But, before my embarkation, I went on one of my usual rambles to take leave of my father and mother, and the rest of our family, with all the relations whom I could visit in the neighbourhood. I had appointed the watering place before mentioned, seventy-six miles from London, as my head quarters, whither I had requested all communications to be sent to me.-I had returned one evening much fatigued, and retired to bed early: I had scarcely dozed when I was alarmed with what appeared to be like the drawing of my curtains, at the foot of my bed. I raised myself and saw, or thought I saw (no matter which) the figure of my wife's father, who immediately bade me adieu, and vanished. There was no lighted candle or lamp in the room; yet, in spite of every thing that can be said to the contrary, I declare solemnly, appealing to my God for the truth, that a something, bearing exactly the appearance of the Rev. Dr. Porter, in his usual dress, appeared, or seemed to appear, at the foot of my bed, as plainly as I ever witnessed man.

After a restless and distracted, sleepless night, I arose at daybreak, and tried, by every mental and physical exertion, to remove the impression made-in vain. Having walked about for an hour or two, endeavouring to invigorate my mind with the pure air, and correct what I then thought an erring imagination, by the contemplation of the beauties of nature, without effect; I determined to commit my feelings to a letter, and ascertain the correctness or impropriety of them. I did so, informing a cousin of my conviction that my wife's father was dead. This letter I put into the postoffice before ten o'clock. About four o'clock in the af

ternoon I received a letter informing me that Dr. Porter had died suddenly the night before: he had met in the street a friend, who informed him that he had seen in one of the papers a paragraph mentioning that Mr. · Fennell had engaged with Mr. Wignell to embark for America. Dr. Porter procured the paper, and proceeded immediately to my wife's sister, to inquire respecting the truth of the report: she was from home, and he, on being so informed, with the show of considerable impatience, left the house. He went home; the next morning sent for a notary; altered his will, left my wife one shilling, and died in the evening suddenly, in a chair, while on a visit at á neighbour's house, and at the moment when I thought I saw him, being seventysix miles from London.

Having made the necessary arrangements for my wife and child, I embarked for America. Having received our pilot off Sandy Hook in the evening, he declined taking the ship to Newyork that night, and we anchored. Anxious to see the new world, I arose at daybreak, and watching the rising of the sun, perceived that it was partially eclipsed. Some wild ideas floated on the surface of my imagination at the moment; but a sight more beautiful than any I had before beheld presented itself, the surrounding country, the narrows, and the city of Newyork, the former residence of my father, seen through them, absorbed each faculty in silent admiration. I landed, and being bound to Philadelphia, went immediately to the coffee-house to take my place in the stage; when the bar-keeper observed to me, that he perceived I was a stranger, and therefore thought it his duty to caution me against

going to Philadelphia, as the plague was raging there, and the inhabitants were dying at the rate of one hundred a day. I paused a moment at the information, and then took a walk about the town to consider what was best to be done; I reflected that I had but two guineas and a few dollars in my pocket; that my drafts were on Philadelphia; that it was my duty to go there; and, trusting to Providence for my safety, I set off, and was the only one in the stage on its entering Philadelphia. I immediately inquired for the persons to whom I had letters, and could find only Mr. R nagle, the partner of Mr. Wignell. The city was nearly deserted by its original inhabitants, but there had been a sudden influx of French fugitives from St. Domingo. Finding that no business was likely to be done for some time in what I then intended as my regular profession, I easily! introduced myself to the French gentlemen who were desirous of being acquainted with the English language, and formed an agreeable society of twelve, who paid me a guinea, each for entrance, and the same for twelve lessons. I fortunately succeeded so well as to gain the respect, and afterwards the friendship of all. I was proceeding in this occupation, fearless of the yellow fever, although the general cry was

"Urbem destituit salus

Crescun que pestes; damna ruentibus
Arcete rebus, qui potestis

Et medici tueantur orbis

Fines minores;"

when sitting one day at Mr. Morris's, Mr. Wignell knocked at the door, and was introduced; he had just arrived in the George Barclay, captain Collet, with a

company of performers, consisting of fifty-six, men, women, and children. The ship had been anchored at Gloucester point. He censured me for having remained in Philadelphia, then about five weeks, and requested that I would attend him on board the vessel, whither he was proceeding with fresh provisions and vegetables. I did so, and was introduced to all; but among them was one, who still, though in a happier world, remains,

"Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes,
Dear as the vital drops that warms the heart,"

which now invokes the shade of Moreton to attest a friendship formed in a moment, but enduring past his life.

Moreton and Harwood became the immediate ob jects of my attachment; but all interesting feelings were devoted instantaneously to the former. The flash of genius in Harwood, lighted for a moment my mental observation; but Moreton secured my heart. Harwood, on touching the shore as we landed in the Jerseys, reflecting on an ancient trick, fell and kissed it, hailing it in the language of an English king, who played the same prank to acquire popularity. Moreton stood erect, and raising his eyes to heaven, seemed to implore its blessings on the asylum he had chosen. Our dear deceased Wignell, whom every one who knew him must have loved, finding himself with so large a company, in such a state of the city of Philadelphia, requested that as I had been some time in the country, I would take the charge of them and procure them lodgings in the Jerseys. The farmers were generous enough to give asy

lums to the respective families, and the single men were accommodated at a tavern in Sandtown. Here we were visited as strange wild beasts or nondescript animalsthe expansion of intelligent ideas not having embraced, in the multitude, the conception of what genus a playactor could be. However, after having visited us, drank our wine, and heard our songs, they concluded that we were something human. Here our revered friend, Wignell, was under the necessity of leaving us, to provide for exigencies, depositing in my hands thirty dollars'twas all he could; but thus was I left with thirty dollars only, in the charge of fifty-six human beings for three weeks.

Mr. Harwood was at that time one of the company; he had never been on the stage, and his ambition was to excel in tragedy. It was in vain that I, whose counsel he condescended to request with the sincerity and solicitude of a real friend, advised him to attach himself to comedy. He persisted in playing in tragedy, and made his first appearance in Lothario.

There was then in the company, and to his credit be it remarked, that there remains still, one of those oddities whom nature, in her frolicksome sport, seems to endow with her own humour for pleasure and admiration-a queer being, called Francis Blisset, who, though he has not diminished his father's honours, possessed the mental capability of adding to them, could he have persuaded nature to sustain her physical endowments. During a time of public calamity, it can be no disgrace to him or Mr. Wignell to mention, that he had the pleasure of measuring ten or twelve miles of a sandy road for the simple assistance of half a dollar. He is a