Commons had directed that the whole City should be put in a State of Defence, and that the Lord Mayor and Citizens fhould trench, stop, and fortify all Highways leading thereunto. Wherefore, all Entrances into London except five, were ftoned and bricked up altogether; and those five were made as ftrong as could be, with Breaft-works and Turnpikes, Musket-proof. And all Sheds and Out-buildings outfide London Wall, that were near enough to be advantageous to an Enemy, were taken down; and this gave a great deal of Work to do that behoved to be done quickly; wherefore even Women and Children helped the Men in carrying Earth, Stones, &c., for, by this Time, there was in the City a pretty general Difaffection

towards

towards the King; and thofe that wished him well and could not get to him, found it beft to hold their Peace.

CHAP.

C

CHAP. II.

Cherry endeavours to remember if she were pretty.-A Water-party.

--AND now my Memory flies on to the Time when, I fuppose, I was as happy a Girl as any on the Bridge, I know not whether I were pretty or not, I rather suppose I was, but my Father praised me too much, and my dear Mother never praised me at all, fo that I have no Clue to what was really thought of me. There's an old Saying, "Even a little Beetle "is a Beauty in the Eyes of its Mother," I am bold to think

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that

that if I had been a little Blackbeetle, I fhould ftill have been a Beauty in the Eyes of my Father. My Mother used to tell him “all "his Geefe were Swans," which was as much as to fay that hers were not: be that as it may, if she praised me lefs, I always felt fhe loved me as much as he did; and I loved her to the full as much as I loved him.

I remember coming down Stairs one Sunday Morning, dreffed for Church, -(we had no Liturgy, nor Church of England Clergymen then, fuch was the Will of Parliament,)— dressed in a primrose Petticoat and grafs-green Mantua neatly bundled up behind; black Mits without a Crease in them for Tightness, white Pinners starched and crimped, and

small steeple-crowned Hat,— when Mark, meeting me at the Stair-foot,

Stair-foot, ftepped out of my Way with a fliding Bow, faid, "Bless me, how pretty we are!" and looked attentively after me. I felt ashamed and yet elated; and thought fomewhat more of myself and of him after that; yet I am not quite fure, now, that his Speech was not ironical, after all.

Of my Friend and Schoolfellow, Violet Armytage, there could not be two Opinions. She was exceffively pretty, and knew it too well: which was partly the Fault of her Father, who was always calling her his "fweet Wi-let;" and yet, even if he had not, I think he would have found it out, for all that. My Father called me his rofy Cherry, but I knew it for his Manner of Speaking. But Violet always believed Everything that was faid in her Praise. She was fond of me

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