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York, attired in the habit of a young lady, transported into Holland by one Captain Bamfield.

The Scots, in the mean time, being desirous to make even with their masters-to receive the wages of their iniquity-and get home in safety, with that spoil and plunder which they had gotten in their marching and remarching betwixt Tweed and Hereford, had not the patience to attend the leisure of any more voluntary surrendries. They, therefore, pressed the King to give order to the Marquesse of Ormond, in Ireland, and to all the Governours of his garrisons in England, to give up all the towns and castles which remained untaken, to such as should be appointed to receive them for the Houses of Parliament, assuring him that, otherwise, they neither could nor durst continue him in their protection. To this necessity he submitted, but found not such a general obedience to his commands as the Scots expected. For, not onely the Marquesse of Ormond, but many of the Governours of towns and castles, in England, considered him as being under a constraint, and speaking rather the sense of others than his own, upon which grounds they continued still upon their ' guard, in hope of better times or of better conditions.

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Nay," said I, hastily pushing him aside, “ do not tread upon it." "'Tis but a worm," he answered. "He who would tread upon a worm-but, no matter! you could not feel my reproof, were I to utter it." He had trodden upon it-I picked it up, and throwing it among the grass, which grew plentifully by the side of the path, "Go," said I, "thy little life may still be sweet, although that inconsiderate mortal has for the present embittered it.' I parted from my companion, and crossing the path, presently got into a pleasant lane, shaded on each side by a hedge, which was rendered fragrant by the occasional presence of the honeysuckle. At some distance, I perceived a man whose venerable aspect, even at the first glance, interested me considerably in his favour. He stood beside an aged oak-"Fit emblem of thyself," said I, internally, "the winter of thy days is come, no more gay spring shall see thee clothed in verdure-thy withered trunk, thus blasted and decayed, must bear the fury of the passing storm." Whilst I was indulging in this train of thought, a person of most elegant appearance passed, the poor old man bowed his feeble frame, and uncovering a head whose snowy whiteness might have infused pity into any human breast, humbly asked assistance; but the stranger, regardless of the tear which

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trembled in the old man's eye, passed on contemptuously, muttering, he had nothing to bestow in charity-nor much charity, thought I: heaven knows the heart, but I would not be the man you seem to be, though I might sway the world's sceptre.

I advanced to the old man; his look expressed the sorrow of his heart-it was not that sorrow which rises from disappointment-it was deeper felt; it showed, evidently, that those little organs of sensibility which twine around the heart of man, and blend themselves with his very existence, were lacerated; he preferred no request to me-he feared a repetition of the insult; but I at once relieved him from his fears, and putintg a trifle into his hand, passed on. I gave him but a trifle, but he gave me a world of thanks. I thought of the worm-" Poor soul!" cried I, "thou, too, hast been trampled on! the tender fibres of thy mind are torn: the feelings of the man are outraged!" There is a sort of self approbation in reflecting on the performance of a good action, which, if not indulged in to excess, is far from blameable. I might have felt it at that moment. I could not help drawing a comparison. How easily, thought I, might that man have contributed, from his abundance, to the relief of a fellow creature! How far superior is he, who, having but little of this world's good, yet, seeing distress in any shape, comes forward, cheerfully, to alleviate the-psha! psha! say no more about it-this is downright egotism!

W.

THE DUTCH ROBBER.

A narrative founded on facts, which occurred in Amsterdam in 1802.

Towards the close of the year 1801, there appeared at the pricipal coffee-houses in Amsterdam a stranger, calling himself Mr. M-t-n, who gave out that he was a native of Alexandria, in the United States, a capitalist, merchant, and ship-owner.

In person he was strongly built, and muscular; of the middle stature; his eyes grey, and his complexion fair; he seemed by his features to be about five-and-thirty years of age; though so comparatively young, his hair was grey; his features were coarse; his look sullen, suspicious, and downcast; he was expensively, rather than genteelly, dressed; his manners and conversation were decidedly vulgar.

There were at that period very few English travellers in Amsterdam; and the American merchants, captains of the ships, did not appear to recognize Mr. M-t-n as a countryman.

He lodged at a very respectable house on the side of the Amstel. In the course of his perambulations on the Bloem

Markt,* the Bucten Kant,† and the Plantagje,‡ he remarked and followed a very beautiful, neat, and innocent looking young girl, who attended the children of a wealthy and highly respectable merchant, named De H-n, who then dwelt in the Warmoesstraat.

It was long before the unprincipled voluptuarist found means to commence a conversation with this young creature; next, professing to have fallen desperately in love with her, he induced her to keep his assignations; he tempted her avarice, by an ostentatious display of wealth; he flattered her vanity, by pretending to adore her matchless beauty; and, lastly, under the promise of marriage, he induced her to quit the benevolent family by whom she had been fostered, and commit her future destiny to a man of whom she knew next to nothing.

The fatal source of the disgrace and misery which quickly overwhelmed the lovely, and till then the virtuous, Margaretta, arose from her thoughtlessness in suffering the addresses of a stranger, and in concealing from her friends and protectors the overtures he was making to her.

The unfortunate girl thought that her charms had captivated a wealthy foreign merchant, who would lift her from her humble station, and make her the equal of those whom she then served. A short space of time dispelled the illusion, and proved, that she had fallen into the hands of a character of the most wicked and desperate description.

The real name of the miscreant was W-n-n: he was born at Rotterdam, of honest but poor parentage.

