ad been reading without leave; and the habit
of never speaking, or being spoken to, considerably increased the
difficulty.

My anxiety on this subject threw me into a fever. I was so ill, that
my mother thought it necessary to sleep in the same room with me. In
the middle of the night I could not resist the strong desire I felt to
tell her what preyed so much on my mind.

I awoke her out of a sound sleep, and begged she would be so kind as
to be a Mahometan. She was very much alarmed, for she thought I was
delirious, which I believe I was; for I tried to explain the reason of
my request, but it was in such an incoherent manner that she could not
at all comprehend what I was talking about.

The next day a physician was sent for, and he discovered, by several
questions that he put to me, that I had read myself into a fever. He
gave me medicines, and ordered me to be kept very quiet, and said, he
hoped in a few days I should be very well; but as it was a new case
to him, he never having attended a little Mahometan before, if any
lowness continued after he had removed the fever, he would, with my
mother's permission, take me home with him to study this extraordinary
case at his leisure; and added, that he could then hold a consultation
with his wife, who was often very useful to him in prescribing
remedies for the maladies of his younger patients.

In a few days he fetched me away. His wife was in the carriage with
him. Having heard what he said about her prescriptions, I expected,
between the doctor and his lady, to undergo a severe course of
medicine, especially as I heard him very formally ask her advice what
was good for a Mahometan fever, the moment after he had handed me into
the carriage. She studied a little while, and then she said, A ride
to Harlow fair would not be amiss. He said he was entirely of her
opinion, because it suited him to go there to buy a horse.

During the ride they entered into conversation with me, and in answer
to their questions, I was relating to them the solitary manner in
which I had passed my time; how I found out the library, and what I
had read in the fatal book which had so heated my imagination,--when
we arrived at the fair; and Ishmael, Mahomet, and the narrow bridge,
vanished out of my head in an instant.

O what a cheerful sight it was to me, to see so many happy faces
assembled together, walking up and down between the rows of booths
that were full of showy things; ribbands,