seen walking towards London over the Kentroad, which, in 1685, was a wild, dangerous, and uninhabited highway, bounded by hedges and marshy fields and presenting a path, which in Winter was little less than impassable. As he drew near the town, he observed a strong and well-formed man, rather handsomely dressed, struggling with three fellows, who appeared to entertain no very friendly intentions towards him. One of them, however, the Stranger soon stretched upon the ground; though the other two would certainly have overpowered him, had not the Sailor arrived at the spot, and speedily laid another by the side of his comrade, which enabled the Traveller to execute the same retaliation upon his third assailant: when, confident in their own strength, they did no more than leave the villains stunned upon the road, and then journeyed on, not displeased with each other's society.

The young Seaman had now an opportunity of more attentively observing the features and person of his new companion. In stature he was somewhat above the middle size; his features were fair and pleasant, although in his late encounter they had assumed a great degree of fierceness; and his voice, which could be

both soft and gentle, had been loud and boisterous, with language somewhat bordering upon the vulgar. For his dress, it was evidently the habit of one connected with the Courts of Law: a long coat of black stuff, trimmed with brown fur and slashed with silk, ornamented with sable embroidery, and a square hat, also formed of stuffed silk, all designated a person high in the Legislature of his country, though the hoarse, rude tones in which he spake, and the coarseness of his language, seemed to evidence any thing rather than a man of rank, education, or civil breeding.

"Well, friend," at length began the Stranger, "thou hast done a fair deed to-day, and to one who will not be ungrateful for it. How do men call you ? What is your name ?"

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Henry Fairfax," replied the Traveller; " and may I ask in reply, who is he that I have been so lucky as to set afloat again?"

"Why you have saved the life of the Ch no, no, my name will be familiar to you soon enough; but thine sounds to me like a rebel's name; there was formerly a servant of James, Duke of Monmouth, so called."

"I am he!" replied Fairfax openly.

Thou, villain!" answered the Stranger; “I

am the last man in the world then, to whom thou shouldest confess it. Thou wilt stretch a halter for that free speech of thine, and I cannot save thee."

"What wind is blowing up now ?” returned Fairfax ; 66 one moment I save your life, and the next you're for hanging me up at your yard-arm; what does it mean, old gentleman? A seaman an't over fond of hard names and uncivil treatment, d'ye see. What if I served the Duke of Monmouth, Lord love him! I ha'n't been concerned in the plots for which I hear he 's laid low, because ye see, in a ten months' voyage to Ascension Isles, I couldn't be fighting in England; and moreover one King at a time 's enough for me twas the rock upon which the Duke and I split; he says, I'm Charles's heir;' I says, 'God save the King, and your Grace!' so he went to the Dutch, and I sailed for another port."

"And how am I to know, fellow, that all this fine tale is true ?"

"I don't know who you may be, old gentleman; you're somebody great, I suppose, by the garnishings about your jacket; but if you were that old fireship, Judge Jeffreys himself, and I were brought before you for life and death,

sink me! if I wouldn't convince you; but as for the present, it's not worth the powder,”

"Why thou ill-bred sea-bear, thou villanous tarpaulin, thou irreverent oakum-jacket, thou swabber, haven't I as much right to ask as if I were? Oh! I shall see you swinging yet."

“Come, come, my old fellow, I dare say you think now that this is going on with a wet sail, but it won't do, you old Dutch infernal; if you mean to blow up, sheer off, and take the sea to yourself."

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Well, rascal, you are the first man who ever dared to utter such language to me; but I like your spirit, 'tis as bold as my own; and with myself on the Bench, Kirk in the field, and you on the sea, I'd not fear to keep England clear of rebels and enemies."

"As for you and your consort, Kirk, I can't say much, d' ye see," replied Fairfax; "but send me only in a galley with a dozen such hearts as myself, and I'd show ye the worth of an English sailor. I've not fought under Sandwich, and Spragge, and Blake, and Mynnes, for nothing: and so when the King wants one good shipman, why let him send for Harry Fairfax, of the Increasing Moon."

"Yes, yes," said the Stranger, aside, "I'll

take care that the King shall know you better than you think for. Hark ye, Master Fairfax, you've saved my life to-day, for which many, if they could see the future, would give you little thanks: but I am your debtor notwithstanding : you may chance, in these rebellious times, to get involved with men less honest than yourself; and if such should be your fate, desire to be brought to the great house opposite the Eastend of Aldermanbury Church. See that you deliver, at the gate thereof, this medal; demand to see the master, Judge Jeffreys, and leave your concerns in his hands.”

"Why that's all fair and civil, to be sure," answered Fairfax, receiving the medal; "but who d'ye think will listen to me, if I should chance to be put into the bilboes ?"

"Who! thou ill-nurtured villain! who dare do otherwise with my warrant? there are few that would stand the consequences of my anger, or a lick with the rough side of my tongue."

"Why truly," answered Fairfax, "that's about as smooth as a Kracken's back when all his spikes are up, as I can tell them; but howsoever, old gentleman, I'll make free with you, if I should be taken for a rogue in mistake; but if Jeffreys be only half such a raker as