d in public with a second day's shirt. At last, his clothes
became rusty; and when he walked about the streets, his head turned round
in a surprising manner, by an involuntary motion in his neck, which he
had contracted by a habit of reconnoitring the ground, that he might
avoid all dangerous or disagreeable encounters.

Fathom, finding himself descending the hill of fortune with an acquired
gravitation, strove to catch at every twig, in order to stop or retard
his descent. He now regretted the opportunities he had neglected, of
marrying one of several women of moderate fortune, who had made advances
to him in the zenith of his reputation; and endeavoured, by forcing
himself into a lower path of life than any he had hitherto trod, to keep
himself afloat, with the portion of some tradesman's daughter, whom he
meant to espouse. While he exerted himself in this pursuit, he happened,
in returning from a place about thirty miles from London, to become
acquainted, in the stage-coach, with a young woman of a very homely
appearance, whom, from the driver's information, he understood to be the
niece of a country justice, and daughter of a soap-boiler, who had lived
and died in London, and left her, in her infancy, sole heiress of his
effects, which amounted to four thousand pounds. The uncle, who was her
guardian, had kept her sacred from the knowledge of the world, resolving
to effect a match betwixt her and his own son; and it was with much
difficulty he had consented to this journey, which she had undertaken as
a visit to her own mother, who had married a second husband in town.

Fraught with these anecdotes, Fathom began to put forth his gallantry and
good-humour, and, in a word, was admitted by the lady to the privilege of
an acquaintance, in which capacity he visited her during the term of her
residence in London; and, as there was no time to be lost, declared his
honourable intentions. He had such a manifest advantage, in point of
personal accomplishments, over the young gentleman who was destined for
her husband, that she did not disdain his proposals; and, before she set
out for the country, he had made such progress in her heart, that the day
was actually fixed for their nuptials, on which he faithfully promised to
carry her off in a coach and six. How to raise money for this expedition
was all the difficulty that remained; for, by this time, his finances
were utterly dried up, and his credit altogether exhausted.