The History Of The Life Of The Late Mr. Jonathan Wild The Great(Fiscle Part 3) - Henry Fielding (best young adult book series txt) 📗
- Author: Henry Fielding
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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.
The Apprentice, Who Had Not In The Least Doubted The Veracity Of
His Mistress, Perceiving The Surprize Which Too Visibly Appeared
In His Master, Became Speechless Likewise, And Both Remained
Silent Some Minutes, Gazing With Astonishment And Horror At Each
Other. At Last Heartfree Cryed Out In An Agony, "My Wife Deserted
Me In My Misfortunes!" "Heaven Forbid, Sir!" Answered The Other.
"And What Is Become Of My Poor Children?" Replied Heartfree. "They
Are At Home, Sir," Said The Apprentice. "Heaven Be Praised! She
Hath Forsaken Them Too!" Cries Heartfree: "Fetch Them Hither This
Instant. Go, My Dear Jack, Bring Hither My Little All Which
Remains Now: Fly, Child, If Thou Dost Not Intend Likewise To
Forsake Me In My Afflictions." The Youth Answered He Would Die
Sooner Than Entertain Such A Thought, And, Begging His Master To
Be Comforted, Instantly Obeyed His Orders.
Heartfree, The Moment The Young Man Was Departed, Threw Himself On
His Bed In An Agony Of Despair; But, Recollecting Himself After He
Had Vented The First Sallies Of His Passion, He Began To Question
The Infidelity Of His Wife As A Matter Impossible. He Ran Over In
His Thoughts The Uninterrupted Tenderness Which She Had Always
Shewn Him, And, For A Minute, Blamed The Rashness Of His Belief
Against Her; Till The Many Circumstances Of Her Having Left Him So
Long, And Neither Writ Nor Sent To Him Since Her Departure With
All His Effects And With Wild, Of Whom He Was Not Before Without
Suspicion, And, Lastly And Chiefly, Her False Pretence To His
Commands, Entirely Turned The Scale, And Convinced Him Of Her
Disloyalty.
Book 3 Chapter 1 Pg 87While He Was In These Agitations Of Mind The Good Apprentice, Who
Had Used The Utmost Expedition, Brought His Children To Him. He
Embraced Them With The Most Passionate Fondness, And Imprinted
Numberless Kisses On Their Little Lips. The Little Girl Flew To
Him With Almost As Much Eagerness As He Himself Exprest At Her
Sight, And Cryed Out, "O Papa, Why Did You Not Come Home To Poor
Mamma All This While? I Thought You Would Not Have Left Your
Little Nancy So Long." After Which He Asked Her For Her Mother,
And Was Told She Had Kissed Them Both In The Morning, And Cried
Very Much For His Absence. All Which Brought A Flood Of Tears Into
The Eyes Of This Weak, Silly Man, Who Had Not Greatness Sufficient
To Conquer These Low Efforts Of Tenderness And Humanity.
He Then Proceeded To Enquire Of The Maid-Servant, Who Acquainted
Him That She Knew No More Than That Her Mistress Had Taken Leave
Of Her Children In The Morning With Many Tears And Kisses, And Had
Recommended Them In The Most Earnest Manner To Her Care; She Said
She Had Promised Faithfully To Take Care Of Them, And Would, While
They Were Entrusted To Her, Fulfil Her Promise. For Which
Profession Heartfree Expressed Much Gratitude To Her, And, After
Indulging Himself With Some Little Fondnesses Which We Shall Not
Relate, He Delivered His Children Into The Good Woman's Hands, And
Dismissed Her.
Book 3 Chapter 2 Pg 87
A Soliloquy Of Heartfree's, Full Of Low And Base Ideas, Without A
Syllable Of Greatness.
Being Now Alone, He Sat Some Short Time Silent, And Then Burst
Forth Into The Following Soliloquy:--
"What Shall I Do? Shall I Abandon Myself To A Dispirited Despair,
Or Fly In The Face Of The Almighty? Surely Both Are Unworthy Of A
Wise Man; For What Can Be More Vain Than Weakly To Lament My
Fortune If Irretrievable, Or, If Hope Remains, To Offend That
Being Who Can Most Strongly Support It? But Are My Passions Then
Voluntary? Am I So Absolutely Their Master That I Can Resolve With
Myself, So Far Only Will I Grieve? Certainly No. Reason, However
We Flatter Ourselves, Hath Not Such Despotic Empire In Our Minds,
Book 3 Chapter 2 Pg 88That It Can, With Imperial Voice, Hush All Our Sorrow In A Moment.
