entrance into this
dwelling, and it was now night.

My imagination now suggested a new expedient. Medlicote was a generous
and fearless spirit. To put myself under his protection, if I could walk
as far as his lodgings, was the wisest proceeding which I could adopt.
From this design, my incapacity to walk thus far, and the consequences
of being discovered in the street, had hitherto deterred me. These
impediments were now, in the confusion of my understanding, overlooked
or despised, and I forthwith set out upon this hopeless expedition.

The doors communicating with the court, and, through the court, with the
street, were fastened by inside bolts. These were easily withdrawn, and
I issued forth with alacrity and confidence. My perturbed senses and the
darkness hindered me from discerning the right way. I was conscious of
this difficulty, but was not disheartened. I proceeded, as I have since
discovered, in a direction different from the true, but hesitated not
till my powers were exhausted and I sunk upon the ground. I closed my
eyes, and dismissed all fear, and all foresight of futurity. In this
situation I remained some hours, and should probably have expired on
this spot, had not I attracted your notice, and been provided, under
this roof, with all that medical skill, that the tenderest humanity
could suggest.

In consequence of your care, I have been restored to life and to health.
Your conduct was not influenced by the prospect of pecuniary recompense,
of service, or of gratitude. It is only in one way that I am able to
heighten the gratification which must flow from reflection on your
conduct:--by showing that the being whose life you have prolonged,
though uneducated, ignorant, and poor, is not profligate and worthless,
and will not dedicate that life which your bounty has given, to
mischievous or contemptible purposes.

END OF VOL I.

ARTHUR MERVYN;

OR,

MEMOIRS OF THE YEAR 1793.

VOL. II.

ARTHUR MERVYN.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Here ended the narrative of Mervyn. Surely its incidents were of no
common kind. During this season of pestilence, my opportunities of
observation had been numerous, and I had not suffered them to pass
unimproved. The occurrences which fell within my own experience bore a
general resemblance to those which had just been related, but they did
not hinder the latter from striking on my mind with all the force of
novelty. They served no end, but as vouchers f