CHAP. VII.

WIthout very many second Conside∣rations, I resolv'd upon this new Expedition, i. e. to take a turn about the Country, in Company with this Inge∣nious and (as I thought) honest Itinerant; about three in the Afternoon we reacht Oundle, where we stay'd all Night; my Camerade I found was very well known all over the Place, having, as the Woman of the House inform'd me, Preach'd there about half a year before, to the great Sa∣tisfaction and applause of the whole Town.

Page  61To give him his due, he was a Man, as far as can be presum'd, without Learn∣ing, a Master of the English Tongue, and truly I was mightily satisfied to see with what Respect and Kindness every body treated him; we were here Merry and Jocular; but (says he) young Gentleman, you must take this for a general Rule, never to spend of the main Stock, but up∣on case of Necessity.

Come, (says he) I have thought of an Adventure, which I am confident will de∣fray the Charge of the Night. About half a Mile out of Town lives an excel∣lent Lady, you shall write out your Ver∣ses, and the Letter you repeated yesterday, and I'll get em convey'd to her, which I am very certain will be a Piece, or at least half a Piece in our way.

I had much ado to reconcile my self to this ungratefull Expedient; how∣ever, after a great many intreaties from him, and Reflections upon my self, and withal considering that the thing was not malum in se, I did comply with his Request, and transcrib'd them just in the very words and form as I first writ 'em at Leighton.

I'm sure he had not sent 'em away a∣bove an Hour, but comes a Maid Servant Page  62 with a Letter directed to Mr. Peregine— The Contents were these.

The small Token, as the good Lady was pleased to call it, was Thirty Shillings, four or five of which I think we spent that Night, and put the Remainder into a Common Bag; nothing could be more innocently pleasant and merry than my Companion was through the whole E∣vening, and truly I was so well satisfied in my new Adventure, that for the pre∣sent Page  63 I had utterly forgot all my former Misfortunes.

We stay'd here all Sunday, and upon Monday Morning set forward again, re∣solving to make the best of our way to Bos∣worth in Leicestershire, where he told me before he went into the South, he left his Horse, and several other Travelling Necessaries. In our way he would be very often discoursing, and commending such a kind of Life, and giving such plea∣sant Accounts of several diverting Pas∣sages he had met with in his Travels, that indeed I was very much affected and rejoic'd in his Conversation.

When we had walkt about five Mile, we came to a little Ale-house, and there inquiring as his manner was, what Gen∣tlemen there was near, the Man of the House told him, there was one of the wor∣thiest Men in the whole Country that liv'd within half a Mile; here he would have had me try'd my Verses again, but that I positively refus'd; however he would not be denied, but I should write him a Letter, which I did in the follow∣ing Words, and put his Name to it.

This Letter he carry'd himself, and the Gentleman, as he told me, gave him a Crown; to the best of my Remem∣brance we spent two or three Days at this little Ale-house, my Camerade going out every Morning, to fetch in Contribu∣tion (as he called it.) When we had done Page  65 there, we set forward again, and the Night following came to a small Market-Town about eight Mile further.

Here my Companion discovers a new Adventure, i. e. A Lady that was an ex∣cellent Mistress of the Latine Tongue, and very Charitable and Compassionate to all sorts of Strangers, and Travellers, and nothing would serve his turn but I must attack her in a Latine Epi∣stle, which tho' I thought was a very odd Expedient; yet my former Success, and his Intreaties together, so far prevail'd with me, that I was resolved to try the Event, and so sat down, and with some sort of dis-satisfaction and uneasiness, scribled this hasty Letter.

In Answer to this, next Morning I re∣ceiv'd a gentile Note with ten Shillings, with several neat and pretty Apologies for the smallness of the Present. By the help of these kind of Letters, Letters of Re∣quest, Petitions, and other Mendicant Conveniencies my Companion was well furnish'd with, we wander'd the Country for about a Month before we reacht Bos∣worth, which was the Place my Associ∣ate had pitcht upon to continue at for three or four days, in order to Equip us with Necessaries fit for a Summer's Expedi∣tion.

'Twas about eight a Clock, I believe, before we came to our Quarters; and truly I think we had not been there a∣bove half an Hour, but in comes a Con∣stable with a strong Party of Assistance, and seized us both; it seems they had discover'd my Itinerant Friend to be a a rank Impostor, and, what was worse, Page  67 that by an ungrateful piece of Knave∣ry, had cheated an honest Gentleman in Warwickshire out of the Horse he had left here till his Return from his Southern Peregrination.

To make short of the Story, we were both immediately carried before Sir B. D. a worthy Justice of the Peace, that liv'd in the Neighbourhood; my Came∣rade was called first to his Examination, and tho he made his Defence with the greatest assurance and readiness, yet the Charge against him was so heavy and plain, and confirm'd by so many corroborating Circumstances, that there was no possibi∣lity either to stifle, or evade it.

They prov'd several very black things upon him, but especially that his Orders, Testimonials, &c. were all forg'd, and Counterfeited, and that he had left his Wife at Falmouth, and had straggled the Country with another Woman, which he either was, or at least pretended to be Married to; upon the whole, although the Justice was a Gentleman of an extra∣ordinary Temper and Compassion, and would very willingly have Saved him, the Crimes against him were so exalted∣ly hainous, and Scandalous, and so evi∣dently and clearly proved beside, that he Page  68 was constrained to order his Clerk to make his Mittimus for Leicester Goal.

My turn came next, and truly he was not more ready to plead for, and ex∣cuse his Villany, than I was at a loss to defend my Innocence. The good Gen∣tleman perceiving me in such a strange Agony and Disorder, kindly told me, I need not be so mightily terrified, I was not charg'd with any of his Crimes, but only with being in his Company, which so far incourag'd me, that in a sort of perplext manner, I gave a general account of our meeting, and of all our Travels and Transactions, with which the Justice, and all the Company were so well satisfied, that with a great deal of Pity and Advice, I was instantly discharged.