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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Amelia (Complete), by Henry Fielding
+#7 in our series by Henry Fielding
+
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+
+Title: Amelia (Complete)
+
+Author: Henry Fielding
+
+Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6098]
+[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 (COMPLETE) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WORKS OF HENRY FIELDING
+
+EDITED BY
+GEORGE SAINTSBURY
+
+IN TWELVE VOLUMES
+
+
+AMELIA
+
+VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+AMELIA
+BY
+HENRY FIELDING ESQ.
+[Illustration]
+
+VOL. I.
+
+EDITED BY GEORGE
+SAINTSBURY WITH
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+HERBERT RAILTON
+& E. J. WHEELER.
+
+MDCCCXCIII
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+DEDICATION TO RALPH ALLEN, ESQ
+
+
+BOOK I.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Containing the exordium, &c.
+
+CHAPTER II.
+The history sets out. Observations on the excellency of the English
+constitution and curious examinations before a justice of peace
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Containing the inside of a prison
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Disclosing further secrets of the prison-house
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Containing certain adventures which befel Mr. Booth in the
+prison
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Containing the extraordinary behaviour of Miss Matthews on her
+meeting with Booth, and some endeavours to prove, by reason and
+authority, that it is possible for a woman to appear to be what she
+really is not
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+In which Miss Matthews begins her history
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+The history of Miss Matthews continued
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+In which Miss Matthews concludes her relation
+
+CHAPTER X.
+Table-talk, consisting of a facetious discourse that passed in
+the prison
+
+
+
+BOOK II.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+In which Captain Booth begins to relate his history
+
+CHAPTER II.
+Mr. Booth continues his story. In this chapter there are some
+passages that may serve as a kind of touchstone by which a young lady
+may examine the heart of her lover. I would advise, therefore, that
+every lover be obliged to read it over in the presence of his
+mistress, and that she carefully watch his emotions while he is
+reading
+
+CHAPTER III.
+The narrative continued. More of the touchstone
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+The story of Mr. Booth continued. In this chapter the reader will
+perceive a glimpse of the character of a very good divine, with some
+matters of a very tender kind
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Containing strange revolutions of fortune
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Containing many surprising adventures
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+The story of Booth continued--More surprising adventures
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+In which our readers will probably be divided in their opinion of
+Mr. Booth's conduct
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Containing a scene of a different kind from any of the preceding
+
+
+
+BOOK III.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+In which Mr. Booth resumes his story
+
+CHAPTER II.
+Containing a scene of the tender kind
+
+CHAPTER III.
+In which Mr. Booth sets forward on his journey
+
+CHAPTER IV
+A sea piece
+
+CHAPTER V.
+The arrival of Booth at Gibraltar, with what there befel him
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Containing matters which will please some readers
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+The captain, continuing his story, recounts some particulars which,
+we doubt not, to many good people, will appear unnatural
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+The story of Booth continued
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Containing very extraordinary matters
+
+CHAPTER X.
+Containing a letter of a very curious kind
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+In which Mr. Booth relates his return to England
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+In which Mr. Booth concludes his story
+
+
+
+BOOK IV.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Containing very mysterious matter
+
+CHAPTER II.
+The latter part of which we expect will please our reader better
+than the former
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Containing wise observations of the author, and other matters
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+In which Amelia appears in no unamiable light
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Containing an eulogium upon innocence, and other grave matters
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+In which may appear that violence is sometimes done to the name of
+love
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Containing a very extraordinary and pleasant incident
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Containing various matters
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+In which Amelia, with her friend, goes to the oratorio
+
+
+
+BOOK V.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+In which the reader will meet with an old acquaintance
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Containing a brace of doctors and much physical matter
+
+CHAPTER II.
+In which Booth pays a visit to the noble lord
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Relating principally to the affairs of serjeant Atkinson
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Containing matters that require no preface
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Containing much heroic matter
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+In which the reader will find matter worthy his consideration
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Containing various matters
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+The heroic behaviour of Colonel Bath
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Being the last chapter of the fifth book
+
+
+
+BOOK VI.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Panegyrics on beauty, with other grave matters
+
+CHAPTER II.
+Which will not appear, we presume, unnatural to all married readers
+
+CHAPTER III.
+In which the history looks a little backwards
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Containing a very extraordinary incident
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Containing some matters not very unnatural
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+A scene in which some ladies will possibly think Amelia's conduct
+exceptionable
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+A chapter in which there is much learning
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Containing some unaccountable behaviour in Mrs.. Ellison
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Containing a very strange incident
+
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+A very short chapter, and consequently requiring no preface
+
+CHAPTER II.
+The beginning of Mrs. Bennet's history
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Continuation of Mrs. Bennet's story
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Farther continuation
+
+CHAPTER V.
+The story of Mrs. Bennet continued
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Farther continued
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+The story farther continued
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Farther continuation
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+The conclusion of Mrs. Bennet's history
+
+CHAPTER X.
+Being the last chapter of the seventh book
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Being the first chapter of the eighth book
+
+CHAPTER II.
+Containing an account of Mr. Booth's fellow-sufferers
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Containing some extraordinary behaviour in Mrs. Ellison
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Containing, among many matters, the exemplary behaviour of Colonel
+James
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Comments upon authors
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Which inclines rather to satire than panegyric
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Worthy a very serious perusal
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Consisting of grave matters
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+A curious chapter, from which a curious reader may draw sundry
+observations
+
+CHAPTER X.
+In which are many profound secrets of philosophy
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+FIELDING'S BIRTHPLACE, SHARPHAM PARK
+
+SHE THEN GAVE A LOOSE TO HER PASSION
+
+THEY OPENED THE HAMPER
+
+HE SEIZED HIM BY THE COLLAR
+
+AMELIA AND HER CHILDREN
+
+COLONEL BATH
+
+LAWYER MURPHY
+
+LEANING BOTH HIS ELBOWS ON THE TABLE, FIXED HIS EYES ON HER
+
+BOOTH BETWEEN A BLUE DOMINO AND A SHEPHERDESS
+
+DR HARRISON
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Fielding's third great novel has been the subject of much more
+discordant judgments than either of its forerunners. If we take the
+period since its appearance as covering four generations, we find the
+greatest authority in the earliest, Johnson, speaking of it with
+something more nearly approaching to enthusiasm than he allowed
+himself in reference to any other work of an author, to whom he was on
+the whole so unjust. The greatest man of letters of the next
+generation, Scott (whose attitude to Fielding was rather undecided,
+and seems to speak a mixture of intellectual admiration and moral
+dislike, or at least failure in sympathy), pronounces it "on the whole
+unpleasing," and regards it chiefly as a sequel to _Tom Jones_,
+showing what is to be expected of a libertine and thoughtless husband.
+But he too is enthusiastic over the heroine. Thackeray (whom in this
+special connection at any rate it is scarcely too much to call the
+greatest man of the third generation) overflows with predilection for
+it, but chiefly, as it would seem, because of his affection for Amelia
+herself, in which he practically agrees with Scott and Johnson. It
+would be invidious, and is noways needful, to single out any critic of
+our own time to place beside these great men. But it cannot be denied
+that the book, now as always, has incurred a considerable amount of
+hinted fault and hesitated dislike. Even Mr. Dobson notes some things
+in it as "unsatisfactory;" Mr. Gosse, with evident consciousness of
+temerity, ventures to ask whether it is not "a little dull." The very
+absence of episodes (on the ground that Miss Matthews's story is too
+closely connected with the main action to be fairly called an episode)
+and of introductory dissertations has been brought against it, as the
+presence of these things was brought against its forerunners.
+
+I have sometimes wondered whether _Amelia_ pays the penalty of an
+audacity which, _a priori_, its most unfavourable critics would
+indignantly deny to be a fault. It begins instead of ending with the
+marriage-bells; and though critic after critic of novels has exhausted
+his indignation and his satire over the folly of insisting on these as
+a finale, I doubt whether the demand is not too deeply rooted in the
+English, nay, in the human mind, to be safely neglected. The essence
+of all romance is a quest; the quest most perennially and universally
+interesting to man is the quest of a wife or a mistress; and the
+chapters dealing with what comes later have an inevitable flavour of
+tameness, and of the day after the feast. It is not common now-a-days
+to meet anybody who thinks Tommy Moore a great poet; one has to
+encounter either a suspicion of Philistinism or a suspicion of paradox
+if one tries to vindicate for him even his due place in the poetical
+hierarchy. Yet I suspect that no poet ever put into words a more
+universal criticism of life than he did when he wrote "I saw from the
+beach," with its moral of--
+
+"Give me back, give me back, the wild freshness of morning--Her smiles
+and her tears are worth evening's best light."
+
+If we discard this fallacy boldly, and ask ourselves whether _Amelia_
+is or is not as good as _Joseph Andrews_ or _Tom Jones_, we shall I
+think be inclined to answer rather in the affirmative than in the
+negative. It is perhaps a little more easy to find fault with its
+characters than with theirs; or rather, though no one of these
+characters has the defects of Blifil or of Allworthy, it is easy to
+say that no one of them has the charm of the best personages of the
+earlier books. The idolaters of Amelia would of course exclaim at this
+sentence as it regards that amiable lady; and I am myself by no means
+disposed to rank amiability low in the scale of things excellent in
+woman. But though she is by no means what her namesake and spiritual
+grand-daughter. Miss Sedley, must, I fear, be pronounced to be, an
+amiable fool, there is really too much of the milk of human kindness,
+unrefreshed and unrelieved of its mawkishness by the rum or whisky of
+human frailty, in her. One could have better pardoned her forgiveness
+of her husband if she had in the first place been a little more
+conscious of what there was to forgive; and in the second, a little
+more romantic in her attachment to him. As it is, he was _son homme_;
+he was handsome; he had broad shoulders; he had a sweet temper; he was
+the father of her children, and that was enough. At least we are
+allowed to see in Mr. Booth no qualities other than these, and in her
+no imagination even of any other qualities. To put what I mean out of
+reach of cavil, compare Imogen and Amelia, and the difference will be
+felt.
+
+But Fielding was a prose writer, writing in London in the eighteenth
+century, while Shakespeare was a poet writing in all time and all
+space, so that the comparison is luminous in more ways than one. I do
+not think that in the special scheme which the novelist set himself
+here he can be accused of any failure. The life is as vivid as ever;
+the minor sketches may be even called a little more vivid. Dr Harrison
+is not perfect. I do not mean that he has ethical faults, for that is
+a merit, not a defect; but he is not quite perfect in art. His
+alternate persecution and patronage of Booth, though useful to the
+story, repeat the earlier fault of Allworthy, and are something of a
+blot. But he is individually much more natural than Allworthy, and
+indeed is something like what Dr Johnson would have been if he had
+been rather better bred, less crotchety, and blessed with more health.
+Miss Matthews in her earlier scenes has touches of greatness which a
+thousand French novelists lavishing "candour" and reckless of
+exaggeration have not equalled; and I believe that Fielding kept her
+at a distance during the later scenes of the story, because he could
+not trust himself not to make her more interesting than Amelia. Of the
+peers, more wicked and less wicked, there is indeed not much good to
+be said. The peer of the eighteenth-century writers (even when, as in
+Fielding's case, there was no reason why they should "mention him with
+_Kor_," as Policeman X. has it) is almost always a faint type of
+goodness or wickedness dressed out with stars and ribbons and coaches-
+and-six. Only Swift, by combination of experience and genius, has
+given us live lords in Lord Sparkish and Lord Smart. But Mrs. Ellison
+and Mrs. Atkinson are very women, and the serjeant, though the touch
+of "sensibility" is on him, is excellent; and Dr Harrison's country
+friend and his prig of a son are capital; and Bondum, and "the
+author," and Robinson, and all the minor characters, are as good as
+they can be.
+
+It is, however, usual to detect a lack of vivacity in the book, an
+evidence of declining health and years. It may be so; it is at least
+certain that Fielding, during the composition of _Amelia,_ had much
+less time to bestow upon elaborating his work than he had previously
+had, and that his health was breaking. But are we perfectly sure that
+if the chronological order had been different we should have
+pronounced the same verdict? Had _Amelia_ come between _Joseph_ and
+_Tom,_ how many of us might have committed ourselves to some such
+sentence as this: "In _Amelia_ we see the youthful exuberances of
+_Joseph Andrews_ corrected by a higher art; the adjustment of plot and
+character arranged with a fuller craftsmanship; the genius which was
+to find its fullest exemplification in _Tom Jones_ already displaying
+maturity"? And do we not too often forget that a very short time--in
+fact, barely three years--passed between the appearance of _Tom Jones_
+and the appearance of _Amelia?_ that although we do not know how long
+the earlier work had been in preparation, it is extremely improbable
+that a man of Fielding's temperament, of his wants, of his known
+habits and history, would have kept it when once finished long in his
+desk? and that consequently between some scenes of _Tom Jones_ and
+some scenes of _Amelia_ it is not improbable that there was no more
+than a few months' interval? I do not urge these things in mitigation
+of any unfavourable judgment against the later novel. I only ask--How
+much of that unfavourable judgment ought in justice to be set down to
+the fallacies connected with an imperfect appreciation of facts?
+
+To me it is not so much a question of deciding whether I like _Amelia_
+less, and if so, how much less, than the others, as a question what
+part of the general conception of this great writer it supplies? I do
+not think that we could fully understand Fielding without it; I do not
+think that we could derive the full quantity of pleasure from him
+without it. The exuberant romantic faculty of Joseph Andrews and its
+pleasant satire; the mighty craftsmanship and the vast science of life
+of _Tom Jones;_ the ineffable irony and logical grasp of _Jonathan
+Wild_, might have left us with a slight sense of hardness, a vague
+desire for unction, if it had not been for this completion of the
+picture. We should not have known (for in the other books, with the
+possible exception of Mrs. Fitzpatrick, the characters are a little
+too determinately goats and sheep) how Fielding could draw _nuances_,
+how he could project a mixed personage on the screen, if we had not
+had Miss Matthews and Mrs. Atkinson--the last especially a figure full
+of the finest strokes, and, as a rule, insufficiently done justice to
+by critics.
+
+And I have purposely left to the last a group of personages about whom
+indeed there has been little question, but who are among the triumphs
+of Fielding's art--the two Colonels and their connecting-link, the
+wife of the one and the sister of the other. Colonel Bath has
+necessarily united all suffrages. He is of course a very little
+stagey; he reminds us that his author had had a long theatrical
+apprenticeship: he is something too much _d'une piece_. But as a study
+of the brave man who is almost more braggart than brave, of the
+generous man who will sacrifice not only generosity but bare justice
+to "a hogo of honour," he is admirable, and up to his time almost
+unique. Ordinary writers and ordinary readers have never been quite
+content to admit that bravery and braggadocio can go together, that
+the man of honour may be a selfish pedant. People have been unwilling
+to tell and to hear the whole truth even about Wolfe and Nelson, who
+were both favourable specimens of the type; but Fielding the
+infallible saw that type in its quiddity, and knew it, and registered
+it for ever.
+
+Less amusing but more delicately faithful and true are Colonel James
+and his wife. They are both very good sort of people in a way, who
+live in a lax and frivolous age, who have plenty of money, no
+particular principle, no strong affection for each other, and little
+individual character. They might have been--Mrs. James to some extent
+is--quite estimable and harmless; but even as it is, they are not to
+be wholly ill spoken of. Being what they are, Fielding has taken them,
+and, with a relentlessness which Swift could hardly have exceeded, and
+a good-nature which Swift rarely or never attained, has held them up
+to us as dissected preparations of half-innocent meanness,
+scoundrelism, and vanity, such as are hardly anywhere else to be
+found. I have used the word "preparations," and it in part indicates
+Fielding's virtue, a virtue shown, I think, in this book as much as
+anywhere. But it does not fully indicate it; for the preparation, wet
+or dry, is a dead thing, and a museum is but a mortuary. Fielding's
+men and women, once more let it be said, are all alive. The palace of
+his work is the hall, not of Eblis, but of a quite beneficent
+enchanter, who puts burning hearts into his subjects, not to torture
+them, but only that they may light up for us their whole organisation
+and being. They are not in the least the worse for it, and we are
+infinitely the better.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION.
+
+To RALPH ALLEN, ESQ.
+
+SIR,--The following book is sincerely designed to promote the cause of
+virtue, and to expose some of the most glaring evils, as well public
+as private, which at present infest the country; though there is
+scarce, as I remember, a single stroke of satire aimed at any one
+person throughout the whole.
+
+The best man is the properest patron of such an attempt. This, I
+believe, will be readily granted; nor will the public voice, I think,
+be more divided to whom they shall give that appellation. Should a
+letter, indeed, be thus inscribed, DETUR OPTIMO, there are few persons
+who would think it wanted any other direction.
+
+I will not trouble you with a preface concerning the work, nor
+endeavour to obviate any criticisms which can be made on it. The good-
+natured reader, if his heart should be here affected, will be inclined
+to pardon many faults for the pleasure he will receive from a tender
+sensation: and for readers of a different stamp, the more faults they
+can discover, the more, I am convinced, they will be pleased.
+
+Nor will I assume the fulsome stile of common dedicators. I have not
+their usual design in this epistle, nor will I borrow their language.
+Long, very long may it be before a most dreadful circumstance shall
+make it possible for any pen to draw a just and true character of
+yourself without incurring a suspicion of flattery in the bosoms of
+the malignant. This task, therefore, I shall defer till that day (if I
+should be so unfortunate as ever to see it) when every good man shall
+pay a tear for the satisfaction of his curiosity; a day which, at
+present, I believe, there is but one good man in the world who can
+think of it with unconcern.
+
+Accept then, sir, this small token of that love, that gratitude, and
+that respect, with which I shall always esteem it my GREATEST HONOUR
+to be,
+
+      Sir,
+Your most obliged,
+    and most obedient
+        humble servant,
+      HENRY FIELDING.
+
+_Bow Street, Dec. 2, 1751._
+
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+
+
+
+
+AMELIA.
+
+VOL. I
+
+BOOK I.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_Containing the exordium, &c._
+
+
+The various accidents which befel a very worthy couple after their
+uniting in the state of matrimony will be the subject of the following
+history. The distresses which they waded through were some of them so
+exquisite, and the incidents which produced these so extraordinary,
+that they seemed to require not only the utmost malice, but the utmost
+invention, which superstition hath ever attributed to Fortune: though
+whether any such being interfered in the case, or, indeed, whether
+there be any such being in the universe, is a matter which I by no
+means presume to determine in the affirmative. To speak a bold truth,
+I am, after much mature deliberation, inclined to suspect that the
+public voice hath, in all ages, done much injustice to Fortune, and
+hath convicted her of many facts in which she had not the least
+concern. I question much whether we may not, by natural means, account
+for the success of knaves, the calamities of fools, with all the
+miseries in which men of sense sometimes involve themselves, by
+quitting the directions of Prudence, and following the blind guidance
+of a predominant passion; in short, for all the ordinary phenomena
+which are imputed to Fortune; whom, perhaps, men accuse with no less
+absurdity in life, than a bad player complains of ill luck at the game
+of chess.
+
+But if men are sometimes guilty of laying improper blame on this
+imaginary being, they are altogether as apt to make her amends by
+ascribing to her honours which she as little deserves. To retrieve the
+ill consequences of a foolish conduct, and by struggling manfully with
+distress to subdue it, is one of the noblest efforts of wisdom and
+virtue. Whoever, therefore, calls such a man fortunate, is guilty of
+no less impropriety in speech than he would be who should call the
+statuary or the poet fortunate who carved a Venus or who writ an
+Iliad.
+
+Life may as properly be called an art as any other; and the great
+incidents in it are no more to be considered as mere accidents than
+the several members of a fine statue or a noble poem. The critics in
+all these are not content with seeing anything to be great without
+knowing why and how it came to be so. By examining carefully the
+several gradations which conduce to bring every model to perfection,
+we learn truly to know that science in which the model is formed: as
+histories of this kind, therefore, may properly be called models of
+_human life_, so, by observing minutely the several incidents which
+tend to the catastrophe or completion of the whole, and the minute
+causes whence those incidents are produced, we shall best be
+instructed in this most useful of all arts, which I call the _art
+_ of _life_.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii
+
+_The history sets out. Observations on the excellency of the English
+constitution and curious examinations before a justice of peace._
+
+
+On the first of April, in the year ----, the watchmen of a certain
+parish (I know not particularly which) within the liberty of
+Westminster brought several persons whom they had apprehended the
+preceding night before Jonathan Thrasher, Esq., one of the justices of
+the peace for that liberty.
+
+But here, reader, before we proceed to the trials of these offenders,
+we shall, after our usual manner, premise some things which it may be
+necessary for thee to know.
+
+It hath been observed, I think, by many, as well as the celebrated
+writer of three letters, that no human institution is capable of
+consummate perfection. An observation which, perhaps, that writer at
+least gathered from discovering some defects in the polity even of
+this well-regulated nation. And, indeed, if there should be any such
+defect in a constitution which my Lord Coke long ago told us "the
+wisdom of all the wise men in the world, if they had all met together
+at one time, could not have equalled," which some of our wisest men
+who were met together long before said was too good to be altered in
+any particular, and which, nevertheless, hath been mending ever since,
+by a very great number of the said wise men: if, I say, this
+constitution should be imperfect, we may be allowed, I think, to doubt
+whether any such faultless model can be found among the institutions
+of men.
+
+It will probably be objected, that the small imperfections which I am
+about to produce do not lie in the laws themselves, but in the ill
+execution of them; but, with submission, this appears to me to be no
+less an absurdity than to say of any machine that it is excellently
+made, though incapable of performing its functions. Good laws should
+execute themselves in a well-regulated state; at least, if the same
+legislature which provides the laws doth not provide for the execution
+of them, they act as Graham would do, if he should form all the parts
+of a clock in the most exquisite manner, yet put them so together that
+the clock could not go. In this case, surely, we might say that there
+was a small defect in the constitution of the clock.
+
+To say the truth, Graham would soon see the fault, and would easily
+remedy it. The fault, indeed, could be no other than that the parts
+were improperly disposed.
+
+Perhaps, reader, I have another illustration which will set my
+intention in still a clearer light before you. Figure to yourself then
+a family, the master of which should dispose of the several economical
+offices in the following manner; viz. should put his butler in the
+coach-box, his steward behind his coach, his coachman in the butlery,
+and his footman in the stewardship, and in the same ridiculous manner
+should misemploy the talents of every other servant; it is easy to see
+what a figure such a family must make in the world.
+
+As ridiculous as this may seem, I have often considered some of the
+lower officers in our civil government to be disposed in this very
+manner. To begin, I think, as low as I well can, with the watchmen in
+our metropolis, who, being to guard our streets by night from thieves
+and robbers, an office which at least requires strength of body, are
+chosen out of those poor old decrepit people who are, from their want
+of bodily strength, rendered incapable of getting a livelihood by
+work. These men, armed only with a pole, which some of them are scarce
+able to lift, are to secure the persons and houses of his majesty's
+subjects from the attacks of gangs of young, bold, stout, desperate,
+and well-armed villains.
+
+     Quae non viribus istis
+     Munera conveniunt.
+
+If the poor old fellows should run away from such enemies, no one I
+think can wonder, unless it be that they were able to make their
+escape.
+
+The higher we proceed among our public officers and magistrates, the
+less defects of this kind will, perhaps, be observable. Mr. Thrasher,
+however, the justice before whom the prisoners above mentioned were
+now brought, had some few imperfections in his magistratical capacity.
+I own, I have been sometimes inclined to think that this office of a
+justice of peace requires some knowledge of the law: for this simple
+reason; because, in every case which comes before him, he is to judge
+and act according to law. Again, as these laws are contained in a
+great variety of books, the statutes which relate to the office of a
+justice of peace making of themselves at least two large volumes in
+folio; and that part of his jurisdiction which is founded on the
+common law being dispersed in above a hundred volumes, I cannot
+conceive how this knowledge should by acquired without reading; and
+yet certain it is, Mr. Thrasher never read one syllable of the matter.
+
+This, perhaps, was a defect; but this was not all: for where mere
+ignorance is to decide a point between two litigants, it will always
+be an even chance whether it decides right or wrong: but sorry am I to
+say, right was often in a much worse situation than this, and wrong
+hath often had five hundred to one on his side before that magistrate;
+who, if he was ignorant of the law of England, was yet well versed in
+the laws of nature. He perfectly well understood that fundamental
+principle so strongly laid down in the institutes of the learned
+Rochefoucault, by which the duty of self-love is so strongly enforced,
+and every man is taught to consider himself as the centre of gravity,
+and to attract all things thither. To speak the truth plainly, the
+justice was never indifferent in a cause but when he could get nothing
+on either side.
+
+Such was the justice to whose tremendous bar Mr. Gotobed the
+constable, on the day above mentioned, brought several delinquents,
+who, as we have said, had been apprehended by the watch for diverse
+outrages.
+
+The first who came upon his trial was as bloody a spectre as ever the
+imagination of a murderer or a tragic poet conceived. This poor wretch
+was charged with a battery by a much stouter man than himself; indeed
+the accused person bore about him some evidence that he had been in an
+affray, his cloaths being very bloody, but certain open sluices on his
+own head sufficiently shewed whence all the scarlet stream had issued:
+whereas the accuser had not the least mark or appearance of any wound.
+The justice asked the defendant, What he meant by breaking the king's
+peace?----To which he answered----"Upon my shoul I do love the king
+very well, and I have not been after breaking anything of his that I
+do know; but upon my shoul this man hath brake my head, and my head
+did brake his stick; that is all, gra." He then offered to produce
+several witnesses against this improbable accusation; but the justice
+presently interrupted him, saying, "Sirrah, your tongue betrays your
+guilt. You are an Irishman, and that is always sufficient evidence
+with me."
+
+The second criminal was a poor woman, who was taken up by the watch as
+a street-walker. It was alleged against her that she was found walking
+the streets after twelve o'clock, and the watchman declared he
+believed her to be a common strumpet. She pleaded in her defence (as
+was really the truth) that she was a servant, and was sent by her
+mistress, who was a little shopkeeper and upon the point of delivery,
+to fetch a midwife; which she offered to prove by several of the
+neighbours, if she was allowed to send for them. The justice asked her
+why she had not done it before? to which she answered, she had no
+money, and could get no messenger. The justice then called her several
+scurrilous names, and, declaring she was guilty within the statute of
+street-walking, ordered her to Bridewell for a month.
+
+A genteel young man and woman were then set forward, and a very grave-
+looking person swore he caught them in a situation which we cannot as
+particularly describe here as he did before the magistrate; who,
+having received a wink from his clerk, declared with much warmth that
+the fact was incredible and impossible. He presently discharged the
+accused parties, and was going, without any evidence, to commit the
+accuser for perjury; but this the clerk dissuaded him from, saying he
+doubted whether a justice of peace had any such power. The justice at
+first differed in opinion, and said, "He had seen a man stand in the
+pillory about perjury; nay, he had known a man in gaol for it too; and
+how came he there if he was not committed thither?" "Why, that is
+true, sir," answered the clerk; "and yet I have been told by a very
+great lawyer that a man cannot be committed for perjury before he is
+indicted; and the reason is, I believe, because it is not against the
+peace before the indictment makes it so." "Why, that may be," cries
+the justice, "and indeed perjury is but scandalous words, and I know a
+man cannot have no warrant for those, unless you put for rioting
+[Footnote: _Opus est interprete._ By the laws of England abusive words
+are not punishable by the magistrate; some commissioners of the peace,
+therefore, when one scold hath applied to them for a warrant against
+another, from a too eager desire of doing justice, have construed a
+little harmless scolding into a riot, which is in law an outrageous
+breach of the peace committed by several persons, by three at the
+least, nor can a less number be convicted of it. Under this word
+rioting, or riotting (for I have seen it spelt both ways), many
+thousands of old women have been arrested and put to expense,
+sometimes in prison, for a little intemperate use of their tongues.
+This practice began to decrease in the year 1749.] them into the
+warrant."
+
+The witness was now about to be discharged, when the lady whom he had
+accused declared she would swear the peace against him, for that he
+had called her a whore several times. "Oho! you will swear the peace,
+madam, will you?" cries the justice: "Give her the peace, presently;
+and pray, Mr. Constable, secure the prisoner, now we have him, while a
+warrant is made to take him up." All which was immediately performed,
+and the poor witness, for want of securities, was sent to prison.
+
+A young fellow, whose name was Booth, was now charged with beating the
+watchman in the execution of his office and breaking his lanthorn.
+This was deposed by two witnesses; and the shattered remains of a
+broken lanthorn, which had been long preserved for the sake of its
+testimony, were produced to corroborate the evidence. The justice,
+perceiving the criminal to be but shabbily drest, was going to commit
+him without asking any further questions. At length, however, at the
+earnest request of the accused, the worthy magistrate submitted to
+hear his defence. The young man then alledged, as was in reality the
+case, "That as he was walking home to his lodging he saw two men in
+the street cruelly beating a third, upon which he had stopt and
+endeavoured to assist the person who was so unequally attacked; that
+the watch came up during the affray, and took them all four into
+custody; that they were immediately carried to the round-house, where
+the two original assailants, who appeared to be men of fortune, found
+means to make up the matter, and were discharged by the constable, a
+favour which he himself, having no money in his pocket, was unable to
+obtain. He utterly denied having assaulted any of the watchmen, and
+solemnly declared that he was offered his liberty at the price of half
+a crown."
+
+Though the bare word of an offender can never be taken against the
+oath of his accuser, yet the matter of this defence was so pertinent,
+and delivered with such an air of truth and sincerity, that, had the
+magistrate been endued with much sagacity, or had he been very
+moderately gifted with another quality very necessary to all who are
+to administer justice, he would have employed some labour in cross-
+examining the watchmen; at least he would have given the defendant the
+time he desired to send for the other persons who were present at the
+affray; neither of which he did. In short, the magistrate had too
+great an honour for truth to suspect that she ever appeared in sordid
+apparel; nor did he ever sully his sublime notions of that virtue by
+uniting them with the mean ideas of poverty and distress.
+
+There remained now only one prisoner, and that was the poor man
+himself in whose defence the last-mentioned culprit was engaged. His
+trial took but a very short time. A cause of battery and broken
+lanthorn was instituted against him, and proved in the same manner;
+nor would the justice hear one word in defence; but, though his
+patience was exhausted, his breath was not; for against this last
+wretch he poured forth a great many volleys of menaces and abuse.
+
+The delinquents were then all dispatched to prison under a guard of
+watchmen, and the justice and the constable adjourned to a
+neighbouring alehouse to take their morning repast.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_Containing the inside of a prison._
+
+
+Mr. Booth (for we shall not trouble you with the rest) was no sooner
+arrived in the prison than a number of persons gathered round him, all
+demanding garnish; to which Mr. Booth not making a ready answer, as
+indeed he did not understand the word, some were going to lay hold of
+him, when a person of apparent dignity came up and insisted that no
+one should affront the gentleman. This person then, who was no less
+than the master or keeper of the prison, turning towards Mr. Booth,
+acquainted him that it was the custom of the place for every prisoner
+upon his first arrival there to give something to the former prisoners
+to make them drink. This, he said, was what they call garnish, and
+concluded with advising his new customer to draw his purse upon the
+present occasion. Mr. Booth answered that he would very readily comply
+with this laudable custom, was it in his power; but that in reality he
+had not a shilling in his pocket, and, what was worse, he had not a
+shilling in the world.--"Oho! if that be the case," cries the keeper,
+"it is another matter, and I have nothing to say." Upon which he
+immediately departed, and left poor Booth to the mercy of his
+companions, who without loss of time applied themselves to uncasing,
+as they termed it, and with such dexterity, that his coat was not only
+stript off, but out of sight in a minute.
+
+Mr. Booth was too weak to resist and too wise to complain of this
+usage. As soon, therefore, as he was at liberty, and declared free of
+the place, he summoned his philosophy, of which he had no
+inconsiderable share, to his assistance, and resolved to make himself
+as easy as possible under his present circumstances.
+
+Could his own thoughts indeed have suffered him a moment to forget
+where he was, the dispositions of the other prisoners might have
+induced him to believe that he had been in a happier place: for much
+the greater part of his fellow-sufferers, instead of wailing and
+repining at their condition, were laughing, singing, and diverting
+themselves with various kinds of sports and gambols.
+
+The first person who accosted him was called Blear-eyed Moll, a woman
+of no very comely appearance. Her eye (for she had but one), whence
+she derived her nickname, was such as that nickname bespoke; besides
+which, it had two remarkable qualities; for first, as if Nature had
+been careful to provide for her own defect, it constantly looked
+towards her blind side; and secondly, the ball consisted almost
+entirely of white, or rather yellow, with a little grey spot in the
+corner, so small that it was scarce discernible. Nose she had none;
+for Venus, envious perhaps at her former charms, had carried off the
+gristly part; and some earthly damsel, perhaps, from the same envy,
+had levelled the bone with the rest of her face: indeed it was far
+beneath the bones of her cheeks, which rose proportionally higher than
+is usual. About half a dozen ebony teeth fortified that large and long
+canal which nature had cut from ear to ear, at the bottom of which was
+a chin preposterously short, nature having turned up the bottom,
+instead of suffering it to grow to its due length.
+
+Her body was well adapted to her face; she measured full as much round
+the middle as from head to foot; for, besides the extreme breadth of
+her back, her vast breasts had long since forsaken their native home,
+and had settled themselves a little below the girdle.
+
+I wish certain actresses on the stage, when they are to perform
+characters of no amiable cast, would study to dress themselves with
+the propriety with which Blear-eyed Moll was now arrayed. For the sake
+of our squeamish reader, we shall not descend to particulars; let it
+suffice to say, nothing more ragged or more dirty was ever emptied out
+of the round-house at St Giles's.
+
+We have taken the more pains to describe this person, for two
+remarkable reasons; the one is, that this unlovely creature was taken
+in the fact with a very pretty young fellow; the other, which is more
+productive of moral lesson, is, that however wretched her fortune may
+appear to the reader, she was one of the merriest persons in the whole
+prison.
+
+Blear-eyed Moll then came up to Mr. Booth with a smile, or rather
+grin, on her countenance, and asked him for a dram of gin; and when
+Booth assured her that he had not a penny of money, she replied--"D--n
+your eyes, I thought by your look you had been a clever fellow, and
+upon the snaffling lay [Footnote: A cant term for robbery on the
+highway] at least; but, d--n your body and eyes, I find you are some
+sneaking budge [Footnote: Another cant term for pilfering] rascal." She
+then launched forth a volley of dreadful oaths, interlarded with some
+language not proper to be repeated here, and was going to lay hold on
+poor Booth, when a tall prisoner, who had been very earnestly eying
+Booth for some time, came up, and, taking her by the shoulder, flung
+her off at some distance, cursing her for a b--h, and bidding her let
+the gentleman alone.
+
+This person was not himself of the most inviting aspect. He was long-
+visaged, and pale, with a red beard of above a fortnight's growth. He
+was attired in a brownish-black coat, which would have shewed more
+holes than it did, had not the linen, which appeared through it, been
+entirely of the same colour with the cloth.
+
+This gentleman, whose name was Robinson, addressed himself very
+civilly to Mr. Booth, and told him he was sorry to see one of his
+appearance in that place: "For as to your being without your coat,
+sir," says he, "I can easily account for that; and, indeed, dress is
+the least part which distinguishes a gentleman." At which words he
+cast a significant look on his own coat, as if he desired they should
+be applied to himself. He then proceeded in the following manner:
+
+"I perceive, sir, you are but just arrived in this dismal place, which
+is, indeed, rendered more detestable by the wretches who inhabit it
+than by any other circumstance; but even these a wise man will soon
+bring himself to bear with indifference; for what is, is; and what
+must be, must be. The knowledge of this, which, simple as it appears,
+is in truth the heighth of all philosophy, renders a wise man superior
+to every evil which can befall him. I hope, sir, no very dreadful
+accident is the cause of your coming hither; but, whatever it was, you
+may be assured it could not be otherwise; for all things happen by an
+inevitable fatality; and a man can no more resist the impulse of fate
+than a wheelbarrow can the force of its driver."
+
+Besides the obligation which Mr. Robinson had conferred on Mr. Booth
+in delivering him from the insults of Blear-eyed Moll, there was
+something in the manner of Robinson which, notwithstanding the
+meanness of his dress, seemed to distinguish him from the crowd of
+wretches who swarmed in those regions; and, above all, the sentiments
+which he had just declared very nearly coincided with those of Mr.
+Booth: this gentleman was what they call a freethinker; that is to
+say, a deist, or, perhaps, an atheist; for, though he did not
+absolutely deny the existence of a God, yet he entirely denied his
+providence. A doctrine which, if it is not downright atheism, hath a
+direct tendency towards it; and, as Dr Clarke observes, may soon be
+driven into it. And as to Mr. Booth, though he was in his heart an
+extreme well-wisher to religion (for he was an honest man), yet his
+notions of it were very slight and uncertain. To say truth, he was in
+the wavering condition so finely described by Claudian:
+
+                          labefacta cadelat
+     Religio, causaeque--viam non sponte sequebar
+     Alterius; vacua quae currere semina motu
+     Affirmat; magnumque novas fer inane figures
+     Fortuna, non arte, regi; quae numina sensu
+     Ambiguo, vel nulla futat, vel nescia nostri.
+
+This way of thinking, or rather of doubting, he had contracted from
+the same reasons which Claudian assigns, and which had induced Brutus
+in his latter days to doubt the existence of that virtue which he had
+all his life cultivated. In short, poor Booth imagined that a larger
+share of misfortunes had fallen to his lot than he had merited; and
+this led him, who (though a good classical scholar) was not deeply
+learned in religious matters, into a disadvantageous opinion of
+Providence. A dangerous way of reasoning, in which our conclusions are
+not only too hasty, from an imperfect view of things, but we are
+likewise liable to much error from partiality to ourselves; viewing
+our virtues and vices as through a perspective, in which we turn the
+glass always to our own advantage, so as to diminish the one, and as
+greatly to magnify the other.
+
+From the above reasons, it can be no wonder that Mr. Booth did not
+decline the acquaintance of this person, in a place which could not
+promise to afford him any better. He answered him, therefore, with
+great courtesy, as indeed he was of a very good and gentle
+disposition, and, after expressing a civil surprize at meeting him
+there, declared himself to be of the same opinion with regard to the
+necessity of human actions; adding, however, that he did not believe
+men were under any blind impulse or direction of fate, but that every
+man acted merely from the force of that passion which was uppermost in
+his mind, and could do no otherwise.
+
+A discourse now ensued between the two gentlemen on the necessity
+arising from the impulse of fate, and the necessity arising from the
+impulse of passion, which, as it will make a pretty pamphlet of
+itself, we shall reserve for some future opportunity. When this was
+ended they set forward to survey the gaol and the prisoners, with the
+several cases of whom Mr. Robinson, who had been some time under
+confinement, undertook to make Mr. Booth acquainted.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_Disclosing further secrets of the prison-house._
+
+
+The first persons whom they passed by were three men in fetters, who
+were enjoying themselves very merrily over a bottle of wine and a pipe
+of tobacco. These, Mr. Robinson informed his friend, were three
+street-robbers, and were all certain of being hanged the ensuing
+sessions. So inconsiderable an object, said he, is misery to light
+minds, when it is at any distance.
+
+A little farther they beheld a man prostrate on the ground, whose
+heavy groans and frantic actions plainly indicated the highest
+disorder of mind. This person was, it seems, committed for a small
+felony; and his wife, who then lay-in, upon hearing the news, had
+thrown herself from a window two pair of stairs high, by which means
+he had, in all probability, lost both her and his child.
+
+A very pretty girl then advanced towards them, whose beauty Mr. Booth
+could not help admiring the moment he saw her; declaring, at the same
+time, he thought she had great innocence in her countenance. Robinson
+said she was committed thither as an idle and disorderly person, and a
+common street-walker. As she past by Mr. Booth, she damned his eyes,
+and discharged a volley of words, every one of which was too indecent
+to be repeated.
+
+They now beheld a little creature sitting by herself in a corner, and
+crying bitterly. This girl, Mr. Robinson said, was committed because
+her father-in-law, who was in the grenadier guards, had sworn that he
+was afraid of his life, or of some bodily harm which she would do him,
+and she could get no sureties for keeping the peace; for which reason
+justice Thrasher had committed her to prison.
+
+A great noise now arose, occasioned by the prisoners all flocking to
+see a fellow whipt for petty larceny, to which he was condemned by the
+court of quarter-sessions; but this soon ended in the disappointment
+of the spectators; for the fellow, after being stript, having advanced
+another sixpence, was discharged untouched.
+
+This was immediately followed by another bustle; Blear-eyed Moll, and
+several of her companions, having got possession of a man who was
+committed for certain odious unmanlike practices, not fit to be named,
+were giving him various kinds of discipline, and would probably have
+put an end to him, had he not been rescued out of their hands by
+authority.
+
+When this bustle was a little allayed, Mr. Booth took notice of a
+young woman in rags sitting on the ground, and supporting the head of
+an old man in her lap, who appeared to be giving up the ghost. These,
+Mr. Robinson informed him, were father and daughter; that the latter
+was committed for stealing a loaf, in order to support the former, and
+the former for receiving it, knowing it to be stolen.
+
+A well-drest man then walked surlily by them, whom Mr. Robinson
+reported to have been committed on an indictment found against him for
+a most horrid perjury; but, says he, we expect him to be bailed today.
+"Good Heaven!" cries Booth, "can such villains find bail, and is no
+person charitable enough to bail that poor father and daughter?" "Oh!
+sir," answered Robinson, "the offence of the daughter, being felony,
+is held not to be bailable in law; whereas perjury is a misdemeanor
+only; and therefore persons who are even indicted for it are,
+nevertheless, capable of being bailed. Nay, of all perjuries, that of
+which this man is indicted is the worst; for it was with an intention
+of taking away the life of an innocent person by form of law. As to
+perjuries in civil matters, they are not so very criminal." "They are
+not," said Booth; "and yet even these are a most flagitious offence,
+and worthy the highest punishment." "Surely they ought to be
+distinguished," answered Robinson, "from the others: for what is
+taking away a little property from a man, compared to taking away his
+life and his reputation, and ruining his family into the bargain?--I
+hope there can be no comparison in the crimes, and I think there ought
+to be none in the punishment. However, at present, the punishment of
+all perjury is only pillory and transportation for seven years; and,
+as it is a traversable and bailable offence, methods are found to
+escape any punishment at all."[Footnote: By removing the indictment by
+_certiorari_ into the King's Bench, the trial is so long postponed,
+and the costs are so highly encreased, that prosecutors are often
+tired out, and some incapacitated from pursuing. _Verbum sapienti._]
+
+Booth exprest great astonishment at this, when his attention was
+suddenly diverted by the most miserable object that he had yet seen.
+This was a wretch almost naked, and who bore in his countenance,
+joined to an appearance of honesty, the marks of poverty, hunger, and
+disease. He had, moreover, a wooden leg, and two or three scars on his
+forehead. "The case of this poor man is, indeed, unhappy enough," said
+Robinson. "He hath served his country, lost his limb, and received
+several wounds at the siege of Gibraltar. When he was discharged from
+the hospital abroad he came over to get into that of Chelsea, but
+could not immediately, as none of his officers were then in England.
+In the mean time, he was one day apprehended and committed hither on
+suspicion of stealing three herrings from a fishmonger. He was tried
+several months ago for this offence, and acquitted; indeed, his
+innocence manifestly appeared at the trial; but he was brought back
+again for his fees, and here he hath lain ever since."
+
+Booth exprest great horror at this account, and declared, if he had
+only so much money in his pocket, he would pay his fees for him; but
+added that he was not possessed of a single farthing in the world.
+
+Robinson hesitated a moment, and then said, with a smile, "I am going
+to make you, sir, a very odd proposal after your last declaration; but
+what say you to a game at cards? it will serve to pass a tedious hour,
+and may divert your thoughts from more unpleasant speculations."
+
+I do not imagine Booth would have agreed to this; for, though some
+love of gaming had been formerly amongst his faults, yet he was not so
+egregiously addicted to that vice as to be tempted by the shabby
+plight of Robinson, who had, if I may so express myself, no charms for
+a gamester. If he had, however, any such inclinations, he had no
+opportunity to follow them, for, before he could make any answer to
+Robinson's proposal, a strapping wench came up to Booth, and, taking
+hold of his arm, asked him to walk aside with her; saying, "What a
+pox, are you such a fresh cull that you do not know this fellow? why,
+he is a gambler, and committed for cheating at play. There is not such
+a pickpocket in the whole quad."[Footnote: A cant word for a prison.]
+
+A scene of altercation now ensued between Robinson and the lady, which
+ended in a bout at fisticuffs, in which the lady was greatly superior
+to the philosopher.
+
+While the two combatants were engaged, a grave-looking man, rather
+better drest than the majority of the company, came up to Mr. Booth,
+and, taking him aside, said, "I am sorry, sir, to see a gentleman, as
+you appear to be, in such intimacy with that rascal, who makes no
+scruple of disowning all revealed religion. As for crimes, they are
+human errors, and signify but little; nay, perhaps the worse a man is
+by nature, the more room there is for grace. The spirit is active, and
+loves best to inhabit those minds where it may meet with the most
+work. Whatever your crime be, therefore I would not have you despair,
+but rather rejoice at it; for perhaps it may be the means of your
+being called." He ran on for a considerable time with this cant,
+without waiting for an answer, and ended in declaring himself a
+methodist.
+
+Just as the methodist had finished his discourse, a beautiful young
+woman was ushered into the gaol. She was genteel and well drest, and
+did not in the least resemble those females whom Mr. Booth had
+hitherto seen. The constable had no sooner delivered her at the gate
+than she asked with a commanding voice for the keeper; and, when he
+arrived, she said to him, "Well, sir, whither am I to be conducted? I
+hope I am not to take up my lodging with these creatures." The keeper
+answered, with a kind of surly respect, "Madam, we have rooms for
+those who can afford to pay for them." At these words she pulled a
+handsome purse from her pocket, in which many guineas chinked, saying,
+with an air of indignation, "That she was not come thither on account
+of poverty." The keeper no sooner viewed the purse than his features
+became all softened in an instant; and, with all the courtesy of which
+he was master, he desired the lady to walk with him, assuring her that
+she should have the best apartment in his house.
+
+Mr. Booth was now left alone; for the methodist had forsaken him,
+having, as the phrase of the sect is, searched him to the bottom. In
+fact, he had thoroughly examined every one of Mr. Booth's pockets;
+from which he had conveyed away a penknife and an iron snuff-box,
+these being all the moveables which were to be found.
+
+Booth was standing near the gate of the prison when the young lady
+above mentioned was introduced into the yard. He viewed her features
+very attentively, and was persuaded that he knew her. She was indeed
+so remarkably handsome, that it was hardly possible for any who had
+ever seen her to forget her. He enquired of one of the underkeepers if
+the name of the prisoner lately arrived was not Matthews; to which he
+was answered that her name was not Matthews but Vincent, and that she
+was committed for murder.
+
+The latter part of this information made Mr. Booth suspect his memory
+more than the former; for it was very possible that she might have
+changed her name; but he hardly thought she could so far have changed
+her nature as to be guilty of a crime so very incongruous with her
+former gentle manners: for Miss Matthews had both the birth and
+education of a gentlewoman. He concluded, therefore, that he was
+certainly mistaken, and rested satisfied without any further enquiry.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_Containing certain adventures which befel Mr. Booth in the prison._
+
+
+The remainder of the day Mr. Booth spent in melancholy contemplation
+on his present condition. He was destitute of the common necessaries
+of life, and consequently unable to subsist where he was; nor was
+there a single person in town to whom he could, with any reasonable
+hope, apply for his delivery. Grief for some time banished the
+thoughts of food from his mind; but in the morning nature began to
+grow uneasy for want of her usual nourishment: for he had not eat a
+morsel during the last forty hours. A penny loaf, which is, it seems,
+the ordinary allowance to the prisoners in Bridewell, was now
+delivered him; and while he was eating this a man brought him a little
+packet sealed up, informing him that it came by a messenger, who said
+it required no answer.
+
+Mr. Booth now opened his packet, and, after unfolding several pieces
+of blank paper successively, at last discovered a guinea, wrapt with
+great care in the inmost paper. He was vastly surprized at this sight,
+as he had few if any friends from whom he could expect such a favour,
+slight as it was; and not one of his friends, as he was apprized, knew
+of his confinement. As there was no direction to the packet, nor a
+word of writing contained in it, he began to suspect that it was
+delivered to the wrong person; and being one of the most untainted
+honesty, he found out the man who gave it him, and again examined him
+concerning the person who brought it, and the message delivered with
+it. The man assured Booth that he had made no mistake; saying, "If
+your name is Booth, sir, I am positive you are the gentleman to whom
+the parcel I gave you belongs."
+
+The most scrupulous honesty would, perhaps, in such a situation, have
+been well enough satisfied in finding no owner for the guinea;
+especially when proclamation had been made in the prison that Mr.
+Booth had received a packet without any direction, to which, if any
+person had any claim, and would discover the contents, he was ready to
+deliver it to such claimant. No such claimant being found (I mean none
+who knew the contents; for many swore that they expected just such a
+packet, and believed it to be their property), Mr. Booth very calmly
+resolved to apply the money to his own use.
+
+The first thing after redemption of the coat, which Mr. Booth, hungry
+as he was, thought of, was to supply himself with snuff, which he had
+long, to his great sorrow, been without. On this occasion he presently
+missed that iron box which the methodist had so dexterously conveyed
+out of his pocket, as we mentioned in the last chapter.
+
+He no sooner missed this box than he immediately suspected that the
+gambler was the person who had stolen it; nay, so well was he assured
+of this man's guilt, that it may, perhaps, be improper to say he
+barely suspected it. Though Mr. Booth was, as we have hinted, a man of
+a very sweet disposition, yet was he rather overwarm. Having,
+therefore, no doubt concerning the person of the thief, he eagerly
+sought him out, and very bluntly charged him with the fact.
+
+The gambler, whom I think we should now call the philosopher, received
+this charge without the least visible emotion either of mind or
+muscle. After a short pause of a few moments, he answered, with great
+solemnity, as follows: "Young man, I am entirely unconcerned at your
+groundless suspicion. He that censures a stranger, as I am to you,
+without any cause, makes a worse compliment to himself than to the
+stranger. You know yourself, friend; you know not me. It is true,
+indeed, you heard me accused of being a cheat and a gamester; but who
+is my accuser? Look at my apparel, friend; do thieves and gamesters
+wear such cloaths as these? play is my folly, not my vice; it is my
+impulse, and I have been a martyr to it. Would a gamester have asked
+another to play when he could have lost eighteen-pence and won
+nothing? However, if you are not satisfied, you may search my pockets;
+the outside of all but one will serve your turn, and in that one there
+is the eighteen-pence I told you of." He then turned up his cloaths;
+and his pockets entirely resembled the pitchers of the Belides.
+
+Booth was a little staggered at this defence. He said the real value
+of the iron box was too inconsiderable to mention; but that he had a
+capricious value for it, for the sake of the person who gave it him;
+"for, though it is not," said he, "worth sixpence, I would willingly
+give a crown to any one who would bring it me again."
+
+Robinson answered, "If that be the case, you have nothing more to do
+but to signify your intention in the prison, and I am well convinced
+you will not be long without regaining the possession of your snuff-
+box."
+
+This advice was immediately followed, and with success, the methodist
+presently producing the box, which, he said, he had found, and should
+have returned it before, had he known the person to whom it belonged;
+adding, with uplifted eyes, that the spirit would not suffer him
+knowingly to detain the goods of another, however inconsiderable the
+value was. "Why so, friend?" said Robinson. "Have I not heard you
+often say, the wickeder any man was the better, provided he was what
+you call a believer?" "You mistake me," cries Cooper (for that was the
+name of the methodist): "no man can be wicked after he is possessed by
+the spirit. There is a wide difference between the days of sin and the
+days of grace. I have been a sinner myself." "I believe thee," cries
+Robinson, with a sneer. "I care not," answered the other, "what an
+atheist believes. I suppose you would insinuate that I stole the
+snuff-box; but I value not your malice; the Lord knows my innocence."
+He then walked off with the reward; and Booth, turning to Robinson,
+very earnestly asked pardon for his groundless suspicion; which the
+other, without any hesitation, accorded him, saying, "You never
+accused me, sir; you suspected some gambler, with whose character I
+have no concern. I should be angry with a friend or acquaintance who
+should give a hasty credit to any allegation against me; but I have no
+reason to be offended with you for believing what the woman, and the
+rascal who is just gone, and who is committed here for a pickpocket,
+which you did not perhaps know, told you to my disadvantage. And if
+you thought me to be a gambler you had just reason to suspect any ill
+of me; for I myself am confined here by the perjury of one of those
+villains, who, having cheated me of my money at play, and hearing that
+I intended to apply to a magistrate against him, himself began the
+attack, and obtained a warrant against me of Justice Thrasher, who,
+without hearing one speech in my defence, committed me to this place."
+
+Booth testified great compassion at this account; and, he having
+invited Robinson to dinner, they spent that day together. In the
+afternoon Booth indulged his friend with a game at cards; at first for
+halfpence and afterwards for shillings, when fortune so favoured
+Robinson that he did not leave the other a single shilling in his
+pocket.
+
+A surprizing run of luck in a gamester is often mistaken for somewhat
+else by persons who are not over-zealous believers in the divinity of
+fortune. I have known a stranger at Bath, who hath happened
+fortunately (I might almost say unfortunately) to have four by honours
+in his hand almost every time he dealt for a whole evening, shunned
+universally by the whole company the next day. And certain it is, that
+Mr. Booth, though of a temper very little inclined to suspicion, began
+to waver in his opinion whether the character given by Mr. Robinson of
+himself, or that which the others gave of him, was the truer.
+
+In the morning hunger paid him a second visit, and found him again in
+the same situation as before. After some deliberation, therefore, he
+resolved to ask Robinson to lend him a shilling or two of that money
+which was lately his own. And this experiments he thought, would
+confirm him either in a good or evil opinion of that gentleman.
+
+To this demand Robinson answered, with great alacrity, that he should
+very gladly have complied, had not fortune played one of her jade
+tricks with him: "for since my winning of you," said he, "I have been
+stript not only of your money but my own." He was going to harangue
+farther; but Booth, with great indignation, turned from him.
+
+This poor gentleman had very little time to reflect on his own misery,
+or the rascality, as it appeared to him, of the other, when the same
+person who had the day before delivered him the guinea from the
+unknown hand, again accosted him, and told him a lady in the house (so
+he expressed himself) desired the favour of his company.
+
+Mr. Booth immediately obeyed the message, and was conducted into a
+room in the prison, where he was presently convinced that Mrs. Vincent
+was no other than his old acquaintance Miss Matthews.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi
+
+_Containing the extraordinary behaviour of Miss Matthews on her
+meeting with Booth, and some endeavours to prove, by reason and
+authority, that it is possible for a woman to appear to be what she
+really is not._
+
+
+Eight or nine years had past since any interview between Mr. Booth and
+Miss Matthews; and their meeting now in so extraordinary a place
+affected both of them with an equal surprize.
+
+After some immaterial ceremonies, the lady acquainted Mr. Booth that,
+having heard there was a person in the prison who knew her by the name
+of Matthews, she had great curiosity to inquire who he was, whereupon
+he had been shewn to her from the window of the house; that she
+immediately recollected him, and, being informed of his distressful
+situation, for which she expressed great concern, she had sent him
+that guinea which he had received the day before; and then proceeded
+to excuse herself for not having desired to see him at that time, when
+she was under the greatest disorder and hurry of spirits.
+
+Booth made many handsome acknowledgments of her favour; and added that
+he very little wondered at the disorder of her spirits, concluding
+that he was heartily concerned at seeing her there; "but I hope,
+madam," said he--
+
+Here he hesitated; upon which, bursting into an agony of tears, she
+cried out, "O captain! captain! many extraordinary things have passed
+since last I saw you. O gracious heaven! did I ever expect that this
+would be the next place of our meeting?"
+
+She then flung herself into her chair, where she gave a loose to her
+passion, whilst he, in the most affectionate and tender manner,
+endeavoured to soothe and comfort her; but passion itself did probably
+more for its own relief than all his friendly consolations. Having
+vented this in a large flood of tears, she became pretty well
+composed; but Booth unhappily mentioning her father, she again
+relapsed into an agony, and cried out, "Why? why will you repeat the
+name of that dear man? I have disgraced him, Mr. Booth, I am unworthy
+the name of his daughter."--Here passion again stopped her words, and
+discharged itself in tears.
+
+After this second vent of sorrow or shame, or, if the reader pleases,
+of rage, she once more recovered from her agonies. To say the truth,
+these are, I believe, as critical discharges of nature as any of those
+which are so called by the physicians, and do more effectually relieve
+the mind than any remedies with which the whole materia medica of
+philosophy can supply it.
+
+When Mrs. Vincent had recovered her faculties, she perceived Booth
+standing silent, with a mixture of concern and astonishment in his
+countenance; then addressing herself to him with an air of most
+bewitching softness, of which she was a perfect mistress, she said, "I
+do not wonder at your amazement, Captain Booth, nor indeed at the
+concern which you so plainly discover for me; for I well know the
+goodness of your nature: but, O, Mr. Booth! believe me, when you know
+what hath happened since our last meeting, your concern will be
+raised, however your astonishment may cease. O, sir! you are a
+stranger to the cause of my sorrows."
+
+"I hope I am, madam," answered he; "for I cannot believe what I have
+heard in the prison--surely murder"--at which words she started from
+her chair, repeating, "Murder! oh! it is music in my ears!--You have
+heard then the cause of my commitment, my glory, my delight, my
+reparation! Yes, my old friend, this is the hand, this is the arm that
+drove the penknife to his heart. Unkind fortune, that not one drop of
+his blood reached my hand.--Indeed, sir, I would never have washed it
+from it.--But, though I have not the happiness to see it on my hand, I
+have the glorious satisfaction of remembering I saw it run in rivers
+on the floor; I saw it forsake his cheeks, I saw him fall a martyr to
+my revenge. And is the killing a villain to be called murder? perhaps
+the law calls it so.--Let it call it what it will, or punish me as it
+pleases.---Punish me!--no, no---that is not in the power of man--not
+of that monster man, Mr. Booth. I am undone, am revenged, and have now
+no more business for life; let them take it from me when they will."
+
+Our poor gentleman turned pale with horror at this speech, and the
+ejaculation of "Good heavens! what do I hear?" burst spontaneously
+from his lips; nor can we wonder at this, though he was the bravest of
+men; for her voice, her looks, her gestures, were properly adapted to
+the sentiments she exprest. Such indeed was her image, that neither
+could Shakspear describe, nor Hogarth paint, nor Clive act, a fury in
+higher perfection.
+
+[Illustration: She then gave a loose to her passions]
+
+"What do you hear?" reiterated she. "You hear the resentment of the
+most injured of women. You have heard, you say, of the murder; but do
+you know the cause, Mr. Booth? Have you since your return to England
+visited that country where we formerly knew one another? tell me, do
+you know my wretched story? tell me that, my friend."
+
+Booth hesitated for an answer; indeed, he had heard some imperfect
+stories, not much to her advantage. She waited not till he had formed
+a speech; but cried, "Whatever you may have heard, you cannot be
+acquainted with all the strange accidents which have occasioned your
+seeing me in a place which at our last parting was so unlikely that I
+should ever have been found in; nor can you know the cause of all that
+I have uttered, and which, I am convinced, you never expected to have
+heard from my mouth. If these circumstances raise your curiosity, I
+will satisfy it."
+
+He answered, that curiosity was too mean a word to express his ardent
+desire of knowing her story. Upon which, with very little previous
+ceremony, she began to relate what is written in the following
+chapter.
+
+But before we put an end to this it may be necessary to whisper a word
+or two to the critics, who have, perhaps, begun to express no less
+astonishment than Mr. Booth, that a lady in whom we had remarked a
+most extraordinary power of displaying softness should, the very next
+moment after the words were out of her mouth, express sentiments
+becoming the lips of a Dalila, Jezebel, Medea, Semiramis, Parysatis,
+Tanaquil, Livilla, Messalina, Agrippina, Brunichilde, Elfrida, Lady
+Macbeth, Joan of Naples, Christina of Sweden, Katharine Hays, Sarah
+Malcolm, Con Philips,[Footnote: Though last not least.] or any other
+heroine of the tender sex, which history, sacred or profane, ancient
+or modern, false or true, hath recorded.
+
+We desire such critics to remember that it is the same English
+climate, in which, on the lovely 10th of June, under a serene sky, the
+amorous Jacobite, kissing the odoriferous zephyr's breath, gathers a
+nosegay of white roses to deck the whiter breast of Celia; and in
+which, on the 11th of June, the very next day, the boisterous Boreas,
+roused by the hollow thunder, rushes horrible through the air, and,
+driving the wet tempest before him, levels the hope of the husbandman
+with the earth, dreadful remembrance of the consequences of the
+Revolution.
+
+Again, let it be remembered that this is the selfsame Celia, all
+tender, soft, and delicate, who with a voice, the sweetness of which
+the Syrens might envy, warbles the harmonious song in praise of the
+young adventurer; and again, the next day, or, perhaps the next hour,
+with fiery eyes, wrinkled brows, and foaming lips, roars forth treason
+and nonsense in a political argument with some fair one of a different
+principle.
+
+Or, if the critic be a Whig, and consequently dislikes such kind of
+similes, as being too favourable to Jacobitism, let him be contented
+with the following story:
+
+I happened in my youth to sit behind two ladies in a side-box at a
+play, where, in the balcony on the opposite side, was placed the
+inimitable B---y C---s, in company with a young fellow of no very
+formal, or indeed sober, appearance. One of the ladies, I remember,
+said to the other--"Did you ever see anything look so modest and so
+innocent as that girl over the way? what pity it is such a creature
+should be in the way of ruin, as I am afraid she is, by her being
+alone with that young fellow!" Now this lady was no bad physiognomist,
+for it was impossible to conceive a greater appearance of modesty,
+innocence, and simplicity, than what nature had displayed in the
+countenance of that girl; and yet, all appearances notwithstanding, I
+myself (remember, critic, it was in my youth) had a few mornings
+before seen that very identical picture of all those engaging
+qualities in bed with a rake at a bagnio, smoaking tobacco, drinking
+punch, talking obscenity, and swearing and cursing with all the
+impudence and impiety of the lowest and most abandoned trull of a
+soldier.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_In which Miss Matthews begins her history._
+
+
+Miss Matthews, having barred the door on the inside as securely as it
+was before barred on the outside, proceeded as follows:
+
+"You may imagine I am going to begin my history at the time when you
+left the country; but I cannot help reminding you of something which
+happened before. You will soon recollect the incident; but I believe
+you little know the consequence either at that time or since. Alas! I
+could keep a secret then! now I have no secrets; the world knows all;
+and it is not worth my while to conceal anything. Well!--You will not
+wonder, I believe.--I protest I can hardly tell it you, even now.---
+But I am convinced you have too good an opinion of yourself to be
+surprized at any conquest you may have made.---Few men want that good
+opinion--and perhaps very few had ever more reason for it. Indeed,
+Will, you was a charming fellow in those days; nay, you are not much
+altered for the worse now, at least in the opinion of some women; for
+your complexion and features are grown much more masculine than they
+were." Here Booth made her a low bow, most probably with a compliment;
+and after a little hesitation she again proceeded.---"Do you remember
+a contest which happened at an assembly, betwixt myself and Miss
+Johnson, about standing uppermost? you was then my partner; and young
+Williams danced with the other lady. The particulars are not now worth
+mentioning, though I suppose you have long since forgot them. Let it
+suffice that you supported my claim, and Williams very sneakingly gave
+up that of his partner, who was, with much difficulty, afterwards
+prevailed to dance with him. You said--I am sure I repeat the words
+exactly--that you would not for the world affront any lady there; but
+that you thought you might, without any such danger declare, that
+there was no assembly in which that lady, meaning your humble servant,
+was not worthy of the uppermost place; 'nor will I,' said you,
+'suffer, the first duke in England, when she is at the uppermost end
+of the room, and hath called her dance, to lead his partner above
+her.'
+
+"What made this the more pleasing to me was, that I secretly hated
+Miss Johnson. Will you have the reason? why, then, I will tell you
+honestly, she was my rival. That word perhaps astonishes you, as you
+never, I believe, heard of any one who made his addresses to me; and
+indeed my heart was, till that night, entirely indifferent to all
+mankind: I mean, then, that she was my rival for praise, for beauty,
+for dress, for fortune, and consequently for admiration. My triumph on
+this conquest is not to be expressed any more than my delight in the
+person to whom I chiefly owed it. The former, I fancy, was visible to
+the whole company; and I desired it should be so; but the latter was
+so well concealed, that no one, I am confident, took any notice of it.
+And yet you appeared to me that night to be an angel. You looked, you
+danced, you spoke-everything charmed me."
+
+"Good Heavens!" cries Booth, "is it possible you should do me so much
+unmerited honour, and I should be dunce enough not to perceive the
+least symptom?"
+
+"I assure you," answered she, "I did all I could to prevent you; and
+yet I almost hated you for not seeing through what I strove to hide.
+Why, Mr. Booth, was you not more quick-sighted?--I will answer for
+you--your affections were more happily disposed of to a much better
+woman than myself, whom you married soon afterwards. I should ask you
+for her, Mr. Booth; I should have asked you for her before; but I am
+unworthy of asking for her, or of calling her my acquaintance."
+
+Booth stopt her short, as she was running into another fit of passion,
+and begged her to omit all former matters, and acquaint him with that
+part of her history to which he was an entire stranger.
+
+She then renewed her discourse as follows: "You know, Mr. Booth, I
+soon afterwards left that town, upon the death of my grandmother, and
+returned home to my father's house; where I had not been long arrived
+before some troops of dragoons came to quarter in our neighbourhood.
+Among the officers there was a cornet whose detested name was Hebbers,
+a name I could scarce repeat, had I not at the same time the pleasure
+to reflect that he is now no more. My father, you know, who is a
+hearty well-wisher to the present government, used always to invite
+the officers to his house; so did he these. Nor was it long before
+this cornet in so particular a manner recommended himself to the poor
+old gentleman (I cannot think of him without tears), that our house
+became his principal habitation, and he was rarely at his quarters,
+unless when his superior officers obliged him to be there. I shall say
+nothing of his person, nor could that be any recommendation to a man;
+it was such, however, as no woman could have made an objection to.
+Nature had certainly wrapt up her odious work in a most beautiful
+covering. To say the truth, he was the handsomest man, except one
+only, that I ever saw--I assure you, I have seen a handsomer---but--
+well.--He had, besides, all the qualifications of a gentleman; was
+genteel and extremely polite; spoke French well, and danced to a
+miracle; but what chiefly recommended him to my father was his skill
+in music, of which you know that dear man was the most violent lover.
+I wish he was not too susceptible of flattery on that head; for I have
+heard Hebbers often greatly commend my father's performance, and have
+observed that the good man was wonderfully pleased with such
+commendations. To say the truth, it is the only way I can account for
+the extraordinary friendship which my father conceived for this
+person; such a friendship, that he at last became a part of our
+family.
+
+"This very circumstance, which, as I am convinced, strongly
+recommended him to my father, had the very contrary effect with me: I
+had never any delight in music, and it was not without much difficulty
+I was prevailed on to learn to play on the harpsichord, in which I had
+made a very slender progress. As this man, therefore, was frequently
+the occasion of my being importuned to play against my will, I began
+to entertain some dislike for him on that account; and as to his
+person, I assure you, I long continued to look on it with great
+indifference.
+
+"How strange will the art of this man appear to you presently, who had
+sufficient address to convert that very circumstance which had at
+first occasioned my dislike into the first seeds of affection for him!
+
+"You have often, I believe, heard my sister Betty play on the
+harpsichord; she was, indeed, reputed the best performer in the whole
+country.
+
+"I was the farthest in the world from regarding this perfection of
+hers with envy. In reality, perhaps, I despised all perfection of this
+kind: at least, as I had neither skill nor ambition to excel this way,
+I looked upon it as a matter of mere indifference.
+
+"Hebbers first put this emulation in my head. He took great pains to
+persuade me that I had much greater abilities of the musical kind than
+my sister, and that I might with the greatest ease, if I pleased,
+excel her; offering me, at the same time, his assistance if I would
+resolve to undertake it.
+
+"When he had sufficiently inflamed my ambition, in which, perhaps, he
+found too little difficulty, the continual praises of my sister, which
+before I had disregarded, became more and more nauseous in my ears;
+and the rather, as, music being the favourite passion of my father, I
+became apprehensive (not without frequent hints from Hebbers of that
+nature) that she might gain too great a preference in his favour.
+
+"To my harpsichord then I applied myself night and day, with such
+industry and attention, that I soon began to perform in a tolerable
+manner. I do not absolutely say I excelled my sister, for many were of
+a different opinion; but, indeed, there might be some partiality in
+all that.
+
+"Hebbers, at least, declared himself on my side, and nobody could
+doubt his judgment. He asserted openly that I played in the better
+manner of the two; and one day, when I was playing to him alone, he
+affected to burst into a rapture of admiration, and, squeezing me
+gently by the hand, said, There, madam, I now declare you excel your
+sister as much in music as, added he in a whispering sigh, you do her,
+and all the world, in every other charm.
+
+"No woman can bear any superiority in whatever thing she desires to
+excel in. I now began to hate all the admirers of my sister, to be
+uneasy at every commendation bestowed on her skill in music, and
+consequently to love Hebbers for the preference which he gave to mine.
+
+"It was now that I began to survey the handsome person of Hebbers with
+pleasure. And here, Mr. Booth, I will betray to you the grand secret
+of our sex.---Many women, I believe, do, with great innocence, and
+even with great indifference, converse with men of the finest persons;
+but this I am confident may be affirmed with truth, that, when once a
+woman comes to ask this question of herself, Is the man whom I like
+for some other reason, handsome? her fate and his too, very strongly
+depend on her answering in the affirmative.
+
+"Hebbers no sooner perceived that he had made an impression on my
+heart, of which I am satisfied I gave him too undeniable tokens, than
+he affected on a sudden to shun me in the most apparent manner. He
+wore the most melancholy air in my presence, and, by his dejected
+looks and sighs, firmly persuaded me that there was some secret sorrow
+labouring in his bosom; nor will it be difficult for you to imagine to
+what cause I imputed it.
+
+"Whilst I was wishing for his declaration of a passion in which I
+thought I could not be mistaken, and at the same time trembling
+whenever we met with the apprehension of this very declaration, the
+widow Carey came from London to make us a visit, intending to stay the
+whole summer at our house.
+
+"Those who know Mrs. Carey will scarce think I do her an injury in
+saying she is far from being handsome; and yet she is as finished a
+coquette as if she had the highest beauty to support that character.
+But perhaps you have seen her; and if you have I am convinced you will
+readily subscribe to my opinion."
+
+Booth answered he had not; and then she proceeded as in the following
+chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+_The history of Miss Matthews continued_.
+
+
+"This young lady had not been three days with us before Hebbers grew
+so particular with her, that it was generally observed; and my poor
+father, who, I believe, loved the cornet as if he had been his son,
+began to jest on the occasion, as one who would not be displeased at
+throwing a good jointure into the arms of his friend.
+
+"You will easily guess, sir, the disposition of my mind on this
+occasion; but I was not permitted to suffer long under it; for one
+day, when Hebbers was alone with me, he took an opportunity of
+expressing his abhorrence at the thoughts of marrying for interest,
+contrary to his inclinations. I was warm on the subject, and, I
+believe, went so far as to say that none but fools and villains did
+so. He replied, with a sigh, Yes, madam, but what would you think of a
+man whose heart is all the while bleeding for another woman, to whom
+he would willingly sacrifice the world; but, because he must sacrifice
+her interest as well as his own, never durst even give her a hint of
+that passion which was preying on his very vitals? 'Do you believe,
+Miss Fanny, there is such a wretch on earth?' I answered, with an
+assumed coldness, I did not believe there was. He then took me gently
+by the hand, and, with a look so tender that I cannot describe it,
+vowed he was himself that wretch. Then starting, as if conscious of an
+error committed, he cried with a faltering voice, 'What am I saying?
+Pardon me, Miss Fanny; since I beg only your pity, I never will ask
+for more.--' At these words, hearing my father coming up, I betrayed
+myself entirely, if, indeed, I had not done it before. I hastily
+withdrew my hand, crying, Hush! for heaven's sake, my father is just
+coming in; my blushes, my look, and my accent, telling him, I suppose,
+all which he wished to know.
+
+"A few days now brought matters to an eclaircissement between us; the
+being undeceived in what had given me so much uneasiness gave me a
+pleasure too sweet to be resisted. To triumph over the widow, for whom
+I had in a very short time contracted a most inveterate hatred, was a
+pride not to be described. Hebbers appeared to me to be the cause of
+all this happiness. I doubted not but that he had the most
+disinterested passion for me, and thought him every way worthy of its
+return. I did return it, and accepted him as my lover.
+
+"He declared the greatest apprehensions of my father's suspicion,
+though I am convinced these were causeless had his designs been
+honourable. To blind these, I consented that he should carry on sham
+addresses to the widow, who was now a constant jest between us; and he
+pretended from time to time to acquaint me faithfully with everything
+that past at his interviews with her; nor was this faithless woman
+wanting in her part of the deceit. She carried herself to me all the
+while with a shew of affection, and pretended to have the utmost
+friendship for me But such are the friendships of women!"
+
+At this remark, Booth, though enough affected at some parts of the
+story, had great difficulty to refrain from laughter; but, by good
+luck, he escaped being perceived; and the lady went on without
+interruption.
+
+"I am come now to a part of my narrative in which it is impossible to
+be particular without being tedious; for, as to the commerce between
+lovers, it is, I believe, much the same in all cases; and there is,
+perhaps, scarce a single phrase that hath not been repeated ten
+millions of times.
+
+"One thing, however, as I strongly remarked it then, so I will repeat
+it to you now. In all our conversations, in moments when he fell into
+the warmest raptures, and exprest the greatest uneasiness at the delay
+of his joys, he seldom mentioned the word marriage; and never once
+solicited a day for that purpose. Indeed, women cannot be cautioned
+too much against such lovers; for though I have heard, and perhaps
+truly, of some of our sex, of a virtue so exalted, that it is proof
+against every temptation; yet the generality, I am afraid, are too
+much in the power of a man to whom they have owned an affection. What
+is called being upon a good footing is, perhaps, being upon a very
+dangerous one; and a woman who hath given her consent to marry can
+hardly be said to be safe till she is married.
+
+"And now, sir, I hasten to the period of my ruin. We had a wedding in
+our family; my musical sister was married to a young fellow as musical
+as herself. Such a match, you may be sure, amongst other festivities,
+must have a ball. Oh! Mr. Booth, shall modesty forbid me to remark to
+you what past on that occasion? But why do I mention modesty, who have
+no pretensions to it? Everything was said and practised on that
+occasion, as if the purpose had been to inflame the mind of every
+woman present. That effect, I freely own to you, it had with me.
+Music, dancing, wine, and the most luscious conversation, in which my
+poor dear father innocently joined, raised ideas in me of which I
+shall for ever repent; and I wished (why should I deny it?) that it
+had been my wedding instead of my sister's.
+
+"The villain Hebbers danced with me that night, and he lost no
+opportunity of improving the occasion. In short, the dreadful evening
+came. My father, though it was a very unusual thing with him, grew
+intoxicated with liquor; most of the men were in the same condition;
+nay, I myself drank more than I was accustomed to, enough to inflame,
+though not to disorder. I lost my former bed-fellow, my sister, and--
+you may, I think, guess the rest--the villain found means to steal to
+my chamber, and I was undone.
+
+"Two months I passed in this detested commerce, buying, even then, my
+guilty, half-tasted pleasures at too dear a rate, with continual
+horror and apprehension; but what have I paid since--what do I pay
+now, Mr. Booth? O may my fate be a warning to every woman to keep her
+innocence, to resist every temptation, since she is certain to repent
+of the foolish bargain. May it be a warning to her to deal with
+mankind with care and caution; to shun the least approaches of
+dishonour, and never to confide too much in the honesty of a man, nor
+in her own strength, where she has so much at stake; let her remember
+she walks on a precipice, and the bottomless pit is to receive her if
+she slips; nay, if she makes but one false step.
+
+"I ask your pardon, Mr. Booth; I might have spared these exhortations,
+since no woman hears me; but you will not wonder at seeing me affected
+on this occasion."
+
+Booth declared he was much more surprised at her being able so well to
+preserve her temper in recounting her story.
+
+"O sir," answered she, "I am at length reconciled to my fate; and I
+can now die with pleasure, since I die revenged. I am not one of those
+mean wretches who can sit down and lament their misfortunes. If I ever
+shed tears, they are the tears of indignation.--But I will proceed.
+
+"It was my fate now to solicit marriage; and I failed not to do it in
+the most earnest manner. He answered me at first with
+procrastinations, declaring, from time to time, he would mention it to
+my father; and still excusing himself for not doing it. At last he
+thought on an expedient to obtain a longer reprieve. This was by
+pretending that he should, in a very few weeks, be preferred to the
+command of a troop; and then, he said, he could with some confidence
+propose the match.
+
+"In this delay I was persuaded to acquiesce, and was indeed pretty
+easy, for I had not yet the least mistrust of his honour; but what
+words can paint my sensations, when one morning he came into my room,
+with all the marks of dejection in his countenance, and, throwing an
+open letter on the table, said, 'There is news, madam, in that letter
+which I am unable to tell you; nor can it give you more concern than
+it hath given me.'
+
+"This letter was from his captain, to acquaint him that the rout, as
+they call it, was arrived, and that they were to march within two
+days. And this, I am since convinced, was what he expected, instead of
+the preferment which had been made the pretence of delaying our
+marriage.
+
+"The shock which I felt at reading this was inexpressible, occasioned
+indeed principally by the departure of a villain whom I loved.
+However, I soon acquired sufficient presence of mind to remember the
+main point; and I now insisted peremptorily on his making me
+immediately his wife, whatever might be the consequence.
+
+"He seemed thunderstruck at this proposal, being, I suppose, destitute
+of any excuse: but I was too impatient to wait for an answer, and
+cried out with much eagerness, Sure you cannot hesitate a moment upon
+this matter--'Hesitate! madam!' replied he--'what you ask is
+impossible. Is this a time for me to mention a thing of this kind to
+your father?'--My eyes were now opened all at once--I fell into a rage
+little short of madness. Tell not me, I cried, of impossibilities, nor
+times, nor of my father---my honour, my reputation, my all are at
+stake.--I will have no excuse, no delay--make me your wife this
+instant, or I will proclaim you over the face of the whole earth for
+the greatest of villains. He answered, with a kind of sneer, 'What
+will you proclaim, madam?--whose honour will you injure?' My tongue
+faltered when I offered to reply, and I fell into a violent agony,
+which ended in a fit; nor do I remember anything more that past till I
+found myself in the arms of my poor affrighted father.
+
+"O, Mr. Booth, what was then my situation! I tremble even now from the
+reflection.--I must stop a moment. I can go no farther." Booth
+attempted all in his power to soothe her; and she soon recovered her
+powers, and proceeded in her story.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix
+
+_In which Miss Matthews concludes her relation_.
+
+
+Before I had recovered my senses I had sufficiently betrayed myself to
+the best of men, who, instead of upbraiding me, or exerting any anger,
+endeavoured to comfort me all he could with assurances that all should
+yet be well. This goodness of his affected me with inexpressible
+sensations; I prostrated myself before him, embraced and kissed his
+knees, and almost dissolved in tears, and a degree of tenderness
+hardly to be conceived---But I am running into too minute
+descriptions.
+
+"Hebbers, seeing me in a fit, had left me, and sent one of the
+servants to take care of me. He then ran away like a thief from the
+house, without taking his leave of my father, or once thanking him for
+all his civilities. He did not stop at his quarters, but made directly
+to London, apprehensive, I believe, either of my father or brother's
+resentment; for I am convinced he is a coward. Indeed his fear of my
+brother was utterly groundless; for I believe he would rather have
+thanked any man who had destroyed me; and I am sure I am not in the
+least behindhand with him in good wishes.
+
+"All his inveteracy to me had, however, no effect on my father, at
+least at that time; for, though the good man took sufficient occasions
+to reprimand me for my past offence, he could not be brought to
+abandon me. A treaty of marriage was now set on foot, in which my
+father himself offered me to Hebbers, with a fortune superior to that
+which had been given with my sister; nor could all my brother's
+remonstrances against it, as an act of the highest injustice, avail.
+
+"Hebbers entered into the treaty, though not with much warmth. He had
+even the assurance to make additional demands on my father, which
+being complied with, everything was concluded, and the villain once
+more received into the house. He soon found means to obtain my
+forgiveness of his former behaviour; indeed, he convinced me, so
+foolishly blind is female love, that he had never been to blame.
+
+"When everything was ready for our nuptials, and the day of the
+ceremony was to be appointed, in the midst of my happiness I received
+a letter from an unknown hand, acquainting me (guess, Mr. Booth, how I
+was shocked at receiving it) that Mr. Hebbers was already married to a
+woman in a distant part of the kingdom.
+
+"I will not tire you with all that past at our next interview. I
+communicated the letter to Hebbers, who, after some little hesitation,
+owned the fact, and not only owned it, but had the address to improve
+it to his own advantage, to make it the means of satisfying me
+concerning all his former delays; which, to say the truth, I was not
+so much displeased at imputing to any degree of villany, as I should
+have been to impute it to the want of a sufficient warmth of
+affection, and though the disappointment of all my hopes, at the very
+instant of their expected fruition, threw me into the most violent
+disorders; yet, when I came a little to myself, he had no great
+difficulty to persuade me that in every instance, with regard to me,
+Hebbers had acted from no other motive than from the most ardent and
+ungovernable love. And there is, I believe, no crime which a woman
+will not forgive, when she can derive it from that fountain. In short,
+I forgave him all, and am willing to persuade myself I am not weaker
+than the rest of my sex. Indeed, Mr. Booth, he hath a bewitching
+tongue, and is master of an address that no woman could resist. I do
+assure you the charms of his person are his least perfection, at least
+in my eye."
+
+Here Booth smiled, but happily without her perceiving it.
+
+"A fresh difficulty (continued she) now arose. This was to excuse the
+delay of the ceremony to my father, who every day very earnestly urged
+it. This made me so very uneasy, that I at last listened to a
+proposal, which, if any one in the days of my innocence, or even a few
+days before, had assured me I could have submitted to have thought of,
+I should have treated the supposition with the highest contempt and
+indignation; nay, I scarce reflect on it now with more horror than
+astonishment. In short, I agreed to run away with him--to leave my
+father, my reputation, everything which was or ought to have been dear
+to me, and to live with this villain as a mistress, since I could not
+be his wife.
+
+"Was not this an obligation of the highest and tenderest kind, and had
+I not reason to expect every return in the man's power on whom I had
+conferred it? "I will make short of the remainder of my story, for
+what is there of a woman worth relating, after what I have told you?
+
+"Above a year I lived with this man in an obscure court in London,
+during which time I had a child by him, whom Heaven, I thank it, hath
+been pleased to take to itself.
+
+"During many months he behaved to me with all the apparent tenderness
+and even fondness imaginable; but, alas! how poor was my enjoyment of
+this compared to what it would have been in another situation? When he
+was present, life was barely tolerable: but, when he was absent,
+nothing could equal the misery I endured. I past my hours almost
+entirely alone; for no company but what I despised, would consort with
+me. Abroad I scarce ever went, lest I should meet any of my former
+acquaintance; for their sight would have plunged a thousand daggers in
+my soul. My only diversion was going very seldom to a play, where I
+hid myself in the gallery, with a daughter of the woman of the house.
+A girl, indeed, of good sense and many good qualities; but how much
+beneath me was it to be the companion of a creature so low! O heavens!
+when I have seen my equals glittering in a side-box, how have the
+thoughts of my lost honour torn my soul!"
+
+"Pardon me, dear madam," cries Booth, "for interrupting you; but I am
+under the utmost anxiety to know what became of your poor father, for
+whom I have so great a respect, and who, I am convinced, must so
+bitterly feel your loss."
+
+"O Mr. Booth," answered she, "he was scarce ever out of my thoughts.
