ed pulvilio from his peruke. He rose, however, in a twinkling, and ran off in a transport of rage, calling for the surveillans and the guards.-At this juncture an old Frenchman who had witnessed the whole transaction came up, and informing them that their antagonist was the young Duke of Anjou, pointed to a side door, by which he recommended them to make an immediate escape, if they did not wish to be arrested, and pay a visit of indefinite duration to the Bastille.

Deeming it prudent to adopt this advice, they made the best of their way into the streets, walking at a brisk pace in the direction of the river. During their progress the handsome stranger, after thanking Jocelyn for his interference, and expressing a hope that it would not lead him into trouble, informed him that his own name was James Crofts, that he resided at the Cardinal's palace with his father Lord Crofts, who was in the train of Henrietta Maria, the Queen Mother of England, and invited him to go and claim his lordship's protection, should the recent occurrence be attended with any unpleasant results. By this time they had reached the banks of the Seine, and induced by the warmth of the day as well as by the example of others, they undressed and went to bathe. To this fortunate chance they probably owed their escape from an arrest, that might have terminated very unpleasantly, for they

VOL. II.

2*

had hardly entered the water when they saw a party of surveillans and servants in the royal livery, hastening forwards for their apprehension; but not dreaming of finding the fugitives in the middle of the stream, they hurried along its banks, and were presently out of sight. Determined to prolong their bath until their pursuers should have abandoned the search, Jocelyn, who was an expert swimmer, remained sporting in the deep water, when he was suddenly seized with the cramp, and finding himself sinking was obliged to call out for help. Although he possessed not so perfect a mastery of the element, his companion was still at tolerable swimmer, and striking instantly forward to his assistance, succeeded in extricating him from the danger, by supporting him into shallow water at the imminent risk of his own life. They now dressed themselves with all speed, went to their respective homes, and both being cautioned to keep the house for a few days, the untoward rencontre at the Luxemburg Palace, passed over without any other consequence than its having suddenly established a friendship between two young men, which being cemented by congeniality of age and temper, as well as by a sense of service mutually conferred and received, soon rendered them almost inseparable companions.

A considerable time elapsed before Jocelyn received any tidings of Sir John, from whom, however, there at length came a letter, announcing in

terms of the most boisterous, rampant, and immeasurable glee the death of the Protector, loading him with an abundance of posthumous abuse, and enclosing for his son's recreation a scurrilous ballad on the subject, entitled a Dialogue between Old Noll and Charon. He proceeded to state, that the court were all in high spirits; that money already began to grow more abundant in the increased hopes of a Restoration; and that he had been thereby enabled to make a remittance for his use, as he intended still to leave him in Paris until the affairs of England should assume a more settled form. Another long interval of many months brought a second epistle from the Baronet, who endeavoured to excuse his silence by reminding his son, that he would at any time much rather wield a lance and tilt at an opponent, than handle a pen to answer a correspondent. His present missive, couched in not less exuberant triumph than the last, conveyed the glorious tidings of the Restoration, with all the rejoicings, addresses, firings of salutes, lluminations, tergiversations, prostrations, and intoxications by which the people had testified the delirium of their delight. So extravagant, and at the same time, so universal had been their apparent satisfaction, that the King had observed with his usual pleasantry--" Surely it can be no body's fault but my own that I have stayed so long abroad, when all mankind have been wishing me so heartily at home." In conclusion, the Baro

net stated his belief that he had drunk the King's health until he made some inroads upon his own, since he was laid up with an attack of the gout; gave an account of the horrible dilapidations committed upon Brambletye House in his absence; expressed his apprehensions that he should be involved in a lawsuit for the recovery of his property, which had been sold by the committee of sequestration, and promised to recall his son as soon as this most vexatious affair, and certain other domestic difficulties, the nature of which he did not explain, should be concluded and removed.

Time, however, rolled on without any redemption of this pledge; and Jocelyn, in the mean while, had not only perfected himself in the French language, and made himself master of the guitar, then the fashionable instrument, but had more sedulously prosecuted his other studies and exercises; while his form developing itself as favourably as his mind, had now assumed the full and fine symmetry of manly beauty. In his visits to Lord Crofts he had for some time past remarked a singular change in the demeanour of all parties towards his young friend, who was treated with a marked deference, even by his own father, that little assorted with paternal authority :--the Queen Mother admitted him to all her parties, comporting herself towards him as if he were upon a footing of equality and friendship; and the officers of the household, though they might wonder at the cause of this familiarity,

took their cue from their mistress, and eagerly tended a homage of which the Queen set the first example. Nor was the object of this deference less changed than the mode of his treatment. His beautiful figure was displayed to the best advantage by splendid clothes and rich decorations; he had a greater command of money, which he squandered as lavishly as it was supplied; and the quick apprehension of youth suggesting to him that there must be some secret grounds for the high distinctions he received, he was not backward in adapting himself to his supposed dignity by a more consequential carriage, and a certain air of hauteur, which was pronounced arrogance by some who thought it unwarranted by his rank and station: while the Queen Mother had been heard to remark that nature and blood would disclose themselves in spite of all the restraints of circumstance. Various and shrewd were the guesses elicited by this random observation, which confirmed those who heard it in the prudence of paying court to the young favourite.

Fortunately for the preservation of his intimacy with Jocelyn, who was little disposed to admit any assumptions of superiority, the young man preserved in all their intercourse the same footing of frank and familiar equality, which had distinguished the commencement of their friendship; and, indeed, upon one occasion of exhibition before the court, voluntarily placed himself in an inferior station to Jocelyn. Louis the Fourteenth, then in the prime