advancing to make offer of his services too, to be gone, and send them the first surgeon he could find. A surgeon indeed had been already procured, who officiated in the prison, for the best of all reasons, because he was not at liberty to leave it. The jailer now made his appearance, with a bottle of wine in one hand, and some water in the other; followed by a tall, meagre, ragged figure, who, striding up to Harriet, applied a small vial of volatile salt to her nose, and chafing her temples, soon brought her to sense and life again. Annesly, pressing her to his bosom, begged her to recollect herself, and forget her fears. "Pardon this weakness, my dear Billy," said she, "I will try to overcome it; is that horrid man gone? who is this gentleman ?"-" I have the honour to be a doctor of physic, madam," said he, clapping at the same time his greasy fingers to her pulse. "Here is a fulness that calls for venesection." So without loss of time he pulled out a case of lancets, covered with rust, and spotted with the blood of former patients. "Oh! for Heaven's sake, no bleeding," cried Harriet; "indeed there is no occasion for it."-" How, no occasion!" exclaimed the other; I have heard indeed some ignorants condemn phlebotomy in such cases; but it is my practice, and I am very well able to defend it. It will be allowed, that in plethoric habits-" "Spare your demonstration," interrupted Annesly," and think of your patient."—" You shall not blood me," said she; 66 you shall not indeed, sir !”—“ Nay, madam,' said he, as you please; you are to know that the operation itself is no part of my profession; it is only propter necessitatem, for want of chirurgical practitioners, that I sometimes condescend to it in this place." Sir Thomas gave him a hint to leave them, and at the same time slipped a guinea into his hand. He immediately retired, looking at the unusual appearance of the gold with a joy that made him forget the obstinacy of his patient, and her rejection of his assistance.

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Annesly, assisted by his friend, used every possible argument to comfort and support his sister. His concern for her had indeed banished for a while the consideration of his own state; and when he came to think on that solemn day, on which the trial for his life was appointed, his concern was more interested for its effect on his Harriet, than for that it should have on himself.

After they had passed great part of the day together, Sir Thomas observed, that Miss Annesly's present lodgings (in the house of her fellow-traveller's father) were so distant as to occasion much inconvenience to her in her visits to her brother; and very kindly made offer of endeavouring to procure her others but a few streets off, under the roof of a gentlewoman, he said, an officer's widow of his acquaintance, who, if she had any apartment unoccupied at

the time, he knew would be as attentive to Miss Annesly as if she were a daughter of her own.

This proposal was readily accepted; and Sir Thomas having gone upon the inquiry, returned in the evening with an account of his having succeeded in procuring the lodgings; that he had taken the liberty to call and fetch Miss Annesly's baggage from those she had formerly occupied, and that every thing was ready at Mrs Eldridge's (that was the widow's name) for her reception. After supper he conducted her thither accordingly.

As he was going out, Annesly whispered him to return for a few minutes after he had set down his sister, as he had something particular to communicate to him. When he came back, "You have heard, I fancy, Sir Thomas," said he, “that the next day but one is the day of my trial. As to myself, I wait it with resignation, and shall not give any trouble to my country by a false defence; but I tremble for my sister's knowing it. Could we not contrive some method of keeping her in ignorance of its appointment till it be over, and then prepare her for the event, without subjecting her to the tortures of anxiety and suspense?" Sindall agreed in the propriety of the latter part of his scheme; and they resolved to keep his sister that day at home, on pretence of a meeting in the prison between the lawyers of Annesly, and those of his prosecutor. But he warmly insisted that Annesly should accept the services of Camplin towards conducting the cause on his part. "Endeavour not to persuade me, my friend," said Annesly; "for I now rest satisfied with my determination. I thank Heaven, which has enabled me to rely on its goodness, and meet my fate with the full possession of myself. I will not disdain the mercy which my country may think I merit; but I will not entangle myself in chicane and insincerity, to avoid her justice."

CHAP. XIX.

The fate of Annesly determined.—Sindall's friendship, and the gratitude of Harriet.

NOTHING remarkable happened till that day when the fate of Annesly was to be determined by the laws of his country. The project formed by Sindall and himself, for keeping his sister ignorant of its importance, succeeded to their wish: she spent it at home, comforting herself with the hope, that the meeting she understood to be held on it might turn out advantageously for her brother, and soothed by the kindness of her landlady, who had indeed fully answered Sir Thomas's expectations in the attention she had shewn her.

