iety as it is at
present constituted, might be inclined to turn their attention upon the
fountain from which such bitter waters have been accustomed to flow. But
these motives have diminished in their influence. I have contracted a
disgust for life and all its appendages. Writing, which was at first a
pleasure, is changed into a burthen. I shall compress into a small
compass what remains to be told.

I discovered, not long after the period of which I am speaking, the
precise cause of the reverse I had experienced in my residence in Wales,
and, included in that cause, what it was I had to look for in my future
adventures. Mr. Falkland had taken the infernal Gines into his pay, a
man critically qualified for the service in which he was now engaged, by
the unfeeling brutality of his temper, by his habits of mind at once
audacious and artful, and by the peculiar animosity and vengeance he had
conceived against me. The employment to which this man was hired, was
that of following me from place to place, blasting my reputation, and
preventing me from the chance, by continuing long in one residence, of
acquiring a character for integrity, that should give new weight to any
accusation I might at a future time be induced to prefer. Ho had come to
the seat of my residence with the bricklayers and labourers I have
mentioned; and, while he took care to keep out of sight so far as
related to me, was industrious in disseminating that which, in the eye
of the world, seemed to amount to a demonstration of the profligacy and
detestableness of my character. It was no doubt from him that the
detested scroll had been procured, which I had found in my habitation
immediately prior to my quitting it. In all this Mr. Falkland, reasoning
upon his principles, was only employing a necessary precaution. There
was something in the temper of his mind, that impressed him with
aversion to the idea of violently putting an end to my existence; at the
same time that unfortunately he could never deem himself sufficiently
secured against my recrimination, so long as I remained alive. As to the
fact of Gines being retained by him for this tremendous purpose, he by
no means desired that it should become generally known; but neither did
he look upon the possibility of its being known with terror. It was
already too notorious for his wishes, that I had advanced the most
odious charges against him. If he regarded me with abhorrence as the
adversary of his fame,