+Booth declared that he was very sensible of his error, and that, so
+far from soliciting his wife to go to another masquerade, he did not
+intend ever to go thither any more himself.
+
+The doctor highly approved the resolution; and then Booth said, "And I
+thank you, my dear friend, as well as my wife's discretion, that she
+was not at the masquerade last night." He then related to the doctor
+the discovery of the plot; and the good man was greatly pleased with
+the success of the stratagem, and that Booth took it in such good
+part.
+
+"But, sir," says Booth, "I had a letter given me by a noble colonel
+there, which is written in a hand so very like yours, that I could
+almost swear to it. Nor is the stile, as far as I can guess, unlike
+your own. Here it is, sir. Do you own the letter, doctor, or do you
+not?"
+
+The doctor took the letter, and, having looked at it a moment, said,
+"And did the colonel himself give you this letter?"
+
+"The colonel himself," answered Booth.
+
+"Why then," cries the doctor, "he is surely the most impudent fellow
+that the world ever produced. What! did he deliver it with an air of
+triumph?"
+
+"He delivered it me with air enough," cries Booth, "after his own
+manner, and bid me read it for my edification. To say the truth, I am
+a little surprized that he should single me out of all mankind to
+deliver the letter to; I do not think I deserve the character of such
+a husband. It is well I am not so very forward to take an affront as
+some folks."
+
+"I am glad to see you are not," said the doctor; "and your behaviour
+in this affair becomes both the man of sense and the Christian; for it
+would be surely the greatest folly, as well as the most daring
+impiety, to risque your own life for the impertinence of a fool. As
+long as you are assured of the virtue of your own wife, it is wisdom
+in you to despise the efforts of such a wretch. Not, indeed, that your
+wife accuses him of any downright attack, though she hath observed
+enough in his behaviour to give offence to her delicacy."
+
+"You astonish me, doctor," said Booth. "What can you mean? my wife
+dislike his behaviour! hath the colonel ever offended her?"
+
+"I do not say he hath ever offended her by any open declarations; nor
+hath he done anything which, according to the most romantic notion of
+honour, you can or ought to resent; but there is something extremely
+nice in the chastity of a truly virtuous woman."
+
+"And hath my wife really complained of anything of that kind in the
+colonel?"
+
+"Look ye, young gentleman," cries the doctor; "I will have no
+quarrelling or challenging; I find I have made some mistake, and
+therefore I insist upon it by all the rights of friendship, that you
+give me your word of honour you will not quarrel with the colonel on
+this account."
+
+"I do, with all my heart," said Booth; "for, if I did not know your
+character, I should absolutely think you was jesting with me. I do not
+think you have mistaken my wife, but I am sure she hath mistaken the
+colonel, and hath misconstrued some over-strained point of gallantry,
+something of the Quixote kind, into a design against her chastity; but
+I have that opinion of the colonel, that I hope you will not be
+offended when I declare I know not which of you two I should be the
+sooner jealous of."
+
+"I would by no means have you jealous of any one," cries the doctor;
+"for I think my child's virtue may be firmly relied on; but I am
+convinced she would not have said what she did to me without a cause;
+nor should I, without such a conviction, have written that letter to
+the colonel, as I own to you I did. However, nothing I say hath yet
+past which, even in the opinion of false honour, you are at liberty to
+resent! but as to declining any great intimacy, if you will take my
+advice, I think that would be prudent."
+
+"You will pardon me, my dearest friend," said Booth, "but I have
+really such an opinion of the colonel that I would pawn my life upon
+his honour; and as for women, I do not believe he ever had an
+attachment to any."
+
+"Be it so," said the doctor: "I have only two things to insist on. The
+first is, that, if ever you change your opinion, this letter may not
+be the subject of any quarrelling or fighting: the other is, that you
+never mention a word of this to your wife. By the latter I shall see
+whether you can keep a secret; and, if it is no otherwise material, it
+will be a wholesome exercise to your mind; for the practice of any
+virtue is a kind of mental exercise, and serves to maintain the health
+and vigour of the soul."
+
+"I faithfully promise both," cries Booth. And now the breakfast
+entered the room, as did soon after Amelia and Mrs. Atkinson.
+
+The conversation ran chiefly on the masquerade; and Mrs. Atkinson gave
+an account of several adventures there; but whether she told the whole
+truth with regard to herself I will not determine, for, certain it is,
+she never once mentioned the name of the noble peer. Amongst the rest,
+she said there was a young fellow that had preached a sermon there
+upon a stool, in praise of adultery, she believed; for she could not
+get near enough to hear the particulars.
+
+During that transaction Booth had been engaged with the blue domino in
+another room, so that he knew nothing of it; so that what Mrs.
+Atkinson had now said only brought to his mind the doctor's letter to
+Colonel Bath, for to him he supposed it was written; and the idea of
+the colonel being a lover to Amelia struck him in so ridiculous a
+light, that it threw him into a violent fit of laughter.
+
+The doctor, who, from the natural jealousy of an author, imputed the
+agitation of Booth's muscles to his own sermon or letter on that
+subject, was a little offended, and said gravely, "I should be glad to
+know the reason of this immoderate mirth. Is adultery a matter of jest
+in your opinion?"
+
+"Far otherwise," answered Booth. "But how is it possible to refrain
+from laughter at the idea of a fellow preaching a sermon in favour of
+it at such a place?"
+
+"I am very sorry," cries the doctor, "to find the age is grown to so
+scandalous a degree of licentiousness, that we have thrown off not
+only virtue, but decency. How abandoned must be the manners of any
+nation where such insults upon religion and morality can be committed
+with impunity! No man is fonder of true wit and humour than myself;
+but to profane sacred things with jest and scoffing is a sure sign of
+a weak and a wicked mind. It is the very vice which Homer attacks in
+the odious character of Thersites. The ladies must excuse my repeating
+the passage to you, as I know you have Greek enough to understand
+it:--
+
+    Os rh' epea phresin esin akosma te, polla te ede
+    Maps, atar ou kata kosmon epizemenai basileusin,
+    All'o, ti oi eisaito geloiton Argeiosin
+    Emmenai
+
+[Footnote: Thus paraphrased by Mr. Pope:
+
+    "Awed by no shame, by no respect controll'd,
+     In scandal busy, in reproaches bold,
+     With witty malice, studious to defame,
+     Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim."]
+
+And immediately adds,
+
+    ----aiskistos de aner ypo Ilion elthe
+
+[Footnote: "He was the greatest scoundrel in the whole army."]
+
+"Horace, again, describes such a rascal:
+
+                              ----Solutos
+      Qui captat risus hominum famamque dicacis,
+
+[Footnote: "Who trivial bursts of laughter strives to raise,
+      And courts of prating petulance the praise."--FRANCIS.]
+
+ and says of him,
+
+     Hic niger est, hunc tu, Romane, caveto."
+
+[Footnote: "This man is black; do thou, O Roman! shun this man."]
+
+"O charming Homer!" said Mrs. Atkinson, "how much above all other
+writers!"
+
+"I ask your pardon, madam," said the doctor; "I forgot you was a
+scholar; but, indeed, I did not know you understood Greek as well as
+Latin."
+
+"I do not pretend," said she, "to be a critic in the Greek; but I
+think I am able to read a little of Homer, at least with the help of
+looking now and then into the Latin."
+
+"Pray, madam," said the doctor, "how do you like this passage in the
+speech of Hector to Andromache:
+
+     ----Eis oikon iousa ta sautes erga komize,
+     Iston t elakaten te, kai amphipoloisi keleue
+     Ergon epoichesthai?
+
+[Footnote: "Go home and mind your own business. Follow your
+spinning, and keep your maids to their work."]
+
+"Or how do you like the character of Hippodamia, who, by being the
+prettiest girl and best workwoman of her age, got one of the best
+husbands in all Troy?--I think, indeed, Homer enumerates her
+discretion with her other qualifications; but I do not remember he
+gives us one character of a woman of learning.--Don't you conceive
+this to be a great omission in that who, by being the prettiest girl
+and best workwoman of her age, got one of the best husbands in all
+Troy?---I think, indeed, Homer enumerates her discretion with her
+other qualifications; but I do not remember Don't you conceive this to
+be a great omission in that charming poet? However, Juvenal makes you
+amends, for he talks very abundantly of the learning of the Roman
+ladies in his time."
+
+"You are a provoking man, doctor," said Mrs. Atkinson; "where is the
+harm in a woman's having learning as well as a man?"
+
+"Let me ask you another question," said the doctor. "Where is the harm
+in a man's being a fine performer with a needle as well as a woman?
+And yet, answer me honestly; would you greatly chuse to marry a man
+with a thimble upon his finger? Would you in earnest think a needle
+became the hand of your husband as well as a halberd?"
+
+"As to war, I am with you," said she. "Homer himself, I well remember,
+makes Hector tell his wife that warlike works--what is the Greek word
+--Pollemy--something--belonged to men only; and I readily agree to it.
+I hate a masculine woman, an Amazon, as much as you can do; but what
+is there masculine in learning?"
+
+"Nothing so masculine, take my word for it. As for your Pollemy, I
+look upon it to be the true characteristic of a devil. So Homer
+everywhere characterizes Mars."
+
+"Indeed, my dear," cries the serjeant, "you had better not dispute
+with the doctor; for, upon my word, he will be too hard for you."
+
+"Nay, I beg _you_ will not interfere," cries Mrs. Atkinson; "I am sure
+_you_ can be no judge in these matters."
+
+At which the doctor and Booth burst into a loud laugh; and Amelia,
+though fearful of giving her friend offence, could not forbear a
+gentle smile.
+
+"You may laugh, gentlemen, if you please," said Mrs. Atkinson; "but I
+thank Heaven I have married a man who is not jealous of my
+understanding. I should have been the most miserable woman upon earth
+with a starched pedant who was possessed of that nonsensical opinion
+that the difference of sexes causes any difference in the mind. Why
+don't you honestly avow the Turkish notion that women have no souls?
+for you say the same thing in effect."
+
+"Indeed, my dear," cries the serjeant, greatly concerned to see his
+wife so angry, "you have mistaken the doctor."
+
+"I beg, my dear," cried she, "_you_ will say nothing upon these
+subjects--I hope _you_ at least do not despise my understanding."
+
+"I assure you, I do not," said the serjeant; "and I hope you will
+never despise mine; for a man may have some understanding, I hope,
+without learning."
+
+Mrs. Atkinson reddened extremely at these words; and the doctor,
+fearing he had gone too far, began to soften matters, in which Amelia
+assisted him. By these means, the storm rising in Mrs. Atkinson before
+was in some measure laid, at least suspended from bursting at present;
+but it fell afterwards upon the poor serjeant's head in a torrent, who
+had learned perhaps one maxim from his trade, that a cannon-ball
+always doth mischief in proportion to the resistance it meets with,
+and that nothing so effectually deadens its force as a woolpack. The
+serjeant therefore bore all with patience; and the idea of a woolpack,
+perhaps, bringing that of a feather-bed into his head, he at last not
+only quieted his wife, but she cried out with great sincerity, "Well,
+my dear, I will say one thing for you, that I believe from my soul,
+though you have no learning, you have the best understanding of any
+man upon earth; and I must own I think the latter far the more
+profitable of the two."
+
+Far different was the idea she entertained of the doctor, whom, from
+this day, she considered as a conceited pedant; nor could all Amelia's
+endeavours ever alter her sentiments.
+
+The doctor now took his leave of Booth and his wife for a week, he
+intending to set out within an hour or two with his old friend, with
+whom our readers were a little acquainted at the latter end of the
+ninth book, and of whom, perhaps, they did not then conceive the most
+favourable opinion.
+
+Nay, I am aware that the esteem which some readers before had for the
+doctor may be here lessened; since he may appear to have been too easy
+a dupe to the gross flattery of the old gentleman. If there be any
+such critics, we are heartily sorry, as well for them as for the
+doctor; but it is our business to discharge the part of a faithful
+historian, and to describe human nature as it is, not as we would wish
+it to be.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+_In which Colonel Bath appears in great glory_.
+
+
+That afternoon, as Booth was walking in the Park, he met with Colonel
+Bath, who presently asked him for the letter which he had given him
+the night before; upon which Booth immediately returned it.
+
+"Don't you think," cries Bath, "it is writ with great dignity of
+expression and emphasis of--of--of judgment?"
+
+"I am surprized, though," cries Booth, "that any one should write such
+a letter to you, colonel."
+
+"To me!" said Bath. "What do you mean, sir? I hope you don't imagine
+any man durst write such a letter to me? d--n me, if I knew a man who
+thought me capable of debauching my friend's wife, I would--d--n me."
+
+"I believe, indeed, sir," cries Booth, "that no man living dares put
+his name to such a letter; but you see it is anonymous."
+
+"I don't know what you mean by ominous," cries the colonel; "but,
+blast my reputation, if I had received such a letter, if I would not
+have searched the world to have found the writer. D--n me, I would
+have gone to the East Indies to have pulled off his nose."
+
+"He would, indeed, have deserved it," cries Booth. "But pray, sir, how
+came you by it?"
+
+"I took it," said the colonel, "from a sett of idle young rascals, one
+of whom was reading it out aloud upon a stool, while the rest were
+attempting to make a jest, not only of the letter, but of all decency,
+virtue, and religion. A sett of fellows that you must have seen or
+heard of about the town, that are, d--n me, a disgrace to the dignity
+of manhood; puppies that mistake noise and impudence, rudeness and
+profaneness, for wit. If the drummers of my company had not more
+understanding than twenty such fellows, I'd have them both whipt out
+of the regiment."
+
+"So, then, you do not know the person to whom it was writ?" said
+Booth.
+
+"Lieutenant," cries the colonel, "your question deserves no answer. I
+ought to take time to consider whether I ought not to resent the
+supposition. Do you think, sir, I am acquainted with a rascal?"
+
+"I do not suppose, colonel," cries Booth, "that you would willingly
+cultivate an intimacy with such a person; but a man must have good
+luck who hath any acquaintance if there are not some rascals among
+them."
+
+"I am not offended with you, child," says the colonel. "I know you did
+not intend to offend me."
+
+"No man, I believe, dares intend it," said Booth.
+
+"I believe so too," said the colonel; "d--n me, I know it. But you
+know, child, how tender I am on this subject. If I had been ever
+married myself, I should have cleft the man's skull who had dared look
+wantonly at my wife."
+
+"It is certainly the most cruel of all injuries," said Booth. "How
+finely doth Shakespeare express it in his Othello!
+
+    'But there, where I had treasured up my soul.'"
+
+"That Shakespeare," cries the colonel, "was a fine fellow. He was a
+very pretty poet indeed. Was it not Shakespeare that wrote the play
+about Hotspur? You must remember these lines. I got them almost by
+heart at the playhouse; for I never missed that play whenever it was
+acted, if I was in town:--
+
+     By Heav'n it was an easy leap,
+     To pluck bright honour into the full moon,
+     Or drive into the bottomless deep.
+
+And--and--faith, I have almost forgot them; but I know it is something
+about saving your honour from drowning--O! it is very fine! I say, d--
+n me, the man that writ those lines was the greatest poet the world
+ever produced. There is dignity of expression and emphasis of
+thinking, d--n me."
+
+Booth assented to the colonel's criticism, and then cried, "I wish,
+colonel, you would be so kind to give me that letter." The colonel
+answered, if he had any particular use for it he would give it him
+with all his heart, and presently delivered it; and soon afterwards
+they parted.
+
+Several passages now struck all at once upon Booth's mind, which gave
+him great uneasiness. He became confident now that he had mistaken one
+colonel for another; and, though he could not account for the letter's
+getting into those hands from whom Bath had taken it (indeed James had
+dropt it out of his pocket), yet a thousand circumstances left him no
+room to doubt the identity of the person, who was a man much more
+liable to raise the suspicion of a husband than honest Bath, who would
+at any time have rather fought with a man than lain with a woman.
+
+The whole behaviour of Amelia now rushed upon his memory. Her
+resolution not to take up her residence at the colonel's house, her
+backwardness even to dine there, her unwillingness to go to the
+masquerade, many of her unguarded expressions, and some where she had
+been more guarded, all joined together to raise such an idea in Mr.
+Booth, that he had almost taken a resolution to go and cut the colonel
+to pieces in his own house. Cooler thoughts, however, suggested
+themselves to him in time. He recollected the promise he had so
+solemnly made to the doctor. He considered, moreover, that he was yet
+in the dark as to the extent of the colonel's guilt. Having nothing,
+therefore, to fear from it, he contented himself to postpone a
+resentment which he nevertheless resolved to take of the colonel
+hereafter, if he found he was in any degree a delinquent.
+
+The first step he determined to take was, on the first opportunity, to
+relate to Colonel James the means by which he became possessed of the
+letter, and to read it to him; on which occasion, he thought he should
+easily discern by the behaviour of the colonel whether he had been
+suspected either by Amelia or the doctor without a cause; but as for
+his wife, he fully resolved not to reveal the secret to her till the
+doctor's return.
+
+While Booth was deeply engaged by himself in these meditations,
+Captain Trent came up to him, and familiarly slapped him on the
+shoulder.
+
+They were soon joined by a third gentleman, and presently afterwards
+by a fourth, both acquaintances of Mr. Trent; and all having walked
+twice the length of the Mall together, it being now past nine in the
+evening, Trent proposed going to the tavern, to which the strangers
+immediately consented; and Booth himself, after some resistance, was
+at length persuaded to comply.
+
+To the King's Arms then they went, where the bottle went very briskly
+round till after eleven; at which time Trent proposed a game at cards,
+to which proposal likewise Booth's consent was obtained, though not
+without much difficulty; for, though he had naturally some inclination
+to gaming, and had formerly a little indulged it, yet he had entirely
+left it off for many years.
+
+Booth and his friend were partners, and had at first some success; but
+Fortune, according to her usual conduct, soon shifted about, and
+persecuted Booth with such malice, that in about two hours he was
+stripped of all the gold in his pocket, which amounted to twelve
+guineas, being more than half the cash which he was at that time
+worth.
+
+How easy it is for a man who is at all tainted with the itch of gaming
+to leave off play in such a situation, especially when he is likewise
+heated with liquor, I leave to the gamester to determine. Certain it
+is that Booth had no inclination to desist; but, on the contrary, was
+so eagerly bent on playing on, that he called his friend out of the
+room, and asked him for ten pieces, which he promised punctually to
+pay the next morning.
+
+Trent chid him for using so much formality on the occasion. "You
+know," said he, "dear Booth, you may have what money you please of me.
+Here is a twenty-pound note at your service; and, if you want five
+times the sum, it is at your service. We will never let these fellows
+go away with our money in this manner; for we have so much the
+advantage, that if the knowing ones were here they would lay odds of
+our side."
+
+But if this was really Mr. rent's opinion, he was very much mistaken;
+for the other two honourable gentlemen were not only greater masters
+of the game, and somewhat soberer than poor Booth, having, with all
+the art in their power, evaded the bottle, but they had, moreover,
+another small advantage over their adversaries, both of them, by means
+of some certain private signs, previously agreed upon between them,
+being always acquainted with the principal cards in each other's
+hands. It cannot be wondered, therefore, that Fortune was on their
+side; for, however she may be reported to favour fools, she never, I
+believe, shews them any countenance when they engage in play with
+knaves.
+
+The more Booth lost, the deeper he made his bets; the consequence of
+which was, that about two in the morning, besides the loss of his own
+money, he was fifty pounds indebted to Trent: a sum, indeed, which he
+would not have borrowed, had not the other, like a very generous
+friend, pushed it upon him.
+
+Trent's pockets became at last dry by means of these loans. His own
+loss, indeed, was trifling; for the stakes of the games were no higher
+than crowns, and betting (as it is called) was that to which Booth
+owed his ruin. The gentlemen, therefore, pretty well knowing Booth's
+circumstances, and being kindly unwilling to win more of a man than he
+was worth, declined playing any longer, nor did Booth once ask them to
+persist, for he was ashamed of the debt which he had already
+contracted to Trent, and very far from desiring to encrease it.
+
+The company then separated. The two victors and Trent went off in
+their chairs to their several houses near Grosvenor-square, and poor
+Booth, in a melancholy mood, walked home to his lodgings. He was,
+indeed, in such a fit of despair, that it more than once came into his
+head to put an end to his miserable being.
+
+But before we introduce him to Amelia we must do her the justice to
+relate the manner in which she spent this unhappy evening. It was
+about seven when Booth left her to walk in the park; from this time
+till past eight she was employed with her children, in playing with
+them, in giving them their supper, and in putting them to bed.
+
+When these offices were performed she employed herself another hour in
+cooking up a little supper for her husband, this being, as we have
+already observed, his favourite meal, as indeed it was her's; and, in
+a most pleasant and delightful manner, they generally passed their
+time at this season, though their fare was very seldom of the
+sumptuous kind.
+
+It now grew dark, and her hashed mutton was ready for the table, but
+no Booth appeared. Having waited therefore for him a full hour, she
+gave him over for that evening; nor was she much alarmed at his
+absence, as she knew he was in a night or two to be at the tavern with
+some brother-officers; she concluded therefore that they had met in
+the park, and had agreed to spend this evening together.
+
+At ten then she sat down to supper by herself, for Mrs. Atkinson was
+then abroad. And here we cannot help relating a little incident,
+however trivial it may appear to some. Having sat some time alone,
+reflecting on their distressed situation, her spirits grew very low;
+and she was once or twice going to ring the bell to send her maid for
+half-a-pint of white wine, but checked her inclination in order to
+save the little sum of sixpence, which she did the more resolutely as
+she had before refused to gratify her children with tarts for their
+supper from the same motive. And this self-denial she was very
+probably practising to save sixpence, while her husband was paying a
+debt of several guineas incurred by the ace of trumps being in the
+hands of his adversary.
+
+Instead therefore of this cordial she took up one of the excellent
+Farquhar's comedies, and read it half through; when, the clock
+striking twelve, she retired to bed, leaving the maid to sit up for
+her master. She would, indeed, have much more willingly sat up
+herself, but the delicacy of her own mind assured her that Booth would
+not thank her for the compliment. This is, indeed, a method which some
+wives take of upbraiding their husbands for staying abroad till too
+late an hour, and of engaging them, through tenderness and good
+nature, never to enjoy the company of their friends too long when they
+must do this at the expence of their wives' rest.
+
+To bed then she went, but not to sleep. Thrice indeed she told the
+dismal clock, and as often heard the more dismal watchman, till her
+miserable husband found his way home, and stole silently like a thief
+to bed to her; at which time, pretending then first to awake, she
+threw her snowy arms around him; though, perhaps, the more witty
+property of snow, according to Addison, that is to say its coldness,
+rather belonged to the poor captain.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_Read, gamester, and observe_.
+
+
+Booth could not so well disguise the agitations of his mind from
+Amelia, but that she perceived sufficient symptoms to assure her that
+some misfortune had befallen him. This made her in her turn so uneasy
+that Booth took notice of it, and after breakfast said, "Sure, my dear
+Emily, something hath fallen out to vex you."
+
+Amelia, looking tenderly at him, answered, "Indeed, my dear, you are
+in the right; I am indeed extremely vexed." "For Heaven's sake," said
+he, "what is it?" "Nay, my love," cried she, "that you must answer
+yourself. Whatever it is which hath given you all that disturbance
+that you in vain endeavour to conceal from me, this it is which causes
+all my affliction."
+
+"You guess truly, my sweet," replied Booth; "I am indeed afflicted,
+and I will not, nay I cannot, conceal the truth from you. I have
+undone myself, Amelia."
+
+"What have you done, child?" said she, in some consternation; "pray,
+tell me."
+
+"I have lost my money at play," answered he.
+
+"Pugh!" said she, recovering herself--"what signifies the trifle you
+had in your pocket? Resolve never to play again, and let it give you
+no further vexation; I warrant you, we will contrive some method to
+repair such a loss."
+
+"Thou heavenly angel! thou comfort of my soul!" cried Booth, tenderly
+embracing her; then starting a little from her arms, and looking with
+eager fondness in her eyes, he said, "Let me survey thee; art thou
+really human, or art thou not rather an angel in a human form? O, no,"
+cried he, flying again into her arms, "thou art my dearest woman, my
+best, my beloved wife!"
+
+Amelia, having returned all his caresses with equal kindness, told him
+she had near eleven guineas in her purse, and asked how much she
+should fetch him. "I would not advise you, Billy, to carry too much in
+your pocket, for fear it should be a temptation to you to return to
+gaming, in order to retrieve your past losses. Let me beg you, on all
+accounts, never to think more, if possible, on the trifle you have
+lost, anymore than if you had never possessed it."
+
+Booth promised her faithfully he never would, and refused to take any
+of the money. He then hesitated a moment, and cried--"You say, my
+dear, you have eleven guineas; you have a diamond ring, likewise,
+which was your grandmother's--I believe that is worth twenty pounds;
+and your own and the child's watch are worth as much more."
+
+"I believe they would sell for as much," cried Amelia; "for a
+pawnbroker of Mrs. Atkinson's acquaintance offered to lend me thirty-
+five pounds upon them when you was in your last distress. But why are
+you computing their value now?"
+
+"I was only considering," answered he, "how much we could raise in any
+case of exigency."
+
+"I have computed it myself," said she; "and I believe all we have in
+the world, besides our bare necessary apparel, would produce about
+sixty pounds: and suppose, my dear," said she, "while we have that
+little sum, we should think of employing it some way or other, to
+procure some small subsistence for ourselves and our family. As for
+your dependence on the colonel's friendship, it is all vain, I am
+afraid, and fallacious. Nor do I see any hopes you have from any other
+quarter, of providing for yourself again in the army. And though the
+sum which is now in our power is very small, yet we may possibly
+contrive with it to put ourselves into some mean way of livelihood. I
+have a heart, my Billy, which is capable of undergoing anything for
+your sake; and I hope my hands are as able to work as those which have
+been more inured to it. But think, my dear, think what must be our
+wretched condition, when the very little we now have is all mouldered
+away, as it will soon be in this town."
+
+When poor Booth heard this, and reflected that the time which Amelia
+foresaw was already arrived (for that he had already lost every
+farthing they were worth), it touched him to the quick; he turned
+pale, gnashed his teeth, and cried out, "Damnation! this is too much
+to bear."
+
+Amelia was thrown into the utmost consternation by this behaviour;
+and, with great terror in her countenance, cried out, "Good Heavens!
+my dear love, what is the reason of this agony?"
+
+"Ask me no questions," cried he, "unless you would drive me to
+madness."
+
+"My Billy! my love!" said she, "what can be the meaning of this?--I
+beg you will deal openly with me, and tell me all your griefs."
+
+"Have you dealt fairly with me, Amelia?" said he.
+
+"Yes, surely," said she; "Heaven is my witness how fairly."
+
+"Nay, do not call Heaven," cried he, "to witness a falsehood. You have
+not dealt openly with me, Amelia. You have concealed secrets from me;
+secrets which I ought to have known, and which, if I had known, it had
+been better for us both."
+
+"You astonish me as much as you shock me," cried she. "What falsehood,
+what treachery have I been guilty of?"
+
+"You tell me," said he, "that I can have no reliance on James; why did
+not you tell me so before?"
