s of Stock, for to him he
should appear guilty of a real fraud, where indeed he had been only
vain, idle, and imprudent. And it is worth while here to remark,
that vanity, idleness, and imprudence, often bring a man to utter
ruin both of soul and body, though silly people do not put them in
the catalogue of heavy sins, and those who indulge in them are often
reckoned honest, merry fellows, with _the best hearts in the world_.

I wish I had room to tell my readers what befell Jack in his
present doleful habitation, and what became of him afterward. I
promise them, however, that they shall certainly know the first of
next month, when I hope they will not forget to inquire for the
fourth part of the Shoemakers, or Jack Brown in prison.

PART IV.

JACK BROWN IN PRISON.

Brown was no sooner lodged in his doleful habitation, and a little
recovered from his first surprise, than he sat down and wrote his
friend Stock the whole history of the transaction. Mr. Stock, who
had long known the exceeding lightness and dissipation of his mind,
did not so utterly disbelieve the story as all the other creditors
did. To speak the truth, Stock was the only one among them who had
good sense enough to know, that a man may be completely ruined, both
in what relates to his property and his soul, without committing Old
Bailey crimes. He well knew that idleness, vanity, and the love of
_pleasure_, as it is falsely called, will bring a man to a morsel of
bread, as surely as those things which are reckoned much greater
sins, and that they undermine his principles as certainly, though
not quite so fast.

Stock was too angry with what had happened to answer Brown's letter,
or to seem to take the least notice of him. However, he kindly and
secretly undertook a journey to the hard-hearted old farmer, Brown's
father, to intercede with him, and to see if he would do any thing
for his son. Stock did not pretend to excuse Jack, or even to lessen
his offenses; for it was a rule of his never to disguise truth or
to palliate wickedness. Sin was still sin in his eyes, though it
were committed by his best friend; but though he would not soften
the sin, he felt tenderly for the sinner. He pleaded with the old
farmer on the ground that his son's idleness and other vices would
gather fresh strength in a jail. He told him that the loose and
worthless company which he would there keep, would harden him in
vice, and if he was now wicked, he might there beco