Oct. 22.
Mad. de ____'s _homme d'affaireſ_ [Agent] has been here to-day, but no news from Amiens. I know not what to conjecture. My patience is almoſt exhauſted, and my ſpirits are fatigued. Were I not juſt now relieved by a diſtant proſpect of ſome change for the better, my ſituation would be inſupportable.—"Oh world! oh world! but that thy ſtrange mutations make us wait thee, life would not yield to age." We ſhould die before our time, even of moral diſeaſes, unaided by phyſical ones; but the uncertainty of human events, which is the "worm i'the bud" of happineſs, is to the miſerable a cheering and conſolatory reflection. Thus have I dragged on for ſome weeks, poſtponing, as it were, my exiſtence, without any reſource, ſave the homely philoſophy of "nous verrons demain." ["We ſhall ſee to-morrow.">[
At length our hopes and expectations are become leſs general, and if we do not obtain our liberty, we may be able at leaſt to procure a more eligible priſon. I confeſs, the ſource of our hopes, and the protector we have found, are not of a dignity to be uſhered to your notice by citations of blank verſe, or ſcraps of ſentiment; for though the top of the ladder is not quite ſo high, the firſt rounds are as low as that of Ben Bowling's.
Mad. de ____'s confidential ſervant, who came here to-day, has learned, by accident, that a man, who formerly worked with the Marquiſ's tailor, having (in conſequence, I ſuppoſe of a political vocation,) quitted the ſelling of old clothes, in which he had acquired ſome eminence, haſ become a leading patriot, and is one of Le Bon's, the Repreſentative's, privy counſellors. Fleury has renewed his acquaintance with this man, has conſulted him upon our ſituation, and obtained a promiſe that he will uſe his intereſt with Le Bon in our behalf. Under this ſplendid patronage, it is not unlikely but we may get an order to be tranſferred to Amiens, or, perhaps, procure our entire liberation. We have already written to Le Bon on the ſubject, and Fleury is to have a conference with our friend the tailor in a few days to learn the ſucceſs of hiſ mediation; ſo that, I truſt, the buſineſs will not be long in ſuſpenſe.
We have had a moſt indulgent guard to-day, who, by ſuffering the ſervant to enter a few paces within the gate, afforded us an opportunity of hearing this agreeable intelligence; as alſo, by way of epiſode, that boots being wanted for the cavalry, all the boots in the town were laſt night put in requiſition, and as Fleury was unluckily gone to bed before the ſearch was made at his inn, he found himſelf this morning very unceremoniouſly left bootleſs. He was once a famous patriot, and the oracle of Mad. de ____'s houſehold; but our confinement had already ſhaken his principles, and this ſeizure of his "ſuperb Engliſh bootſ" has, I believe, completed his defection.