the child when he was first
missing, the boy proved to be the son of the merchant whose heart had so
unaccountably melted at the sight of him. The lad was very well pleased
to find a father who was so rich, and likely to leave him a good estate;
the father on the other hand was not a little delighted to see a son
return to him, whom he had given for lost, with such a strength of
constitution, sharpness of understanding, and skill in languages." Here
the printed story leaves off; but if I may give credit to reports, our
linguist having received such extraordinary rudiments towards a good
education, was afterwards trained up in everything that becomes a
gentleman; wearing off by little and little all the vicious habits and
practices that he had been used to in the course of his peregrinations:
nay, it is said, that he has since been employed in foreign courts upon
national business, with great reputation to himself and honour to those
who sent him, and that he has visited several countries as a public
minister, in which he formerly wandered as a gipsy.

C.

FOOTNOTES:

[139] _Exert._ Exert the power of.

[140] _Cassandra._ Reference to the mad prophetess of that name in the
story of Troy.

[141] _In a corner._ In secret.

[142] _Strollers._ Vagabonds.

NO. 131. TUESDAY, JULY 31

_Ipsae rursum concedite sylvae._

VIRG. _Ecl._ x. ver. 63.

Once more, ye woods, adieu.

It is usual for a man who loves country sports to preserve the game on
his own grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his
neighbour. My friend Sir Roger generally goes two or three miles from his
house, and gets into the frontiers of his estate, before he beats about
in search of a hare or partridge, on purpose to spare his own fields,
where he is always sure of finding diversion, when the worst comes to the
worst. By this means the breed about his house has time to increase and
multiply, beside that the sport is the more agreeable where the game is
the harder to come at, and where it does not lie so thick as to produce
any perplexity or confusion in the pursuit. For these reasons the country
gentleman, like the fox, seldom preys near his own home.

In the same manner I have made a month's excursion out of the town, which
is the great field of game for sportsmen of my species, to try my fortune
in the country, where I have started several subjects, and hunted them
down, with some pleasure to myself, and I