Shun me not, Sir, I am your friend, at least I desire to be so; I have heard that you wish to hide yourself, and that even from your parent; pardon the liberty I take, I cannot help endeavouring to divert you from your design: it grieves me to see that you avoid your mother. BRADLEY. I must not, I cannot see her again; do not betray me, I beseech you, but persuade the master of the house to let me escape without seeing her. CHARLES. Could I desire the man to do this! I who have seen your distrest mother weep, and have wept with her! BRADLEY. How! has she told you all? CHARLES. Yes, she has told me you would fly from her, you, her only son, and that it will cost her her life. What a proof of tenderness! Can you be unconcerned? BRADLEY. My mother is in necessitous circumstances; she cannot support me according to my birth. CHARLES. It is noble in you not to wish to be a burthen to your mother; a son of your age should not expect a support, except his parents are blest with affluence. But I have been informed you are very ingenious, and have received a good education; heaven has not given you these talents for no purpose. BRADLEY. I must endeavour to advance my fortune in a foreign country. CHARLES. You will find no mother in a foreign country; and can you leave a parent already overwhelmed by misfortune? would you snatch from her her last support? Surely you have no affection for her. BRADLEY. What, Sir, no affection for a mother who has done so much for me! CHARLES. A strange proof you would give of it, to leave her in solitary misery, when she declares your absence would be her death. BRADLEY. That is a weakness; how many mothers are there that must be separated from their children? CHARLES. I acknowledge it; but a weakness that arises from an affection for you should rather endear her to you. Excuse me, Sir, but I think that children who have such tender apprehensive parents, ought to sacrifice a wavering uncertain prospect of happiness rather than grieve them. Nay, it would be for their own advantage, if, as my tutor says, no happiness is to be obtained by the violation of duty. Should you return from sea successful, and find her dead, repentance would imbitter your whole future life, for she assures me you have naturally an affectionate good disposition. Continue with her; when a mother in poverty begins to labour under a weight of years, it would be cowardly in a son to desert her. BRADLEY. What shall I do, I have not learned any business, would you have me work in the fields?