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13 by a kind of pious fraud, he gave out to be worth thirty thousand pounds; Captain William Cranston, brother of Lord Cranston, of Scotland, a little before the death of Mr Blandy's spouse, was upon a recruiting party in Oxfordshire, and hearing of the fame of the lady's fortune, found means to introduce himself to the family. He soon gained an ascendancy over the mother; and the daughter soon discovered a very sensible feeling for the soldier. But there was an almost insuperable obstacle in the way of their mutual happiness: The Captain had been privately married in Scotland. This however he hoped to get over by a decree in the Supreme Courtof Session. That expectation proved but ill founded; Mr Blandy by no means could assent to the union of his child with a man, however honourable by birth, who was capable of acting contrary to religion and humanity.

The mother departed this life suddenly.—Thefather remained inexorable, and, like the great gulph, could not be passed over. This set the Captain's sanguine soul to work.—The affection of Miss Blandy for a profligate, almost double her age, was violent. He imposed upon her credulity; sent her from Scotland a pretended love powder, which he enjoined her to administer to her father, in order to gain his affection, and procure his consent. This injunction she declined, on account of a frightful dream, in which she fancied her father falling from