had the magistrate been endued with much sagacity, or had he been very moderately gifted with another quality very necessary to all who are to administer justice, he would have employed some labour in cross-examining the watchmen; at least he would have given the defendant the time he desired to send for the other persons who were present at the affray; neither of which he did. In short, the magistrate had too great an honour for truth to suspect that she ever appeared in sordid apparel; nor did he ever sully his sublime notions of that virtue, by uniting them with the mean ideas of poverty and distress.

There remained now only one prisoner, and that was the poor man himself in whose defence the last mentioned culprit was engaged. His trial took but a very short time. A cause of battery and broken lanthorn was instituted against him, and proved in the same manner; nor would the justice hear one word in defence: but though his patience was exhausted, his breath was not; for against this last wretch he poured forth a great many vollies of menaces and abuse.

The delinquents were then all despatched to prison, under a guard of watchmen; and the justice and the constable adjourned to a neighbouring ale-house to take their morning repast.

Mr Booth (for we shall not trouble you with the rest) was no sooner arrived in the prison, than a number of persons gathered round him, all demanding garnish; to which Mr Booth not making a ready answer, as indeed he did not understand the word, some were going to lay hold of him, when a person of apparent dignity came up, and insisted that no one should affront the gentleman. This person then, who was no less than the master or keeper of the prison, turning towards Mr Booth, acquainted him, that it was the custom of the place for every prisoner upon his first arrival there, to give something to the former prisoners to make them drink. This, he said, was what they called garnish; and concluded with advising his new customer to draw his purse upon the present occasion. Mr Booth answered, that he would very readily comply with this laudable custom, were it in his power: but that in reality he had not a shilling in his pocket, and what was worse, he had not a shilling in the world. -Oho! if that be the case,' cries the keeper, it is another matter, and I have nothing to say.' Upon which he immediately departed, and left poor Booth to the mercy of his companions, who, without loss of time, applied them

selves to uncasing, as they termed it, and with such dexterity, that his coat was not only stripped off, but out of sight in a minute.

Mr Booth was too weak to resist, and too wise to com

plain of this usage. As soon, therefore, as he was at liberty, and declared free of the place, he summoned his philosophy, of which he had no inconsiderable share, to his assistance, and resolved to make himself as easy as possible under his present circumstances. Could his own thoughts indeed have suffered him a moment to forget where he was, the dispositions of the other prisoners might have induced him to believe that he had been in a happier place: for much the greater part of his fellow-sufferers, instead of wailing and repining at their condition, were laughing, singing, and diverting themselves with various kinds of sports and gambols.

The first person who accosted him was called Blear-Eyed Moll; a woman of no very comely appearance. Her eye (for she had but one) whence she derived her nick-name, was such as that nick-name bespoke; besides which, it had two remarkable qualities; for first, as if nature had been careful to provide for her own defect, it constantly looked towards her blind side; and secondly, the ball consisted almost entirely of white or rather yellow, with a little grey spot in the corner, so small that it was scarce discernible. Nose she had none; for Venus, envious perhaps at her former charms, had carried off the gristly part: and some earthly damsel, perhaps from the same envy, had levelled the bone with the rest of her face; indeed it was far beneath the bones of her cheeks, which rose proportionally higher than is usual. About half a dozen ebony teeth fortified that large and long canal, which nature had cut from ear to ear, at the bottom of which was a chin, preposterously short, nature having turned up the bottom, instead of suffering it to grow to its due length. Her body was well adapted to her face; she measured full as much round the middle as from head to foot; for besides the extreme breadth of her back, her vast breasts had long since forsaken their native homes, and had settled themselves a little below the girdle. I wish certain actresses on the stage, when they are to perform characters of no amiable cast, would study to dress themselves with the propriety with which Blear-Eyed Moll was now arrayed. For the sake of our squeamish reader, we shall not descend to particulars. Let it suffice to say, no

thing more ragged, or more dirty, was ever emptied out of the round house at St Giles's. We have taken the more pains to describe this person, for two remarkable reasons; the one is, that this unlovely creature was taken in the fact with a very pretty young fellow; the other, which is more productive of moral lesson, is, that, however wretched her fortune may appear to the reader, she was one of the merriest persons in the whole prison.

