He does not become a
captain in the Life Guards, it is true, nor does be get into Parliament,
nor does the last volume conclude in the most satisfactory and
unobjectionable manner by his marrying a dowager countess--as that wise
man Addison did--or by his settling down as a great country gentleman,
perfectly happy and contented, like the very moral Roderick Random or the
equally estimable Peregrine Pickle; he is hack author, gypsy, tinker, and
postillion, yet upon the whole he seems to be quite as happy as the
younger sons of most earls, to have as high feelings of honour; and, when
the reader loses sight of him, he has money in his pocket honestly
acquired to enable him to commence a journey quite as laudable as those
which the younger sons of earls generally undertake. Surely all this is
a manifestation of the kindness and providence of God, and yet he is not
a religious person--up to the time when the reader loses sight of him he
is decidedly not a religious person, he has glimpses, it is true, of that
God who does not forsake him, but he prays very seldom, is not fond of
going to church, and, though he admires Tate and Brady's version of the
Psalms, his admiration is rather caused by the beautiful poetry which
that version contains than the religion; yet his tale is not
finished--like the tale of the gentleman who touched objects, and that of
the old man who knew Chinese without knowing what was o'clock; perhaps,
like them, he is destined to become religious, and to have, instead of
occasional glimpses, frequent and distinct views of his God; yet, though
he may become religious, it is hardly to be expected that he will become
a very precise and straight-laced person; it is probable that he will
retain with his scholarship something of his gypsyism, his predilection
for the hammer and tongs, and perhaps some inclination to put on certain
gloves, not white kid, with any friend who may be inclined for a little
old English diversion, and a readiness to take a glass of ale, with
plenty of malt in it and as little hop as may well be--ale at least two
years old--with the aforesaid friend when the diversion is over; for, as
it is the belief of the writer that a person may get to heaven very
comfortably without knowing what's o'clock, so it is his belief that he
will not be refused admission there because to the last he has been fond
of healthy and invigorating exercises, and felt a willingness to partake
of any of the good t