But as these Memoirs are not design'd for the Low Amuzement of a
Tea-Table, but rather of the Cabinet, a Series of inglorious Inactivity
can furnish but very little towards 'em.

Yet as little as I admir'd a Life of Inactivity, there are some Sorts of
Activity, to which a wise Man might almost give Supineness the
Preference: Such is that of barely encountring Elements, and wageing War
with Nature; and such, in my Opinion, would have been the spending my
Commission, and very probably my Life with it, in the _West Indies_. For
though the Climate (as some would urge) may afford a Chance for a very
speedy Advance in Honour, yet, upon revolving in my Mind, that those
Rotations of the Wheel of Fortune are often so very quick, as well as
uncertain, that I my self might as well be the First as the Last; the
Whole of the Debate ended in somewhat like that Couplet of the excellent
_Hudibras_:

_Then he, that ran away and fled,
Must lie in Honour's Truckle-bed._

However, my better Planets soon disannull'd those melancholy Ideas,
which a Rumour of our being sent into the _West Indies_ had crowded my
Head and Heart with: For being call'd over into _England_, upon the very
Affairs of the Regiment, I arriv'd there just after the Orders for their
Transportation went over; by which Means the Choice of going was put out
of my Power, and the Danger of Refusing, which was the Case of many, was
very luckily avoided.

It being judg'd, therefore, impossible for me to return soon enough to
gain my Passage, one in Power propos'd to me, that I should resign to an
Officer then going over; and with some other contingent Advantages, to
my great Satisfaction, I was put upon the Half-pay List. This was more
agreeable, for I knew, or at least imagin'd my self wise enough to
foretel, from the over hot Debate of the House of Commons upon the
Partition Treaty, that it could not be long before the present Peace
would, at least, require patching.

Under this Sort of uncertain Settlement I remain'd with the Patience of
a _Jew_, though not with Judaical Absurdity, a faithful Adherer to my
Expectation. Nor did the Consequence fail of answering, a War was
apparent, and soon after proclaim'd. Thus waiting for an Opportunity,
which I flatter'd my self would soon present, the little Diversions of
_Dublin_, and the moderate Conversation of that People, were not of
Temptation enough to make my Stay in _England_ look like a Burden.

But though the War was p