It was a great grief to Ignatius when the friendly Duke died. He
besought the Duchess to receive him into her service, and she consented.
He remained in her household as long as she lived. At her death, she
left him an annuity of about one hundred and fifty dollars a year; and
he had three hundred and fifty dollars, which he had laid up from his
wages. He might have made this sum the foundation of a comfortable
little property. But nature had made him very full of fun and frolic. He
had such lively manners, and uttered so many pleasant jokes, that his
company was much sought for. This proved a temptation too strong for
him. He accepted invitations to go to taverns, where he gambled away his
earnings. He had a great passion for going to the theatre; and his
conduct with regard to women was far from being correct.
But he soon saw the error of his ways, and resolved to reform. He went
to the Chaplain of Montagu House, and begged to be taken into his
service, where he remained several months. The descendants of his old
friend, the Duke, encouraged him to persevere in his good resolutions;
and when the young Duke saw that he continued sober and industrious, he
took him into his employ. By the blessing of the Heavenly Father,
another saving influence came to help him into the paths of virtue. He
formed a serious attachment for a very worthy young woman from the West
Indies, to whom he was soon after married. He remained in the employ of
the Duke of Montagu until he was about forty-four years old. Frequent
attacks of the gout, and clumsiness resulting from an hereditary
tendency to corpulence, rendered him unfit to continue in the service to
which he had so long been accustomed. His good friend and patron the
Duke assisted him to establish a small shop for groceries. By economy
and industry, he and his good wife managed to rear and educate well a
numerous family of children.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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