band who had deprived me of my liberty. I conjec- | oppressor,-for he merited either name at my hand, tured that the danger grew imminent; for 1 heard "You do not, then, design to murder me?" some words and circumstances which made me aware that a rider hastily fastened his own horse to the shafts of the cart, in order to assist the exhausted animal which drew it, and the vehicle was now pulled forward at a faster pace, which the horses were urged to maintain by blows and curses. The men, however, were inhabitants of the neighbourhood; and I had strong personal reason to believe, that one of them, at least, was intimately acquainted with all the depths and shallows of the perilous paths in which we were engaged. But they were in imminent danger themselves; and if so, as from the whispering and exertions to push on with the cart, was much to be apprehended, there was little doubt that I should be left behind as a useless encumbrance, and that while I was in a condition which rendered every chance of escape impracticable. These were awful apprehensions; but it pleased Providence to increase them to a point which my brain was scarcely able to endure. As we approached very near to a black line, which, dimly visible as it was, I could make out to be the shore, we heard two or three sounds, which appeared to be the report of fire-arms. Immediately all was bustle among our party to get forward. Presently a fellow galloped up to us, crying out, "Ware hawk! ware hawk! the land-sharks are out from Burgh, and Allonby Tom will lose his cargo if you do not bear a hand." Most of my company seemed to make hastily for the shore on receiving this intelligence. A driver was left with the cart; but at length, when, after repeated and hair-breadth escapes, it actually stuck fast in a slough or quicksand, the fellow with an oath cut the harness, and, as I presume, departed with the horses, whose feet I heard splashing over the wet sand, and through the shallows, as he galloped off. The dropping sound of fire-arms was still continued, but lost almost entirely in the thunder of the advancing surge. By a desperate effort I raised myself in the cart, and attained a sitting posture which served only to show me the extent of my danger. There lay my native land-my own England-the land where I was born, and to which my wishes, since my earliest age, had turned with all the prejudices of national feeling -there it lay, within a furlong of the place where I yet was; that furlong which an infant would have raced over in a minute, was yet a barrier effectual to divide me for ever from England and from life. I soon not only heard the roar of this dreadful torrent, but saw, by the fitful moonlight, the foamy crests of the devouring waves, as they advanced with the speed and fury of a pack of hungry wolves. The consciousness that the slightest ray of hope or power of struggling, was not left me, quite overcame the constancy which I had hitherto maintained. My eyes began to swim-my head grew giddy and mad with fear-I chattered and howled to the howling and roaring sea. One or two great waves already reached the cart, when the conductor of the party whom I have mentioned so often, was, as if by magic, at my side. He sprang from his horse into the vehicle, cut the ligatures which restrained me, and bade me get up and mount in the fiend's name. Seeing I was incapable of obeying, he seized me, as if I had been a child of six months old, threw me across the horse, sprung on behind, supporting with one hand, while he directed the anima! with the other. In my helpless and painful posture, I was unconscious of the degree of danger which we incurred; but I believe at one time the horse was swimming, or nearly so; and that it was with difficulty, that my stern and powerful assistant kept my head above water. I remember particularly the shock which I felt when the animal, endeavouring to gain the bank, reared, and very nearly fell back on his burden. The time during which I continued in this dreadful condition did not probably exceed two or three minutes, yet so strongly were they marked with horror and agony, that they seem to my recollection a much more considerable space of time. When I had been thus snatched from destruction, I had only power to say to my protector,-or He laughed as he replied, but it was a sort of laughter which I scarce desire to hear again." Else you think I had let the waves do their work? But remember, the shepherd saves his sheep from the torrent is it to preserve its life?