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) 📖

In Which A Young Hero,  Of Wonderful Good Promise,  Makes His First

Appearance,  With Many Other Great Matters.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Hero Next Applied Himself To Another Of His Gang,  Who

Instantly Received His Orders,  And,  Instead Of Hesitating At A

Single Murder,  Asked If He Should Blow Out The Brains Of All The

Passengers,  Coachman And All. But Wild,  Whose Moderation We Have

Before Noted,  Would Not Permit Him; And Therefore,  Having Given

Him An Exact Description Of The Devoted Person,  With His Other

Necessary Instructions,  He Dismissed Him,  With The Strictest

Orders To Avoid,  If Possible,  Doing Hurt To Any Other Person.

 

The Name Of This Youth,  Who Will Hereafter Make Some Figure In

This History,  Being The Achates Of Our Aeneas,  Or Rather The

Hephaestion Of Our Alexander,  Was Fireblood. He Had Every

Qualification To Make Second-Rate Great Man; Or,  In Other Words,

He Was Completely Equipped For The Tool Of A Real Or First-Rate

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Great Man. We Shall Therefore (Which Is The Properest Way Of

Dealing With This Kind Of Greatness) Describe Him Negatively,  And

Content Ourselves With Telling Our Reader What Qualities He Had

Not; In Which Number Were Humanity,  Modesty,  And Fear,  Not One

Grain Of Any Of Which Was Mingled In His Whole Composition.

 

We Will Now Leave This Youth,  Who Was Esteemed The Most Promising

Of The Whole Gang,  And Whom Wild Often Declared To Be One Of The

Prettiest Lads He Had Ever Seen,  Of Which Opinion,  Indeed,  Were

Most Other People Of His Acquaintance; We Will However Leave Him

At His Entrance On This Enterprize,  And Keep Our Attention Fixed

On Our Hero,  Whom We Shall Observe Taking Large Strides Towards

The Summit Of Human Glory.

 

Wild,  Immediately At His Return To Town,  Went To Pay A Visit To

Miss Laetitia Snap; For He Had That Weakness Of Suffering Himself

To Be Enslaved By Women,  So Naturally Incident To Men Of Heroic

Disposition; To Say The Truth,  It Might More Properly Be Called A

Slavery To His Own Appetite; For,  Could He Have Satisfied That,  He

Had Not Cared Three Farthings What Had Become Of The Little Tyrant

For Whom He Professed So Violent A Regard. Here He Was Informed

That Mr. Heartfree Had Been Conveyed To Newgate The Day Before,

The Writ Being Then Returnable. He Was Somewhat Concerned At This

News; Not From Any Compassion For The Misfortunes Of Heartfree,

Whom He Hated With Such Inveteracy That One Would Have Imagined He

Had Suffered The Same Injuries From Him Which He Had Done Towards

Him. His Concern Therefore Had Another Motive; In Fact,  He Was

Uneasy At The Place Of Mr. Heartfree's Confinement,  As It Was To

Be The Scene Of His Future Glory,  And Where Consequently He Should

Be Frequently Obliged To See A Face Which Hatred,  And Not Shame,

Made Him Detest The Sight Of.

 

To Prevent This,  Therefore,  Several Methods Suggested Themselves

To Him. At First He Thought Of Removing Him Out Of The Way By The

Ordinary Method Of Murder,  Which He Doubted Not But Fireblood

Would Be Very Ready To Execute; For That Youth Had,  At Their Last

Interview,  Sworn,  D--N His Eyes,  He Thought There Was No Better

Pastime Than Blowing A Man's Brains Out. But,  Besides The Danger

Of This Method,  It Did Not Look Horrible Nor Barbarous Enough For

The Last Mischief Which He Should Do To Heartfree. Considering,

Therefore,  A Little Farther With Himself,  He At Length Came To A

Resolution To Hang Him,  If Possible,  The Very Next Session.

 

Now,  Though The Observation--How Apt Men Are To Hate Those They

Injure,  Or How Unforgiving They Are Of The Injuries They Do

Themselves,  Be Common Enough,  Yet I Do Not Remember To Have Ever

Seen The Reason Of This Strange Phaenomenon As At First It

Appears. Know Therefore,  Reader,  That With Much And Severe

Scrutiny We Have Discovered This Hatred To Be Founded On The

Passion Of Fear,  And To Arise From An Apprehension That The Person

Whom We Have Ourselves Greatly Injured Will Use All Possible

Endeavours To Revenge And Retaliate The Injuries We Have Done Him.

An Opinion So Firmly Established In Bad And Great Minds (And Those

Who Confer Injuries On Others Have Seldom Very Good Or Mean Ones)

Book 3 Chapter 3 Pg 96

That No Benevolence,  Nor Even Beneficence,  On The Injured Side,

Can Eradicate It. On The Contrary,  They Refer All These Acts Of

Kindness To Imposture And Design Of Lulling Their Suspicion,  Till

An Opportunity Offers Of Striking A Surer And Severer Blow; And

Thus,  While The Good Man Who Hath Received It Hath Truly Forgotten

The Injury,  The Evil Mind Which Did It Hath It In Lively And Fresh

Remembrance.

