Newspaper Page Text
i
VOL. IV.
M1LLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1823.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY,
fj y v. GR.iyTL.AXD te R.M. CMME,
(On Hancock st. between Wayne b Jefferson,)
(|Rl -DOLLARS, IN ADVANCE, OH KOCH
* BOLI-AIU Tl,K E XI'IU ATION O E THE
YEAR.
!\ T Advertisements conspicuously inserted
ft) the customary rntoi. Letters on business,
i„ »ll cases, must bn post rsin.
ROUGE ET NOIR.
« Could 1 forget
tviiet I have been, l might the better bear
\Vliht l mi destined to I'm not the first
That have been wretched—but to think how
much
i have been happier 1” SoUTHVRtf.
Never ahull I forget that accursed £7th
sfSeptember: il is burnt in upon the
tablet of my memory ; graven in letters
of blood upon my heart. I look back to
,t with a strangely compounded feeling
of horror and delight j of horror at the
Mark series of wretched days and sleep
less nights of which it was the fatal pre
cursor’; of delight at that previous ca
reer of tranquillity fo self-respect which
it was destined to terminate—alas, for
ever !
On that day I had been about a fort
night io Paris, and in passing through
ihe garden of the Palais Royal had stop
ped to admire the beautiful yet d'eau in
its centre, on which the sun beams were
falling so as to produce a small rainbow,
ivhcR l was accosted by my old friend
Jiaj. E of the Fusileers. After the
first surprises St salutations, U9 ho found
that the business of procuring apartments
end settling my family had prevented my
seeing many of the Parisian linns he of-
there w;,« a of lime numbered
compartments or pigeon holes, into one
of which it finally settled, when the
number was proclaimed aloud. Reside
this apparatus there was painted on the
green haze a table of various successive
uumbers, with divisions for odd and e-
ven, Sic. on which the players deposited
their various stakes. He who was in the
compartment of ilm proclaimed number
was a winner, and if he had singled out
that individual one, which of course was
of very rare occurrence, his deposit was
doubled I know not how many times.—
The odd or even declared their own
fate : they were lost or doubled. This
altar of chance had but few votaries,
and merely stopping a moment to ad
mire the handsome decorations of the
room we passed on into the next.
This, whispered my companion, for
there was a dead silence m the apart
ment, although the long table was on
tirely surrounded by people playing,—
this is only the silver room , you may
deposit here as low as a live franc, piece:
let us pass on to the next, where none
play but those who will risk bank notes
or gold. Casting a passing glance at
these comparatively humble gamesters,
who were, however, all too deeply ab
sorbed to move their eyes from the
cards, I followed mv conductor into the
sanctuary of the gilded Mammon.
Here was a Rouge elNoir table, ex
actly like the one l had just quitted. In
I urning to the window, I beheld the 1 will grant it me.”—“ most wiu'mgij. i
sun shining from the bright blue sky, rejoined, “ if it he in my power.”-—
the rain was over, the birds were sing-1 Live me then your pledge, never to play
mg in the trees, and the lenvi s flutter
ing in the wind ; the external gaietygiv-
ing the character of an appalling ant inte
rn* to the painful silence, immovable al
titudes, and spell bound looks of the care
worn figures within. One tnan, a Ger
man, was contending against a run of ill-
luck with a dogged obstinacy that was
obviously making deep inroads upon kis
purse and his peace ; for tho’ his face
was invisible from being bent over his
perforated card, the drops of perspirati
on standing upon his forehead betrayed
the inward agitation. All the losers
were struggling to suppress emotions
which still revealed themselves by the
working ot some disobedient tnuscle, the
compression of the lips, the sardonic
grin, or the glaring wrath of the eye ;
while the winners belied their assumed
indiflerence by flushed cheeks and an
expression of auxious triumph—two or
three forlorn operators, who had been
cleaned out, as the phrase is, and con
demned to idleness, were eying their
more fortunate neighbors with a leer of
malignant envy ; while the bankers and
their ass.stants, in the ertainty of their
profitable trade, exhibited a calm and
watchful cunning, though their features,
pale and sodden, betrayed the effect of
confinement, heated rooms, and midnight
figils. E informed me that the fre-
iis centre was a profuse display of gold! quenters of these houses were authoriz
ed himself as my Cicerone, proposing | |1)p dragon guards of this Hesperian fr
tha 1 we should begin by making the cir j An ob | ong sq , lare> |)ainted on cach
coit ol the building that surrounded us
With its history and the remarkable e-
vents of which it had been the scene 1
was already conversant; but of its de
tail and appropriation which, as he as
sured me, constituted its sole interest in
the eyes of the Parisians, I was com I
pletely ignorant.