+
+"I call Heaven again," said she, "to witness; nay, I appeal to
+yourself for the truth of it; I have often told you so. I have told
+you I disliked the man, notwithstanding the many favours he had done
+you. I desired you not to have too absolute a reliance upon him. I own
+I had once an extreme good opinion of him, but I changed it, and I
+acquainted you that I had so--"
+
+"But not," cries he, "with the reasons why you had changed it."
+
+"I was really afraid, my dear," said she, "of going too far. I knew
+the obligations you had to him; and if I suspected that he acted
+rather from vanity than true friendship--"
+
+"Vanity!" cries he; "take care, Amelia: you know his motive to be much
+worse than vanity--a motive which, if he had piled obligations on me
+till they had reached the skies, would tumble all down to hell. It is
+vain to conceal it longer--I know all--your confidant hath told me
+all."
+
+"Nay, then," cries she, "on my knees I entreat you to be pacified, and
+hear me out. It was, my dear, for you, my dread of your jealous
+honour, and the fatal consequences."
+
+"Is not Amelia, then," cried he, "equally jealous of my honour? Would
+she, from a weak tenderness for my person, go privately about to
+betray, to undermine the most invaluable treasure of my soul? Would
+she have me pointed at as the credulous dupe, the easy fool, the tame,
+the kind cuckold, of a rascal with whom I conversed as a friend?"
+
+"Indeed you injure me," said Amelia. "Heaven forbid I should have the
+trial! but I think I could sacrifice all I hold most dear to preserve
+your honour. I think I have shewn I can. But I will--when you are
+cool, I will--satisfy you I have done nothing you ought to blame."
+
+"I am cool then," cries he; "I will with the greatest coolness hear
+you.--But do not think, Amelia, I have the least jealousy, the least
+suspicion, the least doubt of your honour. It is your want of
+confidence in me alone which I blame."
+
+"When you are calm," cried she, "I will speak, and not before."
+
+He assured her he was calm; and then she said, "You have justified my
+conduct by your present passion, in concealing from you my suspicions;
+for they were no more, nay, it is possible they were unjust; for since
+the doctor, in betraying the secret to you, hath so far falsified my
+opinion of him, why may I not be as well deceived in my opinion of the
+colonel, since it was only formed on some particulars in his behaviour
+which I disliked? for, upon my honour, he never spoke a word to me,
+nor hath been ever guilty of any direct action, which I could blame."
+She then went on, and related most of the circumstances which she had
+mentioned to the doctor, omitting one or two of the strongest, and
+giving such a turn to the rest, that, if Booth had not had some of
+Othello's blood in him, his wife would have almost appeared a prude in
+his eyes. Even he, however, was pretty well pacified by this
+narrative, and said he was glad to find a possibility of the colonel's
+innocence; but that he greatly commended the prudence of his wife, and
+only wished she would for the future make him her only confidant.
+
+Amelia, upon that, expressed some bitterness against the doctor for
+breaking his trust; when Booth, in his excuse, related all the
+circumstances of the letter, and plainly convinced her that the secret
+had dropt by mere accident from the mouth of the doctor.
+
+Thus the husband and wife became again reconciled, and poor Amelia
+generously forgave a passion of which the sagacious reader is better
+acquainted with the real cause than was that unhappy lady.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_In which Booth receives a visit from Captain Trent_.
+
+
+When Booth grew perfectly cool, and began to reflect that he had
+broken his word to the doctor, in having made the discovery to his
+wife which we have seen in the last chapter, that thought gave him
+great uneasiness; and now, to comfort him, Captain Trent came to make
+him a visit.
+
+This was, indeed, almost the last man in the world whose company he
+wished for; for he was the only man he was ashamed to see, for a
+reason well known to gamesters; among whom, the most dishonourable of
+all things is not to pay a debt, contracted at the gaming-table, the
+next day, or the next time at least that you see the party.
+
+Booth made no doubt but that Trent was come on purpose to receive this
+debt; the latter had been therefore scarce a minute in the room before
+Booth began, in an aukward manner, to apologise; but Trent immediately
+stopt his mouth, and said, "I do not want the money, Mr. Booth, and
+you may pay it me whenever you are able; and, if you are never able, I
+assure you I will never ask you for it."
+
+This generosity raised such a tempest of gratitude in Booth (if I may
+be allowed the expression), that the tears burst from his eyes, and it
+was some time before he could find any utterance for those sentiments
+with which his mind overflowed; but, when he began to express his
+thankfulness, Trent immediately stopt him, and gave a sudden turn to
+their discourse.
+
+Mrs. Trent had been to visit Mrs. Booth on the masquerade evening,
+which visit Mrs. Booth had not yet returned. Indeed, this was only the
+second day since she had received it. Trent therefore now told his
+friend that he should take it extremely kind if he and his lady would
+waive all ceremony, and sup at their house the next evening. Booth
+hesitated a moment, but presently said, "I am pretty certain my wife
+is not engaged, and I will undertake for her. I am sure she will not
+refuse anything Mr. Trent can ask." And soon after Trent took Booth
+with him to walk in the Park.
+
+There were few greater lovers of a bottle than Trent; he soon proposed
+therefore to adjourn to the King's Arms tavern, where Booth, though
+much against his inclination, accompanied him. But Trent was very
+importunate, and Booth did not think himself at liberty to refuse such
+a request to a man from whom he had so lately received such
+obligations.
+
+When they came to the tavern, however, Booth recollected the omission
+he had been guilty of the night before. He wrote a short note
+therefore to his wife, acquainting her that he should not come home to
+supper; but comforted her with a faithful promise that he would on no
+account engage himself in gaming.
+
+The first bottle passed in ordinary conversation; but, when they had
+tapped the second, Booth, on some hints which Trent gave him, very
+fairly laid open to him his whole circumstances, and declared he
+almost despaired of mending them. "My chief relief," said he, "was in
+the interest of Colonel James; but I have given up those hopes."
+
+"And very wisely too," said Trent "I say nothing of the colonel's good
+will. Very likely he may be your sincere friend; but I do not believe
+he hath the interest he pretends to. He hath had too many favours in
+his own family to ask any more yet a while. But I am mistaken if you
+have not a much more powerful friend than the colonel; one who is both
+able and willing to serve you. I dined at his table within these two
+days, and I never heard kinder nor warmer expressions from the mouth
+of man than he made use of towards you. I make no doubt you know whom
+I mean."
+
+"Upon my honour I do not," answered Booth; "nor did I guess that I had
+such a friend in the world as you mention."
+
+"I am glad then," cries Trent, "that I have the pleasure of informing
+you of it." He then named the noble peer who hath been already so
+often mentioned in this history.
+
+Booth turned pale and started at his name. "I forgive you, my dear
+Trent," cries Booth, "for mentioning his name to me, as you are a
+stranger to what hath passed between us."
+
+"Nay, I know nothing that hath passed between you," answered Trent. "I
+am sure, if there is any quarrel between you of two days' standing,
+all is forgiven on his part."
+
+"D--n his forgiveness!" said Booth. "Perhaps I ought to blush at what
+I have forgiven."
+
+"You surprize me!" cries Trent. "Pray what can be the matter?"
+
+"Indeed, my dear Trent," cries Booth, very gravely, "he would have
+injured me in the tenderest part. I know not how to tell it you; but
+he would have dishonoured me with my wife."
+
+"Sure, you are not in earnest!" answered Trent; "but, if you are, you
+will pardon me for thinking that impossible."
+
+"Indeed," cries Booth, "I have so good an opinion of my wife as to
+believe it impossible for him to succeed; but that he should intend me
+the favour you will not, I believe, think an impossibility."
+
+"Faith! not in the least," said Trent. "Mrs. Booth is a very fine
+woman; and, if I had the honour to be her husband, I should not be
+angry with any man for liking her."
+
+"But you would be angry," said Booth, "with a man, who should make use
+of stratagems and contrivances to seduce her virtue; especially if he
+did this under the colour of entertaining the highest friendship for
+yourself."
+
+"Not at all," cries Trent. "It is human nature."
+
+"Perhaps it is," cries Booth; "but it is human nature depraved, stript
+of all its worth, and loveliness, and dignity, and degraded down to a
+level with the vilest brutes."
+
+"Look ye, Booth," cries Trent, "I would not be misunderstood. I think,
+when I am talking to you, I talk to a man of sense and to an
+inhabitant of this country, not to one who dwells in a land of saints.
+If you have really such an opinion as you express of this noble lord,
+you have the finest opportunity of making a complete fool and bubble
+of him that any man can desire, and of making your own fortune at the
+same time. I do not say that your suspicions are groundless; for, of
+all men upon earth I know, my lord is the greatest bubble to women,
+though I believe he hath had very few. And this I am confident of,
+that he hath not the least jealousy of these suspicions. Now,
+therefore, if you will act the part of a wise man, I will undertake
+that you shall make your fortune without the least injury to the
+chastity of Mrs. Booth."
+
+"I do not understand you, sir," said Booth.
+
+"Nay," cries Trent, "if you will not understand me, I have done. I
+meant only your service; and I thought I had known you better."
+
+Booth begged him to explain himself. "If you can," said he, "shew me
+any way to improve such circumstances as I have opened to you, you may
+depend on it I shall readily embrace it, and own my obligations to
+you."
+
+"That is spoken like a man," cries Trent. "Why, what is it more than
+this? Carry your suspicions in your own bosom. Let Mrs. Booth, in
+whose virtue I am sure you may be justly confident, go to the public
+places; there let her treat my lord with common civility only; I am
+sure he will bite. And thus, without suffering him to gain his
+purpose, you will gain yours. I know several who have succeeded with
+him in this manner."
+
+"I am very sorry, sir," cries Booth, "that you are acquainted with any
+such rascals. I do assure you, rather than I would act such a part, I
+would submit to the hardest sentence that fortune could pronounce
+against me."
+
+"Do as you please, sir," said Trent; "I have only ventured to advise
+you as a friend. But do you not think your nicety is a little over-
+scrupulous?"
+
+"You will excuse me, sir," said Booth; "but I think no man can be too
+scrupulous in points which concern his honour."
+
+"I know many men of very nice honour," answered Trent, "who have gone
+much farther; and no man, I am sure, had ever a better excuse for it
+than yourself. You will forgive me, Booth, since what I speak proceeds
+from my love to you; nay, indeed, by mentioning your affairs to me,
+which I am heartily sorry for, you have given me a right to speak. You
+know best what friends you have to depend upon; but, if you have no
+other pretensions than your merit, I can assure you you would fail, if
+it was possible you could have ten times more merit than you have.
+And, if you love your wife, as I am convinced you do, what must be
+your condition in seeing her want the necessaries of life?"
+
+"I know my condition is very hard," cries Booth; "but I have one
+comfort in it, which I will never part with, and that is innocence. As
+to the mere necessaries of life, however, it is pretty difficult to
+deprive us of them; this I am sure of, no one can want them long."
+
+"Upon my word, sir," cries Trent, "I did not know you had been so
+great a philosopher. But, believe me, these matters look much less
+terrible at a distance than when they are actually present. You will
+then find, I am afraid, that honour hath no more skill in cookery than
+Shakspear tells us it hath in surgery. D--n me if I don't wish his
+lordship loved my wife as well as he doth yours, I promise you I would
+trust her virtue; and, if he should get the better of it, I should
+have people of fashion enough to keep me in countenance."
+
+Their second bottle being now almost out, Booth, without making any
+answer, called for a bill. Trent pressed very much the drinking
+another bottle, but Booth absolutely refused, and presently afterwards
+they parted, not extremely well satisfied with each other. They
+appeared, indeed, one to the other, in disadvantageous lights of a
+very different kind. Trent concluded Booth to be a very silly fellow,
+and Booth began to suspect that Trent was very little better than a
+scoundrel.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_Contains a letter and other matters_.
+
+
+We will now return to Amelia; to whom, immediately upon her husband's
+departure to walk with Mr. Trent, a porter brought the following
+letter, which she immediately opened and read:
+
+"MADAM,--The quick despatch which I have given to your first commands
+will I hope assure you of the diligence with which I shall always obey
+every command that you are pleased to honour me with. I have, indeed,
+in this trifling affair, acted as if my life itself had been at stake;
+nay, I know not but it may be so; for this insignificant matter, you
+was pleased to tell me, would oblige the charming person in whose
+power is not only my happiness, but, as I am well persuaded, my life
+too. Let me reap therefore some little advantage in your eyes, as you
+have in mine, from this trifling occasion; for, if anything could add
+to the charms of which you are mistress, it would be perhaps that
+amiable zeal with which you maintain the cause of your friend. I hope,
+indeed, she will be my friend and advocate with the most lovely of her
+sex, as I think she hath reason, and as you was pleased to insinuate
+she had been. Let me beseech you, madam, let not that dear heart,
+whose tenderness is so inclined to compassionate the miseries of
+others, be hardened only against the sufferings which itself
+occasions. Let not that man alone have reason to think you cruel, who,
+of all others, would do the most to procure your kindness. How often
+have I lived over in my reflections, in my dreams, those two short
+minutes we were together! But, alas! how faint are these mimicries of
+the imagination! What would I not give to purchase the reality of such
+another blessing! This, madam, is in your power to bestow on the man
+who hath no wish, no will, no fortune, no heart, no life, but what are
+at your disposal. Grant me only the favour to be at Lady----'s
+assembly. You can have nothing to fear from indulging me with a
+moment's sight, a moment's conversation; I will ask no more. I know
+your delicacy, and had rather die than offend it. Could I have seen
+you sometimes, I believe the fear of offending you would have kept my
+love for ever buried in my own bosom; but, to be totally excluded even
+from the sight of what my soul doats on is what I cannot bear. It is
+that alone which hath extorted the fatal secret from me. Let that
+obtain your forgiveness for me. I need not sign this letter otherwise
+than with that impression of my heart which I hope it bears; and, to
+conclude it in any form, no language hath words of devotion strong
+enough to tell you with what truth, what anguish, what zeal, what
+adoration I love you."
+
+Amelia had just strength to hold out to the end, when her trembling
+grew so violent that she dropt the letter, and had probably dropt
+herself, had not Mrs. Atkinson come timely in to support her.
+
+"Good Heavens!" cries Mrs. Atkinson, "what is the matter with you,
+madam?"
+
+"I know not what is the matter," cries Amelia; "but I have received a
+letter at last from that infamous colonel."
+
+"You will take my opinion again then, I hope, madam," cries Mrs.
+Atkinson. "But don't be so affected; the letter cannot eat you or run
+away with you. Here it lies, I see; will you give me leave to read
+it?"
+
+"Read it with all my heart," cries Amelia; "and give me your advice
+how to act, for I am almost distracted."
+
+"Heydey!" says Mrs. Atkinson, "here is a piece of parchment too--what
+is that?" In truth, this parchment had dropt from the letter when
+Amelia first opened it; but her attention was so fixed by the contents
+of the letter itself that she had never read the other. Mrs. Atkinson
+had now opened the parchment first; and, after a moment's perusal, the
+fire flashed from her eyes, and the blood flushed into her cheeks, and
+she cried out, in a rapture, "It is a commission for my husband! upon
+my soul, it is a commission for my husband:" and, at the same time,
+began to jump about the room in a kind of frantic fit of joy.
+
+"What can be the meaning of all this?" cries Amelia, under the highest
+degree of astonishment.
+
+"Do not I tell you, my dear madam," cries she, "that it is a
+commission for my husband? and can you wonder at my being overjoyed at
+what I know will make him so happy? And now it is all out. The letter
+is not from the colonel, but from that noble lord of whom I have told
+you so much. But, indeed, madam, I have some pardons to ask of you.
+However, I know your goodness, and I will tell you all.
+
+"You are to know then, madam, that I had not been in the Opera-house
+six minutes before a masque came up, and, taking me by the hand, led
+me aside. I gave the masque my hand; and, seeing a lady at that time
+lay hold on Captain Booth, I took that opportunity of slipping away
+from him; for though, by the help of the squeaking voice, and by
+attempting to mimic yours, I had pretty well disguised my own, I was
+still afraid, if I had much conversation with your husband, he would
+discover me. I walked therefore away with this masque to the upper end
+of the farthest room, where we sat down in a corner together. He
+presently discovered to me that he took me for you, and I soon after
+found out who he was; indeed, so far from attempting to disguise
+himself, he spoke in his own voice and in his own person. He now began
+to make very violent love to me, but it was rather in the stile of a
+great man of the present age than of an Arcadian swain. In short, he
+laid his whole fortune at my feet, and bade me make whatever terms I
+pleased, either for myself or for others. By others, I suppose he
+meant your husband. This, however, put a thought into my head of
+turning the present occasion to advantage. I told him there were two
+kinds of persons, the fallaciousness of whose promises had become
+proverbial in the world. These were lovers, and great men. What
+reliance, then, could I have on the promise of one who united in
+himself both those characters? That I had seen a melancholy instance,
+in a very worthy woman of my acquaintance (meaning myself, madam), of
+his want of generosity. I said I knew the obligations that he had to
+this woman, and the injuries he had done her, all which I was
+convinced she forgave, for that she had said the handsomest things in
+the world of him to me. He answered that he thought he had not been
+deficient in generosity to this lady (for I explained to him whom I
+meant); but that indeed, if she had spoke well of him to me (meaning
+yourself, madam), he would not fail to reward her for such an
+obligation. I then told him she had married a very deserving man, who
+had served long in the army abroad as a private man, and who was a
+serjeant in the guards; that I knew it was so very easy for him to get
+him a commission, that I should not think he had any honour or
+goodness in the world if he neglected it. I declared this step must be
+a preliminary to any good opinion he must ever hope for of mine. I
+then professed the greatest friendship to that lady (in which I am
+convinced you will think me serious), and assured him he would give me
+one of the highest pleasures in letting me be the instrument of doing
+her such a service. He promised me in a moment to do what you see,
+madam, he hath since done. And to you I shall always think myself
+indebted for it."
+
+"I know not how you are indebted to me," cries Amelia. "Indeed, I am
+very glad of any good fortune that can attend poor Atkinson, but I
+wish it had been obtained some other way. Good Heavens! what must be
+the consequence of this? What must this lord think of me for listening
+to his mention of love? nay, for making any terms with him? for what
+must he suppose those terms mean? Indeed, Mrs. Atkinson, you carried
+it a great deal too far. No wonder he had the assurance to write to me
+in the manner he hath done. It is too plain what he conceives of me,
+and who knows what he may say to others? You may have blown up my
+reputation by your behaviour."
+
+"How is that possible?" answered Mrs. Atkinson. "Is it not in my power
+to clear up all matters? If you will but give me leave to make an
+appointment in your name I will meet him myself, and declare the whole
+secret to him."
+
+"I will consent to no such appointment," cries Amelia. "I am heartily
+sorry I ever consented to practise any deceit. I plainly see the truth
+of what Dr Harrison hath often told me, that, if one steps ever so
+little out of the ways of virtue and innocence, we know not how we may
+slide, for all the ways of vice are a slippery descent."
+
+"That sentiment," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "is much older than Dr
+Harrison. _Omne vitium in proclivi est._"
+
+"However new or old it is, I find it is true," cries Amelia--"But,
+pray, tell me all, though I tremble to hear it."
+
+"Indeed, my dear friend," said Mrs. Atkinson, "you are terrified at
+nothing--indeed, indeed, you are too great a prude."
+
+"I do not know what you mean by prudery," answered Amelia. "I shall
+never be ashamed of the strictest regard to decency, to reputation,
+and to that honour in which the dearest of all human creatures hath
+his share. But, pray, give me the letter, there is an expression in it
+which alarmed me when I read it. Pray, what doth he mean by his two
+short minutes, and by purchasing the reality of such another
+blessing?"
+
+"Indeed, I know not what he means by two minutes," cries Mrs.
+Atkinson, "unless he calls two hours so; for we were not together much
+less. And as for any blessing he had, I am a stranger to it. Sure, I
+hope you have a better opinion of me than to think I granted him the
+last favour."
+
+"I don't know what favours you granted him, madam," answered Amelia
+peevishly, "but I am sorry you granted him any in my name."
+
+"Upon my word," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "you use me unkindly, and it is
+an usage I did not expect at your hands, nor do I know that I have
+deserved it. I am sure I went to the masquerade with no other view
+than to oblige you, nor did I say or do anything there which any woman
+who is not the most confounded prude upon earth would have started at
+on a much less occasion than what induced me. Well, I declare upon my
+soul then, that, if I was a man, rather than be married to a woman who
+makes such a fuss with her virtue, I would wish my wife was without
+such a troublesome companion."
+
+"Very possibly, madam, these may be your sentiments," cries Amelia,
+"and I hope they are the sentiments of your husband."
+
+"I desire, madam," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "you would not reflect on my
+husband. He is a worthy man and as brave a man as yours; yes, madam,
+and he is now as much a captain."
+
+She spoke those words with so loud a voice, that Atkinson, who was
+accidentally going up-stairs, heard them; and, being surprized at the
+angry tone of his wife's voice, he entered the room, and, with a look
+of much astonishment, begged to know what was the matter.
+
+"The matter, my dear," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "is that I have got a
+commission for you, and your good old friend here is angry with me for
+getting it."
+
+"I have not spirits enow," cries Amelia, "to answer you as you
+deserve; and, if I had, you are below my anger."
+
+"I do not know, Mrs. Booth," answered the other, "whence this great
+superiority over me is derived; but, if your virtue gives it you, I
+would have you to know, madam, that I despise a prude as much as you
+can do a----."
+
+"Though you have several times," cries Amelia, "insulted me with that
+word, I scorn to give you any ill language in return. If you deserve
+any bad appellation, you know it, without my telling it you."
+
+Poor Atkinson, who was more frightened than he had ever been in his
+life, did all he could to procure peace. He fell upon his knees to his
+wife, and begged her to compose herself; for indeed she seemed to be
+in a most furious rage.
+
+While he was in this posture Booth, who had knocked so gently at the
+door, for fear of disturbing his wife, that he had not been heard in
+the tempest, came into the room. The moment Amelia saw him, the tears
+which had been gathering for some time, burst in a torrent from her
+eyes, which, however, she endeavoured to conceal with her
+handkerchief. The entry of Booth turned all in an instant into a
+silent picture, in which the first figure which struck the eyes of the
+captain was the serjeant on his knees to his wife.
+
+Booth immediately cried, "What's the meaning of this?" but received no
+answer. He then cast his eyes towards Amelia, and, plainly discerning
+her condition, he ran to her, and in a very tender phrase begged to
+know what was the matter. To which she answered, "Nothing, my dear,
+nothing of any consequence." He replied that he would know, and then
+turned to Atkinson, and asked the same question.
+
+Atkinson answered, "Upon my honour, sir, I know nothing of it.
+Something hath passed between madam and my wife; but what it is I know
+no more than your honour."
+
+"Your wife," said Mrs. Atkinson, "hath used me cruelly ill, Mr. Booth.
+If you must be satisfied, that is the whole matter."
+
+Booth rapt out a great oath, and cried, "It is impossible; my wife is
+not capable of using any one ill."
+
+Amelia then cast herself upon her knees to her husband, and cried,
+"For Heaven's sake do not throw yourself into a passion--some few
+words have past--perhaps I may be in the wrong."
+
+"Damnation seize me if I think so!" cries Booth. "And I wish whoever
+hath drawn these tears from your eyes may pay it with as many drops of
+their heart's blood."
+
+"You see, madam," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "you have your bully to take
+your part; so I suppose you will use your triumph."
+
+Amelia made no answer, but still kept hold of Booth, who, in a violent
+rage, cried out, "My Amelia triumph over such a wretch as thee!--What
+can lead thy insolence to such presumption! Serjeant, I desire you'll
+take that monster out of the room, or I cannot answer for myself."
+
+The serjeant was beginning to beg his wife to retire (for he perceived
+very plainly that she had, as the phrase is, taken a sip too much that
+evening) when, with a rage little short of madness, she cried out,
+"And do you tamely see me insulted in such a manner, now that you are
+a gentleman, and upon a footing with him?"
+
+"It is lucky for us all, perhaps," answered Booth, "that he is not my
+equal."
+
+"You lie, sirrah," said Mrs. Atkinson; "he is every way your equal; he
+is as good a gentleman as yourself, and as much an officer. No, I
+retract what I say; he hath not the spirit of a gentleman, nor of a
+man neither, or he would not bear to see his wife insulted."
+
+"Let me beg of you, my dear," cries the serjeant, "to go with me and
+compose yourself."
+
+"Go with thee, thou wretch!" cries she, looking with the utmost
+disdain upon him; "no, nor ever speak to thee more." At which words
+she burst out of the room, and the serjeant, without saying a word,
+followed her.
+
+A very tender and pathetic scene now passed between Booth and his
+wife, in which, when she was a little composed, she related to him the
+whole story. For, besides that it was not possible for her otherwise
+to account for the quarrel which he had seen, Booth was now possessed
+of the letter that lay on the floor.
+
+Amelia, having emptied her mind to her husband, and obtained his
+faithful promise that he would not resent the affair to my lord, was
+pretty well composed, and began to relent a little towards Mrs.
+Atkinson; but Booth was so highly incensed with her, that he declared
+he would leave her house the next morning; which they both accordingly
+did, and immediately accommodated themselves with convenient
+apartments within a few doors of their friend the doctor.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_Containing some things worthy observation._
+
+
+Notwithstanding the exchange of his lodgings, Booth did not forget to
+send an excuse to Mr. Trent, of whose conversation he had taken a full
+surfeit the preceding evening.
+
+That day in his walks Booth met with an old brother-officer, who had
+served with him at Gibraltar, and was on half-pay as well as himself.
+He had not, indeed, had the fortune of being broke with his regiment,
+as was Booth, but had gone out, as they call it, on half-pay as a
+lieutenant, a rank to which he had risen in five-and-thirty years.
+
+This honest gentleman, after some discourse with Booth, desired him to
+lend him half-a-crown, which he assured him he would faithfully pay
+the next day, when he was to receive some money for his sister. The
+sister was the widow of an officer that had been killed in the sea-
+service; and she and her brother lived together, on their joint stock,
+out of which they maintained likewise an old mother and two of the
+sister's children, the eldest of which was about nine years old. "You
+must know," said the old lieutenant, "I have been disappointed this
+morning by an old scoundrel, who wanted fifteen per cent, for
+advancing my sister's pension; but I have now got an honest fellow who
+hath promised it me to-morrow at ten per cent."
+
+"And enough too, of all conscience," cries Booth.
+
+"Why, indeed, I think so too," answered the other; "considering it is
+sure to be paid one time or other. To say the truth, it is a little
+hard the government doth not pay those pensions better; for my
+sister's hath been due almost these two years; that is my way of
+thinking."
+
+Booth answered he was ashamed to refuse him such a sum; but, "Upon my
+soul," said he, "I have not a single halfpenny in my pocket; for I am
+in a worse condition, if possible, than yourself; for I have lost all
+my money, and, what is worse, I owe Mr. Trent, whom you remember at
+Gibraltar, fifty pounds."
+
+"Remember him! yes, d--n him! I remember him very well," cries the old
+gentleman, "though he will not remember me. He is grown so great now
+that he will not speak to his old acquaintance; and yet I should be
+ashamed of myself to be great in such a manner."
+
+"What manner do you mean?" cries Booth, a little eagerly.
