openly oppose my father's wishes, held myself entirely free to obey any
new impulse which circumstances might produce. My mother (so let me still
call Mrs. Fielder) fully concurred in my views.

You are acquainted, my friend, with many events of my early life. Most
of those not connected with my father and his nephew, I have often
related. At present, therefore, I shall omit all collateral and
contemporary incidents, and confine myself entirely to those connected
with these two persons.

My father, on the death of his wife, retired from business, and took a
house in an airy and secluded situation. His household consisted of a
housekeeper and two or three servants, and apartments were always open for
his son.

My brother's temper grew more unmanageable as he increased in years. My
father's views with regard to him were such as parental foresight and
discretion commonly dictate. He wished him to acquire all possible
advantages of education, and then to betake himself to some liberal
profession, in which he might obtain honour as well as riches. This sober
scheme by no means suited the restless temper of the youth. It was his
maxim that all restraints were unworthy of a lad of spirit, and that it
was far more wise to spend freely what his father had painfully acquired,
than, by the same plodding and toilsome arts, to add to the heap.

I scarcely know how to describe my feelings in relation to this young
man. My affection for him was certainly without that tenderness which a
good brother is sure to excite. I do not remember a single direct kindness
that I ever received from him; but I remember innumerable ill offices and
contempts. Still, there was some inexplicable charm in the mere tie of