That the man, originally neither cruel nor profane, was not yet, like Balaam, left to his idol, would appear from his continued religious exercises. The grace of the Lord tracks the devil in his darkest caves. In the next house the candle of salvation burned, and even cast its light into the thick atmosphere of the surrounding dens. Thither Burke repaired, and joined, with apparent seriousness, in the exercise of devotion; nor did he fail to tax the incurable Mikey with profanity, when that notorious lover of a joke, even at the expense of divine things, thrust his head through the papered partition, and cried out, to the dismay of the devotees, "The performance is just going to begin." In all this there seemed to be no hypocrisy, because there was no use to which he tried to turn it; and then his conversations on the subject of the service, which, after the company dispersed, he had with the man in whose house the meetings were held, seemed to be too secret for the displays of the mere dissembler. Other traits conspired to shew the nature of the man, before the temptations of the idol changed it. Kind and serviceable, inoffensive and playful, he was industrious as well, and seldom inclined for drink. Fond of singing and playing on the flute, he sought, in his melancholy moods, the solace of plaintive airs. All which qualities were combined with a jocular and quizzical turn, which, displaying a fund of low humour, made him a favourite. Some anecdotes are given in illustration,--as where, one day, when he heard a salt-wife bawling out, "Wha'll buy salt?" he replied, "Upon my word, I doun't know; but if you ask that woman gaping at the door opposite, perhaps she may inform you;" or where, on another, when, having been abused by a painted Jezebel on the High Street, he tried to shame her by an accusation: "I might have passed over the painting," said he, "if it had been properly done, but it's shameful to come to the street bedaubed in that unskilful way,"--an objurgation which was applauded by the bystanders.