 that the minutest line seemed copied with startling accuracy!
    Oliver knew not the cause of this sudden exclamation; for, not being strong
enough to bear the start it gave him, he fainted away. A weakness on his part,
which affords the narrative an opportunity of relieving the reader from
suspense, in behalf of the two young pupils of the Merry Old Gentleman; and of
recording -
    That when the Dodger, and his accomplished friend Master Bates, joined in
the hue-and-cry which was raised at Oliver's heels, in consequence of their
executing an illegal conveyance of Mr. Brownlow's personal property, as has been
already described, they were actuated by a very laudable and becoming regard for
themselves; and forasmuch as the freedom of the subject and the liberty of the
individual are among the first and proudest boasts of a true-hearted Englishman,
so, I need hardly beg the reader to observe, that this action should tend to
exalt them in the opinion of all public and patriotic men, in almost as great a
degree as this strong proof of their anxiety for their own preservation and
safety goes to corroborate and confirm the little code of laws which certain
profound and sound-judging philosophers have laid down as the mainsprings of all
Nature's deeds and actions: the said philosophers very wisely reducing the good
lady's proceedings to matter of maxim and theory: and, by a very neat and pretty
compliment to her exalted wisdom and understanding, putting entirely out of
sight any considerations of heart, or generous impulse and feeling. For, these
are matters totally beneath a female who is acknowledged by universal admission
to be far above the numerous little foibles and weaknesses of her sex.
    If I wanted any further proof of the strictly philosophical nature of the
conduct of these young gentlemen in their very delicate predicament, I should at
once find it in the fact (also recorded in a foregoing part of this narrative),
of their quitting the pursuit, when the general attention was fixed upon Oliver;
and making immediately for their home by the shortest possible cut. Although I
do not mean to assert that it is usually the practice of renowned and learned
sages, to shorten the road to any great conclusion (their course indeed being
rather to lengthen the distance, by various circumlocutions and discursive
staggerings, like unto those in which drunken men under the pressure of a too
mighty flow of ideas, are prone to indulge); still, I do mean to say, and do say
distinctly, that it is the invariable practice of many mighty philosophers, in
carrying out their theories, to
