Even this was not the most mortifying
piece of intelligence he received: he at the same time learned that
his bookseller was bankrupt, and his friend Crabtree at the point
of death.
These were comfortable considerations to a youth of Peregrine's
disposition, which was so capricious, that the more his misery
increased, the more haughty and inflexible he became. Rather than
be beholden to Hatchway, who still hovered about the gate, eager
for an opportunity to assist him, he chose to undergo the want of
almost every convenience of life, and actually pledged his wearing
apparel to an Irish pawnbroker in the Fleet, for money to purchase
those things, without which he must have absolutely perished. He was
gradually irritated by his misfortunes into a rancorous resentment
against mankind in general, and his heart so alienated from
the enjoyments of life, that he did not care how soon he quitted
his miserable existence. Though he had shocking examples of the
vicissitudes of fortune continually before his eyes, he could never
be reconciled to the idea of living like his fellow-sufferers,
in the most abject degree of dependence.
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