do not see why he ever should, any more than your giving him the lie just now; but that he shall never hear from me, nor, I believe, from this gentleman; for, indeed, if he should, it would be incumbent on him to cut your throat." "Lookee, Doctor," said James, "I do not deserve the unkind suspicion you just now threw out against me; I never thirsted after any man's blood. And as for what hath passed since this discovery hath happened, I may perhaps not think it worth my while to trouble myself any more about it."

The Doctor was not contented with perhaps; he insisted on a firm promise, bound with the Colonel's honour. This at length he obtained, and departed well satisfied.

In fact, the Colonel was ashamed to avow the real cause of the quarrel to this good man, or, indeed, to his brother Bath, who would not only have condemned him equally with the Doctor, but would possibly have quarrelled with him on his sister's account, whom, as the reader must have observed, he loved above all things; and in plain truth, though the Colonel was a brave man, and dared to fight, yet he was altogether as willing to let it alone; and this made him now and then give way to the wrongheadedness of Colonel Bath, who, with all the other principles of honour and humanity, made no more of cutting the throat of a man upon any of his punctilios, than a butcher doth of killing sheep.

Booth at last began himself in the following manner: "Doctor, I am really ashamed to see you; and if you knew the confusion of my soul on this occasion, I am sure you would pity rather than upbraid me-And yet I can say with great sincerity, I rejoice in this last instance of my shame, since I am like to reap the most solid advantage from it." The Doctor stared at this, and Booth thus proceeded: "Since I have been in this wretched place, I have employed my time almost entirely in reading over a series of sermons contained in that book," (meaning Dr Barrow's works, which then lay on the table before him,)" in proof of the Christian religion; and so good an effect have they had upon me,

that I shall, I believe, be the better man for them as long as I live. I have not a doubt (for I own I have had such) which remains now unsatisfied. If ever an angel might be thought to guide the pen of a writer, surely the pen of that great and good man had such an assistant." The Doctor readily concurred in the praises of Dr Barrow, and added- "You say you have had your doubts, young gentleman; indeed, I did not know that

And pray, what were your doubts?"-" Whatever they were, sir," said Booth, "they are now satisfied, as I believe those of every impartial and sensible reader will be, if he will with due attention, read over these excellent sermons.""Very well," answered the Doctor, "though I have conversed, I find, with a false brother hitherto, I am glad you are reconciled to truth at last, and I hope your future faith will have some influence on your future life."-" I need not tell you, sir," replied Booth, " that will always be the case, where faith is sincere, as I assure you mine is. Indeed, I never was a rash disbeliever; my chief doubt was founded on this, that as men appeared to me to act entirely from their passions, their actions could have neither merit nor demerit."-" A very worthy conclusion truly," cries the Doctor; "but if men act, as I believe they do, from their passions, it would be fair to conclude that religion to be true, which applies immediately to the strongest of these passions, hope and fear, chusing rather to rely on its rewards and punishments, than on that native beauty of virtue which some of the ancient philosophers thought proper to recommend to their disciples.-But we will defer this discourse till another opportunity; at present, as the devil hath thought proper to set you free, I will try if I can prevail on the bailiff to do the same."

The Doctor had really not so much money in town as Booth's debt amounted to; and therefore, though he would otherwise very willingly have paid it, he was forced to give bail to the action. For which purpose, as the bailiff was a man of great form, he was obliged to get another person to be bound with him. This person, however, the attorney undertook to procure, and immediately set out in quest of him.

During his absence, the bailiff came into the room, and addressing himself to the Doctor, said, "I think, sir, your name is Harrison." The Doctor immediately acknowledged his name; indeed, the bailiff had seen it to a bail-bond be fore. "Why then, sir," said the bailiff, "there is a man above in a dying condition, that de sires the favour of speaking to you; I believe he wants you to pray by him."

The bailiff himself was not more ready to execute his office on all occasions for his fee, than the Doctor was to execute his for nothing. Without making any further inquiry therefore into the condition of the man, he immediately went up stairs.

