secution, appearing to a demonstration to have
been a mere accident.

"In a few months, his protector, who had now openly espoused his cause,
taking with him two gentlemen to witness his transactions, conducted him
to his native country, with a view to be better informed of the strength
of his pretensions, than he could be by the intelligence he had
hitherto received, or by the claimant's own dark and almost obliterated
remembrance of the facts which were essential to be known. Upon their
arrival in Dublin, application was made to those persons whom Mr.
A-- had named as his schoolmasters and companions, together with
the servants and neighbours of his father. These, though examined
separately, without having the least previous intimation of what the
claimant had reported, agreed in their accounts with him, as well as
with one another, and mentioned many other people as acquainted with the
same facts, to whom Mr. M-- had recourse, and still met with the same
unvaried information. By these means, he made such progress in his
inquiries, that, in less than two months, no fewer than one hundred
persons, from different quarters of the kingdom, either personally,
or by letters, communicated their knowledge of the claimant, in
declarations consonant with one another, as well as with the accounts
he gave of himself. Several servants who had lived with his father, and
been deceived with the story of his death, so industriously propagated
by his uncle, no sooner heard of his being in Dublin, than they came
from different parts of the country to see him; and though great pains
were taken to deceive them, they, nevertheless, knew him at first
sight; some of them fell upon their knees to thank for his preservation,
embraced his legs, and shed tears of joy for his return.

"Although the conduct of his adversary, particularly in the
above-mentioned prosecution, together with the evidence that already
appeared, were sufficient to convince all mankind of the truth of the
claimant's pretensions, Mr. M--, in order to be further satisfied,
resolved to see how he would be received upon the spot where he was
born; justly concluding, that if he was really an impostor, the bastard
of a kitchen-wench, produced in a country entirely possessed by his
enemy and his allies, he must be looked upon in that place with the
utmost detestation and contempt.

"This his intention was no sooner known to the adverse party, than their
agents and friends fro