The History Of The Life Of The Late Mr. Jonathan Wild The Great(Fiscle Part 3) - Henry Fielding (best young adult book series txt) 📗

No Further Hope In This World,  Can I Have None

Beyond It? Surely Those Laborious Writers,  Who Have Taken Such

Infinite Pains To Destroy Or Weaken All The Proofs Of Futurity,

Have Not So Far Succeeded As To Exclude Us From Hope. That Active

Principle In Man Which With Such Boldness Pushes Us On Through

Every Labour And Difficulty,  To Attain The Most Distant And Most

Improbable Event In This World,  Will Not Surely Deny Us A Little

Flattering Prospect Of Those Beautiful Mansions Which,  If They

Could Be Thought Chimerical,  Must Be Allowed The Loveliest Which

Can Entertain The Eye Of Man; And To Which The Road,  If We

Understand It Rightly,  Appears To Have So Few Thorns And Briars In

It,  And To Require So Little Labour And Fatigue From Those Who

Shall Pass Through It,  That Its Ways Are Truly Said To Be Ways Of

Pleasantness,  And All Its Paths To Be Those Of Peace. If The

Proofs Of Christianity Be As Strong As I Imagine Them,  Surely

Enough May Be Deduced From That Ground Only,  To Comfort And

Support The Most Miserable Man In His Afflictions. And This I

Think My Reason Tells Me,  That,  If The Professors And Propagators

Of Infidelity Are In The Right,  The Losses Which Death Brings To

The Virtuous Are Not Worth Their Lamenting; But If These Are,  As

Certainly They Seem,  In The Wrong,  The Blessings It Procures Them

Are Not Sufficiently To Be Coveted And Rejoiced At.

 

"On My Own Account,  Then,  I Have No Cause For Sorrow,  But On My

Children's!--Why,  The Same Being To Whose Goodness And Power I

Intrust My Own Happiness Is Likewise As Able And As Willing To

Procure Theirs. Nor Matters It What State Of Life Is Allotted For

Them,  Whether It Be Their Fate To Procure Bread With Their Labour,

Or To Eat It At The Sweat Of Others. Perhaps,  If We Consider The

Case With Proper Attention,  Or Resolve It With Due Sincerity,  The

Former Is Much The Sweeter. The Hind May Be More Happy Than The

Lord,  For His Desires Are Fewer,  And Those Such As Are Attended

With More Hope And Less Fear. I Will Do My Utmost To Lay The

Foundations Of My Children's Happiness,  I Will Carefully Avoid

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Educating Them In A Station Superior To Their Fortune,  And For The

Event Trust To That Being In Whom Whoever Rightly Confides,  Must

Be Superior To All Worldly Sorrows."

 

In This Low Manner Did This Poor Wretch Proceed To Argue,  Till He

Had Worked Himself Up Into An Enthusiasm Which By Degrees Soon

Became Invulnerable To Every Human Attack; So That When Mr. Snap

Acquainted Him With The Return Of The Writ,  And That He Must Carry

Him To Newgate,  He Received The Message As Socrates Did The News

Of The Ship's Arrival,  And That He Was To Prepare For Death.

 

 

 

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Wherein Our Hero Proceeds In The Road To Greatness.

 

 

 

 

 

But We Must Not Detain Our Reader Too Long With These Low

Characters. He Is Doubtless As Impatient As The Audience At The

Theatre Till The Principal Figure Returns On The Stage; We Will

Therefore Indulge His Inclination,  And Pursue The Actions Of The

Great Wild.

 

There Happened To Be In The Stage-Coach In Which Mr. Wild

Travelled From Dover A Certain Young Gentleman Who Had Sold An

Estate In Kent,  And Was Going To London To Receive The Money.

There Was Likewise A Handsome Young Woman Who Had Left Her Parents

At Canterbury,  And Was Proceeding To The Same City,  In Order (As

She Informed Her Fellow-Travellers) To Make Her Fortune. With This

Girl The Young Spark Was So Much Enamoured That He Publickly

Acquainted Her With The Purpose Of His Journey,  And Offered Her A

Considerable Sum In Hand And A Settlement If She Would Consent To

Return With Him Into The Country,  Where She Would Be At A Safe

Distance From Her Relations. Whether She Accepted This Proposal Or

No We Are Not Able With Any Tolerable Certainty To Deliver: But

Wild,  The Moment He Heard Of His Money,  Began To Cast About In His

Mind By What Means He Might Become Master Of It. He Entered Into A

Long Harangue About The Methods Of Carrying Money Safely On The

Road,  And Said,  "He Had At That Time Two Bank-Bills Of A Hundred

Pounds Each Sewed In His Coat; Which," Added He,  "Is So Safe A

Way,  That It Is Almost Impossible I Should Be In Any Danger Of

Being Robbed By The Most Cunning Highwayman."

