CHAPTER III.
My birth—Lameness—Imitation of my father's prayers—Meditations upon the heavenly bodies—Sent to school—Anecdotes of boyhood—Disgusted with study—Letter to sister—Mr, De la Bussiere—Admirable preceptor—College—Take degree of Master of Arts—My mother's death—Division of property.
I have now arrived at the history of my own life, which I shall give more in detail, as being more immediately interesting to you than the annals of past generations. You will find a varied tissue of adventures, checkered with alternate extremes of prosperity and adversity, but amidst its joys and sorrows, you will not fail to discern the hand of Almighty God leading me by his good Providence, watching over me, and making all things work together for my good.
I was born at Jenouillé, on the 7th April, 1658. The first sorrow of my life proceeded from the carelessness of my nurse: she trusted me to her daughter's care, who was a young and giddy girl, and she played and romped with me tossing me in the air and catching me in her arms. At last she missed her hold and let me fall on the ground, by which my leg was broken a little below the knee. The nurse lived at Royan, and being desirous to conceal the disaster from my parents, she took me of her own accord to an ignorant surgeon, near at hand, who relieved her apprehension by pronouncing that no harm had been done. He was entirely mistaken, and the bone, not having been set, reunited of itself