+His dear image still obtruded itself in my mind, and I believe would
+have broken my heart, had I not taken a very preposterous way to ease
+myself. I am, indeed, almost ashamed to tell you; but necessity put it
+in my head.--You will think the matter too trifling to have been
+remembered, and so it surely was; nor should I have remembered it on
+any other occasion. You must know then, sir, that my brother was
+always my inveterate enemy and altogether as fond of my sister.--He
+once prevailed with my father to let him take my sister with him in
+the chariot, and by that means I was disappointed of going to a ball
+which I had set my heart on. The disappointment, I assure you, was
+great at the time; but I had long since forgotten it. I must have been
+a very bad woman if I had not, for it was the only thing in which I
+can remember that my father ever disobliged me. However, I now revived
+this in my mind, which I artificially worked up into so high an
+injury, that I assure you it afforded me no little comfort. When any
+tender idea intruded into my bosom, I immediately raised this fantom
+of an injury in my imagination, and it considerably lessened the fury
+of that sorrow which I should have otherwise felt for the loss of so
+good a father, who died within a few months of my departure from him.
+
+"And now, sir, to draw to a conclusion. One night, as I was in the
+gallery at Drury-lane playhouse, I saw below me in a side-box (she was
+once below me in every place), that widow whom I mentioned to you
+before. I had scarce cast my eyes on this woman before I was so
+shocked with the sight that it almost deprived me of my senses; for
+the villain Hebbers came presently in and seated himself behind her.
+
+"He had been almost a month from me, and I believed him to be at his
+quarters in Yorkshire. Guess what were my sensations when I beheld him
+sitting by that base woman, and talking to her with the utmost
+familiarity. I could not long endure this sight, and having acquainted
+my companion that I was taken suddenly ill, I forced her to go home
+with me at the end of the second act.
+
+"After a restless and sleepless night, when I rose the next morning I
+had the comfort to receive a visit from the woman of the house, who,
+after a very short introduction, asked me when I had heard from the
+captain, and when I expected to see him? I had not strength or spirits
+to make her any answer, and she proceeded thus:--'Indeed I did not
+think the captain would have used me so. My husband was an officer of
+the army as well as himself; and if a body is a little low in the
+world, I am sure that is no reason for folks to trample on a body. I
+defy the world to say as I ever was guilty of an ill thing.' For
+heaven's sake, madam, says I, what do you mean? 'Mean?' cries she; 'I
+am sure, if I had not thought you had been Captain Hebbers' lady, his
+lawful lady too, you should never have set footing in my house. I
+would have Captain Hebbers know, that though I am reduced to let
+lodgings, I never have entertained any but persons of character.'--In
+this manner, sir, she ran on, saying many shocking things not worth
+repeating, till my anger at last got the better of my patience as well
+as my sorrow, and I pushed her out of the room.
+
+"She had not been long gone before her daughter came to me, and, after
+many expressions of tenderness and pity, acquainted me that her mother
+had just found out, by means of the captain's servant, that the
+captain was married to another lady; 'which, if you did not know
+before, madam,' said she, 'I am sorry to be the messenger of such ill
+news.'
+
+"Think, Mr. Booth, what I must have endured to see myself humbled
+before such a creature as this, the daughter of a woman who lets
+lodgings! However, having recollected myself a little, I thought it
+would be in vain to deny anything; so, knowing this to be one of the
+best-natured and most sensible girls in the world, I resolved to tell
+her my whole story, and for the future to make her my confidante. I
+answered her, therefore, with a good deal of assurance, that she need
+not regret telling me this piece of ill news, for I had known it
+before I came to her house.
+
+"'Pardon me, madam,' replied the girl, 'you cannot possibly have known
+it so long, for he hath not been married above a week; last night was
+the first time of his appearing in public with his wife at the play.
+Indeed, I knew very well the cause of your uneasiness there; but would
+not mention---'
+
+"His wife at the play? answered I eagerly. What wife? whom do you
+mean?
+
+"'I mean the widow Carey, madam,' replied she, 'to whom the captain
+was married a few days since. His servant was here last night to pay
+for your lodging, and he told it my mother.'
+
+"I know not what answer I made, or whether I made any. I presently
+fell dead on the floor, and it was with great difficulty I was brought
+back to life by the poor girl, for neither the mother nor the maid of
+the house would lend me any assistance, both seeming to regard me
+rather as a monster than a woman.
+
+"Scarce had I recovered the use of my senses when I received a letter
+from the villain, declaring he had not assurance to see my face, and
+very kindly advising me to endeavour to reconcile myself to my family,
+concluding with an offer, in case I did not succeed, to allow me
+twenty pounds a-year to support me in some remote part of the kingdom.
+
+"I need not mention my indignation at these proposals. In the highest
+agony of rage, I went in a chair to the detested house, where I easily
+got access to the wretch I had devoted to destruction, whom I no
+sooner found within my reach than I plunged a drawn penknife, which I
+had prepared in my pocket for the purpose, into his accursed heart.
+For this fact I was immediately seized and soon after committed
+hither; and for this fact I am ready to die, and shall with pleasure
+receive the sentence of the law.
+
+"Thus, sir," said she, "I have related to you my unhappy story, and if
+I have tired your patience, by dwelling too long on those parts which
+affected me the most, I ask your pardon."
+
+Booth made a proper speech on this occasion, and, having exprest much
+concern at her present situation, concluded that he hoped her sentence
+would be milder than she seemed to expect.
+
+Her reply to this was full of so much bitterness and indignation, that
+we do not think proper to record the speech at length, in which having
+vented her passion, she all at once put on a serene countenance, and
+with an air of great complacency said, "Well, Mr. Booth, I think I
+have now a right to satisfy my curiosity at the expense of your
+breath. I may say it is not altogether a vain curiosity, for perhaps I
+have had inclination enough to interest myself in whatever concerns
+you; but no matter for that: those days (added she with a sigh) are
+now over."
+
+Booth, who was extremely good-natured and well-bred, told her that she
+should not command him twice whatever was in his power; and then,
+after the usual apology, was going to begin his history, when the
+keeper arrived, and acquainted the lady that dinner was ready, at the
+same time saying, "I suppose, madam, as the gentleman is an
+acquaintance of yours, he must dine with us too."
+
+Miss Matthews told the keeper that she had only one word to mention in
+private to the gentleman, and that then they would both attend him.
+She then pulled her purse from her pocket, in which were upwards of
+twenty guineas, being the remainder of the money for which she had
+sold a gold repeating watch, her father's present, with some other
+trinkets, and desired Mr. Booth to take what he should have occasion
+for, saying, "You know, I believe, dear Will, I never valued money;
+and now I am sure I shall have very little use for it." Booth, with
+much difficulty, accepted of two guineas, and then they both together
+attended the keeper.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter x
+
+_Table-talk, consisting of a facetious discourse that passed in the
+prison_.
+
+
+There were assembled at the table the governor of these (not
+improperly called infernal) regions; the lieutenant-governor, vulgarly
+named the first turnkey; Miss Matthews, Mr. Booth, Mr. Robinson the
+gambler, several other prisoners of both sexes, and one Murphy, an
+attorney.
+
+The governor took the first opportunity to bring the affair of Miss
+Matthews upon the carpet, and then, turning to Murphy, he said, "It is
+very lucky this gentleman happens to be present; I do assure you,
+madam, your cause cannot be in abler hands. He is, I believe, the best
+man in England at a defence; I have known him often succeed against
+the most positive evidence."
+
+"Fy, sir," answered Murphy; "you know I hate all this; but, if the
+lady will trust me with her cause, I will do the best in my power.
+Come, madam, do not be discouraged; a bit of manslaughter and cold
+iron, I hope, will be the worst: or perhaps we may come off better
+with a slice of chance-medley, or _se defendendo_"
+
+"I am very ignorant of the law, sir," cries the lady.
+
+"Yes, madam," answered Murphy; "it can't be expected you should
+understand it. There are very few of us who profess it that understand
+the whole, nor is it necessary we should. There is a great deal of
+rubbish of little use, about indictments, and abatements, and bars,
+and ejectments, and trovers, and such stuff, with which people cram
+their heads to little purpose. The chapter of evidence is the main
+business; that is the sheet-anchor; that is the rudder, which brings
+the vessel safe _in portum_. Evidence is, indeed, the whole, the
+_summa totidis_, for _de non apparentibus et non insistentibus eandem
+est ratio_."
+
+"If you address yourself to me, sir," said the lady, "you are much too
+learned, I assure you, for my understanding."
+
+"_Tace_, madam," answered Murphy, "is Latin for a candle: I commend
+your prudence. I shall know the particulars of your case when we are
+alone."
+
+"I hope the lady," said Robinson, "hath no suspicion of any person
+here. I hope we are all persons of honour at this table."
+
+"D--n my eyes!" answered a well-dressed woman, "I can answer for
+myself and the other ladies; though I never saw the lady in my life,
+she need not be shy of us, d--n my eyes! I scorn to rap [Footnote: A
+cant word, meaning to swear, or rather to perjure yourself] against
+any lady."
+
+"D--n me, madam!" cried another female, "I honour what you have done.
+I once put a knife into a cull myself--so my service to you, madam,
+and I wish you may come off with _se diffidendo_ with all my heart."
+
+"I beg, good woman," said Miss Matthews, "you would talk on some other
+subject, and give yourself no concern about my affairs."
+
+"You see, ladies," cried Murphy, "the gentle-woman doth not care to
+talk on this matter before company; so pray do not press her."
+
+"Nay, I value the lady's acquaintance no more than she values mine,"
+cries the first woman who spoke. "I have kept as good company as the
+lady, I believe, every day in the week. Good woman! I don't use to be
+so treated. If the lady says such another word to me, d--n me, I will
+darken her daylights. Marry, come up! Good woman!--the lady's a whore
+as well as myself! and, though I am sent hither to mill doll, d--n my
+eyes, I have money enough to buy it off as well as the lady herself."
+
+Action might perhaps soon have ensued this speech, had not the keeper
+interposed his authority, and put an end to any further dispute. Soon
+after which, the company broke up, and none but himself, Mr. Murphy,
+Captain Booth, and Miss Matthews, remained together.
+
+Miss Matthews then, at the entreaty of the keeper, began to open her
+case to Mr. Murphy, whom she admitted to be her solicitor, though she
+still declared she was indifferent as to the event of the trial.
+
+Mr. Murphy, having heard all the particulars with which the reader is
+already acquainted (as far as related to the murder), shook his head
+and said, "There is but one circumstance, madam, which I wish was out
+of the case; and that we must put out of it; I mean the carrying the
+penknife drawn into the room with you; for that seems to imply malice
+prepensive, as we call it in the law: this circumstance, therefore,
+must not appear against you; and, if the servant who was in the room
+observed this, he must be bought off at all hazards. All here you say
+are friends; therefore I tell you openly, you must furnish me with
+money sufficient for this purpose. Malice is all we have to guard
+against."
+
+"I would not presume, sir," cries Booth, "to inform you in the law;
+but I have heard, in case of stabbing, a man may be indicted upon the
+statute; and it is capital, though no malice appears."
+
+"You say true, sir," answered Murphy; "a man may be indicted _contra
+formam statutis;_ and that method, I allow you, requires no malice. I
+presume you are a lawyer, sir?"
+
+"No, indeed, sir," answered Booth, "I know nothing of the law."
+
+"Then, sir, I will tell you--If a man be indicted _contra formam
+tatutis_, as we say, no malice is necessary, because the form of the
+statute makes malice; and then what we have to guard against is having
+struck the first blow. Pox on't, it is unlucky this was done in a
+room: if it had been in the street we could have had five or six
+witnesses to have proved the first blow, cheaper than, I am afraid, we
+shall get this one; for when a man knows, from the unhappy
+circumstances of the case, that you can procure no other witness but
+himself, he is always dear. It is so in all other ways of business. I
+am very implicit, you see; but we are all among friends. The safest
+way is to furnish me with money enough to offer him a good round sum
+at once; and I think (it is for your good I speak) fifty pounds is the
+least than can be offered him. I do assure you I would offer him no
+less was it my own case."
+
+"And do you think, sir," said she, "that I would save my life at the
+expense of hiring another to perjure himself?"
+
+"Ay, surely do I," cries Murphy; "for where is the fault, admitting
+there is some fault in perjury, as you call it? and, to be sure, it is
+such a matter as every man would rather wish to avoid than not: and
+yet, as it may be managed, there is not so much as some people are apt
+to imagine in it; for he need not kiss the book, and then pray where's
+the perjury? but if the crier is sharper than ordinary, what is it he
+kisses? is it anything but a bit of calf's-skin? I am sure a man must
+be a very bad Christian himself who would not do so much as that to
+save the life of any Christian whatever, much more of so pretty a
+lady. Indeed, madam, if we can make out but a tolerable case, so much
+beauty will go a great way with the judge and the jury too."
+
+The latter part of this speech, notwithstanding the mouth it came
+from, caused Miss Matthews to suppress much of the indignation which
+began to arise at the former; and she answered with a smile, "Sir, you
+are a great casuist in these matters; but we need argue no longer
+concerning them; for, if fifty pounds would save my life, I assure you
+I could not command that sum. The little money I have in my pocket is
+all I can call my own; and I apprehend, in the situation I am in, I
+shall have very little of that to spare."
+
+"Come, come, madam," cries Murphy, "life is sweet, let me tell you,
+and never sweeter than when we are near losing it. I have known many a
+man very brave and undaunted at his first commitment, who, when
+business began to thicken a little upon him, hath changed his note. It
+is no time to be saving in your condition."
+
+The keeper, who, after the liberality of Miss Matthews, and on seeing
+a purse of guineas in her hand, had conceived a great opinion of her
+wealth, no sooner heard that the sum which he had in intention
+intirely confiscated for his own use was attempted to be broke in
+upon, thought it high time to be upon his guard. "To be sure," cries
+he, "Mr. Murphy, life is sweet, as you say, that must be acknowledged;
+to be sure, life is sweet; but, sweet as it is, no persons can advance
+more than they are worth to save it. And indeed, if the lady can
+command no more money than that little she mentions, she is to be
+commended for her unwillingness to part with any of it; for, to be
+sure, as she says, she will want every farthing of that to live like a
+gentlewoman till she comes to her trial. And, to be sure, as sweet as
+life is, people ought to take care to be able to live sweetly while
+they do live; besides, I cannot help saying the lady shews herself to
+be what she is, by her abhorrence of perjury, which is certainly a
+very dreadful crime. And, though the not kissing the book doth, as you
+say, make a great deal of difference; and, if a man had a great while
+to live and repent, perhaps he might swallow it well enough; yet, when
+people comes to be near their end (as who can venture to foretel what
+will be the lady's case?) they ought to take care not to overburthen
+their conscience. I hope the lady's case will not be found murder; for
+I am sure I always wish well to all my prisoners who shew themselves
+to be gentlemen or gentlewomen; yet one should always fear the worst"
+
+"Indeed, sir, you speak like an oracle," answered the lady; "and one
+subornation of perjury would sit heavier on my conscience than twenty
+such murders as I am guilty of."
+
+"Nay, to be sure, madam," answered the keeper, "nobody can pretend to
+tell what provocation you must have had; and certainly it can never be
+imagined that a lady who behaves herself so handsomely as you have
+done ever since you have been under my keys should be guilty of
+killing a man without being very highly provoked to do it."
+
+Mr. Murphy was, I believe, going to answer when he was called out of
+the room; after which nothing passed between the remaining persons
+worth relating, till Booth and the lady retired back again into the
+lady's apartment.
+
+Here they fell immediately to commenting on the foregoing discourse;
+but, as their comments were, I believe, the same with what most
+readers have made on the same occasion, we shall omit them. At last,
+Miss Matthews reminding her companion of his promise of relating to
+her what had befallen him since the interruption of their former
+acquaintance, he began as is written in the next book of this history.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_In which Captain Booth begins to relate his history._
+
+
+The tea-table being removed, and Mr. Booth and the lady left alone, he
+proceeded as follows:
+
+"Since you desire, madam, to know the particulars of my courtship to
+that best and dearest of women whom I afterwards married, I will
+endeavour to recollect them as well as I can, at least all those
+incidents which are most worth relating to you.
+
+"If the vulgar opinion of the fatality in marriage had ever any
+foundation, it surely appeared in my marriage with my Amelia. I knew
+her in the first dawn of her beauty; and, I believe, madam, she had as
+much as ever fell to the share of a woman; but, though I always
+admired her, it was long without any spark of love. Perhaps the
+general admiration which at that time pursued her, the respect paid
+her by persons of the highest rank, and the numberless addresses which
+were made her by men of great fortune, prevented my aspiring at the
+possession of those charms which seemed so absolutely out of my reach.
+However it was, I assure you the accident which deprived her of the
+admiration of others made the first great impression on my heart in
+her favour. The injury done to her beauty by the overturning of a
+chaise, by which, as you may well remember, her lovely nose was beat
+all to pieces, gave me an assurance that the woman who had been so
+much adored for the charms of her person deserved a much higher
+adoration to be paid to her mind; for that she was in the latter
+respect infinitely more superior to the rest of her sex than she had
+ever been in the former."
+
+"I admire your taste extremely," cried the lady; "I remember perfectly
+well the great heroism with which your Amelia bore that misfortune."
+
+"Good heavens! madam," answered he; "what a magnanimity of mind did
+her behaviour demonstrate! If the world have extolled the firmness of
+soul in a man who can support the loss of fortune; of a general who
+can be composed after the loss of a victory; or of a king who can be
+contented with the loss of a crown; with what astonishment ought we to
+behold, with what praises to honour, a young lady, who can with
+patience and resignation submit to the loss of exquisite beauty, in
+other words to the loss of fortune, power, glory, everything which
+human nature is apt to court and rejoice in! what must be the mind
+which can bear to be deprived of all these in a moment, and by an
+unfortunate trifling accident; which could support all this, together
+with the most exquisite torments of body, and with dignity, with
+resignation, without complaining, almost without a tear, undergo the
+most painful and dreadful operations of surgery in such a situation!"
+Here he stopt, and a torrent of tears gushed from his eyes; such tears
+are apt to flow from a truly noble heart at the hearing of anything
+surprisingly great and glorious. As soon as he was able he again
+proceeded thus:
+
+"Would you think, Miss Matthews, that the misfortune of my Amelia was
+capable of any aggravation? I assure you, she hath often told me it
+was aggravated with a circumstance which outweighed all the other
+ingredients. This was the cruel insults she received from some of her
+most intimate acquaintance, several of whom, after many distortions
+and grimaces, have turned their heads aside, unable to support their
+secret triumph, and burst into a loud laugh in her hearing."
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Miss Matthews; "what detestable actions will
+this contemptible passion of envy prevail on our sex to commit!"
+
+"An occasion of this kind, as she hath since told me, made the first
+impression on her gentle heart in my favour. I was one day in company
+with several young ladies, or rather young devils, where poor Amelia's
+accident was the subject of much mirth and pleasantry. One of these
+said she hoped miss would not hold her head so high for the future.
+Another answered, 'I do not know, madam, what she may do with her
+head, but I am convinced she will never more turn up her nose at her
+betters.' Another cried, 'What a very proper match might now be made
+between Amelia and a certain captain,' who had unfortunately received
+an injury in the same part, though from no shameful cause. Many other
+sarcasms were thrown out, very unworthy to be repeated. I was hurt
+with perceiving so much malice in human shape, and cried out very
+bluntly, Indeed, ladies, you need not express such satisfaction at
+poor Miss Emily's accident; for she will still be the handsomest woman
+in England. This speech of mine was afterwards variously repeated, by
+some to my honour, and by others represented in a contrary light;
+indeed, it was often reported to be much ruder than it was. However,
+it at length reached Amelia's ears. She said she was very much obliged
+to me, since I could have so much compassion for her as to be rude to
+a lady on her account.
+
+"About a month after the accident, when Amelia began to see company in
+a mask, I had the honour to drink tea with her. We were alone
+together, and I begged her to indulge my curiosity by showing me her
+face. She answered in a most obliging manner, 'Perhaps, Mr. Booth, you
+will as little know me when my mask is off as when it is on;' and at
+the same instant unmasked.--The surgeon's skill was the least I
+considered. A thousand tender ideas rushed all at once on my mind. I
+was unable to contain myself, and, eagerly kissing her hand, I cried--
+Upon my soul, madam, you never appeared to me so lovely as at this
+instant. Nothing more remarkable passed at this visit; but I sincerely
+believe we were neither of us hereafter indifferent to each other.
+
+"Many months, however, passed after this, before I ever thought
+seriously of making her my wife. Not that I wanted sufficient love for
+Amelia. Indeed it arose from the vast affection I bore her. I
+considered my own as a desperate fortune, hers as entirely dependent
+on her mother, who was a woman, you know, of violent passions, and
+very unlikely to consent to a match so highly contrary to the interest
+of her daughter. The more I loved Amelia, the more firmly I resolved
+within myself never to propose love to her seriously. Such a dupe was
+my understanding to my heart, and so foolishly did I imagine I could
+be master of a flame to which I was every day adding fuel.
+
+"O, Miss Matthews! we have heard of men entirely masters of their
+passions, and of hearts which can carry this fire in them, and conceal
+it at their pleasure. Perhaps there may be such: but, if there are,
+those hearts may be compared, I believe, to damps, in which it is more
+difficult to keep fire alive than to prevent its blazing: in mine it
+was placed in the midst of combustible matter.
+
+"After several visits, in which looks and sighs had been interchanged
+on both sides, but without the least mention of passion in private,
+one day the discourse between us when alone happened to turn on love;
+I say happened, for I protest it was not designed on my side, and I am
+as firmly convinced not on hers. I was now no longer master of myself;
+I declared myself the most wretched of all martyrs to this tender
+passion; that I had long concealed it from its object. At length,
+after mentioning many particulars, suppressing, however, those which
+must have necessarily brought it home to Amelia, I concluded with
+begging her to be the confidante of my amour, and to give me her
+advice on that occasion.
+
+"Amelia (O, I shall never forget the dear perturbation!) appeared all
+confusion at this instant. She trembled, turned pale, and discovered
+how well she understood me, by a thousand more symptoms than I could
+take notice of, in a state of mind so very little different from her
+own. At last, with faltering accents, she said I had made a very ill
+choice of a counsellor in a matter in which she was so ignorant.--
+Adding, at last, 'I believe, Mr. Booth, you gentlemen want very little
+advice in these affairs, which you all understand better than we do.'
+
+"I will relate no more of our conversation at present; indeed I am
+afraid I tire you with too many particulars."
+
+"O, no!" answered she; "I should be glad to hear every step of an
+amour which had so tender a beginning. Tell me everything you said or
+did, if you can remember it."
+
+He then proceeded, and so will we in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_Mr. Booth continues his story. In this chapter there are some
+passages that may serve as a kind of touchstone by which a young lady
+may examine the heart of her lover. I would advise, therefore, that
+every lover be obliged to read it over in the presence of his
+mistress, and that she carefully watch his emotions while he is
+reading._
+
+
+"I was under the utmost concern," cries Booth, "when I retired from my
+visit, and had reflected coolly on what I had said. I now saw plainly
+that I had made downright love to Amelia; and I feared, such was my
+vanity, that I had already gone too far, and been too successful.
+Feared! do I say? could I fear what I hoped? how shall I describe the
+anxiety of my mind?"
+
+"You need give yourself no great pain," cried Miss Matthews, "to
+describe what I can so easily guess. To be honest with you, Mr. Booth,
+I do not agree with your lady's opinion that the men have a superior
+understanding in the matters of love. Men are often blind to the
+passions of women: but every woman is as quick-sighted as a hawk on
+these occasions; nor is there one article in the whole science which
+is not understood by all our sex."
+
+"However, madam," said Mr. Booth, "I now undertook to deceive Amelia.
+I abstained three days from seeing her; to say the truth, I
+endeavoured to work myself up to a resolution of leaving her for ever:
+but when I could not so far subdue my passion---But why do I talk
+nonsense of subduing passion?--I should say, when no other passion
+could surmount my love, I returned to visit her; and now I attempted
+the strangest project which ever entered into the silly head of a
+lover. This was to persuade Amelia that I was really in love in
+another place, and had literally expressed my meaning when I asked her
+advice and desired her to be my confidante.
+
+"I therefore forged a meeting to have been between me and my imaginary
+mistress since I had last seen Amelia, and related the particulars, as
+well as I could invent them, which had passed at our conversation.
+
+"Poor Amelia presently swallowed this bait; and, as she hath told me
+since, absolutely believed me to be in earnest. Poor dear love! how
+should the sincerest of hearts have any idea of deceit? for, with all
+her simplicity, I assure you she is the most sensible woman in the
+world."
+
+"It is highly generous and good in you," said Miss Matthews, with a
+sly sneer, "to impute to honesty what others would, perhaps, call
+credulity."
+
+"I protest, madam," answered he, "I do her no more than justice. A
+good heart will at all times betray the best head in the world.---
+Well, madam, my angel was now, if possible, more confused than before.
+She looked so silly, you can hardly believe it."
+
+"Yes, yes, I can," answered the lady, with a laugh, "I can believe
+it.--Well, well, go on."--"After some hesitation," cried he, "my
+Amelia said faintly to me, 'Mr. Booth, you use me very ill; you desire
+me to be your confidante, and conceal from me the name of your
+mistress.'
+
+"Is it possible then, madam," answered I, "that you cannot guess her,
+when I tell you she is one of your acquaintance, and lives in this
+town?"
+
+"'My acquaintance!' said she: 'La! Mr. Booth--In this town! I--I--I
+thought I could have guessed for once; but I have an ill talent that
+way--I will never attempt to guess anything again.' Indeed I do her an
+injury when I pretend to represent her manner. Her manner, look,
+voice, everything was inimitable; such sweetness, softness, innocence,
+modesty!--Upon my soul, if ever man could boast of his resolution, I
+think I might now, that I abstained from falling prostrate at her
+feet, and adoring her. However, I triumphed; pride, I believe,
+triumphed, or perhaps love got the better of love. We once more
+parted, and I promised, the next time I saw her, to reveal the name of
+my mistress.
+
+"I now had, I thought, gained a complete victory over myself; and no
+small compliments did I pay to my own resolution. In short, I
+triumphed as cowards and niggards do when they flatter themselves with
+having given some supposed instance of courage or generosity; and my
+triumph lasted as long; that is to say, till my ascendant passion had
+a proper opportunity of displaying itself in its true and natural
+colours.
+
+"Having hitherto succeeded so well in my own opinion, and obtained
+this mighty self-conquest, I now entertained a design of exerting the
+most romantic generosity, and of curing that unhappy passion which I
+perceived I had raised in Amelia.
+
+"Among the ladies who had expressed the greatest satisfaction at my
+Amelia's misfortune, Miss Osborne had distinguished herself in a very
+eminent degree; she was, indeed, the next in beauty to my angel, nay,
+she had disputed the preference, and had some among her admirers who
+were blind enough to give it in her favour."
+
+"Well," cries the lady, "I will allow you to call them blind; but Miss
+Osborne was a charming girl."
+
+"She certainly was handsome," answered he, "and a very considerable
+fortune; so I thought my Amelia would have little difficulty in
+believing me when I fixed on her as my mistress. And I concluded that
+my thus placing my affections on her known enemy would be the surest
+method of eradicating every tender idea with which I had been ever
+honoured by Amelia.
+
+"Well, then, to Amelia I went; she received me with more than usual
+coldness and reserve; in which, to confess the truth, there appeared
+to me more of anger than indifference, and more of dejection than of
+either. After some short introduction, I revived the discourse of my
+amour, and presently mentioned Miss Osborne as the lady whose name I
+had concealed; adding, that the true reason why I did not mention her
+before was, that I apprehended there was some little distance between
+them, which I hoped to have the happiness of accommodating.
+
+"Amelia answered with much gravity, 'If you know, sir, that there is
+any distance between us, I suppose you know the reason of that
+distance; and then, I think, I could not have expected to be affronted
+by her name. I would not have you think, Mr. Booth, that I hate Miss
+Osborne. No! Heaven is my witness, I despise her too much.--Indeed,
+when I reflect how much I loved the woman who hath treated me so
+cruelly, I own it gives me pain--when I lay, as I then imagined, and
+as all about me believed, on my deathbed, in all the agonies of pain
+and misery, to become the object of laughter to my dearest friend.--O,
+Mr. Booth, it is a cruel reflection! and could I after this have
+expected from you--but why not from you, to whom I am a person
+entirely indifferent, if such a friend could treat me so barbarously?'
+
+"During the greatest part of this speech the tears streamed from her
+bright eyes. I could endure it no longer. I caught up the word
+indifferent, and repeated it, saying, Do you think then, madam, that
+Miss Emily is indifferent to me?
+
+"'Yes, surely, I do,' answered she: 'I know I am; indeed, why should I
+not be indifferent to you?'
+
+"Have my eyes," said I, "then declared nothing?"
+
+"'O! there is no need of your eyes' answered she; 'your tongue hath
+declared that you have singled out of all womankind my greatest, I
+will say, my basest enemy. I own I once thought that character would
+have been no recommendation to you;--but why did I think so? I was
+born to deceive myself.'
+
+"I then fell on my knees before her; and, forcing her hand, cried out,
+O, my Amelia! I can bear no longer. You are the only mistress of my
+affections; you are the deity I adore. In this stile I ran on for
+above two or three minutes, what it is impossible to repeat, till a
+torrent of contending passions, together with the surprize,
+overpowered her gentle spirits, and she fainted away in my arms.
+
+"To describe my sensation till she returned to herself is not in my
+power."--"You need not," cried Miss Matthews.--"Oh, happy Amelia! why
+had I not been blest with such a passion?"--"I am convinced, madam,"
+continued he, "you cannot expect all the particulars of the tender
+scene which ensued. I was not enough in my senses to remember it all.
+Let it suffice to say, that that behaviour with which Amelia, while
+ignorant of its motive, had been so much displeased, when she became
+sensible of that motive, proved the strongest recommendation to her
+favour, and she was pleased to call it generous."
+
+"Generous!" repeated the lady, "and so it was, almost beyond the reach
+of humanity. I question whether you ever had an equal."
+
+Perhaps the critical reader may have the same doubt with Miss
+Matthews; and lest he should, we will here make a gap in our history,
+to give him an opportunity of accurately considering whether this
+conduct of Mr. Booth was natural or no; and consequently, whether we
+have, in this place, maintained or deviated from that strict adherence
+to universal truth which we profess above all other historians.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_The narrative continued. More of the touchstone._
+
+
+Booth made a proper acknowledgment of Miss Matthew's civility, and
+then renewed his story. "We were upon the footing of lovers; and
+Amelia threw off her reserve more and more, till at length I found all
+that return of my affection which the tenderest lover can require.
+
+"My situation would now have been a paradise, had not my happiness
+been interrupted with the same reflections I have already mentioned;
+had I not, in short, concluded, that I must derive all my joys from
+the almost certain ruin of that dear creature to whom I should owe
+them.
+
+"This thought haunted me night and day, till I at last grew unable to
+support it: I therefore resolved in the strongest manner, to lay it
+before Amelia.
+
+"One evening then, after the highest professions of the most
+disinterested love, in which Heaven knows my sincerity, I took an
+occasion to speak to Amelia in the following manner:--
+
+"Too true it is, I am afraid, my dearest creature, that the highest
+human happiness is imperfect. How rich would be my cup, was it not for
+one poisonous drop which embitters the whole! O, Amelia! what must be
+the consequence of my ever having the honour to call you mine!--You
+know my situation in life, and you know your own: I have nothing more
+than the poor provision of an ensign's commission to depend on; your
+sole dependence is on your mother; should any act of disobedience
+defeat your expectations, how wretched must your lot be with me! O,
+Amelia! how ghastly an object to my mind is the apprehension of your
+distress! Can I bear to reflect a moment on the certainty of your
+foregoing all the conveniences of life? on the possibility of your
+suffering all its most dreadful inconveniencies? what must be my
+misery, then, to see you in such a situation, and to upbraid myself
+with being the accursed cause of bringing you to it? Suppose too in
+such a season I should be summoned from you. Could I submit to see you
+encounter all the hazards, the fatigues of war, with me? you could not
+yourself, however willing, support them a single campaign. What then;
+must I leave you to starve alone, deprived of the tenderness of a
+husband, deprived too of the tenderness of the best of mothers,
+through my means? a woman most dear to me, for being the parent, the
+nurse, and the friend of my Amelia.---But oh! my sweet creature, carry
+your thoughts a little further. Think of the tenderest consequences,
+the dearest pledges of our love. Can I bear to think of entailing
+beggary on the posterity of my Amelia? on our---Oh, Heavens!--on our
+children!--On the other side, is it possible even to mention the word
+--I will not, must not, cannot, cannot part with you.---What must we
+do, Amelia? It is now I sincerely ask your advice."
+
+"'What advice can I give you,' said she, 'in such an alternative?
+Would to Heaven we had never met!'
+
+"These words were accompanied with a sigh, and a look inexpressibly
+tender, the tears at the same time overflowing all her lovely cheeks.
+I was endeavouring to reply when I was interrupted by what soon put an
+end to the scene.
+
+"Our amour had already been buzzed all over the town; and it came at
+last to the ears of Mrs. Harris: I had, indeed, observed of late a
+great alteration in that lady's behaviour towards me whenever I
+visited at the house; nor could I, for a long time before this
+evening, ever obtain a private interview with Amelia; and now, it
+seems, I owed it to her mother's intention of overhearing all that
+passed between us.
+
+"At the period then above mentioned, Mrs. Harris burst from the closet
+where she had hid herself, and surprised her daughter, reclining on my
+bosom in all that tender sorrow I have just described. I will not
+attempt to paint the rage of the mother, or the daughter's confusion,
+or my own. 'Here are very fine doings, indeed,' cries Mrs. Harris:
+'you have made a noble use, Amelia, of my indulgence, and the trust I
+reposed in you.--As for you, Mr. Booth, I will not accuse you; you
+have used my child as I ought to have expected; I may thank myself for
+what hath happened;' with much more of the same kind, before she would
+suffer me to speak; but at last I obtained a hearing, and offered to
+excuse my poor Amelia, who was ready to sink into the earth under the
+oppression of grief, by taking as much blame as I could on myself.
+Mrs. Harris answered, 'No, sir, I must say you are innocent in
+comparison of her; nay, I can say I have heard you use dissuasive
+arguments; and I promise you they are of weight. I have, I thank
+Heaven, one dutiful child, and I shall henceforth think her my only
+one.'--She then forced the poor, trembling, fainting Amelia out of the
+room; which when she had done, she began very coolly to reason with me
+on the folly, as well as iniquity, which I had been guilty of; and
+repeated to me almost every word I had before urged to her daughter.
+In fine, she at last obtained of me a promise that I would soon go to
+my regiment, and submit to any misery rather than that of being the
+ruin of Amelia.
+
+"I now, for many days, endured the greatest torments which the human
+mind is, I believe, capable of feeling; and I can honestly say I tried
+all the means, and applied every argument which I could raise, to cure
+me of my love. And to make these the more effectual, I spent every
+night in walking backwards and forwards in the sight of Mrs. Harris's
+house, where I never failed to find some object or other which raised
+some tender idea of my lovely Amelia, and almost drove me to
+distraction."
+
+"And don't you think, sir," said Miss Matthews, "you took a most
+preposterous method to cure yourself?"
+
+"Alas, madam," answered he, "you cannot see it in a more absurd light
+than I do; but those know little of real love or grief who do not know
+how much we deceive ourselves when we pretend to aim at the cure of
+either. It is with these, as it is with some distempers of the body,
+nothing is in the least agreeable to us but what serves to heighten
+the disease.
+
+"At the end of a fortnight, when I was driven almost to the highest
+degree of despair, and could contrive no method of conveying a letter
+to Amelia, how was I surprised when Mrs. Harris's servant brought me a
+card, with an invitation from the mother herself to drink tea that
+evening at her house!
+
+"You will easily believe, madam, that I did not fail so agreeable an
+appointment: on my arrival I was introduced into a large company of
+men and women, Mrs. Harris and my Amelia being part of the company.
+
+"Amelia seemed in my eyes to look more beautiful than ever, and
+behaved with all the gaiety imaginable. The old lady treated me with
+much civility, but the young lady took little notice of me, and
+addressed most of her discourse to another gentleman present. Indeed,
+she now and then gave me a look of no discouraging kind, and I
+observed her colour change more than once when her eyes met mine;
+circumstances, which, perhaps, ought to have afforded me sufficient
+comfort, but they could not allay the thousand doubts and fears with
+which I was alarmed, for my anxious thoughts suggested no less to me
+than that Amelia had made her peace with her mother at the price of
+abandoning me forever, and of giving her ear to some other lover. All
+my prudence now vanished at once; and I would that instant have gladly
+run away with Amelia, and have married her without the least
+consideration of any consequences.
+
+"With such thoughts I had tormented myself for near two hours, till
+most of the company had taken their leave. This I was myself incapable
+of doing, nor do I know when I should have put an end to my visit, had
+not Dr Harrison taken me away almost by force, telling me in a whisper
+that he had something to say to me of great consequence.--You know the
+doctor, madam--"
+
+"Very well, sir," answered Miss Matthews, "and one of the best men in
+the world he is, and an honour to the sacred order to which he
+belongs."
+
+"You will judge," replied Booth, "by the sequel, whether I have reason
+to think him so."--He then proceeded as in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv
+
+_The story of Mr. Booth continued. In this chapter the reader will
+perceive a glimpse of the character of a very good divine, with some
+matters of a very tender kind._
+
+
+"The doctor conducted me into his study, and I then, desiring me to
+sit down, began, as near as I can remember, in these words, or at
+least to this purpose:
+
+"'You cannot imagine, young gentleman, that your love for Miss Emily
+is any secret in this place; I have known it some time, and have been,
+I assure you, very much your enemy in this affair.'
+
+"I answered, that I was very much obliged to him.
+
+"'Why, so you are,' replied he; 'and so, perhaps, you will think
+yourself when you know all.--I went about a fortnight ago to Mrs.
+Harris, to acquaint her with my apprehensions on her daughter's
+account; for, though the matter was much talked of, I thought it might
+possibly not have reached her ears. I will be very plain with you. I
+advised her to take all possible care of the young lady, and even to
+send her to some place, where she might be effectually kept out of
+your reach while you remained in the town.'
+
+"And do you think, sir, said I, that this was acting a kind part by
+me? or do you expect that I should thank you on this occasion?
+
+"'Young man,' answered he, 'I did not intend you any kindness, nor do
+I desire any of your thanks. My intention was to preserve a worthy
+lady from a young fellow of whom I had heard no good character, and
+whom I imagined to have a design of stealing a human creature for the
+sake of her fortune.'
+
+"It was very kind of you, indeed, answered I, to entertain such an
+opinion of me.
+
+"'Why, sir,' replied the doctor, 'it is the opinion which, I believe,
+most of you young gentlemen of the order of the rag deserve. I have
+known some instances, and have heard of more, where such young fellows
+have committed robbery under the name of marriage.'
+
+"I was going to interrupt him with some anger when he desired me to
+have a little patience, and then informed me that he had visited Mrs.
+Harris with the above-mentioned design the evening after the discovery
+I have related; that Mrs. Harris, without waiting for his information,
+had recounted to him all which had happened the evening before; and,
+indeed, she must have an excellent memory, for I think she repeated
+every word I said, and added, that she had confined her daughter to
+her chamber, where she kept her a close prisoner, and had not seen her
+since.
+
+"I cannot express, nor would modesty suffer me if I could, all that
+now past. The doctor took me by the hand and burst forth into the
+warmest commendations of the sense and generosity which he was pleased
+to say discovered themselves in my speech. You know, madam, his strong
+and singular way of expressing himself on all occasions, especially
+when he is affected with anything. 'Sir,' said he, 'if I knew half a
+dozen such instances in the army, the painter should put red liveries
+upon all the saints in my closet.'
+
+"From this instant, the doctor told me, he had become my friend and
+zealous advocate with Mrs. Harris, on whom he had at last prevailed,
+though not without the greatest difficulty, to consent to my marrying
+Amelia, upon condition that I settled every penny which the mother
+should lay down, and that she would retain a certain sum in her hands
+which she would at any time deposit for my advancement in the army.
+
+"You will, I hope, madam, conceive that I made no hesitation at these
+conditions, nor need I mention the joy which I felt on this occasion,
+or the acknowledgment I paid the doctor, who is, indeed, as you say,
+one of the best of men.
+
+"The next morning I had permission to visit Amelia, who received me in
+such a manner, that I now concluded my happiness to be complete.
+
+"Everything was now agreed on all sides, and lawyers employed to
+prepare the writings, when an unexpected cloud arose suddenly in our
+serene sky, and all our joys were obscured in a moment.
+
+"When matters were, as I apprehended, drawing near a conclusion, I
+received an express, that a sister whom I tenderly loved was seized
+with a violent fever, and earnestly desired me to come to her. I
+immediately obeyed the summons, and, as it was then about two in the
+morning, without staying even to take leave of Amelia, for whom I left
+a short billet, acquainting her with the reason of my absence.
+
+"The gentleman's house where my sister then was stood at fifty miles'
+distance, and, though I used the utmost expedition, the unmerciful
+distemper had, before my arrival, entirely deprived the poor girl of
+her senses, as it soon after did of her life.
+
+"Not all the love I bore Amelia, nor the tumultuous delight with which
+the approaching hour of possessing her filled my heart, could, for a
+while, allay my grief at the loss of my beloved Nancy. Upon my soul, I
+cannot yet mention her name without tears. Never brother and sister
+had, I believe, a higher friendship for each other. Poor dear girl!
+whilst I sat by her in her light-head fits, she repeated scarce any
+other name but mine; and it plainly appeared that, when her dear
+reason was ravished away from her, it had left my image on her fancy,
+and that the last use she made of it was to think on me. 'Send for my
+dear Billy immediately,' she cried; 'I know he will come to me in a
+moment. Will nobody fetch him to me? pray don't kill me before I see
+him once more. You durst not use me so if he was here.'--Every accent
+still rings in my ears. Oh, heavens! to hear this, and at the same
+time to see the poor delirious creature deriving the greatest horrors
+from my sight, and mistaking me for a highwayman who had a little
+before robbed her. But I ask your pardon; the sensations I felt are to
+be known only from experience, and to you must appear dull and
+insipid. At last, she seemed for a moment to know me, and cried, 'O
+heavens! my dearest brother!' upon which she fell into immediate
+convulsions, and died away in my arms."
+
+Here Mr. Booth stopped a moment, and wiped his eyes; and Miss
+Matthews, perhaps out of complaisance, wiped hers.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_Containing strange revolutions of fortune_
+
+
+Booth proceeded thus:
+
+"This loss, perhaps, madam, you will think had made me miserable
+enough; but Fortune did not think so; for, on the day when my Nancy
+was to be buried, a courier arrived from Dr Harrison, with a letter,
+in which the doctor acquainted me that he was just come from Mrs.
+Harris when he despatched the express, and earnestly desired me to
+return the very instant I received his letter, as I valued my Amelia.
+'Though if the daughter,' added he, 'should take after her mother (as
+most of them do) it will be, perhaps, wiser in you to stay away.'
+
+"I presently sent for the messenger into my room, and with much
+difficulty extorted from him that a great squire in his coach and six
+was come to Mrs. Harris's, and that the whole town said he was shortly
+to be married to Amelia.
+
+"I now soon perceived how much superior my love for Amelia was to
+every other passion; poor Nancy's idea disappeared in a moment; I
+quitted the dear lifeless corpse, over which I had shed a thousand
+tears, left the care of her funeral to others, and posted, I may
+almost say flew, back to Amelia, and alighted at the doctor's house,
+as he had desired me in his letter.
+
+"The good man presently acquainted me with what had happened in my
+absence. Mr. Winckworth had, it seems, arrived the very day of my
+departure, with a grand equipage, and, without delay, had made formal
+proposals to Mrs. Harris, offering to settle any part of his vast
+estate, in whatever manner she pleased, on Amelia. These proposals the
+old lady had, without any deliberation, accepted, and had insisted, in
+the most violent manner, on her daughter's compliance, which Amelia
+had as peremptorily refused to give; insisting, on her part, on the
+consent which her mother had before given to our marriage, in which
+she was heartily seconded by the doctor, who declared to her, as he
+now did to me, 'that we ought as much to be esteemed man and wife as
+if the ceremony had already past between us.'
+
+"These remonstrances, the doctor told me, had worked no effect on Mrs.
+Harris, who still persisted in her avowed resolution of marrying her
+daughter to Winckworth, whom the doctor had likewise attacked, telling
+him that he was paying his addresses to another man's wife; but all to
+no purpose; the young gentleman was too much in love to hearken to any
+dissuasives.
+
+"We now entered into a consultation what means to employ. The doctor
+earnestly protested against any violence to be offered to the person
+of Winckworth, which, I believe, I had rashly threatened; declaring
+that, if I made any attempt of that kind, he would for ever abandon my
+cause. I made him a solemn promise of forbearance. At last he
+determined to pay another visit to Mrs. Harris, and, if he found her
+obdurate, he said he thought himself at liberty to join us together
+without any further consent of the mother, which every parent, he
+said, had a right to refuse, but not retract when given, unless the
+party himself, by some conduct of his, gave a reason.
+
+"The doctor having made his visit with no better success than before,
+the matter now debated was, how to get possession of Amelia by
+stratagem, for she was now a closer prisoner than ever; was her
+mother's bedfellow by night, and never out of her sight by day.
+
+"While we were deliberating on this point a wine-merchant of the town
+came to visit the doctor, to inform him that he had just bottled off a
+hogshead of excellent old port, of which he offered to spare him a
+hamper, saying that he was that day to send in twelve dozen to Mrs.
+Harris.
+
+"The doctor now smiled at a conceit which came into his head; and,
+taking me aside, asked me if I had love enough for the young lady to
+venture into the house in a hamper. I joyfully leapt at the proposal,
+to which the merchant, at the doctor's intercession, consented; for I
+believe, madam, you know the great authority which that worthy mart
+had over the whole town. The doctor, moreover, promised to procure a
+license, and to perform the office for us at his house, if I could
+find any means of conveying Amelia thither.
+
+"In this hamper, then, I was carried to the house, and deposited in
+the entry, where I had not lain long before I was again removed and
+packed up in a cart in order to be sent five miles into the country;
+for I heard the orders given as I lay in the entry; and there I
+likewise heard that Amelia and her mother were to follow me the next
+morning.
+
+"I was unloaded from my cart, and set down with the rest of the lumber
+in a great hall. Here I remained above three hours, impatiently
+waiting for the evening, when I determined to quit a posture which was
+become very uneasy, and break my prison; but Fortune contrived to
+release me sooner, by the following means: The house where I now was
+had been left in the care of one maid-servant. This faithful creature
+came into the hall with the footman who had driven the cart. A scene
+of the highest fondness having past between them, the fellow proposed,
+and the maid consented, to open the hamper and drink a bottle
+together, which, they agreed, their mistress would hardly miss in such
+a quantity. They presently began to execute their purpose. They opened
+the hamper, and, to their great surprise, discovered the contents.
+
+"I took an immediate advantage of the consternation which appeared in
+the countenances of both the servants, and had sufficient presence of
+mind to improve the knowledge of those secrets to which I was privy. I
+told them that it entirely depended on their behaviour to me whether
+their mistress should ever be acquainted, either with what they had
+done or with what they had intended to do; for that if they would keep
+my secret I would reciprocally keep theirs. I then acquainted them
+with my purpose of lying concealed in the house, in order to watch an
+opportunity of obtaining a private interview with Amelia.
+
+[Illustration: They opened The Hamper]
+
+"In the situation in which these two delinquents stood, you may be
+assured it was not difficult for me to seal up their lips. In short,
+they agreed to whatever I proposed. I lay that evening in my dear
+Amelia's bedchamber, and was in the morning conveyed into an old
+lumber-garret, where I was to wait till Amelia (whom the maid
+promised, on her arrival, to inform of my place of concealment) could
+find some opportunity of seeing me."
+
+"I ask pardon for interrupting you," cries Miss Matthews, "but you
+bring to my remembrance a foolish story which I heard at that time,
+though at a great distance from you: That an officer had, in
+confederacy with Miss Harris, broke open her mother's cellar and stole
+away a great quantity of her wine. I mention it only to shew you what
+sort of foundations most stories have."
+
+Booth told her he had heard some such thing himself, and then
+continued his story as in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_Containing many surprising adventures._
+
+
+"There," continued he, "I remained the whole day in hopes of a
+happiness, the expected approach of which gave me such a delight that
+I would not have exchanged my poor lodgings for the finest palace in
+the universe.
+
+"A little after it was dark Mrs. Harris arrived, together with Amelia
+and her sister. I cannot express how much my heart now began to
+flutter; for, as my hopes every moment encreased, strange fears, which
+I had not felt before, began now to intermingle with them.
+
+"When I had continued full two hours in these circumstances, I heard a
+woman's step tripping upstairs, which I fondly hoped was my Amelia;
+but all on a sudden the door flew open, and Mrs. Harris herself
+appeared at it, with a countenance pale as death, her whole body
+trembling, I suppose with anger; she fell upon me in the most bitter
+language. It is not necessary to repeat what she said, nor indeed can
+I, I was so shocked and confounded on this occasion. In a word, the
+scene ended with my departure without seeing Amelia."
+
+"And pray," cries Miss Matthews, "how happened this unfortunate
+discovery?"
+
+Booth answered, That the lady at supper ordered a bottle of wine,
+"which neither myself," says he, "nor the servants had presence of
+mind to provide. Being told there was none in the house, though she
+had been before informed that the things came all safe, she had sent
+for the maid, who, being unable to devise any excuse, had fallen on
+her knees, and, after confessing her design of opening a bottle, which
+she imputed to the fellow, betrayed poor me to her mistress.
+
+"Well, madam, after a lecture of about a quarter of an hour's duration
+from Mrs. Harris, I suffered her to conduct me to the outward gate of
+her court-yard, whence I set forward in a disconsolate condition of
+mind towards my lodgings. I had five miles to walkin a dark and rainy
+night: but how can I mention these trifling circumstances as any
+aggravation of my disappointment!"
+
+"How was it possible," cried Miss Matthews, "that you could be got out
+of the house without seeing Miss Harris?"
+
+"I assure you, madam," answered Booth, "I have often wondered at it
+myself; but my spirits were so much sunk at the sight of her mother,
+that no man was ever a greater coward than I was at that instant.
+Indeed, I believe my tender concern for the terrors of Amelia were the
+principal cause of my submission. However it was, I left the house,
+and walked about a hundred yards, when, at the corner of the garden-
+wall, a female voice, in a whisper, cried out, 'Mr. Booth.' The person
+was extremely near me, but it was so dark I could scarce see her; nor
+did I, in the confusion I was in, immediately recognize the voice. I
+answered in a line of Congreve's, which burst from my lips
+spontaneously; for I am sure I had no intention to quote plays at that
+time.
+
+"'Who calls the wretched thing that was Alphonso?'
+
+"Upon which a woman leapt into my arms, crying out--'O! it is indeed
+my Alphonso, my only Alphonso!'--O Miss Matthews! guess what I felt
+when I found I had my Amelia in my arms. I embraced her with an
+ecstasy not to be described, at the same instant pouring a thousand
+tendernesses into her ears; at least, if I could express so many to
+her in a minute, for in that time the alarm began at the house; Mrs.
+Harris had mist her daughter, and the court was presently full of
+lights and noises of all kinds.
+
+"I now lifted Amelia over a gate, and, jumping after, we crept along
+together by the side of a hedge, a different way from what led to the
+town, as I imagined that would be the road through which they would
+pursue us. In this opinion I was right; for we heard them pass along
+that road, and the voice of Mrs. Harris herself, who ran with the
+rest, notwithstanding the darkness and the rain. By these means we
+luckily made our escape, and clambring over hedge and ditch, my Amelia
+performing the part of a heroine all the way, we at length arrived at
+a little green lane, where stood a vast spreading oak, under which we
+sheltered ourselves from a violent storm.
+
+"When this was over and the moon began to appear, Amelia declared she
+knew very well where she was; and, a little farther striking into
+another lane to the right, she said that would lead us to a house
+where we should be both safe and unsuspected. I followed her
+directions, and we at length came to a little cottage about three
+miles distant from Mrs. Harris's house.
+
+"As it now rained very violently, we entered this cottage, in which we
+espied a light, without any ceremony. Here we found an elderly woman
+sitting by herself at a little fire, who had no sooner viewed us than
+she instantly sprung from her seat, and starting back gave the
+strongest tokens of amazement; upon which Amelia said, 'Be not
+surprised, nurse, though you see me in a strange pickle, I own.' The
+old woman, after having several times blessed herself, and expressed
+the most tender concern for the lady who stood dripping before her,
+began to bestir herself in making up the fire; at the same time
+entreating Amelia that she might be permitted to furnish her with some
+cloaths, which, she said, though not fine, were clean and wholesome
+and much dryer than her own. I seconded this motion so vehemently,
+that Amelia, though she declared herself under no apprehension of
+catching cold (she hath indeed the best constitution in the world), at
+last consented, and I retired without doors under a shed, to give my
+angel an opportunity of dressing herself in the only room which the
+cottage afforded belowstairs.
+
+"At my return into the room, Amelia insisted on my exchanging my coat
+for one which belonged to the old woman's son." "I am very glad,"
+cried Miss Matthews, "to find she did not forget you. I own I thought
+it somewhat cruel to turn you out into the rain."--"O, Miss Matthews!"
+continued he, taking no notice of her observation, "I had now an
+opportunity of contemplating the vast power of exquisite beauty, which
+nothing almost can add to or diminish. Amelia, in the poor rags of her
+old nurse, looked scarce less beautiful than I have seen her appear at
+a ball or an assembly." "Well, well," cries Miss Matthews, "to be sure
+she did; but pray go on with your story."
+
+"The old woman," continued he, "after having equipped us as well as
+she could, and placed our wet cloaths before the fire, began to grow
+inquisitive; and, after some ejaculations, she cried--'O, my dear
+young madam! my mind misgives me hugeously; and pray who is this fine
+young gentleman? Oh! Miss Emmy, Miss Emmy, I am afraid madam knows
+nothing of all this matter.' 'Suppose he should be my husband, nurse,'
+answered Amelia. 'Oh! good! and if he be,' replies the nurse, 'I hope
+he is some great gentleman or other, with a vast estate and a coach
+and six: for to be sure, if an he was the greatest lord in the land,
+you would deserve it all.' But why do I attempt to mimic the honest
+creature? In short, she discovered the greatest affection for my
+Amelia; with which I was much more delighted than I was offended at
+the suspicions she shewed of me, or the many bitter curses which she
+denounced against me, if I ever proved a bad husband to so sweet a
+young lady.
+
+"I so well improved the hint given me by Amelia, that the old woman
+had no doubt of our being really married; and, comforting herself
+that, if it was not as well as it might have been, yet madam had
+enough for us both, and that happiness did not always depend on great
+riches, she began to rail at the old lady for having turned us out of
+doors, which I scarce told an untruth in asserting. And when Amelia
+said, 'She hoped her nurse would not betray her,' the good woman
+answered with much warmth--'Betray you, my dear young madam! no, that
+I would not, if the king would give me all that he is worth: no, not
+if madam herself would give me the great house, and the whole farm
+belonging to it.'
+
+"The good woman then went out and fetched a chicken from the roost,
+which she killed, and began to pick, without asking any questions.
+Then, summoning her son, who was in bed, to her assistance, she began
+to prepare this chicken for our supper. This she afterwards set before
+us in so neat, I may almost say elegant, a manner, that whoever would
+have disdained it either doth not know the sensation of hunger, or
+doth not deserve to have it gratified. Our food was attended with some
+ale, which our kind hostess said she intended not to have tapped till
+Christmas; 'but,' added she, 'I little thought ever to have the honour
+of seeing my dear honoured lady in this poor place.'
+
+"For my own part, no human being was then an object of envy to me, and
+even Amelia seemed to be in pretty good spirits; she softly whispered
+to me that she perceived there might be happiness in a cottage."
+
+"A cottage!" cries Miss Matthews, sighing, "a cottage, with the man
+one loves, is a palace."
+
+"When supper was ended," continued Booth, "the good woman began to
+think of our further wants, and very earnestly recommended her bed to
+us, saying, it was a very neat, though homely one, and that she could
+furnish us with a pair of clean sheets. She added some persuasives
+which painted my angel all over with vermilion. As for myself, I
+behaved so awkwardly and foolishly, and so readily agreed to Amelia's
+resolution of sitting up all night, that, if it did not give the nurse
+any suspicion of our marriage, it ought to have inspired her with the
+utmost contempt for me.
+
+"We both endeavoured to prevail with nurse to retire to her own bed,
+but found it utterly impossible to succeed; she thanked Heaven she
+understood breeding better than that. And so well bred was the good
+woman, that we could scarce get her out of the room the whole night.
+Luckily for us, we both understood French, by means of which we
+consulted together, even in her presence, upon the measures we were to
+take in our present exigency. At length it was resolved that I should
+send a letter by this young lad, whom I have just before mentioned, to
+our worthy friend the doctor, desiring his company at our hut, since
+we thought it utterly unsafe to venture to the town, which we knew
+would be in an uproar on our account before the morning."
+
+Here Booth made a full stop, smiled, and then said he was going to
+mention so ridiculous a distress, that he could scarce think of it
+without laughing. What this was the reader shall know in the next
+chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_The story of Booth continued.--More surprising adventures._
+
+
+From what trifles, dear Miss Matthews," cried Booth, "may some of our
+greatest distresses arise! Do you not perceive I am going to tell you
+we had neither pen, ink, nor paper, in our present exigency?
+
+"A verbal message was now our only resource; however, we contrived to
+deliver it in such terms, that neither nurse nor her son could
+possibly conceive any suspicion from it of the present situation of
+our affairs. Indeed, Amelia whispered me, I might safely place any
+degree of confidence in the lad; for he had been her foster-brother,
+and she had a great opinion of his integrity. He was in truth a boy of
+very good natural parts; and Dr Harrison, who had received him into
+his family, at Amelia's recommendation, had bred him up to write and
+read very well, and had taken some pains to infuse into him the
+principles of honesty and religion. He was not, indeed, even now
+discharged from the doctor's service, but had been at home with his
+mother for some time, on account of the small-pox, from which he was
+lately recovered.
+
+"I have said so much," continued Booth, "of the boy's character, that
+you may not be surprised at some stories which I shall tell you of him
+hereafter.
+
+"I am going now, madam, to relate to you one of those strange
+accidents which are produced by such a train of circumstances, that
+mere chance hath been thought incapable of bringing them together; and
+which have therefore given birth, in superstitious minds, to Fortune,
+and to several other imaginary beings.
+
+"We were now impatiently expecting the arrival of the doctor; our
+messenger had been gone much more than a sufficient time, which to us,
+you may be assured, appeared not at all shorter than it was, when
+nurse, who had gone out of doors on some errand, came running hastily
+to us, crying out, 'O my dear young madam, her ladyship's coach is
+just at the door!' Amelia turned pale as death at these words; indeed,
+I feared she would have fainted, if I could be said to fear, who had
+scarce any of my senses left, and was in a condition little better
+than my angel's.
+
+"While we were both in this dreadful situation, Amelia fallen back in
+her chair with the countenance in which ghosts are painted, myself at
+her feet, with a complexion of no very different colour, and nurse
+screaming out and throwing water in Amelia's face, Mrs. Harris entered
+the room. At the sight of this scene she threw herself likewise into a
+chair, and called immediately for a glass of water, which Miss Betty
+her daughter supplied her with; for, as to nurse, nothing was capable
+of making any impression on her whilst she apprehended her young
+mistress to be in danger.
+
+"The doctor had now entered the room, and, coming immediately up to
+Amelia, after some expressions of surprize, he took her by the hand,
+called her his little sugar-plum, and assured her there were none but
+friends present. He then led her tottering across the room to Mrs.
+Harris. Amelia then fell upon her knees before her mother; but the
+doctor caught her up, saying, 'Use that posture, child, only to the
+Almighty!' but I need not mention this singularity of his to you who
+know him so well, and must have heard him often dispute against
+addressing ourselves to man in the humblest posture which we use
+towards the Supreme Being.
+
+"I will tire you with no more particulars: we were soon satisfied that
+the doctor had reconciled us and our affairs to Mrs. Harris; and we
+now proceeded directly to church, the doctor having before provided a
+licence for us."
+
+"But where is the strange accident?" cries Miss Matthews; "sure you
+have raised more curiosity than you have satisfied."
+
+"Indeed, madam," answered he, "your reproof is just; I had like to
+have forgotten it; but you cannot wonder at me when you reflect on
+that interesting part of my story which I am now relating.--But before
+I mention this accident I must tell you what happened after Amelia's
+escape from her mother's house. Mrs. Harris at first ran out into the
+lane among her servants, and pursued us (so she imagined) along the
+road leading to the town; but that being very dirty, and a violent
+storm of rain coming, she took shelter in an alehouse about half a
+mile from her own house, whither she sent for her coach; she then
+drove, together with her daughter, to town, where, soon after her
+arrival, she sent for the doctor, her usual privy counsellor in all
+her affairs. They sat up all night together, the doctor endeavouring,
+by arguments and persuasions, to bring Mrs. Harris to reason; but all
+to no purpose, though, as he hath informed me, Miss Betty seconded him
+with the warmest entreaties."
+
+Here Miss Matthews laughed; of which Booth begged to know the reason:
+she, at last, after many apologies, said, "It was the first good thing
+she ever heard of Miss Betty; nay," said she, "and asking your pardon
+for my opinion of your sister, since you will have it, I always
+conceived her to be the deepest of hypocrites."
+
+Booth fetched a sigh, and said he was afraid she had not always acted
+so kindly;--and then, after a little hesitation, proceeded:
+
+"You will be pleased, madam, to remember the lad was sent with a
+verbal message to the doctor: which message was no more than to
+acquaint him where we were, and to desire the favour of his company,
+or that he would send a coach to bring us to whatever place he would
+please to meet us at. This message was to be delivered to the doctor
+himself, and the messenger was ordered, if he found him not at home,
+to go to him wherever he was. He fulfilled his orders and told it to
+the doctor in the presence of Mrs. Harris."
+
+"Oh, the idiot!" cries Miss Matthews. "Not at all," answered Booth:
+"he is a very sensible fellow, as you will, perhaps, say hereafter. He
+had not the least reason to suspect that any secrecy was necessary;
+for we took the utmost care he should not suspect it.--Well, madam,
+this accident, which appeared so unfortunate, turned in the highest
+degree to our advantage. Mrs. Harris no sooner heard the message
+delivered than she fell into the most violent passion imaginable, and
+accused the doctor of being in the plot, and of having confederated
+with me in the design of carrying off her daughter.
+
+"The doctor, who had hitherto used only soothing methods, now talked
+in a different strain. He confessed the accusation and justified his
+conduct. He said he was no meddler in the family affairs of others,
+nor should he have concerned himself with hers, but at her own
+request; but that, since Mrs. Harris herself had made him an agent in
+this matter, he would take care to acquit himself with honour, and
+above all things to preserve a young lady for whom he had the highest
+esteem; 'for she is,' cries he, and, by heavens, he said true, 'the
+most worthy, generous, and noble of all human beings. You have
+yourself, madam,' said he, 'consented to the match. I have, at your
+request, made the match;' and then he added some particulars relating
+to his opinion of me, which my modesty forbids me to repeat."--"Nay,
+but," cries Miss Matthews, "I insist on your conquest of that modesty
+for once. We women do not love to hear one another's praises, and I
+will be made amends by hearing the praises of a man, and of a man
+whom, perhaps," added she with a leer, "I shall not think much the
+better of upon that account."--"In obedience to your commands, then,
+madam," continued he, "the doctor was so kind to say he had enquired
+into my character and found that I had been a dutiful son and an
+affectionate brother. Relations, said he, in which whoever discharges
+his duty well, gives us a well-grounded hope that he will behave as
+properly in all the rest. He concluded with saying that Amelia's
+happiness, her heart, nay, her very reputation, were all concerned in
+this matter, to which, as he had been made instrumental, he was
+resolved to carry her through it; and then, taking the licence from
+his pocket, declared to Mrs. Harris that he would go that instant and
+marry her daughter wherever he found her. This speech, the doctor's
+voice, his look, and his behaviour, all which are sufficiently
+calculated to inspire awe, and even terror, when he pleases,
+frightened poor Mrs. Harris, and wrought a more sensible effect than
+it was in his power to produce by all his arguments and entreaties;
+and I have already related what followed.
+
+"Thus the strange accident of our wanting pen, ink, and paper, and our
+not trusting the boy with our secret, occasioned the discovery to Mrs.
+Harris; that discovery put the doctor upon his metal, and produced
+that blessed event which I have recounted to you, and which, as my
+mother hath since confessed, nothing but the spirit which he had
+exerted after the discovery could have brought about.
+
+"Well, madam, you now see me married to Amelia; in which situation you
+will, perhaps, think my happiness incapable of addition. Perhaps it
+was so; and yet I can with truth say that the love which I then bore
+Amelia was not comparable to what I bear her now." "Happy Amelia!"
+cried Miss Matthews. "If all men were like you, all women would be
+blessed; nay, the whole world would be so in a great measure; for,
+upon my soul, I believe that from the damned inconstancy of your sex
+to ours proceeds half the miseries of mankind."
+
+That we may give the reader leisure to consider well the foregoing
+sentiment, we will here put an end to this chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_In which our readers will probably be divided in their opinion of
+Mr. Booth's conduct._
+
+
+Booth proceeded as follows:--
+
+"The first months of our marriage produced nothing remarkable enough
+to mention. I am sure I need not tell Miss Matthews that I found in my
+Amelia every perfection of human nature. Mrs. Harris at first gave us
+some little uneasiness. She had rather yielded to the doctor than
+given a willing consent to the match; however, by degrees, she became
+more and more satisfied, and at last seemed perfectly reconciled. This
+we ascribed a good deal to the kind offices of Miss Betty, who had
+always appeared to be my friend. She had been greatly assisting to
+Amelia in making her escape, which I had no opportunity of mentioning
+to you before, and in all things behaved so well, outwardly at least,
+to myself as well as her sister, that we regarded her as our sincerest
+friend.
+
+"About half a year after our marriage two additional companies were
+added to our regiment, in one of which I was preferred to the command
+of a lieutenant. Upon this occasion Miss Betty gave the first
+intimation of a disposition which we have since too severely
+experienced."
+
+"Your servant, sir," says Miss Matthews; "then I find I was not
+mistaken in my opinion of the lady.--No, no, shew me any goodness in a
+censorious prude, and--"
+
+As Miss Matthews hesitated for a simile or an execration, Booth
+proceeded: "You will please to remember, madam, there was formerly an
+agreement between myself and Mrs. Harris that I should settle all my
+Amelia's fortune on her, except a certain sum, which was to be laid
+out in my advancement in the army; but, as our marriage was carried on
+in the manner you have heard, no such agreement was ever executed. And
+since I was become Amelia's husband not a word of this matter was ever
+mentioned by the old lady; and as for myself, I declare I had not yet
+awakened from that delicious dream of bliss in which the possession of
+Amelia had lulled me."
+
+Here Miss Matthews sighed, and cast the tenderest of looks on Booth,
+who thus continued his story:--
+
+"Soon after my promotion Mrs. Harris one morning took an occasion to
+speak to me on this affair. She said, that, as I had been promoted
+gratis to a lieutenancy, she would assist me with money to carry me
+yet a step higher; and, if more was required than was formerly
+mentioned, it should not be wanting, since she was so perfectly
+satisfied with my behaviour to her daughter. Adding that she hoped I
+had still the same inclination to settle on my wife the remainder of
+her fortune.
+
+"I answered with very warm acknowledgments of my mother's goodness,
+and declared, if I had the world, I was ready to lay it at my Amelia's
+feet.--And so, Heaven knows, I would ten thousand worlds.
+
+"Mrs. Harris seemed pleased with the warmth of my sentiments, and said
+she would immediately send to her lawyer and give him the necessary
+orders; and thus ended our conversation on this subject.
+
+"From this time there was a very visible alteration in Miss Betty's
+behaviour. She grew reserved to her sister as well as to me. She was
+fretful and captious on the slightest occasion; nay, she affected much
+to talk on the ill consequences of an imprudent marriage, especially
+before her mother; and if ever any little tenderness or endearments
+escaped me in public towards Amelia, she never failed to make some
+malicious remark on the short duration of violent passions; and, when
+I have expressed a fond sentiment for my wife, her sister would kindly
+wish she might hear as much seven years hence.
+
+"All these matters have been since suggested to us by reflection; for,
+while they actually past, both Amelia and myself had our thoughts too
+happily engaged to take notice of what discovered itself in the mind
+of any other person.
+
+"Unfortunately for us, Mrs. Harris's lawyer happened at this time to
+be at London, where business detained him upwards of a month, and, as
+Mrs. Harris would on no occasion employ any other, our affair was
+under an entire suspension till his return.
+
+"Amelia, who was now big with child, had often expressed the deepest
+concern at her apprehensions of my being some time commanded abroad; a
+circumstance, which she declared if it should ever happen to her, even
+though she should not then be in the same situation as at present,
+would infallibly break her heart. These remonstrances were made with
+such tenderness, and so much affected me, that, to avoid any
+probability of such an event, I endeavoured to get an exchange into
+the horse-guards, a body of troops which very rarely goes abroad,
+unless where the king himself commands in person. I soon found an
+officer for my purpose, the terms were agreed on, and Mrs. Harris had
+ordered the money which I was to pay to be ready, notwithstanding the
+opposition made by Miss Betty, who openly dissuaded her mother from
+it; alledging that the exchange was highly to my disadvantage; that I
+could never hope to rise in the army after it; not forgetting, at the
+same time, some insinuations very prejudicial to my reputation as a
+soldier.
+
+"When everything was agreed on, and the two commissions were actually
+made out, but not signed by the king, one day, at my return from
+hunting, Amelia flew to me, and eagerly embracing me, cried out, 'O
+Billy, I have news for you which delights my soul. Nothing sure was
+ever so fortunate as the exchange you have made. The regiment you was
+formerly in is ordered for Gibraltar.'
+
+"I received this news with far less transport than it was delivered. I
+answered coldly, since the case was so, I heartily hoped the
+commissions might be both signed. 'What do you say?' replied Amelia
+eagerly; 'sure you told me everything was entirely settled. That look
+of yours frightens me to death.'--But I am running into too minute
+particulars. In short, I received a letter by that very post from the
+officer with whom I had exchanged, insisting that, though his majesty
+had not signed the commissions, that still the bargain was valid,
+partly urging it as a right, and partly desiring it as a favour, that
+he might go to Gibraltar in my room.
+
+"This letter convinced me in every point. I was now informed that the
+commissions were not signed, and consequently that the exchange was
+not compleated; of consequence the other could have no right to insist
+on going; and, as for granting him such a favour, I too clearly saw I
+must do it at the expense of my honour. I was now reduced to a
+dilemma, the most dreadful which I think any man can experience; in
+which, I am not ashamed to own, I found love was not so overmatched by
+honour as he ought to have been. The thoughts of leaving Amelia in her
+present condition to misery, perhaps to death or madness, were
+insupportable; nor could any other consideration but that which now
+tormented me on the other side have combated them a moment."
+
+"No woman upon earth," cries Miss Matthews, "can despise want of
+spirit in a man more than myself; and yet I cannot help thinking you
+was rather too nice on this occasion."
+
+"You will allow, madam," answered Booth, "that whoever offends against
+the laws of honour in the least instance is treated as the highest
+delinquent. Here is no excuse, no pardon; and he doth nothing who
+leaves anything undone. But if the conflict was so terrible with
+myself alone, what was my situation in the presence of Amelia? how
+could I support her sighs, her tears, her agonies, her despair? could
+I bear to think myself the cruel cause of her sufferings? for so I
+was: could I endure the thought of having it in my power to give her
+instant relief, for so it was, and refuse it her?
+
+"Miss Betty was now again become my friend. She had scarce been civil
+to me for a fortnight last past, yet now she commended me to the
+skies, and as severely blamed her sister, whom she arraigned of the
+most contemptible weakness in preferring my safety to my honour: she
+said many ill-natured things on the occasion, which I shall not now
+repeat.
+
+"In the midst of this hurricane the good doctor came to dine with Mrs.
+Harris, and at my desire delivered his opinion on the matter."
+
+Here Mr. Booth was interrupted in his narrative by the arrival of a
+person whom we shall introduce in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_Containing a scene of a different kind from any of the preceding._
+
+
+The gentleman who now arrived was the keeper; or, if you please (for
+so he pleased to call himself), the governor of the prison.
+
+He used so little ceremony at his approach, that the bolt, which was
+very slight on the inside, gave way, and the door immediately flew
+open. He had no sooner entered the room than he acquainted Miss
+Matthews that he had brought her very good news, for which he demanded
+a bottle of wine as his due.
+
+This demand being complied with, he acquainted Miss Matthews that the
+wounded gentleman was not dead, nor was his wound thought to be
+mortal: that loss of blood, and perhaps his fright, had occasioned his
+fainting away; "but I believe, madam," said he, "if you take the
+proper measures you may be bailed to-morrow. I expect the lawyer here
+this evening, and if you put the business into his hands I warrant it
+will be done. Money to be sure must be parted with, that's to be sure.
+People to be sure will expect to touch a little in such cases. For my
+own part, I never desire to keep a prisoner longer than the law
+allows, not I; I always inform them they can be bailed as soon as I
+know it; I never make any bargain, not I; I always love to leave those
+things to the gentlemen and ladies themselves. I never suspect
+gentlemen and ladies of wanting generosity."
+
+Miss Matthews made a very slight answer to all these friendly
+professions. She said she had done nothing she repented of, and was
+indifferent as to the event. "All I can say," cries she, "is, that if
+the wretch is alive there is no greater villain in life than himself;"
+and, instead of mentioning anything of the bail, she begged the keeper
+to leave her again alone with Mr. Booth. The keeper replied, "Nay,
+madam, perhaps it may be better to stay a little longer here, if you
+have not bail ready, than to buy them too dear. Besides, a day or two
+hence, when the gentleman is past all danger of recovery, to be sure
+some folks that would expect an extraordinary fee now cannot expect to
+touch anything. And to be sure you shall want nothing here. The best
+of all things are to be had here for money, both eatable and
+drinkable: though I say it, I shan't turn my back to any of the
+taverns for either eatables or wind. The captain there need not have
+been so shy of owning himself when he first came in; we have had
+captains and other great gentlemen here before now; and no shame to
+them, though I say it. Many a great gentleman is sometimes found in
+places that don't become them half so well, let me tell them that,
+Captain Booth, let me tell them that."
+
+"I see, sir," answered Booth, a little discomposed, "that you are
+acquainted with my title as well as my name."
+
+"Ay, sir," cries the keeper, "and I honour you the more for it. I love
+the gentlemen of the army. I was in the army myself formerly; in the
+Lord of Oxford's horse. It is true I rode private; but I had money
+enough to have bought in quarter-master, when I took it into my head
+to marry, and my wife she did not like that I should continue a
+soldier, she was all for a private life; and so I came to this
+business."
+
+"Upon my word, sir," answered Booth, "you consulted your wife's
+inclinations very notably; but pray will you satisfy my curiosity in
+telling me how you became acquainted that I was in the army? for my
+dress I think could not betray me."
+
+"Betray!" replied the keeper; "there is no betraying here, I hope--I
+am not a person to betray people.--But you are so shy and peery, you
+would almost make one suspect there was more in the matter. And if
+there be, I promise you, you need not be afraid of telling it me. You
+will excuse me giving you a hint; but the sooner the better, that's
+all. Others may be beforehand with you, and first come first served on
+these occasions, that's all. Informers are odious, there's no doubt of
+that, and no one would care to be an informer if he could help it,
+because of the ill-usage they always receive from the mob: yet it is
+dangerous to trust too much; and when safety and a good part of the
+reward too are on one side and the gallows on the other--I know which
+a wise man would chuse."
+
+"What the devil do you mean by all this?" cries Booth.
+
+"No offence, I hope," answered the keeper: "I speak for your good; and
+if you have been upon the snaffling lay--you understand me, I am
+sure."
+
+"Not I," answered Booth, "upon my honour."
+
+"Nay, nay," replied the keeper, with a contemptuous sneer, "if you are
+so peery as that comes to, you must take the consequence.--But for my
+part, I know I would not trust Robinson with twopence untold."
+
+"What do you mean?" cries Booth; "who is Robinson?"
+
+"And you don't know Robinson?" answered the keeper with great emotion.
+To which Booth replying in the negative, the keeper, after some tokens
+of amazement, cried out, "Well, captain, I must say you are the best
+at it of all the gentlemen I ever saw. However, I will tell you this:
+the lawyer and Mr. Robinson have been laying their heads together
+about you above half an hour this afternoon. I overheard them mention
+Captain Booth several times, and, for my part, I would not answer that
+Mr. Murphy is not now gone about the business; but if you will impeach
+any to me of the road, or anything else, I will step away to his
+worship Thrasher this instant, and I am sure I have interest enough
+with him to get you admitted an evidence."
+
+"And so," cries Booth, "you really take me for a highwayman?"
+
+"No offence, captain, I hope," said the keeper; "as times go, there
+are many worse men in the world than those. Gentlemen may be driven to
+distress, and when they are, I know no more genteeler way than the
+road. It hath been many a brave man's case, to my knowledge, and men
+of as much honour too as any in the world."
+
+"Well, sir," said Booth, "I assure you I am not that gentleman of
+honour you imagine me."
+
+Miss Matthews, who had long understood the keeper no better than Mr.
+Booth, no sooner heard his meaning explained than she was fired with
+greater indignation than the gentleman had expressed. "How dare you,
+sir," said she to the keeper, "insult a man of fashion, and who hath
+had the honour to bear his majesty's commission in the army? as you
+yourself own you know. If his misfortunes have sent him hither, sure
+we have no laws that will protect such a fellow as you in insulting
+him." "Fellow!" muttered the keeper--"I would not advise you, madam,
+to use such language to me."--"Do you dare threaten me?" replied Miss
+Matthews in a rage. "Venture in the least instance to exceed your
+authority with regard to me, and I will prosecute you with the utmost
+vengeance."
+
+A scene of very high altercation now ensued, till Booth interposed and
+quieted the keeper, who was, perhaps, enough inclined to an
+accommodation; for, in truth, he waged unequal war. He was besides
+unwilling to incense Miss Matthews, whom he expected to be bailed out
+the next day, and who had more money left than he intended she should
+carry out of the prison with her; and as for any violent or
+unjustifiable methods, the lady had discovered much too great a spirit
+to be in danger of them. The governor, therefore, in a very gentle
+tone, declared that, if he had given any offence to the gentleman, he
+heartily asked his pardon; that, if he had known him to be really a
+captain, he should not have entertained any such suspicions; but the
+captain was a very common title in that place, and belonged to several
+gentlemen that had never been in the army, or, at most, had rid
+private like himself. "To be sure, captain," said he, "as you yourself
+own, your dress is not very military" (for he had on a plain fustian
+suit); "and besides, as the lawyer says, _noscitur a sosir_, is a very
+good rule. And I don't believe there is a greater rascal upon earth
+than that same Robinson that I was talking of. Nay, I assure you, I
+wish there may be no mischief hatching against you. But if there is I
+will do all I can with the lawyer to prevent it. To be sure, Mr.
+Murphy is one of the cleverest men in the world at the law; that even
+his enemies must own, and as I recommend him to all the business I can
+(and it is not a little to be sure that arises in this place), why one
+good turn deserves another. And I may expect that he will not be
+concerned in any plot to ruin any friend of mine, at least when I
+desire him not. I am sure he could not be an honest man if he would."
+
+Booth was then satisfied that Mr. Robinson, whom he did not yet know
+by name, was the gamester who had won his money at play. And now Miss
+Matthews, who had very impatiently borne this long interruption,
+prevailed on the keeper to withdraw. As soon as he was gone Mr. Booth
+began to felicitate her upon the news of the wounded gentleman being
+in a fair likelihood of recovery. To which, after a short silence, she
+answered, "There is something, perhaps, which you will not easily
+guess, that makes your congratulations more agreeable to me than the
+first account I heard of the villain's having escaped the fate he
+deserves; for I do assure you, at first, it did not make me amends for
+the interruption of my curiosity. Now I hope we shall be disturbed no
+more till you have finished your whole story.--You left off, I think,
+somewhere in the struggle about leaving Amelia--the happy Amelia."
+"And can you call her happy at such a period?" cries Booth. "Happy,
+ay, happy, in any situation," answered Miss Matthews, "with such a
+husband. I, at least, may well think so, who have experienced the very
+reverse of her fortune; but I was not born to be happy. I may say with
+the poet,
+
+    "The blackest ink of fate was sure my lot,
+     And when fate writ my name, it made a blot."
+
+"Nay, nay, dear Miss Matthews," answered Booth, "you must and shall
+banish such gloomy thoughts. Fate hath, I hope, many happy days in
+store for you."--"Do you believe it, Mr. Booth?" replied she; "indeed
+you know the contrary--you must know--for you can't have forgot. No
+Amelia in the world can have quite obliterated--forgetfulness is not
+in our own power. If it was, indeed, I have reason to think--but I
+know not what I am saying.--Pray do proceed in that story."
+
+Booth so immediately complied with this request that it is possible he
+was pleased with it. To say the truth, if all which unwittingly dropt
+from Miss Matthews was put together, some conclusions might, it seems,
+be drawn from the whole, which could not convey a very agreeable idea
+to a constant husband. Booth, therefore, proceeded to relate what is
+written in the third book of this history.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_In which Mr. Booth resumes his story._
+
+
+"If I am not mistaken, madam," continued Booth, "I was just going to
+acquaint you with the doctor's opinion when we were interrupted by the
+keeper.
+
+"The doctor, having heard counsel on both sides, that is to say, Mrs.
+Harris for my staying, and Miss Betty for my going, at last delivered
+his own sentiments. As for Amelia, she sat silent, drowned in her
+tears; nor was I myself in a much better situation.
+
+"'As the commissions are not signed,' said the doctor, 'I think you
+may be said to remain in your former regiment; and therefore I think
+you ought to go on this expedition; your duty to your king and
+country, whose bread you have eaten, requires it; and this is a duty
+of too high a nature to admit the least deficiency. Regard to your
+character, likewise, requires you to go; for the world, which might
+justly blame your staying at home if the case was even fairly stated,
+will not deal so honestly by you: you must expect to have every
+circumstance against you heightened, and most of what makes for your
+defence omitted; and thus you will be stigmatized as a coward without
+any palliation. As the malicious disposition of mankind is too well
+known, and the cruel pleasure which they take in destroying the
+reputations of others, the use we are to make of this knowledge is to
+afford no handle to reproach; for, bad as the world is, it seldom
+falls on any man who hath not given some slight cause for censure,
+though this, perhaps, is often aggravated ten thousand-fold; and, when
+we blame the malice of the aggravation we ought not to forget our own
+imprudence in giving the occasion. Remember, my boy, your honour is at
+stake; and you know how nice the honour of a soldier is in these
+cases. This is a treasure which he must be your enemy, indeed, who
+would attempt to rob you of. Therefore, you ought to consider every
+one as your enemy who, by desiring you to stay, would rob you of your
+honour.'
+
+"'Do you hear that, sister?' cries Miss Betty.--'Yes, I do hear it'
+answered Amelia, with more spirit than I ever saw her exert before,
+and would preserve his honour at the expense of my life. 'I will
+preserve it if it should be at that expense; and since it is Dr
+Harrison's opinion that he ought to go, I give my consent. Go, my dear
+husband,' cried she, falling upon her knees: 'may every angel of
+heaven guard and preserve you!'--I cannot repeat her words without
+being affected," said he, wiping his eyes, "the excellence of that
+woman no words can paint: Miss Matthews, she hath every perfection in
+human nature.
+
+"I will not tire you with the repetition of any more that past on that
+occasion, nor with the quarrel that ensued between Mrs. Harris and the
+doctor; for the old lady could not submit to my leaving her daughter
+in her present condition. She fell severely on the army, and cursed
+the day in which her daughter was married to a soldier, not sparing
+the doctor for having had some share in the match. I will omit,
+likewise, the tender scene which past between Amelia and myself
+previous to my departure." "Indeed, I beg you would not," cries Miss
+Matthews; "nothing delights me more than scenes of tenderness. I
+should be glad to know, if possible, every syllable which was uttered
+on both sides."