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The Young Gentleman,  Who Was No Descendant Of Solomon,  Or,  If He

Was,  Did Not,  Any More Than Some Other Descendants Of Wise Men,

Inherit The Wisdom Of His Ancestor,  Greatly Approved Wild's

Ingenuity,  And,  Thanking Him For His Information,  Declared He

Would Follow His Example When He Returned Into The Country; By

Which Means He Proposed To Save The Premium Commonly Taken For The

Remittance. Wild Had Then No More To Do But To Inform Himself

Rightly Of The Time Of The Gentleman's Journey,  Which He Did With

Great Certainty Before They Separated.

 

At His Arrival In Town He Fixed On Two Whom He Regarded As The

Most Resolute Of His Gang For This Enterprise; And,  Accordingly,

Having Summoned The Principal,  Or Most Desperate,  As He Imagined

Him,  Of These Two (For He Never Chose To Communicate In The

Presence Of More Than One),  He Proposed To Him The Robbing And

Murdering This Gentleman.

 

Mr. Marybone (For That Was The Gentleman's Name,  To Whom He

Applied) Readily Agreed To The Robbery,  But He Hesitated At The

Murder. He Said,  As To Robbery,  He Had,  On Much Weighing And

Considering The Matter,  Very Well Reconciled His Conscience To It;

For,  Though That Noble Kind Of Robbery Which Was Executed On The

Highway Was,  From The Cowardice Of Mankind,  Less Frequent,  Yet The

Baser And Meaner Species,  Sometimes Called Cheating,  But More

Commonly Known By The Name Of Robbery Within The Law,  Was In A

Manner Universal. He Did Not Therefore Pretend To The Reputation

Of Being So Much Honester Than Other People; But Could By No Means

Satisfy Himself In The Commission Of Murder,  Which Was A Sin Of

The Most Heinous Nature,  And So Immediately Prosecuted By God's

Judgment That It Never Passed Undiscovered Or Unpunished.

 

Wild,  With The Utmost Disdain In His Countenance,  Answered As

Follows: "Art Thou He Whom I Have Selected Out Of My Whole Gang

For This Glorious Undertaking,  And Dost Thou Cant Of God's Revenge

Against Murder? You Have,  It Seems,  Reconciled Your Conscience (A

Pretty Word) To Robbery,  From Its Being So Common. Is It Then The

Novelty Of Murder Which Deters You? Do You Imagine That Guns,  And

Pistols,  And Swords,  And Knives,  Are The Only Instruments Of

Death? Look Into The World And See The Numbers Whom Broken

Fortunes And Broken Hearts Bring Untimely To The Grave. To Omit

Those Glorious Heroes Who,  To Their Immortal Honour,  Have

Massacred Nations,  What Think You Of Private Persecution,

Treachery,  And Slander,  By Which The Very Souls Of Men Are In A

Manner Torn From Their Bodies? Is It Not More Generous,  Nay,  More

Good-Natured,  To Send A Man To His Rest,  Than,  After Having

Plundered Him Of All He Hath,  Or From Malice Or Malevolence

Deprived Him Of His Character,  To Punish Him With A Languishing

Death,  Or,  What Is Worse,  A Languishing Life? Murder,  Therefore,

Is Not So Uncommon As You Weakly Conceive It,  Though,  As You Said

Of Robbery,  That More Noble Kind Which Lies Within The Paw Of The

Law May Be So. But This Is The Most Innocent In Him Who Doth It,

And The Most Eligible To Him Who Is To Suffer It. Believe Me,  Lad,

The Tongue Of A Viper Is Less Hurtful Than That Of A Slanderer,

Book 3 Chapter 3 Pg 93

And The Gilded Scales Of A Rattle-Snake Less Dreadful Than The

Purse Of The Oppressor. Let Me Therefore Hear No More Of Your

Scruples; But Consent To My Proposal Without Further Hesitation,

Unless,  Like A Woman,  You Are Afraid Of Blooding Your Cloaths,  Or,

Like A Fool,  Are Terrified With The Apprehensions Of Being Hanged

In Chains. Take My Word For It,  You Had Better Be An Honest Man

Than Half A Rogue. Do Not Think Of Continuing In My Gang Without

Abandoning Yourself Absolutely To My Pleasure; For No Man Shall

Ever Receive A Favour At My Hands Who Sticks At Anything,  Or Is

Guided By Any Other Law Than That Of My Will."

 

Wild Then Ended His Speech,  Which Had Not The Desired Effect On

Marybone: He Agreed To The Robbery,  But Would Not Undertake The

Murder,  As Wild (Who Feared That,  By Marybone's Demanding To

Search The Gentleman's Coat,  He Might Hazard Suspicion Himself)

Insisted. Marybone Was Immediately Entered By Wild In His Black-

Book,  And Was Presently After Impeached And Executed As A Fellow

On Whom His Leader Could Not Place Sufficient Dependance; Thus

Falling,  As Many Rogues Do,  A Sacrifice,  Not To His Roguery,  But

To His Conscience.

 

 

Book 3 Chapter 3 Pg 94