his utmost violence he threw me again on the 'floor;-kicked me, stamped upon me. I believe, indeed, his intent was to kill me, and I believe he thought he had accomplished it.

I lay on the ground for some minutes, I believe deprived of my senses. When I recovered myself, I found my husband lying by my side on his face, and the blood running from him. It seems when he thought he had dispatched me, he ⚫ ran his head with all his force against a chest of ' drawers which stood in the room, and gave him'self a dreadful wound in his head.

I can truly say, I felt not the least resentment 'for the usage I had received; I thought I deserved it all; though, indeed, I little guessed what he had suffered from me. I now used the most earnest intreaties to him to compose himself; and ' endeavoured, with my feeble arms, to raise him from the ground. At length, he broke from me, and springing from the ground, flung himself ⚫ into a chair, when, looking wildly at me, he cried, "Go from me, Molly. I beseech you, leave I would not kill you." He then discovered to me-O Mrs. Booth! can you guess it?-I was indeed polluted by the villain-I had infected my husband.-O Heavens! why do I live to relate any thing so horrid-I will not, I cannot yet survive it. I cannot forgive myself. Heaven

me,

cannot forgive me !’———————

Here she became inarticulate with the violence of her grief, and fell presently into such agonies, that the affrighted Amelia began to call aloud for some assistance. Upon this, a maid-servant came up, who seeing her mistress in a violent convulsion fit, presently screamed out she was dead. Upon which one of the other sex made his appearance; and who should this be but the honest serjeant? whose countenance soon made it evident, that though

a soldier, and a brave one too, he was not the least concerned of all the company on this occason.

The reader, if he hath been acquainted with scenes of this kind, very well knows that Mrs Bennet, in the usual time, returned again to the possession of her voice; the first use of which she made, was to express her astonishment at the presence of the serjeant, and, with a frantic air, to inquire who he was.

The maid concluding that her mistress was not yet returned to her senses, answered, Why 'tis my master, Madam. Heaven preserve your senses, 'Madam-Lord, Sir, my mistress must be very bad not to know you.'

He

What Atkinson thought at this instant, I will not say; but certain it is he looked not over-wise. attempted twice to take hold of Mrs. Bennet's hand; but she withdrew it hastily, and presently after rising up from her chair, she declared herself pretty well again, and desired Atkinson and the maid to withdraw. Both of whom, presently obeyed; the serjeant appearing by his countenance to want comfort almost as much as the lady did to whose assistance he had been summoned.

It is a good maxim to trust a person entirely or not at all; for a secret is often innocently blabbed out by those who know but half of it. Certain it is, that the maid's speech communicated a suspicion to the mind of Amelia, which the behaviour of the serjeant did not tend to remove; what that is, the sagacious readers may likewise probably suggest to themselves; if not, they must wait our time for disclosing it. We shall now resume the history of Mrs. Bennet, who, after many apologies, proceeded to the matters in the next chapter.

CHAP. IX.

The Conclusion of Mrs. Bennet's History.

WHEN I became sensible,' cries Mrs. Bennet, ' of the injury I had done my husband, I 'threw myself at his feet, and embracing his knees, while I bathed them with my tears, I begged " a patient hearing, declaring, if he was not sa'tisfied with what I should say, I would become a willing victim of his resentment. I said, and I 'said truly, that if I owed my death that inftant to his hands, I should have no other terror, but of the fatal consequence which it might produce to • himself.

He seemed a little pacified, and bid me say 'whatever I pleased.

I then gave him a faithful relation of all that had happened. He heard me with great attention, and at the conclusion cried, with a deep sigh" O Molly! I believe it all. You must "have been betrayed as you tell me; you could not be guilty of such baseness, such cruelty, such "ingratitude."He then- -O! it is impossible to describe his behaviour-he expressed such kindness, such tenderness, such concern for the “ manner in which he had used me- -I cannot dwell on this scene-I shall relapse- you must excuse me.'

Amelia begged her to omit any thing which so affected her; and she proceeded thus:

،

My husband, who was more convinced than I was of Mrs. Ellison's guilt, declared he would not sleep that night in her house. He then went out to see for a lodging; he gave me all the money he had, and left me to pay her bill, and put up the cloaths, telling me, if I had not money enough, I might leave the cloaths as a pledge;

but he vowed he could not answer for himself, if he saw the face of Mrs. Ellison.

'Words cannot scarce express the behaviour of ⚫ that artful woman, it was so kind and so generous. She said, she did not blame my husband's resentment, nor could she expect any other, but that he and all the world should censure her-That she hated her house almost as much as we did, and detested her cousin, if possible, more. In fine, she said, I might leave my cloaths there that · evening; but that she would send them to us the 'next morning. That she scorned the thought of detaining them; and as for the paltry debt, we might pay her whenever we pleased; for to do her justice, with all her vices, she hath some good in her.'

Some good in her, indeed!' cried Amelia, with great indignation.

We were scarce settled in our new lodgings,' continued Mrs. Bennet, when my husband began to complain of a pain in his inside. He told me, ⚫ he feared he had done himself some injury in his rage, and bad burst something within him. As to the odious-I cannot bear the thought, the great skill of the surgeon soon entirely cured him but his other complaint, instead of yielding to any application, grew still worse and worse, nor ever ⚫ended till it brought him to his grave.

;

'O Mrs. Booth! could I have been certain that 'I had occasioned this, however innocently I had 'occasioned it, I could never have survived it; but the surgeon who opened him after his death, assured me, that he died, of what they called a polypus in his heart, and that nothing which had happened on account of me was in the least the 'occasion of it.

"I have, however, related the affair truly to you. The first complaint I ever heard of the kind, was within a day or two after we left Mrs. Ellison's;

and this complaint remained till his death, which 'might induce him perhaps to attribute his death to another cause; but the surgeon, who is a man of the highest eminence, hath always declared the 'contrary to me, with the most positive certainty; and this opinion hath been my only comfort.

'When my husband died, which was about ten ⚫ weeks after we quitted Mrs. Ellison's, of whom 'I had then a different opinion from what I have now, I was left in the most wretched condition 'imaginable. I believe, Madam, she shewed you my letter. Indeed, she did every thing for me at that time which I could have expected from the best of friends. She supplied me with money from her own pocket, by which means I was preserved from a distress in which I must have otherwise inevitably perished.

6

Her kindness to me in this season of distress ' prevailed on me to return again to her house. Why, indeed, should I have refused an offer so very convenient for me to accept, and which 'seemed so generous in her to make? Here I lived a very retired life, with my little babe, seeing no company but Mrs. Ellison herself for a full quar'ter of a year. At last, Mrs. Ellison brought me a parchment from my lord, in which he had 'settled upon me, at her instance, as she told me, ' and as I believe it was, an annuity of one hundred ' and fifty pounds a year. This was, I think, the very first time she had mentioned his hateful name to me since my return to her house. And she now 'prevailed upon me, though I assure you not without much difficulty, to suffer him to execute 'the deed in my presence.

'I will not describe our interview,-I am not able to describe it, and I have often wondered 'how I found spirits to support it. This I will say 'for him, that, if he was not a real penitent, no man alive could act the part better.