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of your regard, I feel fome reluctance in making you acquainted with a circumstance, which, in all probability, you will not learn without fome difquiet. But the affair is become fo interefting, I am com. pelled to tell you, that however agreeable your propofals may have been to those whom I thought it my duty to please by every reasonable conceffion, and how foever you may have been flattered by the feeming complacency with which I have heard your addreffes, I now find it abfolutely necessary to speak in a decifive ftrain, to affure you, that, without facrificing my own peace, I cannot admit a continuation of your correfpondence; and that your regard for me will be beft fhewn by your defifting from a pursuit, which is altogether inconfiftent with the happiness of

AURELIA DARNEL."

Having pronounced aloud the words that composed this difmiffion, he haftily replaced the cruel fcroll; and, being too well acquainted with the hand to harbour the leaft doubt of its being genuine, threw himself into his bed in a transport of defpair, mingled with refentment; during the predominancy of which, he determined to proceed in the career of adventure, and endeavour to forget the unkindnefs of his miftrefs, amidst the avocations of knight-errantry. Such was the refolution that governed his thoughts, when he rose in the morning, ordered Crabfhaw to faddle Bronzomarte, and demanded a bill of his expence. Before thefe orders could be executed, the good woman of the house, entering his apartment, told him, with marks of concern,

that the poor young lady, mifs Meadows, had dropped her pocketbook in the next chamber, where it was found by the hoftefs, who now prefented it unopened.

Our knight, having called in Mrs. Oakely and her fon as witnesses, unfolded the book, without reading one fyllable of the contents, and found in it five bank-notes, amounting to two hundred and thirty pounds. Perceiving, at once, that the lofs of this treasure might be attended with the most embarrassing confequences to the owner, and reflecting that this was a cafe which demanded the immediate interpofition and affistance of chivalry, he declared, that he himself would convey it fafely into the hands of miss Meadows; and defired to know the road fhe had purfued, that he might fet out in queft of her, without a moment's delay. It was not without fome difficulty that this information was obtained from the poftboy, who had been enjoined secrecy by the lady, and even gratified with a handfome reward for his promised difcretion. The fame method was used to make him difgorge his truft: he undertook to conduct Sir Launcelot, who hired a poft-chaife for dispatch, and immediately departed, after. having directed his fquire to follow his tract with the horses.

Yet, whatever hafte he made, it is abfolutely neceffary for the reader's fatisfaction, that we should outstrip the chaife, and vifit the ladies.before his arrival. We shall therefore, without circumlocution, premise, that mifs Meadows was no other than that paragon of beauty and goodness, the all-accomplished mifs Aurelia Darnel. She had, with that meeknefs of refignation peculiar to

herself, for fome years, fubmitted to every fpecies of oppreffion which her uncle's tyranny of difpofition could plan, and his unlimited power of guardianship execute, till, at length, it rose to such a pitch of defpotifm as he could not endure. He had projected a match between his niece and one Philip Sycamore, Efq; a young man who poffeffed a pretty confiderable eftate in the North Country; who liked Aurelia's perfon, but was enamoured of her fortune, and had offered to purchase Anthony's intereft and alliance with certain conceffions, which could not but be agreeable to a man of loose principles, who would have found it a difficult task to settle the accounts of his wardship.

According to the present estimate of matrimonial felicity, Sycamore might have found admittance as a future fon in-law in any private family of the kingdom. He was by birth a gentleman, tall, ftraight, and muscular, with a fair, fleek, unmeaning face, that promised more fimplicity than ill-nature. His education had not been neglected, and he inherited an estate of five thoufand a year. Mifs Darnel, however, had penetration enough to discover and defpife him as a ftrange compofition of rapacity and profufion, abfurdity and good-sense, bashfulnefs and impudence, felf-conceit and diffidence, aukwardness and oftentation, infolence and good-nature, rashness and timidity. He was continually furrounded and preyed upon by certain vermin called led-captains and buffoons, who fhewed him in leading-strings like a fucking giant, rifled his pockets without ceremony, ridiculed him to his face, traduced his character, and expofed him in a

thoufand ludicrous attitudes for the diverfion of the public; while, all the time, he knew their knavery, faw their drift, detefted their morals, and defpifed their understanding. He was fo infatuated by indolence of thought, and communication with folly, that he would have rather fuffered himself to be led into a ditch with company, than be at the pains of going over a bridge alone; and involved himself in a thousand difficulties, the natural confequences of an error in the first concoction, which, though he plainly faw it, he had not refolution enough to avoid.