At an early age he had addicted himself to bad company, and was sent to sea; he ran away from his ship, entered into the British navy, and, after serving two years, robbed an officer on whom he attended, and then deserted. Having no inclination to gain his living by honest industry, he commenced with petty depredations, in the outskirts of London; next associating with desperadoes, he joined in the commission of more important crimes he was frequently taken up and imprisoned; was tried for his life at the Old Bailey; but owing to some informality, he escaped conviction. His conduct, as a robber, was marked by peculiar ferocity and cruelty: the judge told him to beware how he appeared again at the bar as a criminal. Having acquired a competent kuowledge of the English tongue, he returned to his

The flower-market, near the Stadt-house, under a grove of lofty trees, upon the banks of the Amstel.

† A noble quay,

facing the river Y, and the harbour of Amsterdam.

‡ The Plantatim, a favourite promenade between the Weesep and the Utrecht ports. The above places are the most frequented of the many pleasant walks in the city of Amsterdam.

own country as an Englishman; where he addicted himself to bad company and bad courses.

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At a master shoemaker's in Amsterdam, he met by chance with a journeyman, whom he had known in London as a professed housebreaker. They recognized each other as staunch hands who were free from all compunctious visitings of conscience, and the fear of death. They commenced operations in Amsterdam; and several important burglaries occurred, which attracted much attention, from the boldness and dexterity with which they had been planned and executed.

M-t-n took lodgings at the house of Mr. M-s-n, an English master tailor, in whose care a sea captain had left a large chest full of valuable property; which, on the first opportunity that presented itself, the treacherous inmate carried off; and not that chest alone, but every thing portable and valuable belonging to the unsuspecting tradesman. The property stolen was worth. several hundred pounds: the robber got off to Brussels; but his English accomplice was suspected, and put into the cells of the Stadt-house. Circumstantial evidence made very strongly against him; but there being no direct proof of his having been accessary to the robbery, he was released, after a confinement of several months.

During this separation, M-t-n committed a most daring burglary in a rich farmer's house near Dordrecht, in South Holland. Meeting with resistance, he murdered the man into whose house he had broken; and then, with the utmost deliberation, completed the work of plunder soon after which he was apprehended, tried, and condemned to suffer death, by beheading with a sword.

Under the old government of the United Provinces, M―t-n would have been broken on the rack; but he avoided meeting his just deserts, by effecting an escape of the most difficult and perilous nature. The criminal possessed great bodily strength, the most determined courage, unshaken fortitude, and unwearied perseverance. Being thus far gifted with great qualities, and his only chance of life depending upon his success, he made exertions, and overcame difficulties, under the pressure of which almost any other mortal would have sunk.

As the fugitive was climbing the side of the canal which surrounds the prison in which he had been confined, a noise, occasioned by the falling of some loose earth, gave an alarm, and he was fired at by two centinels, but without being wounded. He continued swimming, and soon felt himself on terra firma. Being swift of foot, he made all possible haste towards the river side, which appeared impassable, being full of drift ice, and the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.

Weakened by the fatigues he had undergone, he found his pursuers gaining upon him: a cannon shot, fired from the fort,

announced that some prisoner had escaped. Before him rolled a mingled mass of ice, snow, and water, fearfully agitated by the storm; and close behind him were his pursuers.

Finding he could not reach the Maas' side without being overtaken, he halted, waited for the foremost of his pursuers, whom he soon disabled and disarmed; and again commencing his flight, gained the dike, and threw himself headlong upon a huge mass which the eddy had dashed upon the shore. Almost in an instant the mass separated, and the fugitive was seen by the second soldier, borne by the torrent far away upon the fragment of floating ice, sometimes above water; at others, overwhelmed by the flood; at last he disappeared, and it was fully believed he had perished; every one concluding it was impossible he could escape being drowned or dashed to pieces by the drift ice, with which the river was then full.

Contrary to every probability, the fugitive maintained his position on the fragment, till it grounded near Caltendracht, opposite to Rotterdam; where, miserably bruised, and half dead, he was thrown upon the shore. Slowly he recovered; and perceiving where he had been thrown by the torrent, he crept amongst a bed of tall rushes, where he lay concealed till nightfall. He then ventured out to procure a small quantity of brandy, and a little biscuit, which enabled him the better to bear those hardships; and on the second day after this wonderful escape, he reached Amsterdam, and received from his English accomplice a hearty welcome, and every assistance of which he stood in need. Instead of taking warning by the narrow escape he had experienced, the infatuated man seemed more than ever bent to support a luxurious and voluptuous life by rapine. The shoemaker acting as his scout, gave him intelligence of a lone widow, residing near Nimeguen, who kept a large property in money and jewels in her house; of which soon afterwards M-t-n deprived her: and it was with the proceeds of this burglary, that he obtained the means of assuming the character of an American merchant, and ship owner at Amsterdam.

Such was the real character and occupation of the stranger who seduced Margaretta - to forsake her benefactors; whose sorrow was unaffected, when they found that neither entreaty, advice, nor admonition, had the least effect in shaking the rash resolution she had taken.

Having prevailed upon the credulous girl to trust to his oaths and protestations of intended marriage, the miscreant hired expensively furnished lodgings in the Kalver-straat, at a linen draper's shop; where the victim of his artifices was received as his wife. She was soon decorated with costly and fashionable apparel; was taken to all the principal places of amusement; and wherever she appeared, her extraordinary beauty attracted general admiration.

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