business. I saw at once that intelligence may meet every exigency. Our great Locke was a physician; he became the first metaphysician in Europe, and restored the value of the British coinage. In three days Freind raised the ₤100,000, but the court of Charles the VI. contrived to squander it in three weeks. After this the general, accompanied by his theologian, was obliged to repair to London to justify himself before the parliament for conquering Catalonia against all rule, and for ruining himself in the common cause. The affair was protracted and vexatious, as are all party disputes.
You know that Mr. Freind was a member of parliament before he became a priest, and he is the only person who has been allowed to combine functions so opposed. One day, when Freind was thinking over a speech he intended to deliver in the house (of which he was a most respected member), a Spanish lady was announced as desirous of seeing him on particular business. It was Dona Boca Vermeja herself, in tears. Our good friend ordered a luncheon. She took some refreshment, dried her eyes, and thus began :
"You will remember, sir, when you went to Genoa, you ordered your son John to leave Barcelona for London, and to commence his duties as a clerk in the exchequer, a post which your influence had obtained for him. He embarked in the "Triton," with a young bachelor of arts, Don Papa Dexando, and others whom you had converted.
