whom he had
trusted, compleated his Ruin. He was then obliged to call his
Creditors together, who took his Effects, and being angry with him for
the imprudent Step of not insuring his Ships, left him destitute of
all Subsistence. Nor did the Flatterers of his Fortune, those who had
lived by his Bounty when in his Prosperity, pay the least Regard
either to him or his Family. So true is another Copy, that you will
find in your Writing Book, which says, _Misfortune tries our
Friends_. All these Slights of his pretended Friends, and the ill
Usage of his Creditors, both he and his Family bore with Christian
Fortitude; but other Calamities fell upon him, which he felt more
sensibly.

In his Distress, one of his Relations, who lived at _Florence_,
offered to take his Son; and another, who lived at _Barbadoes_,
sent for one of his Daughters. The Ship which his Son sailed in was
cast away, and all the Crew supposed to be lost; and the Ship, in
which his Daughter went a Passenger, was taken by Pyrates, and one
Post brought the miserable Father an Account of the Loss of his two
Children. This was the severest Stroke of all: It made him compleatly
wretched, and he knew it must have a dreadful Effect on his Wife and
Daughter; he therefore endeavoured to conceal it from them. But the
perpetual Anxiety he was in, together with the Loss of his Appetite
and Want of Rest, soon alarmed his Wife. She found something was
labouring in his Breast, which was concealed from her; and one Night
being disturbed in a Dream, with what was ever in his Thoughts, and
calling out upon his dear Children; she awoke him, and insisted upon
knowing the Cause of his Inquietude. _Nothing, my Dear, nothing,_
says he, _The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be
the Name of the Lord._ This was sufficient to alarm the poor Woman;
she lay till his Spirits were composed, and as she thought asleep,
then stealing out of Bed, got the Keys and opened his Bureau, where
she found the fatal Account. In the Height of her Distractions, she
flew to her Daughter's Room, and waking her with her Shrieks, put the
Letters into her Hands. The young Lady, unable to support this Load of
Misery, fell into a Fit, from which it was thought she never could
have been recovered. However, at last she revived; but the Shock was
so great, that it entirely deprived her of her Speech.

Thus loaded with Misery, and unable to bear the Slights and Disdain of
those who had formerly