on; but disclaimed
all hope of ever more attracting her regard, and excused himself from
profiting by Godfrey's kind intention; declaring, with a resolute
air, that he had broken off all connection with mankind, and that he
impatiently longed for the hour of his dissolution, which, if it should
not soon arrive by the course of nature, he was resolved to hasten
with his own hands, rather than be exposed to the contempt, and more
intolerable pity, of a rascally world.

Gauntlet argued against this frantic determination with all the
vehemence of expostulating friendship; but his remonstrances did not
produce the desired effect upon our desperate hero, who calmly refuted
all his arguments, and asserted the rectitude of his design from the
pretended maxims of reason and true philosophy. While this dispute was
carried on with eagerness on one side, and deliberation on the other, a
letter was brought to Peregrine, who threw it carelessly aside unopened,
though the superscription was in a handwriting to which he was a
stranger; and, in all probability, the contents would never have been
perused, had not Gauntlet insisted upon his waiving all ceremony, and
reading it forthwith. Thus solicited, Pickle unsealed the billet, which,
to his no small surprise, contained the following intimation:--

Sir,--This comes to inform you, that, after many dangers
and disappointments, I am, by the blessing of God, safely
arrived in the Downs, on board of the Gomberoon Indiaman,
having made a tolerable voyage; by which I hope I shall be
enabled to repay, with interest, the seven hundred pounds
which I borrowed of you before my departure from England.
I take this opportunity of writing by our purser, who goes
express with despatches for the Company, that you may have
this satisfactory notice as soon as possible, relating to
one whom I suppose you have long given over as lost. I have
enclosed it in a letter to my broker, who, I hope, knows
your address, and will forward it accordingly. And I am,
with respect, Sir, your most humble servant,
"Benjamin Chintz."

He had no sooner taken a cursory view of this agreeable epistle, than
his countenance cleared up, and, reaching it to his friend, with a
smile, "There," said he, "is a more convincing argument, on your side
of the question, than all the casuists in the universe can advance."
Gauntlet,