The Vicar of Wakefield; . ited as on the night before, but he refused,as he was to he that night at a neighbours, to whose childhe was carrying a whistle. When gone, our conversationat supper turned upon our late unfortunate guest. What a strong instance, said I, is that poor man miseries attending a youth of levity and by no means wants sense, which only serves to aggra-vate his former folly. Poor forlorn creature! whereare now the revellers, the flatterer^ that he could onceinspire and command! Gone, pejhaps, to attend thethe bagnio pander, grown rich by his extravagan
The Vicar of Wakefield; . ited as on the night before, but he refused,as he was to he that night at a neighbours, to whose childhe was carrying a whistle. When gone, our conversationat supper turned upon our late unfortunate guest. What a strong instance, said I, is that poor man miseries attending a youth of levity and by no means wants sense, which only serves to aggra-vate his former folly. Poor forlorn creature! whereare now the revellers, the flatterer^ that he could onceinspire and command! Gone, pejhaps, to attend thethe bagnio pander, grown rich by his once praised him, and now they applaud the pan-der : their former raptures at his wit are now convertedinto sarcasms at his folly: he is poor, and perhapsdeserves poverty; for he has neither the ambition to beindependent, nor the skill to be useful. Promptedperhaps by some secret reasons, I delivered this observa-tion with too much acrimony, which my Sophia gentlyreproved. Whatsoever his former conduct may have 32. THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD been, papa, his circumstances should exempt him fromcensure now. His present indigence is a sufficientpunishment for former folly ; and I have heard mypapa himself say, that we should never strike one un-necessary blow at a victim, over whom Providence holdsthe scourge of its resentment.— You are right, Sophy,cried my son Moses; and one of the ancients finelyrepresents so malicious a conduct, by the attempts of arustic to flay Marsyas, whose skin, the fable tells us,had been whoUy stripped off by another. Besides, Idont know if this poor mans situation be so bad as myfather would represent it. We are hot to judge of thefeelings of others by what we might feel if in their place. ^However dark the habitation of the mole to our eyes,yet the animal itself finds the apartments sufficientlylightsome. And, to confess the truth, this mans mindseems fitted to his station; for I never heard any onemore sprightly than he was to-day, when he conv
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