* 
 
 s--^ 
 
^ 
 
 THE 
 
 WILLIAM R. PERKINS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 Rare Books 
 
1 
 
* 
 
THE 
 
 AFFECTING HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 CAROLINE ; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 DISTRESSED WIDOW. 
 
 A TRUE TALF 
 
 i^' i 
 
 JlonDon : 
 
 Publjsbed by S. CARVALHO, 19, Castle Alley, WbiUchapel. 
 
 *-o}iKo« 
 
 SIXPENCE, 
 
 £. Billing, Printer, J 87, Bermondsey Street. 
 
«7t 
 
 CAROLINE ; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 MI STRESSED WIBOW, 
 
 MY father was a native of Scotland, of the noble fk- 
 raily of Doui^las. He was a younger brother of a 
 younger branch, and married very early in his life a young 
 woman as well born, and as indigent as himself. In 
 tlie year 1745, he was among those who joined the unfor- 
 tunate Charles-Edward ; and he fell at Culloden, leaving 
 uie then about twenty months ohl, and his wife, then not 
 more than seventeen, entirely dependant on the >)Ounty of 
 his father, and overwhelmed with tlie greatness of her ca- 
 lamity ; but when she held in her arms her unfortunate 
 orphan, the sole legacy and sole memorial of a man she 
 had fondly loved, she struggled against her unhappy desti- 
 ny, and for my sake attempted to live. 
 
 Though peace was at length restored to the wretched 
 country,' which had been too long the seat of devastation, 
 many families found themselves totally impoverished ; and 
 none had suffered more than my grandfather, who havin^^ 
 narrowly escaped with life, survived to lament the loss of 
 three brave sons, and to see great part of his property in 
 ashes. He lingered only a twelvemonth afterwards, and 
 
CAROLINE. 
 
 then sunk into the grave, leaving his small patrimony to 
 his only surviving son, who had himself a numerous fa- 
 mily. My mother saw, or fancied she saw, that he could 
 willingly have dispensed with any additional burthen ; and 
 she determined to go to England, where she hoped to be 
 received by a brother of her own who was settled in Lon- 
 don. Thither she conveyed herself and me in the cheapest 
 way she could, and was received by her brother (who had 
 sunk his illustrious birth for the convenience offered him 
 of becoming partner with a merchant) with kindness in- 
 deed ; but such kindness as a mind, narrowed by perpe- 
 tually contemplating riches, shews to the poor who are 
 dependant on them. His wife, by whose means his fortune 
 had been promoted, convinced him that his sister and her 
 child could not be commodiously received into his house. 
 Lodgings were however provided for her in the neighbour- 
 hood, and she boarded with her brother : but the second 
 month of her thus living was not passed, before the neg- 
 lect she felt from him, and the pride and ill-nature of his 
 wife, taught her to experience, in all its bitterness, the 
 misery of dependence. Born with very acute feelings, and 
 at an age when every sensibility is awake, ray mother found 
 this situation every day more insupportable. Yet whither 
 could she turn? She had neither knowledge of business, 
 nor any means of engaging in it. She had no acquaintance 
 in England, and not in the world any friend who had at 
 once the power and the will to assist her. 
 
 Almost the first circumstance which made any impres- 
 sion on my mind, was the agonies of passion with which 
 my mother clasped me to lier bosom, and wept over me, 
 while she called on the spirit of her departed Douglas to 
 behold the wretchedness of his widow and his orphan. 
 At that age, however, it is only a slight sketch now and 
 then of some violent passion, or striking circumstance, 
 that rests on the memory of an infant. I have no recol- 
 
CAROLINE. 
 
 lection of any thin^ else till the scene was greatly changed, 
 and, in my childlsli eyes, greatly amended. 
 
 It was summer, and though at that period the mercan- 
 tile inhabitants of London were less accustomed than they 
 now are to go to country villas, yet ray uncle, who was 
 growing rich, had one near Hammersmith, where he usu- 
 ally repaired with his family on Fridays, returning to town 
 again the beginning of the following week. The w6.ither 
 was uncommonly hot, and my mother, who was never of 
 these parties, but was left in London to share the dinner 
 of a solitary servant who took care of the house, fancied 
 that I had for many diiys droo[)ed for want of air; and a- 
 larmed by that idea, she took, after the family were gone, 
 an hackney coach, and oirected it to carrv her to the gate 
 of Hyde l^irk. 
 
 Though the sun was declining, it had yet so much 
 power, that in walking through the park with nie in her 
 arms, that I at La^^t might not suffer, she became ex- 
 tremely fatigued. She saw people going into Kensington 
 gardens; thither she went also; and to avoid obbervationj 
 betook herself to an unfrequented [)art of theiU; where, 
 quite overcome with bodily fatigue and mental an^-uish, 
 she threw herself on a seat, and, straining me to her bo- 
 som, began with a torrent of tears to lament, not so much 
 her own hard fate, as that which awaited t!^e infant of her 
 lost Douglas, whose name she frequently repeated, bro- 
 ken by the sobs and groans which a tiiousand tender re- 
 collections of him, and poignant fea)s for me, extorted 
 from her. From this delirium of fruitless sorrow she was 
 awakened by the appearance of a gentleman, of about ^ 
 thirty, who suddenly approached her, and enquired with 
 great politeness, yet with great warmth, whether her dis- 
 tress was of a nature which he could mitigate or remove? 
 
