"The director now informed me that, if I had no objection to go to
India, I should be appointed to go out to Madras as an assistant to Dr.
Bell, one of the directors of the asylum for the instruction of orphans;
an establishment which is immediately under the auspices of the East
India Company, and which does them honour [Footnote: _Vide_ a small
pamphlet, printed for Cadell and Davies, entitled, "An Experiment
in Education, made at the Male Asylum of Madras, by the Rev. Dr. A.
Bell."].

"The salary which was offered me was munificent beyond my utmost
expectations; and the account of the institution, which was put into my
hands, charmed me. I speedily settled all my concerns with the lecturer,
who was in great astonishment that this appointment had not fallen upon
him. To console him for the last time, I showed him a passage in Dr.
Bell's pamphlet, in which it is said that the doctor prefers to all
others, for teaching at his school, youths who have no fixed habits as
tutors, and who will implicitly follow his directions. I was at this
time but nineteen: my master was somewhat appeased by this view of the
affair, and we parted, as I wished, upon civil terms; though I could not
feel much regret at leaving him. I had no pleasure in living with one
who would not let me become attached to him; for, having early met with
two excellent friends and masters, the agreeable feelings of gratitude
and affection were in a manner necessary to my happiness.

"Before I left England, I received new proofs of Mr. R----'s goodness:
he wrote to me to say that, as I was going to a distant country,
to which a small annuity of ten guineas a year could not easily be
remitted, he had determined to lay out a sum equal to the value of
the annuity he had promised me, in a manner which he hoped would be