+
+"I will indulge you then," cries Booth, "as far as is in my power.
+Indeed, I believe I am able to recollect much the greatest part; for
+the impression is never to be effaced from my memory."
+
+He then proceeded as Miss Matthews desired; but, lest all our readers
+should not be of her opinion, we will, according to our usual custom,
+endeavour to accommodate ourselves to every taste, and shall,
+therefore, place this scene in a chapter by itself, which we desire
+all our readers who do not love, or who, perhaps, do not know the
+pleasure of tenderness, to pass over; since they may do this without
+any prejudice to the thread of the narrative.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_Containing a scene of the tender kind._
+
+
+"The doctor, madam," continued Booth, "spent his evening at Mrs.
+Harris's house, where I sat with him whilst he smoaked his pillow
+pipe, as his phrase is. Amelia was retired about half an hour to her
+chamber before I went to her. At my entrance I found her on her knees,
+a posture in which I never disturbed her. In a few minutes she arose,
+came to me, and embracing me, said she had been praying for resolution
+to support the cruellest moment she had ever undergone or could
+possibly undergo. I reminded her how much more bitter a farewel would
+be on a death-bed, when we never could meet, in this world at least,
+again. I then endeavoured to lessen all those objects which alarmed
+her most, and particularly the danger I was to encounter, upon which
+head I seemed a little to comfort her; but the probable length of my
+absence and the certain length of my voyage were circumstances which
+no oratory of mine could even palliate. 'O heavens!' said she,
+bursting into tears, 'can I bear to think that hundreds, thousands for
+aught I know, of miles or leagues, that lands and seas are between us?
+What is the prospect from that mount in our garden where I have sat so
+many happy hours with my Billy? what is the distance between that and
+the farthest hill which we see from thence compared to the distance
+which will be between us? You cannot wonder at this idea; you must
+remember, my Billy, at this place, this very thought came formerly
+into my foreboding mind. I then begged you to leave the army. Why
+would you not comply?--did I not tell you then that the smallest
+cottage we could survey from the mount would be, with you, a paradise
+to me? it would be so still--why can't my Billy think so? am I so much
+his superior in love? where is the dishonour, Billy? or, if there be
+any, will it reach our ears in our little hut? are glory and fame, and
+not his Amelia, the happiness of my husband? go then, purchase them at
+my expence. You will pay a few sighs, perhaps a few tears, at parting,
+and then new scenes will drive away the thoughts of poor Amelia from
+your bosom; but what assistance shall I have in my affliction? not
+that any change of scene could drive you one moment from my
+remembrance; yet here every object I behold will place your loved idea
+in the liveliest manner before my eyes. This is the bed in which you
+have reposed; that is the chair on which you sat. Upon these boards
+you have stood. These books you have read to me. Can I walk among our
+beds of flowers without viewing your favourites, nay, those which you
+have planted with your own hands? can I see one beauty from our
+beloved mount which you have not pointed out to me?'--Thus she went
+on, the woman, madam, you see, still prevailing."--"Since you mention
+it," says Miss Matthews, with a smile, "I own the same observation
+occurred to me. It is too natural to us to consider ourselves only,
+Mr. Booth."--"You shall hear," he cried. "At last the thoughts of her
+present condition suggested themselves.--' But if,' said she, 'my
+situation, even in health, will be so intolerable, how shall I, in the
+danger and agonies of childbirth, support your absence?'--Here she
+stopt, and, looking on me with all the tenderness imaginable, cried
+out, 'And am I then such a wretch to wish for your presence at such a
+season? ought I not to rejoice that you are out of the hearing of my
+cries or the knowledge of my pains? if I die, will you not have
+escaped the horrors of a parting ten thousand times more dreadful than
+this? Go, go, my Billy; the very circumstance which made me most dread
+your departure hath perfectly reconciled me to it. I perceive clearly
+now that I was only wishing to support my own weakness with your
+strength, and to relieve my own pains at the price of yours. Believe
+me, my love, I am ashamed of myself.'--I caught her in my arms with
+raptures not to be exprest in words, called her my heroine; sure none
+ever better deserved that name; after which we remained for some time
+speechless, and locked in each other's embraces."--
+
+"I am convinced," said Miss Matthews, with a sigh, "there are moments
+in life worth purchasing with worlds."
+
+"At length the fatal morning came. I endeavoured to hide every pang of
+my heart, and to wear the utmost gaiety in my countenance. Amelia
+acted the same part. In these assumed characters we met the family at
+breakfast; at their breakfast, I mean, for we were both full already.
+The doctor had spent above an hour that morning in discourse with Mrs.
+Harris, and had, in some measure, reconciled her to my departure. He
+now made use of every art to relieve the poor distressed Amelia; not
+by inveighing against the folly of grief, or by seriously advising her
+not to grieve; both of which were sufficiently performed by Miss
+Betty. The doctor, on the contrary, had recourse to every means which
+might cast a veil over the idea of grief, and raise comfortable images
+in my angel's mind. He endeavoured to lessen the supposed length of my
+absence by discoursing on matters which were more distant in time. He
+said he intended next year to rebuild a part of his parsonage-house.
+'And you, captain,' says he, 'shall lay the corner-stone, I promise
+you:' with many other instances of the like nature, which produced, I
+believe, some good effect on us both.
+
+"Amelia spoke but little; indeed, more tears than words dropt from
+her; however, she seemed resolved to bear her affliction with
+resignation. But when the dreadful news arrived that the horses were
+ready, and I, having taken my leave of all the rest, at last
+approached her, she was unable to support the conflict with nature any
+longer, and, clinging round my neck, she cried, 'Farewel, farewel for
+ever; for I shall never, never see you more.' At which words the blood
+entirely forsook her lovely cheeks, and she became a lifeless corpse
+in my arms.
+
+"Amelia continued so long motionless, that the doctor, as well as Mrs.
+Harris, began to be under the most terrible apprehensions; so they
+informed me afterwards, for at that time I was incapable of making any
+observation. I had indeed very little more use of my senses than the
+dear creature whom I supported. At length, however, we were all
+delivered from our fears; and life again visited the loveliest mansion
+that human nature ever afforded it.
+
+"I had been, and yet was, so terrified with what had happened, and
+Amelia continued yet so weak and ill, that I determined, whatever
+might be the consequence, not to leave her that day; which resolution
+she was no sooner acquainted with than she fell on her knees, crying,
+'Good Heaven! I thank thee for this reprieve at least. Oh! that every
+hour of my future life could be crammed into this dear day!'
+
+"Our good friend the doctor remained with us. He said he had intended
+to visit a family in some affliction; 'but I don't know,' says he,
+'why I should ride a dozen miles after affliction, when we have enough
+here.'" Of all mankind the doctor is the best of comforters. As his
+excessive good-nature makes him take vast delight in the office, so
+his great penetration into the human mind, joined to his great
+experience, renders him the most wonderful proficient in it; and he so
+well knows when to soothe, when to reason, and when to ridicule, that
+he never applies any of those arts improperly, which is almost
+universally the case with the physicians of the mind, and which it
+requires very great judgment and dexterity to avoid.
+
+"The doctor principally applied himself to ridiculing the dangers of
+the siege, in which he succeeded so well, that he sometimes forced a
+smile even into the face of Amelia. But what most comforted her were
+the arguments he used to convince her of the probability of my speedy
+if not immediate return. He said the general opinion was that the
+place would be taken before our arrival there; in which case we should
+have nothing more to do than to make the best of our way home again.
+
+"Amelia was so lulled by these arts that she passed the day much
+better than I expected. Though the doctor could not make pride strong
+enough to conquer love, yet he exalted the former to make some stand
+against the latter; insomuch that my poor Amelia, I believe, more than
+once flattered herself, to speak the language of the, world, that her
+reason had gained an entire victory over her passion; till love
+brought up a reinforcement, if I may use that term, of tender ideas,
+and bore down all before him.
+
+"In the evening the doctor and I passed another half-hour together,
+when he proposed to me to endeavour to leave Amelia asleep in the
+morning, and promised me to be at hand when she awaked, and to support
+her with all the assistance in his power. He added that nothing was
+more foolish than for friends to take leave of each other. 'It is
+true, indeed,' says he, 'in the common acquaintance and friendship of
+the world, this is a very harmless ceremony; but between two persons
+who really love each other the church of Rome never invented a penance
+half so severe as this which we absurdly impose on ourselves'
+
+"I greatly approved the doctor's proposal; thanked him, and promised,
+if possible, to put it in execution. He then shook me by the hand, and
+heartily wished me well, saying, in his blunt way, 'Well, boy, I hope
+to see thee crowned with laurels at thy return; one comfort I have at
+least, that stone walls and a sea will prevent thee from running
+away.'
+
+"When I had left the doctor I repaired to my Amelia, whom I found in
+her chamber, employed in a very different manner from what she had
+been the preceding night; she was busy in packing up some trinkets in
+a casket, which she desired me to carry with me. This casket was her
+own work, and she had just fastened it as I came to her.
+
+"Her eyes very plainly discovered what had passed while she was
+engaged in her work: however, her countenance was now serene, and she
+spoke, at least, with some chearfulness. But after some time, 'You
+must take care of this casket, Billy,' said she. 'You must, indeed,
+Billy--for--' here passion almost choaked her, till a flood of tears
+gave her relief, and then she proceeded--'For I shall be the happiest
+woman that ever was born when I see it again.' I told her, with the
+blessing of God, that day would soon come. 'Soon!' answered she. 'No,
+Billy, not soon: a week is an age;--but yet the happy day may come. It
+shall, it must, it will! Yes, Billy, we shall meet never to part
+again, even in this world, I hope.' Pardon my weakness, Miss Matthews,
+but upon my soul I cannot help it," cried he, wiping his eyes. "Well,
+I wonder at your patience, and I will try it no longer. Amelia, tired
+out with so long a struggle between variety of passions, and having
+not closed her eyes during three successive nights, towards the
+morning fell into a profound sleep. In which sleep I left her, and,
+having drest myself with all the expedition imaginable, singing,
+whistling, hurrying, attempting by every method to banish thought, I
+mounted my horse, which I had over-night ordered to be ready, and
+galloped away from that house where all my treasure was deposited.
+
+"Thus, madam, I have, in obedience to your commands, run through a
+scene which, if it hath been tiresome to you, you must yet acquit me
+of having obtruded upon you. This I am convinced of, that no one is
+capable of tasting such a scene who hath not a heart full of
+tenderness, and perhaps not even then, unless he hath been in the same
+situation."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_In which Mr. Booth sets forward on his journey._
+
+
+"Well, madam, we have now taken our leave of Amelia. I rode a full
+mile before I once suffered myself to look back; but now being come to
+the top of a little hill, the last spot I knew which could give me a
+prospect of Mrs. Harris's house, my resolution failed: I stopped and
+cast my eyes backward. Shall I tell you what I felt at that instant? I
+do assure you I am not able. So many tender ideas crowded at once into
+my mind, that, if I may use the expression, they almost dissolved my
+heart. And now, madam, the most unfortunate accident came first into
+my head. This was, that I had in the hurry and confusion left the dear
+casket behind me. The thought of going back at first suggested itself;
+but the consequences of that were too apparent. I therefore resolved
+to send my man, and in the meantime to ride on softly on my road. He
+immediately executed my orders, and after some time, feeding my eyes
+with that delicious and yet heartfelt prospect, I at last turned my
+horse to descend the hill, and proceeded about a hundred yards, when,
+considering with myself that I should lose no time by a second
+indulgence, I again turned back, and once more feasted my sight with
+the same painful pleasure till my man returned, bringing me the
+casket, and an account that Amelia still continued in the sweet sleep
+I left her. I now suddenly turned my horse for the last time, and with
+the utmost resolution pursued my journey.
+
+"I perceived my man at his return--But before I mention anything of
+him it may be proper, madam, to acquaint you who he was. He was the
+foster-brother of my Amelia. This young fellow had taken it into his
+head to go into the army; and he was desirous to serve under my
+command. The doctor consented to discharge him; his mother at last
+yielded to his importunities, and I was very easily prevailed on to
+list one of the handsomest young fellows in England.
+
+"You will easily believe I had some little partiality to one whose
+milk Amelia had sucked; but, as he had never seen the regiment, I had
+no opportunity to shew him any great mark of favour. Indeed he waited
+on me as my servant; and I treated him with all the tenderness which
+can be used to one in that station.
+
+"When I was about to change into the horse-guards the poor fellow
+began to droop, fearing that he should no longer be in the same corps
+with me, though certainly that would not have been the case. However,
+he had never mentioned one word of his dissatisfaction. He is indeed a
+fellow of a noble spirit; but when he heard that I was to remain where
+I was, and that we were to go to Gibraltar together, he fell into
+transports of joy little short of madness. In short, the poor fellow
+had imbibed a very strong affection for me; though this was what I
+knew nothing of till long after.
+
+"When he returned to me then, as I was saying, with the casket, I
+observed his eyes all over blubbered with tears. I rebuked him a
+little too rashly on this occasion. 'Heyday!' says I, 'what is the
+meaning of this? I hope I have not a milk-sop with me. If I thought
+you would shew such a face to the enemy I would leave you behind.'--
+'Your honour need not fear that,' answered he; 'I shall find nobody
+there that I shall love well enough to make me cry.' I was highly
+pleased with this answer, in which I thought I could discover both
+sense and spirit. I then asked him what had occasioned those tears
+since he had left me (for he had no sign of any at that time), and
+whether he had seen his mother at Mrs. Harris's? He answered in the
+negative, and begged that I would ask him no more questions; adding
+that he was not very apt to cry, and he hoped he should never give me
+such another opportunity of blaming him. I mention this only as an
+instance of his affection towards me; for I never could account for
+those tears any otherwise than by placing them to the account of that
+distress in which he left me at that time. We travelled full forty
+miles that day without baiting, when, arriving at the inn where I
+intended to rest that night, I retired immediately to my chamber, with
+my dear Amelia's casket, the opening of which was the nicest repast,
+and to which every other hunger gave way.
+
+"It is impossible to mention to you all the little matters with which
+Amelia had furnished this casket. It contained medicines of all kinds,
+which her mother, who was the Lady Bountiful of that country, had
+supplied her with. The most valuable of all to me was a lock of her
+dear hair, which I have from that time to this worn in my bosom. What
+would I have then given for a little picture of my dear angel, which
+she had lost from her chamber about a month before! and which we had
+the highest reason in the world to imagine her sister had taken away;
+for the suspicion lay only between her and Amelia's maid, who was of
+all creatures the honestest, and whom her mistress had often trusted
+with things of much greater value; for the picture, which was set in
+gold, and had two or three little diamonds round it, was worth about
+twelve guineas only; whereas Amelia left jewels in her care of much
+greater value."
+
+"Sure," cries Miss Matthews, "she could not be such a paultry
+pilferer."
+
+"Not on account of the gold or the jewels," cries Booth. "We imputed
+it to mere spite, with which, I assure you, she abounds; and she knew
+that, next to Amelia herself, there was nothing which I valued so much
+as this little picture; for such a resemblance did it bear of the
+original, that Hogarth himself did never, I believe, draw a stronger
+likeness. Spite, therefore, was the only motive to this cruel
+depredation; and indeed her behaviour on the occasion sufficiently
+convinced us both of the justice of our suspicion, though we neither
+of us durst accuse her; and she herself had the assurance to insist
+very strongly (though she could not prevail) with Amelia to turn away
+her innocent maid, saying, she would not live in the house with a
+thief."
+
+Miss Matthews now discharged some curses on Miss Betty, not much worth
+repeating, and then Mr. Booth proceeded in his relation.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_A sea piece._
+
+
+"The next day we joined the regiment, which was soon after to embark.
+Nothing but mirth and jollity were in the countenance of every officer
+and soldier; and as I now met several friends whom I had not seen for
+above a year before, I passed several happy hours, in which poor
+Amelia's image seldom obtruded itself to interrupt my pleasure. To
+confess the truth, dear Miss Matthews, the tenderest of passions is
+capable of subsiding; nor is absence from our dearest friends so
+unsupportable as it may at first appear. Distance of time and place do
+really cure what they seem to aggravate; and taking leave of our
+friends resembles taking leave of the world; concerning which it hath
+been often said that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible."--
+Here Miss Matthews burst into a fit of laughter, and cried, "I
+sincerely ask your pardon; but I cannot help laughing at the gravity
+of your philosophy." Booth answered, That the doctrine of the passions
+had been always his favourite study; that he was convinced every man
+acted entirely from that passion which was uppermost. "Can I then
+think," said he, "without entertaining the utmost contempt for myself,
+that any pleasure upon earth could drive the thoughts of Amelia one
+instant from my mind?
+
+"At length we embarked aboard a transport, and sailed for Gibraltar;
+but the wind, which was at first fair, soon chopped about; so that we
+were obliged, for several days, to beat to windward, as the sea phrase
+is. During this time the taste which I had of a seafaring life did not
+appear extremely agreeable. We rolled up and down in a little narrow
+cabbin, in which were three officers, all of us extremely sea-sick;
+our sickness being much aggravated by the motion of the ship, by the
+view of each other, and by the stench of the men. But this was but a
+little taste indeed of the misery which was to follow; for we were got
+about six leagues to the westward of Scilly, when a violent storm
+arose at north-east, which soon raised the waves to the height of
+mountains. The horror of this is not to be adequately described to
+those who have never seen the like. The storm began in the evening,
+and, as the clouds brought on the night apace, it was soon entirely
+dark; nor had we, during many hours, any other light than what was
+caused by the jarring elements, which frequently sent forth flashes,
+or rather streams of fire; and whilst these presented the most
+dreadful objects to our eyes, the roaring of the winds, the dashing of
+the waves against the ship and each other, formed a sound altogether
+as horrible for our ears; while our ship, sometimes lifted up, as it
+were, to the skies, and sometimes swept away at once as into the
+lowest abyss, seemed to be the sport of the winds and seas. The
+captain himself almost gave up all for lost, and exprest his
+apprehension of being inevitably cast on the rocks of Scilly, and beat
+to pieces. And now, while some on board were addressing themselves to
+the Supreme Being, and others applying for comfort to strong liquors,
+my whole thoughts were entirely engaged by my Amelia. A thousand
+tender ideas crouded into my mind. I can truly say that I had not a
+single consideration about myself in which she was not concerned.
+Dying to me was leaving her; and the fear of never seeing her more was
+a dagger stuck in my heart. Again, all the terrors with which this
+storm, if it reached her ears, must fill her gentle mind on my
+account, and the agonies which she must undergo when she heard of my
+fate, gave me such intolerable pangs, that I now repented my
+resolution, and wished, I own I wished, that I had taken her advice,
+and preferred love and a cottage to all the dazzling charms of honour.
+
+"While I was tormenting myself with those meditations, and had
+concluded myself as certainly lost, the master came into the cabbin,
+and with a chearful voice assured us that we had escaped the danger,
+and that we had certainly past to westward of the rock. This was
+comfortable news to all present; and my captain, who had been some
+time on his knees, leapt suddenly up, and testified his joy with a
+great oath.
+
+"A person unused to the sea would have been astonished at the
+satisfaction which now discovered itself in the master or in any on
+board; for the storm still raged with great violence, and the
+daylight, which now appeared, presented us with sights of horror
+sufficient to terrify minds which were not absolute slaves to the
+passion of fear; but so great is the force of habit, that what
+inspires a landsman with the highest apprehension of danger gives not
+the least concern to a sailor, to whom rocks and quicksands are almost
+the only objects of terror.
+
+"The master, however, was a little mistaken in the present instance;
+for he had not left the cabbin above an hour before my man came
+running to me, and acquainted me that the ship was half full of water;
+that the sailors were going to hoist out the boat and save themselves,
+and begged me to come that moment along with him, as I tendered my
+preservation. With this account, which was conveyed to me in a
+whisper, I acquainted both the captain and ensign; and we all together
+immediately mounted the deck, where we found the master making use of
+all his oratory to persuade the sailors that the ship was in no
+danger; and at the same time employing all his authority to set the
+pumps a-going, which he assured them would keep the water under, and
+save his dear Lovely Peggy (for that was the name of the ship), which
+he swore he loved as dearly as his own soul.
+
+"Indeed this sufficiently appeared; for the leak was so great, and the
+water flowed in so plentifully, that his Lovely Peggy was half filled
+before he could be brought to think of quitting her; but now the boat
+was brought alongside the ship, and the master himself,
+notwithstanding all his love for her, quitted his ship, and leapt into
+the boat. Every man present attempted to follow his example, when I
+heard the voice of my servant roaring forth my name in a kind of
+agony. I made directly to the ship-side, but was too late; for the
+boat, being already overladen, put directly off. And now, madam, I am
+going to relate to you an instance of heroic affection in a poor
+fellow towards his master, to which love itself, even among persons of
+superior education, can produce but few similar instances. My poor
+man, being unable to get me with him into the boat, leapt suddenly
+into the sea, and swam back to the ship; and, when I gently rebuked
+him for his rashness, he answered, he chose rather to die with me than
+to live to carry the account of my death to my Amelia: at the same
+time bursting into a flood of tears, he cried, 'Good Heavens! what
+will that poor lady feel when she hears of this!' This tender concern
+for my dear love endeared the poor fellow more to me than the gallant
+instance which he had just before given of his affection towards
+myself.
+
+"And now, madam, my eyes were shocked with a sight, the horror of
+which can scarce be imagined; for the boat had scarce got four hundred
+yards from the ship when it was swallowed up by the merciless waves,
+which now ran so high, that out of the number of persons which were in
+the boat none recovered the ship, though many of them we saw miserably
+perish before our eyes, some of them very near us, without any
+possibility of giving them the least assistance.
+
+"But, whatever we felt for them, we felt, I believe, more for
+ourselves, expecting every minute when we should share the same fate.
+Amongst the rest, one of our officers appeared quite stupified with
+fear. I never, indeed, saw a more miserable example of the great power
+of that passion: I must not, however, omit doing him justice, by
+saying that I afterwards saw the same man behave well in an
+engagement, in which he was wounded; though there likewise he was said
+to have betrayed the same passion of fear in his countenance.
+
+"The other of our officers was no less stupified (if I may so express
+myself) with fool-hardiness, and seemed almost insensible of his
+danger. To say the truth, I have, from this and some other instances
+which I have seen, been almost inclined to think that the courage as
+well as cowardice of fools proceeds from not knowing what is or what
+is not the proper object of fear; indeed, we may account for the
+extreme hardiness of some men in the same manner as for the terrors of
+children at a bugbear. The child knows not but that the bugbear is the
+proper object of fear, the blockhead knows not that a cannon-ball is
+so.
+
+"As to the remaining part of the ship's crew and the soldiery, most of
+them were dead drunk, and the rest were endeavouring, as fast as they
+could, to prepare for death in the same manner.
+
+"In this dreadful situation we were taught that no human condition
+should inspire men with absolute despair; for, as the storm had ceased
+for some time, the swelling of the sea began considerably to abate;
+and we now perceived the man of war which convoyed us, at no great
+distance astern. Those aboard her easily perceived our distress, and
+made towards us. When they came pretty near they hoisted out two boats
+to our assistance. These no sooner approached the ship than they were
+instantaneously filled, and I myself got a place in one of them,
+chiefly by the aid of my honest servant, of whose fidelity to me on
+all occasions I cannot speak or think too highly. Indeed, I got into
+the boat so much the more easily, as a great number on board the ship
+were rendered, by drink, incapable of taking any care for themselves.
+There was time, however, for the boat to pass and repass; so that,
+when we came to call over names, three only, of all that remained in
+the ship after the loss of her own boat, were missing.
+
+"The captain, ensign, and myself, were received with many
+congratulations by our officers on board the man of war.--The sea-
+officers too, all except the captain, paid us their compliments,
+though these were of the rougher kind, and not without several jokes
+on our escape. As for the captain himself, we scarce saw him during
+many hours; and, when he appeared, he presented a view of majesty
+beyond any that I had ever seen. The dignity which he preserved did
+indeed give me rather the idea of a Mogul, or a Turkish emperor, than
+of any of the monarchs of Christendom. To say the truth, I could
+resemble his walk on the deck to nothing but the image of Captain
+Gulliver strutting among the Lilliputians; he seemed to think himself
+a being of an order superior to all around him, and more especially to
+us of the land service. Nay, such was the behaviour of all the sea-
+officers and sailors to us and our soldiers, that, instead of
+appearing to be subjects of the same prince, engaged in one quarrel,
+and joined to support one cause, we land-men rather seemed to be
+captives on board an enemy's vessel. This is a grievous misfortune,
+and often proves so fatal to the service, that it is great pity some
+means could not be found of curing it."
+
+Here Mr. Booth stopt a while to take breath. We will therefore give
+the same refreshment to the reader.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_The arrival of Booth at Gibraltar, with what there befel him._
+
+
+"The adventures," continued Booth, "which I happened to me from this
+day till my arrival at Gibraltar are not worth recounting to you.
+After a voyage the remainder of which was tolerably prosperous, we
+arrived in that garrison, the natural strength of which is so well
+known to the whole world.
+
+"About a week after my arrival it was my fortune to be ordered on a
+sally party, in which my left leg was broke with a musket-ball; and I
+should most certainly have either perished miserably, or must have
+owed my preservation to some of the enemy, had not my faithful servant
+carried me off on his shoulders, and afterwards, with the assistance
+of one of his comrades, brought me back into the garrison.
+
+"The agony of my wound was so great, that it threw me into a fever,
+from whence my surgeon apprehended much danger. I now began again to
+feel for my Amelia, and for myself on her account; and the disorder of
+my mind, occasioned by such melancholy contemplations, very highly
+aggravated the distemper of my body; insomuch that it would probably
+have proved fatal, had it not been for the friendship of one Captain
+James, an officer of our regiment, and an old acquaintance, who is
+undoubtedly one of the pleasantest companions and one of the best-
+natured men in the world. This worthy man, who had a head and a heart
+perfectly adequate to every office of friendship, stayed with me
+almost day and night during my illness; and by strengthening my hopes,
+raising my spirits, and cheering my thoughts, preserved me from
+destruction.
+
+"The behaviour of this man alone is a sufficient proof of the truth of
+my doctrine, that all men act entirely from their passions; for Bob
+James can never be supposed to act from any motives of virtue or
+religion, since he constantly laughs at both; and yet his conduct
+towards me alone demonstrates a degree of goodness which, perhaps, few
+of the votaries of either virtue or religion can equal." "You need not
+take much pains," answered Miss Matthews, with a smile, "to convince
+me of your doctrine. I have been always an advocate for the same. I
+look upon the two words you mention to serve only as cloaks, under
+which hypocrisy may be the better enabled to cheat the world. I have
+been of that opinion ever since I read that charming fellow Mandevil."
+
+"Pardon me, madam," answered Booth; "I hope you do not agree with
+Mandevil neither, who hath represented human nature in a picture of
+the highest deformity. He hath left out of his system the best passion
+which the mind can possess, and attempts to derive the effects or
+energies of that passion from the base impulses of pride or fear.
+Whereas it is as certain that love exists in the mind of man as that
+its opposite hatred doth; and the same reasons will equally prove the
+existence of the one as the existence of the other."
+
+"I don't know, indeed," replied the lady, "I never thought much about
+the matter. This I know, that when I read Mandevil I thought all he
+said was true; and I have been often told that he proves religion and
+virtue to be only mere names. However, if he denies there is any such
+thing as love, that is most certainly wrong.--I am afraid I can give
+him the lye myself."
+
+"I will join with you, madam, in that," answered Booth, "at any time."
+
+"Will you join with me?" answered she, looking eagerly at him--"O, Mr.
+Booth! I know not what I was going to say--What--Where did you leave
+off?--I would not interrupt you--but I am impatient to know
+something."
+
+"What, madam?" cries Booth; "if I can give you any satisfaction--"
+
+"No, no," said she, "I must hear all; I would not for the world break
+the thread of your story. Besides, I am afraid to ask--Pray, pray,
+sir, go on."
+
+"Well, madam," cries Booth, "I think I was mentioning the
+extraordinary acts of friendship done me by Captain James; nor can I
+help taking notice of the almost unparalleled fidelity of poor
+Atkinson (for that was my man's name), who was not only constant in
+the assiduity of his attendance, but during the time of my danger
+demonstrated a concern for me which I can hardly account for, as my
+prevailing on his captain to make him a sergeant was the first favour
+he ever received at my hands, and this did not happen till I was
+almost perfectly recovered of my broken leg. Poor fellow! I shall
+never forget the extravagant joy his halbert gave him; I remember it
+the more because it was one of the happiest days of my own life; for
+it was upon this day that I received a letter from my dear Amelia,
+after a long silence, acquainting me that she was out of all danger
+from her lying-in.
+
+"I was now once more able to perform my duty; when (so unkind was the
+fortune of war), the second time I mounted the guard, I received a
+violent contusion from the bursting of a bomb. I was felled to the
+ground, where I lay breathless by the blow, till honest Atkinson came
+to my assistance, and conveyed me to my room, where a surgeon
+immediately attended me.
+
+"The injury I had now received was much more dangerous in my surgeon's
+opinion than the former; it caused me to spit blood, and was attended
+with a fever, and other bad symptoms; so that very fatal consequences
+were apprehended.
+
+"In this situation, the image of my Amelia haunted me day and night;
+and the apprehensions of never seeing her more were so intolerable,
+that I had thoughts of resigning my commission, and returning home,
+weak as I was, that I might have, at least, the satisfaction of dying
+in the arms of my love. Captain James, however, persisted in
+dissuading me from any such resolution. He told me my honour was too
+much concerned, attempted to raise my hopes of recovery to the utmost
+of his power; but chiefly he prevailed on me by suggesting that, if
+the worst which I apprehended should happen, it was much better for
+Amelia that she should be absent than present in so melancholy an
+hour. 'I know' cried he, 'the extreme joy which must arise in you from
+meeting again with Amelia, and the comfort of expiring in her arms;
+but consider what she herself must endure upon the dreadful occasion,
+and you would not wish to purchase any happiness at the price of so
+much pain to her.' This argument at length prevailed on me; and it was
+after many long debates resolved, that she should not even know my
+present condition, till my doom either for life or death was
+absolutely fixed."
+
+"Oh! Heavens! how great! how generous!" cried Miss Matthews. "Booth,
+thou art a noble fellow; and I scarce think there is a woman upon
+earth worthy so exalted a passion."
+
+Booth made a modest answer to the compliment which Miss Matthews had
+paid him. This drew more civilities from the lady, and these again
+more acknowledgments; all which we shall pass by, and proceed with our
+history.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_Containing matters which will please some readers._
+
+
+"Two months and more had I continued in a state of incertainty,
+sometimes with more flattering, and sometimes with more alarming
+symptoms; when one afternoon poor Atkinson came running into my room,
+all pale and out of breath, and begged me not to be surprized at his
+news. I asked him eagerly what was the matter, and if it was anything
+concerning Amelia? I had scarce uttered the dear name when she herself
+rushed into the room, and ran hastily to me, crying, 'Yes, it is, it
+is your Amelia herself.'
+
+"There is nothing so difficult to describe, and generally so dull when
+described, as scenes of excessive tenderness."
+
+"Can you think so?" says Miss Matthews; "surely there is nothing so
+charming!--Oh! Mr. Booth, our sex is d--ned by the want of tenderness
+in yours. O, were they all like you--certainly no man was ever your
+equal."
+
+"Indeed, madam," cries Booth, "you honour me too much. But--well--when
+the first transports of our meeting were over, Amelia began gently to
+chide me for having concealed my illness from her; for, in three
+letters which I had writ her since the accident had happened, there
+was not the least mention of it, or any hint given by which she could
+possibly conclude I was otherwise than in perfect health. And when I
+had excused myself, by assigning the true reason, she cried--'O Mr.
+Booth! and do you know so little of your Amelia as to think I could or
+would survive you? Would it not be better for one dreadful sight to
+break my heart all at once than to break it by degrees?--O Billy! can
+anything pay me for the loss of this embrace?'---But I ask your
+pardon--how ridiculous doth my fondness appear in your eyes!"
+
+"How often," answered she, "shall I assert the contrary? What would
+you have me say, Mr. Booth? Shall I tell you I envy Mrs. Booth of all
+the women in the world? would you believe me if I did? I hope you--
+what am I saying? Pray make no farther apology, but go on."
+
+"After a scene," continued he, "too tender to be conceived by many,
+Amelia informed me that she had received a letter from an unknown
+hand, acquainting her with my misfortune, and advising her, if she
+ever desired to see me more, to come directly to Gibraltar. She said
+she should not have delayed a moment after receiving this letter, had
+not the same ship brought her one from me written with rather more
+than usual gaiety, and in which there was not the least mention of my
+indisposition. This, she said, greatly puzzled her and her mother, and
+the worthy divine endeavoured to persuade her to give credit to my
+letter, and to impute the other to a species of wit with which the
+world greatly abounds. This consists entirely in doing various kinds
+of mischief to our fellow-creatures, by belying one, deceiving
+another, exposing a third, and drawing in a fourth, to expose himself;
+in short, by making some the objects of laughter, others of contempt;
+and indeed not seldom by subjecting them to very great inconveniences,
+perhaps to ruin, for the sake of a jest.
+
+"Mrs. Harris and the doctor derived the letter from this species of
+wit. Miss Betty, however, was of a different opinion, and advised poor
+Amelia to apply to an officer whom the governor had sent over in the
+same ship, by whom the report of my illness was so strongly confirmed,
+that Amelia immediately resolved on her voyage.
+
+"I had a great curiosity to know the author of this letter, but not
+the least trace of it could be discovered. The only person with whom I
+lived in any great intimacy was Captain James, and he, madam, from
+what I have already told you, you will think to be the last person I
+could suspect; besides, he declared upon his honour that he knew
+nothing of the matter, and no man's honour is, I believe, more sacred.
+There was indeed an ensign of another regiment who knew my wife, and
+who had sometimes visited me in my illness; but he was a very unlikely
+man to interest himself much in any affairs which did not concern him;
+and he too declared he knew nothing of it."
+
+"And did you never discover this secret?" cried Miss Matthews.
+
+"Never to this day," answered Booth.
+
+"I fancy," said she, "I could give a shrewd guess. What so likely as
+that Mrs. Booth, when you left her, should have given her foster-
+brother orders to send her word of whatever befel you? Yet stay--that
+could not be neither; for then she would not have doubted whether she
+should leave dear England on the receipt of the letter. No, it must
+have been by some other means;--yet that I own appeared extremely
+natural to me; for if I had been left by such a husband I think I
+should have pursued the same method."
+
+"No, madam," cried Booth, "it must have been conveyed by some other
+channel; for my Amelia, I am certain, was entirely ignorant of the
+manner; and as for poor Atkinson, I am convinced he would not have
+ventured to take such a step without acquainting me. Besides, the poor
+fellow had, I believe, such a regard for my wife, out of gratitude for
+the favours she hath done his mother, that I make no doubt he was
+highly rejoiced at her absence from my melancholy scene. Well, whoever
+writ it is a matter very immaterial; yet, as it seemed so odd and
+unaccountable an incident, I could not help mentioning it.
+
+"From the time of Amelia's arrival nothing remarkable happened till my
+perfect recovery, unless I should observe her remarkable behaviour, so
+full of care and tenderness, that it was perhaps without a parallel."
+
+"O no, Mr. Booth," cries the lady; "it is fully equalled, I am sure,
+by your gratitude. There is nothing, I believe, so rare as gratitude
+in your sex, especially in husbands. So kind a remembrance is, indeed,
+more than a return to such an obligation; for where is the mighty
+obligation which a woman confers, who being possessed of an
+inestimable jewel, is so kind to herself as to be careful and tender
+of it? I do not say this to lessen your opinion of Mrs. Booth. I have
+no doubt but that she loves you as well as she is capable. But I would
+not have you think so meanly of our sex as to imagine there are not a
+thousand women susceptible of true tenderness towards a meritorious
+man. Believe me, Mr. Booth, if I had received such an account of an
+accident having happened to such a husband, a mother and a parson
+would not have held me a moment. I should have leapt into the first
+fishing-boat I could have found, and bid defiance to the winds and
+waves.--Oh! there is no true tenderness but in a woman of spirit. I
+would not be understood all this while to reflect on Mrs. Booth. I am
+only defending the cause of my sex; for, upon my soul, such
+compliments to a wife are a satire on all the rest of womankind."
+
+"Sure you jest, Miss Matthews," answered Booth with a smile; "however,
+if you please, I will proceed in my story."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_The captain, continuing his story, recounts some particulars which,
+we doubt not, to many good people, will appear unnatural._
+
+
+I was scarce sooner recovered from my indisposition than Amelia
+herself fell ill. This, I am afraid, was occasioned by the fatigues
+which I could not prevent her from undergoing on my account; for, as
+my disease went off with violent sweats, during which the surgeon
+strictly ordered that I should lie by myself, my Amelia could not be
+prevailed upon to spend many hours in her own bed. During my restless
+fits she would sometimes read to me several hours together; indeed it
+was not without difficulty that she ever quitted my bedside. These
+fatigues, added to the uneasiness of her mind, overpowered her weak
+spirits, and threw her into one of the worst disorders that can
+possibly attend a woman; a disorder very common among the ladies, and
+our physicians have not agreed upon its name. Some call it fever on
+the spirits, some a nervous fever, some the vapours, and some the
+hysterics."
+
+"O say no more," cries Miss Matthews; "I pity you, I pity you from my
+soul. A man had better be plagued with all the curses of Egypt than
+with a vapourish wife."
+
+"Pity me! madam," answered Booth; "pity rather that dear creature who,
+from her love and care of my unworthy self, contracted a distemper,
+the horrors of which are scarce to be imagined. It is, indeed, a sort
+of complication of all diseases together, with almost madness added to
+them. In this situation, the siege being at an end, the governor gave
+me leave to attend my wife to Montpelier, the air of which was judged
+to be most likely to restore her to health. Upon this occasion she
+wrote to her mother to desire a remittance, and set forth the
+melancholy condition of her health, and her necessity for money, in
+such terms as would have touched any bosom not void of humanity,
+though a stranger to the unhappy sufferer. Her sister answered it, and
+I believe I have a copy of the answer in my pocket. I keep it by me as
+a curiosity, and you would think it more so could I shew you my
+Amelia's letter." He then searched his pocket-book, and finding the
+letter among many others, he read it in the following words:
+
+"'DEAR SISTER,--My mamma being much disordered, hath commanded me to
+tell you she is both shocked and surprized at your extraordinary
+request, or, as she chuses to call it, order for money. You know, my
+dear, she says that your marriage with this red-coat man was entirely
+against her consent and the opinion of all your family (I am sure I
+may here include myself in that number); and yet, after this fatal act
+of disobedience, she was prevailed on to receive you as her child;
+not, however, nor are you so to understand it, as the favourite which
+you was before. She forgave you; but this was as a Christian and a
+parent; still preserving in her own mind a just sense of your
+disobedience, and a just resentment on that account. And yet,
+notwithstanding this resentment, she desires you to remember that,
+when you a second time ventured to oppose her authority, and nothing
+would serve you but taking a ramble (an indecent one, I can't help
+saying) after your fellow, she thought fit to shew the excess of a
+mother's tenderness, and furnished you with no less than fifty pounds
+for your foolish voyage. How can she, then, be otherwise than
+surprized at your present demand? which, should she be so weak to
+comply with, she must expect to be every month repeated, in order to
+supply the extravagance of a young rakish officer. You say she will
+compassionate your sufferings; yes, surely she doth greatly
+compassionate them, and so do I too, though you was neither so kind
+nor so civil as to suppose I should. But I forgive all your slights to
+me, as well now as formerly. Nay, I not only forgive, but I pray daily
+for you. But, dear sister, what could you expect less than what hath
+happened? you should have believed your friends, who were wiser and
+older than you. I do not here mean myself, though I own I am eleven
+months and some odd weeks your superior; though, had I been younger, I
+might, perhaps, have been able to advise you; for wisdom and what some
+may call beauty do not always go together. You will not be offended at
+this; for I know in your heart, you have always held your head above
+some people, whom, perhaps, other people have thought better of; but
+why do I mention what I scorn so much? No, my dear sister, Heaven
+forbid it should ever be said of me that I value myself upon my face--
+not but if I could believe men perhaps--but I hate and despise men--
+you know I do, my dear, and I wish you had despised them as much; but
+_jacta est jalea_, as the doctor says. You are to make the best of
+your fortune--what fortune, I mean, my mamma may please to give you,
+for you know all is in her power. Let me advise you, then, to bring
+your mind to your circumstances, and remember (for I can't help
+writing it, as it is for your own good) the vapours are a distemper
+which very ill become a knapsack. Remember, my dear, what you have
+done; remember what my mamma hath done; remember we have something of
+yours to keep, and do not consider yourself as an only child; no, nor
+as a favourite child; but be pleased to remember, Dear sister,
+      Your most affectionate sister,
+            and most obedient humble servant,
+                                              E. HARRIS.'"
+
+"O brave Miss Betty!" cried Miss Matthews; "I always held her in high
+esteem; but I protest she exceeds even what I could have expected from
+her."
+
+"This letter, madam," cries Booth, "you will believe, was an excellent
+cordial for my poor wife's spirits. So dreadful indeed was the effect
+it had upon her, that, as she had read it in my absence, I found her,
+at my return home, in the most violent fits; and so long was it before
+she recovered her senses, that I despaired of that blest event ever
+happening; and my own senses very narrowly escaped from being
+sacrificed to my despair. However, she came at last to herself, and I
+began to consider of every means of carrying her immediately to
+Montpelier, which was now become much more necessary than before.
+
+"Though I was greatly shocked at the barbarity of the letter, yet I
+apprehended no very ill consequence from it; for, as it was believed
+all over the army that I had married a great fortune, I had received
+offers of money, if I wanted it, from more than one. Indeed, I might
+have easily carried my wife to Montpelier at any time; but she was
+extremely averse to the voyage, being desirous of our returning to
+England, as I had leave to do; and she grew daily so much better,
+that, had it not been for the receipt of that cursed--which I have
+just read to you, I am persuaded she might have been able to return to
+England in the next ship.
+
+"Among others there was a colonel in the garrison who had not only
+offered but importuned me to receive money of him; I now, therefore,
+repaired to him; and, as a reason for altering my resolution, I
+produced the letter, and, at the same time, acquainted him with the
+true state of my affairs. The colonel read the letter, shook his head,
+and, after some silence, said he was sorry I had refused to accept his
+offer before; but that he had now so ordered matters, and disposed of
+his money, that he had not a shilling left to spare from his own
+occasions.
+
+"Answers of the same kind I had from several others, but not one penny
+could I borrow of any; for I have been since firmly persuaded that the
+honest colonel was not content with denying me himself, but took
+effectual means, by spreading the secret I had so foolishly trusted
+him with, to prevent me from succeeding elsewhere; for such is the
+nature of men, that whoever denies himself to do you a favour is
+unwilling that it should be done to you by any other.
+
+"This was the first time I had ever felt that distress which arises
+from the want of money; a distress very dreadful indeed in a married
+state; for what can be more miserable than to see anything necessary
+to the preservation of a beloved creature, and not be able to supply
+it?
+
+"Perhaps you may wonder, madam, that I have not mentioned Captain
+James on this occasion; but he was at that time laid up at Algiers
+(whither he had been sent by the governor) in a fever. However, he
+returned time enough to supply me, which he did with the utmost
+readiness on the very first mention of my distress; and the good
+colonel, notwithstanding his having disposed of his money, discounted
+the captain's draft. You see, madam, an instance in the generous
+behaviour of my friend James, how false are all universal satires
+against humankind. He is indeed one of the worthiest men the world
+ever produced.
+
+"But, perhaps, you will be more pleased still with the extravagant
+generosity of my sergeant. The day before the return of Mr. James, the
+poor fellow came to me with tears in his eyes, and begged I would not
+be offended at what he was going to mention. He then pulled a purse
+from his pocket, which contained, he said, the sum of twelve pounds,
+and which he begged me to accept, crying, he was sorry it was not in
+his power to lend me whatever I wanted. I was so struck with this
+instance of generosity and friendship in such a person, that I gave
+him an opportunity of pressing me a second time before I made him an
+answer. Indeed, I was greatly surprised how he came to be worth that
+little sum, and no less at his being acquainted with my own wants. In
+both which points he presently satisfied me. As to the first, it seems
+he had plundered a Spanish officer of fifteen pistoles; and as to the
+second, he confessed he had it from my wife's maid, who had overheard
+some discourse between her mistress and me. Indeed people, I believe,
+always deceive themselves, who imagine they can conceal distrest
+circumstances from their servants; for these are always extremely
+quicksighted on such occasions."
+
+"Good heavens!" cries Miss Matthews, "how astonishing is such
+behaviour in so low a fellow!"
+
+"I thought so myself," answered Booth; "and yet I know not, on a more
+strict examination into the matter, why we should be more surprised to
+see greatness of mind discover itself in one degree or rank of life
+than in another. Love, benevolence, or what you will please to call
+it, may be the reigning passion in a beggar as well as in a prince;
+and wherever it is, its energies will be the same.
+
+"To confess the truth, I am afraid we often compliment what we call
+upper life, with too much injustice, at the expense of the lower. As
+it is no rare thing to see instances which degrade human nature in
+persons of the highest birth and education, so I apprehend that
+examples of whatever is really great and good have been sometimes
+found amongst those who have wanted all such advantages. In reality,
+palaces, I make no doubt, do sometimes contain nothing but dreariness
+and darkness, and the sun of righteousness hath shone forth with all
+its glory in a cottage."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_The story of Booth continued._
+
+
+"Mr. Booth thus went on:
+
+"We now took leave of the garrison, and, having landed at Marseilles,
+arrived at Montpelier, without anything happening to us worth
+remembrance, except the extreme sea-sickness of poor Amelia; but I was
+afterwards well repaid for the terrors which it occasioned me by the
+good consequences which attended it; for I believe it contributed,
+even more than the air of Montpelier, to the perfect re-establishment
+of her health."
+
+"I ask your pardon for interrupting you," cries Miss Matthews, "but
+you never satisfied me whether you took the sergeant's money. You have
+made me half in love with that charming fellow."
+
+"How can you imagine, madam," answered Booth, "I should have taken
+from a poor fellow what was of so little consequence to me, and at the
+same time of so much to him? Perhaps, now, you will derive this from
+the passion of pride."
+
+"Indeed," says she, "I neither derive it from the passion of pride nor
+from the passion of folly: but methinks you should have accepted the
+offer, and I am convinced you hurt him very much when you refused it.
+But pray proceed in your story." Then Booth went on as follows:
+
+"As Amelia recovered her health and spirits daily, we began to pass
+our time very pleasantly at Montpelier; for the greatest enemy to the
+French will acknowledge that they are the best people in the world to
+live amongst for a little while. In some countries it is almost as
+easy to get a good estate as a good acquaintance. In England,
+particularly, acquaintance is of almost as slow growth as an oak; so
+that the age of man scarce suffices to bring it to any perfection, and
+families seldom contract any great intimacy till the third, or at
+least the second generation. So shy indeed are we English of letting a
+stranger into our houses, that one would imagine we regarded all such
+as thieves. Now the French are the very reverse. Being a stranger
+among them entitles you to the better place, and to the greater degree
+of civility; and if you wear but the appearance of a gentleman, they
+never suspect you are not one. Their friendship indeed seldom extends
+as far as their purse; nor is such friendship usual in other
+countries. To say the truth, politeness carries friendship far enough
+in the ordinary occasions of life, and those who want this
+accomplishment rarely make amends for it by their sincerity; for
+bluntness, or rather rudeness, as it commonly deserves to be called,
+is not always so much a mark of honesty as it is taken to be.
+
+"The day after our arrival we became acquainted with Mons. Bagillard.
+He was a Frenchman of great wit and vivacity, with a greater share of
+learning than gentlemen are usually possessed of. As he lodged in the
+same house with us, we were immediately acquainted, and I liked his
+conversation so well that I never thought I had too much of his
+company. Indeed, I spent so much of my time with him, that Amelia (I
+know not whether I ought to mention it) grew uneasy at our
+familiarity, and complained of my being too little with her, from my
+violent fondness for my new acquaintance; for, our conversation
+turning chiefly upon books, and principally Latin ones (for we read
+several of the classics together), she could have but little
+entertainment by being with us. When my wife had once taken it into
+her head that she was deprived of my company by M. Bagillard, it was
+impossible to change her opinion; and, though I now spent more of my
+time with her than I had ever done before, she still grew more and
+more dissatisfied, till at last she very earnestly desired me to quit
+my lodgings, and insisted upon it with more vehemence than I had ever
+known her express before. To say the truth, if that excellent woman
+could ever be thought unreasonable, I thought she was so on this
+occasion.
+
+"But in what light soever her desires appeared to me, as they
+manifestly arose from an affection of which I had daily the most
+endearing proofs, I resolved to comply with her, and accordingly
+removed to a distant part of the town; for it is my opinion that we
+can have but little love for the person whom we will never indulge in
+an unreasonable demand. Indeed, I was under a difficulty with regard
+to Mons. Bagillard; for, as I could not possibly communicate to him
+the true reason for quitting my lodgings, so I found it as difficult
+to deceive him by a counterfeit one; besides, I was apprehensive I
+should have little less of his company than before. I could, indeed,
+have avoided this dilemma by leaving Montpelier, for Amelia had
+perfectly recovered her health; but I had faithfully promised Captain
+James to wait his return from Italy, whither he was gone some time
+before from Gibraltar; nor was it proper for Amelia to take any long
+journey, she being now near six months gone with child.
+
+"This difficulty, however, proved to be less than I had imagined it;
+for my French friend, whether he suspected anything from my wife's
+behaviour, though she never, as I observed, shewed him the least
+incivility, became suddenly as cold on his side. After our leaving the
+lodgings he never made above two or three formal visits; indeed his
+time was soon after entirely taken up by an intrigue with a certain
+countess, which blazed all over Montpelier.
+
+"We had not been long in our new apartments before an English officer
+arrived at Montpelier, and came to lodge in the same house with us.
+This gentleman, whose name was Bath, was of the rank of a major, and
+had so much singularity in his character, that, perhaps, you never
+heard of any like him. He was far from having any of those bookish
+qualifications which had before caused my Amelia's disquiet. It is
+true, his discourse generally turned on matters of no feminine kind;
+war and martial exploits being the ordinary topics of his
+conversation: however, as he had a sister with whom Amelia was greatly
+pleased, an intimacy presently grew between us, and we four lived in
+one family.
+
+"The major was a great dealer in the marvellous, and was constantly
+the little hero of his own tale. This made him very entertaining to
+Amelia, who, of all the persons in the world, hath the truest taste
+and enjoyment of the ridiculous; for, whilst no one sooner discovers
+it in the character of another, no one so well conceals her knowledge
+of it from the ridiculous person. I cannot help mentioning a sentiment
+of hers on this head, as I think it doth her great honour. 'If I had
+the same neglect,' said she, 'for ridiculous people with the
+generality of the world, I should rather think them the objects of
+tears than laughter; but, in reality, I have known several who, in
+some parts of their characters, have been extremely ridiculous, in
+others have been altogether as amiable. For instance,' said she, 'here
+is the major, who tells us of many things which he has never seen, and
+of others which he hath never done, and both in the most extravagant
+excess; and yet how amiable is his behaviour to his poor sister, whom
+he hath not only brought over hither for her health, at his own
+expence, but is come to bear her company.' I believe, madam, I repeat
+her very words; for I am very apt to remember what she says.
+
+"You will easily believe, from a circumstance I have just mentioned in
+the major's favour, especially when I have told you that his sister
+was one of the best of girls, that it was entirely necessary to hide
+from her all kind of laughter at any part of her brother's behaviour.
+To say the truth, this was easy enough to do; for the poor girl was so
+blinded with love and gratitude, and so highly honoured and reverenced
+her brother, that she had not the least suspicion that there was a
+person in the world capable of laughing at him.
+
+"Indeed, I am certain she never made the least discovery of our
+ridicule; for I am well convinced she would have resented it: for,
+besides the love she bore her brother, she had a little family pride,
+which would sometimes appear. To say the truth, if she had any fault,
+it was that of vanity, but she was a very good girl upon the whole;
+and none of us are entirely free from faults."
+
+"You are a good-natured fellow, Will," answered Miss Matthews; "but
+vanity is a fault of the first magnitude in a woman, and often the
+occasion of many others."
+
+To this Booth made no answer, but continued his story.
+
+"In this company we passed two or three months very agreeably, till
+the major and I both betook ourselves to our several nurseries; my
+wife being brought to bed of a girl, and Miss Bath confined to her
+chamber by a surfeit, which had like to have occasioned her death."
+
+Here Miss Matthews burst into a loud laugh, of which when Booth asked
+the reason, she said she could not forbear at the thoughts of two such
+nurses.
+
+"And did you really," says she, "make your wife's caudle yourself?"
+
+"Indeed, madam," said he, "I did; and do you think that so
+extraordinary?"
+
+"Indeed I do," answered she; "I thought the best husbands had looked
+on their wives' lying-in as a time of festival and jollity. What! did
+you not even get drunk in the time of your wife's delivery? tell me
+honestly how you employed yourself at this time."
+
+"Why, then, honestly," replied he, "and in defiance of your laughter,
+I lay behind her bolster, and supported her in my arms; and, upon my
+soul, I believe I felt more pain in my mind than she underwent in her
+body. And now answer me as honestly: Do you really think it a proper
+time of mirth, when the creature one loves to distraction is
+undergoing the most racking torments, as well as in the most imminent
+danger? and--but I need not express any more tender circumstances."
+
+"I am to answer honestly," cried she. "Yes, and sincerely," cries
+Booth. "Why, then, honestly and sincerely," says she, "may I never see
+heaven if I don't think you an angel of a man!"
+
+"Nay, madam," answered Booth--"but, indeed, you do me too much honour;
+there are many such husbands. Nay, have we not an example of the like
+tenderness in the major? though as to him, I believe, I shall make you
+laugh. While my wife lay-in, Miss Bath being extremely ill, I went one
+day to the door of her apartment, to enquire after her health, as well
+as for the major, whom I had not seen during a whole week. I knocked
+softly at the door, and being bid to open it, I found the major in his
+sister's ante-chamber warming her posset. His dress was certainly
+whimsical enough, having on a woman's bedgown and a very dirty flannel
+nightcap, which, being added to a very odd person (for he is a very
+awkward thin man, near seven feet high), might have formed, in the
+opinion of most men, a very proper object of laughter. The major
+started from his seat at my entering into the room, and, with much
+emotion, and a great oath, cried out, 'Is it you, sir?' I then
+enquired after his and his sister's health. He answered, that his
+sister was better, and he was very well, 'though I did not expect,
+sir,' cried he, with not a little confusion, 'to be seen by you in
+this situation.' I told him I thought it impossible he could appear in
+a situation more becoming his character. 'You do not?' answered he.
+'By G-- I am very much obliged to you for that opinion; but, I
+believe, sir, however my weakness may prevail on me to descend from
+it, no man can be more conscious of his own dignity than myself.' His
+sister then called to him from the inner room; upon which he rang the
+bell for her servant, and then, after a stride or two across the room,
+he said, with an elated aspect, 'I would not have you think, Mr.
+Booth, because you have caught me in this deshabille, by coming upon
+me a little too abruptly--I cannot help saying a little too abruptly--
+that I am my sister's nurse. I know better what is due to the dignity
+of a man, and I have shewn it in a line of battle. I think I have made
+a figure there, Mr. Booth, and becoming my character; by G-- I ought
+not to be despised too much if my nature is not totally without its
+weaknesses.' He uttered this, and some more of the same kind, with
+great majesty, or, as he called it, dignity. Indeed, he used some hard
+words that I did not understand; for all his words are not to be found
+in a dictionary. Upon the whole, I could not easily refrain from
+laughter; however, I conquered myself, and soon after retired from
+him, astonished that it was possible for a man to possess true
+goodness, and be at the same time ashamed of it.
+
+"But, if I was surprized at what had past at this visit, how much more
+was I surprized the next morning, when he came very early to my
+chamber, and told me he had not been able to sleep one wink at what
+had past between us! 'There were some words of yours,' says he, 'which
+must be further explained before we part. You told me, sir, when you
+found me in that situation, which I cannot bear to recollect, that you
+thought I could not appear in one more becoming my character; these
+were the words--I shall never forget them. Do you imagine that there
+is any of the dignity of a man wanting in my character? do you think
+that I have, during my sister's illness, behaved with a weakness that
+savours too much of effeminacy? I know how much it is beneath a man to
+whine and whimper about a trifling girl as well as you or any man;
+and, if my sister had died, I should have behaved like a man on the
+occasion. I would not have you think I confined myself from company
+merely upon her account. I was very much disordered myself. And when
+you surprized me in that situation--I repeat again, in that situation
+--her nurse had not left the room three minutes, and I was blowing the
+fire for fear it should have gone out.'--In this manner he ran on
+almost a quarter of an hour before he would suffer me to speak. At
+last, looking steadfastly in his face, I asked him if I must conclude
+that he was in earnest? 'In earnest!' says he, repeating my words, 'do
+you then take my character for a jest?'--Lookee, sir, said I, very
+gravely, I think we know one another very well; and I have no reason
+to suspect you should impute it to fear when I tell you I was so far
+from intending to affront you, that I meant you one of the highest
+compliments. Tenderness for women is so far from lessening, that it
+proves a true manly character. The manly Brutus shewed the utmost
+tenderness to his Portia; and the great king of Sweden, the bravest,
+and even fiercest of men, shut himself up three whole days in the
+midst of a campaign, and would see no company, on the death of a
+favourite sister. At these words I saw his features soften; and he
+cried out, 'D--n me, I admire the king of Sweden of all the men in the
+world; and he is a rascal that is ashamed of doing anything which the
+king of Sweden did.--And yet, if any king of Sweden in France was to
+tell me that his sister had more merit than mine, by G-- I'd knock his
+brains about his ears. Poor little Betsy! she is the honestest,
+worthiest girl that ever was born. Heaven be praised, she is
+recovered; for, if I had lost her, I never should have enjoyed another
+happy moment.' In this manner he ran on some time, till the tears
+began to overflow; which when he perceived, he stopt; perhaps he was
+unable to go on; for he seemed almost choaked: after a short silence,
+however, having wiped his eyes with his handkerchief, he fetched a
+deep sigh, and cried, 'I am ashamed you should see this, Mr. Booth;
+but d--n me, nature will get the better of dignity.' I now comforted
+him with the example of Xerxes, as I had before done with that of the
+king of Sweden; and soon after we sat down to breakfast together with
+much cordial friendship; for I assure you, with all his oddity, there
+is not a better-natured man in the world than the major."
+
+"Good-natured, indeed!" cries Miss Matthews, with great scorn. "A
+fool! how can you mention such a fellow with commendation?"
+
+Booth spoke as much as he could in defence of his friend; indeed, he
+had represented him in as favourable a light as possible, and had
+particularly left out those hard words with which, as he hath observed
+a little before, the major interlarded his discourse. Booth then
+proceeded as in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_Containing very extraordinary matters._
+
+
+"Miss Bath," continued Booth, "now recovered so fast, that she was
+abroad as soon as my wife. Our little partie quarree began to grow
+agreeable again; and we mixed with the company of the place more than
+we had done before. Mons. Bagillard now again renewed his intimacy,
+for the countess, his mistress, was gone to Paris; at which my wife,
+at first, shewed no dissatisfaction; and I imagined that, as she had a
+friend and companion of her own sex (for Miss Bath and she had
+contracted the highest fondness for each other), that she would the
+less miss my company. However, I was disappointed in this expectation;
+for she soon began to express her former uneasiness, and her
+impatience for the arrival of Captain James, that we might entirely
+quit Montpelier.
+
+"I could not avoid conceiving some little displeasure at this humour
+of my wife, which I was forced to think a little unreasonable."--"A
+little, do you call it?" says Miss Matthews: "Good Heavens! what a
+husband are you!"--"How little worthy," answered he, "as you will say
+hereafter, of such a wife as my Amelia. One day, as we were sitting
+together, I heard a violent scream; upon which my wife, starting up,
+cried out, 'Sure that's Miss Bath's voice;' and immediately ran
+towards the chamber whence it proceeded. I followed her; and when we
+arrived, we there beheld the most shocking sight imaginable; Miss Bath
+lying dead on the floor, and the major all bloody kneeling by her, and
+roaring out for assistance. Amelia, though she was herself in little
+better condition than her friend, ran hastily to her, bared her neck,
+and attempted to loosen her stays, while I ran up and down, scarce
+knowing what I did, calling for water and cordials, and despatching
+several servants one after another for doctors and surgeons.
+
+"Water, cordials, and all necessary implements being brought, Miss
+Bath was at length recovered, and placed in her chair, when the major
+seated himself by her. And now, the young lady being restored to life,
+the major, who, till then, had engaged as little of his own as of any
+other person's attention, became the object of all our considerations,
+especially his poor sister's, who had no sooner recovered sufficient
+strength than she began to lament her brother, crying out that he was
+killed; and bitterly bewailing her fate, in having revived from her
+swoon to behold so dreadful a spectacle. While Amelia applied herself
+to soothe the agonies of her friend, I began to enquire into the
+condition of the major, in which I was assisted by a surgeon, who now
+arrived. The major declared, with great chearfulness, that he did not
+apprehend his wound to be in the least dangerous, and therefore begged
+his sister to be comforted, saying he was convinced the surgeon would
+soon give her the same assurance; but that good man was not so liberal
+of assurances as the major had expected; for as soon as he had probed
+the wound he afforded no more than hopes, declaring that it was a very
+ugly wound; but added, by way of consolation, that he had cured many
+much worse.
+
+"When the major was drest his sister seemed to possess his whole
+thoughts, and all his care was to relieve her grief. He solemnly
+protested that it was no more than a flesh wound, and not very deep,
+nor could, as he apprehended, be in the least dangerous; and as for
+the cold expressions of the surgeon, he very well accounted for them
+from a motive too obvious to be mentioned. From these declarations of
+her brother, and the interposition of her friends, and, above all, I
+believe, from that vast vent which she had given to her fright, Miss
+Bath seemed a little pacified: Amelia, therefore, at last prevailed;
+and, as terror abated, curiosity became the superior passion. I
+therefore now began to enquire what had occasioned that accident
+whence all the uproar arose.
+
+"The major took me by the hand, and, looking very kindly at me, said,
+'My dear Mr. Booth, I must begin by asking your pardon; for I have
+done you an injury for which nothing but the height of friendship in
+me can be an excuse; and therefore nothing but the height of
+friendship in you can forgive.' This preamble, madam, you will easily
+believe, greatly alarmed all the company, but especially me. I
+answered, Dear major, I forgive you, let it be what it will; but what
+is it possible you can have done to injure me? 'That,' replied he,
+'which I am convinced a man of your honour and dignity of nature, by
+G--, must conclude to be one of the highest injuries. I have taken out
+of your own hands the doing yourself justice. I am afraid I have
+killed the man who hath injured your honour. I mean that villain
+Bagillard--but I cannot proceed; for you, madam,' said he to my wife,
+'are concerned, and I know what is due to the dignity of your sex.'
+Amelia, I observed, turned pale at these words, but eagerly begged him
+to proceed. 'Nay, madam,' answered he, 'if I am commanded by a lady,
+it is a part of my dignity to obey.' He then proceeded to tell us that
+Bagillard had rallied him upon a supposition that he was pursuing my
+wife with a view of gallantry; telling him that he could never
+succeed; giving hints that, if it had been possible, he should have
+succeeded himself; and ending with calling my poor Amelia an
+accomplished prude; upon which the major gave Bagillard a box in the
+ear, and both immediately drew their swords.
+
+"The major had scarce ended his speech when a servant came into the
+room, and told me there was a fryar below who desired to speak with me
+in great haste. I shook the major by the hand, and told him I not only
+forgave him, but was extremely obliged to his friendship; and then,
+going to the fryar, I found that he was Bagillard's confessor, from
+whom he came to me, with an earnest desire of seeing me, that he might
+ask my pardon and receive my forgiveness before he died for the injury
+he had intended me. My wife at first opposed my going, from some
+sudden fears on my account; but when she was convinced they were
+groundless she consented.
+
+"I found Bagillard in his bed; for the major's sword had passed up to
+the very hilt through his body. After having very earnestly asked my
+pardon, he made me many compliments on the possession of a woman who,
+joined to the most exquisite beauty, was mistress of the most
+impregnable virtue; as a proof of which he acknowledged the vehemence
+as well as ill success of his attempts: and, to make Amelia's virtue
+appear the brighter, his vanity was so predominant he could not
+forbear running over the names of several women of fashion who had
+yielded to his passion, which, he said, had never raged so violently
+for any other as for my poor Amelia; and that this violence, which he
+had found wholly unconquerable, he hoped would procure his pardon at
+my hands. It is unnecessary to mention what I said on the occasion. I
+assured him of my entire forgiveness; and so we parted. To say the
+truth, I afterwards thought myself almost obliged to him for a meeting
+with Amelia the most luxuriously delicate that can be imagined.
+
+"I now ran to my wife, whom I embraced with raptures of love and
+tenderness. When the first torrent of these was a little abated,
+'Confess to me, my dear,' said she, 'could your goodness prevent you
+from thinking me a little unreasonable in expressing so much
+uneasiness at the loss of your company, while I ought to have rejoiced
+in the thoughts of your being so well entertained; I know you must;
+and then consider what I must have felt, while I knew I was daily
+lessening myself in your esteem, and forced into a conduct which I was
+sensible must appear to you, who was ignorant of my motive, to be
+mean, vulgar, and selfish. And yet, what other course had I to take
+with a man whom no denial, no scorn could abash? But, if this was a
+cruel task, how much more wretched still was the constraint I was
+obliged to wear in his presence before you, to shew outward civility
+to the man whom my soul detested, for fear of any fatal consequence
+from your suspicion; and this too while I was afraid he would construe
+it to be an encouragement? Do you not pity your poor Amelia when you
+reflect on her situation?' Pity! cried I; my love! is pity an adequate
+expression for esteem, for adoration? But how, my love, could he carry
+this on so secretly?--by letters? 'O no, he offered me many; but I
+never would receive but one, and that I returned him. Good G--! I
+would not have such a letter in my possession for the universe; I
+thought my eyes contaminated with reading it.'" "O brave!" cried Miss
+Matthews; "heroic, I protest.
+
+   "'Had I a wish that did not bear
+     The stamp and image of my dear,
+     I'd pierce my heart through ev'ry vein,
+     And die to let it out again.'"
+
+"And you can really," cried he, "laugh at so much tenderness?" "I
+laugh at tenderness! O, Mr. Booth!" answered she, "thou knowest but
+little of Calista." "I thought formerly," cried he, "I knew a great
+deal, and thought you, of all women in the world, to have the
+greatest---of all women!" "Take care, Mr. Booth," said she. "By
+heaven! if you thought so, you thought truly. But what is the object
+of my tenderness--such an object as--" "Well, madam," says he, "I hope
+you will find one." "I thank you for that hope, however," says she,
+"cold as it is. But pray go on with your story;" which command he
+immediately obeyed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter x.
+
+_Containing a letter of a very curious kind._
+
+
+"The major's wound," continued Booth, "was really as slight as he
+believed it; so that in a very few days he was perfectly well; nor was
+Bagillard, though run through the body, long apprehending to be in any
+danger of his life. The major then took me aside, and, wishing me
+heartily joy of Bagillard's recovery, told me I should now, by the
+gift (as it were) of Heaven, have an opportunity of doing myself
+justice. I answered I could not think of any such thing; for that when
+I imagined he was on his death-bed I had heartily and sincerely
+forgiven him. 'Very right,' replied the major, 'and consistent with
+your honour, when he was on his death-bed; but that forgiveness was
+only conditional, and is revoked by his recovery.' I told him I could
+not possibly revoke it; for that my anger was really gone.--'What hath
+anger,' cried he, 'to do with the matter? the dignity of my nature
+hath been always my reason for drawing my sword; and when that is
+concerned I can as readily fight with the man I love as with the man I
+hate.'--I will not tire you with the repetition of the whole argument,
+in which the major did not prevail; and I really believe I sunk a
+little in his esteem upon that account, till Captain James, who
+arrived soon after, again perfectly reinstated me in his favour.
+
+"When the captain was come there remained no cause of our longer stay
+at Montpelier; for, as to my wife, she was in a better state of health
+than I had ever known her; and Miss Bath had not only recovered her
+health but her bloom, and from a pale skeleton was become a plump,
+handsome young woman. James was again my cashier; for, far from
+receiving any remittance, it was now a long time since I had received
+any letter from England, though both myself and my dear Amelia had
+written several, both to my mother and sister; and now, at our
+departure from Montpelier, I bethought myself of writing to my good
+friend the doctor, acquainting him with our journey to Paris, whither
+I desired he would direct his answer.
+
+"At Paris we all arrived without encountering any adventure on the
+road worth relating; nor did anything of consequence happen here
+during the first fortnight; for, as you know neither Captain James nor
+Miss Bath, it is scarce worth telling you that an affection, which
+afterwards ended in a marriage, began now to appear between them, in
+which it may appear odd to you that I made the first discovery of the
+lady's flame, and my wife of the captain's.
+
+"The seventeenth day after our arrival at Paris I received a letter
+from the doctor, which I have in my pocket-book; and, if you please, I
+will read it you; for I would not willingly do any injury to his
+words."
+
+The lady, you may easily believe, desired to hear the letter, and
+Booth read it as follows:
+
+"MY DEAR CHILDREN--For I will now call you so, as you have neither of
+you now any other parent in this world. Of this melancholy news I
+should have sent you earlier notice if I had thought you ignorant of
+it, or indeed if I had known whither to have written. If your sister
+hath received any letters from you she hath kept them a secret, and
+perhaps out of affection to you hath reposited them in the same place
+where she keeps her goodness, and, what I am afraid is much dearer to
+her, her money. The reports concerning you have been various; so is
+always the case in matters where men are ignorant; for, when no man
+knows what the truth is, every man thinks himself at liberty to report
+what he pleases. Those who wish you well, son Booth, say simply that
+you are dead: others, that you ran away from the siege, and was
+cashiered. As for my daughter, all agree that she is a saint above;
+and there are not wanting those who hint that her husband sent her
+thither. From this beginning you will expect, I suppose, better news
+than I am going to tell you; but pray, my dear children, why may not
+I, who have always laughed at my own afflictions, laugh at yours,
+without the censure of much malevolence? I wish you could learn this
+temper from me; for, take my word for it, nothing truer ever came from
+the mouth of a heathen than that sentence:
+
+'---_Leve fit quod bene fertur onus_.'
+[Footnote: The burthen becomes light by being well borne.]
+
+And though I must confess I never thought Aristotle (whom I do not
+take for so great a blockhead as some who have never read him) doth
+not very well resolve the doubt which he hath raised in his Ethics,
+viz., How a man in the midst of King Priam's misfortunes can be called
+happy? yet I have long thought that there is no calamity so great that
+a Christian philosopher may not reasonably laugh at it; if the heathen
+Cicero, doubting of immortality (for so wise a man must have doubted
+of that which had such slender arguments to support it), could assert
+it as the office of wisdom, _Humanas res despicere atque infra se
+positas arbitrari._[Footnote: To look down on all human affairs as
+matters below his consideration.]
+
+"Which passage, with much more to the same purpose, you will find in
+the third book of his Tusculan Questions.
+
+"With how much greater confidence may a good Christian despise, and
+even deride, all temporary and short transitory evils! If the poor
+wretch, who is trudging on to his miserable cottage, can laugh at the
+storms and tempests, the rain and whirlwinds, which surround him,
+while his richest hope is only that of rest; how much more chearfully
+must a man pass through such transient evils, whose spirits are buoyed
+up with the certain expectation of finding a noble palace and the most
+sumptuous entertainment ready to receive him! I do not much like the
+simile; but I cannot think of a better. And yet, inadequate as the
+simile is, we may, I think, from the actions of mankind, conclude that
+they will consider it as much too strong; for, in the case I have put
+of the entertainment, is there any man so tender or poor-spirited as
+not to despise, and often to deride, the fiercest of these
+inclemencies which I have mentioned? but in our journey to the
+glorious mansions of everlasting bliss, how severely is every little
+rub, every trifling accident, lamented! and if Fortune showers down
+any of her heavier storms upon us, how wretched do we presently appear
+to ourselves and to others! The reason of this can be no other than
+that we are not in earnest in our faith; at the best, we think with
+too little attention on this our great concern. While the most paultry
+matters of this world, even those pitiful trifles, those childish
+gewgaws, riches and honours, are transacted with the utmost
+earnestness and most serious application, the grand and weighty affair
+of immortality is postponed and disregarded, nor ever brought into the
+least competition with our affairs here. If one of my cloth should
+begin a discourse of heaven in the scenes of business or pleasure; in
+the court of requests, at Garraway's, or at White's; would he gain a
+hearing, unless, perhaps, of some sorry jester who would desire to
+ridicule him? would he not presently acquire the name of the mad
+parson, and be thought by all men worthy of Bedlam? or would he not be
+treated as the Romans treated their Aretalogi,[Footnote: A set of
+beggarly philosophers who diverted great men at their table with
+burlesque discourses on virtue.] and considered in the light of a
+buffoon? But why should I mention those places of hurry and worldly
+pursuit? What attention do we engage even in the pulpit? Here, if a
+sermon be prolonged a little beyond the usual hour, doth it not set
+half the audience asleep? as I question not I have by this time both
+my children. Well, then, like a good-natured surgeon, who prepares his
+patient for a painful operation by endeavouring as much as he can to
+deaden his sensation, I will now communicate to you, in your
+slumbering condition, the news with which I threatened you. Your good
+mother, you are to know, is dead at last, and hath left her whole
+fortune to her elder daughter.--This is all the ill news I have to
+tell you. Confess now, if you are awake, did you not expect it was
+much worse; did not you apprehend that your charming child was dead?
+Far from it, he is in perfect health, and the admiration of everybody:
+what is more, he will be taken care of, with the tenderness of a
+parent, till your return. What pleasure must this give you! if indeed
+anything can add to the happiness of a married couple who are
+extremely and deservedly fond of each other, and, as you write me, in
+perfect health. A superstitious heathen would have dreaded the malice
+of Nemesis in your situation; but as I am a Christian, I shall venture
+to add another circumstance to your felicity, by assuring you that you
+have, besides your wife, a faithful and zealous friend. Do not,
+therefore, my dear children, fall into that fault which the excellent
+Thucydides observes is too common in human nature, to bear heavily the
+being deprived of the smaller good, without conceiving, at the same
+time, any gratitude for the much greater blessings which we are
+suffered to enjoy. I have only farther to tell you, my son, that, when
+you call at Mr. Morand's, Rue Dauphine, you will find yourself worth a
+hundred pounds. Good Heaven! how much richer are you than millions of
+people who are in want of nothing! farewel, and know me for your
+sincere and affectionate friend."
+
+"There, madam," cries Booth, "how do you like the letter?"
+
+"Oh! extremely," answered she: "the doctor is a charming man; I always
+loved dearly to hear him preach. I remember to have heard of Mrs.
+Harris's death above a year before I left the country, but never knew
+the particulars of her will before. I am extremely sorry for it, upon
+my honour."
+
+"Oh, fy! madam," cries Booth; "have you so soon forgot the chief
+purport of the doctor's letter?"
+
+"Ay, ay," cried she; "these are very pretty things to read, I
+acknowledge; but the loss of fortune is a serious matter; and I am
+sure a man of Mr. Booth's understanding must think so." "One
+consideration, I must own, madam," answered he, "a good deal baffled
+all the doctor's arguments. This was the concern for my little growing
+family, who must one day feel the loss; nor was I so easy upon
+Amelia's account as upon my own, though she herself put on the utmost
+chearfulness, and stretched her invention to the utmost to comfort me.
+But sure, madam, there is something in the doctor's letter to admire
+beyond the philosophy of it; what think you of that easy, generous,
+friendly manner, in which he sent me the hundred pounds?"
+
+"Very noble and great indeed," replied she. "But pray go on with your
+story; for I long to hear the whole."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter xi.
+
+_In which Mr. Booth relates his return to England._
+
+
+"Nothing remarkable, as I remember, happened during our stay at Paris,
+which we left soon after and came to London. Here we rested only two
+days, and then, taking leave of our fellow-travellers, we set out for
+Wiltshire, my wife being so impatient to see the child which she had
+left behind her, that the child she carried with her was almost killed
+with the fatigue of the journey.
+
+"We arrived at our inn late in the evening. Amelia, though she had no
+great reason to be pleased with any part of her sister's behaviour,
+resolved to behave to her as if nothing wrong had ever happened. She
+therefore sent a kind note to her the moment of our arrival, giving
+her her option, whether she would come to us at the inn, or whether we
+should that evening wait on her. The servant, after waiting an hour,
+brought us an answer, excusing her from coming to us so late, as she
+was disordered with a cold, and desiring my wife by no means to think
+of venturing out after the fatigue of her journey; saying, she would,
+on that account, defer the great pleasure of seeing her till the
+morning, without taking any more notice of your humble servant than if
+no such person had been in the world, though I had very civilly sent
+my compliments to her. I should not mention this trifle, if it was not
+to shew you the nature of the woman, and that it will be a kind of key
+to her future conduct.
+
+"When the servant returned, the good doctor, who had been with us
+almost all the time of his absence, hurried us away to his house,
+where we presently found a supper and a bed prepared for us. My wife
+was eagerly desirous to see her child that night; but the doctor would
+not suffer it; and, as he was at nurse at a distant part of the town,
+and the doctor assured her he had seen him in perfect health that
+evening, she suffered herself at last to be dissuaded.
+
+"We spent that evening in the most agreeable manner; for the doctor's
+wit and humour, joined to the highest chearfulness and good nature,
+made him the most agreeable companion in the world: and he was now in
+the highest spirits, which he was pleased to place to our account. We
+sat together to a very late hour; for so excellent is my wife's
+constitution, that she declared she was scarce sensible of any fatigue
+from her late journeys.
+
+"Amelia slept not a wink all night, and in the morning early the
+doctor accompanied us to the little infant. The transports we felt on
+this occasion were really enchanting, nor can any but a fond parent
+conceive, I am certain, the least idea of them. Our imaginations
+suggested a hundred agreeable circumstances, none of which had,
+perhaps, any foundation. We made words and meaning out of every sound,
+and in every feature found out some resemblance to my Amelia, as she
+did to me.
+
+"But I ask your pardon for dwelling on such incidents, and will
+proceed to scenes which, to most persons, will be more entertaining.
+
+"We went hence to pay a visit to Miss Harris, whose reception of us
+was, I think, truly ridiculous; and, as you know the lady, I will
+endeavour to describe it particularly. At our first arrival we were
+ushered into a parlour, where we were suffered to wait almost an hour.
+At length the lady of the house appeared in deep mourning, with a
+face, if possible, more dismal than her dress, in which, however,
+there was every appearance of art. Her features were indeed skrewed up
+to the very height of grief. With this face, and in the most solemn
+gait, she approached Amelia, and coldly saluted her. After which she
+made me a very distant formal courtesy, and we all sat down. A short
+silence now ensued, which Miss Harris at length broke with a deep
+sigh, and said, 'Sister, here is a great alteration in this place
+since you saw it last; Heaven hath been pleased to take my poor mother
+to itself.'--(Here she wiped her eyes, and then continued.)--'I hope I
+know my duty, and have learned a proper resignation to the divine
+will; but something is to be allowed to grief for the best of mothers;
+for so she was to us both; and if at last she made any distinction,
+she must have had her reasons for so doing. I am sure I can truly say
+I never wished, much less desired it.' The tears now stood in poor
+Amelia's eyes; indeed, she had paid too many already for the memory of
+so unnatural a parent. She answered, with the sweetness of an angel,
+that she was far from blaming her sister's emotions on so tender an
+occasion; that she heartily joined with her in her grief; for that
+nothing which her mother had done in the latter part of her life could
+efface the remembrance of that tenderness which she had formerly shewn
+her. Her sister caught hold of the word efface, and rung the changes
+upon it.--'Efface!' cried she, 'O Miss Emily (for you must not expect
+me to repeat names that will be for ever odious), I wish indeed
+everything could be effaced.--Effaced! O that that was possible! we
+might then have still enjoyed my poor mother; for I am convinced she
+never recovered her grief on a certain occasion.'--Thus she ran on,
+and, after many bitter strokes upon her sister, at last directly
+charged her mother's death on my marriage with Amelia. I could be
+silent then no longer. I reminded her of the perfect reconciliation
+between us before my departure, and the great fondness which she
+expressed for me; nor could I help saying, in very plain terms, that
+if she had ever changed her opinion of me, as I was not conscious of
+having deserved such a change by my own behaviour, I was well
+convinced to whose good offices I owed it. Guilt hath very quick ears
+to an accusation. Miss Harris immediately answered to the charge. She
+said, such suspicions were no more than she expected; that they were
+of a piece with every other part of my conduct, and gave her one
+consolation, that they served to account for her sister Emily's
+unkindness, as well to herself as to her poor deceased mother, and in
+some measure lessened the guilt of it with regard to her, since it was
+not easy to know how far a woman is in the power of her husband. My
+dear Amelia reddened at this reflection on me, and begged her sister
+to name any single instance of unkindness or disrespect in which she
+had ever offended. To this the other answered (I am sure I repeat her
+words, though I cannot mimic either the voice or air with which they
+were spoken)--'Pray, Miss Emily, which is to be the judge, yourself or
+that gentleman? I remember the time when I could have trusted to your
+judgment in any affair; but you are now no longer mistress of
+yourself, and are not answerable for your actions. Indeed, it is my
+constant prayer that your actions may not be imputed to you. It was
+the constant prayer of that blessed woman, my dear mother, who is now
+a saint above; a saint whose name I can never mention without a tear,
+though I find you can hear it without one. I cannot help observing
+some concern on so melancholy an occasion; it seems due to decency;
+but, perhaps (for I always wish to excuse you) you are forbid to cry.'
+The idea of being bid or forbid to cry struck so strongly on my fancy,
+that indignation only could have prevented me from laughing. But my
+narrative, I am afraid, begins to grow tedious. In short, after
+hearing, for near an hour, every malicious insinuation which a fertile
+genius could invent, we took our leave, and separated as persons who
+would never willingly meet again.
+
+"The next morning after this interview Amelia received a long letter
+from Miss Harris; in which, after many bitter invectives against me,
+she excused her mother, alledging that she had been driven to do as
+she did in order to prevent Amelia's ruin, if her fortune had fallen
+into my hands. She likewise very remotely hinted that she would be
+only a trustee for her sister's children, and told her that on one
+condition only she would consent to live with her as a sister. This
+was, if she could by any means be separated from that man, as she was
+pleased to call me, who had caused so much mischief in the family.
+
+"I was so enraged at this usage, that, had not Amelia intervened, I
+believe I should have applied to a magistrate for a search-warrant for
+that picture, which there was so much reason to suspect she had
+stolen; and which I am convinced, upon a search, we should have found
+in her possession."
+
+"Nay, it is possible enough," cries Miss Matthews; "for I believe
+there is no wickedness of which the lady is not capable."
+
+"This agreeable letter was succeeded by another of the like
+comfortable kind, which informed me that the company in which I was,
+being an additional one raised in the beginning of the war, was
+reduced; so that I was now a lieutenant on half-pay.
+
+"Whilst we were meditating on our present situation the good doctor
+came to us. When we related to him the manner in which my sister had
+treated us, he cried out, 'Poor soul! I pity her heartily;' for this
+is the severest resentment he ever expresses; indeed, I have often
+heard him say that a wicked soul is the greatest object of compassion
+in the world."--A sentiment which we shall leave the reader a little
+time to digest.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter xii.
+
+_In which Mr. Booth concludes his story._
+
+
+"The next day the doctor set out for his parsonage, which was about
+thirty miles distant, whither Amelia and myself accompanied him, and
+where we stayed with him all the time of his residence there, being
+almost three months.
+
+"The situation of the parish under my good friend's care is very
+pleasant. It is placed among meadows, washed by a clear trout-stream,
+and flanked on both sides with downs. His house, indeed, would not
+much attract the admiration of the virtuoso. He built it himself, and
+it is remarkable only for its plainness; with which the furniture so
+well agrees, that there is no one thing in it that may not be
+absolutely necessary, except books, and the prints of Mr. Hogarth,
+whom he calls a moral satirist.
