CHAP. III.
True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fanta&longs;y,
Which is as thin of &longs;ub&longs;tance as the air,
And more incon&longs;tant than the wind;
Who woos
Even now the frozen bo&longs;om of the north,
And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew dropping &longs;outh.
Shakespeare.
ARGUMENT.
The Author Dreameth whil&longs;t Awake.
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The higher his rank in society,
the further is man removed from nature.
Grandeur draws a circle round
the great, and often excludes from them the
finer feelings of the heart. The wretched
are all of one family; and ever regard
each other as brethren. Among the
&longs;laves of my new ma&longs;ter, I was received
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with pity, and treated with tenderne&longs;s,
bordering upon fraternal affection. They
could not indeed &longs;peak my language, and
I was ignorant of theirs; but, by dividing
the &longs;canty meal, compo&longs;ing my couch of
&longs;traw, and alleviating my more rugged labours,
they &longs;pake that univer&longs;al language
of benevolence, which needs no lingui&longs;t
to interpret.
It is true, I did not meet, among my
fellow &longs;laves, the rich and the noble, as
the dramati&longs;t and the noveli&longs;t had taught
me to expect. To betray a weakne&longs;s I
will confe&longs;s that, &longs;ometime after I was
captured, I often &longs;uffered fancy to cheat
me of my “weary moments,” by portraying
tho&longs;e &longs;cenes, which had often amused
me in my clo&longs;et, and delighted me
on the &longs;tage. Sometimes, I even contemplated
with plea&longs;ure the company and
conver&longs;e of my fellow &longs;laves. I expected
to find them men of rank at lea&longs;t, if not
of learning. I fancied my ma&longs;ter's cook
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an Engli&longs;h lord; his valet an Italian
duke; his groom a knight of Malta; and
even his foot boy &longs;ome little lively French
marquis. I fancied my future ma&longs;ter's
head gardener, taking me one &longs;ide, professing
the warme&longs;t friend&longs;hip, and telling
me in confidence that he was a Spani&longs;h
Don with forty noble names; that he had
fallen in love with my ma&longs;ter's fair
daughter, who&longs;e mother was a chri&longs;tian
&longs;lave; that the young lady was equally
charmed with him; that &longs;he was to rob
her father of a rich ca&longs;ket of jewels, there
being no di&longs;honour in &longs;tealing from an
infidel; jump into his arms in boy's
clothes that very night, and e&longs;cape by a
ve&longs;&longs;el, already provided, to his native
country. I &longs;aw in imagination all this
accompli&longs;hed. I &longs;aw the lady de&longs;cend
the rope ladder; heard the old man and
his &longs;ervants pur&longs;ue; &longs;aw the lady carried
off breathle&longs;s in the arms of her knight;
arrive &longs;afe in Spain; was pre&longs;ent at the
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lady's bapti&longs;m into the catholic church,
and at her marriage with her noble deliverer.
I was my&longs;elf almo&longs;t &longs;tifled with the
care&longs;&longs;es of the noble family, for the part I
had borne in this perilous adventure; and
in fine married to Donna &longs;ome body, the
Don's beautiful &longs;i&longs;ter; returned into my
own country, loaded with beauty and
riches; and perhaps was arou&longs;ed from my
reverie by a poor fellow &longs;lave, who&longs;e extreme
ignorance had almo&longs;t blunted the
&longs;en&longs;ibility of his own wretchedne&longs;s.
Indeed, &longs;o &longs;weet were the delu&longs;ions of
my own fancy, I am loth to de&longs;troy
the innocent gratification, which the readers
of novels and plays enjoy from the
works of a Behn and a Colman; but the
&longs;ober character of the hi&longs;torian compels
me to a&longs;&longs;ure my readers that, whatever
may have happened in the &longs;ixteenth century,
I never &longs;aw during my captivity, a
man of any rank, family, or fortune among
the menial &longs;laves. The Dey, as I
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have already ob&longs;erved, &longs;electing his tenth
pri&longs;oner from tho&longs;e, who would mo&longs;t
probably afford the riche&longs;t ran&longs;om, tho&longs;e
concerned in the captures are influenced
by the &longs;ame motive. All, who may be
expected to be ran&longs;omed, are deprived
of their liberty, it is true; but fed,
clothed, and never put to manual labour,
except as a puni&longs;hment for &longs;ome actual
crime, or attempting to recover their liberty.
The menial &longs;laves are generally
compo&longs;ed of the dregs of tho&longs;e nations,
with whom they are at war; but, though
my fellow &longs;laves were gro&longs;sly illiterate, I
mu&longs;t do them the ju&longs;tice to &longs;ay, they had
learned well the kinder virtues: tho&longs;e virtues,
which &longs;chools and colleges often fail
to teach, which, as Ari&longs;totle well ob&longs;erves,
are like a flame of fire. Light them up
in whatever climate you will, they burn
and &longs;hine ever the &longs;ame.
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Tyler, Royall, 1757-1826 [1797], The Algerine captive, or, The life and adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill, six years a prisoner among the Algerines, volume 2 (, Walpole, NH) [word count] [eaf407v2].
