as an independent, trade for himself; which in the end debased him to a level with the swine, exposed him to the arrows of famine, and ministered a foretaste of perishing by everlasting destruction.

Shepherd. Your observation is truly just, that the principles of free agency are falsely so called; for it is nothing but stubbornness: they are headstrong rebels, not free agents. It is a brutal resistance of their Maker's will, and may be seen in beasts. I have brought up lambs by hand, that have, when they were come to be sheep, used their horns against me, and presumed even to butt me; and have resisted to the uttermost if I attempted to catch and hold them by the crook; which has been a display to me of every man's being brutish who dares to resist the good Shepherd as these did me. But I have soon after seen that the dog Smut has been, by the King's order, sent among them; which has laid hold of them by the ears, and led them round every field, meadow, close, coppice, and yard; and over every hedge, ditch, slough, and lane, in all the farm.

Steward. True; and nothing looks more detestable, nor is more damnable, than for creatures to resist the will of their Maker and Owner, Rom. ix. 19; while they are taken captive by the deyil at his will, 2 Tim. ii. 26. But so it is; they wage war with the former, but are obliged to submit to the latter.

Shepherd. But pray, sir, is not the punishment of pressing at the gate something very

severe ?

Steward. Very. The feelings under it are somewhat like those produced by a strait waistcoat: he struggles hard; and, the more he struggles, the more he is straitened. He is like one of old who could not get at the King for the press.

Shepherd. And to see the other children pay their court visits, and go smiling in and out, must be a terrible mortification. Besides, I dare say that there is good cheer in the large room; and to be pressed, and hunger-bitten too, must undoubtedly add to the affliction.

Steward. There is good cheer there, and that Little Faith knows; but he must be mentally poor that goes in there, as Little Faith hath been told, and that by the King himself: "He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression. Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place where there is no straitness, and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness," Job xxxvi. 15, 16, This is the King's absolute and unalterable declaration..

Shepherd, I must run. I have many overlookers, who take more pains in minding me than they do in minding their own business; and, if they should see me absent at the stated hours of attendance, they would say to me, as Pharaoh did

to the Hebrews, Ye are idle, ye are idle; and therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice.' Steward. Where shall you be to-morrow evening, after you have done feeding and folding? Shepherd. After feeding and folding, you may be sure to find me, for two or three hours, at the sign of the Harp, by the brooks of the willows, Isa. xv. 7; Psalm cxxxi. 2.

Steward. I understand you. Weariness and emptiness must succeed that sort of labour, but the King gives food to the feeder; and declares that they who water shall be watered themselves. The well of life will spring again. I will call upon you there. The best of blessings attend both the Shepherd and the flock!

Shepherd. And may the same eternally rest on the Steward and the household! Tender my love to Little Faith.

DIALOGUE THE FIFTH.

Steward. So, I have found you at the old spot!

Shepherd. No fear of that: I always creep here when the cruse is empty; for, after foldingtimes, I can compare myself to none but that Nazarite who was shorn of his strength by the Philistines, for I hate to look any body in the face.

Steward. As iron sharpeneth iron, so the face of a friend sharpens a dejected brother by hearty counsel.

Shepherd. I have been thinking, at times, ever since I parted with you last, about those Asiatic mountaineers: their character and conduct are singular.

Steward. They are: they ever have been a plague and a pest to every royal seed and loyal servant that has appeared in his Majesty's dominions for near, if not quite, three thousand years.

Shepherd. And, pray, what good can either the mother or the children get by sculking about the palace? As there is an irreconcileable enmity between them, they must, at times, have all their prejudices stirred up, and be rendered miserable in themselves to the last degree. And the disagree

able sensations produced by the repeated rebukes and rebuffs that they get, would be enough, one would imagine, to deter them from even approaching the palace-yard.

2

Steward. It is a turbulent race, that cannot rest and, as they have neither rest nor peace themselves, they cannot endure to see it enjoyed by others; and, being sworn enemies to government, their own bosoms are oft becalmed if they can but vex or perplex one of the King's children, or even a servant that is truly and heartily loyal to his Majesty.

Shepherd. Pray, were any of their predecessors ever of, or ever employed in, the Royal Family, that they are such a pest at court? If not, I should think that they must be total strangers to the household, and to the order of the family; and therefore keep their distance through ignorance, and take no notice of them, as thousands do, who, like Gallio, care for none of these things.

Steward. A certain prince and princess, of ancient date, who were of the blood royal, as they were on their travels, passing through the country of Mizraim, or the land of Ham, promiscuously met with Hagar, the great, great, great, great grandmother, of these Hagarenes, and hired her as a servant of all work: in which low station she behaved herself for some time, in appearance, with great fidelity; till, in process of time, she so ingratiated herself into the affections of the princess;