+
+"Why, by pimping," answered the other; "he is pimp in ordinary to my
+Lord----, who keeps his family; or how the devil he lives else I don't
+know, for his place is not worth three hundred pounds a year, and he
+and his wife spend a thousand at least. But she keeps an assembly,
+which, I believe, if you was to call a bawdy-house, you would not
+misname it. But d--n me if I had not rather be an honest man, and walk
+on foot, with holes in my shoes, as I do now, or go without a dinner,
+as I and all my family will today, than ride in a chariot and feast by
+such means. I am honest Bob Bound, and always will be; that's my way
+of thinking; and there's no man shall call me otherwise; for if he
+doth, I will knock him down for a lying rascal; that is my way of
+thinking."
+
+"And a very good way of thinking too," cries Booth. "However, you
+shall not want a dinner to-day; for if you will go home with me, I
+will lend you a crown with all my heart."
+
+"Lookee," said the old man, "if it be anywise inconvenient to you I
+will not have it; for I will never rob another man of his dinner to
+eat myself--that is my way of thinking."
+
+"Pooh!" said Booth; "never mention such a trifle twice between you and
+me. Besides, you say you can pay it me to-morrow; and I promise you
+that will be the same thing."
+
+They then walked together to Booth's lodgings, where Booth, from
+Amelia's pocket, gave his friend double the little sum he had asked.
+Upon which the old gentleman shook him heartily by the hand, and,
+repeating his intention of paying him the next day, made the best of
+his way to a butcher's, whence he carried off a leg of mutton to a
+family that had lately kept Lent without any religious merit.
+
+When he was gone Amelia asked her husband who that old gentleman was?
+Booth answered he was one of the scandals of his country; that the
+Duke of Marlborough had about thirty years before made him an ensign
+from a private man for very particular merit; and that he had not long
+since gone out of the army with a broken heart, upon having several
+boys put over his head. He then gave her an account of his family,
+which he had heard from the old gentleman in their way to his house,
+and with which we have already in a concise manner acquainted the
+reader.
+
+"Good Heavens!" cries Amelia; "what are our great men made of? are
+they in reality a distinct species from the rest of mankind? are they
+born without hearts?"
+
+"One would, indeed, sometimes," cries Booth, "be inclined to think so.
+In truth, they have no perfect idea of those common distresses of
+mankind which are far removed from their own sphere. Compassion, if
+thoroughly examined, will, I believe, appear to be the fellow-feeling
+only of men of the same rank and degree of life for one another, on
+account of the evils to which they themselves are liable. Our
+sensations are, I am afraid, very cold towards those who are at a
+great distance from us, and whose calamities can consequently never
+reach us."
+
+"I remember," cries Amelia, "a sentiment of Dr Harrison's, which he
+told me was in some Latin book; _I am a man myself, and my heart is
+interested in whatever can befal the rest of mankind_. That is the
+sentiment of a good man, and whoever thinks otherwise is a bad one."
+
+"I have often told you, my dear Emily," cries Booth, "that all men, as
+well the best as the worst, act alike from the principle of self-love.
+Where benevolence therefore is the uppermost passion, self-love
+directs you to gratify it by doing good, and by relieving the
+distresses of others; for they are then in reality your own. But where
+ambition, avarice, pride, or any other passion, governs the man and
+keeps his benevolence down, the miseries of all other men affect him
+no more than they would a stock or a stone. And thus the man and his
+statue have often the same degree of feeling or compassion."
+
+"I have often wished, my dear," cries Amelia, "to hear you converse
+with Dr Harrison on this subject; for I am sure he would convince you,
+though I can't, that there are really such things as religion and
+virtue."
+
+This was not the first hint of this kind which Amelia had given; for
+she sometimes apprehended from his discourse that he was little better
+than an atheist: a consideration which did not diminish her affection
+for him, but gave her great uneasiness. On all such occasions Booth
+immediately turned the discourse to some other subject; for, though he
+had in other points a great opinion of his wife's capacity, yet as a
+divine or a philosopher he did not hold her in a very respectable
+light, nor did he lay any great stress on her sentiments in such
+matters. He now, therefore, gave a speedy turn to the conversation,
+and began to talk of affairs below the dignity of this history.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XL
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_Containing a very polite scene._
+
+
+We will now look back to some personages who, though not the principal
+characters in this history, have yet made too considerable a figure in
+it to be abruptly dropt: and these are Colonel James and his lady.
+
+This fond couple never met till dinner the day after the masquerade,
+when they happened to be alone together in an antechamber before the
+arrival of the rest of the company.
+
+The conversation began with the colonel's saying, "I hope, madam, you
+got no cold last night at the masquerade." To which the lady answered
+by much the same kind of question.
+
+They then sat together near five minutes without opening their mouths
+to each other. At last Mrs. James said, "Pray, sir, who was that
+masque with you in the dress of a shepherdess? How could you expose
+yourself by walking with such a trollop in public; for certainly no
+woman of any figure would appear there in such a dress? You know, Mr.
+James, I never interfere with your affairs; but I would, methinks, for
+my own sake, if I was you, preserve a little decency in the face of
+the world."
+
+"Upon my word," said James, "I do not know whom you mean. A woman in
+such a dress might speak to me for aught I know. A thousand people
+speak to me at a masquerade. But, I promise you, I spoke to no woman
+acquaintance there that I know of. Indeed, I now recollect there was a
+woman in a dress of a shepherdess; and there was another aukward thing
+in a blue domino that plagued me a little, but I soon got rid of
+them."
+
+"And I suppose you do not know the lady in the blue domino neither?"
+
+"Not I, I assure you," said James. "But pray, why do you ask me these
+questions? it looks so like jealousy."
+
+"Jealousy!" cries she; "I jealous! no, Mr. James, I shall never be
+jealous, I promise you, especially of the lady in the blue domino;
+for, to my knowledge, she despises you of all human race."
+
+"I am heartily glad of it," said James; "for I never saw such a tall
+aukward monster in my life."
+
+"That is a very cruel way of telling me you knew me."
+
+"You, madam!" said James; "you was in a black domino."
+
+"It is not so unusual a thing, I believe, you yourself know, to change
+dresses. I own I did it to discover some of your tricks. I did not
+think you could have distinguished the tall aukward monster so well."
+
+"Upon my soul," said James, "if it was you I did not even suspect it;
+so you ought not to be offended at what I have said ignorantly."
+
+"Indeed, sir," cries she, "you cannot offend me by anything you can
+say to my face; no, by my soul, I despise you too much. But I wish,
+Mr. James, you would not make me the subject of your conversation
+amongst your wenches. I desire I may not be afraid of meeting them for
+fear of their insults; that I may not be told by a dirty trollop you
+make me the subject of your wit amongst them, of which, it seems, I am
+the favourite topic. Though you have married a tall aukward monster,
+Mr. James, I think she hath a right to be treated, as your wife, with
+respect at least: indeed, I shall never require any more; indeed, Mr.
+James, I never shall. I think a wife hath a title to that."
+
+"Who told you this, madam?" said James.
+
+"Your slut," said she; "your wench, your shepherdess."
+
+"By all that's sacred!" cries James, "I do not know who the
+shepherdess was."
+
+"By all that's sacred then," says she, "she told me so, and I am
+convinced she told me truth. But I do not wonder at you denying it;
+for that is equally consistent with honour as to behave in such a
+manner to a wife who is a gentlewoman. I hope you will allow me that,
+sir. Because I had not quite so great a fortune I hope you do not
+think me beneath you, or that you did me any honour in marrying me. I
+am come of as good a family as yourself, Mr. James; and if my brother
+knew how you treated me he would not bear it."
+
+"Do you threaten me with your brother, madam?" said James.
+
+"I will not be ill-treated, sir," answered she.
+
+"Nor I neither, madam," cries he; "and therefore I desire you will
+prepare to go into the country to-morrow morning."
+
+"Indeed, sir," said she, "I shall not."
+
+"By heavens! madam, but you shall," answered he: "I will have my coach
+at the door to-morrow morning by seven; and you shall either go into
+it or be carried."
+
+"I hope, sir, you are not in earnest," said she.
+
+"Indeed, madam," answered he, "but I am in earnest, and resolved; and
+into the country you go to-morrow."
+
+"But why into the country," said she, "Mr. James? Why will you be so
+barbarous to deny me the pleasures of the town?"
+
+"Because you interfere with my pleasures," cried James, "which I have
+told you long ago I would not submit to. It is enough for fond couples
+to have these scenes together. I thought we had been upon a better
+footing, and had cared too little for each other to become mutual
+plagues. I thought you had been satisfied with the full liberty of
+doing what you pleased."
+
+"So I am; I defy you to say I have ever given you any uneasiness."
+
+"How!" cries he; "have you not just now upbraided me with what you
+heard at the masquerade?"
+
+"I own," said she, "to be insulted by such a creature to my face stung
+me to the soul. I must have had no spirit to bear the insults of such
+an animal. Nay, she spoke of you with equal contempt. Whoever she is,
+I promise you Mr. Booth is her favourite. But, indeed, she is unworthy
+any one's regard, for she behaved like an arrant dragoon."
+
+"Hang her!" cries the colonel, "I know nothing of her."
+
+"Well, but, Mr. James, I am sure you will not send me into the
+country. Indeed I will not go into the country."
+
+"If you was a reasonable woman," cries James, "perhaps I should not
+desire it. And on one consideration--"
+
+"Come, name your consideration," said she.
+
+"Let me first experience your discernment," said he. "Come, Molly, let
+me try your judgment. Can you guess at any woman of your acquaintance
+that I like?"
+
+"Sure," said she, "it cannot be Mrs. Booth!"
+
+"And why not Mrs. Booth?" answered he. "Is she not the finest woman in
+the world?"
+
+"Very far from it," replied she, "in my opinion."
+
+"Pray what faults," said he, "can you find in her?"
+
+"In the first place," cries Mrs. James, "her eyes are too large; and
+she hath a look with them that I don't know how to describe; but I
+know I don't like it. Then her eyebrows are too large; therefore,
+indeed, she doth all in her power to remedy this with her pincers; for
+if it was not for those her eyebrows would be preposterous. Then her
+nose, as well proportioned as it is, has a visible scar on one side.
+Her neck, likewise, is too protuberant for the genteel size,
+especially as she laces herself; for no woman, in my opinion, can be
+genteel who is not entirely flat before. And, lastly, she is both too
+short and too tall. Well, you may laugh, Mr. James, I know what I
+mean, though I cannot well express it: I mean that she is too tall for
+a pretty woman and too short for a fine woman. There is such a thing
+as a kind of insipid medium--a kind of something that is neither one
+thing nor another. I know not how to express it more clearly; but when
+I say such a one is a pretty woman, a pretty thing, a pretty creature,
+you know very well I mean a little woman; and when I say such a one is
+a very fine woman, a very fine person of a woman, to be sure I must
+mean a tall woman. Now a woman that is between both is certainly
+neither the one nor the other."
+
+"Well, I own," said he, "you have explained yourself with great
+dexterity; but, with all these imperfections, I cannot help liking
+her."
+
+"That you need not tell me, Mr. James," answered the lady, "for that I
+knew before you desired me to invite her to your house. And
+nevertheless, did not I, like an obedient wife, comply with your
+desires? did I make any objection to the party you proposed for the
+masquerade, though I knew very well your motive? what can the best of
+wives do more? to procure you success is not in my power; and, if I
+may give you my opinion, I believe you will never succeed with her."
+
+"Is her virtue so very impregnable?" said he, with a sneer.
+
+"Her virtue," answered Mrs. James, "hath the best guard in the world,
+which is a most violent love for her husband."
+
+"All pretence and affectation," cries the colonel. "It is impossible
+she should have so little taste, or indeed so little delicacy, as to
+like such a fellow."
+
+"Nay, I do not much like him myself," said she. "He is not indeed at
+all such a sort of man as I should like; but I thought he had been
+generally allowed to be handsome."
+
+"He handsome!" cries James. "What, with a nose like the proboscis of
+an elephant, with the shoulders of a porter, and the legs of a
+chairman? The fellow hath not in the least the look of a gentleman,
+and one would rather think he had followed the plough than the camp
+all his life."
+
+"Nay, now I protest," said she, "I think you do him injustice. He is
+genteel enough in my opinion. It is true, indeed, he is not quite of
+the most delicate make; but, whatever he is, I am convinced she thinks
+him the finest man in the world."
+
+"I cannot believe it," answered he peevishly; "but will you invite her
+to dinner here to-morrow?"
+
+"With all my heart, and as often as you please," answered she. "But I
+have some favours to ask of you. First, I must hear no more of going
+out of town till I please."
+
+"Very well," cries he.
+
+"In the next place," said she, "I must have two hundred guineas within
+these two or three days."
+
+"Well, I agree to that too," answered he.
+
+"And when I do go out of town, I go to Tunbridge--I insist upon that;
+and from Tunbridge I go to Bath--positively to Bath. And I promise you
+faithfully I will do all in my power to carry Mrs. Booth with me."
+
+"On that condition," answered he, "I promise you you shall go wherever
+you please. And, to shew you, I will even prevent your wishes by my
+generosity; as soon as I receive the five thousand pounds which I am
+going to take up on one of my estates, you shall have two hundred
+more."
+
+She thanked him with a low curtesie; and he was in such good humour
+that he offered to kiss her. To this kiss she coldly turned her cheek,
+and then, flirting her fan, said, "Mr. James, there is one thing I
+forgot to mention to you--I think you intended to get a commission in
+some regiment abroad for this young man. Now if you would take my
+advice, I know this will not oblige his wife; and, besides, I am
+positive she resolves to go with him. But, if you can provide for him
+in some regiment at home, I know she will dearly love you for it, and
+when he is ordered to quarters she will be left behind; and Yorkshire
+or Scotland, I think, is as good a distance as either of the Indies."
+
+"Well, I will do what I can," answered James; "but I cannot ask
+anything yet; for I got two places of a hundred a year each for two of
+my footmen, within this fortnight."
+
+At this instant a violent knock at the door signified the arrival of
+their company, upon which both husband and wife put on their best
+looks to receive their guests; and, from their behaviour to each other
+during the rest of the day, a stranger might have concluded he had
+been in company with the fondest couple in the universe.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_Matters political._
+
+
+Before we return to Booth we will relate a scene in which Dr Harrison
+was concerned.
+
+This good man, whilst in the country, happened to be in the
+neighbourhood of a nobleman of his acquaintance, and whom he knew to
+have very considerable interest with the ministers at that time.
+
+The doctor, who was very well known to this nobleman, took this
+opportunity of paying him a visit in order to recommend poor Booth to
+his favour. Nor did he much doubt of his success, the favour he was to
+ask being a very small one, and to which he thought the service of
+Booth gave him so just a title.
+
+The doctor's name soon gained him an admission to the presence of this
+great man, who, indeed, received him with much courtesy and
+politeness; not so much, perhaps, from any particular regard to the
+sacred function, nor from any respect to the doctor's personal merit,
+as from some considerations which the reader will perhaps guess anon.
+After many ceremonials, and some previous discourse on different
+subjects, the doctor opened the business, and told the great man that
+he was come to him to solicit a favour for a young gentleman who had
+been an officer in the army and was now on half-pay. "All the favour I
+ask, my lord," said he, "is, that this gentleman may be again admitted
+_ad_ _eundem_. I am convinced your lordship will do me the justice to
+think I would not ask for a worthless person; but, indeed, the young
+man I mean hath very extraordinary merit. He was at the siege of
+Gibraltar, in which he behaved with distinguished bravery, and was
+dangerously wounded at two several times in the service of his
+country. I will add that he is at present in great necessity, and hath
+a wife and several children, for whom he hath no other means of
+providing; and, if it will recommend him farther to your lordship's
+favour, his wife, I believe, is one of the best and worthiest of all
+her sex."
+
+"As to that, my dear doctor," cries the nobleman, "I shall make no
+doubt. Indeed any service I shall do the gentleman will be upon your
+account. As to necessity, it is the plea of so many that it is
+impossible to serve them all. And with regard to the personal merit of
+these inferior officers, I believe I need not tell you that it is very
+little regarded. But if you recommend him, let the person be what he
+will, I am convinced it will be done; for I know it is in your power
+at present to ask for a greater matter than this."
+
+"I depend entirely upon your lordship," answered the doctor.
+
+"Indeed, my worthy friend," replied the lord, "I will not take a merit
+to myself which will so little belong to me. You are to depend on
+yourself. It falls out very luckily too at this time, when you have it
+in your power so greatly to oblige us."
+
+"What, my lord, is in my power?" cries the doctor.
+
+"You certainly know," answered his lordship, "how hard Colonel
+Trompington is run at your town in the election of a mayor; they tell
+me it will be a very near thing unless you join us. But we know it is
+in your power to do the business, and turn the scale. I heard your
+name mentioned the other day on that account, and I know you may have
+anything in reason if you will give us your interest."
+
+"Sure, my lord," cries the doctor, "you are not in earnest in asking
+my interest for the colonel?"
+
+"Indeed I am," answered the peer; "why should you doubt it?"
+
+"For many reasons," answered the doctor. "First, I am an old friend
+and acquaintance of Mr. Fairfield, as your lordship, I believe, very
+well knows. The little interest, therefore, that I have, you may be
+assured, will go in his favour. Indeed, I do not concern myself deeply
+in these affairs, for I do not think it becomes my cloth so to do.
+But, as far as I think it decent to interest myself, it will certainly
+be on the side of Mr. Fairfield. Indeed, I should do so if I was
+acquainted with both the gentlemen only by reputation; the one being a
+neighbouring gentleman of a very large estate, a very sober and
+sensible man, of known probity and attachment to the true interest of
+his country; the other is a mere stranger, a boy, a soldier of
+fortune, and, as far as I can discern from the little conversation I
+have had with him, of a very shallow capacity, and no education."
+
+"No education, my dear friend!" cries the nobleman. "Why, he hath been
+educated in half the courts of Europe."
+
+"Perhaps so, my lord," answered the doctor; "but I shall always be so
+great a pedant as to call a man of no learning a man of no education.
+And, from my own knowledge, I can aver that I am persuaded there is
+scarce a foot-soldier in the army who is more illiterate than the
+colonel."
+
+"Why, as to Latin and Greek, you know," replied the lord, "they are
+not much required in the army."
+
+"It may be so," said the doctor. "Then let such persons keep to their
+own profession. It is a very low civil capacity indeed for which an
+illiterate man can be qualified. And, to speak a plain truth, if your
+lordship is a friend to the colonel, you would do well to advise him
+to decline an attempt in which I am certain he hath no probability of
+success."
+
+"Well, sir," said the lord, "if you are resolved against us, I must
+deal as freely with you, and tell you plainly I cannot serve you in
+your affair. Nay, it will be the best thing I can do to hold my
+tongue; for, if I should mention his name with your recommendation
+after what you have said, he would perhaps never get provided for as
+long as he lives."
+
+"Is his own merit, then, my lord, no recommendation?" cries the
+doctor.
+
+"My dear, dear sir," cries the other, "what is the merit of a
+subaltern officer?"
+
+"Surely, my lord," cries the doctor, "it is the merit which should
+recommend him to the post of a subaltern officer. And it is a merit
+which will hereafter qualify him to serve his country in a higher
+capacity. And I do assure of this young man, that he hath not only a
+good heart but a good head too. And I have been told by those who are
+judges that he is, for his age, an excellent officer."
+
+"Very probably!" cries my lord. "And there are abundance with the same
+merit and the same qualifications who want a morsel of bread for
+themselves and their families."
+
+"It is an infamous scandal on the nation," cries the doctor; "and I am
+heartily sorry it can be said even with a colour of truth."
+
+"How can it be otherwise?" says the peer. "Do you think it is possible
+to provide for all men of merit?"
+
+"Yes, surely do I," said the doctor; "and very easily too."
+
+"How, pray?" cries the lord. "Upon my word, I shall be glad to know."
+
+"Only by not providing for those who have none. The men of merit in
+any capacity are not, I am afraid, so extremely numerous that we need
+starve any of them, unless we wickedly suffer a set of worthless
+fellows to eat their bread."
+
+"This is all mere Utopia," cries his lordship; "the chimerical system
+of Plato's commonwealth, with which we amused ourselves at the
+university; politics which are inconsistent with the state of human
+affairs."
+
+"Sure, my lord," cries the doctor, "we have read of states where such
+doctrines have been put in practice. What is your lordship's opinion
+of Rome in the earlier ages of the commonwealth, of Sparta, and even
+of Athens itself in some periods of its history?"
+
+"Indeed, doctor," cries the lord, "all these notions are obsolete and
+long since exploded. To apply maxims of government drawn from the
+Greek and Roman histories to this nation is absurd and impossible.
+But, if you will have Roman examples, fetch them from those times of
+the republic that were most like our own. Do you not know, doctor,
+that this is as corrupt a nation as ever existed under the sun? And
+would you think of governing such a people by the strict principles of
+honesty and morality?"
+
+"If it be so corrupt," said the doctor, "I think it is high time to
+amend it: or else it is easy to foresee that Roman and British liberty
+will have the same fate; for corruption in the body politic as
+naturally tends to dissolution as in the natural body."
+
+"I thank you for your simile," cries my lord; "for, in the natural
+body, I believe, you will allow there is the season of youth, the
+season of manhood, and the season of old age; and that, when the last
+of these arrives, it will be an impossible attempt by all the means of
+art to restore the body again to its youth, or to the vigour of its
+middle age. The same periods happen to every great kingdom. In its
+youth it rises by arts and arms to power and prosperity. This it
+enjoys and flourishes with a while; and then it may be said to be in
+the vigour of its age, enriched at home with all the emoluments and
+blessings of peace, and formidable abroad with all the terrors of war.
+At length this very prosperity introduces corruption, and then comes
+on its old age. Virtue and learning, art and industry, decay by
+degrees. The people sink into sloth and luxury and prostitution. It is
+enervated at home--becomes contemptible abroad; and such indeed is its
+misery and wretchedness, that it resembles a man in the last decrepit
+stage of life, who looks with unconcern at his approaching
+dissolution."
+
+"This is a melancholy picture indeed," cries the doctor; "and, if the
+latter part of it can be applied to our case, I see nothing but
+religion, which would have prevented this decrepit state of the
+constitution, should prevent a man of spirit from hanging himself out
+of the way of so wretched a contemplation."
+
+"Why so?" said the peer; "why hang myself, doctor? Would it not be
+wiser, think you, to make the best of your time, and the most you can,
+in such a nation?"
+
+"And is religion, then, to be really laid out of the question?" cries
+the doctor.
+
+"If I am to speak my own opinion, sir," answered the peer, "you know I
+shall answer in the negative. But you are too well acquainted with the
+world to be told that the conduct of politicians is not formed upon
+the principles of religion."
+
+"I am very sorry for it," cries the doctor; "but I will talk to them
+then of honour and honesty; this is a language which I hope they will
+at least pretend to understand. Now to deny a man the preferment which
+he merits, and to give it to another man who doth not merit it, is a
+manifest act of injustice, and is consequently inconsistent with both
+honour and honesty. Nor is it only an act of injustice to the man
+himself, but to the public, for whose good principally all public
+offices are, or ought to be, instituted. Now this good can never be
+completed nor obtained but by employing all persons according to their
+capacities. Wherever true merit is liable to be superseded by favour
+and partiality, and men are intrusted with offices without any regard
+to capacity or integrity, the affairs of that state will always be in
+a deplorable situation. Such, as Livy tells us, was the state of Capua
+a little before its final destruction, and the consequence your
+lordship well knows. But, my lord, there is another mischief which
+attends this kind of injustice, and that is, it hath a manifest
+tendency to destroy all virtue and all ability among the people, by
+taking away all that encouragement and incentive which should promote
+emulation and raise men to aim at excelling in any art, science, or
+profession. Nor can anything, my lord, contribute more to render a
+nation contemptible among its neighbours; for what opinion can other
+countries have of the councils, or what terror can they conceive of
+the arms, of such a people? and it was chiefly owing to the avoiding
+this error that Oliver Cromwell carried the reputation of England
+higher than it ever was at any other time. I will add only one
+argument more, and that is founded on the most narrow and selfish
+system of politics; and this is, that such a conduct is sure to create
+universal discontent and grumbling at home; for nothing can bring men
+to rest satisfied, when they see others preferred to them, but an
+opinion that they deserved that elevation; for, as one of the greatest
+men this country ever produced observes,
+
+     One worthless man that gains what he pretends
+     Disgusts a thousand unpretending friends.
+
+With what heart-burnings then must any nation see themselves obliged
+to contribute to the support of a set of men of whose incapacity to
+serve them they are well apprized, and who do their country a double
+diskindness, by being themselves employed in posts to which they are
+unequal, and by keeping others out of those employments for which they
+are qualified!"
+
+"And do you really think, doctor," cries the nobleman, "that any
+minister could support himself in this country upon such principles as
+you recommend? Do you think he would be able to baffle an opposition
+unless he should oblige his friends by conferring places often
+contrary to his own inclinations and his own opinion?"
+
+"Yes, really do I," cries the doctor. "Indeed, if a minister is
+resolved to make good his confession in the liturgy, _by leaving
+undone all those things which he ought to have done, and by doing all
+those things which he ought not to have done,_ such a minister, I
+grant, will be obliged to baffle opposition, as you are pleased to
+term it, by these arts; for, as Shakespeare somewhere says,
+
+    Things ill begun strengthen themselves by ill.
+
+But if, on the contrary, he will please to consider the true interest
+of his country, and that only in great and national points; if he will
+engage his country in neither alliances nor quarrels but where it is
+really interested; if he will raise no money but what is wanted, nor
+employ any civil or military officers but what are useful, and place
+in these employments men of the highest integrity, and of the greatest
+abilities; if he will employ some few of his hours to advance our
+trade, and some few more to regulate our domestic government; if he
+would do this, my lord, I will answer for it, he shall either have no
+opposition to baffle, or he shall baffle it by a fair appeal to his
+conduct. Such a minister may, in the language of the law, put himself
+on his country when he pleases, and he shall come off with honour and
+applause."
+
+"And do you really believe, doctor," cries the peer, "there ever was
+such a minister, or ever will be?"
+
+"Why not, my lord?" answered the doctor. "It requires no very
+extraordinary parts, nor any extraordinary degree of virtue. He need
+practise no great instances of self-denial. He shall have power, and
+honour, and riches, and, perhaps, all in a much greater degree than he
+can ever acquire by pursuing a contrary system. He shall have more of
+each and much more of safety."
+
+"Pray, doctor," said my lord," let me ask you one simple question. Do
+you really believe any man upon earth was ever a rogue out of choice?"
+
+"Really, my lord," says the doctor, "I am ashamed to answer in the
+affirmative; and yet I am afraid experience would almost justify me if
+I should. Perhaps the opinion of the world may sometimes mislead men
+to think those measures necessary which in reality are not so. Or the
+truth may be, that a man of good inclinations finds his office filled
+with such corruption by the iniquity of his predecessors, that he may
+despair of being capable of purging it; and so sits down contented, as
+Augeas did with the filth of his stables, not because he thought them
+the better, or that such filth was really necessary to a stable, but
+that he despaired of sufficient force to cleanse them."
+
+"I will ask you one question more, and I have done," said the
+nobleman. "Do you imagine that if any minister was really as good as
+you would have him, that the people in general would believe that he
+was so?"
