Bestsellers in Nineteenth-Century America

Front matter

BESTSELLERS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA

An Anthology athe E A

ANTHEM NINETEENTH-CENTURY SERIES

Contents

List of Figures xi Preface xiii Acknowledgments xV Thematic Connections xvii Chapter One Charlotte Temple, A Tale of Truth (1791), entire work l Susanna Haswell Rowson Chapter Two The Life of Washington; with Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honorable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen (1800), selections 63 Mason Locke Weems Chapter I 65 Chapter II 67 Chapter III 73 Chapter XIII 76 Chapter Three American Tract Society, entire works (1825—Present) 85 Tract No. 92 The Forgiving African 86 Tract No. 175 To Mothers 88 ‘Tract No. 512 Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers of Mothers 93 Tract No. 515 Novel-Reading 101 Chapter Four Awful Disclosures, by Maria Monk, of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal (1836), selections 105 Mara Monk Preface 107 Chapter I Early Recollections 108 Chapter II Congregational Nunnery 111 Chapter VI Taking the Veil 113 Chapter VIII Description of Apartments 118 Chapter XVII Treatment of Young Infants 124 Chapter XIX The Priests of the District 128

Chapter XX More Visits 131 viii BESTSELLERS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA

Book the First: The First Night

Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie (1847), entire work Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Reveries of a Bachelor: Or, A Book of the Heart (1850), selections

Donald Grant Mitchell (Ik Marvel)

First Reverie: Smoke, Flame, and Ashes

Second Reverie: Sea Coal and Anthracite

Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lowly (1852), selections

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Chapters I-IX

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, and What I Saw There (1854), entire work

Timothy Shay Arthur Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter (1860), entire work

Ann Sophia Winterbotham Stephens

Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks (1868), entire work Horatio Alger Jr.

178 185

195 197

Chapter Nineteen CONTENTS

Little Women, or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (1868), selections Lousa May Alcott Chapters I-IX

The Gates Ajar (1868), entire work Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

The Luck of Roaring Camp (1868), entire work John Jenkins, Or, the Smoker Reformed (1871), entire work

Bret Harte

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), selections Lew Wallace

Book Third Book Fifth, selections

Book Eighth, selections

The Hidden Hand: or, Capitola the Madcap (1888), selections E. D. E. N. Southworth

Chapters -XXII

In His Steps. “What Would Jesus Do” (1896), selections Charles Monroe Sheldon

Chapters I-VI

867 899 924 973

997 1101

LIST OF FIGURES

Title page, Charlotte, A Tale of Truth Portrait of George Washington, Frontispiece, The Life of Washington Cover, “To Mothers,” Tract No. 175 Foldout map, front view of Hotel Dieu, from Awful Disclosures Foldout map, interior view of Hotel Dieu, from Awful Disclosures Symbolical head

Daniel Webster

"Tristam Burgess

Hall

Alexander Campbell

Capt. Knight

Voltaire

Sidney Smith

Dempster

Phineas Stevens

Dr. Caldwell

William Cullen Bryant

Fanny Forrester

Washington

Grouping of organs

Human skull

Snake

Turtle

Tiger—side view

Hyena—side view

Hyena—back view

Bear—top view

Bear—back view

Sheep—top view

Rabbit—side view

Fox—side view

Ichneumon—side view Ichneumon—back view

Cat—hack view

Cat—side view

Lion—top view xii BESTSELLERS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA

Owl—top view

Hawk—top view

Hen—top view

Crow

Intelligent monkey

Intelligent monkey—side view

The orang-outang

African head

Indian chief

Bacon

Idiot

Washington Irving

A conceited simpleton

Jonathan Edwards

Emerson, an idiot

Title page, The Quaker City

Frontispiece, The Quaker City, 1876 edition Frontispiece, Lvangeline

Title page, Reveries of a Bachelor

Title page, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Eliza’s escape, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Title page, Zen Nights in a Bar-Room

“Come, Father!” Ten Nights in a Bar-Room

“Ies Joe Morgan’s child!” Ten Nights in a Bar-Room “There it is now!” Ten Nights in a Bar-Room

“Huzza for the Rummies!” Ten Nights in a Bar-Room Willie Hammond murdered, Ten Nights in a Bar-Room One long scream of horror, Ten Nights in a Bar-Room “Frank Slade!” Ten Nights in a Bar-Room

