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] 📗
- Author: Henry Fielding
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Those Times, Whose Name Was Hind, And Declared Open War With Both
Parties. He Was Successful In Several Actions, And Spoiled Many Of
The Enemy: Till At Length, Being Overpowered And Taken, He Was,
Contrary To The Law Of Arms, Put Basely And Cowardly To Death By A
Combination Between Twelve Men Of The Enemy's Party, Who, After
Some Consultation, Unanimously Agreed On The Said Murder.
Book 1 Chapter 2 Pg 9
This Edward Took To Wife Rebecca, The Daughter Of The Above-
Mentioned John Hind, Esq., By Whom He Had Issue John, Edward,
Thomas, And Jonathan, And Three Daughters, Namely, Grace, Charity,
And Honour. John Followed The Fortunes Of His Father, And,
Suffering With Him, Left No Issue. Edward Was So Remarkable For
His Compassionate Temper That He Spent His Life In Soliciting The
Causes Of The Distressed Captives In Newgate, And Is Reported To
Have Held A Strict Friendship With An Eminent Divine Who Solicited
The Spiritual Causes Of The Said Captives. He Married Editha,
Daughter And Co-Heiress Of Geoffry Snap, Gent., Who Long Enjoyed
An Office Under The High Sheriff Of London And Middlesex, By
Which, With Great Reputation, He Acquired A Handsome Fortune: By
Her He Had No Issue. Thomas Went Very Young Abroad To One Of Our
American Colonies, And Hath Not Been Since Heard Of. As For The
Daughters, Grace Was Married To A Merchant Of Yorkshire Who Dealt
In Horses. Charity Took To Husband An Eminent Gentleman, Whose
Name I Cannot Learn, But Who Was Famous For So Friendly A
Disposition That He Was Bail For Above A Hundred Persons In One
Year. He Had Likewise The Remarkable Humour Of Walking In
Westminster-Hall With A Straw In His Shoe. Honour, The Youngest,
Died Unmarried: She Lived Many Years In This Town, Was A Great
Frequenter Of Plays, And Used To Be Remarkable For Distributing
Oranges To All Who Would Accept Of Them.
Jonathan Married Elizabeth, Daughter Of Scragg Hollow, Of Hockley-
In-The-Hole, Esq.; And By Her Had Jonathan, Who Is The Illustrious
Subject Of These Memoirs.
Book 1 Chapter 3 Pg 10
The Birth, Parentage, And Education Of Mr. Jonathan Wild The
Great.
It Is Observable That Nature Seldom Produces Any One Who Is
Afterwards To Act A Notable Part On The Stage Of Life, But She
Gives Some Warning Of Her Intention; And, As The Dramatic Poet
Generally Prepares The Entry Of Every Considerable Character With
A Solemn Narrative, Or At Least A Great Flourish Of Drums And
Trumpets, So Doth This Our Alma Mater By Some Shrewd Hints Pre-
Admonish Us Of Her Intention, Giving Us Warning, As It Were, And
Book 1 Chapter 3 Pg 11Crying--
--Venienti Occurrite Morbo.
Thus Astyages, Who Was The Grandfather Of Cyrus, Dreamt That His
Daughter Was Brought To Bed Of A Vine, Whose Branches Overspread
All Asia; And Hecuba, While Big With Paris, Dreamt That She Was
Delivered Of A Firebrand That Set All Troy In Flames; So Did The
Mother Of Our Great Man, While She Was With Child Of Him, Dream
That She Was Enjoyed In The Night By The Gods Mercury And Priapus.
This Dream Puzzled All The Learned Astrologers Of Her Time,
Seeming To Imply In It A Contradiction; Mercury Being The God Of
Ingenuity, And Priapus The Terror Of Those Who Practised It. What
Made This Dream The More Wonderful, And Perhaps The True Cause Of
Its Being Remembered, Was A Very Extraordinary Circumstance,
Sufficiently Denoting Something Preternatural In It; For Though
She Had Never Heard Even The Name Of Either Of These Gods, She
Repeated These Very Words In The Morning, With Only A Small
Mistake Of The Quantity Of The Latter, Which She Chose To Call
Priapus Instead Of Priapus; And Her Husband Swore That, Though He
Might Possibly Have Named Mercury To Her (For He Had Heard Of Such
An Heathen God), He Never In His Life Could Anywise Have Put Her
In Mind Of That Other Deity, With Whom He Had No Acquaintance.
Another Remarkable Incident Was, That During Her Whole Pregnancy
She Constantly Longed For Everything She Saw; Nor Could Be
Satisfied With Her Wish Unless She Enjoyed It Clandestinely; And
As Nature, By True And Accurate Observers, Is Remarked To Give Us
No Appetites Without Furnishing Us With The Means Of Gratifying
Them; So Had She At This Time A Most Marvellous Glutinous Quality
Attending Her Fingers, To Which, As To Birdlime, Everything
Closely Adhered That She Handled.