Such was the character of squire Sycamore, who profeffed himself. the rival of Sir Launcelot Greaves in the good graces of mifs Aurelia Darnel.

He had, in this pursuit perfevered with more conftancy and fortitude, than he ever exerted in any other inftance. Being generally needy, from extravagance, he was ftimulated by his wants, and animated by his vanity, which was artfully inftigated by his followers, who hoped to fhare the fpoils of his fuccefs. These motives were reinforced by the inceffant and eager exhortations of Anthony Darnel, who, feeing his ward in the last year of her minority, thought there was no time to be loft in fecuring his own indemnification, and snatching his niece for ever from the hopes of Sir Launcelot, whom he now hated with redoubled animofity. Finding Aurelia deaf to all his remonftrances, proof against ill-ufage, and refolutely averfe to the propofed union with Sycamore, he endeavoured to detach her thoughts from Sir Launcelot, by forging tales to the prejudice of his conftancy and

moral

moral character; and, finally, by recapitulating the proofs and instances of his diftraction, which he particularized with the most malicious exaggerations.

In spite of all his arts, he found it impracticable to furmount her ob jections to the purposed alliance, and therefore changed his battery. Inftead of transferring her to the arms of his friend, he refolved to detain her in his own power: by a legal claim, which would inveft him with the uncontrouled management of her affairs. This was a charge of lunacy, in confequence of which he hoped to obtain a commiffion, to fecure a jury to his wifh, and be appointed fole committee of her perfon, as well as fteward on her eftate, of which he would then be heir apparent. As the first steps

towards the execution of this honest fcheme, he had fubjected Aurelia to the fuperintendency and direction of an old duenna, who had been formerly the procurefs of his pleafures; and hired a new fet of fervants, who were given to underftand, at their firft admiffion, that the young lady was difordered in her brain.

An impreffion of this nature is eafily preferved among fervants, when the mafter of the family thinks his interest is concerned in fupport ing the impofture. The melancholy produced from her confinement, and the vivacity of her refentment under ill-ufage, were, by the addrefs of Anthony, and the prepoffeffion of his domefticks, perverted into the effects of infanity; and the fame interpretation was ftrained upon her moft indifferent words and actions. The tydings of mifs Darnel's diforder were carefully circulated in

whifpers, and foon reached the ears of Mr. Sycamore, who was not at all pleafed with the information. From his knowledge of Anthony's difpofition, he fulpected the truth of the report; and unwilling to fee fuch a prize ravifhed, as it were, from his grafp, he, with the advice and afliftance of his myrmidons, refolved to fet the captive at liberty, in full hope of turning the adven ture to his own advantage; for he argued in this manner: "If the is in fact compos mentis, her gratitude will operate in my behalf, and even prudence will advife her to embrace the proffered asylum from the villany of her uncle. If he is really difordered, it will be no great diffi culty to deceive her into a marriage, and then I become her trustee of course."

The plan was well conceived; but Sycamore had not difcretion enough to keep his own counsel. From weakness and vanity, he blabbed the defign, which in a little time was communicated to Anthony Darnel, and he took his precautions accordingly. Being infirm in his own perfon, and confequently unfit for oppofing the violence of fome defperadoes, whom he knew to be the fatellites of Sycamore, he prepared a private retreat for his ward at the houfe of an old gentleman, the companion of his youth, whom he had impofed upon with the fiction of her being difordered in her underftanding, and amufed with a ftory of a dangerous defign upon her perfon. Thus cautioned and inftructed, the gentleman had gone with his own coach and fervants to receive Aurelia and her governante at a third houfe, to which the had been privately removed from her

uncle's

2

uncle's habitation; and in this journey it was, that she had been fo accidentally protected from the violence of the robbers by the interpofition and prowefs of our adven

turer.

As he did not wear his helmet in that exploit, fhe recognized his features as he paffed the coach, and, ftruck with the apparition, fhrieked aloud. She had been affured by her guardian, that his dengn was to convey her to her own houfe; but perceiving, in the fequel, that the carriage ftruck off upon a different road, and finding herself in the hands of strangers, fhe began to dread a much more difagreeable fate, and conceive doubts and ideas that filled her tender heart with horror and affliction. When fhe expoftulated with the duenna, fhe was treated like a changeling, admonished to be quiet, and reminded that she was under the direction of those who would manage her with a tender regard to her own welfare, and the honour of her family. When she addressed herself to the old gentleman, who was not much fubject to the emotions of humanity, and befides firmly perfuaded that fhe was deprived of her reafon, he made no answer; but laid his finger on his mouth, by way of enjoining filence.

