Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/222

 ‘that in the one case we die like honest men, in the other as felons.’—‘Vulgar prejudice,’ said he; ‘all I do is to add a little to the circulating medium; somewhat irregularly, perhaps, but my betters have done so before me, ever since there were governments and a coinage.’ To be brief, the tempter was so persuasive, that I consented to what he proposed. I was very soon proficient in my new pursuit, having attended therein to the lessons of my father, and applied myself to it in earnest; and I very soon discovered that coin-making was infinitely more profitable and pleasant than purse-making. But everything has an end; the superiority of our fabric excited the jealousy of other coiners, at a time when our manufactory was in a most flourishing and prosperous condition. We were betrayed; and the truly insignificant circumstance of our not having worked under a patent preposterously occasioned our being sent by the prejudiced and narrow-minded judges to work for life on the fortifications. In this situation I spent several years, in sore tribulation; until there came to that part of the kingdom a good angel, with full powers to free from durance vile all such prisoners as had stout limbs and sinews. In other words, a special recruiting officer changed my destination; instead of trundling a wheelbarrow in the public service, it became my nobler duty, as a member of a free corps, to fight in the public cause.