g
for _Ireland_; who volunteered to take me with her, and be at my
Charges; so I took leave of Father with a bursting Heart, not troubling
him with an Inkling of my Ill-usage, which has been a Comfort to me
ever since, though he went to the Grave believing I had only sought my
own Well-doing.

We never met again. Had I foreseen it, I could not have left him. The
next Stroke was to get away _Mary_ and _Anne_, and take back _Betty
Fisher_. Then the nuncupative Will was hatched up; for I never will
believe it authentick--no, never; and Sir _Leoline Jenkins_, that
upright and able Judge, set it aside, albeit _Betty Fisher_ would swear
through thick and thin.

Sure, Things must have come to a pretty Pass, when Father was brought
to take his Meals in the Kitchen! a Thing he had never been accustomed
to in his Life, save at _Chalfont_, by Reason of the Parlour being so
small. And the Words, both as to Sense and Choice, which _Betty_ put
into his Mouth, betrayed the Counterfeit, by favouring over-much of the
Scullion. "God have Mercy, _Betty_! I see thou wilt perform according
to thy Promise, in providing me such Dishes as I think fit whilst I
live; and when I die, thou knowest I have left thee all!" Phansy
Father talking like that! Were I not so provoked, I could laugh. And
he to sell his Children's Birthright for a Mess of Pottage, who,
instead of loving savoury Meat, like blind _Isaac_, was, in fact, the
most temperate of Men! who cared not what he ate, so 'twas sweet and
clean; who might have said with godly Mr. _Ball_ of _Whitmore_, that he
had two Dishes of Meat to his Sabbath-dinner,--a Dish of hot Milk, and
a Dish of cold Milk; and that was enough and enough. Whose Drink was
from the Well;--often have I drawn it for him at _Chalfont!--_and who
called Bread-and-butter a lordly Dish;--often have I cut him thick
Slices, and brought him Cresses from the Spring! Well placed he his
own Principle and Practice in the Chorus's Mouth, where they say,

"Oh, Madness! to think Use of strongest Wines
And strongest Drinks our chief Support of Health!"

So that Story carries its Confutation with it: _Ned Phillips_ says so,
too. As to what passed, that _July_ Forenoon, between him and Uncle
_Kit_, before the latter left Town in the _Ipswich_ Coach, and with
_Betty Fisher_ fidgetting in and out of the Chamber all the Time . . .
he may, or may not have called us his unkind Children; for we can never
tell what Reason