-Be silent, however, with questions or entreaties. What I mean to do, thou canst no more discover or prevent, than a man, with his bare palm, can scoop dry the Solway." I was too much exhausted to continue the argument; and, still numbed and torpid in all my limbs, permitted myself without reluctance to be placed on a horse brought for the purpose. My formidable conductor rode on the one side, and another person on the other, keeping me upright in the saddle. In this manner we travelled forward at a considerable rate. and by by-roads, with which my attendant seemed as familiar as with the perilous passages of the Solway. At length, after stumbling through a labyrinth of dark and deep lanes, and crossing more than one rough and barren heath, we found ourselves on the edge of a high-road, where a chaise and four awaited, as it appeared, our arrival. To my great relief, we now changed our mode of conveyance: for my dizziness and headache had returned in so strong a degree, that I should otherwise have been totally unable to keep my seat on horseback, even with the support which I received. My doubted and dangerous companion signed to me to enter the carriage-the man who had ridden on the left side of my horse stepped in after me, and, drawing up the blinds of the vehicle, gave the signal for instant departure. I had obtained a glimpse of the countenance of may new companion, as by the aid of a dark lantern the drivers opened the carriage door, and I was well nigh persuaded that I recognised in him the domestic of the leader of this party, whom I had seen at his house in Brokenburn on a former occasion. To ascertain the truth of my suspicion, I asked him whether his name was not Cristal Nixon. "What is other folk's names to you," he replied, gruffly, "who cannot tell your own father and mother?? "You know them, perhaps?" I exclaimed eagerly, "You know them! and with that secret is connected the treatment which I am now receiving? It must be so, for in my life have I never injured any one. Tell me the cause of my misfortunes, or rather, help me to my liberty, and I will reward you richly." Ay, ay," replied my keeper; "but what use to give you liberty, who know nothing how to use it like a gentleman, but spend your time with Quakers and fiddlers, and such-like raff? If I was your-hem, hem, hem!" Here Cristal stopped short, just on the point, as it appeared, when some information was likely to escape him. I urged him once more to be my friend, and promised him all the stock of money which I had about me, and it was not inconsiderable, if he would assist in my escape. He listened, as if to a proposition which had some interest, and replied, but in a voice rather softer than before," Ay, but men do not catch old birds with chaff, my master. Where have you got the rhino you are so flush of?" "I will give you earnest directly, and that in banknotes," said I: but, thrusting my hand into my sidepocket, I found my pocketbook was gone. I would have persuaded myself that it was only the numbness of my hands which prevented my finding it; but Cristal Nixon, who bears in his countenance that cynicism which is especially entertained with human misery, no longer suppressed his laughter. "Oh, ho! my young master," he said; "we have taken good enough care you have not kept the means of bribing poor folk's fidelity. What, man, they have souls as well as other people, and to make them break trust is a deadly sin. And as for me, young gentleman, if you would fill Saint Mary's Kirk with gold, Cristal Nixon would mind it no more than so many chucky-stones." I would have persisted, were it but in hopes of his letting drop_that which it concerned me to know, I did indeed require repose, if not slumber; the draught which I had taken continued to operate, and satisfied in my own mind that no attempt on my life was designed, the fear of instant death no longer combated the torpor which crept over me-I slept, and slept soundly, but still without refreshment. When I awoke, I found myself extremely indisposed; images of the past, and anticipations of the future, floated confusedly through my brain. I perceived, however, that my situation was changed, greatly for the better. I was in a good bed, with the curtains drawn round it; I heard the lowered voice and cautious step of attendants, who seemed to respect my repose; it appeared as if I was in the hands either of friends, or of such as meant me no personal harm. The room, in appearance and furniture, resembled the best apartment in a farmer's house; and the window, two stories high, looked into a back-yard, or court, filled with poultry. There were the usual domestic offices about this yard. I could distinguish the brewhouse and the barn, and I heard from a more remote building, the lowing of the cattle and other rural sounds, announcing a large and well-stocked farm. These were sights and sounds qualified to dispel any apprehension of immediate violence. Yet the building seemed ancient and strong, a part of the roof was battlemented, and the walls were of great thickness; lastly, I observed with some unpleasant sensations, that the windows of my chamber had been lately secured with iron stanchions, and that the servants who brought me victuals, or visited my apartment to render other menial offices, always locked the door when they