remained in a trance, that in all probability | clemency; and they accordingly took their contributed to his safety; for had he retained departure together, she being placed astride the use of his senses, he might have been upon the saddle, holding the bridle in one discovered by the transports of his fear. The hand, and a switch in the other, and our first use he made of his retrieved recollection, adventurer sitting on the crupper, superwas to perceive that the assassins had left intending her conduct, and keeping the the door open in their retreat; and he would muzzle of a pistol close at her ear. In this have instantly availed himself of this their equipage they travelled across part of the neglect, by sallying out upon them, at the same wood in which his guide had forsaken hazard of his life, had not he been restrained him; and it is not to be supposed that he by a conversation he overheard in the room passed his time in the most agreeable revery, below, importing that the ruffians were going while he found himself involved in the labyto set out upon another expedition, in hopes rinth of those shades, which he considered of finding more prey. They accordingly as the haunts of robbery and assassination. departed, after having laid strong injunctions upon the old woman to keep the door fast locked during their absence: and Ferdinand took his resolution without farther delay. So soon as, by his conjecture, the robbers were at a sufficient distance from the house, he rose from his lurking-place, moved softly towards the bed, and, rummaging the pockets of the deceased, found a purse well stored with ducats, of which, together with a silver watch and a diamond ring, he immediately possessed himself without scruple; then descending with great care and circumspection into the lower apartment, stood before the old beldame, before she had the least intimation of his approach.

Accustomed as she was to the trade of blood, the hoary hag did not behold this apparition without giving signs of infinite terror and astonishment, believing it was no other than the spirit of her second guest, who had been murdered; she fell upon her knees, and began to recommend herself to the protection of the saints, crossing herself with as much devotion as if she had been entitled to the particular care and attention of Heaven. Nor did her anxiety abate when she was undeceived in this her supposition, and understood it was no phantom, but the real substance of the stranger, who, without staying to upbraid her with the enormity of her crimes, commanded her, on pain of immediate death, to produce his horse; to which being conducted, he set her upon the saddle without delay, and, mounting behind, invested her with the management of the reins, swearing, in a most peremptory tone, that the only chance she had for her life, was in directing him safely to the next town; and that, as soon as she should give him the least cause to doubt her fidelity in the performance of that task, he would on the instant act the part of her executioner.

This declaration had its effect upon the withered Hecate, who, with many supplications for mercy and forgiveness, promised to guide him in safety to a certain village at the distance of two leagues, where he might lodge in security, and be provided with a fresh horse, or other convenience, for pur⚫suing his intended route. On these conditions he told her she might deserve his

Common fear was a comfortable sensation to what he felt in this excursion. The first steps he had taken for his preservation were the effects of mere instinct, while his faculties were extinguished or suppressed by despair; but now, as his reflection began to recur, he was haunted by the most intolerable apprehensions. Every whisper of the wind through the thickets was swelled into the hoarse menaces of murder, the shaking of the boughs was construed into the brandishing of poniards, and every shadow of a tree became the apparition of a ruffian eager for blood. In short, at each of these occurrences he felt what was infinitely more tormenting than the stab of a real dagger; and at every fresh filip of his fear, he acted as a remembrancer to his conductress, in a new volley of imprecations, importing, that her life was absolutely connected with his opinion of his own safety.

Human nature could not long subsist under such complicated terror: at last he found himself clear of the forest, and was blessed with the distant view of an inhabited place: he then began to exercise his thoughts upon a new subject. He debated with himself whether he should make a parade of his intrepidity and public spirit, by disclosing his achievement, and surrendering his guide to the penalty of the law, or leave the old hag and her accomplices to the remorse of their own consciences, and proceed quietly on his journey to Paris, in undisturbed possession of the prize he had already obtained. This last step he determined to take, upon recollecting, that, in the course of his information, the story of the murdered stranger would infallibly attract the attention of justice, and, in that case, the effects he had borrowed from the defunct must be refunded for the benefit of those who had a right to the succession. This was an argument which our adventurer could not resist; he foresaw that he should be stripped of his acquisition, which he looked upon as the fair fruits of his valour and sagacity; and, moreover, be detained as an evidence against the robbers, to the manifest detriment of his affairs: perhaps too he had motives of conscience, that dissuaded him from bearing witness against a set of people whose principles did not much differ from his own.