Meanwhile, her unfortunate brother was brought to the bar, indicted for the robbery committed on the gamester. When he was ask

"I am sincerely sorry, young gentleman, to see one of your figure at this bar, charged with a crime for which the public safety has been obliged to award an exemplary punishment. Much as I admire the heroism of your confession, I will not suffer advantage to be taken of it to your prejudice: reflect on the consequences of a plea of guilt, which takes from you all opportunity of a legal defence, and speak again, as your own discretion, or your friends, may best advise you."—" I humbly thank your lordship," said Annesly," for the candour and indulgence which you shew me; but I have spoken the truth, and will not allow myself to think of retracting it."-" I am here," returned his lordship, as the dispenser of justice, and I have nothing but justice to give; the province of mercy is in other hands: if, upon inquiry, the case is circumstanced as I wish it to be, my recommendation shall not be wanting to enforce an application there." Annesly was then convicted of the robbery, and the sentence of the law passed upon him.

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But the judge, before whom he was tried, was not unmindful of his promise; and having satisfied himself, that, though guilty in this instance, he was not habitually flagitious, he assisted so warmly the applications which, through the interest of Sindall, (for Sindall was in this sincere,) were made in his behalf, that a pardon was obtained for him, on the condition of his suffering transportation for the term of fourteen years.

This alleviation of his punishment was procured, before his sister was suffered to know that his trial had ever come on, or what had been its event. When his fate was by this means determined, Sindall undertook to instruct the lady in whose house he had placed her, that Miss Annesly should be acquainted with the circumstances of it in such a manner, as might least discompose that delicacy and tenderness of which

her mind was so susceptible. The event answered his expectation; that good woman seemed possessed of as much address as humanity; and Harriet, by the intervention of both, was led to the knowledge of her brother's situation with so much prudence, that she bore it at first with resignation, and afterwards looked upon it with thankfulness.

After that acknowledgment to Providence which she had been early instructed never to forget, there was an inferior agent in this affair, to whom her warmest gratitude was devoted. Besides that herself had the highest opinion of Sindall's good offices, her obliging landlady had taken every opportunity, since their acquaintance began, to sound forth his praises in the most extravagant strain; and, on the present occasion, her encomiums were loud, in proportion as Harriet's happiness was concerned in the

event.

Sir Thomas therefore began to be considered by the young lady as the worthiest of friends; his own language bore the strongest expressions of friendship-of friendship, and no more; but the widow would often insinuate, that he felt more than he expressed; and when Harriet's spirits could bear a little raillery, her landlady did not want for jokes on the subject.

These suggestions of another have a greater effect than is often imagined; they are heard with an ease which does not alarm, and the mind habituates itself to take up such a credit on their truth, as it would be sorry to lose, though it is not at the trouble of examining Harriet did not seriously think of Sindall as of one that was her lover; but she began to make such arrangements, as not to be surprised if he should.

One morning, when Sir Thomas had called to conduct her on a visit to her brother, Mrs Eldridge rallied him at breakfast on his being still a bachelor. "What is your opinion, Miss Annesly?" said she ; " is it not a shame for one of Sir Thomas's fortune not to make some worthy woman happy in the participation of it?" Sindall submitted to be judged by so fair an arbitress: he said, "The manners of the court ladies, whose example had stretched unhappily too far, were such as made it a sort of venture to be married." He then paused for a moment, sighed, and, fixing his eyes upon Harriet, drew such a picture of the woman whom he would choose for a wife, that she must have had some sillier qualities than mere modesty about her, not to have made some guess at his meaning.

In short, though she was as little wanting in delicacy as most women, she began to feel a certain interest in the good opinion of Sindall, and to draw some conclusions from his deportment, which, for the sake of my fair readers, I would have them remember, are better to be slowly understood than hastily indulged.

CHAP. XX.

An Accident, which may possibly be imagined somewhat more than accidental.

