which they had ever received,) coming in this manner from a stranger, and at such a time, threw the good old woman into a transport of joy. She would be raised up in her bed, that she might bless God for it, upon her knees: and, with her last breath, pray for her kind and generous benefactor; and for Dr. Doddridge, who had been the means of her receiving this bounty, And soon after, she expired in great peace,

2. The exemplary tradesman.

Mr. Samuel Richardson, an eminent printer, in London, served a seven years' faithful apprenticeship to a master who was so intent on gain, that he grudged him every hour of leisure and diversion, which other masters usually allow to their apprentices. "I was obliged to take," said he, "from the hours of rest and relaxation, my reading times for the improvement of my mind. But I took care, that even my candle was of my own purchasing, that I might not, in the most trifling instance, make my master a sufferer; (who used to call me the pillar of his house ;) and not to disable myself by sitting up, from performing my duty to him in the day-time." After the end of Richardson's apprenticeship, he was employed, for five or six years, in a printing-office; and part of the time as an overseer : and thus working his way upwards into day-light, he at length took up his freedom, and began business for himself.

He

He had been diligent and conscientious as an apprentice; he was assiduous and liberal as a master, loved to encourage diligence, and early rising, among his journeymen and apprentices. His punctuality, his integrity, and the honour and generosity of his dealings, soon gained him friends; and his business greatly pros

pered. He was one of the most attentive of men to the calls of business: he placed an absolute reliance on Providence, and his own endeavours. He was sober, temperate, and regular, from his youth up; he never suffered himself to be drawn into any low, vicious pursuits, or corrupted by the bad examples which he saw: so that when he was advanced in years, he was able to say; "I never was in a bad house; nor, to my knowledge, in company with a bad woman."-He married the daughter of the printer to whom he had been apprentice; an amiable and respectable young woman. He was a good husband and father; and he was much beloved and respected in his family, and by his friends. He was kind to his relations; many of whom, as well as other persons, received much assistance from him as he rose in the world.

3. The female farmers.

Mrs. Sarah Spencer was the daughter of a gentleman in Sussex: her brother was once high sheriff of the county. She had been genteelly educated, and with such notions as are common to people in her rank of life; yet, on the death of her father, she found that her whole fortune was not sufficient for her maintenance. Her sister Mary was left in the same situation. They either had no relations, on whom they could quarter themselves, or they thought such a state of dependence but a kind of beggary. Unaccustomed to work, and ashamed to beg, they seemed to have no prospect but that of pining to death in helpless and hopeless penury. At a loss what else to do, they took a farm; and, without ceasing to be gentlewomen, became farmers. This farm they carried on for many

years, much to their credit and advantage; and, as far as example goes, not less to the advantage of their neighbourhood. Marks of their good husbandry were long visible in the village in which they lived. They were visited and respected by the gentry around them, as they deserved to be; and, not unfrequently, in the same day, they divided their hours in the labours of the farm, and in receiving company of the highest rank and distinction. To many of their poorer relations, they were not only kind but useful. And when they died, they were very sincerely regretted.

4. The knitters.

"Travelling through the counties of Aberdeen and Bamf," says lord Kames, in a letter to the duchess of Gordon, dated August, 1770, "it is pleasant to see the young creatures turning out every where from their little cottages, full of curiosity, but not less full of industry; for every one of them is employed: and in knitting stockings, they lose not all the while a single motion of their fingers. This sight I have never beheld without delight."-In most parts of Wales, and in many other places, women and girls are seldom seen without their knitting, at any spare moment; or when carrying their milkpails, or driving cattle, or engaged in any work that leaves their hands at liberty.

5. The collier husbandman.

James Croft worked in the colliery of William Danby, esq. of Swinton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. His master let him have about seventeen acres of moor land; which, in the course of a few years, he improved

in a surprising manner, and rendered very productive. His work in the colliery was regular; equal, in every respect, to that of the other men, and, in some respects, superior. His hour of going to the mine was twelve o'clock at night; and the work was over at noon the next day. The remainder was all the time he had to perform his wonders in husbandry. He never expended one shilling in hiring the labour of another man : nor received assistance of any kind, except some little in weeding potatoes, and other slight work, from his children; only one of whom was a boy, who worked with him in the colliery. The quantity of lime which he laid on his land, was very great, and much more than was commonly used by the neighbouring farmers; and the number of ploughings which he gave his fields, was equally superior: yet all this labour was performed with a single galloway; and the lime brought six miles.

6. Wise savings.

William White, a Dorsetshire day-labourer, having nothing but his own labour to depend upon, saved regularly ten pounds a year: an example of frugality and sobriety which is much to his honour; and which numbers of his brethren all over the kingdom might imitate, if they had but the resolution, These savings he continued for twenty years; laying up, in this manner, the sum of two hundred pounds. He then took about four acres of land, part of it bog-land, which he cultivated very industriously, with his own hands. He kept gradually adding to his land, till, at length, he became a considerable farmer and was highly distinguished for the excellent management of his land; and particularly for the skill and diligence with which he improved boggy

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soils. He met with considerable losses by fire, but repaired his buildings, with his own hands; being his own carpenter, mason, and thatcher.

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7. The farm labourer.

In the year 1786, died George Barwell, aged seventythree whose honesty, industry, and good sense, were such as are rarely found in a farm labourer. From the earnings of hard labour, he reared five children to maturity. After they were grown up, and able to maintain themselves, he saved, by the same industry. and frugality which, in his younger days, had supported his family, enough to support himself in his old age; and died worth a hundred pounds. Having once been asked how a common farm labourer, with his small earnings, could rear a large family, without any assistance, he said, he had frequently been hard put to it; 66 "but," added he, with a sigh, no man knows what he can do, till he is tried." At his death, he owed only sixpence; and he entreated his children to remember to pay it.

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8. The young printer.

When Benjamin Franklin was a young man, he worked in a printing-house, in London, as a pressman, and afterwards as a compositor. He applied assiduously to his business; and was very desirous of laying by some money. He drank nothing but water. The other workmen, to the number of about fifty, were great drinkers of beer. They were surprised to see, that he was much stronger, and more active, than those who drank porter. The beer-boy had sufficient em