understanding, virtues, and defects, did not bear fome refemblance to his own. He added, that he had no averfion to the child, and that one day he might think himself happy to obtain her; that this day was not yet come, and, in his opinion, it might be proper to wait for it. But this was not the opinion of his father. He remained inflexible: when he had declared his fentiments, every thing was faid, and every thing was to be done. The tears of his fon were vain, and he was forced to go through with it. The day after his marriage, being provided with a governor, a handfome equipage, and a hearty dofe of antipathy to his wife, Sir John fet out on his travels. His father, fatisfied with having married him, furnished him abundantly with every thing that could gratify his wants, or extend his pleasures; but the lat ter, alas! he never found. This young man confidered himself as a flave who was allowed a length of chain; he could walk to the extent of a circle of fifty paces, but when he would stretch beyond the circle, this fhadow of liberty disappeared; the refiftance of his chain fhewed him, in a mertifying manner, the limits of that ideal freedom with which he had been deceived. The most ordinary women feemed goddeffes to our young Englithman: he envied all thofe who had fill the power to difpofe of their hands: not that his heart had received the leaft wound during eight years abfence. He returned to England without any attachment, but not without a violent fear of feeing his wife; nor would he have returned at all, had not his own neceflities pleaded more powerfully than the intreaties of his fa ther. His only intention was to make him account for his mother's fortune, and to return immediately He carried his refentment fo far that he would not even acquaint his father with his arrival, but went to a bagnio: he was afterwards at the play, and far in the fame box with one of his fchoolfellows whom he remembered. Sir John was become quite a ftranger at London; and while he was looking round him to recollect the features of those he had formerly known, in most of whom time had made a confiderable alteration, his wandering eyes were attracted by an obie&t that fuffered them to ftray no longer. This was a young lady, with whofe beauty he was dazzled, and who made him know for the first time, that he had a heart. The jewels with which he was covered fhewed her to be no common perfon, and that one might own her a conqueror without difgrace. Sir John, at first, entirely gave himTelf up to that intoxication which the fight of her charms occafioned; but a little reflection foon fobered him. I am married, faid he to himselfCruel father! your barbarous authority has made me the most wretched of men, at a time when [ might have been the most happy. The attention which Sir John paid to this lady was too ftriking to be unperceived by his friend, who afked him with a file, what he thought of her: More beautiful, faid he, than any thing I ever faw! I congratulate you, replied his friend, on your good taste, and your good fortune; for, in fact, Sir John, that lady is your wife. Do not you impofe upon me, faid he, with a haf-, tinels that his companion attributed to joy? No certainly, anfwered the other, other, I have the honour to be well acquainted with her, and can affure you that the goodness of her character is equal to the charms of her perfon. Why, yes, faid Sir John, her features are regular, it is true; but they are not adapted to each other. She is fair, but then he is unanimated; in fhort, fhe has beaury which may please the eye, but cannot touch the heart. After this curious criticism, he withdrew, with out waiting for his friend's reply, and his antipathy had got fuch an afcendant over him, that nothing could prevail upon him to vifit his wife. His father died of vexation, without being able to difinherit him, because his eftate was entailed. When Sir John became poffef fed of his fortune, he wrote a genteel letter to his wife, affuting her, that had it been left to his own dif pofal, the alone would have obtained his heart, but that the constraint which had been used had rendered thofe chains odious he would otherwife have chofen. At the fame time he told her, that, in case of his death, he would double the jointure allowed in the marriage-articles, beside the fortune he had received with her, of which he would not touch a farthing. At the conclufion, he wished her a happier lot than his own, and owned that the was worthy of it. He fent her this letter the fame day that he embarqued for France, where he nɔw is, determined never more to set foot in England, while his wife fhall continue in the world-What is moft fingular is, that he has procured a picture of this lady, that he is at pains to make her admired, and that none of his acquaintance go over without being charged with fome present for that woman whom he refpects, whom he pities, perhaps loves, and with whom, nevertheless, he cannot refolve to live. Two CONTRIVANCES for faving the LIVES of those, who fhall happen to be in the upper Rooms of a Houfe, when the lower are on FIRE. THESE contrivances are com The municated at the conclufion of a pamphlet entitled, 'MORBUS ANGLICANUS SANATUS, in a Letter from a Country Clergyman to his Son in London ;' an extract from which we have given before. author proposes that every house keeper should be provided with a bag made of fuftian or any other light ftuff, (which he calls a firebag) in a clofet next the street, in the fecond or third floor. Let this bag be made as wide as a common hirt, and long enough to reach the middle of fuch a ftreet as Cheap fide from the window, and quite to the oppofite fide of narrower ftreets and lanes. Let one end be open, and the other fewed up. One fide of the open end, which should be rather wider than the rest of the bag, fhould be nailed faft to the botto.n of the infide of the window-frame; that fide of the bag, I mean, which when it lies folded under the closetwindow, is the upper, when thrown out will be the under part. "When any perfon wants to ef cape out of a burning house, let the bag be thrown out, and the end be caught hold of by two strong men, who should hold it ftretched out as far from the house as the length of the bag will permit: by this means I apprehend any one, even a child, might eafily flide down the bag, with a moderate degree of velocity, with out receiving any hurt. always kept well painted, it will take no damage from ruft, and not be unsightly. In a closet, near this window, fhould always hang a pulley, with a fmall rope of a fufficient length run through it; at one end of which I would have a fquare basket conftantly fastened, that, in case of an accident there would be nothing to do, but to hang the hook of the pulley in the hole of the projectingiron. When this is done, the end of the rope should be thrown down into the street, but the basket retained, till fome perfon catches hold of the rope; who may, with great eafe, and in a quick fucceffion, let down thofe that want to quit the burning house. The basket should be deep enough, that the fides, when a man ftands in it, may come up to his arm-pits; for fear any, in their fright, fhould fall out of it. The top of the basket may, and fhould be fo contrived, as to hang close to, and even with the bottom of the window; in this pofition, children may eafily be put, or grown perfons get into it. "To make the entrance into the bag easy, an iron ring might be few. ed on each fide of the upper part of the bag's mouth; which, when used, fhould be hung upon two hooks, driven into each fide of the windowframe, at proper diftances: and thus the mouth of the bag would refemble a funnel, for the eafy and more expeditious reception of those who are to defcend; and who fhould defcend with the feet downward. A flit fhould likewife be made towards that end of the bag, held by the men in the street, large enough to take out thofe that come down; and if eyelet-holes were made all the way down the upper fide of the bag, as it hangs in the street, large enough to admit four fingers, they would ferve to catch hold of, and render the motion lefs precipitate; they would also admit the light and air, "The only objections which, I and of course make the defcent lefs think, can be made to this contridifagreeable." vance, are two. The perfons deThe other contrivance is as fol- fcending in the basket, it may be lows: Let a piece of iron, ftrong enough to bear the weight of the luftiest man, be well faftened to the outfice of the top of a window-frame in an upper ftory. The hape of it fhould refemble a fwan's neck in-. verted, and reach down as low, as where the upper and lower fathes meet. The lower end of the iron, being crooked, should project from the window about eighteen or twenty inches, and have an eye or hole near the end, that will just receive the hook of a pully. If this iron is faid, will be expofed to the flames iffuing out of the lower windows. But the motion will be fo quick, that if they take the precaution of muffling themselves, in the leaft, with any cloth, or garment, they can receive little, or no injury. Where there are large areas before the house, it may be objected, that the basket will naturally fink into them. To prevent this, it is neceffary to be provided with a long pole, with a hook at the end of it, with which the basket may, with eafe, be directed over the pallifades. |