 

As We Scorn To Keep Any Discoveries Secret From Our Readers,  Whose

Instruction,  As Well As Diversion,  We Have Greatly Considered In

This History,  We Have Here Digressed Somewhat To Communicate The

Following Short Lesson To Those Who Are Simple And Well Inclined:

Though As A Christian Thou Art Obliged,  And We Advise Thee,  To

Forgive Thy Enemy,  Never Trust The Man Who Hath Reason To Suspect

That You Know He Hath Injured You.

 

 

 

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More And More Greatness,  Unparalleled In History Or Romance.

 

 

 

 

 

In Order To Accomplish This Great And Noble Scheme,  Which The Vast

Genius Of Wild Had Contrived,  The First Necessary Step Was To

Regain The Confidence Of Heartfree. But,  However Necessary This

Was,  It Seemed To Be Attended With Such Insurmountable

Difficulties,  That Even Our Hero For Some Time Despaired Of

Success. He Was Greatly Superior To All Mankind In The Steadiness

Of His Countenance,  But This Undertaking Seemed To Require More Of

That Noble Quality Than Had Ever Been The Portion Of A Mortal.

However,  At Last He Resolved To Attempt It,  And From His Success I

Think We May Fairly Assert That What Was Said By The Latin Poet Of

Labour,  That It Conquers All Things,  Is Much More True When

Applied To Impudence.

 

When He Had Formed His Plan He Went To Newgate,  And Burst

Resolutely Into The Presence Of Heartfree,  Whom He Eagerly

Embraced And Kissed; And Then,  First Arraigning His Own Rashness,

And Afterwards Lamenting His Unfortunate Want Of Success,  He

Acquainted Him With The Particulars Of What Had Happened;

Concealing Only That Single Incident Of His Attack On The Other's

Wife,  And His Motive To The Undertaking,  Which,  He Assured

Book 3 Chapter 4 Pg 98

Heartfree,  Was A Desire To Preserve His Effects From A Statute Of

Bankruptcy.

 

The Frank Openness Of This Declaration,  With The Composure Of

Countenance With Which It Was Delivered; His Seeming Only Ruffled

By The Concern For His Friend's Misfortune; The Probability Of

Truth Attending It,  Joined To The Boldness And Disinterested

Appearance Of This Visit,  Together With His Many Professions Of

Immediate Service At A Time When He Could Not Have The Least

Visible Motive From Self-Love; And Above All,  His Offering Him

Money,  The Last And Surest Token Of Friendship,  Rushed With Such

United Force On The Well-Disposed Heart,  As It Is Vulgarly Called,

Of This Simple Man,  That They Instantly Staggered And Soon

Subverted All The Determination He Had Before Made In Prejudice Of

Wild,  Who,  Perceiving The Balance To Be Turning In His Favour,

Presently Threw In A Hundred Imprecations On His Own Folly And

Ill-Advised Forwardness To Serve His Friend,  Which Had Thus

Unhappily Produced His Ruin; He Added As Many Curses On The Count,

Whom He Vowed To Pursue With Revenge All Over Europe; Lastly,  He

Cast In Some Grains Of Comfort,  Assuring Heartfree That His Wife

Was Fallen Into The Gentlest Hands,  That She Would Be Carried No

Farther Than Dunkirk,  Whence She Might Very Easily Be Redeemed.

 

Heartfree,  To Whom The Lightest Presumption Of His Wife's Fidelity

Would Have Been More Delicious Than The Absolute Restoration Of

All His Jewels,  And Who,  Indeed,  Had With The Utmost Difficulty

Been Brought To Entertain The Slightest Suspicion Of Her

Inconstancy,  Immediately Abandoned All Distrust Of Both Her And

His Friend,  Whose Sincerity (Luckily For Wild's Purpose) Seemed To

Him To Depend On The Same Evidence. He Then Embraced Our Hero,  Who

Had In His Countenance All The Symptoms Of The Deepest Concern,

And Begged Him To Be Comforted; Saying That The Intentions,  Rather

Than The Actions Of Men,  Conferred Obligations; That As To The

Event Of Human Affairs,  It Was Governed Either By Chance Or Some

Superior Agent; That Friendship Was Concerned Only In The

Direction Of Our Designs; And Suppose These Failed Of Success,  Or

Produced An Event Never So Contrary To Their Aim,  The Merit Of A

Good Intention Was Not In The Least Lessened,  But Was Rather

Entitled To Compassion.

 

Heartfree However Was Soon Curious Enough To Inquire How Wild Had

Escaped The Captivity Which His Wife Then Suffered. Here Likewise

He Recounted The Whole Truth,  Omitting Only The Motive To The

French Captain's Cruelty,  For Which He Assigned A Very Different

Reason,  Namely,  His Attempt To Secure Heartfree's Jewels. Wild

Indeed Always Kept As Much Truth As Was Possible In Everything;

And This He Said Was Turning The Cannon Of The Enemy Upon

Themselves.

 

Wild,  Having Thus With Admirable And Truly Laudable Conduct

Achieved The First Step,  Began To Discourse On The Badness Of The

World,  And Particularly To Blame The Severity Of Creditors,  Who

Seldom Or Never Attended To Any Unfortunate Circumstances,  But

Without Mercy Inflicted Confinement On The Debtor,  Whose Body The