lambered up upon the ledges of the door, and upon the
lock, which was a great wooden one; and reached the top of the door with
my hands; then, little thinking I could climb so well, I made shift to
lay hold on the top of the wall with my hands; but, alas for me! nothing
but ill luck!--no escape for poor Pamela! The wall being old, the bricks
I held by gave way, just as I was taking a spring to get up; and down
came I, and received such a blow upon my head, with one of the bricks,
that it quite stunned me; and I broke my shins and my ancle besides, and
beat off the heel of one of my shoes.

In this dreadful way, flat upon the ground, lay poor I, for I believe
five or six minutes; and then trying to get up, I sunk down again two or
three times; and my left hip and shoulder were very stiff, and full of
pain, with bruises; and, besides, my head bled, and ached grievously
with the blow I had with the brick. Yet these hurts I valued not; but
crept a good way upon my feet and hands, in search of a ladder, I just
recollected to have seen against the wall two days before, on which the
gardener was nailing a nectarine branch that was loosened from the
wall: but no ladder could I find, and the wall was very high. What now,
thought I, must become of the miserable Pamela!--Then I began to wish
myself most heartily again in my closet, and to repent of my attempt,
which I now censured as rash, because it did not succeed.

God forgive me! but a sad thought came just then into my head!--I
tremble to think of it! Indeed my apprehensions of the usage I should
meet with, had like to have made me miserable for ever! O my dear, dear
parents, forgive your poor child; but being then quite desperate, I
crept along, till I could raise myself on my staggering feet; and away
limped I!--What to do, but to throw myself into the pond, and so put a
period to all my griefs in this world!--But, O! to find them infinitely
aggravated (had I not, by the divine grace, been withheld) in a
miserable eternity! As I have escaped this temptation, (blessed be God
for it!) I will tell you my conflicts on this dreadful occasion, that
the divine mercies may be magnified in my deliverance, that I am yet on
this side the dreadful gulf, from which there could have been no return.

It was well for me, as I have since thought, that I was so maimed, as
made me the longer before I got to the water; for this gave me time to
consider, and abated the impetuousness of my pass