retired. The comfort and cleanliness of my chamber were of true English growth, and such as I had rarely seen on the other side of the Tweed; the very old wainscot, which composed the floor and the panelling of the room, was scrubbed with a degree of labour which the Scottish housewife rarely bestows on her most costly furniture. I can give but an indistinct account of two or three broken and feverish days which succeeded, but if they were chequered with dreams and visions of terror, other and more agreeable objects were also some- The whole apartments appropriated to my use contimes presented. Alan Fairford will understand me sisted of the bedroom, a small parlour adjacent, when I say, I am convinced I saw G. M. during this within which was a still smaller closet, having a narinterval of oblivion. I had medical attendance, and row window, which seemed anciently to have been was bled more than once. I also remember a pain- used as a shot-hole, admitting, indeed, a very modeful operation performed on my head, where I had rate portion of light and air, but without its being posreceived a severe blow on the night of the riot. My sible to see any thing from it except the blue sky, and hair was cut short, and the bone of the skull ex- that only by mounting on a chair. There were apamined, to discover if the cranium had received any pearances of a separate entrance into this cabinet, injury. besides that which communicated with the parlour, but it had been recently built up, as I discovered, by removing a piece of tapestry which covered the fresh mason-work. I found some of my clothes here, with linen and other articles, as well as my writing case, containing pen, ink, and paper, which enables me, at my leisure, (which, God knows, is undisturbed enough,) to make this record of my confinement. It may be well believed, however, that I do not trust to the security of the bureau, but carry the written sheets about my person, so that I can only be deprived of them by actual violence. I also am cautious to write in the little cabinet only, so that I can hear any person approach me through the other apartments, and have tíme enough to put aside my journal before they On seeing the physician, it would have been natural to have appealed to him on the subject of my confinement, and I remember more than once attempting to do so. But the fever lay like a spell upon my tongue, and when I would have implored the doctor's assistance, I rambled from the subject, and spoke I know not what-nonsense. Some power, which I was unable to resist, seemed to impel me into a different course of conversation from what I intended, and though conscious, in some degree, of the failure, I could not mend it; and resolved, therefore, to be patient, until my capacity of steady thought and expression was restored to me with my ordinary health, which had sustained a severe shock from the vicissi tudes to which I had been exposed.* CHAPTER V. DARSIE LATIMER'S JOURNAL, IN CONTINUATION. Two or three days, perhaps more, perhaps less, had been spent in bed, where I was carefully attended, and treated, I believe, with as much judgment as the case required, and I was at length allowed to quit my bed, though not the chamber. I was now more able to make some observation on the place of my confinement. It may be here mentioned, that a violent and popular attack upon what the country people of this district considered as an invasion of their fishing right, is by no means an improbable fiction. Shortly after the close of the American war, Sir James Graham of Netherby constructed a dam-dike or cauld, across the Esk, at a place where it flowed through his estate, though it has its origin, and the principal part of its course, in Scotland. The new barrier at Netherby was considered as an encroach ment calculated to prevent the salmon from ascending into Scotland; and the right of erecting it being an international question of law betwixt the sister kingdoms, there was no court in either competent to its decision. In this dilemma, the Scots people assembled in numbers by signal of rocket lights, and, rudely armed with fowlingpieces, fishspears, and such rustic weapons, marched to the banks of the river for the purpose of pulling down the dam-dike objected to. Sir James Graham armed many of his own people to protect his property, and had some military from Carlisle for the same purpose. A renewal of the Border wars had nearly taken place in the eighteenth century, when prudence and moderation on both sides saved nuch tumult, and perhaps some bloodshed. The English proprietor consented that a breach should be made in his damdike sufficient for the passage of the fish, and thus removed the Scottish grievance. I believe the river has since that time taken the matter into its own disposal, and entirely swept away the dam-dike in question. Vol. IV 4 D come upon me. The servants, a stout country fellow, and a very pretty