what new eyes did I read it! I now faw clearly, that not only the thief, and the drunkard, the murderer, and the adulterer, are finners, for that I knew before; but I found that the unbeliever, the felfish, the proud, the worldly-minded, all, in fhort, who live without God in the world, are finners. I did not now apply the reproofs I met with, to my husband, or my father, or other people, as I used to do, but brought them home to myfelf. In this book I traced, with strong emotions, and clofe felf application, the finner through all his courfe; his firft awakening, his convictions, repentance, joys, forrows, backfliding, and recovery, defpondency, and delight, to a triumphant death bed; and God was pleafed to make it a chief inftrument in bringing me to himself. Here it is, continued Mrs. Incle, untying her little bundle, and taking out a book, accept it, my dear father, and I will pray that God may blefs it to you as he has done to me.

When I was able to come down, I paffed my time with these good old people, and foon won their affection. I was furprized to find they had very good sense, which I never had thought poor people could have; but, indeed, worldly perfons do not know how much religion, while it mends the heart, enlightens the understanding alfo. I now regretted the evenings I had wasted in my folitary garret, when I might have paffed them in reading the Bible with thefe good folks. This was their refreshing cordial after a weary day, which fweetened the pains of want and age.

T

I one day expreffed my furprize that my unfor tunate husband, the fon of fuch pious parents, fhould have turned out fo ill: the poor old man faid with tears, I fear we have been guilty of the fin of Eli; our love was of the wrong fort. Alas! like him, we honored our fon more than God, and God has smitten us for it. We fhewed him what was right, but through a false indulgence, we did not correct him for what was wrong. We were blind to his faults. He was a handfome boy, with fprightly parts; we took too much delight in thefe outward things. He foon got above our management, and became vain, idle, and evtravagant, and when we fought to restrain him, it was then too late. We humbled ourselves before God; but he was pleafed to make our fin become its own punishment. Timothy grew worfe and worfe; till he was forced to abfcond for a mifdemeanor; after which we never faw him, but have heard of him changing from one idle way of life to another, unftable as water: he has been a footman, a foldier, a fhopman, and a strolling actor. With deep forrow we trace back his vices to our ungoverned fondness; that lively and sharp wit, by which he has been able to carry on fuch a variety of wild schemes, might, if we had ufed him to reproof in his youth, have enabled him to have done great fervice for God and his country. But our flattery made him wife in his own conceit; and there is more hope of a fool than

of him. We indulged our own vanity, and have deftroyed his foul.

Here Mr. Worthy ftopped Mrs. Incle, fay, ing, that whenever he heard it lamented that the children of pious parents often turned out fo ill, he could not help thinking that there must be frequently fomething of this fort of error in the bringing them up: he knew, indeed, fome inftances to the contrary, in which the best means had failed; but he believed, that from Eli the prieft, to Incle the laborer, more than half the failures of this fort might be traced to fome miftake, or vanity, or bad judgment, or finful in. dulgence in the parents.

I now looked about, continued Mrs. Incle, in order to fee in what way I could affift my poor mother, regretting more heartily than fhe did, that I knew no one thing that was of any use. I was fo defirous of humbling myself before God and her, that I offered even to try to wafh. You wafh! exclaimed Bragwell, ftarting up with great emotion, Heaven forbid that with-fuch a fortune and education, Mifs Bragwell fhould be feen at a washing-tub. This vain father, who could bear to hear of her diftreffefs and her fins, could not bear to hear of her washing. Mr. Worthy stopped him, saying, As to her fortune, you know you refused to give her any; and, as to her education, you see it had not taught her how to do any thing better. I am forry you do not fee in this inftance, the beauty of chriftian humility. For my own part, I fet

a greater value on fuch an active proof of it, than on a whole volume of profeffions. Mr. Bragwell did not quite understand this, and Mrs. Incle went on. What to do to get a penny I knew not. Making of fillagree, or fringe, or card-purfes, or cutting out paper, or dancing and finging, was of no ufe in our village. The fhopkeeper, indeed, would have taken me, if I had known any thing of accounts: and the clergyman could have got me a nursery-maid's place. if I could have done good plain-work. I made fome awkward attempts to learn to fpin and knit, when my mother's wheel or knitting lay by, but I fpoilt both through my ignorance. At laft I luckily thought upon the fine netting I ufed to make for my trimmings, and it ftruck me that I might turn this to fome little account. I procured fome twine, and worked early and late to make nets for fishermen, and cabbage I was fo pleased that I had at last found an opportunity to fhew my good-will by this mean work, that I regretted my little George was not big enough to contribute his fhare to our fupport by travelling about to fell my nets. Cabbage-nets! exclaimed Bragwell; there is no bearing this.-Cabbage-nets! my grandfon hawk cabbage-nets ! How could you think of fuch a scandalous thing ?-Sir, faid Mrs. Incle mildly, I am now convinced that nothing is fcandalous which is not wicked. Befides, we were in want; and neceffity, as well as piety, would

nets.

have reconciled me to this mean trade. Mr. Bragwell groaned, and bade her go on.

In the mean time, my little George grew a fine boy; and I adored the goodness of God, who in the sweetness of maternal love, had given me a reward for many fufferings. Instead of indulging a gloomy diftruft about the fate of this child, I now refigned him to the will of God. Instead of lamenting because he was not likely to be rich, I was refolved to bring him up with fuch notions as might make him contented to be poor. I thought, if I could fubdue all vanity and selfishness in him, I should make him a happier man than if I had thousands to beftow on him; and I trusted, that I should be rewarded for every painful act of present self-denial, by the future virtue and happiness of my child. Can you believe it, my dear father, my days now paft not unhappily? I worked hard all day, and that alone is a fource of happiness beyond what the idle can guess. After my child was asleep at night, I read a chapter in the bible to my parents, whofe eyes now began to fail them. We then thanked God over our frugal fupper of potatoes, and talked over the holy men of old, the faints and the martyrs, who would have thought our homely fair a luxury. We compared our peace, and liberty and fafety, with their bonds, and imprisonment, and tortures; and fhould have been afhamed of a murmur. We then joined in prayer, in which my abfent parents and my husband were never