He was then obliged to call his
Creditors together, who took his Effects, and being angry with him for
the imprudent Step of not insuring his Ships, left him destitute of
all Subsistence. Nor did the Flatterers of his Fortune, those who had
lived by his Bounty when in his Prosperity, pay the least Regard
either to him or his Family. So true is another Copy, that you will
find in your Writing Book, which says, _Misfortune tries our
Friends_. All these Slights of his pretended Friends, and the ill
Usage of his Creditors, both he and his Family bore with Christian
Fortitude; but other Calamities fell upon him, which he felt more
sensibly.
In his Distress, one of his Relations, who lived at _Florence_,
offered to take his Son; and another, who lived at _Barbadoes_,
sent for one of his Daughters. The Ship which his Son sailed in was
cast away, and all the Crew supposed to be lost; and the Ship, in
which his Daughter went a Passenger, was taken by Pyrates, and one
Post brought the miserable Father an Account of the Loss of his two
Children.
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