{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_True_humanity_usefully_exerted/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_True_humanity_usefully_exerted","id":"wikisource_True_humanity_usefully_exerted","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/True_humanity_usefully_exerted","summary":null,"tags":["2nd_millennium_works","Chapbooks","Main_pages_with_authority_control_data","PD-old","Pamphlets","Religion","Scotland","Works_of_uncertain_date","Works_using_categories_parameter","Works_with_non-numeric_dates","Works_with_reconstructed_words_or_phrases"],"text":"CHEAP TRACTS,\n\nCalculated to promote the Interests of Reli-\n\ngion, Virtue, and Humanity.\n\nNo. X.\n\nTrue\n\nHumanity\n\nUSEFULLY EXERTED.\n\nAN AFFECTING STORY.\n\n\"By the light of a lamp, that glimmered in the firele\u017fs chim-\n\nney, he \u017faw lying on a bare bed\u017ftead, without any other co-\n\nvering than the relicks of their own rags, a man, a woman, and\n\ntwo children, \u017fhuddering with cold, though huddled together\n\nto \u017fhare the little warmth which exhau\u017fted nature \u017ftill \u017fupplied\n\nthem with.\"\n\nTo which is added,\n\nTHE\n\nEffects of Gratitude\n\nTIMEOUSLY APPLIED.\n\nDUNBAR:\n\nPrinted by G. Miller:\u2014at who\u017fe Shop may be had a variety of\n\nPamphlets, Ballads, Children\u2019s Books, Pictures, Catechi\u017fms, &cc\n\nWHOLESALE AND RETAIL.\n\nTrue Humanity u\u017fefully exerted.\n\nAh! little think the gay licentious proud,\n\nWhom plea\u017fure, power, and affluence \u017furround;\n\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014How many drink the cup\n\nOf baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread\n\nOf mi\u017fery.Sore pierc\u2019d by wintry winds,\n\nHow many \u017fhrink into the \u017fordid hut\n\nOf cheerle\u017fs poverty.\n\nAS Benevolus was returning home from the Tavern late one night, he was acco\u017fted by a female, who had \u017fomething in her air and manner \u017fo different from tho\u017fe out-ca\u017fts of humanity, who offer them\u017felves to ca\u017fual pro\u017ftitution in the \u017ftreets, that his curio\u017fity was \u017ftruck, and he \u017ftopped to take more particular notice of her. She appeared to be about fifteen. Her figure was elegant, and her features regular; but want had ficklied o\u2019er their beauty; and all the horrors of de\u017fpair gloomed through the languid \u017fmile \u017fhe forced when \u017fhe addre\u017f\u017fed him.\n\nThe \u017figh of di\u017ftre\u017fs, which never \u017ftruck his ear without affecting his heart, came with double force from \u017fuch an object. He viewed her with \u017filent compa\u017f\u017fion for \u017fome moments; and reaching her a piece of gold, bad her go home, and \u017fhelter her\u017felf from the inclemencies of the night, at \u017fo late an hour. Her \u017furpri\u017fe and joy at \u017fuch unexpected charity overpowered her. She dropped upon her knees, in the wet and dirt of the \u017ftreet, and rai\u017fing her hands and eyes toward heaven, remained in that po\u017fture for\n\u017fome moments, unable to give utterance to {{reconstruct|the} gratitude that filled her heart.\n\nSuch a \u017fight was more expre\u017f\u017five then all the powers of eloquence. He rai\u017fed her tenderly from the ground, and \u017foothing her with words of comfort, offered to conduct her to \u017fome place, where \u017fhe might get that refre\u017fhment of which \u017fhe appeared to be in too great want. \"0! Sir,\" (\u017faid \u017fhe, pre\u017f\u017fing the hand that had rai\u017fed her, with her cold trembling lips) \"my deliverer, \u017fent by heaven to \u017fave me from de\u017fpair, let me not think of taking refre\u017fhment my\u017felf till I have fir\u017ft procured it for tho\u017fe who\u017fe greater wants I feel ten thou\u017fand times more \u017feverely then my own.\"\n\n\"Who can they be?\" (interrupted Benevolus with anxious impatience) \"Can humanity feel greater wants, than tho\u017fe under which you are \u017finking?\"\n\n\"My father\" (exclaimed \u017fhe bur\u017fting into tears) \"langui\u017fhing under infirmities, acquired in the \u017fervice of his country; my mother, worn out with attending on him, and both peri\u017fhing of want, (heaven grant they are not already dead!) together with two infant brothers, in\u017fen\u017fible of the cau\u017fe of their di\u017ftre\u017fs, and crying to them for a mor\u017fel of bread, which it is not in their power to give.