At this critical time, Miss Gripe called upon me, in a chariot bought with my money, and loaded with trinkets that I had, in my days of affluence, lavished on her. Those days were now over; and there was little hope that they would ever return. She was not able to withstand the temptation of ten pounds that Talon the bailiff offered her, but brought him into my apartment disguised in a livery; and taking my sword to the window, under pretence of admiring the workmanship, beckoned him to seize me. Delay would have been expensive without use, as the debt was too considerable for payment or bail: I, therefore, suffered myself to be immediately conducted to gaol. _Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus Orci, Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae: Pallentesque habitant morbi, tristisque senectus, Et metus, et malesuada fames, et turpis egestas._ VIRG. Aen. vi. 273. Just in the gate and in the jaws of hell, Revengeful cares and sullen sorrows dwell; And pale diseases, and repining age; Want, fear, and famine's unresisted rage. DRYDEN. Confinement of any kind is dreadful; a prison is sometimes able to shock those, who endure it in a good cause: let your imagination, therefore, acquaint you with what I have not words to express, and conceive, if possible, the horrours of imprisonment attended with reproach and ignominy, of involuntary association with the refuse of mankind, with wretches who were before too abandoned for society, but, being now freed from shame or fear, are hourly improving their vices by consorting with each other. There are, however, a few, whom, like myself, imprisonment has rather mortified than hardened: with these only I converse; and of these you may, perhaps, hereafter receive some account from Your humble servant, MISARGYRUS. No. 45. TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 1753 _Nulla fides regni sociis, omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit._--LUCAN. Lib. i. 92. No faith of partnership dominion owns: Still discord hovers o'er divided thrones. It is well known, that many things appear plausible in speculation, which can never be reduced to practice; and that of the numberless projects that have flattered mankind with theoretical speciousness, few have served any other purpose than to show the ingenuity of their contrivers. A voyage to the moon, however romantick and absurd the scheme may now appear, since the properties of air have been better understood, seemed highly probable to many of the aspiring wits in the last century, who began to dote upon their glossy plumes, and fluttered with impatience for the hour of their departure: --_Pereunt vestigia mille Ante fugam, absentemque ferit gravis ungula campum._ Hills, vales and floods appear already crost; And, ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost. POPE.