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Page 36
The fisherman took his advice, and soon arrived at Deal, where the
reader will, I doubt not, be as much concerned as Wild was, that
there was not a single ship prepared to go on the expedition.
Our hero now saw himself once more safe on terra firma, but
unluckily at some distance from that city where men of ingenuity
can most easily supply their wants without the assistance of
money, or rather can most easily procure money for the supply of
their wants. However, as his talents were superior to every
difficulty, he framed so dextrous an account of his being a
merchant, having been taken and plundered by the enemy, and of his
great effects in London, that he was not only heartily regaled by
the fisherman at his house, but made so handsome a booty by way of
borrowing, a method of taking which we have before mentioned to
have his approbation, that he was enabled to provide himself with
a place in the stage-coach; which (as God permitted it to perform
the journey) brought him at the appointed time to an inn in the
metropolis.
And now, reader, as thou canst be in no suspense far the fate of
our great man, since we have returned him safe to the principal
scene of his glory, we will a little look back on the fortunes of
Mr. Heartfree, whom we left in no very pleasant situation; but of
this we shall treat in the next book.
BOOK III
CHAPTER ONE
THE LOW AND PITIFUL BEHAVIOUR OF HEARTFREE; AND THE FOOLISH
CONDUCT OF HIS APPRENTICE.
His misfortunes did not entirely prevent Heartfree from closing
his eyes. On the contrary, he slept several hours the first night
of his confinement. However, he perhaps paid too severely dear
both for his repose and for a sweet dream which accompanied it,
and represented his little family in one of those tender scenes
which had frequently passed in the days of his happiness and
prosperity, when the provision they were making for the future
fortunes of their children used to be one of the most agreeable
topics of discourse with which he and his wife entertained
themselves. The pleasantness of this vision, therefore, served
only, on his awaking, to set forth his present misery with
additional horror, and to heighten the dreadful ideas which now
crowded on his mind.
He had spent a considerable time after his first rising from the
bed on which he had, without undressing, thrown himself, and now
began to wonder at Mrs. Heartfree's long absence; but as the mind
is desirous (and perhaps wisely too) to comfort itself with
drawing the most flattering conclusions from all events, so he
hoped the longer her stay was the more certain was his
deliverance. At length his impatience prevailed, and he was just
going to despatch a messenger to his own house when his apprentice
came to pay him a visit, and on his enquiry informed him that his
wife had departed in company with Mr. Wild many hours before, and
had carried all his most valuable effects with her; adding at the
same time that she had herself positively acquainted him she had
her husband's express orders for so doing, and that she was gone
to Holland.
It is the observation of many wise men, who have studied the
anatomy of the human soul with more attention than our young
physicians generally bestow on that of the body, that great and
violent surprize hath a different effect from that which is
wrought in a good housewife by perceiving any disorders in her
kitchen; who, on such occasions, commonly spreads the disorder,
not only over her whole family, but over the whole neighbourhood.
--Now, these great calamities, especially when sudden, tend to
stifle and deaden all the faculties, instead of rousing them; and
accordingly Herodotus tells us a story of Croesus king of Lydia,
who, on beholding his servants and courtiers led captive, wept
bitterly, but, when he saw his wife and children in that
condition, stood stupid and motionless; so stood poor Heartfree on
this relation of his apprentice, nothing moving but his colour,
which entirely forsook his countenance.
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