A SECRET CHARACTER UNVEILED. 423

ie saw abroad, as well as at home, a great deal of
misery ; he saw wretchedness everywhere close in the
train of splendour. He lamented the evils of the
world; but whatever might be their original source,
he saw that man had within himself the power of
remedying many of them. And it occurred to him
that in exercising this power, all duty, all virtue,
seemed to consist; and from that time he resolved
to direct his attention to the best means of benefiting
society.

Hull of these meditations, ts returned; and con-
vinced that the great inequality of rank and property
18 one principal cause (though a necessary one) of the
ills of life, he resolved, as much as it lay in his power,
to counteract it. “How few things,” thought he,
“are necessary to my external comfort! wholesome
iood, warm clothing, clean lodging, a little waiting
upon, and a few books. Anything else would be
superfluous. In what manner, then, ought the re-
mainder to be applied ?”

That he might at once get rid of the craving and
burdensome demands which opinion imposes, he took
a house in a distant part of the town, where his name
was unknown ; and of all his former acquaintances he
only reserved one or two confidential friends. He
selected out of the number of his former domestics
one of each sex, steady and confidential, whose lives
he made as comfortable as his own. After all the
expenses of his household were defrayed, there re-
mained two-thirds of his meome, which he applied in
secretly relieving the distresses of others.

tle chose tuat his charities should be secret, not
only as being utterly averse to all ostentation, but also
to avoid those importunities which are often made by
unworthy objects. He wished personally to become
acquainted with the real circumstances of every case ;
and it was his chief employment to mingle amongst
the people, and to inquire into the private history of