Influenced by such considerations, he yield- distinguished the High and Low Dutch, bared to the first importunity of the beldame, barous French, Italian, and English languages. whom he dismissed at a very small distance He was rejoiced at this occasion of displayfrom the village, after he had earnestly ex-ing his own qualifications, took his place at horted her to quit such an atrocious course one of three long tables, betwixt a Westlife, and atone for her past crimes, by phalian count and a Bolognian marquis, incrificing her associates to the demands of sinuated himself into the conversation with justice. She did not fail to vow a perfect his usual address, and in less than half an reformation, and to prostrate herself before hour found means to accost a native of each him for the favour she had found; then she different country in his own mother tongue. betook herself to her habitation, with full Such extensive knowledge did not pass purpose of advising her fellow-murderers to unobserved. A French abbe, in a provincial repair with all dispatch to the village, and dialect, complimented him upon his retaining impeach our hero, who, wisely distrusting that purity in pronunciation which is not to her professions, staid no longer in the place be found in the speech of a Parisian. The than to hire a guide for the next stage, which Bolognian, mistaking him for a Tuscan,brought him to the city of Chalons sur Marne. "Sir," said he, "I presume you are from Florence: I hope the illustrious house of Lorraine leaves you gentlemen of that famous city no room to regret the loss of your own princes." The castle of Versailles becoming

CHAPTER XXII.

He arrives at Paris, and is pleased with the subject of conversation, monsieur le

his reception.

compte appealed to him, as to a native German, whether it was not inferior in point of He was not so smitten with the delightful magnificence to the chateau of Grubenhagen. situation of this ancient town, but that he The Dutch officer, addressing himself to abandoned it as soon as he could procure a Fathom, drank to the prosperity of Faderland, post-chaise, in which he arrived at Paris, and asked if he had not once served in garriwithout having been exposed to any other son at Shenkenschans; and an English knight troublesome adventure upon the road. He swore, with great assurance, that he had took lodgings at a certain hotel in the faux-frequently rambled with him at midnight bourg de St Germain, which is the general among the hundreds of Drury. rendezvous of all the strangers that resort to this capital, and now sincerely congratulated himself upon his happy escape from his Hungarian connexions, and from the snares of the banditti, as well as upon the spoils of the dead body, and his arrival at Paris, from whence there was such a short conveyance to England, whither he was attracted by far other motives than that of filial veneration for his native soil.

them, by behaving with that sort of complaisance which seems to be the result of engag. ing condescension in a character of superior dignity and station. His affability was gen

To each person he replied in a polite, though mysterious manner, which did not fail to enhance their opinion of his good breeding and importance; and, long before the dessert appeared, he was by all the company supposed to be a personage of great consequence, who, for some substantial reasons, found it convenient to keep himself incognito. This being the case, it is not to be doubted that particular civilities were He suppressed all his letters of recommen-poured upon him from all quarters. He perdation, which he justly concluded would sub-ceived their sentiments, and encouraged ject him to a tedious course of attendance upon the great, and lay him under the necessity of soliciting preferment in the army, than which nothing was farther from his inclination; and resolved to make his appear-eral; but his chief attention limited to those ance in the character of a private gentleman, which would supply him with opportunities of examining the different scenes of life in such a gay metropolis, so as that he should be able to choose that sphere in which he could move the most effectually to his own advantage. He accordingly hired an occasional domestic, and, under the denomination of Count Fathom, which he had retained since his elopement from Renaldo, repaired to dinner at an ordinary, to which he was directed as a reputable place, frequented by fashionable strangers of all nations.

He found this piece of information perfectly just; for he no sooner entered the apartment, than his ears were saluted with a strange confusion of sounds, among which he at once

gentlemen already mentioned, who chanced to sit nearest him at table; and he no sooner gave them to understand that he was an utter stranger in Paris, than they unanimously begged to have the honour of making him acquainted with the different curiosities peculiar to that metropolis.