+
+"Truly, my lord," said the doctor, "I think they may be justified in
+not believing too hastily. But I beg leave to answer your lordship's
+question by another. Doth your lordship believe that the people of
+Greenland, when they see the light of the sun and feel his warmth,
+after so long a season of cold and darkness, will really be persuaded
+that he shines upon them?"
+
+My lord smiled at the conceit; and then the doctor took an opportunity
+to renew his suit, to which his lordship answered, "He would promise
+nothing, and could give him no hopes of success; but you may be
+assured," said he, with a leering countenance, "I shall do him all the
+service in my power." A language which the doctor well understood; and
+soon after took a civil, but not a very ceremonious leave.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_The history of Mr. Trent._
+
+
+We will now return to Mr. Booth and his wife. The former had spent his
+time very uneasily ever since he had discovered what sort of man he
+was indebted to; but, lest he should forget it, Mr. Trent thought now
+proper to remind him in the following letter, which he read the next
+morning after he had put off the appointment.
+
+"SIR,--I am sorry the necessity of my affairs obliges me to mention
+that small sum which I had the honour to lend you the other night at
+play; and which I shall be much obliged to you if you will let me have
+some time either to-day or to-morrow. I am, sir, Your most obedient,
+most humble servant, GEORGE TRENT."
+
+This letter a little surprized Booth, after the genteel, and, indeed,
+as it appeared, generous behaviour of Trent. But lest it should have
+the same effect upon the reader, we will now proceed to account for
+this, as well as for some other phenomena that have appeared in this
+history, and which, perhaps, we shall be forgiven for not having
+opened more largely before.
+
+Mr. Trent then was a gentleman possibly of a good family, for it was
+not certain whence he sprung on the father's side. His mother, who was
+the only parent he ever knew or heard of, was a single gentlewoman,
+and for some time carried on the trade of a milliner in Covent-garden.
+She sent her son, at the age of eight years old, to a charity-school,
+where he remained till he was of the age of fourteen, without making
+any great proficiency in learning. Indeed it is not very probable he
+should; for the master, who, in preference to a very learned and
+proper man, was chosen by a party into this school, the salary of
+which was upwards of a hundred pounds a-year, had himself never
+travelled through the Latin Grammar, and was, in truth, a most
+consummate blockhead.
+
+At the age of fifteen Mr. Trent was put clerk to an attorney, where he
+remained a very short time before he took leave of his master; rather,
+indeed, departed without taking leave; and, having broke open his
+mother's escritore, and carried off with him all the valuable effects
+he there found, to the amount of about fifty pounds, he marched off to
+sea, and went on board a merchantman, whence he was afterwards pressed
+into a man of war.
+
+In this service he continued above three years; during which time he
+behaved so ill in his moral character that he twice underwent a very
+severe discipline for thefts in which he was detected; but at the same
+time, he behaved so well as a sailor in an engagement with some
+pirates, that he wiped off all former scores, and greatly recommended
+himself to his captain.
+
+At his return home, he being then about twenty years of age, he found
+that the attorney had in his absence married his mother, had buried
+her, and secured all her effects, to the amount, as he was informed,
+of about fifteen hundred pound. Trent applied to his stepfather, but
+to no purpose; the attorney utterly disowned him, nor would he suffer
+him to come a second time within his doors.
+
+It happened that the attorney had, by a former wife, an only daughter,
+a great favourite, who was about the same age with Trent himself, and
+had, during his residence at her father's house, taken a very great
+liking to this young fellow, who was extremely handsome and perfectly
+well made. This her liking was not, during his absence, so far
+extinguished but that it immediately revived on his return. Of this
+she took care to give Mr. Trent proper intimation; for she was not one
+of those backward and delicate ladies who can die rather than make the
+first overture. Trent was overjoyed at this, and with reason, for she
+was a very lovely girl in her person, the only child of a rich father;
+and the prospect of so complete a revenge on the attorney charmed him
+above all the rest. To be as short in the matter as the parties, a
+marriage was soon consummated between them.
+
+The attorney at first raged and was implacable; but at last fondness
+for his daughter so far overcame resentment that he advanced a sum of
+money to buy his son-in-law (for now he acknowledged him as such) an
+ensign's commission in a marching regiment then ordered to Gibraltar;
+at which place the attorney heartily hoped that Trent might be knocked
+on the head; for in that case he thought he might marry his daughter
+more agreeably to his own ambition and to her advantage.
+
+The regiment into which Trent purchased was the same with that in
+which Booth likewise served; the one being an ensign, and the other a
+lieutenant, in the two additional companies.
+
+Trent had no blemish in his military capacity. Though he had had but
+an indifferent education, he was naturally sensible and genteel, and
+Nature, as we have said, had given him a very agreeable person. He was
+likewise a very bold fellow, and, as he really behaved himself every
+way well enough while he was at Gibraltar, there was some degree of
+intimacy between him and Booth.
+
+When the siege was over, and the additional companies were again
+reduced, Trent returned to his wife, who received him with great joy
+and affection. Soon after this an accident happened which proved the
+utter ruin of his father-in-law, and ended in breaking his heart. This
+was nothing but making a mistake pretty common at this day, of writing
+another man's name to a deed instead of his own. In truth this matter
+was no less than what the law calls forgery, and was just then made
+capital by an act of parliament. From this offence, indeed, the
+attorney was acquitted, by not admitting the proof of the party, who
+was to avoid his own deed by his evidence, and therefore no witness,
+according to those excellent rules called the law of evidence; a law
+very excellently calculated for the preservation of the lives of his
+majesty's roguish subjects, and most notably used for that purpose.
+
+But though by common law the attorney was honourably acquitted, yet,
+as common sense manifested to every one that he was guilty, he
+unhappily lost his reputation, and of consequence his business; the
+chagrin of which latter soon put an end to his life.
+
+This prosecution had been attended with a very great expence; for,
+besides the ordinary costs of avoiding the gallows by the help of the
+law, there was a very high article, of no less than a thousand pounds,
+paid down to remove out of the way a witness against whom there was no
+legal exception. The poor gentleman had besides suffered some losses
+in business; so that, to the surprize of all his acquaintance, when
+his debts were paid there remained no more than a small estate of
+fourscore pounds a-year, which he settled upon his daughter, far out
+of the reach of her husband, and about two hundred pounds in money.
+
+The old gentleman had not long been in his grave before Trent set
+himself to consider seriously of the state of his affairs. He had
+lately begun to look on his wife with a much less degree of liking and
+desire than formerly; for he was one of those who think too much of
+one thing is good for nothing. Indeed, he had indulged these
+speculations so far, that I believe his wife, though one of the
+prettiest women in town, was the last subject that he would have chose
+for any amorous dalliance.
+
+Many other persons, however, greatly differed from him in his opinion.
+Amongst the rest was the illustrious peer of amorous memory. This
+noble peer, having therefore got a view of Mrs. Trent one day in the
+street, did, by means of an emissary then with him, make himself
+acquainted with her lodging, to which he immediately laid siege in
+form, setting himself down in a lodging directly opposite to her, from
+whence the battery of ogles began to play the very next morning.
+
+This siege had not continued long before the governor of the garrison
+became sufficiently apprized of all the works which were carrying on,
+and, having well reconnoitered the enemy, and discovered who he was,
+notwithstanding a false name and some disguise of his person, he
+called a council of war within his own breast. In fact, to drop all
+allegory, he began to consider whether his wife was not really a more
+valuable possession than he had lately thought her. In short, as he
+had been disappointed in her fortune, he now conceived some hopes of
+turning her beauty itself into a fortune.
+
+Without communicating these views to her, he soon scraped an
+acquaintance with his opposite neighbour by the name which he there
+usurped, and counterfeited an entire ignorance of his real name and
+title. On this occasion Trent had his disguise likewise, for he
+affected the utmost simplicity; of which affectation, as he was a very
+artful fellow, he was extremely capable.
+
+The peer fell plumb into this snare; and when, by the simplicity, as
+he imagined, of the husband, he became acquainted with the wife, he
+was so extravagantly charmed with her person, that he resolved,
+whatever was the cost or the consequence, he would possess her.
+
+His lordship, however, preserved some caution in his management of
+this affair; more, perhaps, than was necessary. As for the husband,
+none was requisite, for he knew all he could; and, with regard to the
+wife herself, as she had for some time perceived the decrease of her
+husband's affection (for few women are, I believe, to be imposed upon
+in that matter), she was not displeased to find the return of all that
+complaisance and endearment, of those looks and languishments, from
+another agreeable person, which she had formerly received from Trent,
+and which she now found she should receive from him no longer.
+
+My lord, therefore, having been indulged with as much opportunity as
+he could wish from Trent, and having received rather more
+encouragement than he could well have hoped from the lady, began to
+prepare all matters for a storm, when luckily, Mr. Trent declaring he
+must go out of town for two days, he fixed on the first day of his
+departure as the time of carrying his design into execution.
+
+And now, after some debate with himself in what manner he should
+approach his love, he at last determined to do it in his own person;
+for he conceived, and perhaps very rightly, that the lady, like
+Semele, was not void of ambition, and would have preferred Jupiter in
+all his glory to the same deity in the disguise of an humble shepherd.
+He dressed himself, therefore, in the richest embroidery of which he
+was master, and appeared before his mistress arrayed in all the
+brightness of peerage; a sight whose charms she had not the power to
+resist, and the consequences are only to be imagined. In short, the
+same scene which Jupiter acted with his above-mentioned mistress of
+old was more than beginning, when Trent burst from the closet into
+which he had conveyed himself, and unkindly interrupted the action.
+
+His lordship presently run to his sword; but Trent, with great
+calmness, answered, "That, as it was very well known he durst fight,
+he should not draw his sword on this occasion; for sure," says he, "my
+lord, it would be the highest imprudence in me to kill a man who is
+now become so considerably my debtor." At which words he fetched a
+person from the closet, who had been confined with him, telling him he
+had done his business, and might now, if he pleased, retire.
+
+It would be tedious here to amuse the reader with all that passed on
+the present occasion; the rage and confusion of the wife, or the
+perplexity in which my lord was involved. We will omit therefore all
+such matters, and proceed directly to business, as Trent and his
+lordship did soon after. And in the conclusion my lord stipulated to
+pay a good round sum, and to provide Mr. Trent with a good place on
+the first opportunity.
+
+On the side of Mr. Trent were stipulated absolute remission of all
+past, and full indulgence for the time to come.
+
+Trent now immediately took a house at the polite end of the town,
+furnished it elegantly, and set up his equipage, rigged out both
+himself and his wife with very handsome cloaths, frequented all public
+places where he could get admission, pushed himself into acquaintance,
+and his wife soon afterwards began to keep an assembly, or, in the
+fashionable phrase, to be at home once a-week; when, by my lord's
+assistance, she was presently visited by most men of the first rank,
+and by all such women of fashion as are not very nice in their
+company.
+
+My lord's amour with this lady lasted not long; for, as we have before
+observed, he was the most inconstant of all human race. Mrs. Trent's
+passion was not however of that kind which leads to any very deep
+resentment of such fickleness. Her passion, indeed, was principally
+founded upon interest; so that foundation served to support another
+superstructure; and she was easily prevailed upon, as well as her
+husband, to be useful to my lord in a capacity which, though very
+often exerted in the polite world, hath not as yet, to my great
+surprize, acquired any polite name, or, indeed, any which is not too
+coarse to be admitted in this history.
+
+After this preface, which we thought necessary to account for a
+character of which some of my country and collegiate readers might
+possibly doubt the existence, I shall proceed to what more immediately
+regards Mrs. Booth. The reader may be pleased to remember that Mr.
+Trent was present at the assembly to which Booth and his wife were
+carried by Mrs. James, and where Amelia was met by the noble peer.
+
+His lordship, seeing there that Booth and Trent were old acquaintance,
+failed not, to use the language of sportsmen, to put Trent upon the
+scent of Amelia. For this purpose that gentleman visited Booth the
+very next day, and had pursued him close ever since. By his means,
+therefore, my lord learned that Amelia was to be at the masquerade, to
+which place she was dogged by Trent in a sailor's jacket, who, meeting
+my lord, according to agreement, at the entrance of the opera-house,
+like the four-legged gentleman of the same vocation, made a dead
+point, as it is called, at the game.
+
+My lord was so satisfied and delighted with his conversation at the
+masquerade with the supposed Amelia, and the encouragement which in
+reality she had given him, that, when he saw Trent the next morning,
+he embraced him with great fondness, gave him a bank note of a hundred
+pound, and promised him both the Indies on his success, of which he
+began now to have no manner of doubt.
+
+The affair that happened at the gaming-table was likewise a scheme of
+Trent's, on a hint given by my lord to him to endeavour to lead Booth
+into some scrape or distress; his lordship promising to pay whatever
+expense Trent might be led into by such means. Upon his lordship's
+credit, therefore, the money lent to Booth was really advanced. And
+hence arose all that seeming generosity and indifference as to the
+payment; Trent being satisfied with the obligation conferred on Booth,
+by means of which he hoped to effect his purpose.
+
+But now the scene was totally changed; for Mrs. Atkinson, the morning
+after the quarrel, beginning seriously to recollect that she had
+carried the matter rather too far, and might really injure Amelia's
+reputation, a thought to which the warm pursuit of her own interest
+had a good deal blinded her at the time, resolved to visit my lord
+himself, and to let him into the whole story; for, as she had
+succeeded already in her favourite point, she thought she had no
+reason to fear any consequence of the discovery. This resolution she
+immediately executed.
+
+Trent came to attend his lordship, just after Mrs. Atkinson had left
+him. He found the peer in a very ill humour, and brought no news to
+comfort or recruit his spirits; for he had himself just received a
+billet from Booth, with an excuse for himself and his wife from
+accepting the invitation at Trent's house that evening, where matters
+had been previously concerted for their entertainment, and when his
+lordship was by accident to drop into the room where Amelia was, while
+Booth was to be engaged at play in another.
+
+And now after much debate, and after Trent had acquainted my lord with
+the wretched situation of Booth's circumstances, it was resolved that
+Trent should immediately demand his money of Booth, and upon his not
+paying it, for they both concluded it impossible he should pay it, to
+put the note which Trent had for the money in suit against him by the
+genteel means of paying it away to a nominal third person; and this
+they both conceived must end immediately in the ruin of Booth, and,
+consequently, in the conquest of Amelia.
+
+In this project, and with this hope, both my lord and his setter, or
+(if the sportsmen please) setting-dog, both greatly exulted; and it
+was next morning executed, as we have already seen.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_Containing some distress._
+
+
+Trent's letter drove Booth almost to madness. To be indebted to such a
+fellow at any rate had stuck much in his stomach, and had given him
+very great uneasiness; but to answer this demand in any other manner
+than by paying the money was absolutely what he could not bear. Again,
+to pay this money, he very plainly saw there was but one way, and this
+was, by stripping his wife, not only of every farthing, but almost of
+every rag she had in the world; a thought so dreadful that it chilled
+his very soul with horror: and yet pride, at last, seemed to represent
+this as the lesser evil of the two.
+
+But how to do this was still a question. It was not sure, at least he
+feared it was not, that Amelia herself would readily consent to this;
+and so far from persuading her to such a measure, he could not bear
+even to propose it. At length his determination was to acquaint his
+wife with the whole affair, and to ask her consent, by way of asking
+her advice; for he was well assured she could find no other means of
+extricating him out of his dilemma. This he accordingly did,
+representing the affair as bad as he could; though, indeed, it was
+impossible for him to aggravate the real truth.
+
+Amelia heard him patiently, without once interrupting him. When he had
+finished, she remained silent some time: indeed, the shock she
+received from this story almost deprived her of the power of speaking.
+At last she answered, "Well, my dear, you ask my advice; I certainly
+can give you no other than that the money must be paid."
+
+"But how must it be paid?" cries he. "O, heavens! thou sweetest
+creature! what, not once upbraid me for bringing this ruin on thee?"
+
+"Upbraid you, my dear!" says she; "would to heaven I could prevent
+your upbraiding yourself. But do not despair. I will endeavour by some
+means or other to get you the money."
+
+"Alas! my dear love," cries Booth, "I know the only way by which you
+can raise it. How can I consent to that? do you forget the fears you
+so lately expressed of what would be our wretched condition when our
+little all was mouldered away? O my Amelia! they cut my very heart-
+strings when you spoke then; for I had then lost this little all.
+Indeed, I assure you, I have not played since, nor ever will more."
+
+"Keep that resolution," said she, "my dear, and I hope we shall yet
+recover the past."--At which words, casting her eyes on the children,
+the tears burst from her eyes, and she cried--"Heaven will, I hope,
+provide for us."
+
+A pathetic scene now ensued between the husband and wife, which would
+not, perhaps, please many readers to see drawn at too full a length.
+It is sufficient to say that this excellent woman not only used her
+utmost endeavours to stifle and conceal her own concern, but said and
+did everything in her power to allay that of her husband.
+
+Booth was, at this time, to meet a person whom we have formerly
+mentioned in the course of our history. This gentleman had a place in
+the War-office, and pretended to be a man of great interest and
+consequence; by which means he did not only receive great respect and
+court from the inferiour officers, but actually bubbled several of
+their money, by undertaking to do them services which, in reality,
+were not within his power. In truth, I have known few great men who
+have not been beset with one or more such fellows as these, through
+whom the inferior part of mankind are obliged to make their court to
+the great men themselves; by which means, I believe, principally,
+persons of real merit have often been deterred from the attempt; for
+these subaltern coxcombs ever assume an equal state with their
+masters, and look for an equal degree of respect to be paid to them;
+to which men of spirit, who are in every light their betters, are not
+easily brought to submit. These fellows, indeed, themselves have a
+jealous eye towards all great abilities, and are sure, to the utmost
+of their power, to keep all who are so endowed from the presence of
+their masters. They use their masters as bad ministers have sometimes
+used a prince--they keep all men of merit from his ears, and daily
+sacrifice his true honour and interest to their own profit and their
+own vanity.
+
+As soon as Booth was gone to his appointment with this man, Amelia
+immediately betook herself to her business with the highest
+resolution. She packed up, not only her own little trinkets, and those
+of the children, but the greatest part of her own poor cloathes (for
+she was but barely provided), and then drove in a hackney-coach to the
+same pawnbroker's who had before been recommended to her by Mrs.
+Atkinson, who advanced her the money she desired.
+
+Being now provided with her sum, she returned well pleased home, and
+her husband coming in soon after, she with much chearfulness delivered
+him all the money.
+
+Booth was so overjoyed with the prospect of discharging his debt to
+Trent, that he did not perfectly reflect on the distress to which his
+family was now reduced. The good-humour which appeared in the
+countenance of Amelia was, perhaps, another help to stifle those
+reflexions; but above all, were the assurances he had received from
+the great man, whom he had met at a coffee-house, and who had promised
+to do him all the service in his power; which several half-pay
+subaltern officers assured him was very considerable.
+
+With this comfortable news he acquainted his wife, who either was, or
+seemed to be, extremely well pleased with it. And now he set out with
+the money in his pocket to pay his friend Trent, who unluckily for him
+happened not to be at home.
+
+On his return home he met his old friend the lieutenant, who
+thankfully paid him his crown, and insisted on his going with him and
+taking part of a bottle. This invitation was so eager and pressing,
+that poor Booth, who could not resist much importunity, complied.
+
+While they were over this bottle Booth acquainted his friend with the
+promises he had received that afternoon at the coffee-house, with
+which the old gentleman was very well pleased: "For I have heard,"
+says he, "that gentleman hath very powerful interest;" but he informed
+him likewise that he had heard that the great man must be touched, for
+that he never did anything without touching. Of this, indeed, the
+great man himself had given some oblique hints, by saying, with great
+sagacity and slyness, that he knew where fifty pound might be
+deposited to much advantage.
+
+Booth answered that he would very readily advance a small sum if he
+had it in his power, but that at present it was not so, for that he
+had no more in the world than the sum of fifty pounds, which he owed
+Trent, and which he intended to pay him the next morning.
+
+"It is very right, undoubtedly, to pay your debts," says the old
+gentleman;" but sure, on such an occasion, any man but the rankest
+usurer would be contented to stay a little while for his money; and it
+will be only a little while I am convinced; for, if you deposit this
+sum in the great man's hands, I make no doubt but you will succeed
+immediately in getting your commission; and then I will help you to a
+method of taking up such a sum as this." The old gentleman persisted
+in this advice, and backed it with every argument he could invent,
+declaring, as was indeed true, that he gave the same advice which he
+would pursue was the case his own.
+
+Booth long rejected the opinion of his friend, till, as they had not
+argued with dry lips, he became heated with wine, and then at last the
+old gentleman succeeded. Indeed, such was his love, either for Booth
+or for his own opinion, and perhaps for both, that he omitted nothing
+in his power. He even endeavoured to palliate the character of Trent,
+and unsaid half what he had before said of that gentleman. In the end,
+he undertook to make Trent easy, and to go to him the very next
+morning for that purpose.
+
+Poor Booth at last yielded, though with the utmost difficulty. Indeed,
+had he known quite as much of Trent as the reader doth, no motive
+whatsoever would have prevailed on him to have taken the old
+gentleman's advice.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_Containing more wormwood and other ingredients._
+
+
+In the morning Booth communicated the matter to Amelia, who told him
+she would not presume to advise him in an affair of which he was so
+much the better judge.
+
+While Booth remained in a doubtful state what conduct to pursue Bound
+came to make him a visit, and informed him that he had been at Trent's
+house, but found him not at home, adding that he would pay him a
+second visit that very day, and would not rest till he found him.
+
+Booth was ashamed to confess his wavering resolution in an affair in
+which he had been so troublesome to his friend; he therefore dressed
+himself immediately, and together they both went to wait on the little
+great man, to whom Booth now hoped to pay his court in the most
+effectual manner.
+
+Bound had been longer acquainted with the modern methods of business
+than Booth; he advised his friend, therefore, to begin with tipping
+(as it is called) the great man's servant. He did so, and by that
+means got speedy access to the master.
+
+The great man received the money, not as a gudgeon doth a bait, but as
+a pike receives a poor gudgeon into his maw. To say the truth, such
+fellows as these may well be likened to that voracious fish, who
+fattens himself by devouring all the little inhabitants of the river.
+As soon as the great man had pocketed the cash, he shook Booth by the
+hand, and told him he would be sure to slip no opportunity of serving
+him, and would send him word as soon as any offered.
+
+Here I shall stop one moment, and so, perhaps, will my good-natured
+reader; for surely it must be a hard heart which is not affected with
+reflecting on the manner in which this poor little sum was raised, and
+on the manner in which it was bestowed. A worthy family, the wife and
+children of a man who had lost his blood abroad in the service of his
+country, parting with their little all, and exposed to cold and
+hunger, to pamper such a fellow as this!
+
+And if any such reader as I mention should happen to be in reality a
+great man, and in power, perhaps the horrour of this picture may
+induce him to put a final end to this abominable practice of touching,
+as it is called; by which, indeed, a set of leeches are permitted to
+suck the blood of the brave and the indigent, of the widow and the
+orphan.
+
+Booth now returned home, where he found his wife with Mrs. James.
+Amelia had, before the arrival of her husband, absolutely refused Mrs.
+James's invitation to dinner the next day; but when Booth came in the
+lady renewed her application, and that in so pressing a manner, that
+Booth seconded her; for, though he had enough of jealousy in his
+temper, yet such was his friendship to the colonel, and such his
+gratitude to the obligations which he had received from him, that his
+own unwillingness to believe anything of him, co-operating with
+Amelia's endeavours to put everything in the fairest light, had
+brought him to acquit his friend of any ill design. To this, perhaps,
+the late affair concerning my lord had moreover contributed; for it
+seems to me that the same passion cannot much energize on two
+different objects at one and the same time: an observation which, I
+believe, will hold as true with regard to the cruel passions of
+jealousy and anger as to the gentle passion of love, in which one
+great and mighty object is sure to engage the whole passion.
+
+When Booth grew importunate, Amelia answered, "My dear, I should not
+refuse you whatever was in my power; but this is absolutely out of my
+power; for since I must declare the truth, I cannot dress myself."
+
+"Why so?" said Mrs. James." I am sure you are in good health."
+
+"Is there no other impediment to dressing but want of health, madam?"
+answered Amelia.
+
+"Upon my word, none that I know of," replied Mrs. James.
+
+"What do you think of want of cloathes, madam?" said Amelia.
+
+"Ridiculous!" cries Mrs. James. "What need have you to dress yourself
+out? You will see nobody but our own family, and I promise you I don't
+expect it. A plain night-gown will do very well."
+
+"But if I must be plain with you, madam," said Amelia, "I have no
+other cloathes but what I have now on my back. I have not even a clean
+shift in the world; for you must know, my dear," said she to Booth,
+"that little Betty is walked off this morning, and hath carried all my
+linen with her."
+
+"How, my dear?" cries Booth; "little Betty robbed you?"
+
+"It is even so," answered Amelia. Indeed, she spoke truth; for little
+Betty, having perceived the evening before that her mistress was
+moving her goods, was willing to lend all the assistance in her power,
+and had accordingly moved off early that morning, taking with her
+whatever she could lay her hands on.
+
+Booth expressed himself with some passion on the occasion, and swore
+he would make an example of the girl. "If the little slut be above
+ground," cried he, "I will find her out, and bring her to justice."
+
+"I am really sorry for this accident," said Mrs. James, "and (though I
+know not how to mention it) I beg you'll give me leave to offer you
+any linen of mine till you can make new of your own."
+
+Amelia thanked Mrs. James, but declined the favour, saying, she should
+do well enough at home; and that, as she had no servant now to take
+care of her children, she could not, nor would not, leave them on any
+account.
+
+"Then bring master and miss with you," said Mrs. James. "You shall
+positively dine with us tomorrow."
+
+"I beg, madam, you will mention it no more," said Amelia; "for,
+besides the substantial reasons I have already given, I have some
+things on my mind at present which make me unfit for company; and I am
+resolved nothing shall prevail on me to stir from home." Mrs. James
+had carried her invitation already to the very utmost limits of good
+breeding, if not beyond them. She desisted therefore from going any
+further, and, after some short stay longer, took her leave, with many
+expressions of concern, which, however, great as it was, left her
+heart and her mouth together before she was out of the house.
+
+Booth now declared that he would go in pursuit of little Betty,
+against whom he vowed so much vengeance, that Amelia endeavoured to
+moderate his anger by representing to him the girl's youth, and that
+this was the first fault she had ever been guilty of. "Indeed," says
+she, "I should be very glad to have my things again, and I would have
+the girl too punished in some degree, which might possibly be for her
+own good; but I tremble to think of taking away her life;" for Booth
+in his rage had sworn he would hang her.
+
+"I know the tenderness of your heart, my dear," said Booth, "and I
+love you for it; but I must beg leave to dissent from your opinion. I
+do not think the girl in any light an object of mercy. She is not only
+guilty of dishonesty but of cruelty; for she must know our situation
+and the very little we had left. She is besides guilty of ingratitude
+to you, who have treated her with so much kindness, that you have
+rather acted the part of a mother than of a mistress. And, so far from
+thinking her youth an excuse, I think it rather an aggravation. It is
+true, indeed, there are faults which the youth of the party very
+strongly recommends to our pardon. Such are all those which proceed
+from carelessness and want of thought; but crimes of this black dye,
+which are committed with deliberation, and imply a bad mind, deserve a
+more severe punishment in a young person than in one of riper years;
+for what must the mind be in old age which hath acquired such a degree
+of perfection in villany so very early? Such persons as these it is
+really a charity to the public to put out of the society; and, indeed,
+a religious man would put them out of the world for the sake of
+themselves; for whoever understands anything of human nature must know
+that such people, the longer they live, the more they will accumulate
+vice and wickedness."