+
+"Nothing, however, can be imagined more agreeable than the life that
+the doctor leads in this homely house, which he calls his earthly
+paradise. All his parishioners, whom he treats as his children, regard
+him as their common father. Once in a week he constantly visits every
+house in the parish, examines, commends, and rebukes, as he finds
+occasion. This is practised likewise by his curate in his absence; and
+so good an effect is produced by this their care, that no quarrels
+ever proceed either to blows or law-suits; no beggar is to be found in
+the whole parish; nor did I ever hear a very profane oath all the time
+I lived in it. "But to return from so agreeable a digression, to my
+own affairs, that are much less worth your attention. In the midst of
+all the pleasures I tasted in this sweet place and in the most
+delightful company, the woman and man whom I loved above all things,
+melancholy reflexions concerning my unhappy circumstances would often
+steal into my thoughts. My fortune was now reduced to less than forty
+pounds a-year; I had already two children, and my dear Amelia was
+again with child.
+
+"One day the doctor found me sitting by myself, and employed in
+melancholy contemplations on this subject. He told me he had observed
+me growing of late very serious; that he knew the occasion, and
+neither wondered at nor blamed me. He then asked me if I had any
+prospect of going again into the army; if not, what scheme of life I
+proposed to myself?
+
+"I told him that, as I had no powerful friends, I could have but
+little expectations in a military way; that I was as incapable of
+thinking of any other scheme, as all business required some knowledge
+or experience, and likewise money to set up with; of all which I was
+destitute.
+
+"'You must know then, child,' said the doctor, 'that I have been
+thinking on this subject as well as you; for I can think, I promise
+you, with a pleasant countenance.' These were his words. 'As to the
+army, perhaps means might be found of getting you another commission;
+but my daughter seems to have a violent objection to it; and to be
+plain, I fancy you yourself will find no glory make you amends for
+your absence from her. And for my part,' said he, 'I never think those
+men wise who, for any worldly interest, forego the greatest happiness
+of their lives. If I mistake not,' says he, 'a country life, where you
+could be always together, would make you both much happier people.'
+
+"I answered, that of all things I preferred it most; and I believed
+Amelia was of the same opinion.
+
+"The doctor, after a little hesitation, proposed to me to turn farmer,
+and offered to let me his parsonage, which was then become vacant. He
+said it was a farm which required but little stock, and that little
+should not be wanting.
+
+"I embraced this offer very eagerly, and with great thankfulness, and
+immediately repaired to Amelia to communicate it to her, and to know
+her sentiments.
+
+"Amelia received the news with the highest transports of joy; she said
+that her greatest fear had always been of my entring again into the
+army. She was so kind as to say that all stations of life were equal
+to her, unless as one afforded her more of my company than another.
+'And as to our children,' said she, 'let us breed them up to an humble
+fortune, and they will be contented with it; for none,' added my
+angel, 'deserve happiness, or, indeed, are capable of it, who make any
+particular station a necessary ingredient.'"
+
+"Thus, madam, you see me degraded from my former rank in life; no
+longer Captain Booth, but farmer Booth at your service.
+
+"During my first year's continuance in this new scene of life,
+nothing, I think, remarkable happened; the history of one day would,
+indeed, be the history of the whole year."
+
+"Well, pray then," said Miss Matthews, "do let us hear the history of
+that day; I have a strange curiosity to know how you could kill your
+time; and do, if possible, find out the very best day you can."
+
+"If you command me, madam," answered Booth, "you must yourself be
+accountable for the dulness of the narrative. Nay, I believe, you have
+imposed a very difficult task on me; for the greatest happiness is
+incapable of description.
+
+"I rose then, madam--"
+
+"O, the moment you waked, undoubtedly," said Miss Matthews.
+
+"Usually," said he, "between five and six."
+
+"I will have no usually," cried Miss Matthews, "you are confined to a
+day, and it is to be the best and happiest in the year."
+
+"Nay, madam," cries Booth, "then I must tell you the day in which
+Amelia was brought to bed, after a painful and dangerous labour; for
+that I think was the happiest day of my life."
+
+"I protest," said she, "you are become farmer Booth, indeed. What a
+happiness have you painted to my imagination! you put me in mind of a
+newspaper, where my lady such-a-one is delivered of a son, to the
+great joy of some illustrious family."
+
+"Why then, I do assure you, Miss Matthews," cries Booth, "I scarce
+know a circumstance that distinguished one day from another. The whole
+was one continued series of love, health, and tranquillity. Our lives
+resembled a calm sea."--
+
+"The dullest of all ideas," cries the lady.
+
+"I know," said he, "it must appear dull in description, for who can
+describe the pleasures which the morning air gives to one in perfect
+health; the flow of spirits which springs up from exercise; the
+delights which parents feel from the prattle and innocent follies of
+their children; the joy with which the tender smile of a wife inspires
+a husband; or lastly, the chearful, solid comfort which a fond couple
+enjoy in each other's conversation?--All these pleasures and every
+other of which our situation was capable we tasted in the highest
+degree. Our happiness was, perhaps, too great; for fortune seemed to
+grow envious of it, and interposed one of the most cruel accidents
+that could have befallen us by robbing us of our dear friend the
+doctor."
+
+"I am sorry for it," said Miss Matthews. "He was indeed a valuable
+man, and I never heard of his death before."
+
+"Long may it be before any one hears of it!" cries Booth. "He is,
+indeed, dead to us; but will, I hope, enjoy many happy years of life.
+You know, madam, the obligations he had to his patron the earl;
+indeed, it was impossible to be once in his company without hearing of
+them. I am sure you will neither wonder that he was chosen to attend
+the young lord in his travels as his tutor, nor that the good man,
+however disagreeable it might be (as in fact it was) to his
+inclination, should comply with the earnest request of his friend and
+patron.
+
+"By this means I was bereft not only of the best companion in the
+world, but of the best counsellor; a loss of which I have since felt
+the bitter consequence; for no greater advantage, I am convinced, can
+arrive to a young man, who hath any degree of understanding, than an
+intimate converse with one of riper years, who is not only able to
+advise, but who knows the manner of advising. By this means alone,
+youth can enjoy the benefit of the experience of age, and that at a
+time of life when such experience will be of more service to a man
+than when he hath lived long enough to acquire it of himself.
+
+"From want of my sage counsellor, I now fell into many errors. The
+first of these was in enlarging my business, by adding a farm of one
+hundred a year to the parsonage, in renting which I had also as bad a
+bargain as the doctor had before given me a good one. The consequence
+of which was, that whereas, at the end of the first year, I was worth
+upwards of fourscore pounds; at the end of the second I was near half
+that sum worse (as the phrase is) than nothing.
+
+"A second folly I was guilty of in uniting families with the curate of
+the parish, who had just married, as my wife and I thought, a very
+good sort of a woman. We had not, however, lived one month together
+before I plainly perceived this good sort of a woman had taken a great
+prejudice against my Amelia, for which, if I had not known something
+of the human passions, and that high place which envy holds among
+them, I should not have been able to account, for, so far was my angel
+from having given her any cause of dislike, that she had treated her
+not only with civility, but kindness.
+
+"Besides superiority in beauty, which, I believe, all the world would
+have allowed to Amelia, there was another cause of this envy, which I
+am almost ashamed to mention, as it may well be called my greatest
+folly. You are to know then, madam, that from a boy I had been always
+fond of driving a coach, in which I valued myself on having some
+skill. This, perhaps, was an innocent, but I allow it to have been a
+childish vanity. As I had an opportunity, therefore, of buying an old
+coach and harness very cheap (indeed they cost me but twelve pounds),
+and as I considered that the same horses which drew my waggons would
+likewise draw my coach, I resolved on indulging myself in the
+purchase.
+
+"The consequence of setting up this poor old coach is inconceivable.
+Before this, as my wife and myself had very little distinguished
+ourselves from the other farmers and their wives, either in our dress
+or our way of living, they treated us as their equals; but now they
+began to consider us as elevating ourselves into a state of
+superiority, and immediately began to envy, hate, and declare war
+against us. The neighbouring little squires, too, were uneasy to see a
+poor renter become their equal in a matter in which they placed so
+much dignity; and, not doubting but it arose in me from the same
+ostentation, they began to hate me likewise, and to turn my equipage
+into ridicule, asserting that my horses, which were as well matched as
+any in the kingdom, were of different colours and sizes, with much
+more of that kind of wit, the only basis of which is lying.
+
+"But what will appear most surprizing to you, madam, was, that the
+curate's wife, who, being lame, had more use of the coach than my
+Amelia (indeed she seldom went to church in any other manner), was one
+of my bitterest enemies on the occasion. If she had ever any dispute
+with Amelia, which all the sweetness of my poor girl could not
+sometimes avoid, she was sure to introduce with a malicious sneer,
+'Though my husband doth not keep a coach, madam.' Nay, she took this
+opportunity to upbraid my wife with the loss of her fortune, alledging
+that some folks might have had as good pretensions to a coach as other
+folks, and a better too, as they brought a better fortune to their
+husbands, but that all people had not the art of making brick without
+straw.
+
+"You will wonder, perhaps, madam, how I can remember such stuff,
+which, indeed, was a long time only matter of amusement to both Amelia
+and myself; but we at last experienced the mischievous nature of envy,
+and that it tends rather to produce tragical than comical events. My
+neighbours now began to conspire against me. They nicknamed me in
+derision, the Squire Farmer. Whatever I bought, I was sure to buy
+dearer, and when I sold I was obliged to sell cheaper, than any other.
+In fact, they were all united, and, while they every day committed
+trespasses on my lands with impunity, if any of my cattle escaped into
+their fields, I was either forced to enter into a law-suit or to make
+amends fourfold for the damage sustained.
+
+"The consequences of all this could be no other than that ruin which
+ensued. Without tiring you with particulars, before the end of four
+years I became involved in debt near three hundred pounds more than
+the value of all my effects. My landlord seized my stock for rent,
+and, to avoid immediate confinement in prison, I was forced to leave
+the country with all that I hold dear in the world, my wife and my
+poor little family.
+
+"In this condition I arrived in town five or six days ago. I had just
+taken a lodging in the verge of the court, and had writ my dear Amelia
+word where she might find me, when she had settled her affairs in the
+best manner she could. That very evening, as I was returning home from
+a coffee-house, a fray happening in the street, I endeavoured to
+assist the injured party, when I was seized by the watch, and, after
+being confined all night in the round-house, was conveyed in the
+morning before a justice of peace, who committed me hither; where I
+should probably have starved, had I not from your hands found a most
+unaccountable preservation.--And here, give me leave to assure you, my
+dear Miss Matthews, that, whatever advantage I may have reaped from
+your misfortune, I sincerely lament it; nor would I have purchased any
+relief to myself at the price of seeing you in this dreadful place."
+
+He spake these last words with great tenderness; for he was a man of
+consummate good nature, and had formerly had much affection for this
+young lady; indeed, more than the generality of people are capable of
+entertaining for any person whatsoever.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_Containing very mysterious matter_.
+
+
+Miss Matthews did not in the least fall short of Mr. Booth in
+expressions of tenderness. Her eyes, the most eloquent orators on such
+occasions, exerted their utmost force; and at the conclusion of his
+speech she cast a look as languishingly sweet as ever Cleopatra gave
+to Antony. In real fact, this Mr. Booth had been her first love, and
+had made those impressions on her young heart, which the learned in
+this branch of philosophy affirm, and perhaps truly, are never to be
+eradicated.
+
+When Booth had finished his story a silence ensued of some minutes; an
+interval which the painter would describe much better than the writer.
+Some readers may, however, be able to make pretty pertinent
+conjectures by what I have said above, especially when they are told
+that Miss Matthews broke the silence by a sigh, and cried, "Why is Mr.
+Booth unwilling to allow me the happiness of thinking my misfortunes
+have been of some little advantage to him? sure the happy Amelia would
+not be so selfish to envy me that pleasure. No; not if she was as much
+the fondest as she is the happiest of women." "Good heavens! madam,"
+said he, "do you call my poor Amelia the happiest of women?" "Indeed I
+do," answered she briskly. "O Mr. Booth! there is a speck of white in
+her fortune, which, when it falls to the lot of a sensible woman,
+makes her full amends for all the crosses which can attend her.
+Perhaps she may not be sensible of it; but if it had been my blest
+fate--O Mr. Booth! could I have thought, when we were first
+acquainted, that the most agreeable man in the world had been capable
+of making the kind, the tender, the affectionate husband--happy
+Amelia, in those days, was unknown; Heaven had not then given her a
+prospect of the happiness it intended her; but yet it did intend it
+her; for sure there is a fatality in the affairs of love; and the more
+I reflect on my own life, the more I am convinced of it.--O heavens!
+how a thousand little circumstances crowd into my mind! When you first
+marched into our town, you had then the colours in your hand; as you
+passed under the window where I stood, my glove, by accident, dropt
+into the street; you stoopt, took up my glove, and, putting it upon
+the spike belonging to your colours, lifted it up to the window. Upon
+this a young lady who stood by said, 'So, miss, the young officer hath
+accepted your challenge.' I blushed then, and I blush now, when I
+confess to you I thought you the prettiest young fellow I had ever
+seen; and, upon my soul, I believe you was then the prettiest fellow
+in the world." Booth here made a low bow, and cried, "O dear madam,
+how ignorant was I of my own happiness!" "Would you really have
+thought so?" answered she. "However, there is some politeness if there
+be no sincerity in what you say."--Here the governor of the enchanted
+castle interrupted them, and, entering the room without any ceremony,
+acquainted the lady and gentleman that it was locking-up time; and,
+addressing Booth by the name of captain, asked him if he would not
+please to have a bed; adding, that he might have one in the next room
+to the lady, but that it would come dear; for that he never let a bed
+in that room under a guinea, nor could he afford it cheaper to his
+father.
+
+No answer was made to this proposal; but Miss Matthews, who had
+already learnt some of the ways of the house, said she believed Mr.
+Booth would like to drink a glass of something; upon which the
+governor immediately trumpeted forth the praises of his rack-punch,
+and, without waiting for any farther commands, presently produced a
+large bowl of that liquor.
+
+The governor, having recommended the goodness of his punch by a hearty
+draught, began to revive the other matter, saying that he was just
+going to bed, and must first lock up.--"But suppose," said Miss
+Matthews, with a smile, "the captain and I should have a mind to sit
+up all night."--"With all my heart," said the governor; "but I expect
+a consideration for those matters. For my part, I don't enquire into
+what doth not concern me; but single and double are two things. If I
+lock up double I expect half a guinea, and I'm sure the captain cannot
+think that's out of the way; it is but the price of a bagnio."
+
+Miss Matthews's face became the colour of scarlet at those words.
+However, she mustered up her spirits, and, turning to Booth, said,
+"What say you, captain? for my own part, I had never less inclination
+to sleep; which hath the greater charms for you, the punch or the
+pillow?"--"I hope, madam," answered Booth, "you have a better opinion
+of me than to doubt my preferring Miss Matthews's conversation to
+either."--"I assure you," replied she, "it is no compliment to you to
+say I prefer yours to sleep at this time."
+
+The governor, then, having received his fee, departed; and, turning
+the key, left the gentleman and the lady to themselves.
+
+In imitation of him we will lock up likewise a scene which we do not
+think proper to expose to the eyes of the public. If any over-curious
+readers should be disappointed on this occasion, we will recommend
+such readers to the apologies with which certain gay ladies have
+lately been pleased to oblige the world, where they will possibly find
+everything recorded that past at this interval.
+
+But, though we decline painting the scene, it is not our intention to
+conceal from the world the frailty of Mr. Booth, or of his fair
+partner, who certainly past that evening in a manner inconsistent with
+the strict rules of virtue and chastity.
+
+To say the truth, we are much more concerned for the behaviour of the
+gentleman than of the lady, not only for his sake, but for the sake of
+the best woman in the world, whom we should be sorry to consider as
+yoked to a man of no worth nor honour. We desire, therefore, the good-
+natured and candid reader will be pleased to weigh attentively the
+several unlucky circumstances which concurred so critically, that
+Fortune seemed to have used her utmost endeavours to ensnare poor
+Booth's constancy. Let the reader set before his eyes a fine young
+woman, in a manner, a first love, conferring obligations and using
+every art to soften, to allure, to win, and to enflame; let him
+consider the time and place; let him remember that Mr. Booth was a
+young fellow in the highest vigour of life; and, lastly, let him add
+one single circumstance, that the parties were alone together; and
+then, if he will not acquit the defendant, he must be convicted, for I
+have nothing more to say in his defence.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_The latter part of which we expect will please our reader better
+than the former._
+
+
+A whole week did our lady and gentleman live in this criminal
+conversation, in which the happiness of the former was much more
+perfect than that of the latter; for, though the charms of Miss
+Matthews, and her excessive endearments, sometimes lulled every
+thought in the sweet lethargy of pleasure, yet in the intervals of his
+fits his virtue alarmed and roused him, and brought the image of poor
+injured Amelia to haunt and torment him. In fact, if we regard this
+world only, it is the interest of every man to be either perfectly
+good or completely bad. He had better destroy his conscience than
+gently wound it. The many bitter reflections which every bad action
+costs a mind in which there are any remains of goodness are not to be
+compensated by the highest pleasures which such an action can produce.
+
+So it happened to Mr. Booth. Repentance never failed to follow his
+transgressions; and yet so perverse is our judgment, and so slippery
+is the descent of vice when once we are entered into it, the same
+crime which he now repented of became a reason for doing that which
+was to cause his future repentance; and he continued to sin on because
+he had begun. His repentance, however, returned still heavier and
+heavier, till, at last, it flung him into a melancholy, which Miss
+Matthews plainly perceived, and at which she could not avoid
+expressing some resentment in obscure hints and ironical compliments
+on Amelia's superiority to her whole sex, who could not cloy a gay
+young fellow by many years' possession. She would then repeat the
+compliments which others had made to her own beauty, and could not
+forbear once crying out, "Upon my soul, my dear Billy, I believe the
+chief disadvantage on my side is my superior fondness; for love, in
+the minds of men, hath one quality, at least, of a fever, which is to
+prefer coldness in the object. Confess, dear Will, is there not
+something vastly refreshing in the cool air of a prude?" Booth fetched
+a deep sigh, and begged her never more to mention Amelia's name. "O
+Will," cries she, "did that request proceed from the motive I could
+wish, I should be the happiest of womankind."--"You would not, sure,
+madam," said Booth, "desire a sacrifice which I must be a villain to
+make to any?"--"Desire!" answered she, "are there any bounds to the
+desires of love? have not I been sacrificed? hath not my first love
+been torn from my bleeding heart? I claim a prior right. As for
+sacrifices, I can make them too, and would sacrifice the whole world
+at the least call of my love."
+
+Here she delivered a letter to Booth, which she had received within an
+hour, the contents of which were these:--
+
+"DEAREST MADAM,--Those only who truly know what love is, can have any
+conception of the horrors I felt at hearing of your confinement at my
+arrival in town, which was this morning. I immediately sent my lawyer
+to enquire into the particulars, who brought me the agreeable news
+that the man, whose heart's blood ought not to be valued at the rate
+of a single hair of yours, is entirely out of all danger, and that you
+might be admitted to bail. I presently ordered him to go with two of
+my tradesmen, who are to be bound in any sum for your appearance, if
+he should be mean enough to prosecute you. Though you may expect my
+attorney with you soon, I would not delay sending this, as I hope the
+news will be agreeable to you. My chariot will attend at the same time
+to carry you wherever you please. You may easily guess what a violence
+I have done to myself in not waiting on you in person; but I, who know
+your delicacy, feared it might offend, and that you might think me
+ungenerous enough to hope from your distresses that happiness which I
+am resolved to owe to your free gift alone, when your good nature
+shall induce you to bestow on me what no man living can merit. I beg
+you will pardon all the contents of this hasty letter, and do me the
+honour of believing me,
+              Dearest madam,
+                      Your most passionate admirer,
+                         and most obedient humble servant,
+                                              DAMON."
+
+Booth thought he had somewhere before seen the same hand, but in his
+present hurry of spirits could not recollect whose it was, nor did the
+lady give him any time for reflection; for he had scarce read the
+letter when she produced a little bit of paper and cried out, "Here,
+sir, here are the contents which he fears will offend me." She then
+put a bank-bill of a hundred pounds into Mr. Booth's hands, and asked
+him with a smile if he did not think she had reason to be offended
+with so much insolence?
+
+Before Booth could return any answer the governor arrived, and
+introduced Mr. Rogers the attorney, who acquainted the lady that he
+had brought her discharge from her confinement, and that a chariot
+waited at the door to attend her wherever she pleased.
+
+She received the discharge from Mr. Rogers, and said she was very much
+obliged to the gentleman who employed him, but that she would not make
+use of the chariot, as she had no notion of leaving that wretched
+place in a triumphant manner; in which resolution, when the attorney
+found her obstinate, he withdrew, as did the governor, with many bows
+and as many ladyships.
+
+They were no sooner gone than Booth asked the lady why she would
+refuse the chariot of a gentleman who had behaved with such excessive
+respect? She looked earnestly upon him, and cried, "How unkind is that
+question! do you imagine I would go and leave you in such a situation?
+thou knowest but little of Calista. Why, do you think I would accept
+this hundred pounds from a man I dislike, unless it was to be
+serviceable to the man I love? I insist on your taking it as your own
+and using whatever you want of it."
+
+Booth protested in the solemnest manner that he would not touch a
+shilling of it, saying, he had already received too many obligations
+at her hands, and more than ever he should be able, he feared, to
+repay. "How unkind," answered she, "is every word you say, why will
+you mention obligations? love never confers any. It doth everything
+for its own sake. I am not therefore obliged to the man whose passion
+makes him generous; for I feel how inconsiderable the whole world
+would appear to me if I could throw it after my heart."
+
+Much more of this kind past, she still pressing the bank-note upon
+him, and he as absolutely refusing, till Booth left the lady to dress
+herself, and went to walk in the area of the prison.
+
+Miss Matthews now applied to the governor to know by what means she
+might procure the captain his liberty. The governor answered, "As he
+cannot get bail, it will be a difficult matter; and money to be sure
+there must be; for people no doubt expect to touch on these occasions.
+When prisoners have not wherewithal as the law requires to entitle
+themselves to justice, why they must be beholden to other people to
+give them their liberty; and people will not, to be sure, suffer
+others to be beholden to them for nothing, whereof there is good
+reason; for how should we all live if it was not for these things?"
+"Well, well," said she, "and how much will it cost?" "How much!"
+answered he,--"How much!--why, let me see."--Here he hesitated some
+time, and then answered "That for five guineas he would undertake to
+procure the captain his discharge. "That being the sum which he
+computed to remain in the lady's pocket; for, as to the gentleman's,
+he had long been acquainted with the emptiness of it.
+
+Miss Matthews, to whom money was as dirt (indeed she may be thought
+not to have known the value of it), delivered him the bank-bill, and
+bid him get it changed; for if the whole, says she, will procure him
+his liberty, he shall have it this evening.
+
+"The whole, madam!" answered the governor, as soon as he had recovered
+his breath, for it almost forsook him at the sight of the black word
+hundred--"No, no; there might be people indeed--but I am not one of
+those. A hundred! no, nor nothing like it.--As for myself, as I said,
+I will be content with five guineas, and I am sure that's little
+enough. What other people will expect I cannot exactly say. To be sure
+his worship's clerk will expect to touch pretty handsomely; as for his
+worship himself, he never touches anything, that is, not to speak of;
+but then the constable will expect something, and the watchman must
+have something, and the lawyers on both sides, they must have their
+fees for finishing."--"Well," said she, "I leave all to you. If it
+costs me twenty pounds I will have him discharged this afternoon.--But
+you must give his discharge into my hands without letting the captain
+know anything of the matter."
+
+The governor promised to obey her commands in every particular; nay,
+he was so very industrious, that, though dinner was just then coming
+upon the table, at her earnest request he set out immediately on the
+purpose, and went as he said in pursuit of the lawyer.
+
+All the other company assembled at table as usual, where poor Booth
+was the only person out of spirits. This was imputed by all present to
+a wrong cause; nay, Miss Matthews herself either could not or would
+not suspect that there was anything deeper than the despair of being
+speedily discharged that lay heavy on his mind.
+
+However, the mirth of the rest, and a pretty liberal quantity of
+punch, which he swallowed after dinner (for Miss Matthews had ordered
+a very large bowl at her own expense to entertain the good company at
+her farewell), so far exhilarated his spirits, that when the young
+lady and he retired to their tea he had all the marks of gayety in his
+countenance, and his eyes sparkled with good humour.
+
+The gentleman and lady had spent about two hours in tea and
+conversation, when the governor returned, and privately delivered to
+the lady the discharge for her friend, and the sum of eighty-two
+pounds five shillings; the rest having been, he said, disbursed in the
+business, of which he was ready at any time to render an exact
+account.
+
+Miss Matthews being again alone with Mr. Booth, she put the discharge
+into his hands, desiring him to ask her no questions; and adding, "I
+think, sir, we have neither of us now anything more to do at this
+place." She then summoned the governor, and ordered a bill of that
+day's expense, for long scores were not usual there; and at the same
+time ordered a hackney coach, without having yet determined whither
+she would go, but fully determined she was, wherever she went, to take
+Mr. Booth with her.
+
+The governor was now approaching with a long roll of paper, when a
+faint voice was heard to cry out hastily, "Where is he?"--and
+presently a female spectre, all pale and breathless, rushed into the
+room, and fell into Mr. Booth's arms, where she immediately fainted
+away.
+
+Booth made a shift to support his lovely burden; though he was himself
+in a condition very little different from hers. Miss Matthews
+likewise, who presently recollected the face of Amelia, was struck
+motionless with the surprize, nay, the governor himself, though not
+easily moved at sights of horror, stood aghast, and neither offered to
+speak nor stir.
+
+Happily for Amelia, the governess of the mansions had, out of
+curiosity, followed her into the room, and was the only useful person
+present on this occasion: she immediately called for water, and ran to
+the lady's assistance, fell to loosening her stays, and performed all
+the offices proper at such a season; which had so good an effect, that
+Amelia soon recovered the disorder which the violent agitation of her
+spirits had caused, and found herself alive and awake in her husband's
+arms.
+
+Some tender caresses and a soft whisper or two passed privately
+between Booth and his lady; nor was it without great difficulty that
+poor Amelia put some restraint on her fondness in a place so improper
+for a tender interview. She now cast her eyes round the room, and,
+fixing them on Miss Matthews, who stood like a statue, she soon
+recollected her, and, addressing her by her name, said, "Sure, madam,
+I cannot be mistaken in those features; though meeting you here might
+almost make me suspect my memory."
+
+Miss Matthews's face was now all covered with scarlet. The reader may
+easily believe she was on no account pleased with Amelia's presence;
+indeed, she expected from her some of those insults of which virtuous
+women are generally so liberal to a frail sister: but she was
+mistaken; Amelia was not one
+
+     Who thought the nation ne'er would thrive,
+     Till all the whores were burnt alive.
+
+Her virtue could support itself with its own intrinsic worth, without
+borrowing any assistance from the vices of other women; and she
+considered their natural infirmities as the objects of pity, not of
+contempt or abhorrence.
+
+When Amelia therefore perceived the visible confusion in Miss Matthews
+she presently called to remembrance some stories which she had
+imperfectly heard; for, as she was not naturally attentive to scandal,
+and had kept very little company since her return to England, she was
+far from being a mistress of the lady's whole history. However, she
+had heard enough to impute her confusion to the right cause; she
+advanced to her, and told her, she was extremely sorry to meet her in
+such a place, but hoped that no very great misfortune was the occasion
+of it.
+
+Miss Matthews began, by degrees, to recover her spirits. She answered,
+with a reserved air, "I am much obliged to you, madam, for your
+concern; we are all liable to misfortunes in this world. Indeed, I
+know not why I should be much ashamed of being in any place where I am
+in such good company."
+
+Here Booth interposed. He had before acquainted Amelia in a whisper
+that his confinement was at an end. "The unfortunate accident, my
+dear," said he, "which brought this young lady to this melancholy
+place is entirely determined; and she is now as absolutely at her
+liberty as myself."
+
+Amelia, imputing the extreme coldness and reserve of the lady to the
+cause already mentioned, advanced still more and more in proportion as
+she drew back; till the governor, who had withdrawn some time,
+returned, and acquainted Miss Matthews that her coach was at the door;
+upon which the company soon separated. Amelia and Booth went together
+in Amelia's coach, and poor Miss Matthews was obliged to retire alone,
+after having satisfied the demands of the governor, which in one day
+only had amounted to a pretty considerable sum; for he, with great
+dexterity, proportioned the bills to the abilities of his guests.
+
+It may seem, perhaps, wonderful to some readers, that Miss Matthews
+should have maintained that cold reserve towards Amelia, so as barely
+to keep within the rules of civility, instead of embracing an
+opportunity which seemed to offer of gaining some degree of intimacy
+with a wife whose husband she was so fond of; but, besides that her
+spirits were entirely disconcerted by so sudden and unexpected a
+disappointment; and besides the extreme horrors which she conceived at
+the presence of her rival, there is, I believe, something so
+outrageously suspicious in the nature of all vice, especially when
+joined with any great degree of pride, that the eyes of those whom we
+imagine privy to our failings are intolerable to us, and we are apt to
+aggravate their opinions to our disadvantage far beyond the reality.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_Containing wise observations of the author, and other matters._
+
+
+There is nothing more difficult than to lay down any fixed and certain
+rules for happiness; or indeed to judge with any precision of the
+happiness of others from the knowledge of external circumstances.
+There is sometimes a little speck of black in the brightest and gayest
+colours of fortune, which contaminates and deadens the whole. On the
+contrary, when all without looks dark and dismal, there is often a
+secret ray of light within the mind, which turns everything to real
+joy and gladness.
+
+I have in the course of my life seen many occasions to make this
+observation, and Mr. Booth was at present a very pregnant instance of
+its truth. He was just delivered from a prison, and in the possession
+of his beloved wife and children; and (which might be imagined greatly
+to augment his joy) fortune had done all this for him within an hour,
+without giving him the least warning or reasonable expectation of the
+strange reverse in his circumstances; and yet it is certain that there
+were very few men in the world more seriously miserable than he was at
+this instant. A deep melancholy seized his mind, and cold damp sweats
+overspread his person, so that he was scarce animated; and poor
+Amelia, instead of a fond warm husband, bestowed her caresses on a
+dull lifeless lump of clay. He endeavoured, however, at first, as much
+as possible, to conceal what he felt, and attempted what is the
+hardest of all tasks, to act the part of a happy man; but he found no
+supply of spirits to carry on this deceit, and would have probably
+sunk under his attempt, had not poor Amelia's simplicity helped him to
+another fallacy, in which he had much better success.
+
+This worthy woman very plainly perceived the disorder in her husband's
+mind; and, having no doubt of the cause of it, especially when she saw
+the tears stand in his eyes at the sight of his children, threw her
+arms round his neck, and, embracing him with rapturous fondness, cried
+out, "My dear Billy, let nothing make you uneasy. Heaven will, I doubt
+not, provide for us and these poor babes. Great fortunes are not
+necessary to happiness. For my own part, I can level my mind with any
+state; and for those poor little things, whatever condition of life we
+breed them to, that will be sufficient to maintain them in. How many
+thousands abound in affluence whose fortunes are much lower than ours!
+for it is not from nature, but from education and habit, that our
+wants are chiefly derived. Make yourself easy, therefore, my dear
+love; for you have a wife who will think herself happy with you, and
+endeavour to make you so, in any situation. Fear nothing, Billy,
+industry will always provide us a wholesome meal; and I will take care
+that neatness and chearfulness shall make it a pleasant one."
+
+Booth presently took the cue which she had given him. He fixed his
+eyes on her for a minute with great earnestness and inexpressible
+tenderness; and then cried, "O my Amelia, how much are you my superior
+in every perfection! how wise, how great, how noble are your
+sentiments! why can I not imitate what I so much admire? why can I not
+look with your constancy on those dear little pledges of our loves?
+All my philosophy is baffled with the thought that my Amelia's
+children are to struggle with a cruel, hard, unfeeling world, and to
+buffet those waves of fortune which have overwhelmed their father.--
+Here, I own I want your firmness, and am not without an excuse for
+wanting it; for am I not the cruel cause of all your wretchedness?
+have I not stept between you and fortune, and been the cursed obstacle
+to all your greatness and happiness?"
+
+"Say not so, my love," answered she. "Great I might have been, but
+never happy with any other man. Indeed, dear Billy, I laugh at the
+fears you formerly raised in me; what seemed so terrible at a
+distance, now it approaches nearer, appears to have been a mere
+bugbear--and let this comfort you, that I look on myself at this day
+as the happiest of women; nor have I done anything which I do not
+rejoice in, and would, if I had the gift of prescience, do again."
+
+Booth was so overcome with this behaviour, that he had no words to
+answer. To say the truth, it was difficult to find any worthy of the
+occasion. He threw himself prostrate at her feet, whence poor Amelia
+was forced to use all her strength as well as entreaties to raise and
+place him in his chair.
+
+Such is ever the fortitude of perfect innocence, and such the
+depression of guilt in minds not utterly abandoned. Booth was
+naturally of a sanguine temper; nor would any such apprehensions as he
+mentioned have been sufficient to have restrained his joy at meeting
+with his Amelia. In fact, a reflection on the injury he had done her
+was the sole cause of his grief. This it was that enervated his heart,
+and threw him into agonies, which all that profusion of heroic
+tenderness that the most excellent of women intended for his comfort
+served only to heighten and aggravate; as the more she rose in his
+admiration, the more she quickened his sense of his own unworthiness.
+After a disagreeable evening, the first of that kind that he had ever
+passed with his Amelia, in which he had the utmost difficulty to force
+a little chearfulness, and in which her spirits were at length
+overpowered by discerning the oppression on his, they retired to rest,
+or rather to misery, which need not be described.
+
+The next morning at breakfast, Booth began to recover a little from
+his melancholy, and to taste the company of his children. He now first
+thought of enquiring of Amelia by what means she had discovered the
+place of his confinement. Amelia, after gently rebuking him for not
+having himself acquainted her with it, informed him that it was known
+all over the country, and that she had traced the original of it to
+her sister; who had spread the news with a malicious joy, and added a
+circumstance which would have frightened her to death, had not her
+knowledge of him made her give little credit to it, which was, that he
+was committed for murder. But, though she had discredited this part,
+she said the not hearing from him during several successive posts made
+her too apprehensive of the rest; that she got a conveyance therefore
+for herself and children to Salisbury, from whence the stage coach had
+brought them to town; and, having deposited the children at his
+lodging, of which he had sent her an account on his first arrival in
+town, she took a hack, and came directly to the prison where she heard
+he was, and where she found him.
+
+Booth excused himself, and with truth, as to his not having writ; for,
+in fact, he had writ twice from the prison, though he had mentioned
+nothing of his confinement; but, as he sent away his letters after
+nine at night, the fellow to whom they were entrusted had burnt them
+both for the sake of putting the twopence in his own pocket, or rather
+in the pocket of the keeper of the next gin-shop. As to the account
+which Amelia gave him, it served rather to raise than to satisfy his
+curiosity. He began to suspect that some person had seen both him and
+Miss Matthews together in the prison, and had confounded her case with
+his; and this the circumstance of murder made the more probable. But
+who this person should be he could not guess. After giving himself,
+therefore, some pains in forming conjectures to no purpose, he was
+forced to rest contented with his ignorance of the real truth.
+
+Two or three days now passed without producing anything remarkable;
+unless it were that Booth more and more recovered his spirits, and had
+now almost regained his former degree of chearfulness, when the
+following letter arrived, again to torment him:
+
+"DEAR BILLY,
+"To convince you I am the most reasonable of women, I have given you
+up three whole days to the unmolested possession of my fortunate
+rival; I can refrain no longer from letting you know that I lodge in
+Dean Street, not far from the church, at the sign of the Pelican and
+Trumpet, where I expect this evening to see you.
+
+"Believe me I am, with more affection than any other woman in the
+world can be, my dear Billy,
+   Your affectionate, fond, doating
+            F. MATTHEWS."
+
+Booth tore the letter with rage, and threw it into the fire, resolving
+never to visit the lady more, unless it was to pay her the money she
+had lent him, which he was determined to do the very first
+opportunity, for it was not at present in his power.
+
+This letter threw him back into his fit of dejection, in which he had
+not continued long when a packet from the country brought him the
+following from his friend Dr Harrison:
+
+"Sir,                           _Lyons, January 21, N. S._
+"Though I am now on my return home, I have taken up my pen to
+communicate to you some news I have heard from England, which gives me
+much uneasiness, and concerning which I can indeed deliver my
+sentiments with much more ease this way than any other. In my answer
+to your last, I very freely gave you my opinion, in which it was my
+misfortune to disapprove of every step you had taken; but those were
+all pardonable errors. Can you be so partial to yourself, upon cool
+and sober reflexion, to think what I am going to mention is so? I
+promise you, it appears to me a folly of so monstrous a kind, that,
+had I heard it from any but a person of the highest honour, I should
+have rejected it as utterly incredible. I hope you already guess what
+I am about to name; since, Heaven forbid, your conduct should afford
+you any choice of such gross instances of weakness. In a word, then,
+you have set up an equipage. What shall I invent in your excuse,
+either to others or to myself? In truth, I can find no excuse for you,
+and, what is more, I am certain you can find none for yourself. I must
+deal therefore very plainly and sincerely with you. Vanity is always
+contemptible; but when joined with dishonesty, it becomes odious and
+detestable. At whose expence are you to support this equipage? is it
+not entirely at the expence of others? and will it not finally end in
+that of your poor wife and children? you know you are two years in
+arrears to me. If I could impute this to any extraordinary or common
+accident I think I should never have mentioned it; but I will not
+suffer my money to support the ridiculous, and, I must say, criminal
+vanity of any one. I expect, therefore, to find, at my return, that
+you have either discharged my whole debt, or your equipage. Let me beg
+you seriously to consider your circumstances and condition in life,
+and to remember that your situation will not justify any the least
+unnecessary expence. _Simply to be poor,_ says my favourite Greek
+historian, _was not held scandalous by the wise Athenians, but highly
+so to owe that poverty to our own indiscretion._
+
+"Present my affections to Mrs. Booth, and be assured that I shall not,
+without great reason, and great pain too, ever cease to be,
+     Your most faithful friend,
+           R. HARRISON."
+
+Had this letter come at any other time, it would have given Booth the
+most sensible affliction; but so totally had the affair of Miss
+Matthews possessed his mind, that, like a man in the most raging fit
+of the gout, he was scarce capable of any additional torture; nay, he
+even made an use of this latter epistle, as it served to account to
+Amelia for that concern which he really felt on another account. The
+poor deceived lady, therefore, applied herself to give him comfort
+where he least wanted it. She said he might easily perceive that the
+matter had been misrepresented to the doctor, who would not, she was
+sure, retain the least anger against him when he knew the real truth.
+
+After a short conversation on this subject, in which Booth appeared to
+be greatly consoled by the arguments of his wife, they parted. He went
+to take a walk in the Park, and she remained at home to prepare him
+his dinner.
+
+He was no sooner departed than his little boy, not quite six years
+old, said to Amelia, "La! mamma, what is the matter with poor papa,
+what makes him look so as if he was going to cry? he is not half so
+merry as he used to be in the country." Amelia answered, "Oh! my dear,
+your papa is only a little thoughtful, he will be merry again soon."--
+Then looking fondly on her children, she burst into an agony of tears,
+and cried, "Oh Heavens; what have these poor little infants done? why
+will the barbarous world endeavour to starve them, by depriving us of
+our only friend?--O my dear, your father is ruined, and we are
+undone!"--The children presently accompanied their mother's tears, and
+the daughter cried--"Why, will anybody hurt poor papa? hath he done
+any harm to anybody?"--"No, my dear child," said the mother; "he is
+the best man in the world, and therefore they hate him." Upon which
+the boy, who was extremely sensible at his years, answered, "Nay,
+mamma, how can that be? have not you often told me that if I was good
+everybody would love me?" "All good people will," answered she. "Why
+don't they love papa then?" replied the child, "for I am sure he is
+very good." "So they do, my dear," said the mother, "but there are
+more bad people in the world, and they will hate you for your
+goodness." "Why then, bad people," cries the child, "are loved by more
+than the good."--"No matter for that, my dear," said she; "the love of
+one good person is more worth having than that of a thousand wicked
+ones; nay, if there was no such person in the world, still you must be
+a good boy; for there is one in Heaven who will love you, and his love
+is better for you than that of all mankind."
+
+This little dialogue, we are apprehensive, will be read with contempt
+by many; indeed, we should not have thought it worth recording, was it
+not for the excellent example which Amelia here gives to all mothers.
+This admirable woman never let a day pass without instructing her
+children in some lesson of religion and morality. By which means she
+had, in their tender minds, so strongly annexed the ideas of fear and
+shame to every idea of evil of which they were susceptible, that it
+must require great pains and length of habit to separate them. Though
+she was the tenderest of mothers, she never suffered any symptom of
+malevolence to shew itself in their most trifling actions without
+discouragement, without rebuke, and, if it broke forth with any
+rancour, without punishment. In which she had such success, that not
+the least mark of pride, envy, malice, or spite discovered itself in
+any of their little words or deeds.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_In which Amelia appears in no unamiable light._
+
+
+Amelia, with the assistance of a little girl, who was their only
+servant, had drest her dinner, and she had likewise drest herself as
+neat as any lady who had a regular sett of servants could have done,
+when Booth returned, and brought with him his friend James, whom he
+had met with in the Park; and who, as Booth absolutely refused to dine
+away from his wife, to whom he had promised to return, had invited
+himself to dine with him. Amelia had none of that paultry pride which
+possesses so many of her sex, and which disconcerts their tempers, and
+gives them the air and looks of furies, if their husbands bring in an
+unexpected guest, without giving them timely warning to provide a
+sacrifice to their own vanity. Amelia received her husband's friend
+with the utmost complaisance and good humour: she made indeed some
+apology for the homeliness of her dinner; but it was politely turned
+as a compliment to Mr. James's friendship, which could carry him where
+he was sure of being so ill entertained; and gave not the least hint
+how magnificently she would have provided _had she expected the favour
+of so much good company._ A phrase which is generally meant to contain
+not only an apology for the lady of the house, but a tacit satire on
+her guests for their intrusion, and is at least a strong insinuation
+that they are not welcome.
+
+Amelia failed not to enquire very earnestly after her old friend Mrs.
+James, formerly Miss Bath, and was very sorry to find that she was not
+in town. The truth was, as James had married out of a violent liking
+of, or appetite to, her person, possession had surfeited him, and he
+was now grown so heartily tired of his wife, that she had very little
+of his company; she was forced therefore to content herself with being
+the mistress of a large house and equipage in the country ten months
+in the year by herself. The other two he indulged her with the
+diversions of the town; but then, though they lodged under the same
+roof, she had little more of her husband's society than if they had
+been one hundred miles apart. With all this, as she was a woman of
+calm passions, she made herself contented; for she had never had any
+violent affection for James: the match was of the prudent kind, and to
+her advantage; for his fortune, by the death of an uncle, was become
+very considerable; and she had gained everything by the bargain but a
+husband, which her constitution suffered her to be very well satisfied
+without.
+
+When Amelia, after dinner, retired to her children, James began to
+talk to his friend concerning his affairs. He advised Booth very
+earnestly to think of getting again into the army, in which he himself
+had met with such success, that he had obtained the command of a
+regiment to which his brother-in-law was lieutenant-colonel. These
+preferments they both owed to the favour of fortune only; for, though
+there was no objection to either of their military characters, yet
+neither of them had any extraordinary desert; and, if merit in the
+service was a sufficient recommendation, Booth, who had been twice
+wounded in the siege, seemed to have the fairest pretensions; but he
+remained a poor half-pay lieutenant, and the others were, as we have
+said, one of them a lieutenant-colonel, and the other had a regiment.
+Such rises we often see in life, without being able to give any
+satisfactory account of the means, and therefore ascribe them to the
+good fortune of the person.
+
+Both Colonel James and his brother-in-law were members of parliament;
+for, as the uncle of the former had left him, together with his
+estate, an almost certain interest in a borough, so he chose to confer
+this favour on Colonel Bath; a circumstance which would have been
+highly immaterial to mention here, but as it serves to set forth the
+goodness of James, who endeavoured to make up in kindness to the
+family what he wanted in fondness for his wife.
+
+Colonel James then endeavoured all in his power to persuade Booth to
+think again of a military life, and very kindly offered him his
+interest towards obtaining him a company in the regiment under his
+command. Booth must have been a madman, in his present circumstances,
+to have hesitated one moment at accepting such an offer, and he well
+knew Amelia, notwithstanding her aversion to the army, was much too
+wise to make the least scruple of giving her consent. Nor was he, as
+it appeared afterwards, mistaken in his opinion of his wife's
+understanding; for she made not the least objection when it was
+communicated to her, but contented herself with an express
+stipulation, that wherever he was commanded to go (for the regiment
+was now abroad) she would accompany him.
+
+Booth, therefore, accepted his friend's proposal with a profusion of
+acknowledgments; and it was agreed that Booth should draw up a
+memorial of his pretensions, which Colonel James undertook to present
+to some man of power, and to back it with all the force he had.
+
+Nor did the friendship of the colonel stop here. "You will excuse me,
+dear Booth," said he, "if, after what you have told me" (for he had
+been very explicit in revealing his affairs to him), "I suspect you
+must want money at this time. If that be the case, as I am certain it
+must be, I have fifty pieces at your service." This generosity brought
+the tears into Booth's eyes; and he at length confest that he had not
+five guineas in the house; upon which James gave him a bank-bill for
+twenty pounds, and said he would give him thirty more the next time he
+saw him.
+
+Thus did this generous colonel (for generous he really was to the
+highest degree) restore peace and comfort to this little family; and
+by this act of beneficence make two of the worthiest people two of the
+happiest that evening.
+
+Here, reader, give me leave to stop a minute, to lament that so few
+are to be found of this benign disposition; that, while wantonness,
+vanity, avarice, and ambition are every day rioting and triumphing in
+the follies and weakness, the ruin and desolation of mankind, scarce
+one man in a thousand is capable of tasting the happiness of others.
+Nay, give me leave to wonder that pride, which is constantly
+struggling, and often imposing on itself, to gain some little pre-
+eminence, should so seldom hint to us the only certain as well as
+laudable way of setting ourselves above another man, and that is, by
+becoming his benefactor.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_Containing an eulogium upon innocence, and other grave matters._
+
+
+Booth past that evening, and all the succeeding day, with his Amelia,
+without the interruption of almost a single thought concerning Miss
+Matthews, after having determined to go on the Sunday, the only day he
+could venture without the verge in the present state of his affairs,
+and pay her what she had advanced for him in the prison. But she had
+not so long patience; for the third day, while he was sitting with
+Amelia, a letter was brought to him. As he knew the hand, he
+immediately put it into his pocket unopened, not without such an
+alteration in his countenance, that had Amelia, who was then playing
+with one of the children, cast her eyes towards him, she must have
+remarked it. This accident, however, luckily gave him time to recover
+himself; for Amelia was so deeply engaged with the little one, that
+she did not even remark the delivery of the letter. The maid soon
+after returned into the room, saying, the chairman desired to know if
+there was any answer to the letter.--"What letter?" cries Booth.--"The
+letter I gave you just now," answered the girl.--"Sure," cries Booth,
+"the child is mad, you gave me no letter."--"Yes, indeed, I did, sir,"
+said the poor girl. "Why then as sure as fate," cries Booth, "I threw
+it into the fire in my reverie; why, child, why did you not tell me it
+was a letter? bid the chairman come up, stay, I will go down myself;
+for he will otherwise dirt the stairs with his feet."
+
+Amelia was gently chiding the girl for her carelessness when Booth
+returned, saying it was very true that she had delivered him a letter
+from Colonel James, and that perhaps it might be of consequence.
+"However," says he, "I will step to the coffee-house, and send him an
+account of this strange accident, which I know he will pardon in my
+present situation."
+
+Booth was overjoyed at this escape, which poor Amelia's total want of
+all jealousy and suspicion made it very easy for him to accomplish;
+but his pleasure was considerably abated when, upon opening the
+letter, he found it to contain, mixed with several very strong
+expressions of love, some pretty warm ones of the upbraiding kind; but
+what most alarmed him was a hint that it was in her (Miss Matthews's)
+power to make Amelia as miserable as herself. Besides the general
+knowledge of
+
+_----Furens quid faemina possit,_
+
+he had more particular reasons to apprehend the rage of a lady who had
+given so strong an instance how far she could carry her revenge. She
+had already sent a chairman to his lodgings with a positive command
+not to return without an answer to her letter. This might of itself
+have possibly occasioned a discovery; and he thought he had great
+reason to fear that, if she did not carry matters so far as purposely
+and avowedly to reveal the secret to Amelia, her indiscretion would at
+least effect the discovery of that which he would at any price have
+concealed. Under these terrors he might, I believe, be considered as
+the most wretched of human beings.
+
+O innocence, how glorious and happy a portion art thou to the breast
+that possesses thee! thou fearest neither the eyes nor the tongues of
+men. Truth, the most powerful of all things, is thy strongest friend;
+and the brighter the light is in which thou art displayed, the more it
+discovers thy transcendent beauties. Guilt, on the contrary, like a
+base thief, suspects every eye that beholds him to be privy to his
+transgressions, and every tongue that mentions his name to be
+proclaiming them. Fraud and falsehood are his weak and treacherous
+allies; and he lurks trembling in the dark, dreading every ray of
+light, lest it should discover him, and give him up to shame and
+punishment.
+
+While Booth was walking in the Park with all these horrors in his mind
+he again met his friend Colonel James, who soon took notice of that
+deep concern which the other was incapable of hiding. After some
+little conversation, Booth said, "My dear colonel, I am sure I must be
+the most insensible of men if I did not look on you as the best and
+the truest friend; I will, therefore, without scruple, repose a
+confidence in you of the highest kind. I have often made you privy to
+my necessities, I will now acquaint you with my shame, provided you
+have leisure enough to give me a hearing: for I must open to you a
+long history, since I will not reveal my fault without informing you,
+at the same time, of those circumstances which, I hope, will in some
+measure excuse it."
+
+The colonel very readily agreed to give his friend a patient hearing.
+So they walked directly to a coffee-house at the corner of Spring-
+Garden, where, being in a room by themselves, Booth opened his whole
+heart, and acquainted the colonel with his amour with Miss Matthews,
+from the very beginning to his receiving that letter which had caused
+all his present uneasiness, and which he now delivered into his
+friend's hand.
+
+The colonel read the letter very attentively twice over (he was silent
+indeed long enough to have read it oftener); and then, turning to
+Booth, said, "Well, sir, and is it so grievous a calamity to be the
+object of a young lady's affection; especially of one whom you allow
+to be so extremely handsome?" "Nay, but, my dear friend," cries Booth,
+"do not jest with me; you who know my Amelia." "Well, my dear friend,"
+answered James, "and you know Amelia and this lady too. But what would
+you have me do for you?" "I would have you give me your advice," says
+Booth, "by what method I shall get rid of this dreadful woman without
+a discovery."--"And do you really," cries the other, "desire to get
+rid of her?" "Can you doubt it," said Booth, "after what I have
+communicated to you, and after what you yourself have seen in my
+family? for I hope, notwithstanding this fatal slip, I do not appear
+to you in the light of a profligate." "Well," answered James, "and,
+whatever light I may appear to you in, if you are really tired of the
+lady, and if she be really what you have represented her, I'll
+endeavour to take her off your hands; but I insist upon it that you do
+not deceive me in any particular." Booth protested in the most solemn
+manner that every word which he had spoken was strictly true; and
+being asked whether he would give his honour never more to visit the
+lady, he assured James that he never would. He then, at his friend's
+request, delivered him Miss Matthews's letter, in which was a second
+direction to her lodgings, and declared to him that, if he could bring
+him safely out of this terrible affair, he should think himself to
+have a still higher obligation to his friendship than any which he had
+already received from it.
+
+Booth pressed the colonel to go home with him to dinner; but he
+excused himself, being, as he said, already engaged. However, he
+undertook in the afternoon to do all in his power that Booth should
+receive no more alarms from the quarter of Miss Matthews, whom the
+colonel undertook to pay all the demands she had on his friend. They
+then separated. The colonel went to dinner at the King's Arms, and
+Booth returned in high spirits to meet his Amelia.
+
+The next day, early in the morning, the colonel came to the coffee-
+house and sent for his friend, who lodged but at a little distance.
+The colonel told him he had a little exaggerated the lady's beauty;
+however, he said, he excused that, "for you might think, perhaps,"
+cries he, "that your inconstancy to the finest woman in the world
+might want some excuse. Be that as it will," said he, "you may make
+yourself easy, as it will be, I am convinced, your own fault, if you
+have ever any further molestation from Miss Matthews."
+
+Booth poured forth very warmly a great profusion of gratitude on this
+occasion; and nothing more anywise material passed at this interview,
+which was very short, the colonel being in a great hurry, as he had,
+he said, some business of very great importance to transact that
+morning.
+
+The colonel had now seen Booth twice without remembering to give him
+the thirty pounds. This the latter imputed intirely to forgetfulness;
+for he had always found the promises of the former to be equal in
+value with the notes or bonds of other people. He was more surprized
+at what happened the next day, when, meeting his friend in the Park,
+he received only a cold salute from him; and though he past him five
+or six times, and the colonel was walking with a single officer of no
+great rank, and with whom he seemed in no earnest conversation, yet
+could not Booth, who was alone, obtain any further notice from him.
+
+This gave the poor man some alarm; though he could scarce persuade
+himself that there was any design in all this coldness or
+forgetfulness. Once he imagined that he had lessened himself in the
+colonel's opinion by having discovered his inconstancy to Amelia; but
+the known character of the other presently cured him of his suspicion,
+for he was a perfect libertine with regard to women; that being indeed
+the principal blemish in his character, which otherwise might have
+deserved much commendation for good-nature, generosity, and
+friendship. But he carried this one to a most unpardonable height; and
+made no scruple of openly declaring that, if he ever liked a woman
+well enough to be uneasy on her account, he would cure himself, if he
+could, by enjoying her, whatever might be the consequence.
+
+Booth could not therefore be persuaded that the colonel would so
+highly resent in another a fault of which he was himself most
+notoriously guilty. After much consideration he could derive this
+behaviour from nothing better than a capriciousness in his friend's
+temper, from a kind of inconstancy of mind, which makes men grow weary
+of their friends with no more reason than they often are of their
+mistresses. To say the truth, there are jilts in friendship as well as
+in love; and, by the behaviour of some men in both, one would almost
+imagine that they industriously sought to gain the affections of
+others with a view only of making the parties miserable.
+
+This was the consequence of the colonel's behaviour to Booth. Former
+calamities had afflicted him, but this almost distracted him; and the
+more so as he was not able well to account for such conduct, nor to
+conceive the reason of it.
+
+Amelia, at his return, presently perceived the disturbance in his
+mind, though he endeavoured with his utmost power to hide it; and he
+was at length prevailed upon by her entreaties to discover to her the
+cause of it, which she no sooner heard than she applied as judicious a
+remedy to his disordered spirits as either of those great mental
+physicians, Tully or Aristotle, could have thought of. She used many
+arguments to persuade him that he was in an error, and had mistaken
+forgetfulness and carelessness for a designed neglect.
+
+But, as this physic was only eventually good, and as its efficacy
+depended on her being in the right, a point in which she was not apt
+to be too positive, she thought fit to add some consolation of a more
+certain and positive kind. "Admit," said she, "my dear, that Mr. James
+should prove the unaccountable person you have suspected, and should,
+without being able to alledge any cause, withdraw his friendship from
+you (for surely the accident of burning his letter is too trifling and
+ridiculous to mention), why should this grieve you? the obligations he
+hath conferred on you, I allow, ought to make his misfortunes almost
+your own; but they should not, I think, make you see his faults so
+very sensibly, especially when, by one of the greatest faults in the
+world committed against yourself, he hath considerably lessened all
+obligations; for sure, if the same person who hath contributed to my
+happiness at one time doth everything in his power maliciously and
+wantonly to make me miserable at another, I am very little obliged to
+such a person. And let it be a comfort to my dear Billy, that, however
+other friends may prove false and fickle to him, he hath one friend,
+whom no inconstancy of her own, nor any change of his fortune, nor
+time, nor age, nor sickness, nor any accident, can ever alter; but who
+will esteem, will love, and doat on him for ever." So saying, she
+flung her snowy arms about his neck, and gave him a caress so tender,
+that it seemed almost to balance all the malice of his fate.
+
+And, indeed, the behaviour of Amelia would have made him completely
+happy, in defiance of all adverse circumstances, had it not been for
+those bitter ingredients which he himself had thrown into his cup, and
+which prevented him from truly relishing his Amelia's sweetness, by
+cruelly reminding him how unworthy he was of this excellent creature.
+
+Booth did not long remain in the dark as to the conduct of James,
+which, at first, appeared to him to be so great a mystery; for this
+very afternoon he received a letter from Miss Matthews which
+unravelled the whole affair. By this letter, which was full of
+bitterness and upbraiding, he discovered that James was his rival with
+that lady, and was, indeed, the identical person who had sent the
+hundred-pound note to Miss Matthews, when in the prison. He had reason
+to believe, likewise, as well by the letter as by other circumstances,
+that James had hitherto been an unsuccessful lover; for the lady,
+though she had forfeited all title to virtue, had not yet so far
+forfeited all pretensions to delicacy as to be, like the dirt in the
+street, indifferently common to all. She distributed her favours only
+to those she liked, in which number that gentleman had not the
+happiness of being included.
+
+When Booth had made this discovery, he was not so little versed in
+human nature, as any longer to hesitate at the true motive to the
+colonel's conduct; for he well knew how odious a sight a happy rival
+is to an unfortunate lover. I believe he was, in reality, glad to
+assign the cold treatment he had received from his friend to a cause
+which, however injustifiable, is at the same time highly natural; and
+to acquit him of a levity, fickleness, and caprice, which he must have
+been unwillingly obliged to have seen in a much worse light.
+
+He now resolved to take the first opportunity of accosting the
+colonel, and of coming to a perfect explanation upon the whole matter.
+He debated likewise with himself whether he should not throw himself
+at Amelia's feet, and confess a crime to her which he found so little
+hopes of concealing, and which he foresaw would occasion him so many
+difficulties and terrors to endeavour to conceal. Happy had it been
+for him, had he wisely pursued this step; since, in all probability,
+he would have received immediate forgiveness from the best of women;
+but he had not sufficient resolution, or, to speak perhaps more truly,
+he had too much pride, to confess his guilt, and preferred the danger
+of the highest inconveniences to the certainty of being put to the
+blush.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_In which may appear that violence is sometimes done to the name of
+love._
+
+
+When that happy day came, in which unhallowed hands are forbidden to
+contaminate the shoulders of the unfortunate, Booth went early to the
+colonel's house, and, being admitted to his presence, began with great
+freedom, though with great gentleness, to complain of his not having
+dealt with him with more openness. "Why, my dear colonel," said he,
+"would you not acquaint me with that secret which this letter hath
+disclosed?" James read the letter, at which his countenance changed
+more than once; and then, after a short silence, said, "Mr. Booth, I
+have been to blame, I own it; and you upbraid me with justice. The
+true reason was, that I was ashamed of my own folly. D--n me, Booth,
+if I have not been a most consummate fool, a very dupe to this woman;
+and she hath a particular pleasure in making me so. I know what the
+impertinence of virtue is, and I can submit to it; but to be treated
+thus by a whore--You must forgive me, dear Booth, but your success was
+a kind of triumph over me, which I could not bear. I own, I have not
+the least reason to conceive any anger against you; and yet, curse me
+if I should not have been less displeased at your lying with my own
+wife; nay, I could almost have parted with half my fortune to you more
+willingly than have suffered you to receive that trifle of my money
+which you received at her hands. However, I ask your pardon, and I
+promise you I will never more think of you with the least ill-will on
+the account of this woman; but as for her, d--n me if I do not enjoy
+her by some means or other, whatever it costs me; for I am already
+above two hundred pounds out of pocket, without having scarce had a
+smile in return."
+
+Booth exprest much astonishment at this declaration; he said he could
+not conceive how it was possible to have such an affection for a woman
+who did not shew the least inclination to return it. James gave her a
+hearty curse, and said, "Pox of her inclination; I want only the
+possession of her person, and that, you will allow, is a very fine
+one. But, besides my passion for her, she hath now piqued my pride;
+for how can a man of my fortune brook being refused by a whore?"--
+"Since you are so set on the business," cries Booth, "you will excuse
+my saying so, I fancy you had better change your method of applying to
+her; for, as she is, perhaps, the vainest woman upon earth, your
+bounty may probably do you little service, nay, may rather actually
+disoblige her. Vanity is plainly her predominant passion, and, if you
+will administer to that, it will infallibly throw her into your arms.
+To this I attribute my own unfortunate success. While she relieved my
+wants and distresses she was daily feeding her own vanity; whereas, as
+every gift of yours asserted your superiority, it rather offended than
+pleased her. Indeed, women generally love to be of the obliging side;
+and, if we examine their favourites, we shall find them to be much
+oftener such as they have conferred obligations on than such as they
+have received them from."
+
+There was something in this speech which pleased the colonel; and he
+said, with a smile, "I don't know how it is, Will, but you know women
+better than I."--"Perhaps, colonel," answered Booth, "I have studied
+their minds more."--"I don't, however, much envy your knowledge,"
+replied the other, "for I never think their minds worth considering.
+However, I hope I shall profit a little by your experience with Miss
+Matthews. Damnation seize the proud insolent harlot! the devil take me
+if I don't love her more than I ever loved a woman!"
+
+The rest of their conversation turned on Booth's affairs. The colonel
+again reassumed the part of a friend, gave him the remainder of the
+money, and promised to take the first opportunity of laying his
+memorial before a great man.
+
+Booth was greatly overjoyed at this success. Nothing now lay on his
+mind but to conceal his frailty from Amelia, to whom he was afraid
+Miss Matthews, in the rage of her resentment, would communicate it.
+This apprehension made him stay almost constantly at home; and he
+trembled at every knock at the door. His fear, moreover, betrayed him
+into a meanness which he would have heartily despised on any other
+occasion. This was to order the maid to deliver him any letter
+directed to Amelia; at the same time strictly charging her not to
+acquaint her mistress with her having received any such orders.
+
+A servant of any acuteness would have formed strange conjectures from
+such an injunction; but this poor girl was of perfect simplicity; so
+great, indeed, was her simplicity, that, had not Amelia been void of
+all suspicion of her husband, the maid would have soon after betrayed
+her master.
+
+One afternoon, while they were drinking tea, little Betty, so was the
+maid called, came into the room, and, calling her master forth,
+delivered him a card which was directed to Amelia. Booth, having read
+the card, on his return into the room chid the girl for calling him,
+saying "If you can read, child, you must see it was directed to your
+mistress." To this the girl answered, pertly enough, "I am sure, sir,
+you ordered me to bring every letter first to you." This hint, with
+many women, would have been sufficient to have blown up the whole
+affair; but Amelia, who heard what the girl said, through the medium
+of love and confidence, saw the matter in a much better light than it
+deserved, and, looking tenderly on her husband, said, "Indeed, my
+love, I must blame you for a conduct which, perhaps, I ought rather to
+praise, as it proceeds only from the extreme tenderness of your
+affection. But why will you endeavour to keep any secrets from me?
+believe me, for my own sake, you ought not; for, as you cannot hide
+the consequences, you make me always suspect ten times worse than the
+reality. While I have you and my children well before my eyes, I am
+capable of facing any news which can arrive; for what ill news can
+come (unless, indeed, it concerns my little babe in the country) which
+doth not relate to the badness of our circumstances? and those, I
+thank Heaven, we have now a fair prospect of retrieving. Besides, dear
+Billy, though my understanding be much inferior to yours, I have
+sometimes had the happiness of luckily hitting on some argument which
+hath afforded you comfort. This, you know, my dear, was the case with
+regard to Colonel James, whom I persuaded you to think you had
+mistaken, and you see the event proved me in the right." So happily,
+both for herself and Mr. Booth, did the excellence of this good
+woman's disposition deceive her, and force her to see everything in
+the most advantageous light to her husband.
+
+The card, being now inspected, was found to contain the compliments of
+Mrs. James to Mrs. Booth, with an account of her being arrived in
+town, and having brought with her a very great cold. Amelia was
+overjoyed at the news of her arrival, and having drest herself in the
+utmost hurry, left her children to the care of her husband, and ran
+away to pay her respects to her friend, whom she loved with a most
+sincere affection. But how was she disappointed when, eager with the
+utmost impatience, and exulting with the thoughts of presently seeing
+her beloved friend, she was answered at the door that the lady was not
+at home! nor could she, upon telling her name, obtain any admission.
+This, considering the account she had received of the lady's cold,
+greatly surprized her; and she returned home very much vexed at her
+disappointment.
+
+Amelia, who had no suspicion that Mrs. James was really at home, and,
+as the phrase is, was denied, would have made a second visit the next
+morning, had she not been prevented by a cold which she herself now
+got, and which was attended with a slight fever. This confined her
+several days to her house, during which Booth officiated as her nurse,
+and never stirred from her.
+
+In all this time she heard not a word from Mrs. James, which gave her
+some uneasiness, but more astonishment. The tenth day, when she was
+perfectly recovered, about nine in the evening, when she and her
+husband were just going to supper, she heard a most violent thundering
+at the door, and presently after a rustling of silk upon her
+staircase; at the same time a female voice cried out pretty loud,
+"Bless me! what, am I to climb up another pair of stairs?" upon which
+Amelia, who well knew the voice, presently ran to the door, and
+ushered in Mrs. James, most splendidly drest, who put on as formal a
+countenance, and made as formal a courtesie to her old friend, as if
+she had been her very distant acquaintance.
+
+Poor Amelia, who was going to rush into her friend's arms, was struck
+motionless by this behaviour; but re-collecting her spirits, as she
+had an excellent presence of mind, she presently understood what the
+lady meant, and resolved to treat her in her own way. Down therefore
+the company sat, and silence prevailed for some time, during which
+Mrs. James surveyed the room with more attention than she would have
+bestowed on one much finer. At length the conversation began, in which
+the weather and the diversions of the town were well canvassed.
+Amelia, who was a woman of great humour, performed her part to
+admiration; so that a by-stander would have doubted, in every other
+article than dress, which of the two was the most accomplished fine
+lady.
+
+After a visit of twenty minutes, during which not a word of any former
+occurrences was mentioned, nor indeed any subject of discourse
+started, except only those two above mentioned, Mrs. James rose from
+her chair and retired in the same formal manner in which she had
+approached. We will pursue her for the sake of the contrast during the
+rest of the evening. She went from Amelia directly to a rout, where
+she spent two hours in a croud of company, talked again and again over
+the diversions and news of the town, played two rubbers at whist, and
+then retired to her own apartment, where, having past another hour in
+undressing herself, she went to her own bed.
+
+Booth and his wife, the moment their companion was gone, sat down to
+supper on a piece of cold meat, the remains of their dinner. After
+which, over a pint of wine, they entertained themselves for a while
+with the ridiculous behaviour of their visitant. But Amelia, declaring
+she rather saw her as the object of pity than anger, turned the
+discourse to pleasanter topics. The little actions of their children,
+the former scenes and future prospects of their life, furnished them
+with many pleasant ideas; and the contemplation of Amelia's recovery
+threw Booth into raptures. At length they retired, happy in each
+other.
+
+It is possible some readers may be no less surprized at the behaviour
+of Mrs. James than was Amelia herself, since they may have perhaps
+received so favourable an impression of that lady from the account
+given of her by Mr. Booth, that her present demeanour may seem
+unnatural and inconsistent with her former character. But they will be
+pleased to consider the great alteration in her circumstances, from a
+state of dependency on a brother, who was himself no better than a
+soldier of fortune, to that of being wife to a man of a very large
+estate and considerable rank in life. And what was her present
+behaviour more than that of a fine lady who considered form and show
+as essential ingredients of human happiness, and imagined all
+friendship to consist in ceremony, courtesies, messages, and visits?
+in which opinion, she hath the honour to think with much the larger
+part of one sex, and no small number of the other.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_Containing a very extraordinary and pleasant incident._
+
+
+The next evening Booth and Amelia went to walk in the park with their
+children. They were now on the verge of the parade, and Booth was
+describing to his wife the several buildings round it, when, on a
+sudden, Amelia, missing her little boy, cried out, "Where's little
+Billy?" Upon which, Booth, casting his eyes over the grass, saw a
+foot-soldier shaking the boy at a little distance. At this sight,
+without making any answer to his wife, he leapt over the rails, and,
+running directly up to the fellow, who had a firelock with a bayonet
+fixed in his hand, he seized him by the collar and tript up his heels,
+and, at the same time, wrested his arms from him. A serjeant upon
+duty, seeing the affray at some distance, ran presently up, and, being
+told what had happened, gave the centinel a hearty curse, and told him
+he deserved to be hanged. A by-stander gave this information; for
+Booth was returned with his little boy to meet Amelia, who staggered
+towards him as fast as she could, all pale and breathless, and scarce
+able to support her tottering limbs. The serjeant now came up to
+Booth, to make an apology for the behaviour of the soldier, when, of a
+sudden, he turned almost as pale as Amelia herself. He stood silent
+whilst Booth was employed in comforting and recovering his wife; and
+then, addressing himself to him, said, "Bless me! lieutenant, could I
+imagine it had been your honour; and was it my little master that the
+rascal used so?--I am glad I did not know it, for I should certainly
+have run my halbert into him."
+
+Booth presently recognised his old faithful servant Atkinson, and gave
+him a hearty greeting, saying he was very glad to see him in his
+present situation. "Whatever I am," answered the serjeant, "I shall
+always think I owe it to your honour." Then, taking the little boy by
+the hand he cried, "What a vast fine young gentleman master is grown!"
+and, cursing the soldier's inhumanity, swore heartily he would make
+him pay for it.
+
+As Amelia was much disordered with her fright, she did not recollect
+her foster-brother till he was introduced to her by Booth; but she no
+sooner knew him than she bestowed a most obliging smile on him; and,
+calling him by the name of honest Joe, said she was heartily glad to
+see him in England. "See, my dear," cries Booth, "what preferment your
+old friend is come to. You would scarce know him, I believe, in his
+present state of finery." "I am very well pleased to see it," answered
+Amelia, "and I wish him joy of being made an officer with all my
+heart." In fact, from what Mr. Booth said, joined to the serjeant's
+laced coat, she believed that he had obtained a commission. So weak
+and absurd is human vanity, that this mistake of Amelia's possibly put
+poor Atkinson out of countenance, for he looked at this instant more
+silly than he had ever done in his life; and, making her a most
+respectful bow, muttered something about obligations, in a scarce
+articulate or intelligible manner.
+
+The serjeant had, indeed, among many other qualities, that modesty
+which a Latin author honours by the name of ingenuous: nature had
+given him this, notwithstanding the meanness of his birth; and six
+years' conversation in the army had not taken it away. To say the
+truth, he was a noble fellow; and Amelia, by supposing he had a
+commission in the guards, had been guilty of no affront to that
+honourable body.
+
+Booth had a real affection for Atkinson, though, in fact, he knew not
+half his merit. He acquainted him with his lodgings, where he
+earnestly desired to see him.
+
+[Illustration: _He seized him by the collar._]
+
+Amelia, who was far from being recovered from the terrors into which
+the seeing her husband engaged with the soldier had thrown her,
+desired to go home: nor was she well able to walk without some
+assistance. While she supported herself, therefore, on her husband's
+arm, she told Atkinson she should be obliged to him if he would take
+care of the children. He readily accepted the office; but, upon
+offering his hand to miss, she refused, and burst into tears. Upon
+which the tender mother resigned Booth to her children, and put
+herself under the serjeant's protection; who conducted her safe home,
+though she often declared she feared she should drop down by the way;
+the fear of which so affected the serjeant (for, besides the honour
+which he himself had for the lady, he knew how tenderly his friend
+loved her) that he was unable to speak; and, had not his nerves been
+so strongly braced that nothing could shake them, he had enough in his
+mind to have set him a trembling equally with the lady.
+
+When they arrived at the lodgings the mistress of the house opened the
+door, who, seeing Amelia's condition, threw open the parlour and
+begged her to walk in, upon which she immediately flung herself into a
+chair, and all present thought she would have fainted away. However,
+she escaped that misery, and, having drank a glass of water with a
+little white wine mixed in it, she began in a little time to regain
+her complexion, and at length assured Booth that she was perfectly
+recovered, but declared she had never undergone so much, and earnestly
+begged him never to be so rash for the future. She then called her
+little boy and gently chid him, saying, "You must never do so more,
+Billy; you see what mischief you might have brought upon your father,
+and what you have made me suffer." "La! mamma," said the child, "what
+harm did I do? I did not know that people might not walk in the green
+fields in London. I am sure if I did a fault, the man punished me
+enough for it, for he pinched me almost through my slender arm." He
+then bared his little arm, which was greatly discoloured by the injury
+it had received. Booth uttered a most dreadful execration at this
+sight, and the serjeant, who was now present, did the like.
+
+Atkinson now returned to his guard and went directly to the officer to
+acquaint him with the soldier's inhumanity, but he, who was about
+fifteen years of age, gave the serjeant a great curse and said the
+soldier had done very well, for that idle boys ought to be corrected.
+This, however, did not satisfy poor Atkinson, who, the next day, as
+soon as the guard was relieved, beat the fellow most unmercifully, and
+told him he would remember him as long as he stayed in the regiment.
+
+Thus ended this trifling adventure, which some readers will, perhaps,
+be pleased at seeing related at full length. None, I think, can fail
+drawing one observation from it, namely, how capable the most
+insignificant accident is of disturbing human happiness, and of
+producing the most unexpected and dreadful events. A reflexion which
+may serve to many moral and religious uses.
+
+This accident produced the first acquaintance between the mistress of
+the house and her lodgers; for hitherto they had scarce exchanged a
+word together. But the great concern which the good woman had shewn on
+Amelia's account at this time, was not likely to pass unobserved or
+unthanked either by the husband or wife. Amelia, therefore, as soon as
+she was able to go up-stairs, invited Mrs. Ellison (for that was her
+name) to her apartment, and desired the favour of her to stay to
+supper. She readily complied, and they past a very agreeable evening
+together, in which the two women seemed to have conceived a most
+extraordinary liking to each other.
+
+Though beauty in general doth not greatly recommend one woman to
+another, as it is too apt to create envy, yet, in cases where this
+passion doth not interfere, a fine woman is often a pleasing object
+even to some of her own sex, especially when her beauty is attended
+with a certain air of affability, as was that of Amelia in the highest
+degree. She was, indeed, a most charming woman; and I know not whether
+the little scar on her nose did not rather add to than diminish her
+beauty.
+
+Mrs. Ellison, therefore, was as much charmed with the loveliness of
+her fair lodger as with all her other engaging qualities. She was,
+indeed, so taken with Amelia's beauty, that she could not refrain from
+crying out in a kind of transport of admiration, "Upon my word,
+Captain Booth, you are the happiest man in the world! Your lady is so
+extremely handsome that one cannot look at her without pleasure."
+
+This good woman had herself none of these attractive charms to the
+eye. Her person was short and immoderately fat; her features were none
+of the most regular; and her complexion (if indeed she ever had a good
+one) had considerably suffered by time.
+
+Her good humour and complaisance, however, were highly pleasing to
+Amelia. Nay, why should we conceal the secret satisfaction which that
+lady felt from the compliments paid to her person? since such of my
+readers as like her best will not be sorry to find that she was a
+woman.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_Containing various matters._
+
+
+A fortnight had now passed since Booth had seen or heard from the
+colonel, which did not a little surprize him, as they had parted so
+good friends, and as he had so cordially undertaken his cause
+concerning the memorial on which all his hopes depended.
+
+The uneasiness which this gave him farther encreased on finding that
+his friend refused to see him; for he had paid the colonel a visit at
+nine in the morning, and was told he was not stirring; and at his
+return back an hour afterwards the servant said his master was gone
+out, of which Booth was certain of the falsehood; for he had, during
+that whole hour, walked backwards and forwards within sight of the
+colonel's door, and must have seen him if he had gone out within that
+time.
+
+The good colonel, however, did not long suffer his friend to continue
+in the deplorable state of anxiety; for, the very next morning, Booth
+received his memorial enclosed in a letter, acquainting him that Mr.
+James had mentioned his affair to the person he proposed, but that the
+great man had so many engagements on his hands that it was impossible
+for him to make any further promises at this time.
+
+The cold and distant stile of this letter, and, indeed, the whole
+behaviour of James, so different from what it had been formerly, had
+something so mysterious in it, that it greatly puzzled and perplexed
+poor Booth; and it was so long before he was able to solve it, that
+the reader's curiosity will, perhaps, be obliged to us for not leaving
+him so long in the dark as to this matter. The true reason, then, of
+the colonel's conduct was this: his unbounded generosity, together
+with the unbounded extravagance and consequently the great necessity
+of Miss Matthews, had at length overcome the cruelty of that lady,
+with whom he likewise had luckily no rival. Above all, the desire of
+being revenged on Booth, with whom she was to the highest degree
+enraged, had, perhaps, contributed not a little to his success; for
+she had no sooner condescended to a familiarity with her new lover,
+and discovered that Captain James, of whom she had heard so much from
+Booth, was no other than the identical colonel, than she employed
+every art of which she was mistress to make an utter breach of
+friendship between these two. For this purpose she did not scruple to
+insinuate that the colonel was not at all obliged to the character
+given of him by his friend, and to the account of this latter she
+placed most of the cruelty which she had shewn to the former.
+
+Had the colonel made a proper use of his reason, and fairly examined
+the probability of the fact, he could scarce have been imposed upon to
+believe a matter so inconsistent with all he knew of Booth, and in
+which that gentleman must have sinned against all the laws of honour
+without any visible temptation. But, in solemn fact, the colonel was
+so intoxicated with his love, that it was in the power of his mistress
+to have persuaded him of anything; besides, he had an interest in
+giving her credit, for he was not a little pleased with finding a
+reason for hating the man whom he could not help hating without any
+reason, at least, without any which he durst fairly assign even to
+himself. Henceforth, therefore, he abandoned all friendship for Booth,
+and was more inclined to put him out of the world than to endeavour
+any longer at supporting him in it.
+
+Booth communicated this letter to his wife, who endeavoured, as usual,
+to the utmost of her power, to console him under one of the greatest
+afflictions which, I think, can befal a man, namely, the unkindness of
+a friend; but he had luckily at the same time the greatest blessing in
+his possession, the kindness of a faithful and beloved wife. A
+blessing, however, which, though it compensates most of the evils of
+life, rather serves to aggravate the misfortune of distressed
+circumstances, from the consideration of the share which she is to
+bear in them.
+
+This afternoon Amelia received a second visit from Mrs. Ellison, who
+acquainted her that she had a present of a ticket for the oratorio,
+which would carry two persons into the gallery; and therefore begged
+the favour of her company thither.
+
+Amelia, with many thanks, acknowledged the civility of Mrs. Ellison,
+but declined accepting her offer; upon which Booth very strenuously
+insisted on her going, and said to her, "My dear, if you knew the
+satisfaction I have in any of your pleasures, I am convinced you would
+not refuse the favour Mrs. Ellison is so kind to offer you; for, as
+you are a lover of music, you, who have never been at an oratorio,
+cannot conceive how you will be delighted." "I well know your
+goodness, my dear," answered Amelia, "but I cannot think of leaving my
+children without some person more proper to take care of them than
+this poor girl." Mrs. Ellison removed this objection by offering her
+own servant, a very discreet matron, to attend them; but
+notwithstanding this, and all she could say, with the assistance of
+Booth, and of the children themselves, Amelia still persisted in her
+refusal; and the mistress of the house, who knew how far good breeding
+allows persons to be pressing on these occasions, took her leave.
+
+She was no sooner departed than Amelia, looking tenderly on her
+husband, said, "How can you, my dear creature, think that music hath
+any charms for me at this time? or, indeed, do you believe that I am
+capable of any sensation worthy the name of pleasure when neither you
+nor my children are present or bear any part of it?"
+
+An officer of the regiment to which Booth had formerly belonged,
+hearing from Atkinson where he lodged, now came to pay him a visit. He
+told him that several of their old acquaintance were to meet the next
+Wednesday at a tavern, and very strongly pressed him to be one of the
+company. Booth was, in truth, what is called a hearty fellow, and
+loved now and then to take a chearful glass with his friends; but he
+excused himself at this time. His friend declared he would take no
+denial, and he growing very importunate, Amelia at length seconded
+him. Upon this Booth answered, "Well, my dear, since you desire me, I
+will comply, but on one condition, that you go at the same time to the
+oratorio." Amelia thought this request reasonable enough, and gave her
+consent; of which Mrs. Ellison presently received the news, and with
+great satisfaction.
+
+It may perhaps be asked why Booth could go to the tavern, and not to
+the oratorio with his wife? In truth, then, the tavern was within
+hallowed ground, that is to say, in the verge of the court; for, of
+five officers that were to meet there, three, besides Booth, were
+confined to that air which hath been always found extremely wholesome
+to a broken military constitution. And here, if the good reader will
+pardon the pun, he will scarce be offended at the observation; since,
+how is it possible that, without running in debt, any person should
+maintain the dress and appearance of a gentleman whose income is not
+half so good as that of a porter? It is true that this allowance,
+small as it is, is a great expense to the public; but, if several more
+unnecessary charges were spared, the public might, perhaps, bear a
+little encrease of this without much feeling it. They would not, I am
+sure, have equal reason to complain at contributing to the maintenance
+of a sett of brave fellows, who, at the hazard of their health, their
+limbs, and their lives, have maintained the safety and honour of their
+country, as when they find themselves taxed to the support of a sett
+of drones, who have not the least merit or claim to their favour, and
+who, without contributing in any manner to the good of the hive, live
+luxuriously on the labours of the industrious bee.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_In which Amelia, with her friend, goes to the oratorio._
+
+
+Nothing happened between the Monday and the Wednesday worthy a place
+in this history. Upon the evening of the latter the two ladies went to
+the oratorio, and were there time enough to get a first row in the
+gallery. Indeed, there was only one person in the house when they
+came; for Amelia's inclinations, when she gave a loose to them, were
+pretty eager for this diversion, she being a great lover of music, and
+particularly of Mr. Handel's compositions. Mrs. Ellison was, I
+suppose, a great lover likewise of music, for she was the more
+impatient of the two; which was rather the more extraordinary; as
+these entertainments were not such novelties to her as they were to
+poor Amelia.
+
+Though our ladies arrived full two hours before they saw the back of
+Mr. Handel, yet this time of expectation did not hang extremely heavy
+on their hands; for, besides their own chat, they had the company of
+the gentleman whom they found at their first arrival in the gallery,
+and who, though plainly, or rather roughly dressed, very luckily for
+the women, happened to be not only well-bred, but a person of very
+lively conversation. The gentleman, on his part, seemed highly charmed
+with Amelia, and in fact was so, for, though he restrained himself
+entirely within the rules of good breeding, yet was he in the highest
+degree officious to catch at every opportunity of shewing his respect,
+and doing her little services. He procured her a book and wax-candle,
+and held the candle for her himself during the whole entertainment.
+
+At the end of the oratorio he declared he would not leave the ladies
+till he had seen them safe into their chairs or coach; and at the same
+time very earnestly entreated that he might have the honour of waiting
+on them. Upon which Mrs. Ellison, who was a very good-humoured woman,
+answered, "Ay, sure, sir, if you please; you have been very obliging
+to us; and a dish of tea shall be at your service at any time;" and
+then told him where she lived.
+
+The ladies were no sooner seated in their hackney coach than Mrs.
