diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 11:58:13 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 11:58:13 -0800 |
| commit | 2e7faa382426902c60e9bf71155316b69ff4809b (patch) | |
| tree | 061782497ac3420788c6232e8d332e0f2f3157a2 | |
| parent | 03069d44d191d61a2936e4dd713ebea7449d107f (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-0.txt | 3780 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-0.zip | bin | 82836 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h.zip | bin | 1512689 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/66684-h.htm | 4134 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/back_cover.jpg | bin | 260860 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/colophon.jpg | bin | 27994 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 258133 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/cover2.jpg | bin | 252757 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/fifty-title.jpg | bin | 39616 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/i003_orig_frontis1.jpg | bin | 192823 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/i004_orig_title1.jpg | bin | 160654 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/i005_orig_frontis2.jpg | bin | 132281 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/66684-h/images/i006_orig_title2.jpg | bin | 126886 -> 0 bytes |
16 files changed, 17 insertions, 7914 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3719710 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #66684 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66684) diff --git a/old/66684-0.txt b/old/66684-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e1f84a6..0000000 --- a/old/66684-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3780 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life and Remarkable Adventures of -Israel R. Potter, by Israel R. Potter - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter - -Authors: Israel R. Potter - Herman Melville - -Commentator: Leonard Kriegel - -Release Date: November 7, 2021 [eBook #66684] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Steve Mattern and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND REMARKABLE -ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. POTTER *** - - - - - - The Life and Remarkable Adventures of - - ISRAEL R. POTTER - - [Illustration: “OLD CHAIRS TO MEND.”] - - ISRAEL R. POTTER - - _The autobiography of America’s first tragic hero--the - basis of Herman Melville’s famous novel_ - - _Introduction by Leonard Kriegel_ - - [Illustration: The American Experience Series] - - CORINTH AE 16 $1.25 - - - - - LIFE AND REMARKABLE - ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. POTTER - - -“Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a -little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray -paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably not by himself, -but taken down from his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks of -the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out of -print.” - -So Herman Melville, on June 17th, 1854, described this original volume -in the Dedication (_To His Highness, The Bunker Hill Monument_) of -his fictionalized version of Potter’s autobiography. - -The present edition is a faithful republication of Potter’s own story, -reset from the Henry Trumbull printing in 1824. The reproduction of the -original title page and frontispiece illustration are from a copy in -the New York Public Library and used with their kind permission. Also -reproduced is the title page and frontispiece illustration of the J. -Howard printing in the same year. - -In an Appendix, the final chapters of Herman Melville’s _Israel -Potter_ have been reproduced from the 1855 first edition printing. - - - - - LIFE - and - REMARKABLE ADVENTURES - of - ISRAEL R. POTTER - - _Introduction by Leonard Kriegel_ - - [Illustration: The American Experience Series] - - CONSULTING EDITOR: HENRY BAMFORD PARKES - - CORINTH BOOKS - NEW YORK - - - - - LEONARD KRIEGEL is an Instructor of English at The - City College of New York. He has edited a book on the - political philosophy of the Founding Fathers which is soon - to be published and has written a number of stories and - articles. - - Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 62-10046 - - - Copyright © 1962 Corinth Books, Inc. - - THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES - - Published by Corinth Books Inc. - 32 West Eighth Street, New York 11, N. Y. - - Distributed by The Citadel Press - 222 Park Avenue South, New York 3, N. Y. - - _Printed in the U.S.A._ - - NOBLE OFFSET PRINTERS, INC. - NEW YORK 3, N. Y. - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -_The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter_ has been -read, when it has been read at all, in the same way as college -sophomores studying Shakespeare read _Plutarch’s Lives_, not -for the moral homilies of a great biographer but rather as notes for -the study of _Julius Caesar_ or _Antony and Cleopatra_. In -the case of Israel Potter’s _Life_, however, such an approach -can at least be partially justified, since its primary significance -remains as a source for Herman Melville’s “Revolutionary narrative -of a beggar.” That Melville was unable to mold the source to fit his -artistic conception becomes readily apparent when we read these memoirs -for ourselves and then turn to his novel. Only after making such a -comparison does one realize the truth of F. O. Matthiessen’s assertion -that for Melville, by the time he wrote _Israel Potter_, tragedy -“had become so real that it could not be written.” But despite his -artistic failure, Melville’s choice of subject remains interesting, -both for what it tells us about Melville’s deepening sense of despair -and for what it tells us about individualism and democracy. For in -these ghostwritten memoirs, a pensioner’s plea to the government -by “one of the few survivors who fought and bled for American -Independence,” Melville caught a striking reflection of his own state -of mind. The real Israel Potter, like Melville’s “Revolutionary -beggar,” was another name added to the long list of the world’s -victims. And it is as a victim that this “plebian Lear” speaks to us, -too. - -Not only is Israel a victim, he is--and for Melville’s purposes this -was most significant--an American victim. It is this quality, this -peculiarly “frontier” attempt to reconcile the promise of life with the -actualities of existence, that stamps the real Israel Potter. Somehow, -for the American, life is never as good, as ennobling, or as fulfilling -as he feels it was meant to be. For against his dream of selfhood -the American is forced to measure the accidental evil of existence -itself. It was as such a gauge that Melville attempted to make use of -this short _Life_ of an insignificant “native of Cranston, Rhode -Island.” Despite his artistic failure, his instinct was undoubtedly -sound. For Israel Potter is not merely another good man adrift in a -world devoid of goodness: he is, above all, an American, whose ideals -and aims are derived from that same self-reliant democratic ethos which -Whitman and Emerson were later to celebrate. Hired laborer, farmer, -chain bearer, hunter, trapper, Indian trader, merchant sailor, whaler, -soldier, courier, spy, carpenter, and beggar, through it all, Israel -remains the American, the man who, even in the hardships of exile, -insists that all will be well once he can again walk “on American -ground.” - -As it proved to be with so many of his countrymen, success was Israel’s -failure. He returned, in May, 1823, after an absence of 48 years, to an -America that was already far different from the country he remembered -leaving at the age of 31. He had grown older and now he looked back; -America, too, had grown older, but now it looked forward. Israel had -come home to die; America was far too busy in the conquest of itself -to give death anything more than the platitudinous comfort of words. -Israel petitioned the government for a pension; but the government was -now stable, a government of laws and not of men, and so his petition -was rejected. After his long exile Israel had come to understand that -there were boundaries to any existence; American optimism made even the -recognition of such boundaries an impossibility. - -Melville, to his credit, saw all of this. That he was not able to -integrate such insights into the novel that evolved from these memoirs -is not overly important; one year after the publication of _Israel -Potter_, he quit work on his uncompleted philosophical novel, _The -Confidence Man_, which, despite its manifold faults, must be read -as a savage indictment of the shallow humanitarianism against which -the real Israel Potter proved to be so helpless. It was in this novel -that Melville provided his nihilistic answer to the fragile, confused -optimism with which Israel attempted to confront living. - -The differences between what Melville saw in Israel’s life and -what Israel himself saw are interesting enough: for Melville, who -saw the truth so intensely that he found himself unable to commit -his perceptions to paper, Israel’s life was further proof of man’s -insignificance in a universe whose order remains completely beyond -his comprehension; but Israel, who is neither what Madison Avenue or -Socrates calls a “thinking man,” constantly confuses the _what is_ -of life with the _what ought to be_. One sees the limitations of -Israel’s perception in his attitude towards Benjamin Franklin; Israel -praises Franklin as “that great and good man,” the living embodiment -of all that the American dream promises. For Melville, on the other -hand, Franklin is not the embodiment but the decay of that dream, the -sophisticated but soulless statesman who is damned as “everything -but a poet.” The real Israel dismisses Franklin in two pages, but -Melville cannot dismiss him for six chapters. “It’s wisdom that’s -cheap, and it’s fortune that’s dear,” Melville has his Israel say -as he disgustedly slams down a copy of _Poor Richard_. But the -real Israel was a believer in wisdom; wisdom, along with goodness and -self-reliance and Christianity, was the way to fortune. And it is -because of this lack of perception that his own story is a far truer -portrayal of the mystique of victimization than is Melville’s novel. -Israel consistently does the admirable thing at the right time, only to -see himself mocked by circumstance or fate or whatever label we choose -to give to the quiet terror that life so frequently breeds. - -Perhaps it was also his limited perception that enabled Israel to -devote almost half these memoirs to his years of exile; he records his -sufferings in detail, a record that was so painful to Melville that he -could do no more than hurriedly outline it in a few short, concluding -chapters. One can scarcely see what other choice Melville could have -made--such intense and unalleviated suffering can easily make of its -victim a mock-epic buffoon. In his own story, Israel manages to avoid -this fate, but only because he does not fully understand what is -happening to him. Melville saw the truth; because it was so painful, -however, he found himself unable to write it. - -_The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter_ was -published in Providence in 1824, one year after Israel “succeeded in -the (79th year of his age) in obtaining a passage to his native country -after an absence of 48 years.” This small book, written and published -by Henry Trumbull, a Providence, Rhode Island printer, did not help him -achieve his objective: his quest for a pension proved unsuccessful, -and he died soon after, on “the same day,” Melville tells us, “that -the oldest oak in his native hills was blown down.” He took with him -whatever was left of his dream and his pride, an end which, to some -extent, all victims share. “Kings as clowns,” Melville wrote bitterly, -“are codgers--who ain’t a nobody?” It is a fitting epitaph for all the -Israel Potters. - - LEONARD KRIEGEL - _The City College of New York_ - - - - -[Illustration: “_OLD CHAIRS TO MEND_” - -ISRAEL R. POTTER, - -Born in Cranston (Rhode Island) August 1st, 1744.] - - - - - LIFE - - AND - - REMARKABLE ADVENTURES - - OF - - ISRAEL R. POTTER, - - (A NATIVE OF CRANSTON, RHODE-ISLAND,) - - WHO WAS A SOLDIER IN THE - - AMERICAN REVOLUTION, - - And took a distinguished part in the Battle of Bunker Hill (in - which he received three wounds,) after which he was taken Prisoner - by the British, conveyed to England, where for 30 years he obtained - a livelihood for himself and family, by crying “_Old Chairs to - Mend_,” through the Streets of London.--In May last, by the - assistance of the American Consul, he succeeded (in the 79th year - of his age) in obtaining a passage to his native country, after an - absence of 48 years. - - PROVIDENCE: - Printed by J. Howard, for I. R. Potter--1824. - (Price 31 Cents.) - - - - -[Illustration: - -“OLD CHAIRS TO MEND” - -ISRAEL R. POTTER - -_Born in Cranston R.I. August 1^{st}. 1744._] - - - - - LIFE - - AND - - REMARKABLE ADVENTURES - - OF - - ISRAEL R. POTTER, - - (A NATIVE OF CRANSTON, RHODE-ISLAND.) - - WHO WAS A SOLDIER IN THE - - AMERICAN REVOLUTION, - - And took a distinguished part in the Battle of Bunker Hill (in - which he received three wounds,) after which he was taken Prisoner - by the British, conveyed to England, where for 30 years he obtained - a livelihood for himself and family, by crying “_Old Chairs to - Mend_” through the Streets of London.--In May last, by the - assistance of the American Consul, he succeeded (in the 79th year - of his age) in obtaining a passage to his native country, after an - absence of 48 years. - - PROVIDENCE: - Printed by Henry Trumbull--1824. - (Price 28 Cents.) - - - - -PREFACE. - - -In the foregoing pages we have attempted a simple narrative of the life -and extraordinary adventures of one of the few survivors who fought -and bled for American Independence. There is not probably another -now living who took an equally active part in the Revolutionary war, -whose life has been marked with more extraordinary events, and who has -drank deeper of the cup of adversity, than the aged veteran with whose -History we now beg liberty to present the American public. Doomed by -the fate of War to be early separated from kindred and friends, and to -be conveyed by a foreign foe a prisoner of war from his native land, -to a far distant country, where after having for 48 years experienced -almost every hardship and deprivation of which adverse fortune is -productive, providence appears at length to have so far interfered -in his behalf, as to provide means whereby he has been enabled at an -advanced age once more to visit and inhale the pure air of his native -land. At the age of Seventy-Nine, an age in which it cannot be expected -that the lamp of human life can long remain unextinguished, he has -arrived among us, in a state of penury and want, to seek in common with -his countrymen the enjoyment of a few of the blessings produced by -American valour, in her memorable conflict with the mother country and -in which he took a distinguished part. - -As it yet remains doubtful whether (in consequence of his long absence) -he will be so fortunate as to be included in that number to whom -Government has granted pensions for their Revolutionary services, it is -to obtain if possible a humble pittance as a remuneration, in part, for -the unprecedented privations and sufferings of which he has been the -unfortunate subject, that he is now induced to present the public with -the following concise and simple narration of the most extraordinary -incidents of his life. - - - - -LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. POTTER, - - -I was born of reputable parents in the town of Cranston, State of Rhode -Island, August 1st, 1744.--I continued with my parents there in the -full enjoyment of parental affection and indulgence, until I arrived at -the age of 18, when, having formed an acquaintance with the daughter -of a Mr. Richard Gardner, a near neighbour, for whom (in the opinion -of my friends) entertaining too great a degree of partiality, I was -reprimanded and threatened by them with more severe punishment, if my -visits were not discontinued. Disappointed in my intentions of forming -an union (when of suitable age) with one whom I really loved, I deemed -the conduct of my parents in this respect unreasonable and oppressive, -and formed the determination to leave them, for the purpose of seeking -another home and other friends. - -It was on Sunday, while the family were at meeting, that I packed up -as many articles of my cloathing as could be contained in a pocket -handkerchief, which, with a small quantity of provision, I conveyed to -and secreted in a piece of woods in the rear of my father’s house; I -then returned and continued in the house until about 9 in the evening, -when with the pretence of retiring to bed, I passed into a back room -and from thence out of a back door and hastened to the spot where I -had deposited my cloathes, &c.--it was a warm summer’s night, and that -I might be enabled to travel with the more facility the succeeding -day, I lay down at the foot of a tree and reposed myself until about -4 in the morning when I arose and commenced my journey, travelling -westward, with an intention of reaching if possible the new countries, -which I had heard highly spoken of as affording excellent prospects -for industrious and enterprising young men--to evade the pursuit of my -friends, by whom I knew I should be early missed and diligently sought -for, I confined my travel to the woods and shunned the public roads, -until I had reached the distance of about 12 miles from my father’s -house. - -At noon the succeeding day I reached Hartford, in Connecticut, and -applied to a farmer in that town for work, and for whom I agreed to -labour for one month for the sum of six dollars. Having completed -my month’s work to the satisfaction of my employer, I received my -money and started from Hartford for Otter Creek; but, when I reached -Springfield, I met with a man bound to the Cahos country, and who -offered me four dollars to accompany him, of which offer I accepted, -and the next morning we left Springfield and in a canoe ascended -Connecticut river, and in about two weeks after much hard labour in -paddling and poling the boat against the current, we reached Lebanon -(N. H.), the place of our destination. It was with some difficulty and -not until I had procured a writ, by the assistance of a respectable -innkeeper in Lebanon, by the name of Hill, that I obtained from my last -employer the four dollars which he had agreed to pay me for my services. - -From Lebanon I crossed the river to New-Hartford (then N. Y.) where -I bargained with a Mr. Brink of that town for 200 acres of new land, -lying in New Hampshire, and for which I was to labour for him four -months. As this may appear to some a small consideration for so great -a number of acres of land, it may be well here to acquaint the reader -with the situation of the country in that quarter, at that early -period of its settlement--which was an almost impenetrable wilderness, -containing but few civilized inhabitants, far distantly situated from -each other and from any considerable settlement; and whose temporary -habitations with a few exceptions were constructed of logs in their -natural state--the woods abounded with wild beasts of almost every -description peculiar to this country, nor were the few inhabitants at -that time free from serious apprehension of being at some unguarded -moment suddenly attacked and destroyed, or conveyed into captivity by -the savages, who from the commencement of the French war, had improved -every favourable opportunity to cut off the defenceless inhabitants of -the frontier towns. - -After the expiration of my four months labour the person who had -promised me a deed of 200 acres of land therefor, having refused to -fulfill his engagements, I was obliged to engage with a party of his -Majesty’s Surveyors at fifteen shillings per month, as an assistant -chain bearer, to survey the wild unsettled lands bordering on the -Connecticut river, to its source. It was in the winter season, and the -snow so deep that it was impossible to travel without snow shoes--at -the close of each day we enkindled a fire, cooked our victuals and -erected with the branches of hemlock a temporary hut, which served -us for a shelter for the night. The Surveyors having completed -their business returned to Lebanon, after an absence of about two -months. Receiving my wages I purchased a fowling-piece and ammunition -therewith, and for the four succeeding months devoted my time in -hunting Deer, Beavers, &c. in which I was very successful, as in the -four months I obtained as many skins of these animals as produced -me forty dollars--with my money I purchased of a Mr. John Marsh, -100 acres of new land, lying on Water Quechy River (so called) about -five miles from Hartford (N. Y.). On this land I went immediately to -work, erected a small log hut thereon, and in two summers without any -assistance, cleared up thirty acres fit for sowing--in the winter -seasons I employed my time in hunting and entraping such animals -whose hides and furs were esteemed of the most value. I remained in -possession of my land two years, and then disposed of it to the same -person of whom I purchased it, at the advanced price of 200 dollars, -and then conveyed my skins and furs which I had collected the two -preceding winters, to NO. 4 (now Charlestown), where I exchanged -them for Indian blankets, wampeag and such other articles as I could -conveniently convey on a hand sled, and with which I started for -Canada, to barter with the Indians for furs.--This proved a very -profitable trip, as I very soon disposed of every article at an advance -of more than two hundred per cent, and received payment in furs at a -reduced price, and for which I received in NO. 4, 200 dollars, cash. -With this money, together with what I was before in possession of, I -now set out for home, once more to visit my parents after an absence -of two years and nine months, in which time my friends had not been -enabled to receive any correct information of me. On my arrival, so -greatly effected were my parents at the presence of a son whom they -had considered dead, that it was sometime before either could become -sufficiently composed to listen to or to request me to furnish them -with an account of my travels. - -Soon after my return, as some atonement for the anxiety which I had -caused my parents, I presented them with most of the money that I had -earned in my absence, and formed the determination that I would remain -with them contented at home, in consequence of a conclusion from the -welcome reception that I met with, that they had repented of their -opposition, and had become reconciled to my intended union--but, in -this, I soon found that I was mistaken; for, although overjoyed to see -me alive, whom they had supposed really dead, no sooner did they find -that my long absence had rather increased than diminished my attachment -for their neighbor’s daughter, than their resentment and opposition -appeared to increase in proportion--in consequence of which I formed -the determination again to quit them, and try my fortune at sea, as I -had now arrived at an age in which I had an unquestionable right to -think and act for myself. - -After remaining at home one month, I applied for and procured a -birth at Providence, on board the Sloop ----, Capt. Fuller, bound to -Grenada--having completed her loading (which consisted of stone lime, -hoops, staves, &c.) we set sail with a favourable wind, and nothing -worthy of note occurred until the 15th day from that on which we left -Providence, when the sloop was discovered to be on fire, by a smoke -issuing from her hold--the hatches were immediately raised, but as it -was discovered that the fire was caused by water communicating with -the lime, it was deemed useless to make any attempts to extinguish -it--orders were immediately thereupon given by the captain to hoist out -the long boat, which was found in such a leaky condition as to require -constant bailing to keep her afloat; we had only time to put on board -a small quantity of bread, a firkin of butter and a ten gallon keg of -water, when we embarked, eight in number, to trust ourselves to the -mercy of the waves, in a leaky boat and many leagues from land. As -our provision was but small in quantity, and it being uncertain how -long we might remain in our perilous situation, it was proposed by the -captain soon after leaving the sloop, that we should put ourselves on -an allowance of one biscuit and half a pint of water per day, for each -man, which was readily agreed to by all on board--in ten minutes after -leaving the sloop she was in a complete blaze, and presented an awful -spectacle. With a piece of the flying-jib, which had been fortunately -thrown into the boat, we made shift to erect a sail, and proceeded in -a south-west direction in hopes to reach the spanish maine, if not -so fortunate as to fall in with some vessel in our course--which, by -the interposition of kind providence in our favour, actually took -place the second day after leaving the sloop--we were discovered and -picked up by a Dutch ship bound from Eustatia to Holland, and from -the captain and crew met with a humane reception, and were supplied -with every necessary that the ship afforded--we continued on board -one week when we fell in with an American sloop bound from Piscataqua -to Antigua, which received us all on board and conveyed us in safety -to the port of her destination. At Antigua I got a birth on board an -American brig bound to Porto Rico, and from thence to Eustatia. At -Eustatia I received my discharge and entered on board a Ship belonging -to Nantucket, and bound on a whaling voyage, which proved an uncommonly -short and successful one--we returned to Nantucket full of oil after -an absence of the ship from that port of only 16 months. After my -discharge I continued about one month on the island, and then took -passage for Providence, and from thence went to Cranston, once more to -visit my friends, with whom I continued three weeks, and then returned -to Nantucket. From Nantucket I made another whaling voyage to the South -Seas and after an absence of three years, (in which time I experienced -almost all the hardships and deprivations peculiar to Whalemen in long -voyages) I succeeded by the blessings of providence in reaching once -more my native home, perfectly sick of the sea, and willing to return -to the bush and exchange a mariner’s life for one less hazardous and -fatiguing. - -I remained with my friends at Cranston a few weeks, and then hired -myself to a Mr. James Waterman, of Coventry, for 12 months, to work at -farming. This was in the year 1774, and I continued with him about six -months, when the difficulties which had for some time prevailed between -the Americans and Britons, had now arrived at that crisis, as to render -it certain that hostilities would soon commence in good earnest between -the two nations; in consequence of which, the Americans at this period -began to prepare themselves for the event--companies were formed in -several of the towns in New England, who received the appellation of -“minute men,” and who were to hold themselves in readiness to obey the -first summons of their officers, to march at a moment’s notice;--a -company of this kind was formed in Coventry, into which I enlisted, and -to the command of which Edmund Johnson, of said Coventry, was appointed. - -It was on a Sabbath morning that news was received of the destruction -of the provincial stores at Concord, and of the massacre of our -countrymen at Lexington, by a detached party of the British troops -from Boston: and I immediately thereupon received a summons from the -captain, to be prepared to march with the company early the morning -ensuing--and, although I felt not less willing to obey the call of -my country at a minute’s notice, and to face her foes, than did the -gallant Putnam, yet, the nature of the summons did not render it -necessary for me, like him, to quit my plough in the field; as having -the day previous commenced the ploughing of a field of ten or twelve -acres, that I might not leave my work half done, I improved the sabbath -to complete it. - -By the break of day Monday morning I swung my knapsack, shouldered -my musket, and with the company commenced my march with a quick step -for Charlestown, where we arrived about sunset and remained encamped -in the vicinity until about noon of the 16th June; when, having been -previously joined by the remainder of the regiment from Rhode Island, -to which our company was attached, we received orders to proceed and -join a detachment of about 1000 American troops, which had that morning -taken possession of Bunker Hill, and which we had orders immediately -to fortify, in the best manner that circumstances would admit of. We -laboured all night without cessation and with very little refreshment, -and by the dawn of day succeeded in throwing up a redoubt of eight -or nine rods square. As soon as our works were discovered by the -British in the morning, they commenced a heavy fire upon us, which -was supported by a fort on Copp’s hill; we however (under the command -of the intrepid Putnam) continued to labour like beavers until our -breast-work was completed. - -About noon, a number of the enemy’s boats and barges, filled with -troops, landed at Charlestown, and commenced a deliberate march to -attack us--we were now harangued by Gen. Putnam, who reminded us, that -exhausted as we were, by our incessant labour through the preceding -night, the most important part of our duty was yet to be performed, -and that much would be expected from so great a number of excellent -marksmen--he charged us to be cool, and to reserve our fire until the -enemy approached so near as to enable us to see the white of their -eyes--when within about ten rods of our works we gave them the contents -of our muskets, and which were aimed with so good effect, as soon to -cause them to turn their backs and to retreat with a much quicker step -than with what they approached us. We were now again harangued by “old -General Put,” as he was termed, and requested by him to aim at the -officers, should the enemy renew the attack--which they did in a few -moments, with a reinforcement--their approach was with a slow step, -which gave us an excellent opportunity to obey the commands of our -General in bringing down their officers. I feel but little disposed -to boast of my own performances on this occasion, and will only say, -that after devoting so many months in hunting the wild animals of the -wilderness, while an inhabitant of New Hampshire, the reader will not -suppose me a bad or unexperienced marksman, and that such were the fare -shots which the epauletted red coats presented in the two attacks, -that every shot which they received from me, I am confident on another -occasion would have produced me a deer skin. - -So warm was the reception that the enemy met with in their second -attack, that they again found it necessary to retreat, but soon after -receiving a fresh reinforcement, a third assault was made, in which, -in consequence of our ammunition failing, they too well succeeded--a -close and bloody engagement now ensued--to fight our way through a -very considerable body of the enemy, with clubbed muskets (for there -were not one in twenty of us provided with bayonets) were now the only -means left us to escape;--the conflict, which was a sharp and severe -one, is still fresh in my memory, and cannot be forgotten by me while -the scars of the wounds which I then received, remain to remind me of -it!--fortunately for me, at this critical moment, I was armed with a -cutlass, which although without an edge, and much rust-eaten, I found -of infinite more service to me than my musket--in one instance I am -certain it was the means of saving my life--a blow with a cutlass was -aimed at my head by a British officer, which I parried and received -only a slight cut with the point on my right arm near the elbow, which -I was then unconscious of, but this slight wound cost my antagonist at -the moment a much more serious one, which effectually dis-_armed_ -him, for with one well directed stroke I deprived him of the power of -very soon again measuring swords with a “yankee rebel!” We finally -however should have been mostly cut off, and compelled to yield to a -superiour and better equipped force, had not a body of three or four -hundred Connecticut men formed a temporary breast work, with rails &c. -and by which means held the enemy at bay until our main body had time -to ascend the heights, and retreat across the neck;--in this retreat I -was less fortunate than many of my comrades--I received two musket ball -wounds, one in my hip and the other near the ankle of my left leg--I -succeeded however without any assistance in reaching Prospect Hill, -where the main body of the Americans had made a stand and commenced -fortifying--from thence I was soon after conveyed to the Hospital -in Cambridge, where my wounds were dressed and the bullet extracted -from my hip by one of the Surgeons; the house was nearly filled with -the poor fellows who like myself had received wounds in the late -engagement, and presented a melancholly spectacle. - -Bunker Hill fight proved a sore thing for the British, and will I doubt -not be long remembered by them; while in London I heard it frequently -spoken of by many who had taken an active part therein, some of whom -were pensioners, and bore indelible proofs of American bravery--by -them the Yankees, by whom they were opposed, were not unfrequently -represented as a set of infuriated beings, whom nothing could daunt -or intimidate: and who, after their ammunition failed, disputed the -ground, inch by inch, for a full hour with clubbed muskets, rusty -swords, pitchforks and billets of wood, against the British bayonets. - -I suffered much pain from the wound which I received in my ankle, the -bone was badly fractured and several pieces were extracted by the -surgeon, and it was six weeks before I was sufficiently recovered to -be able to join my Regiment quartered on Prospect Hill, where they had -thrown up entrenchments within the distance of little more than a mile -of the enemy’s camp, which was full in view, they having entrenched -themselves on Bunker Hill after the engagement. - -On the 3d July, to the great satisfaction of the Americans, General -WASHINGTON arrived from the south to take command--I was -then confined in the Hospital, but as far as my observations could -extend, he met with a joyful reception, and his arrival was welcomed by -every one throughout the camp--the troops had been long waiting with -impatience for his arrival as being nearly destitute of ammunition and -the British receiving reinforcements daily, their prospects began to -wear a gloomy aspect. - -The British quartered in Boston began soon to suffer much from the -scarcity of provisions, and General Washington took every precaution -to prevent their gaining a supply--from the country all supplies could -be easily cut off, and to prevent their receiving any from Tories, and -other disaffected persons by water, the General found it necessary to -equip two or three armed vessels to intercept them--among these was the -brigantine Washington of 10 guns, commanded by Capt. Martindale,--as -seamen at this time could not easily be obtained, as most of them -had enlisted in the land service, permission was given to any of the -soldiers who should be pleased to accept of the offer, to man these -vessels--consequently myself with several others of the same regiment -went on board of the Washington, then lying at Plymouth, and in -complete order for a cruise. - -We set sail about the 8th December, but had been out but three days -when we were captured by the enemy’s ship Foy, of 20 guns, who took us -all out and put a prize crew on board the Washington--the Foy proceeded -with us immediately to Boston bay where we were put on board the -British frigate Tartar and orders given to convey us to England.--When -two or three days out I projected a scheme (with the assistance of my -fellow prisoners, 72 in number) to take the ship, in which we should -undoubtedly have succeeded, as we had a number of resolute fellows on -board, had it not been for the treachery of a renegade Englishman, who -betrayed us--as I was pointed out by this fellow as the principal in -the plot, I was ordered in irons by the Officers of the Tartar, and in -which situation I remained until the arrival of the ship at Portsmouth -(Eng.) when I was brought on deck and closely examined, but protesting -my innocence, and what was very fortunate for me in the course of the -examination, the person by whom I had been betrayed, having been proved -a British deserter, his story was discredited and I was relieved of my -irons. - -The prisoners were now all thoroughly cleansed and conveyed to the -marine hospital on shore, where many of us took the small-pox the -natural way, by some whom we found in the hospital effected with that -disease, and which proved fatal to nearly one half our number. From the -hospital those of us who survived were conveyed to Spithead, and put -on board a Guard Ship, and where I had been confined with my fellow -prisoners about one month, when I was ordered into the boat, to assist -the bargemen (in consequence of the absence of one of their gang) in -rowing the lieutenant on shore. As soon as we reached the shore and the -officer landed, it was proposed by some of the boat’s crew to resort -for a few moments to an ale-house, in the vicinity, to treat themselves -to a few pots of beer; which being agreed to by all, I thought this -a favourable opportunity and the only one that might present to -escape from my Floating Prison, and felt determined not to let it -pass unimproved; accordingly, as the boat’s crew were about to enter -the house, I expressed a necessity of my separating from them a few -moments, to which they (not suspecting any design), readily assented. -As soon as I saw them all snugly in and the door closed, I gave speed -to my legs, and ran, as I then concluded, about four miles without once -halting--I steered my course toward London as when there by mingling -with the crowd, I thought it probable that I should be least suspected. - -When I had reached the distance of about ten miles from where I -quit the bargemen and beginning to think myself in little danger of -apprehension, should any of them be sent by the lieutenant in pursuit -of me, as I was leisurely passing a public house, I was noticed and -hailed by a naval officer at the door with “ahoi, what ship?”--“no -ship,” was my reply, on which he ordered me to stop, but of which I -took no other notice than to observe to him that if he would attend -to his own business I would proceed quietly about mine--this rather -increasing than diminishing his suspicions that I was a deserter, -garbed as I was, he gave chase--finding myself closely pursued and -unwilling again to be made a prisoner of, if it was possible to escape, -I had once more to trust to my legs, and should have again succeeded -had not the officer, on finding himself likely to be distanced, set up -a cry of “stop thief!” this brought numbers out of their houses and -work shops, who, joining in the pursuit, succeeded after a chase of -nearly a mile in overhauling me. - -Finding myself once more in their power and a perfect stranger to the -country, I deemed it vain to attempt to deceive them with a lie, and -therefore made a voluntary confession to the officer that I was a -prisoner of war, and related to him in what manner I had that morning -made my escape. By the officer I was conveyed back to the Inn, and left -in custody of two soldiers--the former (previous to retiring) observing -to the landlord that believing me to be a true blooded yankee, -requested him to supply me at his expense with as much liquor as I -should call for. - -The house was thronged early in the evening by many of the “good and -faithful subjects of King George,” who had assembled to take a peep -at the “yankee rebel,” (as they termed me) who had so recently taken -an active part in the rebellious war, then raging in his Majesty’s -American provinces--while others came apparently to gratify a curiosity -in viewing, for the first time, an “American Yankee!” whom they had -been taught to believe a kind of non descripts--beings of much less -refinement than the ancient Britains, and possessing little more -humanity than the Buccaneers. - -As for myself I thought it best not to be reserved, but to reply -readily to all their inquiries; for while my mind was wholly employed -in devising a plan to escape from the custody of my keepers, so far -from manifesting a disposition to resent any of the insults offered -me, or my country, to prevent any suspicions of my designs, I feigned -myself not a little pleased with their observations, and in no way -dissatisfied with my situation. As the officer had left orders with the -landlord to supply me with as much liquor as I should be pleased to -call for, I felt determined to make my keepers merry at his expense, if -possible, as the best means that I could adopt to effect my escape. - -The loyal group having attempted in vain to irritate me, by their mean -and ungenerous reflections, by one (who observed that he had frequently -heard it mentioned that the yankees were extraordinary dancers), it was -proposed that I should entertain the company with a jig! to which I -expressed a willingness to assent with much feigned satisfaction, if a -fiddler could be procured--fortunately for them, there was one residing -in the neighbourhood, who was soon introduced, when I was obliged -(although much against my own inclination) to take the floor--with the -full determination, however that if John Bull was to be thus diverted -at the expense of an unfortunate prisoner of war, uncle Jonathan should -come in for his part of the sport before morning, by showing them a few -_Yankee steps_ which they then little dreamed of. - -By my performances they were soon satisfied that in this kind of -exercise, I should suffer but little in competition with the most -nimble footed Britain among them nor would they release me until I had -danced myself into a state of perfect perspiration; which, however, so -far from being any disadvantage to me, I considered all in favour of my -projected plan to escape--for while I was pleased to see the flowing -bowl passing merrily about, and not unfrequently brought in contact -with the lips of my two keepers, the state of perspiration that I was -in, prevented its producing on me any intoxicating effects. - -The evening having become now far spent and the company mostly -retiring, my keepers (who, to use a sailor’s phrase I was happy to -discover “half seas over”) having much to my dissatisfaction furnished -me with a pair of handcuffs spread a blanket by the side of their bed -on which I was to repose for the night. I feigned myself very grateful -to them for having humanely furnished me with so comfortable a bed, -and on which I stretched myself with much apparent unconcern, and -remained quiet about one hour, when I was sure that the family had -all retired to bed. The important moment had now arrived in which I -was resolved to carry my premeditated plan into execution, or die in -the attempt--for certain I was that if I let this opportunity pass -unimproved, I might have cause to regret it when it was too late--that -I should most assuredly be conveyed early in the morning back to the -floating prison from which I had so recently escaped, and where I might -possibly remain confined until America should obtain her independence, -or the differences between Great-Britain and her American provinces -were adjusted. Yet should I in my attempt to escape meet with more -opposition from my keepers, than what I had calculated from their -apparent state of inebriety, the contest I well knew would be very -unequal--they were two full grown stout men, with whom (if they were -assisted by no others) I should have to contend, handcuffed! but, after -mature deliberation, I resolved that however hazardous the attempt, it -should be made, and that immediately. - -After remaining quiet, as I before observed, until I thought it -probable that all had retired to bed in the house, I intimated to my -keepers that I was under the necessity of requesting permission to -retire for a few moments to the back yard; when both instantly arose -and reeling toward me seized each an arm, and proceeded to conduct -me through a long and narrow entry to the back door, which was no -sooner unbolted and opened by one of them, than I tripped up the heels -of both and laid them sprawling, and in a moment was at the garden -wall seeking a passage whereby I might gain the public road--a new -and unexpected obstacle now presented, for I found the whole garden -enclosed with a smooth bricken wall, of the heighth of twelve feet at -least, and was prevented by the darkness of the night from discovering -an avenue leading therefrom--in this predicament, my only alternative -was either to scale this wall handcuffed as I was, and without a -moment’s hesitation, or to suffer myself to be made a captive of again -by my keepers, who had already recovered their feet and were bellowing -like bullocks for assistance--had it not been a very dark night, I -must certainly have been discovered and re-taken by them;--fortunately -before they had succeeded in rallying the family, in groping about I -met with a fruit tree situated within ten or twelve feet of the wall, -which I ascended as expeditiously as possible, and by an extraordinary -leap from the branches reached the top of the wall, and was in an -instant on the opposite side. The coast being now clear, I ran to the -distance of two or three miles, with as much speed as my situation -would admit of;--my next object now was to rid myself of my handcuffs, -which fortunately proving none of the stoutest, I succeeded in doing -after much painful labour. - -It was now as I judged about 12 o’clock, and I had succeeded in -reaching a considerable distance from the Inn from which I had made -my escape, without hearing or seeing any thing of my keepers, whom I -had left staggering about in the garden in search of their “Yankee -captive!”--it was indeed to their intoxicated state, and the extreme -darkness of the night, that I imputed my success in evading their -pursuit.--I saw no one until about the break of day, when I met an -old man, tottering beneath the weight of his pick-ax, hoe and shovel, -clad in tattered garments, and otherwise the picture of poverty and -distress; he had just left his humble dwelling, and was proceeding -thus early to his daily labour;--and as I was now satisfied that it -would be very difficult for me to travel in the day time garbed as -I was, in a sailor’s habit, without exciting the suspicions of his -Royal Majesty’s pimps, who (I had been informed) were constantly on -the look-out for deserters, I applied to the old man, miserable as he -appeared, for a change of cloathing, offering those which I then wore -for a suit of inferior quality and less value--this I was induced to -do at that moment, as I thought that the proposal could be made with -perfect safety, for whatever might have been his suspicions as to my -motives in wishing to exchange my dress, I doubted not, that with an -object of so much apparent distress, self-interest would prevent his -communicating them.--The old man however appeared a little surprised -at my offer, and after a short examination of my pea-jacket, trousers, -&c. expressed a doubt whether I would be willing to exchange them for -his “Church suit,” which he represented as something worse for wear, -and not worth half so much as those I then wore--taking courage however -from my assurances that a change of dress was my only object, he -deposited his tools by the side of a hedge, and invited me to accompany -him to his house, which we soon reached and entered, when a scene of -poverty and wretchedness presented, which exceeded every thing of the -kind that I had ever before witnessed--the internal appearance of the -miserable hovel, I am confident would suffer in a comparison with any -of the meanest stables of our American farmers--there was but one -room, in one corner of which was a bed of straw covered with a coarse -sheet, and on which reposed his wife and five small children. I had -heard much of the impoverished and distressed situation of the poor in -England, but the present presented an instance of which I had formed -no conception--little indeed did I then think that it would be my -lot, before I should meet with an opportunity to return to my native -country, to be placed in an infinitely worse situation! but, alas, such -was my hard fortune! - -The first garment presented by the poor old man, of his best, or -“church suit,” as he termed it, was a coat of very coarse cloth, and -containing a number of patches of almost every colour but that of -the cloth of which it was originally made--the next was a waistcoat -and a pair of small cloathes, which appeared each to have received a -bountiful supply of patches to correspond with the coat--the coat I put -on without much difficulty, but the two other garments proved much too -small for me, and when I had succeeded with considerable difficulty in -putting them on, they set so taut as to cause me some apprehension that -they might even stop the circulation of blood!--my next exchange was my -buff cap for an old rusty large brimmed hat. - -The old man appeared very much pleased with his bargain, and -represented to his wife that he could now accompany her to church -much more decently clad--he immediately tried on the pea-jacket -and trousers, and seemed to give himself very little concern about -their size, although I am confident that one leg of the trousers was -sufficiently large to admit his whole body--but, however ludicrous his -appearance, in his new suit, I am confident that it could not have been -more so than mine, garbed as I was, like an old man of seventy!