\"\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\"Where can \u017fuch a \u017fcene of wretchedne\u017fs be hidden from relief? I\u2019ll go with you my\u017felf directly! but \u017ftop! let us fir\u017ft procure \u017fome comfortable nouri\u017fhment from \u017fome of the hou\u017fes, which are kept open at this late hour, for a very different purpo\u017fe. Come with me! we have no time to lo\u017fe.\"\u2014With the\u017fe words, he went directly to a tavern, and inquiring what victuals were dre\u017f\u017fed in the hou\u017fe, loaded her with as much as \u017fhe could carry of the be\u017ft, and putting a couple of bottles of wine in his own pockets, walked with her to her habitation, which was in a blind alley, happily for her not very far di\u017ftant, as weakne\u017fs, together with the conflict of pa\u017f\u017fions \u017ftruggling in her heart, made her \u017fcarce able to go.\n\nWhen they came to the door, \u017fhe would have gone up fir\u017ft for a light, but he was re\u017folved to accompany her, that he might \u017fee the whole \u017fcene in its genuine colours. He therefore followed her up to the top of the hou\u017fe, where opening the door of the garret, \u017fhe di\u017fcovered to him \u017fuch a \u017fcene of mi\u017fery, as \u017ftruck him with a\u017ftoni\u017fhment. By the light of a lamp, that glimmered in the firele\u017fs chimney, he \u017faw lying on a bare bed\u017ftead, without any other covering then the relicks of their own rags, a man, a woman, and two children, \u017fhuddering with cold, though huddled together to \u017fhare the little warmth which exhau\u017fted nature \u017ftill \u017fupplied them with.\n\nWhile he \u017ftood gazing in horror at \u017fuch complicated wretchedne\u017fs, his conductre\u017fs ran to the bed-\u017fide, and falling on her knees, \"O! Sir! Madam!\" (exclaimed \u017fhe, in rapture) \"Ari\u017fe!\" I have got relief from an angel of heaven.\"\n\n\"Take care!\" (an\u017fwered a voice, the hollow trembling of which was \u017fharpened by indignation) \"take care it is not from a fiend of hell, who has taken advantage of your diftrefs to tempt you to ruin! for with whom el\u017fe could you be till this time of night? But know, wretched girl, that I will never eat the earnings of vice and infamy. A few hours will put an end to my mi\u017feries, which have received the only po\u017f\u017fible addition by this your folly.\"\n\n\"He mu\u017ft be \u017fuch indeed,\" (interrupted Benevolus, \u017ftill more \u017ftruck with \u017fentiments \u017fo uncommon in \u017fuch a \u017fituation) who could think of tempting her in \u017fuch circum\u017ftances to any folly. I will withdraw, while you ari\u017fe, and then we will consult what can be \u017foone\u017ft done to alleviate a di\u017ftre\u017fs, of which you appear \u017fo unde\u017ferving.\"\u2014While he \u017faid this, he took the wine out of his pockets, and giving it to the daughter went directly down \u017ftairs, without waiting for a reply, and walking backward and forward in the \u017ftreets for \u017fome time, enjoyed the \u017fublime\u017ft plea\u017fure the human heart is capable of, in con\u017fidering how he had relieved, and \u017fhould further relieve the \u017fufferings of objects \u017fo worthy of relief.\n\nBy the time he thought they might have learned from their daughter the circum\u017ftances of her meeting with him, and taken \u017fome nouri\u017fhment, he returned to them, when the moment he entered the room, the whole family fell upon their knees to thank him. Such humiliation was more than he could bear. He rai\u017fed them, one by one, as fa\u017ft as he could, and taking the father\u2019s hand, \"Gracious God! (\u017faid he) can a \u017fen\u017fe of humanity be \u017fuch an uncommon thing among creatures, who call them\u017felves human, that \u017fo poor an exertion of it \u017fhould be thought de\u017ferving of a return, proper to be made only to heaven? Oppre\u017fs me not, Sir, I conjure you, with the mention, of what it would have been a crime, I could never have forgiven my\u017felf to have known I had not done. It is too late to think of leaving this place before to-morrow, when I will provide a better, if there is not any to which you chu\u017fe particularly to go. I am not rich; but I thank heaven, that it has ble\u017f\u017fed me with ability and inclination to afford \u017fuch a\u017f\u017fi\u017ftance as may be immediately nece\u017f\u017fary to you, till means may be thought of for doing more.