"P.S. I trust that you will not question the bearer; he knows where I am;
I therefore put you on your guard. I mean to earn my own bread as a
gardener; I have always preferred the agricultural to the commercial
system."

To this letter, in which the mixture of sense and extravagance did not
much surprise Dr. Campbell, he returned the following answer:--

"My dear cobbler, gardener, orator, or by whatever other name you choose
to be addressed, I am too old to be surprised at any thing, otherwise I
might have been rather surprised at some things in your eloquent letter.
You tell me that you have the power to fly, and that you do not hug your
chains, though they are of gold! Are you an alderman, or Daedalus? or are
these only figures of speech? You inform me, that you cannot live in the
vortex of dissipation, or eat the bread of idleness, and that you are
determined to be a gardener. These things seem to have no necessary
connexion with each other. Why you should reproach yourself so bitterly
for having spent one evening of your life in a ball-room, which I suppose
is what you allude to when you speak of a vortex of dissipation, I am at
a loss to discover. And why you cannot, with so much honest pride yet
unextinguished in your breast, find any occupation more worthy of your
talents, and as useful to society, as that of a gardener, I own, puzzles
me a little. Consider these things coolly; return to dinner, and we will
compare at our leisure the advantages of the mercantile and the
agricultural system. I forbear to question your messenger, as you desire;
and I shall not show your letter to Henry till after we have dined. I
hope by that time you will insist upon my burning it; which, at your
request, I shall do with pleasure, although it contains several good
sentences. As I am not yet sure you have _departed this life_, I shall
not enter upon my office of executor; I shall not break open the lock of