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This is a reproduction of a book from the McGill University Library 
 collection. 
 
 Title: Eben-Ezer, or, A small monument of great mercy appearing in the 
 
 miraculous deliverance of William Okely, William Adams, John 
 Anthony, John Jephs, and John^ carpenter, from the miserable 
 slavery of Algiers. 
 
 Author: Okeley, William 
 
 Edition: 3rd ed. 
 
 Publisher, year: London : Printed for the editor, 1764 
 
 The pages were digitized as they were. The original book may have 
 contained pages with poor print. Marks, notations, and other marginalia 
 present in the original volume may also appear. For wider or heavier 
 books, a slight curvature to the text on the inside of pages may be 
 noticeable. 
 
 ISBN of reproduction: 978-1-77096-190-6 
 
 This reproduction is intended for personal use only, and may not be 
 reproduced, re-published, or re-distributed commercially. For further 
 information on permission regarding the use of this reproduction 
 contact McGill University Library. 
 
 McGill University Library 
 www.mcgill.ca/library 
 
EB EN-EZER: 
 
 O R, A L. ye) **: / 
 
 SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 GREAT MERCY. 
 
 APPEARING IN THE 
 
 MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE 
 
 O F 
 
 William Okeley, 
 William Adams, 
 John Anthony, 
 
 John Jephs, 
 
 and 
 
 John , Carpenter, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 Miferable SLAVERY of A.lgiers. 
 
 With the wonderful Means of their Escape in a Boat of 
 Canvas; the great Distress and utmoft Extremities 
 which they endured at Sea for Six Days and Nights ; their 
 fafe Arrival .at Mayork : With feveral Matters of Remark 
 during their long Captivity, and the following Providences 
 of God which brought them fafe to England. 
 
 By Me WILLIAM OKELEY. 
 
 Blefs the Lord, O my Soul, and forget not all his Benefits, who 
 redeemeth thy Life from Deftrudion, who crowneth thee with 
 loving Kindnefs and tender Mercies. Pfal. ciii. 2. 4. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for the Editor, and Sold by Mefirs. Buckland, Keith, 
 Dilly, Cater, Field, Johnson, and Payne. 1764. 
 
I 
 
 Upon this BOOK and its AUTHOR. 
 
 T HIS Author never was in print before. 
 
 And (let this pleafe or not) will never more. 
 
 If all the prefs-oppreffors of the age 
 Would fo refolve, ’twould happinefs prefage ; 
 
 He fhould as foon another voyage take. 
 
 As be oblig’d another book to make. 
 
 His canvas boat efcaped feas and wind. 
 
 He fears this paper veflel will not find 
 Such gentle gales, when every reader hath 
 Pow’r with a puff to fink the writer’s faith. 
 
 For whofo prints a book, goes off from fhore. 
 
 To hazard that which was his own before: 
 
 As one poor pinnace over-match’d, that fights 
 With an armado, fo doth he who writes : 
 
 If books ;like goodly merchant fliips) fet forth. 
 
 Laden with riches of the greateft worth ; 
 
 With councels, fathers, text-men, fchool-men, mann’d ; 
 With facred cannon mounted at each hand j 
 Are hard befet, and forc’d to make defence 
 Ag'ainft arm’d atheifm, pride, and impudence j 
 How can this little cock-boat hope efcape. 
 
 When fcripture fuffers piracy and rape ? 
 
 Noah's ark, (wherein the world epitomiz’d. 
 
 And mankind in octavo was compriz’d) 
 
 Tho’ in the deluge ’twas preferved found. 
 
 By infidelity itfelf lies drown’d. 
 
 That Mofes with a rod the lea fhould cane. 
 
 And beat the coward itreams into a plain ; 
 
 With the fame cane lhould broach a flint, and bring 
 Out of its fiery womb a flowing fpring : 
 
 That a dry flick aflign’d for Levi's fhare, 
 
 Should bud, and bloffom, and ripe almonds bear ; 
 
 That Sampfon with the jaw-bone of an afs 
 (And Atheifts thinks him one that lets it pafs 
 without a fconnne) lhould flay a thoufand men. 
 
 And being weary with the daughter, then 
 The kind jaw-bone, that was his faulchion firft, 
 
 Should turn a flaggon, and allay his thirfl. 
 
 Thefe miracles, and all the facred ftore 
 Which faith fhould grafp, and piety adore, 
 
 Meet with ariefls, arraignments, and a doom 
 More harih than tales of Heathen Greece or Rome , 
 
 Yet, O the folly of confounded man * 
 
 Who cannot truth believe, but fables can. 
 
 When. 
 
ITpon this Book and its Author. 
 
 When truth that cannot lye, fhall be bely’d, 
 
 Its povv’r defy’d, and weaknefs deify’d : 
 
 When our difeafed appetite fhall luft 
 For Egypt's leek, or Gibeon s mouldy cruft ; 
 
 Ephraim will feed on afhes, and difdain 
 The manna comfits, and the candy’d rain. 
 
 An heav’n-born truth (like poor men’s infants) may 
 For lack of godfather’s, unchriit’ned flay. 
 
 And find no priefl ; when every flander by 
 Will be a goffip to a great man’s lye. 
 
 O miracle of love ! God-Man was fain 
 Each miracle he wrought, to make it twain, 
 
 The fadt, and faith too, elfe the fad in vain, 
 
 There is a generation alive, 
 
 That live on lying miracles, and thrive. 
 
 There is a guild of priefts will undertake 
 To make that God who doth all wonders make; 
 Can make him, bake him, break him, eat him too, 
 And with a thought can all again undo. 
 
 Had but fome monk this hiflory to drefs. 
 
 He would have made the iron teeth of th’ prefs 
 Ttirn edge, ahd grin, to chew the fluff and flile ; 
 Compar’d with which all’s pap in Mande-uille . 
 
 Had thefe five comrades been good fons of Rome , 
 Nothing but miracle had brought them home. 
 
 Okeley had been infpired , Jephs had feen 
 An apron dropt^iiia* from heaven’s virgin queen 
 To make a fail ; Carpenter fhould have pray’d 
 Saint Jo feph to aflilt him in his trade ; 
 
 And the next morn did in the cellar find 
 The keel, ribbs, pins, all model'd to his mind. 
 
 An holy fea-calf in St. Peter's coat 
 
 Had then appear’d, and danc'd before the boat ; 
 
 Saint Chrijiopher , with a fweet babe on his back. 
 
 Had ftalkt along to fave from rock and wrack ; 
 
 Saint Nich'las (or in his fhape old Nick J 
 Had with a flraw fleer’d the boat Catholick. 
 
 The tortoife taken napping in the flood. 
 
 Had firfl faid grace, and then become their food j 
 Yea, and his facred fhell had been preferr’d 
 To make fine combs for Wilgefartis beard. 
 
 And w'ho can tell (for now ’tis thirty years 
 Since this itrange expedition from Algiers) 
 
 What ufe the friars of Mayork have made 
 Of this poor fkifF, to raife their legend trade ? 
 
 But, be it as it will, buy, or not buy ; 
 
 This book is Proteflant, and hates a lye# 
 
Upon this Book and its Author, 
 
 The reader fhall find in this breviary 
 All Pater-N offers, not one Ave~Mary. 
 
 If gentleman and Chriftian may avail, 
 
 If honour and religion can be bail 
 
 For this poor pilgrim’s truth and faithfulnefs. 
 
 It may with leave and fafety pafs the prefs. 
 
 Let him who fcorns to read, or reads to fcorn. 
 
 And thinks this llory might have been forborn, 
 
 Firft buy the book, then give fecurity 
 
 To do the like ; the bookieller and - 1 
 
 Will give him bond, when he returns to land, 
 
 To pay a thoufand pounds into his hand. 
 
 Mean while, this narrative (all plain and true) 
 
 Is worth a fix-pence to a Turk or Jew ; 
 
 But to a Chriftian (were the ftory gone) 
 
 The preface is a penny-worth alone : 
 
 The whole hath no errata’s, or miftakes, 
 
 Save what the Printer and the Poet makes. 
 
 To his Ingenious Friend, Mr. William Ok e le y, upoft 
 his miraculous Deliverance in his Canvas Boat. 
 
 T HY boat, thy coffin call ; and greet 
 The canvas as thy winding-Jheet : 
 
 From coffin, Jhrowd delivered, 
 
 Call’t refurreclibn from the dead! 
 
 And fince thy life's the great, thy lines prefent 
 As God’s great mercies leffisr monument . 
 
 ft* * The following extraordinary Narrative was firft printed in the 
 Year 1675, and a fecond Edition of it in the Year 1 678, fince which 
 Time it is become fo extremely fcarce as hardly to be had at any Rate’, the 
 Editor therefore, from the Solicitation of many pious Friends , has now re- 
 puhlijhed it, and with no other View, than to tranfmit to Pofterity the moft 
 remarkable Difplay of Divine Prividence in the happy Deliverance of the 
 Author and his Companions from the sniferable Slavery of Algiers. The 
 Editor well remembers in his younger Years ( being brought up in the County 
 of Bedford) to have heard many Perfons of great Probity fpeak of their' 
 intimate Knowledge of the Author, fro?n whosn he learned, that Mr * 
 Ok e ley was Stevsard or Bailiff to the Ancefors of Sir Danvers Os- 
 bourn, at Chickfon, between Ampthill and Shefford in the faid County , 
 and always eft e erne d as a very pious good Man, 
 
PREF ACE to the following Narrative, 
 
 Courteous Reader , 
 
 I Do readily agree with thee, that there is no fort of writings 
 more liable to abufe than this of the Narrative : lying much 
 at the mercy of the compo/em, to be corrupted ; and as much in 
 danger to be mifimproved by the reader : the reader therefore, 
 I am fare, will demand good fecurity that he is not impofed upon 
 in the enfuing relation and the writer craves leave too, to main- 
 tain a mode)} jealoufy , leaft the reader ftiould mifs the benefit 
 that is deftgned to him in it : the author will engage, and pawn 
 his credit, not to wrong the Narrative , and he would take fome 
 care alfo that the reader may not wrong himfeif, \ 
 
 It is very true, that every narrator is under a ftrong temptatiori 
 to jeafon his dlfcourfe to the gujh of the time, not irnpofmg a 
 fevere law upon himfeif, to report what is true, but accommo- 
 dating his ftory to the liquorifh appetite of others : I have oblcr- 
 ved that fome men are afhamed to recount mean and humble matters 5 
 if they bring us any thing below prodigy and miracle , if they 
 Huff not their farces with gorgons , harpies , centaurs , and enchanted 
 ijlands , they neither pleaie themlelves, nor hope to take their 
 readers by the heart-firings. Hence is it, that we have fo many 
 lean barren ftories, larded with the additaments of fruitful 
 invention, as if they had been penn’d by the pattern df Xenophon s 
 Cyrus. Non ad hiflorice /idem, Jed ad jufti imperii exemplar : not 
 for counterpanes of truth, but counterfeits of fancy: they tell us 
 Hot what was really done, but what they would have had done, if 
 they might have had the contrivance of the feenes and tragedy: 
 they firff form ideas of ingenious romances in their own heads, 
 and then obtrude them upon the world for hijlorical verities , 
 
 Juft as our hydrographers, in the delineating of counties, with 
 one wanton extravagant frolick of their graver can raife moun- 
 tains, where nature left us valleys, and link deep valleys, where 
 God has ftretched out a champaigns ; can create bays, and creek;. 
 Where the Creator made firm land ; and jut out promontories , 
 and capes, where there’s nothing in nature to anfwer them ; and 
 to fill up vacuities (out of pure good hufbandry, that not an 
 inch of ground may be loft) prelent us with flying- fijhes, tritons, 
 and mermaids, which ipend their hours inter pedinem C5 Jpcculum ; 
 and It aft Ildaie del ILur fticruld ftill be a defolate wildernets, have 
 courteoully ftock’d it with the painter's wife s ifiand , and 1 o ra 
 Incognita ; at this rate v/e are dealt with, by this kind of men, 
 who love to blow up lank Jiorics into huge bladders, and then 
 
 ii fur 
 
H The PREFACE. 
 
 put fomething in them to make them rattle to pleafe children , 
 and yet they are but bladders Jtill , though fwelled with the tym- 
 pany, and wind cholick. 
 
 There are alfo a fort of ftories, which, by the way of courtefy , 
 we mif-call hi/lories, that fcorn to give us an account of any- 
 thing but dreadful and terrible battles , and how one great man 
 above all the reft chopt off 7 heads and arms , and cut off fome 
 fheer by the waift , and with his trenchant blade mowed down 
 whole files of armed enemies ; the fields all this while running 
 with ftreams of blood, and purple gore j and all this with as 
 much confidence and exadlnefs in every minute cir cum fiance, as 
 if, like the familiar daman of Paracelfus, they had been enclofed 
 an the pommel of the general’s fword ; or had hovered, like 
 Victory with her doubtful wings, over both the armies, where 
 they might fecurely take notes of all that was faid or done, in 
 Shelton s Brachygraphy : but from what principles or interejls thefe 
 warriors were afied, by what rules they proceeded , with what 
 counfels and intrigues defigns were managed, and to what point 
 all thefe policies (leered, is as much below their fpirits , as above 
 their abilities to inform us. 
 
 To fecure the reader againft the fear of fuch entertainment 
 in this Narrative, let him know, that he fhall meet with nothing 
 in fail but what is precifely true ; what of wonderment he may 
 encounter, was of God's own working, not of man' s inventing j 
 let others make tragedies to gratify the bookfeller , and cheat the 
 jimp l e buyer ; we need not Peter Lillicrap' s Effex Serpent , nor 
 Livewell Chapman's Greater Monfiers, to aggrandize our title 
 page ; God’s works needs no foil to fet them oft', the greateft 
 beauty of truth is its nakednefs and jymmetry. 
 
 T here is a vaft difference between the moft elaborate products 
 of art, and the moft hotnely pieces of nature ; for though the for- 
 mer will needs ape the latter , yet how pitifully does fife bungle in 
 the imitation ? Look upon the fubtle point of the finejl needle 
 through a microfcope, and you will foon be fatisfied that art is but 
 a dunce, for the needle will appear as blunt and dull as a drun\- 
 fiick j but come and view one of God’s handy works in the fame 
 glafs, V. G. the fling of a bee , and you fhall fee it perpetually 
 acuminated till it ends in fomething, which the eye muff either 
 confefs to be a point, or nothing: the fame difference we may 
 oblerve between thofe romances, which are the fifties of fine wits, 
 and the ferious grave contrivances of divine providence ; what 
 clumzied things are the Caffandrd s to one of thofe pieces of propor- 
 tion, to be feen in God's government of this lower world? So that 
 it were unpardonable to ftrive to recommend the wonderful Provi- 
 dences 
 
dences of God to the genius of this age, by a lye , or to talk 
 deceitfully for him ; whatever therefore this Narrative is, yet its 
 a naked account of his own workings , and gold needs no gilding. 
 
 But now the reader' s great danger lies in running over fome of 
 God’s works , and yet not feeing Godin his works : Jittle children, 
 we fee, do hugely pleafe themfelves with the gilded covers , and 
 the marble leaves of books, but concern not themfelves what is 
 within ; and if they chance to look a little overly upon the forms 
 and Jhapes of the letters , yet underftand not the fublime matter , 
 that may be couch’d in them : now, to divide the words from 
 the meaning , is morally to annihilate them, and fo whillt they 
 fee letters and words only, they fee juft nothing t there are a great 
 many fuch fuch old children in the world, that 
 
 gaze upon the furface of God’s works , but never are led by than 
 to admire the wifdom , power , goodnefs , and hoiinefs of God : they 
 deal with the works of Providence , juft as they go with the works 
 of creation : God has engraven his own na?ne in legible characters 
 upon the heavenly bodies. The ftars in their fingle beauties , their 
 combined afiertfms , their mutual afpetls , their intricate yet regular 
 motions , fpeak their author ; nay, upon the lowed: recreations , 
 the leifure Jports of nature, there is written, Dcus fecit. But now 
 the common obferver, whofe thoughts are terminated by bis eye , 
 and his eye with the vifible heavens , as ’tis befpangled with glitter- 
 ing things, called planets and ftars, lofeth quite their main defign , 
 which is to conduct and argue our thoughts up to a firji caufe ; 
 for they were not fo much out who cryed up the mufic of the 
 fpheres to be fo ravijhing : and we fliould confefs it, could we 
 but hear them fing this anthem, Glory be to God on High. Can 
 we be fo brutifh as once to imagine, that the wife God, who 
 creates nothing little, not “lot a little end, fhoald create (uch great 
 and glorious bodies only to be the object of ignorant and blind 
 amazement ? Surely no ; but that by the contemplation of them, 
 we might be led into the admiration of Him , whole being, wii- 
 dom, and power mult needs be infinitely glorious, when his very 
 works are excellently fo : here then will be the reader’s danger , 
 lead all his fpirits fliould evaporate in a confuted admiration, 
 that a boat, a little, a canvas boat , fliould, like the ark, convey 
 fo many perfons fo many leagues fafe to fliore, whilff he miffes. 
 the true intent and meaning of it, to behold a watchiul Provi- 
 dence (as well as the -being of a Deity) over all afrairs. Now, 
 that he may not fplit upohqi^/r dangerous rock , but improve the 
 Narrative to his belt advantage, I fhall fubmiluvely lay before* 
 him a few directions. 
 
\v The P R E F A C E. 
 
 § i. Learn from this Narrative to trufr , and in all thy ways 
 to acknowledge God , who by the mo ft contemptible means , can 
 effect the moft conftderable things. Created beings, as they can-? 
 not 26c beyond the fphcre of their activity, io neither can they 
 pperate furthur than the fuitablenefs of their injlruments will enable; 
 them ; it were ridiculous to attempt to cut down a forrejl with a 
 fen-knife, or lave the ocean with a fpoon ; but if the great Grod 
 can make the dullejl tool to cut , can ferve himfelf of the. mofi unfit 
 injlruments , and accomplifh the mofl noble works with the molt 
 Wooden engines , he will lure deferve our greatejl trujl and confidence. 
 As great princes are attended with a numerous train of fervants, 
 jnore for flats, than abfolute necejfity ; fo God ufes Jecond caufes , 
 not becaule he cannot work without them , but to teach us to 
 admire his Jlrength , in their weaknefs , his all-fufficiency , in their 
 in- [efficiency. 
 
 The Grand Seignior had heard of the famous atchievement 
 of Cajlnod s feimitar, and was very defirous to make an expe- 
 riment, whether its excellency anfwered the report ; he fends for it, 
 proves it, it does no execution ; he fends it back with fcorn and 
 indignation, that lying fame fnould magnify a forry ammunition- 
 fword fo far above its merits; but Scanderbeg , before the meflen- 
 ger’s face, hews in pieces helmets, corllets ; Go now (fays he) 
 and tell your mailer, though l Jent him my f 'word , I did not Jend 
 him my arm ; none can work with God’s means , that has not 
 God's arm: Uajl thou an arm like God ? Job xl. 9. Here then 
 the reader may fee (and if he fees not he forfeits his eyes) the 
 fame God who in an ark of bulrufhes preferved Mofics , and in 
 another ark faved Noah , in a fimall canvas skuller (which was our 
 aik, though in a lefier volume) waft us over the ocean, and 
 bring us all fafe to land : as God is feen in the fmallejl works of. 
 creation , fo in the fmallejl infruments of his Providence. The 
 little fly, or ant, expreiles creative power , and omnipotency in mi- 
 niature, as well as the great caj lie- bearing elephant : I have read 
 fumewhere of a goldfmith that made a lock and key , and chain, 
 fo fmall and fubtie, that a fy could draw them all about a table, 
 and never be Hailed ; furely the fpedlator would not praedicate 
 the Jlrength of the poor fy, but the skill of the artifi. 
 
