had been the sole though slow cause of her disease, and the large sums
which had been repeatedly offered for my recovery; no sooner, I say,
did Meg ascertain all these particulars than she fought her way up to
the sick-chamber, fell on her knees before the bed, owned her crime,
and produced myself. Various little proofs of time, place,
circumstance; the clothing I had worn when stolen, and which was still
preserved, joined to the striking likeness I bore to both my parents,
especially to my father, silenced all doubt and incredulity: I was
welcomed home with a joy which it is in vain to describe. My return
seemed to recall my mother from the grave; she lingered on for many
months longer than her physicians thought it possible, and when she
died her last words commended me to my father's protection."

"My surviving parent needed no such request. He lavished upon me all
that superfluity of fondness and food of which those good people who
are resolved to spoil their children are so prodigal. He could not
bear the idea of sending me to school; accordingly he took a tutor for
me,--a simple-hearted, gentle, kind man, who possessed a vast store of
learning rather curious than useful. He was a tolerable, and at least
an enthusiastic antiquarian, a more than tolerable poetaster; and he
had a prodigious budget full of old ballads and songs, which he loved
better to teach and I to learn, than all the 'Latin, Greek, geography,
astronomy, and the use of the globes,' which my poor father had so
sedulously bargained for."

"Accordingly, I became exceedingly well-informed in all the 'precious
conceits' and 'golden garlands' of our British ancients, and continued
exceedingly ignorant of everything else, save and except a few of the
most fashionable novels of the day, and the contents of six lying
volumes of voyages and travels, which flattered both my appetite for