THOUGH the thoughts of Annesly's future situation could not but be distressful to his sister and him, yet the deliverance from greater evils which they had experienced, served to enlighten the prospect of those they feared. His father, whose consolation always attended the calamity he could neither prevent nor cure, exhorted his son, (in an answer to the account his sister and he had transmitted him of the events contained in the preceding chapter,) to have a proper sense of the mercy of his God and his king, and to bear what was a mitigation of his punishment, with a fortitude and resignation becoming the subject of both. The same letter informed his children, that though he was not well enough recovered to be able to travel, yet he was gaining ground on his distemper, and hoped, as the season advanced, to get the better of it altogether. He sent that blessing to his son, which he was prevented from bestowing personally, with a credit for any sum which he might have occasion for against his approaching departure.

His children received additional comfort from the good accounts of their father, which this letter contained; and even in Annesly's prison there were some intervals in which they forgot the fears of parting, and indulged themselves in temporary happiness.

It was during one of these that Sindall observed to Harriet how little she possessed the curiosity her sex was charged with, who had never once thought of seeing any thing in London, that strangers were most solicitous to see; and proposed that very night to conduct her to the play-house, where the royal family were to be present, at the representation of a new comedy.

Harriet turned a melancholy look towards her brother, and made answer, "that she could not think of any amusement that should subject him to hours of solitude in a prison."

Upon this, Annesly was earnest in pressing her to accept Sir Thomas's invitation; he said, "she knew how often he chose to be alone, at times when he could most command society; and that he should find an additional pleasure in theirs, when they returned to him fraught with the intelligence of the play."

"But there is something unbecoming in it," said Harriet, "in the eyes of others."

"That objection,” replied Sindall, “ will be easily removed; we shall go, accompanied by Mrs Eldridge, to the gallery, where even those who have many acquaintances in town, are dressed so much in the incognito way, as never to be discovered."

Annesly repeated his entreaties, Mrs Eldridge seconded, Sindall enforced them; and all three urged so many arguments, that Harriet was at last overcome, and to the play they accordingly went.

Though this was the first entertainment of the sort at which Harriet had ever been present, yet the thoughts of her absent brother, in whose company all her former amusements had been enjoyed, so much damped the pleasure she should have felt from this, that as soon as the play was over, she begged of her conductor to return, much against the desire of Mrs Eldridge, who entreated them to indulge her by staying the farce. But Harriet seemed so uneasy at the thoughts of a longer absence from her brother, that the other's solicitations were at last overruled; and making shift to get through the crowd, they left the house, and set out in a hackney coach in their return.

They had got the length of two or three streets on their way, when the coachman, who indeed had the appearance of being exceedingly drunk, drove them against a post, by which accident one of the wheels was broken to pieces, and the carriage itself immediately overturned. Sindall had luckily put down the glass on that side but a moment before, to look at some object in the street, so that they escaped any mischief which might have ensued from the breaking of it; and, except the ladies being extremely frightened, no bad consequences followed. This disaster happened just at the door of a tavern; the mistress of which, seeing the discomposure of the ladies, very politely begged them to step into her own room, till they could readjust themselves, and procure another coach from a neighbouring stand, for which she promised immediately to despatch one of her servants. All this while Sir Thomas was venting his wrath against the coachman, continuing to cane him most unmercifully, till stopped by the intercession of Harriet and Mrs Eldridge, and prevailed upon to accompany them into the house at the obliging request of its mistress. He asked pardon for giving way to his passion, which apprehension for their safety, he said, had occasioned; and taking Harriet's hand with a look of the utmost tenderness, inquired if she felt no hurt from the fall; upon her answering, that, except the fright, she was perfectly well, "Then all is well," said he, pressing her hand to his bosom, which rose to meet it with a sigh.

He then called for a bottle of Madeira, of which his companions drank each a glass; but upon his presenting another, Mrs Eldridge declared she never tasted any thing between meals; and Harriet said, that her head was already affected by the glass she had taken: this, however, he attributed to the effects of the overturn, for which another bumper was an infallible remedy; and, on Mrs Eldridge setting the

example, though with the utmost reluctance, Harriet was prevailed upon to follow it.

She was seated on a settee at the upper end of the room, Sindall sat on a chair by her, and Mrs Eldridge, from choice, was walking about the room: it somehow happened, that, in a few minutes, the last-mentioned lady left her companions by themselves.

