The History Of The Life Of The Late Mr. Jonathan Wild The Great(Fiscle Part 3), Henry Fielding [most read books in the world of all time .txt] 📗

Book 3 Chapter 4 Pg 99

Law,  With Very Unjustifiable Rigour,  Delivered Into Their Power.

He Added,  That For His Part,  He Looked On This Restraint To Be As

Heavy A Punishment As Any Appointed By Law For The Greatest

Offenders. That The Loss Of Liberty Was,  In His Opinion,  Equal To,

If Not Worse,  Than The Loss Of Life; That He Had Always

Determined,  If By Any Accident Or Misfortune He Had Been Subjected

To The Former,  He Would Run The Greatest Risque Of The Latter To

Rescue Himself From It; Which He Said,  If Men Did Not Want

Resolution,  Was Always Enough; For That It Was Ridiculous To

Conceive That Two Or Three Men Could Confine Two Or Three Hundred,

Unless The Prisoners Were Either Fools Or Cowards,  Especially When

They Were Neither Chained Nor Fettered. He Went On In This Manner

Till,  Perceiving The Utmost Attention In Heartfree,  He Ventured To

Propose To Him An Endeavour To Make His Escape,  Which He Said

Might Easily Be Executed; That He Would Himself Raise A Party In

The Prison,  And That,  If A Murder Or Two Should Happen In The

Attempt,  He (Heartfree) Might Keep Free From Any Share Either In

The Guilt Or In The Danger.

 

There Is One Misfortune Which Attends All Great Men And Their

Schemes,  Viz.--That,  In Order To Carry Them Into Execution,  They

Are Obliged,  In Proposing Their Purpose To Their Tools,  To

Discover Themselves To Be Of That Disposition In Which Certain

Little Writers Have Advised Mankind To Place No Confidence; An

Advice Which Hath Been Sometimes Taken. Indeed,  Many

Inconveniences Arise To The Said Great Men From These Scribblers

Publishing Without Restraint Their Hints Or Alarms To Society; And

Many Great And Glorious Schemes Have Been Thus Frustrated;

Wherefore It Were To Be Wished That In All Well-Regulated

Governments Such Liberties Should Be By Some Wholesome Laws

Restrained,  And All Writers Inhibited From Venting Any Other

Instructions To The People Than What Should Be First Approved And

Licensed By The Said Great Men,  Or Their Proper Instruments Or

Tools; By Which Means Nothing Would Ever Be Published But What

Made For The Advancing Their Most Noble Projects.

 

Heartfree,  Whose Suspicions Were Again Raised By This Advice,

Viewing Wild With Inconceivable Disdain,  Spoke As Follows: "There

Is One Thing The Loss Of Which I Should Deplore Infinitely Beyond

That Of Liberty And Of Life Also; I Mean That Of A Good

Conscience; A Blessing Which He Who Possesses Can Never Be

Thoroughly Unhappy; For The Bitterest Potion Of Life Is By This So

Sweetened,  That It Soon Becomes Palatable; Whereas,  Without It,

The Most Delicate Enjoyments Quickly Lose All Their Relish,  And

Life Itself Grows Insipid,  Or Rather Nauseous,  To Us. Would You

Then Lessen My Misfortunes By Robbing Me Of What Hath Been My Only

Comfort Under Them,  And On Which I Place My Dependence Of Being

Relieved From Them? I Have Read That Socrates Refused To Save His

Life By Breaking The Laws Of His Country,  And Departing From His

Prison When It Was Open. Perhaps My Virtue Would Not Go So Far;

But Heaven Forbid Liberty Should Have Such Charms To Tempt Me To

The Perpetration Of So Horrid A Crime As Murder! As To The Poor

Evasion Of Committing It By Other Hands,  It Might Be Useful Indeed

To Those Who Seek Only The Escape From Temporal Punishment,  But

Book 3 Chapter 4 Pg 100

Can Be Of No Service To Excuse Me To That Being Whom I Chiefly

Fear Offending; Nay,  It Would Greatly Aggravate My Guilt By So

Impudent An Endeavour To Impose Upon Him,  And By So Wickedly

Involving Others In My Crime. Give Me,  Therefore,  No More Advice

Of This Kind; For This Is My Great Comfort In All My Afflictions,

That It Is In The Power Of No Enemy To Rob Me Of My Conscience,

Nor Will I Ever Be So Much My Own Enemy As To Injure It."

 

Though Our Hero Heard All This With Proper Contempt,  He Made No

Direct Answer,  But Endeavoured To Evade His Proposal As Much As

Possible,  Which He Did With Admirable Dexterity: This Method Of

Getting Tolerably Well Off,  When You Are Repulsed In Your Attack

On A Man's Conscience,  May Be Stiled The Art Of Retreating,  In

Which The Politician,  As Well As The General,  Hath Sometimes A

Wonderful Opportunity Of Displaying His Great Abilities In His

Profession.