 Alarmed by this address from a stranger, my mother 
 arose, and making an effort to conquer her emotion and 
 conceal her tears, she thanked him in an hurried voice for 
 
CAROWNE, 
 
 hw politenesB, but assured hlra that she was merely fu- 
 tigued by the heat of the weather, and should now hasten 
 home. 
 
 He was not however to be so easily shaken off. If my 
 mother had at tiist biuJit struck hmi as u very beautiful 
 youfig woman, he was htill more ehurmed when she spoke, 
 and when amidat the confusion she whs under, he observed 
 as much unatf'ected modest)^ as imturfil elegance. It was 
 in vain that she intreuted him to leave her, and assured 
 him that she lived in a very distant part of the town with 
 a brother, into whose house she could not introduce a stran- 
 er, and that she should be otherwise much distressed by 
 
 is attention. He wouid not leave her; but taking me 
 
 up in his arms, he carried me out of the gardens, and then 
 delivering me to my mother, he ran towards the palace to 
 procure, as he said, a c^iach. My mother, who trembled 
 she knew not why, at the politf^ness she could not resent, 
 now hurried on in the hope of escaping from her new ac- 
 quaintance; but she had not proceeded an hundred paces 
 before he was again at her side, and ugain took me in his 
 •irir.s, and under pretence that there was no coach to be 
 had where he had been, but that one would probably be 
 met with if they walked on, he engaged her to proceed, 
 till a coach overtook tliem, not such as he pretended to 
 have sought, but one on which v/as an earl's coronet, and 
 the arms of Douglas, quartered with those of an illustri- 
 ous English family. 
 
 " Now," said he, stopping as it came up, ** here is a 
 carriage which shall convey you and this little cherub to 
 your home. You will not, 1 tnink, refuse me the honour 
 of accompanying you, that it may afterwards take me to 
 mine." 
 
 Again my mother urged every thing she could think of 
 to prevail upon her new friend to desist from a proof of 
 attention which could only distress her. He would hear 
 n^hing ; and the warmth of bis importunity forced her. 
 
CAROLINE. 
 
 m spite of every objection, to get into his coach, where he 
 seated me in her lap, and himself by her side. 
 
 He then attempted to quiet her fears, by entering into 
 discourse on the topics of the day; in which he exerted 
 himself so effectually, his manners were so easy and his 
 conversation so entertaining, that the agitation of her spirits 
 gradually subsided. The soothing voice of friendship, of 
 pity, of sympathy, which she had not heard for many, 
 many months, Hgain made its way to her heart; and when 
 he insensibly turned the discourse from less interesting 
 matters to her own condition, the tears flowed from her 
 eyes, softness pervaded her heart, and she confided to this 
 stranger, whom she had not yet known above an hour, 
 the unhappy uncertainty of her situation, the actual mi- 
 s ery she suffered herself, and the anguish which weighed 
 down her spirit when she reiiected she had no other por- 
 tion to bequeath ine than poverty, servitude, or perhaps 
 dependence, more bitter than either. In making this a- 
 vowal, she hud named her family, and that of her father. 
 
 " Yes," interrupted her protector, *' I heard, as t lis- 
 tened to you in the gardens, the name of Douglas. I am 
 myself of the race ; for my mother was a Douglas ; such 
 a circumstance added to the captivating beauty of the fair 
 mourner to whom I listened, made my curiosity invinci- 
 ble. Dangerous curiosity ! to gratify it, I have, I fear, 
 lost my peace." 
 
 Not to dwell too long on the recital, let me say that 
 this nobleman professed himself passionately in Iotc with 
 the yoang widow; and though she insisted on his giving 
 up so wild an idea, he declared before he left her that he 
 would by some means or other introduce himself to her 
 brother, since to live without seeing her was impossible. 
 It was with difficulty he was at length prevailed upon to 
 leave the house : and without extorting permission from 
 my mother, he was there again the next day, and every 
 day till the family returned ; after which he managed so 
 
CAROLINE. 
 
 adroitly, that m a few days he made himself acquaiflte^^ 
 with my uncle, and was in form invited to dinner; whilft' 
 neither himself or his wife at all suspected for whose sake 
 the acquaintance was so anxiously cultivated, but were 
 extremely elate at the notice which a man of rank took of 
 them, and the compliments he paid to the respectability 
 and intrinsic worth of men in business. 
 
