22 Sample of some Gentleman s Autobiography. 



ing with the chaise, as though I had on the seven-leagued boots of Hop 

 *o my Thumb, for a considerable distance, I ventured to cast off. Of course, 

 I fell forward with horrid force, but, firm to my purpose, crawled into a 

 bed of nettles by the road-side, before the tail of dust which followed 

 my vehicle had dissipated sufficiently to reveal me to my pursuers, who 

 soon passed by at such a rate that I really trembled for their safety j and not 

 without reason, for although my conveyance had broke through the toll- 

 taker's impediment, yet, from the influence of the shock, it had diverged 

 from the safety tract, locked close up, and come down with such a crash, 

 that it went to pieces like a dropped decanter. This I subsequently dis- 

 covered, for the dust prevented, not only me, but my pursuers, from seeing 

 the catastrophe ; nor was I aware that the latter, unable to check their 

 horses at the short notice afforded them of the fact, had been completely 

 bouleverses among the ruins of the trim-built vehicle, until I was conscious 

 that the roll of their wheels had ceased, and saw, on casting a glance down 

 the road, that the dust did not advance. 



Beaten as I had been by the landlord of the Redstart, abused by his 

 wife, robbed of my repeater, and hurt by my fall from the defunct 

 chaise, I of course felt quite incapable of rendering my prostrate friends 

 any relief, and consequently broke through the hedge, and made off at full 

 speed across a ploughed field in quest of assistance for myself. This it 

 was a matter of some difficulty to obtain, for the whole country seemed 

 on the alert to capture me. I was determined not to gratify them by a 

 surrender, for which I could have no other motive than to vindicate my 

 character from the calumnies, which I soon discovered had been cast upon 

 it : and these 1 thought it would not be dignified to treat otherwise than 

 with silent contempt. . 



Seeing a young reaper undress himself behind a bush on the banks of 

 a river, for the purpose of bathing, I felt a great inclination to plunge into 

 the cool and refreshing stream, and accordingly resolved to strip in the 

 spot which he had discreetly chosen, it being well sheltered from observa- 

 tion. Decency however prevented me from doing this, until he had half 

 crossed the river. I then threw off my clothes with enthusiastic haste, but 

 the cold air on my naked skin produced a complete reaction in my desires, 

 and recollecting that I was ignorant of the art of swimming, without 

 knowing which, to bathe in a river is boy's play, and even dangerous, I 

 re-clad myself, and strolled on. About two hours after, on turning Out of 

 a bye lane, I suddenly came upon mine host of the Redstart, dressed in his 

 Sunday clothes, mounted on a long-tailed cart-horse, and wearing a 

 blunderbuss. The rascal did not know me ! for, it seems, I had uncon- 

 sciously disguised myself in the reaper's clothes. Alarmed at so unprofit- 

 able an exchange of suits, I put my hand into the first pocket I could find, 

 and there, to my great delight and astonishment, I found my money ! 



A little after dark, while leaning against the door of a stable attached 

 to a road-side public-house, pondering upon my perplexities, the bolt or 

 latch started with my weight, and I entered. Closing the door behind me, 

 and fastening it as well as circumstances would permit, I crept into a stall; 

 this, however, I found inhabited by some prodigious animal, of which I 

 could literally make neither head nor tail, being unable, on account of its 

 height, to reach either. In the next stall, there was something equally 

 awful, and though not so high, nearly as huge, and, if possible, more 

 mysterious. It breathed as though its lungs were half a mile distant from 