milkmaid-looking lass, by whom I am attended, seem of the true Joan and Hodge school, thinking of little, and desiring nothing, beyond the very limited sphere of their own duties and enjoyments, and having no curiosity whatever about the affairs of others. Their behaviour to me, in particular, is, at the same time, very kind and very provoking. My table is abundantly supplied, and they seem anxious to comply with my taste in that department. But whenever I make inquiries beyond "what's for dinner," the brute of a lad baffles me by his anan, and his dunna knaw, and, if hard pressed, turns his back on me composedly, and leaves the room. The girl, too, pretends to be as simple as he; but an arch grin, which she cannot always suppress, seems to acknowledge that she understands perfectly well the game which she is playing, and is determined to keep me in ignorance. Both of them, and the wench in particular, treat me as they would do a spoilt child, and never directly refuse me any thing which I ask, taking care, at the same time, not to make their words good by effectually granting my request. Thus, if I desire to go out, I am promised by Dorcas that I shall walk in the park at night and see the cows milked, just as she would propose such an amusement to a child. But she takes care never to keep her word, if it is in her power to do so. In the mean time, there has stolen on me insensibly an indifference to my freedom-a carelessness about my situation, for which I am unable to account, unless it be the consequence of weakness and loss of blood. I have read of men who, immured as I am, have surprised the world by the address with which they have successfully overcome the most formidable obstacles to their escape; and when I have heard such anecdotes, I have said to myself, that no one who is possessed only of a fragment of freestone, or a rusty nail, to grind down rivets and to pick locks, having his full leisure to employ in the task, need continue the inhabitant of a prison. Here, however, I sit, day after day, without a single effort to effect my liberation. Yet my inactivity, is not the result of despondency, but arises, in part at least, from feelings of a very different cast. My story, long a mysterious one, seems now upon the verge of some strange development; and I feel a solemn impression that I ought to wait the course of events, to struggle against which is opposing my feeble efforts to the high will of fate. Thou, my Álan, wilt treat as timidity this passive acquiescence, which has sunk down on me like a benumbing torpor; but if thou hast remembered by what visions my couch was haunted, and dost but think of the probability that I am in the vicinity, perhaps under the same roof with G. M., thou wilt acknowledge that other feelings than pusillanimity have tended in some degree to reconcile me to my fate. Still I own it is unmanly to submit with patience to this oppressive confinement. My heart rises against it, especially when I sit down to record my sufferings in this Journal; and I am determined, as the first step to my deliverance, to have my letters sent to the post-house. I am disappointed. When the girl Dorcas, upon whom I had fixed for a messenger, heard me talk of sending a letter, she willingly offered her services, and received the crown which I gave her, (for my purse had not taken flight with the more valuable contents of my pocketbook,) with a smile which showed her whole set of white teeth. But when, with the purpose of gaining some intelligence respecting my present place of abode, I asked, to which post-town she was to send or carry the letter, a stolid "Anan" showed me she was either ignorant of the nature of a post-office, or that, for the present, she chose to seem so.- -"Simpleton !" I said, with some sharpness. "O Lord, sir!" answered the girl, turning pale, which they always do when I show any sparks of anger,-"Don't put yourself in a passion!-I'll put the letter in the post." "What! and not know the town?" said I, out of patience. you propose to manage that?" 66 round again-or, thof you were a bit off the hooks, he would no more cheat you than" "Well, well, we will deal, my girl, you may depend on't. But tell me now, were I to give you a letter, what would you do to get it forward?" Why, put it into Squire's own bag that hangs in hall," answered poor Dorcas. "What else could I do? He sends it to Brampton, or to Carloisle, or where it pleases him, once a-week, and that gate.' "Ah!" said I; "and I suppose your sweet-heart John carries it?" "Noa-disn't now-and Jan is no sweetheart of mine, ever since he danced at his mother's feast with Kitty Rutledge, and let me sit still; that a did." "It was most abominable in Jan, and what I could never have thought of him," I replied. “O, but a did though-a let me sit still on my seat, a did." "Well, well, my pretty May, you will get a handsomer fellow than Jan-Jan's not the fellow for