Cover, Malaeska

Title page, Ragged Dick

Frontispiece, Little Women

Frontispiece, The Gates Ajar

As the procession filed in, “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Ben-Hur flour advertisement (1902)

Ben-Hur and Arrius, the rescue, act 2, scene 2, Ben-Hur Frontispiece, The Hidden Hand

Cover, In His Steps

Virginia and Loreen, Jn His Steps

One of the wonders of printed material is its persuasive power. It can threaten, promise, cajole, and insinuate ideas of lasting influence. Such influence manifests itself in a number of ways, but perhaps one of the most obvious is found in the development of national mythologies. For example, consider the story of George Washington cutting down a cherry tree, a deed he then nobly confesses with the now-immortal words, “I can’t tell a lie.” It is a story that has become synonymous with George Washington, yet it was a fable created by Parson Weems in his tremendously popular biography of the first president.

True or not, such stories reveal a great deal about a culture’s thought and life. This volume gathers popular stories that tap into a wide range of nineteenth-century American self-perceptions, fears, dreams and longings. The nineteenth century is particularly important for such stories because it was a period when these tales increasingly reached their audience in printed forms, as the highly oral culture of the eighteenth century was giving way to a more print-bound culture. This change meant that ever-wider audiences could gain access to, and be influenced by, the same information. In the nineteenth century, the world of American citizens was increasingly formed, framed and fractured by the power of print.

Behind the growing print culture found in the nineteenth-century United States stood the fact that American publishing came of age in this century. Whereas printed material had been relatively scarce at the close of the eighteenth century, with most families owning perhaps a Bible and an almanac, by the time of the Civil War thousands of tracts, novels, self-help books, tour guides, magazines and newspapers were littering American parlors. Publishers at the turn of the nineteenth century rarely produced print runs over two thousand copies. By mid-century, American publishing had so radically changed that editions of 30,000, 75,000 or even 100,000 copies were common. The forty newspapers published during the American Revolution gave way by the 1860s to more than two thousand daily and weekly papers. By the end of the century, books and other forms of published material were reaching the remotest parts of the country as an evermore advanced transportation network, an increasingly efficient mail system and an army of some fifty thousand doorto-door book salesmen offered an unprecedented range of printed literature to American readers.

The amazing growth of America’s publishing enterprises did not happen in a vacuum. These enterprises grew proportionately with rismg American literacy rates and multiplying motivations for the consumption of printed matter. As the century wore on, a number of factors propelled American reading habits, including the desire for economic gain, social distinction, political involvement and entertainment.

Reading offered people an opportunity for greater social mobility. Those who could read were better able to adapt to the changing employment market of the nineteenth century, xiv BESTSELLERS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA in which literacy skills were increasingly prized for the better-paying, more-prestigious jobs. The massive numbers of self-help books and reform literature that circulated among Americans in the nineteenth century also helped people know how to think and act in ways that distinguished them as socially refined. Such social distinction could also be attained by studying the Greek and Roman classics, an oft-used marker of gentility and good social breeding.

Americans also read so that they might gain the information they needed to participate in their local and national governments. From an early age, Americans were taught that democracy demanded participation, and meaningful participation demanded accurate information. Thus the political interests of nineteenth-century readers helped fuel a tremendous rise in newspaper circulation and the appearance of a host of printed matter such as political biographies and verbatim reproductions of countless legislative speeches and debates.

And Americans read because it was fun. There was great pleasure to be found in learning new things and entering new worlds. The genres of history, travel and adventure enjoyed enormous popularity. The astounding appeal of Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur can be attributed, at least in part, to the way in which this work incorporated all three of these genres. Reading also changed from a largely oral activity, in which a father might read aloud the Bible or Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress to his family, to a much more individualized practice. This change opened the door for readers to enjoy a wider, often more illicit, range of material. Once shunned as corrupting, reading novels became a central avenue toward entertainment before the end of the century.

