SEPT.]

INTERESTING NARRATIVE. Joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that

repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons."-Luke xv. 7.

MR. EDITOR,

THOUGH a sick-bed is a prolonged state for repentance, yet had I still been blest with health, I might have persevered in a course of iniquity, and have summed up the catalogue of my transgressions in a manner that would have ruined my soul, and have entailed disgrace upon my posterity!

Though labouring under a disease, which for the last two years had occasionally been accompanied with excruciating agony, still my medical attendants did not appear to entertain any doubt of preserving my life, until within the space of a fortnight, when the malady assumed a more serious aspect; and perceiving by the countenance of my doctors, all was not as they wished it, I entreated that I might candidly be told the real state of my case. That its issue would be mortal, I felt persuaded; and the reply of my surgeon convinced me that my judgment was right. How much is to be done, whispered Conscience, and in how short, how contracted a space of time!

Previous, Mr. Editor, to the conviction that my hours were numbered, I had occasionally amused myself by perusing the Imperial Magazine, which an aunt of mine, who kindly came to solace the bed of sickness, had taken in, and persuaded me to read. This work of yours, Sir, allow me to say, recalled to my recollection some of those serious and religious sentiments, which my deceased parents had taken so much pains to impress upon my mind; but which, the pleasures of the world, and the dissipated companions with whom I associated, had for a succescession of years totally effaced.

A few evenings back, whilst reflecting upon the waste of those talents which a gracious Creator had bestowed upon me for some wise or beneficent design, it occurred to me, that a No. 19.-VOL. II.

[1820.

biographical sketch of my own history, might act as a beacon to the young, and the unwise; not only cautioning them against the allurements of pleasure, but against the more destructive association with those who attempt to ridicule truths which are Divine !—

Allow me then to inform you, Sir, that I was the younger son of a gentleman of good family, possessed of landed property to the amount of two thousand per annum; but having thirteen children, it was considered necessary that all but the eldest should be brought up to some profession. The army and navy, law, and physic, had already been the choice of my elder brothers; and being the youngest, and a favourite both with my mother and my sisters, I remained at home, under the care of a tutor, until I had completed my seventeenth year. At that period, my godfather, who held one of the highest situations in the treasury, paid a visit to my parents, and, being highly pleased with my manners and conversation, generously offered me an appointment in that department; assuring my father, that he had come into the country for the sole purpose of discovering whether I was capable of performing the duties of that post, which happened to be vacant.

That a proposal, at once so lucrative and respectable, was gratefully accepted, my readers will naturally imagine; and the only circumstance which appeared to excite a moment's hesitation in the breast of my affectionate parents was, that of so many hours in the day, or rather evenings, being at my own disposal.-To obviate as much as possible the evils which might arise from this emancipation from parental authority, my affectionate father accompanied me to the metropolis, under the hope of being able to persuade a clergyman who resided in Westminster, to receive me into his family, and treat me as his son. In compliance with my father's wishes, the worthy man consented, and I was immediately domesticated in his house; and happy 2 X

SEPT.]

INTERESTING NARRATIVE. Joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons."-Luke xv. 7.

MR. EDITOR,

THOUGH a sick-bed is a prolonged state for repentance, yet had I still been blest with health, I might have persevered in a course of iniquity, and have summed up the catalogue of my transgressions in a manner that would have ruined my soul, and have entailed disgrace upon my posterity!

Though labouring under a disease, which for the last two years had occasionally been accompanied with excruciating agony, still my medical attendants did not appear to entertain any doubt of preserving my life, until within the space of a fortnight, when the malady assumed a more serious aspect; and perceiving by the countenance of my doctors, all was not as they wished it, I entreated that I might candidly be told the real state of my

case.

That its issue would be mortal, I felt persuaded; and the reply of my surgeon convinced me that my judgment was right. How much is to be done, whispered Conscience, and in how short, how contracted a space of time!

Previous, Mr. Editor, to the conviction that my hours were numbered, I had occasionally amused myself by perusing the Imperial Magazine, which an aunt of mine, who kindly came to solace the bed of sickness, had taken in, and persuaded me to read. This work of yours, Sir, allow me to say, recalled to my recollection some of those serious and religious sentiments, which my deceased parents had taken so much pains to impress upon my mind; but which, the pleasures of the world, and the dissipated companions with whom I associated, had for a succescession of years totally effaced.

A few evenings back, whilst reflecting upon the waste of those talents which a gracious Creator had bestowed upon me for some wise or beneficent design, it occurred to me, that a No. 19.-VOL. II.

