age. This I declined, as I had a great wish to be a farmer; and, at the
same time, had a particular objection to the Church, an objection which
principally originated in the dislike I had to Parson Griffith, and to the
way in which he enforced the precepts of Christianity.

My father desired me to reflect well upon it, before I made up my mind;
though I could discover that he was not at all displeased at my
determination. He would not, he said, prejudice my choice, but whether I
was a clergyman, or whether I was a farmer, he hoped I should make a good,
a brave, and an honest man; but he added, "if you intend to be a farmer, I
trust that it is not from an idea that a farmer's life is composed merely
of coursing, hunting, shooting, and fishing. These alone, said he, are
very well, when occasionally and moderately used as a recreation; but a
farmer must learn his business before he is capable of conducting and
managing a farm--for, remember the old couplet, "he that by the plough
would thrive, must either hold himself or drive." I would, therefore, have
you think this matter over, before you finally make your choice. If you
should like to be a clergyman, I have now an opportunity of purchasing the
next presentation to a good living, and you will then have secured to you
for life a thousand or perhaps twelve hundred pounds a year; and you will
have nothing else to do, for six days out of the seven, but hunt, shoot,
and fish by day, and play cards and win the money of the farmer's wives
and children by night. Although, continued he, this may appear to you, and
I am ready to admit, that this is, a very inglorious sort of a life, yet
it is a very easy one. All that will be expected of you is to read
prayers, and preach a sermon, which will cost you three pence once a week.
This is the life of modern clergymen; and they might do very well, and get
on very smoothly, in this way, if they did not screw up their _tythes_ too
high, and get drunk too often, so as to cause a serious complaint to be
made to the bishop by some of the parishioners; which you may rest assured