the unhappy victim; and the first attempt that was
made upon him, in which his uncle personally assisted, happening near
one of the great markets of the city of Dublin, an honest butcher, with
the assistance of his neighbours, rescued him by force from their cruel
hands. This, however, was but a short respite; for, though warned by
this adventure, the boy seldom crept out of his lurking-places, without
the most cautious circumspection, he was, in March, 1727, discovered
by the diligence of his persecutors, and forcibly dragged on board of
a ship bound for Newcastle, on Delaware river in America, where he
was sold as a slave, and kept to hard labour, much above his age
or strength, for the space of thirteen years, during which he was
transferred from one person to another.

"While he remained in this servile situation, he often mentioned,
to those in whom he thought such confidence might be placed, the
circumstances of his birth and title, together with the manner of his
being exiled from his native country, although, in this particular, he
neglected a caution which he had received in his passage, importing that
such a discovery would cost him his life. Meanwhile the usurper quietly
enjoyed his right; and to those who questioned him about his brother's
son, constantly replied, that the boy had been dead for several years.
And Arthur, earl of A--, dying in April 1737, he, upon pretence of being
next heir, succeeded to the honours and estate of that nobleman.

"The term of the nephew's bondage, which had been lengthened out beyond
the usual time, on account of his repeated attempts to escape, being
expired in the year 1739, he hired himself as a common sailor in a
trading vessel bound to Jamaica; and there, being entered on board of
one of his majesty's ships under the command of Admiral Vernon, openly
declared his parentage and pretensions. This extraordinary claim, which
made a great noise in the fleet, reaching the ears of one Lieutenant
S--, nearly related to the usurper's Irish wife, he believed the young
gentleman to be an impostor; and, thinking it was incumbent on him to
discover the cheat, he went on board the ship to which the claimant
belonged, and, having heard the account which he gave of himself, was,
notwithstanding his prepossessions, convinced of the truth of what
he alleged. On his return to his own ship, he chanced to mention this
extraordinary affair upon the quarter-deck, in the hearing of Mr. B--,
on