mortal kind, was yet so deep that it had left a considerable scar behind it. But no sooner was she acquainted that Mr. Jones himself was the man who had been committed to the Gatehouse for this supposed murder, than she took the first opportunity of committing Mr. Fitzpatrick to the care of his nurse, and hastened away to visit the conqueror.

เ

She now entered the room with an air of gaiety, which received an immediate check from the melancholy aspect of poor Jones, who started and blessed himself when he saw her. Upon which she said, 'Nay, I do not wonder 'at your surprise; I believe you did not expect to see เ me; for few gentlemen are troubled here with visits 'from any lady, unless a wife. You see the power you 'have over me, Mr. Jones. Indeed, I little thought

' when we parted at Upton, that our next meeting would

'Indeed, Madam,' says visit as kind; few will

'have been in such a place.' Jones, I must look upon this 'follow the miserable, especially to such dismal habita'tions.' 'I protest, Mr. Jones,' says she, 'I can hardly 'persuade myself you are the same agreeable fellow I saw at Upton. Why, your face is more miserable than any dungeon in the universe. What can be the matter 'with you?' 'I thought, Madam,' said Jones, 'as you 'knew of my being here, you knew the unhappy reason.' Pugh,' says she, 'you have pinked a man in a duel, that's all.' Jones exprest some indignation at this levity, and spoke with the utmost contrition for what had happened. To which she answered, 'Well then,

Sir, if you take it so much to heart, I will relieve you; the gentleman is not dead; and, I am pretty confident, is in no danger of dying. The surgeon, indeed, who first dressed him was a young fellow, and seemed ' desirous of representing his case to be as bad as pos'sible, that he might have the more honour from curing

เ

'him: but the king's surgeon hath seen him since, and เ says, unless from a fever, of which there are at present no symptoms, he apprehends not the least danger of 'life.' Jones shewed great satisfaction in his countenance at this report; upon which she affirmed the truth of it, adding, By the most extraordinary accident in 'the world I lodge at the same house; and have seen the gentleman; and I promise you he doth you justice, and says, whatever be the consequence, that he was ' entirely the aggressor, and that you was not in the least

'to blame.'

Jones expressed the utmost satisfaction at the account which Mrs. Waters brought him. He then informed her of many things which she well knew before, as who Mr. Fitzpatrick was, the occasion of his resentment, &c. He likewise told her several facts of which she was ignorant, as the adventure of the muff, and other particulars, concealing only the name of Sophia. He then lamented the follies and vices of which he had been guilty; every one of which, he said, had been attended with such ill consequences, that he should be unpardonable if he did not take warning, and quit those vicious courses for the future. He lastly concluded with assuring her of his resolution to sin no more, lest a worst thing should happen to him.

Mrs. Waters with great pleasantry ridiculed all this, as the effects of low spirits and confinement. She repeated some witticisms about the devil when he was sick, and told him, She doubted not but shortly to see him at liberty, and as lively a fellow as ever; and then,' says she, 'I don't question but your conscience will be safely ' delivered of all these qualms that it is now so sick in 'breeding.'

Many more things of this kind she uttered, some of which it would do her no great honour, in the opinion of

some readers, to remember; nor are we quite certain but that the answers made by Jones would be treated with ridicule by others. We shall therefore suppress the rest of this conversation, and only observe, that it ended at last with perfect innocence, and much more to the satisfaction of Jones than of the lady; for the former was greatly transported with the news she had brought him; but the latter was not altogether so pleased with the penitential behaviour of a man, whom she had, at her first interview, conceived a very different opinion of from what she now entertained of him.

Thus the melancholy occasioned by the report of Mr. Nightingale was pretty well effaced; but the dejection into which Mrs. Miller had thrown him still continued. The account she gave so well tallied with the words of Sophia herself in her letter, that he made not the least doubt but that she had disclosed his letter to her aunt, and had taken a fixed resolution to abandon him. The torments this thought gave him, were to be equalled only by a piece of news which fortune had yet in store for him, and which we shall communicate in the second chapter of the ensuing book,

THE

HISTORY

OF A

FOUNDLING.

BOOK XVIII.

Containing about six days.

CHAPTER I.

A farewell to the reader.

We are now, reader, arrived at the last stage of our long journey. As we have, therefore, travelled together through so many pages, let us behave to one another like fellow-travellers in a stage coach, who have passed several days in the company of each other; and who, notwithstanding any bickerings or little animosities which may have occurred on the road, generally make all up at last, and mount, for the last time, into their vehicle with cheerfulness and good-humour; since after this one stage, it may possibly happen to us, as it commonly happens to them, never to meet more.

As I have here taken up this simile, give me leave to carry it a little farther. little farther. I intend then in this last book to imitate the good company I have mentioned in their last journey. Now, it is well known that all jokes and

VOL. VII.

I I