 I must be excused for saying, I desire
nothing more in the World than to send him so great a Comfort as I know he will
receive from the Presence of such a Friend.« »Then to shew you, Madam,« cries
the Colonel, »that I desire nothing more in the World than to give you Pleasure,
I will go to him immediately.«
    Amelia then bethought herself of the Serjeant, and told the Colonel, his old
Acquaintance Atkinson whom he had known at Gibraltar, was then in the House, and
would conduct him to the Place. The Serjeant was immediately called in, paid his
Respects to the Colonel, and was acknowledged by him. They both immediately set
forward, Amelia to the utmost of her Power pressing their Departure.
    Mrs. Atkinson now returned to Amelia, and was by her acquainted with the
Colonel's late Generosity: For her Heart so boiled over with Gratitude, that she
could not conceal the Ebullition. Amelia likewise gave her Friend a full
Narrative of the Colonel's former Behaviour and Friendship to her Husband, as
well Abroad as in England; and ended with declaring, that she believed him to be
the most generous Man upon Earth.
    Mrs. Atkinson agreed with Amelia's Conclusion, and said she was glad to hear
there was any such Man. They then proceeded with the Children to the Tea Table,
where Panegyric, and not Scandal, was the Topic of their Conversation; and of
this Panegyric the Colonel was the Subject; both the Ladies seeming to vie with
each other in celebrating the Praises of his Goodness.
 

                                   Chapter V

                             Comments upon Authors.

Having left Amelia in as comfortable a Situation as could possibly be expected,
her immediate Distresses relieved, and her Heart filled with great Hopes from
the Friendship of the Colonel; we will now return to Booth, who when the
Attorney and Serjeant had left him, received a Visit from that great Author of
whom honourable Mention is made in our second Chapter.
    Booth, as the Reader may be pleased to remember, was a pretty good Master of
the Classics: For his Father, tho' he designed his Son for the Army, did not
think it necessary to breed him up a Block-head. He did not perhaps imagine that
a competent Share of Latin and Creek would make his Son either a Pedant or a
Coward. He considered likewise, probably, that the Life of a Soldier is in
general a Life of Idleness, and might think that the spare Hours of an Officer
in Country Quarters would be as well employed with a Book, as in sauntring about
the
