entrusted with his intentions relative to my other, my brothers, and myself. "The warm and lively intereft Montgonery took for my mother, the manly fenderness which, he discovered when he faw our diftrefs, and the trouble which he inftantly undertook to encounter for us, were powerful incentives to me to admire and efteem him. I then thought him the noblet of human beings, and a few days convinced me that be deferved all the partiality my young heart had conceived for him. The new Lord Pevenfey, who intended to have reached my mother's house before the could have notice of his journey (and was prevented only by the zeal of the tutor who had the care of my brothers), arrived on the third day after she had received these fatal tidings. He was a man not much turned of forty, but with a harsh and ftern countenance, a large heavy perfon, and a formal cold manner. He brought with him a lawyer from Englan, and engaged another in France to accompany him to the houfe; where, with very little ceremony, he demanded of my mother all the jewels and effects of his deceased brother. Summoning all her refolution, and fupport ed by Mortgomery, who never left her, he tried to go through this dreadful cere mony with fome degree of fortitude. She delivered, with trembling hands, a ftar, a fword fet with brilliants, and feveral other family jewels. She then opened a cafket, in which her own were inclofed, and Lord Pevenfey was taking them from her, when Montgomery interfered, faying that they were her's, and he should not fuffer her to part with them.”

"It would be tedious to relate the fcenes which paffed between Lord Pevenf y, his lawyer, and Montgomery; who, finding it hece ary, engaged lawyers on the part of my mother. A will of the late Lord had been found among the papers which she had put in the poffeffion of Montgomery, in which an annuity of eight hundred ayear was fettled on my mother, and all his eftates charged with the payment of ten thousand pounds to each of my brothers, and two to me. This will the prefent Lord difputed; and the conte ding parties prepared for law, the circumstances of the cafe rendering it neceffary that this contention hould be carried on as well in England as in France.

"The fpirits and health of my mother gradually declined. The friendship, the unwearied kinonefs of Montgomery, alone fupported her; but neither his attention nor mine could cure the malady of the mind, or bind up the wounds of a broken heart.

"I will not detain you with relasing the variousexpedients for accommodation which were in the course of the first month proVOL. XIV. No. 84.

pofed by the relations of the family who knew the tenderness the late Lord Prevenfey had for my mother; that he confidered her as his wife; and that her condut could not have been more unexceptionable had fhe really been fo. Still lingering in France, and ftill vifiting a houfe into which his cruelty had introduced great mifery, the proceedings of Lord Pevenfey wore a very extraordinary appearance. My mother was now confined almost entirely to her room; and Montgomery concealed from her his uncafinefs at what he remarked; but to me he spoke more freely, and told me he was very fure his Lordship had other defigns than he fuffered immediately to appear. In a few days the truth of his conjecture became evident. I was alone in a fmal room at the end of the houfe, where I had a harpsichord which I had removed thither fince my mother's illness. She was afleep. Montgomery, on whom my imagination had long been accustomed to dwell with inexpreflible delight, had been detained ,two days from us. Thofe days had appeared two ages to me; and his abfence, combined with the uncafinefs of our fituation, and the ftate of my mother's health, depreffed my fpirits, and fought to foothe them by mufic. A little melancholy air, which I often fung to Montgomery, was before me; it expreffed my feelings; and I was loft in the pleasure of exprefling them, when the door from the garden opened, and Lord Peventey ftalked, in his formal manner, into the room.

"I rofe iuftantly from any feat, but he took my hand, and with an air of familiarity bade me fit down again; then drawing a chair close to me, he looked in my face, and cried Sweet Caroline! fhe will not refufe to fing to me! She does not hace ms, and will perhaps be the lovely mediatrix who fhall adjuft all differences between me and her mamma.'

"I have no power, Sir, to adjust differences," answered 1, much alarmed at lis look and manner. "Indeed you have, my charming girl," cried he attempting very rudely to kifs me; and if you will caly be fenable of the fame friendship for me, as your mother had for my brother, every thing he left in her poffeffion fhail be hors. Nay, I wih make you fole mitrefs of my fortune, and the thall enjoy all the claims with her beloved Montgomery."