+Ellison burst into a loud laughter, and cried, "I'll be hanged, madam,
+if you have not made a conquest to-night; and what is very pleasant, I
+believe the poor gentleman takes you for a single lady." "Nay,"
+answered Amelia very gravely, "I protest I began to think at last he
+was rather too particular, though he did not venture at a word that I
+could be offended at; but, if you fancy any such thing, I am sorry you
+invited him to drink tea," "Why so?" replied Mrs. Ellison. "Are you
+angry with a man for liking you? if you are, you will be angry with
+almost every man that sees you. If I was a man myself, I declare I
+should be in the number of your admirers. Poor gentleman, I pity him
+heartily; he little knows that you have not a heart to dispose of. For
+my own part, I should not be surprized at seeing a serious proposal of
+marriage: for I am convinced he is a man of fortune, not only by the
+politeness of his address, but by the fineness of his linen, and that
+valuable diamond ring on his finger. But you will see more of him when
+he comes to tea." "Indeed I shall not," answered Amelia, "though I
+believe you only rally me; I hope you have a better opinion of me than
+to think I would go willingly into the company of a man who had an
+improper liking for me." Mrs. Ellison, who was one of the gayest women
+in the world, repeated the words, improper liking, with a laugh; and
+cried, "My dear Mrs. Booth, believe me, you are too handsome and too
+good-humoured for a prude. How can you affect being offended at what I
+am convinced is the greatest pleasure of womankind, and chiefly, I
+believe, of us virtuous women? for, I assure you, notwithstanding my
+gaiety, I am as virtuous as any prude in Europe." "Far be it from me,
+madam," said Amelia, "to suspect the contrary of abundance of women
+who indulge themselves in much greater freedoms than I should take, or
+have any pleasure in taking; for I solemnly protest, if I know my own
+heart, the liking of all men, but of one, is a matter quite
+indifferent to me, or rather would be highly disagreeable."
+
+This discourse brought them home, where Amelia, finding her children
+asleep, and her husband not returned, invited her companion to partake
+of her homely fare, and down they sat to supper together. The clock
+struck twelve; and, no news being arrived of Booth, Mrs. Ellison began
+to express some astonishment at his stay, whence she launched into a
+general reflexion on husbands, and soon passed to some particular
+invectives on her own. "Ah, my dear madam," says she, "I know the
+present state of your mind, by what I have myself often felt formerly.
+I am no stranger to the melancholy tone of a midnight clock. It was my
+misfortune to drag on a heavy chain above fifteen years with a sottish
+yoke-fellow. But how can I wonder at my fate, since I see even your
+superior charms cannot confine a husband from the bewitching pleasures
+of a bottle?" "Indeed, madam," says Amelia," I have no reason to
+complain; Mr. Booth is one of the soberest of men; but now and then to
+spend a late hour with his friend is, I think, highly excusable."" O,
+no doubt! "cries Mrs. Ellison, "if he can excuse himself; but if I was
+a man--" Here Booth came in and interrupted the discourse. Amelia's
+eyes flashed with joy the moment he appeared; and he discovered no
+less pleasure in seeing her. His spirits were indeed a little elevated
+with wine, so as to heighten his good humour, without in the least
+disordering his understanding, and made him such delightful company,
+that, though it was past one in the morning, neither his wife nor Mrs.
+Ellison thought of their beds during a whole hour.
+
+Early the next morning the serjeant came to Mr. Booth's lodgings, and
+with a melancholy countenance acquainted him that he had been the
+night before at an alehouse, where he heard one Mr. Murphy, an
+attorney, declare that he would get a warrant backed against one
+Captain Booth at the next board of greencloth. "I hope, sir," said he,
+"your honour will pardon me, but, by what he said, I was afraid he
+meant your honour; and therefore I thought it my duty to tell you; for
+I knew the same thing happen to a gentleman here the other day."
+
+Booth gave Mr. Atkinson many thanks for his information. "I doubt
+not," said he, "but I am the person meant; for it would be foolish in
+me to deny that I am liable to apprehensions of that sort." "I hope,
+sir," said the serjeant, "your honour will soon have reason to fear no
+man living; but in the mean time, if any accident should happen, my
+bail is at your service as far as it will go; and I am a housekeeper,
+and can swear myself worth one hundred pounds." Which hearty and
+friendly declaration received all those acknowledgments from Booth
+which it really deserved.
+
+The poor gentleman was greatly alarmed at the news; but he was
+altogether as much surprized at Murphy's being the attorney employed
+against him, as all his debts, except only to Captain James, arose in
+the country, where he did not know that Mr. Murphy had any
+acquaintance. However, he made no doubt that he was the person
+intended, and resolved to remain a close prisoner in his own lodgings,
+till he saw the event of a proposal which had been made him the
+evening before at the tavern, where an honest gentleman, who had a
+post under the government, and who was one of the company, had
+promised to serve him with the secretary at war, telling him that he
+made no doubt of procuring him whole pay in a regiment abroad, which
+in his present circumstances was very highly worth his acceptance,
+when, indeed, that and a gaol seemed to be the only alternatives that
+offered themselves to his choice.
+
+Mr. Booth and his lady spent that afternoon with Mrs. Ellison--an
+incident which we should scarce have mentioned, had it not been that
+Amelia gave, on this occasion, an instance of that prudence which
+should never be off its guard in married women of delicacy; for,
+before she would consent to drink tea with Mrs. Ellison, she made
+conditions that the gentleman who had met them at the oratorio should
+not be let in. Indeed, this circumspection proved unnecessary in the
+present instance, for no such visitor ever came; a circumstance which
+gave great content to Amelia; for that lady had been a little uneasy
+at the raillery of Mrs. Ellison, and had upon reflexion magnified
+every little compliment made her, and every little civility shewn her
+by the unknown gentleman, far beyond the truth. These imaginations now
+all subsided again; and she imputed all that Mrs. Ellison had said
+either to raillery or mistake.
+
+A young lady made a fourth with them at whist, and likewise stayed the
+whole evening. Her name was Bennet. She was about the age of five-and-
+twenty; but sickness had given her an older look, and had a good deal
+diminished her beauty; of which, young as she was, she plainly
+appeared to have only the remains in her present possession. She was
+in one particular the very reverse of Mrs. Ellison, being altogether
+as remarkably grave as the other was gay. This gravity was not,
+however, attended with any sourness of temper; on the contrary, she
+had much sweetness in her countenance, and was perfectly well bred. In
+short, Amelia imputed her grave deportment to her ill health, and
+began to entertain a compassion for her, which in good minds, that is
+to say, in minds capable of compassion, is certain to introduce some
+little degree of love or friendship.
+
+Amelia was in short so pleased with the conversation of this lady,
+that, though a woman of no impertinent curiosity, she could not help
+taking the first opportunity of enquiring who she was. Mrs. Ellison
+said that she was an unhappy lady, who had married a young clergyman
+for love, who, dying of a consumption, had left her a widow in very
+indifferent circumstances. This account made Amelia still pity her
+more, and consequently added to the liking which she had already
+conceived for her. Amelia, therefore, desired Mrs. Ellison to bring
+her acquainted with Mrs. Bennet, and said she would go any day with
+her to make that lady a visit. "There need be no ceremony," cried Mrs.
+Ellison; "she is a woman of no form; and, as I saw plainly she was
+extremely pleased with Mrs. Booth, I am convinced I can bring her to
+drink tea with you any afternoon you please."
+
+The two next days Booth continued at home, highly to the satisfaction
+of his Amelia, who really knew no happiness out of his company, nor
+scarce any misery in it. She had, indeed, at all times so much of his
+company, when in his power, that she had no occasion to assign any
+particular reason for his staying with her, and consequently it could
+give her no cause of suspicion. The Saturday, one of her children was
+a little disordered with a feverish complaint which confined her to
+her room, and prevented her drinking tea in the afternoon with her
+husband in Mrs. Ellison's apartment, where a noble lord, a cousin of
+Mrs. Ellison's, happened to be present; for, though that lady was
+reduced in her circumstances and obliged to let out part of her house
+in lodgings, she was born of a good family and had some considerable
+relations.
+
+His lordship was not himself in any office of state, but his fortune
+gave him great authority with those who were. Mrs. Ellison, therefore,
+very bluntly took an opportunity of recommending Booth to his
+consideration. She took the first hint from my lord's calling the
+gentleman captain; to which she answered, "Ay, I wish your lordship
+would make him so. It would be an act of justice, and I know it is in
+your power to do much greater things." She then mentioned Booth's
+services, and the wounds he had received at the siege, of which she
+had heard a faithful account from Amelia. Booth blushed, and was as
+silent as a young virgin at the hearing her own praises. His lordship
+answered, "Cousin Ellison, you know you may command my interest; nay,
+I shall have a pleasure in serving one of Mr. Booth's character: for
+my part, I think merit in all capacities ought to be encouraged, but I
+know the ministry are greatly pestered with solicitations at this
+time. However, Mr. Booth may be assured I will take the first
+opportunity; and in the mean time, I shall be glad of seeing him any
+morning he pleases." For all these declarations Booth was not wanting
+in acknowledgments to the generous peer any more than he was in secret
+gratitude to the lady who had shewn so friendly and uncommon a zeal in
+his favour.
+
+The reader, when he knows the character of this nobleman, may,
+perhaps, conclude that his seeing Booth alone was a lucky
+circumstance, for he was so passionate an admirer of women, that he
+could scarce have escaped the attraction of Amelia's beauty. And few
+men, as I have observed, have such disinterested generosity as to
+serve a husband the better because they are in love with his wife,
+unless she will condescend to pay a price beyond the reach of a
+virtuous woman.
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOL. II.
+
+BOOK V.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_In which the reader will meet with an old acquaintance._
+
+
+Booth's affairs were put on a better aspect than they had ever worn
+before, and he was willing to make use of the opportunity of one day
+in seven to taste the fresh air.
+
+At nine in the morning he went to pay a visit to his old friend
+Colonel James, resolving, if possible, to have a full explanation of
+that behaviour which appeared to him so mysterious: but the colonel
+was as inaccessible as the best defended fortress; and it was as
+impossible for Booth to pass beyond his entry as the Spaniards found
+it to take Gibraltar. He received the usual answers; first, that the
+colonel was not stirring, and an hour after that he was gone out. All
+that he got by asking further questions was only to receive still
+ruder answers, by which, if he had been very sagacious, he might have
+been satisfied how little worth his while it was to desire to go in;
+for the porter at a great man's door is a kind of thermometer, by
+which you may discover the warmth or coldness of his master's
+friendship. Nay, in the highest stations of all, as the great man
+himself hath his different kinds of salutation, from an hearty embrace
+with a kiss, and my dear lord or dear Sir Charles, down to, well Mr.
+----, what would you have me do? so the porter to some bows with
+respect, to others with a smile, to some he bows more, to others less
+low, to others not at all. Some he just lets in, and others he just
+shuts out. And in all this they so well correspond, that one would be
+inclined to think that the great man and his porter had compared their
+lists together, and, like two actors concerned to act different parts
+in the same scene, had rehearsed their parts privately together before
+they ventured to perform in public.
+
+Though Booth did not, perhaps, see the whole matter in this just
+light, for that in reality it is, yet he was discerning enough to
+conclude, from the behaviour of the servant, especially when he
+considered that of the master likewise, that he had entirely lost the
+friendship of James; and this conviction gave him a concern that not
+only the flattering prospect of his lordship's favour was not able to
+compensate, but which even obliterated, and made him for a while
+forget the situation in which he had left his Amelia: and he wandered
+about almost two hours, scarce knowing where he went, till at last he
+dropt into a coffee-house near St James's, where he sat himself down.
+
+He had scarce drank his dish of coffee before he heard a young officer
+of the guards cry to another, "Od, d--n me, Jack, here he comes--
+here's old honour and dignity, faith." Upon which he saw a chair open,
+and out issued a most erect and stately figure indeed, with a vast
+periwig on his head, and a vast hat under his arm. This august
+personage, having entered the room, walked directly up to the upper
+end, where having paid his respects to all present of any note, to
+each according to seniority, he at last cast his eyes on Booth, and
+very civilly, though somewhat coldly, asked him how he did.
+
+Booth, who had long recognized the features of his old acquaintance
+Major Bath, returned the compliment with a very low bow; but did not
+venture to make the first advance to familiarity, as he was truly
+possessed of that quality which the Greeks considered in the highest
+light of honour, and which we term modesty; though indeed, neither
+ours nor the Latin language hath any word adequate to the idea of the
+original.
+
+The colonel, after having discharged himself of two or three articles
+of news, and made his comments upon them, when the next chair to him
+became vacant, called upon Booth to fill it. He then asked him several
+questions relating to his affairs; and, when he heard he was out of
+the army, advised him earnestly to use all means to get in again,
+saying that he was a pretty lad, and they must not lose him.
+
+Booth told him in a whisper that he had a great deal to say to him on
+that subject if they were in a more private place; upon this the
+colonel proposed a walk in the Park, which the other readily accepted.
+
+During their walk Booth opened his heart, and, among other matters,
+acquainted Colonel Bath that he feared he had lost the friendship of
+Colonel James; "though I am not," said he, "conscious of having done
+the least thing to deserve it."
+
+Bath answered, "You are certainly mistaken, Mr. Booth. I have indeed
+scarce seen my brother since my coming to town; for I have been here
+but two days; however, I am convinced he is a man of too nice honour
+to do anything inconsistent with the true dignity of a gentleman."
+Booth answered, "He was far from accusing him of anything
+dishonourable."--"D--n me," said Bath, "if there is a man alive can or
+dare accuse him: if you have the least reason to take anything ill,
+why don't you go to him? you are a gentleman, and his rank doth not
+protect him from giving you satisfaction." "The affair is not of any
+such kind," says Booth; "I have great obligations to the colonel, and
+have more reason to lament than complain; and, if I could but see him,
+I am convinced I should have no cause for either; but I cannot get
+within his house; it was but an hour ago a servant of his turned me
+rudely from the door." "Did a servant of my brother use you rudely?"
+said the colonel, with the utmost gravity. "I do not know, sir, in
+what light you see such things; but, to me, the affront of a servant
+is the affront of the master; and if he doth not immediately punish
+it, by all the dignity of a man, I would see the master's nose between
+my fingers." Booth offered to explain, but to no purpose; the colonel
+was got into his stilts; and it was impossible to take him down, nay,
+it was as much as Booth could possibly do to part with him without an
+actual quarrel; nor would he, perhaps, have been able to have
+accomplished it, had not the colonel by accident turned at last to
+take Booth's side of the question; and before they separated he swore
+many oaths that James should give him proper satisfaction.
+
+Such was the end of this present interview, so little to the content
+of Booth, that he was heartily concerned he had ever mentioned a
+syllable of the matter to his honourable friend.
+
+
+
+[This chapter occurs in the original edition of _Amelia,_ between 1
+and 2. It is omitted later, and would have been omitted here but for
+an accident. As it had been printed it may as well appear: for though
+it has no great value it may interest some readers as an additional
+illustration of Fielding's dislike to doctors.--ED.
+
+_Containing a brace of doctors and much physical matter._
+
+
+He now returned with all his uneasiness to Amelia, whom he found in a
+condition very little adapted to relieve or comfort him. That poor
+woman was now indeed under very great apprehensions for her child,
+whose fever now began to rage very violently: and what was worse, an
+apothecary had been with her, and frightened her almost out of her
+wits. He had indeed represented the case of the child to be very
+desperate, and had prevailed on the mother to call in the assistance
+of a doctor.
+
+Booth had been a very little time in the room before this doctor
+arrived, with the apothecary close at his heels, and both approached
+the bed, where the former felt the pulse of the sick, and performed
+several other physical ceremonies.
+
+He then began to enquire of the apothecary what he had already done
+for the patient; all which, as soon as informed, he greatly approved.
+The doctor then sat down, called for a pen and ink, filled a whole
+side of a sheet of paper with physic, then took a guinea, and took his
+leave; the apothecary waiting upon him downstairs, as he had attended
+him up.
+
+All that night both Amelia and Booth sat up with their child, who
+rather grew worse than better. In the morning Mrs. Ellison found the
+infant in a raging fever, burning hot, and very light-headed, and the
+mother under the highest dejection; for the distemper had not given
+the least ground to all the efforts of the apothecary and doctor, but
+seemed to defy their utmost power, with all that tremendous apparatus
+of phials and gallypots, which were arranged in battle-array all over
+the room.
+
+Mrs. Ellison, seeing the distrest, and indeed distracted, condition of
+Amelia's mind, attempted to comfort her by giving her hopes of the
+child's recovery. "Upon my word, madam," says she, "I saw a child of
+much the same age with miss, who, in my opinion, was much worse,
+restored to health in a few days by a physician of my acquaintance.
+Nay, I have known him cure several others of very bad fevers; and, if
+miss was under his care, I dare swear she would do very well." "Good
+heavens! madam," answered Amelia, "why should you not mention him to
+me? For my part I have no acquaintance with any London physicians, nor
+do I know whom the apothecary hath brought me." "Nay, madam," cries
+Mrs. Ellison, "it is a tender thing, you know, to recommend a
+physician; and as for my doctor, there are abundance of people who
+give him an ill name. Indeed, it is true, he hath cured me twice of
+fevers, and so he hath several others to my knowledge; nay, I never
+heard of any more than one of his patients that died; and yet, as the
+doctors and apothecaries all give him an ill character, one is
+fearful, you know, dear madam." Booth enquired the doctor's name,
+which he no sooner heard than he begged his wife to send for him
+immediately, declaring he had heard the highest character imaginable
+of him at the Tavern from an officer of very good understanding.
+Amelia presently complied, and a messenger was despatched accordingly.
+
+But before the second doctor could be brought, the first returned with
+the apothecary attending him as before. He again surveyed and handled
+the sick; and when Amelia begged him to tell her if there was any
+hopes, he shook his head, and said, "To be sure, madam, miss is in a
+very dangerous condition, and there is no time to lose. If the
+blisters which I shall now order her, should not relieve her, I fear
+we can do no more."--"Would not you please, sir," says the apothecary,
+"to have the powders and the draught repeated?" "How often were they
+ordered?" cries the doctor. "Only _tertia_ quaq. hora," says the
+apothecary. "Let them be taken every hour by all means," cries the
+doctor; "and--let me see, pray get me a pen and ink."--"If you think
+the child in such imminent danger," said Booth, "would you give us
+leave to call in another physician to your assistance--indeed my
+wife"--"Oh, by all means," said the doctor, "it is what I very much
+wish. Let me see, Mr. Arsenic, whom shall we call?" "What do you think
+of Dr Dosewell?" said the apothecary.--"Nobody better," cries the
+physician.--"I should have no objection to the gentleman," answered
+Booth, "but another hath been recommended to my wife." He then
+mentioned the physician for whom they had just before sent. "Who,
+sir?" cries the doctor, dropping his pen; and when Booth repeated the
+name of Thompson, "Excuse me, sir," cries the doctor hastily, "I shall
+not meet him."--"Why so, sir?" answered Booth. "I will not meet him,"
+replied the doctor. "Shall I meet a man who pretends to know more than
+the whole College, and would overturn the whole method of practice,
+which is so well established, and from which no one person hath
+pretended to deviate?" "Indeed, sir," cries the apothecary, "you do
+not know what you are about, asking your pardon; why, he kills
+everybody he comes near." "That is not true," said Mrs. Ellison. "I
+have been his patient twice, and I am alive yet." "You have had good
+luck, then, madam," answered the apothecary, "for he kills everybody
+he comes near." "Nay, I know above a dozen others of my own
+acquaintance," replied Mrs. Ellison, "who have all been cured by him."
+"That may be, madam," cries Arsenic; "but he kills everybody for all
+that--why, madam, did you never hear of Mr. ----? I can't think of the
+gentleman's name, though he was a man of great fashion; but everybody
+knows whom I mean." "Everybody, indeed, must know whom you mean,"
+answered Mrs. Ellison; "for I never heard but of one, and that many
+years ago."
+
+Before the dispute was ended, the doctor himself entered the room. As
+he was a very well-bred and very good-natured man, he addressed
+himself with much civility to his brother physician, who was not quite
+so courteous on his side. However, he suffered the new comer to be
+conducted to the sick-bed, and at Booth's earnest request to deliver
+his opinion.
+
+The dispute which ensued between the two physicians would, perhaps, be
+unintelligible to any but those of the faculty, and not very
+entertaining to them. The character which the officer and Mrs. Ellison
+had given of the second doctor had greatly prepossessed Booth in his
+favour, and indeed his reasoning seemed to be the juster. Booth
+therefore declared that he would abide by his advice, upon which the
+former operator, with his zany, the apothecary, quitted the field, and
+left the other in full possession of the sick.
+
+The first thing the new doctor did was (to use his own phrase) to blow
+up the physical magazine. All the powders and potions instantly
+disappeared at his command; for he said there was a much readier and
+nearer way to convey such stuff to the vault, than by first sending it
+through the human body. He then ordered the child to be blooded, gave
+it a clyster and some cooling physic, and, in short (that I may not
+dwell too long on so unpleasing a part of history), within three days
+cured the little patient of her distemper, to the great satisfaction
+of Mrs. Ellison, and to the vast joy of Amelia.
+
+Some readers will, perhaps, think this whole chapter might have been
+omitted; but though it contains no great matter of amusement, it may
+at least serve to inform posterity concerning the present state of
+physic.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_In which Booth pays a visit to the noble lord._
+
+
+When that day of the week returned in which Mr. Booth chose to walk
+abroad, he went to wait on the noble peer, according to his kind
+invitation.
+
+Booth now found a very different reception with this great man's
+porter from what he had met with at his friend the colonel's. He no
+sooner told his name than the porter with a bow told him his lordship
+was at home: the door immediately flew wide open, and he was conducted
+to an ante-chamber, where a servant told him he would acquaint his
+lordship with his arrival. Nor did he wait many minutes before the
+same servant returned and ushered him to his lordship's apartment.
+
+He found my lord alone, and was received by him in the most courteous
+manner imaginable. After the first ceremonials were over, his lordship
+began in the following words: "Mr. Booth, I do assure you, you are
+very much obliged to my cousin Ellison. She hath given you such a
+character, that I shall have a pleasure in doing anything in my power
+to serve you.--But it will be very difficult, I am afraid, to get you
+a rank at home. In the West Indies, perhaps, or in some regiment
+abroad, it may be more easy; and, when I consider your reputation as a
+soldier, I make no doubt of your readiness to go to any place where
+the service of your country shall call you." Booth answered, "That he
+was highly obliged to his lordship, and assured him he would with
+great chearfulness attend his duty in any part of the world. The only
+thing grievous in the exchange of countries," said he, "in my opinion,
+is to leave those I love behind me, and I am sure I shall never have a
+second trial equal to my first. It was very hard, my lord, to leave a
+young wife big with her first child, and so affected with my absence,
+that I had the utmost reason to despair of ever seeing her more. After
+such a demonstration of my resolution to sacrifice every other
+consideration to my duty, I hope your lordship will honour me with
+some confidence that I shall make no objection to serve in any
+country."--"My dear Mr. Booth," answered the lord, "you speak like a
+soldier, and I greatly honour your sentiments. Indeed, I own the
+justice of your inference from the example you have given; for to quit
+a wife, as you say, in the very infancy of marriage, is, I
+acknowledge, some trial of resolution." Booth answered with a low bow;
+and then, after some immaterial conversation, his lordship promised to
+speak immediately to the minister, and appointed Mr. Booth to come to
+him again on the Wednesday morning, that he might be acquainted with
+his patron's success. The poor man now blushed and looked silly, till,
+after some time, he summoned up all his courage to his assistance, and
+relying on the other's friendship, he opened the whole affair of his
+circumstances, and confessed that he did not dare stir from his
+lodgings above one day in seven. His lordship expressed great concern
+at this account, and very kindly promised to take some opportunity of
+calling on him at his cousin Ellison's, when he hoped, he said, to
+bring him comfortable tidings.
+
+Booth soon afterwards took his leave with the most profuse
+acknowledgments for so much goodness, and hastened home to acquaint
+his Amelia with what had so greatly overjoyed him. She highly
+congratulated him on his having found so generous and powerful a
+friend, towards whom both their bosoms burnt with the warmest
+sentiments of gratitude. She was not, however, contented till she had
+made Booth renew his promise, in the most solemn manner, of taking her
+with him. After which they sat down with their little children to a
+scrag of mutton and broth, with the highest satisfaction, and very
+heartily drank his lordship's health in a pot of porter.
+
+In the afternoon this happy couple, if the reader will allow me to
+call poor people happy, drank tea with Mrs. Ellison, where his
+lordship's praises, being again repeated by both the husband and wife,
+were very loudly echoed by Mrs. Ellison. While they were here, the
+young lady whom we have mentioned at the end of the last book to have
+made a fourth at whist, and with whom Amelia seemed so much pleased,
+came in; she was just returned to town from a short visit in the
+country, and her present visit was unexpected. It was, however, very
+agreeable to Amelia, who liked her still better upon a second
+interview, and was resolved to solicit her further acquaintance.
+
+Mrs. Bennet still maintained some little reserve, but was much more
+familiar and communicative than before. She appeared, moreover, to be
+as little ceremonious as Mrs. Ellison had reported her, and very
+readily accepted Amelia's apology for not paying her the first visit,
+and agreed to drink tea with her the very next afternoon.
+
+Whilst the above-mentioned company were sitting in Mrs. Ellison's
+parlour, serjeant Atkinson passed by the window and knocked at the
+door. Mrs. Ellison no sooner saw him than she said, "Pray, Mr. Booth,
+who is that genteel young serjeant? he was here every day last week to
+enquire after you." This was indeed a fact; the serjeant was
+apprehensive of the design of Murphy; but, as the poor fellow had
+received all his answers from the maid of Mrs. Ellison, Booth had
+never heard a word of the matter. He was, however, greatly pleased
+with what he was now told, and burst forth into great praises of the
+serjeant, which were seconded by Amelia, who added that he was her
+foster-brother, and, she believed, one of the honestest fellows in the
+world.
+
+"And I'll swear," cries Mrs. Ellison, "he is one of the prettiest. Do,
+Mr. Booth, desire him to walk in. A serjeant of the guards is a
+gentleman; and I had rather give such a man as you describe a dish of
+tea than any Beau Fribble of them all."
+
+Booth wanted no great solicitation to shew any kind of regard to
+Atkinson; and, accordingly, the serjeant was ushered in, though not
+without some reluctance on his side. There is, perhaps, nothing more
+uneasy than those sensations which the French call the _mauvaise
+honte,_ nor any more difficult to conquer; and poor Atkinson would,
+I am persuaded, have mounted a breach with less concern than he shewed
+in walking across a room before three ladies, two of whom were his
+avowed well-wishers.
+
+Though I do not entirely agree with the late learned Mr. Essex, the
+celebrated dancing-master's opinion, that dancing is the rudiment of
+polite education, as he would, I apprehend, exclude every other art
+and science, yet it is certain that persons whose feet have never been
+under the hands of the professors of that art are apt to discover this
+want in their education in every motion, nay, even when they stand or
+sit still. They seem, indeed, to be overburthened with limbs which
+they know not how to use, as if, when Nature hath finished her work,
+the dancing-master still is necessary to put it in motion.
+
+Atkinson was, at present, an example of this observation which doth so
+much honour to a profession for which I have a very high regard. He
+was handsome, and exquisitely well made; and yet, as he had never
+learnt to dance, he made so awkward an appearance in Mrs. Ellison's
+parlour, that the good lady herself, who had invited him in, could at
+first scarce refrain from laughter at his behaviour. He had not,
+however, been long in the room before admiration of his person got the
+better of such risible ideas. So great is the advantage of beauty in
+men as well as women, and so sure is this quality in either sex of
+procuring some regard from the beholder.
+
+The exceeding courteous behaviour of Mrs. Ellison, joined to that of
+Amelia and Booth, at length dissipated the uneasiness of Atkinson; and
+he gained sufficient confidence to tell the company some entertaining
+stories of accidents that had happened in the army within his
+knowledge, which, though they greatly pleased all present, are not,
+however, of consequence enough to have a place in this history.
+
+Mrs. Ellison was so very importunate with her company to stay supper
+that they all consented. As for the serjeant, he seemed to be none of
+the least welcome guests. She was, indeed, so pleased with what she
+had heard of him, and what she saw of him, that, when a little warmed
+with wine, for she was no flincher at the bottle, she began to indulge
+some freedoms in her discourse towards him that a little offended
+Amelia's delicacy, nay, they did not seem to be highly relished by the
+other lady; though I am far from insinuating that these exceeded the
+bounds of decorum, or were, indeed, greater liberties than ladies of
+the middle age, and especially widows, do frequently allow to
+themselves.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_Relating principally to the affairs of serjeant Atkinson._
+
+
+The next day, when all the same company, Atkinson only excepted,
+assembled in Amelia's apartment, Mrs. Ellison presently began to
+discourse of him, and that in terms not only of approbation but even
+of affection. She called him her clever serjeant, and her dear
+serjeant, repeated often that he was the prettiest fellow in the army,
+and said it was a thousand pities he had not a commission; for that,
+if he had, she was sure he would become a general.
+
+"I am of your opinion, madam," answered Booth; "and he hath got one
+hundred pounds of his own already, if he could find a wife now to help
+him to two or three hundred more, I think he might easily get a
+commission in a marching regiment; for I am convinced there is no
+colonel in the army would refuse him."
+
+"Refuse him, indeed!" said Mrs. Ellison; "no; he would be a very
+pretty colonel that did. And, upon my honour, I believe there are very
+few ladies who would refuse him, if he had but a proper opportunity of
+soliciting them. The colonel and the lady both would be better off
+than with one of those pretty masters that I see walking about, and
+dragging their long swords after them, when they should rather drag
+their leading-strings."
+
+"Well said," cries Booth, "and spoken like a woman of spirit.--Indeed,
+I believe they would be both better served."
+
+"True, captain," answered Mrs. Ellison; "I would rather leave the two
+first syllables out of the word gentleman than the last."
+
+"Nay, I assure you," replied Booth, "there is not a quieter creature
+in the world. Though the fellow hath the bravery of a lion, he hath
+the meekness of a lamb. I can tell you stories enow of that kind, and
+so can my dear Amelia, when he was a boy."
+
+"O! if the match sticks there," cries Amelia, "I positively will not
+spoil his fortune by my silence. I can answer for him from his
+infancy, that he was one of the best-natured lads in the world. I will
+tell you a story or two of him, the truth of which I can testify from
+my own knowledge. When he was but six years old he was at play with me
+at my mother's house, and a great pointer-dog bit him through the leg.
+The poor lad, in the midst of the anguish of his wound, declared he
+was overjoyed it had not happened to miss (for the same dog had just
+before snapt at me, and my petticoats had been my defence).--Another
+instance of his goodness, which greatly recommended him to my father,
+and which I have loved him for ever since, was this: my father was a
+great lover of birds, and strictly forbad the spoiling of their nests.
+Poor Joe was one day caught upon a tree, and, being concluded guilty,
+was severely lashed for it; but it was afterwards discovered that
+another boy, a friend of Joe's, had robbed the nest of its young ones,
+and poor Joe had climbed the tree in order to restore them,
+notwithstanding which, he submitted to the punishment rather than he
+would impeach his companion. But, if these stories appear childish and
+trifling, the duty and kindness he hath shewn to his mother must
+recommend him to every one. Ever since he hath been fifteen years old
+he hath more than half supported her: and when my brother died, I
+remember particularly, Joe, at his desire, for he was much his
+favourite, had one of his suits given him; but, instead of his
+becoming finer on that occasion, another young fellow came to church
+in my brother's cloaths, and my old nurse appeared the same Sunday in
+a new gown, which her son had purchased for her with the sale of his
+legacy."
+
+"Well, I protest, he is a very worthy creature," said Mrs. Bennet.
+
+"He is a charming fellow," cries Mrs. Ellison--"but then the name of
+serjeant, Captain Booth; there, as the play says, my pride brings me
+off again."
+
+          And whatsoever the sages charge on pride,
+     The angels' fall, and twenty other good faults beside;
+     On earth I'm sure--I'm sure--something--calling
+     Pride saves man, and our sex too, from falling.--
+
+Here a footman's rap at the door shook the room. Upon which Mrs.
+Ellison, running to the window, cried out, "Let me die if it is not my
+lord! what shall I do? I must be at home to him; but suppose he should
+enquire for you, captain, what shall I say? or will you go down with
+me?"
+
+The company were in some confusion at this instant, and before they
+had agreed on anything, Booth's little girl came running into the
+room, and said, "There was a prodigious great gentleman coming up-
+stairs." She was immediately followed by his lordship, who, as he knew
+Booth must be at home, made very little or no enquiry at the door.
+
+Amelia was taken somewhat at a surprize, but she was too polite to
+shew much confusion; for, though she knew nothing of the town, she had
+had a genteel education, and kept the best company the country
+afforded. The ceremonies therefore past as usual, and they all sat
+down.
+
+His lordship soon addressed himself to Booth, saying, "As I have what
+I think good news for you, sir, I could not delay giving myself the
+pleasure of communicating it to you. I have mentioned your affair
+where I promised you, and I have no doubt of my success. One may
+easily perceive, you know, from the manner of people's behaving upon
+such occasions; and, indeed, when I related your case, I found there
+was much inclination to serve you. Great men, Mr. Booth, must do
+things in their own time; but I think you may depend on having
+something done very soon."
+
+Booth made many acknowledgments for his lordship's goodness, and now a
+second time paid all the thanks which would have been due, even had
+the favour been obtained. This art of promising is the economy of a
+great man's pride, a sort of good husbandry in conferring favours, by
+which they receive tenfold in acknowledgments for every obligation, I
+mean among those who really intend the service; for there are others
+who cheat poor men of their thanks, without ever designing to deserve
+them at all.
+
+This matter being sufficiently discussed, the conversation took a
+gayer turn; and my lord began to entertain the ladies with some of
+that elegant discourse which, though most delightful to hear, it is
+impossible should ever be read.
+
+His lordship was so highly pleased with Amelia, that he could not help
+being somewhat particular to her; but this particularity distinguished
+itself only in a higher degree of respect, and was so very polite, and
+so very distant, that she herself was pleased, and at his departure,
+which was not till he had far exceeded the length of a common visit,
+declared he was the finest gentleman she had ever seen; with which
+sentiment her husband and Mrs. Ellison both entirely concurred.
+
+Mrs. Bennet, on the contrary, exprest some little dislike to my lord's
+complaisance, which she called excessive. "For my own part," said she,
+"I have not the least relish for those very fine gentlemen; what the
+world generally calls politeness, I term insincerity; and I am more
+charmed with the stories which Mrs. Booth told us of the honest
+serjeant than with all that the finest gentlemen in the world ever
+said in their lives!"
+
+"O! to be sure," cries Mrs. Ellison; "_All for Love, or the World
+well Lost,_ is a motto very proper for some folks to wear in their
+coat of arms; but the generality of the world will, I believe, agree
+with that lady's opinion of my cousin, rather than with Mrs. Bennet."
+
+Mrs. Bennet, seeing Mrs. Ellison took offence at what she said,
+thought proper to make some apology, which was very readily accepted,
+and so ended the visit.
+
+We cannot however put an end to the chapter without observing that
+such is the ambitious temper of beauty, that it may always apply to
+itself that celebrated passage in Lucan,
+
+_Nec quenquam jam ferre potest Caesarve priorem, Pompeiusve
+parem._
+
+Indeed, I believe, it may be laid down as a general rule, that no
+woman who hath any great pretensions to admiration is ever well
+pleased in a company where she perceives herself to fill only the
+second place. This observation, however, I humbly submit to the
+judgment of the ladies, and hope it will be considered as retracted by
+me if they shall dissent from my opinion.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_Containing matters that require no preface._
+
+
+When Booth and his wife were left alone together they both extremely
+exulted in their good fortune in having found so good a friend as his
+lordship; nor were they wanting in very warm expressions of gratitude
+towards Mrs. Ellison. After which they began to lay down schemes of
+living when Booth should have his commission of captain; and, after
+the exactest computation, concluded that, with economy, they should be
+able to save at least fifty pounds a-year out of their income in order
+to pay their debts.
+
+These matters being well settled, Amelia asked Booth what he thought
+of Mrs. Bennet? "I think, my dear," answered Booth, "that she hath
+been formerly a very pretty woman." "I am mistaken," replied she, "if
+she be not a very good creature. I don't know I ever took such a
+liking to any one on so short an acquaintance. I fancy she hath been a
+very spritely woman; for, if you observe, she discovers by starts a
+great vivacity in her countenance." "I made the same observation,"
+cries Booth: "sure some strange misfortune hath befallen her." "A
+misfortune, indeed!" answered Amelia; "sure, child, you forget what
+Mrs. Ellison told us, that she had lost a beloved husband. A
+misfortune which I have often wondered at any woman's surviving." At
+which words she cast a tender look at Booth, and presently afterwards,
+throwing herself upon his neck, cried, "O, Heavens! what a happy
+creature am I! when I consider the dangers you have gone through, how
+I exult in my bliss!" The good-natured reader will suppose that Booth
+was not deficient in returning such tenderness, after which the
+conversation became too fond to be here related.
+
+The next morning Mrs. Ellison addressed herself to Booth as follows:
+"I shall make no apology, sir, for what I am going to say, as it
+proceeds from my friendship to yourself and your dear lady. I am
+convinced then, sir, there is a something more than accident in your
+going abroad only one day in the week. Now, sir, if, as I am afraid,
+matters are not altogether as well as I wish them, I beg, since I do
+not believe you are provided with a lawyer, that you will suffer me to
+recommend one to you. The person I shall mention is, I assure you, of
+much ability in his profession, and I have known him do great services
+to gentlemen under a cloud. Do not be ashamed of your circumstances,
+my dear friend: they are a much greater scandal to those who have left
+so much merit unprovided for."
+
+Booth gave Mrs. Ellison abundance of thanks for her kindness, and
+explicitly confessed to her that her conjectures were right, and,
+without hesitation, accepted the offer of her friend's assistance.
+
+Mrs. Ellison then acquainted him with her apprehensions on his
+account. She said she had both yesterday and this morning seen two or
+three very ugly suspicious fellows pass several times by her window.
+"Upon all accounts," said she, "my dear sir, I advise you to keep
+yourself close confined till the lawyer hath been with you. I am sure
+he will get you your liberty, at least of walking about within the
+verge. There's something to be done with the board of green-cloth; I
+don't know what; but this I know, that several gentlemen have lived
+here a long time very comfortably, and have defied all the vengeance
+of their creditors. However, in the mean time, you must be a close
+prisoner with your lady; and I believe there is no man in England but
+would exchange his liberty for the same gaol."
+
+She then departed in order to send for the attorney, and presently
+afterwards the serjeant arrived with news of the like kind. He said he
+had scraped an acquaintance with Murphy. "I hope your honour will
+pardon me," cries Atkinson, "but I pretended to have a small demand
+upon your honour myself, and offered to employ him in the business.
+Upon which he told me that, if I would go with him to the Marshal's
+court, and make affidavit of my debt, he should be able very shortly
+to get it me; for I shall have the captain in hold," cries he,
+"within a day or two." "I wish," said the serjeant, "I could do your
+honour any service. Shall I walk about all day before the door? or
+shall I be porter, and watch it in the inside till your honour can
+find some means of securing yourself? I hope you will not be offended
+at me, but I beg you would take care of falling into Murphy's hands;
+for he hath the character of the greatest villain upon earth. I am
+afraid you will think me too bold, sir; but I have a little money; if
+it can be of any service, do, pray your honour, command it. It can
+never do me so much good any other way. Consider, sir, I owe all I
+have to yourself and my dear mistress."
+
+Booth stood a moment, as if he had been thunderstruck, and then, the
+tears bursting from his eyes, he said, "Upon my soul, Atkinson, you
+overcome me. I scarce ever heard of so--much goodness, nor do I know
+how to express my sentiments of it. But, be assured, as for your
+money, I will not accept it; and let it satisfy you, that in my
+present circumstances it would do me no essential service; but this be
+assured of likewise, that whilst I live I shall never forget the
+kindness of the offer. However, as I apprehend I may be in some danger
+of fellows getting into the house, for a day or two, as I have no
+guard but a poor little girl, I will not refuse the goodness you offer
+to shew in my protection. And I make no doubt but Mrs. Ellison will
+let you sit in her parlour for that purpose."
+
+Atkinson, with the utmost readiness, undertook the office of porter;
+and Mrs. Ellison as readily allotted him a place in her back-parlour,
+where he continued three days together, from eight in the morning till
+twelve at night; during which time, he had sometimes the company of
+Mrs. Ellison, and sometimes of Booth, Amelia, and Mrs. Bennet too; for
+this last had taken as great a fancy to Amelia as Amelia had to her,
+and, therefore, as Mr. Booth's affairs were now no secret in the
+neighbourhood, made her frequent visits during the confinement of her
+husband, and consequently her own.
+
+Nothing, as I remember, happened in this interval of time, more worthy
+notice than the following card which Amelia received from her old
+acquaintance Mrs. James:--"Mrs. James sends her compliments to Mrs.
+Booth, and desires to know how she does; for, as she hath not had the
+favour of seeing her at her own house, or of meeting her in any public
+place, in so long time, fears it may be owing to ill health."
+
+Amelia had long given over all thoughts of her friend, and doubted not
+but that she was as entirely given over by her; she was very much
+surprized at this message, and under some doubt whether it was not
+meant as an insult, especially from the mention of public places,
+which she thought so inconsistent with her present circumstances, of
+which she supposed Mrs. James was well apprized. However, at the
+entreaty of her husband, who languished for nothing more than to be
+again reconciled to his friend James, Amelia undertook to pay the lady
+a visit, and to examine into the mystery of this conduct, which
+appeared to her so unaccountable.
+
+Mrs. James received her with a degree of civility that amazed Amelia
+no less than her coldness had done before. She resolved to come to an
+eclaircissement, and, having sat out some company that came in, when
+they were alone together Amelia, after some silence and many offers to
+speak, at last said, "My dear Jenny (if you will now suffer me to call
+you by so familiar a name), have you entirely forgot a certain young
+lady who had the pleasure of being your intimate acquaintance at
+Montpelier?" "Whom do you mean, dear madam?" cries Mrs. James with
+great concern. "I mean myself," answered Amelia. "You surprize me,
+madam," replied Mrs. James: "how can you ask me that question?" "Nay,
+my dear, I do not intend to offend you," cries Amelia, "but I am
+really desirous to solve to myself the reason of that coldness which
+you shewed me when you did me the favour of a visit. Can you think, my
+dear, I was not disappointed, when I expected to meet an intimate
+friend, to receive a cold formal visitant? I desire you to examine
+your own heart and answer me honestly if you do not think I had some
+little reason to be dissatisfied with your behaviour?" "Indeed, Mrs.
+Booth," answered the other lady, "you surprize me very much; if there
+was anything displeasing to you in my behaviour I am extremely
+concerned at it. I did not know I had been defective in any of the
+rules of civility, but if I was, madam, I ask your pardon." "Is
+civility, then, my dear," replied Amelia, "a synonymous term with
+friendship? Could I have expected, when I parted the last time with
+Miss Jenny Bath, to have met her the next time in the shape of a fine
+lady, complaining of the hardship of climbing up two pair of stairs to
+visit me, and then approaching me with the distant air of a new or a
+slight acquaintance? Do you think, my dear Mrs. James, if the tables
+had been turned, if my fortune had been as high in the world as yours,
+and you in my distress and abject condition, that I would not have
+climbed as high as the monument to visit you?" "Sure, madam," cried
+Mrs. James, "I mistake you, or you have greatly mistaken me. Can you
+complain of my not visiting you, who have owed me a visit almost these
+three weeks? Nay, did I not even then send you a card, which sure was
+doing more than all the friendship and good-breeding in the world
+required; but, indeed, as I had met you in no public place, I really
+thought you was ill."
+
+"How can you mention public places to me," said Amelia, "when you can
+hardly be a stranger to my present situation? Did you not know, madam,
+that I was ruined?" "No, indeed, madam, did I not," replied Mrs.
+James; "I am sure I should have been highly concerned if! had." "Why,
+sure, my dear," cries Amelia, "you could not imagine that we were in
+affluent circumstances, when you found us in such a place, and in such
+a condition." "Nay, my dear," answered Mrs. James, "since you are
+pleased to mention it first yourself, I own I was a little surprized
+to see you in no better lodgings; but I concluded you had your own
+reasons for liking them; and, for my own part, I have laid it down as
+a positive rule never to enquire into the private affairs of any one,
+especially of my friends. I am not of the humour of some ladies, who
+confine the circle of their acquaintance to one part of the town, and
+would not be known to visit in the city for the world. For my part, I
+never dropt an acquaintance with any one while it was reputable to
+keep it up; and I can solemnly declare I have not a friend in the
+world for whom I have a greater esteem than I have for Mrs. Booth."
+
+At this instant the arrival of a new visitant put an end to the
+discourse; and Amelia soon after took her leave without the least
+anger, but with some little unavoidable contempt for a lady, in whose
+opinion, as we have hinted before, outward form and ceremony
+constituted the whole essence of friendship; who valued all her
+acquaintance alike, as each individual served equally to fill up a
+place in her visiting roll; and who, in reality, had not the least
+concern for the good qualities or well-being of any of them.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_Containing much heroic matter._
+
+
+At the end of three days Mrs. Ellison's friend had so far purchased
+Mr. Booth's liberty that he could walk again abroad within the verge
+without any danger of having a warrant backed against him by the board
+before he had notice. As for the ill-looked persons that had given the
+alarm, it was now discovered that another unhappy gentleman, and not
+Booth, was the object of their pursuit.
+
+Mr. Booth, now being delivered from his fears, went, as he had
+formerly done, to take his morning walk in the Park. Here he met
+Colonel Bath in company with some other officers, and very civilly
+paid his respects to him. But, instead of returning the salute, the
+colonel looked him full in the face with a very stern countenance;
+and, if he could be said to take any notice of him, it was in such a
+manner as to inform him he would take no notice of him.
+
+Booth was not more hurt than surprized at this behaviour, and resolved
+to know the reason of it. He therefore watched an opportunity till the
+colonel was alone, and then walked boldly up to him, and desired to
+know if he had given him any offence? The colonel answered hastily,
+"Sir, I am above being offended with you, nor do I think it consistent
+with my dignity to make you any answer." Booth replied, "I don't know,
+sir, that I have done anything to deserve this treatment." "Look'ee,
+sir," cries the colonel, "if I had not formerly had some respect for
+you, I should not think you worth my resentment. However, as you are a
+gentleman born, and an officer, and as I have had an esteem for you, I
+will give you some marks of it by putting it in your power to do
+yourself justice. I will tell you therefore, sir, that you have acted
+like a scoundrel." "If we were not in the Park," answered Booth
+warmly, "I would thank you very properly for that compliment." "O,
+sir," cries the colonel, "we can be soon in a convenient place." Upon
+which Booth answered, he would attend him wherever he pleased. The
+colonel then bid him come along, and strutted forward directly up
+Constitution-hill to Hyde-park, Booth following him at first, and
+afterwards walking before him, till they came to that place which may
+be properly called the field of blood, being that part, a little to
+the left of the ring, which heroes have chosen for the scene of their
+exit out of this world.
+
+Booth reached the ring some time before the colonel; for he mended not
+his pace any more than a Spaniard. To say truth, I believe it was not
+in his power: for he had so long accustomed himself to one and the
+same strut, that as a horse, used always to trotting, can scarce be
+forced into a gallop, so could no passion force the colonel to alter
+his pace.
+
+[Illustration with caption: _Colonel Bath._]
+
+At length, however, both parties arrived at the lists, where the
+colonel very deliberately took off his wig and coat, and laid them on
+the grass, and then, drawing his sword, advanced to Booth, who had
+likewise his drawn weapon in his hand, but had made no other
+preparation for the combat.
+
+The combatants now engaged with great fury, and, after two or three
+passes, Booth run the colonel through the body and threw him on the
+ground, at the same time possessing himself of the colonel's sword.
+
+As soon as the colonel was become master of his speech, he called out
+to Booth in a very kind voice, and said, "You have done my business,
+and satisfied me that you are a man of honour, and that my brother
+James must have been mistaken; for I am convinced that no man who will
+draw his sword in so gallant a manner is capable of being a rascal.
+D--n me, give me a buss, my dear boy; I ask your pardon for that
+infamous appellation I dishonoured your dignity with; but d--n me if
+it was not purely out of love, and to give you an opportunity of doing
+yourself justice, which I own you have done like a man of honour. What
+may be the consequence I know not, but I hope, at least, I shall live
+to reconcile you with my brother."
+
+Booth shewed great concern, and even horror in his countenance. "Why,
+my dear colonel," said he, "would you force me to this? for Heaven's
+sake tell me what I have ever done to offend you."
+
+"Me!" cried the colonel. "Indeed, my dear child, you never did
+anything to offend me.--Nay, I have acted the part of a friend to you
+in the whole affair. I maintained your cause with my brother as long
+as decency would permit; I could not flatly contradict him, though,
+indeed, I scarce believed him. But what could I do? If I had not
+fought with you, I must have been obliged to have fought with him;
+however, I hope what is done will be sufficient, and that matters may
+be discomodated without your being put to the necessity of fighting
+any more on this occasion."
+
+"Never regard me," cried Booth eagerly; "for Heaven's sake, think of
+your own preservation. Let me put you into a chair, and get you a
+surgeon."
+
+"Thou art a noble lad," cries the colonel, who was now got on his
+legs, "and I am glad the business is so well over; for, though your
+sword went quite through, it slanted so that I apprehend there is
+little danger of life: however, I think there is enough done to put an
+honourable end to the affair, especially as you was so hasty to disarm
+me. I bleed a little, but I can walk to the house by the water; and,
+if you will send me a chair thither, I shall be obliged to you."
+
+As the colonel refused any assistance (indeed he was very able to walk
+without it, though with somewhat less dignity than usual), Booth set
+forward to Grosvenor-gate, in order to procure the chair, and soon
+after returned with one to his friend; whom having conveyed into it,
+he attended himself on foot into Bond-street, where then lived a very
+eminent surgeon.
+
+The surgeon having probed the wound, turned towards Booth, who was
+apparently the guilty person, and said, with a smile, "Upon my word,
+sir, you have performed the business with great dexterity."
+
+"Sir," cries the colonel to the surgeon, "I would not have you imagine
+I am afraid to die. I think I know more what belongs to the dignity of
+a man; and, I believe, I have shewn it at the head of a line of
+battle. Do not impute my concern to that fear, when I ask you whether
+there is or is not any danger?"
+
+"Really, colonel," answered the surgeon, who well knew the complexion
+of the gentleman then under his hands, "it would appear like
+presumption to say that a man who hath been just run through the body
+is in no manner of danger. But this I think I may assure you, that I
+yet perceive no very bad symptoms, and, unless something worse should
+appear, or a fever be the consequence, I hope you may live to be
+again, with all your dignity, at the head of a line of battle."
+
+"I am glad to hear that is your opinion," quoth the colonel, "for I am
+not desirous of dying, though I am not afraid of it. But, if anything
+worse than you apprehend should happen, I desire you will be a witness
+of my declaration that this young gentleman is entirely innocent. I
+forced him to do what he did. My dear Booth, I am pleased matters are
+as they are. You are the first man that ever gained an advantage over
+me; but it was very lucky for you that you disarmed me, and I doubt
+not but you have the equananimity to think so. If the business,
+therefore, hath ended without doing anything to the purpose, it was
+Fortune's pleasure, and neither of our faults."
+
+Booth heartily embraced the colonel, and assured him of the great
+satisfaction he had received from the surgeon's opinion; and soon
+after the two combatants took their leave of each other. The colonel,
+after he was drest, went in a chair to his lodgings, and Booth walked
+on foot to his; where he luckily arrived without meeting any of Mr.
+Murphy's gang; a danger which never once occurred to his imagination
+till he was out of it.
+
+The affair he had been about had indeed so entirely occupied his mind,
+that it had obliterated every other idea; among the rest, it caused
+him so absolutely to forget the time of the day, that, though he had
+exceeded the time of dining above two hours, he had not the least
+suspicion of being at home later than usual.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_In which the reader will find matter worthy his consideration._
+
+
+Amelia, having waited above an hour for her husband, concluded, as he
+was the most punctual man alive, that he had met with some engagement
+abroad, and sat down to her meal with her children; which, as it was
+always uncomfortable in the absence of her husband, was very short; so
+that, before his return, all the apparatus of dining was entirely
+removed.
+
+Booth sat some time with his wife, expecting every minute when the
+little maid would make her appearance; at last, curiosity, I believe,
+rather than appetite, made him ask how long it was to dinner? "To
+dinner, my dear!" answered Amelia; "sure you have dined, I hope?"
+Booth replied in the negative; upon which his wife started from her
+chair, and bestirred herself as nimbly to provide him a repast as the
+most industrious hostess in the kingdom doth when some unexpected
+guest of extraordinary quality arrives at her house.
+
+The reader hath not, I think, from any passages hitherto recorded in
+this history, had much reason to accuse Amelia of a blameable
+curiosity; he will not, I hope, conclude that she gave an instance of
+any such fault when, upon Booth's having so long overstayed his time,
+and so greatly mistaken the hour of the day, and upon some other
+circumstances of his behaviour (for he was too honest to be good at
+concealing any of his thoughts), she said to him after he had done
+eating, "My dear, I am sure something more than ordinary hath happened
+to-day, and I beg you will tell me what is."
+
+Booth answered that nothing of any consequence had happened; that he
+had been detained by a friend, whom he met accidently, longer than he
+expected. In short, he made many shuffling and evasive answers, not
+boldly lying out, which, perhaps, would have succeeded, but poorly and
+vainly endeavouring to reconcile falsehood with truth; an attempt
+which seldom fails to betray the most practised deceiver.
+
+How impossible was it therefore for poor Booth to succeed in an art
+for which nature had so entirely disqualified him. His countenance,
+indeed, confessed faster than his tongue denied, and the whole of his
+behaviour gave Amelia an alarm, and made her suspect something very
+bad had happened; and, as her thoughts turned presently on the badness
+of their circumstances, she feared some mischief from his creditors
+had befallen him; for she was too ignorant of such matters to know
+that, if he had fallen into the hands of the Philistines (which is the
+name given by the faithful to bailiffs), he would hardly have been
+able so soon to recover his liberty. Booth at last perceived her to be
+so uneasy, that, as he saw no hopes of contriving any fiction to
+satisfy her, he thought himself obliged to tell her the truth, or at
+least part of the truth, and confessed that he had had a little
+skirmish with Colonel Bath, in which, he said, the colonel had
+received a slight wound, not at all dangerous; "and this," says he,
+"is all the whole matter." "If it be so," cries Amelia, "I thank
+Heaven no worse hath happened; but why, my dear, will you ever
+converse with that madman, who can embrace a friend one moment, and
+fight with him the next?" "Nay, my dear," answered Booth, "you
+yourself must confess, though he be a little too much on the _qui
+vive,_ he is a man of great honour and good-nature." "Tell me not,"
+replied she, "of such good-nature and honour as would sacrifice a
+friend and a whole family to a ridiculous whim. Oh, Heavens!" cried
+she, falling upon her knees, "from what misery have I escaped, from
+what have these poor babes escaped, through your gracious providence
+this day!" Then turning to her husband, she cried, "But are you sure
+the monster's wound is no more dangerous than you say? a monster
+surely I may call him, who can quarrel with a man that could not, that
+I am convinced would not, offend him."
+
+Upon this question, Booth repeated the assurances which the surgeon
+had given them, perhaps with a little enlargement, which pretty well
+satisfied Amelia; and instead of blaming her husband for what he had
+done, she tenderly embraced him, and again returned thanks to Heaven
+for his safety.
+
+In the evening Booth insisted on paying a short visit to the colonel,
+highly against the inclination of Amelia, who, by many arguments and
+entreaties, endeavoured to dissuade her husband from continuing an
+acquaintance in which, she said, she should always foresee much danger
+for the future. However, she was at last prevailed upon to acquiesce;
+and Booth went to the colonel, whose lodgings happened to be in the
+verge as well as his own.
+
+He found the colonel in his night-gown, and his great chair, engaged
+with another officer at a game of chess. He rose immediately, and,
+having heartily embraced Booth, presented him to his friend, saying,
+he had the honour to introduce to him as brave and as _fortitudinous_
+a man as any in the king's dominions. He then took Booth with him into
+the next room, and desired him not to mention a word of what had
+happened in the morning; saying, "I am very well satisfied that no
+more hath happened; however, as it ended in nothing, I could wish it
+might remain a secret." Booth told him he was heartily glad to find
+him so well, and promised never to mention it more to any one.
+
+The game at chess being but just begun, and neither of the parties
+having gained any considerable advantage, they neither of them
+insisted on continuing it; and now the colonel's antagonist took his
+leave and left the colonel and Booth together.
+
+As soon as they were alone, the latter earnestly entreated the former
+to acquaint him with the real cause of his anger; "for may I perish,"
+cries Booth, "if I can even guess what I have ever done to offend
+either you, or your brother. Colonel James."
+
+"Look'ee, child," cries the colonel; "I tell you I am for my own part
+satisfied; for I am convinced that a man who will fight can never be a
+rascal; and, therefore, why should you enquire any more of me at
+present? when I see my brother James, I hope to reconcile all matters,
+and perhaps no more swords need be drawn on this occasion." But Booth
+still persisting in his desire, the colonel, after some hesitation,
+with a tremendous oath, cried out, "I do not think myself at liberty
+to refuse you after the indignity I offered you; so, since you demand
+it of me, I will inform you. My brother told me you had used him
+dishonourably, and had divellicated his character behind his back. He
+gave me his word, too, that he was well assured of what he said. What
+could I have done? though I own to you I did not believe him, and your
+behaviour since hath convinced me I was in the right; I must either
+have given him the lye, and fought with him, or else I was obliged to
+behave as I did, and fight with you. And now, my lad, I leave it to
+you to do as you please; but, if you are laid under any necessity to
+do yourself further justice, it is your own fault."
+
+"Alas! colonel," answered Booth, "besides the obligations I have to
+the colonel, I have really so much love for him, that I think of
+nothing less than resentment. All I wish is to have this affair
+brought to an eclaircissement, and to satisfy him that he is in an
+error; for, though his assertions are cruelly injurious, and I have
+never deserved them, yet I am convinced he would not say what he did
+not himself think. Some rascal, envious of his friendship for me, hath
+belyed me to him; and the only resentment I desire is, to convince him
+of his mistake."
+
+At these words the colonel grinned horribly a ghastly smile, or rather
+sneer, and answered, "Young gentleman, you may do as you please; but,
+by the eternal dignity of man, if any man breathing had taken a
+liberty with my character--Here, here--Mr. Booth (shewing his
+fingers), here d--n me, should be his nostrils; he should breathe
+through my hands, and breathe his last, d--n me."
+
+Booth answered, "I think, colonel, I may appeal to your testimony that
+I dare do myself justice; since he who dare draw his sword against you
+can hardly be supposed to fear any other person; but I repeat to you
+again that I love Colonel James so well, and am so greatly obliged to
+him, that it would be almost indifferent to me whether I directed my
+sword against his breast or my own."
+
+The colonel's muscles were considerably softened by Booth's last
+speech; but he again contracted them into a vast degree of fierceness
+before he cried out--"Boy, thou hast reason enough to be vain; for
+thou art the first person that ever could proudly say he gained an
+advantage over me in combat. I believe, indeed, thou art not afraid of
+any man breathing, and, as I know thou hast some obligations to my
+brother, I do not discommend thee; for nothing more becomes the
+dignity of a man than gratitude. Besides, as I am satisfied my brother
+can produce the author of the slander--I say, I am satisfied of that--
+d--n me, if any man alive dares assert the contrary; for that would be
+to make my brother himself a liar--I will make him produce his author;
+and then, my dear boy, your doing yourself proper justice there will
+bring you finely out of the whole affair. As soon as my surgeon gives
+me leave to go abroad, which, I hope, will be in a few days, I will
+bring my brother James to a tavern where you shall meet us; and I will
+engage my honour, my whole dignity to you, to make you friends."
+
+The assurance of the colonel gave Booth great pleasure; for few
+persons ever loved a friend better than he did James; and as for doing
+military justice on the author of that scandalous report which had
+incensed his friend against him, not Bath himself was ever more ready,
+on such an occasion, than Booth to execute it. He soon after took his
+leave, and returned home in high spirits to his Amelia, whom he found
+in Mrs. Ellison's apartment, engaged in a party at ombre with that
+lady and her right honourable cousin.
+
+His lordship had, it seems, had a second interview with the great man,
+and, having obtained further hopes (for I think there was not yet an
+absolute promise) of success in Mr. Booth's affairs, his usual good-
+nature brought him immediately to acquaint Mr. Booth with it. As he
+did not therefore find him at home, and as he met with the two ladies
+together, he resolved to stay till his friend's return, which he was
+assured would not be long, especially as he was so lucky, he said, to
+have no particular engagement that whole evening.
+
+We remarked before that his lordship, at the first interview with
+Amelia, had distinguished her by a more particular address from the
+other ladies; but that now appeared to be rather owing to his perfect
+good-breeding, as she was then to be considered as the mistress of the
+house, than from any other preference. His present behaviour made this
+still more manifest; for, as he was now in Mrs. Ellison's apartment,
+though she was his relation and an old acquaintance, he applied his
+conversation rather more to her than to Amelia. His eyes, indeed, were
+now and then guilty of the contrary distinction, but this was only by
+stealth; for they constantly withdrew the moment they were discovered.
+In short, he treated Amelia with the greatest distance, and at the
+same time with the most profound and awful respect; his conversation
+was so general, so lively, and so obliging, that Amelia, when she
+added to his agreeableness the obligations she had to him for his
+friendship to Booth, was certainly as much pleased with his lordship
+as any virtuous woman can possibly be with any man, besides her own
+husband.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+_Containing various matters._
+
+
+We have already mentioned the good-humour in which Booth returned
+home; and the reader will easily believe it was not a little encreased
+by the good-humour in which he found his company. My lord received him
+with the utmost marks of friendship and affection, and told him that
+his affairs went on as well almost as he himself could desire, and
+that he doubted not very soon to wish him joy of a company.
+
+When Booth had made a proper return to all his lordship's unparalleled
+goodness, he whispered Amelia that the colonel was entirely out of
+danger, and almost as well as himself. This made her satisfaction
+complete, threw her into such spirits, and gave such a lustre to her
+eyes, that her face, as Horace says, was too dazzling to be looked at;
+it was certainly too handsome to be looked at without the highest
+admiration.
+
+His lordship departed about ten o'clock, and left the company in
+raptures with him, especially the two ladies, of whom it is difficult
+to say which exceeded the other in his commendations. Mrs. Ellison
+swore she believed he was the best of all humankind; and Amelia,
+without making any exception, declared he was the finest gentleman and
+most agreeable man she had ever seen in her life; adding, it was great
+pity he should remain single. "That's true, indeed," cries Mrs.
+Ellison, "and I have often lamented it; nay, I am astonished at it,
+considering the great liking he always shews for our sex, and he may
+certainly have the choice of all. The real reason, I believe, is, his
+fondness for his sister's children. I declare, madam, if you was to
+see his behaviour to them, you would think they were his own. Indeed
+he is vastly fond of all manner of children." "Good creature!" cries
+Amelia; "if ever he doth me the honour of another visit I am resolved
+I will shew him my little things. I think, Mrs. Ellison, as you say my
+lord loves children, I may say, without vanity, he will not see many
+such." "No, indeed, will he not," answered Mrs. Ellison: "and now I
+think on't, madam, I wonder at my own stupidity in never making the
+offer before; but since you put it into my head, if you will give me
+leave, I'll take master and miss to wait on my lord's nephew and
+niece. They are very pretty behaved children; and little master and
+miss will be, I dare swear, very happy in their acquaintance; besides,
+if my lord himself should see them, I know what will happen; for he is
+the most generous of all human beings."
+
+Amelia very readily accepted the favour which Mrs. Ellison offered
+her; but Booth exprest some reluctance. "Upon my word, my dear," said
+he, with a smile, "this behaviour of ours puts me in mind of the
+common conduct of beggars; who, whenever they receive a favour, are
+sure to send other objects to the same fountain of charity. Don't we,
+my dear, repay our obligations to my lord in the same manner, by
+sending our children a begging to him?"
+
+"O beastly!" cries Mrs. Ellison; "how could such a thought enter your
+brains? I protest, madam, I begin to grow ashamed of this husband of
+yours. How can you have so vulgar a way of thinking? Begging, indeed!
+the poor little dear things a begging! If my lord was capable of such
+a thought, though he was my own brother instead of my cousin, I should
+scorn him too much ever to enter his doors." "O dear madam!" answered
+Amelia, "you take Mr. Booth too seriously, when he was only in jest;
+and the children shall wait upon you whenever you please."
+
+Though Booth had been a little more in earnest than Amelia had
+represented him, and was not, perhaps, quite so much in the wrong as
+he was considered by Mrs. Ellison, yet, seeing there were two to one
+against him, he wisely thought proper to recede, and let his simile go
+off with that air of a jest which his wife had given it.
+
+Mrs. Ellison, however, could not let it pass without paying some
+compliments to Amelia's understanding, nor without some obscure
+reflexions upon Booth, with whom she was more offended than the matter
+required. She was indeed a woman of most profuse generosity, and could
+not bear a thought which she deemed vulgar or sneaking. She afterwards
+launched forth the most profuse encomiums of his lordship's
+liberality, and concluded the evening with some instances which he had
+given of that virtue which, if not the noblest, is, perhaps, one of
+the most useful to society with which great and rich men can be
+endowed.
+
+The next morning early, serjeant Atkinson came to wait on lieutenant
+Booth, and desired to speak with his honour in private. Upon which the
+lieutenant and serjeant took a walk together in the Park. Booth
+expected every minute when the serjeant would open his mouth; under
+which expectation he continued till he came to the end of the mall,
+and so he might have continued till he came to the end of the world;
+for, though several words stood at the end of the serjeant's lips,
+there they were likely to remain for ever. He was, indeed, in the
+condition of a miser, whom a charitable impulse hath impelled to draw
+a few pence to the edge of his pocket, where they are altogether as
+secure as if they were in the bottom; for, as the one hath not the
+heart to part with a farthing, so neither had the other the heart to
+speak a word.
+
+Booth at length, wondering that the serjeant did not speak, asked him,
+What his business was? when the latter with a stammering voice began
+the following apology: "I hope, sir, your honour will not be angry,
+nor take anything amiss of me. I do assure you, it was not of my
+seeking, nay, I dare not proceed in the matter without first asking
+your leave. Indeed, if I had taken any liberties from the goodness you
+have been pleased to shew me, I should look upon myself as one of the
+most worthless and despicable of wretches; but nothing is farther from
+my thoughts. I know the distance which is between us; and, because
+your honour hath been so kind and good as to treat me with more
+familiarity than any other officer ever did, if I had been base enough
+to take any freedoms, or to encroach upon your honour's goodness, I
+should deserve to be whipt through the regiment. I hope, therefore,
+sir, you will not suspect me of any such attempt."
+
+"What can all this mean, Atkinson?" cries Booth; "what mighty matter
+would you introduce with all this previous apology?"
+
+"I am almost ashamed and afraid to mention it," answered the serjeant;
+"and yet I am sure your honour will believe what I have said, and not
+think anything owing to my own presumption; and, at the same time, I
+have no reason to think you would do anything to spoil my fortune in
+an honest way, when it is dropt into my lap without my own seeking.
+For may I perish if it is not all the lady's own goodness, and I hope
+in Heaven, with your honour's leave, I shall live to make her amends
+for it." In a word, that we may not detain the reader's curiosity
+quite so long as he did Booth's, he acquainted that gentleman that he
+had had an offer of marriage from a lady of his acquaintance, to whose
+company he had introduced him, and desired his permission to accept of
+it.
+
+Booth must have been very dull indeed if, after what the serjeant had
+said, and after what he had heard Mrs. Ellison say, he had wanted any
+information concerning the lady. He answered him briskly and
+chearfully, that he had his free consent to marry any woman whatever;
+"and the greater and richer she is," added he, "the more I shall be
+pleased with the match. I don't enquire who the lady is," said he,
+smiling, "but I hope she will make as good a wife as, I am convinced,
+her husband will deserve."
+
+"Your honour hath been always too good to me," cries Atkinson; "but
+this I promise you, I will do all in my power to merit the kindness
+she is pleased to shew me. I will be bold to say she will marry an
+honest man, though he is but a poor one; and she shall never want
+anything which I can give her or do for her, while my name is Joseph
+Atkinson."
+
+"And so her name is a secret, Joe, is it?" cries Booth.
+
+"Why, sir," answered the serjeant, "I hope your honour will not insist
+upon knowing that, as I think it would be dishonourable in me to
+mention it."
+
+"Not at all," replied Booth; "I am the farthest in the world from any
+such desire. I know thee better than to imagine thou wouldst disclose
+the name of a fair lady." Booth then shook Atkinson heartily by the
+hand, and assured him earnestly of the joy he had in his good fortune;
+for which the good serjeant failed not of making all proper
+acknowledgments. After which they parted, and Booth returned home.
+
+As Mrs. Ellison opened the door, Booth hastily rushed by; for he had
+the utmost difficulty to prevent laughing in her face. He ran directly
+up-stairs, and, throwing himself into a chair, discharged such a fit
+of laughter as greatly surprized, and at first almost frightened, his
+wife.
+
+Amelia, it will be supposed, presently enquired into the cause of this
+phenomenon, with which Booth, as soon as he was able (for that was not
+within a few minutes), acquainted her. The news did not affect her in
+the same manner it had affected her husband. On the contrary, she
+cried, "I protest I cannot guess what makes you see it in so
+ridiculous a light. I really think Mrs. Ellison hath chosen very well.
+I am convinced Joe will make her one of the best of husbands; and, in
+my opinion, that is the greatest blessing a woman can be possessed
+of."
+
+However, when Mrs. Ellison came into her room a little while
+afterwards to fetch the children, Amelia became of a more risible
+disposition, especially when the former, turning to Booth, who was
+then present, said, "So, captain, my jantee-serjeant was very early
+here this morning. I scolded my maid heartily for letting him wait so
+long in the entry like a lacquais, when she might have shewn him into
+my inner apartment." At which words Booth burst out into a very loud
+laugh; and Amelia herself could no more prevent laughing than she
+could blushing.
+
+"Heyday!" cries Mrs. Ellison; "what have I said to cause all this
+mirth?" and at the same time blushed, and looked very silly, as is
+always the case with persons who suspect themselves to be the objects
+of laughter, without absolutely taking what it is which makes them
+ridiculous.
+
+Booth still continued laughing; but Amelia, composing her muscles,
+said, "I ask your pardon, dear Mrs. Ellison; but Mr. Booth hath been
+in a strange giggling humour all this morning; and I really think it
+is infectious."
+
+"I ask your pardon, too, madam," cries Booth, "but one is sometimes
+unaccountably foolish."
+
+"Nay, but seriously," said she, "what is the matter?--something I said
+about the serjeant, I believe; but you may laugh as much as you
+please; I am not ashamed of owning I think him one of the prettiest
+fellows I ever saw in my life; and, I own, I scolded my maid at
+suffering him to wait in my entry; and where is the mighty ridiculous
+matter, pray?"
+
+"None at all," answered Booth; "and I hope the next time he will be
+ushered into your inner apartment."
+
+"Why should he not, sir?" replied she, "for, wherever he is ushered, I
+am convinced he will behave himself as a gentleman should."
+
+Here Amelia put an end to the discourse, or it might have proceeded to
+very great lengths; for Booth was of a waggish inclination, and Mrs.
+Ellison was not a lady of the nicest delicacy.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+_The heroic behaviour of Colonel Bath._
+
+
+Booth went this morning to pay a second visit to the colonel, where he
+found Colonel James. Both the colonel and the lieutenant appeared a
+little shocked at their first meeting, but matters were soon cleared
+up; for the former presently advanced to the latter, shook him
+heartily by the hand, and said, "Mr. Booth, I am ashamed to see you;
+for I have injured you, and I heartily ask your pardon. I am now
+perfectly convinced that what I hinted to my brother, and which I find
+had like to have produced such fatal consequences, was entirely
+groundless. If you will be contented with my asking your pardon, and
+spare me the disagreeable remembrance of what led me into my error, I
+shall esteem it as the highest obligation."
+
+Booth answered, "As to what regards yourself, my dear colonel, I am
+abundantly satisfied; but, as I am convinced some rascal hath been my
+enemy with you in the cruellest manner, I hope you will not deny me
+the opportunity of kicking him through the world."
+
+"By all the dignity of man," cries Colonel Bath, "the boy speaks with
+spirit, and his request is reasonable."
+
+Colonel James hesitated a moment, and then whispered Booth that he
+would give him all the satisfaction imaginable concerning the whole
+affair when they were alone together; upon which, Booth addressing
+himself to Colonel Bath, the discourse turned on other matters during
+the remainder of the visit, which was but short, and then both went
+away together, leaving Colonel Bath as well as it was possible to
+expect, more to the satisfaction of Booth than of Colonel James, who
+would not have been displeased if his wound had been more dangerous;
+for he was grown somewhat weary of a disposition that he rather called
+captious than heroic, and which, as he every day more and more hated
+his wife, he apprehended might some time or other give him some
+trouble; for Bath was the most affectionate of brothers, and had often
+swore, in the presence of James, that he would eat any man alive who
+should use his sister ill.
+
+Colonel Bath was well satisfied that his brother and the lieutenant
+were gone out with a design of tilting, from which he offered not a
+syllable to dissuade them, as he was convinced it was right, and that
+Booth could not in honour take, nor the colonel give, any less
+satisfaction. When they had been gone therefore about half an hour, he
+rang his bell to enquire if there was any news of his brother; a
+question which he repeated every ten minutes for the space of two
+hours, when, having heard nothing of him, he began to conclude that
+both were killed on the spot.
+
+While he was in this state of anxiety his sister came to see him; for,
+notwithstanding his desire of keeping it a secret, the duel had blazed
+all over the town. After receiving some kind congratulations on his
+safety, and some unkind hints concerning the warmth of his temper, the
+colonel asked her when she had seen her husband? she answered not that
+morning. He then communicated to her his suspicion, told her he was
+convinced his brother had drawn his sword that day, and that, as
+neither of them had heard anything from him, he began to apprehend the
+worst that could happen.
+
+Neither Miss Bellamy nor Mrs. Gibber were ever in a greater
+consternation on the stage than now appeared in the countenance of
+Mrs. James. "Good Heavens! brother," cries she; "what do you tell me?
+you have frightened me to death. Let your man get me a glass of water
+immediately, if you have not a mind to see me die before your face.
+When, where, how was this quarrel? why did you not prevent it if you
+knew of it? is it not enough to be every day tormenting me with
+hazarding your own life, but must you bring the life of one who you
+know must be, and ought to be, so much the dearest of all to me, into
+danger? take your sword, brother, take your sword, and plunge it into
+my bosom; it would be kinder of you than to fill it with such dreads
+and terrors." Here she swallowed the glass of water, and then threw
+herself back in her chair, as if she had intended to faint away.
+
+Perhaps, if she had so, the colonel would have lent her no assistance,
+for she had hurt him more than by ten thousand stabs. He sat erect in
+his chair, with his eyebrows knit, his forehead wrinkled, his eyes
+flashing fire, his teeth grating against each other, and breathing
+horrour all round him. In this posture he sat for some time silent,
+casting disdainful looks at his sister. At last his voice found its
+way through a passion which had almost choaked him, and he cried out,
+"Sister, what have I done to deserve the opinion you express of me?
+which of my actions hath made you conclude that I am a rascal and a
+coward? look at that poor sword, which never woman yet saw but in its
+sheath; what hath that done to merit your desire that it should be
+contaminated with the blood of a woman?"
+
+"Alas! brother," cried she, "I know not what you say; you are
+desirous, I believe, to terrify me out of the little senses I have
+left. What can I have said, in the agonies of grief into which you
+threw me, to deserve this passion?"
+
+"What have you said?" answered the colonel: "you have said that which,
+if a man had spoken, nay, d--n me, if he had but hinted that he durst
+even think, I would have made him eat my sword; by all the dignity of
+man, I would have crumbled his soul into powder. But I consider that
+the words were spoken by a woman, and I am calm again. Consider, my
+dear, that you are my sister, and behave yourself with more spirit. I
+have only mentioned to you my surmise. It may not have happened as I
+suspect; but, let what will have happened, you will have the comfort
+that your husband hath behaved himself with becoming dignity, and lies
+in the bed of honour."
+
+"Talk not to me of such comfort," replied the lady; "it is a loss I
+cannot survive. But why do I sit here lamenting myself? I will go this
+instant and know the worst of my fate, if my trembling limbs will
+carry me to my coach. Good morrow, dear brother; whatever becomes of
+me, I am glad to find you out of danger." The colonel paid her his
+proper compliments, and she then left the room, but returned instantly
+back, saying, "Brother, I must beg the favour of you to let your
+footman step to my mantua-maker; I am sure it is a miracle, in my
+present distracted condition, how it came into my head." The footman
+was presently summoned, and Mrs. James delivered him his message,
+which was to countermand the orders which she had given that very
+morning to make her up a new suit of brocade. "Heaven knows," says
+she, "now when I can wear brocade, or whether ever I shall wear it."
+And now, having repeated her message with great exactness, lest there
+should be any mistake, she again lamented her wretched situation, and
+then departed, leaving the colonel in full expectation of hearing
+speedy news of the fatal issue of the battle.
+
+But, though the reader should entertain the same curiosity, we must be
+excused from satisfying it till we have first accounted for an
+incident which we have related in this very chapter, and which, we
+think, deserves some solution. The critic, I am convinced, already is
+apprized that I mean the friendly behaviour of James to Booth, which,
+from what we had before recorded, seemed so little to be expected.
+
+It must be remembered that the anger which the former of these
+gentlemen had conceived against the latter arose entirely from the
+false account given by Miss Matthews of Booth, whom that lady had
+accused to Colonel James of having as basely as wickedly traduced his
+character.
+
+Now, of all the ministers of vengeance, there are none with whom the
+devil deals so treacherously as with those whom he employs in
+executing the mischievous purposes of an angry mistress; for no sooner
+is revenge executed on an offending lover that it is sure to be
+repented; and all the anger which before raged against the beloved
+object, returns with double fury on the head of his assassin.
+
+Miss Matthews, therefore, no, sooner heard that Booth was killed (for
+so was the report at first, and by a colonel of the army) than she
+immediately concluded it to be James. She was extremely shocked with
+the news, and her heart instantly began to relent. All the reasons on
+which she had founded her love recurred, in the strongest and
+liveliest colours, to her mind, and all the causes of her hatred sunk
+down and disappeared; or, if the least remembrance of anything which
+had disobliged her remained, her heart became his zealous advocate,
+and soon satisfied her that her own fates were more to be blamed than
+he, and that, without being a villain, he could have acted no
+otherwise than he had done.
+
+In this temper of mind she looked on herself as the murderer of an
+innocent man, and, what to her was much worse, of the man she had
+loved, and still did love, with all the violence imaginable. She
+looked on James as the tool with which she had done this murder; and,
+as it is usual for people who have rashly or inadvertently made any
+animate or inanimate thing the instrument of mischief to hate the
+innocent means by which the mischief was effected (for this is a
+subtle method which the mind invents to excuse ourselves, the last
+objects on whom we would willingly wreak our vengeance), so Miss
+Matthews now hated and cursed James as the efficient cause of that act
+which she herself had contrived and laboured to carry into execution.
+
+She sat down therefore in a furious agitation, little short of
+madness, and wrote the following letter:
+
+"I Hope this will find you in the hands of justice, for the murder of
+one of the best friends that ever man was blest with. In one sense,
+indeed, he may seem to have deserved his fate, by chusing a fool for a
+friend; for who but a fool would have believed what the anger and rage
+of an injured woman suggested; a story so improbable, that I could
+scarce be thought in earnest when I mentioned it?
+
+"Know, then, cruel wretch, that poor Booth loved you of all men
+breathing, and was, I believe, in your commendation guilty of as much
+falsehood as I was in what I told you concerning him.
+
+"If this knowledge makes you miserable, it is no more than you have
+made the unhappy
+                                            F. MATTHEWS."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_Being the last chapter of the fifth book._
+
+
+We shall now return to Colonel James and Mr. Booth, who walked
+together from Colonel Bath's lodging with much more peaceable
+intention than that gentleman had conjectured, who dreamt of nothing
+but swords and guns and implements of wars.
+
+The Birdcage-walk in the Park was the scene appointed by James for
+unburthening his mind.--Thither they came, and there James acquainted
+Booth with all that which the reader knows already, and gave him the
+letter which we have inserted at the end of the last chapter.
+
+Booth exprest great astonishment at this relation, not without venting
+some detestation of the wickedness of Miss Matthews; upon which James
+took him up, saying, he ought not to speak with such abhorrence of
+faults which love for him had occasioned.
+
+"Can you mention love, my dear colonel," cried Booth, "and such a
+woman in the same breath?"
+
+"Yes, faith! can I," says James; "for the devil take me if I know a
+more lovely woman in the world." Here he began to describe her whole
+person; but, as we cannot insert all the description, so we shall omit
+it all; and concluded with saying, "Curse me if I don't think her the
+finest creature in the universe. I would give half my estate, Booth,
+she loved me as well as she doth you. Though, on second consideration,
+I believe I should repent that bargain; for then, very possibly, I
+should not care a farthing for her."
+
+"You will pardon me, dear colonel," answered Booth; "but to me there
+appears somewhat very singular in your way of thinking. Beauty is
+indeed the object of liking, great qualities of admiration, good ones
+of esteem; but the devil take me if I think anything but love to be
+the object of love."
+
+"Is there not something too selfish," replied James, "in that opinion?
+but, without considering it in that light, is it not of all things the
+most insipid? all oil! all sugar! zounds! it is enough to cloy the
+sharp-set appetite of a parson. Acids surely are the most likely to
+quicken."
+
+"I do not love reasoning in allegories," cries Booth; "but with regard
+to love, I declare I never found anything cloying in it. I have lived
+almost alone with my wife near three years together, was never tired
+with her company, nor ever wished for any other; and I am sure I never
+tasted any of the acid you mention to quicken my appetite."
+
+"This is all very extraordinary and romantic to me," answered the
+colonel. "If I was to be shut up three years with the same woman,
+which Heaven forbid! nothing, I think, could keep me alive but a
+temper as violent as that of Miss Matthews. As to love, it would make
+me sick to death in the twentieth part of that time. If I was so
+condemned, let me see, what would I wish the woman to be? I think no
+one virtue would be sufficient. With the spirit of a tigress I would
+have her be a prude, a scold, a scholar, a critic, a wit, a
+politician, and a Jacobite; and then, perhaps, eternal opposition
+would keep up our spirits; and, wishing one another daily at the
+devil, we should make a shift to drag on a damnable state of life,
+without much spleen or vapours."
+
+"And so you do not intend," cries Booth, "to break with this woman?"
+
+"Not more than I have already, if I can help it," answered the
+colonel.
+
+"And you will be reconciled to her?" said Booth.
+
+"Yes, faith! will I, if I can," answered the colonel; "I hope you have
+no objection."
+
+"None, my dear friend," said Booth, "unless on your account."
+
+"I do believe you," said the colonel: "and yet, let me tell you, you
+are a very extraordinary man, not to desire me to quit her on your own
+account. Upon my soul, I begin to pity the woman, who hath placed her
+affection, perhaps, on the only man in England of your age who would
+not return it. But for my part, I promise you, I like her beyond all
+other women; and, whilst that is the case, my boy, if her mind was as
+full of iniquity as Pandora's box was of diseases, I'd hug her close
+in my arms, and only take as much care as possible to keep the lid
+down for fear of mischief. But come, dear Booth," said he, "let us
+consider your affairs; for I am ashamed of having neglected them so
+long; and the only anger I have against this wench is, that she was
+the occasion of it."
+
+Booth then acquainted the colonel with the promises he had received
+from the noble lord, upon which James shook him by the hand, and
+heartily wished him joy, crying, "I do assure you, if you have his
+interest, you will need no other; I did not know you was acquainted
+with him."
+
+To which Mr. Booth answered, "That he was but a new acquaintance, and
+that he was recommended to him by a lady."
+
+"A lady!" cries the colonel; "well, I don't ask her name. You are a
+happy man, Booth, amongst the women; and, I assure you, you could have
+no stronger recommendation. The peer loves the ladies, I believe, as
+well as ever Mark Antony did; and it is not his fault if he hath not
+spent as much upon them. If he once fixes his eye upon a woman, he
+will stick at nothing to get her."
+
+"Ay, indeed!" cries Booth. "Is that his character?"
