e. So
strange is the nature of youth, who are not ashamed to sin, but yet
ashamed to repent; and so far from being ashamed of those actions for
which they may be acounted fools, they think it folly to return to their
duty, which is the principal mark of wisdom. In short I travelled up to
London, resolving upon a voyage, and a voyage I soon heard of, by my
acquaintance with a captain who took a fancy to me, to go to the coast
of Guinea. Having some money, and appearing like a gentleman, I went on
board, not as a common sailor or foremast man; nay, the commander agreed
I should go that voyage with him without any expence; that I should be
his messmate and companion, and I was very welcome to carry any thing
with me, and make the best merchandise I could.

I blessed my happy fortune, and humbly thanked my captain for this
offer; and acquainting my friends in Yorkshire, forty pounds were sent
me, the greatest part of which my dear father and mother contributed to,
with which I bought toys and trifles, as the captain directed me. My
captain also taught me navigation, how to keep an account of the ship's
course, take an observation, and led me into the knowledge of several
useful branches of the mathematics. And indeed this voyage made me both
a sailor and a merchant; for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of
gold-dust for my adventure which produced, at my return to London,
almost three hundred pounds. But in this voyage I was extremely sick,
being thrown into a violent calenture through the excessive heat,
trading upon the coast from the latitude of fifteen degrees north, even
to the line itself.

But alas! my dear friend the captain soon departed this life after his
arrival. This was a sensible grief to me; yet I resolved to go another
with his mate, who had now got command of the ship. This proved a very
unsuccessful one; for though I did not carry quite a hundred pounds of
my late acquired wealth, (so that I had two hundred pounds left, which I
reposed with the captain's widow, who was an honest gentlewoman) yet my
misfortunes in this unhappy voyage were very great. For our ship sailing
towards the Canary islands, we were chased by a Salee rover; and in
spite of all the haste we could make by crowding as much canvas as our
yards could spread, or our masts carry, the pirate gained upon us, to
that we prepared ourselves to fight. They had eighteen guns, and we had
but twelve. About three in the afternoon there was a d