 The attention however which he found himself obliged 
 to pay to the mistress of the house, and the few opportu- 
 nities of seeing or conversing with my mother, which this 
 rnethod of visiting allowed him, became ve-y uneasy to 
 him. And at length, after a long struggle with himself, 
 he determined to hazard telling her his real situation. He 
 probably knew that he had by this time secured such an 
 interest in her heart, that it was no longer in her power to 
 fly from him, whatever her honour might dictate. Hav- 
 ing with some difficult) obtained aii opportunity of speak- 
 ing io her, he told her, that he knew she must long have 
 seen his ardent and incurable passion; *' which perhaps," 
 continued he, " I ought mvertohave indulged; but a- 
 la^ ! irom the Urst moment I saw you, niy heart was your's ! 
 vhiie reason in vain coudemned me, and repeated the fa- 
 tal truth which vou must now hear. 1 am alrea<iy married 
 ■—I am not villain enough to attempt to deceive you ; but 
 listen to what I have to a<id in extenuation of my conduct^ 
 befo e \ou condemn me to dt spair." 
 
 The iijclignation with which my mother received this 
 acknowledgment, the attempts of her lover to appease 
 and soiten her, 1 need nt>t relate : having at length pre- 
 vailed on her to hear what he had to urge, he told her, 
 that to gratify his family he had, when little more thafit 
 tweiay, married the heiress ef a ricn and noble family ; 
 plain, and even deformed in her person, with a tempef 
 sfoured by ill health anci the consciousness of her own ina- 
 perfections, and with manners the most disgusting. Fof 
 «pwsrd» «^ three years he dragged oii a lil^ compktel^ 
 
CAROLINE. 
 
 wifetcbed with a woman whose malignity of temper tiead- 
 e'ned al! pity for her personal misfortune: at the end of 
 that period she was seized with tlie small pox, attended 
 with the worst symptoms : but the distemper acting on an 
 habit constitutionally bad, failed to deprive her of life, 
 which would have been a blessino^ to them both; but left 
 behind it violent eliptic fits, which, continuing with in- 
 creasing- violence for many months, had deprived her of 
 the slender share of reason she ever possessed, and threw 
 her at length into confirmed idiotism, in which state she had 
 invariably remained for tlie last six years. Thus situated, 
 he considered himself, though the fatal tie could not by 
 law be dissolved, as really unmarried, and at liberty to 
 ofter his heart to the lovely object who now possessed it, 
 though the cruel circumstance he had related made it un- 
 possible for him to ofter her that rank, in which it would 
 otherwise have been his ambition to have placed her, and 
 to which she would have done so much honour. 
 
 J was then in my mother's arms : he took me tenderly 
 in his, and said, '^ Intercede for me, lovely Caroline, with 
 your mother I Ah ! soften that dear, inexorable heart, and 
 tell her, that for your sake she should quit an abode ge 
 nnfit for j^ou both, and accept tlie protection of a man, 
 ifho will consider and provide for her Caroline as for a 
 child of his own." He then hurried away, leaving a pa- 
 per in which he had repeated all he had before said ; and 
 protesting that his fi^rst care should be to settle a fortune 
 on me. That evening, my uncle and his family, who had 
 been absent, returned, and it happened, that his wife, who 
 was always rude and unfeeling, treated my mother with 
 an unusual degree of asperity. Her brother too, whether 
 from accident or some mtelligence he had received of his 
 4ordsiiip's visits, spoke to her with great acrimony, re- 
 proached her with having been now above twelve months a 
 burthen to him, and advised her to try if she could not pro* 
 <i«rre a place as companion to a lady, or- governess in a 
 
10 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 famil}': addincr coldly, that lie would in that case take 
 care of me, and f)ut me out to nurse, till 1 wa^old enough 
 to procure a livelihood. 
 
 Honour and respect for the memorj'^ of her husband, 
 had made in the breast of my mother a struq:i>:le, which 
 this inhuman treatment rendered at once ineffectual. On 
 one side, affluence with the man whom she already loved, 
 more than she was aware of, and a certain provision forthe 
 infant on v\hom she doated, awaited her ; on the other, 
 poverty, dependence, and contempt : her child torn from 
 her, and herself sent to service. The contrast was too vio- 
 lent : she retired to her room, and without giving herself 
 time for reflection, wrote to Lord Pevensey, and the next 
 day quittini; her inhospitable and selfish relations, without 
 giving them any account of herself, she set out v/ith his 
 lordship for Paris. A servant was provided for me: all 
 that love and i'ortune could offer were lavished on her ; 
 and at an elegant house on the banks of the Seine she was 
 soon established ; with a splendor'which, however, served 
 not to make her happy. 
 
 Still conscious of tlie impropriety of her situation, she 
 could never conquer the melancholy that preyed on her 
 mind, though she sometimes thought, that to have the 
 daughter of Douglas educated and provided tor, as his 
 lordship's fondness educated and provided for me, was in 
 reality a greater proof of attachment to his memory than 
 she would have shewn had she suffered me to have remained 
 in the indigence and disgrace to which the penurious and 
 sordid temper of my uncle would have exposed me. The 
 two sons, whom she brought my lord, shared her tender- 
 ness without lessening it; and while the utmost care was 
 taken of their education, as soon as they were old enough 
 to receive instruction, I had the best masters which Paris 
 afforded ; and, with such advantages, almost every Euro- 
 pean language, at an early age, became familiar to me. 
 Lord Pevensey, who was as partial to me as if I had beea 
 
