en 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 in 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 old 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 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 certainly have found that highly objectionable
publication, 'Rasselas,' and the 'Spectator,' or 'Lives of Royal and
Illustrious Personages,' but, of a surety, no Mary Flanders. So, when
Lavengro met with Peter Williams, he would have been unprovided with a
balm to cure his ulcerated mind, and have parted from him in a way not
quite so satisfactory as the manner in which he took his leave of him;
for it is certain that he might have read 'Rasselas,' and all the other
unexceptionable works to be found in the library of Albemarle Street,
over and over again, before he would have found any cure in them for the
case of Peter Williams. Therefore the author requests the reader to drop
any squeamish nonsense he may wish to utter about Mary Flanders and the
manner in which Peter Williams was cured.

And now with respect to the old man who knew Chinese, but could not tell
what was o'clock. This individual was a man whose natural powers would
have been utterly bu