about the fame of his ancestors himself; and the other, that, for ought I could ever learn, their lives were, take them all in all, such a uniform mixture of morality, loyalty, and brotherly love, that the description of one would serve for the whole. Their tempers might not be unaptly

compared to a bowl of punch, for though made up of the same contrariety of ingredients in common with the rest of their fellow creatures, the mixture was so happily blended, that they diffused comfort and cheerfulness to all around them.
The grandfather then having taken umbrage at court for being turned out of the cabinet, only because he maintained that the Lancashire witches were harmless old women—for which indeed Dr. JOHNSON would have been as angry with him as the council were, for he tells us he will not say there never was any such thing as witchcraft, for that probably there might have been, but that it had ceased—retired to the mansion of his forefathers, which gothic and stately structure the reader and I are looking at.
There having sat contentedly down, with a quiet conscience, an active mind, and a princely fortune, he considered—which was nothing more than his daily custom—how he might best be serviceable to his fellow creatures.
He had not deliberated long on the subject before he determined to build the village of Castlewick, and, like another Bishop Blaze, set up the trade of wool-combing. Nor was this, would he argue, a

project unworthy his rank; wool was the staple commodity of that country he so dearly loved, and for which his ancestors had so gallantly shed their blood; the wool sack was the emblem of honour, for it sustained the leading member of the house, and took place in that assembly of every thing but the throne. He had yet a better reason: his scheme would give employment to his tenants and other poor neighbours, and he should be sure to receive the daily blessings of many families who would owe a subsistance to their honest labours, under the auspices of his bounty.
This gentleman lived to see his benevolent plan carried into execution, and he enjoined his son to pursue it. This injunction was faithfully complied with, but the present Sir Sidney considerably increased the number of houses and inhabitants, altered the former rules and orders into a more regular and digested set of laws, and called in the vicar and his adherents, as the reader has already seen, to assist him in their execution.
Thus, burning the Lancashire witches was productive of one public benefit at least; for, had not the humanity of good old