e condescended on no particulars of her state or
condition; but when I finally promised to satisfy her demand, if it
might be done by a Christian gentleman, and a poor candidate for the
holy ministry, she cautioned me not to be startled by whatever I
should see, and beckoned me to follow her--the which I did in no easy
frame of mind. Opening a little door which I had not seen when I took
observation of the apartment, she disappeared down two or three steps,
where I pursued the slight sound of her footfall; for there was great
darkness, so that I could see nothing. We went, as I conjectured,
through several passages of some length, till finally she paused, and
knocked very gently three times at a door. The door was speedily
opened; and in answer to a question of my guide, whether godly Mr Lees
was yet arrived, a voice answered that he was there, and expecting us
with impatience. When I passed through the door, I found myself in a
small chamber, dimly lighted by one small lamp, which was placed upon
a table by the side of a bed; and when I looked more fixedly, I
thought I perceived the figure of a person stretched on the bed, but
lying so fixed and still that I marvelled whether it was alive or
dead. At the foot of the bed stood a venerable old man, in the dress
of a clergyman of our holy church, with a book open in his hand; and
my strange guide led me up to where he was standing, and whispered to
him, but so that I could hear her words, "This gentleman hath promised
to assist us in this matter."

But hereupon I interposed with a few words to the same reverend
divine. "Sir," I said, "I would be informed wherefore I am summoned
hither, and in what my assistance is needful?"

"He hath not then been previously informed?" he said to the Egyptian;
and receiving some sign of negation from her, he closed the book, and
leading me apart into a corner of the apartment, discovered the matter
in a very pious and edifying manner.

"It is to be godfather in the holy rite of baptism, to one whom it is
our duty, as Christian men, to rescue from the dangerous condition of
worse than unregenerate heathenism."

"The child of that Egyptian woman?" I asked; but he said, "No. She who
is now disguised in that attire is no Egyptian, but a true Samaritan,
who hath been the means of working much good in the evil times past,
and is likely to be a useful instrument in the troubled times yet to
come. If this dissolute court, and Popish heir-pres