SKETCH 



OF 



THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF 



A SHORT TIME BEFORE HIS 



I WAS born the 21st of May 171-3, in the de- 

 cayed town of Westbury, in the county of 

 Wilts. My father inherited a small paternal 

 estate, in the neighbourhood, of about ^.100 

 per annum; which proving but a scanty mainte- 

 nance for a large family, he undertook, without 

 any knowledge of the business, as I have been 

 informed, to deal in corn and malt, but with ve- 

 ry little success. He died in 1756, leaving my 

 excellent mother, and six children, in distressed 

 circumstances. Luckily for my mother, she had 

 two opulent brothers in the West Indies, one of 