--From -my old friend I learned the course that I must steer to reach London, -the towns and villages that I should have to pass through, and the -distance thereto, which was between 70 and 80 miles. He likewise -represented to me that the country was filled with soldiers, who were -on the constant look-out for deserters from the navy and army, for the -apprehension of which they received a stipulated reward. - -After enjoining it on the old man not to give any information of me, -should he meet on the road anyone who should enquire for such a person, -I took my leave of him, and again set out with a determination to reach -London, thus disguised, if possible;--I travelled about 30 miles that -day, and at night entered a barn in hopes to find some straw or hay on -which to repose for the night, for I had not money sufficient to pay -for a night’s lodging at a public house, had I thought it prudent to -apply for one--in my expectation to find either hay or straw in the -barn I was sadly disappointed, for I soon found that it contained not -a lock of either, and after groping about in the dark in search of -something that might serve for a substitute, I found nothing better -than an undressed sheep-skin--with no other bed on which to repose -my wearied limbs I spent a sleepless night; cold, hungry and weary, -and impatient for the arrival of the morning’s dawn, that I might be -enabled to pursue my journey. - -By break of day I again set out and soon found myself within the -suburbs of a considerable village, in passing which I was fearful -there would be some risk of detection, but to guard myself as much -as possible against suspicion, I furnished myself with a crutch, and -feigning myself a cripple, hobbled through the town without meeting -with any interruption. In two hours after, I arrived in the vicinity -of another still more considerable village, but fortunately for me, -at the moment, I was overtaken by an empty baggage waggon, bound to -London--again feigning myself very lame, I begged of the driver to -grant a poor cripple the indulgence to ride a few miles, to which -he assenting, I concealed myself by lying prostrate on the bottom -of the waggon, until we had passed quite through the village; when, -finding the waggoner disposed to drive much slower than what I wished -to travel, after thanking him for the kind disposition which he had -manifested to oblige me, I quit the waggon, threw away my crutch and -travelled with a speed, calculated to surprise the driver with so -suddenly a recovery of the use of my legs--the reader will perceive -that I had now become almost an adept at deception, which I would -not however have so frequently practiced, had not self-preservation -demanded it. - -As I thought there would be in my journey to London, infinitely more -danger of detection in passing through large towns or villages, than in -confining myself to the country, I avoided them as much as possible; -and as I found myself once more on the borders of one, apparently of -much larger size than any that I had yet passed, I thought it most -expedient to take a circuitous route to avoid it; in attempting which, -I met with an almost insurmountable obstacle, that I little dreamed -of--when nearly abreast of the town, I found my route obstructed by a -ditch, of upwards of 19 feet in breadth, and of what depth I could not -determine; as there was now no other alternative left me, but to leap -this ditch, or to retrace my steps and pass through the town, after -a moment’s reflection I determined to attempt the former, although -it would be attempting a fete of activity, that I supposed myself -incapable of performing; yet, however incredible it may appear, I -assure my readers that I did effect it, and reached the opposite side -with dry feet! - -I had now arrived within about 16 miles of London, when night -approaching, I again sought lodgings in a barn; which containing a -small quantity of hay, I succeeded in obtaining a tolerable comfortable -night’s rest. By the dawn of day I arose somewhat refreshed, and -resumed my journey with the pleasing prospect of reaching London -before night--but, while encouraged and cheered by these pleasing -anticipations, an unexpected occurrence blasted my fair prospects--I -had succeeded in reaching in safety a distance so great from the place -where I had been last held a prisoner, and within so short a distance -of London, the place of my destination, that I began to think myself -so far out of danger, as to cause me to relax in a measure, in the -precautionary means which I had made use of to avoid detection;--as -I was passing through the town of Staines, (within a few miles of -London) about 11 o’clock in the forenoon, I was met by three or four -British soldiers, whose notice I attracted, and who unfortunately for -me, discovered by the collar (which I had not taken the precaution to -conceal) that I wore a shirt which exactly corresponded with those -uniformly worn by his Majesty’s seamen--not being able to give a -satisfactory account of myself, I was made a prisoner of, on suspicion -of being a deserter from his Majesty’s service, and was immediately -committed to the Round House; a prison so called, appropriated to the -confinement of runaways, and those convicted of small offenses--I was -committed in the evening, and to secure me the more effectually, I was -handcuffed, and left supperless by my unfeeling jailor, to pass the -night in wretchedness. - -I had now been three days without food (with the exception of a -single two-penny loaf) and felt myself unable much longer to resist -the cravings of nature--my spirits, which until now had armed me with -fortitude began to forsake me--indeed I was at this moment on the eve -of despair! when, calling to mind that grief would only aggravate my -calamity, I endeavoured to arm my soul with patience; and habituate -myself as well as I could, to woe.--Accordingly I roused my spirits; -and banishing for a few moments, these gloomy ideas, I began to reflect -seriously, on the methods how to extricate myself from this labyrinth -of horror. - -My first object was to rid myself of my handcuffs, which I succeeded in -doing after two hours hard labour, by sawing them across the grating -of the window; having my hands now at liberty, the next thing to be -done was to force the door of my apartment, which was secured on the -outside by a hasp and padlock; I devised many schemes but for the want -of tools to work with, was unable to carry them into execution--I -however at length succeeded, with the assistance of no other instrument -than the bolt of my handcuffs; with which, thrusting my arm through -a small window or aperture in the door, I forced the padlock, and -as there was now no other barrier to prevent my escape, after an -imprisonment of about five hours, I was once more at large. - -It was now as I judged about midnight, and although enfeebled and -tormented with excessive hunger and fatigue, I set out with the -determination of reaching London, if possible, early the ensuing -morning. By break of day I reached and passed through Brintford, a town -of considerable note and within six miles of the Capital--but so great -was my hunger at this moment, that I was under serious apprehension -of falling a victim to absolute starvation, if not so fortunate soon -to obtain something to appease it. I recollected of having read in my -youth, accounts of the dreadful effects of hunger, which had led men to -the commission of the most horrible excesses, but did not then think -that fate would ever thereafter doom me to an almost similar situation. - -When I made my escape from the Prison ship, six English pennies was all -the money that I possessed--with two I had purchased a two penny loaf -the day after I had escaped from my keepers at the Inn, and the other -four still remained in my possession, not having met with a favourable -opportunity since the purchase of the first loaf to purchase food of -any kind. When I had arrived at the distance of one and an half miles -from Brintford, I met with a labourer employed in building a pale -fence, to whom my deplorable situation induced me to apply for work; -or for information of any one in the neighbourhood, that might be in -want of a hand to work at farming or gardening. He informed me that he -did not wish himself to hire, but that Sir John Miller, whose seat he -represented but a short distance, was in the habit of employing many -hands at that season of the year (which was in the spring of 1776) and -he doubted not but that I might there meet with employment. - -With my spirits a little revived, at even a distant prospect of -obtaining something to alleviate my sufferings, I started in quest of -the seat of Sir John, agreeable to the directions which I had received; -in attempting to reach which, I mistook my way, and proceeded up a -gravelled and beautifully ornamented walk, which unconsciously led me -directly to the garden of the Princess Amelia--I had approached within -view of the Royal Mansion when a glimpse of a number of “red coats” -who thronged the yard, satisfied me of my mistake, and caused me to -make an instantaneous and precipitate retreat, being determined not -to afford any more of their mess an opportunity of boasting of the -capture of a “Yankee Rebel,”--indeed, a wolf or a bear, of the American -wilderness, could not be more terrified or panic-struck at the sight of -a firebrand, than I then was at that of a British red coat! - -Having succeeded in making good my retreat from the garden of her -highness, without being discovered, I took another path which led me to -where a number of labourers were employed in shovelling gravel, and to -whom I repeated my enquiry if they could inform me of any in want of -help, &c.--“why in troth friend (answered one in a dialect peculiar to -the labouring class of people of that part of the country) me master, -Sir John, hires a goodly many, and as we’ve a deal of work now, may-be -he’ll hire you; ’spose he stop a little with us until work is done, -he may then gang along, and we’ll question Sir John, whither him be -wanting another like us or no!” - -Although I was sensible that an application of this kind, might lead to -a discovery of my situation, whereby I might be again deprived of my -liberty, and immured in a loathsome prison; yet, as there was now no -other alternative left me but to seek in this way, something to satisfy -the cravings of hunger, or to yield a victim to starvation, with all -its attending horrors: of the two evils I preferred the least, and -concluded as the honest labourer had proposed, to await until they had -completed their work, and then to accompany them home to ascertain the -will of Sir John. - -As I had heard much of the tyrannical and domineering disposition of -the rich and purse-proud of England, and who were generally the lords -of the manor, and the particular favourites of the crown; it was not -without feeling a very considerable degree of diffidence, that I -introduced myself into the presence of one whom I strongly suspected -to be of that class--but, what was peculiarly fortunate for me, a -short acquaintance was sufficient to satisfy me that as regarded this -gentleman, my apprehensions were without cause. I found him walking in -his front yard in company with several gentlemen, and on being made -acquainted with my business, his first enquiry was whether I had a hoe, -or money to purchase one, and on being answered in the negative, he -requested me to call early the ensuing morning, and he would endeavour -to furnish me with one. - -It is impossible for me to express the satisfaction that I felt at this -prospect of a deliverance from my wretched situation. I was now by so -long fasting reduced to such a state of weakness, that my legs were -hardly able to support me, and it was with extreme difficulty that I -succeeded in reaching a baker’s shop in the neighbourhood, where with -my four remaining pennies, which I had reserved for a last resource, I -purchased two two-penny loaves. - -After four days of intolerable hunger, the reader may judge how great -must have been my joy, to find myself in possession of even a morsel -to appease it--well might I have exclaimed at this moment with the -unfortunate Trenck--“O nature! what delight hast thou combined with -the gratification of thy wants! remember this ye who rack invention to -excite appetite, and which yet you cannot procure; remember how simple -are the means that will give a crust of mouldy bread a flavour more -exquisite than all the spices of the east, or all the profusion of land -or sea; remember this, grow hungry, and indulge your sensuality.” - -Although five times the quantity of the “staff of life” would have -been insufficient to have satisfied my appetite, yet, as I thought -it improbable that I should be indulged with a mouthful of any thing -to eat in the morning, I concluded to eat then but one loaf, and to -reserve the other for another meal; but having eaten one, so far from -satisfying, it seemed rather to increase my appetite for the other--the -temptation was irresistable--the cravings of hunger predominated, and -would not be satisfied until I had devoured the remaining one. - -The day was now far spent and I was compelled to resort with reluctance -to a carriage house, to spend another night in misery; I found nothing -therein on which to repose my wearied limbs but the bare floor, which -was sufficient to deprive me of sleep, however much exhausted nature -required it; my spirits were however buoyed up by the pleasing -consolation that the succeeding day would bring relief;--as soon as day -light appeared, I hastened to await the commands of one, whom, since -my first introduction, I could not but flatter myself would prove my -benefactor, and afford me that relief which my pitiful situation so -much required--it was an hour much earlier than that at which even the -domestics were in the habit of arising, and I had been a considerable -time walking back and forth in the barn yard, before any made their -appearance. It was now about 4 o’clock, and by the person of whom I -made the enquiry, I was informed that 8 o’clock was the usual hour in -which the labourers commenced their day’s work--permission was granted -me by this person (who had the care of the stable) to repose myself on -some straw beneath the manger, until they should be in readiness to -depart to commence their day’s work--in the four hours I had a more -comfortable nap than any that I had enjoyed the four preceding nights. -At 8 o’clock precisely all hands were called, and preparations made for -a commencement of the labours of the day--I was furnished with a large -iron fork and a hoe, and ordered by my employer to accompany them, and -although my strength at this moment was hardly sufficient to enable -me to bear even so light a burden, yet was unwilling to expose my -weakness, so long as it could be avoided--but, the time had now arrived -in which it was impossible for me any longer to conceal it, and had -to confess the cause to my fellow labourers, so far as to declare to -them, that such had been my state of poverty, that (with the exception -of the four small loaves of bread) I had not tasted food for four -days! I was not I must confess displeased nor a little disappointed -to witness the evident emotions of pity and commiseration, which this -woeful declaration appeared to excite in their minds: as I had supposed -them too much accustomed to witness scenes of misery and distress, to -have their feelings much effected by a brief recital of my sufferings -and deprivations--but in justice to them I must say, that although a -very illiterate, I found them (with a few exceptions) a humane and -benevolent people. - -About 11 o’clock we were visited by our employer, Sir John: who, -noticing me particularly, and perceiving the little progress I made -in my labour, observed, that although I had the appearance of being -a stout hearty man, yet I either feigned myself or really was a very -weak one! on which it was immediately observed by one of my friendly -fellow labourers, that it was not surprising that I lacked strength, -as I had eaten nothing of consequence for four days! Mr. Millet, who -appeared at first little disposed to credit the fact, on being assured -by me that it was really so, put a shilling into my hand, and bid me go -immediately and purchase to that amount in bread and meat--a request -which the reader may suppose I did not hesitate to comply with. - -Having made a tolerable meal, and feeling somewhat refreshed thereby, -I was on my return when I was met by my fellow labourers on their -return home, four o’clock being the hour in which they usually quit -work. As soon as we arrived, some victuals was ordered for me by Sir -John, when the maid presenting a much smaller quantity, than what her -benevolent master supposed sufficient to satisfy the appetite of one -who had been four days fasting, she was ordered to return and bring -out the platter and the whole of its contents, and of which I was -requested to eat my fill, but of which I ate sparingly to prevent the -dangerous consequences which might have resulted from my voracity in -the debilitated state to which my stomach was reduced. - -My light repast being over, one of the men were ordered by my -hospitable friend to provide for me a comfortable bed in the barn, -where I spent the night on a couch of clean straw, more sweetly than -ever I had done in the days of my better fortune. I arose early much -refreshed, and was preparing after breakfast to accompany the labourers -to their work, which was no sooner discovered by Sir John, than -smiling, he bid me return to my couch and there remain until I was in a -better state to resume my labours; indeed the generous compassion and -benevolence of this gentleman was unbounded. After having on that day -partook of an excellent dinner, which had been provided expressly for -me, and the domestics having been ordered to retire, I was not a little -surprised to hear myself thus addressed by him--“my honest friend, I -perceive that you are a sea-faring man, and your history probably is a -secret which you may not wish to divulge; but, whatever circumstances -may have attended you, you may make them known to me with the greatest -safety, for I pledge my honour I will never betray you.” - -Having experienced so many proofs of the friendly disposition of Mr. -Millet, I could not hesitate a moment to comply with his request, and -without attempting to conceal a single fact, made him acquainted with -every circumstance that had attended me since my first enlistment as -a soldier--after expressing his regret that there should be any of -his countrymen found so void of the principles of humanity, as to -treat thus an unfortunate prisoner of war, he assured me that so long -as I remained in his employ he would guarantee my safety--adding, -that notwithstanding (in consequence of the unhappy differences which -then prevailed between Great Britain and her American colonies) -the inhabitants of the latter were denominated Rebels, yet they -were not without their friends in England, who wished well to their -cause, and would cheerfully aid them whenever an opportunity should -present--he represented the soldiers (whom it had been reported to me, -were constantly on the look out for deserters) as a set of mean and -contemptible wretches, little better than a lawless banditti, who, -to obtain the fee awarded by government, for the apprehension of a -deserter, would betray their best friends. - -Having been generously supplied with a new suit of cloathes and -other necessaries by Mr. M. I contracted with him for six months, to -superintend his strawberry garden, in the course of which so far from -being molested, I was not suspected by even his own domestics of being -an American--at the expiration of the six months, by the recommendation -of my hospitable friend, I got a berth in the garden of the Princess -Amelia, where although among my fellow labourers the American Rebellion -was not unfrequently the topic of their conversation, and the “d--d -Yankee Rebels” (as they termed them) frequently the subjects of their -vilest abuse, I was little suspected of being one of that class whom -they were pleased thus to denominate--I must confess that it was not -without some difficulty, that I was enabled to surpress the indignant -feelings occasioned by hearing my countrymen spoken so disrespectfully -of, but as a single word in their favour might have betrayed me, I -could obtain no other satisfaction than by secretly indulging the hope -that I might before the conclusion of the war, have an opportunity to -repay them, in their own coin, with interest. - -I remained in the employ of the Princess about three months, and then -in consequence of a misunderstanding with the overseer, I hired myself -to a farmer in a small village adjoining Brintford, where I had not -been three weeks employed before rumour was afloat that I was a Yankee -Prisoner of war! from whence the report arose, or by what occasioned, -I never could learn--it no sooner reached the ears of the soldiers, -than they were on the alert, seeking an opportunity to seize my -person--fortunately I was appraised of their intentions before they -had time to carry them into effect; I was however hard pushed, and -sought for by them with that diligence and perseverance that certainly -deserved a better cause--I had many hair breadth escapes, and most -assuredly should have been taken, had it not been for the friendship of -those whom I suspect felt not less friendly to the cause of my country, -but dare not publicly avow it--I was at one time traced by the soldiers -in pursuit of me to the house of one of this description, in whose -garret I was concealed, and was at that moment in bed; they entered and -enquired for me, and on being told that I was not in the house, they -insisted on searching, and were in the act of ascending the chamber -stairs for that purpose, when seizing my cloathes, I passed up through -the scuttle, and reached the roof of the house, and from thence half -naked passed to those of the adjoining ones to the number of ten or -twelve, and succeeded in making my escape without being discovered. - -Being continually harassed by night and day by the soldiers, and driven -from place to place, without an opportunity to perform a day’s work, -I was advised by one whose sincerity I could not doubt, to apply for -a berth as a labourer in a garden of his Royal Majesty, situated in -the village of Quew, a few miles from Brintford; where, under the -protection of his Majesty, it was represented to me that I should be -perfectly safe, as the soldiers dare not approach the royal premises, -to molest any one therein employed--he was indeed so friendly as -to introduce me personally to the overseer, as an acquaintance who -possessed a perfect knowledge of gardening, but from whom he carefully -concealed the fact of my being an American born, and of the suspicion -entertained by some of my being a prisoner of war, who had escaped the -vigilance of my keepers. - -The overseer concluded to receive me on trial;--it was here that I had -not only frequent opportunities to see his Royal Majesty in person, -in his frequent resorts to this, one of his country retreats, but -once had the honour of being addressed by him. The fact was, that I -had not been one week employed in the garden, before the suspicion -of my being either a prisoner of war, or a Spy, in the employ of the -American Rebels, was communicated, not only to the overseer and other -persons employed in the garden, but even to the King himself! As I was -one day busily engaged with three others in gravelling a walk, I was -unexpectedly accosted by his Majesty: who, with much apparent good -nature, enquired of me of what country I was--“an American born, may -it please your Majesty,” was my reply (taking off my hat, which he -requested me instantly to replace on my head),--“ah! (continued he with -a smile) an American, a stubborn, a very stubborn people indeed!--and -what brought you to this country, and how long have you been here?” -“the fate of war, your Majesty--I was brought to this country a -prisoner about eleven months since,”--and thinking this a favourable -opportunity to acquaint him with a few of my grievances, I briefly -stated to him how much I had been harassed by the soldiers--“while here -employed they will not trouble you,” was the only reply he made, and -passed on. The familiar manner in which I had been interrogated by his -Majesty, had I must confess a tendency in some degree to prepossess -me in his favour--I at least suspected him to possess a disposition -less tyrannical, and capable of better view than what had been imputed -to him; and as I had frequently heard it represented in America, -that uninfluenced by such of his ministers, as unwisely disregarded -the reiterated complaints of the American people, he would have been -foremost to have redressed their grievances, of which they so justly -complained. - -I continued in the service of his Majesty’s gardner at Quew, about four -months, when the season having arrived in which the work of the garden -required less labourers I with three others was discharged; and the -day after engaged myself for a few months, to a farmer in the town and -neighbourhood where I had been last employed--but, not one week had -expired before the old story of my being an American prisoner of war -&c. was revived and industriously circulated, and the soldiers (eager -to obtain the proffered bounty) like a pack of blood-hounds were again -on the track seeking an opportunity to surprise me--the house wherein -I had taken up my abode, was several times thoroughly searched by -them, but I was always so fortunate as to discover their approach in -season to make good my escape by the assistance of a friend--to so much -inconvenience however did this continual apprehension and fear subject -me, that I was finally half resolved to surrender myself a prisoner -to some of his Majesty’s officers, and submit to my fate, whatever -it might be, when by an unexpected occurrence, and the seasonable -interposition of providence in my favour, I was induced to change my -resolution. - -I had been strongly of the opinion by what I had myself experienced, -that America was not without her friends in England, and those who were -her well wishers in the important cause in which she was at that moment -engaged; an opinion which I think no one will disagree with me in -saying, was somewhat confirmed, by a circumstance of that importance, -as entitles it to a conspicuous place in my narrative. At a moment -when driven almost to a state of despondency by continual alarms and -fears of falling into the hands of a set of desperadoes, who for a very -small reward would willingly have undertaken the commission of almost -any crime; I received a message from a gentleman of respectability of -Brintford (J. Woodcock Esq.) requesting me to repair immediately to -his house--the invitation I was disposed to pay but little attention -to, as I viewed it nothing more than a plan of my pursuers to decoy -and entrap me--but, on learning from my confidential friend that the -gentleman by whom the message had been sent, was one whose loyalty had -been doubted, I was induced to comply with the request. - -I reached the house of ’Squire Woodcock about 8 o’clock in the evening, -and after receiving from him at the door assurances that I might enter -without fear or apprehension of any design on his part against me, I -suffered myself to be introduced into a private chamber, where were -seated two other gentlemen, who appeared to be persons of no mean -rank, and proved to be no other than Horne Tooke and James Bridges -Esquires--as all three of these gentlemen have long since paid the debt -of nature, and are placed beyond the reach of such as might be disposed -to persecute or reproach them for their disloyalty, I can now with -perfect safety disclose their names--names which ought to be dear to -every true American. - -After having (by their particular request) furnished these gentlemen -with a brief account of the most important incidents of my life, -I underwent a very strict examination, as they seemed determined -to satisfy themselves, before they made any important advances or -disclosures, that I was a person in whom they could repose implicit -confidence. Finding me firmly attached to the interests of my country, -so much so as to be willing to sacrifice even my life if necessary -in her behalf, they began to address me with less reserve; and after -bestowing the highest encomiums on my countrymen, for the bravery -which they had displayed in their recent engagements with the British -troops, as well as for their patriotism in publicly manifesting their -abhorrence and detestation of the ministerial party in England, who -to alienate their affections and to enslave them, had endeavoured to -subvert the British constitution; they enquired of me if (to promote -the interests of my country) I should have any objection to take a trip -to Paris, on an important mission, if my passage and other expences -were paid, and a generous compensation allowed me for my trouble; and -which in all probability would lead to the means whereby I might be -enabled to return to my country--to which I replied that I should have -none. After having enjoined upon me to keep every thing which they had -communicated, a profound secret, they presented me with a guinea, and a -letter for a gentleman in White Waltam (a country town about 30 miles -from Brintford) which they requested me to reach as soon as possible, -and there remain until they should send for me, and by no means to fail -to arrive at the precise hour that they should appoint. - -After partaking of a little refreshment I set out at 12 o’clock at -night, and reached White Waltam at half past 11 the succeeding day, -and immediately waited on and presented the letter to the gentleman -to whom it was directed, and who gave me a very cordial reception, -and whom I soon found was as real a friend to America’s cause as the -three gentlemen in whose company I had last been. It was from him that -I received the first information of the evacuation of Boston by the -British troops, and of the declaration of INDEPENDENCE, by -the American Congress--he indeed appeared to possess a knowledge of -almost every important transaction in America, since the memorable -battle of Bunker-Hill, and it was to him that I was indebted for -many particulars, not a little interesting to myself, and which I -might otherwise have remained ignorant of, as I have always found it -a principle of the Britains, to conceal every thing calculated to -diminish or tarnish their fame, as a “great and powerful nation!” - -I remained in the family of this gentleman about a fortnight, when I -received a letter from ’Squire Woodcock, requesting me to be at his -house without fail precisely at 2 o’clock the morning ensuing--in -compliance of which I packed up and started immediately for Brintford, -and reached the house of ’Squire Woodcock at the appointed hour--I -found there in company with the latter, the two gentlemen whose names -I have before mentioned, and by whom the object of my mission to Paris -was now made known to me--which was to convey in the most secret -manner possible a letter to Dr. FRANKLIN; every thing was in -readiness, and a chaise ready harnessed which was to convey me to -Charing Cross, waiting at the door--I was presented with a pair of -boots, made expressly for me, and for the safe conveyance of the letter -of which I was to be the bearer, one of them contained a false heel, -in which the letter was deposited, and was to be thus conveyed to the -Doctor. After again repeating my former declarations, that whatever -might be my fate, they should never be exposed, I departed, and was -conveyed in quick time to Charing Cross, where I took the post coach -for Dover, and from thence was immediately conveyed in a packet to -Calais, and in fifteen minutes after landing, started for Paris; which -I reached in safety, and delivered to Dr. Franklin the letter of which -I was the bearer. - -What were the contents of this letter I was never informed and never -knew, but had but little doubt but that it contained important -information relative to the views of the British cabinet, as regarded -the affairs of America; and although I well knew that a discovery -(while within the British dominions) would have proved equally fatal -to me as to the gentlemen by whom I was employed, yet, I most solemnly -declare, that to be serviceable to my country at that important period, -was much more of an object with me, than the reward which I had been -promised, however considerable it might be. My interview with Dr. -Franklin was a pleasing one--for nearly an hour he conversed with me -in the most agreeable and instructive manner, and listened to the tale -of my sufferings with much apparent interest, and seemed disposed to -encourage me with the assurance that if the Americans should succeed in -their grand object, and firmly establish their Independence, they would -not fail to remunerate their soldiers for their services--but, alas! as -regards myself, these assurances have not as yet been verified!--I am -confident, however, that had it been a possible thing for that great -and good man (whose humanity and generosity have been the theme of -infinitely abler pens than mine) to have lived to this day, I should -not have petitioned my country in vain for a momentary enjoyment of -that provision, which has been extended to so great a portion of my -fellow soldiers; and whose hardships and deprivations, in the cause of -their country, could not I am sure have been half so great as mine! - -After remaining two days in Paris, letters were delivered to me by the -Doctor, to convey to the gentlemen by whom I had been employed, and -which for their better security as well as my own, I deposited as the -other, in the heel of my boot, and with which to the great satisfaction -of my friends I reached Brintford, in safety, and without exciting the -suspicion of any one as to the important (although somewhat dangerous) -mission that I had been engaged in. I remained secreted in the house -of ’Squire Woodcock a few days, and then by his and the two other -gentlemen’s request, made a second trip to Paris, and in reaching which -and in delivering my letters, was equally as fortunate as in my first. -If I should succeed in returning in safety to Brintford this trip, I -was (agreeable to the generous proposal of Doctor Franklin) to return -immediately to France, from whence he was to procure me a passage -to America;--but, although in my return I met with no difficulty, -yet, as if fate had selected me as a victim to endure the miseries -and privations which afterward attended me, but three hours before -I reached Dover to engage a passage for the third and last time to -Calais, all intercourse between the two countries was prohibited! - -My flattering expectations of being enabled soon to return to my -native country, and once more to meet and enjoy the society of my -friends, (after an absence of more than twelve months) being thus -by an unforeseen circumstance completely destroyed, I returned -immediately to the gentlemen by whom I had been last employed to advise -with them what it would be best for me to do, in my then unpleasant -situation--for indeed, as all prospects were now at an end, of meeting -with an opportunity very soon to return to America, I could not bear -the idea of remaining any longer in a neighbourhood where I was so -strongly suspected of being a fugitive from justice and under continual -apprehension of being retaken, and immured like a felon in a dungeon. - -By these gentlemen I was advised to repair immediately to London, where -employed as a labourer, if I did not imprudently betray myself, they -thought there was little probability of my being suspected of being -an American. This advice I readily accepted as the plan was such a one -as exactly accorded with my opinion, for from the very moment that I -first escaped from the clutches of my captors, I thought that in the -city of London I should not be so liable to be suspected and harassed -by the soldiers, as I should to remain in the country. These gentlemen -supplied me with money sufficient to defray my expenses and would -have willingly furnished me with a recommendation had they not been -fearful that if I should be so unfortunate as to be recognized by any -one acquainted with the circumstance of my capture and escape, those -recommendations (as their loyalty was already doubted) might operate -much against them, in as much as they might furnish a clue to the -discovery of some transactions which they then felt unwilling to have -exposed. I ought here to state that before I set out for London, I was -entrusted by these gentlemen with Five Guineas, which I was requested -to convey and distribute among a number of Americans, then confined as -prisoners of war, in one of the city prisons. - -I reached London late in the evening and the next day engaged board at -Five Shillings per week, at a public house in Lombard Street, where -under a ficticious name I passed for a farmer from Lincolnshire--my -next object was to find my way to the prison where were confined as -prisoners of war a number of my countrymen, and among whom I was -directed to distribute the 5 guineas with which I had been entrusted -for that purpose by their friends at Brintford.--I found the prison -without much difficulty, but it was with very considerable difficulty -that I gained admittance, and not until I had presented the turnkey -with a considerable fee would he consent to indulge me. The reader will -suppose that I must have been very much surprised, when, as soon as -the door of the prisoner’s apartment was opened, and I had passed the -threshold, to hear one of them exclaim with much apparent astonishment, -“Potter! is that you! how in the name of heaven came you here!”--an -exclamation like this by one of a number to whom I supposed myself a -perfect stranger, caused me much uneasiness for a few moments, as I -expected nothing less than to recognize in this man, some one of my old -shipmates, who had undoubtedly a knowledge of the fact of my being a -prisoner of war, and having been confined as such on board the guard -ship at spithead--but, in this I soon found to my satisfaction that -I was mistaken, for after viewing for a moment the person by whom I -had been thus addressed. I discovered him to be no other than my old -friend seargent Singles, with whom I had been intimately acquainted -in America--as the exclamation was in presence of the turnkey, least -I should have the key turned upon me, and be considered as lawful a -prisoner as any of the rest, I hinted to my friend that he certainly -mistook me (a Lincolnshire farmer) for another person, and by a wink -which he received from me at the same moment gave him to understand -that a renewal of our acquaintance or an exchange of civilities -would be more agreeable to me at any other time. I now as I had been -requested divided the money as equally as possible among them, and -to prevent the suspicions of the keeper, I represented to them in a -feigned dialect peculiar to the labouring people of the Shire-towns, -that, “me master was owing a little trifle or so to a rebel trader of -one of his Majesty’s American provinces, and was quested by him to pay -the ballance and so, to his brother yankee rebels here imprisoned.” - -I found the poor fellows (fifteen in number) confined in a dark filthy -apartment of about 18 feet square; and which I could not perceive -contained any thing but a rough plank bench of about 10 feet in -length, and a heap of straw with one or two tattered, filthy looking -blankets spread thereon, which was probably the only bedding allowed -them--although their situation was such as could not fail to excite -my pity, yet, I could do no more than lament that it was not in my -power to relieve them--how long they remained thus confined or when -exchanged, I could never learn, as I never to my knowledge saw one of -them afterwards. - -For four or five days, after I reached London, I did very little more -than walk about the city, viewing such curiosities as met my eye; when, -reflecting that remaining thus idle, I should not only be very soon out -of funds, but should run the risk of being suspected and apprehended as -one belonging to one of the numerous gangs of pick-pockets &c. which -infest the streets of the city; I applied to an Intelligence Office -for a coachman’s berth, which I was so fortunate as to procure, at 15 -shillings per week--my employer (J. Hyslop, Esq.) although rigid in -his exactions, was punctual in his payments, and by my strict prudence -and abstinence from the numerous diversions of the city, I was enabled -in the six months which I served him, to lay up more cash than what -I had earned the twelve months preceding. The next business in which -I engaged was that of brick making, and which together with that of -gardening, I pursued in the summer seasons almost exclusively for -five years; in all which time I was not once suspected of being an -American, yet, I must confess that my feelings were not unfrequently -most powerfully wrought upon, by hearing my countrymen dubbed with -cowardice, and by those too who had been thrice flogged or frightened -by them when attempting to ascend the heights of Bunker Hill! and to be -obliged to brook these insults with impunity, as to have resented them -would have caused me to have been suspected directly of being attached -to the American cause, which might have been attended with serious -consequences. - -I should now pass over the five years that I was employed as above -mentioned, as checquered by few incidents worth relating, was it not -for one or two circumstances of some little importance that either -attended me, or came within my own personal knowledge. The reader has -undoubtedly heard that the city of London and its suburbs, is always -more or less infested with gangs of nefarious wretches, who come under -the denomination of Robbers, Pickpockets, Shoplifters, Swindlers, -Beggars, &c. who are constantly prowling the streets in disguise, -seeking opportunities to surprise and depredate on the weak and -unguarded--of these the former class form no inconsiderable portion, -who contrive to elude and set at defiance the utmost vigilance of -government--they are a class who in the day time disperse each to his -avocation, as the better to blind the scrutinizing eye of justice, they -make it a principle to follow some laborious profession, and at night -assemble to proceed on their nocturnal rounds, in quest of those whose -well stored pockets promise them a reward, equal to the risk which they -run in obtaining it. As I was one evening passing through Hyde Park, -with five guineas and a few pennies in my pockets, I was stopped by -six of these lawless footpads; who, presenting pistols to my breast, -demanded my money--fortunately for me I had previously deposited -the guineas in a private pocket of my pantaloons, for their better -security; thrusting their hands into my other pockets and finding me in -possession of but a few English pennies, they took them and decamped. I -hastened to Bow Street and lodged information of the robbery with the -officers, and who to my no little surprise informed me that mine was -the fifth instance, of information of similar robberies by the same -gang, which had been lodged with them that evening!--runners had been -sent in every direction in pursuit of them, but with what success I -could never learn. - -Despairing of meeting with a favourable opportunity to return to -America, until the conclusion of peace, and the prospects of a -continuation of the war being as great then (by what I could learn) as -at any period from its commencement, I became more reconciled to my -situation, and contracted an intimacy with a young woman whose parents -were poor but respectable, and who I soon after married. I took a small -ready furnished chamber, in Red Cross Street, where with the fruits of -my hard earnings, I was enabled to live tolerable comfortable for three -or four years--when, by sickness and other unavoidable circumstances, I -was doomed to endure miseries uncommon to human nature. - -In the winter of 1781, news was received in London of the surrender of -the army of Lord Cornwallis, to the French and American forces!--the -receipt of news of an event so unexpected operated on the British -ministers and members of Parliament, like a tremendous clap of -thunder--deep sorrow was evidently depicted in the countenances of -those who had been the most strenuous advocates for the war--never was -there a time in which I longed more to exult, and to declare myself a -true blooded yankee--and what was still more pleasing to me, was to -find myself even surpassed in expressions of joy and satisfaction, by -my wife, in consequence of the receipt of news, which, while it went to -establish the military fame of my countrymen, was so calculated to -humble the pride of her own! greater proofs of her regard for me and my -country I could not require. - -The ministerial party in Parliament who had been the instigators of the -war, and who believed that even a view of the bright glistening muskets -and bayonets of John Bull, would frighten the leather apron Yankees to -a speedy submission, began now to harbour a more favourable opinion -of the courage of the latter. His Majesty repaired immediately to the -house of peers, and opened the sessions of parliament--warm debates -took place, on account of the ruinous manner in which the American war -was continued; but Lord North and his party appeared yet unwilling to -give up the contest. The capitulation of Cornwallis had however one -good effect, as it produced the immediate release of Mr. Laurens from -the Tower, and although it did not put an immediate end to the war, yet -all hopes of conquering America from that moment appeared to be given -up by all except North and his adherents. - -There was no one engaged in the cause of America, that did more to -establish her fame in England, and to satisfy the high boasting -Britains of the bravery and unconquerable resolutions of the Yankees, -than that bold adventurer capt. Paul Jones; who, for ten or eleven -months kept all the western coast of the island in alarm--he boldly -landed at Whitehaven, where he burnt a ship in the harbour, and even -attempted to burn the town;--nor was this to my knowledge the only -instance in which the Britains were threatened with a very serious -conflagration, by the instigation of their enemies abroad--a daring -attempt was made by one James Aitkin, commonly known in London by the -name of John the Painter, to set fire to the royal dock and shipping at -Portsmouth, and would probably have succeeded, had he not imprudently -communicated his intentions to one, who, for the sake of a few guineas, -shamefully betrayed him--poor Aitkin was immediately seized, tried, -condemned, executed and hung in chains--every means was used to extort -from him a confession by whom he had been employed, but without any -success--it was however strongly suspected that he had been employed -by the French, as it was about the time that they openly declared -themselves in favour of the Americans. - -With regard to Mr. Laurens, I ought to have mentioned that as soon as I -heard of his capture on his passage to Holland, and of his confinement -in the Tower, I applied for and obtained permission to visit him in -his apartment, and (with some distant hopes that he might point out -some way in which I might be enabled to return to America) I stated -to him every particular as regarded my situation. He seemed not -only to lament very much my hard fortune, but (to use his own words) -“that America should be deprived of the services of such men, at the -important period too when she most required them.”--He informed me that -he was himself held a prisoner, and knew not when or on what conditions -he would be liberated, but should he thereafter be in a situation to -assist me in obtaining a passage to America, he should consider it a -duty which he owed his country to do it. - -Although I succeeded in obtaining by my industry a tolerable living -for myself and family, yet, so far from becoming reconciled to my -situation, I was impatient for the return of Peace, when (as I then -flattered myself) I should once more have an opportunity to return -to my native country. I became every day less attached to a country -where I could not meet with any thing (with the exception of my -little family) that could compensate me for the loss of the pleasing -society of my kindred and friends in America--born among a moral and -humane people, and having in my early days contracted their habits, -and a considerable number of their prejudices, it would be unnatural -to suppose that I should not prefer their society, to either that -of rogues, thieves, pimps and vagabonds, or of a more honest but an -exceedingly oppressed and forlorn people. - -I found London as it had been represented to me, a large and -magnificent city, filled with inhabitants of almost every description -and occupation--and such an one indeed as might be pleasing to an -Englishman, delighting in tumult and confusion, and accustomed to -witness scenes of riot and dissipation, as well as those of human -infliction; and for the sake of variety, would be willing to imprison -himself within the walls of a Bedlam, where continual noise would -deafen him, where the unwholesomeness of the air would effect his -lungs, and where the closeness of the surrounding buildings would not -permit him to enjoy the enlivening influence of the sun! There is not -perhaps another city of its size in the whole world, the streets of -which display a greater contrast in the wealth and misery, the honesty -and knavery, of its inhabitants, than the city of London. The eyes of -the passing stranger (unaccustomed to witness such scenes) is at one -moment dazzled by the appearance of pompous wealth, with its splendid -equippage--at the next he is solicited by one apparently of the most -wretched of human beings, to impart a single penny for the relief of -his starving family! Among the latter class, there are many; however, -who so far from being the real objects of charity that they represent -themselves to be, actually possess more wealth than those who sometimes -benevolently bestow it--these vile imposters, by every species of -deception that was ever devised or practiced by man, aim to excite the -pity and compassion, and to extort charity from those unacquainted with -their easy circumstances--they possess the faculty of assuming any -character that may best suit their purpose--sometimes hobbling with a -crutch and exhibiting a wooden leg--at other times “an honourable scar -of a wound, received in Egypt, at Waterloo or at Trafalgar, fighting -for their most gracious sovereign and master King George!” - -Independent of these there is another species of beggars (the gypsies) -who form a distinct clan, and will associate with none but those of -their own tribe--they are notorious thieves as well as beggars, and -constantly infest the streets of London to the great annoyance of -strangers and those who have the appearance of being wealthy--they -have no particular home or abiding place, but encamp about in open -fields or under hedges, as occasion requires--they are generally -of a yellow complexion, and converse in a dialect peculiar only to -themselves--their thieving propensities do not unfrequently lead them -to kidnap little children, whenever an opportunity presents; having -first by a dye changed their complexion to one that corresponds with -their own, they represent them as their own offspring, and carry them -about half naked on their backs to excite the pity and compassion -of those of whom they beg charity. An instance of this species of -theft by a party of these unprincipled vagabonds, occurred once in -my neighbourhood while an inhabitant of London--the little girl -kidnapped was the daughter of a Capt. Kellem of Coventry Street--being -sent abroad on some business for her parents, she was met by a gang -of Gypsies, consisting of five men and six women, who seized her, -and forcibly carried her away to their camp, in the country, at a -considerable distance, having first stripped her of her own cloathes, -and in exchange dressed her in some of their rags--thus garbed she -travelled about the country with them for nearly 7 months, and was -treated as the most abject slave, and her life threatened if she -should endeavour to escape or divulged her story;--she stated that -during the time she was with them they entrapped a little boy about -her own age, whom they also stripped and carried with them, but took -particular care he should never converse with her, treating him in the -like savage manner; she said that they generally travelled by cross -roads and private ways, ever keeping a watchful eye that she might not -escape, and that no opportunity offered until when, by some accident, -they were obliged to send her from their camp to a neighbouring farm -house, in order to procure a light, which she took advantage of; and -scrambling over hedges and ditches, as she supposed for the distance -of 8 or 9 miles, reached London worn out with fatigue and hunger, her -support with them being always scanty, and of the worst sort; to which -was added the misery of sleeping under hedges, and exposure to the -inclemency of the weather--it was the intention of the gypsies she said -to have coloured her and the boy when the walnut season approached. - -The streets of London and its suburbs are also infested with another -and a still more dreadful species of rogues, denominated Footpads, and -who often murder in the most inhuman manner, for the sake of only -a few shillings, any unfortunate people who happen to fall in their -way--of this I was made acquainted with enumerable instances, while an -inhabitant of London; I shall however mention but two that I have now -recollection of:-- - -A Mr. Wylde while passing through Marlborough Street, in a chaise, -was stopped by a footpad, who, on demanding his money, received a few -shillings, but being dissatisfied with the little booty he obtained, -still kept a pistol at Mr. Wylde’s head, and on the latter’s attempting -gently to turn it aside, the villain fired, and lodged seven slugs in -his head and breast, which caused instant death--Mr. W. expired in the -arms of his son and grandson without a groan. A few days after as a Mr. -Greenhill was passing through York-Street in a single horse chaise, he -was met and stopped by three footpads, armed with pistols, one of them -seized and held the horse’s head, while the other two most inhumanely -dragged Mr. G. over the back of his chaise, and after robbing him of -his notes, watch and hat gave him two severe cuts on his head and -left him in that deplorable state in the road.