lord in the land cannot live better in his own house than he may there. And to forsake such a house, and go a rambling about the country, the Lord knows whither, per devia rura viarum. I say nothing for my part; but some people might not have charity enough to conclude we were in our sober senses.'-'Fie upon it, Mr. Partridge,' says Jones, 'have a better heart; consider you are going to face an enemy; and are you afraid of facing a little cold? I wish, indeed, we had a guide to advise which of these roads we should take.'- May I be so bold,' says Partridge, 'to offer my advice? Interdum stultus opportuna loquitur.'-'Why, which of them, cried Jones, 'would you recommend ?''Truly neither of them,' answered Partridge. The only road we can be certain of finding is the road we came. A good hearty pace will bring us back to Gloucester in an hour; but if we go forward, the

،

your mistress unkind, then?" says Jones. Very unkind, indeed, sir,' answered Partridge; 'for she married me, and made one of the most confounded wives in the world. However, Heaven be praised, she's gone; and if I believed she was in the moon, according to a book I once read, which teaches that to be the receptacle of departed spirits, I would never look at it for fear of seeing her; but I wish, sir, that the moon was a looking-glass for your sake, and that Miss Sophia Western was now placed before it.' 'My dear Partridge,' cries Jones, 'what a thought was there! A thought which I am certain could never have entered into any mind but that of a lover. O Partridge! could

I hope once again to see that face! but, alas! all those golden dreams are vanished for ever, and my only refuge from future misery is to forget the object of all my former happiness.'-' And do you really

Lord Harry knows when we shall arrive despair of ever seeing Miss Western at any place; for I see at least fifty miles again?" answered Partridge; 'if you will

before me, and no house in all the way.''You see, indeed, a very fair prospect, says Jones, 'which receives great additional beauty from the extreme lustre of the moon. However, I will keep the lefthand track, as that seems to lead directly to those hills, which we were informed lie not far from Worcester. And, here, if you are inclined to quit me, you may, and return back again; but, for my part, I am resolved to go forward.'

'It is unkind in you, sir,' says Partridge, 'to suspect me of any such intention. What I have advised hath been as much on your account as my own: but since you are determined to go on, I am as much

follow my advice, I will engage you shall not only see her, but have her in your arms.'

'Ha! do not awaken a thought of that nature,' cries Jones: 'I have struggled sufficiently to conquer all such wishes already.' -'Nay,' answered Partridge, 'if you do not wish to have your mistress in your arms, you are a most extraordinary lover indeed.'-'Well, well,' says Jones, let us avoid this subject; but pray what is your advice?' - To give it you in the military phrase, then,' says Partridge, 'as we are soldiers, "To the right about!" Let us return the way we came: we may yet reach Gloucester to-night though late;

determined to follow. I præ, sequar te.' whereas, if we proceed, we are likely, for

aught I see, to ramble about for ever without coming either to house or home.'-'I have already told you my resolution is to go on,' answered Jones; 'but I would have you go back. I am obliged to you for your company hither; and I beg you to accept a guinea as a small instance of my gratitude. Nay, it would be cruel in me to suffer you to go any farther; for, to deal plainly with you, my chief end and desire

They now travelled some miles without speaking to each other, during which suspense of discourse Jones often sighed, and Benjamin groaned as bitterly, though from a very different reason. At length Jones made a full stop, and turning about, cries, Who knows, Partridge, but the loveliest creature in the universe may have her eyes now fixed on that very moon which I behold at this instant!'-'Very likely, sir,' answered Partridge; 'and if my eyes is a glorious death in the service of my were fixed on a good sirloin of roast beef, king and country.'-' As for your money,' the devil might take the moon and her replied Partridge, 'I beg, sir, you will put

horns into the bargain.'-' Did ever Tramontane make such an answer?" cries Jones. 'Prithee, Partridge, wast thou ever susceptible of love in thy life, or hath time worn away all traces of it from thy memory?'-'Alack-a-day,' cries Partridge, 'well would it have been for me if I had never known what love was. Infandum, regina, jubes renovare dolorem. I am sure I have tasted all the tenderness, and sublimities, and bitternesses of the passion.'-'Was