 EJI in tenuibus , & pufllis reculis 
 
 Laus optimiq ; maximiq ; maxima. Gaz. Pia hilar. 
 
 The glory of the great wife King, 
 
 Shines greatly in the fmalleft thing. 
 
 Indeed our whole paffage was wonder ; fuppofe we had met 
 with one night of hazy weather , we might have plied back into 
 the jaws of that deftrudtion which we had fo far elcaped. Had 
 
 we 
 
The PREFACE, * f 
 
 \v ( e met with one Jlorm (and an ordinary -puff" of wind had been 
 a form to us) it had prelently overfet us ; but the lame God 
 that commands a calm for the halcyon, commanded halcyon days 
 and nights for us, till under the wings of his gracious care he had 
 hatcht his own purpofes of mercy, into perfect deliverance. It 
 was a wonder toe, that in our fix days voyage in the Mediter- 
 ranean, the very high road of navigation, both for honejl man and 
 knaves , merchants and pirates, we fhouid not meet with one 
 vejfel, friend or foe : had we met with a friendly vellel, they had 
 pittied us, taken us up, and then the power of God had not 
 been fo fignalized in our prefervation ; had we fallen in with an 
 enemy, we had immediately become a prey to their teeth, they 
 had Jwallowed us up quick, we had made but one poor morfel to 
 their greedy ftomachs, and thereby defeated a work of God 
 glorioufly begun, and robb’d him of the revenue of his praife. 
 
 It then they that go down to the fea in ftps, fee the works of 
 the Lord , and his wonders in the deep, Pial. evii. 23, 24. What 
 wonders, what miracles of Providence have we Jeen , and may 
 others fee in us, who went down to the Jea, not in a Jhip, but in 
 a canoe ,■ which for want of a better name, we call a boat! Let 
 the reader therefore admire God with me \ and both of us with 
 the pfalmift, Pfal. lxxxvi. 8. Aonangfi the gods there is none like 
 unto thee, 0 Lord, neither are there any works like thy works. 
 
 He deals unrighteoufly with God who meafures him by the 
 fmallaefs of the means that he ufes, and not by the greatnefs of thole 
 effefts he produces by thoje means. And, therefore, 
 
 Difce a cymbula, qui/quis es ; & Deo 
 Da pro tenuibus, C 5 pujillis reculis, 
 
 Laudem opthnoq\ maximoq j maximatn. Gaz. Pia hilar. 
 Let this, our little fkiff, thy fpirits raife. 
 
 To give to this great God thy greatefl praife. 
 
 § 2. Let the reader improve this relation to fortify his faith 
 againft the little cavils of atheijlical fpirits , who lay out their ill 
 placed wit in forging objections againft Him that gave it. There 
 is a creature famous in Proy. vi. fifui ladle materno impletus calci- 
 bus petit ladlantem ; that being filled with the liberal dug, un- 
 gratefully kicks hit dam. Thus this fort of men are ambitious 
 to be accounted witty, in creating knots and difficulties in the 
 hiftorical pafiages of God’s great providences recorded in ferip- 
 ture, and particularly in his prefervation of Noah and his family 
 in the ark : but he that had feen with us the watchful eye of God 
 (uper -intended , and the Jleady hand of God to hold a poor canvas 
 boat, built without regular proportion, ill victualled, without 
 anchor, helm, compafs, or tackle, and thereby prd'erve the 
 
 In' 1 lii/on 
 
vt -The PREFACE. 
 
 Jives of five inconfiderable perfons , of no great ufe in the world, 
 and after fix days great extremity and diftrefs, land them all 
 fafe, may eafily credit the report, how the fame God fhould 
 preferve eight perfons , upon whofe lives the re-peopling of the 
 whole world did depend, in a vejfel of moji exadi proportions , 
 ftrong built, and well laid in with all manner of provifions. He 
 that can fee a creator in the works of creation , and a governor 
 in the works of Providence , may reafonably believe all divine 
 , revelations. 
 
 § 3. Let all that would not abufe this Narrative, beware, 
 leaft whilfl they are admiring Providence in this injiance of our 
 prefervation , they do not overlook thofe eminent appearances of God 
 towards themfelves every moment , which, though perhaps they 
 carry not fo much of rarity in them, yet may have in them as 
 much of real power , wifdom , and goodnefs. We are apt to deal 
 
 with our mercies juft as we do with our fins, where the common- 
 nefs and frequency of either, abates and takes off from the obfer- 
 vation and notice which we owe them ; we gaze and wonder at 
 comets , and their flaming beards , but feidom admire the fun , a 
 far more glorious body, becaufe he rifes and fets every morning 
 and evening upon the juft and the unjufl : doft thou admire God 
 in our prefervation ? learn to admire him in thy own : art thou 
 furprized with wonder, that we were kept a few days , when there 
 was not half an inch between us and death ? Confider, God has 
 kept thee jnany days , and many years , and every minute of thofe 
 many days and years, when there was but a hair's breadth between 
 ihee and death : doft thou then admire God preferved us alive 
 in a vejfel of cloth ? Admire that God, that holdeth thy foul in life, 
 and that in a more frail veftel, a vejfel of clay : doft thou lfill 
 wonder we were not blown over with every breath of wind ? Ad- 
 mire alfo that the lamp of thy life , which thou carrieft in a paper 
 lanthorn , is not blown out by every blaft of ficknels : but if thou 
 wilt ftill wonder how l'uch a boat fhould carry us, then wonder 
 alfo how thy food nourijhes thee , how thy cloaths keep thee warm, 
 how thy fleep refrefhes thee : there’s not a moment in our lives 
 but is filled with real miracle and wonder. I will praife thee , 
 (fays the Pfalmift, Pfal. cxxxix. 14.) for I am fearfully and 
 wonderfidly ?nade : let us all praife God, for we are fearfully and 
 wonderfully preferved. If prefervation be but a continued creation , 
 how fhouid we adore that power that created us once , but preferves 
 us always ? God expects that we fhould equally magnify his 
 Ikill in making us out of nothing , and fecuring us that we drop 
 not into nothing : and as much admire his goodnefs, that we 
 crumble not , moulder not into our dujl i as that we were at firft 
 formed out of dujl. § 4. 
 
vii 
 
 The PREFACE. 
 
 §. 4. Let the reader learn from our ftavcry to prize and im- 
 prove his own liberty. If we ferve not our God fmcerely and 
 chearfully in plenty , he can fend us where we fhall ferve our 
 enemies in want. If we glorify him not with our liberty , but 
 turn it into licencioufnefs , he can clap us up clofe , where we fhall 
 learn to prize it higher , and wifh we had improved it better . It 
 argues great difingenuity and bafenefs in our fpirits, that we provoke 
 our God to teach us the worth of mercies by the want of them. 
 The Lord does not willingly affiiti nor grieve the children of men y 
 Lam. iii. 33. but we provoke him to take his rod into his hand, 
 and lay it Jmartly upon our backs, becaufe that folly which is 
 bound up in our hearts will not otherwife be lafht out of us. 
 Thus God threatened his people of old, Deut. xxviii. 48. Be- 
 caufe thou fervedjl not the Lord thy God with joyfulnefs and gladnefs 
 of hearty for the abundance of all things , therefore jhalt thou ferve 
 thine enemies in hunger , thirjl, and nakednefs, and in the want of 
 all things. Thus he taught Judah by the captivity of Babylon , 
 to prize the freedom of Canaan ; we might learn our duty much 
 cheaper from God’s Word 9 but we, like truants , will not learn it 
 there , till God fends us to fchool with a rod at our backs. 
 
 § 5. Let all learn from hence, in what Jlate foever the Provi- 
 dence of God jhall place them , therewith to be content : perhaps thou 
 art a fervant to a Chrijlian ; doft thou murmur ? it fhews thou 
 little knoweft what it is to be a fave to an imperious Turk. Thou 
 ferveft him that prays with thee, and for thee ; doft thou repine ? 
 God might have made thee ferve one who would curfe and torture 
 thee , and make little proviiion for thy body, and none at all for 
 thy foul : the Chriftian religion is lurely the mojl excellent religion 
 in the world, becaufe it holds the ballance jo even between fuperiors 
 and inferiors: it enjoins the one to give the moft full obedience, and 
 yet prohibits the other to exercife rigour. It is peremptory for 
 duty , and yet abhors tyranny : whoever has known Turkijh fa-very, 
 is obliged to become a more loyal jubjeci, a more dutiful child , a 
 more faithful fervant ; and whoever has not known it , is yet 
 obliged to become all thefe , lead: God make him knoiv it , and 
 whip out of him that refhftf fpirit of grumbling and difobedience 
 with the briars and thorns of the wildernefs. 
 
 God commanded all mafters among the Jews to allow their 
 fervants a day of refl, Deut. v. 14. and he gives this reafon for 
 it, remember that thou waft a fervant in the land of Egypt. The 
 equity of which reafon holds ftronger for the Chriftian : remem- 
 ber thou waft a fervant to the worjl of mafters , a drudge in the 
 haftejl of works , and liable to receive the worjl of wages: has 
 Chrift fet thee free ? and art thou become a fervant to the bejl of 
 wafers % employed in the- moft reafonabL and honourable fer vices ? 
 
m ■ • ■ : 
 
 viii The PREFACE. 
 
 and in expectation of the mojl glorious rewards ? Let it te'acff 
 thee, if thou be’ft a majler , to command gently , and if a Jervar.t , 
 to obey chear fully. 
 
 § 6 . Let all learn to walk worthy of the gofpel. It is that which 
 fiveetens all our mercies , and mitigates the bitternefs of all afflictions ; 
 and if we fin away that , we either fin away all the rejl , or 
 whatever is ufcful and deftreable in all the reft. If we enjoy the 
 light , and yet walk in darknefs , it’s righteous with God to over- 
 spread our habitations with Egyptian or Babylonijh, Turkijh or 
 Popifh darknefs. God can carry us to Rome or Algiers , or elfe 
 fend Rome and Algiers home to us : for what (hould a people do 
 with light, that only intend to play or fight by it ? The once 
 famous churches of Afia , are now Swallowed up by the Ottoman 
 fword , and the Mahomedan unbelief ; and thofe Sometimes famous 
 cities, Carthage and Hippo , which knew thofe burning and 
 Shining lights, Cyprian and Augujline , are now poflefled with 
 Moors , and defiled with the abominations of the greatejl impojlor 
 that ever Seduced the nations, but one. And thinkejl thou , O 
 man , O Chriftian, that docjl thefe things , So alien from the gofpel 
 of Chrift, that art drunk in the day, and curfeft that God whom 
 thou worfhippeft, that thou Jhalt efcape the judgment of God ? I 
 tell thee, nay ; and I tell all thofe that read thefe lines, and are 
 guilty ; and i tell myfelf, fo far as 1 am guilty, that except we re- 
 pent , we Jhall all likewife perijh. 
 
 The Lord Jefus Chrift, in his epiftle to the church of Ephefus , 
 gives her this memorial. Rev. ii. 5 . Remember therefore from 
 whence thou art fallen , and repent , and do thy firjl voorks , or elfe / 
 will come unto thee quickly , and remove thy candlejlick out of its place , 
 except thou repent : but Ephefus would none of his counfel , none of 
 his caution j and Chrift was as good as his word, he put out her 
 candle , and re?noved her candlejlick. I have often wondered what 
 Should be the grounds of their confidence, who fpeak as if the 
 gofpel were entailed upon England , by virtue of fome ancient charter ; 
 as if God would make us exceptions from his general rule , which 
 is to take away abufed defpifed means and mercies, and we muft own 
 much of prerogative in our cafe ; but yet let us rejoice with trem- 
 bling, leaft when prophanenefs and debauchery dog religion fo 
 clofe at the heels, She fly not thither, where Ihe may find better 
 quarter: it has made great impreflion upon we when I read 
 the divine Herbert, in his Church Militant j. 
 
 Religion Jlands on tip-toe in our land , 
 
 Ready to pafs to the American fir and \ 
 
 When height of malice , and prodigious lufis, 
 
 Impudent finning ; witchcrafts and difinjts , 
 
 (7 he marks cf future bane ) Jhall fill our cup 
 
 Unto the brim, and snake our tneufure up, &C. | « t 
 
The PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 § 7. Let it be every man’s care to be found in Gofs way : the 
 promife of protection is annexed to God’s way, Pfal. xci. ir. 
 He Jhall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways : 
 and the blefling of God is annext to his own way too, Pfal. 
 cxxviii. 1. BleJJed is every one that feareth God , and walkcth in 
 his ways. When we are overtaken with the evil of affliction, let 
 the firft queftion we propound to ourfelves be this. Am I not 
 in the way of tranfgr efflon ? Did this danger find me in my duty ? 
 Was I in God's highway, or in fome bye path of my own? Was 
 I doing his work ? terving his glory? If we obferve not the way 
 of his precepts, I know no reafon we fhould plead the promife 
 of his protection. There are two things upon which I look 
 upon it as my great duty to reflect ; firft, whether we were in 
 the way of God's precepts , when we fell into our enemies hands ? 
 Secondly, Whether we were in the way of God's promife when 
 we efcaped out of their hands ? For the former, I am abundantly 
 fatisfied, that we were in the way of our duty : for we were fent 
 out by commiflion from the right honourable Robert earl of 
 Warwick, the lord Say , and the lord Brook , who, by patent from 
 his majefty king Charles I, were governors of the IJle of Provi- 
 dence, whither we were bound: for the latter, if the more fevere 
 reader will make it a queftion, JVh ether we could in faith expert 
 protection, in an adventure vifibly fo rajh and precipitous? and fhall 
 determine it againft us, that we tempted God, by calling ourfelves 
 upon extraordinary protection, expecting deliverance without war- 
 rant, in a way little on this fide miracle : I fhall firft fay, let him 
 Ihun that rock in his own converfation, upon which he luppofes 
 us to have dafht : let our fhipwreck be a buoy to warn him of the 
 like prefumption, and let him learn more wifdom at our cojl and 
 charges. I fhall further fay, let him not difcover greater rafhnefs 
 in cenfuring our adventure, than he charges upon our adventure , 
 but modeltly confider hitnfelf, leaft he alfo be tempted ; and if we 
 were guilty of folly, he may thus gain wifdom by our folly: but 
 I fhall add, extremity of mifery is none of the bejl counfellars ; let 
 him put himfelf under our cjrcumftances, and if cowardice did 
 not hinder him from making our attempt, I am confident con- 
 fcience would not : our lives were bitter to us by reafon of cruel 
 bondage, and (though mine was at that time much mitigated) 
 yet there is a fecret magnetifm in a native foil, with vvhicn our 
 hearts being once Jlrongly toucht, could never admit of the leaf} 
 variation , but ftill pointed directly homewards ; and Juch a land 
 too, as was, like Gojlsen, all light , when the land ot our capti- 
 vity was like Egypt, both for flavery and darkriefs, that might 
 both be felt ; and we thought it below men, for the love of life, 
 to lole the reafon of our loves ; for 
 
 C ^ 
 
X 
 
 The 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 • ' . -All may have 
 
 (If they dare try ) a glorious crown or grave. Herb. 
 
 In a word, tho y fuccefs will not warrant an evil action* yet there's 
 much of jujl'ification in it, on the behalf of thofe which are not Jo ; 
 por did we tempt God to work miracles, but trujled him to afford 
 us fpecial protection : but if this will not fa t is fy, let none imitate 
 us wherein we failed, but rather admire divine condefcenfion, that 
 engaged in our deliverance, nottvitbjlanding our failing. 
 
 §8. Let all that read this Narrative be inftrudted qeyer to 
 promife themfelves great matters from men : I have oblerved it in 
 the whole courje of our captivity, and condant tenor of thofe 
 gracious providences which brought us thence, and the feries of 
 jnercy, wifdom, and power, that was our convoy home, that 
 we ever found mcjl of favour from God, when we expeiled leaft 
 from men : and the leaf of kindnefs from thofe where we mighty 
 or thought we might in realon have promiled ourfelves moji. 
 When we met with unexpected friendjhip., Gcd would teach us 
 to own Himfelf. When we met with dif appointment, God would 
 teach us the folly of idolizing the creature : I have i'erioufly admired 
 the compaffion and relief we found at Mayork, and yet we knew 
 them to be Romanijls , and they knew us to be Prat ejl ants, and 
 how little refpedt we found from fame of our own country at 
 Aiicant , Cadiz, and St. Lucars, and yet we were tyed together 
 in the driefeit triple bonds of un Dieu , un ray, une Icy, one God, 
 one king , one law but God was feen in both. I could relate a 
 paffage during our captivity in Algiers, that had more of bitter- 
 nefs in it than in all our JIavery j and yet they were Chrijlian s, 
 not Algerines , Protejlants , not Papijls, Englifhmen, not grangers, 
 that were the caufe of it : but 1 have put a force upon myfeif, 
 and am refolved not to publifn it. In our return homewards, we 
 met with fome who would talk to the grief of thofe whom God had 
 wounded-, and was now in a way to heal again. Some would 
 interpretively fay, with the churlifh Nahal, I bam. xxv. io. Who 
 are thefe ? and whence came they ? There are many fervants now 
 adays that break away every one from his majler. But then was 
 the feafon when we had mod experience of God’s faithfulnefs : 
 and I {hall never ceafe to own before the world, the great refpect 
 we found from lome Englijh merchants, to whom we were perfect 
 ftrangers ; and the civilities of captain Goodfon, captain Smith, 
 his mate, and his fon, are not to be forgotten. 
 
 Perhaps, after all this, the reader will be earned to be fatis,- 
 hed, why this Narrative has lain Jo long dormant , and appeared 
 no fooner in the world? and I {hall herein alfo endeavour to give 
 him all reafonable fatisfadion, i . When we returned into England, 
 
 we found our native country embroiled in a mod dreadful civil 
 war, and mod men had enough to do to bear ikeir own perfonal 
 
 calamities. 
 
The PREFACE. xt 
 
 calamities, and had little need to be troubled with the mtfertes 
 of others ; they were other kind, of declarations that flew abroad 
 then, and that was enough to fuperfede a Narrative of this na- 
 ture for fome years. 2. The great mercies of God have not al- 
 ways their due weight upon our hearts at firjl -, and I have re- 
 ceived lignal deliverances from eminent dangers flnce that great 
 me ; and its well if all the mercies of our lives , all our deli- 
 verances put together , will amount to an argument ftrong enough 
 to overcome our backward nefs to make public acknowledgments'. 
 
 3. I thought a long while that it was not worth the vjbile to 
 trouble the world with my particular concerns, till the importu- 
 nity of feveral minijlers , and others , both in city and country, 
 overcame my reluctancy, in whofe reafons I did acquiefce. 
 