11 
 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 indeed hia daughter, and in whose fondnens for my mother, 
 time made no abatement, saw with pleasure the progress 
 Imade, and flattered himself that he should eHtahHsh me 
 happily, thouj^h the situation of my motlier (who though 
 she was treated in France with ^reat reupect, was well un- 
 derstood not to be the wife of Lord Pevensey,) was a very 
 unfavourable cirrumstance to me even in that country. 
 The world however called me handsome; and I had re- 
 ceived an education very different from that which is usu- 
 ally given to younj^ women in France. On the day on 
 which I completed my fourteenth year, lord Pevensey 
 came to me, as I was dressing for a little entertainment 
 which he had ordered on the occasion, and wished me joy 
 of my birth-day, he saluted me, and put into my hands 
 a bank note of a thousand pounds. *' Take it, my dear 
 Caroline," said he, "as a trifling testimony of my atfee- 
 tion for you. Use it for your smaller expenses, and be 
 assured that I will not ne^hct to make your future pros- 
 pects equal to the education you have received, and to 
 which you do so much honour," 
 
 I received this s>enerosity as I ought. Alas ! my bene- 
 factor went m a few weeks to England, and I saw him no 
 more. A strange presentment of evil hung over my mo* 
 ther, whose health had long been very uncertain. f>he 
 could not bear to take the last leave of his lordship ; and 
 he, who lived but to oblii^e her, still lingered, and delayed 
 his journey, till repeated letters from those who had the 
 care of his estates compelled him to detersnine on it. His 
 two sons one often, the other of eight years old, were by 
 this time at a public school in England, and he promised 
 to gratify my mother with the sight of them on his return, 
 which he said should be as soon as he could settle the affairs 
 which called him over. 
 
 When he was gone, however, my mother fell into a 
 deep melancholy; and as we Were almost alvviys alone to- 
 gether, she talked very frecjueatly of the incidents of her 
 
12 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 pa«;t life, related the particulars I have repeated to yon, 
 and asked me whether I could forgive her for havin;^ thus 
 been betrayed into a situation , which, whatever it might 
 be in the sight of heaven, would, in that of the world, 
 render mc Imble to eternal reproach, ft was in vain I con- 
 jured her to banish from her mind, reflections which served 
 only to destroy an health so precious to us all. Still they 
 recurred too often and her delicate constitution very visi- 
 bly sutTered. After lord Pevensey, who had been used 
 to write by every post, had been gone six weeks, his let- 
 ters suddenly ceased. My mother for some days flattered 
 herself, that it was merely owini^: to his being on his jour- 
 ney back ; but her hope gradually died away, and the" 
 most alarmint^ apprehensions succeeded — apprehensions 
 too well founded We were sitting together one morning, 
 when a sudden bustle of the fiervants in the anti-room sur- 
 prised us. I arose to enquire into the occasion of it, and» 
 on my opening the door, was shocked by the sioht of my 
 two brothers, and their tutor, who had been attempting 
 to prevent their sudden entrance. The poor boys on see- 
 ing me burst into tears, and exchiiming, " Oh ! Caroline ! 
 my father V* They rushed by me, and threw themselves into 
 the arms of their mother; who, wild with terror, had no 
 power to enquire, what indeed they soon told her. — *' Oh 
 mamma !" cried they, " our papa, our papa, our dear 
 papa is dead ! They have sent us here to you — they have 
 taken him from us, and every thins^ that was his !'* 
 
 The tutor, who highly respected my mother, now at- 
 tempted to take the children from her : but she held them 
 in her arms, while, with a look which I shall never forget, 
 and with the voice of piercing anguish, she enquired what 
 all this meant > The worthy man related, in a few words, 
 that lord Pevensey had been seized with a fever at one of 
 his country houses, where, after a few days illness, he 
 died : that his brother, who became heir to his title, had 
 instantly possessed himself of all his effects, and had di- 
 
13 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 rected the two boys to be taken immediately to France, 
 and to drop the name they had hitherto borne. With 
 reluctance the tutor added, that the prej<ent lord intended 
 in a tew days beino- at the house we inhabited, in order to 
 rc'ceive the jewels and other valuables which belonged to 
 his brother. 
 
 No tear fell from the eyes of the dear unhappy woman, 
 no sigh escaped her heart. She desired me to tranquillize 
 the poor boys (who still fondly cluni^ round her, weepinj^ 
 for their dead papa), and coinplainin«j that she suffered 
 great pain in her head, desired to be put to bed. I re- 
 mained by her, and endeavoured to excite her tears, while 
 mine flowed incessantly; but the greatness and suddenness 
 of the calamity overwhelmed her constitution, though it 
 still left to her mind strength enough to reflect on the 
 condition of her children. 
 
 *' Caroline," said she to me as I sat by her, *♦ I shall 
 probably be in a few hours reduced to that indigence, from 
 nhich, perhaps, it were better 1 had never been relieved. 
 But your brothers! for them, 1 sufl'er! The proceedings 
 of the present lord Pevensey leave me little reason to hope 
 that any will exists in Kngland which secures them the 
 ample provision their father designed for them. There 
 are, in a box which ray Lord left, several papers which 
 he told me were of consequence : but they will be taken 
 from me unless immediately secured. Send therefore for 
 Mr. Montgomery, and deliver to him that box." 
 
