The History Of The Life Of The Late Mr. Jonathan Wild The Great(Fiscle Part 3) by Henry Fielding (best books to read for young adults txt) 📖
- Author: Henry Fielding
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Letter Ii.
Dear Sir,--The Money, As You Truly Say, Hath Been Three Years Due,
But Upon My Soul I Am At Present Incapable Of Paying A Farthing;
But As I Doubt Not, Very Shortly Not Only To Content That Small
Bill, But Likewise To Lay Out Very Considerable Further Sums At
Your House, Hope You Will Meet With No Inconvenience By This Short
Delay In, Dear Sir, Your Most Sincere Humble Servant,
Cha. Courtly.
Letter Iii.
Mr. Heartfree,--I Beg You Would Not Acquaint My Husband Of The
Trifling Debt Between Us; For, As I Know You To Be A Very Good-
Natured Man, I Will Trust You With A Secret; He Gave Me The Money
Long Since To Discharge It, Which I Had The Ill Luck To Lose At
Play. You May Be Assured I Will Satisfy You The First Opportunity,
And Am, Sir, Your Very Humble Servant,
Cath. Rubbers.
Please To Present My Compliments To Mrs. Heartfree.
Letter Iv.
Mr. Thomas Heartfree, Sir,--Yours Received: But As To Sum
Mentioned Therein, Doth Not Suit At Present. Your Humble Servant,
Peter Pounce.
Letter V.
Sir,--I Am Sincerely Sorry It Is Not At Present Possible For Me To
Comply With Your Request, Especially After So Many Obligations
Received On My Side, Of Which I Shall Always Entertain The Most
Greateful Memory. I Am Very Greatly Concerned At Your Misfortunes,
And Would Have Waited Upon You In Person, But Am Not At Present
Very Well, And Besides, Am Obliged To Go This Evening To Vauxhall.
I Am, Sir, Your Most Obliged Humble Servant,
Cha. Easy.
P.S.--I Hope Good Mrs. Heartfree And The Dear Little Ones Are
Well.
There Were More Letters To Much The Same Purpose; But We Proposed
Giving Our Readers A Taste Only. Of All These, The Last Was
Infinitely The Most Grating To Poor Heartfree, As It Came From One
To Whom, When In Distress, He Had Himself Lent A Considerable Sum,
And Of Whose Present Flourishing Circumstances He Was Well
Assured.
Book 2 Chapter 8 Pg 70
In Which Our Hero Carries Greatness To An Immoderate Height.
Let Us Remove, Therefore, As Fast As We Can, This Detestable
Picture Of Ingratitude, And Present The Much More Agreeable
Portrait Of That Assurance To Which The French Very Properly Annex
The Epithet Of Good. Heartfree Had Scarce Done Reading His Letters
When Our Hero Appeared Before His Eyes; Not With That Aspect With
Which A Pitiful Parson Meets His Patron After Having Opposed Him
At An Election, Or Which A Doctor Wears When Sneaking Away From A
Door When He Is Informed Of His Patient's Death; Not With That
Downcast Countenance Which Betrays The Man Who, After A Strong
Conflict Between Virtue And Vice, Hath Surrendered His Mind To The
Latter, And Is Discovered In His First Treachery; But With That
Noble, Bold, Great Confidence With Which A Prime Minister Assures
His Dependent That The Place He Promised Him Was Disposed Of
Before. And Such Concern And Uneasiness As He Expresses In His
Looks On Those Occasions Did Wild Testify On The First Meeting Of
His Friend. And As The Said Prime Minister Chides You For Neglect
Of Your Interest In Not Having Asked In Time, So Did Our Hero
Attack Heartfree For His Giving Credit To The Count; And, Without
Suffering Him To Make Any Answer, Proceeded In A Torrent Of Words
To Overwhelm Him With Abuse, Which, However Friendly Its Intention
Might Be, Was Scarce To Be Outdone By An Enemy. By These Means
Heartfree, Who Might Perhaps Otherwise Have Vented Some Little
Concern For That Recommendation Which Wild Had Given Him To The
Count, Was Totally Prevented From Any Such Endeavour; And, Like An
Invading Prince, When Attacked In His Own Dominions, Forced To
Recal His Whole Strength To Defend Himself At Home. This Indeed He
Did So Well, By Insisting On The Figure And Outward Appearance Of
The Count And His Equipage, That Wild At Length Grew A Little More
Gentle, And With A Sigh Said, "I Confess I Have The Least Reason
Of All Mankind To Censure Another For An Imprudence Of This
Nature, As I Am Myself The Most Easy To Be Imposed Upon, And
Indeed Have Been So By This Count, Who, If He Be Insolvent, Hath
Cheated Me Of Five Hundred Pounds. But, For My Own Part," Said He,
"I Will Not Yet Despair, Nor Would I Have You. Many Men Have Found
It Convenient To Retire Or Abscond For A While, And Afterwards
Have Paid Their Debts, Or At Least Handsomely Compounded Them.
