 higher Importance to communicate to the Reader.
 

                                   Chapter X

   The Hospitality of Allworthy; with a short Sketch of the Characters of two
   Brothers, a Doctor, and a Captain, who were entertained by that Gentleman.
 
Neither Mr. Allworthy's House, nor his Heart, were shut against any Part of
Mankind, but they were both more particularly open to Men of Merit. To say the
Truth, this was the only House in the Kingdom where you was sure to gain a
Dinner by deserving it.
    Above all others, Men of Genius and Learning shared the principal Place in
his Favour; and in these he had much Discernment: For though he had missed the
Advantage of a learned Education, yet being blest with vast natural Abilities,
he had so well profited by a vigorous, though late Application to Letters, and
by much Conversation with Men of Eminence in this Way, that he was himself a
very competent Judge in most Kinds of Literature.
    It is no Wonder that in an Age when this Kind of Merit is so little in
Fashion, and so slenderly provided for, Persons possessed of it should very
eagerly flock to a Place where they were sure of being received with great
Complaisance; indeed where they might enjoy almost the same Advantages of a
liberal Fortune as if they were entitled to it in their own Right; for Mr.
Allworthy was not one of those generous Persons, who are ready most bountifully
to bestow Meat, Drink, and Lodging on Men of Wit and Learning, for which they
expect no other Return but Entertainment, Instruction, Flattery, and
Subserviency; in a Word, that such Persons should be enrolled in the Number of
Domestics, without wearing their Master's Cloaths, or receiving Wages.
    On the contrary, every Person in this House was perfect Master of his own
Time: and as he might at his Pleasure satisfy all his Appetites within the
Restrictions only of Law, Virtue and Religion; so he might, if his Health
required, or his Inclination prompted him to Temperance, or even to Abstinence,
absent himself from any Meals, or retire from them whenever he was so disposed,
without even a Solicitation to the contrary: For indeed, such Solicitations from
Superiors always savour very strongly of Commands. But all here were free from
such Impertinence, not only those whose Company is in all other Places esteemed
a Favour from their Equality of Fortune, but even those whose indigent
Circumstances make such an eleemosynary Abode convenient to them, and who are
therefore less welcome to a great Man's Table because they stand in need of it.
    Among others of this Kind