After taking a cursory vie w of most of
the sights above ground in its multifari
ous pile, I was conducted to some of its
Subterraneous wonders,—to the Cafe du
Sauvage, where a man is hired for six
francs a night to personate that charac
ter, by beating a great drum with all the
grinning, ranting, and raving of a mad-
numerous orchestra is entirely compos
ed of blind men and women ; and to the
Cafe des Varietes, whose small theatre,
as well as its saloons and labyrinths, are
haunted by a set of Sirens not less dan
gerous than the nymphs who assailed
Ulysses. Emerging from these haunts,
v.e found that a heavy shower was fal
ling ; and while >ve paraded once more
the stone gallery, my friend suddenly
exclaimed, as his eye fell upon the num
bers of the houses—“ one hundred and
fifty-four !—positively we were going a-
tvay without visiting one of the ”
gaming houses was the meaning of the
term he employed, though he expressed
it by a word that the fashionable preach
er never mentioned to “ cars polite.”—
“ I have never yet entered,” said I, “ a
Pandsroovium of this 6ort, end I never
will •—I refrain from it upon principle ;
1 I’rincipiis obsta I am of Dr. John
son's temperament, I can practise absti
nence, but not temperance ; and every
body knows that prevention is better
than rare. “ Do you remember,” re
plied E “ what the same Dr. John
son said to Roswell— 1 My dear Sir,
clear your mind of cant 1 do not ask
you to play ; but you must have often
read, when you were a good little boy,
that ' Vice to be hated needs but to be
seen,’ and cannot have forgotten that the
Spartans sometimes made their slaves
drunk, and showed them to their chil
dren to inculcate sobriety. Love of vir
tue is best secured by a hatred of its op
posite ; to hate it you most see it ; be
sides, a man of the world should see e-
very thing.” “ But it is so disreputa
ble,” 1 rejoine I “ How completely
John Bullish!” exclaimed E . 11 Dis
reputable 1” why I am going to take you
1° an establishment recognised, regulat
ed, and taxed by the Government, the
Upholders of religion and social order,
n ho annually derive six mi li ions of
francs from this source of revenue ; and
us to the company, 1 promise you that
you shall encounter men of the first res-
Jier.tability, of all sects and parties, for
m France every one gambles at these
saloons,—except the devotees, and they
play at home.” He took my arm, and
I walked up stairs with him, merely eja
culating as we reached the door—“Mind,
J don't, play."
Entering an ante-room, we were re
ceived by two or three servants, who
took our sticks and hats, for which we
received tickets, and hy the number
suspended around l perceived that there
^ras a tolerably numerous attendance
Nothin. Roulette was the game to which
the first chamber was dedicated. In the
nu bile of a long green table was a cir-
Solsr excavation, resembling a large gilt
basin, in whose centre was a rotary ap
paratus, turning an ivory ball in a groove
which after sundry gyrations descend
e (i to the bottom of the basin where
in bowls and rouleaus, with thick piles
of bank notes, on either sides of which
sat a partner of the bank and an assistant,
uit.
each end
of the green table, exhibited three divi
sions, one for Rouge, another for Noir,
ed to call for refreshments of any de
scription, but no one availed himself of
the privilege ; the “ auri sacra fames,”
the pervading appetite of the place, had
swallowed up every other. The very
thought revolted me. What I eat and
drink in this arena of the hateful passi-
ajain.—“ Cheerfully,” continued I, for
1 bail already funned that resolution.—
•Site kissed me with many affectionate
thanks, adding that 1 had made her com
pletely happy. 1 believe it, for at that
moment 1 felt it so myself.