--The above are but two -instances of hundreds of a similar nature, which yearly occur in the -most public streets of the city of London. The city is infested with a -still higher order of rogues, denominated pick-pockets or cutpurses, -who to carry on their nefarious practices, garb themselves like -gentlemen, and introduce themselves into the most fashionable circles; -many of them indeed are persons who once sustained respectable -characters, but who, by extravagance and excesses, have reduced -themselves to want and find themselves obliged at last to have recourse -to pilfering and thieving. - -Thus have I endeavoured to furnish the reader with the particulars of a -few of the vices peculiar to a large portion of the inhabitants of the -city of London--to these might be added a thousand other misdemeanors -of a less criminal nature, daily practiced by striplings from the age -of six, to the hoary headed of ninety!--this I assure my readers is -a picture correctly delineated and not too highly wrought of a city -famous for its magnificence, and where I was doomed to spend more than -40 years of my life, and in which time pen, ink, and paper would fail, -were I to attempt to record the various instances of misery and want -that attended me and my poor devoted family. - -In September 1783, the glorious news of a definitive treaty of Peace -having been signed between the United States and Great-Britain, was -publicly announced in London--while on the minds of those who had been -made rich by the war, the unwelcomed news operated apparently like a -paralytic stroke, a host of those whose views had been inimical to -the cause of America, and had sought refuge in England, attempted to -disguise their disappointment and dejection under a veil of assumed -cheerfulness. As regarded myself, I can only say, that had an event -so long and ardently wished for by me taken place but a few months -before, I should have hailed it as the epoch of my deliverance from a -state of oppression and privation that I had already too long endured. - -An opportunity indeed now presented for me to return once more to my -native country, after so long an absence, had I possessed the means; -but much was the high price demanded for a passage, and such had been -my low wages, and the expenses attending the support of even a small -family in London, that I found myself at this time in possession of -funds hardly sufficient to defray the expense of my own passage, and -much less that of my wife and child--hence the only choice left me was -either to desert them, and thereby subject them (far separated from -one) to the frowns of an uncharitable people, or to content myself to -remain with them and partake of a portion of that wretchedness which -even my presence could not avert. When the affairs of the American -Government had become so far regulated as to support a Consul at the -British court, I might indeed have availed myself individually, of -the opportunity which presented of procuring a passage home at the -Government’s expence; but as this was a privilege that could not -be extended to my wife and child, my regard for them prevented my -embracing the only means provided by my country for the return of her -captured soldiers and seamen. - -To make the best of my hard fortune, I became as resigned and -reconciled to my situation as circumstances would admit of; flattering -myself that fortune might at some unexpected moment so far decide in -my favour, as to enable me to accomplish my wishes--I indeed bore -my afflictions with a degree of fortitude which I could hardly have -believed myself possessed of--I had become an expert workman at brick -making at which business and at gardening, I continued to work for very -small wages, for three or four years after the Peace--but still found -my prospects of a speedy return to my country, by no ways flattering. -The peace had thrown thousands who had taken an active part in the -war, out of employ; London was thronged with them--who, in preference -to starving, required no other consideration for their labour than a -humble living, which had a lamentable effect in reducing the wages -of the labouring class of people; who, previous to this event were -many of them so extremely poor, as to be scarcely able to procure the -necessaries of life for their impoverished families--among this class I -must rank myself, and from this period ought I to date the commencement -of my greatest miseries, which never failed to attend me in a greater -or less degree until that happy moment, when favoured by providence, I -was permitted once more to visit the peaceful shores of the land of my -nativity. - -When I first entered the city of London, I was almost stunned, while -my curiosity was not a little excited by what is termed the “cries of -London”--the streets were thronged by persons of both sexes and of -every age, crying each the various articles which they were exposing -for sale, or for jobs of work at their various occupations;--I little -then thought that this was a mode which I should be obliged myself to -adopt to obtain a scanty pittance for my needy family--but, such indeed -proved to be the case. The great increase of labourers produced by the -cessation of hostilities, had so great an effect in the reduction of -wages, that the trifling consideration now allowed me by my employers -for my services, in the line of business in which I had been several -years engaged, was no longer an object, being insufficient to enable -me to procure a humble sustenance. Having in vain sought for more -profitable business, I was induced to apply to an acquaintance for -instruction in the art of chair bottoming, and which I partially -obtained from him for a trifling consideration. - -It was now (which was in the year 1789) that I assumed a line of -business very different from that in which I had ever before been -engaged--fortunately for me, I possessed strong lungs, which I found -very necessary in an employment the success of which depended, in a -great measure, in being enabled to drown the voices of others (engaged -in the same occupation) by my own--“Old Chairs to Mend,” became now -my constant cry through the streets of London, from morning to night; -and although I found my business not so profitable as I could have -wished, yet it yielded a tolerable support for my family some time, -and probably would have continued so to have done, had not the almost -constant illness of my children, rendered the expenses of my family -much greater than they otherwise would have been--thus afflicted by -additional cares and expense, (although I did every thing in my power -to avoid it) I was obliged, to alleviate the sufferings of my family, -to contract some trifling debts which it was not in my power to -discharge. - -I now became the victim of additional miseries--I was visited by a -bailiff employed by a creditor, who seizing me with the claws of a -tiger, dragged me from my poor afflicted family and inhumanly thurst -me into prison! indeed no misery that I ever before endured equalled -this--separated from those dependent on me for the necessaries of -life, and placed in a situation in which it was impossible for me -to afford them any relief!--fortunately for me at this melancholly -moment, my wife enjoyed good health, and it was to her praise-worthy -exertions that her poor helpless children, as well as myself, owed -our preservation from a state of starvation!--this good woman had -become acquainted with many who had been my customers, whom she made -acquainted with my situation, and the sufferings of my family, and who -had the humanity to furnish me with work during my confinement--the -chairs were conveyed to and from the prison by my wife--in this way -I was enabled to support myself and to contribute something to -the relief of my afflicted family. I had in vain represented to my -unfeeling creditor my inability to satisfy his demands, and in vain -represented to him the suffering condition of those wholly dependent on -me; unfortunately for me, he proved to be one of those human beasts, -who, having no soul, take pleasure in tormenting that of others, who -never feel but in their own misfortunes, and never rejoice but in the -afflictions of others--of such beings, so disgraceful to human nature, -I assure the reader London contains not an inconsiderable number. - -After having for four months languished in a horrid prison, I was -liberated therefrom a mere skeleton; the mind afflicted had tortured -the body; so much is the one in subjection to the other--I returned -sorrowful and dejected to my afflicted family whom I found in very -little better condition. We now from necessity took up our abode in an -obscure situation near Moorfields; where, by my constant application to -business, I succeeded in earning daily a humble pittance for my family, -bearly sufficient however to satisfy the cravings of nature; and to -add to my afflictions, some one of my family were almost constantly -indisposed. - -However wretched my situation there were many others at this period, -with whom I was particularly acquainted, whose sufferings were greater -if possible than my own; and whom want and misery drove to the -commission of crimes, that in any other situation they would probably -not have been guilty of. Such was the case of the unfortunate Bellamy, -who was capitally convicted and executed for a crime which distresses -in his family, almost unexampled, had in a moment of despair, compelled -him to commit. He was one who had seen better days, was once a -commissioned officer in the army, but being unfortunate he was obliged -to quit the service to avoid the horrors of a prison, and was thrown on -the world, without a single penny or a single friend. The distresses of -his family were such, that they were obliged to live for a considerable -time deprived of all sustenance except what they could derive from -scanty and precarious meals of potatoes and milk--in this situation -his unfortunate wife was confined in child bed--lodging in an obscure -garret, she was destitute of every species of those conveniences almost -indespensable with females in her condition, being herself without -clothes, and to procure a covering for her new born infant, all their -resources were exhausted. In this situation his wife and children must -inevitably have starved, were it not for the loan of five shillings -which he walked from London to Blackheath to borrow. At his trial he -made a solemn appeal to heaven, as to the truth of every particular -as above stated--and that so far from wishing to exaggerate a single -fact, he had suppressed many more instances of calamity scarcely to be -paralleled--that after the disgrace brought upon himself by this single -transaction, life could not be a boon he would be anxious to solicit, -but that nature pleaded in his breast for a deserving wife and helpless -child--all however was ineffectual, he was condemned and executed -pursuant to his sentence. - -I have yet one or two more melancholly instances of the effects of -famine to record, the first of which happened within a mile of my then -miserable habitation--a poor widow woman, who had been left destitute -with five small children, and who had been driven to the most awful -extremities by hunger, overpowered at length by the pitiful cries of -her wretched offspring, for a morsel of bread, in a fit of despair, -rushed into the shop of a baker in the neighbourhood, and seizing a -loaf of bread bore it off to the relief of her starving family, and -while in the act of dividing it among them, the baker (who had pursued -her) entered and charged her with the theft--the charge she did not -deny, but plead the starving condition of her wretched family in -palliation of the crime!--the baker noticing a platter on the table -containing a quantity of roasted meat, he pointed to it as a proof that -she could not have been driven to such an extremity by hunger--but, his -surprise may be better imagined than described, when being requested -by the half distracted mother to approach and inspect more closely -the contents of the platter, to find it to consist of the remains of -a roasted dog! and which she informed him had been her only food, and -that of her poor children, for the three preceding days!--the baker -struck with so shocking a proof of the poverty and distress of the -wretched family, humanely contributed to their relief until they were -admitted into the hospital. - -I was not personally acquainted with the family, but I well knew -one who was, and who communicated to me the following melancholly -particulars of its wretched situation; and with which I now present -my readers, as another proof of the deplorable situation of the poor -in England, after the close of the American war:--The minister of a -parish was sent for to attend the funeral of a deceased person in his -neighbourhood, being conducted to the apartment which contained the -corpse (and which was the only one improved by the wretched family) -he found it so low as to be unable to stand upright in it--in a dark -corner of the room stood a three legged stool, which supported a coffin -of rough boards, and which contained the body of the wretched mother, -who had the day previous expired in labour for the want of assistance. -The father was sitting on a little stool over a few coals of fire, -and endeavouring to keep the infant warm in his bosom; five of his -seven children, half naked, were asking their father for a piece of -bread, while another about three years old was standing over the corpse -of his mother, and crying, as he was wont to do, “take me, take me, -mammy!”--“Mammy is asleep,” said one of his sisters with tears in her -eyes, “mammy is asleep, Johnny, don’t cry, the good nurse has gone to -beg you some bread and will soon return!”--In a few minutes after, an -old woman, crooked with age, and clothed in tatters came hobbling into -the room, with a two-penny loaf in her hand, and after heaving a sigh, -calmly set down, and divided the loaf as far as it would go among the -poor half famished children: and which she observed was the only food -they had tasted for the last 24 hours! By the kind interposition of the -worthy divine, a contribution was immediately raised for the relief of -this wretched family. - -I might add many more melancholly instances of the extreme poverty -and distress of the wretched poor of London, and with which I was -personally acquainted; but the foregoing it is presumed will be -sufficient to satisfy the poorest class of inhabitants of America, -that, if deprived of the superfluities, so long as they can obtain -the necessaries of life, they ought not to murmur, but have reason -to thank the Almighty that they were born Americans. That one half -the world knows not how the other half lives, is a common and just -observation;--complaints and murmurs are frequent I find among those -of the inhabitants of this highly favoured country, who are not only -blessed with the liberty and means of procuring for themselves and -their families, the necessaries and comforts, but even many of the -luxuries of life!--they complain of poverty, and yet never knew what -it was to be really poor! having never either experienced or witnessed -such scenes of distress and woe as I have described, they even suppose -their imaginary wants and privations equal to those of almost any of -the human race! - -Let those of my countrymen who thus imagine themselves miserable amid -plenty, cross the Atlantic and visit the miserable habitations of real -and unaffected woe--if their hearts are not destitute of feeling, they -will return satisfied to their own peaceful and happy shores, and pour -forth the ejaculations of gratitude to that universal parent, who has -given them abundance and exempted them from the thousand ills, under -the pressure of which a great portion of his children drag the load -of life. Permit me to enquire of such unreasonable murmurers, have -you compared your situation and circumstances of which you so much -complain, with that of those of your fellow creatures, who are unable -to earn by their hard labour even a scanty pittance for their starving -families? have you compared your situation and circumstances, with -that of those who have hardly ever seen the sun, but live confined in -lead mines, stone quarries, and coal pits?--before you call yourselves -wretched, take a survey of the gaols in Europe, in which wretched -beings who have been driven to the commissions of crimes by starvation, -or unfortunate and honest debtors (who have been torn from their -impoverished families) are doomed to pine. - -So far from uttering unreasonable complaints, the hearts of my highly -favoured countrymen ought rather to be filled with gratitude to that -Being, by whose assistance they have been enabled to avert so many -of the miseries of life, so peculiar to a portion of the oppressed -of Europe at the present day--and who after groaning themselves for -some time under the yoke of foreign tyranny, succeeded in emancipating -themselves from slavery and are now blessed with the sweets of liberty, -and the undisturbed enjoyment of their natural rights. Britain, -imperious Britain, who once boasted the freedom of her government and -the invincible power of her arms--now finds herself reduced to the -humiliating necessity of receiving lessons of liberty from those whom -till late she despised as slaves!--while our own country on the other -hand, like a phoenix from her ashes, having emerged from a long, an -expensive and bloody war, and established a constitution upon the -broad and immovable basis of national equality, now promises to become -the permanent residence of peace, liberty, science, and national -felicity.--But, to return to the tale of my own sufferings-- - -While hundreds were daily becoming the wretched victims of hunger and -starvation, I was enabled by my industry to obtain a morsel each day -for my family; although this morsel, which was to be divided among -four, would many times have proved insufficient to have satisfied the -hunger of one--I seldom ever failed from morning to night to cry “old -chairs to mend,” through the principal streets of the city, but many -times with very little success--if I obtained four chairs to rebottom -in the course of one day, I considered myself fortunate indeed, but -instances of such good luck were very rare; it was more frequent that -I did not obtain a single one, and after crying the whole day until I -made myself hoarse, I was obliged to return to my poor family at night -empty handed. - -So many at one time engaged in the same business, that had I not -resorted to other means my family must inevitably have starved--while -crying “old chairs to mend,” I collected all the old rags, bits of -paper, nails and broken glass which I could find in the streets, -and which I deposited in a bag, which I carried with me for that -purpose--these produced me a trifle, and that trifle when other -resources failed, procured me a morsel of bread, or a few pounds -of potatoes, for my poor wife and children--yet I murmured not as -the dispensation of the supreme Arbiter of allotments, which had -assigned to me so humbled a line of duty; although I could not have -believed once, that I should ever have been brought to such a state of -humiliating distress, as would have required such means to alleviate it. - -In February 1793, War was declared by Great Britain against the -republic of France--and although war is a calamity that ought always -to be regretted by friends of humanity, as thousands are undoubtedly -thereby involved in misery; yet, no event could have happened at that -time productive of so much benefit to me, as this--it was the means -of draining the country of those who had been once soldiers, and who, -thrown out of employ by the peace, demanded a sum so trifling for their -services, as to cause a reduction in the wages of the poor labouring -class of people, to a sum insufficient to procure the necessaries of -life for their families;--this evil was now removed--the old soldiers -preferred an employment more in character of themselves, to doing -the drudgery of the city--great inducements were held out to them to -enlist, and the army was not long retarded in its operations for the -want of recruits. My prospects in being enabled to earn something to -satisfy the calls of nature, became now more flattering;--the great -number that had been employed during the Peace in a business similar -to my own, were now reduced to one half, which enabled me to obtain -such an extra number of jobs at chair mending that I no longer found -it necessary to collect the scrapings of the streets as I had been -obliged to do for the many months past. I was now enabled to purchase -for my family two or three pounds of fresh meat each week, an article -to which (with one or two exceptions) we had been strangers for more -than a year--having subsisted principally on potatoes, oat meal bread, -and salt fish, and sometimes, but rarely however, were enabled to treat -ourselves to a little skim milk. - -Had not other afflictions attended me, I should not have had much -cause to complain of very extraordinary hardships or privations from -this period, until the conclusion of the war in 1817;--my family had -increased, and to increase my cares there was scarcely a week passed -but that some one of them was seriously indisposed--of ten children -of which I was the father, I had the misfortune to bury seven under -five years of age, and two more after they had arrived to the age of -twenty--my last and only child now living, it pleased the Almighty -to spare to me, to administer help and comfort to his poor afflicted -parent, and without whose assistance I should (so far from having been -enabled once more to visit the land of my nativity) ’ere this have paid -the debt of nature in a foreign land, and that too by a death no less -horrible than that of starvation! - -As my life was unattended with any very extraordinary circumstance -(except the one just mentioned) from the commencement of the war, -until the re-establishment of monarchy in France, and the cessation of -hostilities on the part of Great Britain, in 1817, I shall commence on -the narration of my unparalleled sufferings, from the latter period, -until that when by the kind interposition of Providence, I was enabled -finally to obtain a passage to my native country; and to bid an adieu, -and I hope and trust a final one, to that Island, where I had endured a -complication of miseries beyond the power of description. - -The peace produced similar effects to that of 1783--thousands were -thrown out of employ and the streets of London thronged with soldiers -seeking means to earn a humble subsistence. The cry of “Old Chairs to -Mend,” (and that too at a very reduced price) was reiterated through -the streets of London by numbers who but the month before were at -Waterloo fighting the battles of their country--which, so seriously -effected my business in this line, that to obtain food (and that of -the most humble kind) for my family, I was obliged once more to have -recourse to the collecting of scraps of rags, paper, glass, and such -other articles of however trifling value that I could find in the -streets. - -It was at this distressing period, that, in consequence of the -impossibility of so great a number who had been discharged from the -service procuring a livelihood by honest means, that instances of -thefts, and daring robberies, increased throughout Great Britain three -fold. Bands of highwaymen and robbers hovered about the vicinity of -London in numbers which almost defied suppression; many were taken and -executed or transported; but this seemed to render the rest only the -more desperately bold and cruel, while house-breaking and assassination -were daily perpetrated with new arts and outrages in the very capital. -Nor were the starving condition of the honest poor, who were to be -met with at all times of day and in every street, seeking something -to appease their hunger, less remarkable--unable to procure by any -means within their power sustenance sufficient to support nature, some -actually became the victims of absolute starvation, as the following -melancholly instance will show:--a poor man exhausted by want; dropped -down in the street--those who were passing unacquainted with the -frequency of such melancholly events, at first thought him intoxicated; -but after languishing half an hour, he expired. On the following day, -an inquest was held on the body, and the verdict of the jury not -giving satisfaction to the Coroner, they adjourned to the next day.--In -the interim, two respectable surgeons were engaged to open the body, -in which not a particle of nutriment was to be found except a little -yellow substance, supposed to be grass, or some crude vegetable; which -the poor man had swallowed to appease the cravings of nature!--this -lamentable proof confirmed the opinion of the jury, that he died for -want of the necessaries of life, and gave their verdict accordingly. - -Miserable as was the fate of this man and that of many others, mine was -but little better, and would ultimately have been the same, had it not -been for the assistance afforded me by my only remaining child, a lad -but seven years of age. I had now arrived to an advanced age of life, -and although possessing an extraordinary constitution for one of my -years, yet by my incessant labours to obtain subsistence for my family, -I brought on myself a severe fit of sickness, which confined me three -weeks to my chamber; in which time my only sustenance was the produce -of a few half pennies, which my poor wife and little son had been able -to earn each day by, disposing of matches of their own make, and in -collecting and disposing of the articles of small value, of which I -have before made mention, which were to be found thinly scattered in -the streets. In three weeks it was the will of providence so far to -restore to me my strength, as to enable me once more to move abroad in -search of something to support nature. - -The tenement which I at this time rented and which was occupied by my -family, was a small and wretched apartment of a garret, and for which -I had obligated myself to pay sixpence per day, which was to be paid -at the close of every week; and in case of failure (agreeable to the -laws or customs of the land) my furniture was liable to be seized. In -consequence of my illness, and other misfortunes, I fell six weeks in -arrears for rent; and having returned one evening with my wife and son, -from the performance of our daily task, my kind readers may judge what -my feelings must have been to find our room stripped of every article -(of however trifling value) that it contained!--alas, oh heavens! to -what a state of wretchedness were we now reduced! if there was any -thing wanting to complete our misery, this additional drop to the cup -of our afflictions, more than sufficed. Although the real value of -all that they had taken from me, or rather robbed me of, would not -if publicly disposed of, have produced a sum probably exceeding five -dollars; yet it was our all, except the few tattered garments that we -had on our backs, and were serviceable and all important to us in our -impoverished situation. Not an article of bedding of any kind was left -us on which to repose at night, or a chair or stool on which we could -rest our wearied limbs! but, as destitute as we were, and naked as -they had left our dreary apartment, we had no other abiding place. - -With a few half penny’s which were jointly our hard earnings of that -day, I purchased a peck of coal and a few pounds of potatoes; which -while the former furnished us with a little fire, the latter served -for the moment to appease our hunger--by a poor family in an adjoining -room I was obliged with the loan of a wooden bench, which served as a -seat and a table, from which we partook of our homely fare. In this -woeful situation, hovering over a few half consumed coals, we spent a -sleepless night. The day’s dawn brought additional afflictions--my poor -wife who had until this period borne her troubles without a sigh or a -murmur, and had passed through hardships and sorrows, which nothing but -the Supreme Giver of patience and fortitude, and her perfect confidence -in him, could have enabled her to sustain; yet so severe and unexpected -a stroke as the last, she could not withstand--I found her in the -morning gloomy and dejected, and so extremely feeble as to be hardly -able to descend the stairs. - -We left our miserable habitation in the morning, with hopes that the -wretched spectacle that we presented, weak and emaciated as we were, -would move some to pity and induce them to impart that relief which -our situations so much required--it would however be almost endless -to recount the many rebuffs we met with in our attempts to crave -assistance. Some few indeed were more merciful, and whatever their -opinion might be of the cause of our misery, the distress they saw -us in excited their charity, and for their own sakes were induced -to contribute a trifle to our wants. We alternately happened among -savages and christians, but even the latter, too much influenced by -appearances, were very sparing of their bounty. - -With the small trifle that had been charitably bestowed on us, we -returned at night to our wretched dwelling, which, stripped as it -had been, could promise us but little more than a shelter, and where -we spent the night very much as the preceding one.--Such was the -debilitated state of my poor wife the ensuing morning, produced by -excessive hunger and fatigue, as to render it certain, that sinking -under the weight of misery, the hand of death in mercy to her, was -about to release her from her long and unparalleled sufferings. I -should be afraid of exciting too painful sensations in the minds of my -readers, were I to attempt to describe my feelings at this moment, and -to paint in all their horror, the miseries which afterward attended -me; although so numerous had been my afflictions, that it seemed -impossible for any new calamity to be capable of augmenting them;--men -accustomed to vicissitudes are not soon dejected, but there are trials -which human nature alone cannot surmount--indeed to such a state of -wretchedness was I now reduced, that had it not been for my suffering -family, life would have been no longer desirable. The attendance that -the helpless situation of my poor wife now demanded, it was not within -my power to afford her, as early the next day I was reluctantly driven -by hunger abroad in search of something that might serve to contribute -to our relief. I left my unfortunate companion, attended by no other -person but our little son, destitute of fuel and food, and stretched -on an armful of straw, which I had been so fortunate as to provide -myself with the day preceding;--the whole produce of my labours this -day (which I may safely say was the most melancholly one of my life) -amounted to no more than one shilling! which I laid out to the best -advantage possible, in the purchase of a few of the necessaries, which -the situation of my sick companion most required. - -I ought to have mentioned, that previous to this melancholy period, -when most severely afflicted, I had been two or three times driven to -the necessity of making application to the Overseers of the poor, of -the parish in which I resided, for admittance into the Almshouse, or -for some assistance, but never with any success; having always been put -off by them with some evasive answer or frivolous pretence--sometimes -charged by them with being an imposter, and that laziness more than -debility and real want, had induced me to make the application--at -other times I was told that being an American born, I had no lawful -claim on the government of that country for support; that I ought to -have made application to the American Consul for assistance, whose -business it was to assist such of his countrymen whose situations -required it. - -But such now was my distress, in consequence of the extreme illness of -my wife, that I must receive that aid so indispensably necessary at -this important crisis, or subject myself to witness a scene no less -distressing, than that of my poor wretched wife, actually perishing -for the want of that care and nourishment which it was not in my power -to afford her! Thus situated I was induced to renew my application -to the Overseer for assistance, representing to him the deplorable -situation of my family, who were actually starving for the want of -that sustenance which it was not in my power to procure for them; and -what I thought would most probably effect his feelings, described -to him the peculiar and distressing situation of my wife, the hour -of whose dissolution was apparently fast approaching--but, I soon -found that I was addressing one who possessed a heart callous to the -feelings of humanity--one, whose feelings were not to be touched by a -representation of the greatest misery with which human nature could -be afflicted. The same cruel observations were made as before, that -I was a vile impostor who was seeking by imposition to obtain that -support in England, which my own country had withheld from me--that the -American Yankees had fought for and obtained their Independence, and -yet were not independent enough to support their own poor!--that Great -Britain would find enough to do, was she to afford relief to every -d--d yankee vagabond that should apply for it!--fortunately for this -abusive British scoundrel, I possessed not now that bodily strength and -activity, which I could once boast of, or the villain (whether within -his Majesty’s dominions or not) should have received on the spot a -proof of “Yankee Independence” for his insolence. - -Failing in my attempts to obtain the assistance which the lamentable -situation of my wife required, I had recourse to other means--I waited -on two or three gentlemen in my neighbourhood, who had been represented -to me as persons of humanity, and entreated them to visit my wretched -dwelling, and to satisfy themselves by occular demonstration, of the -state of my wretchedness, especially that of my dying companion--they -complied with my request, and were introduced by me to a scene, which -for misery and distress, they declared surpassed every thing that they -had ever before witnessed!--they accompanied me immediately to one in -whom was invested the principal government of the poor of the parish, -and represented to him, the scene of human misery which they had been -an eye witness to--whereupon an order was issued to have my wife -conveyed to the Hospital, which was immediately done and where she was -comfortably provided for--but, alas, the relief which her situation -had so much required, had been too long deferred--her deprivation and -sufferings had been too great to admit of her being now restored to -her former state of health, or relieved by any thing that could be -administered--after her removal to the Hospital, she lingered a few -days in a state of perfect insensibility, and then closed her eyes -forever on a world, where for many years, she had been the unhappy -subject of almost constant affliction. - -I felt very sensibly the irreparable loss of one who had been my -companion in adversity, as well as in prosperity; and when blessed -with health, had afforded me by her industry that assistance, without -which, the sufferings of our poor children would have been greater if -possible than what they were. My situation was now truly a lonely one, -bereaved of my wife, and all my children except one; who, although but -little more than seven years of age, was a child of that sprightliness -and activity, as to possess himself with a perfect knowledge of the -chair-bottoming business, and by which he earned not only enough (when -work could be obtained) to furnish himself with food, but contributed -much to the relief of his surviving parent, when confined by illness -and infirmity. - -We continued to improve the apartment from which my wife had been -removed, until I was so fortunate as to be able to rent a ready -furnished apartment (as it was termed) at four shillings and sixpence -per week. Apartments of this kind are not uncommon in London, and are -intended to accommodate poor families, situated as we were, who had -been so unfortunate as to be stripped of every thing but the cloathes -on their backs by their unfeeling landlords. These “ready furnished -rooms” were nothing but miserable apartments in garrets, and contain -but few more conveniences than what many of our common prisons in -America afford--a bunk of straw, with two or three old blankets, a -couple of chairs, and a rough table about three feet square, with -an article or two of iron ware in which to cook our victuals (if we -should be so fortunate as to obtain any) was the contents of the “ready -furnished apartment” that we were now about to occupy--but even with -these few conveniences, it was comparatively a palace to the one we had -for several weeks past improved. - -When my health would permit, I seldom failed to visit daily the most -public streets of the city, and from morning to night cry for old -chairs to mend--accompanied by my son Thomas, with a bundle of flags, -as represented in the Plate annexed to this volume. If we were so -fortunate as to obtain a job of work more than we could complete in -the day, with the permission of the owner, I would convey the chairs -on my back to my humble dwelling, and with the assistance of my little -son, improve the evening to complete the work, which would produce us -a few half pennies to purchase something for our breakfast the next -morning--but it was very seldom that instances of this kind occurred, -as it was more frequently the case that after crying for old chairs to -mend, the whole day, we were obliged to return, hungry and weary, and -without a single half penny in our pockets, to our humble dwelling, -where we were obliged to fast until the succeeding day; and indeed -there were some instances in which we were compelled to fast two or -three days successively, without being able to procure a single job -of work.--The rent I had obligated myself to pay every night, and -frequently when our hunger was such as hardly to be endured, I was -obliged to reserve the few pennies that I was possessed of to apply to -this purpose. - -In our most starving condition when every other plan failed, my little -son would adopt the expedient of sweeping the public cause-ways -(leading from one walk to the other) where he would labour the whole -day, with the expectation of receiving no other reward than what the -generosity of gentlemen, who had occasion to cross, would induce -them to bestow in charity, and which seldom amounted to more than a -few pennies--sometime the poor boy would toil in this way the whole -day, without being so fortunate as to receive a single half penny--it -was then he would return home sorrowful and dejected, and while he -attempted to conceal his own hunger, with tears in his eyes, would -lament his hard fortune in not being able to obtain something to -appease mine.--While he was thus employed I remained at home, but not -idle, being as busily engaged in making matches, with which (when he -returned home empty handed) we were obliged as fatigued as we were, -to visit the markets to expose for sale, and where we were obliged -sometimes to tarry until eleven o’clock at night, before we could meet -with a single purchaser. - -Having one stormy night of a Saturday, visited the market with my -son for this purpose, and after exposing ourselves to the chilling -rain until past 10 o’clock, without being able either of us to sell a -single match, I advised the youth (being thinly clad) to return home -feeling disposed to tarry myself a while longer, in hopes that better -success might attend me, as having already fasted one day and night, -it was indispensably necessary that I should obtain something to -appease our hunger the succeeding day (Sunday) or what seemed almost -impossible, to endure longer its torments! I remained until the clock -struck eleven, the hour at which the market closed, and yet had met -with no better success! It is impossible to describe the sensation of -despondency which overwhelmed me at this moment! I now considered it -as certain that I must return home with nothing wherewith to satisfy -our craving appetites--and with my mind filled with the most heart -rending reflections, I was about to return, when, Heaven seemed pleased -to interpose in my behalf, and to send relief when I little expected -it;--passing a beef stall I attracted the notice of the butcher, who -viewing me, probably as I was, a miserable object of pity, emaciated -by long fastings, and clad in tattered garments, from which the water -was fast dripping, and judging no doubt by my appearance that on no -one could charity be more properly bestowed, he threw into my basket a -beeve’s heart, with the request that I would depart with it immediately -for my home, if any I had!--I will not attempt to describe the joy -that I felt on this occasion, in so unexpectedly meeting with that -relief, which my situation so much required. I hastened home with a -much lighter heart than what I had anticipated; and when I arrived, the -sensations of joy exhibited by my little son on viewing the prize that -I bore, produced effects as various as extraordinary; he wept, then -laughed and danced with transport. - -The reader must suppose that while I found it so extremely difficult to -earn enough to preserve us from starvation, I had little to spare for -cloathing and other necessaries; and that this was really my situation, -I think no one will doubt, when I positively declare that to such -extremities was I driven, that being unable to pay a barber for shaving -me, I was obliged to adopt the expedient for more than two years, of -clipping my beard as close as possible with a pair of scissors which -I kept expressly for that purpose!--as strange and laughable as the -circumstance may appear to some, I assure the reader that I state -facts, and exaggerate nothing. As regarded our cloathes, I can say -no more than that they were the best that we could procure, and were -such as persons in our situations were obliged to wear--they served -to conceal our nakedness, but would have proved insufficient to have -protected our bodies, from the inclemency of the weather of a colder -climate. Such indeed was sometimes our miserable appearance, clad in -tattered garments, that while engaged in our employment in crying for -old chairs to mend, we not only attracted the notice of many, but there -were instances in which a few half pennies unsolicited were bestowed -on us in charity--an instance of this kind happened one day as I was -passing through threadneedle street; a gentleman perceiving by the -appearance of the shoes that I wore, that they were about to quit me, -put a half crown in my hand, and bid me go and cry “old shoes to mend!” - -In long and gloomy winter evenings, when unable to furnish myself with -any other light than that emitted by a little fire of sea coal, I would -attempt to drive away melancholy by amusing my son with an account of -my native country, and of the many blessings there enjoyed by even -the poorest class of people--of their fair fields producing a regular -supply of bread--their convenient houses, to which they could repair -after the toils of the day, to partake of the fruits of their labour, -safe from the storms and the cold, and where they could lay down their -heads to rest without any to molest them or to make them afraid. -Nothing could have been better calculated to excite animation in the -mind of the poor child, than an account so flattering of a country -which had given birth to his father, and to which he had received my -repeated assurances he should accompany me as soon as an opportunity -should present--after expressing his fears that the happy day was yet -far distant, with a deep sigh he would exclaim “would to God it was -to-morrow!” - -About a year after the decease of my wife, I was taken extremely ill, -insomuch that at one time my life was despaired of, and had it not been -for the friendless and lonely situation in which such an event would -have placed my son, I should have welcomed the hour of my dissolution -and viewed it as a consummation rather to be wished than dreaded; for -so great had been my sufferings of mind and body, and the miseries to -which I was still exposed, that life had really become a burden to -me--indeed I think it would have been difficult to have found on the -face of the earth a being more wretched than I had been for the three -years past. - -During my illness my only friend on earth was my son Thomas, who did -every thing to alleviate my wants within the power of his age to -do--sometimes by crying for old chairs to mend (for he had become -as expert a workman at this business as his father) and sometimes -by sweeping the cause-ways, and by making and selling matches, he -succeeded in earning each day a trifle sufficient to procure for me and -himself a humble sustenance. When I had so far recovered as to be able -to creep abroad, and the youth had been so fortunate as to obtain a -good job, I would accompany him, although very feeble, and assist him -in conveying the chairs home--it was on such occasions that my dear -child would manifest his tenderness and affection for me, by insisting -(if there were four chairs) that I should carry but one, and he would -carry the remaining three, or in that proportion if a greater or less -number. - -From the moment that I had informed him of the many blessings enjoyed -by my countrymen of every class, I was almost constantly urged by my -son to apply to the American Consul for a passage--it was in vain that -I represented to him, that if such an application was attended with -success and the opportunity should be improved by me, it must cause our -separation, perhaps forever; as he would not be permitted to accompany -me at the expense of government--“never mind me (he would reply) do -not father suffer any more on my account; if you can only succeed in -obtaining a passage to a country where you can enjoy the blessings that -you have described to me, I may hereafter be so fortunate as to meet -with an opportunity to join you--and if not, it will be a consolation -to me, whatever my afflictions may be, to think that yours have -ceased!” My ardent wish to return to America, was not less than that -of my son, but could not bear the thoughts of a separation; of leaving -him behind exposed to all the miseries peculiar to the friendless -poor of that country;--he was a child of my old age, and from whom I -had received too many proofs of his love and regard for me, not to -feel that parental affection for him to which his amiable disposition -entitled him. - -I was indeed unacquainted with the place of residence of the American -Consul--I had made frequent enquiries, but found no one that could -inform me correctly where he might be found; but so anxious was my son -that I should spend the remnant of my days in that country where I -should receive (if nothing more) a christian burial at my decease, and -bid adieu forever to a land where I had spent so great a portion of my -life in sorrow, and many years had endured the lingering tortures of -protracted famine; that he ceased not to enquire of everyone with whom -he was acquainted, until he obtained the wished for information. Having -learned the place of residence of the American Consul, and fearful of -the consequences of delay, he would give me no peace until I promised -that I would accompany him there the succeeding day, if my strength -would admit of it; for although I had partially recovered from a severe -fit of sickness, yet I was still so weak and feeble as to be scarcely -able to walk. - -My son did not forget to remind me early the next morning of my -promise, and to gratify him more than with an expectation of meeting -with much success I set out with him, feeble as I was, for the -Consul’s. The distance was about two miles, and before I had succeeded -in reaching half the way, I had wished myself a dozen times safe home -again, and had it not been for the strong persuasions of my son to -the contrary, I certainly should have returned.