BOOK I
CHAPTER I
the birth, parentage, and education of mr. david simple
Mr. David Simple was the eldest son of Mr. Daniel Simple, a mercer on Ludgate Hill. His mother a downright country woman, who originally got her living by plain work; but being handsome, was liked by Mr. Simple. When or where this couple met, or what happened to them during their courtship, is foreign to my present purpose, nor do I really know. But they were married, and lived many years together, a very honest and industrious life; to which it was owing, that they were able to provide very well for their children. They had only two sons, David and Daniel, who, as soon as capable of learning, were sent to a public school, and kept there in a manner which put them on a level with boys of a superior degree, and they were respected equally with those born in the highest station. This indeed their behaviour demanded; for there never appeared anything mean in their actions, and nature had given them parts enough to converse with the most ingenious of their school-fellows. The strict friendship they kept up was remarked by the whole school; who ever affronted the one, made an enemy of the other; and while there was any money in either of their pockets, the other was never to want it: the notion of whose property