Many men who are candid and upright
in arguing with others, are the most
faithless and jesuitical of casuists in chop
ping logic with themselves. Let no one
trust his bead in a contest with the heart
—the fwmer, suppressing or pervert
ing whatever is disagreeable to the lat
ter, »dl assume a demure and sincere
conviction, while it has all along been
pl/ying booty, and furnishing weapons
tr its adversary. The will must be ho
nest if we wish the judgment to be so.—
A tormenting itch for following up my
good luck, as I termed it, get me upon
devising excuses for violating my pledge
to my wife, and no shuffling or quibbling
was too contemptible for my purpose.—
I hail prnmi-ed never to play again.—
” at that house," or if 1 had not actually
(aid so, I meant to say so : there could
be no forfeiture of my word therefore,
if 1 went to another. Miserable sophis
try ! yet, wretched as it was, it satisfi
ed my conscience for the moment,—so
easily is a weak man deluded.into cri
minal indulgence. Fortified with such
valid arguments, I made my debut at the
Salon des Etrangers, and after a two
hours silting, had the singular good luck
to return home a winner of nearly as
much as I had gained on the first day.—
Success for once made me moderate ;
in the humility of my prosperous play
and the centre was for the stakes of ons ; in this fatal room, from which ma
those who speculated upon the color ofj riy a suicide has rushed out to grasp the
the first and last card, with other rami-1 self-destroying pistol, or plunge into the
fications of the art which it would be te- darkness of the wave! in this room,
dious to describe. Not one of the chairs j which is denounced to heaven by the
around Ihe table was unoccupied, and
I observed that each banker, and as
sistant was provided with a ratcau, or
rake somewhat resembling a garden line,
several of which were also dispersed a-
bont, that the respective winners might
withdraw 'lie gold without the objecti
onable intervention of fingers. When
fiWe “oi b uiV l t , iSnf(pfs r ’7o(fif 1 c!■ nfre',"cnee
out—“ Le jeu est fait,” after which
nothing can be added or withdrawn ;
and then taking a packet of cards from
a basket full before him, he proceeds to
widow’s tears and the orphan’s maledic
tions ! Revolving these thoughts in m\
mind, 1 surveyed once more the faces
before me, and could not help exclaim-
tug, What a hideous study of human na
ture !
“ As we have employed so much
time,” said E “ in taking the lati-
varfous"p(iizzep, *ive shall be expected
to venture something : I will throw
down a Napoleon, as a sop to Cerberus,
and will then convoy you home.”—
11 Nay,” replied 1, “It was for tny in
deal. Thirty-one is the number of the structiou we came hither ; the less-on I
game ; the colour of the first card deter- j have received is well worth the money,
mines whether the first row be black or so put down this piece of gold, and let
red ; the dealer turns up till the num- j us begone.”—“ Let us at least wait
bers on the cards exceed thirty-one, | til we have lost it,” he resumed ; “and
when he lays down a second row in the tn the mean time we will take our pla
and whichever is nearest
same manner
to that amount is the winning row. If
both come to the same, he cries “ A-
pres,” and recommences with fresh
cards ; but if each division should turn
up thirty-one, the bank takes half of the
whole money deposited, as a forfeit from
the players. In this consists their cer
tain profit, which has been estimated at
10 per cent, upon the total stakes. If the
red loses, the banker on that side rakes
all the deposits into his treasury ; if it
wins, he throws down the number of
Napoleons or notes necessary to cover
the lodgments made by the players, each
one of whom rakes off his prize, or
leaves it for a fresh venture. E
explained to me the functions of the dif
ferent members of the establisment—the
inspector, the croupier, the tailleur, the
Messieurs de la chambre, foe. and also
the meaning of the ruled card and pins
which every one held before him. con
sulting it with the greatest intenseness,
and occasionally calling to the people in
attendance for a fresh supply. This ho
roscope was divided by perpendicular
lines into columns, headed with an alter
tiatn R. and N. for Rouge and Noir, and
Ihe pin is employed to perforate the
card as each color wins, as a ground
work for establishing some calculation in
that elaborate delusion termed the doc
trine ofChanc.es. Some having several
of these records before them closely
pierced all over, were summing up the
results upon paper, as if determined to
play a game of chance without leaving
any thing to hazard ; and none seemed
willing to adventure without having
some species of sanction from these Si
bylline leaves.
