, I suppose,
your own prudence will enforce the necessity of dissembling at least till your
son has the young lady's fortune secure.« - »Well,« returned I, »if what you
tell me be true, and if I am to be a beggar, it shall never make me a rascal, or
induce me to disavow my principles. I'll go this moment and inform the company
of my circumstances; and as for the argument, I even here retract my former
concessions in the old gentleman's favour, nor will I allow him now to be an
husband in any sense of the expression.«
    It would be endless to describe the different sensations of both families
when I divulged the news of our misfortune; but what others felt was slight to
what the lovers appeared to endure. Mr. Wilmot, who seemed before sufficiently
inclined to break off the match, was by this blow soon determined: one virtue he
had in perfection, which was prudence, too often the only one that is left us at
seventy-two.
 

                                   Chap. III.

A migration. The fortunate circumstances of our lives are generally found at
last to be of our own procuring.
 
The only hope of our family now was, that the report of our misfortunes might be
malicious or premature: but a letter from my agent in town soon came with a
confirmation of every particular. The loss of fortune to myself alone would have
been trifling; the only uneasiness I felt was for my family, who were to be
humble without an education to render them callous to contempt.
    Near a fortnight had passed before I attempted to restrain their affliction;
for premature consolation is but the remembrancer of sorrow. During this
interval, my thoughts were employed on some future means of supporting them; and
at last a small Cure of fifteen pounds a year was offered me in a distant
neighbourhood, where I could still enjoy my principles without molestation. With
this proposal I joyfully closed, having determined to encrease my salary by
managing a little farm.
    Having taken this resolution, my next care was to get together the wrecks of
my fortune; and all debts collected and paid, out of fourteen thousand pounds we
had but four hundred remaining. My chief attention therefore was now to bring
down the pride of my family to their circumstances; for I well knew that
aspiring beggary is wretchedness itself. »You can't be ignorant, my children,«
cried I, »that no prudence of ours could have prevented our late misfortune; but
prudence may do much in disappointing its effects. We are now poor