He accepted of their hospitality, accompanied them to a coffeehouse in the afternoon, from whence they repaired to the opera, and afterwards adjourned to a noted hotel, in order to spend the remaining part of the evening. It was here that our hero secured himself effectually in the footing he had gained in their good graces: he in a moment saw through all the characters of the party, and adapted himself to the humour of each indi

vidual, without descending from that eleva- | supposition that he was, in all respects, the tion of behaviour which he perceived would best adapted for the purposes of a needy operate among them in his behalf. With the Italian he discoursed on music, in the style of a connoisseur; and indeed had a better claim to that title than the generality of those upon whom it is usually conferred; for he understood the art in theory as well as in practice, and would have made no contemptible figure among the best performers of the age.

gamester: him, therefore, he cultivated with
extraordinary care and singular observance;
for he soon perceived him to be a humourist,
and, from that circumstance, derived a happy
presage of his own success. The baronet's
disposition seemed to be cast in the true
English mould. He was sour, silent, and
contemptuous; his very looks indicated a
consciousness of superior wealth, and he
never opened his mouth, except to make some
dry, sarcastic, national reflection; nor was

which a man puts on, when he believes him-
self in a crowd of pick-pockets, whom his
caution and vigilance set at defiance: in a
word, though his tongue was silent on the
subject, his whole demeanour was continually
saying,-"you are all a pack of poor lousy
rascals, who have a design upon my purse:
'tis true, I could buy your whole generation,
but I wont be bubbled, d'ye see; I am aware
of your flattery, and upon my guard against
all your knavish pranks; and I come into
your company for my own amusement only."

He harangued upon taste and genius to the abbe, who was a wit and critic ex officio, or rather ex vestitu: for a young pert French-his behaviour free from that air of suspicion man, the very moment he puts on the petit collet or little band, looks upon himself as an inspired son of Apollo; and every one of the fraternity thinks it incumbent upon him to assert the divinity of his mission. In a word, the abbes are a set of people that bear a strong analogy to the templars in London. Fools of each fabric, sharpers of all sorts, and dunces of every degree, profess themselves of both orders. The templar is, generally speaking, a prig, so is the abbe: both are distinguished by an air of petulance and self-conceit, which holds a middle rank be- Fathom having reconnoitred this pecutwixt the insolence of a first-rate buck, and liarity of temper, instead of treating him with the learned pride of a supercilious pedant. that assiduous complaisance, which he reThe abbe is supposed to be a younger bro-ceived from the other gentlemen of the party, ther in quest of preferment in the church; kept aloof from him in the conversation with the temple is considered as a receptacle or a remarkable shyness of distant civility, and seminary for younger sons intended for the seldom took notice of what he said, except bar: but a great number of each profession with a view to contradict him, or retort some turn aside into other paths of life, long be- of his satirical observations. This he confore they reach these proposed goals: an ceived to be the best method of acquiring his abbe is often metamorphosed into a foot sol- good opinion; because the Englishman would dier; a templar sometimes sinks into an at- naturally conclude he was a person who could torney's clerk: the galleys of France abound have no sinister views upon his fortune, else with abbes; and many templars may be found he would have chosen quite a different manin our American plantations, not to mention ner of deportment. Accordingly the knight those who have made a public exit nearer seemed to bite at the hook: he listened to home. Yet I would not have it thought that Ferdinand with uncommon regard; he was my description includes every individual of even heard to commend his remarks; and at those societies. Some of the greatest scho-length drank to their better acquaintance. lars, politicians, and wits, that ever Europe produced, have worn the habit of an abbe; and many of our most noble families in England derive their honours from those who

CHAPTER XXIII.

riot.

have studied law in the temple: the worthy Acquits himself with address in a nocturnal sons of every community shall always be sacred from my censure and ridicule; and while I laugh at the folly of particular members, I can still honour and revere the institution.

But let us return from this comparison, which some readers may think impertinent and unseasonable: and observe that the Westphalian count, Dutch officer, and English knight were not excepted from the particular regard and attention of our adventurer: he pledged the German in every bumper; flattered the Hollander with compliments upon the industry, wealth, and policy of the Seven United Provinces; but he reserved his chief battery for his own countryman, on the

THE Italian and the abbe were the first who began to grow whimsical under the influence of the burgundy; and, in the heat of their elevation, proposed that the company should amuse themselves during the remaining part of the night, at the house of an obliging dame, who maintained a troop of fair nymphs for the accommodation of the other sex. The proposal was approved by all, except the Hollander, whose economy the wine had not as yet invaded; and, while he retreated soberly to his own lodgings, the rest of the society adjourned in two coaches to the temple of love, where they were received by the

the old lady's pious concern for the souls that were under her care, and our adventurer proposed an accommodation betwixt her and the abbe, who was prevailed upon to ask her pardon, and received her blessing upon his knees.

