Wor. (To Mr. Lovegood.) Dear Sir, I should be glad to see it, if you have it with you.

Loveg. (handing the letter.) Sir, you are very welcome, it is a strange production! (The letter is read.)

Rev. Sir,

I hear, that you have had the audacity to fly in the face of all decency and order, by making your ranting extemporaneous preachments in the assembly-room in this town, which stands in my Parish. Sir, I charge you to desist coming into this Town on the same errand any more, or I will send you a citation from the Spiritual court. Sir, I hear you are come after some of your followers, who are to be hanged to-morrow, and no wonder at it, for I am told, by Mr. Primrose, one of the Ministers in this Town, that you preach faith without works, excepting when you are ranting upon inspiration.

I am, Sir, and I will soon give you to know who I am, JOHN BELLWEATHER.

Wor. Well, well, Sir, you have very little to fear from such letter-writers as these: if they were to send their citations after those of the Clergy, who can follow up their midnight revellings and dancings from time to time in these assembly-rooms, it would be much more to the purpose, than to talk of citations for those who use them, for the praise worthy purpose of the service of God.

Hen. Why, they say, that that Minister is very little better than a common bully, and that when he is at the assembly, calling after the waiter for more wine, or cards, or what they may want, he has a voice like a town bull; but when he is in the pulpit, he mutters over his sermons in such a miserable, low, mumbling voice, that nobody can hear him. Like a humble-bee in a pitcher," as my good old father used to say.

Wor. Ah! his heart goes with his words, whlie he

is roaring in the assembly-room; but when he gets into the pulpit, he leaves his heart behind him.

Mrs. Wor. [To Mr. Lovegood.] But do Sir, let us now hear what was the result of your second visit to the gaol. You mentioned nothing about Sam Blood.

Loveg. Oh, Madam! the poor creature was a malignant, bitter, hard-hearted papist; and cried, All the world should not make him change his religion, and die a heretic. He would not hear a word we said; but when we prayed, got from us as far as he could I suppose by the command of his Priest.

Wor. Oh the horrid delusion that others, besides papists, are under! Who can deceive themselves by a superstitious confidence, in mere forms and modes, independent of every principle of inward and personal holiness, so essential to the salvation of the soul!But I hope you found the other poor prisoners, on this second visit, in a better frame of mind.

Loveg. Really Sir, I have some hope of poor William Frolic; he not only could speak of the outward wickedness of his conduct, but he had also a deal to say against the inward depravity of his heart.

Hen. Several things that he said to me, affected me very much. After Mr. Lovegood had given them a most solemn exhortation and prayer, taking some hints from what our dear minister said, he thus exclaimed: "And must this horrid tongue of mine, which has been so ready to utter so much blasphemous, filthy, and lying conversation and never thought of uttering one word of prayer, till I had brought myself to the very door of death by my crimes, after one day more, never be allowed to speak again? And must these eyes, that have been the inlet of every evil, and my guide to seek after a thousand wicked devices, be so soon sealed up in eternal darkness and death? And must these hands -Oh! these thievish hands, and hateful feet, what have they been at? O what a wretch! what a filthy and abominable wretch! body, soul, and spirit! And must I in a few hours, stand before that God,

whom I have insulted all the days of my life?". Poor creature, it made my heart bleed to hear how he exclaimed against himself.

Loveg. I confess I had not half the hope from what Edward Sparkish said; for he talked, amidst all his occasional exclamations against himself, that he repented as well as he could, that he said his prayers as well as he could; and he would do all in his power to receive the sacrament worthily, the morning before he died and that when the minister pronounced the absolution, he would believe in it with all his heart, and that he trusted God would forgive him, as he was sure from his heart, he forgave every body else.

Wor. Why he seemed to have darker conceptions how fallen sinners are to be saved, than he had the day before.

