indeed knew it to be a very probable one, was forced to be contented; and now abandoning all further thoughts of what he saw was irretrievably lost, he gave the lady some further instructions, and then, desiring her to stay a few minutes behind him, he returned to his friend, and acquainted him that he had discovered the whole roguery; that the woman had confessed from whom she received the note, and promised to give an information before a justice of peace; adding, he was concerned he could not attend him thither, being obliged to go to the other end of the town to receive thirty pounds, which he was to pay that evening. Heartfree said, that should not prevent him of his company, for he could easily lend him such a trifle. This was accordingly done and accepted, and Wild, Heartfree, and the lady went to the justice together.

The warrant being granted, and the constable being acquainted by the lady, who received her information from Wild, of Mr. Fierce's haunts, he was easily apprehended, and, being confronted by Miss Straddle, who swore positively to him, though she had never seen him before; he was committed to Newgate, where he immediately conveyed an information to Wild of what had happened, and in the evening received a visit from him.

Wild affected great concern for his friend's misfortune, and as great surprise at the means by which it was brought about. However, he told Fierce he must certainly be mistaken in that point, of his having had no acquaintance with Miss Straddle; but added, that he would find her out, and endeavour to take off her evidence; which, he observed, did not come home enough to endanger him; besides, he would secure him witnesses of an alibi, and five or six to his character; so that he need be under no apprehension, for his confinement till the sessions would be his only punishment.

Fierce, who was greatly comforted by these assurances of his friend, returned him many thanks, and both shaking each other very earnestly by the hand, with a very hearty embrace they separated.

The hero considered with himself that the single evidence of Miss Straddle would not be sufficient to convict Fierce, whom he resolved to hang, as he was the person who had principally refused to deliver him the stipulated share of the booty; he therefore went in quest of Mr. James Sly, the gentleman who had assisted in the exploit; and found, and acquainted him with the apprehending of Fierce. Wild then intimating his fear lest Fierce should impeach Sly, advised him to be beforehand, to surrender himself to a justice of peace, and offer himself as an evidence. Sly approved Mr. Wild's opinion, went directly to a magistrate, and was by him committed to the Gatehouse, with a promise of being admitted evidence against his companion.

Fierce was in a few days brought to his trial at the Old Bailey, where, to his great confusion, his old friend Sly appeared against him, as did Miss Straddle. His only hopes were now in the assistance which our hero had promised him. These unhappily failed him: so that the evidence being plain against him, and he making no defence, the jury convicted him, the court condemned him, and Mr. Ketch executed him.

With such infinite address did this truly great man know to play with the passions of men, to set them at variance with each other, and to work his own purposes out of those jealousies and apprehensions, which he was wonderfully ready at creating by means of those great arts which the vulgar call treachery, dissembling, promising, lying, falsehood, &c., but which are by great men summed up in the collective name of policy, or politics, or rather pollitrics; an art of which, as it is the highest

excellence of human nature, perhaps our great man was the most eminent master.

CHAPTER VI.

Of Hats.

WILD had now got together a very considerable gang, composed of undone gamesters, ruined bailiffs, broken tradesmen, idle apprentices, attorneys' clerks, and loose and disorderly youths, who being born to no fortune, nor bred to any trade or profession, were willing to live luxuriously without labour. As these persons wore different Principles, i. e. Hats, frequent dissensions grew among them. There were particularly two parties, viz., those who wore hats fiercely cocked, and those who preferred the Nab or trencher hat, with the brim flapping over their eyes. The former were called Cavaliers and Tory Rory Ranter Boys, &c. The latter went by the several names of Wags, Roundheads, Shakebags, Oldnolls, and several others. Between these continual jars arose; insomuch that they grew in time to think there was something essential in their differences, and that their interests were incompatible with each other, whereas, in truth, the difference lay only in the fashion of their hats. Wild, therefore, having assembled them all at an alehouse on the night after Fierce's execution, and perceiving evident marks of their misunderstanding, from their behaviour to each other, addressed them in the following gentle but forcible manner.* 'Gentlemen, I

There is something very mysterious in this speech, which probably that chapter written by Aristotle on this subject, which is mentioned by a

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am ashamed to see men embarked in so great and glorious an undertaking, as that of robbing the public,

so foolishly and weakly dissenting among themselves. 'Do you think the first inventors of Hats, or at least of 'the distinctions between them, really conceived that one 'form of Hats should inspire a man with divinity, another 'with law, another with learning, or another with bravery? 'No, they meant no more by these outward signs, than to impose on the vulgar, and instead of putting great men เ to the trouble of acquiring or maintaining the substance, 'to make it sufficient that they condescend to wear the 'type or shadow of it.-You do wisely, therefore, when ' in a crowd, to amuse the mob by quarrels on such accounts, that, while they are listening to your jargon, you may, with the greater ease and safety, pick their เ pockets: but surely to be in earnest, and privately to keep up such a ridiculous contention among yourselves, 'must argue the highest folly and absurdity. When

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French author, might have given some light into; but that is unhappily among the lost works of that philosopher. It is remarkable, that Galerus, which is Latin for a Hat, signifies likewise a Dog-fish, as the Greek word Kuvén doth the skin of that animal; of which I suppose the hats or helmets of the ancients were composed, as ours at present are of the beaver or rabbit. Sophocles, in the latter end of his Ajax, alludes to a method of cheating in hats, and the scholiast on the place tells us of one Crephontes, who was a master of the art. It is observable likewise, that Achilles, in the first Iliad of Homer, tells Agamemnon, in anger, that he had dog's eyes. Now, as the eyes of a dog are handsomer than those of almost any other animal, this could be no term of reproach. He must therefore mean that he had a hat on, which, perhaps, from the creature it was made of, or from some other reason, might have been a mark of infamy. This superstitious opinion may account for that custom, which hath descended through all nations, of shewing respect by pulling off this covering; and that no man is esteemed fit to converse with his superiors with it on. I shall conclude this learned note with remarking, that the term Old Hat is at present used by the vulgar in no very honourable

sense.

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you know you are all Prigs, what difference can a 'broad or a narrow brim create? Is a Prig less a Prig ' in one hat than in another? If the public should be 'weak enough to interest themselves in your quarrels, and to prefer one pack to the other, while both are 'aiming at their purses; it is your business to laugh at, not imitate their folly. What can be more ridiculous 'than for gentlemen to quarrel about Hats, when there is not one among you whose Hat is worth a farthing. What is the use of a Hat, farther than to keep the head warm, or to hide a bald crown from the public? It is เ the mark of a gentleman to move his Hat on every 'occasion; and in courts and noble assemblies no man ever wears one. Let me hear no more therefore of this 'childish disagreement, but all toss up your Hats together 'with one accord, and consider that Hat as the best which 'will contain the largest booty.' He thus ended his speech, which was followed by a murmuring applause, and immediately all present tossed their Hats together as he had commanded them.

CHAPTER VII.

Shewing the consequence which attended Heartfree's adventures with Wild; all natural, and common enough to little wretches who deal with Great Men; together with some precedents of letters, being the different methods of answering a Dun.

LET us now return to Heartfree, to whom the Count's note, which he had paid away, was returned, with an account that the drawer was not to be found, and that, on inquiring after him, they had heard he was run away,