This affair had not been long adjusted, when five damsels were introduced in a very gay dishabille, and our hero was complimented with the privilege of choosing his Amanda from the whole bevy! when he was provided, the others began to pair themselves, and unhappily the German count chanced to pitch upon the same nymph who had capti

venerable priestess, a personage turned of seventy, who seemed to exercise the functions of her calling, in despite of the most cruel ravages of time: for age had bent her into the form of a Turkish bow: her head was agitated by the palsy, like the leaf of the poplar tree; her hair fell down in scanty parcels, as white as the driven snow; her face was not simply wrinkled, but ploughed into innumerable furrows: her jaws could not boast of one remaining tooth; one eye distilled a large quantity of rheum, by virtue of the fiery edge that surrounded it; the other was altogether extinguished, and she had lost her nose in the course of her ministra-vated the desires of the British knight: a tion. The Delphic sibyl was but a type of this hoary matron, who by her figure might have been mistaken for the consort of Chaos, or mother of Time. Yet there was something meretricious in her appearance, as it denoted her an indefatigable minister to the pleasure of mankind; and as it formed an agreeable contrast with the beauty and youth of the fair damsels that wantoned in her train. It resembled those discords in music, which, properly disposed, contribute to the harmony of the whole piece; or those horrible giants who, in the world of romance, used to guard the gates of the castle in which the enchanted damsel was confined.

dispute immediately ensued, for the Englishman made his addresses to the lady, without paying the least regard to the priority of the other's claim: and she, being pleased with his attachment, did not scruple to renounce his rival, who swore by the thunder, lightning, and sacrament, that he would not quit his pretensions for any prince in Christendom, much less for a little English chevalier, whom he had already honoured too much in condescending to be his companion.

The knight, provoked at this stately declaration, which was the immediate effect of anger and ebriety, eyed his antagonist with a most contemptuous aspect, and advised This Urganda seemed to be aware of her him to avoid such comparisons for the future. own importance, and perfectly well acquaint-"We all know," said he, "the importance ed with the human appetite; for she com- of a German count; I suppose your revenue pelled the whole company to undergo her amounts to three hundred rix-dollars; and embrace; then a lackey in magnificent liv- you have a chateau that looks like the ruins ery ushered them into a superb apartment, of an English gaol. I will bind myself to where they waited some minutes, without lend you a thousand pounds upon a mortgage being favoured with the appearance of the of your estate (and a bad bargain I am sure ladies, to the manifest dissatisfaction of the I shall have), if I do not, in less than two abbe, who, sending for the gouvernante, re-months, find a yeoman of Kent, who spends primanded her severely for her want of poli- more in strong ale than the sum total of tesse. The old lady, who was by no means your yearly income; and, were the truth a pattern of patience and submission, retort-known, I believe that lace upon your coat is ed his reproaches with great emphasis and vivacity: her eloquence flowed altogether in the Covent-Garden strain; and I question whether the celebrated Mother Douglas herself could have made such a figure in an extemporaneous altercation.

After having bestowed upon the abbe the epithets of saucy insignificant pimp, she put him in mind of the good offices which he had received at her hands; how she had supplied him with bed, board, and bed-fellow, in his greatest necessity; sent him abroad with money in his pockets, and, in a word, cherished him in her bosom, when his own mother had abandoned him to distress: she then reviled him for presuming to affront her before strangers, and gave the company to understand, that the young ladies would wait upon them as soon as they could be confessed and receive absolution from a worthy cordelier, who was now employed in performing that charitable office. The gentlemen were satisfied with this remonstrance, which argued

no better than tinsel, and those fringed ruffles, with fine Holland sleeves, tacked to a shirt of brown canvass, so that, were you to undress yourself before the lady, you would only expose your own poverty and pride."

The count was so much enraged at these sarcastic observations, that his faculty of speech was overwhelmed by his resentment; though, in order to acquit himself of the Englishman's imputation, he forthwith pulled off his clothes with such fury, that his brocade waistcoat was torn from top to bottom. The knight, mistaking his meaning, considered this demeanour as a fair challenge, to try which was the better man in the exercise of boxing; and, on that supposition, began to strip in his turn, when he was undeceived by Fathom, who put the right interpretation upon the count's behaviour, and begged that the affair might be compromised. By this time the Westphalian recovered the use of his tongue, and, with many threats and imprecations, desired they would take notice

how falsely he had been aspersed, and do him justice in espousing his claim to the damsel in question.

