part of the Mediterranean.

Lisbon was presently fixed on in its room. The air here, as it
was near four degrees to the south of Aix, must be more mild and

warm, and the winter shorter and less piercing.
It was not difficult to find a ship bound to a place with which

we carry on so immense a trade. Accordingly, my brother soon
informed me of the excellent accommodations for passengers which

were to be found on board a ship that was obliged to sail for
Lisbon in three days. I eagerly embraced the offer,

notwithstanding the shortness of the time; and, having given my
brother full power to contract for our passage, I began to

prepare my family for the voyage with the utmost expedition.
But our great haste was needless; for the captain having twice

put off his sailing, I at length invited him to dinner with me at
Fordhook, a full week after the time on which he had declared,

and that with many asseverations, he must and would weigh anchor.
He dined with me according to his appointment; and when all

matters were settled between us, left me with positive orders to
be on board the Wednesday following, when he declared he would

fall down the river to Gravesend, and would not stay a moment for
the greatest man in the world. He advised me to go to Gravesend

by land, and there wait the arrival of his ship, assigning many
reasons for this, every one of which was, as I well remember,

among those that had before determined me to go on board near the Tower.
THE VOYAGE

WEDNESDAY, June 26, 1754.--On this day the most melancholy sun I
had ever beheld arose, and found me awake at my house at

Fordhook. By the light of this sun I was, in my own opinion,
last to behold and take leave of some of those creatures on whom

I doted with a mother-like fondness, guided by nature and
passion, and uncured and unhardened by all the doctrine of that

philosophical school where I had learned to bear pains and to
despise death. In this situation, as I could not conquer Nature,

I submitted entirely to her, and she made as great a fool of me
as she had ever done of any woman whatsoever; under pretense of

giving me leave to enjoy, she drew me in to suffer, the company
of my little ones during eight hours; and I doubt not whether, in

that time, I did not undergo more than in all my distemper.
At twelve precisely my coach was at the door, which was no sooner

told me than I kissed my children round, and went into it with
some little resolution. My wife, who behaved more like a heroine

and philosopher, though at the same time the tenderest mother in
the world, and my eldest daughter, followed me; some friends went

with us, and others here took their leave; and I heard my
behavior applauded, with many murmurs and praises to which I well

knew I had no title; as all other such philosophers may, if they
have any modesty, confess on the like occasions.

In two hours we arrived in Rotherhithe, and immediately went on
board, and were to have sailed the next morning; but, as this was

the king's proclamation-day, and consequently a holiday at the
custom-house, the captain could not clear his vessel till the

Thursday; for these holidays are as strictly observed as those in
the popish calendar, and are almost as numerous. I might add

that both are opposite to the genius of trade, and consequently
contra bonum publicum.

To go on board the ship it was necessary first to go into a boat;
a matter of no small difficulty, as I had no use of my limbs, and

was to be carried by men who, though sufficiently strong for
their burden, were, like Archimedes, puzzled to find a steady

footing. Of this, as few of my readers have not gone into
wherries on the Thames, they will easily be able to form to

themselves an idea. However, by the assistance" target="_blank" title="n.协作；援助；帮助">assistance of my friend, Mr.
Welch, whom I never think or speak of but with love and esteem, I

conquered this difficulty, as I did afterwards that of ascending
the ship, into which I was hoisted with more ease by a chair

lifted with pulleys. I was soon seated in a great chair in the
cabin, to refresh myself after a fatigue which had been more

intolerable, in a quarter of a mile's passage from my coach to
the ship, than I had before undergone in a land-journey of twelve

miles, which I had traveled with the utmost expedition.
This latter fatigue was, perhaps, somewhat heightened by an

indignation which I could not prevent arising in my mind. I
think, upon my entrance into the boat, I presented a spectacle of

the highest horror. The total loss of limbs was apparent to all
who saw me, and my face contained marks of a most diseased state,

if not of death itself. Indeed, so ghastly was my countenance,
that timorous women with child had abstained from my house, for

fear of the ill consequences of looking at me. In this condition
I ran the gauntlope (so I think I may justly call it) through

rows of sailors and watermen, few of whom failed of paying their
compliments to me by all manner of insults and jests on my

misery. No man who knew me will think I conceived any personal
resentment at this behavior; but it was a lively picture of that

cruelty and inhumanity in the nature of men which I have often
contemplated with concern, and which leads the mind into a train

of very uncomfortable and melancholy thoughts. It may be said
that this barbarous custom is peculiar to the English, and of

them only to the lowest degree; that it is an excrescence of an
uncontrolled licentiousness mistaken for liberty, and never shows

itself in men who are polished and refined in such manner as
human nature requires to produce that perfection of which it is

susceptible, and to purge away that malevolence of disposition of
which, at our birth, we partake in common with the savage

creation. This may be said, and this is all that can be said;
and it is, I am afraid, but little satisfactory to account for

the inhumanity of those who, while they boast of being made after
God's own image, seem to bear in their minds a resemblance of the

vilest species of brutes; or rather, indeed, of our idea of
devils; for I don't know that any brutes can be taxed with such

malevolence. A sirloin of beef was now placed on the table, for
which, though little better than carrion, as much was charged by

the master of the little paltry ale-house who dressed it as would
have been demanded for all the elegance of the King's Arms, or

any other politetavern or eating-house! for, indeed, the
difference between the best house and the worst is, that at the

former you pay largely for luxury, at the latter for nothing.
Thursday, June 27.--This morning the captain, who lay on shore at

his own house, paid us a visit in the cabin, and behaved like an
angry bashaw, declaring that, had he known we were not to be

pleased, he would not have carried us for five hundred pounds.
He added many asseverations that he was a gentleman, and despised

money; not forgetting several hints of the presents which had
been made him for his cabin, of twenty, thirty, and forty

guineas, by several gentlemen, over and above the sum for which
they had contracted. This behavior greatly surprised me, as I

knew not how to account for it, nothing having happened since we
parted from the captain the evening before in perfect good humor;

and all this broke forth on the first moment of his arrival this
morning. He did not, however, suffer my amazement to have any

long continuance before he clearly showed me that all this was
meant only as an apology to introduce another procrastination

(being the fifth) of his weighing anchor, which was now postponed
till Saturday, for such was his will and pleasure.

Besides the disagreeable situation in which we then lay, in the
confines of Wapping and Rotherhithe, tasting a delicious mixture

of the air of both these sweet places, and enjoying the concord
of sweet sounds of seamen, watermen, fish-women, oyster-women,

and of all the vociferous inhabitants of both shores, composing
altogether a greater variety of harmony than Hogarth's

imagination hath brought together in that print of his, which is
enough to make a man deaf to look at--I had a more urgent cause

to press our departure, which was, that the dropsy, for which I
had undergone three tappings, seemed to threaten me with a fourth

discharge before I should reach Lisbon, and when I should have
nobody on board capable of performing the operation; but I was

obliged to hearken to the voice of reason, if I may use the
captain's own words, and to rest myself contented. Indeed, there

was no alternative within my reach but what would have cost me
much too dear. There are many evils in society from which people

of the highest rank are so entirely exempt, that they have not