 4. I was confcious to myfelf of great unftnefs to recommend it 
 to public view, in fuch a garb as might vindicate it from contempt ; 
 for though it had been drawn out many years with my ozvn hand , 
 and many have had the perujal of it, have approved it, and defired 
 it ; yet till I could prevail with a friend to teach it to fpeak a little 
 better Englif), I could not be perfwaded to let it walk abroad ; the 
 fluff and matter is my Own, the trimming and form is anothers, for 
 
 whom I muft vouch that he has done the truth, myfelf , and the reader , 
 juflice. Having overcome all thefe difficulties, I do here ere 51 my 
 Ebenezer, as a Jmall Aimument cf great Mercy, and as an obligation 
 upon my foul to great duty, and do pray that it may fland as an 
 abiding witnefs for God in my confcience : that whenever 1 am 
 tempted to fin, I may have an anfwer ready to flop the mouth of 
 the tempter with indignation: how can I do this great evil, and 
 fin againjl my good God ? When I am tempted to diftruft, I may 
 encourage my faith from my own Narrative, faying, Remember that 
 God , who delivered tbee at the fea : when I am tempted to mur- 
 mur, I may fupprefs thofe mutinous thoughts from my own 
 Narrative, faying, Remember what thou enduredfl in Algiers : when 
 my heart grows cold, and unthankful, I may chide and fhame 
 it from my own Narrative, into gratitude to God ; that God, 
 who remembered us in our low ejlate ; for his mercy enduretu for ever ! 
 who preferved us at the fea, the great fea-, for his mercy endureth 
 for ever ! and fecured us in a boat, a contemptible boat , for his mercy 
 endureth for ever ! who gave us favour in the eyes of jl rangers, 
 for his mercy endureth for ever! ana opened to us the hearts of 
 enemies for his mercy endureth for ever ! and taught us to look up 
 to his never jailing mercy, when friends jailed ; for his mercy 
 endureth for ever! who returned us late to England ; for a is tnercy 
 endureth for ever ! we called upon him in the day of out t/ouble } 
 he delivered us, and we will- glorify him. 
 
 Reader, tiiis Narrative is tiue, penile it ferioufly, and iet not vanity 
 tempt thee to fay, things might have been better contrived, nvifeher 
 
 managed j 
 
*ii > The PREFACE. 
 
 managed j it was God did what was good in all ; call not his wifdom irf 
 queftion, becaufe he did not create more wonders to gratify thy itching 
 humour ; perhaps thou wouldeft have had us been brought over upon a 
 footing if and, or in a whale's belly, but I do not underftand that the great 
 God is bound to work miracles to fave men's longings : God has done 
 his work well, and none can mend it ) for what can the man do that 
 comes after the king? Eccl. ii. 12. For the matter of fatt recorded 
 herein, i might fafely call God to record upon my foul , that 1 lye not : 
 the thing is known to many, and has been lifted and fcann’d by fuch 
 eyes and ears as are not guilty of eafy credulity ; I have evidence that 
 may ftorm the molt obftinate unbelief: Mr. Thomas Saunders , my wife's 
 brother, being in Mayork not long after we came from thence, law our 
 boat hang up for a monument upon the fide of the great church there. 
 Mr. Robert Hales , who was there 1671, allures me he faw the naked 
 ribs and fkeleton of it then hanging in the fame place : now I allure 
 thee, reader, I fhould be much afhamed of myfelf if flrangers, un- 
 concerned in my perfonal deliverances, Ihould be fo far concerned as to 
 preferve a memorial of them, and yet unthankful I fhould ereft no 
 f andar dor pillar as an evidence of God’s Handing and appearing for me. 
 
 It is true, I am informed by one^ that fome affirm, there are more boats 
 hanging up in Mayork , in memory of fome fuch like efcape: now, if others 
 have r tally e fcaped the fame danger by the fame means , it greatly confirms 
 our Narrative ; and I do heartily rejoice that Providence has appeared 
 in the fame method for others, as for ourf elves: we never intended to mo- 
 nopolize God’s Providences to our foie ufe and behoof : and we rejoice if 
 obr attempt and fuccefs may have encouraged others to make the like 
 attempt, and have found the like JucceJs ; but I do affert it with great 
 confidence, that when we were in Mayork, there was no fuch boat 
 hanging up, but the inhabitants there entertained' our deliverance as fuch 
 whereof they had no parallel : but if, on the otheF fide, thefe, or fome 
 of thefe fucceeding boats, were but i?npofures, then the goodnefs of 
 God appears more remarkable towards us, that we realty were the fubjetts 
 of fuch wonder, which others duril only pretend to ; and it fets a luftre 
 upon this great falvation, which others have thought fo confderable , 
 that they judged it worth the while to tell a lye to entitle tbemfelves to 
 the credit of it ; for its gold and fiver , not copper , or bafer metals, 
 that they who drive the coining trade ltrive to counterfeit. 
 
 Let then every one that reads, underfiand, and ferioufly fit down and 
 confider with himl'clf, whether he has not had many eminent perfonal 
 deliverances in one kind or other, which this marvellous Providence of 
 God towards us may not refrefh his memory withal; and if he fhall 
 hence be taught to blulh at his forgetfulnefs of lapfed mercies, if this 
 Narrative fhall recover any loll providences, and fix them on, and 
 rivet into his foul; if he fhall- find himfelf awakened to due thankful- 
 nefs to God for all his benefits towards him, let him join with me in 
 aferibing all the power , and therefore all the glory to the Almighty, 
 and let him kindly accept the affiftance of him, who fhall reckon it 
 among!! his other mercies, to have been ferviceable to any one in re- 
 viving a better frame of heart. I am, Reader, 
 
 Thy Friend and Servant , W. Okeley, 
 
t I ] 
 
 A 
 
 i 
 
 SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 O F 
 
 GREAT MERCY. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 A brief Account of thofe Providences which led towards 
 our Captivity in Algiers. 
 
 T HIS Narrative would be too happy , if it ihould 
 not meet with fome hafiy and impatient fpirits , 
 that grudge the time that is fpent in preface and 
 introduction *, and fuch as thefe are wild to come at the 
 ftory of the boat ; ail the relt is but one great tedious im- 
 pertinency , they’ll not give a fig for all the other. I 
 lhall make never the more hafte for unreafonable im- 
 portunity j but the remedy is in their own hands, they 
 may turn over a few leaves, and meet with it in its 
 proper place, if they fit upon thorns. But to the more 
 judicious and confiderate, it will be acceptable to know 
 how our foot was taken in the fnare , as well as how the 
 fnare was broken , and we delivered. 
 
 In the month of June , in the year of our Lord 1639, 
 in purfuance of a commifiion from the right hon. the 
 Earl of Warwick, the Lord Say, and the Lord Brook, we 
 took fhip at Gravefend , in the Mary of London, carrying 
 fix guns, Mr. Boarder being mailer, and James Walker 
 the mailer’s mate; the fhip was chiefly laden with linnen 
 
2 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 and woollen cloth, having in her, Teamen and pafiengers* 
 above fixty, bound for the If e of Providence in the tVcJl- 
 lndies. Five weeks we lay in the Downs, wifhing and 
 waiting for a wind, and then we fet fail, and came to 
 an anchor near the IJle of Wight •, but by this time all 
 our beer in the flip funk, and we were forced to throw 
 it over-board, and to take in vinegar to mix with water 
 for our voyage. The next Lord’s day we fet fail again, 
 and coming between the ifand and the main land, we 
 {tuck faf in the fands, but the tide coming in, hove us 
 off. Thefe circumftances feem very inconfiderable to 
 thofe that were not concerned in the produdts of them ; 
 but God has given us the advantage and leifure to fee 
 what great things were in the womb of thefe little things. 
 Had the wind food longer againf us, it had been more 
 for us, and the danger had been paft ; had it food lefs 
 while againf us, it had been for us too, and we had 
 been gone paft the danger : but God appoints it the 
 moment when it fiould come about to blow us into the 
 mouths of our enemies : we fee the truth of that. Ye 
 know not what to pray for : we prayed for a wind, and 
 
 we had a whirlwind. If we always knew what mifehief 
 the anfwer of our prayers would do us, we fiould be 
 glad to eat our words, and pray againf our prayers. 
 Denial is often the bef anfwer, and we had need leave 
 all petitions to the wildom of God to be interpreted, 
 according to his good pleafure, and returned as they 
 may be good for us, and make molt for his own glory : 
 we were alfo taught, that the Tea may fometimes be our 
 bef friend, and the earth our worf enemy •, and that 
 nothing can do us good or hurt, but by the direction and 
 commijfton of the Almighty. 
 
 We were now three flips in company, and one of 
 the other, I remember, carried nine guns, Mr. Church 
 mafer. The fixth day after our fetting fail from the 
 IJle of Wight, by break of day in the morning, we 
 difeovered three flips about three or four leagues to 
 lee- ward: the matters of our flips prefently confulted 
 
 what 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 3 
 
 what was rnoft advifeable, whether to ftay and {peak 
 with them, or to make the beft of our way ; at laft (up- 
 on what reafons I know not) it was determined that 
 we Ihould ftay •, it was not long before we difcovered 
 thofe other three fhips to be Turks men of war, who 
 efpying their prey endeavoured to come up with us, 
 which about night they effected : whilft they were com- 
 ing up, the matters of our fhips feemed refolved to 
 fight them, and accordingly made preparation to re- 
 ceive them ; but in the night, the matter and company 
 of the fhip wherein I was altered their counfels, let their 
 refolutions die, and agreed to run for it ; uncertain 
 counfels never produce better Succefs •, when we might 
 have gone, then we would flay \ and when there was no 
 way to efcape , then we mutt needs attempt it : had we 
 either at firft refolved not to fight them, or refolving 
 to fight, had profecuted our refolutions like men of cou- 
 rage, we might, perhaps, either have avoided the danger , 
 or bravely majiered it. The Turks perceiving us begin 
 to run, lent one of their number to chafe us, whilft 
 their other two attended the remaining two of our com- 
 pany till the morning. At break of day they began to 
 fight us, and after a Ihort difpute boarded us, and took 
 us all three. In the Mary fix were fiain, and many 
 wounded, fo fmall was the difference between fight and 
 fight •, but that the death and wounds of thofe that fly 
 are dilhonourable, but of them that fight, beautiful and 
 glorious. 
 
 Many weeks they kept us clofe prifoners at fea •, we 
 found many Englifhmen in their fhips, {laves like our- 
 felves, from whom we had no other comfort but the 
 condoling of each others miferies, and that from them 
 we learnt a fmattering of the common language, which 
 would be of fome ule to us wnen we fhould come to 
 Algiers, whither, after five or fix weeks, we were 
 brought. 
 
 SECTION 
 
4 - 
 
 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The Defcription of Algiers, with their Manner . of 
 Buying and Selling Slaves. 
 
 A LGIERS is a city very pleafantly fituated on the 
 fide of the hills overlooking the Mediterranean , 
 which lies North of it •, and it lifts up its proud head 
 fo imperioully, as if it challenged a fovereignty over 
 thofe feas, and expe£ted tribute from all that fhall look 
 within the Str eights. It lies in the 30th degree of lon- 
 gitude, and hath fomewhat lefs than 35 degrees of 
 north latitude : the city is confiderably large, the walls 
 being above three miles in compafs, beautified and 
 ftrengthened with five gates ; Port Marine towards the 
 north, and Port Pifcadore not far from thence, and 
 Porta Nova towards the fouth ; built, as they report, 
 by the Spaniards , whilft it was in their poffefiion ; the 
 weft gate, which they call Bubawite , and the eaftem 
 gate, which, in their tongue, is called Bubazoon : they 
 have alfo feveral ftrong caftles, befides that upon the 
 point of the Mole, fo that the Town is judged impreg- 
 nable. The city is built very ftately, and yet more 
 ftrong than ftately, and more famous than ftrong ; but 
 not more famous for any thing than for infamy, being 
 the retreat, the neft of thofe Purkijh corlairs, which 
 have long tyrannized in, and been a terror to the 
 neighbouring feas. It is fuppofed by fome to contain 
 4000 families, by others, 80000 perfons ; but they 
 muft needs be very fhort in their reckoning, it having 
 been judged, that of all nations there could be no lefs 
 than 25000 flaves. The private buildings are very 
 beautiful, flat roof’d, adorned with galleries towards 
 their courts, fupported by pillars : and they may afford 
 to build fumptuoufly, becaufe they build at other men’s 
 coft, and with other men’s hands : their temples are 
 alfo very magnificent, and much to good for their reli-* 
 
 giQn s 
 
GF GREAT MERCY. $ 
 
 gion, whofe practice and converfation fpeaks them to 
 lay, There is no God. And yet we read of a religious 
 toief , who never went about the works of his calling (for 
 fo he called fielding) but he would folemnly implore the 
 off fiance of his idol : a flrange god, fure ! that would 
 be acceffary to his devoto’s robberies : and a flrange 
 worflhipper, that either hoped to flatter his god to be- 
 come his accomplice in villany, with a vow ot a good 
 round fhare of the booty, or would be fuch a fool to 
 think that god worth the worfhipping that fhould be 
 thus flattered. They have alfo many flately baths, to 
 which the men refort in the morning, and the women 
 in the afternoon. But they Want one worth them alf 
 wherein they might, by faith and repentance, wafh 
 away their filthinefs. 
 
 To this fair city we w T ere brought, yet in our eyes 
 it was moft ugly and deformed •, for the French proverb 
 is univerfally true, II n’y a point de hel prison. There 
 is no fuch thing as a fair prifon. t confels, lor a goaf 
 it is one of the heft built that I have feen •, there is no- 
 thing that the foul of man bears with more regret than 
 rejlraint : the body itfelf is judged by fome to be the 
 foul’s little-eafe , or cage ; where, though it feems to 
 dwell, yet ’tis but in honourable durance •, and though it 
 dares not break the prifon , yet it liflens, and longs for a 
 goal-delivery: there can be nothing large enough for a 
 foul but God, from whom fince it once at firfi came, it 
 muft needs be refllefs till it returns to him again ; and 
 furely it has much forgot itfelf and.extra£l, if it can 
 take up with fatisfaction in any thing on this fide its 
 Creator. 
 
 As foon as we were put afliore, for the firfi night we 
 were locked down in a deep nafiy cellar •, fome incc.. : ve- 
 niences we felt , but they were nothing to what Wd 
 feared : the next day we were carried , or led , or latner 
 driven to the Vice Roy’s or Bafnaw s palace, who, ac- 
 cording to the cuftom, and his own right, is to have 
 
 the tenth man for his dividend of the Jlavss. 
 
 £) \\ hen 
 
6 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 When the next market day came, we were driven like 
 beafis thither, and expofed to fale •, and there is a great 
 deal of God’s goodnefs in that one word , that it was not 
 to the Jlaught er-houfe to be butchered , as well as to the 
 market to be fold. Their cruelty is great, but their cove - 
 tuoufnefs exceeds their cruelty could they make as much 
 of us dead as they make alive, that fo both the in - 
 terefis of cruelty and of covetuoufnefs might be fecured 
 and reconciled , we are well allured which way it would 
 have gone with us ; but it muft be a great deal of tallow 
 and fat that will anfwer two or three dollars a month. 
 
 Their manner of felling flaves is this : they lead them 
 up and down the fair, or market, and when a chapman 
 bids any money, they prefen tly cry a-rache ! a-rache ! 
 that is, here is fo much money bidden , who bids more ? 
 They that cheapen the expofed flaves are very circum - 
 fpeft perfons, they carry their eyes in their heads , as well 
 as their money in their purfes , and ufe the one in laying 
 out the other ; for they are loth to buy a pig in a poke : 
 their firft policy is to look in their mouths , and a good, 
 ftrong, entire fet of grinders, will advance the price 
 confiderably ; and they have good reafon for this prac- 
 tice, for firft, they are rational creatures, and know, 
 that they who have not teeth cannot eat •, and they that 
 cannot eat, cannot work ; and they that cannot work , 
 are not for their turn \ and they that are not for their 
 turn , are not for their money : and, fecondly, they intend 
 to keep them at hard meat all the year, and it muft not 
 be gums, but folid teeth (nay, if it were poflible, cafe- 
 hardened teeth ) that muft chew it ; and, when all is done, 
 they had need of the O finch* s fiomach to digeft it. Their 
 next procefs is to feel their limbs, as whether there be 
 any frablion or dijlocation in the bones any thing ana- 
 logical to fpavin , or ring-bone , for thefe will bring 
 down the market wonderfully : and to be clean limb’d , 
 clofe coupled,, and well joynted will advance it as much. 
 The age is very conjiderable, but they that fell them did 
 not breed them, and therefore they know nothing more 
 
 or 
 
7 
 
 OF GREAT MERCY. 
 
 or lefs of that ; two ways they have to find out the acre, 
 the one is, to ftand to the courtefy of the (laves, but 
 they are not bound to make any fuch difcovery, and 
 therefore they go by general conje&ures from the beard, 
 face, or hairj but a good fet of teeth will make any one 
 ten years younger , and a broken one , ten years older than 
 the truth tor if they were five hundred years old , all is 
 a cafe, if they could but eat and work ; or if they could 
 not eat , yet if they could but work , or if neither eat 
 nor work , if their Jkins would but fetch in the money 
 again. You fhall have the feller commend his goods 
 to the (ky, and the buyer, on the other hand, as much 
 undervalue, them , and the true market price lies com- 
 monly juft between them •, but fo it is all the world 
 over. O, fays the feller, mark what a back he has , what 
 a, breadth he bears between the fhoulders ! what a chefi ! 
 how firong fet ! how fitted on the nonce for burthens ! 
 he'll do but e'en too much work. Pifh, fays the buyer, 
 he looks like a pillard , like a very meacock at his proven- 
 der, and one that feems to be fiurfieited. But they are 
 very curious in examining the hands , for if they be callous 
 and brawny they will ihrewdly guefs they have been 
 inured to labour j if delicate and tender , they will fufpedd 
 fome gentleman or merchant , and then the hopes of a 
 good price of redemption makes him faleable. 
 
 When any are fold, they muft be trotted once more to 
 the Vice-Roy’s, that he may have the review of them, 
 and if he likes any of them at the prices they went off 
 at, there is no more difpute, they are his own. 
 
 As for mylelf, I was fold the firft market day to a 
 ! Fagareen and that the reader may not ftumble at that 
 hard word, he may underftand, that when the Moors 
 were driven out of Spain by Ferdinand the Great, they, 
 upon their return into Africa, affumed names that might 
 argue gentility, and be an evidence or their ancient ex- 
 tract, from fuch places where they had been great Dons, 
 and accordingly there are many families thus denomi- 
 nated, as Tagareens , Jarbeent &V, 
 
 SECTION 
 
A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 SECT ION III. 
 
 An Account of fome Difficulties that 1 met with during 
 my Captivity in Algiers. 
 
 T HOSE miferies which it is dreadful to endure , 
 are yet delightful to he remembered', and there’s a 
 fecret plealure to chew the cud , and ruminate upon efcaped 
 dangers . However, the reader may afford to run over 
 with his eye in an hour that which I ran through in Jive 
 years \ and fuppofing himfelf fafe upon the amphitheatre, 
 'may behold poor flaves combating with beafls below. 
 
