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you planned this, and you contrived that, you suggested the other improvement; how Peter "would have had this so, and so, and how auk"ward it would have been, you know, and how "much better it is, how much more convenient, " and more elegant, for being agreeable to your "direction. But what a mortification would it be, when I ought to be all wonder and surprise, "to hear me come out with a cold phlegmatic no, or yes! Indeed you might console yourself "with pitying my want of taste and spirit: but "would that be a sufficient gratification? Upon "the whole, perhaps, it may be advisable not "to hazard the disappointment, but leave the "hum drum mortal to himself, absorbed in his "own vanity.

"Whether you will admit my application of "the text alluded to in my last, or not, I never "made a more apposite one, and I feel the force "of it. Grey hairs are found upon him, it is "said, and he knoweth it not. That person, I

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suppose, had but a few. Mine are too many,

" and too visible, even to escape my notice, dis

posed as I may be to wink at them. While "others go far and wide to see ruins, I have only "to look in the glass; a ruin presents itself, and "the business is done. You want me, after having beheld my natural face in a glass, to

"go

go my way, and straightway forget what manner of man I was; but treacherous as my memory is, that cannot be, the lines are too strong and deep, the impression is not so easily "'effaced.

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"You urge me to come to hear all, and as a "further inducement, you observe, that besides "what you have to say, Peter has a deal to tell "me, which every one allows is much more to "the purpose. The hearing of what Peter has "to offer on any subject would certainly be an "additional motive for wishing myself at Farn

borough, and its being more to the purpose " than what you have to say, you evidently shew "to be your stated opinion, no less than that of

others, by the silence you regularly observe "whenever he is about to speak, and your never

failing to let him take the lead in all conver"sation; but, what you have to say yourself is

always so much to the purpose, that to hear it "I would cheerfully submit to all the bumps I "should receive in the ride from home to the

happy spot, which on a moderate computation, "at the rate of one thousand per mile, the quan

tity observed by a friend of mine to be uni"formly received in that space, would amount "to the sum of one hundred and fifteen thousand " and upwards. So you see it is not for the want

" of inducement or inclination; the fault is in "the old materials. But after all, notwithstand

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ing I have no other attendant than my old man "William,* I should think crowded as you are "with real curiosities, you would not wish any more antiques at present, and had rather "have the room than the company of such "rubbish.

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"I mentioned in a letter to your brother a

design I had upon the Doctor, and I am obliged "to him for humouring me in my fancies. "He has the thanks of the Scotch Episcopal "Church, which were transmitted to me in a "letter from the Bishop of Aberdeen; and "" their prayers he may be sure of, which he will "think worth all the money, not to mention "the Bishop's blessing, which, perhaps, he 66 may think not inferior in value to that of his own diocesan.”

By his man William, this worthy man meant himself, for he never had any other attendant. Without the least particle of parsimony, he never would have a servant, for two reasons: 1st, Because he disliked the trouble of it; and next, because he was desirous of reducing his personal expenses within as narrow a compass as possible, that he might have the more to give away. He had many jokes about his man William, using to say, he had no more faults than himself.

Upon the subject of Dr. Gunning's pious care in adorning and beautifying his church, he further writes, in another letter:

"I am sorry you should have set your heart on my being at the opening of the church, as that "was at no time probable, and is now entirely "out of the question. What may happen in "the spring no one can tell, but as life never "knows the return of the spring,' the chances "are against my being then at Farnborough. "The tower, it was imagined, would fall on "Peter,* and I conclude it did, but I trust with"out doing him any material injury, as you " mention no such thing, and speak of its being "finished and looking very handsome. If Peter "will be so delighted with the pulpit, when it "is up, how delighted will you be when he is "in it! I am glad the way to the church is "made smooth and easy it is to be hoped the "people will not want to be told, this is the way, "walk ye in it."

This worthy man was prevented by illness from attending the opening of the church at Farn

* But the good letter-writer furnished an elegant clock to this tower, which cost him upwards of 70%.

borough, in the month of March, 1795, but when he heard of it, by a letter from Mrs. Gunning, thus he answers:

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"March 10, 1795.

Many thanks for the pleasing account of the "feast of dedication. Methinks I see the good Peter, with the keys at his girdle, as eager to 66 open the doors of the temple, as the people could "be to have them opened. That they had such

a desire and longing to enter into the courts of "the Lord looks well: and as Charity believeth "all things, let Charity believe it was from a "better motive than that of idle curiosity. The "Doctor's pensioners in putting off their old "clothes will be reminded to put off the old man ; "and in putting on their new clothes to put on "the new man and you will have the satisfac"tion to see the scions which you have planted "become, by the blessing of God, trees of righ"teousness. Though your good man was never

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happier in his life than in seeing the Church so

full, and in preaching the Gospel, after the ex

ample of his Master, to the poor; yet I could "have wished, for the sake of the rich at a dis

tance, that the day had been more favourable, that they might have been gratified in hearing him. Crimson velvet, with a deep gold fringe,