he settled as a master stay maker at Sandwich; and the 27th of September following married Mary Lambert, the daughter of an exciseman of that place. In April 1760, he removed with his wife to Margate, where she died shortly after, and he again mingled with the crouds of London. In July 1761, disgusted with the toil and little gain of his late occupation, he renounced it for ever, and determined to apply himself to the profession of an exciseman, towards which, as his wife's father was of that calling, he had some time turned his thoughts. At this period he sought shelter under his father's roof at Thetford, that he might prosecute, in quiet and retirement, the object of his future course. Through the interest of Mr. Cocksedge, the recorder of Thetford, after fourteen months of study, he was established as a supernumerary in the excise, about the age of twenty-five, In this situation at Grantham and Alford, &c. he did not continue more than two or three years, when he relinquished it in August 1765, and commenced it again in July 1766. In this interval he was teacher at Mr. Noble's academy in Leman Street, Goodman's Fields, at a salary of £25 a year. In a similar occupation he afterwards lived for a short time, at Kensington, with a Mr. Gardner. I remember when once speaking of the improvement he gained in the above capacities and some other lowly situations he had been in, he made this observation: "Here I derived "considerable information; indeed I have sel"dom passed five minutes of my life, howແ ever circumstanced, in which I did not ac"quire some knowledge." During this residence in London Mr. Paine attended the philosophical lectures of Martin and Ferguson, and became acquainted with Dr. Bevis of the Temple, a great astronomer. In these studies and in the mathematics he soon became a proficient. In March 1768 he was settled as an excise man at Lewes, in Sussex, and there, on the 26th of March 1771, married Elizabeth Ollive, shortly after the death of her father, whose trade of a tobacconist and grocer he entered into and carried on. In this place he lived several years in habits of intimacy with a very respectable, sensible, and convivial set of acquaintance, who were entertained with his witty sallies, and informed by his more serious conversations. In politics he was at this time a Whig, and notorious for that quality which has been defined perseverance in a good cause and obstinacy in a bad one. He was tenacious of his opinions, which were bold, acute, and independent, and which he maintained with ardour, elegance, and argument. At this period, at Lewes, the White Hart evening club was the resort of a social and intelligent circle who, out of fun, seeing that disputes often ran very warm and high, frequently had what they called the 'Headstrong Book.' This was no other than an old Greek Homer which was sent the morning after a debate vehemently maintained, to the most obstinate haranguer of the Club: this book had the following title, as implying that Mr. Paine the best deserved and the most frequently obtained it. Ímmortal PAINE, while mighty reasoners jar, No bounds, but those of right and truth, confined. My friend Mr. Lee, of Lewes, in communicating this to me in September 1810, said "This was manufactured nearly forty years ago, as applicable to Mr. Paine, and I believe you "will allow, however indifferent the manner, "that I did not very erroneously anticipate "his future celebrity." During his residence at Lewes, he wrote several excellent little pieces in prose and verse, and among the rest the celebrated song on the death of General Wolfe, beginning In a mouldering cave where the wretched retreat It was about this time he wrote "The Trial of Farmer Carter's Dog Porter," in the manner of a drama, a work of exquisite wit and hu mour. In 1772 the excise officers throughout the kingdom formed a design of applying to parliament for some addition to their salaries. * This and other of Mr. Paine's poetical effusions, the reader will find at the close of this work. |