of my head and heart, to the great work of her political regeneration. I have been tauntingly told that we should have had recourse to none but constitutional measures for effecting this object. Self-refuting insult! when Parliaments are denied us, and we have been robbed of the constitution. Great were the struggles I was now compelled to undergo in various ways, but none so trying as the reproaches and the alienation of a previously affectionate father. discarded and disinherited me

He

a blow which I

felt only in the deprivation of his attachment, for my own fortune was sufficient for my wants, and my Country had now become my father. I joined a band of illustrious malcontents, among whom were enrolled the Duke of Monmouth, Lords Russell and Essex, Algernon Sydney, John Hampden, all of whom had sworn to obtain a redress of grievances, and were prepared as patriots to die, if requisite, in the endeavour: but it is unnecessary, either for them or for myself, that I should disavow all participation in the Rye-House Plot, and the unjustifiable

schemes of the vulgar desperadoes who projected it. Our enterprise was discovered, I myself was arrested and thrown into prison, whence I contrived to escape, made my way to Holland, and there learnt the execution of Lord Russell, Algernon Sydney, and several more of my unfortunate confederates, as well as that my own name was in a proclamation, and a reward offered for my apprehension. Grieved but not dismayed, eager to avenge my slaughtered friends, those martyrs of liberty, and determined never to abandon the cause of my country, I subsequently joined the Duke of Monmouth in his invasion, trusting to his solemn protestations, that he came to restore the constitution, and vindicate our insulted liberties. When he threw off the mask, when he proclaimed himself King, I instantly upbraided him with falsehood, and left his standard, for I knew that the country could gain nothing by exchanging a legitimate for an illegitimate profligate, who had moreover betrayed his incompetency from the first moment of his land

ing. Again did I find my way to the Continent; and since that period, never abandoning the hope of regenerating my country, never relaxing for a single day in the performance of the vow by which I had devoted myself to that object, I have not only traversed several parts of Europe, securing friends or negotiating leagues and alliances, but I have in various disguises made repeated expeditions to Eng-. land for the same object. Of my strange adventures in these perilous visits, of my hairbreadth 'scapes from prison and other beleaguerments, some of which have been almost as romantic as a fairy tale, I will not speak. Good fortune, and the indomitable enthusiasm of my disposition, have carried me through every thing, although at times I have been vain or sanguine enough to imagine that I bear a charmed life, that I have been predestined to the great work I have undertaken, and shall live to witness its successful accomplishment. Fond, but delusive dreams! which the next twelve hours will probably dissipate for ever!

"When I last landed in England, I was accompanied by two gallant and valued friends, whose names I am not at liberty to entrust, even to your ear.

"I suspect," said Agatha, "that in your illness you have unconsciously betrayed them, as you did your own, your own, for you made frequent and anxious allusion to your friends Sidney and Herbert, often rejoicing in their safety."

"Ha! my reason must have wandered widely, or ere I could have implicated those whom I love dearer than myself. Let those names, I entreat you, remain for ever undivulged! It was at their suggestion that I assumed the garb in which you found me, and which it may perhaps have baffled your conjectures to explain. When Ferguson, Monmouth's most obnoxious. partisan, found the gates of the town in which he had taken refuge, closed against him, and a strict search making for his apprehension, he betook himself to the asylum of the public prison, well knowing it to be the only place in which he was not likely to be sought. This

furnished the hint of my disguise. In an apparent servant of the present government, openly habited in its livery, no one could expect to find Stanley Forester, a proclaimed traitor and outlaw, and I therefore assumed the green uniform and silver greyhound worn by the King's Messengers: a disguise which at a distance from the metropolis was not only safe but serviceable, enabling me often to get a horse, when I might have been otherwise detained. Behold, however, how failure and disaster may spring from our best contrivances! It was owing to my ostensible character of a messenger that I procured the fine but ill-starred animal that occasioned my accident in Goathurst-wood, and may probably, notwithstanding all your kindness, eventually cost me my life! The brave and generous friends whose names I will not again mention, may accuse themselves as having contributed, although thus remotely, to my death. But why should they grievewhy should you, or I, or any one repine at it? I shall not die, but live for ever; for my name,