After dinner Jackson left us to our private affairs; when I desired
my friend to pack up all our things, and carry them to some cheap
lodgings he should choose for himself in the neighbourhood of the
Marshalsea, after he had discharged my lodgings, for which purpose
I gave him money. I likewise recommended to him the keeping
my misfortune secret, and saying to my landlord, or any other who
should inquire for me, that I was gone into the country for a few
weeks: at the same time I laid strong injunctions upon him to call
every second day upon Banter, in case he should receive any letter
for me from Narcissa, by the channel of Freeman; and by all means
to leave a direction for himself at my uncle's lodgings in Wapping,
by which I might be found when my kinsman should arrive.
When he departed to execute these orders (which by the bye were
punctually performed that very night), I found myself so little
seasoned to my situation, that I dreaded reflection, and sought
shelter from it in the company of the beau, who, promising to
regale me with a lecture upon taste, conducted me to the common
side, where I saw a number of naked miserable wretches assembled
together. We had not been here many minutes, when a figure appeared,
wrapped in a dirty rug, tied about his loins with two pieces of
list, of different colours, knotted together; having a black bushy
beard, and his head covered with a huge mass of brown periwig,
which seems to have been ravished from the crown of some scarecrow.
Pages:
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686