was succeeded by another of the like comfortable
kind, which informed me that the Company in which I was, being an additional one
raised in the Beginning of the War, was reduced; so that I was now a Lieutenant
on Half-pay.
    Whilst we were meditating on our present Situation, the good Doctor came to
us. When we related to him the Manner in which my Sister had treated us, he
cried out, Poor Soul! I pity her heartily; for this is the severest Resentment
he ever expresses; indeed I have often heard him say, that a wicked Soul is the
greatest Object of Compassion in the World.« - A Sentiment which we shall leave
the Reader a little time to digest.
 

                                  Chapter XII

                    In which Mr. Booth concludes his Story.

»The next Day the Doctor set out for his Parsonage, which was about thirty Miles
distant, whither Amelia and myself accompanied him, and where we stayed with him
all the Time of his Residence there, being almost three Months.
    The Situation of the Parish under my good Friend's Care is very pleasant. It
is placed among Meadows washed by a clear Trout Stream, and flanked on both
Sides with Downs. His House indeed would not much attract the Admiration of the
Virtuoso. He built it himself, and it is remarkable only for its Plainness; with
which the Furniture so well agrees, that there is no one thing in it that may
not be absolutely necessary, except Books, and the Prints of Mr. Hogarth, whom
he calls a moral Satirist.
    Nothing, however, can be imagined more agreeable than the Life that the
Doctor leads in this homely House, which he calls his earthly Paradise. All his
Parishioners, whom he treats as his Children, regard him as their common Father.
Once in a Week he constantly visits every House in the Parish, examines,
commends, and rebukes, as he finds Occasion. This is practised likewise by his
Curate in his Absence; and so good an Effect is produced by this their Care,
that no Quarrels ever proceed either to Blows or Law-suits; no Beggar is to be
found in the whole Parish; nor did I ever hear a very profane Oath all the Time
I lived in it.
    But to return, from so agreeable a Digression, to my own Affairs, that are
much less worth your Attention. In the midst of all the Pleasures I tasted in
this sweet Place, and in the most delightful Company, the Woman and Man whom I
loved above all Things, melancholy Reflexions concerning my unhappy
Circumstances would often steal into my