ges, I at length effected my purpose. Instantly a
proclamation, with a hundred guineas reward, was issued for apprehending
me. I was obliged to take shelter among the refuse of mankind, in the
midst of a gang of thieves. I encountered the most imminent peril of my
life when I entered this retreat, and when I quitted it. Immediately
after, I travelled almost the whole length of the kingdom, in poverty
and distress, in hourly danger of being retaken and manacled like a
felon. I would have fled my country; I was prevented. I had recourse to
various disguises; I was innocent, and yet was compelled to as many arts
and subterfuges as could have been entailed on the worst of villains. In
London I was as much harassed and as repeatedly alarmed as I had been in
my flight through the country. Did all these persecutions persuade me to
put an end to my silence? No: I suffered them with patience and
submission; I did not make one attempt to retort them upon their author.

"I fell at last into the hands of the miscreants that are nourished with
human blood. In this terrible situation I, for the first time,
attempted, by turning informer, to throw the weight from myself. Happily
for me, the London magistrate listened to my tale with insolent
contempt.

"I soon, and long, repented of my rashness, and rejoiced in my
miscarriage.

"I acknowledge that, in various ways, Mr. Falkland showed humanity
towards me during this period. He would have prevented my going to
prison at first; he contributed towards my subsistence during my
detention; he had no share in the pursuit that had been set on foot
against me; he at length procured my discharge, when brought forward for
trial. But a great part of his forbearance was unknown to me; I supposed
him to be my unrelenting pursuer. I could not forget that, whoever
heaped calamities on me in the sequel, they all originated in his forged
accusation.

"The prosecution against me for felony was now at an end. Why were not
my sufferings permitted to terminate then, and I allowed to hide my
weary head in some obscure yet tranquil retreat? Had I not sufficiently
proved my constancy and fidelity? Would not a compromise in this
situation have been most wise and most secure? But the restless and
jealous anxiety of Mr. Falkland would not permit him to repose the least
atom of confidence. The only compromise that he proposed was that, with
my own hand, I should sign myself a villain. I refused this proposal,