Page:Memoirs James Hardy Vaux.djvu/132

109 was, that the latter was ordered to retain me in custody; and this officer pretending to pity my youth, and to wish, if possible, that the affair might be compromised without public disgrace, offered to confine me in his own house, which was in Chancery-lane, till Mr. Dalton had considered further on the subject. This having been agreed to, I accompanied the constable to his house, where I had an apartment assigned me, and was left (like Captain Macheath,) to my private meditations: these, it may be conjectured, were not the most agreeable, as this was the first time of my ever being "in durance vile."

I heard no more of Mr. Dalton till the next morning, when I was not a little surprised to see him accompanied by my friend Mr. Presland. It seems that the former, prior to his apprehending me, had an interview with my landlady in Roll's buildings, and had learnt from her, that she had obtained a character of me from the latter gentleman, on my taking her apartments. Mr. Dalton in consequence, after consigning me to the constable's care, had waited on Mr. Presland, and informed him of the disgraceful situation in which I was then placed. The result of their interview was the visit I am now going to describe. Mr. Presland, after expressing his concern at the state in which he saw me, and his anxious wish to save me from the disgrace of a public prosecution, inquired if I could undertake to recover