--I was never before -so sensible of the effects of my long sufferings--which had produced -that degree of bodily weakness and debility, as to leave me scarcely -strength sufficient to move without the assistance of my son; who, when -he found me reeling or halting through weakness, would support me until -I had gained sufficient strength to proceed. - -Although the distance was but two miles, yet such was the state of my -weakness, that although we started early in the morning, it was half -past 3 o’clock P.M. when we reached the Consul’s office, when I was so -much exhausted as to be obliged to ascend the steps on my hands and -knees. Fortunately we found the Consul in, and on my addressing him -and acquainting him with the object of my visit, he seemed at first -unwilling to credit the fact that I was an American born--but after -interrogating me sometime, as to the place of my nativity, the cause -which first brought me to England, &c. he seemed to be more satisfied; -he however observed (on being informed that the lad who accompanied me -was my son) that he could procure a passage for me, but not for him, -as being born in England, the American government would consider him a -British subject, and under no obligation to defray the expence of his -passage--and as regarded myself, he observed, that he had his doubts, -so aged and infirm as I appeared to be, whether I should live to reach -America, if I should attempt it. - -I cannot say that I was much surprised at the observations of the -Consul, as they exactly agreed with what I had anticipated--and as -anxious as I then felt to visit once more my native country, I felt -determined not to attempt it, unless I could be accompanied by my -son, and expressed myself to this effect to the Consul--the poor -lad appeared nearly overcome with grief when he saw me preparing to -return without being able to effect my object; indeed so greatly was -he affected, and such the sorrow that he exhibited, that he attracted -the notice (and I believe I may add the pity) of the Consul--who, -after making some few enquiries as regarded his disposition, age, -&c. observed that he could furnish the lad with a passage at his own -expense, which he should have no objection to do if I would consent -to his living with a connection of his (the Consul,) on his arrival -in America--“but (continued he,) in such a case you must be a while -separated, for it would be imprudent for you to attempt the passage -until you have gained more strength--I will pay your board, where by -better living than you have been latterly accustomed to, you may have a -chance to recruit--but your son must take passage on board the London -Packet, which sails for Boston the day after to-morrow.” - -Although but a few moments previous, my son would have thought no -sacrifice too great, that would have enabled us to effect our object -in obtaining passages to America; yet, when he found that instead of -himself, I was to be left for a while behind, he appeared at some loss -how to determine--but on being assured by the Consul that if my life -was spared I should soon join him, he consented; and being furnished -by the Consul with a few necessary articles of cloathing, I the next -day accompanied him on board the packet which was to convey him to -America--and after giving him the best advice that I was capable of as -regarded his behaviour and deportment while on his passage, and on his -arrival in America, I took my leave of him and saw him not again until -I met him on the wharf on my arrival at Boston. - -When I parted with the Consul he presented me with half a crown, and -directions where to apply for board--it was at a public Inn where I -found many American seamen, who, like myself, were boarded there at -the Consul’s expence, until passages could be obtained for them to -America--I was treated by them with much civility, and by hearing them -daily recount their various and remarkable adventures, as well as by -relating my own, I passed my time more agreeably than what I probably -should have done in other society. - -In eight weeks I was so far recruited by good living, as in the -opinion of the Consul, to be able to endure the fatigues of a passage -to my native country, and which was procured for me on board the ship -Carterian, bound to New-York. We set sail on the 5th April, 1823, and -after a passage of 42 days, arrived safe at our port of destination. -After having experienced in a foreign land so much ill-treatment from -those from whom I could expect no mercy, and for no other fault than -that of being an American, I could not but flatter myself that when -I bid adieu to that country, I should no longer be the subject of -unjust persecution, or have occasion to complain of ill treatment from -those whose duty it was to afford me protection. But the sad reverse -which I experienced while on board the Carterian, convinced me of the -incorrectness of my conclusions. For my country’s sake, I am happy -that I have it in my power to say that the crew of this ship, was not -composed altogether of Americans--there was a mixture of all nations; -and among them some so vile, and destitute of every humane principle, -as to delight in nothing so much as to sport with the infirmities of -one, whose grey locks ought at least to have protected him. By these -unfeeling wretches (who deserve not the name of sailors) I was not -only most shamefully ill-used on the passage, but was robbed of some -necessary articles of cloathing, which had been charitably bestowed on -me by the American Consul. - -We arrived in the harbour of New-York about midnight, and such were the -pleasing sensations produced by the reflection that on the morrow I -should be indulged with the priviledge of walking once more on American -ground after an absence of almost 50 years, and that but a short -distance now separated me from my dear son, that it was in vain that I -attempted to close my eyes to sleep. Never was the morning’s dawn so -cheerfully welcomed by me. I solicited and obtained the permission of -the captain to be early set on shore, and on reaching which, I did not -forget to offer up my unfeigned thanks to that Almighty Being, who -had not only sustained me during my heavy afflictions abroad, but had -finally restored me to my native country. The pleasure that I enjoyed -in viewing the streets thronged by those, who, although I could not -claim as acquaintances, I could greet as my countrymen, was unbounded, -I felt a regard for almost every object that met my eyes, because it -was American. - -Great as was my joy on finding myself once more among my countrymen, I -felt not a little impatient for the arrival of the happy moment when I -should be able to meet my son. Agreeable to the orders which I received -from the American Consul, I applied to the Custom House in New-York -for a passage from thence to Boston, and with which I was provided on -board a regular packet which sailed the morning ensuing--in justice to -the captain, I must say that I was treated by him as well as by all -on board, with much civility. We arrived at the Long Wharf in Boston -after a short and pleasant passage. I had been informed by the Consul, -previous to leaving London, of the name of the gentleman with whom my -son probably lived, and a fellow passenger on board the packet was so -good as to call on and inform him of my arrival--in less than fifteen -minutes after receiving the information my son met me on the wharf! -Reader, you will not believe it possible for me to describe my feelings -correctly at this joyful moment! if you are a parent, you may have some -conception of them; but a faint one however unless you and an only and -beloved child have been placed in a similar situation. - -After acquainting myself with the state of my boy’s health, &c. my -next enquiry was whether he found the country as it had been described -by me, and how he esteemed it--“well, extremely well (was his reply) -since my arrival I have fared like a Prince, I have meat every day, and -have feasted on American puddings and pies (such as you used to tell -me about) until I have become almost sick of them!” I was immediately -conducted by him to the house of the gentleman with whom he lived, and -by whom I was treated with much hospitality--in the afternoon of the -day succeeding (by the earnest request of my son) I visited Bunker -Hill, which he had a curiosity to view, having heard it so frequently -spoken of by me while in London, as the place where the memorable -battle was fought and in which I received my wounds. - -I continued in Boston about a fortnight, and then set out on foot -to visit once more my native State. My son accompanied me as far as -Roxbury, when I was obliged reluctantly to part with him, and proceeded -myself no farther on my journey that day than Jamaica plains, where at -a public house I tarried all night--from thence I started early the -next morning and reached Providence about 5 o’-clock in the afternoon, -and obtained lodgings at a public Inn in High-Street. - -It may not be improper here to acquaint my readers that as I had left -my father possessed of very considerable property, and of which at his -decease I thought myself entitled to a portion equal to that of other -children, which (as my father was very economical in the management -of his affairs) I knew could not amount to a very inconsiderable sum, -it was to obtain this if possible, that I became extremely anxious to -visit immediately the place of my nativity--accordingly the day after -I arrived in Providence, I hastened to Cranston, to seek my connexions -if any were to be found; and if not to seek among the most aged of -the inhabitants, some one who had not forgotten me, and who might be -able to furnish me with the sought for information. But, alas, too -soon were blasted my hopeful expectations of finding something in -reserve for me, that might have afforded me a humble support, the few -remaining years of my life. It was by a distant connection that I was -informed that my brothers had many years since removed to a distant -part of the country--that having credited a rumour in circulation of -my death, at the decease of my father had disposed of the real estate -of which he died possessed, and had divided the proceeds equally among -themselves! This was another instance of adverse fortune that I had -not anticipated!--it was indeed a circumstance so foreign from my mind -that I felt myself for the first time, unhappy, since my return to my -native country, and even believed myself now doomed to endure, among my -own countrymen (for whose liberties I had fought and bled) miseries -similar to those that had attended me for many years in Europe. With -these gloomy forebodings I returned to Providence, and contracted for -board with the gentleman at whose house I had lodged the first night -of my arrival in town, and to whom for the kind treatment that I have -received from him and his family, I shall feel till death under the -deepest obligations that gratitude can dictate; for I can truly say of -him, that I was a stranger and he took me in, I was hungry and naked, -and he fed and cloathed me. - -As I had never received any remuneration for services rendered, and -hardships endured in the cause of my country, I was now obliged, as -my last resort, to petition Congress to be included in that number -of the few surviving soldiers of the Revolution, for whose services -they had been pleased to grant pensions--and I would to God that I -could add, for the honour of my country, that the application met with -its deserving success--but, although accompanied by the deposition -of a respectable gentleman (which deposition I have thought proper -to annex to my narrative) satisfactorily confirming every fact as -therein stated--yet, on no other principle, than that _I was absent -from the country when the pension law passed_--my Petition was -REJECTED!!! Reader, I have been for 30 years (as you will perceive by -what I have stated in the foregoing pages) subject, in a _foreign_ -country, to almost all the miseries with which poor human nature is -capable of being inflicted--yet, in no one instance did I ever feel -so great degree of a depression of spirits, as when the fate of my -Petition was announced to me! I love too well the country which gave -me birth, and entertain too high a respect for those employed in its -government, to reproach them with ingratitude; yet, it is my sincere -prayer that this strange and unprecedented circumstance, of withholding -from me that reward which they have so generally bestowed on others, -may never be told in Europe, or published in the streets of London, -least it reach the ears of some who had the effrontery to declare -to me personally, that for the active part that I had taken in the -“rebellious war” misery and starvation would ultimately be my reward! - -To conclude--although I may be again unfortunate in a renewal of my -application to government, for that reward to which my services so -justly entitle me--yet I feel thankful that I am priviledged (after -enduring so much) to spend the remainder of my days, among those who -I am confident are possessed of too much humanity, to see me suffer; -and which I am sensible I owe to the divine goodness, which graciously -condescended to support me under my numerous afflictions, and finally -enabled me to return to my native country in the 79th year of my -age--for this I return unfeigned thanks to the Almighty; and hope to -give during the remainder of my life, convincing testimonies of the -strong impression which those afflictions made on my mind, by devoting -myself sincerely to the duties of religion. - - - - -DEPOSITION OF JOHN VIAL - - -I JOHN VIAL of North Providence, in the county of Providence, -in the State of Rhode Island, on oath certify and say, that sometime in -the latter part of November or the beginning of December A.D. -1775, I entered as gunner’s mate on board the Washington, a public -armed vessel in the service of the United States, and under the command -of S. Martindale, Esq.--said vessel was sent out by order of General -WASHINGTON, from Plymouth (Mass.) to cruise in Boston harbour -to intercept supplies going to Boston, then in the possession of the -British troops. After we had been out a short time, we were captured by -a British 20 gun ship, called the “Foy,” and were carried to Boston, -where we remained about a week and were then put on board the frigate -Tartar, and sent to England as prisoners--and I the said John further -testify and say, that I well remember Israel R. Potter, now residing in -Cranston, who was a mariner on board the Washington also--said Potter -entered about the time I did and was captured and carried to England -with me. We arrived in England in January 1776, we were then put into -the Hospital, the greater part of the crew being sick in consequence -of the confinement during the voyage, where many died--I remained in -imprisonment about sixteen months when I made my escape--what became -of said Potter afterwards I do not know but I have not the least -doubt he remained a prisoner until the peace 1783 as he stated in his -application for a pension--I have no doubt he suffered a great deal -during his captivity. According to my best recollection nearly one -third of the crew died in the hospital--I do remember an affair which -took place during our voyage to England which caused Potter to suffer a -great deal more than perhaps he otherwise would--a number of the crew -of the Washington formed a plan to rise and take the Frigate but was -defeated in their purpose, among whom I believe Potter was one, and in -consequence, put in irons for the remaining part of the voyage with a -number of others. And I the said John do further testify that I do not -know of any of the said crew of the Washington now being alive except -said Potter and myself--and that I do not believe it to be in the power -of said Potter to procure any other testimony of the above mentioned -facts except mine. - - JOHN VIAL. - -Rhode Island District--Providence Aug. 6, 1823. - - * * * * * - -The said John Vial, who is well known to me and is a creditable -witness, made solemn oath to the truth of the foregoing deposition by -him subscribed in my presence. - - DAVID HOWELL. - DISTRICT JUDGE. - - - - -APPENDIX - - -Herman Melville first conceived of retelling the tale of Israel Potter, -the “Revolutionary beggar,” in 1849 after coming upon a tattered copy -of the original book. When he finally wrote his own account in 1854, he -drew as well on the narratives of Ethan Allen and Nathaniel Fanning, -who had served under John Paul Jones, and he had himself visited London. - -While the real Israel Potter devoted half of his personal history to -his years in London following the Revolutionary War, Melville retold -these events in a few brief concluding chapters to his own volume, -_Israel Potter, His Fifty Years of Exile_. Melville’s chapters are -reproduced from the 1855 first edition to give a comparative view of -the tragedy of Potter’s life as seen by himself and by Herman Melville, -a quarter of a century later. - - - - - ISRAEL POTTER: - His Fifty Years of Exile. - - By - HERMAN MELVILLE, - - AUTHOR OF “TYPEE,” “OMOO,” ETC. - - New York: - G. P. PUTNAM & CO., 10 PARK PLACE. - 1855. - - - - -TO - -HIS HIGHNESS - -THE - -Bunker-Hill Monument. - - -Biography, in its purer form, confined to the ended lives of the true -and brave, may be held the fairest meed of human virtue--one given and -received in entire disinterestedness--since neither can the biographer -hope for acknowledgment from the subject, nor the subject at all avail -himself of the biographical distinction conferred. - -Israel Potter well merits the present tribute--a private of Bunker -Hill, who for his faithful services was years ago promoted to a still -deeper privacy under the ground, with a posthumous pension, in default -of any during life, annually paid him by the spring in ever-new mosses -and sward. - -I am the more encouraged to lay this performance at the feet of -your Highness, because, with a change in the grammatical person, it -preserves, almost as in a reprint, Israel Potter’s autobiographical -story. Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a -little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray -paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably, not by himself, -but taken down from his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks -of the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out -of print. From a tattered copy, rescued by the merest chance from -the rag-pickers, the present account has been drawn, which, with the -exception of some expansions, and additions of historic and personal -details, and one or two shiftings of scene, may, perhaps, be not -unfitly regarded something in the light of a dilapidated old tombstone -retouched. - -Well aware that in your Highness’ eyes the merit of the story must be -in its general fidelity to the main drift of the original narrative, -I forbore anywhere to mitigate the hard fortunes of my hero; and -particularly towards the end, though sorely tempted, durst not -substitute for the allotment of Providence any artistic recompense -of poetical justice; so that no one can complain of the gloom of my -closing chapters more profoundly than myself. - -Such is the work, and such the man, that I have the honor to present -to your Highness. That the name here noted should not have appeared -in the volumes of Sparks, may or may not be a matter for astonishment; -but Israel Potter seems purposely to have waited to make his popular -advent under the present exalted patronage, seeing that your Highness, -according to the definition above, may, in the loftiest sense, be -deemed the Great Biographer: the national commemorator of such of the -anonymous privates of June 17, 1775, who may never have received other -requital than the solid reward of your granite. - -Your Highness will pardon me, if, with the warmest ascriptions on -this auspicious occasion, I take the liberty to mingle my hearty -congratulations on the recurrence of the anniversary day we celebrate, -wishing your Highness (though indeed your Highness be somewhat -prematurely gray) many returns of the same, and that each of its -summer’s suns may shine as brightly on your brow as each winter snow -shall lightly rest on the grave of Israel Potter. - - Your Highness’ - Most devoted and obsequious, - THE EDITOR. - - JUNE 17TH, 1854. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - -FORTY-FIVE YEARS. - - -For the most part, what befell Israel during his forty years wanderings -in the London deserts, surpassed the forty years in the natural -wilderness of the outcast Hebrews under Moses. - -In that London fog, went before him the ever-present cloud by day, but -no pillar of fire by the night, except the cold column of the monument, -two hundred feet beneath the mocking gilt flames on whose top, at the -stone base, the shiverer, of midnight, often laid down. - -But these experiences, both from their intensity and his solitude, were -necessarily squalid. Best not enlarge upon them. For just as extreme -suffering, without hope, is intolerable to the victim, so, to others, -is its depiction without some corresponding delusive mitigation. The -gloomiest and truthfulest dramatist seldom chooses for his theme the -calamities, however extraordinary, of inferior and private persons; -least of all, the pauper’s; admonished by the fact, that to the craped -palace of the king lying in state, thousands of starers shall throng; -but few feel enticed to the shanty, where, like a pealed knuckle-bone, -grins the unupholstered corpse of the beggar. - -Why at one given stone in the flagging does man after man cross yonder -street? What plebeian Lear or Œdipus, what Israel Potter, cowers -there by the corner they shun? From this turning point, then, we too -cross over and skim events to the end; omitting the particulars of -the starveling’s wrangling with rats for prizes in the sewers; or his -crawling into an abandoned doorless house in St. Giles’, where his -hosts were three dead men, one pendant; into another of an alley nigh -Houndsditch, where the crazy hovel, in phosphoric rottenness, fell -sparkling on him one pitchy midnight, and he received that injury, -which, excluding activity for no small part of the future, was an added -cause of his prolongation of exile, besides not leaving his faculties -unaffected by the concussion of one of the rafters on his brain. - -But these were some of the incidents not belonging to the beginning -of his career. On the contrary, a sort of humble prosperity attended -him for a time; insomuch that once he was not without hopes of being -able to buy his homeward passage so soon as the war should end. But, -as stubborn fate would have it, being run over one day at Holborn -Bars, and taken into a neighboring bakery, he was there treated with -such kindliness by a Kentish lass, the shop-girl, that in the end -he thought his debt of gratitude could only be repaid by love. In a -word, the money saved up for his ocean voyage was lavished upon a rash -embarkation in wedlock. - -Originally he had fled to the capital to avoid the dilemma of -impressment or imprisonment. In the absence of other motives, the dread -of those hardships would have fixed him there till the peace. But now, -when hostilities were no more, so was his money. Some period elapsed -ere the affairs of the two governments were put on such a footing as -to support an American consul at London. Yet, when this came to pass, -he could only embrace the facilities for a return here furnished, by -deserting a wife and child, wedded and born in the enemy’s land. - -The peace immediately filled England, and more especially London, with -hordes of disbanded soldiers; thousands of whom, rather than starve, -or turn highwaymen (which no few of their comrades did, stopping -coaches at times in the most public streets), would work for such -a pittance as to bring down the wages of all the laboring classes. -Neither was our adventurer the least among the sufferers. Driven out -of his previous employ--a sort of porter in a river-side warehouse--by -this sudden influx of rivals, destitute, honest men like himself, with -the ingenuity of his race, he turned his hand to the village art of -chair-bottoming. An itinerant, he paraded the streets with the cry -of “Old chairs to mend!” furnishing a curious illustration of the -contradictions of human life; that he who did little but trudge, should -be giving cosy seats to all the rest of the world. Meantime, according -to another well-known Malthusian enigma in human affairs, his family -increased. In all, eleven children were born to him in certain sixpenny -garrets in Moorfields. One after the other, ten were buried. - -When chair-bottoming would fail, resort was had to match-making. That -business being overdone in turn, next came the cutting of old rags, -bits of paper, nails, and broken glass. Nor was this the last step. -From the gutter he slid to the sewer. The slope was smooth. In poverty, - - ----“Facilis descensus Averni.” - -But many a poor soldier had sloped down there into the boggy canal of -Avernus before him. Nay, he had three corporals and a sergeant for -company. - -But his lot was relieved by two strange things, presently to appear. -In 1793 war again broke out, the great French war. This lighted London -of some of its superfluous hordes, and lost Israel the subterranean -society of his friends, the corporals and sergeant, with whom wandering -forlorn through the black kingdoms of mud, he used to spin yarns about -sea prisoners in hulks, and listen to stories of the Black Hole of -Calcutta; and often would meet other pairs of poor soldiers, perfect -strangers, at the more public corners and intersections of sewers--the -Charing-Crosses below; one soldier having the other by his remainder -button, earnestly discussing the sad prospects of a rise in bread, or -the tide; while through the grating of the gutters overhead, the rusty -skylights of the realm, came the hoarse rumblings of bakers’ carts, -with splashes of the flood whereby these unsuspected gnomes of the city -lived. - -Encouraged by the exodus of the lost tribes of soldiers, Israel -returned to chair-bottoming. And it was in frequenting Covent-Garden -market, at early morning, for the purchase of his flags, that he -experienced one of the strange alleviations hinted of above. That -chatting with the ruddy, aproned, hucksterwomen, on whose moist cheeks -yet trickled the dew of the dawn on the meadows; that being surrounded -by bales of hay, as the raker by cocks and ricks in the field; those -glimpses of garden produce, the blood-beets, with the damp earth still -tufting the roots; that mere handling of his flags, and bethinking -him of whence they must have come, the green hedges through which the -wagon that brought them had passed; that trudging home with them as a -gleaner with his sheaf of wheat;--all this was inexpressibly grateful. -In want and bitterness, pent in, perforce, between dingy walls, he had -rural returns of his boyhood’s sweeter days among them; and the hardest -stones of his solitary heart (made hard by bare endurance alone) would -feel the stir of tender but quenchless memories, like the grass of -deserted flagging, upsprouting through its closest seams. Sometimes, -when incited by some little incident, however trivial in itself, -thoughts of home would--either by gradually working and working upon -him, or else by an impetuous rush of recollection--overpower him for a -time to a sort of hallucination. - -Thus was it:--One fair half-day in the July of 1800, by good luck, he -was employed, partly out of charity, by one of the keepers, to trim the -sward in an oval enclosure within St. James’ Park, a little green but -a three-minutes’ walk along the gravelled way from the brick-besmoked -and grimy Old Brewery of the palace which gives its ancient name to -the public resort on whose borders it stands. It was a little oval, -fenced in with iron pailings, between whose bars the imprisoned verdure -peered forth, as some wild captive creature of the woods from its cage. -And alien Israel there--at times staring dreamily about him--seemed -like some amazed runaway steer, or trespassing Pequod Indian, impounded -on the shores of Narraganset Bay, long ago; and back to New England -our exile was called in his soul. For still working, and thinking of -home; and thinking of home, and working amid the verdant quietude of -this little oasis, one rapt thought begat another, till at last his -mind settled intensely, and yet half humorously, upon the image of Old -Huckleberry, his mother’s favorite old pillion horse; and, ere long, -hearing a sudden scraping noise (some hob-shoe without, against the -iron pailing), he insanely took it to be Old Huckleberry in his stall, -hailing him (Israel) with his shod fore-foot clattering against the -planks--his customary trick when hungry--and so, down goes Israel’s -hook, and with a tuft of white clover, impulsively snatched, he -hurries away a few paces in obedience to the imaginary summons. But -soon stopping midway, and forlornly gazing round at the enclosure, he -bethought him that a far different oval, the great oval, of the ocean, -must be crossed ere his crazy errand could be done; and even then, -Old Huckleberry would be found long surfeited with clover, since, -doubtless, being dead many a summer, he must be buried beneath it. -And many years after, in a far different part of the town, and in far -less winsome weather too, passing with his bundle of flags through -Red-Cross street, towards Barbican, in a fog so dense that the dimmed -and massed blocks of houses, exaggerated by the loom, seemed shadowy -ranges on ranges of midnight hills, he heard a confused pastoral sort -of sounds--tramplings, lowings, halloos--and was suddenly called to by -a voice to head off certain cattle, bound to Smithfield, bewildered -and unruly in the fog. Next instant he saw the white face--white as -an orange-blossom--of a black-bodied steer, in advance of the drove, -gleaming ghost-like through the vapors; and presently, forgetting his -limp, with rapid shout and gesture, he was more eager, even than the -troubled farmers, their owners, in driving the riotous cattle back -into Barbican. Monomaniac reminiscences were in him--“To the right, to -the right!” he shouted, as, arrived at the street corner, the farmers -beat the drove to the left, towards Smithfield: “To the right! you are -driving them back to the pastures--to the right! that way lies the -barn-yard!” “Barn-yard?” cried a voice; “you are dreaming, old man.” -And so, Israel, now an old man, was bewitched by the mirage of vapors; -he had dreamed himself home into the mists of the Housatonic mountains; -ruddy boy on the upland pastures again. But how different the flat, -apathetic, dead, London fog now seemed from those agile mists which, -goat-like, climbed the purple peaks, or in routed armies of phantoms, -broke down, pell-mell, dispersed in flight upon the plain, leaving the -cattle-boy loftily alone, clear-cut as a balloon against the sky. - -In 1817 he once more endured extremity; this second peace again -drifting its discharged soldiers on London, so that all kinds of labor -were overstocked. Beggars, too, lighted on the walks like locusts. -Timber-toed cripples stilted along, numerous as French peasants in -_sabots_. And, as thirty years before, on all sides, the exile -had heard the supplicatory cry, not addressed to him, “An honorable -scar, your honor, received at Bunker Hill, or Saratoga, or Trenton, -fighting for his most gracious Majesty, King George!” so now, in -presence of the still surviving Israel, our Wandering Jew, the amended -cry was anew taken up, by a succeeding generation of unfortunates, “An -honorable scar, your honor, received at Corunna, or at Waterloo, or at -Trafalgar!” Yet not a few of these petitioners had never been outside -of the London smoke; a sort of crafty aristocracy in their way, who, -without having endangered their own persons much if anything, reaped no -insignificant share both of the glory and profit of the bloody battles -they claimed; while some of the genuine working heroes, too brave -to beg, too cut-up to work, and too poor to live, laid down quietly -in corners and died. And here it may be noted, as a fact nationally -characteristic, that however desperately reduced at times, even to -the sewers, Israel, the American, never sunk below the mud, to actual -beggary. - -Though henceforth elbowed out of many a chance threepenny job by -the added thousands who contended with him against starvation, -nevertheless, somehow he continued to subsist, as those tough old oaks -of the cliffs, which, though hacked at by hail-stones of tempests, and -even wantonly maimed by the passing woodman, still, however cramped -by rival trees and fettered by rocks, succeed, against all odds, in -keeping the vital nerve of the tap-root alive. And even towards the -end, in his dismallest December, our veteran could still at intervals -feel a momentary warmth in his topmost boughs. In his Moorfields’ -garret, over a handful of reignited cinders (which the night before -might have warmed some lord), cinders raked up from the streets, he -would drive away dolor, by talking with his one only surviving, and now -motherless child--the spared Benjamin of his old age--of the far Canaan -beyond the sea; rehearsing to the lad those well-remembered adventures -among New England hills, and painting scenes of nestling happiness and -plenty, in which the lowliest shared. And here, shadowy as it was, was -the second alleviation hinted of above. - -To these tales of the Fortunate Isles of the Free, recounted by one who -had been there, the poor enslaved boy of Moorfields listened, night -after night, as to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. When would his -father take him there? “Some day to come, my boy,” would be the hopeful -response of an unhoping heart. And “Would God it were to-morrow!” would -be the impassioned reply. - -In these talks Israel unconsciously sowed the seeds of his eventual -return. For with added years, the boy felt added longing to escape his -entailed misery, by compassing for his father and himself a voyage to -the Promised Land. By his persevering efforts he succeeded at last, -against every obstacle, in gaining credit in the right quarter to his -extraordinary statements. In short, charitably stretching a technical -point, the American Consul finally saw father and son embarked in the -Thames for Boston. - -It was the year 1826; half a century since Israel, in early manhood, -had sailed a prisoner in the Tartar frigate from the same port to which -he now was bound. An octogenarian as he recrossed the brine, he showed -locks besnowed as its foam. White-haired old Ocean seemed as a brother. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - -REQUIESCAT IN PACE. - - -It happened that the ship, gaining her port, was moored to the dock -on a Fourth of July; and half an hour after landing, hustled by the -riotous crowd near Faneuil Hall, the old man narrowly escaped being run -over by a patriotic triumphal car in the procession, flying a broidered -banner, inscribed with gilt letters: - - “BUNKER-HILL - 1775. - GLORY TO THE HEROES THAT FOUGHT!” - -It was on Copps’ Hill, within the city bounds, one of the enemy’s -positions during the fight, that our wanderer found his best repose -that day. Sitting down here on a mound in the graveyard, he looked -off across Charles River towards the battle-ground, whose incipient -monument, at that period, was hard to see, as a struggling sprig of -corn in a chilly spring. Upon those heights, fifty years before, his -now feeble hands had wielded both ends of the musket. There too he -had received that slit upon the chest, which afterwards, in the affair -with the Serapis, being traversed by a cutlass wound, made him now the -bescarred bearer of a cross. - -For a long time he sat mute, gazing blankly about him. The sultry -July day was waning. His son sought to cheer him a little ere rising -to return to the lodging for the present assigned them by the -ship-captain. “Nay,” replied the old man, “I shall get no fitter rest -than here by the mounds.” - -But from this true “Potter’s Field,” the boy at length drew him away; -and encouraged next morning by a voluntary purse made up among the -reassembled passengers, father and son started by stage for the country -of the Housatonic. But the exile’s presence in these old mountain -townships proved less a return than a resurrection. At first, none knew -him, nor could recall having heard of him. Ere long it was found, that -more than thirty years previous, the last known survivor of his family -in that region, a bachelor, following the example of three-fourths of -his neighbors, had sold out and removed to a distant country in the -west; where exactly, none could say. - -He sought to get a glimpse of his father’s homestead. But it had been -burnt down long ago. Accompanied by his son, dim-eyed and dim-hearted, -he next went to find the site. But the roads had years before been -changed. The old road was now browsed over by sheep; the new one ran -straight through what had formerly been orchards. But new orchards, -planted from other suckers, and in time grafted, throve on sunny -slopes near by, where blackberries had once been picked by the bushel. -At length he came to a field waving with buckwheat. It seemed one of -those fields which himself had often reaped. But it turned out, upon -inquiry, that but three summers since a walnut grove had stood there. -Then he vaguely remembered that his father had sometimes talked of -planting such a grove, to defend the neighboring fields against the -cold north wind; yet where precisely that grove was to have been, his -shattered mind could not recall. But it seemed not unlikely that during -his long exile, the walnut grove had been planted and harvested, as -well as the annual crops preceding and succeeding it, on the very same -soil. - -Ere long, on the mountain side, he passed into an ancient natural -wood, which seemed some way familiar, and midway in it, paused to -contemplate a strange, mouldy pile, resting at one end against a sturdy -beech. Though wherever touched by his staff; however lightly, this pile -would crumble, yet here and there, even in powder, it preserved the -exact look, each irregularly defined line, of what it had originally -been--namely, a half-cord of stout hemlock (one of the woods least -affected by exposure to the air), in a foregoing generation chopped -and stacked up on the spot, against sledging-time, but, as sometimes -happens in such cases, by subsequent oversight, abandoned to oblivious -decay--type now, as it stood there, of forever arrested intentions, and -a long life still rotting in early mishap. - -“Do I dream?” mused the bewildered old man, “or what is this vision -that comes to me of a cold, cloudy morning, long, long ago, and I -heaving yon elbowed log against the beech, then a sapling? Nay, nay, I -cannot be so old.” - -“Come away, father, from this dismal, damp wood,” said his son, and led -him forth. - -Blindly ranging to and fro, they next saw a man ploughing. Advancing -slowly, the wanderer met him by a little heap of ruinous burnt masonry, -like a tumbled chimney, what seemed the jams of the fire-place, -now aridly stuck over here and there, with thin, clinging, round, -prohibitory mosses, like executors’ wafers. Just as the oxen were bid -stand, the stranger’s plough was hitched over sideways, by sudden -contact with some sunken stone at the ruin’s base. - -“There, this is the twentieth year my plough has struck this old -hearthstone. Ah, old man,--sultry day, this.” - -“Whose house stood here, friend?” said the wanderer, touching the -half-buried hearth with his staff, where a fresh furrow overlapped it. - -“Don’t know; forget the name; gone West, though, I believe. You know -’em?” - -But the wanderer made no response; his eye was now fixed on a curious -natural bend or wave in one of the bemossed stone jambs. - -“What are you looking at so, father?” - -“‘_Father!_’ Here,” raking with his staff, “_my_ father would -sit, and here, my mother, and here I, little infant, would totter -between, even as now, once again, on the very same spot, but in the -unroofed air, I do. The ends meet. Plough away, friend.” - -Best followed now is this life, by hurrying, like itself, to a close. - -Few things remain. - -He was repulsed in efforts after a pension by certain caprices of law. -His scars proved his only medals. He dictated a little book, the record -of his fortunes. But long ago it faded out of print--himself out of -being--his name out of memory. He died the same day that the oldest oak -on his native hills was blown down. - - -THE END. - - - - -THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES - - - AE 1 THE NARRATIVE OF COLONEL ETHAN ALLEN. Revolutionary - War experiences of the “Hero of Fort Ticonderoga” and “The Green - Mountain Boys.” Introduction by Brooke Hindle. - - AE 2 JOHN WOOLMAN’S JOURNAL _and_ A PLEA FOR - THE POOR. The spiritual autobiography of the great Colonial - Quaker. Introduction by Frederick B. Tolles. - - AE 3 THE LIFE OF MRS. MARY JEMISON by James E. Seaver. - The famous Indian captivity narrative of the “White Woman of the - Genesee.” Introduction by Allen W. Trelease. - - AE 4 BROOK FARM by Lindsay Swift. America’s most - unusual experiment in establishing the ideal society during the - Transcendentalist 1840’s. Introduction by Joseph Schiffman. - - AE 5 FOUR VOYAGES TO THE NEW WORLD by Christopher - Columbus. Selected letters and documents translated and edited by - R. H. Major. Introduction by John E. Fagg. - - AE 6 JOURNALS OF MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS. Frontier - campaigning during the French and Indian Wars by the - organizer of “Rogers’ Rangers.” Introduction by Howard H. Peckham. - - AE 7 HARRIET TUBMAN, THE MOSES OF HER PEOPLE by Sarah - Bradford. The heroic life of a former slave’s struggle for her - people. Introduction by Butler A. Jones. - - AE 8 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE JERSEY PRISON SHIP by Albert - Greene. The “Andersonville” of the Revolutionary War. Introduction - by Lawrence H. Leder. - - AE 9 A NEW ENGLAND GIRLHOOD by Lucy Larcom. A classic - memoir of life in pre-Civil War America. Introduction by Charles T. - Davis. - - AE 10 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES by William Alfred Hinds. First - hand account of the 19th century utopias--Economy, Amana, Shakers, - etc. Introduction by Henry Bamford Parkes. - - AE 11 INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS OF AMERICAN NATIONAL THOUGHT. - Edited, with commentary, by Wilson Ober Clough. Pages from the - books our Founding Fathers read. Second, revised edition. - - AE 12 LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS by Lewis Henry Morgan. The - first scientific account of an American Indian tribe by the father - of American ethnology. Introduction by William N. Fenton. - - AE 13 MY CAPTIVITY AMONG THE SIOUX INDIANS by Fanny Kelly. - A pioneer woman’s harrowing story of frontier days. Introduction by - Jules Zanger. - - AE 14 JOUTEL’S JOURNAL OF LA SALLE’S LAST VOYAGE. The - Mississippi exploration (1684-7) which ended in La Salle’s murder. - Introduction by Darrett B. Rutman. - - AE 15 THE DISCOVERY, SETTLEMENT AND PRESENT STATE OF - KENTUCKE ... by John Filson. The historic post-Revolutionary - description, which includes Daniel Boone’s memoir. Introduction by - William H. Masterson. - - AE 16 THE LIFE AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. - POTTER. The autobiography of America’s first tragic hero--the - basis for Melville’s famous novel. Introduction by Leonard Kriegel. - - AE 17 EXCURSIONS by Henry David Thoreau. The famous - posthumous collection, including a biography by Ralph Waldo - Emerson. Introduction by Leo Marx. - - AE 18 FATHER HENSON’S STORY OF HIS OWN LIFE. Autobiography - of an escaped Negro slave in pre-Civil War days. Introduction by - Walter Fisher. - -“_One of the most exciting and promising new ventures in the field -of paperback publishing is the American Experience Series now being -brought out by Corinth Books. These new and attractive editions of -historic and relatively neglected titles fill out in a unique way some -of the byways of our country’s past._” - - Robert R. Kirsch in THE LOS ANGELES TIMES - - - - -THE LIFE AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. POTTER - - -“Israel Potter is not merely another good man adrift in a world devoid -of goodness: he is, above all, an American, whose ideals and aims are -derived from that same self-reliant democratic ethos which Whitman and -Emerson were later to celebrate. Hired laborer, farmer, chain bearer, -hunter, trapper, Indian trader, merchant sailor, whaler, soldier, -courier, spy, carpenter, and beggar, through it all, Israel remains the -American, the man who, even in the hardships of exile, insists that all -will be well once he can again walk ‘on American ground.’ - -“This small book did not help Israel Potter achieve his objective: his -quest for a pension proved unsuccessful, and he died soon after, on -‘the same day,’ Melville tells us, ‘that the oldest oak in his native -hills was blown down.’ He took with him whatever was left of his dreams -and pride, an end which, to some extent, all victims share. ‘Kings as -Clowns,’ Melville wrote bitterly, ‘are codgers--who ain’t a nobody?’ It -is a fitting epitaph for all the Israel Potters.” - - from the Introduction by Leonard Kriegel, - The City College of New York - - -_The American Experience Series_ is devoted to publishing new -editions of historic books which mirrored and shaped the growth of our -Nation from earliest times to the present. - -_Consulting Editor_: Henry Bamford Parkes - -=CORINTH BOOKS= _distributed by_ THE CITADEL PRESS - - $1.25 AE 16 - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: - -Spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained as published -in the 1962 source book except as follows: - - Page iv - never as good, as enobling, or as fulfilling _changed to_ - never as good, as ennobling, or as fulfilling - - Page 22 - than raging in his Majesty’s _changed to_ - then raging in his Majesty’s - - Page 59 - surpassed in expresssions _changed to_ - surpassed in expressions - - Page 95 - life was dispaired of _changed to_ - life was despaired of - - Page 99 - his (the Consul.) on his arrival _changed to_ - his (the Consul,) on his arrival - - would to God it was to morrow _changed to_ - would to God it was to-morrow - - AE 6 - campaining during the French _changed to_ - campaigning during the French - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES -OF ISRAEL R. POTTER *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/66684-0.zip b/old/66684-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e7d4986..0000000 --- a/old/66684-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h.zip b/old/66684-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c1003af..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/66684-h.htm b/old/66684-h/66684-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index fa049ec..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/66684-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4134 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter, by Israel R. Potter—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style type="text/css"> - body {margin: 0 10%;} - div.chapter, div.section {page-break-before: always;} - h1, h2 {text-align: center; clear: both; page-break-before: avoid;} - h2 {line-height: 2em;} - h1 span, h2 span {font-size: .8em;} - p {margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;} - em, cite {font-style: italic;} - ins {text-decoration: none;} - - /* General */ - .noi {text-indent: 0em;} - .p140 {font-size: 1.4em;} - .p130 {font-size: 1.3em;} - .p120 {font-size: 1.2em;} - .p8 {font-size: .8em;} - .center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;} - .right, .right2, .right4, .right14 {text-align: right;} - .right2 {padding-right: 2em;} - .right4 {padding-right: 4em;} - .right14 {padding-right: 14em;} - .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - .allsmcap {font-size: .7em;} - .italic {font-style: italic;} - .mt3 {margin-top: 3em;} - .mt2 {margin-top: 2em;} - .mb0 {margin-bottom: 0em;} - .mt0 {margin-top: 0em;} - .lh {line-height: 2em;} - .antiqua {font-family: "Old English Text MT", "Engravers Old English BT", - "Old English", "Collins Old English", "New Old English", - serif;} - .sans {font-family: sans-serif;} - .hang {margin-left: 0em; text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;} - - /* Drop caps */ - .dropcap {float: left; font-weight: normal; font-size: 3em; - padding: 0 .06em 0 0; line-height: .85em; height: 0.85em;} - - /* Notes */ - .tn {width: 80%; margin: 2em 12% 2em 8%; background: #dcdcdc; padding: 1em;} - .tn li {padding-bottom: 1em;} - - /* Horizontal rules */ - hr {border-color: silver;} - hr.divider {width: 65%; margin: 4em 17.5%;} - hr.divider2 {width: 40%; margin: 4em 30%;} - hr.tiny {width: 10%; margin: 0 45% 0 45%;} - hr.tb {width: 8em; border-style: none;} - - /* Page numbers */ - .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 2%; text-indent: 0em; - text-align: right; font-size: x-small; - font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; - letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; - color: #999; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid; - background-color: inherit; padding: .01em .4em;} - - /* Images */ - .figcenter {margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; page-break-inside: avoid; max-width: 100%;} - img {max-width: 100%; height: auto;} - .width500 {max-width: 500px;} - .width400 {max-width: 400px;} - .caption {text-indent: 0em; text-align: center; - max-width: 30em; page-break-before: avoid;} - - /* Table */ - table {margin: auto; border-collapse: collapse;} - td {padding-bottom: .5em;} - .tdl1, .tdl2 {vertical-align: top; text-align: left;} - .tdl1, .tdl2 {padding-left: 1em} - .tdl3 {text-indent: 1em;} - - @media print { - hr.divider, hr.divider2 {border-width: 0; margin: 0;} - a:link, a:visited, a:hover, a:active {text-decoration: none; color: inherit;} - } - - /* ebookmaker */ - body.x-ebookmaker {margin: .5em; padding: 0; width: 98%;} - .x-ebookmaker p {margin-top: .1em; margin-bottom: .1em;} - .x-ebookmaker table {width: 98%;} - .x-ebookmaker img {width: 80%;} - .x-ebookmaker .width500 {width: 31em;} - .x-ebookmaker .width400 {width: 24em;} - /*.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;}*/ - x-ebookmaker-drop, .x-ebookmaker-drop {} - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter, by Israel R. Potter</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Authors: Israel R. Potter</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em;'>Herman Melville</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Commentator: Leonard Kriegel</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 7, 2021 [eBook #66684]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Steve Mattern and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. POTTER ***</div> - -<hr class="divider" /> -<h1><span>The Life and Remarkable Adventures of</span><br /> -ISRAEL R. POTTER</h1> -<hr class="divider2" /> - -<div class="x-ebookmaker-drop figcenter width500" id="cover2"> - <img src="images/cover2.jpg" width="500" height="842" alt="Cover" /> -</div> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> -<p class="center p140 lh">The Life and Remarkable Adventures of<br /> -<span class="p140">ISRAEL R. POTTER</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter width500" id="i005_orig_frontis2-1"> - <img src="images/i005_orig_frontis2.jpg" width="500" height="714" alt="Original frontispiece" /> -</div> - -<p class="center p120 italic">The autobiography of America’s first tragic -hero—<br />the basis of Herman Melville’s famous novel</p> - -<p class="center p120 italic">Introduction by Leonard Kriegel</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400" id="colophon1"> - <img src="images/colophon.jpg" width="400" height="110" alt="Colophon: The American Experience Series" /> -</div> - -<p class="center">CORINTH AE 16     $1.25</p> - - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> -<p class="right">LIFE AND REMARKABLE<br /> -ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. POTTER</p> - -<p class="noi">“Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a -little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray -paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably not by himself, -but taken down from his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks of -the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out of -print.”</p> - -<p>So Herman Melville, on June 17th, 1854, described this original -volume in the Dedication (<span class="italic">To His Highness, -The Bunker Hill Monument</span>) of his fictionalized version -of Potter’s autobiography.</p> - -<p>The present edition is a faithful republication of Potter’s own story, -reset from the Henry Trumbull printing in 1824. The reproduction of the -original title page and frontispiece illustration are from a copy in -the New York Public Library and used with their kind permission. Also -reproduced is the title page and frontispiece illustration of the J. -Howard printing in the same year.</p> - -<p>In an Appendix, the final chapters of Herman Melville’s <cite>Israel -Potter</cite> have been reproduced from the 1855 first edition printing.</p> - - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> -<p class="center p140 lh">LIFE<br /> -<small>and</small><br /> -REMARKABLE ADVENTURES<br /> -<small>of</small><br /> -<span class="p140">ISRAEL R. POTTER</span></p> - -<p class="center p120 mt3 italic">Introduction by Leonard Kriegel</p> - -<div class="figcenter width400" id="colophon2"> - <img src="images/colophon.jpg" width="400" height="110" alt="Colophon: The American Experience Series" /> -</div> - -<p class="center">CONSULTING EDITOR: HENRY BAMFORD PARKES</p> - -<p class="center lh">CORINTH BOOKS<br /> -NEW YORK</p> - - - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="allsmcap">LEONARD KRIEGEL</span> is an -Instructor of English at The -City College of New York. He has edited a book on the -political philosophy of the Founding Fathers which is soon -to be published and has written a number of stories and -articles.</p> - -<p class="center">Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 62-10046</p> - -<p class="center mt3">Copyright © 1962 Corinth Books, Inc.</p> - -<p class="center mt2">THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES</p> - -<p class="center mt2">Published by Corinth Books Inc.<br /> -32 West Eighth Street, New York 11, N. Y.</p> - -<p class="center mt2">Distributed by The Citadel Press<br /> -222 Park Avenue South, New York 3, N. Y.</p> - -<p class="center mt3 italic">Printed in the U.S.A.</p> - -<hr class="tiny" /> - -<p class="center smcap">Noble Offset Printers, Inc.<br /> -New York 3, N. Y.</p> - - - - - -<div class="section"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>v</span> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<h2 id="introduction">INTRODUCTION</h2> - -<p><cite>The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter</cite> has been -read, when it has been read at all, in the same way as college -sophomores studying Shakespeare read <cite>Plutarch’s Lives</cite>, not -for the moral homilies of a great biographer but rather as notes for -the study of <cite>Julius Caesar</cite> or <cite>Antony and Cleopatra</cite>. In -the case of Israel Potter’s <em>Life</em>, however, such an approach -can at least be partially justified, since its primary significance -remains as a source for Herman Melville’s “Revolutionary narrative -of a beggar.” That Melville was unable to mold the source to fit his -artistic conception becomes readily apparent when we read these memoirs -for ourselves and then turn to his novel. Only after making such a -comparison does one realize the truth of F. O. Matthiessen’s assertion -that for Melville, by the time he wrote <cite>Israel Potter</cite>, tragedy -“had become so real that it could not be written.” But despite his -artistic failure, Melville’s choice of subject remains interesting, -both for what it tells us about Melville’s deepening sense of despair -and for what it tells us about individualism and democracy. For in -these ghostwritten memoirs, a pensioner’s plea to the government -by “one of the few survivors who fought and bled for American -Independence,” Melville caught a striking reflection of his own state -of mind. The real Israel Potter, like Melville’s “Revolutionary -beggar,” was another name added to the long list of the world’s -victims. And it is as a victim that this “plebian Lear” speaks to us, -too.