nge of
wealth, became bankrupt. Such things, when they happen singly, affect only
the immediate parties; but the prosperity of the nation was now shaken by
frequent and extensive losses. Families, bred in opulence and luxury, were
reduced to beggary. The very state of peace in which we gloried was
injurious; there were no means of employing the idle, or of sending any
overplus of population out of the country. Even the source of colonies was
dried up, for in New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, and the Cape of Good Hope,
plague raged. O, for some medicinal vial to purge unwholesome nature, and
bring back the earth to its accustomed health!

Ryland was a man of strong intellects and quick and sound decision in the
usual course of things, but he stood aghast at the multitude of evils that
gathered round us. Must he tax the landed interest to assist our commercial
population? To do this, he must gain the favour of the chief land-holders,
the nobility of the country; and these were his vowed enemies--he must
conciliate them by abandoning his favourite scheme of equalization; he must
confirm them in their manorial rights; he must sell his cherished plans for
the permanent good of his country, for temporary relief. He must aim no
more at the dear object of his ambition; throwing his arms aside, he must
for present ends give up the ultimate object of his endeavours. He came to
Windsor to consult with us. Every day added to his difficulties; the
arrival of fresh vessels with emigrants, the total cessation of commerce,
the starving multitude that thronged around the palace of the Protectorate,
were circumstances not to be tampered with. The blow was struck; the
aristocracy obtained all they wished, and they subscribed to a
twelvemonths' bill, which levied twenty per cent on all the rent-rolls of
the country. Calm was now restored to the metropolis, and to the populous
cities, before driven to desperation; and we returned to the consideration
of distant calamities, wondering if the future would bring any alleviation
to their excess. It was August; so there could be small hope of relief
during the heats. On the contrary, the disease gained virulence, while
starvation did its accustomed work. Thousands died unlamented; for beside
the yet warm corpse the mourner was stretched, made mute by death.

On the eighteenth of this month news arrived in London that the plague was
in France and Italy. These tidings were at first whispered about tow