+
+"Ay, faith," answered the colonel, "and the character of most men
+besides him. Few of them, I mean, will stick at anything beside their
+money. Jusque a la Bourse is sometimes the boundary of love as well as
+friendship. And, indeed, I never knew any other man part with his
+money so very freely on these occasions. You see, dear Booth, the
+confidence I have in your honour."
+
+"I hope, indeed, you have," cries Booth, "but I don't see what
+instance you now give me of that confidence."
+
+"Have not I shewn you," answered James, "where you may carry your
+goods to market? I can assure you, my friend, that is a secret I would
+not impart to every man in your situation, and all circumstances
+considered."
+
+"I am very sorry, sir," cries Booth very gravely, and turning as pale
+as death, "you should entertain a thought of this kind; a thought
+which hath almost frozen up my blood. I am unwilling to believe there
+are such villains in the world; but there is none of them whom I
+should detest half so much as myself, if my own mind had ever
+suggested to me a hint of that kind. I have tasted of some distresses
+of life, and I know not to what greater I may be driven, but my
+honour, I thank Heaven, is in my own power, and I can boldly say to
+Fortune she shall not rob me of it."
+
+"Have I not exprest that confidence, my dear Booth?" answered the
+colonel. "And what you say now well justifies my opinion; for I do
+agree with you that, considering all things, it would be the highest
+instance of dishonour."
+
+"Dishonour, indeed!" returned Booth. "What! to prostitute my wife! Can
+I think there is such a wretch breathing?"
+
+"I don't know that," said the colonel, "but I am sure it was very far
+from my intention to insinuate the least hint of any such matter to
+you. Nor can I imagine how you yourself could conceive such a thought.
+The goods I meant were no other than the charming person of Miss
+Matthews, for whom I am convinced my lord would bid a swinging price
+against me."
+
+Booth's countenance greatly cleared up at this declaration, and he
+answered with a smile, that he hoped he need not give the colonel any
+assurances on that head. However, though he was satisfied with regard
+to the colonel's suspicions, yet some chimeras now arose in his brain
+which gave him no very agreeable sensations. What these were, the
+sagacious reader may probably suspect; but, if he should not, we may
+perhaps have occasion to open them in the sequel. Here we will put an
+end to this dialogue, and to the fifth book of this history.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_Panegyrics on beauty, with other grave matters._
+
+
+The colonel and Booth walked together to the latter's lodging, for as
+it was not that day in the week in which all parts of the town are
+indifferent, Booth could not wait on the colonel.
+
+When they arrived in Spring-garden, Booth, to his great surprize,
+found no one at home but the maid. In truth, Amelia had accompanied
+Mrs. Ellison and her children to his lordship's; for, as her little
+girl showed a great unwillingness to go without her, the fond mother
+was easily persuaded to make one of the company.
+
+Booth had scarce ushered the colonel up to his apartment when a
+servant from Mrs. James knocked hastily at the door. The lady, not
+meeting with her husband at her return home, began to despair of him,
+and performed everything which was decent on the occasion. An
+apothecary was presently called with hartshorn and sal volatile, a
+doctor was sent for, and messengers were despatched every way; amongst
+the rest, one was sent to enquire at the lodgings of his supposed
+antagonist.
+
+The servant hearing that his master was alive and well above-stairs,
+ran up eagerly to acquaint him with the dreadful situation in which he
+left his miserable lady at home, and likewise with the occasion of all
+her distress, saying, that his lady had been at her brother's, and had
+there heard that his honour was killed in a duel by Captain Booth.
+
+The colonel smiled at this account, and bid the servant make haste
+back to contradict it. And then turning to Booth, he said, "Was there
+ever such another fellow as this brother of mine? I thought indeed,
+his behaviour was somewhat odd at the time. I suppose he overheard me
+whisper that I would give you satisfaction, and thence concluded we
+went together with a design of tilting. D--n the fellow, I begin to
+grow heartily sick of him, and wish I could get well rid of him
+without cutting his throat, which I sometimes apprehend he will insist
+on my doing, as a return for my getting him made a lieutenant-
+colonel."
+
+Whilst these two gentlemen were commenting on the character of the
+third, Amelia and her company returned, and all presently came up-
+stairs, not only the children, but the two ladies, laden with trinkets
+as if they had been come from a fair. Amelia, who had been highly
+delighted all the morning with the excessive pleasure which her
+children enjoyed, when she saw Colonel James with her husband, and
+perceived the most manifest marks of that reconciliation which she
+knew had been so long and so earnestly wished by Booth, became so
+transported with joy, that her happiness was scarce capable of
+addition. Exercise had painted her face with vermilion; and the
+highest good-humour had so sweetened every feature, and a vast flow of
+spirits had so lightened up her bright eyes, that she was all a blaze
+of beauty. She seemed, indeed, as Milton sublimely describes Eve,
+
+                                         --Adorn'd
+     With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow
+     To make her amiable.
+
+Again:--
+
+     Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye,
+     In every gesture, dignity and love.
+
+Or, as Waller sweetly, though less sublimely sings:--
+
+     Sweetness, truth, and every grace
+     Which time and use are wont to teach,
+     The eye may in a moment reach,
+     And read distinctly in her face.
+
+Or, to mention one poet more, and him of all the sweetest, she seemed
+to be the very person of whom Suckling wrote the following lines,
+where, speaking of Cupid, he says,
+
+     All his lovely looks, his pleasing fires,
+       All his sweet motions, all his taking smiles;
+     All that awakes, all that inflames desires,
+       All that sweetly commands, all that beguiles,
+     He does into one pair of eyes convey,
+       And there begs leave that he himself may stay.
+
+Such was Amelia at this time when she entered the room; and, having
+paid her respects to the colonel, she went up to her husband, and
+cried, "O, my dear! never were any creatures so happy as your little
+things have been this whole morning; and all owing to my lord's
+goodness; sure never was anything so good-natured and so generous!"
+She then made the children produce their presents, the value of which
+amounted to a pretty large sum; for there was a gold watch, amongst
+the trinkets, that cost above twenty guineas.
+
+Instead of discovering so much satisfaction on this occasion as Amelia
+expected, Booth very gravely answered, "And pray, my dear, how are we
+to repay all these obligations to his lordship?" "How can you ask so
+strange a question?" cries Mrs. Ellison: "how little do you know of
+the soul of generosity (for sure my cousin deserves that name) when
+you call a few little trinkets given to children an obligation!"
+"Indeed, my dear," cries Amelia, "I would have stopped his hand if it
+had been possible; nay, I was forced at last absolutely to refuse, or
+I believe he would have laid a hundred pound out on the children; for
+I never saw any one so fond of children, which convinces me he is one
+of the best of men; but I ask your pardon, colonel, "said she, turning
+to him; "I should not entertain you with these subjects; yet I know
+you have goodness enough to excuse the folly of a mother."
+
+The colonel made a very low assenting bow, and soon after they all sat
+down to a small repast; for the colonel had promised Booth to dine
+with him when they first came home together, and what he had since
+heard from his own house gave him still less inclination than ever to
+repair thither.
+
+But, besides both these, there was a third and stronger inducement to
+him to pass the day with his friend, and this was the desire of
+passing it with his friend's wife. When the colonel had first seen
+Amelia in France, she was but just recovered from a consumptive habit,
+and looked pale and thin; besides, his engagements with Miss Bath at
+that time took total possession of him, and guarded his heart from the
+impressions of another woman; and, when he had dined with her in town,
+the vexations through which she had lately passed had somewhat
+deadened her beauty; besides, he was then engaged, as we have seen, in
+a very warm pursuit of a new mistress, but now he had no such
+impediment; for, though the reader hath just before seen his warm
+declarations of a passion for Miss Matthews, yet it may be remembered
+that he had been in possession of her for above a fortnight; and one
+of the happy properties of this kind of passion is, that it can with
+equal violence love half a dozen or half a score different objects at
+one and the same time.
+
+But indeed such were the charms now displayed by Amelia, of which we
+endeavoured above to draw some faint resemblance, that perhaps no
+other beauty could have secured him from their influence; and here, to
+confess a truth in his favour, however the grave or rather the
+hypocritical part of mankind may censure it, I am firmly persuaded
+that to withdraw admiration from exquisite beauty, or to feel no
+delight in gazing at it, is as impossible as to feel no warmth from
+the most scorching rays of the sun. To run away is all that is in our
+power; and in the former case, if it must be allowed we have the power
+of running away, it must be allowed also that it requires the
+strongest resolution to execute it; for when, as Dryden says,
+
+              All paradise is open'd in a face,
+
+how natural is the desire of going thither! and how difficult to quit
+the lovely prospect!
+
+And yet, however difficult this may be, my young readers, it is
+absolutely necessary, and that immediately too: flatter not yourselves
+that fire will not scorch as well as warm, and the longer we stay
+within its reach the more we shall burn. The admiration of a beautiful
+woman, though the wife of our dearest friend, may at first perhaps be
+innocent, but let us not flatter ourselves it will always remain so;
+desire is sure to succeed; and wishes, hopes, designs, with a long
+train of mischiefs, tread close at our heels. In affairs of this kind
+we may most properly apply the well-known remark of _nemo repente
+fuit turpissimus._ It fares, indeed, with us on this occasion as
+with the unwary traveller in some parts of Arabia the desert, whom the
+treacherous sands imperceptibly betray till he is overwhelmed and
+lost. In both cases the only safety is by withdrawing our feet the
+very first moment we perceive them sliding.
+
+This digression may appear impertinent to some readers; we could not,
+however, avoid the opportunity of offering the above hints; since of
+all passions there is none against which we should so strongly fortify
+ourselves as this, which is generally called love; for no other lays
+before us, especially in the tumultuous days of youth, such sweet,
+such strong and almost irresistible temptations; none hath produced in
+private life such fatal and lamentable tragedies; and what is worst of
+all, there is none to whose poison and infatuation the best of minds
+are so liable. Ambition scarce ever produces any evil but when it
+reigns in cruel and savage bosoms; and avarice seldom flourishes at
+all but in the basest and poorest soil. Love, on the contrary, sprouts
+usually up in the richest and noblest minds; but there, unless nicely
+watched, pruned, and cultivated, and carefully kept clear of those
+vicious weeds which are too apt to surround it, it branches forth into
+wildness and disorder, produces nothing desirable, but choaks up and
+kills whatever is good and noble in the mind where it so abounds. In
+short, to drop the allegory, not only tenderness and good nature, but
+bravery, generosity, and every virtue are often made the instruments
+of effecting the most atrocious purposes of this all-subduing tyrant.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_Which will not appear, we presume, unnatural to all married
+readers._
+
+
+If the table of poor Booth afforded but an indifferent repast to the
+colonel's hunger, here was most excellent entertainment of a much
+higher kind. The colonel began now to wonder within himself at his not
+having before discovered such incomparable beauty and excellence. This
+wonder was indeed so natural that, lest it should arise likewise in
+the reader, we thought proper to give the solution of it in the
+preceding chapter.
+
+During the first two hours the colonel scarce ever had his eyes off
+from Amelia; for he was taken by surprize, and his heart was gone
+before he suspected himself to be in any danger. His mind, however, no
+sooner suggested a certain secret to him than it suggested some degree
+of prudence to him at the same time; and the knowledge that he had
+thoughts to conceal, and the care of concealing them, had birth at one
+and the same instant. During the residue of the day, therefore, he
+grew more circumspect, and contented himself with now and then
+stealing a look by chance, especially as the more than ordinary
+gravity of Booth made him fear that his former behaviour had betrayed
+to Booth's observation the great and sudden liking he had conceived
+for his wife, even before he had observed it in himself.
+
+Amelia continued the whole day in the highest spirits and highest good
+humour imaginable, never once remarking that appearance of discontent
+in her husband of which the colonel had taken notice; so much more
+quick-sighted, as we have somewhere else hinted, is guilt than
+innocence. Whether Booth had in reality made any such observations on
+the colonel's behaviour as he had suspected, we will not undertake to
+determine; yet so far may be material to say, as we can with
+sufficient certainty, that the change in Booth's behaviour that day,
+from what was usual with him, was remarkable enough. None of his
+former vivacity appeared in his conversation; and his countenance was
+altered from being the picture of sweetness and good humour, not
+indeed to sourness or moroseness, but to gravity and melancholy.
+
+Though the colonel's suspicion had the effect which we have mentioned
+on his behaviour, yet it could not persuade him to depart. In short,
+he sat in his chair as if confined to it by enchantment, stealing
+looks now and then, and humouring his growing passion, without having
+command enough over his limbs to carry him out of the room, till
+decency at last forced him to put an end to his preposterous visit.
+When the husband and wife were left alone together, the latter resumed
+the subject of her children, and gave Booth a particular narrative of
+all that had passed at his lordship's, which he, though something had
+certainly disconcerted him, affected to receive with all the pleasure
+he could; and this affectation, however aukwardly he acted his part,
+passed very well on Amelia; for she could not well conceive a
+displeasure of which she had not the least hint of any cause, and
+indeed at a time when, from his reconciliation with James, she
+imagined her husband to be entirely and perfectly happy.
+
+The greatest part of that night Booth past awake; and, if during the
+residue he might be said to sleep, he could scarce be said to enjoy
+repose; his eyes were no sooner closed, that he was pursued and
+haunted by the most frightful and terrifying dreams, which threw him
+into so restless a condition, that he soon disturbed his Amelia, and
+greatly alarmed her with apprehensions that he had been seized by some
+dreadful disease, though he had not the least symptoms of a fever by
+any extraordinary heat, or any other indication, but was rather colder
+than usual.
+
+As Booth assured his wife that he was very well, but found no
+inclination to sleep, she likewise bid adieu to her slumbers, and
+attempted to entertain him with her conversation. Upon which his
+lordship occurred as the first topic; and she repeated to him all the
+stories which she had heard from Mrs. Ellison, of the peer's goodness
+to his sister and his nephew and niece. "It is impossible, my dear,"
+says she, "to describe their fondness for their uncle, which is to me
+an incontestible sign of a parent's goodness." In this manner she ran
+on for several minutes, concluding at last, that it was pity so very
+few had such generous minds joined to immense fortunes.
+
+Booth, instead of making a direct answer to what Amelia had said,
+cried coldly, "But do you think, my dear, it was right to accept all
+those expensive toys which the children brought home? And I ask you
+again, what return we are to make for these obligations?"
+
+"Indeed, my dear," cries Amelia, "you see this matter in too serious a
+light. Though I am the last person in the world who would lessen his
+lordship's goodness (indeed I shall always think we are both
+infinitely obliged to him), yet sure you must allow the expense to be
+a mere trifle to such a vast fortune. As for return, his own
+benevolence, in the satisfaction it receives, more than repays itself,
+and I am convinced he expects no other."
+
+"Very well, my dear," cries Booth, "you shall have it your way; I must
+confess I never yet found any reason to blame your discernment; and
+perhaps I have been in the wrong to give myself so much uneasiness on
+this account."
+
+"Uneasiness, child!" said Amelia eagerly; "Good Heavens! hath this
+made you uneasy?"
+
+"I do own it hath," answered Booth, "and it hath been the only cause
+of breaking my repose."
+
+"Why then I wish," cries Amelia, "all the things had been at the devil
+before ever the children had seen them; and, whatever I may think
+myself, I promise you they shall never more accept the value of a
+farthing:--if upon this occasion I have been the cause of your
+uneasiness, you will do me the justice to believe that I was totally
+innocent."
+
+At those words Booth caught her in his arms, and with the tenderest
+embrace, emphatically repeating the word innocent, cried, "Heaven
+forbid I should think otherwise! Oh, thou art the best of creatures
+that ever blessed a man!"
+
+"Well, but," said she, smiling, "do confess, my dear, the truth; I
+promise you I won't blame you nor disesteem you for it; but is not
+pride really at the bottom of this fear of an obligation?"
+
+"Perhaps it may," answered he; "or, if you will, you may call it fear.
+I own I am afraid of obligations, as the worst kind of debts; for I
+have generally observed those who confer them expect to be repaid ten
+thousand-fold."
+
+Here ended all that is material of their discourse; and a little time
+afterwards, they both fell fast asleep in one another's arms; from
+which time Booth had no more restlessness, nor any further
+perturbation in his dreams.
+
+Their repose, however, had been so much disturbed in the former part
+of the night, that, as it was very late before they enjoyed that sweet
+sleep I have just mentioned, they lay abed the next day till noon,
+when they both rose with the utmost chearfulness; and, while Amelia
+bestirred herself in the affairs of her family, Booth went to visit
+the wounded colonel.
+
+He found that gentleman still proceeding very fast in his recovery,
+with which he was more pleased than he had reason to be with his
+reception; for the colonel received him very coldly indeed, and, when
+Booth told him he had received perfect satisfaction from his brother,
+Bath erected his head and answered with a sneer, "Very well, sir, if
+you think these matters can be so made up, d--n me if it is any
+business of mine. My dignity hath not been injured."
+
+"No one, I believe," cries Booth, "dare injure it."
+
+"You believe so!" said the colonel: "I think, sir, you might be
+assured of it; but this, at least, you may be assured of, that if any
+man did, I would tumble him down the precipice of hell, d--n me, that
+you may be assured of."
+
+As Booth found the colonel in this disposition, he had no great
+inclination to lengthen out his visit, nor did the colonel himself
+seem to desire it: so he soon returned back to his Amelia, whom he
+found performing the office of a cook, with as much pleasure as a fine
+lady generally enjoys in dressing herself out for a ball.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_In which the history looks a little backwards._
+
+
+Before we proceed farther in our history we shall recount a short
+scene to our reader which passed between Amelia and Mrs. Ellison
+whilst Booth was on his visit to Colonel Bath. We have already
+observed that Amelia had conceived an extraordinary affection for Mrs.
+Bennet, which had still encreased every time she saw her; she thought
+she discovered something wonderfully good and gentle in her
+countenance and disposition, and was very desirous of knowing her
+whole history.
+
+She had a very short interview with that lady this morning in Mrs.
+Ellison's apartment. As soon, therefore, as Mrs. Bennet was gone,
+Amelia acquainted Mrs. Ellison with the good opinion she had conceived
+of her friend, and likewise with her curiosity to know her story: "For
+there must be something uncommonly good," said she, "in one who can so
+truly mourn for a husband above three years after his death."
+
+"O!" cries Mrs. Ellison, "to be sure the world must allow her to have
+been one of the best of wives. And, indeed, upon the whole, she is a
+good sort of woman; and what I like her the best for is a strong
+resemblance that she bears to yourself in the form of her person, and
+still more in her voice. But for my own part, I know nothing
+remarkable in her fortune, unless what I have told you, that she was
+the daughter of a clergyman, had little or no fortune, and married a
+poor parson for love, who left her in the utmost distress. If you
+please, I will shew you a letter which she writ to me at that time,
+though I insist upon your promise never to mention it to her; indeed,
+you will be the first person I ever shewed it to." She then opened her
+scrutore, and, taking out the letter, delivered it to Amelia, saying,
+"There, madam, is, I believe, as fine a picture of distress as can
+well be drawn."
+
+"DEAR MADAM,
+
+"As I have no other friend on earth but yourself, I hope you will
+pardon my writing to you at this season; though I do not know that you
+can relieve my distresses, or, if you can, have I any pretence to
+expect that you should. My poor dear, O Heavens--my---lies dead in the
+house; and, after I had procured sufficient to bury him, a set of
+ruffians have entered my house, seized all I have, have seized his
+dear, dear corpse, and threaten to deny it burial. For Heaven's sake,
+send me, at least, some advice; little Tommy stands now by me crying
+for bread, which I have not to give him. I can say no more than that I
+am
+           Your most distressed humble servant,
+                             M. BENNET."
+
+Amelia read the letter over twice, and then returning it with tears in
+her eyes, asked how the poor creature could possibly get through such
+distress.
+
+"You may depend upon it, madam," said Mrs. Ellison, "the moment I read
+this account I posted away immediately to the lady. As to the seizing
+the body, that I found was a mere bugbear; but all the rest was
+literally true. I sent immediately for the same gentleman that I
+recommended to Mr. Booth, left the care of burying the corpse to him,
+and brought my friend and her little boy immediately away to my own
+house, where she remained some months in the most miserable condition.
+I then prevailed with her to retire into the country, and procured her
+a lodging with a friend at St Edmundsbury, the air and gaiety of which
+place by degrees recovered her; and she returned in about a twelve-
+month to town, as well, I think, as she is at present."
+
+"I am almost afraid to ask," cries Amelia, "and yet I long methinks to
+know what is become of the poor little boy."
+
+"He hath been dead," said Mrs. Ellison, "a little more than half a
+year; and the mother lamented him at first almost as much as she did
+her husband, but I found it indeed rather an easier matter to comfort
+her, though I sat up with her near a fortnight upon the latter
+occasion."
+
+"You are a good creature," said Amelia, "and I love you dearly."
+
+"Alas! madam," cries she, "what could I have done if it had not been
+for the goodness of that best of men, my noble cousin! His lordship no
+sooner heard of the widow's distress from me than he immediately
+settled one hundred and fifty pounds a year upon her during her life."
+
+"Well! how noble, how generous was that!" said Amelia. "I declare I
+begin to love your cousin, Mrs. Ellison."
+
+"And I declare if you do," answered she, "there is no love lost, I
+verily believe; if you had heard what I heard him say yesterday behind
+your back---"
+
+"Why, what did he say, Mrs. Ellison?" cries Amelia.
+
+"He said," answered the other, "that you was the finest woman his eyes
+ever beheld.--Ah! it is in vain to wish, and yet I cannot help wishing
+too.--O, Mrs. Booth! if you had been a single woman, I firmly believe
+I could have made you the happiest in the world. And I sincerely think
+I never saw a woman who deserved it more."
+
+"I am obliged to you, madam," cries Amelia, "for your good opinion;
+but I really look on myself already as the happiest woman in the
+world. Our circumstances, it is true, might have been a little more
+fortunate; but O, my dear Mrs. Ellison! what fortune can be put in the
+balance with such a husband as mine?"
+
+"I am afraid, dear madam," answered Mrs. Ellison, "you would not hold
+the scale fairly.--I acknowledge, indeed, Mr. Booth is a very pretty
+gentleman; Heaven forbid I should endeavour to lessen him in your
+opinion; yet, if I was to be brought to confession, I could not help
+saying I see where the superiority lies, and that the men have more
+reason to envy Mr. Booth than the women have to envy his lady."
+
+"Nay, I will not bear this," replied Amelia. "You will forfeit all my
+love if you have the least disrespectful opinion of my husband. You do
+not know him, Mrs. Ellison; he is the best, the kindest, the worthiest
+of all his sex. I have observed, indeed, once or twice before, that
+you have taken some dislike to him. I cannot conceive for what reason.
+If he hath said or done anything to disoblige you, I am sure I can
+justly acquit him of design. His extreme vivacity makes him sometimes
+a little too heedless; but, I am convinced, a more innocent heart, or
+one more void of offence, was never in a human bosom."
+
+"Nay, if you grow serious," cries Mrs. Ellison, "I have done. How is
+it possible you should suspect I had taken any dislike to a man to
+whom I have always shewn so perfect a regard; but to say I think him,
+or almost any other man in the world, worthy of yourself, is not
+within my power with truth. And since you force the confession from
+me, I declare, I think such beauty, such sense, and such goodness
+united, might aspire without vanity to the arms of any monarch in
+Europe."
+
+"Alas! my dear Mrs. Ellison," answered Amelia, "do you think happiness
+and a crown so closely united? how many miserable women have lain in
+the arms of kings?--Indeed, Mrs. Ellison, if I had all the merit you
+compliment me with, I should think it all fully rewarded with such a
+man as, I thank Heaven, hath fallen to my lot; nor would I, upon my
+soul, exchange that lot with any queen in the universe."
+
+"Well, there are enow of our sex," said Mrs. Ellison, "to keep you in
+countenance; but I shall never forget the beginning of a song of Mr.
+Congreve's, that my husband was so fond of that he was always singing
+it:--
+
+     Love's but a frailty of the mind,
+     When 'tis not with ambition join'd.
+
+Love without interest makes but an unsavoury dish, in my opinion."
+
+"And pray how long hath this been your opinion?" said Amelia, smiling.
+
+"Ever since I was born," answered Mrs. Ellison; "at least, ever since
+I can remember."
+
+"And have you never," said Amelia, "deviated from this generous way of
+thinking?"
+
+"Never once," answered the other, "in the whole course of my life."
+
+"O, Mrs. Ellison! Mrs. Ellison!" cries Amelia; "why do we ever blame
+those who are disingenuous in confessing their faults, when we are so
+often ashamed to own ourselves in the right? Some women now, in my
+situation, would be angry that you had not made confidantes of them;
+but I never desire to know more of the secrets of others than they are
+pleased to intrust me with. You must believe, however, that I should
+not have given you these hints of my knowing all if I had disapproved
+your choice. On the contrary, I assure you I highly approve it. The
+gentility he wants, it will be easily in your power to procure for
+him; and as for his good qualities, I will myself be bound for them;
+and I make not the least doubt, as you have owned to me yourself that
+you have placed your affections on him, you will be one of the
+happiest women in the world."
+
+"Upon my honour," cries Mrs. Ellison very gravely, "I do not
+understand one word of what you mean."
+
+"Upon my honour, you astonish me," said Amelia; "but I have done."
+
+"Nay then," said the other, "I insist upon knowing what you mean."
+
+"Why, what can I mean," answered Amelia, "but your marriage with
+serjeant Atkinson?"
+
+"With serjeant Atkinson!" cries Mrs. Ellison eagerly, "my marriage
+with a serjeant!"
+
+"Well, with Mr. Atkinson, then, Captain Atkinson, if you please; for
+so I hope to see him."
+
+"And have you really no better opinion of me," said Mrs. Ellison,
+"than to imagine me capable of such condescension? What have I done,
+dear Mrs. Booth, to deserve so low a place in your esteem? I find
+indeed, as Solomon says, _Women ought to watch the door of their
+lips._ How little did I imagine that a little harmless freedom in
+discourse could persuade any one that I could entertain a serious
+intention of disgracing my family! for of a very good family am I
+come, I assure you, madam, though I now let lodgings. Few of my
+lodgers, I believe, ever came of a better."
+
+"If I have offended you, madam," said Amelia, "I am very sorry, and
+ask your pardon; but, besides what I heard from yourself, Mr. Booth
+told me--"
+
+"O yes!" answered Mrs. Ellison, "Mr. Booth, I know, is a very good
+friend of mine. Indeed, I know you better than to think it could be
+your own suspicion. I am very much obliged to Mr. Booth truly."
+
+"Nay," cries Amelia, "the serjeant himself is in fault; for Mr. Booth,
+I am positive, only repeated what he had from him."
+
+"Impudent coxcomb!" cries Mrs. Ellison. "I shall know how to keep such
+fellows at a proper distance for the future--I will tell you, dear
+madam, all that happened. When I rose in the morning I found the
+fellow waiting in the entry; and, as you had exprest some regard for
+him as your foster-brother--nay, he is a very genteel fellow, that I
+must own--I scolded my maid for not shewing him into my little back-
+room; and I then asked him to walk into the parlour. Could I have
+imagined he would have construed such little civility into an
+encouragement?"
+
+"Nay, I will have justice done to my poor brother too," said Amelia.
+"I myself have seen you give him much greater encouragement than
+that."
+
+"Well, perhaps I have," said Mrs. Ellison. "I have been always too
+unguarded in my speech, and can't answer for all I have said." She
+then began to change her note, and, with an affected laugh, turned all
+into ridicule; and soon afterwards the two ladies separated, both in
+apparent good humour; and Amelia went about those domestic offices in
+which Mr. Booth found her engaged at the end of the preceding chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_Containing a very extraordinary incident._
+
+
+In the afternoon Mr. Booth, with Amelia and her children, went to
+refresh themselves in the Park. The conversation now turned on what
+past in the morning with Mrs. Ellison, the latter part of the
+dialogue, I mean, recorded in the last chapter. Amelia told her
+husband that Mrs. Ellison so strongly denied all intentions to marry
+the serjeant, that she had convinced her the poor fellow was under an
+error, and had mistaken a little too much levity for serious
+encouragement; and concluded by desiring Booth not to jest with her
+any more on that subject.
+
+Booth burst into a laugh at what his wife said. "My dear creature,"
+said he, "how easily is thy honesty and simplicity to be imposed on!
+how little dost thou guess at the art and falsehood of women! I knew a
+young lady who, against her father's consent, was married to a brother
+officer of mine; and, as I often used to walk with her (for I knew her
+father intimately well), she would of her own accord take frequent
+occasions to ridicule and vilify her husband (for so he was at the
+time), and exprest great wonder and indignation at the report which
+she allowed to prevail that she should condescend ever to look at such
+a fellow with any other design than of laughing at and despising him.
+The marriage afterwards became publicly owned, and the lady was
+reputably brought to bed. Since which I have often seen her; nor hath
+she ever appeared to be in the least ashamed of what she had formerly
+said, though, indeed, I believe she hates me heartily for having heard
+it."
+
+"But for what reason," cries Amelia, "should she deny a fact, when she
+must be so certain of our discovering it, and that immediately?"
+
+"I can't answer what end she may propose," said Booth. "Sometimes one
+would be almost persuaded that there was a pleasure in lying itself.
+But this I am certain, that I would believe the honest serjeant on his
+bare word sooner than I would fifty Mrs. Ellisons on oath. I am
+convinced he would not have said what he did to me without the
+strongest encouragement; and, I think, after what we have been both
+witnesses to, it requires no great confidence in his veracity to give
+him an unlimited credit with regard to the lady's behaviour."
+
+To this Amelia made no reply; and they discoursed of other matters
+during the remainder of a very pleasant walk.
+
+When they returned home Amelia was surprized to find an appearance of
+disorder in her apartment. Several of the trinkets which his lordship
+had given the children lay about the room; and a suit of her own
+cloaths, which she had left in her drawers, was now displayed upon the
+bed.
+
+She immediately summoned her little girl up-stairs, who, as she
+plainly perceived the moment she came up with a candle, had half cried
+her eyes out; for, though the girl had opened the door to them, as it
+was almost dark, she had not taken any notice of this phenomenon in
+her countenance.
+
+The girl now fell down upon her knees and cried, "For Heaven's sake,
+madam, do not be angry with me. Indeed, I was left alone in the house;
+and, hearing somebody knock at the door, I opened it--I am sure
+thinking no harm. I did not know but it might have been you, or my
+master, or Madam Ellison; and immediately as I did, the rogue burst in
+and ran directly up-stairs, and what he hath robbed you of I cannot
+tell; but I am sure I could not help it, for he was a great swinging
+man with a pistol in each hand; and, if I had dared to call out, to be
+sure he would have killed me. I am sure I was never in such a fright
+in my born days, whereof I am hardly come to myself yet. I believe he
+is somewhere about the house yet, for I never saw him go out."
+
+Amelia discovered some little alarm at this narrative, but much less
+than many other ladies would have shewn, for a fright is, I believe,
+sometimes laid hold of as an opportunity of disclosing several charms
+peculiar to that occasion. And which, as Mr. Addison says of certain
+virtues,
+
+     Shun the day, and lie conceal'd
+     In the smooth seasons and the calms of life.
+
+Booth, having opened the window, and summoned in two chairmen to his
+assistance, proceeded to search the house; but all to no purpose; the
+thief was flown, though the poor girl, in her state of terror, had not
+seen him escape.
+
+But now a circumstance appeared which greatly surprized both Booth and
+Amelia; indeed, I believe it will have the same effect on the reader;
+and this was, that the thief had taken nothing with him. He had,
+indeed, tumbled over all Booth's and Amelia's cloaths and the
+children's toys, but had left all behind him.
+
+Amelia was scarce more pleased than astonished at this discovery, and
+re-examined the girl, assuring her of an absolute pardon if she
+confessed the truth, but grievously threatening her if she was found
+guilty of the least falsehood. "As for a thief, child," says she,
+"that is certainly not true; you have had somebody with you to whom
+you have been shewing the things; therefore tell me plainly who it
+was."
+
+The girl protested in the solemnest manner that she knew not the
+person; but as to some circumstances she began to vary a little from
+her first account, particularly as to the pistols, concerning which,
+being strictly examined by Booth, she at last cried--"To be sure, sir,
+he must have had pistols about him." And instead of persisting in his
+having rushed in upon her, she now confessed that he had asked at the
+door for her master and mistress; and that at his desire she had shewn
+him up-stairs, where he at first said he would stay till their return
+home; "but, indeed," cried she, "I thought no harm, for he looked like
+a gentleman-like sort of man. And, indeed, so I thought he was for a
+good while, whereof he sat down and behaved himself very civilly, till
+he saw some of master's and miss's things upon the chest of drawers;
+whereof he cried, 'Hey-day! what's here?' and then he fell to tumbling
+about the things like any mad. Then I thinks, thinks I to myself, to
+be sure he is a highwayman, whereof I did not dare speak to him; for I
+knew Madam Ellison and her maid was gone out, and what could such a
+poor girl as I do against a great strong man? and besides, thinks I,
+to be sure he hath got pistols about him, though I can't indeed, (that
+I will not do for the world) take my Bible-oath that I saw any; yet to
+be sure he would have soon pulled them out and shot me dead if I had
+ventured to have said anything to offend him."
+
+"I know not what to make of this," cries Booth. "The poor girl, I
+verily believe, speaks to the best of her knowledge. A thief it could
+not be, for he hath not taken the least thing; and it is plain he had
+the girl's watch in his hand. If it had been a bailiff, surely he
+would have staid till our return. I can conceive no other from the
+girl's account than that it must have been some madman."
+
+"O good sir!" said the girl, "now you mention it, if he was not a
+thief, to be sure he must have been a madman: for indeed he looked,
+and behaved himself too, very much like a madman; for, now I remember
+it, he talked to himself and said many strange kind of words that I
+did not understand. Indeed, he looked altogether as I have seen people
+in Bedlam; besides, if he was not a madman, what good could it do him
+to throw the things all about the room in such a manner? and he said
+something too about my master just before he went down-stairs. I was
+in such a fright I cannot remember particularly, but I am sure they
+were very ill words; he said he would do for him--I am sure he said
+that, and other wicked bad words too, if I could but think of them."
+
+"Upon my word," said Booth, "this is the most probable conjecture; but
+still I am puzzled to conceive who it should be, for I have no madman
+to my knowledge of my acquaintance, and it seems, as the girl says, he
+asked for me." He then turned to the child, and asked her if she was
+certain of that circumstance.
+
+The poor maid, after a little hesitation, answered, "Indeed, sir, I
+cannot be very positive; for the fright he threw me into afterwards
+drove everything almost out of my mind."
+
+"Well, whatever he was," cries Amelia, "I am glad the consequence is
+no worse; but let this be a warning to you, little Betty, and teach
+you to take more care for the future. If ever you should be left alone
+in the house again, be sure to let no persons in without first looking
+out at the window and seeing who they are. I promised not to chide you
+any more on this occasion, and I will keep my word; but it is very
+plain you desired this person to walk up into our apartment, which was
+very wrong in our absence."
+
+Betty was going to answer, but Amelia would not let her, saying,
+"Don't attempt to excuse yourself; for I mortally hate a liar, and can
+forgive any fault sooner than falsehood."
+
+The poor girl then submitted; and now Amelia, with her assistance,
+began to replace all things in their order; and little Emily hugging
+her watch with great fondness, declared she would never part with it
+any more.
+
+Thus ended this odd adventure, not entirely to the satisfaction of
+Booth; for, besides his curiosity, which, when thoroughly roused, is a
+very troublesome passion, he had, as is I believe usual with all
+persons in his circumstances, several doubts and apprehensions of he
+knew not what. Indeed, fear is never more uneasy than when it doth not
+certainly know its object; for on such occasions the mind is ever
+employed in raising a thousand bugbears and fantoms, much more
+dreadful than any realities, and, like children when they tell tales
+of hobgoblins, seems industrious in terrifying itself.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_Containing some matters not very unnatural._
+
+
+Matters were scarce sooner reduced into order and decency than a
+violent knocking was heard at the door, such indeed as would have
+persuaded any one not accustomed to the sound that the madman was
+returned in the highest spring-tide of his fury.
+
+Instead, however, of so disagreeable an appearance, a very fine lady
+presently came into the room, no other, indeed, than Mrs. James
+herself; for she was resolved to shew Amelia, by the speedy return of
+her visit, how unjust all her accusation had been of any failure in
+the duties of friendship; she had, moreover, another reason to
+accelerate this visit, and that was, to congratulate her friend on the
+event of the duel between Colonel Bath and Mr. Booth.
+
+The lady had so well profited by Mrs. Booth's remonstrance, that she
+had now no more of that stiffness and formality which she had worn on
+a former occasion. On the contrary, she now behaved with the utmost
+freedom and good-humour, and made herself so very agreeable, that
+Amelia was highly pleased and delighted with her company.
+
+An incident happened during this visit, that may appear to some too
+inconsiderable in itself to be recorded; and yet, as it certainly
+produced a very strong consequence in the mind of Mr. Booth, we cannot
+prevail on ourselves to pass it by.
+
+Little Emily, who was present in the room while Mrs. James was there,
+as she stood near that lady happened to be playing with her watch,
+which she was so greatly overjoyed had escaped safe from the madman.
+Mrs. James, who exprest great fondness for the child, desired to see
+the watch, which she commended as the prettiest of the kind she had
+ever seen.
+
+Amelia caught eager hold of this opportunity to spread the praises of
+her benefactor. She presently acquainted Mrs. James with the donor's
+name, and ran on with great encomiums on his lordship's goodness, and
+particularly on his generosity. To which Mrs. James answered, "O!
+certainly, madam, his lordship hath universally the character of being
+extremely generous-where he likes."
+
+In uttering these words she laid a very strong emphasis on the three
+last monosyllables, accompanying them at the same time with a very
+sagacious look, a very significant leer, and a great flirt with her
+fan.
+
+The greatest genius the world hath ever produced observes, in one of
+his most excellent plays, that
+
+     Trifles, light as air,
+     Are to the jealous confirmations strong
+     As proofs of holy writ.
+
+That Mr. Booth began to be possessed by this worst of fiends, admits,
+I think, no longer doubt; for at this speech of Mrs. James he
+immediately turned pale, and, from a high degree of chearfulness, was
+all on a sudden struck dumb, so that he spoke not another word till
+Mrs. James left the room.
+
+The moment that lady drove from the door Mrs. Ellison came up-stairs.
+She entered the room with a laugh, and very plentifully rallied both
+Booth and Amelia concerning the madman, of which she had received a
+full account below-stairs; and at last asked Amelia if she could not
+guess who it was; but, without receiving an answer, went on, saying,
+"For my own part, I fancy it must be some lover of yours! some person
+that hath seen you, and so is run mad with love. Indeed, I should not
+wonder if all mankind were to do the same. La! Mr. Booth, what makes
+you grave? why, you are as melancholy as if you had been robbed in
+earnest. Upon my word, though, to be serious, it is a strange story,
+and, as the girl tells it, I know not what to make of it. Perhaps it
+might be some rogue that intended to rob the house, and his heart
+failed him; yet even that would be very extraordinary. What, did you
+lose nothing, madam?"
+
+"Nothing at all," answered Amelia. "He did not even take the child's
+watch."
+
+"Well, captain," cries Mrs. Ellison, "I hope you will take more care
+of the house to-morrow; for your lady and I shall leave you alone to
+the care of it. Here, madam," said she, "here is a present from my
+lord to us; here are two tickets for the masquerade at Ranelagh. You
+will be so charmed with it! It is the sweetest of all diversions."
+
+"May I be damned, madam," cries Booth, "if my wife shall go thither."
+
+Mrs. Ellison stared at these words, and, indeed, so did Amelia; for
+they were spoke with great vehemence. At length the former cried out
+with an air of astonishment, "Not let your lady go to Ranelagh, sir?"
+
+"No, madam," cries Booth, "I will not let my wife go to Ranelagh."
+
+"You surprize me!" cries Mrs. Ellison. "Sure, you are not in earnest?"
+
+"Indeed, madam," returned he, "I am seriously in earnest. And, what is
+more, I am convinced she would of her own accord refuse to go."
+
+"Now, madam," said Mrs. Ellison, "you are to answer for yourself: and
+I will for your husband, that, if you have a desire to go, he will not
+refuse you."
+
+"I hope, madam," answered Amelia with great gravity, "I shall never
+desire to go to any place contrary to Mr. Booth's inclinations."
+
+"Did ever mortal hear the like?" said Mrs. Ellison; "you are enough to
+spoil the best husband in the universe. Inclinations! what, is a woman
+to be governed then by her husband's inclinations, though they are
+never so unreasonable?"
+
+"Pardon me, madam," said Amelia; "I will not suppose Mr. Booth's
+inclinations ever can be unreasonable. I am very much obliged to you
+for the offer you have made me; but I beg you will not mention it any
+more; for, after what Mr. Booth hath declared, if Ranelagh was a
+heaven upon earth, I would refuse to go to it."
+
+"I thank you, my dear," cries Booth; "I do assure you, you oblige me
+beyond my power of expression by what you say; but I will endeavour to
+shew you, both my sensibility of such goodness, and my lasting
+gratitude to it."
+
+"And pray, sir," cries Mrs. Ellison, "what can be your objection to
+your lady's going to a place which, I will venture to say, is as
+reputable as any about town, and which is frequented by the best
+company?"
+
+"Pardon me, good Mrs. Ellison," said Booth: "as my wife is so good to
+acquiesce without knowing my reasons, I am not, I think, obliged to
+assign them to any other person."
+
+"Well," cries Mrs. Ellison, "if I had been told this, I would not have
+believed it. What, refuse your lady an innocent diversion, and that
+too when you have not the pretence to say it would cost you a
+farthing?"
+
+"Why will you say any more on this subject, dear madam?" cries Amelia.
+"All diversions are to me matters of such indifference, that the bare
+inclinations of any one for whom I have the least value would at all
+times turn the balance of mine. I am sure then, after what Mr. Booth
+hath said--"
+
+"My dear," cries he, taking her up hastily, "I sincerely ask your
+pardon; I spoke inadvertently, and in a passion. I never once thought
+of controuling you, nor ever would. Nay, I said in the same breath you
+would not go; and, upon my honour, I meant nothing more."
+
+"My dear," said she, "you have no need of making any apology. I am not
+in the least offended, and am convinced you will never deny me what I
+shall desire."
+
+"Try him, try him, madam," cries Mrs. Ellison; "I will be judged by
+all the women in town if it is possible for a wife to ask her husband
+anything more reasonable. You can't conceive what a sweet, charming,
+elegant, delicious place it is. Paradise itself can hardly be equal to
+it."
+
+"I beg you will excuse me, madam," said Amelia; "nay, I entreat you
+will ask me no more; for be assured I must and will refuse. Do let me
+desire you to give the ticket to poor Mrs. Bennet. I believe it would
+greatly oblige her."
+
+"Pardon me, madam," said Mrs. Ellison; "if you will not accept of it,
+I am not so distressed for want of company as to go to such a public
+place with all sort of people neither. I am always very glad to see
+Mrs. Bennet at my own house, because I look upon her as a very good
+sort of woman; but I don't chuse to be seen with such people in public
+places."
+
+Amelia exprest some little indignation at this last speech, which she
+declared to be entirely beyond her comprehension; and soon after, Mrs.
+Ellison, finding all her efforts to prevail on Amelia were
+ineffectual, took her leave, giving Mr. Booth two or three sarcastical
+words, and a much more sarcastical look, at her departure.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_A scene in which some ladies will possibly think Amelia's conduct
+exceptionable._
+
+
+Booth and his wife being left alone, a solemn silence prevailed during
+a few minutes. At last Amelia, who, though a good, was yet a human
+creatures said to her husband, "Pray, my dear, do inform me what could
+put you into so great a passion when Mrs. Ellison first offered me the
+tickets for this masquerade?"
+
+"I had rather you would not ask me," said Booth. "You have obliged me
+greatly in your ready acquiescence with my desire, and you will add
+greatly to the obligation by not enquiring the reason of it. This you
+may depend upon, Amelia, that your good and happiness are the great
+objects of all my wishes, and the end I propose in all my actions.
+This view alone could tempt me to refuse you anything, or to conceal
+anything from you."
+
+"I will appeal to yourself," answered she, "whether this be not using
+me too much like a child, and whether I can possibly help being a
+little offended at it?"
+
+"Not in the least," replied he; "I use you only with the tenderness of
+a friend. I would only endeavour to conceal that from you which I
+think would give you uneasiness if you knew. These are called the
+pious frauds of friendship."
+
+"I detest all fraud," says she; "and pious is too good an epithet to
+be joined to so odious a word. You have often, you know, tried these
+frauds with no better effect than to teize and torment me. You cannot
+imagine, my dear, but that I must have a violent desire to know the
+reason of words which I own I never expected to have heard. And the
+more you have shown a reluctance to tell me, the more eagerly I have
+longed to know. Nor can this be called a vain curiosity, since I seem
+so much interested in this affair. If after all this, you still insist
+on keeping the secret, I will convince you I am not ignorant of the
+duty of a wife by my obedience; but I cannot help telling you at the
+same time you will make me one of the most miserable of women."
+
+"That is," cries he, "in other words, my dear Emily, to say, I will be
+contented without the secret, but I am resolved to know it,
+nevertheless."
+
+"Nay, if you say so," cries she, "I am convinced you will tell me.
+Positively, dear Billy, I must and will know."
+
+"Why, then, positively," says Booth, "I will tell you. And I think I
+shall then shew you that, however well you may know the duty of a
+wife, I am not always able to behave like a husband. In a word then,
+my dear, the secret is no more than this; I am unwilling you should
+receive any more presents from my lord."
+
+"Mercy upon me!" cries she, with all the marks of astonishment; "what!
+a masquerade ticket!"--
+
+"Yes, my dear," cries he; "that is, perhaps, the very worst and most
+dangerous of all. Few men make presents of those tickets to ladies
+without intending to meet them at the place. And what do we know of
+your companion? To be sincere with you, I have not liked her behaviour
+for some time. What might be the consequence of going with such a
+woman to such a place, to meet such a person, I tremble to think. And
+now, my dear, I have told you my reason of refusing her offer with
+some little vehemence, and I think I need explain myself no farther."
+
+"You need not, indeed, sir," answered she. "Good Heavens! did I ever
+expect to hear this? I can appeal to heaven, nay, I will appeal to
+yourself, Mr. Booth, if I have ever done anything to deserve such a
+suspicion. If ever any action of mine, nay, if ever any thought, had
+stained the innocence of my soul, I could be contented."
+
+"How cruelly do you mistake me!" said Booth. "What suspicion have I
+ever shewn?"
+
+"Can you ask it," answered she, "after what you have just now
+declared?"
+
+"If I have declared any suspicion of you," replied he, "or if ever I
+entertained a thought leading that way, may the worst of evils that
+ever afflicted human nature attend me! I know the pure innocence of
+that tender bosom, I do know it, my lovely angel, and adore it. The
+snares which might be laid for that innocence were alone the cause of
+my apprehension. I feared what a wicked and voluptuous man, resolved
+to sacrifice everything to the gratification of a sensual appetite
+with the most delicious repast, might attempt. If ever I injured the
+unspotted whiteness of thy virtue in my imagination, may hell---"
+
+"Do not terrify me," cries she, interrupting him, "with such
+imprecations. O, Mr. Booth! Mr. Booth! you must well know that a
+woman's virtue is always her sufficient guard. No husband, without
+suspecting that, can suspect any danger from those snares you mention;
+and why, if you are liable to take such things into your head, may not
+your suspicions fall on me as well as on any other? for sure nothing
+was ever more unjust, I will not say ungrateful, than the suspicions
+which you have bestowed on his lordship. I do solemnly declare, in all
+the times I have seen the poor man, he hath never once offered the
+least forwardness. His behaviour hath been polite indeed, but rather
+remarkably distant than otherwise. Particularly when we played at
+cards together. I don't remember he spoke ten words to me all the
+evening; and when I was at his house, though he shewed the greatest
+fondness imaginable to the children, he took so little notice of me,
+that a vain woman would have been very little pleased with him. And if
+he gave them many presents, he never offered me one. The first,
+indeed, which he ever offered me was that which you in that kind
+manner forced me to refuse."
+
+"All this may be only the effect of art," said Booth. "I am convinced
+he doth, nay, I am convinced he must like you; and my good friend
+James, who perfectly well knows the world, told me, that his
+lordship's character was that of the most profuse in his pleasures
+with women; nay, what said Mrs. James this very evening? 'His lordship
+is extremely generous--where he likes.' I shall never forget the sneer
+with which she spoke those last words."
+
+"I am convinced they injure him," cries Amelia. "As for Mrs. James,
+she was always given to be censorious; I remarked it in her long ago,
+as her greatest fault. And for the colonel, I believe he may find
+faults enow of this kind in his own bosom, without searching after
+them among his neighbours. I am sure he hath the most impudent look of
+all the men I know; and I solemnly declare, the very last time he was
+here he put me out of countenance more than once."
+
+"Colonel James," answered Booth, "may have his faults very probably. I
+do not look upon him as a saint, nor do I believe he desires I should;
+but what interest could he have in abusing this lord's character to
+me? or why should I question his truth, when he assured me that my
+lord had never done an act of beneficence in his life but for the sake
+of some woman whom he lusted after?"
+
+"Then I myself can confute him," replied Amelia: "for, besides his
+services to you, which, for the future, I shall wish to forget, and
+his kindness to my little babes, how inconsistent is the character
+which James gives of him with his lordship's behaviour to his own
+nephew and niece, whose extreme fondness of their uncle sufficiently
+proclaims his goodness to them? I need not mention all that I have
+heard from Mrs. Ellison, every word of which I believe; for I have
+great reason to think, notwithstanding some little levity, which, to
+give her her due, she sees and condemns in herself, she is a very good
+sort of woman."
+
+"Well, my dear," cries Booth, "I may have been deceived, and I
+heartily hope I am so; but in cases of this nature it is always good
+to be on the surest side; for, as Congreve says,
+
+              'The wise too jealous are: fools too secure.'"
+
+Here Amelia burst into tears, upon which Booth immediately caught her
+in his arms, and endeavoured to comfort her. Passion, however, for a
+while obstructed her speech, and at last she cried, "O, Mr. Booth! can
+I bear to hear the word jealousy from your mouth?"
+
+"Why, my love," said Booth, "will you so fatally misunderstand my
+meaning? how often shall I protest that it is not of you, but of him,
+that I was jealous? If you could look into my breast, and there read
+all the most secret thoughts of my heart, you would not see one faint
+idea to your dishonour."
+
+"I don't misunderstand you, my dear," said she, "so much as I am
+afraid you misunderstand yourself. What is it you fear?--you mention
+not force, but snares. Is not this to confess, at least, that you have
+some doubt of my understanding? do you then really imagine me so weak
+as to be cheated of my virtue?--am I to be deceived into an affection
+for a man before I perceive the least inward hint of my danger? No,
+Mr. Booth, believe me, a woman must be a fool indeed who can have in
+earnest such an excuse for her actions. I have not, I think, any very
+high opinion of my judgment, but so far I shall rely upon it, that no
+man breathing could have any such designs as you have apprehended
+without my immediately seeing them; and how I should then act I hope
+my whole conduct to you hath sufficiently declared."
+
+"Well, my dear," cries Booth, "I beg you will mention it no more; if
+possible, forget it. I hope, nay, I believe, I have been in the wrong;
+pray forgive me."
+
+"I will, I do forgive you, my dear," said she, "if forgiveness be a
+proper word for one whom you have rather made miserable than angry;
+but let me entreat you to banish for ever all such suspicions from
+your mind. I hope Mrs. Ellison hath not discovered the real cause of
+your passion; but, poor woman, if she had, I am convinced it would go
+no farther. Oh, Heavens! I would not for the world it should reach his
+lordship's ears. You would lose the best friend that ever man had.
+Nay, I would not for his own sake, poor man; for I really believe it
+would affect him greatly, and I must, I cannot help having an esteem
+for so much goodness. An esteem which, by this dear hand," said she,
+taking Booth's hand and kissing it, "no man alive shall ever obtain by
+making love to me."
+
+Booth caught her in his arms and tenderly embraced her. After which
+the reconciliation soon became complete; and Booth, in the
+contemplation of his happiness, entirely buried all his jealous
+thoughts.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_A chapter in which there is much learning._
+
+
+The next morning, whilst Booth was gone to take his morning walk,
+Amelia went down into Mrs. Ellison's apartment, where, though she was
+received with great civility, yet she found that lady was not at all
+pleased with Mr. Booth; and, by some hints which dropt from her in
+conversation, Amelia very greatly apprehended that Mrs. Ellison had
+too much suspicion of her husband's real uneasiness; for that lady
+declared very openly she could not help perceiving what sort of man
+Mr. Booth was: "And though I have the greatest regard for you, madam,
+in the world," said she, "yet I think myself in honour obliged not to
+impose on his lordship, who, I know very well, hath conceived his
+greatest liking to the captain on my telling him that he was the best
+husband in the world."
+
+Amelia's fears gave her much disturbance, and when her husband
+returned she acquainted him with them; upon which occasion, as it was
+natural, she resumed a little the topic of their former discourse, nor
+could she help casting, though in very gentle terms, some slight blame
+on Booth for having entertained a suspicion which, she said, might in
+its consequence very possibly prove their ruin, and occasion the loss
+of his lordship's friendship.
+
+Booth became highly affected with what his wife said, and the more, as
+he had just received a note from Colonel James, informing him that the
+colonel had heard of a vacant company in the regiment which Booth had
+mentioned to him, and that he had been with his lordship about it, who
+had promised to use his utmost interest to obtain him the command.
+
+The poor man now exprest the utmost concern for his yesterday's
+behaviour, said "he believed the devil had taken possession of him,"
+and concluded with crying out, "Sure I was born, my dearest creature,
+to be your torment."
+
+Amelia no sooner saw her husband's distress than she instantly forbore
+whatever might seem likely to aggravate it, and applied herself, with
+all her power, to comfort him. "If you will give me leave to offer my
+advice, my dearest soul," said she, "I think all might yet be
+remedied. I think you know me too well to suspect that the desire of
+diversion should induce me to mention what I am now going to propose;
+and in that confidence I will ask you to let me accept my lord's and
+Mrs. Ellison's offer, and go to the masquerade. No matter how little
+while I stay there; if you desire it I will not be an hour from you. I
+can make an hundred excuses to come home, or tell a real truth, and
+say I am tired with the place. The bare going will cure everything."
+
+Amelia had no sooner done speaking than Booth immediately approved her
+advice, and readily gave his consent. He could not, however, help
+saying, that the shorter her stay was there, the more agreeable it
+would be to him; "for you know, my dear," said he, "I would never
+willingly be a moment out of your sight."
+
+In the afternoon Amelia sent to invite Mrs. Ellison to a dish of tea;
+and Booth undertook to laugh off all that had passed yesterday, in
+which attempt the abundant good humour of that lady gave him great
+hopes of success.
+
+Mrs. Bennet came that afternoon to make a visit, and was almost an
+hour with Booth and Amelia before the entry of Mrs. Ellison.
+
+Mr. Booth had hitherto rather disliked this young lady, and had
+wondered at the pleasure which Amelia declared she took in her
+company. This afternoon, however, he changed his opinion, and liked
+her almost as much as his wife had done. She did indeed behave at this
+time with more than ordinary gaiety; and good humour gave a glow to
+her countenance that set off her features, which were very pretty, to
+the best advantage, and lessened the deadness that had usually
+appeared in her complexion.
+
+But if Booth was now pleased with Mrs. Bennet, Amelia was still more
+pleased with her than ever. For, when their discourse turned on love,
+Amelia discovered that her new friend had all the same sentiments on
+that subject with herself. In the course of their conversation Booth
+gave Mrs. Bennet a hint of wishing her a good husband, upon which both
+the ladies declaimed against second marriages with equal vehemence.
+
+Upon this occasion Booth and his wife discovered a talent in their
+visitant to which they had been before entirely strangers, and for
+which they both greatly admired her, and this was, that the lady was a
+good scholar, in which, indeed, she had the advantage of poor Amelia,
+whose reading was confined to English plays and poetry; besides which,
+I think she had conversed only with the divinity of the great and
+learned Dr Barrow, and with the histories of the excellent Bishop
+Burnet.
+
+Amelia delivered herself on the subject of second marriages with much
+eloquence and great good sense; but when Mrs. Bennet came to give her
+opinion she spoke in the following manner: "I shall not enter into the
+question concerning the legality of bigamy. Our laws certainly allow
+it, and so, I think, doth our religion. We are now debating only on
+the decency of it, and in this light I own myself as strenuous an
+advocate against it as any Roman matron would have been in those ages
+of the commonwealth when it was held to be infamous. For my own part,
+how great a paradox soever my opinion may seem, I solemnly declare, I
+see but little difference between having two husbands at one time and
+at several times; and of this I am very confident, that the same
+degree of love for a first husband which preserves a woman in the one
+case will preserve her in the other. There is one argument which I
+scarce know how to deliver before you, sir; but--if a woman hath lived
+with her first husband without having children, I think it
+unpardonable in her to carry barrenness into a second family. On the
+contrary, if she hath children by her first husband, to give them a
+second father is still more unpardonable."
+
+"But suppose, madam," cries Booth, interrupting her with a smile, "she
+should have had children by her first husband, and have lost them?"
+
+"That is a case," answered she, with a sigh, "which I did not desire
+to think of, and I must own it the most favourable light in which a
+second marriage can be seen. But the Scriptures, as Petrarch observes,
+rather suffer them than commend them; and St Jerom speaks against them
+with the utmost bitterness."--"I remember," cries Booth (who was
+willing either to shew his learning, or to draw out the lady's), "a
+very wise law of Charondas, the famous lawgiver of Thurium, by which
+men who married a second time were removed from all public councils;
+for it was scarce reasonable to suppose that he who was so great a
+fool in his own family should be wise in public affairs. And though
+second marriages were permitted among the Romans, yet they were at the
+same time discouraged, and those Roman widows who refused them were
+held in high esteem, and honoured with what Valerius Maximus calls the
+Corona Pudicitiae. In the noble family of Camilli there was not, in
+many ages, a single instance of this, which Martial calls adultery:
+
+    _Quae toties nubit, non nubit; adultera lege est."_
+
+"True, sir," says Mrs. Bennet, "and Virgil calls this a violation of
+chastity, and makes Dido speak of it with the utmost detestation:
+
+     _Sed mihi vel Tellus optem prius ima dehiscat
+     Vel Pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,
+     Pallentes umbras Erebi, noctemque profundam,
+     Ante, fudor, quam te violo, aut tua jura resolvo.
+     Ille meos, primum qui me sibi junxit, amores,
+     Ille habeat semper secum, servetque Sepulchro."_
+
+She repeated these lines with so strong an emphasis, that she almost
+frightened Amelia out of her wits, and not a little staggered Booth,
+who was himself no contemptible scholar. He expressed great admiration
+of the lady's learning; upon which she said it was all the fortune
+given her by her father, and all the dower left her by her husband;
+"and sometimes," said she, "I am inclined to think I enjoy more
+pleasure from it than if they had bestowed on me what the world would
+in general call more valuable."--She then took occasion, from the
+surprize which Booth had affected to conceive at her repeating Latin
+with so good a grace, to comment on that great absurdity (for so she
+termed it) of excluding women from learning; for which they were
+equally qualified with the men, and in which so many had made so
+notable a proficiency; for a proof of which she mentioned Madam
+Dacier, and many others.
+
+Though both Booth and Amelia outwardly concurred with her sentiments,
+it may be a question whether they did not assent rather out of
+complaisance than from their real judgment.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_Containing some unaccountable behaviour in Mrs. Ellison._
+
+
+Mrs. Ellison made her entrance at the end of the preceding discourse.
+At her first appearance she put on an unusual degree of formality and
+reserve; but when Amelia had acquainted her that she designed to
+accept the favour intended her, she soon began to alter the gravity of
+her muscles, and presently fell in with that ridicule which Booth
+thought proper to throw on his yesterday's behaviour.
+
+The conversation now became very lively and pleasant, in which Booth
+having mentioned the discourse that passed in the last chapter, and
+having greatly complimented Mrs. Bennet's speech on that occasion,
+Mrs. Ellison, who was as strenuous an advocate on the other side,
+began to rally that lady extremely, declaring it was a certain sign
+she intended to marry again soon. "Married ladies," cries she, "I
+believe, sometimes think themselves in earnest in such declarations,
+though they are oftener perhaps meant as compliments to their
+husbands; but, when widows exclaim loudly against second marriages, I
+would always lay a wager that the man, if not the wedding-day, is
+absolutely fixed on."
+
+Mrs. Bennet made very little answer to this sarcasm. Indeed, she had
+scarce opened her lips from the time of Mrs. Ellison's coming into the
+room, and had grown particularly grave at the mention of the
+masquerade. Amelia imputed this to her being left out of the party, a
+matter which is often no small mortification to human pride, and in a
+whisper asked Mrs. Ellison if she could not procure a third ticket, to
+which she received an absolute negative.
+
+During the whole time of Mrs. Bennet's stay, which was above an hour
+afterwards, she remained perfectly silent, and looked extremely
+melancholy. This made Amelia very uneasy, as she concluded she had
+guessed the cause of her vexation. In which opinion she was the more
+confirmed from certain looks of no very pleasant kind which Mrs.
+Bennet now and then cast on Mrs. Ellison, and the more than ordinary
+concern that appeared in the former lady's countenance whenever the
+masquerade was mentioned, and which; unfortunately, was the principal
+topic of their discourse; for Mrs. Ellison gave a very elaborate
+description of the extreme beauty of the place and elegance of the
+diversion.
+
+When Mrs. Bennet was departed, Amelia could not help again soliciting
+Mrs. Ellison for another ticket, declaring she was certain Mrs. Bennet
+had a great inclination to go with them; but Mrs. Ellison again
+excused herself from asking it of his lordship. "Besides, madam," says
+she, "if I would go thither with Mrs. Bennet, which, I own to you, I
+don't chuse, as she is a person whom _nobody knows_, I very much
+doubt whether she herself would like it; for she is a woman of a very
+unaccountable turn. All her delight lies in books; and as for public
+diversions, I have heard her often declare her abhorrence of them."
+
+"What then," said Amelia, "could occasion all that gravity from the
+moment the masquerade was mentioned?"
+
+"As to that," answered the other, "there is no guessing. You have seen
+her altogether as grave before now. She hath had these fits of gravity
+at times ever since the death of her husband."
+
+"Poor creature!" cries Amelia; "I heartily pity her, for she must
+certainly suffer a great deal on these occasions. I declare I have
+taken a strange fancy to her."
+
+"Perhaps you would not like her so well if you knew her thoroughly,"
+answered Mrs. Ellison.--"She is, upon the whole, but of a whimsical
+temper; and, if you will take my opinion, you should not cultivate too
+much intimacy with her. I know you will never mention what I say; but
+she is like some pictures, which please best at a distance."
+
+Amelia did not seem to agree with these sentiments, and she greatly
+importuned Mrs. Ellison to be more explicit, but to no purpose; she
+continued to give only dark hints to Mrs. Bennet's disadvantage; and,
+if ever she let drop something a little too harsh, she failed not
+immediately to contradict herself by throwing some gentle
+commendations into the other scale; so that her conduct appeared
+utterly unaccountable to Amelia, and, upon the whole, she knew not
+whether to conclude Mrs. Ellison to be a friend or enemy to Mrs.
+Bennet.
+
+During this latter conversation Booth was not in the room, for he had
+been summoned down-stairs by the serjeant, who came to him with news
+from Murphy, whom he had met that evening, and who assured the
+serjeant that, if he was desirous of recovering the debt which he had
+before pretended to have on Booth, he might shortly have an
+opportunity, for that there was to be a very strong petition to the
+board the next time they sat. Murphy said further that he need not
+fear having his money, for that, to his certain knowledge, the captain
+had several things of great value, and even his children had gold
+watches.
+
+This greatly alarmed Booth, and still more when the serjeant reported
+to him, from Murphy, that all these things had been seen in his
+possession within a day last past. He now plainly perceived, as he
+thought, that Murphy himself, or one of his emissaries, had been the
+supposed madman; and he now very well accounted to himself, in his own
+mind, for all that had happened, conceiving that the design was to
+examine into the state of his effects, and to try whether it was worth
+his creditors' while to plunder him by law.
+
+At his return to his apartment he communicated what he had heard to
+Amelia and Mrs. Ellison, not disguising his apprehensions of the
+enemy's intentions; but Mrs. Ellison endeavoured to laugh him out of
+his fears, calling him faint-hearted, and assuring him he might depend
+on her lawyer. "Till you hear from him," said she, "you may rest
+entirely contented: for, take my word for it, no danger can happen to
+you of which you will not be timely apprized by him. And as for the
+fellow that had the impudence to come into your room, if he was sent
+on such an errand as you mention, I heartily wish I had been at home;
+I would have secured him safe with a constable, and have carried him
+directly before justice Thresher. I know the justice is an enemy to
+bailiffs on his own account."
+
+This heartening speech a little roused the courage of Booth, and
+somewhat comforted Amelia, though the spirits of both had been too
+much hurried to suffer them either to give or receive much
+entertainment that evening; which Mrs. Ellison perceiving soon took
+her leave, and left this unhappy couple to seek relief from sleep,
+that powerful friend to the distrest, though, like other powerful
+friends, he is not always ready to give his assistance to those who
+want it most.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_Containing a very strange incident._
+
+
+When the husband and wife were alone they again talked over the news
+which the serjeant had brought; on which occasion Amelia did all she
+could to conceal her own fears, and to quiet those of her husband. At
+last she turned the conversation to another subject, and poor Mrs.
+Bennet was brought on the carpet. "I should be sorry," cries Amelia,
+"to find I had conceived an affection for a bad woman; and yet I begin
+to fear Mrs. Ellison knows something of her more than she cares to
+discover; why else should she be unwilling to be seen with her in
+public? Besides, I have observed that Mrs. Ellison hath been always
+backward to introduce her to me, nor would ever bring her to my
+apartment, though I have often desired her. Nay, she hath given me
+frequent hints not to cultivate the acquaintance. What do you think,
+my dear? I should be very sorry to contract an intimacy with a wicked
+person."
+
+"Nay, my dear," cries Booth. "I know no more of her, nor indeed hardly
+so much as yourself. But this I think, that if Mrs. Ellison knows any
+reason why she should not have introduced Mrs. Bennet into your
+company, she was very much in the wrong in introducing her into it."
+
+In discourses of this kind they past the remainder of the evening. In
+the morning Booth rose early, and, going down-stairs, received from
+little Betty a sealed note, which contained the following words:
+
+     Beware, beware, beware;
+     For I apprehend a dreadful snare
+     Is laid for virtuous innocence,
+     Under a friend's false pretence.
+
+Booth immediately enquired of the girl who brought this note? and was
+told it came by a chair-man, who, having delivered it, departed
+without saying a word.
+
+He was extremely staggered at what he read, and presently referred the
+advice to the same affair on which he had received those hints from
+Atkinson the preceding evening; but when he came to consider the words
+more maturely he could not so well reconcile the two last lines of
+this poetical epistle, if it may be so called, with any danger which
+the law gave him reason to apprehend. Mr. Murphy and his gang could
+not well be said to attack either his innocence or virtue; nor did
+they attack him under any colour or pretence of friendship.
+
+After much deliberation on this matter a very strange suspicion came
+into his head; and this was, that he was betrayed by Mrs. Ellison. He
+had, for some time, conceived no very high opinion of that good
+gentlewoman, and he now began to suspect that she was bribed to betray
+him. By this means he thought he could best account for the strange
+appearance of the supposed madman. And when this conceit once had
+birth in his mind, several circumstances nourished and improved it.
+Among these were her jocose behaviour and raillery on that occasion,
+and her attempt to ridicule his fears from the message which the
+serjeant had brought him.
+
+This suspicion was indeed preposterous, and not at all warranted by,
+or even consistent with, the character and whole behaviour of Mrs.
+Ellison, but it was the only one which at that time suggested itself
+to his mind; and, however blameable it might be, it was certainly not
+unnatural in him to entertain it; for so great a torment is anxiety to
+the human mind, that we always endeavour to relieve ourselves from it
+by guesses, however doubtful or uncertain; on all which occasions,
+dislike and hatred are the surest guides to lead our suspicion to its
+object.
+
+When Amelia rose to breakfast, Booth produced the note which he had
+received, saying, "My dear, you have so often blamed me for keeping
+secrets from you, and I have so often, indeed, endeavoured to conceal
+secrets of this kind from you with such ill success, that I think I
+shall never more attempt it." Amelia read the letter hastily, and
+seemed not a little discomposed; then, turning to Booth with a very
+disconsolate countenance, she said, "Sure fortune takes a delight in
+terrifying us! what can be the meaning of this?" Then, fixing her eyes
+attentively on the paper, she perused it for some time, till Booth
+cried, "How is it possible, my Emily, you can read such stuff
+patiently? the verses are certainly as bad as ever were written."--"I
+was trying, my dear," answered she, "to recollect the hand; for I will
+take my oath I have seen it before, and that very lately;" and
+suddenly she cried out, with great emotion, "I remember it perfectly
+now; it is Mrs. Bennet's hand. Mrs. Ellison shewed me a letter from
+her but a day or two ago. It is a very remarkable hand, and I am
+positive it is hers."
+
+"If it be hers," cries Booth, "what can she possibly mean by the
+latter part of her caution? sure Mrs. Ellison hath no intention to
+betray us."
+
+"I know not what she means," answered Amelia, "but I am resolved to
+know immediately, for I am certain of the hand. By the greatest luck
+in the world, she told me yesterday where her lodgings were, when she
+pressed me exceedingly to come and see her. She lives but a very few
+doors from us, and I will go to her this moment."
+
+Booth made not the least objection to his wife's design. His curiosity
+was, indeed, as great as hers, and so was his impatience to satisfy
+it, though he mentioned not this his impatience to Amelia; and perhaps
+it had been well for him if he had.
+
+Amelia, therefore, presently equipped herself in her walking dress,
+and, leaving her children to the care of her husband, made all
+possible haste to Mrs. Bennet's lodgings.
+
+Amelia waited near five minutes at Mrs. Bennet's door before any one
+came to open it; at length a maid servant appeared, who, being asked
+if Mrs. Bennet was at home, answered, with some confusion in her
+countenance, that she did not know; "but, madam," said she, "if you
+will send up your name, I will go and see." Amelia then told her name,
+and the wench, after staying a considerable time, returned and
+acquainted her that Mrs. Bennet was at home. She was then ushered into
+a parlour and told that the lady would wait on her presently.
+
+In this parlour Amelia cooled her heels, as the phrase is, near a
+quarter of an hour. She seemed, indeed, at this time, in the miserable
+situation of one of those poor wretches who make their morning visits
+to the great to solicit favours, or perhaps to solicit the payment of
+a debt, for both are alike treated as beggars, and the latter
+sometimes considered as the more troublesome beggars of the two.
+
+During her stay here, Amelia observed the house to be in great
+confusion; a great bustle was heard above-stairs, and the maid ran up
+and down several times in a great hurry.
+
+At length Mrs. Bennet herself came in. She was greatly disordered in
+her looks, and had, as the women call it, huddled on her cloaths in
+much haste; for, in truth, she was in bed when Amelia first came. Of
+this fact she informed her, as the only apology she could make for
+having caused her to wait so long for her company.
+
+Amelia very readily accepted her apology, but asked her with a smile,
+if these early hours were usual with her? Mrs. Bennet turned as red as
+scarlet at the question, and answered, "No, indeed, dear madam. I am
+for the most part a very early riser; but I happened accidentally to
+sit up very late last night. I am sure I had little expectation of
+your intending me such a favour this morning."
+
+Amelia, looking very steadfastly at her, said, "Is it possible, madam,
+you should think such a note as this would raise no curiosity in me?"
+She then gave her the note, asking her if she did not know the hand.
+
+Mrs. Bennet appeared in the utmost surprize and confusion at this
+instant. Indeed, if Amelia had conceived but the slightest suspicion
+before, the behaviour of the lady would have been a sufficient
+confirmation to her of the truth. She waited not, therefore, for an
+answer, which, indeed, the other seemed in no haste to give, but
+conjured her in the most earnest manner to explain to her the meaning
+of so extraordinary an act of friendship; "for so," said she, "I
+esteem it, being convinced you must have sufficient reason for the
+warning you have given me."
+
+Mrs. Bennet, after some hesitation, answered, "I need not, I believe,
+tell you how much I am surprized at what you have shewn me; and the
+chief reason of my surprize is, how you came to discover my hand.
+Sure, madam, you have not shewn it to Mrs. Ellison?"
+
+Amelia declared she had not, but desired she would question her no
+farther. "What signifies how I discovered it, since your hand it
+certainly is?"
+
+"I own it is," cries Mrs. Bennet, recovering her spirits, "and since
+you have not shewn it to that woman I am satisfied. I begin to guess
+now whence you might have your information; but no matter; I wish I
+had never done anything of which I ought to be more ashamed. No one
+can, I think, justly accuse me of a crime on that account; and I thank
+Heaven my shame will never be directed by the false opinion of the
+world. Perhaps it was wrong to shew my letter, but when I consider all
+circumstances I can forgive it."
+
+"Since you have guessed the truth," said Amelia, "I am not obliged to
+deny it. She, indeed, shewed me your letter, but I am sure you have
+not the least reason to be ashamed of it. On the contrary, your
+behaviour on so melancholy an occasion was highly praiseworthy; and
+your bearing up under such afflictions as the loss of a husband in so
+dreadful a situation was truly great and heroical."
+
+"So Mrs. Ellison then hath shewn you my letter?" cries Mrs. Bennet
+eagerly.
+
+"Why, did not you guess it yourself?" answered Amelia; "otherwise I am
+sure I have betrayed my honour in mentioning it. I hope you have not
+drawn me inadvertently into any breach of my promise. Did you not
+assert, and that with an absolute certainty, that you knew she had
+shewn me your letter, and that you was not angry with her for so
+doing?"
+
+"I am so confused," replied Mrs. Bennet, "that I scarce know what I
+say; yes, yes, I remember I did say so--I wish I had no greater reason
+to be angry with her than that."
+
+"For Heaven's sake," cries Amelia, "do not delay my request any
+longer; what you say now greatly increases my curiosity, and my mind
+will be on the rack till you discover your whole meaning; for I am
+more and more convinced that something of the utmost importance was
+the purport of your message."
+
+"Of the utmost importance, indeed," cries Mrs. Bennet; "at least you
+will own my apprehensions were sufficiently well founded. O gracious
+Heaven! how happy shall I think myself if I should have proved your
+preservation! I will, indeed, explain my meaning; but, in order to
+disclose all my fears in their just colours, I must unfold my whole
+history to you. Can you have patience, madam, to listen to the story
+of the most unfortunate of women?"
+
+Amelia assured her of the highest attention, and Mrs. Bennet soon
+after began to relate what is written in the seventh book of this
+history.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_A very short chapter, and consequently requiring no preface._
+
+
+Mrs. Bennet having fastened the door, and both the ladies having taken
+their places, she once or twice offered to speak, when passion stopt
+her utterance; and, after a minute's silence, she burst into a flood
+of tears. Upon which Amelia, expressing the utmost tenderness for her,
+as well by her look as by her accent, cried, "What can be the reason,
+dear madam, of all this emotion?" "O, Mrs. Booth!" answered she, "I
+find I have undertaken what I am not able to perform. You would not
+wonder at my emotion if you knew you had an adulteress and a murderer
+now standing before you."
+
+Amelia turned pale as death at these words, which Mrs. Bennet
+observing, collected all the force she was able, and, a little
+composing her countenance, cried, "I see, madam, I have terrified you
+with such dreadful words; but I hope you will not think me guilty of
+these crimes in the blackest degree." "Guilty!" cries Amelia. "O
+Heavens!" "I believe, indeed, your candour," continued Mrs. Bennet,
+"will be readier to acquit me than I am to acquit myself.
+Indiscretion, at least, the highest, most unpardonable indiscretion, I
+shall always lay to ray own charge: and, when I reflect on the fatal
+consequences, I can never, never forgive myself. "Here she again began
+to lament in so bitter a manner, that Amelia endeavoured, as much as
+she could (for she was herself greatly shocked), to soothe and comfort
+her; telling her that, if indiscretion was her highest crime, the
+unhappy consequences made her rather an unfortunate than a guilty
+person; and concluded by saying--"Indeed, madam, you have raised my
+curiosity to the highest pitch, and I beg you will proceed with your
+story."
+
+Mrs. Bennet then seemed a second time going to begin her relation,
+when she cried out, "I would, if possible, tire you with no more of my
+unfortunate life than just with that part which leads to a catastrophe
+in which I think you may yourself be interested; but I protest I am at
+a loss where to begin."
+
+"Begin wherever you please, dear madam," cries Amelia; "but I beg you
+will consider my impatience." "I do consider it," answered Mrs.
+Bennet; "and therefore would begin with that part of my story which
+leads directly to what concerns yourself; for how, indeed, should my
+life produce anything worthy your notice?" "Do not say so, madam,"
+cries Amelia; "I assure you I have long suspected there were some very
+remarkable incidents in your life, and have only wanted an opportunity
+to impart to you my desire of hearing them: I beg, therefore, you
+would make no more apologies." "I will not, madam," cries Mrs. Bennet,
+"and yet I would avoid anything trivial; though, indeed, in stories of
+distress, especially where love is concerned, many little incidents
+may appear trivial to those who have never felt the passion, which, to
+delicate minds, are the most interesting part of the whole." "Nay,
+but, dear madam," cries Amelia, "this is all preface."
+
+"Well, madam," answered Mrs. Bennet, "I will consider your
+impatience." She then rallied all her spirits in the best manner she
+could, and began as is written in the next chapter.
+
+And here possibly the reader will blame Mrs. Bennet for taking her
+story so far back, and relating so much of her life in which Amelia
+had no concern; but, in truth, she was desirous of inculcating a good
+opinion of herself, from recounting those transactions where her
+conduct was unexceptionable, before she came to the more dangerous and
+suspicious part of her character. This I really suppose to have been
+her intention; for to sacrifice the time and patience of Amelia at
+such a season to the mere love of talking of herself would have been
+as unpardonable in her as the bearing it was in Amelia a proof of the
+most perfect good breeding.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_The beginning of Mrs. Bennet's history._
+
+
+"I was the younger of two daughters of a clergyman in Essex; of one in
+whose praise if I should indulge my fond heart in speaking, I think my
+invention could not outgo the reality. He was indeed well worthy of
+the cloth he wore; and that, I think, is the highest character a man
+can obtain.
+
+"During the first part of my life, even till I reached my sixteenth
+year, I can recollect nothing to relate to you. All was one long
+serene day, in looking back upon which, as when we cast our eyes on a
+calm sea, no object arises to my view. All appears one scene of
+happiness and tranquillity.
+
+"On the day, then, when I became sixteen years old, must I begin my
+history; for on that day I first tasted the bitterness of sorrow.
+
+"My father, besides those prescribed by our religion, kept five
+festivals every year. These were on his wedding-day, and on the
+birthday of each of his little family; on these occasions he used to
+invite two or three neighbours to his house, and to indulge himself,
+as he said, in great excess; for so he called drinking a pint of very
+small punch; and, indeed, it might appear excess to one who on other
+days rarely tasted any liquor stronger than small beer.
+
+"Upon my unfortunate birthday, then, when we were all in a high degree
+of mirth, my mother having left the room after dinner, and staying
+away pretty long, my father sent me to see for her. I went according
+to his orders; but, though I searched the whole house and called after
+her without doors, I could neither see nor hear her. I was a little
+alarmed at this (though far from suspecting any great mischief had
+befallen her), and ran back to acquaint my father, who answered coolly
+(for he was a man of the calmest temper), 'Very well, my dear, I
+suppose she is not gone far, and will be here immediately.' Half an
+hour or more past after this, when, she not returning, my father
+himself expressed some surprize at her stay; declaring it must be some
+matter of importance which could detain her at that time from her
+company. His surprize now encreased every minute, and he began to grow
+uneasy, and to shew sufficient symptoms in his countenance of what he
+felt within. He then despatched the servant-maid to enquire after her
+mistress in the parish, but waited not her return; for she was scarce
+gone out of doors before he begged leave of his guests to go himself
+on the same errand. The company now all broke up, and attended my
+father, all endeavouring to give him hopes that no mischief had
+happened. They searched the whole parish, but in vain; they could
+neither see my mother, nor hear any news of her. My father returned
+home in a state little short of distraction. His friends in vain
+attempted to administer either advice or comfort; he threw himself on
+the floor in the most bitter agonies of despair.
+
+"Whilst he lay in this condition, my sister and myself lying by him,
+all equally, I believe, and completely miserable, our old servant-maid
+came into the room and cried out, her mind misgave her that she knew
+where her mistress was. Upon these words, my father sprung from the
+floor, and asked her eagerly, where? But oh! Mrs. Booth, how can I
+describe the particulars of a scene to you, the remembrance of which
+chills my blood with horror, and which the agonies of my mind, when it
+past, made all a scene of confusion! The fact then in short was this:
+my mother, who was a most indulgent mistress to one servant, which was
+all we kept, was unwilling, I suppose, to disturb her at her dinner,
+and therefore went herself to fill her tea-kettle at a well, into
+which, stretching herself too far, as we imagine, the water then being
+very low, she fell with the tea-kettle in her hand. The missing this
+gave the poor old wretch the first hint of her suspicion, which, upon
+examination, was found to be too well grounded.
+
+"What we all suffered on this occasion may more easily be felt than
+described."---"It may indeed," answered Amelia, "and I am so sensible
+of it, that, unless you have a mind to see me faint before your face,
+I beg you will order me something; a glass of water, if you please.
+"Mrs. Bennet immediately complied with her friend's request; a glass
+of water was brought, and some hartshorn drops infused into it; which
+Amelia having drank off, declared she found herself much better; and
+then Mrs. Bennet proceeded thus:--"I will not dwell on a scene which I
+see hath already so much affected your tender heart, and which is as
+disagreeable to me to relate as it can be to you to hear. I will
+therefore only mention to you the behaviour of my father on this
+occasion, which was indeed becoming a philosopher and a Christian
+divine. On the day after my mother's funeral he sent for my sister and
+myself into his room, where, after many caresses and every
+demonstration of fatherly tenderness as well in silence as in words,
+he began to exhort us to bear with patience the great calamity that
+had befallen us; saying, 'That as every human accident, how terrible
+soever, must happen to us by divine permission at least, a due sense
+of our duty to our great Creator must teach us an absolute submission
+to his will. Not only religion, but common sense, must teach us this;
+for oh! my dear children,' cries he, 'how vain is all resistance, all
+repining! could tears wash back again my angel from the grave, I
+should drain all the juices of my body through my eyes; but oh, could
+we fill up that cursed well with our tears, how fruitless would be all
+our sorrow!'--I think I repeat you his very words; for the impression
+they made on me is never to be obliterated. He then proceeded to
+comfort us with the chearful thought that the loss was entirely our
+own, and that my mother was greatly a gainer by the accident which we
+lamented. 'I have a wife,' cries he, 'my children, and you have a
+mother, now amongst the heavenly choir; how selfish therefore is all
+our grief! how cruel to her are all our wishes!' In this manner he
+talked to us near half an hour, though I must frankly own to you his
+arguments had not the immediate good effect on us which they deserved,
+for we retired from him very little the better for his exhortations;
+however, they became every day more and more forcible upon our
+recollection; indeed, they were greatly strengthened by his example;
+for in this, as in all other instances, he practised the doctrines
+which he taught. From this day he never mentioned my mother more, and
+soon after recovered his usual chearfulness in public; though I have
+reason to think he paid many a bitter sigh in private to that
+remembrance which neither philosophy nor Christianity could expunge.
+
+"My father's advice, enforced by his example, together with the
+kindness of some of our friends, assisted by that ablest of all the
+mental physicians, Time, in a few months pretty well restored my
+tranquillity, when fortune made a second attack on my quiet. My
+sister, whom I dearly loved, and who as warmly returned my affection,
+had fallen into an ill state of health some time before the fatal
+accident which I have related. She was indeed at that time so much
+better, that we had great hopes of her perfect recovery; but the
+disorders of her mind on that dreadful occasion so affected her body,
+that she presently relapsed to her former declining state, and thence
+grew continually worse and worse, till, after a decay of near seven
+months, she followed my poor mother to the grave.
