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he had done before; at which moment the rays of the rising sun falling upon his face, betrayed the well-known features of the Duke of Monmouth.

Although Reuben had quitted the field of battle a full hour later than the Prince, it chanced that he had fled along the same road, which was, indeed, the only one unoccupied by the royal troops, and had accidentally betaken himself to the same part of the country for refuge. Notwithstanding all the fatigues of the previous day, the unfortunate Monmouth had not been able to obtain a single moment's sleep, and his wan and haggard looks, rendered the more conspicuous by their contrast to his customary beauty and vivacity, attested at once the exhaustion of his body and the wretchedness of his mind. Upon reaching the entrance of the enclosures, he had, for their common security, separated himself from Lord Grey, and one of his friends, a Brandenburgher, who had hitherto accompanied him; and striking into the avenues, had wandered about till night-fall, when he threw himself into a ditch,

overcome with fatigue and despairing thoughts, whose very excess prevented his obtaining the sleep that alone could remedy them. Here in the silence and darkness of the night, he was stung to the heart by the most poignant regrets for the past, while the future was haunted by a thousand images of horror. Remorse, shame, and terror tore his bosom by turns. He had sacrificed his dearest friends and a gallant army to a project which he now felt to have been as desperate and hopeless, as it was utterly unfounded in any claim of right or justice: he had tarnished and destroyed that military glory which it had been the darling object of his soul to acquire; he saw no chance of escape; he was a miserable, destitute outcast, in that very country of which he had madly proclaimed himself the King; while the whole tenour of his life, but more especially the rancorous proclamation he had so recently issued, whispered to him that he had no hope of mercy from a monarch, cruel by nature, and aggravated by a long succession of the most flagrant wrongs and insults.

But that which shot the most thrilling pang to his heart, and occasioned tears of mingled tenderness and anguish to burst from his eyes, was the recollection of the happiness which, for the first time in his whole turbulent career, he had been enjoying in the society of Lady Harriot Wentworth, a lady who had sacrificed every thing for his love, and to whom he was passionately attached in return; when the suggestions of Argyle, Ferguson, and others, and the pliability and weakness of his own nature, ever yielding to the judgment of those that surrounded him, had seduced him from the delights of mutual affection, and the bosom of

domestic

peace, into that wild project of ambition which threatened soon to terminate in his ignominious death. A thousand times, as his thoughts reverted to the dear object of his attachment, did he curse the advisers that had tempted him with such sinister counsels, and himself for being weak enough to listen to them; while in the next moment he implored the pardon of heaven for his imprecations, and besought its aid in extricating him from the destruction that

seemed to menace him on every side. Such had been the agonizing conflict of his feelings, which, combining with his deplorable plight in a damp ditch, had deprived him of sleep, and imparted to his features a haggard and woe-worn character, that excited the deepest commiseration in the bosom of Reuben as he gazed upon his face, and watched his timid, stealthy movements. Disguised as he now saw him, in the sorry garb of a peasant, soiled with mud, pale with watchfulness and anguish, and terrified at every rustling of a leaf, Reuben recalled the recent day when he had beheld him at Taunton glittering in armour, radiant with youthful beauty, mounted on a stately charger, heading a gallant army, and surrounded by enthusiastic multitudes, who hailed him as their deliverer and their king: and the sad contrast smote upon his heart with a withering sensation, that made him utterly forget his own perilous plight in his anxiety to assist the Prince.

While he was considering in what way his services could be rendered available, he observed the object of his solicitude kneel down, take

a paper from his bosom, unfold it, kiss it devoutly, press it to his heart, and then throw up his eyes to heaven as if in earnest supplication. Knowing his passionate attachment to the lady we have mentioned, he concluded it to be her miniature, and that he was imploring for her the protection of Heaven, should he himself be prevented by death from rejoining her. Alas! it was a written charm against danger, which the superstitious Prince had purchased from a celebrated Dutch astrologer, and he was now appealing to its mediation with the sky, for assisting his escape, should he venture forth out of the enclosures, and make for the sea-coast.

Notwithstanding this supernatural protection, which he carefully returned to his bosom, he still stood irresolute, looking every way, and afraid to quit the covert; when Reuben at length determined to speak to him, and inquire whe ther he could render him any assistance. For a moment he was undecided how to address him. The title of Majesty, by which he had been always recently accosted, would sound like a mockery when applied to him in his present

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