at a short distance from Gretna), and it was now neck or nothing; for the pursuit had been conducted with such animation and perseverance, that the gallant had not started a minute and a half from the Bush Inn at Carlisle, when the father of the fair fugitive drove up to the door. Horses were shifted in less than three minutes, so that the advantage of time in favour of the fugitives might be estimated at less than five minutes. When we met the first chaise, the race had reached the very acmé of interest. It was impossible to remain passive. Something must be done, and that instantly, the pursuers were already in sight. In this extremity, and prompted by a spirit of sympathy, which I hope you have too much gallantry to condemn, I seized the reins from the hands of the coachman, and with the aid of a spruce young blood, who entered into the joke toto corde, we instantly descended, turned the horses and coach right across the road, and commenced fumbling among the traces, as if something had been broken, and required immediate repair. I should mention, that we chose our ground with considerable judgment; for at the place where we set the coach across the road, it was so narrow, that to pass us with any reasonable degree of safety was an utter impossibility. In a trice the pursuers were at us, and a scene ensued which baffles all description,-roaring-imprecating curses-blows blasphemy entreaty all grotesquely commingled, and all for a little to no

confusion

purpose; for Old Crusty was in such a towering passion, and the postilions were in such a pother, that they did nothing but run about knocking their dunderheads against one another. During the melée, however, I thought I noticed that the postilions were by no means so hearty in the cause of the father as I had seen those who were in that of his daughter; they made a world of noise-swore dreadfully unprofitable oaths-ran about yelling like drunken demons--but did nothing. At length, after delaying them for about eight minutes, we got our ponderous vehicle turned once more in the line of march, and off we set, accompanied by a volley of oaths, which, "could curses kill," would be no joke, I assure you. Our interference, however, had done the gallant good service; for before the father and his myrmidons arrived at "Johnson's Tavern" (the temple of Hymen at Gretna), the priest, always on the alert, and the law of Scotland ever kind to lovers in haste, had rendered all further efforts on the part of the father to recover his fugitive child perfectly fruitless; she had become—a wife!

On the evening of the same day the young mar ried couple returned to the Bush in Carlisle, where, just as they were descending from their chaise, now no longer alarmed by the dread of being overtaken, the coachman, who had so properly and prudently suffered himself to be disposted by myself and the other gentleman, and had thereby done them so seasonable service, approached the gallant, and

begged his honour's pleasure in consideration of his signal merit in delaying the pursuit for these all important eight minutes; explaining at the same time, with the accustomed veracity of his trade, that he had done the deed of his own proper motion, and at his own personal risk. A couple of sovereigns rewarded his application. I happened to pass at the same instant on my way to the White Hart, one of the best houses of entertainment in England. I do not know what process had been elaborated in coachee's mind by the reception of the two sovereigns which he had just secured, by claiming to himself the whole merit of the transaction, but he had hardly noticed me ere he vociferated, "Gadzooks, your honour, if that be's not the very gentleman who coomed to ma help joost at the nick o' toime, your honour, and gammoned ould camstary like a very knowing one." Benedict was at me in a trice, and begged that I would do him the honour to drink a glass of wine with him and his bride. I readily complied, being anxious, moreover, to see whether the prize was worth the race. We entered the Bush together, and found the poor young lady in tears. She seemed frightened at the sight of a stranger; but re-assured by her lover, and pleased with his delicate and incessant attentions, the clouds that had gathered on her beautiful brow were soon dispelled; and forgetting her father's maledictions, and the loss of her paternal home, she resigned herself modestly to the joyous impulse of the hour. I

thought I should have been devoured with thanks from both the parties when I related to them the true state of the adventure on the banks of the Sark, prompted by the impulse of the moment, and the perilous aspect of the chase. But for this seasonable device, they must infallibly have been caught ; and what would have rendered such a calamity still more dreadful, they would have been arrested at the very moment and spot where they expected to consummate their fondest hopes. Indeed, this must have happened in an earlier part of the run, had not the postilions been previously determined against such a chance. These knowing rogues are afraid of bringing discredit on the road to Gretna; and although they like the chase, they have no notion of running down the game. Besides, it almost always happens that the gallant pays most liberally; and no class of men exemplify so strikingly the omnipotence of gold. Happening to express my surprise to our postilion, a Yorkshireman, that the father was so seldom successful in recovering his child, "Dos'nt know, measter," said coachee, with a mixture of contempt for my ignorance, and indignation at the very idea of a father succeeding in such an attempt, "Dos'nt know, that yae half sovereign could na, by no possibility in this oorld, ere catch two whole ones?" I readily assented to the conclusiveness of his logic, and assured him that he could not have reasoned better had he been expelled Oxford for the excellence of his dialectics. I may

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here add, for the satisfaction of my fair readers, that I have seldom, if ever, seen so interesting a couple. The lady could not be more than seventeen, and her beau had not, he assured me, completed his twentyfifth year. He had, however, been in the army,→ had seen the face of a foe for the first time at Quatre Bras and Waterloo,-and was now on half pay. "Idle dogs worry sheep," says the Scotch proverb. On the present occasion, however, I thought I could divine that the first advances had come from the lady. Nor should I be surprised were I correct in assuming this to be fact. A more manly and interesting figure-one more likely to captivate any woman-I do not know that I have ever seen: nor is there one of my female friends and acquaintance on the other side of the Solway, who, placed in similar circumstances with this charming fair one, would have been sorry to take a trip to Gretna in his company. To his bride nature has given, if not regular, at least very finely expressive features. Some of your crack-brained Edinburgh Phrenologists would have been glad to make a tour to the Bush to gaze for five minutes on her beautifully ample forehead.

In Assize-week, there are just two objects in Carlisle worth a moment's notice, and these are the Bench and the Bar. A few words on each of these in their order constitute all that I have yet to tell you of this trip to the capital of Cumberland.

On the occasion of my late visit, Mr. Justice