As he had left Mr. Howard's Service without a Character, it was more difficult for him now to get a Place without it, than if he had never been in Service before, as the Want of it laid him under a kind of Suspicion,which all his Pretensions to Gentility could not wipe off.

He was some Months before he got over this Difficulty; but at last Providence, always indulgent to Designs that have Industry and Honesty for their Motive, cast him accidentally into Company with a good-natur'd Officer of the Army, who had some Knowledge of his Father's Family, and was perfectly acquainted with that honest Man's real Worth and Character, and on that Account ventured to recommend him to Col. R - d F - n, of D - n - le near Cork , where he lived some Years as Butler , but at last was guilty of some little Pilfering and Embezzlement in his Trust, and was dismissed the Service without a Character, which deprived him of all Hopes of Service in the Country.

He remained some Time out of Place, and had some Thoughts of going over to serve in the Irish Brigade in the French Service, but on communicating his Design to a Gentleman who had the Charge of enlisting Men for that Service, he was told, that his Encouragement there would be but small, unless he would conform to the Popish Religion; and though his After conduct shewed that he was very little influenced by the Doctrines and Principles of any Religion, yet the early Tincture he had received from the pious Care of his Parents of the Protestant Faith, supported him under the Temptation of embracing the Errors of the Church of Rome, though prompted by a View of Interest, and the most pressing present Wants; he rejected the Proposal, and gave over all Thoughts of the Irish Brigade.

Fortune seem'd to reward his Constancy, for about this Time he came to understand, that his old Master, Col. T - n, intended shortly to set out for England. Mr. Maclean entertained some Hopes, that if he could find Means to come into England, he might there find a better Chance for some Sort of Living than where he was. Presuming on the Colonel's known Humanity, he represented to him, in as pathetick Terms as he could devise, the Necessity of his Circumstances, which so far wrought on this charitable Gentleman's good Nature, that he not only defray'd the Charge of his Passage to England , which was all he had the Confidence to ask, but generously entertained him as one of his Domesticks, sending him with his Baggage to London , and allowing him Twelve-pence a Day for Subsistence. He remained for some small Time in this humble Situation, but prepossessed with the Perfections of his Person, which he had the Vanity to think might induce some of the compassionate and Merit-decerning Fair, to raise him from his present Obscurity, provided he could find Means to set off his personal Talent to proper Advantage by the Help of a genteel Dress, to procure which Money was necessary, and for that Purpose he set all his Wits to work to raise the necessary Funds for supplying his Wardrobe. He had experienced the Colonel's good Nature on several Occassions, and had the Assurance to propose to him to send him a Sum of Money to be employed in Purchase of a Pair of C lours; though if he really had succeeded in his impudent Request, he intended only to have equipped himself for a Fortune-hunting Campaign. He was justly disappointed in his Suit, and at last was in downright Earnest, for the Sake of Bread, willing to enlist in Lord Albemarle's Troop of Horse-Guards: But even this could not be effected without Money, and though but ten Guineas was only wanting, he could not, without the Help of his Patron, raise this small Sum.