 The firft adventure I met with after I was brought 
 to my patron’s houfe (tor fo I mutt now ftile him) had 
 well nigh coft me my life. My patron’s father being 
 defirous to fee his fon’s 'penny-worth , commanded me up 
 into a gallery which looked into the court, he began to 
 infult over me with infupportable fcorn, reflecting upon 
 me becaufe I was a Chriftian , and caft out fome expref- 
 fions which did really reflect upon the perfon of my Re- 
 deemer-, (though I have heard worfe fince ) my neck was 
 not yet bowed, nor my heart broken to the yoke of bondage 
 I could not well brook, becaufe I had not been ufed then 
 to fuch language ; and becaufe I could not exprefs my- 
 fe If in the Morefco , or Lingua Franc , I fupplied it with 
 flgns, and imitating the cobleFs yarke, I fignified both 
 ways as well as I could, that their prophet was but a 
 cobler. I confefs my meaning was no more, but that 
 Mahomet , by the help of Sergius, a Nejlorian monk, and 
 Abda.Ua the Jew , had patched up a cento of Jewijh 
 and Monkifh fopperies , which was now their religion. 
 But he, without the preamble of many railing words, 
 fell upon me with fevere blows ; whatever rage and fury 
 his hands or feet could execute, that I felt, and my in- 
 treaties did but inrage his choler, fo that I faw. I might 
 fooner blow out the fire with a pair of bellows, than 
 knify his paffion with prayers I had no other way but 
 
 this. 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 9 
 
 this, to make an offer of leaping down out of the 
 gallery into the court, and therefore clapping my hands 
 upon the rails, as if I would throw myfelf headlong 
 down over them, and rather chufe to receive my death 
 from the pavement, than his hands, he prefently affwa- 
 ges, if not his rage, yet the execution of it. The old 
 gentleman knew very well, that if I loft my life his fori 
 muft loofe his prefent money, and future profit, for 
 there's little made out of a dead man's Jkin, and therefore 
 he refpites my further punifhment till my patron’s re- 
 turn ; and then indeed this reputed blafphemy of mine 
 with full cry was carried to his ears, and it loft nothing 
 in the telling, but was aggravated to purpofe : my pa- 
 tron, being naturally a very paffionate man, faid no- 
 thing, but, without examination, drew out his long 
 knife, (which they conftantly wear by their Tides) and 
 made at me, and had there doubtlefs put an end to 
 my life and captivity at once , had not his wife, who was 
 then feafonabjy prefent, taken him in her arms, and 
 lweetened him into more moderate counfels. Some 
 will be ready enough to fay, that I was but a martyr to 
 my own folly : this was not a place for difpute , but 
 obedience. Well, I learnt from hence two leffons * one, 
 
 ‘ That when the body is a Jlave the reafon muft not expebi 
 to be free and where the whole outward man is in bondage , 
 the tongue muft not plead exemption. A fecond, That 
 its fair for Haves to enjoy the freedom of their own con- 
 fciences, without reviling another's religion, though erro- 
 neous ; and this wit I bought , as it fell out, a pretty 
 good penny-worth. 
 
 When the ftorm was over my employment was afiigned 
 me, (for they had rather fee a Have dead than idle ) and 
 for about half a year it lay in trudging on errands, bear- 
 ing burthens, and difcharging other domeftic fervices 
 at command, wherein the only conlideration was, that it 
 was commanded, and not what was commanded. 
 
 At this time my patron had a part in a man of war, 
 which carried twelve guns ; fhe being at fea (with fome 
 
 others. 
 
10 
 
 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 others of the fame place) met with an Englijh merchant, 
 laden with plate , and other rich commodities from 
 Spain , and bound for London , one Ifaac being matter, 
 and after a very jharp , though Jhort difpute , the Algerines 
 carried her, and brought her fafe home. The adven- 
 turers divide their booty, and being high flown with this • 
 fuccefs, they refolve to fit her out again to carry more 
 guns, and from hence grew my new employment . Upon 
 the carpenters I attended, waited on the fmiths , to get 
 the iron work fitted and finifhed, and truly he allowed 
 me more for porterage than to the ordinary hammels y or 
 common porters. 
 
 When this fhip was now fitted for another adventure, 
 my patron tells me, / mujl go in her it was a nipping 
 word : I pleaded that I was no feaman, underftood 
 nothing of the mariner’s art, and therefore as he could 
 expeft little fervice from me in that kind, fo I mult 
 expect molt rigorous treatment , becaufe I could not 
 acquit myfelf in the fervice as well as others ; he re- 
 moved my pleas, and promifed I fhould not be wronged; 
 but there was more at the bottom than all this, for here 
 a cafe of confcience offered itfelf. Whether I might 
 without fin in any cafe fight againfi Chrijtians, on the 
 part of the common enemy of all Chriftianity ? The beft 
 refolution I could give myfelf, was this, that firft, my 
 employment would only lye in managing the tackle , which 
 will kill nobody ; but it was replyed, that without the 
 due management of the tackle all the guns in the fhip will 
 kill nobody : fecondly, therefore I anfwered. That it 
 was not evident they would engage againfl: Chriftians 
 more than all the rejl of mankind , for all the world are 
 their enemies, who are rich enough to invite them y and 
 too weak to refifi them , but my patron had a folut ion- 
 worth all thefe y he told me premptorily I mujl y and flsould 
 go ; I found myfelf under force , I was a prefi man , who 
 could not examine the juftice of the caufe. In a word. 
 Ills commands were back’d with compulfion y and whatever 
 his authority was, he had more power than I had courage 
 
 to. 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. n 
 
 io deny, or Jlrength to rejifi \ and go I did. Yet this 
 I will fay for him, he fpoke to the captain and officers 
 of the fhip to treat me civilly, that is, lefs cruelly than 
 other Jlaves were treated : he gave me fome money alfo 
 in my pocket, bought me cloaths, and laid me in pro- 
 vifion above the (hip’s allowance. 
 
 Nine weeks we were at fea, within and without the 
 Str eights, cruifing and pickarooning up and down ; at 
 laft we met with one ■poor Hungarian French man of war, 
 whom we took, and fo returned. 
 
 My patron having been at great charges in fitting and 
 manning out this fhip, and the reprifals fo flenderly an- 
 fwering his great colt, and greater hopes, I muft allow 
 him two dollars per month , and live affiore where I would, 
 and get it where I could. This was a hard chapter, that 
 he that could not maintain himfelf, ffiould be compelled 
 to contribute to the maintenance of another it was dif- 
 ficult to raife increafe out of no Jlock, and to pay interefi 
 out of no principal • but there was no contending : it 
 coft me much debate with myfelf, and I turned my 
 thoughts into all forms and Jhapes , but all projects that 
 prefented themfelves were encumbered with fo many 
 difficulties , that they amounted very near to impoffibilities , 
 The more I confulted, the further I found myfelf from 
 a conclufion, and I could fee no way but one, (but that 
 was worth a thoufand, could I have made the beft of 
 it) and that was to commit myfelf to God, who had brought 
 me into this Jlrait, befeeching him that he would bring 
 me out of it. 
 
 But that my trufting to God might not be a cloak for 
 lazinefs , or a pillow for Jloth to reft upon, I addrefted 
 myfelf to an Englifhman , whofe condition was that of a 
 flave, whofe calling was that of a t ay lor. He at firft 
 counfelled me to come and ftay with him, and he would 
 teach me to work at his trade. I accounted nothing 
 bafe that was honejl, and neceffity would ennoble a far 
 meaner employment, and very readily clofed in my 
 thoughts with his motion, and was luddenly elevated 
 
 into 
 
i?. A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 into huge hopes that I fhould now be in a capacity to 
 anfwer my patron's demands , and efcape his lafh. But 
 my (traits were not (it feems) great enough to glorify 
 God, nor my condition mean enough to magnify his 
 power in railing me *, I was not reduced to that extre- 
 mity which would make an opportunity to exalt his ap- 
 pearing mercy •, for when I came to him the next day, 
 I perceived, by his filence, that his mind was changed,' 
 and I was loth, either out of modefty , or pride , to give 
 him further trouble ; and therefore interpreting his 
 filence to be a more civil way of denial , I left him, and 
 once more launched out into the wide world. 
 
 In this forlorn pofture I wandered, but neither knewj 
 nor much cared whither , though the wife God both knew 
 and cared and his providence dire£ted me to another 
 Englifhman , who was fitting in a little fhop : he afked 
 me what news ? and (as that which is uppermoft always 
 comes out firft) I prefently began the ftory of my de- 
 fperate condition ; how the rigid law of my patron had 
 impofed two dollars per month upon me , and I knew not 
 where to levy the leaf mite of it : ,he heard, confidered, 
 pitied my condition, and invited me to come and fet in 
 the fhop with him ■, but feeing nothing but bare walls 
 I afked him to what end s’ what trade fhould we drive 
 there ? There’s not much difference between flarving 
 in the Streets , and in the fhop. Countryman, laid he, I 
 drive here an unknown trade, here I fell lead, iron, fhot, 
 ftrong waters, tobacco, and many other things : this 
 motion was a great deal too good to be refilled, and I 
 think at that time no tolerable condition would have 
 fluck Ayith me. 
 
 I acquainted my patron with my dengn, pleaded I 
 wanted ftock to fet up with •, he lent me a fmall mo- 
 dicum , and, with another pittance that I had privately’ 
 referved.of my own,- I began to trade. That very night 
 T went and bought a parcel of tobacco, the next morn- 
 ing we drefs’d it, cut it, ,and fitted it for* fale -, and the 
 world feemed to fmile.on u$ wonderfully. In this way 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. if 
 
 of partnerfhip we continued for fome while, and what 
 we got clear we divided every week, according to the 
 proportion of our refpeftive flocks ; in a while, finding 
 the world to come in upon us, we ventured upon no 
 lefs than a whole butt of wine i fome money we had, and 
 fome credit •, this wine we drew out, and got confider- 
 ably by it. But it is very difficult to maintain moderation 
 in an exalted ftate, for even our fate was capable of 
 better and worfe \ for my partner being elevated with 
 our good fuccefs, grew a good fellow, and a bad hufband, 
 neglected his bufinefs, went tippling and fuddling up 
 and down, and the concerns of the fhop and trade lay 
 wholly upon my fhoulders. 
 
 It fell out that one John Randal , who with his wife 
 and child were taken in the fame fhip with myfelf, being 
 put to the fame fhifts with myfelf, and, as it is very 
 common, having a monthly tax impofed upon him by 
 his patron, which he mult fcrape up where he could, 
 and befides maintain himfelf, his wife and child, went 
 up and down feeking for relief, at lait the poor man 
 ftraggled to our fhop ; his cafe made great impreffion 
 upon me, I could not but confider the goodnefs of God 
 to me, that fhould now be in a condition to advife and 
 help another , which fo lately wanted both myfelf j and 
 it had this operation upon me, that I would not fufter 
 a poor diltreffed countryman, a Fellow-captive, a fellow- 
 chriftian, to Hand begging at that door where I had fo 
 lately flood myfelf j fhall I fhut the door, or my heart 
 upon him, when God had opened a door of hope to me 
 in the day of my trouble ? fhall I fo ill requite the Lord’s 
 kindnefs to me ? Surely that God who comforts in our . 
 tribulations , expects that we Jhould comfort others in theirs, 
 2 Cor. i. 4. I bade him therefore come in, and knowing 
 him to be a glover by trade , advifed him to learn to make 
 canvafs cloaths for - fearnen that are Haves j and for my 
 own part, he fhould fit rent-free ; but if my partner 
 would infill upon his moiety , he mu ft be willing to fatisfy 
 him, for I had no power to determine of another’s right. 
 
 JE • It 
 
t 4 A SMALL MONUMENT' 
 
 It were tedious to trouble the reader how I wore out 
 three or four irkfome years in this way of trading : all 
 this while there was no dawning of deliverance from our 
 bondage : as one year left us, another found us and de- 
 livered us over captives to the next : our condition was 
 bad, and in danger every day of being worfe, as the 
 mutable humours of our patrons determined upon us, 
 for our fhop and trade was no freehold ; the truth is, in 
 time we were fo habituated to bondage that we almoft 
 forgot liberty , and grew fcupid and fenfelefs of our 
 ilavery •, like IJJachar , we couched down between our bur- 
 then s, we bowed our fhoulders to bear , and became fervants 
 to tribute , Gen. xlix. 14, 15. And were in danger to 
 be like thofe Jfraelites in Babylon , who being once fettled, 
 forgot Canaan , and dwelt with the king for his work, 
 1 Chron. iv. 23. We feemed as if our ears had been 
 bored , and we had vowed to ferve our -patrons for ever. 
 Long bondage breaks the fpirits, it fcatters hope off \ 
 and difcourages all attempts for freedom : and there were 
 more evils attended our condition than the bodily torture , , 
 which we were always liable to , and fometiraes endured. 
 
 1. We were under a perpetual temptation to deny 
 the Lord that bought us, to make our fouls Jlaves , that 
 cur bodies might recover liberty. As fatan once tempted 
 fob to curfe God , and dye •, fo he knew how to change 
 his note to us, and accommodate his fnare to our condi- 
 tion, to curfe God, that we might live. How many have 
 made fhipwreck of faith, that they might not be chained 
 to the galleys ? I can never enough admire the grace of 
 that promife, Pfal. cxxv. 3. The rod of the wicked fhall 
 not always reft upon the lot of the righteous , left the righ- 
 teous put forth their hands to iniquity ■, nor ever enough 
 adore the faithfulnefs of him, who will not fuffer us to 
 be tempted above that we are able, 1. Cor. x. 13. 
 
 2. Evil is the unmanning and difpiriting of the foul to 
 worthy aft ions •, for we are apt to put on the temper and fpi- 
 rit of flaves with the habit ; and the chriftians of the 
 Greek communion, are a very fad inftance of this truth. 
 
 And, 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. i 5 
 
 And, 3. We were very much at a lofs for the preaching 
 of the word : and yet herein the gracious God ftept in 
 lor our relief. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 How God provided for cur Souls , by fending us an able 
 Minijler , to preach the Gofpel to us in our Bondage , 
 
 T he gracious God looking upon the affliction of 
 his poor iervants, and remembering us in our low 
 eftate , was pleafed many ways to mitigate the load of 
 our captivity : we have reafon to fay, with the church, 
 Ezra ix. 9. We were bondfmen , yet cur Gcd hath not for- 
 faken us in our bondage , but hath extended mercy to us , to 
 give us a reviving , and a nail in his holy place : and thus 
 he brought about his defign of grace and mercy. There 
 was an Englifo fhip taken by fome of our Algerine pirates, 
 and in her one Mr. Devereux Sprat , a minifter of the 
 goipel. It deferves our confideration, and greateft ad- 
 miration, that the wife God fhould fupply our necejfties 
 at the coft and charges of others of his dear fervants : 
 But thus providence fent Jofeph into Egypt , where he 
 endured a thirteen years fiavery, that he might preferve 
 the lives of his father’s family, within whofe narrow 
 walls the moft vifible church of God in thofe days was 
 inclofed, Gen. xlv. 5. Now fome of us obferving this 
 Mr. Sprat to be a perfon of very fober, grave, and re^- 
 ligious deportment, we addrefied ourfelves to him, and 
 humbly entreated him, that we might enjoy the benefit 
 of his miniftry ; in order whereto, we defired that he 
 would compound with his patron for fo much a month 
 as he could, and becaufe we were abundantly convinced 
 of our duty to ad minifter to him of our carnal things , 
 who Ihould adminifter to us of his fpirituals \ we enga- 
 ged to allow him a competency to maintain himfelf, and 
 Satisfy the expectations of his patron , the good man 
 hearkened to us with much readinefs ; and now indeed 
 
 W9: 
 
i 6 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 we found our burthens much lighter, and our condi- 
 tions not prefs fo hard upon our fpirits : thrice a week 
 this godly painful fervant of Jefus Chrifl prayed with 
 us, and preached to us the word of God ; our meeting 
 place was a cellar, which I had hired at fome diflance 
 from our fhop, where I flowed fome goods that were 
 peculiarly my own, when we fell into a greater flroke 
 of trade. To our meetings reforted many, fometimes, 
 three or fourfcore, and though we met next the Jireet , 
 yet we never had the leafl diilurbance from the Turks 
 or Moors - 3 for whilfl we intermedled not with their fu- 
 perftitions, but paid our patrons their demands , we might, 
 without any diflurbance from them, worfhip our God, 
 according to our confciences : it is true, that fuch were 
 the circumflances of the flavery of many poor chriflians, 
 that they could not attend, and fuch the wretched care- 
 lefsnefs of others, that they would not attend, and fuch 
 the provifions that God had made for others, by other 
 means, that they needed not , perhaps, attend upon God’s 
 worfbip with us ; but thus was our God pleafed to 
 give us the means of Jlrengthening our faith , and com- 
 forting our drooping fpirits. 
 
 At length came one captain Wildy , of Radcliff, to 
 trade there, who, with the afliflance of the Leghorn 
 merchants, freed our minifler from his patron. After 
 his freedom from his patron, yet there remained a duty 
 of fixty dollars , which was a particular charge payable 
 to the public treafury, before he could be fully enlarged 
 from the city : we petitioned therefore the captain, that 
 he might , and Mr. Sprat himfelf, that he would Hill 
 continue to be ferviceable to our poor fouls, in the work 
 of the gofpel, and we eafiiy prevailed, and had the 
 benefit of his miniflry whilfl I {laid there. 
 
 SECTION 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 
 
 *7 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Some remarkable Observations that I gleaned up whilfi 
 I remained in Algiers. 
 
 T hey that are prefied with their own perfonal 
 grievances , have little leifure to lock abroad , and 
 obferve the motions of others ; and indeed our own afflic- 
 tions, however fweetened, lay ftill gnawing and grating 
 upon our {pints, that we muft needs be very ill quali- 
 fied to treafure up materials to make a hiftory ; fuch a 
 defign required leifure, liberty, privacy, retirednefs, 
 intelligence, and ftrick correfpondence, to all which we 
 were perfedt ftrangers. Yet Sometimes I could make a 
 truce with my troubles, and obtain fo long a ceffation 
 from my vexatious preffures, as to make obiervation. 
 
 And, i. The hypccrify of their profeffion was fo no- 
 torious, that he muft put out his eyes that did not fee 
 it. One month in the year they obferve their Ramedam , 
 which is their Lent and indeed they obferve it by day 
 with more than monkifh aufterity , impofmg upon them- 
 felves a total abftinence : an observation which they may 
 be prefumed to owe to that Neftorian monk , who club’d 
 with Mahomet in the curfed invention of the Alchoran : 
 But for all their demure quadragefimal looks by day , they 
 give or fell themfelves to commit, with greedinefs , all 
 manner of the moft execrable villanies by night. And 
 they cheat themfelves with this evafion, that forfooth 
 Mahomet commanded them to fajl fo many days , but not 
 fo many nights : for now they beat up their drums, 
 and call their friends firfi out of bed , then out of doors ; 
 they provoke, challenge, dare one another to eat, drink , 
 and run into all excefs of riot. They will neither fpare 
 man in their rage , nor woman in their luft : the two hun- 
 gry meals of the day , makes the third of the night an errand 
 glutton. By day they create themfelves a purgatory , and 
 by night the poor {laves find a hell. Now. when they 
 
 have 
 
IS A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 have crammed their guts all night , and are maw-Jick in 
 the morning , they put on their lenten face again , and 
 call that a faft which is but phyfic \ and pretend religion 
 for that which they are compelled to by nature \ that 
 is, they faft when they can eat and drink no longer : but 
 indeed their faft by day is nothing but a dry drunkennefs 
 for when they have drunk and whored themfelves into 
 fin, they fancy they merit a pardon by abftinence. A 
 piece of hypocrify fo grofs, that whether it be to be 
 fampled any where in the world, unlefs, perhaps, by 
 the popifh carnivals , I cannot tell. 
 
 2. I could not but obferve, that though they allow, 
 that every man may be faved in that religion he profejfes , , 
 provided he walks by its rules , and therefore that at laft 
 the Jews , under the banner of Mofes ; the Chriftians , 
 under the banner of Chrift ; and the Turks , under the 
 banner of Mahomet , fhall all march over a fair bridge , 
 into I know not what Paradife , a place far beyond the 
 Elyfian Fields •, yet they afford no mercy to one, who 
 having once prof eft ed , afterwards revolts from Mahome- 
 tanifn ; an inftance whereof I fhall now prefent the 
 reader with. 
 