As soon as the bailiff returned down stairs,

which was immediately after he had lodged the Doctor in the room, Booth had the curiosity to ask him who this man was. "Why, I don't know much of him," said the bailiff." I had him once in custody before now; I remember it was when your honour was here last; and now I remember too, he said, then, he knew your honour very well. Indeed, I had some opinion of him at that time; for he spent his money very much like a gentleman; but I have discovered since, that he is a poor fellow, and worth nothing. He is a mere shy cock, I have had the stuff about me this week, and could never get at him till this morning; nay, I don't believe we should ever have found out his lodgings, had it not been for the attorney who was here just now, who gave us information. And so we took him this morning by a comical way enough; for we dressed up one of my men in women's clothes, who told the people of the house, that he was his sister just come to town, (for we were told by the attorney, that he had such a sister,) upon which he was let up stairs; and so kept the door a-jar till I and another rushed in. Let me tell you, Captain, there are as good stratagems made use of in our business as any in the army."

"But pray, sir," said Booth, " did not you tell me this morning that the poor fellow was desperately wounded; nay, I think you told the Doctor that he was a dying man?"

"I had like to have forgot that," cries the bailiff. "Nothing would serve the gentleman but that he must make resistance, and he gave my man a blow with a stick; but I soon quieted him, by giving him a wipe or two with a hanger. Not that I believe I have done his business neither; but the fellow is faint-hearted, and the surgeon, I fancy, frightens him more than he need. But however, let the worst come to the worst, the law is all on my side, and it is only se fendendo. The attorney that was here just now told me so, and bid me fear nothing: for that he would stand my friend, and undertake the cause; and he is a devilish good one at a defence at the Old Bailey, I promise you. I have known him bring off several that every body thought would have been hanged."

"But suppose you should be acquitted," said Booth ; "would not the blood of this poor wretch lie a little heavy at your heart?"

"Why should it, Captain?" said the bailiff. "Is it not all done in a lawful way? why will people resist the law when they know the consequence? To be sure, if a man was to kill another, in an unlawful manner as it were, and what the law calls murder, that is quite and clear another thing. I should not care to be convicted of murder, any more than another man. Why now, Captain, you have been abroad in the wars, they tell me, and to be sure you must have killed men in your time-Pray, was you ever afraid afterwards of seeing their ghosts?"

"That is a different affair," cries Booth;

"but I would not kill a man in cold blood for all the world.”

"There is no difference at all as I can see," cries the bailiff. "One is as much in the way of business as the other. When gentlemen behave themselves like unto gentlemen, I know how to treat them as such, as well as any officer the king hath. And when they do not, why, they must take what follows, and the law doth not call it murder."

Booth very plainly saw the bailiff had squared his conscience exactly according to law, and that he could not easily subvert his way of thinking. He therefore gave up the cause, and desired the bailiff to expedite the bonds, which he promised to do, saying, he hoped he had used him with proper civility this time, if he had not the last, and that he should be remembered for it.

But before we close this chapter, we shall endeavour to satisfy an inquiry which may arise in our most favourite readers (for so are the most curious,) how it came to pass that such a person as was Doctor Harrison, should employ such a fellow as this Murphy.

The case then was thus. This Murphy had been clerk to an attorney in the very same town in which the doctor lived, and when he was out of his time, had set up with a character fair enough, and had married a maid servant of Mrs Harris, by which means he had all the business to which that lady and her friends, in which number was the Doctor, could recommend him.

Murphy went on with his business, and thrived very well, till he happened to make an unfortunate slip, in which he was detected by a brother of the same calling. But though we call this by the gentle name of a slip, in respect to its being so extremely common, it was a matter in which the law, if it had ever come to its ears, would have passed a very severe censure, being, indeed, no less than perjury and subornation of perjury.

This brother attorney being a very good-natured man, and unwilling to bespatter his own profession, and considering, perhaps, that the consequence did in no wise affect the public, who had no manner of interest in the alternative, whether A, in whom the right was, or B, to whom Mr Murphy, by the means aforesaid, had transferred it, succeeded in an action-(We mention this particular, because, as this brother attorney was a very violent party-man, and a professed stickler for the public, to suffer any injury to have been done to that, would have been highly inconsistent with his principles,)—this gentleman, therefore, came to Mr Murphy, and, after shewing him that he had it in his power to convict him of the aforesaid crime, very generously told him, that he had not the least delight in bringing any man to destruction, nor the least animosity against him. All that he insisted upon was, that he would not live in the same town or country with one who had been

guilty of such an action. He then told Mr Murphy that he would keep the secret on two conditions; the one was, that he immediately quitted that country; the other was, that he should convince him he deserved this kindness by his gratitude, and that Murphy should transfer to the other all the business which he then had in those parts, and to which he could possibly recommend him.