it up; I will receive none of you at this time; for at present I am, I believe, the richer man of the two. And as your resolution is to go on, so mine is to follow if you do. Nay, now my presence appears absolutely necessary to take care of you, since your intentions are so desperate; for I promise you my views are much more prudent; as you are resolved to fall in battle if you can, so I am resolved as firmly to come to no hurt if I can help it. And, indeed, I have the comfort to think there will be but little danger; for a popish priest told me the other day, the business would soon be over, and he believed without a battle.'' A popish priest,' cries Jones, 'I have heard is not always to be believed when he speaks in behalf of his religion.''Yes, but so far,' answered the other, 'from speaking in behalf of his religion, he assured me the catholics did not expect to be any gainers by the change; for that Prince Charles was as good a protestant as any in England; and that nothing but regard to right made him and the rest of the popish party to be Jacobites.' 'I believe him to be as much a protestant as I believe he hath any right,' says Jones; and I make no doubt of our success, but not without a battle. So that I am not so sanguine as to

your

friend the popish priest.' - Nay, be sure, sir,' answered Partridge, 'all the prophecies I have ever read, speak of a great deal of blood to be spilt in the quarrel; and the miller with three thumbs, who is now alive, is to hold the horses of three kings, up to his knees in blood. Lord have mercy upon us all, and send better times! With what stuff and nonsense hast thou filled thy head!' answered Jones. * This too, I suppose, comes from the popish priest. Monsters and prodigies are the proper arguments to support monstrous and absurd doctrines. The cause of King George is the cause of liberty and true religion. In other words, it is the cause of common sense, my boy, and I warrant you will succeed, though Briareus himself was to rise again with his hundred thumbs, and to turn miller.' Partridge made no reply to this. He was indeed cast into the utmost confusion by this declaration of Jones. For to inform the reader of a secret, which we had no proper opportunity of revealing

which Jones first communicated his resolution to Mr. Partridge; and, indeed, had the words been less ambiguous, Partridge might very well have construed them as he did; being persuaded, as he was, that the whole nation were of the same inclination in their hearts: nor did it stagger him that Jones had travelled in the company of soldiers; for he had the same opinion of the army which he had of the rest of the people. But however well affected he might be to James or Charles, he was still much more attached to Little Benjamin than to either; for which reason he no sooner discovered the principles of his fellow-traveller, than he thought proper to conceal, and outwardly to give up, his own to the man on whom he depended for the making of his fortune, since he by no means believed the affairs of Jones to be so desperate as they really were with Mr. Allworthy; thy; for as he had kept constant correspondence with some of his neighbours since he had left that country, he had heard much, indeed more than was true, of the great affection Mr. Allworthy bore this young man, who, as Partridge had been instructed, was to be that gentleman's heir, and whom, as we have said, he did not in the least doubt to be his son.

a

He imagined, therefore, that whatever quarrel was between them, it would be certainly made up at the return of Mr. Jones; an event from which he promised great advantages, if he could take this opportunity of ingratiating himself with that young gentleman; and if he could by any means be instrumental in procuring his return, he doubted not, as we have before said, but it would as highly advance him in the favour of Mr. Allworthy.

We have already observed, that he was a very good-natured fellow, and he hath himself declared the violent attachment he had

before, Partridge was in truth a Jacobite, to the person and character of Jones; but

and had concluded that Jones was of the same party, and was now proceeding to join the rebels. An opinion which was not without foundation. For the talllong-sided dame, mentioned by Hudibras; that many-eyed, many-tongued, many-mouthed, many-eared monster of Virgil, had related the story

possibly the views which I have just before mentioned, might likewise have some little share in prompting him to undertake this expedition, at least in urging him to continue it, after he had discovered that his master and himself, like some prudent fathers and sons, though they travelled together in great

of the quarrel between Jones and the offi- friendship, had embraced opposite parties. cer, with her usual regard to truth. She I am led into this conjecture, by having had indeed changed the name of Sophia remarked, that though love, friendship, es

into that of the Pretender, and had reported, that drinking his health was the cause for which Jones was knocked down. This Partridge had heard, and most firmly believed. "Tis no wonder, therefore, that he had thence entertained the above-mentioned opinion of Jones; and which he had almost discovered to him before he found out his own mistake. And at this the read er will be the less inclined to wonder, if he pleases to recollect the doubtful phrase in

teem, and such like, have very powerful operations in the human mind; interest however is an ingredient seldom omitted by wise men, when they would work others to their own purposes. This is indeed a most excellent medicine, and, like Ward's pill, flies at once to the particular part of the body on which you desire to operate, whether it be the tongue, the hand, or any other member, where it scarce ever fails of immediately producing the desired effect.

