The Spectator, Volume 2. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,123 pages of information about The Spectator, Volume 2..

The Spectator, Volume 2. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,123 pages of information about The Spectator, Volume 2..
time of rouzing and seeking after his Prey.  He always followed me in the Rear, and when I had run down a fat Buck, a wild Goat, or an Hare, after he had feasted very plentifully upon it himself, would now and then throw me a Bone that was but half picked for my Encouragement; but upon my Being unsuccessful in two or three Chaces, he gave me such a confounded Gripe in his Anger, that I died of it.
In my next Transmigration I was again set upon two Legs, and became an Indian Tax-gatherer; but having been guilty of great Extravagances, and being marry’d to an expensive Jade of a Wife, I ran so cursedly in debt, that I durst not shew my Head.  I could no sooner step out of my House, but I was arrested by some body or other that lay in wait for me.  As I ventur’d abroad one Night in the Dusk of the Evening, I was taken up and hurry’d into a Dungeon, where I died a few Months after.
My Soul then enter’d into a Flying-Fish, and in that State led a most melancholy Life for the space of six Years.  Several Fishes of Prey pursued me when I was in the Water, and if I betook my self to my Wings, it was ten to one but I had a flock of Birds aiming at me.  As I was one day flying amidst a fleet of English Ships, I observed a huge Sea-Gull whetting his Bill and hovering just over my Head:  Upon my dipping into the Water to avoid him, I fell into the Mouth of a monstrous Shark that swallow’d me down in an instant.
I was some Years afterwards, to my great surprize, an eminent Banker in Lombard-street; and remembring how I had formerly suffered for want of Money, became so very sordid and avaritious, that the whole Town cried shame of me.  I was a miserable little old Fellow to look upon, for I had in a manner starved my self, and was nothing but Skin and Bone when I died.
I was afterwards very much troubled and amazed to find my self dwindled into an Emmet.  I was heartily concerned to make so insignificant a Figure, and did not know but some time or other I might be reduced to a Mite if I did not mend my Manners.  I therefore applied my self with great diligence to the Offices that were allotted me, and was generally look’d upon as the notablest Ant in the whole Molehill.  I was at last picked up, as I was groaning under a Burden, by an unlucky Cock-Sparrow that lived in the Neighbourhood, and had before made great depredations upon our Commonwealth.
I then better’d my Condition a little, and lived a whole Summer in the Shape of a Bee; but being tired with the painful and penurious Life I had undergone in my two last Transmigrations, I fell into the other Extream, and turned Drone.  As I one day headed a Party to plunder an Hive, we were received so warmly by the Swarm which defended it, that we were most of us left dead upon the Spot.
I might tell you of many other Transmigrations which I went thro:  how I was a Town-Rake, and
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The Spectator, Volume 2. from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.