because their misfortunes are the
fruits of the most vicious extravagance, and they are absolutely
insensible of the misery which is their lot. Those of our
fellow-sufferers, who have been reduced by undeserved losses, or the
precipitation of inexperienced youth, never fail to meet with the most
brotherly assistance, provided they behave with decorum, and a due
sense of their unhappy circumstances. Nor are we destitute of power to
chastise the licentious, who refuse to comply with the regulations
of the place, and disturb the peace of the community with riot and
disorder. Justice is here impartially administered by a court of equity,
consisting of a select number of the most respectable inhabitants, who
punish all offenders with equal judgment and resolution, after they have
been fairly convicted of the crimes laid to their charge."

The clergyman having thus explained the economy of the place, as well as
the cause of his own confinement, began to discover signs of curiosity
touching our hero's situation; and Pickle, thinking he could do no less
for the satisfaction of a man who had treated him in such a hospitable
manner, favoured him with a detail of the circumstances which produced
his imprisonment; at the same time gratifying his resentment against
the minister, which delighted in recapitulating the injuries he had
received. The parson, who had been prepossessed in favour of our youth
at first sight, understanding what a considerable part he had acted on
the stage of life, felt his veneration increase; and, pleased with the
opportunity of introducing a stranger of his consequence to the club,
left him to his repose, or rather to ruminate on an event which he had
not as yet seriously considered.

I might here, in imitation of some celebrated writers, furnish out a
page or two, with the reflections he made upon the instability of human
affairs, the treachery of the world, and the temerity of youth; and
endeavour to decoy the reader into a smile, by some quaint observation
of my own, touching the sagacious moraliser: but, besides that I look
upon this practice as an impertinent anticipation of the peruser's
thoughts, I have too much matter of importance upon my hands, to give
the reader the least reason to believe that I am driven to such paltry
shifts, in order to eke out the volume. Suffice it then to say,
our adventurer passed a very uneasy night, not only from the thorny
suggestions of his mind, but likewise from