It is the observation of a very wise man, that it is a very common exercise of wisdom in this world, of two evils to chuse the least. The reader, therefore, cannot doubt but that Mr Murphy complied with the alternative proposed by his kind brother, and accepted the terms on which secresy was to be obtained.

This happened while the Doctor was abroad; and with all this, except the departure of Mr Murphy, not only the Doctor, but the whole town (save his aforesaid brother alone) were to this day unacquainted.

The Doctor, at his return, hearing that Mr Murphy was gone, applied to the other attorney in his affairs, who still employed this Murphy as his agent in town, partly perhaps out of goodwill to him, and partly from the recommendation of Miss Harris; for, as he had married a servant of the family, and a particular favourite of hers, there can be no wonder that she, who was entirely ignorant of the affair above related, as well as of his conduct in town, should continue her favour to him. It will appear, therefore, I apprehend, no longer strange, that the Doctor, who had seen this man but three times since his removal to town, and then conversed with him only on business, should remain as ignorant of his life and character, as a man generally is of the character of the hackney-coachman who drives him. Nor doth it reflect more on the honour or understanding of the Doctor under these circumstances to employ Murphy, than it would if he had been driven about the town by a thief or a murderer.

CHAP. VI.

What passed between the Doctor and the sick

man.

WE left the Doctor in the last chapter with the wounded man, to whom the Doctor, in a very gentle voice, spoke as follows:

"I am sorry, friend, to see you in this situation, and am very ready to give you any comfort or assistance within my power."

“I thank you kindly, Doctor," said the man. "Indeed, I should not have presumed to have to you, had I not known your character; for though I believe I am not at all known to you, I have lived many years in that town, where you yourself had a house: My name is Robinson. I used to write for the attornies in those parts, and

I have been employed on your business in my time.'

"

"I do not recollect you, nor your name," said the Doctor; "but consider, friend, your moments are precious, and your business, as I am informed, is to offer up your prayers to that great Being, before whom you are shortly to appear. But first, let me exhort you earnestly to a most serious repentance of all your sins." "Oh, Doctor!" said the man, "pray what is your opinion of a death-bed repentance?"

"If repentance is sincere," cries the Doctor, "I hope, through the mercies and merits of our most powerful and benign Intercessor, it will never come too late."

"But do not you think, sir," cries the man, "that in order to obtain forgiveness of any great sin we have committed by an injury done to our neighbours, it is necessary, as far as in us lies, to make all the amends we can to the party injured, and to undo, if possible, the injury we have done."

"Most undoubtedly," cries the Doctor; "our pretence to repentance would otherwise be gross hypocrisy, and an impudent attempt to deceive and impose upon our Creator himself.”

"Indeed, I am of the same opinion," cries the penitent; " and I think further, that this is thrown in my way, and hinted to me by that great Being; for an accident happened to me yesterday, by which, as things have fallen out since, I think I plainly discern the hand of Providence. I went yesterday, sir, you must know, to a pawnbroker's, to pawn the last moveable, which, except the poor clothes you see on my back, I am worth in the world. While I was there, a young lady came in to pawn her picture. She had disguised herself so much, and pulled her hood so over her face, that I did not know her while she staid, which was scarce three minutes. As soon as she was gone, the pawnbroker, taking the picture in his hand, cried out,—

Upon my word, this is the handsomest face I ever saw in my life.' I desired him to let me look on the picture, which he readily did; and I no sooner cast my eyes upon it, than the strong resemblance struck me, and I knew it to be Mrs Booth."

"Mrs Booth! what Mrs Booth ?" cries the Doctor.

Captain Booth's lady; the captain who i down below," said the other.

"How!" cries the Doctor, with great impe tuosity.

"Have patience," said the man," and you shall hear all. I expressed some surprise to the pawn-broker, and asked the lady's name. He answered, that he knew not her name, but that she was some undone wretch, who had the day before left all her clothes with him in pass My guilt immediately flew in my face, and tai me I had been accessary to this lady's undang The sudden shock so affected me, that, had it

not been for a dram which the pawnbroker gave me, I believe I should have sunk on the spot." "Accessary to her undoing! how accessary?" said the Doctor. "Pray tell me, for I am impatient to hear."

