Page:Memoirs James Hardy Vaux.djvu/18



EFORE I commence this narrative of a life marked with more than common vicissitudes I beg to bespeak the reader's attention to a few cursory remarks. I must first promise that I have undertaken the task, in obedience to the commands of a gentleman, who is pleased to anticipate a sufficient fund of entertainment in the perusal, to compensate for the honour he confers in noticing an outcast of Fortune like myself; who, partly from my own vicious conduct, and partly (perhaps,) from the malignity of my fate, have forfeited all hope of attaining that respectable rank in society, to which, in the happy days of youthful innocence, I had every reason to look forward with confidence.

But now, alas! although I have too late seen my errors, and my intentions are strictly virtuous, I have nothing to expect, but to continue through the remainder of this transitory