An involuntary sickness and loathing
of heart came over uie as 1 contemplat
ed this scene, and observed the sofas in
an adjoining room, which the Parisians,
who turn every thing into a joke, Ii.itc
christened “ the hospital for the wound
ed.” There, thought 1, to myself, ma
ny a wretch has throw n himself down in
anguish and despair of soul, cursing him
self and the world with fearful impreca
tions, or blaspheming in that silent bit
terness of spirit which is more terrific
tl i in word.-;. I contrasted the gaudy de
corations and pannelled mirrors that sur
rounded me with the smoky and black
ened ceiling, sail evidence of the noc
turnal lamps lighted up at the shrine of
this Baal, and of Ihe unhallowed worship
prosecuted through the livelong night.
I t.i.hvaya keen a believer in sud*
non and irresistable impulses, an idea
which will no! appear t idictilous to those
who are conversant with the records of
crime. A portrait of Sarah Malcolm,
the murderess, which I had seen many
years ago in the possession of Lord Mul-
grave, leading me to the perusal offer
trial and execution in the Newgate Ca
lendar, induced me to give perfect cre
dit to the avertment, that the idea of the
crime came suddenly into her head with
out the least solicitation, and that she
felt driven forward to its accomplishment
hy some invisible power. Suiilar de
clarations from many other often iters of
fer abundant confirmation of the same
fart ; and it will in the recollection of
many, that the murderer of Mr. and Mrs.
Bonar at Chiselhurst, repeatedly declar
ed that he had never dreamt of the enor
mity ten minutes before its commissipn,
but that the thought suddenly rushed
into his uund, aud pushed him foi ward
to the bloody deed. Many people can
not took over a precipice without feeling
tempted to throw themselves down : 1
know a most affectionate father who ne
ver approaches a window with his in
fant child without being haunted hy so
licitations to ca-t it into the street ; aud
a gentleman of unimpeachable honor,
who if he happens, in walking the. high
way, to see a note case or hadkerthief
emerging from a passenger’s pocket, is
obliged to stop short or cross over the
iy become the greatest blessings of our ! way, so vehemently does he feel impel-
hfe.” | led to withdraw them. These “ toys of
No reproach ever passed her lips, or j desperation,” generated in the giddiness
lingered in her eye : nor did 1 fail to ub- i of the mind at the bare imagination of a-
serve the delicacy which, mingling up I ny horror, drive it to commit the reality
her own late with mine, strove to soothe I as a rebel from the fearful vision, upon
| my leeltng, by disguising my individual | 'he same principle that delinquents vol-
aud by ueing knaves ; and 1 am about to
confirm it by an avowal to which nothing
should have impelled me but the hope
of deterring others by an exposure of
my own delinquency, A female relation
hud remitted me seven hundred pounds
to purchase into the French funds, with
which sum in my pocket I unfortunately
called at the Salon des E;rangers in my
way to Ihe stock broker's, and my evil
geniues suggesting to me that there was
a glorious opportunity of recovering my
heavy losses, 1 snatched the notes from
my pocket, threw them on the table just
before the dealer began—and lost I Stun
ned by the blow, 1 went home in a state
ol calm despair, communicated the whole
to my wife in as few words as possible,
and ended by declaring that she was a
beggar, and her husband disgraced for
ever. “Not yet, iny dear Charles,”
replied the generous woman, her eyes
beaming with an afiectionute forgive
ness : “ not yet ; we may still exclaim
with the French King after the battle ot
Faria, we have lost every thing but one
honour ; and, while we retain that, our
losses are but as u grain of sand. We
may be depressed by fortune, but we
ca i only be disgraced by ourselves. As
to Hus seven hundred pounds—take rat
jewels—they will sell for more than is
required ; aud it our pre-eut misfortunes
induce you to fly from Paris, and aban
don this lat.il pursuit, thpy will assured-
I resolved only to continue till I had
won ten thousand pounds, when I would i guilt under tlie clo .k of a joint mi-fur
ces at the table. I felt that I blushed
as 1 sat down, and was about to deposite
my ottering hap-hazard, when my com
panion stopped my hand, and, borrowing
a perforated card, bade me remark, that
the red and black had ztg zagged,
won alternately for fourteen times ; and
that there had subsequently been a long
run upon the black, which would now
probably cross over to the other colour,
from all which premises he deduced that
I should venture upon the red : which
1 accordingly did. Sir Balaam’s devil
who “ now tempts by making rich, not
making poor,” was, I verily believe,
