made no demand of his money till feveral years after.

In the account of my tirit voyage from Boston to Philadelphia, I omitted I believe a trifling circumftance, which will not perhaps be out of place here. During a calm, that stopped us above Block-Iland, the crew employed themselves in fish" ing for cod, of which they caught a giat number I had hitherto adhered to my refolution of not eat ing any thing that had poffeffed life; and I confidered on this occafion, agreeably to the maxims of my mafter Tryon, the capture of every fish as a fort of murder committed without provocation, fince thefe animals had neither done, nor were ca pable of doing, the fmalleft injury to any one that hould justify the meafure. This mode, of reafoning I conceived to be unanswerable. Meanwhile I had formerly been extremely fond of fish; and when one of thefe cod was taken out of the frying pan, I thought its flavour delicious. I hesitated fome time between principle and inclination, till at lafl recollecting, that when the cod had been opened, fome fmall fith were found in its belly, I faid to myfelf if you eat one another, I fee no eafon why we may not eat you. I accordingly dined on the cod with no fmall degree of pleasure, and have fiuce continued to eat like the reft of mankind, returning only occafinally to my vege table plan. How convenient, does it prove to be a rational animal, that knows how to find or invent a plaufible pretext for whatever it has an inclinas tion to do!

I continued to live upon good terms with Keimer, who had not the fmaileft fufpicion of my pro-. jected establishment. He still retained a portion.

of his former enthufiafm; and being fond of argument we frequently difputed together.

I'V

I was

fo much in the habit of ufing my Socratic method, and had fo frequently puzzled him by my queftions, which appeared at firft very diftant from the point in debate, yet neverthelefs led to it by degrees, involving him in difficulties and contradictions from which he was unable to extricate himfelf, that he became at laft ridiculously cautious, and would scarcely answer the most plain and famlliar queffion without previously afking me-What would you infer from that? Hence he formed fo high an opinion of my talents for refutation, that he ferioufly proposed to me to become his colleague in the establishment of a new religious fe&t. He was to propagate the doctrine by preaching, and I to refute every opponent.

When he explained to me his tenets, I found many abfurdities which I refufed to admit, unlefs. he would agree in turn to adopt fome of my opinions. Keimer wore his beard long, Becaufe Motes had fomewhere faid, Thou shalt not mar the corners of thy beard. He likewife obferves the Sabbath and thefe were with him two very effential points difliked them both; but I confented to adopt them provided he would abftain from animal food. I doubt, faid he, whether my conftitution will be able to fupport it. I affured him on the contrary, that he would find himfelf the better for it. He was naturally a glutton, and i wifhed to amufe myself by flarving him. He confented to make trial of this regi.nen, if I would bear hin company; and in reamy we continued it for

three months. A woman in the neighbourhood prepared and brought us our victuals, to whom I gave a lift of forty dishes; in the compofition of which there entered neither flesh nor fifh. This

fancy was the more agreeable to me, as it turned to good account; for the whole expence of our li ving did not exceed for each eighteen-pence a week.

I have fince that period obferved feveral Lents with the greatest ftrictness, and have fuddenly returned again to my ordinary diet, without experiencing the fmall inconvenience; which has led me to regard as of no importance the advice commonly given of introducing gradually fuch alterations of regimen.

I continued it cheerfully; but poor Keimer fuf fered terribly. Tired of the project, he fighed for the flesh pots of Egypt. At length he ordered a rot pig, and invited me and two of our female acquaintance to dine with him; but the pig being ready a little too foon, he could not refift the temptation, and eat it all up before we arrived. : During the circumftances I have related, I had paid fome attention to Mifs Read:

entertained for her the utmost efterm and affection; and I had reafon to believe that thefe fentiments were mutuál. But we were both young, fcarcely more than eighteen years of age; and as I was on the point of under aking a long voyage, her mother thought it plu ent to prevent matters being carried too far for the prefen judging that if marriage was our bject, there would be more propriety in it after my return, when, as at least I expected, I fhould be effabifhed

in my business. Perhaps alfo fhe thought that my expectations were not fo well-founded as I imagined.theca wide

My most intimate acquaintance at this time were Charles Ofborne, Jofeph Watson, and James Ralph; young men who were all fond of reading. The two firft were clerks to Mr. Charles Brock don, one of the principal attornies in the town, and the other clerk to a merchant. Watson was an upright, pious and fenfible young man: the others were fome what more loofe in their principles of religion, particularly Ralph, whofe faith, as well as that of Collins, I had contributed to fhake; each of whom made me fuffer a very adequate pu nifhment. Ofborne was fenfible, and fincere and affectionate in his friendships, but too much inclined to the critic in matters of literature. Ralph was ingenious and fhrewd, genteel in his addrefs, and extremely eloquent. I do not remember to have met with a more agreeable fpeaker. They were both enamoured of the mufes, and had already evinced their paffion by fome finall poetical productions.

It was a custom with us to take a charming walk on fundays, in the woods that border on the Skuylkill. Here we read together, and afterwards converfed on what we read. Ralph was difpoted to give himself up entirely to poetry. He flattered himfelf that he should arrive at great eminence in the art, and even acquire a for ane. The fublineft poers, he pretended, when they firft began to write, committed as many faults as himfelt. Of borne endeavoured to diffuade him from it, by alfuri ghim that he had no genius for poetry, and adviled aun to tick to the trade, in which he had

been brought up. In the road of commerce, faid he, you will be fure, by diligence and affiduity, though you have no capital, of fo far fucceeding as to be employed as a factor, and may thus, in time, acquire the means of fetting up for yourfelf. I concurred in these fentiments, but at the fame time expreffed my approbation of amufing ourfelves fometimes with poetry, with a view to improve our ftyle. In confequence of this it was propofed, that, at our next meeting, each of us fhould bring a copy of verfes of his own compofition. Our object in this competition was to benefit each other by our mutual remarks, criticifms, and corrections; and as ftyle and expreffion were all we had in view, we excluded every idea of invention, by agreeing that our tafk fhould be a verfion of the eighteenth pfalm, in which is defcribed the defcent of the deity.

The time of our meeting drew near, when Ralph called upon me, and told me his piece was ready. Iinformed him that I had been idle, and, not much liking the talk, had done nothing. He fhewed me his piece, and asked what I thought of it. expreffed myfelf in terms of warm approbation; because it really appeared to have confiderable merit. He then faid: Ofborne will never acknowledge the fmalleft degree of excellence in any production of mine, Envy alone dictates to him a thousand animadverfions. Of you he is not fo jealous. I with therefore you would take the verfes, and produce them as your own. I will pretend not to have had leifure to write any thing. We fhall then fee in what manner he will fpeak of them. I agreed to this little artifice, and immediately tranfcribed the verfes to prevent all fufpicion.