CHAPTER X.

In which our travellers met with a very extraordinary adventure.

either, without much impropriety. Here
Jones knocked several times, without re-
ceiving any answer from within ; at which
Partridge, whose head was full of nothing
but of ghosts, devils, witches, and such like,
began to tremble, crying, 'Lord have mer-
cy upon us! sure the people must be all
dead. I can see no light neither now, and
yet I am certain I saw a candle burning
but a moment before. - Well, I have heard
of such things.'-' What hast thou hearu
of?" said Jones. The people are either
fast asleep, or probably, as this is a lonely
place, are afraid to open their door. He
place,
then began to vociferate pretty loudly, and
at last an old woman, opening an upper
casement, asked, Who they were, and what
they wanted? Jones answered, They were
travellers who had lost their way, and, hav-
ing seen a light in the window, had been
led thither in hopes of finding some fire to
warm themselves. 'Whoever you are,'
cries the woman, 'you have no business
here; nor shall I open the door to any body
at this time of night.' Partridge, whom
the sound of a human voice had recovered
from his fright, fell to the most earnest
supplications to be admitted for a few mi-

Just as Jones and his friend came to the end of their dialogue in the preceding chapter, they arrived at the bottom of a very steep hill. Here Jones stopped short, and directing his eyes upwards, stood for a while silent. At length he called to his companion, and said, 'Partridge, I wish I was at the top of this hill; it must certainly afford a most charming prospect, especially by this light; for the solemn gloom which the moon casts on all objects, is beyond expression beautiful, especially to an imagination which is desirous of cultivating melancholy ideas.''Very probably,' answered Partridge; 'but if the top of the hill be properest to produce melancholy thoughts, I suppose the bottom is the likeliest to produce merry ones, and these I take to be much the better of the two. I protest you have made my blood run cold with the very mentioning the top of that mountain; which seems to me to be one of the highest in the world. No, no, if we look for any thing, let it be for a place under ground, to screen ourselves from the frost. Do so,' said nutes to the fire, saying, 'He was almost

Jones; 'let it be within hearing of this place, and I will halloo to you at my return back.''Surely, sir, you are not mad?" said Partridge. Indeed, I am,' answered Jones, 'if ascending this hill be madness; but as you complain so much of the cold already, I would have you stay below. I will certainly return to you within an hour.'-'Pardon me, sir,' cries Partridge; 'I have determined to follow you wherever you go.' Indeed he was now afraid to stay behind; for though he was coward enough in all respects, yet his chief fear was that of ghosts, with which the present time of night, and the wildness of the place, extremely well

suited.

At this instant Partridge espied a glimmering light through some trees, which seemed very near to them. He immediately cried out in a rapture, 'Oh! sir, Heaven hath at last heard my prayers, and hath brought us to a house; perhaps it may be an inn. Let me beseech you, sir, if you have any compassion either for me or yourself, do not despise the goodness of Providence, but let us go directly to yon light. Whether it be a public house or no, I am sure, if they be Christians that dwell there, they will not refuse a little house room to persons in our miserable condition.' Jones at length yielded to the earnest supplications of Partridge, and both together made directly towards the place whence the light issued.

They soon arrived at the door of this house, or cottage, for it might be called

dead with the cold;' to which fear had contributed equally with the frost. He assured her, that the gentleman who spoke to her was one of the greatest squires in the country: and made use of every argument, save one, which Jones afterwards effectually added; and this was, the promise of half a crown;-a bribe too great to be resisted by such a person, especially as the genteel appearance of Jones, which the light of the moon plainly discovered to her, together with his affable behaviour, had entirely subdued those apprehensions of thieves which she had at first conceived. She agreed, therefore, at last, to let them in; where Partridge, to his infinite joy, found a good fire ready for his reception.

The poor fellow, however, had no sooner warmed himself, than those thoughts which were always uppermost in his mind, began a little to disturb his brain. There was no article of his creed in which he had a stronger faith than he had in witchcraft; nor can the reader conceive a figure more adapted to inspire this idea, than the old woman who now stood before him. She answered exactly to that picture drawn by Otway in his Orphan. Indeed, if this woman had lived in the reign of James the First, her appearance alone would have hanged her, almost without any evidence.