I cannot deferibe what I felt at that moment. I knew not what I faid; in the firft emotion of terror and anger, i flew to the door, but it was faftened. I then attempted to reach that which led to the gar den, but he caught me in his arms. tricked. 1 Aruggled to difengage myself, while the wretch exclaimed-" Violent thefe, for the daughter of Mrs. Douglas to

give herself! Pretty affectation in a girl who has been brought up on the wages of protitution!" I heard this cruel inf I, but unable to answer, I could only redouble my cries. The monfter endeavoured to argue with me; but, incapable of hearing, I tried only to efcape him, when the door was broke open with great force, and Montgomery burst into the room.

"Without ftaying to inquire into the cause of my fhrieks he flew at Lord Pevenfey, whom he pinioned in a moment to the wainscot. Afcene followed fo terrifying, that I cannot do it justice. Lord Pevensey, far from apologizing for his conduct, had the brutish audacity to repeat to Montgomery his infulting farcafm against my mother and dared to intimate that he him felf had taken the place of the deceased Lord. The agony into which I was thrown by the violence of Montgomery's paffion, was the only thing capable of restraining it. Seeing me to al appearance dying on the floor, where I had fallen, be quitted his adverfary, and came to raife and reaffure

me.

Lord Pevensey took that opportunity to depart, threatening however perfonal vengeance against Montgomery, and that he world redouble every attempt to ruin my mother, whom he again infulted with fuch epithets, that Montgomery was with difficulty withheld from following him, and demanding an immediate reparation. Dread. ful as this fcene had been, it was fucceeded by one which would have made me forget all its bitterness, had not other confequences followed. When Lord Pevensey was departed, Montgomery returned back to me; and while I thanked him as well as I was able for the protection he afforded me, he confeffed, with agitation almoft equal to mine, that from the first moments he had seen me, he had loved me that his affectation, which had fince increased every hour, had made him extremely attentive to every thing that related to me; and that he had been long convinced of the defigns of Lord Pevensey, and forefeen that to obtain me he would affect delays, knet hold out hopes of compromife. Ill, however, as I thought of him," continued he, "I could not have believed that his villany would have gone fuch lengths, or have been fo unguardedly betrayed. Now we have eve ry thing to apprehend that money or chicanery can execute."

“This was no time for referve or affectation, I answered, "that I feared only what might affect his perfonal fafety; that the threats of Lord Pevenfey in that refpect diftracted me with terror; and that I fhould not have a moment's tranquillity till I faw a life fecure which I very frankly confeffed was infinitely dearer to me than my own.

It would be uninterefting, were I to

defcribe the raptures of Montgomery on the difcovery of my fentiments. A fcene tog tender to be related followed; and we were recalled from the delightful avowal-of mu tual paffion, by a message from my mother, who had been awakened by the confufion which had happened below, and whofe fervants had indifcreetly told her what they knew of its occafion. As she had been in formed of fo much, it was impoffible to conceal from her any part of what had paffed. Though Montgomery fofrened as much as he could the opproprious fpeeches which Lord Pevenfey had made relative to her, they funk deeply into her mind: he faw how much fhe was affected, and ended the converfation as foon as he could. when he had left us, my mother defired I would return to her, and thus spoke to me

But

"Caroline, I will attempt no longer to deceive you. I feel myfelf dying.. A few days, I am convinced, will terminate my life and my fufferings. I leave my poor boys with a few friends to conteft the will of their father against all the weight of af fluence and power. And you! oh child of my firll affections, I leave you, with all that fatal beauty of which my weak heart has been fo foolishly proud, to encounter not merely indigence, but the baseness of a world, where your mother's character, juf tified as I hope, and believe it is in the fight of heaven, will expofe you to the infolens addreffes of the profligate; where you will be told, that as the mother deviated from the narrow path of rectitude, the daughter cannot pursue it. My errors will be urged to betray my Caroline to deftruction; and when the reflects on the example of her mother, fhe will perhaps learn to desert her precepts."

"The bitter anguish inflicted by these cruel reflections here flifled her voice. I was myfelf more dead than alive; yet as I hung trembling over her on the fopha on which the lay I attempted to fay fomething that might confole her, and with difficul ty articulated the name of Montgomery.

