ation."--"'Tis a hard
case, however," answered the fair offender, "that I should suffer all
my life, by one venial trespass. Heigh ho! who would imagine that
a sprightly girl, such as I, with ten thousand pounds, should go a
begging? I have a good mind to marry the next person that asks me the
question, in order to be revenged upon this unyielding humourist. Did
the dear fellow discover no inclination to see me, in all the term of
his releasement? Well, if ever I can catch the fugitive again, he shall
sing in his cage for life."

It is impossible to convey to the reader a just idea of Peregrine's
transports, while he overheard this declaration; which was no sooner
pronounced, than, unable to resist the impetuosity of his passion,
he sprung from his lurking-place, exclaiming, "Here I surrender!" and
rushing into her presence, was so dazzled with her beauty, that his
speech failed. He was fixed like a statue to the floor; and all his
faculties were absorbed in admiration. Indeed, she was now in the full
bloom of her charms, and it was nearly impossible to look upon her
without emotion. What then must have been the ecstasy of our youth,
whose passion was whetted with all the incitements which could stimulate
the human heart! The ladies screamed with surprise at his appearance,
and Emilia underwent such agitation as flushed every charm with
irresistible energy: her cheeks glowed with a most delicate suffusion,
and her bosom heaved with such bewitching undulation, that the cambric
could not conceal or contain the snowy hemispheres, that rose like a
vision of paradise to his view.

While he was almost fainting with unutterable delight, she seemed to
sink under the tumults of tenderness and confusion; when our hero,
perceiving her condition, obeyed the impulse of his love, and circled
the charmer in his arms, without suffering the least frown or symptom
of displeasure. Not all the pleasures of his life had amounted to the
ineffable joy of this embrace, in which he continued for some minutes
totally entranced. He fastened upon her pouting lips with all the
eagerness of rapture; and, while his brain seemed to whirl round with
transport, exclaimed, in a delirium of bliss, "Heaven and earth! this is
too much to bear."

His imagination was accordingly relieved, and his attention in some
measure divided, by the interposition of Sophy, who kindly chid him for
his having overlooked his old friends. Thus accosted, he quitted his
de