Many circumstances likewise conspired to confirm Partridge in his opinion. Her living, as he then imagined, by herself in so lonely a place; and in a house, the outside of which seemed much too good for her; but its inside was furnished in the hath been crossed in love, or whatever it most neat and elegant manner. To say is I know not; but I have lived with him

good angel that sent him hither and tempted me to do it.'

'I am afraid, sir,' said the old gentleman to Jones, 'that I have nothing in this house which you can either eat or drink, unless you will accept a dram of brandy; of which I can give you some most excellent, and which I have had by me these thirty years. Jones declined this offer in a very civil and proper speech, and then the other asked him, 'Whither he was travelling when he missed his way?' saying, 'I must own myself surprised to see such a person as you appear to be, journeying on foot at this time of night. I suppose, sir, you are a gentleman of these parts; for you do not look like one who is used to travel without horses.'

berty of warming ourselves at your fire, whence we were just departing, when we heard you call for assistance, which, I must say, Providence alone seems to have sent you.''Providence, indeed, cries the old gentleman, if it be so.'-' So it is, I assure you,' cries Jones. Here is your own sword, sir; I have used it in your defence, and I now return it into your own hand.' The old man having-received the sword, which was stained with the blood of his enemies, looked steadfastly at Jones during some moments, and then, with a sigh, cried out, You will pardon me, young gentleman: I was not always of a suspicious temper, nor am I a friend to ingratitude.' -'Be thankful, then,' cries Jones, 'to that Providence to which you owe your deliverance: as to my part, I have only discharged the common duties of humanity, and what I would have done for any fellowcreature in your situation.'-' Let me look this country; and whither I am travelling,

at you a little longer,' cries the old gentleman. You are a human creature, then? Well, perhaps you are. Come, pray walk into my little hut. You have been my deliverer indeed.'

The old woman was distracted between the fears which she had of her master, and for him; and Partridge was, if possible, in a greater fright. The former of these, however, when she heard her master speak kindly to Jones, and perceived what had happened, came again to herself; but Partridge no sooner saw the gentleman, than the strangeness of his dress infused greater terrors into that poor fellow, than he had before felt, either from the strange description which he had heard, or from the uproar which had happened at the door.

To say the truth, it was an appearance which might have affected a more constant mind than that of Mr. Partridge. This person was of the tallest size, with a long beard as white as snow. His body was clothed with the skin of an ass, made something into the form of a coat. He wore, likewise, boots on his legs, and a cap on his head, both composed of the skin of some other animals.

'Appearances,' cried Jones, 'are often deceitful; men sometimes look like what they are not. I assure you I am not of in reality I scarce know myself."

'Whoever you are, or whithersoever you are going, answered the old man; 'I have obligations to you which I can

never return.'

'I once more, replied Jones, 'affirm, that you have none; for there can be no merit in having hazarded that in your service on which I set no value. And nothing is so contemptible in my eyes as life.'

'I am sorry, young gentleman,' answered the stranger, 'that you have any reason to be so unhappy at your years.'

،

'Indeed I am, sir,' answered Jones, 'the most unhappy of mankind.'-'Perhaps you have had a friend or a mistress, replied the other. How could you,' cries Jones, 'mention two words sufficient to drive me to distraction!'-' Either of them is enough to drive any man to distraction,' answered the old man: 'I inquire no farther, sir; perhaps my curiosity hath led me too far already.'

'Indeed, sir,' cries Jones, 'I cannot censure a passion which I feel at this instant in the highest degree. You will pardon me when I assure you, that every thing which I have seen or heard since 1 first entered this house hath conspired to raise the greatest curiosity in me. Something very extraordinary must have determined you to this course of life, and I have reason to fear your own history is not without misfortunes.'

As soon as the old gentleman came into his house, the old woman began her congratulations on his happy escape from the ruffians. 'Yes,' cried he, 'I have escaped indeed, thanks to my preserver.'-', the blessing on him!' answered she: 'he is a good gentleman, I warrant him. I was afraid your worship would have been angry with me for letting him in; and to be certain I should not have done it, had not I seen by the moon-light, that he was a gentleman, and almost frozen to death. If I did not feel some yearnings towards And to be certain it must have been some

Here the old gentleman again sighed, and remained silent for some minutes: at last, looking earnestly on Jones, he said, 'I have read, that a good countenance is a letter of recommendation; if so, none ever can be more recommended than yourself. you from another consideration, I must be