Page 420 of 817

In town, I believe, he chiefly lived, but his studying the law

was a mere pretence; and being now free from all restraint, his

life was a life of idleness and dissipation. For about three

years I heard little of him; but on the decease of the incumbent

of the living which had been designed for him, he applied to me

again by letter for the presentation. His circumstances, he

assured me, and I had no difficulty in believing it, were

exceedingly bad. He had found the law a most unprofitable study,

and was now absolutely resolved on being ordained, if I would

present him to the living in question--of which he trusted there

could be little doubt, as he was well assured that I had no other

person to provide for, and I could not have forgotten my revered

father's intentions. You will hardly blame me for refusing to

comply with this entreaty, or for resisting every repetition of

it.