not discover, till it was too late, that I was taken in a snare, that I was in a house of the most infamous description, a reproach to the nobility and gentry, who suffer many of them almost to elbow them in their magnificent abodes. The woman who engaged me under false pretences, but for the most abominable purposes, is a wretch well known in the parish of St. James's, remarkable for staring eyes, a thundering voice, and face of brass; the seducer and ruiner of hundreds of her sex, whom she afterwards turns loose on the town, polluted and pennyless. I hope God Almighty will give her grace to repent of her monstrous crimes, or dreadful must be her punishment hereafter. "Had I been at all acquainted with town manners, I must have perceived the odious nature of my mistress's employ, from the lateness of her hours, and the company she kept; in bed the greatest part of the day, and the house in an uproar during the whole of the night but London was a new world to me, and I had heard that it was common for ladies and gentlemen to turn night into day. "The first alarm I received was from certain unwarrantable liberties taken with me by an hoary veteran, a constant visitor of my mistress, a well-known character, remarkable for his fondness of a new face. I left deep marks of my resentment on his countenance, which confined him to his room several weeks, under a pretence of the St. Anthony's fire. On mentioning the circumstance to my mistress, she smiled and told me, I must not be ill-natured, for that it would spoil my fortune. I replied firmly that I would not submit to such treatment, and that I would quit her house the moment daylight appeared, for it was already midnight. "But she took effectual means to prevent the execution of my purpose. Watching an opportunity, she sent me up stairs on some trifling errand whilst I was taking a little refreshment, and conveyed certain drops into what I was going to drink. I swallowed them without suspicion, and, finding myself remarkably heavy, soon retired to rest. "From a deep, a death-like sleep, I awoke, and found myself undone. A cowardly villain, introduced by that perfidious and detestable monster *******, whose attempts I would have set at defiance with my senses and strength about me, took advantage of a state against which neither virtue nor prudence can guard. "He attempted to pacify me with gold, and declared that he would make a handsome settlement on me the next morning. I rejected his offers with contempt; I drove him from my presence with abhorrence. "The savage in a female shape soon came in with triumphant malignity in her eye, thinking she could now bring me to her own infamous terms. She begun by observing, that hands like mine were never made for hard work; that I might live like a fine lady I interrupted her by throwing up the sash, and raising my voice to a pitch which alarmed her (for wickedness makes cowards of us all), told her, that if I was not suffered immediately to depart, I would raise the neighbours by my cries. "I left her house directly, determining to have recourse to the laws to revenge my injuries; but a dread of appearing publicly on such an occasion shook my resolution. Not knowing whither to go, I applied to my first mistress, with an intention of laying my case before her; but she shut her door in my face, and after my behaviour to her, what right had I to complain ? "I hid myself in silence and solitude, and passed a few weeks in a little obscure lodging, without resolution or spirit to seek another place. My London dream of finery and genteelness was now vanished; I dreaded the face of man, and suspected every woman; I considered with envy the condition of the meanest drudge of the poorest farm-house in the country, who, notwithstanding her coarse fare and linsey gown, possessed those first of blessings, health, innocence, and peace of mind. "I took a place in the same waggon which first brought me to town, and had reached a little market-town a few miles from the field where you found me; but fearing my small stock of money would be exhausted before I reached my father's house, I resolved to walk the remainder of my journey, contrary to the persuasions of the person who drove the waggon. Leaving my box with proper directions to be forwarded, I set out on foot, but had not travelled far, when a ruffian robbed me of the little I possessed, and would have proceeded to outrages still more cruel, but my cries excited the attention of a gentleman with a splendid equipage, who was travelling the road, and at no great distance from us. The postillions were ordered to quicken their pace, and as they drew up, my terror and astonishment may be conceived, when I saw my dishonourable violator looking at me with savage joy as he jumped from the carriage, thinking that he might easily secure a friendless, unprotected woman, and convey her to what place and for whatever purpose he chose. "But the robber was not disposed to part with his prey; adding falsehood to violence, and brandishing a bludgeon he had in his hand, he declared with an oath, that no man had a right to separate us, for though I was noisy and unmanageable, I was his wife. "The gentleman said he knew the contrary; that he had followed me across the country from London, and rather than lose me, would pursue me to the end of the world with these words he laid hold of one of my hands, when the footpad, at the first blow, laid him speechless on the ground. A desperate but unequal contest ensued; the servants fired several pistols, and in the hurry, smoke, and confusion, I darted from them. "Terror gave me speed: I flew down a by lane, and after crossing several fields, plunged into a thick wood, wandering through thorns and underwood, as long as my strength permitted. I was thankful for my escape, and sat down on a bank to eat a crust fortu nately left in my pocket. I soon heard the voices of the servants, who seemed to be searching for me, and gathered from their conversation that they had wounded and secured the marauder, and as soon as they could find me, would convey us, with their master who had come to himself, but was much hurt, to the next post town. "I fortunately eluded their search, but as night came on, in attempting to leave the wood, with a design of begging a lodging in some farm-house, my foot slipped, and I fell with such violence with my knee against a stump, that I fainted in an agony of pain. Being unable to stir, I passed the night on the spot where I fell, and part of the next day, when, hungry and benumbed with cold, I crawled as well as the hurt I received would let me, to the place where your kindness found me. I passed the second night there, and endeavoured to attract the notice and compassion of several travellers during the succeeding day; but they considered me as an impostor or a loose woman, and either neglected or insulted me. "I gave myself up for a lost creature; but death, though retarded by your humanity, I feel is gradually creeping over me. I die in charity with all mankind; I pray to God that he will forgive my destroyers, and give them time and grace to repent. I beg that my parents, whose name and direction will be found in a letter in my pocket, may be informed of my fate; that I remembered them with gratitude in my last moments, and that, although misled by folly, my heart was untainted by vice. "I also make it my dying request, that my misfortunes may be published for the information of young women of my condition, in the hope of reminding them, that pride and vanity are the high road to crime and misfortune; that London is a scene of temptation, where there are always artful women watching to take advantage of those of their own sex who are tired of working honestly for their livelihood, and fond of fine clothes. "I wish to remind such as are of this unfortunate turn, that a conscientious discharge of our duties in that state, however humble, in which Providence has placed us, is the only solid comfort in this world, and the most likely method of ensuring everlasting happiness in that .which is to come." The Lounger's Common Place Book. THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. THERE was a sound of revelry by night, Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again, But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell ! Did ye not hear it?-No; 'twas but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street; On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feetBut, hark!-that heavy sound breaks in once more, As if the clouds its echo would repeat; And nearer, nearer, deadlier than before! Arm! arm! it is—it is—the cannon's opening roar! Within a window'd niche of that high hall Which stretch'd his father on a bloody bier, And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell; He rush'd into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. |