hovering over my devoted head at that
instant; my deposit was doubled, and 1
was preparing to decamp with my two
Naps, when my adviser insisted upon
my not balking my luck, as there would
probably Le a run upon the red, and I
suffered my stake to remain, and go on
doubling until I had won ten or twelve
times in succession. “ Now,” cried
E , “ 1 should advise you to pocket
the affront, and be satisfied.” Adopting
his counsel, I could hardly belive his as
sertion, or my own eyes, when he hand
ed me over
communicate my adventures to my wife
with a solemn abjuration of the pursuit
in future ; and as 1 considered my sell tu
possession of the certain secret of win
ning whatever 1 pleased, I took credit to
myself for my extreme moderation.—
From Frascati, the scene of my third at
tempt, by a lucky, or rather unlusky fa
tality, which my subsequent experience
only renders the more wonderful, I re
tired with a sum exceeding the whole of
my previous profits, when, like the ti
ger, who is rendered insatiate by the
non-, for iai^. 1
penting the paltry limitation of the day
before, determined on proceeding until
1 had doubled its amount. Another day’s
luck, und even this would have been
spurned, for neither Johnson's Sir Epi
cure Mammon, nor Massieger’s Luke,
nor Rope's Sir Balaam, underwent a
more rapid developement of the latent
devils of ambition. Indistinct visions of
grandeur floated before my eyes ; my
senses already seemed to be steeped in
a vague magnificence ; and after hesitat
ing, in a sort of waking dream, between
Wangled House and Foutlull, one of
which I held to be too near, and the o-
ther too distant from London, I dwelt
complacently on the idea of building
tune. Noble minded woman! M.zen-
tius himself could not liaie devised a
more cruel late than to lie thee to a soul
so dead to shame, and so defunct in gra
titude as mine !
Will not the reader lothe and detest
me, even worse than 1 do myself, when
1 inform him, that in return for all tins
magnanimity 1 had the detestable base-
uess to linger iu Baris, to haunt the gam
bling table, to venture the wretched
drainings of my purse in the silver room,
ailiM 6 ' 1 .:'*! blJI row*** • 1 ,
untanly deliver themselves op to justice,
because death itsell is lets intolerable
than the fear of it. Let it not be ima
gined that 1 am seeking to screen any of
these unhappy men from the consequen
ces of their hallucination ; 1 am merely
asserting a singular property of the mind,
of which 1 myself am about to record a
frightful confirmation.
Standing on the bridge, and turning a-
way my looks from the landscape in that
despair of heart which 1 have described,
my down cast eyes fell upon the wa-
• eemed to invite mo to quencTfihe JillTi-
deeming, and to submit tamely to the in- I the river whispered to me with a distinct
dignity of palpable cuts from my acquain-1 utterance that peace and oblivion were
tance in the public streets '! From fre- j to be found in its Lethean bed : -every
queutly encountering at the saloons, I had ! muscle of my body was animated by an
formed a slight friendship with Lord instant anil insuperable impulse; and
1’ Lord L , Sir G \V , within half a minute from it- first tnad-
Col 1 , and particularly with poor j dening sensation, I had climbed over the
S f, before he had consummated the | parapet, and plunged headlong into the
ruin of his hue fortune, and debilitated | water ! The gushing of waves in my
Ins frame by paralysis brought on by ears, and the rapid flashing of innutnera-
anxiety ; and 1 was upon terms of inti- j hie lights before my eyes,are the last ini-
inacy with others of my countrymen,! pressions I recollect Into the circurn-
wbo with various success, but much | stances of my presenation I never had
more ample means than myself were the heart to enquire; when consciousness
making offering to the dtemon of Roque revi-iled me, 1 lound myself lying upon
let JVoir. Should this brief memoir tall m y own bed with my wife weeping be-
beneath the ey e of any of my quondam j ir -e, though she instantly assumed a
mansion at some intermediate station,! friends, they may not impossibly derive cbeerlul look, and told me that 1 had
which should surpass the splendor of I benefit from its perusal; at ail events j met with a dreadful accident, having l'a|-
they may be pleased to know that I have
not forgotten their kindnesses. 1 am
aware that ! abused their assistance and
wore out their patience ; but I never
anticipated the horror to which the ex
hauelion of my own means, and the ina
jbility to extort more from others, would
both. Sleep presenting to me the same
images thro’ a magnifying glass, I went
forth next morning to the accomplish
ment of my destiny with an exultation of
mind little short of delirium.