Sindall, whose eyes had not been idle before, cast them now to the ground with a look of the most feeling discomposure; and gently lifting them again, "I know not," said he, "most lovely of women, whether I should venture to express the sensations of my heart at this moment: that respect, which ever attends a love so sincere as mine, has hitherto kept me silent; but the late accident, in which all that I hold dear was endangered, has opened every sluice of tenderness in my soul, and I were more or less than man, did I resist the impulse of declaring it."-" This is no place, sir," said Harriet, trembling and covered with blushes." Every place," cried Sindall, " is sacred to love, where my Harriet is." At the same time he threw himself on his knees before her, and imprinted a thousand burning kisses on her hand." Let go my hand, Sir Thomas," she cried, her voice faltering, and her cheek overspread with a still higher glow. "Never, thou cruel one," said he, (raising himself gently till he had gained a place on the settee by her side,) "never, till you listen to the dictates of a passion too violent to be longer resisted."-At that instant some bustle was heard at the door, and presently after a voice in a country accent vociferating, "It is my neighbour's own daughter, and I must see her immediately."-The door burst open, and discovered Jack Ryland, Mrs Eldridge following him, with a countenance not the most expressive of good-humour.

"Ryland!" exclaimed the Baronet, "what is the meaning of this?" advancing towards him with an air of fierceness and indignation, which the other returned with a hearty shake by the hand, saying he was rejoiced to find Miss Harriet in so good company." Dear Mr Ryland," said she, a little confusedly, "I am happy to see you; but it is odd-I cannot conceive-tell us, as Sir Thomas was just now asking, how you came to find us out here?"

Why, you must understand, Miss," returned Jack," that I have got a little bit of a legacy left me by a relation here in London; as I was coming up on that business, I thought I could de no less than ask your worthy father's commands for you and Mr William. So we settled matters, that, as our times, I believe, will agree well enough, I should have the pleasure, if you are not otherwise engaged, of conducting you home again. I came to town only this day, and after having eat a mutton-chop at the inn where I lighted, and got myself into a little decent trim, I set out from a place they call Pic

cadilly, I think, asking every body I met which was the shortest way to Newgate, where I understood your brother was to be found. But I was like to make a marvellous long journey on't; for besides that it is a huge long way, as I was told, I hardly met with one person that would give a mannerly answer to my questions; to be sure they are the most humoursome people, here in London, that I ever saw in my life; when I asked the road to Newgate, one told me, I was not likely to be long in finding it; another bade me cut the first throat I met, and it would shew me; and a deal of such out-of-theway jokes. At last, while I was looking round for some civil-like body to inquire of, who should I see whip past me in a coach but yourself with that lady, as I take it; upon which I hallooed out to the coachman to stop, but he did not hear me, as I suppose, and drove on as hard as ever. I followed him close at the heels for some time, till the street he turned into being much darker than where I saw you first, by reason there were none of your torches blazing there, I fell headlong into a rut in the middle of it, and lost sight of the carriage before I could recover myself: however, I ran down a right-hand road, which I guessed you had taken, asking any body I thought would give me an an swer, if they had seen a coach with a handsome young woman in't, drawn by a pair of dark bays; but I was only laught at for my pains, till I fell in by chance with a simple countryman like my self, who informed me, that he had seen such a one overturned just before this here large house; and, the door being open, I stept in without more ado, till I happened to hear this lady whispering something to another about Sir Tho mas Sindall, when I guessed that you might be with him, as acquaintances will find one another out, you know; and so here I am, at your service and Sir Thomas's."

This history afforded as little entertainment to its hearers as it may have done to the greatest part of my readers; but it gave Sir Thomas and Harriet time enough to recover from that confusion, into which the appearance of Ryland had thrown both of them; though with this difference, that Harriet's was free from the guilt of Sindall's, and did not even proceed from the least suspicion of any thing criminal in the intentions of that gentleman.

Sir Thomas pretended great satisfaction in having met with his acquaintance Mr Ryland, and, having obtained another hackney-coach, they drove together to Newgate, where Jack received a much sincerer welcome from Annesly, and they passed the evening with the greatest satisfaction.

Not but there was something unusual in the bosom of Harriet, from the declaration of her lover, and in his, from the attempt which Providence had interposed to disappoint; he consoled himself, however, with the reflection, that