 to the degree of tapster, in which he was now happily settled. »If you
will take the trouble of going into the cook's kitchen, (said he) you will
perceive a beau metamorphosed into a turn-spit; and there are some hewers of
wood and drawers of water in this microcosm, who have had forests and fish-ponds
of their own: yet, notwithstanding such a miserable reverse of fortune, they are
neither objects of regard or compassion, because their misfortunes are the
fruits of the most vicious extravagance, and they are absolutely insensible of
the misery which is their lot. Those of our fellow-sufferers, who have been
reduced by undeserved losses, or the precipitation of unexperienced youth, never
fail to meet with the most brotherly assistance, provided they behave with
decorum, and a due sense of their unhappy circumstances. Nor are we destitute of
power to chastise the licentious, who refuse to comply with the regulations of
the place, and disturb the peace of the community, with riot and disorder.
Justice is here impartially administered, by a court of equity, consisting of a
select number of the most respectable inhabitants, who punish all offenders with
equal judgment and resolution, after they have been fairly convicted of the
crimes laid to their charge.«
    The clergyman having thus explained the oeconomy of the place, as well as
the cause of his own confinement, began to discover signs of curiosity, touching
our hero's situation; and Pickle, thinking he could do no less for the
satisfaction of a man, who had treated him in such an hospitable manner,
favoured him with a detail of the circumstances which produced his imprisonment:
at the same time, gratifying his resentment against the minister, which
delighted in recapitulating the injuries he had received. The parson, who had
been prepossessed in favour of our youth at first sight, understanding what a
considerable part he had acted on the stage of life, felt his veneration
increase; and, pleased with the opportunity of introducing a stranger of his
consequence to the club, left him to his repose, or rather to ruminate on an
event which he had not as yet seriously considered.
    I might here, in imitation of some celebrated writers, furnish out a page or
two, with the reflections he made upon the instability of human affairs, the
treachery of the world, and the temerity of youth; and endeavour to decoy the
reader into a smile, by some quaint observation of my own, touching the
sagacious moralizer: but, besides that I look upon this practice as an
impertinent anticipation of the peruser's
