The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-10-31 00:00:00

I COMOSIAX
&tract trou a The Tweak ifitshoilarary'es
iitterestlng work, jest pelliehed.
MARIA /ARSE, THE HUM Mit 01URTES %N.
(Concluded (roar our Paper of yesterday.)

Upon my acquainting her with the low state of
tsy inances, which, for the present, did not Allow
nee to acknowledge her kindness in the manner she
deserved, and I desired : but that I hoped, at another
period, she sbould have DO reason to couple the
with the ungrateful Republican Diredor, La Reveil-
liere; she interrupted me with these words :—.4 My
motive is known to God alone; what causes your
uneasiness, gives me satisfaaion. I shall have
enough by what I gain from my friends, or by
pledging my trinkets, to support you fur many
months. Were you rich, I should serve you with
less pleasure, as you might mistake or judge wrong-
ly the reason of my alions." t.
Being the day after seized with a burning fever,
which continued for near three weeks, I was totally

insensible of what occurred during seventeen or
eighteen days. The cost, pain, and trouble, I then
occasioned poor Maria, may easily be conceived, as
she alone attended me, at the expence of her purse
and rest, and at the risk of her health, and even her
life, had I been discovered, though a corpse. When
I recovered my speech and my reason, I could well
read in her eyes the expressions of joy her mouth
pronounced. But in proportion as reason returned,
my mind felt all the pangs that unavailing and im-
potent gratitude must give every sensible, honest,
and independent man. I observed, that she had
not only stripped herself of all her trinkets, but even
that part of her furniture had been disposed of. Her
unexampled delicacy and generosity she had carried
to such an extreme, as not to ch4f.ge the double
louis I had in my pocket, much less to sell or pledge
my watch, although she had purchased me some
shirts, paid for the advice of physicians, and for all
the medicines I stood in need of. This behaviour
was the more praise-worthy, as she, at the same
time, sent away all her visitors, under pretext of
being herself infer:led with an I,oeanesays disease. Such
traits of humanity and self-denial, are scarce in his-
tory, as well as in society.
The way in which she consulted the physicians
concerning me, was both ingenious and tiresome.
She wrote down, regularly, three times in twenty-
four hours, the symptoms of my fever; and, on
shewillg lief annotations to the members of the fa-
culty. she said they concerned a brother, who resid-
ed two miles from Paris.
The fist thing I did. during my convalescence,
vess to write to my former landlady, and to het back
the effeas I left with her. I next gave Maria a note
to a b inker, on whom I had no credit, indeed, but
with whom ay parents had kept cash for upwards of
thirty years; and who advised me, in June 1794, to
borrow on my property in France, fifteen hundred
tuousand livres, sr seventy-two thousand pounds;
a rim he off-red me at an interest of six per cent.
Unto:consult,. I declined the proposal. Him I now
requested to advance me fifty louis d'ors on my
watch, chain. and seals, worth double that sum.
This avaricious and dastardly brute, after threaten-
is( my messenger to have her taken up, told her he
would have nothing to do with an outlawed aris-
tocrat, who merited his fate. Not to depress me
with the recital of such a rebuke, the, not without
difficulty. obtained the sum from a countryman of
hers, who, from a porter, had become a money-
lender, at the rate of two-pence per cent. in the
week. It was only after my full recovery, that she
related the condua of the banker, who, in lOW,
shrank before me, and proved lamellas mean, as, us
ITO% he had been cruel and illiberal. He is now,
and deservedly, a member of Bonaparte's Legion of
Honour.
Through want of air and exorcise, my conva-
lescence was longs therefore, when, after dark, the
evenings were dry, I ventured out, always accom-
panied and watched at a distance by my friend.
In one of these walks I happened to meet the
Prince of L—e, who, notwithstanding hie disguise,
I recollected and soke to. Our surprise was re-
ciprocal, and equally great at finding each other in
Paris, under circumstances similarly dreadful. Like
me, he was not a French subject, but a native of
Belgium; like me, he had gone to France to claim
his sequestered property ; and, like use, he had been
proscribed wilhout any trial, or even an accusation.
But, less fortunate than myself, he had fallen into
the hands of infamous and merciless robbers,
whom money alone prevented from becoming his
aorassins. He was obliged to pay to a cobler a
louis d'or a night for sleeping on straw in his stall,
and the same sum for occupying his garret duting
the day. He paid in proportion for his vidnals,
and every thing else ; and was, besides, exposed to
those vulgar familiarities, which reader the suffer-
ings of a person of elevated mind and rank, so much
the more galling. Maria's anxiety during my con-
versation with the Prince de 1.. I could remark
from her attempt to hear what we said ; I there-
fore did not keep her long is suspense, bat told her
that another opportunity was offered her to practice
her natural benevolence. Without telling her who
my friend was, I asked whether she thought she could,
with safety to berself,harhour us both ilVithout hesi-
tation, she answered, " Most undoubtedly. and with
all my heart ; only follow me, and fear nothing."
It was, indeed, time fur my friend to find ano-
ther and a better refuge ; his health.always delicate,
was now so impaired, that he had lost both appe-
tite and rest. He was, besides, covered with filth,
and devoured by vermin, in the nasty hole where
he had sheltered himself against the inclemency of
the weather, and the vengeance of his persecutors.
Four days fter his arrival' at Mafia's, he was so ill
that he could not leave his bed, and even made his
will; a curious monument of the confusion and
horror of our times. This will of the presumptive
heir to a German Principality. and to paternal 90-
utes, producing near eighty thousand pounds a-year.
was written in a closet, where charity had lodged
him, and was witnessed by a fellow outlaw, east a
harlot. their benefadress.
Well provided with cash. one might. at an she
periods of the revolotiou. engage the tascwooptikk
French republicans to do any action, however vile
or wicked. They would sell their country, betray
their friends, sacrifice consanguinity. sod prostitute
their wives and daughters.
The Swim outer, with olio= Maria had pledged