+
+"Well, my dear," cries Amelia, "I cannot argue with you on these
+subjects. I shall always submit to your superior judgment, and I know
+you too well to think that you will ever do anything cruel."
+
+Booth then left Amelia to take care of her children, and went in
+pursuit of the thief.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_A scene of the tragic kind._
+
+
+He had not been long gone before a thundering knock was heard at the
+door of the house where Amelia lodged, and presently after a figure
+all pale, ghastly, and almost breathless, rushed into the room where
+she then was with her children.
+
+This figure Amelia soon recognised to be Mrs. Atkinson, though indeed
+she was so disguised that at her first entrance Amelia scarce knew
+her. Her eyes were sunk in her head, her hair dishevelled, and not
+only her dress but every feature in her face was in the utmost
+disorder.
+
+Amelia was greatly shocked at this sight, and the little girl was much
+frightened; as for the boy, he immediately knew her, and, running to
+Amelia, he cried, "La! mamma, what is the matter with poor Mrs.
+Atkinson?"
+
+As soon as Mrs. Atkinson recovered her breath she cried out, "O, Mrs.
+Booth! I am the most miserable of women--I have lost the best of
+husbands."
+
+Amelia, looking at her with all the tenderness imaginable, forgetting,
+I believe, that there had ever been any quarrel between them, said--
+"Good Heavens, madam, what's the matter?"
+
+"O, Mrs. Booth!" answered she, "I fear I have lost my husband: the
+doctor says there is but little hope of his life. O, madam! however I
+have been in the wrong, I am sure you will forgive me and pity me. I
+am sure I am severely punished; for to that cursed affair I owe all my
+misery."
+
+"Indeed, madam," cries Amelia, "I am extremely concerned for your
+misfortune. But pray tell me, hath anything happened to the serjeant?"
+
+"O, madam!" cries she, "I have the greatest reason to fear I shall
+lose him. The doctor hath almost given him over--he says he hath
+scarce any hopes. O, madam! that evening that the fatal quarrel
+happened between us my dear captain took it so to heart that he sat up
+all night and drank a whole bottle of brandy. Indeed, he said he
+wished to kill himself; for nothing could have hurt him so much in the
+world, he said, as to have any quarrel between you and me. His
+concern, and what he drank together, threw him into a high fever. So
+that, when I came home from my lord's--(for indeed, madam, I have
+been, and set all to rights--your reputation is now in no danger)--
+when I came home, I say, I found the poor man in a raving delirious
+fit, and in that he hath continued ever since till about an hour ago,
+when he came perfectly to his senses; but now he says he is sure he
+shall die, and begs for Heaven's sake to see you first. Would you,
+madam, would you have the goodness to grant my poor captain's desire?
+consider he is a dying man, and neither he nor I shall ever ask you a
+second favour. He says he hath something to say to you that he can
+mention to no other person, and that he cannot die in peace unless he
+sees you."
+
+"Upon my word, madam," cries Amelia, "I am extremely concerned at what
+you tell me. I knew the poor serjeant from his infancy, and always had
+an affection for him, as I think him to be one of the best-natured and
+honestest creatures upon earth. I am sure if I could do him any
+service--but of what use can my going be?"
+
+"Of the highest in the world," answered Mrs. Atkinson. "If you knew
+how earnestly he entreated it, how his poor breaking heart begged to
+see you, you would not refuse."
+
+"Nay, I do not absolutely refuse," cries Amelia. "Something to say to
+me of consequence, and that he could not die in peace unless he said
+it! did he say that, Mrs. Atkinson?"
+
+"Upon my honour he did," answered she, "and much more than I have
+related."
+
+"Well, I will go with you," cries Amelia. "I cannot guess what this
+should be; but I will go."
+
+Mrs. Atkinson then poured out a thousand blessings and thanksgivings;
+and, taking hold of Amelia's hand, and eagerly kissing it, cried out,
+"How could that fury passion drive me to quarrel with such a
+creature?"
+
+Amelia told her she had forgiven and forgot it; and then, calling up
+the mistress of the house, and committing to her the care of the
+children, she cloaked herself up as well as she could and set out with
+Mrs. Atkinson.
+
+When they arrived at the house, Mrs. Atkinson said she would go first
+and give the captain some notice; for that, if Amelia entered the room
+unexpectedly, the surprize might have an ill effect. She left
+therefore Amelia in the parlour, and proceeded directly upstairs.
+
+Poor Atkinson, weak and bad as was his condition, no sooner heard that
+Amelia was come than he discovered great joy in his countenance, and
+presently afterwards she was introduced to him.
+
+Atkinson exerted his utmost strength to thank her for this goodness to
+a dying man (for so he called himself). He said he should not have
+presumed to give her this trouble, had he not had something which he
+thought of consequence to say to her, and which he could not mention
+to any other person. He then desired his wife to give him a little
+box, of which he always kept the key himself, and afterwards begged
+her to leave the room for a few minutes; at which neither she nor
+Amelia expressed any dissatisfaction.
+
+When he was alone with Amelia, he spoke as follows: "This, madam, is
+the last time my eyes will ever behold what--do pardon me, madam, I
+will never offend you more." Here he sunk down in his bed, and the
+tears gushed from his eyes.
+
+"Why should you fear to offend me, Joe?" said Amelia. "I am sure you
+never did anything willingly to offend me."
+
+"No, madam," answered he, "I would die a thousand times before I would
+have ventured it in the smallest matter. But--I cannot speak--and yet
+I must. You cannot pardon me, and yet, perhaps, as I am a dying man,
+and never shall see you more--indeed, if I was to live after this
+discovery, I should never dare to look you in the face again; and yet,
+madam, to think I shall never see you more is worse than ten thousand
+deaths."
+
+"Indeed, Mr. Atkinson," cries Amelia, blushing, and looking down on
+the floor, "I must not hear you talk in this manner. If you have
+anything to say, tell it me, and do not be afraid of my anger; for I
+think I may promise to forgive whatever it was possible you should
+do."
+
+"Here then, madam," said he, "is your picture; I stole it when I was
+eighteen years of age, and have kept it ever since. It is set in gold,
+with three little diamonds; and yet I can truly say it was not the
+gold nor the diamonds which I stole--it was the face, which, if I had
+been the emperor of the world--"
+
+"I must not hear any more of this," said she. "Comfort yourself, Joe,
+and think no more of this matter. Be assured, I freely and heartily
+forgive you--But pray compose yourself; come, let me call in your
+wife."
+
+"First, madam, let me beg one favour," cried he: "consider it is the
+last, and then I shall die in peace--let me kiss that hand before I
+die."
+
+"Well, nay," says she, "I don't know what I am doing--well--there."
+She then carelessly gave him her hand, which he put gently to his
+lips, and then presently let it drop, and fell back in the bed.
+
+Amelia now summoned Mrs. Atkinson, who was indeed no further off than
+just without the door. She then hastened down-stairs, and called for a
+great glass of water, which having drank off, she threw herself into a
+chair, and the tears ran plentifully from her eyes with compassion for
+the poor wretch she had just left in his bed.
+
+To say the truth, without any injury to her chastity, that heart,
+which had stood firm as a rock to all the attacks of title and
+equipage, of finery and flattery, and which all the treasures of the
+universe could not have purchased, was yet a little softened by the
+plain, honest, modest, involuntary, delicate, heroic passion of this
+poor and humble swain; for whom, in spite of herself, she felt a
+momentary tenderness and complacence, at which Booth, if he had known
+it, would perhaps have been displeased.
+
+Having staid some time in the parlour, and not finding Mrs. Atkinson
+come down (for indeed her husband was then so bad she could not quit
+him), Amelia left a message with the maid of the house for her
+mistress, purporting that she should be ready to do anything in her
+power to serve her, and then left the house with a confusion on her
+mind that she had never felt before, and which any chastity that is
+not hewn out of marble must feel on so tender and delicate an
+occasion.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_In which Mr. Booth meets with more than one adventure._
+
+
+Booth, having hunted for about two hours, at last saw a young lady in
+a tattered silk gown stepping out of a shop in Monmouth--street into a
+hackney-coach. This lady, notwithstanding the disguise of her dress,
+he presently discovered to be no other than little Betty.
+
+He instantly gave the alarm of stop thief, stop coach! upon which Mrs.
+Betty was immediately stopt in her vehicle, and Booth and his
+myrmidons laid hold of her.
+
+The girl no sooner found that she was seised by her master than the
+consciousness of her guilt overpowered her; for she was not yet an
+experienced offender, and she immediately confessed her crime.
+
+She was then carried before a justice of peace, where she was
+searched, and there was found in her possession four shillings and
+sixpence in money, besides the silk gown, which was indeed proper
+furniture for rag-fair, and scarce worth a single farthing, though the
+honest shopkeeper in Monmouth-street had sold it for a crown to the
+simple girl.
+
+The girl, being examined by the magistrate, spoke as follows:--
+"Indeed, sir, an't please your worship, I am very sorry for what I
+have done; and to be sure, an't please your honour, my lord, it must
+have been the devil that put me upon it; for to be sure, please your
+majesty, I never thought upon such a thing in my whole life before,
+any more than I did of my dying-day; but, indeed, sir, an't please
+your worship--"
+
+She was running on in this manner when the justice interrupted her,
+and desired her to give an account of what she had taken from her
+master, and what she had done with it.
+
+"Indeed, an't please your majesty," said she, "I took no more than two
+shifts of madam's, and I pawned them for five shillings, which I gave
+for the gown that's upon my back; and as for the money in my pocket,
+it is every farthing of it my own. I am sure I intended to carry back
+the shifts too as soon as ever I could get money to take them out."
+
+The girl having told them where the pawnbroker lived, the justice sent
+to him, to produce the shifts, which he presently did; for he expected
+that a warrant to search his house would be the consequence of his
+refusal.
+
+The shifts being produced, on which the honest pawnbroker had lent
+five shillings, appeared plainly to be worth above thirty; indeed,
+when new they had cost much more: so that, by their goodness as well
+as by their size, it was certain they could not have belonged to the
+girl. Booth grew very warm against the pawnbroker. "I hope, sir," said
+he to the justice, "there is some punishment for this fellow likewise,
+who so plainly appears to have known that these goods were stolen. The
+shops of these fellows may indeed be called the fountains of theft;
+for it is in reality the encouragement which they meet with from these
+receivers of their goods that induces men very often to become
+thieves, so that these deserve equal if not severer punishment than
+the thieves themselves."
+
+The pawnbroker protested his innocence, and denied the taking in the
+shifts. Indeed, in this he spoke truth, for he had slipt into an inner
+room, as was always his custom on these occasions, and left a little
+boy to do the business; by which means he had carried on the trade of
+receiving stolen goods for many years with impunity, and had been
+twice acquitted at the Old Bailey, though the juggle appeared upon the
+most manifest evidence.
+
+As the justice was going to speak he was interrupted by the girl, who,
+falling upon her knees to Booth, with many tears begged his
+forgiveness.
+
+"Indeed, Betty," cries Booth, "you do not deserve forgiveness; for you
+know very good reasons why you should not have thought of robbing your
+mistress, particularly at this time. And what further aggravates your
+crime is, that you robbed the best and kindest mistress in the world.
+Nay, you are not only guilty of felony, but of a felonious breach of
+trust, for you know very well everything your mistress had was
+intrusted to your care."
+
+Now it happened, by very great accident, that the justice before whom
+the girl was brought understood the law. Turning therefore to Booth,
+he said, "Do you say, sir, that this girl was intrusted with the
+shifts?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Booth, "she was intrusted with everything."
+
+"And will you swear that the goods stolen," said the justice, "are
+worth forty shillings?"
+
+"No, indeed, sir," answered Booth, "nor that they are worthy thirty
+either."
+
+"Then, sir," cries the justice, "the girl cannot be guilty of felony."
+
+"How, sir," said Booth, "is it not a breach of trust? and is not a
+breach of trust felony, and the worst felony too?"
+
+"No, sir," answered the justice; "a breach of trust is no crime in our
+law, unless it be in a servant; and then the act of parliament
+requires the goods taken to be of the value of forty shillings."
+
+"So then a servant," cries Booth, "may rob his master of thirty-nine
+shillings whenever he pleases, and he can't be punished."
+
+"If the goods are under his care, he can't," cries the justice.
+
+"I ask your pardon, sir," says Booth. "I do not doubt what you say;
+but sure this is a very extraordinary law."
+
+"Perhaps I think so too," said the justice; "but it belongs not to my
+office to make or to mend laws. My business is only to execute them.
+If therefore the case be as you say, I must discharge the girl."
+
+"I hope, however, you will punish the pawnbroker," cries Booth.
+
+"If the girl is discharged," cries the justice, "so must be the
+pawnbroker; for, if the goods are not stolen, he cannot be guilty of
+receiving them knowing them to be stolen. And, besides, as to his
+offence, to say the truth, I am almost weary of prosecuting it; for
+such are the difficulties laid in the way of this prosecution, that it
+is almost impossible to convict any one on it. And, to speak my
+opinion plainly, such are the laws, and such the method of proceeding,
+that one would almost think our laws were rather made for the
+protection of rogues than for the punishment of them."
+
+Thus ended this examination: the thief and the receiver went about
+their business, and Booth departed in order to go home to his wife.
+
+In his way home Booth was met by a lady in a chair, who, immediately
+upon seeing him, stopt her chair, bolted out of it, and, going
+directly up to him, said, "So, Mr. Booth, you have kept your word with
+me."
+
+The lady was no other than Miss Matthews, and the speech she meant was
+of a promise made to her at the masquerade of visiting her within a
+day or two; which, whether he ever intended to keep I cannot say, but,
+in truth, the several accidents that had since happened to him had so
+discomposed his mind that he had absolutely forgot it.
+
+Booth, however, was too sensible and too well-bred to make the excuse
+of forgetfulness to a lady; nor could he readily find any other. While
+he stood therefore hesitating, and looking not over-wise, Miss
+Matthews said, "Well, sir, since by your confusion I see you have some
+grace left, I will pardon you on one condition, and that is that you
+will sup with me this night. But, if you fail me now, expect all the
+revenge of an injured woman." She then bound herself by a most
+outrageous oath that she would complain to his wife--" And I am sure,"
+says she, "she is so much a woman of honour as to do me justice. And,
+though I miscarried in my first attempt, be assured I will take care
+of my second."
+
+Booth asked what she meant by her first attempt; to which she answered
+that she had already writ his wife an account of his ill-usage of her,
+but that she was pleased it had miscarried. She then repeated her
+asseveration that she would now do it effectually if he disappointed
+her.
+
+This threat she reckoned would most certainly terrify poor Booth; and,
+indeed, she was not mistaken; for I believe it would have been
+impossible, by any other menace or by any other means, to have brought
+him once even to balance in his mind on this question. But by this
+threat she prevailed; and Booth promised, upon his word and honour, to
+come to her at the hour she appointed. After which she took leave of
+him with a squeeze by the hand, and a smiling countenance, and walked
+back to her chair.
+
+But, however she might be pleased with having obtained this promise,
+Booth was far from being delighted with the thoughts of having given
+it. He looked, indeed, upon the consequences of this meeting with
+horrour; but as to the consequence which was so apparently intended by
+the lady, he resolved against it. At length he came to this
+determination, to go according to his appointment, to argue the matter
+with the lady, and to convince her, if possible, that, from a regard
+to his honour only, he must discontinue her acquaintance. If this
+failed to satisfy her, and she still persisted in her threats to
+acquaint his wife with the affair, he then resolved, whatever pains it
+cost him, to communicate the whole truth himself to Amelia, from whose
+goodness he doubted not but to obtain an absolute remission.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_In which Amelia appears in a light more amiable than gay._
+
+
+We will now return to Amelia, whom we left in some perturbation of
+mind departing from Mrs. Atkinson.
+
+Though she had before walked through the streets in a very improper
+dress with Mrs. Atkinson, she was unwilling, especially as she was
+alone, to return in the same manner. Indeed, she was scarce able to
+walk in her present condition; for the case of poor Atkinson had much
+affected her tender heart, and her eyes had overflown with many tears.
+
+It occurred likewise to her at present that she had not a single
+shilling in her pocket or at home to provide food for herself and her
+family. In this situation she resolved to go immediately to the
+pawnbroker whither she had gone before, and to deposit her picture for
+what she could raise upon it. She then immediately took a chair and
+put her design in execution.
+
+The intrinsic value of the gold in which this picture was set, and of
+the little diamonds which surrounded it, amounted to nine guineas.
+This therefore was advanced to her, and the prettiest face in the
+world (such is often the fate of beauty) was deposited, as of no
+value, into the bargain.
+
+When she came home she found the following letter from Mrs. Atkinson:-
+
+"MY DEAREST MADAM,--As I know your goodness, I could not delay a
+moment acquainting you with the happy turn of my affairs since you
+went. The doctor, on his return to visit my husband, has assured me
+that the captain was on the recovery, and in very little danger; and I
+really think he is since mended. I hope to wait on you soon with
+better news. Heaven bless you, dear madam! and believe me to be, with
+the utmost sincerity,
+       Your most obliged, obedient, humble servant,
+                     ATKINSON."
+
+Amelia was really pleased with this letter; and now, it being past
+four o'clock, she despaired of seeing her husband till the evening.
+She therefore provided some tarts for her children, and then, eating
+nothing but a slice of bread and butter herself, she began to prepare
+for the captain's supper.
+
+There were two things of which her husband was particularly fond,
+which, though it may bring the simplicity of his taste into great
+contempt with some of my readers, I will venture to name. These were a
+fowl and egg sauce and mutton broth; both which Amelia immediately
+purchased.
+
+As soon as the clock struck seven the good creature went down into the
+kitchen, and began to exercise her talents of cookery, of which she
+was a great mistress, as she was of every economical office from the
+highest to the lowest: and, as no woman could outshine her in a
+drawing-room, so none could make the drawing-room itself shine
+brighter than Amelia. And, if I may speak a bold truth, I question
+whether it be possible to view this fine creature in a more amiable
+light than while she was dressing her husband's supper, with her
+little children playing round her.
+
+It was now half an hour past eight, and the meat almost ready, the
+table likewise neatly spread with materials borrowed from her
+landlady, and she began to grow a little uneasy at Booth's not
+returning when a sudden knock at the door roused her spirits, and she
+cried, "There, my dear, there is your good papa;" at which words she
+darted swiftly upstairs and opened the door to her husband.
+
+She desired her husband to walk up into the dining-room, and she would
+come to him in an instant; for she was desirous to encrease his
+pleasure by surprising him with his two favourite dishes. She then
+went down again to the kitchen, where the maid of the house undertook
+to send up the supper, and she with her children returned to Booth.
+
+He then told her concisely what had happened with relation to the
+girl--to which she scarce made any answer, but asked him if he had not
+dined? He assured her he had not eat a morsel the whole day.
+
+"Well," says she, "my dear, I am a fellow-sufferer; but we shall both
+enjoy our supper the more; for I have made a little provision for you,
+as I guessed what might be the case. I have got you a bottle of wine
+too. And here is a clean cloth and a smiling countenance, my dear
+Will. Indeed, I am in unusual good spirits to-night, and I have made a
+promise to the children, which you must confirm; I have promised to
+let them sit up this one night to supper with us.--Nay, don't look so
+serious: cast off all uneasy thoughts, I have a present for you here--
+no matter how I came by it."--At which words she put eight guineas
+into his hand, crying, "Come, my dear Bill, be gay--Fortune will yet
+be kind to us--at least let us be happy this night. Indeed, the
+pleasures of many women during their whole lives will not amount to my
+happiness this night if you will be in good humour."
+
+Booth fetched a deep sigh, and cried, "How unhappy am I, my dear,
+that I can't sup with you to-night!"
+
+As in the delightful month of June, when the sky is all serene, and
+the whole face of nature looks with a pleasing and smiling aspect,
+suddenly a dark cloud spreads itself over the hemisphere, the sun
+vanishes from our sight, and every object is obscured by a dark and
+horrid gloom; so happened it to Amelia: the joy that had enlightened
+every feature disappeared in a moment; the lustre forsook her shining
+eyes, and all the little loves that played and wantoned in her cheeks
+hung their drooping heads, and with a faint trembling voice she
+repeated her husband's words, "Not sup with me to-night, my dear!"
+
+"Indeed, my dear," answered he, "I cannot. I need not tell you how
+uneasy it makes me, or that I am as much disappointed as yourself; but
+I am engaged to sup abroad. I have absolutely given my honour; and
+besides, it is on business of importance."
+
+"My dear," said she, "I say no more. I am convinced you would not
+willingly sup from me. I own it is a very particular disappointment to
+me to-night, when I had proposed unusual pleasure; but the same reason
+which is sufficient to you ought to be so to me."
+
+Booth made his wife a compliment on her ready compliance, and then
+asked her what she intended by giving him that money, or how she came
+by it?
+
+"I intend, my dear," said she, "to give it you; that is all. As to the
+manner in which I came by it, you know, Billy, that is not very
+material. You are well assured I got it by no means which would
+displease you; and, perhaps, another time I may tell you."
+
+Booth asked no farther questions; but he returned her, and insisted on
+her taking, all but one guinea, saying she was the safest treasurer.
+He then promised her to make all the haste home in his power, and he
+hoped, he said, to be with her in an hour and half at farthest, and
+then took his leave.
+
+When he was gone the poor disappointed Amelia sat down to supper with
+her children, with whose company she was forced to console herself for
+the absence of her husband.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_A very tragic scene._
+
+
+The clock had struck eleven, and Amelia was just proceeding to put her
+children to bed, when she heard a knock at the street-door; upon which
+the boy cried out, "There's papa, mamma; pray let me stay and see him
+before I go to bed." This was a favour very easily obtained; for
+Amelia instantly ran down-stairs, exulting in the goodness of her
+husband for returning so soon, though half an hour was already elapsed
+beyond the time in which he promised to return.
+
+Poor Amelia was now again disappointed; for it was not her husband at
+the door, but a servant with a letter for him, which he delivered into
+her hands. She immediately returned up-stairs, and said--"It was not
+your papa, my dear; but I hope it is one who hath brought us some good
+news." For Booth had told her that he hourly expected to receive such
+from the great man, and had desired her to open any letter which came
+to him in his absence.
+
+Amelia therefore broke open the letter, and read as follows:
+
+"SIR,--After what hath passed between us, I need only tell you that I
+know you supped this very night alone with Miss Matthews: a fact which
+will upbraid you sufficiently, without putting me to that trouble, and
+will very well account for my desiring the favour of seeing you to-
+morrow in Hyde-park at six in the morning. You will forgive me
+reminding you once more how inexcusable this behaviour is in you, who
+are possessed in your own wife of the most inestimable jewel.
+                Yours, &c.
+                          T. JAMES.
+
+I shall bring pistols with me."
+
+It is not easy to describe the agitation of Amelia's mind when she
+read this letter. She threw herself into her chair, turned as pale as
+death, began to tremble all over, and had just power enough left to
+tap the bottle of wine, which she had hitherto preserved entire for
+her husband, and to drink off a large bumper.
+
+The little boy perceived the strange symptoms which appeared in his
+mother; and running to her, he cried, "What's the matter, my dear
+mamma? you don't look well!--No harm hath happened to poor papa, I
+hope--Sure that bad man hath not carried him away again?"
+
+Amelia answered, "No, child, nothing--nothing at all." And then a
+large shower of tears came to her assistance, which presently after
+produced the same in the eyes of both the children.
+
+Amelia, after a short silence, looking tenderly at her children, cried
+out, "It is too much, too much to bear. Why did I bring these little
+wretches into the world? why were these innocents born to such a
+fate?" She then threw her arms round them both (for they were before
+embracing her knees), and cried, "O my children! my children! forgive
+me, my babes! Forgive me that I have brought you into such a world as
+this! You are undone--my children are undone!"
+
+The little boy answered with great spirit, "How undone, mamma? my
+sister and I don't care a farthing for being undone. Don't cry so upon
+our accounts--we are both very well; indeed we are. But do pray tell
+us. I am sure some accident hath happened to poor papa."
+
+"Mention him no more," cries Amelia; "your papa is--indeed he is a
+wicked man--he cares not for any of us. O Heavens! is this the
+happiness I promised myself this evening?" At which words she fell
+into an agony, holding both her children in her arms.
+
+The maid of the house now entered the room, with a letter in her hand
+which she had received from a porter, whose arrival the reader will
+not wonder to have been unheard by Amelia in her present condition.
+
+The maid, upon her entrance into the room, perceiving the situation of
+Amelia, cried out, "Good Heavens! madam, what's the matter?" Upon
+which Amelia, who had a little recovered herself after the last
+violent vent of her passion, started up and cried, "Nothing, Mrs.
+Susan--nothing extraordinary. I am subject to these fits sometimes;
+but I am very well now. Come, my dear children, I am very well again;
+indeed I am. You must now go to bed; Mrs. Susan will be so good as to
+put you to bed."
+
+"But why doth not papa love us?" cries the little boy. "I am sure we
+have none of us done anything to disoblige him."
+
+This innocent question of the child so stung Amelia that she had the
+utmost difficulty to prevent a relapse. However, she took another dram
+of wine; for so it might be called to her, who was the most temperate
+of women, and never exceeded three glasses on any occasion. In this
+glass she drank her children's health, and soon after so well soothed
+and composed them that they went quietly away with Mrs. Susan.
+
+The maid, in the shock she had conceived at the melancholy, indeed
+frightful scene, which had presented itself to her at her first coming
+into the room, had quite forgot the letter which she held in her hand.
+However, just at her departure she recollected it, and delivered it to
+Amelia, who was no sooner alone than she opened it, and read as
+follows:
+
+"MY DEAREST, SWEETEST LOVE,--I write this from the bailiff's house
+where I was formerly, and to which I am again brought at the suit of
+that villain Trent. I have the misfortune to think I owe this accident
+(I mean that it happened to-night) to my own folly in endeavouring to
+keep a secret from you. O my dear! had I had resolution to confess my
+crime to you, your forgiveness would, I am convinced, have cost me
+only a few blushes, and I had now been happy in your arms. Fool that I
+was, to leave you on such an account, and to add to a former
+transgression a new one!--Yet, by Heavens! I mean not a transgression
+of the like kind; for of that I am not nor ever will be guilty; and
+when you know the true reason of my leaving you to-night I think you
+will pity rather than upbraid me. I am sure you would if you knew the
+compunction with which I left you to go to the most worthless, the
+most infamous. Do guess the rest--guess that crime with which I cannot
+stain my paper--but still believe me no more guilty than I am, or, if
+it will lessen your vexation at what hath befallen me, believe me as
+guilty as you please, and think me, for a while at least, as
+undeserving of you as I think myself. This paper and pen are so bad, I
+question whether you can read what I write: I almost doubt whether I
+wish you should. Yet this I will endeavour to make as legible as I
+can. Be comforted, my dear love, and still keep up your spirits with
+the hopes of better days. The doctor will be in town to-morrow, and I
+trust on his goodness for my delivery once more from this place, and
+that I shall soon be able to repay him. That Heaven may bless and
+preserve you is the prayer of, my dearest love,
+    Your ever fond, affectionate,
+                 and hereafter, faithful husband,
+                                                          W. BOOTH."