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>vi</span> -Not only is Israel a victim, he is—and for Melville’s purposes this -was most significant—an American victim. It is this quality, this -peculiarly “frontier” attempt to reconcile the promise of life with the -actualities of existence, that stamps the real Israel Potter. Somehow, -for the American, life is never as good, as -<a id="ennobling"></a><ins title="Original has 'enobling'">ennobling</ins>, -or as fulfilling -as he feels it was meant to be. For against his dream of selfhood -the American is forced to measure the accidental evil of existence -itself. It was as such a gauge that Melville attempted to make use of -this short <em>Life</em> of an insignificant “native of Cranston, Rhode -Island.” Despite his artistic failure, his instinct was undoubtedly -sound. For Israel Potter is not merely another good man adrift in a -world devoid of goodness: he is, above all, an American, whose ideals -and aims are derived from that same self-reliant democratic ethos which -Whitman and Emerson were later to celebrate. Hired laborer, farmer, -chain bearer, hunter, trapper, Indian trader, merchant sailor, whaler, -soldier, courier, spy, carpenter, and beggar, through it all, Israel -remains the American, the man who, even in the hardships of exile, -insists that all will be well once he can again walk “on American -ground.”</p> - -<p>As it proved to be with so many of his countrymen, success was Israel’s -failure. He returned, in May, 1823, after an absence of 48 years, to an -America that was already far different from the country he remembered -leaving at the age of 31. He had grown older and now he looked back; -America, too, had grown older, but now it looked forward. Israel had -come home to die; America was far too busy in the conquest of itself -to give death anything more than the platitudinous comfort of words. -Israel petitioned the government for a pension; but the government was -now stable, a government of laws and not -of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>vii</span> men, and so his petition -was rejected. After his long exile Israel had come to understand that -there were boundaries to any existence; American optimism made even the -recognition of such boundaries an impossibility.</p> - -<p>Melville, to his credit, saw all of this. That he was not able to -integrate such insights into the novel that evolved from these memoirs -is not overly important; one year after the publication of <cite>Israel -Potter</cite>, he quit work on his uncompleted philosophical novel, <cite>The -Confidence Man</cite>, which, despite its manifold faults, must be read -as a savage indictment of the shallow humanitarianism against which -the real Israel Potter proved to be so helpless. It was in this novel -that Melville provided his nihilistic answer to the fragile, confused -optimism with which Israel attempted to confront living.</p> - -<p>The differences between what Melville saw in Israel’s life and -what Israel himself saw are interesting enough: for Melville, who -saw the truth so intensely that he found himself unable to commit -his perceptions to paper, Israel’s life was further proof of man’s -insignificance in a universe whose order remains completely beyond -his comprehension; but Israel, who is neither what Madison Avenue or -Socrates calls a “thinking man,” constantly confuses the <em>what is</em> -of life with the <em>what ought to be</em>. One sees the limitations of -Israel’s perception in his attitude towards Benjamin Franklin; Israel -praises Franklin as “that great and good man,” the living embodiment -of all that the American dream promises. For Melville, on the other -hand, Franklin is not the embodiment but the decay of that dream, the -sophisticated but soulless statesman who is damned as “everything -but a poet.” The real Israel dismisses Franklin in two pages, but -Melville cannot dismiss him for six chapters. “It’s wisdom that’s -cheap, and it’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>viii</span> fortune that’s dear,” Melville has his Israel say -as he disgustedly slams down a copy of <cite>Poor Richard</cite>. But the -real Israel was a believer in wisdom; wisdom, along with goodness and -self-reliance and Christianity, was the way to fortune. And it is -because of this lack of perception that his own story is a far truer -portrayal of the mystique of victimization than is Melville’s novel. -Israel consistently does the admirable thing at the right time, only to -see himself mocked by circumstance or fate or whatever label we choose -to give to the quiet terror that life so frequently breeds.</p> - -<p>Perhaps it was also his limited perception that enabled Israel to -devote almost half these memoirs to his years of exile; he records his -sufferings in detail, a record that was so painful to Melville that he -could do no more than hurriedly outline it in a few short, concluding -chapters. One can scarcely see what other choice Melville could have -made—such intense and unalleviated suffering can easily make of its -victim a mock-epic buffoon. In his own story, Israel manages to avoid -this fate, but only because he does not fully understand what is -happening to him. Melville saw the truth; because it was so painful, -however, he found himself unable to write it.</p> - -<p><cite>The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter</cite> was -published in Providence in 1824, one year after Israel “succeeded in -the (79th year of his age) in obtaining a passage to his native country -after an absence of 48 years.” This small book, written and published -by Henry Trumbull, a Providence, Rhode Island printer, did not help him -achieve his objective: his quest for a pension proved unsuccessful, -and he died soon after, on “the same day,” Melville tells us, “that -the oldest oak in his native hills was blown down.” He took with him -whatever was left<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>ix</span> of his dream and his pride, an end which, to some -extent, all victims share. “Kings as clowns,” Melville wrote bitterly, -“are codgers—who ain’t a nobody?” It is a fitting epitaph for all the -Israel Potters.</p> - -<p class="right4 mb0"><span class="smcap">Leonard Kriegel</span></p> -<p class="right2 mt0 mb0 italic">The City College of New York</p> - - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> - -<div class="figcenter width500" id="i003_orig_frontis1"> - <img src="images/i003_orig_frontis1.jpg" width="500" height="802" alt="Original frontispiece" /> - <div class="caption">“<em>OLD CHAIRS TO MEND</em>”<br /> - ISRAEL R. POTTER,<br /> - Born in Cranston (Rhode Island) August 1st, 1744. - </div> -</div> - - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter width500" id="i004_orig_title1"> - <img src="images/i004_orig_title1.jpg" width="500" height="761" alt="Original title page" /> -</div> - -<p class="center">LIFE<br /> -AND<br /> -REMARKABLE ADVENTURES<br /> -OF<br /> -ISRAEL R. POTTER,<br /> -(A NATIVE OF CRANSTON, RHODE-ISLAND,)<br /> -WHO WAS A SOLDIER IN THE<br /> -AMERICAN REVOLUTION,</p> - -<p class="hang">And took a distinguished part in the Battle of Bunker Hill (in -which he received three wounds,) after which he was taken Prisoner -by the British, conveyed to England, where for 30 years he obtained -a livelihood for himself and family, by crying “<em>Old Chairs to -Mend</em>,” through the Streets of London.—In May last, by the -assistance of the American Consul, he succeeded (in the 79th year -of his age) in obtaining a passage to his native country, after an -absence of 48 years.</p> - -<hr class="tiny" /> - -<p class="center">PROVIDENCE:<br /> -Printed by J. Howard, for I. R. Potter—1824.<br /> -(Price 31 Cents.)</p> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter width500" id="i005_orig_frontis2-2"> - <img src="images/i005_orig_frontis2.jpg" width="500" height="714" alt="Original frontispiece version 2" /> - <div class="caption">“<em>OLD CHAIRS TO MEND</em>”<br /> - ISRAEL R. POTTER<br /> - <span class="italic">Born in Cranston R.I. August 1<sup>st.</sup> 1744.</span> - </div> -</div> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter width500" id="i006_orig_title2"> - <img src="images/i006_orig_title2.jpg" width="500" height="769" alt="Original title page version 2" /> -</div> - -<p class="center">LIFE<br /> -AND<br /> -REMARKABLE ADVENTURES<br /> -OF<br /> -ISRAEL R. POTTER,<br /> -(A NATIVE OF CRANSTON, RHODE-ISLAND.)<br /> -WHO WAS A SOLDIER IN THE<br /> -AMERICAN REVOLUTION,</p> - -<p class="hang">And took a distinguished part in the Battle of Bunker Hill (in -which he received three wounds,) after which he was taken Prisoner -by the British, conveyed to England, where for 30 years he obtained -a livelihood for himself and family, by crying “<em>Old Chairs to -Mend</em>” through the Streets of London.—In May last, by the -assistance of the American Consul, he succeeded (in the 79th year -of his age) in obtaining a passage to his native country, after an -absence of 48 years.</p> - -<hr class="tiny" /> - -<p class="center">PROVIDENCE:<br /> -Printed by Henry Trumbull—1824.<br /> -(Price 28 Cents.)</p> - - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> -<h2 id="preface">PREFACE.</h2> - -<hr class="tiny" /> - -<p>IN the foregoing pages we have attempted a simple narrative of the life -and extraordinary adventures of one of the few survivors who fought -and bled for American Independence. There is not probably another -now living who took an equally active part in the Revolutionary war, -whose life has been marked with more extraordinary events, and who has -drank deeper of the cup of adversity, than the aged veteran with whose -History we now beg liberty to present the American public. Doomed by -the fate of War to be early separated from kindred and friends, and to -be conveyed by a foreign foe a prisoner of war from his native land, -to a far distant country, where after having for 48 years experienced -almost every hardship and deprivation of which adverse fortune is -productive, providence appears at length to have so far interfered -in his behalf, as to provide means whereby he has been enabled at an -advanced age once more to visit and inhale the pure air of his native -land. At the age of Seventy-Nine, an age in which it cannot be expected -that the lamp of human life can long remain unextinguished, he has -arrived among us, in a state of penury and want, to seek in common with -his countrymen the enjoyment of a few of the blessings produced by -American valour, in her memorable conflict with the mother country and -in which he took a distinguished part.</p> - -<p>As it yet remains doubtful whether (in consequence of his long absence) -he will be so fortunate as to be included in that number to whom -Government has granted pensions for their Revolutionary services, it is -to obtain if possible a humble pittance as a remuneration, in part, for -the unprecedented privations and sufferings of which he has been the -unfortunate subject, that he is now induced to present the public with -the following concise and simple narration of the most extraordinary -incidents of his life.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>5</span> -</div> - -<h2 id="lifeandadventures">LIFE <span>AND</span> ADVENTURES<br /> -<span>OF</span><br /> -ISRAEL R. POTTER,</h2> - -<hr class="tiny" /> - -<p>I WAS born of reputable parents in the town of Cranston, State of Rhode -Island, August 1st, 1744.—I continued with my parents there in the -full enjoyment of parental affection and indulgence, until I arrived at -the age of 18, when, having formed an acquaintance with the daughter -of a Mr. Richard Gardner, a near neighbour, for whom (in the opinion -of my friends) entertaining too great a degree of partiality, I was -reprimanded and threatened by them with more severe punishment, if my -visits were not discontinued. Disappointed in my intentions of forming -an union (when of suitable age) with one whom I really loved, I deemed -the conduct of my parents in this respect unreasonable and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>6</span> oppressive, -and formed the determination to leave them, for the purpose of seeking -another home and other friends.</p> - -<p>It was on Sunday, while the family were at meeting, that I packed up -as many articles of my cloathing as could be contained in a pocket -handkerchief, which, with a small quantity of provision, I conveyed to -and secreted in a piece of woods in the rear of my father’s house; I -then returned and continued in the house until about 9 in the evening, -when with the pretence of retiring to bed, I passed into a back room -and from thence out of a back door and hastened to the spot where I -had deposited my cloathes, &c.—it was a warm summer’s night, and that -I might be enabled to travel with the more facility the succeeding -day, I lay down at the foot of a tree and reposed myself until about -4 in the morning when I arose and commenced my journey, travelling -westward, with an intention of reaching if possible the new countries, -which I had heard highly spoken of as affording excellent prospects -for industrious and enterprising young men—to evade the pursuit of my -friends, by whom I knew I should be early missed and diligently sought -for, I confined my travel to the woods and shunned the public roads, -until I had reached the distance of about 12 miles from my father’s -house.</p> - -<p>At noon the succeeding day I reached Hartford, in Connecticut, and -applied to a farmer in that town for work, and for whom I agreed to -labour for one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>7</span> month for the sum of six dollars. Having completed -my month’s work to the satisfaction of my employer, I received my -money and started from Hartford for Otter Creek; but, when I reached -Springfield, I met with a man bound to the Cahos country, and who -offered me four dollars to accompany him, of which offer I accepted, -and the next morning we left Springfield and in a canoe ascended -Connecticut river, and in about two weeks after much hard labour in -paddling and poling the boat against the current, we reached Lebanon -(N. H.), the place of our destination. It was with some difficulty and -not until I had procured a writ, by the assistance of a respectable -innkeeper in Lebanon, by the name of Hill, that I obtained from my last -employer the four dollars which he had agreed to pay me for my services.</p> - -<p>From Lebanon I crossed the river to New-Hartford (then N. Y.) where -I bargained with a Mr. Brink of that town for 200 acres of new land, -lying in New Hampshire, and for which I was to labour for him four -months. As this may appear to some a small consideration for so great -a number of acres of land, it may be well here to acquaint the reader -with the situation of the country in that quarter, at that early -period of its settlement—which was an almost impenetrable wilderness, -containing but few civilized inhabitants, far distantly situated from -each other and from any considerable settlement; and whose temporary -habitations with a few exceptions were constructed of logs in their -natural state—the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>8</span> woods abounded with wild beasts of almost every -description peculiar to this country, nor were the few inhabitants at -that time free from serious apprehension of being at some unguarded -moment suddenly attacked and destroyed, or conveyed into captivity by -the savages, who from the commencement of the French war, had improved -every favourable opportunity to cut off the defenceless inhabitants of -the frontier towns.</p> - -<p>After the expiration of my four months labour the person who had -promised me a deed of 200 acres of land therefor, having refused to -fulfill his engagements, I was obliged to engage with a party of his -Majesty’s Surveyors at fifteen shillings per month, as an assistant -chain bearer, to survey the wild unsettled lands bordering on the -Connecticut river, to its source. It was in the winter season, and the -snow so deep that it was impossible to travel without snow shoes—at -the close of each day we enkindled a fire, cooked our victuals and -erected with the branches of hemlock a temporary hut, which served -us for a shelter for the night. The Surveyors having completed -their business returned to Lebanon, after an absence of about two -months. Receiving my wages I purchased a fowling-piece and ammunition -therewith, and for the four succeeding months devoted my time in -hunting Deer, Beavers, &c. in which I was very successful, as in the -four months I obtained as many skins of these animals as produced -me forty dollars—with my money I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>9</span> purchased of a Mr. John Marsh, -100 acres of new land, lying on Water Quechy River (so called) about -five miles from Hartford (N. Y.). On this land I went immediately to -work, erected a small log hut thereon, and in two summers without any -assistance, cleared up thirty acres fit for sowing—in the winter -seasons I employed my time in hunting and entraping such animals -whose hides and furs were esteemed of the most value. I remained in -possession of my land two years, and then disposed of it to the same -person of whom I purchased it, at the advanced price of 200 dollars, -and then conveyed my skins and furs which I had collected the two -preceding winters, to NO. 4 (now Charlestown), where I exchanged -them for Indian blankets, wampeag and such other articles as I could -conveniently convey on a hand sled, and with which I started for -Canada, to barter with the Indians for furs.—This proved a very -profitable trip, as I very soon disposed of every article at an advance -of more than two hundred per cent, and received payment in furs at a -reduced price, and for which I received in NO. 4, 200 dollars, cash. -With this money, together with what I was before in possession of, I -now set out for home, once more to visit my parents after an absence -of two years and nine months, in which time my friends had not been -enabled to receive any correct information of me. On my arrival, so -greatly effected were my parents at the presence of a son whom they -had considered dead, that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>10</span> it was sometime before either could become -sufficiently composed to listen to or to request me to furnish them -with an account of my travels.</p> - -<p>Soon after my return, as some atonement for the anxiety which I had -caused my parents, I presented them with most of the money that I had -earned in my absence, and formed the determination that I would remain -with them contented at home, in consequence of a conclusion from the -welcome reception that I met with, that they had repented of their -opposition, and had become reconciled to my intended union—but, in -this, I soon found that I was mistaken; for, although overjoyed to see -me alive, whom they had supposed really dead, no sooner did they find -that my long absence had rather increased than diminished my attachment -for their neighbor’s daughter, than their resentment and opposition -appeared to increase in proportion—in consequence of which I formed -the determination again to quit them, and try my fortune at sea, as I -had now arrived at an age in which I had an unquestionable right to -think and act for myself.</p> - -<p>After remaining at home one month, I applied for and procured a -birth at Providence, on board the Sloop ——, Capt. Fuller, bound to -Grenada—having completed her loading (which consisted of stone lime, -hoops, staves, &c.) we set sail with a favourable wind, and nothing -worthy of note occurred until the 15th day from that on which we left -Providence, when the sloop was discovered to be on fire, by a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>11</span> smoke -issuing from her hold—the hatches were immediately raised, but as it -was discovered that the fire was caused by water communicating with -the lime, it was deemed useless to make any attempts to extinguish -it—orders were immediately thereupon given by the captain to hoist out -the long boat, which was found in such a leaky condition as to require -constant bailing to keep her afloat; we had only time to put on board -a small quantity of bread, a firkin of butter and a ten gallon keg of -water, when we embarked, eight in number, to trust ourselves to the -mercy of the waves, in a leaky boat and many leagues from land. As -our provision was but small in quantity, and it being uncertain how -long we might remain in our perilous situation, it was proposed by the -captain soon after leaving the sloop, that we should put ourselves on -an allowance of one biscuit and half a pint of water per day, for each -man, which was readily agreed to by all on board—in ten minutes after -leaving the sloop she was in a complete blaze, and presented an awful -spectacle. With a piece of the flying-jib, which had been fortunately -thrown into the boat, we made shift to erect a sail, and proceeded in -a south-west direction in hopes to reach the spanish maine, if not -so fortunate as to fall in with some vessel in our course—which, by -the interposition of kind providence in our favour, actually took -place the second day after leaving the sloop—we were discovered and -picked up by a Dutch ship bound from Eustatia<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>12</span> to Holland, and from -the captain and crew met with a humane reception, and were supplied -with every necessary that the ship afforded—we continued on board -one week when we fell in with an American sloop bound from Piscataqua -to Antigua, which received us all on board and conveyed us in safety -to the port of her destination. At Antigua I got a birth on board an -American brig bound to Porto Rico, and from thence to Eustatia. At -Eustatia I received my discharge and entered on board a Ship belonging -to Nantucket, and bound on a whaling voyage, which proved an uncommonly -short and successful one—we returned to Nantucket full of oil after -an absence of the ship from that port of only 16 months. After my -discharge I continued about one month on the island, and then took -passage for Providence, and from thence went to Cranston, once more to -visit my friends, with whom I continued three weeks, and then returned -to Nantucket. From Nantucket I made another whaling voyage to the South -Seas and after an absence of three years, (in which time I experienced -almost all the hardships and deprivations peculiar to Whalemen in long -voyages) I succeeded by the blessings of providence in reaching once -more my native home, perfectly sick of the sea, and willing to return -to the bush and exchange a mariner’s life for one less hazardous and -fatiguing.</p> - -<p>I remained with my friends at Cranston a few weeks, and then hired -myself to a Mr. James Waterman,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>13</span> of Coventry, for 12 months, to work at -farming. This was in the year 1774, and I continued with him about six -months, when the difficulties which had for some time prevailed between -the Americans and Britons, had now arrived at that crisis, as to render -it certain that hostilities would soon commence in good earnest between -the two nations; in consequence of which, the Americans at this period -began to prepare themselves for the event—companies were formed in -several of the towns in New England, who received the appellation of -“minute men,” and who were to hold themselves in readiness to obey the -first summons of their officers, to march at a moment’s notice;—a -company of this kind was formed in Coventry, into which I enlisted, and -to the command of which Edmund Johnson, of said Coventry, was appointed.</p> - -<p>It was on a Sabbath morning that news was received of the destruction -of the provincial stores at Concord, and of the massacre of our -countrymen at Lexington, by a detached party of the British troops -from Boston: and I immediately thereupon received a summons from the -captain, to be prepared to march with the company early the morning -ensuing—and, although I felt not less willing to obey the call of -my country at a minute’s notice, and to face her foes, than did the -gallant Putnam, yet, the nature of the summons did not render it -necessary for me, like him, to quit my plough in the field; as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>14</span> having -the day previous commenced the ploughing of a field of ten or twelve -acres, that I might not leave my work half done, I improved the sabbath -to complete it.</p> - -<p>By the break of day Monday morning I swung my knapsack, shouldered -my musket, and with the company commenced my march with a quick step -for Charlestown, where we arrived about sunset and remained encamped -in the vicinity until about noon of the 16th June; when, having been -previously joined by the remainder of the regiment from Rhode Island, -to which our company was attached, we received orders to proceed and -join a detachment of about 1000 American troops, which had that morning -taken possession of Bunker Hill, and which we had orders immediately -to fortify, in the best manner that circumstances would admit of. We -laboured all night without cessation and with very little refreshment, -and by the dawn of day succeeded in throwing up a redoubt of eight -or nine rods square. As soon as our works were discovered by the -British in the morning, they commenced a heavy fire upon us, which -was supported by a fort on Copp’s hill; we however (under the command -of the intrepid Putnam) continued to labour like beavers until our -breast-work was completed.</p> - -<p>About noon, a number of the enemy’s boats and barges, filled with -troops, landed at Charlestown, and commenced a deliberate march to -attack us—we were now harangued by Gen. Putnam, who reminded<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>15</span> us, that -exhausted as we were, by our incessant labour through the preceding -night, the most important part of our duty was yet to be performed, -and that much would be expected from so great a number of excellent -marksmen—he charged us to be cool, and to reserve our fire until the -enemy approached so near as to enable us to see the white of their -eyes—when within about ten rods of our works we gave them the contents -of our muskets, and which were aimed with so good effect, as soon to -cause them to turn their backs and to retreat with a much quicker step -than with what they approached us. We were now again harangued by “old -General Put,” as he was termed, and requested by him to aim at the -officers, should the enemy renew the attack—which they did in a few -moments, with a reinforcement—their approach was with a slow step, -which gave us an excellent opportunity to obey the commands of our -General in bringing down their officers. I feel but little disposed -to boast of my own performances on this occasion, and will only say, -that after devoting so many months in hunting the wild animals of the -wilderness, while an inhabitant of New Hampshire, the reader will not -suppose me a bad or unexperienced marksman, and that such were the fare -shots which the epauletted red coats presented in the two attacks, -that every shot which they received from me, I am confident on another -occasion would have produced me a deer skin.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>16</span> -So warm was the reception that the enemy met with in their second -attack, that they again found it necessary to retreat, but soon after -receiving a fresh reinforcement, a third assault was made, in which, -in consequence of our ammunition failing, they too well succeeded—a -close and bloody engagement now ensued—to fight our way through a -very considerable body of the enemy, with clubbed muskets (for there -were not one in twenty of us provided with bayonets) were now the only -means left us to escape;—the conflict, which was a sharp and severe -one, is still fresh in my memory, and cannot be forgotten by me while -the scars of the wounds which I then received, remain to remind me of -it!—fortunately for me, at this critical moment, I was armed with a -cutlass, which although without an edge, and much rust-eaten, I found -of infinite more service to me than my musket—in one instance I am -certain it was the means of saving my life—a blow with a cutlass was -aimed at my head by a British officer, which I parried and received -only a slight cut with the point on my right arm near the elbow, which -I was then unconscious of, but this slight wound cost my antagonist at -the moment a much more serious one, which effectually dis-<em>armed</em> -him, for with one well directed stroke I deprived him of the power of -very soon again measuring swords with a “yankee rebel!” We finally -however should have been mostly cut off, and compelled to yield to a -superiour and better equipped force, had not a body of three or four -hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>17</span> Connecticut men formed a temporary breast work, with rails &c. -and by which means held the enemy at bay until our main body had time -to ascend the heights, and retreat across the neck;—in this retreat I -was less fortunate than many of my comrades—I received two musket ball -wounds, one in my hip and the other near the ankle of my left leg—I -succeeded however without any assistance in reaching Prospect Hill, -where the main body of the Americans had made a stand and commenced -fortifying—from thence I was soon after conveyed to the Hospital -in Cambridge, where my wounds were dressed and the bullet extracted -from my hip by one of the Surgeons; the house was nearly filled with -the poor fellows who like myself had received wounds in the late -engagement, and presented a melancholly spectacle.</p> - -<p>Bunker Hill fight proved a sore thing for the British, and will I doubt -not be long remembered by them; while in London I heard it frequently -spoken of by many who had taken an active part therein, some of whom -were pensioners, and bore indelible proofs of American bravery—by -them the Yankees, by whom they were opposed, were not unfrequently -represented as a set of infuriated beings, whom nothing could daunt -or intimidate: and who, after their ammunition failed, disputed the -ground, inch by inch, for a full hour with clubbed muskets, rusty -swords, pitchforks and billets of wood, against the British bayonets.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>18</span> -I suffered much pain from the wound which I received in my ankle, the -bone was badly fractured and several pieces were extracted by the -surgeon, and it was six weeks before I was sufficiently recovered to -be able to join my Regiment quartered on Prospect Hill, where they had -thrown up entrenchments within the distance of little more than a mile -of the enemy’s camp, which was full in view, they having entrenched -themselves on Bunker Hill after the engagement.</p> - -<p>On the 3d July, to the great satisfaction of the Americans, General -<span class="smcap">Washington</span> arrived from the south to take command—I was -then confined in the Hospital, but as far as my observations could -extend, he met with a joyful reception, and his arrival was welcomed by -every one throughout the camp—the troops had been long waiting with -impatience for his arrival as being nearly destitute of ammunition and -the British receiving reinforcements daily, their prospects began to -wear a gloomy aspect.</p> - -<p>The British quartered in Boston began soon to suffer much from the -scarcity of provisions, and General Washington took every precaution -to prevent their gaining a supply—from the country all supplies could -be easily cut off, and to prevent their receiving any from Tories, and -other disaffected persons by water, the General found it necessary to -equip two or three armed vessels to intercept them—among these was the -brigantine Washington of 10 guns, commanded by Capt. Martindale,—as -seamen at this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>19</span> time could not easily be obtained, as most of them -had enlisted in the land service, permission was given to any of the -soldiers who should be pleased to accept of the offer, to man these -vessels—consequently myself with several others of the same regiment -went on board of the Washington, then lying at Plymouth, and in -complete order for a cruise.</p> - -<p>We set sail about the 8th December, but had been out but three days -when we were captured by the enemy’s ship Foy, of 20 guns, who took us -all out and put a prize crew on board the Washington—the Foy proceeded -with us immediately to Boston bay where we were put on board the -British frigate Tartar and orders given to convey us to England.—When -two or three days out I projected a scheme (with the assistance of my -fellow prisoners, 72 in number) to take the ship, in which we should -undoubtedly have succeeded, as we had a number of resolute fellows on -board, had it not been for the treachery of a renegade Englishman, who -betrayed us—as I was pointed out by this fellow as the principal in -the plot, I was ordered in irons by the Officers of the Tartar, and in -which situation I remained until the arrival of the ship at Portsmouth -(Eng.) when I was brought on deck and closely examined, but protesting -my innocence, and what was very fortunate for me in the course of the -examination, the person by whom I had been betrayed, having been proved -a British deserter, his story was discredited and I was relieved of my -irons.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>20</span> -The prisoners were now all thoroughly cleansed and conveyed to the -marine hospital on shore, where many of us took the small-pox the -natural way, by some whom we found in the hospital effected with that -disease, and which proved fatal to nearly one half our number. From the -hospital those of us who survived were conveyed to Spithead, and put -on board a Guard Ship, and where I had been confined with my fellow -prisoners about one month, when I was ordered into the boat, to assist -the bargemen (in consequence of the absence of one of their gang) in -rowing the lieutenant on shore. As soon as we reached the shore and the -officer landed, it was proposed by some of the boat’s crew to resort -for a few moments to an ale-house, in the vicinity, to treat themselves -to a few pots of beer; which being agreed to by all, I thought this -a favourable opportunity and the only one that might present to -escape from my Floating Prison, and felt determined not to let it -pass unimproved; accordingly, as the boat’s crew were about to enter -the house, I expressed a necessity of my separating from them a few -moments, to which they (not suspecting any design), readily assented. -As soon as I saw them all snugly in and the door closed, I gave speed -to my legs, and ran, as I then concluded, about four miles without once -halting—I steered my course toward London as when there by mingling -with the crowd, I thought it probable that I should be least suspected.</p> - -<p>When I had reached the distance of about ten<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>21</span> miles from where I -quit the bargemen and beginning to think myself in little danger of -apprehension, should any of them be sent by the lieutenant in pursuit -of me, as I was leisurely passing a public house, I was noticed and -hailed by a naval officer at the door with “ahoi, what ship?”—“no -ship,” was my reply, on which he ordered me to stop, but of which I -took no other notice than to observe to him that if he would attend -to his own business I would proceed quietly about mine—this rather -increasing than diminishing his suspicions that I was a deserter, -garbed as I was, he gave chase—finding myself closely pursued and -unwilling again to be made a prisoner of, if it was possible to escape, -I had once more to trust to my legs, and should have again succeeded -had not the officer, on finding himself likely to be distanced, set up -a cry of “stop thief!” this brought numbers out of their houses and -work shops, who, joining in the pursuit, succeeded after a chase of -nearly a mile in overhauling me.</p> - -<p>Finding myself once more in their power and a perfect stranger to the -country, I deemed it vain to attempt to deceive them with a lie, and -therefore made a voluntary confession to the officer that I was a -prisoner of war, and related to him in what manner I had that morning -made my escape. By the officer I was conveyed back to the Inn, and left -in custody of two soldiers—the former (previous to retiring) observing -to the landlord that believing me<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>22</span> to be a true blooded yankee, -requested him to supply me at his expense with as much liquor as I -should call for.</p> - -<p>The house was thronged early in the evening by many of the “good and -faithful subjects of King George,” who had assembled to take a peep -at the “yankee rebel,” (as they termed me) who had so recently taken -an active part in the rebellious war, -<a id="then"></a><ins title="Original has 'than'">then</ins> -raging in his Majesty’s -American provinces—while others came apparently to gratify a curiosity -in viewing, for the first time, an “American Yankee!” whom they had -been taught to believe a kind of non descripts—beings of much less -refinement than the ancient Britains, and possessing little more -humanity than the Buccaneers.</p> - -<p>As for myself I thought it best not to be reserved, but to reply -readily to all their inquiries; for while my mind was wholly employed -in devising a plan to escape from the custody of my keepers, so far -from manifesting a disposition to resent any of the insults offered -me, or my country, to prevent any suspicions of my designs, I feigned -myself not a little pleased with their observations, and in no way -dissatisfied with my situation. As the officer had left orders with the -landlord to supply me with as much liquor as I should be pleased to -call for, I felt determined to make my keepers merry at his expense, if -possible, as the best means that I could adopt to effect my escape.</p> - -<p>The loyal group having attempted in vain to irritate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>23</span> me, by their mean -and ungenerous reflections, by one (who observed that he had frequently -heard it mentioned that the yankees were extraordinary dancers), it was -proposed that I should entertain the company with a jig! to which I -expressed a willingness to assent with much feigned satisfaction, if a -fiddler could be procured—fortunately for them, there was one residing -in the neighbourhood, who was soon introduced, when I was obliged -(although much against my own inclination) to take the floor—with the -full determination, however that if John Bull was to be thus diverted -at the expense of an unfortunate prisoner of war, uncle Jonathan should -come in for his part of the sport before morning, by showing them a few -<em>Yankee steps</em> which they then little dreamed of.</p> - -<p>By my performances they were soon satisfied that in this kind of -exercise, I should suffer but little in competition with the most -nimble footed Britain among them nor would they release me until I had -danced myself into a state of perfect perspiration; which, however, so -far from being any disadvantage to me, I considered all in favour of my -projected plan to escape—for while I was pleased to see the flowing -bowl passing merrily about, and not unfrequently brought in contact -with the lips of my two keepers, the state of perspiration that I was -in, prevented its producing on me any intoxicating effects.</p> - -<p>The evening having become now far spent and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>24</span> the company mostly -retiring, my keepers (who, to use a sailor’s phrase I was happy to -discover “half seas over”) having much to my dissatisfaction furnished -me with a pair of handcuffs spread a blanket by the side of their bed -on which I was to repose for the night. I feigned myself very grateful -to them for having humanely furnished me with so comfortable a bed, -and on which I stretched myself with much apparent unconcern, and -remained quiet about one hour, when I was sure that the family had -all retired to bed. The important moment had now arrived in which I -was resolved to carry my premeditated plan into execution, or die in -the attempt—for certain I was that if I let this opportunity pass -unimproved, I might have cause to regret it when it was too late—that -I should most assuredly be conveyed early in the morning back to the -floating prison from which I had so recently escaped, and where I might -possibly remain confined until America should obtain her independence, -or the differences between Great-Britain and her American provinces -were adjusted. Yet should I in my attempt to escape meet with more -opposition from my keepers, than what I had calculated from their -apparent state of inebriety, the contest I well knew would be very -unequal—they were two full grown stout men, with whom (if they were -assisted by no others) I should have to contend, handcuffed! but, after -mature deliberation, I resolved that however hazardous the attempt, it -should be made, and that immediately.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>25</span> -After remaining quiet, as I before observed, until I thought it -probable that all had retired to bed in the house, I intimated to my -keepers that I was under the necessity of requesting permission to -retire for a few moments to the back yard; when both instantly arose -and reeling toward me seized each an arm, and proceeded to conduct -me through a long and narrow entry to the back door, which was no -sooner unbolted and opened by one of them, than I tripped up the heels -of both and laid them sprawling, and in a moment was at the garden -wall seeking a passage whereby I might gain the public road—a new -and unexpected obstacle now presented, for I found the whole garden -enclosed with a smooth bricken wall, of the heighth of twelve feet at -least, and was prevented by the darkness of the night from discovering -an avenue leading therefrom—in this predicament, my only alternative -was either to scale this wall handcuffed as I was, and without a -moment’s hesitation, or to suffer myself to be made a captive of again -by my keepers, who had already recovered their feet and were bellowing -like bullocks for assistance—had it not been a very dark night, I -must certainly have been discovered and re-taken by them;—fortunately -before they had succeeded in rallying the family, in groping about I -met with a fruit tree situated within ten or twelve feet of the wall, -which I ascended as expeditiously as possible, and by an extraordinary -leap from the branches reached the top of the wall, and was in an -instant on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>26</span> the opposite side. The coast being now clear, I ran to the -distance of two or three miles, with as much speed as my situation -would admit of;—my next object now was to rid myself of my handcuffs, -which fortunately proving none of the stoutest, I succeeded in doing -after much painful labour.</p> - -<p>It was now as I judged about 12 o’clock, and I had succeeded in -reaching a considerable distance from the Inn from which I had made -my escape, without hearing or seeing any thing of my keepers, whom I -had left staggering about in the garden in search of their “Yankee -captive!”—it was indeed to their intoxicated state, and the extreme -darkness of the night, that I imputed my success in evading their -pursuit.—I saw no one until about the break of day, when I met an -old man, tottering beneath the weight of his pick-ax, hoe and shovel, -clad in tattered garments, and otherwise the picture of poverty and -distress; he had just left his humble dwelling, and was proceeding -thus early to his daily labour;—and as I was now satisfied that it -would be very difficult for me to travel in the day time garbed as -I was, in a sailor’s habit, without exciting the suspicions of his -Royal Majesty’s pimps, who (I had been informed) were constantly on -the look-out for deserters, I applied to the old man, miserable as he -appeared, for a change of cloathing, offering those which I then wore -for a suit of inferior quality and less value—this I was induced to -do at that moment, as I thought that the proposal could be made with -perfect safety, for whatever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>27</span> might have been his suspicions as to my -motives in wishing to exchange my dress, I doubted not, that with an -object of so much apparent distress, self-interest would prevent his -communicating them.—The old man however appeared a little surprised -at my offer, and after a short examination of my pea-jacket, trousers, -&c. expressed a doubt whether I would be willing to exchange them for -his “Church suit,” which he represented as something worse for wear, -and not worth half so much as those I then wore—taking courage however -from my assurances that a change of dress was my only object, he -deposited his tools by the side of a hedge, and invited me to accompany -him to his house, which we soon reached and entered, when a scene of -poverty and wretchedness presented, which exceeded every thing of the -kind that I had ever before witnessed—the internal appearance of the -miserable hovel, I am confident would suffer in a comparison with any -of the meanest stables of our American farmers—there was but one -room, in one corner of which was a bed of straw covered with a coarse -sheet, and on which reposed his wife and five small children. I had -heard much of the impoverished and distressed situation of the poor in -England, but the present presented an instance of which I had formed -no conception—little indeed did I then think that it would be my -lot, before I should meet with an opportunity to return to my native -country, to be placed in an infinitely worse situation! but, alas, such -was my hard fortune!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>28</span> -The first garment presented by the poor old man, of his best, or -“church suit,” as he termed it, was a coat of very coarse cloth, and -containing a number of patches of almost every colour but that of -the cloth of which it was originally made—the next was a waistcoat -and a pair of small cloathes, which appeared each to have received a -bountiful supply of patches to correspond with the coat—the coat I put -on without much difficulty, but the two other garments proved much too -small for me, and when I had succeeded with considerable difficulty in -putting them on, they set so taut as to cause me some apprehension that -they might even stop the circulation of blood!—my next exchange was my -buff cap for an old rusty large brimmed hat.</p> - -<p>The old man appeared very much pleased with his bargain, and -represented to his wife that he could now accompany her to church -much more decently clad—he immediately tried on the pea-jacket -and trousers, and seemed to give himself very little concern about -their size, although I am confident that one leg of the trousers was -sufficiently large to admit his whole body—but, however ludicrous his -appearance, in his new suit, I am confident that it could not have been -more so than mine, garbed as I was, like an old man of seventy!—From -my old friend I learned the course that I must steer to reach London, -the towns and villages that I should have to pass through, and the -distance thereto, which was between 70 and 80 miles. He likewise -represented to me that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>29</span> country was filled with soldiers, who were -on the constant look-out for deserters from the navy and army, for the -apprehension of which they received a stipulated reward.</p> - -<p>After enjoining it on the old man not to give any information of me, -should he meet on the road anyone who should enquire for such a person, -I took my leave of him, and again set out with a determination to reach -London, thus disguised, if possible;—I travelled about 30 miles that -day, and at night entered a barn in hopes to find some straw or hay on -which to repose for the night, for I had not money sufficient to pay -for a night’s lodging at a public house, had I thought it prudent to -apply for one—in my expectation to find either hay or straw in the -barn I was sadly disappointed, for I soon found that it contained not -a lock of either, and after groping about in the dark in search of -something that might serve for a substitute, I found nothing better -than an undressed sheep-skin—with no other bed on which to repose -my wearied limbs I spent a sleepless night; cold, hungry and weary, -and impatient for the arrival of the morning’s dawn, that I might be -enabled to pursue my journey.</p> - -<p>By break of day I again set out and soon found myself within the -suburbs of a considerable village, in passing which I was fearful -there would be some risk of detection, but to guard myself as much -as possible against suspicion, I furnished myself with a crutch, and -feigning myself a cripple, hobbled through the town without meeting -with any interruption. In two<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>30</span> hours after, I arrived in the vicinity -of another still more considerable village, but fortunately for me, -at the moment, I was overtaken by an empty baggage waggon, bound to -London—again feigning myself very lame, I begged of the driver to -grant a poor cripple the indulgence to ride a few miles, to which -he assenting, I concealed myself by lying prostrate on the bottom -of the waggon, until we had passed quite through the village; when, -finding the waggoner disposed to drive much slower than what I wished -to travel, after thanking him for the kind disposition which he had -manifested to oblige me, I quit the waggon, threw away my crutch and -travelled with a speed, calculated to surprise the driver with so -suddenly a recovery of the use of my legs—the reader will perceive -that I had now become almost an adept at deception, which I would -not however have so frequently practiced, had not self-preservation -demanded it.</p> - -<p>As I thought there would be in my journey to London, infinitely more -danger of detection in passing through large towns or villages, than in -confining myself to the country, I avoided them as much as possible; -and as I found myself once more on the borders of one, apparently of -much larger size than any that I had yet passed, I thought it most -expedient to take a circuitous route to avoid it; in attempting which, -I met with an almost insurmountable obstacle, that I little dreamed -of—when nearly abreast of the town, I found my route<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>31</span> obstructed by a -ditch, of upwards of 19 feet in breadth, and of what depth I could not -determine; as there was now no other alternative left me, but to leap -this ditch, or to retrace my steps and pass through the town, after -a moment’s reflection I determined to attempt the former, although -it would be attempting a fete of activity, that I supposed myself -incapable of performing; yet, however incredible it may appear, I -assure my readers that I did effect it, and reached the opposite side -with dry feet!</p> - -<p>I had now arrived within about 16 miles of London, when night -approaching, I again sought lodgings in a barn; which containing a -small quantity of hay, I succeeded in obtaining a tolerable comfortable -night’s rest. By the dawn of day I arose somewhat refreshed, and -resumed my journey with the pleasing prospect of reaching London -before night—but, while encouraged and cheered by these pleasing -anticipations, an unexpected occurrence blasted my fair prospects—I -had succeeded in reaching in safety a distance so great from the place -where I had been last held a prisoner, and within so short a distance -of London, the place of my destination, that I began to think myself -so far out of danger, as to cause me to relax in a measure, in the -precautionary means which I had made use of to avoid detection;—as -I was passing through the town of Staines, (within a few miles of -London) about 11 o’clock in the forenoon, I was met by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>32</span> three or four -British soldiers, whose notice I attracted, and who unfortunately for -me, discovered by the collar (which I had not taken the precaution to -conceal) that I wore a shirt which exactly corresponded with those -uniformly worn by his Majesty’s seamen—not being able to give a -satisfactory account of myself, I was made a prisoner of, on suspicion -of being a deserter from his Majesty’s service, and was immediately -committed to the Round House; a prison so called, appropriated to the -confinement of runaways, and those convicted of small offenses—I was -committed in the evening, and to secure me the more effectually, I was -handcuffed, and left supperless by my unfeeling jailor, to pass the -night in wretchedness.