"I will tell you all, as fast as I can," cries the sick man. "You know, good Doctor, that Mrs Harris, of our town, had two daughters, this Mrs Booth, and another. Now, sir, it seems the other daughter had, some way or other, disobliged her mother, a little before the old lady died; therefore she made a will, and left all her fortune, except one thousand pounds, to Mrs Booth; to which will, Mr Murphy, myself, and another, who is now dead, were the witnesses. Mrs Harris afterwards died suddenly; upon which it was contrived, by her other daughter and Mr Murphy, to make a new will, in which Mrs Booth had a legacy of ten pounds, and all the rest was given to the other. To this will, Murphy, myself, and the same third person, again set our hands."

"Good Heaven! how wonderful is thy providence!" cries the Doctor.-" Murphy! say you?"

"He himself, sir," answered Robinson;"Murphy, who is the greatest rogue, I believe, now in the world."

"Pray, sir, proceed," cries the Doctor. "For this service, sir," said Robinson, "myself and the third person, one Carter, received two hundred pounds each. What reward Murphy himself had, I know not. Carter died soon afterwards; and from that time, at several payments, I have by threats extorted above a hundred pound more. And this, sir, is the whole truth, which I am ready to testify, if it would please Heaven to prolong my life."

"I hope it will," cries the Doctor; "but something must be done, for fear of accidents. I will send to counsel immediately, to know how to secure your testimony. Whom can I get to send? Stay, ay-he will do-but I know not where his house or his chambers are; I will go myself-but I may be wanted here!"

While the Doctor was in this violent agitation, the surgeon made his appearance. The Doctor stood still in a meditating posture, while the surgeon examined his patient. After which the Doctor begged him to declare his opinion, and whether he thought the wounded man in any immediate danger of death. "I do not know," answered the surgeon, "what you call immediate. He may live several days-nay, he may recover. It is impossible to give any certain opinion in these cases." He then launched forth into a set of terms, which the Doctor, with all his scholarship, could not understand. To say the truth, many of them were not to be found in any dictionary or lexicon.

One discovery, however, the Doctor made, and that was, that the surgeon was a very ignorant conceited fellow, and knew nothing of his pro

fession. He resolved, therefore, to get better advice for the sick; but this he postponed at present, and applying himself to the surgeon, said he should be very much obliged to him if he knew where to find such a counsellor, and would fetch him thither. "I should not ask such a favour of you, sir," says the Doctor, "if it was not on business of the last importance, or if I could find any other messenger."

"I fetch, sir!" said the surgeon, very angrily. "Do you take me for a footman, or a porter? I don't know who you are; but I believe you are full as proper to go on such an errand as I am :" (for as the Doctor, who was just come off his journey, was very roughly dressed, the surgeon held him in no great respect.) The surgeon then called aloud from the top of the stairs, Let my coachman draw up," and strutted off without any ceremony, telling his patient he would call again the next day.

At this very instant arrived Murphy with the other bail, and finding Booth alone, he asked the bailiff at the door, what was become of the Doctor? "Why, the Doctor," answered he, "is above stairs, praying with" "How!" cries Murphy; "how came you not to carry him directly to Newgate, as you promised me?"

66

Why, because he was wounded," cries the bailiff. "I thought it was charity to take care of him; and besides, why should one make more noise about the matter than is necessary?""And Dr Harrison with him?" said Murphy. -"Yes, he is," said the bailiff; "he desired to speak with the Doctor very much, and they have been praying together almost this hour.""All is up, and undone," cries Murphy. "Let me come by, I have thought of something which I must do immediately.'

Now, as by means of the surgeon's leaving the door open, the Doctor heard Murphy's voice naming Robinson peevishly, he drew softly to the top of the stairs, where he heard the foregoing dialogue; and as soon as Murphy had uttered his last words, and was moving downwards, the Doctor immediately sallied from his post, running as fast as he could, and crying, "Stop the villain, stop the thief!"

The attorney wanted no better hint to accelerate his pace; and having the start of the Doctor, got down stairs, and out into the street; but the Doctor was so close at his heels, and being in foot the nimbler of the two, he soon overtook him, and laid hold of him, as he would have done on either Broughton or Slack in the same cause.

This action in the street, accompanied with the frequent cry of, Stop thief, by the Doctor, during the chace, presently drew together a large mob, who began, as is usual, to enter immediately upon business, and to make strict inquiry into the matter, in order to proceed to justice in their summary way.

Murphy, who knew well the temper of the