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Page 50
Four months had now passed since Heartfree's first confinement,
and his affairs had begun to wear a more benign aspect; but they
were a good deal injured by this attempt on Wild (so dangerous is
any attack on a GREAT MAN), several of his neighbours, and
particularly one or two of his own trade, industriously
endeavouring, from their bitter animosity against such kind of
iniquity, to spread and exaggerate his ingratitude as much as
possible; not in the least scrupling, in the violent ardour of
their indignation, to add some small circumstances of their own
knowledge of the many obligations conferred on Heartfree by Wild.
To all these scandals he quietly submitted, comforting himself in
the consciousness of his own innocence, and confiding in time, the
sure friend of justice, to acquit him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A SCHEME SO DEEPLY LAID, THAT IT SHAMES ALL THE POLITICS OF THIS
OUR AGE; WITH DIGRESSION AND SUBDIGRESSION.
Wild having now, to the hatred he bore Heartfree on account of
those injuries he had done him, an additional spur from this
injury received (for so it appeared to him, who, no more than the
most ignorant, considered how truly he deserved it), applied his
utmost industry to accomplish the ruin of one whose very name
sounded odious in his ears; when luckily a scheme arose in his
imagination which not only promised to effect it securely, but
(which pleased him most) by means of the mischief he had already
done him; and which would at once load him with the imputation of
having committed what he himself had done to him, and would bring
on him the severest punishment for a fact of which he was not only
innocent, but had already so greatly suffered by. And this was no
other than to charge him with having conveyed away his wife, with
his most valuable effects, in order to defraud his creditors.
He no sooner started this thought than he immediately resolved on
putting it in execution. What remained to consider was only the
quomodo, and the person or tool to be employed; for the stage of
the world differs from that in Drury-lane principally in this--
that whereas, on the latter, the hero or chief figure is almost
continually before your eyes, whilst the under-actors are not seen
above once in an evening; now, on the former, the hero or great
man is always behind the curtain, and seldom or never appears or
doth anything in his own person. He doth indeed, in this GRAND
DRAMA, rather perform the part of the prompter, and doth instruct
the well-drest figures, who are strutting in public on the stage,
what to say and do. To say the truth, a puppet-show will
illustrate our meaning better, where it is the master of the show
(the great man) who dances and moves everything, whether it be the
king of Muscovy or whatever other potentate alias puppet which we
behold on the stage; but he himself keeps wisely out of sight:
for, should he once appear, the whole motion would be at an end.
Not that any one is ignorant of his being there, or supposes that
the puppets are not mere sticks of wood, and he himself the sole
mover; but as this (though every one knows it) doth not appear
visibly, i.e., to their eyes, no one is ashamed of consenting to
be imposed upon; of helping on the drama, by calling the several
sticks or puppets by the names which the master hath allotted to
them, and by assigning to each the character which the great man
is pleased they shall move in, or rather in which he himself is
pleased to move them.
It would be to suppose thee, gentle reader, one of very little
knowledge in this world, to imagine them hast never seen some of
these puppet-shows which are so frequently acted on the great
stage; but though thou shouldst have resided all thy days in those
remote parts of this island which great men seldom visit, yet, if
thou hast any penetration, thou must have had some occasions to
admire both the solemnity of countenance in the actor and the
gravity in the spectator, while some of those farces are carried
on which are acted almost daily in every village in the kingdom.
He must have a very despicable opinion of mankind indeed who can
conceive them to be imposed on as often as they appear to be so.
The truth is, they are in the same situation with the readers of
romances; who, though they know the whole to be one entire
fiction, nevertheless agree to be deceived; and, as these find
amusement, so do the others find ease and convenience in this
concurrence. But, this being a subdigression, I return to my
digression.
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