BOOK IV.

CONTAINING THE CHRONICLES   OF THE  REIGST OF
WILLIAM   THE   TESTY.
 

CHAPTER I.

Showing the nature of history in general; contain¬
ing furthermore the universal acquirements of
William the Testy, and how a man may learn
so much, as to render himself good for nothing.

When the lofty Thucydides is about to enter
upon his description of the plague that desolated
Athens, one of his modern commentators assures
the reader, that the history is now going to be ex¬
ceeding solemn, serious, and pathetic; and hints,
with that air of chuckling gratulation, with which
a good dame draws forth a choice morsel from a
cupboard to regale a favourite, that this plague will
give his history a most agreeable variety.

In like manner did my heart leap within me,
when I came to the dolorous dilemma of fort
Good Hope, which I at once perceived to be the
forerunner of a series of great events and enter-