that Agnes bore him; but whether it were male or female, whether a
beggar in the streets, or dead--various and important public occupations
forbade him to waste time to inquire. Yet the poor, the widow, and the
orphan, frequently shared William's ostentatious bounty. He was the
president of many excellent charities, gave largely, and sometimes
instituted benevolent societies for the unhappy; for he delighted to load
the poor with obligations, and the rich with praise.

There are persons like him, who love to do every good but that which
their immediate duty requires. There are servants who will serve every
one more cheerfully than their masters; there are men who will distribute
money liberally to all except their creditors; and there are wives who
will love all mankind better than their husbands. Duty is a familiar
word which has little effect upon an ordinary mind; and as ordinary minds
make a vast majority, we have acts of generosity, valour, self-denial,
and bounty, where smaller pains would constitute greater virtues. Had
William followed the _common_ dictates of charity; had he adopted private
pity, instead of public munificence; had he cast an eye at home before he
sought abroad for objects of compassion, Agnes had been preserved from an
ignominious death, and he had been preserved from--_Remorse_--the
tortures of which he for the first time proved, on reading a printed
sheet of paper, accidentally thrown in his way, a few days after he had
left the town in which he had condemned her to die.

"_March the_ 12th, 179-

"The last dying words, speech, and confession; birth, parentage, and
education; life, character, and behaviour, of Agnes Primrose, who was
executed this morning, between the hours of ten and twelve, pursuant
to the sentence passed upon her by the Honourable Justice Norwynne.

"AGNES PRIMROSE was born of honest parents, in the village of Anfield,
in the county of ---" [William started at the name of the village and
county]; "but being led astray by the arts and flattery of seducing
man, she fell from the paths of virtue, and took to bad company, which
instilled into her young heart all their evil ways, and at length
brought her to this untimely end. So she hopes her death will be a
warning to all young persons of her own sex, how they listen to the
praises and courtship of young men, especially of those who are their
betters; for they only court to d