\"\n\n\"O, Sir,\" (an\u017fwered the mother) \"well might my daughter call you an angel of heaven! You know not from what mi\u017fery you have already relieved\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\"Nor will I know more of it at this time,\" (interupted Benevolus) \"than that which I too plainly \u017fee. I will leave you now to your re\u017ft, and return as \u017foon as it is day.\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\"Speak not of leaving us, Sir,\" (exclaimed the daughter, who was afraid that if he \u017fhould go away, he might not return) \"What re\u017ft can we take, in \u017fo \u017fhort a time? Leave us not, I be\u017feech you! leave us not in this place!\u201d\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\"Cea\u017fe, my child!\" (interpo\u017fed the father) \"nor pre\u017fs your benefactor to continue in a \u017fcene of mi\u017fery, that mu\u017ft give pain to his humane heart.\"\n\n\"If my \u017ftaying will not give you pain,\" (an\u017fwered Benevolus) \"I will mo\u017ft willingly \u017ftay; but it mu\u017ft be on condition that our conver\u017fation points entirely forward to happier days. There will be time enough hereafter to look back.\"\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\nSaying this, he \u017fat down on the bed-\u017fide, (for other \u017feat the appartment afforded none) between the hu\u017fband and wife, with whom he \u017fpent the little remainder of the night, in \u017fuch di\u017fcour\u017fe, as he thought mo\u017ft likely to divert their attention from their pre\u017fent mi\u017fery, and in\u017fpire their minds with better hopes, while the children, all but the daughter who hung upon his words, comforted at heart with a better meal, then they had long ta\u017fted, fell fa\u017ft alleep as they leaned their heads upon their mother\u2019s lap.\n\nAs \u017foon as it was day, \"Now, madam,\" (\u017faid Benevolus, addre\u017f\u017fing him\u017felf to the mother) \"I will go, and provide a place for your reception, as you \u017fay all places are alike to you. In the mean time accept of this trifle (giving her ten guineas) to provide \u017fuch nece\u017f\u017faries, as you may indi\u017fpen\u017fibly want before you remove. When you are \u017fettled, we will \u017fee what further can be done. I \u017fhall be back with you within the\u017fe three hours at mo\u017ft.\"\n\nFor \u017fuch beneficence there was no po\u017f\u017fibility of returning thanks; but their hearts \u017fpoke through their eyes, in a language \u017fufficiently intelligible to his. Departing directly to \u017fave both him\u017felf and them the pain of pur\u017fuing conver\u017fation that grew too di\u017ftre\u017fsful, he went without regard to change of dre\u017fs or appearance, to look for a proper lodging for them, where he laid in \u017fuch provi\u017fions of every kind, as he knew they mu\u017ft immediately want. This care employed him till the time he had promised to return, when he found \u017fuch an alteration in the looks and appearance of them all, as gave his heart delight.\n\n\"You \u017fee, Sir,\" (\u017faid the mother, as \u017foon as he entered) \"the effects of your bounty: but do not think that vanity has made us abu\u017fe it. The\u017fe cloaths, what we could rai\u017fe on which has for \u017fome time been our \u017fole \u017fupport, where the purcha\u017fe of happier times; and were now redeemed for much le\u017fs than we mu\u017ft have given for the wor\u017ft we could buy.\"\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\"Dear, madam,\" (interrupted Benevolus, taking her hand re\u017fpectfully) \"mention not any thing of the kind to me, I be\u017feech you. You will \u017foon \u017fee \u017fuch times again.\"\u2014Then turning to her hu\u017fband, \"I have taken a lodging, Sir; (continued he) it is convenient, but not large, as I imagined would be your choice. I will call a coach to take us to it directly. If there are any demands here, let the people of the hou\u017fe be called up, and they \u017fhall be paid. I will be your pur\u017fe-bearer for the pre\u017fent.