Week and wicked reveries !—a sin
gle turn of Fortune’s wheel reduced me,
not to reason, but to an opposite extreme | reduce, me. I he anguisn ol my losses,
of mortification and despondence. A lhe Misery of my degradation, the agony
run of ill luck swept aw ay iu one hour H m,[lcl ' mh ' vllic h 1 reflected upon my
more than hall my gains, and unfortu- 1 impoverished wife and family, were no-
nntely losing my temper still Lister than j ,llin g> absolutely nothing, compared to
my money, l kept doubling tny stakes lhe rack,n 8 torment ol being compelled
in the blindness of my rage, and quitted *° refrain Irom gambling. It sounds in
Hie table at night, not only lightened of credible, but it is strictly H ue. To sit
all my suddenly acquired wealth but
loser of a considerable sum besides. I
could now judge by experience of the
bitterness of soul that l had lately in
bank notes to the amount I dieted upon those who had lost what i
had won, and inwardly cursed the pur
suit whose gratifications could only spring
from the miseries of others But so far
from abandoning this inevitable
of twenty thousand francs, observing that
l had made a tolerably successful debut
for a beginner.
Returning home in some perturbation
and astonishment of mind, 1 resolved to
| prepare a little surprise for tny wife ;
and spreading the bank notes upon the
table with as much display as possible, I
told her, upon her entering the room,
how I had won them ; and enquiring
whether Aladdin with his wonderful
lamp could have spent two or three
hours more profitably, I stated my in
tention of appropriating a portion of it
to her use in the purchase of a handsome by an inward fire which nothing could
birth day present. In a moment the allay. Alas! not even poverty and the
tiiood rushed to her face, and as quickly j iiant of materials could quench it I..
receded, lcnving it of nn n-tiy paleness, t my career ot prosperity, 1 felt oot Ihe
of wretchedness, I felt as if i had been I my moral degradation and utter prostra
defrauded of my just property, and burnt tion of character, with a fidelity worthy
with the desire of (tilting my revenge. | ol Rousseau himself, and 1 feel ii a duty
revenge.
The heart sickening detail of my infir
mily, my reverses, and my misery, need
no; be followed up. Suffice it to say,
that a passion, a fury, an actual phrenzy
en into the river when leaning ovei to
examine some object beneath. That
she knows the whole truth 1 am perfect
ly convinced, hut we scrupulously avoid
the subject, by an understood, though
unexpressed compact. It is added in
her mind to the long catalogue of my of
fences, never to be alluded to,and, alas;
never to be forgotten. She left my bed
side for a moment to return with my
children, who rushed up to me with a
cry of joy ; and as they contended for
the first kiss, and enquired my health
with glistening eyes, the cruelty, the a-
trocity of mv cowardly attempt struck
with a witheiing remorse upon my heart.
O villain ! villain !
C L
SIR CHARLES ASGILL.
