"I was content to live on the bounty of a kinsman. His family was
numerous, and his revenue small. He forbore to upbraid me, or even to
insinuate the propriety of providing for myself; but he empowered me to
pursue any liberal or mechanical profession which might suit my taste. I
was insensible to every generous motive. I laboured to forget my
dependent and disgraceful condition, because the remembrance was a
source of anguish, without being able to inspire me with a steady
resolution to change it.

"I contracted an acquaintance with a woman who was unchaste, perverse,
and malignant. Me, however, she found it no difficult task to deceive.
My uncle remonstrated against the union. He took infinite pains to
unveil my error, and to convince me that wedlock was improper for one
destitute, as I was, of the means of support, even if the object of my
choice were personally unexceptionable.

"His representations were listened to with anger. That he thwarted my
will in this respect, even by affectionate expostulation, cancelled all
that debt of gratitude which I owed to him. I rewarded him for all his
kindness by invective and disdain, and hastened to complete my
ill-omened marriage. I had deceived the woman's father by assertions of
possessing secret resources. To gratify my passion, I descended to
dissimulation and falsehood. He admitted me into his family, as the
husband of his child; but the character of my wife and the fallacy of my
assertions were quickly discovered. He denied me accommodation under his
roof, and I was turned forth to the world to endure the penalty of my
rashness and my indolence.

"Temptation would have moulded me into any villanous shape. My virtuous
theories and comprehensive erudition would not have saved me from the