+
+"I will not tire you, dear madam, with repetitions of grief; I will
+only mention two observations which have occurred to me from
+reflections on the two losses I have mentioned. The first is, that a
+mind once violently hurt grows, as it were, callous to any future
+impressions of grief, and is never capable of feeling the same pangs a
+second time. The other observation is, that the arrows of fortune, as
+well as all others, derive their force from the velocity with which
+they are discharged; for, when they approach you by slow and
+perceptible degrees, they have but very little power to do you
+mischief.
+
+"The truth of these observations I experienced, not only in my own
+heart, but in the behaviour of my father, whose philosophy seemed to
+gain a complete triumph over this latter calamity.
+
+"Our family was now reduced to two, and my father grew extremely fond
+of me, as if he had now conferred an entire stock of affection on me,
+that had before been divided. His words, indeed, testified no less,
+for he daily called me his only darling, his whole comfort, his all.
+He committed the whole charge of his house to my care, and gave me the
+name of his little housekeeper, an appellation of which I was then as
+proud as any minister of state can be of his titles. But, though I was
+very industrious in the discharge of my occupation, I did not,
+however, neglect my studies, in which I had made so great a
+proficiency, that I was become a pretty good mistress of the Latin
+language, and had made some progress in the Greek. I believe, madam, I
+have formerly acquainted you, that learning was the chief estate I
+inherited of my father, in which he had instructed me from my earliest
+youth.
+
+"The kindness of this good man had at length wiped off the remembrance
+of all losses; and I during two years led a life of great
+tranquillity, I think I might almost say of perfect happiness.
+
+"I was now. in the nineteenth year of my age, when my father's good
+fortune removed us from the county of Essex into Hampshire, where a
+living was conferred on him by one of his old school-fellows, of twice
+the value of what he was before possessed of.
+
+"His predecessor in this new living had died in very indifferent
+circumstances, and had left behind him a widow with two small
+children. My father, therefore, who, with great economy, had a most
+generous soul, bought the whole furniture of the parsonage-house at a
+very high price; some of it, indeed, he would have wanted; for, though
+our little habitation in Essex was most completely furnished, yet it
+bore no proportion to the largeness of that house in which he was now
+to dwell.
+
+"His motive, however, to the purchase was, I am convinced, solely
+generosity; which appeared sufficiently by the price he gave, and may
+be farther inforced by the kindness he shewed the widow in another
+instance; for he assigned her an apartment for the use of herself and
+her little family, which, he told her, she was welcome to enjoy as
+long as it suited her conveniency.
+
+"As this widow was very young, and generally thought to be tolerably
+pretty, though I own she had a cast with her eyes which I never liked,
+my father, you may suppose, acted from a less noble principle than I
+have hinted; but I must in justice acquit him, for these kind offers
+were made her before ever he had seen her face; and I have the
+greatest reason to think that, for a long time after he had seen her,
+he beheld her with much indifference.
+
+"This act of my father's gave me, when I first heard it, great
+satisfaction; for I may at least, with the modesty of the ancient
+philosophers, call myself a lover of generosity, but when I became
+acquainted with the widow I was still more delighted with what my
+father had done; for though I could not agree with those who thought
+her a consummate beauty, I must allow that she was very fully
+possessed of the power of making herself agreeable; and this power she
+exerted with so much success, with such indefatigable industry to
+oblige, that within three months I became in the highest manner
+pleased with my new acquaintance, and had contracted the most sincere
+friendship for her.
+
+"But, if I was so pleased with the widow, my father was by this time
+enamoured of her. She had, indeed, by the most artful conduct in the
+world, so insinuated herself into his favour, so entirely infatuated
+him, that he never shewed the least marks of chearfulness in her
+absence, and could, in truth, scarce bear that she should be out of
+his sight.
+
+"She had managed this matter so well (O, she is the most artful of
+women!) that my father's heart was gone before I ever suspected it was
+in danger. The discovery you may easily believe, madam, was not
+pleasing. The name of a mother-in-law sounded dreadful in my ears; nor
+could I bear the thought of parting again with a share in those dear
+affections, of which I had purchased the whole by the loss of a
+beloved mother and sister.
+
+"In the first hurry and disorder of my mind on this occasion I
+committed a crime of the highest kind against all the laws of prudence
+and discretion. I took the young lady herself very roundly to task,
+treated her designs on my father as little better than a design to
+commit a theft, and in my passion, I believe, said she might be
+ashamed to think of marrying a man old enough to be her grandfather;
+for so in reality he almost was.
+
+"The lady on this occasion acted finely the part of a hypocrite. She
+affected to be highly affronted at my unjust suspicions, as she called
+them; and proceeded to such asseverations of her innocence, that she
+almost brought me to discredit the evidence of my own eyes and ears.
+
+"My father, however, acted much more honestly, for he fell the next
+day into a more violent passion with me than I had ever seen him in
+before, and asked me whether I intended to return his paternal
+fondness by assuming the right of controlling his inclinations? with
+more of the like kind, which fully convinced me what had passed
+between him and the lady, and how little I had injured her in my
+suspicions.
+
+"Hitherto, I frankly own, my aversion to this match had been
+principally on my own account; for I had no ill opinion of the woman,
+though I thought neither her circumstances nor my father's age
+promised any kind of felicity from such an union; but now I learnt
+some particulars, which, had not our quarrel become public in the
+parish, I should perhaps have never known. In short, I was Informed
+that this gentle obliging creature, as she had at first appeared to
+me, had the spirit of a tigress, and was by many believed to have
+broken the heart of her first husband.
+
+"The truth of this matter being confirmed to me upon examination, I
+resolved not to suppress it. On this occasion fortune seemed to favour
+me, by giving me a speedy opportunity of seeing my father alone and in
+good humour. He now first began to open his intended marriage, telling
+me that he had formerly had some religious objections to bigamy, but
+he had very fully considered the matter, and had satisfied himself of
+its legality. He then faithfully promised me that no second marriage
+should in the least impair his affection for me; and concluded with
+the highest eulogiums on the goodness of the widow, protesting that it
+was her virtues and not her person with which he was enamoured.
+
+"I now fell upon my knees before him, and bathing his hand in my
+tears, which flowed very plentifully from my eyes, acquainted him with
+all I had heard, and was so very imprudent, I might almost say so
+cruel, to disclose the author of my information.
+
+"My father heard me without any indication of passion, and answered
+coldly, that if there was any proof of such facts he should decline
+any further thoughts of this match: 'But, child,' said he, 'though I
+am far from suspecting the truth of what you tell me, as far as
+regards your knowledge, yet you know the inclination of the world to
+slander.' However, before we parted he promised to make a proper
+enquiry into what I had told him.--But I ask your pardon, dear madam,
+I am running minutely into those particulars of my life in which you
+have not the least concern."
+
+Amelia stopt her friend short in her apology; and though, perhaps, she
+thought her impertinent enough, yet (such was her good breeding) she
+gave her many assurances of a curiosity to know every incident of her
+life which she could remember; after which Mrs. Bennet proceeded as in
+the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_Continuation of Mrs. Bennet's story._
+
+
+"I think, madam," said Mrs. Bennet, "I told you my father promised me
+to enquire farther into the affair, but he had hardly time to keep his
+word; for we separated pretty late in the evening and early the next
+morning he was married to the widow.
+
+"But, though he gave no credit to my information, I had sufficient
+reason to think he did not forget it, by the resentment which he soon
+discovered to both the persons whom I had named as my informers.
+
+"Nor was it long before I had good cause to believe that my father's
+new wife was perfectly well acquainted with the good opinion I had of
+her, not only from her usage of me, but from certain hints which she
+threw forth with an air of triumph. One day, particularly, I remember
+she said to my father, upon his mentioning his age, 'O, my dear! I
+hope you have many years yet to live! unless, indeed, I should be so
+cruel as to break your heart' She spoke these words looking me full in
+the face, and accompanied them with a sneer in which the highest
+malice was visible, under a thin covering of affected pleasantry.
+
+"I will not entertain you, madam, with anything so common as the cruel
+usage of a step-mother; nor of what affected me much more, the unkind
+behaviour of a father under such an influence. It shall suffice only
+to tell you that I had the mortification to perceive the gradual and
+daily decrease of my father's affection. His smiles were converted
+into frowns; the tender appellations of child and dear were exchanged
+for plain Molly, that girl, that creature, and sometimes much harder
+names. I was at first turned all at once into a cypher, and at last
+seemed to be considered as a nuisance in the family.
+
+"Thus altered was the man of whom I gave you such a character at the
+entrance on my story; but, alas! he no longer acted from his own
+excellent disposition, but was in everything governed and directed by
+my mother-in-law. In fact, whenever there is great disparity of years
+between husband and wife, the younger is, I believe, always possessed
+of absolute power over the elder; for superstition itself is a less
+firm support of absolute power than dotage.
+
+"But, though his wife was so entirely mistress of my father's will
+that she could make him use me ill, she could not so perfectly subdue
+his understanding as to prevent him from being conscious of such ill-
+usage; and from this consciousness, he began inveterately to hate me.
+Of this hatred he gave me numberless instances, and I protest to you I
+know not any other reason for it than what I have assigned; and the
+cause, as experience hath convinced me, is adequate to the effect.
+
+"While I was in this wretched situation, my father's unkindness having
+almost broken ray heart, he came one day into my room with more anger
+in his countenance than I had ever seen, and, after bitterly
+upbraiding me with my undutiful behaviour both to himself and his
+worthy consort, he bid me pack up my alls, and immediately prepare to
+quit his house; at the same time gave me a letter, and told me that
+would acquaint me where I might find a home; adding that he doubted
+not but I expected, and had indeed solicited, the invitation; and left
+me with a declaration that he would have no spies in his family.
+
+"The letter, I found on opening it, was from my father's own sister;
+but before I mention the contents I will give you a short sketch of
+her character, as it was somewhat particular. Her personal charms were
+not great; for she was very tall, very thin, and very homely. Of the
+defect of her beauty she was, perhaps, sensible; her vanity,
+therefore, retreated into her mind, where there is no looking-glass,
+and consequently where we can flatter ourselves with discovering
+almost whatever beauties we please. This is an encouraging
+circumstance; and yet I have observed, dear Mrs. Booth, that few women
+ever seek these comforts from within till they are driven to it by
+despair of finding any food for their vanity from without. Indeed, I
+believe the first wish of our whole sex is to be handsome."
+
+Here both the ladies fixed their eyes on the glass, and both smiled.
+
+"My aunt, however," continued Mrs. Bennet, "from despair of gaining
+any applause this way, had applied herself entirely to the
+contemplation of her understanding, and had improved this to such a
+pitch, that at the age of fifty, at which she was now arrived, she had
+contracted a hearty contempt for much the greater part of both sexes;
+for the women, as being idiots, and for the men, as the admirers of
+idiots. That word, and fool, were almost constantly in her mouth, and
+were bestowed with great liberality among all her acquaintance.
+
+"This lady had spent one day only at my father's house in near two
+years; it was about a month before his second marriage. At her
+departure she took occasion to whisper me her opinion of the widow,
+whom she called a pretty idiot, and wondered how her brother could
+bear such company under his roof; for neither she nor I had at that
+time any suspicion of what afterwards happened.
+
+"The letter which my father had just received, and which was the first
+she had sent him since his marriage, was of such a nature that I
+should be unjust if I blamed him for being offended; fool and idiot
+were both plentifully bestowed in it as well on himself as on his
+wife. But what, perhaps, had principally offended him was that part
+which related to me; for, after much panegyric on my understanding,
+and saying he was unworthy of such a daughter, she considered his
+match not only as the highest indiscretion as it related to himself,
+but as a downright act of injustice to me. One expression in it I
+shall never forget. 'You have placed,' said she, 'a woman above your
+daughter, who, in understanding, the only valuable gift of nature, is
+the lowest in the whole class of pretty idiots.' After much more of
+this kind, it concluded with inviting me to her house.
+
+"I can truly say that when I had read the letter I entirely forgave my
+father's suspicion that I had made some complaints to my aunt of his
+behaviour; for, though I was indeed innocent, there was surely colour
+enough to suspect the contrary.
+
+"Though I had never been greatly attached to my aunt, nor indeed had
+she formerly given me any reason for such an attachment, yet I was
+well enough pleased with her present invitation. To say the truth, I
+led so wretched a life where I then was, that it was impossible not to
+be a gainer by any exchange.
+
+"I could not, however, bear the thoughts of leaving my father with an
+impression on his mind against me which I did not deserve. I
+endeavoured, therefore, to remove all his suspicion of my having
+complained to my aunt by the most earnest asseverations of my
+innocence; but they were all to no purpose. All my tears, all my vows,
+and all my entreaties were fruitless. My new mother, indeed, appeared
+to be my advocate; but she acted her part very poorly, and, far from
+counterfeiting any desire of succeeding in my suit, she could not
+conceal the excessive joy which she felt on the occasion.
+
+"Well, madam, the next day I departed for my aunt's, where, after a
+long journey of forty miles, I arrived, without having once broke my
+fast on the road; for grief is as capable as food of filling the
+stomach, and I had too much of the former to admit any of the latter.
+The fatigue of my journey, and the agitation of my mind, joined to my
+fasting, so overpowered my spirits, that when I was taken from my
+horse I immediately fainted away in the arms of the man who helped me
+from my saddle. My aunt expressed great astonishment at seeing me in
+this condition, with my eyes almost swollen out of my head with tears;
+but my father's letter, which I delivered her soon after I came to
+myself, pretty well, I believe, cured her surprize. She often smiled
+with a mixture of contempt and anger while she was reading it; and,
+having pronounced her brother to be a fool, she turned to me, and,
+with as much affability as possible (for she is no great mistress of
+affability), said, 'Don't be uneasy, dear Molly, for you are come to
+the house of a friend--of one who hath sense enough to discern the
+author of all the mischief: depend upon it, child, I will, ere long,
+make some people ashamed of their folly.' This kind reception gave me
+some comfort, my aunt assuring me that she would convince him how
+unjustly he had accused me of having made any complaints to her. A
+paper war was now begun between these two, which not only fixed an
+irreconcileable hatred between them, but confirmed my father's
+displeasure against me; and, in the end, I believe, did me no service
+with my aunt; for I was considered by both as the cause of their
+dissension, though, in fact, my stepmother, who very well knew the
+affection my aunt had for her, had long since done her business with
+my father; and as for my aunt's affection towards him, it had been
+abating several years, from an apprehension that he did not pay
+sufficient deference to her understanding.
+
+"I had lived about half a year with my aunt when I heard of my
+stepmother's being delivered of a boy, and the great joy my father
+expressed on that occasion; but, poor man, he lived not long to enjoy
+his happiness; for within a month afterwards I had the melancholy news
+of his death.
+
+"Notwithstanding all the disobligations I had lately received from
+him, I was sincerely afflicted at my loss of him. All his kindness to
+me in my infancy, all his kindness to me while I was growing up,
+recurred to my memory, raised a thousand tender, melancholy ideas, and
+totally obliterated all thoughts of his latter behaviour, for which I
+made also every allowance and every excuse in my power.
+
+"But what may perhaps appear more extraordinary, my aunt began soon to
+speak of him with concern. She said he had some understanding
+formerly, though his passion for that vile woman had, in a great
+measure, obscured it; and one day, when she was in an ill-humour with
+me, she had the cruelty to throw out a hint that she had never
+quarrelled with her brother if it had not been on my account. "My
+father, during his life, had allowed my aunt very handsomely for my
+board; for generosity was too deeply riveted in his nature to be
+plucked out by all the power of his wife. So far, however, she
+prevailed, that, though he died possessed of upwards of L2000, he left
+me no more than L100, which, as he expressed in his will, was to set
+me up in some business, if I had the grace to take to any.
+
+"Hitherto my aunt had in general treated me with some degree of
+affection; but her behaviour began now to be changed. She soon took an
+opportunity of giving me to understand that her fortune was
+insufficient to keep me; and, as I could not live on the interest of
+my own, it was high time for me to consider about going into the
+world. She added, that her brother having mentioned my setting up in
+some business in his will was very foolish; that I had been bred to
+nothing; and, besides, that the sum was too trifling to set me up in
+any way of reputation; she desired me therefore to think of
+immediately going into service.
+
+"This advice was perhaps right enough; and I told her I was very ready
+to do as she directed me, but I was at that time in an ill state of
+health; I desired her therefore to let me stay with her till my
+legacy, which was not to be paid till a year after my father's death,
+was due; and I then promised to satisfy her for my board, to which she
+readily consented.
+
+"And now, madam," said Mrs. Bennet, sighing, "I am going to open to
+you those matters which lead directly to that great catastrophe of my
+life which hath occasioned my giving you this trouble, and of trying
+your patience in this manner."
+
+Amelia, notwithstanding her impatience, made a very civil answer to
+this; and then Mrs. Bennet proceeded to relate what is written in the
+next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_Further continuation._
+
+
+"The curate of the parish where my aunt dwelt was a young fellow of
+about four-and-twenty. He had been left an orphan in his infancy, and
+entirely unprovided for, when an uncle had the goodness to take care
+of his education, both at school and at the university. As the young
+gentleman was intended for the church, his uncle, though he had two
+daughters of his own, and no very large fortune, purchased for him the
+next presentation of a living of near L200 a-year. The incumbent, at
+the time of the purchase, was under the age of sixty, and in apparent
+good health; notwithstanding which, he died soon after the bargain,
+and long before the nephew was capable of orders; so that the uncle
+was obliged to give the living to a clergyman, to hold it till the
+young man came of proper age.
+
+"The young gentleman had not attained his proper age of taking orders
+when he had the misfortune to lose his uncle and only friend, who,
+thinking he had sufficiently provided for his nephew by the purchase
+of the living, considered him no farther in his will, but divided all
+the fortune of which he died possessed between his two daughters;
+recommending it to them, however, on his deathbed, to assist their
+cousin with money sufficient to keep him at the university till he
+should be capable of ordination.
+
+"But, as no appointment of this kind was in the will, the young
+ladies, who received about each, thought proper to disregard the last
+words of their father; for, besides that both of them were extremely
+tenacious of their money, they were great enemies to their cousin, on
+account of their father's kindness to him; and thought proper to let
+him know that they thought he had robbed them of too much already.
+
+"The poor young fellow was now greatly distrest; for he had yet above
+a year to stay at the university, without any visible means of
+sustaining himself there.
+
+"In this distress, however, he met with a friend, who had the good
+nature to lend him the sum of twenty pounds, for which he only
+accepted his bond for forty, and which was to be paid within a year
+after his being possessed of his living; that is, within a year after
+his becoming qualified to hold it.
+
+"With this small sum thus hardly obtained the poor gentleman made a
+shift to struggle with all difficulties till he became of due age to
+take upon himself the character of a deacon. He then repaired to that
+clergyman to whom his uncle had given the living upon the conditions
+above mentioned, to procure a title to ordination; but this, to his
+great surprize and mortification, was absolutely refused him.
+
+"The immediate disappointment did not hurt him so much as the
+conclusion he drew from it; for he could have but little hopes that
+the man who could have the cruelty to refuse him a title would
+vouchsafe afterwards to deliver up to him a living of so considerable
+a value; nor was it long before this worthy incumbent told him plainly
+that he valued his uncle's favours at too high a rate to part with
+them to any one; nay, he pretended scruples of conscience, and said
+that, if he had made any slight promises, which he did not now well
+remember, they were wicked and void; that he looked upon himself as
+married to his parish, and he could no more give it up than he could
+give up his wife without sin.
+
+"The poor young fellow was now obliged to seek farther for a title,
+which, at length, he obtained from the rector of the parish where my
+aunt lived.
+
+"He had not long been settled in the curacy before an intimate
+acquaintance grew between him and my aunt; for she was a great admirer
+of the clergy, and used frequently to say they were the only
+conversible creatures in the country.
+
+"The first time she was in this gentleman's company was at a
+neighbour's christening, where she stood godmother. Here she displayed
+her whole little stock of knowledge, in order to captivate Mr. Bennet
+(I suppose, madam, you already guess that to have been his name), and
+before they parted gave him a very strong invitation to her house.
+
+"Not a word passed at this christening between Mr. Bennet and myself,
+but our eyes were not unemployed. Here, madam, I first felt a pleasing
+kind of confusion, which I know not how to describe. I felt a kind of
+uneasiness, yet did not wish to be without it. I longed to be alone,
+yet dreaded the hour of parting. I could not keep my eyes off from the
+object which caused my confusion, and which I was at once afraid of
+and enamoured with. But why do I attempt to describe my situation to
+one who must, I am sure, have felt the same?"
+
+Amelia smiled, and Mrs. Bennet went on thus: "O, Mrs. Booth! had you
+seen the person of whom I am now speaking, you would not condemn the
+suddenness of my love. Nay, indeed, I had seen him there before,
+though this was the first time I had ever heard the music of his
+voice. Oh! it was the sweetest that was ever heard.
+
+"Mr. Bennet came to visit my aunt the very next day. She imputed this
+respectful haste to the powerful charms of her understanding, and
+resolved to lose no opportunity in improving the opinion which she
+imagined he had conceived of her. She became by this desire quite
+ridiculous, and ran into absurdities and a gallimatia scarce credible.
+
+"Mr. Bennet, as I afterwards found, saw her in the same light with
+myself; but, as he was a very sensible and well-bred man, he so well
+concealed his opinion from us both, that I was almost angry, and she
+was pleased even to raptures, declaring herself charmed with his
+understanding, though, indeed, he had said very little; but I believe
+he heard himself into her good opinion, while he gazed himself into
+love.
+
+"The two first visits which Mr. Bennet made to my aunt, though I was
+in the room all the time, I never spoke a word; but on the third, on
+some argument which arose between them, Mr. Bennet referred himself to
+me. I took his side of the question, as indeed I must to have done
+justice, and repeated two or three words of Latin. My aunt reddened at
+this, and exprest great disdain of my opinion, declaring she was
+astonished that a man of Mr. Bennet's understanding could appeal to
+the judgment of a silly girl; 'Is she,' said my aunt, bridling
+herself, 'fit to decide between us?' Mr. Bennet spoke very favourably
+of what I had said; upon which my aunt burst almost into a rage,
+treated me with downright scurrility, called me conceited fool, abused
+my poor father for having taught me Latin, which, she said, had made
+me a downright coxcomb, and made me prefer myself to those who were a
+hundred times my superiors in knowledge. She then fell foul on the
+learned languages, declared they were totally useless, and concluded
+that she had read all that was worth reading, though, she thanked
+heaven, she understood no language but her own.
+
+"Before the end of this visit Mr. Bennet reconciled himself very well
+to my aunt, which, indeed, was no difficult task for him to
+accomplish; but from that hour she conceived a hatred and rancour
+towards me which I could never appease.
+
+"My aunt had, from my first coming into her house, expressed great
+dislike to my learning. In plain truth, she envied me that advantage.
+This envy I had long ago discovered, and had taken great pains to
+smother it, carefully avoiding ever to mention a Latin word in her
+presence, and always submitting to her authority; for indeed I
+despised her ignorance too much to dispute with her. By these means I
+had pretty well succeeded, and we lived tolerably together; but the
+affront paid to her understanding by Mr. Bennet in my favour was an
+injury never to be forgiven to me. She took me severely to task that
+very evening, and reminded me of going to service in such earnest
+terms as almost amounted to literally turning me out of doors;
+advising me, in the most insulting manner, to keep my Latin to myself,
+which she said was useless to any one, but ridiculous when pretended
+to by a servant.
+
+"The next visit Mr. Bennet made at our house I was not suffered to be
+present. This was much the shortest of all his visits; and when he
+went away he left my aunt in a worse humour than ever I had seen her.
+The whole was discharged on me in the usual manner, by upbraiding me
+with my learning, conceit, and poverty; reminding me of obligations,
+and insisting on my going immediately to service. With all this I was
+greatly pleased, as it assured me that Mr. Bennet had said something
+to her in my favour; and I would have purchased a kind expression of
+his at almost any price.
+
+"I should scarce, however, have been so sanguine as to draw this
+conclusion, had I not received some hints that I had not unhappily
+placed my affections on a man who made me no return; for, though he
+had scarce addressed a dozen sentences to me (for, indeed, he had no
+opportunity), yet his eyes had revealed certain secrets to mine with
+which I was not displeased.
+
+"I remained, however, in a state of anxiety near a month; sometimes
+pleasing myself with thinking Mr. Bennet's heart was in the same
+situation with my own; sometimes doubting that my wishes had flattered
+and deceived me, and not in the least questioning that my aunt was my
+rival; for I thought no woman could be proof against the charms that
+had subdued me. Indeed, Mrs. Booth, he was a charming young fellow; I
+must--I must pay this tribute to his memory. O, gracious Heaven! why,
+why did I ever see him? why was I doomed to such misery?" Here she
+burst into a flood of tears, and remained incapable of speech for some
+time; during which the gentle Amelia endeavoured all she could to
+soothe her, and gave sufficient marks of sympathizing in the tender
+affliction of her friend.
+
+Mrs. Bennet, at length, recovered her spirits, and proceeded, as in
+the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_The story of Mrs. Bennet continued._
+
+
+I scarce know where I left off--Oh! I was, I think, telling you that I
+esteemed my aunt as my rival; and it is not easy to conceive a greater
+degree of detestation than I had for her; and what may, perhaps,
+appear strange, as she daily grew more and more civil to me, my hatred
+encreased with her civility; for I imputed it all to her triumph over
+me, and to her having secured, beyond all apprehension, the heart I
+longed for.
+
+"How was I surprized when, one day, with as much good-humour as she
+was mistress of (for her countenance was not very pleasing), she asked
+me how I liked Mr. Bennet? The question, you will believe, madam,
+threw me into great confusion, which she plainly perceived, and,
+without waiting for my answer, told me she was very well satisfied,
+for that it did not require her discernment to read my thoughts in my
+countenance. 'Well, child,' she said, 'I have suspected this a great
+while, and I believe it will please you to know that I yesterday made
+the same discovery in your lover.' This, I confess to you, was more
+than I could well bear, and I begged her to say no more to me at that
+time on that subject. 'Nay, child,' answered she, 'I must tell you
+all, or I should not act a friendly part. Mr. Bennet, I am convinced,
+hath a passion for you; but it is a passion which, I think, you should
+not encourage. For, to be plain with you, I fear he is in love with
+your person only. Now this is a love, child, which cannot produce that
+rational happiness which a woman of sense ought to expect.' In short,
+she ran on with a great deal of stuff about rational happiness, and
+women of sense, and concluded with assuring me that, after the
+strictest scrutiny, she could not find that Mr. Bennet had an adequate
+opinion of my understanding; upon which she vouchsafed to make me many
+compliments, but mixed with several sarcasms concerning my learning.
+
+"I hope, madam, however," said she to Amelia, "you have not so bad an
+opinion of my capacity as to imagine me dull enough to be offended
+with Mr. Bennet's sentiments, for which I presently knew so well to
+account. I was, indeed, charmed with his ingenuity, who had
+discovered, perhaps, the only way of reconciling my aunt to those
+inclinations which I now assured myself he had for me.
+
+"I was not long left to support my hopes by my sagacity. He soon found
+an opportunity of declaring his passion. He did this in so forcible
+though gentle a manner, with such a profusion of fervency and
+tenderness at once, that his love, like a torrent, bore everything
+before it; and I am almost ashamed to own to you how very soon he
+prevailed upon me to--to--in short, to be an honest woman, and to
+confess to him the plain truth.
+
+"When we were upon a good footing together he gave me a long relation
+of what had past at several interviews with my aunt, at which I had
+not been present. He said he had discovered that, as she valued
+herself chiefly on her understanding, so she was extremely jealous of
+mine, and hated me on account of my learning. That, as he had loved me
+passionately from his first seeing me, and had thought of nothing from
+that time but of throwing himself at my feet, he saw no way so open to
+propitiate my aunt as that which he had taken by commending my beauty,
+a perfection to which she had long resigned all claim, at the expense
+of my understanding, in which he lamented my deficiency to a degree
+almost of ridicule. This he imputed chiefly to my learning; on this
+occasion he advanced a sentiment which so pleased my aunt that she
+thought proper to make it her own; for I heard it afterwards more than
+once from her own mouth. Learning, he said, had the same effect on the
+mind that strong liquors have on the constitution; both tending to
+eradicate all our natural fire and energy. His flattery had made such
+a dupe of my aunt that she assented, without the least suspicion of
+his sincerity, to all he said; so sure is vanity to weaken every
+fortress of the understanding, and to betray us to every attack of the
+enemy.
+
+"You will believe, madam, that I readily forgave him all he had said,
+not only from that motive which I have mentioned, but as I was assured
+he had spoke the reverse of his real sentiments. I was not, however,
+quite so well pleased with my aunt, who began to treat me as if I was
+really an idiot. Her contempt, I own, a little piqued me; and I could
+not help often expressing my resentment, when we were alone together,
+to Mr. Bennet, who never failed to gratify me by making her conceit
+the subject of his wit; a talent which he possessed in the most
+extraordinary degree.
+
+"This proved of very fatal consequence; for one day, while we were
+enjoying my aunt in a very thick arbour in the garden, she stole upon
+us unobserved, and overheard our whole conversation. I wish, my dear,
+you understood Latin, that I might repeat you a sentence in which the
+rage of a tigress that hath lost her young is described. No English
+poet, as I remember, hath come up to it; nor am I myself equal to the
+undertaking. She burst in upon us, open-mouthed, and after discharging
+every abusive word almost, in the only language she understood, on
+poor Mr. Bennet, turned us both out of doors, declaring she would send
+my rags after me, but would never more permit me to set my foot within
+her threshold.
+
+"Consider, dear madam, to what a wretched condition we were now
+reduced. I had not yet received the small legacy left me by my father;
+nor was Mr. Bennet master of five pounds in the whole world.
+
+"In this situation, the man I doated on to distraction had but little
+difficulty to persuade me to a proposal which, indeed, I thought
+generous in him to make, as it seemed to proceed from that tenderness
+for my reputation to which he ascribed it; indeed, it could proceed
+from no motive with which I should have been displeased. In a word,
+within two days we were man and wife.
+
+"Mr. Bennet now declared himself the happiest of men; and, for my
+part, I sincerely declared I envied no woman upon earth. How little,
+alas! did I then know or suspect the price I was to pay for all my
+joys! A match of real love is, indeed, truly paradise; and such
+perfect happiness seems to be the forbidden fruit to mortals, which we
+are to lament having tasted during the rest of our lives.
+
+"The first uneasiness which attacked us after our marriage was on my
+aunt's account. It was very disagreeable to live under the nose of so
+near a relation, who did not acknowledge us, but on the contrary, was
+ever doing us all the ill turns in her power, and making a party
+against us in the parish, which is always easy enough to do amongst
+the vulgar against persons who are their superiors in rank, and, at
+the same time, their inferiors in fortune. This made Mr. Bennet think
+of procuring an exchange, in which intention he was soon after
+confirmed by the arrival of the rector. It was the rector's custom to
+spend three months every year at his living, for which purpose he
+reserved an apartment in his parsonage-house, which was full large
+enough for two such little families as then occupied it. We at first
+promised ourselves some little convenience from his boarding with us;
+and Mr. Bennet began to lay aside his thoughts of leaving his curacy,
+at least for some time. But these golden ideas presently vanished;
+for, though we both used our utmost endeavours to please him, we soon
+found the impossibility of succeeding. He was, indeed, to give you his
+character in a word, the most peevish of mortals. This temper,
+notwithstanding that he was both a good and a pious man, made his
+company so insufferable that nothing could compensate it. If his
+breakfast was not ready to a moment--if a dish of meat was too much or
+too little done--in short, if anything failed of exactly hitting his
+taste, he was sure to be out of humour all that day, so that, indeed,
+he was scarce ever in a good temper a whole day together; for fortune
+seems to take a delight in thwarting this kind of disposition, to
+which human life, with its many crosses and accidents, is, in truth,
+by no means fitted.
+
+"Mr. Bennet was now, by my desire as well as his own, determined to
+quit the parish; but when he attempted to get an exchange, he found it
+a matter of more difficulty than he had apprehended; for the rector's
+temper was so well known among the neighbouring clergy, that none of
+them could be brought to think of spending three months in a year with
+him.
+
+"After many fruitless enquiries, Mr. Bennet thought best to remove to
+London, the great mart of all affairs, ecclesiastical and civil. This
+project greatly pleased him, and he resolved, without more delay, to
+take his leave of the rector, which he did in the most friendly manner
+possible, and preached his farewell sermon; nor was there a dry eye in
+the church, except among the few, whom my aunt, who remained still
+inexorable, had prevailed upon to hate us without any cause.
+
+"To London we came, and took up our lodging the first night at the inn
+where the stage-coach set us down: the next morning my husband went
+out early on his business, and returned with the good news of having
+heard of a curacy, and of having equipped himself with a lodging in
+the neighbourhood of a worthy peer, 'who,' said he, 'was my fellow-
+collegiate; and, what is more, I have a direction to a person who will
+advance your legacy at a very reasonable rate.'
+
+"This last particular was extremely agreeable to me, for our last
+guinea was now broached; and the rector had lent my husband ten pounds
+to pay his debts in the country, for, with all his peevishness, he was
+a good and a generous man, and had, indeed, so many valuable
+qualities, that I lamented his temper, after I knew him thoroughly, as
+much on his account as on my own.
+
+"We now quitted the inn and went to our lodgings, where my husband
+having placed me in safety, as he said, he went about the business of
+the legacy with good assurance of success.
+
+"My husband returned elated with his success, the person to whom he
+applied having undertaken to advance the legacy, which he fulfilled as
+soon as the proper enquiries could be made, and proper instruments
+prepared for that purpose.
+
+"This, however, took up so much time, that, as our fund was so very
+low, we were reduced to some distress, and obliged to live extremely
+penurious; nor would all do without my taking a most disagreeable way
+of procuring money by pawning one of my gowns.
+
+"Mr. Bennet was now settled in a curacy in town, greatly to his
+satisfaction, and our affairs seemed to have a prosperous aspect, when
+he came home to me one morning in much apparent disorder, looking as
+pale as death, and begged me by some means or other to get him a dram,
+for that he was taken with a sudden faintness and lowness of spirits.
+
+"Frighted as I was, I immediately ran downstairs, and procured some
+rum of the mistress of the house; the first time, indeed, I ever knew
+him drink any. When he came to himself he begged me not to be alarmed,
+for it was no distemper, but something that had vexed him, which had
+caused his disorder, which he had now perfectly recovered.
+
+"He then told me the whole affair. He had hitherto deferred paying a
+visit to the lord whom I mentioned to have been formerly his fellow-
+collegiate, and was now his neighbour, till he could put himself in
+decent rigging. He had now purchased a new cassock, hat, and wig, and
+went to pay his respects to his old acquaintance, who had received
+from him many civilities and assistances in his learning at the
+university, and had promised to return them fourfold hereafter.
+
+"It was not without some difficulty that Mr. Bennet got into the
+antechamber. Here he waited, or as the phrase is, cooled his heels,
+for above an hour before he saw his lordship; nor had he seen him then
+but by an accident; for my lord was going out when he casually
+intercepted him in his passage to his chariot. He approached to salute
+him with some familiarity, though with respect, depending on his
+former intimacy, when my lord, stepping short, very gravely told him
+he had not the pleasure of knowing him. How! my lord, said he, can you
+have so soon forgot your old acquaintance Tom Bennet? O, Mr. Bennet!
+cries his lordship, with much reserve, is it you? you will pardon my
+memory. I am glad to see you, Mr. Bennet, but you must excuse me at
+present, for I am in very great haste. He then broke from him, and
+without more ceremony, or any further invitation, went directly into
+his chariot.
+
+"This cold reception from a person for whom my husband had a real
+friendship, and from whom he had great reason to expect a very warm
+return of affection, so affected the poor man, that it caused all
+those symptoms which I have mentioned before.
+
+"Though this incident produced no material consequence, I could not
+pass it over in silence, as, of all the misfortunes which ever befel
+him, it affected my husband the most. I need not, however, to a woman
+of your delicacy, make any comments on a behaviour which, though I
+believe it is very common, is, nevertheless, cruel and base beyond
+description, and is diametrically opposite to true honour as well as
+to goodness.
+
+"To relieve the uneasiness which my husband felt on account of his
+false friend, I prevailed with him to go every night, almost for a
+fortnight together, to the play; a diversion of which he was greatly
+fond, and from which he did not think his being a clergyman excluded
+him; indeed, it is very well if those austere persons who would be
+inclined to censure him on this head have themselves no greater sins
+to answer for.
+
+"From this time, during three months, we past our time very agreeably,
+a little too agreeably perhaps for our circumstances; for, however
+innocent diversions may be in other respects, they must be owned to be
+expensive. When you consider then, madam, that our income from the
+curacy was less than forty pounds a year, and that, after payment of
+the debt to the rector, and another to my aunt, with the costs in law
+which she had occasioned by suing for it, my legacy was reduced to
+less than seventy pounds, you will not wonder that, in diversions,
+cloaths, and the common expenses of life, we had almost consumed our
+whole stock.
+
+"The inconsiderate manner in which we had lived for some time will, I
+doubt not, appear to you to want some excuse; but I have none to make
+for it. Two things, however, now happened, which occasioned much
+serious reflexion to Mr. Bennet; the one was, that I grew near my
+time; the other, that he now received a letter from Oxford, demanding
+the debt of forty pounds which I mentioned to you before. The former
+of these he made a pretence of obtaining a delay for the payment of
+the latter, promising, in two months, to pay off half the debt, by
+which means he obtained a forbearance during that time.
+
+"I was now delivered of a son, a matter which should in reality have
+encreased our concern, but, on the contrary, it gave us great
+pleasure; greater indeed could not have been conceived at the birth of
+an heir to the most plentiful estate: so entirely thoughtless were we,
+and so little forecast had we of those many evils and distresses to
+which we had rendered a human creature, and one so dear to us, liable.
+The day of a christening is, in all families, I believe, a day of
+jubilee and rejoicing; and yet, if we consider the interest of that
+little wretch who is the occasion, how very little reason would the
+most sanguine persons have for their joy!
+
+"But, though our eyes were too weak to look forward, for the sake of
+our child, we could not be blinded to those dangers that immediately
+threatened ourselves. Mr. Bennet, at the expiration of the two months,
+received a second letter from Oxford, in a very peremptory stile, and
+threatening a suit without any farther delay. This alarmed us in the
+strongest manner; and my husband, to secure his liberty, was advised
+for a while to shelter himself in the verge of the court.
+
+"And, now, madam, I am entering on that scene which directly leads to
+all my misery."--Here she stopped, and wiped her eyes; and then,
+begging Amelia to excuse her for a few minutes, ran hastily out of the
+room, leaving Amelia by herself, while she refreshed her spirits with
+a cordial to enable her to relate what follows in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_Farther continued._
+
+
+Mrs. Bennet, returning into the room, made a short apology for her
+absence, and then proceeded in these words:
+
+"We now left our lodging, and took a second floor in that very house
+where you now are, to which we were recommended by the woman where we
+had before lodged, for the mistresses of both houses were acquainted;
+and, indeed, we had been all at the play together. To this new lodging
+then (such was our wretched destiny) we immediately repaired, and were
+received by Mrs. Ellison (how can I bear the sound of that detested
+name?) with much civility; she took care, however, during the first
+fortnight of our residence, to wait upon us every Monday morning for
+her rent; such being, it seems, the custom of this place, which, as it
+was inhabited chiefly by persons in debt, is not the region of credit.
+
+"My husband, by the singular goodness of the rector, who greatly
+compassionated his case, was enabled to continue in his curacy, though
+he could only do the duty on Sundays. He was, however, sometimes
+obliged to furnish a person to officiate at his expence; so that our
+income was very scanty, and the poor little remainder of the legacy
+being almost spent, we were reduced to some difficulties, and, what
+was worse, saw still a prospect of greater before our eyes.
+
+"Under these circumstances, how agreeable to poor Mr. Bennet must have
+been the behaviour of Mrs. Ellison, who, when he carried her her rent
+on the usual day, told him, with a benevolent smile, that he needed
+not to give himself the trouble of such exact punctuality. She added
+that, if it was at any time inconvenient to him, he might pay her when
+he pleased. 'To say the truth,' says she, 'I never was so much pleased
+with any lodgers in my life; I am convinced, Mr. Bennet, you are a
+very worthy man, and you are a very happy one too; for you have the
+prettiest wife and the prettiest child I ever saw' These, dear madam,
+were the words she was pleased to make use of: and I am sure she
+behaved to me with such an appearance of friendship and affection,
+that, as I could not perceive any possible views of interest which she
+could have in her professions, I easily believed them real.
+
+"There lodged in the same house--O, Mrs. Booth! the blood runs cold to
+my heart, and should run cold to yours, when I name him--there lodged
+in the same house a lord--the lord, indeed, whom I have since seen in
+your company. This lord, Mrs. Ellison told me, had taken a great fancy
+to my little Charley. Fool that I was, and blinded by my own passion,
+which made me conceive that an infant, not three months old, could be
+really the object of affection to any besides a parent, and more
+especially to a gay young fellow! But, if I was silly in being
+deceived, how wicked was the wretch who deceived me--who used such
+art, and employed such pains, such incredible pains, to deceive me! He
+acted the part of a nurse to my little infant; he danced it, he lulled
+it, he kissed it; declared it was the very picture of a nephew of his
+--his favourite sister's child; and said so many kind and fond things
+of its beauty, that I myself, though, I believe, one of the tenderest
+and fondest of mothers, scarce carried my own ideas of my little
+darling's perfection beyond the compliments which he paid it.
+
+"My lord, however, perhaps from modesty, before my face, fell far
+short of what Mrs. Ellison reported from him. And now, when she found
+the impression which was made on me by these means, she took every
+opportunity of insinuating to me his lordship's many virtues, his
+great goodness to his sister's children in particular; nor did she
+fail to drop some hints which gave me the most simple and groundless
+hopes of strange consequences from his fondness to my Charley.
+
+"When, by these means, which, simple as they may appear, were,
+perhaps, the most artful, my lord had gained something more, I think,
+than my esteem, he took the surest method to confirm himself in my
+affection. This was, by professing the highest friendship for my
+husband; for, as to myself, I do assure you he never shewed me more
+than common respect; and I hope you will believe I should have
+immediately startled and flown off if he had. Poor I accounted for all
+the friendship which he expressed for my husband, and all the fondness
+which he shewed to my boy, from the great prettiness of the one and
+the great merit of the other; foolishly conceiving that others saw
+with my eyes and felt with my heart. Little did I dream that my own
+unfortunate person was the fountain of all this lord's goodness, and
+was the intended price of it.
+
+"One evening, as I was drinking tea with Mrs. Ellison by my lord's
+fire (a liberty which she never scrupled taking when he was gone out),
+my little Charley, now about half a year old, sitting in her lap, my
+lord--accidentally, no doubt, indeed I then thought it so--came in. I
+was confounded, and offered to go; but my lord declared, if he
+disturbed Mrs. Ellison's company, as he phrased it, he would himself
+leave the room. When I was thus prevailed on to keep my seat, my lord
+immediately took my little baby into his lap, and gave it some tea
+there, not a little at the expense of his embroidery; for he was very
+richly drest; indeed, he was as fine a figure as perhaps ever was
+seen. His behaviour on this occasion gave me many ideas in his favour.
+I thought he discovered good sense, good nature, condescension, and
+other good qualities, by the fondness he shewed to my child, and the
+contempt he seemed to express for his finery, which so greatly became
+him; for I cannot deny but that he was the handsomest and genteelest
+person in the world, though such considerations advanced him not a
+step in my favour.
+
+"My husband now returned from church (for this happened on a Sunday),
+and was, by my lord's particular desire, ushered into the room. My
+lord received him with the utmost politeness, and with many
+professions of esteem, which, he said, he had conceived from Mrs.
+Ellison's representations of his merit. He then proceeded to mention
+the living which was detained from my husband, of which Mrs. Ellison
+had likewise informed him; and said, he thought it would be no
+difficult matter to obtain a restoration of it by the authority of the
+bishop, who was his particular friend, and to whom he would take an
+immediate opportunity of mentioning it. This, at last, he determined
+to do the very next day, when he invited us both to dinner, where we
+were to be acquainted with his lordship's success.
+
+"My lord now insisted on my husband's staying supper with him, without
+taking any notice of me; but Mrs. Ellison declared he should not part
+man and wife, and that she herself would stay with me. The motion was
+too agreeable to me to be rejected; and, except the little time I
+retired to put my child to bed, we spent together the most agreeable
+evening imaginable; nor was it, I believe, easy to decide whether Mr.
+Bennet or myself were most delighted with his lordship and Mrs.
+Ellison; but this, I assure you, the generosity of the one, and the
+extreme civility and kindness of the other, were the subjects of our
+conversation all the ensuing night, during which we neither of us
+closed our eyes.
+
+"The next day at dinner my lord acquainted us that he had prevailed
+with the bishop to write to the clergyman in the country; indeed, he
+told us that he had engaged the bishop to be very warm in our
+interest, and had not the least doubt of success. This threw us both
+into a flow of spirits; and in the afternoon Mr. Bennet, at Mrs.
+Ellison's request, which was seconded by his lordship, related the
+history of our lives from our first acquaintance. My lord seemed much
+affected with some tender scenes, which, as no man could better feel,
+so none could better describe, than my husband. When he had finished,
+my lord begged pardon for mentioning an occurrence which gave him such
+a particular concern, as it had disturbed that delicious state of
+happiness in which we had lived at our former lodging. 'It would be
+ungenerous,' said he, 'to rejoice at an accident which, though it
+brought me fortunately acquainted with two of the most agreeable
+people in the world, was yet at the expense of your mutual felicity.
+The circumstance, I mean, is your debt at Oxford; pray, how doth that
+stand? I am resolved it shall never disturb your happiness hereafter.'
+At these words the tears burst from my poor husband's eyes; and, in an
+ecstasy of gratitude, he cried out, 'Your lordship overcomes me with
+generosity. If you go on in this manner, both my wife's gratitude and
+mine must be bankrupt' He then acquainted my lord with the exact state
+of the case, and received assurances from him that the debt should
+never trouble him. My husband was again breaking out into the warmest
+expressions of gratitude, but my lord stopt him short, saying, 'If you
+have any obligation, it is to my little Charley here, from whose
+little innocent smiles I have received more than the value of this
+trifling debt in pleasure.' I forgot to tell you that, when I offered
+to leave the room after dinner upon my child's account, my lord would
+not suffer me, but ordered the child to be brought to me. He now took
+it out of my arms, placed it upon his own knee, and fed it with some
+fruit from the dessert. In short, it would be more tedious to you than
+to myself to relate the thousand little tendernesses he shewed to the
+child. He gave it many baubles; amongst the rest was a coral worth at
+least three pounds; and, when my husband was confined near a fortnight
+to his chamber with a cold, he visited the child every day (for to
+this infant's account were all the visits placed), and seldom failed
+of accompanying his visit with a present to the little thing.
+
+"Here, Mrs. Booth, I cannot help mentioning a doubt which hath often
+arisen in my mind since I have been enough mistress of myself to
+reflect on this horrid train which was laid to blow up my innocence.
+Wicked and barbarous it was to the highest degree without any
+question; but my doubt is, whether the art or folly of it be the more
+conspicuous; for, however delicate and refined the art must be allowed
+to have been, the folly, I think, must upon a fair examination appear
+no less astonishing: for to lay all considerations of cruelty and
+crime out of the case, what a foolish bargain doth the man make for
+himself who purchases so poor a pleasure at so high a price!
+
+"We had lived near three weeks with as much freedom as if we had been
+all of the same family, when, one afternoon, my lord proposed to my
+husband to ride down himself to solicit the surrender; for he said the
+bishop had received an unsatisfactory answer from the parson, and had
+writ a second letter more pressing, which his lordship now promised us
+to strengthen by one of his own that my husband was to carry with him.
+Mr. Bennet agreed to this proposal with great thankfulness, and the
+next day was appointed for his journey. The distance was near seventy
+miles.
+
+"My husband set out on his journey, and he had scarce left me before
+Mrs. Ellison came into my room, and endeavoured to comfort me in his
+absence; to say the truth, though he was to be from me but a few days,
+and the purpose of his going was to fix our happiness on a sound
+foundation for all our future days, I could scarce support my spirits
+under this first separation. But though I then thought Mrs. Ellison's
+intentions to be most kind and friendly, yet the means she used were
+utterly ineffectual, and appeared to me injudicious. Instead of
+soothing my uneasiness, which is always the first physic to be given
+to grief, she rallied me upon it, and began to talk in a very unusual
+stile of gaiety, in which she treated conjugal love with much
+ridicule.
+
+"I gave her to understand that she displeased me by this discourse;
+but she soon found means to give such a turn to it as made a merit of
+all she had said. And now, when she had worked me into a good humour,
+she made a proposal to me which I at first rejected--but at last
+fatally, too fatally, suffered myself to be over-persuaded. This was
+to go to a masquerade at Ranelagh, for which my lord had furnished her
+with tickets."
+
+At these words Amelia turned pale as death, and hastily begged her
+friend to give her a glass of water, some air, or anything. Mrs.
+Bennet, having thrown open the window, and procured the water, which
+prevented Amelia from fainting, looked at her with much tenderness,
+and cried, "I do not wonder, my dear madam, that you are affected with
+my mentioning that fatal masquerade; since I firmly believe the same
+ruin was intended for you at the same place; the apprehension of which
+occasioned the letter I sent you this morning, and all the trial of
+your patience which I have made since."
+
+Amelia gave her a tender embrace, with many expressions of the warmest
+gratitude; assured her she had pretty well recovered her spirits, and
+begged her to continue her story, which Mrs. Bennet then did. However,
+as our readers may likewise be glad to recover their spirits also, we
+shall here put an end to this chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_The story farther continued._
+
+
+Mrs. Bennet proceeded thus:
+
+"I was at length prevailed on to accompany Mrs. Ellison to the
+masquerade. Here, I must confess, the pleasantness of the place, the
+variety of the dresses, and the novelty of the thing, gave me much
+delight, and raised my fancy to the highest pitch. As I was entirely
+void of all suspicion, my mind threw off all reserve, and pleasure
+only filled my thoughts. Innocence, it is true, possessed my heart;
+but it was innocence unguarded, intoxicated with foolish desires, and
+liable to every temptation. During the first two hours we had many
+trifling adventures not worth remembering. At length my lord joined
+us, and continued with me all the evening; and we danced several
+dances together.
+
+"I need not, I believe, tell you, madam, how engaging his conversation
+is. I wish I could with truth say I was not pleased with it; or, at
+least, that I had a right to be pleased with it. But I will disguise
+nothing from you. I now began to discover that he had some affection
+for me, but he had already too firm a footing in my esteem to make the
+discovery shocking. I will--I will own the truth; I was delighted with
+perceiving a passion in him, which I was not unwilling to think he had
+had from the beginning, and to derive his having concealed it so long
+from his awe of my virtue, and his respect to my understanding. I
+assure you, madam, at the same time, my intentions were never to
+exceed the bounds of innocence. I was charmed with the delicacy of his
+passion; and, in the foolish thoughtless turn of mind in which I then
+was, I fancied I might give some very distant encouragement to such a
+passion in such a man with the utmost safety--that I might indulge my
+vanity and interest at once, without being guilty of the least injury.
+
+"I know Mrs. Booth will condemn all these thoughts, and I condemn them
+no less myself; for it is now my stedfast opinion that the woman who
+gives up the least outwork of her virtue doth, in that very moment,
+betray the citadel.
+
+"About two o'clock we returned home, and found a very handsome
+collation provided for us. I was asked to partake of it, and I did
+not, I could not refuse. I was not, however, entirely void of all
+suspicion, and I made many resolutions; one of which was, not to drink
+a drop more than my usual stint. This was, at the utmost, little more
+than half a pint of small punch.
+
+"I adhered strictly to my quantity; but in the quality I am convinced
+I was deceived; for before I left the room I found my head giddy. What
+the villain gave me I know not; but, besides being intoxicated, I
+perceived effects from it which are not to be described.
+
+"Here, madam, I must draw a curtain over the residue of that fatal
+night. Let it suffice that it involved me in the most dreadful ruin; a
+ruin to which I can truly say I never consented, and of which I was
+scarce conscious when the villanous man avowed it to my face in the
+morning.
+
+"Thus I have deduced my story to the most horrid period; happy had I
+been had this been the period of my life, but I was reserved for
+greater miseries; but before I enter on them I will mention something
+very remarkable, with which I was now acquainted, and that will shew
+there was nothing of accident which had befallen me, but that all was
+the effect of a long, regular, premeditated design.
+
+"You may remember, madam, I told you that we were recommended to Mrs.
+Ellison by the woman at whose house we had before lodged. This woman,
+it seems, was one of my lord's pimps, and had before introduced me to
+his lordship's notice.
+
+"You are to know then, madam, that this villain, this lord, now
+confest to me that he had first seen me in the gallery at the
+oratorio, whither I had gone with tickets with which the woman where I
+first lodged had presented me, and which were, it seems, purchased by
+my lord. Here I first met the vile betrayer, who was disguised in a
+rug coat and a patch upon his face."
+
+At these words Amelia cried, "O, gracious heavens!" and fell back in
+her chair. Mrs. Bennet, with proper applications, brought her back to
+life; and then Amelia acquainted her that she herself had first seen
+the same person in the same place, and in the same disguise. "O, Mrs.
+Bennet!" cried she, "how am I indebted to you! what words, what
+thanks, what actions can demonstrate the gratitude of my sentiments! I
+look upon you, and always shall look upon you, as my preserver from
+the brink of a precipice, from which I was falling into the same ruin
+which you have so generously, so kindly, and so nobly disclosed for my
+sake."
+
+Here the two ladies compared notes; and it appeared that his
+lordship's behaviour at the oratorio had been alike to both; that he
+had made use of the very same words, the very same actions to Amelia,
+which he had practised over before on poor unfortunate Mrs. Bennet. It
+may, perhaps, be thought strange that neither of them could afterwards
+recollect him; but so it was. And, indeed, if we consider the force of
+disguise, the very short time that either of them was with him at this
+first interview, and the very little curiosity that must have been
+supposed in the minds of the ladies, together with the amusement in
+which they were then engaged, all wonder will, I apprehend, cease.
+Amelia, however, now declared she remembered his voice and features
+perfectly well, and was thoroughly satisfied he was the same person.
+She then accounted for his not having visited in the afternoon,
+according to his promise, from her declared resolutions to Mrs.
+Ellison not to see him. She now burst forth into some very satirical
+invectives against that lady, and declared she had the art, as well as
+the wickedness, of the devil himself.
+
+Many congratulations now past from Mrs. Bennet to Amelia, which were
+returned with the most hearty acknowledgments from that lady. But,
+instead of filling our paper with these, we shall pursue Mrs. Bennet's
+story, which she resumed as we shall find in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_Further continuation._
+
+
+"No sooner," said Mrs. Bennet, continuing her story, "was my lord
+departed, than Mrs. Ellison came to me. She behaved in such a manner,
+when she became acquainted with what had past, that, though I was at
+first satisfied of her guilt, she began to stagger my opinion, and at
+length prevailed upon me entirely to acquit her. She raved like a mad
+woman against my lord, swore he should not stay a moment in her house,
+and that she would never speak to him more. In short, had she been the
+most innocent woman in the world, she could not have spoke nor acted
+any otherwise, nor could she have vented more wrath and indignation
+against the betrayer.
+
+"That part of her denunciation of vengeance which concerned my lord's
+leaving the house she vowed should be executed immediately; but then,
+seeming to recollect herself, she said, 'Consider, my dear child, it
+is for your sake alone I speak; will not such a proceeding give some
+suspicion to your husband?' I answered, that I valued not that; that I
+was resolved to inform my husband of all the moment I saw him; with
+many expressions of detestation of myself and an indifference for life
+and for everything else.
+
+"Mrs. Ellison, however, found means to soothe me, and to satisfy me
+with my own innocence, a point in which, I believe, we are all easily
+convinced. In short, I was persuaded to acquit both myself and her, to
+lay the whole guilt upon my lord, and to resolve to conceal it from my
+husband.
+
+"That whole day I confined myself to my chamber and saw no person but
+Mrs. Ellison. I was, indeed, ashamed to look any one in the face.
+Happily for me, my lord went into the country without attempting to
+come near me, for I believe his sight would have driven me to madness.
+
+"The next day I told Mrs. Ellison that I was resolved to leave her
+lodgings the moment my lord came to town; not on her account (for I
+really inclined to think her innocent), but on my lord's, whose face I
+was resolved, if possible, never more to behold. She told me I had no
+reason to quit her house on that score, for that my lord himself had
+left her lodgings that morning in resentment, she believed, of the
+abuses Which she had cast on him the day before.
+
+"This confirmed me in the opinion of her innocence; nor hath she from
+that day to this, till my acquaintance with you, madam, done anything
+to forfeit my opinion. On the contrary, I owe her many good offices;
+amongst the rest, I have an annuity of one hundred and fifty pounds a-
+year from my lord, which I know was owing to her solicitations, for
+she is not void of generosity or good-nature; though by what I have
+lately seen, I am convinced she was the cause of my ruin, and hath
+endeavoured to lay the same snares for you.
+
+"But to return to my melancholy story. My husband returned at the
+appointed time; and I met him with an agitation of mind not to be
+described. Perhaps the fatigue which he had undergone in his journey,
+and his dissatisfaction at his ill success, prevented his taking
+notice of what I feared was too visible. All his hopes were entirely
+frustrated; the clergyman had not received the bishop's letter, and as
+to my lord's he treated it with derision and contempt. Tired as he
+was, Mr. Bennet would not sit down till he had enquired for my lord,
+intending to go and pay his compliments. Poor man! he little suspected
+that he had deceived him, as I have since known, concerning the
+bishop; much less did he suspect any other injury. But the lord--the
+villain was gone out of town, so that he was forced to postpone all
+his gratitude.
+
+"Mr. Bennet returned to town late on the Saturday night, nevertheless
+he performed his duty at church the next day, but I refused to go with
+him. This, I think, was the first refusal I was guilty of since our
+marriage; but I was become so miserable, that his presence, which had
+been the source of all my happiness, was become my bane. I will not
+say I hated to see him, but I can say I was ashamed, indeed afraid, to
+look him in the face. I was conscious of I knew not what--guilt I hope
+it cannot be called."
+
+"I hope not, nay, I think not," cries Amelia.
+
+"My husband," continued Mrs. Bennet, "perceived my dissatisfaction,
+and imputed it to his ill-success in the country. I was pleased with
+this self-delusion, and yet, when I fairly compute the agonies I
+suffered at his endeavours to comfort me on that head, I paid most
+severely for it. O, my dear Mrs. Booth! happy is the deceived party
+between true lovers, and wretched indeed is the author of the deceit!
+
+"In this wretched condition I passed a whole week, the most miserable
+I think of my whole life, endeavouring to humour my husband's delusion
+and to conceal my own tortures; but I had reason to fear I could not
+succeed long, for on the Saturday night I perceived a visible
+alteration in his behaviour to me. He went to bed in an apparent ill-
+humour, turned sullenly from me, and if I offered at any endearments
+he gave me only peevish answers.
+
+"After a restless turbulent night, he rose early on Sunday morning and
+walked down-stairs. I expected his return to breakfast, but was soon
+informed by the maid that he was gone forth, and that it was no more
+than seven o'clock. All this you may believe, madam, alarmed me. I saw
+plainly he had discovered the fatal secret, though by what means I
+could not divine. The state of my mind was very little short of
+madness. Sometimes I thought of running away from my injured husband,
+and sometimes of putting an end to my life.
+
+"In the midst of such perturbations I spent the day. My husband
+returned in the evening. O, Heavens! can I describe what followed?--It
+is impossible! I shall sink under the relation. He entered the room
+with a face as white as a sheet, his lips trembling and his eyes red
+as coals of fire starting as it were from his head.--'Molly,' cries
+he, throwing himself into his chair, 'are you well?' 'Good Heavens!'
+says I, 'what's the matter?--Indeed I can't say I am well.' 'No!' says
+he, starting from his chair, 'false monster, you have betrayed me,
+destroyed me, you have ruined your husband!' Then looking like a fury,
+he snatched off a large book from the table, and, with the malice of a
+madman, threw it at my head and knocked me down backwards. He then
+caught me up in his arms and kissed me with most extravagant
+tenderness; then, looking me stedfastly in the face for several
+moments, the tears gushed in a torrent from his eyes, and with his
+utmost violence he threw me again on the floor, kicked me, stamped
+upon me. I believe, indeed, his intent was to kill me, and I believe
+he thought he had accomplished it.
+
+"I lay on the ground for some minutes, I believe, deprived of my
+senses. When I recovered myself I found my husband lying by my side on
+his face, and the blood running from him. It seems, when he thought he
+had despatched me, he ran his head with all his force against a chest
+of drawers which stood in the room, and gave himself a dreadful wound
+in his head.
+
+"I can truly say I felt not the least resentment for the usage I had
+received; I thought I deserved it all; though, indeed, I little
+guessed what he had suffered from me. I now used the most earnest
+entreaties to him to compose himself; and endeavoured, with my feeble
+arms, to raise him from the ground. At length he broke from me, and,
+springing from the ground, flung himself into a chair, when, looking
+wildly at me, he cried--'Go from me, Molly. I beseech you, leave me. I
+would not kill you.'--He then discovered to me--O Mrs. Booth! can you
+not guess it?--I was indeed polluted by the villain--I had infected my
+husband.--O heavens! why do I live to relate anything so horrid--I
+will not, I cannot yet survive it. I cannot forgive myself. Heaven
+cannot forgive me!"
+
+Here she became inarticulate with the violence of her grief, and fell
+presently into such agonies, that the frighted Amelia began to call
+aloud for some assistance. Upon this a maid-servant came up, who,
+seeing her mistress in a violent convulsion fit, presently screamed
+out she was dead. Upon which one of the other sex made his appearance:
+and who should this be but the honest serjeant? whose countenance soon
+made it evident that, though a soldier, and a brave one too, he was
+not the least concerned of all the company on this occasion.
+
+The reader, if he hath been acquainted with scenes of this kind, very
+well knows that Mrs. Bennet, in the usual time, returned again to the
+possession of her voice: the first use of which she made was to
+express her astonishment at the presence of the serjeant, and, with a
+frantic air, to enquire who he was.
+
+The maid, concluding that her mistress was not yet returned to her
+senses, answered, "Why, 'tis my master, madam. Heaven preserve your
+senses, madam!--Lord, sir, my mistress must be very bad not to know
+you!"
+
+What Atkinson thought at this instant, I will not say; but certain it
+is he looked not over-wise. He attempted twice to take hold of Mrs.
+Bennet's hand, but she withdrew it hastily, and presently after,
+rising up from her chair, she declared herself pretty well again, and
+desired Atkinson and the maid to withdraw. Both of whom presently
+obeyed: the serjeant appearing by his countenance to want comfort
+almost as much as the lady did to whose assistance he had been
+summoned,
+
+It is a good maxim to trust a person entirely or not at all; for a
+secret is often innocently blabbed out by those who know but half of
+it. Certain it is that the maid's speech communicated a suspicion to
+the mind of Amelia which the behaviour of the serjeant did not tend to
+remove: what that is, the sagacious readers may likewise probably
+suggest to themselves; if not, they must wait our time for disclosing
+it. We shall now resume the history of Mrs. Bennet, who, after many
+apologies, proceeded to the matters in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_The conclusion of Mrs. Bennet's history._
+
+
+"When I became sensible," cries Mrs. Bennet, "of the injury I had done
+my husband, I threw myself at his feet, and embracing his knees, while
+I bathed them with my tears, I begged a patient hearing, declaring, if
+he was not satisfied with what I should say, I would become a willing
+victim of his resentment, I said, and I said truly, that, if I owed my
+death that instant to his hands, I should have no other terrour but of
+the fatal consequence which it might produce to himself.
+
+"He seemed a little pacified, and bid me say whatever I pleased.
+
+"I then gave him a faithful relation of all that had happened. He
+heard me with great attention, and at the conclusion cried, with a
+deep sigh--'O Molly! I believe it all.--You must have been betrayed as
+you tell me; you could not be guilty of such baseness, such cruelty,
+such ingratitude.' He then--O! it is impossible to describe his
+behaviour--he exprest such kindness, such tenderness, such concern for
+the manner in which he had used me--I cannot dwell on this scene--I
+shall relapse--you must excuse me."
+
+Amelia begged her to omit anything which so affected her; and she
+proceeded thus: "My husband, who was more convinced than I was of Mrs.
+Ellison's guilt, declared he would not sleep that night in her house.
+He then went out to see for a lodging; he gave me all the money he
+had, and left me to pay her bill, and put up the cloaths, telling me,
+if I had not money enough, I might leave the cloaths as a pledge; but
+he vowed he could not answer for himself if he saw the face of Mrs.
+Ellison.
+
+"Words cannot scarce express the behaviour of that artful woman, it
+was so kind and so generous. She said, she did not blame my husband's
+resentment, nor could she expect any other, but that he and all the
+world should censure her--that she hated her house almost as much as
+we did, and detested her cousin, if possible, more. In fine, she said
+I might leave my cloaths there that evening, but that she would send
+them to us the next morning; that she scorned the thought of detaining
+them; and as for the paultry debt, we might pay her whenever we
+pleased; for, to do her justice, with all her vices, she hath some
+good in her."
+
+"Some good in her, indeed!" cried Amelia, with great indignation.
+
+"We were scarce settled in our new lodgings," continued Mrs. Bennet,
+"when my husband began to complain of a pain in his inside. He told me
+he feared he had done himself some injury in his rage, and burst
+something within him. As to the odious--I cannot bear the thought, the
+great skill of his surgeon soon entirely cured him; but his other
+complaint, instead of yielding to any application, grew still worse
+and worse, nor ever ended till it brought him to his grave.
+
+"O Mrs. Booth! could I have been certain that I had occasioned this,
+however innocently I had occasioned it, I could never have survived
+it; but the surgeon who opened him after his death assured me that he
+died of what they called a polypus in his heart, and that nothing
+which had happened on account of me was in the least the occasion of
+it.
+
+"I have, however, related the affair truly to you. The first complaint
+I ever heard of the kind was within a day or two after we left Mrs.
+Ellison's; and this complaint remained till his death, which might
+induce him perhaps to attribute his death to another cause; but the
+surgeon, who is a man of the highest eminence, hath always declared
+the contrary to me, with the most positive certainty; and this opinion
+hath been my only comfort.
+
+"When my husband died, which was about ten weeks after we quitted Mrs.
+Ellison's, of whom I had then a different opinion from what I have
+now, I was left in the most wretched condition imaginable. I believe,
+madam, she shewed you my letter. Indeed, she did everything for me at
+that time which I could have expected from the best of friends, She
+supplied me with money from her own pocket, by which means I was
+preserved from a distress in which I must have otherwise inevitably
+perished.
+
+"Her kindness to me in this season of distress prevailed on me to
+return again to her house. Why, indeed, should I have refused an offer
+so very convenient for me to accept, and which seemed so generous in
+her to make? Here I lived a very retired life with my little babe,
+seeing no company but Mrs. Ellison herself for a full quarter of a
+year. At last Mrs. Ellison brought me a parchment from my lord, in
+which he had settled upon me, at her instance, as she told me, and as
+I believe it was, an annuity of one hundred and fifty pounds a-year.
+This was, I think, the very first time she had mentioned his hateful
+name to me since my return to her house. And she now prevailed upon
+me, though I assure you not without some difficulty, to suffer him to
+execute the deed in my presence.
+
+"I will not describe our interview--I am not able to describe it, and
+I have often wondered how I found spirits to support it. This I will
+say for him, that, if he was not a real penitent, no man alive could
+act the part better.
+
+"Beside resentment, I had another motive of my backwardness to agree
+to such a meeting; and this was--fear. I apprehended, and surely not
+without reason, that the annuity was rather meant as a bribe than a
+recompence, and that further designs were laid against my innocence;
+but in this I found myself happily deceived; for neither then, nor at
+any time since, have I ever had the least solicitation of that kind.
+Nor, indeed, have I seen the least occasion to think my lord had any
+such desires.
+
+"Good heavens! what are these men? what is this appetite which must
+have novelty and resistance for its provocatives, and which is
+delighted with us no longer than while we may be considered in the
+light of enemies?"
+
+"I thank you, madam," cries Amelia, "for relieving me from my fears on
+your account; I trembled at the consequence of this second
+acquaintance with such a man, and in such a situation."
+
+"I assure you, madam, I was in no danger," returned Mrs. Bennet; "for,
+besides that I think I could have pretty well relied on my own
+resolution, I have heard since, at St Edmundsbury, from an intimate
+acquaintance of my lord's, who was an entire stranger to my affairs,
+that the highest degree of inconstancy is his character; and that few
+of his numberless mistresses have ever received a second visit from
+him.
+
+"Well, madam," continued she, "I think I have little more to trouble
+you with; unless I should relate to you my long ill state of health,
+from which I am lately, I thank Heaven, recovered; or unless I should
+mention to you the most grievous accident that ever befel me, the loss
+of my poor dear Charley." Here she made a full stop, and the tears ran
+down into her bosom.
+
+Amelia was silent a few minutes, while she gave the lady time to vent
+her passion; after which she began to pour forth a vast profusion of
+acknowledgments for the trouble she had taken in relating her history,
+but chiefly for the motive which had induced her to it, and for the
+kind warning which she had given her by the little note which Mrs.
+Bennet had sent her that morning.
+
+"Yes, madam," cries Mrs. Bennet, "I am convinced, by what I have
+lately seen, that you are the destined sacrifice to this wicked lord;
+and that Mrs. Ellison, whom I no longer doubt to have been the
+instrument of my ruin, intended to betray you in the same manner. The
+day I met my lord in your apartment I began to entertain some
+suspicions, and I took Mrs. Ellison very roundly to task upon them;
+her behaviour, notwithstanding many asseverations to the contrary,
+convinced me I was right; and I intended, more than once, to speak to
+you, but could not; till last night the mention of the masquerade
+determined me to delay it no longer. I therefore sent you that note
+this morning, and am glad you so luckily discovered the writer, as it
+hath given me this opportunity of easing my mind, and of honestly
+shewing you how unworthy I am of your friendship, at the same time
+that I so earnestly desire it."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter x.
+
+_Being the last chapter of the seventh book._
+
+
+Amelia did not fail to make proper compliments to Mrs. Bennet on the
+conclusion of her speech in the last chapter. She told her that, from
+the first moment of her acquaintance, she had the strongest
+inclination to her friendship, and that her desires of that kind were
+much increased by hearing her story. "Indeed, madam," says she, "you
+are much too severe a judge on yourself; for they must have very
+little candour, in my opinion, who look upon your case with any severe
+eye. To me, I assure you, you appear highly the object of compassion;
+and I shall always esteem you as an innocent and an unfortunate
+woman."
+
+Amelia would then have taken her leave, but Mrs. Bennet so strongly
+pressed her to stay to breakfast, that at length she complied; indeed,
+she had fasted so long, and her gentle spirits had been so agitated
+with variety of passions, that nature very strongly seconded Mrs.
+Bennet's motion.
+
+Whilst the maid was preparing the tea-equipage, Amelia, with a little
+slyness in her countenance, asked Mrs. Bennet if serjeant Atkinson did
+not lodge in the same house with her? The other reddened so extremely
+at the question, repeated the serjeant's name with such hesitation,
+and behaved so aukwardly, that Amelia wanted no further confirmation
+of her suspicions. She would not, however, declare them abruptly to
+the other, but began a dissertation on the serjeant's virtues; and,
+after observing the great concern which he had manifested when Mrs.
+Bennet was in her fit, concluded with saying she believed the serjeant
+would make the best husband in the world, for that he had great
+tenderness of heart and a gentleness of manners not often to be found
+in any man, and much seldomer in persons of his rank.
+
+"And why not in his rank?" said Mrs. Bennet. "Indeed, Mrs. Booth, we
+rob the lower order of mankind of their due. I do not deny the force
+and power of education; but, when we consider how very injudicious is
+the education of the better sort in general, how little they are
+instructed in the practice of virtue, we shall not expect to find the
+heart much improved by it. And even as to the head, how very slightly
+do we commonly find it improved by what is called a genteel education!
+I have myself, I think, seen instances of as great goodness, and as
+great understanding too, among the lower sort of people as among the
+higher. Let us compare your serjeant, now, with the lord who hath been
+the subject of conversation; on which side would an impartial judge
+decide the balance to incline?"
+
+"How monstrous then," cries Amelia, "is the opinion of those who
+consider our matching ourselves the least below us in degree as a kind
+of contamination!"
+
+"A most absurd and preposterous sentiment," answered Mrs. Bennet
+warmly; "how abhorrent from justice, from common sense, and from
+humanity--but how extremely incongruous with a religion which
+professes to know no difference of degree, but ranks all mankind on
+the footing of brethren! Of all kinds of pride, there is none so
+unchristian as that of station; in reality, there is none so
+contemptible. Contempt, indeed, may be said to be its own object; for
+my own part, I know none so despicable as those who despise others."
+
+"I do assure you," said Amelia, "you speak my own sentiments. I give
+you my word, I should not be ashamed of being the wife of an honest
+man in any station.--Nor if I had been much higher than I was, should
+I have thought myself degraded by calling our honest serjeant my
+husband."
+
+"Since you have made this declaration," cries Mrs. Bennet, "I am sure
+you will not be offended at a secret I am going to mention to you."
+
+"Indeed, my dear," answered Amelia, smiling, "I wonder rather you have
+concealed it so long; especially after the many hints I have given
+you."
+
+"Nay, pardon me, madam," replied the other; "I do not remember any
+such hints; and, perhaps, you do not even guess what I am going to
+say. My secret is this; that no woman ever had so sincere, so
+passionate a lover, as you have had in the serjeant."
+
+"I a lover in the serjeant!--I!" cries Amelia, a little surprized.
+
+"Have patience," answered the other;--"I say, you, my dear. As much
+surprized as you appear, I tell you no more than the truth; and yet it
+is a truth you could hardly expect to hear from me, especially with so
+much good-humour; since I will honestly confess to you.--But what need
+have I to confess what I know you guess already?--Tell me now
+sincerely, don't you guess?"
+
+"I guess, indeed, and hope," said she, "that he is your husband."
+
+"He is, indeed, my husband," cries the other; "and I am most happy in
+your approbation. In honest truth, you ought to approve my choice;
+since you was every way the occasion of my making it. What you said of
+him very greatly recommended him to my opinion; but he endeared
+himself to me most by what he said of you. In short, I have discovered
+that he hath always loved you with such a faithful, honest, noble,
+generous passion, that I was consequently convinced his mind must
+possess all the ingredients of such a passion; and what are these but
+true honour, goodness, modesty, bravery, tenderness, and, in a word,
+every human virtue?--Forgive me, my dear; but I was uneasy till I
+became myself the object of such a passion."
+
+"And do you really think," said Amelia, smiling, "that I shall forgive
+you robbing me of such a lover? or, supposing what you banter me with
+was true, do you really imagine you could change such a passion?"
+
+"No, my dear," answered the other; "I only hope I have changed the
+object; for be assured, there is no greater vulgar error than that it
+is impossible for a man who loves one woman ever to love another. On
+the contrary, it is certain that a man who can love one woman so well
+at a distance will love another better that is nearer to him. Indeed,
+I have heard one of the best husbands in the world declare, in the
+presence of his wife, that he had always loved a princess with
+adoration. These passions, which reside only in very amorous and very
+delicate minds, feed only on the delicacies there growing; and leave
+all the substantial food, and enough of the delicacy too, for the
+wife."
+
+The tea being now ready, Mrs. Bennet, or, if you please, for the
+future, Mrs. Atkinson, proposed to call in her husband; but Amelia
+objected. She said she should be glad to see him any other time, but
+was then in the utmost hurry, as she had been three hours absent from
+all she most loved. However, she had scarce drank a dish of tea before
+she changed her mind; and, saying she would not part man and wife,
+desired Mr. Atkinson might appear.
+
+The maid answered that her master was not at home; which words she had
+scarce spoken, when he knocked hastily at the door, and immediately
+came running into the room, all pale and breathless, and, addressing
+himself to Amelia, cried out, "I am sorry, my dear lady, to bring you
+ill news; but Captain Booth"--"What! what!" cries Amelia, dropping the
+tea-cup from her hand, "is anything the matter with him?"--"Don't be
+frightened, my dear lady," said the serjeant: "he is in very good
+health; but a misfortune hath happened."--" Are my children well?"
+said Amelia.--"O, very well," answered the serjeant. "Pray, madam,
+don't be frightened; I hope it will signify nothing--he is arrested,
+but I hope to get him out of their damned hands immediately." "Where
+is he?" cries Amelia; "I will go to him this instant!" "He begs you
+will not," answered the serjeant. "I have sent his lawyer to him, and
+am going back with Mrs. Ellison this moment; but I beg your ladyship,
+for his sake, and for your own sake, not to go." "Mrs. Ellison! what
+is Mrs. Ellison to do?" cries Amelia: "I must and will go." Mrs.
+Atkinson then interposed, and begged that she would not hurry her
+spirits, but compose herself, and go home to her children, whither she
+would attend her. She comforted her with the thoughts that the captain
+was in no immediate danger; that she could go to him when she would;
+and desired her to let the serjeant return with Mrs. Ellison, saying
+she might be of service, and that there was much wisdom, and no kind
+of shame, in making use of bad people on certain occasions.
+
+"And who," cries Amelia, a little come to herself, "hath done this
+barbarous action?"
+
+"One I am ashamed to name," cries the serjeant; "indeed I had always a
+very different opinion of him: I could not have believed anything but
+my own ears and eyes; but Dr Harrison is the man who hath done the
+deed."
+
+"Dr Harrison!" cries Amelia. "Well, then, there is an end of all
+goodness in the world. I will never have a good opinion of any human
+being more."
+
+The serjeant begged that he might not be detained from the captain;
+and that, if Amelia pleased to go home, he would wait upon her. But
+she did not chuse to see Mrs. Ellison at this time; and, after a
+little consideration, she resolved to stay where she was; and Mrs.
+Atkinson agreed to go and fetch her children to her, it being not many
+doors distant.
+
+The serjeant then departed; Amelia, in her confusion, never having
+once thought of wishing him joy on his marriage.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII.
+
+Chapter i.
+
+_Being the first chapter of the eighth book._
+
+
+The history must now look a little backwards to those circumstances
+which led to the catastrophe mentioned at the end of the last book.
+
+When Amelia went out in the morning she left her children to the care
+of her husband. In this amiable office he had been engaged near an
+hour, and was at that very time lying along on the floor, and his
+little things crawling and playing about him, when a most violent
+knock was heard at the door; and immediately a footman, running
+upstairs, acquainted him that his lady was taken violently ill, and
+carried into Mrs. Chenevix's toy-shop.
+
+Booth no sooner heard this account, which was delivered with great
+appearance of haste and earnestness, than he leapt suddenly from the
+floor, and, leaving his children, roaring at the news of their
+mother's illness, in strict charge with his maid, he ran as fast as
+his legs could carry him to the place; or towards the place rather:
+for, before he arrived at the shop, a gentleman stopt him full butt,
+crying, "Captain, whither so fast?"--Booth answered eagerly, "Whoever
+you are, friend, don't ask me any questions now."--"You must pardon
+me, captain," answered the gentleman; "but I have a little business
+with your honour--In short, captain, I have a small warrant here in my
+pocket against your honour, at the suit of one Dr Harrison." "You are
+a bailiff then?" says Booth. "I am an officer, sir," answered the
+other. "Well, sir, it is in vain to contend," cries Booth; "but let me
+beg you will permit me only to step to Mrs. Chenevix's--I will attend
+you, upon my honour, wherever you please; but my wife lies violently
+ill there." "Oh, for that matter," answered the bailiff, "you may set
+your heart at ease. Your lady, I hope, is very well; I assure you she
+is not there. You will excuse me, captain, these are only stratagems
+of war. _Bolus and virtus, quis in a hostess equirit?_" "Sir, I
+honour your learning," cries Booth, "and could almost kiss you for
+what you tell me. I assure you I would forgive you five hundred
+arrests for such a piece of news. Well, sir, and whither am I to go
+with you?" "O, anywhere: where your honour pleases," cries the
+bailiff. "Then suppose we go to Brown's coffee-house," said the
+prisoner. "No," answered the bailiff, "that will not do; that's in the
+verge of the court." "Why then, to the nearest tavern," said Booth.
+"No, not to a tavern," cries the other, "that is not a place of
+security; and you know, captain, your honour is a shy cock; I have
+been after your honour these three months. Come, sir, you must go to
+my house, if you please." "With all my heart," answered Booth, "if it
+be anywhere hereabouts." "Oh, it is but a little ways off," replied
+the bailiff; "it is only in Gray's-inn-lane, just by almost." He then
+called a coach, and desired his prisoner to walk in.
+
+Booth entered the coach without any resistance, which, had he been
+inclined to make, he must have plainly perceived would have been
+ineffectual, as the bailiff appeared to have several followers at
+hand, two of whom, beside the commander in chief, mounted with him
+into the coach. As Booth was a sweet-tempered man, as well as somewhat
+of a philosopher, he behaved with all the good-humour imaginable, and
+indeed, with more than his companions; who, however, shewed him what
+they call civility, that is, they neither struck him nor spit in his
+face.
+
+Notwithstanding the pleasantry which Booth endeavoured to preserve, he
+in reality envied every labourer whom he saw pass by him in his way.
+The charms of liberty, against his will, rushed on his mind; and he
+could not avoid suggesting to himself how much more happy was the
+poorest wretch who, without controul, could repair to his homely
+habitation and to his family, compared to him, who was thus violently,
+and yet lawfully, torn away from the company of his wife and children.
+And their condition, especially that of his Amelia, gave his heart
+many a severe and bitter pang.
+
+At length he arrived at the bailiff's mansion, and was ushered into a
+room in which were several persons. Booth desired to be alone; upon
+which the bailiff waited on him up-stairs into an apartment, the
+windows of which were well fortified with iron bars, but the walls had
+not the least outwork raised before them; they were, indeed, what is
+generally called naked; the bricks having been only covered with a
+thin plaster, which in many places was mouldered away.
+
+The first demand made upon Booth was for coach-hire, which amounted to
+two shillings, according to the bailiff's account; that being just
+double the legal fare. He was then asked if he did not chuse a bowl of
+punch? to which he having answered in the negative, the bailiff
+replied, "Nay, sir, just as you please. I don't ask you to drink, if
+you don't chuse it; but certainly you know the custom; the house is
+full of prisoners, and I can't afford gentlemen a room to themselves
+for nothing."
+
+Booth presently took this hint--indeed it was a pretty broad one--and
+told the bailiff he should not scruple to pay him his price; but in
+fact he never drank unless at his meals. "As to that, sir," cries the
+bailiff, "it is just as your honour pleases. I scorn to impose upon
+any gentleman in misfortunes: I wish you well out of them, for my
+part. Your honour can take nothing amiss of me; I only does my duty,
+what I am bound to do; and, as you says you don't care to drink
+anything, what will you be pleased to have for dinner?"
+
+Booth then complied in bespeaking a dish of meat, and told the bailiff
+he would drink a bottle with him after dinner. He then desired the
+favour of pen, ink, and paper, and a messenger; all which were
+immediately procured him, the bailiff telling him he might send
+wherever he pleased, and repeating his concern for Booth's
+misfortunes, and a hearty desire to see the end of them.
+
+The messenger was just dispatched with the letter, when who should
+arrive but honest Atkinson? A soldier of the guards, belonging to the
+same company with the serjeant, and who had known Booth at Gibraltar,
+had seen the arrest, and heard the orders given to the coachman. This
+fellow, accidentally meeting Atkinson, had acquainted him with the
+whole affair.
+
+At the appearance of Atkinson, joy immediately overspread the
+countenance of Booth. The ceremonials which past between them are
+unnecessary to be repeated. Atkinson was soon dispatched to the
+attorney and to Mrs. Ellison, as the reader hath before heard from his
+own mouth.
+
+Booth now greatly lamented that he had writ to his wife. He thought
+she might have been acquainted with the affair better by the serjeant.
