Archangel, where I would immediately secure him on board an English
ship, and carry him safe along with me; and as to his subsistence
and other particulars, it should be my care till he could better
supply himself.
He heard me very attentively, and looked earnestly on me all the
while I spoke; nay, I could see in his very face that what I said
put his spirits into an exceeding ferment; his colour frequently
changed, his eyes looked red, and his heart fluttered, till it
might be even perceived in his countenance; nor could he
immediately answer me when I had done, and, as it were, hesitated
what he would say to it; but after he had paused a little, he
embraced me, and said, “How unhappy are we, unguarded creatures as
we are, that even our greatest acts of friendship are made snares
unto us, and we are made tempters of one another!” He then
heartily thanked me for my offers of service, but withstood
resolutely the arguments I used to urge him to set himself free.
He declared, in earnest terms, that he was fully bent on remaining
where he was rather than seek to return to his former miserable
greatness, as he called it: where the seeds of pride, ambition,
avarice, and luxury might revive, take root, and again overwhelm
him. “Let me remain, dear sir,” he said, in conclusion – “let me
remain in this blessed confinement, banished from the crimes of
life, rather than purchase a show of freedom at the expense of the
liberty of my reason, and at the future happiness which I now have
in my view, but should then, I fear, quickly lose sight of; for I
am but flesh; a man, a mere man; and have passions and affections
as likely to possess and overthrow me as any man: Oh, be not my
friend and tempter both together!”
If I was surprised before, I was quite dumb now, and stood silent,
looking at him, and, indeed, admiring what I saw. The struggle in
his soul was so great that, though the weather was extremely cold,
it put him into a most violent heat; so I said a word or two, that
I would leave him to consider of it, and wait on him again, and
then I withdrew to my own apartment.
About two hours after I heard somebody at or near the door of my
room, and I was going to open the door, but he had opened it and
come in. “My dear friend,” says he, “you had almost overset me,
but I am recovered. Do not take it ill that I do not close with
your offer. I assure you it is not for want of sense of the
kindness of it in you; and I came to make the most sincere
acknowledgment of it to you; but I hope I have got the victory over
myself.” – “My lord,” said I, “I hope you are fully satisfied that
you do not resist the call of Heaven.” – “Sir,” said he, “if it had
been from Heaven, the same power would have influenced me to have
accepted it; but I hope, and am fully satisfied, that it is from
Heaven that I decline it, and I have infinite satisfaction in the
parting, that you shall leave me an honest man still, though not a
free man.”
I had nothing to do but to acquiesce, and make professions to him
of my having no end in it but a sincere desire to serve him. He
embraced me very passionately, and assured me he was sensible of
that, and should always acknowledge it; and with that he offered me
a very fine present of sables – too much, indeed, for me to accept
from a man in his circumstances, and I would have avoided them, but
he would not be refused. The next morning I sent my servant to his
lordship with a small present of tea, and two pieces of China
damask, and four little wedges of Japan gold, which did not all
weigh above six ounces or thereabouts, but were far short of the
value of his sables, which, when I came to England, I found worth