To Omit Other Stories, Some Of Which May Be Perhaps The Growth Of
Superstition, We Proceed To The Birth Of Our Hero, Who Made His
First Appearance On This Great Theatre The Very Day When The
Plague First Broke Out In 1665. Some Say His Mother Was Delivered
Of Him In An House Of An Orbicular Or Round Form In Covent-Garden;
But Of This We Are Not Certain. He Was Some Years Afterwards
Baptized By The Famous Mr. Titus Oates.
Nothing Very Remarkable Passed In His Years Of Infancy, Save That,
As The Letters Th Are The Most Difficult Of Pronunciation, And The
Last Which A Child Attains To The Utterance Of, So They Were The
First That Came With Any Readiness From Young Master Wild. Nor
Must We Omit The Early Indications Which He Gave Of The Sweetness
Of His Temper; For Though He Was By No Means To Be Terrified Into
Compliance, Yet Might He, By A Sugar-Plum, Be Brought To Your
Purpose; Indeed, To Say The Truth, He Was To Be Bribed To
Anything, Which Made Many Say He Was Certainly Born To Be A Great
Man.
He Was Scarce Settled At School Before He Gave Marks Of His Lofty
And Aspiring Temper; And Was Regarded By All His Schoolfellows
Book 1 Chapter 3 Pg 12With That Deference Which Men Generally Pay To Those Superior
Geniuses Who Will Exact It Of Them. If An Orchard Was To Be Robbed
Wild Was Consulted, And, Though He Was Himself Seldom Concerned In
The Execution Of The Design, Yet Was He Always Concerter Of It,
And Treasurer Of The Booty, Some Little Part Of Which He Would Now
And Then, With Wonderful Generosity, Bestow On Those Who Took It.
He Was Generally Very Secret On These Occasions; But If Any
Offered To Plunder Of His Own Head, Without Acquainting Master
Wild, And Making A Deposit Of The Booty, He Was Sure To Have An
Information Against Him Lodged With The Schoolmaster, And To Be
Severely Punished For His Pains.
He Discovered So Little Attention To School-Learning That His
Master, Who Was A Very Wise And Worthy Man, Soon Gave Over All
Care And Trouble On That Account, And, Acquainting His Parents
That Their Son Proceeded Extremely Well In His Studies, He
Permitted His Pupil To Follow His Own Inclinations, Perceiving
They Led Him To Nobler Pursuits Than The Sciences, Which Are
Generally Acknowledged To Be A Very Unprofitable Study, And Indeed
Greatly To Hinder The Advancement Of Men In The World: But Though
Master Wild Was Not Esteemed The Readiest At Making His Exercise,
He Was Universally Allowed To Be The Most Dexterous At Stealing It
Of All His Schoolfellows, Being Never Detected In Such Furtive
Compositions, Nor Indeed In Any Other Exercitations Of His Great
Talents, Which All Inclined The Same Way, But Once, When He Had
Laid Violent Hands On A Book Called Gradus Ad Parnassum, I. E. A
Step Towards Parnassus, On Which Account His Master, Who Was A Man
Of Most Wonderful Wit And Sagacity, Is Said To Have Told Him He
Wished It Might Not Prove In The Event Gradus Ad Patibulum, I. E.
A Step Towards The Gallows.
But, Though He Would Not Give Himself The Pains Requisite To
Acquire A Competent Sufficiency In The Learned Languages, Yet Did
He Readily Listen With Attention To Others, Especially When They
Translated The Classical Authors To Him; Nor Was He In The Least
Backward, At All Such Times, To Express His Approbation. He Was
Wonderfully Pleased With That Passage In The Eleventh Iliad Where
Achilles Is Said To Have Bound Two Sons Of Priam Upon A Mountain,
And Afterwards To Have Released Them For A Sum Of Money. This Was,
He Said, Alone Sufficient To Refute Those Who Affected A Contempt
For The Wisdom Of The Ancients, And An Undeniable Testimony Of The
Great Antiquity Of Priggism.[Footnote: This Word, In The Cant
Language, Signifies Thievery.] He Was Ravished With The Account
Which Nestor Gives In The Same Book Of The Rich Booty Which He
Bore Off (I.E. Stole) From The Eleans. He Was Desirous Of Having
This Often Repeated To Him, And At The End Of Every Repetition He
Constantly Fetched A Deep Sigh, And Said It Was A Glorious Booty.
When The Story Of Cacus Was Read To Him Out Of The Eighth Aeneid
He Generously Pitied The Unhappy Fate Of That Great Man, To Whom
He Thought Hercules Much Too Severe: One Of His Schoolfellows
Commending The Dexterity Of Drawing The Oxen Backward By Their
Tails Into His Den, He Smiled, And With Some Disdain Said, He
Could Have Taught Him A Better Way.
Book 1 Chapter 3 Pg 13
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