\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" (replied the hu\u017fband) \"there are not any. You have enabled us to di\u017fcharge all demands upon us. People in our circum\u017ftances, cannot find credit, becau\u017fe they want it.\"\n\nBenevolus would then have gone for a coach, but the daughter in\u017fi\u017fted on \u017faving him that trouble; upon which he put the whole family into it, and walked away before them to their new lodging. It is impo\u017f\u017fible to de\u017fcribe what the\u017fe poor people felt, when they \u017faw the provi\u017fion he had made for their reception. The father, in particular, could not bear it, but \u017finking into a chair, \"This is too much!\" (\u017faid he, as \u017foon as a flood of tears had given vent to the fullne\u017fs of his heart) \"This is too much. Support me, gracious Heaven, who has \u017fent this be\u017ft of men to my relief, \u017fupport me under the weight of obligations, which the pre\u017fervation of the\u017fe alone (looking round upon his wife and children) could induce me to accept.\"\u2014Then adder\u017f\u017fing him\u017felf to Benevolus, \"My heart is not unthankful (continued he) but gratitude in \u017fuch exce\u017fs as mine, where there is no pro\u017fpect of ever making a return, is the \u017fevere\u017ft pain.\"\n\nBenevolus, who \u017fought none, attempted often to give the conver\u017fation another turn; but finding that they could \u017fpeak or think of nothing el\u017fe as yet, he took his leave, promi\u017fing to come the next day, when their minds \u017fhould be better \u017fettled, to con\u017fult what more was in his power to \u017ferve them, having fir\u017ft privately taken an opportunity to \u017flip a couple of guineas into the daughter\u2019s hand, to avoid putting the delicacy of her father and mother to farther pain.\n\nFatigued in mind and body, from the height to which his tendere\u017ft pa\u017f\u017fions had been wound up by \u017fuch a moving \u017fcene, Benevolus went directly home, and throwing him\u017felf on a bed, \u017flept till next morning, without di\u017fturbance from pain or reflection.\n\nAs \u017foon as he awoke the next day, he went to vi\u017fit his new family, where the happine\u017fs, that gli\u017ftened in every grateful eye, at his approach, made him happy. After \u017fome general chat, \"It is my duty, Sir, (\u017faid the father) to give you \u017fome account of my\u017felf, and of the cau\u017fe of my falling into that depth of mi\u017fery, from which your\nbeneficence relieved me, that you \u017fhould not think it has been lavi\u017fhed on objects altogether unworthy of it.\n\nI am de\u017fcended from a good family, the fortune of which my father di\u017f\u017fipated in \u017fupporting a parliamentary intere\u017ft for the mini\u017ftry; the only return he received for which, and for his voice upon all occa\u017fions, was a \u017fmall pen\u017fion for him\u017felf, and a pair of colours in the Guards for me, his only \u017fon, with promi\u017fes indeed of farther provi\u017fion, which were all forgotten when he died, happily for him\u017felf, before the end of the parliament, which as he had no pro\u017fpect of being returned again, would have left him at the mercy of creditors, whom it was not in his power to pay.\n\nThough I was \u017foon \u017fen\u017fible that my be\u017ft hopes died with him, I was \u017fo infatuated to a profe\u017f\u017fion, the mo\u017ft plea\u017fing to youthful idlene\u017fs and vanity, that I laid out the little fortune of this be\u017ft of women, whom I had married in my days of better hope, in the purcha\u017fe of a company, in a marching regiment; at the head of which I flattered my\u017felf, that I \u017fhould meet \u017fome opportunity, in the war ju\u017ft then broke out, of meriting further promotion. But I found the vanity of \u017fuch a thought, when it was unhappily too late.\n\nAfter \u017feveral years careful \u017fervice, in the cour\u017fe of which I had \u017fealed some degree of reputation with my blood, in several warm actions, without advantage to myself, or prospect of any to my family, who now multiplied the cares of life ten thousand fold upon my head, I was driven by dispair to exchange my company, which I had bought, and therefore could have \u017fold again, the price of which would at lea\u017ft have kept us from absolute \u017ftarving, for an higher rank in a younger regiment, ju\u017ft then ordered upon an expedition, the object of which raised, what was thought rational expectation of such profit, as \u017fhould ease me from the anxieties that made life a burden.