Place I might better resist their
first Onset, and let them gain no ground upon me, while Rule I here
neglected for want of Experience. And now I was oblig'd to make a Call
upon my Banker at _Amsterdam_ for Two Hundred Pounds, resolving not to
break the remaining 1000 Pound Bulk, unless upon some extraordinary
Emergency. I had sometime before intimated to my Officers and Comrades
the Design I had to quit the Service upon the _Rhine_, assuring them it
was not out of any Disobligation, having experienced their obliging
Temper upon all Occasions; but as I understood King _James_ was at the
Head of his Army in _Ireland_, so I look'd upon my self in some Measure
inexcusable if I serv'd in a foreign Army, when I might contribute more
immediately to succour my Prince. My Reasons were applauded, and I not a
little content to depart without giving Disgust. Without delay therefore
I posted to _Paris_, where I design'd to make no very long stay, only
what was necessary to recover my self from the Fatigue of the Campaign,
and satisfy my Curiosity in taking a View of that noble City. I was
happy in one thing during my stay here, that I was agreeably surpriz'd
with the fight of my only Sister, whose Husband being under some
malignant Court Influence, was oblig'd to withdraw with his Family out
of _Scotland_. _Paris_ is a Place like all other great Cities, where
Persons of all Conditions and Characters may spend their Time agreeably,
if that useful Trifle call'd Money be not wanting. Hitherto I had no
occasion to be Melancholly upon that Score; for though I was not
furnish'd to make any extraordinary Figure, yet being only a single
Person, and as yet never launch'd out into any Extravagances, so within
my narrow Sphere, I made a decent Appearance. But as no Man is
prosperous at all Times, so it was not long before I found my self
engag'd in an Affair which very much troubled my Repose, and which I
would willingly have compounded for with my _Amsterdam_ Bank. The
Business was this, my Eldest Brother before he went with King _James_
into _Ireland_, made some stay at _Paris_ and _St. Germains_, where he
was order'd to collect some Recruits of the Three Nations, which he was
to conduct over in the Quality of a Route-Captain. Now as he was a
Person who had seen very much of the World, and was somewhat addicted to
Gallantry and Intriguing with the Fair Sex, so he could not remain long
in a Place without Publishing some Marks of his Vocation t