Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1815-08-26

y,
ay, mat about two hours before, she had attend.
ed Mrs. Guthrie to aconfectioner's shop, that a
carriage had drawn UP at the corner of the street
INTO Which gentleman, (whom she recognized
to be Sterie) had handed her, and they instantly
departed Imust tell you there is every reason
TO believe that female was the confidant of the
| conspiracy. What pity that the object of that
guilty confidence bad not something of humani-
lty-tliat, as a female, she did not feel for the
character OF her sex-that, rs Mother she did
not mourn over the sorrows of n helpless family
| What panss might she not have spared
| My client could hear no more-even at the
dead of night he rushed into the street. as if in
It's [Megi6ie.] III
vain did he awake the peaceful familyof the hor-
I ror-struck Mrs. Fallon in vain with the parents
OF the miserable fugitive, did he mingle the tears
OF an impotent distraction in vain, a miserable
maniac, did he traverse the silent streets of the
metropolis, alirighting. virtue from its slumber
with the spectre Of its own ruin!
VIII not dwell upon that night of horror
viii not harrow you with its hesrt-rendinr resi-
| tai; But, imagine you see him, when ths iay
had davned, returning wretched to his deserted
| dweltng--sceng, in every chamber, memorial
! OF his loss, and bearing every tongueless object
eloquent OF his wee. Imagine you see him in
the revere of his grief, trying to persuade him
selt 1t IS all vision; and awakened only to the
horrid truth by his helpless children asking him
| tor their mother Gentlemen, this is not a pic
ture of the fancy: it literally occurred there is
something less ofromance in the reflection which
his children awakened in the mind of their at:
hicted father; he ordered that they should be
immediately habited in moianing. How ration
| al sometimes are the the rawlings Of INSANITY For
all the purposes Of maternal life poor innocents,
they have no mother; her tongue no more can
teach, her hand 10 more tend them for
! them there is not Speculation in her eyes," to
them her life is something worse than death or
| if the awful grave had yawned her forth, she
| moves before them, shrouded all in sin, the gull
| ~ burden OF its peaceless sepuchre. Better far
better, their little feet had followed in her fine
raj, than that the hour which taught her value
| should reveal her vice; mourning her loss they
might have blessed her memory, aud shame need
st have rolled its fires into the fountain OF theiI
sorrow.
| AS soon rs his reason became sufficiently col
iected, Mr. Guthrie pursued the progress of the
fugitives; he traced them successfully to XII
dare, to Carlow, Waterford, Milford Haven.
where they elnbarked-on through Wales, and
finally to Iiiraccombe, in Deyonshire, where the
clue was lost, am glad, that in this route and
resdessness of guilt, as the crime they perpe-
trated was foreign to the soil, they did not make
that soil the scene of its habitation Twill not
| follow them through this ioyless Journey: nor
brand by my record the numerous scenes of its
pollution. But philosophy never taught-the
| pulpit never enforced moro imperative moral.
ty than the itinerary OF that accllrsed tour pro-
! mulgates. Oh fthere be maid or matron in
this island, balancing between the alternative OF
| virtue and OF crime, trembling between the hell
| OF the seducer and the aduterer, and the heaven
| OF the parental and the nuptal home, let her
1 pause upon this one out of the - >
| /.
| Ten lines are illegble-" hiatus maxine de-
| fiendus"1-* =
in short time after Mrs, Guthrie rushed out
| Fiber chamber into the drawing-room and flung.
| herself in agony upsn the sofa, she exclaimed
/ :" Oh what an unhappy wretch AMI left my
home where was happy, too happy, seduced
| by man, who has deceived me- NY Door hus-
| band-my dear chiidren--Ohl if they would e.
ven let my little William live with me, it would
| be some consolation to my broken heart''
Has! nor children more can she behold
Nor friends, nor sacred hOme.''
Well might she lament over her fallen fortunes
well might she mourn over the memory ofthe
| days when the sun of heaven seemed to rise but
| for her happiness well might she recall the
| house she had endeared-the children she had
| nursed-the hapless husband of whose life she
| was the pulse. But one short week before this
| earth could not reveal loyelier vision-Virtue
blessed, affection followed, beauty beaIned onher
the light of every eye, the charm of every heart
| she moved along in cloudless chastity, cheered
by the song of love, and crcled by the splendors
4 she created Behold her now the lOAt0SOme re-
fuse of AN adulterous bed fostering in the very
| infection other crimes the scott and scorn of
| their un1nanly, merciless, nhuman author But
| thus it ever is with the votarieS of guilt the
birth other crime is the death of their enjoy
| ment and the wretch who fiings his offering on
| its altar falls an immediate victim to the flame of
| his devotion. am glad it is soft is 4 wise,
retributive dispensatioB--It bears the stamp of a
/ preventive Providence. l rejoice it is so in the
| present instance first because this premature
infection must ensure repentance in the wretch
ed sufferer and next because as this adulterous
fiend has rather acted on the suggestions Of his
| nature than his shape, by rebelling against the
finest mpulseof man, he has made himself anout-
! law from the SyInpathies of humanity. Why
| should he expect that charity from you, which
he would not spare even to the msfortuDeS he had
| inflicted For the honor of the form in which he
| is disguised, am willing 70 hope he was so
blinded by his vice that lie didnot see the full ex-
| tent of those msfortuncs. If be bad feelings ca
pable of being touched it is not to the faded VIC
| tim Of her own weakness and Of his wickedness
| that would direct them. There is nothing in
her crime which aili1ghts charity from its com
| msseration But, gentlemen, there is one over
| whom pity may mourn, for he is wretched-snd
mourn without blush, for he is guiltlcss
How shall depict to you The deserted husband9
To every other object in this catalogue Of calarn.
| ~, there is some crime attached which checks
compassion. But here, Oh If ever there was n
man amiable, il was that man Oh if ever there
was husband fond, it was that husband his
| hope, his Joy, his ambition was domestic-his