 

Wild,  Having Made This Admirable Retreat,  And Argued Away All

Design Of Involving His Friend In The Guilt Of Murder,  Concluded,

However,  That He Thought Him Rather Too Scrupulous In Not

Attempting His Escape And Then,  Promising To Use All Such Means As

The Other Would Permit In His Service,  Took His Leave For The

Present. Heartfree,  Having Indulged Himself An Hour With His

Children,  Repaired To Rest,  Which He Enjoyed Quiet And

Undisturbed; Whilst Wild,  Disdaining Repose,  Sat Up All Night,

Consulting How He Might Bring About The Final Destruction Of His

Friend,  Without Being Beholden To Any Assistance From Himself,

Which He Now Despaired Of Procuring. With The Result Of These

Consultations We Shall Acquaint Our Reader In Good Time,  But At

Present We Have Matters Of Much More Consequence To Relate To Him.

 

 

 

Book 3 Chapter 5 Pg 101

The Event Of Fireblood's Adventure; And A Threat Of Marriage,

Which Might Have Been Concluded Either At Smithfield Or St.

James's.

 

 

 

 

 

Fireblood Returned From His Enterprise Unsuccessful. The Gentleman

Happened To Go Home Another Way Than He Had Intended; So That The

Whole Design Miscarried. Fireblood Had Indeed Robbed The Coach,

Book 3 Chapter 5 Pg 102

And Had Wantonly Discharged A Pistol Into It,  Which Lightly

Wounded One Of The Passengers In The Arm. The Booty He Met With

Was Not Very Considerable,  Though Much Greater Than That With

Which He Acquainted Wild; For Of Eleven Pounds In Money,  Two

Silver Watches,  And A Wedding-Ring,  He Produced No More Than Two

Guineas And The Ring,  Which He Protested With Numberless Oaths Was

His Whole Booty. However,  When An Advertisement Of The Robbery Was

Published,  With A Reward Promised For The Ring And The Watches,

Fireblood Was Obliged To Confess The Whole,  And To Acquaint Our

Hero Where He Pawned The Watches; Which Wild,  Taking The Full

Value Of Them For His Pains,  Restored To The Right Owner.

 

He Did Not Fail Catchising His Young Friend On This Occasion. He

Said He Was Sorry To See Any Of His Gang Guilty Of A Breach Of

Honour; That Without Honour Priggery Was At An End; That If A Prig

Had But Honour He Would Overlook Every Vice In The World. "But,

Nevertheless," Said He,  "I Will Forgive You This Time,  As You Are

A Hopeful Lad,  And I Hope Never Afterwards To Find You Delinquent

In This Great Point."

 

Wild Had Now Brought His Gang To Great Regularity: He Was Obeyed

And Feared By Them All. He Had Likewise Established An Office,

Where All Men Who Were Robbed,  Paying The Value Only (Or A Little

More) Of Their Goods,  Might Have Them Again. This Was Of Notable

Use To Several Persons Who Had Lost Pieces Of Plate They Had

Received From Their Grand-Mothers; To Others Who Had A Particular

Value For Certain Rings,  Watches,  Heads Of Canes,  Snuff-Boxes,

&C.,  For Which They Would Not Have Taken Twenty Times As Much As

They Were Worth,  Either Because They Had Them A Little While Or A

Long Time,  Or That Somebody Else Had Had Them Before,  Or From Some

Other Such Excellent Reason,  Which Often Stamps A Greater Value On

A Toy Than The Great Bubble-Boy Himself Would Have The Impudence

To Set Upon It.

 

By These Means He Seemed In So Promising A Way Of Procuring A

Fortune,  And Was Regarded In So Thriving A Light By All The

Gentlemen Of His Acquaintance,  As By The Keeper And Turnkeys Of

Newgate,  By Mr. Snap,  And Others Of His Occupation,  That Mr. Snap

One Day,  Taking Mr. Wild The Elder Aside,  Very Seriously Proposed

What They Had Often Lightly Talked Over,  A Strict Union Between

Their Families,  By Marrying His Daughter Tishy To Our Hero. This

Proposal Was Very Readily Accepted By The Old Gentleman,  Who

Promised To Acquaint His Son With It.

 

On The Morrow On Which This Message Was Delivered,  Our Hero,

Little Dreaming Of The Happiness Which,  Of Its Own Accord,  Was

Advancing So Near Towards Him,  Had Called Fireblood To Him; And,

After Informing That Youth Of The Violence Of His Passion For The

Young Lady,  And Assuring Him What Confidence He Reposed In Him And

His Honour,  He Despatched Him To Miss Tishy With The Following

Letter; Which We Here Insert,  Not Only As We Take It To Be

Extremely Curious,  But To Be A Much Better Pattern For That

Epistolary Kind Of Writing Which Is Generally Called Love-Letters

Than Any To Be Found In The Academy Of Compliments,  And Which We

Book 3 Chapter 5 Pg 103

Challenge All The Beaus Of Our Time To Excel Either In Matter Or

Spelling.

 

"Most Divine And Adwhorable Creeture,--I Doubt Not But Those Iis,

Briter Than The Son,  Which Have Kindled Such A Flam In My Hart,

Have Likewise The Faculty Of Seeing It. It Would Be The Hiest

Preassumption To Imagin You Eggnorant