would be very willing to convince any one that I have not only copied them correctly, but selected them with an eye to mildness, rather than severity.
LETTER IX.
HISTORY OF AN ORPHAN BOY.
Dear Reader—Permit me to introduce to your notice an old acquaintance of mine, who, for the present, we will call Charles Smith.
In my journeys through England as a traveller, it was my duty to make occasional calls at Manchester, the chief seat of the cotton manufacture; and on one of those occasions I was introduced by a mutual friend to the individual above mentioned. We became friends, and during our intercourse he related to me many of the incidents of his past life. The last time I had the pleasure of seeing him he put into my hands a parcel of documents relating to his history, with full permission to use them at my discretion. From these papers I select the following particulars.
Charles Smith has no recollection whatever of his parents; but from the documents before us, it appears he was born in the year 1792; and was removed to St. Pancras workhouse, in the north-western suburbs of London, in 1796. Being then about four years old, he said he perfectly recollected riding in a coach to the workhouse, accompanied by some female. He did not, however, think this female was his mother, for he had not the least consciousness of having felt either sorrow or un-
