nd more, at his death, yet he left it in the
hands of my elder brother, who, running on too rashly in his adventures
as a merchant, failed, and lost not only what he had, but what he had
for me too, as you shall hear presently.

Thus I lost the last gift of my father's bounty by having a husband not
fit to be trusted with it: there's one of the benefits of marrying a
fool.

Within two years after my own father's death my husband's father also
died, and, as I thought, left him a considerable addition to his estate,
the whole trade of the brewhouse, which was a very good one, being now
his own.

But this addition to his stock was his ruin, for he had no genius to
business, he had no knowledge of his accounts; he bustled a little about
it, indeed, at first, and put on a face of business, but he soon grew
slack; it was below him to inspect his books, he committed all that to
his clerks and book-keepers; and while he found money in cash to pay the
maltman and the excise, and put some in his pocket, he was perfectly
easy and indolent, let the main chance go how it would.

I foresaw the consequence of this, and attempted several times to
persuade him to apply himself to his business; I put him in mind how his
customers complained of the neglect of his servants on one hand, and how
abundance broke in his debt, on the other hand, for want of the clerk's
care to secure him, and the like; but he thrust me by, either with hard
words, or fraudulently, with representing the cases otherwise than they
were.

However, to cut short a dull story, which ought not to be long, he began
to find his trade sunk, his stock declined, and that, in short, he could
not carry on his business, and once or twice his brewing utensils were
extended for the excise; and, the last time, he was put to great
extremities to clear them.

This alarmed him, and he resolved to lay down his trade; which, indeed,
I was not sorry for; foreseeing that if he did not lay it down in time,
he would be forced to do it another way, namely, as a bankrupt. Also I
was willing he should draw out while he had something left, lest I
should come to be stripped at home, and be turned out of doors with my
children; for I had now five children by him, the only work (perhaps)
that fools are good for.

I thought myself happy when he got another man to take his brewhouse
clear off his hands; for, paying down a large sum of money, my husband
found himself a clear man, all his de