The present collection was conceived with the desire to capture some of the excitement and diversity of the print culture that was so influential in nineteenth-century American thought and society. It gives a special emphasis to those works that sold astoundingly well when they first appeared. Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick may be extremely well known and widely read today, but when it first appeared it sold so poorly that its publication almost bankrupted the author. In contrast to Moby-Dick, the works in this collection sold extremely well when they first appeared, attracting huge readerships and often inspiring other works, such as plays and sequels, which made them all the more popular. Two other factors influenced the choice of texts: a preference for depth over breadth, and an interest in presenting works standing in dialogue with one another. The rationale here is simple. Reading entire works and longer excerpts gives one a fuller appreciation of an author’s intellectual design and enables one to examine narrative arcs and developed lines of argument. Reading works speaking to—and against—other works recreates something of the dynamic of the vital cultural conversations taking place in this period. (The list on pages xvii—xix identifies some of the essential thematic intersections among the texts in this collection.)

This collection makes no claim to cover all, or even most, of the important facets of nineteenth-century popular literature. But it does open a modest window into the vast array of literature avidly produced and just as avidly consumed during this period. Through this window, it is hoped that readers will catch informative glimpses that will entice them into further explorations of the splendidly diverse and always amazing print culture that influenced every aspect of nineteenth-century American life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

One incurs many debts in publishing a book, and in that spirit I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the many individuals who helped bring this book to completion. My editors at Anthem, Tej Sood and Brian Stone, were incredibly supportive and efficient in helping this work along. I also had an amazing editorial assistant in Richard Higgins, who did much of the heavy lifting in terms of making sure the text was formatted and proofread correctly. Kerilyn Harkaway-Krieger was also of help in preparing the manuscript. And Christoph Irmscher, whose encyclopedic intellectual breadth keeps me ever in awe of him, was incredibly generous in helping me figure out this or that obscure reference—I owe many a footnote to Christoph’s expertise. I also wish to say that, although I had a great deal of help in preparing this book for publication, I alone am responsible for any errors that may appear in its pages.

I continue to owe much to friends such as Bob Brown and Alex Van Riesen, who just keep me sane in my life journey through their friendship and their ability to make me laugh. They constantly shine a bit of light into the dark corners of my own often overfull and overanxious life.

I have a family that continues to enable me to do the work I love. I thank my wife, Cathy, and my sons, Isaac and Jeremiah, for putting up with my absences—both physical and emotional—as I struggled to finish what became a rather mammoth undertaking. As always, my father, mother and sister, Karen, stand as the absolute gold standard of generosity and support. My family has always been there for me in countless ways as I negotiate the varied demands of my career.

Finally, I dedicate this book to my Uncle Norman and Aunt Aletta Cole and their sons, Bob, Jim and David. I have been immensely blessed to have both a wonderful immediate and a wonderful extended family. The Coles have always modeled for me a kind of reflexive, unselfish and often understated kindness that embodies Aesop’s famous moral that “no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Whether it was Norman showing me magic tricks, Aletta sewing me my own special quilt, Bob letting me be his whist partner when I was hardly even old enough to fan the cards in my hand, Jim making me laugh or David taking me to movies, I have always benefitted in profound, and all-too-often unacknowledged, ways from their constant acts of kindness. I do not exaggerate when I say that the Coles have shown me great love over the years, and words fail me here as I wish to express my gratitude to them.

THEMATIC CONNECTIONS

Singleness and Marriage Charlotte Temple Awful Disclosures

The Quaker City Evangeline

Reveries of a Bachelor Uncle Tom’s Cabin Malaeska

Care and Education of the Young

Life of Washington

“To Mothers”

“Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers of Mothers”

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room

“The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Proper Conduct

Life of Washington

“The Forgiving African”

“Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers of Mothers”

“To Mothers”

“Novel Reading”

Treatise on Domestic Economy Self-Instructor in Phrenology

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room

“The Luck of Roaring Camp”

The Gates Ajar

Temperance

“Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers of Mothers”

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room

Slavery

“The Forgiving African”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Novel Reading “Novel Reading”

Reveries of a Bachelor Little Women

Rural Life Charlotte Temple Evangeline

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Reveries of a Bachelor xviii BESTSELLERS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room Reveries of a Bachelor The Hidden Hand Uncle Tom’s Cabin Ten Nights in a Bar-Room The South “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Evangeline Ben-Hur Uncle Tom’s Cabin The Hidden Hand Social Reform Life of Washington Business “To Mothers”

Treatise on Domestic Economy “Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers The Quaker City Mothers”

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room “Novel Reading”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin The Quaker City Ragged Dick Uncle Tom’s Cabin Ben-Hur Ten Nights in a Bar-Room In His Steps “John Jenkins”

