select
circles of society were closed against me; or, if I found my way into
them, some blushing whisper was quickly circulated, which created a
solitude around me.

It was during this period, and while I was squandering thousands to
achieve the conquest of shadows, that I succeeded in fixing an intimacy
with a family equal to my own in station, and superior to it in fortune.
The eldest daughter was an heiress of large expectations, and my
proposals of marriage were favourably received. I might almost say that
Matilda was mine; when one day I received a letter from her father,
peremptorily forbidding my visits. I was thunderstruck. I hastened to
the house, and demanded an explanation. It was given in few words. _I
was referred to my uncle for any information I required_.

This blow struck me down. I had run through my patrimonial estate; but
hoped, by my marriage with Matilda, to repair my shattered fortune.
Three weeks after it was known that the match was broken off, I was
a prisoner for debt in the King's Bench! I breathed no curses upon
the cause of this sudden reverse of fortune, but--I swore revenge, in
silence; and I kept my oath. I languished away six months, a captive
debtor; and then, taking the benefit of the act, I walked forth a
beggar, to prey upon the world at large! I had studied, during that
time, in an admirable school, where I found professors in every art by
which fools are gulled, and knaves foiled with their own weapons. I was
an apt scholar, and returned to the bosom of society, an adept in the
science of _polished depredation_. Translate this into the language
of the Old Bailey, and I became a swindler by profession. Like the
eagle, however, I was a bird of prey that soared into the highest
regions, and rarely stooped to strike the meaner tribes of my species. I
had not lost, with the trappings of my birth, the manners and address of
the sphere in which I had moved; and these were now my stock in trade
for carrying on my new vocation.

Among the children of misfortune with whom I associated in prison, was
Charles Fitzroy; a bankrupt in every thing but exhaustless invention,
and unconquerable perseverance. Give him the free use of his limbs, and
with matchless dexterity he would make the contributions of the morning
furnish out the riotous expenses of the evening. It was his boast, that
he would breakfast with an empty pocket, and dine with a purse that
should defray the carouse of a dozen frie