+
+Amelia pretty well guessed the obscure meaning of this letter, which,
+though at another time it might have given her unspeakable torment,
+was at present rather of the medicinal kind, and served to allay her
+anguish. Her anger to Booth too began a little to abate, and was
+softened by her concern for his misfortune. Upon the whole, however,
+she passed a miserable and sleepless night, her gentle mind torn and
+distracted with various and contending passions, distressed with
+doubts, and wandering in a kind of twilight which presented her only
+objects of different degrees of horror, and where black despair closed
+at a small distance the gloomy prospect.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XII.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_The book begins with polite history._
+
+
+Before we return to the miserable couple, whom we left at the end of
+the last book, we will give our reader the more chearful view of the
+gay and happy family of Colonel James.
+
+Mrs. James, when she could not, as we have seen, prevail with Amelia
+to accept that invitation which, at the desire of the colonel, she had
+so kindly and obediently carried her, returned to her husband and
+acquainted him with the ill success of her embassy; at which, to say
+the truth, she was almost as much disappointed as the colonel himself;
+for he had not taken a much stronger liking to Amelia than she herself
+had conceived for Booth. This will account for some passages which may
+have a little surprized the reader in the former chapters of this
+history, as we were not then at leisure to communicate to them a hint
+of this kind; it was, indeed, on Mr. Booth's account that she had been
+at the trouble of changing her dress at the masquerade.
+
+But her passions of this sort, happily for her, were not extremely
+strong; she was therefore easily baulked; and, as she met with no
+encouragement from Booth, she soon gave way to the impetuosity of Miss
+Matthews, and from that time scarce thought more of the affair till
+her husband's design against the wife revived her's likewise; insomuch
+that her passion was at this time certainly strong enough for Booth,
+to produce a good hearty hatred for Amelia, whom she now abused to the
+colonel in very gross terms, both on the account of her poverty and
+her insolence, for so she termed the refusal of all her offers.
+
+The colonel, seeing no hopes of soon possessing his new mistress,
+began, like a prudent and wise man, to turn his thoughts towards the
+securing his old one. From what his wife had mentioned concerning the
+behaviour of the shepherdess, and particularly her preference of
+Booth, he had little doubt but that this was the identical Miss
+Matthews. He resolved therefore to watch her closely, in hopes of
+discovering Booth's intrigue with her. In this, besides the remainder
+of affection which he yet preserved for that lady, he had another
+view, as it would give him a fair pretence to quarrel with Booth; who,
+by carrying on this intrigue, would have broke his word and honour
+given to him. And he began now to hate poor Booth heartily, from the
+same reason from which Mrs. James had contracted her aversion to
+Amelia.
+
+The colonel therefore employed an inferior kind of pimp to watch the
+lodgings of Miss Matthews, and to acquaint him if Booth, whose person
+was known to the pimp, made any visit there.
+
+The pimp faithfully performed his office, and, having last night made
+the wished-for discovery, immediately acquainted his master with it.
+
+Upon this news the colonel presently despatched to Booth the short
+note which we have before seen. He sent it to his own house instead of
+Miss Matthews's, with hopes of that very accident which actually did
+happen. Not that he had any ingredient of the bully in him, and
+desired to be prevented from fighting, but with a prospect of injuring
+Booth in the affection and esteem of Amelia, and of recommending
+himself somewhat to her by appearing in the light of her champion; for
+which purpose he added that compliment to Amelia in his letter. He
+concluded upon the whole that, if Booth himself opened the letter, he
+would certainly meet him the next morning; but if his wife should open
+it before he came home it might have the effects before mentioned;
+and, for his future expostulation with Booth, it would not be in
+Amelia's power to prevent it.
+
+Now it happened that this pimp had more masters than one. Amongst
+these was the worthy Mr. Trent, for whom he had often done business of
+the pimping vocation. He had been employed indeed in the service of
+the great peer himself, under the direction of the said Trent, and was
+the very person who had assisted the said Trent in dogging Booth and
+his wife to the opera-house on the masquerade night.
+
+This subaltern pimp was with his superior Trent yesterday morning,
+when he found a bailiff with him in order to receive his instructions
+for the arresting Booth, when the bailiff said it would be a very
+difficult matter to take him, for that to his knowledge he was as shy
+a cock as any in England. The subaltern immediately acquainted Trent
+with the business in which he was employed by the colonel; upon which
+Trent enjoined him the moment he had set him to give immediate notice
+to the bailiff, which he agreed to, and performed accordingly.
+
+The bailiff, on receiving the notice, immediately set out for his
+stand at an alehouse within three doors of Miss Matthews's lodgings;
+at which, unfortunately for poor Booth, he arrived a very few minutes
+before Booth left that lady in order to return to Amelia.
+
+These were several matters of which we thought necessary our reader
+should be informed; for, besides that it conduces greatly to a perfect
+understanding of all history, there is no exercise of the mind of a
+sensible reader more pleasant than the tracing the several small and
+almost imperceptible links in every chain of events by which all the
+great actions of the world are produced. We will now in the next
+chapter proceed with our history.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_In which Amelia visits her husband._
+
+
+Amelia, after much anxious thinking, in which she sometimes flattered
+herself that her husband was less guilty than she had at first
+imagined him, and that he had some good excuse to make for himself
+(for, indeed, she was not so able as willing to make one for him), at
+length resolved to set out for the bailiff's castle. Having therefore
+strictly recommended the care of her children to her good landlady,
+she sent for a hackney coach, and ordered the coachman to drive to
+Gray's-inn-lane.
+
+When she came to the house, and asked for the captain, the bailiff's
+wife, who came to the door, guessing, by the greatness of her beauty
+and the disorder of her dress, that she was a young lady of pleasure,
+answered surlily, "Captain! I do not know of any captain that is here,
+not I!" For this good woman was, as well as dame Purgante in Prior, a
+bitter enemy to all whores, especially to those of the handsome kind;
+for some such she suspected to go shares with her in a certain
+property to which the law gave her the sole right.
+
+Amelia replied she was certain that Captain Booth was there. "Well, if
+he is so," cries the bailiff's wife, "you may come into the kitchen if
+you will, and he shall be called down to you if you have any business
+with him." At the same time she muttered something to herself, and
+concluded a little more intelligibly, though still in a muttering
+voice, that she kept no such house.
+
+Amelia, whose innocence gave her no suspicion of the true cause of
+this good woman's sullenness, was frightened, and began to fear she
+knew not what. At last she made a shift to totter into the kitchen,
+when the mistress of the house asked her, "Well, madam, who shall I
+tell the captain wants to speak with him?"
+
+"I ask your pardon, madam," cries Amelia; "in my confusion I really
+forgot you did not know me--tell him, if you please, that I am his
+wife."
+
+"And you are indeed his wife, madam?" cries Mrs. Bailiff, a little
+softened.
+
+"Yes, indeed, and upon my honour," answers Amelia.
+
+"If this be the case," cries the other, "you may walk up-stairs if you
+please. Heaven forbid I should part man and wife! Indeed, I think they
+can never be too much together. But I never will suffer any bad doings
+in my house, nor any of the town ladies to come to gentlemen here."
+
+Amelia answered that she liked her the better: for, indeed, in her
+present disposition, Amelia was as much exasperated against wicked
+women as the virtuous mistress of the house, or any other virtuous
+woman could be.
+
+The bailiff's wife then ushered Amelia up-stairs, and, having unlocked
+the prisoner's doors, cried, "Captain, here is your lady, sir, come to
+see you." At which words Booth started up from his chair, and caught
+Amelia in his arms, embracing her for a considerable time with so much
+rapture, that the bailiff's wife, who was an eyewitness of this
+violent fondness, began to suspect whether Amelia had really told her
+truth. However, she had some little awe of the captain; and for fear
+of being in the wrong did not interfere, but shut the door and turned
+the key.
+
+When Booth found himself alone with his wife, and had vented the first
+violence of his rapture in kisses and embraces, he looked tenderly at
+her and cried, "Is it possible, Amelia, is it possible you can have
+this goodness to follow such a wretch as me to such a place as this--
+or do you come to upbraid me with my guilt, and to sink me down to
+that perdition I so justly deserve?"
+
+"Am I so given to upbraiding then?" says she, in a gentle voice; "have
+I ever given you occasion to think I would sink you to perdition?"
+
+"Far be it from me, my love, to think so," answered he. "And yet you
+may forgive the utmost fears of an offending, penitent sinner. I know,
+indeed, the extent of your goodness, and yet I know my guilt so
+great--"
+
+"Alas! Mr. Booth," said she, "what guilt is this which you mention,
+and which you writ to me of last night?--Sure, by your mentioning to
+me so much, you intend to tell me more--nay, indeed, to tell me all;
+and not leave my mind open to suspicions perhaps ten times worse than
+the truth."
+
+"Will you give me a patient hearing?" said he.
+
+"I will indeed," answered she, "nay, I am prepared to hear the worst
+you can unfold; nay, perhaps, the worst is short of my apprehensions."
+
+Booth then, after a little further apology, began and related to her
+the whole that had passed between him and Miss Matthews, from their
+first meeting in the prison to their separation the preceding evening.
+All which, as the reader knows it already, it would be tedious and
+unpardonable to transcribe from his mouth. He told her likewise all
+that he had done and suffered to conceal his transgression from her
+knowledge. This he assured her was the business of his visit last
+night, the consequence of which was, he declared in the most solemn
+manner, no other than an absolute quarrel with Miss Matthews, of whom
+he had taken a final leave.
+
+When he had ended his narration, Amelia, after a short silence,
+answered, "Indeed, I firmly believe every word you have said, but I
+cannot now forgive you the fault you have confessed; and my reason is
+--because I have forgiven it long ago. Here, my dear," said she, "is
+an
+instance that I am likewise capable of keeping a secret."--She then
+delivered her husband a letter which she had some time ago received
+from Miss Matthews, and which was the same which that lady had
+mentioned, and supposed, as Booth had never heard of it, that it had
+miscarried; for she sent it by the penny post. In this letter, which
+was signed by a feigned name, she had acquainted Amelia with the
+infidelity of her husband, and had besides very greatly abused him;
+taxing him with many falsehoods, and, among the rest, with having
+spoken very slightingly and disrespectfully of his wife.
+
+Amelia never shined forth to Booth in so amiable and great a light;
+nor did his own unworthiness ever appear to him so mean and
+contemptible as at this instant. However, when he had read the letter,
+he uttered many violent protestations to her, that all which related
+to herself was absolutely false.
+
+"I am convinced it is," said she. "I would not have a suspicion of the
+contrary for the world. I assure you I had, till last night revived it
+in my memory, almost forgot the letter; for, as I well knew from whom
+it came, by her mentioning obligations which she had conferred on you,
+and which you had more than once spoken to me of, I made large
+allowances for the situation you was then in; and I was the more
+satisfied, as the letter itself, as well as many other circumstances,
+convinced me the affair was at an end."
+
+Booth now uttered the most extravagant expressions of admiration and
+fondness that his heart could dictate, and accompanied them with the
+warmest embraces. All which warmth and tenderness she returned; and
+tears of love and joy gushed from both their eyes. So ravished indeed
+were their hearts, that for some time they both forgot the dreadful
+situation of their affairs.
+
+This, however, was but a short reverie. It soon recurred to Amelia,
+that, though she had the liberty of leaving that house when she
+pleased, she could not take her beloved husband with her. This thought
+stung her tender bosom to the quick, and she could not so far command
+herself as to refrain from many sorrowful exclamations against the
+hardship of their destiny; but when she saw the effect they had upon
+Booth she stifled her rising grief, forced a little chearfulness into
+her countenance, and, exerting all the spirits she could raise within
+herself, expressed her hopes of seeing a speedy end to their
+sufferings. She then asked her husband what she should do for him, and
+to whom she should apply for his deliverance?
+
+"You know, my dear," cries Booth, "that the doctor is to be in town
+some time to-day. My hopes of immediate redemption are only in him;
+and, if that can be obtained, I make no doubt but of the success of
+that affair which is in the hands of a gentleman who hath faithfully
+promised, and in whose power I am so well assured it is to serve me."
+
+Thus did this poor man support his hopes by a dependence on that
+ticket which he had so dearly purchased of one who pretended to manage
+the wheels in the great state lottery of preferment. A lottery,
+indeed, which hath this to recommend it--that many poor wretches feed
+their imaginations with the prospect of a prize during their whole
+lives, and never discover they have drawn a blank.
+
+Amelia, who was of a pretty sanguine temper, and was entirely ignorant
+of these matters, was full as easy to be deceived into hopes as her
+husband; but in reality at present she turned her eyes to no distant
+prospect, the desire of regaining her husband's liberty having
+engrossed her whole mind.
+
+While they were discoursing on these matters they heard a violent
+noise in the house, and immediately after several persons passed by
+their door up-stairs to the apartment over their head. This greatly
+terrified the gentle spirit of Amelia, and she cried--"Good Heavens,
+my dear, must I leave you in this horrid place? I am terrified with a
+thousand fears concerning you."
+
+Booth endeavoured to comfort her, saying that he was in no manner of
+danger, and that he doubted not but that the doctor would soon be with
+him--"And stay, my dear," cries he; "now I recollect, suppose you
+should apply to my old friend James; for I believe you are pretty well
+satisfied that your apprehensions of him were groundless. I have no
+reason to think but that he would be as ready to serve me as
+formerly."
+
+Amelia turned pale as ashes at the name of James, and, instead of
+making a direct answer to her husband, she laid hold of him, and
+cried, "My dear, I have one favour to beg of you, and I insist on your
+granting it me."
+
+Booth readily swore he would deny her nothing.
+
+"It is only this, my dear," said she, "that, if that detested colonel
+comes, you will not see him. Let the people of the house tell him you
+are not here."
+
+"He knows nothing of my being here," answered Booth; "but why should I
+refuse to see him if he should be kind enough to come hither to me?
+Indeed, my Amelia, you have taken a dislike to that man without
+sufficient reason."
+
+"I speak not upon that account," cries Amelia; "but I have had dreams
+last night about you two. Perhaps you will laugh at my folly, but pray
+indulge it. Nay, I insist on your promise of not denying me."
+
+"Dreams! my dear creature," answered he. "What dream can you have had
+of us?"
+
+"One too horrible to be mentioned," replied she.--"I cannot think of
+it without horrour; and, unless you will promise me not to see the
+colonel till I return, I positively will never leave you."
+
+"Indeed, my Amelia," said Booth, "I never knew you unreasonable
+before. How can a woman of your sense talk of dreams?"
+
+"Suffer me to be once at least unreasonable," said Amelia, "as you are
+so good-natured to say I am not often so. Consider what I have lately
+suffered, and how weak my spirits must be at this time."
+
+As Booth was going to speak, the bailiff, without any ceremony,
+entered the room, and cried, "No offence, I hope, madam; my wife, it
+seems, did not know you. She thought the captain had a mind for a bit
+of flesh by the bye. But I have quieted all matters; for I know you
+very well: I have seen that handsome face many a time when I have been
+waiting upon the captain formerly. No offence, I hope, madam; but if
+my wife was as handsome as you are I should not look for worse goods
+abroad."
+
+Booth conceived some displeasure at this speech, but he did not think
+proper to express more than a pish; and then asked the bailiff what
+was the meaning of the noise they heard just now?
+
+"I know of no noise," answered the bailiff. "Some of my men have been
+carrying a piece of bad luggage up-stairs; a poor rascal that resisted
+the law and justice; so I gave him a cut or two with a hanger. If they
+should prove mortal, he must thank himself for it. If a man will not
+behave like a gentleman to an officer, he must take the consequence;
+but I must say that for you, captain, you behave yourself like a
+gentleman, and therefore I shall always use you as such; and I hope
+you will find bail soon with all my heart. This is but a paultry sum
+to what the last was; and I do assure you there is nothing else
+against you in the office."
+
+The latter part of the bailiff's speech somewhat comforted Amelia, who
+had been a little frightened by the former; and she soon after took
+leave of her husband to go in quest of the doctor, who, as Amelia had
+heard that morning, was expected in town that very day, which was
+somewhat sooner than he had intended at his departure.
+
+Before she went, however, she left a strict charge with the bailiff,
+who ushered her very civilly downstairs, that if one Colonel James
+came there to enquire for her husband he should deny that he was
+there.
+
+She then departed; and the bailiff immediately gave a very strict
+charge to his wife, his maid, and his followers, that if one Colonel
+James, or any one from him, should enquire after the captain, that
+they should let him know he had the captain above-stairs; for he
+doubted not but that the colonel was one of Booth's creditors, and he
+hoped for a second bail-bond by his means.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_Containing matter pertinent to the history._
+
+
+Amelia, in her way to the doctor's, determined just to stop at her own
+lodgings, which lay a little out of the road, and to pay a momentary
+visit to her children.
+
+This was fortunate enough; for, had she called at the doctor's house,
+she would have heard nothing of him, which would have caused in her
+some alarm and disappointment; for the doctor was set down at Mrs.
+Atkinson's, where he was directed to Amelia's lodgings, to which he
+went before he called at his own; and here Amelia now found him
+playing with her two children.
+
+The doctor had been a little surprized at not finding Amelia at home,
+or any one that could give an account of her. He was now more
+surprized to see her come in such a dress, and at the disorder which
+he very plainly perceived in her pale and melancholy countenance. He
+addressed her first (for indeed she was in no great haste to speak),
+and cried, "My dear child, what is the matter? where is your husband?
+some mischief I am afraid hath happened to him in my absence."
+
+"O my dear doctor!" answered Amelia, "sure some good angel hath sent
+you hither. My poor Will is arrested again. I left him in the most
+miserable condition in the very house whence your goodness formerly
+redeemed him."
+
+"Arrested!" cries the doctor. "Then it must be for some very
+inconsiderable trifle."
+
+"I wish it was," said Amelia; "but it is for no less than fifty
+pound."
+
+"Then," cries the doctor, "he hath been disingenuous with me. He told
+me he did not owe ten pounds in the world for which he was liable to
+be sued."
+
+"I know not what to say," cries Amelia. "Indeed, I am afraid to tell
+you the truth."
+
+"How, child?" said the doctor--"I hope you will never disguise it to
+any one, especially to me. Any prevarication, I promise you, will
+forfeit my friendship for ever."
+
+"I will tell you the whole," cries Amelia, "and rely entirely on your
+goodness." She then related the gaming story, not forgetting to set in
+the fullest light, and to lay the strongest emphasis on, his promise
+never to play again.
+
+The doctor fetched a deep sigh when he had heard Amelia's relation,
+and cried, "I am sorry, child, for the share you are to partake in
+your husband's sufferings; but as for him, I really think he deserves
+no compassion. You say he hath promised never to play again, but I
+must tell you he hath broke his promise to me already; for I had heard
+he was formerly addicted to this vice, and had given him sufficient
+caution against it. You will consider, child, I am already pretty
+largely engaged for him, every farthing of which I am sensible I must
+pay. You know I would go to the utmost verge of prudence to serve you;
+but I must not exceed my ability, which is not very great; and I have
+several families on my hands who are by misfortune alone brought to
+want. I do assure you I cannot at present answer for such a sum as
+this without distressing my own circumstances."
+
+"Then Heaven have mercy upon us all!" cries Amelia, "for we have no
+other friend on earth: my husband is undone, and these poor little
+wretches must be starved."
+
+The doctor cast his eyes on the children, and then cried, "I hope not
+so. I told you I must distress my circumstances, and I will distress
+them this once on your account, and on the account of these poor
+little babes. But things must not go on any longer in this way. You
+must take an heroic resolution. I will hire a coach for you to-morrow
+morning which shall carry you all down to my parsonage-house. There
+you shall have my protection till something can be done for your
+husband; of which, to be plain with you, I at present see no
+likelihood."
+
+Amelia fell upon her knees in an ecstasy of thanksgiving to the
+doctor, who immediately raised her up, and placed her in her chair.
+She then recollected herself, and said, "O my worthy friend, I have
+still another matter to mention to you, in which I must have both your
+advice and assistance. My soul blushes to give you all this trouble;
+but what other friend have I?--indeed, what other friend could I apply
+to so properly on such an occasion?"
+
+The doctor, with a very kind voice and countenance, desired her to
+speak. She then said, "O sir! that wicked colonel whom I have
+mentioned to you formerly hath picked some quarrel with my husband
+(for she did not think proper to mention the cause), and hath sent him
+a challenge. It came to my hand last night after he was arrested: I
+opened and read it."
+
+"Give it me, child," said the doctor.
+
+She answered she had burnt it, as was indeed true. "But I remember it
+was an appointment to meet with sword and pistol this morning at Hyde-
+park."
+
+"Make yourself easy, my dear child," cries the doctor; "I will take
+care to prevent any mischief."
+
+"But consider, my dear sir," said she, "this is a tender matter. My
+husband's honour is to be preserved as well as his life."
+
+"And so is his soul, which ought to be the dearest of all things,"
+cries the doctor. "Honour! nonsense! Can honour dictate to him to
+disobey the express commands of his Maker, in compliance with a custom
+established by a set of blockheads, founded on false principles of
+virtue, in direct opposition to the plain and positive precepts of
+religion, and tending manifestly to give a sanction to ruffians, and
+to protect them in all the ways of impudence and villany?"
+
+"All this, I believe, is very true," cries Amelia; "but yet you know,
+doctor, the opinion of the world."
+
+"You talk simply, child," cries the doctor. "What is the opinion of
+the world opposed to religion and virtue? but you are in the wrong. It
+is not the opinion of the world; it is the opinion of the idle,
+ignorant, and profligate. It is impossible it should be the opinion of
+one man of sense, who is in earnest in his belief of our religion.
+Chiefly, indeed, it hath been upheld by the nonsense of women, who,
+either from their extreme cowardice and desire of protection, or, as
+Mr. Bayle thinks, from their excessive vanity, have been always
+forward to countenance a set of hectors and bravoes, and to despise
+all men of modesty and sobriety; though these are often, at the
+bottom, not only the better but the braver men."
+
+"You know, doctor," cries Amelia, "I have never presumed to argue with
+you; your opinion is to me always instruction, and your word a law."
+
+"Indeed, child," cries the doctor, "I know you are a good woman; and
+yet I must observe to you, that this very desire of feeding the
+passion of female vanity with the heroism of her man, old Homer seems
+to make the characteristic of a bad and loose woman. He introduces
+Helen upbraiding her gallant with having quitted the fight, and left
+the victory to Menelaus, and seeming to be sorry that she had left her
+husband only because he was the better duellist of the two: but in how
+different a light doth he represent the tender and chaste love of
+Andromache to her worthy Hector! she dissuades him from exposing
+himself to danger, even in a just cause. This is indeed a weakness,
+but it is an amiable one, and becoming the true feminine character;
+but a woman who, out of heroic vanity (for so it is), would hazard not
+only the life but the soul too of her husband in a duel, is a monster,
+and ought to be painted in no other character but that of a Fury."
+
+"I assure you, doctor," cries Amelia, "I never saw this matter in the
+odious light in which you have truly represented it, before. I am
+ashamed to recollect what I have formerly said on this subject. And
+yet, whilst the opinion of the world is as it is, one would wish to
+comply as far as possible, especially as my husband is an officer of
+the army. If it can be done, therefore, with safety to his honour--"
+
+"Again honour!" cries the doctor; "indeed I will not suffer that noble
+word to be so basely and barbarously prostituted. I have known some of
+these men of honour, as they call themselves, to be the most arrant
+rascals in the universe."
+
+"Well, I ask your pardon," said she; "reputation then, if you please,
+or any other word you like better; you know my meaning very well."
+
+"I do know your meaning," cries the doctor, "and Virgil knew it a
+great while ago. The next time you see your friend Mrs. Atkinson, ask
+her what it was made Dido fall in love with AEneas?"
+
+"Nay, dear sir," said Amelia, "do not rally me so unmercifully; think
+where my poor husband is now."
+
+"He is," answered the doctor, "where I will presently be with him. In
+the mean time, do you pack up everything in order for your journey to-
+morrow; for if you are wise, you will not trust your husband a day
+longer in this town--therefore to packing."
+
+Amelia promised she would, though indeed she wanted not any warning
+for her journey on this account; for when she packed up herself in the
+coach, she packed up her all. However, she did not think proper to
+mention this to the doctor; for, as he was now in pretty good humour,
+she did not care to venture again discomposing his temper.
+
+The doctor then set out for Gray's-inn-lane, and, as soon as he was
+gone, Amelia began to consider of her incapacity to take a journey in
+her present situation without even a clean shift. At last she
+resolved, as she was possessed of seven guineas and a half, to go to
+her friend and redeem some of her own and her husband's linen out of
+captivity; indeed just so much as would render it barely possible for
+them to go out of town with any kind of decency. And this resolution
+she immediately executed.
+
+As soon as she had finished her business with the pawnbroker (if a man
+who lends under thirty _per cent._ deserves that name), he said
+to her, "Pray, madam, did you know that man who was here yesterday
+when you brought the picture?" Amelia answered in the negative.
+"Indeed, madam," said the broker, "he knows you, though he did not
+recollect you while you was here, as your hood was drawn over your
+face; but the moment you was gone he begged to look at the picture,
+which I, thinking no harm, permitted. He had scarce looked upon it
+when he cried out, 'By heaven and earth it is her picture!' He then
+asked me if I knew you." "Indeed," says I, "I never saw the lady
+before."
+
+In this last particular, however, the pawnbroker a little savoured of
+his profession, and made a small deviation from the truth, for, when
+the man had asked him if he knew the lady, he answered she was some
+poor undone woman who had pawned all her cloathes to him the day
+before; and I suppose, says he, this picture is the last of her goods
+and chattels. This hint we thought proper to give the reader, as it
+may chance to be material.
+
+Amelia answered coldly that she had taken so very little notice of the
+man that she scarce remembered he was there.
+
+"I assure you, madam," says the pawnbroker, "he hath taken very great
+notice of you; for the man changed countenance upon what I said, and
+presently after begged me to give him a dram. Oho! thinks I to myself,
+are you thereabouts? I would not be so much in love with some folks as
+some people are for more interest than I shall ever make of a thousand
+pound."
+
+Amelia blushed, and said, with some peevishness, "That she knew
+nothing of the man, but supposed he was some impertinent fellow or
+other."
+
+"Nay, madam," answered the pawnbroker, "I assure you he is not worthy
+your regard. He is a poor wretch, and I believe I am possessed of most
+of his moveables. However, I hope you are not offended, for indeed he
+said no harm; but he was very strangely disordered, that is the truth
+of it."
+
+Amelia was very desirous of putting an end to this conversation, and
+altogether as eager to return to her children; she therefore bundled
+up her things as fast as she could, and, calling for a hackney-coach,
+directed the coachman to her lodgings, and bid him drive her home with
+all the haste he could.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_In which Dr Harrison visits Colonel James._
+
+
+The doctor, when he left Amelia, intended to go directly to Booth, but
+he presently changed his mind, and determined first to call on the
+colonel, as he thought it was proper to put an end to that matter
+before he gave Booth his liberty.