Loveg. Oh Sir, I found that the ordinary of the gaol was Mr. Primrose, who though an orderly, decent man, and well-intentioned, was very ignorant of the gospel way of salvation; and he had been putting a book into his hands, quite in the pharisaic, proud, free-will style, as though by a certain process of repenting, praying, receiving the sacrament, forgiving his enemies, all of which he conceived to be within his own reach, he was to be saved; instead of his being brought to cry out, in the name of Christ, "God be merciful to me a sinner." And yet at other times, he would speak in very humiliating language, against his sinful life, and sinful ways; in short, he appeared quite inconsistent with himself; but his pharisaic hope on himself, gives me but little reason to believe that his repentance is genuine and sin

cere.

Hen. Well, I hope that William Frolic is better taught; when he heard Edward Sparkish speak in that manner, he cried: "As to myself, how can I dare to trust in any thing I say or do? As it respects my. prayers, I question if ever I should have prayed at all, if I had not the halter nearly about my neck, and these irons on my legs, the just reward of my

hateful ways: so in regard to my repentance, even the very devils have that, and are none the better for it; and I fear, lest my repentance should be no better than theirs. And as to my prayers, what right have I to call them prayers, while I never thought of prayer, till after I was cast into prison and condemned to die.

Wor. I think if the repentance of either of these two unhappy youths, should prove to be genuin. it will be evidenced on the side of William FrolicBut can you tell us of any conversation, which further took place?

:

Hen. Why Sir, the personal conversation did not last long on that morning, as the goaler seemed very desirous that Mr. Lovegood should give an exhortation and prayer, to all the wretched objects of his charge and the ordinary was to be there by twelve o'clock, and after that time, it is not the custom to admit strangers to visit the prisoners who are condemned to die. But I must add this, that many of the prisoners seemed very much affected and one poor youth, who was in prison for debt, came to Mr. Lovegood, begging a portion of his prayers, in very humble and broken language indeed. And the gaoler's wife seemed very much struck, while she mentioned the formal uninteresting manner in which the ordinary performed his office, and what a different effect the style and spirit of Mr. Lovegood's exhortations and prayers, had upon the prisoners at large. And before we left the gaol, it is amazing how very earnest all the poor creatures were with us, to repeat our visit to them on the morrow, and especially William Frolic and Edward Sparkish, who begged we would not leave them, till we saw them launched into the eternal world.

Wor. It seems then at that time, you had heard nothing of Mr. Lovely?

Loveg. No, nor for some hours afterwards: we had many apprehensions that somewhat must have happened to have prevented the success of the journey ;

but before we had dismissed the people in the evening of the day, from the assembly-room, he joined the company, though I did not see him till they were nearly all dismissed. We perceived immediately, by his cheerful looks, that his journey had been attended

with the desired effect.

Wor. What could be the cause why he came se late had he any difficulty with the Judge, in procuring a pardon for them?

Loveg. Not the least. The Judge thanked him very kindly, and expressed how glad he was to hear of these lenient circumstances, which did not appear upon the trial, so as that he could with any degree of consistency spare the lives of at least, two of the malefactors: and then he told me after he had been with the Judge, as he had so much time before him, he could not rest contented till he had given a call on his dearest Ann, as it was but five miles round: and then when he set off very early in the morning, he had the misfortune to break the axletree of his carriage, coming over that terrible rough place, Starvington Forest, a few miles from Grediton, where he was quite at a distance from any help, so that he was afraid he should have been obliged to have walked to us on foot, in order that he might be in time enough to bring the pardon, before the fatal moment arrived. Mrs. Wor. Was Mrs. Sparkish in the room when Mr. Lovely first arrived?

Loveg. Oh no Madam, she was up in her chamber, with her eyes red with tears, and her heart ready to break with grief, being now fully apprehensive that her son would suffer on the morrow.

Mrs. Wor. Poor woman, what she must have felt, when she heard that a message of mercy was arrived at last! how did you break it to her?

Loveg. Why Madam, when we were consulting the best way of telling her the good news by degrees, we found that Mr. Lovely's servant had been whispering it about the house, that his Master had obtained a pardon for two of the prisoners. It seems it was