 can only be accounted for by an Abstract of my own Story.
Here Mr.
Fenton
called for Chocolate. And, after Breakfast, he gave Lady
Maitland
the following affecting History of his own Life and Adventures.
CHAP. XIII. STORY of the Hon. Mr. CLINTON.
THE WORLD, my lovely Cousin, the World is to Man as his Temper or Complexion. The Mind constitutes its own Prosperity and Adversity; Winter presents no Cloud to a cheerful Spirit, neither can Summer find Sunshine for the Spirit that is in a State of Dejection. In my Youth every Object presented me with Happiness; but alas, the Time came when the Universe appeared as a Vault wherein Joy was entombed, and the Sun himself but as a Lamp that served to shew the Gloom and the Horrors around me.
As my Father and Mother died before I was taken from Nurse, I knew none of those parental Tendernesses and Endearments that serve to humanize the Soul and give it the first Impressions of social Attachment; neither were those Sweetnesses in any Degree supplied to me by the Behaviour of an imperious Brother or of a magisterial Guardian. As I was naturally, however, of a benevolent Cast, I sought for those Affections and Amities among Strangers which I had not found in the Bosoms or Faces of Kin.
I pass over the immaterial Parts of my Life at School and College, and hasten to the more important Period of my Apprenticeship.
Your Father bound me to Mr.
Golding,
a very wealthy and eminent Merchant, who lived over against the
Exchange.
He had been some Years a Widower, and his only Child, a Daughter, was then at the Boarding-school.
Mr.
Golding,
with a plain Understanding, was a Man of exceeding Honesty and a susceptible Heart. At first Sight he conceived a partial Affection for me, whereof he gave me very frequent and very tender Proofs; and, as he stood to me in the Place of a Patron and a Father, I felt for him all the Fondness and Attachment of a Child.
In the fourth Year of my Apprenticeship he called me to his Closet, and, taking me kindly by the Hand,
Harry,
says he, I love you, your Interest lies near my Heart, for though you are not the begotten of my Body you are the Child of my Affections � be quiet,
Harry
 � let me speak � I have to talk to you of Matters of Consequence.  �  I went Yesterday to your Uncle
Goodall
to know how Accounts stood between ye � though he is but a cold Kinsman he is a very faithful Guardian �
