"Ha!" he exclaimed, and turned on me an inquisitive look.

"It is true," said I; you cannot deny it; and having thus shown you that I know something of your motions, let me warn you I have modes of communication with which you are not acquainted. Oblige me not to use them to your prejudice.'

"Prejudice me!" he replied. "Young man, I smile at, and forgive your folly. Nay, I will tell you that of which you are not aware, namely, that it was from letters received from these Fairfords that I first expected, what the result of my visit to them confirmed, that you were the person whom I had sought for years.

"If you learned this," said I, "from the papers which were about my person on the night when I was under the necessity of becoming your guest at Brokenburn, I do not envy your indifference to the means of acquiring information. It was dishonourable to

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Peace, young man," said Herries, more calmly than I might have expected; "the word dishonour must not be mentioned as in conjunction with my name. Your pocketbook was in the pocket of your coat, and did not escape the curiosity of another, though it would have been sacred from mine. My servant, Cristal Nixon, brought me the intelligence after you were gone. I was displeas ed with the manner in which he had acquired his information; but it was not the less my duty to ascertain its truth, and for that purpose I went to Edinburgh. I was in hopes to persuade Mr. Fairford to have entered into my views; but I found him too much prejudiced to permit me to trust him. He is a wretched, yet a timid slave of the present government, under which our unhappy country is dishonourably enthralled; and it would have been altogether unfit and unsafe to have intrusted him with the secret either of the right which I possess to direct your actions, or of the manner in which I purpose to exercise it."

I was determined to take advantage of his communicative humour, and obtain, if possible, more light upon his purpose. He seemed most accessible to being piqued on the point of honour, and I resolved to avail myself, but with caution, of his sensibility upon that topic. "You say," I replied, " that you are not friendly to indirect practices, and disapprove of the means by which your domes

tic obtained information of my name and quality-Is it honourable to avail yourself of that knowledge which is dishonourably obtained?"

"It is boldly asked," he replied; "but, within certain necessary limits, I dislike not boldness of expostulation. You have, in this short conference, displayed more character and energy than I was prepared to expect. You will, I trust, resemble a forest plant, which has indeed, by some accident, been brought up in the green-house, and thus rendered delicate and effeminate, but which regains its native firmness and tenacity, when exposed for a season to the winter air. I will answer your question plainly--In business, as in war, spies and informers are necessary evils, which all good men detest; but which yet all prudent men must use, unless they mean to fight and act blindfold. But nothing could justify the use of falsehood and treachery in our own person.'

"You said to the elder Fairford," continued I, with the same boldness, which I began to find was my best game, "that I was the son of Ralph Latimer of Lancote-Hall? -How do you reconcile this with your late assertion that my name is not Latimer ?”

He coloured as he replied, "The doting old fool lied; or perhaps he mistook my meaning. I said, that gentleman might be your father; to say truth, I wished you to visit England, your native country; because, when you might do so, my rights over you would revive."

This speech fully led me to understand a caution which had been often impressed upon me, that, if I regarded my own safety, I should not cross the Southern Border; and I cursed my own folly, which kept me fluttering like a moth around the candle, until I was betrayed into the calamity with which I had dallied, "What are these rights," I said, "which you claim over me?—To what end do you propose to turn them?"

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"To a weighty one, you may be certain," answered Mr. Herries; but I do not at present mean to communicate to you either its nature or extent. You may judge of its importance, when, in order entirely to possess myself of your person, I condescended to mix myself with the fellows who destroyed the fishing station of yon wretched quaker. That I held him in contempt, and was

displeased at the greedy devices with which he ruined a manly sport, is true enough; but, unless as it favoured my designs on you, he might have, for me, maintained bis stake-nets till Solway should cease to ebb and flow."

"Alas!" I said, "it doubles my misfortune to have been the unwilling cause of misfortune to an honest and friendly man."

"Do not grieve for that," said Herries; "honest Joshua is one of those who, by dint of long prayers, can possess themselves of widows' houses-he will quickly repair his losses. When he sustains any mishap, he and the other canters set it down as a debt against Heaven, and by way of set-off, practise rogueries without compunction till they make the balance even, or incline it to the winning side, Enough of this for the present.-I must immediately shift my quarters; for although I do not fear the over-zeal of Mr. Justice Foxley or his clerk, will lead them to any extreme measure, yet that mad scoundrel's unhappy recognition of me may make it more serious for them to connive at me, and I must not put their patience to an over severe trial. You must prepare to attend me, either as a captive or a companion; if, as the latter, you must give your parole of honour to attempt no escape. Should you be so ill advised as to break your word once pledged, be assured that I will blow your brains out, without a moment's scruple."

"I am ignorant of your plans and purposes," I replied, "and cannot but hold them dangerous. I do not mean to aggravate my present situation by any unavailing resistance to the superior force which detains me; but I will not renounce the right of asserting my natural freedom should a favourable opportunity occur. I will, therefore, ratherbe your prisoner than your confederate."

"That is spoken fairly," he said; " and yet not without the canny caution of one brought up in the Gude Town of Edinburgh. On my part, I will impose no unnecessary hardship upon you; but, on the contrary, your journey shall be made as easy as is consistent with your being kept safely. Do you feel strong enough to ride on horseback as yet, or would you prefer a carriage? The former mode of travelling is best adapted to the country through which we are to travel, but you are at liberty to choose between them."

I said, "I felt my strength gradually returning, and that I should much prefer travelling on horseback. A carriage," I added, "is so close

"And so easily guarded," replied Herries, with a look as if he would have penetrated my very thoughts; "that, doubtless, you think horseback better calculated for an escape.'

"My thoughts are my own," I answered; "and though you keep my person prisoner, these are beyond your control.'

"O, I can read the book," he said, "without opening the leaves. But I would recommend to you to make no rash attempt, it will be my care to see that you have no power to make any that is like to be effectual. Linen, and all other necessaries for one in your circumstances, are amply provided. Cristal Nixon will act as your valet, I should rather, perhaps, say, your femme de chambre. Your travelling dress, you may, perhaps, consider as singular; but it is such as the circumstances require; and, if youobject to use the articles prepared for your use, your mode of journeying will be as personally unpleasant as that which conducted you hither. Adieu-We now know each other better than we did-it will not be my fault if the consequences of farther intimacy be not a more favourable opinion of each other."

He then left me, with a civil good night, to my own reflections, and only turned back to say, that we should proceed in our journey at day-break next morning, at farthest; perhaps earlier, he said, but complimented me by supposing, that, as I was a sportsman, I must always be ready for a sudden start.

We are then at issue, this singular man and myself. His personal views are to a certain point explained. He has chosen an antiquated and desperate line of politics, and he claims, from some pretended tie of guardianship, or relationship, which he does not deign to explain, but which he seems to have been able to pass current on a silly country justice and his knavish clerk, a right to direct and to control my motions. The danger which awaited me in England, and which I might have escaped had I remained in Scotland, was doubtless occasioned by the authority of this man. But what my poor mother might fear for me as a child-what my English friend, Samuel Griffiths, endeavoured to guard.

against during my youth and nonage, is now, it seems, come upon me; and, under a legal pretext, I am detained, in what must be a most illegal manner, by a person, too, whose own political immunities have been forfeited by his conduct. It matters not-my mind is made up-neither persuasion nor threats shall force me into the desperate designs which this nran meditates; whether I am of the triAling consequence which my life hitherto seems to intimate, or whether I have (as would appear from this man's conduct,) such importance, by birth, or fortune, as may make me a desirable acquisition to a political faction, my resolution is taken in either case. Those who read this Journal, if it shall be perused by impartial eyes, they shall judge of me truly; and if they consider me as a fool in encountering danger unnecessarily, they shall have no reason to believe me a coward or a turncoat, when I find myself engaged in it. I have been bred in sentiments of attachment to the family on the throne, and in these sentiments I will live and die. I have, indeed, some idea that Mr. Herries has already discovered that I am made of different and more unmalleable metal than he had at first believed. There were letters from my dear Alan Fairford, giving a ludicrous account of my instability of temper, in the same pocket-book, which, according to the admission of my pretended guardian, fell under the investigation of his domestic, during the night I passed at Brokenburn, where, as I now recollect, my wet clothes, with the contents of my pockets, were, with the thoughtlessness of a young traveller, committed too rashly to the care of a strange servant. And my kind friend and hospitable landlord, Mr. Alexander Fairford, may also, and with justice, But he shall find. have spoken of my levities to this man. he has made a false estimate upon these plausible grounds. since

I must break off for the present...