you, I see that." "Noa, noa," answered the damsel; "but he is weel aneugh for a' that, mon. But I carena a button for him; for there is the miller's son, that suitored me last Appleby Fair, when I went wi' oncle, is a gway canny lad as you will see in the sunshine.' Ay, a fine stout fellow-Do you think he would carry my letter to Carlisle?" "To Carloisle! "Twould be all his life is worth; he maun wait on clap and hopper, as they say. Odd, his father would brain him if he went to Carloisie, bating to wrestling for the belt, or sic loike. But I ha' more bachelors than him; there is the schoolmaster can write almaist as well as tou canst, mon.' "Then he is the very man to take charge of a letter; he knows the trouble of writing one. Ay, marry does he, an tou comest to that, mon; only it takes him four hours to write as mony lines. Tan, it is a great round hand loike, that one can read easily, and not loike your honour's, that are loike midge's taes. But for ganging to Carloiste, he's dead foundered, man, as cripple as Eckie's mear." "In the name of God," said I, "how is it that you propose to get my letter to the post?" Why, just to put it into Squire's bag loike," reiterated Dorcas; "He sends it by Cristal Nixon to post, as you call it, when such is his pleasure." Here I was then, not much edified by having obname of the post-tained a list of Dorcas's bachelors; and by finding "How on earth do myself with respect to any information which I desired, just exactly at the point where I set out. It was of consequence to me, however, to accustom the girl to converse with me familiarly. If she did so, she could not always be on her guard, and something, thought, might drop from her which I could turn to advantage. La you there, good master. What need you frighten a poor girl that is no schollard, bating what she learned at the Charity-School, of Saint Bees?" "Is Saint Bees far from this place, Dorcas?-Do you send your letters there?" said I, in a manner as insinuating, and yet careless, as I could assume. "Saint Bees!-La, who but a madman-begging your honour's pardon-it's a matter of twenty years since fader lived at Saint Bees, which is twenty, or forty, or I dunna know not how many miles from this part, to the West, on the coast-side; and I would not have left Saint Bees, but that fader" "Oh, the devil take your father!" replied I. To which she answered, "Nay, but thof your honour be a little how-come-so, you shouldn't damn folk's faders; and I won't stand to it, for one." "Oh, I beg you a thousand pardons-I wish your father no ill in the world-he was a very honest man in his way." "Was an honest man!" she exclaimed; for the Cumbrians are, it would seem, like their neighbours the Scotch, ticklish on the point of ancestry,-" He is a very honest man, as ever led nag with halter on head to Staneshaw-Bank Fair-Honest!-He is a horse-couper." "Right, Right," I replied; "I know it-I have neard of your father-as honest as any horse-couper of them all. Why, Dorcas, I mean to buy a horse of him." "Ah, your honour," sighed Dorcas, "he is the man to serve your honour well-if ever you should get I "Does not the Squire usually look into his letterbag, Dorcas ?" said I, with as much indifference as I could assume. "That a does," said Dorcas; "and a threw out a letter of mine to Raff Miller, because a said" "Well, well, I won't trouble him with mine," said I, "Dorcas; but, instead, I will write to himself, Dorcas. But how shall I address him?" Anan?" was again Dorcas's resource. "I mean how is he called ?-What is his name?" "Sure your honour should know best," said Dorcas. "I know?-The devil!-You drive me beyond patience." "Noa, noa! donna your honour go beyond pa tience-donna ye now," implored the wench. "And for his neame, they say he has mair nor ane in Westmoreland and on the Scottish side. But he is but seldom wi' us, excepting in the cocking season; and then we just call him Squoire loike; and so do my measter and dame." "And is he here at present ?" said I. "Not he, not he; he is a buck-hoonting, as they tell me, somewhere up the Patterdale way;, but he comes and gangs like a flap of a whirlwind, or sic loike." I broke off the conversation, after forcing on Dor cas a little silver to buy ribands, with whicn she was so much delighted, that she exclaimed, "God! Cristal Nixon may say his worst on thee; but thou art a civil gentleman for all him; and a quoit man wi' woman folk loike." There is no sense in being too quiet with women folk, so I added a kiss with my crown piece; and I cannot help thinking, that I have secured a partisan in Dorcas. At least she blushed, and pocketed her little compliment with one hand, while, with the other, she adjusted her cherry-coloured ribands, little disurdered by the struggle it cost me to attain the honour of a salute. As she unlocked the door to leave the apartment, she turned back, and looking on me with a strong expression of