childhood, and he ought to provide
for that state of incapacity, which other-wise would be attended with
infinite misery and affliction. The superannuated wretch, thunderstruck
with this prediction, held up his hands, and in the first transports
of his apprehension, exclaimed, "Lord have mercy upon me! I have not
wherewithal to purchase such a long lease, and I have long outlived all
my friends; what then must become of me, sinner that I am, one hundred
and twenty years hence!" Cadwallader, who enjoyed his terror,
under pretence of alleviating his concern, told him that what he had
prognosticated did not deprive him of the means which he and every
person had in their power, to curtail a life of misfortune; and the old
gentleman went away, seemingly comforted with the assurance, that
it would always be in his power to employ an halter for his own
deliverance.

Soon after the retreat of this elder, the magician was visited by one
of those worthies known among the Romans by the appellation of
haeredipetae, who had amassed a large for-tune by a close attention
to the immediate wants and weakness of raw, inexperienced heirs.
This honourable usurer had sold an annuity upon the life of a young
spendthrift, being thereto induced by the affirmation of his physician,
who had assured him his patient's constitution was so rotten, that he
could not live one year to an end. He had, nevertheless, made shift to
weather eighteen months, and now seemed more vigorous and healthy
than he had ever been known: for he was supposed to have nourished an
hereditary pox from his cradle. Alarmed at this alteration, the seller
came to consult Cadwallader, not only about the life of the annuitant,
but also concerning the state of his health at the time of his
purchasing the annuity, purposing to sue the physician for false
intelligence, should the conjurer declare that the young man was
sound when the doctor pronounced him diseased. But this was a piece of
satisfaction he did not obtain from the misanthrope, who, in order
to punish his sordid disposition, gave him to understand, that the
physician had told him the truth, and nothing but the truth; and that
the young gentleman was in a fair way of attaining a comfortable old
age. "That is to say," cried the client, in the impatience of his
mortification at this answer, "bating accidents; for, thank God, the
annuitant does not lead the most regular life. Besides, I am credibly
informed he is choleri