In our calmer intervals Charles gave the following
account of himself, every word of which was true. He was
the only son of a father who, having a small post in the
revenue, rather over-liv'd his income, and had given this
young gentleman a very slender education: no profession had
he bred him up to, but design'd to provide for him in the
army, by purchasing him an ensign's commission, that is to
say, provided he could raise the money, or procure it by
interest, either of which clauses was rather to be wish'd
than hoped for by him. On no better a plan, however, had
this improvident father suffer'd this youth, a youth of
great promise, to run up to the age of manhood, or near it
at least, in next to idleness; and had, besides, taken no
sort of pains to give him even the common premonitions
against the vices of the town, and the dangers of all sorts,
which wait the unexperienc'd and unwary in it. He liv'd at
home, and at discretion, with his father, who himself kept a
mistress; and for the rest, provided Charles did not ask him
for money, he was indolently kind to him: he might lie out
when he pleas'd; any excuse would serve, and even his repri-
mands were so slight that they carried with them rather an
air of connivance at the fault than any serious control or
constraint. But, to supply his calls for money, Charles,
whose mother was dead, had, by her side, a grandmother who
doted upon him.
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