mmandments being represented as broken, might probably give the
hint to a lady's reply, on being told that thieves had the preceding
night broken into the church, and stolen the communion-plate, and the
ten commandments. "I suppose," added the informant, "that they may melt
and sell the plate; but can you divine for what possible purpose they
could steal the commandments?"--"To _break_ them, to be sure," replied
she;--"to _break_ them."

[Illustration: THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.

PLATE 5.

MARRIES AN OLD MAID.]

PLATE VI.

SCENE IN A GAMING HOUSE.

"_Gold_, thou bright son of Phoebus, source
Of universal intercourse;
Of weeping Virtue soft redress:
And blessing those who live to bless:
Yet oft behold this sacred trust,
The tool of avaricious lust;
No longer bond of human kind,
But bane of every virtuous mind.
What chaos such misuse attends,
Friendship stoops to prey on friends;
Health, that gives relish to delight,
Is wasted with the wasting night;
Doubt and mistrust is thrown on _Heaven_,
And all its power to chance is given.
Sad purchase of repentant tears, }
Of needless quarrels, endless fears, }
Of hopes of moments, pangs of years! }
Sad purchase of a tortured mind,
To an imprison'd body join'd."

Though now, from the infatuated folly of his antiquated wife, in
possession of a fortune, he is still the slave of that baneful vice,
which, while it enslaves the mind, poisons the enjoyments, and sweeps
away the possessions of its deluded votaries. Destructive as the
earthquake which convulses nature, it overwhelms the pride of the
forest, and engulfs the labours of the architect.

Newmarket and the cockpit were the scenes of his early amusements; to
crown the whole, he is now exhibited at a gaming-table, where all is
lost! His countenance distorted with agony, and his soul agitated almost
to madness, he imprecates vengeance upon his own head.

"In heartfelt bitter anguish he appears,
And from the blood-shot ball gush purpled tears!
He beats his brow, with rage and horror fraught;
His brow half bursts with agony of thought!"

That he should be deprived of all he possessed in such a society as
surround him, is not to be wondered at. One of the most conspicuous
characters appears, by the pistol in his pocket, to be a highwayman:
from the profound stupor of his countenance, we are certain he also is a
lo