Not a hand was outstretched to welcome the prodigal home again; his aunt refused to see him, all his other relations followed her example, and the companions of his former riots not only refused him relief, but rendered him the sport and ridicule of the town. His sister, however, sometimes contrived to see him by stealth to give him her pocket money, but that could not long support him. Here, then, he must inevitably have starved, had not a gentleman on his way to England, passing through the town, compassionately offered him the place of a servant who had recently died. Want, and the dread of starving, had by this time entirely banished all unnecessary or superfluous pride, and our young gentleman accepted the offer with joy. But, unhappily, the extreme pressure of want once removed, old thoughts return, old vanities are renewed; and so it was with Mr. Maclaine. His master’s commands, though uniformly softened by good-nature and benevolence, appeared to him as so many insults offered to his birth and breeding; it is no wonder, therefore, that in a few months he was discharged from his service. Depending on his sister, who was about to be married to a man of some wealth, he set out once more for Ireland, to endeavor to obtain enough from his relations to fit him out for America, or the West Indies; but here again he was doomed to disappointment. His sister’s marriage had been broken off--she was unable to do anything for him;--and his other relations, deeming themselves scandalized by his having been a footman, were even less tractable than before, treated him with great indignity, and finally refused all manner of assistance. Again reduced to starvation, he was obliged to think of service as his only resource. With much difficulty he obtained a situation as butler to a gentleman near Cork, with whom he did not live long, being discharged for some breach of trust. Here he remained for many months out of place, wandering about, without any settled abode or means of subsistence, except occasional remittances from his elder brother, a pastor of the English congregation at the Hague, whose friendly assistance was less relished, because it was accompanied by warm remonstrances on the past, and wholesome advice on the future conduct of his life. Fortune was at length favorable; his old master, though he refused him a character to another family, generously paid his passage to England, and allowed him, for a limited period after his landing, a shilling a day for subsistence.