In this station he continued till the death of his master, which happened
about twenty years afterwards; in all which time, as has been confirmed
by several of the family, he was never observed to be any ways disguised
by drinking, or to be guilty of any of the follies and irregularities
incident to servants in gentlemen's houses. On the contrary, when he had
any spare time, his constant custom was to retire with some good book
into a private place within call, and there employ himself in reading,
and then writing down his observations upon what he read.
After the death of his master, whose loss afflicted him to the last
degree, one Mrs. Mary Mordant, a gentlewoman of great virtue and piety,
and a very good fortune, took him into her service, and carried him with
her, first to Bath, and then to Bristol, where, after a lingering
distemper, which continued for about four years, she died likewise.
Upon the loss of his mistress, Dickory grew again exceeding melancholy
and disconsolate; at length, reflecting that death is but a common debt
which all mortals owe to nature, and must be paid sooner or later, he
became a little better satisfied, and so determines to get together what
he had saved in his service, and then to return to his native country,
and there finish his life in privacy and retirement.
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