When we recieve a favour from fortune we ought to make use of it as if it was the last we should meet with
Pet MS A18 p R254
Pet MS A42 p118 has ‘great’ inserted before ‘favour
A young fisherman who lived near the sea was very industrious & very thriving in his industry but he thirsted after more wealth the possesion of which was his happ[i]ness he had a cottage & land but he thought happiness dwelt in a pallace who when he did ever so well he wished to do better he was ever merry as a fisherman but he thought he should be happy as a gentleman
& rowing [on the sea] full of these fancys of [wealth] one fine morning he by accident meet with an old man in a very old fashioned boat the young man was going speedily with wind & tide but the old man was going as speedily against both & the young man was astonished & thought if he had such a boat he should be next to a gentleman ‘should you’ said the old man tho the young fellows thoughts never rose so high as a whisper yet the old man knew & ‘if you should like my boat’ continued he ‘you shall have it in exchange for yours & if [you] mind you may then very soon be a gentleman tho for my part I would rather have your lot then that of a gentlemans for remember’ said the old man ‘the gods give mortals the liberty to amass riches but leave the use of them entirely to their own discretion &what is one mans food is another mans poison as wants increase with means & temptations increse with pleasures’ –
‘I change’ said the young [man] cutting the old mans story [short] & the old man laughed loud as he leapt in to the young mans boat & as the young man got into his the old man shook his head & bid him good speed – when they instantly parted the old man sped [at] a horse gallop with wind & tide & the young man at double speed against both this was the very contrary way to which he wished to proceed & he insatantly seized the rudder to manage the boat when to his utter astonishment the boat shot plump down into the bottom of the sea as fast & head foremost as a race horse could gallop down the steep side of mount Atlas [into the valleys beneath it] & fall as far went the young man down & down until at last he rested on the sands & bottom of the immense ocean
he was astonished even to fear & saw the waters for miles above him & miles about him & yet he breathed as free from choaking as he did before he started [while dibbing cabbages in his garden] how it could be he could not tell but so it was & as his eyes began to clear of their supprise as began to look about him to see the strange country he was in & every thing was new & nothing like what he had seen before there were large forrests as high as his own wood but leafey & when he came to examine them they were of pearls & corral there were monsters of extradinary size & shape
& what he had never expected to have accosted a lady approached him not very handsome to be sure for she had green hair red eyes & teeth of odd shape yet she seemed young & well shaped he accosted her but she seemed not to understand him & stooping as if to amuse her self by picking up things from the sand she offered him a handful & they were guineas & Portugal dollars & bright as if minted but yesterday
he lay all this time leaning on his rudder & accepting them eagerly & was for leaping out to get more but the moment he left the rudder that moment the boat sprang upward as light as an eggshell & was at the top of the sea in a thought & at the mooring before his own cottage before he could think twice about the matter as he leapt ashore with his money which tho the lady held it in her hand was as much as he could haul out in an old fish crail
his wife grew fearful at the sight of so much money & more fearful when he related the story so he resolved not to let her know the extent of his treasure he counted & counted & all to no purpose for it was without numbe[r] & without end so before he went [to] bed a thought struck him that the old man might call again & exchange boat[s] & he instantly resolved to secure the rudder to make use of another oppertunity to get more for tho he was now a gentleman another such a hawl might make him a Lord & the rudder was secured accordingly
he now got weary of fishing & looked out for amusments suitable to his station his altered condition soon got into full cry like a fox chase & the county round was running over with
guesses & surmises for his money was wasted in foolish bargains & scattered like chaff before the wind as he knew there was plenty [more] where that came from he bought a horse & then he coveted a gig & then he resolved on a coach the very next sea voyage he made in his new boat & he determed after a while to build a ship & become [a] merchant but these large thoughts & extravagant notions just grew up in his thoughts as the last of his treasures became exausted
so he out with his rudder & off to sea where he was not long in dileberating before he laid hold of the rudder & down he went to the bottom swifter then a shooting star from the sky but this was not the spot on which he at first alighted nor could he find it if he tryed as there was nothing on the sea to mark – the scenes here was very different the monsters were more numorious but much less & the groves
< there is a break in the manuscript at this point >
It resumes…
her journey so she set out on her travels & passed for a fine woman she took plenty of money & cloaths with her & even thought it rudeness to offer kindness without asking & never took it so she went on & never talked to any one & thought of nothing but the prince & the journey she soon found herself in the great forrest & when she could get no further she did as her sister bid her but the bushes would not part & the brambles did not heed her fine cloaths but tore her gown & would not let her go on she did not know what to do & tryed to get back when a great beast rushed past her & shook the trees & broke down the bushes she was afraid but went on & met the old man
she soon got sight of the fine house & troops of men passed her & took no notice & when she got there a man opened the gate before she could ask anybody & led her into the palace what she saw would have written a book & she would soon have been lost but a guide showed her the way she thought she saw the old man go out of one of the rooms who had got there before her
she was surprised to find a garden in the middle of the hall & finer flowers then she had ever seen when a fine man came out of a harbour & took her by the hand & bade her sit down he talked to her as if he had known her for years & bade her make herself at home & read her delightful stories out of books every thing was brought [to] her before she seemed to want it & when he took her into the house the servants waited on her as if she had been there before & when she got up in a morning the finest dresses where laid ready & she never knew how they were brought & books where always laid on the table to read the prince told her to take no notice of any body & she only thought of home now & then & said nothing
Pet MS A18 p R254
Pet MS A42 p18
Pet MS B9 p51-3
For the tale of fisherman
It is a common saying that our wants increases with our means but it is a truer fact that our wants increase faster then our means -- & leave us in debt.
Pet MS A18 p R254
He was always thinking about being a gentleman & he thought if he could find a few pounds in a wreck to bring him a new suit of cloaths he should be one & he soon found a treasure that not only bought him a suit but purchases a lease of his cottage in the bargain & now all that he wanted to make him a gentleman was anew boat in this he was not long dissapointed for { blank ] old man
Pet MS A18 p R254
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