+Booth begged him, however, to do everything in his power to comfort
+her; to assure her that he was in perfect health and good spirits; and
+to lessen as much as possible the concern which he knew she would have
+at the reading his letter.
+
+The serjeant, however, as the reader hath seen, brought himself the
+first account of the arrest. Indeed, the other messenger did not
+arrive till a full hour afterwards. This was not owing to any slowness
+of his, but to many previous errands which he was to execute before
+the delivery of the letter; for, notwithstanding the earnest desire
+which the bailiff had declared to see Booth out of his troubles, he
+had ordered the porter, who was his follower, to call upon two or
+three other bailiffs, and as many attorneys, to try to load his
+prisoner with as many actions as possible.
+
+Here the reader may be apt to conclude that the bailiff, instead of
+being a friend, was really an enemy to poor Booth; but, in fact, he
+was not so. His desire was no more than to accumulate bail-bonds; for
+the bailiff was reckoned an honest and good sort of man in his way,
+and had no more malice against the bodies in his custody than a
+butcher hath to those in his: and as the latter, when he takes his
+knife in hand, hath no idea but of the joints into which he is to cut
+the carcase; so the former, when he handles his writ, hath no other
+design but to cut out the body into as many bail-bonds as possible. As
+to the life of the animal, or the liberty of the man, they are
+thoughts which never obtrude themselves on either.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ii.
+
+_Containing an account of Mr. Booth's fellow-sufferers._
+
+
+Before we return to Amelia we must detain our reader a little longer
+with Mr. Booth, in the custody of Mr. Bondum the bailiff, who now
+informed his prisoner that he was welcome to the liberty of the house
+with the other gentlemen.
+
+Booth asked who those gentlemen were. "One of them, sir," says Mr.
+Bondum, "is a very great writer or author, as they call him; he hath
+been here these five weeks at the suit of a bookseller for eleven
+pound odd money; but he expects to be discharged in a day or two, for
+he hath writ out the debt. He is now writing for five or six
+booksellers, and he will get you sometimes, when he sits to it, a
+matter of fifteen shillings a-day. For he is a very good pen, they
+say, but is apt to be idle. Some days he won't write above five hours;
+but at other times I have know him at it above sixteen." "Ay!" cries
+Booth; "pray, what are his productions? What does he write?" "Why,
+sometimes," answered Bondum, "he writes your history books for your
+numbers, and sometimes your verses, your poems, what do you call them?
+and then again he writes news for your newspapers." "Ay, indeed! he is
+a most extraordinary man, truly!--How doth he get his news here?" "Why
+he makes it, as he doth your parliament speeches for your magazines.
+He reads them to us sometimes over a bowl of punch. To be sure it is
+all one as if one was in the parliament-house--it is about liberty and
+freedom, and about the constitution of England. I say nothing for my
+part, for I will keep my neck out of a halter; but, faith, he makes it
+out plainly to me that all matters are not as they should be. I am all
+for liberty, for my part." "Is that so consistent with your calling?"
+cries Booth. "I thought, my friend, you had lived by depriving men of
+their liberty." "That's another matter," cries the bailiff; "that's
+all according to law, and in the way of business. To be sure, men must
+be obliged to pay their debts, or else there would be an end of
+everything." Booth desired the bailiff to give him his opinion on
+liberty. Upon which, he hesitated a moment, and then cried out, "O
+'tis a fine thing, 'tis a very fine thing, and the constitution of
+England." Booth told him, that by the old constitution of England he
+had heard that men could not be arrested for debt; to which the
+bailiff answered, that must have been in very bad times; "because as
+why," says he, "would it not be the hardest thing in the world if a
+man could not arrest another for a just and lawful debt? besides, sir,
+you must be mistaken; for how could that ever be? is not liberty the
+constitution of England? well, and is not the constitution, as a man
+may say--whereby the constitution, that is the law and liberty, and
+all that--"
+
+Booth had a little mercy upon the poor bailiff, when he found him
+rounding in this manner, and told him he had made the matter very
+clear. Booth then proceeded to enquire after the other gentlemen, his
+fellows in affliction; upon which Bondum acquainted him that one of
+the prisoners was a poor fellow. "He calls himself a gentleman," said
+Bondum; "but I am sure I never saw anything genteel by him. In a week
+that he hath been in my house he hath drank only part of one bottle of
+wine. I intend to carry him to Newgate within a day or two, if he
+can't find bail, which, I suppose, he will not be able to do; for
+everybody says he is an undone man. He hath run out all he hath by
+losses in business, and one way or other; and he hath a wife and seven
+children. Here was the whole family here the other day, all howling
+together. I never saw such a beggarly crew; I was almost ashamed to
+see them in my house. I thought they seemed fitter for Bridewell than
+any other place. To be sure, I do not reckon him as proper company for
+such as you, sir; but there is another prisoner in the house that I
+dare say you will like very much. He is, indeed, very much of a
+gentleman, and spends his money like one. I have had him only three
+days, and I am afraid he won't stay much longer. They say, indeed, he
+is a gamester; but what is that to me or any one, as long as a man
+appears as a gentleman? I always love to speak by people as I find;
+and, in my opinion, he is fit company for the greatest lord in the
+land; for he hath very good cloaths, and money enough. He is not here
+for debt, but upon a judge's warrant for an assault and battery; for
+the tipstaff locks up here."
+
+The bailiff was thus haranguing when he was interrupted by the arrival
+of the attorney whom the trusty serjeant had, with the utmost
+expedition, found out and dispatched to the relief of his distressed
+friend. But before we proceed any further with the captain we will
+return to poor Amelia, for whom, considering the situation in which we
+left her, the good-natured reader may be, perhaps, in no small degree
+solicitous.
+
+[Illustration: no caption]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iii.
+
+_Containing some extraordinary behaviour in Mrs. Ellison._
+
+
+The serjeant being departed to convey Mrs. Ellison to the captain, his
+wife went to fetch Amelia's children to their mother.
+
+Amelia's concern for the distresses of her husband was aggravated at
+the sight of her children. "Good Heavens!" she cried, "what will--what
+can become of these poor little wretches? why have I produced these
+little creatures only to give them a share of poverty and misery?" At
+which words she embraced them eagerly in her arms, and bedewed them
+both with her tears.
+
+The children's eyes soon overflowed as fast as their mother's, though
+neither of them knew the cause of her affliction. The little boy, who
+was the elder and much the sharper of the two, imputed the agonies of
+his mother to her illness, according to the account brought to his
+father in his presence.
+
+When Amelia became acquainted with the child's apprehensions, she soon
+satisfied him that she was in a perfect state of health; at which the
+little thing expressed great satisfaction, and said he was glad she
+was well again. Amelia told him she had not been in the least
+disordered. Upon which the innocent cried out, "La! how can people
+tell such fibs? a great tall man told my papa you was taken very ill
+at Mrs. Somebody's shop, and my poor papa presently ran down-stairs: I
+was afraid he would have broke his neck, to come to you."
+
+"O, the villains!" cries Mrs. Atkinson, "what a stratagem was here to
+take away your husband!"
+
+"Take away!" answered the child--"What! hath anybody taken away papa?
+--Sure that naughty fibbing man hath not taken away papa?"
+
+Amelia begged Mrs. Atkinson to say something to her children, for that
+her spirits were overpowered. She then threw herself into a chair, and
+gave a full vent to a passion almost too strong for her delicate
+constitution.
+
+The scene that followed, during some minutes, is beyond my power of
+description; I must beg the readers' hearts to suggest it to
+themselves. The children hung on their mother, whom they endeavoured
+in vain to comfort, as Mrs. Atkinson did in vain attempt to pacify
+them, telling them all would be well, and they would soon see their
+papa again.
+
+At length, partly by the persuasions of Mrs. Atkinson, partly from
+consideration of her little ones, and more, perhaps, from the relief
+which she had acquired by her tears, Amelia became a little composed.
+
+Nothing worth notice past in this miserable company from this time
+till the return of Mrs. Ellison from the bailiff's house; and to draw
+out scenes of wretchedness to too great a length, is a task very
+uneasy to the writer, and for which none but readers of a most gloomy
+complexion will think themselves ever obliged to his labours.
+
+At length Mrs. Ellison arrived, and entered the room with an air of
+gaiety rather misbecoming the occasion. When she had seated herself in
+a chair she told Amelia that the captain was very well and in good
+spirits, and that he earnestly desired her to keep up hers. "Come,
+madam," said she, "don't be disconsolate; I hope we shall soon be able
+to get him out of his troubles. The debts, indeed, amount to more than
+I expected; however, ways may be found to redeem him. He must own
+himself guilty of some rashness in going out of the verge, when he
+knew to what he was liable; but that is now not to be remedied. If he
+had followed my advice this had not happened; but men will be
+headstrong."
+
+"I cannot bear this," cries Amelia; "shall I hear that best of
+creatures blamed for his tenderness to me?"
+
+"Well, I will not blame him," answered Mrs. Ellison; "I am sure I
+propose nothing but to serve him; and if you will do as much to serve
+him yourself, he will not be long a prisoner."
+
+"I do!" cries Amelia: "O Heavens! is there a thing upon earth--"
+
+"Yes, there is a thing upon earth," said Mrs. Ellison, "and a very
+easy thing too; and yet I will venture my life you start when I
+propose it. And yet, when I consider that you are a woman of
+understanding, I know not why I should think so; for sure you must
+have too much good sense to imagine that you can cry your husband out
+of prison. If this would have done, I see you have almost cried your
+eyes out already. And yet you may do the business by a much pleasanter
+way than by crying and bawling."
+
+"What do you mean, madam?" cries Amelia.--"For my part, I cannot guess
+your meaning."
+
+"Before I tell you then, madam," answered Mrs. Ellison, "I must inform
+you, if you do not already know it, that the captain is charged with
+actions to the amount of near five hundred pounds. I am sure I would
+willingly be his bail; but I know my bail would not be taken for that
+sum. You must consider, therefore, madam, what chance you have of
+redeeming him; unless you chuse, as perhaps some wives would, that he
+should lie all his life in prison."
+
+At these words Amelia discharged a shower of tears, and gave every
+mark of the most frantic grief.
+
+"Why, there now," cries Mrs. Ellison, "while you will indulge these
+extravagant passions, how can you be capable of listening to the voice
+of reason? I know I am a fool in concerning myself thus with the
+affairs of others. I know the thankless office I undertake; and yet I
+love you so, my dear Mrs. Booth, that I cannot bear to see you
+afflicted, and I would comfort you if you would suffer me. Let me beg
+you to make your mind easy; and within these two days I will engage to
+set your husband at liberty.
+
+"Harkee, child; only behave like a woman of spirit this evening, and
+keep your appointment, notwithstanding what hath happened; and I am
+convinced there is one who hath the power and the will to serve you."
+
+Mrs. Ellison spoke the latter part of her speech in a whisper, so that
+Mrs. Atkinson, who was then engaged with the children, might not hear
+her; but Amelia answered aloud, and said, "What appointment would you
+have me keep this evening?"
+
+"Nay, nay, if you have forgot," cries Mrs. Ellison, "I will tell you
+more another time; but come, will you go home? my dinner is ready by
+this time, and you shall dine with me."
+
+"Talk not to me of dinners," cries Amelia; "my stomach is too full
+already."
+
+"Nay, but, dear madam," answered Mrs. Ellison, "let me beseech you to
+go home with me. I do not care," says she, whispering, "to speak
+before some folks." "I have no secret, madam, in the world," replied
+Amelia aloud, "which I would not communicate to this lady; for I shall
+always acknowledge the highest obligations to her for the secrets she
+hath imparted to me."
+
+"Madam," said Mrs. Ellison, "I do not interfere with obligations. I am
+glad the lady hath obliged you so much; and I wish all people were
+equally mindful of obligations. I hope I have omitted no opportunity
+of endeavouring to oblige Mrs. Booth, as well as I have some other
+folks."
+
+"If by other folks, madam, you mean me," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "I
+confess I sincerely believe you intended the same obligation to us
+both; and I have the pleasure to think it is owing to me that this
+lady is not as much obliged to you as I am."
+
+"I protest, madam, I can hardly guess your meaning," said Mrs.
+Ellison.--"Do you really intend to affront me, madam?"
+
+"I intend to preserve innocence and virtue, if it be in my power,
+madam," answered the other. "And sure nothing but the most eager
+resolution to destroy it could induce you to mention such an
+appointment at such a time."
+
+"I did not expect this treatment from you, madam," cries Mrs. Ellison;
+"such ingratitude I could not have believed had it been reported to me
+by any other."
+
+"Such impudence," answered Mrs. Atkinson, "must exceed, I think, all
+belief; but, when women once abandon that modesty which is the
+characteristic of their sex, they seldom set any bounds to their
+assurance."
+
+"I could not have believed this to have been in human nature," cries
+Mrs. Ellison. "Is this the woman whom I have fed, have cloathed, have
+supported; who owes to my charity and my intercessions that she is not
+at this day destitute of all the necessaries of life?"
+
+"I own it all," answered Mrs. Atkinson; "and I add the favour of a
+masquerade ticket to the number. Could I have thought, madam, that you
+would before my face have asked another lady to go to the same place
+with the same man?--but I ask your pardon; I impute rather more
+assurance to you than you are mistress of.--You have endeavoured to
+keep the assignation a secret from me; and it was by mere accident
+only that I discovered it; unless there are some guardian angels that
+in general protect innocence and virtue; though, I may say, I have not
+always found them so watchful."
+
+"Indeed, madam," said Mrs. Ellison, "you are not worth my answer; nor
+will I stay a moment longer with such a person.--So, Mrs. Booth, you
+have your choice, madam, whether you will go with me, or remain in the
+company of this lady."
+
+"If so, madam," answered Mrs. Booth, "I shall not be long in
+determining to stay where I am."
+
+Mrs. Ellison then, casting a look of great indignation at both the
+ladies, made a short speech full of invectives against Mrs. Atkinson,
+and not without oblique hints of ingratitude against poor Amelia;
+after which she burst out of the room, and out of the house, and made
+haste to her own home, in a condition of mind to which fortune without
+guilt cannot, I believe, reduce any one.
+
+Indeed, how much the superiority of misery is on the side of
+wickedness may appear to every reader who will compare the present
+situation of Amelia with that of Mrs. Ellison. Fortune had attacked
+the former with almost the highest degree of her malice. She was
+involved in a scene of most exquisite distress, and her husband, her
+principal comfort, torn violently from her arms; yet her sorrow,
+however exquisite, was all soft and tender, nor was she without many
+consolations. Her case, however hard, was not absolutely desperate;
+for scarce any condition of fortune can be so. Art and industry,
+chance and friends, have often relieved the most distrest
+circumstances, and converted them into opulence. In all these she had
+hopes on this side the grave, and perfect virtue and innocence gave
+her the strongest assurances on the other. Whereas, in the bosom of
+Mrs. Ellison, all was storm and tempest; anger, revenge, fear, and
+pride, like so many raging furies, possessed her mind, and tortured
+her with disappointment and shame. Loss of reputation, which is
+generally irreparable, was to be her lot; loss of friends is of this
+the certain consequence; all on this side the grave appeared dreary
+and comfortless; and endless misery on the other, closed the gloomy
+prospect.
+
+Hence, my worthy reader, console thyself, that however few of the
+other good things of life are thy lot, the best of all things, which
+is innocence, is always within thy own power; and, though Fortune may
+make thee often unhappy, she can never make thee completely and
+irreparably miserable without thy own consent.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter iv.
+
+_Containing, among many matters, the exemplary behaviour of Colonel
+James._
+
+
+When Mrs. Ellison was departed, Mrs. Atkinson began to apply all her
+art to soothe and comfort Amelia, but was presently prevented by her.
+"I am ashamed, dear madam," said Amelia, "of having indulged my
+affliction so much at your expense. The suddenness of the occasion is
+my only excuse; for, had I had time to summon my resolution to my
+assistance, I hope I am mistress of more patience than you have
+hitherto seen me exert. I know, madam, in my unwarrantable excesses, I
+have been guilty of many transgressions. First, against that Divine
+will and pleasure without whose permission, at least, no human
+accident can happen; in the next place, madam, if anything can
+aggravate such a fault, I have transgressed the laws of friendship as
+well as decency, in throwing upon you some part of the load of my
+grief; and again, I have sinned against common sense, which should
+teach me, instead of weakly and heavily lamenting my misfortunes, to
+rouse all my spirits to remove them. In this light I am shocked at my
+own folly, and am resolved to leave my children under your care, and
+go directly to my husband. I may comfort him. I may assist him. I may
+relieve him. There is nothing now too difficult for me to undertake."
+
+Mrs. Atkinson greatly approved and complimented her friend on all the
+former part of her speech, except what related to herself, on which
+she spoke very civilly, and I believe with great truth; but as to her
+determination of going to her husband she endeavoured to dissuade her,
+at least she begged her to defer it for the present, and till the
+serjeant returned home. She then reminded Amelia that it was now past
+five in the afternoon, and that she had not taken any refreshment but
+a dish of tea the whole day, and desired she would give her leave to
+procure her a chick, or anything she liked better, for her dinner.
+
+Amelia thanked her friend, and said she would sit down with her to
+whatever she pleased; "but if I do not eat," said she, "I would not
+have you impute it to anything but want of appetite; for I assure you
+all things are equally indifferent to me. I am more solicitous about
+these poor little things, who have not been used to fast so long.
+Heaven knows what may hereafter be their fate!"
+
+Mrs. Atkinson bid her hope the best, and then recommended the children
+to the care of her maid.
+
+And now arrived a servant from Mrs. James, with an invitation to
+Captain Booth and to his lady to dine with the colonel the day after
+the next. This a little perplexed Amelia; but after a short
+consideration she despatched an answer to Mrs. James, in which she
+concisely informed her of what had happened.
+
+The honest serjeant, who had been on his legs almost the whole day,
+now returned, and brought Amelia a short letter from her husband, in
+which he gave her the most solemn assurances of his health and
+spirits, and begged her with great earnestness to take care to
+preserve her own, which if she did, he said, he had no doubt but that
+they should shortly be happy. He added something of hopes from my
+lord, with which Mrs. Ellison had amused him, and which served only to
+destroy the comfort that Amelia received from the rest of his letter.
+
+Whilst Amelia, the serjeant, and his lady, were engaged in a cold
+collation, for which purpose a cold chicken was procured from the
+tavern for the ladies, and two pound of cold beef for the serjeant, a
+violent knocking was heard at the door, and presently afterwards
+Colonel James entered the room. After proper compliments had past, the
+colonel told Amelia that her letter was brought to Mrs. James while
+they were at table, and that on her shewing it him he had immediately
+rose up, made an apology to his company, and took a chair to her. He
+spoke to her with great tenderness on the occasion, and desired her to
+make herself easy; assuring her that he would leave nothing in his
+power undone to serve her husband. He then gave her an invitation, in
+his wife's name, to his own house, in the most pressing manner.
+
+Amelia returned him very hearty thanks for all his kind offers, but
+begged to decline that of an apartment in his house. She said, as she
+could not leave her children, so neither could she think of bringing
+such a trouble with her into his family; and, though the colonel gave
+her many assurances that her children, as well as herself, would be
+very welcome to Mrs. James, and even betook himself to entreaties, she
+still persisted obstinately in her refusal.
+
+In real truth, Amelia had taken a vast affection for Mrs. Atkinson, of
+the comfort of whose company she could not bear to be deprived in her
+distress, nor to exchange it for that of Mrs. James, to whom she had
+lately conceived no little dislike.
+
+The colonel, when he found he could not prevail with Amelia to accept
+his invitation, desisted from any farther solicitations. He then took
+a bank-bill of fifty pounds from his pocket-book, and said, "You will
+pardon me, dear madam, if I chuse to impute your refusal of my house
+rather to a dislike of my wife, who I will not pretend to be the most
+agreeable of women (all men," said he, sighing, "have not Captain
+Booth's fortune), than to any aversion or anger to me. I must insist
+upon it, therefore, to make your present habitation as easy to you as
+possible--I hope, madam, you will not deny me this happiness; I beg
+you will honour me with the acceptance of this trifle." He then put
+the note into her hand, and declared that the honour of touching it
+was worth a hundred times that sum.
+
+"I protest, Colonel James," cried Amelia, blushing, "I know not what
+to do or say, your goodness so greatly confounds me. Can I, who am so
+well acquainted with the many great obligations Mr. Booth already hath
+to your generosity, consent that you should add more to a debt we
+never can pay?"
+
+The colonel stopt her short, protesting that she misplaced the
+obligation; for, that if to confer the highest happiness was to
+oblige, he was obliged to her acceptance. "And I do assure you,
+madam," said he, "if this trifling sum or a much larger can contribute
+to your ease, I shall consider myself as the happiest man upon earth
+in being able to supply it, and you, madam, my greatest benefactor in
+receiving it."
+
+Amelia then put the note in her pocket, and they entered into a
+conversation in which many civil things were said on both sides; but
+what was chiefly worth remark was, that Amelia had almost her husband
+constantly in her mouth, and the colonel never mentioned him: the
+former seemed desirous to lay all obligations, as much as possible, to
+the account of her husband; and the latter endeavoured, with the
+utmost delicacy, to insinuate that her happiness was the main and
+indeed only point which he had in view.
+
+Amelia had made no doubt, at the colonel's first appearance, but that
+he intended to go directly to her husband. When he dropt therefore a
+hint of his intention to visit him next morning she appeared visibly
+shocked at the delay. The colonel, perceiving this, said, "However
+inconvenient it may be, yet, madam, if it will oblige you, or if you
+desire it, I will even go to-night." Amelia answered, "My husband will
+be far from desiring to derive any good from your inconvenience; but,
+if you put it to me, I must be excused for saying I desire nothing
+more in the world than to send him so great a comfort as I know he
+will receive from the presence of such a friend." "Then, to show you,
+madam," cries the colonel, "that I desire nothing more in the world
+than to give you pleasure, I will go to him immediately."
+
+Amelia then bethought herself of the serjeant, and told the colonel
+his old acquaintance Atkinson, whom he had known at Gibraltar, was
+then in the house, and would conduct him to the place. The serjeant
+was immediately called in, paid his respects to the colonel, and was
+acknowledged by him. They both immediately set forward, Amelia to the
+utmost of her power pressing their departure.
+
+Mrs. Atkinson now returned to Amelia, and was by her acquainted with
+the colonel's late generosity; for her heart so boiled over with
+gratitude that she could not conceal the ebullition. Amelia likewise
+gave her friend a full narrative of the colonel's former behaviour and
+friendship to her husband, as well abroad as in England; and ended
+with declaring that she believed him to be the most generous man upon
+earth.
+
+Mrs. Atkinson agreed with Amelia's conclusion, and said she was glad
+to hear there was any such man. They then proceeded with the children
+to the tea-table, where panegyric, and not scandal, was the topic of
+their conversation; and of this panegyric the colonel was the subject;
+both the ladies seeming to vie with each other in celebrating the
+praises of his goodness.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter v.
+
+_Comments upon authors._
+
+
+Having left Amelia in as comfortable a situation as could possibly be
+expected, her immediate distresses relieved, and her heart filled with
+great hopes from the friendship of the colonel, we will now return to
+Booth, who, when the attorney and serjeant had left him, received a
+visit from that great author of whom honourable mention is made in our
+second chapter.
+
+Booth, as the reader may be pleased to remember, was a pretty good
+master of the classics; for his father, though he designed his son for
+the army, did not think it necessary to breed him up a blockhead. He
+did not, perhaps, imagine that a competent share of Latin and Greek
+would make his son either a pedant or a coward. He considered
+likewise, probably, that the life of a soldier is in general a life of
+idleness; and might think that the spare hours of an officer in
+country quarters would be as well employed with a book as in
+sauntering about the streets, loitering in a coffee-house, sotting in
+a tavern, or in laying schemes to debauch and ruin a set of harmless
+ignorant country girls.
+
+As Booth was therefore what might well be called, in this age at
+least, a man of learning, he began to discourse our author on subjects
+of literature. "I think, sir," says he, "that Dr Swift hath been
+generally allowed, by the critics in this kingdom, to be the greatest
+master of humour that ever wrote. Indeed, I allow him to have
+possessed most admirable talents of this kind; and, if Rabelais was
+his master, I think he proves the truth of the common Greek proverb--
+that the scholar is often superior to the master. As to Cervantes, I
+do not think we can make any just comparison; for, though Mr. Pope
+compliments him with sometimes taking Cervantes' serious air--" "I
+remember the passage," cries the author;
+
+"O thou, whatever title please thine ear, Dean, Drapier, Bickerstaff,
+or Gulliver; Whether you take Cervantes' serious air, Or laugh and
+shake in Rabelais' easy chair--"
+
+"You are right, sir," said Booth; "but though I should agree that the
+doctor hath sometimes condescended to imitate Rabelais, I do not
+remember to have seen in his works the least attempt in the manner of
+Cervantes. But there is one in his own way, and whom I am convinced he
+studied above all others--you guess, I believe, I am going to name
+Lucian. This author, I say, I am convinced, he followed; but I think
+he followed him at a distance: as, to say the truth, every other
+writer of this kind hath done in my opinion; for none, I think, hath
+yet equalled him. I agree, indeed, entirely with Mr. Moyle, in his
+Discourse on the age of the Philopatris, when he gives him the epithet
+of the incomparable Lucian; and incomparable, I believe, he will
+remain as long as the language in which he wrote shall endure. What an
+inimitable piece of humour is his Cock!" "I remember it very well,"
+cries the author; "his story of a Cock and a Bull is excellent." Booth
+stared at this, and asked the author what he meant by the Bull? "Nay,"
+answered he, "I don't know very well, upon my soul. It is a long time
+since I read him. I learnt him all over at school; I have not read him
+much since. And pray, sir," said he, "how do you like his Pharsalia?
+don't you think Mr. Rowe's translation a very fine one?" Booth
+replied, "I believe we are talking of different authors. The
+Pharsalia, which Mr. Rowe translated, was written by Lucan; but I have
+been speaking of Lucian, a Greek writer, and, in my opinion, the
+greatest in the humorous way that ever the world produced." "Ay!"
+cries the author, "he was indeed so, a very excellent writer indeed! I
+fancy a translation of him would sell very well!" "I do not know,
+indeed," cries Booth. "A good translation of him would be a valuable
+book. I have seen a wretched one published by Mr. Dryden, but
+translated by others, who in many places have misunderstood Lucian's
+meaning, and have nowhere preserved the spirit of the original." "That
+is great pity," says the author. "Pray, sir, is he well translated in
+the French?" Booth answered, he could not tell; but that he doubted it
+very much, having never seen a good version into that language out of
+the Greek." To confess the truth, I believe," said he, "the French
+translators have generally consulted the Latin only; which, in some of
+the few Greek writers I have read, is intolerably bad. And as the
+English translators, for the most part, pursue the French, we may
+easily guess what spirit those copies of bad copies must preserve of
+the original."
+
+"Egad, you are a shrewd guesser," cries the author. "I am glad the
+booksellers have not your sagacity. But how should it be otherwise,
+considering the price they pay by the sheet? The Greek, you will
+allow, is a hard language; and there are few gentlemen that write who
+can read it without a good lexicon. Now, sir, if we were to afford
+time to find out the true meaning of words, a gentleman would not get
+bread and cheese by his work. If one was to be paid, indeed, as Mr.
+Pope was for his Homer--Pray, sir, don't you think that the best
+translation in the world?"
+
+"Indeed, sir," cries Booth, "I think, though it is certainly a noble
+paraphrase, and of itself a fine poem, yet in some places it is no
+translation at all. In the very beginning, for instance, he hath not
+rendered the true force of the author. Homer invokes his muse in the
+five first lines of the Iliad; and, at the end of the fifth, he gives
+his reason:
+
+   [Greek]
+
+For all these things," says he, "were brought about by the decree of
+Jupiter; and, therefore, he supposes their true sources are known only
+to the deities. Now, the translation takes no more notice of the [Greek]
+than if no such word had been there."
+
+"Very possibly," answered the author; "it is a long time since I read
+the original. Perhaps, then, he followed the French translations. I
+observe, indeed, he talks much in the notes of Madam Dacier and
+Monsieur Eustathius."
+
+Booth had now received conviction enough of his friend's knowledge of
+the Greek language; without attempting, therefore, to set him right,
+he made a sudden transition to the Latin. "Pray, sir," said he, "as
+you have mentioned Rowe's translation of the Pharsalia, do you
+remember how he hath rendered that passage in the character of Cato?--
+
+    _----Venerisque huic maximus usus
+        Progenies; urbi Pater est, urbique Maritus._
+
+For I apprehend that passage is generally misunderstood."
+
+"I really do not remember," answered the author. "Pray, sir, what do
+you take to be the meaning?"
+
+"I apprehend, sir," replied Booth, "that by these words, _Urbi Pater
+est, urbique Maritus_, Cato is represented as the father and husband
+to the city of Rome."
+
+"Very true, sir," cries the author; "very fine, indeed.--Not only the
+father of his country, but the husband too; very noble, truly!"
+
+"Pardon me, sir," cries Booth; "I do not conceive that to have been
+Lucan's meaning. If you please to observe the context; Lucan, having
+commended the temperance of Cato in the instances of diet and cloaths,
+proceeds to venereal pleasures; of which, says the poet, his principal
+use was procreation: then he adds, _Urbi Pater est, urbique Maritus;_
+that he became a father and a husband for the sake only of the city."
+
+"Upon my word that's true," cries the author; "I did not think of it.
+It is much finer than the other.--_Urbis Pater est_--what is the
+other?--ay--_Urbis Maritus._--It is certainly as you say, sir."
+
+Booth was by this pretty well satisfied of the author's profound
+learning; however, he was willing to try him a little farther. He
+asked him, therefore, what was his opinion of Lucan in general, and in
+what class of writers he ranked him?
+
+The author stared a little at this question; and, after some
+hesitation, answered, "Certainly, sir, I think he is a fine writer and
+a very great poet."
+
+"I am very much of the same opinion," cries Booth; "but where do you
+class him--next to what poet do you place him?"
+
+"Let me see," cries the author; "where do I class him? next to whom do
+I place him?--Ay!--why--why, pray, where do you yourself place him?"
+
+"Why, surely," cries Booth, "if he is not to be placed in the first
+rank with Homer, and Virgil, and Milton, I think clearly he is at the
+head of the second, before either Statius or Silius Italicus--though I
+allow to each of these their merits; but, perhaps, an epic poem was
+beyond the genius of either. I own, I have often thought, if Statius
+had ventured no farther than Ovid or Claudian, he would have succeeded
+better; for his Sylvae are, in my opinion, much better than his
+Thebais."
+
+"I believe I was of the same opinion formerly," said the author.
+
+"And for what reason have you altered it?" cries Booth.
+
+"I have not altered it," answered the author; "but, to tell you the
+truth, I have not any opinion at all about these matters at present. I
+do not trouble my head much with poetry; for there is no encouragement
+to such studies in this age. It is true, indeed, I have now and then
+wrote a poem or two for the magazines, but I never intend to write any
+more; for a gentleman is not paid for his time. A sheet is a sheet
+with the booksellers; and, whether it be in prose or verse, they make
+no difference; though certainly there is as much difference to a
+gentleman in the work as there is to a taylor between making a plain
+and a laced suit. Rhimes are difficult things; they are stubborn
+things, sir. I have been sometimes longer in tagging a couplet than I
+have been in writing a speech on the side of the opposition which hath
+been read with great applause all over the kingdom."
+
+"I am glad you are pleased to confirm that," cries Booth; "for I
+protest it was an entire secret to me till this day. I was so
+perfectly ignorant, that I thought the speeches published in the
+magazines were really made by the members themselves."
+
+"Some of them, and I believe I may, without vanity, say the best,"
+cries the author, "are all the productions of my own pen! but I
+believe I shall leave it off soon, unless a sheet of speech will fetch
+more than it does at present. In truth, the romance-writing is the
+only branch of our business now that is worth following. Goods of that
+sort have had so much success lately in the market, that a bookseller
+scarce cares what he bids for them. And it is certainly the easiest
+work in the world; you may write it almost as fast as you can set pen
+to paper; and if you interlard it with a little scandal, a little
+abuse on some living characters of note, you cannot fail of success."
+
+"Upon my word, sir," cries Booth, "you have greatly instructed me. I
+could not have imagined there had been so much regularity in the trade
+of writing as you are pleased to mention; by what I can perceive, the
+pen and ink is likely to become the staple commodity of the kingdom."
+
+"Alas! sir," answered the author, "it is overstocked. The market is
+overstocked. There is no encouragement to merit, no patrons. I have
+been these five years soliciting a subscription for my new translation
+of Ovid's Metamorphoses, with notes explanatory, historical, and
+critical; and I have scarce collected five hundred names yet."
+
+The mention of this translation a little surprized Booth; not only as
+the author had just declared his intentions to forsake the tuneful
+muses; but, for some other reasons which he had collected from his
+conversation with our author, he little expected to hear of a proposal
+to translate any of the Latin poets. He proceeded, therefore, to
+catechise him a little farther; and by his answers was fully satisfied
+that he had the very same acquaintance with Ovid that he had appeared
+to have with Lucan.
+
+The author then pulled out a bundle of papers containing proposals for
+his subscription, and receipts; and, addressing himself to Booth,
+said, "Though the place in which we meet, sir, is an improper place to
+solicit favours of this kind, yet, perhaps, it may be in your power to
+serve me if you will charge your pockets with some of these." Booth
+was just offering at an excuse, when the bailiff introduced Colonel
+James and the serjeant.
+
+The unexpected visit of a beloved friend to a man in affliction,
+especially in Mr. Booth's situation, is a comfort which can scarce be
+equalled; not barely from the hopes of relief or redress by his
+assistance, but as it is an evidence of sincere friendship which
+scarce admits of any doubt or suspicion. Such an instance doth indeed
+make a man amends for all ordinary troubles and distresses; and we
+ought to think ourselves gainers by having had such an opportunity of
+discovering that we are possessed of one of the most valuable of all
+human possessions.
+
+Booth was so transported at the sight of the colonel, that he dropt
+the proposals which the author had put into his hands, and burst forth
+into the highest professions of gratitude to his friend; who behaved
+very properly on his side, and said everything which became the mouth
+of a friend on the occasion.
+
+It is true, indeed, he seemed not moved equally either with Booth or
+the serjeant, both whose eyes watered at the scene. In truth, the
+colonel, though a very generous man, had not the least grain of
+tenderness in his disposition. His mind was formed of those firm
+materials of which nature formerly hammered out the Stoic, and upon
+which the sorrows of no man living could make an impression. A man of
+this temper, who doth not much value danger, will fight for the person
+he calls his friend, and the man that hath but little value for his
+money will give it him; but such friendship is never to be absolutely
+depended on; for, whenever the favourite passion interposes with it,
+it is sure to subside and vanish into air. Whereas the man whose
+tender disposition really feels the miseries of another will endeavour
+to relieve them for his own sake; and, in such a mind, friendship will
+often get the superiority over every other passion.
+
+But, from whatever motive it sprung, the colonel's behaviour to Booth
+seemed truly amiable; and so it appeared to the author, who took the
+first occasion to applaud it in a very florid oration; which the
+reader, when he recollects that he was a speech-maker by profession,
+will not be surprized at; nor, perhaps, will be much more surprized
+that he soon after took an occasion of clapping a proposal into the
+colonel's hands, holding at the same time a receipt very visible in
+his own.
+
+The colonel received both, and gave the author a guinea in exchange,
+which was double the sum mentioned in the receipt; for which the
+author made a low bow, and very politely took his leave, saying, "I
+suppose, gentlemen, you may have some private business together; I
+heartily wish a speedy end to your confinement, and I congratulate you
+on the possessing so great, so noble, and so generous a friend."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vi.
+
+_Which inclines rather to satire than panegyric._
+
+
+The colonel had the curiosity to ask Booth the name of the gentleman
+who, in the vulgar language, had struck, or taken him in for a guinea
+with so much ease and dexterity. Booth answered, he did not know his
+name; all that he knew of him was, that he was the most impudent and
+illiterate fellow he had ever seen, and that, by his own account, he
+was the author of most of the wonderful productions of the age.
+"Perhaps," said he, "it may look uncharitable in me to blame you for
+your generosity; but I am convinced the fellow hath not the least
+merit or capacity, and you have subscribed to the most horrid trash
+that ever was published."
+
+"I care not a farthing what he publishes," cries the colonel. "Heaven
+forbid I should be obliged to read half the nonsense I have subscribed
+to."
+
+"But don't you think," said Booth, "that by such indiscriminate
+encouragement of authors you do a real mischief to the society? By
+propagating the subscriptions of such fellows, people are tired out
+and withhold their contributions to men of real merit; and, at the
+same time, you are contributing to fill the world, not only with
+nonsense, but with all the scurrility, indecency, and profaneness with
+which the age abounds, and with which all bad writers supply the
+defect of genius."
+
+"Pugh!" cries the colonel, "I never consider these matters. Good or
+bad, it is all one to me; but there's an acquaintance of mine, and a
+man of great wit too, that thinks the worst the best, as they are the
+surest to make him laugh."
+
+"I ask pardon, sir," says the serjeant; "but I wish your honour would
+consider your own affairs a little, for it grows late in the evening."
+
+"The serjeant says true," answered the colonel. "What is it you intend
+to do?"
+
+"Faith, colonel, I know not what I shall do. My affairs seem so
+irreparable, that I have been driving them as much as possibly I could
+from my mind. If I was to suffer alone, I think I could bear them with
+some philosophy; but when I consider who are to be the sharers in my
+fortune--the dearest of children, and the best, the worthiest, and the
+noblest of women---Pardon me, my dear friend, these sensations are
+above me; they convert me into a woman; they drive me to despair, to
+madness."
+
+The colonel advised him to command himself, and told him this was not
+the way to retrieve his fortune. "As to me, my dear Booth," said he,
+"you know you may command me as far as is really within my power."
+
+Booth answered eagerly, that he was so far from expecting any more
+favours from the colonel, that he had resolved not to let him know
+anything of his misfortune. "No, my dear friend," cries he, "I am too
+much obliged to you already;" and then burst into many fervent
+expressions of gratitude, till the colonel himself stopt him, and
+begged him to give an account of the debt or debts for which he was
+detained in that horrid place.
+
+Booth answered, he could not be very exact, but he feared it was
+upwards of four hundred pounds.
+
+"It is but three hundred pounds, indeed, sir," cries the serjeant; "if
+you can raise three hundred pounds, you are a free man this moment."
+
+Booth, who did not apprehend the generous meaning of the serjeant as
+well as, I believe, the reader will, answered he was mistaken; that he
+had computed his debts, and they amounted to upwards of four hundred
+pounds; nay, that the bailiff had shewn him writs for above that sum.
+
+"Whether your debts are three or four hundred," cries the colonel,
+"the present business is to give bail only, and then you will have
+some time to try your friends: I think you might get a company abroad,
+and then I would advance the money on the security of half your pay;
+and, in the mean time, I will be one of your bail with all my heart."
+
+Whilst Booth poured forth his gratitude for all this kindness, the
+serjeant ran down-stairs for the bailiff, and shortly after returned
+with him into the room.
+
+The bailiff, being informed that the colonel offered to be bail for
+his prisoner, answered a little surlily, "Well, sir, and who will be
+the other? you know, I suppose, there must be two; and I must have
+time to enquire after them."
+
+The colonel replied, "I believe, sir, I am well known to be
+responsible for a much larger sum than your demand on this gentleman;
+but, if your forms require two, I suppose the serjeant here will do
+for the other."
+
+"I don't know the serjeant nor you either, sir," cries Bondum; "and,
+if you propose yourselves bail for the gentleman, I must have time to
+enquire after you."
+
+"You need very little time to enquire after me," says the colonel,
+"for I can send for several of the law, whom I suppose you know, to
+satisfy you; but consider, it is very late."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Bondum, "I do consider it is too late for the
+captain to be bailed to-night."
+
+"What do you mean by too late?" cries the colonel.
+
+"I mean, sir, that I must search the office, and that is now shut up;
+for, if my lord mayor and the court of aldermen would be bound for
+him, I would not discharge him till I had searched the office."
+
+"How, sir!" cries the colonel, "hath the law of England no more regard
+for the liberty of the subject than to suffer such fellows as you to
+detain a man in custody for debt, when he can give undeniable
+security?"
+
+"Don't fellow me," said the bailiff; "I am as good a fellow as
+yourself, I believe, though you have that riband in your hat there."
+
+"Do you know whom you are speaking to?" said the serjeant. "Do you
+know you are talking to a colonel of the army?"
+
+"What's a colonel of the army to me?" cries the bailiff. "I have had
+as good as he in my custody before now."
+
+"And a member of parliament?" cries the serjeant.
+
+"Is the gentleman a member of parliament?--Well, and what harm have I
+said? I am sure I meant no harm; and, if his honour is offended, I ask
+his pardon; to be sure his honour must know that the sheriff is
+answerable for all the writs in the office, though they were never so
+many, and I am answerable to the sheriff. I am sure the captain can't
+say that I have shewn him any manner of incivility since he hath been
+here.--And I hope, honourable sir," cries he, turning to the colonel,
+"you don't take anything amiss that I said, or meant by way of
+disrespect, or any such matter. I did not, indeed, as the gentleman
+here says, know who I was speaking to; but I did not say anything
+uncivil as I know of, and I hope no offence."
+
+The colonel was more easily pacified than might have been expected,
+and told the bailiff that, if it was against the rules of law to
+discharge Mr. Booth that evening, he must be contented. He then
+addressed himself to his friend, and began to prescribe comfort and
+patience to him; saying, he must rest satisfied with his confinement
+that night; and the next morning he promised to visit him again.
+
+Booth answered, that as for himself, the lying one night in any place
+was very little worth his regard. "You and I, my dear friend, have
+both spent our evening in a worse situation than I shall in this
+house. All my concern is for my poor Amelia, whose sufferings on
+account of my absence I know, and I feel with unspeakable tenderness.
+Could I be assured she was tolerably easy, I could be contented in
+chains or in a dungeon."
+
+"Give yourself no concern on her account," said the colonel; "I will
+wait on her myself, though I break an engagement for that purpose, and
+will give her such assurances as I am convinced will make her
+perfectly easy."
+
+Booth embraced his friend, and, weeping over him, paid his
+acknowledgment with tears for all his goodness. In words, indeed, he
+was not able to thank him; for gratitude, joining with his other
+passions, almost choaked him, and stopt his utterance.
+
+After a short scene in which nothing past worth recounting, the
+colonel bid his friend good night, and leaving the serjeant with him,
+made the best of his way back to Amelia.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter vii.
+
+_Worthy a very serious perusal._
+
+
+The colonel found Amelia sitting very disconsolate with Mrs. Atkinson.
+He entered the room with an air of great gaiety, assured Amelia that
+her husband was perfectly well, and that he hoped the next day he
+would again be with her.
+
+Amelia was a little comforted at this account, and vented many
+grateful expressions to the colonel for his unparalleled friendship,
+as she was pleased to call it. She could not, however, help giving way
+soon after to a sigh at the thoughts of her husband's bondage, and
+declared that night would be the longest she had ever known.
+
+"This lady, madam," cries the colonel, "must endeavour to make it
+shorter. And, if you will give me leave, I will join in the same
+endeavour." Then, after some more consolatory speeches, the colonel
+attempted to give a gay turn to the discourse, and said, "I was
+engaged to have spent this evening disagreeably at Ranelagh, with a
+set of company I did not like. How vastly am I obliged to you, dear
+Mrs. Booth, that I pass it so infinitely more to my satisfaction!"
+
+"Indeed, colonel," said Amelia, "I am convinced that to a mind so
+rightly turned as yours there must be a much sweeter relish in the
+highest offices of friendship than in any pleasures which the gayest
+public places can afford."
+
+"Upon my word, madam," said the colonel, "you now do me more than
+justice. I have, and always had, the utmost indifference for such
+pleasures. Indeed, I hardly allow them worthy of that name, or, if
+they are so at all, it is in a very low degree. In my opinion the
+highest friendship must always lead us to the highest pleasure."
+
+Here Amelia entered into a long dissertation on friendship, in which
+she pointed several times directly at the colonel as the hero of her
+tale.
+
+The colonel highly applauded all her sentiments; and when he could not
+avoid taking the compliment to himself, he received it with a most
+respectful bow. He then tried his hand likewise at description, in
+which he found means to repay all Amelia's panegyric in kind. This,
+though he did with all possible delicacy, yet a curious observer might
+have been apt to suspect that it was chiefly on her account that the
+colonel had avoided the masquerade.
+
+In discourses of this kind they passed the evening, till it was very
+late, the colonel never offering to stir from his chair before the
+clock had struck one; when he thought, perhaps, that decency obliged
+him to take his leave.
+
+As soon as he was gone Mrs. Atkinson said to Mrs. Booth, "I think,
+madam, you told me this afternoon that the colonel was married?"
+
+Amelia answered, she did so.
+
+"I think likewise, madam," said Mrs. Atkinson, "you was acquainted
+with the colonel's lady?"
+
+Amelia answered that she had been extremely intimate with her abroad.
+
+"Is she young and handsome?" said Mrs. Atkinson. "In short, pray, was
+it a match of love or convenience?"
+
+Amelia answered, entirely of love, she believed, on his side; for that
+the lady had little or no fortune.
+
+"I am very glad to hear it," said Mrs. Atkinson; "for I am sure the
+colonel is in love with somebody. I think I never saw a more luscious
+picture of love drawn than that which he was pleased to give us as the
+portraiture of friendship. I have read, indeed, of Pylades and
+Orestes, Damon and Pythias, and other great friends of old; nay, I
+sometimes flatter myself that I am capable of being a friend myself;
+but as for that fine, soft, tender, delicate passion, which he was
+pleased to describe, I am convinced there must go a he and a she to
+the composition."
+
+"Upon my word, my dear, you are mistaken," cries Amelia. "If you had
+known the friendship which hath always subsisted between the colonel
+and my husband, you would not imagine it possible for any description
+to exceed it. Nay, I think his behaviour this very day is sufficient
+to convince you."
+
+"I own what he hath done to-day hath great merit," said Mrs. Atkinson;
+"and yet, from what he hath said to-night--You will pardon me, dear
+madam; perhaps I am too quick-sighted in my observations; nay, I am
+afraid I am even impertinent."
+
+"Fie upon it!" cries Amelia; "how can you talk in that strain? Do you
+imagine I expect ceremony? Pray speak what you think with the utmost
+freedom."
+
+"Did he not then," said Mrs. Atkinson, "repeat the words, _the finest
+woman in the world_, more than once? did he not make use of an
+expression which might have become the mouth of Oroondates himself?
+If I remember, the words were these--that, had he been Alexander the
+Great, he should have thought it more glory to have wiped off a tear
+from the bright eyes of Statira than to have conquered fifty worlds."
+
+"Did he say so?" cries Amelia--"I think he did say something like it;
+but my thoughts were so full of my husband that I took little notice.
+But what would you infer from what he said? I hope you don't think he
+is in love with me?"
+
+"I hope he doth not think so himself," answered Mrs. Atkinson;
+"though, when he mentioned the bright eyes of Statira, he fixed his
+own eyes on yours with the most languishing air I ever beheld."
+
+Amelia was going to answer, when the serjeant arrived, and then she
+immediately fell to enquiring after her husband, and received such
+satisfactory answers to all her many questions concerning him, that
+she expressed great pleasure. These ideas so possessed her mind, that,
+without once casting her thoughts on any other matters, she took her
+leave of the serjeant and his lady, and repaired to bed to her
+children, in a room which Mrs. Atkinson had provided her in the same
+house; where we will at present wish her a good night.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter viii.
+
+_Consisting of grave matters._
+
+
+While innocence and chearful hope, in spite of the malice of fortune,
+closed the eyes of the gentle Amelia on her homely bed, and she
+enjoyed a sweet and profound sleep, the colonel lay restless all night
+on his down; his mind was affected with a kind of ague fit; sometimes
+scorched up with flaming desires, and again chilled with the coldest
+despair.
+
+There is a time, I think, according to one of our poets, _when lust
+and envy sleep_. This, I suppose, is when they are well gorged with
+the food they most delight in; but, while either of these are hungry,
+
+      Nor poppy, nor mandragora,
+      Nor all the drousy syrups of the East,
+      Will ever medicine them to slumber.
+
+The colonel was at present unhappily tormented by both these fiends.
+His last evening's conversation with Amelia had done his business
+effectually. The many kind words she had spoken to him, the many kind
+looks she had given him, as being, she conceived, the friend and
+preserver of her husband, had made an entire conquest of his heart.
+Thus the very love which she bore him, as the person to whom her
+little family were to owe their preservation and happiness, inspired
+him with thoughts of sinking them all in the lowest abyss of ruin and
+misery; and, while she smiled with all her sweetness on the supposed
+friend of her husband, she was converting that friend into his most
+bitter enemy.
+
+      Friendship, take heed; if woman interfere,
+      Be sure the hour of thy destruction's near.
+
+These are the lines of Vanbrugh; and the sentiment is better than the
+poetry. To say the truth, as a handsome wife is the cause and cement
+of many false friendships, she is often too liable to destroy the real
+ones.
+
+Thus the object of the colonel's lust very plainly appears, but the
+object of his envy may be more difficult to discover. Nature and
+Fortune had seemed to strive with a kind of rivalship which should
+bestow most on the colonel. The former had given him person, parts,
+and constitution, in all which he was superior to almost every other
+man. The latter had given him rank in life, and riches, both in a very
+eminent degree. Whom then should this happy man envy? Here, lest
+ambition should mislead the reader to search the palaces of the great,
+we will direct him at once to Gray's-inn-lane; where, in a miserable
+bed, in a miserable room, he will see a miserable broken lieutenant,
+in a miserable condition, with several heavy debts on his back, and
+without a penny in his pocket. This, and no other, was the object of
+the colonel's envy. And why? because this wretch was possessed of the
+affections of a poor little lamb, which all the vast flocks that were
+within the power and reach of the colonel could not prevent that
+glutton's longing for. And sure this image of the lamb is not
+improperly adduced on this occasion; for what was the colonel's desire
+but to lead this poor lamb, as it were, to the slaughter, in order to
+purchase a feast of a few days by her final destruction, and to tear
+her away from the arms of one where she was sure of being fondled and
+caressed all the days of her life.
+
+While the colonel was agitated with these thoughts, his greatest
+comfort was, that Amelia and Booth were now separated; and his
+greatest terror was of their coming again together. From wishes,
+therefore, he began to meditate designs; and so far was he from any
+intention of procuring the liberty of his friend, that he began to
+form schemes of prolonging his confinement, till he could procure some
+means of sending him away far from her; in which case he doubted not
+but of succeeding in all he desired.
+
+He was forming this plan in his mind when a servant informed him that
+one serjeant Atkinson desired to speak with his honour. The serjeant
+was immediately admitted, and acquainted the colonel that, if he
+pleased to go and become bail for Mr. Booth, another unexceptionable
+housekeeper would be there to join with him. This person the serjeant
+had procured that morning, and had, by leave of his wife, given him a
+bond of indemnification for the purpose.
+
+The colonel did not seem so elated with this news as Atkinson
+expected. On the contrary, instead of making a direct answer to what
+Atkinson said, the colonel began thus: "I think, serjeant, Mr. Booth
+hath told me that you was foster-brother to his lady. She is really a
+charming woman, and it is a thousand pities she should ever have been
+placed in the dreadful situation she is now in. There is nothing so
+silly as for subaltern officers of the army to marry, unless where
+they meet with women of very great fortunes indeed. What can be the
+event of their marrying otherwise, but entailing misery and beggary on
+their wives and their posterity?"
+
+"Ah! sir," cries the serjeant, "it is too late to think of those
+matters now. To be sure, my lady might have married one of the top
+gentlemen in the country; for she is certainly one of the best as well
+as one of the handsomest women in the kingdom; and, if she had been
+fairly dealt by, would have had a very great fortune into the bargain.
+Indeed, she is worthy of the greatest prince in the world; and, if I
+had been the greatest prince in the world, I should have thought
+myself happy with such a wife; but she was pleased to like the
+lieutenant, and certainly there can be no happiness in marriage
+without liking."
+
+"Lookee, serjeant," said the colonel; "you know very well that I am
+the lieutenant's friend. I think I have shewn myself so."
+
+"Indeed your honour hath," quoth the serjeant, "more than once to my
+knowledge."
+
+"But I am angry with him for his imprudence, greatly angry with him
+for his imprudence; and the more so, as it affects a lady of so much
+worth."
+
+"She is, indeed, a lady of the highest worth," cries the serjeant.
+"Poor dear lady! I knew her, an 't please your honour, from her
+infancy; and the sweetest-tempered, best-natured lady she is that ever
+trod on English ground. I have always loved her as if she was my own
+sister. Nay, she hath very often called me brother; and I have taken
+it to be a greater honour than if I was to be called a general
+officer."
+
+"What pity it is," said the colonel, "that this worthy creature should
+be exposed to so much misery by the thoughtless behaviour of a man
+who, though I am his friend, I cannot help saying, hath been guilty of
+imprudence at least! Why could he not live upon his half-pay? What had
+he to do to run himself into debt in this outrageous manner?"
+
+"I wish, indeed," cries the serjeant, "he had been a little more
+considerative; but I hope this will be a warning to him."
+
+"How am I sure of that," answered the colonel; "or what reason is
+there to expect it? extravagance is a vice of which men are not so
+easily cured. I have thought a great deal of this matter, Mr.
+serjeant; and, upon the most mature deliberation, I am of opinion that
+it will be better, both for him and his poor lady, that he should
+smart a little more."
+
+"Your honour, sir, to be sure is in the right," replied the serjeant;
+"but yet, sir, if you will pardon me for speaking, I hope you will be
+pleased to consider my poor lady's case. She suffers, all this while,
+as much or more than the lieutenant; for I know her so well, that I am
+certain she will never have a moment's ease till her husband is out of
+confinement."
+
+"I know women better than you, serjeant," cries the colonel; "they
+sometimes place their affections on a husband as children do on their
+nurse; but they are both to be weaned. I know you, serjeant, to be a
+fellow of sense as well as spirit, or I should not speak so freely to
+you; but I took a fancy to you a long time ago, and I intend to serve
+you; but first, I ask you this question--Is your attachment to Mr.
+Booth or his lady?"
+
+"Certainly, sir," said the serjeant, "I must love my lady best. Not
+but I have a great affection for the lieutenant too, because I know my
+lady hath the same; and, indeed, he hath been always very good to me
+as far as was in his power. A lieutenant, your honour knows, can't do
+a great deal; but I have always found him my friend upon all
+occasions."
+
+"You say true," cries the colonel; "a lieutenant can do but little;
+but I can do much to serve you, and will too. But let me ask you one
+question: Who was the lady whom I saw last night with Mrs. Booth at
+her lodgings?"
+
+Here the serjeant blushed, and repeated, "The lady, sir?"
+
+"Ay, a lady, a woman," cries the colonel, "who supped with us last
+night. She looked rather too much like a gentlewoman for the mistress
+of a lodging-house."
+
+The serjeant's cheeks glowed at this compliment to his wife; and he
+was just going to own her when the colonel proceeded: "I think I never
+saw in my life so ill-looking, sly, demure a b---; I would give
+something, methinks, to know who she was."
+
+"I don't know, indeed," cries the serjeant, in great confusion; "I
+know nothing about her."
+
+"I wish you would enquire," said the colonel, "and let me know her
+name, and likewise what she is: I have a strange curiosity to know,
+and let me see you again this evening exactly at seven."
+
+"And will not your honour then go to the lieutenant this morning?"
+said Atkinson.
+
+"It is not in my power," answered the colonel; "I am engaged another
+way. Besides, there is no haste in this affair. If men will be
+imprudent they must suffer the consequences. Come to me at seven, and
+bring me all the particulars you can concerning that ill-looking jade
+I mentioned to you, for I am resolved to know who she is. And so good-
+morrow to you, serjeant; be assured I will take an opportunity to do
+something for you."
+
+Though some readers may, perhaps, think the serjeant not unworthy of
+the freedom with which the colonel treated him; yet that haughty
+officer would have been very backward to have condescended to such
+familiarity with one of his rank had he not proposed some design from
+it. In truth, he began to conceive hopes of making the serjeant
+instrumental to his design on Amelia; in other words, to convert him
+into a pimp; an office in which the colonel had been served by
+Atkinson's betters, and which, as he knew it was in his power very
+well to reward him, he had no apprehension that the serjeant would
+decline--an opinion which the serjeant might have pardoned, though he
+had never given the least grounds for it, since the colonel borrowed
+it from the knowledge of his own heart. This dictated to him that he,
+from a bad motive, was capable of desiring to debauch his friend's
+wife; and the same heart inspired him to hope that another, from
+another bad motive, might be guilty of the same breach of friendship
+in assisting him. Few men, I believe, think better of others than of
+themselves; nor do they easily allow the existence of any virtue of
+which they perceive no traces in their own minds; for which reason I
+have observed, that it is extremely difficult to persuade a rogue that
+you are an honest man; nor would you ever succeed in the attempt by
+the strongest evidence, was it not for the comfortable conclusion
+which the rogue draws, that he who proves himself to be honest proves
+himself to be a fool at the same time.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter ix.
+
+_A curious chapter, from which a curious reader may draw sundry
+observations._
+
+
+The serjeant retired from the colonel in a very dejected state of
+mind: in which, however, we must leave him awhile and return to
+Amelia; who, as soon as she was up, had despatched Mrs. Atkinson to
+pay off her former lodgings, and to bring off all cloaths and other
+moveables.
+
+The trusty messenger returned without performing her errand, for Mrs.
+Ellison had locked up all her rooms, and was gone out very early that
+morning, and the servant knew not whither she was gone.
+
+The two ladies now sat down to breakfast, together with Amelia's two
+children; after which, Amelia declared she would take a coach and
+visit her husband. To this motion Mrs. Atkinson soon agreed, and
+offered to be her companion. To say truth, I think it was reasonable
+enough; and the great abhorrence which Booth had of seeing his wife in
+a bailiff's house was, perhaps, rather too nice and delicate.
+
+When the ladies were both drest, and just going to send for their
+vehicle, a great knocking was heard at the door, and presently Mrs.
+James was ushered into the room.
+
+This visit was disagreeable enough to Amelia, as it detained her from
+the sight of her husband, for which she so eagerly longed. However, as
+she had no doubt but that the visit would be reasonably short, she
+resolved to receive the lady with all the complaisance in her power.
+
+Mrs. James now behaved herself so very unlike the person that she
+lately appeared, that it might have surprized any one who doth not
+know that besides that of a fine lady, which is all mere art and
+mummery, every such woman hath some real character at the bottom, in
+which, whenever nature gets the better of her, she acts. Thus the
+finest ladies in the world will sometimes love, and sometimes scratch,
+according to their different natural dispositions, with great fury and
+violence, though both of these are equally inconsistent with a fine
+lady's artificial character.
+
+Mrs. James then was at the bottom a very good-natured woman, and the
+moment she heard of Amelia's misfortune was sincerely grieved at it.
+She had acquiesced on the very first motion with the colonel's design
+of inviting her to her house; and this morning at breakfast, when he
+had acquainted her that Amelia made some difficulty in accepting the
+offer, very readily undertook to go herself and persuade her friend to
+accept the invitation.
+
+She now pressed this matter with such earnestness, that Amelia, who
+was not extremely versed in the art of denying, was hardly able to
+refuse her importunity; nothing, indeed, but her affection to Mrs.
+Atkinson could have prevailed on her to refuse; that point, however,
+she would not give up, and Mrs. James, at last, was contented with a
+promise that, as soon as their affairs were settled, Amelia, with her
+husband and family, would make her a visit, and stay some time with
+her in the country, whither she was soon to retire.
+
+Having obtained this promise, Mrs. James, after many very friendly
+professions, took her leave, and, stepping into her coach, reassumed
+the fine lady, and drove away to join her company at an auction.
+
+The moment she was gone Mrs. Atkinson, who had left the room upon the
+approach of Mrs. James, returned into it, and was informed by Amelia
+of all that had past.
+
+"Pray, madam," said Mrs. Atkinson, "do this colonel and his lady live,
+as it is called, well together?"
+
+"If you mean to ask," cries Amelia, "whether they are a very fond
+couple, I must answer that I believe they are not."
+
+"I have been told," says Mrs. Atkinson, "that there have been
+instances of women who have become bawds to their own husbands, and
+the husbands pimps for them."
+
+"Fie upon it!" cries Amelia. "I hope there are no such people. Indeed,
+my dear, this is being a little too censorious."
+
+"Call it what you please," answered Mrs. Atkinson; "it arises from my
+love to you and my fears for your danger. You know the proverb of a
+burnt child; and, if such a one hath any good-nature, it will dread
+the fire on the account of others as well as on its own. And, if I may
+speak my sentiments freely, I cannot think you will be in safety at
+this colonel's house."
+
+"I cannot but believe your apprehensions to be sincere," replied
+Amelia; "and I must think myself obliged to you for them; but I am
+convinced you are entirely in an error. I look on Colonel James as the
+most generous and best of men. He was a friend, and an excellent
+friend too, to my husband, long before I was acquainted with him, and
+he hath done him a thousand good offices. What do you say of his
+behaviour yesterday?"
+
+"I wish," cries Mrs. Atkinson, "that this behaviour to-day had been
+equal. What I am now going to undertake is the most disagreeable
+office of friendship, but it is a necessary one. I must tell you,
+therefore, what past this morning between the colonel and Mr.
+Atkinson; for, though it will hurt you, you ought, on many accounts,
+to know it." Here she related the whole, which we have recorded in the
+preceding chapter, and with which the serjeant had acquainted her
+while Mrs. James was paying her visit to Amelia. And, as the serjeant
+had painted the matter rather in stronger colours than the colonel, so
+Mrs. Atkinson again a little improved on the serjeant. Neither of
+these good people, perhaps, intended to aggravate any circumstance;
+but such is, I believe, the unavoidable consequence of all reports.
+Mrs. Atkinson, indeed, may be supposed not to see what related to
+James in the most favourable light, as the serjeant, with more honesty
+than prudence, had suggested to his wife that the colonel had not the
+kindest opinion of her, and had called her a sly and demure---: it is
+true he omitted ill-looking b---; two words which are, perhaps,
+superior to the patience of any Job in petticoats that ever lived. He
+made amends, however, by substituting some other phrases in their
+stead, not extremely agreeable to a female ear.
+
+It appeared to Amelia, from Mrs. Atkinson's relation, that the colonel
+had grossly abused Booth to the serjeant, and had absolutely refused
+to become his bail. Poor Amelia became a pale and motionless statue at
+this account. At length she cried, "If this be true, I and mine are
+all, indeed, undone. We have no comfort, no hope, no friend left. I
+cannot disbelieve you. I know you would not deceive me. Why should
+you, indeed, deceive me? But what can have caused this alteration
+since last night? Did I say or do anything to offend him?"
+
+"You said and did rather, I believe, a great deal too much to please
+him," answered Mrs. Atkinson. "Besides, he is not in the least
+offended with you. On the contrary, he said many kind things."
+
+"What can my poor love have done?" said Amelia. "He hath not seen the
+colonel since last night. Some villain hath set him against my
+husband; he was once before suspicious of such a person. Some cruel
+monster hath belied his innocence!"
+
+"Pardon me, dear madam," said Mrs. Atkinson; "I believe the person who
+hath injured the captain with this friend of his is one of the
+worthiest and best of creatures--nay, do not be surprized; the person
+I mean is even your fair self: sure you would not be so dull in any
+other case; but in this, gratitude, humility, modesty, every virtue,
+shuts your eyes.
+
+    _Mortales hebetant visus,_
+
+as Virgil says. What in the world can be more consistent than his
+desire to have you at his own house and to keep your husband confined
+in another? All that he said and all that he did yesterday, and, what
+is more convincing to me than both, all that he looked last night, are
+very consistent with both these designs."
+
+"O Heavens!" cries Amelia, "you chill my blood with horror! the idea
+freezes me to death; I cannot, must not, will not think it. Nothing
+but conviction! Heaven forbid I should ever have more conviction! And
+did he abuse my husband? what? did he abuse a poor, unhappy, distrest
+creature, opprest, ruined, torn from his children, torn away from his
+wretched wife; the honestest, worthiest, noblest, tenderest, fondest,
+best--" Here she burst into an agony of grief, which exceeds the power
+of description.
+
+In this situation Mrs. Atkinson was doing her utmost to support her
+when a most violent knocking was heard at the door, and immediately
+the serjeant ran hastily into the room, bringing with him a cordial
+which presently relieved Amelia. What this cordial was, we shall
+inform the reader in due time. In the mean while he must suspend his
+curiosity; and the gentlemen at White's may lay wagers whether it was
+Ward's pill or Dr James's powder.
+
+But before we close this chapter, and return back to the bailiff's
+house, we must do our best to rescue the character of our heroine from
+the dulness of apprehension, which several of our quick-sighted
+readers may lay more heavily to her charge than was done by her friend
+Mrs. Atkinson.
+
+I must inform, therefore, all such readers, that it is not because
+innocence is more blind than guilt that the former often overlooks and
+tumbles into the pit which the latter foresees and avoids. The truth
+is, that it is almost impossible guilt should miss the discovering of
+all the snares in its way, as it is constantly prying closely into
+every corner in order to lay snares for others. Whereas innocence,
+having no such purpose, walks fearlessly and carelessly through life,
+and is consequently liable to tread on the gins which cunning hath
+laid to entrap it. To speak plainly and without allegory or figure, it
+is not want of sense, but want of suspicion, by which innocence is
+often betrayed. Again, we often admire at the folly of the dupe, when
+we should transfer our whole surprize to the astonishing guilt of the
+betrayer. In a word, many an innocent person hath owed his ruin to
+this circumstance alone, that the degree of villany was such as must
+have exceeded the faith of every man who was not himself a villain.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter x.
+
+_In which are many profound secrets of philosophy._
+
+
+Booth, having had enough of the author's company the preceding day,
+chose now another companion. Indeed the author was not very solicitous
+of a second interview; for, as he could have no hope from Booth's
+pocket, so he was not likely to receive much increase to his vanity
+from Booth's conversation; for, low as this wretch was in virtue,
+sense, learning, birth, and fortune, he was by no means low in his
+vanity. This passion, indeed, was so high in him, and at the same time
+so blinded him to his own demerits, that he hated every man who did
+not either flatter him or give him money. In short, he claimed a
+strange kind of right, either to cheat all his acquaintance of their
+praise or to pick their pockets of their pence, in which latter case
+he himself repaid very liberally with panegyric.
+
+A very little specimen of such a fellow must have satisfied a man of
+Mr. Booth's temper. He chose, therefore, now to associate himself with
+that gentleman of whom Bondum had given so shabby a character. In
+short, Mr. Booth's opinion of the bailiff was such, that he
+recommended a man most where he least intended it. Nay, the bailiff in
+the present instance, though he had drawn a malicious conclusion,
+honestly avowed that this was drawn only from the poverty of the
+person, which is never, I believe, any forcible disrecommendation to a
+good mind: but he must have had a very bad mind indeed, who, in Mr.
+Booth's circumstances, could have disliked or despised another man
+because that other man was poor.
+
+Some previous conversation having past between this gentleman and
+Booth, in which they had both opened their several situations to each
+other, the former, casting an affectionate look on the latter, exprest
+great compassion for his circumstances, for which Booth, thanking him,
+said, "You must have a great deal of compassion, and be a very good
+man, in such a terrible situation as you describe yourself, to have
+any pity to spare for other people."
+
+"My affairs, sir," answered the gentleman, "are very bad, it is true,
+and yet there is one circumstance which makes you appear to me more
+the object of pity than I am to myself; and it is this--that you must
+from your years be a novice in affliction, whereas I have served a
+long apprenticeship to misery, and ought, by this time, to be a pretty
+good master of my trade. To say the truth, I believe habit teaches men
+to bear the burthens of the mind, as it inures them to bear heavy
+burthens on their shoulders. Without use and experience, the strongest
+minds and bodies both will stagger under a weight which habit might
+render easy and even contemptible."
+
+"There is great justice," cries Booth, "in the comparison; and I think
+I have myself experienced the truth of it; for I am not that tyro in
+affliction which you seem to apprehend me. And perhaps it is from the
+very habit you mention that I am able to support my present
+misfortunes a little like a man."
+
+The gentleman smiled at this, and cried, "Indeed, captain, you are a
+young philosopher."
+
+"I think," cries Booth, "I have some pretensions to that philosophy
+which is taught by misfortunes, and you seem to be of opinion, sir,
+that is one of the best schools of philosophy."
+
+"I mean no more, sir," said the gentleman, "than that in the days of
+our affliction we are inclined to think more seriously than in those
+seasons of life when we are engaged in the hurrying pursuits of
+business or pleasure, when we have neither leisure nor inclination to
+sift and examine things to the bottom. Now there are two
+considerations which, from my having long fixed my thoughts upon them,
+have greatly supported me under all my afflictions. The one is the
+brevity of life even at its longest duration, which the wisest of men
+hath compared to the short dimension of a span. One of the Roman poets
+compares it to the duration of a race; and another, to the much
+shorter transition of a wave.
+
+"The second consideration is the uncertainty of it. Short as its
+utmost limits are, it is far from being assured of reaching those
+limits. The next day, the next hour, the next moment, may be the end
+of our course. Now of what value is so uncertain, so precarious a
+station? This consideration, indeed, however lightly it is passed over
+in our conception, doth, in a great measure, level all fortunes and
+conditions, and gives no man a right to triumph in the happiest state,
+or any reason to repine in the most miserable. Would the most worldly
+men see this in the light in which they examine all other matters,
+they would soon feel and acknowledge the force of this way of
+reasoning; for which of them would give any price for an estate from
+which they were liable to be immediately ejected? or, would they not
+laugh at him as a madman who accounted himself rich from such an
+uncertain possession? This is the fountain, sir, from which I have
+drawn my philosophy. Hence it is that I have learnt to look on all
+those things which are esteemed the blessings of life, and those which
+are dreaded as its evils, with such a degree of indifference that, as
+I should not be elated with possessing the former, so neither am I
+greatly dejected and depressed by suffering the latter. Is the actor
+esteemed happier to whose lot it falls to play the principal part than
+he who plays the lowest? and yet the drama may run twenty nights
+together, and by consequence may outlast our lives; but, at the best,
+life is only a little longer drama, and the business of the great
+stage is consequently a little more serious than that which is
+performed at the Theatre-royal. But even here, the catastrophes and
+calamities which are represented are capable of affecting us. The
+wisest men can deceive themselves into feeling the distresses of a
+tragedy, though they know them to be merely imaginary; and the
+children will often lament them as realities: what wonder then, if
+these tragical scenes which I allow to be a little more serious,
+should a little more affect us? where then is the remedy but in the
+philosophy I have mentioned, which, when once by a long course of
+meditation it is reduced to a habit, teaches us to set a just value on
+everything, and cures at once all eager wishes and abject fears, all
+violent joy and grief concerning objects which cannot endure long, and
+may not exist a moment."
+
+"You have exprest yourself extremely well," cries Booth; "and I
+entirely agree with the justice of your sentiments; but, however true
+all this may be in theory, I still doubt its efficacy in practice. And
+the cause of the difference between these two is this; that we reason
+from our heads, but act from our hearts:
+
+      _---Video meliora, proboque;
+         Deteriora sequor._
+
+Nothing can differ more widely than wise men and fools in their
+estimation of things; but, as both act from their uppermost passion,
+they both often act like. What comfort then can your philosophy give
+to an avaricious man who is deprived of his riches or to an ambitious
+man who is stript of his power? to the fond lover who is torn from his
+mistress or to the tender husband who is dragged from his wife? Do you
+really think that any meditations on the shortness of life will soothe
+them in their afflictions? Is not this very shortness itself one of
+their afflictions? and if the evil they suffer be a temporary
+deprivation of what they love, will they not think their fate the
+harder, and lament the more, that they are to lose any part of an
+enjoyment to which there is so short and so uncertain a period?"
+
+"I beg leave, sir," said the gentleman, "to distinguish here. By
+philosophy, I do not mean the bare knowledge of right and wrong, but
+an energy, a habit, as Aristotle calls it; and this I do firmly
+believe, with him and with the Stoics, is superior to all the attacks
+of fortune."
+
+He was proceeding when the bailiff came in, and in a surly tone bad
+them both good-morrow; after which he asked the philosopher if he was
+prepared to go to Newgate; for that he must carry him thither that
+afternoon.
+
+The poor man seemed very much shocked with this news. "I hope," cries
+he, "you will give a little longer time, if not till the return of the
+writ. But I beg you particularly not to carry me thither to-day, for I
+expect my wife and children here in the evening."
+
+"I have nothing to do with wives and children," cried the bailiff; "I
+never desire to see any wives and children here. I like no such
+company."
+
+"I intreat you," said the prisoner, "give me another day. I shall take
+it as a great obligation; and you will disappoint me in the cruellest
+manner in the world if you refuse me."
+
+"I can't help people's disappointments," cries the bailiff; "I must
+consider myself and my own family. I know not where I shall be paid
+the money that's due already. I can't afford to keep prisoners at my
+own expense."
+
+"I don't intend it shall be at your expense" cries the philosopher;
+"my wife is gone to raise money this morning; and I hope to pay you
+all I owe you at her arrival. But we intend to sup together to-night
+at your house; and, if you should remove me now, it would be the most
+barbarous disappointment to us both, and will make me the most
+miserable man alive."
+
+"Nay, for my part," said the bailiff, "I don't desire to do anything
+barbarous. I know how to treat gentlemen with civility as well as
+another. And when people pay as they go, and spend their money like
+gentlemen, I am sure nobody can accuse me of any incivility since I
+have been in the office. And if you intend to be merry to-night I am
+not the man that will prevent it. Though I say it, you may have as
+good a supper drest here as at any tavern in town."
+
+"Since Mr. Bondum is so kind, captain," said the philosopher, "I hope
+for the favour of your company. I assure you, if it ever be my fortune
+to go abroad into the world, I shall be proud of the honour of your
+acquaintance."
+
+"Indeed, sir," cries Booth, "it is an honour I shall be very ready to
+accept; but as for this evening, I cannot help saying I hope to be
+engaged in another place."
+
+"I promise you, sir," answered the other, "I shall rejoice at your
+liberty, though I am a loser by it."
+
+"Why, as to that matter," cries Bondum with a sneer, "I fancy,
+captain, you may engage yourself to the gentleman without any fear of
+breaking your word; for I am very much mistaken if we part to-day."
+
+"Pardon me, my good friend," said Booth, "but I expect my bail every
+minute."
+
+"Lookee, sir," cries Bondum, "I don't love to see gentlemen in an
+error. I shall not take the serjeant's bail; and as for the colonel, I
+have been with him myself this morning (for to be sure I love to do
+all I can for gentlemen), and he told me he could not possibly be here
+to-day; besides, why should I mince the matter? there is more stuff in
+the office."
+
+"What do you mean by stuff?" cries Booth.
+
+"I mean that there is another writ," answered the bailiff, "at the
+suit of Mrs. Ellison, the gentlewoman that was here yesterday; and the
+attorney that was with her is concerned against you. Some officers
+would not tell you all this; but I loves to shew civility to gentlemen
+while they behave themselves as such. And I loves the gentlemen of the
+army in particular. I had like to have been in the army myself once;
+but I liked the commission I have better. Come, captain, let not your
+noble courage be cast down; what say you to a glass of white wine, or
+a tiff of punch, by way of whet?"
+
+"I have told you, sir, I never drink in the morning," cries Booth a
+little peevishly.
+
+"No offence I hope, sir," said the bailiff; "I hope I have not treated
+you with any incivility. I don't ask any gentleman to call for liquor
+in my house if he doth not chuse it; nor I don't desire anybody to
+stay here longer than they have a mind to. Newgate, to be sure, is the
+place for all debtors that can't find bail. I knows what civility is,
+and I scorn to behave myself unbecoming a gentleman: but I'd have you
+consider that the twenty-four hours appointed by act of parliament are
+almost out; and so it is time to think of removing. As to bail, I
+would not have you flatter yourself; for I knows very well there are
+other things coming against you. Besides, the sum you are already
+charged with is very large, and I must see you in a place of safety.
+My house is no prison, though I lock up for a little time in it.
+Indeed, when gentlemen are gentlemen, and likely to find bail, I don't
+stand for a day or two; but I have a good nose at a bit of carrion,
+captain; I have not carried so much carrion to Newgate, without
+knowing the smell of it."
+
+"I understand not your cant," cries Booth; "but I did not think to
+have offended you so much by refusing to drink in a morning."
+
+"Offended me, sir!" cries the bailiff. "Who told you so? Do you think,
+sir, if I want a glass of wine I am under any necessity of asking my
+prisoners for it? Damn it, sir, I'll shew you I scorn your words. I
+can afford to treat you with a glass of the best wine in England, if
+you comes to that." He then pulled out a handful of guineas, saying,
+"There, sir, they are all my own; I owe nobody a shilling. I am no
+beggar, nor no debtor. I am the king's officer as well as you, and I
+will spend guinea for guinea as long as you please."
+
+"Harkee, rascal," cries Booth, laying hold of the bailiff's collar.
+"How dare you treat me with this insolence? doth the law give you any
+authority to insult me in my misfortunes?" At which words he gave the
+bailiff a good shove, and threw him from him.
+
+"Very well, sir," cries the bailiff; "I will swear both an assault and
+an attempt to a rescue. If officers are to be used in this manner,
+there is an end of all law and justice. But, though I am not a match
+for you myself, I have those below that are." He then ran to the door
+and called up two ill-looking fellows, his followers, whom, as soon as
+they entered the room, he ordered to seize on Booth, declaring he
+would immediately carry him to Newgate; at the same time pouring out a
+vast quantity of abuse, below the dignity of history to record.
+
+Booth desired the two dirty fellows to stand off, and declared he
+would make no resistance; at the same time bidding the bailiff carry
+him wherever he durst.
+
+"I'll shew you what I dare," cries the bailiff; and again ordered the
+followers to lay hold of their prisoner, saying, "He has assaulted me
+already, and endeavoured a rescue. I shan't trust such a fellow to
+walk at liberty. A gentleman, indeed! ay, ay, Newgate is the properest
+place for such gentry; as arrant carrion as ever was carried thither."
+
+The fellows then both laid violent hands on Booth, and the bailiff
+stept to the door to order a coach; when, on a sudden, the whole scene
+was changed in an instant; for now the serjeant came running out of
+breath into the room; and, seeing his friend the captain roughly
+handled by two ill-looking fellows, without asking any questions stept
+briskly up to his assistance, and instantly gave one of the assailants
+so violent a salute with his fist, that he directly measured his
+length on the floor.
+
+Booth, having by this means his right arm at liberty, was unwilling to
+be idle, or entirely to owe his rescue from both the ruffians to the
+serjeant; he therefore imitated the example which his friend had set
+him, and with a lusty blow levelled the other follower with his
+companion on the ground.
+
+The bailiff roared out, "A rescue, a rescue!" to which the serjeant
+answered there was no rescue intended. "The captain," said he, "wants
+no rescue. Here are some friends coming who will deliver him in a
+better manner."
+
+The bailiff swore heartily he would carry him to Newgate in spite of
+all the friends in the world.
+
+"You carry him to Newgate!" cried the serjeant, with the highest
+indignation. "Offer but to lay your hands on him, and I will knock
+your teeth down your ugly jaws." Then, turning to Booth, he cried,
+"They will be all here within a minute, sir; we had much ado to keep
+my lady from coming herself; but she is at home in good health,
+longing to see your honour; and I hope you will be with her within
+this half-hour."
+
+And now three gentlemen entered the room; these were an attorney, the
+person whom the serjeant had procured in the morning to be his bail
+with Colonel James, and lastly Doctor Harrison himself.
+
+The bailiff no sooner saw the attorney, with whom he was well
+acquainted (for the others he knew not), than he began, as the phrase
+is, to pull in his horns, and ordered the two followers, who were now
+got again on their legs, to walk down-stairs.
+
+"So, captain," says the doctor, "when last we parted, I believe we
+neither of us expected to meet in such a place as this."
+
+"Indeed, doctor," cries Booth, "I did not expect to have been sent
+hither by the gentleman who did me that favour."
+
+"How so, sir?" said the doctor; "you was sent hither by some person, I
+suppose, to whom you was indebted. This is the usual place, I
+apprehend, for creditors to send their debtors to. But you ought to be
+more surprized that the gentleman who sent you hither is come to
+release you. Mr. Murphy, you will perform all the necessary
+ceremonials."
+
+The attorney then asked the bailiff with how many actions Booth was
+charged, and was informed there were five besides the doctor's, which
+was much the heaviest of all. Proper bonds were presently provided,
+and the doctor and the serjeant's friend signed them; the bailiff, at
+the instance of the attorney, making no objection to the bail.
+
+[Illustration: _Lawyer Murphy_]
+
+Booth, we may be assured, made a handsome speech to the doctor for
+such extraordinary friendship, with which, however, we do not think
+proper to trouble the reader; and now everything being ended, and the
+company ready to depart, the bailiff stepped up to Booth, and told him
+he hoped he would remember civility-money.
+
+"I believe" cries Booth, "you mean incivility-money; if there are any
+fees due for rudeness, I must own you have a very just claim."
+
+"I am sure, sir," cries the bailiff, "I have treated your honour with
+all the respect in the world; no man, I am sure, can charge me with
+using a gentleman rudely. I knows what belongs to a gentleman better;
+but you can't deny that two of my men have been knocked down; and I
+doubt not but, as you are a gentleman, you will give them something to
+drink."
+
+Booth was about to answer with some passion, when the attorney
+interfered, and whispered in his ear that it was usual to make a
+compliment to the officer, and that he had better comply with the
+custom.
+
+"If the fellow had treated me civilly," answered Booth, "I should have
+had no objection to comply with a bad custom in his favour; but I am
+resolved I will never reward a man for using me ill; and I will not
+agree to give him a single farthing."
+
+"'Tis very well, sir," said the bailiff; "I am rightly served for my
+good-nature; but, if it had been to do again, I would have taken care
+you should not have been bailed this day."
+
+Doctor Harrison, to whom Booth referred the cause, after giving him a
+succinct account of what had passed, declared the captain to be in the
+right. He said it was a most horrid imposition that such fellows were
+ever suffered to prey on the necessitous; but that the example would
+be much worse to reward them where they had behaved themselves ill.
+"And I think," says he, "the bailiff is worthy of great rebuke for
+what he hath just now said; in which I hope he hath boasted of more
+power than is in him. We do, indeed, with great justice and propriety
+value ourselves on our freedom if the liberty of the subject depends
+on the pleasure of such fellows as these!"
+
+"It is not so neither altogether," cries the lawyer; "but custom hath
+established a present or fee to them at the delivery of a prisoner,
+which they call civility-money, and expect as in a manner their due,
+though in reality they have no right."
+
+"But will any man," cries Doctor Harrison, "after what the captain
+hath told us, say that the bailiff hath behaved himself as he ought;
+and, if he had, is he to be rewarded for not acting in an unchristian
+and inhuman manner? it is pity that, instead of a custom of feeing
+them out of the pockets of the poor and wretched, when they do not
+behave themselves ill, there was not both a law and a practice to
+punish them severely when they do. In the present case, I am so far
+from agreeing to give the bailiff a shilling, that, if there be any
+method of punishing him for his rudeness, I shall be heartily glad to
+see it put in execution; for there are none whose conduct should be so
+strictly watched as that of these necessary evils in the society, as
+their office concerns for the most part those poor creatures who
+cannot do themselves justice, and as they are generally the worst of
+men who undertake it."
+
+The bailiff then quitted the room, muttering that he should know
+better what to do another time; and shortly after, Booth and his
+friends left the house; but, as they were going out, the author took
+Doctor Harrison aside, and slipt a receipt into his hand, which the
+doctor returned, saying, he never subscribed when he neither knew the
+work nor the author; but that, if he would call at his lodgings, he
+would be very willing to give all the encouragement to merit which was
+in his power.
+
+The author took down the doctor's name and direction, and made him as
+many bows as he would have done had he carried off the half-guinea for
+which he had been fishing.
+
+Mr. Booth then took his leave of the philosopher, and departed with
+the rest of his friends.
+
+END OF VOL. II.
+
+
+
+
+
+VOL. III.
+
+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.
+
+
+END OF VOL. II.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Amelia (Complete), by Henry Fielding
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