"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._