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POPE.
This wanton outrage was perpetrated in the presence of those, who will,perhaps, blush when they read this. I do not say that this was done bythe Magistrate; but it was done by the gang that surrounded him, and Iknow the villain who did it. The poor thing lay senseless for some time;no one of the numerous spectators daring to go to her assistance. Whenshe came to her senses, she was covered from head to foot with blood,that had flowed from the wound, which was on the scalp, and was fourinches in length. In this state she came running to me, and made herway up to the front of the procession:—we halted, horror-struck at herappearance. The blood was streaming down her snowy bosom, and her whitegown was nearly covered with the crimson gore; her cap and bonnet andclothes had been torn to rags; her fine black hair reached her waist;and, in this state, she indignantly recounted her wrongs. O God, what Ifelt! There were from four to five thousand brave Bristolianspresent, who heard this tale, and with one accord they burst forth inexclamations of revenge; every man of them was worked up to such a pitchof excitement by the cruelty of the atrocious act, that they would haveinstantly sacrificed their lives, to have executed summary justice uponthe cowardly authors of it. I own that I never was so near compromisingmy public duty, by giving way to my own feelings, as I was at thismoment. Burning with indignation, I half turned my horse's head; but,recovering my reason, I took the fair sufferer by the hand, and led herforward, admonishing my friends not to be seduced into the trap, thathad been so inhumanly set for them. In this state we proceeded throughthe streets of Bristol; the poor girl streaming with blood. I took herto my inn, sent for a surgeon, and had the wound dressed and the scalpsewed up. She never failed to attend the election every day afterwards,and she displayed as genuine a specimen of female heroism, as ever I metwith in my life.
I could relate a hundred such instances of the manly conduct of myloyal opponents during the election, if I chose; but, in spite of theirbaseness, we continued steadily and resolutely to attend the poll, fromnine till four, for fifteen days; our enemies writhing with the expensethat was daily incurred, and groaning under the lash of my dailyexposures.
The above-named Mr. Goldney was, in his private character, esteemed avery worthy man; but when he gave way to the baleful system of factiouspolitics, he became as great a tool, and as blind a bigot to theover-ruling power of intimidation, as any one of the execrable gang thatcomposed the Members of the White Lion Club. "But list! O list!" Amiableas Mr. Goldney is, he could not resist the temptation of coming toIlchester, out of his own County of Gloucester, forty miles, to have apeep at the captive in his cage. I, however, felt just a