網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

some conspicuous manœuvre among a number of his companions in the street, when he attracted the attention of a gentleman who was riding by in his carriage. I do not remember the particulars of the exploit, but it is sufficient to say, the gentleman made a stop; he enquired who were the boys' parents, and having sought out our house, and obtained all the information possible, which my Father gave him very faithfully, he concluded by asking, if he might be allowed to take him as a servant? The request, in the circumstances, seemed a strange one; my Father, however, acquiesced in it.

Charles took his leave of us in a very few days, but the general expectation was that the gentleman would be robbed, or in some way injured, and that we should presently either receive him back again, or hear tell of him being sent to prison. My Father, I remember, expressed his opinion strongly. Strange to tell, however, from that day to the time when I last communicated with my family, I never heard of any thing concerning him but what would have been a credit to the most moral and even religious character! It seems from the period of his leaving home, either from the curious circumstances under which he left us, or from the influence of new connections, he began seriously to reflect on the evil of his own ways, and to reform his conduct. The gentleman's house was a good many miles distant, so that my Brother had few opportunities of coming over, but what we heard of him from time to time was always satisfactory.

It proved in the end, that he who had threatened

to be the greatest trouble to our whole family, became a means of its greatest comfort. When he had been a few years in service, my Father and Mother received a letter from him, the reading of which threw us all into tears of gratitude and joy, for Charles had actually determined, on account of his past conduct, which he described with the most pathetic self-condemnation and contrition, to give his whole future life as a penance for the same by entering a monastery! The letter was to ask our Father and Mother's leave, and he actually put the resolution into effect, having first disposed of all his worldly goods, chiefly as presents to myself.

At the time I was 20 years of age my Father and Mother had twelve children still living, six sons and six daughters. Only the eldest, which was a daughter, and myself the youngest living child, remained at home; the rest were curiously scattered up and down the world. In fact two of my elder brothers I had never seen, they having both left home before I was born. One was at Paris, and had made his way into an elevated situation under the Receiver General of the French Finances. The other was in Germany, and in the practice of the I had also a brother a priest, besides the lay

law.

monk already mentioned.

My Parisian Brother had, on some strange account, ceased to send letters to my Father, and we were for years and knew not any thing of him. At last, however, we found him out by the means of my Uncle, and the correspondence was renewed. At the time I was about one and twenty, one of my .

Brothers paid a visit to Paris; and, on his return, gave such an account of his journey,-of the French capital, and of my Brother's circumstances there, as made me long, with an unceasing anxiety, to go likewise. Mentioning the project, however, to my Father, he was much averse to my leaving him and my Mother, and tried to dissuade me. Yet I could by no means give it up, and got my Brother, the priest, to intercede with my Father for his consent. At last, the good old man yielded, on condition, that I was to remain at Antwerp till we had kept the jubilee of his own wedding, which was to take place in nearly a year from the then present time. I was very reluctant to consent to the delay; but a sense of duty to my aged parents at last overcame for a time my strong desire of seeing foreign parts At the time appointed we kept the proposed jubilee. Our guests were numerous, and some of them of no little consequence in the family. Among others, was my Brother from Germany. When he arrived, I happened not to be at home, and my eldest sister having a mind to try the boasted effects of the sympathy of consanguinity, introduced him to me as a cousin merely. Our meeting, however, produced no wonderful results; at least none in proof of the doctrine alluded to. The festival was kept for eight successive days. During these days, we by no means spent our time in the manner in which some of my English readers will understand by festivity, that is, in eating and drinking to excess; but rather in innocent and rational amusements; interesting discourses of our

individual adventures, &c. On the last day of cur rejoicings we all went in procession to the Abbey of St. Michael, when my Brother, the priest, specially said mass on the occasion, and with the assistance of the lay monk, administered the sacrament to my Father, Mother, and ten of their children, besides a great number of cousins and other relations.

CHAP. II.

SET out for Paris,-Ignorant of French language.-Difficulties in exchanging Belgian for French money, and of purchasing necessaries.-Arrive at Valenciennes.-Push on to Cambray.-Weary and footsore. -Kindness of the people.-Overtake a French soldier.-Arrive at Paris.

"Farewell, my masters; to my task will I:
Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make."

KING HENRY VI.

THE very next day after our festival had ceased, I turned my back on my native home, and my face towards the frontiers of France, intending eventually to see Paris. My Brother the lay Monk whose way lay in the same direction to a certain extent, kept me company as far as Brussels. Although I had formed the resolution of going to France so long beforehand, I had strangely neglected to acquire even the slightest knowledge of the French language. I had taken care, however, before starting, to provide myself with the names of places, great and small, through which I should have to pass, as I intended to go entirely on foot. As we walked on towards Brussels, my Brother took some pains to teach me a little French, with which language he was well acquainted. He particularly

« 上一頁繼續 »