''REMOVE THAT DANGEROUS WEAPON." 291 



never shall I find language to express what I feel. 

 Heaven is my witness. Your deed itself is your 

 glory, and may Heaven be your present and ever- 

 lasting reward.' 



" The Archbishop, much edified by this peroration, 

 was refusing the money, when the gentleman added : 



" ' My lord, I was the younger son of a w^ealthy 

 man. Your Grace knew him, I am sure. My name 



is . My marriage alienated the affection of my 



father, who left me to sorrow and penury. My dis- 

 tresses But your Grace already knows to what 



they drove me. A month since my brother died, a 

 bachelor and intestate. His fortune has passed to 

 me ; and I, spared and preserved by your goodness 

 from an ignominious death, am now the most 

 penitent, the most grateful of human beings.'" — 

 Percy Anecdotes, p. 64. 



It is a fortunate thing that the " Percy Anecdotes" 

 are in very small type, or these long-winded stories 

 would occupy volume after volume. This tale of the 

 Archbishop and this singularly timid and delicate-minded 

 highwayman, is extremely ludicrous. It is evident that 

 at the first encounter the highwayman was much more 

 frightened than his intended victim ; 1 dare say he 

 would have fainted had his pistol gone off by accident. 

 The idea of the Archbishop saying, " Remove that 

 dangerous weapon ! " is perfectly delicious ; it puts me 

 in mind of a burlesque, when some trembling fair one 

 wants to know if the sword will go off, and puts her 

 eye to the barrel of the villain's blunderbuss to see if it 

 is loaded. It must be remembered that it was with 

 trembling limbs he approached the Archbishop, and in 

 a faltering voice that he asked him to empty his 

 pockets. The way the venerable prelate tells him to 



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