and at the distance of one hundred miles from the metropolis, lived
Gamaliel Pickle, esq.; the father of that hero whose fortunes we
propose to record. He was the son of a merchant in London, who,
like Rome, from small beginnings had raised himself to the highest
honours of the city, and acquired a plentiful fortune, though, to
his infinite regret, he died before it amounted to a plum, conjuring
his son, as he respected the last injunction of a parent, to imitate
his industry, and adhere to his maxims, until he should have made
up the deficiency, which was a sum considerably less than fifteen
thousand pounds.

This pathetic remonstrance had the desired effect upon his
representative, who spared no pains to fulfil the request of the
deceased: but exerted all the capacity with which nature had endowed
him, in a series of efforts, which, however, did not succeed; for
by the time he bad been fifteen years in trade, he found himself five
thousand pounds worse than he was when he first took possession of
his father's effects; a circumstance that affected him so nearly,
as to detach his inclinations from business, and induce him to retire
from the world to some place where he might at leisure deplore his
misfortunes, and, by frugality, secure himself from want, and the
apprehensions of a jail, with which his imagination was incessantly
haunted. He was often heard to express his fears of coming upon
the parish; and to bless God, that, on account of his having been
so long a housekeeper, he was entitled to that provision. In short,
his talents were not naturally active, and there was a sort of
inconsistency in his character; for, with all the desire of amassing
which any citizen could possibly entertain, he was encumbered
by a certain indolence and sluggishness that prevailed over every
interested consideration, and even hindered him from profiting by