earnest.'
'I assure you then I am in earnest,' cries the doctor; 'but you need not thank me, however, since you know not how.'
'But would not that, sir,' said Booth, 'be shewing a slight to the colonel's invitation? and you know I have so many obligations to him.'
'Don't tell me of the colonel,' cries the doctor; 'the church is to be first served. Besides, sir, I have priority of right, even to you yourself. You stole my little lamb from me; for I was her first love.'
'Well, sir,' cries Booth, 'if I should be so unhappy to leave her to any one, she must herself determine; and, I believe, it will not be difficult to guess where her choice will fall; for of all men, next to her husband, I believe, none can contend with Dr Harrison in her favour.'
'Since you say so,' cries the doctor, 'fetch her hither to dinner with us; for I am at least so good a Christian to love those that love me-- I will shew you my daughter, my old friend, for I am really proud of her--and you may bring my grand-children with you if you please.'
Booth made some compliments, and then went on his errand. As soon as he was gone the old gentleman said to the doctor, 'Pray, my good friend, what daughter is this of yours? I never so much as heard that you was married.'
'And what then,' cries the doctor; 'did you ever hear that a pope was married? and yet some of them have had sons and daughters, I believe; but, however, this young gentleman will absolve me without obliging me to penance.'
'I have not yet that power,' answered the young clergyman; 'for I am only in deacon's orders.'
'Are you not?' cries the doctor; 'why then I will absolve myself. You are to know then, my good friend, that this young lady was the daughter of a neighbour of mine, who is since dead, and whose sins I hope are forgiven; for she had too much to answer for on her child's account. Her father was my intimate acquaintance and friend; a worthier man, indeed, I believe never lived. He died suddenly when his children were infants; and, perhaps, to the suddenness of his death it was owing that he did not recommend any care of them to me. However, I, in some measure, took that charge upon me; and particularly of her whom I call my daughter. Indeed, as she grew up she discovered so many good qualities that she wanted not the remembrance of her father's merit to recommend her. I do her no more than justice when I say she is one of the best creatures I ever knew. She hath a sweetness of temper, a generosity of spirit, an openness of heart--in a word, she hath a true Christian disposition. I may call her an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.'
'I wish you joy of your daughter,' cries the old gentleman; 'for to a man of your disposition, to find out an adequate object of your benevolence, is, I acknowledge, to find a treasure.'
'It is, indeed, a happiness,' cries the doctor.
'The greatest difficulty,' added the gentleman, 'which persons of your turn of mind meet with, is in finding proper objects of their goodness; for nothing sure can be more irksome to a generous mind, than to discover that it hath thrown away all its good offices on a soil that bears no other fruit than ingratitude.'
'I remember,' cries the doctor, 'Phocylides saith,
Mn kakov ev epens opens dpelpelv ioov eot evi povtw [Footnote: To do a kindness to a bad man is like sowing your seed in the sea.]
But he speaks more like a philosopher than a Christian. I am more pleased with a French writer, one of the best, indeed, that I ever read, who blames men for lamenting the ill return which is so often made to the best offices. [Footnote: D'Esprit.] A true Christian can never be disappointed if he doth not receive his reward in this world; the labourer might as well complain that he is not paid his hire in the middle of the day.'
'I own, indeed,' said the gentleman, 'if we see it in that light--'
'And in what light should we see it?' answered the doctor. 'Are we
