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Northerton was obliged to attend the final issue of this affair.

The French gentleman and Mr. Adderly, at the desire of their commanding officer, had raised up the body of Jones; but as they could perceive but little (if any) sign of life in him, they again let him fall. Adderly damning him for having blooded his waistcoat; and the Frenchman declaring, 'Begar, me no 'tush de Engliseman de mort: me ave heard de Englise lay, law, what you call, hang up de man ' dat tush him last.'

When the good lieutenant applied himself to the door, he applied himself likewise to the bell; and the drawer immediately attending, he dispatched him for a file of musqueteers and a surgeon. These commands, together with the drawer's report of what he had himself seen, not only produced the soldiers, but presently drew up the landlord of the house, his wife, and servants, and, indeed, every one else who happened at that time to be in the inn.

To describe every particular, and to relate the whole conversation of the ensuing scene, is not within my power, unless I had forty pens, and could, at once, write with them all together, as the company now spoke. The reader must, therefore, content himself with the most remarkable incidents, and perhaps he may very well excuse the rest.

The first thing done was securing the body of Northerton, who being delivered into the custody of six men with a corporal at their head, was by them conducted from a place which he was very willing to leave, but it was unluckily to a place whither he was very unwilling to go. To say the truth, so whimsical are the desires of ambition, the very moment this youth had attained the above-mentioned honour, he would have been well contented to have retired to some corner of the world, where the fame of it should never have reached his ears.

It surprises us, and so, perhaps, it may the reader,

son.

that the lieutenant, a worthy and good man, should have applied his chief care, rather to secure the of fender, than to preserve the life of the wounded perWe mention this observation, not with any view of pretending to account for so odd a behaviour, but lest some critic should hereafter plume himself on discovering it. We would have these gentlemen know we can see what is odd in characters as well as themselves, but it is our business to relate facts as they are; which when we have done, it is the part of the learned and sagacious reader to consult that original book of nature, whence every passage in our work is transcribed, though we quote not always the particular page for its authority.

The company which now arrived were of a different disposition. They suspended their curiosity concerning the person of the ensign, till they should see him hereafter in a more engaging attitude. At present, their whole concern and attention were employed about the bloody object on the floor; which being placed upright in a chair, soon began to discover some symptoms of life and motion. These were no sooner perceived by the company (for Jones was at first generally concluded to be dead) than they all fell at once to prescribing for him (for as none of the physical order was present, every one there took that office upon him).

Bleeding was the unanimous voice of the whole room; but unluckily there was no operator at hand; every one then cried, 'Call the barber;' but none stirred a step. Several cordials were likewise prescribed in the same ineffective manner; till the landlord ordered up a tankard of strong beer, with a toast, which he said was the best cordial in England.

The person principally assistant on this occasion, indeed the only one who did any service, or seemed likely to do any, was the landlady: she cut off some of her hair, and applied it to the wound to stop the blood; she fell to chafing the youth's tem

ples with her hand; and having expressed great contempt for her husband's prescription of beer, she dispatched one of her maids to her own closet. for a bottle of brandy, of which, as soon as it was brought, she prevailed on Jones, who was just returned to his senses, to drink a very large and plentiful draught.

Soon afterwards arrived the surgeon, who having viewed the wound, having shaken his head, and blamed every thing which was done, ordered his patient instantly to bed; in which place we think proper to leave him some time to his repose, and shall here, therefore, put an end to this chapter.

CHAP. XIII.

Containing the great address of the landlady, the great learning of a surgeon, and the solid skill in casuistry of the worthy lieutenant.

WHEN the wounded man was carried to his bed,

and the house began again to clear up from the hurry which this accident had occasioned, the landlady thus addressed the commanding officer: I am 'afraid, sir,' said she,' this young man did not behave himself as well as he should do to your ho'nours; and if he had been killed, I suppose he had but his desarts: to be sure, when gentlemen admit inferior parsons into their company, they oft to keep their distance; but, as my first husband used to say, few of 'em know how to do it. For my own part, I am sure I should not have suffered any fellows to include themselves into gentlemen's company; but I thoft he had been an officer himself, till the serjeant told me he was but ' a recruit.'

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'Landlady,' answered the lieutenant, you mistake the whole matter. The young man behaved himself extremely well, and is, I believe, a much

"better gentleman than the ensign who abused him. If the young fellow dies, the man who struck him will have most reason to be sorry for it; for the regiment will get rid of a very troublesome fellow, who is a scandal to the army; and if he escapes from the hands of justice, blane me, ma'dam, that's all.'

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Ay! ay! good lack-a-day!' said the landlady; who could have thoft it? Ay, ay, ay, I am satisfied honour will see justice done; and to be sure it oft to be to every one. Gentlemen oft not to 'kill poor folks without answering for it. A poor man hath a soul to be saved, as well as his bet'ters.'

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Indeed, madam,' said the lieutenant,

you do the volunteer wrong: I dare swear he is more of a gentleman than the officer.'

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Ay!' cried the landlady; why look you there now: well, my first husband was a wise man; he used to say, you can't always know the inside by 'the outside. Nay, that might have been well ' enough too; for I never saw'd him till he was all over blood. Who would have thoft it! mayhap, < some young gentleman crossed in love. Good lacka-day, if he should die, what a concern it will be to his parents! why sure the devil must possess the wicked wretch to do such an act. To be sure, he is a scandal to the army, as your honour says; for 'most of the gentlemen of the army that ever I saw, are quite different sort of people, and look as if they would scorn to spill any christian blood as 'much as any men; I mean, that is, in a civil way, as my first husband used to say. To be sure,

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when they come into the wars, there must be bloodshed; but that they are not to be blamed for. "The more of our enemies they kill there, the better; and I wish, with all my heart, they could kill every mother's son of them.'

O fie, madam!' said the lieutenant, smiling; all ' is rather too bloody-minded a wish.'

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'Not at all, sir,' answered she; I am not at all bloody-minded, only to our enemies; and there is no harm in that. To be sure it is natural for us to wish our enemies dead, that the wars may be at an end, and our taxes be lowered; for it is a dreadful thing to pay as we do. Why now, there is above forty shillings for window-lights, and yet 'we have stopt up all we could; we have almost blinded the house, I am sure. Says I to the exciseman, says I, I think you oft to favour us; I am sure we are very good friends to the government: and so we are for sartain, for we pay a mint of money to 'um. And yet I often think to myself 'the government doth not imagine itself more obliged to us, than to those that don't pay 'um a farthing. Ay, ay, it is the way of the world.'

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She was proceeding in this manner, when the surgeon entered the room. The lieutenant immediately asked how his patient did. But he resolved him only by saying, Better, I believe, than he 'would have been by this time, if I had not been 'called; and even as it is, perhaps it would have 'been lucky if I could have been called sooner.'I hope, sir,' said the lieutenant, the skull is not 'fractured.'-Hum,' cries the surgeon: 'fractures are not always the most dangerous symptoms. • Contusions and lacerations are often attended with 'worse phænomena, and with more fatal consequences, than fractures. People who know nothing of the matter conclude, if the skull is not 'fractured, all is well; whereas, I had rather see a 'man's skull broke all to pieces, than some contu'sions I have met with. I hope,' says the lieutenant, there are no such symptoms here.'- Symptoms,' answered the surgeon, are not always regular nor constant. I have known very unfavour

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