+
+The doctor found the two colonels, James and Bath, together. They both
+received him very civilly, for James was a very well-bred man, and
+Bath always shewed a particular respect to the clergy, he being indeed
+a perfect good Christian, except in the articles of fighting and
+swearing.
+
+Our divine sat some time without mentioning the subject of his errand,
+in hopes that Bath would go away, but when he found no likelihood of
+that (for indeed Bath was of the two much the most pleased with his
+company), he told James that he had something to say to him relating
+to Mr. Booth, which he believed he might speak before his brother.
+
+"Undoubtedly, sir," said James; "for there can be no secrets between
+us which my brother may not hear."
+
+"I come then to you, sir," said the doctor, "from the most unhappy
+woman in the world, to whose afflictions you have very greatly and
+very cruelly added by sending a challenge to her husband, which hath
+very luckily fallen into her hands; for, had the man for whom you
+designed it received it, I am afraid you would not have seen me upon
+this occasion."
+
+"If I writ such a letter to Mr. Booth, sir," said James, "you may be
+assured I did not expect this visit in answer to it."
+
+[Illustration: Dr. Harrison.]
+
+"I do not think you did," cries the doctor; "but you have great reason
+to thank Heaven for ordering this matter contrary to your
+expectations. I know not what trifle may have drawn this challenge
+from you, but, after what I have some reason to know of you, sir, I
+must plainly tell you that, if you had added to your guilt already
+committed against this man, that of having his blood upon your hands,
+your soul would have become as black as hell itself."
+
+"Give me leave to say," cries the colonel, "this is a language which I
+am not used to hear; and if your cloth was not your protection you
+should not give it me with impunity. After what you know of me, sir!
+What do you presume to know of me to my disadvantage?"
+
+"You say my cloth is my protection, colonel," answered the doctor;
+"therefore pray lay aside your anger: I do not come with any design of
+affronting or offending you."
+
+"Very well," cries Bath; "that declaration is sufficient from a
+clergyman, let him say what he pleases."
+
+"Indeed, sir," says the doctor very mildly, "I consult equally the
+good of you both, and, in a spiritual sense, more especially yours;
+for you know you have injured this poor man."
+
+"So far on the contrary," cries James, "that I have been his greatest
+benefactor. I scorn to upbraid him, but you force me to it. Nor have I
+ever done him the least injury."
+
+"Perhaps not," said the doctor; "I will alter what I have said. But
+for this I apply to your honour--Have you not intended him an injury,
+the very intention of which cancels every obligation?"
+
+"How, sir?" answered the colonel; "what do you mean?"
+
+"My meaning," replied the doctor, "is almost too tender to mention.
+Come, colonel, examine your own heart, and then answer me, on your
+honour, if you have not intended to do him the highest wrong which one
+man can do another?"
+
+"I do not know what you mean by the question," answered the colonel.
+
+"D--n me, the question is very transparent! "cries Bath." From any
+other man it would be an affront with the strongest emphasis, but from
+one of the doctor's cloth it demands a categorical answer."
+
+"I am not a papist, sir," answered Colonel James, "nor am I obliged to
+confess to my priest. But if you have anything to say speak openly,
+for I do not understand your meaning."
+
+"I have explained my meaning to you already," said the doctor, "in a
+letter I wrote to you on the subject--a subject which I am sorry I
+should have any occasion to write upon to a Christian."
+
+"I do remember now," cries the colonel, "that I received a very
+impertinent letter, something like a sermon, against adultery; but I
+did not expect to hear the author own it to my face."
+
+"That brave man then, sir," answered the doctor, "stands before you
+who dares own he wrote that letter, and dares affirm too that it was
+writ on a just and strong foundation. But if the hardness of your
+heart could prevail on you to treat my good intention with contempt
+and scorn, what, pray, could induce you to shew it, nay, to give it
+Mr. Booth? What motive could you have for that, unless you meant to
+insult him, and provoke your rival to give you that opportunity of
+putting him out of the world, which you have since wickedly sought by
+your challenge?"
+
+"I give him the letter!" said the colonel.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the doctor, "he shewed me the letter, and
+affirmed that you gave it him at the masquerade."
+
+"He is a lying rascal, then!" said the colonel very passionately. "I
+scarce took the trouble of reading the letter, and lost it out of my
+pocket."
+
+Here Bath interfered, and explained this affair in the manner in which
+it happened, and with which the reader is already acquainted. He
+concluded by great eulogiums on the performance, and declared it was
+one of the most enthusiastic (meaning, perhaps, ecclesiastic) letters
+that ever was written. "And d--n me," says he, "if I do not respect
+the author with the utmost emphasis of thinking."
+
+The doctor now recollected what had passed with Booth, and perceived
+he had made a mistake of one colonel for another. This he presently
+acknowledged to Colonel James, and said that the mistake had been his,
+and not Booth's.
+
+Bath now collected all his gravity and dignity, as he called it, into
+his countenance, and, addressing himself to James, said, "And was that
+letter writ to you, brother?--I hope you never deserved any suspicion
+of this kind."
+
+"Brother," cries James, "I am accountable to myself for my actions,
+and shall not render an account either to you or to that gentleman."
+
+"As to me, brother," answered Bath, "you say right; but I think this
+gentleman may call you to an account; nay, I think it is his duty so
+to do. And let me tell you, brother, there is one much greater than he
+to whom you must give an account. Mrs. Booth is really a fine woman, a
+lady of most imperious and majestic presence. I have heard you often
+say that you liked her; and, if you have quarrelled with her husband
+upon this account, by all the dignity of man I think you ought to ask
+his pardon."
+
+"Indeed, brother," cries James, "I can bear this no longer--you will
+make me angry presently."
+
+"Angry! brother James," cries Bath; "angry!--I love you, brother, and
+have obligations to you. I will say no more, but I hope you know I do
+not fear making any man angry."
+
+James answered he knew it well; and then the doctor, apprehending that
+while he was stopping up one breach he should make another, presently
+interfered, and turned the discourse back to Booth. "You tell me,
+sir," said he to James, "that my gown is my protection; let it then at
+least protect me where I have had no design in offending--where I have
+consulted your highest welfare, as in truth I did in writing this
+letter. And if you did not in the least deserve any such suspicion,
+still you have no cause for resentment. Caution against sin, even to
+the innocent, can never be unwholesome. But this I assure you,
+whatever anger you have to me, you can have none to poor Booth, who
+was entirely ignorant of my writing to you, and who, I am certain,
+never entertained the least suspicion of you; on the contrary, reveres
+you with the highest esteem, and love, and gratitude. Let me therefore
+reconcile all matters between you, and bring you together before he
+hath even heard of this challenge."
+
+"Brother," cries Bath, "I hope I shall not make you angry--I lie when
+I say so; for I am indifferent to any man's anger. Let me be an
+accessory to what the doctor hath said. I think I may be trusted with
+matters of this nature, and it is a little unkind that, if you
+intended to send a challenge, you did not make me the bearer. But,
+indeed, as to what appears to me, this matter may be very well made
+up; and, as Mr. Booth doth not know of the challenge, I don't see why
+he ever should, any more than your giving him the lie just now; but
+that he shall never have from me, nor, I believe, from this gentleman;
+for, indeed, if he should, it would be incumbent upon him to cut your
+throat."
+
+"Lookee, doctor," said James, "I do not deserve the unkind suspicion
+you just now threw out against me. I never thirsted after any man's
+blood; and, as for what hath passed, since this discovery hath
+happened, I may, perhaps, not think it worth my while to trouble
+myself any more about it."
+
+The doctor was not contented with perhaps, he insisted on a firm
+promise, to be bound with the colonel's honour. This at length he
+obtained, and then departed well satisfied.
+
+In fact, the colonel was ashamed to avow the real cause of the quarrel
+to this good man, or, indeed, to his brother Bath, who would not only
+have condemned him equally with the doctor, but would possibly have
+quarrelled with him on his sister's account, whom, as the reader must
+have observed, he loved above all things; and, in plain truth, though
+the colonel was a brave man, and dared to fight, yet he was altogether
+as willing to let it alone; and this made him now and then give a
+little way to the wrongheadedness of Colonel Bath, who, with all the
+other principles of honour and humanity, made no more of cutting the
+throat of a man upon any of his punctilios than a butcher doth of
+killing sheep.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_What passed at the bailiff's house._
+
+
+The doctor now set forwards to his friend Booth, and, as he past by
+the door of his attorney in the way, he called upon him and took him
+with him.
+
+The meeting between him and Booth need not be expatiated on. The
+doctor was really angry, and, though he deferred his lecture to a more
+proper opportunity, yet, as he was no dissembler (indeed, he was
+incapable of any disguise), he could not put on a show of that
+heartiness with which he had formerly used to receive his friend.
+
+Booth at last began himself in the following manner: "Doctor, I am
+really ashamed to see you; and, if you knew the confusion of my soul
+on this occasion, I am sure you would pity rather than upbraid me; and
+yet I can say with great sincerity I rejoice in this last instance of
+my shame, since I am like to reap the most solid advantage from it."
+The doctor stared at this, and Booth thus proceeded: "Since I have
+been in this wretched place I have employed my time almost entirely in
+reading over a series of sermons which are contained in that book
+(meaning Dr Barrow's works, which then lay on the table before him) in
+proof of the Christian religion; and so good an effect have they had
+upon me, that I shall, I believe, be the better man for them as long
+as I live. I have not a doubt (for I own I have had such) which
+remains now unsatisfied. If ever an angel might be thought to guide
+the pen of a writer, surely the pen of that great and good man had
+such an assistant." The doctor readily concurred in the praises of Dr
+Barrow, and added, "You say you have had your doubts, young gentleman;
+indeed, I did not know that--and, pray, what were your doubts?"
+"Whatever they were, sir," said Booth, "they are now satisfied, as I
+believe those of every impartial and sensible reader will be if he
+will, with due attention, read over these excellent sermons." "Very
+well," answered the doctor, "though I have conversed, I find, with a
+false brother hitherto, I am glad you are reconciled to truth at last,
+and I hope your future faith will have some influence on your future
+life." "I need not tell you, sir," replied Booth, "that will always be
+the case where faith is sincere, as I assure you mine is. Indeed, I
+never was a rash disbeliever; my chief doubt was founded on this--
+that, as men appeared to me to act entirely from their passions, their
+actions could have neither merit nor demerit." "A very worthy
+conclusion truly!" cries the doctor; "but if men act, as I believe
+they do, from their passions, it would be fair to conclude that
+religion to be true which applies immediately to the strongest of
+these passions, hope and fear; chusing rather to rely on its rewards
+and punishments than on that native beauty of virtue which some of the
+antient philosophers thought proper to recommend to their disciples.
+But we will defer this discourse till another opportunity; at present,
+as the devil hath thought proper to set you free, I will try if I can
+prevail on the bailiff to do the same."
+
+The doctor had really not so much money in town as Booth's debt
+amounted to, and therefore, though he would otherwise very willingly
+have paid it, he was forced to give bail to the action. For which
+purpose, as the bailiff was a man of great form, he was obliged to get
+another person to be bound with him. This person, however, the
+attorney undertook to procure, and immediately set out in quest of
+him.
+
+During his absence the bailiff came into the room, and, addressing
+himself to the doctor, said, "I think, sir, your name is Doctor
+Harrison?" The doctor immediately acknowledged his name. Indeed, the
+bailiff had seen it to a bail-bond before. "Why then, sir," said the
+bailiff, "there is a man above in a dying condition that desires the
+favour of speaking to you; I believe he wants you to pray by him."
+
+The bailiff himself was not more ready to execute his office on all
+occasions for his fee than the doctor was to execute his for nothing.
+Without making any further enquiry therefore into the condition of the
+man, he immediately went up-stairs.
+
+As soon as the bailiff returned down-stairs, which was immediately
+after he had lodged the doctor in the room, Booth had the curiosity to
+ask him who this man was. "Why, I don't know much of him," said the
+bailiff; "I had him once in custody before now: I remember it was when
+your honour was here last; and now I remember, too, he said that he
+knew your honour very well. Indeed, I had some opinion of him at that
+time, for he spent his money very much like a gentleman; but I have
+discovered since that he is a poor fellow, and worth nothing. He is a
+mere shy cock; I have had the stuff about me this week, and could
+never get at him till this morning; nay, I don't believe we should
+ever have found out his lodgings had it not been for the attorney that
+was here just now, who gave us information. And so we took him this
+morning by a comical way enough; for we dressed up one of my men in
+women's cloathes, who told the people of the house that he was his
+sister, just come to town--for we were told by the attorney that he
+had such a sister, upon which he was let up-stairs--and so kept the
+door ajar till I and another rushed in. Let me tell you, captain,
+there are as good stratagems made use of in our business as any in the
+army."
+
+"But pray, sir," said Booth, "did not you tell me this morning that
+the poor fellow was desperately wounded; nay, I think you told the
+doctor that he was a dying man?" "I had like to have forgot that,"
+cries the bailiff. "Nothing would serve the gentleman but that he must
+make resistance, and he gave my man a blow with a stick; but I soon
+quieted him by giving him a wipe or two with a hanger. Not that, I
+believe, I have done his business neither; but the fellow is faint-
+hearted, and the surgeon, I fancy, frightens him more than he need.
+But, however, let the worst come to the worst, the law is all on my
+side, and it is only _se fendendo_. The attorney that was here just
+now told me so, and bid me fear nothing; for that he would stand my
+friend, and undertake the cause; and he is a devilish good one at a
+defence at the Old Bailey, I promise you. I have known him bring off
+several that everybody thought would have been hanged."
+
+"But suppose you should be acquitted," said Booth, "would not the
+blood of this poor wretch lie a little heavy at your heart?"
+
+"Why should it, captain?" said the bailiff. "Is not all done in a
+lawful way? Why will people resist the law when they know the
+consequence? To be sure, if a man was to kill another in an unlawful
+manner as it were, and what the law calls murder, that is quite and
+clear another thing. I should not care to be convicted of murder any
+more than another man. Why now, captain, you have been abroad in the
+wars they tell me, and to be sure must have killed men in your time.
+Pray, was you ever afraid afterwards of seeing their ghosts?"
+
+"That is a different affair," cries Booth; "but I would not kill a man
+in cold blood for all the world."
+
+"There is no difference at all, as I can see," cries the bailiff. "One
+is as much in the way of business as the other. When gentlemen behave
+themselves like unto gentlemen I know how to treat them as such as
+well as any officer the king hath; and when they do not, why they must
+take what follows, and the law doth not call it murder."
+
+Booth very plainly saw that the bailiff had squared his conscience
+exactly according to law, and that he could not easily subvert his way
+of thinking. He therefore gave up the cause, and desired the bailiff
+to expedite the bonds, which he promised to do; saying, he hoped he
+had used him with proper civility this time, if he had not the last,
+and that he should be remembered for it.
+
+But before we close this chapter we shall endeavour to satisfy an
+enquiry, which may arise in our most favourite readers (for so are the
+most curious), how it came to pass that such a person as was Doctor
+Harrison should employ such a fellow as this Murphy?
+
+The case then was thus: this Murphy had been clerk to an attorney in
+the very same town in which the doctor lived, and, when he was out of
+his time, had set up with a character fair enough, and had married a
+maid-servant of Mrs. Harris, by which means he had all the business to
+which that lady and her friends, in which number was the doctor, could
+recommend him.
+
+Murphy went on with his business, and thrived very well, till he
+happened to make an unfortunate slip, in which he was detected by a
+brother of the same calling. But, though we call this by the gentle
+name of a slip, in respect to its being so extremely common, it was a
+matter in which the law, if it had ever come to its ears, would have
+passed a very severe censure, being, indeed, no less than perjury and
+subornation of perjury.
+
+This brother attorney, being a very good-natured man, and unwilling to
+bespatter his own profession, and considering, perhaps, that the
+consequence did in no wise affect the public, who had no manner of
+interest in the alternative whether A., in whom the right was, or B.,
+to whom Mr. Murphy, by the means aforesaid, had transferred it,
+succeeded in an action; we mention this particular, because, as this
+brother attorney was a very violent party man, and a professed
+stickler for the public, to suffer any injury to have been done to
+that, would have been highly inconsistent with his principles.
+
+This gentleman, therefore, came to Mr. Murphy, and, after shewing him
+that he had it in his power to convict him of the aforesaid crime,
+very generously told him that he had not the least delight in bringing
+any man to destruction, nor the least animosity against him. All that
+he insisted upon was, that he would not live in the same town or
+county with one who had been guilty of such an action. He then told
+Mr. Murphy that he would keep the secret on two conditions; the one
+was, that he immediately quitted that country; the other was, that he
+should convince him he deserved this kindness by his gratitude, and
+that Murphy should transfer to the other all the business which he
+then had in those parts, and to which he could possibly recommend him.
+
+It is the observation of a very wise man, that it is a very common
+exercise of wisdom in this world, of two evils to chuse the least. The
+reader, therefore, cannot doubt but that Mr. Murphy complied with the
+alternative proposed by his kind brother, and accepted the terms on
+which secrecy was to be obtained.
+
+This happened while the doctor was abroad, and with all this, except
+the departure of Murphy, not only the doctor, but the whole town (save
+his aforesaid brother alone), were to this day unacquainted.
+
+The doctor, at his return, hearing that Mr. Murphy was gone, applied
+to the other attorney in his affairs, who still employed this Murphy
+as his agent in town, partly, perhaps, out of good will to him, and
+partly from the recommendation of Miss Harris; for, as he had married
+a servant of the family, and a particular favourite of hers, there can
+be no wonder that she, who was entirely ignorant of the affair above
+related, as well as of his conduct in town, should continue her favour
+to him. It will appear, therefore, I apprehend, no longer strange that
+the doctor, who had seen this man but three times since his removal to
+town, and then conversed with him only on business, should remain as
+ignorant of his life and character, as a man generally is of the
+character of the hackney-coachman who drives him. Nor doth it reflect
+more on the honour or understanding of the doctor, under these
+circumstances, to employ Murphy, than it would if he had been driven
+about the town by a thief or a murderer.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_What passed between the doctor and the sick man._
+
+
+We left the doctor in the last chapter with the wounded man, to whom
+the doctor, in a very gentle voice, spoke as follows:--
+
+"I am sorry, friend, to see you in this situation, and am very ready
+to give you any comfort or assistance within my power."
+
+"I thank you kindly, doctor," said the man. "Indeed I should not have
+presumed to have sent to you had I not known your character; for,
+though I believe I am not at all known to you, I have lived many years
+in that town where you yourself had a house; my name is Robinson. I
+used to write for the attorneys in those parts, and I have been
+employed on your business in my time."
+
+"I do not recollect you nor your name," said the doctor; "but
+consider, friend, your moments are precious, and your business, as I
+am informed, is to offer up your prayers to that great Being before
+whom you are shortly to appear. But first let me exhort you earnestly
+to a most serious repentance of all your sins."
+
+"O doctor!" said the man; "pray; what is your opinion of a death-bed
+repentance?"
+
+"If repentance is sincere," cries the doctor, "I hope, through the
+mercies and merits of our most powerful and benign Intercessor, it
+will never come too late."
+
+"But do not you think, sir," cries the man, "that, in order to obtain
+forgiveness of any great sin we have committed, by an injury done to
+our neighbours, it is necessary, as far as in us lies, to make all the
+amends we can to the party injured, and to undo, if possible, the
+injury we have done?"
+
+"Most undoubtedly," cries the doctor; "our pretence to repentance
+would otherwise be gross hypocrisy, and an impudent attempt to deceive
+and impose upon our Creator himself."
+
+"Indeed, I am of the same opinion," cries the penitent; "and I think
+further, that this is thrown in my way, and hinted to me by that great
+Being; for an accident happened to me yesterday, by which, as things
+have fallen out since, I think I plainly discern the hand of
+Providence. I went yesterday, sir, you must know, to a pawnbroker's,
+to pawn the last moveable, which, except the poor cloathes you see on
+my back, I am worth in the world. While I was there a young lady came
+in to pawn her picture. She had disguised herself so much, and pulled
+her hood so over her face, that I did not know her while she stayed,
+which was scarce three minutes. As soon as she was gone the
+pawnbroker, taking the picture in his hand, cried out, _Upon my
+word, this is the handsomest face I ever saw in my life!_ I desired
+him to let me look on the picture, which he readily did--and I no
+sooner cast my eyes upon it, than the strong resemblance struck me,
+and I knew it to be Mrs. Booth."
+
+"Mrs. Booth! what Mrs. Booth?" cries the doctor.
+
+"Captain Booth's lady, the captain who is now below," said the other.
+
+"How?" cries the doctor with great impetuosity.
+
+"Have patience," said the man, "and you shall hear all. I expressed
+some surprize to the pawnbroker, and asked the lady's name. He
+answered, that he knew not her name; but that she was some undone
+wretch, who had the day before left all her cloathes with him in pawn.
+My guilt immediately flew in my face, and told me I had been accessory
+to this lady's undoing. The sudden shock so affected me, that, had it
+not been for a dram which the pawnbroker gave me, I believe I should
+have sunk on the spot."
+
+"Accessary to her undoing! how accessary?" said the doctor. "Pray tell
+me, for I am impatient to hear."
+
+"I will tell you all as fast as I can," cries the sick man. "You know,
+good doctor, that Mrs. Harris of our town had two daughters, this Mrs.
+Booth and another. Now, sir, it seems the other daughter had, some way
+or other, disobliged her mother a little before the old lady died;
+therefore she made a will, and left all her fortune, except one
+thousand pound, to Mrs. Booth; to which will Mr. Murphy, myself, and
+another who is now dead, were the witnesses. Mrs. Harris afterwards
+died suddenly; upon which it was contrived by her other daughter and
+Mr. Murphy to make a new will, in which Mrs. Booth had a legacy of ten
+pound, and all the rest was given to the other. To this will, Murphy,
+myself, and the same third person, again set our hands."
+
+"Good Heaven! how wonderful is thy providence!" cries the doctor--
+"Murphy, say you?"
+
+"He himself, sir," answered Robinson; "Murphy, who is the greatest
+rogue, I believe, now in the world."
+
+"Pray, sir, proceed," cries the doctor.
+
+"For this service, sir," said Robinson, "myself and the third person,
+one Carter, received two hundred pound each. What reward Murphy
+himself had I know not. Carter died soon afterwards; and from that
+time, at several payments, I have by threats extorted above a hundred
+pound more. And this, sir, is the whole truth, which I am ready to
+testify if it would please Heaven to prolong my life."
+
+"I hope it will," cries the doctor; "but something must be done for
+fear of accidents. I will send to counsel immediately to know how to
+secure your testimony.--Whom can I get to send?--Stay, ay--he will do
+--but I know not where his house or his chambers are. I will go myself
+--but I may be wanted here."
+
+While the doctor was in this violent agitation the surgeon made his
+appearance. The doctor stood still in a meditating posture, while the
+surgeon examined his patient. After which the doctor begged him to
+declare his opinion, and whether he thought the wounded man in any
+immediate danger of death. "I do not know," answered the surgeon,
+"what you call immediate. He may live several days--nay, he may
+recover. It is impossible to give any certain opinion in these cases."
+He then launched forth into a set of terms which the doctor, with all
+his scholarship, could not understand. To say the truth, many of them
+were not to be found in any dictionary or lexicon.
+
+One discovery, however, the doctor made, and that was, that the
+surgeon was a very ignorant, conceited fellow, and knew nothing of his
+profession. He resolved, therefore, to get better advice for the sick;
+but this he postponed at present, and, applying himself to the
+surgeon, said, "He should be very much obliged to him if he knew where
+to find such a counsellor, and would fetch him thither. I should not
+ask such a favour of you, sir," says the doctor, "if it was not on
+business of the last importance, or if I could find any other
+messenger."
+
+"I fetch, sir!" said the surgeon very angrily. "Do you take me for a
+footman or a porter? I don't know who you are; but I believe you are
+full as proper to go on such an errand as I am." (For as the doctor,
+who was just come off his journey, was very roughly dressed, the
+surgeon held him in no great respect.) The surgeon then called aloud
+from the top of the stairs, "Let my coachman draw up," and strutted
+off without any ceremony, telling his patient he would call again the
+next day.
+
+At this very instant arrived Murphy with the other bail, and, finding
+Booth alone, he asked the bailiff at the door what was become of the
+doctor? "Why, the doctor," answered he, "is above-stairs, praying with
+-----." "How!" cries Murphy. "How came you not to carry him directly
+to Newgate, as you promised me?" "Why, because he was wounded," cries
+the bailiff. "I thought it was charity to take care of him; and,
+besides, why should one make more noise about the matter than is
+necessary?" "And Doctor Harrison with him?" said Murphy. "Yes, he is,"
+said the bailiff; "he desired to speak with the doctor very much, and
+they have been praying together almost this hour." "All is up and
+undone!" cries Murphy. "Let me come by, I have thought of something
+which I must do immediately."
+
+Now, as by means of the surgeon's leaving the door open the doctor
+heard Murphy's voice naming Robinson peevishly, he drew softly to the
+top of the stairs, where he heard the foregoing dialogue; and as soon
+as Murphy had uttered his last words, and was moving downwards, the
+doctor immediately sallied from his post, running as fast as he could,
+and crying, Stop the villain! stop the thief!
+
+The attorney wanted no better hint to accelerate his pace; and, having
+the start of the doctor, got downstairs, and out into the street; but
+the doctor was so close at his heels, and being in foot the nimbler of
+the two, he soon overtook him, and laid hold of him, as he would have
+done on either Broughton or Slack in the same cause.
+
+This action in the street, accompanied with the frequent cry of Stop
+thief by the doctor during the chase, presently drew together a large
+mob, who began, as is usual, to enter immediately upon business, and
+to make strict enquiry into the matter, in order to proceed to do
+justice in their summary way.
+
+Murphy, who knew well the temper of the mob, cried out, "If you are a
+bailiff, shew me your writ. Gentlemen, he pretends to arrest me here
+without a writ."
+
+Upon this, one of the sturdiest and forwardest of the mob, and who by
+a superior strength of body and of lungs presided in this assembly,
+declared he would suffer no such thing. "D--n me," says he, "away to
+the pump with the catchpole directly--shew me your writ, or let the
+gentleman go--you shall not arrest a man contrary to law."
+
+He then laid his hands on the doctor, who, still fast griping the
+attorney, cried out, "He is a villain--I am no bailiff, but a
+clergyman, and this lawyer is guilty of forgery, and hath ruined a
+poor family."
+
+"How!" cries the spokesman--"a lawyer!--that alters the case."
+
+"Yes, faith," cries another of the mob, "it is lawyer Murphy. I know
+him very well."
+
+"And hath he ruined a poor family?--like enough, faith, if he's a
+lawyer. Away with him to the justice immediately."
+
+The bailiff now came up, desiring to know what was the matter; to whom
+Doctor Harrison answered that he had arrested that villain for a
+forgery. "How can you arrest him?" cries the bailiff; "you are no
+officer, nor have any warrant. Mr. Murphy is a gentleman, and he shall
+be used as such."
+
+"Nay, to be sure," cries the spokesman, "there ought to be a warrant;
+that's the truth on't."
+
+"There needs no warrant," cries the doctor. "I accuse him of felony;
+and I know so much of the law of England, that any man may arrest a
+felon without any warrant whatever. This villain hath undone a poor
+family; and I will die on the spot before I part with him."