</p> - -<p>I had now been three days without food (with the exception of a -single two-penny loaf) and felt myself unable much longer to resist -the cravings of nature—my spirits, which until now had armed me with -fortitude began to forsake me—indeed I was at this moment on the eve -of despair! when, calling to mind that grief would only aggravate my -calamity, I endeavoured to arm my soul with patience; and habituate -myself as well as I could, to woe.—Accordingly I roused my spirits; -and banishing for a few moments, these gloomy ideas, I began to reflect -seriously, on the methods how to extricate myself from this labyrinth -of horror.</p> - -<p>My first object was to rid myself of my handcuffs, which I succeeded in -doing after two hours<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>33</span> hard labour, by sawing them across the grating -of the window; having my hands now at liberty, the next thing to be -done was to force the door of my apartment, which was secured on the -outside by a hasp and padlock; I devised many schemes but for the want -of tools to work with, was unable to carry them into execution—I -however at length succeeded, with the assistance of no other instrument -than the bolt of my handcuffs; with which, thrusting my arm through -a small window or aperture in the door, I forced the padlock, and -as there was now no other barrier to prevent my escape, after an -imprisonment of about five hours, I was once more at large.</p> - -<p>It was now as I judged about midnight, and although enfeebled and -tormented with excessive hunger and fatigue, I set out with the -determination of reaching London, if possible, early the ensuing -morning. By break of day I reached and passed through Brintford, a town -of considerable note and within six miles of the Capital—but so great -was my hunger at this moment, that I was under serious apprehension -of falling a victim to absolute starvation, if not so fortunate soon -to obtain something to appease it. I recollected of having read in my -youth, accounts of the dreadful effects of hunger, which had led men to -the commission of the most horrible excesses, but did not then think -that fate would ever thereafter doom me to an almost similar situation.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>34</span> -When I made my escape from the Prison ship, six English pennies was all -the money that I possessed—with two I had purchased a two penny loaf -the day after I had escaped from my keepers at the Inn, and the other -four still remained in my possession, not having met with a favourable -opportunity since the purchase of the first loaf to purchase food of -any kind. When I had arrived at the distance of one and an half miles -from Brintford, I met with a labourer employed in building a pale -fence, to whom my deplorable situation induced me to apply for work; -or for information of any one in the neighbourhood, that might be in -want of a hand to work at farming or gardening. He informed me that he -did not wish himself to hire, but that Sir John Miller, whose seat he -represented but a short distance, was in the habit of employing many -hands at that season of the year (which was in the spring of 1776) and -he doubted not but that I might there meet with employment.</p> - -<p>With my spirits a little revived, at even a distant prospect of -obtaining something to alleviate my sufferings, I started in quest of -the seat of Sir John, agreeable to the directions which I had received; -in attempting to reach which, I mistook my way, and proceeded up a -gravelled and beautifully ornamented walk, which unconsciously led me -directly to the garden of the Princess Amelia—I had approached within -view of the Royal Mansion when a glimpse of a number of “red coats” -who thronged the yard, satisfied me of my mistake, and caused me<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>35</span> to -make an instantaneous and precipitate retreat, being determined not -to afford any more of their mess an opportunity of boasting of the -capture of a “Yankee Rebel,”—indeed, a wolf or a bear, of the American -wilderness, could not be more terrified or panic-struck at the sight of -a firebrand, than I then was at that of a British red coat!</p> - -<p>Having succeeded in making good my retreat from the garden of her -highness, without being discovered, I took another path which led me to -where a number of labourers were employed in shovelling gravel, and to -whom I repeated my enquiry if they could inform me of any in want of -help, &c.—“why in troth friend (answered one in a dialect peculiar to -the labouring class of people of that part of the country) me master, -Sir John, hires a goodly many, and as we’ve a deal of work now, may-be -he’ll hire you; ’spose he stop a little with us until work is done, -he may then gang along, and we’ll question Sir John, whither him be -wanting another like us or no!”</p> - -<p>Although I was sensible that an application of this kind, might lead to -a discovery of my situation, whereby I might be again deprived of my -liberty, and immured in a loathsome prison; yet, as there was now no -other alternative left me but to seek in this way, something to satisfy -the cravings of hunger, or to yield a victim to starvation, with all -its attending horrors: of the two evils I preferred the least, and -concluded as the honest labourer had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>36</span> proposed, to await until they had -completed their work, and then to accompany them home to ascertain the -will of Sir John.</p> - -<p>As I had heard much of the tyrannical and domineering disposition of -the rich and purse-proud of England, and who were generally the lords -of the manor, and the particular favourites of the crown; it was not -without feeling a very considerable degree of diffidence, that I -introduced myself into the presence of one whom I strongly suspected -to be of that class—but, what was peculiarly fortunate for me, a -short acquaintance was sufficient to satisfy me that as regarded this -gentleman, my apprehensions were without cause. I found him walking in -his front yard in company with several gentlemen, and on being made -acquainted with my business, his first enquiry was whether I had a hoe, -or money to purchase one, and on being answered in the negative, he -requested me to call early the ensuing morning, and he would endeavour -to furnish me with one.</p> - -<p>It is impossible for me to express the satisfaction that I felt at this -prospect of a deliverance from my wretched situation. I was now by so -long fasting reduced to such a state of weakness, that my legs were -hardly able to support me, and it was with extreme difficulty that I -succeeded in reaching a baker’s shop in the neighbourhood, where with -my four remaining pennies, which I had reserved for a last resource, I -purchased two two-penny loaves.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>37</span> -After four days of intolerable hunger, the reader may judge how great -must have been my joy, to find myself in possession of even a morsel -to appease it—well might I have exclaimed at this moment with the -unfortunate Trenck—“O nature! what delight hast thou combined with -the gratification of thy wants! remember this ye who rack invention to -excite appetite, and which yet you cannot procure; remember how simple -are the means that will give a crust of mouldy bread a flavour more -exquisite than all the spices of the east, or all the profusion of land -or sea; remember this, grow hungry, and indulge your sensuality.”</p> - -<p>Although five times the quantity of the “staff of life” would have -been insufficient to have satisfied my appetite, yet, as I thought -it improbable that I should be indulged with a mouthful of any thing -to eat in the morning, I concluded to eat then but one loaf, and to -reserve the other for another meal; but having eaten one, so far from -satisfying, it seemed rather to increase my appetite for the other—the -temptation was irresistable—the cravings of hunger predominated, and -would not be satisfied until I had devoured the remaining one.</p> - -<p>The day was now far spent and I was compelled to resort with reluctance -to a carriage house, to spend another night in misery; I found nothing -therein on which to repose my wearied limbs but the bare floor, which -was sufficient to deprive me of sleep, however much exhausted nature -required<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>38</span> it; my spirits were however buoyed up by the pleasing -consolation that the succeeding day would bring relief;—as soon as day -light appeared, I hastened to await the commands of one, whom, since -my first introduction, I could not but flatter myself would prove my -benefactor, and afford me that relief which my pitiful situation so -much required—it was an hour much earlier than that at which even the -domestics were in the habit of arising, and I had been a considerable -time walking back and forth in the barn yard, before any made their -appearance. It was now about 4 o’clock, and by the person of whom I -made the enquiry, I was informed that 8 o’clock was the usual hour in -which the labourers commenced their day’s work—permission was granted -me by this person (who had the care of the stable) to repose myself on -some straw beneath the manger, until they should be in readiness to -depart to commence their day’s work—in the four hours I had a more -comfortable nap than any that I had enjoyed the four preceding nights. -At 8 o’clock precisely all hands were called, and preparations made for -a commencement of the labours of the day—I was furnished with a large -iron fork and a hoe, and ordered by my employer to accompany them, and -although my strength at this moment was hardly sufficient to enable -me to bear even so light a burden, yet was unwilling to expose my -weakness, so long as it could be avoided—but, the time had now arrived -in which it was impossible for me any longer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>39</span> to conceal it, and had -to confess the cause to my fellow labourers, so far as to declare to -them, that such had been my state of poverty, that (with the exception -of the four small loaves of bread) I had not tasted food for four -days! I was not I must confess displeased nor a little disappointed -to witness the evident emotions of pity and commiseration, which this -woeful declaration appeared to excite in their minds: as I had supposed -them too much accustomed to witness scenes of misery and distress, to -have their feelings much effected by a brief recital of my sufferings -and deprivations—but in justice to them I must say, that although a -very illiterate, I found them (with a few exceptions) a humane and -benevolent people.</p> - -<p>About 11 o’clock we were visited by our employer, Sir John: who, -noticing me particularly, and perceiving the little progress I made -in my labour, observed, that although I had the appearance of being -a stout hearty man, yet I either feigned myself or really was a very -weak one! on which it was immediately observed by one of my friendly -fellow labourers, that it was not surprising that I lacked strength, -as I had eaten nothing of consequence for four days! Mr. Millet, who -appeared at first little disposed to credit the fact, on being assured -by me that it was really so, put a shilling into my hand, and bid me go -immediately and purchase to that amount in bread and meat—a request -which the reader may suppose I did not hesitate to comply with.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>40</span> -Having made a tolerable meal, and feeling somewhat refreshed thereby, -I was on my return when I was met by my fellow labourers on their -return home, four o’clock being the hour in which they usually quit -work. As soon as we arrived, some victuals was ordered for me by Sir -John, when the maid presenting a much smaller quantity, than what her -benevolent master supposed sufficient to satisfy the appetite of one -who had been four days fasting, she was ordered to return and bring -out the platter and the whole of its contents, and of which I was -requested to eat my fill, but of which I ate sparingly to prevent the -dangerous consequences which might have resulted from my voracity in -the debilitated state to which my stomach was reduced.</p> - -<p>My light repast being over, one of the men were ordered by my -hospitable friend to provide for me a comfortable bed in the barn, -where I spent the night on a couch of clean straw, more sweetly than -ever I had done in the days of my better fortune. I arose early much -refreshed, and was preparing after breakfast to accompany the labourers -to their work, which was no sooner discovered by Sir John, than -smiling, he bid me return to my couch and there remain until I was in a -better state to resume my labours; indeed the generous compassion and -benevolence of this gentleman was unbounded. After having on that day -partook of an excellent dinner, which had been provided expressly for -me, and the domestics having been ordered to retire, I was not a little -surprised<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>41</span> to hear myself thus addressed by him—“my honest friend, I -perceive that you are a sea-faring man, and your history probably is a -secret which you may not wish to divulge; but, whatever circumstances -may have attended you, you may make them known to me with the greatest -safety, for I pledge my honour I will never betray you.”</p> - -<p>Having experienced so many proofs of the friendly disposition of Mr. -Millet, I could not hesitate a moment to comply with his request, and -without attempting to conceal a single fact, made him acquainted with -every circumstance that had attended me since my first enlistment as -a soldier—after expressing his regret that there should be any of -his countrymen found so void of the principles of humanity, as to -treat thus an unfortunate prisoner of war, he assured me that so long -as I remained in his employ he would guarantee my safety—adding, -that notwithstanding (in consequence of the unhappy differences which -then prevailed between Great Britain and her American colonies) -the inhabitants of the latter were denominated Rebels, yet they -were not without their friends in England, who wished well to their -cause, and would cheerfully aid them whenever an opportunity should -present—he represented the soldiers (whom it had been reported to me, -were constantly on the look out for deserters) as a set of mean and -contemptible wretches, little better than a lawless banditti, who, -to obtain the fee awarded by government, for the apprehension of a -deserter, would betray their best friends.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>42</span> -Having been generously supplied with a new suit of cloathes and -other necessaries by Mr. M. I contracted with him for six months, to -superintend his strawberry garden, in the course of which so far from -being molested, I was not suspected by even his own domestics of being -an American—at the expiration of the six months, by the recommendation -of my hospitable friend, I got a berth in the garden of the Princess -Amelia, where although among my fellow labourers the American Rebellion -was not unfrequently the topic of their conversation, and the “d—d -Yankee Rebels” (as they termed them) frequently the subjects of their -vilest abuse, I was little suspected of being one of that class whom -they were pleased thus to denominate—I must confess that it was not -without some difficulty, that I was enabled to surpress the indignant -feelings occasioned by hearing my countrymen spoken so disrespectfully -of, but as a single word in their favour might have betrayed me, I -could obtain no other satisfaction than by secretly indulging the hope -that I might before the conclusion of the war, have an opportunity to -repay them, in their own coin, with interest.</p> - -<p>I remained in the employ of the Princess about three months, and then -in consequence of a misunderstanding with the overseer, I hired myself -to a farmer in a small village adjoining Brintford, where I had not -been three weeks employed before rumour was afloat that I was a Yankee -Prisoner of war! from whence the report arose, or by what occasioned, -I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>43</span> never could learn—it no sooner reached the ears of the soldiers, -than they were on the alert, seeking an opportunity to seize my -person—fortunately I was appraised of their intentions before they -had time to carry them into effect; I was however hard pushed, and -sought for by them with that diligence and perseverance that certainly -deserved a better cause—I had many hair breadth escapes, and most -assuredly should have been taken, had it not been for the friendship of -those whom I suspect felt not less friendly to the cause of my country, -but dare not publicly avow it—I was at one time traced by the soldiers -in pursuit of me to the house of one of this description, in whose -garret I was concealed, and was at that moment in bed; they entered and -enquired for me, and on being told that I was not in the house, they -insisted on searching, and were in the act of ascending the chamber -stairs for that purpose, when seizing my cloathes, I passed up through -the scuttle, and reached the roof of the house, and from thence half -naked passed to those of the adjoining ones to the number of ten or -twelve, and succeeded in making my escape without being discovered.</p> - -<p>Being continually harassed by night and day by the soldiers, and driven -from place to place, without an opportunity to perform a day’s work, -I was advised by one whose sincerity I could not doubt, to apply for -a berth as a labourer in a garden of his Royal Majesty, situated in -the village of Quew, a few miles from Brintford; where, under the -protection<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>44</span> of his Majesty, it was represented to me that I should be -perfectly safe, as the soldiers dare not approach the royal premises, -to molest any one therein employed—he was indeed so friendly as -to introduce me personally to the overseer, as an acquaintance who -possessed a perfect knowledge of gardening, but from whom he carefully -concealed the fact of my being an American born, and of the suspicion -entertained by some of my being a prisoner of war, who had escaped the -vigilance of my keepers.</p> - -<p>The overseer concluded to receive me on trial;—it was here that I had -not only frequent opportunities to see his Royal Majesty in person, -in his frequent resorts to this, one of his country retreats, but -once had the honour of being addressed by him. The fact was, that I -had not been one week employed in the garden, before the suspicion -of my being either a prisoner of war, or a Spy, in the employ of the -American Rebels, was communicated, not only to the overseer and other -persons employed in the garden, but even to the King himself! As I was -one day busily engaged with three others in gravelling a walk, I was -unexpectedly accosted by his Majesty: who, with much apparent good -nature, enquired of me of what country I was—“an American born, may -it please your Majesty,” was my reply (taking off my hat, which he -requested me instantly to replace on my head),—“ah! (continued he with -a smile) an American, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>45</span> stubborn, a very stubborn people indeed!—and -what brought you to this country, and how long have you been here?” -“the fate of war, your Majesty—I was brought to this country a -prisoner about eleven months since,”—and thinking this a favourable -opportunity to acquaint him with a few of my grievances, I briefly -stated to him how much I had been harassed by the soldiers—“while here -employed they will not trouble you,” was the only reply he made, and -passed on. The familiar manner in which I had been interrogated by his -Majesty, had I must confess a tendency in some degree to prepossess -me in his favour—I at least suspected him to possess a disposition -less tyrannical, and capable of better view than what had been imputed -to him; and as I had frequently heard it represented in America, -that uninfluenced by such of his ministers, as unwisely disregarded -the reiterated complaints of the American people, he would have been -foremost to have redressed their grievances, of which they so justly -complained.</p> - -<p>I continued in the service of his Majesty’s gardner at Quew, about four -months, when the season having arrived in which the work of the garden -required less labourers I with three others was discharged; and the -day after engaged myself for a few months, to a farmer in the town and -neighbourhood where I had been last employed—but, not one week had -expired before the old story of my being an American prisoner of war -&c. was revived and industriously circulated,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>46</span> and the soldiers (eager -to obtain the proffered bounty) like a pack of blood-hounds were again -on the track seeking an opportunity to surprise me—the house wherein -I had taken up my abode, was several times thoroughly searched by -them, but I was always so fortunate as to discover their approach in -season to make good my escape by the assistance of a friend—to so much -inconvenience however did this continual apprehension and fear subject -me, that I was finally half resolved to surrender myself a prisoner -to some of his Majesty’s officers, and submit to my fate, whatever -it might be, when by an unexpected occurrence, and the seasonable -interposition of providence in my favour, I was induced to change my -resolution.</p> - -<p>I had been strongly of the opinion by what I had myself experienced, -that America was not without her friends in England, and those who were -her well wishers in the important cause in which she was at that moment -engaged; an opinion which I think no one will disagree with me in -saying, was somewhat confirmed, by a circumstance of that importance, -as entitles it to a conspicuous place in my narrative. At a moment -when driven almost to a state of despondency by continual alarms and -fears of falling into the hands of a set of desperadoes, who for a very -small reward would willingly have undertaken the commission of almost -any crime; I received a message from a gentleman of respectability of -Brintford (J. Woodcock Esq.) requesting me to repair immediately<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>47</span> to -his house—the invitation I was disposed to pay but little attention -to, as I viewed it nothing more than a plan of my pursuers to decoy -and entrap me—but, on learning from my confidential friend that the -gentleman by whom the message had been sent, was one whose loyalty had -been doubted, I was induced to comply with the request.</p> - -<p>I reached the house of ’Squire Woodcock about 8 o’clock in the evening, -and after receiving from him at the door assurances that I might enter -without fear or apprehension of any design on his part against me, I -suffered myself to be introduced into a private chamber, where were -seated two other gentlemen, who appeared to be persons of no mean -rank, and proved to be no other than Horne Tooke and James Bridges -Esquires—as all three of these gentlemen have long since paid the debt -of nature, and are placed beyond the reach of such as might be disposed -to persecute or reproach them for their disloyalty, I can now with -perfect safety disclose their names—names which ought to be dear to -every true American.</p> - -<p>After having (by their particular request) furnished these gentlemen -with a brief account of the most important incidents of my life, -I underwent a very strict examination, as they seemed determined -to satisfy themselves, before they made any important advances or -disclosures, that I was a person in whom they could repose implicit -confidence. Finding me firmly attached to the interests of my country, -so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>48</span> much so as to be willing to sacrifice even my life if necessary -in her behalf, they began to address me with less reserve; and after -bestowing the highest encomiums on my countrymen, for the bravery -which they had displayed in their recent engagements with the British -troops, as well as for their patriotism in publicly manifesting their -abhorrence and detestation of the ministerial party in England, who -to alienate their affections and to enslave them, had endeavoured to -subvert the British constitution; they enquired of me if (to promote -the interests of my country) I should have any objection to take a trip -to Paris, on an important mission, if my passage and other expences -were paid, and a generous compensation allowed me for my trouble; and -which in all probability would lead to the means whereby I might be -enabled to return to my country—to which I replied that I should have -none. After having enjoined upon me to keep every thing which they had -communicated, a profound secret, they presented me with a guinea, and a -letter for a gentleman in White Waltam (a country town about 30 miles -from Brintford) which they requested me to reach as soon as possible, -and there remain until they should send for me, and by no means to fail -to arrive at the precise hour that they should appoint.</p> - -<p>After partaking of a little refreshment I set out at 12 o’clock at -night, and reached White Waltam at half past 11 the succeeding day, -and immediately<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>49</span> waited on and presented the letter to the gentleman -to whom it was directed, and who gave me a very cordial reception, -and whom I soon found was as real a friend to America’s cause as the -three gentlemen in whose company I had last been. It was from him that -I received the first information of the evacuation of Boston by the -British troops, and of the declaration of <span class="smcap">Independence</span>, by -the American Congress—he indeed appeared to possess a knowledge of -almost every important transaction in America, since the memorable -battle of Bunker-Hill, and it was to him that I was indebted for -many particulars, not a little interesting to myself, and which I -might otherwise have remained ignorant of, as I have always found it -a principle of the Britains, to conceal every thing calculated to -diminish or tarnish their fame, as a “great and powerful nation!”</p> - -<p>I remained in the family of this gentleman about a fortnight, when I -received a letter from ’Squire Woodcock, requesting me to be at his -house without fail precisely at 2 o’clock the morning ensuing—in -compliance of which I packed up and started immediately for Brintford, -and reached the house of ’Squire Woodcock at the appointed hour—I -found there in company with the latter, the two gentlemen whose names -I have before mentioned, and by whom the object of my mission to Paris -was now made known to me—which was to convey in the most secret -manner possible a letter to Dr. <span class="smcap">Franklin</span>; every thing was in -readiness, and a chaise ready harnessed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>50</span> which was to convey me to -Charing Cross, waiting at the door—I was presented with a pair of -boots, made expressly for me, and for the safe conveyance of the letter -of which I was to be the bearer, one of them contained a false heel, -in which the letter was deposited, and was to be thus conveyed to the -Doctor. After again repeating my former declarations, that whatever -might be my fate, they should never be exposed, I departed, and was -conveyed in quick time to Charing Cross, where I took the post coach -for Dover, and from thence was immediately conveyed in a packet to -Calais, and in fifteen minutes after landing, started for Paris; which -I reached in safety, and delivered to Dr. Franklin the letter of which -I was the bearer.</p> - -<p>What were the contents of this letter I was never informed and never -knew, but had but little doubt but that it contained important -information relative to the views of the British cabinet, as regarded -the affairs of America; and although I well knew that a discovery -(while within the British dominions) would have proved equally fatal -to me as to the gentlemen by whom I was employed, yet, I most solemnly -declare, that to be serviceable to my country at that important period, -was much more of an object with me, than the reward which I had been -promised, however considerable it might be. My interview with Dr. -Franklin was a pleasing one—for nearly an hour he conversed with me -in the most agreeable and instructive manner, and listened to the tale -of my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>51</span> sufferings with much apparent interest, and seemed disposed to -encourage me with the assurance that if the Americans should succeed in -their grand object, and firmly establish their Independence, they would -not fail to remunerate their soldiers for their services—but, alas! as -regards myself, these assurances have not as yet been verified!—I am -confident, however, that had it been a possible thing for that great -and good man (whose humanity and generosity have been the theme of -infinitely abler pens than mine) to have lived to this day, I should -not have petitioned my country in vain for a momentary enjoyment of -that provision, which has been extended to so great a portion of my -fellow soldiers; and whose hardships and deprivations, in the cause of -their country, could not I am sure have been half so great as mine!</p> - -<p>After remaining two days in Paris, letters were delivered to me by the -Doctor, to convey to the gentlemen by whom I had been employed, and -which for their better security as well as my own, I deposited as the -other, in the heel of my boot, and with which to the great satisfaction -of my friends I reached Brintford, in safety, and without exciting the -suspicion of any one as to the important (although somewhat dangerous) -mission that I had been engaged in. I remained secreted in the house -of ’Squire Woodcock a few days, and then by his and the two other -gentlemen’s request, made a second trip to Paris, and in reaching which -and in delivering my letters, was equally as fortunate as in my first. -If I should succeed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>52</span> in returning in safety to Brintford this trip, I -was (agreeable to the generous proposal of Doctor Franklin) to return -immediately to France, from whence he was to procure me a passage -to America;—but, although in my return I met with no difficulty, -yet, as if fate had selected me as a victim to endure the miseries -and privations which afterward attended me, but three hours before -I reached Dover to engage a passage for the third and last time to -Calais, all intercourse between the two countries was prohibited!</p> - -<p>My flattering expectations of being enabled soon to return to my -native country, and once more to meet and enjoy the society of my -friends, (after an absence of more than twelve months) being thus -by an unforeseen circumstance completely destroyed, I returned -immediately to the gentlemen by whom I had been last employed to advise -with them what it would be best for me to do, in my then unpleasant -situation—for indeed, as all prospects were now at an end, of meeting -with an opportunity very soon to return to America, I could not bear -the idea of remaining any longer in a neighbourhood where I was so -strongly suspected of being a fugitive from justice and under continual -apprehension of being retaken, and immured like a felon in a dungeon.</p> - -<p>By these gentlemen I was advised to repair immediately to London, where -employed as a labourer, if I did not imprudently betray myself, they -thought there was little probability of my being suspected of being<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>53</span> -an American. This advice I readily accepted as the plan was such a one -as exactly accorded with my opinion, for from the very moment that I -first escaped from the clutches of my captors, I thought that in the -city of London I should not be so liable to be suspected and harassed -by the soldiers, as I should to remain in the country. These gentlemen -supplied me with money sufficient to defray my expenses and would -have willingly furnished me with a recommendation had they not been -fearful that if I should be so unfortunate as to be recognized by any -one acquainted with the circumstance of my capture and escape, those -recommendations (as their loyalty was already doubted) might operate -much against them, in as much as they might furnish a clue to the -discovery of some transactions which they then felt unwilling to have -exposed. I ought here to state that before I set out for London, I was -entrusted by these gentlemen with Five Guineas, which I was requested -to convey and distribute among a number of Americans, then confined as -prisoners of war, in one of the city prisons.</p> - -<p>I reached London late in the evening and the next day engaged board at -Five Shillings per week, at a public house in Lombard Street, where -under a ficticious name I passed for a farmer from Lincolnshire—my -next object was to find my way to the prison where were confined as -prisoners of war a number of my countrymen, and among whom I was -directed to distribute the 5 guineas with which I had been entrusted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>54</span> -for that purpose by their friends at Brintford.—I found the prison -without much difficulty, but it was with very considerable difficulty -that I gained admittance, and not until I had presented the turnkey -with a considerable fee would he consent to indulge me. The reader will -suppose that I must have been very much surprised, when, as soon as -the door of the prisoner’s apartment was opened, and I had passed the -threshold, to hear one of them exclaim with much apparent astonishment, -“Potter! is that you! how in the name of heaven came you here!”—an -exclamation like this by one of a number to whom I supposed myself a -perfect stranger, caused me much uneasiness for a few moments, as I -expected nothing less than to recognize in this man, some one of my old -shipmates, who had undoubtedly a knowledge of the fact of my being a -prisoner of war, and having been confined as such on board the guard -ship at spithead—but, in this I soon found to my satisfaction that -I was mistaken, for after viewing for a moment the person by whom I -had been thus addressed. I discovered him to be no other than my old -friend seargent Singles, with whom I had been intimately -acquainted in America—as the exclamation was in presence of the -turnkey, least I should have the key turned upon me, and be considered -as lawful a prisoner as any of the rest, I hinted to my friend that -he certainly mistook me (a Lincolnshire farmer) for another person, -and by a wink which he received from me at the same moment gave him -to understand that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>55</span> a renewal of our acquaintance or an exchange of -civilities would be more agreeable to me at any other time. I now as I -had been requested divided the money as equally as possible among them, -and to prevent the suspicions of the keeper, I represented to them in -a feigned dialect peculiar to the labouring people of the Shire-towns, -that, “me master was owing a little trifle or so to a rebel trader of -one of his Majesty’s American provinces, and was quested by him to pay -the ballance and so, to his brother yankee rebels here imprisoned.”</p> - -<p>I found the poor fellows (fifteen in number) confined in a dark filthy -apartment of about 18 feet square; and which I could not perceive -contained any thing but a rough plank bench of about 10 feet in -length, and a heap of straw with one or two tattered, filthy looking -blankets spread thereon, which was probably the only bedding allowed -them—although their situation was such as could not fail to excite -my pity, yet, I could do no more than lament that it was not in my -power to relieve them—how long they remained thus confined or when -exchanged, I could never learn, as I never to my knowledge saw one of -them afterwards.</p> - -<p>For four or five days, after I reached London, I did very little more -than walk about the city, viewing such curiosities as met my eye; when, -reflecting that remaining thus idle, I should not only be very soon out -of funds, but should run the risk of being suspected and apprehended as -one belonging to one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>56</span> of the numerous gangs of pick-pockets &c. which -infest the streets of the city; I applied to an Intelligence Office -for a coachman’s berth, which I was so fortunate as to procure, at 15 -shillings per week—my employer (J. Hyslop, Esq.) although rigid in -his exactions, was punctual in his payments, and by my strict prudence -and abstinence from the numerous diversions of the city, I was enabled -in the six months which I served him, to lay up more cash than what -I had earned the twelve months preceding. The next business in which -I engaged was that of brick making, and which together with that of -gardening, I pursued in the summer seasons almost exclusively for -five years; in all which time I was not once suspected of being an -American, yet, I must confess that my feelings were not unfrequently -most powerfully wrought upon, by hearing my countrymen dubbed with -cowardice, and by those too who had been thrice flogged or frightened -by them when attempting to ascend the heights of Bunker Hill! and to be -obliged to brook these insults with impunity, as to have resented them -would have caused me to have been suspected directly of being attached -to the American cause, which might have been attended with serious -consequences.</p> - -<p>I should now pass over the five years that I was employed as above -mentioned, as checquered by few incidents worth relating, was it not -for one or two circumstances of some little importance that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>57</span> either -attended me, or came within my own personal knowledge. The reader has -undoubtedly heard that the city of London and its suburbs, is always -more or less infested with gangs of nefarious wretches, who come under -the denomination of Robbers, Pickpockets, Shoplifters, Swindlers, -Beggars, &c. who are constantly prowling the streets in disguise, -seeking opportunities to surprise and depredate on the weak and -unguarded—of these the former class form no inconsiderable portion, -who contrive to elude and set at defiance the utmost vigilance of -government—they are a class who in the day time disperse each to his -avocation, as the better to blind the scrutinizing eye of justice, they -make it a principle to follow some laborious profession, and at night -assemble to proceed on their nocturnal rounds, in quest of those whose -well stored pockets promise them a reward, equal to the risk which they -run in obtaining it. As I was one evening passing through Hyde Park, -with five guineas and a few pennies in my pockets, I was stopped by -six of these lawless footpads; who, presenting pistols to my breast, -demanded my money—fortunately for me I had previously deposited -the guineas in a private pocket of my pantaloons, for their better -security; thrusting their hands into my other pockets and finding me in -possession of but a few English pennies, they took them and decamped. I -hastened to Bow Street and lodged information of the robbery with the -officers, and who to my no little surprise informed me that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>58</span> mine was -the fifth instance, of information of similar robberies by the same -gang, which had been lodged with them that evening!—runners had been -sent in every direction in pursuit of them, but with what success I -could never learn.</p> - -<p>Despairing of meeting with a favourable opportunity to return to -America, until the conclusion of peace, and the prospects of a -continuation of the war being as great then (by what I could learn) as -at any period from its commencement, I became more reconciled to my -situation, and contracted an intimacy with a young woman whose parents -were poor but respectable, and who I soon after married. I took a small -ready furnished chamber, in Red Cross Street, where with the fruits of -my hard earnings, I was enabled to live tolerable comfortable for three -or four years—when, by sickness and other unavoidable circumstances, I -was doomed to endure miseries uncommon to human nature.</p> - -<p>In the winter of 1781, news was received in London of the surrender of -the army of Lord Cornwallis, to the French and American forces!—the -receipt of news of an event so unexpected operated on the British -ministers and members of Parliament, like a tremendous clap of -thunder—deep sorrow was evidently depicted in the countenances of -those who had been the most strenuous advocates for the war—never was -there a time in which I longed more to exult, and to declare myself a -true blooded yankee—and what was still more pleasing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>59</span> to me, was to -find myself even surpassed in -<a id="expressions"></a><ins title="Original has 'expresssions'">expressions</ins> -of joy and -satisfaction, by my wife, in consequence of the receipt of news, which, -while it went to establish the military fame of my countrymen, was so -calculated to humble the pride of her own! greater proofs of her regard -for me and my country I could not require.</p> - -<p>The ministerial party in Parliament who had been the instigators of the -war, and who believed that even a view of the bright glistening muskets -and bayonets of John Bull, would frighten the leather apron Yankees to -a speedy submission, began now to harbour a more favourable opinion -of the courage of the latter. His Majesty repaired immediately to the -house of peers, and opened the sessions of parliament—warm debates -took place, on account of the ruinous manner in which the American war -was continued; but Lord North and his party appeared yet unwilling to -give up the contest. The capitulation of Cornwallis had however one -good effect, as it produced the immediate release of Mr. Laurens from -the Tower, and although it did not put an immediate end to the war, yet -all hopes of conquering America from that moment appeared to be given -up by all except North and his adherents.</p> - -<p>There was no one engaged in the cause of America, that did more to -establish her fame in England, and to satisfy the high boasting -Britains of the bravery and unconquerable resolutions of the Yankees,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>60</span> -than that bold adventurer capt. Paul Jones; who, for ten or eleven -months kept all the western coast of the island in alarm—he boldly -landed at Whitehaven, where he burnt a ship in the harbour, and even -attempted to burn the town;—nor was this to my knowledge the only -instance in which the Britains were threatened with a very serious -conflagration, by the instigation of their enemies abroad—a daring -attempt was made by one James Aitkin, commonly known in London by the -name of John the Painter, to set fire to the royal dock and shipping at -Portsmouth, and would probably have succeeded, had he not imprudently -communicated his intentions to one, who, for the sake of a few guineas, -shamefully betrayed him—poor Aitkin was immediately seized, tried, -condemned, executed and hung in chains—every means was used to extort -from him a confession by whom he had been employed, but without any -success—it was however strongly suspected that he had been employed -by the French, as it was about the time that they openly declared -themselves in favour of the Americans.</p> - -<p>With regard to Mr. Laurens, I ought to have mentioned that as soon as I -heard of his capture on his passage to Holland, and of his confinement -in the Tower, I applied for and obtained permission to visit him in -his apartment, and (with some distant hopes that he might point out -some way in which I might be enabled to return to America) I stated -to him every particular as regarded my situation.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>61</span> He seemed not -only to lament very much my hard fortune, but (to use his own words) -“that America should be deprived of the services of such men, at the -important period too when she most required them.”—He informed me that -he was himself held a prisoner, and knew not when or on what conditions -he would be liberated, but should he thereafter be in a situation to -assist me in obtaining a passage to America, he should consider it a -duty which he owed his country to do it.</p> - -<p>Although I succeeded in obtaining by my industry a tolerable living -for myself and family, yet, so far from becoming reconciled to my -situation, I was impatient for the return of Peace, when (as I then -flattered myself) I should once more have an opportunity to return -to my native country. I became every day less attached to a country -where I could not meet with any thing (with the exception of my -little family) that could compensate me for the loss of the pleasing -society of my kindred and friends in America—born among a moral and -humane people, and having in my early days contracted their habits, -and a considerable number of their prejudices, it would be unnatural -to suppose that I should not prefer their society, to either that -of rogues, thieves, pimps and vagabonds, or of a more honest but an -exceedingly oppressed and forlorn people.</p> - -<p>I found London as it had been represented to me, a large and -magnificent city, filled with inhabitants of almost every description -and occupation—and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>62</span> such an one indeed as might be pleasing to an -Englishman, delighting in tumult and confusion, and accustomed to -witness scenes of riot and dissipation, as well as those of human -infliction; and for the sake of variety, would be willing to imprison -himself within the walls of a Bedlam, where continual noise would -deafen him, where the unwholesomeness of the air would effect his -lungs, and where the closeness of the surrounding buildings would not -permit him to enjoy the enlivening influence of the sun! There is not -perhaps another city of its size in the whole world, the streets of -which display a greater contrast in the wealth and misery, the honesty -and knavery, of its inhabitants, than the city of London. The eyes of -the passing stranger (unaccustomed to witness such scenes) is at one -moment dazzled by the appearance of pompous wealth, with its splendid -equippage—at the next he is solicited by one apparently of the most -wretched of human beings, to impart a single penny for the relief of -his starving family! Among the latter class, there are many; however, -who so far from being the real objects of charity that they represent -themselves to be, actually possess more wealth than those who sometimes -benevolently bestow it—these vile imposters, by every species of -deception that was ever devised or practiced by man, aim to excite the -pity and compassion, and to extort charity from those unacquainted with -their easy circumstances—they possess the faculty of assuming any -character that may best suit their purpose—sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>63</span> hobbling with a -crutch and exhibiting a wooden leg—at other times “an honourable scar -of a wound, received in Egypt, at Waterloo or at Trafalgar, fighting -for their most gracious sovereign and master King George!”</p> - -<p>Independent of these there is another species of beggars (the gypsies) -who form a distinct clan, and will associate with none but those of -their own tribe—they are notorious thieves as well as beggars, and -constantly infest the streets of London to the great annoyance of -strangers and those who have the appearance of being wealthy—they -have no particular home or abiding place, but encamp about in open -fields or under hedges, as occasion requires—they are generally -of a yellow complexion, and converse in a dialect peculiar only to -themselves—their thieving propensities do not unfrequently lead them -to kidnap little children, whenever an opportunity presents; having -first by a dye changed their complexion to one that corresponds with -their own, they represent them as their own offspring, and carry them -about half naked on their backs to excite the pity and compassion -of those of whom they beg charity. An instance of this species of -theft by a party of these unprincipled vagabonds, occurred once in -my neighbourhood while an inhabitant of London—the little girl -kidnapped was the daughter of a Capt. Kellem of Coventry Street—being -sent abroad on some business for her parents, she was met by a gang -of Gypsies, consisting of five men and six women, who seized<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>64</span> her, -and forcibly carried her away to their camp, in the country, at a -considerable distance, having first stripped her of her own cloathes, -and in exchange dressed her in some of their rags—thus garbed she -travelled about the country with them for nearly 7 months, and was -treated as the most abject slave, and her life threatened if she -should endeavour to escape or divulged her story;—she stated that -during the time she was with them they entrapped a little boy about -her own age, whom they also stripped and carried with them, but took -particular care he should never converse with her, treating him in the -like savage manner; she said that they generally travelled by cross -roads and private ways, ever keeping a watchful eye that she might not -escape, and that no opportunity offered until when, by some accident, -they were obliged to send her from their camp to a neighbouring farm -house, in order to procure a light, which she took advantage of; and -scrambling over hedges and ditches, as she supposed for the distance -of 8 or 9 miles, reached London worn out with fatigue and hunger, her -support with them being always scanty, and of the worst sort; to which -was added the misery of sleeping under hedges, and exposure to the -inclemency of the weather—it was the intention of the gypsies she said -to have coloured her and the boy when the walnut season approached.</p> - -<p>The streets of London and its suburbs are also infested with another -and a still more dreadful species of rogues, denominated Footpads, and -who often<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>65</span> murder in the most inhuman manner, for the sake of only -a few shillings, any unfortunate people who happen to fall in their -way—of this I was made acquainted with enumerable instances, while an -inhabitant of London; I shall however mention but two that I have now -recollection of:—</p> - -<p>A Mr. Wylde while passing through Marlborough Street, in a chaise, -was stopped by a footpad, who, on demanding his money, received a few -shillings, but being dissatisfied with the little booty he obtained, -still kept a pistol at Mr. Wylde’s head, and on the latter’s attempting -gently to turn it aside, the villain fired, and lodged seven slugs in -his head and breast, which caused instant death—Mr. W. expired in the -arms of his son and grandson without a groan. A few days after as a Mr. -Greenhill was passing through York-Street in a single horse chaise, he -was met and stopped by three footpads, armed with pistols, one of them -seized and held the horse’s head, while the other two most inhumanely -dragged Mr. G. over the back of his chaise, and after robbing him of -his notes, watch and hat gave him two severe cuts on his head and -left him in that deplorable state in the road.—The above are but two -instances of hundreds of a similar nature, which yearly occur in the -most public streets of the city of London. The city is infested with a -still higher order of rogues, denominated pick-pockets or cutpurses, -who to carry on their nefarious practices, garb themselves like -gentlemen, and introduce themselves into the most fashionable circles;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>66</span> -many of them indeed are persons who once sustained respectable -characters, but who, by extravagance and excesses, have reduced -themselves to want and find themselves obliged at last to have recourse -to pilfering and thieving.</p> - -<p>Thus have I endeavoured to furnish the reader with the particulars of a -few of the vices peculiar to a large portion of the inhabitants of the -city of London—to these might be added a thousand other misdemeanors -of a less criminal nature, daily practiced by striplings from the age -of six, to the hoary headed of ninety!