 The Spaniards every year return a confiderable fum of 
 money to Algiers, to be employed in the redemption of 
 fuch of their own country as are there in ftavery : fome 
 fay, there is a particular treafury fet apart for that fervice : 
 but this I know, that they ufe the charitable benevolence 
 of well difpofed perfons , to advance it. Now, there was 
 a Spanijh frier, that was a flave, who being pafied by 
 in the redemption that year , took it very heinoujly to be 
 neglc&ed, thought himfelf much wronged ; hereupon 
 he grows dif contented , and the devil (who never works 
 with greater fuccefs than upon that humour) takes the 
 advantage to pufh him on , and he, in a pet , renounces 
 the Chriftian religion, declares himfelf a mujfelman , and 
 accordingly appears in his Turkifh habit. I knew him 
 very well by fight, he was a fat corpulent perfon-; but 
 after he had turned renegade , I obferved him to become 
 
 ftrangely 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 19 
 
 fftrangely lean and dejedled in his countenance, but I little 
 fufpedted that the root of his diftemper lay in his confcience : 
 but it Teems he had Teverely reflected upon his apoftacy , 
 for he had not renounced only his Popery , but his Chri- 
 fiianity : his own confcience, which was a thoufand wit - 
 nefjes againd him, was a thoufand tormentors to him : 
 long he bore its fecret and flinging la foes, but when 
 he could no longer ftand under them, he goes to the 
 Vice-Roy’s palace, and there openly declares himfelf 
 a Chriftian, and proteds againd the l'li perdition and 
 idolatry of Mahomet , as a mod execrable and damnable 
 impodure : immediately he is convened before the coun- 
 fel, and there drickly examined, he perfids refolutely in 
 his protedion, whereupon he is clapt in irons, and for 
 fometime there fecured : now they pretend this reafon 
 ■for their procedure, that there had been Tome pradtidng 
 and tampering with him, either morally by argument , or 
 naturally by feme dofe of intoxicating drugs, that had thus 
 didempered him ; for ioth they were it ihould be thought, 
 that any man of fund mind, or mafter cf his reafon, would 
 ever revolt from their religion : but when they fa w him 
 fixt in his refolution, and that neither what he felt, or 
 might fear, what they had inf idled, or could threaten , 
 did unhinge him from his profeffion, they proceeded 
 to the lad remedy, and inexorably condemned him to the 
 fre : a way of punifhment which they learnt from the 
 Spaniards themfelves , who firft fet up the inquifition againft 
 the Moors, and have now turned the edge of it againft 
 the Proteftants. And now they proceed to the execution 
 of the fentence, which was performed with fome pomp 
 and ft ate. And fird, they formed a crown , with a crojs 
 upon the top of it, within the plates and bars whereof 
 they put flax * thus crowned, they guard him through 
 the city, out of the wed gate, about half a mile, which 
 was the appointed place of execution ; and fird, one 
 puts fire to the flax in his mock crown, to take pofifefHon 
 of his head, in the name of the reft of his body : at fird 
 he (hook it off, but another put fire again to it with a 
 
 cane. 
 
20 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 cane, and then the poor man flood patiently ; and 
 prefently they put fire to the whole pile, and there burnt 
 * him : I faw fome of his bones, and fcorched flefh, after 
 he was dead ; and the fame evening came a zealous 
 Spaniard, , and carried away fome of his fcorched flefh 
 and bones, as the holy relicks of a martyr, faying, I have 
 now done enough to make fatisfahlion for all the fins that 
 I have committed. 
 
 3. It is worth admiration, to fee in what great awe 
 they hand of the meanejl officer , who is known to be 
 fuch by his turbant and habit, Jf any affray be made, 
 or a murder committed in the ftreets, the chiaux , or 
 officer, prefently comes without any weapon, or perfon 
 to affift him ; and,, if he feizes the offenders, none is fo 
 hardy as to refill even unarmed authority. 
 
 4. The great reverence which the Moors pay to the 
 urks, though both Mahometans , is remarkable : if a 
 
 Moor fhall dare to fir ike a T urk , he is punifhed with 
 great feverity : I law two Moors , whilft I was there, 
 whofe right hands where chopt off \ for this one crime, 
 and hung about their necks in firings ; the one was fet 
 upon an afs, the other walked by on foot, the common, 
 cryer proclaiming before them their offence, through 
 the chief ftreets of the city.' I faw another alfo with 
 his heels tied to a horfe’s tail j he was wholly naked, 
 only he had on a pair of linnen drawers, and thus was 
 he dragged through the ftreets ; it was a moft lament- 
 able fpebtacle to fee his body all torn with the rugged 
 way, and ftones, the fkin torn off his back and elbows, 
 his head broken, and all covered with blood and dirt, 
 and thus was he dragged thro’ the city, out at Bubazoon , 
 or the eaft gate, where he ended his miferable life. 
 
 Two others of their own countrymen I faw executed 
 In a moft terrible and dreadful manner, (but either I 
 did not know, or do not remember their crimes :) the 
 one was thrown off from a high wall , and in his fall 
 he was caught by the way by one of the great fharp 
 hooks which were fattened in the wall •, it caught him 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 
 
 21 
 
 juft under the rihi , and there he hung, roaring in un- 
 speakable pain till he died. The other was faftened to 
 a ladder , his wrifts and ankles being nailed through with 
 iron /pikes , in fuch a pofture as fomewhat refembles the 
 celebrated crofs of St. Andrew \ and leafb his flefh and 
 finews fhould fail, and the nails not hold, his wrifts and 
 ankles were bound faft with fmall cords to the ladder : 
 two days I faw him alive under this torture , how much 
 longer he lived under it I cannot tell. 
 
 5. They are generally great enemies to debauchery 
 in public : it is a great fcandal to them when they fee 
 any Chriftians, who brought that beftiality cut of their 
 own countries with them, to be guilty of it. I have 
 heard them fay of a drunken (lave, a Chriftian ? no, 
 he is a /wine. And though they will indulge themfelves 
 by night (efpecially in their ramedam month) yet woe 
 be to him that hi all offend by day in that kind. There 
 was an Englijhman , who had brought over with him 
 his drunken humour , and his captivity had not made him 
 fober : and when religion has not firm hold of the heamt , 
 a little matter will make fuch a one let go his hold efi 
 religion : this Engli/hman turned a renegado, and of a 
 drunken Chriftian became a drunken 'Turk, and was not 
 able to keep the pot from his head , during their holy time 
 of ramedam •, being one day found thus like a fot, he 
 was brought into the Caffabal , or chief court of judica- 
 ture, where he was adjudged to receive many hundreds 
 of violent blows, fome upon his naked back and reins , 
 others upon his naked belly \ he could not creep from 
 the place of punifhment, but was carried away by the 
 hamrnels •, his belly and back was fo excoriated, that 
 Sampfon Baker , an Englijhman , who was his furgeon, 
 affured me he was forced to cut off abundance of his 
 flefh before he could he cured. 
 
 6. What cruelties they exercife upon poor /laves needs 
 not be mentioned, and there will be an occafion to 
 fpeak of the moft ordinary way of punifhment e’er long. 
 Let it fufhee, that all is arbitrary and unhmitted. If a 
 
 F ' patron 
 
2 2 
 
 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 patron fhall kill his jlave , for ought I could perceive, he 
 fullers no mere for it, than if he fhould kill his horfe : 
 there was a Dutch youth, a (lave to a T'urk , who, upon 
 fome provocation, drew his knife at his patron * for this 
 offer , he was fentenced to be dragged out at one of the 
 -gates, and there to have his arms and legs broken in pieces 
 with a great fledge hammer , which fentence was accord- 
 ingly executed •, for though I could not fee his face for 
 the croud , yet I heard the blows , and the miferable 
 cries of the poor dying young man, 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 Phe grievous Punifhment inf idled upon John Randal, the 
 Author's Danger , and Deliverance from the fame , upon 
 Pretence that they had attempted to make their Efcape. 
 
 T T is time to re-affume my own concerns, and look a 
 little into my own condition, which, through the good 
 Providence of God, was much better than that of many 
 of my poor brethren, and fellow-captives j and yet I 
 met with great ebbings arfd flowings in my tranquility : 
 whilft I was managing my trade very ftoutly and fuc- 
 cefsfully, (John Randal working with me in my fhop) 
 my partner having now knockt off, and left all to me : 
 one day I changed a twenty {hilling piece of gold for 
 filver, with a friend, and having the money chinking 
 in my hand, John Randal afked me, what I did w'ith fo 
 much money ? I defired him to keep it for me, till our 
 return, and he Ihould know j for lie being not very 
 well, we agreed to walk out of the town to take the 
 frefh air ; a liberty, which, for fomewhat above a mile, 
 is indulged to the Haves ; when we had walked almoft 
 too the end of our tedder , I was defirous to walk a little 
 further , to view the coafts, if, perhaps, any advantage 
 might offer itfelf afterwards for an efcape, though we 
 actually defgned no fuch thing. As we were prying about 
 the fea-fide, one of the fpies appointed conftantly to 
 
 watch, 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 23 
 
 Watch, leaft any of the (laves (hould run away, came 
 to us, and charged us with an attempt to make an efcape\ 
 we flatly denied it, but he laid hold on us ; there was 
 no refilling, obey we muft, and accordingly attended 
 his mafter-lhip towards the city : as we drew near, I 
 efpied fome Englishmen at quoits, (for with fuch recrea- 
 tions and diverfions they are willing now and then to 
 beguile the tedious minutes of lingering thraldom.) I 
 beckoned to one of them, whom I knew, and pretend- 
 ing only to whifper with him, I lecretly conveyed to 
 him my purfe, wherein were feven pieces of eight •, we 
 were presently met by another fpy , and thofe two led 
 us to a little blind houfe , where they fearched us •, they 
 took away the twenty foldings, which I had put into 
 my friend’s hand, and finding nothing upon me, took 
 away my doublet , and then brought us before the Vice 
 Roy, and his counfcl : we were (Iraightly examined, and 
 ftrongly charged with an attempt to efcape : we premp-. 
 torily denied all , and flood upon our innocency , affirming, 
 that our only defign of walking abroad, was to take the 
 frejh air , occafioned by my fellow’s ficknefs. This pur- 
 gation would not be accepted, and the battoon was com- 
 manded to be brought forth, we anfwered, we durft 
 not falfly accufe ourfelves, nor make ourfelves criminal, 
 when we were not fo, and therefore if fuch was their 
 will and pleafure , we muft abide by it, and fo we fat 
 down by the ficks. 
 
 'The way of punifoment by the battoon , or cudgel, is. 
 this. They have a ftrong faff, about fix foot long , in 
 the middle whereof are bored two holes : into thefe 
 
 holes a cord is put , and the ends of the cord fafened qn 
 the one fide the faff, with knots , fo that it makes ^ loop 
 on the other fid,e : into this loop of the coid both the 
 feet of the perfon condemned to this puniffiment are 
 put ; then two lufiy fellows , one at eacn end cf the 
 ftalf, lifts it up in their arms, and twifting the faff 
 about, till his feet are faft pinched with the cord by the 
 ankles , they raife up his feet with nis foies upwards 
 
24 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 well nigh as high as their fhoulders, and in this pofture 
 they hold them, the 'poor man the mean while rejling 
 only with his neck and Jhoulders on the ground : then 
 comes another lujly jlurdy knave behind him, and with a 
 tough Jhort truncheon gives him as many violent blows 
 on the foies of his feet as the counfel fhall order. 
 
 But the Vice-Roy, with his counfel, gathering from 
 circumftances, and induced to believe us by our con- 
 lfant and refolute denial of the fadl, omitted at prefent 
 any further punifhment, and only commanded us to he. 
 laid in chains in the Vice-Roy's prifon till our patrons 
 fhould demand our liberty, and fetch us out. And the 
 next day we were both delivered, though with differing 
 fates ; as Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker were 
 both taken from prifon, the one to be advanced , the 
 other to be hanged : for John Randal's patron being a 
 very termagant , ufed that abfolute and unlimitted fo- 
 vereignty which they pretend to over their flaves, and 
 commanded him to receive three hundred blows upon the 
 foies of his feet , with the battoon , in the manner before 
 deferibed : as for myfelf, when I was brought home, 
 the fpy that feized us came and demanded money of 
 my patron for his good fervice (not reckoning that he 
 had any tiling of me) which put him into a moft di- 
 fperate fit of pafiion, and calling me dog and Jew , and 
 all to nought , commanded me to go to work in the looms 
 with two other Englijhmen that were faves , and linnen 
 cloth weavers : but, alas, I was a very bungler , and 
 underftood nothing of the craft and myftery of weaving 
 more or lefs ; but there I wrought till I had fpoiled all 
 that I laid my hands on: now, when he fa w that my 
 labour this way would not turn to account , he rated me 
 for a logger-head , and bade me fill quills for the other 
 two, being now degraded from a bungling weaver , to 
 an excellent filler of quills , I continued about a month 
 my {hop all this while lay at fixes and fevens , what was 
 become of it I knew not, and durft not for my life 
 difeover any defire to return to that employment. At 
 
 laft 
 
I 
 
 OF GREAT MERCY. 25 
 
 laft my patron afked me for the money that he had lent 
 me when I had firft began to . trade. I anfwered fub- 
 miffively, that I had not a farthing, all my fmall efiate- 
 lay in a few goods, and till they were fold, I could not 
 pofiibly repay him : he calls one of his Haves, a Dutch- 
 Man., and commanded him to go with me, and turn 
 all into ready money, and bring it him : when I came 
 to my old fhop, there was the neft indeed , but all the 
 birds were flown ; for in my abfence (poor John Randal 
 being lame, and not able to work, my partner fome 
 time before having left me, and I confined to another 
 employment) fome of thefe rafcals had broken open my 
 ihop, and thence carried the bejl of my goods , though 
 my cellar was {till fafe, and iome of my goods I heard, 
 of, and recovered •, what money I had was hid in the 
 ground, as it was my conftant way : that night the Dutch- 
 man and myfelf returned to our patron, and told him 
 we could fell nothing ; whereupon he remanded me 
 to my fhop, there to trade, paying him the two dollars 
 a month, as I had done before. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 'The Author' s Patron growing poor , he is fold or mortgag'd 
 to another *, the wonderful Kindnefs that he found from 
 his fee and Patron. 
 
 H ERE was nothing yet working towards a deliver- 
 ance , nor could I yet fee the leait glimmering* 
 of polfibility which might fo much as flatter my willing 
 mind with a hope of efcaping : but it is obferved, that 
 the night is always darkefl towards day-break ; and God 
 is often drawing nearer to us in mercy, when we con- 
 ceive he is departing further off in difpleafure. 
 
 My patron had been finking in his eftate a pretty 
 while, the laft {hip he had put to fea broke his back : at 
 laid he was grown (infenfibly) fo low, that it could no 
 longer be daubed up with his repute , but he muft be 
 , • > forced 
 
 1 
 
2 6 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 forced to fell all his Haves to pay his debts : it was not 
 much to me whether I was chopt and changed , I might 
 change my goaler , and my goal , but Hill I was like to 
 be a prifoner : I might be bought and fold , and fold 
 again , but (till my condition was fa-very \ yet one thing 
 methought was comfortable, that the laft inftrument of 
 my bondage was come into mifery as well as myfelf. 
 
 In the partage of his (laves, it fell to my lot , and 
 another s , to be mortgaged for a certain fum of money, 
 jointly to two perfons , the one a cap-maker, the other a 
 grave old gentleman, who amongft his own people had 
 the repute of a good natur’d and moderate perfon , (as good 
 nature and moderation go at Algiers). The day of pay- 
 ment came , the money was not paid y the cap-maker 
 and the old gentleman feize on us , and hold us in com- 
 mon . , but in a while they refolved to divide us , that each 
 of them might know his proper goods and chattels , and 
 each of us might know whom to call mafler , and whofe 
 whiftle we were bound to obey : we were both fummoned 
 to appear at a certain place at mid-day, and much ado 
 there was about our dividing : at laft they agreed to 
 caft lots for us , only becaufe I was in a handfome way 
 of trade, it was accorded, that he to whofe (hare I 
 (hould fall, (hould pay the other fifty doubles, which, 
 if I compute a-right, is fomething more than fifty 
 (hillings fterling. I was exceeding fearful I (hould fall 
 to this cap-maker, for he had the charafber of a brutifh 
 ill-humoured creature ; and therefore I was concerned to 
 lift my petition to God, that feeing, when the lot Jhould 
 be caft into the lap , yet the whole difpofition thereof is of 
 God , he would give me forth a gracious lot : whatever 
 there is of contingency as to us, there’s nothing accidental 
 to God. Well, God delivered me from that tyrant , 
 and I was adjudged, by the decifion of the lot, to the 
 old gentleman : and if' I (hould be filent here, I (hould 
 be the moft ungrateful wretch living : I found not 
 only pity and compaffton , but love and friendftoip from 
 my new patron, had I been his fon, I could not have 
 
 met 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 27 
 
 .met with more refpefl, nor been treated with more tender.- 
 nefs : I could not wifti a friend a better condition than 
 I was then in, except my bonds. If any thing could be 
 mingled with bondage to make it fweet \ if any thing 
 could reconcile flavery to natilre ; if any thing could 
 beget an acquiefcence in fuch a flate, I did not, I could 
 not want it. 
 
 And indeed the freedom that I found in fervitude, 
 the liberty I enjoyed in my bonds was fo great, that 
 it took off much of the edge of my defire to obtain, 
 and almoft blunted it from any vigorous attempt after 
 .liberty, that carried hazard in its face j till at laft I was 
 awakened upon this occafion. 
 
 My patron had a fair farm in the country, about 
 twelve miles from the city, whether he took me along 
 with him ; he had me to their markets, ihewed me the 
 manner of them, and at my return, he loaded me home 
 with all ; manner of good provifons , that I might make 
 merry with my fellow-chrijiians •, and I had fome reafon 
 to conclude, from his great kindnefs to me , that he in- 
 tended to fend me thither to manage the farm for him. 
 I faw now evidently, that if I once quitted my fhop , I 
 fhould loofe with it all means , all helps , and therefore 
 all hopes to rid myfelf out of this flavery : and though 
 I might have been there a petty lord , and baf jaw’d it 
 over the reft of my fellow-fervants , yet flavery had in 
 it fomething of I know not what harfhnefs that I could 
 not brook •, fetters of gold do not lofe their nature , they 
 are fetters fill : had Bajazef s cage b'een of gold , as it 
 was of iron , yet it was a cage ; and that was provocation 
 enough to a haughty fpirit to beat out his own brains 
 againft its bars. This therefore quickened my dull 
 temper, and I began to refolve to make an attempt, 
 once for all. Now therefore, muftering thofe few wits 
 captivity had left me, I fet them on work, and ran 
 through all things poffMe , and impofftbie , he hloat 
 find what he has loft , muft lock where it is not , as well as 
 where it it ; and forming ftratagems in my head, feme 
 
28 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 idle, and vain ; fome defperate , others impoffible ; at laffc 
 I pitched upon one that feemed to m z fcifable and prac- 
 ticable. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 ?fhe Contrivance for our Efcape , the Perfons acquainted 
 with it, and alfo thofe that were engaged in it •, fome 
 Debates about leaving my Patron. 
 
 H AVING formed the defign, or, at leafl, the rude 
 draught, and general Model of it, my fir ft care 
 was to open it to fome fkilful and faithful counfellors , 
 who might more impartially aifeover to me its inconve- 
 niences, where it was like to prove leaky , or take wind ; 
 and firft I acquainted Mr. Sprat , our minifter , with it, 
 and laid before him the whole of the contrivance ; and 
 he fo far approved it, that he judged it poffible : next 
 I acquainted one Robert Lake , a very wife and religious 
 perfon, who beftowed his blefTmg on it, and wifhed it 
 all good fuccefs : and laftly I acquainted my friend John 
 Randal, who approved it : yet none of thefe could, or 
 would run the rifque of its mifearriage. Mr. Sprat was 
 already delivered from his patron, and in a fair way to 
 be absolutely enlarged in a more fafe and regular way, 
 for not long after our efcape came captain Pack, of 
 London, and paid the fixty dollars, and took him along 
 with him for England : John Randal had a wife and 
 child, and thefe were too dear pledges to be left behind , 
 and yet too tender things to undergo our difficulties. 
 Robert Lake was an ancient perfon, and neither able 
 paffively to be carried in, nor actively to carry on a de- 
 fign that required much hardinefs of body and mind to 
 endure, and much ftrength to go through with it •, 
 we had nothing more from them than prayers and 
 counfels, which yet was the main \ and then my next 
 care was to take in partners and accomplices in the 
 defign. 
 