compassion, added the remarkable words, "La-be'st mad or no, thou'se a mettled lad, after all." There was something very ominous in the sound of these farewell words, which seemed to afford me a clew to the pretext under which I was detained in confinement. My demeanour was probably insane enough, while I was agitated at once by the frenzy incident to the fever, and the anxiety arising from my extraordinary situation. But is it possible they can now establish any cause for confining me, arising out of the state of my mind? If this be really the pretext under which I am restrained from my liberty, nothing but the sedate correctness of my conduct can remove the prejudices which these circumstances may have excited in the minds of all who have approached me during my illness. I have heard-dreadful thought!-of men who for various reasons, have been trepanned into the custody of the keepers of private madhouses, and whose brain, after years of misery, became at length unsettled, through irresistible sympathy with the wretched beings among whom they were classed. This shall not be my case, if, by strong internal resolution, it is in human nature to avoid the action of exterior and contagious sympathies. Mean time I sat down to compose and arrange my thoughts, for my purposed appeal to my jailer-so I must call him-whom I addressed in the following manner; having at length, and after making several copies, found language to qualify the sense of resentment which burned in the first draughts of my letter, and endeavoured to assume a tone more conciliating. I mentioned the two occasions on which he had certainly saved my life, when at the utmost peril; and I added, that whatever was the purpose of the restraint now practised on me, as I was given to understand, by his authority, it could not certainly be with any view to ultimately injuring me. He might, I said, have mistaken me for some other person; and I gave him what account I could of my situation and education, to correct such an error. I supposed it next possible, that he might think me too weak for travelling, and not capable of taking care of myself; and I begged to assure him that I was restored to perfect health, and quite able to endure the fatigue of a journey. Lastly, I reminded him in firm though measured terms, that the restraint which I sustained was an illegal one, and highly punishable by the laws which protect the liberties of the subject. I ended by demanding, that he would take me before a magistrate; or, at least, that he would favour me with a personal interview, and explain his meaning with regard to me. Perhaps this letter was expressed in a tone too humble for the situation of an injured man, and I am inclined to think so when I again recapitulate its tenor. But what could I do? I was in the power of one whose passions seem as violent as his means of gratifying them appear unbounded. I had reason, too, to believe [this to thee, Alan] that all his family did not approve of the violence of his conduct towards me; my object, in fine, was freedom, and who would not sacrifice much to attain it? I had no means of addressing my letter excepting, "For the Squire's own hand." He could be at no great distance, for in the course of twenty-four hours received an answer. It was addressed to Darsie Latimer, and contained these words:-"You have demanded an interview with me. You have required to be carried before a magistrate. Your first wish shall be granted-perhaps the second also. Mean while, be assured that you are a prisoner for the time, by competent authority, and that such authority is supported by adequate power. Beware, therefore, of struggling with a force sufficient to crush you, but abandon yourself to that train of events by which we are both swept along, and which it is impossible that either of us can resist." These mysterious words were without signature of any kind, and left me nothing more important to do than to prepare myself for the meeting which they promised. For that purpose I must now break off, and make sure of the manuscript,-so far as I can, in my present condition, be sure of any thing,-by concealing it within the lining of my coat, so as not to be found without strict search. CHAPTER VI. LATIMER'S JOURNAL, IN CONTINUATION. THE important interview expected at the conclusion of my last took place sooner than I had calculated; for the very day I received the letter, and just when my dinner was finished, the Squire, or whatever he is called, entered the room so suddenly, that I almost thought I beheld an apparition. The figure of this man is peculiarly noble and stately, and his voice has that deep fulness of accent which implies unresisted authority. I had risen involuntarily as he entered; we gazed on each other for a moment in silence, which was at length broken by my visiter. "You have desired to see me," he said. "I am here; if you have aught to say, let me hear it; my time is