ntil that mind is in a
proper condition to receive peace, till it has been purified by the pain
of the one idea which has so long been permitted to riot in his brain;
which pain, however, an angel, in the shape of a gentle faithful wife,
had occasionally alleviated; for God is merciful even in the blows which
He bestoweth, and will not permit any one to be tempted beyond the
measure which he can support. And here it will be as well for the reader
to ponder upon the means by which the Welsh preacher is relieved from his
mental misery: he is not relieved by a text from the Bible, by the words
of consolation and wisdom addressed to him by his angel-minded wife, nor
by the preaching of one yet more eloquent than himself; but by a
quotation made by Lavengro from the life of Mary Flanders, cut-purse and
prostitute, which life Lavengro had been in the habit of reading at the
stall of his old friend the apple-woman, on London Bridge, who had
herself been very much addicted to the perusal of it, though without any
profit whatever. Should the reader be dissatisfied with the manner in
which Peter Williams is made to find relief, the author would wish to
answer, that the Almighty frequently accomplishes his purposes by means
which appear very singular to the eyes of men, and at the same time to
observe that the manner in which that relief is obtained, is calculated
to read a lesson to the proud, fanciful, and squeamish, who are ever in a
fidget lest they should be thought to mix with low society, or to bestow
a moment's attention on publications which are not what is called of a
perfectly unobjectionable character. Had not Lavengro formed the
acquaintance of the apple-woman on London Bridge, he would not have had
an opportunity of reading the life of Mary Flanders; and, consequently,
of storing in a memory, which never forgets anything, a passage which
contained a balm for the agonized mind of poor Peter Williams. The best
medicines are not always found in the finest shops. Suppose, for
example, if, instead of going to London Bridge to read, he had gone to
Albemarle Street, and had received from the proprietors of the literary
establishment in that very fashionable street, permission to read the
publications on the tables of the saloons there, does the reader think he
would have met any balm in those publications for the case of Peter
Williams? does the reader suppose that he would have found Mary Flanders
there? He would certa