“Lay down fixed principles for yourself, and let nothing induce ye to swerve from them; they are, if I may so say, the helm of our moral nature; and though the gusts of passion and caprice, or the shoals of unavoidable difficulties, may sometimes drive us out of our course, if we have but these we shall regain it; but without them, we become the sport of every impulse, we drift away to destruction. God knows I’ve rason to say all this. Acquire courage to say ‘no’ when ye feel ye ought, and thereby shun that rock of over-aisiness on which so many a youth has made shipwreck of his fortunes. “As for religion, I lave ye to judge for yourself; make no joke of any man’s; whatever has God’s glory and man’s good as its professed object, however mistaken, desarves a sort of respect even from an opponent. There’s good enough in most of them, if we would but stick to the practical part; perhaps, as my old moonshee, Golaum Hyder, used to say, it may be God’s pleasure to be approached in more ways than one, so that we do it with honesty of purpose and in singleness of heart. “Strive to make friends, but of this rest assured, that no friendship can be lasting that is not based on respect for some one sterling quality, at laist, to redaim the many waiknesses which we all, more or less, inherit; when all looks smiling you may think otherwise, and overlook this essential, but you will find eventually that in resting on such summer friends, you lean on a broken reed. “’Till society finds us other manes of obtaining redress for injuries, and for stopping the tongues of the brawler, the slanderer, and the bully, than by the d——d tadious and expinsive process by law established; which, I suppose, if a man spit in your face, would require you to prove how much soap it would take to wash it off, and give damages accordingly: I say, till this is done, fight we must sometimes—but avoid quarrels; ’tis aisier and more honourable to keep out of them than to back out of them, and ’tis a dreadful thing for a thrifle (here his voice faltered and he became much agitated) to have the blood of a comrade on your conscience. “’Tis a hard matter, I know, to put an old head on young shoulders; but maybe, nevertheless, you’ll sometimes think of what I’ve now said to ye. And now,” he added with a smile, “I believe I’ve finished my sermon, and have nothing more to add, than may God Almighty bless and prosper ye!” On saying this, the warm-hearted old Irishman, who was evidently affected, applied a key with trembling hand to a little escritoire, from which he took an old-fashioned silver snuff-box. This he rubbed with his sleeve, looking at it wistfully, and then presented it to me, whilst a tear trembled in his eye—the thoughts of other days rushed upon him.