+
+"If the law be so," cries the orator, "that is another matter. And to
+be sure, to ruin a poor man is the greatest of sins. And being a
+lawyer too makes it so much the worse. He shall go before the justice,
+d--n me if he shan't go before the justice! I says the word, he
+shall."
+
+"I say he is a gentleman, and shall be used according to law," cries
+the bailiff; "and, though you are a clergyman," said he to Harrison,
+"you don't shew yourself as one by your actions."
+
+"That's a bailiff," cries one of the mob: "one lawyer will always
+stand by another; but I think the clergyman is a very good man, and
+acts becoming a clergyman, to stand by the poor."
+
+At which words the mob all gave a great shout, and several cried out,
+"Bring him along, away with him to the justice!"
+
+And now a constable appeared, and with an authoritative voice declared
+what he was, produced his staff, and demanded the peace.
+
+The doctor then delivered his prisoner over to the officer, and
+charged him with felony; the constable received him, the attorney
+submitted, the bailiff was hushed, and the waves of the mob
+immediately subsided.
+
+The doctor now balanced with himself how he should proceed: at last he
+determined to leave Booth a little longer in captivity, and not to
+quit sight of Murphy before he had lodged him safe with a magistrate.
+They then all moved forwards to the justice; the constable and his
+prisoner marching first, the doctor and the bailiff following next,
+and about five thousand mob (for no less number were assembled in a
+very few minutes) following in the procession.
+
+They found the magistrate just sitting down to his dinner; however,
+when he was acquainted with the doctor's profession, he immediately
+admitted him, and heard his business; which he no sooner perfectly
+understood, with all its circumstances, than he resolved, though it
+was then very late, and he had been fatigued all the morning with
+public business, to postpone all refreshment till he had discharged
+his duty. He accordingly adjourned the prisoner and his cause to the
+bailiff's house, whither he himself, with the doctor, immediately
+repaired, and whither the attorney was followed by a much larger
+number of attendants than he had been honoured with before.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_In which the history draws towards a conclusion._
+
+
+Nothing could exceed the astonishment of Booth at the behaviour of the
+doctor at the time when he sallied forth in pursuit of the attorney;
+for which it was so impossible for him to account in any manner
+whatever. He remained a long time in the utmost torture of mind, till
+at last the bailif's wife came to him, and asked him if the doctor was
+not a madman? and, in truth, he could hardly defend him from that
+imputation.
+
+While he was in this perplexity the maid of the house brought him a
+message from Robinson, desiring the favour of seeing him above-stairs.
+With this he immediately complied.
+
+When these two were alone together, and the key turned on them (for
+the bailiff's wife was a most careful person, and never omitted that
+ceremony in the absence of her husband, having always at her tongue's
+end that excellent proverb of "Safe bind, safe find"), Robinson,
+looking stedfastly upon Booth, said, "I believe, sir, you scarce
+remember me."
+
+Booth answered that he thought he had seen his face somewhere before,
+but could not then recollect when or where.
+
+"Indeed, sir," answered the man, "it was a place which no man can
+remember with pleasure. But do you not remember, a few weeks ago, that
+you had the misfortune to be in a certain prison in this town, where
+you lost a trifling sum at cards to a fellow-prisoner?"
+
+This hint sufficiently awakened Booth's memory, and he now recollected
+the features of his old friend Robinson. He answered him a little
+surlily, "I know you now very well, but I did not imagine you would
+ever have reminded me of that transaction."
+
+"Alas, sir!" answered Robinson, "whatever happened then was very
+trifling compared to the injuries I have done you; but if my life be
+spared long enough I will now undo it all: and, as I have been one of
+your worst enemies, I will now be one of your best friends."
+
+He was just entering upon his story when a noise was heard below which
+might be almost compared to what have been heard in Holland when the
+dykes have given way, and the ocean in an inundation breaks in upon
+the land. It seemed, indeed, as if the whole world was bursting into
+the house at once.
+
+Booth was a man of great firmness of mind, and he had need of it all
+at this instant. As for poor Robinson, the usual concomitants of guilt
+attended him, and he began to tremble in a violent manner.
+
+The first person who ascended the stairs was the doctor, who no sooner
+saw Booth than he ran to him and embraced him, crying, "My child, I
+wish you joy with all my heart. Your sufferings are all at an end, and
+Providence hath done you the justice at last which it will, one day or
+other, render to all men. You will hear all presently; but I can now
+only tell you that your sister is discovered and the estate is your
+own."
+
+Booth was in such confusion that he scarce made any answer, and now
+appeared the justice and his clerk, and immediately afterwards the
+constable with his prisoner, the bailiff, and as many more as could
+possibly crowd up-stairs.
+
+The doctor now addressed himself to the sick man, and desired him to
+repeat the same information before the justice which he had made
+already; to which Robinson readily consented.
+
+While the clerk was taking down the information, the attorney
+expressed a very impatient desire to send instantly for his clerk, and
+expressed so much uneasiness at the confusion in which he had left his
+papers at home, that a thought suggested itself to the doctor that, if
+his house was searched, some lights and evidence relating to this
+affair would certainly be found; he therefore desired the justice to
+grant a search-warrant immediately to search his house.
+
+The justice answered that he had no such power; that, if there was any
+suspicion of stolen goods, he could grant a warrant to search for
+them.
+
+"How, sir!" said the doctor, "can you grant a warrant to search a
+man's house for a silver tea-spoon, and not in a case like this, where
+a man is robbed of his whole estate?"
+
+"Hold, sir," says the sick man; "I believe I can answer that point;
+for I can swear he hath several title-deeds of the estate now in his
+possession, which I am sure were stolen from the right owner."
+
+The justice still hesitated. He said title-deeds savoured of the
+Realty, and it was not felony to steal them. If, indeed, they were
+taken away in a box, then it would be felony to steal the box.
+
+"Savour of the Realty! Savour of the f--talty," said the doctor. "I
+never heard such incomprehensible nonsense. This is impudent, as well
+as childish trifling with the lives and properties of men."
+
+"Well, sir," said Robinson, "I now am sure I can do his business; for
+I know he hath a silver cup in his possession which is the property of
+this gentleman (meaning Booth), and how he got it but by stealth let
+him account if he can."
+
+"That will do," cries the justice with great pleasure. "That will do;
+and if you will charge him on oath with that, I will instantly grant
+my warrant to search his house for it." "And I will go and see it
+executed," cries the doctor; for it was a maxim of his, that no man
+could descend below himself in doing any act which may contribute to
+protect an innocent person, or to bring a rogue to the gallows.
+
+The oath was instantly taken, the warrant signed, and the doctor
+attended the constable in the execution of it.
+
+The clerk then proceeded in taking the information of Robinson, and
+had just finished it, when the doctor returned with the utmost joy in
+his countenance, and declared that he had sufficient evidence of the
+fact in his possession. He had, indeed, two or three letters from Miss
+Harris in answer to the attorney's frequent demands of money for
+secrecy, that fully explained the whole villany.
+
+The justice now asked the prisoner what he had to say for himself, or
+whether he chose to say anything in his own defence.
+
+"Sir," said the attorney, with great confidence, "I am not to defend
+myself here. It will be of no service to me; for I know you neither
+can nor will discharge me. But I am extremely innocent of all this
+matter, as I doubt not but to make appear to the satisfaction of a
+court of justice."
+
+The legal previous ceremonies were then gone through of binding over
+the prosecutor, &c., and then the attorney was committed to Newgate,
+whither he was escorted amidst the acclamations of the populace.
+
+When Murphy was departed, and a little calm restored in the house, the
+justice made his compliments of congratulation to Booth, who, as well
+as he could in his present tumult of joy, returned his thanks to both
+the magistrate and the doctor. They were now all preparing to depart,
+when Mr. Bondum stept up to Booth, and said, "Hold, sir, you have
+forgot one thing--you have not given bail yet."
+
+This occasioned some distress at this time, for the attorney's friend
+was departed; but when the justice heard this, he immediately offered
+himself as the other bondsman, and thus ended the affair.
+
+It was now past six o'clock, and none of the gentlemen had yet dined.
+They very readily, therefore, accepted the magistrate's invitation,
+and went all together to his house.
+
+And now the very first thing that was done, even before they sat down
+to dinner, was to dispatch a messenger to one of the best surgeons in
+town to take care of Robinson, and another messenger to Booth's
+lodgings to prevent Amelia's concern at their staying so long.
+
+The latter, however, was to little purpose; for Amelia's patience had
+been worn out before, and she had taken a hackney-coach and driven to
+the bailiff's, where she arrived a little after the departure of her
+husband, and was thence directed to the justice's.
+
+Though there was no kind of reason for Amelia's fright at hearing that
+her husband and Doctor Harrison were gone before the justice, and
+though she indeed imagined that they were there in the light of
+complainants, not of offenders, yet so tender were her fears for her
+husband, and so much had her gentle spirits been lately agitated, that
+she had a thousand apprehensions of she knew not what. When she
+arrived, therefore, at the house, she ran directly into the room where
+all the company were at dinner, scarce knowing what she did or whither
+she was going.
+
+She found her husband in such a situation, and discovered such
+chearfulness in his countenance, that so violent a turn was given to
+her spirits that she was just able, with the assistance of a glass of
+water, to support herself. She soon, however, recovered her calmness,
+and in a little time began to eat what might indeed be almost called
+her breakfast.
+
+The justice now wished her joy of what had happened that day, for
+which she kindly thanked him, apprehending he meant the liberty of her
+husband. His worship might perhaps have explained himself more largely
+had not the doctor given him a timely wink; for this wise and good man
+was fearful of making such a discovery all at once to Amelia, lest it
+should overpower her, and luckily the justice's wife was not well
+enough acquainted with the matter to say anything more on it than
+barely to assure the lady that she joined in her husband's
+congratulation.
+
+Amelia was then in a clean white gown, which she had that day
+redeemed, and was, indeed, dressed all over with great neatness and
+exactness; with the glow therefore which arose in her features from
+finding her husband released from his captivity, she made so charming
+a figure, that she attracted the eyes of the magistrate and of his
+wife, and they both agreed when they were alone that they had never
+seen so charming a creature; nay, Booth himself afterwards told her
+that he scarce ever remembered her to look so extremely beautiful as
+she did that evening.
+
+Whether Amelia's beauty, or the reflexion on the remarkable act of
+justice he had performed, or whatever motive filled the magistrate
+with extraordinary good humour, and opened his heart and cellars, I
+will not determine; but he gave them so hearty a welcome, and they
+were all so pleased with each other, that Amelia, for that one night,
+trusted the care of her children to the woman where they lodged, nor
+did the company rise from table till the clock struck eleven.
+
+They then separated. Amelia and Booth, having been set down at their
+lodgings, retired into each other's arms; nor did Booth that evening,
+by the doctor's advice, mention one word of the grand affair to his
+wife.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_Thus this history draws nearer to a conclusion._
+
+
+In the morning early Amelia received the following letter from Mrs.
+Atkinson:
+
+"The surgeon of the regiment, to which the captain my husband lately
+belonged, and who came this evening to see the captain, hath almost
+frightened me out of my wits by a strange story of your husband being
+committed to prison by a justice of peace for forgery. For Heaven's
+sake send me the truth. If my husband can be of any service, weak as
+he is, he will be carried in a chair to serve a brother officer for
+whom he hath a regard, which I need not mention. Or if the sum of
+twenty pound will be of any service to you, I will wait upon you with
+it the moment I can get my cloaths on, the morning you receive this;
+for it is too late to send to-night. The captain begs his hearty
+service and respects, and believe me,
+
+      "Dear Madam,
+          Your ever affectionate friend,
+             and humble servant,
+                F. ATKINSON."
+
+When Amelia read this letter to Booth they were both equally
+surprized, she at the commitment for forgery, and he at seeing such a
+letter from Mrs. Atkinson; for he was a stranger yet to the
+reconciliation that had happened.
+
+Booth's doubts were first satisfied by Amelia, from which he received
+great pleasure; for he really had a very great affection and fondness
+for Mr. Atkinson, who, indeed, so well deserved it. "Well, my dear,"
+said he to Amelia, smiling, "shall we accept this generous offer?"
+
+"O fy! no, certainly," answered she.
+
+"Why not?" cries Booth; "it is but a trifle; and yet it will be of
+great service to us."
+
+"But consider, my dear," said she, "how ill these poor people can
+spare it."
+
+"They can spare it for a little while," said Booth, "and we shall soon
+pay it them again."
+
+"When, my dear?" said Amelia. "Do, my dear Will, consider our wretched
+circumstances. I beg you let us go into the country immediately, and
+live upon bread and water till Fortune pleases to smile upon us."
+
+"I am convinced that day is not far off," said Booth. "However, give
+me leave to send an answer to Mrs. Atkinson, that we shall be glad of
+her company immediately to breakfast."
+
+"You know I never contradict you," said she, "but I assure you it is
+contrary to my inclinations to take this money."
+
+"Well, suffer me," cries he, "to act this once contrary to your
+inclinations." He then writ a short note to Mrs. Atkinson, and
+dispatched it away immediately; which when he had done, Amelia said,
+"I shall be glad of Mrs. Atkinson's company to breakfast; but yet I
+wish you would oblige me in refusing this money. Take five guineas
+only. That is indeed such a sum as, if we never should pay it, would
+sit light on my mind. The last persons in the world from whom I would
+receive favours of that sort are the poor and generous."
+
+"You can receive favours only from the generous," cries Booth; "and,
+to be plain with you, there are very few who are generous that are not
+poor."
+
+"What think you," said she, "of Dr Harrison?"
+
+"I do assure you," said Booth, "he is far from being rich. The doctor
+hath an income of little more than six hundred pound a-year, and I am
+convinced he gives away four of it. Indeed, he is one of the best
+economists in the world: but yet I am positive he never was at any
+time possessed of five hundred pound, since he hath been a man.
+Consider, dear Emily, the late obligations we have to this gentleman;
+it would be unreasonable to expect more, at least at present; my half-
+pay is mortgaged for a year to come. How then shall we live?"
+
+"By our labour," answered she; "I am able to labour, and I am sure I
+am not ashamed of it."
+
+"And do you really think you can support such a life?"
+
+"I am sure I could be happy in it," answered Amelia. "And why not I as
+well as a thousand others, who have not the happiness of such a
+husband to make life delicious? why should I complain of my hard fate
+while so many who are much poorer than I enjoy theirs? Am I of a
+superior rank of being to the wife of the honest labourer? am I not
+partaker of one common nature with her?"
+
+"My angel," cries Booth, "it delights me to hear you talk thus, and
+for a reason you little guess; for I am assured that one who can so
+heroically endure adversity, will bear prosperity with equal greatness
+of soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former, is not
+likely to be transported with the latter."
+
+"If it had pleased Heaven," cried she, "to have tried me, I think, at
+least I hope, I should have preserved my humility."
+
+"Then, my dear," said he, "I will relate you a dream I had last night.
+You know you lately mentioned a dream of yours."
+
+"Do so," said she; "I am attentive."
+
+"I dreamt," said he, "this night, that we were in the most miserable
+situation imaginable; indeed, in the situation we were yesterday
+morning, or rather worse; that I was laid in a prison for debt, and
+that you wanted a morsel of bread to feed the mouths of your hungry
+children. At length (for nothing you know is quicker than the
+transition in dreams) Dr Harrison methought came to me, with
+chearfulness and joy in his countenance. The prison-doors immediately
+flew open, and Dr Harrison introduced you, gayly though not richly
+dressed. That you gently chid me for staying so long. All on a sudden
+appeared a coach with four horses to it, in which was a maid-servant
+with our two children. We both immediately went into the coach, and,
+taking our leave of the doctor, set out towards your country-house;
+for yours I dreamt it was. I only ask you now, if this was real, and
+the transition almost as sudden, could you support it?"
+
+Amelia was going to answer, when Mrs. Atkinson came into the room, and
+after very little previous ceremony, presented Booth with a bank-note,
+which he received of her, saying he would very soon repay it; a
+promise that a little offended Amelia, as she thought he had no chance
+of keeping it.
+
+The doctor presently arrived, and the company sat down to breakfast,
+during which Mrs. Atkinson entertained them with the history of the
+doctors that had attended her husband, by whose advice Atkinson was
+recovered from everything but the weakness which his distemper had
+occasioned.
+
+When the tea-table was removed Booth told the doctor that he had
+acquainted his wife with a dream he had last night. "I dreamt,
+doctor," said he, "that she was restored to her estate."
+
+"Very well," said the doctor; "and if I am to be the Oneiropolus, I
+believe the dream will come to pass. To say the truth, I have rather a
+better opinion of dreams than Horace had. Old Homer says they come
+from Jupiter; and as to your dream, I have often had it in my waking
+thoughts, that some time or other that roguery (for so I was always
+convinced it was) would be brought to light; for the same Homer says,
+as you, madam (meaning Mrs. Atkinson), very well know,
+
+[Greek verses]
+
+[Footnote: "If Jupiter doth not immediately execute his
+vengeance, he will however execute it at last; and their
+transgressions shall fall heavily on their own heads, and on their
+wives and children."]
+
+"I have no Greek ears, sir," said Mrs. Atkinson. "I believe I could
+understand it in the Delphin Homer."
+
+"I wish," cries he, "my dear child (to Amelia), you would read a
+little in the Delphin Aristotle, or else in some Christian divine, to
+learn a doctrine which you will one day have a use for. I mean to bear
+the hardest of all human conflicts, and support with an even temper,
+and without any violent transports of mind, a sudden gust of
+prosperity."
+
+"Indeed," cries Amelia, "I should almost think my husband and you,
+doctor, had some very good news to tell me, by your using, both of
+you, the same introduction. As far as I know myself, I think I can
+answer I can support any degree of prosperity, and I think I yesterday
+shewed I could: for I do assure you, it is not in the power of fortune
+to try me with such another transition from grief to joy, as I
+conceived from seeing my husband in prison and at liberty."
+
+"Well, you are a good girl," cries the doctor, "and after I have put
+on my spectacles I will try you."
+
+The doctor then took out a newspaper, and read as follows:
+
+"'Yesterday one Murphy, an eminent attorney-at-law, was committed to
+Newgate for the forgery of a will under which an estate hath been for
+many years detained from the right owner.'
+
+"Now in this paragraph there is something very remarkable, and that
+is--that it is true: but _opus est explanatu_. In the Delphin edition
+of this newspaper there is the following note upon the words right
+owner:--'The right owner of this estate is a young lady of the highest
+merit, whose maiden name was Harris, and who some time since was
+married to an idle fellow, one Lieutenant Booth. And the best
+historians assure us that letters from the elder sister of this lady,
+which manifestly prove the forgery and clear up the whole affair, are
+in the hands of an old Parson called Doctor Harrison.'"
+
+"And is this really true?" cries Amelia.
+
+"Yes, really and sincerely," cries the doctor. "The whole estate; for
+your mother left it you all, and is as surely yours as if you was
+already in possession."
+
+"Gracious Heaven!" cries she, falling on her knees, "I thank you!" And
+then starting up, she ran to her husband, and, embracing him, cried,
+"My dear love, I wish you joy; and I ought in gratitude to wish it
+you; for you are the cause of mine. It is upon yours and my children's
+account that I principally rejoice."
+
+Mrs. Atkinson rose from her chair, and jumped about the room for joy,
+repeating,
+
+      _Turne, quod oplanti divum promittere nemo
+         Auderet, volvenda dies, en, attulit ultro._
+
+[Footnote:   "What none of all the Gods could grant thy vows,
+              That, Turnus, this auspicious day bestows."]
+
+Amelia now threw herself into a chair, complained she was a little
+faint, and begged a glass of water. The doctor advised her to be
+blooded; but she refused, saying she required a vent of another kind.
+She then desired her children to be brought to her, whom she
+immediately caught in her arms, and, having profusely cried over them
+for several minutes, declared she was easy. After which she soon
+regained her usual temper and complexion.
+
+That day they dined together, and in the afternoon they all, except
+the doctor, visited Captain Atkinson; he repaired to the bailiff's
+house to visit the sick man, whom he found very chearful, the surgeon
+having assured him that he was in no danger.
+
+The doctor had a long spiritual discourse with Robinson, who assured
+him that he sincerely repented of his past life, that he was resolved
+to lead his future days in a different manner, and to make what amends
+he could for his sins to the society, by bringing one of the greatest
+rogues in it to justice. There was a circumstance which much pleased
+the doctor, and made him conclude that, however Robinson had been
+corrupted by his old master, he had naturally a good disposition. This
+was, that Robinson declared he was chiefly induced to the discovery by
+what had happened at the pawnbroker's, and by the miseries which he
+there perceived he had been instrumental in bringing on Booth and his
+family.
+
+The next day Booth and his wife, at the doctor's instance, dined with
+Colonel James and his lady, where they were received with great
+civility, and all matters were accommodated without Booth ever knowing
+a syllable of the challenge even to this day.
+
+The doctor insisted very strongly on having Miss Harris taken into
+custody, and said, if she was his sister, he would deliver her to
+justice. He added besides, that it was impossible to skreen her and
+carry on the prosecution, or, indeed, recover the estate. Amelia at
+last begged the delay of one day only, in which time she wrote a
+letter to her sister, informing her of the discovery, and the danger
+in which she stood, and begged her earnestly to make her escape, with
+many assurances that she would never suffer her to know any distress.
+This letter she sent away express, and it had the desired effect; for
+Miss Harris, having received sufficient information from the attorney
+to the same purpose, immediately set out for Poole, and from thence to
+France, carrying with her all her money, most of her cloaths, and some
+few jewels. She had, indeed, packed up plate and jewels to the value
+of two thousand pound and upwards. But Booth, to whom Amelia
+communicated the letter, prevented her by ordering the man that went
+with the express (who had been a serjeant of the foot-guards
+recommended to him by Atkinson) to suffer the lady to go whither she
+pleased, but not to take anything with her except her cloaths, which
+he was carefully to search. These orders were obeyed punctually, and
+with these she was obliged to comply.
+
+Two days after the bird was flown a warrant from the lord chief
+justice arrived to take her up, the messenger of which returned with
+the news of her flight, highly to the satisfaction of Amelia, and
+consequently of Booth, and, indeed, not greatly to the grief of the
+doctor.
+
+About a week afterwards Booth and Amelia, with their children, and
+Captain Atkinson and his lady, all set forward together for Amelia's
+house, where they arrived amidst the acclamations of all the
+neighbours, and every public demonstration of joy.
+
+They found the house ready prepared to receive them by Atkinson's
+friend the old serjeant, and a good dinner prepared for them by
+Amelia's old nurse, who was addressed with the utmost duty by her son
+and daughter, most affectionately caressed by Booth and his wife, and
+by Amelia's absolute command seated next to herself at the table. At
+which, perhaps, were assembled some of the best and happiest people
+then in the world.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_In which the history is concluded._
+
+
+Having brought our history to a conclusion, as to those points in
+which we presume our reader was chiefly interested, in the foregoing
+chapter, we shall in this, by way of epilogue, endeavour to satisfy
+his curiosity as to what hath since happened to the principal
+personages of whom we have treated in the foregoing pages.
+
+Colonel James and his lady, after living in a polite manner for many
+years together, at last agreed to live in as polite a manner asunder.
+The colonel hath kept Miss Matthews ever since, and is at length grown
+to doat on her (though now very disagreeable in her person, and
+immensely fat) to such a degree, that he submits to be treated by her
+in the most tyrannical manner.
+
+He allows his lady eight hundred pound a-year, with which she divides
+her time between Tunbridge, Bath, and London, and passes about nine
+hours in the twenty-four at cards. Her income is lately increased by
+three thousand pound left her by her brother Colonel Bath, who was
+killed in a duel about six years ago by a gentleman who told the
+colonel he differed from him in opinion.
+
+The noble peer and Mrs. Ellison have been both dead several years, and
+both of the consequences of their favourite vices; Mrs. Ellison having
+fallen a martyr to her liquor, and the other to his amours, by which
+he was at last become so rotten that he stunk above-ground.
+
+The attorney, Murphy, was brought to his trial at the Old Bailey,
+where, after much quibbling about the meaning of a very plain act of
+parliament, he was at length convicted of forgery, and was soon
+afterwards hanged at Tyburn.
+
+The witness for some time seemed to reform his life, and received a
+small pension from Booth; after which he returned to vicious courses,
+took a purse on the highway, was detected and taken, and followed the
+last steps of his old master. So apt are men whose manners have been
+once thoroughly corrupted, to return, from any dawn of an amendment,
+into the dark paths of vice.
+
+As to Miss Harris, she lived three years with a broken heart at
+Boulogne, where she received annually fifty pound from her sister, who
+was hardly prevailed on by Dr Harrison not to send her a hundred, and
+then died in a most miserable manner.
+
+Mr. Atkinson upon the whole hath led a very happy life with his wife,
+though he hath been sometimes obliged to pay proper homage to her
+superior understanding and knowledge. This, however, he chearfully
+submits to, and she makes him proper returns of fondness. They have
+two fine boys, of whom they are equally fond. He is lately advanced to
+the rank of captain, and last summer both he and his wife paid a visit
+of three months to Booth and his wife.
+
+Dr Harrison is grown old in years and in honour, beloved and respected
+by all his parishioners and by all his neighbours. He divides his time
+between his parish, his old town, and Booth's--at which last place he
+had, two years ago, a gentle fit of the gout, being the first attack
+of that distemper. During this fit Amelia was his nurse, and her two
+oldest daughters sat up alternately with him for a whole week. The
+eldest of those girls, whose name is Amelia, is his favourite; she is
+the picture of her mother, and it is thought the doctor hath
+distinguished her in his will, for he hath declared that he will leave
+his whole fortune, except some few charities, among Amelia's children.
+
+As to Booth and Amelia, Fortune seems to have made them large amends
+for the tricks she played them in their youth. They have, ever since
+the above period of this history, enjoyed an uninterrupted course of
+health and happiness. In about six weeks after Booth's first coming
+into the country he went to London and paid all his debts of honour;
+after which, and a stay of two days only, he returned into the
+country, and hath never since been thirty miles from home. He hath two
+boys and four girls; the eldest of the boys, he who hath made his
+appearance in this history, is just come from the university, and is
+one of the finest gentlemen and best scholars of his age. The second
+is just going from school, and is intended for the church, that being
+his own choice. His eldest daughter is a woman grown, but we must not
+mention her age. A marriage was proposed to her the other day with a
+young fellow of a good estate, but she never would see him more than
+once: "For Doctor Harrison," says she, "told me he was illiterate, and
+I am sure he is ill-natured." The second girl is three years younger
+than her sister, and the others are yet children.
+
+Amelia is still the finest woman in England of her age. Booth himself
+often avers she is as handsome as ever. Nothing can equal the serenity
+of their lives. Amelia declared to me the other day, that she did not
+remember to have seen her husband out of humour these ten years; and,
+upon my insinuating to her that he had the best of wives, she answered
+with a smile that she ought to be so, for that he had made her the
+happiest of women.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Amelia Volume III, by Henry Fielding
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMELIA VOLUME III ***
+
+This file should be named 6097.txt or 6097.zip
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+https://gutenberg.org or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/6097.zip b/6097.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee402f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6097.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b78484
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #6097 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6097)