Produced by Robert Cicconetti and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org)) THE LOYALISTS: _AN HISTORICAL NOVEL._ IN THREE VOLUMES. By Jane West The Author of "LETTERS TO A YOUNG MAN," "A TALE OF THE TIMES," &c. Preserve your Loyalty, maintain your Rights. _Inscription on a Column at Appleby._ Strahan and Preston, Printers-Street, London. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1812. Transcriber's Note: The variant and inconsistant spellings in this text have been retained and Tables of Contents has been created. VOLUME I TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. CHAP. II. CHAP. III. CHAP. IV. CHAP. V. CHAP. VI. CHAP. VII. CHAP. VIII. CHAP. IX. CHAP. X. CHAP. XI. THE LOYALISTS. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Abate the edge of Traitors, gracious Lord, That would reduce these bloody days again, And make poor England weep in streams of blood! Shakspeare. Those who have but an indifferent banquet to offer, are not usually inclined to discourage their guests, by a repulsive bill of fare; yet surely, when a public invitation is given, there is honesty, and prudence too, in simply stating the kind of regale we are going to spread, lest a palled and sickly appetite should expect stimulants, or a perverted taste should pine for foreign luxuries and modern cookery, when we have nothing to set before them but plain old English food. Church and King now look as obsolete in a publication, as beef and pudding would at a gala dinner; yet let us remember, that as the latter have fed our heroes from the days of Cressy and Agincourt to the present times, so the former have fashioned minds fit to animate these mighty bodies. It is only to those who have a relish for stern virtue and grave reflection, that I would recommend the following pages.