a just characteristic of human nature. Mercy is more
grateful to the feelings of even bad men than rigorous punishment; but
as it cannot with safety be exercised in unsettled governments, which
must awe the subdued into passive submission, before they can reward the
obedient, some of the most powerful dissuasives against exciting popular
commotions arise from the despotism in which they are sure to terminate,
the malignant passions which they excite, and the horrible atrocities
that often spring from no worse motive than the necessity of securing
ill-acquired pre-eminence.

The melancholy state of the kingdom, added to the general anxiety for
the King's welfare, of whose escape to France no certain tidings had
been received, overpowered the hitherto-heroic patience of De Vallance,
and made him on a public, as well as on a private, account, feel weary
of a world, which seemed left to the misrule of successful guilt and
prosperous hypocrisy. He had now travelled into the county of Flint,
from whence he hoped to gain a passage to the isle of Man, when he
received intelligence that, during his confinement, the Earl of Derby
had signed an order for its surrender, together with all his castles,
with which his intrepid Countess immediately complied; vainly hoping a
sacrifice of the hereditary possessions of the family might be received
as a commutation for her husband's life. Mold and Hope were already
garrisoned by the Parliament; and thus after a long and difficult
journey, during which he had encountered many hair-breadth 'scapes, De
Vallance found himself still surrounded with enemies, destitute not only
of shelter, but nearly of resources, and with no other alternative, than
to be an indigent fugitive, a prisoner, or to try if, by being a
participator in the crimes of his parents, he could, by the influence
which either of them possessed with the government, procure a pardon for
what he deemed the best action of his life, taking arms for his
Sovereign.

It was in a little village near Mold-Castle, that these reflections,
combining with the effects of fatigue and hardship, produced an
indisposition which confined him to the inn, and compelled him to
ruminate deeply on his future prospects. It was now plainly seen that
the European courts were more disposed to form alliances with a potent
Usurper, than to forward the restoration of an unfortunate Prince, to
whose connexions a cold protection and scanty support were relucta