This I Am Certain Of, Should A Composition Take Place, Which Is
The Worst I Think That Can Be Apprehended, I Shall Be The Only
Book 2 Chapter 8 Pg 71Loser; For I Shall Think Myself Obliged In Honour To Repair Your
Loss, Even Though You Must Confess It Was Principally Owing To
Your Own Folly. Z--Ds! Had I Imagined It Necessary, I Would Have
Cautioned You, But I Thought The Part Of The Town Where He Lived
Sufficient Caution Not To Trust Him. And Such A Sum!---The Devil
Must Have Been In You Certainly!"
This Was A Degree Of Impudence Beyond Poor Mrs. Heartfree's
Imagination. Though She Had Before Vented The Most Violent
Execrations On Wild, She Was Now Thoroughly Satisfied Of His
Innocence, And Begged Him Not To Insist Any Longer On What He
Perceived So Deeply Affected Her Husband. She Said Trade Could Not
Be Carried On Without Credit, And Surely He Was Sufficiently
Justified In Giving It To Such A Person As The Count Appeared To
Be. Besides, She Said, Reflections On What Was Past And
Irretrievable Would Be Of Little Service; That Their Present
Business Was To Consider How To Prevent The Evil Consequences
Which Threatened, And First To Endeavour To Procure Her Husband
His Liberty. "Why Doth He Not Procure Bail?" Said Wild. "Alas!
Sir," Said She, "We Have Applied To Many Of Our Acquaintance In
Vain; We Have Met With Excuses Even Where We Could Least Expect
Them." "Not Bail!" Answered Wild, In A Passion; "He Shall Have
Bail, If There Is Any In The World. It Is Now Very Late, But Trust
Me To Procure Him Bail To-Morrow Morning."
Mrs. Heartfree Received These Professions With Tears, And Told
Wild He Was A Friend Indeed. She Then Proposed To Stay That
Evening With Her Husband, But He Would Not Permit Her On Account
Of His Little Family, Whom He Would Not Agree To Trust To The Care
Of Servants In This Time Of Confusion.
A Hackney-Coach Was Then Sent For, But Without Success; For These,
Like Hackney-Friends, Always Offer Themselves In The Sunshine, But
Are Never To Be Found When You Want Them. And As For A Chair, Mr.
Snap Lived In A Part Of The Town Which Chairmen Very Little
Frequent. The Good Woman Was Therefore Obliged To Walk Home,
Whither The Gallant Wild Offered To Attend Her As A Protector.
This Favour Was Thankfully Accepted, And, The Husband And Wife
Having Taken A Tender Leave Of Each Other, The Former Was Locked
In And The Latter Locked Out By The Hands Of Mr. Snap Himself.
As This Visit Of Mr. Wild's To Heartfree May Seem One Of Those
Passages In History Which Writers, Drawcansir-Like, Introduce Only
Because They Dare; Indeed, As It May Seem Somewhat Contradictory
To The Greatness Of Our Hero, And May Tend To Blemish His
Character With An Imputation Of That Kind Of Friendship Which
Savours Too Much Of Weakness And Imprudence, It May Be Necessary
To Account For This Visit, Especially To Our More Sagacious
Readers, Whose Satisfaction We Shall Always Consult In The Most
Especial Manner. They Are To Know Then That At The First Interview
With Mrs. Heartfree Mr. Wild Had Conceived That Passion, Or
Affection, Or Friendship, Or Desire, For That Handsome Creature,
Which The Gentlemen Of This Our Age Agreed To Call Love, And Which
Is Indeed No Other Than That Kind Of Affection Which, After The
Book 2 Chapter 8 Pg 72Exercise Of The Dominical Day Is Over, A Lusty Divine Is Apt To
Conceive For The Well-Drest Sirloin Or Handsome Buttock Which The
Well-Edified Squire In Gratitude Sets Before Him, And Which, So
Violent Is His Love, He Devours In Imagination The Moment He Sees
It. Not Less Ardent Was The Hungry Passion Of Our Hero, Who, From
The Moment He Had Cast His Eyes On That Charming Dish, Had Cast
About In His Mind By What Method He Might Come At It. This, As He
Perceived, Might Most Easily Be Effected After The Ruin Of
Heartfree, Which, For Other Considerations, He Had Intended. So He
Postponed All Endeavours For This Purpose Till He Had First
Effected That, By Order Of Time, Was Regularly To Precede This
Latter Design; With Such Regularity Did This Our Hero Conduct All
His Schemes, And So Truly Superior Was He To All The Efforts Of
Passion, Which So Often Disconcert And Disappoint The Noblest
Views Of Others.
Book 2 Chapter 9 Pg 73
More Greatness In Wild. A Low Scene Between Mrs. Heartfree And Her
Children, And A Scheme Of Our Hero Worthy The Highest Admiration,
And Even Astonishment.
When First Wild Conducted His Flame (Or Rather His Dish, To
Continue Our Metaphor) From The Proprietor, He Had Projected A
Design Of Conveying Her To One Of Those Eating-Houses In Covent-
Garden, Where Female Flesh Is Deliciously Drest And Served Up To
The Greedy Appetites Of Young Gentlemen; But, Fearing Lest She
Should Not Come Readily Enough Into His Wishes, And That, By Too
Eager And Hasty A Pursuit, He Should Frustrate His Future
Expectations, And Luckily At The Same Time A Noble Hint Suggesting
Itself To Him, By Which He Might Almost Inevitably Secure His
Pleasure, Together With His Profit, He Contented Himself With
Waiting
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