\n\nAllured solely by this expectaion, I went accordingly. The expedition was successful. I did my duty. I was wounded in the course of it, to the extreme danger of my life. I entirely ruined my con\u017ftitution by the severity of the climate; and on my return home was reduced to half-pay, without receiving so much prize-money as defrayed the extraordinary expences of the expedition, and of the illness, which I contracted in it; while those above me accumulated such wealth, as if divided in any degree of proportion, would have recompen\u017fed the labours of us, who had literally borne the heat and burden of the day, and were now pining in discontent and misery, aggravated by a partiality so severely injurious.\n\nIn this \u017fituation, I resolved to throw myself at the feet of my Sovereign, and implore relief from the known goodness of his heart. But his throne was \u017furrounded by those whose intere\u017ft it was to keep the cries of his people from coming to his ears; and therefore, as it was nece\u017f\u017fary for me to make my errand known, I never could obtain acce\u017fs to him.\n\nThe di\u017ftress of this disappointment was \u017ftill farther heightened by the delays in the discharge of that half pay, which was now my only support; and the draw-backs it was subject to from the fees of office, even when it \u017fhould come to be paid, which were \u017fuch, that when I attempted to mortgage it, the wretch\u2019s la\u017ft resource, to put off \u017ftarving as long as he can, what I could get from those vultures, who faten upon the sufferings of a \u017foldier, was scarce sufficient to satisfy our present wants. How then could I look forward for a family, dearer to me then life? What could support resolution, when hope was gone? Mine was unequal to the trial; and I was beginning to meditate on putting an end to a life of such misery, without con\u017fidering that the sufferings of those, for whom I felt so much more than for myself, mu\u017ff be \u017ftill made heavier by such a base desertion of them, when heaven in its mercy vi\u017fited my family with a violent fever, which freed me from farther fears for the future welfare of my three elde\u017ft sons, and with difficultly spared two, whom you see before you. O! my poor boys! happy! thrice happier than us whom you left behind! Excuse this weakness. Sir, nature will force the involuntary tear in spite of reason; for were they not the children of my love?\n\nDuring their illness, I lo\u017ft every other care in my attendance upon them; nor omitted any po\u017f\u017fible means to preserve lives, for which my fears foreboded nothing but unhappiness; but though their deaths freed me from a part of those fears, they left a melancholy void in my heart, which was more painful, if po\u017f\u017fible, than any fear. But I was not long \u017fen\u017fible of that pain. My children were scarce laid in the grave, when the fever seized myself with such violence, that I soon lo\u017ft my senses, nor recovered them for above a month; and then only to feel the greate\u017ft wretchedness, that was ever heaped upon a human creature.\n\nThe expence of my children\u2019s, and my own illness, had not only exhau\u017fted all the money I had raised on the anticipation of my half-pay, but also obliged my wife to mortgage several of our be\u017ft effects. Such a resourse never escapes the watchful eyes of people who keep lodging-houses. Our landlady no sooner perceived it, than \u017fhe seized upon the re\u017ft, and then turned us out, the moment I could be removed without in\u017ftant death.\n\nIn this \u017fituation, I mu\u017ft have peri\u017fhed in the \u017ftreets, had not a poor woman, whom my wife had been obliged to call in to her a\u017f\u017fi\u017ftance when I \u017fickened, \u017fhared with us her habitation, in which you found us, as \u017fhe al\u017fo did the earnings of her daily labour, till a chairman who was carrying a beau to a ball, threw her down with such violence, for not making ha\u017fte enough out of his way, that \u017fhe broke her leg, and was obliged to be taken to an hospital.