n from my Countrymen, I
was admitted to ride among 'em. But here I had a fresh Difficulty to
struggle with. My Countrymen finding me pretty flush of Money, and that
I was very generous, was as observant as a Spaniel, and so very
Officious both early and late, that I found it impracticable to steal an
Hour of Privacy to recollect my self, in order to model my Conduct after
the best Precedents I met with in the course of the Day; and what made
me yet more uneasy, he was not content to visit me alone, but had often
a second or third with him; who as they were very obliging in informing
me of the Methods of living in a Camp, so they was always very _adroit_,
and gave me the Preference upon all Occasions; but then as I engross'd
all the Ceremony of the Day, so I was thrown into unavoidable
Circumstances of paying them for their Attendance. This constant Charge,
though in Time it would have made me weary of acting the Grand Signior,
yet I could better have bore with it, had I not smelt a Design they had
to strip me of my Bank I had at _Amsterdam_; for I was so unguarded in
my Conduct as to have acquainted my Countrymen with my Money concerns,
which he and his Associates had already devour'd in their Imagination,
and wanted but a fit Opportunity to draw me in at Play, and so at once
put me upon a Level with themselves and other Soldiers of Fortune: But
being aware of the Trap that was laid for me, my whole Study was how to
disengage myself from this Gang, so as to give no Suspicion that I
understood their meaning; for this I imagin'd might be the ground of a
Quarrel, and to perhaps have worse Consequences than if they really had
strip'd me of my Substance. Arm'd with this Caution, I receiv'd 'em in
the usual manner, but still kept off when a Motion was made either of
high drinking or playing deep; for no Man is secure, when either Liquor
or Passion gains the Ascendent over him. But this State of Violence
could not continue long, sometimes I was at a loss for an Excuse to
baffle their Importunity, other times I found them dispos'd to represent
me as of an uncomplying Temper, so that there was no way left but either
to draw or withdraw, for I saw plainly that if I staid among them a
Quarrel would ensue. This Consideration, with the unheard of Devastation
I saw in the Palatinate made by the _French_ Troops, gave me a Surfeit
of the _Rhine_. I am not Ignorant that no Part of the World is free from
Sharpers, but I thought in another