Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/140

 134 the same generous kindness. Many of them, too, had a distaste for English cookery, and they liked exceedingly to partake of my soup and bread. They came to assist in the cooking first, and then in eating the food.

This mode of living might be very agreeable to some persons, but it did not suit my wife or me. Each gift reminded us of our painful dependence; and we looked eagerly around, hoping to discover some mode by which we could maintain ourselves without charity.

I had occasion to go to Bridgewater, on some business connected with the second cargo that was sent to France; and while I was there, Mr. Hoare, an alderman of the borough, and a very upright, worthy man, introduced me to Sir Halsewell Tynte. who lived about two miles from Bridgewater, which led to my making an arrangement to live in his family, and render certain services, for which I was to receive £20 per annum; and as I was to live at his table, I thought the sum would be sufficient for the support of my wife. It was on the 18th September, that I went to live at a distance from her, in the hope of supporting her independently, but I found the separation so grievous, that I determined to fetch her to Bridgewater, where I took a small house. Early in the year 1687 I went for her, and brought also my sister-in-law, Elizabeth Boursiquot, who had fled from France with us, and our infant son, who had been born during my absence, and been baptized by Mr. Mausy, the French minister, and presented for that sacrament by Mr. Fraine, Mr. Juliot, and his aunt Elizabeth.

Even after I had brought your mother so near to me that I could visit her frequently, I found it a great trial not to be with her constantly, and she also felt the privation so painfully,