Po. I admire this Way of Life pleas’d you more than any other.

Pa. I was naturally greedy to know new Things, to see various Countries and Cities, to learn Languages, and the Customs and Manners of Men, and Merchandize seem’d the most apposite to that Purpose.  From which a general Knowledge of Things proceeds.

Po. But a wretched one, which is often purchas’d with Inconveniencies.

Pa. It is so, therefore my Father gave me a good large Stock, that I might begin to trade upon a good Foundation:  And at the same Time I courted a Wife with a good Fortune, but handsome enough to have gone off without a Portion.

Eu. Did you succeed?

Pa. No.  Before I came Home, I lost all, Stock and Block.

Eu. Perhaps by Shipwreck.

Pa. By Shipwreck indeed.  For we run upon more dangerous Rocks than those of Scilly.

Eu. In what Sea did you happen to run upon that Rock?  Or what is the Name of it?

Pa. I can’t tell what Sea ’tis in, but it is a Rock that is infamous for the destruction of a great many, they call it Alea [Dice, the Devil’s Bones] in Latin, how you call it in Greek I can’t tell.

Eu. O Fool!

Pa. Nay, my Father was a greater Fool, to trust a young Fop with such a Sum of Money.

Gl. And what did you do next?

Pa. Why nothing at all, but I began to think of hanging myself.

Gl. Was your Father so implacable then?  For such a Loss might be made up again; and an Allowance is always to be made to one that makes the first Essay, and much more it ought to be to one that tries all Things.

Pa. Tho’ what you say may be true, I lost my Wife in the mean Time.  For as soon as the Maid’s Parents came to understand what they must expect, they would have no more to do with me, and I was over Head and Ears in Love.

Gl. I pity thee.  But what did you propose to yourself after that?

Pa. To do as it is usual in desperate Cases.  My Father had cast me off, my Fortune was consum’d, my Wife was lost, I was every where call’d a Sot, a Spendthrift, a Rake and what not?  Then I began to deliberate seriously with myself, whether I should hang myself or no, or whether I should throw myself into a Monastery.

Eu. You were cruelly put to it!  I know which you would chuse, the easier Way of Dying.

Pa. Nay, sick was I of Life itself; I pitched upon that which seem’d to me the most painful.

Gl. And yet many People cast themselves into Monasteries, that they may live more comfortably there.

Pa. Having got together a little Money to bear my Charges, I stole out of my own Country.

Gl. Whither did you go at last?

Pa. Into Ireland, there I became a Canon Regular of that Order that wear Linnen outwards and Woollen next their Skin.