the dangers into which he had so deeply plunged. The struggle which John had within his own breast, when he reflected in: cool blood on his situation, cannot easily be described. On the one hand, he saw evident ruin to himself and family if he continued to frequent such company-and on the other hand he found it difficult to take himself off from the temporary grati fications which drink and company afford to those who have once the misfortune to engage pretty deep in its practices.

For sometime John was enabled to take himself off for an hour or two in the forenoon, to call at his place of business, and enquire into the state of his affairs: but, alas! little was doing in that department ; for, in general, many had went to call at the counting room, during the forenoon, but John being always absent, they retired with a promise to call again; but, when they returned, he was not to be found; and in this way he completely lost his business.. Even these disappointments failed to reclaim him, or in the least disconcert that seeme ing attachment he had now acquired for the club; for, by this time, his previous mental admonitions had settled into fixed insensibi

lity to every kind of delicate feeling, either in regard to his family, or his own character; and, as to his business, it was long ago completely at an end, and ultimately every thing was seized and sold for the behoof of his creditors. To pretend to describe the state of his amiable wife and family would be difficult: Her sufferings were severe indeed; for she had not only to struggle with the heart-rending reflection of seeing her children perish for want, but she was herself completely exhausted by being deprived of the comforts of life; and in nightly watching for her husband until his return. home from his rambles; for, like an affectionate wife, she never went to rest until she saw him safe home.

In this deplorable state John Copernicus spent the short remainder of his life, for he did not long survive the sale of his property; his constitution was completely debilitated, and he sunk into a state of mental derangement, which soon cut the thread of life ; and he died, leaving a wife and young family in great want, notwithstanding the fair and even flattering prospects at his commencement in business.

The reader will no doubt have some anxiety to know the fate of the remaining members of this very extraordinary club, which originally consisted of at least eight in number; who, in general, were men not only regularly bred to business, but seemingly thriving in their respective professions, and men well respected in the middle walks of society. From the account already given of their proceedings, it will naturally occur, that unless they very much altered their former conduct, they behoved to share the tragical end of poor Copernicus: But how seldom do these amendments happen in societies of that description; and, in this club, that remark was too truly exemplified. For there was not a single instance of any of the members having returned to the paths of their duty; but, on the contrary, they all sunk successively into oblivion; and that, for the most part, at a premature age, from the sole effects of debauchery, and in utter wretchedness; and several of them died raging mad in strait jackets.

Let it not be supposed that this is an exaggerated statement; such clubs are not uncommon in the metropolis of Scot

land; they are, on the contrary, numerous at this day, and their effects are equally ruinous; indeed, the writer of these memoirs, who resided nearly 20 years in that city, knew many instances of the fatal end of the members of such clubs, and even, in his time, not a few died in strait jackets, dreadful monuments of human depravity: Indeed, volumes could be filled with these details.

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ESSAY IX.

What sinners finish what they just begin?
And with one crime content their lust to sin;
Nature, that rude, and in her first essay,
Stood boggling at the roughness of the way,
Us'd to the road, unknowing to return,
Goes boldly on, and loves the path when worn.

Ir may well be asserted that no man, at whatever pitch of depravity he may have ultimately arrived, ever meant, in the outset of his career, to advance so far in crime : but so bewitching is vice so agreeable to the irregular passions of man, that, if once listened to-if once encouraged in the smallest degree if once it has got hold of the affections of its votaries, it is difficult to prognosticate to what length it may go; so fascinating are the allurements of vice to the depraved mind, that it cannot be happy but in the midst of their enjoyments.→ But, to whatever extent of depravity a person may arrive, he only proceeds step by step, and even that not without many in

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