In His Steps Domesticity and Gender Roles Charlotte Temple Religion Awful Disclosures Life of Washington Treatise on Domestic Economy “To Mothers”

“To Mothers” “Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers The Quaker City Mothers”

Evangeline “Novel Reading”

Reveries of a Bachelor Awful Disclosures Uncle Tom’s Cabin Treatise on Domestic Economy Ten Nights in a Bar-Room Evangeline Malaeska The Quaker City Ragged Dick Reveries of a Bachelor “The Luck of Roaring Camp” “John Jenkins”

Little Women “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

The Gates Ajar The Gates Ajar Ben-Hur Little Women The Hidden Hand Ragged Dick In His Steps Uncle Tom’s Cabin Malaeska Masculinity Ben-Hur Life of Washington In His Steps “Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers of Mothers” Urban Life Awful Disclosures “Murderers of Fathers, and Murderers Self-Instructor in Phrenology Mothers”

The Quaker City Awful Disclosures

The Quaker City Malaeska

Ten Nights in a Bar-Room In His Steps

The West

Evangeline

“The Luck of Roaring Camp’

In His Steps

THEMATIC CONNECTIONS Xxix

Race

Self-Instructor in Phrenology The Quaker City

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Malaeska

Published in 1868

The Hidden Hand (second appearance) “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Chapter One SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON (1762-1824)

Susanna Haswell Rowson was born in England and emigrated to the American colonies in 1766. She traveled back to England in 1778, but five years later once again returned to America, where she would remain. While still young, she married William Rowson, a poor choice because it turned out he was both an alcoholic and a man incapable of holding a job. Thus, Susanna Rowson was forced to become the provider for the family, a duty that demanded she undertake a number of professions, © y~ R including actress, teacher and author.

Rowson eventually found success, not only as a teacher of the daughters of some of Massachusetts’s most socially prominent families, but also as a writer of plays, poems, short stories and novels. In 1791, she published Charlotte, A Tale of Truth (later retitled Charlotte Temple), widely considered the first best-selling novel in America. For more than a century, Charlotte Temple enjoyed astounding popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. Endlessly imitated, dramatized and translated into various languages, the novel appeared in over 150 editions during the nineteenth century.

Charlotte Temple is an early example of the already-popular didactic genre of seduction novels. It tells the story of a young English girl who rashly allows her lover to take her to America, forsaking her honorable parents for a less-honorable future. The tragic figure of Charlotte so captured the American imagination that an actual grave site was established in New York City in the early nineteenth century, and countless readers over the years visited her supposed burial plot to place on her grave locks of hair, burned love letters and other tokens of esteem and commiseration. The book stands as a vivid meditation on personal responsibility, as Charlotte and a number of her fellow characters become exemplars of how poor decisions inevitably lead to unfortunate and sometimes even devastating consequences.

bZ KA rä

CHA RL ORTTEREN

A TALE OF TRUTH.

By Mas. ROWSON, or THE NEW THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA } AUTHOR or VICTORIA, THE INQUISITOR, FILLE DE CHAMBRE, Be.

IN TWO VOLUMES, a os

She was her parent's only joy : They had'but one—one darling child, Romro AND JULIRT:

Her form was faultlefs, aad her mind, Untainted yet ty art, |

Was noble, jak, humane, aad kind, And virtue warra’d her heart,

But ah ! the cruei fpoiler came——

VOL, I.

PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY D. HUMPHREYS, FOR M. CAREY, No. 118, MARKET-STREET, M. DCC, XCIV,

Title page from the 1794 edition of Charlotte Temple brought out by the famous Philadelphia publisher Mathew Carey (Courtesy Lilly Library, Bloomington, IN).

This text is reprinted from the first American edition published in 1794 by Mathew Carey of Philadelphia under the title, Charlotte, A Tale of Truth. For his third edition of 1797, Carey changed the title to Charlotte Temple, a title that is used in most subsequent editions of the book.

FOR the perusal of the young and thoughtless of the fair sex, this Tale of Truth is designed; and I could wish my fair readers to consider it as not merely the effusion of Fancy, but as a reality. The circumstances on which I have founded this novel were related to me some little time since by an old lady who had personally known Charlotte, though she concealed the real names of the characters, and likewise the place where the unfortunate scenes were acted: yet as it was impossible to offer a relation to the public in such an imperfect state, I have thrown over the whole a slight veil of fiction, and substituted names and places according to my own fancy. The principal characters in this little tale are now consigned to the silent tomb: it can therefore hurt the feelings of no one; and may, I flatter myself, be of service to some who are so unfortunate as to have neither friends to advise, or understanding to direct them, through the various and unexpected evils that attend a young and unprotected woman in her first entrance into life.

