t because he was drunk that he died--but that he
died because his water-cart went over him when he was drunk. However
that may be, and there is no use in wasting much reasoning on the point,
William left, at his death, a widow and two children, with nothing to
support them.

Widow Willison was a good, religious woman, of the old school, believing
in the transcendent influence of mere faith, as carrying along with it
all the minor points of justification by works, election, and others,
in the same way that a river takes with it the drops of rain that
fall from the heavens, and carries all down to the ocean. She was an
excellent example of the influence of a pure religion--kind and generous
in her sentiments; and, though left with two children, and no food to
satisfy their hunger, patient and hopeful--placing implicit trust and
confidence in the Author of all good, and viewing murmuring as a sin
against His providence.

Let us introduce, now, George Willison, her son, an extraordinary
individual, apparently destined to be more notorious than his father,
in so much as his character was composed of that mixture of simplicity,
bordering on silliness, and shrewd sagacity in the ordinary affairs of
life, which is often observed in people of Scotland. Though common, the
character is nearly inexplicable to the analyst; for the individual
seems conscious of the weaker part of his character, but he appears to
love it, and often makes it subservient to the stronger elements of his
mind, by using it at once as a cloak and a foil to them. George, like
the other individuals of his peculiar species, followed no trade.
Sometimes he acted as a cadie, a letter-carrier, a messenger, a porter,
a water-carrier--in any capacity, in short, in which he could, with no
continuous labour, earn a little money. To work at any given thing for
longer time than a day, was a task which he generally condemned, as
being wearisome and monotonous, and more suited to the inferior animals
than to man. His clothes, like his avocations, were many-coloured, and
suited the silly half of his character, without altogether depriving him
of the rights of a citizen, or making him the property and sport of
school-boys. Like his employments, his earnings were chancy and various,
ranging between a shilling to five shillings a-week, including
gratuities, which his conceit prompted him to call "helps," with a view
to avoid the imputation of living upon alms--a name, in th