Where Then Is Its Use? For Either It Is An Empty Sound, And We Are
Deceived In Thinking We Have Reason, Or It Is Given Us To Some
End, And Hath A Part Assigned It By The All-Wise Creator. Why,
What Can Its Office Be Other Than Justly To Weigh The Worth Of All
Things, And To Direct Us To That Perfection Of Human Wisdom Which
Proportions Our Esteem Of Every Object By Its Real Merit, And
Prevents Us From Over Or Undervaluing Whatever We Hope For, We
Enjoy, Or We Lose. It Doth Not Foolishly Say To Us, Be Not Glad,
Or, Be Not Sorry, Which Would Be As Vain And Idle As To Bid The
Purling River Cease To Run, Or The Raging Wind To Blow. It
Prevents Us Only From Exulting, Like Children, When We Receive A
Toy, Or From Lamenting When We Are Deprived Of It. Suppose Then I
Have Lost The Enjoyments Of This World, And My Expectation Of
Future Pleasure And Profit Is For Ever Disappointed, What Relief
Can My Reason Afford? What, Unless It Can Shew Me I Had Fixed My
Affections On A Toy; That What I Desired Was Not, By A Wise Man,
Eagerly To Be Affected, Nor Its Loss Violently Deplored? For There
Are Toys Adapted To All Ages, From The Rattle To The Throne; And
Perhaps The Value Of All Is Equal To Their Several Possessors; For
If The Rattle Pleases The Ear Of The Infant, What Can The Flattery
Of Sycophants Give More To The Prince? The Latter Is As Far From
Examining Into The Reality And Source Of His Pleasure As The
Former; For If Both Did, They Must Both Equally Despise It. And
Surely, If We Consider Them Seriously, And Compare Them Together,
We Shall Be Forced To Conclude All Those Pomps And Pleasures Of
Which Men Are So Fond, And Which, Through So Much Danger And
Difficulty, With Such Violence And Villany, They Pursue, To Be As
Worthless Trifles As Any Exposed To Sale In A Toy-Shop. I Have
Often Noted My Little Girl Viewing, With Eager Eyes, A Jointed
Baby; I Have Marked The Pains And Solicitations She Hath Used Till
I Have Been Prevailed On To Indulge Her With It. At Her First
Obtaining It, What Joy Hath Sparkled In Her Countenance! With What
Raptures Hath She Taken Possession! But How Little Satisfaction
Hath She Found In It! What Pains To Work Out Her Amusement From
It! Its Dress Must Be Varied; The Tinsel Ornaments Which First
Caught Her Eyes Produce No Longer Pleasure; She Endeavours To Make
It Stand And Walk In Vain, And Is Constrained Herself To Supply It
With Conversation. In A Day's Time It Is Thrown By And Neglected,
And Some Less Costly Toy Preferred To It. How Like The Situation
Of This Child Is That Of Every Man! What Difficulties In The
Pursuit Of His Desires! What Inanity In The Possession Of Most,
And Satiety In Those Which Seem More Real And Substantial! The
Delights Of Most Men Are As Childish And As Superficial As That Of
My Little Girl; A Feather Or A Fiddle Are Their Pursuits And Their
Pleasures Through Life, Even To Their Ripest Years, If Such Men
May Be Said To Attain Any Ripeness At All. But Let Us Survey Those
Whose Understandings Are Of A More Elevated And Refined Temper;
How Empty Do They Soon Find The World Of Enjoyments Worth Their
Desire Or Attaining! How Soon Do They Retreat To Solitude And
Contemplation, To Gardening And Planting, And Such Rural
Amusements, Where Their Trees And They Enjoy The Air And The Sun
In Common, And Both Vegetate With Very Little Difference Between
Them. But Suppose (Which Neither Truth Nor Wisdom Will Allow) We
Book 3 Chapter 2 Pg 89Could Admit Something More Valuable And Substantial In These
Blessings, Would Not The Uncertainty Of Their Possession Be Alone
Sufficient To Lower Their Price? How Mean A Tenure Is That At The
Will Of Fortune, Which Chance, Fraud, And Rapine Are Every Day So
Likely To Deprive Us Of, And Often The More Likely By How Much The
Greater Worth Our Possessions Are Of! Is It Not To Place Our
Affections On A Bubble In The Water, Or On A Picture In The
Clouds? What Madman Would Build A Fine House Or Frame A Beautiful
Garden On Land In Which He Held So Uncertain An Interest? But
Again, Was All This Less Undeniable, Did Fortune, The Lady Of Our
Manor, Lease To Us For Our Lives, Of How Little Consideration Must
Even This Term Appear! For, Admitting That These Pleasures Were
Not Liable To Be Torn From Us, How Certainly Must We Be Torn From
Them! Perhaps To-Morrow--Nay, Or Even Sooner; For As The Excellent
Poet Says--
Where Is To-Morrow?--In The Other World.
To Thousands This Is True, And The Reverse
Is Sure To None.
But If I Have
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