\n\nFrom that time we supported life by morgaging the few cloaths we had brought upon our backs, without one ray of hope to tempt us to look forward, till they also were all gone, and the misery of cold added to that of hunger. In this condition, we had been two days without ta\u017fting bread, or feeling the warmth of fire, calling ince\u017f\u017fantly upon death to put that end to our di\u017ftresses, which a \u017fense of religion, made \u017ftronger by my wretchedness, now prevented my daring to ha\u017ften, when my daughter \u017ftole out unknown to us to \u017feek for charity in the \u017ftreets, where \u017fhe wandered without meeting any thing but in\u017fults, and \u017follicitations to vice, till heaven directed your \u017fteps to her.\n\nSuch was the reward of more then twenty years faithful and hard \u017fervice, in which I had fought the battles of my country, in oppo\u017fite extremities of the globe, with honour, and been in\u017ftrumental in making princely fortunes for the \u017feveral commanders, under whom I \u017ferved.\n\nThis, Sir, is the \u017fum of my \u017ftory, in which I have been as brief as I could, to avoid giving you pain. We are now your creatures. The lives we enjoy are immediately the gift of your benevolence; a benevolence \u017fo critically timed, (for we could not have \u017fub\u017fi\u017fted many hours longer without it) as to rai\u017fe a hope, that Providence, which \u017fent you to our relief, will not leave its work unfini\u017fhed, but \u017fave us from falling again into \u017fuch mi\u017fery, by means agreeable to its own wi\u017fdom and goodne\u017fs, though impo\u017f\u017fible for us in our pre\u017fent \u017fituation to fore\u017fee.\"\n\nIt was \u017fome time before Benevolus, who had li\u017ftened to the officer\u2019s \u017ftory with \u017fympathetic attention, was able to \u017fpeak. Recovering him\u017felf at length, \"fear not;\" (\u017faid he, in a broken voice) \"never was the righteous for\u017faken; nor\u2014nor\u2014nor\u2014\u2014\u2014I have \u017fome friends, Sir, who may \u017ferve\u2014In the mean time take this (reaching him a bank-note for twenty pounds); I will not be refu\u017fed! bu\u017fine\u017fs call me for a few hours; but I will \u017fee you again in the evening.\"\u2014\u2014\u2014Saying this, he hurried away to hide his emotions, without waiting for a reply, which indeed their gratitude left them not the power to make. He immediately applied to a nobleman, who held a di\u017ftingui\u017fhed \u017ftation under the government, and who honoured Beneovolus with his particular intimacy; to him he related the melancholy \u017ftory, which \u017fo deeply affected his \u017fympathetic heart, that he in\u017ftantly gave the father a place of con\u017fiderable profit under him, which enabled this virtuous \u017fufferer once more to make his family perfectly happy.\n\nTHE\n\nEFFECTS of GRATITUDE\n\nTIMEOUSLY APPLIED.\n\n\"She looks, methinks,\n\nOf old Aca\u017fto's line; and to my mind\n\nRecalls that patron of my happy life,\n\nFrom whom my liberal fortune took its ri\u017fe;\n\nNow to the du\u017ft gone down; his hou\u017fes, lands,\n\nAnd once fair-\u017fpreading family, di\u017f\u017folv'd.\n\nRomantic wi\u017fh! would this the daughter were!\n\nWhen, \u017ftrict enquiring, from her\u017felf he found\n\nShe was the \u017fame, the daughter of his friend,\n\nOf bountiful Aca\u017fto; who can \u017fpeak\n\nThe mingled pa\u017f\u017fions that \u017furpris'd his heart,\n\nAnd thro\u2019 his nerves in \u017fhivering tran\u017fport ran?\n\nAnd art thou then Aca\u017fto's dear remains!\n\nShe, whom my re\u017ftle\u017fs gratitude has \u017fought\n\nSo long in vain?\n\nTho\u2019 poverty's cold wind, and cru\u017fhing rain,\n\nBeat keen, and heavy, on thy tender years?\n\nO let me now, into a richer \u017foil,\n\nTran\u017fplant thee \u017fafe!\"\n\nCLAUDIAN and Curio were two young per\u017fons educated in the \u017fame hou\u017fe, and brought up to the \u017fame bu\u017fine\u017fs, under the \u017fame ma\u017fter; but with this difference, that Claudian was the \u017fon, the other the \u017fervant of the worthy Morillus, and the former had a con\u017fiderable independant fortune, while the latter had no e\u017ftate but hone\u017ft indu\u017ftry.\n\nSome years \u017fince, the parent and ma\u017fter dying, the young traders were left to them\u017felves: Curio declined an offer of partner\u017fhip with his young ma\u017fter, merely becau\u017fe it was more then he could in rea\u017fon expect: and Claudian generou\u017fly advanced him a \u017fum of money to engage in trade with for him\u017felf, as a reward for his di\u017fintere\u017ftedne\u017fs.