Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, Vol. I | Page 9

finished the work to our mutual satisfaction, I locked it up,
in order to peruse it at leisure, intending to have presented it to him at
our arrival in England, to dispose of as he pleased, in such a way as
might have conduced most to his profit; for I resolved, notwithstanding
our agreement, and the obligations he was under to me, that the whole
of that should be his own. But he, having been in a declining state some
time before we reached shore, died the very night we landed; and his
funeral falling upon me, I thought I had the greatest right to the
manuscript, which, however, I had no design to have parted with; but
showing it to some judicious friends, I have by them been prevailed
with not to conceal from the world what may prove so very entertaining,
and perhaps useful.
R. P.
A GENUINE ACCOUNT

OF THE
LIFE OF PETER WILKINS.
CHAPTER I.
Giving an account of the author's birth and family--The fondness of his
mother--His being put to an academy at sixteen by the advice of his
friend--His thoughts of his own illiterature
I was born at Penhale, in the county of Cornwall, on the 21st day of
December 1685, about four months after my father, Peter Wilkins, who
was a zealous Protestant of the Church of England, had been executed
by Jeffreys, in Somersetshire, for joining in the design of raising the
Duke of Monmouth to the British throne. I was named, after my father
and grandfather, Peter, and was my father's only child by Alice his wife,
the daughter of John Capert, a clergyman in a neighbouring village. My
grandfather was a shopkeeper at Newport, who, by great frugality and
extraordinary application, had raised a fortune of about £160 a year in
lands, and a considerable sum of ready money, all which at his death
devolved upon my father, as his only child; who, being no less
parsimonious than my grandfather, and living upon his own estate, had
much improved it in value before his marriage with my mother; but he
coming to that unhappy end, my mother, after my birth, placed all her
affection upon me (her growing hope, as she called me), and used every
method, in my minority, of increasing the store for my benefit.
In this manner she went on, till I grew too big, as I thought, for
confinement at the apron-string, being then about fourteen years of age;
and having met with so much indulgence from her, for that reason
found very little or no contradiction from anybody else; so I looked on
myself as a person of some consequence, and began to take all
opportunities of enjoying the company of my neighbours, who hinted
frequently that the restraint I was under was too great a curb upon an
inclination like mine of seeing the world; but my mother, still impatient
of any little absence, by excessive fondness, and encouraging every
inclination I seemed to have, when she could be a partaker with me,

kept me within bounds of restraint till I arrived at my sixteenth year.
About this time I got acquainted with a country gentleman, of a small
paternal estate, which had been never the better for being in his hands,
and had some uneasy demands upon it. He soon grew very fond of me,
hoping, as I had reason afterwards to believe, by a union with my
mother to set himself free from his entanglements. She was then about
thirty-five years old, and still continued my father's widow, out of
particular regard to me, as I have all the reason in the world to believe.
She was really a beautiful woman, and of a sanguine complexion,
but-had always carried herself with so much reserve, and given so little
encouragement to any of the other sex, that she had passed her
widowhood with very few solicitations to alter her way of life. This
gentleman observing my mother's conduct, in order to ingratiate
himself with her, had shown numberless instances of regard for me;
and, as he told my mother, had observed many things in my discourse,
actions, and turn of mind, that presaged wonderful expectations from
me, if my genius was but properly cultivated.
This discourse, from a man of very good parts, and esteemed by
everybody an accomplished gentleman, by degrees wrought upon my
mother, and more and more inflamed her with a desire of adding what
lustre she could to my applauded abilities, and influenced her so far as
to ask his advice in what manner most properly to proceed with me. My
gentleman then had his desire, for he feared not the widow, could he
but properly dispose of her charge; so having desired a little time to
consider of a matter