too brief to be consumed in childish dumbshow." "I would ask of you," said I, "by what authority I am detained in this place of confinement, and for what purpose?" "I have told you already," said he, "that my authority is sufficient, and my power equal to it; this is all which it is necessary for you at present to know." "Every British subject has a right to know why he suffers restraint," I replied; "nor can he be deprived of liberty without a legal warrant-Show me that by which you confine me thus." "You shall see more," he said; "you shall see the magistrate by whom it is granted, and that without a moment's delay." This sudden proposal fluttered and alarmed me; I felt, nevertheless, that I had the right cause, and resolved to plead it boldly, although I could well have desired a little further time for preparation. He turned, however, threw open the door of the apartment, and commanded me to follow him. I felt some inclination, when I crossed the threshold of my prison-chamber, to have turned and run for it; but I knew not where to find the stairs-had reason to think the outer-doors would be secured-and, to conclude, so soon as I had quitted the room to follow the proud step of my conductor, I observed that I was dogged by Cristal Nixon, who suddenly appeared within two paces of me, and with whose great personal strength, independent of the assistance he might have received from his master, I saw no chance of contending. I therefore followed, unresistingly, and in silence, along one or two passages of much greater length than consisted with the ideas I had previously entertained of the size of the house. At length a door was flung open, and we entered a large, old-fashioned parlour, having coloured glass in the windows, oaken panelling on the wall, a huge grate, in which a large fagot or two smoked under an arched chimney-piece of stone, which bore some armorial device, whilst the walls were adorned with the usual number of heroes in armour, with large wigs instead of helmets, and ladies in sacques, smelling to nosegays. Behind a long table, on which were several books, sat a smart underbred-looking man, wearing his own hair tied in a club, and who, from the quire of paper laid before him, and the pen which he handled at my entrance, seemed prepared to officiate as clerk. As I wish to describe these persons as accurately as possible, I may add, he wore a dark-coloured coat, corduroy breeches, and spatterdashes. At the upper end of the same table, in an ample easy-chair, covered with black leather, reposed a fat personage, about fifty years old, who either was actually a country justice, or was well selected to represent such a character. His leathern breeches were faultless in make, his jockey boots spotless in the varnish, and a handsome and flourishing pair of boot-garters, as they are called, united the one part of his garments to the other; in fine, a richly-laced scarlet waistcoat, and a purple coat, set off the neat though corpulent figure of the little man, and threw an additional bloom upon his plethoric aspect. I suppose he had dined, for it was two hours past noon, and he was amusing himself, and aiding digestion, with a pipe of tobacco. There was an air of importance in his manner which corresponded to the rural dignity of his exterior, and a habit which he had of throwing out a number of interjectional sounds, uttered with a strange variety of intonation, running from bass up to treble in a very extraordinary manner, or breaking off his sentences with a whiff of his pipe, seemed adopted to give an air of thought and mature deliberation to his opinions and decisions. Notwithstanding all this, Alan, it might be dooted, as our old Professor used to say, whether the Justice was any thing more than an ass. Certainly, besides a great deference for the legal opinion of his clerk, which might be quite according to the order of things, he seemed to be wonderfully under the command of his brother Squire, if squire either of them were, and indeed much more than was consistent with so much assumed consequence of his own. Ho-ha-ay-so-so-Hum-humph--this is the young man, I suppose-Hum-ay-seems sicklyYoung gentleman, you may sit down." I used the permission given, for I had been much more reduced by my illness than I was aware of, and felt myself really fatigued, even by the few paces I had walked, joined to the agitation I suffered. ́ "And your name, young man, is-humph-ay-ha -what is it?" Darsie Latimer." "Right-ay-humph-very right. Darsie Latimer is the very thing-ha-ay-where do you come from?" "From Scotland, sir," I replied. A native of Scotland-a-humph-eh-how is it?" "I am an Englishman by birth, sir." "Right-ay-yes, you are so. But pray, Mr. Darsie Latimer, have you always been called by that name, or have you any other?-Nick, write down his answers, Nick." "As far as I remember, I never bore any other," was my answer. "How, no?