 for her, to me.
The Love of my Father was not the mere Partiality or Prejudice of a Parent; it was not an Affection, he had a Passion for me, that could be equalled by nothing but his Vanity, in my behalf. He resolved, he said, that there should be one Gentleman in the Family, and, with this View, he resisted his Desire of having me, always, in his Sight, and sent me to
Westminster
School, and from thence to
Cambridge
-College, where I continued till I was twenty Years of Age, without any Thing happening, that was uncommon, or deserving of your Attention.
In the mean Time, my Father was as prodigal of his Purse, toward me, as he was of his Caresses. He had me with him, ev'ry Vacation. He visited me, frequently, during Term; and seemed to lose the better Half of his Existence, when we parted.
He had infused into me a strong Tincture of his own Vanity and Views. I lost even a Portion of that Tenderness and Respect which I had felt, in his Regard. He was a Trader, a Mechanick, I sighed for his reptile State; and I looked down upon him, as
Icarus
did on that very Father, from whom he had derived Wings for so exalted a Flight.
My Application, accordingly, was equal to my Ambition. I was not, merely, a Master, I was a Critic in the classical Languages. I relished, and commented on the Beauties of the
Greek
and
Latin
Authors. Was a thorough Connoisseur, in the Customs and Manners of the Ancients, and could detect the slightest Transgression of a Sculptor or Designer, in their folding of the
Roman
Toga. I also had the Honour to be intimate with all the Great of Antiquity, I frequently sat, in Synod, with the whole Posse of Heathen Gods, on
Olympus;
and I kept them as I imagined, in a kind of Dependence, by my perfect Knowledge of all their secret Lapses and Mistreadings. I had traced the System of Nature, from
Aristotle
and
Pythagoras
down to
Epicurus
and
Lucretius,
and from them down to
Des Cartes, Gassendi,
and
Hobbes,
and, I was so thorough paced an Adept in all the Subtleties of Logic; that I could confute, and change Sides, without losing an Inch of the Ground that I had gained upon my Adversary.
I now, imagined that I was arrived at the very Pinnacle of human Excellence, and that Fortune and Honour were within my Grasp, on either Hand. I