—this I assure my readers is -a picture correctly delineated and not too highly wrought of a city -famous for its magnificence, and where I was doomed to spend more than -40 years of my life, and in which time pen, ink, and paper would fail, -were I to attempt to record the various instances of misery and want -that attended me and my poor devoted family.</p> - -<p>In September 1783, the glorious news of a definitive treaty of Peace -having been signed between the United States and Great-Britain, was -publicly announced in London—while on the minds of those who had been -made rich by the war, the unwelcomed news operated apparently like a -paralytic stroke, a host of those whose views had been inimical to -the cause of America, and had sought refuge in England, attempted to -disguise their disappointment and dejection under a veil of assumed -cheerfulness. As regarded myself, I can only say, that had an event -so long and ardently wished for by me taken place but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>67</span> a few months -before, I should have hailed it as the epoch of my deliverance from a -state of oppression and privation that I had already too long endured.</p> - -<p>An opportunity indeed now presented for me to return once more to my -native country, after so long an absence, had I possessed the means; -but much was the high price demanded for a passage, and such had been -my low wages, and the expenses attending the support of even a small -family in London, that I found myself at this time in possession of -funds hardly sufficient to defray the expense of my own passage, and -much less that of my wife and child—hence the only choice left me was -either to desert them, and thereby subject them (far separated from -one) to the frowns of an uncharitable people, or to content myself to -remain with them and partake of a portion of that wretchedness which -even my presence could not avert. When the affairs of the American -Government had become so far regulated as to support a Consul at the -British court, I might indeed have availed myself individually, of -the opportunity which presented of procuring a passage home at the -Government’s expence; but as this was a privilege that could not -be extended to my wife and child, my regard for them prevented my -embracing the only means provided by my country for the return of her -captured soldiers and seamen.</p> - -<p>To make the best of my hard fortune, I became as resigned and -reconciled to my situation as circumstances<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>68</span> would admit of; flattering -myself that fortune might at some unexpected moment so far decide in -my favour, as to enable me to accomplish my wishes—I indeed bore -my afflictions with a degree of fortitude which I could hardly have -believed myself possessed of—I had become an expert workman at brick -making at which business and at gardening, I continued to work for very -small wages, for three or four years after the Peace—but still found -my prospects of a speedy return to my country, by no ways flattering. -The peace had thrown thousands who had taken an active part in the -war, out of employ; London was thronged with them—who, in preference -to starving, required no other consideration for their labour than a -humble living, which had a lamentable effect in reducing the wages -of the labouring class of people; who, previous to this event were -many of them so extremely poor, as to be scarcely able to procure the -necessaries of life for their impoverished families—among this class I -must rank myself, and from this period ought I to date the commencement -of my greatest miseries, which never failed to attend me in a greater -or less degree until that happy moment, when favoured by providence, I -was permitted once more to visit the peaceful shores of the land of my -nativity.</p> - -<p>When I first entered the city of London, I was almost stunned, while -my curiosity was not a little excited by what is termed the “cries of -London”—the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>69</span> streets were thronged by persons of both sexes and of -every age, crying each the various articles which they were exposing -for sale, or for jobs of work at their various occupations;—I little -then thought that this was a mode which I should be obliged myself to -adopt to obtain a scanty pittance for my needy family—but, such indeed -proved to be the case. The great increase of labourers produced by the -cessation of hostilities, had so great an effect in the reduction of -wages, that the trifling consideration now allowed me by my employers -for my services, in the line of business in which I had been several -years engaged, was no longer an object, being insufficient to enable -me to procure a humble sustenance. Having in vain sought for more -profitable business, I was induced to apply to an acquaintance for -instruction in the art of chair bottoming, and which I partially -obtained from him for a trifling consideration.</p> - -<p>It was now (which was in the year 1789) that I assumed a line of -business very different from that in which I had ever before been -engaged—fortunately for me, I possessed strong lungs, which I found -very necessary in an employment the success of which depended, in a -great measure, in being enabled to drown the voices of others (engaged -in the same occupation) by my own—“Old Chairs to Mend,” became now -my constant cry through the streets of London, from morning to night; -and although I found my business not so profitable as I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>70</span> could have -wished, yet it yielded a tolerable support for my family some time, -and probably would have continued so to have done, had not the almost -constant illness of my children, rendered the expenses of my family -much greater than they otherwise would have been—thus afflicted by -additional cares and expense, (although I did every thing in my power -to avoid it) I was obliged, to alleviate the sufferings of my family, -to contract some trifling debts which it was not in my power to -discharge.</p> - -<p>I now became the victim of additional miseries—I was visited by a -bailiff employed by a creditor, who seizing me with the claws of a -tiger, dragged me from my poor afflicted family and inhumanly thurst -me into prison! indeed no misery that I ever before endured equalled -this—separated from those dependent on me for the necessaries of -life, and placed in a situation in which it was impossible for me -to afford them any relief!—fortunately for me at this melancholly -moment, my wife enjoyed good health, and it was to her praise-worthy -exertions that her poor helpless children, as well as myself, owed -our preservation from a state of starvation!—this good woman had -become acquainted with many who had been my customers, whom she made -acquainted with my situation, and the sufferings of my family, and who -had the humanity to furnish me with work during my confinement—the -chairs were conveyed to and from the prison by my wife—in this way -I was enabled to support myself and to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>71</span> contribute something to -the relief of my afflicted family. I had in vain represented to my -unfeeling creditor my inability to satisfy his demands, and in vain -represented to him the suffering condition of those wholly dependent on -me; unfortunately for me, he proved to be one of those human beasts, -who, having no soul, take pleasure in tormenting that of others, who -never feel but in their own misfortunes, and never rejoice but in the -afflictions of others—of such beings, so disgraceful to human nature, -I assure the reader London contains not an inconsiderable number.</p> - -<p>After having for four months languished in a horrid prison, I was -liberated therefrom a mere skeleton; the mind afflicted had tortured -the body; so much is the one in subjection to the other—I returned -sorrowful and dejected to my afflicted family whom I found in very -little better condition. We now from necessity took up our abode in an -obscure situation near Moorfields; where, by my constant application -to business, I succeeded in earning daily a humble pittance for my -family, bearly sufficient however to satisfy the cravings of -nature; and to add to my afflictions, some one of my family were almost -constantly indisposed.</p> - -<p>However wretched my situation there were many others at this period, -with whom I was particularly acquainted, whose sufferings were greater -if possible than my own; and whom want and misery drove to the -commission of crimes, that in any other situation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>72</span> they would probably -not have been guilty of. Such was the case of the unfortunate Bellamy, -who was capitally convicted and executed for a crime which distresses -in his family, almost unexampled, had in a moment of despair, compelled -him to commit. He was one who had seen better days, was once a -commissioned officer in the army, but being unfortunate he was obliged -to quit the service to avoid the horrors of a prison, and was thrown on -the world, without a single penny or a single friend. The distresses of -his family were such, that they were obliged to live for a considerable -time deprived of all sustenance except what they could derive from -scanty and precarious meals of potatoes and milk—in this situation -his unfortunate wife was confined in child bed—lodging in an obscure -garret, she was destitute of every species of those conveniences almost -indespensable with females in her condition, being herself without -clothes, and to procure a covering for her new born infant, all their -resources were exhausted. In this situation his wife and children must -inevitably have starved, were it not for the loan of five shillings -which he walked from London to Blackheath to borrow. At his trial he -made a solemn appeal to heaven, as to the truth of every particular -as above stated—and that so far from wishing to exaggerate a single -fact, he had suppressed many more instances of calamity scarcely to be -paralleled—that after the disgrace brought upon himself by this single -transaction, life could not be a boon he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>73</span> would be anxious to solicit, -but that nature pleaded in his breast for a deserving wife and helpless -child—all however was ineffectual, he was condemned and executed -pursuant to his sentence.</p> - -<p>I have yet one or two more melancholly instances of the effects of -famine to record, the first of which happened within a mile of my then -miserable habitation—a poor widow woman, who had been left destitute -with five small children, and who had been driven to the most awful -extremities by hunger, overpowered at length by the pitiful cries of -her wretched offspring, for a morsel of bread, in a fit of despair, -rushed into the shop of a baker in the neighbourhood, and seizing a -loaf of bread bore it off to the relief of her starving family, and -while in the act of dividing it among them, the baker (who had pursued -her) entered and charged her with the theft—the charge she did not -deny, but plead the starving condition of her wretched family in -palliation of the crime!—the baker noticing a platter on the table -containing a quantity of roasted meat, he pointed to it as a proof that -she could not have been driven to such an extremity by hunger—but, his -surprise may be better imagined than described, when being requested -by the half distracted mother to approach and inspect more closely -the contents of the platter, to find it to consist of the remains of -a roasted dog! and which she informed him had been her only food, and -that of her poor children, for the three preceding days!—the baker -struck with so shocking a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>74</span> proof of the poverty and distress of the -wretched family, humanely contributed to their relief until they were -admitted into the hospital.</p> - -<p>I was not personally acquainted with the family, but I well knew -one who was, and who communicated to me the following melancholly -particulars of its wretched situation; and with which I now present -my readers, as another proof of the deplorable situation of the poor -in England, after the close of the American war:—The minister of a -parish was sent for to attend the funeral of a deceased person in his -neighbourhood, being conducted to the apartment which contained the -corpse (and which was the only one improved by the wretched family) -he found it so low as to be unable to stand upright in it—in a dark -corner of the room stood a three legged stool, which supported a coffin -of rough boards, and which contained the body of the wretched mother, -who had the day previous expired in labour for the want of assistance. -The father was sitting on a little stool over a few coals of fire, -and endeavouring to keep the infant warm in his bosom; five of his -seven children, half naked, were asking their father for a piece of -bread, while another about three years old was standing over the corpse -of his mother, and crying, as he was wont to do, “take me, take me, -mammy!”—“Mammy is asleep,” said one of his sisters with tears in her -eyes, “mammy is asleep, Johnny, don’t cry, the good nurse has gone to -beg you some bread and will soon return!”—In a few minutes after,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>75</span> an -old woman, crooked with age, and clothed in tatters came hobbling into -the room, with a two-penny loaf in her hand, and after heaving a sigh, -calmly set down, and divided the loaf as far as it would go among the -poor half famished children: and which she observed was the only food -they had tasted for the last 24 hours! By the kind interposition of the -worthy divine, a contribution was immediately raised for the relief of -this wretched family.</p> - -<p>I might add many more melancholly instances of the extreme poverty -and distress of the wretched poor of London, and with which I was -personally acquainted; but the foregoing it is presumed will be -sufficient to satisfy the poorest class of inhabitants of America, -that, if deprived of the superfluities, so long as they can obtain -the necessaries of life, they ought not to murmur, but have reason -to thank the Almighty that they were born Americans. That one half -the world knows not how the other half lives, is a common and just -observation;—complaints and murmurs are frequent I find among those -of the inhabitants of this highly favoured country, who are not only -blessed with the liberty and means of procuring for themselves and -their families, the necessaries and comforts, but even many of the -luxuries of life!—they complain of poverty, and yet never knew what -it was to be really poor! having never either experienced or witnessed -such scenes of distress and woe as I have described, they even suppose -their imaginary wants and privations equal to those of almost any of -the human race!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>76</span> -Let those of my countrymen who thus imagine themselves miserable amid -plenty, cross the Atlantic and visit the miserable habitations of real -and unaffected woe—if their hearts are not destitute of feeling, they -will return satisfied to their own peaceful and happy shores, and pour -forth the ejaculations of gratitude to that universal parent, who has -given them abundance and exempted them from the thousand ills, under -the pressure of which a great portion of his children drag the load -of life. Permit me to enquire of such unreasonable murmurers, have -you compared your situation and circumstances of which you so much -complain, with that of those of your fellow creatures, who are unable -to earn by their hard labour even a scanty pittance for their starving -families? have you compared your situation and circumstances, with -that of those who have hardly ever seen the sun, but live confined in -lead mines, stone quarries, and coal pits?—before you call yourselves -wretched, take a survey of the gaols in Europe, in which wretched -beings who have been driven to the commissions of crimes by starvation, -or unfortunate and honest debtors (who have been torn from their -impoverished families) are doomed to pine.</p> - -<p>So far from uttering unreasonable complaints, the hearts of my highly -favoured countrymen ought rather to be filled with gratitude to that -Being, by whose assistance they have been enabled to avert so many -of the miseries of life, so peculiar to a portion of the oppressed -of Europe at the present day—and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>77</span> who after groaning themselves for -some time under the yoke of foreign tyranny, succeeded in emancipating -themselves from slavery and are now blessed with the sweets of liberty, -and the undisturbed enjoyment of their natural rights. Britain, -imperious Britain, who once boasted the freedom of her government and -the invincible power of her arms—now finds herself reduced to the -humiliating necessity of receiving lessons of liberty from those whom -till late she despised as slaves!—while our own country on the other -hand, like a phoenix from her ashes, having emerged from a long, an -expensive and bloody war, and established a constitution upon the -broad and immovable basis of national equality, now promises to become -the permanent residence of peace, liberty, science, and national -felicity.—But, to return to the tale of my own sufferings—</p> - -<p>While hundreds were daily becoming the wretched victims of hunger and -starvation, I was enabled by my industry to obtain a morsel each day -for my family; although this morsel, which was to be divided among -four, would many times have proved insufficient to have satisfied the -hunger of one—I seldom ever failed from morning to night to cry “old -chairs to mend,” through the principal streets of the city, but many -times with very little success—if I obtained four chairs to rebottom -in the course of one day, I considered myself fortunate indeed, but -instances of such good luck were very rare; it was more frequent that -I did not obtain a single one,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>78</span> and after crying the whole day until I -made myself hoarse, I was obliged to return to my poor family at night -empty handed.</p> - -<p>So many at one time engaged in the same business, that had I not -resorted to other means my family must inevitably have starved—while -crying “old chairs to mend,” I collected all the old rags, bits of -paper, nails and broken glass which I could find in the streets, -and which I deposited in a bag, which I carried with me for that -purpose—these produced me a trifle, and that trifle when other -resources failed, procured me a morsel of bread, or a few pounds -of potatoes, for my poor wife and children—yet I murmured not as -the dispensation of the supreme Arbiter of allotments, which had -assigned to me so humbled a line of duty; although I could not have -believed once, that I should ever have been brought to such a state of -humiliating distress, as would have required such means to alleviate it.</p> - -<p>In February 1793, War was declared by Great Britain against the -republic of France—and although war is a calamity that ought always -to be regretted by friends of humanity, as thousands are undoubtedly -thereby involved in misery; yet, no event could have happened at that -time productive of so much benefit to me, as this—it was the means -of draining the country of those who had been once soldiers, and who, -thrown out of employ by the peace, demanded a sum so trifling for their -services, as to cause a reduction in the wages of the poor labouring -class of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>79</span> people, to a sum insufficient to procure the necessaries of -life for their families;—this evil was now removed—the old soldiers -preferred an employment more in character of themselves, to doing -the drudgery of the city—great inducements were held out to them to -enlist, and the army was not long retarded in its operations for the -want of recruits. My prospects in being enabled to earn something to -satisfy the calls of nature, became now more flattering;—the great -number that had been employed during the Peace in a business similar -to my own, were now reduced to one half, which enabled me to obtain -such an extra number of jobs at chair mending that I no longer found -it necessary to collect the scrapings of the streets as I had been -obliged to do for the many months past. I was now enabled to purchase -for my family two or three pounds of fresh meat each week, an article -to which (with one or two exceptions) we had been strangers for more -than a year—having subsisted principally on potatoes, oat meal bread, -and salt fish, and sometimes, but rarely however, were enabled to treat -ourselves to a little skim milk.</p> - -<p>Had not other afflictions attended me, I should not have had much -cause to complain of very extraordinary hardships or privations from -this period, until the conclusion of the war in 1817;—my family had -increased, and to increase my cares there was scarcely a week passed -but that some one of them was seriously indisposed—of ten children -of which I was the father, I had the misfortune to bury seven under -five years<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>80</span> of age, and two more after they had arrived to the age of -twenty—my last and only child now living, it pleased the Almighty -to spare to me, to administer help and comfort to his poor afflicted -parent, and without whose assistance I should (so far from having been -enabled once more to visit the land of my nativity) ’ere this have paid -the debt of nature in a foreign land, and that too by a death no less -horrible than that of starvation!</p> - -<p>As my life was unattended with any very extraordinary circumstance -(except the one just mentioned) from the commencement of the war, -until the re-establishment of monarchy in France, and the cessation of -hostilities on the part of Great Britain, in 1817, I shall commence on -the narration of my unparalleled sufferings, from the latter period, -until that when by the kind interposition of Providence, I was enabled -finally to obtain a passage to my native country; and to bid an adieu, -and I hope and trust a final one, to that Island, where I had endured a -complication of miseries beyond the power of description.</p> - -<p>The peace produced similar effects to that of 1783—thousands were -thrown out of employ and the streets of London thronged with soldiers -seeking means to earn a humble subsistence. The cry of “Old Chairs to -Mend,” (and that too at a very reduced price) was reiterated through -the streets of London by numbers who but the month before were at -Waterloo fighting the battles of their country—which, so seriously -effected my business in this line, that to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>81</span> obtain food (and that of -the most humble kind) for my family, I was obliged once more to have -recourse to the collecting of scraps of rags, paper, glass, and such -other articles of however trifling value that I could find in the -streets.</p> - -<p>It was at this distressing period, that, in consequence of the -impossibility of so great a number who had been discharged from the -service procuring a livelihood by honest means, that instances of -thefts, and daring robberies, increased throughout Great Britain three -fold. Bands of highwaymen and robbers hovered about the vicinity of -London in numbers which almost defied suppression; many were taken and -executed or transported; but this seemed to render the rest only the -more desperately bold and cruel, while house-breaking and assassination -were daily perpetrated with new arts and outrages in the very capital. -Nor were the starving condition of the honest poor, who were to be -met with at all times of day and in every street, seeking something -to appease their hunger, less remarkable—unable to procure by any -means within their power sustenance sufficient to support nature, some -actually became the victims of absolute starvation, as the following -melancholly instance will show:—a poor man exhausted by want; dropped -down in the street—those who were passing unacquainted with the -frequency of such melancholly events, at first thought him intoxicated; -but after languishing half an hour, he expired. On the following day, -an inquest was held<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>82</span> on the body, and the verdict of the jury not -giving satisfaction to the Coroner, they adjourned to the next day.—In -the interim, two respectable surgeons were engaged to open the body, -in which not a particle of nutriment was to be found except a little -yellow substance, supposed to be grass, or some crude vegetable; which -the poor man had swallowed to appease the cravings of nature!—this -lamentable proof confirmed the opinion of the jury, that he died for -want of the necessaries of life, and gave their verdict accordingly.</p> - -<p>Miserable as was the fate of this man and that of many others, mine was -but little better, and would ultimately have been the same, had it not -been for the assistance afforded me by my only remaining child, a lad -but seven years of age. I had now arrived to an advanced age of life, -and although possessing an extraordinary constitution for one of my -years, yet by my incessant labours to obtain subsistence for my family, -I brought on myself a severe fit of sickness, which confined me three -weeks to my chamber; in which time my only sustenance was the produce -of a few half pennies, which my poor wife and little son had been able -to earn each day by, disposing of matches of their own make, and in -collecting and disposing of the articles of small value, of which I -have before made mention, which were to be found thinly scattered in -the streets. In three weeks it was the will of providence so far to -restore to me my strength, as to enable me once<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>83</span> more to move abroad in -search of something to support nature.</p> - -<p>The tenement which I at this time rented and which was occupied by my -family, was a small and wretched apartment of a garret, and for which -I had obligated myself to pay sixpence per day, which was to be paid -at the close of every week; and in case of failure (agreeable to the -laws or customs of the land) my furniture was liable to be seized. In -consequence of my illness, and other misfortunes, I fell six weeks in -arrears for rent; and having returned one evening with my wife and son, -from the performance of our daily task, my kind readers may judge what -my feelings must have been to find our room stripped of every article -(of however trifling value) that it contained!—alas, oh heavens! to -what a state of wretchedness were we now reduced! if there was any -thing wanting to complete our misery, this additional drop to the cup -of our afflictions, more than sufficed. Although the real value of -all that they had taken from me, or rather robbed me of, would not -if publicly disposed of, have produced a sum probably exceeding five -dollars; yet it was our all, except the few tattered garments that we -had on our backs, and were serviceable and all important to us in our -impoverished situation. Not an article of bedding of any kind was left -us on which to repose at night, or a chair or stool on which we could -rest our wearied limbs! but, as destitute as we were, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>84</span> naked as -they had left our dreary apartment, we had no other abiding place.</p> - -<p>With a few half penny’s which were jointly our hard earnings of that -day, I purchased a peck of coal and a few pounds of potatoes; which -while the former furnished us with a little fire, the latter served -for the moment to appease our hunger—by a poor family in an adjoining -room I was obliged with the loan of a wooden bench, which served as a -seat and a table, from which we partook of our homely fare. In this -woeful situation, hovering over a few half consumed coals, we spent a -sleepless night. The day’s dawn brought additional afflictions—my poor -wife who had until this period borne her troubles without a sigh or a -murmur, and had passed through hardships and sorrows, which nothing but -the Supreme Giver of patience and fortitude, and her perfect confidence -in him, could have enabled her to sustain; yet so severe and unexpected -a stroke as the last, she could not withstand—I found her in the -morning gloomy and dejected, and so extremely feeble as to be hardly -able to descend the stairs.</p> - -<p>We left our miserable habitation in the morning, with hopes that the -wretched spectacle that we presented, weak and emaciated as we were, -would move some to pity and induce them to impart that relief which -our situations so much required—it would however be almost endless -to recount the many rebuffs we met with in our attempts to crave<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>85</span> -assistance. Some few indeed were more merciful, and whatever their -opinion might be of the cause of our misery, the distress they saw -us in excited their charity, and for their own sakes were induced -to contribute a trifle to our wants. We alternately happened among -savages and christians, but even the latter, too much influenced by -appearances, were very sparing of their bounty.</p> - -<p>With the small trifle that had been charitably bestowed on us, we -returned at night to our wretched dwelling, which, stripped as it -had been, could promise us but little more than a shelter, and where -we spent the night very much as the preceding one.—Such was the -debilitated state of my poor wife the ensuing morning, produced by -excessive hunger and fatigue, as to render it certain, that sinking -under the weight of misery, the hand of death in mercy to her, was -about to release her from her long and unparalleled sufferings. I -should be afraid of exciting too painful sensations in the minds of my -readers, were I to attempt to describe my feelings at this moment, and -to paint in all their horror, the miseries which afterward attended -me; although so numerous had been my afflictions, that it seemed -impossible for any new calamity to be capable of augmenting them;—men -accustomed to vicissitudes are not soon dejected, but there are trials -which human nature alone cannot surmount—indeed to such a state of -wretchedness was I now reduced, that had it not been for my suffering -family, life would have been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>86</span> no longer desirable. The attendance that -the helpless situation of my poor wife now demanded, it was not within -my power to afford her, as early the next day I was reluctantly driven -by hunger abroad in search of something that might serve to contribute -to our relief. I left my unfortunate companion, attended by no other -person but our little son, destitute of fuel and food, and stretched -on an armful of straw, which I had been so fortunate as to provide -myself with the day preceding;—the whole produce of my labours this -day (which I may safely say was the most melancholly one of my life) -amounted to no more than one shilling! which I laid out to the best -advantage possible, in the purchase of a few of the necessaries, which -the situation of my sick companion most required.</p> - -<p>I ought to have mentioned, that previous to this melancholy period, -when most severely afflicted, I had been two or three times driven to -the necessity of making application to the Overseers of the poor, of -the parish in which I resided, for admittance into the Almshouse, or -for some assistance, but never with any success; having always been put -off by them with some evasive answer or frivolous pretence—sometimes -charged by them with being an imposter, and that laziness more than -debility and real want, had induced me to make the application—at -other times I was told that being an American born, I had no lawful -claim on the government of that country for support; that I ought to -have made application<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>87</span> to the American Consul for assistance, whose -business it was to assist such of his countrymen whose situations -required it.</p> - -<p>But such now was my distress, in consequence of the extreme illness of -my wife, that I must receive that aid so indispensably necessary at -this important crisis, or subject myself to witness a scene no less -distressing, than that of my poor wretched wife, actually perishing -for the want of that care and nourishment which it was not in my power -to afford her! Thus situated I was induced to renew my application -to the Overseer for assistance, representing to him the deplorable -situation of my family, who were actually starving for the want of -that sustenance which it was not in my power to procure for them; and -what I thought would most probably effect his feelings, described -to him the peculiar and distressing situation of my wife, the hour -of whose dissolution was apparently fast approaching—but, I soon -found that I was addressing one who possessed a heart callous to the -feelings of humanity—one, whose feelings were not to be touched by a -representation of the greatest misery with which human nature could -be afflicted. The same cruel observations were made as before, that -I was a vile impostor who was seeking by imposition to obtain that -support in England, which my own country had withheld from me—that the -American Yankees had fought for and obtained their Independence, and -yet were not independent enough to support their own poor!—that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>88</span> Great -Britain would find enough to do, was she to afford relief to every -d—d yankee vagabond that should apply for it!—fortunately for this -abusive British scoundrel, I possessed not now that bodily strength and -activity, which I could once boast of, or the villain (whether within -his Majesty’s dominions or not) should have received on the spot a -proof of “Yankee Independence” for his insolence.</p> - -<p>Failing in my attempts to obtain the assistance which the lamentable -situation of my wife required, I had recourse to other means—I waited -on two or three gentlemen in my neighbourhood, who had been represented -to me as persons of humanity, and entreated them to visit my wretched -dwelling, and to satisfy themselves by occular demonstration, of the -state of my wretchedness, especially that of my dying companion—they -complied with my request, and were introduced by me to a scene, which -for misery and distress, they declared surpassed every thing that they -had ever before witnessed!—they accompanied me immediately to one in -whom was invested the principal government of the poor of the parish, -and represented to him, the scene of human misery which they had been -an eye witness to—whereupon an order was issued to have my wife -conveyed to the Hospital, which was immediately done and where she was -comfortably provided for—but, alas, the relief which her situation -had so much required, had been too long deferred—her deprivation and -sufferings had been too great to admit of her being now<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>89</span> restored to -her former state of health, or relieved by any thing that could be -administered—after her removal to the Hospital, she lingered a few -days in a state of perfect insensibility, and then closed her eyes -forever on a world, where for many years, she had been the unhappy -subject of almost constant affliction.</p> - -<p>I felt very sensibly the irreparable loss of one who had been my -companion in adversity, as well as in prosperity; and when blessed -with health, had afforded me by her industry that assistance, without -which, the sufferings of our poor children would have been greater if -possible than what they were. My situation was now truly a lonely one, -bereaved of my wife, and all my children except one; who, although but -little more than seven years of age, was a child of that sprightliness -and activity, as to possess himself with a perfect knowledge of the -chair-bottoming business, and by which he earned not only enough (when -work could be obtained) to furnish himself with food, but contributed -much to the relief of his surviving parent, when confined by illness -and infirmity.</p> - -<p>We continued to improve the apartment from which my wife had been -removed, until I was so fortunate as to be able to rent a ready -furnished apartment (as it was termed) at four shillings and sixpence -per week. Apartments of this kind are not uncommon in London, and are -intended to accommodate poor families, situated as we were, who had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>90</span> -been so unfortunate as to be stripped of every thing but the cloathes -on their backs by their unfeeling landlords. These “ready furnished -rooms” were nothing but miserable apartments in garrets, and contain -but few more conveniences than what many of our common prisons in -America afford—a bunk of straw, with two or three old blankets, a -couple of chairs, and a rough table about three feet square, with -an article or two of iron ware in which to cook our victuals (if we -should be so fortunate as to obtain any) was the contents of the “ready -furnished apartment” that we were now about to occupy—but even with -these few conveniences, it was comparatively a palace to the one we had -for several weeks past improved.</p> - -<p>When my health would permit, I seldom failed to visit daily the most -public streets of the city, and from morning to night cry for old -chairs to mend—accompanied by my son Thomas, with a bundle of flags, -as represented in the Plate annexed to this volume. If we were so -fortunate as to obtain a job of work more than we could complete in -the day, with the permission of the owner, I would convey the chairs -on my back to my humble dwelling, and with the assistance of my little -son, improve the evening to complete the work, which would produce us -a few half pennies to purchase something for our breakfast the next -morning—but it was very seldom that instances of this kind occurred, -as it was more frequently the case that after crying for old chairs to -mend, the whole day, we were obliged to return, hungry and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>91</span> weary, and -without a single half penny in our pockets, to our humble dwelling, -where we were obliged to fast until the succeeding day; and indeed -there were some instances in which we were compelled to fast two or -three days successively, without being able to procure a single job -of work.—The rent I had obligated myself to pay every night, and -frequently when our hunger was such as hardly to be endured, I was -obliged to reserve the few pennies that I was possessed of to apply to -this purpose.</p> - -<p>In our most starving condition when every other plan failed, my little -son would adopt the expedient of sweeping the public cause-ways -(leading from one walk to the other) where he would labour the whole -day, with the expectation of receiving no other reward than what the -generosity of gentlemen, who had occasion to cross, would induce -them to bestow in charity, and which seldom amounted to more than a -few pennies—sometime the poor boy would toil in this way the whole -day, without being so fortunate as to receive a single half penny—it -was then he would return home sorrowful and dejected, and while he -attempted to conceal his own hunger, with tears in his eyes, would -lament his hard fortune in not being able to obtain something to -appease mine.—While he was thus employed I remained at home, but not -idle, being as busily engaged in making matches, with which (when he -returned home empty handed) we were obliged as fatigued as we were, -to visit the markets to expose for sale, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>92</span> where we were obliged -sometimes to tarry until eleven o’clock at night, before we could meet -with a single purchaser.</p> - -<p>Having one stormy night of a Saturday, visited the market with my -son for this purpose, and after exposing ourselves to the chilling -rain until past 10 o’clock, without being able either of us to sell a -single match, I advised the youth (being thinly clad) to return home -feeling disposed to tarry myself a while longer, in hopes that better -success might attend me, as having already fasted one day and night, -it was indispensably necessary that I should obtain something to -appease our hunger the succeeding day (Sunday) or what seemed almost -impossible, to endure longer its torments! I remained until the clock -struck eleven, the hour at which the market closed, and yet had met -with no better success! It is impossible to describe the sensation of -despondency which overwhelmed me at this moment! I now considered it -as certain that I must return home with nothing wherewith to satisfy -our craving appetites—and with my mind filled with the most heart -rending reflections, I was about to return, when, Heaven seemed pleased -to interpose in my behalf, and to send relief when I little expected -it;—passing a beef stall I attracted the notice of the butcher, who -viewing me, probably as I was, a miserable object of pity, emaciated -by long fastings, and clad in tattered garments, from which the water -was fast dripping, and judging no doubt by my appearance that on no -one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>93</span> could charity be more properly bestowed, he threw into my basket a -beeve’s heart, with the request that I would depart with it immediately -for my home, if any I had!—I will not attempt to describe the joy -that I felt on this occasion, in so unexpectedly meeting with that -relief, which my situation so much required. I hastened home with a -much lighter heart than what I had anticipated; and when I arrived, the -sensations of joy exhibited by my little son on viewing the prize that -I bore, produced effects as various as extraordinary; he wept, then -laughed and danced with transport.</p> - -<p>The reader must suppose that while I found it so extremely difficult to -earn enough to preserve us from starvation, I had little to spare for -cloathing and other necessaries; and that this was really my situation, -I think no one will doubt, when I positively declare that to such -extremities was I driven, that being unable to pay a barber for shaving -me, I was obliged to adopt the expedient for more than two years, of -clipping my beard as close as possible with a pair of scissors which -I kept expressly for that purpose!—as strange and laughable as the -circumstance may appear to some, I assure the reader that I state -facts, and exaggerate nothing. As regarded our cloathes, I can say -no more than that they were the best that we could procure, and were -such as persons in our situations were obliged to wear—they served -to conceal our nakedness, but would have proved insufficient to have -protected our bodies,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>94</span> from the inclemency of the weather of a colder -climate. Such indeed was sometimes our miserable appearance, clad in -tattered garments, that while engaged in our employment in crying for -old chairs to mend, we not only attracted the notice of many, but there -were instances in which a few half pennies unsolicited were bestowed -on us in charity—an instance of this kind happened one day as I was -passing through threadneedle street; a gentleman perceiving by the -appearance of the shoes that I wore, that they were about to quit me, -put a half crown in my hand, and bid me go and cry “old shoes to mend!”</p> - -<p>In long and gloomy winter evenings, when unable to furnish myself with -any other light than that emitted by a little fire of sea coal, I would -attempt to drive away melancholy by amusing my son with an account of -my native country, and of the many blessings there enjoyed by even -the poorest class of people—of their fair fields producing a regular -supply of bread—their convenient houses, to which they could repair -after the toils of the day, to partake of the fruits of their labour, -safe from the storms and the cold, and where they could lay down their -heads to rest without any to molest them or to make them afraid. -Nothing could have been better calculated to excite animation in the -mind of the poor child, than an account so flattering of a country -which had given birth to his father, and to which he had received my -repeated assurances he should accompany me as soon as an opportunity -should present—after<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>95</span> expressing his fears that the happy day was yet -far distant, with a deep sigh he would exclaim “would to God it was -<a id="tomorrow"></a><ins title="Original has 'to morrow'">to-morrow!”</ins></p> - -<p>About a year after the decease of my wife, I was taken extremely ill, -insomuch that at one time my life was -<a id="despaired"></a><ins title="Original has 'dispaired'">despaired</ins> of, and -had it not been for the friendless and lonely situation in which such -an event would have placed my son, I should have welcomed the hour of -my dissolution and viewed it as a consummation rather to be wished than -dreaded; for so great had been my sufferings of mind and body, and the -miseries to which I was still exposed, that life had really become a -burden to me—indeed I think it would have been difficult to have found -on the face of the earth a being more wretched than I had been for the -three years past.</p> - -<p>During my illness my only friend on earth was my son Thomas, who did -every thing to alleviate my wants within the power of his age to -do—sometimes by crying for old chairs to mend (for he had become -as expert a workman at this business as his father) and sometimes -by sweeping the cause-ways, and by making and selling matches, he -succeeded in earning each day a trifle sufficient to procure for me and -himself a humble sustenance. When I had so far recovered as to be able -to creep abroad, and the youth had been so fortunate as to obtain a -good job, I would accompany him, although very feeble, and assist him -in conveying the chairs home—it was on such occasions that my dear -child would manifest<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>96</span> his tenderness and affection for me, by insisting -(if there were four chairs) that I should carry but one, and he would -carry the remaining three, or in that proportion if a greater or less -number.</p> - -<p>From the moment that I had informed him of the many blessings enjoyed -by my countrymen of every class, I was almost constantly urged by my -son to apply to the American Consul for a passage—it was in vain that -I represented to him, that if such an application was attended with -success and the opportunity should be improved by me, it must cause our -separation, perhaps forever; as he would not be permitted to accompany -me at the expense of government—“never mind me (he would reply) do -not father suffer any more on my account; if you can only succeed in -obtaining a passage to a country where you can enjoy the blessings that -you have described to me, I may hereafter be so fortunate as to meet -with an opportunity to join you—and if not, it will be a consolation -to me, whatever my afflictions may be, to think that yours have -ceased!” My ardent wish to return to America, was not less than that -of my son, but could not bear the thoughts of a separation; of leaving -him behind exposed to all the miseries peculiar to the friendless -poor of that country;—he was a child of my old age, and from whom I -had received too many proofs of his love and regard for me, not to -feel that parental affection for him to which his amiable disposition -entitled him.</p> - -<p>I was indeed unacquainted with the place of residence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>97</span> of the American -Consul—I had made frequent enquiries, but found no one that could -inform me correctly where he might be found; but so anxious was my son -that I should spend the remnant of my days in that country where I -should receive (if nothing more) a christian burial at my decease, and -bid adieu forever to a land where I had spent so great a portion of my -life in sorrow, and many years had endured the lingering tortures of -protracted famine; that he ceased not to enquire of everyone with whom -he was acquainted, until he obtained the wished for information. Having -learned the place of residence of the American Consul, and fearful of -the consequences of delay, he would give me no peace until I promised -that I would accompany him there the succeeding day, if my strength -would admit of it; for although I had partially recovered from a severe -fit of sickness, yet I was still so weak and feeble as to be scarcely -able to walk.</p> - -<p>My son did not forget to remind me early the next morning of my -promise, and to gratify him more than with an expectation of meeting -with much success I set out with him, feeble as I was, for the -Consul’s. The distance was about two miles, and before I had succeeded -in reaching half the way, I had wished myself a dozen times safe home -again, and had it not been for the strong persuasions of my son to -the contrary, I certainly should have returned.—I was never before -so sensible of the effects of my long sufferings—which had produced -that degree of bodily<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>98</span> weakness and debility, as to leave me scarcely -strength sufficient to move without the assistance of my son; who, when -he found me reeling or halting through weakness, would support me until -I had gained sufficient strength to proceed.</p> - -<p>Although the distance was but two miles, yet such was the state of my -weakness, that although we started early in the morning, it was half -past 3 o’clock <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span> when we reached the Consul’s office, -when I was so much exhausted as to be obliged to ascend the steps on -my hands and knees. Fortunately we found the Consul in, and on my -addressing him and acquainting him with the object of my visit, he -seemed at first unwilling to credit the fact that I was an American -born—but after interrogating me sometime, as to the place of my -nativity, the cause which first brought me to England, &c. he seemed -to be more satisfied; he however observed (on being informed that the -lad who accompanied me was my son) that he could procure a passage for -me, but not for him, as being born in England, the American government -would consider him a British subject, and under no obligation to defray -the expence of his passage—and as regarded myself, he observed, that -he had his doubts, so aged and infirm as I appeared to be, whether I -should live to reach America, if I should attempt it.</p> - -<p>I cannot say that I was much surprised at the observations of the -Consul, as they exactly agreed with what I had anticipated—and as -anxious as I then<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>99</span> felt to visit once more my native country, I felt -determined not to attempt it, unless I could be accompanied by my -son, and expressed myself to this effect to the Consul—the poor -lad appeared nearly overcome with grief when he saw me preparing to -return without being able to effect my object; indeed so greatly was -he affected, and such the sorrow that he exhibited, that he attracted -the notice (and I believe I may add the pity) of the Consul—who, -after making some few enquiries as regarded his disposition, age, -&c. observed that he could furnish the lad with a passage at his own -expense, which he should have no objection to do if I would consent -to his living with a connection of his (the -<a id="Consul"></a><ins title="Original has fullstop">Consul</ins>,) on his arrival -in America—“but (continued he,) in such a case you must be a while -separated, for it would be imprudent for you to attempt the passage -until you have gained more strength—I will pay your board, where by -better living than you have been latterly accustomed to, you may have a -chance to recruit—but your son must take passage on board the London -Packet, which sails for Boston the day after to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>Although but a few moments previous, my son would have thought no -sacrifice too great, that would have enabled us to effect our object -in obtaining passages to America; yet, when he found that instead of -himself, I was to be left for a while behind, he appeared at some loss -how to determine—but on being assured by the Consul that if my life -was spared I should soon join him, he consented; and being furnished<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>100</span> -by the Consul with a few necessary articles of cloathing, I the next -day accompanied him on board the packet which was to convey him to -America—and after giving him the best advice that I was capable of as -regarded his behaviour and deportment while on his passage, and on his -arrival in America, I took my leave of him and saw him not again until -I met him on the wharf on my arrival at Boston.