 And 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 29 
 
 And herein I had a three-fold refpe£t ; Ei ft, to fuch 
 as were necejfarily required to form the inftrument of 
 our efcape and deliverance : fecondly, to fuch, whofe 
 tried a?id approved fidelity I might prefume would be ob- 
 Jlinately and religioujly fiecret in concealing it i thirdly, to 
 fuch, whofe courage of mind , and firength ofi body , would 
 render them capable to purfiue the ends ofi it, to put it in 
 execution , and go through with it. 
 
 But before I would reveal the prbjeft to any of them 
 in particular, I required an oath of fecrecy : that whereas • 
 I Jhould now reveal to him , or them , a 'matter ofi great 
 concernment to their happirtefs and welfare , they Jhould 
 felemnly promife and J wear , that , in cafe they did net ap- 
 prove it, or would not join in it, yet they Jhould , neither 
 dire 51 ly nor indirectly, for fear or flattery, difeover it, or 
 the perfons engaged in it, to any perfon whatfioever. When 
 a project was once mentioned, which promifed in gene- 
 ral their happinefs and welfare, I needed not tell them 
 in particular what it drove at, they could imell out that 
 with eafe *, for what could be good or happy to fiaves 
 without liberty ? This oath therefore they willingly took: 
 1 judged feven perfons would be enough to manage, 
 carry on, and execute it •, and therefore, except the 
 three fore-mentioned, 1 communicated it to Ho one 
 perfon but thefe following, who engaged in it, though 
 all of them did not go through with it. John Anthony , 
 a carpenter, who had been a jlave fifteen years his trade 
 fufficiently fnews how ufeiul he would prove in the 
 defgn. William Adams, who lince his captivity had 
 learnt and ufed the trade of a bricklayer : his fervice- 
 
 J y 
 
 ablenefs in it will be evident in the fequel 5 he had been 
 a (lave eleven years. John Jephs, who was a feaman, 
 and muft therefore be prefumed one of the quorum in 
 a project of this nature •, he had endured llavery about 
 
 five years. John , a carpenter, who was a fkiiful 
 
 man in his trade, lufty of body, and therefore mud be 
 a good wheel in this engine; he had been a Have five 
 years. And two others, whofe employment it was to 
 
$o A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 wafh fmall cloaths at the fea-fide, and thofe had alfo 
 their parts in carrying on the work, though they went 
 not along with us ; and JVilliam Okeley , who prefents the 
 reader with this Narrative, who was taken Augujl n, 
 1639, and elcaped June 30, 1644, thefe made up the 
 number of 7. There arole a fcruple , nay, it amounted 
 to a queftion , Whether to attempt an efcape from my 
 patron, one that fo dearly loved me, fo courteoujly treated 
 me, had fo fairly bought me, were juftifiable before God 
 and men ? 
 
 And, 1 ft, it might be a queftion in point of prudence ; 
 for, where could I hope to mend myfelf ? or better my 
 condition ? I might pofiibly find worfe quarters in Eng- 
 land, where the civil wars were now broke out, and to 
 that height of exafperation, that thofe of the lame na- 
 tion, and, perhaps, blood , would hardly give quarter of 
 life to one another. If the name of native country be- 
 wicht me, if that dazzled mine eyes •, furely, where-ever 
 we are well , is our country , and all the world is home to 
 him that thrives all over the world *, and why fhould the 
 name of bondage , why fhould a word grate fo harfhly 
 upon my delicate fpirit, when the fling of it was taken 
 away ? Liberty is a good word, but a man cannot buy a 
 meads meat with a word and Jlavery is a hard word, 
 but it breaks no man's back. Thoufands are more Jlaves 
 than I, who are yet their own mailers, and lefs at liberty 
 than myfelf, who have the free rake and range of the 
 whole world. But yet my patron’s favour was no free 
 hold , I held not my happy time in fee fmple , all was ad 
 voluntatem domini : befides, he might die , and leave me 
 to another ; or live to fell me to another, who might 
 be of another charadter, and then my condition would 
 be therefore worfe , becaufe I had known a better. 
 
 2d, It might be queflioned in point of ingenuity. How 
 I could be fo unworthy to leave him, who had loved 
 me ? Would not all that fhould hear of it, condemn me 
 of ill nature, to leave without taking leave, one that 
 had been a father to me, who might have ufed the 
 
 right 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 51 
 
 right of a lord ; and ufed me as a child , who might 
 have treated me as a Jlave ? But really I thought there 
 was more of manners and courtfoip in the objection, than 
 of weight and cogency. Still I dwelt with Mefhech, and 
 had my habitation among ft the tents of Kedar •, and one 
 thought of England , and of its liberty and gofpel , confuted 
 a thoufand fuch objections, and routed whole legions 
 of thefe little fcruples. It was no time to Hand upon the 
 punctilios of honour and ingenuity , no time to compliment 
 and ftrain couriefie ; here was no farewel patron in the 
 cale, and therefore I foon overcame that. 
 
 But, 3^, It might be queftioned in the court of con- 
 fcience, Whether it were not downright theft to with- 
 draw myfelf from his fervice, who had bought me, paid 
 for me, entered upon me, poffejfed and enjoyed me, as his 
 own proper goods, and now I was not my own, had no 
 right to myfelf ; whether might not a man be felo de fe y 
 in ftealing himfelf, as well as killing himfelf ? And 
 whether he is not the greater felf-robber , that fteals away 
 himfelf, than he that fteals away from himfelf ? But I 
 much queftioned their propriety to me. My patron’s title 
 was rotten at the foundation. Man is too noble a creature 
 to be made fubjeft to a deed of bargain and fale ; and 
 my confent was never afked to all their bargains, which, 
 is effential to create a right of dominion over a rational 
 1 creature , where he was not born a fubjedt. If I had 
 forfeited my life, or liberty, the law might take it •, but 
 I was not confcious to myfelf of any fuch forfeiture, but 
 that I was at my own difpofal. 
 
 Thus all was clear and quiet, and we went on with 
 our defign, which I now firft opened to them : that I 
 had contrived the model of a boat, which being formed 
 in parcels, and afterwards pot together, might, by the 
 fuperintendency of divine Providence, prove an ark to 
 deliver us out of the hands of our enemies. This was 
 foon faid, and greedily entertained, Eo efcape was a. 
 pleafant word •, the name of liberty made mulic in our 
 ears, and our wiihing hearts danced to the tune of it i 
 
32 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 . and a boat was as promifing a means as any thing coufcfc 
 be imagined. But when once their thoughts cooled , and 
 came more fedately to look into the difficulties of it, 
 they appeared innumerable , and fome of them feemed 
 infupefable ; and fome things that had pail currant in 
 my own thoughts, and I went clever away with them, 
 without any rub, yet when they came to be pierced into 
 with more eyes, and fcanned upon more fingers, they 
 w r ere attended with confiderable impediments. Where 
 this boat fhould be built ? was one daggering queftion : 
 Where it fhould be launched, and where put to fea ? was 
 a choaking objection : How we fhould efcape thofe 
 Argus-t yes, which are always obferving us by day ? was 
 a gravelling query : or how to get out of the city by 
 night, whofe walls are fo high, whofe gates are fo clofe 
 fhut, and flrongly guarded ? was another vexatious que- 
 ry : How we fhould be rigged and victualled for fuch a 
 voyage ? was a confiderable enquiry ; and whither we 
 fhould defign ? was not to be flighted : but how fuch a 
 little Jkiff. \ rather than boat, fhould be able to weather 
 all the accidents of the fea ? was a neck-queftion, enough 
 to ftrangle faith, and ftifle us with defpair. 
 
 To thefe objections I anfwered, That 1 had defigned 
 my own cellar, as the meeteft place wherein to build 
 the boat * that when it was there built, it might be 
 taken in pieces again, and carried out of the city in par- 
 cels, and beftov/ed in private places till things were ripe 
 for execution ; that for a place where to put to fea, it 
 would be time enough to determine upon that when we 
 had finiihed our veffel * that Mayork was the moll com- 
 modious place to defign to land in. But in general I 
 told them to this purpofe. That if we never attempted 
 any thing till we had anfwered all objections, we muff 
 fit with our fingers in our mouths all our days, and 
 pine and languifh out our tedious lives in bondage : 
 Let us be up and doings and God would be with us. T o 
 begin is one half of our work : let us make an effay, and 
 anfwer particular objections as they offered themfelves, 
 
 and 
 
Or GREAT MERCY. 33 
 
 and as we met with them in our work. That the pro- 
 jedl had its difficulties, wasconfeffed •, but what has not, 
 that is commendable and glorious ? Yet whatever diffi- 
 culties and dangers we could meet with, liberty, kept in 
 our eye, would fweeten the dangers we might encounter 
 in attempting. They were all well fatisfied with what 
 was laid, and all engaged to venture the utmoft they 
 were, and had, to accomplilh it. 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 The Model of the Boat , carrying it out of the City, and 
 beji owing it in convenient Places. 
 
 I N the cellar wiiere we had worfhipped God, we be- 
 gan our work, and it was not the holinefs, but the 
 privacy of the place that invited us, and advifed us to 
 it. And firft, we provided a piece of timber about 12 
 feet long to make the keel : but becaufe it was impof- 
 fible to convey a piece of timber of that length out of 
 the city, but it muft be feen, and of that lhape, but it 
 muft be fufpefted, and that fufpicion would bring us 
 into examination, and the rack or battoon might extort 
 a confeffion out of the moil refolved and obftinate breaft ; 
 we therefore cut it in two pieces, and fitted it for joint- 
 ing juft in the middle. Our next care was the timbers 
 or ribs of the boat, which we contrived thus ; every one 
 of the timbers was made of three pieces, and jointed in 
 two places, becaufe a whole rib, at its full length, would 
 be liable to the fame inconveniences with the keel. 
 Now underftand, that the joints of the ribs were not 
 made with mortice and tenon, but the flat fide of one of 
 the three pieces was laid over the other, and two holes 
 were bored at every joint, into which two nails were to 
 be put, when we fhould join the parcels of our boat toge- 
 ther : you muft underftand further, that thefe two holes 
 at every joint were not made in a ftrait line, parallel with 
 the Tides of the pieces, for then the three pieces, which 
 
 make 
 
34 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 make one rib, being joined together, would have made 
 one ftrait piece ; a form which would by no means 
 comport with the ufe and defign of the timbers ; but 
 fo, that when both the nails were in the holes, each 
 joint would make an obtufe angle , and fo incline fo near 
 a femi-circular figure, as our occafion required. All 
 this while here is no vifible provifion made for boards , 
 to cloath the naked ribs of our boat, without which the 
 keel and timbers looked but like an ufelefs anatomy ; 
 but neither had we, nor was it pofiible we fhould have 
 any boards in our vefiel. NeceJJity is the bed: artificer 
 when all is done, if we except her filler contingency , to 
 which two the world has been beholden for the moll ufe- 
 ful inventions, which at this day do eafe the labour and 
 toil of wearied mankind. For the jointing of thefe 
 boards, and the nailing of them, to make the boat water- 
 tite, would require fuch hammering, and that ham- 
 mering would make fuch a clamorous echo in the cellar, 
 as muft have drawn upon us the jealous eyes of the Al- 
 gerines ^ who about their wives and Oaves are infup- 
 portably fufpicious •, and therefore, from the firft con- 
 ception of the defign, I always refolved upon a canvas. 
 In purfuance of which thought, being all fatisfied that 
 it was practicable, we bought as much ftrong canvas as 
 would cover our boat twice over, upon the convex of the 
 carine ; we provided alfo as much pitch, tar, and tallow 
 as would ferve to make it a kind of a tarpawlin fear- 
 cloath, to fwaddle the naked body of our infant-boat, 
 with earthen pots to melt down our materials in, and 
 prefix’d a night wherein we might execute that part of 
 our labour. The two carpenters and myfelf were ap- 
 pointed to this fervice, and the cellar was the place 
 where we met. Matters had hitherto run on very evenly 
 and fmoothly, but here we met with fome difcouraging 
 rubs. For when we had ftopt all the chinks and cran- 
 nies of the cellar, that the fteam of the melted mate- 
 rials might not creep out, and betray us, (there being 
 no chimney) we had not been long at our work before 
 
 I felt 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 
 
 §1 
 
 I felt myfelf exceeding Tick with the flrong and unufual 
 fcent of the melted liquor •, I was forced to go out into 
 the ftreets to gafp for breath, where meeting with the 
 cool air, it overcame me, I fwooned, fell down, brake 
 my face, and there lay •, my companions miffing me, 
 made out to feek me, found me in this fad plight, and 
 carried me in again, tho’ exceeding Tick and unfervice* 
 able. They had not proceeded much further, before I 
 heard one of them complain he was fick, and could pro- 
 ceed no further, and now our work flood Hill : I plainly 
 faw, that our hopeful projedt, that had hitherto fo 
 fmoothly proceeded, muft needs mifcarry, and prove 
 abortive •, for it would be impoffible to finifh it this night, 
 and if we once parted, and fuffered our fpirits to cool 
 over the defign, they would never ceafe cooling till they 
 were ftone-cold, and hard frozen *, and therefore I ad- 
 vifed to fet open the door, and commit ourfelves and 
 our work to God’s protection ; for I told them, they 
 could not but know, that if any difcovery were made* 
 the burthen would fall heavieft upon my fhoulders, and 
 my back or feet mult pay for all. At length, we re- 
 folved to fet the cellar-door wide open, and as foon as 
 that was done, and the fleam pretty well gone out, we 
 came to ourfelves again, courageoully went on with out 
 bufinefs, and pitched one half that n’ght. The next 
 night we met again, fet open the door, and whilfl they 
 plied the work, I flood lentinel at the door to give 
 notice of approaching danger ; but we happily finifhed 
 the whole, and while it was yet dark, carried it to my 
 (hop, which was about a furlong from the cellar, and 
 there at prefent fecured it. 
 
 I fhall not queflion the reader’s ingenuity fo much* 
 but that he will fuppofe there goes a great deal more to 
 a boat than I have defcribed-, but what fhould I trouble 
 him with thofe things that are common to all other 
 boats, I mention only what was peculiar to our own ; 
 and I do not intend to trouble him with the boat* 
 wright’s lecture. 
 
 In 
 
3 6 A SMAt,L MONUMENT 
 
 In our cellar we fitted all things, we made the tim- 
 bers fit to the keel, and the canvas fit for the timbers, 
 and the feats fit to the whole, and then took all in 
 pieces again, and laying our heads together, plotted 
 how to convey all out of the town, and lodge them in 
 fecure and trufty places. 
 
 And firft, for our keel, we all with unanimous con- 
 fent judged William Adams the fitted: perfon to execute 
 that part of the defign, for he had long exercifed the 
 trade of a bricklayer, and his employment lay much 
 without the town, and befides he ufed fuch pieces in 
 levelling his work ; he therefore, accoutred with his 
 apron before him, his trowel in his hand, and one of 
 the pieces upon his fhoulder, undertook it, and without 
 the lead: obfervation went cleverly away with it, and as 
 he faw his opportunity, hid it in the bottom of a hedge ; 
 and not long after conveyed out its fellow, and lodged 
 it in the fame place. This fucceeding fo happily, we 
 faw no great difficulty in the timbers, for we put 
 One nail into a hole of every joint, and then you will 
 eafily conceive, that the two extreme pieces of one rib, 
 being folded inwards upon the middlemod, will lye in 
 the room of one of the pieces for length, excepting 
 that little that the ends of each piece were beyond the 
 holes ; now, by general confent, the conveying thefe 
 out of the city was committed to one, whole employ- 
 ment was to wadi fmall cloaths by the fea-fide, he puts 
 them into his bag amonglt his cloaths, and lb very 
 orderly carried them out, and hid them where he could 
 find mod: commodious ftowage, but yet with refpedt to 
 nearnefs to that place where the keel was laid. 
 
 But how to convey our tarpaulin fafe out of town, 
 feemed mod: difficult. By night it was impofiible, and 
 by day the difficulties very confiderable, and the danger 
 proportionable ; for the gates are ftridtly watched, the 
 Jlreets crowded, the fpies pickeering in every corner, and 
 the bulk of the canvas thus dredfed was very great : to 
 divide it had been to ruin ourfelves, for no Hitching 
 
 together 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 37 
 
 together again could fo cheat the fearching water,, but 
 it would find out the needle-holes. At laft, we ventured 
 upon this way ; we put it into a large fack, and com- 
 mitted it to him that ufed to wafh cloaths, and left any 
 fhould clap a jealous hand upon it, we put a pillow over 
 our canvas within the bag, that fo its foftnefs might de- 
 lude the inquifitor, and make it pafs for cloaths. Let 
 none defpile or condemn thefe as low, mean pieces of 
 contrivance , for we had not politician’s tools to work 
 withal ; but the lefs was our policy, the more glorious 
 does the wifdom of God fhine in fucceeding it ; and yet 
 even that little policy we were guilty of, was of his bellow- 
 ing alfo ; what of fin was in all of it, was entirely our 
 own , what of power , wifdom , and fuccefs , was all bis. 
 But our agent efcaped happily with it, and lodging it in 
 a fecrct place, returned. 
 
 We had yet many things to provide, and oars are 
 abfolutely neceffary, they were of the quorum to an 
 efcape by fea : as fins are the fifli’s oars, fo oars are 
 boat’s fins, by help whereof fhe makes her way. Now 
 to fupply this defedt, we took two pipe-ftaves, and flit- 
 ting them a-crofs from corner to corner with a hand- 
 faw, we made of each pipe ftaff two rude things, which 
 necefiity was pleafed to entitle the blades for a pair of oars , 
 and thefe were eafily conveyed out, without fufpicion. 
 
 Next we confidered, that provijion muft be laid in for 
 our voyage, and therefore we provided a fmall, and but 
 a fmall quantity of bread , prefuming our flay at fea . 
 muft be but fhort, for either we fhould fpeedily recover 
 land, or fpeedily be drowned, or fpeedily be brought 
 back again. Two goat’s fkins alfo, ftript off whole, and 
 fo tanned, (a kind of bottle much ufed by the Algerines 
 to carry milk and water in) we had, which we lined 
 with frefh water , and we know that muft needs be a 
 great rarity in the Mediterranean. 
 
