hat numbers he has ruined, how many parents now feel with
anguish the infamy and the contamination which he has brought into their
families, it would not surprise me if some one of them--Amazement! Do I
see my lost daughter! Do I hold her! It is, it is my life, my happiness.
I thought thee lost, my Olivia, yet still I hold thee--and still thou
shalt live to bless me.'--The warmest transports of the fondest lover
were not greater than mine when I saw him introduce my child, and held
my daughter in my arms, whose silence only spoke her raptures. 'And
art thou returned to me, my darling,' cried I, 'to be my comfort in
age!'--'That she is,' cried Jenkinson, 'and make much of her, for she
is your own honourable child, and as honest a woman as any in the whole
room, let the other be who she will. And as for you 'Squire, as sure
as you stand there this young lady is your lawful wedded wife. And to
convince you that I speak nothing but truth, here is the licence by
which you were married together.'--So saying, he put the licence into
the Baronet's hands, who read it, and found it perfect in every respect.
'And now, gentlemen,' continued he, I find you are surprised at all
this; but a few words will explain the difficulty. That there 'Squire
of renown, for whom I have a great friendship, but that's between
ourselves, as often employed me in doing odd little things for him.
Among the rest, he commissioned me to procure him a false licence and
a false priest, in order to deceive this young lady. But as I was very
much his friend, what did I do but went and got a true licence and a
true priest, and married them both as fast as the cloth could make them.
Perhaps you'll think it was generosity that made me do all this. But no.
To my shame I confess it, my only design was to keep the licence and
let the 'Squire know that I could prove it upon him whenever I thought
proper, and so make him come down whenever I wanted money.' A burst of
pleasure now seemed to fill the whole apartment; our joy reached even to
the common room, where the prisoners themselves sympathized,

--And shook their chains
In transport and rude harmony.

Happiness was expanded upon every face, and even Olivia's cheek seemed
flushed with pleasure. To be thus restored to reputation, to friends and
fortune at once, was a rapture sufficient to stop the progress of decay
and restore former health and vivacity. But perhaps among all there was
not one who felt sincere