-well I should not have thought soHey, neighbour, would you?" "So you were called Darsie in your infancy," said the Justice; "and hum-ay-when did you first take the name of Latimer?" "I did not take it, sir; it was given to me." "I ask you," said the lord of the mansion, but with less severity in his voice than formerly, "whether you can remember that you were ever called Latimer, until you had that name given you in Scotland ?" "I will be candid; I cannot recollect an instance that I was so called when in England, but neither can I recollect when the name was first given me; and if any thing is to be founded on these queries and my answers, I desire my early childhood may be taken into consideration." Hum-ay-yes," said the Justice; "all that requires consideration shall be duly considered. Young man-eh-I beg to know the name of your father and mother?" This was galling a wound that has festered for years, and I did not endure the question so patiently as those which preceded it; but replied, "I demand, in my turn, to know if I am before an English Justice of the Peace?". "His worship Squire Foxley, of Foxley Hall, has been of the quorum these twenty years," said Master Nicholas. "Then he ought to know, or you, sir, as his clerk, should inform him," said 1, "that I am the complainer in this case, and that my complaint ought to be heard before I am subjected to cross-examination." Humph-hoy-what, ay-there is something in that, neighbour," said the poor Justice, who, blown about by every wind of doctrine, seemed desirous to attain the sanction of his brother Squire. "I wonder at you, Foxley," said his firm-minded acquaintance; "how can you render the young man justice unless you know who he is?" "Ha-yes-egad that's true," said Mr. Justice Foxley; "and now-looking into the matter more closely there is, eh, upon the whole-nothing at all in what he says-so, sir, you must tell your father's name, and surname.' "It is out of my power, sir; they are not known to me, since you must needs know so much of my private affairs." The Justice collected a great afflatus in his cheeks, which puffed them up like those of a Dutch cherub, while his eyes seemed flying out of his head, from the effort with which he retained his breath. He then blew it forth with,-" Whew!-Hoom-poof-ha!not know your parents, youngster ?-Then I must commit you for a vagrant, I warrant you. Omne ignotum pro terribili, as we used to say at Appleby school; that is, every one that is not known to the Justice, is a rogue and a vagabond. Ha-ay, you may sneer, sir; but I question if you would have known the meaning of that Latin unless I had told you." I acknowledged myself obliged for a new edition of the adage, and an interpretation which I could never Here he looked towards the other Squire, who had have reached alone and unassisted. I then proceeded thrown himself into a chair; and, with his legs to state my case with greater confidence. The Justice stretched out before him, and his arms folded on his was an ass, that was clear; but it was scarcely posbosom, seemed carelessly attending to what was go-sible he could be so utterly ignorant as not to know ing forward. He answered the appeal of the Justice by saying, that perhaps the young man's memory did not go back to a very early period. Ah-eh-ha-you hear the gentleman-Pray, how far may your memory be pleased to run back to?umph?" Perhaps, sir, to the age of three years, or a little farther." "And will you presume to say, sir," said the Squire, drawing himself suddenly erect in his seat, and exerting the strength of his powerful voice, "that you then bore your present name?" I was startled at the confidence with which this question was put, and in vain rummaged my memory for the means of replying. "At least," I said, "I always remember being called Darsie; children, at that early age, seldom get more than their Christian name." what was necessary in so plain a case as mine. I therefore informed him of the riot which had been committed on the Scottish side of the Solway Frith; explained how I came to be placed in my present situation; and requested of his worship to set me at liberty. Ipleaded my cause with as much earnestness as I could, casting an eye from time to time upon the opposite party, who seemed entirely indifferent to all the animation with which I accused him. As for the Justice, when at length I had ceased, as really not knowing what more to say in a case so very plain, he replied, "Ho-ay-ay-yes-wonderful! and so this is all the gratitude you show to this good gentleman for the great charge and trouble he hath had with respect to and concerning of you?" "He saved my life, sir, I acknowledge, on one occasion certainly, and most probably on two; but his having done so gives him no right over my person. I am not, however, asking for any punishment or revenge; on the contrary, I am content to part friends with the gentleman, whose motives I am unwilling |