 of his little Hands
at this Moment. - He was my Darling, indeed he was.« At which Words he ceased,
and the Tears stood in his Eyes.
    As the Answer which Mrs. Miller made may lead us into fresh Matters, we will
here stop to account for the visible Alteration in Mr. Allworthy's Mind, and the
Abatement of his Anger to Jones. Revolutions of this Kind, it is true, do
frequently occur in Histories and dramatic Writers, for no other Reason than
because the History or Play draws to a Conclusion, and are justified by
Authority of Authors; yet though we insist upon as much Authority as any Author
whatever, we shall use this Power very sparingly, and never but when we are
driven to it by Necessity, which we do not at present foresee will happen in
this Work.
    This Alteration then in the Mind of Mr. Allworthy, was occasioned by a
Letter he had just received from Mr. Square, and which we shall give the Reader
in the Beginning of the next Chapter.
 

                                   Chapter IV

                Containing two Letters in very different Stiles.
 
        »My worthy Friend,
            I informed you in my last, that I was forbidden the Use of the
        Waters, as they were found by Experience rather to encrease than lessen
        the Symptoms of my Distemper. I must now acquaint you with a Piece of
        News, which, I believe, will afflict my Friends more than it hath
        afflicted me. Dr. Harrington and Dr. Brewster have informed me, that
        there is no Hopes of my Recovery.
            I have somewhere read, that the great Use of Philosophy is to learn
        to die. I will not therefore so far disgrace mine, as to shew any
        Surprize at receiving a Lesson which I must be thought to have so long
        studied. Yet, to say the Truth, one Page of the Gospel teaches this
        Lesson better than all the Volumes of antient or modern Philosophers.
        The Assurance it gives us of another Life is a much stronger Support to
        a good Mind, than all the Consolations that are drawn from the Necessity
        of Nature, the Emptiness or Satiety of our Enjoyments here, or any other
        Topic of those Declamations which are sometimes capable of arming our
        Minds with a stubborn Patience in bearing the Thoughts of Death; but
        never of raising them to a real Contempt of it, and much less of making
        us think it is a real Good. I would not here be understood to throw the
        horrid Censure of Atheism, or even the absolute Denial of Immortality,
        on all who are called Philosophers. Many of that Sect, as well antient
        as modern
