The Fortunate Mistress (Parts 1 and 2)

by Daniel Defoe

believe," said my husband, "he has beeningenuous in his relation to me; and as a man who has seen great varietyof life, and may have been the shuttlecock of fortune, the butt of envy,and the mark of malice, I will hire him when he comes to me here anon,as I have ordered him."

  As I knew he was to be hired, I resolved to be out of the way when hecame to my husband; so about five o'clock I proposed to the Quaker totake a walk on the pier and see the shipping, while the tea-kettle wasboiling. We went, and took Isabel with us, and as we were going along Isaw my son Thomas (as I shall for the future call him) going to our inn;so we stayed out about an hour, and when we returned my husband told mehe had hired the man, and that he was to come to him as a servant on themorrow morning. "Pray, my dear," said I, "did you ask where he everlived, or what his name is?" "Yes," replied my husband, "he says hisname is Thomas ----; and as to places, he has mentioned several familiesof note, and among others, he lived at my Lord ----'s, next door to thegreat French lady's in Pall Mall, whose name he tells me was Roxana." Iwas now in a sad dilemma, and was fearful I should be known by my ownson; and the Quaker took notice of it, and afterwards told me shebelieved fortune had conspired that all the people I became acquaintedwith, should have known the Lady Roxana. "I warrant," said she, "thisyoung fellow is somewhat acquainted with the impertinent wench thatcalls herself thy daughter."

  I was very uneasy in mind, but had one thing in my favour, which wasalways to keep myself at a very great distance from my servants; and asthe Quaker was to part with us the next day or night, he would havenobody to mention the name Roxana to, and so of course it would drop.

  We supped pretty late at night, and were very merry, for my husband saidall the pleasant things he could think of, to divert me from thesupposed illness he thought I had been troubled with in the day. TheQuaker kept up the discourse with great spirit, and I was glad toreceive the impression, for I wanted the real illness to be drove out ofmy head.

  The next morning, after breakfast, Thomas came to his new place. Heappeared very clean, and brought with him a small bundle, which Isupposed to be linen tied up in a handkerchief. My husband sent him toorder some porters belonging to the quay to fetch our boxes to theCustom-house, where they were searched, for which we paid one shilling;and he had orders to give a crown for head money, as they called it;their demand by custom is but sixpence a head, but we appeared to ourcircumstances in everything. As soon as our baggage was searched, it wascarried from the Custom-house on board the packet-boat, and therelodged in the great cabin as we had ordered it.

  This took up the time till dinner, and when we were sitting togetherafter we had both dined, the captain came to tell us that the wind wasvery fair, and that he was to sail at high water, which would be aboutten o'clock at night. My husband asked him to stay and drink part of abottle of wine with him, which he did; and their discourse being all inthe maritime strain, the Quaker and I retired and left them together,for I had something to remind her of in our discourse before we leftLondon. When we got into the garden, which was rather neat than fine, Irepeated all my former requests to her about my children, Spitalfields,Amy, &c., and we sat talking together till Thomas was sent to tell usthe captain was going, on which we returned; but, by the way, I kissedher and put a large gold medal into her hand, as a token of my sincerelove, and desired that she would never neglect the things she hadpromised to perform, and her repeated promise gave me greatsatisfaction.

  The captain, who was going out of the parlour as we returned in, wastelling my husband he would send six of his hands to conduct us to theboat, about a quarter of an hour before he sailed, and as the moon wasat the full, he did not doubt of a pleasant passage.

  Our next business was to pay off the coachman, to whom my husband gavehalf a guinea extraordinary, to set the Quaker down at the house hetook us all up at, which he promised to perform.

  As it was low water, we went on board to see the cabin that we were togo our voyage in, and the captain would detain us to drink a glass ofthe best punch, I think, I ever tasted.

  When we returned to the inn, we ordered supper to be ready by eighto'clock, that we might drink a parting glass to settle it, before wewent on board; for my husband, who knew the sea very well, said a fullstomach was the forerunner of sea-sickness, which I was willing toavoid.

