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who stood by me; but this soon abated; and by degrees; as my
blood grew warm; I thought no more of my own safety; but fell on
the enemy with great fury; and did a good deal of execution;
till; unhappily; I received a wound in my thigh; which rendered
me unable to stand any longer; so that I now lay among the dead;
and was constantly exposed to the danger of being trampled to
death; as well by my fellow…soldiers as by the enemy。 However; I
had the fortune to escape it; and continued the remaining part of
the day and the night following on the ground。
〃The next morning; the duke sending out parties to bring off the
wounded; I was found almost expiring with loss of blood;
notwithstanding which; as immediate care was taken to dress my
wounds; youth and a robust constitution stood my friends; and I
recovered after a long and tedious indisposition; and was again
able to use my limbs and do my duty。
〃As soon as Dover was taken I was conveyed thither with all the
rest of the sick and wounded。 Here I recovered of my wound; but
fell afterwards into a violent flux; which; when it departed;
left me so weak that it was long before I could regain my
strength。 And what most afflicted me was; that during my whole
illness; when I languished under want as well as sickness; I had
daily the mortification to see and hear the riots and excess of
my fellow…soldiers; who had happily escaped safe from the battle。
〃I was no sooner well than I was ordered into garrison at Dover
Castle。 The officers here fared very indifferently; but the
private men much worse。 We had great scarcity of provisions;
and; what was yet more intolerable; were so closely confined for
want of room (four of us being obliged to lie on the same bundle
of straw); that many died; and most sickened。
〃Here I had remained about four months; when one night we were
alarmed with the arrival of the earl of Boulogne; who had come
over privily from France; and endeavored to surprise the castle。
The design proved ineffectual; for the garrison making a brisk
sally; most of his men were tum… bled down the precipice; and he
returned with a very few back to France。 In this action;
however; I had the misfortune to come off with a broken arm; it
was so shattered; that; besides a great deal of pain and misery
which I endured in my cure; I was disabled for upwards of three
months。
〃Soon after my recovery I had contracted an amour with a young
woman whose parents lived near the garrison; and were in much
better circumstances than I had reason to expect should give
their consent to the match。 However; as she was extremely fond
of me (as I was indeed distractedly enamored of her); they were
prevailed on to comply with her desires; and the day was fixed
for our marriage。
〃On the evening preceding; while I was exulting with the eager
expectation of the happiness I was the next day to enjoy; I
received orders to march early in the morning towards Windsor;
where a large army was to be formed; at the head of which the
king intended to march into the west。 Any person who hath ever
been in love may easily imagine what I felt in my mind on
receiving those orders; and what still heightened my torments
was; that the commanding officer would not permit any one to go
out of the garrison that evening; so that I had not even an
opportunity of taking leave of my beloved。
〃The morning came which was to have put me in the possession of
my wishes; but; alas! the scene was now changed; and all the
hopes which I had raised were now so many ghosts to haunt; and
furies to torment me。
〃It was now the midst of winter; and very severe weather for the
season; when we were obliged to make very long and fatiguing
marches; in which we suffered all the inconveniences of cold and
hunger。 The night in which I expected to riot in the arms of my
beloved mistress I was obliged to take up with a lodging on the
ground; exposed to the inclemencies of a rigid frost; nor could I
obtain the least comfort of sleep; which shunned me as its enemy。
In short; the horrors of that night are not to be described; or
perhaps imagined。 They made such an impression on my soul; that
I was forced to be dipped three times in the river Lethe to
prevent my remembering it in the characters which I afterwards
performed in the flesh。〃
Here I interrupted Julian for the first time; and told him no
such dipping had happened to me in my voyage from one world to
the other: but he satisfied me by saying 〃that this only
happened to those spirits which returned into the flesh; in order
to prevent that reminiscence which Plato mentions; and which
would otherwise cause great confusion in the other world。〃
He then proceeded as follows: 〃We continued a very laborious
march to Exeter; which we were ordered to besiege。 The town soon
surrendered; and his majesty built a castle there; which he
garrisoned with his Normans; and unhappily I had the misfortune
to be one of the number。
〃Here we were confined closer than I had been at Dover; for; as
the citizens were extremely disaffected; we were never suffered
to go without the walls of the castle; nor indeed could we;
unless in large bodies; without the utmost danger。 We were
likewise kept to continual duty; nor could any solicitations
prevail with the commanding officer to give me a month's absence
to visit my love; from whom I had no opportunity of hearing in
all my long absence。
〃However; in the spring; the people being more quiet; and another
officer of a gentler temper succeeding to the principal command;
I obtained leave to go to Dover; but alas! what comfort did my
long journey bring me? I found the parents of my darling in the
utmost misery at her loss; for she had died; about a week before
my arrival; of a consumption; which they imputed to her pining at
my sudden departure。
〃I now fell into the most violent and almost raving fit of
despair。 I cursed myself; the king; and the whole world; which
no longer seemed to have any delight for me。 I threw myself on
the grave of my deceased love; and lay there without any kind of
sustenance for two whole days。 At last hunger; together with the
persuasions of some people who took pity on me; prevailed with me
to quit that situation; and refresh myself with food。 They then
persuaded me to return to my post; and abandon a place where
almost every object I saw recalled ideas to my mind which; as
they said; I should endeavor with my utmost force to expel from
it。 This advice at length succeeded; the rather; as the father
and mother of my beloved refused to see me; looking on me as the
innocent but certain cause of the death of their only child。
〃The loss of one we tenderly love; as it is one of the most
bitter and biting evils which attend human life; so it wants the
lenitive which palliates and softens every other calamity; I mean
that great reliever; hope。 No man can be so totally undone; but
that he may still cherish expectation: but this deprives us of
all such comfort; nor can anything but time alone lessen it。
This; however; in most minds; is sure to work a slow but
effectual remedy; so did it in mine: for within a twelve…month I
was entirely reconciled to my fortune; and soon after absolutely
forgot the object of a passion from which I had promised myself
such extreme happiness; and in the disappointment of which I had
experienced such inconceivable misery。
〃At the expiration of the month I returned to my garrison at
Exeter; where I was no sooner arrived than I was ordered to march
into the north; to oppose a force there levied by the earls of
Chester and Northumberland。 We came to York; where his majesty
pardoned the heads of the rebels; and very severely punished some
who were less guilty。 It was particularly my lot to be ordered
to seize a poor man who had never been out of his house; and
convey him to priso