 She then gave me a direction to him. I had never seen 
 Mr. Montgomery, though he was a friend of my lord's. 
 I hastened to execute her commands ; he flew to the house 
 on receiving my message; and, instead of a man of biisi.. 
 !jess as I expected, 1 beheld a young man of about seven 
 and twenty, in the uniform of one of those Scottish regi- 
 ments which were received by the king of France, after their 
 master's affairs became irretrievable. He had been quar- 
 tered for some time in a remote province ; but being di?- 
 

 CAROLINE. 
 
 tandy related to, and highly esteemed by the late lord Pe- 
 vensey, he had con*itant]y corresponded with him, and 
 had been entrusted with his intentions relative to my 
 mother, my brothers, and myself. 
 
 1 cannot describe the person of Montgomery, Suffice 
 it to say, that his figure was even finer than that of his son, 
 who re^embles him extremely. . The warm and lively in- 
 terest he took for my mother, the manly tenderness whi'ch 
 he discovered, when he saw our distress, and the trouble 
 which he instantly undertook to encounter for us, were 
 powerful incentives for me to admire and esteem him. I 
 then thought him the noblest of human beings, and a few 
 days convinced me that he deserved all the partiality my 
 young heart had conceived for him. The new lord Pe- 
 vensey, who intended to have reached my mother's house 
 before she could have notice of his journey (and was pre- 
 vented. only by the zeal of the tutor who had the care of 
 my brothers), arrived on the third day after she had re- 
 ceived these fatal tidings. He was a man not much turned 
 of forty, but with a harsh and stern countenance, a 
 large heavy person, and a formal, cold manner. He 
 brought with liirn a lawyer from England, and engaged 
 another in France to accompany him to the house; where, 
 with very little certmony, he demanded of my mo- 
 ther all the jewels and etfects of his deceased brother. 
 Summoning all her resolution, and supported by Mont- 
 gomeiy, who never left her, she tried to go through this 
 dreadiul ceremony with some degree of fortitude. She 
 delivered, with trembling hands, a star, a sword set with 
 brilliants, and several other family jewels. She then o- 
 peneU a casket, in which her own were inclosed, and lord 
 Pevensey was taken them from tier, when Montgomery 
 intcifered, saying that they were lier's, and heshouldnot 
 sufter her lo part with them. 
 
 It would be tedious to relate the scenes which passed 
 between lord Pevensey, his laywer,aiid Montgomery ; who 
 
)5 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 finding it necessary, engaged lawyers on the part of my 
 mother. A will of the late Lord had been found among 
 the papers which she had put in the possession of Mont- 
 gomery, in which an annuity of eight hundred a year was 
 settled on my mother, and all his estates charged with the 
 payment of ten thousand pounds to each of my brothers, 
 and two to me. This ^ill the present lord disputed ; and 
 the contending parties prepared for law, the circumstance 
 of the case rendering it necessary that this contention 
 should be carried on as well in England as in France. 
 
 The spirits and health of ray mother gradually declined. 
 The friendship, the unwearied kindness of Montgomery, 
 alone supported her : but neither his attention or mine 
 could cure the malady of the mind, or bind up the wounds 
 of a broken heart. 
 
 I will not detain you with relating the various expedients 
 for accommodation, which were in the course of the first 
 month proposed by the relations of the family, who knew 
 the tenderness the late lord Pevensey had for my mother; 
 that he; considered her as hi« wife; and that her conduct 
 could not have been more unexceptionable had she really 
 been so. Still lingering in France, and still visiting an 
 house into which his cruelty had introduced great misery, 
 the proceedings of lord Pevensey wore a very extraordi- 
 nary appearance. My mother was now confined almost 
 inlirely to her room ; and Montgomery concealed from 
 her his uneasiness at what he remarked; but to me he 
 spoke more freely, and told me he was very sure his 
 lordship had other designs than he suffered immediate- 
 ly to appear. In a few days the truth of this conjec- 
 ture became evident. ] was alone in a small room at the 
 end of the house, where I had a harpsichord which I 
 had removed thither since my mother's illness. She was 
 asleep. Montgomery, on whom my imagination had long 
 been accustomed to dwell with inexpressible delight, had 
 been detained two days from us. Those days had appeared 
 
16 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 two ages to me : and his absence, combined with the un- 
 easiness of our situation, and the state of my mother*s 
 health, depressed my spirits, and I sought to sooth them 
 by music. A little melancholy air, which I often sung to 
 Montgomery, was before me, it expressed my feelings : 
 and I was lost in the pleasure of expressing them, when 
 the door from the garden open^, and lord Pevensey 
 stalked, in his formal manner, into the room. 
 
