As I was Yesterday Morning walking with Sir ROGER before his House, a
Country-Fellow brought him a huge Fish, which, he told him, Mr.
_William Wimble_ had caught that very Morning; and that he presented
it, with his Service, to him, and intended to come and dine with him.
At the same Time he delivered a Letter, which my Friend read to me as
soon as the Messenger left him.
"_Sir Roger_,
I Desire you to accept of a Jack, which is the best I have caught this
Season. I intend to come and stay with you a Week, and see how the
Perch bite in the _Black River_. I observed, with some Concern, the
last Time I saw you upon the Bowling-Green, that your Whip wanted a
Lash to it: I will bring half a Dozen with me that I twisted last
Week, which I hope will serve you all the Time you are in the Country.
I have not been out of the Saddle for six Days last past, having been
at _Eaton_ with Sir _John's_ eldest Son. He takes to his Learning
hugely.
_I am,
Sir,
Your humble Servant,_
Will. Wimble."
This extraordinary Letter, and Message that accompanied it, made me
very curious to know the Character and Quality of the Gentleman who
sent them; which I found to be as follows: _Will. Wimble_ is younger
Brother to a Baronet, and descended of the ancient Family of the
_Wimbles_. He is now between Forty and Fifty: but being bred to no
Business and born to no Estate, he generally lives with his elder
Brother as Superintendant of his Game. He hunts a Pack of Dogs better
than any Man in the Country, and is very famous for finding out a
Hare. He is extremely well versed in all the little Handicrafts of an
idle Man: He makes a May-fly to a miracle; and furnishes the whole
Country with Angle-Rods. As he is a good-natur'd officious Fellow, and
very much esteemed upon Account of his Family, he is a welcome Guest
at every House, and keeps up a good Correspondence among all the
Gentlemen about him. He carries a Tulip-Root in his pocket from one to
another, or exchanges a Puppy between a couple of Friends that live
perhaps in the opposite Sides of the Country. _Will._ is a particular
Favourite of all the young Heirs, whom he frequently obliges with a
Net that he has weaved, or a Setting-dog that he has _made_ himself:
He now and then presents a Pair of Garters of his own knitting to
their Mothers or Sisters; and raises a great deal of Mirth among them,
by enquiring as often as he meets them _how they wear?_ These
Gentleman-like Manufactures and obliging little Humours, make _Will._
the Darling of the Country.
Sir Roger was proceeding in the Character of him, when we saw him make
up to us, with two or three Hazel-twigs in his Hand that he had cut in
Sir Roger's Woods, as he came through them, in his Way to the House. I
was very much pleased to observe on one Side the hearty and sincere
Welcome with which Sir Roger received him, and on the other the secret
Joy which his Guest discovered at Sight of the good old Knight. After
the first Salutes were over, _Will._ desired Sir ROGER to lend him one
of his Servants to carry a Set of Shuttlecocks he had with him in a
little Box to a Lady that liv'd about a Mile off, to whom it seems he
had promised such a Present for above this half Year. Sir Roger's back
was no sooner turn'd, but honest _Will._ began to tell me of a large
Cock-Pheasant that he had sprung in one of the neighbouring Woods,
with two or three other Adventures of the same Nature. Odd and
uncommon Characters are the Game that I look for, and most delight in;
for which Reason I was as much pleased with the Novelty of the Person
that talked to me, as he could be for his Life with the springing of a
Pheasant, and therefore listened to him with more than ordinary
Attention.
In the Midst of his Discourse the Bell rung to Dinner, where the
Gentleman I have been speaking of had the Pleasure of seeing the huge
Jack, he had caught, served up for the first Dish in a most sumptuous
Manner. Upon our sitting down to it he gave us a long Account how he
had hooked it, played with it, foiled it, and at length drew it out
upon the Bank, with several other Particulars that lasted all the
first Course. A Dish of Wild-fowl that came afterwards furnished
Conversation for the rest of the Dinner, which concluded with a late
Invention of _Will.'s_ for improving the Quail Pipe.
Upon withdrawing into my Room after Dinner, I was secretly touched
with Compassion towards the honest Gentleman that had dined with us;
and could not but consider with a great deal of Concern, how so good
an Heart and such busy Hands were wholly employed in Trifles; that so
much Humanity should be so little beneficial to others, and so much
Industry so little advantageous to himself. The same Temper of Mind
and Application to Affairs might have recommended him to the publick
Esteem, and have raised his Fortune in another Station of Life. What
Good to his Country or himself might not a Trader or Merchant have
done with such useful tho' ordinary Qualifications?
_Will. Wimble_'s is the Case of many a younger Brother of a great
Family, who had rather see their Children starve like Gentlemen, than
thrive in a Trade or Profession that is beneath their Quality. This
Humour fills several Parts of _Europe_ with Pride and Beggary. It is
the Happiness of a trading Nation, like ours, that the younger Sons,
tho' uncapable of any liberal Art or Profession, may be placed in such
a Way of Life, as may perhaps enable them to vie with the best of
their Family: Accordingly we find several Citizens that were launched
into the World with narrow Fortunes, rising by an honest Industry to
greater Estates than those of their elder Brothers. It is not
improbable but _Will._ was formerly tried at Divinity, Law, or
Physick; and that finding his Genius did not lie that Way, his Parents
gave him up at length to his own Inventions: But certainly, however
improper he might have been for Studies of a higher Nature, he was
perfectly well turned for the Occupations of Trade and Commerce. As I
think this is a Point which cannot be too much inculcated, I shall
desire my Reader to compare what I have here written with what I have
said in my Twenty first Speculation.
_Addison._