Languages & literature > Man of feeling

THE MAN OF FEELING, zj
tell fortunes elfe ?” “ True, but to go
on with your ftory : you were a labourer,
you lay, and a wag; your induftry, I
fuppofe, you left with your old trade,
but your humour you preferve to beo^;
ufe to you in your new.”
“ What fignifies fadnefs, Sir ? a man
grows lean on’t : but I was brought to
my idlenefs by degrees ; firft I could not
work, and then it wentagainft my ftomacli
to work ever after. I was feized with a-
gaol-fever at the time of the ailizes being in
the county where I lived; fori was ai¬
rways curious to get acquainted with the
felons, becaufe they are commonly feL
lows of much mirth and little thought,:
qualities I had ever an efteem for. In the
height of this fever Mr. Harley, the
houfe where I lay took fire, and burnt to
the ground : I was carried out in that
condition, and lay all the reft of my ill-
nefs in a barn. I got the better of my
difeafe however, but I was fa weak
D 2 that