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from this world to the next-第24章

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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
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