Montgomery cried my mother, as foor as the recovered her fpeech oh! he is the worthieft, the moft generous of human creatures! To him I have, in a will which this paper contains, giyeu the care of my two boys. But you! oh, Caroline!—is a man of his age a guardian proper for a lovely young woman of yours? I have there fore addreffed myself in another paper to your father's family, and have befought them to pity and protect my Caroline. The prefent you received from my deceafed Lord on your last birth-day will preferve you at leaft from the indigence I once experien ced-To Providence, to your own good principles and ftrong underftanding, I conmit the reft."

the fatal field of Minden. I cannot defcribe what I felt during the action. My faculties were fufpended by the most dread ful apprehenfions that could agonize the human heart; this frightful fufpenfe was terminated only by the certainty of all I dreaded. The English were victors; and the fervant who had long attended on Montgomery had only time to tell me that he fell at the head of his company, his arm broke by a milket fhot, and receiving a thrust from a bayonet in the breast. The man added, that, with a party of foldiers who adored their Captain, he had attempt ed to bring his mafter off the field; but that they were cut down by a body of Heffian horie, who, driving every thing before them, had compelled him to abandon the enterprize. I believe that my fenfes for fone hours forfook me, during the horrors of a night too terrible to be defcribed; the Englif took poffeffion of the village where I was; but fortunately for me, a young officer of that nation was the first who, in endeavouring to pr vent the exceffes of the troops, entered the houfe where I remained with my infant in my

arms.

"Roufed by my fears for my child, I feemed fuddenly to acquire courage. I demanded protection of the young officer, which, with the generous ardour of the truly brave, he instantly granted me: and being himself compelled to quit me, he gave me a corporal's guard, recommended me to the men as an English wonian; and, having fecured my fafety, promifed to return to me when the confufion of the hour a little fubfided. The ftupor of my grief being thus fhaken off for a moment, I recollected, that if I fuered myself to fak, y boy, deprived of the nourishment which fuftained him, would perith mifera

Madam," added he, "fo implicitly vield" to grief: he, whofe death you lament as certain, may be a prifoner."

"This ray of probability would have cheered for a moment the blackness of my defpair, had not the particulars related by Montgomery's fervant left me nothing to hope. I related thefe circumstances to the English officer, with that gloomy defpe ration which precludes the power of hedding tears. He faw the fate of my mind, and generoully refolved not only to gratify me, but himfelf to protect me with a party of his men.

"With my little boy in my arnis (for I refuted to leave him as obftinarely a to relinquish my project), I went forth on this dreadful errand, to a frene of death and defolation fo terrible, that I will not fhock you by an attempt to paint it: livid bodies covered with ghaitly wounds, from whom the wretches who follow comps, making war more hideous, were yet fripping their bloody garments; heaps of human beings thus butchered by the hands of their fel low creatures, affected me with fuch. a fenfation of fick horror, that I was fre quently on the point of fainting But Montgomery among them! left to be the food of wolves or dogs-that beloved face, that form on which my eyes had fo doated, disfigured and margled by birds of prey!This horrid image renewed from time to time may exhaufted firength; and the pity of my noble conductor, more and, more excited in my favour, fuffered him not to tire in the mournful office of attending me.

"We had however traverfed in vain fo much of the bloody field that my fearch feemed to be at length d fperate; and my protector entreated me to confider, that by

vants offered me; but I neither fpoke nor shed tears, nor heeded any thing that was faid to mes my mind dwelling on the plan I had formed to avail myself of the generofity of the English officer, and to engage him to affift me in finding Montgomery, whether living or dead. It was late before this gallant young man returned to me: the nioment he entered, he enquired eagerly after my health and safety. I thanked him as well as I could for the prefervation I owed to him; but added, that to give it higher value, he must yet add another favour, and enable me to find the body of my husband, who had fallen in the field. "He feemed amazed at my defign and reprefented to me, that befides the terrifying circumftances attendant on fuch an undertaking, fo unfit for my age and fex to encounter, my endeavours would very probably be fruitlefs. Nor fhould you,

health, and perhaps deftroy my child, without a poffibility of being of the leaft ufe to the loft object of my affection. It was now indeed uight; but the moon fhone with great luftie: and just as he had agreed to indulge me with ten minutes longer, on condition that I would then defift, the rays of the moon fell on Tomething white a few yards from me, which glittered extremely An impulfe, for which I cannot now account, made me fuddenly catch it up it was part of the fleeve of a shirt, and in it was a button fet with brilliants, that had once belonged to Lord' Pevenfey, and which as the diamonds furrounded a cypher formed of her hair, haď been, after his Lordihip's death, given by my mother to Montgomery.

:

This well known memorial, convinced me of one fatal truth-that Montgomery. was among the dead; but it revived the wretched hope of finding his body, which

Fimagined could not be far off. My condutor allowed that it was probable, and accounted for this remnant of his fhirt being found, by fuppofing that it had been torn an dropped in a difpute for the spoil, which had happened among the plunderers of the deceated..

