from time to time, that I might hear of his welfare which was all I could now expect of him. But this was the last time I heard from him, or he from me. In about a month's time, the news came that the privateer (which sailed under British colours, and was divided into eight shares) had taken a ship, and was bringing it into the Texel, but that it accidentally foundered, and being chained to the privateer, had, in sinking, like to have lost that too. Two or three of the hands got on shore, and came to the Hague; but how terribly I was alarmed, any one may judge, when I heard the ship the privateer had was the Newfoundland, merchantman, as I had bought two shares in out of four. About two months after, news was current about the Hague, of a privateer or merchantman, one of them of the town, though not known which, having an engagement in the Mediterranean, in which action, both the privateer and trader was lost. Soon after, their names were publicly known, and, in the end, my partners heard that they were our ships, and unhappily sailing under false colours (a thing often practised in the time of war), and never having seen each other, had, at meeting, a very smart engagement, each fighting for life and honour, till two unfortunate shots, one of them, viz., the privateer, was sunk by a shot between wind and water, and the trader unhappily blown up by a ball falling in the powder-room; there were only two hands of the trader, and three of the privateer, that escaped, and they all fortunately met at one of the partner's houses, where they confirmed the truth of this melancholy story, and to me a fatal loss. What was to be done now? I had no money, and but few clothes left, there was no hope of subsistence from my son or his guardians, they were tied down to be spectators of my misfortunes, without affording me any redress, even if they would. Isabel, though I was now reduced to the last penny, would live with me still, and, as I observed before, and may now repeat, I was in a pretty situation to begin the world; upwards of sixty years of age, friendless, scanty of clothes, and but very little money. I proposed to Isabel to remove from lodgings, and retire to Amsterdam, where I was not known, and might turn myself into some little way of business, and work for that bread now, which had been too often squandered away upon very ROXANA DIES IN A JAIL. 349 trifles. And upon consideration, I found myself in a worse condition than I thought, for I had nothing to recommend me to heaven, either in works or thoughts; had even banished from my mind all the cardinal and moral virtues, and had much more reason to hide myself from the sight of God, if possible, than I had to leave the Hague, that I might not be known of my fellow-creatures. And farther to hasten our removing to Amsterdam, I recollected I was involved in debt, for money to purchase a share in the Newfoundland trader, which was lost, and my creditors daily threatened me with an arrest to make me pay them. I soon discharged my lodgings, and went with Isabel to Amsterdam, where I thought, as I was advanced in years, to give up all I could raise in the world, and on the sale of everything I had, to go into one of the Proveniers' houses, where I should be settled for life; but as I could not produce money enough for it, I turned it into a coffee-house near the Stadt-house, where I might have done well; but as soon as I was settled, one of my Hague creditors arrested me for a debt of 75l., and I not having a friend in the world of whom to raise the money, was in a shameful condition, carried to the common jail, where poor Isabel followed me with showers of tears, and left me inconsolable for my great misfortunes. Here, without some very unforeseen accident, I shall never go out of it until I am carried to my grave, for which may my much offended God prepare me as soon as possible. The Continuation of the Life of Roxana, by Isabel Johnson, who had been her waiting-maid, from the time she was thrown into jail to the time of her death. After my lady, as it was my duty to call her, was thrown into jail for a debt she was unable to pay, she gave her mind wholly up to devotion; whether it was from a thorough sense of her wretched state, or any other reason, I could never learn; but this I may say, that she was a sincere penitent, and in every action had all the behaviour of a Christian; by degrees, all the things she had in the world were sold, and she began to find an inward decay upon her spirits. In this interval she repeated all the passages of her ill spent life to me, and thoroughly repented of every bad action, especially the little value she had for her children, which were honestly born and bred. And having, as she believed, made her peace with God, she died with mere grief, on the 2nd of July, 1742, in the sixty-fifth year of her age, and was decently buried by me in the churchyard belonging to the Lutherans, in the city of Amsterdam. END OF THE LIFE OF ROXANA. |