 We remembered alfo, that a fail might be of right 
 good ule to us for expedition, and therefore we bought 
 as much canvas as would anfwer that end,, and when 
 
 If fome 
 
A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 fome difpute was made about carrying it out, I offered 
 to undertake that laft part of our work. I had not 
 gone a quarter of a mile, but as I caft my wary eye 
 back, I efpied the fame fpy, who once before had feized 
 me and given me trouble, following me very roundly. 
 My heart began to ake j I was loth a defign of fo near 
 and dear concernment to all of us fhould be brought 
 to the birth, and there fhould be no (Length to bring 
 forth. It is fad, after a voyage, to lhipwreck in the 
 haven •, but methought it was more fad to fink a veffel 
 before it could be launched. And here I firft found 
 the difference between innocence and guilt ; for how 
 boldly could I hold up my head to this fpy, and his 
 betters, (at lead, his matters) when I was not confcious 
 of any fuch defign in hand ? Whereas now the reflect 
 tion of my confcience was enough to write guilt in my 
 countenance, (for fome things are fin there which are 
 not fo in ocher places) and this had betrayed me, had 
 I not fuddenly pluck’d up my fpirits, and fpying an 
 Englijhman wattling cloaths by the fea, I went the ready 
 way to him, and aefired him to help me wafh that 
 canvas ; as we were waihing it, the learing fpy came 
 and (food upon the rock juft over our heads to watch 
 o.ur motions : as foon as we had a little formally walked 
 it, to caft a mitt before his obferving eyes, I took the 
 canvas and fpread it before his face upon the top of 
 the rock to dry ; he ftay’d his own time, and then 
 marched oft'. But I was as jealous of him, as he could 
 be of me for his heart, and therefore fearing he might 
 lye in ambulh for me, took it when it was dry, and 
 very fairly carried it back into the city, and faithfully 
 acquainted my accomplices how the matter fquared ; 
 this difcouraged them not a little, for that they feemed 
 timorous to proceed in the enterprize. 
 
 At laft we comforted and encouraged one another, 
 and entered into clofe counfel, WTere we ttiould meet 
 that night ? At^what time? Where we fnould put our 
 boat together ? and where put to fea ? The time was, an 
 
 hour 
 
OF GREAT MERCY; 3 9 
 
 hour within night ; the rendezvous on a hill , about half 
 a mile from the fea * and fo we difperfed, fome one 
 way, fome another, and privily lurking in hedges and 
 ditches, lay clofe till the time appointed. 
 
 There is one thins; that the reader will be readv to 
 afe) and I fhall be more ready to anfwer him for a fpe- 
 cial reafon : viz. What I did with my ffcp and goods t 
 When I had once refolved upon this adventure, and faw 
 it go on hopefully* I gave my patron my wonted vifits, 
 kept fair correfpondence, paid him his demands duly, 
 but fecretly I made off my goods as fall as I could, 
 and turned all into ready money. I had a trunk, for 
 which John Anthony made me a falfe bottom , into which 
 I put what filver or gold I had, and into the body of 
 the trunk whatever it would hold, and was worthy hold- 
 ing ; this trunk I committed privately to the fidelity of 
 our dear minifter, Mr. Sprat ; he took the charge of it, 
 and he was now ready to receive his full difcharge. This 
 trunk he faithfully fecured , and carefully brought over , and 
 as honefily delivered to me when he heard I was come fafe 
 to London and I was willing to move that quejlion y mere- 
 ly for the anfwer’ s fake , which wimefies his fidelity. 
 
 SECTION X 
 
 fhe putting off our Boat together , the Difficulties voe met 
 with therein , and our putting out to Sea , June 30, 1644. 
 
 A S foon as we were met altogether at the appointed 
 place, v r e began to think of executing our long 
 intended defign, but we were divided in our counfels 
 were to begin our work ; it had been a queftion pro- 
 pounded before, and we thought we had fully refolved 
 upon the place, but at our meeting we were ftrangely 
 difcompoied ; there were two places which ftcod in 
 competition, each pretending good conveniences for 
 that end. The one was a hill, about h^lf a mile from 
 the fea •, the other was a valley, encompaffed with two 
 
 hedges. 
 
4 o A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 hedges, about a furlong from the hill, but of the fame 
 diltance with it from the fea : it was urged for the 
 valley, that it was a place of more fecrecy and -privacy , 
 lefs obvious to view •, but then it was obje&ed, that we 
 might there be furprized, and feized by the clutches 
 of our enemies, e’er we could have notice to lhift for 
 ourfelves : for the hill it had been argued, that we 
 might there make better difcovery of danger, and 
 make provifion to avoid it ; and in ffiort we all agreed 
 over night to put our boat together upon the hill, 
 promifing ourfelves much advantage from its fituation : 
 but when we were met we all altered our refolution, 
 without any vifible reafon, and carried it for the valley. 
 God is much in the dark to us, but all our ways are in 
 the open light to him. It is very difficult to give an 
 account what God is doing at prefent, but we ffiall 
 know, if we can but patiently wait till future provi- 
 dences comment upon the former : and in a while we 
 faw the reafon why God over-ruled our purpofes. 
 
 We had hid feveral of our materials near the top of the 
 hill> where alfo grew a fmall fig-tree, which we had 
 marked with our eye, as judging it would be ufefui 
 to ftrengthen the keel of our boat : two of our company 
 were immediately difpatched to faw down this fig-tree , 
 and bring it, and the parcels of our boat there depo- 
 sed, away with them : they were hardly come to the 
 place, but we heard dogs bark about the top of the 
 hill, and indeed two men with dogs came very near 
 them ; but our men being aware lay clofe and ftill, and 
 fo they palled by without making any difcovery, and 
 then our men beftirred themfelves, and brought away 
 the fig-tree, and the other materials, and returned to us. 
 
 And now we had once more brought the fcatter’d 
 limbs of our boat into one place, which, like thofe of 
 Ahfyrtus , had been difperfed up and down the fields : it 
 was no time to trifle, and therefore we all buckled to our 
 work in good earned: ; but we were fo nigh fome that 
 were at work in the neighbouring gardens, that we could 
 f hear 
 
OF GREAT MERCT. 4* 
 
 hear them fpeak, and therefore mult needs fuppofe they 
 might hear us too ; and therefore we adted by figns, 
 and pointed, and pulled, and nodded, but were all 
 mutes : it might have been an expedient for the builder* 
 of Babel , when their languages were divided, to have 
 carried on their great project by figns : but certainly 
 there was confulion poured out upon their hearts and 
 counfels , as well as divifions in their tongues and languages . 
 
 The two parts of our keel we foon joined, then 
 opening the timbers, which had already one nail in every 
 joint , we groped out for the other hole , and put its nail 
 into it : then we opened them at their full length, and 
 applied them to the top of the keel, fallen in g them 
 with rope yarn , and fmall cords, and fo we ferved all 
 the joints to keep them firm and fiable then we bound 
 fmall canes all along the ribs lengthways , both to keep 
 the ribs from wearing , and alfo to bear out the canvas 
 very fiiffi againjl the pr effing water : then we made notches 
 upon the ends of the ribs, or timbers , wherein the carp 
 might plye , and having tyed down the feats, and 
 ftrengthened our keel with the fig-tree, we lallly drew 
 on our double canvas cafe, already fitted -, and really 
 the canvas leemed a winding-Jheet for our boat -, and our 
 boat a coffin for us all. 
 
 This done, four of our company took it upon their 
 Ihoulders, and carried it down towards the fea, which 
 was about half a mile off. It was a little reprefenta- 
 tion of a funeral, to fee the four bearers marching in deep 
 filence, with fomething very like a hearfe and coffin upon 
 their Ihoulders, and the retl of us decently attending the 
 ceremony but we wanted torches, and befides, it is not 
 ufual for any to wait upon their own coffins. But we durft 
 not grudge our boat that fmall and laft office , to carry it 
 half a mile, for we expedted, it fhould repay us that 
 fervice and civility with intereft, in carrying; us many a 
 league : we carried it at land, where it could not fwim, 
 that it might carry us at fea, where we could not walk. 
 As we went along, they that were in the gardens heard 
 
 U3 
 
42 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 us paffing by, and called to us, Who comes there ? but 
 it was dark, and we had no mind to prate, and there- 
 fore, without any anfwer, we filently held on our way. 
 
 When we came to the fea-fide, we immediately ftript 
 ourfelves naked, and putting our cloaths into the boat, 
 carried it and them as far into the fea as we could 
 wade ; and this we did, left our tender boat fhould be 
 torn againfi the Jiones or rocks -, and then all feven of us- 
 got into her. But here we foon found how our fkill in 
 calculating the lading of our veffel failed us * for we 
 were no fooner embarked, but Ihe was ready to fink 
 under us, the water coming in over the fides ; fo that 
 once again we mult entertain new counfels. At laft, 
 one whofe heart moji failed him , was willing to be fhut out, 
 and rather hazard the uncertain torments of the land y 
 than certainly be drowned at fea j then we made a fecond 
 experiment, but ftill fhe was fo deep laden, that we all 
 concluded there was no venturing out to fea : at length, 
 
 O O' 
 
 another went afhore, and then fhe held up her head very 
 floutly, and feemed hearty enough for our voyage. 
 
 It was time now to commit and commend ourfelves 
 and veifel to the protection and conduct of God, who 
 rules the winds and the waves , and whofe kingdom is hi 
 the deep waters , imploring mercy for the pardon of our 
 fins , and refigning up our fouls to God , as if we had been 
 prefently to fuffer death by the hand of the executioner ; 
 and taking our folemn farewell of our two companions, 
 whom we left behind, and wifhkig them as much had- 
 pinefs as could be hoped for in jlavery , and they to us 
 as long a life as could be expected by men going to their 
 graves \ we launched out upon the 30th day of June y 
 in the year of our Lord 1 644, a night for ever to be 
 remembered by his poor creatures, who are ourfelves 
 great monuments of divine Providence, and do fet up 
 this little monument of his goodnefs and mercy, that may 
 furvive us, and bear up the name of God to after-times, 
 that by us men may learn to put their truft in God : and 
 the bill of lading is as followeth, John Anthony , William 
 
 Adams y 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 43 
 
 ylaams, John Jephs , John Carpenter, and William 
 
 Okeley . 
 
 SECTION XL 
 
 'The great Extremities we endured at Sea for fix Days and 
 Nights , with the co-incident Providences of God that 
 appeared for us in our Extremities , and our miraculous 
 landing at Mayork, July 6, 1644. 
 
 W E are now out at fea, without helm or pilot,' 
 without anchor, tackle, or compafs, but God 
 was thefe, all thefe , and more than all thefe. Our num- 
 ber was finally our work was great , we could not afford 
 one idle hand , not one idle finger : four of the company 
 continually wrought at the oars, and indeed we wrought 
 for our lives , and then I fhall not need to fay how we 
 wrought : but this I fhall fay , I can truly fay it, I never 
 faw ftrength fo Jlrained , nor the utmoft of what nature 
 could do for life and liberty exerted fo much in all my 
 life. The employment of the fifth man was more eafy, 
 but no lefs neceffary, which was to free the boat of that 
 water, which by degrees leaked through our canvas. 
 
 We laboured the harder that night , becaufe we would 
 gladly be out of the ken of our old matters by day ; 
 but when day appeared, we were yet within fight of 
 their fhips that lay in the haven and road, and off the 
 land : but our boat being fmall, and lying clofe and 
 fnug upon the fea, either was not at all difeovered, or 
 e’lfe feemed fomething that was not worth the taking 
 up : a little hope in the midft of great fears , made us 
 double and redouble our diligence ; we tugged at the 
 oars like thofe who are chained to the gallies, becaufe we 
 had no mind to be Jlaves to our old patrons in their 
 
 upon all occafiens we found our want of fprecaft, 
 for now our bread, which was to be the ftaff of our 
 decayed ftrength, had lain foaking in the falt-water, like 
 
 a 
 
 rallies . 
 
 But 
 
44 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 a drunken toafl fopt in brine, and was quite fpoiled ; 
 and our frefh water in the bottles flank of the tanned fkins 
 and owze, having lain in the falt-water, which made it 
 naufeous. But yet, that hope that hovered over us, and 
 flattered us that we fhould one day mend our commons, 
 fweetened all again. So long as bread was breads we com- 
 plained not *, three days with good hufbandry it lafled, 
 but then pale famine (which is the worfl fhape death 
 can be painted in) feared us in the face ^ and there was 
 no fubflitute for bread at fea ; at land, the roots of 
 grafs, the tops of trees, and the vilefl excrements, have 
 ferved to flop the clamour of a ravenous ftomach, but 
 that which Haves defpifed, we fhould have admired and 
 prized. Water indeed we might have, either cold , or 
 hot y we had choice, but it was a hard choice *, either the 
 cold falt-water out of the fea, or that warmer , which 
 had been flrained through our bodies, and that we 
 chofe of the two , but we mufl not have that, after a 
 » while , unlefs we could Hrfl accept the other j and the 
 mifery was, thefe did not afpwage our thirfl, but increafe 
 it ; nor increafe our flrength, but diminifh it ; yet thefe 
 were the means of life. Strange means, that would 
 deflroy the end ! 
 
 Several things added to our mifery, for trouble feldom 
 comes folitary. For hrfl, we had the wind for fome time 
 full againfl us : and this was both an evil in itfelf \ an 
 evil in its effebl, and an evil in its caufe. It was a great 
 evil in itfelf ; it increafed our labour, and then defeated 
 it ; we rowed harder to lefs purpofe ; we moved , but did 
 not advance ; we fpent our flrength for nought , and in 
 vain. It was an evil in its effebl ; for it engaged the 
 waters againfl us, and drew them into its ■party. The 
 fea is a perfect neuter of itfelf, and willing to maintain 
 its neutrality , but the powerful winds drew her into the 
 faction j and that fea which ferves the north to-day, fhall 
 cpmply with the more prevailing fouth to-morrow *, for 
 the waves are the greatefl time-fervers in the world. But 
 it was far the greatefl evil in its caufe ; for the winds 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 4 5 
 
 being againft us , argued that God was againfl us ; for the 
 wind we know was his * He brings the winds out of his 
 magazines. We were now fo difpirited, that we debated* 
 Whether we fhould bear up with the wind , or make the 
 heft of our way , and row againji it ? That is, Whether 
 it were not better to go back to Algiers with eafe , than 
 painfully make towards freedom? At laft, like perfons 
 that though we knew not what to do, yet refolved not 
 to return ; we refolved* whilft we had life, and ftrength, 
 and breath, we would ftruggle with it ; and now the 
 great God interpofed, he rebuked his wind , it was not 
 againfi us * nay, he reconciled his wind, and it became 
 our friend. He that can turn the rivers in the fouth y 
 could turn the wind out of the north * here we might 
 have had a notable demonftration of God’s fovereignty. 
 He determined the quarter of the wind, the quantity of 
 the wind, and the continuance of the wind. The quar- 
 ter, whence it fhould blow * the quantity, how much it 
 fhould blow ; and the continuance, how long it fhould blow. 
 The quarter was our enemy, the continuance had quite 
 brought us to defpair ; but had he opened his hand, 
 and let out one blafl more , the proud waters had gone over 
 our fouls , we had perifhed in the deep. But we fee, that 
 our times are in God's hand ; the Ocean iti the hollow of 
 the fame hand , and the winds in the fame hand , and hap- 
 py it was for us, that we and they were all there. 
 
 A fecond great Inconveniency was, that our labour 
 was without intermijfion , though we advanced not for- 
 wards at many ftrokes, yet eeffation had driven us back- 
 wards r The poor fentinel that ftands upon the watch, 
 yet comforts himfelf that another will relieve him, but 
 we had fione to take the toil off our hands, and give us 
 refpite •, we might fsift our places , but not cur pains. 
 
 A third great evil that lay fore upon us, was the ex- 
 tremity of the heat by day : the feafon was raging hot* 
 being the beginning of July •, the climate was hot, being 
 under, or about the fourth climate *, we wanted frefh 
 Water to 500I the heat, and were engaged in cdntinual 
 
 I labour 
 
46 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 labour to enrage the heat , and all thefe made it inftfp* 
 portable to our bodies , and our little or no hope , (which now, 
 like a candle burnt down to the focket, did rather blipk 
 than burn) made it grievous to our fouls. One fmall help 
 wehad, (if it was a help) that the fifth man, who emptied 
 the boat of the fait water, threw it upon the bodies of the 
 reft to cool them •, but this was a miferable remedy , for cnir 
 bodies were fo bleached between the fcorching fun, and 
 the cooling water, that they rofe up in blifters all over. 
 Great pain we felt, great danger we were in, -‘great 
 miferies were endured, great wants we were under, 
 and had nothing little but hope , food , and ftrength. By 
 day we were allftark naked, by night we had our fhirts 
 or loofe coats, and that was all our eloathing, the reft 
 we left afhore to eafe our boat. 
 
 If any {hall be fo inquifitive as to a{k, by what direc- 
 tions we fteered our courfe, that we did not tack about 
 infenfibly in the dark night, or day ? he may know, 
 that for the day , one of the company had a pocket dial , 
 which fupplied the place of the compafs, even well 
 enough for fuch a veffel and fuch mariners. By night, 
 when the ftars appeared , we had our advice from them, 
 and when they difappeared, we guefled our way by the 
 motions of the clouds. 
 
 In this fad and woeful plight we continued four days 
 and nights i on the fifth day we were on the brink of the 
 brink of defpair , and all hope that we lhould be faved, 
 utterly periftied and now, as perfons defpairing of the 
 end , we ceafed to purfue the means , laid by our oars , 
 left off our labour *, either we had no ftrength left, or 
 were loth to throw away that little we had to no pur- 
 pofe, only we kept ftill emptying the boat *, loth to 
 drown, loth to dye, yet knew no ways to avoid death : : 
 when the end is removed , all means perifh with it. 
 
 They that a6t leaft, commonly wifh the moft ; thus 
 when we had left fruitlefs labour , we fell upon fruitlefs 
 wifhes , that we might meet with fome veflel, fome {hip 
 to take us up i if it was but a Jhip , we confidered no 
 
 further , 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 47 
 
 further , Englijh , or African , frw, Tyriufve , all was a 
 rafe'; or it not, yet uwr/? better than our bad 
 cafe> and therefore refolved, could we have difcovered 
 any fhip, to have made towards her, though it had 
 been one of Algiers. How many wifhed themfelves 
 again in Egypt , when they combated with the unex- 
 pedted difficulties of the wildernefs f How oft have the 
 people of God been more afraid of the means of their 
 deliverance , than of their danger! When Chrift came 
 to fave his difciples from the ftorm, yet becaufe he came 
 in a way uncouth and unexpected, they cried out for 
 fear , Matth. xiv. 26 , Whether the reader will pity, or 
 condemn us, I know not ; but to that pais were we now 
 brought, that we would have accepted life upon any 
 terms not bafe and finful , and whether we fhouid have 
 ftuck at fuch or 7io % I have no fuch fecurity from my 
 own heart as to relolve him. 
 