[1820.

biographical sketch of my own history, might act as a beacon to the young, and the unwise; not only cautioning them against the allurements of pleasure, but against the more destructive association with those who attempt to ridicule truths which are Divine !-

Allow me then to inform you, Sir, that I was the younger son of a gentleman of good family, possessed of landed property to the amount of two thousand per annum; but having thirteen children, it was considered necessary that all but the eldest should be brought up to some profession. The army and navy, law, and physic, had already been the choice of my elder brothers; and being the youngest, and a favourite both with my mother and my sisters, I remained at home, under the care of a tutor, until I had completed my seventeenth year. At that period, my godfather, who held one of the highest situations in the treasury, paid a visit to my parents, and, being highly pleased with my manners and conversation, generously offered me an appointment in that department; assuring my father, that he had come into the country for the sole purpose of discovering whether I was capable of performing the duties of that post, which happened to be vacant.

That a proposal, at once so lucrative and respectable, was gratefully accepted, my readers will naturally imagine; and the only circumstance which appeared to excite a moment's hesitation in the breast of my affectionate parents was, that of so many hours in the day, or rather evenings, being at my own disposal.—To obviate as much as possible the evils which might arise from this emancipation from parental authority, my affectionate father accompanied me to the metropolis, under the hope of being able to persuade a clergyman who resided in Westminster, to receive me into his family, and treat me as his son. In compliance with my father's wishes, the worthy man consented, and I was immediately domesticated in his house; and happy 2 X

would it have been for me, if the society of that amiable family had been powerful enough to attract me from mixing, more than was necessary, with my pernicious associates,

I received my appointment in the treasury, at the commencement of the year Eighteen-hundred-and-two, when the disaffected had frequent meetings for the purpose of disseminating principles of irreligion and democracy. In the department to which I belonged, was a young man of the name of Rainsford, who had formerly been in the army, but who, from some improper behaviour to a superior officer, had been permitted, or rather compelled, to resign. Being naturally overbearing and dissatisfied, Rainsford alone considered himself oppressed and aggrieved; and having formed an acquaintance with Colonel Despard in some of the West India islands, he renewed the intimacy in London, after he had left the service. The manners of this young man were at once elegant and insinuating, and there was something so attractingly persuasive in the tones of his voice, that whatever he asserted, though opposite to a received opinion, seemed to force an immediate passage to the mind.

Educated as I had been in the firm principles of religion and loyalty, whilst listening to his arguments, I could scarcely avoid thinking the former a cloak for iniquity, and the latter a proof that the mind was weak; and often have I agreed with the insidious declaimer, that an equal distribution of property was originally designed. Upon this dangerous topic, there is no doubt that Despard and Rainsford had many private conferences; fortunately however for the latter, he was not with him on that memorable night, when a stop was put to the iniquitous plans which had been suggested for the destruction of monarchy, and the overthrow of the state.

Though Rainsford had too much sense to make an open avowal of those sentiments, which, if known, must inevitably have deprived him of his place, yet to me, who from our first acquaintance he had treated with the confidence of friendship, every thought of his heart appeared to be revealed; and had Despard been his father, he could not more severely have felt his disgrace. Openly to have avowed himself his friend, however, was impossi

ble, without hazarding, nay insuring, the loss of his place; yet all that covert acts could perform, or ingenuity imagine, Rainsford did, to ward off his dishonour,

Endowed by nature with an exquisite portion of sensibility, when condemnation was justly passed upon the Colonel, I was easily taught to consider him cruelly treated; and I almost ventured to call Lord Ellenborough a murderer, who maliciously deprived a fellow-creature of his life.

I have recently, Mr. Editor, re-perused that trial, which near seventeen years ago excited such simultaneous feelings in my mind, and scarcely now can conceive it possible, that I could have thought Despard innocent of his imputed crimes. The execution of that unhappy man, was the only one I ever witnessed; and never will the impression be effaced from my mind; for by bribing the constables, we were within arm's length of the affecting scene! Never to be forgotten, is the dead silence which prevailed throughout the vast multitude, when they discovered that the object of their compassion was about to speak; which he did with a composure of look, and a dignity of manner, that gave his death the appearance of a voluntary sacrifice!

That a man in the very act of appearing in the presence of his Maker, should have dared to avow himself innocent of any crime, strikes me now with sensations of horror beyond the power of language to describe; and that he should have been suffered to appeal to the feelings of the misguided multitude then assembled, was, in my opinion, an unwarrantable stretch of clemency.

The impression which the speech made upon my mind, was participated in by thousands; and various schemes for avenging the Colonel's death were entered into at that time: it was with difficulty I could prevent Rainsford from avowing his rebellious sentiments, when, whilst Despard was addressing the multitude, he accidentally caught his eye. "Fellow Citizens," said he, in a voice at once audible and dignified," after having served my country faithfully, honourably, and I trust usefully, upwards of thirty years, I am come here, as you see, to suffer death upon a scaffold, for a crime of which I am no more guilty than you, who now