 I arose instantly from my seat; but he took my hand, 
 and, with an air of familiarity, bade me set down again. 
 Then drawing a chair close to me, he looked in my face, 
 and cried— *' Sweet Caroline! she will not refuse to sing 
 tome! She does not hate me, and will perhaps be the 
 lovely mediatrix who shall adjust all differences between 
 me and her mamma." 
 
 I cannot describe what I felt at that moment. The 
 monster endeavoured to argue with me; but, incapable of 
 hearing, I tried only to escape from him, when the door 
 was broke open with great force, and Montgomery burst 
 into the room; he flew at lord Pevensey, whom he pinion- 
 ed in a moment to the wainscot, but seeing me to all ap- 
 pearance dying on the floor, where i had fallen, he quitted 
 his adversary, and came to raise and re-assure me. Lord 
 Pevensey took this opportunity of departing; and we were 
 recalled from the delightful avowal of mutual passion, by 
 a message from my mother, whose servants had indiscreetly 
 told her what they knew of the affair. 
 
 A few days after lord Pevensey's visit, my mother, whose 
 health had been visibly declining; called me to her bed- 
 side, and I embraced that opportunity of acquainting her 
 of the declarations of Montgomery. " Yes, my dear 
 child," said she, " in his virtues you will realize a fortune, 
 and in his honour and courage protection." Montgomery 
 therefore procured a clergyman of the church of England, 
 who married us in her presence, and, to our great grief, about 
 a fortnight after my mother expired. Her death, though 
 
17 
 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 we had long expected it, yet threw me into a state of lan- 
 gour and dejection, from which I was roused, by hearing 
 that lord Pevensey, who had quitted France immediately 
 after his disgraceful dismission from the house, was re- 
 turned, and had determined to pursue, with all the eager- 
 ness that rage and hatred could ins| ire, the process by 
 which he hoped to deprive me and my brothers of our 
 legacies. Nor was this all, the personal affront he had 
 received from Montgomery he could not bear, and he sent 
 him a challenge, which Montgomery accepted ; but, to 
 evade the laws in France against duelling, the place where 
 they were to meet was fixed in the dominions of the pope. 
 Anxious to conceal this from me, Montgomery found a 
 pretence for his journey, and Providence yet preserved him. 
 He dMngerousiy wounded his adversary, and returned him- 
 self to me in safety, and a few days afterwards we received 
 from lord Pevensey, who believed himself dying, an ac- 
 knowledgment of the justice of my brothers' claims to the 
 provision made for them by their father, and an order to 
 his procurer at Paris to put an end to every suit depend- 
 ing against u$. . 
 
 A war was now raging with great violence between France 
 and England, and the regnnent, in which Montgomery 
 had a company, was ordered into Germany. I was de- 
 termined to accompany him; at first, his fears for my 
 safety made him resi^t my importunities, but at length he 
 consented, and I followed him residing wherever he was 
 encamped; and however horrid the scenes were to which 
 I thus became a witness, I feared nothing but for his life. 
 
 In a small village on the banks of the Weser, near the 
 camp of Mareschdl de Conrades, my dear Charles was 
 born: but he had not above six weeks blessed my eyes, 
 and those of his doting father, before that father went out 
 to the fatal field of Mmden. The English were victors, and 
 the servant, who had long attended on Montgomery, had 
 only time to tell me that he fell at the head of his company; 
 
18 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 his arm broken by a musket shot, and receiving a thrust 
 from a bayonet in the breast. That with a party of sol- 
 diers, he had attempted to bring his master off the field, 
 but they had been compelled to abandon the enterprize. 
 The English took possession of the village where I was, 
 but, fortunately for me, a young officer entered the 
 house where I remained with myi^nfant in my arms. I 
 demanded his protection, which he instantly granted, and 
 gave me a corporal's guard. The stupor of my grief be- 
 ing thus shaken off for a moment, I recollected that if I 
 suffered my myself to sink, my boy, deprived of the nou- 
 rishment which sustained him, would perish miserably. I 
 took the sustenance my servants offered me ; my mind 
 dwelling on a plan I had formed to avail myself of* the 
 generosity of the English officer, and to engage him to 
 assist me in the finding of Montgomery, whether living or 
 dead. It was late before this officer returned to me. He 
 seemed amazed at my design, and represented, in strong 
 terms, the terrifying circumstances attendant on such an 
 undertaking; but finding I was determined on the pur- 
 suit, he generously resolved to accompanj'^ me. 
 
 With my little boy in my arms, for 1 refused to leave 
 him, I went forth on this dreadful errand ; living bodies, 
 covered with ghastly wounds, from whom the wretches 
 who follow camps, were stripping their bloody garments, 
 affected me with such a sensation of sick horror, that I 
 was frequently on the point of fainting. We traversed the 
 bloody field, till my search seemed to be at length des- 
 perate, and my protector, entreated me to consider that 
 by longer perseverance, I should injure my own health, 
 and perhaps destroy my child, without the possibility of 
 being of the least use to the lost object of my affection. 
 The moon shone with great lustre, and just as he had a- 
 greed to indulge me with ten minutes longer, the rays of 
 the moon fell on something white, which glittered ex- 
 tremely. An impulse made me suddenly catch it up, it 
 
