to Mr. Tooke's house were instantly watched; and his carriage was followed next morning to the city. Soon after he had sat down to dinner, at the house of a gentleman, in Spital Square, a detachment of soldiers was sent to that quarter; and, in the course of the afternoon, a troop of light horse passed by the windows of the apartment in which he happened to sit. He himself was seized by a warrant from the secretary of state, early in the morning of the 16th of May, 1794, and conveyed a prisoner to

town.

No sooner did Mr. Tooke perceive his commitment to be inevitable, than his mind, perfectly at ease respecting his own fate, was entirely occupied about the care and preservation of his daughters. He accordingly transmitted the following letter to a lady on whose prudence and discretion he could implicitly rely.

DEAR MADAM,

"Whitehall, May 17, 1794.

"I take the liberty of requesting you to go "to my house, at Wimbledon, for a short time, "to accompany my poor girls in my absence. "I am in custody, by order of the secretary of state, and cannot return. The gentleman "who brings this note will accompany you this

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evening to Wimbledon. You will very greatly oblige me by this act of kindness.

"Your most obedient servant,

"J. HORNE TOOKE."

Soon after this he was conveyed to the Tower, with the formalities usually observed in respect to those who are detained on suspicion of

treason.

In this fortress, which, in the course of our early history, had witnessed so many acts of violence, outrage, and murder, Mr. Tooke was confined, a close prisoner, for several months. During a considerable portion of this period, he was debarred from pen, ink, and paper; and no one was suffered to have any intercourse with him except the jailors. At length, a certain degree of relaxation took place; and this had become absolutely necessary, indeed, on account of his health, which required frequent medical attendance. He was accordingly permitted to transmit a letter, on this subject, to the privy council; and, nearly at the same time, his friend Mr. Vaughan, the barrister, addressed sir Richard Ford on the same subject. From the original correspondence, now before me, I am enabled to discover, and most willingly relate, that government paid immediate attention to the very

first application; and that an order was instantly issued for the admission of Dr. Pearson and Mr. Cline, "as often as the state of Mr. Tooke's health should render it proper and necessary." To these professional gentlemen was soon after added Mr. Keates; and I perceive, that the barrister alluded to above, now found an opportunity to communicate, by means of a third person, "that he had some money of Mr. Tooke's in his hand, and that he would be extremely happy to execute any commission relalative to the family at Wimbledon."

In addition to medical assistance, other attentions were not wanting; for the prisoner now obtained the daily services of a barber; and, through this medium, was at length gratified with the perusal of a morning paper, which afforded him no small share of amusement, although he often found himself described "as a hoary traitor," and the "ringleader of a gang of conspirators, who had been employed to destroy our glorious constitution in church and

state."

He had also frequent opportunities of communicating with those who had been taken up and confined at the same time, particularly Mr. Stuart Kydd, who was bred, like himself, to the bar, and Mr. Bonney, who had practised

for some years as a solicitor. This intercourse was obtained by simply leaning out of their re spective windows, and conversing at periods when no one happened to pass; and, although nothing new was learned, yet it may be easily supposed, that these stolen interviews could not fail to be gratifying.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tooke was entirely at a loss respecting the accusation against him. He was conscious, that he had not committed any offence, which could be construed into treason by thelaws of England; yet he did not know, but that, however innocent himself, he might be implicated by the acts of others. In this state of uncertainty, he conceived an idea, that novel and extraordinary measures would be recurred to; and suspected, that it was intended to cut him off by means of some new statute enacted expressly for this purpose. He was in some measure relieved, however, from all his embarrassments and suspicions on receiving the collection of printed documents relative to the Corresponding Society, from which he first guessed at the nature of the charges intended to be adduced against him. He now began to perceive, for the first time, that his trial was to take place according to all the customary forms of law; and was most agreeably disappointed on

learning that he was to be treated like a common culprit.

Mr. Tooke, about this time, received great consolation, and assistance also, from the company and conversation of his nephew, who was admitted to visit him, and assisted in the arrangement of his papers. In fine weather, he constantly walked on the walls of the Tower, and nothing could induce him to forego that satisfaction. Whenever an opportunity offered, he would rise from the table containing the materials of his exculpation, and after animadverting with contempt, rather than indignation, "on the weakness as well as wickedness of his enemies," he rushed out of the apartment, wishing "they had given him something to defend, for he could not give his serious attention to such ridiculous imputations as these!"

After an imprisonment of upwards of three months in the Tower, it became necessary that he should be transferred, according to custom, to one of the city jails, in order to be tried. One remarkable circumstance occurred on his removal to Newgate; for, on his arrival there, the jailor positively refused to receive him, no warrant having been brought for that purpose. On this his kinsman returned to the Tower, and while the prisoner sat in Kirby's parlour, he