LETTER VIII.

TO THE SPARROW ALONE.

Dear Friend in the Lord,

I AM contriving to put thee to a little more expense; and, if I continue at this rate, I shall make you as poor as myself. Except the old is a little more prolific than in the last year, twins will never do; but, as money is no part of your God, I shall venture.

H.

After my friends had been once or twice to see the house they informed me of it, and advised me to go and see it; which I did: but the concern appeared so weighty, that I set myself against it to the utmost, remembering my former affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall; nor was there one in all my family that approved of it but Dame, the distance appeared so far from town. However, my friends mightily pressed me to it; and as the time drew nigh when the lease was to be sold, they determined to attend the sale. I prayed day and night that they might not succeed in buying it, and charged them to bid no higher than thirty pounds; but they resolved among themselves to bid to seventy pounds. It was put up at five pounds, and there was not one bidder till one of my friends bid the five pounds,

and it was knocked down to him. At this time I had another dream. I dreamed I was in a large room, and the room was full of serpents, and the bodies of the serpents were divided at the middle, and so each of them had two necks and two heads; and many of them crawled furiously up to me openmouthed, but not one of them bit me; nor was I at all terrified at them. I awaked, and behold it was a dream. But, when I came to see the person that I had to deal with, the dream came fresh into my mind. I saw the serpent; and I had no doubt but that there were more heads than one; yea, many in union with him. There are serpents, and a generation of vipers; and Christ says they are of their father. And never, in this world, did I see so great a likeness of him.

The things on the premises were to be taken by an appraisement; the good man was to choose one, and I the other. I had, in my own mind, fixed upon one in much practice; and, had I made choice of him, I should have added a third head to the crooked fraternity. But this was not to be; my God will have a hand in all my affairs; and I was directed by him to inquire after another of great note, and who stands very high and honourable in his profession. And this gentleman was well acquainted with the reptile that I had to deal with. The gentleman that he employed went through his work first, and the person who was for me soon went after him; and, when they met upon the business, they could not agree together

so as to settle the affairs. During which time my kind friend with two heads very politely offered me possession of the premises, and urged the necessity of it, as the second crop of grass was fit to cut, which I well knew, and took it very kindly of him from one of his heads; but I could not take my eye from the other, being not ignorant of Satan's devices; and, suspecting that I must be brought to submit to any terms after I had taken possession, I therefore declined it till the matters could be properly adjusted. The principal matter in debate was respecting a small quantity of manure, worth about six pounds, and which, according to the tenor of the lease, should have been laid on the land before that period. My appraiser would not allow me to pay for that, and at last he carried his point: and, striking the dung and other matters off from the inventory, they both agreed, and for the stock and fixtures I paid three hundred and seventy pounds; and then took possession with all the formalities and punctilios of human laws, my attorney and friends being present with me.

And now I must beg my dearly beloved friend's pardon for digressing a little from my intended subject, in order to pursue this wriggling family a little farther, and to convince thee that what God shewed me in vision he afterwards shewed me in reality; or, to speak more plainly, I really saw with my bodily eyes those very creatures creeping upon the earth which at first appeared only in imagination; for I had not been long in possession

and it was knocked down to him. At this time I had another dream. I dreamed I was in a large room, and the room was full of serpents, and the bodies of the serpents were divided at the middle, and so each of them had two necks and two heads; and many of them crawled furiously up to me openmouthed, but not one of them bit me; nor was I at all terrified at them. I awaked, and behold it was a dream. But, when I came to see the person that I had to deal with, the dream came fresh into my mind. I saw the serpent; and I had no doubt but that there were more heads than one; yea, many in union with him. There are serpents, and a generation of vipers; and Christ says they are of their father. And never, in this world, did I see so great a likeness of him.

The things on the premises were to be taken by an appraisement; the good man was to choose one, and I the other. I had, in my own mind, fixed upon one in much practice; and, had I made choice of him, I should have added a third head to the crooked fraternity. But this was not to be; my God will have a hand in all my affairs; and I was directed by him to inquire after another of great note, and who stands very high and honourable in his profession. And this gentleman was well acquainted with the reptile that I had to deal with. The gentleman that he employed went through his work first, and the person who was for me soon went after him; and, when they met upon the business, they could not agree together

so as to settle the affairs. During which time my kind friend with two heads very politely offered me possession of the premises, and urged the necessity of it, as the second crop of grass was fit to cut, which I well knew, and took it very kindly of him from one of his heads; but I could not take my eye from the other, being not ignorant of Satan's devices; and, suspecting that I must be brought to submit to any terms after I had taken possession, I therefore declined it till the matters could be properly adjusted. The principal matter in debate was respecting a small quantity of manure, worth about six pounds, and which, according to the tenor of the lease, should have been laid on the land before that period. My appraiser would not allow me to pay for that, and at last he carried his point: and, striking the dung and other matters off from the inventory, they both agreed, and for the stock and fixtures I paid three hundred and seventy pounds; and then took possession with all the formalities and punctilios of human laws, my attorney and friends being present with me.

And now I must beg my dearly beloved friend's pardon for digressing a little from my intended subject, in order to pursue this wriggling family a little farther, and to convince thee that what God shewed me in vision he afterwards shewed me in reality; or, to speak more plainly, I really saw with my bodily eyes those very creatures creeping upon the earth which at first appeared only in imagination; for I had not been long in possession