19 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 was part of the sleeve of a shirt, and in it was a button set 
 with brilliants, that had once belonged to lord Pevcnsey, 
 and which, as the diamonds surrounded a cypher, formed of 
 her hair, had been ^iven to Montgomery. This well known 
 memorial, though it convinced me of his death, yet revi- 
 ved the wretched hopes of finding his body, and animated 
 by this melancholy certSiuty, I more narroWly examined e- 
 very ghastly countenance near the spot, and at length, half 
 concealed by the blood that had flowed from his arm, 
 which which was thrown across his face, I discovered those 
 well known features so dear to my agonized heart I 
 threw myself on the ground, and in the wildness of my 
 phrenzy, protested that I would remain and perish with my 
 infant by the side of my husband. The young officer bore 
 with my extravagance, and with the most patient pity, 
 attempted to soolh and appease me, b^- calling off my 
 thoughts to the attention due to my child. But a new 
 idea had now struck me, I insisted upon it that my Montgo- 
 mery was not dead, and that 1 felt his heart palpitate. 
 My generous friend, in compliance to my entreaties, en- 
 quired into the reality of my hopes; and fancied that he 
 also found a slight pulse in tlie heart, and to satisfy me, 
 he directed the guard that followed us, to carry the body 
 to the village from whence we came. The body was no 
 sooner placed on a bed in the room I inhabited, than with 
 the assistance of the French maid, who attended me, I 
 washed the blood from the various wounds he had re- 
 ceived, and imagine my transports, when the surgeon, 
 who soon after arrived, declared that Montgomery was 
 not dead ! far, however, was he from pronouncing that he 
 would recover. It was full a week before Montgomery 
 recovered his recollection, and knew me, and his boy: he 
 continued however to mend, and at the end of five montlis, 
 having procured his exchange, we returned to Paris. The 
 extraordinary circumstance of his^ escape from death, as 
 well as his great military merit, procured hnn the no- 
 
20 
 CAROLINE. 
 
 tice of the king of France ; who gave him, with a pension, 
 the cross of St. Louis. 
 
 We now seemed to have nothing left to wish for, and 
 some years did indeed pass, during which ray fehcity 
 could hardly admit of increase, when a sudden illness 
 deprived me of the most beloved of husbands. As at his 
 death great part of his income ceased, I tried to procure 
 a commission for my son in the army, but after many 
 months of fatiguing and incessant applications, I quitted 
 France, and went to my own relations in Scotland, till I 
 could procure a cottage in which I have ever since lived 
 with my son, regretting nothing but that his talents and 
 virtues are lost to society. 
 
THE 
 
 J^EGRO. 
 
 AN AFFECTING TALE. 
 
 DEEP in the covert of a forest, on the coast of Gui- 
 nea, my father's cot was situate : retirement blessed 
 our home and the surrounding scene; the rising sun but 
 brightened to our happiness, and threw its last rays on 
 our peaceful repose. We employed ourselves alternately 
 in the chase and in cultivating those few productions which 
 we thought necessaiy to court from the hand of nature, 
 who, though smiling and serene in the surrounding woods, 
 was oft times turbulent and boisterous on the shelving 
 shore. 
 
 It was on one of those tempestuous nights, when the 
 fury of the winds was not solely confined to the sea, that 
 we were awakened from our slumber by the increasing jar 
 of the elements: we ventured to put forth our heads, and 
 found the woods much agitated by the conflict, the noise 
 of which struck terror to our hearts: it was near proving 
 fatal to an only sister, for she, poor girl, though of the sa- 
 ble colour of her brother, possessed a mind as innocent 
 as it was timorous. We, however, watched till morning 
 
22 
 i HE NKGRO. 
 
 and, fis it was an accident sometimes occurred, we be- 
 took ourselves to the sea-side, where the havoc of the 
 night presented to our ejes the remains of a vessel, which 
 had bulged against a rock, 
 
 Althouu,h in hopes of being enabled to have assisted any 
 unfortunate mariner chance might have saved from the 
 wreck, we were near quittin^: the yet turbulent scene, when 
 the groans of a human being struck upon oar ears: we at- 
 tentively watched from whence it came, and soon after we 
 discovered a poor white man, the waters had washed to 
 the cavity of a rock. VA'e lost no time in conveying him 
 to our hut, where our attentions, aided by the more assi- 
 duous care of my sister, soon restored the white man com- 
 pletely to himself. 
 
 But, alas ! from hence have I to date all the misfortunes 
 of myself and family. Ill-fated meeting ! Why did not 
 the angry waves swallow up this man also — why should 
 they again resign him to the earth, saved but to dis- 
 grace it ? In a short time I found he had gained an inte- 
 rest in Lilla's heart: she, poor girl, was not proof against 
 the wiles of a man born to be the disturber of her repose, 
 and she withheld not aught from him that could gratify 
 his disposition, the effects of which were but too soon visi- 
 in her person. 
 
