History Human Heart
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THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN HEART: OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN. Anonymous First published 1759. Published by the Ex-classics Project, 2018 http://www.exclassics.com Public Domain The History of the Human Heart CONTENTS Title page ....................................................................................................................... 3 The Introduction. ............................................................................................................ 4 Chapter I. ........................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter II. .................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter III. ................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter IV. ................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter V. .................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter VI. ................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter VII. ................................................................................................................. 68 Chapter VIII. ................................................................................................................ 76 Chapter IX. ................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter X. .................................................................................................................. 101 Chapter XI. ................................................................................................................. 111 Chapter XII ................................................................................................................ 118 NOTES ....................................................................................................................... 130 -2- Or, The Adventures of a Young Gentleman Title page THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN HEART: OR, THE ADVENTURES. OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN. LONDON: Printed for J. FREEMAN, near Ludgate. MDCCXLIX. -3- The History of the Human Heart The Introduction. As I am fully convinced, that the following sheets have so much real merit and intrinsic excellence, as to meet with a favourable reception from the present judicious age, and the esteem of all future generations, so it is very natural to suppose, that in a century or two hence, the then learned world may be very desirous to be acquainted with the character of the author of so celebrated a piece; therefore, to anticipate their curiosity, and to prevent the injury which my memory may suffer from the attempts of less able writers, and above all to gratify my own itch of fame, the reader must excuse me, if, before I enter upon the history of the great Camillo, I say something of myself, and commence my own historian; since, according to the old saying, it's best to christen one's own child first; and that I have the example of so many ancient and modern authors of great note, who have not been ashamed to trumpet their own praise, and relate the most important transactions of their lives; the great Cæsar wrote his commentaries, and by his pen erected monument to his name, which has outlived, some thousand years, that raised by his sword, and the famous consulate of Cicero, in spite of his repeated requests to his friends, to remember it in their writings, had been sunk in eternal oblivion, if he had not been so kind to himself, as to have taken every possible opportunity to celebrate it in his own works. But why should I search into the annals of antiquity for examples of this kind, when I have that of the great Laureate of the age to justify my proceedings, who by writing his own life, has convinced the world, that modesty is not always necessary in an author of merit: but to tell you the truth, whether I had such great authorities, or not, I believe I should be tempted to take my own way, and therefore, without any further apology, I proceed. The reader must know then, that the author of the following history was born in the mountains of Wales, and of course, has as good blood in his veins as any man in England: it's true, he does not pretend to be an aboriginal taffy, and owes the purity of his blood only to the height of the mountain on which he first drew breath; for his father was born in Scotland, and descended of an ancient family in the highland part of that kingdom, remarkable for many great qualities, but for none so much, as being possessed of that eminent faculty, known by the name of the second sight, which they enjoyed for many centuries, in a very high degree, and had lately improved it by matching with a Lapland family, likewise endued with the same discerning power. This gentleman, the author's father, by some accident, not material enough to be enquired into, left his own country, travelled into England, and married a Lancashire witch, who, I have often heard say, was descended on the mother's side, from a very noble, knowing, and honest family in the province of Munster in Ireland; and from this match sprung your humble servant the author. It's easy to conclude, from this part of his genealogy, that he himself is a gentleman nobly born, and that besides the advantages of acquired learning, he is endued with the hereditary virtue of his ancestors, viz. the second sight; but you must know, that this same faculty, valuable as it is, and though it has been long in the family, yet has been productive of no very great estate; for the author, upon the death of his father and mother, which happened when he was about sixteen or seventeen years of age, found his patrimony so low, as to oblige him to convert his hereditary faculty into ready money for the support of his dignity; in short; not to mince the matter, the poor second-sighted gentleman, was obliged to set up fortune-teller. He practised first in his native country, Wales, and gained some reputation by discovering of stray spoons, rings, watches, &c. But the practice of borrowing horses and other -4- Or, The Adventures of a Young Gentleman cattle is so common amongst the Welsh, and I was so often asked questions on that subject, which it was dangerous to answer, that I thought proper to change the scene of action, and come up to London, where I expected to find more fools, more money, and less danger of being detested when I chanced to deliver oracles without the impulse of my second-sighted spirit, which was far from being at my command so often as I could wish it: for the reader must know the nature of this faculty is this; the person possessed of it, at some particular times, not stated, sees, in spite of himself, certain visions or appearances of men or things, from whence he judges of events that are to happen to the persons of whom he has seen such apparitions, but knows nothing of what is either past or to come, but the single accident of which he has had the vision; so that it is no wonder, if notwithstanding my being endued with this visionary power, I was as much to seek in answering the many questions asked me, as a fortune- teller, as if I had no such thing; however, as it sometimes helped me out at a dead-lift, it served to establish my reputation, and the weakness and credulity of my customers enabled me to keep up the farce, to the great increase of my fortune. I lived in London for several years, predicted to persons of all ranks, and hit so oddly upon many things, that at last I began really to fancy myself an oracle. But in the height of my grandeur, my great talents brought me into a scrape, which ruined my trade of prediction, and involved in my fall the whole profession: the affair was this; I was one morning telling fortunes to several ladies; for these, were my chief customers, where I spied amongst them a good comely woman, wife to a great man in the ministry; she had dressed herself like a tradesman's wife, and intended to try my skill by this disguise; however, I knew her person, and some secrets in her family, which she believed all the world ignorant of; when it came to her turn to be served, I treated her with the respect due to her real quality, which very much disconcerted her, withdrew with her into another room, and told her some passages of secret history, which made her swear I dealt with the Devil. I at last directed her to a house where she should find her spouse at such an hour in bed with a lady of her acquaintance. She paid me handsomely for my intelligence, and as the Devil would have it, went to the house, and, much about the time predicted, found her husband in a very warm conversation with a female friend. The discovery produced a squabble between the statesman and his spouse; but as things of that kind are not very uncommon, the breach was soon made up, though at the expense of the conjurer; for the lady, after the reconciliation, having acquainted her Lord with the manner of her being directed to that discovery, he conceived such an aversion to all the tribe, that in two days after, he brought in a bill to the House of Lords, making it highly penal for any man to pretend to any more knowledge than a peer is commonly possessed of, which certainly excludes all pretences to the knowledge of future events or witchcraft. The bill