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222 to procure me a salary of one doubloon (about £3. 12s.) per month, at the first onset, as clerk in a mercantile house, which would be increased as I acquired the Portugueze language. But that longing desire to revisit my native country, which is predominant in the breast of every Englishman, together with a wish to see once more my beloved relations to whom I owed so much, prevailed over every other consideration; and I declined, but with a proper sense of gratitude, these flattering offers of favour and service.

Since my departure from Portsmouth, in 1801, I had not heard a syllable of or from any of my friends in England, and though it was probable that my dear benefactors in S——— had ere this period paid the debt of nature, I felt a secret hope that they might still survive, and that from the favourable situation in which I stood with Captain King I might, at no very distant period, find myself enabled to contribute some little assistance towards rendering the evening of their lives happy. It was my firm determination never again to swerve from a course of rectitude; and I had the fullest confidence that the late governor, my patron, would procure me the means of adhering to so laudable a resolution. How fatally I was mistaken, how uncertain are the favours of the great, will be seen in a future chapter.

The Buffalo having been as effectually repaired