rents, he said; and, destitute of
friends, money, and food, was making his way to the next port, to
offer himself to any vessel that would take him on board, that he
might work his way abroad, and seek a livelihood.

_Job._ Yes, yes; he did. I remember it.

_Pereg._ You may remember, too, when the boy had finished his tale
of distress, you put ten guineas in his hand. They were the first
earnings of your trade, you told him, and could not be laid out to
better advantage than in relieving a helpless orphan;--and, giving
him a letter of recommendation to a sea captain at Falmouth, you
wished him good spirits, and prosperity. He left you with a promise,
that, if fortune ever smil'd upon him, you should, one day, hear
news of Peregrine.

_Job._ Ah, poor fellow! poor Peregrine! he was a pretty boy. I
should like to hear news of him, I own.

_Pereg._ I am that Peregrine.

_Job._ Eh? what--you are--? No: let me look at you again. Are you
the pretty boy, that------bless us, how you are alter'd!

_Pereg._ I have endur'd many hardships since I saw you; many turns
of fortune;--but I deceived you (it was the cunning of a truant lad)
when I told you I had lost my parents. From a romantic folly, the
growth of boyish brains, I had fix'd my fancy on being a sailor, and
had run away from my father.

_Job._ [_With great Emotion._] Run away from your father! If I had
known that, I'd have horse-whipp'd you, within an inch of your life!

_Pereg._ Had you known it, you had done right, perhaps.

_Job._ Right? Ah! you don't know what it is for a child to run away
from a father! Rot me, if I wou'dn't have sent you back to him,
tied, neck and heels, in the basket of the stage coach.

_Pereg._ I have had my compunctions;--have express'd them by letter
to my father: but I fear my penitence had no effect.

_Job._ Served you right.

_Pereg._ Having no answers from him, he died, I fear, without
forgiving me. [_Sighing._

_Job._ [_Starting._] What! died! without forgiving his child!--Come,
that's too much. I cou'dn't have done that, neither.--But, go on: I
hope you've been prosperous. But you shou'dn't--you shou'dn't have
quitted your father.

_Pereg._ I acknowledge it;--yet, I have seen prosperity; though I
traversed many countries, on my outset, in pain and poverty. Chance,
at length, raised me a friend in India; by whose interest, and my
own industry, I amass'd considerable wealth, in the