\n\nCurio, who knew he traded at pre\u017fent with another\u2019s \u017ftock, and had only indu\u017ftry and frugality for the means to repay the loan, and \u017fettle him\u017felf in ea\u017fe and happine\u017fs, became the mo\u017ft diligent trader, and greate\u017ft \u017flave to a \u017fhop that ever kept one.\u2014No debaucheries over night kept him in bed the next morning, and his doors were open two hours before, and at lea\u017ft an hour after any of his neighbours.\u2014Curio lived in his \u017fhop, and knew no idle moment there: his con\u017ftant attendance brought him con\u017ftant bu\u017fine\u017fs; his obliging behaviour, and the probity of his dealings made every cu\u017ftomer a friend to him, \u017fo that whoever once bought of him, never afterwards bought any where el\u017fe.\n\nThe fir\u017ft year\u2019s balance gave him power to pay his generous benefactor, which he did with the warme\u017ft thanks; and before another was elap\u017fed, he was become the favourite of every worthy per\u017fon in the neighbourhood; and the \u017fobriety of his life recommended him \u017fo far to the clergyman of the place, one of the worthie\u017ft of his function, that he found no ob\u017ftacle in the way of his addre\u017f\u017fes to this gentleman\u2019s daughter.\n\nHis better fortune made no alteration in his temper; he naturally indeed entered on a \u017fomewhat more expen\u017five way of living on his having a wife, but \u017fhe was as frugal and as prudent as him\u017felf, and they \u017foon calculated a certain \u017ftandard of expence, \u017fomething within what their pre\u017fent profits would afford, and determined to \u017fave a little from that till their increa\u017fe of trade \u017fhould enable them in the \u017fucceeding years to \u017fpend more, without being more extravagant. It is ea\u017fy to conceive that \u017fuch a family mu\u017ft \u017fave money yearly; and, in \u017fhort, the end of the \u017fecond year \u017faw them worth more than from \u017fuch a capital, and from \u017fo \u017fmall beginnings, one would expect.\u2014While this was the life of Curio, his young ma\u017fter, who\u017fe ea\u017fy fortune \u017fet him above the nece\u017f\u017fity of indu\u017ftry, was carrying on the \u017fame trade in a very different manner.\n\nIt is the mo\u017ft dangerous of all errors, though too common a one, for a man to imagine he can play with bu\u017fine\u017fs, and do what he plea\u017fes when his affairs are ea\u017fy without it. There is no middle \u017ftate in the trading world; indu\u017ftry will bring riches, idlene\u017fs beggary, nor is there any \u017fettled medium between the\u017fe.\n\nClaudian \u017feemed indeed to have all the fal\u017fe notions of the generality of our young traders; and too many in this city are ruined daily by the \u017fame, yet that they are \u017ftill propagated among numbers as the \u017fecrets of trading, is a truth as certain as the go\u017fpel.\n\nClaudian\u2019s affairs began now to run greatly behind-hand, without his knowing it; out that which others plan out as a la\u017ft relief when they find them\u017felves ju\u017ft going, was now likely to prove \u017fo to our young gentleman trader, without his knowing it. A young lady who accidentally came into his \u017fhop one day, when he was pre\u017fent, took away both what \u017fhe bought, and her trade\u017fman\u2019s heart al\u017fo.\n\nIn \u017fhort, Claudian watched her home. He was prudent enough, before he went any farther, to inform him\u017felf whom \u017fhe was, and found her to be a per\u017fon of a good family, with ten thou\u017fand pounds fortune.\n\nAs Claudian was a man of a polite and engaging behaviour, he \u017foon found means of introducing him\u017felf into the family; and as he imagined him\u017felf more than an equal match for her, he made it his fir\u017ft \u017ftep to \u017fettle matters with her father. This man had indeed no liking to this \u017fort of gentleman-trading that Claudian carried on; but his private fortune made him appear unexceptionable in re\u017fpect of money, and \u017foon convinced the old gentleman of the advantages of his way of carrying on bu\u017fine\u017fs. He found le\u017fs difficulty to get the lady\u2019s con\u017fent than her father\u2019s, and all was harmony and good under\u017ftanding between them.