Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 17.djvu/237

Rh

ACK hitherto had passed in the world for a poor, simple, well-meaning, half-witted, crackbrained fellow. People were strangely surprised to find him in such a roguery; that he should disguise himself under a false name, hire himself out for a servant to an old gentlewoman, only for an opportunity to poison her. They said, that it was more generous to profess open enmity, than under a profound dissimulation to be guilty of such a scandalous breach of trust, and of the sacred rights of hospitality. In short, the action was universally condemned by his best friends; they told him in plain terms, that this was come as a judgment upon him for his loose life, his gluttony, drunkenness, and avarice; for laying aside his father's will in an old mouldy trunk, and turning stockjobber, newsmonger, and busybody, meddling with other people's affairs, shaking off his old serious friends, and keeping company with buffoons and pickpockets, his father's sworn enemies: that he had best throw himself upon the mercy of the court; repent, and change his manners. To say truth, Jack heard these discourses with some compunction; however, he resolved to try what his new acquaintance would do for him: they sent Habbakkuk Slyboots, who delivered him the Rh