The daughter is sent to her aunt's, where, having a sober religious family to converse with, she begins to be less fond of her old humours; and a foundation is laid there in her, by the instruction and example of her aunt and her children, which ends at last in her complete reformation, by marrying one of her cousins, a sober religious gentleman.

The son travels without his father's consent, spends his estate, gets a commission in the army, is disbanded, comes home a cripple and a beggar, and, though always very penitent for rejecting his father's government and instruction, yet never submits himself to his father, so as to be received again, and dies miserable; as will be seen in the last part of this work.

PART II.

THE INTRODUCTION

THE first part having historically treated of a father's conduct with his household, the foundation of his resolution to reform his family, instruct his children, &c. I hope it may afford suitable lessons to fathers, mothers, masters of families, &c. in their duty of family instruction: as also examples and suitable hints to children, to warn them against despising and contemning the instruction of their parents, from the consequences on either side, which appear in the foregoing history of this unhappy, yet happy family.

The ensuing part will go the same length in the following cases, viz. 1. Masters to servants; 2. servants to masters, and to fellow-servants; 3. companions and asso ciates one to another: from all which may be learned, some lessons to instruct us how to fill up every relation, every occasion, every circumstance of life, and every conversation, with something useful and instructing to one another.

The scene lies now among the meaner sort of people, where the value of a religious family, the extent of its influence, and the advantage of good family government, as well to those who are out, as to those who are in the fa

mily, may be particularly observed, from the remarkable conduct of some persons belonging to two or three families, in a certain known country corporation at some distance from London.

There lived in a country town an industrious trading man, in middling circumstances, whose employment being a clothier, caused him to take several apprentices and journeymen, and who had also several children of his own. He was a man of an exact, upright conversation, of a most devout and religious behaviour, but more especially in his family; one that constantly maintained the exercise of religious worship in his house, instructing and educating his children and servants in the fear and knowledge of God, with great care and regard, as well to their good as to his own duty; and this with all possible modesty and caution, avoiding all hypocritical shows and appearances of ostentation, being a serious useful Christian in every respect; and his wife was, in her place, every way like him.

There was, in the same town, a wealthy shopkeeper, a man of great business, a magistrate, or alderman of the corporation, who had likewise a large family of children. and servants. The man was bred to business, drove a great trade, and grew rich apace. He was an honest, sober man, had the reputation of a very fair dealer, the credit of what we call a good man, that would do nobody wrong; but as to religion, he made no great stir about that: he served God on Sundays, as other people did, and troubled his head very little with any thing that was religious, all the week after. Indeed, he lived in a constant hurry of business; so that he had really no time to think of, or to spare about religious affairs.

His children, as they grew up, he put honestly te school, inquired sometimes superficially if they were good boys, and learned their books; and the master as superficially giving an answer, that they did pretty well, he was mighty easy as to their doing well in the world.

As to his servants, it was none of his care in the least what they did, if they minded his business; and as to idleness, he took pretty good cure to prevent that, by finding them constant employment in his warehouses, and about his business; and as to either their morals or religion, he count it none of his business, except at any time some gross indecency came in his way, which obliged him to find fault, and then his displeasure respected the neglect or obstruction of his business, or some complaints or unea siness in the neighbourhood, rather than any thing of re ligion.

It appears by the story in hand, that two young lads, much about the same age, and pretty near the same time, came apprentices to these two men. The youths were very different in their behaviour, though otherwise agreeable to one another. Their conduct was, as in such cases it will be, suitable to the families of their parents, with whom they had been educated: the one a sober, well inclined, serious lad, that had been brought up by religious parents, well instructed, and formed early to desire the best things; the other a loose, profligate, profane boy, perfectly wild, that had been taught nothing, and desired to learn nothing but his trade, given to swearing, lying, and ill words, but of good capacity enough to learn if he had been taught in time, so that he was merely lost for want of early instruction.

The sober religious lad was unhappily put apprentice to the rich shopkeeper, who regarded no religion but his trade, and the wild profane boy was put apprentice to the religious tradesman, the clothier, and, being neighbours, the boys became acquainted, it seems. Although there was very little suitableness between the manner of the young men's education, yet their age, neighbourhood, and opportunity of conversation concurring, and other circumstances perhaps in their temper, or in the time of their coming to their masters, making them more agreeable to one another than ordinary, they became companions, and contracted an

intimate friendship, the consequence of which will appear in the following dialogues.

THE FIRST DIALOGUE.

After, as it is noted, the two youths had contracted an intimacy, so that it was grown up to a kind of affection between them, they agreed, in the first place to call themselves brothers, and then, that every evening, when their shops were shut up, and their business over, they would spend any time they had to spare always together, either at their master's door, or walking, or as their liberty would permit; and, as may be supposed to be pretty usual in those cases, it was not the last of the questions they asked one another at these meetings, how they liked their masters, their employments, their usage, and the like. In these discourses, it fell out that they wanted no grievances to complain of on both sides, for that neither of them, though they had both gone so far as to be bound, liked their circumstances; but it seemed, that the greatest of their dislike was at their masters, and the respective management of their families, rather than at any thing in the trades they carried on, which they otherwise liked well enough.

Says Will, who lived with the old clothier, I'll tell you plainly, brother Tom, I am quite tired out with my master. I can't imagine what my father meant when he picked out such a man for me. I'm sure my father is none of those kind of people himself. Why, our house is a monastery, instead of a shop, or a work-house.

A monastery, Will! says the other, what do you mean by that? Don't we hear your people and your servants about their business every day? They aon't dress cloth az comb wool, in the monasteries.