</p> - -<p>When I parted with the Consul he presented me with half a crown, and -directions where to apply for board—it was at a public Inn where I -found many American seamen, who, like myself, were boarded there at -the Consul’s expence, until passages could be obtained for them to -America—I was treated by them with much civility, and by hearing them -daily recount their various and remarkable adventures, as well as by -relating my own, I passed my time more agreeably than what I probably -should have done in other society.</p> - -<p>In eight weeks I was so far recruited by good living, as in the -opinion of the Consul, to be able to endure the fatigues of a passage -to my native country, and which was procured for me on board the ship -Carterian, bound to New-York. We set sail on the 5th April, 1823, and -after a passage of 42 days, arrived safe at our port of destination. -After having experienced in a foreign land so much ill-treatment from -those from whom I could expect no mercy, and for no other fault than -that of being an American, I could not but flatter myself that when -I bid adieu to that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>101</span> country, I should no longer be the subject of -unjust persecution, or have occasion to complain of ill treatment from -those whose duty it was to afford me protection. But the sad reverse -which I experienced while on board the Carterian, convinced me of the -incorrectness of my conclusions. For my country’s sake, I am happy -that I have it in my power to say that the crew of this ship, was not -composed altogether of Americans—there was a mixture of all nations; -and among them some so vile, and destitute of every humane principle, -as to delight in nothing so much as to sport with the infirmities of -one, whose grey locks ought at least to have protected him. By these -unfeeling wretches (who deserve not the name of sailors) I was not -only most shamefully ill-used on the passage, but was robbed of some -necessary articles of cloathing, which had been charitably bestowed on -me by the American Consul.</p> - -<p>We arrived in the harbour of New-York about midnight, and such were the -pleasing sensations produced by the reflection that on the morrow I -should be indulged with the priviledge of walking once more on American -ground after an absence of almost 50 years, and that but a short -distance now separated me from my dear son, that it was in vain that I -attempted to close my eyes to sleep. Never was the morning’s dawn so -cheerfully welcomed by me. I solicited and obtained the permission of -the captain to be early set on shore, and on reaching which, I did not -forget to offer up my unfeigned thanks to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>102</span> that Almighty Being, who -had not only sustained me during my heavy afflictions abroad, but had -finally restored me to my native country. The pleasure that I enjoyed -in viewing the streets thronged by those, who, although I could not -claim as acquaintances, I could greet as my countrymen, was unbounded, -I felt a regard for almost every object that met my eyes, because it -was American.</p> - -<p>Great as was my joy on finding myself once more among my countrymen, I -felt not a little impatient for the arrival of the happy moment when I -should be able to meet my son. Agreeable to the orders which I received -from the American Consul, I applied to the Custom House in New-York -for a passage from thence to Boston, and with which I was provided on -board a regular packet which sailed the morning ensuing—in justice to -the captain, I must say that I was treated by him as well as by all -on board, with much civility. We arrived at the Long Wharf in Boston -after a short and pleasant passage. I had been informed by the Consul, -previous to leaving London, of the name of the gentleman with whom my -son probably lived, and a fellow passenger on board the packet was so -good as to call on and inform him of my arrival—in less than fifteen -minutes after receiving the information my son met me on the wharf! -Reader, you will not believe it possible for me to describe my feelings -correctly at this joyful moment! if you are a parent, you may have some -conception of them; but a faint one however<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>103</span> unless you and an only and -beloved child have been placed in a similar situation.</p> - -<p>After acquainting myself with the state of my boy’s health, &c. my -next enquiry was whether he found the country as it had been described -by me, and how he esteemed it—“well, extremely well (was his reply) -since my arrival I have fared like a Prince, I have meat every day, and -have feasted on American puddings and pies (such as you used to tell -me about) until I have become almost sick of them!” I was immediately -conducted by him to the house of the gentleman with whom he lived, and -by whom I was treated with much hospitality—in the afternoon of the -day succeeding (by the earnest request of my son) I visited Bunker -Hill, which he had a curiosity to view, having heard it so frequently -spoken of by me while in London, as the place where the memorable -battle was fought and in which I received my wounds.</p> - -<p>I continued in Boston about a fortnight, and then set out on foot -to visit once more my native State. My son accompanied me as far as -Roxbury, when I was obliged reluctantly to part with him, and proceeded -myself no farther on my journey that day than Jamaica plains, where at -a public house I tarried all night—from thence I started early the -next morning and reached Providence about 5 o’-clock in the afternoon, -and obtained lodgings at a public Inn in High-Street.</p> - -<p>It may not be improper here to acquaint my readers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>104</span> that as I had left -my father possessed of very considerable property, and of which at his -decease I thought myself entitled to a portion equal to that of other -children, which (as my father was very economical in the management -of his affairs) I knew could not amount to a very inconsiderable sum, -it was to obtain this if possible, that I became extremely anxious to -visit immediately the place of my nativity—accordingly the day after -I arrived in Providence, I hastened to Cranston, to seek my connexions -if any were to be found; and if not to seek among the most aged of -the inhabitants, some one who had not forgotten me, and who might be -able to furnish me with the sought for information. But, alas, too -soon were blasted my hopeful expectations of finding something in -reserve for me, that might have afforded me a humble support, the few -remaining years of my life. It was by a distant connection that I was -informed that my brothers had many years since removed to a distant -part of the country—that having credited a rumour in circulation of -my death, at the decease of my father had disposed of the real estate -of which he died possessed, and had divided the proceeds equally among -themselves! This was another instance of adverse fortune that I had -not anticipated!—it was indeed a circumstance so foreign from my mind -that I felt myself for the first time, unhappy, since my return to my -native country, and even believed myself now doomed to endure, among my -own countrymen (for whose liberties<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>105</span> I had fought and bled) miseries -similar to those that had attended me for many years in Europe. With -these gloomy forebodings I returned to Providence, and contracted for -board with the gentleman at whose house I had lodged the first night -of my arrival in town, and to whom for the kind treatment that I have -received from him and his family, I shall feel till death under the -deepest obligations that gratitude can dictate; for I can truly say of -him, that I was a stranger and he took me in, I was hungry and naked, -and he fed and cloathed me.</p> - -<p>As I had never received any remuneration for services rendered, and -hardships endured in the cause of my country, I was now obliged, as -my last resort, to petition Congress to be included in that number -of the few surviving soldiers of the Revolution, for whose services -they had been pleased to grant pensions—and I would to God that I -could add, for the honour of my country, that the application met with -its deserving success—but, although accompanied by the deposition -of a respectable gentleman (which deposition I have thought proper -to annex to my narrative) satisfactorily confirming every fact as -therein stated—yet, on no other principle, than that <em>I was absent -from the country when the pension law passed</em>—my Petition was -REJECTED!!! Reader, I have been for 30 years (as you will perceive by -what I have stated in the foregoing pages) subject, in a <em>foreign</em> -country, to almost all the miseries with which poor human nature is -capable of being inflicted—yet,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>106</span> in no one instance did I ever feel -so great degree of a depression of spirits, as when the fate of my -Petition was announced to me! I love too well the country which gave -me birth, and entertain too high a respect for those employed in its -government, to reproach them with ingratitude; yet, it is my sincere -prayer that this strange and unprecedented circumstance, of withholding -from me that reward which they have so generally bestowed on others, -may never be told in Europe, or published in the streets of London, -least it reach the ears of some who had the effrontery to declare -to me personally, that for the active part that I had taken in the -“rebellious war” misery and starvation would ultimately be my reward!</p> - -<p>To conclude—although I may be again unfortunate in a renewal of my -application to government, for that reward to which my services so -justly entitle me—yet I feel thankful that I am priviledged (after -enduring so much) to spend the remainder of my days, among those who -I am confident are possessed of too much humanity, to see me suffer; -and which I am sensible I owe to the divine goodness, which graciously -condescended to support me under my numerous afflictions, and finally -enabled me to return to my native country in the 79th year of my -age—for this I return unfeigned thanks to the Almighty; and hope to -give during the remainder of my life, convincing testimonies of the -strong impression which those afflictions made on my mind, by devoting -myself sincerely to the duties of religion.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>107</span> -</div> - -<h2 id="deposition">DEPOSITION OF JOHN VIAL</h2> - -<p>I <span class="smcap">John Vial</span> of North Providence, in the county of Providence, -in the State of Rhode Island, on oath certify and say, that sometime in -the latter part of November or the beginning of December <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> -1775, I entered as gunner’s mate on board the Washington, a public -armed vessel in the service of the United States, and under the command -of S. Martindale, Esq.—said vessel was sent out by order of General -<span class="smcap">Washington</span>, from Plymouth (Mass.) to cruise in Boston harbour -to intercept supplies going to Boston, then in the possession of the -British troops. After we had been out a short time, we were captured by -a British 20 gun ship, called the “Foy,” and were carried to Boston, -where we remained about a week and were then put on board the frigate -Tartar, and sent to England as prisoners—and I the said John further -testify and say, that I well remember Israel R. Potter, now residing in -Cranston, who was a mariner on board the Washington also—said Potter -entered about the time I did and was captured and carried to England -with me. We arrived in England in January 1776, we were then put into -the Hospital, the greater part of the crew being sick in consequence -of the confinement during the voyage, where many died—I remained in -imprisonment about sixteen months when I made my escape—what became -of said Potter afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>108</span> I do not know but I have not the least -doubt he remained a prisoner until the peace 1783 as he stated in his -application for a pension—I have no doubt he suffered a great deal -during his captivity. According to my best recollection nearly one -third of the crew died in the hospital—I do remember an affair which -took place during our voyage to England which caused Potter to suffer a -great deal more than perhaps he otherwise would—a number of the crew -of the Washington formed a plan to rise and take the Frigate but was -defeated in their purpose, among whom I believe Potter was one, and in -consequence, put in irons for the remaining part of the voyage with a -number of others. And I the said John do further testify that I do not -know of any of the said crew of the Washington now being alive except -said Potter and myself—and that I do not believe it to be in the power -of said Potter to procure any other testimony of the above mentioned -facts except mine.</p> - -<p class="right2">JOHN VIAL.</p> - -<p class="noi">Rhode Island District — Providence Aug. 6, 1823.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The said John Vial, who is well known to me and is a creditable -witness, made solemn oath to the truth of the foregoing deposition by -him subscribed in my presence.</p> - -<p class="right2">DAVID HOWELL.<br /> -<span class="smcap">District Judge.</span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="divider x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -</div> - -<h2 id="appendix">APPENDIX</h2> - -<p>Herman Melville first conceived of retelling the tale of Israel Potter, -the “Revolutionary beggar,” in 1849 after coming upon a tattered copy -of the original book. When he finally wrote his own account in 1854, he -drew as well on the narratives of Ethan Allen and Nathaniel Fanning, -who had served under John Paul Jones, and he had himself visited London.</p> - -<p>While the real Israel Potter devoted half of his personal history to -his years in London following the Revolutionary War, Melville retold -these events in a few brief concluding chapters to his own volume, -<cite>Israel Potter, His Fifty Years of Exile</cite>. Melville’s chapters are -reproduced from the 1855 first edition to give a comparative view of -the tragedy of Potter’s life as seen by himself and by Herman Melville, -a quarter of a century later.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter width500" id="fifty-title"> - <img src="images/fifty-title.jpg" width="500" height="832" alt="Title page -Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile" /> -</div> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<h2>ISRAEL POTTER:<br /> -<span class="antiqua">His Fifty Years of Exile.</span></h2> - -<p class="center"><span class="p8">By</span><br /> -HERMAN MELVILLE,<br /> -<span class="p8">AUTHOR OF “TYPEE,” “OMOO,” ETC.</span></p> - -<p class="center p140 antiqua mb0">New York:</p> -<p class="center mt0">G. P. PUTNAM & CO., 10 PARK PLACE.<br /> -1855.</p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<p class="center p140 lh">TO<br /> -HIS HIGHNESS<br /> -THE<br /> -<span class="antiqua">Bunker-Hill Monument</span>.</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Biography</span>, in its purer form, confined to the ended lives of the true -and brave, may be held the fairest meed of human virtue—one given and -received in entire disinterestedness—since neither can the biographer -hope for acknowledgment from the subject, nor the subject at all avail -himself of the biographical distinction conferred.</p> - -<p>Israel Potter well merits the present tribute—a private of Bunker -Hill, who for his faithful services was years ago promoted to a still -deeper privacy under the ground, with a posthumous pension, in default -of any during life, annually paid him by the spring in ever-new mosses -and sward.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>4</span> -I am the more encouraged to lay this performance at the feet of -your Highness, because, with a change in the grammatical person, it -preserves, almost as in a reprint, Israel Potter’s autobiographical -story. Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a -little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray -paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably, not by himself, -but taken down from his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks -of the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out -of print. From a tattered copy, rescued by the merest chance from -the rag-pickers, the present account has been drawn, which, with the -exception of some expansions, and additions of historic and personal -details, and one or two shiftings of scene, may, perhaps, be not -unfitly regarded something in the light of a dilapidated old tombstone -retouched.</p> - -<p>Well aware that in your Highness’ eyes the merit of the story must be -in its general fidelity to the main drift of the original narrative, -I forbore anywhere to mitigate the hard fortunes of my hero; and -particularly towards the end, though sorely tempted, durst not -substitute for the allotment of Providence any artistic recompense -of poetical justice; so that no one can complain of the gloom of my -closing chapters more profoundly than myself.</p> - -<p>Such is the work, and such the man, that I have the honor to present -to your Highness. That the name<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5a"></a>5</span> here noted should not have appeared -in the volumes of Sparks, may or may not be a matter for astonishment; -but Israel Potter seems purposely to have waited to make his popular -advent under the present exalted patronage, seeing that your Highness, -according to the definition above, may, in the loftiest sense, be -deemed the Great Biographer: the national commemorator of such of the -anonymous privates of June 17, 1775, who may never have received other -requital than the solid reward of your granite.</p> - -<p>Your Highness will pardon me, if, with the warmest ascriptions on -this auspicious occasion, I take the liberty to mingle my hearty -congratulations on the recurrence of the anniversary day we celebrate, -wishing your Highness (though indeed your Highness be somewhat -prematurely gray) many returns of the same, and that each of its -summer’s suns may shine as brightly on your brow as each winter snow -shall lightly rest on the grave of Israel Potter.</p> - -<p class="right14 mb0">Your Highness’</p> -<p class="right4 mt0 mb0">Most devoted and obsequious,</p> -<p class="right2 mt0 mb0"><span class="smcap">The Editor</span>.</p> - -<p class="p8 smcap mt0">June 17th, 1854.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>262</span> -</div> - -<h2 id="xxvi">CHAPTER XXVI.<br /> -<span>FORTY-FIVE YEARS.</span></h2> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">F</span>OR the most part, what befell Israel during his forty years wanderings -in the London deserts, surpassed the forty years in the natural -wilderness of the outcast Hebrews under Moses.</p> - -<p>In that London fog, went before him the ever-present cloud by day, but -no pillar of fire by the night, except the cold column of the monument, -two hundred feet beneath the mocking gilt flames on whose top, at the -stone base, the shiverer, of midnight, often laid down.</p> - -<p>But these experiences, both from their intensity and his solitude, were -necessarily squalid. Best not enlarge upon them. For just as extreme -suffering, without hope, is intolerable to the victim, so, to others, -is its depiction without some corresponding delusive mitigation. The -gloomiest and truthfulest dramatist seldom chooses for his theme the -calamities, however extraordinary, of inferior and private persons; -least of all, the pauper’s; admonished by the fact, that to the craped -palace of the king lying in state, thousands of starers shall throng; -but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263"></a>263</span> few feel enticed to the shanty, where, like a pealed knuckle-bone, -grins the unupholstered corpse of the beggar.</p> - -<p>Why at one given stone in the flagging does man after man cross yonder -street? What plebeian Lear or Œdipus, what Israel Potter, cowers -there by the corner they shun? From this turning point, then, we too -cross over and skim events to the end; omitting the particulars of -the starveling’s wrangling with rats for prizes in the sewers; or his -crawling into an abandoned doorless house in St. Giles’, where his -hosts were three dead men, one pendant; into another of an alley nigh -Houndsditch, where the crazy hovel, in phosphoric rottenness, fell -sparkling on him one pitchy midnight, and he received that injury, -which, excluding activity for no small part of the future, was an added -cause of his prolongation of exile, besides not leaving his faculties -unaffected by the concussion of one of the rafters on his brain.</p> - -<p>But these were some of the incidents not belonging to the beginning -of his career. On the contrary, a sort of humble prosperity attended -him for a time; insomuch that once he was not without hopes of being -able to buy his homeward passage so soon as the war should end. But, -as stubborn fate would have it, being run over one day at Holborn -Bars, and taken into a neighboring bakery, he was there treated with -such kindliness by a Kentish lass, the shop-girl, that in the end -he thought his debt of gratitude could only be repaid by love. In a -word, the money saved up for his ocean voyage was lavished upon a rash -embarkation in wedlock.</p> - -<p>Originally he had fled to the capital to avoid the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264"></a>264</span> dilemma of -impressment or imprisonment. In the absence of other motives, the dread -of those hardships would have fixed him there till the peace. But now, -when hostilities were no more, so was his money. Some period elapsed -ere the affairs of the two governments were put on such a footing as -to support an American consul at London. Yet, when this came to pass, -he could only embrace the facilities for a return here furnished, by -deserting a wife and child, wedded and born in the enemy’s land.</p> - -<p>The peace immediately filled England, and more especially London, with -hordes of disbanded soldiers; thousands of whom, rather than starve, -or turn highwaymen (which no few of their comrades did, stopping -coaches at times in the most public streets), would work for such -a pittance as to bring down the wages of all the laboring classes. -Neither was our adventurer the least among the sufferers. Driven out -of his previous employ—a sort of porter in a river-side warehouse—by -this sudden influx of rivals, destitute, honest men like himself, with -the ingenuity of his race, he turned his hand to the village art of -chair-bottoming. An itinerant, he paraded the streets with the cry -of “Old chairs to mend!” furnishing a curious illustration of the -contradictions of human life; that he who did little but trudge, should -be giving cosy seats to all the rest of the world. Meantime, according -to another well-known Malthusian enigma in human affairs, his family -increased. In all, eleven children were born to him in certain sixpenny -garrets in Moorfields. One after the other, ten were buried.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265"></a>265</span> -When chair-bottoming would fail, resort was had to match-making. That -business being overdone in turn, next came the cutting of old rags, -bits of paper, nails, and broken glass. Nor was this the last step. -From the gutter he slid to the sewer. The slope was smooth. In poverty,</p> - -<p class="center">——“<span class="sans">Facilis descensus Averni</span>.”</p> - -<p>But many a poor soldier had sloped down there into the boggy canal of -Avernus before him. Nay, he had three corporals and a sergeant for -company.</p> - -<p>But his lot was relieved by two strange things, presently to appear. -In 1793 war again broke out, the great French war. This lighted London -of some of its superfluous hordes, and lost Israel the subterranean -society of his friends, the corporals and sergeant, with whom wandering -forlorn through the black kingdoms of mud, he used to spin yarns about -sea prisoners in hulks, and listen to stories of the Black Hole of -Calcutta; and often would meet other pairs of poor soldiers, perfect -strangers, at the more public corners and intersections of sewers—the -Charing-Crosses below; one soldier having the other by his remainder -button, earnestly discussing the sad prospects of a rise in bread, or -the tide; while through the grating of the gutters overhead, the rusty -skylights of the realm, came the hoarse rumblings of bakers’ carts, -with splashes of the flood whereby these unsuspected gnomes of the city -lived.</p> - -<p>Encouraged by the exodus of the lost tribes of soldiers, Israel -returned to chair-bottoming. And it was in frequenting Covent-Garden -market, at early morning, for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266"></a>266</span> purchase of his flags, that he -experienced one of the strange alleviations hinted of above. That -chatting with the ruddy, aproned, hucksterwomen, on whose moist cheeks -yet trickled the dew of the dawn on the meadows; that being surrounded -by bales of hay, as the raker by cocks and ricks in the field; those -glimpses of garden produce, the blood-beets, with the damp earth still -tufting the roots; that mere handling of his flags, and bethinking -him of whence they must have come, the green hedges through which the -wagon that brought them had passed; that trudging home with them as a -gleaner with his sheaf of wheat;—all this was inexpressibly grateful. -In want and bitterness, pent in, perforce, between dingy walls, he had -rural returns of his boyhood’s sweeter days among them; and the hardest -stones of his solitary heart (made hard by bare endurance alone) would -feel the stir of tender but quenchless memories, like the grass of -deserted flagging, upsprouting through its closest seams. Sometimes, -when incited by some little incident, however trivial in itself, -thoughts of home would—either by gradually working and working upon -him, or else by an impetuous rush of recollection—overpower him for a -time to a sort of hallucination.</p> - -<p>Thus was it:—One fair half-day in the July of 1800, by good luck, he -was employed, partly out of charity, by one of the keepers, to trim the -sward in an oval enclosure within St. James’ Park, a little green but -a three-minutes’ walk along the gravelled way from the brick-besmoked -and grimy Old Brewery of the palace which gives its ancient name to -the public resort on whose<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267"></a>267</span> borders it stands. It was a little oval, -fenced in with iron pailings, between whose bars the imprisoned verdure -peered forth, as some wild captive creature of the woods from its cage. -And alien Israel there—at times staring dreamily about him—seemed -like some amazed runaway steer, or trespassing Pequod Indian, impounded -on the shores of Narraganset Bay, long ago; and back to New England -our exile was called in his soul. For still working, and thinking of -home; and thinking of home, and working amid the verdant quietude of -this little oasis, one rapt thought begat another, till at last his -mind settled intensely, and yet half humorously, upon the image of Old -Huckleberry, his mother’s favorite old pillion horse; and, ere long, -hearing a sudden scraping noise (some hob-shoe without, against the -iron pailing), he insanely took it to be Old Huckleberry in his stall, -hailing him (Israel) with his shod fore-foot clattering against the -planks—his customary trick when hungry—and so, down goes Israel’s -hook, and with a tuft of white clover, impulsively snatched, he -hurries away a few paces in obedience to the imaginary summons. But -soon stopping midway, and forlornly gazing round at the enclosure, he -bethought him that a far different oval, the great oval, of the ocean, -must be crossed ere his crazy errand could be done; and even then, -Old Huckleberry would be found long surfeited with clover, since, -doubtless, being dead many a summer, he must be buried beneath it. -And many years after, in a far different part of the town, and in far -less winsome weather too, passing with his bundle of flags through -Red-Cross street, towards Barbican, in a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268"></a>268</span> fog so dense that the dimmed -and massed blocks of houses, exaggerated by the loom, seemed shadowy -ranges on ranges of midnight hills, he heard a confused pastoral sort -of sounds—tramplings, lowings, halloos—and was suddenly called to by -a voice to head off certain cattle, bound to Smithfield, bewildered -and unruly in the fog. Next instant he saw the white face—white as -an orange-blossom—of a black-bodied steer, in advance of the drove, -gleaming ghost-like through the vapors; and presently, forgetting his -limp, with rapid shout and gesture, he was more eager, even than the -troubled farmers, their owners, in driving the riotous cattle back -into Barbican. Monomaniac reminiscences were in him—“To the right, to -the right!” he shouted, as, arrived at the street corner, the farmers -beat the drove to the left, towards Smithfield: “To the right! you are -driving them back to the pastures—to the right! that way lies the -barn-yard!” “Barn-yard?” cried a voice; “you are dreaming, old man.” -And so, Israel, now an old man, was bewitched by the mirage of vapors; -he had dreamed himself home into the mists of the Housatonic mountains; -ruddy boy on the upland pastures again. But how different the flat, -apathetic, dead, London fog now seemed from those agile mists which, -goat-like, climbed the purple peaks, or in routed armies of phantoms, -broke down, pell-mell, dispersed in flight upon the plain, leaving the -cattle-boy loftily alone, clear-cut as a balloon against the sky.</p> - -<p>In 1817 he once more endured extremity; this second peace again -drifting its discharged soldiers on London,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269"></a>269</span> so that all kinds of labor -were overstocked. Beggars, too, lighted on the walks like locusts. -Timber-toed cripples stilted along, numerous as French peasants in -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sabots</i>. And, as thirty years before, on all sides, the exile -had heard the supplicatory cry, not addressed to him, “An honorable -scar, your honor, received at Bunker Hill, or Saratoga, or Trenton, -fighting for his most gracious Majesty, King George!” so now, in -presence of the still surviving Israel, our Wandering Jew, the amended -cry was anew taken up, by a succeeding generation of unfortunates, “An -honorable scar, your honor, received at Corunna, or at Waterloo, or at -Trafalgar!” Yet not a few of these petitioners had never been outside -of the London smoke; a sort of crafty aristocracy in their way, who, -without having endangered their own persons much if anything, reaped no -insignificant share both of the glory and profit of the bloody battles -they claimed; while some of the genuine working heroes, too brave -to beg, too cut-up to work, and too poor to live, laid down quietly -in corners and died. And here it may be noted, as a fact nationally -characteristic, that however desperately reduced at times, even to -the sewers, Israel, the American, never sunk below the mud, to actual -beggary.</p> - -<p>Though henceforth elbowed out of many a chance threepenny job by -the added thousands who contended with him against starvation, -nevertheless, somehow he continued to subsist, as those tough old oaks -of the cliffs, which, though hacked at by hail-stones of tempests, and -even wantonly maimed by the passing woodman, still, however cramped -by rival trees and fettered by rocks,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270"></a>270</span> succeed, against all odds, in -keeping the vital nerve of the tap-root alive. And even towards the -end, in his dismallest December, our veteran could still at intervals -feel a momentary warmth in his topmost boughs. In his Moorfields’ -garret, over a handful of reignited cinders (which the night before -might have warmed some lord), cinders raked up from the streets, he -would drive away dolor, by talking with his one only surviving, and now -motherless child—the spared Benjamin of his old age—of the far Canaan -beyond the sea; rehearsing to the lad those well-remembered adventures -among New England hills, and painting scenes of nestling happiness and -plenty, in which the lowliest shared. And here, shadowy as it was, was -the second alleviation hinted of above.</p> - -<p>To these tales of the Fortunate Isles of the Free, recounted by one who -had been there, the poor enslaved boy of Moorfields listened, night -after night, as to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. When would his -father take him there? “Some day to come, my boy,” would be the hopeful -response of an unhoping heart. And “Would God it were to-morrow!” would -be the impassioned reply.</p> - -<p>In these talks Israel unconsciously sowed the seeds of his eventual -return. For with added years, the boy felt added longing to escape his -entailed misery, by compassing for his father and himself a voyage to -the Promised Land. By his persevering efforts he succeeded at last, -against every obstacle, in gaining credit in the right quarter to his -extraordinary statements. In short, charitably stretching a technical -point, the American Consul<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271"></a>271</span> finally saw father and son embarked in the -Thames for Boston.</p> - -<p>It was the year 1826; half a century since Israel, in early manhood, -had sailed a prisoner in the Tartar frigate from the same port to which -he now was bound. An octogenarian as he recrossed the brine, he showed -locks besnowed as its foam. White-haired old Ocean seemed as a brother.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272"></a>272</span> -</div> - -<h2 id="xxvii">CHAPTER XXVII.<br /> -<span>REQUIESCAT IN PACE.</span></h2> - -<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap">I</span>T happened that the ship, gaining her port, was moored to the dock -on a Fourth of July; and half an hour after landing, hustled by the -riotous crowd near Faneuil Hall, the old man narrowly escaped being run -over by a patriotic triumphal car in the procession, flying a broidered -banner, inscribed with gilt letters:</p> - -<p class="center lh">“BUNKER-HILL<br /> -1775.<br /> -GLORY TO THE HEROES THAT FOUGHT!”</p> - -<p>It was on Copps’ Hill, within the city bounds, one of the enemy’s -positions during the fight, that our wanderer found his best repose -that day. Sitting down here on a mound in the graveyard, he looked -off across Charles River towards the battle-ground, whose incipient -monument, at that period, was hard to see, as a struggling sprig of -corn in a chilly spring. Upon those heights, fifty years before, his -now feeble hands had wielded both<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273"></a>273</span> ends of the musket. There too he -had received that slit upon the chest, which afterwards, in the affair -with the Serapis, being traversed by a cutlass wound, made him now the -bescarred bearer of a cross.</p> - -<p>For a long time he sat mute, gazing blankly about him. The sultry -July day was waning. His son sought to cheer him a little ere rising -to return to the lodging for the present assigned them by the -ship-captain. “Nay,” replied the old man, “I shall get no fitter rest -than here by the mounds.”</p> - -<p>But from this true “Potter’s Field,” the boy at length drew him away; -and encouraged next morning by a voluntary purse made up among the -reassembled passengers, father and son started by stage for the country -of the Housatonic. But the exile’s presence in these old mountain -townships proved less a return than a resurrection. At first, none knew -him, nor could recall having heard of him. Ere long it was found, that -more than thirty years previous, the last known survivor of his family -in that region, a bachelor, following the example of three-fourths of -his neighbors, had sold out and removed to a distant country in the -west; where exactly, none could say.</p> - -<p>He sought to get a glimpse of his father’s homestead. But it had been -burnt down long ago. Accompanied by his son, dim-eyed and dim-hearted, -he next went to find the site. But the roads had years before been -changed. The old road was now browsed over by sheep; the new one ran -straight through what had formerly been orchards. But new orchards, -planted from other suckers,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274"></a>274</span> and in time grafted, throve on sunny -slopes near by, where blackberries had once been picked by the bushel. -At length he came to a field waving with buckwheat. It seemed one of -those fields which himself had often reaped. But it turned out, upon -inquiry, that but three summers since a walnut grove had stood there. -Then he vaguely remembered that his father had sometimes talked of -planting such a grove, to defend the neighboring fields against the -cold north wind; yet where precisely that grove was to have been, his -shattered mind could not recall. But it seemed not unlikely that during -his long exile, the walnut grove had been planted and harvested, as -well as the annual crops preceding and succeeding it, on the very same -soil.</p> - -<p>Ere long, on the mountain side, he passed into an ancient natural -wood, which seemed some way familiar, and midway in it, paused to -contemplate a strange, mouldy pile, resting at one end against a sturdy -beech. Though wherever touched by his staff; however lightly, this pile -would crumble, yet here and there, even in powder, it preserved the -exact look, each irregularly defined line, of what it had originally -been—namely, a half-cord of stout hemlock (one of the woods least -affected by exposure to the air), in a foregoing generation chopped -and stacked up on the spot, against sledging-time, but, as sometimes -happens in such cases, by subsequent oversight, abandoned to oblivious -decay—type now, as it stood there, of forever arrested intentions, and -a long life still rotting in early mishap.</p> - -<p>“Do I dream?” mused the bewildered old man, “or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275"></a>275</span> what is this vision -that comes to me of a cold, cloudy morning, long, long ago, and I -heaving yon elbowed log against the beech, then a sapling? Nay, nay, I -cannot be so old.”</p> - -<p>“Come away, father, from this dismal, damp wood,” said his son, and led -him forth.</p> - -<p>Blindly ranging to and fro, they next saw a man ploughing. Advancing -slowly, the wanderer met him by a little heap of ruinous burnt masonry, -like a tumbled chimney, what seemed the jams of the fire-place, -now aridly stuck over here and there, with thin, clinging, round, -prohibitory mosses, like executors’ wafers. Just as the oxen were bid -stand, the stranger’s plough was hitched over sideways, by sudden -contact with some sunken stone at the ruin’s base.</p> - -<p>“There, this is the twentieth year my plough has struck this old -hearthstone. Ah, old man,—sultry day, this.”</p> - -<p>“Whose house stood here, friend?” said the wanderer, touching the -half-buried hearth with his staff, where a fresh furrow overlapped it.</p> - -<p>“Don’t know; forget the name; gone West, though, I believe. You know -’em?”</p> - -<p>But the wanderer made no response; his eye was now fixed on a curious -natural bend or wave in one of the bemossed stone jambs.</p> - -<p>“What are you looking at so, father?”</p> - -<p>“‘<em>Father!</em>’ Here,” raking with his staff, “<em>my</em> father would -sit, and here, my mother, and here I, little infant, would totter -between, even as now, once again, on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276"></a>276</span> very same spot, but in the -unroofed air, I do. The ends meet. Plough away, friend.”</p> - -<p>Best followed now is this life, by hurrying, like itself, to a close.</p> - -<p>Few things remain.</p> - -<p>He was repulsed in efforts after a pension by certain caprices of law. -His scars proved his only medals. He dictated a little book, the record -of his fortunes. But long ago it faded out of print—himself out of -being—his name out of memory. He died the same day that the oldest oak -on his native hills was blown down.</p> - - -<p class="center mt3">THE END.</p> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<p class="center">THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES</p> - -<table summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   1</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">THE NARRATIVE OF COLONEL ETHAN ALLEN.</span> Revolutionary -War experiences of the “Hero of Fort Ticonderoga” and “The Green -Mountain Boys.” Introduction by Brooke Hindle.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   2</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">JOHN WOOLMAN’S JOURNAL</span> <span class="italic">and</span> <span class="allsmcap">A PLEA FOR -THE POOR</span>. The spiritual autobiography of the great Colonial -Quaker. Introduction by Frederick B. Tolles.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   3</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">THE LIFE OF MRS. MARY JEMISON</span> by James E. Seaver. -The famous Indian captivity narrative of the “White Woman of the -Genesee.” Introduction by Allen W. Trelease.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   4</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">BROOK FARM</span> by Lindsay Swift. America’s most -unusual experiment in establishing the ideal society during the -Transcendentalist 1840’s. Introduction by Joseph Schiffman.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   5</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">FOUR VOYAGES TO THE NEW WORLD</span> by Christopher -Columbus. Selected letters and documents translated and edited by -R. H. Major. Introduction by John E. Fagg.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   6</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">JOURNALS OF MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS.</span> Frontier -<a id="campaigning"></a><ins title="Original has 'campaining'">campaigning</ins> during the French and Indian Wars by the -organizer of “Rogers’ Rangers.” Introduction by Howard H. Peckham.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   7</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">HARRIET TUBMAN, THE MOSES OF HER PEOPLE</span> by Sarah -Bradford. The heroic life of a former slave’s struggle for her -people. Introduction by Butler A. Jones.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   8</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">RECOLLECTIONS OF THE JERSEY PRISON SHIP</span> by Albert -Greene. The “Andersonville” of the Revolutionary War. Introduction -by Lawrence H. Leder.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE   9</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">A NEW ENGLAND GIRLHOOD</span> by Lucy Larcom. A classic -memoir of life in pre-Civil War America. Introduction by Charles T. -Davis.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 10</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">AMERICAN COMMUNITIES</span> by William Alfred Hinds. First -hand account of the 19th century utopias—Economy, Amana, Shakers, -etc. Introduction by Henry Bamford Parkes.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 11</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS OF AMERICAN NATIONAL THOUGHT.</span> -Edited, with commentary, by Wilson Ober Clough. Pages from the -books our Founding Fathers read. Second, revised edition.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 12</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS</span> by Lewis Henry Morgan. The -first scientific account of an American Indian tribe by the father -of American ethnology. Introduction by William N. Fenton.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 13</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">MY CAPTIVITY AMONG THE SIOUX INDIANS</span> by Fanny Kelly. -A pioneer woman’s harrowing story of frontier days. Introduction by -Jules Zanger.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 14</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">JOUTEL’S JOURNAL OF LA SALLE’S LAST VOYAGE.</span> The -Mississippi exploration (1684–7) which ended in La Salle’s murder. -Introduction by Darrett B. Rutman.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 15</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">THE DISCOVERY, SETTLEMENT AND PRESENT STATE OF -KENTUCKE</span> ... by John Filson. The historic post-Revolutionary -description, which includes Daniel Boone’s memoir. Introduction by -William H. Masterson.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 16</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">THE LIFE AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. -POTTER.</span> The autobiography of America’s first tragic hero—the -basis for Melville’s famous novel. Introduction by Leonard Kriegel.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 17</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">EXCURSIONS</span> by Henry David Thoreau. The famous -posthumous collection, including a biography by Ralph Waldo -Emerson. Introduction by Leo Marx.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl1">AE 18</td> -<td class="tdl2"><span class="allsmcap">FATHER HENSON’S STORY OF HIS OWN LIFE.</span> Autobiography -of an escaped Negro slave in pre-Civil War days. Introduction by -Walter Fisher.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl3" colspan="2">“<em>One of the most exciting and promising new ventures in the field -of paperback publishing is the American Experience Series now being -brought out by Corinth Books. These new and attractive editions of -historic and relatively neglected titles fill out in a unique way some -of the byways of our country’s past.</em>”</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p class="right mt0">Robert R. Kirsch in <span class="allsmcap">THE LOS ANGELES TIMES</span></p> - - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter width500" id="back_cover"> - <img src="images/back_cover.jpg" width="500" height="860" alt="Back Cover" /> -</div> - -<p class="center p130">THE LIFE AND REMARKABLE<br /> -ADVENTURES OF<br /> -ISRAEL R. POTTER</p> - -<p>“Israel Potter is not merely another good man adrift in a world devoid -of goodness: he is, above all, an American, whose ideals and aims are -derived from that same self-reliant democratic ethos which Whitman and -Emerson were later to celebrate. Hired laborer, farmer, chain bearer, -hunter, trapper, Indian trader, merchant sailor, whaler, soldier, -courier, spy, carpenter, and beggar, through it all, Israel remains the -American, the man who, even in the hardships of exile, insists that all -will be well once he can again walk ‘on American ground.’</p> - -<p>“This small book did not help Israel Potter achieve his objective: his -quest for a pension proved unsuccessful, and he died soon after, on -‘the same day,’ Melville tells us, ‘that the oldest oak in his native -hills was blown down.’ He took with him whatever was left of his dreams -and pride, an end which, to some extent, all victims share. ‘Kings as -Clowns,’ Melville wrote bitterly, ‘are codgers—who ain’t a nobody?’ It -is a fitting epitaph for all the Israel Potters.”</p> - -<p class="right">from the Introduction by Leonard Kriegel,<br /> -The City College of New York</p> - - -<p class="center"><cite>The American Experience Series</cite> is devoted to publishing new -editions of historic books which mirrored and shaped the growth of our -Nation from earliest times to the present.</p> - -<p class="center"><cite class="sans">Consulting Editor</cite>: Henry Bamford Parkes</p> - -<p class="center"><strong>CORINTH BOOKS</strong> <span class="italic">distributed by</span> <span class="allsmcap">THE CITADEL PRESS</span></p> - -<p class="noi">$1.25     AE 16</p> - - - -<div class="section"> -<hr class="x-ebookmaker-drop divider" /> -</div> - -<div class="tn"> -<p class="center">Transcriber’s Note:</p> - -<p class="noi">Spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained as published -in the 1962 source book except as follows:</p> - -<ul> -<li>Page iv<br /> -never as good, as enobling, or as fulfilling <span class="italic">changed to</span><br /> -never as good, as <a href="#ennobling">ennobling</a>, or as fulfilling</li> - -<li>Page 22<br /> -than raging in his Majesty’s <span class="italic">changed to</span><br /> -<a href="#then">then</a> raging in his Majesty’s</li> - -<li>Page 59<br /> -surpassed in expresssions <span class="italic">changed to</span><br /> -surpassed in <a href="#expressions">expressions</a></li> - -<li>Page 95<br /> -life was dispaired of <span class="italic">changed to</span><br /> -life was <a href="#despaired">despaired</a> of</li> - -<li>Page 99<br /> -his (the Consul.) on his arrival <span class="italic">changed to</span><br /> -his (the <a href="#Consul">Consul</a>,) on his arrival</li> - -<li>Page 99<br /> -would to God it was to morrow <span class="italic">changed to</span><br /> -would to God it was <a href="#tomorrow">to-morrow</a></li> - -<li>AE 6<br /> -campaining during the French <span class="italic">changed to</span><br /> -<a href="#campaigning">campaigning</a> during the French</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL R. POTTER ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/back_cover.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/back_cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c47fbc3..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/back_cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/colophon.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/colophon.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a6a2eb5..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/colophon.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 910b37b..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/cover2.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/cover2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cefe122..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/cover2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/fifty-title.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/fifty-title.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6ac77e7..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/fifty-title.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/i003_orig_frontis1.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/i003_orig_frontis1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 48b8415..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/i003_orig_frontis1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/i004_orig_title1.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/i004_orig_title1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0f5e112..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/i004_orig_title1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/i005_orig_frontis2.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/i005_orig_frontis2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ba91a69..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/i005_orig_frontis2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/66684-h/images/i006_orig_title2.jpg b/old/66684-h/images/i006_orig_title2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 80c129f..0000000 --- a/old/66684-h/images/i006_orig_title2.jpg +++ /dev/null |
