and were that day to appear on trial. "Will they be hanged?" asked you with almost A gentleman next you,

the

breathlefs terror. with great tenderness, explained to you nature of their offence, and the degree in which it was amenable to the laws of their country. He concluded by faying, "They must appear in court, in order even to be acquitted: the profecutor is a worthy humane man, and has adopted fuch meafures as will fecure them from further difgrace. If he appear, they must be convicted: they are fenfible of his lenity, and mean to retire immediately from this part of the world.”

You liftened with the profoundest attention to his discourse, and with eager curiofity to the different opinions which were fupported. Since your return home you have related this story to all your friends, not omitting the innkeeper's daughter.

Last night you refumed the subject with me: you observed, that it yet seemed incredible to you, that these ladies should be

actually

actually guilty of the crime laid to their charge. You contended alfo for the innocence of the girl." She might heedlessly have occafioned the suspicions of her schoolfellows....she might be falfely accused....she might, fuppofing she took the thimble, have no intention of keeping it," &c. I attended very seriously to your arguments; for it was innocence pleading for the unfortunate: but I was obliged, in my turn, to recall to your memory the facts which your compaffion had overlooked. The fhop had been re eatedly robbed. Mr. S

fufpected those whom he employed in it. His precautions did not conceal these fufpicions, The perfons who were the objects of them were stimulated, by a regard for their own honour and, character, to as great a degree of vigilance as their mafter. They heedfully observed every perfon who entered the shop. They detected thefe ladies. Their measures were taken. Again and again they faw them convey things into their muffs and pockets. At length, on perceiving one

of

of them.fecrete a piece of lace, they stopped them: a fearch enfued; and the lace, with other articles, was found concealed about them. Their lodgings were next visited; and feveral articles bearing Mr. S's mark were found in them, and to which he and his people fwore. It is," continued I, "fhocking to the mind to admit fuch facts as thefe; and I still hope the many tales of this fort are unfounded in truth: but I do not see how we can reject fuch evidence as this." You were filent. At length changing your ground, you faid, "At any rate, I muft think Mr. S very inhuman to profecute them. Is he not refponsible for all the mifery and ruin which now await these unhappy young women? Ought he not to have reproved them fecretly, and placed before them the dreadful confequences of perfifting in fuch difgraceful crimes? Would not you have acted thus ?" asked you. I will repeat my anfwer bere. I told you, I could not decide on what might have been the refult of my weakness, or, if it pleased

you

you better, my compaffion, had I been called to the fame painful duty: "but," continued I," we must not forget the obligations we are under to fociety. The invafion of the rights and property of others contains in it an injuftice fo flagrant, that it is the interest and duty of every one to check the temptation by punishing the offender. Lenity may, and often does, mistake its purpofe; and, by the pardon it grants to one criminal, encourages many to expect the fame exemption from disgrace and punishment. It is with the view to deter from vicious actions that pains and penalties are annexed to the commiffion of them. I do not fee on what ground thefe ladies could plead for fpecial favour; nor do I believe that you have exactly examined the motives which fo powerfully excite your commiferation. The only allowable extenuation for them cannot be urged. It was not neceffity that impelled them to theft. They cannot foften the rigour of juftice by pleading ignorance, and the vicious habits of uninstruct

ed

ed life; for these offenders had not only the restraints of education, but those of honour, of the rank they held in fociety, and a quick fense of shame, to deter them.

"Let us compare with these young ladies a poor half-naked wretch, who steals a cloak to cover herself from the cold, or a loaf of bread to fatisfy her hunger. Place, my Eliza, these elegant and fashionable girls by the fide of a creature thus forlorn! condemned by the hard circumstances of her condition to mental darkness, and ftimulated by actual want; rendered daring by hardship, and infenfible to all fhame but that which includes corporal punishment; and then balance the motives by which each must have been impelled to an act of dishonesty, and those which each had to oppose to the temptation. If justice were not wifely reftrained by law, would fhe not fay, in the one cafe, Thou haft ftretched forth thy hand and haft taken what thou needeft, but it was not thine to take:-depart in peace, and fin no more.' But with what a fevere frown