from the fright just mentioned, lafted a confiderable time, and prevented my playing much, till the benęfits, when I was fully employed.

After I had received the emoluments of my own benefit, I proposed to fettle all my bills; and for this purpose I fhewed Mr. Calcraft those which had been left unpaid at the time we quitted Brewer-ftreet; thefe, by their accumulation between the period of their being delivered in, and our removal from thence, were now encreased to upwards of thirteen hundred. pounds; having deliberately looked over them, and feen their amount, he plainly told me, that he could not pay them: he faid, that his expences were very great; and as my income was fo confiderable, it wasmore than fufficient, with economy, to fupport fo finall a family, with the four hundred a year he had allowed towards it. He then asked me what I had done with the thousand pounds in bank notes, that I had receiv ed at the time of my quarrel with Mr. Metham, of which he now acknowledged himself the donor, as well as of the fifty for my Tunbridge horses, I was thunder-ftruck at this direct refufal of his paying thefe debts, for I not only flattered myself that he would have difcharged them, but the fix hundred pounds I had borrowed of Mifs Meredith.

As foon as I could recover from my confusion, I arose up to leave the room; but he prevented me from going, fearing I fhould quit the houfe: this I certainly

C 4

certainly should have done, as I defpifed him for his meannefs. I must here ftop to remark, that even in the midst of my chagrin at Mr. Calcraft's behaviour, I received great pleasure from the information, that I was not indebted to the nobleman I fufpected for the thousand pounds; especially as his Lordship had feemed to confider himself at liberty to folicit my favour ever fince my difunion with Mr. Metham.

Mr. Calcraft having detained me, he concluded with faying, that if I would once convince him that I knew the value of money, he would give me a thousand pounds for every hundred I then required. Tired with this pecuniary converfation, which always was the most unpleafing to me of any, and now holding him in fovereign contempt, I replied, that I left it to plodders like him, who were poffeffed of no other knowledge, to fet a value upon fuch trafh. Upon this he pulled out his pocket-book, and laying down three hundred and odd pounds, which with the thousand and fifty before received, juft made up the amount of the bills owing, he walked down to his desk, there to bless the Mammon, by which he hoped at some future period, to purchase himself a title, or at least to become through it, a leader in the House of Commons. That these were his fentiments, I fhall hereafter have occafion to evince.

I had been told, a few days before the above converfation between Mr. Calcraft and myself took

place,

place, that a lady, who would not leave her name or any meffage, had called upon me feveral times, and as she said, by my own appointment. As I was punctilious, even to the very letter of the word, I was furprised at my having been guilty of such a breach of good manners; I accordingly gave orders to the porter (for fuch a domestic was now become neceffary to us) that the ftranger fhould be admitted whenever she came again.

I had fcarcely compofed myself from the agitation in which Mr. Calcraft had left me, and had just sat dowh to breakfast, when the perfon was fhewn in. But how fhall I describe to you the figure that entered the room? Picture to yourself a tall, thin, pale, dejected woman, in whose looks was accumulated every degree of distress and mifery. Yet there shone through all this wretchedness fomething which feemed to declare that she was not born to suffer indigence. I requested her to fit, and enquired her commands. She then informed me, that having loft the use of her hand, she had been obliged to another to enable her to addrefs me. And as the reason was affigned in the letter which she had fent me, of her not giving me then an explanation, the reminded me, that I had kindly wrote an answer, in which I had defired to fee her. As foon as the mentioned this I recollected the circumftance..

Upon my preffing her to drink a dish of chocolate,

fhe requested, as my maid,was in the room, fhe might be permitted to speak with me alone. Had fhe known the goodness of Clifford's heart, fhe would have efteemed this requeft unneceffary. As foon as my maid had quitted the room, the stranger threw open a decent cloak that covered her, and displayed fuch a scene of wretchednefs, as an attempt to defcribe with minuteness, would almoft call my veracity in queftion. Let it suffice to say, that her gown, or the garment which had once been a gown, had no fleeves to it; two pieces of cloth were faftened close to her flicks of arms, which if poffible, made them appear thinner than they were. In fhort, the whole of her dress conveyed such an idea of extreme penury as I had never been a witness to upon any occafión before. This diftrefsful fight awakened within me every compaffionate feeling; and I was now as much affected by the tender paffions, as I had juft before been moved with refentment.

She proceeded to inform me, that fhe was the un fortunate widow of the late Sir James Lindjay, who had been firft lieutenant of a man of war, and blown up in it during an engagement. She faid, as the match between Sir James and herself had been more incited by love than prudence, his father, upon his decease, had left him a very small eftate only, together with a title, which was rather an incumbrance to

thofe

those who had it not in their power to fupport the dignity of it. She added, that she had five children.

Her eldeft fon, Sir John, had been taken from her by his uncle, an eminent merchant, and from whom he had expectations of a future fupport. Her eldeft daughter, during the time fhe lay in with one of her other children, had, through the careleffnefs of the fervant, fallen out of a window, by which fhe had broken one of her legs. An amputation followed, and he was otherwife rendered a cripple. The terror, arifing from the fad catastrophe of her dear husband, had thrown her into labour fooner than nature intended, when fhe was delivered of a boy, who, to all appearance, would prove an ideot; aş, at four years of age, he could not feed himself, or speak articulately.

Thefe accumulated forrows, added to the most pungent distress, had greatly injured her health, and occafioned the lofs of her limbs. She had, however, at length recovered the ufe of all but her hands, by which alone fhe could fupport herself and four children; her penfion, fifteen pounds a year, badly paid, being barely fufficient to procure a habitation for them. She had been obliged to part from every thing upon which fhe could raife" money. The hat and cloak fhe had on, the only decent part of her apparel, were borrowed. She concluded with faying, that he had been advised to apply to me,'