gentleman would not have been in the crowd; the chain would
not have been seized; the thief would not have been caught and soundly
whipped: in this way many of us, more or less remotely, were implicated
in the great change which ensued, and even we humble folks were affected
by it presently.

As thus. My Lord Wrotham was a great friend of the august family of
Savile House, who knew and esteemed his many virtues. Now, of all
living men, my Lord Wrotham knew and loved best his neighbour and old
fellow-soldier, Martin Lambert, declaring that the world contained few
better gentlemen. And my Lord Bute, being all potent, at first, with his
Majesty, and a nobleman, as I believe, very eager at the commencement of
his brief and luckless tenure of power, to patronise merit wherever he
could find it, was strongly prejudiced in Mr. Lambert's favour by the
latter's old and constant friend.

My (and Harry's) old friend Parson Sampson, who had been in and out
of gaol I don't know how many times of late years, and retained an
ever-enduring hatred for the Esmonds of Castlewood, and as lasting a
regard for me and my brother, was occupying poor Hal's vacant bed at
my lodgings at this time (being, in truth, hunted out of his own by
the bailiffs). I liked to have Sampson near me, for a more amusing
Jack-friar never walked in cassock; and, besides, he entered into all my
rhapsodies about Miss Theo; was never tired (so he vowed) of hearing
me talk of her; admired Pocahontas and Carpezan with, I do believe, an
honest enthusiasm; and could repeat whole passages of those tragedies
with an emphasis and effect that Barry or cousin Hagan himself could not
surpass. Sampson was the go-between between Lady Maria and such of her
relations as had not disowned her; and, always in debt himself, was
never more happy than in drinking a pot, or mingling his tears with his
friends in similar poverty. His acquaintance with pawnbrokers' shops was
prodigious. He could procure more money, he boasted, on an article than
any gentleman of his cloth. He never paid his own debts, to be sure,
but he was ready to forgive his debtors. Poor as he was, he always found
means to love and help his needy little sister, and a more prodigal,
kindly, amiable rogue never probably grinned behind bars. They say that
I love to have parasites about me. I own to have had a great liking for
Sampson, and to have esteemed him much better than probably much better
men.

When he heard ho