While the tear of compassion still trembled in my eye for the fate of the unhappy Charlotte, I may have children of my own, said I, to whom this recital may be of use, and if to your own children, said Benevolence, why not to the many daughters of Misfortune who, deprived of natural friends, or spoilt by a mistaken education, are thrown on an unfeeling world without the least power to defend themselves from the snares not only of the other sex, but from the more dangerous arts of the profligate of their own.

Sensible as I am that a novel writer, at a time when such a variety of works are ushered into the world under that name, stands but a poor chance for fame in the annals of literature, but conscious that I wrote with a mind anxious for the happiness of that sex whose morals and conduct have so powerful an influence on mankind in general; and convinced that I have not wrote a line that conveys a wrong idea to the head or a corrupt wish to the heart, I shall rest satisfied in the purity of my own intentions, and if I merit not applause, I feel that I dread not censure.

Tf the following tale should save one hapless fair one from the errors which ruined poor Charlotte, or rescue from impending misery the heart of one anxious parent, I shall feel a much higher gratification in reflecting on this trifling performance, than could possibly result from the applause which might attend the most elegant finished piece of literature whose tendency might deprave the heart or mislead the understanding.

Charlotte Temple, Volume I Chapter I A Boarding School

“ARE you for a walk,” said Montraville to his companion, as they arose from table; “are you for a walk? or shall we order the chaise and proceed to Portsmouth?” Belcour preferred the former; and they sauntered out to view the town, and to make remarks on the inhabitants, as they returned from church.

Montraville was a Lieutenant in the army: Belcour was his brother officer: they had been to take leave of their friends previous to their departure for America, and were now returning to Portsmouth, where the troops waited orders for embarkation. They had stopped at Chichester to dine; and knowing they had sufficient time to reach the place of destination before dark, and yet allow them a walk, had resolved, it being Sunday afternoon, to take a survey of the Chichester ladies as they returned from their devotions.

They had gratified their curiosity, and were preparing to return to the inn without honouring any of the belles with particular notice, when Madame Du Pont, at the head of her school, descended from the church. Such an assemblage of youth and innocence naturally attracted the young soldiers: they stopped; and, as the little cavalcade passed, almost involuntarily pulled off their hats. A tall, elegant girl looked at Montraville and blushed: he instantly recollected the features of Charlotte Temple, whom he had once seen and danced with at a ball at Portsmouth. At that time he thought on her only as a very lovely child, she being then only thirteen; but the improvement two years had made in her person, and the blush of recollection which suffused her cheeks as she passed, awakened in his bosom new and pleasing ideas. Vanity led him to think that pleasure at again beholding him might have occasioned the emotion he had witnessed, and the same vanity led him to wish to see her again.

“She is the sweetest girl in the world,” said he, as he entered the inn. Belcour stared. “Did you not notice her?” continued Montraville: “she had on a blue bonnet, and with a pair of lovely eyes of the same colour, has contrived to make me feel devilish odd about the heart.”

“Pho,” said Belcour, “a musket ball from our friends, the Americans, may in less than two months make you feel worse.”

“T never think of the future,” replied Montraville; “but am determined to make the most of the present, and would willingly compound with any kind Familiar who would inform me who the girl is, and how I might be likely to obtain an interview.”

But no kind Familiar at that time appearing, and the chaise which they had ordered, driving up to the door, Montraville and his companion were obliged to take leave of Chichester and its fair inhabitant, and proceed on their journey.

But Charlotte had made too great an impression on his mind to be easily eradicated: having therefore spent three whole days in thinking on her and in endeavouring to form some plan for seeing her, he determined to set off for Chichester, and trust to chance either to favour or frustrate his designs. Arriving at the verge of the town, he dismounted, and sending the servant forward with the horses, proceeded toward the place, where, in the midst of an extensive pleasure ground, stood the mansion which contained the lovely Charlotte Temple. Montraville leaned on a broken gate, and looked earnestly at the house. ‘The wall which surrounded it was high, and perhaps the Argus’s who guarded the Hesperian fruit! within, were more watchful than those famed of old.

