I saw no other alternative than of escaping from their pursuits by suicide, or of being shut up in a prison.

"THIS NIGHT, SIR, WHICH I PASSED IN THE AGONIES OF SHAME AND DESPAIR, WITH DEATH ON ONE HAND, AND RUIN ON THE OTHER, OUGHT TO SERVE AS AN ETERNAL LESSON AND EXAMPLE. An honest and inoffensive man, whose only crime was his dependence upon slight hopes; this man, hitherto esteemed and honoured, in an easy and sure way to fortune, all on a sudden branded with infamy, condemned either to cease to live, or to live in disgrace, in exile, or in prison; discountenanced by his father-in-law, abandoned by his friends, no longer daring to appear abroad, and desirous of finding some solitary and inaccessible retreat that could conceal him from pursuit. It was in the midst of these horrible reflections, that I passed the longest of nights. Ah! the remembrance of it still makes me shudder! and neither my head nor my heart have yet recovered the shock I felt at this dreadful reverse of fortune. At last this long conflict having overcome my spirits, my exhausted strength sunk into a calm still more dreadful. I considered the depth of the abyss into which I had fallen; and I began to conceive the cool resolution of putting an end to my existence.

"Let me weigh," said I, "my last determination. IfI submit to be dragged to prison, I must perish there disgraced, without resource, and without hope. It is doubtless a thousand times better to get rid of an unsupportable life, and to throw myself upon the mercy of God, who will perhaps pardon me for not being able to survive misforfune combined with dishonour. My pistols were cocked, they lay on the table, and as I fixed my eyes upon them, nothing appeared to me at this moment more easy than to put an end to every thing. But, ah! how many villains

have done the same! How many worthless minds have possessed the same desperate courage! And what can wash away the blood in which I am going to imbrue my hands! Will my infamy be the less inscribed upon my tomb, if indeed I am allowed a tomb? And will my name, stigmatized by the laws, be buried with me? But what am I saying? Wretch that I am! I am thinking of the shame, but who is to expiate the guilt? I want to steal out of the world; but when I shall cease to exist, who will make restitution to those I have injured? Who will ask forgiveness for a young madman, the squanderer of wealth that was not his own? Ah, let me die, if I can no longer hope to regain that esteem which I have lost! But is it not possible, at my age, with labour and time, to repair the errors of my youth, and to obtain pardon for my misfortune? Then reflecting upon the resources that were left me, if I had the fortitude to contend with my ill fate, I fancied I saw at a distance my honour emerging from behind the cloud that had obscured it. I fancied I saw a plank placed at my feet to save me from shipwreck, and that I beheld a friendly port at hand ready to receive me. I retired into Holland; but before I set off, I wrote to my creditors, informed them that having given up all I had left in the world, I was still going to devote my whole life to labour for their benefit; and entreated them to have patience.

first care

"I landed at Amsterdam. On my arrival, my was to enquire who among the wealthy merchants of that city, was the man of the greatest character for honour and probity; and all agreeing in naming ODELMAN, I repaired to him.

"Sir," said I "a stranger persecuted by misfortune flies to you for refuge, and to ask you whether he must sink under its weight, or whether by dint of resolution and labour, he may be able to overcome it? I have no one to

patronize

patronize or be answerable for me. I hope in time, how. ever, to be my own security; and in the mean while, Len treat you to employ a man that has been educated with care, is not destitute of knowledge, and is of a willing disposition. ODELMAN, after having listened to, and surveyed me with attention, asked, who had recommended him to me?"The public opinion," said I. "On my arrival, 1 enquired for the wisest and best man among the citizens of Amsterdam, and you were unanimously named "

.

"He appeared much struck with a certain expression of spiritedness and frankness in my language and counte nance, which misfortune imparts to resolute minds, and which nature seems to have made the dignity of the un fortunate. He was discreet in his questions, and I was sincere, but reserved in my answers. In a word, without betraying myself, I said enough to remove his distrust; and prepossessed with a sentiment of esteem in my favour, he consented to put me to a trial, but without any fixed engagement. He soon perceived that there was not in his counting-house a man of more assiduity, nor more emulous of gaining information.

"OLIVER," said he, (for that was the only name I bad taken) "you have kept your word. Go on, I see you will suit me; we are formed for each other. There is one quarter of your first year's salary. I hope, and 1 foresee, that it will go on in a progressive increase."

"Ah! Sir, I, who had never in my life known the value of money, with what joy did I see myself master of the hundred ducats he had presented me with? With what care did I lay by the greater part of this sum? With what ar dour did I devote myself to that industry of which it was the fruits! And with what impatience did I wait for the other three quarters of my salary that were to increase this

treasure.

One

"One of the happiest days in my life was that on which I was able to remit to Paris the first hundred louis d'ors of my savings. When the receipt came back, I kissed the paper a hundred times, and bedewed it with my tears. I laid it upon my heart, and felt it like a balm applied to my wounds.

"Three years together I procured the same gratification. This gratification is now heightened; for my perquisites being augmented and joined to some gains, which I have acquired by commerce, double the amount of my savings. If this remittance has been tardy, I beg, Sir, you will notice, that the delay has been occasioned by the death of the only trusty correspondent I had at Paris, and henceforth, I hope, you will be so good as to supply his place. Alas! I may yet labour fifteen years before I can discharge all, but I am only five and thirty. At fifty I shall be free ; the wound in my y heart will be healed. A multitude of voices will proclaim my integrity; and I shall be able to return to my country with an unblushing countenance. Ah! Sir, how sweet and consolatory is the idea, that the esteem of my fellow citizens will be restored to grace my old age, and to crown my grey hairs.”

He had hardly finished speaking, when delighted at this exemplary probity, I embraced him, and assured him, that I never had met with a more excellent man than himself. This mark of my esteem affected him deeply, and he told me, with tears in his eyes, that he should never forget the consolation that accompanied my farewell.

His

When I arrived at Paris, I made his payments. creditors were desirous of knowing where he was, what he was doing, and what were his resources. Without explaining myself in that respect, I impressed them with the same good opinion of his integrity as I entertained myself, and dismissed them all well satisfied.

“Being one day at dinner with Monsieur NERVIN, my notary, one of his guests, on hearing me speak of my journey into Holland, asked me, with some degree of ill humour and contempt, whether I had never happened to meet with one OLIVER SALVARY in that country. As it was easy to recognize in his looks a sentiment of malevolence, I stood on my guard, and answered, "that my tour into Holland having been a mere party of pleasure, I had not had leisure to acquire information respecting the French that I might have seen there; but that through my connections, it would be very possible to get some account of the person he had named."—"No," said he, "it is not worth while. He has given me too much vexation already. He has sibly died of want or shame, as it was but fit he should. He would have done much better still, if he had died before he married my daughter, and brought himself to ruin. After that" continued he, "depend upon the fine promises which a young man makes you.-In eighteen months, fifty thousand crowns in debt; and, to complete the whole, exile, and disgrace!" Ah! Sir," "said he to the notary, "when you marry your daughter, be upon your guard. An insolvent and disgraced son-in-law is but a sorry piece of furniture."

66

pos

"Monsieur NERVIN asked him how it had happened, that so prudent a man as he had not foreseen and prevented these misfortunes ? "I did foresee them," replied D'AMENE, "and prevented them as far as I could; for the very day after my daughter's death, I took my measures, and, thank heaven, I have had the consolation of recovering her portion and personal property; but that is all I was able to save from the wreck, and I left nothing but the shattered remains for the rest of the creditors."

"It was with great difficulty that I could contain myself; but perceiving, after he was gone, the impression he

had