age; and to his unwearied care, I owe more than life, in the good and virtuous principles he instilled into my mind. Unhappily he was but little acquainted with mankind;—bred up in the school of adversity, with a narrow income, and few connexions, his spirit had kept him from engaging in habits of company and expense, which he knew his small income could not support; and therefore he had avoided society, and mixed but very seldom among young men of his age and rank, consequently knew but little of their vices, or general profligacy.
I had nearly completed my twelfth year, when my father one day told me, that tho' it would be almost death to him to part with me; yet it was his duty to prefer my interest to his own satisfaction. He had lived in obscurity, and, with the most rigid economy, that he might save a sum sufficient to pay for my pension in a convent for two or three years, that my education might be completed. "The time is now come," said he, "when my intention must take place; I