 Whilft we were at this dead ebb of hope, the great 
 God, whofe moft glorious opportunity to help, is his 
 creatures greatejl extremity : he that appeared for Abra- 
 ham in the mount , and to the three young men in the fiery 
 furnace ; he that delivered Ifrael at the fea , at the red 
 fea j he who rimes all his mercies for their advantage ; 
 even he fent us fome relief, and a little relief is great in 
 great exigencies. As we lay hulling up and down, we 
 difcovered a tortoife not far from us aileep ip the fea. 
 Had the great Drake difcovered the Spanifij plate-fleet , he 
 could not have more rejoyced ; once again we bethought 
 ourfelves of our oars, and now our little boat fhewed 
 itfelf to be of the right breed of Algiers , made of piratic 
 timber , and to its poor ability would become a corf air ; 
 we filently rowed to our prey, took it into the boat with 
 great triumph, we cut off her head, and let her bleed 
 into a pot, we drank the blood, eat the liver, and fuck’d 
 the flefh. •, wann flefij a7id< hot liquor (except our own) 
 had been a great rarity with us a long time, it was a 
 novelty of Providence, and really it wonderfully re- 
 frefhed our fpirits, repaired our decayed drength, and 
 
 recruited 
 
4 S A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 recruited nature ; at lead, poor exhaufted nature was 
 willing to be cheated, and fancy herfelf recruited j but 
 there was no cheat in it, we were really refrefhed, and 
 with freih vigour and courage fell to our work, we left 
 our fear behind us, we pickt up fome fcattered crumbs 
 of hope, and about noon we difcovered, or thought 
 we difcovered land. It is impoffible to exprefs the joy 
 and triumph of our raifed fouls, at this apprehenlion. 
 The poets tell us, that as often as Hercules threw the 
 great giant againft the earth , his mother Earth gave him 
 new ftrength againft the next encounter : it was new 
 ftrength , new life to us, though not to touchy yet to fee ; 
 or if not to fee, to think we faw it. It brought frcdi 
 blood into our veins, frefh colour into our pale cheeks, 
 we looked pot like men awaked from deep, not like 
 captives broke from the chains of Algiers , but like per- 
 sons raifed from the dead. But hope and fear made a 
 Jl range medley paftion in cur fouls , like the reparties of 
 two ' contrary joftling tides, or the ftruggling of the 
 eddy with the main ftream. Hope would perfuade us 
 that we faw the land, but chill fear bade us paufe upon 
 it, for as we eafily believe what we defire to be true, fo 
 we are as ready to fear left it fhould not prove true •, 
 for fear had got long poffehion of our fouls, and would 
 hardly admit hope to ftir, but was ready to fupprefs it 
 as a difturber of its empire. We had leen nothing but 
 air and fea, fea and air in five days and nights, that 
 though our reafon told us there was luch a thing as 
 land, yet the impreftions that fear had made upon us, 
 made it queftionable, whether we ever fhould fee it 
 and we durft not give too much credence to our eyes, 
 that had been ufed to bring fadder ftories to our hearts. 
 
 Yet ftill we wrought hard : hope did us that kindnefs, 
 it put us upon an earneft defire to fee whether we were 
 deceived or no. After fome further labour, we grew 
 more confident, and at laft, fully fatisfied that it was 
 land •, I hope I fhall never forget what fenfe we had or 
 God’s goodnefs upon that affurance. Extremes do 
 
 equally 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 49 
 
 equally annoy, and fometimes infatuate the mind. They 
 tell us, that in Greenland the extremity of cold will 
 make the iron flick to the fingers, as our experience 
 allures extremity of heat will do ; for now, like diffrac- 
 ted perfons, we all leapt into the fea, quitting our boat, 
 and being all good fwimmers, we there bathed and 
 cooled our heated bodies. An adventure, which, if well 
 confidered, had as much of the defperado in it as our 
 putting to fea ; for now we were at the mercy of the 
 fharks, which might have fheared off a leg or arm, and 
 now our over-heated bodies were open to receive the im- 
 preffions of that cold element ; but as we never confi- 
 dered our danger, the great and good God delivered 
 us from the ordinary etfedls of fuch folly; we prefently 
 returned to our boat, and being both wearied with la- 
 bour, and cooled a little with the fea, we lay us all 
 down to deep in as much fecurity, as if we had been 
 in our own beds. Nature being almoft fpent, muff have 
 a truce, fhe will not undertake to keep our bodies upon 
 their legs, if we will not fubmit to her great Handing 
 ordinance of reft ; and here we faw ftill more of divine 
 Goodnefs, that our leaky veflel did not bury us in the 
 fea, and we awaking find ourfelves in the other world : 
 but lie that gave us fl.eep, meafured it , and he meafured 
 it exaftly, not buffering us to out-Jleep the feafon of plying 
 our pump, or that which fupplied the place of it. 
 
 Being thus refrefhed with deep, we found new Jlrength 
 for our work, and God found us new work for our 
 ftrength : we tugged the harder at the oar, becaufe we 
 hoped e’er night to deep upon a more ftable and faith- 
 ful element. But we made our way very dowly, and 
 when we caft up the account of our progrefs, found 
 that we had gone but little way in a long time ; towards 
 evening we difeovered another idand : the firft we faw 
 was Mayork , the fecond, Fxomentere , and feme of our 
 company that had failed in thefe feas would undertake 
 to allure us of it : we debated not long to which of thefe 
 we diould direct Qur fourfe, for the latter being m\ich 
 
 infefted 
 
5 o A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 infefted with venemous ferpents, and little, if at all 
 inhabited, we refolved all for Mayork : all that night 
 we rowed very hard, and the next, being the 6th of Ju- 
 ly , and from our putting to fea, we kept within fight of 
 it all day, and about ten o’clock at night we came un- 
 der the ifland, but the rocks were there fa craggy and 
 fteep, that we could not climb up. 
 
 While we were under thefe rocks there came a vefiel 
 very near us : let the reader put himfelf in our Head, 
 let him but copy out our thoughts, let him imagine 
 how loth we were to loofe all our toil and travel, to 
 forego our deliverance, to have this rich mercy, which 
 God had put into our hands, wrefted out of them again 
 by fome I’urkijh pickaroon or corfair, that are always 
 fkimming thofe feas : it concerned us therefore to lye 
 clofe, and when they were paffed by, we gently crept 
 along the coafl: as near the jfhore as we durft, till we 
 found a convenient place where we might thrud in our 
 weather-beaten boat. 
 
 If thefe papers Ihould fall into the hands of fome that 
 are great clerks in the art of navigation, and have conn’d 
 the mariner’s terms of art, they will fmile at my improper 
 wording of thefe matters, and fay, I am one of Paul’s 
 mariners. But I can be content to be accounted one of 
 his mariners, whilft I have lhared in his mercies : how 
 many of thofe that fpeak the language of the fea, yet 
 have found her billows deaf to their cries and prayers, 
 and their ftately fhips made the fcorn of winds, and the 
 reproach of waves, when we, who had none of their 
 fhips, and little of their fkill, have had experience of 
 thofe Providences to which they have been Grangers. 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 I' he great Kindnefs we received at Mayork from the Vice- 
 Roy, and the Inhabitants of that IJlajid arid City. 
 
 W HEN we were come to land, we were not in- 
 fenfible of our deliverance, though, like men 
 % newly 
 
OF GREAT MERCY, 5* 
 
 hewly awakened out of a dream, we had not the true 
 dimenfions of it •, we confeffed God had done great things 
 for us, but how great things he had done was beyond 
 our comprehenfion : we had efcaped the fea , but yet 
 death might be found at land ; and we were ready to 
 fay with Sampfon, Judges xv. 18. Lord , thou haft given 
 this great deliverance into the hands of thy fervants , and 
 now Jhall we die for thirft ? We had had no food fince 
 we eat the liver, and drank the blood of the tortoife, 
 and therefore, leaving three of our company with the 
 boat, the other too, viz. John Anthony , and myfelf, were 
 fent out to fcout abroad for frefh water and the rather 
 were we fent, becaufe this John Anthony could fpeak 
 both the Spanifh and Italian tongues very perfectly, and 
 I had as much of the Spanifh as might ferve to exprels 
 our wants and defires, if perhaps we might meet with 
 any perfon thereabouts. We were not far gone before 
 we fell into a wood, and we were in a wildernefs in our 
 thoughts which way to take : he will needs go his way# 
 and 1 mine. Good Lord ! what a frail impotent thing 
 is man ! That they whom common dangers by fea # 
 common deliverances from fea had united, fhould nowv 
 about our own wills, fall out at land. And yet thus 
 we did : he gave me reproachful words, and it is well 
 we came not to blows : but I went my own way, and 
 he feeing me refolute, followed me , and the Providence 
 of God, not dealing with us according to our froward- 
 nefs, followed us both: this way led us to a watch- 
 tower of the Spaniards , many of which they keep upon 
 the fea-coafts# to give the country timely notice of any 
 pickaroons, that come afhore to rob and fpoil. 
 
 When we came within call, fearing he might difcharge 
 at us, we fpoke to him upon the watch, told him our 
 condition, what we were, whence we came, how we 
 efcaped, and earneltly begged of him to diredt us to 
 fome frefh water, and in the mean time to beftow upon 
 us fome bread. He very kindly threw us down an old 
 mouldy cake , but fo long as it was a cake , and not a 
 
 ftone , 
 
52 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 jione , nor a bullet , hunger did not confider its moUldi * 
 nefs : then he diredled us to frefh water, which was hard 
 by : we dood not telling (lories, we remembered our - 
 felves , we remembered our brethren left with our boat, 
 and obferving the fentinel’s directions, came to a well, 
 where there was a pot with firings to draw with : we 
 drank a little water, and eat a bit of our cake, but the 
 paffage was fo difufed, that we had much ado to force 
 our throats to relieve our clamorous (lomachs : but here 
 we (laid not, but, with the four lepers in the tents of “ 
 the Syrians , 2 Kings vii. 9. rebuked ourfelves, JVe do 
 not well , we have glad tidings to carry , and do we hold 
 our peace ? We return to our boat, are welcomed by 
 our companions, acquaint them with the good fuccefs 
 of our embaffy, and all prepare to make to the well. 
 
 And now we muft leave our boat , that faithful injlru- 
 ment of God’s Providence, which had fo truftily ferved 
 his purpofe to deliver us : it was not without fome re- 
 coylings upon our fpirits, that we fhould fo much as in 
 appearance imitate the ingratitude of thofe, who having 
 ferved their private ends on their friends, and have now 
 no further ufe of them, mod ungratefully (liake them 
 oft : that we fhould be like the water-dog , which ufes 
 the water to purfue his game, and when he comes to 
 land (hakes it off as trouble fome , and burthenfome , But 
 it was no time to (land upon compliments, hunger, 
 third, wearinefs, defire of refrefhment and red, thofe 
 importunate duns , commanded us away and tying our 
 boat as fad as we could to the fhore, we left her to 
 mercy , which had been fo good to us. 
 
 As we were going, or rather creeping or crawling 
 towards the well, another quarrel darted amongd us, 
 the memory whereof is fo ungrateful, that I fhall give 
 it a burial in filence, the bed tomb for controverfies . 
 
 And now we were at the well , and the well is pro- 
 vided of water , and we have fomething to draw *, all 
 thefe helps God has given us, but he mud give us one 
 more t even a throat to fwallow it , without which all the 
 
 red 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. 53 
 
 reft fignify nothing. This was. the evil difeafe Solomon 
 had obferved in his days, Ecclef. vi, 2. A man to whom 
 God had given riches , wealth , and honour , fo that he 
 wanteth nothing for his foul , of all that he defireth ; yet 
 God giveth him not power to eat thereof : he that gives 
 us water to drink , and meat to eat , muft give us power 
 to eat and drink alfo. How totally do we depend upon 
 him for life, and breath, and all things ! One of our 
 company, William Adams , attempting to drink, after 
 many effays was not able to fwallow it, but ftill the wa- 
 ter returned, fo that he funk down to the ground, faintly 
 faying, I am a dead man \ we forgot ourfelves, to remem- 
 ber him , and after much ftriving and forcing, he took a 
 little •, and when he and we were refrefhed with our cake 
 and water, we lay down by the well-fide till the morn- 
 ing. None of us could watch for the reft-, but One God 
 watched for us all. There we lay lock’d up, and buried 
 in fleep ; the heavens covered us, when we wanted a 
 canopy ; each might fay in the morning with David , 
 Pfal. iii. 5. I laid me down and flept \ I awaked , for the 
 Lord fuftained me. 
 
 When it was clear day, we addreffed ourfelves once 
 more to the man upon the watch-tower, entreating him 
 to direct us the ready way to the next houfe, or town, 
 where we might find relief : he civilly points us towards 
 a houfe about two miles off, whither, with wearied fteps, 
 and joyful hearts, we now began to travel : our feet had 
 been fo parboiled and quodled with the fun's heat , in the 
 falt-water pickle , that they were very raw and more 
 bliftered, and long it -was before we could overcome the 
 tedioufnefs of thole two miles. When we approached the 
 houfe, the owner efpying us, and concluding by our 
 fhabby garb , that we were fome pilfering rafcals , prelented 
 a fowling piece at us, and charged us to ltand. The 
 foremoft of our company, who could (peak that language 
 well, meekly told him, he might fpare that language, 
 we were not able , if we had fo wicked a will , nor willing , 
 if we had been able , to offer him the leail injury •, that 
 
 K we 
 
54 A SMALL MONUMENT 
 
 we were a company of poor creatures, whom the wonderful Pro- 
 vidence of God had refcued from the flavery of Algiers , and 
 hoped he would fhew mercy to the afflidted. The honeft farmer, 
 moved with our relation, fent us out bread, water, and olives, 
 with which when we had refrefhed ourfelves, we lay down and 
 retted three or four hours in the field, and returning thanks for 
 his charity, prepared to crawl away at our lame rate. He feeing 
 us thankful beggars, enlarged his civility to us, called us into 
 his houfe, and gave us good warm bean-pottage , which feemed 
 to me the molt pleafant food that ever I eat in my life. Our 
 leave once more taken, we advanced towards the city of Mayork^ 
 which from this place is about ten miles ; no water could we 
 meet with upon our way, but towards evening we difeovered 
 one drawing water at a well, we hailed to him, and he drew for 
 us i that was our fupper, and there was our lodging that night. 
 
 The next morning we came into the fuburbs of the city, the 
 ttrangenefs of our attire, being hare-foot , bare-legged , having no- 
 thing on but looje coats over our fhirts, drew a croud of enquirers 
 about us, Who we were ? Whence we came ? Whither we went ? \ 
 
 We gave them a particular account of our deliverance, with its 
 circumftances, and they as willing to pity as to know our eftate, 
 and as ready to relieve as pity , accommodated us for the prefent 
 with food, they gave us wine, and ltrong waters, and whatever 
 elie might recover our exhaufted fpirits ; but told us, that we 
 muff be obliged to tarry in the fuburbs, till the Vice-Roy had no- 
 tice that fuch Grangers were arrived. He had foon information of * 
 us, and we as foon a command to*appear before him ; he examined 
 us about many affairs, What ? nen of war the Algerines had at fea ? 
 
 What Jirength they were of at land? But above all, he was moft 
 curious and exadt in fatisfying himfelf about our ejeape , out boat , 
 our hazards at fea , wherein when we had fully obeyed him, he 
 ordered we fhould be maintained at his own colt, till we could 
 have paffage to our own country. 
 
 In this while the people gathered us money to buy us cloaths 
 and fhoes, and we wanted nothing that nature called for, but 
 thankful hearts to God. And they endeavoured to help to that 
 mercy too : as I was walking in the ffreets, viewing the city, a 
 young man Heps to me, Friend , laid he, are you one of thofe that, 
 came lately over in the canvas boat ? I anfwered, Yes, I was one of 
 them ; Well , replied the young man, it zuas not the little boat , but 
 the great God that brought you over. I mult needs fay, I often 
 think on this young man’s words, and as often as 1 think on 
 them they chide me, that I have not hitherto more publickly 
 owned God in his gracious and wonderful deliverance. How- 
 ever 
 
OF GREAT MERCY. ' 55 
 
 ever others may be concerned to read , I know not, yet I am con- 
 cerned to write of the great things God has done tor me. 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 ’The Providences of God which attended us , and conducted us all 
 
 ■Jafe to England. 
 
 I T may not prove ungrateful to the reader, to fee how the great 
 God, who begun to work for us, perfected his work concerning 
 us ; how he that had, and did deliver, would hill deliver us. As 
 ftngle Jlars have their glories, yet conjl citations are more glorious : 
 fo each providence of God is admirable, but taken together , as 
 one ferving another, and this helping forwards that , fo indeed they 
 are moft admirable. When the Creator viewed his each day’s 
 work, it fo pun<5tually anfwered its Idea according to which, and 
 obeyed the Power by which it was created, that he pronounced 
 it good ; but when he reviewed the product of the fix days, he 
 pronunced all to be very good. Each letter in a book fpeaks /kill, 
 but when thofe letters form words , thofe words fentences , there is 
 a greater excellency and more fkill difcovered. Separate ProvT 
 dences fpeak out eminently fomeoi God’s attributes , but when we 
 put them together, all the attributes of God fhine forth in them, 
 and one illuiirate another, which reflects a light upon the former. 
 
 Mayork is a city where our Englijh {hips did feldom trade, and 
 we being full of defire to fee our native country, preferred our 
 humble petition to the Vice-Roy, That we might have paffage in 
 the king of Spain’r gallies, which were then in the road, bound for 
 Alicant in Spain ; which he gracioufly granted us. What cold 
 entertainment we met with there from fome of our own coun- 
 try, I fhall draw a veil over ; yet even there we found the mercies 
 oj God. One merchant took compaflion on us, and conducted 
 us to an Englijhmans houfe, where we lodged, and gave us half 
 a dollar to defray our charges. The next day, undemanding 
 that there was an Engii/bman in the road, bound tor England, we 
 went on board to fee for paflage ; we made our condition our 
 belt argument to prevail ; the matter told us, he had but little 
 provifion, but if we would be content with bread and beverage, 
 we might go. We accounted that royal fare , and accordingly 
 waited till he fet fail. Whillt we were aboard, two Englijh mer- 
 chants came thither alfo, and were very earnelt that we would 
 give them the fhort of our adventure ; we gratified them, and 
 one of them faid, Countrymen, we have heard your ftory. After 
 a few days we let fail, and when we were at fea, were hotly 
 chafed by two Turkijh men of w'ar, but being near Giblctorc , we 
 got in there, and elcaped. We had known llavery too much and 
 
56 A SMALL MONUMENT, &c. 
 
 long, to be ambitious of it again j and therefore three of us, John 
 
 Anthony , John , carpenter, and myfelf. \ went afhore and there 
 
 flayed, our other companions ventur’d along with the fhip, and 
 came into England before us. Whilft we were at Gibletore , the 
 Spaniards underftanding our condition, much pityed us, and one 
 told us, that if we would accept it, we might have lodging in 
 his vefTel, and he had fifh enough that we might make ufe of. 
 There we ftaid till our money was gone, and then refolved to go 
 with the foot-poft by land to Cadiz , which is about fixty miles ; 
 but whilft my two companions were gone to enquire for the 
 courier, I ftaid upon the fhore and faw a fmall Spanijh veffel 
 coming from Malaga , bound for Cadiz , I went aboard him to 
 delire paflage, he freely granted it, and the next morning early 
 we fet fail, and in little time came into Cadiz road, but not nigh 
 enough to go afhore ; the captain told us, our paflage was paid, 
 and we might freely go afhore when we would. Now, becaufe 
 we found no fhip here bound for England , and hearing that there 
 was one at St. Lucars , we travelled thither by land, which is about 
 twelve miles : after a fhort ftay there, I met the mafter’s mate, 
 of whom I earneftly entreated for paft'age ; he told me, he had 
 very little provifton, and that it would be hard to be obtained. 
 Whilft we were talking, the boat came to fetch him aboard, and 
 in her there was a youth, who was the mafter’s fon, he afked 
 his father’s mate, who was alfo his uncle, who we were? he told 
 him, we were poor men efcaped from Algiers , but for want of 
 provifion, he doubted we could not go for England. No ! (faid the 
 youth) do you think my father will deny pajfage to poor Englifhmen 
 that come from Algiers ? Come , Countrymen , (faid he) corpe into the 
 boat, you Jhall have pajfage. He prefently acquaints his father with 
 us and our condition ; he treated us with great kindnefs ; he pre- 
 vailed with the merchants to lay in provifton for us ; we conti- 
 nued in his fhip till we came away. In the time of our ftay, I 
 went aboard one Captain Goodfon , who lay then in the road, he 
 was extremely civil to me ; at my departure he gave me twenty 
 fhillings, and fet me aboard our fhip in his own boat. We met 
 with contrary winds, and were very near engaging with a Ham- 
 burger j it was five weeks before , we could reach the Downs, 
 where we arrived in September 1644; the commander of the fhip 
 was Captain. Smith , of Redrijf 
 
 ... FINIS . 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
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