it.  I have seen his master at work in this little spot with his coat off, and his dibble in his hand:  it was a scene of tranquil virtue to have stopped an angel on his errands of mercy!  Harley had contrived to lead a little bubbling brook through a green walk in the middle of the ground, upon which he had erected a mill in miniature for the diversion of Edwards’s infant grandson, and made shift in its construction to introduce a pliant bit of wood that answered with its fairy clack to the murmuring of the rill that turned it.  I have seen him stand, listening to these mingled sounds, with his eye fixed on the boy, and the smile of conscious satisfaction on his cheek, while the old man, with a look half turned to Harley and half to heaven, breathed an ejaculation of gratitude and piety.

Father of mercies!  I also would thank thee that not only hast thou assigned eternal rewards to virtue, but that, even in this bad world, the lines of our duty and our happiness are so frequently woven together.

A FRAGMENT.—­THE MAN OF FEELING TALKS OF WHAT HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND.—­AN INCIDENT

* * * * “Edwards,” said he, “I have a proper regard for the prosperity of my country:  every native of it appropriates to himself some share of the power, or the fame, which, as a nation, it acquires, but I cannot throw off the man so much as to rejoice at our conquests in India.  You tell me of immense territories subject to the English:  I cannot think of their possessions without being led to inquire by what right they possess them.  They came there as traders, bartering the commodities they brought for others which their purchasers could spare; and however great their profits were, they were then equitable.  But what title have the subjects of another kingdom to establish an empire in India? to give laws to a country where the inhabitants received them on the terms of friendly commerce?  You say they are happier under our regulations than the tyranny of their own petty princes.  I must doubt it, from the conduct of those by whom these regulations have been made.  They have drained the treasuries of Nabobs, who must fill them by oppressing the industry of their subjects.  Nor is this to be wondered at, when we consider the motive upon which those gentlemen do not deny their going to India.  The fame of conquest, barbarous as that motive is, is but a secondary consideration:  there are certain stations in wealth to which the warriors of the East aspire.  It is there, indeed, where the wishes of their friends assign them eminence, where the question of their country is pointed at their return.  When shall I see a commander return from India in the pride of honourable poverty?  You describe the victories they have gained; they are sullied by the cause in which they fought:  you enumerate the spoils of those victories; they are covered with the blood of the vanquished.