FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150  
151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>   >|  
, _the right use of reason_) is not a practical art. No one regards it in actual life; observe, therefore, folks on all hands constantly acting like Tittlebat Titmouse in the case before us. His _conclusion_ was--that he had become the certain master of ten thousand a-year; his _premises_ were--what the reader has seen. I do not, however, mean to say, that if the reader be a youth hot from Oxford, he may not be able to prove, by a very refined and ingenious argument, that Titmouse was, in what he did above, a fine natural logician; for I recollect that some great philosopher hath demonstrated, by a famous argument, that there is NOTHING ANYWHERE: and no one that I have heard of, hath ever been able to prove the contrary. By six o'clock the next morning, Titmouse had, with his own hand, dropped his answer into the letter-box upon the door of Mr. Gammon's chambers in Thavies' Inn; in which answer he had, with numerous expressions of profound respect and gratitude, accepted Mr. Gammon's polite invitation. A very happy man felt Titmouse as he returned to Oxford Street; entering Messrs. Tag-rag's premises with alacrity, just as they were being opened, and volunteering his assistance in numerous things beyond his usual province, with singular briskness and energy; as if conscious that by doing so he was greatly gratifying Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, whose wishes upon the subject he knew. He displayed such unwonted cheerfulness and patient good-nature throughout the day, that one of his companions, a serious youth, in a white neckerchief, black clothes, and with a blessed countenance--the only professing pious person in the establishment--took an occasion to ask him, in a mysterious whisper, "whether he had not got _converted_:" and whether he would, at six o'clock in the morning, accompany the speaker to a room in the neighborhood, where he (the youth aforesaid) was going to conduct an exhortation and prayer meeting! Titmouse refused--but not without a few qualms; for luck certainly seemed to be smiling on him, and he felt that he ought to be grateful for it; but then, he at length reflected, the proper place for that sort of thing would be a regular _church_--to which he accordingly resolved to go. This change of manners Tag-rag, however, looked upon as assumed only to affront _him_; seeing nothing but impertinence and defiance in all that Titmouse did--as if the nearer Titmouse got to the end of his bondage--_i. e._ th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150  
151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Titmouse
 

Gammon

 

numerous

 
Oxford
 

morning

 

argument

 

answer

 

Messrs

 

reader

 

premises


subject

 
person
 

establishment

 
greatly
 
gratifying
 

occasion

 

wishes

 

blessed

 

countenance

 

companions


clothes

 

nature

 

neckerchief

 

professing

 

displayed

 
unwonted
 

cheerfulness

 

patient

 

refused

 

resolved


change

 

manners

 
church
 

proper

 

regular

 

looked

 

assumed

 

bondage

 

nearer

 

defiance


affront
 
impertinence
 

reflected

 

length

 

aforesaid

 
conduct
 

exhortation

 
neighborhood
 
whisper
 

converted