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 that is to meet me here? Will it be one of my old acquaintance, who seem all to have forgotten me since my misfortunes? How will it be in his power to make me happy? Will it be an easy or a difficult affair? But he could solve none of these questions in a satisfactory manner, in spite of all his meditations.

By degrees the bridge became thronged with people, horses, carts, coaches, and foot passengers, who went backward and forward, and a number of beggars of all descriptions came one after another, to take possession of their usual places at this spot so favourable to their trade, and began to work upon the compassion or benevolence of the passengers. The first of the ragged army who asked our hero for alms, was an old soldier, bearing a military mark of honour, a wooden leg, who had lost his limb in the service of his country, and, as the reward of his valour, had received permission to beg wherever he chose. He was a clever physiognomist, and carried on the study of the human heart through the lines of the face with so much success, that he rarely asked alms in