Blear-Eyed-Moll, then, came up to Mr Booth with a smile or rather grin on her countenance, and asked him for a dram of gin; and when Booth assured her that he had not a penny of money, she repliedDamn your eyes, I thought by your look you had been a clever fellow, and upon the snaffling lay at least; but damn your body and eyes, I find you are some sneaking budge rascal.' She then launched forth a volley of dreadful oaths, interlarded with some language not proper to be repeated here, and was going to lay hold on poor Booth, when a tall prisoner, who had been very earnestly eyeing Booth for some time, came up, and taking her by the shoulder, flung her off at some distance, cursing her for a bitch, and bidding her let the gentleman alone. This person was not himself of the most inviting aspect. He was long visaged, and pale, with a red beard of about a fortnight's growth. He was attired in a brownish black coat, which would have showed more holes than it did, had not the linen, which appeared through it, been entirely of the same colour with the cloth. This gentleman, whose name was Robinson, addressed himself very civilly to Mr Booth, and told him he was sorry to see one of his appearance in that place: For as to your being without your coat, Sir,' says he, I can easily account for that; and indeed dress is the least part which distinguishes a gentleman.' At which words he cast a significant look on his own coat, as if he desired they should be applied to himself. He then proceeded in the following manner: perceive, Sir, you are but just arrived in this dismal place, which is, indeed, rendered more detestable by the wretches who inhabit it, than by any other circumstance; but even these a wise man will soon bring himself to bear with indifference: for what is, is: and what must be, must be. knowledge of this, which, simple as it appears, is in truth the height of all philosophy, renders a wise man superior to every evil which can befal him. I hope, Sir, no very dreadful accident is the cause of your coming hither; but what

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ever it was, you may be assured that it could not be otherwise for all things happen by an inevitable fatality; and a man can no more resist the impulse of Fate, than a wheelbarrow can the force of its driver.'

Besides the obligation which Mr Robinson had conferred on Mr Booth, in delivering him from the insults of BlearEyed Moll, there was something in the manner of Robinson, which, notwithstanding the meanness of his dress, seemed to distinguish him from the crowd of wretches who swarmed in those regions; and above all, the sentiments which he had just declared, very nearly coincided with those of Mr Booth.

It can be no wonder, therefore, that Mr Booth did not decline the acquaintance of this person, in a place which could not promise to afford him any better. He answered him with great courtesy, as indeed he was of a very good and gentle disposition; and after expressing a civil surprise at meeting him there, declared himself to be of the same opinion with regard to the necessity of human actions; adding, however, that he did not believe men were under any blind impulse or direction of fate; but that every man acted merely from the force of that passion which was uppermost in his mind, and could do no otherwise.

A discourse now ensued between the two gentlemen, on the necessity arising from the impulse of fate, and the necessity arising from the impulse of passion, which, as it will make a pretty pamphlet of itself, we shall reserve for some future opportunity. When this was ended, they set forward to survey the jail, and the prisoners, with the several cases of whom Mr Robinson, who had been some time under confinement, undertook to make Mr Booth acquainted.

The first persons whom they passed by were three men in fetters, who were enjoying themselves very merrily over a bottle of wine, and a pipe of tobacco. These, Mr Robinson informed his friend, were three street-robbers, and were all certain of being hanged the ensuing sessions. So inconsiderable an object,' said he, is misery to light minds, when it is at any distance.'

A little farther they beheld a man prostrate on the ground, whose heavy groans, and frantic actions, plainly indicated the highest disorder of mind. This person was, it seems, committed for a small felony; and his wife, who then lay in, upon hearing the news, had thrown herself from a window two pair of stairs high, by which means he had, in all

probability, lost both her and his child. A very pretty girl then advanced towards them, whose beauty Mr Booth could not help admiring the moment he saw her; declaring at the same time, he thought she had great innocence in her countenance. Robinson said she was committed thither as an idle and disorderly person, and a common street-walker. As she passed by Mr Booth she damned his eyes, and dis. charged a volley of words, every one of which was too indecent to be repeated. They beheld now a little creature sitting by herself in a corner, and crying bitterly. This girl, Mr Robinson said, was committed, because her fatherin-law, who was in the grenadier guards, had sworn that he was afraid of his life, or of some bodily harm, which she would do him, and she could get no surety for keeping the peace for which reason Justice Thrasher had committed her to prison. A great noise now arose, occasioned by the prisoners all flocking to see a fellow whipped for petty lar ceny, to which he was condemned by the court of quartersessions; but this soon ended in the disappointment of the spectators: for the fellow, after being stripped, having advanced another sixpence, was discharged untouched.

This was immediately followed by another bustle. BlearEyed Moll, and several of her companions, having got possession of a man who was committed for certain odious unmanlike practices, not fit to be named, were giving him various kinds of discipline, and would probably have put an end to him, had he not been rescued out of their hands by authority.

When this bustle was a little allayed, Mr Booth took notice of a young woman in rags sitting on the ground, and supporting the head of an old man in her lap, who appeared to be giving up the ghost. These, Mr Robinson informed him, were father and daughter; that the latter was committed for stealing a loaf, in order to support the former, and the former for receiving it knowing it to be stolen.

A well dressed man then went surlily by them, whom Mr Robinson reported to have been committed on an indictment found against him for a most horrid perjury; but,' says he, we expect him to be bailed to-day.' • Good heaven!' cries Booth, can such villains find bail, and is no person charitable enough to bail that poor father and daughter 'Oh! Sir,' answered Robinson, the offence of the daughter, being felony, is held not to be bailable in law; whereas perjury is a misdemeanour only; and therefore per