Before the company had time or inclination to interest themselves in the quarrel, his opponent observed that no person who was not a mere German, would ever dream of forcing the inclinations of a pretty girl, whom the accidents of fortune had subjected to his power: that such compulsion was equivalent to the most cruel rape that could be committed: and that the lady's aversion was not at all surprising; for, to speak his own sentiments, were he a woman of pleasure, he would as soon grant favours to a Westphalian hog, as to the person of his antagonist. The German, enraged at this comparison, was quite abandoned by his patience and discretion he called the knight an English clown, and, swearing he was the most untoward beast of a whole nation of mules, snatched up one of the candlesticks, which he launched at him with such force and violence, that it sung through the air, and winging its flight into the anti-chamber, encountered the skull of his own valet, who with immediate prostration received the message of his master.

treated his antagonist with a cross-buttock, which laid him almost breathless on the floor. The victor was prevailed upon, by the entreaties of Fathom, to quit the field of battle, and adjourn into another room, where, in less than half an hour, he received a billet from the count, defying him to single combat on the frontiers of Flanders, at an appointed time and place. The challenge was immediately accepted by the knight, who, being flushed with conquest, treated his adversary with great contempt.

But, next day, when the fumes of the Burgundy were quite exhaled, and the adventure recurred to his remembrance and sober reflection, he waited upon our adventurer at his lodgings, and solicited his advice in such a manner, as gave him to understand that he looked upon what had happened as a drunken brawl, which ought to have no serious consequences. Fathom foreseeing that the affair might be managed for his own interest, professed himself of the baronet's opinion; and, without hesitation, undertook the office of a mediator, assuring his principal, that his honour should suffer no stain in the course of his negotiation.

Having received the Englishman's acknow.. The knight, that he might not be behind ledgements for this instance of friendship, he hand with the Westphalian, in point of cour- forthwith set out for the place of the Gertesy, returned the compliment with the re- man's habitation, and understanding he was maining chandelier, which also missed its still asleep, insisted upon his being immemark, and smiting a large mirror that was diately waked, and told, that a gentleman fixed behind them, emitted such a crash as from the chevalier desired to see him upon one might expect to hear if a mine were business of importance which could not be sprung beneath a manufacture of glass. Both delayed. Accordingly, his valet-de-chambre, lights being thus extinguished, a furious com- pressed by Fathom's importunities and rebat ensued in the dark; the Italian scampered monstrances, ventured to go in and shake off with infinite agility, and as he went down the count by the shoulder; when this furious stairs, desired that nobody would interpose, Teutonian, still agitated by the fever of the because it was an affair of honour, which preceding night, leaped out of bed in a frenzy, could not be made up. The ladies consulted and seizing his sword that lay upon a table, their safety in flight; Count Fathom slily would have severely punished the presumpretired to one corner of the room, while the tion of his servant, had not he been restrained abbe having upon him the terrors of the com- by the entrance of Ferdinand, who, with a missaire, endeavoured to appease and part peremptory countenance, gave him to underthe combatants, and in the attempt, sustained stand that the valet had acted at his imme. a random blow upon his nose, which sent diate instigation: and that he was come, as him howling into the other chamber, where, the Englishman's friend, to concert with finding his hand besmeared with his own him proper measures for keeping the appointblood, he began to caper about the apartment they had made at their last meeting. ment, in a transport of rage and vexation.

Meanwhile, the old gentlewoman being alarmed with the noise of the battle, and apprehensive that it would end in murder, to the danger and discredit of herself and family, immediately mustered up her myrmidons, of whom she always retained a formidable band, and, putting herself at their head, lighted them to the scene of uproar: Ferdinand, who had hitherto observed a strict neutrality, no sooner perceived them approach, than he leaped in between the disputants, that he might be found acting in the character of a peace-maker; and, indeed, by this time, victory had declared for the baronet, who had

This message effectually calmed the German, who was not a little mortified to find himself so disagreeably disturbed. He could not help cursing the impatience of his antagonist, and even hinting that he would have acted more like a gentleman and good christian, in expressing a desire of seeing the affair accommodated, as he knew himself to be the aggressor, consequently the first offender against the laws of politeness and good fellowship. Fathom, finding him in a fit temper of mind, took the opportunity of assenting to the reasonableness of his observation; he ventured to condemn the impetuosity of the baronet, who, he perceived, was extremely