Having been, as has been mentioned, about twenty-four years a servant,
and having, in the interim, received two legacies, viz., one of thirty
pounds, left him by his master, and another of fifteen pounds by his
mistress, and being always very frugal, he had got by him in the whole
upwards of sixty pounds. This, thinks he, with prudent management, will
be enough to support me as long as I live, and so I'll e'en lay aside all
thoughts of future business, and make the best of my way to Cornwall, and
there find out some safe and solitary retreat, where I may have liberty
to meditate and make my melancholy observations upon the several
occurrences of human life.

This resolution prevailed so far, that no time was let slip to get
everything in readiness to go with the first ship. As to his money, he
always kept that locked up by him, unless he sometimes lent it to a
friend without interest, for he had a mortal hatred to all sorts of usury
or extortion. His books, of which he had a considerable quantity, and
some of them very good ones, together with his other equipage, he got
packed up, that nothing might be wanting against the first opportunity.

In a few days he heard of a vessel bound to Padstow, the very port he
wished to go to, being within four or five miles of the place where he
was born. When he came thither, which was in less than a week, his first
business was to inquire after the state of his family. It was some time
before he could get any information of them, until an old man that knew
his father and mother, and remembered they had a son was born dumb,
recollected him, and after a great deal of difficulty, made him
understand that all his family except his youngest sister were dead, and
that she was a widow, and lived at a little town called St. Helen's,
about ten miles farther in the country.