Adieu, Augustus, for the present, and on tomorrow, if health permits, I'll speak to you.

CHAPTER VII.

"Tell how Richard stray'd from post to post,
What town he din'd in, and what bridges crost;
How many puppies by the way were seen,
How many asses graz'd along the green.

Heroic Epistle to Twiss.

"I take up my pen, (continued Charles, the next day) though very poorly, and may use the words of the poet :

"I've strange news to give you! but when you receive it,
'Tis impossible, Sir, that you should believe it!
But as I've experienc'd this agreeable story,
I'll digress for a moment, to lay it before you.

Well, I'll tell you; last night, after I had finished writing, I went to bed, I sleep by myself, and fell into a sound sleep, near to one o'clock. I dreamed that you, Ferdinand, and myself, with our huntsman William, and our dogs, &c. were coursing after a large hare, and as you know I often used to walk in my sleep; I imagined myself in reality, out of the Castle; still asleep, and thinking I was hunting, I had run into the garden, out of a door which was open, down the steps, to which the river runs

close past, and into the middle part of it; which, as it was shallow, only took me up to the chin; the coldness of which soon awaked me, and you can picture to yourself, how surprised I was, to find myself there, in my shirt, &c; but, as I am a good swimmer, (which you knew the value of, when I gave you that plunge, at the time we were bathing in- bay, when at the academy) soon got out, and after changing myself quietly went to bed. By my visionary hunting, I have got a very bad cold; and, as a certain Epigram says:

"There is a mistake though the saying is old,
To hear a man tell you, he has a bad cold:
We must drop the saying, though long it has stood,
For I never heard of a cold that was good."

Pray do not tell Ferdinand, nor Julia, otherwise I shall be satirized when I come

I'll just tell you one or two Anecdotes, which I met with in some of our books, and then I'll make an end of Jemmy. As I know you are fond of the doctrines of that champion of the Gospel, viz. Wesley; though I am an admirer of Calvin's precepts, yet I am no bigot! I will give you an Anecdote concerning him, truth or fiction, I leave to your judgment and opinion.

1.-Anecdote of General Oglethorpe and the Rev. John Wesley."In the course of his voyage to America, Mr. Wesley hearing an unusual noise in the cabin of General Oglethorpe, the governor of Georgia with whom he sailed, stepped in, to enquire the reason of it; upon which, the General immediately addressed him: Mr. Wesley, you must excuse me, I have met with a provocation too great for any man to bear:

you know the only wine I drink is that of Cyprus, as it agrees with me the best of any. I therefore provided myself with some dozens of it, and this villain Grimaldi, (his foreign servant, who was present, and almost dead with fear) has drank up the whole of it. But I will be revenged on him. I have ordered him to be tied hand and foot and carried to the man of war, which sails with us. The rascal should have taken care, not to have used me so, for I never forgive.' 'Then I hope, Sir,' said Mr. Wesley, looking calmly at him, you never sin.' The General was quite confounded at the reproof; and putting his hands into his pocket, took out a bunch of keys, which he threw at Grimaldi, saying, 'There villain, take my keys, and behave better for the future.' You see, what a word can do, when fitly spoken, in whatever humour a man may be. What a good thing it is, as the wise son of David says:"A word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."-Prov. xxv. Î1.

6

Having given you an anecdote of a favourite of yours, pray let me have my humour, in giving you one, of a favourite of mine; no less a personage, than the Rev. George Whitfield.

'ers.

2.-Anecdote of the Rev. George Whitfield."Remarkable instances are related of the manner, in which Mr. Whitfield impressed his hearA man in Exeter stood with stones in his pocket, and one in his hand, ready to throw at him; but he dropped it, before the sermon was far advanced, and going up to him when preaching was over, said, Sir, I came here with an intention to break your head; but God, through your ministry, has given me a broken heart.'

A ship builder was once asked what he thought of Mr. Whitfield: 'Think,' he replied, 'I tell you, Sir, every Sunday that I go to my parish church, I can build a ship from stem to stern, under the sermon; but were I to save my soul, under Mr. Whitfield, I could not lay a single plank.' Hume pronounced him the most ingenious preacher he ever heard; and said, it was worth going twenty miles to hear him. But, perhaps, the greatest proof of persusive powers was, when he drew from Dr. Franklin's pocket, the money, which that cool reasoner determined not to give it was for the orphan-house, at Savannah. I did not,' says the American philosopher, 'disapprove of the design; but, as Georgia was then destitute of materials and workmen; it was proposed to send them from Philadelphia, at a great expense. I thought it would have been better, to have built the house at Philadelphia, and brought the children to it. This I advised, but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my counsel, and I therefore refused to contribute. I happened, soon after, to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which, I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved, he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket, a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the copper; another stroke of his oratory, made me ashamed of that, and determined to give the silver; and he finished so admirably, that I emptied my pockets wholly, into the collector's dish, gold and all! At this sermon, (continues Franklin) there was also one of our club, who,

being of my sentiments, respecting the building in Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be intended, had, by precaution, emptied his pocket, before he came from home; but towards the conclusion of the discourse, found a strong inclination to give, and applied to a neighbour, who stood near him, to lend him some money, for the purpose. The request was made to, perhaps the only man in the company, who had the firmness not to be affected by the preacher His answer was, 'at any other time, friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but not now, for thou seems to me, to be out of thy right senses.'

One of his flight of oratory, not in the best taste, is related on Hume's authority.

After a solemn pause, Mr. Whitfield, thus addressed his audience. The attendant ange is just about to leave this threshold, and ascend to heaven; and shall he ascend, and not carry with him the news of one sinner, among all the multitude, reclaimed from the error of their ways.' To give the greater effect and energy to his exclamation, he stamped with his foot, lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven, and cried aloud, 'stop Gabriel! stop Gabriel? stop, ere you enter the sacred portals, and yet carry with you, the news of one sinner converted to God. Hume said, this address was accompanied with such animated, yet natural action, that it surpassed any thing he ever saw or heard in any other preacher."-SOUTHEY.

Now, what do you think of my favourite? We have none in the present day, so full of life, fire and zeal. Ah! no, before some can be Ministers, they must have a college education,