all phial;
"this will fortify her; and this," continued she, with a ghastly smile,
laying her hand upon another vessel, "this shall remove her rival when
all is fulfilled; this liquid shall constrain her lover to be her
titled, landed husband. Ha, ha!"

_CHAPTER V_

_THE INAUGURATION_

_Beggar._ Concert, sir! we have musicians, too, among us. True,
merry beggars, indeed, that, being within the reach of the lash for
singing libellous songs at London, were fain to fly into one cover,
and here they sing all our poets' ditties. They can sing anything,
most tunably, sir, but psalms. What they may do hereafter, under a
triple tree, is much expected; but they live very civilly and
genteelly among us.

_Spring._ But what is here--that solemn old fellow, that neither
speaks of himself, or any for him?

_Beggar._ O, sir, the rarest man of all: he is a prophet. See how he
holds up his prognosticating nose. He is divining now.

_Spring._ How, a prophet?

_Beggar._ Yes, sir; a cunning man, and a fortune-teller; a very
ancient stroller all the world over, and has travelled with gipsies:
and is a patrico.

_The Merry Beggars._

In consequence of some few words which the sexton let fall in the
presence of the attendants, during breakfast, more perhaps by design
than accident, it was speedily rumored throughout the camp that the
redoubted Richard Turpin was for the time its inmate. This intelligence
produced some such sensation as is experienced by the inhabitants of a
petty town on the sudden arrival of a prince of the blood, a
commander-in-chief, or other illustrious and distinguished personage,
whose fame has been vaunted abroad amongst his fellowmen by Rumor, "and
her thousand tongues;" and who, like our highwayman, has rendered
himself sufficiently notorious to be an object of admiration and
emulation amongst his contemporaries.

All started up at the news. The upright man, the chief of the crew,
arose from his chair, donned his gown of state, a very ancient brocade
dressing-gown, filched, most probably, from the wardrobe of some
strolling player, grasped his baton of office, a stout oaken truncheon,
and sallied forth. The ruffler, who found his representative in a very
magnificently equipped, and by no means ill-favored knave, whose chin
was decorated with a beard as lengthy and as black as Sultan Mahm