  We invited the landlord, his wife, and daughter, to supper with us, andhaving sat about an hour afterwards, the captain himself, with severalsailors, came to fetch us to the vessel. As all was paid, we had nothingto hinder us but taking a final leave of the Quaker, who would go to seeus safe in the vessel, where tears flowed from both our eyes; and Iturned short in the boat, while my husband took his farewell, and hethen followed me, and I never saw the Quaker or England any more.

  We were no sooner on board than we hoisted sail; the anchors being up,and the wind fair, we cut the waves at a great rate, till about fouro'clock in the morning, when a French boat came to fetch the mail tocarry it to the post-house, and the boat cast her anchors, for we were agood distance from the shore, neither could we sail to the town tillnext tide, the present one being too far advanced in the ebb.

  We might have gone on shore in the boat that carried the mail, but myhusband was sleeping in the cabin when it came to the packet-boat, and Idid not care to disturb him; however, we had an opportunity soon after,for my husband awaking, and two other boats coming up with oars to seefor passengers, Thomas came to let us know we might go on shore, if wepleased. My husband paid the master of the packet-boat for our passage,and Thomas, with the sailors' assistance, got our boxes into the wherry,so we sailed for Calais; but before our boat came to touch ground,several men, whose bread I suppose it is, rushed into the water, withoutshoes or stockings, to carry us on shore; so having paid ten shillingsfor the wherry, we each of us was carried from the boat to the land bytwo men, and our goods brought after us; here was a crown to be paid, tosave ourselves from being wet, by all which a man that is going atravelling may see that it is not the bare expense of the packet-boatthat will carry him to Calais.

  It would be needless to inform the reader of all the ceremonies that wepassed through at this place before we were suffered to proceed on ourjourney; however, our boxes having been searched at the Custom-house, myhusband had them plumbed, as they called it, to hinder any furtherinquiry about them; and we got them all to the Silver Lion, a noted inn,and the post-house of this place, where we took a stage-coach forourselves, and the next morning, having well refreshed ourselves, weall, viz., my husband, self, and chambermaid within the coach, andThomas behind (beside which my husband hired two horsemen well armed,who were pretty expensive, to travel with us), set forward on ourjourney.

  We were five days on our journey from Calais to Paris, which we wentthrough with much satisfaction, for, having fine weather and goodattendance, we had nothing to hope for.

  When we arrived at Paris (I began to be sorry I had ever proposed goingto it for fear of being known, but as we were to stay there but a fewdays, I was resolved to keep very retired), we went to a merchant'shouse of my husband's acquaintance in the Rue de la Bourle, near theCarmelites, in the Faubourg de St. Jacques.

  This being a remote part of the city, on the south side, and nearseveral pleasant gardens, I thought it would be proper to be a littleindisposed, that my husband might not press me to go with him to see thecuriosities; for he could do the most needful business, such as going tothe bankers to exchange bills, despatching of letters, settling affairswith merchants, &c., without my assistance; and I had a tolerable pleafor my conduct, such as the great fatigue of our journey, being amongstrangers, &c.; so we stayed at Paris eight days without my going to anyparticular places, except going one day to the gardens of Luxembourg,another to the church of Notre Dame on the Isle of Paris, a third to theHotel Royale des Invalides, a fourth to the gardens of the Tuileries, afifth to the suburbs of St. Lawrence, to see the fair which was thenholding there; a sixth to the gardens of the Louvre, a seventh to theplayhouse, and the eighth stayed all day at
home to write a letter tothe Quaker, letting her know where I then was, and how soon we should goforwards in our journey, but did not mention where we intended tosettle, as, indeed, we had not yet settled that ourselves.

  One of the days, viz., that in which I went to the gardens of theTuileries, I asked Thomas several questions about his father, mother,and other relations, being resolved, notwithstanding he was my own son,as he did not know it, to turn him off by some stratagem or another, ifhe had any manner of memory of me, either as his mother, or the LadyRoxana. I asked him if he had any particular memory of his mother orfather; he answered, "No, I scarce remember anything of either of them,"said he, "but I have heard from several people that I had one brotherand three sisters, though I never saw them all, to know them,notwithstanding I lived with an aunt four years; I often asked after mymother, and some people said she went