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SIR ANDREW SAGITTARIUS.

VOL. I.

SIR ANDREW SAGITTARIUS.

CHAPTER I.

'Tis policy and stratagem must do

That which you affect; and so much you resolve:
That what you cannot, as you would, achieve,
You must perforce accomplish as you may.

TITUS ANDRONICUS.

IT was on a cheerless and gloomy afternoon, in the month of November, 182-, that two persons might be seen pursuing their journey towards a village, situated on the western verge of the Sweet and romantic county of Devon. The prospect, however, on either side of the road, presented nothing to the view now that could in any way tend to cheer the hearts of our travellers. The thick vegetation

that covers the earth in summer had totally disappeared; and no longer could be seen the rich and mottled clover, the numerous beds of wild flowers, the quickset so gay and green, nor the lighter green of the rising wheat. Nature "had strewed her stores around," and crowned the evening of the year with the last gifts of her bounty; and the whole had disappeared beneath the impetuous rain, to give place to a general bareness both of tree and hedge, which, with the blackened surface of the fields, made the "regenerating mother" wear an aspect at once loathsome and disagreeable. The weather was hazy, and added to the accompanying gloom of autumnal decay, seemed to operate on the feelings of the strangers, producing a corresponding depression on their minds, which occasioned them to continue their route in a state of painful and disagreeable silence. And if the one, who by a smart livery, and a cockade

fixed on his laced hat, gave any token of opening his lips, it was merely for the undoubted good purpose of indulging his palate with a fresh allowance of the all-comforting herb, whose qualities and virtues have been celebrated by some of the wisest of our poets.

The day was fast closing, and the small remaining light made it necessary for our travellers to quicken their horses' speed, for it appeared they had above eleven miles to perform ere they could reach the place of destination. The inconvenience, and not to say the danger, of being as it were prematurely benighted, operated as an additional incentive for them to accelerate their motion. Therefore, spurring their horses into a fast canter, they endeavoured, as indeed they reasonably hoped, to arrive at the end of their journey before the night could surprise them.

In this state, they rode onwards for the distance of four or five miles, when

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