 Even here all things might have been well: we united 
 them by those few ceremonies which the simplicity of our 
 lives alone demanded ; and we assisted the new-married 
 couple in forming an habitation for themselves. The hap- 
 piness of Lilla, however, lasted not long : the novelty of 
 this mode of life had lost its charms in the estimation of 
 the white man, and he no longer regarded her with that 
 seeming attention and fondness, which I have since seen so 
 often take place of reality. From indifference he proceeded 
 to ill usage; and probably, he deemed it his greatest 
 misfortune to be united to a girl of a colour diametrically 
 opposite to his own ; but in her sable boeom dwelt that 
 
25 
 THE NEGRO. 
 
 simplicity and good nature, not always to be met with in 
 that of the white man : in her's there was in truth no guile 
 — in his was implanted deceit, cruelty, — nay, worse, in- 
 gratitude. 
 
 At this time the white man frequently visited the sea- 
 side, where he would set for hours, watching incessantly 
 those billows that had borne him from his brethren : it 
 was in one of those moods that Lilla ventured to chide his 
 absence from his home, from his children, from herself; 
 the demon of despair had taken possession of him, and he 
 sought the life of her who had saved his own. Fleeing 
 from the rage of her ungrateful husband, she sought the 
 refuge of our cottage. 1 alone was there when the bleed- 
 ing form of my sister presented itself before me, and my 
 passions were roused to madness. At this moment the 
 enfuriated white man approached our door, still in pur- 
 suit of the unfortunate Lilla ; and my angry feelings 
 getting the better of my disposition, I aimed an unsuc- 
 cessful blow at the head of the pursuer. I saw him no more; 
 and a short time conrinced us he had fled the territority 
 of our tribe entirely, as our repeated inquiries could not 
 find him out. 
 
 We were already beginning to forget such a person had 
 existed (who would long ere that have been cast into ob- 
 livion, had not the pledges of his former attachment 
 continually crossed my Lilla's view) when one morning we 
 were surprized on being summoned by our tribe to a coun- 
 cil, which was to be held ere the commencement of an 
 approaching war.' A nation, which inhabited a distant part 
 of our country, coveted the fields and possessions which con- 
 tributed at once to our repose and nourishment, and they 
 hesitated not to demand a share in our native lands : a 
 battle ensued, in the midst of which I had the horror to 
 behold the former disturber of our peace. This rencoun- 
 ter, and the event of the day, left me no room to doubt 
 that he was the chief instigator of the combat: a combat. 
 
24 
 THE NKGRO. 
 
 that proved fatal to me and all that I held dear— for in 
 that day I lost my aged parent, and my not less regret- 
 ted tsister, who fain would follow to the field those whom 
 nature had allied to her. 
 
 Dreadful was the carnage of that day, as not even the 
 children of their Lilla escaped, who in vain sought refuge 
 in their mother's arms ; and she herself received her death 
 from the hands of her husband ! I alone escaped, like 
 the blighted plantain of the forest. Ere long, some 
 hundreds of my brethren were, with myself, conveyed to 
 the sea-side, where a vessel, as capacious as it was 
 loathsome, bore us away for ever from our native land. 
 
 After tossing about for many weeks on the briny ele- 
 ment, we were at length conveyed to some distant planta- 
 tions, barely alive. Alas ! why should I have escaped a- 
 mong the few who survived that sickening vo}age? Why- 
 enabled to undergo the cruelty and st^verity which daily- 
 marked our lives ? — But this is beyond thought, and poor 
 Sambo bows with submission to his fate. 
 
 I will not shock your ears by a repetition of the sangui- 
 nary scenes which too place during my unfortunate cap- 
 tivity; they would make humanity shudder, and increase 
 those tears which your tender hearts have already poured 
 forth. Ever awake to my degraded situation, and to the 
 hope of one day regaining my liberty, I only wailed a 
 convenient opportunity to effect it, which soon presented 
 itself. 
 
 The owner of the plantation to which I was so unfor- 
 tunately attached, was the same white man saved by my 
 family, and united to my sister. 1 found that he had 
 Ciii barked in one of his own ships to procure slaves on the 
 Coast of Africa, which, however, by angry heaven, was 
 not for that time permitted, as I have already related. 
 Meeting afterwards with some of his countrymen on a dif- 
 ferent part of the coast, he joined with them in setting 
 two tribes at war, and, succeeding in his diabolical scheme. 
 
25 
 THE NEGRO. 
 
 he purchased the prisoners made from our side, and con- 
 veyed them away. 
 
 It was on a similar scheme he embarked me and several 
 other slaves on board one of his ships. In a fortunate 
 moment however, when our cruel master and the white 
 men were asleep, we embraced the opportunity, and aided 
 each other in breaking our chains. Surprised in their 
 slumbers, they knew not how to make resistance, and we 
 were soon masters of the ship. My fellow-slaves hesitated 
 not immediately to commit our master to the roaring a- 
 byss beneath, where his life and his crimes were at once 
 terminated. Trusting to the winds, we soon reached this 
 shore, where we stranded the vessel, and sought refuge 
 in the country, not, however, without first liberating our 
 prisoners. 
 
 Fijsris. 
 
 Marsden, Printer, Culver Street, Colchester. 
 
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