Died, in England, General Sir Charles As-
gill, halt, aged about 70. 1. will he recol
lected, that this officer, when a Captain and
a prisoner to Ihe American arms in the war
of the revolution, was designated, by lot, to
he executed in retaliation lor the barbarous
execution of C.ipt. Lippencot, of the Ame
rican army, hy the British army iu New-
Yurk, in case tile murderers of the American
sure. After a night passed in the slate ofi C !‘ 1 '“ u 1 ,n ' v, re »•* S'™" “P» or l>uni-lied. It
■ it n „:e: . will also he recollected, that the de ay of the
mind I have been uescrihimr m one nil ’ -
at the table with empty pockets and sec
others [flaying, was absolutely insup
portable. 1 enviei! even the heaviest
losers—could 1 have found an antagonist,
1 would have gambled for an eye, an arm,
a leg, for 'life itsalt. A thousand devils
seemed to be gnawing at my heart—I be
lieve i was mad—1 even hope I was.
Yes ; 1 have tasked myself to detail
not to shrink from my complete expo-
when she spurned the notes from her
exclaiming with a solmn terror—“ I
would as soon touch the forty pieces of
-ilver for which Judas betrayed his mus
ter.” Her penetrating head instantly
saw the danger to w hich 1 had exposed
mysell, anil her fond heart as quickly
gave the alarm to her feelings ;—but in
a lew seconds she threw her arms a-
round me and ejaculated as the tears ran
down her check — “ Forgive me, my
dear Charles, pardon tny vehemence,
rny ingratitude ; I have a present to ark,
a boon to implore—promise that joq
fruad 1 was practising upon my wife, for
1 meant to make my peace with ten or
twenty thousand pounds in my hand, arid
a sincere renunciation of gaming in tny
heart ; but now that 1 was bringing ruin
upon her and my children, the sense of
my falsehood and treachery embittering
the anguish ot my losses, plunged me
into an unutterable remorse and agony
of soul. Still 1 w anted courage to make
the fatal revelation, and at last only im
parted it to her in the cowardice of im
pending disgrace.
burning brain by the heavy shower that
was then falling. As the drijh—— 1 tln-r. - .-ty-
, iii nt> '- ng ’ 00G , °) 1 execution was owing to promises on the
„ those haunts w hich I w as justly entitled L ai t of the British General to seek out and
of play, absorbed every faculty ol my to denominate a hell, 1 wandered out at punish the authors or the outrage ; that the
sou! ; mine was wnr-e than a Prome- day break towards the Pont de Jena, as j perilous situation ofCapl. Asgill occasion-
thian fate ; 1 was gnawed and devoured if I could cool my parched lips and I «'d a great sensation in England, France,
and ail Europe ; and that his agonized mo-
A.i^ill, lepalrctl to Paris, aud
, _ - , • 1 ppliealeil the beautiful, Maria Antoinette,
tiua passed me on their market horses,' -- ■ • ' -
singing and whistling, their happiness,
seeming to me a mockery of my wretch
edness, filled me with a malignant rage.
By the time I had reached the bridge,
the rain had ceased, the rising sun,
glancing upon the river, threw a bloom
over the woods in the direction of .Sevres
Madame Dtshouliergs says very tru- !nese and despair ofsopl
of France, (one of ihe best friends America
then had in Europe) to interpose her pow-
I hi ful solicitation to our great Cominandcr-
I m-Chief, to revoke his order, and liberate
j the devoted officer ; and that the petition of
; Lady Asgill to the Queen was considered
to be one of the most path 1 ' 1 h in
| the English l.mgoa"- interposition of
the Queen and of m; ny others, were receiv-
anu ot. C loud, and the birds w ere piping i , ( | l y Gen. Washinuton, it R well known,
in the air. Ever a passionate admirer | >< iib the respect they merited , bm a i» e -
of Nature, her charms stole me for a'qually well known, that ,my had no effect
moment from myself, but presently my| ,m b|M K l ' , ‘ a| mind n divert him for a mo-
thoughls reverting from the heaven with- i " 1 “ nt ( f "’ m ,,i ’' (‘'bl- resolution to put a
. f . ,, , stop to tin* enormities of the enemy; and
out to the hell withtn, I gnashed my I h „ |lM1[ld _ as , ie djll flnd _. th V t tiie
teeth, nnJ fell hack into a double bitter- | nM1 j M( i „f the enemy had been wholly clian-
I gi-db^' the measure be bad adopted, and