Aimated by this melancholy certainty, I more narrowly examined every ghaftly coumenance near the tpot; and at length, half concealed by the blood that had flowed from his arin, which was thrown acrofs his face, I difcovered thofe well known features fo dear to my agonized heart.

"Then, that grief which had hitherto been filent and fullen, fufpended perhaps by a latent hope of his being a prifoner, broke forth in cries and lamentations. I threw myself on the ground; spoke to Montgomery, as if he was yet capable of hearing me, and, in the wildnefs of my phrenzy, protefted that I would never remove from the fpot where he lay, but would remain there, and perifh with my infast, by the fide of my husband. The young officer with all that humanity which characterizes the truly brave of every nation, bore with my extravagance; and with the most patient pity attempted to foothe and appeafe me, by calling off my thoughts, from the dead, to whom I could be no longer ferviceable, and fixing them on my child, to whom my exiftence was fo neceffary; but a new idea had now ftruck me.-I infiited upon it that Montgomery was not dead; that I felt his heart palpitare; and that if I remained there and watched him, he would recover. I laid my hand clofe to his mouth; I fancied that, though feebly, he ftill breathed. My generous friend, who imputed all I faid to the delirium of extravagant forrow, yet condefcended to humour, in hopes of af fuaging it; but when, in compliance with my.earneft entreaty, he enquired into the reality of my hopes he fancied, with mingled afronifliment and pleasure, that he real ly found a flight puife in the heart, and that the body had not the clayey coldness of death. Fearful, however, of indulging me in a hope which, if found fallacious, might drive me into madnefs, he only faid, that though he thought it improbable that any life remained, yet that to fatisfy me the body fhould be removed to the houfe where i lodged, where a furgeon fhould attend to examine it; and if, as he greatly feared, there was indeed no chance of the vital powers being reanimated, I fhould at least be gratified in feeing the laft offices performed; and fhould, as long as I remained where I was left, receive, both in regard to executing that mournful duty, and to my own falety, every good office he could render me.

"The guard, which he had directed to follow us through the field, now approached on his fignal; they were directed to raise the body he pointed out, and to carry it to the village from whence we came. Fatigue and terror were now equally unfelt; for though I had been too mach, agitated to difcern thofe fymptoms of life which my protector had really found, and had merely afferted it as an excufe to remain by the bo dy of my hufband, I was now fure that fhould be indulged in my grief, and that Montgomery would receive the rites of fe pulture. The body was no tooner placed on a bed in the room I inhabited, than throwing among the foldiers my purse, unfeen by their commander, I haftened to give myself up to the dreadful luxury of forrow. I found the young Englishman already there gazing attentively on the disfigured face, with looks rather of doubt than of defpair. On my entrance he retired, faying," Tho' I would not have you, Madam, too fanguine in encouraging hopes which will make a painful uncertainty doubly cruel, yet I cannot wholly discourage them: that wound on the head, which feems to have been done by the hoof of an horse, gives me the most apprehenfion, for the reft appear not to have been mortal; bur the furgeon, who fhall attend you the moment he can be spared from his duty, will be better able than I am to tell you whether you have really any reafon to flatter yourfeif."

66

Before the furgeon arrived, I had, with the affistance of the French maid who attended me, wafhed the blood from the face, and from the various wounds he had recei ved. The ideas which had occurred only in the ravings of a diftempered imagination now became real hopes; a flight pulfation appeared in the artery of the temples; his heart certainly, though languidly, beat. Ah! imagine my tranfports, for words cannot paint them; imagine what I felt when the furgeon, who foon after arrived, declared that Montgomery was not dead. - Far, how. ever, was he from pronouncing that he would recover. Befides the fr.dure in his arm, which was a very bad one; a wound made by a bayonet in the breast, which was not very deep; and a violent wound on the head, where however the full had efcaped he had left fo much blood, that it was almof impoflible to fuppofe he could furvive it ; and his weakness was fo exceffive, that he remained wholly infenfible, fupported only by drops of nourishment which I conveyed into his mouth with a spoon; and the furgeon dared not proceed immediately to thể neceffary operation of fetting his arm, left the fhock fhould difmifs the feeble fpirit which feemed every moment ready to des part from its mangled abode.

"Let me be brief. At the end of a week, Montgomery