\n\nWhen things were in this \u017ftate, the lady\u2019s fortune was enquired more in earne\u017ft into, on Claudian\u2019s part, and his, on her father\u2019s. No mi\u017ftake appeared about hers; but, alas! the looking into his affairs on this occa\u017fion, was the fir\u017ft notice the intended bride-groom had of his approching ruin. His books were indeed full of long debts, and the current account of ca\u017fh in trade was \u017fomething con\u017fiderable, but his fortune was almo\u017ft all drawn out of his banker\u2019s hands, and though he had much more owing to him than from him, yet his debts to his traders were not \u017fmall.\n\nThe old gentleman, in con\u017fequence of all this, now refu\u017fed his daughter; the di\u017ftre\u017fs on her part, as well as Claudian\u2019s, was very \u017fincere and affecting, and they parted with the \u017fincere\u017ft agonies on both \u017fides, nor could the intreates of the old people prevent the young lady from engaging her\u017felf by a mo\u017ft \u017folemn vow, never to marry any other per\u017fon.\n\nClaudian now began to new model his afafairs, to collect his money and call in his debts; but his \u017fervants went off in the nigh with a great part of his ready ca\u017fh. Many of his debtors were dead, many more di\u017fper\u017fed in the pri\u017fons abroad.\u2014But his creditors were ready enough to make their appearance: they had heard that his treaty of marriage was broken off; they had heard al\u017fo on what occa\u017fion. The consequence was, that they all fell upon him at once, and sized both his person and his remaining affects. Happily, in this exigence, he recollected the man he had once been generous to; he thought on Curio: him he went for immediately, gave him full power to act for him, and be\u017fought him to endeavour at bringing his affairs to a compo\u017fition. This grateful man engaged him\u017felf without he\u017fitation for the whole, relieved his friend, took him home, called in his debts, and made up the remainder of the payment out of his own fortune. Nor did he \u017ftop here, but taking him a\u017fide one day, \"My dear Claudian\" \u017faid he, \"there was a time in which you were \u017fo generous as to offer me a partner\u017fhip I had no right to expect. My bu\u017fine\u017fs is now as valuable as yours was then; but whereas you owed me nothing, I cannot but remember, I owe every thing to you: my gratitude therefore prompts me to make the \u017fame kind of offer at this day, as\nyour genero\u017fity urged you then to do.\u2014Accept therefore freely, and without \u017fcruple,\nan equal \u017fhare of all that your goodne\u017fs has enabled me to procured.\"\n\nIt was not without difficulty, that Claudian was prevailed on to come into the views of his friend. However, being importuned he at la\u017ft accepted the generous offer; and having \u017fo done, re\u017folved to make him\u017felf worthy of it. Every one \u017faw the goodne\u017fs of Curio\u2019s heart, and every one was now witne\u017fs to the change it wrought in his friend who quickly became more diligent than he had ever been remi\u017fs.\u2014Succe\u017fs was the natural\ncon\u017fequence of the united efforts of the merchants. Claudian had now nothing to lament but the lo\u017fs of his love, whose idea was too \u017ftrongly imprinted in his mind for him ever to forget her. But in this too fortune was now favourable to him.\u2014A relation of his dying, left him a \u017fum twice as large as he had at fir\u017ft po\u017f\u017fe\u017f\u017fed. Enraptured with the opportunity of making at once both him\u017felf and his lovely mi\u017ftre\u017fs happy, he \u017flew directly to her, renewed his addre\u017f\u017fes and ea\u017fily obtained the con\u017fent of her parents.\u2014He married this idol of his heart threw his whole fortune into trade, in which Curio continued his partner; their families were united, and they lived in harmony among them\u017felves, and a bright example to all about them.\n\nF I N I S\n\nPrinted by G Miller, Dunbar.\n\nThis work was published before January 1, 1931, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.\n\nPublic domainPublic domainfalsefalse","title":"True humanity usefully exerted","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":5308}