This mysterious behaviour aggravated the fears of the poor hapless young lady; and her terrors waxed fo ftrong, that when she faw Tom Clarke, whofe face the knew, the called aloud for affiftance, and even pronounced the name of his patron Sir Launcelot Greaves, which fhe imagined might ftimulate him the more to attempt fomething for her deliverance.

The reader has already been informed in what manner the endea vours of Tom and his uncle mifcarried. Mifs Darnel's new keeper having, in the courfe of his journey, halted for refreshment at the Black Lyon, of which being landlord, he believed the good woman and her family were intirely devoted to his will and pleasure, Aurelia found an opportunity of speaking in private to Dolly, who had a very prepoffeffing appearance. She conveyed a purfe of money into the hands of this young woman, telling her, while the tears trickled down her cheeks, that he was a young lady of fortune, in danger, as the apprehended, of affaffination. This hint, which the communicated in a whif per, while the governante ftood at the other end of the room, was fufficient to intereft the compaffionate Dolly in her behalf. As foon as the coach departed, the made her mother acquainted with the tranf action; and as they naturally concluded that the young lady expected their affiftance, they refolved to approve themselves worthy of her confidence.

Dolly having inlifted in their defign a trufty countryman, one of her own profeffed admirers, they fet out together for the houfe of the gentleman in which the fair prifoner was confined, and waited for her in fecret at the end of a pleasant park, in which they naturally concluded he might be indulged with the privilege of taking the air. The event. juftified their conception: on the very first day of their watch they faw her approach, accompanied by her duenna. Dolly and her attendant immediately tied their horses to a stake, and retired into a thicket,

which Aurelia did not fail to enter. Dolly forthwith appeared, and, taking her by the hand, led her to the horfes, one of which he mounted in the utmost hurry and trepidation, while the countryman bound the duenna with a cord, prepared for the purpose, gagged her mouth, and tied her to a tree, where he left her to her own meditations. Then he mounted before Dolly, and thro' unfrequented paths conducted his charge to an ino on the post-road, where a chaife was ready for their reception.

As he refused to proceed farther, left his abfence from his own home fhould create fufpicion, Aurelia rewarded him liberally; but would not part with her faithful Dolly, who, indeed, had no inclination to be difcharged: fuch an affection and attachment had the already acquired for the amiable fugitive, though fhe knew neither her ftory, nor her true name. Aurelia thought proper to conceal both, and affumed the fictitious appellation of Meadows, until the fhould be better acquainted with the difpofition and difcretion of her new attendant. The first refolution fhe could take in the present Autter of her fpirits, was to make the best of her way to London, where he thought the might find an afylum in the houfe of a female relation, married to an eminent phyfician, known by the name of Kawdle. In the execution of this hatty refolve, fhe travelled at a violent rate, from stage to stage, in a carriage drawn by four horfes, without halting for neceffary refreshment or repofe, until the judged herself out of danger of being overtaken. As fhe appeared overwhelmed with grief and confternation, the

good-natured Dolly endeavoured to alleviate her diftrefs with diverting difcourfe; and, among other less interefting ftories, entertained her with the adventures of Sir Launcelot and captain Crowe, which she had feen and heard recited while they remained at the Black Lyon: nor did fhe fail to introduce Mr. Thomas Clarke, in her narrative, with fuch a favourable reprefentation of his perfon and character, as plainly discovered that her own heart had received a rude fhock from the irrefiftible force of his qualifications.

The hiftory of Sir Launcelot Greaves was a theme which effectually fixed the attention of Aurelia, distracted as her ideas must have been by the circumstances of her prefent fituation. The particulars of his conduct, fince the correfpondence between her and him had ceafed, fhe heard with equal concern and aftonishment; for, how far foever the deemed herself detached from all poffibility of future connexion with that young gentleman, fhe was not made of such indifferent stuff, as to learn without emotion the calamitous disorder of an accomplished youth, whofe extraordinary virtues fhe could not but revere.

As they had deviated from the poft-road, taken precautions to conceal their route, and made fuch progrefs, that they were now within one day's journey of London, the' careful and affectionate Dolly seeing her dear lady quite exhausted with fatigue, ufed all her natural rhetorick, which was very powerful, mingled with tears that flowed from the heart, in perfuading Aurelia to enjoy fome repofe; and fo far fhe fucceeded in the attempt, that for one night the toil of travelling was

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