“Tis a romantic attempt,” said he; “and should I even succeed in seeing and conversing with her, it can be productive of no good: I must of necessity leave England in a few days, and probably may never return; why then should I endeavour to engage the affections of this lovely girl, only to leave her a prey to a thousand inquietudes, of which at present she has no idea? I will return to Portsmouth and think no more about her.”

The evening now was closed; a serene stillness reigned; and the chaste Queen of Night with her silver crescent faintly illuminated the hemisphere. The mind of Montraville was hushed into composure by the serenity of the surrounding objects. “I will think on her no more,” said he, and turned with an intention to leave the place; but as he turned, he saw the gate which led to the pleasure grounds open, and two women come out, who walked arm-in-arm across the field.

1 Ancient kings of Greece who kept watch over their country.

“I will at least see who these are,” said he. He overtook them, and giving them the compliments of the evening, begged leave to see them into the more frequented parts of the town: but how was he delighted, when, waiting for an answer, he discovered, under the concealment of a large bonnet, the face of Charlotte ‘Temple.

He soon found means to ingratiate himself with her companion, who was a French teacher at the school, and, at parting, slipped a letter he had purposely written, into Charlotte’s hand, and five guineas into that of Mademoiselle, who promised she would endeavour to bring her young charge into the field again the next evening.

Domestic Concerns

MR. Temple was the youngest son of a nobleman whose fortune was by no means adequate to the antiquity, grandeur, and I may add, pride of the family. He saw his elder brother made completely wretched by marrying a disagreeable woman, whose fortune helped to prop the sinking dignity of the house; and he beheld his sisters legally prostituted to old, decrepid men, whose titles gave them consequence in the eyes of the world, and whose affluence rendered them splendidly miserable. “I will not sacrifice internal happiness for outward shew,” said he: “I will seek Content; and, if I find her in a cottage, will embrace her with as much cordiality as I should if seated on a throne.”

Mr. Temple possessed a small estate of about five hundred pounds a year; and with that he resolved to preserve independence, to marry where the feelings of his heart should direct him, and to confine his expenses within the limits of his income. He had a heart open to every generous feeling of humanity, and a hand ready to dispense to those who wanted part of the blessings he enjoyed himself.

As he was universally known to be the friend of the unfortunate, his advice and bounty was frequently solicited; nor was it seldom that he sought out indigent merit, and raised it from obscurity, confining his own expenses within a very narrow compass.

“You are a benevolent fellow,” said a young officer to him one day; “and I have a great mind to give you a fine subject to exercise the goodness of your heart upon.”

“You cannot oblige me more,” said ‘Temple, “than to point out any way by which I can be serviceable to my fellow creatures.”

“Come along then,” said the young man, “we will go and visit a man who is not in so good a lodging as he deserves; and, were it not that he has an angel with him, who comforts and supports him, he must long since have sunk under his misfortunes.” The young man’s heart was too full to proceed; and Temple, unwilling to irritate his feelings by making further enquiries, followed him in silence, til they arrived at the Fleet prison.

The officer enquired for Captain Eldridge: a person led them up several pair of dirty stairs, and pointing to a door which led to a miserable, small apartment, said that was the Captain’s room, and retired.

The officer, whose name was Blakeney, tapped at the door, and was bid to enter by a voice melodiously soft. He opened the door, and discovered to Temple a scene which rivetted him to the spot with astonishment.

The apartment, though small, and bearing strong marks of poverty, was neat in the extreme. In an arm-chair, his head reclined upon his hand, his eyes fixed on a book which lay open before him, sat an aged man in a Lieutenant’s uniform, which, though threadbare, would sooner call a blush of shame into the face of those who could neglect real merit, than cause the hectic of confusion to glow on the cheeks of him who wore it.

Beside him sat a lovely creature busied in painting a fan mount. She was fair as the lily, but sorrow had nipped the rose in her cheek before it was half blown. Her eyes were blue; and her hair, which was light brown, was slightly confined under a plain muslin cap, tied round with a black ribbon; a white linen gown and plain lawn handkerchief composed the remainder of her dress; and in this simple attire, she was more irresistibly charming to such a heart as Temple’s, than she would have been, if adorned with all the splendor of a courtly belle.